PRIMA General Observer Science Book Volume 2

TL;DR

PRIMA is a proposed far-infrared space mission with advanced instruments, aiming to enable a wide range of astrophysics research through community-driven observations and open data access.

Contribution

This paper presents 120 new science cases demonstrating PRIMA's capabilities for diverse astrophysics research, expanding community engagement and scientific potential.

Findings

Community interest in PRIMA has significantly increased.

PRIMA's capabilities cover over 90% of Astro2020 science areas.

The mission enables impactful, innovative observations in far-infrared astronomy.

Abstract

The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) mission concept is a proposed mission to NASA's Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) call. The concept features a cryogenically cooled 1.8 m diameter telescope, and is designed to carry two science instruments covering the 24 to 264 $\mu$m wavelength range: an imaging polarimeter (PRIMAger) and a spectrometer (FIRESS). The majority of PRIMA's time (75%) will be open to observations proposed by the community (General Observer science / GO), and all of data will be publicly available for archival research (Guest Investigator science / GI). Following up on the successful community engagement created by the first volume of the GO PRIMA Science Book (arXiv:2310.20572), Volume 2 gathers 120 new and updated contributed science cases which could be performed within the context of the PRIMA GO/GI program. This volume reflects the strong development of the community interest, awareness and involvement in PRIMA, and further develops how PRIMA's unprecedented capabilities can be leveraged for an impactful and innovative GO/GI program covering most areas of astrophysics and over 90% of the scientific questions and discovery areas in the Astro2020 decadal survey.