Slide 1

Special Thanks! Wendy Freedman, Jason Kalirai and the SOC Support team: Karyn Keidel, Darlene Spencer, Flory Hill & Tina Schappell Wendy Freedman, Jason Kalirai and the SOC Outreach: Bonnie Eisenhammer, Frank Summers, Ray Villard, Cheryl Gundy, Pam Jeffries, Steph Smith, Mario Livio, John Mather, speakers at Science Writers workshop. Website: Bernie Simon, Steve Dignan, Craig Hollinshead AV, webcast: Calvin Tullos, Thomas Marufu, Susan Rose Maryland Science Center: Meghan Jillson, John Grunsfeld Caf Azafran: Irena Stein et al. Slide 2 Science Frontiers More Thanks: NASA, ESA & CSA (for everything) Northrop Grumman (for the telescope & the dinner!) Instrument Teams Speakers, Poster presenters, session chairs and lively participants! Slide 3 Sobering Wisdom from Norman Augustine Law XXXIX: Most programs start out slowly and then sort of taper off. Slide 4 We cant afford to be complacent! Science is exciting! This meeting Technical progress is impressive! Mirrors Instruments are nearly built Cryo tests are showing excellent performance so far Challenges are inevitable If it werent a stretch we wouldnt be doing it The international partnership is fundamental Wouldnt have started without it Will not survive without it of the focal plane relies on it! Slide 5 A few more of Augustines Laws XXVII: There are only three kinds of programs which suffer incessant budget tampering: those which are behind schedule, those which are on schedule, and those which used to be ahead of schedule. XXV: The only thing more costly than stretching the schedule of an established program is accelerating it. XIV: If a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance. Slide 6 If JWST launched tomorrow, we have great ideas What causes the rotational modulation of the spectrum of Uranus? Why is Neptunes stratosphere hotter than Uranuss? Observe solar systems forming from proto-planetary disks Gravitational effects Chemistry and transport of water and organics Find a molten proto-earth afterglow? Study known exoplanets Orbital constraints Direct imaging Sizes, atmospheres & thermal structure from transits & eclipses Tricky observing strategy decisions need to prioritize what to do early Slide 7 More great ideas Can we find Pop III Pair-Instability Supernovae? May need help from lensing Challenging to confirm Search for the first galaxies May need help from lensing How do we know we have found them? Lack of [OIII]? Strong HeII? Use strong lensing (50 or so) to constrain dark-matter substructure test density profiles dissect AGN Slide 8 The Extragalactic Background: Are we missing something? Bock et al. 2006 At face value, the integrated extragalactic background light suggests a major source of energy in the near-IR - early energetic galaxy formation? - bad subtraction of zodiacal foreground? Slide 9 More great ideas Measure H0 to 1.3% (JWST+GAIA) Dark Energy To constrain Dark Energy and neutrinos Disentangle AGN and star-formation Study the galaxy feedback cycle Demographics of star formation & stellar mass vs. morphology redshift & environment Evolution of Black-hole vs. bulge mass relation Kinematics & abundances from spectra Dust formation and destruction H2 formation and destruction Dissect tidal disruption events A dime a dozen by the time of JWST Slide 10 What history teaches us Known unknowns Detectors will have problems There will be unforeseen problems on orbit An essential component deep inside JWST will fail on a different mission before JWST launches. Budgets & plans will lag behind reality The fact that you should have known will be obvious in retrospect Unknown unknowns How the detectors will fail What the technical glitches will be When a tornado will disrupt a test schedule What Congress will decide to do at any given time Slide 11 What history teaches us Known unknowns Astronomers arent very good at making predictions Also arent very good at posing answerable questions Science wont stand still There will be surprise discoveries before & after launch Observers will want to use JWST in unexpected ways We will end up ignorant at a much deeper level Unknown unknowns Which predictions are wrong Which questions are ill posed What the surprises will be What the new observing modes will be Slide 12 1980s: There should be a bright early epoch of galaxy formation Wheres the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom! Slide 13 Homework for Astronomers Find targets: strong lenses, high-z QSOs, transiting planets Make robust predictions Make JWST scientifically efficient Help STScI plan for realistic observing strategies Communicate & coordinate Mix of GO, GTO, Legacy projects is important High fidelity simulations Help design/develop the next generation of analysis tools Slide 14 Frontier Science Opportunities with JWST STScI June 6 8 th, 2011 JWST Wiki For Community Input - http://jwstinput.wikidot.com/http://jwstinput.wikidot.com/ JWST Email For Community Input jwst_input@stsci.edujwst_input@stsci.edu JWST Facebook Page For Astronomers JWST Observer