Main Science Goal

CONCERTO aims to answer mostly two fundamental questions:

1. What is the contribution of the dust-enshrouded star formation to early galaxy evolution and what is the history of metal enrichment?
2. What is the role of star-forming galaxies in shaping cosmic reionization?

To reach that goal, we have constructed a new spectrometer to map in three dimensions the specific intensity due to line emission, a technique known as "Intensity Mapping".
Capitalizing on a recent technology breakthrough on the development of large KIDS arrays, our intensity mapping experiment is measuring the 3-D fluctuations of the [CII] line emission at redshift z>5.1. The atomic [CII] line is one of the most valuable tracers of star formation at high redshift and is redshifted into the sub-millimeter and millimeter atmospheric windows.
We will use the [CII] line emission as a tracer of cosmic density structure, and give the first constraints on the power spectrum of dusty star-forming matter.

Our experiment will also observe the CO intensity fluctuations arising from 0.3 < z < 2 galaxies, giving the spatial distribution and abundance of molecular gas over a broad range of cosmic time. To have a look to other science goals than [CII] instensity mapping, click on one of the 4 icons below.

CONCERTO is mostly founded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 788212). The project also received support from the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University (A*Midex), a French “Investissements d’Avenir” programme, and the Labex FOCUS.

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