The One-hundred-deg2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN): Survey Design and Science Goals

Abstract We describe the survey design and science goals for One-hundred-deg 2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN), a NOIRLab survey using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to obtain deep (AB ∼ 25.7) narrowband images over an unprecedented area of sky. The three custom-built narrowband filters, N 419, N 501, and N 673, have central wavelengths of 419, 501, and 673 nm and respective FWHM of 7.5, 7.6, and 10.0 nm, corresponding to Ly α at z = 2.4, 3.1, and 4.5 and cosmic times of 2.8, 2.1, and 1.4 Gyr, respectively. When combined with even deeper, public broadband data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam, DECam, and in the future, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the ODIN narrowband images will enable the selection of over 100,000 Ly α -emitting (LAE) galaxies at these epochs. ODIN-selected LAEs will identify protoclusters as galaxy overdensities, and the deep narrowband images enable detection of highly extended Ly α blobs (LABs). Primary science goals include measuring the clustering strength and dark matter halo connection of LAEs, LABs, and protoclusters, and their respective relationship to filaments in the cosmic web. The three epochs allow for the redshift evolution of these properties to be determined during the period known as Cosmic Noon, where star formation was at its peak. The narrowband filter wavelengths are designed to enable interloper rejection and further scientific studies by revealing O ii and O iii at z = 0.34, Ly α and He ii 1640 at z = 3.1, and Lyman continuum plus Ly α at z = 4.5. Ancillary science includes similar studies of the lower-redshift emission-line galaxy samples and investigations of nearby star-forming galaxies resolved into numerous O iii and S ii emitting regions.