The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope: 100 Hubbles for the 2020s. (arXiv:1902.05569v1 [astro-ph.IM])

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope: 100 Hubbles for the 2020s. (arXiv:1902.05569v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Akeson_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Rachel Akeson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Armus_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lee Armus</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bachelet_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Etienne Bachelet</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bailey_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Vanessa Bailey</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bartusek_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lisa Bartusek</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bellini_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Andrea Bellini</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Benford_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Dominic Benford</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bennett_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David Bennett</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bhattacharya_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Aparna Bhattacharya</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bohlin_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ralph Bohlin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Boyer_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Martha Boyer</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bozza_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Valerio Bozza</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bryden_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Geoffrey Bryden</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Novati_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Sebastiano Calchi Novati</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Carpenter_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kenneth Carpenter</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Casertano_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Stefano Casertano</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Choi_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ami Choi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Content_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David Content</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dayal_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Pratika Dayal</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dressler_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alan Dressler</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dore_O/0/1/0/all/0/1">Olivier Doré</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fall_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. Michael Fall</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fan_X/0/1/0/all/0/1">Xiaohui Fan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fang_X/0/1/0/all/0/1">Xiao Fang</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Filippenko_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alexei Filippenko</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Finkelstein_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Steven Finkelstein</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Foley_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ryan Foley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Furlanetto_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Steven Furlanetto</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kalirai_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jason Kalirai</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gaudi_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">B. Scott Gaudi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gilbert_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Karoline Gilbert</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Girard_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Julien Girard</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Grady_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kevin Grady</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Greene_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jenny Greene</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Guhathakurta_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Puragra Guhathakurta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Heinrich_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chen Heinrich</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hemmati_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Shoubaneh Hemmati</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hendel_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David Hendel</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Henderson_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Calen Henderson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Henning_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thomas Henning</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hirata_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Christopher Hirata</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ho_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Shirley Ho</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Huff_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Eric Huff</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hutter_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Anne Hutter</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jansen_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Rolf Jansen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jha_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Saurabh Jha</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Johnson_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Samson Johnson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jones_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David Jones</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kasdin_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jeremy Kasdin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kelly_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Patrick Kelly</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kirshner_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Robert Kirshner</a>, et al. (55 additional authors not shown)

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a 2.4m space telescope
with a 0.281 deg^2 field of view for near-IR imaging and slitless spectroscopy
and a coronagraph designed for > 10^8 starlight suppresion. As background
information for Astro2020 white papers, this article summarizes the current
design and anticipated performance of WFIRST. While WFIRST does not have the UV
imaging/spectroscopic capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, for wide
field near-IR surveys WFIRST is hundreds of times more efficient. Some of the
most ambitious multi-cycle HST Treasury programs could be executed as routine
General Observer (GO) programs on WFIRST. The large area and time-domain
surveys planned for the cosmology and exoplanet microlensing programs will
produce extraordinarily rich data sets that enable an enormous range of
Archival Research (AR) investigations. Requirements for the coronagraph are
defined based on its status as a technology demonstration, but its expected
performance will enable unprecedented observations of nearby giant exoplanets
and circumstellar disks. WFIRST is currently in the Preliminary Design and
Technology Completion phase (Phase B), on schedule for launch in 2025, with
several of its critical components already in production.

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