LOFAR - Science Case

Science Case

The sensitivities and spatial resolutions attainable with LOFAR will make possible several fundamental new studies of the Universe as well as facilitating unique practical investigations of the Earth's environment.

In the following list the term indicates the redshift of the radio sources seen by LOFAR.

• In the very distant Universe, LOFAR can search for the signature produced by the reionization of neutral hydrogen. This crucial phase change is predicted to occur at the epoch of the formation of the first stars and galaxies, marking the end of the so-called "dark ages". The redshift at which reionization is believed to occur will shift the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen at 1420.40575 MHz into the LOFAR observing window. (The frequency observed today is lower by a factor of 1/(z+1).)
• In the distant "formative" Universe, LOFAR will detect the most distant massive galaxies and will study the processes by which the earliest structures in the Universe (galaxies, clusters and active nuclei) form and probe the intergalactic gas.
• In the magnetic Universe, LOFAR will map the distribution of cosmic rays and global magnetic fields in our own and nearby galaxies, in galaxy clusters and in the intergalactic medium.
• The high-energy Universe, LOFAR will detect the ultra high energy cosmic rays as they pierce the Earth’s atmosphere. A dedicated test station for this purpose, LOPES, has been in operation since 2003.
• Within our own Galaxy, LOFAR will detect several hundred new pulsars within a few kpc from the Sun, will search for short-lived transient events produced by events such as stellar mergers or black hole accretion, and for burst from Jupiter-like extrasolar planets.
• Within our solar system, LOFAR will detect coronal mass ejections from the Sun and provide continuous large-scale maps of the solar wind. This crucial information about solar weather and its effect on the Earth will facilitate predictions of costly and damaging geomagnetic storms.
• Within the Earth’s immediate environment, LOFAR will map irregularities in the ionosphere continuously, detect the ionizing effects of distant gamma ray bursts and the flashes predicted to arise from the highest energy cosmic rays, the origins of which are unclear.
• By exploring a new spectral window LOFAR is likely to make unexpected "serendipitous" discoveries. Detection of new classes of objects and/or new astrophysical phenomena have resulted from almost all previous facilities that open new regions of the spectrum, or pushed instrumental parameters, such as sensitivity by more than an order of magnitude.