PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) – A Herschel key program ^⋆

¹ MPE, Postfach 1312, 85741 Garching, Germany
e-mail: lutz@mpe.mpg.de
² European Space Astronomy Centre, Villafranca del Castillo, Spain
³ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁴ INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
⁵ IRFU/Service d’Astrophysique, Bât. 709, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Spain
⁷ Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain
⁸ Space Science Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6801, USA
⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Astronomia, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
¹⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
¹¹ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universitá di Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹² Departamento de Astrofísica, Facultad de CC. Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Received: 19 April 2011
Accepted: 9 June 2011

Abstract

Deep far-infrared photometric surveys studying galaxy evolution and the nature of the cosmic infrared background are a key strength of the Herschel mission. We describe the scientific motivation for the PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) guaranteed time key program and its role within the entire set of Herschel surveys, and the field selection that includes popular multiwavelength fields such as GOODS, COSMOS, Lockman Hole, ECDFS, and EGS. We provide an account of the observing strategies and data reduction methods used. An overview of first science results illustrates the potential of PEP in providing calorimetric star formation rates for high-redshift galaxy populations, thus testing and superseding previous extrapolations from other wavelengths, and enabling a wide range of galaxy evolution studies.