Exploring the performance of a GMCAO-equipped ELT within the deep field surveys strategy

Abstract

As the deep field surveys strategy represents a well popular way to study the cosmology and the formation and evolution of galaxies, we investigated how the new generation of extremely large telescopes (ELTs) will perform in this field of research. Our simulations, which combine a number of technical, tomographic and astrophysical information, take advantages of the Global-MCAO approach, a well demonstrated method that can be applied in absence of laser guide stars because it exploits only natural references. A statistics of the expected performance in a sub-sample of 22 well-known surveys are presented here.