HAWC+: A Detector, Polarimetry, and Narrow-Band Imaging Upgrade to SOFIA's Far-Infrared Facility Camera

HAWC, the High-resolution Airborne Widebandwidth Camera, is the facility far-infrared camera for SOFIA, providing continuum imaging from 50 to 250 microns wavelength. As a result of NASA selection as a SOFIA Second Generation Instruments upgrade investigation, HAWC will be upgraded with enhanced capability for addressing current problems in star formation and interstellar medium physics prior to commissioning in early 2015. We describe the capabilities of the upgraded HAWC+, as well as our initial science program. The mapping speed of HAWC is increased by a factor of 9, accomplished by using NASA/Goddard's Backshort-Under-Grid bolometer detectors in a 64x40 format. Two arrays are used in a dual-beam polarimeter format, and the full complement of 5120 transition-edge detectors is read using NIST SQUID multiplexers and U.B.C. Multi-Channel Electronics. A multi-band polarimeter is added to the HAWC opto-mechanical system, at the cryogenic pupil image, employing rotating quartz half-wave plates. Six new filters are added to HAWC+, bringing the full set to 53, 63, 89, 155, and 216 microns at R = 5 resolution and 52, 63, 88, 158, and 205 microns at R = 300 resolution. The latter filters are fixed-tuned to key fine-structure emission lines from [OIII], [OI], [CII], and [NII]. Polarimetry can be performed in any of the filter bands. The first-light science program with HAWC+ emphasizes polarimetry for the purpose of mapping magnetic fields in Galactic clouds. The strength and character of magnetic fields in molecular clouds before, during, and after the star formation phase are largely unknown, despite pioneering efforts on the KAO and ground-based telescopes. SOFIA and HAWC+ provide significant new capability: sensitivity to extended dust emission (to A_V ~ 1) which is unmatched, ~10 arcsec angular resolution combined with wide-field mapping which allows statistical estimates of magnetic field strength, and wavelength coverage spanning the peak of the far-infrared spectrum of star-forming clouds. Our initial targets include nearby quiescent clouds, active sites of high- and low-mass star formation, remnants of dispersing clouds, and the Galactic center.