SCOWL: a large format submillimetre camera on the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope

This paper presents a science case for a wide-field camera operating at submillimetre wavelengths on an optical/infrared 100m Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL). Such an instrument (dubbed "SCOWL" - a Submillimetre Camera for OWL) would offer an unprecedented simultaneous high angular resolution and imaging speed, and play a pivotal role in the future of subimillimetre astronomy. Other proposed and existing facilities have either coarse resolution (current single dishes) or are relatively inefficient at carrying out large-scale survey work on a reasonable time scale (interferometers). Furthermore, if OWL is located at a dry high-altitude site, SCOWL will be able to exploit the relatively unexplored 200 and 350mum atmospheric windows with unparalleled efficiency. This is the regime where the emission from cold unevolved sources is at its peak, and is thus of unique scientific interest. By observing in the submillimetre, OWL will produce detailed, unbiased views of objects in formation, ranging from Solar-neighbourhood pre-stellar cores to proto-elliptical galaxies in the early Universe.