The Scientific Cases for Deep Wide Field Imaging

In this chapter we outline several high profile scientific programs which call for an increase of the field of view and for high IR-UV sensitivity for deep imaging. In particular these performances are required for all the projects studying faint objects with relatively low number statistics ( a few per arcmin2) or extended and faint targets. They range from the search for asteroids in our solar system to the study of stellar populations in our and nearby galaxies, to extragalactic surveys of faint objects.

These programs require the combination of a large field of view with extreme depth in a wide spectral interval that can only be provided by an imager at an 8m class telescope.