Mapping the Universe with BigBOSS

The BigBOSS experiment is a redshift survey designed to map the large scale structure of the universe and probe the nature of dark energy. Using massively-multiplexed fiber spectroscopy over 14,000 deg(2) of sky, the survey will deliver more than 20 million galaxy and quasar redshifts. The resulting three dimensional sky map will contain signatures from primordial baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) that set a "standard ruler" distance scale. Using the BAO signature, BigBOSS will measure the cosmological distance scale to < 1% accuracy from 0.5<z<3.0, shedding new light on the expansion history and growth of large scale structure in the Universe at a time when dark energy began to dominate. In this work, we give an overview of the BigBOSS survey goals and methodology, focusing on measuring the [O II] lambda 3727 emission line doublet from star-forming galaxies. We detail a new spectral simulation tool used in generating BigBOSS observations for emission-line galaxy targets. We perform a trade study of the detected galaxy redshift distribution under two observational cases relative to the baseline survey and discuss the impact on the BigBOSS science goal.