A large paper describing SIM's scientific capabilities has been published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP), January 2008, Vol 120, pp. 38-88. This refereed paper was assembled by SIM Deputy Project Scientist Steve Unwin from contributions provided by every member of the SIM Science Team, and a number of other interested astrometrists - 36 authors in all.

This paper covers the breadth of science that SIM is capable of, and we hope that it inspires novel and exciting uses of the instrument. There will be a Guest Observer (GO) opportunity to use this truly unique facility for astrophysics, and we hope this paper will be a useful reference for proposers.

The section headings show the broad scope of SIM's science:

• Introduction
• The Search for Potentially Habitable Planets
  • Astrometric Detection of Terrestrial Planets
  • The Lowest Mass Planets Detectable by SIM
  • SIM Planet Surveys
  • Expected Planet Yields for SIM Surveys
  • Physical Parameters of Habitable Planets
  • The Impact of Starspots on Astrometric Planet Detection
  • Detecting Multiple Planets
  • Early-Mission Detection of Planets
• Jupiter Mass Planets Around Young Stars
  • Science Goals
  • Astrophysical Noise
  • The Sample
• How Unique is the Solar System?
  • Masses and Periods of Long-Period Planets
  • A Survey for Solar-System Analogs
  • Very Long-period Companions
• Precision M-L Relation for Extreme Stellar Types
  • Massive O and B Stars
  • Low Mass M Stars and Brown Dwarfs
• The Late Stages of Stellar Evolution
  • Masses of Neutron Stars
  • Masses of Stellar Black Hole
  • Formation and Evolution of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
  • LMXB Distances and Constraints on Physical Parameters
  • Active Stars and Micro-quasars
  • Late-type Stars with Maser Emission
• Stellar Evolution, Extragalactic Distances, and Galaxy Formation
• Cepheids in the Milky~Way
• Accurate Ages and Distances for Population II Objects
• Exploring Galactic Stellar Populations and Dark Matter on Galactic Scales
  • Probing the Outer Halo with Tidal Tails
  • Hypervelocity Stars
  • Dark Matter Within Dwarf Galaxies
  • Galactic Satellite Proper Motions
  • Globular Cluster Proper Motions
• Astrometric Microlensing
• Dynamics of Galaxy Motions: Numerical Action and SIM
  • Peculiar Velocities
  • The Numerical Action Method
  • Preliminary Science Data
  • Future NAM Studies using SIM Data
• Quasar Jets and Accretion Disks
  • Basic Quasar Properties: Radio Quiet and Radio Loud Sources
  • The Location of the Most Compact Optical Emission in the Accretion Disk-Jet Paradigm
• The Big Blue Bump and Hot Corona
• The Beamed Relativistic Jet in Compact Radio-Loud Quasars
  • Distinguishing AGN Models using Color-Dependent Astrometry
  • Finding Binary Black Holes
• Cosmology with SIM
  • The Extragalactic Distance Scale
  • Rotational Parallax Distances
  • Realistic Rotational Parallaxes
  • Other Local Group Distances
• Imaging with SIM
  • Performance features of SIM as a synthesis imaging instrument
  • Synthetic imaging science with SIM
• Measuring the PPN parameter
• Conclusions
• Appendices
  • Narrow Angle Astrometry
  • All-Sky Astrometric Grid
  • Astrometric Reference Frame
  • Selection of SIM Grid Stars
• References

A preprint version of the paper is available here.