Browsing by Author "Jones, R Lynne"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Optimization of the Observing Cadence for the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time: a pioneering process of community-focused experimental design
    Bianco, Federica B; Ivezić, Željko; Jones, R Lynne; Graham, Melissa L; Marshall, Phil; Saha, Abhijit; Strauss, Michael A; Yoachim, Peter; Ribeiro, Tiago; Anguita, Timo; Bauer, Franz E; Bellm, Eric C; Blum, Robert D; Brandt, William N; Brough, Sarah; Catelan, Màrcio; Clarkson, William I; Connolly, Andrew J; Gawiser, Eric; Gizis, John; Hlozek, Renee; Kaviraj, Sugata; Liu, Charles T; Lochner, Michelle; Mahabal, Ashish A; Mandelbaum, Rachel; McGehee, Peregrine; Jr, Eric H Neilsen; Olsen, Knut AG; Peiris, Hiranya; Rhodes, Jason; Richards, Gordon T; Ridgway, Stephen; Schwamb, Megan E; Scolnic, Dan; Shemmer, Ohad; Slater, Colin T; Slosar, Anže; Smartt, Stephen J; Strader, Jay; Street, Rachel; Trilling, David E; Verma, Aprajita; Vivas, AK; Wechsler, Risa H; Willman, Beth
    Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a ground-based astronomical facility under construction, a joint project of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, designed to conduct a multi-purpose 10-year optical survey of the southern hemisphere sky: the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Significant flexibility in survey strategy remains within the constraints imposed by the core science goals of probing dark energy and dark matter, cataloging the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. The survey's massive data throughput will be transformational for many other astrophysics domains and Rubin's data access policy sets the stage for a huge potential users' community. To ensure that the survey science potential is maximized while serving as broad a community as possible, Rubin Observatory has involved the scientific community at large in the process of setting and refining the details of the observing strategy. The motivation, history, and decision-making process of this strategy optimization are detailed in this paper, giving context to the science-driven proposals and recommendations for the survey strategy included in this Focus Issue.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The Impact of Observing Strategy on Cosmological Constraints with LSST
    Lochner, Michelle; Scolnic, Dan; Almoubayyed, Husni; Anguita, Timo; Awan, Humna; Gawiser, Eric; Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A; Gris, Philippe; Huber, Simon; Jha, Saurabh W; Jones, R Lynne; Kim, Alex G; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Marshall, Phil; Petrushevska, Tanja; Regnault, Nicolas; Setzer, Christian N; Suyu, Sherry H; Yoachim, Peter; Biswas, Rahul; Blaineau, Tristan; Hook, Isobel; Moniez, Marc; Neilsen, Eric; Peiris, Hiranya; Rothchild, Daniel; Stubbs, Christopher
    The generation-defining Vera C. Rubin Observatory will make state-of-the-art measurements of both the static and transient universe through its Legacy Survey for Space and Time (LSST). With such capabilities, it is immensely challenging to optimize the LSST observing strategy across the survey's wide range of science drivers. Many aspects of the LSST observing strategy relevant to the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, such as survey footprint definition, single visit exposure time and the cadence of repeat visits in different filters, are yet to be finalized. Here, we present metrics used to assess the impact of observing strategy on the cosmological probes considered most sensitive to survey design; these are large-scale structure, weak lensing, type Ia supernovae, kilonovae and strong lens systems (as well as photometric redshifts, which enable many of these probes). We evaluate these metrics for over 100 different simulated potential survey designs. Our results show that multiple observing strategy decisions can profoundly impact cosmological constraints with LSST; these include adjusting the survey footprint, ensuring repeat nightly visits are taken in different filters and enforcing regular cadence. We provide public code for our metrics, which makes them readily available for evaluating further modifications to the survey design. We conclude with a set of recommendations and highlight observing strategy factors that require further research.