A new wave of transients: supernova cosmology with the Rubin Observatory, 4MOST and Euclid
Lead Research Organisation:
LANCASTER UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The work proposed here tackles some of the most important open questions in astrophysics, broadly centred on understanding the properties of the Universe itself. It is closely linked with the STFC Science Roadmap challenges pertaining to the roles and nature of dark matter and dark energy.
When the Rubin Observatory begins operation in early 2025, its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will rapidly discover vast numbers of new astronomical transient objects. These are expected to be mostly supernovae (exploding stars) of various types. We propose to begin a new survey, TiDES (the Time Domain Extragalactic Survey), which will ultimately measure spectra of tens of thousands of transient objects discovered by LSST, plus a similar number of host galaxies of transients. The spectra provide two crucial pieces of information for each object: its classification (whether it is a supernova or not, and its type) and its and redshift. This information, along with brightness measurements from LSST, will enable the Type Ia supernovae to be used as "standard candles" for cosmology (standard candles are objects whose brightness is known and whose apparent brightness on the sky can be used as an indicator of their distance). The 5-year TiDES survey will create the largest, homogeneous Type Ia supernova sample by far. Simulations show that with this sample, we will measure the equation of state parameter (the ratio of pressure to density) for dark energy with only 2% uncertainty. This will be the tightest constraint to date and will strongly limit the range of theoretical explanations for the cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe.
To achieve these overall goals, we will initiate the TiDES survey using the new 4MOST instrument, which is currently under construction. One key objective of the proposed work is to commission 4MOST at the VISTA telescope in Chile and verify the science survey mechanism for TiDES. This will enable thousands of spectra of transient objects to be obtained during the grant period, already more than doubling the existing number of Type Ia supernovae for cosmology.
In addition to their use for classification of transients and redshift measurements, the spectra will enable further tests to be made, which are expected to lead to further improvement in cosmological constraints. For example, we aim to make quantitative measurements of features in the spectra of SNe Ia, some of which are known to correlate with peak brightness. Hence, by measuring these features we can further standardise the sample of Type Ia supernovae, improving their power as distance indicators.
A further avenue will be to use exquisite, wide-area imaging in optical and near infrared bands from the ESA Euclid mission, which is due to be launched in July 2023. This will provide a new route to study the host galaxies of the type Ia supernovae. Combined with the optical images from LSST and spectra of host galaxies obtained with 4MOST, measurements of host galaxy properties will be made (such as stellar mass, age, and shape). These improved measurements (compared to previous SN surveys) are expected to lead to reduced biases in measurements of cosmological parameters.
When the Rubin Observatory begins operation in early 2025, its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will rapidly discover vast numbers of new astronomical transient objects. These are expected to be mostly supernovae (exploding stars) of various types. We propose to begin a new survey, TiDES (the Time Domain Extragalactic Survey), which will ultimately measure spectra of tens of thousands of transient objects discovered by LSST, plus a similar number of host galaxies of transients. The spectra provide two crucial pieces of information for each object: its classification (whether it is a supernova or not, and its type) and its and redshift. This information, along with brightness measurements from LSST, will enable the Type Ia supernovae to be used as "standard candles" for cosmology (standard candles are objects whose brightness is known and whose apparent brightness on the sky can be used as an indicator of their distance). The 5-year TiDES survey will create the largest, homogeneous Type Ia supernova sample by far. Simulations show that with this sample, we will measure the equation of state parameter (the ratio of pressure to density) for dark energy with only 2% uncertainty. This will be the tightest constraint to date and will strongly limit the range of theoretical explanations for the cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe.
To achieve these overall goals, we will initiate the TiDES survey using the new 4MOST instrument, which is currently under construction. One key objective of the proposed work is to commission 4MOST at the VISTA telescope in Chile and verify the science survey mechanism for TiDES. This will enable thousands of spectra of transient objects to be obtained during the grant period, already more than doubling the existing number of Type Ia supernovae for cosmology.
In addition to their use for classification of transients and redshift measurements, the spectra will enable further tests to be made, which are expected to lead to further improvement in cosmological constraints. For example, we aim to make quantitative measurements of features in the spectra of SNe Ia, some of which are known to correlate with peak brightness. Hence, by measuring these features we can further standardise the sample of Type Ia supernovae, improving their power as distance indicators.
A further avenue will be to use exquisite, wide-area imaging in optical and near infrared bands from the ESA Euclid mission, which is due to be launched in July 2023. This will provide a new route to study the host galaxies of the type Ia supernovae. Combined with the optical images from LSST and spectra of host galaxies obtained with 4MOST, measurements of host galaxy properties will be made (such as stellar mass, age, and shape). These improved measurements (compared to previous SN surveys) are expected to lead to reduced biases in measurements of cosmological parameters.
Organisations
- LANCASTER UNIVERSITY (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (Collaboration)
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Collaboration)
- University of Chicago (Collaboration)
- University of Toronto (Collaboration)
- OPEN UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- University of Portsmouth (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Paris Institute of Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- DURHAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) (Collaboration)
- University of Clermont Auvergne (Collaboration)
- Leibniz Association (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
Publications
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation: 6x2 pt analysis of Euclid's spectroscopic and photometric data sets
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid. IV. The NISP Calibration Unit
Cagliari M
(2024)
Euclid : Testing photometric selection of emission-line galaxy targets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. LXVII. Deep learning true galaxy morphologies for weak lensing shear bias calibration
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. LVIII. Detecting globular clusters in the Euclid survey
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. Sensitivity to non-standard particle dark matter model
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid. III. The NISP Instrument
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. XLIII. Measuring detailed galaxy morphologies for Euclid with machine learning
Jacobson-Galán W
(2024)
SN 2024ggi in NGC 3621: Rising Ionization in a Nearby, Circumstellar-material-interacting Type II Supernova
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cagliari M
(2024)
Euclid: Testing photometric selection of emission-line galaxy targets
Kim Y
(2024)
Reconsidering photometric estimation of local star formation environment and its correlation with Type Ia supernova luminosity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zhong F
(2024)
Galaxy Spectra neural Network (GaSNet). II. Using deep learning for spectral classification and redshift predictions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Neidle C
(2024)
New Capability to Look Up an ASL Sign from a Video Example
Kim Y
(2024)
Tracing back the birth environments of Type Ia supernova progenitor stars: a pilot study based on 44 early-type host galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid. II. The VIS Instrument
Williams S
(2024)
Observations of type Ia supernova SN 2020nlb up to 600 days after explosion, and the distance to M85
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Signor T
(2024)
Euclid : Identifying the reddest high-redshift galaxies in the Euclid Deep Fields with gradient-boosted trees
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Brennan S
(2024)
SN 2021adxl: A luminous nearby interacting supernova in an extremely low-metallicity environment
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Angus C
(2024)
Double "acct": A Distinct Double-peaked Supernova Matching Pulsational Pair Instability Models
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. XLIX. Selecting active galactic nuclei using observed colours
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation XLVI. The Near-IR Background Dipole Experiment with Euclid
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid. V. The Flagship galaxy mock catalogue: a comprehensive simulation for the Euclid mission
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation. The Cosmic Dawn Survey (DAWN) of the Euclid Deep and Auxiliary Fields
Kim Y
(2024)
How Accurate are Transient Spectral Classification Tools?- A Study Using 4646 SEDMachine Spectra
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid preparation: XLVIII. The pre-launch Science Ground Segment simulation framework
Euclid Collaboration
(2024)
Euclid. I. Overview of the Euclid mission
Addison H
(2024)
A Young Supernova Selection Pipeline For The LSST Era
| Description | 4MOST Consortium |
| Organisation | Leibniz Association |
| Department | Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The consortium consists of 17 full members and 9 minor participants, some contributing to the hardware development, others to the software development, and almost all to the science case development. My collaboration (TiDES) has contributed financially towards the construction of the 4MOST instrument. We also contribute scientific planning effort. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Other institutions contribute financially as well as technically in the design and construction of the instrument. Other institutions also contribute to the scientific planning. |
| Impact | publications listed in appropriate grant report. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Euclid Consortium |
| Organisation | Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Euclid is a planned ESA mission that will be launched in 2022 and will survey the sky with the main goals of measuring the cosmological parameters of the universe. From the ESA web site: "Nearly 1000 scientists from 100 institutes form the Euclid Consortium building the instruments and participating in the scientific harvest of the mission. The Euclid Consortium comprises scientists from 13 European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania and the UK. It also includes a US NASA team of scientists." Prof. Hook and Prof. Miller are members of the Euclid consortium. Prof Hook is one of two UK representatives on the Euclid Consortium Board. She work on aspects of the survey design connected to discovery and study of astrophysical transients. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners are involved in design of the mission and the survey, and planning the science program that it will carry out after launch. Some partners are involved in construction of instruments that will fly on the mission. |
| Impact | There have been many publications from the Euclid consortium as a whole. There are also outreach activities connected to the mission. |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid Consortium |
| Organisation | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |
| Department | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Euclid is a planned ESA mission that will be launched in 2022 and will survey the sky with the main goals of measuring the cosmological parameters of the universe. From the ESA web site: "Nearly 1000 scientists from 100 institutes form the Euclid Consortium building the instruments and participating in the scientific harvest of the mission. The Euclid Consortium comprises scientists from 13 European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania and the UK. It also includes a US NASA team of scientists." Prof. Hook and Prof. Miller are members of the Euclid consortium. Prof Hook is one of two UK representatives on the Euclid Consortium Board. She work on aspects of the survey design connected to discovery and study of astrophysical transients. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners are involved in design of the mission and the survey, and planning the science program that it will carry out after launch. Some partners are involved in construction of instruments that will fly on the mission. |
| Impact | There have been many publications from the Euclid consortium as a whole. There are also outreach activities connected to the mission. |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid Consortium |
| Organisation | Paris Institute of Astrophysics |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Euclid is a planned ESA mission that will be launched in 2022 and will survey the sky with the main goals of measuring the cosmological parameters of the universe. From the ESA web site: "Nearly 1000 scientists from 100 institutes form the Euclid Consortium building the instruments and participating in the scientific harvest of the mission. The Euclid Consortium comprises scientists from 13 European countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania and the UK. It also includes a US NASA team of scientists." Prof. Hook and Prof. Miller are members of the Euclid consortium. Prof Hook is one of two UK representatives on the Euclid Consortium Board. She work on aspects of the survey design connected to discovery and study of astrophysical transients. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners are involved in design of the mission and the survey, and planning the science program that it will carry out after launch. Some partners are involved in construction of instruments that will fly on the mission. |
| Impact | There have been many publications from the Euclid consortium as a whole. There are also outreach activities connected to the mission. |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid UK |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for "Time Domain" studies and (in the implementation phase) Weak Lensing within the Euclid Ground Segment |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for other aspects of the Euclid ground segment including weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy photometric redshifts |
| Impact | Internal reports |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid UK |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for "Time Domain" studies and (in the implementation phase) Weak Lensing within the Euclid Ground Segment |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for other aspects of the Euclid ground segment including weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy photometric redshifts |
| Impact | Internal reports |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid UK |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Department of Space and Climate Physics (MSSL) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for "Time Domain" studies and (in the implementation phase) Weak Lensing within the Euclid Ground Segment |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for other aspects of the Euclid ground segment including weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy photometric redshifts |
| Impact | Internal reports |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid UK |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for "Time Domain" studies and (in the implementation phase) Weak Lensing within the Euclid Ground Segment |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for other aspects of the Euclid ground segment including weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy photometric redshifts |
| Impact | Internal reports |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Euclid UK |
| Organisation | University of Portsmouth |
| Department | Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for "Time Domain" studies and (in the implementation phase) Weak Lensing within the Euclid Ground Segment |
| Collaborator Contribution | Planning and developing algorithms for other aspects of the Euclid ground segment including weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy photometric redshifts |
| Impact | Internal reports |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Chicago |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning survey strategies for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys via simulations and calculations. Also developing follow-up strategies for LSST transients, for the purposes of Dark Energy science in particular. Testing transient classification software under various assumptions for training samples. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Simulations of the LSST data, planning of survey strategies, software for classification of transients. Partners have also help review papers prior to submission to journals. |
| Impact | Papers (non-refereed) that have resulted include: Enhancing LSST Science with Euclid Synergy (2019), a white paper by the Tri-Agency Working Group (TAG), P. Capak et al. The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Science Requirements Document (2018), The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration; Mandelbaum, R. et al. Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Wide-Fast-Deep Survey (2018) Lochner M. et al Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Deep Drilling Fields and other Special Programs (2018), Scolnic, D. et al |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Clermont Auvergne |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning survey strategies for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys via simulations and calculations. Also developing follow-up strategies for LSST transients, for the purposes of Dark Energy science in particular. Testing transient classification software under various assumptions for training samples. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Simulations of the LSST data, planning of survey strategies, software for classification of transients. Partners have also help review papers prior to submission to journals. |
| Impact | Papers (non-refereed) that have resulted include: Enhancing LSST Science with Euclid Synergy (2019), a white paper by the Tri-Agency Working Group (TAG), P. Capak et al. The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Science Requirements Document (2018), The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration; Mandelbaum, R. et al. Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Wide-Fast-Deep Survey (2018) Lochner M. et al Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Deep Drilling Fields and other Special Programs (2018), Scolnic, D. et al |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning survey strategies for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys via simulations and calculations. Also developing follow-up strategies for LSST transients, for the purposes of Dark Energy science in particular. Testing transient classification software under various assumptions for training samples. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Simulations of the LSST data, planning of survey strategies, software for classification of transients. Partners have also help review papers prior to submission to journals. |
| Impact | Papers (non-refereed) that have resulted include: Enhancing LSST Science with Euclid Synergy (2019), a white paper by the Tri-Agency Working Group (TAG), P. Capak et al. The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Science Requirements Document (2018), The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration; Mandelbaum, R. et al. Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Wide-Fast-Deep Survey (2018) Lochner M. et al Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Deep Drilling Fields and other Special Programs (2018), Scolnic, D. et al |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Toronto |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Planning survey strategies for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys via simulations and calculations. Also developing follow-up strategies for LSST transients, for the purposes of Dark Energy science in particular. Testing transient classification software under various assumptions for training samples. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Simulations of the LSST data, planning of survey strategies, software for classification of transients. Partners have also help review papers prior to submission to journals. |
| Impact | Papers (non-refereed) that have resulted include: Enhancing LSST Science with Euclid Synergy (2019), a white paper by the Tri-Agency Working Group (TAG), P. Capak et al. The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Science Requirements Document (2018), The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration; Mandelbaum, R. et al. Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Wide-Fast-Deep Survey (2018) Lochner M. et al Optimizing the LSST Observing Strategy for Dark Energy Science: DESC Recommendations for the Deep Drilling Fields and other Special Programs (2018), Scolnic, D. et al |
| Start Year | 2015 |