Vera C. Rubin Observatory:
Ushering a New Era of TDA
Federica Bianco
(she/her)
University of Delaware
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Data Science Institute
Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time
Deputy Project Scientist, Rubin Construction
This is a living land acknowledgement developed in consultation with tribal leadership of Poutaxet, what is now known as the “Delaware Bay,” including: the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, and the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in 2021. We thank these leaders for their generosity.
The University of Delaware occupies lands vital to the web of life for Lenni Lenape and Nanticoke, who share their ancestry, history, and future in this region. UD has financially benefited from this regional occupation as well as from Indigenous territories that were expropriated through the United States land grant system. European colonizers and later the United States forced Nanticoke and Lenni Lenape westward and northward, where they formed nations in present-day Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. Others never left their homelands or returned from exile when they could. We express our appreciation for ongoing Indigenous stewardship of the ecologies and traditions of this region. While the harms to Indigenous people and their homelands are beyond repair, we commit to building right relationships going forward by collaborating with tribal leadership on actionable institutional steps.
slides available at
This is a living land acknowledgement developed in consultation with tribal leadership of Poutaxet, what is now known as the “Delaware Bay,” including: the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, and the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in 2021. We thank these leaders for their generosity.
The University of Delaware occupies lands vital to the web of life for Lenni Lenape and Nanticoke, who share their ancestry, history, and future in this region. UD has financially benefited from this regional occupation as well as from Indigenous territories that were expropriated through the United States land grant system. European colonizers and later the United States forced Nanticoke and Lenni Lenape westward and northward, where they formed nations in present-day Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. Others never left their homelands or returned from exile when they could. We express our appreciation for ongoing Indigenous stewardship of the ecologies and traditions of this region. While the harms to Indigenous people and their homelands are beyond repair, we commit to building right relationships going forward by collaborating with tribal leadership on actionable institutional steps.
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time @
Vera C. Rubin Observatory
Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile
Funding: US NSF + DOE
LSST Science Drivers
Probing Dark Energy and Dark Matter
image credit ESO-Gaia
LSST Science Drivers
Mapping the Milky Way and Local Volume
via resolved stellar population
An unprecedented inventory of the Solar System from threatening NEO to the distant Oort Cloud
LSST Science Drivers
LSST Science Drivers
image credit: ESA-Justyn R. Maund
Exploring the Transients and Variable Universe
10M alerts every night shared with the world
60 seconds after observation
The immutable skies
Bartolomeu Velho, 1568 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
1549 Oronce Fine, France
From Flammarion's Astronomie Populaire (1880) Denmark
Workshop of Diebold Lauber unknown artist, ca.1450
brighter →
brighter →
+
What time scales can LSST probe?
| Photometric filters' | u, g, r, i, z, y |
| saturation limit' # visits* mag single image* mag coadd* Nominal cadence |
~15, 16, 16, 16, 15, 14 53, 70, 185, 192, 168, 165 23.34, 23.2, 24.05, 23.55 22.03 25.4, 26.9, 27.0, 26.5, 25.8, 24.9 2-3 visits per night ~3 day revisit lag in any filter ~10 days revisit lag in r band |
' requirement: ls.st/srd
brighter →
Rubin Transients by the numbers
(2026)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
SKA
(2025)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
SKA
(2025)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
SKA
(2025)
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
SKA
(2025)
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae Villar+ 2018
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
SKA
(2025)
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae Villar+ 2018
~ 50k Tidal Disruption Events Brickman+ 2020
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae Villar+ 2018
~ 50k Tidal Disruption Events Brickman+ 2020
> 10 Interstellar Objects (aliens?)
SKA
(2025)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae Villar+ 2018
~ 50k Tidal Disruption Events Brickman+ 2020
> 10 Interstellar Objects (aliens?)
?? things we dont know
SKA
(2025)
(2026)
Rubin Transients by the numbers
Rubin Observatory
Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile
Funding: US NSF + DOE
Status: final phases of construction - completion expected 2025
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
@fedhere
September 2016
@fedhere
Fabruary 2020
@fedhere
May 2022
@fedhere
November 2022
@fedhere
March 2024
late 2024-
early 2025
mid 2025
~1.5-2 years
from now
First data release ~2.5-3y from now
alerts build up
May 2022 - Telescope Mount Assembly
18
The DOE LSST Camera - 3.2 Gigapixel
sensitivity
area of sky surveyed with 1 image
Resolution
10 (3.2 Gpx)
8
9
7
6
2M 3,200 Gigapixel images in 10 years -about 60 PB of data
Large FoV - High Resolution - High Sensitivity
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
Rubin Field of View: 10deg square
LIGO/VIRGO GW area of localization ~100deg square
Ursa Minor: 255.86 square degrees
S190425z 18% of the sky localization
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
@fedhere
At this level of precision,everything is variable, everything is blended, everything is moving.
SDSS
LSST-like HSC composite
|
Field of View' Image resolution' DDFs' Standard visit' Photometric precision' Photometric accuracy' Astrometric precision' Astrometric accuracy' |
9.6 sq deg 0.2'' (seeing limited) 5 DDF 30 sec 5 mmag 10 mmag 10 mas 50 mas |
' requirement: ls.st/srd
SDSS 2x4 arcmin sq griz
MYSUC (Gawiser 2014) 1 mag shallower than LSST coadds
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
| u,g,r,i,z,y | |
|---|---|
|
Photometric filters' saturation limit' # visits* mag single image* mag coadd* Nominal cadence |
u, g, r, i, z, y ~15, 16, 16, 16, 15, 14 53, 70, 185, 192, 168, 165 23.34, 23.2, 24.05, 23.55 22.03 25.4, 26.9, 27.0, 26.5, 25.8, 24.9 2-3 visits per night |
At this level of precision,everything is variable, everything is blended, everything is moving.
' requirement: ls.st/srd
LSST time domain data products
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
Alerts Images
Meta Data &
Catalog Visits
80
Pitt-Google
Broker
BABAMUL
world public!
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
world public!
data right holders
Rubin Observatory LSST
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
@fedhere
Rubin Transients by the number
17B stars Ivezic+19
~10 million QSO Mary Loli+21
∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars Minghao+19
~50 kilonovae Setzer+19, Andreoni+19 (+ ToO)
~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae Villar+ 2018
~ 50k Tidal Disruption Events Brickman+ 2020
> 10 Interstellar Objects (aliens?)
~1000 SN / night
LSST
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
@fedhere
Rubin will see ~1000 SN every night!
Credit: Alex Gagliano University of Illinois, IAIFI fellow 2023
LSST has profoundly changed the TDA infrastructure
Discovery Engine
10M alerts/night
Community Brokers
target observation managers
the astronomy discovery chain
Pitt-Google
Broker
BABAMUL
Photometric Classification of transients
highest participation of any astronomical Kaggle challenges
Deep Drilling Fields
Deep Drilling Fields
Wide Fast Deep
Willow Fox Fortino
UDel grad student
When they go high, we go low
Classification power vs spectral resolution for SNe subtypes
Neural Network
classifier architectures:
- transformers
- CNNs
LSST survey strategy optimization
Operation Simulator (OpSim)
simulates the catalog of LSST observations + observation properties
Metric Analysi Framwork (MAF)
Python API to interact with OpSims specifying science performance on a science case with a metric
Lynne Jones
Peter Yoachim
~100s simulations
~1000s MAFs
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
2017
Wide Fast Deep
5 Deep Drilling Fields
North Ecliptic spur
South Celestial Pole
+ Microsurveys
+ Targets of Opportunity
The Galactic Plane is observed differently
Rubin LSST survey design
distributions of time gaps in 76 OpSims
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
Survey Cadence Optimization Committee
Rubin LSST survey design
20+ peer review papers accepted several more under review and in preparation https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0067-0049/page/rubin_cadence
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
2017
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
2019
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
2023
Rubin LSST survey design
Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!
2024
TDA Anomalies in LSST
Presto-Color, Bianco+ 2019; Give me a few hours, Bellm+ 2019
The original survey plan didn't lead to good TDA outcomes:
2 intranight obs in same filer +
2 intranight obs in another filter ~5 day later
rate of change
# pairs of observations (1e5)
time gaps (days)
color
The original survey plan didn't lead to good TDA outcomes:
2 intranight obs in same filer +
2 intranight obs in another filter ~5 day later
Proposed 3 intranight obs
2 within 1 hour in different filters
1 at 4-8 hours separation w repeat filter
color
rate of change
Back to back images are now taken in different filters
few % of the observations will be taken in this mode
+ rolling cadence
TDA Anomalies in LSST
Presto-Color, Bianco+ 2019; Give me a few hours, Bellm+ 2019
Proposed 3 intranight obs
2 within 1 hour in different filters
1 at 4-8 hours separation w repeat filter
Ofek+ 2024
KN evolution in color vs magnitude change is distinct from the background
The original survey plan didn't lead to good TDA outcomes:
2 intranight obs in same filer +
2 intranight obs in another filter ~5 day later
TDA Anomalies in LSST
Presto-Color, Bianco+ 2019; Give me a few hours, Bellm+ 2019
Proposed 3 intranight obs
2 within 1 hour in different filters
1 at 4-8 hours separation w repeat filter
TDA Anomalies in LSST
Presto-Color, Bianco+ 2019; Give me a few hours, Bellm+ 2019
The original survey plan didn't lead to good TDA outcomes:
2 intranight obs in same filer +
2 intranight obs in another filter ~5 day later
PSTN-055 Official Rubin Cadence Recommendation 1/2023 : Rolling is recommended on the WFD, with the sky split into two 1/2-sky regions defined by declination limits and with a 0.9 rolling weight.
TDA Anomalies in LSST
newer simulations ->
<-bad good ->
2023 simulations: 62% improvement
newer simulations ->
4 – 24 hour gaps between epochs will enable kilonova parameter estimation
2017
2024
Andreoni+ 2022a
TDA Anomalies in LSST
federica bianco - fbianco@udel.edu
This is a workshop: the goal of the workshop is to produce a report to be delivered to the SCOC containing recommendations for how to implement ToO responses with Rubin. There are no talks.Time is dedicated to collaboratively working toward the workshop report.
Rubin ToO program
SOC: I. Andreoni (KN), F. Bianco, A. Franckowiak (ν), T. Lister (Solar System),
R. Margutti (KN, GRB), G. Smith (Lensed KN)
Pies in the LSST sky
Will the Survey Strategy enable detection and separation?
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Will the Data Analysis Methodology enable discovery?
Will we discover new physics?
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
Li et al. 2022 ApJS 258 2
Unknown Unknowns in LSST
Xiaolong Li
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
atmosphere-aided studies with LSST
Riley Clarke, UDelware
dM Flare energy
dDCR color Flare temperature
NSF Award #2308016
P.I. Bianco
Riley Clarke et al. 2024 submitted
AstroPhysical Journl Supplements
LSST ΔDCR detectability
Riley Clarke, UDelware
Stars that flare ΔDCR
Xiaolong Li et al. 2022
LSSTC Catalyst Fellow, J. Hopkins
AILE: the first AI-based platform for the detection and study of Light Echoes
NSF Award #2108841
P.I. Bianco
Light Ecoes are rare strophsyical pheonomena and a near-pessimal problem for AI, but with as much data as LSST AI is a necessity
- imbalance classes
- diverse morphology
- low SNR
- small training data
- inaccurate labels
2018 Cadence White Paper
Continuous readout astronomical images for anomaly detection in ZTF
new transformer models!
Shar Daniels, NSF GRFP Fellow 2024
Research Inclusion: sonification of LSST lightcurves
Rubin Rhapsodies
FASTLab: AI applications to astrophysics and across disciplines
thank you!
University of Delaware
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Data Science Institute
@fedhere
federica bianco
fbianco@udel.edu