The Dark Energy Survey: more than dark energy – an overview

Journal Article · Sun Jul 31 20:00:00 EDT 2016 · Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw641 · OSTI ID:1244413

Abbott, T.  ^[1]; Abdalla, F. B. ^[2]; Allam, S.  ^[3]; Aleksic, J. ^[4]; Amara, A. ^[5]; Bacon, D. ^[6]; Balbinot, E. ^[7]; Banerji, M. ^[8]; Bechtol, K.  ^[9]; Benoit-Levy, A. ^[10]; Bernstein, G. M.  ^[11]; Bertin, E. ^[12]; Blazek, J. ^[13]; Dodelson, S.  ^[14]; Bonnett, C.  ^[4]; Brooks, D.  ^[2]; Bridle, S. ^[15]; Brunner, R. J. ^[16]; Buckley-Geer, E.  ^[3]; Burke, D. L.  ^[17] ; Capozzi, D. ^[6]; Caminha, G. B. ^[18]; Carlsen, J. ^[6]; Carnero-Rosell, A. ^[19]; Carollo, M. ^[5]; Carrasco-Kind, M. ^[20]; Carretero, J.  ^[21]; Castander, F. J. ^[22]; Clerkin, L. ^[2]; Collett, T. ^[6]; Conselice, C. ^[23]; Crocce, M. ^[22]; Cunha, C. E. ^[24]; D'Andrea, C. B. ^[6]; da Costa, L. N. ^[25]; Davis, T. M.  ^[26]; Desai, S.  ^[27]; Diehl, H. T.  ^[3]; Dietrich, J. P.  ^[28]; Doel, P.  ^[2]; Drlica-Wagner, A.  ^[3]; Etherington, J. ^[6]; Estrada, J.  ^[3]; Evrard, A. E. ^[29]; Finley, D. A.  ^[3]; Flaugher, B.  ^[3]; Fosalba, P.  ^[22]; Foley, R. J. ^[30]; Frieman, J.  ^[31]; Garcia-Bellido, J.  ^[32]; Gaztanaga, E.  ^[22]; Gerdes, D. W. ^[33]; Giannantonio, T. ^[34]; Goldstein, D. A. ^[35]; Gruen, D. ^[36]; Gruendl, R. A. ^[20]; Guarnieri, P. ^[6]; Gutierrez, G.  ^[3]; Hartley, W. ^[5]; Honscheid, K. ^[37]; Jain, B. ^[11]; James, D. J. ^[1]; Jeltema, T.  ^[38]; Jouvel, S. ^[2]; Kessler, R. ^[39]; King, A. ^[26]; Kirk, D. ^[2]; Kron, R.  ^[39]; Kuehn, K. ^[40]; Kuropatkin, N. ^[3]; Lahav, O. ^[2]; Li, T. S.  ^[41]; Lima, M. ^[42]; Lin, H.  ^[3]; Maia, M. A.G.  ^[25]; Manera, M.  ^[2]; Maraston, C. ^[6]; Marshall, J. L. ^[41]; Martini, P.  ^[43]; McMahon, R. G. ^[8]; Melchior, P. ^[44]; Merson, A. ^[2]; Miller, C. J. ^[45]; Miquel, R. ^[46]; Mohr, J. J. ^[47]; Morice-Atkinson, X. ^[6]; Naidoo, K. ^[2]; Neilsen, E.  ^[3]; Nichol, R. C.  ^[6]; Nord, B.  ^[3]; Ogando, R. ^[25]; Ostrovski, F. ^[8]; Palmese, A.  ^[2]; Papadopoulos, A. ^[48]; Peiris, H.  ^[2]; Peoples, J.  ^[3]; Plazas, A. A. ^[49]; Percival, W. J. ^[6]; Reed, S. L. ^[8]; Romer, A. K. ^[50]; Roodman, A. ^[36]; Ross, A. ^[13]; Rozo, E. ^[51]; Rykoff, E. S. ^[17]; Sadeh, I.  ^[2]; Sako, M. ^[11]; Sanchez, C. ^[4]; Sanchez, E.  ^[52]; Santiago, B. ^[53]; Scarpine, V. ^[3]; Schubnell, M. ^[33]; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.  ^[54]; Sheldon, E. ^[55]; Smith, R. C. ^[1]; Soares-Santos, M.  ^[3]; Sobreira, F.  ^[56]; Soumagnac, M. ^[2]; Suchyta, E. ^[11]; Sullivan, M. ^[57]; Tarle, G. ^[33]; Thaler, J. ^[16]; Thomas, D.  ^[58]; Thomas, R. C.  ^[59]; Tucker, D.  ^[3]; Vieira, J. D. ^[30]; Vikram, V. ^[60]; Walker, A. R. ^[1]; Wechsler, R. H. ^[17]; Wester, W.  ^[3]; Weller, J.  ^[61]; Whiteway, L.  ^[2]; Wilcox, H. ^[6]; Yanny, B.  ^[3]; Zhang, Y. ^[33]; Zuntz, J. ^[15]

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1. Cerro-Tololo InterAmerican Obs.
2. University Coll. London
3. Fermilab
4. Barcelona, IFAE
5. Zurich, ETH
6. Portsmouth U., ICG
7. Surrey U.
8. Cambridge U., KICC; Cambridge U., Inst. of Astron.
9. Particle Beam Lasers, Madison; Wisconsin U., Madison
10. Paris, Inst. Astrophys.; University Coll. London
11. Pennsylvania U.
12. Paris, Inst. Astrophys.
13. Ohio State U., CCAPP
14. Fermilab; Chicago U., KICP; Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.
15. Manchester U.
16. Illinois U., Urbana
17. KIPAC, Menlo Park; SLAC
18. Rio de Janeiro, CBPF; Ferrara U.
19. Rio de Janeiro Observ.; LIneA, Rio de Janeiro
20. Illinois U., Urbana; Illinois U., Urbana, Astron. Dept.
21. Barcelona, IEEC; Barcelona, IFAE
22. Barcelona, IEEC
23. Nottingham U.
24. KIPAC, Menlo Park
25. LIneA, Rio de Janeiro; Rio de Janeiro Observ.
26. Queensland U.
27. Munich, Tech. U., Universe; Munich U.
28. Munich U.; Munich, Tech. U., Universe
29. Michigan U.; U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.
30. Illinois U., Urbana, Astron. Dept.; Illinois U., Urbana
31. Chicago U., KICP; Fermilab
32. Madrid, IFT
33. Michigan U.
34. Cambridge U., Inst. of Astron.; Cambridge U., KICC
35. UC, Berkeley; LBL, Berkeley
36. SLAC; KIPAC, Menlo Park
37. Ohio State U., CCAPP; Ohio State U.
38. UC, Santa Cruz
39. Chicago U., KICP
40. Australia, CSIRO, North Ryde
41. Texas A-M
42. LIneA, Rio de Janeiro; Sao Paulo U.
43. Ohio State U., CCAPP; Ohio State U., Dept. Astron.
44. Princeton U.
45. U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Michigan U.
46. ICREA, Barcelona; Barcelona, IFAE
47. Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; Munich U.; Munich, Tech. U., Universe
48. Portsmouth U., ICG; Alfonso El Sabio U.
49. Caltech
50. Sussex U.
51. Arizona U.
52. Madrid, CIEMAT
53. Rio Grande do Sul U.
54. Madrid, CIEMAT; Illinois U., Urbana, Astron. Dept.
55. Brookhaven
56. Fermilab; LIneA, Rio de Janeiro
57. Southampton U.
58. Portsmouth U., ICG; SEPnet, Southampton
59. LBL, Berkeley
60. Argonne
61. Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; Munich, Tech. U., Universe; Munich U.

This overview paper describes the legacy prospect and discovery potential of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) beyond cosmological studies, illustrating it with examples from the DES early data. DES is using a wide-field camera (DECam) on the 4 m Blanco Telescope in Chile to image 5000 sq deg of the sky in five filters (grizY). By its completion, the survey is expected to have generated a catalogue of 300 million galaxies with photometric redshifts and 100 million stars. In addition, a time-domain survey search over 27 sq deg is expected to yield a sample of thousands of Type Ia supernovae and other transients. The main goals of DES are to characterize dark energy and dark matter, and to test alternative models of gravity; these goals will be pursued by studying large-scale structure, cluster counts, weak gravitational lensing and Type Ia supernovae. However, DES also provides a rich data set which allows us to study many other aspects of astrophysics. In this paper, we focus on additional science with DES, emphasizing areas where the survey makes a difference with respect to other current surveys. The paper illustrates, using early data (from ‘Science Verification’, and from the first, second and third seasons of observations), what DES can tell us about the Solar system, the Milky Way, galaxy evolution, quasars and other topics. In addition, we show that if the cosmological model is assumed to be Λ+cold dark matter, then important astrophysics can be deduced from the primary DES probes. Highlights from DES early data include the discovery of 34 trans-Neptunian objects, 17 dwarf satellites of the Milky Way, one published z > 6 quasar (and more confirmed) and two published superluminous supernovae (and more confirmed).

• Research Organization: Portsmouth U., ICG; Illinois U., Urbana; Ferrara U.; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Ohio State U., Dept. Astron.; Ohio State U.; U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Princeton U.; Manchester U.; LIneA, Rio de Janeiro; Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Southampton U.; Paris, Inst. Astrophys.; Barcelona, IFAE; SEPnet, Southampton; Cambridge U., KICC; Cambridge U., Inst. of Astron.; Ohio State U., CCAPP; Zurich, ETH; Texas A-M; Alfonso El Sabio U.; Madrid, CIEMAT; ICREA, Barcelona; Illinois U., Urbana, Astron. Dept.; Madrid, IFT; Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Cerro-Tololo InterAmerican Obs.; Rio de Janeiro Observ.; Arizona U.; Barcelona, IEEC; UC, Santa Cruz; Chicago U., KICP; Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; UC, Berkeley; Surrey U.; Pennsylvania U.; Queensland U.; Sussex U.; Wisconsin U., Madison; Sao Paulo U.; Caltech; Rio Grande do Sul U.; Australia, CSIRO, North Ryde; Nottingham U.; Michigan U.; Munich U.; Munich, Tech. U., Universe; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Particle Beam Lasers, Madison; Rio de Janeiro, CBPF; University Coll. London; Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1244413
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-16-003-AE; DES-2015-0085; oai:inspirehep.net:1412011; arXiv:1601.00329
• Journal Information: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc., Journal Name: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 460
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English