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Title: Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera

Abstract

We characterize the variation in photometric response of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) across its 520~Mpix science array during 4 years of operation. These variations are measured using high signal-to-noise aperture photometry of $>10^7$ stellar images in thousands of exposures of a few selected fields, with the telescope dithered to move the sources around the array. A calibration procedure based on these results brings the RMS variation in aperture magnitudes of bright stars on cloudless nights down to 2--3 mmag, with <1 mmag of correlated photometric errors for stars separated by $$\ge20$$". On cloudless nights, any departures of the exposure zeropoints from a secant airmass law exceeding >1 mmag are plausibly attributable to spatial/temporal variations in aperture corrections. These variations can be inferred and corrected by measuring the fraction of stellar light in an annulus between 6" and 8" diameter. Key elements of this calibration include: correction of amplifier nonlinearities; distinguishing pixel-area variations and stray light from quantum-efficiency variations in the flat fields; field-dependent color corrections; and the use of an aperture-correction proxy. The DECam response pattern across the 2-degree field drifts over months by up to $$\pm7$$ mmag, in a nearly-wavelength-independent low-order pattern. We find no fundamental barriers to pushing global photometric calibrations toward mmag accuracy.

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Org.:
DES Collaboration
OSTI Identifier:
1361381
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1346375; OSTI ID: 1369280; OSTI ID: 1423239
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1703.01679; FERMILAB-PUB-17-057-AE; arXiv:1710.10943; FERMILAB-PUB-17-459-AE
Journal ID: ISSN 0004-6280; KJ0402000; KJ0503000; ERKJ311; ERKJEPM
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515; AST-1615555; SC0007901
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 129; Journal Issue: 977; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-6280
Publisher:
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Bernstein, G. M., Armstrong, R., Plazas, A. A., Walker, A. R., Abbott, T. M. C., Allam, S., Bechtol, K., Benoit-Lévy, A., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Cunha, C. E., Costa, L. N. da, DePoy, D. L., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Eifler, T. F., Fernandez, E., Fosalba, P., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kent, S., Krause, E., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Li, T. S., Maia, M. A. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. L. C., Reil, K., Roodman, A., Rykoff, E. S., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schindler, R., Schubnell, M., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Smith, R. C., Soares-Santos, M., Sobreira, F., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. E. C., and Tarle, G. Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1088/1538-3873/aa6c55.
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Bernstein, G. M., Armstrong, R., Plazas, A. A., Walker, A. R., Abbott, T. M. C., Allam, S., Bechtol, K., Benoit-Lévy, A., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Cunha, C. E., Costa, L. N. da, DePoy, D. L., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Eifler, T. F., Fernandez, E., Fosalba, P., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kent, S., Krause, E., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Li, T. S., Maia, M. A. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. L. C., Reil, K., Roodman, A., Rykoff, E. S., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schindler, R., Schubnell, M., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Smith, R. C., Soares-Santos, M., Sobreira, F., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. E. C., & Tarle, G. Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/aa6c55
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Bernstein, G. M., Armstrong, R., Plazas, A. A., Walker, A. R., Abbott, T. M. C., Allam, S., Bechtol, K., Benoit-Lévy, A., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Cunha, C. E., Costa, L. N. da, DePoy, D. L., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Eifler, T. F., Fernandez, E., Fosalba, P., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gerdes, D. W., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gschwend, J., Gutierrez, G., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kent, S., Krause, E., Kuehn, K., Kuropatkin, N., Li, T. S., Maia, M. A. G., March, M., Marshall, J. L., Menanteau, F., Miquel, R., Ogando, R. L. C., Reil, K., Roodman, A., Rykoff, E. S., Sanchez, E., Scarpine, V., Schindler, R., Schubnell, M., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Smith, M., Smith, R. C., Soares-Santos, M., Sobreira, F., Suchyta, E., Swanson, M. E. C., and Tarle, G. Tue . "Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/aa6c55. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1361381.
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@article{osti_1361381,
title = {Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera},
author = {Bernstein, G. M. and Armstrong, R. and Plazas, A. A. and Walker, A. R. and Abbott, T. M. C. and Allam, S. and Bechtol, K. and Benoit-Lévy, A. and Brooks, D. and Burke, D. L. and Rosell, A. Carnero and Kind, M. Carrasco and Carretero, J. and Cunha, C. E. and Costa, L. N. da and DePoy, D. L. and Desai, S. and Diehl, H. T. and Eifler, T. F. and Fernandez, E. and Fosalba, P. and Frieman, J. and García-Bellido, J. and Gerdes, D. W. and Gruen, D. and Gruendl, R. A. and Gschwend, J. and Gutierrez, G. and Honscheid, K. and James, D. J. and Kent, S. and Krause, E. and Kuehn, K. and Kuropatkin, N. and Li, T. S. and Maia, M. A. G. and March, M. and Marshall, J. L. and Menanteau, F. and Miquel, R. and Ogando, R. L. C. and Reil, K. and Roodman, A. and Rykoff, E. S. and Sanchez, E. and Scarpine, V. and Schindler, R. and Schubnell, M. and Sevilla-Noarbe, I. and Smith, M. and Smith, R. C. and Soares-Santos, M. and Sobreira, F. and Suchyta, E. and Swanson, M. E. C. and Tarle, G.},
abstractNote = {We characterize the variation in photometric response of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) across its 520~Mpix science array during 4 years of operation. These variations are measured using high signal-to-noise aperture photometry of $>10^7$ stellar images in thousands of exposures of a few selected fields, with the telescope dithered to move the sources around the array. A calibration procedure based on these results brings the RMS variation in aperture magnitudes of bright stars on cloudless nights down to 2--3 mmag, with <1 mmag of correlated photometric errors for stars separated by $\ge20$". On cloudless nights, any departures of the exposure zeropoints from a secant airmass law exceeding >1 mmag are plausibly attributable to spatial/temporal variations in aperture corrections. These variations can be inferred and corrected by measuring the fraction of stellar light in an annulus between 6" and 8" diameter. Key elements of this calibration include: correction of amplifier nonlinearities; distinguishing pixel-area variations and stray light from quantum-efficiency variations in the flat fields; field-dependent color corrections; and the use of an aperture-correction proxy. The DECam response pattern across the 2-degree field drifts over months by up to $\pm7$ mmag, in a nearly-wavelength-independent low-order pattern. We find no fundamental barriers to pushing global photometric calibrations toward mmag accuracy.},
doi = {10.1088/1538-3873/aa6c55},
journal = {Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific},
number = 977,
volume = 129,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue May 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/aa6c55
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Works referenced in this record:

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Characterization and correction of charge-induced pixel shifts in DECam
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    First Data Release of the All-sky NOAO Source Catalog
    journal, August 2018

    Astrometry and Occultation Predictions to Trans-Neptunian and Centaur Objects Observed within the Dark Energy Survey
    journal, February 2019

    • Banda-Huarca, M. V.; Camargo, J. I. B.; Desmars, J.
    • The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 157, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aafb37

    First Cosmology Results Using Type Ia Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: Photometric Pipeline and Light-curve Data Release
    journal, March 2019

    LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
    journal, March 2019

    • Ivezić, Željko; Kahn, Steven M.; Tyson, J. Anthony
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 873, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab042c

    The Dark Energy Survey: Data Release 1
    journal, November 2018

    • Abbott, T. M. C.; Abdalla, F. B.; Allam, S.
    • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 239, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/aae9f0

    Dynamical Analysis of Three Distant Trans-Neptunian Objects with Similar Orbits
    journal, November 2018

    Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys
    journal, April 2019

    • Dey, Arjun; Schlegel, David J.; Lang, Dustin
    • The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 157, Issue 5
    • DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab089d

    The Dark Energy Survey: Data Release 1
    text, January 2018

    • Abbott, Tmc; Abdalla, Fb; Allam, S.
    • Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
    • DOI: 10.17863/cam.37745

    LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
    text, January 2008

    Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys
    text, January 2018

    Dynamical Analysis of Three Distant Trans-Neptunian Objects with Similar Orbits
    text, January 2018

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