skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: DESCQA: An Automated Validation Framework for Synthetic Sky Catalogs

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online)
ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ; ; ; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo more »; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo « less

The use of high-quality simulated sky catalogs is essential for the success of cosmological surveys. The catalogs have diverse applications, such as investigating signatures of fundamental physics in cosmological observables, understanding the effect of systematic uncertainties on measured signals and testing mitigation strategies for reducing these uncertainties, aiding analysis pipeline development and testing, and survey strategy optimization. The list of applications is growing with improvements in the quality of the catalogs and the details that they can provide. Given the importance of simulated catalogs, it is critical to provide rigorous validation protocols that enable both catalog providers and users to assess the quality of the catalogs in a straightforward and comprehensive way. For this purpose, we have developed the DESCQA framework for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Dark Energy Science Collaboration as well as for the broader community. The goal of DESCQA is to enable the inspection, validation, and comparison of an inhomogeneous set of synthetic catalogs via the provision of a common interface within an automated framework. In this paper, we present the design concept and first implementation of DESCQA. In order to establish and demonstrate its full functionality we use a set of interim catalogs and validation tests. We highlight several important aspects, both technical and scientific, that require thoughtful consideration when designing a validation framework, including validation metrics and how these metrics impose requirements on the synthetic sky catalogs.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1424028
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1493251
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online), Vol. 234, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4365
Publisher:
American Astronomical Society/IOPCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (127)

Chemoarchaeological downsizing in a hierarchical universe: impact of a top-heavy IGIMF journal December 2014
Galaxy shapes and alignments in the MassiveBlack-II hydrodynamic and dark matter-only simulations journal August 2015
Strong bimodality in the host halo mass of central galaxies from galaxy–galaxy lensing journal February 2016
Mapping stellar content to dark matter haloes – II. Halo mass is the main driver of galaxy quenching journal January 2016
Analytic model for galaxy and dark matter clustering journal October 2000
Semi-analytic modelling of galaxy formation: the local Universe journal December 1999
High-redshift galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field: colour selection and star formation history to z   4 journal December 1996
The formation and evolution of galaxies within merging dark matter haloes* journal September 1993
Large-scale bias and the peak background split journal September 1999
Linking halo mass to galaxy luminosity journal September 2004
What Shapes the Luminosity Function of Galaxies? journal December 2003
An Improved Photometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data journal February 2008
The nature of galaxy bias and clustering journal February 2000
A recipe for galaxy formation journal December 1994
Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters journal October 2014
Modelling feedback from stars and black holes in galaxy mergers journal August 2005
Toward a Halo Mass Function for Precision Cosmology: The Limits of Universality journal December 2008
The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey text January 2009
The Deep2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Design, Observations, data Reduction, and Redshifts journal August 2013
What determines satellite galaxy disruption?: What determines satellite galaxy disruption? journal February 2010
Metal enrichment of the intracluster medium: a three-dimensional picture of chemical and dynamical properties journal June 2006
The distribution of stellar mass in the low-redshift Universe journal October 2009
The MassiveBlack-II simulation: the evolution of haloes and galaxies to z ∼ 0 journal April 2015
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): survey diagnostics and core data release: GAMA journal March 2011
Galaxy formation in the Planck cosmology – I. Matching the observed evolution of star formation rates, colours and stellar masses journal June 2015
Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies journal August 2013
Statistical Properties of X‐Ray Clusters: Analytic and Numerical Comparisons journal March 1998
Galaxy formation and large-scale bias journal April 1997
The high mass end of the stellar mass function: Dependence on stellar population models and agreement between fits to the light profile journal January 2017
Astropy: A community Python package for astronomy journal September 2013
Galaxy halo masses and satellite fractions from galaxy-galaxy lensing in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: stellar mass, luminosity, morphology and environment dependencies journal May 2006
Galaxy halo occupation at high redshift journal January 2002
MultiDark simulations: the story of dark matter halo concentrations and density profiles journal February 2016
Halo mass function: baryon impact, fitting formulae, and implications for cluster cosmology journal December 2015
The Concentration Dependence of the Galaxy–Halo Connection: Modeling Assembly bias with Abundance Matching journal December 2016
The Dark Side of the Halo Occupation Distribution journal July 2004
K -Corrections and Filter Transformations in the Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-Infrared journal January 2007
Galaxy formation through hierarchical clustering journal September 1991
Cosmological Simulations with TreeSPH journal July 1996
The Galactic Disk Mass Budget. I. Stellar Mass Function and Density journal June 2001
SEVEN-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION journal January 2011
Populating a cluster of galaxies - I. Results at \fontshape{it}{z}=0 journal December 2001
Chemical yields from low- and intermediate-mass stars: Model predictions and basic observational constraints journal April 2001
On the Distribution of the Two-Sample Cramer-von Mises Criterion journal September 1962
The dark side of galaxy colour: evidence from new SDSS measurements of galaxy clustering and lensing journal August 2014
Halo occupation numbers and galaxy bias journal November 2000
The impact of galaxy formation on the total mass, mass profile and abundance of haloes journal June 2014
Structure of superclusters and supercluster formation - III. Quantitative study of the Local Supercluster journal February 1984
The massive end of the luminosity and stellar mass functions: dependence on the fit to the light profile journal September 2013
Stellar masses and star formation histories for 10 5 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey journal May 2003
Spatial Correlation Function and Pairwise Velocity Dispersion of Galaxies: Cold Dark Matter Models versus the Las Campanas Survey journal February 1998
The Seventh data Release of the Sloan Digital sky Survey journal May 2009
The non-parametric model for linking galaxy luminosity with halo/subhalo mass journal September 2006
Mapping stellar content to dark matter haloes using galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing in the SDSS DR7 text January 2015
Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003 journal October 2003
SUSSING MERGER TREES: the influence of the halo finder journal May 2014
The Halo Occupation Distribution: Toward an Empirical Determination of the Relation between Galaxies and Mass journal August 2002
Galacticus: A semi-analytic model of galaxy formation journal February 2012
Effects of AGN feedback on ΛCDM galaxies journal August 2008
Mapping stellar content to dark matter haloes using galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing in the SDSS DR7 journal October 2015
Theoretical Models of the Halo Occupation Distribution: Separating Central and Satellite Galaxies journal November 2005
The Halo Mass Function: High‐Redshift Evolution and Universality journal December 2007
Modeling Luminosity‐dependent Galaxy Clustering through Cosmic Time journal August 2006
New York University Value-Added Galaxy Catalog: A Galaxy Catalog Based on New Public Surveys journal June 2005
Cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations: a hybrid multiphase model for star formation journal February 2003
Galaxy formation theory journal October 2010
The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory journal December 2017
The evolution of large-scale structure in a universe dominated by cold dark matter journal May 1985
A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach journal November 2006
A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTIES AFFECTING THE STELLAR MASS-HALO MASS RELATION FOR 0 < z < 4 journal June 2010
The Rockstar Phase-Space Temporal halo Finder and the Velocity Offsets of Cluster Cores journal December 2012
Gravitationally Consistent halo Catalogs and Merger Trees for Precision Cosmology journal December 2012
Mass Function Predictions Beyond Λcdm journal April 2011
Cold Flows and the First Quasars journal January 2012
Hierarchical Galaxy Growth and Scatter in the Stellar Mass–Halo mass Relation journal December 2016
Matplotlib: A 2D Graphics Environment journal January 2007
A Theoretical Framework for Combining Techniques that Probe the link Between Galaxies and dark Matter journal August 2011
Revisiting the Scaling Relations of Black hole Masses and host Galaxy Properties journal February 2013
A Critical Assessment of Stellar mass Measurement Methods journal July 2015
Constraints on the Relationship Between Stellar mass and halo mass at low and high Redshift journal January 2010
The Connection Between Galaxies and dark Matter Structures in the Local Universe journal June 2013
Calibration of Semi-Analytic Models of Galaxy Formation Using Particle Swarm Optimization journal March 2015
The NumPy Array: A Structure for Efficient Numerical Computation journal March 2011
CASSPER is a semantic segmentation-based particle picking algorithm for single-particle cryo-electron microscopy journal February 2021
Galaxy shapes and alignments in the MassiveBlack-II hydrodynamic and dark matter-only simulations text January 2015
The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory text January 2017
Mapping stellar content to dark matter haloes using galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing in the SDSS DR7 text January 2015
Mapping stellar content to dark matter halos. II. Halo mass is the main driver of galaxy quenching text January 2015
The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory text January 2017
A theoretical framework for combining techniques that probe the link between galaxies and dark matter text January 2011
Galaxy shapes and alignments in the MassiveBlack-II hydrodynamic and dark matter-only simulations text January 2015
Mapping stellar content to dark matter halos. II. Halo mass is the main driver of galaxy quenching text January 2015
Strong bimodality in the host halo mass of central galaxies from galaxy-galaxy lensing text January 2018
The seventh data release of the sloan digital sky survey text January 2009
Effects of AGN feedback on LCDM galaxies text January 2008
Constraints on the relationship between stellar mass and halo mass at low and high redshift text January 2009
Galaxy Formation Theory text January 2010
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): survey diagnostics and core data release text January 2010
A theoretical framework for combining techniques that probe the link between galaxies and dark matter text January 2011
The Rockstar Phase-Space Temporal Halo Finder and the Velocity Offsets of Cluster Cores text January 2011
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Design, Observations, Data Reduction, and Redshifts text January 2012
The Connection between Galaxies and Dark Matter Structures in the Local Universe text January 2012
Revisiting the Scaling Relations of Black Hole Masses and Host Galaxy Properties text January 2012
Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters text January 2013
Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies text January 2013
Calibration of semi-analytic models of galaxy formation using Particle Swarm Optimization text January 2013
The MassiveBlack-II Simulation: The Evolution of Halos and Galaxies to z~0 text January 2014
Sussing Merger Trees: the influence of the halo finder text January 2014
The impact of galaxy formation on the total mass, mass profile and abundance of haloes text January 2014
Galaxy formation in the Planck Cosmology - I. Matching the observed evolution of star formation rates, colours and stellar masses text January 2014
Halo mass function: Baryon impact, fitting formulae and implications for cluster cosmology text January 2015
Mapping stellar content to dark matter halos. II. Halo mass is the main driver of galaxy quenching text January 2015
Strong bimodality in the host halo mass of central galaxies from galaxy-galaxy lensing text January 2015
Halo occupation numbers and galaxy bias text January 2000
Galaxy Halo Occupation at High Redshift text January 2001
The Galactic disk mass-budget : I. stellar mass-function and density text January 2001
Stellar Masses and Star Formation Histories for 10^5 Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey text January 2002
What Shapes the Luminosity Function of Galaxies? text January 2003
The Dark Side of the Halo Occupation Distribution text January 2003
Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003 text January 2003
Theoretical Models of the Halo Occupation Distribution: Separating Central and Satellite Galaxies text January 2004
The Non-Parametric Model for Linking Galaxy Luminosity with Halo/Subhalo Mass text January 2005
A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach text January 2006
The Halo Mass Function: High-Redshift Evolution and Universality text January 2007
An Improved Photometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data text January 2007
Statistical Properties of X-ray Clusters: Analytic and Numerical Comparisons text January 1997
The Nature of Galaxy Bias and Clustering text January 1999

Cited By (6)

A Compendium of Extinction Curves for Simple Galactic Geometries journal October 2018
Mapping stellar content to dark matter haloes – III. Environmental dependence and conformity of galaxy colours journal February 2018
Covariances of galaxy stellar mass functions and correlation functions journal October 2018
CosmoDC2: A Synthetic Sky Catalog for Dark Energy Science with LSST journal December 2019
Mapping stellar content to dark matter halos - III.Environmental dependence and conformity of galaxy colours text January 2017
CosmoDC2: A Synthetic Sky Catalog for Dark Energy Science with LSST text January 2019

Similar Records

DESCQA: An Automated Validation Framework for Synthetic Sky Catalogs
Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2018 · The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online) · OSTI ID:1424028

CosmoDC2: A Synthetic Sky Catalog for Dark Energy Science with LSST
Journal Article · Fri Dec 06 00:00:00 EST 2019 · The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online) · OSTI ID:1424028

CONSTRUCTION OF A CALIBRATED PROBABILISTIC CLASSIFICATION CATALOG: APPLICATION TO 50k VARIABLE SOURCES IN THE ALL-SKY AUTOMATED SURVEY
Journal Article · Sat Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series · OSTI ID:1424028