Weak lensing from space I: instrumentation and survey strategy

J. Rhodes (1, 2, 3) , A. Refregier (4) , R. Massey (1) , J. Albert , D. Bacon , G. Bernstein , R. Ellis (1) , B. Jain , A. Kim , M. Lampton , T. Mckay , C. Akerlof , G. Aldering , R. Amanullah , P. Astier (5) , C. Baltay , E. Barrelet (5) , C. Bebek , L. Bergström , J. Bercovitz , M. Bester , B. Bigelow , R. Bohlin , A. Bonissent (6) , C. Bower , M. Brown , M. Campbell (7) , W. Carithers , E. Commins , C. Day , S. Deustua , R. Digennaro , A. Ealet (6) , W. Emmet , M. Eriksson , D. Fouchez (6) , A. Fruchter , J.-F. Genat (5) , D. Gerdes (8) , L. Gladney , G. Goldhaber , A. Goobar (9) , D. Groom , S. Harris , P. Harvey , H. Heetderks , S. Holland , D. Huterer , W. Johnston , A. Karcher , W. Kolbe , B. Krieger , G. Kushner , N. Kuznetsova , R. Lafever , J. Lamoureux , M. Levi , E. Linder , S. Loken , W. Lorenzon , R. Malina (8) , A. Mazure (8) , S. Mckee , R. Miquel , N. Morgan , E. Mörtsell , N. Mostek , S. Mufson , J. Musser , P. Nugent , H. Oluseyi , R. Pain (5) , N. Palaio , D. Pankow , S. Perlmutter (10) , R. Pratt , E. Prieto (8) , D. Rabinowitz , K. Robinson , N. Roe , D. Rusin , M. Schubnell , M. Sholl , G. Smadja (11) , R. Smith (12) , G. Smoot , J. Snyder , A. Spadafora , A. Szymkowiak , G. Tarlé , K. Taylor , A. Tilquin (6) , A. Tomasch , H. von Der Lippe , D. Vincent (13) , J.-P. Walder (11) , Gang Wang (14)

1 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
2 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
3 Department of Mathematics [Berkeley]
4 DAPNIA - Département d'Astrophysique, de physique des Particules, de physique Nucléaire et de l'Instrumentation Associée
5 LPNHE - Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies
6 CPPM - Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille
7 School of Engineering [Edinburgh]
8 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
9 Department of Physics
10 LBNL - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Berkeley]
11 IPNL - Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon
12 CfA - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
13 DIOM - Dispositifs et Instrumentation en Optoélectronique et micro-ondes
14 Dept Mat Sci & Engn

A wide-field space-based imaging telescope is necessary to fully exploit the technique of observing dark matter via weak gravitational lensing. This first paper in a three part series outlines the survey strategies and relevant instrumental parameters for such a mission. As a concrete example of hardware design, we consider the proposed Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP). Using SNAP engineering models, we quantify the major contributions to this telescope's point spread function (PSF). These PSF contributions are relevant to any similar wide-field space telescope. We further show that the PSF of SNAP or a similar telescope will be smaller than current ground-based PSFs, and more isotropic and stable over time than the PSF of the Hubble Space Telescope. We outline survey strategies for two different regimes--a ``wide'' 300 square degree survey and a ``deep'' 15 square degree survey that will accomplish various weak lensing goals including statistical studies and dark matter mapping.

Mots clés: Dark matter; Dark energy; Instrumentation

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]

J. Rhodes, A. Refregier, R. Massey, J. Albert, D. Bacon, et al.. Weak lensing from space I: instrumentation and survey strategy. Astroparticle Physics, 2004, 20, pp.377-389. ⟨10.1016/S0927-6505(03)00259-7⟩. ⟨in2p3-00455332⟩