Lunch Seminars

SUNGLASS: A weak-lensing simulation pipeline

by Alina Kiessling (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

US/Central
F-108 (ANL, Bldg. 362)

F-108

ANL, Bldg. 362

Description
Weak gravitational lensing analysis is a powerful tool to investigate the dark Universe. Next generation weak-lensing telescope surveys (e.g. LSST, Euclid and WFIRST) promise to determine the equation of state of dark energy to 1% as well as probing the possibilities of extra dimensional gravity models and alternative cosmologies. To realize the potential of these new telescope surveys and to test new weak-lensing analysis techniques, challenges must be met. To achieve the small statistical errors required, experiments require full end-to-end simulations of huge volumes, which also probe the non-linear regime to assist in understanding the limitations of the analysis techniques. We have developed a cosmic shear analysis pipeline SUNGLASS (Simulated UNiverses for Gravitational Lensing Analysis and Shear Surveys) that rapidly generates cosmic shear and convergence catalogues using N-body simulations. In this talk, I introduce the SUNGLASS pipeline and show how the SUNGLASS mock shear catalogues can be used in preparation for upcoming telescope missions and for analysis of existing observational data sets.
Poster