Simulating Eclipsing Binary Yields of the Rubin Observatory in the Galactic Field and Star Clusters

TL;DR

This study models the Rubin Observatory's ability to detect and analyze eclipsing binaries across different galactic environments, comparing observing strategies to optimize binary detection and characterization.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation framework for predicting binary detection efficiency under different observing cadences and environments, highlighting potential improvements with alternative strategies.

Findings

Baseline cadence enables detection of about three million EBs.

Colossus cadence increases recovered EBs by 1.7 times in the field and clusters.

Including semi-detached and contact systems could triple the recovered EBs.

Abstract

We present a study of the detection and recovery efficiency of the Rubin Observatory for detached eclipsing binaries (EBs) in the galactic field, globular clusters (GCs) and open clusters (OCs), with a focus on comparing two proposed observing strategies: a standard cadence ("baseline"), and a cadence which samples the galactic plane more evenly ("colossus"). We generate realistic input binary populations in all observing fields of the Rubin Observatory, simulate the expected observations in each filter, and attempt to characterize the EBs using these simulated observations. In our models, we predict the baseline cadence will enable the Rubin Observatory to observe about three million EBs; our technique could recover and characterize nearly one million of these in the field and thousands within star clusters. If the colossus cadence is used, the number of recovered EBs would increase by an overall factor of about 1.7 in the field and in globular clusters, and a factor of about three in open clusters. Including semi-detached and contact systems could increase the number of recovered EBs by an additional factor of about 2.5 to 3. Regardless of the cadence, observations from the Rubin Observatory could reveal statistically significant physical distinctions between the distributions of EB orbital elements between the field, GCs and OCs. Simulations such as these can be used to bias correct the sample of Rubin Observatory EBs to study the intrinsic properties of the full binary populations in the field and star clusters.