Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier White Paper: Rubin Observatory after LSST

TL;DR

The Rubin Observatory's LSST will revolutionize our understanding of the dark universe through extensive, high-quality data, enabling tests of cosmological tensions and discovery of new phenomena, with future opportunities for enhanced observations.

Contribution

This white paper discusses potential scientific opportunities and instrumental strategies for the Rubin Observatory after LSST to further explore dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic structure.

Findings

LSST will provide unprecedented data for dark universe studies

Post-LSST observations can test cosmological tensions

Innovative strategies may enhance future discoveries

Abstract

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will begin the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in 2024, spanning an area of 18,000 square degrees in six bands, with more than 800 observations of each field over ten years. The unprecedented data set will enable great advances in the study of the formation and evolution of structure and exploration of physics of the dark universe. The observations will hold clues about the cause for the accelerated expansion of the universe and possibly the nature of dark matter. During the next decade, LSST will be able to confirm or dispute if tensions seen today in cosmological data are due to new physics. New and unexpected phenomena could confirm or disrupt our current understanding of the universe. Findings from LSST will guide the path forward post-LSST. The Rubin Observatory will still be a uniquely powerful facility even then, capable of revealing further insights into the physics of the dark universe. These could be obtained via innovative observing strategies, e.g., targeting new probes at shorter timescales than with LSST, or via modest instrumental changes, e.g., new filters, or through an entirely new instrument for the focal plane. This White Paper highlights some of the opportunities in each scenario from Rubin observations after LSST.