OpenUniverse2024: A shared, simulated view of the sky for the next generation of cosmological surveys

TL;DR

OpenUniverse2024 provides a comprehensive, multi-survey simulated sky dataset with improved realism and tools, enabling diverse cosmological studies for next-generation surveys like LSST and Roman.

Contribution

It introduces an advanced simulation suite with updated models and tools for multiple observatories, enhancing realism and consistency in cosmological survey simulations.

Findings

Simulated imaging covers 70 deg$^2$ for LSST and Roman surveys.

Includes improved extragalactic and transient models for better realism.

Approximately 400 TB of data is publicly available for research.

Abstract

The OpenUniverse2024 simulation suite is a cross-collaboration effort to produce matched simulated imaging for multiple surveys as they would observe a common simulated sky. Both the simulated data and associated tools used to produce it are intended to uniquely enable a wide range of studies to maximize the science potential of the next generation of cosmological surveys. We have produced simulated imaging for approximately 70 deg$^2$ of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Wide-Fast-Deep survey and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey, as well as overlapping versions of the ELAIS-S1 Deep-Drilling Field for LSST and the High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey for Roman. OpenUniverse2024 includes i) an early version of the updated extragalactic model called Diffsky, which substantially improves the realism of optical and infrared photometry of objects, compared to previous versions of these models; ii) updated transient models that extend through the wavelength range probed by Roman and Rubin; and iii) improved survey, telescope, and instrument realism based on up-to-date survey plans and known properties of the instruments. It is built on a new and updated suite of simulation tools that improves the ease of consistently simulating multiple observatories viewing the same sky. The approximately 400 TB of synthetic survey imaging and simulated universe catalogs are publicly available, and we preview some scientific uses of the simulations.