The LSST AGN Science Collaboration: European Connections and Early Science
Abstract
The LSST AGN Science Collaboration: Its European Connections and Early Science Plans William N. Brandt (Penn State University), Matthew J. Temple (Durham University), The LSST AGN Science Collaboration The LSST Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) Science Collaboration (SC), currently comprising about 280 members worldwide (with more than 75 European members), aims to lead many of the large-scale LSST investigations of growing supermassive black holes in AGNs. I will briefly summarize the membership and organization of the AGN SC. I will then highlight its recent and ongoing activities, including gathering and analyzing preparatory data sets (e.g., in the Deep-Drilling Fields) to enable impactful early science, contributing to survey cadence optimization, forecasting science results with simulations, serving on key working groups, and engaging in outreach to both the scientific community and general public. I will emphasize the AGN SC's early science plans and describe how interested members of the European and global astronomical community can become involved.
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The LSST AGN Science Collaboration: European Connections and Early Science Niel Brandt (Penn State) and Matthew Temple (Durham) - For the LSST AGN SC S. Fotopoulou Vera C. Rubin Obser vat ory 2024 Oct
Overall AGN SC Goals Maximize the AGN science return of the LSST. Give feedback to the Project to ensure excellent AGN science. Educate the broader community about LSST AGN science.
Current Membership Currently have 275 members Grew by 65 (24%) over past year 255 associate and 20 full/core members Seven largest national memberships: Country Number of Members USA 120 UK 25 Italy 20 Brazil 19 Chile 18 Australia 14 Serbia 12 Membership applications are welcome, even from people who lack data rights. AGN SC membership does not provide data rights. Application instructions at https://agn.science.lsst.org Additional European countries: Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland – 79 European members in total
Overall Organization Adapted from AGN SC Charter Leader/coordinator names are listed. Also: Liaison to SCOC – Assef Users committee – Petrecca & Sarajedini In-kind coordinators – Hoenig & Coppi Brandt Temple Brandt et al. Shemmer Richards et al. Assef & Shirley Secunda & Yu Rani & Ricci Schneider et al. Kovacevic Richards & Yu DEI Temple
In-Kind Contributions AGN SC in-kind contribution representatives are Sebastian Hoenig and Paolo Coppi. Six in-kind projects ongoing – 5/6 are European. Name Lead Italian simulations of high -z AGNs and galaxies in the LSST survey Bongiorno AGN reverberation -mapping time delays Czerny SER -SAG pipeline for periodic variability detection Kovacevic TIMEDOMES: VST Monitoring of the LSST DDFs Paolillo Canadian contribution to the LSST AGN SC: Data -analysis tools for AGN photometric variability Ruan MPE photometric redshifts for LSST -detected AGNs Salvato
Some Recent and Ongoing Activities
Annual In-Person or Remote Meetings •32 LSST AGN science talks •Tutorials •Hackathons •Planning discussions Annual meetings held since 2020. Durham UK Workshop – 2025 July
Some Early Science Topics Covered in Durham •End-to-end simulations of AGN and galaxy populations •Fast light-curve modeling and reverberation-lag determination techniques •Close binary SMBH identification •AGN selection using machine learning and variability •Precursor time-domain surveys – Timedomes, ZTF, QUEST, ATLAS •Photometric redshift techniques for AGNs •Quasar-host image decomposition
AGN SC YouTube Playlist tinyurl.com/lsstagnsc01 75+ hours
Complementary Multiwavelength Data Flooding In for the DDFs! MeerKAT MIGHTEE & LADUMA (Radio) LMT VLT 4MOST SDSS-V
LSST AGN SC First Data Challenge Led by G. Richards and W. Yu. Part of general efforts to prepare students, postdocs, and others for LSST AGN science. 5 submissions - monetary prizes awarded. Data-challenge dataset made public.
Survey Cadence Contributions We have delivered 4 journal articles, 8 cadence notes (in addition to the 2018 white papers), and 4 coded metrics. We continue communicating with SCOC via, e.g., feedback to Roberto Assef and the DDF cadence task force, SCOC-SC workshops. AGN SC members continue working through new operations simulations to assess if these allow desired AGN science to be achieved. Continue coordinating with other SCs to see if we can identify mutually acceptable cadence solutions – e.g., DESC DDF discussions.
Papers Assessing LSST Cadences for Scientific Projects
LSST AGN SC Cadence Notes - 8 Total Available at https://www.lsst.org/content/survey-cadence-notes-2021
Survey Cadence Contributions We have delivered 4 journal articles, 8 cadence notes (in addition to the 2018 white papers), and 4 coded metrics. We continue communicating with SCOC via, e.g., feedback to Roberto Assef and the DDF cadence task force, SCOC-SC workshops. AGN SC members continue working through new operations simulations to assess if these allow desired AGN science to be achieved. Continue coordinating with other SCs to see if we can identify mutually acceptable cadence solutions – e.g., DESC DDF discussions.
Other Key Activities in 2023-2025 AGN SC has several members on the Rubin-Euclid Derived Data Products Working Group. Many AGN SC members are working on Data Previews. Charter and publication policies updated – Project Database. Ongoing demographic census. Coordinate with other AGN projects; e.g., reverberation mapping and X-ray missions (e.g., NewAthena).
Relevant Outreach Activities LSST Workshop on AGN Variability for Students from Ethiopia and Serbia LSST Community Demo Sessions and Outreach Events Penn State Teacher Workshops Worldwide LSST AGN Talks
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