The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) Science Requirements Document

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1809.01669
• Publication Date: 2018-01-01
• Authors: Collaboration, Th...; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Eifler, Tim; Hložek, Renée; Collett, Thomas; Gawiser, Eric; Scolnic, Daniel; Alonso, David; Awan, Humna; Biswas, Rahul; Blazek, Jonathan; Burchat, Patricia; Chisari, Nora Elisa; Dell'Antonio, Ian; Digel, Seth; Frieman, Josh; Goldstein, Daniel A.; Hook, Isobel; Ivezić, Željko; Kahn, Steven M.; Kamath, Sowmya; Kirkby, David; Kitching, Thomas; Krause, Elisabeth; Leget, Pierre-Fra...; Marshall, Philip J.; Meyers, Joshua; Miyatake, Hironao; Newman, Jeffrey A.; Nichol, Robert; Rykoff, Eli; Sanchez, F. Javier; Slosar, Anže; Sullivan, Mark; Troxel, M. A.
• Keywords: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO); 13. Climate action; 0103 physical sciences; astro-ph.CO; FOS: Physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

32 pages + 60 pages of appendices. This is v1.0.2 of the DESC SRD, an internal collaboration document that is being made public and is not planned for submission to a journal. Data products for reproducing key plots are available on Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1409815 ; see "Executive Summary and User Guide" for how to use and cite those products<br/>The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) will use five cosmological probes: galaxy clusters, large scale structure, supernovae, strong lensing, and weak lensing. This Science Requirements Document (SRD) quantifies the expected dark energy constraining power of these probes individually and together, with conservative assumptions about analysis methodology and follow-up observational resources based on our current understanding and the expected evolution within the field in the coming years. We then define requirements on analysis pipelines that will enable us to achieve our goal of carrying out a dark energy analysis consistent with the Dark Energy Task Force definition of a Stage IV dark energy experiment. This is achieved through a forecasting process that incorporates the flowdown to detailed requirements on multiple sources of systematic uncertainty. Future versions of this document will include evolution in our software capabilities and analysis plans along with updates to the LSST survey strategy.<br/>