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Appendix 2: Key extracts from the commissioning component of LSST:UK in-kind proposal

This appendix presents key extracts (actually the majority of textsee italicised text below) from the commissioning component of the LSST:UK in-kind proposal, aiming to calibrate colleagues expectations on team structure, modus operandi, and available funding. Due to pandemic-related delays, the timescales refered to in this text have now shifted by 6 months – for example the joint selection of the UK team members is occuring in the second half of 2021, as initated by this call for proposals.

Background

The UK has a wealth of experience in commissioning wide-field survey instruments.  Our recent call for expressions of interest yielded 23 expressions of interest led by colleagues at 15 different institutes, and covering the following topics:

• Active optics: Will Sutherland (VISTA Project Scientist 2000-2009) and Gavin Dalton tested and debugged the active optics subsystems during VISTA commissioning. Early career colleagues are also keen to contribute on-summit, including both instrumentation postdocs with experience of commissioning instruments on wide-field and/or large telescopes, and students who have relevant experience from wide field surveys including the Dark Energy Survey (DES).

• Data analysis: Eleven different UK groups (mostly embedded in LSST Science Collaborations) have technical expertise required to analyse commissioning data and correlate with telemetry and other observing parameters, including off-axis angle.  For example, analysis of commissioning observations of strongly lensed quasars would test Rubin’s active optics performance, and has strong synergy with the UK’s VISTA-based expertise discussed above.

• Visual inspection: Colleagues at the University of Sussex have expertise in visual inspection of commissioning data from the DES “eyeball squad”. Colleagues at the Open University have complementary expertise in crowd sourcing visual inspection using the  Zooniverse platform.

• Operational rehearsals: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit have expertise in designing and supporting "Operational Rehearsals” for the commissioning of wide-field survey instruments, including design of data quality checks.  We envisage this being relevant to planning, testing and rehearsing Rubin’s nightly workflow in the latter stages of commissioning.

Proposed activities

We propose a directable contribution to Rubin commissioning that is fully integrated with the Rubin SITCom team. The primary point of contact between SITCom and the UK-based team will be Graham Smith, who is funded by STFC as the LSST:UK Commissioning Coordinator.  Smith will be responsible for coordinating the UK team, and distributing tasks defined by SITCom colleagues to UK team members. We envisage organising our contribution around a “summit team” and a “remote team”.

The summit team will concentrate on testing the active optics sub-systems. We propose a team comprising Will Sutherland (Queen Mary University of London), Gavin Dalton (Oxford University and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory), and at least two postdocs.  Based on VISTA commissioning we recommend a shift pattern of 5 weeks on-summit followed by >=3 weeks in the UK, spanning 12-18 months. Sutherland and Dalton are available to commence this pattern from mid-2021, which is well matched to possible ComCam first-light in October 2021. We envisage either Sutherland or Dalton plus >=1 UK postdoc participating in each shift, with Sutherland/Dalton having day-to-day management responsibility for the postdoc(s) on summit. When not in Chile, summit team members will be embedded in the remote team, thus enhancing the expertise delivered by both summit and remote teams.

The remote team will be UK-based, contributing to data analysis, visual inspection and operational rehearsals, as agreed with SITCom colleagues. We propose that each junior (student or postdoc) and senior (faculty) team members will contribute at least 0.5FTE and 0.25FTE to commissioning tasks respectively.  For senior team members, this excludes the time they spend supervising their students. The remote team will take full advantage of the time zone differences between the UK, Chile and the US, and their existing knowledge of Rubin from involvement in their respective LSST Science Collaborations. We also envisage remote team members making several extended visits each to Chile and/or the US.  

We aim to build a UK team ready to contribute to SITCom from mid-2021 onwards.  As part of this, there is a strong case for senior summit team members Sutherland and Dalton to attend weekly active optics meetings with immediate effect. We prefer to select junior summit team members and all remote team members via a transparent process as early as the in-kind negotiations allow.  For example, a call for applications in early 2021 could be followed by selecting team members jointly with Chuck Claver or his representatives (e.g. Kevin Reil, Leanne Guy, Keith Bechtol) before the end of June 2021. We would then expect team members to attend active optics meetings, Friday Stackclubs, and Bootcamps, as appropriate to their agreed role.  

Funding

LSST:UK plans to provide on-summit commissioning and remote data analysis expertise at the level of at least 3 staff years of directable effort.  The baseline of 3 staff years will be funded by STFC and will include the senior members of the summit team.  Junior members of the summit team and most members of the remote team will be supported by their own funding.  The precise make up of the team and thus mix of funding will emerge following the proposed joint selection of team members in the first half of 2021.

Appendix 3: Examples of value added commissioning contributions

This appendix includes examples of value added contributions that Rubin Project Team are looking for from the community (see italicised text below). The text comes from the US/Chile Announcment of Opportunity for Community Engagement With Rubin Observatory Commissioning, and has been edited minimally to align it with this UK call.

1. Investigation and mitigation of sensor anomalies for ComCam and LSSTCam detectors using calibration and on-sky data.

2. Contributions to the integration, testing, and scientific validation of calibration systems such as the Auxiliary Telescope (AuxTel), Collimated Beam Projector (CBP), and Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA (MASCARA).

3. Absolute photometric calibration. Includes connecting external observations, modeling, and synthetic photometry with Rubin Observatory observations of spectrophotometric standards. Includes utilizing other surveys to investigate the calibration of the internal LSST photometric system relative to an external absolute scale.

4. Technical and scientific analyses of on-sky commissioning data to inform the initial LSST observing strategy -- in particular, the optimization of dithers in the Deep Drilling Fields and Wide Fast Deep survey, evaluation of two snaps versus one snap in a visit, exploring technical constraints of specialized survey modes, etc. For example:
   - Given two dither patterns evaluate the systematic limits of key parameters, which dither patterns would suppress instrument artifacts such as scattered light and internal optical glints?
   - Explore cadence optimization in less than ideal (e.g. bright time) conditions
   - Cadence optimization during twilight at the beginning and end of night
   This effort is of a more tactical / technical optimization / fine-tuning nature and is distinct from the strategic planning underway through the Cadence White Paper effort and Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC).

5. Anomaly analysis of the Engineering Facility Database. This example analysis is meant to apply Machine Learning/Deep Learning and other AI or statistical approaches to search for otherwise undetected anomalies in the system performance and telemetry and correlate these with properties of the image data and catalog parameters.

6. Extended analysis to characterize system performance at the margins of operational parameter space. Over the course of commissioning the Telescope and Camera will be operated over a wide range of environmental conditions. This example analysis is meant to characterize the multiple performance metrics, of both scientific and technical types, and to correlate these metrics with environmental parameters (e.g., atmospheric seeing, sky brightness, humidity, outside temperature, wind speed and direction).

7. Evaluation of operational configurations of the observatory to determine optimum performance. The Rubin Observatory has been designed with many degrees of freedom built in, in order to optimize system performance responding to different observing conditions. This example is meant to explore and analyze the optimal operational parameters (e.g., mirror support systems, telescope mount dynamics, camera electronics, dome wind screen, in-dome temperature control etc...) to determine the appropriate configurations and procedures in the multi-dimensional parameter space for the as-built system.

8. Development of image and catalog visualization tools, including capability to interactively explore and “drill-down” into the data. Full focal plane image visualization. Visualization of telemetry and trending of technical and scientific performance. Contributions in this area could potentially expand upon, use and be implemented within the planned functionality of the Rubin Science Platform.

9. Algorithm development for the Rubin Science Pipelines, specifically instances where Rubin Data Management is implementing algorithms into the science pipelines that are being collaboratively developed with the community. Contributions in this topic could include testing, iterative development, and optimization of parameters using on-sky data for such algorithms.

10. Science validation and characterization of object detection, deblending, and interaction with background modeling. This includes but is not limited to:
    - Effects of ghost light from bright stars on faint stellar photometry and galaxy shape estimation
    - Effects of diffuse scattered light on faint stellar photometry and galaxy detection
    - Impacts of variable image quality on object detection, deblending, and measurement
    - Crowded field photometry
    - Preservation of low surface brightness objects in the data processing
    - Characterization and impacts of Galactic cirrus

11. Science validation of stray and scattered light mitigation and modeling, including interactions with background modeling and the detection/photometry of low surface brightness features. For example, develop a predictive numerical model of ghost images from a bright source at an arbitrary position in the full field of view to reduce background modeling systematics.

12. Science validation of template generation and difference imaging. Photometric accuracy of difference image analysis in complex environments and across a range of observing conditions. Studies of the variation of performance with respect to properties of templates. Validating the detection and measurement of known transient, variable, and moving objects.

13. Science validation using survey metadata maps. Includes geometric survey coverage and survey property statistics represented as spatial maps over the observed footprint. Maps and analysis will be done using existing Rubin Observatory software or extensions thereof. Part of this work will include the validation of sky maps of distributions of environmental conditions during observations, data properties, along with computed performance metrics.

14. Observing support. Contributions to daytime and nighttime summit operations; optimization and documentation of processes and procedures.

15. Developing user-oriented documentation of science pipelines, data access services, and operational procedures, including the development of tutorials through the Rubin Science Platform.

16. Additional scientific validation and characterization studies that will improve understanding of the as-built system and enhance early operations are invited. Proposals of this type should specifically address the timeliness of the value-added contribution and relevance for advancing the operational readiness of Rubin Observatory.

Appendix 4: Terms and Conditions for participation in the Commissioning Team

This appendix includes text (see italicised text below) from the US/Chile Announcment of Opportunity for Community Engagement With Rubin Observatory Commissioning. We understand that these terms and conditions will apply equally to SITCOM members regardless of the community from which they are drawn. The text has been edited minimally to align references to the process of team member selection to the UK call.

Participation as a Commissioning Team member will be based on assessed value-added and capabilities to complement the existing Rubin Observatory Commissioning Team. By its nature, commissioning a complex system like the Rubin Observatory comes with many unknowns, therefore it is required that the team remain flexible in their assignments as the commissioning process unfolds.

The Project reserves the right to decline any group’s or individual’s offer for any reason. The Project can decide to terminate a group’s or person’s role on the team status at any time due to poor performance or undue overhead. The Project will not rely on the contributions from non-Rubin-staff team members to fulfill the core commissioning requirements to the Operations Readiness Review and the federal funding agencies. Non-Rubin-staff Commissioning Team members will be providing value-added contributions to extend the basic commissioning scope.

Rights and Responsibilities

1. Science Community members who become members of the Commissioning Team via this [call for proposals] will have the opportunity and the expectation to collaborate directly with the Project staff on Rubin commissioning efforts, together with all the associated work experience and training opportunities entailed, as well as potential to enhance the scientific reach of LSST data for the benefit of the broad Rubin community. Participants agree to conduct work assignments from the Project with a defined scope and schedule for delivery. These work assignments will be ``value-added'' contributions with respect to Project requirements from the federal funding agencies for Operations Readiness (see examples in [Appendix 3]). Each non-Rubin-staff member/group of the Commissioning Team will be assigned a functional point of contact within the Project to help integrate their efforts.

2. [The full UK community proposal] will be used as the basis for [a] formally signed agreement ([Memorandum] of Understanding; MOU) between the Rubin Observatory Construction Project and [the UK]. The MOU will be assessed and re-evaluated on a yearly basis to ensure that the goals and responsibilities of both the Project and the participants are being met.

3. All Commissioning Team members will have full unfettered access to all commissioning data products as soon as they are acquired.

4. All members of the Commissioning Team agree to a set of publication policies. In particular, no scientific publication based on the commissioning data shall be made prior to that data being released to the science community. Technical publications will be allowed (see below). All Commissioning Team members are eligible to become co-authors on publications to which they contribute, including the series of planned Rubin Observatory Construction Papers.

5. Contributions to the commissiong effort performed under the direction of the Project count towards the attainment of Builder status (RDO-013).

6. Commissioning Team members are expected to use approved Project tools and processes for communication, data access and analysis, documentation, software development, work management, etc. For example, nearly all high-level science analysis tasks will use Python programming language, and many will make use of the Rubin Software Stack and Rubin Science Platform. Training opportunities will be provided by the Project to increase proficiency with these tools.

7. All source code created by Rubin Observatory Data Management is publicly-available open source and carries an Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved license. All software developed for the commissioning effort is expected to follow the Project’s open source policy. There may be some situations in which science validation analyses making use of private software developed outside the commissioning context are deemed sufficiently valuable to the commissioning effort that an exception may be granted by the Project Director.

8. Depending on their assigned task(s), some participants may be expected to spend extended periods at one of three primary Rubin Observatory sites: 1) Chile – either La Serena and/or Cerro Pachón (see additional requirement below); 2) Rubin Observatory offices in Tucson; and 3) the US Data Facility located at SLAC. In addition, participants will be invited to attend periodic workshops, bootcamps, and/or meetings for training and focused working sessions. It is expected that remote participation in these events will also be possible in cases where the work can be completed remotely.

9. The typical expected commitment for non-Rubin-staff members of the Commissioning Team is roughly 0.2 to 0.5 full time equivalent (FTE) averaged across the members of collaborating groups over the calendar years 2022 and/or 2023. For university faculty, this expected level of commitment should be interpreted as roughly 20% of research time during these years. The exact timing of effort might be variable according to needs to respond to emergent issues.

10. Members of the Commissioning Team are expected to follow guidance regarding types of internal communications and information that may be shared with the wider Rubin community.

11. All members of the Commissioning Team are expected to follow professional standards of conduct adopted by the Project.

12. Science validation and characterization investigations during commissioning are specifically intended to optimize operational efficiency of the observatory, and to enhance delivered data quality of the Data Previews and LSST DR1. Members of the Commissioning Team should strive for collaborative and collegial interactions that benefit the entire Rubin Community, and to recognize the contributions of the many individuals that have contributed to the Project.

Requirements for working on-site in Chile

It is expected that most Commissioning Team members will conduct data analysis tasks from sites other than the Rubin Observatory site in La Serena and the Cerro Pachón summit. Working on-site in Chile is intended for individuals working directly with hardware or observation support.

Key criteria for working on-site in Chile:

• Demonstrate a working understanding of the observing systems in Chile including but not limited to:
  - Observatory Command-Control interface and scripting (Python based)
  - Observational constraints given current environmental conditions

• Commit to providing 3 months remote observing support prior to scheduled time in Chile.

• Willingness and ability to spend at least 3 months in Chile to support on-site observations and technical activities both on the Summit and in La Serena. This includes extended continuous periods (e.g. week or more) at the Summit Facility.

Group management and accountability

[The UK team] will have [a] designated group leader who is the primary point of contact to the Rubin Observatory Project. The group leader is responsible for management of the group and for the timely completion of assigned tasks. Given potential emergent issues encountered during commissioning, and the nature of some value-added contributions as active research topics, completion of value-added contributions is intended to be on a ``best“best-effort'' effort” basis as the research allows. While on-boarding and task-specific training and guidance will be provided, together with access to Project communication tools and documentation resources, the Project is only able to provide limited one-on-one training and support for non-Rubin-staff members of the Commissioning Team. Participating individuals/groups should plan to prepare as needed for their specific contributions.

Participants in this program will be assigned to one or more teams within the larger commissioning effort, and the individuals and/or groups will be assigned a functional point of contact within the Project to help integrate their efforts.

Publication policy statement for using commissioning data

All members of the Commissioning Team will follow the publication policies of the Rubin Observatory Project, including the Rubin Data Policy (RDO-13) and Rubin Project Publication policy (LPM-162) as they apply to commissioning data.

No papers presenting novel scientific results may be posted/submitted by anyone before the associated data release, which for commissioning data means the relevant Data Preview release date. The Project has authority to determine the classification of technical versus scientific papers prepared by members of the Commissioning Team. Rubin Observatory reserves the right to sanction Users who violate this policy, as described in the Rubin Data Policy (RDO-13).

The Project has planned a series of Rubin Observatory Construction Papers to describe the technical and scientific performance of the as-built system. The preparation of these papers follows the Rubin Project Publication policy. All members of the Commissioning Team are eligible to be co-authors on Rubin Observatory Construction Papers to which they contribute. The planned scope of the Construction Papers is limited to technical and scientific performance evaluation; the Construction Papers are not intended to present novel scientific results.

The Rubin Data Policy defines proprietary data products and derived data products. No proprietary data products from commissioning may be shared outside the Commissioning Team prior to the associated data release without explicit approval. The Project will define a process to approve the sharing of derived data products based on commissioning data prior to the associated data release. Any such derived data products approved for release must be presented in public forums accessible to the entire science community. There will be periods of commissioning for which specific types/subsets of proprietary as well as derived data products are embargoed and cannot be shared outside the Commissioning Team. Specific policies regarding informal communications beyond the Commissioning Team will be provided by the Project; guidance may evolve throughout the commissioning period.

All investigations of commissioning data are considered to be open to the entire Commissioning Team. Members of the Commissioning Team are welcome to initiate and contribute to additional technical papers based on commissioning data beyond the planned set of Construction Papers. Additional technical papers using commissioning data products that are submitted and/or posted prior to the associated Data Preview release date must follow the Rubin publication policy. Following the Data Preview release date, additional technical papers using internal information, data products, and/or tools that are not included in released Data Previews continue to follow the Rubin Publication Policy. The scope of these additional papers should complement the scope of the Construction papers.

Science papers using only Rubin Observatory data from the released Data Previews follow the Rubin Data Policy and do not go through the Rubin Project publication process. For papers that substantially benefited from interactions with the Commissioning Team, authors are encouraged to invite contributing individuals to join as co-authors, as per the Rubin Publication Policy.