2016/05/06 by Eric C. Bellm · 4 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors #Constraint (computer-aided design) #Figure of merit #Metric (unit) #Range (aeronautics) #Sky #Transient (computer programming) #Volume (thermodynamics) #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1538-3873/128/966/084501
PASP accepted. 22 pages, 11 figures. Code available at https://github.com/ebellm/VolumetricSurveySpeed
arxiv created 2016/05/06 · openalex publication_date 2016/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · arxiv updated 2016/06/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Time-domain surveys can exchange sky coverage for revisit frequency, complicating the comparison of their relative capabilities. By using different revisit intervals, a specific camera may execute surveys optimized for discovery of different classes of transient objects. We propose a new figure of merit, the instantaneous volumetric survey speed, for evaluating transient surveys. This metric defines the trade between cadence interval and snapshot survey volume and so provides a natural means of comparing survey capability. The related metric of areal survey speed imposes a constraint on the range of possible revisit times: we show that many modern time-domain surveys are limited by the amount of fresh sky available each night. We introduce the concept of "spectroscopic accessibility" and discuss its importance for transient science goals requiring followup observing. We present an extension of the control time algorithm for cases where multiple consecutive detections are required. Finally, we explore how survey speed and choice of cadence interval determine the detection rate of transients in the peak absolute magnitude–decay timescale phase space.