The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2023)
Target Selection and Validation of DESI Luminous Red Galaxies
- Rongpu Zhou,
- Biprateep Dey,
- Jeffrey A. Newman,
- Daniel J. Eisenstein,
- K. Dawson,
- S. Bailey,
- A. Berti,
- J. Guy,
- Ting-Wen Lan,
- H. Zou,
- J. Aguilar,
- S. Ahlen,
- Shadab Alam,
- D. Brooks,
- A. de la Macorra,
- A. Dey,
- G. Dhungana,
- K. Fanning,
- A. Font-Ribera,
- S. Gontcho A. Gontcho,
- K. Honscheid,
- Mustapha Ishak,
- T. Kisner,
- A. Kovács,
- A. Kremin,
- M. Landriau,
- Michael E. Levi,
- C. Magneville,
- Marc Manera,
- P. Martini,
- Aaron M. Meisner,
- R. Miquel,
- J. Moustakas,
- Adam D. Myers,
- Jundan Nie,
- N. Palanque-Delabrouille,
- W. J. Percival,
- C. Poppett,
- F. Prada,
- A. Raichoor,
- A. J. Ross,
- E. Schlafly,
- D. Schlegel,
- M. Schubnell,
- Gregory Tarlé,
- B. A. Weaver,
- R. H. Wechsler,
- Christophe Yéche,
- Zhimin Zhou
Affiliations
- Rongpu Zhou
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Biprateep Dey
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Jeffrey A. Newman
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Daniel J. Eisenstein
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- K. Dawson
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Utah , 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
- S. Bailey
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- A. Berti
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Utah , 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
- J. Guy
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Ting-Wen Lan
- ORCiD
- Graduate Institute of Astrophysics and Department of Physics, National Taiwan University , No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- H. Zou
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatories , Chinese Academy of Sciences, A20 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
- J. Aguilar
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- S. Ahlen
- ORCiD
- Physics Dept., Boston University , 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Shadab Alam
- ORCiD
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
- D. Brooks
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- A. de la Macorra
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cd. de México C.P. 04510, México
- A. Dey
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- G. Dhungana
- Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University , 3215 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX 75275, USA
- K. Fanning
- Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- A. Font-Ribera
- ORCiD
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) , The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona, Spain
- S. Gontcho A. Gontcho
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester , 500 Joseph C. Wilson Boulevard, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
- K. Honscheid
- Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Mustapha Ishak
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, TX 75080, USA
- T. Kisner
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- A. Kovács
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) , E-38206, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/ Vía Láctea, s/n, E-38205 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
- A. Kremin
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- M. Landriau
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- Michael E. Levi
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- C. Magneville
- IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay , F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Marc Manera
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) , The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona, Spain; Serra Húnter Fellow, Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , Bellaterra, Spain
- P. Martini
- ORCiD
- Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 4055 McPherson Laboratory, 140 W 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Aaron M. Meisner
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- R. Miquel
- ORCiD
- Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) , The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats , Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, E-08010 Barcelona, Spain
- J. Moustakas
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211, USA
- Adam D. Myers
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Wyoming , 1000 E. University, Dept. 3905, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- Jundan Nie
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatories , Chinese Academy of Sciences, A20 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
- N. Palanque-Delabrouille
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]; IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay , F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- W. J. Percival
- ORCiD
- Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , 200 University Avenue W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline St. North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, Canada
- C. Poppett
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]; Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley , 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; University of California, Berkeley , 110 Sproul Hall #5800, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- F. Prada
- Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía , Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- A. Raichoor
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- A. J. Ross
- Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- E. Schlafly
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- D. Schlegel
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA ; [email protected]
- M. Schubnell
- Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Gregory Tarlé
- ORCiD
- University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- B. A. Weaver
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- R. H. Wechsler
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University , Menlo Park, CA 94305, USA; Physics Department, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, CA 94305, USA
- Christophe Yéche
- ORCiD
- IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay , F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Zhimin Zhou
- National Astronomical Observatories , Chinese Academy of Sciences, A20 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aca5fb
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 165,
no. 2
p. 58
Abstract
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is carrying out a five-year survey that aims to measure the redshifts of tens of millions of galaxies and quasars, including 8 million luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the redshift range 0.4 < z ≲ 1.0. Here we present the selection of the DESI LRG sample and assess its spectroscopic performance using data from Survey Validation (SV) and the first two months of the Main Survey. The DESI LRG sample, selected using g , r , z , and W 1 photometry from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, is highly robust against imaging systematics. The sample has a target density of 605 deg ^−2 and a comoving number density of 5 × 10 ^−4 h ^3 Mpc ^−3 in 0.4 < z < 0.8; this is a significantly higher density than previous LRG surveys (such as SDSS, BOSS, and eBOSS) while also extending to z ∼ 1. After applying a bright star veto mask developed for the sample, 98.9% of the observed LRG targets yield confident redshifts (with a catastrophic failure rate of 0.2% in the confident redshifts), and only 0.5% of the LRG targets are stellar contamination. The LRG redshift efficiency varies with source brightness and effective exposure time, and we present a simple model that accurately characterizes this dependence. In the appendices, we describe the extended LRG samples observed during SV.
Keywords
