gateau: an observation simulator for ground-based submillimeter astronomy with integral field units and kinetic inductance detectors
Abstract
Submillimeter (submm) integral field units (IFUs) utilising kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are a promising instrument architecture for the study of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the large-scale structure of the Universe. In order to design successful experiments targeting these science cases, several aspects such as instrument design, observation and calibration strategies, and data reduction pipelines must be collectively developed, tested, and optimised. This can be achieved through end-to-end simulations of the experiment, allowing for quantitative assessment of the aforementioned aspects. To this end, we have developed gateau, a modular, flexible, and efficient simulator for submm IFU observations of astronomical sources. The simulator consists of a Python interface, powered by a C/C++ backend that uses CUDA for GPU-acceleration, and is publicly available and fully open-source. gateau simulates observations by taking user input such as an astronomical source, a set of atmospheric screens, a scan pattern, and telescope and instrument parameters. It then propagates the source signal to the detectors. A physically motivated photon-noise model is used to add a white noise component to the received power. Detector noise is added as temporally correlated pink noise. The output is stored in the form of time-ordered datasets. We validated gateau against observations with DESHIMA 2.0, a superconducting, ultra-wideband spectrometer utilising KIDs and on-chip filterbank technology. We show that we can reproduce real observations of the atmosphere and Uranus with gateau simulations. Lastly, we present a use case to show how gateau can simulate long observations in timespans orders of magnitude smaller than the observation time itself, highlighting its applicability and efficiency.
Authors 10
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Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
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Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands · Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
SRON-Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON-Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands · Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
SRON-Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands
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Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Applied Sciences , Delft University of Technology , Lorentzweg 1 , 2628 CJ Delft , The Netherlands
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory · Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering , Delft University of Technology , Kluyverweg 1 , 2629 HS Delft , The Netherlands
Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , PO Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands
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Delft University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science , Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4 , 2628 CD Delft , The Netherlands
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