High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release

Ming-Yang Zhuang; Qian Yang; Yue Shen; Monika Adamów; Douglas N. Friedel; R. A. Gruendl; Zachary Stone; Junyao Li; Xin Liu; Paul Martini; Timothy M. C. Abbott; Scott F. Anderson; Roberto J. Assef; Franz E. Bauer; Richard Bielby; W. N. Brandt; Colin J. Burke; Jorge Casares; Yu-Ching Chen; Gisella De Rosa; Alex Drlica-Wagner; Tom Dwelly; Alice Eltvedt; Gloria Fonseca Alvarez; Jianyang Fu; Cesar Fuentes; Melissa L. Graham; Catherine J. Grier; Nathan Golovich; Patrick B. Hall; Patrick Hartigan; Keith Horne; Anton M. Koekemoer; Mirko Krumpe; Jennifer I. Li; Chris Lidman; Umang Malik; Amelia Mangian; Andrea Merloni; Claudio Ricci; Mara Salvato; Rob Sharp; David E. Trilling; Brad E. Tucker; Di Wen; Zachary Wideman; Yongquan Xue; Zhefu Yu; Catherine Zucker

doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01

High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release

Ming-Yang Zhuang^*, Qian Yang, Yue Shen, Monika Adamów, Douglas N. Friedel, R. A. Gruendl, Zachary Stone, Junyao Li, Xin Liu, Paul Martini, Timothy M. C. Abbott, Scott F. Anderson, Roberto J. Assef, Franz E. Bauer, Richard Bielby, W. N. Brandt, Colin J. Burke, Jorge Casares, Yu-Ching Chen, Gisella De RosaAlex Drlica-Wagner, Tom Dwelly, Alice Eltvedt, Gloria Fonseca Alvarez, Jianyang Fu, Cesar Fuentes, Melissa L. Graham, Catherine J. Grier, Nathan Golovich, Patrick B. Hall, Patrick Hartigan, Keith Horne, Anton M. Koekemoer, Mirko Krumpe, Jennifer I. Li, Chris Lidman, Umang Malik, Amelia Mangian, Andrea Merloni, Claudio Ricci, Mara Salvato, Rob Sharp, David E. Trilling, Brad E. Tucker, Di Wen, Zachary Wideman, Yongquan Xue, Zhefu Yu, Catherine Zucker

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) is a long-term observing program that photometrically monitors several well-studied extragalactic legacy fields with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imager on the CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope. Since 2019 February, HELM has been monitoring regions within COSMOS, XMM-LSS, CDF-S, S-CVZ, ELAIS-S1, and SDSS Stripe 82 with few-day cadences in the (u)gri(z) bands, over a collective sky area of ∼38 deg². The main science goal of HELM is to provide high-quality optical light curves for a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and to build decades-long time baselines when combining past and future optical light curves in these legacy fields. These optical images and light curves will facilitate the measurements of AGN reverberation mapping lags, as well as studies of AGN variability and its dependencies on accretion properties. In addition, the time-resolved and coadded DECam photometry will enable a broad range of science applications from galaxy evolution to time-domain science. We describe the design and implementation of the program and present the first data release that includes source catalogs and the first ∼3.5 yr of light curves during 2019A–2022A.

Original language	English
Article number	42
Number of pages	10
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Volume	274
Issue number	2
Early online date	11 Oct 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01
Publication status	Published - Oct 2024

Keywords

Optical astronomy
Galactic and extragalactic astronomy
Quasars
Time domain astronomy
Surveys

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Zhuang_2024_HELM_ApJS_274_42_CCBY
Copyright © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Final published version, 1.29 MBLicence: CC BY

https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.06052v1

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Zhuang, M.-Y., Yang, Q., Shen, Y., Adamów, M., Friedel, D. N., Gruendl, R. A., Stone, Z., Li, J., Liu, X., Martini, P., Abbott, T. M. C., Anderson, S. F., Assef, R. J., Bauer, F. E., Bielby, R., Brandt, W. N., Burke, C. J., Casares, J., Chen, Y.-C., ... Zucker, C. (2024). High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 274(2), Article 42. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01

@article{b6ad80f2d0644f439ed4c1fb673a65ca,

title = "High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release",

abstract = "High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) is a long-term observing program that photometrically monitors several well-studied extragalactic legacy fields with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imager on the CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope. Since 2019 February, HELM has been monitoring regions within COSMOS, XMM-LSS, CDF-S, S-CVZ, ELAIS-S1, and SDSS Stripe 82 with few-day cadences in the (u)gri(z) bands, over a collective sky area of ∼38 deg2. The main science goal of HELM is to provide high-quality optical light curves for a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and to build decades-long time baselines when combining past and future optical light curves in these legacy fields. These optical images and light curves will facilitate the measurements of AGN reverberation mapping lags, as well as studies of AGN variability and its dependencies on accretion properties. In addition, the time-resolved and coadded DECam photometry will enable a broad range of science applications from galaxy evolution to time-domain science. We describe the design and implementation of the program and present the first data release that includes source catalogs and the first ∼3.5 yr of light curves during 2019A–2022A.",

keywords = "Optical astronomy, Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, Quasars, Time domain astronomy, Surveys",

author = "Ming-Yang Zhuang and Qian Yang and Yue Shen and Monika Adam{\'o}w and Friedel, {Douglas N.} and Gruendl, {R. A.} and Zachary Stone and Junyao Li and Xin Liu and Paul Martini and Abbott, {Timothy M. C.} and Anderson, {Scott F.} and Assef, {Roberto J.} and Bauer, {Franz E.} and Richard Bielby and Brandt, {W. N.} and Burke, {Colin J.} and Jorge Casares and Yu-Ching Chen and {De Rosa}, Gisella and Alex Drlica-Wagner and Tom Dwelly and Alice Eltvedt and {Fonseca Alvarez}, Gloria and Jianyang Fu and Cesar Fuentes and Graham, {Melissa L.} and Grier, {Catherine J.} and Nathan Golovich and Hall, {Patrick B.} and Patrick Hartigan and Keith Horne and Koekemoer, {Anton M.} and Mirko Krumpe and Li, {Jennifer I.} and Chris Lidman and Umang Malik and Amelia Mangian and Andrea Merloni and Claudio Ricci and Mara Salvato and Rob Sharp and Trilling, {David E.} and Tucker, {Brad E.} and Di Wen and Zachary Wideman and Yongquan Xue and Zhefu Yu and Catherine Zucker",

note = "Funding: This work is supported by NSF grants AST-2206499 and AST-2308077. R.J.A. was supported by FONDECYT grant No. 1231718 and by the ANID BASAL project FB210003. F.E.B. acknowledges support from ANID—Millennium Science Initiative Program —ICN12_009, CATA-BASAL—FB210003, and FONDECYT Regular—1200495. Y.Q.X. acknowledges support from the National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFA1608100), NSFC grants (12025303, 12393814), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0550300).",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

doi = "10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01",

language = "English",

volume = "274",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series",

issn = "0067-0049",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2",

}

Zhuang, M-Y, Yang, Q, Shen, Y, Adamów, M, Friedel, DN, Gruendl, RA, Stone, Z, Li, J, Liu, X, Martini, P, Abbott, TMC, Anderson, SF, Assef, RJ, Bauer, FE, Bielby, R, Brandt, WN, Burke, CJ, Casares, J, Chen, Y-C, De Rosa, G, Drlica-Wagner, A, Dwelly, T, Eltvedt, A, Fonseca Alvarez, G, Fu, J, Fuentes, C, Graham, ML, Grier, CJ, Golovich, N, Hall, PB, Hartigan, P, Horne, K, Koekemoer, AM, Krumpe, M, Li, JI, Lidman, C, Malik, U, Mangian, A, Merloni, A, Ricci, C, Salvato, M, Sharp, R, Trilling, DE, Tucker, BE, Wen, D, Wideman, Z, Xue, Y, Yu, Z & Zucker, C 2024, 'High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release', Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, vol. 274, no. 2, 42. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01

TY - JOUR

T1 - High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam

T2 - project overview and first data release

AU - Zhuang, Ming-Yang

AU - Yang, Qian

AU - Shen, Yue

AU - Adamów, Monika

AU - Friedel, Douglas N.

AU - Gruendl, R. A.

AU - Stone, Zachary

AU - Li, Junyao

AU - Liu, Xin

AU - Martini, Paul

AU - Abbott, Timothy M. C.

AU - Anderson, Scott F.

AU - Assef, Roberto J.

AU - Bauer, Franz E.

AU - Bielby, Richard

AU - Brandt, W. N.

AU - Burke, Colin J.

AU - Casares, Jorge

AU - Chen, Yu-Ching

AU - De Rosa, Gisella

AU - Drlica-Wagner, Alex

AU - Dwelly, Tom

AU - Eltvedt, Alice

AU - Fonseca Alvarez, Gloria

AU - Fu, Jianyang

AU - Fuentes, Cesar

AU - Graham, Melissa L.

AU - Grier, Catherine J.

AU - Golovich, Nathan

AU - Hall, Patrick B.

AU - Hartigan, Patrick

AU - Horne, Keith

AU - Koekemoer, Anton M.

AU - Krumpe, Mirko

AU - Li, Jennifer I.

AU - Lidman, Chris

AU - Malik, Umang

AU - Mangian, Amelia

AU - Merloni, Andrea

AU - Ricci, Claudio

AU - Salvato, Mara

AU - Sharp, Rob

AU - Trilling, David E.

AU - Tucker, Brad E.

AU - Wen, Di

AU - Wideman, Zachary

AU - Xue, Yongquan

AU - Yu, Zhefu

AU - Zucker, Catherine

N1 - Funding: This work is supported by NSF grants AST-2206499 and AST-2308077. R.J.A. was supported by FONDECYT grant No. 1231718 and by the ANID BASAL project FB210003. F.E.B. acknowledges support from ANID—Millennium Science Initiative Program —ICN12_009, CATA-BASAL—FB210003, and FONDECYT Regular—1200495. Y.Q.X. acknowledges support from the National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFA1608100), NSFC grants (12025303, 12393814), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0550300).

PY - 2024/10

Y1 - 2024/10

N2 - High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) is a long-term observing program that photometrically monitors several well-studied extragalactic legacy fields with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imager on the CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope. Since 2019 February, HELM has been monitoring regions within COSMOS, XMM-LSS, CDF-S, S-CVZ, ELAIS-S1, and SDSS Stripe 82 with few-day cadences in the (u)gri(z) bands, over a collective sky area of ∼38 deg2. The main science goal of HELM is to provide high-quality optical light curves for a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and to build decades-long time baselines when combining past and future optical light curves in these legacy fields. These optical images and light curves will facilitate the measurements of AGN reverberation mapping lags, as well as studies of AGN variability and its dependencies on accretion properties. In addition, the time-resolved and coadded DECam photometry will enable a broad range of science applications from galaxy evolution to time-domain science. We describe the design and implementation of the program and present the first data release that includes source catalogs and the first ∼3.5 yr of light curves during 2019A–2022A.

AB - High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) is a long-term observing program that photometrically monitors several well-studied extragalactic legacy fields with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imager on the CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope. Since 2019 February, HELM has been monitoring regions within COSMOS, XMM-LSS, CDF-S, S-CVZ, ELAIS-S1, and SDSS Stripe 82 with few-day cadences in the (u)gri(z) bands, over a collective sky area of ∼38 deg2. The main science goal of HELM is to provide high-quality optical light curves for a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and to build decades-long time baselines when combining past and future optical light curves in these legacy fields. These optical images and light curves will facilitate the measurements of AGN reverberation mapping lags, as well as studies of AGN variability and its dependencies on accretion properties. In addition, the time-resolved and coadded DECam photometry will enable a broad range of science applications from galaxy evolution to time-domain science. We describe the design and implementation of the program and present the first data release that includes source catalogs and the first ∼3.5 yr of light curves during 2019A–2022A.

KW - Optical astronomy

KW - Galactic and extragalactic astronomy

KW - Quasars

KW - Time domain astronomy

KW - Surveys

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01

DO - 10.3847/1538-4365/ad7d01

M3 - Article

SN - 0067-0049

VL - 274

JO - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

JF - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

IS - 2

M1 - 42

ER -

High-quality Extragalactic Legacy-field Monitoring (HELM) with DECam: project overview and first data release

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Keywords

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