A telescope in Chile will photograph the entire visible sky every few nights, creating the most detailed moving picture of the universe ever made. This matters because current surveys are either narrow and deep or wide and shallow. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) combines both, giving it a light-collecting power more than ten times greater than any existing or planned facility. It will spot potentially hazardous asteroids, map the structure of the Milky Way, find the most distant quasars, and probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy—fundamental questions about what the universe is made of and how it behaves. The UK is contributing £17.7 million to build a Data Access Centre and develop specialised analysis software. This is primarily fundamental science. There is no immediate practical application. But past investments in sky surveys have led to unexpected breakthroughs—GPS relies on relativistic corrections first tested by astronomers, and wide-field imaging now underpins medical scanners and industrial quality control. A deeper understanding of dark energy and dark matter could, over decades, reshape physics in ways that ripple into technologies no one can yet predict.
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We propose a continuation of the programme enabling UK participation in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), one of the most ambitious science projects planned for the next decade, and a key part of the astronomical landscape in the 2020s. LSST will have both a large collecting area and a wide field of view, giving it an etendue more than an order of magnitude larger than any current or planned facility. This will enable it to survey the whole visible sky every few days, leading to both a stacked sky survey of great depth, and the ability to find moving, variable, and transient objects. It will make advances over a large range of science, from Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, through the structure of the Milky Way, to the most distant quasars, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy - all areas where UK astronomers stand poised to make leading contributions. LSST originated as a US project but is now transforming into an international one. This mostly requires operational support rather than capital construction, which makes engagement in LSST tremendous value for money. Rather than simply being an old-fashioned sky-atlas resource, the best LSST science will come through organised, massive, and systematic exploitation of its vast dataset in international teams. For UK astronomers to play a strong role it is therefore crucial to engage early and fully - in science working group planning, in development of specialised analysis software (the so-called "Level 3") and to have a framework to implement and run that Level 3 code. The LSST:UK consortium aims to meet these goals through a four-phase programme. STFC committed £17.7M in response to our Phase A proposal, and we are now requesting funding for Phase B (April 2019 - March 2023). There are three elements to the lifetime costs of the full, four-phase programme: 1. To allow full data access, LSST requires a contribution to operations. These funds will only be required in later phases, but STFC has concluded a Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of the UK community and the required funds were committed in response to our Phase A proposal. 2. LSST requires that we make provision for the added cost of UK community access. Rather than hand over more cash, our proposal is to construct a UK Data Access Centre (DAC). This will enable us to fully engage immediately with LSST both scientifically and technically, will allow much more control for UK astronomers, and has a potential for industry involvement. We have been prototyping the UK DAC during Phase A, and now seek funds for its deployment, in readiness for LSST Commissioning. In accordance with the Science Board recommendation in our Phase A award, this is being conducted within the context of the development on coordinated computing infrastructure for STFC science being planned by the UKT0 consortium. 3. To maximise UK scientific return, we further propose a community development programme for Level 3 algorithms and data products, working closely in conjunction with the UK DAC. Phase B funding will build on the successes of our Phase A programme and on focus on further developing of Level 3 software tools through the use of LSST Commissioning data
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