The Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will observe 20,000 square degrees repeatedly throughout 10 years in 6 photometric bands (ugrizy), allowing us to study the variable universe with unprecedented detail, as well as obtaining an unprecedented combination of area and depth once all the observations are stacked. The survey will start in 2025, and is expected to detect an enormous amount of active galactic nuclei, or AGN. One of the fundamental challenges facing AGN studies is the need to determine accurate photometric redshifts, as spectra will not be available in the foreseeable future for the great majority of the sources. However, photometric redshifts for AGN are very inaccurate when based purely on broad bands due to the lack of strong spectral features. In this project we investigate the use of AGN variability to further constrain the photometric redshifts of these sources.
Type of project: PhD thesis
Status: Ongoing
Researchers: Sarath Sathees, co-advised by Timo Anguita (UNAB) and Roberto Assef (UDP)
Funding source: FONDECYT Regular, Basal CATA2