December 5, 2013 – The University of Oxford has joined LSST Corporation as the 40th LSSTC Institutional Member. The Oxford Physics Department led the membership petition, but members of the Engineering Department ant the Oxford e-Research Centre (OeRC) are also interested in LSST activities. Groups within Oxford Physics have made significant contributions to many of the world's leading physics facilities through project and science teams, instrument development, construction and commissioning, and science exploitation. Oxford also offers skilled engineering staff and well-equipped mechanical and electronic workshops with state-of-the art fabrication capabilities.
Oxford faculty members are interested in LSST’s capability to elucidate the nature of dark energy. They intend to develop weak lensing analysis, including galaxy shape and photometric redshift estimation; extract dark energy parameters and test modified gravity; and cross-correlate with other probes. They are also interested in the assembly history of galaxies. Lastly, with LSST collaborators internationally, Oxford plans to develop and potentially partly host a Large Scale Survey Astronomy School to train the next generation of PhD students.
Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Support Agreement No. 1202910, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The DOE-funded effort to build the the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an
independent federal agency created by Congress
in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.
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