August 11-15, 2014

Abstract

Using White Dwarf Stars to Calibrate the Dark Energy Survey

Allyn Smith (Austin Peay State University)

Douglas L. Tucker (Fermilab), Mees B. Fix (APSU), William Wester (Fermilab), Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay (STScI), Séverin Chabonnier (Ecole Polytechnique)

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an optical (grizY) program which is currently imaging 5000 sq. deg. in the southern galactic cap. An internal relative calibration scheme has been devised to tie the survey uniformly. However, coupling the DES to an external standard in order to ultimately set the filter zeropoints to a known flux scale will make use of DA white dwarfs. We describe the WD characterization program and present an up to date status of the effort.

Mode of presentation: oral