The Essence Supernova Survey: Survey Optimization, Observations, and Supernova Photometry G
The Astrophysical Journal, 666:674Y693, 2007 September 10 A # 2007. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. THE ESSENCE SUPERNOVA SURVEY: SURVEY OPTIMIZATION, OBSERVATIONS, AND SUPERNOVA PHOTOMETRY G. Miknaitis,1 G. Pignata,2 A. Rest,3 W. M. Wood-Vasey,4 S. Blondin,4 P. Challis,4 R. C. Smith,3 C. W. Stubbs,4,5 N. B. Suntzeff,3,6 R. J. Foley,7 T. Matheson,8 J. L. Tonry,9 C. Aguilera,3 J. W. Blackman,10 A. C. Becker,11 A. Clocchiatti,2 R. Covarrubias,11 T. M. Davis,12 A. V. Filippenko,7 A. Garg,4,5 P. M. Garnavich,13 M. Hicken,4,5 S. Jha,7,14 K. Krisciunas,6,13 R. P. Kirshner,4 B. Leibundgut,15 W. Li,7 A. Miceli,11 G. Narayan,4,5 J. L. Prieto,16 A. G. Riess,17,18 M. E. Salvo,10 B. P. Schmidt,10 J. Sollerman,12,19 J. Spyromilio,15 and A. Zenteno3 Received 2006 December 6; accepted 2007 May 14 ABSTRACT We describe the implementation and optimization of the ESSENCE supernova survey, which we have undertaken to measure the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w ¼ P/(c2). We present a method for optimizing the survey exposure times and cadence to maximize our sensitivity to w for a given fixed amount of telescope time. For our survey on the CTIO 4 m telescope, measuring the luminosity distances and redshifts for supernovae at modest red- shifts (z 0:5 Æ 0:2) is optimal for determining w.
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