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arXiv · 2507.22156

Enabling Early Transient Discovery in LSST via Difference Imaging with DECam

Yize Dong·Kaylee de Soto·V. Ashley Villar·Anya Nugent·Alex Gagliano·K. Azalee Bostroem·Anastasia Alexov·Éric Aubourg·Farrukh Azfar·Alexandre Boucaud·Andrew Bradshaw·Johann Cohen-Tanugi·Sylvie Dagoret-Campagne·Phil N. Daly·Felipe Daruich·Peter E. Doherty·Holger Drass·Orion Eiger·Leanne P. Guy·Patrick A. Hascall·Željko Ivezić·Fabrice Jammes·M. James Jee·Tim Jenness·Steven M. Kahn·Yijung Kang·Lee S. Kelvin·Ivan V. Kotov·Gábor Kovács·Laurent Le Guillou·Shuang Liang·Mostafa Lutfi·Morgan May·Guillem Megias Homar·Marc Moniez·Freddy Muñoz Arancibia·Erfan Nourbakhsh·Hye Yun Park·John R. Peterson·Andrés A. Plazas Malagón·Daniel Polin·Bruno C. Quint·Tiago Ribeiro·Vincent J. Riot·Cécile Roucelle·Bruno O. Sánchez·David Sanmartim·Jacques Sebag·Nima Sedaghat·Richard A. Shaw·Alysha Shugart·Ioana Sotuela Elorriaga·Krzysztof Suberlak·John D. Swinbank·Sandrine Thomas·J. Anthony Tyson·Wouter van Reeven·Charlotte Ward·Christopher Z. Waters·Oliver Wiecha·W. M. Wood-Vasey
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Abstract

We present SLIDE, a pipeline that enables transient discovery in data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), using archival images from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) as templates for difference imaging. We apply this pipeline to the recently released Data Preview 1 (DP1; the first public release of Rubin commissioning data) and search for transients in the resulting difference images. The image subtraction, photometry extraction, and transient detection are all performed on the Rubin Science Platform. We demonstrate that SLIDE effectively extracts clean photometry by circumventing poor or missing LSST templates. We identified 29 previously unreported transients, 12 of which would not have been detected based on the DP1 DiaObject catalog. SLIDE will be especially useful for transient analysis in the early years of LSST, when template coverage will be largely incomplete or when templates may be contaminated by transients present at the time of acquisition. We present multiband light curves for a sample of known transients, along with new transient candidates identified through our search. Finally, we discuss the prospects of applying this pipeline during the main LSST survey. Our pipeline is broadly applicable and will support studies of all transients with slowly evolving phases.

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Yize Dong, Kaylee de Soto, V. Ashley Villar, Anya Nugent, Alex Gagliano, K. Azalee Bostroem, Anastasia Alexov, Éric Aubourg, Farrukh Azfar, Alexandre Boucaud, Andrew Bradshaw, Johann Cohen-Tanugi, Sylvie Dagoret-Campagne, Phil N. Daly, Felipe Daruich, Peter E. Doherty, Holger Drass, Orion Eiger, Leanne P. Guy, Patrick A. Hascall, Željko Ivezić, Fabrice Jammes, M. James Jee, Tim Jenness, Steven M. Kahn, Yijung Kang, Lee S. Kelvin, Ivan V. Kotov, Gábor Kovács, Laurent Le Guillou, Shuang Liang, Mostafa Lutfi, Morgan May, Guillem Megias Homar, Marc Moniez, Freddy Muñoz Arancibia, Erfan Nourbakhsh, Hye Yun Park, John R. Peterson, Andrés A. Plazas Malagón, Daniel Polin, Bruno C. Quint, Tiago Ribeiro, Vincent J. Riot, Cécile Roucelle, Bruno O. Sánchez, David Sanmartim, Jacques Sebag, Nima Sedaghat, Richard A. Shaw, Alysha Shugart, Ioana Sotuela Elorriaga, Krzysztof Suberlak, John D. Swinbank, Sandrine Thomas, J. Anthony Tyson, Wouter van Reeven, Charlotte Ward, Christopher Z. Waters, Oliver Wiecha, W. M. Wood-Vasey. 2025-11-10. Enabling Early Transient Discovery in LSST via Difference Imaging with DECam. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22156

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