Goals for the meeting and beyond

1. Organization of Working GroupsGregory Dubois-FelsmannSLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryLSST dark energy science collaboration meetingJune 11−13, 2012

2. Goals for the meeting and beyond • This week • Forge common understanding of the challenge ahead • Develop a list of key areas for the next few years’ work • Organize our work toward a White Paper this summer • Form the Collaboration • This summer • Write and issue the White Paper • Add detail to our plan for the work ahead • Refine the boundaries of the Collaboration’s scope • Perform substantive scientific work in the analysis areas defined

3. Working groups – meet here and carry on • Some key decisions will be made here, but… • Refinements and real work over the coming months • Including bringing in those who could not attend this week • We envision dividing up these efforts into a few working groups which will meet/communicate frequently this summer • Working group leads will stay in regular contact with each other • The whole collaboration will be kept informed of progress periodically • By summer’s end: • Collectively review a white paper draft, revise, and issue it • Plan the next in-person meeting(s)

4. Working groups – initial definition • At the PI’s meeting earlier this year, we envisioned the need for five working groups: • White paper outline and editing • responsible for overall outline and for writing introductory material • Analysis task definition (and subgroups for DE probes) • define probes and steps required; may split into subgroups WL, BAO, SNe • Connections to the Observatory (camera and simulator) • 2-way contact: expected Observatory characteristics, DE performance • Computing model (hardware, software) • study resource needs, how to organize/acquire them; define bdry w/ DM • Collaboration governance • evaluate governance issues and possible models

5. Working groups – initial volunteers • Volunteers were collected at the PIs meeting and in subsequent communications • White paper outline and editing • Contact: Kahn • Analysis task definition (and subgroups for DE probes) • Contact: Jain • Connections to the Observatory (instrument & simulation) • Contact: Tyson • Computing model • Contact: Connolly, Dubois • Collaboration governance • Contact: Gilman The floor is open for additional volunteers or even a reconfiguration…

6. Reality… • Things have followed a modified path • With the larger group expected to be present at this meeting, we decided to defer some issues until now • The project reviews in May/June kept a lot of us from devoting as much time as we’d expected to DESC matters • We will take another look at the working group structure this week

7. Progress so far – analysis • The Analysis group has had meetings and numerous communications, and has already made progress on a substantive task outline • You will see the progress presented in a plenary talk this afternoon, and the working group – and its topical subgroups – will have parallel sessions during the meeting • We expect this meeting to result in a substantial refinement of the task outline • The working group should organize the responsibilities for writing corresponding sections of the White Paper

8. Progress so far – White Paper • White Paper • Steve Kahn will present a White Paper outline • Wednesday 9am plenary session • Updated with input from the sessions today and tomorrow • The White Paper (WP) working group should then convene, refine the outline, with input from the other working groups, and write and edit the introductory material • The White Paper working group will also be responsible for editing together the contributions from the other groups into a coherent whole • The White Paper is needed by the end of the summer!

9. Progress so far – governance • Governance • Fred Gilman has prepared a draft of an initial, simple governance model meant to get the Collaboration launched • We will present an outline of the model immediately after this overview • We’ll collect feedback from the working group and others today and tonight, which the original working group will digest, and… • The resulting model will be presented in plenary tomorrow afternoon • We would like to form the Collaboration by consensus on Wednesday based on that model, as adjusted by feedback received • We expect the governance to be in a “provisional state” for 6-12 months • In parallel with the writing of the WP, the governance working group should meet and refine and elaborate a longer-term model, which… • The Collaboration will then consider, perhaps revise, and adopt • A solid governance model needs to exist and be presented in the WP

10. Progress so far – computing • A larger computing group has met twice in the last two weeks • Original group plus some new members • The conception has shifted from “computing model” to “computing” more generally, and has included the simulator and some broad discussions of the software and resource base for the Collaboration • There will be an organizational parallel session this afternoon • The current state of their work will be presented in plenary tomorrow afternoon • They will be looking out for ideas and requirements generated in the analysis working group and its subgroups • One goal of this meeting will be to define the scope of this working group, and any substructure needed • A substantive computing model is needed soon: • A description as part of the WP this summer • A scope and cost estimate by the end of the year

11. Computing – additional comments • Areas for study: • Requirements for computing in the design years • Driven by the work defined by the analysis groups • Simulation, data processing, analysis; processing frameworks; archiving • Consider both the volume of work and the code development needed • Requirements for computing during operations • How much computing will the DE analyses require? Include simulation requirements… • What level of data processing is required? Purely catalog-based? Will the DE science require image data processing? • Define a computing model based on what we learn • Consider the boundaries between project-provided computing (simulation and Data Management) and the DE collaboration’s work • Level 2 Data Products (DM) vs. Level 3 Data Products (collaboration)

12. Progress so far – “connection to Observatory” • The topic remains a key role of the Collaboration: • Collection of information from the Observatory teams and digestion of its implications for dark energy analyses • Communication to the Observatory project of the Collaboration’s findings on the dark energy “reach” of the LSST and the implications of refinements to the design and “build-to” baselines as they emerge • There is a strong connection to the recent JIM Review’s focus on our understanding of the science implications of engineering trades and real-world performance on the LSST’s science reach • Status • The working group has not met • The original description tied it to the “camera and simulator”, but simulation is being covered in the expanded computing working group • We need to refresh this effort and decide how to proceed in this area • It may be possible to touch on this in the computing parallel today • Talk to us in the corridors and at the reception

13. What we need from you • Consider (or reconsider) your signups to working groups • Contribute and debate vigorously in sessions and in corridors • Help your working group make concrete decisions this week • Help ensure that we stay focused and finish this meeting with a clear plan, and assignments, that will help us assemble the White Paper this summer