@inproceedings{e8e3c5b672dd4f91af5f469a84752365,
title = "Survey strategy optimization for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope",
abstract = "In recent years there have been significant improvements in the sensitivity and the angular resolution of the instruments dedicated to the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). ACTPol is the first polarization receiver for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and is observing the CMB sky with arcmin resolution over ∼2000 sq. deg. Its upgrade, Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT), will observe the CMB in five frequency bands and over a larger area of the sky. We describe the optimization and implementation of the ACTPol and AdvACT surveys. The selection of the observed fields is driven mainly by the science goals, that is, small angular scale CMB measurements, B-mode measurements and cross-correlation studies. For the ACTPol survey we have observed patches of the southern galactic sky with low galactic foreground emissions which were also chosen to maximize the overlap with several galaxy surveys to allow unique cross-correlation studies. A wider field in the northern galactic cap ensured significant additional overlap with the BOSS spectroscopic survey. The exact shapes and footprints of the fields were optimized to achieve uniform coverage and to obtain cross-linked maps by observing the fields with different scan directions. We have maximized the efficiency of the survey by implementing a close to 24 hour observing strategy, switching between daytime and nighttime observing plans and minimizing the telescope idle time. We describe the challenges represented by the survey optimization for the significantly wider area observed by AdvACT, which will observe roughly half of the low-foreground sky. The survey strategies described here may prove useful for planning future ground-based CMB surveys, such as the Simons Observatory and CMB Stage IV surveys.",
author = "{De Bernardis}, F. and Stevens, {J. R.} and M. Hasselfield and D. Alonso and Bond, {J. R.} and E. Calabrese and Choi, {S. K.} and Crowley, {K. T.} and M. Devlin and J. Dunkley and Gallardo, {P. A.} and Henderson, {S. W.} and M. Hilton and R. Hlozek and Ho, {S. P.} and K. Huffenberger and Koopman, {B. J.} and A. Kosowsky and T. Louis and Madhavacheril, {M. S.} and J. McMahon and S. N{\ae}ss and F. Nati and L. Newburgh and Niemack, {M. D.} and Page, {L. A.} and M. Salatino and A. Schillaci and Schmitt, {B. L.} and N. Sehgal and Sievers, {J. L.} and Simon, {S. M.} and Spergel, {David N.} and Staggs, {S. T.} and {Van Engelen}, A. and Vavagiakis, {E. M.} and Wollack, {E. J.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through awards 0408698 and 1440226. The NIST authors would like to acknowledge the support of the NIST Quantum Initiative. The development of multichroic detectors and lenses was supported by NASA grants NNX13AE56G and NNX14AB58G. The work of KPC, KTC, EG, BJK, CM, BLS, JTW, and SMS was supported by NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship awards. MDN acknowledges support from NSF award AST-1454881. DNS acknowledges support from NSF award AST-1311756. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 SPIE.; Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VI ; Conference date: 27-06-2016 Through 01-07-2016",
year = "2016",
doi = "10.1117/12.2232824",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE",
editor = "Peck, {Alison B.} and Seaman, {Robert L.} and Benn, {Chris R.}",
booktitle = "Observatory Operations",
address = "United States",
}