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The Vera C. Rubin Observatory began commissioning its LSSTCam in April 2025, with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time scheduled to begin in 2026. The primary scientific objective is to constrain Dark Energy properties through weak gravitational lensing measurements of large-scale cosmic structures. After one year of observations, these measurements are expected to achieve precision comparable to recent DESI results and provide independent verification of potential Dark Energy evolution over cosmic time.
Why it matters
Understanding Dark Energy, which constitutes approximately 70% of the universe's energy density and drives cosmic acceleration, is one of the fundamental challenges in modern cosmology. Independent measurements from different observational techniques are critical for confirming or refuting emerging hints that Dark Energy properties may change over time, which would have profound implications for our understanding of fundamental physics.
arXiv:2606.09938v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory began commissioning its camera, LSSTCam, in April 2025, with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) scheduled to start in 2026. A primary science goal is constraining Dark Energy through weak gravitational lensing of the large-scale structure (cosmic shear). After a full year of data from LSST, these measurements are expected to reach precision comparable to recent Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), providing an independent test of hints that Dark Energy may evolve over time. However, cosmic shear requires exquisite control of instrumental systematics. This proceeding presents an overview of the Rubin Observatory commissioning — the successes achieved and the systematic issues we are working to resolve.