Meetings

The 2025 July meeting of the LSST AGN Science Collaboration will be hosted in Durham, UK, from Monday 14th to Thursday 17th July.

See this page for full details.

 

 

The 2024 July meeting of the LSST AGN Science Collaboration was hosted by the Planetario di Torino “Attilio Ferrari” in Turin, Italy.

Details of the 2024 meeting are in this link.

 

The 2023 July meeting of the LSST AGN Science Collaboration was hosted by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. 

Details of the 2023 meeting are in this link.

 

 

The 2022 July meeting of the LSST AGN Science Collaboration was held online, with the program as described below:

 

Supermassive Black Hole Studies with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time - 2022: Getting Ready for Rubin Operations

The 2022 Summer Meeting of the LSST Active Galactic Nuclei Science Collaboration: July 26-28, 2022

 
Note that all times are for USA Eastern time (e.g., for New York City). 
 
TUE, JULY 26 - TOTAL TIME IS 4.2 HOURS
 
Daily Moderator - G.T. Richards
 
10:30am - 11:55pm
 10 - Welcome and Organization
 25 - Clarkson - "The Status of the LSST Science Collaborations and Insights for the AGN SC"
 25 - Brandt - "The 2022 State of the LSST AGN Science Collaboration"
 25 - Shemmer - "The LSST AGN Science Collaboration Roadmap"
 
10 - BREAK
 
12:05pm - 1:20pm
 25 - AlSayyad - "Update on Science Pipelines and Data Products for the AGN SC"
 25 - Petrecca - "The LSST Data Previews - Current Status Relevant to the AGN SC and Brief Tutorial of the Rubin Science Platform"
 25 - Homayouni - "Census of Black Hole Accretion Structure and Mass with Rubin/LSST"
 
10 - BREAK 
 
1:30pm - 2:40pm
 25 - Secunda - "Probing Accretion Disk Structure with LSST"      
 
 45+ - DISCUSSIONS
        * SCOC discussion led by Bauer et al.      
        * Other issues arising from this day's talks        
 
 
WED, JULY 27 - TOTAL TIME IS 4.4 HOURS
 
Daily Moderator - D. De Cicco
 
10:30am - 11:45am
 25 - Verma - "The In-kind process and updates for the AGN SC"
 25 - Czerny - "Emission line time delays from LSST AGN photometry" (In-Kind Contribution)
 25 - Salvato - "MPE photometric redshifts for LSST detected AGN" (In-Kind Contribution)
 
10 - BREAK
 
11:55pm - 1:10pm
 25 - Kovacevic - "SER-SAG directable software in-kind contribution to LSST: Report on the construction of a time domain pipeline for periodicity search" (In-Kind Contribution)
 25 - Bongiorno - "Italian simulations of high-z AGN and galaxies in the LSST survey" (In-Kind Contribution)
 25 - Zou - "Multi-wavelength data and spectral energy distributions in the LSST Deep-Drilling Fields"
      
10 - BREAK
 
1:20pm - 2:55pm
 25 - Shirley - "Joint photometry from Vera C. Rubin Observatory optical and VISTA near infrared imaging"      
 25 - Lacy - "The host galaxies of low redshift quasars identified in the VLA Sky Survey"
 
 45+ - DISCUSSIONS
        * In-kind issues discussion led by Hoenig et al.
           (System readiness; Communication channels; Software access)
        * Other issues arising from this day's talks        
 
 
THU, JULY 28 - TOTAL TIME IS 4.0 HOURS
 
Daily Moderator - M.J. Temple
 
10:30am - 11:45am 
 25 - Yu - "Building A Comprehensive Dataset in Preparation for LSST AGN Science: AGN Data Challenge and the Next"
 25 - Savic - "The LSST AGN Data Challenge: Selection methods"
 25 - D'Ammando - "Synergies between LSST and CTA for the study of the physics of relativistic jets"
 
10 - BREAK
 
11:55pm - 1:10pm
 25 - Charisi - "Multi-messenger observations of supermassive black hole binaries with LSST"
 25 - Hernandez-Garcia - "Updates on services provided by the ALeRCE Broker for AGN science"
 25 - Patel - "Studying the Variability of Quasars as a function of rest-frame wavelength"
      
10 - BREAK
 
1:20pm - 2:30pm
     
 45+ - DISCUSSIONS
        * Roadmapping issues discussion led by Shemmer et al.
           (Status Review; Priority setting)
        * Other issues arising from this day's talks        

 

 

Supermassive Black Hole Studies with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)

       A Meeting-in-a-Meeting (MiM) as part of the 236th Meeting of the AAS

June 1-3, 2020

 

The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), to be conducted at the Vera Rubin Observatory beginning in 2023, will enable studies of the growing supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) on a truly massive scale. The tens of millions of AGNs discovered will be used for powerful studies of, e.g., the AGN luminosity function, AGN growth across varied cosmic environments, the highest redshift AGNs, AGN variability of many types, and transient SMBH fueling events. The LSST AGN Science Collaboration, currently composed of about 50 members spanning the globe, will lead many investigations of AGNs with LSST and supporting multiwavelength data. The time to prepare for AGN science with the petabyte deluge of LSST data is now, and this Meeting-in-a-Meeting (MiM) aims to stimulate such preparation.

Specifically, this MiM has the following main goals: (1) Provide outreach to the broad AAS membership, so that additional astronomers with interest can learn about the AGN science opportunities with LSST and consider joining the AGN Science Collaboration; (2) Allow in-depth presentation and critical discussion of exciting planned LSST and related AGN science projects; (3) Enable practical planning, coordination, and resource preparation so that these science projects can be executed successfully; and (4) Allow discussion and assessment of the currently evolving LSST observing strategy (e.g., cadence, total depth, footprints), so that key feedback can be provided to the LSST Project.

The MiM program will include 16 talks, each of 30 min duration including time for questions/discussion. The program will begin with a brief review of the LSST Science Collaborations and the LSST AGN Science Collaboration, including its ongoing activities and future plans. This will be followed by talks on AGN selection and characterization using LSST and supporting data, including the science that will be performed with the massive resulting AGN samples. There will then be talks on AGN variability studies using LSST data, including general variability characterization, transient SMBH phenomena, reverberation mapping, and changing-look AGNs. A forward-looking summary, discussion session, and potential hack session will conclude the MiM. In addition to the official allocated sessions, we aim to have several group lunches during the AAS meeting that will enable further discussions and planning.

The MiM schedule is available.

For questions or additional information, please email W. Niel Brandt (wnbrandt@gmail.com).

Video recordings of the six MiM sessions are available on YouTube...

   Session 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbROQY_88L0
   Session 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvSNrO-voa4
   Session 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjq0S23Pp6A
   Session 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZFhdX2j2es
   Session 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCdleBWEus
   Session 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9wb9bWLfWo

Slides for all the talks can be downloaded at https://www.dropbox.com/s/pzgmumkodg45tfb/2020-06-LSST-MiM-slides01.tar....

 

LSST AGN Science Collaboration Session at the LSST 2018 Project and Community Workshop

Thursday, August 16, 2018, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM; Joshua Tree Room (El Conquistador Hilton Resort)

LSST will enable studies of the growing supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) on a truly massive scale - LSST plus multiwavelength data should allow the selection of tens of millions of AGNs. LSST will also provide unmatched source statistics on transient SMBH phenomena including stellar tidal disruptions, strong gravitational microlensing events, blazar flares, changing-look sources, and accretion-disk instabilities. This session covered some of these science prospects and promoted planning for them with connections to the AGN Science Collaboration, the Galaxies Science Collaboration, the Transients Science Collaboration, Informatics and Statistics, and the Project. The session organizers were W.N. Brandt (Chair), Franz Bauer, Gordon Richards, and Michael Strauss.
 

 

Meeting Program

Welcome, Overview, and Activities of the AGN SC
W.N. Brandt, Penn State University
 
AGN Selection Opportunities and Challenges with the LSST
Jan-Torge Schindler, University of Arizona
 
Sophie Reed, Princeton University
 
Timo Anguita, Universidad Andres Bello
 
 

Session Audio

Photo of Session Attendees

 

 

LSST AGN Science Collaboration Roadmap Development Meeting

An Open Splinter Meeting as part of the

229th AAS Meeting, Grapevine, TX

Tuesday, January 3, 2017, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Appaloosa 2 (Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center)

The goals of the meeting are to: 1) start the development of a comprehensive Roadmap for the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) Science Collaboration of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), presenting a coherent vision for AGN research pre- and post-LSST commissioning, 2) form dedicated Working Groups within the Science Collaboration who will work on specific projects described by the Roadmap, 3) explore funding opportunities to support the highest-ranked projects described by the Roadmap, and 4) encourage eligible active extragalactic researchers to join the AGN Science Collaboration.
 

Organizing Committee:

Ohad Shemmer (University of North Texas); ohad@unt.edu
Niel Brandt (The Pennsylvania State University); wnbrandt@gmail.com
Gordon Richards (Drexel University); gtr@physics.drexel.edu

Organizing committee members may be contacted with any questions.

Meeting Program

 

Session 1: 9:00 - 10:30

Chair: Ohad Shemmer, University of North Texas

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ohad Shemmer, University of North Texas
 
Description of AGN Science Collaboration Activities and Goals
Niel Brandt, The Pennsylvania State University
 
Gordon Richards, Drexel University
 
Carole Mundell, University of Bath

Chelsea MacLeod, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
 

Coffee Break: 10:30 - 11:00  Group Photo

Session 2: 11:00 - 12:30

Chair: Niel Brandt, The Pennsylvania State University

Roberto Assef, Universidad Diego Portales
 
Christina Peters, University of Toronto

Vishal Kasliwal, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University
 
Paula Sanchez, Universidad de Chile
 
Yan-Fei Jiang, University of California, Santa Barbara

Lunch Break: 12:30 - 1:30

Session 3: 1:30 - 3:00

Chair: Ohad Shemmer, University of North Texas

Discussion and Ranking of AGN Science Collaboration Tasks and
Priorities, Forming Working Groups, and Setting a Timeline for Roadmap
White Paper Posting

Coffee Break: 3:00 - 3:30

Session 4: 3:30 - 6:00

Chair: Gordon Richards, Drexel University

Writing Roadmap White Paper Skeleton

This meeting is kindly supported by the LSST Corporation