Establishing that Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a flagship dark matter experiment is an essential pathway toward understanding the physical nature of dark matter. In the past two decades, wide-field astronomical surveys and terrestrial laboratories have jointly created a phase transition in the ecosystem of dark matter models and probes. Going forward, any robust understanding of dark matter requires astronomical observations, which still provide the only empirical evidence for dark matter to date. We have a unique opportunity right now to create a dark matter experiment with Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This experiment will be a coordinated effort to perform dark matter research, and provide a large collaborative team of scientists with the necessary organizational and funding supports. This approach leverages existing investments in Rubin. Studies of dark matter with Rubin LSST will also guide the design of, and confirm the results from, other dark matter experiments. Supporting a collaborative team to carry out a dark matter experiment with Rubin LSST is the key to achieving the dark matter science goals that have already been identified as high priority by the high-energy physics and astronomy communities.
@article{arxiv.2203.07252,
title = {Snowmass2021: Vera C. Rubin Observatory as a Flagship Dark Matter Experiment},
author = {Yao-Yuan Mao and Annika H. G. Peter and Susmita Adhikari and Keith Bechtol and Simeon Bird and Simon Birrer and Jonathan Blazek and Jeffrey L. Carlin and Nushkia Chamba and Johann Cohen-Tanugi and Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine and Tansu Daylan and Birendra Dhanasingham and Alex Drlica-Wagner and Cora Dvorkin and Christopher Fassnacht and Eric Gawiser and Maurizio Giannotti and Vera Gluscevic and Alma Gonzalez-Morales and Renee Hlozek and M. James Jee and Stacy Kim and Akhtar Mahmood and Rachel Mandelbaum and Siddharth Mishra-Sharma and Marc Moniez and Ethan O. Nadler and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and J. Anthony Tyson and Risa H. Wechsler and Hai-Bo Yu and Gabrijela Zaharijas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.07252},
year = {2022}
}