Wavelength-dependent PSFs and their impact on weak lensing measurements

Abstract

We measure and model the wavelength dependence of the point spread function (PSF) in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program survey. We find that PSF chromaticity is present in the redder stars that appear smaller than bluer stars in the g, r, and i bands at the 1–2 per cent level and in the z and y bands at the 0.1–0.2 per cent level. From the color dependence of the PSF, we fit a model between the monochromatic PSF size based on weighted second moments, R, and wavelength of the form R(λ) ∝λ−b. We find values of b between 0.2 and 0.5, depending on the epoch and filter. This is consistent with the expectations of a turbulent atmosphere with an outer scale length of ∼10 − 100 m, indicating that the atmosphere is dominating the chromaticity. In the best seeing data, we find that the optical system and detector also contribute some wavelength dependence. Meyers & Burchat showed that b must be measured to an accuracy of ∼0.02 not to dominate the systematic error budget of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) weak lensing (WL) survey. Using simple image simulations, we find that b can be inferred with this accuracy in the r and i-bands for all positions in the LSST focal plane, assuming a stellar density of 1 star arcmin−2 and that the optical component of the PSF can be accurately modeled. Therefore, it is possible to correct for most, if not all, of the bias that the wavelength-dependent PSF will introduce into an LSST-like WL survey.