Dear colleagues,
Following the release of the Recommendations of the Euclid-Rubin Derived Data Products (DDP) Working Group, the Rubin Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC) has conducted an analysis of the impact of the selection of the specific Euclid Deep Field South (EDF-S) pointing as the fifth Rubin Deep Drilling Field (DDF) and delivered the following recommendation to the Rubin Operation Director:
The Rubin SCOC supports the selection of the Euclid Deep Field South (EDF-S) centered at (RA, Dec) = (61.24, -48.42) as the 5th Rubin LSST Deep Drilling Field (DDF). This decision is informed by an analysis of the impact of choosing a 5th Rubin LSST DDF at the location of the EDF-S with a footprint that spans two LSST pointings to a collective depth equal to half the nominal depth of a single Rubin DDF, which demonstrated that this choice does not adversely impact any existing metrics of Rubin science throughput to a significant level. Thus we recommend and encourage the Rubin and Euclid leadership to advance discussions on specific observing and co-observing cadence strategies that can maximize the joint scientific output without impacting the current Rubin LSST science goals. Iterating with the committee, once more information about the expected observing cadence and depth are available, will enable us to make more informed and detailed recommendations.