Deep Learning for Point Spread Function Modeling in Cosmology

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Auteurs principaux: Arbeláez, Dayana Andrea Henao, Léget, Pierre-François, Malagón, Andrés Alejandro Plazas
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Arbeláez, Dayana Andrea Henao
Léget, Pierre-François
Malagón, Andrés Alejandro Plazas
author_facet Arbeláez, Dayana Andrea Henao
Léget, Pierre-François
Malagón, Andrés Alejandro Plazas
contents We present the development of a data-driven, AI-based model of the Point Spread Function (PSF) that achieves higher accuracy than the current state-of-the-art approach, "PSF in the Full Field-of-View'' (PIFF). PIFF is widely used in leading weak-lensing surveys, including the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The PSF characterizes how a point source, such as a star, is imaged after its light traverses the atmosphere and telescope optics, effectively representing the "blurred fingerprint'' of the entire imaging system. Accurate PSF modeling is essential for weak gravitational lensing analyses, as biases in its estimation propagate directly into cosmic shear measurements -- one of the primary cosmological probes of the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of large-scale structure for dark energy studies. To address the limitations of PIFF, which constructs PSF models independently for each CCD and therefore loses spatial coherence across the focal plane, we introduce a deep-learning-based framework for PSF reconstruction. In this approach, an autoencoder is trained on stellar images obtained with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) of the Subaru Telescope and combined with a Gaussian process to interpolate the PSF across the telescope's full field of view. This hybrid model captures systematic variations across the focal plane and achieves a reconstruction error of $3.4 \times 10^{-6}$ compared to PIFF's $3.7 \times 10^{-6}$, laying the foundation for integration into the LSST Science Pipelines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_15780
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deep Learning for Point Spread Function Modeling in Cosmology
Arbeláez, Dayana Andrea Henao
Léget, Pierre-François
Malagón, Andrés Alejandro Plazas
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
We present the development of a data-driven, AI-based model of the Point Spread Function (PSF) that achieves higher accuracy than the current state-of-the-art approach, "PSF in the Full Field-of-View'' (PIFF). PIFF is widely used in leading weak-lensing surveys, including the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The PSF characterizes how a point source, such as a star, is imaged after its light traverses the atmosphere and telescope optics, effectively representing the "blurred fingerprint'' of the entire imaging system. Accurate PSF modeling is essential for weak gravitational lensing analyses, as biases in its estimation propagate directly into cosmic shear measurements -- one of the primary cosmological probes of the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of large-scale structure for dark energy studies. To address the limitations of PIFF, which constructs PSF models independently for each CCD and therefore loses spatial coherence across the focal plane, we introduce a deep-learning-based framework for PSF reconstruction. In this approach, an autoencoder is trained on stellar images obtained with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) of the Subaru Telescope and combined with a Gaussian process to interpolate the PSF across the telescope's full field of view. This hybrid model captures systematic variations across the focal plane and achieves a reconstruction error of $3.4 \times 10^{-6}$ compared to PIFF's $3.7 \times 10^{-6}$, laying the foundation for integration into the LSST Science Pipelines.
title Deep Learning for Point Spread Function Modeling in Cosmology
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15780