Euclid preparation: I. The Euclid Wide Survey
Creators: name: Scaramella, R.
name: Amiaux, J.
name: Mellier, Y.
name: Burigana, C.
name: Carvalho, C. S.
name: Cuillandre, J. -C.
name: Da Silva, A.
name: Derosa, A.
name: Dinis, J.
name: Maiorano, E.
name: Maris, M.
name: Tereno, I.
name: Laureijs, R.
name: Boenke, T.
name: Buenadicha, G.
name: Dupac, X.
name: Venancio, L. M. Gaspar
name: Gómez-Álvarez, P.
name: Hoar, J.
name: Alvarez, J. Lorenzo
name: Racca, G. D.
name: Saavedra-Criado, G.
name: Schwartz, J.
name: Vavrek, R.
name: Schirmer, M.
name: Aussel, H.
name: Azzollini, R.
name: Cardone, V. F.
name: Cropper, M.
name: Ealet, A.
name: Garilli, B.
name: Gillard, W.
name: Granett, B. R.
name: Guzzo, L.
name: Hoekstra, H.
name: Jahnke, K.
name: Kitching, T.
name: Meneghetti, M.
name: Miller, L.
name: Nakajima, R.
name: Niemi, S. M.
name: Pasian, F.
name: Percival, W. J.
name: Sauvage, M.
name: Scodeggio, M.
name: Wachter, S.
name: Zacchei, A.
name: Aghanim, N.
name: Amara, A.
name: Auphan, T.
name: Auricchio, N.
name: Awan, S.
name: Balestra, A.
name: Bender, R.
name: Bodendorf, C.
name: Bonino, D.
name: Branchini, E.
name: Brau-Nogue, S.
name: Brescia, M.
name: Candini, G. P.
name: Capobianco, V.
name: Carbone, C.
name: Carlberg, R. G.
name: Carretero, J.
name: Casas, R.
name: Castander, F. J.
name: Castellano, M.
name: Cavuoti, S.
name: Cimatti, A.
name: Cledassou, R.
name: Congedo, G.
name: Conselice, C. J.
name: Conversi, L.
name: Copin, Y.
name: Corcione, L.
name: Costille, A.
name: Courbin, F.
name: Degaudenzi, H.
name: Douspis, M.
name: Dubath, F.
name: Duncan, C. A. J.
name: Dusini, S.
name: Farrens, S.
name: Ferriol, S.
name: Fosalba, P.
name: Fourmanoit, N.
name: Frailis, M.
name: Franceschi, E.
name: Franzetti, P.
name: Fumana, M.
name: Gillis, B.
name: Giocoli, C.
name: Grazian, A.
name: Grupp, F.
name: Haugan, S. V. H.
name: Holmes, W.
name: Hormuth, F.
name: Hudelot, P.
name: Kermiche, S.
name: Kiessling, A.
name: Kilbinger, M.
name: Kohley, R.
name: Kubik, B.
name: Kümmel, M.
name: Kunz, M.
name: Kurki-Suonio, H.
name: Ligori, S.
name: Lilje, P. B.
name: Lloro, I.
name: Mansutti, O.
name: Marggraf, O.
name: Markovic, K.
name: Marulli, F.
name: Massey, R.
name: Maurogordato, S.
name: Melchior, M.
name: Merlin, E.
name: Meylan, G.
name: Mohr, J. J.
name: Moresco, M.
name: Morin, B.
name: Moscardini, L.
name: Munari, E.
name: Nichol, R. C.
name: Padilla, C.
name: Paltani, S.
name: Peacock, J.
name: Pedersen, K.
name: Pettorino, V.
name: Pires, S.
name: Poncet, M.
name: Popa, L.
name: Pozzetti, L.
name: Raison, F.
name: Rebolo, R.
name: Rhodes, J.
name: Rix, H. -W.
name: Roncarelli, M.
name: Rossetti, E.
name: Saglia, R.
name: Schneider, P.
name: Schrabback, T.
name: Secroun, A.
name: Seidel, G.
name: Serrano, S.
name: Sirignano, C.
name: Sirri, G.
name: Skottfelt, J.
name: Stanco, L.
name: Starck, J. L.
name: Tallada-Crespí, P.
name: Tavagnacco, D.
name: Taylor, A. N.
name: Teplitz, H. I.
name: Toledo-Moreo, R.
name: Torradeflot, F.
name: Trifoglio, M.
name: Valentijn, E. A.
name: Valenziano, L.
name: Kleijn, G. A. Verdoes
name: Wang, Y.
name: Welikala, N.
name: Weller, J.
name: Wetzstein, M.
name: Zamorani, G.
name: Zoubian, J.
name: Andreon, S.
name: Baldi, M.
name: Bardelli, S.
name: Boucaud, A.
name: Camera, S.
name: Fabbian, G.
name: Farinelli, R.
name: Graciá-Carpio, J.
name: Maino, D.
name: Medinaceli, E.
name: Mei, S.
name: Neissner, C.
name: Polenta, G.
name: Renzi, A.
name: Romelli, E.
name: Rosset, C.
name: Sureau, F.
name: Tenti, M.
name: Vassallo, T.
name: Zucca, E.
name: Baccigalupi, C.
name: Balaguera-Antolínez, A.
name: Battaglia, P.
name: Biviano, A.
name: Borgani, S.
name: Bozzo, E.
name: Cabanac, R.
name: Cappi, A.
name: Casas, S.
name: Castignani, G.
name: Colodro-Conde, C.
name: Coupon, J.
name: Courtois, H. M.
name: Cuby, J.
name: de la Torre, S.
name: Desai, S.
name: Di Ferdinando, D.
name: Dole, H.
name: Fabricius, M.
name: Farina, M.
name: Ferreira, P. G.
name: Finelli, F.
name: Flose-Reimberg, P.
name: Fotopoulou, S.
name: Galeotta, S.
name: Ganga, K.
name: Gozaliasl, G.
name: Hook, I. M.
name: Keihanen, E.
name: Kirkpatrick, C. C.
name: Liebing, P.
name: Lindholm, V.
name: Mainetti, G.
name: Martinelli, M.
name: Martinet, N.
name: Maturi, M.
name: McCracken, H. J.
name: Metcalf, R. B.
name: Morgante, G.
name: Nightingale, J.
name: Nucita, A.
name: Patrizii, L.
name: Potter, D.
name: Riccio, G.
name: Sánchez, A. G.
name: Sapone, D.
name: Schewtschenko, J. A.
name: Schultheis, M.
name: Scottez, V.
name: Teyssier, R.
name: Tutusaus, I.
name: Valiviita, J.
name: Viel, M.
name: Vriend, W.
name: Whittaker, L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Euclid is an ESA mission designed to constrain the properties of dark energy and gravity via weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering. It will carry out a wide area imaging and spectroscopy survey (EWS) in visible and near-infrared, covering roughly 15,000 square degrees of extragalactic sky on six years. The wide-field telescope and instruments are optimized for pristine PSF and reduced straylight, producing very crisp images. This paper presents the building of the Euclid reference survey: the sequence of pointings of EWS, Deep fields, Auxiliary fields for calibrations, and spacecraft movements followed by Euclid as it operates in a step-and-stare mode from its orbit around the Lagrange point L2. Each EWS pointing has four dithered frames; we simulate the dither pattern at pixel level to analyse the effective coverage. We use up-to-date models for the sky background to define the Euclid region-of-interest (RoI). The building of the reference survey is highly constrained from calibration cadences, spacecraft constraints and background levels; synergies with ground-based coverage are also considered. Via purposely-built software optimized to prioritize best sky areas, produce a compact coverage, and ensure thermal stability, we generate a schedule for the Auxiliary and Deep fields observations and schedule the RoI with EWS transit observations. The resulting reference survey RSD_2021A fulfills all constraints and is a good proxy for the final solution. Its wide survey covers 14,500 square degrees. The limiting AB magnitudes ($5σ$ point-like source) achieved in its footprint are estimated to be 26.2 (visible) and 24.5 (near-infrared); for spectroscopy, the H$_α$ line flux limit is $2\times 10^{-16}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at 1600 nm; and for diffuse emission the surface brightness limits are 29.8 (visible) and 28.4 (near-infrared) mag arcsec$^{-2}$.
description: 43 pages, 51 figures, submitted to A&amp;A