Properties of Ellipticity Correlation with Atmospheric Structure from Gemini South

Cosmic shear holds great promise for a precision independent measurement of Omega(m), the mass density of the universe relative to the critical density. The signal is expected to be weak, so a thorough understanding of systematic effects is crucial. An important systematic effect is the atmosphere: shear power introduced by the atmosphere is larger than the expected signal. Algorithms exist to extract the cosmic shear from the atmospheric component, although a measure of their success applied to a range of seeing conditions is lacking. To gain insight into atmospheric shear, Gemini South imaging, in conjunction with ground condition and satellite wind data, was obtained. We find that under good seeing conditions point-spread function (PSF) correlations persist well beyond the separation typical of high-latitude stars. Under these conditions, ellipticity residuals based on a simple PSF interpolation can be reduced to within a factor of a few of the shot noise induced ellipticity floor. We also find that the ellipticity residuals are highly correlated with wind direction. Finally, we correct stellar shapes using a more sophisticated procedure and generate shear statistics from stars. Under all seeing conditions in our data set the residual correlations lie everywhere below the target signal level. For good seeing we find that the systematic error attributable to atmospheric turbulence is comparable in magnitude to the statistical error ( shape noise) over angular scales relevant to present lensing surveys.