ASTRO-F/FIS Observing Simulation: Detection Limits for Point Sources

We describe the observing simulation software FISVI (FIS Virtual Instrument), which was developed for the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) that will be on the Japanese infrared astronomy mission ASTRO-F. The FISVI has two purposes: one is to check the specifications and performances of the ASTRO-F/FIS as a whole, and the other is to prepare input data sets for the data analysis softwares prior to launch. In the FISVI, a special care was taken by introducing the “Compiled PSF (Point Spread Function)” to optimise inevitable but time-consuming convolution processes. With the Compiled PSF, we reduce the computation time by an order of magnitude. The photon and readout noises are included in the simulations. We estimate the detection limits for point sources from the simulation of virtual patches of the sky mostly consisting of distant galaxies. We studied the importance of the source confusion for simple power-law models for N(> S), the number of sources brighter than S. We found that source confusion plays a dominant role in the detection limits only for models with rapid luminosity evolution for the galaxy counts, which evolution is suggested by recent observations.