End-to-end validation of Roman Coronagraph polarimetric calibration

Establish the realistic input parameters and observing configurations required to complete an end-to-end validation of the Roman Coronagraph Instrument polarimetric calibration mode, including processing through the Mueller-matrix derivation and evaluation of calibration accuracy under realistic observing and detector conditions.

Background

The paper develops an on-sky calibration strategy for reconstructing the Roman Coronagraph Instrument Mueller matrix from polarized and weakly polarized standard stars. Its simplified Monte Carlo simulations include calibrator-property uncertainties, detector-response errors, and photometric noise, but omit several effects expected in real observations, including dark current, image distortion, cosmic rays, and spatial detector-response variations.

A complete end-to-end test using corgisim and corgiDRP is therefore needed to determine whether the proposed calibration approach achieves the desired accuracy under realistic conditions. The paper reports successful processing of simulated Level 1 datasets through Level 2b, but states that the realistic simulation inputs and observing configurations have not yet been established and that incorporation of the dithered observing strategy and remaining Mueller-matrix processing steps is still in progress.