The large binocular camera image simulator

The Large Binocular Camera Image Simulator (LBCImSim) is a package for generating artificial images in the typical FITS format. It operates on real or artificial images, simulating the expected performances of real instruments by including several observing conditions ( filters, air mass, flat field, and exposure time) and creating images with the LBC instrumental artifacts ( optical deformations, noise, and CCD architectures). This simulator can also be used to produce artificial images for other existing and future telescopes, since its structure is very flexible. The primary aim of LBCImSim is to support the development of a pipeline and data analysis procedure that is able to handle wide-field imaging and the fast reduction of huge amounts of photometric data. The software consists of three stand-alone programs written in C that use IRAF and run on Linux OS. In this paper, we first describe the software, its performance in several tests carried out prior to public release, and some examples for users. In particular, we compare the Hubble Deep Field - South (HDF-S) as seen by FORS1 with a simulated image and found that the agreement is good. We then use this software to predict the expected performances of the LBC instrument by means of realistic simulations of deep-field observations with the Large Binocular Telescope.