unVEil the darknesS of The gAlactic buLgE (VESTALE)
  The main aim of this experiment is to provide a complete census of old (t >
10 Gyr, RR Lyrae, type II Cepheids, red horizontal branch), intermediate age
(red clump, Miras) and young (classical Cepheids) stellar tracers across the
Galactic Bulge. To fully exploit the unique photometric quality of LSST images,
we plan to perform a Shallow minisurvey (ugrizy, -20 < l < 20 deg, -15 < b < 10
deg) and a Deep minisurvey (izy, -20 < l < 20 deg, -3 < b < 3 deg). The former
one is aimed at constraining the 3D structure of the galactic Bulge across the
four quadrants, and in particular, the transition between inner and outer
Bulge. The u,g,r,i,z,y LSST bands provide fundamental diagnostics to constrain
the evolutionary properties of low and intermediate-mass stars when moving from
a metal-poor to a metal-rich regime. The deep minisurvey is aimed at tracing RR
Lyrae, Red Clump stars, Miras and classical Cepheids in highly reddened regions
of the Galactic center. These images will allow us to investigate the role that
baryonic mass and dark matter played in the early formation and evolution of
the MW.
