Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): XXXII. From simulations to sky: Advancing machine-learning lens detection with real Euclid data

In the era of large-scale surveys such as Euclid, machine learning has become an essential tool for identifying rare yet scientifically valuable objects, such as strong gravitational lenses. However, supervised machine-learning approaches require large quantities of labelled examples to train on, and the limited number of known strong lenses has led to a reliance on simulations for training. A well-known challenge is that machine-learning models trained on one data domain often underperform when applied to a different domain: in the context of lens finding, this means that strong performance on simulated lenses does not necessarily translate into equally good performance on real observations. In the Euclid Quick Data Release 1 (Q1), covering 63 deg2, 500 strong lens candidates were discovered through a synergy of machine learning, citizen science, and expert visual inspection. These discoveries now allow us to quantify this performance gap and investigate the impact of training on real data. We find that a network trained only on simulations recovers up to 92% of simulated lenses with 100% purity, but only achieves 50% completeness with 24% purity on real Euclid data. By augmenting training data with real Euclid lenses and non-lenses, completeness improves by 25–30% in terms of the expected yield of discoverable lenses in the Euclid Data Release 1 and the full Euclid Wide Survey. Roughly 20% of this improvement comes from the inclusion of real lenses in the training data, while 5–10% comes from exposure to a more diverse set of non-lenses and false positives from Q1. We show that the most effective lens-finding strategy for real-world performance combines the diversity of simulations with the fidelity of real lenses. This hybrid approach establishes a clear methodology for maximising lens discoveries in future data releases from Euclid and will likely also be applicable to other surveys such as the Vera Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.