The realistic simulation of variable star populations is fundamental to determine the selection function and contamination in existing and upcoming multi-epoch surveys .
We present E LLISA , a simulator that produces an ensemble of mock light curves for a population of eclipsing binaries obtained from physical and orbital parameters consistent with different galactic populations , and which considers user-supplied time sampling and photometric errors to represent any given survey .
We carried out a search for eclipsing binaries in the QUEST low-galactic latitude catalogue of variable stars , spanning an area of 476 sq .
deg at -25 ^ { \circ } \la b \la 30 ^ { \circ } and 190 ^ { \circ } \leqslant l \leqslant 230 ^ { \circ } towards the galactic anti-centre , and use E LLISA to characterise the completeness of the resulting catalogue in terms of amplitudes and periods of variation as well as eclipsing binary type .
The resulting catalogue consists of 1 , 125 eclipsing binaries , out of which 179 , 60 and 886 are EA , EB and EW types respectively .
We estimate , on average , 30 \% completeness in the period range 0.25 \la P / d \la 1 for EB+EW binaries and 15 \% completeness for EA binaries with periods 2 \la P / d \la 10 , being the time sampling the primary factor determining the completeness of each type of eclipsing binary .
This is one of few eclipsing binary catalogues reported with an estimate of the selection function .
Mock eclipsing binary light curve libraries produced with E LLISA can be used to estimate the selection function and optimise eclipsing binary searches in upcoming multi-epoch surveys such as Gaia , the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System , the Zwicky Transient Factory or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope .