Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) has been observing the entire northern sky since the start of 2018 down to a magnitude of 20.5 (5 σ for 30 s exposure) in the g , r , and i filters. Over the course of two years, ZTF has obtained light curves of more than a billion sources, each with 50–1000 epochs per light curve in g and r , and fewer in i . To be able to use the information contained in the light curves of variable sources for new scientific discoveries, an efficient and flexible framework is needed to classify them. In this paper, we introduce the methods and infrastructure that will be used to classify all ZTF light curves. Our approach aims to be flexible and modular and allows the use of a dynamical classification scheme and labels, continuously evolving training sets, and the use of different machine-learning classifier types and architectures. With this setup, we are able to continuously update and improve the classification of ZTF light curves as new data become available, training samples are updated, and new classes need to be incorporated.
Source: The Astronomical Journal
Authors: Jan van Roestel, Dmitry A. Duev, Ashish A. Mahabal, Michael W. Coughlin, Przemek Mróz, Kevin Burdge, Andrew Drake, Matthew J. Graham, Lynne Hillenbrand, Eric C. Bellm, Thomas Kupfer, Alexandre Delacroix, C. Fremling, V. Zach Golkhou, David Hale, Russ R. Laher, Frank J. Masci, Reed Riddle, Philippe Rosnet, Ben Rusholme, Roger Smith, Maayane T. Soumagnac, Richard Walters, Thomas A. Prince, S. R. Kulkarni
Institutions: California Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, Texas Tech University, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Clermont Auvergne, Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont Auvergne, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, California Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, Heising-Simons Foundation, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Stockholms Universitet, Office of Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron
Awards: G122673668, CIF21 DIBBS: EI: VIFI:Virtual Information-Fabric Infrastructure (VIFI) for Data-Driven Decisions from Distributed Data, G1286236842, G1677143136, G1863003419, G3013824357, G3083819904, G3226045097, ZWICKY TRANSIENT FACILITY, XSEDE 2.0: Integrating, Enabling and Enhancing National Cyberinfrastructure with Expanding Community Involvement, G3812616897, G419881185, G42916606, G4382344593, G4501827968, G498139845, G5076365615, G5590740066, Extending the Reach of Gravitational-Wave Detectors to Detect Post-Merger Signals from Binary Neutron Stars, G6652958823, G6806689448, G7441047379, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W3130227239