The High Cadence Transit Survey (HiTS): Compilation and Characterization of Light-curve Catalogs

Indexación: Scopus.J.M. acknowledges support from CONICYT-Chile through CONICYT-PCHA/Doctorado-Nacional/2014-21140892. J.M., F.F., G.C.V., and G.M. acknowledge support from the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). F.F. acknowledges support from Conicyt through the Fondecyt Initiation into Research project No. 11130228. J.M., F.F., J.S.M., G.C.V., and S.G. acknowledge support from Basal Project PFB-03, Centro de Modelamiento Matemáico (CMM), Universidad de Chile. P.L. acknowledges support by Fondecyt through project #1161184. G.C.V. gratefully acknowledges financial support from CON-ICYT-Chile through FONDECYT postdoctoral grant number 3160747 and CONICYT-Chile and NSF through the Programme of International Cooperation project DPI201400090. P.H. acknowledges support from FONDECYT through grant 1170305. L.G. was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under grant AST-1311862. G.M. acknowledges support from Conicyt through CONICYT-PCHA/Magís-terNacional/2016-22162353. Support for T.d.J. has been provided by US NSF grant AST-1211916, the TABASGO Foundation, and Gary and Cynthia Bengier. R.R.M. acknowledges partial support from BASAL Project PFB-06, as well as FONDECYT project N◦1170364. Powered@NLHPC: this research was supported by the High Performance Computing infrastructure of the National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC), PIA ECM-02, CONICYT. This project used data obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which was constructed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaborating institutions: Argonne National Lab, the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologi-cas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil consortium, the University of Edinburgh, ETH-Zurich, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Institut de Ciencies de l’Espai, Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Lab, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, and Texas A&M University. Funding for DES, including DECam, has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Ministry of Education and Science (Spain), Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK), Higher Education Funding Council (England), National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Financia-dora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (Brazil), the German Research Foundation-sponsored cluster of excellence “Origin and Structure of the universe,” and the DES collaborating institutions. Facility: CTIO:1.5 m (DECam).The High Cadence Transient Survey (HiTS) aims to discover and study transient objects with characteristic timescales between hours and days, such as pulsating, eclipsing, and exploding stars. This survey represents a unique laboratory to explore large etendue observations from cadences of about 0.1 days and test new computational tools for the analysis of large data. This work follows a fully data science approach, from the raw data to the analysis and classification of variable sources. We compile a catalog of ∼15 million object detections and a catalog of ∼2.5 million light curves classified by variability. The typical depth of the survey is 24.2, 24.3, 24.1, and 23.8 in the u, g, r, and i bands, respectively. We classified all point-like nonmoving sources by first extracting features from their light curves and then applying a random forest classifier. For the classification, we used a training set constructed using a combination of cross-matched catalogs, visual inspection, transfer/active learning, and data augmentation. The classification model consists of several random forest classifiers organized in a hierarchical scheme. The classifier accuracy estimated on a test set is approximately 97%. In the unlabeled data, 3485 sources were classified as variables, of which 1321 were classified as periodic. Among the periodic classes, we discovered with high confidence one δ Scuti, 39 eclipsing binaries, 48 rotational variables, and 90 RR Lyrae, and for the nonperiodic classes, we discovered one cataclysmic variable, 630 QSOs, and one supernova candidate. The first data release can be accessed in the project archive of HiTS (http://astro.cmm.uchile.cl/HiTS/). © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aadfd

THE HIGH CADENCE TRANSIENT SURVEY (HITS). I. SURVEY DESIGN AND SUPERNOVA SHOCK BREAKOUT CONSTRAINTS

Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.We present the first results of the High Cadence Transient Survey (HiTS), a survey for which the objective is to detect and follow-up optical transients with characteristic timescales from hours to days, especially the earliest hours of supernova (SN) explosions. HiTS uses the Dark Energy Camera and a custom pipeline for image subtraction, candidate filtering and candidate visualization, which runs in real-time to be able to react rapidly to the new transients. We discuss the survey design, the technical challenges associated with the real-time analysis of these large volumes of data and our first results. In our 2013, 2014, and 2015 campaigns, we detected more than 120 young SN candidates, but we did not find a clear signature from the short-lived SN shock breakouts (SBOs) originating after the core collapse of red supergiant stars, which was the initial science aim of this survey. Using the empirical distribution of limiting magnitudes from our observational campaigns, we measured the expected recovery fraction of randomly injected SN light curves, which included SBO optical peaks produced with models from Tominaga et al. (2011) and Nakar & Sari (2010). From this analysis, we cannot rule out the models from Tominaga et al. (2011) under any reasonable distributions of progenitor masses, but we can marginally rule out the brighter and longer-lived SBO models from Nakar & Sari (2010) under our best-guess distribution of progenitor masses. Finally, we highlight the implications of this work for future massive data sets produced by astronomical observatories, such as LSST.http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-637X/832/2/155/meta;jsessionid=76BDFFFE378003616F6DBA56A9225673.c4.iopscience.cld.iop.or

PRODIGE -- Envelope to Disk with NOEMA II. Small-scale temperature structure and a streamer feeding the SVS13A protobinary using CH3CN and DCN

Aims. We present high sensitivity and high-spectral resolution NOEMA observations of the Class 0/I binary system SVS13A, composed of the low-mass protostars VLA4A and VLA4B with a separation of ~90 au. VLA4A is undergoing an accretion burst that enriches the chemistry of the surrounding gas. This gives us an excellent opportunity to probe the chemical and physical conditions as well as the accretion process. Methods. We observe the (12K-11K) lines of CH3CN and CH313CN, the DCN (3-2) line, and the C18O (2-1) line toward SVS13A using NOEMA. Results. We find complex line profiles at disk scales which cannot be explained by a single component or pure Keplerian motion. By adopting two velocity components to model the complex line profiles, we find that the temperatures and densities are significantly different between these two components. This suggests that the physical conditions of the emitting gas traced via CH3CN can change dramatically within the circumbinary disk. In addition, combining our observations of DCN (3-2) with previous ALMA high-angular-resolution observations, we find that the binary system (or VLA4A) might be fed by an infalling streamer from envelope scales (~700 au). If this is the case, this streamer contributes to the accretion of material onto the system with a rate of at least 1.4x10-6 Msun yr-1. Conclusions. We conclude that the CH3CN emission in SVS13A traces hot gas from a complex structure. This complexity might be affected by a streamer that is possibly infalling and funneling material into the central region.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, accepted to A&

PRODIGE -- Envelope to disk with NOEMA I. A 3000 au streamer feeding a Class I protostar

Context. In the past few years, there has been a rise in the detection of streamers, asymmetric flows of material directed toward the protostellar disk with material from outside the star's natal core. It is unclear how they affect the process of mass accretion, in particular beyond the Class 0 phase. Aims. We investigate the gas kinematics around Per-emb-50, a Class I source in the crowded star-forming region NGC 1333. Our goal is to study how the mass infall proceeds from envelope to disk scales in this source. Results. We discover a streamer delivering material toward Per-emb-50 in H$_2$CO and C$^{18}$O emission. The streamer's emission can be well described by the analytic solutions for an infalling parcel of gas along a streamline with conserved angular momentum, both in the image plane and along the line of sight velocities. The streamer has a mean infall rate of $1.3 \times 10^{ -6}$ M$_{ \odot}$ yr$^{ -1}$, $5 -10$ times higher than the current accretion rate of the protostar. SO and SO$_2$ emission reveal asymmetric infall motions in the inner envelope, additional to the streamer around Per-emb-50. Furthermore, the presence of SO$_2$ could mark the impact zone of the infalling material. Conclusions. The streamer delivers sufficient mass to sustain the protostellar accretion rate and might produce an accretion burst, which would explain the protostar's high luminosity with respect to other Class I sources. Our results highlight the importance of late infall for protostellar evolution: streamers might provide a significant amount of mass for stellar accretion after the Class 0 phase.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The CARMA-NRO Orion Survey : filament formation via collision-induced magnetic reconnection - the stick in Orion A

Funding: European Research Council via the ERC Synergy Grant ECOGAL (grant 855130) (R.S.K.). S. Suri acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 Framework Program via the ERC Consolidator Grant CSF-648405. R.J.S. acknowledges funding from an STFC ERF (grant ST/N00485X/1).A unique filament is identified in the Herschel maps of the Orion A giant molecular cloud. The filament, which we name the Stick, is ruler-straight and at an early evolutionary stage. Transverse position–velocity diagrams show two velocity components closing in on the Stick. The filament shows consecutive rings/forks in C18O (1−0) channel maps, which is reminiscent of structures generated by magnetic reconnection. We propose that the Stick formed via collision-induced magnetic reconnection (CMR). We use the magnetohydrodynamics code Athena++ to simulate the collision between two diffuse molecular clumps, each carrying an antiparallel magnetic field. The clump collision produces a narrow, straight, dense filament with a factor of >200 increase in density. The production of the dense gas is seven times faster than freefall collapse. The dense filament shows ring/fork-like structures in radiative transfer maps. Cores in the filament are confined by surface magnetic pressure. CMR can be an important dense-gas-producing mechanism in the Galaxy and beyond.Peer reviewe

Discovery of a compact gas-rich DLA galaxy at z = 2.2: evidences for a starburst-driven outflow

We present the detection of Ly-alpha, [OIII] and H-alpha emission associated with an extremely strong DLA system (N(HI) = 10^22.10 cm^-2) at z=2.207 towards the quasar SDSS J113520-001053. This is the largest HI column density ever measured along a QSO line of sight, though typical of what is seen in GRB-DLAs. This absorption system also classifies as ultrastrong MgII system with W2796_r=3.6 A. The mean metallicity of the gas ([Zn/H]=-1.1) and dust depletion factors ([Zn/Fe]=0.72, [Zn/Cr]=0.49) are consistent with (and only marginally larger than) the mean values found in the general QSO-DLA population. The [OIII]-Ha emitting region has a very small impact parameter with respect to the QSO line of sight, b=0.1", and is unresolved. From the Ha line, we measure SFR=25 Msun/yr. The Ly-a line is double-peaked and is spatially extended. More strikingly, the blue and red Ly-a peaks arise from distinct regions extended over a few kpc on either side of the star-forming region. We propose that this is the consequence of Ly-a transfer in outflowing gas. The presence of starburst-driven outflows is also in agreement with the large SFR together with a small size and low mass of the galaxy (Mvir~10^10 Msun). From the stellar UV continuum luminosity of the galaxy, we estimate an age of at most a few 10^7 yr, again consistent with a recent starburst scenario. We interpret the data as the observation of a young, gas rich, compact starburst galaxy, from which material is expelled through collimated winds powered by the vigorous star formation activity. We substantiate this picture by modelling the radiative transfer of Ly-a photons in the galactic counterpart. Though our model (a spherical galaxy with bipolar outflowing jets) is a simplistic representation of the true gas distribution and velocity field, the agreement between the observed and simulated properties is particularly good. [abridged]Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

She\u27s So Bubbly

We introduce the Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) broker, an astronomical alert broker designed to provide a rapid and self-consistent classification of large etendue telescope alert streams, such as that provided by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and, in the future, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). ALeRCE is a Chilean-led broker run by an interdisciplinary team of astronomers and engineers working to become intermediaries between survey and follow-up facilities. ALeRCE uses a pipeline that includes the real-time ingestion, aggregation, cross-matching, machine-learning (ML) classification, and visualization of the ZTF alert stream. We use two classifiers: a stamp-based classifier, designed for rapid classification, and a light curve–based classifier, which uses the multiband flux evolution to achieve a more refined classification. We describe in detail our pipeline, data products, tools, and services, which are made public for the community (see https://alerce.science). Since we began operating our real-time ML classification of the ZTF alert stream in early 2019, we have grown a large community of active users around the globe. We describe our results to date, including the real-time processing of 1.5 × 10⁸ alerts, the stamp classification of 3.4 × 10⁷ objects, the light-curve classification of 1.1 × 10⁶ objects, the report of 6162 supernova candidates, and different experiments using LSST-like alert streams. Finally, we discuss the challenges ahead in going from a single stream of alerts such as ZTF to a multistream ecosystem dominated by LSST