22 research outputs found
Euclid's US Science Data Center: lessons learned from building a small part of a big system
Euclid is an ESA M-class mission to study the geometry and nature of the dark universe, slated for launch in mid-2022. NASA is participating in the mission through the contribution of the near-infrared detectors and associated electronics, the nomination of scientists for membership in the Euclid Consortium, and by establishing the Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC (ENSCI) to support the US community. As part of ENSCI’s work, we will participate in the Euclid Science Ground Segment (SGS) and build and operate the US Science Data Center (SDC-US), which will be a node in the distributed data processing system for the mission. SDC-US is one of 10 data centers, and will contribute about 5% of the computing and data storage for the distributed system. We discuss lessons learned in developing a node in a distributed system. For example, there is a significant advantage to SDC-US development in sharing of knowledge, problem solving, and resource burden with other parts of the system. On the other hand, fitting into a system that is distributed geographically and relies on diverse computing environments results in added complexity in constructing SDC-US
Processing Images from the Zwicky Transient Facility
The Zwicky Transient Facility is a new robotic-observing program, in which a
newly engineered 600-MP digital camera with a pioneeringly large field of view,
47~square degrees, will be installed into the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope
at the Palomar Observatory. The camera will generate ~petabyte of raw
image data over three years of operations. In parallel related work, new
hardware and software systems are being developed to process these data in real
time and build a long-term archive for the processed products. The first public
release of archived products is planned for early 2019, which will include
processed images and astronomical-source catalogs of the northern sky in the
and bands. Source catalogs based on two different methods will be
generated for the archive: aperture photometry and point-spread-function
fitting.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to RTSRE Proceedings (www.rtsre.org
Cataclysmic Variables in the Second Year of the Zwicky Transient Facility
Using a filter in the GROWTH Marshal based on color and the amplitude and the
timescale of variability, we have identified 372 objects as known or candidate
cataclysmic variables (CVs) during the second year of operation of the Zwicky
Transient Facility (ZTF). From the available difference imaging data, we found
that 93 are previously confirmed CVs, and 279 are strong candidates. Spectra of
four of the candidates confirm them as CVs by the presence of Balmer emission
lines, while one of the four has prominent HeII lines indicative of containing
a magnetic white dwarf. Gaia EDR3 parallaxes are available for 154 of these
systems, resulting in distances from 108-2096 pc and absolute magnitudes in the
range of 7.5-15.0, with the largest number of candidates between 10.5-12.5. The
total numbers are 21% higher than from the previous year of the survey with a
greater number of distances available but a smaller percentage of systems close
to the Galactic plane. Comparison of these findings with a machine learning
method of searching all the light curves reveals large differences in each
dataset related to the parameters involved in the search process.Comment: Accepted in AJ, 24 pages, 2 tables, 7 figure
Observing the Evolution of the Universe
How did the universe evolve? The fine angular scale (l>1000) temperature and
polarization anisotropies in the CMB are a Rosetta stone for understanding the
evolution of the universe. Through detailed measurements one may address
everything from the physics of the birth of the universe to the history of star
formation and the process by which galaxies formed. One may in addition track
the evolution of the dark energy and discover the net neutrino mass.
We are at the dawn of a new era in which hundreds of square degrees of sky
can be mapped with arcminute resolution and sensitivities measured in
microKelvin. Acquiring these data requires the use of special purpose
telescopes such as the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), located in Chile, and
the South Pole Telescope (SPT). These new telescopes are outfitted with a new
generation of custom mm-wave kilo-pixel arrays. Additional instruments are in
the planning stages.Comment: Science White Paper submitted to the US Astro2010 Decadal Survey.
Full list of 177 author available at http://cmbpol.uchicago.ed
SN 2022joj: A Peculiar Type Ia Supernova Possibly Driven by an Asymmetric Helium-shell Double Detonation
We present observations of SN 2022joj, a peculiar Type Ia supernova (SN Ia)
discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). SN 2022joj exhibits an
unusually red color at early times and a rapid
blueward evolution afterwards. Around maximum brightness, SN 2022joj shows a
high luminosity ( mag), a blue
broadband color ( mag), and shallow Si
II absorption lines, consistent with those of overluminous, SN 1991T-like
events. The maximum-light spectrum also shows prominent absorption around 4200
\r{A}, which resembles the Ti II features in subluminous, SN 1991bg-like
events. Despite the blue optical-band colors, SN 2022joj exhibits extremely red
ultraviolet optical colors at maximum luminosity ( mag and
mag), suggesting a suppression of flux between
2500--4000 \r{A}. Strong C II lines are also detected at peak. We show
that these unusual spectroscopic properties are broadly consistent with the
helium-shell double detonation of a sub-Chandrasekhar mass
() carbon/oxygen (C/O) white dwarf (WD) from a
relatively massive helium shell (--), if
observed along a line of sight roughly opposite to where the shell initially
detonates. None of the existing models could quantitatively explain all the
peculiarities observed in SN 2022joj. The low flux ratio of [Ni II]
7378 to [Fe II] 7155 emission in the late-time nebular
spectra indicates a low yield of stable Ni isotopes, favoring a
sub-Chandrasekhar mass progenitor. The significant blueshift measured in the
[Fe II] 7155 line is also consistent with an asymmetric chemical
distribution in the ejecta, as is predicted in double-detonation models.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables. Submitted to Ap
The prevalence and influence of circumstellar material around hydrogen-rich supernova progenitors
Narrow transient emission lines (flash-ionization features) in early
supernova (SN) spectra trace the presence of circumstellar material (CSM)
around the massive progenitor stars of core-collapse SNe. The lines disappear
within days after the SN explosion, suggesting that this material is spatially
confined, and originates from enhanced mass loss shortly (months to a few
years) prior to explosion. We performed a systematic survey of H-rich (Type II)
SNe discovered within less than two days from explosion during the first phase
of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey (2018-2020), finding thirty
events for which a first spectrum was obtained within days from
explosion. The measured fraction of events showing flash ionisation features
( at confidence level) confirms that elevated mass loss in
massive stars prior to SN explosion is common. We find that SNe II showing
flash ionisation features are not significantly brighter, nor bluer, nor more
slowly rising than those without. This implies that CSM interaction does not
contribute significantly to their early continuum emission, and that the CSM is
likely optically thin. We measured the persistence duration of flash ionisation
emission and find that most SNe show flash features for days.
Rarer events, with persistence timescales days, are brighter and rise
longer, suggesting these may be intermediate between regular SNe II and
strongly-interacting SNe IIn
Recommended from our members
A deleterious gene-by-environment interaction imposed by calcium channel blockers in Marfan syndrome
Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are prescribed to patients with Marfan syndrome for prophylaxis against aortic aneurysm progression, despite limited evidence for their efficacy and safety in the disorder. Unexpectedly, Marfan mice treated with CCBs show accelerated aneurysm expansion, rupture, and premature lethality. This effect is both extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) dependent and angiotensin-II type 1 receptor (AT1R) dependent. We have identified protein kinase C beta (PKCβ) as a critical mediator of this pathway and demonstrate that the PKCβ inhibitor enzastaurin, and the clinically available anti-hypertensive agent hydralazine, both normalize aortic growth in Marfan mice, in association with reduced PKCβ and ERK1/2 activation. Furthermore, patients with Marfan syndrome and other forms of inherited thoracic aortic aneurysm taking CCBs display increased risk of aortic dissection and need for aortic surgery, compared to patients on other antihypertensive agents. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08648.00