A simple prescription for simulating and characterizing gravitational arcs

Simple models of gravitational arcs are crucial to simulate large samples of these objects with full control of the input parameters. These models also provide crude and automated estimates of the shape and structure of the arcs, which are necessary when trying to detect and characterize these objects on massive wide area imaging surveys. We here present and explore the ArcEllipse, a simple prescription to create objects with shape similar to gravitational arcs. We also present PaintArcs, which is a code that couples this geometrical form with a brightness distribution and adds the resulting object to images. Finally, we introduce ArcFitting, which is a tool that fits ArcEllipses to images of real gravitational arcs. We validate this fitting technique using simulated arcs and apply it to CFHTLS and HST images of tangential arcs around clusters of galaxies. Our simple ArcEllipse model for the arc, associated to a S\'ersic profile for the source, recovers the total signal in real images typically within 10%-30%. The ArcEllipse+S\'ersic models also automatically recover visual estimates of length-to-width ratios of real arcs. Residual maps between data and model images reveal the incidence of arc substructure. They may thus be used as a diagnostic for arcs formed by the merging of multiple images. The incidence of these substructures is the main factor preventing ArcEllipse models from accurately describing real lensed systems.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Developing a victorious strategy to the second strong gravitational lensing data challenge

Strong lensing is a powerful probe of the matter distribution in galaxies and clusters and a relevant tool for cosmography. Analyses of strong gravitational lenses with deep learning have become a popular approach due to these astronomical objects’ rarity and image complexity. Next-generation surveys will provide more opportunities to derive science from these objects and an increasing data volume to be analysed. However, finding strong lenses is challenging, as their number densities are orders of magnitude below those of galaxies. Therefore, specific strong lensing search algorithms are required to discover the highest number of systems possible with high purity and low false alarm rate. The need for better algorithms has prompted the development of an open community data science competition named strong gravitational lensing challenge (SGLC). This work presents the deep learning strategies and methodology used to design the highest scoring algorithm in the second SGLC (II SGLC). We discuss the approach used for this data set, the choice of a suitable architecture, particularly the use of a network with two branches to work with images in different resolutions, and its optimization. We also discuss the detectability limit, the lessons learned, and prospects for defining a tailor-made architecture in a survey in contrast to a general one. Finally, we release the models and discuss the best choice to easily adapt the model to a data set representing a survey with a different instrument. This work helps to take a step towards efficient, adaptable, and accurate analyses of strong lenses with deep learning frameworks

A new method to detect globular clusters with the S-PLUS survey

In this paper, we describe a new method to select globular cluster (GC) candidates, including galaxy subtraction with unsharp masking, template fitting techniques, and the inclusion of Gaia’s proper motions. We report the use of the 12-band photometric system used by S-PLUS to determine radial velocities and stellar populations of GCs around nearby galaxies. Specifically, we assess the effectiveness of identifying GCs around nearby and massive galaxies (D 200 km s-1) in a multiband survey such as S-PLUS by using spectroscopically confirmed GCs and literature GC candidate lists around the bright central galaxy in the Fornax cluster, NGC 1399 (D = 19 Mpc), and the isolated lenticular galaxy NGC 3115 (D = 9.4 Mpc). Despite the shallow survey depth, which limits this work to r < 21.3 mag, we measure reliable photometry and perform robust SED fitting for a sample of 115 GCs around NGC 1399 and 42 GCs around NGC 3115, recovering radial velocities, ages, and metallicities for the GC populations. © 2021 The Author(s).MLB and CMdO acknowledge the financial support of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under grant 2019/23388-0. CEB acknowledges FAPESP, grant2016/12331-0. PC acknowledges support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) under grant 310041/2018-0. DdBS also acknowledges Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) process number 2017/00204-6 for the financial support. AC-S acknowledge funding from the brazilian agencies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do RS (FAPERGS) through grants CNPq-403580/2016-1, CNPq-11153/2018-6, PqG/FAPERGS-17/2551-0001, FAPERGS/CAPES 19/2551-0000696-9, L’Oréal UNESCO ABC Para Mulheres na Ciência and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) through grant E085201009. AA-C acknowledges support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the ‘Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa’ award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This work was funded with grants from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina). The S-PLUS project, including the T80-South robotic telescope and the S-PLUS scientific survey, was founded as a partnership between the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Observatório Nacional (ON), the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), with important financial and practical contributions from other collaborating institutes in Brazil, Chile (Universidad de La Serena), and Spain (Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón, CEFCA). We further acknowledge financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Carlos Chagas Filho Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ), and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP). The authors are grateful for the contributions from CTIO staff in helping in the construction, commissioning, and maintenance of the T80-South telescope and camera. We are also indebted to Rene Laporte and INPE, as well as Keith Taylor, for their important contributions to the project. We also thank CEFCA staff for their help with T80-South, specifically we thank Antonio Marín-Franch for his invaluable contributions in the early phases of the project, David Cristóbal-Hornillos and his team for their help with the installation of the data reduction package jype version 0.9.9, César Íãiguez for providing 2D measurements of the filter transmissions, and all other staff members for their support.Peer reviewe

A new method to detect globular clusters with the S-PLUS survey

In this paper, we describe a new method to select globular cluster (GC) candidates, including galaxy subtraction with unsharp masking, template fitting techniques, and the inclusion of Gaia’s proper motions. We report the use of the 12-band photometric system used by S-PLUS to determine radial velocities and stellar populations of GCs around nearby galaxies. Specifically, we assess the effectiveness of identifying GCs around nearby and massive galaxies (D 200 km s-1) in a multiband survey such as S-PLUS by using spectroscopically confirmed GCs and literature GC candidate lists around the bright central galaxy in the Fornax cluster, NGC 1399 (D = 19 Mpc), and the isolated lenticular galaxy NGC 3115 (D = 9.4 Mpc). Despite the shallow survey depth, which limits this work to r < 21.3 mag, we measure reliable photometry and perform robust SED fitting for a sample of 115 GCs around NGC 1399 and 42 GCs around NGC 3115, recovering radial velocities, ages, and metallicities for the GC populations. © 2021 The Author(s).MLB and CMdO acknowledge the financial support of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under grant 2019/23388-0. CEB acknowledges FAPESP, grant2016/12331-0. PC acknowledges support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) under grant 310041/2018-0. DdBS also acknowledges Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) process number 2017/00204-6 for the financial support. AC-S acknowledge funding from the brazilian agencies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do RS (FAPERGS) through grants CNPq-403580/2016-1, CNPq-11153/2018-6, PqG/FAPERGS-17/2551-0001, FAPERGS/CAPES 19/2551-0000696-9, L’Oréal UNESCO ABC Para Mulheres na Ciência and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) through grant E085201009. AA-C acknowledges support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the ‘Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa’ award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). This work was funded with grants from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina). The S-PLUS project, including the T80-South robotic telescope and the S-PLUS scientific survey, was founded as a partnership between the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the Observatório Nacional (ON), the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), with important financial and practical contributions from other collaborating institutes in Brazil, Chile (Universidad de La Serena), and Spain (Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón, CEFCA). We further acknowledge financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Carlos Chagas Filho Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ), and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP). The authors are grateful for the contributions from CTIO staff in helping in the construction, commissioning, and maintenance of the T80-South telescope and camera. We are also indebted to Rene Laporte and INPE, as well as Keith Taylor, for their important contributions to the project. We also thank CEFCA staff for their help with T80-South, specifically we thank Antonio Marín-Franch for his invaluable contributions in the early phases of the project, David Cristóbal-Hornillos and his team for their help with the installation of the data reduction package jype version 0.9.9, César Íãiguez for providing 2D measurements of the filter transmissions, and all other staff members for their support.Peer reviewe