138 research outputs found
Time-resolved Neutron-gamma-ray Data Acquisition for in Situ Subsurface Planetary Geochemistry
The current gamma-ray/neutron instrumentation development effort at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center aims to extend the use of active pulsed neutron interrogation techniques to probe the subsurface elemental composition of planetary bodies in situ. Previous NASA planetary science missions, that used neutron and/or gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments, have relied on neutrons produced from galactic cosmic rays. One of the distinguishing features of this effort is the inclusion of a high intensity 14.1 MeV pulsed neutron generator synchronized with a custom data acquisition system to time each event relative to the pulse. With usually only one opportunity to collect data, it is difficult to set a priori time-gating windows to obtain the best possible results. Acquiring time-tagged, event-by-event data from nuclear induced reactions provides raw data sets containing channel/energy, and event time for each gamma ray or neutron detected. The resulting data set can be plotted as a function of time or energy using optimized analysis windows after the data are acquired. Time windows can now be chosen to produce energy spectra that yield the most statistically significant and accurate elemental composition results that can be derived from the complete data set. The advantages of post-processing gamma-ray time-tagged event-by-event data in experimental tests using our prototype instrument will be demonstrated
CfAIR2: Near Infrared Light Curves of 94 Type Ia Supernovae
CfAIR2 is a large homogeneously reduced set of near-infrared (NIR) light
curves for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) obtained with the 1.3m Peters Automated
InfraRed Imaging TELescope (PAIRITEL). This data set includes 4607 measurements
of 94 SN Ia and 4 additional SN Iax observed from 2005-2011 at the Fred
Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona. CfAIR2 includes JHKs
photometric measurements for 88 normal and 6 spectroscopically peculiar SN Ia
in the nearby universe, with a median redshift of z~0.021 for the normal SN Ia.
CfAIR2 data span the range from -13 days to +127 days from B-band maximum. More
than half of the light curves begin before the time of maximum and the coverage
typically contains ~13-18 epochs of observation, depending on the filter. We
present extensive tests that verify the fidelity of the CfAIR2 data pipeline,
including comparison to the excellent data of the Carnegie Supernova Project.
CfAIR2 contributes to a firm local anchor for supernova cosmology studies in
the NIR. Because SN Ia are more nearly standard candles in the NIR and are less
vulnerable to the vexing problems of extinction by dust, CfAIR2 will help the
supernova cosmology community develop more precise and accurate extragalactic
distance probes to improve our knowledge of cosmological parameters, including
dark energy and its potential time variation.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 10 tables. Accepted to ApJS. v2 modified to
more closely match journal versio
Type IIb Supernova SN 2011dh: Spectra and Photometry from the Ultraviolet to the Near-Infrared
We report spectroscopic and photometric observations of the Type IIb SN
2011dh obtained between 4 and 34 days after the estimated date of explosion
(May 31.5 UT). The data cover a wide wavelength range from 2,000 Angstroms in
the UV to 2.4 microns in the NIR. Optical spectra provide line profiles and
velocity measurements of HI, HeI, CaII and FeII that trace the composition and
kinematics of the SN. NIR spectra show that helium is present in the atmosphere
as early as 11 days after the explosion. A UV spectrum obtained with the STIS
reveals that the UV flux for SN 2011dh is low compared to other SN IIb. The HI
and HeI velocities in SN 2011dh are separated by about 4,000 km/s at all
phases. We estimate that the H-shell of SN 2011dh is about 8 times less massive
than the shell of SN 1993J and about 3 times more massive than the shell of SN
2008ax. Light curves (LC) for twelve passbands are presented. The maximum
bolometric luminosity of erg s occurred
about 22 days after the explosion. NIR emission provides more than 30% of the
total bolometric flux at the beginning of our observations and increases to
nearly 50% of the total by day 34. The UV produces 16% of the total flux on day
4, 5% on day 9 and 1% on day 34. We compare the bolometric light curves of SN
2011dh, SN 2008ax and SN 1993J. The LC are very different for the first twelve
days after the explosions but all three SN IIb display similar peak
luminosities, times of peak, decline rates and colors after maximum. This
suggests that the progenitors of these SN IIb may have had similar compositions
and masses but they exploded inside hydrogen shells that that have a wide range
of masses. The detailed observations presented here will help evaluate
theoretical models for this supernova and lead to a better understanding of SN
IIb.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, 9 tables, accepted by Ap
On Machine-Learned Classification of Variable Stars with Sparse and Noisy Time-Series Data
With the coming data deluge from synoptic surveys, there is a growing need
for frameworks that can quickly and automatically produce calibrated
classification probabilities for newly-observed variables based on a small
number of time-series measurements. In this paper, we introduce a methodology
for variable-star classification, drawing from modern machine-learning
techniques. We describe how to homogenize the information gleaned from light
curves by selection and computation of real-numbered metrics ("feature"),
detail methods to robustly estimate periodic light-curve features, introduce
tree-ensemble methods for accurate variable star classification, and show how
to rigorously evaluate the classification results using cross validation. On a
25-class data set of 1542 well-studied variable stars, we achieve a 22.8%
overall classification error using the random forest classifier; this
represents a 24% improvement over the best previous classifier on these data.
This methodology is effective for identifying samples of specific science
classes: for pulsational variables used in Milky Way tomography we obtain a
discovery efficiency of 98.2% and for eclipsing systems we find an efficiency
of 99.1%, both at 95% purity. We show that the random forest (RF) classifier is
superior to other machine-learned methods in terms of accuracy, speed, and
relative immunity to features with no useful class information; the RF
classifier can also be used to estimate the importance of each feature in
classification. Additionally, we present the first astronomical use of
hierarchical classification methods to incorporate a known class taxonomy in
the classifier, which further reduces the catastrophic error rate to 7.8%.
Excluding low-amplitude sources, our overall error rate improves to 14%, with a
catastrophic error rate of 3.5%.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure
GJ 3236: a new bright, very low-mass eclipsing binary system discovered by the MEarth observatory
We report the detection of eclipses in GJ 3236, a bright (I = 11.6) very low
mass binary system with an orbital period of 0.77 days. Analysis of light- and
radial velocity curves of the system yielded component masses of 0.38 +/- 0.02
and 0.28 +/- 0.02 Msol. The central values for the stellar radii are larger
than the theoretical models predict for these masses, in agreement with the
results for existing eclipsing binaries, although the present 5% observational
uncertainties limit the significance of the larger radii to approximately 1
sigma. Degeneracies in the light curve models resulting from the unknown
configuration of surface spots on the components of GJ 3236 currently dominate
the uncertainties in the radii, and could be reduced by obtaining precise,
multi-band photometry covering the full orbital period. The system appears to
be tidally synchronized and shows signs of high activity levels as expected for
such a short orbital period, evidenced by strong Halpha emission lines in the
spectra of both components. These observations probe an important region of
mass-radius parameter space around the predicted transition to fully-convective
stellar interiors, where there are a limited number of precise measurements
available in the literature.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 10 tables, emulateapj format. Accepted for
publication in Ap
The Rapidly Flaring Afterglow of the Very Bright and Energetic GRB 070125
We report on multi-wavelength observations, ranging from the X-ray to radio
wave bands, of the IPN-localized gamma-ray burst GRB 070125. Spectroscopic
observations reveal the presence of absorption lines due to O I, Si II, and C
IV, implying a likely redshift of z = 1.547. The well-sampled light curves, in
particular from 0.5 to 4 days after the burst, suggest a jet break at 3.7 days,
corresponding to a jet opening angle of ~7.0 degrees, and implying an intrinsic
GRB energy in the 1 - 10,000 keV band of around E = (6.3 - 6.9)x 10^(51) erg
(based on the fluences measured by the gamma-ray detectors of the IPN network).
GRB 070125 is among the brightest afterglows observed to date. The spectral
energy distribution implies a host extinction of Av < 0.9 mag. Two
rebrightening episodes are observed, one with excellent time coverage, showing
an increase in flux of 56% in ~8000 seconds. The evolution of the afterglow
light curve is achromatic at all times. Late-time observations of the afterglow
do not show evidence for emission from an underlying host galaxy or supernova.
Any host galaxy would be subluminous, consistent with current GRB host-galaxy
samples. Evidence for strong Mg II absorption features is not found, which is
perhaps surprising in view of the relatively high redshift of this burst and
the high likelihood for such features along GRB-selected lines of sight.Comment: 50 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
Type Ia Supernovae are Good Standard Candles in the Near Infrared: Evidence from PAIRITEL
We have obtained 1087 NIR (JHKs) measurements of 21 SNe Ia using PAIRITEL,
nearly doubling the number of well-sampled NIR SN Ia light curves. These data
strengthen the evidence that SNe Ia are excellent standard candles in the NIR,
even without correction for optical light-curve shape. We construct fiducial
NIR templates for normal SNe Ia from our sample, excluding only the three known
peculiar SNe Ia: SN 2005bl, SN 2005hk, and SN 2005ke. The H-band absolute
magnitudes in this sample of 18 SNe Ia have an intrinsic rms of only 0.15 mag
with no correction for light-curve shape. We found a relationship between the
H-band extinction and optical color excess of AH=0.2E(B-V). This variation is
as small as the scatter in distance modulus measurements currently used for
cosmology based on optical light curves after corrections for light-curve
shape. Combining the homogeneous PAIRITEL measurements with 23 SNe Ia from the
literature, these 41 SNe Ia have standard H-band magnitudes with an rms scatter
of 0.16 mag. The good match of our sample with the literature sample suggests
there are few systematic problems with the photometry. We present a nearby NIR
Hubble diagram that shows no correlation of the residuals from the Hubble line
with light-curve properties. Future samples that account for optical and NIR
light-curve shapes, absorption, spectroscopic variation, or host-galaxy
properties may reveal effective ways to improve the use of SNe Ia as distance
indicators. Since systematic errors due to dust absorption in optical bands
remain the leading difficulty in the cosmological use of supernovae, the good
behavior of SN Ia NIR light curves and their relative insensitivity to
reddening make these objects attractive candidates for future cosmological
work.Comment: 37 pages. 8 Figures. 3 Tables. Revised to ApJ-accepted versio
PTF10fqs: A Luminous Red Nova in the Spiral Galaxy Messier 99
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is systematically charting the optical
transient and variable sky. A primary science driver of PTF is building a
complete inventory of transients in the local Universe (distance less than 200
Mpc). Here, we report the discovery of PTF10fqs, a transient in the luminosity
"gap" between novae and supernovae. Located on a spiral arm of Messier 99, PTF
10fqs has a peak luminosity of Mr = -12.3, red color (g-r = 1.0) and is slowly
evolving (decayed by 1 mag in 68 days). It has a spectrum dominated by
intermediate-width H (930 km/s) and narrow calcium emission lines. The
explosion signature (the light curve and spectra) is overall similar to thatof
M85OT2006-1, SN2008S, and NGC300OT. The origin of these events is shrouded in
mystery and controversy (and in some cases, in dust). PTF10fqs shows some
evidence of a broad feature (around 8600A) that may suggest very large
velocities (10,000 km/s) in this explosion. Ongoing surveys can be expected to
find a few such events per year. Sensitive spectroscopy, infrared monitoring
and statistics (e.g. disk versus bulge) will eventually make it possible for
astronomers to unravel the nature of these mysterious explosions.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, Replaced with published versio
Active Learning to Overcome Sample Selection Bias: Application to Photometric Variable Star Classification
Despite the great promise of machine-learning algorithms to classify and
predict astrophysical parameters for the vast numbers of astrophysical sources
and transients observed in large-scale surveys, the peculiarities of the
training data often manifest as strongly biased predictions on the data of
interest. Typically, training sets are derived from historical surveys of
brighter, more nearby objects than those from more extensive, deeper surveys
(testing data). This sample selection bias can cause catastrophic errors in
predictions on the testing data because a) standard assumptions for
machine-learned model selection procedures break down and b) dense regions of
testing space might be completely devoid of training data. We explore possible
remedies to sample selection bias, including importance weighting (IW),
co-training (CT), and active learning (AL). We argue that AL---where the data
whose inclusion in the training set would most improve predictions on the
testing set are queried for manual follow-up---is an effective approach and is
appropriate for many astronomical applications. For a variable star
classification problem on a well-studied set of stars from Hipparcos and OGLE,
AL is the optimal method in terms of error rate on the testing data, beating
the off-the-shelf classifier by 3.4% and the other proposed methods by at least
3.0%. To aid with manual labeling of variable stars, we developed a web
interface which allows for easy light curve visualization and querying of
external databases. Finally, we apply active learning to classify variable
stars in the ASAS survey, finding dramatic improvement in our agreement with
the ACVS catalog, from 65.5% to 79.5%, and a significant increase in the
classifier's average confidence for the testing set, from 14.6% to 42.9%, after
a few AL iterations.Comment: 43 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Ap
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