Progenitor, Precursor and Evolution of the Dusty Remnant of the Stellar Merger M31-LRN-2015

M31-2015-LRN is a likely stellar merger discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy in 2015. We present new optical to mid-infrared photometry and optical spectroscopy for this event. The transient brightened by ∼3 mag as compared to its progenitor. The complex precursor emission, which started ∼2 years before the nova event, may be explained by the binary undergoing Roche-lobe overflow. The dynamical mass loss from the outer Lagrange point L2 creates an optically thick outflow to power the observed brightening of the system. We find two possible periods of 16±0.3 and 28.1±1.4 days at different phases of the precursor lightcurve, possibly related to the geometry of the mass-loss from the binary. Although the progenitor spectral energy distribution shows no evidence of pre-existing warm dust in system, the remnant forms an optically thick dust shell 2−4 months after the outburst peak. The optical depth of the shell increases after 1.5 years, suggesting the existence of shocks that enhance the dust formation process. We propose that the merger remnant is likely an inflated giant obscured by a cooling shell of gas with mass ∼0.2 M⊙ ejected at the onset of the common envelope phase

IPTF Search for An Optical Counterpart to Gravitational-Wave TransientT GW150914

The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) autonomously responded to and promptly tiled the error region of the first gravitational-wave event GW150914 to search for an optical counterpart. Only a small fraction of the total localized region was immediately visible in the northern night sky, due both to Sun-angle and elevation constraints. Here, we report on the transient candidates identified and rapid follow-up undertaken to determine the nature of each candidate. Even in the small area imaged of 126 deg2, after extensive filtering, eight candidates were deemed worthy of additional follow-up. Within two hours, all eight were spectroscopically classified by the Keck II telescope. Curiously, even though such events are rare, one of our candidates was a superluminous supernova. We obtained radio data with the Jansky Very Large Array and X-ray follow-up with the Swift satellite for this transient. None of our candidates appear to be associated with the gravitational-wave trigger, which is unsurprising given that GW150914 came from the merger of two stellar-mass black holes. This end-to-end discovery and follow-up campaign bodes well for future searches in this post-detection era of gravitational waves

Flash Spectroscopy: Emission Lines from the Ionized Circumstellar Material Around <10-Day-Old Type II Supernovae

The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Supernovae (SNe) embedded in dense circumstellar material (CSM) may show prominent emission lines in their early-time spectra (≤10 days after the explosion), owing to recombination of the CSM ionized by the shock-breakout flash. From such spectra ("flash spectroscopy"), we can measure various physical properties of the CSM, as well as the mass-loss rate of the progenitor during the year prior to its explosion. Searching through the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF and iPTF) SN spectroscopy databases from 2009 through 2014, we found 12 SNe II showing flash-ionized (FI) signatures in their first spectra. All are younger than 10 days. These events constitute 14% of all 84 SNe in our sample having a spectrum within 10 days from explosion, and 18% of SNe II observed at ages <5 days, thereby setting lower limits on the fraction of FI events. We classified as "blue/featureless" (BF) those events having a first spectrum that is similar to that of a blackbody, without any emission or absorption signatures. It is possible that some BF events had FI signatures at an earlier phase than observed, or that they lack dense CSM around the progenitor. Within 2 days after explosion, 8 out of 11 SNe in our sample are either BF events or show FI signatures. Interestingly, we found that 19 out of 21 SNe brighter than an absolute magnitude MR = -18.2 belong to the FI or BF groups, and that all FI events peaked above MR = -17.6 mag, significantly brighter than average SNe II

Machine learning for the Zwicky transient facility

The Zwicky Transient Facility is a large optical survey in multiple filters producing hundreds of thousands of transient alerts per night. We describe here various machine learning (ML) implementations and plans to make the maximal use of the large data set by taking advantage of the temporal nature of the data, and further combining it with other data sets. We start with the initial steps of separating bogus candidates from real ones, separating stars and galaxies, and go on to the classification of real objects into various classes. Besides the usual methods (e.g., based on features extracted from light curves) we also describe early plans for alternate methods including the use of domain adaptation, and deep learning. In a similar fashion we describe efforts to detect fast moving asteroids. We also describe the use of the Zooniverse platform for helping with classifications through the creation of training samples, and active learning. Finally we mention the synergistic aspects of ZTF and LSST from the ML perspective

Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernovae with Late-time H alpha Emission: Three Events From the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

We present observations of two new hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSN-I), iPTF15esb and iPTF16bad, showing late-time Hα emission with line luminosities of (1\mbox{--}3)\times {10}^{41} erg s−1 and velocity widths of (4000–6000) km s−1. Including the previously published iPTF13ehe, this makes up a total of three such events to date. iPTF13ehe is one of the most luminous and the slowest evolving SLSNe-I, whereas the other two are less luminous and fast decliners. We interpret this as a result of the ejecta running into a neutral H-shell located at a radius of ~1016 cm. This implies that violent mass loss must have occurred several decades before the supernova explosion. Such a short time interval suggests that eruptive mass loss could be common shortly before core collapse, and more importantly helium is unlikely to be completely stripped off the progenitor and could be present in the ejecta. It is a mystery why helium features are not detected, even though nonthermal energy sources, capable of ionizing He, may exist as suggested by the O ii absorption series in the early-time spectra. Our late-time spectra (+240 days) appear to have intrinsically lower [O i] 6300 Å luminosities than that of SN2015bn and SN2007bi, which is possibly an indication of less oxygen (<10 M ⊙). The blueshifted Hα emission relative to the hosts for all three events may be in tension with the binary model proposed for iPTF13ehe. Finally, iPTF15esb has a peculiar light curve (LC) with three peaks separated from one another by ~22 days. The LC undulation is stronger in bluer bands. One possible explanation is ejecta-circumstellar medium interaction