The Zwicky Transient Facility Camera

Dekany, Richard; Smith, Roger M.; Belicki, Justin; Delacroix, Alexandre; Duggan, G.; Feeney, Michael; Hale, David; Kaye, Stephen B.; Milburn, Jennifer; Murphy, Patrick J.; Porter, Michael; Reiley, Daniel J.; Riddle, Reed; Rodríguez, Héctor; Bellm, Eric C.

doi:10.1117/12.2234558

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The ZTF is a wide-field optical time-domain survey running out of the 48 inch Schmidt telescope (P48) at Palomar Observatory (Bellm et al 2019a;Graham et al 2019). With a field of view of 47 square degrees, the instrument achieves a median limiting magnitude of r≈20.5 mag in 30 s exposures of the sky and a survey speed of ≈3750 square degrees per hour (Dekany et al 2016). The ZTF observing time is divided into a public component (40%), a collaboration component (40%), and a Caltech component (20%).…”

Section: The Clu Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Systematic Search for Calcium-rich Gap Transients Reveals Three Related Spectroscopic Subclasses

De¹,

Kasliwal²,

Tzanidakis³

et al. 2020

ApJ

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Using the Zwicky Transient Facility alert stream, we are conducting a large spectroscopic campaign to construct a complete, volume-limited sample of transients brighter than 20 mag, and coincident within 100″ of galaxies in the Census of the Local Universe catalog. We describe the experiment design and spectroscopic completeness from the first 16 months of operations, which have classified 754 supernovae. We present results from a systematic search for calcium-rich gap transients in the sample of 22 low-luminosity (peak absolute magnitude M>−17), hydrogen-poor events found in the experiment. We report the detection of eight new events, and constrain their volumetric rate to 15%±5% of the SN Ia rate. Combining this sample with 10 previously known events, we find a likely continuum of spectroscopic properties ranging from events with SN Ia-like features (Ca-Ia objects) to those with SN Ib/c-like features (Ca-Ib/c objects) at peak light. Within the Ca-Ib/c events, we find two populations distinguished by their red (g−r≈1.5 mag) or green ( -» g r 0.5 mag) colors at the r-band peak, wherein redder events show strong line blanketing features and slower light curves (similar to Ca-Ia objects), weaker He lines, and lower [Ca II]/ [O I] in the nebular phase. We find that all together the spectroscopic continuum, volumetric rates, and striking old environments are consistent with the explosive burning of He shells on low-mass white dwarfs. We suggest that Ca-Ia and red Ca-Ib/c objects arise from the double detonation of He shells, while green Ca-Ib/c objects are consistent with low-efficiency burning scenarios like detonations in lowdensity shells or deflagrations.Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Supernovae (1668); Compact objects (288); White dwarf stars (1799) Supporting material: data behind figures, machine-readable tables

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Section: The Clu Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Systematic Search for Calcium-rich Gap Transients Reveals Three Related Spectroscopic Subclasses

De¹,

Kasliwal²,

Tzanidakis³

et al. 2020

ApJ

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“…Technical specifications of the observing system (OS), its performance, survey design, and early science results are described in Bellm et al (2019). More detailed descriptions of the OS instrumentation are given in Dekany et al (2016) and Dekany et al (2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive

Masci

Laher

Rusholme

et al. 2018

PASP

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625

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The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new robotic time-domain survey currently in progress using the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt Telescope. ZTF uses a 47 square degree field with a 600 megapixel camera to scan the entire northern visible sky at rates of ∼3760 square degrees/hour to median depths of g∼20.8 and r∼20.6 mag (AB, 5σ in 30 sec). We describe the Science Data System that is housed at IPAC, Caltech. This comprises the data-processing pipelines, alert production system, data archive, and user interfaces for accessing and analyzing the products. The real-time pipeline employs a novel image-differencing algorithm, optimized for the detection of point-source transient events. These events are vetted for reliability using a machine-learned classifier and combined with contextual information to generate data-rich alert packets. The packets become available for distribution typically within 13 minutes (95th percentile) of observation. Detected events are also linked to generate candidate moving-object tracks using a novel algorithm. Objects that move fast enough to streak in the individual exposures are also extracted and vetted. We present some preliminary results of the calibration performance delivered by the real-time pipeline. The reconstructed astrometric accuracy per science image with respect to Gaia DR1 is typically 45 to 85 milliarcsec. This is the RMS per-axis on the sky for sources extracted with photometric S/N10 and hence corresponds to the typical astrometric uncertainty down to this limit. The derived photometric precision (repeatability) at bright unsaturated fluxes varies between 8 and 25 millimag. The high end of these ranges corresponds to an airmass approaching ∼2-the limit of the public survey. Photometric calibration accuracy with respect to Pan-STARRS1 is generally better than 2%. The products support a broad range of scientific applications: fast and young supernovae; rare flux transients; variable stars; eclipsing binaries; variability from active galactic nuclei;

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“…The Zwicky Transient Facility (Bellm et al 2019b;Graham et al 2019) is an optical time-domain survey utilizing a new, 47 deg 2 field-of-view camera (Dekany et al 2016) on the Palomar 48-inch telescope. A public-private partnership, the time is divided between public surveys (40%), surveys undertaken by the ZTF partnership (40%), and Caltech surveys (20%); an overview of the major surveys undertaken in Year 1 is given in Bellm et al (2019a).…”

Section: Ztf Survey Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four (Super)luminous Supernovae from the First Months of the ZTF Survey

Lunnan

Yan

Perley

et al. 2020

ApJ

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We present photometry and spectroscopy of four hydrogen-poor luminous supernovae discovered during the 2-month long science commissioning and early operations of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey. Three of these objects, SN 2018bym (ZTF18aapgrxo), SN 2018avk (ZTF18aaisyyp), and SN 2018bgv (ZTF18aavrmcg), resemble typical SLSN-I spectroscopically, while SN 2018don (ZTF18aajqcue) may be an object similar to SN 2007bi experiencing considerable host galaxy reddening, or an intrinsically long-lived, luminous, and red SNIc. We analyze the light curves, spectra, and host galaxy properties of these four objects and put them in context of the population of SLSN-I. SN 2018bgv stands out as the fastest-rising SLSN-I observed to date, with a rest-frame g-band rise time of just 10 days from explosion to peak-if it is powered by magnetar spin-down, the implied ejecta mass is only ;1 M e . SN 2018don also displays unusual properties-in addition to its red colors and comparatively massive host galaxy, the light curve undergoes some of the strongest light-curve undulations postpeak seen in an SLSN-I, which we speculate may be due to interaction with circumstellar material. We discuss the promises and challenges of finding SLSNe in large-scale surveys like ZTF given the observed diversity in the population.

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The Zwicky Transient Facility Camera

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

The Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Systematic Search for Calcium-rich Gap Transients Reveals Three Related Spectroscopic Subclasses

The Zwicky Transient Facility Census of the Local Universe. I. Systematic Search for Calcium-rich Gap Transients Reveals Three Related Spectroscopic Subclasses

The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive

Four (Super)luminous Supernovae from the First Months of the ZTF Survey

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