The Zwicky transient facility observing system

Smith, Roger M.; Dekany, Richard; Bebek, C.; Bellm, Eric C.; Bui, Khanh; Cromer, John; Gardner, Paul; Hoff, M.; Kaye, Stephen B.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Lambert, A.; Levi, M. E.; Reiley, Dan

doi:10.1117/12.2070014

Cited by 58 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Finally, we recognize the great potential of the iPTF and surveys like the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), for resolving the question with larger SN samples. The ZTF (Smith et al 2014) will use the same telescope as the iPTF, but with a larger field of view, and is expected to commence in 2017.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AGN Luminosity and Stellar Age: Two Missing Ingredients for AGN Unification as Seen with iPTF Supernovae

Villarroel

Nyholm

Karlsson

et al. 2017

ApJ

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Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are extremely powerful cosmic objects, driven by accretion of hot gas upon supermassive black holes. The zoo of AGN classes is divided into two major groups, with Type-1 AGNs displaying broad Balmer emission lines and Type-2 narrow ones. For a long time it was believed that a Type-2 AGN is a Type-1 AGN viewed through a dusty kiloparsec-sized torus, but an emerging body of observations suggests more than just the viewing angle matters. Here we report significant differences in supernova (SN) counts and classes in the first study to date of SNe near Type-1 and Type-2 AGN host galaxies, using data from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, and Galaxy Zoo. We detect many more SNe in Type-2 AGN hosts (size of effect ∼5.1σ) compared to Type-1 hosts, which shows that the two classes of AGN are located inside host galaxies with different properties. In addition, Type-1 and Type-2 AGNs that are dominated by star formation according to Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors -< m m 0.5and are matched in 22 μm absolute magnitude differ by a factor of ten in L[O III] λ5007 luminosity, suggesting that when residing in similar types of host galaxies Type-1 AGNs are much more luminous. Our results demonstrate two more factors that play an important role in completing the current picture: the age of stellar populations and the AGN luminosity. This has immediate consequences for understanding the many AGN classes and galaxy evolution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AGN Luminosity and Stellar Age: Two Missing Ingredients for AGN Unification as Seen with iPTF Supernovae

Villarroel

Nyholm

Karlsson

et al. 2017

ApJ

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“…There might be more observatories available at the time of O3. For example, the Zwicky Transient Facility [91,92] with a FoV of 47 deg 2 in the optical, and the Cherenkov Telescope Array [93] with whole sky coverage for gamma rays. Beyond O3, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope [94] with a FoV of 9.62 deg 2 in the optical might come online in 2023.…”

Section: A Extrinsic Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of low-significance gravitational-wave compact binary sources

Huang

Middleton

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. D

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Advanced LIGO and Virgo have so far detected gravitational waves from 10 binary black hole mergers (BBH) and 1 binary neutron star merger (BNS). In the future, we expect the detection of many more marginal sources, since compact binary coalescences detectable by advanced ground-based instruments are roughly distributed uniformly in comoving volume. In this paper we simulate weak signals from compact binary coalescences of various morphologies and optimal network signal-to-noise ratios (henceforth SNRs), and analyze if and to which extent their parameters can be measured by advanced LIGO and Virgo in their third observing run. We show that subthreshold binary neutron stars, with SNRs below 12 (10) yield uncertainties in their sky position larger than 400 (700) deg 2 (90% credible interval). The luminosity distance, which could be used to measure the Hubble constant with standard sirens, has relative uncertainties larger than 40% for BNSs and neutron star black hole mergers. For sources with SNRs below 8, it is not uncommon that the extrinsic parameters, sky position and distance, cannot be measured. Next, we look at the intrinsic parameters, masses and spins. We show that the detector-frame chirp mass can sometimes be measured with uncertainties below 1% even for sources at SNRs of 6, although multimodality is not uncommon and can significantly broaden the posteriors. The effective inspiral spin is best measured for neutron star black hole mergers, for which the uncertainties can be as low as ∼ 0.08 (∼ 0.2) at SNR 12 (8). The uncertainty is higher for systems with comparable component masses or lack of spin precession. * ywh@mit.edu † salvatore.vitale@ligo.org possibility of multimessenger observations. This has been spectacularly shown with the joint detection of GW and EM signals from the BNS source GW170817 [30]. The host of GW170817 was identified, together with radiation in the whole EM spectrum, from radio to γ-rays [30][31][32][33][34]. The science output of this discovery is too rich to be fully described here. We thus only mention a few highlights. GW170817 was used to set constraints on the equation of state of neutron stars [35], search for evidence of p-g modes [36] and put bounds on the component neutron star masses and spins [13]. The EM data confirmed the connection between short gamma-ray bursts and BNS sources, lead to the observation of the kilonova, and yielded insights on the details of the EM emission [37][38][39][40]. Information from both the GW and the EM sides was used to measure the Hubble constant in a way that is independent of the cosmic distance ladder [41]. As more BNSs are detected in the next years, we will be able to gain a more solid understanding of the properties of compact binaries, their progenitors, and the electromagnetic radiation they emit.Given the current detections, it is possible to estimate the local merger rates of binary neutron stars [12] and binary black holes [5,8,15]. Neutron star black hole mergers (NSBHs) are also promising sources, but have not been detected...

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“…DMLS is an additive (3D printing), process in which a layer of metal powder is melted via laser light and cools in place. While initially we were concerned with internal-stress-related warping upon cooling [1], experiments showed this to be a non-issue. The finely stippled surface produced by the DMLS process is a black anodized by Techmetal, Inc. using their Techcoat DLA200 ™ process.…”

Section: Field Flatteners and Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) will be a significant new private/public capability for exploring the transient universe at high observing cadence [1]. Building on the existing Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and intermediate-PTF (iPTF) infrastructure at Palomar Mountain, ZTF consists of both an Observing System (OS), previously described [2], and a significant new Data System (DS) to be described elsewhere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zwicky Transient Facility Camera

et al. 2016

Self Cite

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The Zwicky Transient Facility Camera (ZTFC) is a key element of the ZTF Observing System, the integrated system of optoelectromechanical instrumentation tasked to acquire the wide-field, high-cadence time-domain astronomical data at the heart of the Zwicky Transient Facility. The ZTFC consists of a compact cryostat with large vacuum window protecting a mosaic of 16 large, wafer-scale science CCDs and 4 smaller guide/focus CCDs, a sophisticated vacuum interface board which carries data as electrical signals out of the cryostat, an electromechanical window frame for securing externally inserted optical filter selections, and associated cryo-thermal/vacuum system support elements. The ZTFC provides an instantaneous 47 deg 2 field of view, limited by primary mirror vignetting in its Schmidt telescope prime focus configuration. We report here on the design and performance of the ZTF CCD camera cryostat and report results from extensive Joule-Thompson cryocooler tests that may be of broad interest to the instrumentation community.

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The Zwicky transient facility observing system

Cited by 58 publications

References 7 publications

AGN Luminosity and Stellar Age: Two Missing Ingredients for AGN Unification as Seen with iPTF Supernovae

AGN Luminosity and Stellar Age: Two Missing Ingredients for AGN Unification as Seen with iPTF Supernovae

Characterization of low-significance gravitational-wave compact binary sources

The Zwicky Transient Facility Camera

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