Mary, a Pipeline to Aid Discovery of Optical Transients. (5th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Andreoni, I.; Jacobs, C.; Hegarty, S.; Pritchard, T.; Cooke, J.; Ryder, S.
• Is Part Of: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. Volume 34(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-09-05
• Subjects: Gravitational waves – Methods: data analysis – novae, cataclysmic variables – supernovae: general – techniques: image processing; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Southern sky (Astronomy) -- Periodicals; Astrophysics -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1017/pasa.2017.33
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1323-3580

Abstract

Abstract: The ability to quickly detect transient sources in optical images and trigger multi-wavelength follow up is key for the discovery of fast transients. These include events rare and difficult to detect such as kilonovae, supernova shock breakout, and 'orphan' Gamma-ray Burst afterglows. We present the Mary pipeline, a (mostly) automated tool to discover transients during high-cadenced observations with the Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). The observations are part of the 'Deeper Wider Faster' programme, a multi-facility, multi-wavelength programme designed to discover fast transients, including counterparts to Fast Radio Bursts and gravitational waves. Our tests of the Mary pipeline on Dark Energy Camera images return a false positive rate of ~2.2% and a missed fraction of ~3.4% obtained in less than 2 min, which proves the pipeline to be suitable for rapid and high-quality transient searches. The pipeline can be adapted to search for transients in data obtained with imagers other than Dark Energy Camera.