Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys

Abstract:

We present SNID–SAGE (SuperNova IDentification–Spectral Analysis and Guided Exploration), a framework for supernova spectral classification with both a fully interactive graphical interface and a scriptable command-line pipeline for large-scale processing. The pipeline combines deterministic spectral pre-processing, FFT-based cross-correlation against a curated template library, ranking of candidate matches using a composite quality metric, and consolidation of redshift and classification solutions into a single result with associated quality and confidence estimates. SNID–SAGE includes an upgradeable template library (about 6000 spectra), interactive line identification with velocity measurements, and optional natural-language summaries of classification results. We evaluate SNID–SAGE using two complementary tests: (i) Leave-one-out cross-validation, in which each template spectrum is matched against the remainder of the library; and (ii) large-scale application to WISeREP spectra with valid coverage across the 4000–7000 Å interval, irrespective of spectral type, comprising approximately 46 000 spectra, with redshift validation against known host-galaxy measurements where available. The full validation results and the SNID–SAGE framework are publicly available, supporting integration into spectroscopic survey workflows.