Zooniverse

Abstract:

With the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the advanced laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) has initiated a new field of astronomy by providing an alternative means of sensing the universe. The extreme sensitivity required to make such detections is achieved through exquisite isolation of all sensitive components of LIGO from non-gravitational-wave disturbances. Nonetheless, LIGO is still susceptible to a variety of instrumental and environmental sources of noise that contaminate the data. Of particular concern are noise features known as glitches, which are transient and non-Gaussian in their nature, and occur at a high enough rate so that accidental coincidence between the two LIGO detectors is non-negligible. Glitches come in a wide range of time-frequency-amplitude morphologies, with new morphologies appearing as the detector evolves. Since they can obscure or mimic true gravitational-wave signals, a robust characterization of glitches is paramount in the effort to achieve the gravitational-wave detection rates that are predicted by the design sensitivity of LIGO. This proves a daunting task for members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration alone due to the sheer amount of data. In this paper we describe an innovative project that combines crowdsourcing with machine learning to aid in the challenging task of categorizing all of the glitches recorded by the LIGO detectors. Through the Zooniverse platform, we engage and recruit volunteers from the public to categorize images of time-frequency representations of glitches into pre-identified morphological classes and to discover new classes that appear as the detectors evolve. In addition, machine learning algorithms are used to categorize images after being trained on human-classified examples of the morphological classes. Leveraging the strengths of both classification methods, we create a combined method with the aim of improving the efficiency and accuracy of each individual classifier. The resulting classification and characterization should help LIGO scientists to identify causes of glitches and subsequently eliminate them from the data or the detector entirely, thereby improving the rate and accuracy of gravitational-wave observations. We demonstrate these methods using a small subset of data from LIGO's first observing run.

Abstract:

Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at $z\gtrsim1$ are luminous in the far-infrared and have star-formation rates, SFR, of hundreds to thousands of solar masses per year. However, it is unclear whether they are true analogs of local ULIRGs or whether the mode of their star formation is more similar to that in local disk galaxies. We target these questions by using Herschel-PACS to examine the conditions in the interstellar medium (ISM) in far-infrared luminous SMGs at z~1-4. We present 70-160 micron photometry and spectroscopy of the [OIV]26 micron, [FeII]26 micron, [SIII]33 micron, [SiII]34 micron, [OIII]52 micron, [NIII]57 micron, and [OI]63 micron fine-structure lines and the S(0) and S(1) hydrogen rotational lines in 13 lensed SMGs identified by their brightness in early Herschel data. Most of the 13 targets are not individually spectroscopically detected and we instead focus on stacking these spectra with observations of an additional 32 SMGs from the \herschel\ archive -- representing a complete compilation of PACS spectroscopy of SMGs. We detect [OI]63 micron, [SiII]34 micron, and [NIII]57 micron at >3sigma in the stacked spectra, determining that the average strengths of these lines relative to the far-IR continuum are $(0.36\pm0.12)\times10^{-3}$, $(0.84\pm0.17)\times10^{-3}$, and $(0.27\pm0.10)\times10^{-3}$, respectively. Using the [OIII]52/[NIII]57 emission line ratio we show that SMGs have average gas-phase metallicities $\gtrsim Z_{\rm sun}$. By using PDR modelling and combining the new spectral measurements with integrated far-infrared fluxes and existing [CII]158 micron data we show that SMGs have average gas densities, n, of $\sim10^{1-3}{\rm cm^{-3}}$ and FUV field strengths, $G_0\sim10^{2.2-4.5}$ (in Habing units: $1.6\times10^{-3}{\rm erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}}$), consistent with both local ULIRGs and lower luminosity star-forming galaxies.

Abstract:

In order to understand the role of radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) in galaxy evolution, we must determine the relative levels of accretion and star-formation activity within these objects. Previous work at low radio flux densities has shown that accretion makes a significant contribution to the total radio emission, in contrast with other quasar studies that suggest star formation dominates. To investigate, we use 70 RQQs from the Spitzer-Herschel Active Galaxy Survey. These quasars are all at z ∼ 1, thereby minimizing evolutionary effects, and have been selected to span a factor of ∼100 in optical luminosity, so that the luminosity dependence of their properties can be studied. We have imaged the sample using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), whose high sensitivity results in 35 RQQs being detected above 2σ. This radio data set is combined with far-infrared luminosities derived from grey-body fitting to Herschel photometry. By exploiting the far-infrared-radio correlation observed for star-forming galaxies, and comparing two independent estimates of the star-formation rate, we show that star formation alone is not sufficient to explain the total radio emission. Considering RQQs above a 2σ detection level in both the radio and the far-infrared, 92 per cent are accretion dominated, and the accretion process accounts for 80 per cent of the radio luminosity when summed across the objects. The radio emission connected with accretion appears to be correlated with the optical luminosity of the RQQ, whilst a weaker luminosity dependence is evident for the radio emission connected with star formation.

Abstract:

� 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We consider the energy budgets and radiative history of eight fading active galactic nuclei (AGNs), identified from an energy shortfall between the requirements to ionize very extended (radius > 10 kpc) ionized clouds and the luminosity of the nucleus as we view it directly. All show evidence of significant fading on timescales of ≈50,000 yr. We explore the use of minimum ionizing luminosity Q ion derived from photoionization balance in the brightest pixels in Hα at each projected radius. Tests using presumably constant Palomar-Green QSOs, and one of our targets with detailed photoionization modeling, suggest that we can derive useful histories of individual AGNs, with the caveat that the minimum ionizing luminosity is always an underestimate and subject to uncertainties about fine structure in the ionized material. These consistency tests suggest that the degree of underestimation from the upper envelope of reconstructed Q ion values is roughly constant for a given object and therefore does not prevent such derivation. The AGNs in our sample show a range of behaviors, with rapid drops and standstills; the common feature is a rapid drop in the last ≈2 � 10 4 yr before the direct view of the nucleus. The e-folding timescales for ionizing luminosity are mostly in the thousands of years, with a few episodes as short as 400 yr. In the limit of largely obscured AGNs, we find additional evidence for fading from the shortfall between even the lower limits from recombination balance and the maximum luminosities derived from far-infrared fluxes. We compare these long-term light curves, and the occurrence of these fading objects among all optically identified AGNs, to simulations of AGN accretion; the strongest variations over these timespans are seen in models with strong and local (parsec-scale) feedback. We present Gemini integral-field optical spectroscopy, which shows a very limited role for outflows in these ionized structures. While rings and loops of emission, morphologically suggestive of outflow, are common, their kinematic structure shows some to be in regular rotation. UGC 7342 exhibits local signatures of outflows < 300 km s -1 , largely associated with very diffuse emission, and possibly entraining gas in one of the clouds seen in Hubble Space Telescope images. Only in the Teacup AGN do we see outflow signatures of the order of 1000 km s -1 . In contrast to the extended emission regions around many radio-loud AGNs, the clouds around these fading AGNs consist largely of tidal debris being externally illuminated but not displaced by AGN outflows.