Multi-scale stamps for real-time classification of alert streams [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.13080


In recent years, automatic classifiers of image cutouts (also called “stamps”) have shown to be key for fast supernova discovery. The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory will distribute about ten million alerts with their respective stamps each night, which it is expected to enable the discovery of approximately one million supernovae each year. A growing source of confusion for these classifiers is the presence of satellite glints, sequences of point-like-sources produced by rotating satellites or debris. The currently planned Rubin stamps will have a size smaller than the typical separation between these point sources. Thus, a larger field of view image stamp could enable the automatic identification of these sources. However, the distribution of larger field of view stamps would be limited by network bandwidth restrictions. We evaluate the impact of using image stamps of different angular sizes and resolutions for the fast classification of events (AGNs, asteroids, bogus, satellites, SNe, and variable stars), using available data from the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. We compare four scenarios: three with the same number of pixels (small field of view with high resolution, large field of view with low resolution, and a proposed multi-scale strategy) and a scenario with the full ZTF stamp that has a larger field of view and higher resolution. Our multi-scale proposal outperforms all the scenarios, with a macro f1-score of 87.39. We encourage Rubin and its Science Collaborations to consider the benefits of implementing multi-scale stamps as a possible update to the alert specification.

Read this paper on arXiv…

I. Reyes-Jainaga, F. Förster, A. Arancibia, et. al.
Thu, 27 Apr 23
41/78

Comments: Submitted to ApJL