Title Text

University of Delaware

Department of Physics and Astronomy

federica bianco - Associate Professor

(she/her)

Biden School of Public Policy and Administration

Data  Science Institute

Title Text

University of Delaware

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Biden School of Public Policy and Administration

Data  Science Institute

Rubin Observatory Construction Project - Deputy Project Scientist

Rubin Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration

federica bianco - Associate Professor

(she/her)

slides available at

https://slides.com/federicabianco/ciera2022

This is a living land acknowledgement developed in consultation with tribal leadership of Poutaxet, what is now known as the “Delaware Bay,” including: the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, and the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation in 2021. We thank these leaders for their generosity.

The University of Delaware occupies lands vital to the web of life for Lenni Lenape and Nanticoke, who share their ancestry, history, and future in this region. UD has financially benefited from this regional occupation as well as from Indigenous territories that were expropriated through the United States land grant system. European colonizers and later the United States forced Nanticoke and Lenni Lenape westward and northward, where they formed nations in present-day Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. Others never left their homelands or returned from exile when they could. We express our appreciation for ongoing Indigenous stewardship of the ecologies and traditions of this region. While the harms to Indigenous people and their homelands are beyond repair, we commit to building right relationships going forward by collaborating with tribal leadership on actionable institutional steps.

Time domain astrophysics at a glance

Rubin LSST

Leading the Rubin LSST army of volunteers

Rubin LSST projects at FASTLab

At the intersection of astrophysics and Public Policy: From Light Echoes to Pollution Plumes

Data skills for good: COVID response support in Delaware

Time domain astrophysics at a glance

Rubin LSST

Leading the Rubin LSST army of volunteers

FASTLab projects in data-driven astrophysics

At the intersection of astrophysics and Public Policy: From Light Echoes to Pollution Plumes

Data skills for good: COVID response support in Delaware

Time domain astrophysics at a glance

The immutable skies

Ivezić (w Bianco) et al 2019

circa 1900

Will we discover new physics?

A survey of Machine Learning features and methods to discover unique objects and rare classes in regularly and irregularly sampled time series

Galarza, Bianco et al. 2021

2D t-SNE projection of feature space

Evenly sampled Kepler time series

.

Sparse, unevenly sampled Kepler time series

Will we discover new physics?

Li, Ragosta, Clarkson, Bianco 2021

A comparative assessment of LSST potential surveys in the discovery of unknown unknowns

Vera C. Rubin Observatory:

Ushering a New Era of TDA

LSST Science Drivers

Probing Dark Energy and Dark Matter

image credit ESO-Gaia

LSST Science Drivers

Mapping the Milky Way and Local Volume

via resolved stellar population

An unprecedented inventory of the Solar System from threatening NEO to the distant Oort Cloud

LSST Science Drivers

LSST Science Drivers

Exploring the Transients and Variable Universe

10M alerts every night shared with the world

60 seconds after observation

single image depth ~24

10-year stack image depth ~26

image resolution 0.2'' (seeing limited)

18,000 sq degrees 

839 images over 10 years in 6 filters

2-3 images per night

each fields reobserved within ~days

5 fields observed to higher cadence and more images

survey specification

~25.9, 26.8, 26.8, 26.3, 25.6, 24.8

~56, 74, 184, 187, 166, 171

Rubin Observatory

Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile

Funding: US NSF + DOE

Status: final phases of construction - completion expected 2023

September 2016

Fabruary 2020

May 2022

May 2022

what's in a name?

Rubin Obs is the first ground-based US National Observatory named after a woman astrophysicist, Dr. 

Vera Florence Cooper Rubin  

pioneered studies of Dark Matter through rotational curves

VRO

8m Telescope

9.6 deg.sq. field of view

maximizes survey entendue

Observatory

May 2022 - Telescope Mount Assembly

Status: ongoing demonstration of the Camera/Secondary Mirror (M2) removal procedures, and  ComCam installation expected in  August.

The DOE LSST Camera - 3.2 Gigapixel

3.2 Gigapixel camera 

378 4K ultra-high-definition TV

The DOE LSST Camera - 3.2 Gigapixel

Camera and Cryostat integration completed at SLAC in May,

Shutter and filter auto-changer integrated into camera body

3024 science raft amplifier channels, only 3 are substandard.

Rubin ugrizy filters

Summer 2021

AuxTel:

latest run June 28-July 1 2022

LOVE: LSST Operations Visualization Environment

Data Products

world public!

world public

data right holders

Astronomy meets Data Science

At this level of precision,everything is variable, everything is blended, everything is moving.

 https://ls.st/srd

SDSS

LSST

http://faculty.washington.edu/ivezic/talks/NASAseminar.pdf

Ivezič+19

SDSS 2x4 arcmin sq griz

MYSUC (Gawiser 2014) 1 mag shallower than LSST coadds

At this level of precision,everything is variable, everything is blended, everything is moving.

 https://ls.st/srd

http://faculty.washington.edu/ivezic/talks/NASAseminar.pdf

Rubin will see ~1000 SN every night!

A lot of them will be too faint to study with traditional means, particularly spectra. 

Lots of emphasis in new analysis techniques that rely on "Big Data"

Ivezič (w Bianco) et al 2019

Survey

design

Rubin LSST survey design

distributions of time gaps in 76 OpSims

Bianco et al. 2021 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ac3e72

Rubin LSST survey design

Rubin LSST survey design

Bianco et al. 2021

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ac3e72

https://www.lsst.org/content/charge-survey-cadence-optimization-committee-scoc

Because the Rubin LSST data is open to all US scientists and to a broader yet community worldwide, to truly make it a survey of and for and of the people, Rubin Observatory called the community to design its survey -

this is a uniquely "democratic" process!

single document

9 chapters ​

25 science cases

14

46 papers

467 unique authors

16

39 notes

218 unique authors

173

date

goal

target community

response

available simulation

2015-17

2018

2021

Rubin LSST survey design

2015-17

Rubin LSST SCOC

2015-17

Timo Anguita Universidad Andres Bello

Saurabh Jha Rutgers University

Rachel Mandelbaum CMU

Adam Miller Northwestern University

Steven Smartt Oxford University

Rachel Street Las Cubres Observatory

Kat Volk University of Arizona, PSI

Franz Baur Universitdad Cátolica, Chile

Knut Olsen NSF’s NOIRLab

Colin Slater University of Washington

Jay Strader Michigan State University

Its tasks are as follows:

• Based on input from the OpSim team and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survery of Space and Time (LSST) Science Collaborations, make specific recommendations for the cadence choices for the full 10-year survey. 
• Help communicate these recommendations to the science community 
• Based on the plans for commissioning, and the realized performance of the telescope and software, make specific recommendations for “Early Science” observations
• During operations, make recommendations for changes in survey strategy, including Target of Opportunity observations and the use of Director’s Discretionary Time.

Rubin LSST SCOC

23

23.7

24.7

24.3

25

26.9

28.1

5σ depth

5σ depth

coadd 5σ depth

coadd 5σ depth

survey specifications

(current baseline)

g band

r band

source http://astro-lsst-01.astro.washington.edu:8080/?runId=2

27.1

23.3

0.576

0.52

intranight gap

hours

15

internight gap

days

15

3

median internight gap

days

50

5

median internight gap

days

any filter

r band

survey specifications

source http://astro-lsst-01.astro.washington.edu:8080/?runId=2

0.576

intranight gap

hours

Parallax uncertainty @ 24 mag (mas)

Gaia DR2: 0.1 mas @ mag 17

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/29201/1770596/Lindegren_GaiaDR2_Astrometry_extended.pdf

survey specifications

source http://astro-lsst-01.astro.washington.edu:8080/?runId=2

survey specifications

(current baseline)

26.8

29.05

28.6

26.8

26.9

28.1

coadd 5σ depth

survey specifications

(current baseline)

source http://astro-lsst-01.astro.washington.edu:8080/?runId=2

26.8

29.05

28.6

26.8

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Rubin and MMA

Rubin Observatory LSST 

LIGO/VIRGO area of localization ~100deg square

 Ursa Minor contains 255.86 square degrees

S190425z 18% of the sky localization

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Rubin can find the electromagnetic counterpart of Gravitational Wave and Neutrino discoveries better than any survey!

LIGO/VIRGO area of localization ~100deg square

 Ursa Minor contains 255.86 square degrees

Rubin FoV 10 deg

S190425z 18% of the sky localization

Rubin Observatory LSST 

 AT 2017gfo

optical counterpart we have identified near NGC 4993 is associated with GW170817

Evidence that mergers of NS are significant sources of r-process elements heavier than iron, including gold and platinum, which was previously attributed exclusively to supernova explosions

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Margutti+2018

Andreoni+ 2022

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Margutti+2018

Andreoni+ 2022

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Margutti+2018

Andreoni+ 2022

the Rubin LSST

Science Collaborations

The Rubin Organization is almost as complex as the Universe it will explore!

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

The Rubin Organization is almost as complex as the Universe it will explore!

8 SCs - 6 continents - 2000 people - 25 countries

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

8 SCs - 6 continents - 2000 people - 25 countries

Rubin LSST survey design

40+ submissions

85% led by SC members

and virtually all including SC members

The SCs were core to this process

Rubin Focus Issue of ApJS on Rubin Survey Strategy Optimization

https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0067-0049/page/rubin_cadence

A focus issue of ApJS to publish LSST cadence proposals work

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

8 SCs - 6 continents - 2000 people - 25 countries

Chairs of the Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration

Science Collaborations Coordinator

Chairs of the Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration

Science Collaborations Coordinator

Member of the SAC

Member of the Contribution Evaluation Committee

Member of the LSSTC Executive Board

Member of the Research Inclusion Working Group

We study rare and unusual transients with machine learning and probabilistic inference

Rubin LSST

Leading the Rubin LSST army of volunteers

FASTLab projects in data-driven astrophysics

At the intersection of astrophysics and Public Policy: From Light Echoes to Pollution Plumes

Data skills for good: COVID response support in Delaware

Time domain astrophysics at a glance

Research Inclusion: sonification of LSST lightcurves

Riley Clarke, UD grad student Sid Patel, UD undergrad summer research project

Sonification: Data → Sound

New way of understanding data

• Can be complementary to visualizations

• Gives access to people who cannot
  interpret data visually

• Sounds cool! Good for public outreach

Research Inclusion: sonification of LSST lightcurves

Rubin Rhapsodies

Research Inclusion: sonification of LSST lightcurves

Rubin Rhapsodies

https://lsst-tvssc.github.io/RubinRhapsodies/

Light Echoes

Light Echoes

η-Carinae light echoes

Rest et al. (w Bianco) 2012Natur.482..375R​

Light Echoes

η-Carinae light echoes

Frew 2004, Smith & Frew 2011

Light Echoes

η-Carinae light echoes

Light Echoes

η-Carinae light echoes

Li et al. submitted

AILE: the first AI-based platform for the detection and study of Light Echoes

NSF Award #2108841

Detecting and studying light echoes in the era of Rubin and Artificial Intelligence

P.I. Bianco

Pessimal AI problem:

• small training data
• inaccurate labels
• imbalance classes
• diverse morphology
• low SNR

AILE: the first AI-based platform for the detection and study of Light Echoes

YOLO3 + "attention" mechanism

precision 80% at 70% recall with a training set of 19 light echo examples! 

NSF Award #2108841

Detecting and studying light echoes in the era of Rubin and Artificial Intelligence

P.I. Bianco

Li et al. submitted

Multi-city Urban Observatory Network

Dobler, Bianco, et al 2021, in Remote Sensing

Studying cities as complex systems through imaging data

Multi-city Urban Observatory Network

Dobler, Bianco, et al 2021, in Remote Sensing

Studying cities as complex systems through imaging data

• energy demand and consumption
• ecology of flora and fauna
• urban metabolism
• circadiem rhythms

Multi-city Urban Observatory Network

From Light Echoes to Polluting Plumes

Ian Heffner, UD MSDS

​improved image

subtraction through PCA

Pessimal AI problem:

• small training data
• inaccurate labels
• imbalance classes
• diverse morphology
• low SNR
• complex BG

From Light Echoes to Polluting Plumes

Ian Heffner, UD MSDS

​improved image

subtraction through PCA

Pessimal AI problem:

• small training data
• inaccurate labels
• imbalance classes
• diverse morphology
• low SNR
• complex BG

Plumes and heat in NIR

Plumes in hyperspectral imaging

thank you!

University of Delaware

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Biden School of Public Policy and Administration

Data  Science Institute

federica bianco

fbianco@udel.edu

Rubin Observatory LSST 

Diversity Equity Inclusion

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

We aspire to be an inclusive, equitable, and ultimately just group and we are working with renewed vigor in the wake of the recent event that exposed inequity and racism in our society to turning this aspiration into action.

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

what's in a name?

The first ground-based national US observatory named after a woman, Dr. Vera C. Rubin 

VRO

In the first 10 years of its life Rubin will conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time or LSST