pith. machine review for the scientific record. sign in

arxiv: 1902.01932 · v1 · submitted 2019-02-05 · 🌌 astro-ph.IM

Recognition: unknown

The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results

Eric C. Bellm , Shrinivas R. Kulkarni , Matthew J. Graham , Richard Dekany , Roger M. Smith , Reed Riddle , Frank J. Masci , George Helou
show 107 more authors
Thomas A. Prince Scott M. Adams C. Barbarino Tom Barlow James Bauer Ron Beck Justin Belicki Rahul Biswas Nadejda Blagorodnova Dennis Bodewits Bryce Bolin Valery Brinnel Tim Brooke Brian Bue Mattia Bulla Rick Burruss S. Bradley Cenko Chan-Kao Chang Andrew Connolly Michael Coughlin John Cromer Virginia Cunningham Kishalay De Alex Delacroix Vandana Desai Dmitry A. Duev Gwendolyn Eadie Tony L. Farnham Michael Feeney Ulrich Feindt David Flynn Anna Franckowiak S. Frederick C. Fremling Avishay Gal-Yam Suvi Gezari Matteo Giomi Daniel A. Goldstein V. Zach Golkhou Ariel Goobar Steven Groom Eugean Hacopians David Hale John Henning Anna Y. Q. Ho David Hover Justin Howell Tiara Hung Daniela Huppenkothen David Imel Wing-Huen Ip \v{Z}eljko Ivezi\'c Edward Jackson Lynne Jones Mario Juric Mansi M. Kasliwal S. Kaspi Stephen Kaye Michael S. P. Kelley Marek Kowalski Emily Kramer Thomas Kupfer Walter Landry Russ R. Laher Chien-De Lee Hsing Wen Lin Zhong-Yi Lin Ragnhild Lunnan Ashish Mahabal Peter Mao Adam A. Miller Serge Monkewitz Patrick Murphy Chow-Choong Ngeow Jakob Nordin Peter Nugent Eran Ofek Maria T. Patterson Bryan Penprase Michael Porter Ludwig Rauch Umaa Rebbapragada Dan Reiley Mickael Rigault Hector Rodriguez Jan van Roestel Ben Rusholme Jakob van Santen S. Schulze David L. Shupe Leo P. Singer Maayane T. Soumagnac Robert Stein Jason Surace Jesper Sollerman Paula Szkody F. Taddia Scott Terek Angela Van Sistine Sjoert van Velzen W. Thomas Vestrand Richard Walters Charlotte Ward Quan-Zhi Ye Po-Chieh Yu Lin Yan Jeffry Zolkower
Authors on Pith no claims yet
classification 🌌 astro-ph.IM
keywords surveyanalysissystemtransientcameradatafacilityfirst
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new optical time-domain survey that uses the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt telescope. A custom-built wide-field camera provides a 47 deg$^2$ field of view and 8 second readout time, yielding more than an order of magnitude improvement in survey speed relative to its predecessor survey, the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We describe the design and implementation of the camera and observing system. The ZTF data system at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center provides near-real-time reduction to identify moving and varying objects. We outline the analysis pipelines, data products, and associated archive. Finally, we present on-sky performance analysis and first scientific results from commissioning and the early survey. ZTF's public alert stream will serve as a useful precursor for that of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 7 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. On the Gamma-ray Efficiency of Superluminous Supernovae: Potential Detections and Population-Level Constraints

    astro-ph.HE 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    No significant GeV emission from 223 SLSNe constrains GeV-to-optical efficiency to η < 1.3×10^{-3}, with <0.7% of events allowed above 10^{-2}; SN 2017egm shows a ~4σ excess favoring magnetar origin while SN 2018bsz does not.

  2. DESI DR2 Results II: Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and Cosmological Constraints

    astro-ph.CO 2025-03 accept novelty 7.0

    DESI DR2 BAO data exhibits 2.3 sigma tension with CMB in Lambda-CDM but prefers evolving dark energy (w0 > -1, wa < 0) at 3.1 sigma with CMB and 2.8-4.2 sigma when including supernovae.

  3. Pre-localization of Massive Black Hole Binaries in the Millihertz Band

    gr-qc 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    A neural spline flow pipeline performs amortized inference on millihertz MBHB signals, delivering ~20 deg² pre-merger sky localizations in ~1 minute while matching PTMCMC sky modes and parameter uncertainties.

  4. Optical transients from non-explosive double white-dwarf mergers: the case of a central neutron star remnant

    astro-ph.HE 2026-03 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Non-explosive DWD mergers leaving NS remnants produce optical transients detectable by LSST out to 30-820 Mpc with rates 10²-10⁶ yr⁻¹ depending on log D, though survey cadence restricts reliable detections to log D = ...

  5. Finding Strongly Lensed Supernovae from Blended Light Curves

    astro-ph.IM 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    A model-independent method fits blended supernova light curves as superpositions of two time-delayed components and finds only one candidate above a 12-day delay threshold in 445 ZTF Type Ia supernovae, for a 0.22% fa...

  6. The Recurrent Nova Population in M31

    astro-ph.SR 2026-04 accept novelty 4.0

    M31 hosts at least 20 recurrent novae with 79 total eruptions; half recur faster than the shortest Galactic example, while light-curve and spatial properties match the Milky Way population.

  7. Extended Dark Energy analysis using DESI DR2 BAO measurements

    astro-ph.CO 2025-03 conditional novelty 4.0

    Extended analysis of DESI DR2 data confirms robust evidence for dynamical dark energy with phantom crossing preference, stable under parametric and non-parametric modeling.