Zwicky Transient Facility Survey Research Articles

New ACV variables discovered in the Zwicky Transient Facility survey

The manifestation of surface spots on magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars is most commonly explained by the atomic diffusion theory, which requires a calm stellar atmosphere and only moderate rotation. While very successful and well described, this theory still needs to be revised and fine-tuned to the observations. Our study aims to enlarge the sample of known photometrically variable mCP stars (ACV variables) to pave the way for more robust and significant statistical studies. We derive accurate physical parameters for these objects and discuss our results in the framework of the atomic diffusion theory. We studied 1314 candidate ACV variables that were selected from the Zwicky Transient Factory catalogue of periodic variables based on light curve characteristics. We investigated these objects using photometric criteria, a colour-magnitude diagram, and spectroscopic data from the LAMOST and Gaia missions to confirm their status as ACV variables. We present a sample of 1232 new ACV variables, including information on distance from the Sun, mass, fractional age on the main sequence, fraction of the radius between the zero-age and terminal-age main sequence, and the equatorial velocity and its ratio to the critical velocity. Our results confirm that the employed selection process is highly efficient for detecting ACV variables. We have identified 38 stars with $v_ equ $). This challenges current theories that cannot explain the occurrence of such fast-rotating mCP stars.

Searching for late-time interaction signatures in Type Ia supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility

The nature of the progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms that give rise to Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still debated. The interaction signature of circumstellar material (CSM) being swept up by the expanding ejecta can constrain the type of system from which it was ejected. However, most previous studies have focussed on finding CSM ejected shortly before the SN Ia explosion, which still resides close to the explosion site resulting in short delay times until the interaction starts. We used a sample of 3\,627 SNe Ia from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) that were discovered between 2018 and 2020 and searched for interaction signatures greater than 100 days after peak brightness. By binning the late-time light curve data to push the detection limit as deep as possible, we identified potential late-time rebrightening in three SNe Ia (SN 2018grt, SN 2019dlf, and SN 2020tfc). The late-time optical detections occur between 550 and 1450\,d after peak brightness, have mean absolute r -band magnitudes of $-$16.4 to $-$16.8 mag, and last up to a few hundred days, which is significantly brighter than the late-time CSM interaction discovered in the prototype, SN 2015cp. The late-time detections in the three objects all occur within 0.8 kpc of the host nucleus and are not easily explained by nuclear activity, another transient at a similar sky position, or data quality issues. This is suggestive of environment or specific progenitor characteristics playing a role in the production of potential CSM signatures in these SNe Ia. Through simulating the ZTF survey, we estimate that $<$0.5 per cent of normal SNe Ia display a late-time ($>100$ d post peak) strong CSM interaction. This is equivalent to an absolute rate of $ to $54_ $ Gpc$^ $ yr$^ $ assuming a constant SN Ia rate of $2.4 $ Mpc$^ $ yr$^ $ for $z 0.1$. Weaker interaction signatures of emission, more similar to the strength seen in SN 2015cp, could be more common but are difficult to constrain with our survey depth.

Panic at the ISCO: Time-varying Double-peaked Broad Lines from Evolving Accretion Disks Are Common among Optically Variable AGNs

About 3%–10% of Type I active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have double-peaked broad Balmer lines in their optical spectra originating from the motion of gas in their accretion disk. Double-peaked profiles arise not only in AGNs, but occasionally appear during optical flares from tidal disruption events and changing-state AGNs. In this paper, we identify 250 double-peaked emitters (DPEs) among a parent sample of optically variable broad-line AGNs in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey, corresponding to a DPE fraction of 19%. We model spectra of the broad Hα emission-line regions and provide a catalog of the fitted accretion disk properties for the 250 DPEs. Analysis of power spectra derived from the 5 yr ZTF light curves finds that DPE light curves have similar amplitudes and power-law indices to other broad-line AGNs. Follow-up spectroscopy of 12 DPEs reveals that ∼50% display significant changes in the relative strengths of their red and blue peaks over long 10–20 yr timescales, indicating that broad-line profile changes arising from spiral arm or hotspot rotation are common among optically variable DPEs. Analysis of the accretion disk parameters derived from spectroscopic modeling provides evidence that DPEs are not in a special accretion state, but are simply normal broad-line AGNs viewed under the right conditions for the accretion disk to be easily visible. We include inspiraling supermassive black hole binary candidate SDSSJ1430+2303 in our analysis, and discuss how its photometric and spectroscopic variability is consistent with the disk-emitting AGN population in the ZTF survey.

Enabling discoveries of Solar System objects in large alert data streams

Context. With the advent of large-scale astronomical surveys, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and the forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), the number of alerts generated by transient, variable, and moving astronomical objects is growing rapidly, reaching millions of alerts per night. Concerning the minor planets of the Solar System, their identification requires linking the alerts for many observations over a potentially lengthy period of time, leading to a very large combinatorial number. Aims. The goal is to demonstrate how a third-party module dedicated to the identification of new minor planets of the Solar System can be integrated with the Fink alert broker real-time operations, which deals with massive alert data streams produced by large-scale surveys. Methods. Our analysis takes advantage of the scientific surplus brought on by the Fink alert broker classification capabilities to first reduce the 111 275 131 processed alerts from ZTF between November 2019 and December 2022 (755 observation nights) to only 389 530 new Solar System alert candidates over the same period. We implemented a simple, yet pedagogical linking algorithm called Fink-FAT to create trajectory candidates in real time from alert data and extract orbital parameters. The analysis was validated on ZTF alert packets linked to confirmed Solar System objects from the Minor Planet Center (MPC) database. Finally, the candidates were confronted with follow-up observations. Results. Between November 2019 and December 2022, Fink-FAT extracted 327 new orbits from candidate Solar System objects at the time of the observations, of which 65 had still remained unreported in the MPC database as of March 2023. After two late follow-up observation campaigns of six orbit candidates, four were associated with known minor planets of the Solar System, and two still remain unknown. In terms of performance, Fink-FAT took under 3 h to link alerts into trajectory candidates and to extract the orbital elements over the three years of Fink data, using a modest hardware configuration. Conclusions. Despite a much lower efficiency than present linking algorithms, Fink-FAT reaches a high level of purity in reconstructing orbits and it runs fast, making it suitable for the real-time discovery of new minor planets. Fink-FAT is deployed in the Fink broker and analyzes, in real time, the alert data from the ZTF survey by regularly extracting new candidates for Solar System objects. Tests of scalability also show that Fink-FAT is capable of handling the even larger volume of alert data that will be sent by the Rubin Observatory’s real-time difference image analysis processing.

Integral Field Spectroscopy of 13 Tidal Disruption Event Hosts from the Zwicky Transient Facility Survey

The host galaxies of tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been shown to possess peculiar properties, including high central light concentrations, unusual star formation histories, and “green” colors. The ubiquity of these large-scale galaxy characteristics among TDE host populations suggests that they may serve to boost the TDE rate in such galaxies by influencing the nuclear stellar dynamics. We present the first population study of integral field spectroscopy for 13 TDE host galaxies across all spectral classes and X-ray brightnesses with the purpose of investigating their large-scale properties. We derive the black hole masses via stellar kinematics (i.e., the M–σ relation) and find masses in the range , with a distribution dominated by black holes with M BH ∼ 106 M ⊙. We find one object with M BH ≳ 108 M ⊙, above the “Hills mass”, which if the disrupted star was of solar type, allows a lower limit of a ≳ 0.16 to be placed on its spin, lending further support to the proposed connection between featureless TDEs and jetted TDEs. We also explore the level of rotational support in the TDE hosts, quantified by (V/σ) e , a parameter that has been shown to correlate with the stellar age and may explain the peculiar host-galaxy preferences of TDEs. We find that the TDE hosts exhibit a broad range in (V/σ) e following a similar distribution as E + A galaxies, which have been shown to be overrepresented among TDE host populations.

Probable low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in blazars from the ZTF survey

ABSTRACT We investigate the possible presence of quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signals in 2103 blazars from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) time-domain survey. We detect a low-frequency QPO signal in five blazars observed over these 3.8-yr-long optical r-band ZTF light curves. These periods range from 144 to 196 d detected at ≳4σ significance levels in both the Lomb–Scargle periodogram and weighted wavelet Z-transform analyses. We find consistent results using the phase dispersion minimization technique. A similar peak is detected in the g-band light curves at a slightly lower significance of 3σ. Such nearly periodic signals on these time-scales in optical wavebands most likely originate from a precessing jet with high Lorentz factor, closely aligned to the observer’s line of sight or the movement of plasma blobs along a helical structure in the jet.

Fermi Blazars in the Zwicky Transient Facility Survey: A Correlation Study

We report on our correlation analysis for the γ-ray blazars detected with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi), for which we use the Fermi-LAT data and the optical zr and zg band data from the Zwicky Transient Facility survey in the time period approximately from 2018 July to 2022 February. We start from the full sample of the Fermi-LAT blazars and find ∼38% of them as significant variables in both γ-ray and optical bands. Among the variables, which are 705 blazars, 95 are selected as our targets based on the requirement for the γ-ray brightnesses. Then 15 out of the 95 blazars are found to show the γ-ray–optical correlations in the ∼3.7 yr time period. Most of the 15 blazars are classified as low synchrotron peaked (LSP) ones with the time lags between the γ-ray and optical bands in a range from −19 to +25 days. The results generally fit the often-considered emission scenario for the LSP blazars. Two cases of showing ∼−100 days time lags are discussed, which require further studies for confirmation. Our analysis results suggest that among the detected significant variables, ∼23% LSPs can show γ-ray and optical correlations, while their average γ-ray fluxes are above ∼4 × 10−8 photon cm−2 s−1.

Growth-rate measurement with type-Ia supernovae using ZTF survey simulations

Measurements of the growth rate of structures at z < 0.1 with peculiar velocity surveys have the potential of testing the validity of general relativity on cosmic scales. In this work, we present growth-rate measurements from realistic simulated sets of type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We describe our simulation methodology, the light-curve fitting, and peculiar velocity estimation. Using the maximum likelihood method, we derived constraints on fσ8 using only ZTF SN Ia peculiar velocities. We carefully tested the method and we quantified biases due to selection effects (photometric detection, spectroscopic follow-up for typing) on several independent realizations. We simulated the equivalent of 6 years of ZTF data, and considering an unbiased spectroscopically typed sample at z < 0.06, we obtained unbiased estimates of fσ8 with an average uncertainty of 19% precision. We also investigated the information gain in applying bias correction methods. Our results validate our framework, which can be used on real ZTF data.

Preliminary estimates of the Zwicky Transient Facility 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroid population completeness

Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are organized into five main classes: Amor, Apollo, Aten, Atira and 'Ayló'chaxnim. Asteroids belonging to the 'Ayló'chaxnim class are located entirely within the orbit of Venus making them difficult to detect by ground-based observatories. The first-known asteroid of this class, (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim, was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in 2020 January during a twilight search for asteroids at small solar elongations that ran between September 2019 and January 2020. Due to its large diameter of ∼2 km, the discovery of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim is surprising because contemporary NEA population models predict a scarcity of asteroids of this size located inside the orbit of Venus. To compare the discovery of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim by ZTF with the predictions of NEA population models, we estimated the ZTF survey completeness at detecting 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroids and the number of 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroids expected to have been discovered by simulating observations of synthetic 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroids. We find that the 'Ayló'chaxnim population completeness of the survey is ∼18% and there is only a 5% probability that a single 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroid would have been discovered. Given the small chance for (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim to have been discovered, its presence is either a statistical fluke or it implies that asteroid population models may need to be revised.

Accretion disc sizes from continuum reverberation mapping of AGN selected from the ZTF survey

ABSTRACT We present the accretion disc-size estimates for a sample of 19 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using the optical g-, r-, and i-band light curves obtained from the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. All the AGNs have reliable supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass estimates based on previous reverberation mapping measurements. The multiband light curves are cross-correlated, and the reverberation lag is estimated using the Interpolated Cross-Correlation Function method and the Bayesian method using the javelin code. As expected from the disc-reprocessing arguments, the g − r band lags are shorter than the g − i band lags for this sample. The interband lags for all, but five sources, are larger than the sizes predicted from the standard Shakura Sunyaev (SS) analytical model. We fit the light curves directly using a thin disc model implemented through the javelin code to get the accretion disc sizes. The disc sizes obtained using this model are on an average 3.9 times larger than the prediction based on the SS disc model. We find a weak correlation between the disc sizes and the known physical parameters, namely the luminosity and the SMBH mass. In the near future, a large sample of AGNs covering broader ranges of luminosity and SMBH mass from large photometric surveys would be helpful in a better understanding of the structure and physics of the accretion disc.

A case study of ACV variables discovered in the Zwicky Transient Facility survey

Context. Magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars exhibit complex atmospheres that allow the investigation of the interplay of atomic diffusion, magnetic fields, and stellar rotation. A non-uniform surface distribution of chemical elements and the non-alignment of the rotational and magnetic axes result in the variability of several observables. Photometrically variable mCP stars are referred to as α2 Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables. Aims. The present work presents a case study of known variables from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey, with the aim of investigating the survey’s suitability for the detection and study of new ACV variables. Methods. Using suitable selection criteria based on the known characteristics of ACV variables, candidate ACV stars were selected from the ZTF Catalog of Periodic Variable Stars. All light curves were inspected in detail to select the most promising candidates. Where available, low-resolution spectra from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) were employed to classify the stars on the MK system and confirm their status as mCP stars. Results. We have identified 86 new promising ACV star candidates. Fifteen of these stars have LAMOST spectra available that, in all cases, confirm them as classical mCP stars, which highlights the viability of our approach. We present astrophysical parameters for all sample stars that can be sorted into four subgroups characterized by distinct light curve shapes. Anti-phase variations in different photometric passbands, in particular, are a unique characteristic of a subset of ACV stars readily usable for their identification. The availability of data in three different passbands (g, r, and i) is a major advantage of the ZTF survey. Conclusions. On the basis of our experience with other photometric surveys and the analysis of light curves, we conclude that the ZTF is well suited to the search for, and the analysis of, ACV variables that are not considered in the available ZTF variable star catalogs. Further work will focus on the development and refinement of a search algorithm to correctly identify these stars in ZTF data and, subsequently, in massive photometric time series databases in general.

LTD064402+245919: A Subgiant with a 1–3 M ⊙ Undetected Companion Identified from LAMOST-TD Data

Abstract Single-line spectroscopic binaries have recently contributed to stellar-mass black hole discovery, independently of the X-ray transient method. We report the identification of a single-line binary system, LTD064402+245919, with an orbital period of 14.50 days. The observed component is a subgiant with a mass of 2.77 ± 0.68 M ⊙, radius 15.5 ± 2.5 R ⊙, effective temperature T eff 4500 ± 200 K, and surface gravity log g 2.5 ± 0.25 dex. The discovery makes use of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope time-domain and Zwicky Transient Facility survey. Our general-purpose software pipeline applies a Lomb–Scargle periodogram to determine the orbital period and uses machine learning to classify the variable type from the folded light curves. We apply a combined model to estimate the orbital parameters from both the light and radial velocity curves, taking constraints on the primary star mass, mass function, and detection limit of secondary luminosity into consideration. We obtain a radial velocity semiamplitude of 44.6 ± 1.5 km s−1, mass ratio of 0.73 ± 0.07, and an undetected component mass of 2.02 ± 0.49 M ⊙ when the type of the undetected component is not set. We conclude that the inclination is not well constrained, and that the secondary mass is larger than 1 M ⊙ when the undetected component is modeled as a compact object. According to our investigations using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain simulation, increasing the spectra signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 3 would enable the secondary light to be distinguished (if present). The algorithm and software in this work are able to serve as general-purpose tools for the identification of compact objects quiescent in X-rays.

Four (Super)luminous Supernovae from the First Months of the ZTF Survey

Abstract We present photometry and spectroscopy of four hydrogen-poor luminous supernovae discovered during the 2-month long science commissioning and early operations of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey. Three of these objects, SN 2018bym (ZTF18aapgrxo), SN 2018avk (ZTF18aaisyyp), and SN 2018bgv (ZTF18aavrmcg), resemble typical SLSN-I spectroscopically, while SN 2018don (ZTF18aajqcue) may be an object similar to SN 2007bi experiencing considerable host galaxy reddening, or an intrinsically long-lived, luminous, and red SN Ic. We analyze the light curves, spectra, and host galaxy properties of these four objects and put them in context of the population of SLSN-I. SN 2018bgv stands out as the fastest-rising SLSN-I observed to date, with a rest-frame g-band rise time of just 10 days from explosion to peak—if it is powered by magnetar spin-down, the implied ejecta mass is only ≃1 M ⊙. SN 2018don also displays unusual properties—in addition to its red colors and comparatively massive host galaxy, the light curve undergoes some of the strongest light-curve undulations postpeak seen in an SLSN-I, which we speculate may be due to interaction with circumstellar material. We discuss the promises and challenges of finding SLSNe in large-scale surveys like ZTF given the observed diversity in the population.