Browsing by Author "Sanchez-Saez, P."

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    A random forest-based selection of optically variable AGN in the VST-COSMOS field
    (2021) De Cicco, D.; Bauer, F. E.; Paolillo, M.; Cavuoti, S.; Sanchez-Saez, P.; Brandt, W. N.; Pignata, G.; Vaccari, M.; Radovich, M.
    Context. The survey of the COSMOS field by the VLT Survey Telescope is an appealing testing ground for variability studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN). With 54 r-band visits over 3.3 yr and a single-visit depth of 24.6 r-band mag, the dataset is also particularly interesting in the context of performance forecasting for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).Aims. This work is the fifth in a series dedicated to the development of an automated, robust, and efficient methodology to identify optically variable AGN, aimed at deploying it on future LSST data.Methods. We test the performance of a random forest (RF) algorithm in selecting optically variable AGN candidates, investigating how the use of different AGN labeled sets (LSs) and features sets affects this performance. We define a heterogeneous AGN LS and choose a set of variability features and optical and near-infrared colors based on what can be extracted from LSST data.Results. We find that an AGN LS that includes only Type I sources allows for the selection of a highly pure (91%) sample of AGN candidates, obtaining a completeness with respect to spectroscopically confirmed AGN of 69% (vs. 59% in our previous work). The addition of colors to variability features mildly improves the performance of the RF classifier, while colors alone prove less effective than variability in selecting AGN as they return contaminated samples of candidates and fail to identify most host-dominated AGN. We observe that a bright (r less than or similar to 21 mag) AGN LS is able to retrieve candidate samples not affected by the magnitude cut, which is of great importance as faint AGN LSs for LSST-related studies will be hard to find and likely imbalanced. We estimate a sky density of 6.2x10(6) AGN for the LSST main survey down to our current magnitude limit.
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    A structure function analysis of VST-COSMOS AGN
    (2022) De Cicco, D.; Bauer, F. E.; Paolillo, M.; Sanchez-Saez, P.; Brandt, W. N.; Vagnetti, F.; Pignata, G.; Radovich, M.; Vaccari, M.
    Context. We present our sixth work in a series dedicated to variability studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN), based on the survey of the COSMOS field by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST). Its 54 r-band visits over 3.3 yr and single-visit depth of 24.6 r-band mag make this dataset a valuable scaled-down version that can help forecast the performance of the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).
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    Multiwavelength monitoring of the nucleus in PBC?J2333.9-2343: the giant radio galaxy with a blazar-like core
    (2023) Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Panessa, F.; Bruni, G.; Bassani, L.; Arevalo, P.; Patino-Alvarez, V. M.; Tramacere, A.; Lira, P.; Sanchez-Saez, P.; Bauer, F. E.; Chavushyan, V; Carraro, R.; Forster, F.; Arancibia, A. M. Munoz; Ubertini, P.
    PBC J2333.9-2343 is a giant radio galaxy at z = 0.047 with a bright central core associated to a blazar nucleus. If the nuclear blazar jet is a new phase of the jet activity, then the small orientation angle suggests a dramatic change of the jet direction. We present observations obtained between 2018 September and 2019 January (cadence larger than three days) with Effeslberg, SMARTS-1.3m, ZTF, ATLAS, Swift, and Fermi-LAT, and between 2019 April and 2019 July (daily cadence) with SMARTS-1.3 m and ATLAS. Large (>2 x) flux increases are observed on time-scales shorter than a month, which are interpreted as flaring events. The cross correlation between the SMARTS-1.3 m monitoring in the NIR and optical shows that these data do not show significant time lag within the measured errors. A comparison of the optical variability properties between non-blazars and blazars AGN shows that PBC J2333.9-2343 has properties more comparable to the latter. The SED of the nucleus shows two peaks, that were fitted with a one-zone leptonic model. Our data and modelling show that the high energy peak is dominated by External Compton from the dusty torus with mild contribution from Inverse Compton from the jet. The derived jet angle of 3 deg is also typical of a blazar. Therefore, we confirm the presence of a blazar-like core in the centre of this giant radio galaxy, likely a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar with peculiar properties.
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    Physical Properties of Type II Supernovae Inferred from ZTF and ATLAS Photometric Data
    (2024) Silva-Farfan, Javier; Forster, Francisco; Moriya, Takashi J.; Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Arancibia, A. M. Munoz; Sanchez-Saez, P.; Anderson, Joseph P.; Tonry, John L.; Clocchiatti, Alejandro
    We report an analysis of a sample of 186 spectroscopically confirmed Type II supernova (SN) light curves (LCs) obtained from a combination of Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System observations. We implement a method to infer physical parameters from these LCs using hydrodynamic models that take into account the progenitor mass, the explosion energy, and the presence of circumstellar matter (CSM). The CSM is modeled via the mass-loss rate, wind acceleration at the surface of the progenitor star with a beta velocity law, and the CSM radius. We also infer the time of explosion, attenuation (A (V) ), and the redshift for each SN. Our results favor low-mass progenitor stars (M (ZAMS )< 14 M-circle dot) with a dense CSM ( M > 10(-3) M-circle dot yr(-1), CSM radius similar to 10(15) cm, and beta > 2). Additionally, we find that the redshifts inferred from the SN LCs are significantly more accurate than those inferred using the host galaxy photometric redshift, suggesting that this method could be used to infer more accurate host galaxy redshifts from large samples of Type II SNe in the LSST era. Lastly, we compare our results with similar works from the literature.
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    SDSS1335+0728: The awakening of a ∼106 M⊙ black hole
    (2024) Sanchez-Saez, P.; Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Bernal, S.; Bayo, A.; Calistro Rivera, G.; Bauer, F. E.; Ricci, C.; Merloni, A.; Graham, M. J.; Cartier, R.; Arevalo, P.; Assef, R. J.; Concas, A.; Homan, D.; Krumpe, M.; Lira, P.; Malyali, A.; Martinez-Aldama, M. L.; Arancibia, A. M. Munoz; Rau, A.; Bruni, G.; Foerster, F.; Pavez-Herrera, M.; Tubin-Arenas, D.; Brightman, M.
    Context. The early-type galaxy SDSS J133519.91+072807.4 (hereafter SDSS1335+0728), which had exhibited no prior optical variations during the preceding two decades, began showing significant nuclear variability in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) alert stream from December 2019 (as ZTF19acnskyy). This variability behaviour, coupled with the host-galaxy properties, suggests that SDSS1335+0728 hosts a similar to 106 M-circle dot black hole (BH) that is currently in the process of "turning on". Aims. We present a multi-wavelength photometric analysis and spectroscopic follow-up performed with the aim of better understanding the origin of the nuclear variations detected in SDSS1335+0728. Methods. We used archival photometry (from WISE, 2MASS, SDSS, GALEX, eROSITA) and spectroscopic data (from SDSS and LAMOST) to study the state of SDSS1335+0728 prior to December 2019, and new observations from Swift, SOAR/Goodman, VLT/X-shooter, and Keck/LRIS taken after its turn-on to characterise its current state. We analysed the variability of SDSS1335+0728 in the X-ray/UV/optical/mid-infrared range, modelled its spectral energy distribution prior to and after December 2019, and studied the evolution of its UV/optical spectra. Results. From our multi-wavelength photometric analysis, we find that: (a) since 2021, the UV flux (from Swift/UVOT observations) is four times brighter than the flux reported by GALEX in 2004; (b) since June 2022, the mid-infrared flux has risen more than two times, and the W1 - W2 WISE colour has become redder; and (c) since February 2024, the source has begun showing X-ray emission. From our spectroscopic follow-up, we see that (i) the narrow emission line ratios are now consistent with a more energetic ionising continuum; (ii) broad emission lines are not detected; and (iii) the [OIII] line increased its flux similar to 3.6 years after the first ZTF alert, which implies a relatively compact narrow-line-emitting region. Conclusions. We conclude that the variations observed in SDSS1335+0728 could be either explained by a similar to 106 M-circle dot AGN that is just turning on or by an exotic tidal disruption event (TDE). If the former is true, SDSS1335+0728 is one of the strongest cases of an AGN observed in the process of activating. If the latter were found to be the case, it would correspond to the longest and faintest TDE ever observed (or another class of still unknown nuclear transient). Future observations of SDSS1335+0728 are crucial to further understand its behaviour.
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    Searching for Changing-state AGNs in Massive Data Sets. I. Applying Deep Learning and Anomaly-detection Techniques to Find AGNs with Anomalous Variability Behaviors
    (2021) Sanchez-Saez, P.; Lira, H.; Marti, L.; Sanchez-Pi, N.; Arredondo, J.; Bauer, F. E.; Bayo, A.; Cabrera-Vives, G.; Donoso-Oliva, C.; Estevez, P. A.; Eyheramendy, S.; Forster, F.; Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Arancibia, A. M. Munoz; Perez-Carrasco, M.; Sepulveda, M.; Vergara, J. R.
    The classic classification scheme for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) was recently challenged by the discovery of the so-called changing-state (changing-look) AGNs. The physical mechanism behind this phenomenon is still a matter of open debate and the samples are too small and of serendipitous nature to provide robust answers. In order to tackle this problem, we need to design methods that are able to detect AGNs right in the act of changing state. Here we present an anomaly-detection technique designed to identify AGN light curves with anomalous behaviors in massive data sets. The main aim of this technique is to identify CSAGN at different stages of the transition, but it can also be used for more general purposes, such as cleaning massive data sets for AGN variability analyses. We used light curves from the Zwicky Transient Facility data release 5 (ZTF DR5), containing a sample of 230,451 AGNs of different classes. The ZTF DR5 light curves were modeled with a Variational Recurrent Autoencoder (VRAE) architecture, that allowed us to obtain a set of attributes from the VRAE latent space that describes the general behavior of our sample. These attributes were then used as features for an Isolation Forest (IF) algorithm that is an anomaly detector for a "one class" kind of problem. We used the VRAE reconstruction errors and the IF anomaly score to select a sample of 8809 anomalies. These anomalies are dominated by bogus candidates, but we were able to identify 75 promising CSAGN candidates.
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    The QUEST-La Silla AGN Variability Survey: Selection of AGN Candidates through Optical Variability
    (2019) Sanchez-Saez, P.; Lira, P.; Cartier, R.; Miranda, N.; Ho, L. C.; Arevalo, P.; Bauer, F. E.; Coppi, P.; Yovaniniz, C.
    We used data from the QUEST-La Silla Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) variability survey to construct light curves for 208,583 sources over similar to 70 deg(2), with a limiting magnitude r similar to 21. Each light curve has at least 40 epochs and a length of >= 200 days. We implemented a random forest algorithm to classify our objects as either AGN or non-AGN according to their variability features and optical colors, excluding morphology cuts. We tested three classifiers, one that only includes variability features (RF1), one that includes variability features and also r - i and i - z colors (RF2), and one that includes variability features and also g - r, r - i, and i - z colors (RF3). We obtained a sample of high-probability candidates (hp-AGN) for each classifier, with 5941 candidates for RF1, 5252 candidates for RF2, and 4482 candidates for RF3. We divided each sample according to their g - r colors, defining blue (g - r <= 0.6) and red subsamples (g - r > 0.6). We find that most of the candidates known from the literature belong to the blue subsample, which is not necessarily surprising given that, unlike many literature studies, we do not cut our sample to point-like objects. This means that we can select AGNs that have a significant contribution from redshifted starlight in their host galaxies. In order to test the efficiency of our technique, we performed spectroscopic follow-up, confirming the AGN nature of 44 among 54 observed sources (81.5% efficiency). From the campaign, we concluded that RF2 provides the purest sample of AGN candidates.
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    Transient Classification Report for 2020-12-01
    (2020) Dodin, A.; Tsvetkov, D.; Shatski, N.; Belinski, A.; Galbany, L.; Munoz-Arancibia, A.; Forster, F.; Bauer, F. E.; Hernandez-Garcia, L.; Pignata, G.; Camacho, E.; Silva-Farfan, J.; Mourao, A.; Arredondo, J.; Cabrera-Vives, G.; Carrasco-Davis, R.; Estevez, P. A.; Huijse, P.; Reyes, E.; Reyes, I.; Sanchez-Saez, P.; Valenzuela, C.; Castillo, E.; Ruz-Mieres, D.; Rodriguez-Mancini, D.; Catelan, Marcio; Eyheramendy, S.; Graham, M. J.
    F. Forster, F.E. Bauer, G. Pignata, J. Arredondo, G. Cabrera-Vives, R. Carrasco-Davis, P.A. Estevez, P. Huijse, E. Reyes, I. Reyes, P. Sanchez-Saez, C. Valenzuela, E. Castillo, D. Ruz-Mieres, D. Rodriguez-Mancini, F.E. Bauer, M. Catelan, S. Eyheramendy, M.J. Graham on behalf of the ALeRCE broker report/s the discovery of a new astronomical transient.