The BarYon Cycle project (ByCycle): identifying and localizing Mg ii metal absorbers with machine learning

The upcoming ByCycle project on the VISTA/4MOST multi-object spectrograph will offer new prospects of using a massive sample of ∼1 million high spectral resolution (R = 20 000) background quasars to map the circumgalactic metal content of foreground galaxies (observed at R = 4000-7000), as traced by...

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Hauptverfasser: Szakacs, Roland (VerfasserIn) , Péroux, Céline (VerfasserIn) , Nelson, Dylan (VerfasserIn) , Zwaan, Martin A (VerfasserIn) , Grün, Daniel (VerfasserIn) , Weng, Simon (VerfasserIn) , Fresco, Alejandra Y (VerfasserIn) , Bollo, Victoria (VerfasserIn) , Casavecchia, Benedetta (VerfasserIn)
Dokumenttyp: Article (Journal)
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: December 2023
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2023, Jahrgang: 526, Heft: 3, Pages: 3744-3756
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stad2431
Online-Zugang:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2431
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Verfasserangaben:Roland Szakacs, Céline Péroux, Dylan Nelson, Martin A Zwaan, Daniel Grün, Simon Weng, Alejandra Y Fresco, Victoria Bollo and Benedetta Casavecchia
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Zusammenfassung:The upcoming ByCycle project on the VISTA/4MOST multi-object spectrograph will offer new prospects of using a massive sample of ∼1 million high spectral resolution (R = 20 000) background quasars to map the circumgalactic metal content of foreground galaxies (observed at R = 4000-7000), as traced by metal absorption. Such large surveys require specialized analysis methodologies. In the absence of early data, we instead produce synthetic 4MOST high-resolution fibre quasar spectra. To do so, we use the TNG50 cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulation, combining photo-ionization post-processing and ray tracing, to capture Mg ii (λ2796, λ2803) absorbers. We then use this sample to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) which searches for, and estimates the redshift of, Mg ii absorbers within these spectra. For a test sample of quasar spectra with uniformly distributed properties ($\lambda _{\rm {Mg\, {\small II},2796}}$, $\rm {EW}_{\rm {Mg\, {\small II},2796}}^{\rm {rest}} = 0.05\!-\!5.15$ Å, $\rm {SNR} = 3\!-\!50$), the algorithm has a robust classification accuracy of 98.6 per cent and a mean wavelength accuracy of 6.9 Å. For high signal-to-noise (SNR) spectra ($\rm {SNR \gt 20}$), the algorithm robustly detects and localizes Mg ii absorbers down to equivalent widths of $\rm {EW}_{\rm {Mg\, {\small II},2796}}^{\rm {rest}} = 0.05$ Å. For the lowest SNR spectra ($\rm {SNR=3}$), the CNN reliably recovers and localizes EW$_{\rm {Mg\, {\small II},2796}}^{\rm {rest}}$ ≥0.75 Å absorbers. This is more than sufficient for subsequent Voigt profile fitting to characterize the detected Mg ii absorbers. We make the code publicly available through GitHub. Our work provides a proof-of-concept for future analyses of quasar spectra data sets numbering in the millions, soon to be delivered by the next generation of surveys.
Beschreibung:Veröffentlicht: 20. September 2023
Gesehen am 26.06.2024
Beschreibung:Online Resource
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stad2431