{"title":"Gaussian Process Regression for Astronomical Time Series","authors":"S. Aigrain, D. Foreman-Mackey","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-103508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-103508","url":null,"abstract":"The past two decades have seen a major expansion in the availability, size, and precision of time-domain data sets in astronomy. Owing to their unique combination of flexibility, mathematical simplicity, and comparative robustness, Gaussian processes (GPs) have emerged recently as the solution of choice to model stochastic signals in such data sets. In this review, we provide a brief introduction to the emergence of GPs in astronomy, present the underlying mathematical theory, and give practical advice considering the key modeling choices involved in GP regression. We then review applications of GPs to time-domain data sets in the astrophysical literature so far, from exoplanets to active galactic nuclei, showcasing the power and flexibility of the method. We provide worked examples using simulated data, with links to the source code; discuss the problem of computational cost and scalability; and give a snapshot of the current ecosystem of open source GP software packages. In summary: ▪ GP regression is a conceptually simple but statistically principled and powerful tool for the analysis of astronomical time series. ▪ It is already widely used in some subfields, such as exoplanets, and gaining traction in many others, such as optical transients. ▪ Driven by further algorithmic and conceptual advances, we expect that GPs will continue to be an important tool for robust and interpretable time domain astronomy for many years to come. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 61 is August 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46573432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Interstellar Interlopers","authors":"D. Jewitt, D. Seligman","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-071221-054221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-071221-054221","url":null,"abstract":"Interstellar interlopers are bodies formed outside of the Solar System but observed passing through it. The first two identified interlopers, 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, exhibited unexpectedly different physical properties. 1I/‘Oumuamua appeared unresolved and asteroid-like, whereas 2I/Borisov was a more comet-like source of both gas and dust. Both objects moved under the action of nongravitational acceleration. These interlopers and their divergent properties provide our only window so far onto an enormous and previously unknown galactic population. The number density of such objects is ∼0.1 AU−3 which, if uniform across the galactic disk, would imply 1025 to 1026 similar objects in the Milky Way. The interlopers likely formed in, and were ejected from, the protoplanetary disks of young stars. However, we currently possess too little data to firmly reject other explanations. ▪ 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov are both gravitationally unbound, subkilometer bodies showing nongravitational acceleration. ▪ The acceleration of 1I/‘Oumuamua in the absence of measurable mass loss requires either a strained explanation in terms of recoil from sublimating supervolatiles or the action of radiation pressure on a nucleus with an ultralow mass column density, ∼1 kg m−2. ▪ 2I/Borisov is a strong source of CO and H2O, which together account for its activity and nongravitational acceleration. ▪ The interlopers are most likely planetesimals from the protoplanetary disks of other stars, ejected by gravitational scattering from planets. 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov have dynamical ages ∼108 and ∼109 years, respectively. ▪ Forthcoming observatories should detect interstellar interlopers every year, which will provide a rapid boost to our knowledge of the population. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 61 is August 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45883127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pulsar Magnetospheres and Their Radiation","authors":"A. Philippov, M. Kramer","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-112338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-112338","url":null,"abstract":"The discovery of pulsars opened a new research field that allows studying a wide range of physics under extreme conditions. More than 3,000 pulsars are currently known, including especially more than 200 of them studied at gamma-ray frequencies. By putting recent insights into the pulsar magnetosphere in a historical context and by comparing them to key observational features at radio and high-energy frequencies, we show the following: ▪ Magnetospheric structure of young energetic pulsars is now understood. Limitations still exist for old nonrecycled and millisecond pulsars. ▪ The observed high-energy radiation is likely produced in the magnetospheric current sheet beyond the light cylinder. ▪ There are at least two different radio emission mechanisms. One operates in the inner magnetosphere, whereas the other one works near the light cylinder and is specific to pulsars with the high magnetic field strength in that region. ▪ Radio emission from the inner magnetosphere is intrinsically connected to the process of pair production, and its observed properties contain the imprint of both the geometry and propagation effects through the magnetospheric plasma. We discuss the limitations of our understanding and identify a range of observed phenomena and physical processes that still await explanation in thefuture. This includes connecting the magnetospheric processes to spin-down properties to explain braking and possible evolution of spin orientation, building a first-principles model of radio emission and quantitative connections with observations.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48433276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Magnetic Field Diagnostics in the Solar Upper Atmosphere","authors":"J. Trujillo Bueno, T. del Pino Alemán","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-041122-031043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-041122-031043","url":null,"abstract":"The magnetic field is the main driver of the activity in the solar upper atmosphere, but its measurement is notoriously difficult. In order to determine the magnetic field in the chromosphere, transition region, and corona, we need to measure and interpret the polarization signals that the scattering of anisotropic radiation and the Hanle and Zeeman effects introduce in the emitted spectral line radiation. A number of recent advances have activated the development of this research field. ▪ The quantum theory of the generation and transfer of polarized radiation explains allows us to explain the polarization signals observed in chromospheric and coronal lines and to make successful predictions in unexplored spectral regions. ▪ The development of diagnostic techniques for the solar upper atmosphere has served to improve our empirical knowledge of the magnetic field in a variety of plasma structures, as well as to pave the way for their application to the unprecedented data that the new generation of solar telescopes are expected to provide. However, further improvements are required. ▪ The CLASP suborbital experiments have opened a new diagnostic window, namely ultraviolet (UV) spectropolarimetry as a tool for probing the magnetism and geometry of the upper chromosphere and transition region. A space telescope equipped with a UV spectropolarimeter would lead to major advances in our empirical understanding of solar magnetism. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42423801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Photometric Redshifts for Next-Generation Surveys","authors":"J. Newman, D. Gruen","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-032122-014611","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-032122-014611","url":null,"abstract":"Photometric redshifts are essential in studies of both galaxy evolution and cosmology, as they enable analyses of objects too numerous or faint for spectroscopy. The Rubin Observatory, Euclid, and Roman Space Telescope will soon provide a new generation of imaging surveys with unprecedented area coverage, wavelength range, and depth. To take full advantage of these data sets, further progress in photometric redshift methods is needed. In this review, we focus on the greatest common challenges and prospects for improvement in applications of photometric redshifts to the next generation of surveys: ▪ Gains in performance (i.e., the precision of redshift estimates for individual galaxies) could greatly enhance studies of galaxy evolution and some probes of cosmology. ▪ Improvements in characterization (i.e., the accurate recovery of redshift distributions of galaxies in the presence of uncertainty on individual redshifts) are urgently needed for cosmological measurements with next-generation surveys. To achieve both of these goals, improvements in the scope and treatment of the samples of spectroscopic redshifts that make high-fidelity photometric redshifts possible will also be needed. For the full potential of the next generation of surveys to be reached, the characterization of redshift distributions must improve by roughly an order of magnitude compared with the current state of the art, requiring progress on a wide variety of fronts. We conclude by presenting a speculative evaluation of how photometric redshift methods and the collection of the necessary spectroscopic samples may improve by the time near-future surveys are completed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49634638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics: A 50-Year Perspective on Personalities, Progress, and Prospects","authors":"M. Rees","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-111021-084639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-111021-084639","url":null,"abstract":"In the 1960s, novel and increasingly powerful observational techniques opened up the field of high-energy astrophysics. Cosmology started to become an empirical science, and there was a resurgence in the study of general relativity. Martin Rees became a graduate student at the University of Cambridge during that period and subsequently held postdoc positions in the United States. He was therefore fortunate to have a close-up perspective on some of these developments and to interact with many senior figures who were spearheading these advances. He himself became a phenomenologist, contributing his own ideas to several topics in these fields and working with many collaborators. This article offers an assessment of some key subsequent developments and personal perspectives from a diverse career spanning more than 50 years. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42896326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Asteroseismology Across the Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram","authors":"D. Kurtz","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-094232","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-094232","url":null,"abstract":"Asteroseismology has grown from its beginnings three decades ago to a mature field teeming with discoveries and applications. This phenomenal growth has been enabled by space photometry with precision 10–100 times better than ground-based observations, with nearly continuous light curves for durations of weeks to years, and by large-scale ground-based surveys spanning years designed to detect all time-variable phenomena. The new high-precision data are full of surprises, deepening our understanding of the physics of stars. ▪ This review explores asteroseismic developments from the past decade primarily as a result of light curves from the Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite space missions for massive upper main sequence OBAF stars, pre-main-sequence stars, peculiar stars, classical pulsators, white dwarfs and subdwarfs, and tidally interacting close binaries. ▪ The space missions have increased the numbers of pulsators in many classes by an order of magnitude. ▪ Asteroseismology measures fundamental stellar parameters and stellar interior physics—mass, radius, age, metallicity, luminosity, distance, magnetic fields, interior rotation, angular momentum transfer, convective overshoot, core-burning stage—supporting disparate fields such as galactic archeology, exoplanet host stars, supernovae progenitors, gamma-ray and gravitational wave precursors, close binary star origins and evolution, and standard candles. ▪ Stars are the luminous tracers of the Universe. Asteroseismology significantly improves models of stellar structure and evolution on which all inference from stars depends. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63954453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Photodissociation and X-Ray-Dominated Regions","authors":"M. Wolfire, L. Vallini, M. Chevance","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-010254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-010254","url":null,"abstract":"The radiation from stars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) creates photodissociation regions (PDRs) and X-ray-dominated regions (XDRs), where the chemistry or heating are dominated by far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation or X-ray radiation, respectively. PDRs include a wide range of environments, from the diffuse interstellar medium to dense star-forming regions. XDRs are found in the center of galaxies hosting AGNs, in protostellar disks, and in the vicinity of X-ray binaries. In this review, we describe the dominant thermal, chemical, and radiation transfer processes in PDRs and XDRs, as well as give a brief description of models and their use for analyzing observations. We then present recent results from Milky Way, nearby extragalactic, and high-redshift observations. Several important results include the following: ▪ Velocity-resolved PDR lines reveal the kinematics of the neutral atomic gas and provide constraints on the stellar feedback process. Their interpretation is, however, in dispute, as observations suggest a prominent role for stellar winds, whereas they are much less important in theoretical models. ▪ A significant fraction of molecular mass resides in CO-dark gas especially in low-metallicity and/or highly irradiated environments. ▪ The CO ladder and [Ci][Formula: see text][Cii] ratios can determine if FUV or X rays dominate the ISM heating of extragalactic sources. ▪ With Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, PDR and XDR tracers are now routinely detected on galactic scales over cosmic time. This makes it possible to link the star-formation history of the Universe to the evolution of the physical and chemical properties of the gas. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63954443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Cold Interstellar Medium of Galaxies in the Local Universe","authors":"A. Saintonge, B. Catinella","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-021022-043545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-021022-043545","url":null,"abstract":"The cold interstellar medium (ISM) plays a central role in the galaxy evolution process. It is the reservoir that fuels galaxy growth via star formation, the repository of material formed by these stars, and a sensitive tracer of internal and external processes that affect entire galaxies. Consequently, significant efforts have gone into systematic surveys of the cold ISM of the galaxies in the local Universe. This review discusses the resulting network of scaling relations connecting the atomic and molecular gas masses of galaxies with their other global properties (stellar masses, morphologies, metallicities, star-formation activity…) and their implications for our understanding of galaxy evolution. Key take-home messages are as follows: ▪ From a gas perspective, there are three main factors that determine the star-formation rate of a galaxy: the total mass of its cold ISM, how much of that gas is molecular, and the rate at which any molecular gas is converted into stars. All three of these factors vary systematically across the local galaxy population. ▪ The shape and scatter of both the star-formation main sequence and the mass–metallicity relation are deeply linked to the availability of atomic and molecular gas. ▪ Future progress will come from expanding our exploration of scaling relations into new parameter space (in particular, the regime of dwarf galaxies), better connecting the cold ISM of large samples of galaxies with the environment that feeds them (the circumgalactic medium, in particular), and understanding the impact of these large scales on the efficiency of the star-formation process on molecular cloud scales. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49424786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Galaxy Formation and Reionization: Key Unknowns and Expected Breakthroughs by the James Webb Space Telescope","authors":"B. Robertson","doi":"10.1146/annurev-astro-120221-044656","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-120221-044656","url":null,"abstract":"The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in late 2021 marks a new start for studies of galaxy formation at high redshift ( z ≳ 6) during the era of cosmic reionization. JWST can capture sensitive, high-resolution images and multiobject spectroscopy in the IR that will transform our view of galaxy formation during the first billion years of cosmic history. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the role of galaxies in reionizing intergalactic hydrogen ahead of JWST, achieved through observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based facilities including Keck, the Very Large Telescope, Subaru, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. We identify outstanding questions in the field that JWST can address during its mission lifetime, including with the planned JWST Cycle 1 programs. These findings include the following: ▪ Surveys with JWST have sufficient sensitivity and area to complete the census of galaxy formation at the current redshift frontier ( z ∼ 8–10). ▪ Rest-frame optical spectroscopy with JWST of galaxies will newly enable measures of star-formation rate, metallicity, and ionization at z ∼ 8–9, allowing for the astrophysics of early galaxies to be constrained. ▪ The presence of evolved stellar populations at z ∼ 8–10 can be definitively tested by JWST, which would provide evidence of star formation out to z ∼ 15. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy Volume 60 is August 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":8138,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49435163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}