The Zwicky Transient Facility: Science Objectives

2019/02/05 by Matthew J. Graham, M. J. Graham, S. R. Kulkarni +168 · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Computer science #Cosmology #Galactic astronomy #Galactic plane #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Large Synoptic Survey Telescope #Milky Way #Physics #Schmidt camera #Sky #Supernova #Telescope #Transient (computer programming) #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.IM

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1538-3873/ab006c

26 pages, 7 figures, Published in PASP Focus Issue on the Zwicky Transient Facility

arxiv created 2019/02/05 · openalex publication_date 2019/05/22 · arxiv updated 2019/05/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Abstract The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a public–private enterprise, is a new time-domain survey employing a dedicated camera on the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt telescope with a 47 deg 2 field of view and an 8 second readout time. It is well positioned in the development of time-domain astronomy, offering operations at 10% of the scale and style of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) with a single 1-m class survey telescope. The public surveys will cover the observable northern sky every three nights in g and r filters and the visible Galactic plane every night in g and r . Alerts generated by these surveys are sent in real time to brokers. A consortium of universities that provided funding (“partnership”) are undertaking several boutique surveys. The combination of these surveys producing one million alerts per night allows for exploration of transient and variable astrophysical phenomena brighter than r ∼ 20.5 on timescales of minutes to years. We describe the primary science objectives driving ZTF, including the physics of supernovae and relativistic explosions, multi-messenger astrophysics, supernova cosmology, active galactic nuclei, and tidal disruption events, stellar variability, and solar system objects.

Citations

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Cited by

• SN 2023vbg: A Type IIn Supernova Resembling SN 2009ip, with a Long-Duration Precursor and Early-Time Bump
• Estimates of Rotation Periods for Jupiter Trojans with the Zwicky Transient Facility Photometric Lightcurves
• JWST Discovery of a High-Redshift Tidal Disruption Event Candidate in COSMOS-Web
• The ANTARES Astronomical Time-domain Event Broker
• Kilonova Luminosity Function Constraints Based on Zwicky Transient Facility Searches for 13 Neutron Star Merger Triggers during O3
• A Non-equipartition Shock Wave Traveling in a Dense Circumstellar Environment around SN 2020oi
• Phases of Mass Transfer from Hot Subdwarfs to White Dwarf Companions and Their Photometric Properties