CDS&E: Development of fast, multi-dimensional Gaussian Processes for Exoplanet discovery and beyond

所有的天文观测都受到不必要的“噪音”信号的影响，这些信号可以掩盖要研究的物体的输出。 噪声可能来自望远镜和探测器，来自大气层，来自天空中的其他物体，或者来自待研究物体的内在变化。PI将使用称为高斯处理的技术来建模和减少天文噪声的干扰，以促进对其他恒星周围行星的研究。这些行星通过它们在星星前面的“食”或凌日来研究。然而，许多恒星的光输出各不相同，这可能导致对凌日数据的误解。将要开发的方法将有助于减少由于星星的可变性而产生的噪声。一名研究生将接受培训，本科生将参与研究。所开发的计算技术将适用于天文学以外的领域，提议者将开发一种方法，在存在恒星变异的情况下寻找小型凌日系外行星和（或）系外卫星。恒星亮度的变化在时间和波长上是相关的，他提出开发的快速计算方法将被用来利用这些相关性来区分恒星亮度的凌日和随机下降。这项技术将扩展到考虑异常值，并可应用于其他类型的系外行星和天文数据以及其他领域的数据。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

All astronomical observations are subject to unwanted "noise:" signals that can mask the output from the object to be studied. Noise can come from the telescope and detector, from the atmosphere, from other objects in the sky, or from intrinsic variations in the object to be studied. The PI will use the technique known as Gaussian Processing to model and reduce the interference of astronomical noise to facilitate the study of planets around other stars. These planets are studied by their "eclipses," or transits, in front of the star. Many stars, however, vary in their light output, and this can cause a misinterpretation of the transit data. The method to be developed will help reduce the noise due to the variability of the star. A graduate student will be trained, and undergraduate students will be involved in the research. The computational techniques developed will be applicable to fields beyond astronomy.The proposer will develop a method for finding small transiting exoplanets and/or exomoons in the presence of stellar variability. Stellar brightness variations are correlated across time and wavelength, and the fast computational method he proposes to develop will be employed to use these correlations to distinguish between transits and random dips in stellar brightness. This technique will be extended to account for outliers and can be applied to other types of exoplanet and astronomical data, as well as data in other fields. The code written under this proposal will be made available to the community through open-access development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.