Engineering topics

Panda, Swayamtrupta (ORCID:0000000258547426)

Publications and source records attributed to Panda, Swayamtrupta (ORCID:0000000258547426).

4 records

DOE OSTI2024

Effect of Extinction on Quasar Luminosity Distances Determined from UV and X-Ray Flux Measurements

Abstract In Khadka et al., a sample of X-ray-detected reverberation-mapped quasars was presented and applied for the comparison of cosmological constraints inferred using two well-established relations in active galactic nuclei—the X-ray/UV luminosity ( L X – L UV ) relation and the broad-line region radius–luminosity ( R – L ) relation. L X – L UV and R – L luminosity distances to the same quasars exhibit a distribution of their differences that is generally asymmetric and positively shifted for the six cosmological models we consider. We demonstrate that this behavior can be interpreted qualitatively as arising as a result of the dust extinction of UV/X-ray quasar emission. We show that the extinction always contributes to the nonzero difference between L X – L UV -based and R – L -based luminosity distances and we derive a linear relationship between the X-ray/UV color index E X −UV and the luminosity-distance difference, which also depends on the value of the L X – L UV relation slope. Taking into account the median and the peak values of the luminosity-distance difference distributions, the average X-ray/UV color index falls in the range of E ¯ X − UV = 0.03 – 0.28 mag for the current sample of 58 sources. This amount of extinction is typical for the majority of quasars and can be attributed to the circumnuclear and interstellar media of host galaxies. After applying the standard hard X-ray and far-UV extinction cuts, heavily extincted sources are removed but overall the shift toward positive values persists. The effect of extinction on luminosity distances is more pronounced for the L X – L UV relation since the extinction of UV and X-ray emissions both contribute.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

DOE OSTI2023

The LSST AGN Data Challenge: Selection Methods

Abstract Development of the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) includes a series of Data Challenges (DCs) arranged by various LSST Scientific Collaborations that are taking place during the project's preoperational phase. The AGN Science Collaboration Data Challenge (AGNSC-DC) is a partial prototype of the expected LSST data on active galactic nuclei (AGNs), aimed at validating machine learning approaches for AGN selection and characterization in large surveys like LSST. The AGNSC-DC took place in 2021, focusing on accuracy, robustness, and scalability. The training and the blinded data sets were constructed to mimic the future LSST release catalogs using the data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 region and the XMM-Newton Large Scale Structure Survey region. Data features were divided into astrometry, photometry, color, morphology, redshift, and class label with the addition of variability features and images. We present the results of four submitted solutions to DCs using both classical and machine learning methods. We systematically test the performance of supervised models (support vector machine, random forest, extreme gradient boosting, artificial neural network, convolutional neural network) and unsupervised ones (deep embedding clustering) when applied to the problem of classifying/clustering sources as stars, galaxies, or AGNs. We obtained classification accuracy of 97.5% for supervised models and clustering accuracy of 96.0% for unsupervised ones and 95.0% with a classic approach for a blinded data set. We find that variability features significantly improve the accuracy of the trained models, and correlation analysis among different bands enables a fast and inexpensive first-order selection of quasar candidates.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2022

Standardizing reverberation-measured C iv time-lag quasars, and using them with standardized Mg ii quasars to constrain cosmological parameters

ABSTRACT We use 38 C iv quasar (QSO) reverberation-mapped observations, which span eight orders of magnitude in luminosity and the redshift range 0.001064 ≤ z ≤ 3.368, to simultaneously constrain cosmological-model and QSO radius–luminosity (R–L) relation parameters in six cosmological models, using an improved technique that more correctly accounts for the asymmetric errors bars of the time-lag measurements. We find that R–L relation parameters are independent of the cosmological models used in the analysis and so the R–L relation can be used to standardize the C iv QSOs. The C iv QSO cosmological constraints are consistent with those from Mg ii QSOs, allowing us to derive joint C iv + Mg ii QSO cosmological constraints which are consistent with currently accelerated cosmological expansion, as well as consistent with cosmological constraints derived using better-established baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and Hubble parameter [H(z)] measurements. When jointly analysed with H(z) + BAO data, current C iv + Mg ii QSO data mildly tighten current H(z) + BAO data cosmological constraints.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Consistency study of high- and low-accreting Mg ii quasars: no significant effect of the Fe ii to Mg ii flux ratio on the radius–luminosity relation dispersion

ABSTRACT We use observations of 66 reverberation-measured Mg ii quasars (QSOs) in the redshift range 0.36 ≤ z ≤ 1.686 – a subset of the 78 QSOs we previously studied that also have ${\cal R}_{\rm {Fe\, {\small II}}}$ (flux ratio parameter of UV Fe ii to Mg ii that is used as an accretion-rate proxy) measurements – to simultaneously constrain cosmological model parameters and QSO two-parameter and three-parameter radius–luminosity (R–L) relation parameters in six different cosmological models. We find that these QSO R–L relation parameters are independent of the assumed cosmological model and so these QSOs are standardizable through the R–L relations. Also: (1) With the two-parameter R–L relation, we find that the low-${\cal R}_{\rm {Fe\, {\small II}}}$ and high-${\cal R}_{\rm {Fe\, {\small II}}}$ data subsets obey the same R–L relation within the error bars. (2) Extending the two-parameter R–L relation to a three-parameter one does not result in the hoped-for reduction in the intrinsic dispersion of the R–L relation. (3) Neither of the three-parameter R–L relations provide a significantly better fit to the measurements than does the two-parameter R–L relation. These are promising results for the ongoing development of Mg ii cosmological probes. The first and third of these results differ significantly from those we found elsewhere from analyses of reverberation-measured H β QSOs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗