Search

In an effort to search for faint sources of emission over arbitrary timescales, we present a novel method for analyzing forced photometry light curves in difference imaging from optical surveys. Our method "ATLAS Clean'' or ATClean, utilizes the reported fluxes, uncertainties, and fits to the point-spread function from difference images to quantify the statistical significance of individual measurements. We apply this method to control light curves across the image to determine whether any source of flux is present in the data for a range of specific timescales. From ATLAS $o$-band imaging at the site of the Type II supernova (SN) 2023ixf in M101 from 2015--2023, we show that this method accurately reproduces the 3$\sigma$ flux limits produced from other, more computationally expensive methods. We derive limits for emission on timescales of 5~days and 80-300~days at the site of SN\,2023ixf, which are 19.8 and 21.3~mag, respectively. The latter limits rule out variability for unextinguished red supergiants (RSG) with initial masses $>$22~$M_{\odot}$, comparable to the most luminous predictions for the SN 2023ixf progenitor system. We also compare our limits to short timescale outbursts, similar to those expected for Type IIn SN progenitor stars or the Type II SN 2020tlf, and rule out outburst ejecta masses of $>$0.021~$M_{\odot}$, much lower than the inferred mass of circumstellar matter around SN 2023ixf in the literature. In the future, these methods can be applied to any forced point-spread function photometry on difference imaging from other surveys, such as Rubin optical imaging., Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures

Fast X-ray Transients (FXTs) are extragalactic bursts of soft X-rays first identified >10 years ago. Since then, nearly 40 events have been discovered, although almost all of these have been recovered from archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data. To date, optical sky surveys and follow-up searches have not revealed any multi-wavelength counterparts. The Einstein Probe, launched in January 2024, has started surveying the sky in the soft X-ray regime (0.5-4 keV) and will rapidly increase the sample of FXTs discovered in real time. Here, we report the first discovery of both an optical and radio counterpart to a distant FXT, the fourth source publicly released by the Einstein Probe. We discovered a fast-fading optical transient within the 3 arcmin localisation radius of EP240315a with the all-sky optical survey ATLAS, and our follow-up Gemini spectrum provides a redshift, z=4.859+/-0.002. Furthermore, we uncovered a radio counterpart in the S-band (3.0 GHz) with the MeerKAT radio interferometer. The optical (rest-frame UV) and radio luminosities indicate the FXT most likely originates from either a long gamma-ray burst or a relativistic tidal disruption event. This may be a fortuitous early mission detection by the Einstein Probe or may signpost a mode of discovery for high-redshift, high-energy transients through soft X-ray surveys, combined with locating multi-wavelength counterparts., Comment: Updated to match version accepted for publication in ApJL (17 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables)

GW190425 is the second of only two binary neutron star (BNS) merger events to be significantly detected by the LIGO-Virgo- Kagra gravitational wave detectors. With a detection only in LIGO Livingston, the skymap containing the source was large and no plausible electromagnetic counterpart was found in real time searching in 2019. Here we summarise our ATLAS and Pan-STARRS wide-field optical coverage of the skymap beginning within 1 hour and 3 hours respectively of the GW190425 merger time. More recently, a potential coincidence between GW190425 and a fast radio burst FRB 190425 has been suggested, given their spatial and temporal coincidence. The smaller sky localisation area of FRB 190425 and its dispersion measure have led to the identification of a likely host galaxy, UGC 10667 at a distance of 141 +/- 10 Mpc. Our optical imaging covered the galaxy 6.0 hrs after GW190425 was detected and 3.5 hrs after the FRB 190425. No optical emission was detected and further imaging at +1.2 and +13.2 days also revealed no emission. If the FRB 190425 and GW190425 association were real, we highlight our limits on kilonova emission from a BNS merger in UGC 10667. The model for producing FRB 190425 from a BNS merger involves a supramassive magnetised neutron star spinning down by dipole emission on the timescale of hours. We show that magnetar enhanced kilonova emission is ruled out by optical upper limits. The lack of detected optical emission from a kilonova in UGC 10667 disfavours, but does not disprove, the FRB-GW link for this source., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 20th Sept 2023, 9 pages

We present the Spectroscopic Classification of Astronomical Transients (SCAT) survey, which is dedicated to spectrophotometric observations of transient objects such as supernovae and tidal disruption events. SCAT uses the SuperNova Integral-Field Spectrograph (SNIFS) on the University of Hawai'i 2.2-meter (UH2.2m) telescope. SNIFS was designed specifically for accurate transient spectrophotometry, including absolute flux calibration and host-galaxy removal. We describe the data reduction and calibration pipeline including spectral extraction, telluric correction, atmospheric characterization, nightly photometricity, and spectrophotometric precision. We achieve $\lesssim 5\%$ spectrophotometry across the full optical wavelength range ($3500-9000~\r{A}$) under photometric conditions. The inclusion of photometry from the SNIFS multi-filter mosaic imager allows for decent spectrophotometric calibration ($10-20\%$) even under unfavorable weather/atmospheric conditions. SCAT obtained $\approx 640$ spectra of transients over the first 3 years of operations, including supernovae of all types, active galactic nuclei, cataclysmic variables, and rare transients such as superluminous supernovae and tidal disruption events. These observations will provide the community with benchmark spectrophotometry to constrain the next generation of hydrodynamic and radiative transfer models., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in to PASP

We present here the discovery of a new class of super-slow rotating asteroids (P>1000 hours) in data extracted from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) all-sky surveys. Of the 39 rotation periods we report here, 32 have periods longer than any previously reported unambiguous rotation periods currently in the Asteroid Light Curve Database. In our sample, 7 objects have a rotation period > 4000 hours and the longest period we report here is 4812 hours (~200 days). We do not observe any correlation between taxonomy, albedo, or orbital properties with super-slow rotating status. The most plausible mechanism for the creation of these very slow rotators is if their rotations were slowed by YORP spin-down. Super-slow rotating asteroids may be common, with at least 0.4% of the main-belt asteroid population with a size range between 2 and 20 km in diameter rotating with periods longer than 1000 hours.

Jupiter has nearly 8000~known co-orbital asteroids orbiting in the L4 and L5 Lagrange points called Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Aside from the greater number density of the L4 cloud the two clouds are in many ways considered to be identical. Using sparse photometric data taken by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) for 863 L4 Trojans and 380 L5 Trojans we derive the shape distribution for each of the clouds and find that, on average, the L4 asteroids are more elongated than the L5 asteroids. This shape difference is most likely due to the greater collision rate in the L4 cloud that results from its larger population. We additionally present the phase functions and $c-o$ colours of 266~objects., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Accepted by PSJ

We present observations of ASASSN-19dj, a nearby tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered in the post-starburst galaxy KUG 0810+227 by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) at a distance of d $\simeq98$ Mpc. We observed ASASSN-19dj from $-$21 to 392 d relative to peak ultraviolet (UV)/optical emission using high-cadence, multiwavelength spectroscopy and photometry. From the ASAS-SN $g$-band data, we determine that the TDE began to brighten on 2019 February 6.8 and for the first 16 d the rise was consistent with a flux $\propto t^2$ power-law. ASASSN-19dj peaked in the UV/optical on 2019 March 6.5 (MJD = 58548.5) at a bolometric luminosity of $L = (6.2 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{44} \text{ erg s}^{-1}$. Initially remaining roughly constant in X-rays and slowly fading in the UV/optical, the X-ray flux increased by over an order of magnitude $\sim$225 d after peak, resulting from the expansion of the X-ray emitting region. The late-time X-ray emission is well fitted by a blackbody with an effective radius of $\sim1 \times 10^{12} \text{ cm}$ and a temperature of $\sim6 \times 10^{5} \text{ K}$. The X-ray hardness ratio becomes softer after brightening and then returns to a harder state as the X-rays fade. Analysis of Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey images reveals a nuclear outburst roughly 14.5 yr earlier with a smooth decline and a luminosity of $L_V\geq1.4 \times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$, although the nature of the flare is unknown. ASASSN-19dj occurred in the most extreme post-starburst galaxy yet to host a TDE, with Lick H$\delta_{A}$ = $7.67\pm0.17$ \AA., Comment: Updated to match accepted MNRAS version

The Asteroid Terrestrial impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) system consists of two 0.5m Schmidt telescopes with cameras covering 29 square degrees at plate scale of 1.86 arcsec per pixel. Working in tandem, the telescopes routinely survey the whole sky visible from Hawaii (above $\delta > -50^{\circ}$) every two nights, exposing four times per night, typically reaching $o < 19$ magnitude per exposure when the moon is illuminated and $c < 19.5$ per exposure in dark skies. Construction is underway of two further units to be sited in Chile and South Africa which will result in an all-sky daily cadence from 2021. Initially designed for detecting potentially hazardous near earth objects, the ATLAS data enable a range of astrophysical time domain science. To extract transients from the data stream requires a computing system to process the data, assimilate detections in time and space and associate them with known astrophysical sources. Here we describe the hardware and software infrastructure to produce a stream of clean, real, astrophysical transients in real time. This involves machine learning and boosted decision tree algorithms to identify extragalactic and Galactic transients. Typically we detect 10-15 supernova candidates per night which we immediately announce publicly. The ATLAS discoveries not only enable rapid follow-up of interesting sources but will provide complete statistical samples within the local volume of 100 Mpc. A simple comparison of the detected supernova rate within 100 Mpc, with no corrections for completeness, is already significantly higher (factor 1.5 to 2) than the current accepted rates., Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in PASP on 2020 May 15

We present here the c-o colors for identified Flora, Vesta, Nysa-Polana, Themis, and Koronis family members within the historic data set (2015-2018) of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). The Themis and Koronis families are known to be relatively pure C- and S-type Bus-DeMeo taxonomic families, respectively, and the extracted color data from the ATLAS broadband c- and o-filters of these two families is used to demonstrate that the ATLAS c-o color is a sufficient parameter to distinguish between the C- and S-type taxonomies. The Vesta and Nysa-Polana families are known to display a mixture of taxonomies possibly due to Vesta's differentiated parent body origin and Nysa-Polana actually consisting of two nested families with differing taxonomies. Our data show that the Flora family also displays a large degree of taxonomic mixing and the data reveal a substantial H-magnitude dependence on color. We propose and exclude several interpretations for the observed taxonomic mix. Additionally, we extract rotation periods of all of the targets reported here and find good agreement with targets that have previously reported periods.

On 2019 August 14, the LIGO and Virgo interferometers detected a high-significance event labelled S190814bv. Preliminary analysis of the GW data suggests that the event was likely due to the merger of a compact binary system formed by a BH and a NS. ElectromagNetic counterparts of GRAvitational wave sources at the VEry Large Telescope (ENGRAVE) collaboration members carried out an intensive multi-epoch, multi-instrument observational campaign to identify the possible optical/near infrared counterpart of the event. In addition, the ATLAS, GOTO, GRAWITA-VST, Pan-STARRS and VINROUGE projects also carried out a search on this event. Our observations allow us to place limits on the presence of any counterpart and discuss the implications for the kilonova (KN) possibly generated by this NS-BH merger, and for the strategy of future searches. Altogether, our observations allow us to exclude a KN with large ejecta mass $M\gtrsim 0.1\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ to a high ($>90\%$) confidence, and we can exclude much smaller masses in a subsample of our observations. This disfavours the tidal disruption of the neutron star during the merger. Despite the sensitive instruments involved in the campaign, given the distance of S190814bv we could not reach sufficiently deep limits to constrain a KN comparable in luminosity to AT 2017gfo on a large fraction of the localisation probability. This suggests that future (likely common) events at a few hundreds Mpc will be detected only by large facilities with both high sensitivity and large field of view. Galaxy-targeted observations can reach the needed depth over a relevant portion of the localisation probability with a smaller investment of resources, but the number of galaxies to be targeted in order to get a fairly complete coverage is large, even in the case of a localisation as good as that of this event., Comment: 52 pages, revised version now accepted for publication in A&A. Abstract abridged to meet arXiv requirements

We present an exquisite, 30-min cadence Kepler (K2) light curve of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2018oh (ASASSN-18bt), starting weeks before explosion, covering the moment of explosion and the subsequent rise, and continuing past peak brightness. These data are supplemented by multi-color Pan-STARRS1 and CTIO 4-m DECam observations obtained within hours of explosion. The K2 light curve has an unusual two-component shape, where the flux rises with a steep linear gradient for the first few days, followed by a quadratic rise as seen for typical SNe Ia. This "flux excess" relative to canonical SN Ia behavior is confirmed in our $i$-band light curve, and furthermore, SN 2018oh is especially blue during the early epochs. The flux excess peaks 2.14$\pm0.04$ days after explosion, has a FWHM of 3.12$\pm0.04$ days, a blackbody temperature of $T=17,500^{+11,500}_{-9,000}$ K, a peak luminosity of $4.3\pm0.2\times10^{37}\,{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$, and a total integrated energy of $1.27\pm0.01\times10^{43}\,{\rm erg}$. We compare SN 2018oh to several models that may provide additional heating at early times, including collision with a companion and a shallow concentration of radioactive nickel. While all of these models generally reproduce the early K2 light curve shape, we slightly favor a companion interaction, at a distance of $\sim$$2\times10^{12}\,{\rm cm}$ based on our early color measurements, although the exact distance depends on the uncertain viewing angle. Additional confirmation of a companion interaction in future modeling and observations of SN 2018oh would provide strong support for a single-degenerate progenitor system., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to APJ Letters on 31 Jul 2018, Accepted for publication on 31 Aug 2018

Supernova (SN) 2018oh (ASASSN-18bt) is the first spectroscopically-confirmed type Ia supernova (SN Ia) observed in the $Kepler$ field. The $Kepler$ data revealed an excess emission in its early light curve, allowing to place interesting constraints on its progenitor system (Dimitriadis et al. 2018, Shappee et al. 2018b). Here, we present extensive optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared photometry, as well as dense sampling of optical spectra, for this object. SN 2018oh is relatively normal in its photometric evolution, with a rise time of 18.3$\pm$0.3 days and $\Delta$m$_{15}(B)=0.96\pm$0.03 mag, but it seems to have bluer $B - V$ colors. We construct the "uvoir" bolometric light curve having peak luminosity as 1.49$\times$10$^{43}$erg s$^{-1}$, from which we derive a nickel mass as 0.55$\pm$0.04M$_{\odot}$ by fitting radiation diffusion models powered by centrally located $^{56}$Ni. Note that the moment when nickel-powered luminosity starts to emerge is +3.85 days after the first light in the Kepler data, suggesting other origins of the early-time emission, e.g., mixing of $^{56}$Ni to outer layers of the ejecta or interaction between the ejecta and nearby circumstellar material or a non-degenerate companion star. The spectral evolution of SN 2018oh is similar to that of a normal SN Ia, but is characterized by prominent and persistent carbon absorption features. The C II features can be detected from the early phases to about 3 weeks after the maximum light, representing the latest detection of carbon ever recorded in a SN Ia. This indicates that a considerable amount of unburned carbon exists in the ejecta of SN 2018oh and may mix into deeper layers., Comment: 48 pages, 23 figures. This paper is part of a coordinated effort between groups. Accepted for publication in ApJ

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) observes most of the sky every night in search of dangerous asteroids. Its data are also used to search for photometric variability, where sensitivity to variability is limited by photometric accuracy. Since each exposure spans 7.6 deg corner to corner, variations in atmospheric transparency in excess of 0.01 mag are common, and 0.01 mag photometry cannot be achieved by using a constant flat field calibration image. We therefore have assembled an all-sky reference catalog of approximately one billion stars to m~19 from a variety of sources to calibrate each exposure's astrometry and photometry. Gaia DR2 is the source of astrometry for this ATLAS Refcat2. The sources of g, r, i, z photometry include Pan-STARRS DR1, the ATLAS Pathfinder photometry project, ATLAS re-flattened APASS data, SkyMapper DR1, APASS DR9, the Tycho-2 catalog, and the Yale Bright Star Catalog. We have attempted to make this catalog at least 99% complete to m<19, including the brightest stars in the sky. We believe that the systematic errors are no larger than 5 millimag RMS, although errors are as large as 20 millimag in small patches near the galactic plane., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, ApJ in press

We present the discovery of ASASSN-18ey (MAXI J1820+070), a new black hole low-mass X-ray binary discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). A week after ASAS-SN discovered ASASSN-18ey as an optical transient, it was detected as an X-ray transient by MAXI/GCS. Here, we analyze ASAS-SN and Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) pre-outburst optical light curves, finding evidence of intrinsic variability for several years prior to the outburst. While there was no long-term rise leading to outburst, as has been seen in several other systems, the start of the outburst in the optical preceded that in the X-rays by $7.20\pm0.97~\rm days$. We analyze the spectroscopic evolution of ASASSN-18ey from pre-maximum to $> 100~\rm days$ post-maximum. The spectra of ASASSN-18ey exhibit broad, asymmetric, double-peaked H$\alpha$ emission. The Bowen blend ($\lambda \approx 4650$\AA) in the post-maximum spectra shows highly variable double-peaked profiles, likely arising from irradiation of the companion by the accretion disk, typical of low-mass X-ray binaries. The optical and X-ray luminosities of ASASSN-18ey are consistent with black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, both in outburst and quiescence., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJL. A summary video describing this publication can be found at https://youtu.be/YbM_koBfRSI

We present observations of supernova (SN) 2017ens, discovered by the ATLAS survey and identified as a hot blue object through the GREAT program. The redshift z=0.1086 implies a peak brightness of M_g=-21.1 mag, placing the object within the regime of superluminous supernovae. We observe a dramatic spectral evolution, from initially being blue and featureless, to later developing features similar to those of the broadlined Type Ic SN 1998bw, and finally showing ~2000 km s^-1 wide H-alpha and H-beta emission. Relatively narrow Balmer emission (reminiscent of a SN IIn) is present at all times. We also detect coronal lines, indicative of a dense circumstellar medium. We constrain the progenitor wind velocity to ~50-60 km s^-1 based on P-Cygni profiles, which is far slower than those present in Wolf-Rayet stars. This may suggest that the progenitor passed through a luminous blue variable phase, or that the wind is instead from a binary companion red supergiant star. At late times we see the ~2000 km s^-1 wide H-alpha emission persisting at high luminosity (~3x10^40 erg s^-1) for at least 100 day, perhaps indicative of additional mass loss at high velocities that could have been ejected by a pulsational pair instability., Comment: Accepted version in ApJL

We present the discovery of PS18kh, a tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered at the center of SDSS J075654.53+341543.6 ($d\simeq322$ Mpc) by the Pan-STARRS Survey for Transients. Our dataset includes pre-discovery survey data from Pan-STARRS, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) as well as high-cadence, multi-wavelength follow-up data from ground-based telescopes and Swift, spanning from 56 days before peak light until 75 days after. The optical/UV emission from PS18kh is well-fit as a blackbody with temperatures ranging from $T\simeq12000$ K to $T\simeq25000$ K and it peaked at a luminosity of $L\simeq8.8\times10^{43}$ ergs s$^{-1}$. PS18kh radiated $E=(3.45\pm0.22)\times10^{50}$ ergs over the period of observation, with $(1.42\pm0.20)\times10^{50}$ ergs being released during the rise to peak. Spectra of PS18kh show a changing, boxy/double-peaked H$\alpha$ emission feature, which becomes more prominent over time. We use models of non-axisymmetric accretion disks to describe the profile of the H$\alpha$ line and its evolution. We find that at early times the high accretion rate leads the disk to emit a wind which modifies the shape of the line profile and makes it bell-shaped. At late times, the wind becomes optically thin, allowing the non-axisymmetric perturbations to show up in the line profile. The line-emitting portion of the disk extends from $r_{\rm in}\sim60r_{\rm g}$ to an outer radius of $r_{\rm out}\sim1400r_{\rm g}$ and the perturbations can be represented either as an eccentricity in the outer rings of the disk or as a spiral arm in the inner disk., Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 8 tables. Updated to reflect changes made in the published version. A table containing the host-subtracted photometry presented in this manuscript is included in machine-readable format as an ancillary file

On 2018 Feb. 4.41, the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) discovered ASASSN-18bt in the K2 Campaign 16 field. With a redshift of z=0.01098 and a peak apparent magnitude of B_{max}=14.31, ASASSN-18bt is the nearest and brightest SNe Ia yet observed by the Kepler spacecraft. Here we present the discovery of ASASSN-18bt, the K2 light curve, and pre-discovery data from ASAS-SN and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). The K2 early-time light curve has an unprecedented 30-minute cadence and photometric precision for an SN~Ia light curve, and it unambiguously shows a ~4 day nearly linear phase followed by a steeper rise. Thus, ASASSN-18bt joins a growing list of SNe Ia whose early light curves are not well described by a single power law. We show that a double-power-law model fits the data reasonably well, hinting that two physical processes must be responsible for the observed rise. However, we find that current models of the interaction with a non-degenerate companion predict an abrupt rise and cannot adequately explain the initial, slower linear phase. Instead, we find that existing, published models with shallow 56Ni are able to span the observed behavior and, with tuning, may be able to reproduce the ASASSN-18bt light curve. Regardless, more theoretical work is needed to satisfactorily model this and other early-time SNe~Ia light curves. Finally, we use Swift X-ray non-detections to constrain the presence of circumstellar material (CSM) at much larger distances and lower densities than possible with the optical light curve. For a constant density CSM these non-detections constrain rho<4.5 * 10^5 cm^-3 at a radius of 4 *10^15 cm from the progenitor star. Assuming a wind-like environment, we place mass-loss limits of Mdot< 8 * 10^-6 M_sun yr^-1 for v_w=100 km s^-1, ruling out some symbiotic progenitor systems., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 3 Tables. Accepted to ApJ. This work is part of a number of papers analyzing ASASSN-18bt, with coordinated papers from Dimitriadis et al. (2018) and Li et al. (2018)

We present the ATLAS discovery and initial analysis of the first 18 days of the unusual transient event, ATLAS18qqn/AT2018cow. It is characterized by a high peak luminosity ($\sim$1.7 $\times$ 10$^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$), rapidly evolving light curves ($>$5 mag rise to peak in $\sim$3.5 days), and hot blackbody spectra, peaking at $\sim$27000 K that are relatively featureless and unchanging over the first two weeks. The bolometric light curve cannot be powered by radioactive decay under realistic assumptions. The detection of high-energy emission may suggest a central engine as the powering source. Using a magnetar model, we estimated an ejected mass of $0.1-0.4$ \msol, which lies between that of low-energy core-collapse events and the kilonova, AT2017gfo. The spectra cooled rapidly from 27000 to 15000 K in just over 2 weeks but remained smooth and featureless. Broad and shallow emission lines appear after about 20 days, and we tentatively identify them as He I although they would be redshifted from their rest wavelengths. We rule out that there are any features in the spectra due to intermediate mass elements up to and including the Fe-group. The presence of r-process elements cannot be ruled out. If these lines are due to He, then we suggest a low-mass star with residual He as a potential progenitor. Alternatively, models of magnetars formed in neutron-star mergers give plausible matches to the data., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL, updated to reflect the published version

Super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) are rare events defined as being significantly more luminous than normal terminal stellar explosions. The source of the extra powering needed to achieve such luminosities is still unclear. Discoveries in the local Universe (i.e. $z<0.1$) are scarce, but afford dense multi-wavelength observations. Additional low-redshift objects are therefore extremely valuable. We present early-time observations of the type I SLSN ASASSN-18km/SN~2018bsz. These data are used to characterise the event and compare to literature SLSNe and spectral models. Host galaxy properties are also analysed. Optical and near-IR photometry and spectroscopy were analysed. Early-time ATLAS photometry was used to constrain the rising light curve. We identified a number of spectral features in optical-wavelength spectra and tracked their time evolution. Finally, we used archival host galaxy photometry together with HII region spectra to constrain the host environment. ASASSN-18km/SN~2018bsz is found to be a type I SLSN in a galaxy at a redshift of 0.0267 (111 Mpc), making it the lowest-redshift event discovered to date. Strong CII lines are identified in the spectra. Spectral models produced by exploding a Wolf-Rayet progenitor and injecting a magnetar power source are shown to be qualitatively similar to ASASSN-18km/SN~2018bsz, contrary to most SLSNe-I that display weak/non-existent CII lines. ASASSN-18km/SN~2018bsz displays a long, slowly rising, red 'plateau' of $>$26 days, before a steeper, faster rise to maximum. The host has an absolute magnitude of --19.8 mag ($r$), a mass of M$_{*}$ = 1.5$^{+0.08}_{-0.33}$ $\times$10$^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$ , and a star formation rate of = 0.50$^{+2.22}_{-0.19}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. A nearby HII region has an oxygen abundance (O3N2) of 8.31$\pm$0.01 dex., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A after minor corrections to first arXiv version

We present the largest Cepheid sample in M31 based on the complete Pan-STARRS1 survey of Andromeda (PAndromeda) in the $r_{\mathrm{P1}}$ , $i_{\mathrm{P1}}$ and $g_{\mathrm{P1}}$ bands. We find 2686 Cepheids with 1662 fundamental mode Cepheids, 307 first-overtone Cepheids, 278 type II Cepheids and 439 Cepheids with undetermined Cepheid type. Using the method developed by Kodric et al. (2013) we identify Cepheids by using a three dimensional parameter space of Fourier parameters of the Cepheid light curves combined with a color cut and other selection criteria. This is an unbiased approach to identify Cepheids and results in a homogeneous Cepheid sample. The Period-Luminosity relations obtained for our sample have smaller dispersions than in our previous work. We find a broken slope that we previously observed with HST data in Kodric et al. (2015), albeit with a lower significance., Comment: 79 pages, 39 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in AJ, K18b is submittted to ApJ, electronic data will be available on CDS

Technology has advanced to the point that it is possible to image the entire sky every night and process the data in real time. The sky is hardly static: many interesting phenomena occur, including variable stationary objects such as stars or QSOs, transient stationary objects such as supernovae or M dwarf flares, and moving objects such as asteroids and the stars themselves. Funded by NASA, we have designed and built a sky survey system for the purpose of finding dangerous near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). This system, the "Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS), has been optimized to produce the best survey capability per unit cost, and therefore is an efficient and competitive system for finding potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) but also for tracking variables and finding transients. While carrying out its NASA mission, ATLAS now discovers more bright ($m < 19$) supernovae candidates than any ground based survey, frequently detecting very young explosions due to its 2 day cadence. ATLAS discovered the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst independent of the high energy trigger and has released a variable star catalogue of 5$\times10^{6}$ sources. This, the first of a series of articles describing ATLAS, is devoted to the design and performance of the ATLAS system. Subsequent articles will describe in more detail the software, the survey strategy, ATLAS-derived NEA population statistics, transient detections, and the first data release of variable stars and transient lightcurves., Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures, submitted to PASP

Recent all-sky surveys have led to the discovery of new types of transients. These include stars disrupted by the central supermassive black hole, and supernovae that are 10-100 times more energetic than typical ones. However, the nature of even more energetic transients that apparently occur in the innermost regions of their host galaxies is hotly debated. Here we report the discovery of the most energetic of these to date: PS1-10adi, with a total radiated energy of ~ 2.3 x 10^52 erg. The slow evolution of its light curve and persistently narrow spectral lines over ~3 yr are inconsistent with known types of recurring black hole variability. The observed properties imply powering by shock interaction between expanding material and large quantities of surrounding dense matter. Plausible sources of this expanding material are a star that has been tidally disrupted by the central black hole, or a supernova. Both could satisfy the energy budget. For the former, we would be forced to invoke a new and hitherto unseen variant of a tidally disrupted star, while a supernova origin relies principally on environmental effects resulting from its nuclear location. Remarkably, we also discovered that PS1-10adi is not an isolated case. We therefore surmise that this new population of transients has previously been overlooked due to incorrect association with underlying central black hole activity., Comment: Published in Nature Astronomy. 29 pages, 4 figures (main); 11 pages, 4 tables, 4 figures (supplementary)

Thick back-illuminated deep-depletion CCDs have superior quantum efficiency over previous generations of thinned and traditional thick CCDs. As a result, they are being used for wide-field imaging cameras in several major projects. We use observations from the Pan-STARRS $3\pi$ survey to characterize the behavior of the deep-depletion devices used in the Pan-STARRS1 Gigapixel Camera. We have identified systematic spatial variations in the photometric measurements and stellar profiles which are similar in pattern to the so-called "tree rings" identified in devices used by other wide-field cameras (e.g., DECam and Hypersuprime Camera). The tree-ring features identified in these other cameras result from lateral electric fields which displace the electrons as they are transported in the silicon to the pixel location. In contrast, we show that the photometric and morphological modifications observed in the GPC1 detectors are caused by variations in the vertical charge transportation rate and resulting charge diffusion variations., Comment: submitted to PASP

Supernova (SN) 2016bdu is an unusual transient resembling SN 2009ip. SN 2009ip-like events are characterized by a long-lasting phase of erratic variability which ends with two luminous outbursts a few weeks apart. The second outburst is significantly more luminous (about 3 mag) than the first. In the case of SN 2016bdu, the first outburst (Event A) reached an absolute magnitude M(r) ~ -15.3 mag, while the second one (Event B) occurred over one month later and reached M(r) ~ -18 mag. By inspecting archival data, a faint source at the position of SN 2016bdu is detectable several times in the past few years. We interpret these detections as signatures of a phase of erratic variability, similar to that experienced by SN 2009ip between 2008 and mid-2012, and resembling the currently observed variability of the luminous blue variable SN 2000ch in NGC 3432. Spectroscopic monitoring of SN 2016bdu during the second peak initially shows features typical of a SN IIn. One month after the Event B maximum, the spectra develop broad Balmer lines with P Cygni profiles and broad metal features. At these late phases, the spectra resemble those of a typical Type II SN. All members of this SN 2009ip-like group are remarkably similar to the Type IIn SN 2005gl. For this object, the claim of a terminal SN explosion is supported by the disappearance of the progenitor star. The similarity with SN 2005gl suggests that all members of this family may finally explode as genuine SNe, although the unequivocal detection of nucleosynthesised elements in their nebular spectra is still missing., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS on April 10, 2017; re-submitted on June 23 including suggestions from the referee. 24 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables

We present photometry and spectroscopy of nine Type II-P/L supernovae (SNe) with redshifts in the 0.045 < z < 0.335 range, with a view to re-examining their utility as distance indicators. Specifically, we apply the expanding photosphere method (EPM) and the standardized candle method (SCM) to each target, and find that both methods yield distances that are in reasonable agreement with each other. The current record-holder for the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed SN II-P is PS1-13bni (z = 0.335 +0.009 -0.012), and illustrates the promise of Type II SNe as cosmological tools. We updated existing EPM and SCM Hubble diagrams by adding our sample to those previously published. Within the context of Type II SN distance measuring techniques, we investigated two related questions. First, we explored the possibility of utilising spectral lines other than the traditionally used Fe II 5169 to infer the photospheric velocity of SN ejecta. Using local well-observed objects, we derive an epoch-dependent relation between the strong Balmer line and Fe II 5169 velocities that is applicable 30 to 40 days post-explosion. Motivated in part by the continuum of key observables such as rise time and decline rates exhibited from II-P to II-L SNe, we assessed the possibility of using Hubble-flow Type II-L SNe as distance indicators. These yield similar distances as the Type II-P SNe. Although these initial results are encouraging, a significantly larger sample of SNe II-L would be required to draw definitive conclusions., Comment: 36 pages, 24 figures, Accepted by A&A

Using shape measurement techniques developed for weak lensing surveys we have identified three new ultracool binaries in the Pan-STARRS1 survey. Binary companions which are not completely resolved can still alter the shapes of stellar images. These shape distortions can be measured if PSF anisotropy caused by the telescope is properly accounted for. We show using both a sample of known binary stars and simulated binaries that we can reliably recover binaries wider than around 0.3" and with flux ratios greater than around 0.1. We then applied our method to a sample of ultracool dwarfs within 30pc with 293 objects having sufficient Pan-STARRS1 data for our method. In total we recovered all but one of the 11 binaries wider than 0.3" in this sample. Our one failure was a true binary detected with a significant but erroneously high ellipticity which led it to be rejected in our analysis. We identify three new binaries, one a simultaneous discovery, with primary spectral types M6.5, L1 and T0.5. These latter two were confirmed with Keck/NIRC2 follow-up imaging. This technique will be useful for identifying large numbers of stellar and substellar binaries in the upcoming LSST and DES sky surveys., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted publication in MNRAS

We present a catalog of 9888 M, L and T dwarfs detected in the Pan-STARRS1 3$\pi$ Survey (PS1), covering three-quarters of the sky. Our catalog contains nearly all known objects of spectral types L0-T2 in the PS1 field, with objects as early as M0 and as late as T9, and includes PS1, 2MASS, AllWISE, and Gaia DR1 photometry. We analyze the different types of photometry reported by PS1, and use two types in our catalog to maximize both depth and accuracy. Using parallaxes from the literature, we construct empirical SEDs for field ultracool dwarfs spanning 0.5-12 $\mu$m. We determine typical colors of M0-T9 dwarfs, and we highlight the distinctive colors of subdwarfs and young objects. Our catalog includes 492 L dwarfs detected in $r_{\rm P1}$, the largest sample of L dwarfs detected at such blue wavelengths. We combine astrometry from PS1, 2MASS, and Gaia DR1 to calculate new proper motions for our catalog. We achieve a median precision of 2.9 mas yr$^{-1}$, a factor of $\approx$3-10 improvement over previous large catalogs. Our catalog contains proper motions for 2405 M6-T9 dwarfs and includes the largest set of homogeneous proper motions for L and T dwarfs published to date, 406 objects for which there were no previous measurements, and 1176 objects for which we improve upon previous literature values. We analyze the kinematics of ultracool dwarfs in our catalog and find evidence that bluer but otherwise generic late-M and L field dwarfs (i.e., not subdwarfs) tend to have higher tangential velocities compared to typical field objects. With the public release of the PS1 data, this survey will continue to be an essential tool for characterizing the ultracool dwarf population., Comment: ApJS, in press. 48 pages, 18 figues, 7 tables. This version adds Gaia DR1 photometry, updated PS1 astrometry, parallaxes from Liu et al (2016), comparisons to proper motions from the MoVeRS and LaTE-MoVeRS catalogs, more discussion of binaries, and minor adjustments to catalog membership. Updated electronic tables are available at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~wbest/Will_Best/PS1_MLT_Dwarfs.html

Pan-STARRS1 has carried out a set of distinct synoptic imaging sky surveys including the $3\pi$ Steradian Survey and the Medium Deep Survey in 5 bands ($grizy_{P1}$). The mean 5$\sigma$ point source limiting sensitivities in the stacked 3$\pi$ Steradian Survey in $grizy_{P1}$ are (23.3, 23.2, 23.1, 22.3, 21.4) respectively. The upper bound on the systematic uncertainty in the photometric calibration across the sky is 7-12 millimag depending on the bandpass. The systematic uncertainty of the astrometric calibration using the Gaia frame comes from a comparison of the results with Gaia: the standard deviation of the mean and median residuals ($ \Delta ra, \Delta dec $) are (2.3, 1.7) milliarcsec, and (3.1, 4.8) milliarcsec respectively. The Pan-STARRS system and the design of the PS1 surveys are described and an overview of the resulting image and catalog data products and their basic characteristics are described together with a summary of important results. The images, reduced data products, and derived data products from the Pan-STARRS1 surveys are available to the community from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at STScI., Comment: 38 pages, 29 figures, 12 tables

This paper describes the organization of the database and the catalog data products from the Pan-STARRS1 $3\pi$ Steradian Survey. The catalog data products are available in the form of an SQL-based relational database from MAST, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at STScI. The database is described in detail, including the construction of the database, the provenance of the data, the schema, and how the database tables are related. Examples of queries for a range of science goals are included. The catalog data products are available in the form of an SQL-based relational database from MAST, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at STScI., Comment: 63 pages, 59 tables, 16 figures

We present the details of the photometric and astrometric calibration of the Pan-STARRS1 $3\pi$ Survey. The photometric goals were to reduce the systematic effects introduced by the camera and detectors, and to place all of the observations onto a photometric system with consistent zero points over the entire area surveyed, the ~30,000 square degrees north of $\delta$ = -30 degrees. The astrometric calibration compensates for similar systematic effects so that positions, proper motions, and parallaxes are reliable as well. The Pan-STARRS Data Release 2 (DR2) astrometry is tied to the Gaia DR1 release., Comment: Pan-STARRS Public Data Release 2 : Paper V

The Pan-STARRS1 Science Consortium have carried out a set of imaging surveys using the 1.4 giga-pixel GPC1 camera on the PS1 telescope. As this camera is composed of many individual electronic readouts, and covers a very large field of view, great care was taken to ensure that the many instrumental effects were corrected to produce the most uniform detector response possible. We present the image detrending steps used as part of the processing of the data contained within the public release of the Pan-STARRS1 Data Release 1 (DR1). In addition to the single image processing, the methods used to transform the 375,573 individual exposures into a common sky-oriented grid are discussed, as well as those used to produce both the image stack and difference combination products., Comment: 21 pages, 21 figures, Paper III of Pan-STARRS DR1 public data release documentation

The evolution of brown dwarfs from L to T spectral types is one of the least understood aspects of the ultracool population, partly for lack of a large, well-defined, and well-characterized sample in the L/T transition. To improve the existing census, we have searched $\approx$28,000 deg$^2$ using the Pan-STARRS1 and WISE surveys for L/T transition dwarfs within 25 pc. We present 130 ultracool dwarf discoveries with estimated distances $\approx9-130$ pc, including 21 that were independently discovered by other authors and 3 that were previously identified as photometric candidates. Seventy-nine of our objects have near-IR spectral types of L6-T4.5, the most L/T transition dwarfs from any search to date, and we have increased the census of L9-T1.5 objects within 25 pc by over 50%. The color distribution of our discoveries provides further evidence for the "L/T gap," a deficit of objects with $(J-K)_{\rm MKO}\approx0.0-0.5$ mag in the L/T transition, and thus reinforces the idea that the transition from cloudy to clear photospheres occurs rapidly. Among our discoveries are 31 candidate binaries based on their low-resolution spectral features. Two of these candidates are common proper motion companions to nearby main sequence stars; if confirmed as binaries, these would be rare benchmark systems with the potential to stringently test ultracool evolutionary models. Our search also serendipitously identified 23 late-M and L dwarfs with spectroscopic signs of low gravity implying youth. Finally, we identify 10 candidate members of nearby young moving groups (YMG) with spectral types L7-T4.5, including three showing spectroscopic signs of low gravity. If confirmed, any of these would be among the coolest known YMG members and would help to determine the effective temperature at which young brown dwarfs cross the L/T transition. (Abridged), Comment: 90 pages, 23 figures, 14 tables. Published in ApJ 2015 December 1

In this work we report the detection of seven Neptune Trojans (NTs) in the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) survey. Five of these are new discoveries, consisting of four L4 Trojans and one L5 Trojan. Our orbital simulations show that the L5 Trojan stably librates for only several million years. This suggests that the L5 Trojan must be of recent capture origin. On the other hand, all four new L4 Trojans stably occupy the 1:1 resonance with Neptune for more than 1 Gyr. They can, therefore, be of primordial origin. Our survey simulation results show that the inclination width of the Neptune Trojan population should be between $7^{\circ}$ and $27^{\circ}$ at $>$ 95% confidence, and most likely $\sim 11^{\circ}$. In this paper, we describe the PS1 survey, the Outer Solar System pipeline, the confirming observations, and the orbital/physical properties of the new Neptune Trojans., Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, AJ accepted

We present three dimensional maps in monochromatic extinction $A_{\rm 0}$ and the extinction parameter $R_0$ within a few degrees of the Galactic plane. These are inferred using photometry from the Pan-STARRS1 and Spitzer Glimpse surveys of nearly $20$ million stars located in the region $l = 0-250^{\circ}$ and from $b = -4.5^{\circ}$ to $b=4.5^{\circ}$. Given the available stellar number density, we use an angular resolution of $7' \times 7'$ and steps of $1{\rm mag}$ in distance modulus. We simultaneously estimate distance modulus and effective temperature $T_{\rm eff}$ alongside the other parameters for stars individually using the method of \citet{Hanson2014} before combining these estimates to a complete map. The full maps are available via the MNRAS website., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Free-access version available at http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/stw2240?ijkey=8TdulFJR3q3ppl1&keytype=ref - data temporarily available at http://www.rhanson.de/gpdust

Luminous quasars at z>5.6 can be studied in detail with the current generation of telescopes and provide us with unique information on the first gigayear of the universe. Thus far these studies have been statistically limited by the number of quasars known at these redshifts. Such quasars are rare and therefore wide-field surveys are required to identify them and multiwavelength data are needed to separate them efficiently from their main contaminants, the far more numerous cool dwarfs. In this paper, we update and extend the selection for z~6 quasars presented in Banados et al. (2014) using the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey. We present the PS1 distant quasar sample, which currently consists of 124 quasars in the redshift range 5.65.6 presented in this work almost double the quasars previously known at these redshifts, marking a transition phase from studies of individual sources to statistical studies of the high-redshift quasar population, which was impossible with earlier, smaller samples., Comment: Accepted by ApJS. Machine readable tables and an up-to-date census of z>5.6 quasars are available at https://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/~ebanados/high-z-qsos.html

We describe development and application of a Global Astrometric Solution (GAS) to the problem of Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) astrometry. Current PS1 astrometry is based on differential astrometric measurements using 2MASS reference stars, thus PS1 astrometry inherits the errors of the 2MASS catalog. The GAS, based on a single, least squares adjustment to approximately 750k grid stars using over 3000 extragalactic objects as reference objects, avoids this catalog-to-catalog propagation of errors to a great extent. The GAS uses a relatively small number of Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs, or distant AGN) with very accurate (<1 mas) radio positions, referenced to the ICRF2. These QSOs provide a hard constraint in the global least squares adjustment. Solving such a system provides absolute astrometry for all the stars simultaneously. The concept is much cleaner than conventional astrometry but is not easy to perform for large catalogs. In this paper we describe our method and its application to Pan-STARRS1 data. We show that large-scale systematic errors are easily corrected but our solution residuals for position (~60 mas) are still larger than expected based on simulations (~10 mas). We provide a likely explanation for the reason the small-scale residual errors are not corrected in our solution as would be expected., Comment: 39 pages, 19 figures, accepted by AJ

[Abbreviated] Upcoming large area sky surveys like EUCLID and eROSITA crucially depend on accurate photometric redshifts (photo-z). The identification of variable sources, such as AGNs, and the achievable redshift accuracy for varying objects are important in view of the science goals of the EUCLID and eROSITA missions. We probe AGN optical variability for a large sample of X-ray-selected AGNs in the XMM-COSMOS field, using the light curves provided by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) 3pi and MDF04 surveys. Utilizing two different variability parameters, we defined a sample of varying AGNs for every PS1 band. We investigated the influence of variability on the calculation of photo-z by applying three different input photometry sets for our fitting procedure. For each of the five PS1 bands, we chose either the epochs minimizing the interval in observing time, the median magnitude values, or randomly drawn light curve points to compute the redshift. In addition, we derived photo-z using PS1 photometry extended by GALEX/IRAC bands. We find that the photometry produced by the 3pi survey is sufficient to reliably detect variable sources provided that the fractional variability amplitude is at least 3%. Considering the photo-z of variable AGNs, we observe that minimizing the time spacing of the chosen points yields superior photo-z in terms of the percentage of outliers (33%) and accuracy (0.07), outperforming the other two approaches. Drawing random points from the light curve gives rise to typically 57% of outliers and an accuracy of 0.4. Adding GALEX/IRAC bands for the redshift determination weakens the influence of variability. Although the redshift quality generally improves when adding these bands, we still obtain not less than 26% of outliers and an accuracy of 0.05 at best, therefore variable sources should receive a flag stating that their photo-z may be low quality., Comment: Accepted by A&A, 24 pages, 13 figures

The NASA Kepler mission has revolutionised time-domain astronomy and has massively expanded the number of known extrasolar planets. However, the effect of wide multiplicity on exoplanet occurrence has not been tested with this dataset. We present a sample of 401 wide multiple systems containing at least one Kepler target star. Our method uses Pan-STARRS1 and archival data to produce an accurate proper motion catalogue of the Kepler field. Combined with Pan-STARRS1 SED fits and archival proper motions for bright stars, we use a newly developed probabilistic algorithm to identify likely wide binary pairs which are not chance associations. As by-products of this we present stellar SED templates in the Pan-STARRS1 photometric system and conversions from this system to Kepler magnitudes. We find that Kepler target stars in our binary sample with separations above 6 arcseconds are no more or less likely to be identified as confirmed or candidate planet hosts than a weighted comparison sample of Kepler targets of similar brightness and spectral type. Therefore we find no evidence that binaries with projected separations greater than 3,000AU affect the occurrence rate of planets with P<300days around FGK stars., Comment: 15 figures, 6 tables, MNRAS accepted, Tables 1 and 4 available from http://www.star.herts.ac.uk/~ndeacon/PS1Kepler.html . Replacement updates Figure 11 and the text referring to it

The IceCube neutrino observatory pursues a follow-up program selecting interesting neutrino events in real-time and issuing alerts for electromagnetic follow-up observations. In March 2012, the most significant neutrino alert during the first three years of operation was issued by IceCube. In the follow-up observations performed by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), a Type IIn supernova (SN) PTF12csy was found $0.2^\circ$ away from the neutrino alert direction, with an error radius of $0.54^\circ$. It has a redshift of $z=0.0684$, corresponding to a luminosity distance of about $300 \, \mathrm{Mpc}$ and the Pan-STARRS1 survey shows that its explosion time was at least 158 days (in host galaxy rest frame) before the neutrino alert, so that a causal connection is unlikely. The a posteriori significance of the chance detection of both the neutrinos and the SN at any epoch is $2.2 \, \sigma$ within IceCube's 2011/12 data acquisition season. Also, a complementary neutrino analysis reveals no long-term signal over the course of one year. Therefore, we consider the SN detection coincidental and the neutrinos uncorrelated to the SN. However, the SN is unusual and interesting by itself: It is luminous and energetic, bearing strong resemblance to the SN IIn 2010jl, and shows signs of interaction of the SN ejecta with a dense circumstellar medium. High-energy neutrino emission is expected in models of diffusive shock acceleration, but at a low, non-detectable level for this specific SN. In this paper, we describe the SN PTF12csy and present both the neutrino and electromagnetic data, as well as their analysis., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures

We present data for LSQ14bdq, a hydrogen-poor super-luminous supernova (SLSN) discovered by the La Silla QUEST survey and classified by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects. The spectrum and light curve are very similar to slow-declining SLSNe such as PTF12dam. However, detections within ~1 day after explosion show a bright and relatively fast initial peak, lasting for ~15 days, prior to the usual slow rise to maximum light. The broader, main peak can be fit with either central engine or circumstellar interaction models. We discuss the implications of the precursor peak in the context of these models. It is too bright and narrow to be explained as a normal 56Ni-powered SN, and we suggest that interaction models may struggle to fit the two peaks simultaneously. We propose that the initial peak may arise from the post-shock cooling of extended stellar material, and reheating by a central engine drives the second peak. In this picture, we show that an explosion energy of ~2x10^{52} erg and a progenitor radius of a few hundred solar radii would be required to power the early emission. The competing engine models involve rapidly spinning magnetars (neutron stars) or fall-back accretion onto a central black hole. The prompt energy required may favour the black hole scenario. The bright initial peak effectively rules out a compact Wolf-Rayet star as a progenitor, since the inferred energies and ejected masses become unphysical., Comment: Accepted in ApJ Letters

Radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei at z~2-4 are typically located in dense environments and their host galaxies are among the most massive systems at those redshifts, providing key insights for galaxy evolution. Finding radio-loud quasars at the highest accessible redshifts (z~6) is important to study their properties and environments at even earlier cosmic time. They would also serve as background sources for radio surveys intended to study the intergalactic medium beyond the epoch of reionization in HI 21 cm absorption. Currently, only five radio-loud ($R=f_{\nu,5{\rm GHz}}/f_{\nu,4400\AA}>10$) quasars are known at z~6. In this paper we search for 5.5 < z < 7.2 quasars by cross-matching the optical Pan-STARRS1 and radio FIRST surveys. The radio information allows identification of quasars missed by typical color-based selections. While we find no good 6.4 < z <7.2 quasar candidates at the sensitivities of these surveys, we discover two new radio-loud quasars at z~6. Furthermore, we identify two additional z~6 radio-loud quasars which were not previously known to be radio-loud, nearly doubling the current z~6 sample. We show the importance of having infrared photometry for z>5.5 quasars to robustly classify them as radio-quiet or radio-loud. Based on this, we reclassify the quasar J0203+0012 (z=5.72), previously considered radio-loud, to be radio-quiet. Using the available data in the literature, we constrain the radio-loud fraction of quasars at z~6, using the Kaplan--Meier estimator, to be $8.1^{+5.0}_{-3.2}\%$. This result is consistent with there being no evolution of the radio-loud fraction with redshift, in contrast to what has been suggested by some studies at lower redshifts., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 3 Figures. 3 Tables

We present the GALEX detection of a UV burst at the time of explosion of an optically normal Type II-P supernova (PS1-13arp) from the Pan-STARRS1 survey at z=0.1665. The temperature and luminosity of the UV burst match the theoretical predictions for shock breakout in a red supergiant, but with a duration a factor of ~50 longer than expected. We compare the $NUV$ light curve of PS1-13arp to previous GALEX detections of Type IIP SNe, and find clear distinctions that indicate that the UV emission is powered by shock breakout, and not by the subsequent cooling envelope emission previously detected in these systems. We interpret the ~ 1 d duration of the UV signal with a shock breakout in the wind of a red supergiant with a pre-explosion mass-loss rate of ~ 10^-3 Msun yr^-1. This mass-loss rate is enough to prolong the duration of the shock breakout signal, but not enough to produce an excess in the optical plateau light curve or narrow emission lines powered by circumstellar interaction. This detection of non-standard, potentially episodic high mass-loss in a RSG SN progenitor has favorable consequences for the prospects of future wide-field UV surveys to detect shock breakout directly in these systems, and provide a sensitive probe of the pre-explosion conditions of SN progenitors., Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ

Luminous distant quasars are unique probes of the high redshift intergalactic medium (IGM) and of the growth of massive galaxies and black holes in the early universe. Absorption due to neutral Hydrogen in the IGM makes quasars beyond a redshift of z~6.5 very faint in the optical $z$-band, thus locating quasars at higher redshifts require large surveys that are sensitive above 1 micron. We report the discovery of three new z>6.5 quasars, corresponding to an age of the universe of <850 Myr, selected as z-band dropouts in the Pan-STARRS1 survey. This increases the number of known z>6.5 quasars from 4 to 7. The quasars have redshifts of z=6.50, 6.52, and 6.66, and include the brightest z-dropout quasar reported to date, PSO J036.5078+03.0498 with M_1450=-27.4. We obtained near-infrared spectroscopy for the quasars and from the MgII line we estimate that the central black holes have masses between 5x10^8 and 4x10^9 M_sun, and are accreting close to the Eddington limit (L_Bol/L_Edd=0.13-1.2). We investigate the ionized regions around the quasars and find near zone radii of R_NZ=1.5-5.2 proper Mpc, confirming the trend of decreasing near zone sizes with increasing redshift found for quasars at 5.7

Efficient identification and follow-up of astronomical transients is hindered by the need for humans to manually select promising candidates from data streams that contain many false positives. These artefacts arise in the difference images that are produced by most major ground-based time domain surveys with large format CCD cameras. This dependence on humans to reject bogus detections is unsustainable for next generation all-sky surveys and significant effort is now being invested to solve the problem computationally. In this paper we explore a simple machine learning approach to real-bogus classification by constructing a training set from the image data of ~32000 real astrophysical transients and bogus detections from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey. We derive our feature representation from the pixel intensity values of a 20x20 pixel stamp around the centre of the candidates. This differs from previous work in that it works directly on the pixels rather than catalogued domain knowledge for feature design or selection. Three machine learning algorithms are trained (artificial neural networks, support vector machines and random forests) and their performances are tested on a held-out subset of 25% of the training data. We find the best results from the random forest classifier and demonstrate that by accepting a false positive rate of 1%, the classifier initially suggests a missed detection rate of around 10%. However we also find that a combination of bright star variability, nuclear transients and uncertainty in human labelling means that our best estimate of the missed detection rate is approximately 6%., Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a novel method for the light-curve characterization of Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1 MDS) extragalactic sources into stochastic variables (SV) and burst-like (BL) transients, using multi-band image-differencing time-series data. We select detections in difference images associated with galaxy hosts using a star/galaxy catalog extracted from the deep PS1 MDS stacked images, and adopt a maximum a posteriori formulation to model their difference-flux time-series in four Pan-STARRS1 photometric bands g,r,i, and z. We use three deterministic light-curve models to fit burst-like transients and one stochastic light curve model, the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, in order to fit variability that is characteristic of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We assess the quality of fit of the models band-wise source-wise, using their estimated leave-out-one cross-validation likelihoods and corrected Akaike information criteria. We then apply a K-means clustering algorithm on these statistics, to determine the source classification in each band. The final source classification is derived as a combination of the individual filter classifications. We use our clustering method to characterize 4361 extragalactic image difference detected sources in the first 2.5 years of the PS1 MDS, into 1529 BL, and 2262 SV, with a purity of 95.00% for AGN, and 90.97% for SN based on our verification sets. We combine our light-curve classifications with their nuclear or off-nuclear host galaxy offsets, to define a robust photometric sample of 1233 active galactic nuclei and 812 supernovae. We use these samples to identify simple photometric priors that would enable their real-time identification in future wide-field synoptic surveys., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

The Ophiuchus stream is a recently discovered stellar tidal stream in the Milky Way. We present high-quality spectroscopic data for 14 stream member stars obtained using the Keck and MMT telescopes. We confirm the stream as a fast moving ($v_{los}\sim290$ km s$^{-1}$), kinematically cold group ($\sigma_{v_{los}}\lesssim1$ km s$^{-1}$) of $\alpha$-enhanced and metal-poor stars (${\rm [\alpha/Fe]\sim0.4}$ dex, ${\rm [Fe/H]\sim-2.0}$ dex). Using a probabilistic technique, we model the stream simultaneously in line-of-sight velocity, color-magnitude, coordinate, and proper motion space, and so determine its distribution in 6D phase-space. We find that that the stream extends in distance from 7.5 to 9 kpc from the Sun; it is 50 times longer than wide, merely appearing highly foreshortened in projection. The analysis of the stellar population contained in the stream suggests that it is $\sim12$ Gyr old, and that its initial stellar mass was $\sim2\times10^4$ $M_{\odot}$ (or at least $\gtrsim7\times10^3$ $M_{\odot}$). Assuming a fiducial Milky Way potential, we fit an orbit to the stream which matches the observed phase-space distribution, except for some tension in the proper motions: the stream has an orbital period of $\sim350$ Myr, and is on a fairly eccentric orbit ($e\sim0.66$) with a pericenter of $\sim3.5$ kpc and an apocenter of $\sim17$ kpc. The phase-space structure and stellar population of the stream show that its progenitor must have been a globular cluster that was disrupted only $\sim240$ Myr ago. We do not detect any significant overdensity of stars along the stream that would indicate the presence of a progenitor, and conclude that the stream is all that is left of the progenitor., Comment: ApJ in press

The Orion Molecular Complex is the nearest site of ongoing high-mass star formation, making it one of the most extensively studied molecular complexes in the Galaxy. We have developed a new technique for mapping the 3D distribution of dust in the Galaxy using Pan-STARRS1 photometry. We isolate the dust at the distance to Orion using this technique, revealing a large (100 pc, 14 degree diameter), previously unrecognized ring of dust, which we term the "Orion dust ring." The ring includes Orion A and B, and is not coincident with current H-alpha features. The circular morphology suggests formation as an ancient bubble in the interstellar medium, though we have not been able to conclusively identify the source of the bubble. This hint at the history of Orion may have important consequences for models of high-mass star formation and triggered star formation., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ