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Title: Machine learning etudes in astrophysics: selection functions for mock cluster catalogs

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Making mock simulated catalogs is an important component of astrophysical data analysis. Selection criteria for observed astronomical objects are often too complicated to be derived from first principles. However the existence of an observed group of objects is a well-suited problem for machine learning classification. In this paper we use one-class classifiers to learn the properties of an observed catalog of clusters of galaxies from ROSAT and to pick clusters from mock simulations that resemble the observed ROSAT catalog. We show how this method can be used to study the cross-correlations of thermal Sunya'ev-Zeldovich signals with number density maps of X-ray selected cluster catalogs. The method reduces the bias due to hand-tuning the selection function and is readily scalable to large catalogs with a high-dimensional space of astrophysical features.

OSTI ID:
22382011
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 01; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English