Deep Learning the Deep Sky: Recovering low surface brightness objects with machine learning
- Missing Satellite Problem
- Around 38 dwarf galaxies have been observed in the Local Group, and only around 11 orbiting the Milky Way, yet dark matter simulations predict that there should be around 500 dwarf satellites for the Milky Way alone.
- Potential Resolutions:
- Smaller-sized clumps of dark matter may be unable to obtain or retain the baryonic matter needed to form stars in the first place.
- After they form, dwarf galaxies may be quickly "eaten" by the larger galaxies that they orbit.
- Non-standard DM models could modify the expected number of low mass halos.
- How to proceed? We need data!
- Optical Sky Surveys
- Typically detect compact bright sources.
- Surveys telescope optics are not optimised for faint and extended objects.
- We see the tops of the mountains.
- But small hills deep in the valleys are difficult to detect.
- These small hills are where the dwarf galaxies lie.
- But wait a moment...
- Predictions - Actuals graph
- dE - Randon
- 63
- This box is telling us how many random sky boxes were predicted to have a dE.
- We did not check to see if the random sky patch has dE - they could have!
- Let's visually inspect some new candidates...
- Performance Metrics
- Accuracy = (TdE+Tsky)/Nimages
- Precision = TdE/(TdE+FdE)
- Recall = TdE/(TdE+Fsky)
- Value accuracy
- Value precision
- Value recall
- Number of false positives