A Classifier-Based Approach to Multi-Class Anomaly Detection for Astronomical Transients

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Gupta, Rithwik, Muthukrishna, Daniel, Lochner, Michelle
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Gupta, Rithwik
Muthukrishna, Daniel
Lochner, Michelle
author_facet Gupta, Rithwik
Muthukrishna, Daniel
Lochner, Michelle
contents Automating real-time anomaly detection is essential for identifying rare transients, with modern survey telescopes generating tens of thousands of alerts per night, and future telescopes, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, projected to increase this number dramatically. Currently, most anomaly detection algorithms for astronomical transients rely either on hand-crafted features extracted from light curves or on features generated through unsupervised representation learning, coupled with standard anomaly detection algorithms. In this work, we introduce an alternative approach: using the penultimate layer of a neural network classifier as the latent space for anomaly detection. We then propose a novel method, Multi-Class Isolation Forests (\texttt{MCIF}), which trains separate isolation forests for each class to derive an anomaly score for a light curve from its latent space representation. This approach significantly outperforms a standard isolation forest. We also use a simpler input method for real-time transient classifiers which circumvents the need for interpolation and helps the neural network handle irregular sampling and model inter-passband relationships. Our anomaly detection pipeline identifies rare classes including kilonovae, pair-instability supernovae, and intermediate luminosity transients shortly after trigger on simulated Zwicky Transient Facility light curves. Using a sample of our simulations matching the population of anomalies expected in nature (54 anomalies and 12,040 common transients), our method discovered $41\pm3$ anomalies (~75% recall) after following up the top 2000 (~15%) ranked transients. Our novel method shows that classifiers can be effectively repurposed for real-time anomaly detection.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_14742
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Classifier-Based Approach to Multi-Class Anomaly Detection for Astronomical Transients
Gupta, Rithwik
Muthukrishna, Daniel
Lochner, Michelle
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Machine Learning
Automating real-time anomaly detection is essential for identifying rare transients, with modern survey telescopes generating tens of thousands of alerts per night, and future telescopes, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, projected to increase this number dramatically. Currently, most anomaly detection algorithms for astronomical transients rely either on hand-crafted features extracted from light curves or on features generated through unsupervised representation learning, coupled with standard anomaly detection algorithms. In this work, we introduce an alternative approach: using the penultimate layer of a neural network classifier as the latent space for anomaly detection. We then propose a novel method, Multi-Class Isolation Forests (\texttt{MCIF}), which trains separate isolation forests for each class to derive an anomaly score for a light curve from its latent space representation. This approach significantly outperforms a standard isolation forest. We also use a simpler input method for real-time transient classifiers which circumvents the need for interpolation and helps the neural network handle irregular sampling and model inter-passband relationships. Our anomaly detection pipeline identifies rare classes including kilonovae, pair-instability supernovae, and intermediate luminosity transients shortly after trigger on simulated Zwicky Transient Facility light curves. Using a sample of our simulations matching the population of anomalies expected in nature (54 anomalies and 12,040 common transients), our method discovered $41\pm3$ anomalies (~75% recall) after following up the top 2000 (~15%) ranked transients. Our novel method shows that classifiers can be effectively repurposed for real-time anomaly detection.
title A Classifier-Based Approach to Multi-Class Anomaly Detection for Astronomical Transients
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.14742