DAMEWARE: A web cyberinfrastructure for astrophysical data mining

TL;DR

DAMEWARE is a web-based platform that enables astronomers to perform advanced data mining tasks on large, complex datasets, improving analysis of celestial objects and phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a versatile, user-friendly web environment tailored for astronomical data mining, capable of handling high-dimensional data with minimal intervention.

Findings

Achieved better classification results than traditional methods.

Successfully applied to identify globular clusters and active galactic nuclei.

Enhanced photometric redshift estimation.

Abstract

Astronomy is undergoing through a methodological revolution triggered by an unprecedented wealth of complex and accurate data. The new panchromatic, synoptic sky surveys require advanced tools for discovering patterns and trends hidden behind data which are both complex and of high dimensionality. We present DAMEWARE (DAta Mining & Exploration Web Application REsource): a general purpose, web-based, distributed data mining environment developed for the exploration of large datasets, and finely tuned for astronomical applications. By means of graphical user interfaces, it allows the user to perform classification, regression or clustering tasks with machine learning methods. Salient features of DAMEWARE include its capability to work on large datasets with minimal human intervention, and to deal with a wide variety of real problems such as the classification of globular clusters in the galaxy NGC1399, the evaluation of photometric redshifts and, finally, the identification of candidate Active Galactic Nuclei in multiband photometric surveys. In all these applications, DAMEWARE allowed to achieve better results than those attained with more traditional methods. With the aim of providing potential users with all needed information, in this paper we briefly describe the technological background of DAMEWARE, give a short introduction to some relevant aspects of data mining, followed by a summary of some science cases and, finally, we provide a detailed description of a template use case.