The Cannon: A data-driven approach to stellar label determination

TL;DR

The Cannon is a data-driven method that accurately determines stellar parameters from spectra by learning from a set of reference stars, without relying on stellar models, and works well even at low signal-to-noise ratios.

Contribution

It introduces The Cannon, a novel data-driven approach that derives stellar labels from spectroscopic data using a flexible model trained on reference stars, bypassing traditional stellar models.

Findings

The Cannon achieves stellar label accuracy comparable to existing pipelines.

It performs well even at low signal-to-noise ratios, reducing observing time.

It can potentially unify stellar labels across different surveys.

Abstract

New spectroscopic surveys offer the promise of consistent stellar parameters and abundances ('stellar labels') for hundreds of thousands of stars in the Milky Way: this poses a formidable spectral modeling challenge. In many cases, there is a sub-set of reference objects for which the stellar labels are known with high(er) fidelity. We take advantage of this with The Cannon, a new data-driven approach for determining stellar labels from spectroscopic data. The Cannon learns from the 'known' labels of reference stars how the continuum-normalized spectra depend on these labels by fitting a flexible model at each wavelength; then, The Cannon uses this model to derive labels for the remaining survey stars. We illustrate The Cannon by training the model on only 542 stars in 19 clusters as reference objects, with Teff, log g and [Fe/H] as the labels, and then applying it to the spectra of 56,000 stars from APOGEE DR10. The Cannon is very accurate. Its stellar labels compare well to the stars for which APOGEE pipeline (ASPCAP) labels are provided in DR10, with rms differences that are basically identical to the stated ASPCAP uncertainties. Beyond the reference labels, The Cannon makes no use of stellar models nor any line-list, but needs a set of reference objects that span label-space. The Cannon performs well at lower signal-to-noise, as it delivers comparably good labels even at one ninth the APOGEE observing time. We discuss the limitations of The Cannon and its future potential, particularly, to bring different spectroscopic surveys onto a consistent scale of stellar labels.