LcTools II: The QuickFind Method for Finding Signals and Associated TTVs in Light Curves from NASA Space Missions

TL;DR

The paper introduces QuickFind, a new fast method for detecting signals and TTVs in NASA light curves, significantly reducing processing time compared to traditional BLS detection.

Contribution

It presents the QuickFind method, a novel algorithm that accelerates signal detection in light curves, with detailed focus on user interface, data processing, and performance evaluation.

Findings

QuickFind detects signals approximately 77 times faster than BLS.

It effectively finds medium to large signals with S/N ratios above 15.

Performance tests demonstrate substantial time savings in light curve analysis.

Abstract

This paper describes the new QuickFind method in LcTools for finding signals and associated TTVs (Transit Timing Variations) in light curves from NASA space missions. QuickFind is adept at finding medium to large sized signals (generally those with S/N ratios above 15) extremely fast, significantly reducing overall processing time for a light curve as compared to the BLS detection method. For example, on the lead author's computer, QuickFind was able to detect both KOI signals for star 10937029 in a 14 quarter Kepler light curve spanning 1,459 days in roughly 2 seconds whereas BLS took about 155 seconds to find both signals making QuickFind in this example about 77 times faster than BLS. This paper focuses on the user interfaces, data processing algorithm, and performance tests for the QuickFind method in LcTools.