A Sub-Millisecond Fourier and Wavelet Based Model to Extract Variable Candidates from the NEOWISE Single-Exposure Database

TL;DR

This paper introduces VARnet, a fast and efficient deep learning model utilizing wavelet and Fourier features for real-time analysis of astronomical light curves, enabling rapid detection of variable sources in massive infrared datasets.

Contribution

The paper presents VARnet, a novel GPU-accelerated model combining wavelet and Fourier features for ultra-fast variable source detection in large astronomical datasets.

Findings

Achieved an F1 score of 0.91 on real variable sources.

Processed each light curve in less than 53 microseconds on a GPU.

Confirmed sensitivity to both known and new variable sources.

Abstract

This paper presents VARnet, a capable signal processing model for rapid astronomical timeseries analysis. VARnet leverages wavelet decomposition, a novel method of Fourier feature extraction via the Finite-Embedding Fourier Transform (FEFT), and deep learning to detect faint signals in light curves, utilizing the strengths of modern GPUs to achieve sub-millisecond single-source runtime. We apply VARnet to the NEOWISE Single-Exposure Database, which holds nearly 200 billion apparitions over 10.5 years of infrared sources on the entire sky. This paper devises a pipeline in order to extract variable candidates from the NEOWISE data, serving as a proof of concept for both the efficacy of VARnet and methods for an upcoming variability survey over the entirety of the NEOWISE dataset. We implement models and simulations to synthesize unique light curves to train VARnet. In this case, the model achieves an F1 score of $0.91$ over a 4-class classification scheme on a validation set of real variable sources present in the infrared. With $\sim2000$ points per light curve on a GPU with 22GB of VRAM, VARnet produces a per-source processing time of $<53\mu s$. We confirm that our VARnet is sensitive and precise to both known and previously undiscovered variable sources. These methods prove promising for a complete future survey of variability with WISE, and effectively showcase the power of the VARnet model architecture.