A MULTIBAND GENERALIZATION OF THE MULTIHARMONIC ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE PERIOD ESTIMATION ALGORITHM AND THE EFFECT OF INTER-BAND OBSERVING CADENCE ON PERIOD RECOVERY RATE

• Published in: Astrophysical journal. Letters Vol. 811; no. 2; pp. L34 - 5
• Main Authors: Mondrik, N., Long, J. P., Marshall, J. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The American Astronomical Society 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analysis of variance; Approximation; Bands; Dark energy; methods: data analysis; Recovery; Sky surveys (astronomy); stars: variables: general; stars: variables: RR Lyrae; surveys; Telescopes
• ISSN: 2041-8205; 2041-8213; 2041-8213
• DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/811/2/L34

ABSTRACT We present a new method of extending the single-band multiharmonic analysis of variance period estimation algorithm to multiple bands. We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 RR Lyrae to show that in the case of a low number of observations per band and non-simultaneous observations, improvements in period recovery rates of up to 50% are observed. We also investigate the effect of inter-band observing cadence on period recovery rates. We find that using non-simultaneous observation times between bands is ideal for the multiband method, and using simultaneous multiband data is only marginally better than using single-band data. These results will be particularly useful in planning observing cadences for wide-field astronomical imaging surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. They also have the potential to improve the extraction of transient data from surveys with few ( 30) observations per band across several bands, such as the Dark Energy Survey.