Morris Dave

Abstract Reference: 30976
Identifier:
Presentation: Poster presentation
Key Theme: 1 Reduction and Analysis Algorithms for Large Databases and Vice-versa

Kepler photometric analysis software: architecture and algorithms

Authors:
Morris Robert L., Twicken Joseph, Smith Jeffrey, Clarke Bruce, Jenkins Jon, Bryson Stephen, Forrest Girouard

With the Kepler mission in its closeout phase, the final results from the Kepler Science Operations Center (SOC) Science Processing Pipeline will soon be available for public use. We provide an overview of the architecture and algorithms of the Photometric Analysis (PA) pipeline component in its current and final state (version 9.3). The primary functions of the PA module are to compute the photometric flux and photocenters (centroids) for over 160,000 long cadence (~thirty minute) and 512 short cadence (~one minute) stellar targets from the calibrated pixels in their respective apertures. We describe the main PA science algorithms for long and short cadence: cosmic ray cleaning, background estimation and removal, image motion estimation, optimal aperture selection, aperture photometry, and centroiding. Emphasis is given to recently developed algorithms that have helped boost pipeline sensitivity and architectural changes that have increased pipeline throughput.