DWF portal and database

CI: – Dr. J. Cooke

We propose an ADACS project to improve operational resources, organisation, and scientific output for the innovative and complex Deeper, Wider, Faster (DWF) survey. DWF introduced a new approach to observational astronomy and uses this approach to detect and follow up the fastest explosions in the Universe (those with milliseconds-to-hours duration). Fast transient events result from a wide range of physical mechanisms and include supernova shock breakouts, gravitational wave events and the mysterious fast radio bursts. DWF has quickly grown into the largest collaboration of telescopes in the world and organises over 50 major telescopes on all continents and in space, covering all wavelengths, with high-energy particle and gravitational wave detectors. DWF coordinates simultaneous observations in every wavelength and processes and analyses these data in real-time (seconds) utilising the OzSTAR supercomputer and our data visualisation and data sonification in our Swinburne control room. The real-time analysis is required to rapidly identify fast transients to immediately redirect our coordinated large follow-up telescopes to acquire deep spectroscopy and imaging of the events before they fade. The DWF team relies on software pipelines and other tools, mostly launched manually in terminals, that require an understanding of the pipelines, repository structure, and software details. As the analysis and decision-making is time-critical, access to the data and data products must be intuitive and simple for the user, while optimising for speed. We propose to (1) develop a web portal to provide a real-time overview of the DWF pipeline components, outputs, and ‘on-the-fly’ parameter configuration to improve and simplify its real-time operation, and (2) develop a logical and highly-accessible database of existing and future DWF multi-wavelength observations to accelerate scientific output. The DWF multi-messenger database provides a truly unique, extensive, and rich data set for a large number of science outputs by our team, our Australian and global collaborators, and the astronomical community.