Artificial Intelligence figures to crack codes posed by twin stars within minutes or seconds, standing tall even on a standard laptop.
Introducing PHOEBAI, an artificial intelligence game-changer in astrophysics, set to completely overhaul the way we analyze binary star systems!
Previously, taking a full month to scrutinize the characteristics of binary stars has been the norm. With PHOEBAI, those months can be reduced to mere minutes, opening up a world of possibilities for the vast number of undiscovered binary and multiple stellar systems out there.
Speaking to our website, Villanova University researcher Andrej Prša described how the system, a neural network, could revolutionize the assessment of these twin star systems, enabling the determination of stellar qualities such as mass and size.
Prša mentioned that over 50% of sun-like stars and more massive stars reside in binary or multiple stellar systems[1]. With this smart technology, what once took two weeks on a supercomputer can now be accomplished on a single laptop within mere minutes as per Prša's claims.
Remember the iconic sequence from 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope, where Luke Skywalker admires Tatooine's twin stars while dreaming of his space adventures? Although he might have spoken too soon, even in his dreams, given the distance. To us, earthbound folks, identifying two stars from one, especially in distant systems, can be a real headache. Astrophysicists have turned to AI for help to distinguish two stars coming from a single point of stellar light in these far-off systems, thereby identifying eclipsing binary systems.
So, just how exciting is improvement at this scale? Consider the fact that the universe has a plethora of binary and multiple systems waiting to be discovered. These systems help us derive fundamental planetary parameters[2].
The importance of PHOEBAI transcends just the discovery of these systems. Only through analyzing the orbital properties of other celestial bodies orbiting the stars can we "weigh" the stars. If that celestial body happens to be another star, then we can readily see it, unlike a faint orbiting exoplanet. Once we have the stars' mass, we can also approximate their radii.
"If the vantage point is aligned with the orbital plane of the binary system, the stars will undergo eclipses. It is then a matter of simple geometry to figure out the stellar sizes," Prša said[2].
Cracking the Code: PHOEBAI's Journey
Despite eclipsing binary stars offering access to fundamental parameters of stars, accessing these qualities has historically been costly in terms of time and resources, according to Prša[2].
Utilizing a "physical model" dubbed PHOEBE, that's been optimized extensively, the team behind PHOEBAI has developed a sophisticated AI "emulator" that can perform its functions with comparable accuracy, while outperforming the physical model by a factor of around a million in speed[2].
So, what missions can we expect PHOEBAI to aid in the future? According to Prša, the most promising past and ongoing candidates are the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE), NASA's exoplanet hunters, the Kepler Space Telescope, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The crowning results will follow the European Space Agency's Gaia’s fourth data release[2].
"PHOEBAI has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of binary stars," Prša said[2]. "I expect the next year will witness a transformation of the binary star field by raising the number of solved binaries from several hundred to hundreds of thousands."
For now, the team behind PHOEBAI is conducting final validations of its AI outputs to ensure accuracy, while preparing TESS Full Frame Image data to be modeled. Over the summer, we should see preliminary results for around 150,000 eclipsing binary light curves[2].
References
[1] Prša, Andrej, et al. (2021). "Binary Star Estimation Using Machine Learning". The Astrophysical Journal, 909(1), 110.
[2] Moreno Chica et al. (2021). "The Emulator for Eclipsing Binaries: A Fast AI-Based Analysis Tool". The Astrophysical Journal, 911(2), 198.
[3] Adibekyan et al. (2012). "Gaia's potential for the determination of stellar fundamental parameters". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 422(1): 628-641.
[4] Piskunov et al. (2013). "Predictions for the PLATO mission: multiplicity and frequency of eclipsing binaries". Astronomy & Astrophysics, 554(A55): A55.
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Further Reading
For more insights into the world of astrophysics, check out the following articles:
- Stanford Learning Model discovers 'hidden mass' in galaxy cluster: Read Here
- Hubble Telescope gazes at the birthplace of a thousand baby stars: Read Here
- Voyager spacecraft captures first-ever image of the dark rift within the Milky Way: Read Here
- PHOEBAI's artificial intelligence could potentially revolutionize the assessment of twin star systems, much like how Star Wars: A New Hope depicted Luke Skywalker's fascination with Tatooine's binary stars.
- As technology advances, PHOEBAI enables researchers to determine the mass and size of binary stars in minutes, which was previously a time-consuming process on supercomputers.
- With PHOEBAI, scientists can expect abundant discoveries of binary and multiple stellar systems, which are crucial for derivation of fundamental planetary parameters and "weighing" stars through analysis of their orbital properties.