A scientific collaboration consisting of the German Center for Astrophysics in Gorlitz, the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics, Potsdam and the German Electron Synchrotron DESY is officially joining the Zwicky Transient Facility partnership, expanding our scientific collaborative network in Europe and growing our team of world- class researchers and students.

“This is exciting news. DZA is quickly attracting exceptional talent from around the world and developing cutting-edge scientific and research infrastructure. I am convinced we will build a solid and long-term partnership that will benefit astrophysics both in the USA and Europe”, says Mansi Kasliwal, a professor of astronomy at Caltech and the principal investigator of ZTF.

The German Center for Astrophysics, currently under construction, is envisioned as a new hub for scientific innovation in Lusatia, a growing region in Eastern Germany. The center aims to become a global leader in developing cutting-edge and sustainable infrastructure for scientific research in astrophysics with an initial focus on radio and multi-messenger astronomy.

Prof. Stefan Wagner (University of Heidelberg), Prof. Matthias Steinmetz (Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP)), and Prof. Samaya Nissanke, lead scientist at DESY who is also a long-standing collaborator with members of the ZTF multi-messenger science group are heading different research areas in DZA and have joined ZTF as co-investigators.

“After working closely with ZTF colleagues since 2009, in the early days of its precursor the Palomar Transient Factory, I am thrilled to be joining ZTF as an official partner. ZTF has been extraordinary across a wide range of discoveries and has quite literally led the way in the optical follow up of gravitational wave mergers over the past seven years,” says Samaya, whose research focus is on studying black holes and neutron star mergers with gravitational waves.

“Working alongside the ZTF team, we have learned a tremendous amount about how to search for these events, from the software and observing strategies to the instrumentation, and a deeper understanding of the dynamic sky in real time. Just as importantly, ZTF is an incredibly fun collaboration to be part of: it brings together a remarkably diverse and creative collaboration of scientists whose ideas and energy constantly push science forward, ” she adds.

”With ZTF and our well-established collaboration with DZA, AIP can now expand our spectroscopic surveys portfolio with a new dimension - time domain astrophysics,” adds Matthias Steinmetz of AIP.

In recent decades, Stefan Wagner has expanded his research interests in transient astrophysical phenomena to all wavelength ranges. "I am pleased about the ZTF membership. It provides an important basis for the DZA, on which future projects of transient research at DZA will be based. We are also interested in utilising big data methods and technologies to advance robotic sky surveillance.” As a partner at ZTF, he and the DZA team will ensure the transmission of real-time data from Caltech IPAC to Germany and will take the first steps towards the development of a DZA data centre.

“Exploring the dynamic universe currently requires constant innovations in data science to enable astronomers to analyze large data streams from multiple telescopes quickly. I am looking forward to working with our colleagues at DZA to provide excellent survey data from ZTF to the astronomical community around the world”, says Matthew Graham, a co-PI of ZTF.

The DZA led collaboration is joining ZTF as a major partner with full access to ZTF's proprietary partnership data.

Links

DZA announcement

Contact

Media Contact
Iva Kostadinova
ZTF Program Coordinator
ivonata [at] caltech [dot] edu