What ZTF Saw Where Rubin Looked: Anomaly Hunting in DR23

By Maria Pruzhinskaya, on behalf of the SNAD team

Spatial footprint of the four Rubin comissioning fields (circles) overlaid on ZTF sky coverage.

During the SNAD-VIII workshop, which took place in Armenia from June 29 to July 5, we conducted the first systematic anomaly search in ZTF data overlapping with Rubin observations. Using the PineForest active anomaly detection algorithm developed by the SNAD collaboration, we analyzed four selected fields - two galactic and two extragalactic - and visually inspected 400 candidates. As a result, we discovered six previously uncatalogued variable stars, including RS CVn, BY Draconis, ellipsoidal, and solar-type variables. We also refined the classifications and variability periods of six known objects.

These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the SNAD anomaly detection pipeline and provide a preview of the discovery potential in the upcoming LSST data. The computations were made possible thanks to the support of Cloud.ru, a cloud computing and AI technology provider, who provided the computational resources used in this work.

Read more in Pruzhinskaya et al. (2025) published on arXiv and and stay tuned for more discoveries!