ASTRO 4523

Modeling, Mining and Machine Learning in Astronomy

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025. The Catalog/Courses of Study 2025-2026 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

This course builds upon a review of probability and statistics, and basic signal processing principles to explore, develop, and apply algorithms for discovering objects and events in astronomical data, for inference of sophisticated models for populations of objects using frequentist and Bayesian methods, and for visualization and presentation of results to address fundamental questions using persuasive, data-based arguments. Methods include time-series analysis; clustering, classification algorithms, genetic and Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, and neural networks with different architectures. Examples using simulated and actual data will be python based, including Jupyter notebooks.

When Offered Spring.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: background in probability and statistics at the level of ENGRD 2700 or MATH 1710 or equivalent; lower division math background equivalent for a physics or engineering major.

Distribution Category (PHS-AS, SDS-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Comments Knowledge of Python or MATLAB highly recommended.

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