David Levitan (Caltech)

Title: Outbursting Systems in the Transient Sky

Abstract:
The rise of synoptic surveys is, for the first time, providing the
opportunity to systematically study variability over large areas of
the sky. One particular set of interesting sources are the relatively
common cataclysmic variables and their much rarer cousins, the AM CVn
systems. I will report on the search for AM CVn and CV systems by the
Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), which is one of the first dedicated
large-area synoptic surveys and which images up to 1,700 sq. deg. of
the sky every night. Our search uses the database of calibrated light
curves we have produced, where we have obtained precisions down to 5
mmag for up to a few hundred epochs. PTF has already increased the
number of known AM CVn systems by ~20%.

I will begin by presenting an overview of the PTF photometric pipeline
and a sampling of its initial results. I will then discuss our search
for outbursting systems and our initial discoveries. Finally, I will
consider the implications of our initial discoveries on the population
density estimates of AM CVn systems and make predictions of our
potential discoveries over the next few years.