English

Mapping H$\alpha$-Excess Candidate Point Sources in the Southern Hemisphere Using S-PLUS Data

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2025-03-19 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

Context. We use the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) Fourth Data Release (DR4) to identify and classify Hα\alpha-excess point sources in the Southern Sky, combining photometric data from 12 S-PLUS filters with machine learning to improve classification of Hα\alpha-related phenomena. Aims. Our goal is to classify Hα\alpha-excess point sources by distinguishing Galactic and extragalactic objects, particularly those with redshifted emission lines, and identifying variability phenomena like RR Lyrae stars. Methods. We selected Hα\alpha-excess candidates using the (rJ0660r - J0660) vs. (rir - i) colour-colour diagram from the S-PLUS main survey (MS) and Galactic Disk Survey (GDS). UMAP for dimensionality reduction and HDBSCAN clustering were used to separate source types. Infrared data was incorporated, and a Random Forest model was trained on clustering results to identify key colour features. New colour-colour diagrams from S-PLUS MS and infrared data offer a preliminary classification. Results. Combining multiwavelength data with machine learning significantly improved Hα\alpha-excess source classification. We identified 6956 sources with excess in the J0660J0660 filter. Cross-matching with SIMBAD explored object types, including emission-line stars, young stellar objects, nebulae, stellar binaries, cataclysmic variables, QSOs, AGNs, and galaxies. Using S-PLUS colours and machine learning, we separated RR Lyrae stars from other sources. The separation of Galactic and extragalactic sources was clearer, but distinguishing cataclysmic variables from QSOs at certain redshifts remained challenging. Infrared data refined the classification, and the Random Forest model highlighted key colour features for future follow-up spectroscopy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.16530,
  title  = {Mapping H$\alpha$-Excess Candidate Point Sources in the Southern Hemisphere Using S-PLUS Data},
  author = {L. A. Gutiérrez-Soto and R. Lopes de Oliveira and S. Akras and D. R. Gonçalves and L. F. Lomelí-Núñez and C. Mendes de Oliveira and E. Telles and A. Alvarez-Candal and M. Borges Fernandes and S. Daflon and C. E. Ferreira Lopes and M. Grossi and D. Hazarika and P. K. Humire and C. Lima-Dias and A. R. Lopes and J. L. Nilo Castellón and S. Panda and A. Kanaan and T. Ribeiro and W. Schoenell},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.16530},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

23 pages, 20 figures, 3 tables, accepted to be published in A&A

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:20:52.106Z