Redback: A software package for modelling and inference of electromagnetic transients

In this Tech Talk, originally aired on May 14, 2026, and hosted by Olivia Lynn (Carnegie Mellon University) and Colin Orion Chandler (University of Washington), we are joined by Nikhil Sarin (Cambridge University) to discuss Redback.

GitHub: https://github.com/nikhil-sarin/redback

Abstract:
Fulfilling the rich promise of rapid advances in time-domain astronomy requires confronting our observations with physical models and extracting the parameters that best describe what we observe. In this talk, I will showcase Redback, a software package for modelling and inference of electromagnetic transients. Redback provides an object-orientated python interface to over 15 different samplers and over 150 different models for kilonovae, supernovae, gamma-ray burst afterglows, tidal disruption events, engine-driven transients, among other explosive transients while also serving as an engine to simulate observations for surveys such as LSST. I will showcase some general functionality useful for all transient analyses from GP interpolation, blackbody fitting, to bolometric light curve construction. I will also describe the software’s use in recent publications to infer properties of TDEs, supernovae, and the enigmatic FXTs via light curve and spectral modelling and highlight some ongoing developmental efforts facilitated by LINCC frameworks.

LINCC Tech Talks:
Hosted by LINCC Frameworks Software Engineer Olivia Lynn (Carnegie Mellon University) and Project Scientist Colin Orion Chandler (DiRAC Institute, University of Washington), Tech Talks are typically held on the second Thursday of each month. Additional information and the schedule are available here: https://lsstdiscoveryalliance.org/lsst-discovery-alliance-programs/tech-talks/. LINCC is the LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing.

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:51 Talk
48:38 Questions

Видео Redback: A software package for modelling and inference of electromagnetic transients канала LINCC