RAPID Response: Hot-wiring the Next Generation of Time-Domain Science

As we enter the era of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger surveys with rich but disparate datasets, there is a growing need to revisit the software infrastructure required to push the limits of time-domain science. Building on the legacy from the past decades of optical time-domain surveys, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has opened its eye to the dynamic sky and will unleash a wave of millions of alerts per night. High-energy space missions such as Fermi and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory are capturing the most energetic astrophysical explosions. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will launch no later than May 2027, is set to unveil the transient universe in the infrared (IR). New surveys on the horizon such as DSA-2000 and ULTRASAT will push our multi-wavelength survey coverage into the radio and near-UV. Now is therefore the ideal time to revisit and address the software infrastructure needed to pursue breakthrough science enabled by low-latency alerts, multi-wavelength/messenger discovery, machine learning, and science platforms / alert brokers / marshals.

We invite the time-domain community to a four-day Hot-wiring the Transient Universe meeting hosted by the RAPID Project Infrastructure Team at Caltech. In this meeting, we will address the following key questions:

• What have we learned from existing alert streams and Rubin alerts?
  • Are we ready for alerts from Roman and beyond?
• How do we optimize transient discovery with multi-wavelength and multi-messenger alert streams?
• How do we effectively utilize machine learning for time-domain science?
• What physics of stellar explosions/eruptions/variability can be revealed with rapid, multi-wavelength/messenger observations?

The science topics in the meeting will focus on relativistic explosions, stellar variables, supermassive black hole transients, IR / “gap” transients, and supernovae.

The meeting will occur March 23 through 26, 2026. A list of invited speakers will be provided soon. Registration and abstract submission have not yet been opened. 

If you have any questions, you can email us at rapid@ipac.caltech.edu.

SOC: Ryan Lau (co-chair, Caltech/IPAC), Matthew Graham (co-chair, Caltech), Azalee Bostroem (U Arizona), Ilaria Caiazzo (Inst. Sci. Tech., Austria), Wen-Fai Fong (Northwestern), Sebastian Gomez (U Texas, Austin), Mansi Kasliwal (Caltech), Ashish Mahabal (Caltech), Anais Moller (Swinburne U., Australia), Rob Seaman (U Arizona)

LOC: Schuyler Van Dyk (chair), Frank Aragon, Wendy Burt, David Imel, Jacob Jencson, Sean Kindt, Ryan Lau