BOOM and Babamul : A Real-time, Multi-survey, Optical Alert Broker System Operating at Scale
6 affiliations
- 1California Institute of Technology
- 2University of Minnesota
- 3University of Minnesota-Duluth
- 4Carnegie Mellon University
- 5Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- 6University of California
Abstract
With the arrival of ever higher throughput wide-field surveys and a multitude of multi-messenger and multi-wavelength instruments to complement them, software capable of harnessing these associated data streams is urgently required. To meet these needs, a number of community supported alert brokers have been built, currently focused on processing of Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF; ∼10 5 –10 6 alerts per night) with an eye toward Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST; ∼2 × 10 7 alerts per night). Building upon the system that successfully ran in production for ZTF’s first seven years of operation, we introduce Burst & Outburst Observations Monitor ( BOOM ), an analysis framework focused on real-time, joint brokering of these alert streams. BOOM harnesses the performance of a Rust -based software stack relying on a non-relational MongoDB database combined with a Valkey in-memory processing queue and a Kafka cluster for message sharing. With this system, we demonstrate feature parity with the existing ZTF system with a throughput ∼7× higher. We describe the workflow that enables the real-time processing as well as the results with custom filters we have built to demonstrate the system’s capabilities. In conclusion, we present the development roadmap for both BOOM and Babamul —the public-facing LSST alert broker built atop BOOM —as we begin the Rubin era.
Related
- Automated multi-stressor optical fiber focal ratio degradation and throughput characterization system for future massive multiplex spectroscopic survey
- eROSITA all-sky survey - stars and optical loading
- Real-Time Active Learning for optimised spectroscopic follow-up: Enhancing early SN Ia classification with the Fink broker
- Characterization of the CSST Survey Camera CCDs: I. basic electro-optical performance
- Earth-Projected Clustering of Historical Optical Transients in the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey-I (POSS-I)
BibTeX
@article{laz2026boom,
title = {{BOOM and Babamul : A Real-time, Multi-survey, Optical Alert Broker System Operating at Scale}},
author = {Theophile Jegou du Laz and M. W. Coughlin and Peter Bachant and Jacob E. Simones and Thomas Culino and Antoine Le Calloch and Sushant Sharma Chaudhary and Xander J. Hall and Tyler Barna and Daniel Warshofsky and M. J. Graham and M. M. Kasliwal and Ashish A. Mahabal and J. S. Bloom and A. Palmese and Frank J. Masci and Steven L. Groom and Richard Dekany and Reed Riddle and G. Hélou},
journal = {Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1088/1538-3873/ae6fef},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ae6fef},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - BOOM and Babamul : A Real-time, Multi-survey, Optical Alert Broker System Operating at Scale
AU - Theophile Jegou du Laz
AU - M. W. Coughlin
AU - Peter Bachant
AU - Jacob E. Simones
AU - Thomas Culino
AU - Antoine Le Calloch
AU - Sushant Sharma Chaudhary
AU - Xander J. Hall
AU - Tyler Barna
AU - Daniel Warshofsky
AU - M. J. Graham
AU - M. M. Kasliwal
AU - Ashish A. Mahabal
AU - J. S. Bloom
AU - A. Palmese
AU - Frank J. Masci
AU - Steven L. Groom
AU - Richard Dekany
AU - Reed Riddle
AU - G. Hélou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/01
JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
DO - 10.1088/1538-3873/ae6fef
UR - https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ae6fef
AB - With the arrival of ever higher throughput wide-field surveys and a multitude of multi-messenger and multi-wavelength instruments to complement them, software capable of harnessing these associated data streams is urgently required. To meet these needs, a number of community supported alert brokers have been built, currently focused on processing of Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF; ∼10 5 –10 6 alerts per night) with an eye toward Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST; ∼2 × 10 7 alerts per night). Building upon the system that successfully ran in production for ZTF’s first seven years of operation, we introduce Burst & Outburst Observations Monitor ( BOOM ), an analysis framework focused on real-time, joint brokering of these alert streams. BOOM harnesses the performance of a Rust -based software stack relying on a non-relational MongoDB database combined with a Valkey in-memory processing queue and a Kafka cluster for message sharing. With this system, we demonstrate feature parity with the existing ZTF system with a throughput ∼7× higher. We describe the workflow that enables the real-time processing as well as the results with custom filters we have built to demonstrate the system’s capabilities. In conclusion, we present the development roadmap for both BOOM and Babamul —the public-facing LSST alert broker built atop BOOM —as we begin the Rubin era.
SN - 0004-6280
SN - 1538-3873
ER -