ASTR 430 Lecture 03: Archive Discovery and Query Provenance

Terms Developed in Context

These terms form the lecture's reasoning chain from observable through model to a bounded physical conclusion.

TAP

The Table Access Protocol used to query astronomical archive tables through standardized services. In this lecture it supports the evidence-to-model chain for TAP/ADQL, schemas, selection functions, and query manifests.

Use and relationship: Read it together with Query manifest and ADQL. The governing relation \(Q=(service,ADQL,columns,constraints,release,timestamp)\) shows where the concept enters quantitatively; the student should state whether its value is measured, calibrated, adopted, or inferred.

Boundary: Query provenance is the research equivalent of an instrument configuration. This caveat prevents the term from being treated as a unique explanation or a context-free number.

ADQL

The SQL-like Astronomical Data Query Language supporting sky-region and catalog operations. In this lecture it supports the evidence-to-model chain for TAP/ADQL, schemas, selection functions, and query manifests.

Use and relationship: Read it together with TAP and Schema. The governing relation \(Q=(service,ADQL,columns,constraints,release,timestamp)\) shows where the concept enters quantitatively; the student should state whether its value is measured, calibrated, adopted, or inferred.

Boundary: Query provenance is the research equivalent of an instrument configuration. This caveat prevents the term from being treated as a unique explanation or a context-free number.

Schema

The documented table structure, column names, units, types, and relationships exposed by an archive. In this lecture it supports the evidence-to-model chain for TAP/ADQL, schemas, selection functions, and query manifests.

Use and relationship: Read it together with ADQL and Selection function. The governing relation \(Q=(service,ADQL,columns,constraints,release,timestamp)\) shows where the concept enters quantitatively; the student should state whether its value is measured, calibrated, adopted, or inferred.

Boundary: Query provenance is the research equivalent of an instrument configuration. This caveat prevents the term from being treated as a unique explanation or a context-free number.

Selection function

The probability that an object enters a sample as a function of its properties and observing conditions. In this lecture it supports the evidence-to-model chain for TAP/ADQL, schemas, selection functions, and query manifests.

Use and relationship: Read it together with Schema and Query manifest. The governing relation \(Q=(service,ADQL,columns,constraints,release,timestamp)\) shows where the concept enters quantitatively; the student should state whether its value is measured, calibrated, adopted, or inferred.

Boundary: Query provenance is the research equivalent of an instrument configuration. This caveat prevents the term from being treated as a unique explanation or a context-free number.

Query manifest

A durable record of service, query text, release, columns, constraints, timestamp, and output identity. In this lecture it supports the evidence-to-model chain for TAP/ADQL, schemas, selection functions, and query manifests.

Use and relationship: Read it together with Selection function and TAP. The governing relation \(Q=(service,ADQL,columns,constraints,release,timestamp)\) shows where the concept enters quantitatively; the student should state whether its value is measured, calibrated, adopted, or inferred.

Boundary: Query provenance is the research equivalent of an instrument configuration. This caveat prevents the term from being treated as a unique explanation or a context-free number.