{
  "$schema": "./item.schema.json",
  "id": "potamides-joss",
  "type": "publication",
  "cvs": [
    "np",
    "2page"
  ],
  "date": {
    "start": "2026-10"
  },
  "title": "Potamides: JAX tools for curvature-based inference from stellar streams",
  "shortTitle": "Potamides: The Software",
  "nickTitle": "Potamides Software",
  "status": "published",
  "entryType": "article",
  "authors": [
    {
      "family": "Wu",
      "given": "Sirui",
      "student": "graduate",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-4675-3622"
    },
    {
      "family": "Starkman",
      "given": "Nathaniel",
      "me": true,
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3954-3291"
    },
    {
      "family": "Nibauer",
      "given": "Jacob",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8042-5794"
    },
    {
      "family": "Pearson",
      "given": "Sarah",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0256-5446"
    }
  ],
  "venue": {
    "journal": "Journal of Open Source Software",
    "volume": "11",
    "number": "126",
    "pages": "10712"
  },
  "doi": "10.21105/joss.10712",
  "links": [
    {
      "rel": "paper",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.10712"
    },
    {
      "rel": "code",
      "url": "https://github.com/xggs-dev/potamides"
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "streams",
    "jax",
    "software",
    "dynamics"
  ],
  "citekey": "Wu+:2026:potamides-joss",
  "abstract": "Potamides is a Python package for inferring the mass distribution of galaxies from the projected shapes of stellar streams in imaging data. Stellar streams are elongated structures produced when star clusters or dwarf galaxies are tidally disrupted by their host. Because their projected tracks carry information about the host's gravitational field, the local curvature of a stream can constrain the underlying potential. The package implements and extends the curvature-based likelihood framework of Nibauer et al. (2023). Rather than generating a full dynamical realization of a stellar stream for each trial model, Potamides represents observed stream tracks with JAX-based splines. It evaluates gravitational accelerations in candidate potentials and compares them directly to the local stream geometry. This provides a lower-cost inference workflow that complements traditional forward-modeling approaches. Potamides supports the complete analysis pipeline for a galaxy, from annotating stream ridge-lines to evaluating likelihoods across many potential models.",
  "highlight": {
    "topic": "extragalactic",
    "image": "highlights/potamides-joss.webp",
    "alt": "Relative likelihood of a halo’s y-axis flattening, q₂, from a Potamides tutorial: a flat plateau from about 0.7 to 1.55 that contains the true value, q₂ = 1, falling to zero on either side.",
    "description": "Potamides is a JAX package that infers a galaxy’s mass distribution from the shapes of its stellar streams. Instead of simulating a stream for every trial potential, it fits the observed track with splines and compares its curvature directly to the potential’s accelerations, covering the pipeline from annotating streams to evaluating likelihoods. Led by Sirui Wu."
  }
}