ANNz:: Estimating photometric redshifts using artificial neural networks

We introduce ANNz, a freely available software package for photometric redshift estimation using artificial neural networks. ANNz learns the relation between photometry and redshift from an appropriate training set of galaxies for which the redshift is already known. Where a large and representative training set is available, ANNz is a highly competitive tool when compared with traditional template-fitting methods. The ANNz package is demonstrated on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1, and for this particular data set the rms redshift error in the range 0 less than or similar to z less than or equal to 0.7 is sigma(rms)=0.023. Nonideal conditions (spectroscopic sets that are small or brighter than the photometric set for which redshifts are required) are simulated, and the impact on the photometric redshift accuracy is assessed.(2)