48,261 research outputs found
Survey for Galaxies Associated with z~3 Damped Lyman alpha Systems I: Spectroscopic Calibration of u'BVRI Photometric Selection
We present a survey for z~3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) associated with
damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) with the primary purpose of determining the
DLA-LBG cross-correlation. This paper describes the acquisition and analysis of
imaging and spectroscopic data of 9 quasar fields having 11 known z~3 DLAs
covering an area of 465 arcmin^2. Using deep u'BVRI images, 796 LBG candidates
to an apparent R_AB magnitude of 25.5 were photometrically selected from 17,343
sources detected in the field. Spectroscopic observations of 529 LBG candidates
using Keck LRIS yielded 339 redshifts. We have conservatively identified 211
z>2 objects with =3.02+/-0.32. We discuss our method of z~3 LBG
identification and present a model of the u'BVRI photometric selection
function. We use the 339 spectra to evaluate our u'BVRI z~3 Lyman break
photometric selection technique.Comment: 26 pages, 6 tables, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
OMCat: Catalogue of Serendipitous Sources Detected with the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor
The Optical Monitor Catalogue of serendipitous sources (OMCat) contains
entries for every source detected in the publicly available XMM-Newton Optical
Monitor (OM) images taken in either the imaging or ``fast'' modes. Since the OM
is coaligned and records data simultaneously with the X-ray telescopes on
XMM-Newton, it typically produces images in one or more near-UV/optical bands
for every pointing of the observatory. As of the beginning of 2006, the public
archive had covered roughly 0.5% of the sky in 2950 fields.
The OMCat is not dominated by sources previously undetected at other
wavelengths; the bulk of objects have optical counterparts. However, the OMCat
can be used to extend optical or X-ray spectral energy distributions for known
objects into the ultraviolet, to study at higher angular resolution objects
detected with GALEX, or to find high-Galactic-latitude objects of interest for
UV spectroscopy.Comment: 25 pages, 22 figures, submitted to PAS
Assessing the Effect of Stellar Companions from High-Resolution Imaging of Kepler Objects of Interest
We report on 176 close (<2") stellar companions detected with high-resolution
imaging near 170 hosts of Kepler Objects of Interest. These Kepler targets were
prioritized for imaging follow-up based on the presence of small planets, so
most of the KOIs in these systems (176 out of 204) have nominal radii <6 R_E .
Each KOI in our sample was observed in at least 2 filters with adaptive optics,
speckle imaging, lucky imaging, or HST. Multi-filter photometry provides color
information on the companions, allowing us to constrain their stellar
properties and assess the probability that the companions are physically bound.
We find that 60 -- 80% of companions within 1" are bound, and the bound
fraction is >90% for companions within 0.5"; the bound fraction decreases with
increasing angular separation. This picture is consistent with simulations of
the binary and background stellar populations in the Kepler field. We also
reassess the planet radii in these systems, converting the observed
differential magnitudes to a contamination in the Kepler bandpass and
calculating the planet radius correction factor, . Under the assumption that planets in bound binaries are equally
likely to orbit the primary or secondary, we find a mean radius correction
factor for planets in stellar multiples of . If stellar
multiplicity in the Kepler field is similar to the solar neighborhood, then
nearly half of all Kepler planets may have radii underestimated by an average
of 65%, unless vetted using high resolution imaging or spectroscopy.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical
Journa
Distance Measures for Reduced Ordering Based Vector Filters
Reduced ordering based vector filters have proved successful in removing
long-tailed noise from color images while preserving edges and fine image
details. These filters commonly utilize variants of the Minkowski distance to
order the color vectors with the aim of distinguishing between noisy and
noise-free vectors. In this paper, we review various alternative distance
measures and evaluate their performance on a large and diverse set of images
using several effectiveness and efficiency criteria. The results demonstrate
that there are in fact strong alternatives to the popular Minkowski metrics
K2: A new method for the detection of galaxy clusters based on CFHTLS multicolor images
We have developed a new method, K2, optimized for the detection of galaxy
clusters in multicolor images. Based on the Red Sequence approach, K2 detects
clusters using simultaneous enhancements in both colors and position. The
detection significance is robustly determined through extensive Monte-Carlo
simulations and through comparison with available cluster catalogs based on two
different optical methods, and also on X-ray data. K2 also provides
quantitative estimates of the candidate clusters' richness and photometric
redshifts. Initially K2 was applied to 161 sq deg of two color gri images of
the CFHTLS-Wide data. Our simulations show that the false detection rate, at
our selected threshold, is only ~1%, and that the cluster catalogs are ~80%
complete up to a redshift of 0.6 for Fornax-like and richer clusters and to z
~0.3 for poorer clusters. Based on Terapix T05 release gri photometric
catalogs, 35 clusters/sq deg are detected, with 1-2 Fornax-like or richer
clusters every two square degrees. Catalogs containing data for 6144 galaxy
clusters have been prepared, of which 239 are rich clusters. These clusters,
especially the latter, are being searched for gravitational lenses -- one of
our chief motivations for cluster detection in CFHTLS. The K2 method can be
easily extended to use additional color information and thus improve overall
cluster detection to higher redshifts. The complete set of K2 cluster catalogs,
along with the supplementary catalogs for the member galaxies, are available on
request from the authors.Comment: Accepted in ApJ. 25 pages, including 10 figures. Latex with
emulateapj v03/07/0
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