The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A

SDSS-III: Massive Spectroscopic Surveys of the Distant Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems

Building on the legacy of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I and II), SDSS-III is a program of four spectroscopic surveys on three scientific themes: dark energy and cosmological parameters, the history and structure of the Milky Way, and the population of giant planets around other stars. In keeping with SDSS tradition, SDSS-III will provide regular public releases of all its data, beginning with SDSS DR8 (which occurred in Jan 2011). This paper presents an overview of the four SDSS-III surveys. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.5 million massive galaxies and Lya forest spectra of 150,000 quasars, using the BAO feature of large scale structure to obtain percent-level determinations of the distance scale and Hubble expansion rate at z<0.7 and at z~2.5. SEGUE-2, which is now completed, measured medium-resolution (R=1800) optical spectra of 118,000 stars in a variety of target categories, probing chemical evolution, stellar kinematics and substructure, and the mass profile of the dark matter halo from the solar neighborhood to distances of 100 kpc. APOGEE will obtain high-resolution (R~30,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N>100 per resolution element), H-band (1.51-1.70 micron) spectra of 10^5 evolved, late-type stars, measuring separate abundances for ~15 elements per star and creating the first high-precision spectroscopic survey of all Galactic stellar populations (bulge, bar, disks, halo) with a uniform set of stellar tracers and spectral diagnostics. MARVELS will monitor radial velocities of more than 8000 FGK stars with the sensitivity and cadence (10-40 m/s, ~24 visits per star) needed to detect giant planets with periods up to two years, providing an unprecedented data set for understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of giant planet systems. (Abridged)Comment: Revised to version published in The Astronomical Journa

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large-scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i = 19.9 over 10,000 deg(2) to measure BAO to redshifts z < 0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Ly alpha forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g < 22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15 < z < 3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Ly alpha forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance d(A) to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z = 0.3 and z = 0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Ly alpha forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate D-A(z) and H-1(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z similar to 2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS

GENERAL TERRY AND THE DECLINE OF THE SIOUX, 1866-1890

The soldiers and the Sioux have been the subject matter for books too numerous to mention. Some volumes have become period pieces and in this sense valuable works. Others, aimed at a popular audience, have glorified the western experience at the expense of factual evidence and scholarship. Some were serious efforts that fell short. In the past twenty years several books on military-Sioux relations have merited the attention of serious students. Edgar I. Stewart\u27s Custer\u27s Luck (1955) was an effort to separate the myth and legend from the actual events of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. His detailed account of the Indian\u27s last defiant gesture has stood the test of time. In 1956 Robert G. Athearn published William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West, in which he portrayed the post Civil War army\u27s role as protector of frontier settlers. This fine work illustrated the problems of a top military official during the years 1865-1883. Other officers who served for brief interludes on the northern Plains have also received the attention of scholars. James T. King\u27s War Eagle: A Life of General Eugene A, Carr (1963) shows the varied experiences of a field commander in the West. Another book, larger in scope, is Richard N. Ellis\u27 General Pope and U.S. Indian Policy (1970) in which he described the development of a western department and division commander who changed from a militant to a humanitarian on the question of Indian policy. Two of the finest works to appear in recent years on the military and the Indians are from the pen of Robert M. Utley. In his excellent synthesis, Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1890 (1973), the author tried to reach a middle ground between the eastern humanitarian view of the soldier as butcher of Indians and the military\u27s picture of themselves as the advance guard of civilization. In an earlier work, The Last Days of the Sioux Nation (1963), Utley masterfully described the military and psychological conquest of the Sioux which culminated in the Ghost Dance delusion and the Wounded Knee tragedy of 1890-1891. In another recent book, James C. Olson\u27 s Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem (1965), the author took the story of Red Cloud\u27s people and described their transition from warriors to wards of the Government. In both Utley\u27s book on the Sioux and Olson\u27s book on Red Cloud, the point-of-view is primarily that of the Indians. General Alfred H. Terry appeared in all of the above works but only as a minor figure. And yet be was a significant individual who served for eighteen years during the critical period in the development of military-Sioux relations. He commanded the Department of Dakota from 1866 to 1869 and from 1873 to 1886 and the Division of the Missouri from 1886 to 1888. When Terry came to the northern Plains after the Civil War the Teton Sioux roamed Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana almost as they pleased. By the late 1880\u27s the Tetons had been relegated to a portion of South Dakota and forced to subscribe to the practices of the white man\u27s civilization. By using the general\u27s correspondence and reports as well as other materials, I have tried to determine his role in the decline of the Sioux. He held a true concern for the native American which was illustrated in his work of formulating and carrying out Indian policy. While top army officers moved from department to department, Terrv remained in Dakota. Through his long experience on the northern Plains the general was in an excellent position to make wise decisions on the management of Indian affairs. His keen legal mind and his humane character led him to seek the best treatment available for the Sioux in the context of late nineteenth century America