279 research outputs found
Newly Discovered RR Lyrae Stars in the SDSSXPanXSTARRS1XCatalina Footprint
We present the detection of 6,371 RR Lyrae (RRL) stars distributed across
~14,000 deg^2 of the sky from the combined data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (PS1), and
the second photometric catalogue from the Catalina Survey (CSDR2), out of
these, ~2,021 RRL stars (~572 RRab and 1,449 RRc) are new discoveries. The RRL
stars have heliocentric distances in the 4--28 kpc distance range. RRL-like
color cuts from the SDSS and variability cuts from the PS1 are used to cull our
candidate list. We then use the CSDR2 multi-epoch data to refine our sample.
Periods were measured using the Analysis of Variance technique while the
classification process is performed with the Template Fitting Method in
addition to the visual inspection of the light curves. A cross-match of our RRL
star discoveries with previous published catalogs of RRL stars yield
completeness levels of ~50% for both RRab and RRc stars, and an efficiency of
~99% and ~87% for RRab and RRc stars, respectively. We show that our method for
selecting RRL stars allows us to recover halo structures. The full lists of all
the RRL stars are made publicly available.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Accepted 2014 March 30. Received 2014 March 12;
in original form 2013 November 2
Brown Dwarfs in Young Moving Groups from Pan-STARRS1. I. AB Doradus
Substellar members of young (150 Myr) moving groups are valuable
benchmarks to empirically define brown dwarf evolution with age and to study
the low-mass end of the initial mass function. We have combined Pan-STARRS1
(PS1) proper motions with opticalIR photometry from PS1, 2MASS and
to search for substellar members of the AB Dor Moving Group
within 50 pc and with spectral types of late-M to early-L,
corresponding to masses down to 30 M at the age of the group
(125 Myr). Including both photometry and proper motions allows us to
better select candidates by excluding field dwarfs whose colors are similar to
young AB~Dor Moving Group members. Our near-IR spectroscopy has identified six
ultracool dwarfs (M6L4; 30100 M) with intermediate
surface gravities (INT-G) as candidate members of the AB Dor Moving Group. We
find another two candidate members with spectra showing hints of youth but
consistent with field gravities. We also find four field brown dwarfs
unassociated with the AB Dor Moving Group, three of which have INT-G gravity
classification. While signatures of youth are present in the spectra of our
125 Myr objects, neither their nor colors are
significantly redder than field dwarfs with the same spectral types, unlike
younger ultracool dwarfs. We also determined PS1 parallaxes for eight of our
candidates and one previously identified AB Dor Moving Group candidate.
Although radial velocities (and parallaxes, for some) are still needed to fully
assess membership, these new objects provide valuable insight into the spectral
characteristics and evolution of young brown dwarfs.Comment: ApJ, accepte
Observational Constraints on the Catastrophic Disruption Rate of Small Main Belt Asteroids
We have calculated 90% confidence limits on the steady-state rate of
catastrophic disruptions of main belt asteroids in terms of the absolute
magnitude at which one catastrophic disruption occurs per year (HCL) as a
function of the post-disruption increase in brightness (delta m) and subsequent
brightness decay rate (tau). The confidence limits were calculated using the
brightest unknown main belt asteroid (V = 18.5) detected with the Pan-STARRS1
(Pan-STARRS1) telescope. We measured the Pan-STARRS1's catastrophic disruption
detection efficiency over a 453-day interval using the Pan-STARRS moving object
processing system (MOPS) and a simple model for the catastrophic disruption
event's photometric behavior in a small aperture centered on the catastrophic
disruption event. Our simplistic catastrophic disruption model suggests that
delta m = 20 mag and 0.01 mag d-1 < tau < 0.1 mag d-1 which would imply that H0
= 28 -- strongly inconsistent with H0,B2005 = 23.26 +/- 0.02 predicted by
Bottke et al. (2005) using purely collisional models. We postulate that the
solution to the discrepancy is that > 99% of main belt catastrophic disruptions
in the size range to which this study was sensitive (100 m) are not
impact-generated, but are instead due to fainter rotational breakups, of which
the recent discoveries of disrupted asteroids P/2013 P5 and P/2013 R3 are
probable examples. We estimate that current and upcoming asteroid surveys may
discover up to 10 catastrophic disruptions/year brighter than V = 18.5.Comment: 61 Pages, 10 Figures, 3 Table
Zooming In on the Progenitors of Superluminous Supernovae With the HST
We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) rest-frame ultraviolet imaging of the
host galaxies of 16 hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), including
11 events from the Pan-STARRS Medium Deep Survey. Taking advantage of the
superb angular resolution of HST, we characterize the galaxies' morphological
properties, sizes and star formation rate (SFR) densities. We determine the
supernova (SN) locations within the host galaxies through precise astrometric
matching, and measure physical and host-normalized offsets, as well as the SN
positions within the cumulative distribution of UV light pixel brightness. We
find that the host galaxies of H-poor SLSNe are irregular, compact dwarf
galaxies, with a median half-light radius of just 0.9 kpc. The UV-derived SFR
densities are high ( ~ 0.1 M_sun/yr/kpc^2), suggesting that SLSNe
form in overdense environments. Their locations trace the UV light of their
host galaxies, with a distribution intermediate between that of long-duration
gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) (which are strongly clustered on the brightest regions
of their hosts) and a uniform distribution (characteristic of normal
core-collapse SNe), though cannot be statistically distinguished from either
with the current sample size. Taken together, this strengthens the picture that
SLSN progenitors require different conditions than those of ordinary
core-collapse SNe to form, and that they explode in broadly similar galaxies as
do LGRBs. If the tendency for SLSNe to be less clustered on the brightest
regions than are LGRBs is confirmed by a larger sample, this would indicate a
different, potentially lower-mass progenitor for SLSNe than LRGBs.Comment: ApJ in press; matches published version. Minor changes following
referee's comments; conclusions unchange
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