An S2 Fluorescence Model for Interpreting High-Resolution Cometary Spectra. I. Model Description and Initial Results

A new versatile model providing S2 fluorescence spectrum as a function of time is developed with the aim of interpreting high resolution cometary spectra. For the S2 molecule, it is important to take into account both chemical and dynamic processes because S2 has a short lifetime and is confined in the inner coma where these processes are most important. The combination of the fluorescence model with a global coma model allows for the comparison with observations of column densities taken through an aperture and for the analysis of S2 fluorescence in different parts of the coma. Moreover, the model includes the rotational structure of the molecule. Such a model is needed for interpreting recent high spectral resolution observations of cometary S2. A systematic study of the vibrational-rotational spectrum of S2 is undertaken, including relevant effects, such as non-equilibrium state superposition and the number density profile within the coma due to dynamics and chemistry, to investigate the importance of the above effects on the scale length and abundance of S2 in comets.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

The effective temperature scale of M dwarfs

Context. Despite their large number in the Galaxy, M dwarfs remain elusive objects and the modeling of their photosphere has long remained a challenge (molecular opacities, dust cloud formation). Aims. Our objectives are to validate the BT-Settl model at

Deciphering the evolution of the Milky Way discs: Gaia APOGEE Kepler giant stars and the Besançon Galaxy Model

[Context] Thanks to ongoing efforts to compute accurate stellar ages, we are able to characterise stars in different regions of the Milky Way. The Gaia and Kepler space-missions, along with ground-based spectroscopic surveys such as APOGEE, provide a unique way to study the chemo-kinematics relations as a function of age through the Galactic stellar populations and provide new constraints to Galactic evolution models. [Aims] We investigate the properties of the double sequences of the Milky Way discs visible in the [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H] diagram, which are usually associated to the chemical thin and thick discs at the solar circle. In the framework of Galactic formation and evolution, we discuss the complex relationships between age, metallicity, [α/Fe], and the radial, azimuthal, and vertical components of the space velocities. [Methods] We study stars with measured chemical and seismic properties from the APOGEE spectroscopic survey and the Kepler satellite, respectively. In addition, astrometry from the Gaia satellite is available for the majority of the sample. We separate the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] diagram into three stellar populations: the thin disc, the high-α metal-poor thick disc, and the high-α metal-rich thick disc and characterise each of these in the age-chemo-kinematics parameter space. Because of the model-dependent nature of the ages inferred from asteroseismology, and because they depend on the quality of the input spectroscopic information, we compare results obtained from different APOGEE data releases (DR14 and DR16). We also use age determinations from two recent works in the literature. In addition, we use the Besançon stellar populations synthesis model to highlight selection biases and mechanisms (such as mergers and secular evolution) not included in the model. [Results] The thin disc exhibits a flat age-metallicity relation while [α/Fe] increases with stellar age. We confirm no correlation between radial and vertical velocities with [Fe/H], [α/Fe], and age for each stellar population. Considering both samples, Vφ decreases with age for the thin disc, while Vφ increases with age for the high-α metal-poor thick disc. We show that this difference is not due to sample selection. Although the age distribution of the high-α metal-rich thick disc is very close to that of the high-α metal-poor thick disc between 7 and 14 Gyr, its kinematics seems to follow that of the thin disc. This feature, not predicted by the hypotheses included in the Besançon Galaxy Model, suggests a different origin and history for this population. Finally, we show that there is a maximum dispersion of the vertical velocity, σZ, with age for the high-α metal-poor thick disc around 8 Gyr. The comparisons with the Besançon Galaxy Model simulations suggest a more complex chemo-dynamical scheme to explain this feature, most likely including mergers and radial migration effects.F.F., A.F., R.M., M.R., T.A. acknowledge support by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University (MICIU/FEDER, UE) through grant RTI2018-095076-B-C21, the Institute of Cosmos Sciences University of Barcelona (ICCUB, Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”) through grant CEX2019-000918-M, the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship RYC2018-025968-I. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 800502. AM acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 772293 – project ASTEROCHRONOMETRY, https://www.asterochronometry.eu

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 stellar content of obscured Galactic giant H II regions. VI. W51A

We present K-band spectra of newly born OB stars in the obscured Galactic giant H II region W51A and approximate to 0.8 '' angular resolution images in the J, H, and K(S)-bands. Four objects have been spectroscopically classified as O-type stars. The mean spectroscopic parallax of the four stars gives a distance of 2.0 +/- 0.3 kpc (error in the mean), significantly smaller than the radio recombination line kinematic value of 5.5 kpc or the values derived from maser proper motion observations (6-8 kpc). The number of Lyman continuum photons from the contribution of all massive stars (NLyc approximate to 1.5 x 10(50) s(-1)) is in good agreement with that inferred from radio recombination lines (NLyc = 1.3 x 10(50) s(-1)) after accounting for the smaller distance derived here. We present analysis of archival high angular resolution images (NAOS CONICA at VLT and T-ReCS at Gemini) of the compact region W51 IRS 2. The K(S)-band images resolve the infrared source IRS 2 indicating that it is a very young compact H II region. Sources IRS 2E was resolved into compact cluster (within 660 AU of projected distance) of three objects, but one of them is just bright extended emission. W51d1 and W51d2 were identified with compact clusters of three objects (maybe four in the case of W51d1) each one. Although IRS 2E is the brightest source in the K-band and at 12.6 mu m, it is not clearly associated with a radio continuum source. Our spectrum of IRS 2E shows, similar to previous work, strong emission in Br gamma and He I, as well as three forbidden emission lines of Fe III and emission lines of molecular hydrogen (H(2)) marking it as a massive young stellar object