157 research outputs found
Wavelength self-calibration and sky subtraction for Fabry–Pérot interferometers: applications to OSIRIS
We describe techniques concerning wavelength calibration and sky subtraction to maximize the scientific utility of data from tunable filter instruments. While we specifically address data from the Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy instrument (OSIRIS) on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias telescope, our discussion is generalizable to data from other tunable filter instruments. A key aspect of our methodology is a coordinate transformation to polar coordinates, which simplifies matters when the tunable filter data are circularly symmetric around the optical centre. First, we present a method for rectifying inaccuracies in the wavelength calibration using OH sky emission rings. Using this technique, we improve the absolute wavelength calibration from an accuracy of ∼5 to 1 Å, equivalent to ∼7 per cent of our instrumental resolution, for 95 per cent of our data. Then, we discuss a new way to estimate the background sky emission by median filtering in polar coordinates. This method suppresses contributions to the sky background from the outer envelopes of distant galaxies, maximizing the fluxes of sources measured in the corresponding sky-subtracted images. We demonstrate for data tuned to a central wavelength of 7615 Å that galaxy fluxes in the new sky-subtracted image are ∼37 per cent higher, versus a sky-subtracted image from existing methods for OSIRIS tunable filter data
The Evolved Stellar Content of NGC 147, NGC 185, and NGC 205
Broad-band near-infrared images are used to probe the photometric properties
of the brightest asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars within 2 arcminutes of the
centers of the dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147, NGC 185, and NGC 205. Based
on the peak brightness and color of the M giant sequences, ages of 1 Gyr and
0.1 Gyr are predicted for the most recent significant star forming events in
NGC 185 and NGC 205, respectively. The brightest AGB stars in NGC 147 indicate
that the most recent significant star-forming activity in that galaxy occured
\~3 Gyr in the past. The specific frequency of C stars outside of the areas of
most recent star formation is found to agree in all three galaxies. The
fractional contribution made by C stars to the total AGB light in the K-band is
found to be highest in NGC 147 and lowest in the central regions of NGC 205,
which is qualitatively consistent with model predictions. The fractional
contribution that C stars make to the total K-band light is found to be
constant both within and between galaxies, with C stars contributing 2% of the
total K-band light. It is concluded that, when averaged over timescales of a
few Gyr, these galaxies have turned similar fractions of gas and dust,
normalised according to total galaxy mass, into stars.Comment: To appear in the Astronomical Journa
Cosmological Equation of State and Interacting Energies
In this paper we study a model of cosmic evolution, assuming that the
different components of the universe could interact between them any time. An
effective equation of state (EOS) for the universe has been used as well. A
particular function for w, which gives a good agreement between our results and
the experimental data, has been studied. Finally, the model obtained has been
applied to different important cases
On the stellar populations in NGC 185 and NGC 205, and the nuclear star cluster in NGC 205 from Hubble Space Telescope observations
[Abridged] We present a first detailed analysis of resolved stellar
populations in the dwarf galaxies NGC 185 and NGC 205 based on archival V- and
I-band WFPC2 pointings. For NGC 185 we deduce that star formation was probably
still active about 4 x 10^8 yr ago. Key abundance-related results are: (1) We
identify ancient stars with [Fe/H] <~ -1.5 dex by a well-defined horizontal
branch (HB). (2) We find a prominent RGB/ faint-AGB clump/ bump- like feature
with the same mean V-band magnitude as the HB, within uncertainties; from a
comparison with theory, ancient stars have [Fe/H] ~ -1.5 dex, with a higher
abundance level for intermediate-age stars. (3) From colour information we
infer that the median [Fe/H] > -1.11 +/- 0.08 dex for ancient stars. For NGC
205, we record (m-M)o = 24.76 +/- 0.1 mag, based on the RGB I-band tip
magnitude method. We find that stars were probably still forming less than 3 x
10^8 yr ago, which is compatible with star formation triggered by an
interaction with M31. Key abundance-related results are: (1) The RGB/ faint-AGB
is significantly skewed to redder values than that of a control field in the
outskirts of M31; it probably results from a relatively narrow metallicity and
or age range for a significant fraction of the dwarf's stars. (2) For ancient
stars we infer from colour information that the median [Fe/H] > -1.06+/-0.04
dex. We briefly compare the stellar populations of NGC 205, NGC 185 and NGC
147.
Finally, we find an apparent blue excess in the outer region of the nuclear
star cluster in NGC 205. It is as compact as a typical galactic globular
cluster, but is quite bright (10^6 L_solar,R); and by matching its blue colour
with models, its stellar population is young, up to a few times 10^8 yr old.Comment: To appear in the May edition of the Astronomical Journal. Some
figures have been degraded in quality for the purpose of submissio
The linearization method and new classes of exact solutions in cosmology
We develop a method for constructing exact cosmological solutions of the
Einstein equations based on representing them as a second-order linear
differential equation. In particular, the method allows using an arbitrary
known solution to construct a more general solution parameterized by a set of
3\textit{N} constants, where \textit{N} is an arbitrary natural number. The
large number of free parameters may prove useful for constructing a theoretical
model that agrees satisfactorily with the results of astronomical observations.
Cosmological solutions on the Randall-Sundrum brane have similar properties. We
show that three-parameter solutions in the general case already exhibit
inflationary regimes. In contrast to previously studied two-parameter
solutions, these three-parameter solutions can describe an exit from inflation
without a fine tuning of the parameters and also several consecutive
inflationary regimes.Comment: 7 page
Herschel Far-IR counterparts of SDSS galaxies: Analysis of commonly used Star Formation Rate estimates
We study a hundred of galaxies from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky
Survey with individual detections in the Far-Infrared Herschel PACS bands (100
or 160 m) and in the GALEX Far-UltraViolet band up to z0.4 in the
COSMOS and Lockman Hole fields. The galaxies are divided into 4 spectral and 4
morphological types. For the star forming and unclassifiable galaxies we
calculate dust extinctions from the UV slope, the H/H ratio and
the ratio. There is a tight correlation between the
dust extinction and both and metallicity. We calculate
SFR and compare it with other SFR estimates (H, UV, SDSS)
finding a very good agreement between them with smaller dispersions than
typical SFR uncertainties. We study the effect of mass and metallicity, finding
that it is only significant at high masses for SFR. For the AGN and
composite galaxies we find a tight correlation between SFR and L
(0.29), while the dispersion in the SFR - L relation is
larger (0.57). The galaxies follow the prescriptions of the
Fundamental Plane in the M-Z-SFR space.Comment: 24 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
JPCam: A 1.2Gpixel camera for the J-PAS survey
JPCam is a 14-CCD mosaic camera, using the new e2v 9k-by-9k 10microm-pixel
16-channel detectors, to be deployed on a dedicated 2.55m wide-field telescope
at the OAJ (Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre) in Aragon, Spain. The
camera is designed to perform a Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) survey of
the northern sky. The J-PAS survey strategy will use 54 relatively narrow-band
(~13.8nm) filters equi-spaced between 370 and 920nm plus 3 broad-band filters
to achieve unprecedented photometric red-shift accuracies for faint galaxies
over ~8000 square degrees of sky. The cryostat, detector mosaic and read
electronics is being supplied by e2v under contract to J-PAS while the
mechanical structure, housing the shutter and filter assembly, is being
designed and constructed by a Brazilian consortium led by INPE (Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais). Four sets of 14 filters are placed in the
ambient environment, just above the dewar window but directly in line with the
detectors, leading to a mosaic having ~10mm gaps between each CCD. The massive
500mm aperture shutter is expected to be supplied by the Argelander-Institut
fur Astronomie, Bonn. We will present an overview of JPCam, from the filter
configuration through to the CCD mosaic camera. A brief outline of the main
J-PAS science projects will be included.Comment: 11 pages and 9 figure
Advanced localization of massive black hole coalescences with LISA
The coalescence of massive black holes is one of the primary sources of
gravitational waves (GWs) for LISA. Measurements of the GWs can localize the
source on the sky to an ellipse with a major axis of a few tens of arcminutes
to a few degrees, depending on source redshift, and a minor axis which is 2--4
times smaller. The distance (and thus an approximate redshift) can be
determined to better than a per cent for the closest sources we consider,
although weak lensing degrades this performance. It will be of great interest
to search this three-dimensional `pixel' for an electromagnetic counterpart to
the GW event. The presence of a counterpart allows unique studies which combine
electromagnetic and GW information, especially if the counterpart is found
prior to final merger of the holes. To understand the feasibility of early
counterpart detection, we calculate the evolution of the GW pixel with time. We
find that the greatest improvement in pixel size occurs in the final day before
merger, when spin precession effects are maximal. The source can be localized
to within 10 square degrees as early as a month before merger at ; for
higher redshifts, this accuracy is only possible in the last few days.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, version published in Classical and Quantum
Gravity (special issue for proceedings of 7th International LISA Symposium
Unveiling Far-Infrared Counterparts of Bright Submillimeter Galaxies Using PACS Imaging
We present a search for Herschel-PACS counterparts of dust-obscured,
high-redshift objects previously selected at submillimeter and millimeter
wavelengths in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North field. We
detect 22 of 56 submillimeter galaxies (39%) with a SNR of >=3 at 100 micron
down to 3.0 mJy, and/or at 160 micron down to 5.7 mJy. The fraction of SMGs
seen at 160 micron is higher than that at 100 micron. About 50% of
radio-identified SMGs are associated with PACS sources. We find a trend between
the SCUBA/PACS flux ratio and redshift, suggesting that these flux ratios could
be used as a coarse redshift indicator. PACS undetected submm/mm selected
sources tend to lie at higher redshifts than the PACS detected ones. A total of
12 sources (21% of our SMG sample) remain unidentified and the fact that they
are blank fields at Herschel-PACS and VLA 20 cm wavelength may imply higher
redshifts for them than for the average SMG population (e.g., z>3-4). The
Herschel-PACS imaging of these dust-obscured starbursts at high-redshifts
suggests that their far-infrared spectral energy distributions have
significantly different shapes than template libraries of local infrared
galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. ApJ Letters in pres
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