71 research outputs found
An Integrated Decision-Support Information System on the Impact of Extreme Natural Hazards on Critical Infrastructure
In this paper, we introduce an Integrated Decision-Support Tool (IDST v2.0) which was developed as part of the INFRARISK project (https://www.infrarisk-fp7.eu/). The IDST is an online tool which demonstrates the implementation of a risk-based stress testing methodology for analyzing the potential impact of natural hazards on transport infrastructure networks. The IDST is enabled with a set of software workflow processes that allow the definition of multiple cascading natural hazards, geospatial coverage and impact on important large infrastructure, including those which are critical to transport networks in Europe. Stress tests on these infrastructure are consequently performed together with the automated generation of useful case study reports for practitioners. An exemplar stress test study using the IDST is provided in this paper. In this study, risks and consequences of an earthquake-triggered landslide scenario in Northern Italy is described. Further, it provides a step-by-step account of the developed stress testing overarching methodology which is applied to the impact on a road network of the region of interest
Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs: The Northern Sample I
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars (NStars)/
Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program to obtain spectra,
spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physical parameters for the 3600
dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs of the sun. In this
paper we report on the results of this project for the first 664 stars in the
northern hemisphere. These results include precise, homogeneous spectral types,
basic physical parameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity
and the overall metallicity, [M/H]) and measures of the chromospheric activity
of our program stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper are
also available on the project's website at http://stellar.phys.appstate.edu/
The Discovery of lambda Bootis Stars -- The Southern Survey II
The Boo stars are chemically peculiar A-type stars whose abundance
anomalies are associated with the accretion of metal-poor material. We searched
for Boo stars in the southern hemisphere in a targeted spectroscopic
survey of metal-weak and emission-line stars. Obtaining spectra for 308 stars
and classifying them on the MK system, we found or co-discovered 24 new
Boo stars. We also revised the classifications of 11 known
Boo stars, one of which turned out to be a chemically normal rapid rotator. We
show that stars previously classified in the literature as blue horizontal
branch stars or emission-line A stars have a high probability of being
Boo stars, although this conclusion is based on small-number
statistics. Using WISE infrared fluxes, we searched our targets for infrared
excesses that might be attributable to protoplanetary or debris discs as the
source of the accreted material. Of the 34 Boo stars in our sample,
21 at various main-sequence ages have infrared excesses, confirming that not
all Boo stars are young.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Figures do not have heavy reliance
on colour. Online data will be hosted with the journal / Vizier@CD
MG1-688432: A Peculiar Variable System
The short period variable star MG1-688432 has been discovered to exhibit
occasional extremely high energy optical outbursts as high as 10^31 joules.
Outbursts are typically of several hours duration. These events are often
highly structured, resembling sequential associated releases of energy. Twenty
years of time sequence photometry is presented, indicating a basic sinusoidal
light curve of mean period 6.65d, with some phase shifting and long-term
temporal trends in amplitude and mean brightness. Spectroscopy reveals a
peculiar star, best resembling a K3 subgiant that has evolved off the main
sequence moderately red-ward of the giant branch. Spectroscopic and radial
velocity analyses indicate a binary system orbiting its barycenter with an
unseen companion to the K3IV primary. This is not an eclipsing system with the
inclination of the orbit precluding eclipse by the secondary. The system is at
a distance of 1.5kpc and analysis of GAIA observations leads to the conclusion
that the HR diagram position of MG1-688432 is established by an intrinsic
feature of the system, most likely either the stellar evolutionary state of the
observed star or the presence of small (non-gray) dust within the system. Two
mechanisms that might give rise to the system are 1) impacts with tidally
disrupted planetary debris, and 2) magnetically induced chromospheric activity.
An intriguing idea that requires further investigation suggests that the unseen
companion is perhaps a white dwarf star which has encountered a planet and
tidally shredded it to produce a debris and dust veil that modulates the
brightness of the primary.Comment: 74 pages, 36 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal Supplemen
The Distance to SN 1999em from the Expanding Photosphere Method
We present optical and IR spectroscopy of the first two months of evolution
of the Type II SN 1999em. We combine these data with high-quality optical/IR
photometry beginning only three days after shock breakout, in order to study
the performance of the ``Expanding Photosphere Method'' (EPM) in the
determination of distances. With this purpose we develop a technique to measure
accurate photospheric velocities by cross-correlating observed and model
spectra. The application of this technique to SN 1999em shows that we can reach
an average uncertainty of 11% in velocity from an individual spectrum. Our
analysis shows that EPM is quite robust to the effects of dust. In particular,
the distances derived from the VI filters change by only 7% when the adopted
visual extinction in the host galaxy is varied by 0.45 mag. The superb time
sampling of the BVIZJHK light-curves of SN 1999em permits us to study the
internal consistency of EPM and test the dilution factors computed from
atmosphere models for Type II plateau supernovae. We find that, in the first
week since explosion, the EPM distances are up to 50% lower than the average,
possibly due the presence of circumstellar material. Over the following 65
days, on the other hand, our tests lend strong credence to the atmosphere
models, and confirm previous claims that EPM can produce consistent distances
without having to craft specific models to each supernova. This is particularly
true for the VI filters which yield distances with an internal consistency of
4%. From the whole set of BVIZJHK photometry, we obtain an average distance of
7.5+/-0.5 Mpc, where the quoted uncertainty (7%) is a conservative estimate of
the internal precision of the method obtained from the analysis of the first 70
days of the supernova evolution.Comment: 68 pages, 15 tables, 22 figures, to appear in Ap
The Young Solar Analogs Project. I. Spectroscopic and Photometric Methods and Multi-year Timescale Spectroscopic Results
This is the first in a series of papers presenting methods and results from the Young Solar Analogs Project, which began in 2007. This project monitors both spectroscopically and photometrically a set of 31 young (300–1500 Myr) solar-type stars with the goal of gaining insight into the space environment of the Earth during the period when life first appeared. From our spectroscopic observations we derive the Mount Wilson S chromospheric activity index (SMW), and describe the method we use to transform our instrumental indices to SMW without the need for a color term. We introduce three photospheric indices based on strong absorption features in the blue-violet spectrum—the G-band, the Ca i resonance line, and the Hydrogen-γ line—with the expectation that these indices might prove to be useful in detecting variations in the surface temperatures of active solar-type stars. We also describe our photometric program, and in particular our Superstar technique for differential photometry which, instead of relying on a handful of comparison stars, uses the photon flux in the entire star field in the CCD image to derive the program star magnitude. This enables photometric errors on the order of 0.005–0.007 magnitude. We present time series plots of our spectroscopic data for all four indices, and carry out extensive statistical tests on those time series demonstrating the reality of variations on timescales of years in all four indices. We also statistically test for and discover correlations and anti-correlations between the four indices. We discuss the physical basis of those correlations. As it turns out, the photospheric indices appear to be most strongly affected by emission in the Paschen continuum. We thus anticipate that these indices may prove to be useful proxies for monitoring emission in the ultraviolet Balmer continuum. Future papers in this series will discuss variability of the program stars on medium (days–months) and short (minutes to hours) timescales
Debris disks in main sequence binary systems
We observed 69 A3-F8 main sequence binary star systems using the Multiband
Imaging Photometer for Spitzer onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find
emission significantly in excess of predicted photospheric flux levels for
9(+4/-3)% and 40(+7/-6)% of these systems at 24 and 70 microns, respectively.
Twenty two systems total have excess emission, including four systems that show
excess emission at both wavelengths. A very large fraction (nearly 60%) of
observed binary systems with small (<3 AU) separations have excess thermal
mission. We interpret the observed infrared excesses as thermal emission from
dust produced by collisions in planetesimal belts. The incidence of debris
disks around main sequence A3-F8 binaries is marginally higher than that for
single old AFGK stars. Whatever combination of nature (birth conditions of
binary systems) and nurture (interactions between the two stars) drives the
evolution of debris disks in binary systems, it is clear that planetesimal
formation is not inhibited to any great degree. We model these dust disks
through fitting the spectral energy distributions and derive typical dust
temperatures in the range 100--200 K and typical fractional luminosities around
10^-5, with both parameters similar to other Spitzer-discovered debris disks.
Our calculated dust temperatures suggest that about half the excesses we
observe are derived from circumbinary planetesimal belts and around one third
of the excesses clearly suggest circumstellar material. Three systems with
excesses have dust in dynamically unstable regions, and we discuss possible
scenarios for the origin of this short-lived dust.Comment: ApJ, in press. 57 pages, including 7 figures (one of which is in
color
Overview of the LAMOST- project
The NASA mission obtained long-term high-quality photometric
observations for a large number of stars in its original field of view from
2009 to 2013. In order to provide reliable stellar parameters in a homogeneous
way, the LAMOST telescope began to carry out low-resolution spectroscopic
observations for as many stars as possible in the field in 2012. By
September 2018, 238,386 low-resolution spectra with SNR had been
collected for 155,623 stars in the field, enabling the determination
of atmospheric parameters and radial velocities, as well as spectral
classification of the target stars. This information has been used by
astronomers to carry out research in various fields, including stellar
pulsations and asteroseismology, exoplanets, stellar magnetic activity and
flares, peculiar stars and the Milky Way, binary stars, etc. We summarize the
research progress in these fields where the usage of data from the
LAMOST- (LK) project has played a role. In addition, time-domain
medium-resolution spectroscopic observations have been carried out for about
12,000 stars in four central plates of the field since 2018. The
currently available results show that the LAMOST- medium resolution
(LK-MRS) observations provide qualified data suitable for research in
additional science projects including binaries, high-amplitude pulsating stars,
etc. As LAMOST is continuing to collect both low- and medium-resolution spectra
of stars in the field, we expect more data to be released continuously
and new scientific results to appear based on the LK project data.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, RAA accepte
LAMOST Observations in 15 \textit{K}2 Campaigns: I. Low resolution spectra from LAMOST DR6
The LAMOST-\textit{K}2 (L\textit{K}2) project, initiated in 2015, aims to
collect low-resolution spectra of targets in the \textit{K}2 campaigns, similar
to LAMOST-\textit{Kepler} project. By the end of 2018, a total of 126
L\textit{K}2 plates had been observed by LAMOST. After cross-matching the
catalog of the LAMOST data release 6 (DR6) with that of the \textit{K}2
approved targets, we found 160,619 usable spectra of 84,012 objects, most of
which had been observed more than once. The effective temperature, surface
gravity, metallicity, and radial velocity from 129,974 spectra for 70,895
objects are derived through the LAMOST Stellar Parameter Pipeline (LASP). The
internal uncertainties were estimated to be 81 K, 0.15 dex, 0.09 dex and 5
kms, respectively, when derived from a spectrum with a signal-to-noise
ratio in the band (SNR) of 10. These estimates are based on results for
targets with multiple visits. The external accuracies were assessed by
comparing the parameters of targets in common with the APOGEE and GAIA surveys,
for which we generally found linear relationships. A final calibration is
provided, combining external and internal uncertainties for giants and dwarfs,
separately. We foresee that these spectroscopic data will be used widely in
different research fields, especially in combination with \textit{K}2
photometry.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables, accepted by ApJ
Lamost observations in the kepler field. I. Database of low-resolution spectra*
The nearly continuous light curves with micromagnitude precision provided by the space mission Kepler are revolutionizing our view of pulsating stars. They have revealed a vast sea of low-amplitude pulsation modes that were undetectable from Earth. The long time base of Kepler light curves allows for the accurate determination of the frequencies and amplitudes of pulsation modes needed for in-depth asteroseismic modeling. However, for an asteroseismic study to be successful, the first estimates of stellar parameters need to be known and they cannot be derived from the Kepler photometry itself. The Kepler Input Catalog provides values for the effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity, but not always with sufficient accuracy. Moreover, information on the chemical composition and rotation rate is lacking. We are collecting low-resolution spectra for objects in the Kepler field of view with the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST, Xinglong observatory, China). All of the requested fields have now been observed at least once. In this paper, we describe those observations and provide a useful database for the whole astronomical communit
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