173 research outputs found
Astroinformatics of galaxies and quasars: a new general method for photometric redshifts estimation
With the availability of the huge amounts of data produced by current and
future large multi-band photometric surveys, photometric redshifts have become
a crucial tool for extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. In this paper we
present a novel method, called Weak Gated Experts (WGE), which allows to derive
photometric redshifts through a combination of data mining techniques.
\noindent The WGE, like many other machine learning techniques, is based on the
exploitation of a spectroscopic knowledge base composed by sources for which a
spectroscopic value of the redshift is available. This method achieves a
variance \sigma^2(\Delta z)=2.3x10^{-4} (\sigma^2(\Delta z) =0.08), where
\Delta z = z_{phot} - z_{spec}) for the reconstruction of the photometric
redshifts for the optical galaxies from the SDSS and for the optical quasars
respectively, while the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the \Delta z variable
distributions for the two experiments is respectively equal to 0.021 and 0.35.
The WGE provides also a mechanism for the estimation of the accuracy of each
photometric redshift. We also present and discuss the catalogs obtained for the
optical SDSS galaxies, for the optical candidate quasars extracted from the DR7
SDSS photometric dataset {The sample of SDSS sources on which the accuracy of
the reconstruction has been assessed is composed of bright sources, for a
subset of which spectroscopic redshifts have been measured.}, and for optical
SDSS candidate quasars observed by GALEX in the UV range. The WGE method
exploits the new technological paradigm provided by the Virtual Observatory and
the emerging field of Astroinformatics.Comment: 36 pages, 22 figures and 8 table
Identification of the infrared non-thermal emission in Blazars
Blazars constitute the most interesting and enigmatic class of extragalactic
gamma-ray sources dominated by non-thermal emission. In this Letter, we show
how the WISE infrared data make possible to identify a distinct region of the
[3.4]-[4.6]-[12] micron color-color diagram where the sources dominated by the
the thermal radiation are separated from those dominated by non-thermal
emission, in particular the blazar population. This infrared non-thermal region
delineated as the WISE Blazar Strip (WBS), it is a powerful new diagnostic tool
when the full WISE survey data is released. The WBS can be used to extract new
blazar candidates, to identify those of uncertain type and also to search for
the counterparts of unidentified gamma-ray sources. We show one example of the
value of the use of the WBS identifying the TeV source VER J 0648+152, recently
discovered by VERITAS.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Astrophysical Journal publishe
Unidentifed gamma-ray sources: hunting gamma-ray blazars
One of the main scientific objectives of the ongoing Fermi mission is
unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs). Despite the
large improvements of Fermi in the localization of gamma-ray sources with
respect to the past gamma-ray missions, about one third of the Fermi-detected
objects are still not associated to low energy counterparts. Recently, using
the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey, we discovered that
blazars, the rarest class of Active Galactic Nuclei and the largest population
of gamma-ray sources, can be recognized and separated from other extragalactic
sources on the basis of their infrared (IR) colors. Based on this result, we
designed an association method for the gamma-ray sources to reognize if there
is a blazar candidate within the positional uncertainty region of a generic
gamma-ray source. With this new IR diagnostic tool, we searched for gamma-ray
blazar candidates associated to the UGS sample of the second Fermi gamma-ray
catalog (2FGL). We found that our method associates at least one gamma-ray
blazar candidate as a counterpart each of 156 out of 313 UGSs analyzed. These
new low-energy candidates have the same IR properties as the blazars associated
to gamma-ray sources in the 2FGL catalog.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication on the Astrophysical
Journa
Low-mass X-ray binaries and globular clusters streamers and ARCS in NGC 4278
We report significant inhomogeneities in the projected two-dimensional spatial distributions of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and globular clusters (GCs) of the intermediate mass elliptical galaxy NGC 4278. In the inner region of NGC 4278, a significant arc-like excess of LMXBs extending south of the center at ∼50″ in the western side of the galaxy can be associated with a similar overdensity of the spatial distribution of red GCs from Brassington et al. Using a recent catalog of GCs produced by Usher et al. and covering the whole field of the NGC 4278 galaxy, we have discovered two other significant density structures outside the D 25 isophote to the W and E of the center of NGC 4278, associated with an overdensity and an underdensity, respectively. We discuss the nature of these structures in the context of the similar spatial inhomogeneities discovered in the LMXBs and GCs populations of NGC 4649 and NGC 4261, respectively. These features suggest streamers from disrupted and accreted dwarf companions.Peer reviewe
New blazars from the cross-match of recent multi-frequency catalogs
Blazars are radio-loud active galactic nuclei well known for their non
thermal emission spanning a wide range of frequencies. The Roma-BZCAT is, to
date, the most comprehensive list of these sources. We performed the
cross-match of several catalogs obtained from recent surveys at different
frequencies to search for new blazars. We cross-matched the 1 Swift-XRT
Point Source catalog with the spectroscopic sample of the 9 Data Release
of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Then, we performed further cross-matches with
the catalogs corresponding to the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm
survey and to the AllWISE Data release, focusing on sources with infrared
colors similar to those of confirmed -ray blazars included in the
Second Fermi-LAT catalog. As a result, we obtained a preliminary list of
objects with all the elements needed for a proper blazar classification
according to the prescriptions of the Roma-BZCAT. We carefully investigated
additional properties such as their morphology and the slope of their spectral
energy distribution in the radio domain, the features shown in their optical
spectrum, and the luminosity in the soft X rays to exclude generic active
galactic nuclei and focus on authentic blazar-like sources. At the end of our
screening we obtained a list of 15 objects with firmly established blazar
properties.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics
and Space Science on 2015 April 25. Corrected typo in Section
Unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources III: gamma-ray blazar-like counterparts at low radio frequencies
About one third of the gamma-ray sources listed in the second Fermi LAT
catalog (2FGL) have no firmly established counterpart at lower energies so
being classified as unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs). Here we propose a
new approach to find candidate counterparts for the UGSs based on the 325 MHz
radio survey performed with Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) in the
northern hemisphere. First we investigate the low-frequency radio properties of
blazars, the largest known population of gamma-ray sources; then we search for
sources with similar radio properties combining the information derived from
the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) with those of the NRAO VLA Sky
survey (NVSS). We present a list of candidate counterparts for 32 UGSs with at
least one counterpart in the WENSS. We also performed an extensive research in
literature to look for infrared and optical counterparts of the gamma-ray
blazar candidates selected with the low-frequency radio observations to confirm
their nature. On the basis of our multifrequency research we identify 23 new
gamma-ray blazar candidates out of 32 UGSs investigated. Comparison with
previous results on the UGSs are also presented. Finally, we speculate on the
advantages on the use of the low-frequency radio observations to associate UGSs
and to search for gamma-ray pulsar candidates.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, ApJS accepted for publication
(version pre-proof corrections
- …