125 research outputs found
Telescopes don't make catalogues!
Astronomical instruments make intensity measurements; any precise
astronomical experiment ought to involve modeling those measurements. People
make catalogues, but because a catalogue requires hard decisions about
calibration and detection, no catalogue can contain all of the information in
the raw pixels relevant to most scientific investigations. Here we advocate
making catalogue-like data outputs that permit investigators to test hypotheses
with almost the power of the original image pixels. The key is to provide users
with approximations to likelihood tests against the raw image pixels. We
advocate three options, in order of increasing difficulty: The first is to
define catalogue entries and associated uncertainties such that the catalogue
contains the parameters of an approximate description of the image-level
likelihood function. The second is to produce a K-catalogue sampling in
"catalogue space" that samples a posterior probability distribution of
catalogues given the data. The third is to expose a web service or equivalent
that can re-compute on demand the full image-level likelihood for any
user-supplied catalogue.Comment: presented at ELSA 2010: Gaia, at the frontiers of astrometr
The nature of massive black hole binary candidates - II. Spectral energy distribution atlas
Recoiling supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are considered one plausible physical mechanism to explain high velocity shifts between narrow and broad emission lines sometimes observed in quasar spectra. If the sphere of influence of the recoiling SMBH is such that only the accretion disc is bound, the dusty torus would be left behind, hence the SED should then present distinctive features (i.e. a mid-infrared deficit). Here, we present results from fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 32 type-1 AGN with high velocity shifts between broad and narrow lines. The aim is to find peculiar properties in the multiwavelength SEDs of such objects by comparing their physical parameters (torus and disc luminosity, intrinsic reddening, and size of the 12 μm emitter) with those estimated from a control sample of ∼1000 typical quasars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the same redshift range. We find that all sources, with the possible exception of J1154+0134, analysed here present a significant amount of 12 μm emission. This is in contrast with a scenario of an SMBH displaced from the centre of the galaxy, as expected for an undergoing recoil event
Approximate Bayesian computation in large-scale structure: constraining the galaxy-halo connection
FWN – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide
The Scale of Cosmic Isotropy
The most fundamental premise to the standard model of the universe, the
Cosmological Principle (CP), states that the large-scale properties of the
universe are the same in all directions and at all comoving positions.
Demonstrating this theoretical hypothesis has proven to be a formidable
challenge. The cross-over scale R_{iso} above which the galaxy distribution
becomes statistically isotropic is vaguely defined and poorly (if not at all)
quantified. Here we report on a formalism that allows us to provide an
unambiguous operational definition and an estimate of R_{iso}. We apply the
method to galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7,
finding that R_{iso}\sim 150h^{-1} Mpc. Besides providing a consistency test of
the Copernican principle, this result is in agreement with predictions based on
numerical simulations of the spatial distribution of galaxies in cold dark
matter dominated cosmological models.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted by JCAP. The text matches the published
versio
Model- and calibration-independent test of cosmic acceleration
We present a calibration-independent test of the accelerated expansion of the
universe using supernova type Ia data. The test is also model-independent in
the sense that no assumptions about the content of the universe or about the
parameterization of the deceleration parameter are made and that it does not
assume any dynamical equations of motion. Yet, the test assumes the universe
and the distribution of supernovae to be statistically homogeneous and
isotropic. A significant reduction of systematic effects, as compared to our
previous, calibration-dependent test, is achieved. Accelerated expansion is
detected at significant level (4.3 sigma in the 2007 Gold sample, 7.2 sigma in
the 2008 Union sample) if the universe is spatially flat. This result depends,
however, crucially on supernovae with a redshift smaller than 0.1, for which
the assumption of statistical isotropy and homogeneity is less well
established.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, major change
Neutrino Decays over Cosmological Distances and the Implications for Neutrino Telescopes
We discuss decays of ultra-relativistic neutrinos over cosmological distances
by solving the decay equation in terms of its redshift dependence. We
demonstrate that there are significant conceptual differences compared to more
simplified treatments of neutrino decay. For instance, the maximum distance the
neutrinos have traveled is limited by the Hubble length, which means that the
common belief that longer neutrino lifetimes can be probed by longer distances
does not apply. As a consequence, the neutrino lifetime limit from supernova
1987A cannot be exceeded by high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. We discuss the
implications for neutrino spectra and flavor ratios from gamma-ray bursts as
one example of extragalactic sources, using up-to-date neutrino flux
predictions. If the observation of SN 1987A implies that \nu_1 is stable and
the other mass eigenstates decay with rates much smaller than their current
bounds, the muon track rate can be substantially suppressed compared to the
cascade rate in the region IceCube is most sensitive to. In this scenario, no
gamma-ray burst neutrinos may be found using muon tracks even with the full
scale experiment, whereas reliable information on high-energy astrophysical
sources can only be obtained from cascade measurements. As another consequence,
the recently observed two cascade event candidates at PeV energies will not be
accompanied by corresponding muon tracks.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Matches published versio
Non-detection of a statistically anisotropic power spectrum in large-scale structure
We search a sample of photometric luminous red galaxies (LRGs) measured by
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for a quadrupolar anisotropy in the
primordial power spectrum, in which P(\vec{k}) is an isotropic power spectrum
P(k) multiplied by a quadrupolar modulation pattern. We first place limits on
the 5 coefficients of a general quadrupole anisotropy. We also consider
axisymmetric quadrupoles of the form P(\vec{k}) = P(k){1 +
g_*[(\hat{k}\cdot\hat{n})^2-1/3]} where \hat{n} is the axis of the anisotropy.
When we force the symmetry axis \hat{n} to be in the direction (l,b)=(94
degrees,26 degrees) identified in the recent Groeneboom et al. analysis of the
cosmic microwave background, we find g_*=0.006+/-0.036 (1 sigma). With uniform
priors on \hat{n} and g_* we find that -0.41<g_*<+0.38 with 95% probability,
with the wide range due mainly to the large uncertainty of asymmetries aligned
with the Galactic Plane. In none of these three analyses do we detect evidence
for quadrupolar power anisotropy in large scale structure.Comment: 23 pages; 10 figures; 3 tables; replaced with version published in
JCAP (added discussion of scale-varying quadrupolar anisotropy
Selection functions in astronomical data modeling, with the space density of white dwarfs as a worked example
Stars and planetary system
Finding, Characterizing, and Classifying Variable Sources in Multi-epoch Sky Surveys: QSOs and RR Lyrae in PS1 3π data
In area and depth, the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) 3π survey is unique among many-epoch, multi-band surveys and has enormous potential for the all-sky identification of variable sources. PS1 has observed the sky typically seven times in each of its five bands (grizy) over 3.5 years, but unlike SDSS, not simultaneously across the bands. Here we develop a new approach for quantifying statistical properties of non-simultaneous, sparse, multi-color light curves through light curve structure functions, effectively turning PS1 into a ~35-epoch survey. We use this approach to estimate variability amplitudes and timescales (ωr, τ) for all point sources brighter than rP1 = 21.5 mag in the survey. With PS1 data on SDSS Stripe 82 as "ground truth," we use a Random Forest Classifier to identify QSOs and RR Lyrae based on their variability and their mean PS1 and WISE colors. We find that, aside from the Galactic plane, QSO and RR Lyrae samples of purity ~75% and completeness ~92% can be selected. On this basis we have identified a sample of ~1,000,000 QSO candidates, as well as an unprecedentedly large and deep sample of ~150,000 RR Lyrae candidates with distances from ~10 to ~120 kpc. Within the Draco dwarf spheroidal, we demonstrate a distance precision of 6% for RR Lyrae candidates. We provide a catalog of all likely variable point sources and likely QSOs in PS1, a total of 25.8 × 106 sources
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