Gemini spectroscopy of the outer disk star cluster BH176

BH176 is an old metal-rich star cluster. It is spatially and kinematically consistent with belonging to the Monoceros Ring. It is larger in size and more distant from the Galactic plane than typical open clusters, and it does not belong to the Galactic bulge. Our aim is to determine the origin of this unique object by accurately determining its distance, metallicity, and age. The best way to reach this goal is to combine spectroscopic and photometric methods. We present medium-resolution observations of red clump and red giant branch stars in BH176 obtained with the Gemini South Multi-Object Spectrograph.We derive radial velocities, metallicities, effective temperatures, and surface gravities of the observed stars and use these parameters to distinguish member stars from field objects. We determine the following parameters for BH176: $V_h= 0\pm 15$ km/s, $[Fe/H]=-0.1\pm 0.1$, age $7\pm 0.5$ Gyr, $E(V-I)=0.79\pm 0.03$, distance $15.2\pm 0.2$ kpc, $\alpha$-element abundance $[\alpha/Fe] \sim 0.25$ dex (the mean of [Mg/Fe], and [Ca/Fe]). BH176 is a member of old Galactic open clusters that presumably belong to the thick disk. It may have originated as a massive star cluster after the encounter of the forming thin disk with a high-velocity gas cloud or as a satellite dwarf galaxy.Comment: 15 pages, 7 fufures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

CMB signal in WMAP 3yr data with FastICA

We present an application of the fast Independent Component Analysis (FastICA) to the WMAP 3yr data with the goal of extracting the CMB signal. We evaluate the confidence of our results by means of Monte Carlo simulations including CMB, foreground contaminations and instrumental noise specific of each WMAP frequency band. We perform a complete analysis involving all or a subset of the WMAP channels in order to select the optimal combination for CMB extraction, using the frequency scaling of the reconstructed component as a figure of merit. We found that the combination KQVW provides the best CMB frequency scaling, indicating that the low frequency foreground contamination in Q, V and W bands is better traced by the emission in the K band. The CMB angular power spectrum is recovered up to the degree scale, it is consistent within errors for all WMAP channel combination considered, and in close agreement with the WMAP 3yr results. We perform a statistical analysis of the recovered CMB pattern, and confirm the sky asymmetry reported in several previous works with independent techniques.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA

Physical Properties, Star Formation, and Active Galactic Nucleus Activity in Balmer Break Galaxies at 0 < z < 1

We present a spectroscopic study with the derivation of the physical properties of 37 Balmer break galaxies, which have the necessary lines to locate them in star-forming-AGN diagnostic diagrams. These galaxies span a redshift range from 0.045 to 0.93 and are somewhat less massive than similar samples of previous works. The studied sample has multiwavelength photometric data coverage from the ultraviolet to MIR Spitzer bands. We investigate the connection between star formation and AGN activity via optical, mass-excitation (MEx) and MIR diagnostic diagrams. Through optical diagrams, 31 (84%) star-forming galaxies, 2 (5%) composite galaxies and 3 (8%) AGNs were classified, whereas from the MEx diagram only one galaxy was classified as AGN. A total of 19 galaxies have photometry available in all the IRAC/Spitzer bands. Of these, 3 AGN candidates were not classified as AGN in the optical diagrams, suggesting they are dusty/obscured AGNs, or that nuclear star formation has diluted their contributions. Furthermore, the relationship between SFR surface density (\Sigma_{SFR}) and stellar mass surface density per time unit (\Sigma_{M_{\ast}/\tau}) as a function of redshift was investigated using the [OII] \lambda3727, 3729, H\alpha \lambda6563 luminosities, which revealed that both quantities are larger for higher redshift galaxies. We also studied the SFR and SSFR versus stellar mass and color relations, with the more massive galaxies having higher SFR values but lower SSFR values than less massive galaxies. These results are consistent with previous ones showing that, at a given mass, high-redshift galaxies have on average larger SFR and SSFR values than low-redshift galaxies. Finally, bluer galaxies have larger SSFR values than redder galaxies and for a given color the SSFR is larger for higher redshift galaxies.Comment: preprint version, 36 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Active galactic nuclei, gravitational redshifts, and cosmological tensions

Gravitational redshift is a classical effect of Einstein's General Relativity, already measured in stars, quasars and clusters of galaxies. We here identify the signature of gravitational redshift in the emission lines of active galaxies due to supermassive black holes and discuss their impact on cosmological inference from type Ia supernovae. Firstly, from the full width at half maximum of $H_{\beta}$ lines of 75 Seyfert type I galaxies of the AGN Black Hole Mass Database, we derive a gravitational redshift $z_g = (2.4 \pm 0.9) \times 10^{-4}$. Expanding this analysis to 86755 quasars from DR14 of SDSS we have a mean value $z_g \approx 2.7 \times 10^{-4}$. Then, by comparing the redshifts of 34 lines measured at the central and outer regions of LINER galaxies in the SAMI survey we obtain $z_g = (0.68 \pm 0.09) \times 10^{-4}$. These numbers are compatible with central black holes of $\approx 10^9$ solar masses and broad line regions of $\approx 1$~pc. For non-AGN galaxies the gravitational redshift is compatible with zero and, as they constitute most of SNe Ia host galaxies, the impact on the cosmological parameters is negligible.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

A CH star in the globular cluster NGC 6426

We report on the serendipitous discovery of a carbon star near the centre of the low-metallicity globular cluster NGC 6426. We determined its membership and chemical properties using medium-resolution spectra. The radial velocity of -159 km/s makes it a member of the cluster. We used photometric data from the literature and the COMARCS stellar atmospheric models to derive its luminosity, effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, and approximate C, N, and O abundance ratios. According to these properties, we suggest that this star is a genuine carbon rich low-metallicity AGB star.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA

Multicolor photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies

We present BVI photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies and narrow band H-alpha images for six of these objects as well. The results indicate that the luminosity sample distribution has an amplitude of almost 4 magnitudes with an average of M_B=-20.7. The observed morphologies are confined to early type galaxies. A barred structure is found in only 2 objects. Despite that early morphological types are dominant in this sample, integrated (B-V) colors are very blue. For instance, the SO galaxies show, on average, a (B-V)=0.78. This effect seems to be caused by the luminosity contribution of the active nucleus and/or the disk to the total luminosity of the galaxy. In the B band, the contribution of the active galactic nucleus to the total luminosity of the galaxy varies from 3% to almost 60% and the bulge to disk luminosity ratio (L_bulge/L_disk) ranges from 0.6 to 22. Signs of tidal interactions seems to be a common characteristic since they are observed in 6 of the objects and one of them seems to be located in a poor cluster not yet identified in the literature. H_alpha extended emission is rare, with only 1 galaxy showing clear evidence of it. Luminosity profile decomposition shows that the model Gauss + bulge + disk properly reproduces the surface brightness of the galaxies. However, in order to account for the luminosity profile, most of the disk galaxies needs the inner truncated exponential form with a central cutoff radius ranging from 3 to 10 kpc. This is interpreted in terms of reddened regions that are well identified in the B-V color maps. These regions present very similar colors among them, with (B-V)~1.2. This fact could be associated to the presence of dust confined in the inner regions of the galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 25 figures. Accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic

Degradation of Cdc25A by \u3b2-TrCP during S phase and in response to DNA damage

The Cdc25A phosphatase is essential for cell-cycle progression because of its function in dephosphorylating cyclin-dependent kinases. In response to DNA damage or stalled replication, the ATM and ATR protein kinases activate the checkpoint kinases Chk1 and Chk2, which leads to hyperphosphorylation of Cdc25A1\u20133. These events stimulate the ubiquitin-mediated pro- teolysis of Cdc25A1,4,5 and contribute to delaying cell-cycle progression, thereby preventing genomic instability1\u20137. Here we report that b-TrCP is the F-box protein that targets phosphory- lated Cdc25A for degradation by the Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein complex. Downregulation of b-TrCP1 and b-TrCP2 expression by short interfering RNAs causes an accumulation of Cdc25A in cells progressing through S phase and prevents the degradation of Cdc25A induced by ionizing radiation, indicating that b-TrCP may function in the intra-S-phase checkpoint. Consistent with this hypothesis, suppression of b-TrCP expression results in radioresistant DNA synthesis in response to DNA damage\u2014a phenotype indicative of a defect in the intra-S-phase checkpoint that is associated with an inability to regulate Cdc25A properly. Our results show that b-TrCP has a crucial role in mediating the response to DNA damage through Cdc25A degradation