34 research outputs found
LSDCat: Detection and cataloguing of emission-line sources in integral-field spectroscopy datacubes
We present a robust, efficient, and user-friendly algorithm for detecting
faint emission-line sources in large integral-field spectroscopic datacubes
together with the public release of the software package LSDCat (Line Source
Detection and Cataloguing). LSDCat uses a 3-dimensional matched filter
approach, combined with thresholding in signal-to-noise, to build a catalogue
of individual line detections. In a second pass, the detected lines are grouped
into distinct objects, and positions, spatial extents, and fluxes of the
detected lines are determined. LSDCat requires only a small number of input
parameters, and we provide guidelines for choosing appropriate values. The
software is coded in Python and capable to process very large datacubes in a
short time. We verify the implementation with a source insertion and recovery
experiment utilising a real datacube taken with the MUSE instrument at the ESO
Very Large Telescope.Comment: 14 pages. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The
LSDCat software is available at https://bitbucket.org/Knusper2000/lsdcat, v2
corrected typos and language editin
An IFU investigation of possible Lyman continuum escape from Mrk 71/NGC 2366
Mrk 71/NGC 2366 is the closest Green Pea (GP) analog and candidate Lyman
Continuum (LyC) emitter. Recently, 11 LyC-leaking GPs have been detected
through direct observations of the ionizing continuum, making this the most
abundant class of confirmed LyC-emitters at any redshift. High resolution,
multi-wavelength studies of GPs can lead to an understanding of the method(s),
through which LyC escapes from these galaxies. The proximity of Mrk 71/NCG 2366
offers unprecedented detail on the inner workings of a GP analog, and enables
us to identify the mechanisms of LyC escape. We use 5825-7650{\AA} integral
field unit PMAS observations to study the kinematics and physical conditions in
Mrk 71. An electron density map is obtained from the [S II] ratio. A fortuitous
second order contamination by the [O II]3727 doublet enables the construction
of an electron temperature map. Resolved maps of sound speed, thermal
broadening, "true" velocity dispersion, and Mach number are obtained and
compared to the high resolution magneto-hydrodynamic SILCC simulations. Two
regions of increased velocity dispersion indicative of outflows are detected to
the north and south of the super star cluster, knot B, with redshifted and
blueshifted velocities, respectively. We confirm the presence of a faint broad
kinematical component, which is seemingly decoupled from the outflow regions,
and is fainter and narrower than previously reported in the literature. Within
uncertainties, the low- and high-ionization gas move together. Outside of the
core of Mrk 71, an increase in Mach numbers is detected, implying a decrease in
gas density. Simulations suggest this drop in density can be as high as ~4 dex,
down to almost optically thin levels, which would imply a non-zero LyC escape
fraction along the outflows... [abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 17 pages, 16 figures, 4 table
Deciphering Lyman blob 1 with deep MUSE observations
Context: Lyman blobs (LABs) are large-scale radio-quiet Lyman
(Ly) nebula at high- that occur predominantly in overdense
proto-cluster regions. Especially the prototypical SSA22a-LAB1 at has
become an observational reference for LABs across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Aims: We want to understand the powering mechanisms that drive the LAB to
gain empirical insights into galaxy formation processes within a rare dense
environment at high-.
Methods: LAB 1 was observed for 17.5h with the VLT/MUSE integral-field
spectrograph. We produced optimally extracted narrow band images in Ly
and HeII . By using a moment based analysis we
mapped the kinematics of the blob.
Results: We detect Ly emission to surface-brightness limits of
erg scmarcsec. At this depth we reveal a bridge
between LAB 1 and its northern neighbour LAB 8, as well as a shell-like
filament towards the south of LAB 1. We find a coherent large scale east-west
1000 km s velocity gradient that is aligned perpendicular to the
major axis of the blob. We detect HeII emission in three distinct regions, but
we can only provide upper limits for CIV.
Conclusions: Various gas excitation mechanisms are at play in LAB 1: Ionising
radiation and feedback effects dominate near the embedded galaxies, while
Ly scattering is contributing at larger distances. However,
HeII/Ly ratios combined with upper limits on CIV/Ly can not
discriminate between AGN ionisation and feedback driven shocks. The alignment
of the angular momentum vector parallel to the morphological principal axis
appears odds with the predicted norm for high-mass halos, but likely reflects
that LAB\,1 resides at a node of multiple intersecting filaments of the cosmic
web.
(Abridged)Comment: Revised version. Accepted for publication in A&
The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample. VIII. Characterizing Lyman-Alpha Scattering in Nearby Galaxies
We examine the dust geometry and Ly{\alpha} scattering in the galaxies of the
Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (LARS), a set of 14 nearby (0.02 < < 0.2)
Ly{\alpha} emitting and starbursting systems with Hubble Space Telescope
Ly{\alpha}, H{\alpha}, and H{\beta} imaging. We find that the global dust
properties determined by line ratios are consistent with other studies, with
some of the LARS galaxies exhibiting clumpy dust media while others of them
show significantly lower Ly{\alpha} emission compared to their Balmer
decrement. With the LARS imaging, we present Ly{\alpha}/H{\alpha} and
H{\alpha}/H{\beta} maps with spatial resolutions as low as 40 pc, and
use these data to show that in most galaxies, the dust geometry is best modeled
by three distinct regions: a central core where dust acts as a screen, an
annulus where dust is distributed in clumps, and an outer envelope where
Ly{\alpha} photons only scatter. We show that the dust that affects the escape
of Ly{\alpha} is more restricted to the galaxies' central regions, while the
larger Ly{\alpha} halos are generated by scattering at large radii. We present
an empirical modeling technique to quantify how much Ly{\alpha} scatters in the
halo, and find that this "characteristic" scattering distance correlates with
the measured size of the Ly{\alpha} halo. We note that there exists a slight
anti-correlation between the scattering distance of Ly{\alpha} and global dust
properties.Comment: 32 pages, 51 figures, accepted to Ap
The MUSE-Wide survey: A measurement of the Ly emitting fraction among galaxies
We present a measurement of the fraction of Lyman (Ly)
emitters () amongst HST continuum-selected galaxies at
with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the VLT. Making
use of the first 24 MUSE-Wide pointings in GOODS-South, each having an
integration time of 1 hour, we detect 100 Ly emitters and find
for most of the redshift range covered, with 29
per cent of the Ly sample exhibiting rest equivalent widths (rest-EWs)
15\AA. Adopting a range of rest-EW cuts (0 - 75\AA), we find no evidence
of a dependence of on either redshift or UV luminosity.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures (MNRAS, updated as per version in press
The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey X. Ly Equivalent Widths at
We present rest-frame Ly equivalent widths (EW) of 417 Ly
emitters (LAEs) detected with Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the
Very Large Telescope (VLT) at in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
Based on the deep MUSE spectroscopy and ancillary Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
photometry data, we carefully measured EW values taking into account extended
Ly emission and UV continuum slopes (). Our LAEs reach
unprecedented depths, both in Ly luminosities and UV absolute
magnitudes, from log(/erg s) 41.0 to 43.0 and
from Muv -16 to -21 (0.01-1.0 ). The EW values span the
range of 5 to 240 \AA\ or larger, and their distribution can be well
fitted by an exponential law exp(EW/). Owing to
the high dynamic range in Muv, we find that the scale factor, ,
depends on Muv in the sense that including fainter Muv objects increases
, i.e., the Ando effect. The results indicate that selection
functions affect the EW scale factor. Taking these effects into account, we
find that our values are consistent with those in the literature
within uncertainties at at a given threshold of Muv
and . Interestingly, we find 12 objects with EW \AA\
above uncertainties. Two of these 12 LAEs show signatures of merger
or AGN activity: the weak CIV emission line. For the remaining
10 very large EW LAEs, we find that the EW values can be reproduced by young
stellar ages ( Myr) and low metallicities ( ). Otherwise, at least part of the Ly emission in these LAEs
needs to arise from anisotropic radiative transfer effects, fluorescence by
hidden AGN or quasi-stellar object activity, or gravitational cooling.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in A&A (MUSE
UDF Series Paper X
Ubiquitous giant Ly nebulae around the brightest quasars at revealed with MUSE
Direct Ly imaging of intergalactic gas at has recently
revealed giant cosmological structures around quasars, e.g. the Slug Nebula
(Cantalupo et al. 2014). Despite their high luminosity, the detection rate of
such systems in narrow-band and spectroscopic surveys is less than 10%,
possibly encoding crucial information on the distribution of gas around quasars
and the quasar emission properties. In this study, we use the MUSE
integral-field instrument to perform a blind survey for giant Ly
nebulae around 17 bright radio-quiet quasars at that does not suffer
from most of the limitations of previous surveys. After data reduction and
analysis performed with specifically developed tools, we found that each quasar
is surrounded by giant Ly nebulae with projected sizes larger than 100
physical kpc and, in some cases, extending up to 320 kpc. The circularly
averaged surface brightness profiles of the nebulae appear very similar to each
other despite their different morphologies and are consistent with power laws
with slopes . The similarity between the properties of all these
nebulae and the Slug Nebula suggests a similar origin for all systems and that
a large fraction of gas around bright quasars could be in a relatively "cold"
(T10K) and dense phase. In addition, our results imply that such gas
is ubiquitous within at least 50 kpc from bright quasars at
independently of the quasar emission opening angle, or extending up to 200 kpc
for quasar isotropic emission.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 3 Tables, accepted to Ap
The Lyman alpha reference sample. VII. Spatially resolved H kinematics
We present integral field spectroscopic observations with the Potsdam Multi
Aperture Spectrophotometer of all 14 galaxies in the Lyman Alpha
Reference Sample (LARS). We produce 2D line of sight velocity maps and velocity
dispersion maps from the Balmer (H) emission in our data
cubes. These maps trace the spectral and spatial properties of the LARS
galaxies' intrinsic Ly radiation field. We show our kinematic maps
spatially registered onto the Hubble Space Telescope H and Lyman
(Ly) images. Only for individual galaxies a causal connection
between spatially resolved H kinematics and Ly photometry can
be conjectured. However, no general trend can be established for the whole
sample. Furthermore, we compute non-parametric global kinematical statistics --
intrinsic velocity dispersion , shearing velocity ,
and the ratio -- from our kinematic maps. In
general LARS galaxies are characterised by high intrinsic velocity dispersions
(54\,km\,s median) and low shearing velocities (65\,km\,s
median). values range from 0.5 to 3.2 with an
average of 1.5. Noteworthy, five galaxies of the sample are dispersion
dominated systems with and are thus
kinematically similar to turbulent star forming galaxies seen at high redshift.
When linking our kinematical statistics to the global LARS Ly
properties, we find that dispersion dominated systems show higher Ly
equivalent widths and higher Ly escape fractions than systems with
. Our result indicates that turbulence in
actively star-forming systems is causally connected to interstellar medium
conditions that favour an escape of Ly radiation.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&
On the evolution of the size of Lyman alpha halos across cosmic time: no change in the circumgalactic gas distribution when probed by line emission
Lyman (Ly) is now routinely used as a tool for studying
high-redshift galaxies and its resonant nature means it can trace neutral
hydrogen around star-forming galaxies. Integral field spectrograph measurements
of high-redshift Ly emitters indicate that significant extended
Ly halo emission is ubiquitous around such objects. We present a sample
of redshift 0.23 to 0.31 galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope
selected to match the star formation properties of high- samples while
optimizing the observations for detection of low surface brightness Ly
emission. The Ly escape fractions range between 0.7\% and 37\%, and we
detect extended Ly emission around six out of seven targets. We find
Ly halo to UV scale length ratios around 6:1 which is marginally lower
than high-redshift observations, and halo flux fractions between 60\% and 85\%
-- consistent with high-redshift observations -- when using comparable methods.
However, our targets show additional extended stellar UV emission: we
parametrize this with a new double exponential model. We find that this
parametrization does not strongly affect the observed Ly halo
fractions. We find that deeper H data would be required to firmly
determine the origin of Ly halo emission, however, there are
indications that H is more extended than the central FUV profile,
potentially indicating conditions favorable for the escape of ionizing
radiation. We discuss our results in the context of high-redshift galaxies,
cosmological simulations, evolutionary studies of the circumgalactic medium in
emission, and the emission of ionizing radiation.Comment: 20 page, 14 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The Astropy Problem
The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community
effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster
interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this
project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots,
self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by
the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has
always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors
receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now
critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible
solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the
sustainability of general purpose astronomical software