823 research outputs found
Evidence for Color Dichotomy in the Primordial Neptunian Trojan Population
In the current model of early Solar System evolution, the stable members of
the Jovian and Neptunian Trojan populations were captured into resonance from
the leftover reservoir of planetesimals during the outward migration of the
giant planets. As a result, both Jovian and Neptunian Trojans share a common
origin with the primordial disk population, whose other surviving members
constitute today's trans-Neptunian object (TNO) populations. The cold classical
TNOs are ultra-red, while the dynamically excited "hot" population of TNOs
contains a mixture of ultra-red and blue objects. In contrast, Jovian and
Neptunian Trojans are observed to be blue. While the absence of ultra-red
Jovian Trojans can be readily explained by the sublimation of volatile material
from their surfaces due to the high flux of solar radiation at 5AU, the lack of
ultra-red Neptunian Trojans presents both a puzzle and a challenge to formation
models. In this work we report the discovery by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) of
two new dynamically stable L4 Neptunian Trojans,2013 VX30 and 2014 UU240, both
with inclinations i >30 degrees, making them the highest-inclination known
stable Neptunian Trojans. We have measured the colors of these and three other
dynamically stable Neptunian Trojans previously observed by DES, and find that
2013 VX30 is ultra-red, the first such Neptunian Trojan in its class. As such,
2013 VX30 may be a "missing link" between the Trojan and TNO populations. Using
a simulation of the DES TNO detection efficiency, we find that there are 162
+/- 73 Trojans with Hr < 10 at the L4 Lagrange point of Neptune. Moreover, the
blue-to-red Neptunian Trojan population ratio should be higher than 17:1. Based
on this result, we discuss the possible origin of the ultra-red Neptunian
Trojan population and its implications for the formation history of Neptunian
Trojans
Astrometric calibration and performance of the Dark Energy Camera
We characterize the ability of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to perform
relative astrometry across its 500~Mpix, 3 deg^2 science field of view, and
across 4 years of operation. This is done using internal comparisons of ~4x10^7
measurements of high-S/N stellar images obtained in repeat visits to fields of
moderate stellar density, with the telescope dithered to move the sources
around the array. An empirical astrometric model includes terms for: optical
distortions; stray electric fields in the CCD detectors; chromatic terms in the
instrumental and atmospheric optics; shifts in CCD relative positions of up to
~10 um when the DECam temperature cycles; and low-order distortions to each
exposure from changes in atmospheric refraction and telescope alignment. Errors
in this astrometric model are dominated by stochastic variations with typical
amplitudes of 10-30 mas (in a 30 s exposure) and 5-10 arcmin coherence length,
plausibly attributed to Kolmogorov-spectrum atmospheric turbulence. The size of
these atmospheric distortions is not closely related to the seeing. Given an
astrometric reference catalog at density ~0.7 arcmin^{-2}, e.g. from Gaia, the
typical atmospheric distortions can be interpolated to 7 mas RMS accuracy (for
30 s exposures) with 1 arcmin coherence length for residual errors. Remaining
detectable error contributors are 2-4 mas RMS from unmodelled stray electric
fields in the devices, and another 2-4 mas RMS from focal plane shifts between
camera thermal cycles. Thus the astrometric solution for a single DECam
exposure is accurate to 3-6 mas (0.02 pixels, or 300 nm) on the focal plane,
plus the stochastic atmospheric distortion.Comment: Submitted to PAS
Semliki Forest virus induced, immune mediated demyelination: the effect of irradiation
International audienceThe Dark Energy Camera has captured a large set of images as part of Science Verification (SV) for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The SV footprint covers a large portion of the outer Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), providing photometry 1.5 mag fainter than the main sequence turn-off of the oldest LMC stellar population. We derive geometrical and structural parameters for various stellar populations in the LMC disc. For the distribution of all LMC stars, we find an inclination of i = -38.14° ± 0.08° (near side in the north) and a position angle for the line of nodes of θ0 = 129.51° ± 0.17°. We find that stars younger than ∼4 Gyr are more centrally concentrated than older stars. Fitting a projected exponential disc shows that the scale radius of the old populations is R>4 Gyr = 1.41 ± 0.01 kpc, while the younger population has R = 0.72 ± 0.01 kpc. However, the spatial distribution of the younger population deviates significantly from the projected exponential disc model. The distribution of old stars suggests a large truncation radius of Rt = 13.5 ± 0.8 kpc. If this truncation is dominated by the tidal field of the Galaxy, we find that the LMC is {∼eq } 24^{+9}_{-6} times less massive than the encircled Galactic mass. By measuring the Red Clump peak magnitude and comparing with the best-fitting LMC disc model, we find that the LMC disc is warped and thicker in the outer regions north of the LMC centre. Our findings may either be interpreted as a warped and flared disc in the LMC outskirts, or as evidence of a spheroidal halo component
Forward Global Photometric Calibration of the Dark Energy Survey
Many scientific goals for the Dark Energy Survey (DES) require calibration of
optical/NIR broadband photometry that is stable in time and uniform
over the celestial sky to one percent or better. It is also necessary to limit
to similar accuracy systematic uncertainty in the calibrated broadband
magnitudes due to uncertainty in the spectrum of the source. Here we present a
"Forward Global Calibration Method (FGCM)" for photometric calibration of the
DES, and we present results of its application to the first three years of the
survey (Y3A1). The FGCM combines data taken with auxiliary instrumentation at
the observatory with data from the broad-band survey imaging itself and models
of the instrument and atmosphere to estimate the spatial- and time-dependence
of the passbands of individual DES survey exposures. "Standard" passbands are
chosen that are typical of the passbands encountered during the survey. The
passband of any individual observation is combined with an estimate of the
source spectral shape to yield a magnitude in the standard
system. This "chromatic correction" to the standard system is necessary to
achieve sub-percent calibrations. The FGCM achieves reproducible and stable
photometric calibration of standard magnitudes of stellar
sources over the multi-year Y3A1 data sample with residual random calibration
errors of per exposure. The accuracy of the
calibration is uniform across the DES footprint to
within . The systematic uncertainties of magnitudes in
the standard system due to the spectra of sources are less than
for main sequence stars with .Comment: 25 pages, submitted to A
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