236 research outputs found
Masgomas-4: Physical characterization of a double-core obscured cluster with a massive and very young stellar population
The discovery of new, obscured massive star clusters has changed our
understanding of the Milky Way star-forming activity from a passive to a very
active star-forming machine. The search for these obscured clusters is strongly
supported by the use of all-sky, near-IR surveys.
The main goal of the MASGOMAS project is to search for and study unknown,
young, and massive star clusters in the Milky Way, using near-IR data. Here we
try to determine the main physical parameters (distance, size, total mass, and
age) of Masgomas-4, a new double-core obscured cluster.
Using near-IR photometry (, , and ) we selected a total of 21
stars as OB-type star candidates. Multi-object, near-IR follow-up spectroscopy
allowed us to carry out the spectral classification of the OB-type candidates.
Of the 21 spectroscopically observed stars, ten are classified as OB-type
stars, eight as F- to early G-type dwarf stars, and three as late-type giant
stars. Spectroscopically estimated distances indicate that the OB-type stars
belong to the same cluster, located at a distance of
kpc. Our spectrophotometric data confirm a very young and massive stellar
population, with a clear concentration of pre-main-sequence massive candidates
(Herbig Ae/Be) around one of the cluster cores. The presence of a surrounding
HII cloud and the Herbig Ae/Be candidates indicate an upper age limit of 5 Myr.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Extracting H flux from photometric data in the J-PLUS survey
We present the main steps that will be taken to extract H emission
flux from Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS) photometric
data. For galaxies with , the H+[NII] emission is
covered by the J-PLUS narrow-band filter . We explore three different
methods to extract the H + [NII] flux from J-PLUS photometric data: a
combination of a broad-band and a narrow-band filter ( and ), two
broad-band and a narrow-band one (, and ), and a SED-fitting
based method using 8 photometric points. To test these methodologies, we
simulated J-PLUS data from a sample of 7511 SDSS spectra with measured
H flux. Based on the same sample, we derive two empirical relations to
correct the derived H+[NII] flux from dust extinction and [NII]
contamination. We find that the only unbiased method is the SED fitting based
one. The combination of two filters underestimates the measurements of the
H + [NII] flux by a 28%, while the three filters method by a 9%. We
study the error budget of the SED-fitting based method and find that, in
addition to the photometric error, our measurements have a systematic
uncertainty of a 4.3%. Several sources contribute to this uncertainty:
differences between our measurement procedure and the one used to derive the
spectroscopic values, the use of simple stellar populations as templates, and
the intrinsic errors of the spectra, which were not taken into account. Apart
from that, the empirical corrections for dust extinction and [NII]
contamination add an extra uncertainty of 14%. Given the J-PLUS photometric
system, the best methodology to extract H + [NII] flux is the
SED-fitting based one. Using this method, we are able to recover reliable
H fluxes for thousands of nearby galaxies in a robust and homogeneous
way.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures. Minor changes to match the published versio
Discovery of a young and massive stellar cluster: Spectrophotometric near-infrared study of Masgomas-1
Context: Recent near-infrared data have contributed to the discovery of new
(obscured) massive stellar clusters and massive stellar populations in
previously known clusters in our Galaxy. These discoveries lead us to view the
Milky Way as an active star-forming machine.
Aims: The main purpose of this work is to determine physically the main
parameters (distance, size, total mass and age) of Masgomas-1, the first
massive cluster discovered by our systematic search programme.
Methods: Using near-infrared (J, H, and Ks) photometry we selected 23 OB-type
and five red supergiant candidates for multi-object H- and K-spectroscopy and
spectral classification.
Results: Of the 28 spectroscopically observed stars, 17 were classified as
OB-type, four as supergiants, one as an A-type dwarf star, and six as late-type
giant stars. The presence of a supergiant population implies a massive nature
of Masgomas-1, supported by our estimate of the cluster initial total mass of
(1.94\pm0.28)\cdot10^4 M_{sun}, obtained after integrating of the cluster mass
function. The distance estimate of 3.53 kpc locates the cluster closer than the
Scutum--Centaurus base but still within that Galactic arm. The presence of an
O9V star and red supergiants in the same population indicates that the cluster
age is in the range of 8 to 10 Myr.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, A&A accepte
Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma: Comparison Between PoPLR and ANSWERS
Purpose: It has been suggested that the detection of visual field progression can be improved by modeling statistical properties of the data such as the increasing retest variability and the spatial correlation among visual field locations. We compared a method that models those properties, Analysis with Non-Stationary Weibull Error Regression and Spatial Enhancement (ANSWERS), against a simpler one that does not, Permutation of Pointwise Linear Regression (PoPLR). Methods: Visual field series from three independent longitudinal studies in patients with glaucoma were used to compare the positive rate of PoPLR and ANSWERS. To estimate the false-positive rate, the same visual field series were randomly re-ordered in time. The first dataset consisted of series of 7 visual fields from 101 eyes, the second consisted of series of 9 visual fields from 150 eyes, and the third consisted of series of more than 9 visual fields (17.5 on average) from 139 eyes. Results: For a statistical significance of 0.05, the false-positive rates for ANSWERS were about 3 times greater than expected at 15%, 17%, and 16%, respectively, whereas for PoPLR they were 7%, 3%, and 6%. After equating the specificities at 0.05 for both models, positive rates for ANSWERS were 16%, 25%, and 38%, whereas for PoPLR they were 12%, 33%, and 49%, or about 5% greater on average (95% confidence interval = -1% to 11%). Conclusions: Despite being simpler and less computationally demanding, PoPLR was at least as sensitive to deterioration as ANSWERS once the specificities were equated. Translational Relevance: Close control of false-positive rates is key when visual fields of patients are analyzed for change in both clinical practice and clinical trials
Near-infrared spectroscopy in NGC 7538
The characterisation of the stellar population toward young high-mass
star-forming regions allows to constrain fundamental cluster properties like
distance and age. These are essential when using high-mass clusters as probes
to conduct Galactic studies. NGC 7538 is a star-forming region with an embedded
stellar population only unearthed in the near-infrared. We present the first
near-infrared spectro-photometric study of the candidate high-mass stellar
content in NGC 7538. We obtained H and K spectra of 21 sources with both the
multi-object and long-slit modes of LIRIS at the WHT, and complement these data
with sub-arcsecond JHKs photometry of the region using the imaging mode of the
same instrument. We find a wide variety of objects within the studied stellar
population of NGC 7538. Our results discriminate between a stellar population
associated to the HII region, but not contained within its extent, and several
pockets of more recent star formation. We report the detection of CO bandhead
emission toward several sources as well as other features indicative of a young
stellar nature. We infer a spectro-photometric distance of 2.7+-0.5 kpc, an age
spread in the range 0.5-2.2 Myr and a total mass ~1.7x10^3 Msun for the older
population.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, accepted by A&
The GALANTE Photometric System
This paper describes the characterization of the GALANTE photometric system,
a seven intermediate- and narrow-band filter system with a wavelength coverage
from 3000 to 9000 . We describe the photometric system
presenting the full sensitivity curve as a product of the filter sensitivity,
CCD, telescope mirror, and atmospheric transmission curves, as well as some
first- and second-order moments of this sensitivity function. The GALANTE
photometric system is composed of four filters from the J-PLUS photometric
system, a twelve broad-to-narrow filter system, and three exclusive filters,
specifically designed to measure the physical parameters of stars such as
effective temperature , , metallicity, colour excess
, and extinction type . Two libraries, the Next
Generation Spectral Library (NGSL) and the one presented in Ma\'iz Apell\'aniz
& Weiler (2018), have been used to determine the transformation equations
between the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ()
photometry and the GALANTE photometric system. We will use this transformation
to calibrate the zero points of GALANTE images. To this end, a preliminary
photometric calibration of GALANTE has been made based on two different
libraries ( DR12 and ATLAS All-Sky Stellar
Reference Catalog, hereinafter ). A comparison between both
zero points is performed leading us to the choice of as the
base catalogue for this calibration, and applied to a field in the Cyg OB2
association.Comment: Accepted in MNRA
Evidence for Blue Straggler Stars Rejuvenating the Integrated Spectra of Globular Clusters
Integrated spectroscopy is the method of choice for deriving the ages of
unresolved stellar systems. However, hot stellar evolutionary stages, such as
hot horizontal branch stars and blue straggler stars (BSSs), can affect the
integrated ages measured using Balmer lines. Such hot, "non-canonical" stars
may lead to overestimations of the temperature of the main sequence turn-off,
and therefore underestimations of the integrated age of a stellar population.
Using an optimized Hbeta index in conjunction with HST/WFPC2 color-magnitude
diagrams (CMDs), we show that Galactic globular clusters exhibit a large
scatter in their apparent "spectroscopic" ages, which does not correspond to
that in their CMD-derived ages. We find for the first time that the specific
frequency of BSSs, defined within the same aperture as the integrated spectra,
shows a clear correspondence with Hbeta in the sense that, at fixed
metallicity, higher BSS ratios lead to younger "apparent" spectroscopic ages.
Thus, the specific frequency of BSSs in globular clusters sets a fundamental
limit on the accuracy for which spectroscopic ages can be determined for
globular clusters, and maybe for other stellar systems like galaxies. The
observational implications of this result are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Data obtained with an open-source static automated perimetry test of the full visual field in healthy adults
The data were gathered from 98 eyes of 98 ocular healthy subjects. The subject ages ranged from 18 to 79 years with a mean (and standard deviation) of 47 (17) years. Each subject underwent two visual field tests, one of the central visual field (64 locations within 26° of fixation) and one of the peripheral visual field (64 locations with eccentricity from 26° to up to 81°). Luminance thresholds for the Goldmann size V stimulus (with a diameter of 1.72° of visual angle) were obtained with the ZEST Bayesian test procedure. Each test was conducted twice within 90 days
The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. Xi. The Three-Dimensional Orientation of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy and its Globular Clusters
We use observations from the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) study of Galactic globular clusters to investigate the spatial distribution of the inner regions of the disrupting Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr). We combine previously published analyses of four Sgr member clusters located near or in the Sgr core (M54, Arp 2, Terzan 7, and Terzan 8) with a new analysis of diffuse Sgr material identified in the background of five low-latitude Galactic bulge clusters (NGC 6624, 6637, 6652, 6681, and 6809) observed as part of the ACS survey. By comparing the bulge cluster color-magnitude diagrams to our previous analysis of the M54/Sgr core, we estimate distances to these background features. The combined data from four Sgr member clusters and five Sgr background features provide nine independent measures of the Sgr distance and, as a group, provide uniformly measured and calibrated probes of different parts of the inner regions of Sgr spanning 20° over the face of the disrupting dwarf. This allows us, for the first time, to constrain the three-dimensional orientation of Sgr\u27s disrupting core and globular cluster system and compare that orientation to the predictions of an N-body model of tidal disruption. The density and distance of Sgr debris are consistent with models that favor a relatively high Sgr core mass and a slightly greater distance (28-30 kpc, with a mean of 29.4 kpc). Our analysis also suggests that M54 is in the foreground of Sgr by ~2 kpc, projected on the center of the Sgr dSph. While this would imply a remarkable alignment of the cluster and the Sgr nucleus along the line of sight, we cannot identify any systematic effect in our analysis that would falsely create the measured 2 kpc separation. Finally, we find that the cluster Terzan 7 has the most discrepant distance (25 kpc) among the four Sgr core clusters, which may suggest a different dynamical history than the other Sgr core clusters
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