127 research outputs found
Inferring the parallax of Westerlund 1 from Gaia DR2
Westerlund 1 (Wd1) is potentially the largest star cluster in the Galaxy.
That designation critically depends upon the distance to the cluster, yet the
cluster is highly obscured, making luminosity-based distance estimates
difficult. Using {\it Gaia} Data Release 2 (DR2) parallaxes and Bayesian
inference, we infer a parallax of mas corresponding to a
distance of kpc. To leverage the combined statistics of all
stars in the direction of Wd1, we derive the Bayesian model for a cluster of
stars hidden among Galactic field stars; this model includes the parallax
zero-point. Previous estimates for the distance to Wd1 ranged from 1.0 to 5.5
kpc, although values around 5 kpc have usually been adopted. The {\it Gaia} DR2
parallaxes reduce the uncertainty from a factor of 3 to 18\% and rules out the
most often quoted value of 5 kpc with 99\% confidence. This new distance allows
for more accurate mass and age determinations for the stars in Wd1. For
example, the previously inferred initial mass at the main-sequence turn-off was
around 40 M; the new {\it Gaia} DR2 distance shifts this down to
about 22 M. This has important implications for our understanding of
the late stages of stellar evolution, including the initial mass of the
magnetar and the LBV in Wd1. Similarly, the new distance suggests that the
total cluster mass is about four times lower than previously calculated.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Source Matching in the SDSS and RASS: Which Galaxies are Really X-ray Sources?
The current view of galaxy formation holds that all massive galaxies harbor a
massive black hole at their center, but that these black holes are not always
in an actively accreting phase. X-ray emission is often used to identify
accreting sources, but for galaxies that are not harboring quasars
(low-luminosity active galaxies), the X-ray flux may be weak, or obscured by
dust. To aid in the understanding of weakly accreting black holes in the local
universe, a large sample of galaxies with X-ray detections is needed. We
cross-match the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS) with galaxies from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4) to create such a sample. Because
of the high SDSS source density and large RASS positional errors, the
cross-matched catalog is highly contaminated by random associations. We
investigate the overlap of these surveys and provide a statistical test of the
validity of RASS-SDSS galaxy cross-matches. SDSS quasars provide a test of our
cross-match validation scheme, as they have a very high fraction of true RASS
matches. We find that the number of true matches between the SDSS main galaxy
sample and the RASS is highly dependent on the optical spectral classification
of the galaxy; essentially no star-forming galaxies are detected, while more
than 0.6% of narrow-line Seyferts are detected in the RASS. Also, galaxies with
ambiguous optical classification have a surprisingly high RASS detection
fraction. This allows us to further constrain the SEDs of low-luminosity active
galaxies. Our technique is quite general, and can be applied to any
cross-matching between surveys with well-understood positional errors.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to The Astronomical Journal on 19
June 200
No Confirmed New Isolated Neutron Stars In The SDSS Data Release 4
We report on follow-up observations of candidate X-ray bright, radio-quiet
isolated neutron stars (INSs) identified from correlations of the ROSAT All-Sky
Survey (RASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 4 in
Ag\"ueros et al. (2006). We obtained Chandra X-ray Telescope exposures for 13
candidates in order to pinpoint the source of X-ray emission in optically blank
RASS error circles. These observations eliminated 12 targets as good INS
candidates. We discuss subsequent observations of the remaining candidate with
the XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory, the Gemini North Observatory, and the Apache
Point Observatory. We identify this object as a likely extragalactic source
with an unusually high log(fX/fopt) ~ 2.4. We also use an updated version of
the population synthesis models of Popov et al. (2010) to estimate the number
of RASS-detected INSs in the SDSS Data Release 7 footprint. We find that these
models predict ~3-4 INSs in the 11,000 square deg imaged by SDSS, which is
consistent with the number of known INSs that fall within the survey footprint.
In addition, our analysis of the four new INS candidates identified by Turner
et al. (2010) in the SDSS footprint implies that they are unlikely to be
confirmed as INSs; together, these results suggest that new INSs are not likely
to be found from further correlations of the RASS and SDSS.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables; accepted for publication in A
The clustering of massive galaxies at z~0.5 from the first semester of BOSS data
We calculate the real- and redshift-space clustering of massive galaxies at
z~0.5 using the first semester of data by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic
Survey (BOSS). We study the correlation functions of a sample of 44,000 massive
galaxies in the redshift range 0.4<z<0.7. We present a halo-occupation
distribution modeling of the clustering results and discuss the implications
for the manner in which massive galaxies at z~0.5 occupy dark matter halos. The
majority of our galaxies are central galaxies living in halos of mass
10^{13}Msun/h, but 10% are satellites living in halos 10 times more massive.
These results are broadly in agreement with earlier investigations of massive
galaxies at z~0.5. The inferred large-scale bias (b~2) and relatively high
number density (nbar=3e-4 h^3 Mpc^{-3}) imply that BOSS galaxies are excellent
tracers of large-scale structure, suggesting BOSS will enable a wide range of
investigations on the distance scale, the growth of large-scale structure,
massive galaxy evolution and other topics.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, matches version accepted by Ap
SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey data release 12 : galaxy target selection and large-scale structure catalogues
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III project, has provided the largest survey of galaxy redshifts available to date, in terms of both the number of galaxy redshifts measured by a single survey, and the effective cosmological volume covered. Key to analysing the clustering of these data to provide cosmological measurements is understanding the detailed properties of this sample. Potential issues include variations in the target catalogue caused by changes either in the targeting algorithm or properties of the data used, the pattern of spectroscopic observations, the spatial distribution of targets for which redshifts were not obtained, and variations in the target sky density due to observational systematics. We document here the target selection algorithms used to create the galaxy samples that comprise BOSS. We also present the algorithms used to create large-scale structure catalogues for the final Data Release (DR12) samples and the associated random catalogues that quantify the survey mask. The algorithms are an evolution of those used by the BOSS team to construct catalogues from earlier data, and have been designed to accurately quantify the galaxy sample. The code used, designated mksample, is released with this paper.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey : baryon acoustic oscillations in the Data Releases 10 and 11 Galaxy samples
We present a one per cent measurement of the cosmic distance scale from the detections of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of galaxies from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. Our results come from the Data Release 11 (DR11) sample, containing nearly one million galaxies and covering approximately 8500 square degrees and the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.7. We also compare these results with those from the publicly released DR9 and DR10 samples. Assuming a concordance Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, the DR11 sample covers a volume of 13 Gpc3 and is the largest region of the Universe ever surveyed at this density. We measure the correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the BAO feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance of over 7σ in both the correlation function and power spectrum. Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch, rd, which has a value of rd,fid = 149.28 Mpc in our fiducial cosmology. We find DV = (1264 ± 25 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) at z = 0.32 and DV = (2056 ± 20 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) at z = 0.57. At 1.0 per cent, this latter measure is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. Separating the clustering along and transverse to the line of sight yields measurements at z = 0.57 of DA = (1421 ± 20 Mpc)(rd/rd,fid) and H = (96.8 ± 3.4 km s−1 Mpc−1)(rd,fid/rd). Our measurements of the distance scale are in good agreement with previous BAO measurements and with the predictions from cosmic microwave background data for a spatially flat CDM model with a cosmological constant.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 9 Spectroscopic Galaxy Sample
We present measurements of galaxy clustering from the Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III
(SDSS-III). These use the Data Release 9 (DR9) CMASS sample, which contains
264,283 massive galaxies covering 3275 square degrees with an effective
redshift z=0.57 and redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7. Assuming a concordance
Lambda-CDM cosmological model, this sample covers an effective volume of 2.2
Gpc^3, and represents the largest sample of the Universe ever surveyed at this
density, n = 3 x 10^-4 h^-3 Mpc^3. We measure the angle-averaged galaxy
correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction
of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are
detected at a significance of 5\sigma in both the correlation function and
power spectrum. Combining with the SDSS-II Luminous Red Galaxy Sample, the
detection significance increases to 6.7\sigma. Fitting for the position of the
acoustic features measures the distance to z=0.57 relative to the sound horizon
DV /rs = 13.67 +/- 0.22 at z=0.57. Assuming a fiducial sound horizon of 153.19
Mpc, which matches cosmic microwave background constraints, this corresponds to
a distance DV(z=0.57) = 2094 +/- 34 Mpc. At 1.7 per cent, this is the most
precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. We place this
result alongside previous BAO measurements in a cosmological distance ladder
and find excellent agreement with the current supernova measurements. We use
these distance measurements to constrain various cosmological models, finding
continuing support for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant.Comment: 33 page
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the
scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a
larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys
of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as
i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7.
Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000
quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5.
Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale
three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection
from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive
galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield
measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at
redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the
same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a
measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate
D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey
is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic
targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of
BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A
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