70 research outputs found
The Evolution of Post-Starburst Galaxies from to the Present
Post-starburst galaxies are in the transitional stage between blue,
star-forming galaxies and red, quiescent galaxies, and therefore hold important
clues for our understanding of galaxy evolution. In this paper, we
systematically searched for and identified a large sample of post-starburst
galaxies from the spectroscopic dataset of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
Data Release 9. In total, we found more than 6000 objects with redshifts
between and , making this the largest sample of
post-starburst galaxies in the literature. We calculated the luminosity
function of the post-starburst galaxies using two uniformly selected
subsamples: the SDSS Main Galaxy Sample and the Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey CMASS Sample. The luminosity functions are reasonably fit
by half-Gaussian functions. The peak magnitudes shift as a function of redshift
from at to at . This is
consistent with the downsizing trend, whereby more massive galaxies form
earlier than low-mass galaxies. We compared the mass of the post-starburst
stellar population found in our sample to the decline of the global
star-formation rate and found that only a small amount () of all
star-formation quenching in the redshift range results in
post-starburst galaxies in the luminosity range our sample is sensitive to.
Therefore, luminous post-starburst galaxies are not the place where most of the
decline in star-formation rate of the universe is happening.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
Near Infrared Spectra and Intrinsic Luminosities of Candidate Type II Quasars at 2 < z < 3.4
We present JHK near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 25 candidate Type II
quasars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, using Triplespec on the
Apache Point Observatory 3.5m telescope, FIRE at the Magellan/Baade 6.5m
telescope, and GNIRS on Gemini. At redshifts of 2 < z < 3.4, our NIR spectra
probe the rest-frame optical region of these targets, which were initially
selected to have strong lines of CIV and Ly alpha, with FWHM<2000 km/s from the
SDSS pipeline. We use the [OIII]5007 line shape as a model for the narrow line
region emission, and find that \halpha\ consistently requires a broad component
with FWHMs ranging from 1000 to 7500 km/s. Interestingly, the CIV lines also
require broad bases, but with considerably narrower widths of 1000 to 4500
km/s. Estimating the extinction using the Balmer decrement and also the
relationship in lower-z quasars between rest equivalent width and luminosity in
the [OIII] line, we find typical A_V values of 0-2 mag, which naturally explain
the attenuated CIV lines relative to Halpha. We propose that our targets are
moderately obscured quasars. We also describe one unusual object with three
distinct velocity peaks in its [OIII] spectrum.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 18 pages, 14 figure
The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic
data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data
release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median
z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar
spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra
were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009
December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which
determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and
metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in
temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates
for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars
presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed
as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and
Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2).
The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been
corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be
in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point
Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of
data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at
http://www.sdss3.org/dr
The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III
The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society
Construction and On-site Performance of the LHAASO WFCTA Camera
The focal plane camera is the core component of the Wide Field-of-view
Cherenkov/fluorescence Telescope Array (WFCTA) of the Large High-Altitude Air
Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Because of the capability of working under
moonlight without aging, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) have been proven to be
not only an alternative but also an improvement to conventional photomultiplier
tubes (PMT) in this application. Eighteen SiPM-based cameras with square light
funnels have been built for WFCTA. The telescopes have collected more than 100
million cosmic ray events and preliminary results indicate that these cameras
are capable of working under moonlight. The characteristics of the light
funnels and SiPMs pose challenges (e.g. dynamic range, dark count rate,
assembly techniques). In this paper, we present the design features,
manufacturing techniques and performances of these cameras. Finally, the test
facilities, the test methods and results of SiPMs in the cameras are reported
here.Comment: 45 pages, 21 figures, articl
Measurement of ultra-high-energy diffuse gamma-ray emission of the Galactic plane from 10 TeV to 1 PeV with LHAASO-KM2A
The diffuse Galactic -ray emission, mainly produced via interactions
between cosmic rays and the interstellar medium and/or radiation field, is a
very important probe of the distribution, propagation, and interaction of
cosmic rays in the Milky Way. In this work we report the measurements of
diffuse -rays from the Galactic plane between 10 TeV and 1 PeV
energies, with the square kilometer array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower
Observatory (LHAASO). Diffuse emissions from the inner
(, ) and outer
(, ) Galactic plane are detected with
and significance, respectively. The outer Galactic
plane diffuse emission is detected for the first time in the very- to
ultra-high-energy domain (~TeV). The energy spectrum in the inner Galaxy
regions can be described by a power-law function with an index of
, which is different from the curved spectrum as expected from
hadronic interactions between locally measured cosmic rays and the
line-of-sight integrated gas content. Furthermore, the measured flux is higher
by a factor of than the prediction. A similar spectrum with an index of
is found in the outer Galaxy region, and the absolute flux for
TeV is again higher than the prediction for hadronic
cosmic ray interactions. The latitude distributions of the diffuse emission are
consistent with the gas distribution, while the longitude distributions show
clear deviation from the gas distribution. The LHAASO measurements imply that
either additional emission sources exist or cosmic ray intensities have spatial
variations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in Physical
Review Letters; source mask file provided as ancillary fil
Does or did the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A operate as a PeVatron?
For decades, supernova remnants (SNRs) have been considered the prime sources
of Galactic Cosmic rays (CRs). But whether SNRs can accelerate CR protons to
PeV energies and thus dominate CR flux up to the knee is currently under
intensive theoretical and phenomenological debate. The direct test of the
ability of SNRs to operate as CR PeVatrons can be provided by ultrahigh-energy
(UHE; ~TeV) -rays. In this context, the historical
SNR Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is considered one of the most promising target for UHE
observations. This paper presents the observation of Cas A and its vicinity by
the LHAASO KM2A detector. The exceptional sensitivity of LHAASO KM2A in the UHE
band, combined with the young age of Cas A, enabled us to derive stringent
model-independent limits on the energy budget of UHE protons and nuclei
accelerated by Cas A at any epoch after the explosion. The results challenge
the prevailing paradigm that Cas A-type SNRs are major suppliers of PeV CRs in
the Milky Way.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by the APJ
The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III
The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. \ua9 2015. The American Astronomical Society
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