56 research outputs found
The white dwarf in dwarf nova SDSS J080434.20+510349.2: Entering the instability strip?
SDSS J080434.20+510349.2 is the WZ type binary that displayed rare outburst
in 2006 (Pavlenko et al., 2007). During the long-lasting tail of the late stage
of the outburst binary shown the two-humped or four-humped profile of the
orbital light modulation. The amplitude of orbital light curve decreased while
the mean brightness decreased, more over that occurred 10 times faster
during the fast outburst decline in respect to the late quiet state of slow
outburst fading. There were no white dwarf pulsations detected neither 1 - 1.5
months prior to the outburst nor in 1.5 - 2 months after the 2006 outburst in
this system. However the strong non-radial pulsations with period 12.6 minutes
and mean amplitude of 0.05^m were first detected in V band with 2.6-m Shajn
mirror telescope of the Crimean astrophysical observatory in ~ 8 months after
the outburst. The evolution of pulsations over two years in 2006 - 2008 is
considered. It is supposed that pulsations first appeared when the cooling
white dwarf (after the outburst) entered the instability strip although the
possibility of temporary lack of pulsations at some occasions also could not be
excluded.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of 16th European White Dwarf Workshop
(EUROWD08
Average spectra of massive galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We combine Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra of 22,000 luminous, red, bulge-dominated galaxies to get high signal-to-noise ratio average spectra in the rest-frame optical and ultraviolet ( 2600 7000 A). The average spectra of these massive, quiescent galaxies are early type with weak emission lines and with absorption lines indicating an apparent excess of alpha-elements over solar abundance ratios. We make average spectra of subsamples selected by luminosity, environment, and redshift. The average spectra are remarkable in their similarity. What variations do exist in the average spectra as a function of luminosity and environment are found to form a nearly one-parameter family in spectrum space. We present a high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum of the variation. We measure the properties of the variation with a modified version of the Lick index system and compare to model spectra from stellar population syntheses. The variation may be a combination of age and chemical abundance differences, but the conservative conclusion is that the quality of the data considerably exceeds the current state of the models
The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data
During commissioning observations, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has
produced one of the largest existing galaxy redshift samples selected from CCD
images. Using 11,275 galaxies complete to r^* = 17.6 over 140 square degrees,
we compute the luminosity function of galaxies in the r^* band over a range -23
< M < -16 (for h=1). The result is well-described by a Schechter function with
parameters phi_* = 0.0146 +/- 0.0012 h^3 Mpc^{-3}, M_* = -20.83 +/- 0.03, and
alpha = -1.20 +/- 0.03. The implied luminosity density in r^* is j = (2.6 +/-
0.3) x 10^8 h L_sun Mpc^{-3}. The surface brightness selection threshold has a
negligible impact for M < -18. We measure the luminosity function in the u^*,
g^*, i^*, and z^* bands as well; the slope at low luminosities ranges from
alpha=-1.35 to alpha=-1.2. We measure the bivariate distribution of r^*
luminosity with half-light surface brightness, intrinsic color, and morphology.
High surface brightness, red, highly concentrated galaxies are on average more
luminous than low surface brightness, blue, less concentrated galaxies. If we
synthesize results for R-band or b_j-band using the Petrosian magnitudes with
which the SDSS measures galaxy fluxes, we obtain luminosity densities 2.0 times
that found by the Las Campanas Redshift Survey in R and 1.4 times that found by
the Two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey in b_j. We are able to reproduce
the luminosity functions obtained by these surveys if we also mimic their
isophotal limits for defining galaxy magnitudes, which are shallower and more
redshift dependent than the Petrosian magnitudes used by the SDSS. (Abridged)Comment: 49 pages, including 23 figures, accepted by AJ; some minor textual
changes, plus an important change in comparison to LCR
Halo mass - concentration relation from weak lensing
We perform a statistical weak lensing analysis of dark matter profiles around
tracers of halo mass from galactic- to cluster-size halos. In this analysis we
use 170,640 isolated ~L* galaxies split into ellipticals and spirals, 38,236
groups traced by isolated spectroscopic Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and 13,823
MaxBCG clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) covering a wide range
of richness. Together these three samples allow a determination of the density
profiles of dark matter halos over three orders of magnitude in mass, from
10^{12} M_{sun} to 10^{15} M_{sun}. The resulting lensing signal is consistent
with an NFW or Einasto profile on scales outside the central region. We find
that the NFW concentration parameter c_{200b} decreases with halo mass, from
around 10 for galactic halos to 4 for cluster halos. Assuming its dependence on
halo mass in the form of c_{200b} = c_0 [M/(10^{14}M_{sun}/h)]^{\beta}, we find
c_0=4.6 +/- 0.7 (at z=0.22) and \beta=0.13 +/- 0.07, with very similar results
for the Einasto profile. The slope (\beta) is in agreement with theoretical
predictions, while the amplitude is about two standard deviations below the
predictions for this mass and redshift, but we note that the published values
in the literature differ at a level of 10-20% and that for a proper comparison
our analysis should be repeated in simulations. We discuss the implications of
our results for the baryonic effects on the shear power spectrum: since these
are expected to increase the halo concentration, the fact that we see no
evidence of high concentrations on scales above 20% of the virial radius
suggests that baryonic effects are limited to small scales, and are not a
significant source of uncertainty for the current weak lensing measurements of
the dark matter power spectrum. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, accepted to JCAP pending minor revisions that
are included in v2 here on arXi
Early-type galaxies in the SDSS. I. The sample
A sample of nearly 9000 early-type galaxies, in the redshift range 0.01 < z <
0.3, was selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using morphological and
spectral criteria. This paper describes how the sample was selected, presents
examples of images and seeing corrected fits to the observed surface brightness
profiles, describes our method for estimating K-corrections, and shows that the
SDSS spectra are of sufficiently high quality to measure velocity dispersions
accurately. It also provides catalogs of the measured photometric and
spectroscopic parameters. In related papers, these data are used to study how
early-type galaxy observables, including luminosity, effective radius, surface
brightness, color, and velocity dispersion, are correlated with one another.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures. Accepted by AJ (scheduled for April 2003). This
paper is part I of a revised version of astro-ph/0110344. The full version of
Tables 2 and 3, i.e. the tables listing the photometric and spectroscopic
parameters of ~ 9000 galaxies, are available at
http://astrophysics.phys.cmu.edu/~bernardi/SDSS/Etypes/TABLE
Planck Intermediate Results. IX. Detection of the Galactic haze with Planck
Using precise full-sky observations from Planck, and applying several methods
of component separation, we identify and characterize the emission from the
Galactic "haze" at microwave wavelengths. The haze is a distinct component of
diffuse Galactic emission, roughly centered on the Galactic centre, and extends
to |b| ~35 deg in Galactic latitude and |l| ~15 deg in longitude. By combining
the Planck data with observations from the WMAP we are able to determine the
spectrum of this emission to high accuracy, unhindered by the large systematic
biases present in previous analyses. The derived spectrum is consistent with
power-law emission with a spectral index of -2.55 +/- 0.05, thus excluding
free-free emission as the source and instead favouring hard-spectrum
synchrotron radiation from an electron population with a spectrum (number
density per energy) dN/dE ~ E^-2.1. At Galactic latitudes |b|<30 deg, the
microwave haze morphology is consistent with that of the Fermi gamma-ray "haze"
or "bubbles," indicating that we have a multi-wavelength view of a distinct
component of our Galaxy. Given both the very hard spectrum and the extended
nature of the emission, it is highly unlikely that the haze electrons result
from supernova shocks in the Galactic disk. Instead, a new mechanism for
cosmic-ray acceleration in the centre of our Galaxy is implied.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
Detection of the Small Magellanic Cloud in gamma-rays with Fermi/LAT
The flux of gamma rays with energies >100MeV is dominated by diffuse emission
from CRs illuminating the ISM of our Galaxy through the processes of
Bremsstrahlung, pion production and decay, and inverse-Compton scattering. The
study of this diffuse emission provides insight into the origin and transport
of CRs. We searched for gamma-ray emission from the SMC in order to derive
constraints on the CR population and transport in an external system with
properties different from the Milky Way. We analysed the first 17 months of
continuous all-sky observations by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi
mission to determine the spatial distribution, flux and spectrum of the
gamma-ray emission from the SMC. We also used past radio synchrotron
observations of the SMC to study the population of CR electrons specifically.
We obtained the first detection of the SMC in high-energy gamma rays, with an
integrated >100MeV flux of (3.7 +/-0.7) x10e-8 ph/cm2/s, with additional
systematic uncertainty of <16%. The emission is steady and from an extended
source ~3{\deg} in size. It is not clearly correlated with the distribution of
massive stars or neutral gas, nor with known pulsars or SNRs, but a certain
correlation with supergiant shells is observed. The observed flux implies an
upper limit on the average CR nuclei density in the SMC of ~15% of the value
measured locally in the Milky Way. The population of high-energy pulsars of the
SMC may account for a substantial fraction of the gamma-ray flux, which would
make the inferred CR nuclei density even lower. The average density of CR
electrons derived from radio synchrotron observations is consistent with the
same reduction factor but the uncertainties are large. From our current
knowledge of the SMC, such a low CR density does not seem to be due to a lower
rate of CR injection and rather indicates a smaller CR confinement volume
characteristic size.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Background model systematics for the Fermi GeV excess
The possible gamma-ray excess in the inner Galaxy and the Galactic center
(GC) suggested by Fermi-LAT observations has triggered a large number of
studies. It has been interpreted as a variety of different phenomena such as a
signal from WIMP dark matter annihilation, gamma-ray emission from a population
of millisecond pulsars, or emission from cosmic rays injected in a sequence of
burst-like events or continuously at the GC. We present the first comprehensive
study of model systematics coming from the Galactic diffuse emission in the
inner part of our Galaxy and their impact on the inferred properties of the
excess emission at Galactic latitudes and 300 MeV to 500
GeV. We study both theoretical and empirical model systematics, which we deduce
from a large range of Galactic diffuse emission models and a principal
component analysis of residuals in numerous test regions along the Galactic
plane. We show that the hypothesis of an extended spherical excess emission
with a uniform energy spectrum is compatible with the Fermi-LAT data in our
region of interest at CL. Assuming that this excess is the extended
counterpart of the one seen in the inner few degrees of the Galaxy, we derive a
lower limit of ( CL) on its extension away from the GC. We
show that, in light of the large correlated uncertainties that affect the
subtraction of the Galactic diffuse emission in the relevant regions, the
energy spectrum of the excess is equally compatible with both a simple broken
power-law of break energy GeV, and with spectra predicted by the
self-annihilation of dark matter, implying in the case of final
states a dark matter mass of GeV.Comment: 65 pages, 28 figures, 7 table
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