207 research outputs found
All NIRspec needs is HST/WFC3 pre-imaging? The use of Milky Way Stars in WFC3 Imaging to Register NIRspec MSA Observations
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be an exquisite new near-infrared
observatory with imaging and multi-object spectroscopy through ESA's NIRspec
instrument with its unique Micro-Shutter Array (MSA), allowing for slits to be
positioned on astronomical targets by opening specific 0.002"-wide micro
shutter doors.
To ensure proper target acquisition, the on-sky position of the MSA needs to
be verified before spectroscopic observations start. An onboard centroiding
program registers the position of pre-identified guide stars in a Target
Acquisition (TA) image, a short pre-spectroscopy exposure without dispersion
(image mode) through the MSA with all shutters open.
The outstanding issue is the availability of Galactic stars in the right
luminosity range for TA relative to typical high redshift targets. We explore
this here using the stars and candidate galaxies identified in the
source extractor catalogs of Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies survey
(BoRG[z8]), a pure-parallel program with Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field
Camera 3.
We find that (a) a single WFC3 field contains enough Galactic stars to
satisfy the NIRspec astrometry requirement (20 milli-arcseconds), provided its
and the NIRspec TA's are AB in WFC3 F125W, (b) a single WFC3
image can therefore serve as the pre-image if need be, (c) a WFC3 mosaic and
accompanying TA image satisfy the astrometry requirement at AB mag in
WFC3 F125W, (d) no specific Galactic latitude requires deeper TA imaging due to
a lack of Galactic stars, and (e) a depth of AB mag in WFC3 F125W is
needed if a guide star in the same MSA quadrant as a target is required.
We take the example of a BoRG identified candidate galaxy and
require a Galactic star within 20" of it. In this case, a depth of 25.5 AB in
F125W is required (with 97% confidence).Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, to appear in the Journal of Astronomical
Instrumentatio
HST followup observations of two bright z ~ 8 candidate galaxies from the BoRG pure-parallel survey
We present followup imaging of two bright (L > L*) galaxy candidates at z > 8
from the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) survey with the F098M filter
on HST/WFC3. The F098M filter provides an additional constraint on the flux
blueward of the spectral break, and the observations are designed to
discriminate between low- and high-z photometric redshift solutions for these
galaxies. Our results confirm one galaxy, BoRG 0116+1425 747, as a highly
probable z ~ 8 source, but reveal that BoRG 0116+1425 630 - previously the
brightest known z > 8 candidate (mAB = 24.5) - is likely to be a z ~ 2
interloper. As this source was substantially brighter than any other z > 8
candidate, removing it from the sample has a significant impact on the derived
UV luminosity function in this epoch. We show that while previous BoRG results
favored a shallow power-law decline in the bright end of the luminosity
function prior to reionization, there is now no evidence for departure from a
Schechter function form and therefore no evidence for a difference in galaxy
formation processes before and after reionization.Comment: Accepted by ApJL, 7 pages, 4 figure
The Luminosity Function at z~8 from 97 Y-band dropouts: Inferences About Reionization
[Abbreviated] We present the largest search to date for Lyman break
galaxies (LBGs) based on 350 arcmin of HST observations in the V-, Y-, J-
and H-bands from the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) survey. The BoRG
dataset includes 50 arcmin of new data and deeper observations of two
previous BoRG pointings, from which we present 9 new LBG candidates,
bringing the total number of BoRG LBGs to 38 with (AB system). We introduce a new Bayesian formalism for
estimating the galaxy luminosity function (LF), which does not require binning
(and thus smearing) of the data and includes a likelihood based on the formally
correct binomial distribution as opposed to the often used approximate Poisson
distribution. We demonstrate the utility of the new method on a sample of
LBGs that combines the bright BoRG galaxies with the fainter sources published
in Bouwens et al. (2012) from the HUDF and ERS programs. We show that the
LF is well described by a Schechter function with a characteristic
magnitude , a faint-end slope of , and a number density of . Integrated down to this
LF yields a luminosity density, . Our LF analysis
is consistent with previously published determinations within 1. We
discuss the implication of our study for the physics of reionization. By
assuming theoretically motivated priors on the clumping factor and the photon
escape fraction we show that the UV LF from galaxy samples down to
can ionize only 10-50% of the neutral hydrogen at . Full reionization
would require extending the LF down to .Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 22 pages, 15 figure
Pedodiversity and Organic Matter Stock of Soils Developed on Sandstone Formations in the Northern Apennines (Italy)
Pedodiversity is considered the cornerstone of biodiversity. This work aimed to (1) assess pedodiversity according to vegetation, topographic factors, and lithology and to (2) identify the major soil-forming factors on soil organic matter (SOM) stock at a 0-30 cm depth. These goals were reached using data from 147 georeferenced soil profiles distributed along 400-1000 m (<= 1000) and 1000-2134 m (>1000) altitudinal gradients in the northern part of the Apennine chain in Italy. Soils showed mainly weak or incipient development (i.e., Entisols and Inceptisols), which could be attributed to sand-based lithology, high slope gradients, and low SOM accumulation rates, which promote soil erosion processes. However, higher pedodiversity was observed at >1000 m than at <= 1000 m, likely due to the higher vegetation cover diversity and climate variability; Spodosols and Mollisols were also found. A greater SOM stock was found at >1000 than <= 1000 m, and vegetation seemed to not affect SOM amounts, suggesting a greater influence of climate on SOM content compared to vegetation. Considering ecosystem conservation, the observed spatial pedodiversity could be considered a critical basis for the protection of soil resources and pedodiversity itself in mountain regions
Bright galaxies at Hubble's redshift detection frontier: Preliminary results and design from the redshift z~9-10 BoRG pure-parallel HST survey
We present the first results and design from the redshift z~9-10 Brightest of
the Reionizing Galaxies {\it Hubble Space Telescope} survey BoRG[z9-10], aimed
at searching for intrinsically luminous unlensed galaxies during the first 700
Myr after the Big Bang. BoRG[z9-10] is the continuation of a multi-year
pure-parallel near-IR and optical imaging campaign with the Wide Field Camera
3. The ongoing survey uses five filters, optimized for detecting the most
distant objects and offering continuous wavelength coverage from
{\lambda}=0.35{\mu}m to {\lambda}=1.7{\mu}m. We analyze the initial ~130
arcmin of area over 28 independent lines of sight (~25% of the total
planned) to search for z>7 galaxies using a combination of Lyman break and
photometric redshift selections. From an effective comoving volume of (5-25)
Mpc for magnitudes brighter than in the
-band respectively, we find five galaxy candidates at z~8.3-10
detected at high confidence (S/N>8), including a source at z~8.4 with mAB=24.5
(S/N~22), which, if confirmed, would be the brightest galaxy identified at such
early times (z>8). In addition, BoRG[z9-10] data yield four galaxies with . These new Lyman break galaxies with m are
ideal targets for follow-up observations from ground and space based
observatories to help investigate the complex interplay between dark matter
growth, galaxy assembly, and reionization.Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJ. 21 pages, 11 figures, 4 table
The bright-end galaxy candidates at z ~ 9 from 79 independent HST fields
We present a full data analysis of the pure-parallel Hubble Space Telescope
(HST) imaging observations in the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Survey
(BoRG[z9]) in Cycle 22. The medium-deep exposures with five HST/WFC3IR+UVIS
filter bands from 79 independent sightlines (~370 arcmin^2) provide the least
biased determination of number density for z>9 bright galaxies against cosmic
variance. After a strict two-step selection for candidate galaxies, including
dropout color and photometric redshift analyses, and revision of previous BoRG
candidates, we identify one source at z~10 and two sources at z~9. The z~10
candidate shows evidence of line-of-sight lens magnification (mu~1.5), yet it
appears surprisingly luminous (MUV ~ -22.6\pm0.3 mag), making it one of the
brightest candidates at z > 8 known (~ 0.3 mag brighter than the z = 8.68
galaxy EGSY8p7, spectroscopically confirmed by Zitrin and collaborators). For z
~ 9 candidates, we include previous data points at fainter magnitudes and find
that the data are well fitted by a Schechter luminosity function with alpha ~
-2.1, MUV ~ -21.5 mag, and log phi ~ -4.5 Mpc^-3mag^-1, for the first time
without fixing any parameters. The inferred cosmic star formation rate density
is consistent with unaccelerated evolution from lower redshift.Comment: 18pages, 7figures, 6tables. accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
The size and shape of the Milky Way disc and halo from M-type brown dwarfs in the BoRG survey.
We have identified 274 M-type brown dwarfs in the Hubble Space Telescope\u27s Wide Field Camera 3 pure parallel fields from the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) survey for high-redshift galaxies. These are near-infrared observations with multiple lines of sight out of our Milky Way. Using these observed M-type brown dwarfs, we fitted a Galactic disc and halo model with a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis. This model worked best with the scalelength of the disc fixed at h = 2.6 kpc. For the scaleheight of the disc, we found z0=0.29+0.02−0.019 z0=0.29−0.019+0.02 kpc and for the central number density, ρ0=0.29+0.20−0.13 ρ0=0.29−0.13+0.20 # pc−3. For the halo, we derived a flattening parameter κ = 0.45 ± 0.04 and a power-law index p = 2.4 ± 0.07. We found the fraction of M-type brown dwarfs in the local density that belong to the halo to be fh = 0.0075 +0.0025−0.0019 −0.0019+0.0025 . We found no correlation between subtype of M-dwarf and any model parameters. The total number of M-type brown dwarfs in the disc and halo was determined to be 58.2+9.81−6.70×109 58.2−6.70+9.81×109 . We found an upper limit for the fraction of M-type brown dwarfs in the halo of 7 +5−4 −4+5 per cent. The upper limit for the total Galactic disc mass in M-dwarfs is 4.34+0.73−0.5×109 4.34−0.5+0.73×109 M⊙, assuming all M-type brown dwarfs have a mass of 80 MJ
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