Resolving the pulsations of subdwarf B stars: HS 0039+4302, HS 0444+0458, and an examination of the group properties of resolved pulsators

We continue our program of single-site observations of pulsating subdwarf B (sdB) stars and present the results of extensive time series photometry of HS 0039+4302 and HS 0444+0458. Both were observed at MDM Observatory during the fall of 2005. We extend the number of known frequencies for HS 0039+4302 from 4 to 14 and discover one additional frequency for HS 0444+0458, bringing the total to three. We perform standard tests to search for multiplet structure, measure amplitude variations, and examine the frequency density to constrain the mode degree $\ell$. Including the two stars in this paper, 23 pulsating sdB stars have received follow-up observations designed to decipher their pulsation spectra. It is worth an examination of what has been detected. We compare and contrast the frequency content in terms of richness and range and the amplitudes with regards to variability and diversity. We use this information to examine observational correlations with the proposed $\kappa$ pulsation mechanism as well as alternative theories.Comment: 32 pages, 18 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Reverberation Mapping Measurements of Black Hole Masses in Six Local Seyfert Galaxies

We present the final results from a high sampling rate, multi-month, spectrophotometric reverberation mapping campaign undertaken to obtain either new or improved Hbeta reverberation lag measurements for several relatively low-luminosity AGNs. We have reliably measured thetime delay between variations in the continuum and Hbeta emission line in six local Seyfert 1 galaxies. These measurements are used to calculate the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of each of these AGNs. We place our results in context to the most current calibration of the broad-line region (BLR) R-L relationship, where our results remove outliers and reduce the scatter at the low-luminosity end of this relationship. We also present velocity-resolved Hbeta time delay measurements for our complete sample, though the clearest velocity-resolved kinematic signatures have already been published.Comment: 52 pages (AASTeX: 29 pages of text, 8 tables, 7 figures), accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

A Revised Broad-Line Region Radius and Black Hole Mass for the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 NGC 4051

We present the first results from a high sampling rate, multi-month reverberation mapping campaign undertaken primarily at MDM Observatory with supporting observations from telescopes around the world. The primary goal of this campaign was to obtain either new or improved Hbeta reverberation lag measurements for several relatively low luminosity AGNs. We feature results for NGC 4051 here because, until now, this object has been a significant outlier from AGN scaling relationships, e.g., it was previously a ~2-3sigma outlier on the relationship between the broad-line region (BLR) radius and the optical continuum luminosity - the R_BLR-L relationship. Our new measurements of the lag time between variations in the continuum and Hbeta emission line made from spectroscopic monitoring of NGC 4051 lead to a measured BLR radius of R_BLR = 1.87 (+0.54 -0.50) light days and black hole mass of M_BH = 1.73 (+0.55 -0.52) x 10^6 M_sun. This radius is consistent with that expected from the R_BLR-L relationship, based on the present luminosity of NGC 4051 and the most current calibration of the relation by Bentz et al. (2009a). We also present a preliminary look at velocity-resolved Hbeta light curves and time delay measurements, although we are unable to reconstruct an unambiguous velocity-resolved reverberation signal.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, changes from v1 reflect suggestions from anonymous refere

Galaxy Zoo: Dust in Spirals

We investigate the effect of dust on spiral galaxies by measuring the inclination-dependence of optical colours for 24,276 well-resolved SDSS galaxies visually classified in Galaxy Zoo. We find clear trends of reddening with inclination which imply a total extinction from face-on to edge-on of 0.7, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4 magnitudes for the ugri passbands. We split the sample into "bulgy" (early-type) and "disky" (late-type) spirals using the SDSS fracdeV (or f_DeV) parameter and show that the average face-on colour of "bulgy" spirals is redder than the average edge-on colour of "disky" spirals. This shows that the observed optical colour of a spiral galaxy is determined almost equally by the spiral type (via the bulge-disk ratio and stellar populations), and reddening due to dust. We find that both luminosity and spiral type affect the total amount of extinction, with "disky" spirals at M_r ~ -21.5 mags having the most reddening. This decrease of reddening for the most luminous spirals has not been observed before and may be related to their lower levels of recent star formation. We compare our results with the latest dust attenuation models of Tuffs et al. We find that the model reproduces the observed trends reasonably well but overpredicts the amount of u-band attenuation in edge-on galaxies. We end by discussing the effects of dust on large galaxy surveys and emphasize that these effects will become important as we push to higher precision measurements of galaxy properties and their clustering.Comment: MNRAS in press. 25 pages, 22 figures (including an abstract comparing GZ classifications with common automated methods for selecting disk/early type galaxies in SDSS data). v2 corrects typos found in proof

Modelling the spectral energy distribution of galaxies. V. The dust and PAH emission SEDs of disk galaxies

We present a self-consistent model of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of spiral galaxies from the ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-infrared (MIR)/far-infrared (FIR)/submillimeter (submm) based on a full radiative transfer calculation of the propagation of starlight in galaxy disks. This model predicts not only the total integrated energy absorbed in the UV/optical and re-emitted in the infrared/submm, but also the colours of the dust emission based on an explicit calculation of the strength and colour of the UV/optical radiation fields heating the dust, and incorporating a full calculation of the stochastic heating of small dust grains and PAH molecules. The geometry of the translucent components of the model is empirically constrained using the results from the radiation transfer analysis of Xilouris et al. on spirals in the middle range of the Hubble sequence, while the geometry of the optically thick components is constrained from physical considerations with a posteriori checks of the model predictions with observational data. These geometrical constraints enable the dust emission to be predicted in terms of a minimum set of free parameters: the central face-on dust opacity in the B-band tau^f_B, a clumpiness factor F for the star-forming regions, the star-formation rate SFR, the normalised luminosity of the old stellar population old and the bulge-to-disk ratio B/D. We show that these parameters are almost orthogonal in their predicted effect on the colours of the dust/PAH emission. The results of the calculations are made available in the form of a large library of simulated dust emission SEDs spanning the whole parameter space of our model, together with the corresponding library of dust attenuation calculated using the same model. (see full abstract in the paper)Comment: 39 pages; accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; For a higher resolution version of Fig.1 and Fig.20 see http://www.star.uclan.ac.uk/~ccp/index.shtm

Chemical Abundances of M-Dwarfs from the Apogee Survey. I. The Exoplanet Hosting Stars Kepler-138 and Kepler-186

We report the first detailed chemical abundance analysis of the exoplanet-hosting M-dwarf stars Kepler-138 and Kepler-186 from the analysis of high-resolution (R ∼ 22,500) H-band spectra from the SDSS-IV–APOGEE survey. Chemical abundances of 13 elements—C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe—are extracted from the APOGEE spectra of these early M-dwarfs via spectrum syntheses computed with an improved line list that takes into account H2O and FeH lines. This paper demonstrates that APOGEE spectra can be analyzed to determine detailed chemical compositions of M-dwarfs. Both exoplanet-hosting M-dwarfs display modest subsolar metallicities: [Fe/H]Kepler-138 = −0.09 ± 0.09 dex and [Fe/H]Kepler-186 = −0.08 ± 0.10 dex. The measured metallicities resulting from this high-resolution analysis are found to be higher by ∼0.1–0.2 dex than previous estimates from lower-resolution spectra. The C/O ratios obtained for the two planet-hosting stars are near-solar, with values of 0.55 ± 0.10 for Kepler-138 and 0.52 ± 0.12 for Kepler-186. Kepler-186 exhibits a marginally enhanced [Si/Fe] ratio

A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201

Transits of Known Planets Orbiting a Naked-Eye Star

© 2020 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Some of the most scientifically valuable transiting planets are those that were already known from radial velocity (RV) surveys. This is primarily because their orbits are well characterized and they preferentially orbit bright stars that are the targets of RV surveys. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provides an opportunity to survey most of the known exoplanet systems in a systematic fashion to detect possible transits of their planets. HD 136352 (Nu2 Lupi) is a naked-eye (V = 5.78) G-type main-sequence star that was discovered to host three planets with orbital periods of 11.6, 27.6, and 108.1 days via RV monitoring with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph. We present the detection and characterization of transits for the two inner planets of the HD 136352 system, revealing radii of 1.482-0.056+0.058 R ⊕ and 2.608-0.077+0.078 R ⊕ for planets b and c, respectively. We combine new HARPS observations with RV data from the Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer and the Anglo-Australian Telescope, along with TESS photometry from Sector 12, to perform a complete analysis of the system parameters. The combined data analysis results in extracted bulk density values of ρb = 7.8-1.1+1.2 g cm-3 and ρc = 3.50-0.36+0.41 g cm-3 for planets b and c, respectively, thus placing them on either side of the radius valley. The combination of the multitransiting planet system, the bright host star, and the diversity of planetary interiors and atmospheres means this will likely become a cornerstone system for atmospheric and orbital characterization of small worlds.Peer reviewe