The GALAH survey: New diffuse interstellar bands found in residuals of 872,000 stellar spectra

We use more than 872,000 mid-to-high resolution (R $\sim$ 20,000) spectra of stars from the GALAH survey to discern the spectra of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). We use four windows with the wavelength range from 4718 to 4903, 5649 to 5873, 6481 to 6739, and 7590 to 7890 \AA, giving a total coverage of 967 \AA. We produce $\sim$400,000 spectra of interstellar medium (ISM) absorption features and correct them for radial velocities of the DIB clouds. Ultimately, we combine the 33,115 best ISM spectra into six reddening bins with a range of $0.1 \,\mathrm{mag} < E\mathrm{(B-V)} < 0.7\, \mathrm{mag}$. A total of 183 absorption features in these spectra qualify as DIBs, their fitted model parameters are summarized in a detailed catalogue. From these, 64 are not reported in the literature, among these 17 are certain, 14 are probable and 33 are possible. We find that the broad DIBs can be fitted with a multitude of narrower DIBs. Finally, we create a synthetic DIB spectrum at unit reddening which should allow us to narrow down the possible carriers of DIBs and explore the composition of the ISM and ultimately better model dust and star formation as well as to correct Galactic and extragalactic observations. The majority of certain DIBs show a significant excess of equivalent width when compared to reddening. We explain this with observed lines of sight penetrating more uniform DIB clouds compared to clumpy dust clouds.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, 11 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Toward BaSi₂/Si Heterojunction Thin-Film Solar Cells: Insights into Heterointerface Investigation, Barium Depletion, and Silicide-Mediated Silicon Crystallization

The knowledge of the structural and compositional details of Si/BaSi2/Si heterostructure annealed at high temperature is a prerequisite for BaSi2 application in heterojunction thin-film solar cells. For this purpose, Si/BaSi2/Si heterostructures deposited by magnetron sputtering with different Si layer thickness are submitted to systematic structural and compositional characterizations. Results reveal a BaSi2/Si heterointerfacial variation caused by surface oxidation and Ba diffusion at the high temperature. Its effects on the optical and electrical properties of Si/BaSi2/Si heterostructure are presented. The outcomes of this work can be extended to BaSi2 deposited by other techniques, and generate substantial advantages in BaSi2 development ranging from improvement on material qualities and eventual deployment in thin-film solar cells.Photovoltaic Materials and DevicesElectrical Sustainable Energ

The GALAH plus survey: a new library of observed stellar spectra improves radial velocities and hints at motions within M67

GALAH+ is a magnitude-limited survey of high-resolution stellar spectra obtained by the HERMES spectrograph at the Australian Astronomical Observatory. Its third data release provides reduced spectra with new derivations of stellar parameters and abundances of 30 chemical elements for 584 015 dwarfs and giants, 88 per cent of them in the Gaia magnitude range 11 −1 or ∼25 per cent smaller than in the previous release. Median differences in radial velocities measured here and by the Gaia DR2 or APOGEE DR16 surveys are smaller than 30 m s−1, a larger offset is present only for Gaia measurements of giant stars. We identify 4483 stars with intrinsically variable velocities and 225 stars for which the velocity stays constant over ≥3 visits spanning more than a year. The combination of radial velocities from GALAH+ with distances and sky plane motions from Gaia enables studies of dynamics within streams and clusters. For example, we estimate that the open cluster M67 has a total mass of ∼3300 M⊙ and its outer parts seem to be expanding, though astrometry with a larger time-span than currently available from Gaia eDR3 is needed to judge if the latter result is real

The GALAH+ survey: Third data release

The ensemble of chemical element abundance measurements for stars, along with precision distances and orbit properties, provides high-dimensional data to study the evolution of the Milky Way. With this third data release of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, we publish 678 423 spectra for 588 571 mostly nearby stars (81.2 per cent of stars are within 75 stellar clusters. We derive stellar parameters Teff, log g, [Fe/H], vmic, vbroad, and vrad using our modified version of the spectrum synthesis code Spectroscopy Made Easy (sme) and 1D marcs model atmospheres. We break spectroscopic degeneracies in our spectrum analysis with astrometry from Gaia DR2 and photometry from 2MASS. We report abundance ratios [X/Fe] for 30 different elements (11 of which are based on non-LTE computations) covering five nucleosynthetic pathways. We describe validations for accuracy and precision, flagging of peculiar stars/measurements and recommendations for using our results. Our catalogue comprises 65 per cent dwarfs, 34 per cent giants, and 1 per cent other/unclassified stars. Based on unflagged chemical composition and age, we find 62 per cent young low-α⁠, 9 per cent young high-α⁠, 27 per cent old high-α⁠, and 2 per cent stars with [Fe/H] ≤ −1. Based on kinematics, 4 per cent are halo stars. Several Value-Added-Catalogues, including stellar ages and dynamics, updated after Gaia eDR3, accompany this release and allow chrono-chemodynamic analyses, as we showcase

The GALAH+ survey: Third data release

The ensemble of chemical element abundance measurements for stars, along with precision distances and orbit properties, provides high-dimensional data to study the evolution of the Milky Way. With this third data release of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, we publish 678 423 spectra for 588 571 mostly nearby stars (81.2 per cent of stars are within 75 stellar clusters. We derive stellar parameters Teff, log g, [Fe/H], vmic, vbroad, and vrad using our modified version of the spectrum synthesis code Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME) and 1D MARCS model atmospheres. We break spectroscopic degeneracies in our spectrum analysis with astrometry from Gaia DR2 and photometry from 2MASS. We report abundance ratios [X/Fe] for 30 different elements (11 of which are based on non-LTE computations) covering five nucleosynthetic pathways. We describe validations for accuracy and precision, flagging of peculiar stars/measurements and recommendations for using our results. Our catalogue comprises 65 per cent dwarfs, 34 per cent giants, and 1 per cent other/unclassified stars. Based on unflagged chemical composition and age, we find 62 per cent young low-$\alpha$, 9 per cent young high-$\alpha$, 27 per cent old high-$\alpha$, and 2 per cent stars with [Fe/H] ≤ -1. Based on kinematics, 4 per cent are halo stars. Several Value-Added-Catalogues, including stellar ages and dynamics, updated after Gaia eDR3, accompany this release and allow chrono-chemodynamic analyses, as we showcase