456 research outputs found
Luminous Red Galaxy Clustering at z~0.7 - First Results using AAOmega
We report on the AAT-AAOmega LRG Pilot observing run to establish the
feasibility of a large spectroscopic survey using the new AAOmega instrument.
We have selected Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) using single epoch SDSS
riz-photometry to i<20.5 and z<20.2. We have observed in 3 fields including the
COSMOS field and the COMBO-17 S11 field, obtaining a sample of ~600 redshift
z>=0.5 LRGs. Exposure times varied from 1 - 4 hours to determine the minimum
exposure for AAOmega to make an essentially complete LRG redshift survey in
average conditions. We show that LRG redshifts to i<20.5 can measured in
approximately 1.5hr exposures and present comparisons with 2SLAQ and COMBO-17
(photo-)redshifts. Crucially, the riz selection coupled with the 3-4 times
improved AAOmega throughput is shown to extend the LRG mean redshift from
z=0.55 for 2SLAQ to z=0.681+/- 0.005 for riz-selected LRGs. This extended range
is vital for maximising the S/N for the detection of the baryon acoustic
oscillations (BAOs). Furthermore, we show that the amplitude of LRG clustering
is s_0 = 9.9+/-0.7 h^-1 Mpc, as high as that seen in the 2SLAQ LRG Survey.
Consistent results for the real-space amplitude are found from projected and
semi-projected correlation functions. This high clustering amplitude is
consistent with a long-lived population whose bias evolves as predicted by a
simple ``high-peaks'' model. We conclude that a redshift survey of 360 000 LRGs
over 3000deg^2, with an effective volume some 4 times bigger than previously
used to detect BAO with LRGs, is possible with AAOmega in 170 nights.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 8 tables, minor changes, matches published
versio
3D-HST: A wide-field grism spectroscopic survey with the Hubble Space Telescope
We present 3D-HST, a near-infrared spectroscopic Treasury program with the
Hubble Space Telescope for studying the processes that shape galaxies in the
distant Universe. 3D-HST provides rest-frame optical spectra for a sample of
~7000 galaxies at 1<z<3.5, the epoch when 60% of all star formation took place,
the number density of quasars peaked, the first galaxies stopped forming stars,
and the structural regularity that we see in galaxies today must have emerged.
3D-HST will cover 3/4 (625 sq.arcmin) of the CANDELS survey area with two
orbits of primary WFC3/G141 grism coverage and two to four parallel orbits with
the ACS/G800L grism. In the IR these exposure times yield a continuum
signal-to-noise of ~5 per resolution element at H~23.1 and a 5sigma emission
line sensitivity of 5x10-17 erg/s/cm2 for typical objects, improving by a
factor of ~2 for compact sources in images with low sky background levels. The
WFC3/G141 spectra provide continuous wavelength coverage from 1.1-1.6 um at a
spatial resolution of ~0."13, which, combined with their depth, makes them a
unique resource for studying galaxy evolution. We present the preliminary
reduction and analysis of the grism observations, including emission line and
redshift measurements from combined fits to the extracted grism spectra and
photometry from ancillary multi-wavelength catalogs. The present analysis
yields redshift estimates with a precision of sigma(z)=0.0034(1+z), or
sigma(v)~1000 km/s. We illustrate how the generalized nature of the survey
yields near-infrared spectra of remarkable quality for many different types of
objects, including a quasar at z=4.7, quiescent galaxies at z~2, and the most
distant T-type brown dwarf star known. The CANDELS and 3D-HST surveys combined
will provide the definitive imaging and spectroscopic dataset for studies of
the 1<z<3.5 Universe until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.Comment: Replacement reflects version now accepted by ApJS. A preliminary data
release intended to provide a general illustration of the WFC3 grism data is
available at http://3dhst.research.yale.edu
Clustering of Luminous Red Galaxies IV: Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Line-of-Sight Direction and a Direct Measurement of H(z)
We study the clustering of LRG galaxies in the latest spectroscopic SDSS data
releases, DR6 and DR7, which sample over 1 Gpc^3/h^3 to z=0.47. The 2-point
correlation function \xisp is estimated as a function of perpendicular
and line-of-sight (radial) directions. We find a significant
detection of a peak at Mpc/h, which shows as a circular ring in
the plane. There is also significant evidence for a peak along the
radial direction whose shape is consistent with its originating from the
recombination-epoch baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). A \xisp model with no
radial BAO peak is disfavored at , whereas a model with no
magnification bias is disfavored at . The radial data enable, for the
first time, a direct measurement of the Hubble parameter as a function
of redshift. This is independent from earlier BAO measurements which used the
spherically averaged (monopole) correlation to constrain an integral of .
Using the BAO peak position as a standard ruler in the radial direction, we
find: km/s/Mpc for z=0.15-0.30 and
km/s/Mpc for . The first
error is a model independent statistical estimation and the second accounts for
systematics both in the measurements and in the model. For the full sample,
, we find km/s/Mpc.Comment: Minor revision to match version accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Includes comparison to DR7, a Table with the measurements and errors.
Includes extended analysis on systematic errors. Some figures have been
omitted. Main results and conclusions remain unchange
Ameliorating Systematic Uncertainties in the Angular Clustering of Galaxies: A Study using SDSS-III
We investigate the effects of potential sources of systematic error on the
angular and photometric redshift, z_phot, distributions of a sample of redshift
0.4 < z < 0.7 massive galaxies whose selection matches that of the Baryon
Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) constant mass sample. Utilizing over
112,778 BOSS spectra as a training sample, we produce a photometric redshift
catalog for the galaxies in the SDSS DR8 imaging area that, after masking,
covers nearly one quarter of the sky (9,913 square degrees). We investigate
fluctuations in the number density of objects in this sample as a function of
Galactic extinction, seeing, stellar density, sky background, airmass,
photometric offset, and North/South Galactic hemisphere. We find that the
presence of stars of comparable magnitudes to our galaxies (which are not
traditionally masked) effectively remove area. Failing to correct for such
stars can produce systematic errors on the measured angular auto-correlation
function, w, that are larger than its statistical uncertainty. We describe how
one can effectively mask for the presence of the stars, without removing any
galaxies from the sample, and minimize the systematic error. Additionally, we
apply two separate methods that can be used to correct the systematic errors
imparted by any parameter that can be turned into a map on the sky. We find
that failing to properly account for varying sky background introduces a
systematic error on w. We measure w, in four z_phot slices of width 0.05
between 0.45 < z_phot < 0.65 and find that the measurements, after correcting
for the systematic effects of stars and sky background, are generally
consistent with a generic LambdaCDM model, at scales up to 60 degrees. At
scales greater than 3 degrees and z_phot > 0.5, the magnitude of the
corrections we apply are greater than the statistical uncertainty in w.Comment: Accepted by MNRA
Antlia Dwarf Galaxy: Distance, quantitative morphology and recent formation history via statistical field correction
We apply a statistical field correction technique originally designed to
determine membership of high redshift galaxy clusters to Hubble Space Telescope
imaging of the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy; a galaxy at the very edge of the Local
Group. Using the tip of the red giant branch standard candle method coupled
with a simple Sobel edge detection filter we find a new distance to Antlia of
1.31 +/- 0.03 Mpc. For the first time for a Local Group Member, we compute the
concentration, asymmetry and clumpiness (CAS) quantitative morphology
parameters for Antlia from the distribution of resolved stars in the HST/ACS
field, corrected with a new method for contaminants and complement these
parameters with the Gini coefficient (G) and the second order moment of the
brightest 20 per cent of the flux (M_20). We show that it is a classic dwarf
elliptical (C = 2.0, A = 0.063, S = 0.077, G = 0.39 and M_20 = -1.17 in the
F814W band), but has an appreciable blue stellar population at its core,
confirming on-going star-formation. The values of asymmetry and clumpiness, as
well as Gini and M_20 are consistent with an undisturbed galaxy. Although our
analysis suggests that Antlia may not be tidally influenced by NGC 3109 it does
not necessarily preclude such interaction.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
X-ray selected AGN in groups at redshifts z~1
We explore the role of the group environment in the evolution of AGN at the
redshift interval 0.7<z<1.4, by combining deep Chandra observations with
extensive optical spectroscopy from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip
International Survey (AEGIS). The sample consists of 3902 optical sources and
71 X-ray AGN. Compared to the overall optically selected galaxy population,
X-ray AGN are more frequently found in groups at the 99% confidence level. This
is partly because AGN are hosted by red luminous galaxies, which are known to
reside, on average, in dense environments. Relative to these sources, the
excess of X-ray AGN in groups is significant at the 91% level only. Restricting
the sample to 0.7<z<0.9 and M_B<-20mag in order to control systematics we find
that X-ray AGN represent (4.7\pm1.6) and (4.5\pm1.0)% of the optical galaxy
population in groups and in the field respectively. These numbers are
consistent with the AGN fraction in low redshift clusters, groups and the
field. The results above, although affected by small number statistics, suggest
that X-ray AGN are spread over a range of environments, from groups to the
field, once the properties of their hosts (e.g. colour, luminosity) are
accounted for. There is also tentative evidence, significant at the 98% level,
that the field produces more X-ray luminous AGN compared to groups, extending
similar results at low redshift to z~1. This trend may be because of either
cold gas availability or the nature of the interactions occurring in the denser
group environment (i.e. prolonged tidal encounters).Comment: To appear in MNRA
The clustering of massive galaxies at z~0.5 from the first semester of BOSS data
We calculate the real- and redshift-space clustering of massive galaxies at
z~0.5 using the first semester of data by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic
Survey (BOSS). We study the correlation functions of a sample of 44,000 massive
galaxies in the redshift range 0.4<z<0.7. We present a halo-occupation
distribution modeling of the clustering results and discuss the implications
for the manner in which massive galaxies at z~0.5 occupy dark matter halos. The
majority of our galaxies are central galaxies living in halos of mass
10^{13}Msun/h, but 10% are satellites living in halos 10 times more massive.
These results are broadly in agreement with earlier investigations of massive
galaxies at z~0.5. The inferred large-scale bias (b~2) and relatively high
number density (nbar=3e-4 h^3 Mpc^{-3}) imply that BOSS galaxies are excellent
tracers of large-scale structure, suggesting BOSS will enable a wide range of
investigations on the distance scale, the growth of large-scale structure,
massive galaxy evolution and other topics.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, matches version accepted by Ap
A Cross-Cohort Study Examining the Associations of Metabolomic Profile and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Children and Their Parents: The Child Health CheckPoint Study and Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
Background-High-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance profiling of circulating metabolites is suggested as an adjunct for cardiovascular risk evaluation. The relationship between metabolites and subclinical atherosclerosis remains unclear, particularly among children. Therefore, we examined the associations of metabolites with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV).Methods and Results-Data from two independent population-based studies was examined; (1) cross-sectional associations with cIMT and PWV in 1178 children (age 11-12 years, 51% female) and 1316 parents (mean age 45 years, 87% female) from the CheckPoint study (Australia); and (2) longitudinal associations in 4249 children (metabolites at 7-8 years, PWV at 10-11 years, 52% female), and cross-sectional associations in 4171 of their mothers (mean age 48 years, cIMT data) from ALSPAC (The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; UK). Metabolites were measured by the same nuclear magnetic resonance platform in both studies, comprising of 69 biomarkers. Biophysical assessments included body mass index, blood pressure, cIMT and PWV. In linear regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and blood pressure, there was no evidence of metabolite associations in either children or adults for cIMT at a 10% false discovery threshold. In CheckPoint adults, glucose was positively, and some high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol derived measures and amino acids (glutamine, histidine, tyrosine) inversely associated with PWV.Conclusions-These data suggest that in children circulating metabolites have no consistent association with cIMT and PWV once adjusted for body mass index and blood pressure. In their middle-aged parents, some evidence of metabolite associations with PWV were identified that warrant further investigation
Clustering of luminous red galaxies II: small scale redshift space distortions
This is the second paper of a series where we study the clustering of LRG
galaxies in the latest spectroscopic SDSS data release, DR6, which has 75000
LRG galaxies covering over 1 for . Here we focus on
modeling redshift space distortions in \xisp, the 2-point correlation in
separate line-of-sight and perpendicular directions, at small scales and in the
line-of-sight. We show that a simple Kaiser model for the anisotropic 2-point
correlation function in redshift space, convolved with a distribution of random
peculiar velocities with an exponential form, can describe well the correlation
of LRG at all scales. We show that to describe with accuracy the so called
"fingers-of-God" (FOG) elongations in the radial direction, it is necessary to
model the scale dependence of both bias and the pairwise rms peculiar
velocity with the distance. We show how both quantities can be
inferred from the \xisp data. From Mpc/h to Mpc/h,
both the bias and are shown to increase by a factor of two: from
to and from to 800 Km/s. The later is in good
agreement, within a 5 percent accuracy in the recovered velocities, with direct
velocity measurements in dark matter simulations with and
=0.85.Comment: 13 pagfes, 24 figrue
- âŠ