Measurements of binary stars with coherent integration of NPOI data

In this paper we use coherently integrated visibilities (see separate paper in these proceedings, Jorgensen et al. 2008) to measure the properties of binary stars. We use only the phase of the complex visibility and not the amplitude. The reason for this is that amplitudes suffer from the calibration effect (the same for coherent and incoherent averages) and thus effectively provide lower accuracy measurements. We demonstrate that the baseline phase alone can be used to measure the separation, orientation and brightness ratio of a binary star, as a function of wavelength.Comment: 2008 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentatio

The u'g'r'i'z' Standard Star Network

We present the 158 standard stars that define the u'g'r'i'z' photometric system. These stars form the basis for the photometric calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The defining instrument system and filters, the observing process, the reduction techniques, and the software used to create the stellar network are all described. We briefly discuss the history of the star selection process, the derivation of a set of transformation equations for the UBVRcIc system, and plans for future work.Comment: References to URLs in paper have been updated to reflect moved website. Accepted by AJ. 50 pages, including 20 pages of text, 9 tables, and 15 figures. Plain ASCII text versions of Tables 8 and 9 can be found at http://home.fnal.gov/~dtucker/ugriz/index.html (new URL

Evolution of planetary nebulae II. Population effects on the bright cut-off of the PNLF

We investigate the bright cut-off of the [OIII]l5007 planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF), that has been suggested as a powerful extragalactic distance indicator. Theoretical PNLFs are constructed via Monte-Carlo simulations of populations of PNe, whose individual properties are described with the aid of recent PN synthetic models (Marigo et al. 2001), coupled to a detailed photoionisation code (CLOUDY). The basic dependences of the cut-off magnitude M* are then discussed. We find that: (i) In galaxies with recent or ongoing star formation, the modelled PNLF present M* values between -4 and -5, very close to the observationally-calibrated value for the LMC. (ii) In these galaxies, the PNLF cut-off is produced by PNe with progenitor masses of about 2.5 Msun, while less massive stars give origin to fainter PNe. As a consequence M* is expected to depend strongly on the age of the last burst of star formation, dimming by as much as 5 mag as we go from young to 10-Gyr old populations. (iii) Rather than on the initial metallicity of a stellar population, M* depends on the actual [O/H] of the observed PNe, a quantity that may differ significantly from the initial value (due to dredge-up episodes), especially in young and intermediate-age PN populations. (iv) Also the transition time from the end of AGB to the PN phase, and the nuclear-burning properties (i.e. H- or He-burning) of the central stars introduce non-negligible effects on M*. The strongest indication derived from the present calculations is a serious difficulty to explain the age-invariance of the cut-off brightness over an extended interval, say from 1 to 13 Gyr, that observations of PNLFs in galaxies of late-to-early type seem to suggest.Comment: 22 pages, to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic

A deep spectroscopic study of the filamentary nebulosity in NGC4696, the brightest cluster galaxy in the Centaurus cluster

We present results of deep integral field spectroscopy observations using high resolution optical (4150-7200 A) VIMOS VLT spectra, of NGC 4696, the dominant galaxy in the Centaurus cluster (Abell 3526). After the Virgo cluster, this is the second nearest (z=0.0104) example of a cool core cluster. NGC 4696 is surrounded by a vast, luminous H alpha emission line nebula (L = 2.2 \times 10^40 ergs per second). We explore the origin and excitation of the emission-line filaments and find their origin consistent with being drawn out, under rising radio bubbles, into the intracluster medium as in other similar systems. Contrary to previous observations we do not observe evidence for shock excitation of the outer filaments. Our optical spectra are consistent with the recent particle heating excitation mechanism of Ferland et al.Comment: 21 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA