Diffuse interstellar bands {\lambda}5780 and {\lambda}5797 in the Antennae Galaxy as seen by MUSE

ABRIDGED: Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are faint spectral absorption features of unknown origin. Research on DIBs beyond the Local Group (LG) will surely blossom in the era of the ELTs. A possibility that needs to be explored is the use of integral field spectrographs. We do so by using MUSE data for the Antennae Galaxy, the closest major galaxy merger. High S-to-N spectra were created by co-adding the signal of many spatial elements. The emission of the underlying stellar population was modeled using STARLIGHT. To our knowledge, we have derived the first maps for the DIBs at l5780 and l5797 in galaxies outside the LG. The l5780 DIB was detected in an area of ~0.6 arcmin2, corresponding to a linear scale of ~25 kpc2. This region was sampled using >200 independent lines of sight. The DIB l5797 was detected in >100 independent lines of sight. Both DIBs are associated with a region with high emission in the HI 21 cm line, implying a connection between atomic gas and DIBs, as the correlations for the Milky Way also suggest. Conversely, there is mild spatial association between the two DIBs and the molecular gas, in agreement with results for our Galaxy that indicate a lack of correlation between DIBs and molecular gas. The overall structure for the DIB strength distribution and extinction are comparable. Within the system, the l5780 DIB clearly correlates with the extinction. Both DIBs follow the relationship between equivalent width and reddening when data for several galaxies are considered. Unidentified Infrared emission Bands (UIBs, likely caused by PAHs) and the l5780 and l5797 DIBs show similar but not identical spatial distributions. We attribute the differences to extinction effects without necessarily implying a radically different nature of the respective carriers. The results illustrate the enormous potential of integral field spectrographs for extragalactic DIB research.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics; version corrected by English edito

A catalog of 1.5273 micron diffuse interstellar bands based on APOGEE hot telluric calibrators

High resolution stellar spectroscopic surveys provide massive amounts of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) measurements. Data can be used to study the distribution of the DIB carriers and those environmental conditions that favor their formation. In parallel, recent studies have also proved that DIBs extracted from stellar spectra constitute new tools for building the 3D structure of the Galactic Interstellar Medium (ISM). The amount of details on the structure depends directly on the quantity of available lines of sight (LOS). Therefore there is a need to construct databases of high-quality DIB measurements as large as possible. We aim at providing the community with a catalog of high-quality measurements of the 1.5273 micron DIB towards a large fraction of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) hot stars observed to correct for the telluric absorption and not used for ISM studies so far. This catalog would complement the extensive database recently extracted from the APOGEE observations and used for 3D ISM mapping. We devised a method to fit the stellar continuum of the hot calibration stars and extracted the DIB from the normalized spectrum. Severe selection criteria based on the absorption characteristics are applied to the results. In particular limiting constraints on the DIB widths and Doppler shifts are deduced from the HI 21 cm measurements, following a new technique of decomposition of the emission spectra. From ~16 000 available hot telluric spectra we have extracted ~ 6700 DIB measurements and their associated uncertainties. The statistical properties of the extracted absorptions are examined and our selection criteria are shown to provide a robust dataset. The resulting catalog contains the DIB total equivalent widths, central wavelengths and widths. We briefly illustrate its potential use for the stellar and interstellar communities.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, in press, 35 pages, 14 figure

Trick or treat? La influencia anglosajona en las celebraciones de España.

Mi trabajo de fin de grado está basado en la celebración de Halloween y en el pueblo celta. Los celtas fueron un pueblo que estuvo presente en gran parte de la Europa Occidental teniendo gran importancia tanto en Irlanda como en Reino Unido, sin olvidar que en comunidades autónomas españolas como Galicia, Asturias o Cantabria su presencia adquirió gran importancia en la cultura y tradiciones actuales de estas localidades, e indudablemente marcaron la historia de las mismas. Como explicaré a lo largo del trabajo, Halloween es una celebración de origen celta que ya era celebrado tanto en países anglosajones como en la península ibérica. Aunque su celebración se haya mantenido con más intensidad en países de habla inglesa, en diferentes zonas de España como Galicia, también se han mantenido elementos y juegos tradicionales de Halloween. Halloween es celebrado todos los 31 de octubre, y aunque actualmente es conocido como la noche de las brujas o de los difuntos, en su origen su celebración tenía lugar por dar comienzo el nuevo año celta. Esa noche los celtas creían que los espíritus podían volver al mundo humano como expondré más adelante. En cuanto a los celtas, muchos han sido los elementos y restos que nos han dejado en aquellos países y localidades en los que estuvieron presentes y que aún podemos contemplar. Gracias a todos esos eslabones hemos podido conocer e interpretar la que fue su forma de vida y sus costumbres. Por ejemplo, gracias a los restos de “castros” que encontramos en diferentes zonas que fueron habitadas por dicho pueblo, hemos podido ser conscientes de su organización en viviendas y en clanes. Además, este pueblo, también influyó mucho en algunas de las fiestas tradicionales que se siguen manteniendo en la actualidad. La gran importancia que ha tenido este pueblo en todas las localidades en las que habitaron es indudable y queda demostrado en la influencia que han tenido en nuestra historia, ya que estuvieron presentes a lo largo de varios siglos hasta que fueron desterrados y eliminados generalmente por romanos. Aprovechando además mi estancia en un centro escolar en el periodo de prácticas, realicé cuestionarios tanto a profesores como a alumnos para poder conocer si la celebración de Halloween es conocida completamente (orígenes, tradiciones, costumbres, símbolos…) o solo eran conocidos el juego del trick or treat y la costumbre de disfrazarse para conseguir asustar a los vecinos a los que se les realiza dicho juego.Grado en Educación Primari

HeI in the central Giant HII Region of NGC 5253. A 2D observational approach to collisional and radiative transfer effects

ABRIDGED: NGC5253 is an ideal laboratory for detailed studies of starburst galaxies. We present for the first time in a starburst galaxy a 2D study of the spatial behavior of collisional and radiative transfer effects in He^+. The HeI lines are analysed based on data obtained with FLAMES and GMOS. Collisional effects are negligible for transitions in the singlet cascade while relatively important for those in the triplet cascade. In particular, they can contribute up to 20% of the flux in the HeIl7065 line. Radiative transfer effects are important over an extended and circular area of 30pc in diameter centered at the Super Star Clusters. HeI abundance, y^+, has been mapped using extinction corrected fluxes of six HeI lines, realistic assumptions for T_e, n_e, and the stellar absorption equivalent width as well as the most recent emissivities. We found a mean of 10^3 y^+ ~80.3 over the mapped area. The relation between the excitation and the total helium abundance, y_tot, is consistent with no abundance gradient. Uncertainties in the derivation of He abundances are dominated by the adopted assumptions. We illustrated the difficulty of detecting a putative He enrichment due to the presence of Wolf-Rayet stars in the main GHIIR. Data are marginally consistent with an excess in the N/He ratio in the N enriched area of the order of both, the atmospheric N/He ratios in WR stars and the uncertainties estimated for the N/He ratios.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics; the emissivities presented in the Corrigendum, Porter et al. 2013, arXiv:1303.5115, have been include

p3d: a general data-reduction tool for fiber-fed integral-field spectrographs

The reduction of integral-field spectrograph (IFS) data is demanding work. Many repetitive operations are required in order to convert raw data into, typically a large number of, spectra. This effort can be markedly simplified through the use of a tool or pipeline, which is designed to complete many of the repetitive operations without human interaction. Here we present our semi-automatic data-reduction tool p3d that is designed to be used with fiber-fed IFSs. Important components of p3d include a novel algorithm for automatic finding and tracing of spectra on the detector, and two methods of optimal spectrum extraction in addition to standard aperture extraction. p3d also provides tools to combine several images, perform wavelength calibration and flat field data. p3d is at the moment configured for four IFSs. In order to evaluate its performance we have tested the different components of the tool. For these tests we used both simulated and observational data. We demonstrate that for three of the IFSs a correction for so-called cross-talk due to overlapping spectra on the detector is required. Without such a correction spectra will be inaccurate, in particular if there is a significant intensity gradient across the object. Our tests showed that p3d is able to produce accurate results. p3d is a highly general and freely available tool. It is easily extended to include improved algorithms, new visualization tools and support for additional instruments. The program code can be downloaded from the p3d-project web site http://p3d.sourceforge.netComment: 18 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A&