679 research outputs found
H.E.S.S. deeper observations on SNR RX J0852.0-4622
Supernova Remnants (SNRs) are believed to be acceleration sites of Galactic
cosmic rays. Therefore, deep studies of these objects are instrumental for an
understanding of the high energy processes in our Galaxy. RX J0852.0-4622, also
known as Vela Junior, is one of the few (4) shell-type SNRs resolved at Very
High Energies (VHE; E > 100 GeV). It is one of the largest known VHE sources (~
1.0 deg radius) and its flux level is comparable to the flux level of the Crab
Nebula in the same energy band. These characteristics allow for a detailed
analysis, shedding further light on the high-energy processes taking place in
the remnant. In this document we present further details on the spatial and
spectral morphology derived with an extended data set. The analysis of the
spectral morphology of the remnant is compatible with a constant power-law
photon index of 2.11 +/- 0.05_stat +/- 0.20_syst from the whole SNR in the
energy range from 0.5 TeV to 7 TeV. The analysis of the spatial morphology
shows an enhanced emission towards the direction of the pulsar PSR J0855-4644,
however as the pulsar is lying on the rim of the SNR, it is difficult to
disentangle both contributions. Therefore, assuming a point source, the upper
limit on the flux of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) between 1 TeV and 10 TeV, is
estimated to be ~ 2% of the Crab Nebula flux in the same energy range
Very Massive Stars and the Eddington Limit
We use contemporary evolutionary models for Very Massive Stars (VMS) to
assess whether the Eddington limit constrains the upper stellar mass limit. We
also consider the interplay between mass and age for the wind properties and
spectral morphology of VMS, with reference to the recently modified
classification scheme for O2-3.5If*/WN stars. Finally, the death of VMS in the
local universe is considered in the context of pair instability supernovae.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, from "Four Decades of Massive Star Research"
(Quebec, Jul 2011), ASP Conf Ser, in press (L. Drissen, C. Robert, N.
St-Louis, A.F.J. Moffat, eds.
Automated Classification of 2000 Bright IRAS Sources
An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been employed using a supervised
back-propagation scheme to classify 2000 bright sources from the Calgary
database of IRAS (Infrared Astronomy Satellite) spectra in the wavelength
region of 8-23 microns. The data base has been classified into 17
pre-determined classes based on spectral morphology. We have been able to
classify more than 80 percent of the 2000 sources correctly at the first
instance. The speed and robustness of the scheme will allow us to classify the
whole of LRS database, containing more than 50,000 sources in the future.Comment: 26 pages, To appear in ApJS after July 200
Morphological Classification of Galaxies by Shapelet Decomposition in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: Multiwavelength Classification
We describe the application of the `shapelet' linear decomposition of galaxy
images to multi-wavelength morphological classification using the
and -band images of 1519 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We
utilize elliptical shapelets to remove to first-order the effect of inclination
on morphology. After decomposing the galaxies we perform a principal component
analysis on the shapelet coefficients to reduce the dimensionality of the
spectral morphological parameter space. We give a description of each of the
first ten principal component's contribution to a galaxy's spectral morphology.
We find that galaxies of different broad Hubble type separate cleanly in the
principal component space. We apply a mixture of Gaussians model to the
2-dimensional space spanned by the first two principal components and use the
results as a basis for classification. Using the mixture model, we separate
galaxies into three classes and give a description of each class's physical and
morphological properties. We find that the two dominant mixture model classes
correspond to early and late type galaxies, respectively. The third class has,
on average, a blue, extended core surrounded by a faint red halo, and typically
exhibits some asymmetry. We compare our method to a simple cut on color
and find the shapelet method to be superior in separating galaxies.
Furthermore, we find evidence that the decision boundary may not be
optimal for separation between early and late type galaxies, and suggest that
the optimal cut may be .Comment: 42 pages, 18 figs, revised version in press at AJ. Some modification
to the technique, more discussion, addition/deletion/modification of several
figures, color figures have been added. A high resolution version may be
obtained at
http://bllac.as.arizona.edu/~bkelly/shapelets/shapelets_ugriz.ps.g
Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of M, L, and T Dwarfs
We present the first mid-infrared spectra of brown dwarfs, together with
observations of a low-mass star. Our targets are the M3.5 dwarf GJ 1001A, the
L8 dwarf DENIS-P J0255-4700, and the T1/T6 binary system epsilon Indi Ba/Bb. As
expected, the mid-infrared spectral morphology of these objects changes rapidly
with spectral class due to the changes in atmospheric chemistry resulting from
their differing effective temperatures and atmospheric structures. By taking
advantage of the unprecedented sensitivity of the Infrared Spectrograph on the
Spitzer Space Telescope we have detected the 7.8 micron methane and 10 micron
ammonia bands for the first time in brown dwarf spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
The First Substellar Subdwarf? Discovery of a Metal-poor L Dwarf with Halo Kinematics
We present the discovery of the first L-type subdwarf, 2MASS
J05325346+8246465. This object exhibits enhanced collision-induced H
absorption, resulting in blue NIR colors (). In
addition, strong hydride bands in the red optical and NIR, weak TiO absorption,
and an optical/J-band spectral morphology similar to the L7 DENIS 02051159AB
imply a cool, metal-deficient atmosphere. We find that 2MASS 0532+8246 has both
a high proper motion, = 2\farcs60\pm0\farcs15 yr, and a
substantial radial velocity, km s, and its
probable proximity to the Sun (d = 10--30 pc) is consistent with halo
membership. Comparison to subsolar-metallicity evolutionary models strongly
suggests that 2MASS 0532+8246 is substellar, with a mass of 0.077 M
0.085 M_{\sun} for ages 10--15 Gyr and metallicities Z_{\sun}. The discovery of this object clearly indicates that star
formation occurred below the Hydrogen burning mass limit at early times,
consistent with prior results indicating a flat or slightly rising mass
function for the lowest-mass stellar subdwarfs. Furthermore, 2MASS 0532+8246
serves as a prototype for a new spectral class of subdwarfs, additional
examples of which could be found in NIR proper motion surveys.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted to Ap
The Onfp Class in the Magellanic Clouds
The Onfp class of rotationally broadened, hot spectra was defined some time
ago in the Galaxy, where its membership to date numbers only eight. The
principal defining characteristic is a broad, centrally reversed He II
4686 emission profile; other emission and absorption lines are also
rotationally broadened. Recent surveys in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) have
brought the class membership there, including some related spectra, to 28. We
present a survey of the spectral morphology and rotational velocities, as a
first step toward elucidating the nature of this class. Evolved, rapidly
rotating hot stars are not expected theoretically, because the stellar winds
should brake the rotation. Luminosity classification of these spectra is not
possible, because the principal criterion (He II 4686) is peculiar;
however, the MCs provide reliable absolute magnitudes, which show that they
span the entire range from dwarfs to supergiants. The Onfp line-broadening
distribution is distinct and shifted toward larger values from those of normal
O dwarfs and supergiants with >99.99% confidence. All cases with multiple
observations show line-profile variations, which even remove some objects from
the class temporarily. Some of them are spectroscopic binaries; it is possible
that the peculiar profiles may have multiple causes among different objects.
The origin and future of these stars are intriguing; for instance, they could
be stellar mergers and/or gamma-ray-burst progenitors.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; AJ accepte
Calibrating Galaxy Redshifts Using Absorption by the Surrounding Intergalactic Medium
Rest-frame UV spectral lines of star-forming galaxies are systematically
offset from the galaxies' systemic redshifts, probably because of large-scale
outflows. We calibrate galaxy redshifts measured from rest-frame UV lines by
utilizing the fact that the mean HI Ly-alpha absorption profiles around the
galaxies, as seen in spectra of background objects, must be symmetric with
respect to the true galaxy redshifts if the galaxies are oriented randomly with
respect to the lines of sight to the background objects. We use 15 QSOs at
z~2.5-3 and more than 600 foreground galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts at
z~1.9-2.5. All galaxies are within 2 Mpc proper from the lines of sight to the
background QSOs. We find that LyA emission and ISM absorption redshifts require
systematic shifts of v_LyA=-295(+35)(-35) km/s and v_ISM=145(+70)(-35) km/s.
Assuming a Gaussian distribution, we put 1-sigma upper limits on possible
random redshift offsets of <220 km/s for LyA and <420 km/s for ISM redshifts.
For the small subset (<10%) of galaxies for which near-IR spectra have been
obtained, we can compare our results to direct measurements based on nebular
emission lines which we confirm to mark the systemic redshifts. While our v_ISM
agrees with the direct measurements, our v_LyA is significantly smaller.
However, when we apply our method to the near-IR subsample which is
characterized by slightly different selection effects, the best-fit velocity
offset comes into agreement with the direct measurement. This confirms the
validity of our approach, and implies that no single number appropriately
describes the whole population of galaxies, in line with the observation that
the line offset depends on galaxy spectral morphology. This method provides
accurate redshift calibrations and will enable studies of circumgalactic matter
around galaxies for which rest-frame optical observations are not available.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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