- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/811/30
- Title:
- Machine learning metallicity predictions using SDSS
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/811/30
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars ([Fe/H]<=-3.0dex) provide a unique window into understanding the first generation of stars and early chemical enrichment of the universe. EMP stars are exceptionally rare, however, and the relatively small number of confirmed discoveries limits our ability to exploit these near-field probes of the first ~500Myr after the Big Bang. Here, a new method to photometrically estimate [Fe/H] from only broadband photometric colors is presented. I show that the method, which utilizes machine-learning algorithms and a training set of ~170000 stars with spectroscopically measured [Fe/H], produces a typical scatter of ~0.29dex. This performance is similar to what is achievable via low-resolution spectroscopy, and outperforms other photometric techniques, while also being more general. I further show that a slight alteration to the model, wherein synthetic EMP stars are added to the training set, yields the robust identification of EMP candidates. In particular, this synthetic-oversampling method recovers ~20% of the EMP stars in the training set, at a precision of ~0.05. Furthermore, ~65% of the false positives from the model are very metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<=-2.0dex). The synthetic-oversampling method is biased toward the discovery of warm (~F-type) stars, a consequence of the targeting bias from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding survey. This EMP selection method represents a significant improvement over alternative broadband optical selection techniques. The models are applied to >12 million stars, with an expected yield of ~600 new EMP stars, which promises to open new avenues for exploring the early universe.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/506/1341
- Title:
- Magnetic fields in white dwarfs
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/506/1341
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A large number of magnetic white dwarfs discovered in the SDSS have so far only been analyzed by visual comparison of the observations with relatively simple models of the radiation transport in a magnetised stellar atmosphere. We model the structure of the surface magnetic fields of the hydrogen-rich white dwarfs in the SDSS.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/other/AstBu/74.66
- Title:
- Main sequence magnetic stars properties
- Short Name:
- J/other/AstBu/74
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We reconsidered the previous studies of properties of magnetic stars based on the latest data on average surface magnetic fields of 177 stars. New, corrected results have been obtained that allow a better understanding of the phenomenon of magnetic chemically peculiar stars.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/709/535
- Title:
- Masses and radii of eclipsing binaries
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/709/535
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The currently favored method for estimating radii and other parameters of transiting-planet host stars is to match theoretical models to observations of the stellar mean density {rho}_*_, the effective temperature T_eff_, and the composition parameter [Z]. This explicitly model-dependent approach is based on readily available observations, and results in small formal errors. Its performance will be central to the reliability of results from ground-based transit surveys such as TrES, HAT, and SuperWASP, as well as to the space-borne missions MOST, CoRoT, and Kepler. Here, I use two calibration samples of stars (eclipsing binaries (EBs) and stars for which asteroseismic analyses are available) having well-determined masses and radii to estimate the accuracy and systematic errors inherent in the {rho}_*_ method. When matching to the Yonsei-Yale stellar evolution models, I find the most important systematic error results from selection bias favoring rapidly rotating (hence probably magnetically active) stars among the EB sample. If unaccounted for, this bias leads to a mass-dependent underestimate of stellar radii by as much as 4% for stars of 0.4M_{sun}_, decreasing to zero for masses above about 1.4M_{sun}_. Relative errors in estimated stellar masses are three times larger than those in radii.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/640/A70
- Title:
- Massive discs in cosmological simulations
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/640/A70
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We investigate the disc-halo connection in massive (M*>5x10^10^M_{sun}_) disc galaxies from the cosmological hydrodynamical simulations EAGLE and IllustrisTNG, and compare it with that inferred from the study of HI rotation curves in nearby massive spirals from the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) dataset. We find that discrepancies between the simulated and observed discs arise both on global and on local scales. Globally, the simulated discs inhabit halos that are a factor 4 (in EAGLE) and 2 (in IllustrisTNG) more massive than those derived from the rotation curve analysis of the observed dataset. We also use synthetic rotation curves of the simulated discs to demonstrate that the recovery of the halo masses from rotation curves are not systematically biased. We find that the simulations predict dark-matter dominated systems with stellar-to-total enclosed mass ratios that are a factor of 1.5-2 smaller than real galaxies at all radii. This is an alternative manifestation of the `failed feedback problem', since it indicates that simulated halos hosting massive discs have been too inefficient at converting their baryons into stars, possibly due to an overly efficient stellar and/or AGN feedback implementation.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/834/17
- Title:
- Mass & radius of planets, moons, low mass stars
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/834/17
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Mass and radius are two of the most fundamental properties of an astronomical object. Increasingly, new planet discoveries are being announced with a measurement of one of these quantities, but not both. This has led to a growing need to forecast the missing quantity using the other, especially when predicting the detectability of certain follow-up observations. We present an unbiased forecasting model built upon a probabilistic mass-radius relation conditioned on a sample of 316 well-constrained objects. Our publicly available code, Forecaster, accounts for observational errors, hyper-parameter uncertainties, and the intrinsic dispersions observed in the calibration sample. By conditioning our model on a sample spanning dwarf planets to late-type stars, Forecaster can predict the mass (or radius) from the radius (or mass) for objects covering nine orders of magnitude in mass. Classification is naturally performed by our model, which uses four classes we label as Terran worlds, Neptunian worlds, Jovian worlds, and stars. Our classification identifies dwarf planets as merely low-mass Terrans (like the Earth) and brown dwarfs as merely high-mass Jovians (like Jupiter). We detect a transition in the mass-radius relation at 2.0_-0.6_^+0.7^M_{Earth}_, which we associate with the divide between solid, Terran worlds and Neptunian worlds. This independent analysis adds further weight to the emerging consensus that rocky super-Earths represent a narrower region of parameter space than originally thought. Effectively, then, the Earth is the super-Earth we have been looking for.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/794/146
- Title:
- M dwarfs with IR excess
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/794/146
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) spectroscopic catalog, we searched the WISE AllWISE catalog to investigate the occurrence of warm dust, as inferred from IR excesses, around field M dwarfs (dMs). We developed SDSS/WISE color selection criteria to identify 175 dMs (from 70841) that show IR flux greater than the typical dM photosphere levels at 12 and/or 22{mu}m, including seven new stars within the Orion OB1 footprint. We characterize the dust populations inferred from each IR excess and investigate the possibility that these excesses could arise from ultracool binary companions by modeling combined spectral energy distributions. Our observed IR fluxes are greater than levels expected from ultracool companions (>3{sigma}). We also estimate that the probability the observed IR excesses are due to chance alignments with extragalactic sources is <0.1%. Using SDSS spectra we measure surface gravity-dependent features (K, Na, and CaH 3) and find <15% of our sample indicates low surface gravities. Examining tracers of youth (H{alpha}, UV fluxes, and Li absorption), we find <3% of our sample appear young, indicating we are observing a population of field stars >~1Gyr, likely harboring circumstellar material. We investigate age-dependent properties probed by this sample, studying the disk fraction as a function of Galactic height. The fraction remains small and constant to |Z|~700pc and then drops, indicating little to no trend with age. Possible explanations for disks around field dMs include (1) collisions of planetary bodies, (2) tidal disruption of planetary bodies, or (3) failed planet formation.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/635/A161
- Title:
- Measured atmospheric parameters of NGC6397 stars
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/635/A161
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Recent work has used spectra of ~5000 stars in NGC 6397 that were extracted from a MUSE mosaic to determine the atmospheric parameters for these stars by fitting the spectra against the Goettingen Spectral Library. A significant change in metallicity between the turn off and the red giant branch was found and was discussed as a possible manifestation of predicted effects of atomic diffusion. However, the small amplitude of the effect and inconsistency with earlier measurements call for more attention before this result is interpreted. Systematic effects due to the interpolation or to the synthetic spectra cannot be ruled out at this level of precision. We reanalyze the data with : the ELODIE and MILES reference libraries in order to assess the robustness of the result. These empirical libraries have a finer metallicity coverage down to approximately the cluster metallicity turn-off. Methods. We used the ULySS full-spectrum fitting package, together with the library interpolators to remeasure the three atmospheric parameters effective temperature, surface gravity, and [Fe/H] metallicity. We find a very low [Fe/H] dispersion along the isochrone (0.07dex), consistent with our error estimate (0.05dex). However, the [Fe/H] trend is not reproducible. This shows that the data have the potential to reveal patterns of the magnitude of the expected physical effects, but the analysis methods need to be refined to cull systematic effects that currently dominate the patterns.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/640/A25
- Title:
- Metal-poor stars limb-darkening coefficients
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/640/A25
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Benchmark stars are crucial as validating standards for current as well as future large stellar surveys of the Milky Way. However, the number of suitable metal-poor benchmark stars is currently limited, owing to the difficulty in determining reliable effective temperatures (Teff) in this regime. We aim to construct a new set of metal-poor benchmark stars, based on reliable interferometric effective temperature determinations and a homogeneous analysis. The aim is to reach a precision of 1% in Teff, as is crucial for sufficiently accurate determinations of the full set of fundamental parameters and abundances for the survey sources. We observed ten late type metal-poor dwarf and giants: HD 2665, HD 6755, HD 6833, HD 103095, HD 122563, HD 127243, HD 140283, HD 175305, HD 221170 and HD 224930. Only three of the ten stars (HD 103095, HD 122563 and HD 140283) have previously been used as benchmark stars. For the observations, we used the high angular resolution optical interferometric instrument PAVO at the CHARA array. We modelled angular diameters using 3D limb darkening models and determined effective temperatures directly from the Stefan-Boltzmann relation, with an iterative procedure to interpolate over tables of bolometric corrections. Surface gravities (log(g)) were estimated from comparisons to Dartmouth stellar evolution model tracks. We collected spectroscopic observations from the ELODIE and FIES spectrographs and estimated metallicities ([Fe/H]) from a 1D non-LTE abundance analysis of unblended lines of neutral and singly ionized iron. We inferred Teff to better than 1% for five of the stars (HD 103095, HD 122563, HD 127243, HD 140283 and HD 224930). The effective temperatures of the other five stars are reliable to between 2-3%; the higher uncertainty on the Teff for those stars is mainly due to their having a larger uncertainty in the bolometric fluxes. We also determined log(g) and [Fe/H] with median uncertainties of 0.03dex and 0.09dex, respectively. This study presents reliable and homogeneous fundamental stellar parameters for ten metal-poor stars that can be adopted as a new set of benchmarks. The parameters are based on our consistent approach of combining interferometric observations, 3D limb darkening modelling and spectroscopic observations. The next paper in this series will extend this approach to dwarfs and giants in the metal-rich regime.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/403/1625
- Title:
- Method for orientation angles of galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/403/1625
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A method is proposed for the determination of the position and inclination angles of the plane of a spiral galaxy based on the assumption that every spiral arm is a monotonic function of the radius against azimuthal angle. This method may yield more accurate results than the more commonly employed isophote method, which is subject to a number of drawbacks. Analytical study, calibration against other methods and examples of application of the proposed method to real galaxies are presented.
