- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/805/90
- Title:
- WISE ELIRGs and comparison with QSOs
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/805/90
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present 20 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)-selected galaxies with bolometric luminosities L_bol_>10^14^L_{sun}_, including five with infrared luminosities L_IR_{equiv}L_(rest8-1000{mu}m)_>10^14^L_{sun}_. These "extremely luminous infrared galaxies", or ELIRGs, were discovered using the "W1W2-dropout" selection criteria which requires marginal or non-detections at 3.4 and 4.6{mu}m (W1 and W2, respectively) but strong detections at 12 and 22{mu}m in the WISE survey. Their spectral energy distributions are dominated by emission at rest-frame 4-10{mu}m, suggesting that hot dust with T_d_~450K is responsible for the high luminosities. These galaxies are likely powered by highly obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and there is no evidence suggesting these systems are beamed or lensed. We compare this WISE-selected sample with 116 optically selected quasars that reach the same L_bol_ level, corresponding to the most luminous unobscured quasars in the literature. We find that the rest-frame 5.8 and 7.8{mu}m luminosities of the WISE-selected ELIRGs can be 30%-80% higher than that of the unobscured quasars. The existence of AGNs with L_bol_>10^14^L_{sun}_ at z>3 suggests that these supermassive black holes are born with large mass, or have very rapid mass assembly. For black hole seed masses ~10^3^M_{sun}_, either sustained super-Eddington accretion is needed, or the radiative efficiency must be <15%, implying a black hole with slow spin, possibly due to chaotic accretion.
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/245/25
- Title:
- WISE Extended Source Catalog (WXSC). I.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/245/25
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present mid-infrared photometry and measured global properties of the 100 largest galaxies in the sky, including the well-studied Magellanic Clouds, Local Group galaxies M31 and M33, the Fornax and Virgo galaxy cluster giants, and many of the most spectacular Messier objects (e.g., M51 and M83). This is the first release of a larger catalog of extended sources as imaged in the mid-infrared, called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Extended Source Catalog (WXSC). In this study, we measure their global attributes, including integrated flux, surface brightness, and radial distribution. The largest of the large are the LMC, SMC, and Andromeda galaxy, which are also the brightest mid-infrared galaxies in the sky. We interrogate the large galaxies using WISE colors, which serve as proxies for four general types of galaxies: bulge-dominated spheroidals, intermediate semi-quiescent disks, star-forming (SF) spirals, and AGN-dominated. The colors reveal a tight "sequence" that spans 5 mag in W2-W3 color, ranging from early to late types and low to high SF activity; we fit the functional form given by (W1-W2)=[0.015*e^(W2-W3)/1.38^]-0.08. Departures from this sequence may reveal nuclear, starburst, and merging events. Physical properties and luminosity attributes are computed, notably the diameter, aggregate stellar mass, and dust-obscured star formation activity. To effectively study and compare these galaxy characteristics, we introduce the "pinwheel" diagram, which depicts physical properties with respect to the median value observed for WISE galaxies in the local universe. Utilized with the WXSC, this diagram will delineate between different kinds of galaxies, identifying those with similar star formation and structural properties. Finally, we present the mid-infrared photometry of the 25 brightest globular clusters in the sky, of which many are also the largest and brightest objects orbiting the Milky Way, including Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and a number of famed night-sky targets (e.g., M13).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/748/68
- Title:
- WISE IR colors of gamma-ray blazars
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/748/68
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Blazars constitute the most enigmatic class of extragalactic {gamma}-ray sources, and their observational features have been ascribed to a relativistic jet closely aligned to the line of sight. They are generally divided in two main classes: the BL Lac objects (BL Lacs) and the flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). In the case of BL Lacs the double-bumped spectral energy distribution (SED) is generally described by the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission, while for the FSRQs it is interpreted as due to external Compton (EC) emission. Recently, we showed that in the [3.4]-[4.6]-[12]{mu}m color-color diagram the blazar population covers a distinct region (i.e., the WISE blazar Strip (WBS)) clearly separated from the other extragalactic sources that are dominated by thermal emission. In this paper, we investigate the relation between the infrared and {gamma}-ray emission for a subset of confirmed blazars from the literature, associated with Fermi sources, for which WISE archival observations are available. This sample is a proper subset of the sample of sources used previously, and the availability of Fermi data is critical to constrain the models on the emission mechanisms for the blazars.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/837/15
- Title:
- WISE IR excesses among main sequence stars
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/837/15
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- This study presents a search for infrared (IR) excess in the 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22{mu}m bands in a sample of 216 targets, composed of solar sibling, twin, and analog stars observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. In general, an IR excess suggests the existence of warm dust around a star. We detected 12{mu}m and/or 22{mu}m excesses at the 3{sigma} level of confidence in five solar analog stars, corresponding to a frequency of 4.1% of the entire sample of solar analogs analyzed, and in one out of 29 solar sibling candidates, confirming previous studies. The estimation of the dust properties shows that the sources with IR excesses possess circumstellar material with temperatures that, within the uncertainties, are similar to that of the material found in the asteroid belt in our solar system. No photospheric flux excess was identified at the W1 (3.4{mu}m) and W2 (4.6{mu}m) WISE bands, indicating that, in the majority of stars of the present sample, no detectable dust is generated. Interestingly, among the 60 solar twin stars analyzed in this work, no WISE photospheric flux excess was detected. However, a null-detection excess does not necessarily indicate the absence of dust around a star because different causes, including dynamic processes and instrument limitations, can mask its presence.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/212/10
- Title:
- WISE IR excesses for stars within 75pc
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/212/10
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a sensitive search for WISE W3 (12{mu}m) and W4 (22{mu}m) excesses from warm optically thin dust around Hipparcos main sequence stars within 75pc from the Sun. We use contemporaneously measured photometry from WISE, remove sources of contamination, and derive and apply corrections to saturated fluxes to attain optimal sensitivity to >10{mu}m excesses. We use data from the WISE All-Sky Survey Catalog rather than the AllWISE release because we find that its saturated photometry is better behaved, allowing us to detect small excesses even around saturated stars in WISE. Our new discoveries increase by 45% the number of stars with warm dusty excesses and expand the number of known debris disks (with excess at any wavelength) within 75pc by 29%. We identify 220 Hipparcos debris disk host stars, 108 of which are new detections at any wavelength. We present the first measurement of a 12{mu}m and/or 22{mu}m excess for 10 stars with previously known cold (50-100K) disks. We also find five new stars with small but significant W3 excesses, adding to the small population of known exozodi, and we detect evidence for a W2 excess around HIP 96562 (F2V), indicative of tenuous hot (780K) dust. As a result of our WISE study, the number of debris disks with known 10-30{mu}m excesses within 75pc (379) has now surpassed the number of disks with known >30{mu}m excesses (289, with 171 in common), even if the latter have been found to have a higher occurrence rate in unbiased samples.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/213/25
- Title:
- WISE Massive & Distant Clusters (MaDCoWS). II.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/213/25
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present optical and infrared imaging and optical spectroscopy of galaxy clusters which were identified as part of an all-sky search for high-redshift galaxy clusters, the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS). The initial phase of MaDCoWS combined infrared data from the all-sky data release of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to select probable z~1 clusters of galaxies over an area of 10000deg^2^. Our spectroscopy confirms 19 new clusters at 0.7<z<1.3, half of which are at z>1, demonstrating the viability of using WISE to identify high-redshift galaxy clusters. The next phase of MaDCoWS will use the greater depth of the AllWISE data release to identify even higher redshift cluster candidates.
- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/w2ragncat
- Title:
- WISE/2MASS/RASS (W2R) AGN Sample Catalog
- Short Name:
- W2RAGNCAT
- Date:
- 28 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- The authors of this catalog have developed the S<sub>IX</sub> statistic to identify bright, highly likely active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates solely on the basis of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), and ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) data. This statistic was optimized with data from the preliminary WISE survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and tested with Lick 3 m Kast spectroscopy. The authors find that sources with S<sub>IX</sub> < 0 have a >~ 95% likelihood of being an AGN (defined in this paper as a Seyfert 1, quasar, or blazar). This statistic was then applied to the full WISE/2MASS/RASS dataset, including the final WISE data release, to yield the "W2R" sample of 4316 sources with S<sub>IX</sub> < 0. Only 2209 of these sources are currently in the Veron-Cetty and Veron (VCV) Catalog of spectroscopically confirmed AGNs, indicating that the W2R sample contains nearly 2000 new, relatively bright (J <~ 16) AGNs. The authors utilize the W2R sample to quantify biases and incompleteness in the VCV Catalog. They find that it is highly complete for bright (J < 14), northern AGNs, but the completeness drops below 50% for fainter, southern samples and for sources near the Galactic plane. This approach also led to the spectroscopic identification of 10 new AGNs in the Kepler field, more than doubling the number of AGNs being monitored by Kepler. The W2R sample contains better than 1 bright AGN every 10 deg<sup>2</sup>, permitting construction of AGN samples in any sufficiently large region of sky. This table contains the 4316 sources comprising the W2R sample. This table was created by the HEASARC in June 2012 based on an electronic version of Table 3 from the reference paper which was obtained from the ApJ website. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/835/280
- Title:
- WISE MIR properties of galaxies in compact groups
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/835/280
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We study the mid-infrared (MIR) properties of galaxies in compact groups and their environmental dependence using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data. We use a volume-limited sample of 670 compact groups and their 2175 member galaxies with M_r_<-19.77 and 0.01<z<0.0741, drawn from Sohn+ (2016, J/ApJS/225/23), which were identified using a friends-of-friends algorithm. Among the 2175 galaxies, 1541 galaxies are detected at WISE 12um with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 3. Among the 1541 galaxies, 433 AGN-host galaxies are identified by using both optical and MIR classification schemes. Using the remaining 1108 non-AGN galaxies, we find that the MIR [3.4]-[12] colors of compact group early-type galaxies are on average bluer than those of cluster early-type galaxies. When compact groups have both early- and late-type member galaxies, the MIR colors of the late-type members in those compact groups are bluer than the MIR colors of cluster late-type galaxies. As compact groups are located in denser regions, they tend to have larger early-type galaxy fractions and bluer MIR color galaxies. These trends are also seen for neighboring galaxies around compact groups. However, compact group member galaxies always have larger early-type galaxy fractions and bluer MIR colors than their neighboring galaxies. Our findings suggest that the properties of compact group galaxies depend on both internal and external environments of compact groups, and that galaxy evolution is faster in compact groups than in the central regions of clusters.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/255/10
- Title:
- WISE MIR variability in gamma-ray Seyfert 1 gal.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/255/10
- Date:
- 11 Mar 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Fermi-LAT's detection of {gamma}-rays from narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) has received increasing attention. Understanding these {gamma}-NLS1s is of interest because they have some properties similar to blazars, which are known to show rapid and large-amplitude variability. Based on the largest sample of {gamma}-NLS1s (25 sources), we carried out a systematic search for rapid mid-infrared (MIR, 3.4 and 4.6{mu}m) variability using the multiepoch data of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We also compared a few variability properties between {gamma}-NLS1s and {gamma}-ray blazars. Our main results are as follows. (1) Thirteen {gamma}-NLS1s showed significant (>3{sigma}) rapid variability in at least one of the two MIR bands. The MIR emission of these sources is dominated by the synchrotron emission of relativistic electrons in the jet. (2) The {gamma}-NLS1s with flat radio spectra are more variable than those not detected in {gamma}-rays. (3) The {gamma}-NLS1s tend to show smaller amplitude of variability as well as lower duty cycle relative to {gamma}-ray blazars. (4) The {gamma}-NLS1s tend to show a trend of bluer-when-brighter on both intraday and long timescales, similar to {gamma}-ray blazars. (5) The {gamma}-NLS1s that are more variable on long timescales have larger amplitudes of variability and higher duty cycles on intraday timescales. (6) In the majority of cases, the {gamma}-NLS1s fall in the WISE Gamma-ray Blazar Strip (WGS). However, we noted migrations outside of the WGS due to significant variability.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/155/50
- Title:
- WISE photometry of Be stars in young open clusters
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/155/50
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Through the modeling of near-infrared photometry of star-plus disk systems with the codes BEDISK/BERAY, we successfully describe the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) photometric characteristics of Be stars in five young open clusters, NGC 663, NGC 869, NGC 884, NGC 3766, and NGC 4755, broadly studied in the literature. WISE photometry allows previously known Be stars to be detected and to find new Be candidates which could be confirmed spectroscopically. The location of Be stars in the WISE color-magnitude diagram, separates them in two groups; active (Be stars hosting a developed circumstellar disk) and quiescent objects (Be stars in a diskless phase), and this way, we can explore how often stars are observed in these different stages. The variability observed in most active variable Be stars is compatible with a disk dissipation phase. We find that 50% of Be stars in the studied open clusters are in an active phase. We can interpret this as Be stars having a developed circumstellar disk one-half of the time. The location of Be stars with a developed disk in the color-magnitude diagram require mass loss rates in agreement with values recently reported in the literature. For these objects, we expect to have a tight relation between the equivalent width of the H{alpha} line and the mass of the disk, if the inclination is known. Also, near-infrared photometry of Be stars in stellar clusters has the potential of being useful to test whether there is a preferential viewing angle.