- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/876/85
- Title:
- HST observations for LMC Cepheids
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/876/85
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present an improved determination of the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of 70 long-period Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These were obtained with the same WFC3 photometric system used to measure extragalactic Cepheids in the hosts of SNe Ia. Gyroscopic control of HST was employed to reduce overheads while collecting a large sample of widely separated Cepheids. The Cepheid period-luminosity relation provides a zero-point-independent link with 0.4% precision between the new 1.2% geometric distance to the LMC from detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs) measured by Pietrzynski+ (2019Natur.567..200P) and the luminosity of SNe Ia. Measurements and analysis of the LMC Cepheids were completed prior to knowledge of the new DEB LMC distance. Combined with a refined calibration of the count-rate linearity of WFC3-IR with 0.1% precision, these three improved elements together reduce the overall uncertainty in the geometric calibration of the Cepheid distance ladder based on the LMC from 2.5% to 1.3%. Using only the LMC DEBs to calibrate the ladder, we find H_0_=74.22+/-1.82km/s/Mpc including systematic uncertainties, 3% higher than before for this particular anchor. Combining the LMC DEBs, masers in NGC 4258, and Milky Way parallaxes yields our best estimate: H_0_=74.03+/-1.42km/s/Mpc, including systematics, an uncertainty of 1.91%-15% lower than our best previous result. Removing any one of these anchors changes H0 by less than 0.7%. The difference between H0 measured locally and the value inferred from Planck CMB and {Lambda}CDM is 6.6+/-1.5km/s/Mpc or 4.4{sigma} (P=99.999% for Gaussian errors) in significance, raising the discrepancy beyond a plausible level of chance. We summarize independent tests showing that this discrepancy is not attributable to an error in any one source or measurement, increasing the odds that it results from a cosmological feature beyond {Lambda}CDM.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/746/88
- Title:
- HST observations of GCs in NGC 1399
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/746/88
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We combine new Wide Field Camera 3 IR Channel (WFC3/IR) F160W (H_160_) imaging data for NGC 1399, the central galaxy in the Fornax cluster, with archival F475W (g_475_), F606W (V_606_), F814W (I_814_), and F850LP (z _850_) optical data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The purely optical g_475_-I_814_, V_606_-I_814_, and g_475_-z_850_colors of NGC 1399's rich globular cluster (GC) system exhibit clear bimodality, at least for magnitudes I_814_>21.5. The optical-IR I_814_-H_160_ color distribution appears unimodal, and this impression is confirmed by mixture modeling analysis. The V_606_-H_160_ colors show marginal evidence for bimodality, consistent with bimodality in V_606_-I_814_ and unimodality in I_814_-H_160_.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/143/16
- Title:
- HST photometry of IC 883 star clusters
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/143/16
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- New optical Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Spitzer Space Telescope, Galaxy Evolution Explorer, and Chandra observations of the single-nucleus, Luminous InfraRed Galaxy (LIRG) merger IC 883 are presented. The galaxy is a member of the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) and is of particular interest for a detailed examination of a luminous late-stage merger due to the richness of the optically visible star clusters and the extended nature of the nuclear X-ray, mid-IR, CO, and radio emission. In the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys images, the galaxy is shown to contain 156 optically visible star clusters distributed throughout the nuclear regions and tidal tails of the merger, with a majority of visible clusters residing in an arc ~3-7kpc from the position of the mid-infrared core of the galaxy. The luminosity functions of the clusters have an {alpha}_F435W_~-2.17 +/-0.22 and {alpha}_F814W_~-2.01+/-0.21, compared with V-band-derived values measured for the well-studied LIRG NGC 34 and the Antennae Galaxy of {alpha}~-1.7+/-0.1 and -2.13+/-0.07, respectively.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/141/14
- Title:
- HST WFC3 ERS : emission-line galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/141/14
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present grism spectra of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) from 0.6 to 1.6um from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope. These new infrared grism data augment previous optical Advanced Camera for Surveys G800L 0.6-0.95um grism data in GOODS-South from the PEARS program, extending the wavelength coverage well past the G800L red cutoff. The Early Release Science (ERS) grism field was observed at a depth of two orbits per grism, yielding spectra of hundreds of faint objects, a subset of which is presented here. ELGs are studied via the H{alpha}, [OIII], and [OII] emission lines detected in the redshift ranges 0.2~<z~<1.4, 1.2~<z~<2.2, and 2.0~<z~<3.3, respectively, in the G102 (0.8-1.1um; R~=210) and G141 (1.1-1.6um; R~=130) grisms.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/730/119
- Title:
- HST/WFC3 observations of Cepheids in SN Ia hosts
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/730/119
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We use the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the Hubble constant from optical and infrared observations of over 600 Cepheid variables in the host galaxies of eight recent Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), providing the calibration for a magnitude-redshift relation based on 253 SNe Ia.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/800/18
- Title:
- HST/WFC3 observations of z~7-8 galaxies in A2744
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/800/18
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Exploiting the power of gravitational lensing, the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) program aims at observing six massive galaxy clusters to explore the distant universe far beyond the limits of blank field surveys. Using the complete Hubble Space Telescope observations of the first HFF cluster A2744, we report the detection of 50 galaxy candidates at z~7 and eight candidates at z~8 in a total survey area of 0.96arcmin^2^ in the source plane. Three of these galaxies are multiply imaged by the lensing cluster. Using an updated model of the mass distribution in the cluster we were able to calculate the magnification factor and the effective survey volume for each galaxy in order to compute the ultraviolet galaxy luminosity function (LF) at both redshifts 7 and 8. Our new measurements reliably extend the z~7 UV LF down to an absolute magnitude of M_UV_~-15.5. We find a characteristic magnitude of M_UV_^*^=-20.90_-0.73_^+0.90^mag and a faint-end slope {alpha}=-2.01_-0.28_^+0.20^, close to previous determinations in blank fields. We show here for the first time that this slope remains steep down to very faint luminosities of 0.01L^*^. Although prone to large uncertainties, our results at z~8 also seem to confirm a steep faint-end slope below 0.1L^*^. The HFF program is therefore providing an extremely efficient way to study the faintest galaxy populations at z>7 that would otherwise be inaccessible with current instrumentation. The full sample of six galaxy clusters will provide even better constraints on the buildup of galaxies at early epochs and their contribution to cosmic reionization.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/826/56
- Title:
- HST/WFC3 obs. of Cepheids in SN Ia host gal.
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/826/56
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We use the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to reduce the uncertainty in the local value of the Hubble constant from 3.3% to 2.4%. The bulk of this improvement comes from new near-infrared (NIR) observations of Cepheid variables in 11 host galaxies of recent type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), more than doubling the sample of reliable SNe Ia having a Cepheid-calibrated distance to a total of 19; these in turn leverage the magnitude-redshift relation based on ~300 SNe Ia at z<0.15. All 19 hosts as well as the megamaser system NGC 4258 have been observed with WFC3 in the optical and NIR, thus nullifying cross-instrument zeropoint errors in the relative distance estimates from Cepheids. Other noteworthy improvements include a 33% reduction in the systematic uncertainty in the maser distance to NGC 4258, a larger sample of Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a more robust distance to the LMC based on late-type detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs), HST observations of Cepheids in M31, and new HST-based trigonometric parallaxes for Milky Way (MW) Cepheids. We consider four geometric distance calibrations of Cepheids: (i) megamasers in NGC 4258, (ii) 8 DEBs in the LMC, (iii) 15 MW Cepheids with parallaxes measured with HST/FGS, HST/WFC3 spatial scanning and/or Hipparcos, and (iv) 2 DEBs in M31. The Hubble constant from each is 72.25+/-2.51, 72.04+/-2.67, 76.18+/-2.37, and 74.50+/-3.27km/s/Mpc, respectively. Our best estimate of H_0_=73.24+/-1.74km/s/Mpc combines the anchors NGC 4258, MW, and LMC, yielding a 2.4% determination (all quoted uncertainties include fully propagated statistical and systematic components). This value is 3.4{sigma} higher than 66.93+/-0.62km/s/Mpc predicted by {Lambda}CDM with 3 neutrino flavors having a mass of 0.06eV and the new Planck data, but the discrepancy reduces to 2.1{sigma} relative to the prediction of 69.3+/-0.7km/s/Mpc based on the comparably precise combination of WMAP+ACT+SPT+BAO observations, suggesting that systematic uncertainties in CMB radiation measurements may play a role in the tension. If we take the conflict between Planck high-redshift measurements and our local determination of H_0_ at face value, one plausible explanation could involve an additional source of dark radiation in the early universe in the range of {Delta}N_eff_~0.4-1. We anticipate further significant improvements in H_0_ from upcoming parallax measurements of long-period MW Cepheids.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/843/41
- Title:
- HST/WFC3 obs. of z~2-8 galaxies in 4 HFF clusters
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/843/41
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We provide the first observational constraints on the sizes of the faintest galaxies lensed by the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) clusters. Ionizing radiation from faint galaxies likely drives cosmic reionization, and the HFF initiative provides a key opportunity to find such galaxies. However, we cannot assess their ionizing emissivity without a robust measurement of their sizes, since this is key to quantifying both their prevalence and the faint- end slope to the UV luminosity function. Here we provide the first size constraints with two new techniques. The first utilizes the fact that the detectability of highly magnified galaxies as a function of shear is very dependent on a galaxy's size. Only the most compact galaxies remain detectable in high-shear regions (versus a larger detectable size range for low shear), a phenomenon we quantify using simulations. Remarkably, however, no correlation is found between the surface density of faint galaxies and the predicted shear, using 87 high-magnification ({mu}=10-100) z~2-8 galaxies seen behind the first four HFF clusters. This can only be the case if faint (~-15mag) galaxies have significantly smaller sizes than more luminous galaxies, i.e., <~30mas or 160-240pc. As a second size probe, we rotate and stack 26 faint high-magnification sources along the major shear axis. Less elongation is found even for objects with an intrinsic half-light radius of 10mas. Together, these results indicate that extremely faint z~2-8 galaxies have near point-source profiles (half-light radii <30mas and perhaps 5-10mas). These results suggest smaller completeness corrections and hence shallower faint-end slopes for the z~2-8 LFs than derived in some recent studies (by {Delta}{alpha}>~0.1-0.3).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/810/42
- Title:
- Hydrogen RRL parameters of H II regions
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/810/42
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- H II regions are the ionized spheres surrounding high-mass stars. They are ideal targets for tracing Galactic structure because they are predominantly found in spiral arms and have high luminosities at infrared and radio wavelengths. In the Green Bank Telescope H II Region Discovery Survey (GBT HRDS), we found that >30% of first Galactic quadrant H II regions have multiple hydrogen radio recombination line (RRL) velocities, which makes determining their Galactic locations and physical properties impossible. Here we make additional GBT RRL observations to determine the discrete H II region velocity for all 117 multiple-velocity sources within 18{deg}<l<65{deg}. The multiple-velocity sources are concentrated in the zone 22{deg}<l<32{deg}, coinciding with the largest regions of massive star formation, which implies that the diffuse emission is caused by leaked ionizing photons. We combine our observations with analyses of the electron temperature, molecular gas, and carbon recombination lines to determine the source velocities for 103 discrete H II regions (88% of the sample). With the source velocities known, we resolve the kinematic distance ambiguity for 47 regions, and thus determine their heliocentric distances.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/768/102
- Title:
- I-band GALFIT analysis of luminous infrared galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/768/102
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys study of the structural properties of 85 luminous and ultraluminous (L_IR_>10^11.4^ L_{sun}_) infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) sample is presented. Two-dimensional GALFIT analysis has been performed on F814W "I-band" images to decompose each galaxy, as appropriate, into bulge, disk, central point-spread function (PSF) and stellar bar components. The fraction of bulge-less disk systems is observed to be higher in LIRGs (35%) than in ULIRGs (20%), with the disk+bulge systems making up the dominant fraction of both LIRGs (55%) and ULIRGs (45%). Further, bulge+disk systems are the dominant late-stage merger galaxy type and are the dominant type for LIRGs and ULIRGs at almost every stage of galaxy-galaxy nuclear separation. The mean I-band host absolute magnitude of the GOALS galaxies is -22.64+/-0.62 mag (1.8_-0.4_^+1.4^ L_1_^*^), and the mean bulge absolute magnitude in GOALS galaxies is about 1.1 mag fainter than the mean host magnitude. Almost all ULIRGs have bulge magnitudes at the high end (-20.6 to -23.5 mag) of the GOALS bulge magnitude range. Mass ratios in the GOALS binary systems are consistent with most of the galaxies being the result of major mergers, and an examination of the residual-to-host intensity ratios in GOALS binary systems suggests that smaller companions suffer more tidal distortion than the larger companions. We find approximately twice as many bars in GOALS disk+bulge systems (32.8%) than in pure-disk mergers (15.9%) but most of the disk+bulge systems that contain bars are disk-dominated with small bulges. The bar-to-host intensity ratio, bar half-light radius, and bar ellipticity in GOALS galaxies are similar to those found in nearby spiral galaxies. The fraction of stellar bars decreases toward later merger stages and smaller nuclear separations, indicating that bars are destroyed as the merger advances. In contrast, the fraction of nuclear PSFs increases toward later merger stages and is highest in late-stage systems with a single nucleus. Thus, light from an active galactic nucleus or compact nuclear star cluster is more visible at I band as ULIRGs enter their latter stages of evolution. Finally, both GOALS elliptical hosts and nearby Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) ellipticals occupy the same part of the surface brightness versus half-light radius plot (i.e., the "Kormendy Relation") and have similar slopes, consistent with the possibility that the GOALS galaxies belong to the same parent population as the SDSS ellipticals.