The goal in writing this paper is five fold: (1) to summarize the scientific achievements in the 20th century on S Dor variables (or LBVs); (2) to present an inventory of these variables in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds with a description of their physical state and instability properties; (3) to emphasize the photometric achievements of the various types of instabilities. Generally this seems to be a neglected item resulting in a number of misunderstandings continuously wandering through literature; (4) to investigate the structure of the S Dor-area on the HR-diagram; (5) to estimate the total numbers of S Dor variables in the three stellar systems.
We present results from the largest systematic investigation of broad absorption line (BAL) acceleration to date. We use spectra of 140 quasars from three Sloan Digital Sky Survey programs to search for global velocity offsets in BALs over timescales of ~2.5-5.5 years in the quasar rest frame. We carefully select acceleration candidates by requiring monolithic velocity shifts over the entire BAL trough, avoiding BALs with velocity shifts that might be caused by profile variability. The CIV BALs of two quasars show velocity shifts consistent with the expected signatures of BAL acceleration, and the BAL of one quasar shows a velocity-shift signature of deceleration. In our two acceleration candidates, we see evidence that the magnitude of the acceleration is not constant over time; the magnitudes of the change in acceleration for both acceleration candidates are difficult to produce with a standard disk-wind model or via geometric projection effects. We measure upper limits to acceleration and deceleration for 76 additional BAL troughs and find that the majority of BALs are stable to within about 3% of their mean velocities. The lack of widespread acceleration/deceleration could indicate that the gas producing most BALs is located at large radii from the central black hole and/or is not currently strongly interacting with ambient material within the host galaxy along our line of sight.
We present a sample of nearby dwarf galaxies with radio-selected accreting massive black holes (BHs), the majority of which are non-nuclear. We observed 111 galaxies using sensitive, high-resolution observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in its most extended A-configuration at X band (~8-12GHz), yielding a typical angular resolution of ~0.25" and rms noise of ~15{mu}Jy. Our targets were selected by crossmatching galaxies with stellar masses M_*_<=3x10^9^M_{sun}_ and redshifts z<0.055 in the NASA-Sloan Atlas with the VLA Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters Survey. With our new high-resolution VLA observations, we detect compact radio sources toward 39 galaxies and carefully evaluate possible origins for the radio emission, including thermal HII regions, supernova remnants, younger radio supernovae, background interlopers, and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the target galaxies. We find that 13 dwarf galaxies almost certainly host active massive BHs, despite the fact that only one object was previously identified as having optical signatures of an AGN. We also identify a candidate dual radio AGN in a more massive galaxy system. The majority of the radio-detected BHs are offset from the center of the host galaxies, with some systems showing signs of interactions/mergers. Our results indicate that massive BHs need not always live in the nuclei of dwarf galaxies, confirming predictions from simulations. Moreover, searches attempting to constrain BH seed formation using observations of dwarf galaxies need to account for such a population of "wandering" BHs.
A class of asteroids, called large super-fast rotators (large SFRs), have rotation periods shorter than 2hr and diameters larger than ~0.3km. They pose challenges to the usual interior rubble-pile structure unless a relatively high bulk density is assumed. So far, only six large SFRs have been found. Therefore, we present a survey of asteroid rotation periods using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) 1 telescope during 2016 October 26-31 to search for more large SFRs and to study their properties. A total of 876 reliable rotation periods are measured, among which seven are large SFRs, thereby increasing the inventory of known large SFRs. These seven newly discovered large SFRs have diverse colors and locations in the main asteroid belt, suggesting that the taxonomic tendency and the location preference in the inner main belt of the six previously known large SFRs could be a bias due to various observational limits. Interestingly, five out of the seven newly discovered large SFRs are mid main-belt asteroids (MBAs). Considering the rare discovery rates of large SFR in the previously similar surveys and the survey condition in this work, the chance of detecting a large SFR in the inner main belt seems to be relatively low. This probably suggests that the inner main belt harbors fewer large SFRs than the mid main belt. From our survey, we also found a drop in the number appearing at f>5rev/day on the spin-rate distribution for the outer MBAs of D<3km, which was reported for the inner and mid main belt by Chang et al. (2015, J/ApJS/219/27 ; 2016ApJ...816...71C).
The next generation of giant-segmented mirror telescopes (>20m) will enable us to observe galactic nuclei at much higher angular resolution and sensitivity than ever before. These capabilities will introduce a revolutionary shift in our understanding of the origin and evolution of supermassive black holes by enabling more precise black hole mass measurements in a mass range that is unreachable today. We present simulations and predictions of the observations of nuclei that will be made with the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the adaptive optics assisted integral-field spectrograph IRIS, which is capable of diffraction-limited spectroscopy from Z band (0.9{mu}m) to K band (2.2{mu}m). These simulations, for the first time, use realistic values for the sky, telescope, adaptive optics system, and instrument to determine the expected signal-to-noise ratio of a range of possible targets spanning intermediate mass black holes of ~10^4^M_{sun}_ to the most massive black holes known today of >10^10^M_{sun}_. We find that IRIS will be able to observe Milky Way mass black holes out the distance of the Virgo Cluster, and will allow us to observe many more of the brightest cluster galaxies where the most massive black holes are thought to reside. We also evaluate how well the kinematic moments of the velocity distributions can be constrained at the different spectral resolutions and plate scales designed for IRIS. We find that a spectral resolution of ~8000 will be necessary to measure the masses of intermediate mass black holes. By simulating the observations of galaxies found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7, we find that over 10^5^ massive black holes will be observable at distances between 0.005<z<0.18 with the estimated sensitivity and angular resolution provided by access to Z-band (0.9{mu}m) spectroscopy from IRIS and the TMT adaptive optics system. These observations will provide the most accurate dynamical measurements of black hole masses to enable the study of the demography of massive black holes, address the origin of the M_BH_-{sigma} and M_BH_-L relationships, and evolution of black holes through cosmic time.
The relationship between galaxies and the state/chemical enrichment of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) expected to dominate the baryon budget at low-z provides sensitive constraints on structure formation and galaxy evolution models. We present a deep redshift survey in the field of 1ES1553+113, a blazar with a unique combination of ultraviolet (UV)+X-ray spectra for surveys of the circumgalactic/intergalactic medium (CGM/IGM). Nicastro+ (2018Natur.558..406N) reported the detection of two OVII WHIM absorbers at z=0.4339 and 0.3551 in its spectrum, suggesting that the WHIM is metal rich and sufficient to close the missing baryons problem. Our survey indicates that the blazar is a member of a z=0.433 group and that the higher-z OVII candidate arises from its intragroup medium. The resulting bias precludes its use in baryon censuses. The z=0.3551 candidate occurs in an isolated environment 630kpc from the nearest galaxy (with stellar mass logM_*_/M_{sun}_~9.7), which we show is unexpected for the WHIM. Finally, we characterize the galactic environments of broad HI Ly{alpha} absorbers (Doppler widths of b=40-80km/s; T<~4x10^5^K) that provide metallicity-independent WHIM probes. On average, broad Ly{alpha} absorbers are ~2x closer to the nearest luminous (L>0.25L*) galaxy (700kpc) than narrow (b<30km/s; T<~4x10^5^K) ones (1300kpc) but ~2x further than OVI absorbers (350kpc). These observations suggest that gravitational collapse heats portions of the IGM to form the WHIM, but with feedback that does not enrich the IGM far beyond galaxy/group halos to levels currently observable in UV/X-ray metal lines.
We built an optimal basis of low-resolution templates for galaxies over the wavelength range from 0.2 to 10um using a variant of the algorithm presented by Budavari and coworkers. We derived them using 11 bands of photometry from the NDWFS, FLAMEX, zBootes, and IRAC Shallow surveys for 16033 galaxies in the NDWFS Bootes field with spectroscopic redshifts measured by the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey. We also developed algorithms to accurately determine photometric redshifts, K-corrections, and bolometric luminosities using these templates. Our photometric redshifts have an accuracy of sigma_z_/(1+z)=0.04 when clipped to the best 95%. We used these templates to study the spectral type distribution in the field and to estimate luminosity functions of galaxies as a function of redshift and spectral type. In particular, we note that the 5-8um color distribution of galaxies is bimodal, much like the optical g-r colors.
Spectroscopy of quiescent gal. in 9 lensing clusters
Short Name:
J/ApJ/902/17
Date:
03 Mar 2022 11:35:20
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We measure the central stellar velocity dispersion function for quiescent galaxies in a set of nine northern clusters in the redshift range 0.18<z<0.29 and with strong lensing arcs in Hubble Space Telescope images. The velocity dispersion function links galaxies directly to their dark matter halos. From dense SDSS and MMT/Hectospec spectroscopy, we identify 222-463 spectroscopic members in each cluster. We derive physical properties of cluster members including redshift, D_n_4000, and central stellar velocity dispersion and we include a table of these measurements for 3419 cluster members. We construct the velocity dispersion functions for quiescent galaxies with D_n_4000>1.5 and within R200. The cluster velocity dispersion functions all show excesses at {sigma}>~250km/s compared to the field velocity dispersion function. The velocity dispersion function slope at large velocity dispersion ({sigma}>160km/s) is steeper for more massive clusters, consistent with the trend observed for cluster luminosity functions. The spatial distribution of galaxies with large velocity dispersion at radii larger than R200 further underscores the probable major role of dry mergers in the growth of massive cluster galaxies during cluster assembly.
We present a catalog of 417 luminous infrared variable stars with periods exceeding 250 days. These were identified in 20 nearby galaxies by the ongoing SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey survey with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Of these, 359 variables have M_[4.5]_ (phase-weighted mean magnitudes) fainter than -12 and periods and luminosities consistent with previously reported variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). However, 58 variables are more luminous than M_[4.5]_=-12, including 11 that are brighter than M_[4.5]_=-13, with the brightest having M_[4.5]_=-15.51. Most of these bright variable sources have quasi-periods longer than 1000 days, including four over 2000 days. We suggest that the fundamental period-luminosity relationship, previously measured for the LMC, extends to much higher luminosities and longer periods in this large galaxy sample. We posit that these variables include massive asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars (possibly super-AGB stars), red supergiants experiencing exceptionally high mass-loss rates, and interacting binaries. We also present 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0{mu}m photometric catalogs for all sources in these 20 galaxies.
Y dwarfs provide a unique opportunity to study free-floating objects with masses <30M_Jup_ and atmospheric temperatures approaching those of known Jupiter-like exoplanets. Obtaining distances to these objects is an essential step toward characterizing their absolute physical properties. Using Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) [4.5] images taken over baselines of ~2-7yrs, we measure astrometric distances for 22 late-T and early Y dwarfs, including updated parallaxes for 18 objects and new parallax measurements for 4 objects. These parallaxes will make it possible to explore the physical parameter space occupied by the coldest brown dwarfs. We also present the discovery of six new late-T dwarfs, updated spectra of two T dwarfs, and the reclassification of a new Y dwarf, WISE J033605.04-014351.0, based on Keck/NIRSPEC J-band spectroscopy. Assuming that effective temperatures are inversely proportional to absolute magnitude, we examine trends in the evolution of the spectral energy distributions of brown dwarfs with decreasing effective temperature. Surprisingly, the Y dwarf class encompasses a large range in absolute magnitude in the near- to mid-infrared photometric bandpasses, demonstrating a larger range of effective temperatures than previously assumed. This sample will be ideal for obtaining mid-infrared spectra with the James Webb Space Telescope because their known distances will make it easier to measure absolute physical properties.
