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- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/654/A132
- Title:
- X-shooter spectra of AGN and inactive galaxies
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/654/A132
- Date:
- 22 Feb 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The relation between nuclear (<~50pc) star formation and nuclear galactic activity is still elusive; theoretical models predict a link between the two, but it is unclear whether active galactic nuclei (AGNs) should appear at the same time, before, or after nuclear star formation activity. We present a study of this relation in a complete, volume-limited sample of nine of the most luminous (log_L14-195keV_>10^42.5^erg/s) local AGNs (the LLAMA sample), including a sample of 18 inactive control galaxies (six star-forming; 12 passive) that are matched by Hubble type, stellar mass (9.5<~logM*/M_{sun}_<~10.5), inclination, and distance. This allows us to calibrate our methods on the control sample and perform a differential analysis between the AGN and control samples. We performed stellar population synthesis on VLT/X-shooter spectra in an aperture corresponding to a physical radius of ~150pc. We find young (<~30Myr) stellar populations in seven out of nine AGNs and in four out of six star-forming control galaxies. In the non-star-forming control population, in contrast, only two out of 12 galaxies show such a population. We further show that these young populations are not indicative of ongoing star formation, providing evidence for models that see AGN activity as a consequence of nuclear star formation. Based on the similar nuclear star formation histories of AGNs and star-forming control galaxies, we speculate that the latter may turn into the former for some fraction of their time. Under this assumption, and making use of the volume completeness of our sample, we infer that the AGN phase lasts for about 5% of the nuclear starburst phase.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/628/A61
- Title:
- X-shooter spectra of 43 metal-poor M dwarfs
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/628/A61
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The aim of the project is to define metallicity/gravity/temperature scales for different spectral types of metal-poor M dwarfs. We obtained intermediate-resolution ultraviolet (UVB), optical (VIS), and near-infrared (NIR) spectra of 43 metal-poor M dwarfs (16 sdMs, 16 esdMs, and 12 usdMs with the ESO VLT X-shooter spectrograph. We compared our atlas of spectra to the BT-Settl synthetic spectral energy distribution over a wide range of metallicities, gravities, and effective temperatures to infer the physical properties for the whole M dwarf sequence at sub-solar metallicities and constrain the latest atmospheric models. The BT-Settl models accurately reproduce the observed spectra across the 450--2500 nm wavelength range except for a few regions. We find that the best fits for gravities of log(g)=5.0-5.5 for the three metal classes. We infer metallicities of [Fe/H]=-0.5, -1.5, and -2.0+/-0.5dex and effective temperatures of 3700-2600K, 3800-2900K, and 3700-2900K for sdMs, esdMs, and usdMs, respectively.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/603/A1
- Title:
- X-shooter spectra of 6 ~2.2 quasars
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/603/A1
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We studied the spectra of six z~2.2 quasars obtained with the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. The redshift of these sources and X-shooter's spectral coverage allow us to cover the rest spectral range ~1200-7000{AA} for the simultaneous detection of optical and ultraviolet lines emitted by the Broad Line Region. Simultaneous measurements, avoiding issues related to quasars variability, help us understanding the connection between different Broad Line Region line profiles generally used as virial estimators of Black Holes masses in quasars. The goal of this work is comparing the emission lines from the same object to check on the reliability of H{alpha}, MgII and CIV with respect to H{beta}. H{alpha} and MgII linewidths correlate well with H{beta}, while CIV shows a poorer correlation, due to the presence of strong blueshifts and asymmetries in the profile. We compare our sample with the only other two whose spectra were taken with the same instrument and for all examined lines our results are in agreement with the ones obtained with X-shooter at z~1.5-1.7. We finally evaluate CIII] as a possible substitute of CIV in the same spectral range and find that its behaviour is more coherent with those of the other lines: we believe that, when a high quality spectrum such as the ones we present is available and a proper modelization with the FeII and FeIII emissions is performed, the use of this line is more appropriate than that of CIV if not corrected for the contamination by non-virialized components.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/548/A56
- Title:
- X-shooter spectra of 12 young stellar objects
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/548/A56
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present high-quality, medium-resolution X-shooter/VLT spectra in the range 300-2500nm for a sample of 12 very low mass stars in the {sigma} Orionis cluster. The sample includes eight stars with evidence of disks from Spitzer and four without disks, with masses ranging from 0.08 to 0.3M_{sun}_. The aim of this first paper is to investigate the reliability of the many accretion tracers currently used to measure the mass accretion rate in low-mass young stars and the accuracy of the correlations between these secondary tracers (mainly accretion line luminosities) found in the literature. We use our spectra to measure the accretion luminosity from the continuum excess emission in the UV and visual; the derived mass accretion rates range from 10^-9^M_{sun}_/yr down to 5x10^-11^M_{sun}_/yr, allowing us to investigate the behavior of the accretion-driven emission lines in very low mass accretion rate regimes. We compute the luminosity of ten accretion-driven emission lines from the UV to the near-IR, which are all obtained simultaneously. In general, most of the secondary tracers correlate well with the accretion luminosity derived from the continuum excess emission. We recompute the relationships between the accretion luminosities and the line luminosities, and we confirm the validity of the correlations given in the literature, with the possible exception of H{alpha}. Metallic lines, such as the CaII IR triplet or the NaI line at 589.3nm, show a larger dispersion. When looking at individual objects, we find that the hydrogen recombination lines, from the UV to the near-IR, give good and consistent measurements of L_acc_ that often better agree than the uncertainties introduced by the adopted correlations. The average L_acc_ derived from several hydrogen lines, measured simultaneously, have a much reduced error. This suggests that some of the spread in the literature correlations may be due to the use of nonsimultaneous observations of lines and continuum. Three stars in our sample deviate from this behavior, and we discuss them individually.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/551/A107
- Title:
- X-shooter spectra of 24 young stellar objects
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/551/A107
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The lack of knowledge of photospheric parameters and the level of chromospheric activity in young low-mass pre-main sequence stars introduces uncertainties when measuring mass accretion rates in accreting (Class II) young stellar objects. A detailed investigation of the effect of chromospheric emission on the estimates of mass accretion rate in young low-mass stars is still missing. This can be undertaken using samples of young diskless (Class III) K and M-type stars. Our is to measure the chromospheric activity of Class III pre main sequence stars to determine its effect on the estimates of the accretion luminosity (Lacc) and mass accretion rate (dMacc/dt) in young stellar objects with disks. Using VLT/X-shooter spectra, we analyzed a sample of 24 nonaccreting young stellar objects of spectral type between K5 and M9.5. We identified the main emission lines normally used as tracers of accretion in Class II objects, and we determined their fluxes in order to estimate the contribution of the chromospheric activity to the line luminosity. We have used the relationships between line luminosity and accretion luminosity derived in the literature for Class II objects to evaluate the impact of chromospheric activity on the accretion rate measurements. We find that the typical chromospheric activity would bias the derived accretion luminosity by L_acc,noise_<10^-3^L_{sun}_, with a strong dependence on the Teff of the objects. The noise on Macc depends on stellar mass and age, and the typical values of log(M_acc,noise_) range between ~-9.2 to -11.6M_{sun}_/yr. Values of L_acc_<10^-3^L_{sun}_ obtained in accreting low-mass pre main sequence stars through line luminosity should be treated with caution because the line emission may be dominated by the contribution of chromospheric activity.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/602/A33
- Title:
- X-Shooter spectroscopy of YSOs in Lupus
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/602/A33
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A homogeneous determination of basic stellar parameters of young stellar object (YSO) candidates is needed to confirm their pre-main sequence evolutionary stage, membership to star forming regions (SFRs), and to get reliable values of the quantities related to chromospheric activity and accretion. We used the code ROTFIT and synthetic BT-Settl spectra for the determination of the atmospheric parameters (Teff and logg), the veiling (r), the radial (RV) and projected rotational velocity (vsini), from X-Shooter spectra of 102 YSO candidates (95 of infrared Class II and seven Class III) in the Lupus SFR. The spectral subtraction of inactive templates, rotationally broadened to match the vsini of the targets, enabled us to measure the line fluxes for several diagnostics of both chromospheric activity and accretion, such as H{alpha}, H{beta}, CaII, and NaI lines. We have shown that 13 candidates can be rejected as Lupus members based on their discrepant RV with respect to Lupus and/or the very low logg values. At least 11 of them are background giants, two of which turned out to be lithium-rich giants. Regarding the members, we found that all ClassIII sources have H{alpha} fluxes compatible with a pure chromospheric activity, while objects with disks lie mostly above the boundary between chromospheres and accretion. YSOs with transitional disks displays both high and low H{alpha} fluxes. We found that the line fluxes per unit surface are tightly correlated with the accretion luminosity (L_acc_) derived from the Balmer continuum excess. This rules out that the relationships between L_acc_ and line luminosities found in previous works are simply due to calibration effects. We also found that the CaII-IRT flux ratio is always small, indicating an optically thick emission source. The latter can be identified with the accretion shock near the stellar photosphere. The Balmer decrement reaches instead, for several accretors, high values typical of optically thin emission, suggesting that the Balmer emission originates in different parts of the accretion funnels with a smaller optical depth.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/570/A126
- Title:
- XShooter spectrum of 4 BL Lacs
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/570/A126
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We aim to determine the redshift (or stringent lower limits) of a number of bright BL Lacs objects. We secured optical and near-infrared medium resolution spectra of four bright BL Lac objects of unknown redshift using the spectrograph X-Shooter at the ESO-VLT. In spite of the high quality of the spectra and the extended spectral range of the observations, we have not detected intrisic spectral features for these sources. However, we are able to provide strigent lower limits to their redshift. In particular, for the two TeV sources PG 1553+113 and H 1722+119, we infer z>0.30 and z>0.35 respectively. We also detect an intervening CaII absorption doublet in the spectrum of MH 2136-428 that is ascribed to the the halo of a nearby giant elliptical galaxy at a projected distance of ~100kpc. Under the hypothesis that all BL Lacs are hosted by a luminous bulge dominated galaxies, the presently spectroscopic observations of bright BL Lacs indicate that these objects are likely sources with extremely beamed nuclear emission. We present simulations to show under which circumstances it is possible to probe this hypothesis from the detection of very weak absorptions using the next generation of extremely large optical telescopes.
25289. XSL atmospheric parameters
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/627/A138
- Title:
- XSL atmospheric parameters
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/627/A138
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The X-shooter Spectral Library (XSL) is an empirical stellar library at medium spectral resolution covering the wavelength range from 3000 to 24800 angstrom. This library aims to provide a benchmark for stellar population studies. In this work, we present a uniform set of stellar atmospheric parameters, effective temperatures, surface gravities, and iron abundances for 754 spectra of 616 XSL stars. We used the full-spectrum fitting package ULySS with the empirical MILES library as reference to fit the ultraviolet-blue (UVB) and visible (VIS) spectra. We tested the internal consistency and we compared our results with compilations from the literature. The stars cover a range of effective temperature 2900<Teff<38000K, surface gravity 0<logg<5.7, and iron abundance -2.5<[Fe/H]<+1.0, with a couple of stars extending down to [Fe/H]=-3.9. The precisions of the measurements for the G- and K-type stars are 0.9%, 0.14, and 0.06 in Teff, log g and [Fe/H], respectively. For the cool giants with logg<1, the precisions are 2.1%, 0.21, and 0.22, and for the other cool stars these values are 1%, 0.14, and 0.10. For the hotter stars (Teff>6500K), these values are 2.6%, 0.20, and 0.10 for the three parameters.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/788/105
- Title:
- XSTPS RR Lyrae in the north Galactic cap
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/788/105
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a catalog of RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) observed by the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey (XSTPS). The area we consider is located in the north Galactic cap, covering ~376.75 deg^2^ at RA~150{deg} and DE~27{deg} down to a magnitude limit of i~19. Using the variability information afforded by the multi-epoch nature of our XSTPS data, combined with colors from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we are able to identify candidate RRLs. We find 318 candidates, derive distances to them, and estimate the detection efficiency. The majority of our candidates have more than 12 observations, and for these we are able to calculate periods. These also allow us to estimate our contamination level, which we predict is between 30% and 40%. Finally, we use the sample to probe the halo density profile in the 9-49 kpc range and find that it can be well fitted by a double power law. We find good agreement between this model and the models derived for the south Galactic cap using the Watkins et al. (2009, J/MNRAS/398/1757) and Sesar et al. (2010, J/ApJ/708/717) RRL data sets, after accounting for possible contamination in our data set from Sagittarius stream members. We consider non-spherical double power-law models of the halo density profile and again find agreement with literature data sets, although we have limited power to constrain the flattening due to our small survey area. Much tighter constraints will be placed by current and future wide-area surveys, most notably ESA's astrometric Gaia mission. Our analysis demonstrates that surveys with a limited number of epochs can effectively be mined for RRLs. Our complete sample is provided as accompanying online material; as an example the first few entries of each electronic table are shown in the text.