54,049 research outputs found
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A Laboratory Log(Gf) Measurement of the TIII 15873.84 Angstrom H-Band Line in Support of SDSS-III APOGEE
No full textThe SDSS-III APOGEE collaboration has identified a single useable line in the H-band spectra of APOGEE target stars arising from a singly ionized species. This line of TiII (lambda(air) 15873.84 angstrom) is therefore of great importance for use in stellar surface gravity, or log(g), determinations via the Saha equation. While a theoretical estimate of the line strength exists, to date no laboratory measurement of the line strength has been reported. Herein we report an absolute laboratory transition probability measurement for this important TiII line. A relative line strength measurement is made of the TiII H-band line of interest and a reference line with a previously reported absolute transition probability. This ratio is measured using multiple spectra of a high-current water-cooled HC lamp recorded with a calibrated FT-IR spectrometer.NSF AST-1211055McDonald Observator
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The First Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor Star Found In The Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal OCR Issue
No full textThe origin of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars and their possible connection with the chemical elements produced by the first stellar generation is still highly debated. In contrast to the Galactic halo, not many CFMP stars have been found in the dwarf spheroidal galaxies around the Milky Way. Here we present detailed abundances from ESO VET/IVES high resolution spectroscopy for ET0097, the first CEMP star found in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal, which is one of the best studied dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, This star has [Fe/H] = 2.03 +/- 0.10, [C/Fe] = 0.51 +/- 0.10 and [N/Fe]) = 1.18 +/- . 0.20, which is the first nitrogen measurement in this galaxy. The traditional definition of CEIVIP Stars is [C/Fe] >= 0.70, but taking into account that this luminous red giant branch star has undergone mixing, it was intrinsically less nitrogen enhanced and more carbon rich when it was formed, and so it falls under the definition of CEMP stars, as proposed by Aoki et al. (2007. ApJ, 655. 492) to account for this effect. By making corrections for this mixing. we conclude that the star had EC/Fel 0.8 during its earlier evolutionary stages. Apart from the enhanced C and N abundances, ET0097 shows no peculiarities in other elements lighter than Zn. and no enhancement of the heavier neutron capture elements (Ba, La, Ce, Ncl, Sm Eu, Dy). making this a CEMP-no star. However, the star does show signs of the weak hprocess. with an overabundance of the lighter neutron-capture elements (Sr, Y, Zr). To explain the abundance pattern observed in ET0097, we explore the possibility that this star was enriched by primordial stars. In addition to the detailed abundances for ET0097. we present estimates and upper limits for C abundances in 85 other stars in Sculptor derived from UN molecular lines. including 11 stars with [Fe/H] <= -2. Combining these limits with observations horn the literature, the fraction of CEMP-no stars in Sculptor seems to be significantly lower than in the Galactic halo.International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, SwitzerlandNetherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), VENI 639.041.233Astronom
New ATLAS9 And MARCS Model Atmosphere Grids For The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)
No full textWe present a new grid of model photospheres for the SDSS-III/APOGEE survey of stellar populations of the Galaxy, calculated using the ATLAS9 and MARCS codes. New opacity distribution functions were generated to calculate ATLAS9 model photospheres. MARCS models were calculated based on opacity sampling techniques. The metallicity ([M/H]) spans from -5 to 1.5 for ATLAS and -2.5 to 0.5 for MARCS models. There are three main differences with respect to previous ATLAS9 model grids: a new corrected H2O line list, a wide range of carbon ([C/M]) and alpha element [alpha/M] variations, and solar reference abundances from Asplund et al. The added range of varying carbon and alpha-element abundances also extends the previously calculated MARCS model grids. Altogether, 1980 chemical compositions were used for the ATLAS9 grid and 175 for the MARCS grid. Over 808,000 ATLAS9 models were computed spanning temperatures from 3500 K to 30,000 K and log g from 0 to 5, where larger temperatures only have high gravities. The MARCS models span from 3500 K to 5500 K, and log g from 0 to 5. All model atmospheres are publicly available online.Alfred P. Sloan FoundationParticipating InstitutionsNational Science FoundationU.S. Department of Energy Office of ScienceMcDonald Observator
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Chemical Abundances In Field Red Giants From High-Resolution H-Band Spectra Using The APOGEE Spectral Linelist
No full textHigh-resolution H-band spectra of five bright field K, M, and MS giants, obtained from the archives of the Kitt Peak National Observatory Fourier transform spectrometer, are analyzed to determine chemical abundances of 16 elements. The abundances were derived via spectrum synthesis using the detailed linelist prepared for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Apache Point Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), which is a high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopic survey to derive detailed chemical abundance distributions and precise radial velocities for 100,000 red giants sampling all Galactic stellar populations. The red giant sample studied here was chosen to probe which chemical elements can be derived reliably from the H-band APOGEE spectral region. These red giants consist of two K-giants (a Boo and mu Leo), two M-giants (beta And and delta Oph), and one thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) star of spectral type MS (HD 199799). Measured chemical abundances include the cosmochemically important isotopes C-12, C-13, N-14, and O-16, along with Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu. The K and M giants exhibit the abundance signature of the first dredge-up of CN-cycle material, while the TP-AGB star shows clear evidence of the addition of C-12 synthesized during He-4-burning thermal pulses and subsequent third dredge-up. A comparison of the abundances derived here with published values for these stars reveals consistent results to similar to 0.1 dex. The APOGEE spectral region and linelist is thus well suited for probing both Galactic chemical evolution, as well as internal nucleosynthesis and mixing in populations of red giants via high-resolution spectroscopy.National Science Foundation AST1109888CAPES, BrazilNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationU.S. Department of Energy Office of ScienceUniversity of ArizonaBrazilian Participation GroupBrookhavenNational LaboratoryUniversity of CambridgeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of FloridaFrench Participation GroupGerman Participation GroupHarvard UniversityInstituto de Astrofisica de CanariasMichigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation GroupJohns Hopkins UniversityLawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryMax Planck Institute for AstrophysicsNew Mexico State UniversityNew York UniversityOhio State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity of PortsmouthPrinceton UniversitySpanish Participation GroupUniversity of TokyoUniversity of UtahVanderbilt UniversityUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonYale UniversityMcDonald Observator
1ST MEASUREMENT OF GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]MU+NU)/GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]PHI-PI+)
No full textComplete Author List:
ACOSTA D, ATHANAS M, MASEK G, PAAR H, BEAN A, GRONBERG J, KUTSCHKE R, MENARY S, MORRISON RJ, NAKANISHI S, NELSON HN, NELSON TK, RICHMAN JD, RYD A, TAJIMA H, SCHMIDT D, SPERKA D, WITHERELL MS, PROCARIO M, YANG S, BALEST R, CHO K, DAOUDI M, FORD WT, JOHNSON DR, LINGEL K, LOHNER M, RANKIN P, SMITH JG, ALEXANDER JP, BEBEK C, BERKELMAN K, BESSON D, BROWDER TE, CASSEL DG, CHO HA, COFFMAN DM, DRELL PS, EHRLICH R, GALIK RS, GARCIASCIVERES M, GEISER B, GITTELMAN B, GRAY SW, HARTILL DL, HELTSLEY BK, JONES CD, JONES SL, KANDASWAMY J, KATAYAMA N, KIM PC, KREINICK DL, LUDWIG GS, MASUI J, MEVISSEN J, MISTRY NB, NG CR, NORDBERG E, OGG M, PATTERSON JR, PETERSON D, RILEY D, SALMAN S, SAPPER M, WORDEN H, WURTHWEIN F, AVERY P, FREYBERGER A, RODRIGUEZ J, STEPHENS R, YELTON J, CINABRO D, HENDERSON S, KINOSHITA K, LIU T, SAULNIER M, SHEN F, WILSON R, YAMAMOTO H, ONG B, SELEN M, SADOFF AJ, AMMAR R, BALL S, BARINGER P, COPPAGE D, COPTY N, DAVIS R, HANCOCK N, KELLY M, KWAK N, LAM H, KUBOTA Y, LATTERY M, NELSON JK, PATTON S, PERTICONE D, POLING R, SAVINOV V, SCHRENK S, WANG R, ALAM MS, KIM IJ, NEMATI B, ONEILL JJ, SEVERINI H, SUN CR, ZOELLER MM, CRAWFORD G, DAUBENMIER CM, FULTON R, FUJINO D, GAN KK, HONSCHEID K, KAGAN H, KASS R, LEE J, MALCHOW R, MORROW F, SKOVPEN Y, SUNG M, WHITE C, WHITMORE J, WILSON P, BUTLER F, FU X, KALBFLEISCH G, LAMBRECHT M, ROSS WR, SKUBIC P, SNOW J, WANG PL, WOOD M, BORTOLETTO D, BROWN DN, FAST J, MCILWAIN RL, MIAO T, MILLER DH, MODESITT M, SCHAFFNER SF, SHIBATA EI, SHIPSEY IPJ, WANG PN, BATTLE M, ERNST J, KROHA H, ROBERTS S, SPARKS K, THORNDIKE EH, WANG CH, DOMINICK J, SANGHERA S, SHELKOV V, SKWARNICKI T, STROYNOWSKI R, VOLOBOUEV I, ZADOROZHNY P, ARTUSO M, HE D, GOLDBERG M, HORWITZ N, KENNETT R, MONETI GC, MUHEIM F, MUKHIN Y, PLAYFER S, ROZEN Y, STONE S, THULASIDAS M, VASSEUR G, ZHU G, BARTELT J, CSORNA SE, EGYED Z, JAIN V, SHELDON P, AKERIB DS, BARISH B, CHADHA M, CHAN S, COWEN DF, EIGEN G, MILLER JS, OGRADY C, URHEIM J, WEINSTEIN A
Chemical Cartography With Apogee: Large-Scale Mean Metallicity Maps Of The Milky Way Disk
No full textWe present Galactic mean metallicity maps derived from the first year of the SDSS-III APOGEE experiment. Mean abundances in different zones of projected Galactocentric radius (0 < R < 15 kpc) at a range of heights above the plane (0 < vertical bar z vertical bar < 3 kpc), are derived from a sample of nearly 20,000 giant stars with unprecedented coverage, including stars in the Galactic mid-plane at large distances. We also split the sample into subsamples of stars with low- and high-[alpha/M] abundance ratios. We assess possible biases in deriving the mean abundances, and find that they are likely to be small except in the inner regions of the Galaxy. A negative radial metallicity gradient exists over much of the Galaxy; however, the gradient appears to flatten for R < 6 kpc, in particular near the Galactic mid-plane and for low-[alpha/M] stars. At R > 6 kpc, the gradient flattens as one moves off the plane, and is flatter at all heights for high-[alpha/M] stars than for low-[alpha/M] stars. Alternatively, these gradients can be described as vertical gradients that flatten at larger Galactocentric radius; these vertical gradients are similar for both low- and high-[alpha/M] populations. Stars with higher [alpha/M] appear to have a flatter radial gradient than stars with lower [alpha/M]. This could suggest that the metallicity gradient has grown steeper with time or, alternatively, that gradients are washed out over time by migration of stars.Alfred P. Sloan FoundationNational Science FoundationU.S. Department of Energy Office of ScienceUniversity of ArizonaBrazilian Participation GroupBrookhaven National LaboratoryCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of FloridaFrench Participation GroupGerman Participation GroupHarvard UniversityMichigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation GroupJohns Hopkins UniversityLawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryMax Planck Institute for AstrophysicsMax Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsNew Mexico State UniversityNew York UniversityOhio State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity of PortsmouthPrinceton UniversitySpanish Participation GroupUniversity of TokyoUniversity of UtahVanderbilt UniversityUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonYale UniversityNational Science Foundation AST-1109178, AST-0907873NASA through Hubble Fellowship from the Space Telescope Science Institute HST-HF-51285.01NASA NAS5-26555NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship AST-1203017Physics Frontier Center/Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) PHY 08-22648US National Science FoundationInstituto de Astrofisica de CanariasMcDonald Observator
Clear evidence for the presence of second-generation asymptotic giant branch stars in metal-poor galactic globular clusters
No full textGalactic globular clusters (GCs) are known to host multiple stellar populations: a first generation (FG) with a chemical pattern typical of halo field stars and a second generation (SG) enriched in Na and Al and depleted in O and Mg. Both stellar generations are found at different evolutionary stages (e.g., the main-sequence turnoff, the subgiant branch, and the red giant branch (RGB)). The non detection of SG asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in several metal-poor ([Fe/H] < 121) GCs suggests that not all SG stars ascend the AGB phase, and that failed AGB stars may be very common in metal-poor GCs. This observation represents a serious problem for stellar evolution and GC formation/evolution theories. We report fourteen SG-AGB stars in four metal-poor GCs (M13, M5, M3, and M2) with different observational properties: horizontal branch (HB) morphology, metallicity, and age. By combining the H-band Al abundances obtained by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment survey with ground-based optical photometry, we identify SG Al-rich AGB stars in these four GCs and show that Al-rich RGB/AGB GC stars should be Na-rich. Our observations provide strong support for present, standard stellar models, i.e., without including a strong mass-loss efficiency, for low-mass HB stars. In fact, current empirical evidence is in agreement with the predicted distribution of FG and SG stars during the He-burning stages based on these standard stellar models.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
Extinction Maps Toward The Milky Way Bulge: Two-Dimensional And Three-Dimensional Tests With APOGEE
No full textGalactic interstellar extinction maps are powerful and necessary tools for Milky Way structure and stellar population analyses, particularly toward the heavily reddened bulge and in the midplane. However, due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable extinction measures and distances for a large number of stars that are independent of these maps, tests of their accuracy and systematics have been limited. Our goal is to assess a variety of photometric stellar extinction estimates, including both two-dimensional and three-dimensional extinction maps, using independent extinction measures based on a large spectroscopic sample of stars toward the Milky Way bulge. We employ stellar atmospheric parameters derived from high-resolution H-band Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) spectra, combined with theoretical stellar isochrones, to calculate line-of-sight extinction and distances for a sample of more than 2400 giants toward the Milky Way bulge. We compare these extinction values to those predicted by individual near-IR and near+mid-IR stellar colors, two-dimensional bulge extinction maps, and three-dimensional extinction maps. The long baseline, near+mid-IR stellar colors are, on average, the most accurate predictors of the APOGEE extinction estimates, and the two-dimensional and three-dimensional extinction maps derived from different stellar populations along different sightlines show varying degrees of reliability. We present the results of all of the comparisons and discuss reasons for the observed discrepancies. We also demonstrate how the particular stellar atmospheric models adopted can have a strong impact on this type of analysis, and discuss related caveats.NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship AST-1203017Physics Frontier Center/Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) PHY 08-22648U.S. National Science FoundationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationParticipating InstitutionsU.S. Department of Energy Office of Science ANR-12-BS05-0015-01Astronom
HD 91669B: a new brown dwarf candidate from the McDonald observatory planet search
No full textWe report the detection of a brown dwarf candidate orbiting the metal-rich K dwarf HD 91669, based on radial-velocity data from the McDonald Observatory Planet Search. HD 91669b is a substellar object in an eccentric orbit (e = 0.45) at a separation of 1.2 AU. The minimum mass of 30.6M(Jup) places this object firmly within the brown dwarf desert for inclinations i greater than or similar to 23 degrees. This is the second rare close-in brown dwarf candidate discovered by the McDonald planet search program.McDonald Observator
A 2 h periodic variation in the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1
No full textSpectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1 using the Gran Telescopio Canarias have revealed a ?2 h periodic variability that is present in the three strongest emission lines. We tentatively interpret this variability as due to orbital motion, making it the first indication of the orbital period of Ser X-1. Together with the fact that the emission lines are remarkably narrow, but still resolved, we show that a main-sequence K dwarf together with a canonical 1.4 M? neutron star gives a good description of the system. In this scenario, the most likely place for the emission lines to arise is the accretion disc, instead of a localized region in the binary (such as the irradiated surface or the stream-impact point), and their narrowness is due instead to the low inclination (?10°) of Ser X-1
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