External Galaxies Commons^™

Precise Ages Of Field Stars From White Dwarf Companions, M. Fouesneau, H-W. Rix, T. Von Hippel, D. W. Hogg, H. Tian

Ted von Hippel

Observational tests of stellar and Galactic chemical evolution call for the joint knowledge of a star’s physical parameters, detailed element abundances, and precise age. For cool main-sequence (MS) stars the abundances of many elements can be measured from spectroscopy, but ages are very hard to determine. The situation is different if the MS star has a white dwarf (WD) companion and a known distance, as the age of such a binary system can then be determined precisely from the photometric properties of the cooling WD. As a pilot study for obtaining precise age determinations of field MS stars, we identify …

New Halo White Dwarf Candidates In The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Kyra Dame, A. Gianninas, Mukremin Kilic, Jeffrey A. Munn, Warren R. Brown, Kurtis A. Williams, Ted Von Hippel, Hugh C. Harris

Ted von Hippel

We present optical spectroscopy and near-infrared photometry of 57 faint (g = 19–22) high proper motion white dwarfs identified through repeat imaging of ≈3100 deg² of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey footprint by Munn et al. We use ugriz and JHphotometry to perform a model atmosphere analysis, and identify 10 ultracool white dwarfs with T_eff < 4000 K, including the coolest pure H atmosphere white dwarf currently known, J1657+2638, with T_eff = 3550 ± 100 K. The majority of the objects with cooling ages larger than 9 Gyr display thick disc kinematics and constrain the age of the thick disc to ≥11 Gyr. There are four white dwarfs in our sample with …

Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling Of Initial-Final Mass Relations Across Star Clusters, Shijing Si, David A. Van Dyk, Ted Von Hippel, Elliot Robinson, Elizabeth Jeffery, David C. Stenning

Ted von Hippel

The initial-final mass relation (IFMR) of white dwarfs (WDs) plays an important role in stellar evolution. To derive precise estimates of IFMRs and explore how they may vary among star clusters, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical model that pools photometric data from multiple star clusters. After performing a simulation study to show the benefits of the Bayesian hierarchical model, we apply this model to five star clusters: the Hyades, M67, NGC 188, NGC 2168, and NGC 2477, leading to reasonable and consistent estimates of IFMRs for these clusters. We illustrate how a cluster-specific analysis of NGC 188 using its own …

Bayesian Analysis Of Two Stellar Populations In Galactic Globular Clusters – Iii. Analysis Of 30 Clusters, R. Wagner-Kaiser, D. C. Stenning, A Sarajedini, Ted Von Hippel, D. A. Van Dyk, E. Robinson, W. H. Jefferys

Ted von Hippel

We use Cycle 21 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations and HST archival ACS Treasury observations of 30 Galactic globular clusters to characterize two distinct stellar populations. A sophisticated Bayesian technique is employed to simultaneously sample the joint posterior distribution of age, distance, and extinction for each cluster, as well as unique helium values for two populations within each cluster and the relative proportion of those populations. We find the helium differences among the two populations in the clusters fall in the range of ∼0.04 to 0.11. Because adequate models varying in carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are not presently available, we …

On The Redshift Distribution And Physical Properties Of Act-Selected Dsfgs, T. Su, T. A. Marriage, V. Asboth, A. J. Baker, J. R. Bond, D. Crichton, M. J. Devlin, R. Dünner, D. Farrah, D. T. Frayer, M. B. Gralla, K. Hall, M. Halpern, A. I. Harris, M. Hilton, A. D. Hincks, J. P. Hughes, M. D. Niemack, L. A. Page, B. Partridge, J. Rivera, D. Scott, J. L. Sievers, Robert J. Thornton, M. P. Viero, L. Wang, E. J. Wollack, M. Zemcov

Robert Thornton

No abstract provided.

Gama/H-Atlas : Common Star Formation Rate Indicators And Their Dependence On Galaxy Physical Parameters., L. Wang, P. Norberg, M. L. P. Gunawardhana, S. Heinis, I. K. Baldry, J. Bland-Hawthorn, N. Bourne, S. Brough, M. J. I. Brown, M. E. Cluver, A. Cooray, E. Da Cunha, S. P. Driver, L. Dunne, S. Dye, S. Eales, M. W. Grootes, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, E. Ibar, R. Ivison, C. Lacey, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Loveday, S. J. Maddox, M. J. Michalowski, I. Oteo, M. S. Owers, C. C. Popescu, D. J. B. Smith, E. N. Taylor, R. J. Tuffs, P. Van Der Werf

Benne Holwerda

We compare common star formation rate (SFR) indicators in the local Universe in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) equatorial fields (∼160 deg2), using ultraviolet (UV) photometry from GALEX, far-infrared and sub-millimetre (sub-mm) photometry from Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey, and Hα spectroscopy from the GAMA survey. With a high-quality sample of 745 galaxies (median redshift z = 0.08), we consider three SFR tracers: UV luminosity corrected for dust attenuation using the UV spectral slope β (SFRUV, corr), Hα line luminosity corrected for dust using the Balmer decrement (BD) (SFRH α, corr), and the combination of UV and infrared …

Basic Astronomy Labs, Terry L. Smith, Michael D. Reynolds, Jay S. Huebner

Jay S Huebner

Providing the tools and know-how to apply the principles of astronomy first-hand, these 43 laboratory exercises each contain an introduction that clearly shows budding astronomers why the particular topic of that lab is of interest and relevant to astronomy. About one-third of the exercises are devoted solely to observation, and no mathematics is required beyond simple high school algebra and trigonometry.Organizes exercises into six major topics—sky, optics and spectroscopy, celestial mechanics, solar system, stellar properties, and exploration and other topics—providing clear outlines of what is involved in the exercise, its purpose, and what procedures and apparatus are to be used. …

Soliciting The Universe, A Prose/Poem 4/1/2014, Charles Kay Smith

Charles Kay Smith

Why it may not be wise to radio our presence into outer space, but why humans are compelled by their neotenic proclivities to be curious and to solicit attention.

Unmasking The Mysteries Of High-Mass X-Ray Binaries (Hmxbs): The Role Of The Electron Beam Ion Trap (Ebit), Carey L. Baxter, Greg Brown, Natalie Hell

Carey L Baxter

The Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) uses a very narrow electron beam (~60μm) to excite and trap ions. X-ray emissions of the excited ions are then diffracted and analyzed. I studied specific spectral emission lines of ionized silicon. This data can be used as a point of reference for similar spectra measured by the satellite Chandra so that the Doppler shift due to wind around the accretion disks of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) can be calculated. HMXBs are pairs of stars that are luminous in X-rays. They are composed of a donor star that gives up mass to an …

Essentials Of The Theory Of Abstraction - Lecture, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

In not favouring solutions or sets of solutions, the principle of zero-postulation drives away any unwanted incompleteness from the description of the world. It is the interactions between the possible exhaustive set of solutions that creates the impression pointedness or directiveness in the universe, leading to the formation of clusters, as discussed earlier. These interactions may be chaotic in nature, giving rise to attractor points where the directiveness inside any given system asymptotically seem to approach. It is this directiveness, in turn, inside a given system or in the universe as a whole, that is the cause of all known …

Condensation States And Landscaping With The Theory Of Abstraction, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

The Abstraction theory is applied in landscaping. A collection of objects may be made to be vast or meager depending upon the scale of observations. This idea may be developed to unite the worlds of the great vastness of the universe and the minuteness of the sub-atomic realm. Keeping constant a scaling ratio for both worlds, these may actually be converted into two self-same representatives with respect to scaling. The Laws of Physical Transactions are made use of to study Bose-Einstein condensation. As the packing density of concerned constituents increase to a certain critical value, there may be evolution of …

Radial Distribution Of Stars, Gas, And Dust In Sings Galaxies. Ii. Derived Dust Properties, J.C. Munoz-Mateo, A. Gil De Paz, S. Boissier, J. Zamorano, D.A. Dale, P.G. Perez-Gonzalez, Michele D. Thornley

Michele Thornley

The Star Formation Law In Nearby Galaxies On Sub-Kpc Scales, F. Bigiel, A. Leroy, F. Walter, E. Brinks, W.J.G. De Blok, B. F. Madore, Michele D. Thornley

Michele Thornley

Spectra Of Nearby Galaxies Measured With A New Very Broadband Receiver, Gopal Narayanan, Ronald L. Snell, Neal A. Erickson, Aeree Chung, Mark H. Heyer, Min Yun, William M. Irvine

William M. Irvine

Three-millimeter-wavelength spectra of a number of nearby galaxies have been obtained at the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (FCRAO) using a new, very broadband receiver. This instrument, which we call the Redshift Search Receiver, has an instantaneous bandwidth of 36 GHz and operates from 74 to 110.5 GHz. The receiver has been built at UMass/FCRAO to be part of the initial instrumentation for the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) and is intended primarily for determination of the redshift of distant, dust-obscured galaxies. It is being tested on the FCRAO 14 m by measuring the 3 mm spectra of a number of …

An Internet Database Of Ultraviolet Continuum Light Curves For Seyfert Galaxies, Jay P. Dunn, Brian Jackson, Rajesh P. Deo, Chris Farrington, Varendra Das, D. Michael Crenshaw

Brian Jackson

Using the Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST), we have extracted spectra and determined continuum light curves for 175 Seyfert galaxies that have been observed with the International Ultraviolet Explorer and the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. To obtain the light curves as a function of Julian Date, we used fixed bins in the object’s rest frame and measured small regions (between 30 and 60 Å) of each spectrum’s continuum flux in the range 1150 to 3200 Å. We provide access to the UV light curves and other basic information about the observations in tabular and graphical form …