The Sluggs Survey: The Inner Dark Matter Density Slope Of The Massive Elliptical Galaxy Ngc 1407,
2018
University of California, Santa Cruz
The Sluggs Survey: The Inner Dark Matter Density Slope Of The Massive Elliptical Galaxy Ngc 1407, Asher Wasserman, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Pieter Van Dokkum, Charlie Conroy, Alexa Villaume, Duncan Forbes, Jay Strader, Adebusola Alabi, Sabine Bellstedt
Faculty Publications
We investigate the dark matter density profile of the massive elliptical galaxy, NGC 1407, by constructing spherically symmetric Jeans models of its field star and globular cluster systems. Two major challenges in such models are the degeneracy between the stellar mass and the dark matter halo profiles, and the degeneracy between the orbital anisotropy of the tracer population and the total mass causing the observed motions. We address the first issue by using new measurements of the mass-to-light ratio profile from stellar population constraints that include a radially varying initial mass function. To mitigate the mass–anisotropy degeneracy, we make use …
A Deficit Of Dark Matter From Jeans Modeling Of The Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Ngc 1052-Df2,
2018
University of California, Santa Cruz
A Deficit Of Dark Matter From Jeans Modeling Of The Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Ngc 1052-Df2, Asher Wasserman, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Pieter Van Dokkum, Charlie Conroy, Roberto Abraham, Yotam Cohen, Shany Danieli
Faculty Publications
The discovery of the ultra-diffuse galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 and its peculiar population of star clusters has raised new questions about the connections between galaxies and dark matter (DM) halos at the extremes of galaxy formation. In light of debates over the measured velocity dispersion of its star clusters and the associated mass estimate, we constrain mass models of DF2 using its observed kinematics with a range of priors on the halo mass. Models in which the galaxy obeys a standard stellar-halo mass relation are in tension with the data and also require a large central density core. Better fits are …
Erratum: The Sluggs Survey: A Comparison Of Total-Mass Profiles Of Early-Type Galaxies From Observations And Cosmological Simulations, To ∼4 Effective Radii,
2018
Swinburne University of Technology
Erratum: The Sluggs Survey: A Comparison Of Total-Mass Profiles Of Early-Type Galaxies From Observations And Cosmological Simulations, To ∼4 Effective Radii, Sabine Bellstedt, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Rhea-Silvia Remus, Adam Stevens, Jean Brodie, Adriano Poci, Richard Mcdermid, Adebusola Alabi, Leonie Chevalier, Caitlin Adams, Anna Ferré-Mateu, Asher Wasserman, Viraj Pandya
Faculty Publications
This is an erratum to the paper “The SLUGGS Survey: A comparison of total-mass profiles of early-type galaxies from observations and cosmological simulations, to ∼4 effective radii” that was published in 2018, MNRAS, 476, 4543, which we refer to as the original paper.
Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling Of Initial-Final Mass Relations Across Star Clusters,
2018
Imperial College London
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
Publications
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 …
A 3.5 Million Solar Masses Black Hole In The Centre Of The Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxy Fornax Ucd3,
2018
Moscow State University
A 3.5 Million Solar Masses Black Hole In The Centre Of The Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxy Fornax Ucd3, Anton Afanasiev, Igor Chilingarian, Steffen Mieske, Karina Voggel, Arianna Picotti, Michael Hilker, Anil Seth, Nadine Neumayer, Matthias Frank, Aaron Romanowsky, George Hau, Holger Baumgardt, Christopher Ahn, Jay Strader, Mark Den Brok, Richard Mcdermid, Lee Spitler, Jean Brodie, Jonelle Walsh
Faculty Publications
The origin of ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs), a class of compact stellar systems discovered two decades ago, still remains a matter of debate. Recent discoveries of central supermassive black holes in UCDs likely inherited from their massive progenitor galaxies provide support for the tidal stripping hypothesis. At the same time, on statistical grounds, some massive UCDs might be representatives of the high luminosity tail of the globular cluster luminosity function. Here we present a detection of a 3.3+1.4−1.2×106M⊙ black hole (1σ uncertainty) in the centre of the UCD3 galaxy in the Fornax cluster, which corresponds to 4 per cent of its …
How Many Quasars Have Extremely High Velocity Outflows?,
2018
Humboldt State University
How Many Quasars Have Extremely High Velocity Outflows?, Carla P. Quintero, Sean S. Haas, Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo
IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt
No abstract provided.
Searching For A Connection Between Radio Emission And Uv/Optical Absorption In Quasars,
2018
Humboldt State University
Searching For A Connection Between Radio Emission And Uv/Optical Absorption In Quasars, Sean S. Haas, Carla P. Quintero, Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo
IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt
No abstract provided.
Contribution Of Hi-Bearing Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies To The Cosmic Number Density Of Galaxies,
2018
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
Contribution Of Hi-Bearing Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies To The Cosmic Number Density Of Galaxies, M. Jones, E. Papastergis, V. Pandya, L. Leisman, Aaron J. Romanowsky, L. Yung, R. Somerville, E. Adams
Faculty Publications
We estimate the cosmic number density of the recently identified class of HI-bearing ultra-diffuse sources (HUDs) based on the completeness limits of the ALFALFA survey. These objects have HI masses approximately in the range 8.5 < logMHI∕M⊙ < 9.5, average r-band surface brightnesses fainter than 24 mag arcsec−2, half-light radii greater than 1.5 kpc, and are separated from neighbours by at least 350 kpc. In this work we demonstrate that they contribute at most ~6% of the population of HI-bearing dwarfs detected by ALFALFA (with similar HI masses), have a total cosmic number density of (1.5 ± 0.6) × 10−3 …
The Sluggs Survey: A Comparison Of Total-Mass Profiles Of Early-Type Galaxies From Observations And Cosmological Simulations, To ∼4 Effective Radii,
2018
Swinburne University of Technology
The Sluggs Survey: A Comparison Of Total-Mass Profiles Of Early-Type Galaxies From Observations And Cosmological Simulations, To ∼4 Effective Radii, Sabine Bellstedt, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Rhea-Silvia Remus, Adam Stevens, Jean Brodie, Adriano Poci, Richard Mcdermid, Adebusola Alabi, Leonie Chevalier, Caitlin Adams, Anna Ferré-Mateu, Asher Wasserman, Viraj Pandya
Faculty Publications
We apply the Jeans Anisotropic Multi-Gaussian Expansion dynamical modelling method to SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS (SLUGGS) survey data of early-type galaxies in the stellar mass range 1010 < M*/M⊙ < 1011.6 that cover a large radial range of 0.1–4.0 effective radii. We combine SLUGGS and ATLAS3D data sets to model the total-mass profiles of a sample of 21 fast-rotator galaxies, utilizing a hyperparameter method to combine the two independent data sets. The total-mass density profile slope values derived for these galaxies are consistent with those measured in the inner regions of galaxies by other studies. Furthermore, the total-mass density slopes (γtot) appear to be universal over this broad stellar mass range, with an average value of γtot = −2.24 ± 0.05 , i.e. slightly steeper than isothermal. We compare our results to model galaxies from the Magneticum and EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, in order to probe the mechanisms that are responsible for varying total-mass density profile slopes. The simulated-galaxy slopes are shallower than the observed values by ∼0.3–0.5, indicating that the physical processes shaping the mass distributions of galaxies in cosmological simulations are still incomplete. For galaxies with M* > 1010.7 M⊙ in the Magneticum simulations, we identify a significant anticorrelation between total-mass density profile slopes and the fraction of stellar mass formed ex situ (i.e. accreted), whereas this anticorrelation is weaker for lower stellar masses, implying that the measured total-mass density slopes for low-mass galaxies are less likely to be determined by merger activity.
Cosmological Distance Measurements With Rotse Supernovae Iip And Observational Systematics On Desi Emission Line Galaxy Clustering,
2018
Southern Methodist University
Cosmological Distance Measurements With Rotse Supernovae Iip And Observational Systematics On Desi Emission Line Galaxy Clustering, Govinda Dhungana
Physics Theses and Dissertations
Both Supernovae (SNe) and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) surveys emerged as complementary probes of the expansion history of the universe in the last few decades. SNe Ia cosmology has reached the systematic limits in the optical surveys. The most frequently occuring SNe Type IIP are emerging as equally rich distance probes for the next generation larger surveys. In this thesis, I highlight the astrophysical observables of these events in the context of ROTSE III SN survey and using the ROTSE SNe IIP sample, I present calibration in the framework of expanding photosphere method (EPM) to use them as cosmological distance …
The Stellar Populations Of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies From Optical And Near-Infrared Photometry,
2018
University of California, Santa Cruz
The Stellar Populations Of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies From Optical And Near-Infrared Photometry, Viraj Pandya, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Seppo Laine, Jean Brodie, Benjamin Johnson, William Glaccum, Alexa Villaume, Jean-Charles Cuillandre, Stephen Gwyn, Jessica Krick, Ronald Lasker, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, David Martinez-Delgado, Pieter Van Dokkum
Faculty Publications
We present observational constraints on the stellar populations of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) using optical through near-infrared (NIR) spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. Our analysis is enabled by new Spitzer-IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm imaging, archival optical imaging, and the prospectorfully Bayesian SED fitting framework. Our sample contains one field UDG (DGSAT I), one Virgo cluster UDG (VCC 1287), and one Virgo cluster dwarf elliptical for comparison (VCC 1122). We find that the optical–NIR colors of the three galaxies are significantly different from each other. We infer that VCC 1287 has an old (7.7 Gyr) and surprisingly metal-poor …
Upper Limits On The Presence Of Central Massive Black Holes In Two Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies In Centaurus A,
2018
University of Utah
Upper Limits On The Presence Of Central Massive Black Holes In Two Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies In Centaurus A, Karina Voggel, Anil Seth, Nadine Neumayer, Steffen Mieske, Igor Chilingarian, Christopher Ahn, Holger Baumgardt, Michael Hilker, Dieu Nguyen, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Jonelle Walsh, Mark Den Brok, Jay Strader
Faculty Publications
The recent discovery of massive black holes (BHs) in the centers of high-mass ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) suggests that at least some are the stripped nuclear star clusters of dwarf galaxies. We present the first study that investigates whether such massive BHs, and therefore stripped nuclei, also exist in low-mass (M < 107 M ⊙) UCDs. We constrain the BH masses of two UCDs located in Centaurus A (UCD 320 and UCD 330) using Jeans modeling of the resolved stellar kinematics from adaptive optics data obtained with the SINFONI integral field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope (VLT/SINFONI). No massive BHs …
Primordial Black Hole Atoms,
2018
Rowan University
Primordial Black Hole Atoms, David Zwick, Tyler Hanover, Brian Nepper
STEM Student Research Symposium Posters
Primordial black holes are thought to have been formed at the early stages of the universe in the presence of non-homogeneous density distributions of dark matter. We are working under the assumption that dark matter consists of elementary low mass particles, specifically, spin 1/2 fermions. We further assume that dark matter is electrically neutral, thus its main interaction is gravitational. We investigate dark matter spin 1/2 fermions in orbit around a black hole atom and consider mass ranges for which the quantum description is appropriate. Solutions to the Dirac equation are utilized to describe the radial mass distribution of primordial …
Breaking The Habit: The Peculiar 2016 Eruption Of The Unique Recurrent Nova M31n 2008-12a,
2018
San Diego State University
Breaking The Habit: The Peculiar 2016 Eruption Of The Unique Recurrent Nova M31n 2008-12a, M. Henze, T. D. Oswalt, M. J. Darnley, S. C. Williams, M. Kato, Et Al.
Publications
Since its discovery in 2008, the Andromeda galaxy nova M31N 2008-12a has been observed in eruption every single year. This unprecedented frequency indicates an extreme object, with a massive white dwarf and a high accretion rate, which is the most promising candidate for the single-degenerate progenitor of a Type Ia supernova known to date. The previous three eruptions of M31N 2008-12a have displayed remarkably homogeneous multiwavelength properties: (i) from a faint peak, the optical light curve declined rapidly by two magnitudes in less than two days, (ii) early spectra showed initial high velocities that slowed down significantly within days and …
A Strong Limit On The Very-High-Energy Emission From Grb 150323a,
2018
Department of Physical Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland
A Strong Limit On The Very-High-Energy Emission From Grb 150323a, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al
Physical Sciences Publications
On 2015 March 23, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) responded to a Swift-Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) detection of a gamma-ray burst, with observations beginning 270 s after the onset of BAT emission, and only 135 s after the main BAT emission peak. No statistically significant signal is detected above 140 GeV. The VERITAS upper limit on the fluence in a 40-minute integration corresponds to about 1% of the prompt fluence. Our limit is particularly significant because the very-high-energy (VHE) observation started only ~2 minutes after the prompt emission peaked, and Fermi-Large Area Telescope observations …
An Enigmatic Population Of Luminous Globular Clusters In A Galaxy Lacking Dark Matter,
2018
Yale University
An Enigmatic Population Of Luminous Globular Clusters In A Galaxy Lacking Dark Matter, Pieter Van Dokkum, Yotam Cohen, Shany Danieli, J. Diederik Kruijssen, Aaron Romanowsky, Allison Merritt, Roberto Abraham, Jean Brodie, Charlie Conroy, Deborah Lokhorst, Lamiya Mowla, Ewan O'Sullivan, Jielai Zhang
Faculty Publications
We recently found an ultra diffuse galaxy (UDG) with a half-light radius of R e = 2.2 kpc and little or no dark matter. The total mass of NGC1052–DF2 was measured from the radial velocities of bright compact objects that are associated with the galaxy. Here, we analyze these objects using a combination of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and Keck spectroscopy. Their average size is pc and their average ellipticity is . From a stacked Keck spectrum we derive an age of 9 Gyr and a metallicity of [Fe/H] = −1.35 ± 0.12. Their properties are similar to ωCentauri, …
Multiwavelength Observations Of The Blazar Bl Lacertae: A New Fast Tev Gamma-Ray Flare,
2018
Department of Physical Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland
Multiwavelength Observations Of The Blazar Bl Lacertae: A New Fast Tev Gamma-Ray Flare, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al
Physical Sciences Publications
Combined with measurements made by very-long-baseline interferometry, the observations of fast TeV gamma-ray flares probe the structure and emission mechanism of blazar jets. However, only a handful of such flares have been detected to date, and only within the last few years have these flares been observed from lower-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars. We report on a fast TeV gamma-ray flare from the blazar BL Lacertae observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). with a rise time of ~2.3 hr and a decay time of ~36 min. The peak flux above 200 GeV …
Precise Ages Of Field Stars From White Dwarf Companions,
2018
Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Astronomie
Precise Ages Of Field Stars From White Dwarf Companions, M. Fouesneau, H-W. Rix, T. Von Hippel, D. W. Hogg, H. Tian
Publications
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 …
On The Formation Mechanisms Of Compact Elliptical Galaxies,
2018
Swinburne University of Technology
On The Formation Mechanisms Of Compact Elliptical Galaxies, Anna Ferré-Mateu, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Joachim Janz, Christopher Dixon
Faculty Publications
In order to investigate the formation mechanisms of the rare compact elliptical (cE) galaxies, we have compiled a sample of 25 cEs with good SDSS spectra, covering a range of stellar masses, sizes and environments. They have been visually classified according to the interaction with their host, representing different evolutionary stages. We have included clearly disrupted galaxies, galaxies that despite not showing signs of interaction are located close to a massive neighbour (thus are good candidates for a stripping process), and cEs with no host nearby. For the latter, tidal stripping is less likely to have happened and instead they …
Correlation Between Emission Lines And Radio Luminosities Of Active Galactic Nuclei,
2018
University of Kentucky
Correlation Between Emission Lines And Radio Luminosities Of Active Galactic Nuclei, Jessica Short-Long
Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy
Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) are one class of objects associated with accretion activity onto supermassive black holes in centers of massive galaxies. They are believed to be in a radiatively-inefficient accretion mode with low accretion rate. To understand this accretion mode, it is important to measure its radiative output at high energies (> 13.6eV), which can be traced through optical emission lines. However, little is known about their true radiative output. This is because no correlation between optical emission-line and radio luminosity has been found for the majority of low-luminosity radio AGN, which are often classified as low-excitation radio …
