Gaia Data Release 1 Brown, A G A; Vallenari, A; Prusti, T ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
11/2016, Letnik:
595
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. ...Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues - a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) - and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ~3000 Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr super(-1) for the proper motions. A systematic component of ~0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ~94000 Hipparcos stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr super(-1). For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ~10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ~0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data.
Gaia Early Data Release 3 Brown, A. G. A.; Prusti, T.; Eyer, L. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
05/2021, Letnik:
649
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context.
We present the early installment of the third
Gaia
data release,
Gaia
EDR3, consisting of astrometry and photometry for 1.8 billion sources brighter than magnitude 21, complemented with the ...list of radial velocities from
Gaia
DR2.
Aims.
A summary of the contents of
Gaia
EDR3 is presented, accompanied by a discussion on the differences with respect to
Gaia
DR2 and an overview of the main limitations which are present in the survey. Recommendations are made on the responsible use of
Gaia
EDR3 results.
Methods.
The raw data collected with the
Gaia
instruments during the first 34 months of the mission have been processed by the
Gaia
Data Processing and Analysis Consortium and turned into this early third data release, which represents a major advance with respect to
Gaia
DR2 in terms of astrometric and photometric precision, accuracy, and homogeneity.
Results. Gaia
EDR3 contains celestial positions and the apparent brightness in
G
for approximately 1.8 billion sources. For 1.5 billion of those sources, parallaxes, proper motions, and the (
G
BP
−
G
RP
) colour are also available. The passbands for
G
,
G
BP
, and
G
RP
are provided as part of the release. For ease of use, the 7 million radial velocities from
Gaia
DR2 are included in this release, after the removal of a small number of spurious values. New radial velocities will appear as part of
Gaia
DR3. Finally,
Gaia
EDR3 represents an updated materialisation of the celestial reference frame (CRF) in the optical, the
Gaia
-CRF3, which is based solely on extragalactic sources. The creation of the source list for
Gaia
EDR3 includes enhancements that make it more robust with respect to high proper motion stars, and the disturbing effects of spurious and partially resolved sources. The source list is largely the same as that for
Gaia
DR2, but it does feature new sources and there are some notable changes. The source list will not change for
Gaia
DR3.
Conclusions. Gaia
EDR3 represents a significant advance over
Gaia
DR2, with parallax precisions increased by 30 per cent, proper motion precisions increased by a factor of 2, and the systematic errors in the astrometry suppressed by 30–40% for the parallaxes and by a factor ~2.5 for the proper motions. The photometry also features increased precision, but above all much better homogeneity across colour, magnitude, and celestial position. A single passband for
G
,
G
BP
, and
G
RP
is valid over the entire magnitude and colour range, with no systematics above the 1% level
The overlap between the spectroscopic Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey and Gaia provides a high-dimensional chemodynamical space of unprecedented size. We present a first analysis of a ...subset of this overlap, of 7066 dwarf, turn-off, and sub-giant stars. These stars have spectra from the GALAH survey and high parallax precision from the Gaia DR1 Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution. We investigate correlations between chemical compositions, ages, and kinematics for this sample. Stellar parameters and elemental abundances are derived from the GALAH spectra with the spectral synthesis code SPECTROSCOPY MADE EASY. We determine kinematics and dynamics, including action angles, from the Gaia astrometry and GALAH radial velocities. Stellar masses and ages are determined with Bayesian isochrone matching, using our derived stellar parameters and absolute magnitudes. We report measurements of Li, C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, as well as Ba and we note that we have employed non-LTE calculations for Li, O, Al, and Fe. We show that the use of astrometric and photometric data improves the accuracy of the derived spectroscopic parameters, especially log g. Focusing our investigation on the correlations between stellar age, iron abundance Fe/H, and mean alpha-enhancement α/Fe of the magnitude-selected sample, we recover the result that stars of the high-α sequence are typically older than stars in the low-α sequence, the latter spanning iron abundances of −0.7 < Fe/H < +0.5. While these two sequences become indistinguishable in α/Fe vs. Fe/H at the metal-rich regime, we find that age can be used to separate stars from the extended high-α and the low-α sequence even in this regime. When dissecting the sample by stellar age, we find that the old stars (>8 Gyr) have lower angular momenta Lz than the Sun, which implies that they are on eccentric orbits and originate from the inner disc. Contrary to some previous smaller scale studies we find a continuous evolution in the high-α-sequence up to super-solar Fe/H rather than a gap, which has been interpreted as a separate “high-α metal-rich” population. Stars in our sample that are younger than 10 Gyr, are mainly found on the low α-sequence and show a gradient in Lz from low Fe/H (Lz > Lz, ⊙) towards higher Fe/H (Lz < Lz, ⊙), which implies that the stars at the ends of this sequence are likely not originating from the close solar vicinity.
We present mass models of the Milky Way created to fit observational constraints and to be consistent with expectations from theoretical modelling. The method used to create these models is that ...demonstrated in our previous study, and we improve on those models by adding gas discs to the potential, considering the effects of allowing the inner slope of the halo density profile to vary, and including new observations of maser sources in the Milky Way amongst the new constraints. We provide a best-fitting model, as well as estimates of the properties of the Milky Way. Under the assumptions in our main model, we find that the Sun is R sub( 0) = 8.20 plus or minus 0.09 kpc from the Galactic Centre, with the circular speed at the Sun being v sub( 0) = 232.8 plus or minus 3.0 km s super( -1); and that the Galaxy has a total stellar mass of (54.3 plus or minus 5.7) x 10 super( 9) ..., a total virial mass of (1.30 plus or minus 0.30) x 10 super( 12) ... and a local dark-matter density of 0.40 plus or minus 0.04 GeV cm super( -3), where the quoted uncertainties are statistical. These values are sensitive to our choice of priors and constraints. We investigate systematic uncertainties, which in some cases may be larger. For example, if we weaken our prior on R sub( 0), we find it to be 7.97 plus or minus 0.15 kpc and that v sub( 0) = 226.8 plus or minus 4.2 km s super( -1). We find that most of these properties, including the local dark-matter density, are remarkably insensitive to the assumed power-law density slope at the centre of the dark-matter halo. We find that it is unlikely that the local standard of rest differs significantly from that found under assumptions of axisymmetry. We have made code to compute the force from our potential, and to integrate orbits within it, publicly available. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
ABSTRACT
Identifying stars found in the Milky Way as having formed in situ or accreted can be a complex and uncertain undertaking. We use Gaia kinematics and APOGEE elemental abundances to select ...stars belonging to the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) and Sequoia accretion events. These samples are used to characterize the GSE and Sequoia population metallicity distribution functions, elemental abundance patterns, age distributions, and progenitor masses. We find that the GSE population has a mean Fe/H ∼ −1.15 and a mean age of 10–12 Gyr. GSE has a single sequence in Mg/Fe versus Fe/H consistent with the onset of SN Ia Fe contributions and uniformly low Al/Fe of ∼−0.25 dex. The derived properties of the Sequoia population are strongly dependent on the kinematic selection. We argue the selection with the least contamination is Jϕ/Jtot < −0.6 and (Jz − JR)/Jtot < 0.1. This results in a mean Fe/H ∼ −1.3 and a mean age of 12–14 Gyr. The Sequoia population has a complex elemental abundance distribution with mainly high-Mg/Fe stars. We use the GSE Al/Fe versus Mg/H abundance distribution to inform a chemically based selection of accreted stars, which is used to remove possible contaminant stars from the GSE and Sequoia samples.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are highly energetic explosions signaling the death of massive stars in distant galaxies. The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Observatory ...together record GRBs over a broad energy range spanning about 7 decades of gamma-ray energy. In September 2008, Fermi observed the exceptionally luminous GRB 080916C, with the largest apparent energy release yet measured. The high-energy gamma rays are observed to start later and persist longer than the lower energy photons. A simple spectral form fits the entire GRB spectrum, providing strong constraints on emission models. The known distance of the burst enables placing lower limits on the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflow and on the quantum gravity mass.
We present a detailed elemental abundance study of 90 F and G dwarf, turn-off, and subgiant stars in the Galactic bulge. Based on high-resolution spectra acquired during gravitational microlensing ...events, stellar ages and abundances for 11 elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Zn, Y and Ba) have been determined. Four main findings are presented: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinct peaks at Fe/H = -1.09, -0.63, -0.20, + 0.12, + 0.41; (2) a highfraction of intermediate-age to young stars where at Fe/H > 0 more than 35% are younger than 8 Gyr, and for Fe/H ≲-0.5 most stars are 10 Gyr or older; (3) several episodes of significant star formation in the bulge has been identified: 3, 6, 8, and 11 Gyr ago; (4) tentatively the "knee" in the α-element abundance trends of the sub-solar metallicity bulge is located at a slightly higher Fe/H than in the local thick disk. These findings show that the Galactic bulge has complex age and abundance properties that appear to be tightly connected to the main Galactic stellar populations. In particular, the peaks in the metallicity distribution, the star formation episodes, and the abundance trends, show similarities with the properties of the Galactic thin and thick disks. At the same time, the star formation rate appears to have been slightly faster in the bulge than in the local thick disk, which most likely is an indication of the denser stellar environment closer to the Galactic centre. There are also additional components not seen outside the bulge region, and that most likely can be associated with the Galactic bar. Our results strengthen the observational evidence that support the idea of a secular origin for the Galactic bulge, formed out of the other main Galactic stellar populations present in the central regions of our Galaxy. Additionally, our analysis of this enlarged sample suggests that the (V-I)0 colour of the bulge red clump should be revised to 1.09.
Black hole binary systems with companion stars are typically found via their x-ray emission, generated by interaction and accretion. Noninteracting binaries are expected to be plentiful in the Galaxy ...but must be observed using other methods. We combine radial velocity and photometric variability data to show that the bright, rapidly rotating giant star 2MASS J05215658+4359220 is in a binary system with a massive unseen companion. The system has an orbital period of ~83 days and near-zero eccentricity. The photometric variability period of the giant is consistent with the orbital period, indicating star spots and tidal synchronization. Constraints on the giant's mass and radius imply that the unseen companion is Formula: see text solar masses, indicating that it is a noninteracting low-mass black hole or an unexpectedly massive neutron star.
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy, and, as such, it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical ...questions in a completely novel way. The synergy with ground-based and space-born instruments in the electromagnetic domain, by enabling multi-messenger observations, will add further to the discovery potential of LISA. The next decade is crucial to prepare the astrophysical community for LISA’s first observations. This review outlines the extensive landscape of astrophysical theory, numerical simulations, and astronomical observations that are instrumental for modeling and interpreting the upcoming LISA datastream. To this aim, the current knowledge in three main source classes for LISA is reviewed; ultra-compact stellar-mass binaries, massive black hole binaries, and extreme or interme-diate mass ratio inspirals. The relevant astrophysical processes and the established modeling techniques are summarized. Likewise, open issues and gaps in our understanding of these sources are highlighted, along with an indication of how LISA could help making progress in the different areas. New research avenues that LISA itself, or its joint exploitation with upcoming studies in the electromagnetic domain, will enable, are also illustrated. Improvements in modeling and analysis approaches, such as the combination of numerical simulations and modern data science techniques, are discussed. This review is intended to be a starting point for using LISA as a new discovery tool for understanding our Universe.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This is the first report of Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope observations of the quasar 3C 454.3, which has been undergoing pronounced long-term outbursts since 2000. The data from the Large Area ...Telescope, covering 2008 July 7-October 6, indicate strong, highly variable.-ray emission with an average flux of similar to 3 x 10 (6) photons cm(-2) s(-1), for energies > 100 MeV. The gamma-ray flux is variable, with strong, distinct, symmetrically shaped flares for which the flux increases by a factor of several on a timescale of about 3 days. This variability indicates a compact emission region, and the requirement that the source is optically thin to pair production implies relativistic beaming with Doppler factor delta > 8, consistent with the values inferred from Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of superluminal expansion (delta similar to 25). The observed gamma-ray spectrum is not consistent with a simple power law, but instead steepens strongly above similar to 2 GeV, and is well described by a broken power law with photon indices of similar to 2.3 and similar to 3.5 below and above the break, respectively. This is the first direct observation of a break in the spectrum of a high-luminosity blazar above 100 MeV, and it is likely direct evidence for an intrinsic break in the energy distribution of the radiating particles. Alternatively, the spectral softening above 2 GeV could be due to gamma-ray absorption via photon-photon pair production on the soft X-ray photon field of the host active galactic nucleus, but such an interpretation would require the dissipation region to be located very close (less than or similar to 100 gravitational radii) to the black hole, which would be inconsistent with the X-ray spectrum of the source.
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