Abstract
We have developed an automated quick data analysis system for data quality assurance (QA) for Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). The system was commissioned in 2012–2014, and has been offered for ...general observations, including the HSC Subaru Strategic Program, since 2014 March. The system provides observers with data quality information, such as seeing, sky background level, and sky transparency, based on quick analysis as data are acquired. Quick-look images and validation of image focus are also provided through an interactive web application. The system is responsible for the automatic extraction of QA information from acquired raw data into a database, to assist with observation planning, assess progress of all observing programs, and monitor long-term efficiency variations of the instrument and telescope. Enhancements of the system are being planned to facilitate final data analysis, to improve the HSC archive, and to provide legacy products for astronomical communities.
We present the results of a dust reverberation survey for 17 nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies, which provides the largest homogeneous data collection for the radius of the innermost dust torus. A delayed ...response of the K-band light curve after the V-band light curve was found for all targets, and 49 measurements of lag times between the flux variation of the dust emission in the K band and that of the optical continuum emission in the V band were obtained by the cross-correlation function analysis and also by an alternative method for estimating the maximum likelihood lag. We discuss the possible origins of the intrinsic scatter of the dust lag-luminosity correlation, which was estimated to be approximately 0.13 dex, and we find that the difference of internal extinction and delayed response of changes in lag times to the flux variations could have partly contributed to intrinsic scatter.
We present the results of a dust-reverberation survey of quasars at redshifts z < 0.6. We found a delayed response of the K-band flux variation after the optical flux variation in 25 out of 31 ...targets, and obtained the lag time between them for 22 targets. Combined with the results for nearby Seyfert galaxies, we provide the largest homogeneous collection of K-band dust-reverberation data for 36 type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This doubles the sample and includes the most distant AGN and the largest lag so far measured. We estimated the optical luminosity of the AGN component of each target using three different methods: spectral decomposition, the flux-variation-gradient method, and image decomposition. We found a strong correlation between the reverberation radius for the innermost dust torus and the optical luminosity over a range of approximately four orders of magnitude in luminosity, as is already known for Seyfert galaxies. We estimated the luminosity distances of the AGNs based on their dust-reverberation lags, and found that the data in the redshift-distance diagram are consistent with the current standard estimates of the cosmological parameters. We also present the radius-luminosity relations for isotropic luminosity indicators such as the hard X-ray (14-195 keV), O IV 25.89 m, and mid-infrared (12 m) continuum luminosities, which are applicable to obscured AGNs.
The most intense monitoring observations yet made in the optical and near-infrared wave bands were carried out for Seyfert 1 galaxies NGC 5548, NGC 4051, NGC 3227, and NGC 7469 by the MAGNUM ...telescope, and clear time-delayed responses of the K-band flux variations to the V-band flux variations were found for all of these galaxies. Their H - K color temperatures of 1500-1800 K, estimated from their observed flux variation gradients, support a view that the bulk of the K flux should originate in the thermal radiation of hot dust surrounding the central engine and that the lag time should correspond to light-travel distance between them. Cross-correlation analysis measures their lag times to be 47-53 (NGC 5548), 11-18 (NGC 4051), about 20 (NGC 3227), and 65-87 (NGC 7469) days. The lag times are tightly correlated with the optical luminosities, as expected from dust reverberation (t 8 L super(0.5)), while weakly with the central virial masses, which suggests that the inner radii of the dust tori around active nuclei have one-to-one correspondences with their central luminosities. In the lag time versus central luminosity diagram, the K-band lag times place an upper boundary on the similar lag times of broad emission lines in the literature, which not only supports the unified scheme of AGNs but also implies a physical transition from the BLR out to the dust torus that encircles the BLR. Correlated short-term V-band and X-ray flux variations in NGC 5548 are also found with a delay of 1 or 2 days, indicating the thermal reprocessing of X-ray emission by the central accretion flow.
Abstract
We use MMT spectroscopy and deep Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) imaging to compare the spectroscopic central stellar velocity dispersion of quiescent galaxies with the effective dispersion ...of the dark matter halo derived from the stacked lensing signal. The spectroscopic survey (the Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey) provides a sample of 4585 quiescent galaxy lenses with measured line-of-sight central stellar velocity dispersion (
σ
SHELS
) that is more than 85% complete for
R
< 20.6,
D
n
4000 > 1.5 and
M
⋆
> 10
9.5
M
⊙
. The median redshift of the sample of lenses is 0.32. We measure the stacked lensing signal from the HSC deep imaging. The central stellar velocity dispersion is directly proportional to the velocity dispersion derived from the lensing
σ
Lens
,
. The independent spectroscopic and weak lensing velocity dispersions probe different scales, ∼3 kpc and ≳100 kpc, respectively, and strongly indicate that the observable central stellar velocity dispersion for quiescent galaxies is a good proxy for the velocity dispersion of the dark matter halo. We thus demonstrate the power of combining high-quality imaging and spectroscopy to shed light on the connection between galaxies and their dark matter halos.
Abstract
The formation of massive stars in dense and cold molecular clouds is a fundamental problem in star formation. In this work, we studied three compact massive star-forming regions, M8E, RAFGL ...6366S, and IRAS 18317−0513, to investigate the environment of massive star formation, specifically the possibility of a local feedback process. Our new mid-infrared observations using miniTAO/MAX38 at 31 and 37 μm resolved individual objects in each region and allowed us to obtain their individual luminosities and masses. Together with existence/absence of ultra-compact H ii regions, it is suggested that less-massive objects are more evolved than the more-massive objects in two out of the three regions. Because the objects that are more massive evolve faster, those that are less massive form earlier. This formation trend of local mass-sequential star was first suggested in 0.1 pc-scale massive star-forming regions. Therefore, feedback, such as outflows, jets, or radiative heating, from previously formed lower-mass young stellar objects might affect the environment of parental clouds and lead to next-generation massive young stellar objects.
We examine whether the spectral energy distribution of UV continuum emission of active galactic nuclei changes during flux variation. We used multi-epoch photometric data of QSOs in Stripe 82 ...observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Legacy Survey and selected 10 bright QSOs observed with high photometric accuracies, in the redshift range of z = 1.0-2.4 where strong broad emission lines such as Ly Delta *a and C IV do not contaminate SDSS filters, to examine spectral variation of the UV continuum emission with broadband photometries. All target QSOs showed clear flux variations during the monitoring period 1998-2007, and the multi-epoch flux data in two different bands obtained on the same night showed a linear flux-to-flux relationship for all target QSOs. Assigning the flux in the longer wavelength to the x-axis in the flux-to-flux diagram, the x-intercept of the best-fit linear regression line was positive for most targets, which means that their colors in the observing bands become bluer as they become brighter. Then, the host-galaxy flux was estimated on the basis of the correlation between the stellar mass of the bulge of the host galaxy and the central black hole mass; the latter was estimated on the basis of the luminosity scaling relations for C IV or Mg II emission lines and their line width. We found that the longer-wavelength flux of the host galaxy was systematically smaller than that of the fainter extension of the best-fit regression line at the same shorter-wavelength flux for most targets. This result strongly indicates that the spectral shape of the continuum emission of QSOs in the UV region (~1400-3600 A in rest-frame wavelength) usually becomes bluer as it becomes brighter. The multi-epoch flux data in the flux-to-flux diagram were found to be consistent with the wavelength-dependent amplitude of variation presented in Vanden Berk et al., which showed a larger amplitude of variation in shorter wavelengths. We also found that the multi-epoch flux-to-flux plots could be fitted well with the standard accretion disk model changing the mass accretion rate with a constant black hole mass for most targets. This finding strongly supports the standard accretion disk model for UV continuum emission of QSOs.
In Yoshii et al., we described a new method for measuring extragalactic distances based on dust reverberation in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and we validated our new method with Cepheid variable ...stars. In this Letter, we validate our new method with Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that occurred in two of the AGN host galaxies during our AGN monitoring program: SN 2004bd in NGC 3786 and SN 2008ec in NGC 7469. Their multicolor light curves were observed and analyzed using two widely accepted methods for measuring SN distances, and the distance moduli derived are for SN 2004bd and 33.83 0.07 for SN 2008ec. These results are used to obtain independently the distance measurement calibration factor, g. The g value obtained from the SN Ia discussed in this Letter is , which matches, within the range of 1 uncertainty, , previously calculated ab initio in Yoshii et al. Having validated our new method for measuring extragalactic distances, we use our new method to calibrate reverberation distances derived from variations of Hβ emission in the AGN broad-line region, extending the Hubble diagram to where distinguishing between cosmologies is becoming possible.
We examine whether the spectral energy distribution of optical continuum emission of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) changes during flux variation, based on accurate and frequent monitoring ...observations of 11 nearby Seyfert galaxies and QSOs carried out in the B, V, and I bands for seven years by the MAGNUM telescope. The multi-epoch flux data in any two different bands obtained on the same night show a very tight linear flux-to-flux relationship for all target AGNs. The flux of the host galaxy within the photometric aperture is carefully estimated by surface brightness fitting to available high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images and MAGNUM images. The flux of narrow emission lines in the photometric bands is also estimated from available spectroscopic data. We find that the non-variable component of the host galaxy plus narrow emission lines for all target AGNs is located on the fainter extension of the linear regression line of multi-epoch flux data in the flux-to-flux diagram. This result strongly indicates that the spectral shape of AGN continuum emission in the optical region ({approx}4400-7900 A) does not systematically change during flux variation. The trend of spectral hardening that optical continuum emission becomes bluer as it becomes brighter, which has been reported by many studies, is therefore interpreted as the domination of the variable component of the nearly constant spectral shape of an AGN as it brightens over the non-variable component of the host galaxy plus narrow lines, which is usually redder than AGN continuum emission.
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