We present new, high-to-intermediate spectral resolution stellar population models, based on four popular libraries of empirical stellar spectra, namely Pickles, ELODIE, STELIB and MILES. These new ...models are the same as our previous models, but with higher resolution and based on empirical stellar spectra, while keeping other ingredients the same including the stellar energetics, the atmospheric parameters and the treatment of the thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch and the horizontal branch morphology. We further compute very high resolution (R= 20 000) models based on the theoretical stellar library MARCS which extends to the near-infrared. We therefore provide merged high-resolution stellar population models, extending from ∼1000 to 25 000 Å, using our previously published high-resolution theoretical models which extended to the ultraviolet. We compare how these libraries perform in stellar population models and highlight spectral regions where discrepancies are found. We confirm our previous findings that the flux around the V band is lower (in a normalized sense) in models based on empirical libraries than in those based on the BaSeL-Kurucz library, which results in a bluer B−V colour. Most noticeably the theoretical library MARCS gives results fully consistent with the empirical libraries. This same effect is also found in other models using MILES, namely Vazdekis et al. and Conroy & Gunn, even though the latter authors reach the opposite conclusion. The bluer predicted B−V colour (by 0.05 mag in our models) is in better agreement with both the colours of luminous red galaxies and globular cluster data. We test the models on their ability to reproduce, through full spectral fitting, the ages and metallicities of Galactic globular clusters as derived from colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting and find overall good agreement. We also discuss extensively the Lick indices calculated directly on the integrated MILES-based spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and compare them with element ratio-sensitive index models. We find a good agreement between the two models, if the metallicity-dependent chemical pattern of the Milky Way stars is properly taken into account in this comparison. As a consequence, the ages and metallicities of Galactic globular clusters are not well reproduced when one uses straight the MILES-based indices, because subtle chemical effects on individual lines dominate the age derivation. The best agreement with the ages of the calibrating globular clusters is found with either element ratio-sensitive absorption-line models or the full SED fitting, for which no particular weight is given to selected lines.
We perform a spectroscopic analysis of 492 450 galaxy spectra from the first two years of observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III/Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) ...collaboration. This data set has been released in the ninth SDSS data release, the first public data release of BOSS spectra. We show that the typical signal-to-noise ratio of BOSS spectra, despite being low, is sufficient to measure stellar velocity dispersion and emission line fluxes for individual objects. We show that the typical velocity dispersion of a BOSS galaxy is ∼240 km s−1. The typical error in the velocity dispersion measurement is 14 per cent, and 93 per cent of BOSS galaxies have velocity dispersions with an accuracy of better than 30 per cent. The distribution in velocity dispersion is redshift independent between redshifts 0.15 and 0.7, which reflects the survey design targeting massive galaxies with an approximately uniform mass distribution in this redshift interval. We show that emission lines can be measured on BOSS spectra. However, the majority of BOSS galaxies lack detectable emission lines, as is to be expected because of the target selection design towards massive galaxies. We analyse the emission line properties and present diagnostic diagrams using the emission lines O ii, Hβ, O iii, Hα and N ii (detected in about 4 per cent of the galaxies) to separate star-forming objects and active galactic nuclei (AGN). We show that the emission line properties are strongly redshift dependent and that there is a clear correlation between observed frame colours and emission line properties. Within in the low-z sample (LOWZ) around 0.15 < z < 0.3, half of the emission line galaxies have low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER)-like emission line ratios, followed by Seyfert-AGN-dominated spectra, and only a small fraction of a few per cent are purely star-forming galaxies. AGN and LINER-like objects, instead, are less prevalent in the high-z sample (CMASS) around 0.4 < z < 0.7, where more than half of the emission line objects are star forming. This is a pure selection effect caused by the non-detection of weak Hβ emission lines in the BOSS spectra. Finally, we show that star-forming, AGN and emission line free galaxies are well separated in the g − r versus r − i target selection diagram.
Predicting the colours of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been a long-standing problem. The g, r, i colours of LRGs are inconsistent with stellar population models ...over the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.7. We provide a solution to this problem, through a combination of new astrophysics and a fundamental change to the stellar population modelling. We find that the use of the empirical library of Pickles, in place of theoretical libraries based on model atmosphere calculations, modifies the evolutionary population synthesis predicted colours exactly in the way suggested by the data. The reason is a lower (normalized) flux in the empirical libraries, with respect to the theoretical ones, in the wavelength range 5500–6500 Å. The effect increases with decreasing effective temperature roughly independently of gravity. We also find that other recent libraries such as miles and stelib behave the same way. We further verified that α/Fe effects on stellar spectra cannot substitute the effect of the empirical library because they make both colours bluer. The astrophysical part of our solution regards the composition of the stellar populations of these massive LRGs. We find that on top of the previous effect one needs to consider a model in which ∼3 per cent of the stellar mass is in old metal-poor stars. Other solutions such as an overall slightly subsolar metallicity or young stellar populations can be ruled out by the data. The percentage of the metal-poor subpopulation may be affected by the consideration of abundance-ratio effects though in the framework of present calculations the metal-poor option is favoured. Our new model provides a better fit to the colours of LRGs and gives new insight into the formation histories of these most massive galaxies. The new model will also improve the k- and evolutionary corrections for LRGs which are critical for fully exploiting present and future galaxy surveys.
We perform a spectroscopic analysis of 492,450 galaxy spectra from the first two years of observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III/Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) ...collaboration. This data set has been released in the ninth SDSS data release, the first public data release of BOSS spectra. We show that the typical signal-to-noise ratio of BOSS spectra is sufficient to measure stellar velocity dispersion and emission line fluxes for individual objects. The typical velocity dispersion of a BOSS galaxy is 240 km/s, with an accuracy of better than 30 per cent for 93 per cent of BOSS galaxies. The distribution in velocity dispersion is redshift independent between redshifts 0.15 and 0.7, which reflects the survey design targeting massive galaxies with an approximately uniform mass distribution in this redshift interval. The majority of BOSS galaxies lack detectable emission lines. We analyse the emission line properties and present diagnostic diagrams using the emission lines OII, Hβ, OIII, Halpha, and NII (detected in about 4 per cent of the galaxies). We show that the emission line properties are strongly redshift dependent and that there is a clear correlation between observed frame colours and emission line properties. Within in the low-z sample around 0.15 < z < 0.3, half of the emission-line galaxies have LINER-like emission line ratios, followed by Seyfert-AGN dominated spectra, and only a small fraction of a few per cent are purely star forming galaxies. AGN and LINER-like objects, instead, are less prevalent in the high-z sample around 0.4 < z < 0.7, where more than half of the emission line objects are star forming. This is a pure selection effect caused by the non-detection of weak Hβ emission lines in the BOSS spectra. Finally, we show that star forming, AGN and emission line free galaxies are well separated in the g - r vs r - i target selection diagram.
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Research indicates that the reach of fake news websites is limited to small parts of the population. On the other hand, data demonstrate that large proportions of the public know about notable fake ...news stories and believe them. These findings imply the possibility that most people hear about fake news stories not from fake news websites but through their coverage in mainstream news outlets. Thus far, only limited attention has been directed to the role of mainstream media in the dissemination of disinformation. To remedy this, this article synthesizes the literature pertaining to understand the role mainstream media play in the dissemination of fake news, the reasons for such coverage and its influences on the audience.
The policy of free movement—one of the core principles of the European Union—has become increasingly politicized. This makes it more important to understand how attitudes toward free movement are ...shaped, and the role of the media. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how news frames affect attitudes toward free movement, and whether education moderates framing effects. The findings from a survey experiment conducted in seven European countries show that the effects are few and inconsistent across countries. This suggest that these attitudes are not easily shifted by exposure to a single news frame.
Scholars have raised concerns that on many issues, citizens are reluctant to trust factual evidence and statistics. One factor that has been shown to impact the perceived truth in statistics is how ...they are presented, where negatively framed statistics are perceived as truer than positive. This study explores when this bias applies and not. Results from a survey experiment confirm the presence of a negativity bias in truth perceptions, but also that effects are heterogeneous and moderated by, in particular, the recipients’ preexisting opinions. These findings provide valuable information to public actors responsible for disseminating factual information to diverse publics.
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