Abstract
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will provide high-precision time series photometry for millions of stars with at least a half-hour cadence. Of particular interest are the ...circular regions of 12° radius centred around the ecliptic poles that will be observed continuously for a full year. Spectroscopic stellar parameters are desirable to characterize and select suitable targets for TESS, whether they are focused on exploring exoplanets, stellar astrophysics or Galactic archaeology. Here, we present spectroscopic stellar parameters (Teff, log g, Fe/H, v sin i, vmicro) for about 16 000 dwarf and subgiant stars in TESS’ southern continuous viewing zone. For almost all the stars, we also present Bayesian estimates of stellar properties including distance, extinction, mass, radius and age using theoretical isochrones. Stellar surface gravity and radius are made available for an additional set of roughly 8500 red giants. All our target stars are in the range 10 < V < 13.1. Among them, we identify and list 227 stars belonging to the Large Magellanic Cloud. The data were taken using the High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectrograph (HERMES; R ∼ 28 000) at the Anglo–Australian Telescope as part of the TESS–HERMES survey. Comparing our results with the TESS Input Catalogue (TIC) shows that the TIC is generally efficient in separating dwarfs and giants, but it has flagged more than 100 cool dwarfs (Teff < 4800 K) as giants, which ought to be high-priority targets for the exoplanet search. The catalogue can be accessed via http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/tess-hermes/, or at Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST).
We present high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy of 42 red giant stars in seven stellar streams confirmed by the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S5): ATLAS, Aliqa Uma, Chenab, ...Elqui, Indus, Jhelum, and Phoenix. Abundances of 30 elements have been derived from over 10,000 individual line measurements or upper limits using photometric stellar parameters and a standard LTE analysis. This is currently the most extensive set of element abundances for stars in stellar streams. Three streams (ATLAS, Aliqa Uma, and Phoenix) are disrupted metal-poor globular clusters, although only weak evidence is seen for the light-element anticorrelations commonly observed in globular clusters. Four streams (Chenab, Elqui, Indus, and Jhelum) are disrupted dwarf galaxies, and their stars display abundance signatures that suggest progenitors with stellar masses ranging from 106 to 107 M . Extensive description is provided for the analysis methods, including the derivation of a new method for including the effect of stellar parameter correlations on each star's abundance and uncertainty. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.
ABSTRACT
Metal-poor stars are important tools for tracing the early history of the Milky Way, and for learning about the first generations of stars. Simulations suggest that the oldest metal-poor ...stars are to be found in the inner Galaxy. Typical bulge surveys, however, lack low metallicity ($\rm {Fe/H} \lt -1.0$) stars because the inner Galaxy is predominantly metal-rich. The aim of the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) is to study the metal-poor and very metal-poor (VMP, $\rm {Fe/H} \lt -2.0$) stars in this region. In PIGS, metal-poor targets for spectroscopic follow-up are selected from metallicity-sensitive CaHK photometry from the CFHT. This work presents the ∼250 deg2 photometric survey as well as intermediate-resolution spectroscopic follow-up observations for ∼8000 stars using AAOmega on the AAT. The spectra are analysed using two independent tools: ULySS with an empirical spectral library, and FERRE with a library of synthetic spectra. The comparison between the two methods enables a robust determination of the stellar parameters and their uncertainties. We present a sample of 1300 VMP stars – the largest sample of VMP stars in the inner Galaxy to date. Additionally, our spectroscopic data set includes ∼1700 horizontal branch stars, which are useful metal-poor standard candles. We furthermore show that PIGS photometry selects VMP stars with unprecedented efficiency: 86 per cent/80 per cent (lower/higher extinction) of the best candidates satisfy $\rm {Fe/H} \lt -2.0$, as do 80 per cent/63 per cent of a larger, less strictly selected sample. We discuss future applications of this unique data set that will further our understanding of the chemical and dynamical evolution of the innermost regions of our Galaxy.
Globular clusters are some of the oldest bound stellar structures observed in the Universe
. They are ubiquitous in large galaxies and are believed to trace intense star-formation events and the ...hierarchical build-up of structure
. Observations of globular clusters in the Milky Way, and a wide variety of other galaxies, have found evidence for a 'metallicity floor', whereby no globular clusters are found with chemical (metal) abundances below approximately 0.3 to 0.4 per cent of that of the Sun
. The existence of this metallicity floor may reflect a minimum mass and a maximum redshift for surviving globular clusters to form-both critical components for understanding the build-up of mass in the Universe
. Here we report measurements from the Southern Stellar Streams Spectroscopic Survey of the spatially thin, dynamically cold Phoenix stellar stream in the halo of the Milky Way. The properties of the Phoenix stream are consistent with it being the tidally disrupted remains of a globular cluster. However, its metal abundance (Fe/H = -2.7) is substantially below the empirical metallicity floor. The Phoenix stream thus represents the debris of the most metal-poor globular clusters discovered so far, and its progenitor is distinct from the present-day globular cluster population in the local Universe. Its existence implies that globular clusters below the metallicity floor have probably existed, but were destroyed during Galactic evolution.
Abstract
We present new spectroscopic observations of the diffuse Milky Way satellite galaxies Antlia 2 and Crater 2, taken as part of the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (
S
5
). The ...new observations approximately double the number of confirmed member stars in each galaxy and more than double the spatial extent of spectroscopic observations in Antlia 2. A full kinematic analysis, including Gaia EDR3 proper motions, detects a clear velocity gradient in Antlia 2 and a tentative velocity gradient in Crater 2. The velocity gradient magnitudes and directions are consistent with particle stream simulations of tidal disruption. Furthermore, the orbit and kinematics of Antlia 2 require a model that includes the reflex motion of the Milky Way induced by the Large Magellanic Cloud. We also find that Antlia 2's metallicity was previously overestimated, so it lies on the empirical luminosity–metallicity relation and is likely only now experiencing substantial stellar mass loss. Current dynamical models of Antlia 2 require it to have lost over 90% of its stars to tides, in tension with the low stellar mass loss implied by the updated metallicity. Overall, the new kinematic measurements support a tidal disruption scenario for the origin of these large and extended dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
ABSTRACT
In order to accurately determine stellar properties, knowledge of the effective temperature of stars is vital. We implement Gaia and 2MASS photometry in the InfraRed Flux Method and apply it ...to over 360 000 stars across different evolutionary stages in the GALAH DR3 survey. We derive colour-effective temperature relations that take into account the effect of metallicity and surface gravity over the range $4000\, \rm {K}\lesssim T_{\rm {eff}}\lesssim 8000\, \rm {K}$, from very metal-poor stars to supersolar metallicities. The internal uncertainty of these calibrations is of order 40–80 K depending on the colour combination used. Comparison against solar-twins, Gaia benchmark stars, and the latest interferometric measurements validates the precision and accuracy of these calibrations from F to early M spectral types. We assess the impact of various sources of uncertainties, including the assumed extinction law, and provide guidelines to use our relations. Robust solar colours are also derived.
ABSTRACT
Gaia DR2 has revealed new small-scale and large-scale patterns in the phase-space distribution of stars in the Milky Way. In cylindrical Galactic coordinates $(R,\phi ,z)$, ridge-like ...structures can be seen in the $(R,V_\phi)$ plane and asymmetric arch-like structures in the $(V_R,V_\phi)$ plane. We show that the ridges are also clearly present when the third dimension of the $(R,V_\phi)$ plane is represented by $\langle z \rangle$, $\langle V_z \rangle$, $\langle V_R \rangle$, $\langle$Fe/H$\rangle$, and $\langle \alpha /{\rm Fe}\rangle$. The maps suggest that stars along the ridges lie preferentially close to the Galactic mid-plane ($|z|\lt 0.2$ kpc), and have metallicity and $\alpha$ elemental abundance similar to that of the Sun. We show that phase mixing of disrupting spiral arms can generate both the ridges and the arches. It also generates discrete groupings in orbital energy – the ridges and arches are simply surfaces of constant energy. We identify eight distinct ridges in the Gaia DR2 data: six of them have constant energy while two have constant angular momentum. Given that the signature is strongest for stars close to the plane, the presence of ridges in $\langle z \rangle$ and $\langle V_z \rangle$ suggests a coupling between planar and vertical directions. We demonstrate, using N-body simulations that such coupling can be generated both in isolated discs and in discs perturbed by an orbiting satellite like the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.
Abstract
We present the first detailed comparison of populations of dwarf galaxy stellar streams in cosmological simulations and the Milky Way. In particular, we compare streams identified around 13 ...Milky Way analogs in the FIRE-2 simulations to streams observed by the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (
S
5
). For an accurate comparison, we produce mock Dark Energy Survey (DES) observations of the FIRE streams and estimate the detectability of their tidal tails and progenitors. The number and stellar mass distributions of detectable stellar streams is consistent between observations and simulations. However, there are discrepancies in the distributions of pericenters and apocenters, with the detectable FIRE streams, on average, forming at larger pericenters (out to >110 kpc) and surviving only at larger apocenters (≳40 kpc) than those observed in the Milky Way. We find that the population of high-stellar-mass dwarf galaxy streams in the Milky Way is incomplete. Interestingly, a large fraction of the FIRE streams would only be detected as intact satellites in DES-like observations, since their tidal tails have too low surface brightness to be detectable. We thus predict a population of yet-undetected tidal tails around Milky Way satellites, as well as a population of fully undetected low-surface-brightness stellar streams, and estimate their detectability with the Rubin Observatory. Finally, we discuss the causes and implications of the discrepancies between the stream populations in FIRE and the Milky Way, and explore future avenues for tests of satellite disruption in cosmological simulations.
Abstract
We use the second data releases of the European Space AgencyGaia astrometric survey and the high-resolution Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) spectroscopic survey to analyse the ...structure of our Galaxy’s disc components. With GALAH, we separate the α-rich and α-poor discs (with respect to Fe), which are superposed in both position and velocity space, and examine their distributions in action space. We study the distribution of stars in the zV$\mathrm{ z}$ phase plane, for both Vϕ and VR, and recover the remarkable ‘phase spiral’ discovered by Gaia. We identify the anticipated quadrupole signature in zV$\mathrm{ z}$ of a tilted velocity ellipsoid for stars above and below the Galactic plane. By connecting our work with earlier studies, we show that the phase spiral is likely to extend well beyond the narrow solar neighbourhood cylinder in which it was found. The phase spiral is a signature of corrugated waves that propagate through the disc, and the associated non-equilibrium phase mixing. The radially asymmetric distribution of stars involved in the phase spiral reveals that the corrugation, which is mostly confined to the α-poor disc, grows in z-amplitude with increasing radius. We present new simulations of tidal disturbance of the Galactic disc by the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf. The effect on the zV$\mathrm{ z}$ phase plane lasts ${\gtrsim } 2\, \mathrm{Gyr}$, but a subsequent disc crossing wipes out the coherent structure. We find that the phase spiral was excited ${\lesssim } 0.5\, \mathrm{Gyr}$ ago by an object like Sgr with total mass ∼3 × 1010 M⊙ (stripped down from ∼5 × 1010 M⊙ when it first entered the halo) passing through the plane.
The GALAH+ survey: Third data release Buder, Sven; Sharma, Sanjib; Kos, Janez ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
2021, Letnik:
506, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
ABSTRACT
The ensemble of chemical element abundance measurements for stars, along with precision distances and orbit properties, provides high-dimensional data to study the evolution of the Milky ...Way. With this third data release of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, we publish 678 423 spectra for 588 571 mostly nearby stars (81.2 per cent of stars are within <2 kpc), observed with the HERMES spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This release (hereafter GALAH+ DR3) includes all observations from GALAH Phase 1 (bright, main, and faint survey, 70 per cent), K2-HERMES (17 per cent), TESS-HERMES (5 per cent), and a subset of ancillary observations (8 per cent) including the bulge and >75 stellar clusters. We derive stellar parameters Teff, log g, Fe/H, vmic, vbroad, and vrad using our modified version of the spectrum synthesis code Spectroscopy Made Easy (sme) and 1D marcs model atmospheres. We break spectroscopic degeneracies in our spectrum analysis with astrometry from Gaia DR2 and photometry from 2MASS. We report abundance ratios X/Fe for 30 different elements (11 of which are based on non-LTE computations) covering five nucleosynthetic pathways. We describe validations for accuracy and precision, flagging of peculiar stars/measurements and recommendations for using our results. Our catalogue comprises 65 per cent dwarfs, 34 per cent giants, and 1 per cent other/unclassified stars. Based on unflagged chemical composition and age, we find 62 per cent young low-$\alpha$, 9 per cent young high-$\alpha$, 27 per cent old high-$\alpha$, and 2 per cent stars with Fe/H ≤ −1. Based on kinematics, 4 per cent are halo stars. Several Value-Added-Catalogues, including stellar ages and dynamics, updated after Gaia eDR3, accompany this release and allow chrono-chemodynamic analyses, as we showcase.
PDF
