The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), one of the programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), has now completed its systematic, homogeneous spectroscopic ...survey sampling all major populations of the Milky Way. After a three-year observing campaign on the Sloan 2.5 m Telescope, APOGEE has collected a half million high-resolution (R ∼ 22,500), high signal-to-noise ratio (>100), infrared (1.51-1.70 m) spectra for 146,000 stars, with time series information via repeat visits to most of these stars. This paper describes the motivations for the survey and its overall design-hardware, field placement, target selection, operations-and gives an overview of these aspects as well as the data reduction, analysis, and products. An index is also given to the complement of technical papers that describe various critical survey components in detail. Finally, we discuss the achieved survey performance and illustrate the variety of potential uses of the data products by way of a number of science demonstrations, which span from time series analysis of stellar spectral variations and radial velocity variations from stellar companions, to spatial maps of kinematics, metallicity, and abundance patterns across the Galaxy and as a function of age, to new views of the interstellar medium, the chemistry of star clusters, and the discovery of rare stellar species. As part of SDSS-III Data Release 12 and later releases, all of the APOGEE data products are publicly available.
The data and analysis methodology used for the SDSS/APOGEE Data Releases 13 and 14 are described, highlighting differences from the DR12 analysis presented in Holtzman et al. Some improvement in the ...handling of telluric absorption and persistence is demonstrated. The derivation and calibration of stellar parameters, chemical abundances, and respective uncertainties are described, along with the ranges over which calibration was performed. Some known issues with the public data related to the calibration of the effective temperatures (DR13), surface gravity (DR13 and DR14), and C and N abundances for dwarfs (DR13 and DR14) are highlighted. We discuss how results from a data-driven technique, The Cannon, are included in DR14 and compare those with results from the APOGEE Stellar Parameters and Chemical Abundances Pipeline. We describe how using The Cannon in a mode that restricts the abundance analysis of each element to regions of the spectrum with known features from that element leads to Cannon abundances can lead to significantly different results for some elements than when all regions of the spectrum are used to derive abundances.
ABSTRACT Using a sample of 69,919 red giants from the SDSS-III/APOGEE Data Release 12, we measure the distribution of stars in the /Fe versus Fe/H plane and the metallicity distribution functions ...(MDFs) across an unprecedented volume of the Milky Way disk, with radius 3 < R < 15 kpc and height kpc. Stars in the inner disk (R < 5 kpc) lie along a single track in /Fe versus Fe/H, starting with -enhanced, metal-poor stars and ending at /Fe ∼ 0 and Fe/H ∼ +0.4. At larger radii we find two distinct sequences in /Fe versus Fe/H space, with a roughly solar- sequence that spans a decade in metallicity and a high- sequence that merges with the low- sequence at super-solar Fe/H. The location of the high- sequence is nearly constant across the disk; however, there are very few high- stars at R > 11 kpc. The peak of the midplane MDF shifts to lower metallicity at larger R, reflecting the Galactic metallicity gradient. Most strikingly, the shape of the midplane MDF changes systematically with radius, from a negatively skewed distribution at 3 < R < 7 kpc, to a roughly Gaussian distribution at the solar annulus, to a positively skewed shape in the outer Galaxy. For stars with kpc or /Fe > 0.18, the MDF shows little dependence on R. The positive skewness of the outer-disk MDF may be a signature of radial migration; we show that blurring of stellar populations by orbital eccentricities is not enough to explain the reversal of MDF shape, but a simple model of radial migration can do so.
Abstract
The SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey has obtained high-resolution spectra for thousands of red giant stars distributed among the massive ...satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (Sgr), Fornax (Fnx), and the now fully disrupted Gaia Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) system. We present and analyze the APOGEE chemical abundance patterns of each galaxy to draw robust conclusions about their star formation histories, by quantifying the relative abundance trends of multiple elements (C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Ni, and Ce), as well as by fitting chemical evolution models to the
α
/Fe–Fe/H abundance plane for each galaxy. Results show that the chemical signatures of the starburst in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) observed by Nidever et al. in the
α
-element abundances extend to C+N, Al, and Ni, with the major burst in the SMC occurring some 3–4 Gyr before the burst in the LMC. We find that Sgr and Fnx also exhibit chemical abundance patterns suggestive of secondary star formation epochs, but these events were weaker and earlier (∼5–7 Gyr ago) than those observed in the MCs. There is no chemical evidence of a second starburst in GSE, but this galaxy shows the strongest initial star formation as compared to the other four galaxies. All dwarf galaxies had greater relative contributions of AGB stars to their enrichment than the MW. Comparing and contrasting these chemical patterns highlight the importance of galaxy environment on its chemical evolution.
ABSTRACT The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) has built the largest moderately high-resolution (R 22,500) spectroscopic map of the stars across the Milky Way, and ...including dust-obscured areas. The APOGEE Stellar Parameter and Chemical Abundances Pipeline (ASPCAP) is the software developed for the automated analysis of these spectra. ASPCAP determines atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances from observed spectra by comparing observed spectra to libraries of theoretical spectra, using χ2 minimization in a multidimensional parameter space. The package consists of a fortran90 code that does the actual minimization and a wrapper IDL code for book-keeping and data handling. This paper explains in detail the ASPCAP components and functionality, and presents results from a number of tests designed to check its performance. ASPCAP provides stellar effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities precise to 2%, 0.1 dex, and 0.05 dex, respectively, for most APOGEE stars, which are predominantly giants. It also provides abundances for up to 15 chemical elements with various levels of precision, typically under 0.1 dex. The final data release (DR12) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III contains an APOGEE database of more than 150,000 stars. ASPCAP development continues in the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 survey.
ABSTRACT The SDSS-III/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey operated from 2011-2014 using the APOGEE spectrograph, which collects high-resolution (R ∼ 22,500), ...near-IR (1.51-1.70 m) spectra with a multiplexing (300 fiber-fed objects) capability. We describe the survey data products that are publicly available, which include catalogs with radial velocity, stellar parameters, and 15 elemental abundances for over 150,000 stars, as well as the more than 500,000 spectra from which these quantities are derived. Calibration relations for the stellar parameters ( , , M/H, /M) and abundances (C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni) are presented and discussed. The internal scatter of the abundances within clusters indicates that abundance precision is generally between 0.05 and 0.09 dex across a broad temperature range; it is smaller for some elemental abundances within more limited ranges and at high signal-to-noise ratio. We assess the accuracy of the abundances using comparison of mean cluster metallicities with literature values, APOGEE observations of the solar spectrum and of Arcturus, comparison of individual star abundances with other measurements, and consideration of the locus of derived parameters and abundances of the entire sample, and find that it is challenging to determine the absolute abundance scale; external accuracy may be good to 0.1-0.2 dex. Uncertainties may be larger at cooler temperatures ( ). Access to the public data release and data products is described, and some guidance for using the data products is provided.
Abstract
The eighteenth data release (DR18) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is the first one for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of the survey. SDSS-V comprises three primary scientific programs ...or “Mappers”: the Milky Way Mapper (MWM), the Black Hole Mapper (BHM), and the Local Volume Mapper. This data release contains extensive targeting information for the two multiobject spectroscopy programs (MWM and BHM), including input catalogs and selection functions for their numerous scientific objectives. We describe the production of the targeting databases and their calibration and scientifically focused components. DR18 also includes ∼25,000 new SDSS spectra and supplemental information for X-ray sources identified by eROSITA in its eFEDS field. We present updates to some of the SDSS software pipelines and preview changes anticipated for DR19. We also describe three value-added catalogs (VACs) based on SDSS-IV data that have been published since DR17, and one VAC based on the SDSS-V data in the eFEDS field.
We use the multi-epoch radial velocities acquired by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey to perform a large-scale statistical study of stellar multiplicity for ...field stars in the Milky Way, spanning the evolutionary phases between the main sequence (MS) and the red clump. We show that the distribution of maximum radial velocity shifts (ΔRVmax) for APOGEE targets is a strong function of log g, with MS stars showing ΔRVmax as high as ∼300 , and steadily dropping down to ∼30 for log g ∼ 0, as stars climb up the red giant branch (RGB). Red clump stars show a distribution of ΔRVmax values comparable to that of stars at the tip of the RGB, implying they have similar multiplicity characteristics. The observed attrition of high ΔRVmax systems in the RGB is consistent with a lognormal period distribution in the MS and a multiplicity fraction of 0.35, which is truncated at an increasing period as stars become physically larger and undergo mass transfer after Roche Lobe overflow during H-shell burning. The ΔRVmax distributions also show that the multiplicity characteristics of field stars are metallicity-dependent, with metal-poor (Fe/H −0.5) stars having a multiplicity fraction a factor of 2-3 higher than metal-rich (Fe/H 0.0) stars. This has profound implications for the formation rates of interacting binaries observed by astronomical transient surveys and gravitational wave detectors, as well as the habitability of circumbinary planets.
We present the first release of the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar), which is a large, well-calibrated, high-quality empirical library covering the wavelength range 3622-10354 at a resolving power of ...R ∼ 1800. The spectra were obtained using the same instrument as used by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) project, by piggybacking on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)/Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment 2-N (APOGEE-2N) observations. Compared to previous empirical libraries, the MaStar library will have a higher number of stars and a more comprehensive stellar-parameter coverage, especially of cool dwarfs, low-metallicity stars, and stars with different /Fe, achieved by a sophisticated target-selection strategy that takes advantage of stellar-parameter catalogs from the literature. This empirical library will provide a new basis for stellar-population synthesis and is particularly well suited for stellar-population analysis of MaNGA galaxies. The first version of the library contains 8646 high-quality per-visit spectra for 3321 unique stars. Compared to photometry, the relative flux calibration of the library is accurate to 3.9% in g − r, 2.7% in r − i, and 2.2% in i − z. The data are released as part of SDSS Data Release 15. We expect the final release of the library to contain more than 10,000 stars.
ABSTRACT
Studies of the kinematics and chemical compositions of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) enable the reconstruction of the history of star formation, chemical evolution, and mass assembly of ...the Galaxy. Using the latest data release (DR16) of the SDSS/APOGEE survey, we identify 3090 stars associated with 46 GCs. Using a previously defined kinematic association, we break the sample down into eight separate groups and examine how the kinematics-based classification maps into chemical composition space, considering only α (mostly Si and Mg) elements and Fe. Our results show that (i) the loci of both in situ and accreted subgroups in chemical space match those of their field counterparts; (ii) GCs from different individual accreted subgroups occupy the same locus in chemical space. This could either mean that they share a similar origin or that they are associated with distinct satellites which underwent similar chemical enrichment histories; (iii) the chemical compositions of the GCs associated with the low orbital energy subgroup defined by Massari and collaborators is broadly consistent with an in situ origin. However, at the low-metallicity end, the distinction between accreted and in situ populations is blurred; (iv) regarding the status of GCs whose origin is ambiguous, we conclude the following: the position in Si–Fe plane suggests an in situ origin for Liller 1 and a likely accreted origin for NGC 5904 and NGC 6388. The case of NGC 288 is unclear, as its orbital properties suggest an accretion origin, its chemical composition suggests it may have formed in situ.
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