Aims. Three-dimensional (3D) maps of the Galactic interstellar matter (ISM) are a potential tool of wide use, but accurate and detailed maps are still lacking. One of the ways to construct the maps ...is to invert individual distance-limited ISM measurements, a method we have applied here to measurements of stellar color excess in the optical. Methods. We assembled color excess data together with the associated parallax or photometric distances to constitute a catalog of ≃23 000 sightlines for stars within 2.5 kpc. The photometric data are taken from Strömgren catalogs, the Geneva photometric database, and the Geneva-Copenhagen survey. We also included extinctions derived towards open clusters. We applied an inversion method based on a regularized Bayesian approach to this color excess dataset, a method previously used for mapping at closer distances. Results. We show the dust spatial distribution resulting from the inversion by means of planar cuts through the differential opacity 3D distribution, and by means of 2D maps of the integrated opacity from the Sun up to various distances. The mapping assigns locations to the nearby dense clouds and represents their distribution at the spatial resolution that is allowed by the dataset properties, i.e. ≃10 pc close to the Sun and increasing to ≃100 pc beyond 1 kpc. Biases toward nearby and/or weakly extincted stars make this dataset particularly appropriate to mapping the local and neighboring cavities and to locating faint, extended nearby clouds, which are both goals that are difficult or impossible with other mapping methods. The new maps reveal a ≃1 kpc wide empty region in the third quadrant in the continuation of the so-called CMa tunnel of the Local Cavity, a cavity that we identify as the Superbubble GSH238+00+09 detected in radio emission maps and that is found to be bounded by the Orion and Vela clouds. The maps also show an extended narrower tunnel in the opposite direction (l ≃ 70°) that also extends the Local Bubble further and together with it forms a conspicuous cavity bounded by the main Lup, Sco, Oph, Aql, Lac, Cep, and Tau clouds and OB associations. This chain of cavities and surrounding dense regions constitute the first computed representation of the well known Gould belt/Lindblad ring structures. Finally, almost all off-plane faint features that appear in 2D dust maps have a counterpart in the 3D maps, providing the dust distribution in nearby tenuous clouds.
ABSTRACT
The most recent release of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) (Samus et al. 2017) contains 518 different variable types, in eight different variable categories. The catalogue has ...now reached its 5th version available via the VizieR service and can be considered one of the primary catalogues on the subject. The Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) contains the most extensive catalogue of variable stars over the entire sky, still it is an intermediate step towards a better understanding of the quality of data and the automated algorithms being put in place to achieve a more concise classification as the work progresses. Ongoing work to identify all variability types in Gaia requires that a complete set of variable classes is represented. We investigated the most recent variability types listed therein, and compared them to the literature used to classify variable stars in Gaia. We have come across close to 10 000 individual variables in the GCVS that are not classified as variable in Gaia DR3, which include 56 variability types – some of which are bright stars. In this investigation, we demonstrate that there are still a large number of those bright stars missing from the Gaia variable classification. Clear indications show that variables with very short (<1 d), and very long periods, were missed by Gaia DR3 Gaia (Prusti et al. 2016 and Vallenari et al. 2022). Moreover, variables with large amplitudes were also missing. We discuss our findings in some detail.
Context. The Kepler space mission led to a large number of high-precision time series of solar-like oscillators. Using a Bayesian analysis that combines asteroseismic techniques and additional ...ground-based observations, the mass, radius, luminosity, and distance of these stars can be estimated with good precision. This has given a new impetus to the research field of galactic archeology. Aims. The first data release of the Gaia space mission contains the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) catalogue with parallax estimates for more than 2 million stars, including many of the Kepler targets. Our goal is to make a first proper comparison of asteroseismic and astrometric parallaxes of a selection of dwarfs, subgiants, and red giants observed by Kepler for which asteroseismic distances were published. Methods. We compare asteroseismic and astrometric distances of solar-like pulsators using an appropriate statistical errors-in-variables model on a linear and on a logarithmic scale. Results. For a sample of 22 dwarf and subgiant solar-like oscillators, the TGAS parallaxes considerably improved on the Hipparcos data, yet the excellent agreement between asteroseismic and astrometric distances still holds. For a sample of 938 Kepler pulsating red giants, the TGAS parallaxes are much more uncertain than the asteroseismic ones, making it worthwhile to validate the former with the latter. From errors-in-variables modelling we find a significant discrepancy between the TGAS parallaxes and the asteroseismic values. Conclusions. For the sample of dwarfs and subgiants, the comparison between astrometric and asteroseismic parallaxes does not require a revision of the stellar models on the basis of TGAS. For the sample of red giants, we identify possible causes of the discrepancy, which we will likely be able to resolve with the more precise Gaia parallaxes in the upcoming releases.
Stellar variability in open clusters Mowlavi, N; Barblan, F; Saesen, S ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
06/2013, Letnik:
554
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We analyze the population of periodic variable stars in the open cluster NGC 3766 based on a 7-year multiband monitoring campaign conducted on the 1.2 m Swiss Euler telescope at La Silla, Chili. The ...data reduction, light curve cleaning, and period search procedures, combined with the long observation time line, allowed us to detect variability amplitudes down to the millimagnitude (mmag) level. The variability properties were complemented with the positions in the color-magnitude and color-color diagrams to classify periodic variable stars into distinct variability types. We encourage searching for this new class of variables in other young open clusters, especially in those hosting a rich population of Be stars.
We present an evaluation of the performance of an automated classification of the Hipparcos periodic variable stars into 26 types. The sub-sample with the most reliable variability types available in ...the literature is used to train supervised algorithms to characterize the type dependencies on a number of attributes. The most useful attributes evaluated with the random forest methodology include, in decreasing order of importance, the period, the amplitude, the V−I colour index, the absolute magnitude, the residual around the folded light-curve model, the magnitude distribution skewness and the amplitude of the second harmonic of the Fourier series model relative to that of the fundamental frequency. Random forests and a multi-stage scheme involving Bayesian network and Gaussian mixture methods lead to statistically equivalent results. In standard 10-fold cross-validation (CV) experiments, the rate of correct classification is between 90 and 100 per cent, depending on the variability type. The main mis-classification cases, up to a rate of about 10 per cent, arise due to confusion between SPB and ACV blue variables and between eclipsing binaries, ellipsoidal variables and other variability types. Our training set and the predicted types for the other Hipparcos periodic stars are available online.
Understanding the Galaxy Eyer, L.
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union,
11/2017, Letnik:
14, Številka:
S339
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Abstract
This general overview of our understanding of the Galaxy followed the lines of its main structures (halo, disc, bulge/bar) and emphasized some time-domain astronomy contributions. On the one ...hand the distance and tangential motions of the stars are essential to that understanding, and are obtained through multi-epoch surveys. On the other hand the chemistry of the stars and their radial velocities are also key elements for mapping the Galactic (sub-)structures, and unravelling their history and evolution. Contemporary surveys are revolutionizing our view of the Milky Way and of galaxies in general. Among those, the Gaia mission excels through its precise astrometry of 1.3 billion stars that populate the Milky Way and beyond, providing the first 3-D view of a major part of the Milky Way.
Gaia Data Release 1 Clementini, G; Ripepi, V; Leccia, S ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
11/2016, Letnik:
595
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context. The European Space Agency spacecraft Gaia is expected to observe about 10000 Galactic Cepheids and over 100000 Milky Way RR Lyrae stars (a large fraction of which will be new discoveries), ...during the five-year nominal lifetime spent scanning the whole sky to a faint limit of G= 20.7 mag, sampling their light variation on average about 70 times. Aims. We present an overview of the Specific Objects Study (SOS) pipeline developed within the Coordination Unit 7 (CU7) of the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC), the coordination unit charged with the processing and analysis of variable sources observed by Gaia, to validate and fully characterise Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars observed by the spacecraft. The algorithms developed to classify and extract information such as the pulsation period, mode of pulsation, mean magnitude, peak-to-peak amplitude of the light variation, subclassification in type, multiplicity, secondary periodicities, and light curve Fourier decomposition parameters, as well as physical parameters such as mass, metallicity, reddening, and age (for classical Cepheids) are briefly described. Methods. The full chain of the CU7 pipeline was run on the time series photometry collected by Gaia during 28 days of ecliptic pole scanning law (EPSL) and over a year of nominal scanning law (NSL), starting from the general Variability Detection, general Characterization, proceeding through the global Classification and ending with the detailed checks and typecasting of the SOS for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars (SOS Cep&RRL). We describe in more detail how the SOS Cep&RRL pipeline was specifically tailored to analyse Gaia's G-band photometric time series with a south ecliptic pole (SEP) footprint, which covers an external region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and to produce results for confirmed RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids to be published in Gaia Data Release 1 (Gaia DR1). Results.G-band time series photometry and characterisation by the SOS Cep&RRL pipeline (mean magnitude and pulsation characteristics) are published in Gaia DR1 for a total sample of 3194 variable stars (599 Cepheids and 2595 RR Lyrae stars), of which 386 (43 Cepheids and 343 RR Lyrae stars) are new discoveries by Gaia. All 3194 stars are distributed over an area extending 38 degrees on either side from a point offset from the centre of the LMC by about 3 degrees to the north and 4 degrees to the east. The vast majority are located within the LMC. The published sample also includes a few bright RR Lyrae stars that trace the outer halo of the Milky Way in front of the LMC.
Single-domain antibody (sdAb) fragments derived from heavy-chain antibodies of camelids and cartilaginous fish represent a new generation of therapeutic agents and immunoreagents. Due to their unique ...characteristics, such as low molecular weight, high physical-chemical stability, good water solubility, and the ability to bind antigens inaccessible to conventional antibodies, they could potentially act as a substitute for conventional therapeutic drugs in the treatment of serious human diseases, and, moreover, could be broadly used in analyses and diagnostics. In this review article, an analysis of 826 publications oriented to heavy-chain antibodies and their sdAb fragments indexed in the Web of Science® database since 1993 has been carried out. Attention has predominantly been paid to papers published from 2010 to June 2012. Key publications are presented in tables and are characterised by descriptive words, abstracts and references. The presented publications have been sorted according to seven basic criteria: review articles and monographs, heavy-chain antibodies of camelids and sharks, production of sdAb fragments using recombinant technology, characteristic properties of sdAb fragments, application of sdAb fragments in therapy, application of sdAb fragments in diagnostic and immunoanalytical methods and other prospective uses of sdAb fragments. This review article should highlight the typical properties of heavy-chain antibodies and sdAb fragments which differentiate them from conventional antibodies and other available recombinant fragments, and also emphasize their extremely broad application potential, mainly in human disease therapy. At the same time it allows an easy and rapid orientation in numerous publications written on this subject, and facilitates the search for the required data.
ABSTRACT Classical Cepheid variable stars are crucial calibrators of the cosmic distance scale thanks to a relation between their pulsation periods and luminosities. Their archetype, δ Cephei, is an ...important calibrator for this relation. In this paper, we show that δ Cephei is a spectroscopic binary based on newly obtained high-precision radial velocities. We combine these new data with literature data to determine the orbit, which has period 2201 days, semi-amplitude 1.5 km s−1, and high eccentricity (e = 0.647). We re-analyze Hipparcos intermediate astrometric data to measure δ Cephei's parallax ( mas) and find tentative evidence for an orbital signature, although we cannot claim detection. We estimate that Gaia will fully determine the astrometric orbit. Using the available information from spectroscopy, velocimetry, astrometry, and Geneva stellar evolution models ( ), we constrain the companion mass to within . We discuss the potential of ongoing and previous interactions between the companion and δ Cephei near pericenter passage, informing reported observations of circumstellar material and bow shock. The orbit may have undergone significant changes due to a Kozai-Lidov mechanism driven by the outer (visual and astrometric) companion HD 213307. Our discovery of δ Cephei's nature as a spectroscopic binary exposes a hidden companion and reveals a rich and dynamical history of the archetype of classical Cepheid variables.
Stellar variability in open clusters Mowlavi, N; Saesen, S; Semaan, T ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
11/2016, Letnik:
595
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context. Pulsating stars are windows to the physics of stars enabling us to see glimpses of their interior. Not all stars pulsate, however. On the main sequence, pulsating stars form an almost ...continuous sequence in brightness, except for a magnitude range between delta Scuti and slowly pulsating B stars. Against all expectations, 36 periodic variables were discovered in 2013 in this luminosity range in the open cluster NGC 3766, the origins of which was a mystery. Aims. We investigate the properties of those new variability class candidates in relation to their stellar rotation rates and stellar multiplicity. Methods. We took multi-epoch spectra over three consecutive nights using ESO's Very Large Telescope. Results. We find that the majority of the new variability class candidates are fast-rotating pulsators that obey a new period-luminosity relation. We argue that the new relation discovered here has a different physical origin to the period-luminosity relations observed for Cepheids. Conclusions. We anticipate that our discovery will boost the relatively new field of stellar pulsation in fast-rotating stars, will open new doors for asteroseismology, and will potentially offer a new tool to estimate stellar ages or cosmic distances.
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