A quadruply imaged quasar with an optical Einstein ring candidate: 1RXS J113155.4–123155

Type Ia supernovae have been proposed to be much better distance indicators at near-infrared compared to optical wavelengths -- the effect of dust extinction is expected to be lower and it has been shown that SNe Ia behave more like `standard candles' at NIR wavelengths. To better understand the physical processes behind this increased uniformity, we have studied the $Y$, $J$ and $H$-filter light curves of 91 SNe Ia from the literature. We show that the phases and luminosities of the first maximum in the NIR light curves are extremely uniform for our sample. The phase of the second maximum, the late-phase NIR luminosity and the optical light curve shape are found to be strongly correlated, in particular more luminous SNe Ia reach the second maximum in the NIR filters at a later phase compared to fainter objects. We also find a strong correlation between the phase of the second maximum and the epoch at which the SN enters the Lira law phase in its optical colour curve (epochs $\sim$ 15 to 30 days after $B$ band maximum). The decline rate after the second maximum is very uniform in all NIR filters. We suggest that these observational parameters are linked to the nickel and iron mass in the explosion, providing evidence that the amount of nickel synthesised in the explosion is the dominating factor shaping the optical and NIR appearance of SNe Ia.

\n We present a detailed analysis of the evolution of a\nsimulated isolated disc galaxy. The simulation includes stars, gas,\nstar formation and simple chemical yields. Stellar particles are\nsplit in two populations: the old one is present at the beginning\nof the simulation and is calibrated according to various ages and\nmetallicities; the new population is born in the course of the\nsimulation and inherits the metallicity of the gas particles. The\nresult has been calibrated in four wavebands with the\nspectrophotometric evolutionary model GISSEL2000 (Bruzual &\nCharlot [CITE]). Dust extinction has also been taken into\naccount. A rest-frame morphological and bidimensional photometric\nanalysis has been performed on simulated images, with the same tools\nas for observations. The effects of the stellar bar formation and the\nlinked star formation episode on the global properties of the galaxy\n(mass and luminosity distribution, colours, isophotal radii) have been\nanalysed. In particular, we have disentangled the effects of stellar\nevolution from dynamic evolution to explain the cause of the isophotal\nradii variations. We show that the dynamic properties (e.g. mass) of\nthe area enclosed by any isophotal radius depends on the waveband and\non the level of star formation activity. It is also shown that the\nbar isophotes remain thinner than mass isodensities a long time (>0.7 Gyr) after the maximum of star formation rate. We show that bar\nellipticity is very wavelength dependent as suggested by real\nobservations. Effects of dust extinction on photometric and\nmorphological measurements are systematically quantified. For\ninstance, it is shown that, when the star formation\nrate is maximum, no more than 20% of the B band luminosity can escape\nfrom the bar region whereas, without dust extinction, bar B band luminosity\naccounts for 80% of the total B band luminosity. Moreover, the extinction\nis not uniformly distributed inside the bar.\n\n\n

The effects of dust extinction on the departure from axisymmetry in the morphology of planetary nebulae (PNs) are investigated through a comparison of the radio free-free emission and hydrogen recombination line images. The dust extinction maps from five compact PNs are derived using high-resolution (̃0"1) Hα and radio maps of the HST and VLA. These extinction maps are then analyzed by an ellipsoidal shell ionization model including the effects of dust extinction to infer the nebulae's intrinsic structure and orientation in the sky. This method provides a quantitative analysis of the morphological structure of PNs and represents a step beyond qualitative classification of morphological types of PNs. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

To study the disc central surface brightness ($\mu_0$) distribution in optical and near-infrared bands, we select 708 disc-dominated galaxies within a fixed distance of 57 Mpc from SDSS DR7 and UKIDSS DR10. Then we fit $\mu_0$ distribution by using single and double Gaussian profiles with an optimal bin size for the final sample of 538 galaxies in optical $griz$ bands and near-infrared $YJHK$ bands. Among the 8 bands, we find that $\mu_{0}$ distribution in optical bands can not be much better fitted with double Gaussian profiles. However, for all the near-infrared bands, the evidence of being better fitted by using double Gaussian profiles is positive. Especially for $K$ band, the evidence of a double Gaussian profile being better than a single Gaussian profile for $\mu_{0}$ distribution is very strong, the reliability of which can be approved by 1000 times test for our sample. No dust extinction correction is applied. The difference of $\mu_{0}$ distribution between optical and near-infrared bands could be caused by the effect of dust extinction in optical bands. Due to the sample selection criteria, our sample is not absolutely complete. However, the sample incompleteness does not change the double Gaussian distribution of $\mu_{0}$ in $K$ band. Furthermore, we discuss some possible reasons for the fitting results of $\mu_{0}$ distribution in $K$ band. Conclusively, the double Gaussian distribution of $\mu_{0}$ in $K$ band for our sample may depend on bulge-to-disk ratio, color and disk scalelength, rather than the inclination of sample galaxies, bin size and statistical fluctuations.

We make a detailed investigation of the properties of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) in the ΛCDM model. We present predictions for two published variants of the galform semi-analytical model: the Baugh et al. model, which has star formation at high redshifts dominated by merger-driven starbursts with a top-heavy initial mass function (IMF), and the Bower et al. (2006) model, which has active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback and a standard solar neighbourhood IMF throughout. We show predictions for the evolution of the rest-frame far-UV luminosity function in the redshift range z= 3–20, and compare with the observed luminosity functions of LBGs at z= 3–10. We find that the Baugh et al. model is in excellent agreement with these observations, while the Bower et al. model predicts too many high-luminosity LBGs. Dust extinction, which is predicted self-consistently based on galaxy gas contents, metallicities and sizes, is found to have a large effect on LBG luminosities. We compare predictions for the size evolution of LBGs at different luminosities with observational data for 2 ≲z≲ 7, and find the Baugh et al. model to be in good agreement. We present predictions for stellar, halo and gas masses, star formation rates, circular velocities, bulge-to-disc ratios, gas and stellar metallicities and clustering bias, as functions of far-UV luminosity and redshift. We find a broad consistency with current observational constraints. We then present predictions for the abundance and angular sizes of LBGs out to very high redshift (z≤ 20), finding that planned deep surveys with JWST should detect objects out to z≲ 15. We predict that the effects of dust extinction on the far-UV luminosity density should be large (~2 mag), even out to high redshifts. The typical UV luminosities of galaxies are predicted to be very low at high redshifts, which has implications for detecting the galaxies responsible for reionizing the intergalactic medium; for example, at z = 10, 50 per cent of the ionizing photons are expected to be produced by galaxies fainter than M_(AB)(1500 Å) − 5 log h~−15.

We investigate the effects of dust extinction on integrated absorption-line indices that are widely used to derive constraints on the ages and metallicities of composite stellar systems. Typically, absorption-line studies have been performed on globular clusters or elliptical galaxies, which are mostly dust-free systems. However, many recent studies of integrated stellar populations have focused on spiral galaxies that may contain significant amounts of dust. It is almost universally assumed that the effects of dust extinction on absorption-line measurements are entirely negligible given the narrow baseline of the spectral features, but no rigorous study has yet been performed to verify this conjecture. In this analysis, we explore the sensitivity of the standard set of Lick absorption-line indices, the higher order Balmer line indices, the 4000 A break, the near-IR calcium triplet indices, and the Rose indices to dust absorption according to population synthesis models that incorporate a multicomponent model for the line and continuum attenuation due to dust. The latter takes into account the finite lifetime of stellar birth clouds. While dust does not greatly affect the line-index measurements for single stellar populations, its effect can be significant for the 4000 A break or when there is a significant amount of current star formation.

We present bolometric luminosity (L bol) and black hole (BH) mass (M BH) estimators based on mid-infrared (MIR) continuum luminosity (hereafter, L MIR) that are measured from infrared (IR) photometric data. The L MIR-based estimators are relatively immune from dust extinction effects, hence they can be used for dust-obscured quasars. To derive the L bol and M BH estimators, we use unobscured quasars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasar catalog, which have wide ranges of L bol (1044.62–1046.16 erg s−1) and M BH (107.14–109.69 M ⊙). We find empirical relations between (i) continuum luminosity at 5100 Å (hereafter, L5100) and L MIR; (ii) L bol and L MIR. Using these relations, we derive the L MIR-based L bol and M BH estimators. We find that our estimators allow the determination of L bol and M BH at an accuracy of ∼0.2 dex against the fiducial estimates based on the optical properties of the unobscured quasars. We apply the L MIR-based estimators to SDSS quasars at z ≲ 0.5 including obscured ones. The ratios of L bol from the L MIR-based estimators to those from the optical luminosity-based estimators become larger with the amount of the dust extinction, and a non-negligible fraction (∼15%) of the SDSS quasars exhibits ratios greater than 1.5. This result suggests that dust extinction can significantly affect physical parameter derivations even for SDSS quasars, and that dust extinction needs to be carefully taken into account when deriving quasar properties.

Since the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe more than two decades ago, Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) have been extensively used as standardisable candles in the optical. However, SNe Ia have shown to be more homogeneous in the near-infrared (NIR), where the effect of dust extinction is also attenuated. In this work, we explore the possibility of using a low number of NIR observations for accurate distance estimations, given the homogeneity at these wavelengths. We found that one epoch in J and/or H band, plus good gr-band coverage, gives an accurate estimation of peak magnitudes in the J (Jmax) and H (Hmax) bands. The use of a single NIR epoch only introduces an additional scatter of ∼0.05 mag for epochs around the time of B-band peak magnitude (Tmax). We also tested the effect of optical cadence and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in the estimation of Tmax and its uncertainty propagation to the NIR peak magnitudes. Both cadence and S/N have a similar contribution, where we constrained the introduced scatter of each to < 0.02 mag in Jmax and < 0.01 in Hmax. However, these effects are expected to be negligible, provided the data quality is comparable to that obtained for observations of nearby SNe (z ≲ 0.1). The effect of S/N in the NIR was tested as well. For SNe Ia at 0.08 < z ≲ 0.1, NIR observations with better S/N than that found in the CSP sample is necessary to constrain the introduced scatter to a minimum (≲0.05 mag). These results provide confidence for our FLOWS project that is aimed at using SNe Ia with public ZTF optical light curves and few NIR epochs to map out the peculiar velocity field of the local Universe. This will allow us to determine the distribution of dark matter in our own supercluster, Laniakea, and to test the standard cosmological model by measuring the growth rate of structures, parameterised by fD, and the Hubble-Lemaître constant, H0.

We present and analyze the possibility of using optical u-band luminosities to estimate star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies based on the data from the South Galactic Cap u band Sky Survey (SCUSS), which provides a deep u-band photometric survey covering about 5000 deg2 of the South Galactic Cap. Based on two samples of normal star-forming galaxies selected by the BPT diagram, we explore the correlations between u-band, Hα, and IR luminosities by combing SCUSS data with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The attenuation-corrected u-band luminosities are tightly correlated with the Balmer decrement-corrected Hα luminosities with an rms scatter of ∼0.17 dex. The IR-corrected u luminosities are derived based on the correlations between the attenuation of u-band luminosities and WISE 12 (or 22) μm luminosities, and then calibrated with the Balmer-corrected Hα luminosities. The systematic residuals of these calibrations are tested against the physical properties over the ranges covered by our sample objects. We find that the best-fitting nonlinear relations are better than the linear ones and recommended to be applied in the measurement of SFRs. The systematic deviations mainly come from the pollution of old stellar population and the effect of dust extinction; therefore, a more detailed analysis is needed in future work.

The use of Type la supernovae (SNe Ia) as cosmological standard candles is a key to solving the mystery of dark energy. Improving the calibration of SNe Ia increases their power as cosmological standard candles. We find tentative evidence for a correlation between the late-time light-curve slope and the peak luminosity of SNe Ia in the B band; brighter SNe Ia seem to have shallower light-curve slopes between 100 and 150 d from maximum light. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis in calibrating SNe Ia, we are able to simultaneously take into consideration the effect of dust extinction, the luminosity and light-curve width correlation (parametrized by Δm 15 ), and the luminosity and late-time light-curve slope correlation. For the available sample of 11 SNe Ia with well-measured late-time light curves, we find that correcting for the correlation between luminosity and late-time light-curve slope of the SNe Ia leads to an intrinsic dispersion of 0.12 mag in the Hubble diagram. Our results have significant implications for future supernova surveys aimed to illuminate the nature of dark energy.

We have solved the radiative transfer equation taking into account both absorption and scattering into the line of sight to the observer to model the disc of spiral galaxies.A dust model has been adopted, suitable for the diffuse interstellar medium of our Galaxy, to obtain, in aU the considered spectral range (1000 ÷ 10000 Å), consistent quantities to describe both the absorption and the scattering properties of the dust.

Galaxies behind the Milky Way suffer size reduction and dimming due to their obscuration by dust in the disk of our Galaxy. The degree of obscuration is wavelength dependent. It decreases towards longer wavelengths. Compared to the optical, the Near InfraRed (NIR) $K_s$ band extinction is only $\approx10%$ that of the $B$ band. This makes NIR surveys well suited for galaxy surveys close to the Galactic Plane where extinction is severe. While Galactic obscuration is less prominent in the NIR it is not negligible. In this paper we derive empirical relations to correct isophotal radii and magnitudes of galaxies observed in the NIR for foreground absorption. We simulate extinction in the $J$, $H$ and $K_s$ bands on 64 (unobscured) galaxies from the 2MASS Large Galaxy Atlas \citep{jarrett}. We propose two methods for the extinction correction, the first is optimized to provide the most accurate correction and the second provides a convenient statistical correction that works adequately in lower extinction regions. The optimized correction utilizes the galaxy surface brightness, either the disk central surface brightness, $\mu_0$, or the combined disk plus bulge central surface brightness, elliptical and disk/spiral Hubble types. A detailed comparison between the different methods and their accuracy is provided.

We present deep optical long-slit spectra of 17 edge-on spiral galaxies of intermediate to late morphological type, mostly parallel to their major axes and in a few cases parallel to the minor axes. The line-of-sight stellar kinematics are obtained from the stellar absorption lines using the improved cross-correlation technique. In general, the stellar kinematics are regular and can be traced well into the disc-dominated region. The mean stellar velocity curves are far from solid-body, indicating that the effect of dust extinction is not large. The line-of-sight stellar disc velocity dispersion correlates with the galaxy maximum rotational velocity, but detailed modelling is necessary to establish whether this represents a physical relation. In four spirals with a boxy- or peanut-shaped bulge we are able to detect asymmetric velocity distributions, having a common signature with projected radius in the mean line-of-sight velocity and the h3 and h4 curves. In two cases this kinematic asymmetry probably represents the ‘figure-of-eight’ pattern synonymous with a barred potential. We emphasize, however, that the signatures seen in the h3 and h4 curves may also be due to the disc seen in projection.

Effects of Dust Extinction in Galactic Discs

We use data from the epoch of observations with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) to detect and study a collection of Lyman break galaxies at z ≈ 6-5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), six of which have spectroscopic confirmation. At these redshifts, IRAC samples rest-frame optical light in the range 0.5-0.8 μm, where the effects of dust extinction are smaller and the sensitivity to light from evolved stars is greater than at shorter, rest-frame ultraviolet wavelengths observable from the ground or with the Hubble Space Telescope. As such, it provides useful constraints on the ages and masses of these galaxies' stellar populations. We find that the spectral energy distributions for many of these galaxies are best fitted by models of stellar populations with masses of a few times 1010 M☉ and with ages of a few hundred million years, values quite similar to those derived for typical Lyman break galaxies at z ≈ 3. When the universe was only 1 Gyr old, some galaxies had already formed a mass of stars approaching that of the present-day Milky Way, and they started forming those stars at z > 7 and in some cases much earlier. We find that the lower limits to the space density for galaxies in this mass range are consistent with predictions from recent hydrodynamic simulations of structure formation in a ΛCDM universe. All objects in our samples are consistent with having solar metallicity, suggesting that they might have already been significantly polluted by metals and thus are not comprised of first stars. The values for dust reddening derived from the model fitting are low or zero, and we find that some of the galaxies have rest-frame UV colors that are even bluer than those predicted by the stellar population models to which we compare them. These colors might be attributed to the presence of very massive stars (>100 M☉) or weaker intergalactic H I absorption than what is commonly assumed.