Absolute Radial Velocities Research Articles

STATISTICAL TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY: A HIGHER FRACTION OF SHORT-PERIOD BINARIES FOR METAL-RICH F-TYPE DWARFS IN SDSS

Stellar multiplicity lies at the heart of many problems in modern astrophysics, including the physics of star formation, the observational properties of unresolved stellar populations, and the rates of interacting binaries such as cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries, and Type Ia supernovae. However, little is known about the stellar multiplicity of field stars in the Milky Way, in particular about the differences in the multiplicity characteristics between metal-rich disk stars and metal-poor halo stars. In this study we perform a statistical analysis of ~14,000 F-type dwarf stars in the Milky Way through time-resolved spectroscopy with the sub-exposures archived in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We obtain absolute radial velocity measurements through template cross-correlation of individual sub-exposures with temporal baselines varying from minutes to years. These sparsely sampled radial velocity curves are analyzed using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques to constrain the very short-period binary fraction for field F-type stars in the Milky Way. Metal-rich disk stars were found to be 30% more likely to have companions with periods shorter than 12 days than metal-poor halo stars.

EXTRACTING RADIAL VELOCITIES OF A- AND B-TYPE STARS FROM ECHELLE SPECTROGRAPH CALIBRATION SPECTRA

We present a technique to extract radial velocity measurements from echelle spectrograph observations of rapidly rotating stars ($V\sin{i} \gtrsim 50$ km s$^{-1}$). This type of measurement is difficult because the line widths of such stars are often comparable to the width of a single echelle order. To compensate for the scarcity of lines and Doppler information content, we have developed a process that forward-models the observations, fitting the radial velocity shift of the star for all echelle orders simultaneously with the echelle blaze function. We use our technique to extract radial velocity measurements from a sample of rapidly rotating A- and B-type stars used as calibrator stars observed by the California Planet Survey observations. We measure absolute radial velocities with a precision ranging from 0.5-2.0 km s$^{-1}$ per epoch for more than 100 A- and B-type stars. In our sample of 10 well-sampled stars with radial velocity scatter in excess of their measurement uncertainties, three of these are single-lined binaries with long observational baselines. From this subsample, we present detections of two previously unknown spectroscopic binaries and one known astrometric system. Our technique will be useful in measuring or placing upper limits on the masses of sub-stellar companions discovered by wide-field transit surveys, and conducting future spectroscopic binarity surveys and Galactic space-motion studies of massive and/or young, rapidly-rotating stars.

A 3D SEARCH FOR COMPANIONS TO 12 NEARBY M DWARFS

We present a carefully vetted equatorial ($\pm$ 30$^\circ$ Decl.) sample of all known single (within 4'') mid M-dwarfs (M2.5V-M8.0V) extending out to 10 pc; their proximity and low masses make them ideal targets for planet searches. For this sample of 58 stars, we provide V$_J$, R$_{KC}$, I$_{KC}$ photometry, new low dispersion optical ($6000 - 9000$\AA) spectra from which uniform spectral types are determined, multi-epoch H$\alpha$ equivalent widths, and gravity sensitive $Na\,I$ indices. For 12 of these 58 stars, strict limits are placed on the presence of stellar and sub-stellar companions, based on a pioneering program described here that utilizes precise infrared radial velocities and optical astrometric measurements in an effort to search for Jupiter-mass, brown dwarf and stellar-mass companions. Our infrared radial velocity precision using CSHELL at NASA's IRTF is $\sim$90 m s$^{-1}$ over timescales from 13 days to 5 years. With our spectroscopic results the mean companion masses that we rule out of existence are 1.5 M$_{JUP}$ or greater in 10 day orbital periods and 7 M$_{JUP}$ or greater in 100 day orbital periods. We use these spectra to determine rotational velocities and absolute radial velocities of these twelve stars. Our mean astrometric precision using RECONS data from 0.9-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory is $\sim$3 milli-arcseconds over baselines ranging from 9 to 13 years. With our astrometric results the mean companion masses that we rule out of existence are greater than 11.5 M$_{JUP}$ with an orbital period of 4 years and greater than 7.5 M$_{JUP}$ with an orbital period of 8 years. Although we do not detect companions around our sub-sample of 12 stars, we demonstrate that our two techniques probe a regime that is commonly missed in other companion searches of late type stars.

A quantitative analysis of the impact of wind turbines on operational Doppler weather radar data

Abstract. In many countries wind turbines are rapidly growing in numbers as the demand for energy from renewable sources increases. The continued deployment of wind turbines can, however, be problematic for many radar systems, which are easily disturbed by turbines located in the radar line of sight. Wind turbines situated in the vicinity of Doppler weather radars can lead to erroneous precipitation estimates as well as to inaccurate wind and turbulence measurements. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of a wind farm, located in southeastern Sweden, on measurements from a nearby Doppler weather radar. The analysis is based on 6 years of operational radar data. In order to evaluate the impact of the wind farm, average values of all three spectral moments (the radar reflectivity factor, absolute radial velocity, and spectrum width) of the nearby Doppler weather radar were calculated, using data before and after the construction of the wind farm. It is shown that all spectral moments, from a large area at and downrange from the wind farm, were impacted by the wind turbines. It was also found that data from radar cells far above the wind farm (near 3 km altitude) were affected by the wind farm. It is shown that this in part can be explained by detection by the radar sidelobes and by scattering off increased levels of dust and turbulence. In a detailed analysis, using data from a single radar cell, frequency distributions of all spectral moments were used to study the competition between the weather signal and wind turbine clutter. It is shown that, when weather echoes give rise to higher reflectivity values than those of the wind farm, the negative impact of the wind turbines is greatly reduced for all spectral moments.

MAPPING THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM WITH NEAR-INFRARED DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR BANDS

We map the distribution and properties of the Milky Way's interstellar medium as traced by diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) detected in near-infrared stellar spectra from the SDSS-III/APOGEE survey. Focusing exclusively on the strongest DIB in the H-band, at ~1.527 microns, we present a projected map of the DIB absorption field in the Galactic plane, using a set of about 60,000 sightlines that reach up to 15 kpc from the Sun and probe up to 30 magnitudes of visual extinction. The strength of this DIB is linearly correlated with dust reddening over three orders of magnitude in both DIB equivalent width (W_DIB) and extinction, with a power law index of 1.01 +/- 0.01, a mean relationship of W_DIB/A_V = 0.1 Angstrom mag^-1, and a dispersion of ~0.05 Angstrom mag^-1 at extinctions characteristic of the Galactic midplane. These properties establish this DIB as a powerful, independent probe of dust extinction over a wide range of A_V values. The subset of about 14,000 robustly detected DIB features have an exponential W_DIB distribution. We empirically determine the intrinsic rest wavelength of this transition to be lambda_0 = 15,272.42 Angstrom, and then calculate absolute radial velocities of the carrier, which display the kinematical signature of the rotating Galactic disk. We probe the DIB carrier distribution in three dimensions and show that it can be characterized by an exponential disk model with a scaleheight of about 100 pc and a scalelength of about 5 kpc. Finally, we show that the DIB distribution also traces large-scale Galactic structures, including the central long bar and the warp of the outer disk.

Proper motions of the optically visible open clusters based on the UCAC4 catalog

We present a catalog of mean proper motions and membership probabilities of individual stars for optically visible open clusters, which have been determined using data from the UCAC4 catalog in a homogeneous way. The mean proper motion of the cluster and the membership probabilities of the stars in the region of each cluster were determined by applying the statistical method in a modified fashion. In this study, we applied a global optimization procedure to fit the observed distribution of proper motions with two overlapping normal bivariate frequency functions, which also take the individual proper motion errors into account. For 724 clusters, this is the first determination of proper motion, and for the whole sample, we present results with a much larger number of identified astrometric member stars. Furthermore, it was possible to estimate the mean radial velocity of 364 clusters (102 unpublished so far) with the stellar membership using published radial velocity catalogs. These results provide an increase of 30% and 19% in the sample of open clusters with a determined mean absolute proper motion and mean radial velocity, respectively.

Membership determination of open cluster NGC 188 based on the DBSCAN clustering algorithm

High-precision proper motions and radial velocities of 1046 stars are used to determine member stars using three-dimensional (3D) kinematics for open cluster NGC 188 based on the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) clustering algorithm. By implementing this algorithm, 472 member stars in the cluster are obtained with 3D kinematics. The color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of the 472 member stars using 3D kinematics shows a well-defined main sequence and a red giant branch, which indicate that the DBSCAN clustering algorithm is very effective for membership determination. The DBSCAN clustering algorithm can effectively select probable member stars in 3D kinematic space without any assumption about the distribution of the cluster or field stars. Analysis results show that the CMD of member stars is significantly clearer than the one based on 2D kinematics, which allows us to better constrain the cluster members and estimate their physical parameters. Using the 472 member stars, the average absolute proper motion and radial velocity are determined to be (PMα, PMδ) = (−2.58 ± 0.22, +0.17 ± 0.18) mas yr−1 and Vr = −42.35 ± 0.05 km s−1, respectively. Our values are in good agreement with values derived by other authors.

The Penn State-Toruń Centre for Astronomy Planet Search stars

We present basic atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, vt and [Fe/H]) as well as luminosities, masses, radii and absolute radial velocities for 348 stars, presumably giants, from the ~1000 star sample observed within the Penn State-Torun Centre for Astronomy Planet Search with the High Resolution Spectrograph of the 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope. The stellar parameters are key ingredients in proper interpretation of newly discovered low-mass companions while a systematic study of the complete sample will create a basis for future statistical considerations concerning low-mass companions appearance around evolved low and intermediate-mass stars. The atmospheric parameters were derived using a strictly spectroscopic method based on the LTE analysis of equivalent widths of FeI and FeII lines. With existing photometric data and the Hipparcos parallaxes we estimated stellar masses and ages via evolutionary tracks fitting. The stellar radii were calculated from either estimated masses and the spectroscopic logg or from the spectroscopic Teff and estimated luminosities. The absolute radial velocities were obtained by cross-correlating spectra with a numerical template. We completed the spectroscopic analysis for 332 stars of which 327 were found to be giants. For the remaining 16 stars with incomplete data a simplified analysis was applied. The results show that our sample is composed of stars with Teff = 4055-6239 K, logg = 1.39-4.78 (5 dwarfs were identified), logL/Lo = -1.0-3, M = 0.6-3.4 Mo, R = 0.6-52 Ro. The stars in our sample are generally less metal abundant than the Sun with median [Fe/H] = -0.15. The estimated uncertainties in the atmospheric parameters were found to be comparable to those reached in other studies. However, due to lack of precise parallaxes the stellar luminosities and, in turn, the masses are far less precise, within 0.2 Mo in best cases, and 0.3 Mo on average.

INTERMEDIATE RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF 36 LATE M DWARFS

We present observations of 36 late-M dwarfs obtained with the KeckII/NIRSPEC in the J-band at a resolution of \sim20,000. We have measured projected rotational velocities, absolute radial velocities, and pseudo-equivalent widths of atomic lines. 12 of our targets did not have previous measurements in the literature. For the other 24 targets, we confirm previously reported measurements. We find that 13 stars from our sample have vsini below our measurement threshold (12 km/s) whereas four of our targets are fast rotators (vsini > 30 km/s). As fast rotation causes spectral features to be washed out, stars with low projected rotational velocities are sought for radial velocity surveys. At our intermediate spectral resolution we have confirmed the identification of neutral atomic lines reported in Mclean et al. 2007. We also calculated pseudo-equivalent widths (p-EW) of 12 atomic lines. Our results confirm that the p-EW of K I lines are strongly dependent on spectral types. We observe that the p-EW of Fe I and Mn I lines remain fairly constant with later spectral type. We suggest that those lines are particularly suitable for deriving metallicities for late-M dwarfs.

CHARACTERIZING THE COOL KOIs. III. KOI 961: A SMALL STAR WITH LARGE PROPER MOTION AND THREE SMALL PLANETS

We present the characterization of the star KOI 961, an M dwarf with transit signals indicative of three short-period exoplanets, originally discovered by the Kepler Mission. We proceed by comparing KOI 961 to Barnard's Star, a nearby, well-characterized mid-M dwarf. By comparing colors, optical and near-infrared spectra, we find remarkable agreement between the two, implying similar effective temperatures and metallicities. Both are metal-poor compared to the Solar neighborhood, have low projected rotational velocity, high absolute radial velocity, large proper motion and no quiescent H-alpha emission--all of which is consistent with being old M dwarfs. We combine empirical measurements of Barnard's Star and expectations from evolutionary isochrones to estimate KOI 961's mass (0.13 +/- 0.05 Msun), radius (0.17 +/- 0.04 Rsun) and luminosity (2.40 x 10^(-3.0 +/- 0.3) Lsun). We calculate KOI 961's distance (38.7 +/- 6.3 pc) and space motions, which, like Barnard's Star, are consistent with a high scale-height population in the Milky Way. We perform an independent multi-transit fit to the public Kepler light curve and significantly revise the transit parameters for the three planets. We calculate the false-positive probability for each planet-candidate, and find a less than 1% chance that any one of the transiting signals is due to a background or hierarchical eclipsing binary, validating the planetary nature of the transits. The best-fitting radii for all three planets are less than 1 Rearth, with KOI 961.03 being Mars-sized (Rp = 0.57 +/- 0.18 Rearth), and they represent some of the smallest exoplanets detected to date.

THE THIRD SIGNATURE OF STELLAR GRANULATION

Absolute shifts of spectral-line bisectors (the third signature of granulation) are shown to follow the solar pattern, i.e., weaker lines are more blue-shifted than stronger lines, for a selection of stars on the cool side of the granulation boundary in the H-R diagram. These patterns scale to the solar case by multiplicative factors ranging from 0.53 to 2.10, which is a measure of the granulation velocity gradient through the stellar photosphere. The scale factors increase with effective temperature and are larger in giants than in dwarfs. A universal relation is constructed relating line depth to convective blueshift. The scale factors vary in concert with the first and second granulation signatures, macroturbulence, and asymmetry of spectral lines. Matching the stellar to the solar third signature also results in a determination of the apparent absolute radial velocity of the star with errors ranging from 80 to 300 m s–1, but potentially considerably smaller. The star γ Cyg, which shows reversed-C-shaped bisectors and lies on the hot side of the granulation boundary, also shows weak lines more blue-shifted than stronger lines.

Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system

The Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities (PCRV) has been made to study the stellar kinematics in the local spiral arm. The PCRV contains weighted mean absolute radial velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars of various spectral types and luminosity classes over the entire celestial sphere mainly within 500 pc of the Sun. The median accuracy of the radial velocities obtained is 0.7 km s−1. Results from 203 publications were used in the catalogue. Four of them were used to improve the radial velocities of standard stars from the IAU list. The radial velocities of 155 standard stars turned out to be constant within 0.3 km s−1. These stars were used to analyze 47 768 mean radial velocities for 37 200 stars from 12 major publications (∼80% of all the data used). Zero-point discrepancies and systematic dependences on radial velocity, B-V color index, right ascension, and declination were found in radial velocity differences of the form “publication minus IAU list of standards.” These discrepancies and dependences were approximated and taken into account when calculating the weighted mean radial velocities. 1128 stars whose independent radial-velocity determinations were available at least in three of these publications and agreed within 3 km s−1 were chosen as the work list of secondary standards. Radial-velocity differences of the form “publication minus list of secondary standards” were used by analogy to correct the zero points and systematic dependences in the radial velocities from 33 more publications (∼ 13% of the data used). In addition, the radial velocities from 154 minor publications (∼7% of the data used) pertaining to well-known instruments were used without any corrections.

Kinematics of the Open Cluster System in the Galaxy

Absolute proper motions and radial velocities of 202 open clusters in the solar neighborhood, which can be used as tracers of the Galactic disk, are used to investigate the kinematics of the Galaxy in the solar vicinity, including the mean heliocentric velocity components (u(1), u(2), u(3)) of the open cluster system, the characteristic velocity dispersions (sigma(1), sigma(2), sigma(3)), Oort constants (A, B) and the large-scale radial motion parameters (C, D) of the Galaxy. The results derived from the observational data of proper motions and radial velocities of a subgroup of 117 thin disk young open clusters by means of a maximum I likelihood algorithm, are: (u(1), u(2), u(3)) = (-16.1 +/- 1.0, -7.9 +/- 1.4, -10.4 +/- 1.5) km s(-1), (sigma(1), sigma(2), sigma(3)) = (17.0 +/- 0.7,12.2 +/- 0.9, 8.0 +/- 1.3) km s(-1), (A, B) = (14.8 +/- 1.0, -13.0 +/- 2.7) km s(-1) kpc(-1), and (C, D) = (1.5 +/- 0.7, -1.2 +/- 1.5) km s(-1) kpc(-1). A discussion on the results and comparisons with what was obtained by other authors is given.

Radial velocities of 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system

The Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities (PCRV) catalogue has been produced to study stellar kinematics in the local spiral arm. The PCRV contains the mean weighted absolute radial velocities of 35 495 Hipparcos stars of various spectral types and luminosity classes over the whole celestial sphere mainly within the radius of 500 pc from the Sun. The median precision of the obtained radial velocities is 0.7 km s−1. The results from 203 publications have been used in the catalogue. They are linked to the system of IAU standard stars or a list of secondary standards by means of the analysis of zero-point deviations and systematic dependences of the radial velocity differences ‘new observations minus standards’ on the radial velocity, colour index B−V, right ascension and declination.

Galactic Metallicity Distribution from Open Clusters

We have compiled two new Galactic open cluster catalogues. The first one has 119 objects with age, distance and metallicity data, while the second one has 144 objects with both absolute proper motion and radial velocity data, of which 45 clusters also with metallicity data available. An iron radial gradient of about −0.063±0.008 dex kpc−1 is obtained from our sample. By dividing clusters into age groups, we show that iron gradient was steeper in the past. A disk age-metallicity relation could very probably exist based on the current sample.

The low-level radial velocity variability in Barnard's star (= GJ 699)

We report results from of high precision radial velocity monitoring of Barnard's star. The high RV measurement precision of the VLT-UT2+UVES of made the following findings possible. (1) The first detection of the change in the RV of a star caused by its space motion (RV secular acceleration). (2) An anti-correlation of the measured RV with the strength of the filling-in of the line by emission. (3) Very stringent mass upper limits to planetary companions. Using only data from the first 2 years, we obtain a best-fit value for the RV secular acceleration of . This agrees within with the predicted value of based on the Hipparcos proper motion and parallax combined with the known absolute radial velocity of the star. When the RV data of the last half-year are added the best-fit slope is strongly reduced to ( away from the predicted value), clearly suggesting the presence of additional RV variability in the star. Part of it can be attributed to stellar activity as we demonstrate by correlating the residual RVs with an index that describes the filling-in of the H line by emission. A correlation coefficient of -0.50 indicates that the appearance of active regions causes a blueshift of photospheric absorption lines. Assuming that active regions basically inhibit convection we discuss the possibility that the fundamental (inactive) convection pattern in this M4V star produces a convective redshift which would indicate that the majority of the absorption lines relevant for our RV measurements is formed in a region of convective overshoot. This interpretation could possibly extend a trend indicated in the behaviour of earlier spectral types that exhibit convective blueshift, but with decreasing line asymmetries and blueshifts as one goes from G to K dwarfs. Based on this assumption, we estimate that the variation of the visible plage coverage is about 20%. We also determine upper limits to the projected mass and to the true mass m of hypothetical planetary companions in circular orbits. For the separation range we exclude any planet with and . Throughout the habitable zone around Barnard's star, i.e. , we exclude planets with and .

On the Galactic Disk Metallicity Distribution from Open Clusters. I. New Catalogs and Abundance Gradient

We have compiled two new open cluster catalogs. In the first one, there are 119 objects with ages, distances, and metallicities available, while in the second one, 144 objects have both absolute proper motion and radial velocity data, of which 45 clusters also have metallicity data available. Taking advantage of the large number of objects included in our sample, we present an iron radial gradient of about -0.063 ± 0.008 dex kpc-1 from the first sample, which is quite consistent with the most recent determination of the oxygen gradient from nebulae and young stars, about -0.07 dex kpc-1. By dividing clusters into age groups, we show that the iron gradient was steeper in the past, which is consistent with the recent result from Galactic planetary nebulae data, and also consistent with inside-out galactic disk formation scenarios. Based on the cluster sample, we also discuss the metallicity distribution, cluster kinematics, and space distribution. A disk age-metallicity relation could be implied by those properties, although we cannot give conclusive result from the age- metallicity diagram based on the current sample. More observations are needed for metal-poor clusters. From the second catalog, we have calculated the velocity components in cylindrical coordinates with respect to the Galactic standard of rest for 144 open clusters. The velocity dispersions of the older clusters are larger than those of young clusters, but they are all much smaller than that of the Galactic thick disk stars.

Convective Wavelength Shifts in the Spectra of Late-Type Stars

We present ultra-high resolution spectra for a set of nearby F-G-K stars on, or close to, the main sequence. The wavelength shifts of stellar lines relative to their laboratory wavelengths are measured for more than a thousand Fe I lines per star, finding a clear correlation with line depth. The observed patterns are interpreted as convective blue-shifts that become more prominent for weaker lines, which are formed in deeper atmospheric layers. A morphological sequence with spectral type or effective temperature is apparent. Two K giant stars have also been studied. The velocity span between weak and strong lines for these stars is larger than for the dwarfs and subgiants of similar spectral types. Our results show that convective wavelength shifts may seriously compromise the accuracy of absolute spectroscopic radial velocities, but that an empirical correction may be applied to measured velocities.

Effects of geometric and operating parameters and feed characters on the motion of solid particles in hydrocyclones

The effects of geometric and operating parameters and feed characters on the motion of solid particles in hydrocyclones were experimentally investigated by using a new type of laser surveying instrument named particle dynamics analyzer. The absolute radial velocity of solid particles decreases with increasing the positional radius, and the axial distribution curves of the particle radial velocity are parabolic. The particle radial velocity increases with increasing the inlet pressure or with increasing the diameter of the underflow pipe. When the particle density or the particle size increases, the absolute radial velocity of the solid particles decreases. The particle radial velocity also decreases with increasing the feed particle concentration. The axial distribution curves of the particle axial velocity are also parabolic. The axial velocity in the inner helical flow increases with the increase of the flow rate of overflow; while that in the lower positions in the outer helical flow increases with increasing the flow rate of underflow.

Astrometric radial velocities

Radial motions of stars in nearby moving clusters are determined from accurate proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes, without any use of spectroscopy. Assuming that cluster members share the same velocity vector (apart from a random dispersion), we apply a maximum-likelihood method on astrometric data from Hipparcos to compute radial and space velocities (and their dispersions) in the Ursa Major, Hyades, Coma Berenices, Pleiades, and Praesepe clusters, and for the Scorpius-Centaurus, α Persei, and “HIP 98321” associations. The radial motion of the Hyades cluster is determined to within 0.4 km s-1 (standard error), and that of its individual stars to within 0.6 km s-1. For other clusters, Hipparcos data yield astrometric radial velocities with typical accuracies of a few km s-1. A comparison of these astrometric values with spectroscopic radial velocities in the literature shows a good general agreement and, in the case of the best-determined Hyades cluster, also permits searches for subtle astrophysical differences, such as evidence for enhanced convective blueshifts of F-dwarf spectra, and decreased gravitational redshifts in giants. Similar comparisons for the Scorpius OB2 complex indicate some expansion of its associations, albeit slower than expected from their ages. As a by-product from the radial-velocity solutions, kinematically improved parallaxes for individual stars are obtained, enabling Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams with unprecedented accuracy in luminosity. For the Hyades (parallax accuracy 0.3 mas), its main sequence resembles a thin line, possibly with wiggles in it. Although this main sequence has underpopulated regions at certain colours (previously suggested to be “Böhm-Vitense gaps”), such are not visible for other clusters, and are probably spurious. Future space astrometry missions carry a great potential for absolute radial-velocity determinations, insensitive to the complexities of stellar spectra.