Stellar Spectroscopy Research Articles

The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

With the Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the imaging of the Northern Galactic Cap is now complete. The survey contains images and parameters of roughly 287 million objects over 9583 deg^2, and 1.27 million spectra of stars, galaxies, quasars and blank sky (for sky subtraction) selected over 7425 deg^2. This release includes much more extensive stellar spectroscopy than previously, and also includes detailed estimates of stellar temperatures, gravities, and metallicities. The results of improved photometric calibration are now available, with uncertainties of roughly 1% in g, r, i, and z, and 2% in u, substantially better than the uncertainties in previous data releases. The spectra in this data release have improved wavelength and flux calibration, especially in the extreme blue and extreme red, leading to the qualitatively better determination of stellar types and radial velocities. The spectrophotometric fluxes are now tied to point spread function magnitudes of stars rather than fiber magnitudes, giving a 0.35 mag change in the spectrophotometric flux scale. Systematic errors in the velocity dispersions of galaxies have been fixed, and the results of two independent codes for determining spectral classifications and redshifts are made available. (Abridged)

The solar photospheric abundance of hafnium and thorium

Context: The stable element hafnium (Hf) and the radioactive element thorium (Th) were recently suggested as a suitable pair for radioactive dating of stars. The applicability of this elemental pair needs to be established for stellar spectroscopy. Aims: We aim at a spectroscopic determination of the abundance of Hf and Th in the solar photosphere based on a \cobold 3D hydrodynamical model atmosphere. We put this into a wider context by investigating 3D abundance corrections for a set of G- and F-type dwarfs. Method: High-resolution, high signal-to-noise solar spectra were compared to line synthesis calculations performed on a solar CO5BOLD model. For the other atmospheres, we compared synthetic spectra of CO5BOLD 3D and associated 1D models. Results: For Hf we find a photospheric abundance A(Hf)=0.87+-0.04, in good agreement with a previous analysis, based on 1D model atmospheres. The weak Th ii 401.9 nm line constitutes the only Th abundance indicator available in the solar spectrum. It lies in the red wing of an Ni-Fe blend exhibiting a non-negligible convective asymmetry. Accounting for the asymmetry-related additional absorption, we obtain A(Th)=0.09+-0.03, consistent with the meteoritic abundance, and about 0.1 dex lower than obtained in previous photospheric abundance determinations. Conclusions: Only for the second time, to our knowledge, has am non-negligible effect of convective line asymmetries on an abundance derivation been highlighted. Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations should be employed to measure Th abundances in dwarfs if similar blending is present, as in the solar case. In contrast, 3D effects on Hf abundances are small in G- to mid F-type dwarfs and sub-giants, and 1D model atmospheres can be conveniently used.

Organic matter in interplanetary dust particles

AbstractAnhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), which are the most mineralogically primitive extraterrestrial materials available for laboratory analysis, contain several percent organic matter. The high O:C and N:C ratios suggest the organic matter in the anhydrous IDPs is significantly less altered by thermal processing than the organic matter in meteorites. X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy demonstrate the presence of C=C, most likely as C-rings, C=O, and aliphatic C-H2and C-H3in all the IDPs examined. A D-rich spot, containing material that is believed to have formed in a cold molecular cloud, has C-XANES and infrared spectra very similar to the organic matter in the anhydrous IDPs, possibly indicating a common formation mechanism. However the primitive organic matter in the IDPs differs from the interstellar/circumstellar organic matter characterized by astronomical infrared spectroscopy in the relative strengths of the asymmetric aliphatic C-H2and C-H3absorptions, with the IDP organic having a longer mean chain length. If both types of organic matter originated by the same process, this may indicate the interstellar organic matter has experienced more severe radiation processing than the organic matter in the primitive IDPs.

Fabrication of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeter X-ray Detector Arrays

Microcalorimeters with metallic magnetic sensors show great promise for use in astronomical X-ray spectroscopy. We describe the design and fabrication of a lithographically patterned magnetic microcalorimeter. A paramagnetic AuEr film is sputter-deposited as the sensor, which is coupled to a low noise SQUID via a meander superconducting pickup loop used as an inductor. This inductor also provides the magnetic field bias to the sensor. The AuEr film is deposited over this meander such that the field created by a large current flowing in the loop magnetizes the sensor material. The use of thin film techniques in the fabrication of these magnetic sensors not only allows strong magnetic coupling between the sensor and the inductor, it also is scalable for array fabrication.

Microwave and Hard X-Ray Spectral Evolution for the 13 December 2006 Solar Flare

This paper explores the time evolution of microwave and hard X-ray spectral indexes in the solar flare observed by Nobeyama Radio Polarimeters (NoRP) and the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopy Imager (RHESSI) on 13 December 2006. The microwave spectral index, gamma (MW), is derived from the emissions at two frequencies, 17 and 35 GHz, and hard X-ray spectral index, gamma (HXR), is derived from RHESSI spectra. Fifteen subpeaks are detected at the microwave and hard X-ray emissions. The microwave spectral indexes tend to be harder than hard X-ray spectral indexes during the flare, which is consistent with previous findings. All detected subpeaks follow the soft-hard-soft spectral behaviours in the hard X-ray rise-peak-decay phases. However, the corresponding microwave subpeaks display different spectral behaviour, such as soft-hard-soft, soft-hard-harder, soft-hard-soft+hard or irregular patterns. These contradictions reveal the complicated acceleration mechanism for low- and high-energy electrons during this event. It is also interesting that the microwave interpeak spectral indexes are much more consistent with one another.

Nonthermal X‐Ray Spectral Flattening toward Low Energies in Early Impulsive Flares

The determination of the low-energy cutoff to nonthermal electron distributions is critical to the calculation of the nonthermal energy in solar flares. The most direct evidence for low-energy cutoffs is flattening of the power-law, nontherma1 X-ray spectra at low energies. However, because of the plasma preheating often seen in the thermal emissions at low energies may hide such spectral flattening of the nonthermal component. We select a category of which we call impulsive flares, in which the > 25 keV hard X-ray (HXR) flux increase is delayed by less than 30 s after the flux increase at lower energies. Thus, the plasma preheating in these flares is minimal, so the nonthermal spectrum can be determined to lower energies than in flares with significant preheating. Out of a sample of 33 early impulsive flares observed by the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopy Imager (RHESSI), 9 showed spectral flattening toward low energies. In these events, the break energy of the double power-law fit to the HXR spectra lies in the range of 10-50 keV, significantly lower than the value we have seen for other flares that do not show such early impulsive emissions. In particular, it correlates with the HXR flux. After correcting the spatially-integrated spectra for albedo from isotropically emitted X-rays and using RHESSI imaging spectroscopy to exclude the extended albedo halo, we find that albedo associated with isotropic or nearly isotropic electrons can only account for the spectral flattening in 3 flares near Sun center. The spectral flattening in the remaining 6 flares is found to be consistent with the existence of a low-energy cutoff in the electron spectrum, falling in the range of 15-50 keV, which also correlates with the HXR flux.

The influence of forest fires on CO, HCN, C 2H 6, and C 2H 2 over northern Japan measured by infrared solar spectroscopy

Total column abundances of CO, HCN, C 2H 6, and C 2H 2 have been retrieved from infrared solar spectra observed at Moshiri (44.4°N) and Rikubetsu (43.5°N) in northern Japan from 1997 to 2005. The spectra were recorded with high spectral resolution ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers and total column abundances were calculated by SFIT1 version 1.09e. Deviations of these species relative to their seasonal mean values (ΔCO, ΔHCN, ΔC 2H 6, and ΔC 2H 2) were derived, which showed short-time enhancements in 1998, 2002, and 2003. Good correlations among ΔCO, ΔHCN, ΔC 2H 6, and ΔC 2H 2 in a few months of each year were seen. Since the number of forest fires in Siberia had large enhancements in 1998, 2002, and 2003, trajectory analyses were performed in order to assess the influence of forest fires and it was confirmed that air masses passing over the location of burning points in Siberia reached Moshiri and Rikubetsu. This paper shows that enhancements of these species were driven by biomass burning in Siberia.

SigSpec

Identifying frequencies with low signal-to-noise ratios in time series of stellar photometry and spectroscopy, and measuring their amplitude ratios and peak widths accurately, are critical goals for asteroseismology. These are also challenges for time series with gaps or whose data are not sampled at a constant rate, even with modern Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) software. Also the False-Alarm Probability introduced by Lomb and Scargle is an approximation which becomes less reliable in time series with longer data gaps. A rigorous statistical treatment of how to determine the significance of a peak in a DFT, called SigSpec, is presented here. SigSpec is based on an analytical solution of the probability that a DFT peak of a given amplitude does not arise from white noise in a non-equally spaced data set. The underlying Probability Density Function (PDF) of the amplitude spectrum generated by white noise can be derived explicitly if both frequency and phase are incorporated into the solution. In this paper, I define and evaluate an unbiased statistical estimator, the "spectral significance", which depends on frequency, amplitude, and phase in the DFT, and which takes into account the time-domain sampling. I also compare this estimator to results from other well established techniques and demonstrate the effectiveness of SigSpec with a few examples of ground- and space-based photometric data, illustratring how SigSpec deals with the effects of noise and time-domain sampling in determining significant frequencies.

Initial Results from the USNO Dispersed Fourier Transform Spectrograph

We have designed and constructed a ‘‘dispersed Fourier transform spectrometer’’ (dFTS), consisting of a conventionalFTSfollowedbyagratingspectrometer.Bycombiningthesetwodevices,wenegateasubstantialfraction of the sensitivity disadvantage of a conventional FTS for high-resolution, broadband, optical spectroscopy, while preserving many of the advantages inherent to interferometric spectrometers. In addition, we have implemented a simple and inexpensive laser metrology system, which enables very precise calibration of the interferometer wavelength scale. The fusion of interferometric and dispersive technologies with a laser metrology system yields an instrument well suited to stellar spectroscopy, velocimetry,and extrasolar planet detection, which is competitive with existing high-resolution, high-accuracy stellar spectrometers. In this paper we describe the design of our prototype dFTS,explain the algorithmwe use to efficiently reconstruct a broadbandspectrum from a sequence of narrowband interferograms, and present initial observations and resulting velocimetry of stellar targets. Subject headingg binaries: spectroscopic — instrumentation: interferometers — instrumentation: spectrographs — planetary systems — techniques: interferometric

Spectroscopic Binary Mass Determination Using Relativity

High-precision radial-velocity techniques, which enabled the detection of extrasolar planets, are now sensitive to relativistic effects in the data of spectroscopic binary stars (SBs). These effects can be used to derive the absolute masses of the components of eclipsing single-lined SBs and double-lined SBs from Doppler measurements alone. High-precision stellar spectroscopy can thus substantially increase the number of measured stellar masses, thereby improving the mass-radius and mass-magnitude calibrations.

Water vapor in the atmosphere over the northern Tien Shan

Refined data of systematic measurements of total water vapor in the atmosphere from May 1980 to April 2005 are presented. The data were obtained at the Issyk Kul atmospheric-monitoring station by the method of solar molecular-absorption spectroscopy. Over 25 years, the annual mean water-vapor content in the atmosphere increased by 4.5% at a mean rate of increase of 0.18% per year. However, the water-vapor content decreased in the last five years. The results of statistical processing of experimental data (general statistical characteristics, correlation coefficients, composite oscillations) are described. A refined model is proposed for forecasts of temporal variations in the monthly mean and annual mean water-vapor contents for the coming years. The model includes a linear trend and the sum of oscillations with periods close to the periods of a number of well-known geophysical phenomena. Regression equations are proposed to relate the water-vapor content in the atmospheric column to the surface temperature and absolute humidity.

The Effects of Atmospheric Dispersion on High-Resolution Solar Spectroscopy

We investigate the effects of atmospheric dispersion on observations of the Sun at the ever-higher spatial resolutions afforded by increased apertures and improved techniques. The problems induced by atmospheric refraction are particularly significant for solar physics because the Sun is often best observed at low elevations, and the effect of the image displacement is not merely a loss of efficiency, but the mixing of information originating from different points on the solar surface. We calculate the magnitude of the atmospheric dispersion for the Sun during the year and examine the problems produced by this dispersion in both spectrographic and filter observations. We describe an observing technique for scanning spectrograph observations that minimizes the effects of the atmospheric dispersion while maintaining a regular scanning geometry. Such an approach could be useful for the new class of high-resolution solar spectrographs, such as SPINOR, POLIS, TRIPPEL, and ViSP.

Virtual Observatory as a tool for stellar spectroscopy

The Virtual Observatory (VO) is often presented as an all-purpose tool for the astronomer to do all his current work in a single web browser, from which he can control all data searches, reductions and mainly the full data analysis. This idea seems to be already fulfilling in certain fields of astronomy like is the search of unknown correlations between various parameters in large scale surveys, galaxy statistics or cross-identification of objects. The current VO tools are, however, lacking support for important capabilities needed in stellar spectroscopy. Especially the high-resolution spectroscopy of stars with rapid line profile variations or of those with complicated emission profiles (like Be or symbiotic stars) benefits from a number of specific methods implemented today only in stand-alone legacy packages working with local data.

The diffuse interstellar bands: A major problem in astronomical spectroscopy

A critical review of the very long-standing problem of the diffuse interstellar bands is presented with emphasis on spectroscopic aspects of observational, modelling and laboratory-based research. Some research themes and ideas that could be explored theoretically and experimentally are discussed. The article is based on the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy Review Lecture presented at the 60th Ohio State University International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy, June 2005.

Spatio‐spectral Maximum Entropy Method. I. Formulation and Test

The spatio-spectral maximum entropy method (SSMEM) has been developed by Komm and coworkers in 1997 for use with solar multifrequency interferometric observation. In this paper we further improve the formulation of the SSMEM to establish it as a tool for astronomical imaging spectroscopy. We maintain their original idea that spectral smoothness at neighboring frequencies can be used as an additional a priori assumption in astrophysical problems and that this can be implemented by adding a spectral entropy term to the usual maximum entropy method (MEM) formulation. We, however, address major technical difficulties in introducing the spectral entropy into the imaging problem that are not encountered in the conventional MEM. These include calculation of the spectral entropy in a generally frequency-dependent map grid, simultaneous adjustment of the temperature variables and Lagrangian multipliers in the spatial and spectral domain, and matching the solutions to the observational constraints at a large number of frequencies. We test the performance of the SSMEM in comparison with the conventional MEM.

Recent results and future prospects for the spectroscopy of comets†

The links between cometary science and molecular spectroscopy date back as far as ca. 1860, with the beginnings of astronomical spectroscopy and astrophysics. In these days where the real nature of cometary material was quite unknown, cometary spectra were compared to laboratory spectra. By now, although the space exploration of comets is on the verge of performing direct chemical analysis of cometary nuclei, this spectroscopic approach is still topical. Spectroscopic observations of comets allow us to determine the physical conditions (temperature, velocity field, density) of the cometary environment as well as the chemical composition of these bodies. This information is precious for understanding how comets are working and how they interact with the solar environment. It gives us clues to the origin and first steps of the formation of the Solar System. It also allows us to evaluate the possible role played by comets in the origin of life, by bringing complex molecules to the early Earth. Observations of the exceptional comets C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) and other recent bright comets—taking advantage of the availability of efficient new instrumentation (both ground-based and space-based) in the radio, infrared and UV—revealed the molecular complexity of comets as well as their diversity. After the study of secondary products (‘daughter molecules’) which have spectroscopic signatures in the visible, we are now able to study molecules directly sublimated from cometary ices (‘parent molecules’), using radio and infrared spectroscopy. More than two dozen such molecules are now known (not counting isotopic species). The last, most complex species identified to date is ethylene glycol, which has a remarkably high abundance relative to water. The most abundant compounds are now probably all known, but a wealth of minor components are still to be identified and studied. Many unidentified lines are present in cometary spectra, from radio wavelengths to the UV. Future progress relies on the extensive study of cometary spectra, for which the use of comprehensive and reliable spectroscopic databases is crucial.†Based on a review presented at the 19th Colloquium on High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy, 12–16 September 2006, Salamanca, Spain.

SPATIO-SPECTRAL MAXIMUM ENTROPY METHOD: II. SOLAR MICROWAVE IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY

In a companion paper, we have presented so-called Spatio-Spectral Maximum Entropy Method (SSMEM) particularly designed for Fourier-Transform imaging over a wide spectral range. The SSMEM allows simultaneous acquisition of both spectral and spatial information and we consider it most suitable for imaging spectroscopy of solar microwave emission. In this paper, we run the SSMEM for a realistic model of solar microwave radiation and a model array resembling the Owens Valley Solar Array in order to identify and resolve possible issues in the application of the SSMEM to solar microwave imaging spectroscopy. We mainly concern ourselves with issues as to how the frequency dependent noise in the data and frequency-dependent variations of source size and background flux will affect the result of imaging spectroscopy under the SSMEM. We also test the capability of the SSMEM against other conventional techniques, CLEAN and MEM.

Massive stars beyond the Local Group

The next generation of ground-based telescopes will give access to resolved stellar populations in previously unexplored environments. To highlight the potential for stellar spectroscopy using an extremely large telescope (ELT), we present data from an ongoing project with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to calibrate a novel method of distance determination. An ELT would extend the reach of this method and would allow quantitative studies of individual stars well beyond the Local Group, sampling a wide range of galaxy morphologies and metallicities.

Acousto-optic measurements of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide column density by solar spectroscopy

Measurements of column densities of atmospheric gases can be achieved by a solar spectroscopic method that uses differential optical absorption spectroscopy. Because of the scintillation of sunlight intensity in the atmosphere, the variation in intensity will introduce a low-frequency modification of the measured solar spectrum. A spectral capturing-type CCD spectrometer takes milliseconds to capture a solar spectrum, and the effect of sunlight scintillation is negligible. In contrast, without scintillation correction, a scanning-type spectrometer spending minutes to obtain a complete solar spectrum will introduce some amount of errors. We demonstrate an intensity-compensation technique in a scanning-type spectrometer, based on a solid-state acousto-optic tunable filter, for solar spectroscopic measurements.

Nucleosynthesis and Future Stellar Abundance Determinations

AbstractFor Abstract see ChemInform Abstract in Full Text.