Galactic Pole Research Articles

HYPERCALIBRATION: A PAN-STARRS1-BASED RECALIBRATION OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY PHOTOMETRY

ABSTRACT We present a recalibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry with new flat fields and zero points derived from Pan-STARRS1. Using point-spread function (PSF) photometry of 60 million stars with 16 < r < 20, we derive a model of amplifier gain and flat-field corrections with per-run rms residuals of 3 millimagnitudes (mmag) in griz bands and 15 mmag in u band. The new photometric zero points are adjusted to leave the median in the Galactic north unchanged for compatibility with previous SDSS work. We also identify transient non-photometric periods in SDSS (“contrails”) based on photometric deviations co-temporal in SDSS bands. The recalibrated stellar PSF photometry of SDSS and PS1 has an rms difference of {9, 7, 7, 8} mmag in griz, respectively, when averaged over 15′ regions.

New constraints on modelling the random magnetic field of the MW

We extend the description of the isotropic and anisotropic random component of the small-scale magnetic field within the existing magnetic field model of the Milky Way from Jansson & Farrar, by including random realizations of the small-scale component. Using a magnetic-field power spectrum with Gaussian random fields, the NE2001 model for the thermal electrons and the Galactic cosmic-ray electron distribution from the current GALPROP model we derive full-sky maps for the total and polarized synchrotron intensity as well as the Faraday rotation-measure distribution. While previous work assumed that small-scale fluctuations average out along the line-of-sight or which only computed ensemble averages of random fields, we show that these fluctuations need to be carefully taken into account. Comparing with observational data we obtain not only good agreement with 408 MHz total and WMAP7 22 GHz polarized intensity emission maps, but also an improved agreement with Galactic foreground rotation-measure maps and power spectra, whose amplitude and shape strongly depend on the parameters of the random field. We demonstrate that a correlation length of 0≈22 pc (05 pc being a 5σ lower limit) is needed to match the slope of the observed power spectrum of Galactic foreground rotation-measure maps. Using multiple realizations allows us also to infer errors on individual observables. We find that previously-used amplitudes for random and anisotropic random magnetic field components need to be rescaled by factors of ≈0.3 and 0.6 to account for the new small-scale contributions. Our model predicts a rotation measure of −2.8±7.1 rad/m2 and 04.4±11. rad/m2 for the north and south Galactic poles respectively, in good agreement with observations. Applying our model to deflections of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays we infer a mean deflection of ≈3.5±1.1 degree for 60 EeV protons arriving from CenA.

The locations of recent supernovae near the Sun from modelling 60Fe transport

The signature of (60)Fe in deep-sea crusts indicates that one or more supernovae exploded in the solar neighbourhood about 2.2 million years ago. Recent isotopic analysis is consistent with a core-collapse or electron-capture supernova that occurred 60 to 130 parsecs from the Sun. Moreover, peculiarities in the cosmic ray spectrum point to a nearby supernova about two million years ago. The Local Bubble of hot, diffuse plasma, in which the Solar System is embedded, originated from 14 to 20 supernovae within a moving group, whose surviving members are now in the Scorpius-Centaurus stellar association. Here we report calculations of the most probable trajectories and masses of the supernova progenitors, and hence their explosion times and sites. The (60)Fe signal arises from two supernovae at distances between 90 and 100 parsecs. The closest occurred 2.3 million years ago at present-day galactic coordinates l = 327°, b = 11°, and the second-closest exploded about 1.5 million years ago at l = 343°, b = 25°, with masses of 9.2 and 8.8 times the solar mass, respectively. The remaining supernovae, which formed the Local Bubble, contribute to a smaller extent because they happened at larger distances and longer ago ((60)Fe has a half-life of 2.6 million years). There are uncertainties relating to the nucleosynthesis yields and the loss of (60)Fe during transport, but they do not influence the relative distribution of (60)Fe in the crust layers, and therefore our model reproduces the measured relative abundances very well.

THE SURFACE DENSITIES OF DISK BROWN DWARFS IN JWST SURVEYS

ABSTRACT We present predictions for the surface density of ultracool dwarfs (with spectral types M8–T8) for a host of deep fields that are likely to be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope. Based on simple thin and thick/thin disk (exponential) models, we show that the typical distance modulus is &mgr; ≈ 9.8 ?> mag, which at high Galactic latitude is 5 log ( 2 z scl ) − 5 ?> . Since this is a property of the density distribution of an exponential disk, it is independent of spectral type or stellar sample. Using the published estimates of the ultracool dwarf luminosity function, we show that their number counts typically peak around J ∼ 24 ?> mag with a total surface density of &Sgr; ∼ 0.3 ?> arcmin−2, but with a strong dependence on galactic coordinate and spectral type. Owing to the exponential shape of the disk, the ultracool dwarfs are very rare at faint magnitudes ( J ≥ 27 ?> mag), with typical densities of &Sgr; ∼ 0.005 ?> arcmin−2 (or ∼ 20 ?> % of the total contribution within the field). Therefore, in very narrow and deep fields, we predict there are only a few ultracool dwarfs, and hence these stars are likely not a severe contaminant in searches for high-redshift galaxies. Furthermore, the ultracool dwarfs are expected to be considerably brighter than the high-redshift galaxies, so samples near the faint end of the high-redshift galaxy population will be the purest. We present the star-count formalism in a simplified way so that observers may easily predict the number of stars for their conditions (field, depth, wavelength, etc.).

An approach to investigate stability, cosmography and the dark energy dipole: A case study of cosmological models in R1+ϵ

In this paper, in a new approach, we study the stability of the dynamical system (DS) of [Formula: see text] in terms of two significant cosmological parameters, deceleration parameter and jerk parameter [Formula: see text]. Other cosmographic parameters such as [Formula: see text] have been obtained in terms of these two parameters. We have obtained critical points ([Formula: see text]), the best fitted current values of cosmographic parameters ([Formula: see text]), best value for model parameter [Formula: see text] and best trajectory of dynamics of system in phase space by simultaneously solving the DS and best fitting the parameter by the SNIa data. By defining modified redshift in anisotropic cosmological model as [Formula: see text] (where [Formula: see text] is a magnitude of anisotropy, [Formula: see text] is direction of privileged axis and [Formula: see text] is the direction of each SNe Ia sample to galactic coordinates), the luminosity distance has been obtained in terms of modified redshift using cosmography method. Using union 2 data, we have found the direction of privileged axis in the galactic coordinate. The results show that the magnitude of anisotropy is about [Formula: see text] and the direction of privileged axis is [Formula: see text]. Also, our results are consistent with other studies in [Formula: see text] confidence level.

ISOTROPIC AT THE BREAK? 3D KINEMATICS OF MILKY WAY HALO STARS IN THE FOREGROUND OF M31

ABSTRACT We present the line-of-sight (LOS) velocities for 13 distant main sequence Milky Way halo stars with published proper motions (PMs). The PMs were measured using long baseline (5–7 years) multi-epoch Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys photometry, and the LOS velocities were extracted from deep (5–6 hr integrations) Keck II/DEIMOS spectra. We estimate the parameters of the velocity ellipsoid of the stellar halo using a Markov chain Monte Carlo ensembler sampler method. The velocity second moments in the directions of the Galactic (l, b, LOS) coordinate system are ⟨ v l 2 ⟩ 1 / 2 = 138 − 26 + 43 ?> km s−1, ⟨ v b 2 ⟩ 1 / 2 = 88 − 17 + 28 km s − 1 ?> , and ⟨ v LOS 2 ⟩ 1 / 2 = 91 − 14 + 27 km s − 1 ?> . We use these ellipsoid parameters to constrain the velocity anisotropy of the stellar halo. Ours is the first measurement of the anisotropy parameter β using 3D kinematics outside of the solar neighborhood. We find β = − 0.3 − 0.9 + 0.4 ?> , consistent with isotropy and lower than solar neighborhood β measurements by 2σ (β SN ∼ 0.5–0.7). We identify two stars in our sample that are likely members of the known TriAnd substructure, and excluding these objects from our sample increases our estimate of the anisotropy to β = 0.1 − 1.0 + 0.4 ?> , which is still lower than solar neighborhood measurements by 1σ. The potential decrease in β with Galactocentric radius is inconsistent with theoretical predictions, though consistent with recent observational studies, and may indicate the presence of large, shell-type structure (or structures) at r ∼ 25 kpc. The methods described in this paper will be applied to a much larger sample of stars with 3D kinematics observed through the ongoing HALO7D program.

Towards a realistic astrophysical interpretation of the gamma-ray Galactic center excess

A spherical-symmetric gamma-ray emission from {the inner region of the Galaxy (at least up to roughly 10° in latitude and longitude)} has been recently identified in Fermi-LAT data, and initially associated to dark matter particle annihilations. Guided by the evidence for a high gas density in the inner kpc of the Galaxy correlated with a very large Supernova rate, and hence with ongoing cosmic-ray acceleration, we investigate instead the possibility of addressing this excess in terms of ordinary cosmic-ray sources and standard steady-state diffusion. We {alter the source term, and consistently the correlated gamma-ray emissions, in the context of a template-fitting analysis. We focus on a region of interest (ROI) defined as: |l| < 20°; 2° < |b| < 20°, with l and b the Galactic longitude and latitude coordinates.} We analyze in detail the overall goodness of the fit of our framework, and perform a detailed direct comparison against data examining profiles in different directions. Remarkably, the test statistic of the fit related to our scenario turns out to be as good as the Dark Matter one in the ROI here considered.

A survey for hydroxyl in the THOR pilot region around W43

We report on observations of the hydroxyl radical (OH) within The H{\sc I}, OH Recombination line survey (THOR) pilot region. The region is bounded approximately between Galactic coordinates l=29.2 to 31.5$^\circ$ and b=-1.0 to +1.0$^\circ$ and includes the high-mass star forming region W43. We identify 103 maser sites, including 72 with 1612\,MHz masers, 42 showing masers in either of the main line transitions at 1665 and 1667\,MHz and four showing 1720\,MHz masers. Most maser sites with either main-line or 1720\,MHz emission are associated with star formation, whereas most of the 1612\,MHz masers are associated with evolved stars. We find that nearly all of the main-line maser sites are co-spatial with an infrared source, detected by GLIMPSE. We also find diffuse OH emission, as well as OH in absorption towards selected unresolved or partially resolved sites. Extended OH absorption is found towards the well known star forming complex W43 Main.

SEARCHING FOR keV STERILE NEUTRINO DARK MATTER WITH X-RAY MICROCALORIMETER SOUNDING ROCKETS

High-resolution X-ray spectrometers onboard suborbital sounding rockets can search for dark matter candidates that produce X-ray lines, such as decaying keV-scale sterile neutrinos. Even with exposure times and effective areas far smaller than XMM-Newton and Chandra observations, high-resolution, wide field of view observations with sounding rockets have competitive sensitivity to decaying sterile neutrinos. We analyze a subset of the 2011 observation by the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter instrument centered on Galactic coordinates = = -  lb 165 , 5 with an effective exposure of 106 s, obtaining a limit on the sterile neutrino mixing angle of q <´ sin 2 7.2 10

Astrometric Support for the Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope

The Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT) is an astronomical instrument aboard Chang’e 3, the lunar probe of China’s Lunar Exploration Program that successfully landed on the northern part of the Moon’s Mare Imbrium (340.4884E, 44.1214N) in late 2013. LUT is charting an ultraviolet map of the plane of the Milky Way and is also providing long-term light variability monitoring for a sample of RR Lyrae stars. However, the principal goal of the computer-controlled landing of the probe was a safe descent to a stable resting-place, and therefore, the precise orientation of LUT was never a priority. For this reason, at least theoretically, touch-down could have occurred anywhere and, for LUT, at any attitude, which would make the pointing and tracking of the wanted celestial objects practically impossible. Moreover, to reduce the data transmission load, the whole frame of every exposure could not be downloaded: only the image data containing the objects can make it to the ground; also, in order to save on electricity, the telescope does not usually track objects, which means that targets’ accurate positions and velocities (within the focal plane CCD) are both needed. This paper presents the astrometric solution devised to solve these problems: feasibility is first shown with experiments done from Earth, and then confirmed with actual LUT observations from the Moon’s surface.

Gaiaastrometry for stars with too few observations. A Bayesian approach

Gaia's astrometric solution aims to determine at least five parameters for each star, together with appropriate estimates of their uncertainties and correlations. This requires at least five distinct observations per star. In the early data reductions the number of observations may be insufficient for a five-parameter solution, and even after the full mission many stars will remain under-observed, including faint stars at the detection limit and transient objects. In such cases it is reasonable to determine only the two position parameters. Their formal uncertainties would however grossly underestimate the actual errors, due to the neglected parallax and proper motion. We aim to develop a recipe to calculate sensible formal uncertainties that can be used in all cases of under-observed stars. Prior information about the typical ranges of stellar parallaxes and proper motions is incorporated in the astrometric solution by means of Bayes' rule. Numerical simulations based on the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot (GUMS) are used to investigate how the prior influences the actual errors and formal uncertainties when different amounts of Gaia observations are available. We develop a criterion for the optimum choice of priors, apply it to a wide range of cases, and derive a global approximation of the optimum prior as a function of magnitude and galactic coordinates. The feasibility of the Bayesian approach is demonstrated through global astrometric solutions of simulated Gaia observations. With an appropriate prior it is possible to derive sensible positions with realistic error estimates for any number of available observations. Even though this recipe works also for well-observed stars it should not be used where a good five-parameter astrometric solution can be obtained without a prior. Parallaxes and proper motions from a solution using priors are always biased and should not be used.

Number density distribution of near-infrared sources on a sub-degree scale in the Galactic center: Comparison with the Fe xxv Kα line at 6.7 keV

Abstract The stellar distribution derived from an H- and KS-band survey of the central region of our Galaxy is compared with the Fe xxv Kα (6.7 keV) line intensity observed with the Suzaku satellite. The survey is for the galactic coordinates |l| ≲ 3$_{.}^{\circ}$0 and |b | ≲ 1$_{.}^{\circ}$0 (equivalent to 0.8 kpc × 0.3 kpc for R⊙ = 8 kpc), and the number-density distribution N(KS,0; l, b) of stars is derived by using the extinction-corrected magnitude KS,0 = 10.5. This is deep enough to probe the old red-giant population and in turn to estimate the (l, b) distribution of faint X-ray point sources such as coronally active binaries and cataclysmic variables. In the Galactic plane (b = 0°), N(10.5; l, b) increases in the direction of the Galactic center as |l|−0.30±0.03 in the range of − 0$_{.}^{\circ}$1 ≥ l ≥ − 0$_{.}^{\circ}$7, but this increase is significantly slower than the increase (|l|−0.44±0.02) of the Fe xxv Kα line intensity. If normalized with the ratios in the outer region 1$_{.}^{\circ}$5 ≤ |l| ≤ 2$_{.}^{\circ}$8, where faint X-ray point sources are argued to dominate the diffuse Galactic X-ray ridge emission, the excess of the Fe xxv Kα line intensity over the stellar number density is at least a factor of two at |l| = 0$_{.}^{\circ}$1. This indicates that a significant part of the Galactic-center diffuse emission arises from a truly diffuse optically thin thermal plasma, and not from an unresolved collection of faint X-ray point sources related to the old stellar population.

ASTROMETRY OF IRAS 22555+6213 WITH VERA: A 3-DIMENSIONAL VIEW OF SOURCES ALONG THE SAME LINE OF SIGHT

We report results of the measurement of the trigonometric parallax of an H2O maser source in IRAS 22555+6213 with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). The annual parallax was determined to be 0.278±0.019 mas, corresponding to a distance of 3.66 −0.26 kpc. Our results confirm that IRAS 22555+6213 is located in the Perseus arm. We computed the peculiar motion of IRAS 22555+6213 to be (Usrc, Vsrc,Wsrc) = (0 ± 1,−32 ± 1, 9 ± 1) km s−1, where Usrc, Vsrc, and Wsrc are directed toward the Galactic center, in the direction of Galactic rotation and toward the Galactic north pole, respectively. IRAS 22555+6213, NGC 7538 and Cepheus A lie along the same line of sight, and are within 2◦ on the sky. Their parallax distances, with which we derived their absolute position in the Milky Way, show that IRAS 22555+6213 and NGC 7538 are associated with the Perseus arm, while Cepheus A is located in the Local arm. We compared the kinematic distances of IRAS 22555+6213 derived with flat and non-flat rotation curve with its parallax distance and found the kinematic distance derived from the non-flat rotation assumption (−32 km s−1 lag) to be consistent with the parallax distance.

THE Q/U IMAGING EXPERIMENT: POLARIZATION MEASUREMENTS OF THE GALACTIC PLANE AT 43 AND 95 GHz

We present polarization observations of two Galactic plane fields centered on Galactic coordinates (l,b)=(0 deg,0 deg) and (329 deg, 0 deg) at Q- (43 GHz) and W-band (95 GHz), covering between 301 and 539 square degrees depending on frequency and field. These measurements were made with the QUIET instrument between 2008 October and 2010 December, and include a total of 1263 hours of observations. The resulting maps represent the deepest large-area Galactic polarization observations published to date at the relevant frequencies with instrumental rms noise varying between 1.8 and 2.8 uK deg, 2.3-6 times deeper than corresponding WMAP and Planck maps. The angular resolution is 27.3' and 12.8' FWHM at Q- and W-band, respectively. We find excellent agreement between the QUIET and WMAP maps over the entire fields, and no compelling evidence for significant residual instrumental systematic errors in either experiment, whereas the Planck 44 GHz map deviates from these in a manner consistent with reported systematic uncertainties for this channel. We combine QUIET and WMAP data to compute inverse-variance-weighted average maps, effectively retaining small angular scales from QUIET and large angular scales from WMAP. From these combined maps, we derive constraints on several important astrophysical quantities, including a robust detection of polarized synchrotron spectral index steepening of ~0.2 off the plane, as well as the Faraday rotation measure toward the Galactic center (RM=-4000 +/- 200 rad m^-2), all of which are consistent with previously published results. Both the raw QUIET and the co-added QUIET+WMAP maps are made publicly available together with all necessary ancillary information.

TESTING THE DARK MATTER CAUSTIC THEORY AGAINST OBSERVATIONS IN THE MILKY WAY

We test a particular theory of dark matter in which dark matter axions form ring "caustics" in the plane of the Milky Way against actual observations of Milky Way stars. According to this theory, cold, collisionless dark matter particles with angular momentum flow in and out of the Milky Way on sheets. These flows form caustic rings (at the positions of the rings, the density of the flow is formally infinite) at the locations of closest approach to the Galactic center. We show that the caustic ring dark matter theory reproduces a roughly logarithmic halo, with large perturbations near the rings. We show that the theory can reasonably match the observed rotation curve of the Milky Way. We explore the effects of the caustic rings on dwarf galaxy tidal disruption using N-body simulations. In particular, simulations of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy tidal disruption in a caustic ring halo potential match observations of the trailing tidal tail as far as 90 kpc from the Galactic center; they do not, however, match the leading tidal tail. None of the caustic ring, NFW, or triaxial logarithmic halos fit all of the data. The source code for calculating the acceleration due to a caustic ring halo has been made publicly available in the NEMO Stellar Dynamics Toolbox and the Milkyway@home client repository.

Measure the local dark matter density with LAMOST spectroscopic survey

AbstractThe local dark matter density plays the key role in the distribution of the dark matter halo near the Galactic disk. It will also answer whether a dark matter disk exists in the Milky Way. We measure the local dark matter density with LAMOST observed stars located at around the north Galactic pole. The selection effects of the observations are well considered and corrected. We find that the derived DM density, which is around 0.0159+0.0047−0.0057M⊙ pc−3 providing a flat local rotation curve.

Halo stream candidates in the LAMOST DR2

We have cross-matched the LAMOST DR2 with the WISE, 2MASS and PPMXL catalogs and obtained a sample of 64 819 FGK metal-poordwarfs with [Fe/H] < −0.7, distances within 2 kpc from the Sun and reliable kinematics (space velocities, angular momenta and eccentricities). With a detection strategy for halo streams provided by Klement et al, nine significant “phase-space overdensities” with stars on very similar orbits are identified from this sample. Among these overdensities, three were previously known and six are new stream candidates. The kinematics and metallicities of these stream candidates are then analyzed; they have typical halo characteristics. We have extracted the most probable members of each halo stream according to their angles with respect to the North Galactic Pole and investigate the distribution of the angular momenta to further verify their existences. Detailed study of elemental abundances for these members based on high resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra from follow-up observations in the near future is of high interest to understand the origin of these streams.

THE ALFA ZOA DEEP SURVEY: FIRST RESULTS

The Arecibo L-Band Feed Array Zone of Avoidance (ALFA ZOA) Deep Survey is the deepest and most sensitive blind Hi survey undertaken in the ZOA. ALFA ZOA Deep will cover about 300 square degrees of sky behind the Galactic plane in both the inner (30 deg < l < 75 deg; b < |2 deg|) and outer (175 deg < l < 207 deg; -2 deg < b < +1 deg) Galaxy, using the Arecibo Radio Telescope. First results from the survey have found 61 galaxies within a 15 square degree area centered on l = 192 deg and b = -2 deg. The survey reached its expected sensitivity of rms = 1 mJy at 9 km/s channel resolution, and is shown to be complete above integrated flux, F_HI = 0.5 Jy km/s. The positional accuracy of the survey is 28 arcsec and detections are found out to a recessional velocity of nearly 19,000 km/s. The survey confirms the extent of the Orion and Abell 539 clusters behind the plane of the Milky Way and discovers expansive voids, at 10,000 km/s and 18,000 km/s. 26 detections (43%) have a counterpart in the literature, but only two of these have known redshift. Counterparts are 20% less common beyond v_hel = 10,000 km/s and 33% less common at extinctions higher than AB = 3.5 mag. ALFA ZOA Deep survey is able to probe large scale structure beyond redshifts that even the most modern wide-angle surveys have been able to detect in the Zone of Avoidance at any wavelength.

Low-frequency polarization measurements of the diffuse radio emission of the galaxy

Polarization measurements of diffuse Galactic radio emission at 151.5, 198, 217, 237, and 290 MHz have been carried out in the direction of the North Celestial Pole, North Galactic Pole, one region of the North Polar Spur, minimum radio brightness of the Northern sky (l = 190°, b = 50°), and in the direction l = 147°, b = 9° in the so-called FAN region with enhanced polarization. The results obtained testify to the presence of low spatial frequencies in the angular distribution of the Stokes parameters Q and U of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission that are not detectable in interferometric observations. The spectra of the brightness temperature of the polarized component, rotation measures, and intrinsic polarization position angles of the radio emission in the studied regions are presented.

Galactic coordinate system based on multi-wavelength catalogs**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The currently used Galactic coordinate system (GalCS) is based on the FK5 system at J2000.0, which was transformed from the FK4 system at B1950.0. The limitations and misunderstandings related to this transformed GalCS can be avoided by defining a new GalCS that is directly connected to the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS). With more data at various wavelengths released by large survey programs, a more appropriate GalCS consistent with features associated with the Milky Way can be established. We try to find the best orientation of the GalCS using data from two all-sky surveys, AKARI and WISE, at six wavelengths between 3.4 μm and 90 μm, and synthesize results obtained at various wavelengths to define an improved GalCS in the framework of the ICRS. The revised GalCS parameters for defining the new GalCS in the ICRS are summarized as: αp = 192.777°, δp = 26.9298°, for the equatorial coordinates of the north Galactic pole and θ = 122.95017° for the position angle of the Galactic center. As one of the Galactic substructures, the Galactic warp exhibits different forms in different GalCSs that are constructed with various data and methods, which shows the importance of re-defining the GalCS by the relative commission of the International Astronomical Union that can lead to a better understanding of Galactic structure and kinematics.