Absorption Line Strengths Research Articles

Aperture and Resolution Effects on Ultraviolet Star-forming Properties: Insights from Local Galaxies and Implications for High-redshift Observations* *Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

We present an analysis of the effects of spectral resolution and aperture scale on derived galaxy properties using far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra of local star-forming galaxies from the International Ultraviolet Explorer (R ∼ 250, field of view (FOV) ∼ 10″ × 20″) and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope (R ∼ 15,000, FOV ∼ 2.″5). Using these spectra, we measured FUV luminosities, spectral slopes, dust attenuation, and equivalent widths. We find that galaxies with one dominant stellar cluster have FUV properties that are independent of aperture size, while galaxies with multiple bright clusters are sensitive to the total light fraction captured by the aperture. Additionally, we find significant correlations between the strength of stellar and interstellar absorption lines and metallicity, indicating metallicity-dependent line-driven stellar winds and interstellar macroscopic gas flows shape stellar and interstellar spectral lines, respectively. The observed line strength versus metallicity relation of stellar-wind lines agrees with the prediction of population synthesis models for young starbursts. In particular, measurements of the strong stellar C iv λλ1548, 1550 line provide an opportunity to determine stellar abundances as a complement to gas-phase abundances. We provide a relation between the equivalent width of the C iv line and the oxygen abundance of the galaxy. We discuss this relation in terms of the stellar-wind properties of massive stars. As the driving lines in stellar winds are mostly ionized iron species, the C iv line may eventually offer a method to probe α-element-to-iron ratios in star-forming galaxies once consistent models with nonsolar abundance ratios are available. These results have important implications for the galaxy-scale, low-resolution observations of high-redshift galaxies from JWST (R ∼ 100–3500).

Absorption of Millimeter-band CO and CN in the Early Universe: Molecular Clouds in the Radio Galaxy B2 0902+34 at Redshift 3.4

Using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, we have detected absorption lines due to carbon monoxide, CO(J = 0 → 1), and the cyano radical, CN(N = 0 → 1), associated with radio galaxy B2 0902+34 at redshift z = 3.4. The detection of millimeter-band absorption observed 1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang facilitates studying molecular clouds down to gas masses inaccessible to emission-line observations. The CO absorption in B2 0902+34 has a peak optical depth of τ ≥ 8.6% and consists of two components, one of which has the same redshift as previously detected 21 cm absorption of neutral hydrogen (H i) gas. Each CO component traces an integrated H2 column density of NH2 ≳ 3 × 1020 cm−2. CN absorption is detected for both CO components, as well as for a blueshifted component not detected in CO, with CO/CN line ratios ranging from ≲0.4 to 2.4. We discuss the scenario that the absorption components originate from collections of small and dense molecular clouds that are embedded in a region with more diffuse gas and high turbulence, possibly within the influence of the central active galactic nucleus or a starburst region. The degree of reddening in B2 0902+34, with rest-frame color B − K ∼ 4.2, is lower than the very red colors (B − K > 6) found among other known redshifted CO absorption systems at z < 1. Nevertheless, when including the many nondetections from the literature, a potential correlation between the absorption-line strength and B − K color is evident, giving weight to the argument that the red colors of CO absorbers are due to a high dust content.

Stochastic Modeling of Star Formation Histories. III. Constraints from Physically Motivated Gaussian Processes

Galaxy formation and evolution involve a variety of effectively stochastic processes that operate over different timescales. The extended regulator model provides an analytic framework for the resulting variability (or “burstiness”) in galaxy-wide star formation due to these processes. It does this by relating the variability in Fourier space to the effective timescales of stochastic gas inflow, equilibrium, and dynamical processes influencing giant molecular clouds' creation and destruction using the power spectral density (PSD) formalism. We use the connection between the PSD and autocovariance function for general stochastic processes to reformulate this model as an autocovariance function, which we use to model variability in galaxy star formation histories (SFHs) using physically motivated Gaussian processes in log star formation rate (SFR) space. Using stellar population synthesis models, we then explore how changes in model stochasticity can affect spectral signatures across galaxy populations with properties similar to the Milky Way and present-day dwarfs, as well as at higher redshifts. We find that, even at fixed scatter, perturbations to the stochasticity model (changing timescales vs. overall variability) leave unique spectral signatures across both idealized and more realistic galaxy populations. Distributions of spectral features including Hα and UV-based SFR indicators, Hδ and Ca H and K absorption-line strengths, D n (4000), and broadband colors provide testable predictions for galaxy populations from present and upcoming surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The Gaussian process SFH framework provides a fast, flexible implementation of physical covariance models for the next generation of spectral energy distribution modeling tools. Code to reproduce our results can be found at https://github.com/kartheikiyer/GP-SFH.

Minor Mergers Are Not Enough: The Importance of Major Mergers during Brightest Cluster Galaxy Assembly

We investigate the roles of major and minor mergers during brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) assembly using surface brightness profiles, line indices, and fundamental plane relations. Based on our own sample and consistently reanalyzed Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, we find that BCGs and luminous normal ellipticals (LNEs) have similar central velocity dispersions, central absorption line strengths, and central surface brightnesses. However, BCGs are more luminous due to their much larger radial extent. These properties result in a flattening of the Faber–Jackson and Mgb–luminosity relations above 1010.6 . We use this effect to estimate an amount of 60%–80% of accreted and merged light in BCGs relative to LNEs, which agrees with results from cosmological simulations. We determine the contribution of this excess light (EL) at each radius from the difference between the surface flux profiles of BCGs and LNEs. It is small in the center but increases steeply to 50% at ∼3 kpc radius. The shape of these profiles suggests that BCGs could be formed from LNEs in three major merger processes. This is also consistent with the mild increase of the Sérsic indices from n ≈ 4 to n ≈ 6, as confirmed in merger simulations. We note that minor mergers cannot be the dominant origin of the BCG’s EL because they deposit too few stars at intermediate radii r ≲ 20 kpc. The shape of the EL profile also explains a detected offset of 0.14 dex of the fundamental planes for BCGs and LNEs relative to each other.

Line positions and effective line strengths of trans-HONO near 1280 cm−1

The measurement of the line positions and effective line strengths of the ν3 fundamental band of trans-nitrous acid (trans-HONO) near 1280 cm−1 (7.8 µm) by tunable laser absorption spectroscopy (TLAS) utilizing a room temperature continuous-wave quantum cascade laser (cw-QCL) was reported. The effective line strengths of 30 well-resolved trans-HONO absorption lines in the range of 1279.8–1282.2 cm−1 were determined using the HONO line strength at 1280.3841 cm−1 as a scale. The maximum measurement uncertainty of 7.64% in the line strengths is mainly determined by the uncertainty of the referenced line strength, while the measurement precision of the line positions is better than 5.56 * 10−3 cm−1. The line positions and strengths of the trans-HONO absorption lines obtained in this work provide a reference for continuous gas monitoring and analysis of the sources and sinks of atmospheric HONO.

AGN STORM 2. III. A NICER View of the Variable X-Ray Obscurer in Mrk 817

The AGN STORM 2 Collaboration targeted the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 817 for a year-long multiwavelength, coordinated reverberation mapping campaign including Hubble Space Telescope, Swift, XMM-Newton, NICER, and ground-based observatories. Early observations with NICER and XMM revealed an X-ray state 10 times fainter than historical observations, consistent with the presence of a new dust-free, ionized obscurer. The following analysis of NICER spectra attributes variability in the observed X-ray flux to changes in both the column density of the obscurer by at least one order of magnitude (N H ranges from to ) and the intrinsic continuum brightness (the unobscured flux ranges from 10−11.8 to 10−10.5 erg s−1 cm−2). While the X-ray flux generally remains in a faint state, there is one large flare during which Mrk 817 returns to its historical mean flux. The obscuring gas is still present at lower column density during the flare, but it also becomes highly ionized, increasing its transparency. Correlation between the column density of the X-ray obscurer and the strength of UV broad absorption lines suggests that the X-ray and UV continua are both affected by the same obscuration, consistent with a clumpy disk wind launched from the inner broad-line region.

Evaluation of the methane full-physics retrieval applied to TROPOMI ocean sun glint measurements

Abstract. The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), due to its wide swath, performs observations over the ocean in every orbit, enhancing the monitoring capabilities of methane from space. In the short-wave–infrared (SWIR) spectral band ocean surfaces are dark except for the specific sun glint geometry, for which the specular reflectance detected by the satellite provides a signal that is high enough to retrieve methane with high accuracy and precision. In this study, we build upon the RemoTeC full-physics retrieval algorithm for land measurements, and we retrieve 4 years of methane concentrations over the ocean from TROPOMI. We fully assess the quality of the dataset by performing a validation using ground-based measurements of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) from near-ocean sites. The validation results in an agreement of -0.5±0.3 % (-8.4±6.3 ppb) for the mean bias and station-to-station variability, which show that glint measurements comply with the mission requirement of precision and accuracy below 1 %. Comparison to ocean measurements from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) results in a bias of -0.2±0.9 % (-4.4±15.7 ppb), equivalent to the comparison of measurements over land. The full-physics algorithm simultaneously retrieves the amount of atmospheric methane and the physical scattering properties of the atmosphere from measurements in the near-infrared (NIR) and SWIR spectral bands. Based on the scattering properties of the atmosphere and ocean surface reflection we further validate retrievals over the ocean. Using the “upper-edge” method, we identify a set of ocean glint observations where scattering by aerosols and clouds can be ignored in the measurement simulation to investigate other possible error sources such as instrumental errors, radiometric inaccuracies or uncertainties related to spectroscopic absorption cross-sections. With this ensemble we evaluate the RemoTeC forward model via the validation of the total atmospheric oxygen (O2) column retrieved from the O2 A-band, as well as the consistency of XCH4 retrievals using sub-bands from the SWIR band, which show a consistency within 1 %. We discard any instrumental and radiometric errors by a calibration of the O2 absorption line strengths as suggested in the literature.

Stellar population analysis of MaNGA early-type galaxies: IMF dependence and systematic effects

ABSTRACT We study systematics associated with estimating simple stellar population (SSP) parameters – age, metallicity [M/H], α-enhancement [α/Fe], and initial mass function (IMF) shape – and associated M*/L gradients, of elliptical slow rotators (E-SRs), fast rotators (E-FRs), and S0s from stacked spectra of galaxies in the MaNGA survey. These systematics arise from (i) how one normalizes the spectra when stacking; (ii) having to subtract emission before estimating absorption line strengths; (iii) the decision to fit the whole spectrum or just a few absorption lines; (iv) SSP model differences (e.g. isochrones, enrichment, IMF). The MILES+Padova SSP models, fit to the Hβ, 〈Fe〉, TiO2SDSS, and [MgFe] Lick indices in the stacks, indicate that out to the half-light radius Re: (a) ages are younger and [α/Fe] values are lower in the central regions but the opposite is true of [M/H]; (b) the IMF is more bottom-heavy in the center, but is close to Kroupa beyond about Re/2; (c) this makes M*/L about 2 × larger in the central regions than beyond Re/2. While the models of Conroy et al. return similar [M/H] and [α/Fe] profiles, the age and (hence) M*/L profiles can differ significantly even for solar abundances and a Kroupa IMF; different responses to non-solar abundances and IMF parametrization further compound these differences. There are clear (model independent) differences between E-SRs, E-FRs, and S0s: younger ages and less enhanced [α/Fe] values suggest that E-FRs and S0s are not SSPs, but relaxing this assumption is unlikely to change their inferred M*/L gradients significantly.

On the Variation in Stellar α-enhancements of Star-forming Galaxies in the EAGLE Simulation

Abstract The ratio of α-elements to iron in galaxies holds valuable information about the star formation history (SFH) since their enrichment occurs on different timescales. The fossil record of stars in galaxies has mostly been excavated for passive galaxies, since the light of star-forming galaxies is dominated by young stars, which have much weaker atmospheric absorption features. Here we use the largest reference cosmological simulation of the EAGLE project to investigate the origin of variations in stellar α-enhancement among star-forming galaxies at z = 0, and their impact on integrated spectra. The definition of α-enhancement in a composite stellar population is ambiguous. We elucidate two definitions—termed “mean” and “galactic” α-enhancement—in more detail. While a star-forming galaxy has a high “mean” α-enhancement when its stars formed rapidly, a galaxy with a large “galactic” α-enhancement generally had a delayed SFH. We find that absorption-line strengths of Mg and Fe correlate with variations in α-enhancement. These correlations are strongest for the “galactic” α-enhancement. However, we show that these are mostly caused by other effects that are cross-correlated with α-enhancement, such as variations in the light-weighted age. This severely complicates the retrieval of α-enhancements in star-forming galaxies. The ambiguity is not severe for passive galaxies, and we confirm that spectral variations in these galaxies are caused by measurable variations in α-enhancements. We suggest that this more complex coupling between α-enhancement and SFHs can guide the interpretation of new observations of star-forming galaxies.

Early-type galaxies with recent star formation have low metallicities – evidence for star formation triggered by external processes?

ABSTRACTOn the basis of the Galaxy Evolution Explore (GALEX) ultraviolet (UV) data, many studies have demonstrated that recent star formation (RSF) is common in early-type galaxies. In particular, near-ultraviolet (NUV) light is used to investigate star formation activity in early-type galaxies, owing to its high sensitivity to the presence of young stars. This study characterized the stellar population properties of luminous early-type galaxies (Mr ≤ −20.65 mag) in the redshift range 0.005 ≤ z ≤ 0.09 on the basis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. Initially, the most frequently used criterion of NUV $-\, r$ ≤ 5.4 was applied to identify early-type galaxies with RSF, and 19 per cent (172/913) of the sample galaxies met this criterion, in agreement with previous studies. A more robust sample of galaxies with RSF along with a stricter criterion (70 galaxies with NUV $-\, r$ ≤ 5.0) were then used for further analysis, and consequently 7.7 per cent (70/913; lower limit of the RSF fraction) of the sample galaxies were classified as early-type galaxies with RSF. These galaxies tended to exhibit higher H β absorption-line strengths and stronger emission lines than quiescent (QST, NUV $-\, r$ &amp;gt; 5.4) early-type galaxies. The most prominent feature of early-type galaxies with RSF identified in this study was that they were more metal-poor than QST galaxies owing to metal-poor stellar populations that were possibly formed from materials accreted from gas-rich satellites during (minor) mergers or interactions. The results strongly indicate that the observed RSF in the sample galaxies at the present epoch is mainly driven by external processes (i.e. mergers or interactions).

Fine structure calculations of excitation energies, lifetimes and radiative properties of S-like Kr XXI

Extensive and systematic calculations for energy levels and lifetimes are carried out for the lowest 145 levels arising from the 3s23p4, 3s3p5, 3s23p33d, 3p6, 3s3p43d and 3s23p23 d2 configurations in S-like Kr XXI ion using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method. Additionally, radiative data such as transition wavelengths, absorption oscillator strengths, line strengths and radiative decay rates have also been computed for electric dipole (E1), electric quadrupole (E2), magnetic dipole (M1) and magnetic quadrupole (M2) transitions from the ground state. The importance of Breit interaction (BI) and quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections on the energy levels has also been estimated. To assess the credibility and integrity of our MCDF energies, independent calculations using the relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) approach have also been performed. Detailed comparisons are made between our two sets of results, as well as with other existing experimental and theoretical values, and a good agreement is achieved. The present results will be helpful for the modeling and diagnostics of fusion plasmas.

Rapid and precise partial pressure measurement of multiple gas species with mid-infrared electro-optic dual-comb spectroscopy

In order to overcome the shortcoming of the TDLAS method, a partial pressure measurement method based on dual comb spectroscopy is proposed. The comb-based partial pressure measurement system comes with excellent performance in nearly all criteria: high detection sensitivity, high measurement speed, and synchronous survey of multiple-gas partial pressures. The experimental system was built in the mid-infrared band of 88.42–90.10 THz with a spectral resolution of 54.5 MHz and used for partial pressure measurement of CH4 and C2H4. Two electro-optics (EO) optical frequency combs (OFC) with a repeat frequency of ～25 GHz are spectrally interpolated to increase spectral sampling ratio using an acousto-optic frequency shifter, so that they could be utilized for high-resolution gas sensing. The measurement result demonstrates the excellent performance of this system in partial pressure measurement. The deviation of the measurement results of two gases CH4 and C2H4 from the true value are about 3%. Moreover, once the gas absorption line strength is accurately calibrated, the accuracy of partial pressure measurement will be further improved.

Fingerprints of stellar populations in the near-infrared: an optimized set of spectral indices in the JHK bands 0

ABSTRACT Stellar population studies provide unique clues to constrain galaxy formation models. So far, detailed studies based on absorption line strengths have mainly focused on the optical spectral range although many diagnostic features are present in other spectral windows. In particular, the near-infrared (NIR) can provide a wealth of information about stars, such as evolved giants, that have less evident optical signatures. Due to significant advances in NIR instrumentation and extension of spectral libraries and stellar population synthesis (SPS) models to this domain, it is now possible to perform in-depth studies of spectral features in the NIR to a high level of precision. In this work, taking advantage of state-of-the-art SPS models covering the NIR spectral range, we introduce a new set of NIR indices constructed to be maximally sensitive to the main stellar population parameters, namely age, metallicity, and initial mass function (IMF). We fully characterize the new indices against these parameters as well as their sensitivity to individual elemental abundance variations, velocity dispersion broadening, wavelength shifts, signal-to-noise ratio, and flux calibration. We also present, for the first time, a method to ensure that the analysis of spectral indices is not affected by sky contamination, which is a major challenge when dealing with NIR spectroscopy. Moreover, we discuss two main applications: (i) the ability of some NIR spectral indices to constrain the shape of the low-mass IMF and (ii) current issues in the analysis of NIR spectral indices for future developments of SPS modelling.

Design and optimization of photoacoustic CO gas sensor for fault diagnosis of SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; gas insulated equipment

Trace gas analysis for SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; decomposition is a powerful diagnostic method to identify partial discharge problem occurring in electrical equipment. In particular, it is recognized that the SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; decomposition gases (such as CO, H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;S, SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and CF&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) can effectively determine the inner insulation condition of the electrical equipment. Currently, most of researches of diagnostic methods cannot meet the online high-precision detection of gas derivatives in SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; electrical insulation equipment. Therefore, there is a need of developing a sensitive, selective and cost-effective sensor system for CO detection in an SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; buffer gas environment due to the fact that the power system is filled with pure SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; as the dielectric gas, which means that the concentration of SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; is usually &gt; 99.8%. The traditional photoacoustic CO gas sensors cannot be directly used in power system, since several SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; physical constants strongly differ from those of N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; or air. In addition, SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; molecule reveals uninterrupted and strong absorption lines in the mid-infrared spectral region. In this work, a CO gas sensor working in high concentration SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; background gas is designed by using a distributed feedback (DFB) laser as an excitation source with a center wavelength of 2.3 μm. The absorption line strength of 2.3 μm is ~ two orders of magnitude higher than the absorption line strength around 1.56 μm, which can improve the sensor detection performance. A background-gas-induced high-&lt;i&gt;Q&lt;/i&gt; differential photoacoustic cell is simulated numerically and tested experimentally. The quality factor of the designed photoacoustic cell in pure SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; gas is 85, which is ~ 4 times higher than that in N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; carrier gas. The experimental results show that the maximum gas flow rate of the differential structure photoacoustic cell is ~ 6 times higher than that of the single resonant cavity photoacoustic cell. After optimizing the resonance frequency, gas velocity and working pressure of the sensor system, the detection sensitivity of the volume fraction of 1.85 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–6&lt;/sup&gt; is achieved. In the case of the volume fraction of 50 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–6&lt;/sup&gt; CO/SF&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; gas mixture, the maximum photoacoustic signal amplitude of 19.6 μV is obtained, the corresponding normalized noise equivalent concentration (1σ) is 3.68 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–8&lt;/sup&gt; cm&lt;sup&gt;–1&lt;/sup&gt;·W·Hz&lt;sup&gt;1/2&lt;/sup&gt; in 1 s integration time. A linear fitting is implemented to evaluate the response of the sensor from 50 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–6&lt;/sup&gt; to 1000 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–6&lt;/sup&gt;, resulting in an &lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt; square value of 0.9997. The CO photoacoustic gas sensor has high sensitivity, good selectivity and strong noise immunity, which can provide an on-line detection technology for potential insulation fault diagnosis in the power system. The capability of CO gas sensor can be improved by using a higher excitation optical output power and/or reducing the PAC resonator volume to increase the cell constant.

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Stellar Populations of Passive Spiral Galaxies in Different Environments

Abstract We investigate the stellar populations of passive spiral galaxies as a function of mass and environment, using integral field spectroscopy data from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph Galaxy Survey. Our sample consists of 52 cluster passive spirals and 18 group/field passive spirals, as well as a set of S0s used as a control sample. The age and [Z/H] estimated by measuring Lick absorption line strength indices both at the center and within 1R e do not show a significant difference between the cluster and the field/group passive spirals. However, the field/group passive spirals with log(M ⋆/M ⊙) ≳ 10.5 show decreasing [α/Fe] along with stellar mass, which is ∼0.1 dex smaller than that of the cluster passive spirals. We also compare the stellar populations of passive spirals with S0s. In the clusters, we find that passive spirals show slightly younger age and lower [α/Fe] than the S0s over the whole mass range. In the field/group, stellar populations show a similar trend between passive spirals and S0s. In particular, [α/Fe] of the field/group S0s tend to be flattening with increasing mass above log(M ⋆/M ⊙) ≳ 10.5, similar to the field/group passive spirals. We relate the age and [α/Fe] of passive spirals to their mean infall time in phase space; we find a positive correlation, in agreement with the prediction of numerical simulations. We discuss the environmental processes that can explain the observed trends. The results lead us to conclude that the formation of the passive spirals and their transformation into S0s may significantly depend on their environments.

The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs

Context. For years, the standard procedure to measure radial velocities (RVs) of spectral observations consisted in cross-correlating the spectra with a binary mask, that is, a simple stellar template that contains information on the position and strength of stellar absorption lines. The cross-correlation function (CCF) profiles also provide several indicators of stellar activity. Aims. We present a methodology to first build weighted binary masks and, second, to compute the CCF of spectral observations with these masks from which we derive radial velocities and activity indicators. These methods are implemented in a python code that is publicly available. Methods. To build the masks, we selected a large number of sharp absorption lines based on the profile of the minima present in high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectrum templates built from observations of reference stars. We computed the CCFs of observed spectra and derived RVs and the following three standard activity indicators: full-width-at-half-maximum as well as contrast and bisector inverse slope. Results. We applied our methodology to CARMENES high-resolution spectra and obtain RV and activity indicator time series of more than 300 M dwarf stars observed for the main CARMENES survey. Compared with the standard CARMENES template matching pipeline, in general we obtain more precise RVs in the cases where the template used in the standard pipeline did not have enough S/N. We also show the behaviour of the three activity indicators for the active star YZ CMi and estimate the absolute RV of the M dwarfs analysed using the CCF RVs.

Buffer-gas cooling, high-resolution spectroscopy, and optical cycling of barium monofluoride molecules

We demonstrate buffer-gas cooling, high-resolution spectroscopy and cycling fluorescence of cold barium monofluoride (BaF) molecules. Our source produces an intense and internally cold molecular beam containing the different BaF isotopologues with a mean forward velocity of 190 m/s. For a well-collimated beam of 138BaF we observe a flux of more than 1e10 molecules/sr/pulse in the X2Sigma, N=1 state in our downstream detection region. Studying the absorption line strength of the intermediate A'Delta state we infer a lifetime of 790+\-346 ns, significantly longer than previously estimated. Finally, highly-diagonal Franck-Condon factors and magnetic remixing of dark states allow us to realize a quasi-cycling transition in 138BaF that is suitable for future laser cooling of this heavy diatomic molecule.

New Insights on Lyα and Lyman Continuum Radiative Transfer in the Greenest Peas*

Abstract As some of the only Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters at z ∼ 0, Green Pea (GP) galaxies are possible analogs of the sources that reionized the universe. We present HST COS spectra of 13 of the most highly ionized GPs, with [O iii]/[O ii] = 6–35, and investigate correlations between Lyα, galaxy properties, and low-ionization UV lines. Galaxies with high [O iii]/[O ii] have higher Hα equivalent widths (EWs), and high intrinsic Lyα production may explain the prevalence of high Lyα EWs among GPs. While the Lyα escape fraction is closely linked to low gas covering fractions, implying a clumpy gas geometry, narrow Lyα velocity peak separation ( ) correlates with the ionization state, suggesting a density-bounded geometry. We therefore suggest that may trace the residual transparency of low-column-density pathways. Metallicity is associated with both [O iii]/[O ii] and . This trend may result from catastrophic cooling around low-metallicity star clusters, which generates a compact geometry of dense clouds within a low-density inter-clump medium. We find that the relative strength of low-ionization UV emission to absorption correlates with Lyα emission strength and is related to Lyα profile shape. However, as expected for optically thin objects, the GPs with the lowest show both weak low-ionization emission and weak absorption. The strengths of the low-ionization absorption and emission lines in a stacked spectrum do not correspond to any individual spectrum. Galaxies with high [O iii]/[O ii] contain a high fraction of LyC emitter candidates, but [O iii]/[O ii] alone is an insufficient diagnostic of LyC escape.

Galaxy properties as revealed by MaNGA – I. Constraints on IMF and M*/L gradients in ellipticals

ABSTRACT We estimate ages, metallicities, α-element abundance ratios, and stellar initial mass functions (IMFs) of elliptical (E) and S0 galaxies from the MaNGA-DR15 survey. We stack spectra and use a variety of single stellar population synthesis models to interpret the absorption line strengths in these spectra. We quantify how these properties vary across the population, as well as with galactocentric distance. This paper is the first of a series and is based on a sample of pure elliptical galaxies at z ≤ 0.08. We confirm previous work showing that IMFs in Es with the largest luminosity (Lr) and central velocity dispersion (σ0) appear to be increasingly bottom heavy towards their centres. For these galaxies the stellar mass-to-light ratio decreases at most by a factor of 2 from the central regions to Re. In contrast, for lower Lr and σ0 galaxies, the IMF is shallower and M*/Lr in the central regions is similar to the outskirts, although quantitative estimates depend on assumptions about element abundance gradients. Accounting self-consistently for these gradients when estimating both M* and Mdyn brings the two into good agreement: gradients reduce Mdyn by ∼0.2 dex while only slightly increasing the M* inferred using a Kroupa IMF. This is a different resolution of the M*–Mdyn discrepancy than has been followed in the recent literature where M* of massive galaxies is increased by adopting a Salpeter IMF throughout the galaxy while leaving Mdyn unchanged. A companion paper discusses how stellar population differences are even more pronounced if one separates slow from fast rotators.

The Structure of the Orion Nebula in the Direction of θ1 Ori C

Abstract We have used existing optical emission and absorption lines, [C ii] emission lines, and H i absorption lines to create a new model for a central column of material near the Trapezium region of the Orion Nebula. This was necessary because recent high spectral resolution spectra of optical emission lines and imaging spectra in the [C ii] 158 μm line have shown that there are new velocity systems associated with the foreground Veil and the material lying between θ 1 Ori C and the main ionization front of the nebula. When a family of models generated with the spectral synthesis code Cloudy were compared with the surface brightness of the emission lines and strengths of the Veil absorption lines seen in the Trapezium stars, distances from θ 1 Ori C were derived, with the closest, highest ionization layer being 1.3 pc. The line-of-sight distance of this layer is comparable with the size of the inner Huygens region in the plane of the sky. These layers are all blueshifted with respect to the Orion Nebula Cluster of stars, probably because of the pressure of a hot central bubble created by θ 1 Ori C's stellar wind. We find velocity components that are ascribed to both sides of this bubble. Our analysis shows that the foreground [C ii] 158 μm emission is part of a previously identified layer that forms a portion of a recently discovered expanding shell of material covering most of the larger Extended Orion Nebula.