Day 1650

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

1911.09720

Universality in the structure of dark matter haloes over twenty orders of magnitude in halo mass

Wang, et al

Dark matter haloes are the basic units of all cosmic structure. They grew by gravitational amplification of weak initial density fluctuations that are still visible on large scales in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Galaxies formed within relatively massive haloes as gas cooled and condensed at their centres, but many hypotheses for the nature of dark matter imply that the halo population should extend to masses many orders of magnitude below those where galaxies can form. Here, we use a novel, multi-zoom technique to create the first consistent simulation of the formation of present-day haloes over the full mass range populated when dark matter is aWeakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) of mass ~100 GeV. The simulation has a dynamic range of 30 orders of magnitude in mass, resolving the internal structure of hundreds of Earth-mass haloes just as well as that of hundreds of rich galaxy clusters. Remarkably, halo density profiles are universal over the entire mass range and are well described by simple two-parameter fitting formulae. Halo mass and concentration are tightly related in a way which depends on cosmology and on the nature of the dark matter. At fixed mass, concentration is independent of local environment for haloes less massive than those of typical galaxies. These results are important for predicting annihilation radiation signals from dark matter, since these should be dominated by contributions from the smallest structures.

1911.10204

Astronomy and the new SI

Saha

In 2019 the International System of units (SI) conceptually re-invented itself. This was necessary because quantum-electronic devices had become so precise that the old SI could no longer calibrate them. The new system defines values of fundamental constants (including $c,h,k,e$ but not $G$) and allows units to be realized from the defined constants through any applicable equation of physics. In this new and more abstract SI, units can take on new guises --- for example, the kilogram is at present best implemented as a derived electrical unit. Relevant to astronomy, however, is that several formerly non-SI units, such as electron-volts, light-seconds, and what we may call "gravity seconds" $GM/c^3$, can now be interpreted not as themselves units, but as shorthand for volts and seconds being used with particular equations of physics. Moreover, the classical astronomical units have exact and rather convenient equivalents in the new SI: zero AB magnitude amounts to $\simeq5\times10^{10}$ photons $\rm m^{-2}\,s^{-1}$ per logarithmic frequency or wavelength interval, $\rm 1\,au\simeq 500$ light-seconds, $\rm 1\,pc\simeq 10^8$ light-seconds, while a solar mass $\simeq5$ gravity-seconds. As a result, the unit conversions ubiquitous in astrophysics can now be eliminated, without introducing other problems, as the old-style SI would have done. We review a variety of astrophysical processes illustrating the simplifications possible with the new-style SI, with special attention to gravitational dynamics, where care is needed to avoid propagating the uncertainty in $G$. Well-known systems (GPS satellites, GW170817, and the M87 black hole) are used as examples wherever possible.

1911.11735

Photometric asymmetry between galaxies with opposite spin patterns: a comparison of three telescopes

Shamir

The spin pattern of a spiral galaxy is a matter of the perspective of the observer, and therefore galaxies with clockwise spin patterns are expected to be identical in their characteristics to galaxies with counterclockwise spin patterns. However, observations of a large number of galaxies show clear photometric differences between clockwise and counterclockwise spiral galaxies. In this study the magnitude difference between clockwise and counterclockwise spiral galaxies imaged by the space-based COSMOS survey is compared to galaxies imaged by the Earth-based SDSS and PanSTARRS around the same field. The comparison shows that the same asymmetry was identified by all three telescopes, providing strong evidence that the rotation direction of the galaxy affects its magnitude as measured from Earth. Analysis of a large number of galaxies from different parts of the sky shows that the differences between clockwise and counterclockwise galaxies are oriented around an axis such that the photometric asymmetry in one hemisphere is inverse to the photometric asymmetry in the opposite hemisphere. Due to the provocative nature of the observation, it is difficult to identify an immediate explanation. A possible explanation could be related to the large-scale structure of the universe, which leads to violation of the cosmological homogeneity assumption. Another possible explanation that does not require the violation of the cosmological principle is that the observation is driven by galaxy rotation. Due to relativistic beaming, such difference is indeed expected to be identified and peak at the galactic pole, but it is expected to be far smaller than the differences observed by all three telescopes. Therefore, if the asymmetry is driven by galaxy rotation, it corresponds to a much higher velocity than the actual measured rotational velocity of galaxies.

1911.11947

Beyond Limber: Efficient computation of angular power spectra for galaxy clustering and weak lensing

Fang, Krause, Eifler, MacCrann

Angular two-point statistics of large-scale structure observables are important cosmological probes. To reach the high accuracy required by the statistical precision of future surveys, some of these statistics may need to be computed without the commonly employed Limber approximation; the exact computation however requires integration over Bessel functions, and a brute-force evaluation is slow to converge. We present a new method based on our generalized FFTLog algorithm for the efficient computation of angular power spectra beyond the Limber approximation. The new method significantly simplifies the calculation and improves the numerical speed and stability. It is easily extended to handle integrals involving derivatives of Bessel functions, making it equally applicable to numerically more challenging cases such as contributions from redshift-space distortions and Doppler effects. We implement our method for galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing power spectra. We find that using the Limber approximation for galaxy clustering in future analyses like LSST Year 1 and DES Year 6 may cause significant biases in cosmological parameters, indicating that going beyond the Limber approximation is necessary for these analyses.

1911.12056

Angular redshift fluctuations: a new cosmological observable

Hernandez-Monteagudo, et al

We propose the use of angular fluctuations in the galaxy redshift field as a new way to extract cosmological information in the Universe. This new probe consists on the statistics of sky maps built by projecting redshifts under a Gaussian window of mean $z_{\rm obs}$ and width $\sigma_z$; $z(\hat{\mbox{n}}) = \bar{z}+\sum_{j\in \hat{\mbox{n}}} W_j (z_j-\bar{z}) / \langle \sum_i W_i \rangle= \bar{z} + \delta z (\hat{\mbox{n}})$, with $z_j$ and $W_j$ the redshift and the Gaussian weight, respectively, for the $j$-th galaxy falling on the pixel along sky direction $\hat{\mbox{n}}$, $\bar{z}=\sum_i W_i z_i / \sum_i W_i$ is the average redshift under the Gaussian shell, and the $\langle ... \rangle$ brackets denote an angular average over the entire footprint. We compute the angular power spectrum of the $\delta z (\hat{\mbox{n}})$ field in both numerical simulations and in linear perturbation theory. From these we find that the $\delta z (\hat{\mbox{n}})$ field: {\it (i)} is sensitive to the underlying density and peculiar velocity fields; {\it (ii)} is highly correlated, at the $\gtrsim 60\,\%$ level, to the line-of-sight projected peculiar velocity field; {\it (iii)} for narrow windows $(\sigma_z < 0.03$), it is almost completely uncorrelated to the projected galaxy angular density field under the same redshift window; and {\it (iv)} it is largely unaffected by multiplicative and additive systematic errors on the observed number of galaxies that are redshift-independent over $\sim\sigma_z$. We conclude that $\delta z (\hat{\mbox{n}})$ is a simple and robust tomographic measure of the cosmic density and velocity fields, complementary to angular clustering, that will contribute to a more complete exploitation of current and upcoming galaxy redshift surveys.

Day 1649

Thursday, Friday.

1911.08491
The Pristine survey X: a large population of low-metallicity stars permeates the Galactic disk
Sestito, et al

The orbits of the least chemically enriched stars open a window on the formation of our Galaxy when it was still in its infancy. The common picture is that these low-metallicity stars are distributed as an isotropic, pressure-supported component since these stars were either accreted from the early building blocks of the assembling Milky Way, or were later brought by the accretion of faint dwarf galaxies. Combining the metallicities and radial velocities from the Pristine and LAMOST surveys and Gaia DR2 parallaxes and proper motions for an unprecedented large and unbiased sample of very metal-poor stars at $[Fe/H]\leq-2.5$ we show that this picture is incomplete. This sample shows strong statistical evidence (at the $5.0\sigma$ level) of asymmetry in their kinematics, favouring prograde motion. Moreover, we find that $31\%$ of the stars that currently reside in the disk do not venture outside of the disk plane throughout their orbit. The discovery of this population implies that a significant fraction of stars with iron abundances $[Fe/H]\leq-2.5$ formed within or concurrently with the Milky Way disk and that the history of the disk was quiet enough to allow them to retain their disk-like orbital properties.

1911.09121

Complementarity of peculiar velocity surveys and redshift space distortions for testing gravity

Kim, Linder

Peculiar-velocity surveys of the low-redshift universe have significant leverage to constrain the growth rate of cosmic structure and test gravity. Wide-field imaging surveys combined with multi-object spectrographs (e.g. ZTF2, LSST, DESI, 4MOST) can use Type Ia supernovae as informative tracers of the velocity field, reaching few percent constraints on the growth rate $f\sigma_8$ at $z\lesssim0.2$ where density tracers cannot do better than $\sim10\%$. Combining the high-redshift DESI survey mapping redshift space distortions with a low-redshift supernova peculiar velocity survey using LSST and DESI can determine the gravitational growth index to $\sigma(\gamma)\approx0.02$, testing general relativity. We study the characteristics needed for the peculiar velocity survey, and how its complementarity with clustering surveys improves when going from a $\Lambda$CDM model assumption to a $w_0$-$w_a$ cosmology.

1911.09567
Linearity and correction of the BF effecting LSST sensors
Lage

The Brighter-Fatter (hereafter BF) effect in CCD sensors causes increases in the image size of bright objects due to electrostatic repulsion of collected charges. Correcting this effect in the LSST camera is required in order to meet the science goals of the project, especially galaxy shape measurements for weak lensing. The current plan for BF image correction in the LSST is to use the deconvolution method described in Coulton, et.al. [1]. In this work, we study the linearity of the BF effect and effectiveness of the Coulton correction, using both simulation tools and measurements made on prototype LSST CCDs from both CCD vendors. We conclude that the proposed image correction method may be adequate to meet the LSST science goals, although more work is needed on the algorithms used to generate the image correction kernel from sensor measurements.

Day 1648

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

1911.06333

The shape of relaxed galaxy clusters and the public release of a HST shape measurement code, pyRRG

Harvey, et al

We study the shape of eight dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters observed with the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Using strong and weak gravitational lensing, the shape of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy and the X-ray isophote we study the ellipticity of the cluster halo at four different radii. We find that the proxies probing the inner regions of the cluster are strongly coupled with the BCG shape correlated with both the shape predicted by strong gravitational lensing and the X-ray isophote. Conversely we find no such correlation between the shape as predicted by the weak lensing and the other three probes suggesting any coupling between the inner and outer regions is weak. We also present in this paper the public release of the HST weak lensing shape measurement code pyRRG, directly available from PyPi (https://pypi.org/project/pyRRG/). This python3.7 code, based on Rhodes et al. (2000) adopts an automated star-galaxy classifier based on a Random Forest and outputs scientifically useful products such as weak lensing catalogues suitable for the mass mapping algorithm Lenstool.

1911.06456

Is there really a `Hubble tension'?

Rameez, Sarkar

Errors in redshift measurements as small as $\Delta z \sim 0.0001$ can have significant impact on the value of inferred cosmological parameters such as $H_0$ (Davis et al. 2019). We have earlier reported that the redshifts of over 100 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) which are in common between the SDSSII-SNLS3 Joint Lightcurve Analysis (JLA) catalogue (Betoule et al. 2014) and the subsequent Pantheon compilation (Scolnic et al. 2018) are discrepant - some by as much as $\Delta z \sim 0.1$ (Rameez 2019a). We study the impact of this on the inferred value of $H_0$ using calibrations of the supernova absolute magnitude via the 'local distance ladder' (Riess et al. 2016). For supernovae with $\Delta z > 0.025$, the JLA redshifts favour $H_0 \sim 72$~km~s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$, while the Pantheon redshifts favour $H_0 \sim 68$~km~s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$. For comparison the value inferred (assuming the flat $\Lambda$CDM model) from the Planck data on CMB anisotropies is $H_0 \sim 67.4 \pm 0.5$~km~s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$ (Aghanim et al. 2018). Thus the systematic uncertainties that apparently still plague the distance ladder measurement of $H_0$ undermine the significance of the discrepancy claimed by Riess et al. (2019).

Messenger 117-3-13

The [ESO] distributed peer review experiment

Nando

All large, ground- and space-based astronomical facilities serving wide communities face a similar problem: in many cases the number of applications they receive in response to each call exceeds 1000. This poses a serious challenge to running an effective selection process under the classic peer-review paradigm, in which the proposals are assigned to pre-allocated panels with fixed compositions. Although, in principle, one could increase the size of the time allocation committee, this creates logistic and financial problems which place a practical limit on its maximum size, making this solution unviable beyond a certain volume of applications. For this reason, alternative solutions must be sought. One of these is the so-called Distributed Peer Review (DPR) in which, by submitting a proposal, the Principal Investigators (PIs) agree both to act as reviewers and to have their proposal reviewed by their peers. In this article we report the results of a DPR experiment run by ESO in Period 103, in parallel with the regular review by the Observing Programmes Committee (OPC).

1911.07832
Angular correlation function estimators accounting for contamination from probabilistic distance meausrements
Awan, Gawiser

With the advent of surveys containing millions to billions of galaxies, it is imperative to develop analysis techniques that utilize the available statistical power. In galaxy clustering, even small sample contamination arising from distance uncertainties can lead to large artifacts, which the standard estimator does not account for. We first introduce a formalism, termed decontamination, that corrects for sample contamination by utilizing the observed cross-correlations in the contaminated samples; this corrects any correlation function estimator for contamination. Using this formalism, we present a new estimator that uses the standard estimator to measure correlation functions in the contaminated samples but then corrects for contamination. We also introduce a weighted estimator that assigns each galaxy a weight in each redshift bin based on its probability of being in that bin. We demonstrate that these estimators effectively recover the true correlation functions and their covariance matrices. Our estimators can correct for sample contamination caused by misclassification between object types as well as photometric redshifts; they should be particularly helpful for studies of galaxy evolution and baryonic acoustic oscillations, where forward-modeling the clustering signal using the contaminated redshift distribution is undesirable.

1911.07855

The impact of our local environment of cosmological statistics

Hall

We conduct a thorough investigation into the possibility that residing in an overdense region of the Universe may induce bias in measurements of the large-scale structure. We compute the conditional correlation function and angular power spectrum of density and lensing fluctuations while holding the local spherically-averaged density fixed and show that for Gaussian fields this has no effect on the angular power at $l>0$. We identify a range of scales where a perturbative approach allows analytic progress to be made, and we compute leading-order conditional power spectra using an Edgeworth expansion and second-order perturbation theory. We find no evidence for any significant bias to cosmological power spectra from our local density contrast. We show that when smoothed over a large region around the observer, conditioning on the local density typically affects density power spectra by less than a percent at cosmological distances, below cosmic variance. We find that while typical corrections to the lensing angular power spectrum can be at the 10% level on the largest angular scales and for source redshifts $z_s \lesssim 0.1$, for the typical redshifts targeted by upcoming wide imaging surveys the corrections are sub-percent and negligible, in contrast to previous claims in the literature. Using an estimate of the local spherically-averaged density from a composite galaxy redshift catalogue we find that the corrections from conditioning on our own local density are below cosmic variance and subdominant to other non-linear effects. We discuss the potential implications of our results for cosmology and point out that a measurement of the local density contrast may be used as a consistency test of cosmological models.

1911.07869

Maximum cosmological information from type-Ia supernova observations

Yoo

Type-Ia supernova observations yield estimates of the luminosity distance, which includes not only the background luminosity distance, but also the fluctuation due to inhomogeneities in the Universe. In particular, the spatial correlation of the host galaxies is a dominant source of the fluctuation in the luminosity distance measurements. Utilizing the recent theoretical framework that accurately quantifies the information contents accounting for the three-dimensional correlation of the observables on the past-light cone, we compute the maximum cosmological information obtainable from idealized supernova surveys as a function of maximum redshift $z_m$. Here we consider two cosmological parameters $\Omega_m$ and $w_0$ and show that these parameters can be constrained at maximum 1% levels in an idealized survey with $z_m=1$. We discuss how these fundamental limits set by cosmic variance can be overcome.

1911.08275

Corrfunc: blazing fast correlation functions with AVX512F SIMD intrinsics

SInha, Garrison

Correlation functions are widely used in extra-galactic astrophysics to extract insights into how galaxies occupy dark matter halos and in cosmology to place stringent constraints on cosmological parameters. A correlation function fundamentally requires computing pair-wise separations between two sets of points and then computing a histogram of the separations. Corrfunc is an existing open-source, high-performance software package for efficiently computing a multitude of correlation functions. In this paper, we will discuss the SIMD AVX512F kernels within Corrfunc, capable of processing 16 floats or 8 doubles at a time. The latest manually implemented Corrfunc AVX512F kernels show a speedup of up to $\sim 4\times$ relative to compiler-generated code for double-precision calculations. The AVX512F kernels show $\sim 1.6\times$ speedup relative to the AVX kernels and compare favorably to a theoretical maximum of $2\times$. In addition, by pruning pairs with too large of a minimum possible separation, we achieve a $\sim 5-10\%$ speedup across all the SIMD kernels. Such speedups highlight the importance of programming explicitly with SIMD vector intrinsics for complex calculations that can not be efficiently vectorized by compilers. Corrfunc is publicly available at https://github.com/manodeep/Corrfunc/.

Day 1647

Thursday, Friday.

1911.05081
The Milky Way's disk of classical satellite galaxies in light of Gaia DR2
Pawlowski, Kroupa

We study the correlation of orbital poles of the 11 classical satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, comparing results from previous proper motions with the independent data by Gaia DR2. Previous results on the degree of correlation and its significance are confirmed by the new data. A majority of the satellites co-orbit along the Vast Polar Structure, the plane (or disk) of satellite galaxies defined by their positions. The orbital planes of eight satellites align to $<20^\circ$ with a common direction, seven even orbit in the same sense. Most also share similar specific angular momenta, though their wide distribution on the sky does not support a recent group infall or satellites-of-satellites origin. The orbital pole concentration has continuously increased as more precise proper motions were measured, as expected if the underlying distribution shows true correlation that is washed out by observational uncertainties. The orbital poles of the up to seven most correlated satellites are in fact almost as concentrated as expected for the best-possible orbital alignment achievable given the satellite positions. Combining the best-available proper motions substantially increases the tension with $\Lambda$CDM cosmological expectations: <0.1 per cent of simulated satellite systems in IllustrisTNG contain seven orbital poles as closely aligned as observed. Simulated systems that simultaneously reproduce the concentration of orbital poles and the flattening of the satellite distribution have a frequency of <0.1 per cent for any number of k > 3 combined orbital poles, indicating that these results are not affected by a look-elsewhere effect. This compounds the Planes of Satellite Galaxies Problem.

1911.05083
Over-constrained gravitational lens models and the Hubble constant
Kochanek

It is well known that measurements of H0 from gravitational lens time delays scale as H0~1-k_E where k_E is the mean convergence at the Einstein radius R_E but that all available lens data other than the delays provide no direct constraints on k_E. The properties of the radial mass distribution constrained by lens data are R_E and the dimensionless quantity x=R_E a''(R_E)/(1-k_E)$ where a''(R_E) is the second derivative of the deflection profile at R_E. Lens models with too few degrees of freedom, like power law models with densities ~r^(-n), have a one-to-one correspondence between x and k_E (for a power law model, x=2(n-2) and k_E=(3-n)/2=(2-x)/4). This means that highly constrained lens models with few parameters quickly lead to very precise but inaccurate estimates of k_E and hence H0. Based on experiments with a broad range of plausible dark matter halo models, it is unlikely that any current estimates of H0 from gravitational lens time delays are more accurate than ~10%, regardless of the reported precision.

1911.05251

Live fast, die young: GMC lifetimes in the FIRE cosmological simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies

Benincasa, et al

We present the first measurement of the lifetimes of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in cosmological simulations at $z = 0$, using the Latte suite of FIRE-2 simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies. We track GMCs with total gas mass $\gtrsim 10^5$ M$_\odot$ at high spatial ($\sim1$ pc), mass ($7100$ M$_{\odot}$), and temporal (1 Myr) resolution. Our simulated GMCs are consistent with the distribution of masses for massive GMCs in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. We find GMC lifetimes of $5-7$ Myr, or 1-2 freefall times, on average, with less than 1\% of clouds living longer than 20 Myr. We find increasing GMC lifetimes with galactocentric radius, implying that environment affects the evolutionary cycle of GMCs. However, our GMC lifetimes show no systematic dependence on GMC mass or amount of star formation. These results are broadly consistent with inferences from the literature and provide an initial investigation into ultimately understanding the physical processes that govern GMC lifetimes in a cosmological setting.

1911.05736

Constraining the abundance of primordial black holes with gravitational lensing of gravitational waves at LIGO frequencies

DIego

Gravitational waves from binary black holes that are gravitationally lensed can be distorted by small microlenses along the line of sight. Microlenses with masses of a few tens of solar masses, and that are close to a critical curve in the lens plane, can introduce a time delay of a few millisecond. Such time delay would result in distinctive interference patterns in the gravitational wave that can be measured with current experiments such as LIGO/Virgo. We consider the particular case of primordial black holes with masses between 5 and 50 solar masses acting as microlenses. We study the effect of a population of primordial black holes constituting a fraction of the dark matter, and contained in a macrolens (galaxy or cluster), over gravitational waves that are being lensed by the combined effect of the macrolens plus microlenses. We find that at the typical magnifications expected for observed GW events, the fraction of dark matter in the form of compact microlenses, such as primordial black holes, can be constrained to percent level. Similarly, if a small percentage of the dark matter is in the form of microlenses with a few tens of solar masses, at sufficiently large magnification factors, all gravitational waves will show interference effects. These effects could have an impact on the inferred parameters. The effect is more important for macroimages with negative parity, which usually arrive after the macroimages with positive parity.

1911.05743

High resolution imaging in the visible with faint reference stars on large ground-based telescopes

Mackay

Astronomers working with faint targets will benefit greatly from improved image quality on current and planned ground-based telescopes. At present, most adaptive optic systems are targeted at the highest resolution with bright guide stars. We demonstrate a significantly new approach to measuring low-order wavefront errors by using a pupil-plane curvature wavefront sensor design. By making low order wavefront corrections we can deliver significant improvements in image resolution in the visible on telescopes in the 2.5m to 8.2m range on good astronomical sites. As a minimum the angular resolution will be improved by a factor of 2.5 to 3 under any reasonable conditions and, with further correction and image selection, even sharper images may be obtained routinely. We re-examine many of the assumptions about what may be achieved with faint reference stars to achieve this performance. We show how our new design of curvature wavefront sensor combined with wavefront fitting routines based on radon transforms allow this performance to be achieved routinely. Simulations over a wide range of conditions match the performance already achieved in runs with earlier versions of the hardware described. Reference stars significantly fainter than I 17m may be used routinely to produce images with a near diffraction limited core and halo much smaller than that delivered by natural seeing.


1911.05791

The assembly of the first massive black holes

Inayoshi, et al

The existence of $\approx$10^9 Msun supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within the first billion year of the universe has stimulated numerous ideas for the prompt formation and rapid growth of BHs in the early universe. Here we review ways in which the seeds of massive BHs may have first assembled, how they may have subsequently grown as massive as $\approx$10^9 Msun, and how multi-messenger observations could distinguish between different SMBH assembly scenarios. We conclude the following: (1) The ultra-rare $\approx$10^9 Msun SMBHs represent only the tip of the iceberg. Early BHs likely fill a continuum from stellar-mass (approx. 10 Msun) to the super-massive ($\approx$10^9 Msun) regime, reflecting a range of initial masses and growth histories. (2) Stellar-mass BHs were likely left behind by the first generation of stars at redshifts as high as z=30, but their initial growth was typically stunted due to the shallow potential wells of their host galaxies. (3) Conditions in some larger, metal-poor galaxies soon became conducive to the rapid formation and growth of massive `seed' holes, via gas accretion and by mergers in dense stellar clusters. (4) BH masses depend on the environment (such as the number and properties of nearby radiation sources and the local baryonic streaming velocity), and on the metal enrichment and assembly history of the host galaxy. (5) Distinguishing between assembly mechanisms will be difficult, but a combination of observations by LISA (probing massive BH growth via mergers) and by deep multi-wavelength electromagnetic observations (probing growth via gas accretion) is particularly promising.

1911.05872
Flat Field Forensics
Greffe, Smith

We present two subtle charge transport problems revealed by the statistics of flat fields. Mark Downing has presented photon transfer curves showing variance dips of order 25% at signal levels around 80% of blooming. These dips appear when substrate voltage is raised above zero, for - 0V to 8V parallel clock swing. We present a modified parallel transfer sequence that eliminates the dip, based on the hypothesis that it is caused by charge spillage from last line to the 2nd last line. We discuss an experiment to test whether the electrode map is incorrectly reported in the data sheet. A more subtle dip in the variance occurs at signals around 6000 e-. This is eliminated by increasing serial clock high by a few volts, suggesting the existence of a small structural trap at the parallel-serial interface. Tails above blooming stars are suppressed using an inverted clocking during readout and a positive clocking during exposure to maintain sharpness of the PTC. We show that integrating under three parallel phases, instead of the two recommended, reduces pixel area variations from 0.39% to 0.28%, while also eliminating striations observed along central columns in pixel area maps. We show that systematic line and column width errors at stitching boundaries (~15 nm) are now an order of magnitude less than the random pixel area variations.

1911.05929

Blinding multi probe cosmological experiments

Muir, Bernstein, Huterer, et al

The goal of blinding is to hide an experiment's critical results --- here the inferred cosmological parameters --- until all decisions affecting its analysis have been finalised. This is especially important in the current era of precision cosmology, when the results of any new experiment are closely scrutinised for consistency or tension with previous results. In analyses that combine multiple observational probes, like the combination of galaxy clustering and weak lensing in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), it is challenging to blind the results while retaining the ability to check for (in)consistency between different parts of the data. We propose a simple new blinding transformation that works by modifying the summary statistics that are input to parameter estimation, such as two-point correlation functions. The transformation shifts the measured statistics to new values that are consistent with (blindly) shifted cosmological parameters, while preserving internal (in)consistency. We apply the blinding transformation to simulated data for the projected DES Year 3 galaxy clustering and weak lensing analysis, demonstrating that practical blinding is achieved without significant perturbation of internal-consistency checks, as measured here by degradation of the $\chi^2$ between data and best-fitting model. Our blinding method conserves $\chi^2$ more precisely as experiments evolve to higher precision.

Day 1646

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

1911.02581

Systematic errors in strong gravitational lensing reconstruction, a numerical simulation perspective

Enzi, et al

We present the analysis of a sample of twenty-four galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lens systems with a background source and deflectors from the Illustris-1 simulation. We create mock lensing observations with a data quality comparable to known samples such as the SLACS lenses, to study the degeneracy between the complex mass distribution of the lenses, subhaloes, the surface brightness distribution of the sources, and the time delays. Using a novel inference framework based on Approximate Bayesian Computation, we find that for all the considered lens systems, an elliptical and cored power-law mass density distribution provides a good fit to the data. However, due to the presence of unphysical cores in the simulated lenses, most reconstructions are affected by some form of the Source Position Transformation. The latter leads to a systematic underestimation of the source sizes by 50 per cent on average, and an underestimation of the time delays by up to 53 per cent. On the other hand, we find no degeneracy between complexity in the lensing potential and the inferred amount of substructure. We recover an average total projected mass fraction in subhaloes of $f_{\rm sub}<1.7-2.0\times10^{-3}$ at the 68 per cent confidence level which is consistent with zero and in agreement with the fact that all subhaloes had been removed from the simulation. Our work highlights the need for even higher-resolution simulations to quantify the lensing effect of more realistic galactic potentials better. Finally, our results confirm that additional observational constraints may be required to break existing degeneracies.

1911.02610

Limitations to the "basic" HOD model and beyond

Hadzhiyska, et al

We make use of the IllustrisTNG cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations to test fundamental assumptions of the mass-based Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) approach to modelling the galaxy-halo connection. By comparing the clustering of galaxies measured in the 300 Mpc TNG box (TNG300) with that predicted by the standard ("basic") HOD model (bHOD), we find that, on average, the bHOD model underpredicts the real-space correlation function in the TNG300 box by $\sim$ 15\% on scales of $1 \ {\rm Mpc}/h < r < 20 \ {\rm Mpc}/h$, which is well beyond the target precision demanded of next-generation galaxy redshift surveys. We perform several tests to establish the robustness of our findings to systematic effects, including the effect of finite box size and the choice of halo finder. In our exploration of "secondary" parameters with which to augment the bHOD, we find that the local environment of the halo, the velocity dispersion anisotropy, $\beta$, and the product of the half-mass radius and the velocity dispersion, $\sigma^2 R_{\rm halfmass}$, are the three most effective measures of assembly bias that help reconcile the bHOD-predicted clustering with that in TNG300. In addition, we test other halo properties such as halo spin, formation epoch and halo concentration. We also find that at fixed halo mass, galaxies in one type of environment cluster differently from galaxies in another. We demonstrate that a more complete model of the galaxy-halo connection can be constructed if both the mass and information regarding the local environment in which a halo is embedded are combined.

1911.04312
Clustering of Local Group distances: publication bias or correlated measurements?  VI. Extending to Virgo cluster distances
de Grijs, Bono

We have established an internally consistent Local Group distance framework, using the Galactic Center, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and Messier 31 (M31) as important stepping stones. At greater distances, few distance benchmarks are available. As a consequence, M87 and/or Virgo cluster distances are often invoked as the next rung on the ladder to more distant objects such as the Fornax and Coma clusters. Therefore, we extensively mined the published literature for independently derived distance estimates to either M87 or the center of the Virgo cluster. Based on our newly compiled, comprehensive database of 213 such distances, published between 1929 and 2017 July, we recommend an outward extension to our distance framework, $(m-M)_0^{\rm M87} = 31.03 \pm 0.14$ mag ($D = 16.07 \pm 1.03$ Mpc; where the uncertainty represents the Gaussian $\sigma$ of the distribution), based on a subset of recent (post-1990) M87/Virgo cluster distance measurements. The most stable distance tracers employed here were derived from analysis of both primary and secondary distance indicators. Among the former, we preferentially rely on Cepheid period--luminosity relations and red-giant-branch terminal magnitudes; our preferred secondary distance tracers are surface brightness fluctuations. Our updated distance modulus to M87 implies a slightly reduced black hole mass of $(5.9 \pm 0.6) \times 10^9 M_\odot$ with respect to that determined by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration.

1911.04507
Probing the galaxy-halo connection with total satellite luminosity
Tinker, et al

We demonstrate how the total luminosity in satellite galaxies is a powerful probe of dark matter halos around central galaxies. The method cross-correlates central galaxies in spectroscopic galaxy samples with fainter galaxies detected in photometric surveys. After background subtraction, the excess galaxies around the central galaxies represent faint satellite galaxies within the dark matter halo. Using abundance matching models, we show that the the total galaxy luminosity, L_sat, scales linearly with host halo mass, making L_sat an excellent proxy for M_h. L_sat is also sensitive to the formation time of the halo, as younger halos have more substructure at fixed M_h. We demonstrate that probes of galaxy large-scale environment can break this degeneracy. Although this is an indirect probe of the halo, it can yield a high-S/N measurement for galaxies expected to occupy halos at $<10^{12}$ M_sol, where other methods suffer from larger errors. In this paper we focus on observational and theoretical systematics in the L_sat method. We test the robustness of our method of finding central galaxies and our methods of estimating the number of background galaxies. We implement this method on central galaxies in SDSS data, with satellites identified in faint imaging from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. We find excellent agreement between our theoretical predictions and the observational measurements. Finally, we compare our L_sat measurements to weak lensing estimates of M_h for red and blue subsamples. In the stellar mass range where the measurements overlap, we find consistent results, where red galaxies live in larger halos. However, the L_sat approach allows us to probe significantly lower mass galaxies. At these masses, the L_sat values are equivalent. This example shows the potential of L_sat as a probe of dark halos. (Abridged)

1911.04509

Connecting SDSS central galaxies to their host haloes using total satellite luminosity

Alpaslan, Tinker

The total luminosity of satellite galaxies around a central galaxy, L$_{sat}$, is a powerful metric for probing dark matter halos. In this paper we use data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys to explore the relationship between L$_{sat}$ and various observable galaxy properties for a sample of 117,966 central galaxies out to $z = 0.15$. At fixed stellar mass, every galaxy property we explore shows a correlation with L$_{sat}$. This implies that dark matter halos play a possibly significant role in determining these secondary galaxy properties. We quantify these correlations by computing the mutual information between L$_{sat}$ and secondary properties and explore how this mutual information varies as a function of stellar mass and when separating the sample into star-forming and quiescent central galaxies. We find that absolute r-band magnitude correlates more strongly with L$_{sat}$ than stellar mass across all galaxy populations; and that effective radius, velocity dispersion, and S\'ersic index do so as well for star-forming and quiescent galaxies. L$_{sat}$ is sensitive to both the mass of the host halo as well as the halo formation history, with younger halos having higher L$_{sat}$. L$_{sat}$ by itself cannot distinguish between these two effects, but measurements of galaxy large-scale environment can break this degeneracy. For star-forming central galaxies, we find that r$_{\rm eff}$, $\sigma_v$, and S\'ersic index all correlate with large-scale density, implying that these halo age plays a role in determining these properties. For quiescent galaxies, we find that all secondary properties are independent of environment, implying that correlations with L$_{sat}$ are driven only by halo mass. These results are a significant step forward in quantifying the full extent of the galaxy-halo connection, and present a new test of galaxy formation models.

1911.04524

Hyperbolic Orbits in the Solar System: interstellar origin or perturbed Oort Cloud Coments?

Higuchi, Kokubo

We study the dynamical properties of objects in hyperbolic orbits passing through the inner Solar system in the context of two different potential sources: interstellar space and the Oort cloud. We analytically derive the probability distributions of eccentricity, $e$, and perihelion distance, $q$, for each source and estimate the numbers of objects produced per unit of time as a function of these quantities. By comparing the numbers from the two sources, we assess which origin is more likely for a hyperbolic object having a given eccentricity and perihelion distance. We find that the likelihood that a given hyperbolic object is of interstellar origin increases with decreasing eccentricity and perihelion. Conversely, the likelihood that a hyperbolic object has been scattered from the Oort cloud by a passing star increases with decreasing eccentricity and increasing perihelion. By carefully considering their orbital elements, we conclude that both 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua ($e\simeq$ 1.2 and $q\simeq$ 0.26 au) and 2I/2019 Q4 Borisov ($e\simeq$ 3.3 and $q\simeq$ 2 au) are most likely of interstellar origin, not scattered from the Oort cloud. However, we also find that Oort cloud objects can be scattered into hyperbolic orbits like those of the two known examples, by sub-stellar and even sub-Jovian mass perturbers. This highlights the need for better characterization of the low mass end of the free-floating brown dwarf and planet population.

1911.04670

Residual smoothing: using mocks to correct model covariance matrices

O'Connell

Abstract Covariance matrix estimation is a challenging problem in cosmology. Recent work has shown that model covariance matrices can be precise, and that at relatively large scales they can also be accurate. We introduce a data-driven method that can identify features from a mock covariance matrix that are missing from a corresponding model, then incorporate them into the model without significantly degrading the model's precision. We apply this method to a BOSS-like survey and extend a model covariance to be valid at scales relevant for measurements of Redshift Space Distortions (8-40 Mpc/h), where the galaxy field is significantly non-Gaussian.

1911.05068

The Vanishing & Appearing sources during a Century of Observations project: I>  USNO objects missing in modern sky surveys and follow-up observations of a "missing star"

Villarroel, et al

In this paper we report the current status of a new research program. The primary goal of the "Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations" (VASCO) project is to search for vanishing and appearing sources using existing survey data to find examples of exceptional astrophysical transients. The implications of finding such objects extend from traditional astrophysics fields to the more exotic searches for evidence of technologically advanced civilizations. In this first paper we present new, deeper observations of the tentative candidate discovered by Villarroel et al. (2016). We then perform the first searches for vanishing objects throughout the sky by comparing 600 million objects from the US Naval Observatory Catalogue (USNO) B1.0 down to a limiting magnitude of $\sim 20 - 21$ with the recent Pan-STARRS Data Release-1 (DR1) with a limiting magnitude of $\sim$ 23.4. We find about 150,000 preliminary candidates that do not have any Pan-STARRS counterpart within a 30 arcsec radius. We show that these objects are redder and have larger proper motions than typical USNO objects. We visually examine the images for a subset of about 24,000 candidates, superseding the 2016 study with a sample ten times larger. We find about $\sim$ 100 point sources visible in only one epoch in the red band of the USNO which may be of interest in searches for strong M dwarf flares, high-redshift supernovae or other catagories of unidentified red transients.

Day 1645

Thursday.  Friday.

1911.02195
FPFS Shear estimator: systematic tests on the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey First Year Data
Li, Oguri, et al

We apply the Fourier Power Function Shapelets (FPFS) shear estimator to the first year data of the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey to construct a shape catalog. The FPFS shear estimator has been demonstrated to have multiplicative bias less than one percent in the absence of blending, regardless of complexities of galaxy shapes, smears of point spread functions (PSFs) and contamination from noise. The blending bias is calibrated with realistic image simulations, which include the impact of neighboring objects, using the COSMOS Hubble Space Telescope images. Here we carefully test the influence of PSF model residual on the FPFS shear estimation and the uncertainties in the shear calibration. Internal null tests are conducted to characterize potential systematics in the FPFS shape catalog and the results are compared with those measured using a catalog where the shapes were estimated using the re-Gaussianization algorithms. Furthermore, we compare various weak lensing measurements between the FPFS shape catalog and the re-Gaussianization shape catalog and conclude that the weak lensing measurements between these two shape catalogs are consistent with each other within the statistical uncertainty.

1911.02505

Metadetection: mitigating shear-dependent object detection biases with Metacalibration

Sheldon, et al

Metacalibration is a new technique for measuring weak gravitational lensing shear that is unbiased for isolated galaxy images. In this work we test metacalibration with overlapping, or "blended" galaxy images. Using standard metacalibration, we find a few percent bias for galaxy densities relevant for current surveys, and that this bias increases with increasing galaxy number density. We show that this bias is not due to blending itself, but rather to shear-dependent object detection. If object detection is shear independent, no deblending of images is needed, in principle. We demonstrate that detection biases are accurately removed when including object detection in the metacalibration process, a technique we call metadetection. This process involves applying an artificial shear to images of small regions of sky, and performing detection and measurement on the sheared images in order to calculate a shear response. We show that the method works up to second-order shear effects even in highly blended scenes. However, because the space between objects is sheared coherently in metadetection, the accuracy is ultimately limited by how closely this process matches real data, in which some, but not all, galaxies images are sheared coherently. We find that even for the worst case scenario, in which the space between objects is completely unsheared, the bias is at most a few tenths of a percent for future surveys. We show that the primary technical challenge for metadetection, deconvolution using a spatially varying point-spread-function, does not result in a significant bias for typical imaging surveys. Finally, we discuss additional technical challenges that must be met in order to implement metadetection for real surveys.

Day1644

Monday.  Tuesday.

1911.00011
The distribution of ultra-diffuse and ultra-compact galaxies in the Frontier Fields
Janssens, et al

Large low surface brightness galaxies have recently been found to be abundant in nearby galaxy clusters. In this paper, we investigate these ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in the six Hubble Frontier Fields galaxy clusters: Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1$-$2403, MACSJ0717.5$+$3745, MACSJ1149.5$+$2223, Abell S1063 and Abell 370. These are the most massive ($1$-$3 \times 10^{15}~M_\odot$) and distant ($0.308 < z < 0.545$) systems in which this class of galaxy has been yet discovered. We estimate the clusters host of order ${\sim}$200-1400 UDGs inside the virial radius ($R_{200}$), consistent with the UDG abundance halo-mass relation found in the local universe, and suggests that UDGs may be formed in clusters. Within each cluster, however, we find that UDGs are not evenly distributed. Instead their projected spatial distributions are lopsided, and they are deficient in the regions of highest mass density as traced by gravitational lensing. While the deficiency of UDGs in central regions is not surprising, the lopsidedness is puzzling. The UDGs, and their lopsided spatial distributions, may be associated with known substructures late in their infall into the clusters, meaning we find evidence both for formation of UDGs in clusters and for UDGs falling into clusters. We also investigate the ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs) residing in the clusters, and find the spatial distributions of UDGs and UCDs appear anti-correlated. Around 15% of UDGs exhibit either compact nuclei or nearby point sources. Taken together, these observations provide additional evidence for a picture where at least some UDGs are destroyed in dense cluster environments and leave behind a residue of UCDs.

1911.00019

The effects of cosmic rays on the formation of Milky Way-like galaxies in a cosmological constext

Buck, et al

We investigate the impact of cosmic rays (CR) and different modes of CR transport on the properties of Milky Way-like galaxies in cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations in the context of the AURIGA project. We systematically study how advection, anisotropic diffusion and additional Alfv\'en-wave cooling affect the galactic disk and the circum-galactic medium (CGM). Global properties such as stellar mass and star formation rate vary little between simulations with and without various CR transport physics, whereas structural properties such as disk sizes, CGM densities or temperatures can be strongly affected. In our simulations, CRs affect the accretion of gas onto galaxies by modifying the CGM flow structure. This alters the angular momentum distribution which manifests itself as a difference in stellar and gaseous disk size. The strength of this effect depends on the CR transport model: CR advection results in the most compact disks while the Alfv\'en-wave model resembles more the AURIGA model. The advection and diffusion models exhibit large ($r\sim50$ kpc) CR pressure-dominated gas haloes causing a smoother and partly cooler CGM. The additional CR pressure smoothes small-scale density peaks and compensates for the missing thermal pressure support at lower CGM temperatures. In contrast, the Alfv\'en-wave model is only CR pressure dominated at the disk-halo interface and only in this model the gamma-ray emission from hadronic interactions agrees with observations. In contrast to previous findings, we conclude that details of CR transport are critical for accurately predicting the impact of CR feedback on galaxy formation.

1911.00443

Deep learning for space-variant deconvolution in galaxy surveys

Sureau, et al

Deconvolution of large survey images with millions of galaxies requires to develop a new generation of methods which can take into account a space variant Point Spread Function and have to be at the same time accurate and fast. We investigate in this paper how Deep Learning could be used to perform this task. We employ a U-NET Deep Neural Network architecture to learn in a supervised setting parameters adapted for galaxy image processing and study two strategies for deconvolution. The first approach is a post-processing of a mere Tikhonov deconvolution with closed form solution and the second one is an iterative deconvolution framework based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). Our numerical results based on GREAT3 simulations with realistic galaxy images and PSFs show that our two approaches outperforms standard techniques based on convex optimization, whether assessed in galaxy image reconstruction or shape recovery. The approach based on Tikhonov deconvolution leads to the most accurate results except for ellipticity errors at high signal to noise ratio where the ADMM approach performs slightly better, is also more computation-time efficient to process a large number of galaxies, and is therefore recommended in this scenario.

Day 1643

Wednesday, Thursday.  Friday.

1910.12867
Multi-Resolution filtering: an empirical method for isolating faint, extended emission in Dragonfly data and other low resolution images
van Dokkum

We describe an empirical, self-contained method to isolate faint, large-scale emission in imaging data of low spatial resolution. Multi-resolution filtering (MRF) uses independent data of superior spatial resolution to create a model for all compact and high surface brightness objects in the field. This model is convolved with an appropriate kernel and subtracted from the low resolution image. The halos of bright stars are removed in a separate step and artifacts are masked. The resulting image only contains extended emission fainter than a pre-defined surface brightness limit. The method was developed for the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, which produces images that have excellent low surface brightness sensitivity but poor spatial resolution. We demonstrate the MRF technique using Dragonfly images of a satellite of the spiral galaxy M101, the tidal debris surrounding M51, and two ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Coma cluster. As part of the analysis we present a newly-identified very faint galaxy in the filtered Dragonfly image of the M101 field. We also discuss variations of the technique for cases when no low resolution data are available (self-MRF and cross-MRF), and introduce a new method for robustly measuring the surface brightness depth of images. All codes are implemented in mrf, an open-source MIT licensed Python package.

1910.13305
Constraining cosmology using galaxy position angle-only cosmic shear
Whittaker

We investigate cosmological parameter inference from realistic simulated weak lensing image data using only galaxy position angles, as opposed to full-ellipticity information. We demonstrate that input shear fields can be accurately reconstructed using only the statistics of source galaxy position angles and that, from these shear fields, we can successfully recover power spectra and infer the input cosmology. This paper builds on previous work on angle-only weak lensing estimation by extending the method to deal with variable and anisotropic PSF convolution and variable shear fields. Previous work employed a weighting scheme to downweight the contribution to shear estimates from sources aligned with the PSF. This work removes the need to downweight sources by convolving them with an image of the PSF rotated by $90^{\circ}$. We show thats this successfully undoes the rotation caused by PSF convolution, assuming we have reliable images of the PSF. We find that we can accurately recover the input shear signal from a simulated Stage III-like weak lensing data set using only the position angles to within an overall scale factor, and that the scale factor can be determined using a cosmology independent simulation with noise, galaxy, and PSF properties that match the observed data set. We then demonstrate that we can constrain cosmological parameters using angle-only shear estimates with a constraining power comparable to using current state-of-the-art shape measurement techniques that provide full-ellipticity information.

1910.14045
The Dragonfly Wide Field Survey. I. Telescope, survey design and data characterization
Danieli, et al

We present a description of the Dragonfly Wide Field Survey (DWFS), a deep photometric survey of a wide area of sky. The DWFS covers 330 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ in the equatorial GAMA fields and the Stripe 82 fields in the SDSS $g$ and $r$ bands. It is carried out with the 48-lens Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a telescope that is optimized for the detection of low surface brightness emission. The main goal of the survey is to study the dwarf galaxy population beyond the Local Group. In this paper, we describe the survey design and show early results. We reach $1\sigma$ depths of $\mu_g\approx 31$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ on arcmin scales, and show that Milky Way satellites such as Sextans, Bootes, and Ursa Major should be detectable out to $D\gtrsim 10$ Mpc. We also provide an overview of the elements and operation of the 48-lens Dragonfly telescope and a detailed description of its data reduction pipeline. The pipeline is fully automated, with individual frames subjected to a rigorous series of quality tests. The sky subtraction is performed in two stages, ensuring that emission features with spatial scales up to $\sim 0.^{\circ}9 \times 0.^{\circ}6$ are preserved. The DWFS provides unparalleled sensitivity to low surface brightness features on arcminute scales.

1910.14058

How mergers magnetise massive stars

Schneider, et al

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe. The Sun's magnetic field drives the solar wind and causes solar flares and other energetic surface phenomena that profoundly affect space weather here on Earth. The first magnetic field in a star other than the Sun was detected in 1947 in the peculiar A-type star 78 Vir. It is now known that the magnetic fields of the Sun and other low-mass stars (<1.5 solar masses) are generated in-situ by a dynamo process in their turbulent, convective envelopes. Unlike such stars, intermediate-mass and high-mass stars (>1.5 solar masses; referred to as "massive" stars here) have relatively quiet, radiative envelopes where a solar-like dynamo cannot operate. However, about 10% of them, including 78 Vir, have strong, large-scale surface magnetic fields whose origin has remained a major mystery. The massive star $\tau$ Sco is a prominent member of this group and appears to be surprisingly young compared to other presumably coeval members of the Upper Scorpius association. Here, we present the first 3D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of the coalescence of two massive main-sequence stars and 1D stellar evolution computations of the subsequent evolution of the merger product that can explain $\tau$ Sco's magnetic field, apparent youth and other observed characteristics. We argue that field amplification in stellar mergers is a general mechanism to form strongly-magnetised massive stars. These stars are promising progenitors of those neutron stars that host the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe, so-called magnetars, and that may give rise to some of the enigmatic fast radio bursts. Strong magnetic fields affect the explosions of core-collapse supernovae and, moreover, those magnetic stars that have rapidly-rotating cores at the end of their lives might provide the right conditions to power long-duration gamma-ray bursts and super-luminous supernovae.

1910.14242

Where do quasar hosts lie with respect to the size-mass relation of galaxies?

Silverman, et al

The evolution of the galaxy size - stellar mass (Mstellar) relation has been a puzzle for over a decade. High redshift galaxies are significantly more compact than galaxies observed today, at an equivalent mass, but how much of this apparent growth is driven by progenitor bias, minor mergers, secular processes, or feedback from AGN is unclear. To help disentangle the physical mechanisms at work by addressing the latter, we study the galaxy size - Mstellar relation of 32 carefully-selected broad-line AGN hosts at 1.2 < z < 1.7 (7.5 < log M_BH < 8.5; L_bol/L_Edd > 0.1). Using HST with multi-band photometry and state-of-the-art modeling techniques, we measure half-light radii while accounting for uncertainties from subtracting bright central point sources. We find AGN hosts to have sizes ranging from 1 to 6 kpc at Mstellar ~ 0.3 - 1 x 10^11 Msun. Thus, many hosts have intermediate sizes as compared to equal-mass star-forming and quiescent galaxies. While inconsistent with the idea that AGN feedback may induce an increase in galaxy sizes, this finding is consistent with hypotheses in which AGNs preferentially occur in systems with prior concentrated gas reservoirs, or are involved in secular compaction processes perhaps responsible for simultaneously building bulges and shutting down star formation. If driven by minor mergers, which do not grow central black holes as fast as they do bulge-like stellar structures, such a process would explain both the galaxy size - mass relation observed here and the evolution in the black hole, bulge mass relation described in a companion paper.

Day 1642

Monday.  Tuesday.

1910.11343
An optical search for transients lasting a few seconds
Richmond, et al

Using a prototype of the Tomo-e Gozen wide-field CMOS mosaic camera, we acquire wide-field optical images at a cadence of 2 Hz and search them for transient sources of duration 1.5 to 11.5 seconds. Over the course of eight nights, our survey encompasses the equivalent of roughly two days on one square degree, to a fluence equivalent to a limiting magnitude about $V = 15.6$ in a 1-second exposure. After examining by eye the candidates identified by a software pipeline, we find no sources which meet all our criteria. We compute upper limits to the rate of optical transients consistent with our survey, and compare those to the rates expected and observed for representative sources of ephemeral optical light.

1910.11401

Stellar pulsation and the production of dust and molecules in galactic carbon stars

Kraemer, et al

New infrared spectra of 33 Galactic carbon stars from FORCAST on SOFIA reveal strong connections between stellar pulsations and the dust and molecular chemistry in their circumstellar shells. A sharp boundary in overall dust content, which predominantly measures the amount of amorphous carbon, separates the semi-regular and Mira variables, with the semi-regulars showing little dust in their spectra and the Miras showing more. In semi-regulars, the contribution from SiC dust increases rapidly as the overall dust content grows, but in Miras, the SiC dust feature grows weaker as more dust is added. A similar dichotomy is found with the absorption band from CS at $\sim$7.3 $\mu$m, which is generally limited to semi-regular variables. Observationally, these differences make it straightforward to distinguish semi-regular and Mira variables spectroscopically without the need for long-term photometric observations or knowledge of their distances. The rapid onset of strong SiC emission in Galactic carbon stars in semi-regulars variables points to a different dust-condensation process before strong pulsations take over. The break in the production of amorphous carbon between semi-regulars and Miras seen in the Galactic sample is also evident in Magellanic carbon stars, linking strong pulsations in carbon stars to the strong mass-loss rates which will end their lives as stars across a wide range of metallicities.

1910.12205
Chemistry on rotating grain surfaces: ro-thermal hopping and segregation of molecules in ice mantles
Hoang

Grain surfaces play a central role in the formation and desorption of molecules in space. To form molecules on a grain surface, adsorbed species trapped in binding sites must be mobile and migrate to adjacent sites. Thermal hopping is a popular mechanism for the migration of adsorbed species when the grain surface is warmed up by stellar radiation. However, previous studies disregarded the fact that grains can be spun-up to suprathermal rotation by radiative torques (RATs) during grain heating process. To achieve an accurate model of surface astrochemistry, in this paper, we study the effect of grain suprathermal rotation by RATs on thermal hopping of adsorbed species on icy grain mantles. We find that centrifugal force due to grain suprathermal rotation can increase the mobility of radicals on/in the ice mantle compared to the prediction by thermal hopping, and we term this mechanism ro-thermal hopping. The rate of ro-thermal hopping depends both on the local radiation energy density (i.e., grain temperature) and gas density, whereas thermal hopping only depends on grain temperature. We calculate the decrease in grain temperature required by ro-thermal hopping to produce the same hopping rate as thermal hopping and find that it increases with increasing the diffusion energy and decreasing the gas density. We finally study the effect of grain suprathermal rotation on the segregation of ice mixtures and find that ro-thermal segregation of CO$_2$ from H$_2$O-CO$_2$ ices can occur at much lower temperatures than thermal segregation reported by experiments. Our results indicate that grain suprathermal rotation can enhance mobility, formation, desorption, and segregation of molecules in icy grain mantles.

1910.12689

The shape and structure of small asteroids as a result of sub-catastrophic collisions

Jutzi

The overall shape, internal structure and surface morphology of small bodies such as asteroids and comets are determined to a large degree by the last global-scale impact or disruption event. Depending on the specific energy, impacts lead to a large spectrum of outcomes. Sub-catastrophic disruptions take place in an energy range between cratering impacts and catastrophic disruptions. Although less energetic than catastrophic events, they can still significantly alter the overall shape and structure of the target body. This has been demonstrated recently in the case of bi-lobe cometary nuclei (Jutzi and Benz, 2017). Here we present results of a subsequent study on the shapes of asteroids resulting from such collisions. Sizes ranging from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers are considered. We show that impacts on elongated rotating asteroids frequently lead to the formation of contact binaries. Our results confirm that this mechanism is robust and works for a large range of asteroid sizes and impact velocities. Scaling-laws for the prediction of the size and velocity dependent specific energies required for successful bi-lobe formation are presented. Based on these scaling laws, the expected frequency of such sub-catastrophic impacts is calculated and is compared to the one of catastrophic disruptions, which require much higher specific energies and are more rare. Our analysis suggest that the shapes and structures of a large fraction of small asteroids as observed today may be the result of the last major sub-catastrophic impact.

1910.12722

Lightning in there planets

Helling

More than 4000 planet are known that orbit stars other than our Sun. Many harbor a dynamic atmosphere that is cold enough that cloud particles can form in abundance. The diversity of exoplanets leads to differences in cloud coverage depending on global system parameters. Some planets will be fully covered in clouds, some have clouds on the nightside but are largely cloud-free on the dayside. These cloud particles can easily be charged and lightning discharges will occur in cloudy, dynamic exoplanet atmosphere. Lightning supports a Global Electric Circuit (GCE) on Earth and we argue that exoplanet may develop a GCE in particular if parts of the exoplanet atmospheres can remain cloud free.