Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

A. Drlica-Wagner

Publications and source records attributed to A. Drlica-Wagner.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Modelling the Milky Way. I -- Method and first results fitting the thick disk and halo with DES-Y3 data

We present MWFitting, a method to fit the stellar components of the Galaxy by comparing Hess Diagrams (HDs) from TRILEGAL models to real data. We apply MWFitting to photometric data from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). After removing regions containing known resolved stellar systems such as globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, nearby galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Sagittarius Stream, our main sample spans a total area of $\sim$2,300 deg$^2$ distributed across the DES footprint. We further explore a smaller subset ($\sim$ 1,300 deg$^2$) that excludes all regions with known stellar streams and stellar overdensities. Validation tests on synthetic data possessing similar properties to the DES data show that the method is able to recover input parameters with a precision better than 3\%. Based on the best-fit models, we create simulated stellar catalogues covering the whole DES footprint down to $g = 24$ magnitude. Comparisons of data and simulations provide evidence for a break in the power law index describing the stellar density of the Milky Way (MW) halo. Several previously discovered stellar over-densities are recovered in the residual stellar density map, showing the reliability of MWFitting in determining the Galactic components. Simulations made with the best-fitting parameters are a promising way to predict MW star counts for surveys such as LSST and Euclid.

astro-ph.GA↗

Birds of a Feather? Magellan/IMACS Spectroscopy of the Ultra-Faint Satellites Grus II, Tucana IV, and Tucana V

We present Magellan/IMACS spectroscopy of three recently discovered ultra-faint Milky Way satellites, Grus II, Tucana IV, and Tucana V. We measure systemic velocities of V_hel = -110.0 +/- 0.5 km/s, V_hel = 15.9 +/- 1.8 km/s, and V_hel = -36.2 +/-2.5 km/s for the three objects, respectively. Their large relative velocity differences demonstrate that the satellites are unrelated despite their close physical proximity. We determine a velocity dispersion for Tuc IV of sigma = 4.3^+1.7_-1.0 km/s, but we cannot resolve the velocity dispersions of the other two systems. For Gru II we place an upper limit (90% confidence) on the dispersion of sigma < 1.9 km/s, and for Tuc V we do not obtain any useful limits. All three satellites have metallicities below [Fe/H] = -2.1, but none has a detectable metallicity spread. We determine proper motions for each satellite based on Gaia astrometry and compute their orbits around the Milky Way. Gru II is on a tightly bound orbit with a pericenter of 25 kpc and orbital eccentricity of 0.45. Tuc V likely has an apocenter beyond 100 kpc, and could be approaching the Milky Way for the first time. The current orbit of Tuc IV is similar to that of Gru II, with a pericenter of 25 kpc and an eccentricity of 0.36. However, a backward integration of the position of Tuc IV demonstrates that it collided with the Large Magellanic Cloud at an impact parameter of 4 kpc ~120 Myr ago, deflecting its trajectory and possibly altering its internal kinematics. Based on their sizes, masses, and metallicities, we classify Gru II and Tuc IV as likely dwarf galaxies, but the nature of Tuc V remains uncertain.

astro-ph.GA↗

The Environment of Lyman Break Analogues (ELBA) survey: Star-forming galaxies in small groups

The Environment of Lyman Break Analogues (ELBA) survey is an imaging survey of 33 $deg^{2}$ of the southern sky. The survey was observed in {\it u}, {\it g}, {\it r}, and {\it i} bands with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco telescope. The main goal of this project is to investigate the environment of Lyman break analogues (LBAs), low-redshift (z $\sim $0.2) galaxies that are remarkably similar to typical star-forming galaxies at z $\sim$ 3. We explore whether the environment has any influence on the observed properties of these galaxies, providing valuable insight on the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. Using the Nearest Neighbour method, we measure the local density of each object ranging from small to large scales (clusters of galaxies). Comparing the environment around LBAs with that of the general galaxy population in the field, we conclude that LBAs, on average, populate denser regions at small scales ($\sim$ $1.5Mpc$), but are located in similar environment to other star-forming galaxies at larger scales ($\sim$ $3.0 Mpc$). This offers evidence that nearby encounters such as mergers may influence the star formation activity in LBAs, before infall onto larger galaxy clusters. We interpret this an indication of galaxy preprocessing, in agreement with theoretical expectations for galaxies at z $\sim$ 2 -3 where the gravitational interactions are more intense in early formation processes of this objects

astro-ph.GA↗

Supernova Siblings: Assessing the Consistency of Properties of Type Ia Supernovae that Share the Same Parent Galaxies

While many studies have shown a correlation between properties of the light curves of Type Ia SN (SNe Ia) and properties of their host galaxies, it remains unclear what is driving these correlations. We introduce a new direct method to study these correlations by analyzing `parent' galaxies that host multiple SNe Ia 'siblings'. Here, we search the Dark Energy Survey SN sample, one of the largest samples of discovered SNe, and find 8 galaxies that hosted two likely Type Ia SNe. Comparing the light-curve properties of these SNe and recovered distances from the light curves, we find no better agreement between properties of SNe in the same galaxy as any random pair of galaxies, with the exception of the SN light-curve stretch. We show at $2.8σ$ significance that at least 1/2 of the intrinsic scatter of SNe Ia distance modulus residuals is not from common host properties. We also discuss the robustness with which we could make this evaluation with LSST, which will find $100\times$ more pairs of galaxies, and pave a new line of study on the consistency of Type Ia supernovae in the same parent galaxies. Finally, we argue that it is unlikely some of these SNe are actually single, lensed SN with multiple images.

astro-ph.GA↗

The Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (${S}^5$): Overview, Target Selection, Data Reduction, Validation, and Early Science

We introduce the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopy Survey (${S}^5$), an on-going program to map the kinematics and chemistry of stellar streams in the Southern Hemisphere. The initial focus of ${S}^5$ has been spectroscopic observations of recently identified streams within the footprint of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), with the eventual goal of surveying streams across the entire southern sky. Stellar streams are composed of material that has been tidally striped from dwarf galaxies and globular clusters and hence are excellent dynamical probes of the gravitational potential of the Milky Way, as well as providing a detailed snapshot of its accretion history. Observing with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope's 2-degree-Field fibre positioner and AAOmega spectrograph, and combining the precise photometry of DES DR1 with the superb proper motions from $Gaia$ DR2, allows us to conduct an efficient spectroscopic survey to map these stellar streams. So far ${S}^5$ has mapped 9 DES streams and 3 streams outside of DES; the former are the first spectroscopic observations of these recently discovered streams. In addition to the stream survey, we use spare fibres to undertake a Milky Way halo survey and a low-redshift galaxy survey. This paper presents an overview of the ${S}^5$ program, describing the scientific motivation for the survey, target selection, observation strategy, data reduction and survey validation. Finally, we describe early science results on stellar streams and Milky Way halo stars drawn from the survey. Updates on ${S}^5$, including future public data release, can be found at \url{http://s5collab.github.io}.

astro-ph.GA↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Constraints on Extended Cosmological Models from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing

We present constraints on extensions of the minimal cosmological models dominated by dark matter and dark energy, $Λ$CDM and $w$CDM, by using a combined analysis of galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing from the first-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y1) in combination with external data. We consider four extensions of the minimal dark energy-dominated scenarios: 1) nonzero curvature $Ω_k$, 2) number of relativistic species $N_{\rm eff}$ different from the standard value of 3.046, 3) time-varying equation-of-state of dark energy described by the parameters $w_0$ and $w_a$ (alternatively quoted by the values at the pivot redshift, $w_p$, and $w_a$), and 4) modified gravity described by the parameters $μ_0$ and $Σ_0$ that modify the metric potentials. We also consider external information from Planck CMB measurements; BAO measurements from SDSS, 6dF, and BOSS; RSD measurements from BOSS; and SNIa information from the Pantheon compilation. Constraints on curvature and the number of relativistic species are dominated by the external data; when these are combined with DES Y1, we find $Ω_k=0.0020^{+0.0037}_{-0.0032}$ at the 68% confidence level, and $N_{\rm eff}<3.28\, (3.55)$ at 68% (95%) confidence. For the time-varying equation-of-state, we find the pivot value $(w_p, w_a)=(-0.91^{+0.19}_{-0.23}, -0.57^{+0.93}_{-1.11})$ at pivot redshift $z_p=0.27$ from DES alone, and $(w_p, w_a)=(-1.01^{+0.04}_{-0.04}, -0.28^{+0.37}_{-0.48})$ at $z_p=0.20$ from DES Y1 combined with external data; in either case we find no evidence for the temporal variation of the equation of state. For modified gravity, we find the present-day value of the relevant parameters to be $Σ_0= 0.43^{+0.28}_{-0.29}$ from DES Y1 alone, and $(Σ_0, μ_0)=(0.06^{+0.08}_{-0.07}, -0.11^{+0.42}_{-0.46})$ from DES Y1 combined with external data, consistent with predictions from GR.

astro-ph.CO↗

Search for RR Lyrae stars in DES ultra-faint systems: Grus I, Kim 2, Phoenix II, and Grus II

This work presents the first search for RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) in four of the ultra-faint systems imaged by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using SOAR/Goodman and Blanco/DECam imagers. We have detected two RRLs in the field of Grus I, none in Kim 2, one in Phoenix II, and four in Grus II. With the detection of these stars, we accurately determine the distance moduli for these ultra-faint dwarf satellite galaxies; $μ_0$=20.51$\pm$0.10 mag (D$_{\odot}$=127$\pm$6 kpc) for Grus I and $μ_0$=20.01$\pm$0.10 mag (D$_{\odot}$=100$\pm$5 kpc) for Phoenix II. These measurements are larger than previous estimations by Koposov et al. 2015 and Bechtol et al. 2015, implying larger physical sizes; 5\% for Grus I and 33\% for Phoenix II. For Grus II, out of the four RRLs detected, one is consistent with being a member of the galactic halo (D$_\odot$=24$\pm$1 kpc, $μ_0$=16.86$\pm$0.10 mag), another is at D$_\odot$=55$\pm$2 kpc ($μ_0$=18.71$\pm$0.10 mag), which we associate with Grus II, and the two remaining at D$_\odot$=43$\pm$2 kpc ($μ_0$=18.17$\pm$0.10 mag). Moreover, the appearance of a subtle red horizontal branch in the color-magnitude diagram of Grus II at the same brightness level of the latter two RRLs, which are at the same distance and in the same region, suggests that a more metal-rich system may be located in front of Grus II. The most plausible scenario is the association of these stars with the Chenab/Orphan Stream. Finally, we performed a comprehensive and updated analysis of the number of RRLs in dwarf galaxies. This allows us to predict that the method of finding new ultra-faint dwarf galaxies by using two or more clumped RRLs will work only for systems brighter than M$_V\sim-6$ mag.

astro-ph.GA↗

Phenotypic redshifts with self-organizing maps: A novel method to characterize redshift distributions of source galaxies for weak lensing

Wide-field imaging surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES) rely on coarse measurements of spectral energy distributions in a few filters to estimate the redshift distribution of source galaxies. In this regime, sample variance, shot noise, and selection effects limit the attainable accuracy of redshift calibration and thus of cosmological constraints. We present a new method to combine wide-field, few-filter measurements with catalogs from deep fields with additional filters and sufficiently low photometric noise to break degeneracies in photometric redshifts. The multi-band deep field is used as an intermediary between wide-field observations and accurate redshifts, greatly reducing sample variance, shot noise, and selection effects. Our implementation of the method uses self-organizing maps to group galaxies into phenotypes based on their observed fluxes, and is tested using a mock DES catalog created from N-body simulations. It yields a typical uncertainty on the mean redshift in each of five tomographic bins for an idealized simulation of the DES Year 3 weak-lensing tomographic analysis of $σ_{Δz} = 0.007$, which is a 60% improvement compared to the Year 1 analysis. Although the implementation of the method is tailored to DES, its formalism can be applied to other large photometric surveys with a similar observing strategy.

astro-ph.CO↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: The effect of intracluster light on photometric redshifts for weak gravitational lensing

We study the effect of diffuse intracluster light on the critical surface mass density estimated from photometric redshifts of lensing source galaxies, and the resulting bias in a weak lensing measurement of galaxy cluster mass. Under conservative assumptions, we find the bias to be negligible for imaging surveys like the Dark Energy Survey (DES) with a recommended scale cut of >=200 kpc distance from cluster centers. For significantly deeper source catalogs from present and future surveys like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) program, more conservative scale and source magnitude cuts or a correction of the effect may be necessary to achieve per-cent level lensing measurement accuracy, especially at the massive end of the cluster population.

astro-ph.CO↗

Proper Motions of Stellar Streams Discovered in the Dark Energy Survey

We cross-match high-precision astrometric data from Gaia DR2 with accurate multi-band photometry from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) DR1 to confidently measure proper motions for nine stellar streams in the DES footprint: Aliqa Uma, ATLAS, Chenab, Elqui, Indus, Jhelum, Phoenix, Tucana III, and Turranburra. We determine low-confidence proper motion measurements for four additional stellar streams: Ravi, Wambelong, Willka Yaku, and Turbio. We find evidence for a misalignment between stream tracks and the systemic proper motion of streams that may suggest a systematic gravitational influence from the Large Magellanic Cloud. These proper motions, when combined with radial velocity measurements, will allow for detailed orbit modeling which can be used to constrain properties of the LMC and its affect on nearby streams, as well as global properties of the Milky Way's gravitational potential.

astro-ph.GA↗

Chemical Abundance Analysis of Tucana III, the Second $r$-process Enhanced Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy

We present a chemical abundance analysis of four additional confirmed member stars of Tucana III, a Milky Way satellite galaxy candidate in the process of being tidally disrupted as it is accreted by the Galaxy. Two of these stars are centrally located in the core of the galaxy while the other two stars are located in the eastern and western tidal tails. The four stars have chemical abundance patterns consistent with the one previously studied star in Tucana III: they are moderately enhanced in $r$-process elements, i.e. they have $<$[Eu/Fe]$> \approx +$0.4 dex. The non-neutron-capture elements generally follow trends seen in other dwarf galaxies, including a metallicity range of 0.44 dex and the expected trend in $α$-elements, i.e., the lower metallicity stars have higher Ca and Ti abundance. Overall, the chemical abundance patterns of these stars suggest that Tucana III was an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, and not a globular cluster, before being tidally disturbed. As is the case for the one other galaxy dominated by $r$-process enhanced stars, Reticulum II, Tucana III's stellar chemical abundances are consistent with pollution from ejecta produced by a binary neutron star merger, although a different $r$-process element or dilution gas mass is required to explain the abundances in these two galaxies if a neutron star merger is the sole source of $r$-process enhancement.

astro-ph.GA↗

Monte Carlo Control Loops for cosmic shear cosmology with DES Year 1

Weak lensing by large-scale structure is a powerful probe of cosmology and of the dark universe. This cosmic shear technique relies on the accurate measurement of the shapes and redshifts of background galaxies and requires precise control of systematic errors. The Monte Carlo Control Loops (MCCL) is a forward modelling method designed to tackle this problem. It relies on the Ultra Fast Image Generator (UFig) to produce simulated images tuned to match the target data statistically, followed by calibrations and tolerance loops. We present the first end-to-end application of this method, on the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 wide field imaging data. We simultaneously measure the shear power spectrum $C_{\ell}$ and the redshift distribution $n(z)$ of the background galaxy sample. The method includes maps of the systematic sources, Point Spread Function (PSF), an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) inference of the simulation model parameters, a shear calibration scheme, and the fast estimation of the covariance matrix. We find a close statistical agreement between the simulations and the DES Y1 data using an array of diagnostics. In a non-tomographic setting, we derive a set of $C_\ell$ and $n(z)$ curves that encode the cosmic shear measurement, as well as the systematic uncertainty. Following a blinding scheme, we measure the combination of $Ω_m$, $σ_8$, and intrinsic alignment amplitude $A_{\rm{IA}}$, defined as $S_8D_{\rm{IA}} = σ_8(Ω_m/0.3)^{0.5}D_{\rm{IA}}$, where $D_{\rm{IA}}=1-0.11(A_{\rm{IA}}-1)$. We find $S_8D_{\rm{IA}}=0.895^{+0.054}_{-0.039}$, where systematics are at the level of roughly 60\% of the statistical errors. We discuss these results in the context of earlier cosmic shear analyses of the DES Y1 data. Our findings indicate that this method and its fast runtime offer good prospects for cosmic shear measurements with future wide-field surveys.

astro-ph.CO↗

First Cosmology Results Using Type Ia Supernovae From the Dark Energy Survey: Analysis, Systematic Uncertainties, and Validation

We present the analysis underpinning the measurement of cosmological parameters from 207 spectroscopically classified type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the first three years of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN), spanning a redshift range of 0.017<$z$<0.849. We combine the DES-SN sample with an external sample of 122 low-redshift ($z$<0.1) SNe Ia, resulting in a "DES-SN3YR" sample of 329 SNe Ia. Our cosmological analyses are blinded: after combining our DES-SN3YR distances with constraints from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB; Planck Collaboration 2016), our uncertainties in the measurement of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, $w$, are .042 (stat) and .059 (stat+syst) at 68% confidence. We provide a detailed systematic uncertainty budget, which has nearly equal contributions from photometric calibration, astrophysical bias corrections, and instrumental bias corrections. We also include several new sources of systematic uncertainty. While our sample is <1/3 the size of the Pantheon sample, our constraints on $w$ are only larger by 1.4$\times$, showing the impact of the DES SN Ia light curve quality. We find that the traditional stretch and color standardization parameters of the DES SNe Ia are in agreement with earlier SN Ia samples such as Pan-STARRS1 and the Supernova Legacy Survey. However, we find smaller intrinsic scatter about the Hubble diagram (0.077 mag). Interestingly, we find no evidence for a Hubble residual step ( 0.007 $\pm$ 0.018 mag) as a function of host galaxy mass for the DES subset, in 2.4$σ$ tension with previous measurements. We also present novel validation methods of our sample using simulated SNe Ia inserted in DECam images and using large catalog-level simulations to test for biases in our analysis pipelines.

astro-ph.CO↗

First Cosmological Results using Type Ia Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: Measurement of the Hubble Constant

We present an improved measurement of the Hubble constant (H_0) using the 'inverse distance ladder' method, which adds the information from 207 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) at redshift 0.018 < z < 0.85 to existing distance measurements of 122 low redshift (z < 0.07) SNe Ia (Low-z) and measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs). Whereas traditional measurements of H_0 with SNe Ia use a distance ladder of parallax and Cepheid variable stars, the inverse distance ladder relies on absolute distance measurements from the BAOs to calibrate the intrinsic magnitude of the SNe Ia. We find H_0 = 67.8 +/- 1.3 km s-1 Mpc-1 (statistical and systematic uncertainties, 68% confidence). Our measurement makes minimal assumptions about the underlying cosmological model, and our analysis was blinded to reduce confirmation bias. We examine possible systematic uncertainties and all are below the statistical uncertainties. Our H_0 value is consistent with estimates derived from the Cosmic Microwave Background assuming a LCDM universe (Planck Collaboration et al. 2018).

astro-ph.CO↗

A faint halo star cluster discovered in the Blanco Imaging of the Southern Sky Survey

We present the discovery of a faint, resolved stellar system, BLISS J0321+0438 (BLISS 1), found in Dark Energy Camera data from the first observing run of the Blanco Imaging of the Southern Sky (BLISS) Survey. BLISS J0321+0438 (BLISS 1) is located at (RA, Dec) = (177.511, -41.772) deg with a heliocentric distance of D = 23.7$^{+1.9}_{-1.0}$ kpc. It is a faint, Mv = 0.0$^{+1.7}_{-0.7}$ mag, and compact, rh = 4.1 +/- 1 pc, system consistent with previously discovered faint halo star clusters. Using data from the second data release of the Gaia satellite, we measure a proper motion of $(μ_α\cos δ, μ_δ)$ = (-2.37 +/- 0.06, 0.16 +/- 0.04) mas/yr. Combining the available positional and velocity information with simulations of the accreted satellite population of the Large Magellanic Cloud, we find that it is unlikely that BLISS J0321+0438 (BLISS 1) originated with the Large Magellanic Cloud.

astro-ph.GA↗

First Cosmology Results using Type Ia Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: Constraints on Cosmological Parameters

We present the first cosmological parameter constraints using measurements of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). The analysis uses a subsample of 207 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia from the first three years of DES-SN, combined with a low-redshift sample of 122 SNe from the literature. Our "DES-SN3YR" result from these 329 SNe Ia is based on a series of companion analyses and improvements covering SN Ia discovery, spectroscopic selection, photometry, calibration, distance bias corrections, and evaluation of systematic uncertainties. For a flat LCDM model we find a matter density Omega_m = 0.331 +_ 0.038. For a flat wCDM model, and combining our SN Ia constraints with those from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), we find a dark energy equation of state w = -0.978 +_ 0.059, and Omega_m = 0.321 +_ 0.018. For a flat w0waCDM model, and combining probes from SN Ia, CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations, we find w0 = -0.885 +_ 0.114 and wa = -0.387 +_ 0.430. These results are in agreement with a cosmological constant and with previous constraints using SNe Ia (Pantheon, JLA).

astro-ph.CO↗

Cosmological Constraints from Multiple Probes in the Dark Energy Survey

The combination of multiple observational probes has long been advocated as a powerful technique to constrain cosmological parameters, in particular dark energy. The Dark Energy Survey has measured 207 spectroscopically--confirmed Type Ia supernova lightcurves; the baryon acoustic oscillation feature; weak gravitational lensing; and galaxy clustering. Here we present combined results from these probes, deriving constraints on the equation of state, $w$, of dark energy and its energy density in the Universe. Independently of other experiments, such as those that measure the cosmic microwave background, the probes from this single photometric survey rule out a Universe with no dark energy, finding $w=-0.80^{+0.09}_{-0.11}$. The geometry is shown to be consistent with a spatially flat Universe, and we obtain a constraint on the baryon density of $Ω_b=0.069^{+0.009}_{-0.012}$ that is independent of early Universe measurements. These results demonstrate the potential power of large multi-probe photometric surveys and pave the way for order of magnitude advances in our constraints on properties of dark energy and cosmology over the next decade.

astro-ph.CO↗

Identification of RR Lyrae stars in multiband, sparsely-sampled data from the Dark Energy Survey using template fitting and Random Forest classification

Many studies have shown that RR Lyrae variable stars (RRL) are powerful stellar tracers of Galactic halo structure and satellite galaxies. The Dark Energy Survey (DES), with its deep and wide coverage (g ~ 23.5 mag) in a single exposure; over 5000 deg$^{2}$) provides a rich opportunity to search for substructures out to the edge of the Milky Way halo. However, the sparse and unevenly sampled multiband light curves from the DES wide-field survey (median 4 observations in each of grizY over the first three years) pose a challenge for traditional techniques used to detect RRL. We present an empirically motivated and computationally efficient template fitting method to identify these variable stars using three years of DES data. When tested on DES light curves of previously classified objects in SDSS stripe 82, our algorithm recovers 89% of RRL periods to within 1% of their true value with 85% purity and 76% completeness. Using this method, we identify 5783 RRL candidates, ~31% of which are previously undiscovered. This method will be useful for identifying RRL in other sparse multiband data sets.

astro-ph.SR↗