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A. Sergeyev

Publications and source records attributed to A. Sergeyev.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Joining forces: 30 years of optical monitoring of the Einstein Cross

We present an extended optical monitoring of the quadruply-imaged gravitationally lensed quasar QSO 2237+0305, the Einstein Cross, including observations from different observatories in both hemispheres and using a new photometric technique. This technique uses a region far enough from the lens system to determine accurately the sky background level, and minimises contamination from the lensing galaxy by combining analytical and numerical modeling of its structure. The resulting light curves of the four quasar images describe variations across practically the entire optical spectrum and span about 9000 days in the $VRI$ bands. The multi-band microlensing variability is captured with an unprecedented level of detail, and a preliminary microlensing analysis reveals an almost linear scaling of source radius with wavelength, providing direct evidence for the wavelength-dependent structure of the region contributing to optical passband fluxes. Specifically, assuming a mean microlens mass $\langle M \rangle$ = 0.3 $\rm{M_{\odot}}$ and concentric Gaussian sources that move according to the velocity distribution peaks (speed and direction) reported in a previous microlensing analysis, we find that the half-light radius of the $g$-band source is 9.6 $\pm$ 2.7 lt-day and the size of the sources grows with wavelength with a power-law index of $\alpha$ = 0.94 $\pm$ 0.05. We conclude that these long-term light curves set stringent empirical constraints on models of quasar emission and microlensing physics.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2022

Polarimetry of M-type asteroids in the context of their surface composition

Aims. We aim to investigate how polarimetric observations can improve our understanding of the nature and diversity of M/X-type asteroids. Methods. Polarimetric observations of the selected M/X-type asteroids were carried out at the Tohoku 0.6-m telescope at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii (simultaneously in BVR filters), the 2-m telescope of the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory in Rozhen (in R filter), and the 2.15-m telescope of the Complejo Astron\'omico El Leoncito (CASLEO), Argentina (in V filter). We analysed the polarimetric characteristics of M/X-type asteroids along with the available data obtained by other techniques. Results. New polarimetric observations of 22 M/X-type asteroids combined with published observations provide a data set of 41 asteroids for which the depth of a negative polarisation branch and/or inversion angle were determined. We found that the depth of the negative polarisation branch tends to increase with decreasing steepness of the near-infrared spectra. Asteroids with a deeper negative polarisation branch tend to have a higher radar circular polarisation ratio. We show that, based on the relationship of the depth of the negative polarisation branch and inversion angle, two main sub-types can be distinguished among M-type asteroids. We suggest that these groups may be related to different surface compositions similar to (1) irons and stony-irons and (2) enstatite and iron-rich carbonaceous chondrites.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2021

VEXAS: VISTA EXtension to Auxiliary Surveys -- Data Release 2: Machine-learning based classification of sources in the Southern Hemisphere

We present the second public data release (DR) of the VISTA EXtension to Auxiliary Surveys (VEXAS), where we classify objects into stars, galaxies and quasars based on an ensemble of machine learning algorithms. The aim of VEXAS is to build the widest multi-wavelength catalogue, providing reference magnitudes, colours and morphological information for a large number of scientific uses. We apply an ensemble of 32 different machine learning models, based on three different algorithms and on different magnitude sets, training samples and classification problems on the three VEXAS DR1 optical+infrared (IR) tables. The tables were created in DR1 cross-matching VISTA near-IR data with WISE far-IR data and with optical magnitudes from the Dark Energy Survey (VEXAS-DESW), the Sky Mapper Survey (VEXAS-SMW), and the PanSTARRS (VEXAS-PSW). We assemble a large table of spectroscopically confirmed objects (415 628 unique objects), based on the combination of 6 different spectroscopic surveys that we use for training. We develop feature imputation to classify also objects for which magnitudes in one or more bands are missing. We classify in total ~90 million objects in the Southern Hemisphere. Among these,~62.9M (~52.6M) are classified as 'high confidence' ('secure') stars, ~920k (~750k) as 'high confidence' ('secure') quasars and ~34.8M (~34.1M) as 'high confidence' ('secure') galaxies, with probabilities $p_{\rm class}\ge 0.7$ ($p_{\rm class}\ge 0.9$). The density of high-confidence extragalactic objects varies strongly with the survey depth: at $p_{\rm class}\ge 0.7$, there are 111/deg$^2$ quasars in the VEXAS-DESW footprint and 103/deg$^2$ in the VEXAS-PSW footprint, while only 10.7/deg$^2$ in the VEXAS-SM footprint. Improved depth in the midIR and coverage in the optical and nearIR are needed for the SM footprint that is not already covered by DESW and PSW.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2021

Small solar system objects on highly inclined orbits: Surface colours and lifetimes

Less than one percent of the discovered small solar system objects have highly inclined orbits ($i>60^{\circ}$), and revolve around the Sun on near-polar or retrograde orbits. The origin and evolutionary history of these objects are not yet clear. In this work we study the surface properties and orbital dynamics of selected high-inclination objects. BVRI photometric observations were performed in 2019-2020 using the 2.0m telescope at the Terskol Observatory and the 2.6m telescope at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Additionally, we searched for high-inclination objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Pan-STARRS. The dynamics of the selected objects was studied using numerical simulations. We obtained new photometric observations of six high-inclination objects. All of the objects have similar $B-V$, $V-R$, $R-I$ colours, which are close to those of moderately red TNOs and grey Centaurs. The photometric data that were extracted from the all-sky surveys also correspond to moderately red surfaces of high-inclination objects. No signs of ultra-red material on the surface of high-inclination asteroids were found, which supports the results of previous works. The comet C/2018 DO4 (Lemmon) revealed some complex morphology with structures that could be associated with particles that were ejected from the cometary nucleus. For objects 2013 LU28, 2015 KZ120, and 2020 EP we estimated future and past lifetimes on their orbits. It appears that the orbits of considered objects are strongly chaotic, and with the available accuracy of the orbital elements no reliable predictions can be made about their distant past or future. The lifetimes of high-inclination objects turned out to be highly non-sensitive to the precision of the orbital elements, and to the Yarkovsky orbital drift.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2020

Discovery of two Einstein crosses from massive post--blue nugget galaxies at z>1 in KiDS

We report the discovery of two Einstein Crosses (ECs) in the footprint of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS): KIDS J232940-340922 and KIDS J122456+005048. Using integral field spectroscopy from MUSE@VLT, we confirm their gravitational-lens nature. In both cases, the four spectra of the source clearly show a prominence of absorption features, hence revealing an evolved stellar population with little star formation. The lensing model of the two systems, assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) with external shear, shows that: 1) the two crosses, located at redshift $z=0.38$ and 0.24, have Einstein radius $R_{\rm E}=5.2$ kpc and 5.4 kpc, respectively; 2) their projected dark matter fractions inside the half effective radius are 0.60 and 0.56 (Chabrier IMF); 3) the sources are ultra-compact galaxies, $R_{\rm e}\sim0.9$ kpc (at redshift $z_{\rm s}=1.59$) and $R_{\rm e}\sim0.5$ kpc ($z_{\rm s}=1.10$), respectively. These results are unaffected by the underlying mass density assumption. Due to size, blue color and absorption-dominated spectra, corroborated by low specific star-formation rates derived from optical-NIR spectral energy distribution fitting, we argue that the two lensed sources in these ECs are blue nuggets migrating toward their quenching phase.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2008

The time-delay of the gravitationally lensed double quasar UM 673

The paper has been withdrawn because double checking and comparison with other data sets after the original submission showed that a broken R-band filter at the Maidanak telescope had affected our quasar monitoring observations in the years 2004 and 2005. They had led to partially spurious measurements, hence our original analysis and conclusions are not reliable.

astro-ph↗