arXiv subjects

C. Allende Prieto

Publications and source records attributed to C. Allende Prieto.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

EChO - Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory

A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO -the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory- is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and groundbased telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region -from the visible to the mid-IR- to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere and the abundances of the major molecular species. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules to retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures Teq up to 2000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with Teq ~300 K. We have baselined a dispersive spectrograph design covering continuously the 0.4-16 micron spectral range in 6 channels (1 in the VIS, 5 in the IR), which allows the spectral resolution to be adapted from several tens to several hundreds, depending on the target brightness. The instrument will be mounted behind a 1.5 m class telescope, passively cooled to 50 K, with the instrument structure and optics passively cooled to ~45 K. EChO will be placed in a grand halo orbit around L2. We have also undertaken a first-order cost and development plan analysis and find that EChO is easily compatible with the ESA M-class mission framework.

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arXiv2011

Fundamental Parameters and Chemical Composition of Arcturus

We derive a self-consistent set of atmospheric parameters and abundances of 17 elements for the red giant star Arcturus: Teff = 4286+/-30 K, logg = 1.66+/-0.05, and [Fe/H] = -0.52+/-0.04. The effective temperature was determined using model atmosphere fits to the observed spectral energy distribution from the blue to the mid-infrared (0.44 to 10 um). The surface gravity was calculated using the trigonometric parallax of the star and stellar evolution models. A differential abundance analysis relative to the solar spectrum allowed us to derive iron abundances from equivalent width measurements of 37 FeI and 9 FeII lines, unblended in the spectra of both Arcturus and the Sun; the [Fe/H] value adopted is derived from FeI lines. We also determine the mass, radius, and age of Arcturus: M = 1.08+/-0.06 Msun, R = 25.4+/-0.2 Rsun, and t = 7.1(+1.5/-1.2) Gyr. Finally, abundances of the following elements are measured from an equivalent width analysis of atomic features: C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn. We find the chemical composition of Arcturus typical of that of a local thick-disk star, consistent with its kinematics.

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arXiv2011

The BigBOSS Experiment

BigBOSS is a Stage IV ground-based dark energy experiment to study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the growth of structure with a wide-area galaxy and quasar redshift survey over 14,000 square degrees. It has been conditionally accepted by NOAO in response to a call for major new instrumentation and a high-impact science program for the 4-m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak. The BigBOSS instrument is a robotically-actuated, fiber-fed spectrograph capable of taking 5000 simultaneous spectra over a wavelength range from 340 nm to 1060 nm, with a resolution R = 3000-4800. Using data from imaging surveys that are already underway, spectroscopic targets are selected that trace the underlying dark matter distribution. In particular, targets include luminous red galaxies (LRGs) up to z = 1.0, extending the BOSS LRG survey in both redshift and survey area. To probe the universe out to even higher redshift, BigBOSS will target bright [OII] emission line galaxies (ELGs) up to z = 1.7. In total, 20 million galaxy redshifts are obtained to measure the BAO feature, trace the matter power spectrum at smaller scales, and detect redshift space distortions. BigBOSS will provide additional constraints on early dark energy and on the curvature of the universe by measuring the Ly-alpha forest in the spectra of over 600,000 2.2 < z < 3.5 quasars. BigBOSS galaxy BAO measurements combined with an analysis of the broadband power, including the Ly-alpha forest in BigBOSS quasar spectra, achieves a FOM of 395 with Planck plus Stage III priors. This FOM is based on conservative assumptions for the analysis of broad band power (kmax = 0.15), and could grow to over 600 if current work allows us to push the analysis to higher wave numbers (kmax = 0.3). BigBOSS will also place constraints on theories of modified gravity and inflation, and will measure the sum of neutrino masses to 0.024 eV accuracy.

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arXiv2010

Granulation signatures in the spectrum of the very metal-poor red giant HD122563

A very high resolution (R=200,000), high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N=340) blue-green spectrum of the very metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.6) red giant star HD122563 has been obtained by us at McDonald Observatory. We measure the asymmetries and core wavelengths of a set of unblended FeI lines covering a wide range of line strength. Line bisectors exhibit the characteristic C-shape signature of surface convection (granulation) and they span from about 100 m/s in the strongest FeI features to 800 m/s in the weakest ones. Core wavelength shifts range from about -100 to -900 m/s, depending on line strength. In general, larger blueshifts are observed in weaker lines, but there is increasing scatter with increasing residual flux. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), we synthesize the same set of spectral lines using a state-of-the-art three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation for a stellar atmosphere of fundamental parameters similar to those of HD122563. We find good agreement between model predictions and observations. This allows us to infer an absolute zero-point for the line shifts and radial velocity. Moreover, it indicates that the structure and dynamics of the simulation are realistic, thus providing support to previous claims of large 3D-LTE corrections, based on the hydrodynamic model used here, to elemental abundances and fundamental parameters of very metal-poor red giant stars obtained with standard 1D-LTE spectroscopic analyses.

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arXiv2010

Spectroscopy from Photometry Using Sparsity. The SDSS Case Study

We explore whether medium-resolution stellar spectra can be reconstructed from photometric observations, taking advantage of the highly compressible nature of the spectra. We formulate the spectral reconstruction as a least-squares problem with a sparsity constraint. In our test case using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, only three broad-band filters are used as input. We demonstrate that reconstruction using three principal components is feasible with these filters, leading to differences with respect to the original spectrum smaller than 5%. We analyze the effect of uncertainties in the observed magnitudes and find that the available high photometric precision induces very small errors in the reconstruction. This process may facilitate the extraction of purely spectroscopic quantities, such as the overall metallicity, for hundreds of millions of stars for which only photometric information is available, using standard techniques applied to the reconstructed spectra.

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arXiv2009

Accounting for Convective Blue-Shifts in the Determination of Absolute Stellar Radial Velocities

For late-type non-active stars, gravitational redshifts and convective blueshifts are the main source of biases in the determination of radial velocities. If ignored, these effects can introduce systematic errors of the order of ~ 0.5 km/s. We demonstrate that three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of solar surface convection can be used to predict the convective blue-shifts of weak spectral lines in solar-like stars to ~ 0.070 km/s. Using accurate trigonometric parallaxes and stellar evolution models, the gravitational redshifts can be constrained with a similar uncertainty, leading to absolute radial velocities accurate to better than ~ 0.1 km/s.

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arXiv2009

Granulation across the HR diagram

We have obtained ultra-high quality spectra (R=180,000; S/N>300) with unprecedented wavelength coverage (4400 to 7400 A) for a number of stars covering most of the HR diagram in order to test the predictions of models of stellar surface convection. Line bisectors and core wavelength shifts are both measured and modeled, allowing us to validate and/or reveal the limitations of state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model atmospheres of different stellar parameters. We show the status of our project and preliminary results.

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arXiv2009

Granulation in K-type Dwarf Stars. II. Hydrodynamic simulations and 3D spectrum synthesis

We construct a 3D radiative-hydrodynamic model atmosphere of parameters Teff = 4820 K, log g = 4.5, and solar chemical composition. The theoretical line profiles computed with this model are asymmetric, with their bisectors having a characteristic C-shape and their core wavelengths shifted with respect to their laboratory values. The line bisectors span from about 10 to 250 m/s, depending on line strength, with the stronger features showing larger span. The corresponding core wavelength shifts range from about -200 m/s for the weak Fe I lines to almost +100 m/s in the strong Fe I features. Based on observational results for the Sun, we argue that there should be no core wavelength shift for Fe I lines of EW > 100 mA. The cores of the strongest lines show contributions from the uncertain top layers of the model, where non-LTE effects and the presence of the chromosphere, which are important in real stars, are not accounted for. The comparison of model predictions to observed Fe I line bisectors and core wavelength shifts for a reference star, HIP86400, shows excellent agreement, with the exception of the core wavelength shifts of the strongest features, for which we suspect inaccurate theoretical values. Since this limitation does not affect the predicted line equivalent widths significantly, we consider our 3D model validated for photospheric abundance work.

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arXiv2009

Halo streams in the 7th SDSS data release

We have detected stellar halo streams in the solar neighborhood using data from the 7th public data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which includes the directed stellar program SEGUE: Sloan Extension For Galactic Understanding and Exploration. In order to derive distances to each star, we used the metallicity-dependent photometric parallax relation from Ivezic et al. (2008) for which we examine and quantify the accuracy. Our final sample consists of 22,321 nearby (d < 2 kpc), metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -0.5) main-sequence stars with 6D estimates of position and space velocity. We characterize the orbits of these stars through suitable kinematic proxies for their "effective" integrals of motion, angular momentum, eccentricity, and orbital polar angle and compare the observed distribution to expectations from a smooth distribution in four [Fe/H] bins. On this basis we identify at least five significant "phase-space overdensities" of stars on very similar orbits in the solar neighborhood to which we can assign unambiguously peaked [Fe/H] distributions. Three of them have been identified previously, including the halo stream discovered by Helmi et al. (1999) at a significance level of 12.0. In addition, we find at least two new genuine halo streams, judged by their kinematics and [Fe/H], at significance levels of 2.9 and 4.8, respectively. For one stream the stars even show coherence in configuration space, matching a spatial overdensity of stars found by Juric et al. (2008) at (R,z) \approx (9.5,0.8) kpc. Our results demonstrate the practical power of our search method to detect substructure in the phase-space distribution of nearby stars without making a-priori assumptions about the detailed form of the gravitational potential.

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arXiv2009

New Faint Optical Spectrophotometric Standards. Hot White Dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The spectral energy distributions for pure-hydrogen (DA) hot white dwarfs can be accurately predicted by model atmospheres. This makes it possible to define spectrophotometric calibrators by scaling the theoretical spectral shapes with broad-band photometric observations -- a strategy successfully exploited for the spectrographs onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using three primary DA standards. Absolute fluxes for non-DA secondary standards, introduced to increase the density of calibrators in the sky, need to be referred to the primary standards, but a far better solution would be to employ a network of DA stars scattered throughout the sky. We search for blue objects in the sixth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and fit DA model fluxes to identify suitable candidates. Reddening needs to be considered in the analysis of the hottest and therefore more distant stars. We propose a list of nine pure-hydrogen white dwarfs with absolute fluxes with estimated uncertainties below 3%, including four objects with estimated errors <2%, as candidates for spectrophotometric standards in the range 14<g<18, and provide model-based fluxes scaled to match the SDSS broad-band fluxes for each. We apply the same method to the three HST DA standards, linking the zero point of their absolute fluxes to ugr magnitudes transformed from photometry obtained with the USNO 1-m telescope. For these stars we estimate uncertainties of <1% in the optical, finding good consistency with the fluxes adopted for HST calibration.

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arXiv2008

Granulation in K-type Dwarf Stars. I. Spectroscopic observations

Very high resolution (R~160,000-210,000), high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N>300) spectra of nine bright K-dwarfs were obtained with the 2dcoude spectrograph on the 2.7m Telescope at McDonald Observatory to determine wavelength shifts and asymmetries of Fe I lines. The observed shapes and positions of Fe I lines reveal asymmetries and wavelength shifts that indicate the presence of granulation. In particular, line bisectors show characteristic C-shapes while line core wavelengths are blueshifted by an amount that increases with decreasing equivalent width (EW). On average, Fe I line bisectors have a span that ranges from nearly 0 for the weakest lines (residual core flux > 0.7) to about 75 m/s for the strongest lines (residual core flux ~ 0.3) while wavelength shifts range from about -150 m/s in the weakest (EW ~ 10 mA) lines to 0 in the strongest (EW > 100 mA) features. A more detailed inspection of the bisectors and wavelength shifts reveals star-to-star differences that are likely associated with differences in stellar parameters, projected rotational velocity, and stellar activity. For the inactive, slow projected rotational velocity stars, we detect, unequivocally, a plateau in the line-shifts at large EW values (EW > 100 mA), a behavior that had been identified before only in the solar spectrum. The detection of this plateau allows us to determine the zero point of the convective blueshifts, which is useful to determine absolute radial velocities. Thus, we are able to measure such velocities with a mean uncertainty of about 60 m/s.

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arXiv2008

Stellar Atmospheric Parameters: The Four-Step Program and Gaia's Radial Velocity Spectrometer

The determination of atmospheric parameters is the first and most fundamental step in the analysis of a stellar spectrum. Current and forthcoming surveys involve samples of up to several million stars, and therefore fully automated approaches are required to handle not just data reduction but also the analysis, and in particular the determination of atmospheric parameters. We propose that a successful methodology needs, at the very least, to pass a series of consistency tests that we dub the 'four-step program'. This and related issues are discussed in some detail in the context of the massive data set to be obtained with the Radial Velocity Spectrometer onboard Gaia

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arXiv2008

APOGEE: The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

APOGEE is a large-scale, NIR, high-resolution (R~20,000) spectroscopic survey of Galactic stars. It is one of the four experiments in SDSS-III. Because APOGEE will observe in the H band, it will be the first survey to pierce through Galactic dust and provide a vast, uniform database of chemical abundances and radial velocities for stars across all Galactic populations (bulge, disk, and halo). The survey will be conducted with a dedicated, 300-fiber, cryogenic, spectrograph that is being built at the University of Virginia, coupled to the ARC 2.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. APOGEE will use a significant fraction of the SDSS-III bright time during a three-year period to observe, at high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N>100), about 100,000 giant stars selected directly from 2MASS down to a typical flux limit of H<13. The main scientific objectives of APOGEE are: (1) measuring unbiased metallicity distributions and abundance patterns for the different Galactic stellar populations, (2) studying the processes of star formation, feedback, and chemical mixing in the Milky Way, (3) surveying the dynamics of the bulge and disk, placing constraints on the nature and influence of the Galactic bar and spiral arms, and (4) using extensive chemodynamical data, particularly in the inner Galaxy, to unravel its formation and evolution.

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arXiv2008

Chemical Abundances from the Continuum

The calculation of solar absolute fluxes in the near-UV is revisited, discussing in some detail recent updates in theoretical calculations of bound-free opacity from metals. Modest changes in the abundances of elements such as Mg and the iron-peak elements have a significant impact on the atmospheric structure, and therefore self-consistent calculations are necessary. With small adjustments to the solar photospheric composition, we are able to reproduce fairly well the observed solar fluxes between 200 and 270 nm, and between 300 and 420 nm, but find too much absorption in the 270-290 nm window. A comparison between our reference 1D model and a 3D time-dependent hydrodynamical simulation indicates that the continuum flux is only weakly sensitive to 3D effects, with corrections reaching <10% in the near-UV, and <2% in the optical.

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arXiv2008

Center-to-Limb Variation of Solar 3-D Hydrodynamical Simulations

We examine closely the solar Center-to-Limb variation of continua and lines and compare observations with predictions from both a 3-D hydrodynamic simulation of the solar surface (provided by M. Asplund and collaborators) and 1-D model atmospheres. Intensities from the 3-D time series are derived by means of the new synthesis code ASSET, which overcomes limitations of previously available codes by including a consistent treatment of scattering and allowing for arbitrarily complex line and continuum opacities. In the continuum, we find very similar discrepancies between synthesis and observation for both types of model atmospheres. This is in contrast to previous studies that used a ``horizontally'' and time averaged representation of the 3-D model and found a significantly larger disagreement with observations. The presence of temperature and velocity fields in the 3-D simulation provides a significant advantage when it comes to reproduce solar spectral line shapes. Nonetheless, a comparison of observed and synthetic equivalent widths reveals that the 3-D model also predicts more uniform abundances as a function of position angle on the disk. We conclude that the 3-D simulation provides not only a more realistic description of the gas dynamics, but, despite its simplified treatment of the radiation transport, it also predicts reasonably well the observed Center-to-Limb variation, which is indicative of a thermal structure free from significant systematic errors.

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arXiv2007

Signatures of Granulation in the Spectra of K-Dwarfs

Very high resolution (R>150,000) spectra of a small sample of nearby K-dwarfs have been acquired to measure the line asymmetries and central wavelength shifts caused by convective motions present in stellar photospheres. This phenomenon of granulation is modeled by 3D hydrodynamical simulations but they need to be confronted with accurate observations to test their realism before they are used in stellar abundance studies. We find that the line profiles computed with a 3D model agree reasonably well with the observations. The line bisectors and central wavelength shifts on K-dwarf spectra have a maximum amplitude of only about 200 m/s and we have been able to resolve these granulation effects with a very careful observing strategy. By computing a number of iron lines with 1D and 3D models (assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium), we find that the impact of 3D-LTE effects on classical iron abundance determinations is negligible.

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arXiv2007

The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. II. Validation with Galactic Globular and Open Clusters

We validate the performance and accuracy of the current SEGUE (Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration) Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP), which determines stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity) by comparing derived overall metallicities and radial velocities from selected likely members of three globular clusters (M 13, M 15, and M 2) and two open clusters (NGC 2420 and M 67) to the literature values. Spectroscopic and photometric data obtained during the course of the original Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I) and its first extension (SDSS-II/SEGUE) are used to determine stellar radial velocities and atmospheric parameter estimates for stars in these clusters. Based on the scatter in the metallicities derived for the members of each cluster, we quantify the typical uncertainty of the SSPP values, sigma([Fe/H]) = 0.13 dex for stars in the range of 4500 K < Teff < 7500 K and 2.0 < log g < 5.0, at least over the metallicity interval spanned by the clusters studied (-2.3 < [Fe/H] < 0). The surface gravities and effective temperatures derived by the SSPP are also compared with those estimated from the comparison of the color-magnitude diagrams with stellar evolution models; we find satisfactory agreement. At present, the SSPP underestimates [Fe/H] for near-solar-metallicity stars, represented by members of M 67 in this study, by about 0.3 dex.

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arXiv2007

The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. III. Comparison with High-Resolution Spectroscopy of SDSS/SEGUE Field Stars

We report high-resolution spectroscopy of 125 field stars previously observed as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and its program for Galactic studies, the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE). These spectra are used to measure radial velocities and to derive atmospheric parameters, which we compare with those reported by the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP). The SSPP obtains estimates of these quantities based on SDSS ugriz photometry and low-resolution (R = 2000) spectroscopy. For F- and G-type stars observed with high signal-to-noise ratios (S/N), we empirically determine the typical random uncertainties in the radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities delivered by the SSPP to be 2.4 km/s, 130 K (2.2%), 0.21 dex, and 0.11 dex, respectively, with systematic uncertainties of a similar magnitude in the effective temperatures and metallicities. We estimate random errors for lower S/N spectra based on numerical simulations.

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