arXiv subjects

Gavin B. Dalton

Publications and source records attributed to Gavin B. Dalton.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The WEAVE acquisition and guiding software: pattern recognition-based acquisition and multi-fibre guiding

We present the architecture, implementation, and on-sky validation of the fully automated acquisition and guiding system (AG) developed for the WEAVE instrument on the William Herschel Telescope. The AG operates in two distinct modes, corresponding to the observing modes of WEAVE. For the large integral field unit (LIFU), an off-axis imaging guider is used, for which we have devised an automatic acquisition method based on pattern recognition of stellar asterisms matched against Gaia predictions. For the multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and the mini-integral field units (mIFU), a multi-fibre guider uses up to eight coherent image guide fibre bundles to derive and apply continuous corrections in azimuth, altitude, and rotation. The system performs complete astrometric calculations, including atmospheric differential refraction and instrument flexure, for each guide frame, enabling accurate target placement and stable closed-loop guiding in all configurations. To support development, commissioning, and operational validation, we have also built a high-fidelity simulation mode that reproduces the behaviour of the telescope control system and of the AG cameras, and we release the standalone camera simulator as open-source software. Using two years of routine WEAVE operations spanning commissioning and early survey phases, we present a statistically robust characterization of AG performance, demonstrating that both modes meet design requirements and are ready for sustained survey operations.

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arXiv2023

The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE: Survey design, overview, and simulated implementation

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, will see first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-degree field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366$-$959\,nm at $R\sim5000$, or two shorter ranges at $R\sim20\,000$. After summarising the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organisation, science drivers and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for $\sim$3 million stars and detailed abundances for $\sim1.5$ million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey $\sim0.4$ million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey $\sim400$ neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionised gas in $z<0.5$ cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in $\sim25\,000$ field galaxies at $0.3\lesssim z \lesssim 0.7$; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using $>1$ million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at $z>2$. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.

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arXiv2018

The ELT-MOS (MOSAIC): towards the construction phase

When combined with the huge collecting area of the ELT, MOSAIC will be the most effective and flexible Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) facility in the world, having both a high multiplex and a multi-Integral Field Unit (Multi-IFU) capability. It will be the fastest way to spectroscopically follow-up the faintest sources, probing the reionisation epoch, as well as evaluating the evolution of the dwarf mass function over most of the age of the Universe. MOSAIC will be world-leading in generating an inventory of both the dark matter (from realistic rotation curves with MOAO fed NIR IFUs) and the cool to warm-hot gas phases in z=3.5 galactic haloes (with visible wavelenth IFUs). Galactic archaeology and the first massive black holes are additional targets for which MOSAIC will also be revolutionary. MOAO and accurate sky subtraction with fibres have now been demonstrated on sky, removing all low Technical Readiness Level (TRL) items from the instrument. A prompt implementation of MOSAIC is feasible, and indeed could increase the robustness and reduce risk on the ELT, since it does not require diffraction limited adaptive optics performance. Science programmes and survey strategies are currently being investigated by the Consortium, which is also hoping to welcome a few new partners in the next two years.

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arXiv2013

Evolution of Star Formation in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field - I. Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star Formation Rate out to z=1.6

We present new results on the cosmic star formation history in the SXDS-UDS field out to z=1.6. We compile narrow-band data from the Subaru Telescope and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in conjunction with broad-band data from the SXDS and UDS, to make a selection of 5725 emission-line galaxies in 12 redshift slices, spanning 10 Gyr of cosmic time. We determine photometric redshifts for the sample using 11-band photometry, and use a spectroscopically confirmed subset to fine tune the resultant redshift distribution. We use the maximum-likelihood technique to determine luminosity functions in each redshift slice and model the selection effects inherent in any narrow-band selection statistically, to obviate the retrospective corrections ordinarily required. The deep narrow-band data are sensitive to very low star formation rates (SFRs), and allow an accurate evaluation of the faint end slope of the Schechter function, alpha. We find that alpha is particularly sensitive to the assumed faintest broadband magnitude of a galaxy capable of hosting an emission line, and propose that this limit should be empirically motivated. For this analysis we base our threshold on the limiting observed equivalent widths of emission lines in the local Universe. We compute the characteristic SFR of galaxies in each redshift slice, and the integrated SFR density, rho_{SFR}. We find our results to be in good agreement with the literature and parametrize the evolution of the SFR density as rho_{SFR} proportional to (1 + z)^{4.58} confirming a steep decline in star formation activity since z = 1.6.

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arXiv2013

The HETDEX Pilot Survey. IV. The Evolution of [O II] Emitting Galaxies from z ~ 0.5 to z ~ 0

We present an analysis of the luminosities and equivalent widths of the 284 z < 0.56 [O II]-emitting galaxies found in the 169 square arcmin pilot survey for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). By combining emission-line fluxes obtained from the Mitchell spectrograph on the McDonald 2.7-m telescope with deep broadband photometry from archival data, we derive each galaxy's de-reddened [O II] 3727 luminosity and calculate its total star formation rate. We show that over the last ~5 Gyr of cosmic time there has been substantial evolution in the [O II] emission-line luminosity function, with L* decreasing by ~0.6 +/-0.2 dex in the observed function, and by ~0.9 +/-0.2 dex in the de-reddened relation. Accompanying this decline is a significant shift in the distribution of [O II] equivalent widths, with the fraction of high equivalent-width emitters declining dramatically with time. Overall, the data imply that the relative intensity of star formation within galaxies has decreased over the past ~5 Gyr, and that the star formation rate density of the universe has declined by a factor of ~2.5 between z ~ 0.5 and z ~ 0. These observations represent the first [O II]-based star formation rate density measurements in this redshift range, and foreshadow the advancements which will be generated by the main HETDEX survey.

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arXiv2012

4MOST - 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope

The 4MOST consortium is currently halfway through a Conceptual Design study for ESO with the aim to develop a wide-field (>3 square degree, goal >5 square degree), high-multiplex (>1500 fibres, goal 3000 fibres) spectroscopic survey facility for an ESO 4m-class telescope (VISTA). 4MOST will run permanently on the telescope to perform a 5 year public survey yielding more than 20 million spectra at resolution R~5000 (λ=390-1000 nm) and more than 2 million spectra at R~20,000 (395-456.5 nm & 587-673 nm). The 4MOST design is especially intended to complement three key all-sky, space-based observatories of prime European interest: Gaia, eROSITA and Euclid. Initial design and performance estimates for the wide-field corrector concepts are presented. We consider two fibre positioner concepts, a well-known Phi-Theta system and a new R-Theta concept with a large patrol area. The spectrographs are fixed configuration two-arm spectrographs, with dedicated spectrographs for the high- and low-resolution. A full facility simulator is being developed to guide trade-off decisions regarding the optimal field-of-view, number of fibres needed, and the relative fraction of high-to-low resolution fibres. Mock catalogues with template spectra from seven Design Reference Surveys are simulated to verify the science requirements of 4MOST. The 4MOST consortium aims to deliver the full 4MOST facility by the end of 2018 and start delivering high-level data products for both consortium and ESO community targets a year later with yearly increments.

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arXiv2010

The dependence of star formation activity on environment and stellar mass at z~1 from the HiZELS H-alpha survey

(Abridged) This paper presents an environment and stellar mass study of a large sample of star-forming (SF) galaxies at z=0.84 from the HiZELS survey, over 1.3 deg^2 in the COSMOS and UKIDSS UDS fields. By taking advantage of a truly panoramic coverage, from the field to a rich cluster, it is shown that both mass and environment play crucial roles in determining the properties of SF galaxies. The median specific SFR declines with mass in all environments, and the fraction of galaxies forming stars declines from ~40%, for M~10^10M_sun to effectively zero at M>10^11.5M_sun, confirming that mass-downsizing is generally in place by z~1. The fraction of SF galaxies also falls as a function of local environmental density from ~40% in the field to approaching zero at rich group/cluster densities. When SF does occur in high density regions, it is merger-dominated and, if only non-merging SF galaxies are considered, then the environment and mass trends are even stronger and largely independent, as in the local Universe. The median SFR of SF galaxies is found to increase with density up to intermediate (group or cluster outskirts) densities; this is clearly seen as a change in the faint-end slope of the H-alpha LF from steep (-1.9), in poor fields, to shallow (-1.1) in groups and clusters. Interestingly, the relation between median SFR and environment is only found for low to moderate-mass galaxies (below ~10^10.6M_sun), and is not seen for massive SF galaxies. Overall, these observations provide a detailed view over a sufficiently large range of mass and environment to reconcile previous observational claims: mass is the primary predictor of SF activity at z~1, but the environment, while enhancing the median SFR of (lower-mass) SF galaxies, is ultimately responsible for suppressing SF activity in all galaxies above surface densities of 10-30 Mpc^-2 (groups and clusters).

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arXiv2010

Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the William Herschel Telescope

Wide-field multi-object spectroscopy is a high priority for European astronomy over the next decade. Most 8-10m telescopes have a small field of view, making 4-m class telescopes a particularly attractive option for wide-field instruments. We present a science case and design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph (MOS) with integral field units for the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. The instrument intends to take advantage of a future prime-focus corrector and atmospheric-dispersion corrector that will deliver a field of view 2 deg in diameter, with good throughput from 370 to 1,000 nm. The science programs cluster into three groups needing three different resolving powers R: (1) high-precision radial-velocities for Gaia-related Milky Way dynamics, cosmological redshift surveys, and galaxy evolution studies (R = 5,000), (2) galaxy disk velocity dispersions (R = 10,000) and (3) high-precision stellar element abundances for Milky Way archaeology (R = 20,000). The multiplex requirements of the different science cases range from a few hundred to a few thousand, and a range of fibre-positioner technologies are considered. Several options for the spectrograph are discussed, building in part on published design studies for E-ELT spectrographs. Indeed, a WHT MOS will not only efficiently deliver data for exploitation of important imaging surveys planned for the coming decade, but will also serve as a test-bed to optimize the design of MOS instruments for the future E-ELT.

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arXiv2010

The Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) for Subaru Telescope

Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) is the first near-infrared instrument with a wide field of view capable of acquiring spectra simultaneously from up to 400 objects. It has been developed as a common-use instrument for the F/2 prime-focus of the Subaru Telescope. The field coverage of 30' diameter is achieved using a new 3-element corrector optimized in the near-infrared (0.9-1.8um) wavelength range. Due to limited space at the prime-focus, we have had to develop a novel fibre positioner called "Echidna" together with two OH-airglow suppressed spectrographs. FMOS consists of three subsystems: the prime focus unit for IR, the fibre positioning system/connector units, and the two spectrographs. After full systems integration, FMOS was installed on the telescope in late 2007. Many aspects of performance were checked through various test and engineering observations. In this paper, we present the optical and mechanical components of FMOS and show the results of our on-sky engineering observations to date.

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arXiv2010

The clustering and evolution of H-alpha emitters at z~1 from HiZELS

(Abridged) The clustering properties of a well-defined sample of 734 H-alpha emitters at z=0.84 obtained as part of the Hi-z Emission Line Survey (HiZELS) are investigated. The spatial correlation function is very well-described by (r/r_0)^-1.8, with r_0=2.7+-0.3Mpc/h. The correlation length r_0 increases strongly with H-alpha luminosity, L_H-alpha, from r_0~2Mpc/h for the most quiescent galaxies (star-formation rates of ~4M_sun/yr), up to r_0>5Mpc/h for the brightest galaxies in H-alpha. The correlation length also increases with increasing rest-frame K-band luminosity (M_K), but the r_0-L_H-alpha correlation maintains its full statistical significance at fixed M_K. At z=0.84, star-forming galaxies classified as irregulars or mergers are much more clustered than discs and non-mergers, but once the samples are matched in L_H-alpha and M_K, the differences vanish, implying that the clustering is independent of morphological type at z~1. The typical H-alpha emitters found at z=0.84 reside in dark-matter haloes of ~10^12M_sun, but those with the highest SFRs reside in more massive haloes of ~10^13M_sun. Comparing the results with those of H-alpha surveys at different redshifts, it is seen that although the break of the H-alpha luminosity function, L*, evolves by a factor of ~30 from z=0.24 to z=2.23, galaxies with the same L_H-alpha/L*(z) are found in dark matter haloes of similar masses, independently of cosmic time. This not only confirms that star-formation is more efficient at higher redshift, but also suggests a fundamental connection between the strong decrease of L* since z=2.23 and the quenching of star-formation in galaxies residing within dark-matter haloes significantly more massive than 10^12M_sun at any given epoch.

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arXiv2009

Obscured star formation at z = 0.84 with HiZELS: the relationship between star formation rate and H-alpha or ultra-violet dust extinction

[Abridged] We compare H-alpha, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) indicators of star formation rate (SFR) for a sample of z = 0.84 galaxies from the High-z Emission Line Survey (HiZELS). Using multi-wavelength diagnostics, we estimate that 5 - 11 per cent of H-alpha emitters at this redshift are active galactic nuclei. We detect 35 per cent of the H-alpha emitters individually at 24 microns, and stack the star-forming emitters on deep 24-micron images in order to calculate the typical SFRs of our galaxies. These are compared to the observed H-alpha line fluxes in order to estimate the extinction at z = 0.84, and we find a significant increase in dust extinction for galaxies with higher SFRs. We demonstrate that the local relationship between SFR and extinction is suitable for our sample, and attribute the overall increase in dust extinction for z = 0.84 galaxies to an increase in the average SFR, rather than to a change in dust properties. We calculate the UV extinction, and find a similar dependence on SFR, but no evidence for a 2175 angstrom UV bump in the dust attenuation law. We calculate the conversion between the dust attenuation of nebular and stellar radiation, gamma, and show that gamma = 0.50 +/- 0.14. The extinction / SFR relationship is shown to be applicable to galaxies with a range of morphologies and bulge-to-disk ratios, to both merging and non-merging galaxies, and to galaxies within high- and low-density environments, implying that it is a fundamental property of star-forming regions. In order to allow future studies to correct for a SFR-dependent amount of dust extinction, we present an equation to predict the extinction of a galaxy, based solely upon its observed H-alpha luminosity, and use this to recalculate the H-alpha luminosity function and star formation rate density at z = 0.84.

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arXiv2005

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: correlation with the ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-ray (REFLEX) galaxy cluster survey

The ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-ray (REFLEX) galaxy cluster survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) respectively comprise the largest, homogeneous X-ray selected cluster catalogue and completed galaxy redshift survey. In this work we combine these two outstanding datasets in order to study the effect of the large-scale cluster environment, as traced by X-ray luminosity, on the properties of the cluster member galaxies. We measure the LX-sigma relation from the correlated dataset and find it to be consistent with recent results found in the literature. Using a sample of 19 clusters with LX>=0.36*10^44 erg s^-1 in the (0.1-2.4 keV) band, and 49 clusters with lower X-ray luminosity, we find that the fraction of early spectral type (eta<=-1.4), passively-evolving galaxies is significantly higher in the high-LX sample within R200. We extend the investigation to include composite bJ cluster luminosity functions, and find that the characteristic magnitude of the Schechter-function fit to the early-type luminosity function is fainter for the high-LX sample compared to the low-LX sample (Delta M*=0.58+/-0.14). This seems to be driven by a deficit of such galaxies with M_bJ ~ -21. In contrast, we find no significant differences between the luminosity functions of star-forming, late-type galaxies. We believe these results are consistent with a scenario in which the high-LX clusters are more dynamically evolved systems than the low-LX clusters.

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arXiv2003

Optical Identification of the ASCA Lynx Deep Survey: An Association of QSOs and a Supercluster at z=1.3?

Results of optical identification of the ASCA Lynx deep survey are presented. Six X-ray sources are detected in the 2-7 keV band using the SIS in a 20'x20' field of view with fluxes larger than ~4x10^{-14} erg s-1 cm-2 in the band. Follow-up optical spectroscopic observations were made, and five out of six sources are identified with AGNs/QSOs at redshifts of 0.5-1.3. We also identify two more additional X-ray sources detected in a soft X-ray band with AGNs/QSOs. It is found that three QSOs identified are located at z~1.3. Two rich clusters and several groups of galaxies are also placed at the same redshift in the surveyed field, and projected separations between the QSOs and the clusters are 3-8 Mpc at the redshift.

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arXiv1997

The richness dependence of galaxy cluster correlations: Results from a redshift survey of rich APM clusters

We analyse the spatial clustering properties of a new catalogue of very rich galaxy clusters selected from the APM Galaxy Survey. These clusters are of comparable richness and space density to Abell Richness Class $\geq 1$ clusters, but selected using an objective algorithm from a catalogue demonstrably free of artificial inhomogeneities. Evaluation of the two-point correlation function $ξ_{cc}(r)$ for the full sample and for richer subsamples reveals that the correlation amplitude is consistent with that measured for lower richness APM clusters and X-ray selected clusters. We apply a maxmimum likelihood estimator to find the best fitting slope and amplitude of a power law fit to $ξ_{cc}(r)$, and to estimate the correlation length $r_{0}$ (the value of $r$ at which $ξ_{cc}(r)$ is equal to unity). For clusters with a mean space density of $1.6\times 10^{-6}\hmpccc$ (equivalent to the space density of Abell Richness $\geq 2$ clusters), we find $r_{0}=21.3^{+11.1}_{-9.3} \hmpc$ (95% confidence limits). This is consistent with the weak richness dependence of $ξ_{cc}(r)$ expected in Gaussian models of structure formation. In particular, the amplitude of $ξ_{cc}(r)$ at all richnesses matches that of $ξ_{cc}(r)$ for clusters selected in N-Body simulations of a low density Cold Dark Matter model.

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