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H. Vázquez Ramió

Publications and source records attributed to H. Vázquez Ramió.

64 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

The GALANTE Photometric System

This paper describes the characterization of the GALANTE photometric system, a seven intermediate- and narrow-band filter system with a wavelength coverage from 3000 $Å$ to 9000 $Å$ . We describe the photometric system presenting the full sensitivity curve as a product of the filter sensitivity, CCD, telescope mirror, and atmospheric transmission curves, as well as some first- and second-order moments of this sensitivity function. The GALANTE photometric system is composed of four filters from the J-PLUS photometric system, a twelve broad-to-narrow filter system, and three exclusive filters, specifically designed to measure the physical parameters of stars such as effective temperature $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log(g)$, metallicity, colour excess $E(4405-5495)$, and extinction type $R_{5495}$. Two libraries, the Next Generation Spectral Library (NGSL) and the one presented in Maíz Apellániz & Weiler (2018), have been used to determine the transformation equations between the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ($\textit{SDSS}$) $\textit{ugriz}$ photometry and the GALANTE photometric system. We will use this transformation to calibrate the zero points of GALANTE images. To this end, a preliminary photometric calibration of GALANTE has been made based on two different $\textit{griz}$ libraries ($\textit{SDSS}$ DR12 and ATLAS All-Sky Stellar Reference Catalog, hereinafter $\textit{RefCat2}$). A comparison between both zero points is performed leading us to the choice of $\textit{RefCat2}$ as the base catalogue for this calibration, and applied to a field in the Cyg OB2 association.

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J-PLUS: Identification of low-metallicity stars with artificial neural networks using SPHINX

We present a new methodology for the estimation of stellar atmospheric parameters from narrow- and intermediate-band photometry of the Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS), and propose a method for target pre-selection of low-metallicity stars for follow-up spectroscopic studies. Photometric metallicity estimates for stars in the globular cluster M15 are determined using this method. By development of a neural-network-based photometry pipeline, we aim to produce estimates of effective temperature, $T_{\rm eff}$, and metallicity, [Fe/H], for a large subset of stars in the J-PLUS footprint. The Stellar Photometric Index Network Explorer, SPHINX, is developed to produce estimates of $T_{\rm eff}$ and [Fe/H], after training on a combination of J-PLUS photometric inputs and synthetic magnitudes computed for medium-resolution (R ~ 2000) spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This methodology is applied to J-PLUS photometry of the globular cluster M15. Effective temperature estimates made with J-PLUS Early Data Release photometry exhibit low scatter, σ($T_{\rm eff}$) = 91 K, over the temperature range 4500 < $T_{\rm eff}$ (K) < 8500. For stars from the J-PLUS First Data Release with 4500 < $T_{\rm eff}$ (K) < 6200, 85 $\pm$ 3% of stars known to have [Fe/H] <-2.0 are recovered by SPHINX. A mean metallicity of [Fe/H]=-2.32 $\pm$ 0.01, with a residual spread of 0.3 dex, is determined for M15 using J-PLUS photometry of 664 likely cluster members. We confirm the performance of SPHINX within the ranges specified, and verify its utility as a stand-alone tool for photometric estimation of effective temperature and metallicity, and for pre-selection of metal-poor spectroscopic targets.

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GALANTE: finding all the optically accessible Galactic O+B+WR stars in the Galactic Plane

GALANTE is an optical photometric survey with seven intermediate/narrow filters that has been covering the Galactic Plane since 2016 using the Javalambre T80 and Cerro Tololo T80S telescopes. The P.I.s of the northern part (GALANTE NORTE) are Emilio J. Alfaro and Jesús Maíz Apellániz. and the P.I. of the southern part (GALANTE SUR) is Rodolfo H. Barbá. The detector has a continuous 1.4 degr x 1.4 degr field of view with a sampling of 0.55"/pixel and the seven filters are optimized to detect obscured early-type stars. The survey includes long, intermediate, short, and ultrashort exposure times to reach a dynamical range close to 20 magnitudes, something never achieved for such an optical project before. The characteristics of GALANTE allow for a new type of calibration scheme using external Gaia, Tycho-2, and 2MASS data that has already led to a reanalysis of the sensitivity of the Gaia G filter. We describe the project and present some early results. GALANTE will identify the majority of the early-type massive stars within several kpc of the Sun and measure their amount and type of extinction. It will also map the Halpha nebular emission, identify emission-line stars, and do other studies of low- and intermediate-mass stars.

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J-PLUS: analysis of the intracluster light in the Coma cluster

The intracluster light (ICL) is a luminous component of galaxy clusters composed of stars that are gravitationally bound to the cluster potential but do not belong to the individual galaxies. Previous studies of the ICL have shown that its formation and evolution are intimately linked to the evolutionary stage of the cluster. Thus, the analysis of the ICL in the Coma cluster will give insights into the main processes driving the dynamics in this highly complex system. Using a recently developed technique, we measure the ICL fraction in Coma at several wavelengths, using the J-PLUS unique filter system. The combination of narrow- and broadband filters provides valuable information on the dynamical state of the cluster, the ICL stellar types, and the morphology of the diffuse light. We use the Chebyshev-Fourier Intracluster Light Estimator (CICLE) to disentangle the ICL from the light of the galaxies, and to robustly measure the ICL fraction in seven J-PLUS filters. We obtain the ICL fraction distribution of the Coma cluster at different optical wavelengths, which varies from $\sim 7\%-21\%$, showing the highest values in the narrowband filters J0395, J0410, and J0430. This ICL fraction excess is distinctive pattern recently observed in dynamically active clusters (mergers), indicating a higher amount of bluer stars in the ICL compared to the cluster galaxies. Both the high ICL fractions and the excess in the bluer filters are indicative of a merging state. The presence of younger/lower-metallicity stars the ICL suggests that the main mechanism of ICL formation for the Coma cluster is the stripping of the stars in the outskirts of infalling galaxies and, possibly, the disruption of dwarf galaxies during past/ongoing mergers.

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J-PLUS: measuring ${\rm H}α$ emission line fluxes in the nearby universe

In the present paper we aim to validate a methodology designed to extract the Halpha emission line flux from J-PLUS photometric data. J-PLUS is a multi narrow-band filter survey carried out with the 2 deg2 field of view T80Cam camera, mounted on the JAST/T80 telescope in the OAJ, Teruel, Spain. The information of the twelve J-PLUS bands, including the J0660 narrow-band filter located at rest-frame Halpha, is used over 42 deg2 to extract de-reddened and [NII] decontaminated Halpha emission line fluxes of 46 star-forming regions with previous SDSS and/or CALIFA spectroscopic information. The agreement of the inferred J-PLUS photometric Halpha fluxes and those obtained with spectroscopic data is remarkable, with a median comparison ratio R = 1.05 +- 0.25. This demonstrates that it is possible to retrieve reliable Halpha emission line fluxes from J-PLUS photometric data. With an expected area of thousands of square degrees upon completion, the J-PLUS dataset will allow the study of several star formation science cases in the nearby universe, as the spatially resolved star formation rate of nearby galaxies at z < 0.015, and how it is influenced by the environment, morphology or nuclear activity. As an illustrative example, the close pair of interacting galaxies NGC3994 and NGC3995 is analyzed, finding an enhancement of the star formation rate not only in the center, but also in outer parts of the disk of NGC3994.

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J-PLUS: On the identification of new cluster members in the double galaxy cluster A2589 & A2593 using PDFs

We aim to use multi-band imaging from the Phase-3 Verification Data of the J-PLUS survey to derive accurate photometric redshifts (photo-z) and look for potential new members in the surroundings of the nearby galaxy clusters A2589 (z=0.0414) & A2593 (z=0.0440), using redshift probability distribution functions. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the usefulness of a 12-band filter system in the study of large-scale structure in the local universe. We present an optimized pipeline for the estimation of photo-z in clusters of galaxies. We tested our photo-z with a sample of 296 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members with a magnitude of = 16.6 and redshift =0.041. The combination of seven narrow and five broadband filters with a typical photometric-depth of r<21.5 provides dz/(1+z)=0.01 photo-z estimates. A precision of dz/(1+z)=0.005 is obtained for the 177 galaxies brighter than magnitude r<17. To foresee the precision beyond the spectroscopic sample, we designed a set of simulations in which real cluster galaxies are modeled and reinjected inside the images at different signal-to-noise. A precision of dz/(1+z)=0.02 and dz/(1+z)=0.03 is expected at = 18-22, respectively. Complementarily, we used SDSS/DR12 data to derive photo-z estimates for the same galaxy sample, demonstrating that the wavelength-resolution of the J-PLUS can double the precision achieved by SDSS for galaxies with a high S/N. We find as much as 170 new candidates across the entire field. The spatial distribution of these galaxies may suggest an overlap between the systems with no evidence of a clear filamentary structure connecting the clusters. These preliminary results show the potential of J-PLUS data to revisit membership of groups and clusters from nearby galaxies, important for the determination of luminosity and mass functions and environmental studies at the intermediate and low-mass regime.

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J-PLUS: 2-D analysis of the stellar population in NGC 5473 and NGC 5485

The spatial variations of stellar population properties within a galaxy are intimately related to their formation process. Therefore, spatially resolved studies of galaxies are essential to uncover their formation and assembly. The Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS) is a dedicated multi-filter designed to observed ~8500 deg2 using twelve narrow-, intermediate- and broad-band filters in the optical range. In this study, we test the potential of the multi-filter observation carried out with J-PLUS to investigate the properties of spatially-resolved nearby galaxies. We present detailed 2D maps of stellar population properties (age, metallicity, extinction, and stellar mass surface density) for two early-type galaxies observed in both, J-PLUS and CALIFA surveys: NGC 5473 and NGC 5485. Radial structures are also compared and luminosity- and mass-weighted profiles are derived. We use MUFFIT to process the J-PLUS observations, and two different techniques (STARLIGHT and STECKMAP) to analyze IFU CALIFA data. We demonstrate that this novel technique delivers radial stellar population gradients in good agreement with the IFU technique CALIFA/STECKMAP although comparison of the absolute values reveals the existence of intrinsic systematic differences. Radial stellar population gradients differ when CALIFA/STARLIGHT methodology is used. Age and metallicity radial profiles derived from J-PLUS/MUFFIT are very similar when luminosity- or mass-weighted properties are used, suggesting that the contribution of a younger component is small. Comparison between the three methodologies reveals some discrepancies suggesting that the specific characteristics of each method causes important differences. We conclude that the ages, metallicities and extinction derived for individual galaxies not only depend on the chosen models but also depend on the method used.

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J-PLUS: Morphological star/galaxy classification by PDF analysis

Our goal is to morphologically classify the sources identified in the images of the J-PLUS early data release (EDR) into compact (stars) or extended (galaxies) using a suited Bayesian classifier. J-PLUS sources exhibit two distinct populations in the r-band magnitude vs. concentration plane, corresponding to compact and extended sources. We modelled the two-population distribution with a skewed Gaussian for compact objects and a log-normal function for the extended ones. The derived model and the number density prior based on J-PLUS EDR data were used to estimate the Bayesian probability of a source to be star or galaxy. This procedure was applied pointing-by-pointing to account for varying observing conditions and sky position. Finally, we combined the morphological information from g, r, and i broad bands in order to improve the classification of low signal-to-noise sources. The derived probabilities are used to compute the pointing-by-pointing number counts of stars and galaxies. The former increases as we approach to the Milky Way disk, and the latter are similar across the probed area. The comparison with SDSS in the common regions is satisfactory up to r ~ 21, with consistent numbers of stars and galaxies, and consistent distributions in concentration and (g - i) colour spaces. We implement a morphological star/galaxy classifier based on PDF analysis, providing meaningful probabilities for J-PLUS sources to one magnitude deeper (r ~ 21) than a classical boolean classification. These probabilities are suited for the statistical study of 150k stars and 101k galaxies with 15 < r < 21 present in the 31.7 deg2 of the J-PLUS EDR. In a future version of the classifier, we will include J-PLUS colour information from twelve photometric bands.

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J-PLUS: The Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey

J-PLUS is an ongoing 12-band photometric optical survey, observing thousands of square degrees of the Northern hemisphere from the dedicated JAST/T80 telescope at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre. T80Cam is a 2 sq.deg field-of-view camera mounted on this 83cm-diameter telescope, and is equipped with a unique system of filters spanning the entire optical range. This filter system is a combination of broad, medium and narrow-band filters, optimally designed to extract the rest-frame spectral features (the 3700-4000Å Balmer break region, H$δ$, Ca H+K, the G-band, the Mgb and Ca triplets) that are key to both characterize stellar types and to deliver a low-resolution photo-spectrum for each pixel of the sky observed. With a typical depth of AB $\sim 21.25$ mag per band, this filter set thus allows for an indiscriminate and accurate characterization of the stellar population in our Galaxy, it provides an unprecedented 2D photo-spectral information for all resolved galaxies in the local universe, as well as accurate photo-z estimates ($Δ\,z\sim 0.01-0.03$) for moderately bright (up to $r\sim 20$ mag) extragalactic sources. While some narrow band filters are designed for the study of particular emission features ([OII]/$λ$3727, H$α$/$λ$6563) up to $z < 0.015$, they also provide well-defined windows for the analysis of other emission lines at higher redshifts. As a result, J-PLUS has the potential to contribute to a wide range of fields in Astrophysics, both in the nearby universe (Milky Way, 2D IFU-like studies, stellar populations of nearby and moderate redshift galaxies, clusters of galaxies) and at high redshifts (ELGs at $z\approx 0.77, 2.2$ and $4.4$, QSOs, etc). With this paper, we release $\sim 36$ sq.deg of J-PLUS data, containing about $1.5\times 10^5$ stars and $10^5$ galaxies at $r<21$ mag.

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Galaxy properties from J-PAS narrow-band photometry

We study the consistency of the physical properties of galaxies retrieved from SED-fitting as a function of spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Using a selection of physically motivated star formation histories, we set up a control sample of mock galaxy spectra representing observations of the local universe in high-resolution spectroscopy, and in 56 narrow-band and 5 broad-band photometry. We fit the SEDs at these spectral resolutions and compute their corresponding the stellar mass, the mass- and luminosity-weighted age and metallicity, and the dust extinction. We study the biases, correlations, and degeneracies affecting the retrieved parameters and explore the rôle of the spectral resolution and the SNR in regulating these degeneracies. We find that narrow-band photometry and spectroscopy yield similar trends in the physical properties derived, the former being considerably more precise. Using a galaxy sample from the SDSS, we compare more realistically the results obtained from high-resolution and narrow-band SEDs (synthesized from the same SDSS spectra) following the same spectral fitting procedures. We use results from the literature as a benchmark to our spectroscopic estimates and show that the prior PDFs, commonly adopted in parametric methods, may introduce biases not accounted for in a Bayesian framework. We conclude that narrow-band photometry yields the same trend in the age-metallicity relation in the literature, provided it is affected by the same biases as spectroscopy; albeit the precision achieved with the latter is generally twice as large as with the narrow-band, at SNR values typical of the different kinds of data.

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