arXiv subjects

H. Voss

Publications and source records attributed to H. Voss.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey -- V. Preliminary flux tables for the calibration of Gaia DR2 and (E)DR3

We present the flux tables of the spectro-photometric standard stars (SPSS) used to calibrate in flux the Gaia DR2 and (E)DR3 data releases. The latest SPSS grid version contains 112 stars, whose flux tables agree to better than 1% with the CALSPEC spectra of 11 flux standards for the calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope. The synthetic magnitudes computed on the SPSS spectra also agree to better than 1% with the Landolt magnitudes of 37 stars in common. The typical spreads in both comparisons are of the order of 1%. These uncertainties already meet the initial requirements for the Gaia SPSS project, but further improvements are expected in the next SPSS versions, that will be used to calibrate future Gaia releases. We complement the SPSS flux tables with literature spectra of 60 additional stars that did not pass all the criteria to be SPSS, the Passband Validation Library (PVL). The PVL contains stars of extreme spectral types, such as bright O and B stars and late M stars and brown dwarfs, and was useful to investigate systematic effects in the previous Gaia DR2 release and to minimize them in the EDR3 one. The PVL literature spectra are recalibrated as accurately as possible onto the SPSS reference scale, so that the two sets together can be used in a variety of validation and comparison studies.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey -- IV. Results of the absolute photometry campaign

We present Johnson-Kron-Cousins BVRI photometry of 228 candidate spectrophotometric standard stars for the external (absolute) flux calibration of Gaia data. The data were gathered as part of a ten-year observing campaign with the goal of building the external grid of flux standards for Gaia and we obtained absolute photometry, relative photometry for constancy monitoring, and spectrophotometry. Preliminary releases of the flux tables were used to calibrate the first two Gaia releases. This paper focuses on the imaging frames observed in good sky conditions (about 9100). The photometry will be used to validate the ground-based flux tables of the Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars and to correct the spectra obtained in non-perfectly photometric observing conditions for small zeropoint variations. The absolute photometry presented here is tied to the Landolt standard stars system to $\simeq$1 per cent or better, depending on the photometric band. Extensive comparisons with various literature sources show an overall $\simeq$1 per cent agreement, which appears to be the current limit in the accuracy of flux calibrations across various samples and techniques in the literature. The Gaia photometric precision is presently of the order of 0.1 per cent or better, thus various ideas for the improvement of photometric calibration accuracy are discussed.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2017

Gaia Data Release 1: Validation of the photometry

Aims. The photometric validation of the Gaia DR1 release of the ESA Gaia mission is described and the quality of the data shown. Methods. This is carried out via an internal analysis of the photometry using the most constant sources. Comparisons with external photometric catalogues are also made, but are limited by the accuracies and systematics present in these catalogues. An analysis of the quoted errors is also described. Investigations of the calibration coefficients reveal some of the systematic effects that affect the fluxes. Results. The analysis of the constant sources shows that the early-stage photometric calibrations can reach an accuracy as low as 3 mmag.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Gaia data release 1, the photometric data

Context. This paper presents an overview of the photometric data that are part of the first Gaia data release. Aims. The principles of the processing and the main characteristics of the Gaia photometric data are presented. Methods. The calibration strategy is outlined briefly and the main properties of the resulting photometry are presented. Results. Relations with other broadband photometric systems are provided. The overall precision for the Gaia photometry is shown to be at the milli-magnitude level and has a clear potential to improve further in future releases.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Gaia data release 1: Principles of the photometric calibration of the G band

Context. Gaia is an ESA cornerstone mission launched on 19 December 2013 aiming to obtain the most complete and precise 3D map of our Galaxy by observing more than one billion sources. This paper is part of a series of documents explaining the data processing and its results for Gaia Data Release 1, focussing on the G band photometry. Aims. This paper describes the calibration model of the Gaia photometric passband for Gaia Data Release 1. Methods. The overall principle of splitting the process into internal and external calibrations is outlined. In the internal calibration, a self-consistent photometric system is generated. Then, the external calibration provides the link to the absolute photometric flux scales. Results. The Gaia photometric calibration pipeline explained here was applied to the first data release with good results. Details are given of the various calibration elements including the mathematical formulation of the models used and of the extraction and preparation of the required input parameters (e.g. colour terms). The external calibration in this first release provides the absolute zero point and photometric transformations from the Gaia G passband to other common photometric systems. Conclusions. This paper describes the photometric calibration implemented for the first Gaia data release and the instrumental effects taken into account. For this first release no aperture losses, radiation damage, and other second-order effects have not yet been implemented in the calibration.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

An M dwarf Companion to an F-type Star in a young main-sequence binary

Only a few well characterized very low-mass M dwarfs are known today. Our understanding of M dwarfs is vital as these are the most common stars in our solar neighborhood. We aim to characterize the properties of a rare F+dM stellar system for a better understanding of the low-mass end of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. We used photometric light curves and radial velocity follow-up measurements to study the binary. Spectro- scopic analysis was used in combination with isochrone fitting to characterize the primary star. The primary star is an early F-type main-sequence star with a mass of (1.493 +- 0.073) Msun and a radius of (1.474 +- 0.040) Rsun. The companion is an M dwarf with a mass of (0.188 +- 0.014) Msun and a radius of (0.234 +- 0.009) Rsun. The orbital period is (1.35121 +- 0:00001)d. The secondary star is among the lowest-mass M dwarfs known to date. The binary has not reached a 1:1 spin-orbit synchronization. This indicates a young main-sequence binary with an age below ~250 Myrs. The mass-radius relation of both components are in agreement with this finding.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey -II. Instrumental effects of six ground-based observing campaigns

The Gaia SpectroPhotometric Standard Stars (SPSS) survey started in 2006, it was awarded almost 450 observing nights, and accumulated almost 100,000 raw data frames, with both photometric and spectroscopic observations. Such large observational effort requires careful, homogeneous, and automated data reduction and quality control procedures. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate instrumental effects that might have a significant (i.e.,$\geq$1%) impact on the Gaia SPSS flux calibration. The measurements involve six different instruments, monitored over the eight years of observations dedicated to the Gaia flux standards campaigns: DOLORES@TNG in La Palma, EFOSC2@NTT and ROSS@REM in La Silla, CAFOS@2.2m in Calar Alto, BFOSC@Cassini in Loiano, and LaRuca@1.5m in San Pedro Martir. We examine and quantitatively evaluate the following effects: CCD linearity and shutter times, calibration frames stability, lamp flexures, second order contamination, light polarization, and fringing. We present methods to correct for the relevant effects, which can be applied to a wide range of observational projects at similar instruments.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Detrending algorithms in large time-series: Application to TFRM-PSES data

Certain instrumental effects and data reduction anomalies introduce systematic errors in photometric time-series. Detrending algorithms such as the Trend Filtering Algorithm (TFA) (Kovács et al. 2004) have played a key role in minimizing the effects caused by these systematics. Here we present the results obtained after applying the TFA, Savitszky-Golay (Savitzky & Golay 1964) detrending algorithms and the Box Least Square phase folding algorithm (Kovács et al. 2002) to the TFRM-PSES data (Fors et al. 2013). Tests performed on this data show that by applying these two filtering methods together, the photometric RMS is on average improved by a factor of 3-4, with better efficiency towards brighter magnitudes, while applying TFA alone yields an improvement of a factor 1-2. As a result of this improvement, we are able to detect and analyze a large number of stars per TFRM-PSES field which present some kind of variability. Also, after porting these algorithms to Python and parallelizing them, we have improved, even for large data samples, the computing performance of the overall detrending+BLS algorithm by a factor of $\sim$10 with respect to Kovács et al. (2004).

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2012

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey. I. Preliminary results

We describe two ground based observing campaigns aimed at building a grid of approximately 200 spectrophotometric standard stars (SPSS), with an internal ~1% precision and tied to Vega within ~3%, for the absolute flux calibration of data gathered by Gaia, the ESA astrometric mission. The criteria for the selection and a list of candidates are presented, together with a description of the survey strategy and the adopted data analysis methods. We also discuss a short list of notable rejected SPSS candidates and difficult cases, based on identification problems, literature discordant data, visual companions, and variability. In fact, all candidates are also monitored for constancy (within \pm5 mmag, approximately). In particular, we report on a CALSPEC standard, 1740346, that we found to be a delta Scuti variable during our short-term monitoring (1-2 h) campaign.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2011

A Variable Star Census in a Perseus Field

The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope is a small-aperture, wide-field telescope dedicated to time-series photometric observations. During an initial commissioning phase at the Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany, and subsequent operations at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France, a 3.1 ° x 3.1 ° circumpolar field close to the galactic plane centered at (α, δ) = (02h 39m 23s, +52° 01' 46") (J 2000.0) was observed between 2001 August and 2006 December during 52 nights. From the 32129 stars observed, a subsample of 145 stars with clear stellar variability was detected out of which 125 are newly identified variable objects. For five bright objects, the system parameters were derived by modeling the light curve.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Setup for testing LHCb Inner Tracker Modules

The Inner Tracker of the LHCb experiment is a silicon microstrip detector consisting of 336 detector modules with either one or two sensors. The module production is now underway and we present here the setup employed for module testing during the production. The setup is based on the same electronics that will be used in the final experiment. We perform burn-in and ageing tests with the help of a custom made Temperature Cycling Box controlled with LabVIEW under Windows. The DAQ is done in another PC running Linux. Here we integrate the different C/C++ libraries used to communicate to the LHCb Time and Fast Control system,Experiment Control System and Data Acquisition.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2010

Gaia broad band photometry

The scientific community needs to be prepared to analyse the data from Gaia, one of the most ambitious ESA space missions, to be launched in 2012. The purpose of this paper is to provide data and tools in order to predict in advance how Gaia photometry is expected to be. To do so, we provide relationships among colours involving Gaia magnitudes and colours from other commonly used photometric systems (Johnson-Cousins, SDSS, Hipparcos and Tycho). The most up-to-date information from industrial partners has been used to define the nominal passbands and based on the BaSeL3.1 stellar spectral energy distribution library, relationships were obtained for stars with different reddening values, ranges of temperatures, surface gravities and metallicities. The transformations involving Gaia and Johnson-Cousins V-I_C and Sloan DSS g-z colours have the lowest residuals. A polynomial expression for the relation between the effective temperature and the colour G_BP-G_RP was derived for stars with T > 4500 K. Transformations involving two Johnson or two Sloan DSS colours yield lower residuals than using only one colour. We also computed several ratios of total-to-selective absorption including absorption A_G in the G band and colour excess E(G_BP-G_RP) for our sample stars. A relationship, involving A_G/A_V and the intrinsic (V-I_C) colour, is provided. The derived Gaia passbands have been used to compute tracks and isochrones using the Padova and BASTI models. Finally, the performances of the predicted Gaia magnitudes have been estimated according to the magnitude and the celestial coordinates of the star. The provided dependencies among colours can be used for planning scientific exploitation of Gaia data, performing simulations of the Gaia-like sky, planning ground-based complementary observations and for building catalogues with auxiliary data for the Gaia data processing and validation.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2009

Pre-discovery observations of CoRoT-1b and CoRoT-2b with the BEST survey

The BEST wide-angle telescope installed at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence and operated in remote control from Berlin by the Institut fuer Planetenforschung, DLR, has observed the CoRoT target fields prior to the mission. The resulting archive of stellar photometric lightcurves is used to search for deep transit events announced during CoRoT's alarm-mode to aid in fast photometric confirmation of these events. The "initial run" field of CoRoT (IRa01) has been observed with BEST in November and December 2006 for 12 nights. The first "long run" field (LRc01) was observed from June to September 2005 for 35 nights. After standard CCD data reduction, aperture photometry has been performed using the ISIS image subtraction method. About 30,000 lightcurves were obtained in each field. Transits of the first detected planets by the CoRoT mission, CoRoT-1b and CoRoT-2b, were found in archived data of the BEST survey and their lightcurves are presented here. Such detections provide useful information at the early stage of the organization of follow-up observations of satellite alarm-mode planet candidates. In addition, no period change was found over ~4 years between the first BEST observation and last available transit observations.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2009

Identification of Variable Stars in COROT's First Main Observing Field (LRc1)

The COROT space mission will monitor several target fields for up to 150 days to perform asteroseismology and to search for extrasolar planets by photometric transits. Variable stars in the target fields are important objects for additional scientific studies but can also disturb the search for planetary transits. A variability characterization of the target fields prior to COROT observations is therefore important for two reasons: to find interesting variable stars to monitor further and to make an analysis of the impact of the variable stars on detecting extrasolar planet transits with COROT. The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope (BEST) is a small wide-angle telescope dedicated to high-precision photometry. It has observed a 9 square degree field of view centered at (alpha, delta)=(19h00m00.0s, +00deg01'55.2") (J2000.0) over 98 nights to search for variable stars in the surroundings of the first long-run target field (LRc1) of the COROT space mission. In this data set we identified 92 periodic variable stars, 86 of which are new discoveries and 6 of which are known from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS). For five of the GCVS stars, variability could not be confirmed. Forty-three of the 92 detected periodic variable stars are identified as eclipsing binaries. We have evaluated the completeness of our survey for eclipsing binaries by comparing it to the expected fraction of eclipsing binaries based on Hipparcos observations. From this evaluation we show that the BEST data set presented here has a completeness of 20%-30% for periods longer than 1 day and is complete relative to Hipparcos for short-period binaries.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

TMVA - Toolkit for Multivariate Data Analysis

In high-energy physics, with the search for ever smaller signals in ever larger data sets, it has become essential to extract a maximum of the available information from the data. Multivariate classification methods based on machine learning techniques have become a fundamental ingredient to most analyses. Also the multivariate classifiers themselves have significantly evolved in recent years. Statisticians have found new ways to tune and to combine classifiers to further gain in performance. Integrated into the analysis framework ROOT, TMVA is a toolkit which hosts a large variety of multivariate classification algorithms. Training, testing, performance evaluation and application of all available classifiers is carried out simultaneously via user-friendly interfaces. With version 4, TMVA has been extended to multivariate regression of a real-valued target vector. Regression is invoked through the same user interfaces as classification. TMVA 4 also features more flexible data handling allowing one to arbitrarily form combined MVA methods. A generalised boosting method is the first realisation benefiting from the new framework.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2008

The BAST algorithm for transit detection

The pioneer space mission for photometric exoplanet searches, CoRoT, steadily monitors about 12000 stars in each of its fields of view. Transit detection algorithms are applied to derive promising planetary candidates, which are then followed-up with ground-based observations. We present BAST (Berlin Automatic Search for Transits), a new algorithm for periodic transit detection, and test it on simulated CoRoT data. BAST searches for box-shaped signals in normalized, filtered, variability-fitted, and unfolded light curves. A low-pass filter is applied to remove high-frequency signals, and linear fits to subsections of data are subtracted to remove the star's variability. A search for periodicity is then performed in transit events identified above a given detection threshold. Some criteria are defined to better separate planet candidates from binary stars. From the analysis of simulated CoRoT light curves, we show that the BAST detection performance is similar to that of the Box-fitting Least-Square (BLS) method if the signal-to-noise ratio is high. However, the BAST box search for transits computes 10 times faster than the BLS method. By adding periodic transits to simulated CoRoT data, we show that the minimum periodic depth detectable with BAST is a linearly increasing function of the noise level. For low-noise light curves, the detection limit corresponds to a transit depth d~0.01%, i.e. a planet of 1 Earth radius around a solar-type star.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

The identification of continuous, spatiotemporal systems

We present a method for the identification of continuous, spatiotemporal dynamics from experimental data. We use a model in the form of a partial differential equation and formulate an optimization problem for its estimation from data. The solution is found as a multivariate nonlinear regression problem using the ACE-algorithm. The procedure is successfully applied to data, obtained by simulation of the Swift-Hohenberg equation. There are no restrictions on the dimensionality of the investigated system, allowing for the analysis of high-dimensional chaotic as well as transient dynamics. The demands on the experimental data are discussed as well as the sensitivity of the method towards noise.

chao-dyn↗