arXiv subjects

Helong Guo

Publications and source records attributed to Helong Guo.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

GSED: The Galactic Stellar Extinction Database

Reliable extinction correction is essential for nearly all astrophysical studies within the Galaxy. We present the Galactic Stellar Extinction Database (GSED, https://nadc.china-vo.org/data/gsed/), a homogenised database that unifies six representative 3D extinction datasets under a common $E(B-V)$ and parallax-distance baseline. A six-layer multilayer perceptron is designed to correct the systematic differences in both extinction and distance across the heterogeneous input catalogues. Applying the trained models yields a catalogue of over 1.9 billion homogenised entries, which is built into a publicly accessible, real-time query service: a user supplies a coordinate and a search radius, the system retrieves the data, fits the distance--extinction relation, returns $E(B-V)$ together with $E(G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP})$ and $A_V$, and allows the raw catalogue and the fitted curve to be downloaded. By delivering extinction as raw stellar measurements rather than voxelised map products and retaining the capacity to incorporate future datasets, GSED provides a flexible, traceable, and extensible new tool for Galactic extinction correction and dust-structure studies.

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arXiv2025

A Comprehensive All-Sky Catalog of 3345 Molecular Clouds from Three-dimensional Dust Extinction

Understanding the distribution and properties of molecular clouds is crucial for tracing the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium and the large-scale morphology of the Milky Way. Here we present an all-sky catalog of 3,345 molecular clouds identified from our previous three-dimensional dust reddening map using a dendrogram-based clustering method with distance-adaptive parameters. The catalog spans heliocentric distances from 90 pc to 4.3 kpc and includes key physical properties for each cloud, including position, size, mass, surface density, and dust density. Approximately 650 clouds in our catalog are associated with the boundary of the Local Bubble, while around 740 clouds (excluding those associated with the Local Bubble) are located at high Galactic latitudes ($|b| > 20^\circ$). The spatial distribution of the cataloged clouds reveals prominent large-scale features in the Galactic disk, including coherent spur-like structures, large-scale cavities, and a more detailed view of the Local Bubble shell. These findings refine our understanding of how molecular clouds trace the Galactic spiral arm network and provide new insight into the spatial structure of the Local Bubble. The catalog serves as a valuable resource for future studies of star formation, Galactic structure, and the interaction between molecular clouds and large-scale ISM features.

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arXiv2025

The Milky Way is a less massive galaxy--new estimates of the Milky Way's local and global stellar masses

Stellar mass is the most fundamental property of a galaxy. While it has been robustly measured for millions of external galaxies, it remains poorly constrained for the Milky Way because of the strong selection effect from our inside perspective. In this work, we reconstruct the intrinsic vertical mass density profile in the solar neighborhood and the radial mass density profile across the entire Galaxy using data from the Gaia and APOGEE surveys, following careful correction for the selection function. The local density profile exhibits strong north-south asymmetry in the geometric thick disk regime and increases steeply toward the disk mid-plane, favoring an exponential model over the sech$^2$ model. Integrating the local vertical density profile yields a surface stellar mass density of 31.563$\pm$2.813(syst.)$\pm$0.024(stoch.)~${\rm M_{\odot}pc^{-2}}$, of which 25.074 and 6.489~${\rm M_{\odot}pc^{-2}}$ correspond to living stars and stellar remnants, respectively. The radial surface mass density profile {of the Milky Way} shares the same flat inner component as observed in the brightness profile. With this mass density profile {and local mass density from Gaia}, we derive a new estimate of the total stellar mass of the Milky Way of 2.607$\pm$0.353(syst.)$\pm$0.085(stoch.)${\rm \times10^{10}M_{\odot}}$, a factor of two lower than the previous results. This discrepancy arises primarily from the inner disk profile, which was previously unavailable and extrapolated from the outer disk profile. The lower stellar mass estimate of the Milky Way significantly reduces its rarity in terms of supermassive black hole mass among external galaxies and implies a larger dark matter-to-baryon mass ratio in the inner Galaxy.

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arXiv2025

SN 2024aecx: A double-peaked rapidly evolving Type IIb supernova at 11 Mpc

We present the results of low-resolution spectroscopic and densely sampled multi-band photometric follow-up of supernova (SN) 2024aecx. The SN was discovered in the spiral galaxy NGC 3521 (distance $\sim$11 Mpc) within a day after the explosion. The early spectra of SN 2024aecx show a weak signature of hydrogen lines, which disappeared in $\sim$30 days after the explosion. Light curves in all bands show a distinct feature of two peaks, and the first peak is likely due to the shock cooling emission. The early phase light curve evolution of SN 2024aecx has similarity with the typical Type IIb events, but the decay rate in different bands (e.g., $\rm \Delta m_{15}$ = 1.60 $\pm$ 0.05 mag, $g$-band) is significantly faster in the post-peak phase. It attained the secondary maximum in $\sim$19 days ($g$-band) with a peak absolute magnitude of M$_{g}$ = -17.94 $\pm$ 0.10 mag. SN 2024aecx colors trend redder in early epochs ($<$8 days), followed by a duration in which it grows bluer, then later gets redder again $>$20 days after explosion. The analytical model fitting to the light curves reveals an envelope mass and progenitor radii in the range of $\sim$0.03 - 0.24 $M_\odot$ and $\sim$169 - 200 $R_\odot$, respectively. Modeling of the pseudo-bolometric light curve suggests that synthesized $^{56}$Ni in the explosion was $\sim$0.15 M$_{\odot}$ with ejecta mass and kinetic energy of $\sim$0.7 M$_{\odot}$ and $\sim$0.16 $\times$ 10$^{51}$ erg, respectively. The observational properties and modeling indicate that the SN~2024aecx progenitor belongs to the extended progenitor category.

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arXiv2025

Multiwavelength Analysis of GRB 250101A: From Gamma-ray Prompt Emission to Optical Afterglow

The interaction between the relativistic jet and the circumburst medium produces a multiwavelength afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRBs). In this work, we present multiwavelength properties of GRB~250101A based on the observations of Swift, Fermi and Mephisto. The spectral analysis of Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM reveals a soft prompt spectrum with a low-energy photon index of $-1.18$ and a peak energy of 33 keV, and the isotropic energy is $1.4\times10^{52}~{\rm erg}$. The prompt emission of GRB 250101A aligns with Type II GRBs in the Amati relation. Meanwhile, our analysis indicates that GRB 250101A is an X-ray-rich or X-ray-dominated GRB, with intrinsic properties suggesting that it is relatively softer than most classical GRBs. Optical observation with Mephisto, beginning 197 s post-trigger, shows a single power-law decay in $uvgriz$ bands, with $F_{\nu,\mathrm{obs}} \propto t^{-0.76} \nu^{-1.21}$. The observed spectral index significantly exceeds theoretical predictions under standard afterglow models, suggesting a color excess of $\sim0.216$ mag. However, combining X-ray and optical afterglow, we find that GRB 250101A is more likely a ``normal burst'' rather than an ``optical-dark burst'', and the dust extinction effect plays an important role in the optical blue bands. Furthermore, there is a structural change at $T_0+2924$ s in the optical light curve, indicating a density drop of $\sim50$ \% in the interstellar medium at a distance of $\sim0.13~{\rm pc}$. Our analysis shows that this GRB clearly shows some unique characteristics in its observed X-ray rich prompt emission as well as the circumburst environment, implying a special progenitor.

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arXiv2025

Identification of Star Clusters in M31 from PAndAS Images Based on Deep Learning

The identification of star clusters holds significant importance in studying galaxy formation and evolution history. However, the task of swiftly and accurately identifying star clusters from vast amounts of photometric images presents an immense challenge. To address these difficulties, we employ deep learning models for image classification to identify young disk star clusters in M31 from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) images. For training, validation, and testing, we utilize the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey catalogs. We evaluate the performance of various deep learning models, using different classification thresholds and limiting magnitudes. Our findings indicate that the ResNet-50 model exhibits the highest overall accuracy. Moreover, using brighter limiting magnitudes and increasing the classification thresholds can effectively enhance the accuracy and precision of cluster identification. Through our experiments, we found that the model achieves optimal performance when the limiting magnitude is set to brighter than 21 mag. Based on this, we constructed a training dataset with magnitudes less than 21 mag and trained a second ResNet-50 model. This model achieved a purity of 89.30%, a recall of 73.55%, and an F1 score of 80.66% when the classification threshold was set to 0.669. Applying the second model to all sources in the PAndAS fields within a projected radius of 30 kpc from the center of M31, we identified 2,228 new unique star cluster candidates. We conducted visual inspections to validate the results produced by our automated methods, and we ultimately obtained 1,057 star cluster candidates, of which 745 are newly identified.

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arXiv2024

Simultaneous Multiband Photometry of the Early Optical Afterglow of GRB 240825A with Mephisto

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous transients in the universe. The interaction of the relativistic jet with the circumburst medium produces an afterglow and generates multiwavelength emission. In this work, we present simultaneous multiband photometry of GRB~240825A with the Multi-channel Photometric Survey Telescope (Mephisto) and analyze its temporal and spectral properties. The measurement began 128 seconds after the GRB trigger and continued until the fourth day when the afterglow essentially diminished and the measured brightness was close to that of the host galaxy. Based on the multiband light curves in the $uvgriz$ bands, we find that the optical flux density satisfies $F_{\nu,{\rm obs}}\propto t^{-1.34}\nu^{-2.48}$ with a spectral index of $2.48$ much larger than those of most other GRBs. To reconcile the measured much softer spectral energy distribution (SED) with that predicted by the standard afterglow model, an extra host-galaxy extinction of $E_{B-V}\sim(0.37-0.57)$ mag is required. We interpreted this excess as arising from a dense circumburst medium. We further find that the SED of the optical afterglow hardened as the afterglow decayed and the color excess $E_{B-V}$ decreased $\sim0.26$ mag from 100 seconds to 3000 seconds after the GRB trigger. Finally, we analyze the properties of the host galaxy of GRB~240825A based on data from the SDSS, PanSTARRS and HSC-SSP surveys. For a host redshift of $z=0.659$, the stellar mass and star formation rate of the host galaxy are estimated to be $\log(M_*/M_\odot)=10.0^{+0.3}_{-0.3}$ and $\log({\rm SFR}/M_{\odot}{\rm yr}^{-1})= 0.6^{+0.8}_{-3.3}$, respectively, pointing to a gas-rich, star-forming, medium-size galaxy.

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arXiv2024

Identification and distance measurement of dust clouds at high latitude by a clustering hierarchical algorithm

We present a catalog of dust clouds at high Galactic latitude based on the Planck 857 GHz dust emission data. Using a clustering hierarchical algorithm, 315 dust cloud at high Galactic latitudes are identified. Additionally, using the optical and ultraviolet extinction of 4 million and 1 million stars, respectively, provided by Sun et al., we derive the distances and physical properties for 190 high Galactic latitude dust clouds and the ultraviolet excess ratios for 165 of them. Through the study of color excess ratios, this work confirms that molecular clouds with large Galactic distances and low extinction likely have a higher proportion of small-sized dust grains. In addition, clouds with well-defined distances in the catalog are used to trace the local bubble, showing good consistency with the boundary of the local bubble from the literature.

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arXiv2024

Black hole mass and optical radiation mechanism of the tidal disruption event AT 2023clx

We present the optical light curves of the tidal disruption event (TDE) AT 2023clx in the declining phase, observed with Mephisto. Combining our light curve with the ASAS-SN and ATLAS data in the rising phase, and fitting the composite multi-band light curves with MOSFiT, we estimate black hole mass of AT 2023clx is between $10^{5.67}$--$10^{5.82}~M_{\odot}$. This event may be caused by either a full disruption of a $0.1~M_{\odot}$ star, or a partial disruption of a $0.99~M_{\odot}$ star, depending on the data adopted for the rising phase. Based on those fit results and the non-detection of soft X-ray photons in the first 90 days, we propose that the observed optical radiation is powered by stream-stream collision. We speculate that the soft X-ray photons may gradually emerge in 100--600 days after the optical peak, when the debris is fully circularized into a compact accretion disk.

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arXiv2024

Multiband Simultaneous Photometry of Type II SN 2023ixf with Mephisto and the Twin 50-cm Telescopes

SN 2023ixf, recently reported in the nearby galaxy M101 at a distance of $6.85~{\rm Mpc}$, was one of the closest and brightest core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) in the last decade. In this work, we present multi-wavelength photometric observation of SN 2023ixf with the Multi-channel Photometric Survey Telescope (Mephisto) in $uvgr$ bands and with the twin 50-cm telescopes in $griz$ bands. We find that the bolometric luminosity reached the maximum value of $3\times10^{43}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$ at 3.9 days after the explosion and fully settled onto the radioactive tail at $\sim90$ days. The effective temperature decreased from $3.2\times10^4~{\rm K}$ at the first observation and approached to a constant of $\sim(3000-4000)~{\rm K}$ after the first two months. The evolution of the photospheric radius is consistent with a homologous expansion with a velocity of $8700~{\rm km~s^{-1}}$ in the first two months, and it shrunk subsequently. Based on the radioactive tail, the initial nickel mass is about $M_{\rm Ni}\sim 0.098M_\odot$. The explosion energy and the ejecta mass are estimated to be $E\simeq(1.0-5.7)\times10^{51}~{\rm erg}$ and $M_{\rm ej}\simeq(3.8-16)M_\odot$, respectively. The peak bolometric luminosity is proposed to be contributed by the interaction between the ejecta and the circumstellar medium (CSM). We find a shocked CSM mass of $M_{\rm CSM}\sim0.013M_\odot$, a CSM density of $\rho_{\rm CSM}\sim2.5\times10^{-13}~{\rm g~cm^{-3}}$ and a mass loss rate of the progenitor of $\dot M\sim0.022M_\odot~{\rm yr^{-1}}$.

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arXiv2024

Early-phase simultaneous multiband observations of the Type II supernova SN 2024ggi with Mephisto

We present early-phase good-cadence (hour-to-day) simultaneous multiband ($ugi$ and $vrz$ bands) imaging of the nearby supernova SN~2024ggi, which exploded in the nearby galaxy, NGC 3621. A quick follow-up was conducted within less than a day after the explosion and continued $\sim$23 days. The $uvg$ band light curves display a rapid rise ($\sim$1.4 mag day$^{-1}$) to maximum in $\sim$4 days and absolute magnitude $M_{g}\sim$--17.75 mag. The post-peak decay rate in redder bands is $\sim$0.01 mag day$^{-1}$. Different colors (e.g., $u-g$ and $v-r$) of SN~2024ggi are slightly redder than SN 2023ixf. A significant rise ($\sim$12.5 kK) in black-body temperature (optical) was noticed within $\sim$2 days after the explosion, which successively decreased, indicating shock break out inside a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) surrounding the progenitor. Using semianalytical modeling, the ejecta mass and progenitor radius were estimated as 1.2 $M_\odot$ and $\sim$550 $R_\odot$. The archival deep images ($g,r,i and z$ bands) from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey were examined, and a possible progenitor was detected in each band ($\sim$22--22.5 mag) and had a mass range of 14--17 $M_\odot$.

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arXiv2023

The Pre-explosion Environments and The Progenitor of SN 2023ixf from the Hobby Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX)

Supernova (SN) 2023ixf was discovered on May 19th, 2023. The host galaxy, M101, was observed by the Hobby Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) collaboration over the period April 30, 2020 -- July 10, 2020, using the Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS; $3470\lesssim\lambda\lesssim5540$ \r{A}) on the 10-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). The fiber filling factor within $\pm$ 30 arcsec of SN 2023ixf is 80% with a spatial resolution of 1 arcsec. The r<5.5 arcsec surroundings are 100% covered. This allows us to analyze the spatially resolved pre-explosion local environments of SN 2023ixf with nebular emission lines. The 2-dimensional (2D) maps of the extinction and the star-formation rate (SFR) surface density ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$) show weak increasing trends in the radial distributions within the r<5.5 arcsec regions, suggesting lower values of extinction and SFR in the vicinity of the progenitor of SN 2023ixf. The median extinction and that of the surface density of SFR within r<3 arcsec are $E(B-V)=0.06\pm0.14$, and $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}=10^{-5.44\pm0.66}~\rm M_{\odot}\cdot yr^{-1}\cdot arcsec^{-2}$. There is no significant change in extinction before and after the explosion. The gas metallicity does not change significantly with the separation from SN 2023ixf. The metal-rich branch of the $R_{23}$ calculations indicates that the gas metallicity around SN 2023ixf is similar to the solar metallicity ($\sim Z_{\odot}$). The archival deep images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) show a clear detection of the progenitor of SN 2023ixf in the $z$-band at $22.778\pm0.063$ mag, but non-detections in the remaining four bands of CFHTLS ($u,g,r,i$). The results suggest a massive progenitor of $\approx$ 22 $M_\odot$.

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arXiv2023

SPar: estimating stellar parameters from multi-band photometries with empirical stellar libraries

Modern large-scale photometric surveys have provided us with multi-band photometries of billions of stars. Determining the stellar atmospheric parameters, such as the effective temperature (\teff) and metallicities (\feh), absolute magnitudes ($M_{G}$), distances ($d$) and reddening values (\ebr) is fundamental to study the stellar populations, structure, kinematics and chemistry of the Galaxy. This work constructed an empirical stellar library which maps the stellar parameters to multi-band photometries from a dataset with Gaia parallaxes, LAMOST atmospheric parameters, and optical to near-infrared photometry from several photometric surveys. Based on the stellar library, we developed a new algorithm, SPar (\textbf{S}tellar \textbf{P}arameters from multib\textbf{a}nd photomet\textbf{r}y), which fits the multi-band stellar photometries to derive the stellar parameters (\teff, \feh, $M_G$, $d$ and \ebr) of the individual stars. The algorithm is applied to the multi-band photometric measurements of a sample of stars selected from the SMSS survey, which have stellar parameters derived from the spectroscopic surveys. The stellar parameters derived from multi-band photometries by our algorithm are in good agreement with those from the spectroscopic surveys. The typical differences between our results and the literature values are 170\,K for \teff, 0.23\,dex for \feh, 0.13\,mag for $M_G$ and 0.05\,mag for \ebr. The algorithm proved to be robust and effective and will be applied to the data of future large-scale photometric surveys such as the Mephisto and CSST surveys.

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arXiv2022

Estimating accurate reddening values of LAMOST M dwarfs

M dwarfs are the dominating type of stars in the solar neighbourhood. They serve as excellent tracers for the study of the distribution and properties of the nearby interstellar dust. In this work, we aim to obtain high accuracy reddening values of M dwarf stars from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Data Release 8 (DR8). Combining the LAMOST spectra with the high-quality optical photometry from the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (Gaia EDR3), we have estimated the reddening values $E(G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP})$ of 641,426 M dwarfs with the machine-learning algorithm Random Forest regression. The typical reddening uncertainty is only 0.03 mag in $E(G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP})$. We have obtained the reddening coefficient $R_{(G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP})}$, which is a function of the stellar intrinsic colour $(G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP})_0$ and reddening value $E(B-V)$. The values of $E(B-V)$ are also provided for the individual stars in our catalogue. Our resultant high accuracy reddening values of M dwarfs, combined with the Gaia parallaxes, will be very powerful to map the fine structures of the dust in the solar neighbourhood.

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arXiv2022

A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky

We present a large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distance estimates in the southern sky. Based on the three-dimensional (3D) dust extinction map and the best-fit extinction and distance information of over 17 million stars presented in Guo et al., we have identified 250 dust/molecular clouds in the southern sky using a hierarchical structure identification algorithm. Amongst them, 71 clouds locating at high Galactic latitudes ($b < -10^\circ$). We have estimated the distances to the clouds by fitting the extinction versus distance profiles of the lines of sight overlapping with the clouds using a simple Gaussian dust distribution model. The typical uncertainties of the distances are less than 7 per$\,$cent. We also provide the physical properties of the individual clouds, including the linear radius, mass and surface mass density.

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