arXiv subjects

J. -Y. Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to J. -Y. Zhang.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Euclid Early Release Observations of the Barnard 30 dark cloud I. Brown dwarfs and planetary mass candidate members at the core of the association

This study aims to identify very low-mass members within the Barnard 30 dark cloud, with a particular focus on detecting objects in the substellar domain, including those within the planetary-mass regime. We employed deep photometric observations using data from the Euclid mission, incorporating advanced data processing techniques, in particular the DeNeb tool for optimized source detection. We also analyze multi-wavelength ancillary observations and perform a Spectral Energy Distribution analysis for each candidate member. In addition, low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy was obtained for one candidate to further assess its nature and properties. Our initial photometric analysis yielded a initial sample of nearly one hundred candidate members in the substellar mass range. A subsample of 23 probable members, located close to the 3 Myr isochrone, has been identified. Thus, we have substantially expanded the known population of faint, cool sources associated with the region. Low resolution near-IR spectroscopic analysis of one candidate reveals an L2 spectral type with low gravity, consistent with a young ultra-cool dwarf. If its membership is confirmed, its estimated mass lies in the range 15-20 Mjup. These findings validate the reliability of our multi-wavelength photometric selection methodology. These results offer valuable insights into the low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) and demonstrate the effectiveness of Euclid in identifying brown dwarf and planetary-mass candidates in nearby, densely packed star-forming regions.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Euclid: Quick Data Release (Q1) -- A photometric search for ultracool dwarfs in the Euclid Deep Fields

We present a catalogue of 5306 new ultracool dwarf (UCD) candidates in the three Euclid Deep Fields in the Q1 data release. They range from late M to late T dwarfs, and include 1200 L and T dwarfs. A total of 546 objects have been spectroscopically confirmed, including 329 L dwarfs and 26 T dwarfs. We also provide empirical Euclid colours as a function of spectral type. Our UCD selection criteria are based only on colour ($I_\mathrm{E}-Y_\mathrm{E}>2.5$). The combined requirement for optical detection and stringent signal-to-noise ratio threshold ensure a high purity of the sample, but at the expense of completeness, especially for T dwarfs. The detections range from magnitudes 19 and 24 in the near-infrared bands, and extend down to 26 in the optical band. We discuss Euclid's capability to identify UCD candidates based on its photometric passbands. The average surface density of detected UCDs on the sky is approximately 100 objects per $\mathrm{deg}^2$, including 20 L and T dwarfs per $\mathrm{deg}^2$. This leads to an expectation of at least 1.4 million ultracool dwarfs in the final data release of the Euclid Wide Survey, including at least $300\,000$ L dwarfs, and more than 2600 T dwarfs, using the strict selection criteria from this work.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Euclid: The potential of slitless infrared spectroscopy: A z=5.4 quasar and new ultracool dwarfs

We demonstrate the potential of Euclid's slitless spectroscopy to discover high-redshift (z>5) quasars and their main photometric contaminant, ultracool dwarfs. Sensitive infrared spectroscopy from space is able to efficiently identify both populations, as demonstrated by Euclid Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer Red Grism (NISP RGE) spectra of the newly discovered z=5.404 quasar EUCL J181530.01+652054.0, as well as several ultracool dwarfs in the Euclid Deep Field North and the Euclid Early Release Observation field Abell 2764. The ultracool dwarfs were identified by cross-correlating their spectra with templates. The quasar was identified by its strong and broad CIII] and MgII emission lines in the NISP RGE 1206-1892 nm spectrum, and confirmed through optical spectroscopy from the Large Binocular Telescope. The NISP Blue Grism (NISP BGE) 926-1366 nm spectrum confirms CIV and CIII] emission. NISP RGE can find bright quasars at z~5.5 and z>7, redshift ranges that are challenging for photometric selection due to contamination from ultracool dwarfs. EUCL J181530.01+652054.0 is a high-excitation, broad absorption line quasar detected at 144 MHz by the LOw-Frequency Array (L144=4e25 W/Hz). The quasar has a bolometric luminosity of 3e12 Lsun and is powered by a 3.4e9 Msun black hole. The discovery of this bright quasar is noteworthy as fewer than one such object was expected in the ~20 deg2 surveyed. This finding highlights the potential and effectiveness of NISP spectroscopy in identifying rare, luminous high-redshift quasars, previewing the census of these sources that Euclid's slitless spectroscopy will deliver over about 14,000 deg2 of the sky.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1) -- Spectroscopic search, classification and analysis of ultracool dwarfs in the Deep Fields

The Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer onboard the Euclid space mission has obtained near-infrared (NIR) slitless spectra of millions of objects, including hundreds of ultracool dwarfs. Euclid observations retrieve images and spectra simultaneously. This observing mode marks a new era in the discovery of new objects, such as L- and T-type dwarfs, which can be found from direct identification through the H2O and CH4 absorption bands. NISP spectral resolution (R~450) is enough to classify the objects by the spectral type using known standard templates. Q1 provided more than 4 million NIR spectra in one visit to the Euclid Deep Fields. The large amount of spectra released in these fields allowed us to: a) confirm the ultracool dwarf nature of almost half of the photometric candidates compiled by Zhang et al. (2024); b) discover at least 11 new late L- and T-type dwarfs by a specific spectral index search in Q1 data; and c) spectroscopically confirm one hundred more candidates from a new photometric selection conducted by Zerjal et al. (in prep.). We present a preliminary list of Euclid ultracool dwarf templates built by the combination of the best spectra from all these searches. We include the first spectral analysis of confirmed ultracool dwarfs from Q1 data; spectral classifications; determination of effective temperatures; H2O, CH4 and NH3 spectral indices; and measurements of the KI absorption doublet. This paper is a first step in the study of Euclid ultracool dwarfs and will be improved with each subsequent data release.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1) Ultracool dwarfs in the Euclid Deep Field North

Ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) encompass the lowest mass stars and brown dwarfs, defining the stellar substellar boundary. They have significant potential for advancing the understanding of substellar physics; however, these objects are challenging to detect due to their low luminosity. The wide coverage and deep sensitivity of the Euclid survey will increase the number of confirmed and well characterised UCDs by several orders of magnitude. In this study, we take advantage of the Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1) and in particular we look in detail at the known and new UCDs in the Euclid Deep Field North (22.9 deg2 down to JE = 24.5 mag), to understand the advantages of using the slitless Euclid spectroscopy. We compile a comparison sample of known UCDs and use their spectra to demonstrate the capability of Euclid to derive spectral types using a template matching method. This method is then applied to the spectra of the newly identified candidates. We confirm that 33 of these candidates are new UCDs, with spectral types ranging from M7 to T1 and JE = 17 to 21 mag. We look at their locus in colour colour diagrams and compare them with the expected colours of QSOs. A machine readable catalogue is provided for further study, containing both the comparison sample and the newly identified UCDs, along with their spectral classifications where the Q1 spectra quality allows for confident determination

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

CaII and H$α$ flaring M dwarfs detected with multi-filter photometry

Understanding and characterising the magnetic activity of M dwarfs is of paramount importance in the search for Earth-like exoplanets orbiting them. Energetic stellar activity phenomena, such as flares or coronal mass ejections, which are common in these stars, are deeply connected with the habitability and atmospheric evolution of the surrounding exoplanets. We present a follow-up of a sample of M dwarfs with strong H$α$ and CaII H and K emission lines identified with J-PLUS photometry in a previous work. We collected low-resolution NOT/ALFOSC and GTC/OSIRIS spectra, measuring the PC3 index for the spectral type determination. We used two-minute-cadence calibrated TESS light curves to identify and characterise multiple flares and to calculate the rotation period of the two active M dwarfs found in our sample. We confirm that the strong emission lines detected in the J-PLUS photometry are caused by transient flaring activity. We find clear evidence of flaring activity and periodic variability for LP 310-34 and LP 259-39, and estimated flare energies in the TESS bandpass between $7.4\times10^{30}$ and $2.2\times10^{33}$ erg for them. We characterised LP 310-34 and LP 259-39 as very rapidly rotating M dwarfs with CaII H and K and H$α$ in emission, and computed a rotation period for LP 259-39 for the first time: $P_{\rm rot}=1.69\pm0.02$ d. This work advocates the approach of exploiting multi-filter photometric surveys to systematically identify flaring M dwarfs, especially to detect episodes of strong CaII H and K line emission, which may have important implications for exoplanetary space weather and habitability studies. Our results reveal that common M dwarfs experience flare events in CaII H and K in addition to well known H$α$ flares.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

The wide binary frequency of metal-poor stars

This study is aimed at identifying possible low-mass and sub-stellar companions to stars with well-determined metallicities. We investigate the multiplicity of metal-poor stars along with its impact on formation processes in the conditions of the early universe. Our goal is to look for wide common proper motion companions to metal-poor stars and study the binarity frequency at low metallicity with astrometry from large-scale catalogues (Gaia, VHS, and WISE). We used the stellar parameter determination from the latest release of Gaia to identify metal-poor stars over the entire sky. We combined the Gaia sample with other public catalogues and spectroscopic determinations for a given subsample to refine the stellar metallicities. We also considered other public catalogues of metal-poor stars to look for co-moving companions. We obtained our own high-resolution images of a subsample with the lucky imaging technique. We found a few bona fide co-moving systems among a sample of 610 metal-poor stars with metallicities below -1.5 dex in the full sky. We inferred a multiplicity rate below 3%, with 3sigma completeness for projected separations larger than 8 au, after taking into account incompleteness and any other limiting factors of our search. At closer separations, we found a minimum binary fraction of 20% that appears to be relatively independent of metallicity. We conclude that the multiplicity fraction of solar-type stars is relatively independent of metallicity for close-in companions with projected separations below ~8 au. Between 8 and 10000 au, the binary fraction of metal-poor stars drops significantly to a few percent and is significantly lower than the multiplicity derived for the solar-metallicity case. We interpret these similarities and differences as being due to the chemistry at work in molecular clouds as well as disruption effects attributed to the old age of subdwarfs.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

Exploring galactic properties with machine learning Predicting star formation, stellar mass, and metallicity from photometric data

Aims. We explore machine learning techniques to forecast star formation rate, stellar mass, and metallicity across galaxies with redshifts ranging from 0.01 to 0.3. Methods. Leveraging CatBoost and deep learning architectures, we utilize multiband optical and infrared photometric data from SDSS and AllWISE, trained on the SDSS MPA-JHU DR8 catalogue. Results. Our study demonstrates the potential of machine learning in accurately predicting galaxy properties solely from photometric data. We achieve minimised root mean square errors, specifically employing the CatBoost model. For star formation rate prediction, we attain a value of RMSESFR = 0.336 dex, while for stellar mass prediction, the error is reduced to RMSESM = 0.206 dex. Additionally, our model yields a metallicity prediction of RMSEmetallicity = 0.097 dex. Conclusions. These findings underscore the significance of automated methodologies in efficiently estimating critical galaxy properties, amid the exponential growth of multi-wavelength astronomy data. Future research may focus on refining machine learning models and expanding datasets for even more accurate predictions.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Euclid: Early Release Observations -- A glance at free-floating new-born planets in the sigma Orionis cluster

We provide an early assessment of the imaging capabilities of the Euclid space mission to probe deeply into nearby star-forming regions and associated very young open clusters, and in particular to check to what extent it can shed light on the new-born free-floating planet population. This paper focuses on a low-reddening region observed in just one Euclid pointing where the dust and gas has been cleared out by the hot sigma Orionis star. One late-M and six known spectroscopically confirmed L-type substellar members in the sigma Orionis cluster are used as benchmarks to provide a high-purity procedure to select new candidate members with Euclid. The exquisite angular resolution and depth delivered by the Euclid instruments allow us to focus on bona-fide point sources. A cleaned sample of sigma Orionis cluster substellar members has been produced and the initial mass function (IMF) has been estimated by combining Euclid and Gaia data. Our sigma Orionis substellar IMF is consistent with a power-law distribution with no significant steepening at the planetary-mass end. No evidence of a low-mass cutoff is found down to about 4 Jupiter masses at the young age (3 Myr) of the sigma Orionis open cluster.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Possibility of forming a stable Bose-Einstein condensate of $2\,^{3}\!S_1$ positronium atoms

The confined variational method in conjunction with the orthogonalizing pseudo-potential method and the stabilization method is used to study the low energy elastic scattering between two spin-polarized metastable positronium Ps(2\,$^{3}\!S_1$) atoms. Explicitly correlated Gaussian basis functions are adopted to properly describe the complicated Coulomb interaction among the four charged particles. The calculated $s$-wave scattering length ($\approx8.5\,a_0$) is positive, indicating the possibility of forming a stable Bose-Einstein condensate of fully spin-polarized $\text{Ps}(2\,^{3}\!S_1)$ atoms. Our results will open a new way of experimental realization of Ps condensate and development of $γ$-ray and $\text{Ps}(2\,^{3}\!S_1)$ atom lasers.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

S-wave elastic scattering of ${\it o}$-Ps from $\text{H}_2$ at low energy

The confined variational method is applied to investigate the low-energy elastic scattering of ortho-positronium from $\text{H}_2$ by first-principles quantum mechanics. Describing the correlation effect with explicitly correlated Gaussians, we obtain accurate $S$-wave phase shifts and pick-off annihilation parameters for different incident momenta. By a least-squares fit of the data to the effective-range theory, we determine the $S$-wave scattering length, $A_s=2.06a_0$, and the zero-energy value of the pick-off annihilation parameter, $^1\!\text{Z}_\text{eff}=0.1858$. The obtained $^1\!\text{Z}_\text{eff}$ agrees well with the precise experimental value of $0.186(1)$ (J.\ Phys.\ B \textbf{16}, 4065 (1983)) and the obtained $A_s$ agrees well with the value of $2.1(2)a_0$ estimated from the average experimental momentum-transfer cross section for Ps energy below 0.3 eV (J.\ Phys.\ B \textbf{36}, 4191 (2003)).

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

Positron scattering and annihilation from the hydrogen molecule at zero energy

The confined variational method is used to generate a basis of correlated gaussians to describe the interaction region wave function for positron scattering from the H$_2$ molecule. The scattering length was $\approx -2.7$ $a_0$ while the zero energy $Z_{\rm eff}$ of 15.7 is compatible with experimental values. The variation of the scattering length and $Z_{\rm eff}$ with inter-nuclear distance was surprisingly rapid due to virtual state formation at $R \approx 3.4$ $a_0$.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2007

Accurate long-range coefficients for two excited like isotope He atoms: He($2 ^1P$)--He($2 ^1P$), He($2 ^1P$)--He($2 ^3P$), and He($2 ^3P$)--He($2 ^3P$)

A general formalism is used to express the long-range potential energies in inverse powers of the separation distance between two like atomic or molecular systems with $P$ symmetries. The long-range molecular interaction coefficients are calculated for the molecular symmetries $Δ$, $Π$, and $Σ$, arising from the following interactions: He($2 ^1P$)--He($2 ^1P$), He($2 ^1P$)--He($2 ^3P$), and He($2 ^3P$)--He($2 ^3P$). The electric quadrupole-quadrupole term, $C_{5}$, the van der Waals (dispersion) term $C_{6}$, and higher-order terms, $C_{8}$, and $C_{10}$, are calculated \textit{ab initio} using accurate variational wave functions in Hylleraas coordinates with finite nuclear mass effects. A comparison is made with previously published results where available.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2006

Long-range interactions for He($n S$)--He$(n' S)$ and He($n S$)--He$(n' P)$

The energetically lowest five states of a helium atom are: He($1^1S$), He($2^3S$), He($2^1S$), He($2^3P$), and He($2^1P$). Long-range interaction coefficients $C_3$, $C_6$, $C_8$, $C_9$, and $C_{10}$ for all $S-S$ and $S-P$ pairs of these states are calculated precisely using correlated wave functions in Hylleraas coordinates. Finite nuclear isotope mass effects are included.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2005

Long-range interactions between a He($2 ^3S$) atom and a He($2 ^3P$) atom for like isotopes

For the interactions between a He($2 ^3S$) atom and a He($2 ^3P$) atom for like isotopes, we report perturbation theoretic calculations using accurate variational wave functions in Hylleraas coordinates of the coefficients determining the potential energies at large internuclear separations. We evaluate the coefficient $C_{3}$ of the first order resonant dipole-dipole energy and the van der Waals coefficients $C_{6}$, $C_{8}$, and $C_{10}$ for the second order energies arising from the mutual perturbations of instantaneous electric dipole, quadrupole, and octupole interactions. We also evaluate the coefficient $C_{9}$ of the leading contribution to the third order energy. We establish definitive values including treatment of the finite nuclear mass for the ${}^3$He($2 ^3S$)--${}^3$He($2 ^3P$) and ${}^4$He($2 ^3S$)--${}^4$He($2 ^3P$) interactions.

physics.atom-ph↗