arXiv subjects

Ji-Feng Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Ji-Feng Liu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Intergalactic Wandering Stars in the Local Universe: Theoretical Predictions for Their Distance and Luminosity Distribution

Intergalactic wandering stars (IWSs) within 10 Mpc remain a poorly explored area of astronomy. Such stars, if they exist, are supposed to be wandering objects as they are not bounded by the gravitational potential of any galaxy. We set out to conduct dedicated studies for unraveling such a wandering stellar population. As the first paper of the series, in the present work we model the distance distribution and luminosity function of IWSs formed via the Hills mechanism of the Galactic central massive black hole (GCMBH). We implement a numerical simulation to generate IWSs taking the ejection history of the GCMBH and the stellar evolution process into consideration, and present their luminosity function in the distance range of 200kpc - 10Mpc. Our results suggest that a few hundred thousand IWSs have been generated by the GCMBH via the Hills mechanism in the past 14 billion years. These IWSs have an apparent magnitude peaking at 30 to 35 mag in SDSS $r-$band, which are hard to detect. However, a few thousand of them at the bright end are detectable by upcoming wide-field deep surveys, such as China Space Station Telescope (CSST) and Vera Rubin Observatory (LSST). The forthcoming discovery of such a wandering stellar population will open a door for precise understanding of the matter constitution of the nearby intergalactic space and the dynamical history of galaxies in the local universe.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Transit Timing Variation of K2-237b: Hints Toward Planet Disk Migration

Hot Jupiters should initially form at considerable distances from host stars and subsequently migrate towards inner regions, supported directly by transit timing variation (TTV). We report the TTV of K2-237b, using reproduced timings fitted from \textit{Kepler} K2 and \textit{TESS} data. The timings span from 2016 to 2021, leading to an observational baseline of 5 years. The timing evolution presents a significant bias to a constant period scenario. The model evidence is evaluated utilizing the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), which favours the scenario of period decay with a $Δ$BIC of 14.1. The detected TTV induces a period decay rate ($\dot{P}$) of -1.14$\pm$0.28$\times$10$^{-8}$ days per day ($-$0.36 s/year). Fitting the spectral energy distribution, we find infrared excess at the significance level of 1.5 $σ$ for WISE W1 and W2 bands, and 2 $σ$ level for W3 and W4 bands. This potentially reveals the existence of a stellar disk, consisting of hot dust at 800$\pm$300 K, showing a $L_{dust}/L_{\ast}$ of 5$\pm$3$\times$10$^{-3}$. We obtain a stellar age of 1.0$^{+1.4}_{-0.7}$$\times$10$^{9}$ yr from isochrone fitting. The properties of K2-237b potentially serve as a direct observational support to the planet disk migration though more observation are needed.

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arXiv2024

The Scaling Law in Stellar Light Curves

Analyzing time series of fluxes from stars, known as stellar light curves, can reveal valuable information about stellar properties. However, most current methods rely on extracting summary statistics, and studies using deep learning have been limited to supervised approaches. In this research, we investigate the scaling law properties that emerge when learning from astronomical time series data using self-supervised techniques. By employing the GPT-2 architecture, we show the learned representation improves as the number of parameters increases from $10^4$ to $10^9$, with no signs of performance plateauing. We demonstrate that a self-supervised Transformer model achieves 3-10 times the sample efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art supervised learning model when inferring the surface gravity of stars as a downstream task. Our research lays the groundwork for analyzing stellar light curves by examining them through large-scale auto-regressive generative models.

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arXiv2023

The dusty red supergiant progenitor and the local environment of the Type II SN 2023ixf in M101

As one of the closest supernovae (SNe) in the last decade, SN 2023ixf is an unprecedented target to investigate the progenitor star that exploded. However, there is still significant uncertainty in the reported progenitor properties. In this work, we present a detailed study of the progenitor of SN 2023ixf with two independent analyses. We first modelled its spectral energy distribution (SED) based on Hubble Space Telescope optical, Spitzer mid-infrared (IR), and ground-based near-IR data. We find that stellar pulsation and circumstellar extinction have great impacts on SED fitting, and the result suggests a relatively massive red supergiant (RSG) surrounded by C-rich dust with an initial mass of 16.2--17.4 Msun. The corresponding rate of mass-loss occurring at least 3 years before the SN explosion is about $2 \times 10^{-4} M_\odot$yr$^{-1}$. We also derived the star formation history of the SN environment based on resolved stellar populations, and the most recent star-forming epoch corresponds to a progenitor initial mass of 17--19 Msun, in agreement with that from our SED fitting. Therefore, we conclude that the progenitor of SN 2023ixf is close to the high-mass end for Type II SN progenitors.

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arXiv2023

Beyond spectroscopy. II. Stellar parameters for over twenty million stars in the northern sky from SAGES DR1 and Gaia DR3

We present precise photometric estimates of stellar parameters, including effective temperature, metallicity, luminosity classification, distance, and stellar age, for nearly 26 million stars using the methodology developed in the first paper of this series, based on the stellar colors from the Stellar Abundances and Galactic Evolution Survey (SAGES) DR1 and Gaia EDR3. The optimal design of stellar-parameter sensitive $uv$ filters by SAGES has enabled us to determine photometric-metallicity estimates down to $-3.5$, similar to our previous results with the SkyMapper Southern Survey (SMSS), yielding a large sample of over five million metal-poor (MP; [Fe/H]$\le -1.0$) stars and nearly one million very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H]$\le -2.0$) stars. The typical precision is around $0.1$ dex for both dwarf and giant stars with [Fe/H]$>-1.0$, and 0.15-0.25/0.3-0.4 dex for dwarf/giant stars with [Fe/H]$<-1.0$. Using the precise parallax measurements and stellar colors from Gaia, effective temperature, luminosity classification, distance and stellar age are further derived for our sample stars. This huge data set in the Northern sky from SAGES, together with similar data in the Southern sky from SMSS, will greatly advance our understanding of the Milky Way, in particular its formation and evolution.

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arXiv2022

TESS Timings of 31 Hot Jupiters with Ephemeris Uncertainties

A precise transit ephemeris serves as the premise for follow-up exoplanet observations. We compare TESS Objects of Interest (TOI) transit timings of 262 hot Jupiters with the archival ephemeris and find 31 of them having TOI timing offsets, among which WASP-161b shows the most significant offset of -203.7$\pm$4.1 minutes. The median value of these offsets is 17.8 minutes, equivalent to 3.6 $σ$. We generate TESS timings in each sector for these 31 hot Jupiters, using a self-generated pipeline. The pipeline performs photometric measurements to TESS images and produces transit timings by fitting the light curves. We refine and update the previous ephemeris, based on these TESS timings (uncertainty $\sim$ 1 minute) and a long timing baseline ($\sim 10$ years). Our refined ephemeris gives the transit timing at a median precision of 0.82 minutes until 2025 and 1.21 minutes until 2030. We regard the timing offsets mainly originating from the underestimated ephemeris uncertainty. All the targets with timing offset larger than 10$σ$ present earlier timings than the prediction, which cannot be due to underestimated ephemeris uncertainty, apsidal precision, or R$ø$mer effect as those effects should be unsigned. For some particular targets, timing offsets are likely due to tidal dissipation. Our sample leads to the detection of period decaying candidates of WASP-161b and XO-3b reported previously.

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arXiv2022

Detecting and Monitoring Tidal Dissipation of Hot Jupiters in the Era of SiTian

Transit Timing Variation (TTV) of hot Jupiters provides direct observational evidence of planet tidal dissipation. Detecting tidal dissipation through TTV needs high precision transit timings and long timing baselines. In this work, we predict and discuss the potential scientific contribution of SiTian Survey in detecting and analyzing exoplanet TTV. We develop a tidal dissipation detection pipeline for SiTian Survey that aims at time-domain astronomy with 72 1-meter optical telescopes. The pipeline includes the modules of light curve deblending, transit timing obtaining, and TTV modeling. SiTian is capable to detect more than 25,000 exoplanets among which we expect $\sim$50 sources showing evidence of tidal dissipation. We present detection and analysis of tidal dissipating targets, based on simulated SiTian light curves of XO-3b and WASP-161b. The transit light curve modeling gives consistent results within 1$σ$ to input values of simulated light curves. Also, the parameter uncertainties predicted by Monte-Carlo Markov Chain are consistent with the distribution obtained from simulating and modeling the light curve 1000 times. The timing precision of SiTian observations is $\sim$ 0.5 minutes with one transit visit. We show that differences between TTV origins, e.g., tidal dissipation, apsidal precession, multiple planets, would be significant, considering the timing precision and baseline. The detection rate of tidal dissipating hot Jupiters would answer a crucial question of whether the planet migrates at an early formation stage or random stages due to perturbations, e.g., planet scattering, secular interaction. SiTian identified targets would be constructive given that the sample would extend tenfold.

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arXiv2021

An environmental analysis of the Type Ib SN 2019yvr and the possible presence of an inflated binary companion

SN 2019yvr is the second Type Ib supernova (SN) with a possible direct detection of its progenitor (system); however, the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the pre-explosion source appears much cooler and overluminous than an expected helium-star progenitor. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images and MUSE integral-field-unit (IFU) spectroscopy, we find the SN environment contains three episodes of star formation; the low ejecta mass suggests the SN progenitor is most likely from the oldest population, corresponding to an initial mass of 10.4$^{+1.5}_{-1.3}$ $M_\odot$. The pre-explosion SED can be reproduced by two components, one for the hot and compact SN progenitor and one for a cool and inflated yellow hypergiant (YHG) companion that dominates the brightness. Thus, SN 2019yvr could possibly be the first Type Ib/c SN for which the progenitor's binary companion is directly detected on pre-explosion images. Both the low progenitor mass and the YHG companion suggest significant binary interaction during their evolution. Similar to SN 2014C, SN 2019yvr exhibits a metamorphosis from Type Ib to Type IIn, showing signatures of interaction with hydrogen-rich circumstellar material (CSM) at >150 days; our result supports enhanced pre-SN mass loss as an important process for hydrogen-poor stars at the low mass end of core-collapse SN progenitors.

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arXiv2021

Revisiting KELT-19Ab, WASP-156b and WASP-121b in the TESS Era

We present a re-analysis of transit depths of KELT-19Ab, WASP-156b, and WASP-121b, including data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The large $\sim$21$\arcsec$ TESS pixels and point spread function result in significant contamination of the stellar flux by nearby objects. We use Gaia data to fit for and remove this contribution, providing general-purpose software for this correction. We find all three sources have a larger inclination, compared to earlier work. For WASP-121b, we find significantly smaller values (13.5 degrees) of the inclination when using the 30 minutes cadence data compared to the 2 minutes cadence data. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the radius ratio of exoplanet to star ($R_{p}/R_{\ast}$) is biased small relative to data taken with a larger sampling interval although oversampling corrections mitigate the bias. This is particularly important for deriving sub-percent transit differences between bands. We find the radius ratio of exoplanet to star ($R_{p}/R_{\ast}$) in the TESS band is 7.5$σ$ smaller than previous work for KELT-19Ab, but consistent to within $\sim$2$σ$ for WASP-156b and WASP-121b. The difference could be due to specific choices in the analysis, not necessarily due to the presence of atmospheric features. The result for KELT-19Ab possibly favors a haze-dominated atmosphere. We do not find evidence for the $\sim$0.95\,$μ$m water feature contaminating transit depths in the TESS band for these stars but show that with photometric precision of 500ppm and with a sampling of about 200 observations across the entire transit, this feature could be detectable in a more narrow $z-$band.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2021

LTD064402+245919: A Subgiant with a 1-3 M$_{\odot}$ Undetected Companion Identified from LAMOST-TD Data

Single-line spectroscopic binaries recently contribute to the stellar-mass black hole discovery, independently of the X-ray transient method. We report the identification of a single-line binary system LTD064402+245919, with an orbital period of 14.50 days. The observed component is a subgiant with a mass of 2.77$\pm$0.68M$_{\odot}$, radius 15.5$\pm$2.5R$_{\odot}$, effective temperature $T_{\rm eff}$ 4500$\pm$200K, and surface gravity log\emph{g} 2.5$\pm$0.25dex. The discovery makes use of the LAMOST time-domain (LAMOST-TD) and ZTF survey. Our general-purpose software pipeline applies the Lomb-Scargle periodogram to determine the orbital period and uses machine-learning to classify the variable type from the folded light curves. We apply a combined model to estimate the orbital parameters from both the light and radial velocity curves, taking constraints on the primary star mass, mass function, and detection limit of secondary luminosity into consideration. We obtain a radial velocity semi-amplitude of 44.6$\pm$1.5 km s$^{-1}$, mass ratio of 0.73$\pm$0.07, and an undetected component mass of 2.02$\pm$0.49M$_{\odot}$ when the type of the undetected component is not set. We conclude that the inclination is not well constrained, and that the secondary mass is larger than 1M$_{\odot}$ when the undetected component is modelled as a compact object. According to our investigations using an MCMC simulation, increasing the spectra SNR by a factor of 3 would enable the secondary light to be distinguished (if present). The algorithm and software in this work are able to serve as general-purpose tools for the identification of compact objects quiescent in X-rays.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

An Empirical Bayesian Approach to Limb-darkening in Modeling WASP-121b Transit Light Curves

We present a novel, iterative method using an empirical Bayesian approach for modeling the limb darkened WASP-121b transit from the TESS light curve. Our method is motivated by the need to improve $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ estimates for exoplanet atmosphere modeling, and is particularly effective with the limb darkening (LD) quadratic law requiring no prior central value from stellar atmospheric models. With the non-linear LD law, the method has all the advantages of not needing atmospheric models but does not converge. The iterative method gives a different $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ for WASP-121b at a significance level of 1$σ$ when compared with existing non-iterative methods. To assess the origins and implications of this difference, we generate and analyze light curves with known values of the limb darkening coefficients (LDCs). We find that non-iterative modeling with LDC priors from stellar atmospheric models results in an inconsistent $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ at 1.5$σ$ level when the known LDC values are as those previously found when modeling real data by the iterative method. In contrast, the LDC values from the iterative modeling yields the correct value of $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ to within 0.25$σ$. For more general cases with different known inputs, Monte Carlo simulations show that the iterative method obtains unbiased LDCs and correct $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ to within a significance level of 0.3$σ$. Biased LDC priors can cause biased LDC posteriors and lead to bias in the $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ of up to 0.82$\%$, 2.5$σ$ for the quadratic law and 0.32$\%$, 1.0$σ$ for the non-linear law. Our improvement in $R_{p}/R_{\ast}$ estimation is important when analyzing exoplanet atmospheres.

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arXiv2020

Galaxy Optical Variability of Virgo Cluster: New Tracer for Environmental Influences on Galaxies

We investigate the relationship between the optical variability of galaxies and their distances from the centre of the Virgo Cluster using Palomar Transient Factory data. We define the ratio between the standard deviation of the galaxy brightness and the mean value of the standard deviation as a measure of a galaxy's optical variability. A sample of 814 Virgo galaxies with 230263 observations shows a monotonically decreasing trend of optical variability with increasing clustercentric distance. The variability level inside the cluster is 3.2$σ$ higher than the level outside. We fit the variability with a linear function and find that the data reject a distance-independent model. We examine 217 background galaxies for comparison and find no significant trend in galaxy variability. We assess the relation with Monte Carlo simulation by rebuilding the brightness of each galaxy. The simulation shows a monotonically decreasing relation for member galaxy variability and a distance-independent relation for background galaxies. Our result is consistent with the theory that the cold gas flowing inwards the cluster centre fuels AGN activity. This work is a new implementation of the method using optical variability to investigate the relation between galaxies evolution and their environment.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

A Catalog of Short Period Spectroscopic and Eclipsing Binaries Identified from the LAMOST & PTF Surveys

Binaries play key roles in determining stellar parameters and exploring stellar evolution models. We build a catalog of 88 eclipsing binaries with spectroscopic information, taking advantage of observations from both the Large Sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) surveys. A software pipeline is constructed to identify binary candidates by examining their light curves. The orbital periods of binaries are derived from the Lomb-Scargle method. The key distinguishing features of eclipsing binaries are recognized by a new filter \textit{Flat Test}. We classify the eclipsing binaries by applying Fourier analysis on the light curves. Among all the binary stars, 13 binaries are identified as eclipsing binaries for the first time. The catalog contains information: position, primary eclipsing magnitude and time, eclipsing depth, the number of photometry and radial velocity observations, largest radial velocity difference, binary type, the effective temperature of observable star $T_{\rm eff}$, and surface gravity of observable star log \emph{g}. The false-positive probability is calculated by using both a Monte Carlo simulation and real data from the SDSS Stripe 82 Standard Catalog. The binaries in the catalog are mostly with a period of less than one day. The period distribution shows a 0.22-day cut-off which is consistent with the low probability of an eclipsing binary rotating with such a period.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2019

Irregular changes in Hα emission line of V423 Aur observed by LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectrographs

We obtained 7 spectra of the Be star V423 Aur on Dec. 5th, 2017 using the LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectrograph with exposures from 600 to 1200 seconds. These spectra show the irregular Hα emission line profile variations (LPVs). In the seven spectra, from the 4th to 7th, the left part of Hα profile even show excess. However, no variation can be seen from the follow-up observation of photometry by 1.26-m telescope and High-Resolution spectra by 2.16-m telescope. According to the High-Resolution spectra, we conclude that it is a B7V type star with E(B-V)= 0.709{\pm}0.036 and its vsini is {\sim} 221.8km/s. The short-term Hα LPVs could be explained as a result of the transient ejection of matter from rotating disk or shell around V423 Aur.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2016

The Distance Measurement of NGC 1313 With Cepheids

We present the detection of Cepheids in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313, using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on the Hubble Space Telescpoe. Twenty B (F450W) and V (F555W) epochs of observations spanning over three weeks were obtained, on which the profile-fitting photometry of all stars in the monitored field was performed using the package HSTphot. A sample of 26 variable stars have been identified to be Cepheids, with periods between 3 and 14 days. Based on the derived period-luminosity relations in B and V bands, we obtain an extinction-corrected distance modulus of mu = 28.32 +- 0.08 (random) +- 0.06 (systematic), employing the Large Magellanic Cloud as the distance zero point calibrator. The above moduli correspond to a distance of 4.61 +- 0.17 (random) +- 0.13 (systematic) Mpc, consistent with previous measurements reported in the literature with uncertainties. In addition, the reddening to NGC 1313 is found to be small.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2016

White-Light Flares on Close Binaries Observed with Kepler

Based on Kepler data, we present the results of a search for white-light flares on 1049 close binaries. We identify 234 flare binaries, on which 6818 flares are detected. We compare the flare-binary fraction in different binary morphologies ("detachedness"). The result shows that the fractions in over-contact and ellipsoidal binaries are approximately 10-20 percent lower than those in detached and semi-detached systems. We calculate the binary flares activity level (AL) of all the flare binaries, and discuss its variations along the orbital period (P_orb) and rotation period (P_rot, calculated for only detached binaries). We find that AL increases with decreasing P_orb or P_rot up to the critical values at P_orb near 3 days or P_rot near 1.5 days, thereafter, the AL starts decreasing no matter how fast the stars rotate. We examine the flaring rate as a function of orbital phase in 2 eclipsing binaries on which a large number of flares are detected. It appears that there is no correlation between flaring rate and orbital phase in these 2 binaries. In contrast, when we examine the function with 203 flares on 20 non-eclipse ellipsoidal binaries, bimodal distribution of amplitude weighted flare numbers shows up at orbital phase 0.25 and 0.75. Such variation could be larger than what is expected from the cross-section modification.

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arXiv2016

Thick Accretion Disk Model for Ultraluminous Supersoft Sources

We propose a geometrically thick, super-Eddington accretion disk model, where an optically thick wind is not necessary, to understand ultraluminous supersoft sources (ULSs). For high mass accretion rates $\dot M \ga 30\dot M_{\rm Edd}$ and not small inclination angles $θ\ga 25^{\circ}$, where $\dot M_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington accretion rate, the hard photons from the hot inner region may be shaded by the geometrically thick inner disk, and therefore only the soft photons from the outer thin disk and the outer photosphere of the thick disk can reach the observer. Our model can naturally explain the approximate relation between the typical thermal radius and the thermal temperature, $R_{\rm bb} \propto T_{\rm bb}^{-2}$. Moreover, the thick disk model can unify ULSs and normal ultraluminous X-ray sources, where the different observational characteristics are probably related to the inclination angle and the mass accretion rate. By comparing our model with the optically thick outflow model, we find that less mass accretion rate is required in our model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Relativistic baryonic jets from an ultraluminous supersoft X-ray source

The formation of relativistic jets by an accreting compact object is one of the fundamental mysteries of astrophysics. While the theory is poorly understood, observations of relativistic jets from systems known as microquasars have led to a well-established phenomenology. Relativistic jets are not expected from sources with soft or supersoft X-ray spectra, although two such systems are known to produce relatively low-velocity bipolar outflows. Here we report optical spectra of an ultraluminous supersoft X-ray source (ULS) in the nearby galaxy M81 (M81 ULS-1) showing blueshifted broad Hα emission lines, characteristic of baryonic jets with relativistic speeds. The time variable jets have projected velocities ~17 per cent of the speed of light, and seem similar to those in the prototype microquasar SS 433. Such relativistic jets are not expected to be launched from white dwarfs, but an origin from a black hole or neutron star in M81 ULS-1 is hard to reconcile with its constant soft X-rays. The completely unexpected presence of relativistic jets in a ULS challenges the canonical theories for jet formation, but may possibly be explained by a long speculated super-critically accreting black hole with optically thick outflows

astro-ph.HE↗