arXiv subjects

Jingkun Zhao

Publications and source records attributed to Jingkun Zhao.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day: [Ce/Mg] Is Not a Universal Chemical Clock

The ratio of $s$-process to $\alpha$-element enrichment ($[s/\alpha]$) has been proposed as a ``chemical clock,'' or a means to estimate stellar ages. However, the age--$[s/\alpha]$ relation varies with metallicity and location in the Galaxy, and the observed trends are not well predicted by galactic chemical evolution models. We quantify the age--[Ce/Mg] correlation across the Galactic disk in roughly 100,000 red giant stars observed with APOGEE in the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper survey. We find that the slope of the correlation varies significantly with metallicity and guiding radius in the chemical thin disk. The trend is steepest in the outer disk and below Solar metallicity, while the most metal-rich stars and those in the inner disk show no correlation with age. In contrast, [Ce/Mg] patterns in the chemical thick disk are consistent across the Galaxy. Halo stars have higher [Ce/Mg] than the chemical thick disk, suggesting that asymptotic giant branch (AGB) enrichment is important even at low metallicity. Overall, patterns in [Ce/Mg] trace both the local star formation history and AGB nucleosynthesis. The complex interplay between [Ce/Mg], age, metallicity, and Galactic position means that [Ce/Mg] (and by extension $[s/\alpha]$) is not a universal chemical clock.

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arXiv2026

The Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping Survey XI. First Gradients from SDSS/MWM BOSS Determined Clusters

The Milky Way Mapper program in the fifth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V/MWM) has observed millions of stars, thousands of them in open clusters. The Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping (OCCAM) survey continues to create comprehensive datasets of open clusters and their members in order to constrain Galactic parameters. This eleventh contribution from the OCCAM survey is the first to use stellar parameters from stars observed with the optical Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) spectrograph to determine cluster membership. We use data from SDSS-V/MWM's 20th Data Release (DR20) and curate a sample of 1883 stars in 111 open clusters, including 95 not in previous OCCAM samples based on infrared data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) spectrograph. The sample includes 16 clusters with stars observed using both the BOSS and APOGEE spectrographs, and we find consistent agreement in measurements of both [Fe/H] and [$\alpha/M$]. The BOSS sample includes the majority of the clusters at young ages (Age $< 150$ Myr) that complement the APOGEE sample of primarily older clusters. We use the combined BOSS+APOGEE OCCAM sample to constrain the radial metallicity gradient with respect to $R_{guide}$ ($-0.079 \pm 0.005 \text{ dex kpc}^{-1}$) and $R_{gc}$ ($-0.082 \pm 0.006 \text{ dex kpc}^{-1}$), which agree well with results from previous OCCAM papers using only APOGEE data. Finally, the inclusion of the primarily young BOSS clusters has not changed that the OCCAM open cluster sample indicates no significant evolution of this gradient in different mono-age populations.

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arXiv2026

Long Tidal Tails of NGC 5024 Hidden in LMS-1 and NGC 5053 Tidal Streams

We report the discovery of long tidal tails associated with the globular cluster (GC) NGC 5024. A modified matched filter applied to Gaia DR3 data reveals a broad stellar stream spanning $\alpha \approx 230^{\circ}-175^{\circ}$. The stellar stream overlaps on the sky with the LMS-1 and with the simulated stream of the GC NGC 5053, and all three share similar proper motions and metallicity. Our member candidates may therefore be a mixture of stars from NGC 5024, NGC 5053, and LMS-1. Nevertheless, the trailing tail extends roughly $20^{\circ}$ beyond the known LMS-1 stream. Furthermore, the radial velocity (RV) as a function of $\alpha$ is used to distinguish the genuine stream candidates of NGC 5024 from the streams of NGC 5053 and LMS-1. Among the sources in common with DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) DR1, we found two distinct sequences in RV-$\alpha$ plane, corresponding to the stellar streams of NGC 5024 and NGC 5053 (or LMS-1), respectively. This constitutes the first strong evidence for the existence of extensive tidal tails around NGC 5024.

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arXiv2026

Probabilistic Stellar Age Estimation for Gaia XP Stars with NGBoost

Stellar age is a fundamental quantity for Galactic archaeology, but reliable age estimation for large stellar samples remains challenging. In this work, we develop an uncertainty aware NGBoost framework for stellar age estimation using Gaia XP-derived atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances. Different from the standard NGBoost model, we modify the loss function by incorporating the uncertainties of the training age labels. We further use a Monte Carlo strategy to quantify the influence of input-feature uncertainties on the predicted ages. The resulting model provides age estimates together with uncertainty estimates. Applying this framework to Gaia XP stars, we construct a stellar age catalog containing 15,175,107 stars.

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arXiv2026

Escaped White Dwarf Candidates from Open Clusters

Observations reveal a pronounced deficit of white dwarfs (WDs) in open clusters (OCs) relative to theoretical expectations, suggesting that a significant fraction of WDs may have escaped from their parent clusters after formation. In this work, we perform a systematic search for escaped WD candidates from OCs by back-tracing the motions of WDs and star clusters from Gaia DR3 catalogs. We identify 476 candidate WDs with kinematics consistent with having escaped from one of 175 OCs. A control-field Monte Carlo (MC) test yields a contamination rate of 87.6% +/- 4.3%. Given this high contamination rate, we filter the candidates by ensuring each WD's total age is consistent with its host cluster age, thereby establishing a more reliable follow-up sample of 109 stars. The excluded candidates with anomalous ages are more likely field interlopers or products of accelerated binary evolution. Among these, the low-mass regime exhibits a clear excess over expected field binary merger rates, whereas the high-mass regime remains broadly consistent with binary population synthesis predictions. Finally, comparing escaped WDs with cluster properties, absolute escape counts appear limited by Gaia's distance-dependent incompleteness. The normalized escape fraction shows little dependence on cluster age, possibly favouring WD loss near formation over gradual evaporation, but is strongly anticorrelated with cluster mass, plausibly because deeper potential wells of massive clusters retain more of their WDs.

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arXiv2026

A Systematic NLTE Study of Very Metal-Poor Stars with Metallicity Down to $-4.3$ dex. II. Lithium Abundance and New Insight to the Lithium Plateau

Metal-poor stars are crucially important for understanding the early Galaxy, first stars, and the Universe. In this series of papers, we present a homogeneous non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) abundances analysis of 12 elements for 103 very/extremely metal-poor (VMP/EMP) stars with metallicity down to $-4.3$ dex. The sample was selected from the LAMOST survey and observed by the high-resolution spectroscopy of Subaru. In this paper, we present the NLTE abundances and evolution of lithium in these stars. We report different lithium behaviors corresponding to different evolutionary stages and their signatures: 1) The Spite Plateau shows a slightly positive slope, indicating increasing lithium abundance with increasing metallicity. Most significantly, it appears to extend to lower metallicities as previously suggested, calling into question the reality of the so-called 'meltdown' at low metallicity; 2) We confirm a lithium plateau for lower red giant branch (LRGB) stars with A(Li) $= 1.13$ dex in our sample, while lithium abundance drops rapidly to A(Li)$<0.5$ as stars continue to evolve to higher stage. 3) We identify four Li-rich stars in our sample across different evolutionary stages, showing complex and multiple lithium production mechanisms in VMP/EMP stars. These findings suggest that early Galactic lithium enrichment results from a complex interplay between depletion and production processes.

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arXiv2026

The Stellar Abundances and Galactic Evolution Survey (SAGES). V. The First Data Release of the DDO51 Band

We present the first public data release of DDO51 band from the Stellar Abundances and Galactic Evolution Survey (SAGES), based on Nanshan One-meter Wide-field Telescope (NOWT) observations obtained between 2023 September and 2024 January. This release initiates the DDO51-band component of the survey, covering $\sim$ 2,500 deg$^2$ of the northern sky and including more than 10 million sources. The DDO51 filter is centered near the \ion{Mg}{1}~$b$ triplet and the adjacent MgH feature, offering sensitivity to stellar surface gravity. The data reduction pipeline incorporates an improved astrometric solution anchored to Gaia DR3 and a photometric calibration strategy tied to synthetic photometry from Gaia XP spectra. These procedures yield a point-source depth of $\sim$18.9 mag at S/N$\sim$10 and an internal photometric precision $\approx$6-7 mmag at the bright end. A preliminary color--color analysis using Gaia broadband photometry confirms the expected sensitivity of the DDO51 band to stellar surface gravity, demonstrating a clear photometric separation between dwarf and giant sequences for late-type stars. This dataset, when combined with existing SAGES photometry in other bands, provides a crucial tool for disentangling the substructures of the Milky Way. All data products from this release upon publication will be available.

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arXiv2026

Mapping the Milky Way with Gaia Bp/Rp spectra-IV: the broken and asymmetric density profile of the stellar disk traced by a large sample of red clumps

This study explores the density profile of the stellar disk, radially and azimuthally, based on approximately 8.4 million red clump stars selected from Gaia Bp/Rp spectra. After correcting for selection effects and distance uncertainties, we fit the vertical stellar density profile of the Galactic disk with a two-component model consisting of geometrically thin and thick disks. Our derived density profile shows several breaks radially: (1) a steep exponential inside R$\sim3$ kpc; (2) a nearly flat plateau from R$\sim3$ to $\sim7$ kpc; (3) an exponential decline beyond the solar radius to around 13 kpc; (4) a sharper exponential drop-off beyond R$\sim$13 kpc. The parameters of these four main components depend on $\phi$ to some extent. Variation of the termination radius of the first component suggests an interaction with the bar/bulge. Besides the typical flaring at $R>6.4$ kpc, we find that the thin disk also exhibits a similar and smooth thickening/flaring feature toward the Galactic center at $R<6.4$ kpc. The observed inner flaring may indicate heating effects introduced by the Galactic bar, since $R=6.4$ kpc lies close to the co-rotation radius where the bar's dynamical influence becomes significant. Additionally, we identify a localized density bump in the region $5<R<7$ kpc and $-30^\circ<\phi<15^\circ$, where a corresponding metallicity bump is also visible near the Galactic plane. This density/metallicity bump may be related to the recently reported bimodal distribution of the guiding radius of super metal-rich stars in the solar vicinity through radial migration.

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arXiv2026

Revisiting Ca II Activity Indices in FGK Stars: Systematic Biases in Infrared Triplet Measurements

Synthetic-template subtraction is widely used to measure chromospheric activity in large spectroscopic surveys. However, many solar-like FGK stars show systematically negative Ca II infrared triplet (IRT) residual indices, implying that the observed line cores are deeper than those predicted by parameter-matched templates. We investigate this effect using solar-like stars from LAMOST DR9, MaStar, and XSL DR3, measuring activity indices (R+) for both the Ca II H&K and IRT lines in a uniform framework. We find that observational effects, including atmospheric-parameter offsets, treatment of the instrumental line-spread function, and propagated measurement uncertainties, contribute to scatter but do not explain the systematic negative bias in R+_IRT. The results instead suggest that the negative bias most likely arises because photospheric templates underestimate the depth of the IRT cores, likely owing to missing chromospheric structure and, to a lesser extent, NLTE effects. An empirical increase in the adopted microturbulent velocity deepens the synthetic IRT cores and partially mitigates the negative offset. In addition, R+ values derived from different synthesis configurations show systematic offsets but generally preserve strong linear correlations, indicating that they can be cross-calibrated. These results clarify the origin of negative Ca II IRT residual indices and help interpret template-dependent systematics in chromospheric activity measurements based on synthetic-template subtraction.

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arXiv2026

Galactic Archaeology with the Subaru `\=Onohi`ula Prime Focus Spectrograph Strategic Program

The recently commissioned Subaru `\=Onohi`ula Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) will obtain spectra from nearly 2,400 fibers that cover 1.24 square degrees. The 360 night Subaru Strategic Program for PFS is dedicating approximately one-third of its allocation (130 nights) to study the structure and evolution of galaxies in the Local Group. This Galactic Archaeological survey has three pillars. (1) We will determine whether the mass density profiles of dwarf galaxies are consistent with cusps, as expected for cold dark matter, or cores, as expected from alternative dark matter theories or baryonic feedback. We will deduce the density profiles as a function of radius from modeling of the full line-of-sight velocity and abundance distributions for six dwarf galaxies. Our total sample will consist of 18,000 member stars to beyond the nominal tidal radius of each system. (2) From measurements of the [alpha/Fe] abundance ratio, we will learn the difference in assembly history of the two most massive galaxies in the Local Group: M31 and the Milky Way. We will observe 30,000 member stars over 45 square degrees of M31's halo and outer disk. (3) We will uncover how the most fragile (outer) part of the Milky Way responded to accretion events both in the distant past (such as Gaia-Sausage Enceladus) and in more recent history (such as the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy). To support this study, PFS will provide velocities and metallicities--from which, in combination with photometry, we will deduce ages--for tens of thousands of main-sequence stars out to a Galactocentric distance of ~30 kpc.

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arXiv2026

The Spectroscopic and Photometric Study of a Star Cluster Sample in Andromeda Halo

Halo star clusters serve as vital tracers for the formation and evolution of the Andromeda galaxy. In this work, we present physical parameters for 29 M31 halo star clusters, derived from a combination of spectroscopic and photometric data. Low-resolution spectra were acquired using the BFOSC spectrograph on the NAOC Xinglong 2.16-m telescope. For the photometric analysis, we utilized uSC and vSAGE bands from the SAGE survey, complemented by archival data from GALEX(NUV, FUV), PAN-STARRS(grizy) and the 2MASS(JHK). Ages and metallicities were determined via ULySS (Vazdekis et al. and pegase-hr) SSP model and the Bruzual & Charlot (2003) (BC03) stellar population synthesis models. The derived parameters show good agreement with literature values. Notably, for three of these clusters, this study represents the first combined photometric and spectroscopic analysis.

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arXiv2026

A Catalog of 486 Barium Stars Identified in GALAH DR4

We present a catalog of 486 Ba stars identified in the GALAH DR4 survey using high-resolution spectra and precise abundance measurements. The sample was selected based on s-process enrichment criteria involving the abundances of Ba and La relative to Eu, and further refined using the signed-distance method, resulting in the largest sample of Ba stars to date, including five newly identified Ba dwarfs. Using astrometric and kinematic parameters from Gaia DR3 and StarHorse, we derived the Galactic velocity components for 367 Ba stars and found that most belong to the thin or thick disk, while 18 exhibit halo-like kinematics. Chemical abundance analysis suggests that most Ba stars are of in situ origin, whereas two stars (4077588766331013248 and 6692980582560946304) display signatures of accreted populations. The E-Lz diagram further shows that star 4077588766331013248 lies within the region of substructure ED-8. The observed decline of [Ba/Fe] and [La/Fe] with increasing metallicity implies that s-process elements originate from nucleosynthetic sites distinct from those of iron-peak elements, while the decreasing [hs/ls] ratio toward higher metallicity indicates higher neutron capture efficiency at lower metallicity. Both giant and dwarf Ba stars-except for 6053735173729807872-are confirmed binaries hosting white dwarf companions. Moreover, we estimated the masses of the former asymptotic giant branch (AGB) companions to these Ba stars based on the good agreement between the FRUITY AGB model predictions and their observed abundance patterns.

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arXiv2026

Searching for White Dwarf Candidates Formed Through Binary evolution in Star Clusters

White dwarfs (WDs), the evolutionary endpoints of most stars, can form through both single-star and binary channels. While single-star evolutionary models enable reliable WD age estimates, binary evolution introduces interactions that can accelerate WD formation and result in a variety of exotic WDs, which may exhibit strong magnetic fields, rapid rotation, or even serve as potential gravitational wave sources. Such systems offer valuable insights into magnetic field generation, angular momentum evolution, and compact object physics. Star clusters, with their approximately coeval populations, allow precise age determination of member WDs. If a WD's total age derived from single-star evolution exceeds that of its host cluster, it likely indicates a binary origin. In this study, we use \textit{Gaia} 5D astrometry to identify 439 WD candidates in 117 open clusters, with 244 likely formed via binary evolution. We discuss the possibility of dynamical ejection for WDs meeting only 2D (proper motion space) membership criteria. Spectroscopic observations further reveal a subset with strong magnetic fields and rapid rotation, supporting their binary evolutionary origin.

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arXiv2026

A Highly Magnetic Ultra Massive White Dwarf with a 23-minute Rotation Period

We present a physical characterization of TMTS J00063798+3104160 (J0006), a rapidly rotating,ultra-massive white dwarf (WD) identified in high-cadence light curves from the Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescope for Survey (TMTS). A coherent 23-minute periodicity is detected in TMTS, TESS, and ZTF photometry. A time series of low-resolution spectra with the Keck-I 10 m telescope reveals broad, shallow hydrogen absorption features indicative of an extreme magnetic field and shows no evidence for radial-velocity variations. Atmospheric modeling yields a magnetic field strength of $\sim$ 250 MG, while Gaia astrometry and photometry imply a mass of 1.06 $\pm$ 0.01 M$_{\odot}$. A significant infrared excess is detected in the WISE W1 band and is well fitted by a 550 K blackbody, likely arising from residual material of a merger. We interpret the 23-minute photometric modulation as the rotation period of an isolated, massive WD formed likely through the merger of a double WD binary. With one of the shortest rotation periods known among candidate merger remnants and with constraints from a deep Einstein Probe X-ray nondetection, J0006 provides a rare and important observational window into the poorly explored intermediate stages of post-merger evolution.

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arXiv2025

Deep learning-driven atmospheric parameter prediction for hot subdwarf stars with synthetic and observed spectra

We design a convolutional neural network (CNN) incorporating channel attention and spatial attention mechanisms to predict atmospheric parameters of hot subdwarfs. The experimental dataset comprises spectra at nine distinct signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels, with each SNR level containing 11 396 synthetic spectra and 945 observed spectra. The trained deep learning models achieves mean absolute errors (AME) in predicting hot subdwarf atmospheric parameters of 730 K for effective temperature (Teff ), 0.09 dex for surface gravity (log g), and 0.03 dex for helium abundance (log(nHe/nH)), respectively, which reaches the accuracy of traditional spectral fitting methods. Utilizing the trained deep learning models and low-resolution spectra from LAMOST DR12, we confirm 1512 hot subdwarfs from the catalog of hot subdwarf candidates, of which 291 are newly identified. Our results demonstrate that the deep learning model not only achieves accuracy comparable to traditional methods in obtaining hot subdwarf atmospheric parameters, but also far exceeds them in speed and efficiency, making it particularly suitable for the analysis of large datasets of hot subdwarf spectra.

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arXiv2025

The Stellar Abundances and Galactic Evolution Survey (SAGES). IV. Surface Gravity Estimation and Giant-Dwarf Separation with the DDO51 Filter

Reliable estimation of stellar surface gravity (log $g$) for a large sample is crucial for evaluating stellar evolution models and understanding galactic structure; However, it is not easy to accomplish due to the difficulty in gathering a large spectroscopic data set. Photometric sky survey using a specific filter, on the other hand, can play a substantial role in the assessment of log $g$. The Stellar Abundances and Galactic Evolution Survey (SAGES) utilizes eight filters to provide accurate stellar parameters for $\sim10^{7}$ stars, with its DDO51 intermediate-band filter specifically designed for robust log $g$ determination. In this work, the observed SAGES $u_{\rm SC}$ and $v_{\rm SAGES}$ photometry, the synthetic photometry in $g$, $r$, $i$, and DDO51 bands derived from \textit{Gaia} XP spectra are employed to investigate the importance of the DDO51 filter in the determination of log $g$. We applied machine-learning-based extinction correction and employed XGBoost models, trained on stellar parameters from LAMOST, to predict log $g$ using photometric data. By comparing model predicted log $g$ with LAMOST values, we find that including DDO51 filter improve the accuracies of log $g$ estimates by 21.0\% (from 0.224\,dex to 0.177\,dex) overall, and by 26.5\% (from 0.302\,dex to 0.222\,dex ) for GK-type stars, as compared to those obtained without DDO51. The DDO51 filter is also validated to be particularly effective for metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]$<$-1.0), where it significantly mitigates systematic biases. Our findings highlight the diagnostic power of the SAGES DDO51 filter, providing enhanced stellar characterization vital for future in-depth studies of the Milky Way.

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arXiv2025

Looking for Signs of Unresolved Binarity in the Continuum of LAMOST Stellar Spectra

We describe an attempt to derive the binarity rate of samples of 166 A-, F-, G-, and K-type stars from LAMOST DR5 and 1000 randomly selected presumably single stars from Gaia DR3 catalogs. To this end, we compared continua of the observed spectra with the continua of synthetic spectra in the 3700 to 9097 Angstrom range. The latter spectra were reduced to the LAMOST set of wavelengths, while the former ones were smoothed. Next, we searched for every observed star the nearest synthetic spectrum using a four-parameter representation - effective temperature, gravity, [Fe/H], and a range of interstellar absorption values. However, rms deviations of observed spectra from synthetic ones appeared to be not sufficient to claim that any of the stars is a binary. We conclude that comparison of the intensity of pairs of spectral lines remains the best way to detect binarity.

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arXiv2025

Mapping the Milky Way with Gaia Bp/Rp spectra II: The inner stellar halo traced by a large sample of blue horizontal branch stars

We selected BHB stars based on synthetic photometry and stellar atmosphere parameters inferred from Gaia Bp/Rp spectra. We generated the synthetic SDSS broad-band $ugr$ and Pristine narrow-band CaHK magnitudes from Gaia Bp/Rp data. A photometric selection of BHB candidates was made in the $(u-g, g-r)$ and $(u-\mathrm{CaHK},g-r)$ color-color spaces. A spectroscopic selection in $T_\mathrm{eff}-\log g$ space was applied to remove stars with high surface gravity. The selection function of BHB stars was obtained by using the Gaia DR3 photometry. A non-parametric method that allows the variation in the vertical flattening $q$ with the Galactic radius, was adopted to explore the density shape of the stellar halo. We present a catalog of 44,552 high latitude ($|b|>20^\circ$) BHB candidates chosen with a well-characterized selection function. The stellar halo traced by these BHB stars is more flattened at smaller radii ($q=0.4$ at $r\sim8$ kpc), and becomes nearly spherical at larger radii ($q=0.8$ at $r\sim25$ kpc). Assuming a variable flattening and excluding several obvious outliers that might be related to the halo substructures or contaminants, we obtain a smooth and consistent relationship between $r$ and $q$, and the density profile is best fit with by a single power law with an index $\alpha=-4.65\pm0.04$.

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