arXiv subjects

Naoki Yasuda

Publications and source records attributed to Naoki Yasuda.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Deep Optical Follow-up Observations to IceCube Cosmic Neutrinos: a case for IC230724A with Subaru/HSC and prospects with Rubin/LSST

IceCube has been detecting cosmic high-energy neutrinos for more than 10 years, but their major sources are still under debate. To identify them, IceCube is issuing neutrino alerts, which enable us to perform electromagnetic follow-up observations. In this paper, we present our Subaru/HSC deep optical follow-up observations down to 25.5 mag to a well-localized neutrino event, IceCube 230724A. We conduct a dedicated analysis with extensive evaluation of background rates and true positive rates adopting the blind analysis policy to identify or disfavor tidal disruption events (TDEs) as cosmic neutrino sources. Our analysis found no TDE candidate in the region of interest. Rubin/LSST survey will enable us to constrain their fractional contribution to the cosmic high-energy neutrino background, either $\lesssim 60\%$ or $\gtrsim30\%$ for non-detection and detection, respectively, if Rubin covers the error regions of 10 neutrino events.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Microlensing constraints on Primordial Black Hole abundance with Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam observations of Andromeda

We present updated microlensing analysis results based on high-cadence ($\sim$2~min) Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) observations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in 2014, 2017, and 2020, yielding a total of 39.3 hours of data. We use a point-lens finite-source model for the microlensing light curve model and employ multi-stage selection procedures to identify microlensing candidates. From more than 25,000 variable candidates detected across all nights, we identify 12 microlensing candidates with light-curve timescales shorter than 5~hours, and among them, 4 secure candidates with high-significance detections. We estimate detection efficiencies using light-curve-level simulations that account for observational conditions and finite-source effects. Using a hierarchical Bayesian framework that combines the light-curve fitting information for each candidate with the Poisson statistics of the number of candidates, we derive constraints on parameters that characterize the abundance and mass scale of primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter. First, we derive upper limits on the PBH abundance under the null hypothesis that all events are assumed to be false detections. Next, employing the PBH hypothesis in which all (or only secure) candidates are assumed to be due to PBH microlensing, we derive the allowed region of the PBH parameters; the inferred mass scale is $M_{\rm PBH}\sim10^{-7}$--$10^{-6}M_\odot$, and the PBH abundance to the total dark matter is $f_{\rm PBH}\sim 10^{-1}$. Our results demonstrate that HSC-M31 monitoring remains a uniquely powerful probe of PBHs, and highlight the need for further studies for example, using Rubin Observatory LSST observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

A Common Origin of Normal Type Ia Supernovae Suggested by the Photometric Diversity

In recent years, with an increasing number of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered soon after their explosions, a non-negligible fraction of SNe Ia with early-excess emissions (EExSNe Ia) have been confirmed. In this letter, we present a total of \textbf{67} early-phase normal SNe Ia from published papers and ongoing transient survey projects to systematically investigate their photometric behaviors from very early time. We found that EExSNe Ia in our sample have longer rise and brighter peak luminosities compared to those of non-EExSNe Ia. Moreover, EExSNe Ia commonly have ``red-bump" features in the early $B-V$ color while non-EExSNe Ia show blueward evolution from the very beginning. Here, we propose that the thin-helium double-detonation scenario can phenomenologically explain the photometric diversities of normal SNe Ia considering different white dwarf-He-shell mass combinations and the viewing-angle effect, implying a unified explosion mechanism of normal-type SNe Ia. To further testify the possible common origin of normal SNe Ia, systematical studies of multiband photometric and spectral properties of early-phase SNe Ia through the new generation wide-field time-domain survey facilities and global real-time follow-up networks are highly demanded.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Exploring faint white dwarfs and the luminosity function with Subaru HSC and SDSS in Stripe 82

We present 5,080 white dwarf (WD) candidates selected from stars matching between the multi-band imaging datasets of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in the Stripe82 region covering about 165~deg$^2$. We select WD candidates from the ``reduced proper motion'' diagram by combining the apparent magnitude in the range $i=19$ -- 24 and the proper motion measured from the datasets among a baseline of $\sim$ 14~years. We refine the WD candidates by fitting blackbody and template WD atmosphere models to HSC photometries for each candidate, enabling the estimation of distance and tangential velocity ($v_{\rm t}$). The deep HSC data allow us to identify low-temperature ($<4000$~K) and faint WD candidates down to absolute magnitude, $M_{\rm bol}\simeq 17$. We evaluate the selection function of our WD candidates using a mock catalogue of spatial and kinematic distributions of WDs in the (thin and thick) disc and halo regions based on a Galactic model. We construct samples of disc and halo WD candidates by selecting WDs with tangential velocity, $40<v_{\rm t}/[{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}]<80$ and $200<v_{\rm t}/[{\rm km}~{\rm s}^{-1}]<500$, respectively. The total number densities of the disc and halo WDs are $(9.33 \pm 0.89) \times 10^{-3}$~pc$^{-3}$ and $(6.34 \pm 2.90) \times 10^{-4}$~pc$^{-3}$. Our luminosity functions (LF) extend down to fainter absolute magnitudes compared with previous work. The faint WDs could represent the oldest generation of building blocks over the past $\sim$10 billion years of the assembly history of our Milky Way.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

A systematic search for rapid transients in the Subaru HSC-SSP transient survey

Recent high-cadence transient surveys have discovered rapid transients whose light curve timescales are shorter than those of typical supernovae. In this paper, we present a systematic search for rapid transients at medium-high redshifts among 3381 supernova candidates obtained from the Subaru HSC-SSP transient survey. We developed a machine learning classifier to classify the supernova candidates into four types (Type Ia, Ibc, II supernovae, and rapid transients) based on the features derived from the light curves. By applying this classifier to the 3381 supernova candidates and by further applying the quality cut, we selected 14 rapid transient samples. They are located at a wide range of redshifts ($0.34 \leq z \leq 1.85$) and show a wide range of the peak absolute magnitude ($-17 \geq M \geq -22$). The event rate of the rapid transients is estimated to be $\sim 6\times10^3~\rm{events~yr^{-1}~Gpc^{-3}}$ at $z \sim 0.74$, which corresponds to about $2$ $\%$ of the event rate of normal core-collapse supernovae at the similar redshift. Based on the luminosity and color evolution, we selected two candidates of Type Ibn supernovae at $z\sim0.75$. The event rate of Type Ibn SN candidates is more than 1 $\%$ of Type Ib SN rate at the same redshift, suggesting that this fraction of massive stars at this redshift range eruptively ejects their He-rich envelope just before the explosions. Also, two objects at $z=1.37$ and 1.85 show high luminosities comparable to superluminous supernovae. Their event rate is about 10-25 $\%$ of superluminous supernovae at $z\sim 2$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Luminosity Functions of the Host Galaxies of Supernova

We present the luminosity functions and stellar mass functions of supernova (SN) host galaxies and test if they differ from the functions of normal field galaxies. We utilize homogeneous samples consisting of 273 SNe Ia ($z\leq0.3$) and 44 core-collapse (CC) SNe ($z \leq 0.1$) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) II Supernova Survey and the high-signal-to-noise-ratio photometry of galaxies from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC SSP). SN hosts are classified into star-forming and passive galaxy groups based on the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We find that the SN host luminosity functions and stellar mass functions deviate from those of normal field galaxies. Star-forming galaxies dominate the low-mass end of the SN Ia host mass function, while passive galaxies dominate the high-mass end. CC SNe are predominantly hosted by star-forming galaxies. In addition, intermediate-mass hosts produce CC SNe with the highest efficiency, while the efficiency of producing SNe Ia monotonically increases as the hosts become more massive. Furthermore, We derive the pseudo mass normalized SN rates (pSNuM) based on the mass functions. We find that the star-forming component of pSNuM$_{Ia}$ is less sensitive to the changes in stellar mass, in comparison with the total rate. The behavior of pSNuM$_{CC}$ suggests that the CC rate is proportional to the star-forming rate.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Study of structural parameters and systemic proper motion of Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy with Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam data

We use the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) data to study structural parameters and systemic proper motion of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy at the heliocentric distance of 86 kpc, which is one of the most important targets for studies of dark matter nature and galaxy formation physics. Thanks to the superb image quality and wide area coverage of the Sextans field, the HSC data enables a secure selection of member star candidates based on the colour-magnitude cut, yielding about 10,000 member candidates at magnitudes down to $i\sim 24$. We use a likelihood analysis of the two-dimensional distribution of stars to estimate the structural parameters of Sextans taking into account the contamination of foreground halo stars in the Milky Way, and find that the member star distribution is well-fitted by an elliptical King profile with ellipticity $ε\simeq 0.25$ and the core and tidal radii of $R_c=(368.4\pm 8.5)$ pc and $R_t=(2.54\pm 0.046)$ kpc, respectively. Then using the two HSC datasets of 2.66 years time baseline on average, we find the systemic proper motions of Sextans to be $(μ_α, μ_δ)=(-0.448\pm{0.075},0.083\pm{0.078})$ $\mathrm{mas}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, which is consistent with some of the previous works using the $Gaia$ data of relatively bright member stars in Sextans. Thus, our results give a demonstration that a ground-based, large-aperture telescope data which covers a wide solid angle of the sky and has a long time baseline, such as the upcoming LSST data, can be used to study systemic proper motions of dwarf galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

MUSSES2020J: The Earliest Discovery of a Fast Blue Ultraluminous Transient at Redshift 1.063

In this Letter, we report the discovery of an ultraluminous fast-evolving transient in rest-frame UV wavelengths, MUSSES2020J, soon after its occurrence by using the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) mounted on the 8.2 m Subaru telescope. The rise time of about 5 days with an extremely high UV peak luminosity shares similarities to a handful of fast blue optical transients whose peak luminosities are comparable with the most luminous supernovae while their timescales are significantly shorter (hereafter "fast blue ultraluminous transient," FBUT). In addition, MUSSES2020J is located near the center of a normal low-mass galaxy at a redshift of 1.063, suggesting a possible connection between the energy source of MUSSES2020J and the central part of the host galaxy. Possible physical mechanisms powering this extreme transient such as a wind-driven tidal disruption event and an interaction between supernova and circumstellar material are qualitatively discussed based on the first multiband early-phase light curve of FBUTs, although whether the scenarios can quantitatively explain the early photometric behavior of MUSSES2020J requires systematical theoretical investigations. Thanks to the ultrahigh luminosity in UV and blue optical wavelengths of these extreme transients, a promising number of FBUTs from the local to the high-z universe can be discovered through deep wide-field optical surveys in the near future.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: A Mass-Dependent Slope of the Galaxy Size-Mass Relation at $z<1$

We present the galaxy size-mass ($R_{e}-M_{\ast}$) distributions using a stellar-mass complete sample of $\sim1.5$ million galaxies, covering $\sim100$ deg$^2$, with $\log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})>10.2~(9.2)$ over the redshift range $0.2<z<1.0$ $(z<0.6)$ from the second public data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. We confirm that, at fixed redshift and stellar mass over the range of $\log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})<11$, star-forming galaxies are on average larger than quiescent galaxies. The large sample of galaxies with accurate size measurements, thanks to the excellent imaging quality, also enables us to demonstrate that the $R_{e}-M_{\ast}$ relations of both populations have a form of broken power-law, with a clear change of slopes at a pivot stellar mass $M_{p}$. For quiescent galaxies, below an (evolving) pivot mass of $\log(M_{p}/M_{\odot})=10.2-10.6$ the relation follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.1}$; above $M_{p}$ the relation is steeper and follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.6-0.7}$. For star-forming galaxies, below $\log(M_{p}/M_{\odot})\sim10.7$ the relation follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.2}$; above $M_{p}$ the relation evolves with redshift and follows $R_{e}\propto M_{\ast}^{0.3-0.6}$. The shallow power-law slope for quiescent galaxies below $M_{p}$ indicates that large low-mass quiescent galaxies have sizes similar to those of their counterpart star-forming galaxies. We take this as evidence that large low-mass quiescent galaxies have been recently quenched (presumably through environment-specific process) without significant structural transformation. Interestingly, the pivot stellar mass of the $R_{e}-M_{\ast}$ relations coincides with mass at which half of the galaxy population is quiescent, implied that the pivot mass represents the transition of galaxy growth from being dominated by in-situ star formation to being dominated by (dry) mergers.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Strongly lensed candidates from the HSC transient survey

We present a lensed quasar search based on the variability of lens systems in the HSC transient survey. Starting from 101,353 variable objects with i-band photometry in the HSC transient survey, we used a variability-based lens search method measuring the spatial extent in difference images to select potential lensed quasar candidates. We adopted conservative constraints in this variability selection and obtained 83,657 variable objects as possible lens candidates. We then ran CHITAH, a lens search algorithm based on the image configuration, on those 83,657 variable objects, and 2,130 variable objects were identified as potential lensed objects. We visually inspected the 2,130 variable objects, and seven of them are our final lensed quasar candidates. Additionally, we found one lensed galaxy candidate as a serendipitous discovery. Among the eight final lensed candidates, one is the only known quadruply lensed quasar in the survey field, HSCJ095921+020638. None of the other seven lensed candidates have been previously classified as a lens nor a lensed candidate. Three of the five final candidates with available HST images, including HSCJ095921+020638, show clues of a lensed feature in the HST images. A tightening of variability selection criteria might result in the loss of possible lensed quasar candidates, especially the lensed quasars with faint brightness or narrow separation, without efficiently eliminating the non-lensed objects; CHITAH is therefore important as an advanced examination to improve the lens search efficiency through the object configuration. The recovery of HSCJ095921+020638 proves the effectiveness of the variability-based lens search method, and this lens search method can be used in other cadenced imaging surveys, such as the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

The stellar mass in and around isolated central galaxies: connections to the total mass distribution through galaxy-galaxy lensing in the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey

Using photometric galaxies from the HSC survey, we measure the stellar mass density profiles for satellite galaxies as a function of the projected distance, $r_p$, to isolated central galaxies (ICGs) selected from SDSS/DR7 spectroscopic galaxies at $z\sim0.1$. By stacking HSC images, we also measure the projected stellar mass density profiles for ICGs and their stellar halos. The total mass distributions are further measured from HSC weak lensing signals. ICGs dominate within $\sim$0.15 times the halo virial radius ($0.15R_{200}$). The stellar mass versus total mass fractions drop with the increase in $r_p$ up to $\sim0.15R_{200}$, beyond which they are less than 1\% while stay almost constant, indicating the radial distribution of satellites trace dark matter. The total stellar mass in satellites is proportional to the virial mass of the host halo, $M_{200}$, for ICGs more massive than $10^{10.5}M_\odot$, i.e., $M_{\ast,\mathrm{sat}} \propto M_{200}$, whereas the relation between the stellar mass of ICGs $+$ stellar halos and $M_{200}$ is close to $M_{\ast,\mathrm{ICG+diffuse}}\propto M_{200}^{1/2}$. Below $10^{10.5}M_\odot$, the change in $M_{200}$ is much slower with the decrease in $M_{\ast,\mathrm{ICG+diffuse}}$. At fixed stellar mass, red ICGs are hosted by more massive dark matter halos and have more satellites. At $M_{200}\sim10^{12.7}M_\odot$, both $M_{\ast,\mathrm{sat}}$ and the fraction of stellar mass in satellites versus total stellar mass, $f_\mathrm{sat}$, tend to be slightly higher around blue ICGs, perhaps implying the late formation of blue galaxies. $f_\mathrm{sat}$ increases with the increase in both $M_{\ast,\mathrm{ICG+diffuse}}$ and $M_{200}$, and scales more linearly with $M_{200}$. We provide best-fitting formulas for these scaling relations and for red and blue ICGs separately.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Optical Spectroscopy of Dual Quasar Candidates from the Subaru HSC-SSP program

We report on a spectroscopic program to search for dual quasars using Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) images of SDSS quasars which represent an important stage during galaxy mergers. Using Subaru/FOCAS and Gemini-N/GMOS, we identify three new physically associated quasar pairs having projected separations less than 20 kpc, out of 26 observed candidates. These include the discovery of the highest redshift ($z=3.1$) quasar pair with a separation $<$ 10 kpc. Based on the sample acquired to date, the success rate of identifying physically associated dual quasars is $19\%$ when excluding stars based on their HSC colors. Using the full sample of six spectroscopically confirmed dual quasars, we find that the black holes in these systems have black hole masses ($M_{BH} \sim 10^{8-9}M_{\odot}$) similar to single SDSS quasars as well as their bolometric luminosities and Eddington ratios. We measure the stellar mass of their host galaxies based on 2D image decomposition of the five-band ($grizy$) optical emission and assess the mass relation between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their hosts. Dual SMBHs appear to have elevated masses relative to their host galaxies. Thus mergers may not necessarily align such systems onto the local mass relation, as suggested by the Horizon-AGN simulation. This study suggests that dual luminous quasars are triggered prior to the final coalescence of the two SMBHs, resulting in early mass growth of the black holes relative to their host galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Optical follow-up observation for GW event S190510g using Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam

A gravitational wave event, S190510g, which was classified as a binary-neutron-star coalescence at the time of preliminary alert, was detected by LIGO/Virgo collaboration on May 10, 2019. At 1.7 hours after the issue of its preliminary alert, we started a target-of-opportunity imaging observation in Y-band to search for its optical counterpart using the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru Telescope. The observation covers a 118.8 deg$^2$ sky area corresponding to 11.6% confidence in the localization skymap released in the preliminary alert and 1.2% in the updated skymap. We divided the observed area into two fields based on the availability of HSC reference images. For the fields with the HSC reference images, we applied an image subtraction technique; for the fields without the HSC reference images, we sought individual HSC images by matching a catalog of observed objects with the PS1 catalog. The search depth is 22.28 mag in the former method and the limit of search depth is 21.3 mag in the latter method. Subsequently, we performed visual inspection and obtained 83 candidates using the former method and 50 candidates using the latter method. Since we have only the 1-day photometric data, we evaluated probability to be located inside the 3D skymap by estimating their distances with photometry of associated extended objects. We found three candidates are likely located inside the 3D skymap and concluded they could be an counterpart of S190510g, while most of 133 candidates were likely to be supernovae because the number density of candidates was consistent with the expected number of supernova detections. By comparing our observational depth with a light curve model of such a kilonova reproducing AT2017gfo, we show that early-deep observations with the Subaru/HSC can capture the rising phase of blue component of kilonova at the estimated distance of S190510g (~230 Mpc).

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Proper motion measurements for stars up to $100$ kpc with Subaru HSC and SDSS Stripe 82

We present proper motion measurements for more than $0.55$ million main-sequence stars, by comparing astrometric positions of matched stars between the multi-band imaging datasets from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey and the SDSS Stripe 82. In doing this we use $3$ million galaxies to recalibrate the astrometry and set up a common reference frame between the two catalogues. The exquisite depth and the nearly $12$ years of time baseline between HSC and SDSS enable high-precision measurements of statistical proper motions for stars down to $i\simeq 24$. A validation of our method is demonstrated by the agreement with the $Gaia$ proper motions, to the precision better than $0.1$ mas yr$^{-1}$. To retain the precision, we make a correction of the subtle effects due to the differential chromatic refraction in the SDSS images based on the comparison with the $Gaia$ proper motions against colour of stars, which is validated using the SDSS spectroscopic quasars. Combining with the photometric distance estimates for individual stars based on the precise HSC photometry, we show a significant detection of the net proper motions for stars in each bin of distance out to $100$ kpc. The two-component tangential velocities after subtracting the apparent motions due to our own motion display rich phase-space structures including a clear signature of the Sagittarius stream in the halo region of distance range $[10,\ 35]$ kpc. We also measure the tangential velocity dispersion in the distance range $5-20$ kpc and find that the data are consistent with a constant isotropic dispersion of $80\pm 10\ {\rm km/s}$. More distant stars appear to have random motions with respect to the Galactic centre on average.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Constraints on the rate of supernovae lasting for more than a year from Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam

Some supernovae such as pair-instability supernovae are predicted to have the duration of more than a year in the observer frame. To constrain the rates of supernovae lasting for more than a year, we conducted a long-term deep transient survey using Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the 8.2m Subaru telescope. HSC is a wide-field (a 1.75 deg2 field-of-view) camera and it can efficiently conduct transient surveys. We observed the same 1.75 deg2 field repeatedly using the g, r, i, and z band filters with the typical depth of 26 mag for 4 seasons (from late 2016 to early 2020). Using these data, we searched for transients lasting for more than a year. Two supernovae were detected in 2 continuous seasons, one supernova was detected in 3 continuous seasons, but no transients lasted for all 4 seasons searched. The discovery rate of supernovae lasting for more than a year with the typical limiting magnitudes of 26 mag is constrained to be 1.4^{+1.3}_{-0.7}(stat.)^{+0.2}_{-0.3}(sys.) events deg-2 yr-1. All the long-lasting supernovae we found are likely Type IIn supernovae and our results indicate that about 40% of Type IIn supernovae have long-lasting light curves. No plausible pair-instability supernova candidates lasting for more than a year are discovered. By comparing the survey results and survey simulations, we constrain the luminous pair-instability supernova rate up to z ~ 3 should be of the order of 100 Gpc-3 yr-1 at most, which is 0.01 - 0.1 per cent of the core-collapse supernova rate.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Photometric classification of HSC transients using machine learning

The advancement of technology has resulted in a rapid increase in supernova (SN) discoveries. The Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) transient survey, conducted from fall 2016 through spring 2017, yielded 1824 SN candidates. This gave rise to the need for fast type classification for spectroscopic follow-up and prompted us to develop a machine learning algorithm using a deep neural network (DNN) with highway layers. This machine is trained by actual observed cadence and filter combinations such that we can directly input the observed data array into the machine without any interpretation. We tested our model with a dataset from the LSST classification challenge (Deep Drilling Field). Our classifier scores an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.996 for binary classification (SN Ia or non-SN Ia) and 95.3% accuracy for three-class classification (SN Ia, SN Ibc, or SN II). Application of our binary classification to HSC transient data yields an AUC score of 0.925. With two weeks of HSC data since the first detection, this classifier achieves 78.1% accuracy for binary classification, and the accuracy increases to 84.2% with the full dataset. This paper discusses the potential use of machine learning for SN type classification purposes.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Dual supermassive black holes at close separation revealed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The unique combination of superb spatial resolution, wide-area coverage, and deep depth of the optical imaging from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program is utilized to search for dual quasar candidates. Using an automated image analysis routine on 34,476 known SDSS quasars, we identify those with two (or more) distinct optical point sources in HSC images covering 796 deg^2. We find 421 candidates out to a redshift of 4.5 of which one hundred or so are more likely after filtering out contaminating stars. Angular separations of 0.6 - 4.0" correspond to projected separations of 3 - 30 kpc, a range relatively unexplored for population studies of luminous dual quasars. Using Keck-I/LRIS and Gemini-N/NIFS, we spectroscopically confirm three dual quasar systems at z < 1, two of which are previously unknown out of eight observed, based on the presence of characteristic broad emission lines in each component, while highlighting that the continuum of one object in one of the pairs is reddened. In all cases, the [OIII]5007 emission lines have mild velocity offsets, thus the joint [OIII] line profile is not double-peaked. We find a dual quasar fraction of 0.26+/-0.18% and no evidence for evolution. A comparison with the Horizon-AGN simulation seems to support the case of no evolution in the dual quasar fraction when broadly matching the quasar selection. These results may indicate a scenario in which the frequency of the simultaneous triggering of luminous quasars is not as sensitive as expected to the cosmic evolution of the merger rate or gas content of galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Lensed quasar search via time variability with the HSC transient survey

Gravitationally lensed quasars are useful for studying astrophysics and cosmology, and enlarging the sample size of lensed quasars is important for multiple studies. In this work, we develop a lens search algorithm for four-image (quad) lensed quasars based on their time variability. In the development of the lens search algorithm, we constructed a pipeline simulating multi-epoch images of lensed quasars in cadenced surveys, accounting for quasar variabilities, quasar hosts, lens galaxies, and the PSF variation. Applying the simulation pipeline to the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) transient survey, we generated HSC-like difference images of the mock lensed quasars from Oguri & Marshall's lens catalog. We further developed a lens search algorithm that picks out variable objects as lensed quasar candidates based on their spatial extent in the difference images. We tested our lens search algorithm with the mock lensed quasars and variable objects from the HSC transient survey. Using difference images from multiple epochs, our lens search algorithm achieves a high true-positive rate (TPR) of 90.1% and a low false-positive rate (FPR) of 2.3% for the bright quads with wide separation. With a preselection of the number of blobs in the difference image, we obtain a TPR of 97.6% and a FPR of 2.6% for the bright quads with wide separation. Even when difference images are only available in one single epoch, our lens search algorithm can still detect the bright quads with wide separation at high TPR of 97.6% and low FPR of 2.4% in the optimal seeing scenario, and at TPR of $\sim94%$ and FPR of $\sim5%$ in typical scenarios. Therefore, our lens search algorithm is promising and is applicable to ongoing and upcoming cadenced surveys, particularly the HSC transient survey and the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time, for finding new lensed quasar systems. [abridged]

astro-ph.GA↗