arXiv subjects

P. Tisserand

Publications and source records attributed to P. Tisserand.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

EROS light curve data base

The EROS project (Exp\'erience de Recherche d'Objets Sombres) carried out photometric surveys of dense stellar fields towards the Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC), the Galactic Bulge and Galactic spiral arms, over the period 1990-2003. The main goal of the experiment was to search for the Galactic Dark Matter in the form of massive compact objects (machos), through the gravitational microlensing effect. The historical record of the flux variations of the monitored stars by EROS-2 will be a unique asset for time domain astronomy and to complement current and future searches of transient sources. We describe the set of light curves obtained by EROS-2 program over the years 1996 to 2003, monitoring more than 86 million stars, which is publicly released through the Centre de Donn\'ees de Strasbourg (CDS). The numbers of light curves in this data set are 28.7 and 4.0 million in LMC, respectively SMC, 42.9 million in the Galactic Bulge and 10.4 million towards the Galactic spiral arms, with several hundred measurements for each object. Data from EROS-1 is also being released. The object catalog and light curves and images are accessible through the CDS portal. This will be useful for checking the past behavior of newly discovered variable objects.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

HdC and EHe stars through the prism of Gaia DR3: Evolution of RV amplitude and dust formation rate with effective temperature

The Gaia DR3 release includes heliocentric radial velocity measurements and velocity variability indices for tens of millions of stars observed over 34 months.In this study, we utilise these indices to investigate the intrinsic radial velocity variations of Hydrogen-deficient Carbon (HdC) stars and Extreme Helium (EHe) stars across their large ranges of temperature and brightness. Taking advantage of the newly defined HdC temperature classes, we examine the evolution of the total velocity amplitude with effective temperature. Additionally, we analyse the variation in the dust production rate of R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars with temperature using two different proxies for the photometric state of RCB stars: one from Gaia and another from the 2MASS survey. Our observations revealed a trend in the evolution of the maximum radial velocity amplitude across each HdC temperature class. Similarly, we also observed a correlation between stellar temperature and the dust production rate. Interestingly, we possibly observed for the first time some variations of the intrinsic radial velocity amplitude and the dust production rate with HdC temperature class. If confirmed, these variations would indicate that the helium shell-burning giant stage starts with strong atmospheric motions that decrease in strength, up to $\sim$6000 K, before picking up again as the HdC star atmosphere shrinks further in size and reaches warmer temperatures. Moreover, the dust formation rate appears to be much higher in colder RCB stars compared to warmer ones.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

HdC and EHe stars through the prism of Gaia DR3: 3D distribution and Gaia's chromatic PSF effects

Upon its release the Gaia DR3 catalogue has led to tremendous progress in multiple fields of astronomy by providing the complete astrometric solution for nearly 1.5 billion sources. We analysed the photometric and astrometric results for Hydrogen-deficient Carbon (HdC), Extreme Helium (EHe), and DYPer type stars to identify any potential biases and thus to select stars suitable for kinematic and spatial distribution studies. We investigated the impact of photometric declines in R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars on Gaia astrometry using information from the Gaia IPD process cross-matched with light curves. We have reached the conclusion that the astrometric fits for numerous RCB stars are not valid due to the Gaia PSF chromaticity effect in both shape and centroid. The astrometric results of all stars with a significant time-dependent colour variation should be similarly affected. RCB stars might thus be promising sources to correct this effect in future Gaia releases. Furthermore, after validating the Gaia astrometric results for 92 stars, we observed that the majority of HdC and EHe stars are distributed across the three old stellar structures, the thick disk, the bulge and the halo. However, we have also uncovered evidence indicating that some of them exhibit orbits characteristic of the thin disk. This is also particularly true for all DYPer type stars studied. Finally, we have produced a list of star memberships for each Galactic substructure, and provided a list of heliocentric radial velocities and associated errors for targets not observed by Gaia DR3. We are beginning to observe a relationship between kinematics, stellar population, and metallicity in RCB and EHe stars. That relation can be explained, within the double degenerate scenario, by the large range in the delay time distribution expected from population synthesis simulations, particularly through the HybCO merger channel.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

The dawn of a new era for dustless HdC stars with GAIA eDR3

Decades after their discovery, only four hydrogen-deficient carbon (HdC) stars were known to have no circumstellar dust shell. This is in complete contrast to the $\sim$130 known Galactic HdC stars that are notorious for being heavy dust producers, i.e. the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars. Together they form a rare class of supergiant stars that are thought to originate from the merger of CO/He white dwarf binary systems, otherwise known as the double-degenerate scenario. We searched for new dustless HdC (dLHdC) stars. We used primarily the 2MASS and GAIA eDR3 catalogues to select candidates that were followed-up spectroscopically. We discovered 27 new dLHdC stars, one new RCB star and two new EHe stars. Surprisingly, 20 of the new dLHdC stars share a characteristic of the known dLHdC star HD 148839, having lower atmospheric hydrogen deficiencies. The uncovered population of dLHdC stars exhibit a Bulge-like distribution, like the RCB stars, but show multiple differences from those that indicate they are a different population of HdC stars following its own evolutionary sequence with a fainter luminosity and also a narrow range of effective temperature. We found indication of a current low dust production activity for four of the new dLHdC stars which could be typical RCB stars passing through a transition time. We have evidence for the first time of a large range of absolute magnitudes in the overall population of HdC stars, spanning over 3 mag. In the favoured formation framework, this is explained by a large range in the initial total WD binary mass which leads to a series of evolutionary sequences with distinct maximum brightness and initial temperature. The cold Galactic RCB stars are also noticeably fainter than the Magellanic ones, possibly due to a difference in metallicity resulting in different WD mass ratio. In our Galaxy, there could be as many dLHdC stars as RCB stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

New limits from microlensing on Galactic Black Holes in the mass range $10M_{\odot}<M<1000M_{\odot}$

We have searched for long duration microlensing events originating from intermediate mass Black Holes (BH) in the halo of the Milky Way, using archival data from EROS-2 and MACHO photometric surveys towards the Large Magellanic Cloud. We combined data from these two surveys to create a common database of light curves for 14.1 million objects in LMC, covering a total duration of 10.6 years, with flux series measured through four wide passbands. We have carried out a microlensing search on these light curves, complemented by the light curves of 22.7 million objects, observed by EROS-2 only or MACHO only over about 7 years, with flux series measured through only two passbands. A likelihood analysis, taking into account LMC self lensing and Milky Way disk contributions allows us to conclude that compact objects with masses in the range $10 - 100 M_{\odot}$ cannot make up more than $\sim 15\%$ of a standard halo total mass (at $95\%$ confidence level). Our analysis sensitivity weakens for heavier objects, although we still exclude that $\sim 50\%$ of the halo be made of $\sim 1000 M_{\odot}$ BHs. Combined with previous EROS results, an upper limit of $\sim 15\%$ of the total halo mass can be obtained for the contribution of compact halo objects in the mass range $10^{-6} - 10^2 M_{\odot}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

A plethora of new R Coronae Borealis stars discovered from a dedicated spectroscopic follow-up survey

It is increasingly suspected that the rare R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars - hydrogen-deficient and carbon-rich supergiant stars - are the products of mergers of CO/He white-dwarf binary systems in the intermediate mass regime ($0.6 15000$ K). Forty of these belong to the Milky Way and five are located in the Magellanic Clouds. We also confirmed that the long lasting candidate KDM 5651 is indeed a new Magellanic RCB star, increasing the total number of Magellanic Cloud RCB stars to 30. We have increased by $\sim$50\% the total number of RCB stars known, now reaching 147. We also include a list of 14 strong RCB candidates, most certainly observed during a dust obscuration phase. From the detection efficiency and success rate so far, we estimate that there should be no more than 500 RCB stars/HdC stars in the Milky Way.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

Tracking down R Coronae Borealis stars using the WISE All-Sky survey

R Coronae Borealis stars (RCBs) are the best candidates to be the products of white dwarf mergers in the intermediate mass range ($0.4<M_{tot}<1.1$ M$_{\odot}$). After a merger, a He envelope surrounds a CO core, and a short-lived supergiant phase starts. RCBs correspond to that phase. They are known to be hydrogen-deficient and carbon-rich supergiant stars. They are rare; They are also highly diverse in chemical abundances, brightness and photosphere temperature. To understand their evolutionary path, constrain their spatial distribution and test their formation rate, we aim to increase significantly the number of known RCBs. To do so, we need first to create a list of targets of interest rich in RCB stars, that will be subsequently followed-up spectroscopically to reveal their true nature. Fortunately, RCBs are producing dust and are therefore surrounded by warm circumstellar dust shells. Using the all-sky 2MASS and WISE infrared surveys, our goal is to discriminate RCBs among other dust-producing stars. A series of selection criteria was applied to colour-colour diagrams and to the brightness of all objects catalogued. The criteria were designed using all 102 known RCB stars. RCB SED models were also used to understand the limits of the criteria and the possible bias in terms of shell temperature selected. The analysis was complicated by the unpredictable photometric declines that RCB stars are known to undergo. With a detection efficiency of about 85\%, our analysis selected only 2356 targets among the 563 million objects catalogued in the WISE All-Sky survey. This short list of targets of interest supersedes a previously published one made from the preliminary WISE data release. This list, published in the CDS Vizier database, will allow us to increase significantly the number of known RCB stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2018

The Double Dust Envelopes of R Coronae Borealis Stars

The study of extended, cold dust envelopes surrounding R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars began with their discovery by IRAS. RCB stars are carbon-rich supergiants characterized by their extreme hydrogen deficiency and for their irregular and spectacular declines in brightness (up to 9 mags). We have analyzed new and archival Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory data of the envelopes of seven RCB stars to examine the morphology and investigate the origin of these dusty shells. Herschel, in particular, has revealed the first ever bow shock associated with an RCB star with its observations of SU Tauri. These data have allowed the assembly of the most comprehensive spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these stars with multi--wavelength data from the ultraviolet to the submillimeter. Radiative transfer modeling of the SEDs implies that the RCB stars in this sample are surrounded by an inner warm (up to 1,200 K) and an outer cold (up to 200 K) envelope. The outer shells are suggested to contain up to 10$^{-3}$ M$_\odot$ of dust and have existed for up to $10^5$ yr depending on the expansion rate of the dust. This age limit indicates that these structures have most likely been formed during the RCB phase.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2018

SMSS J130522.47-293113.0: a high-latitude stellar X-ray source with pc-scale outflow relics?

We report the discovery of an unusual stellar system, SMSS J130522.47-293113.0. The optical spectrum is dominated by a blue continuum together with emission lines of hydrogen, neutral and ionized helium, and the N III, C III blend at around 4640-4650 Angstrom. The emission line profiles vary in strength and position on timescales as short as 1 day, while optical photometry reveals fluctuations of as much as ~0.2 mag in g on timescales as short as 10-15 min. The system is a weak X-ray source (f_{0.3-10} = (1.2 +/- 0.1) x 10^{-13} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1} in the 0.3-10 keV band) but is not detected at radio wavelengths (3-sigma upper limit of 50 microJy at 5.5 GHz). The most intriguing property of the system, however, is the existence of two "blobs", a few arcsec in size, that are symmetrically located 3.8 arcmin (2.2 pc for our preferred system distance of ~2 kpc) each side of the central object. The blobs are detected in optical and near-IR broadband images but do not show any excess emission in Halpha images. We discuss the interpretation of the system, suggesting that the central object is most likely a nova-like CV, and that the blobs are relics of a pc-scale accretion-powered collimated outflow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Extremely metal-poor stars from the cosmic dawn in the bulge of the Milky Way

The first stars are predicted to have formed within 200 million years after the Big Bang, initiating the cosmic dawn. A true first star has not yet been discovered, although stars with tiny amounts of elements heavier than helium ('metals') have been found in the outer regions ('halo') of the Milky Way. The first stars and their immediate successors should, however, preferentially be found today in the central regions ('bulges') of galaxies, because they formed in the largest over-densities that grew gravitationally with time. The Milky Way bulge underwent a rapid chemical enrichment during the first 1-2 billion years, leading to a dearth of early, metal-poor stars. Here we report observations of extremely metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge, including one star with an iron abundance about 10,000 times lower than the solar value without noticeable carbon enhancement. We confirm that the most metal-poor bulge stars are on tight orbits around the Galactic Centre, rather than being halo stars passing through the bulge, as expected for stars formed at redshifts greater than 15. Their chemical compositions are in general similar to typical halo stars of the same metallicity although intriguing differences exist, including lower abundances of carbon.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

The DICE calibration project: design, characterization, and first results

We describe the design, operation, and first results of a photometric calibration project, called DICE (Direct Illumination Calibration Experiment), aiming at achieving precise instrumental calibration of optical telescopes. The heart of DICE is an illumination device composed of 24 narrow-spectrum, high-intensity, light-emitting diodes (LED) chosen to cover the ultraviolet-to-near-infrared spectral range. It implements a point-like source placed at a finite distance from the telescope entrance pupil, yielding a flat field illumination that covers the entire field of view of the imager. The purpose of this system is to perform a lightweight routine monitoring of the imager passbands with a precision better than 5 per-mil on the relative passband normalisations and about 3Å on the filter cutoff positions. The light source is calibrated on a spectrophotometric bench. As our fundamental metrology standard, we use a photodiode calibrated at NIST. The radiant intensity of each beam is mapped, and spectra are measured for each LED. All measurements are conducted at temperatures ranging from 0°C to 25°C in order to study the temperature dependence of the system. The photometric and spectroscopic measurements are combined into a model that predicts the spectral intensity of the source as a function of temperature. We find that the calibration beams are stable at the $10^{-4}$ level -- after taking the slight temperature dependence of the LED emission properties into account. We show that the spectral intensity of the source can be characterised with a precision of 3Å in wavelength. In flux, we reach an accuracy of about 0.2-0.5% depending on how we understand the off-diagonal terms of the error budget affecting the calibration of the NIST photodiode. With a routine 60-mn calibration program, the apparatus is able to constrain the passbands at the targeted precision levels.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

A real-time fast radio burst: polarization detection and multiwavelength follow-up

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the radio sky; their progenitors and origins remain unknown and until now no rapid multiwavelength follow-up of an FRB has been possible. New instrumentation has decreased the time between observation and discovery from years to seconds, and enables polarimetry to be performed on FRBs for the first time. We have discovered an FRB (FRB 140514) in real-time on 14 May, 2014 at 17:14:11.06 UTC at the Parkes radio telescope and triggered follow-up at other wavelengths within hours of the event. FRB 140514 was found with a dispersion measure (DM) of 562.7(6) cm$^{-3}$ pc, giving an upper limit on source redshift of $z \lesssim 0.5$. FRB 140514 was found to be 21$\pm$7% (3-$σ$) circularly polarized on the leading edge with a 1-$σ$ upper limit on linear polarization $<10%$. We conclude that this polarization is intrinsic to the FRB. If there was any intrinsic linear polarization, as might be expected from coherent emission, then it may have been depolarized by Faraday rotation caused by passing through strong magnetic fields and/or high density environments. FRB 140514 was discovered during a campaign to re-observe known FRB fields, and lies close to a previous discovery, FRB 110220; based on the difference in DMs of these bursts and time-on-sky arguments, we attribute the proximity to sampling bias and conclude that they are distinct objects. Follow-up conducted by 12 telescopes observing from X-ray to radio wavelengths was unable to identify a variable multiwavelength counterpart, allowing us to rule out models in which FRBs originate from nearby ($z < 0.3$) supernovae and long duration gamma-ray bursts.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

The Gaia-ESO Survey: the most metal-poor stars in the Galactic bulge

We present the first results of the EMBLA survey (Extremely Metal-poor BuLge stars with AAOmega), aimed at finding metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge, where the oldest stars should now preferentially reside. EMBLA utilises SkyMapper photometry to pre-select metal-poor candidates, which are subsequently confirmed using AAOmega spectroscopy. We describe the discovery and analysis of four bulge giants with -2.72<=[Fe/H]<=-2.48, the lowest metallicity bulge stars studied with high-resolution spectroscopy to date. Using FLAMES/UVES spectra through the Gaia-ESO Survey we have derived abundances of twelve elements. Given the uncertainties, we find a chemical similarity between these bulge stars and halo stars of the same metallicity, although the abundance scatter may be larger, with some of the stars showing unusual [α/Fe] ratios.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

ExELS: an exoplanet legacy science proposal for the ESA Euclid mission. II. Hot exoplanets and sub-stellar systems

The Exoplanet Euclid Legacy Survey (ExELS) proposes to determine the frequency of cold exoplanets down to Earth mass from host separations of ~1 AU out to the free-floating regime by detecting microlensing events in Galactic Bulge. We show that ExELS can also detect large numbers of hot, transiting exoplanets in the same population. The combined microlensing+transit survey would allow the first self-consistent estimate of the relative frequencies of hot and cold sub-stellar companions, reducing biases in comparing "near-field" radial velocity and transiting exoplanets with "far-field" microlensing exoplanets. The age of the Bulge and its spread in metallicity further allows ExELS to better constrain both the variation of companion frequency with metallicity and statistically explore the strength of star-planet tides. We conservatively estimate that ExELS will detect ~4100 sub-stellar objects, with sensitivity typically reaching down to Neptune-mass planets. Of these, ~600 will be detectable in both Euclid's VIS (optical) channel and NISP H-band imager, with ~90% of detections being hot Jupiters. Likely scenarios predict a range of 2900-7000 for VIS and 400-1600 for H-band. Twice as many can be expected in VIS if the cadence can be increased to match the 20-minute H-band cadence. The separation of planets from brown dwarfs via Doppler boosting or ellipsoidal variability will be possible in a handful of cases. Radial velocity confirmation should be possible in some cases, using 30-metre-class telescopes. We expect secondary eclipses, and reflection and emission from planets to be detectable in up to ~100 systems in both VIS and NISP-H. Transits of ~500 planetary-radius companions will be characterised with two-colour photometry and ~40 with four-colour photometry (VIS,YJH), and the albedo of (and emission from) a large sample of hot Jupiters in the H-band can be explored statistically.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

A single low-energy, iron-poor supernova as the source of metals in the star SMSS J 031300.36-670839.3

The element abundance ratios of four low-mass stars with extremely low metallicities indicate that the gas out of which the stars formed was enriched in each case by at most a few, and potentially only one low-energy, supernova. Such supernovae yield large quantities of light elements such as carbon but very little iron. The dominance of low-energy supernovae is surprising, because it has been expected that the first stars were extremely massive, and that they disintegrated in pair-instability explosions that would rapidly enrich galaxies in iron. What has remained unclear is the yield of iron from the first supernovae, because hitherto no star is unambiguously interpreted as encapsulating the yield of a single supernova. Here we report the optical spectrum of SMSS J031300.36- 670839.3, which shows no evidence of iron (with an upper limit of 10^-7.1 times solar abundance). Based on a comparison of its abundance pattern with those of models, we conclude that the star was seeded with material from a single supernova with an original mass of ~60 Mo (and that the supernova left behind a black hole). Taken together with the previously mentioned low-metallicity stars, we conclude that low-energy supernovae were common in the early Universe, and that such supernovae yield light element enrichment with insignificant iron. Reduced stellar feedback both chemically and mechanically from low-energy supernovae would have enabled first-generation stars to form over an extended period. We speculate that such stars may perhaps have had an important role in the epoch of cosmic reionization and the chemical evolution of early galaxies.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

The VMC Survey - X. Cepheids, RR Lyrae stars and binaries as probes of the Magellanic System's structure

The VMC survey is obtaining multi-epoch photometry in the Ks band of the Magellanic System down to a limiting magnitude of Ks ~ 19.3 for individual epoch data. The observations are spaced in time such as to provide optimal sampling of the light curves for RR Lyrae stars and for Cepheids with periods up to 20-30 days. We present examples of the Ks-band light curves of Classical Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars we are obtaining from the VMC data and outline the strategy we put in place to measure distances and infer the System three-dimensional geometry from the variable stars. For this purpose the near-infrared Period-Luminosity, Period-Wesenheit, and Period-Luminosity-Colour relations of the system RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids are used. We extensively exploit the catalogues of the Magellanic Clouds' variable stars provided by the EROS-2 and OGLE III/IV microlensing surveys. By combining these surveys we present the currently widest-area view of the Large Magellanic Cloud as captured by the galaxy Cepheids, RR Lyrae stars and binaries. This reveals the full extent of the main structures (bar/s - spiral arms) that have only been vaguely guessed before. Our work strengthens the case for a detailed study of the Large Magellanic Cloud three-dimensional geometry.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Finding RR Lyrae Stars with SkyMapper: an Observational Test

One of the major science goals of the SkyMapper Survey of the Southern Hemisphere sky is the determination of the shape and extent of the halo of the Galaxy. In this paper we quantify the likely efficiency and completeness of the survey as regards the detection of RR Lyrae variable stars, which are excellent tracers of the halo stellar population. We have accomplished this via observations of the RR Lyrae-rich globular cluster NGC 3201. We find that for single epoch uvgri observations followed by two further epochs of g, r imaging, as per the intended three-epoch survey strategy, we recover known RR Lyraes with a completeness exceeding 90%. We also investigate boundaries in the gravity-sensitive single-epoch two-color diagram that yield high completeness and high efficiency (i.e., minimal contamination by non-RR Lyraes) and the general usefulness of this diagram in separating populations.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

ExELS: an exoplanet legacy science proposal for the ESA Euclid mission I. Cold exoplanets

Euclid is the second M-class mission of the ESA Cosmic Vision programme, with the principal science goal of studying dark energy. Euclid is also expected to undertake additional Legacy Science programmes. One proposal is the Exoplanet Euclid Legacy Survey (ExELS) which will be the first survey able to measure the abundance of exoplanets down to Earth mass for host separations from ~1AU out to the free-floating (unbound) regime. The cold and free-floating exoplanet regimes represent a crucial discovery space for testing planet formation theories. ExELS will use the gravitational microlensing technique and will detect 1000 microlensing events per month over 1.6 deg^2 of the Galactic bulge. We assess how many of these events will have detectable planetary signatures using a detailed multi-wavelength microlensing simulator (MABuLS) which incorporates the Besancon Galactic model with 3D extinction. MABuLS is the first theoretical simulation of microlensing to treat the effects of point spread function (PSF) blending self-consistently with the underlying Galactic model. We use MABuLS, together with current numerical models for the Euclid PSFs, to explore a number of designs and de-scope options for ExELS, including the exoplanet yield as a function of filter choice and slewing time, and the effect of systematic photometry errors. Using conservative extrapolations of current empirical exoplanet mass functions determined from ground-based microlensing and radial velocity surveys, ExELS can expect to detect a few hundred cold exoplanets around mainly G, K and M-type stellar hosts, including ~45 Earth-mass planets and ~6 Mars-mass planets for an observing programme totalling 10 months. ExELS will be capable of measuring the cold exoplanet mass function down to Earth mass or below, with orbital separations from ~1AU to the free-floating regime. (Abridged)

astro-ph.EP↗