arXiv subjects

Patrick Morrissey

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Morrissey.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument Overview and Status

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument is a critical technology demonstrator for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory. With a predicted visible-light flux ratio detection limit of 1E-8 or better, it will be capable of reaching new areas of parameter space for both gas giant exoplanets and circumstellar disks. It is in the final stages of integration and test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with an anticipated delivery to payload integration in the coming year. This paper will review the instrument systems, observing modes, potential observing applications, and overall progress toward instrument integration and test.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Resolving the HI in Damped Lyman-α systems that power star-formation

Reservoirs of dense atomic gas (primarily hydrogen), contain approximately 90 percent of the neutral gas at a redshift of 3, and contribute to 2-3 percent of the total baryons in the Universe. These damped Lyman-$α$ systems (so called because they absorb Lyman-$α$ photons from within and from background sources) have been studied for decades, but only through absorption lines present in the spectra of background quasars and gamma-ray bursts. Such pencil beams do not constrain the physical extent of the systems. Here, we report integral-field spectroscopy of a bright, gravitationally lensed galaxy at a redshift of 2.7 with two foreground damped Lyman-$α$ systems. These systems are $>$ 238 $kpc^2$ in extent, with column densities of neutral hydrogen varying by more than an order of magnitude on $<$ 3 kpc-scales. The mean column densities are $10^{20.46}$ - $10^{20.84} cm^{-2}$ and the total masses are $> 5.5 \times 10^{8}$ - $1.4 \times 10^{9} M_{\odot}$, showing that they contain the necessary fuel for the next generation of star formation, consistent with relatively massive, low-luminosity primeval galaxies at redshifts $>$ 2.

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arXiv2020

Emission-Line Datacubes of the HH 32 Stellar Jet

We analyze datacubes of over 60 emission lines in the HH 32 stellar jet acquired with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). The data cover the less-explored blue portion of the spectrum between 3586A and 6351A , and have both high spectral (R $\sim$ 10000) and spatial ($\lesssim$ 1" ) resolution. The study includes all three major ionization states of oxygen, three Balmer lines, multiple lines of Fe II and Fe III, as well as the first datacubes ever acquired for important unblended diagnostic lines such as He II $λ$4686, Ca I $λ$3933, and Mg I] $λ$4571. The data cubes generally sort according to excitation, and have a relatively continuous progression from the highest-excitation ions (He II, O III) through the intermediate-excitation ions (O I and H I) to the lowest-excitation ions (Ca II and Mg I). Merging the KCWI cubes with HST images leads to several new insights about the flow, including evidence for bow shocks, partial bow shocks, spur shocks, Mach disks, jet deflection shocks, a wiggling jet, and potential shock precursors. The most surprising result is that one of the velocity components of Fe II in the Mach disk suddenly increases in flux relative to other lines by a factor of two, implying that the Mach disk vaporizes dust in the jet. Hence, jets must accelerate or entrain dust to speeds of over 300 km/s without destroying the grains.

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arXiv2019

The Dark Matter Distributions in Low-Mass Disk Galaxies. II. The Inner Density Profiles

Dark matter-only simulations predict that dark matter halos have steep, cuspy inner density profiles, while observations of dwarf galaxies find a range of inner slopes that are often much shallower. There is debate whether this discrepancy can be explained by baryonic feedback or if it may require modified dark matter models. In Paper 1 of this series, we obtained high-resolution integral field H$α$ observations for 26 dwarf galaxies with $M_*=10^{8.1}-10^{9.7}\textrm{M}_\odot$. We derived rotation curves from our observations, which we use here to construct mass models. We model the total mass distribution as the sum of a generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) dark matter halo and the stellar and gaseous components. Our analysis of the slope of the dark matter density profile focuses on the inner 300-800 pc, chosen based on the resolution of our data and the region resolved by modern hydrodynamical simulations. The inner slope measured using ionized and molecular gas tracers is consistent, and it is additionally robust to the choice of stellar mass-to-light ratio. We find a range of dark matter profiles, including both cored and cuspy slopes, with an average of $ρ_{\rm DM}\sim r^{-0.74\pm 0.07}$, shallower than the NFW profile, but steeper than those typically observed for lower-mass galaxies with $M_*\sim 10^{7.5}\textrm{M}_\odot$. Simulations that reproduce the observed slopes in those lower-mass galaxies also produce slopes that are too shallow for galaxies in our mass range. We therefore conclude that supernova feedback models do not yet provide a fully satisfactory explanation for the observed trend in dark matter slopes.

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arXiv2019

Multi-Filament Inflows Fueling Young Star Forming Galaxies

Theory suggests that there are two primary modes of accretion through which dark matter halos acquire the gas to form and fuel galaxies, hot and cold mode accretion. In cold mode accretion, gas streams along cosmic web filaments to the center of the halo, allowing for the efficient delivery of star-forming fuel. Recently, two QSO-illuminated HI Lyman alpha (Lyα) emitting objects were reported to have properties of cold, rotating structures (Martin et al. 2015, Martin et al. 2016). However, the spatial and spectral resolution available was insufficient to constrain radial flows associated with connecting filaments. With the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) we now have eight times the spatial resolution, permitting the detection of these in-spiraling flows. In order to detect these inflows, we introduce a suite of models which incorporate zonal radial flows, demonstrate their performance on a numerical simulation that exhibits coldflow accretion, and show that they are an excellent match to KCWI velocity maps of two Lyα emitters observed around high-redshift quasars. These Multi-Filament Inflow models kinematically isolate zones of radial inflow that correspond to extended filamentary emission. The derived gas flux and inflow path is sufficient to fuel the inferred central galaxy star formation rate and angular momentum. Thus, our kinematic emission maps provide strong evidence for the inflow of gas from the cosmic web building galaxies at the peak of star formation.

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arXiv2019

CDIM: Cosmic Dawn Intensity Mapper Final Report

The Cosmic Dawn Intensity Mapper (CDIM) will transform our understanding of the era of reionization when the Universe formed the first stars and galaxies, and UV photons ionized the neutral medium. CDIM goes beyond the capabilities of upcoming facilities by carrying out wide area spectro-imaging surveys, providing redshifts of galaxies and quasars during reionization as well as spectral lines that carry crucial information on their physical properties. CDIM will make use of unprecedented sensitivity to surface brightness to measure the intensity fluctuations of reionization on large-scales to provide a valuable and complementary dataset to 21-cm experiments. The baseline mission concept is an 83-cm infrared telescope equipped with a focal plane of 24 \times 20482 detectors capable of R = 300 spectro-imaging observations over the wavelength range of 0.75 to 7.5 μm using Linear Variable Filters (LVFs). CDIM provides a large field of view of 7.8 deg2 allowing efficient wide area surveys, and instead of moving instrumental components, spectroscopic mapping is obtained through a shift-and-stare strategy through spacecraft operations. CDIM design and capabilities focus on the needs of detecting faint galaxies and quasars during reionization and intensity fluctuation measurements of key spectral lines, including Lyman-α and Hα radiation from the first stars and galaxies. The design is low risk, carries significant science and engineering margins, and makes use of technologies with high technical readiness level for space observations.

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arXiv2019

The Dark Matter Distributions in Low-Mass Disk Galaxies. I. H$α$ Observations Using the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager

Dark-matter-only simulations predict that dark matter halos have cusp-like inner density profiles, while observations of low-mass galaxies have found a range of inner slopes that are typically much shallower. It is still not well established whether this discrepancy can be explained by baryonic feedback or if it may require modified dark matter models. To better understand the diversity of dark matter profiles in dwarf galaxies, we undertook a survey of 26 low-mass galaxies ($\log M_*/\textrm{M}_\odot = 8.4-9.8$, $v_{\rm max} = 50-140$ km s$^{-1}$) within 30 Mpc using the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager, which is among the largest integral field spectroscopic surveys of its type. In this paper, we derive H$α$ velocity fields for the full sample with a typical spatial resolution of $\sim$160 pc. We extract rotation curves and verify their robustness to several choices in the analysis. We present a method for improving the velocity precision obtained from image slicing spectrographs using narrowband H$α$ images. For 11 galaxies, we compare the H$α$ velocity fields to CO kinematics measured using CARMA, finding the maps to be in good agreement. The standard deviation of the difference is typically $\sim$7 km s$^{-1}$, comparable to the level of turbulence in the interstellar medium, showing that the two tracers have substantially the same bulk kinematics. In a companion paper, we will use the rotation curves produced here to construct mass models of the galaxies and determine their dark matter density profiles.

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arXiv2019

Key Technologies for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope Coronagraph Instrument

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast imager and integral field spectrograph that will enable the study of exoplanets and circumstellar disks at visible wavelengths. Ground-based high-contrast instrumentation has fundamentally limited performance at small working angles, even under optimistic assumptions for 30m-class telescopes. There is a strong scientific driver for better performance, particularly at visible wavelengths. Future flagship mission concepts aim to image Earth analogues with visible light flux ratios of more than 10^10. CGI is a critical intermediate step toward that goal, with a predicted 10^8-9 flux ratio capability in the visible. CGI achieves this through improvements over current ground and space systems in several areas: (i) Hardware: space-qualified (TRL9) deformable mirrors, detectors, and coronagraphs, (ii) Algorithms: wavefront sensing and control; post-processing of integral field spectrograph, polarimetric, and extended object data, and (iii) Validation of telescope and instrument models at high accuracy and precision. This white paper, submitted to the 2018 NAS Exoplanet Science Strategy call, describes the status of key CGI technologies and presents ways in which performance is likely to evolve as the CGI design matures.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Smartphone scene generator for efficient characterization of visible imaging detectors

Full characterization of imaging detectors involves subjecting them to spatially and temporally varying illumination patterns over a large dynamic range. Here we present a scene generator that fulfills many of these functions. Based on a modern smartphone, it has a number of good features, including the ability to generate nearly arbitrary optical scenes, high spatial resolution (13 um), high dynamic range (~10^4), near-Poisson limited illumination stability over time periods from 100 ms to many days, and no background noise. The system does not require any moving parts and may be constructed at modest cost. We present the optical, mechanical, and software design, test data validating the performance, and application examples.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

The Keck Cosmic Web Imager Integral Field Spectrograph

We report on the design and performance of the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), a general purpose optical integral field spectrograph that has been installed at the Nasmyth port of the 10 m Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea, HI. The novel design provides blue-optimized seeing-limited imaging from 350-560 nm with configurable spectral resolution from 1000 - 20000 in a field of view up to 20"x33". Selectable volume phase holographic (VPH) gratings and high performance dielectric, multilayer silver and enhanced aluminum coatings provide end-to-end peak efficiency in excess of 45% while accommodating the future addition of a red channel that will extend wavelength coverage to 1 micron. KCWI takes full advantage of the excellent seeing and dark sky above Mauna Kea with an available nod-and-shuffle observing mode. The instrument is optimized for observations of faint, diffuse objects such as the intergalactic medium or cosmic web. In this paper, a detailed description of the instrument design is provided with measured performance results from the laboratory test program and ten nights of on-sky commissioning during the spring of 2017. The KCWI team is lead by Caltech and JPL (project management, design and implementation) in partnership with the University of California at Santa Cruz (camera optical and mechanical design) and the W. M. Keck Observatory (observatory interfaces).

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Direct evidence of AGN-feedback: a post starburst galaxy stripped of its gas by AGN-driven winds

Post starburst E+A galaxies show indications of a powerful starburst that was quenched abruptly. Their disturbed, bulge-dominated morphologies suggest that they are merger remnants. The more massive E+A galaxies are suggested to be quenched by AGN feedback, yet little is known about AGN-driven winds in this short-lived phase. We present spatially-resolved IFU spectroscopy by the Keck Cosmic Web Imager of SDSS J003443.68+251020.9, at z=0.118. The system consists of two galaxies, the larger of which is a post starburst E+A galaxy hosting an AGN. Our modelling suggests a 400 Myrs starburst, with a peak star formation rate of 120 Msun/yr. The observations reveal stationary and outflowing gas, photoionized by the central AGN. We detect gas outflows to a distance of 17 kpc from the central galaxy, far beyond the region of the stars (about 3 kpc), inside a conic structure with an opening angle of 70 degrees. We construct self-consistent photoionization and dynamical models for the different gas components and show that the gas outside the galaxy forms a continuous flow, with a mass outflow rate of about 24 Msun/yr. The gas mass in the flow, roughly $10^9$ Msun, is larger than the total gas mass within the galaxy, some of which is outflowing too. The continuity of the flow puts a lower limit of 60 Myrs on the duration of the AGN feedback. Such AGN are capable of removing, in a single episode, most of the gas from their host galaxies and expelling enriched material into the surrounding CGM.

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arXiv2018

Keck/Palomar Cosmic Web Imagers (KCWI/PCWI) Reveal an Enormous Ly$α$ Nebula in an Extremely Overdense QSO Pair Field at $z=2.45$

Enormous Ly$α$ nebulae (ELANe) represent the extrema of Ly$α$ nebulosities. They have detected extents of $>200$ kpc in Ly$α$ and Ly$α$ luminosities $>10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The ELAN population is an ideal laboratory to study the interactions between galaxies and the intergalactic/circumgalactic medium (IGM/CGM) given their brightness and sizes. The current sample size of ELANe is still very small, and the few $z\approx2$ ELANe discovered to date are all associated with local overdensities of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Inspired by these results, we have initiated a survey of ELANe associated with QSO pairs using the Palomar and Keck Cosmic Web Imagers (PCWI/KCWI). In this letter, we present our first result: the discovery of ELAN0101+0201 associated with a QSO pair at $z=2.45$. Our PCWI discovery data shows that, above a 2-$σ$ surface brightness of $1.2\times10^{-17}$ \sbunit, the end-to-end size of ELAN0101+0201 is $\gtrsim 232$ kpc. We have conducted follow-up observations using KCWI, resolving multiple Ly$α$ emitting sources within the rectangular field-of-view of $\approx 130\times165$ projected kpc$^2$, and obtaining their emission line profiles at high signal-to-noise ratios. Combining both KCWI and PCWI, our observations confirm that ELAN0101+0201 resides in an extremely overdense environment. Our observations further support that a large amount of cool ($T\sim10^4$K) gas could exist in massive halos (M$\gtrsim10^{13}$M$_\odot$) at $z\approx2$. Future observations on a larger sample of similar systems will provide statistics of how cool gas is distributed in massive overdensities at high-redshift and strongly constrain the evolution of the intracluster medium (ICM).

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arXiv2017

Andromeda's Parachute: A Bright Quadruply Lensed Quasar at z=2.377

We present Keck Cosmic Web Imager spectroscopy of the four putative images of the lensed quasar candidate J014709+463037 recently discovered by Berghea et al. (2017). The data verify the source as a quadruply lensed, broad absorption-line quasar having z_S = 2.377 +/- 0.007. We detect intervening absorption in the FeII 2586, 2600, MgII 2796, 2803, and/or CIV 1548, 1550 transitions in eight foreground systems, three of which have redshifts consistent with the photometric-redshift estimate reported for the lensing galaxy (z_L ~ 0.57). By virtue of their positions on the sky, the source images probe these absorbers over transverse physical scales of ~0.3-21 kpc, permitting assessment of the variation in metal-line equivalent width W_r as a function of sight-line separation. We measure differences in W_r,2796 of <40% across all sight-line pairs subtending 7-21 kpc, suggestive of a high degree of spatial coherence for MgII-absorbing material. W_r,2600 is observed to vary by >50% over the same scales across the majority of sight-line pairs, while CIV absorption exhibits a wide range in W_r,1548 differences of ~5-80% within transverse distances less than ~3 kpc. J014709+463037 is one of only a handful of z > 2 quadruply lensed systems for which all four source images are very bright (r = 15.4-17.7 mag) and are easily separated in ground-based seeing conditions. As such, it is an ideal candidate for higher-resolution spectroscopy probing the spatial variation in the kinematic structure and physical state of intervening absorbers.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

IGM Emission Observations with the Cosmic Web Imager: II. Discovery of Extended, Kinematically-Linked Emission around SSA22 Lyman-alpha Blob 2

The intergalactic medium (IGM) is the dominant reservoir of baryons, delineates the large scale structure at low to moderate overdensities, and provides gas from which galaxies form and evolve. Simulations of a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) dominated universe predict that the IGM is distributed in a cosmic web of filaments, and that galaxies should form along and at the intersections of these filaments (Bond et al. 1994; Miralda-Escude et al. 1996). While observations of QSO absorption lines and the large scale distribution of galaxies have confirmed the CDM paradigm, the cosmic web has never been confirmed by direct imaging. Here we report the Lyman-alpha blob 2 (LAB2) in SSA22, with the Cosmic Web Imager. This is an integral field spectrograph optimized for low surface brightness, extended emission. With 22 hours of total source exposure, CWI has revealed that LAB2 has extended Lyman-alpha emission which is consistent with filaments. We perform tests to secure the robustness of this result, which relies on data with modest signal-to-noise ratio. We have developed a smoothing algorithm that permits visualization of data cube slices along image or spectral-image planes. With both raw and smoothed data cubes we demonstrate that the filaments are kinematically associated with LAB2 and display double-peaked profiles of optically thick Lyman-alpha emission. The flux is 10 to 20x brighter than expected for the emission from the IGM but is consistent with boosted fluorescence from a buried QSO or gravitation cooling radiation. Using emission models we infer a baryon mass in the filaments of at least 1-4x10e11 Solar Mass, and the dark halo mass is at least 2x10e12 Solar Mass. The spatial kinematic morphology is more consistent with inflow from the cosmic web than outflow. LAB2 and the surrounding gas have significant and coaligned angular momentum, strengthening the case for their association.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

IGM Emission Observations with the Cosmic Web Imager: I. The Circum-QSO Medium of QSO 1549+19, and Evidence for a Filamentary Gas Inflow

The Palomar Cosmic Web Imager (PCWI), an integral field spectrograph designed to detect and map low surface brightness emission, has obtained imaging spectroscopic maps of Ly-alpha from the circum-QSO medium (CQM) of QSO HS1549+19 at redshift of 2.843. Extensive extended emission is detected from the CQM, consistent with fluorescent and pumped Ly-alpha produced by the ionizing and Ly-alpha continuum of the QSO. Many features present in PCWI spectral images match those detected in narrow-band images. Filamentary structures with narrow line profiles are detected in several cases as long as 250-400 kpc. One of these is centered at a velocity redshifted with respect to the systemic velocity, and displays a spatially collimated and kinematically cold line profile increasing in velocity width approaching the QSO. This suggests that the filament gas is infalling onto the QSO, perhaps in a cold accretion flow. Because of the strong ionizing flux, the neutral column density is low, typically N(HI) is roughly 10E12-10E15/square-cm, and the line center optical depth is also low (typically tau0 is less than 10), insufficient to display well-separated double peak emission characteristic of higher line optical depths. With a simple ionization and cloud model we can very roughly estimate the total gas mass (log M(gas) equal to 12.5 +/- 0.5) and the total mass (log M(tot) equal to 13.3+/- 0.5). We can also calculate a kinematic mass from the total line profile (2x10E13 M(sun)), which agrees with the mass estimated from the gas emission. The intensity-binned spectrum of the CQM shows a progression in kinematic properties consistent with heirarchical structure formation.

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arXiv2011

Silicon Detector Arrays with Absolute Quantum Efficiency over 50% in the Far Ultraviolet for Single Photon Counting Applications

We have used Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)-based delta doping technology to demonstrate near 100% internal quantum efficiency (QE) on silicon electron-multiplied Charge Coupled Devices (EMCCDs) for single photon counting detection applications. Furthermore, we have used precision techniques for depositing antireflection (AR) coatings by employing Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and demonstrated over 50% external QE in the far and near-ultraviolet in megapixel arrays. We have demonstrated that other device parameters such as dark current are unchanged after these processes. In this paper, we report on these results and briefly discuss the techniques and processes employed.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2011

The Recent Star Formation in NGC 6822: an Ultraviolet Study

We characterize the star formation in the low-metallicity galaxy NGC 6822 over the past few hundred million years, using GALEX far-UV (FUV, 1344-1786 A) and near-UV (NUV, 1771-2831 A) imaging, and ground-based Ha imaging. From GALEX FUV image, we define 77 star-forming (SF) regions with area >860 pc^2, and surface brightness <=26.8 mag(AB)arcsec^-2, within 0.2deg (1.7kpc) of the center of the galaxy. We estimate the extinction by interstellar dust in each SF region from resolved photometry of the hot stars it contains: E(B-V) ranges from the minimum foreground value of 0.22mag up to 0.66+-0.21mag. The integrated FUV and NUV photometry, compared with stellar population models, yields ages of the SF complexes up to a few hundred Myr, and masses from 2x10^2 Msun to 1.5x10^6 Msun. The derived ages and masses strongly depend on the assumed type of interstellar selective extinction, which we find to vary across the galaxy. The total mass of the FUV-defined SF regions translates into an average star formation rate (SFR) of 1.4x10^-2 Msun/yr over the past 100 Myr, and SFR=1.0x10^-2 Msun/yr in the most recent 10 Myr. The latter is in agreement with the value that we derive from the Ha luminosity, SFR=0.008 Msun/yr. The SFR in the most recent epoch becomes higher if we add the SFR=0.02 Msun/yr inferred from far-IR measurements, which trace star formation still embedded in dust (age <= a few Myr).

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arXiv2010

The Extreme Hosts of Extreme Supernovae

We use GALEX ultraviolet (UV) and optical integrated photometry of the hosts of seventeen luminous supernovae (LSNe, having peak M_V < -21) and compare them to a sample of 26,000 galaxies from a cross-match between the SDSS DR4 spectral catalog and GALEX interim release 1.1. We place the LSNe hosts on the galaxy NUV-r versus M_r color magnitude diagram (CMD) with the larger sample to illustrate how extreme they are. The LSN hosts appear to favor low-density regions of the galaxy CMD falling on the blue edge of the blue cloud toward the low luminosity end. From the UV-optical photometry, we estimate the star formation history of the LSN hosts. The hosts have moderately low star formation rates (SFRs) and low stellar masses (M_*) resulting in high specific star formation rates (sSFR). Compared with the larger sample, the LSN hosts occupy low-density regions of a diagram plotting sSFR versus M_* in the area having higher sSFR and lower M_*. This preference for low M_*, high sSFR hosts implies the LSNe are produced by an effect having to do with their local environment. The correlation of mass with metallicity suggests that perhaps wind-driven mass loss is the factor that prevents LSNe from arising in higher-mass, higher-metallicity hosts. The massive progenitors of the LSNe (>100 M_sun), by appearing in low-SFR hosts, are potential tests for theories of the initial mass function that limit the maximum mass of a star based on the SFR.

astro-ph.CO↗