arXiv subjects

R. Sordo

Publications and source records attributed to R. Sordo.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Gaia FGK Benchmark Stars - Metallicity

To calibrate automatic pipelines that determine atmospheric parameters of stars, one needs a sample of stars -- ``benchmark stars'' -- with well defined parameters to be used as a reference We provide a detailed documentation of the determination of the iron abundance of the 34 FGK-type benchmark stars selected to be the pillars for calibration of the one billion Gaia stars. They cover a wide range of temperatures, surface gravities and metallicities. Up to seven different methods were used to analyze an observed spectral library of high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio. The metallicity was determined assuming a value of effective temperature and surface gravity obtained from fundamental relations, i.e. these parameters were known a priori independently from the spectra. We present a set of metallicity values obtained in a homogeneous way for our sample of Benchmark Stars. In addition to this value, we provide a detailed documentation of the associated uncertainties. Finally, we report for the first time a value of the metallicity of the cool giant psi Phe.

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arXiv2013

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Abundance ratios in the inner-disk open clusters Trumpler 20, NGC 4815, NGC 6705

Open clusters are key tools to study the spatial distribution of abundances in the disk and their evolution with time. Using the first release of stellar parameters and abundances of the Gaia-ESO Survey, we analyse the chemical properties of stars in three old/intermediate-age open clusters, namely NGC 6705, NGC 4815, and Trumpler 20, all located in the inner part of the Galactic disk at Galactocentric radius R$_{GC}\sim$7 kpc, aiming at proving their homogeneity and at comparing them with the field population. We study the abundance ratios of elements belonging to two different nucleosynthetic channels: $α$-elements and iron-peak elements. The main results can be summarised as follows: i) cluster members are chemically homogeneous within 3-$σ$ in all analysed elements; ii) the three clusters have comparable [El/Fe] patters within $\sim$1-$σ$, but they differ in their global metal content [El/H], with NGC 4815 having the lowest metallicity. Their [El/Fe] ratios show differences and analogies with those of the field population, both in the solar neighbourhood and in the bulge/inner disk; iii) comparing the abundance ratios with the results of two chemical evolution models and with field star abundance distributions, we find that the abundance ratios of Mg, Ni, Ca in NGC 6705 might require an inner birthplace, implying a subsequent variation of its R$_{GC}$ during its lifetime, consistent with previous orbit determination. The full dataset of the Gaia-ESO Survey will be a superlative tool to constrain the chemical evolution of our Galaxy by disentangling different formation and evolution scenarios.

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arXiv2013

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Reevaluation of the parameters of the open cluster Trumpler 20 using photometry and spectroscopy

Trumpler 20 is an old open cluster (OC) located toward the Galactic centre, at about 3 kpc from the Sun and $\sim$7 kpc from the Galactic centre. Its position makes this cluster particularly interesting in the framework of the chemical properties of the Galactic disc because very few old OCs reside in the inner part of the disc. For this reason it has been selected as a cluster target of the Gaia-ESO Survey, and spectra of many stars in the main sequence and red clump phases are now available. Moreover, although it has been studied by several authors in the past, no consensus on the evolutionary status of Tr 20 has been reached. The heavy contamination of field stars (the line of sight of Tr 20 crosses the Carina spiral arm) complicates a correct interpretation. Another interesting aspect of the cluster is that it shows a broadened main-sequence turn-off and a prominent and extended red-clump, characteristics that are not easily explained by classical evolutionary models. Exploiting both spectroscopic information from the Gaia-ESO Survey (and the ESO archive) and literature photometry, we obtain a detailed and accurate analysis of the properties of the cluster. We make use of the first accurate metallicity measurement ever obtained from several spectra of red clump stars, and of cluster membership determination using radial velocities. According to the evolutionary models adopted, we find that Tr 20 has an age in the range 1.35-1.66 Gyr, an average reddening $E(B-V)$ in the range 0.31-0.35 mag, and a distance modulus $(m-M)_0$ between 12.64 and 12.72 mag. The spectroscopic metallicity is [Fe/H]=+0.17 dex. We discuss the structural properties of the object and constrain possible hypotheses for its broadened upper main sequence by estimating the effect of differential reddening and its extended red clump.

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arXiv2013

An approach to the analysis of SDSS spectroscopic outliers based on Self-Organizing Maps

Aims. A new method is applied to the segmentation, and further analysis of the outliers resulting from the classification of astronomical objects in large databases is discussed. The method is being used in the framework of the Gaia satellite DPAC (Data Processing and Analysis Consortium) activities to prepare automated software tools that will be used to derive basic astrophysical information that is to be included in Gaia final archive. Methods. Our algorithm has been tested by means of simulated Gaia spectrophotometry, which is based on SDSS observations and theoretical spectral libraries covering a wide sample of astronomical objects. Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) networks are used to organize the information in clusters of objects, as homogeneous as possible, according to their spectral energy distributions (SED), and to project them onto a 2-D grid where the data structure can be visualized. Results. We demonstrate the usefulness of the method by analyzing the spectra that were rejected by the SDSS spectroscopic classification pipeline and thus classified as "UNKNOWN". Firstly, our method can help to distinguish between astrophysical objects and instrumental artifacts. Additionally, the application of our algorithm to SDSS objects of unknown nature has allowed us to identify classes of objects of similar astrophysical nature. In addition, the method allows for the potential discovery of hundreds of novel objects, such as white dwarfs and quasars. Therefore, the proposed method is shown to be very promising for data exploration and knowledge discovery in very large astronomical databases, such as the upcoming Gaia mission.

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arXiv2013

The Gaia astrophysical parameters inference system (Apsis). Pre-launch description

The Gaia satellite will survey the entire celestial sphere down to 20th magnitude, obtaining astrometry, photometry, and low resolution spectrophotometry on one billion astronomical sources, plus radial velocities for over one hundred million stars. Its main objective is to take a census of the stellar content of our Galaxy, with the goal of revealing its formation and evolution. Gaia's unique feature is the measurement of parallaxes and proper motions with hitherto unparalleled accuracy for many objects. As a survey, the physical properties of most of these objects are unknown. Here we describe the data analysis system put together by the Gaia consortium to classify these objects and to infer their astrophysical properties using the satellite's data. This system covers single stars, (unresolved) binary stars, quasars, and galaxies, all covering a wide parameter space. Multiple methods are used for many types of stars, producing multiple results for the end user according to different models and assumptions. Prior to its application to real Gaia data the accuracy of these methods cannot be assessed definitively. But as an example of the current performance, we can attain internal accuracies (RMS residuals) on F,G,K,M dwarfs and giants at G=15 (V=15-17) for a wide range of metallicites and interstellar extinctions of around 100K in effective temperature (Teff), 0.1mag in extinction (A0), 0.2dex in metallicity ([Fe/H]), and 0.25dex in surface gravity (logg). The accuracy is a strong function of the parameters themselves, varying by a factor of more than two up or down over this parameter range. After its launch in November 2013, Gaia will nominally observe for five years, during which the system we describe will continue to evolve in light of experience with the real data.

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arXiv2012

The expected performance of stellar parametrization with Gaia spectrophotometry

Gaia will obtain astrometry and spectrophotometry for essentially all sources in the sky down to a broad band magnitude limit of G=20, an expected yield of 10^9 stars. Its main scientific objective is to reveal the formation and evolution of our Galaxy through chemo-dynamical analysis. In addition to inferring positions, parallaxes and proper motions from the astrometry, we must also infer the astrophysical parameters of the stars from the spectrophotometry, the BP/RP spectrum. Here we investigate the performance of three different algorithms (SVM, ILIUM, Aeneas) for estimating the effective temperature, line-of-sight interstellar extinction, metallicity and surface gravity of A-M stars over a wide range of these parameters and over the full magnitude range Gaia will observe (G=6-20mag). One of the algorithms, Aeneas, infers the posterior probability density function over all parameters, and can optionally take into account the parallax and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to improve the estimates. For all algorithms the accuracy of estimation depends on G and on the value of the parameters themselves, so a broad summary of performance is only approximate. For stars at G=15 with less than two magnitudes extinction, we expect to be able to estimate Teff to within 1%, logg to 0.1-0.2dex, and [Fe/H] (for FGKM stars) to 0.1-0.2dex, just using the BP/RP spectrum (mean absolute error statistics are quoted). Performance degrades at larger extinctions, but not always by a large amount. Extinction can be estimated to an accuracy of 0.05-0.2mag for stars across the full parameter range with a priori unknown extinction between 0 and 10mag. Performance degrades at fainter magnitudes, but even at G=19 we can estimate logg to better than 0.2dex for all spectral types, and [Fe/H] to within 0.35dex for FGKM stars, for extinctions below 1mag.

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arXiv2008

The Gaia Era: synergy between space missions and ground based surveys

The Gaia mission is expected to provide highly accurate astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic measurements for about $10^9$ objects. Automated classification of detected sources is a key part of the data processing. Here a few aspects of the Gaia classification process are presented. Information from other surveys at longer wavelengths, and from follow-up ground based observations will be complementary to Gaia data especially at faint magnitudes, and will offer a great opportunity to understand our Galaxy.

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arXiv2008

New high resolution synthetic stellar libraries for the Gaia Mission

High resolution synthetic stellar libraries are of fundamental importance for the preparation of the Gaia Mission. We present new sets of spectral stellar libraries covering two spectral ranges: 300 --1100 nm at 0.1 nm resolution, and 840 -- 890 nm at 0.001 nm resolution. These libraries span a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich to very metal-poor (-5.0 $<$[Fe/H]$<$+1.0), from cool to hot (\teff=3000--50000 K) stars, including peculiar abundance variations. The spectral resolution, spectral type coverage and number of models represent a substantial improvement over previous libraries used in population synthesis models and in atmospheric analysis.

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arXiv2008

Finding rare objects and building pure samples: Probabilistic quasar classification from low resolution Gaia spectra

We develop and demonstrate a probabilistic method for classifying rare objects in surveys with the particular goal of building very pure samples. It works by modifying the output probabilities from a classifier so as to accommodate our expectation (priors) concerning the relative frequencies of different classes of objects. We demonstrate our method using the Discrete Source Classifier, a supervised classifier currently based on Support Vector Machines, which we are developing in preparation for the Gaia data analysis. DSC classifies objects using their very low resolution optical spectra. We look in detail at the problem of quasar classification, because identification of a pure quasar sample is necessary to define the Gaia astrometric reference frame. By varying a posterior probability threshold in DSC we can trade off sample completeness and contamination. We show, using our simulated data, that it is possible to achieve a pure sample of quasars (upper limit on contamination of 1 in 40,000) with a completeness of 65% at magnitudes of G=18.5, and 50% at G=20.0, even when quasars have a frequency of only 1 in every 2000 objects. The star sample completeness is simultaneously 99% with a contamination of 0.7%. Including parallax and proper motion in the classifier barely changes the results. We further show that not accounting for class priors in the target population leads to serious misclassifications and poor predictions for sample completeness and contamination. (Truncated)

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arXiv2008

The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): second data release

We present the second data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), an ambitious spectroscopic survey to measure radial velocities (RVs) and stellar atmosphere parameters of up to one million stars using the 6dF multi-object spectrograph on the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). It is obtaining medium resolution spectra (median R=7,500) in the Ca-triplet region (8,410--8,795 Å) for southern hemisphere stars in the magnitude range 9<I<12. Following the first data release (Steinmetz et al. 2006) the current release doubles the sample of published RVs, now containing 51,829 RVs for 49,327 individual stars observed on 141 nights between April 11 2003 and March 31 2005. Comparison with external data sets shows that the new data collected since April 3 2004 show a standard deviation of 1.3 km/s, about twice better than for the first data release. For the first time this data release contains values of stellar parameters from 22,407 spectra of 21,121 individual stars. They were derived by a penalized χ^2 method using an extensive grid of synthetic spectra calculated from the latest version of Kurucz models. From comparison with external data sets, our conservative estimates of errors of the stellar parameters (for a spectrum with S/N=40) are 400 K in temperature, 0.5 dex in gravity, and 0.2 dex in metallicity. We note however that the internal errors estimated from repeat RAVE observations of 822 stars are at least a factor 2 smaller. We demonstrate that the results show no systematic offsets if compared to values derived from photometry or complementary spectroscopic analyses. The data release includes proper motion and photometric measurements. It can be accessed via the RAVE webpage: http://www.rave-survey.org and through CDS.

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arXiv2008

Asiago eclipsing binaries program. III. V570 Per

The orbit and physical parameters of the previously unsolved SB2 EB V570 Per are derived using high resolution Asiago Echelle spectroscopy and B, V photo-electric photometry. The metallicity from chi^2 analysis is [M/H]=+0.02 +/- 0.03, and reddening from interstellar NaI and KI absorption lines is E(B-V) =0.023 +/- 0.007. The two components have masses of 1.449 +/- 0.006 and 1.350 +/- 0.006 Msun and spectral types F3 and F5, respectively. They are both still within the Main Sequence band (T_1 =6842 +/- 25 K, T_2 =6562 +/- 25 K from chi^2 analysis, R_1 =1.523 +/- 0.030, R_2 =1.388 +/- 0.019 Rsun) and are dynamically relaxed to co-rotation with the orbital motion (Vrot sin i_{1,2} =40 and 36 (+/-1) km/sec). The distance to V570 Per obtained from the orbital solution is 123 +/- 2 pc, in excellent agreement with the revised Hipparcos distance of 123 +/- 11 pc. The observed properties of V570 Per components are compared to BaSTI models computed on purpose for exactly the observed masses and varied chemical compositions. This system is interesting since both components have their masses in the range where the efficiency of convective core overshooting has to decrease with the total mass as a consequence of the decreasing size of the convective core during the central H-burning stage. Our numerical simulations show that, a small but not null overshooting is required, with efficiencies lambda_{OV} =0.14 and 0.11 for the 1.449 and 1.350 Msun components, respectively. This confirms the finding of Paper II on the similar system V505 Per. At the approx 0.8 Gyr age of the system, the element diffusion has reduced the surface metallicity of the models from the initial [M/H]=+0.17 to [M/H]=+0.02, in perfect agreement with the spectroscopically derived [M/H]=+0.02 +/- 0.03 value.

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arXiv2007

Asiago eclipsing binaries program. II. V505 Per

The orbit and fundamental physical parameters of the double-lined eclipsing binary V505 Per are derived by means of Echelle high resolution, high S/N spectroscopy and B, V photometry. Effective temperatures, gravities, rotational velocities and metallicities are obtained from atmospheric chi^2 analysis. An E(B-V)<=0.01 mag reddening is derived from interstellar NaI and KI lines. The distance to the system computed from orbital parameters (60.6 +/- 1 pc) is identical to the newly re-reduced Hipparcos parallax (61.5 +/- 1.9 pc). The masses of the two components (M(1) = 1.2693 +/- 0.0011 and M(2) = 1.2514 +/- 0.0012 Msun) place them in the transition region between convective and radiative stellar cores of the HR diagram, with the more massive of the two showing already the effect of evolution within the Main Sequence band (T(1) = 6512 +/- 21 K, T(2) = 6462 +/- 12 K, R(1) = 1.287 +/- 0.014, R(2) = 1.266 +/- 0.013 Rsun). This makes this system of particular relevance to theoretical stellar models, as a test on the overshooting. We compare the firm observational results for V505 Per component stars with the predictions of various libraries of theoretical stellar models (BaSTI, Padova, Granada, Yonsei-Yale, Victoria-Regina) as well as BaSTI models computed specifically for the masses and chemical abundances of V505 Per. We found that the overshooting at the masses of V505 Per component stars is already pretty low, but not null, and described by efficiencies lambda(OV)=0.093 and 0.087 for the 1.27 and 1.25 Msun components, respectively. According to the computed BaSTI models, the age of the system is about 0.9 Gyr and the element diffusion during this time has reduced the surface metallicity from the initial [M/H]=-0.03 to the current [M/H]=-0.13, in excellent agreement with observed [M/H]=-0.12 +/- 0.03.

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arXiv2006

The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): first data release

We present the first data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), an ambitious spectroscopic survey to measure radial velocities and stellar atmosphere parameters (temperature, metallicity, surface gravity) of up to one million stars using the 6dF multi-object spectrograph on the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). The RAVE program started in 2003, obtaining medium resolution spectra (median R=7,500) in the Ca-triplet region ($λλ$ 8,410--8,795 Å) for southern hemisphere stars drawn from the Tycho-2 and SuperCOSMOS catalogs, in the magnitude range 9<I<12. The first data release is described in this paper and contains radial velocities for 24,748 individual stars (25,274 measurements when including re-observations). Those data were obtained on 67 nights between 11 April 2003 to 03 April 2004. The total sky coverage within this data release is $\sim$4,760 square degrees. The average signal to noise ratio of the observed spectra is 29.5, and 80% of the radial velocities have uncertainties better than 3.4 km/s. Combining internal errors and zero-point errors, the mode is found to be 2 km/s. Repeat observations are used to assess the stability of our radial velocity solution, resulting in a variance of 2.8 km/s. We demonstrate that the radial velocities derived for the first data set do not show any systematic trend with color or signal to noise. The RAVE radial velocities are complemented in the data release with proper motions from Starnet 2.0, Tycho-2 and SuperCOSMOS, in addition to photometric data from the major optical and infrared catalogs (Tycho-2, USNO-B, DENIS and 2MASS). The data release can be accessed via the RAVE webpage: http://www.rave-survey.org.

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arXiv2005

An extensive library of 2500-10500 Ang synthetic spectra

We present a complete library of synthetic spectra based on Kurucz's codes that covers the 2500-10500 Ang wavelength range at resolving powers 20,000, 11,500 (GAIA), 8500 (RAVE), 2000 (SLOAN) and uniform dispersions of 1 and 10 Ang/pix. The library maps the whole HR diagram, exploring 51,288 combinations of atmospheric parameters spanning the ranges: 3500 <= Teff <= 47500 K, 0.0 <= log g <= 5.0, -2.5 <= [M/H] <= 0.5, [alpha/Fe] = 0.0,+0.4, xi =1,2,4 km/sec, 0 <= Vrot <= 500 km/sec. The spectra are available both as absolute fluxes as well as continuum normalized. Performance tests and foreseen spectroscopic applications of the library are discussed, including automatic classification of data from surveys like RAVE, SLOAN, GAIA. The entire library of synthetic spectra is accessible via http://archives.pd.astro.it/2500-10500/ or (for the 1 AA/pix version only) http://gaia.esa.int/spectralib/spectralib1A/SpectraLib1a.cfm

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arXiv2005

On the distance, reddening and progenitor of V838 Mon

Extensive optical and infrared photometry as well as low and high resolution spectroscopy are used as inputs in deriving robust estimates of the reddening, distance and nature of the progenitor of V838 Mon. The reddening is found to obey the R_V=3.1 law and amounts to (i) E(B-V)=0.86 from the interstellar NaI and KI lines, (ii) E(B-V)=0.88 from the energy distribution of the B3V component and (iii) E(B-V)=0.87 from the progression of extinction along the line of sight. The adopted E(B-V)=0.87(+/-0.01) is also the amount required by fitting the progenitor with theoretical isochrones of appropriate metallicity. The distance is estimated from (a) the galactic kinematics of the three components of the interstellar lines, (b) the amount of extinction vs the HI column density and vs the dust emission through the whole Galaxy in that direction, from (c) spectrophotometric parallax to the B3V companion, from (d) comparison of the observed color-magnitude diagram of field stars with 3D stellar population models of the Galaxy, from (e) comparison of theoretical isochrones with the components of the binary system in quiescence and found to be around 10 kpc. Pre-outburst optical and IR energy distributions show that the component erupting in 2002 was brighter and hotter than the B3V companion. The best fit is obtained for a 50,000 K source, 0.5 mag brighter than the B3V companion. Comparison with theoretical isochrones suggests an age of 4 million year for the system and a mass around 65 M(sun) for the progenitor of the outbursting component, which at the time of the outburst was approaching the Carbon ignition stage in its core. The 2002 event is probably just a shell thermonuclear event in the outer envelope of the star.

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arXiv2004

Asiago eclipsing binaries program. II. V570 Per

The orbit and physical parameters of the double-lined eclipsing binary V570 Per, discovered by the Hipparcos satellite, are derived with formal errors better than 1% using high resolution Echelle spectroscopy and B, V photoelectric photometry. Atmospheric analysis is performed on spectra at quadrature using synthetic spectroscopy that indicates a [Fe/H]=+0.02+/-0.05 metallicity. V570 Per turns out to be a detached system, with shallow eclipses of Delta B = Delta V =0.13 mag amplitude at a distance of 123+/-3 pc, in fine agreement with Hipparcos 117 (lower lim. 104, upper lim. 132) pc distance. V570 Per is composed by unperturbed components of F2 and F5 spectral types and masses of 1.457+/-0.004 and 1.351+/-0.004 Msun respectively, which do not show surface activity. Both components are still within the Main Sequence band and are dynamically relaxed to co-rotation with the orbital motion. The system is particularly interesting because both components have their masses in the range where transition occurs between convective and radiative cores, and where differences between families of stellar evolutionary tracks show appreciable differences. The position of the components of V570 Per on the temperature-luminosity plane is compared with Padova, Geneva, Granada and Teramo-04 theoretical stellar models. The comparison provides different best fit metallicities and ages, with [Fe/H] ranging from +0.07 to +0.18, and ages from 0.6 to 1.0 Gyr.

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arXiv2004

Spectroscopic survey of the Galaxy with Gaia I. Design and performance of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer

The definition and optimisation studies for the Gaia satellite spectrograph, the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS), converged in late 2002 with the adoption of the instrument baseline. This paper reviews the characteristics of the selected configuration and presents its expected performance. The RVS is a 2.0 by 1.6 degree integral field spectrograph, dispersing the light of all sources entering its field of view with a resolving power R=11 500 over the wavelength range [848, 874] nm. The RVS will continuously and repeatedly scan the sky during the 5 years of the Gaia mission. On average, each source will be observed 102 times over this period. The RVS will collect the spectra of about 100-150 million stars up to magnitude V~17-18. At the end of the mission, the RVS will provide radial velocities with precisions of ~2 km/s at V=15 and \~15-20 km/s at V=17, for a solar metallicity G5 dwarf. The RVS will also provide rotational velocities, with precisions (at the end of the mission) for late type stars of sigma_vsini ~5 km/s at V~15 as well as atmospheric parameters up to V~14-15. The individual abundances of elements such as Silicon and Magnesium, vital for the understanding of Galactic evolution, will be obtained up to V~12-13. Finally, the presence of the 862.0 nm Diffuse Interstellar Band (DIB) in the RVS wavelength range will make it possible to derive the three dimensional structure of the interstellar reddening.

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arXiv2004

Asiago eclipsing binaries program. I. V432 Aur

The orbit and physical parameters of the previously unsolved eclipsing binary V432 Aur, discovered by Hipparcos, have been derived with errors better than 1% from extensive Echelle spectroscopy and B, V photometry. Synthetic spectral analysis of both components has been performed, yielding T_eff and log g in close agreement with the orbital solution, a metallicity [Z/Z_sun]=-0.60 and rotational synchronization for both components. Direct comparison on the theoretical L, T_eff plane with the Padova evolutionary tracks and isochrones for the masses of the two components (1.22 and 1.08 M_sun) provides a perfect match and a 3.75 Gyr age. The more massive and cooler component is approaching the base of the giant branch and displays a probable pulsation activity with an amplitude of Delta V = 0.075 mag and Delta rad.vel. = 1.5 km/sec. With a T_eff = 6080 K it falls to the red of the nearby instability strip populated by delta Sct and gamma Dor types of pulsating variables. Orbital modeling reveals a large and bright surface spot on it. The pulsations activity and the large spot(s) suggest the presence of macro-turbulent motions in its atmosphere. They reflect in a line broadening that at cursory inspection could be taken as indication of a rotation faster than synchronization, something obviously odd for an old, expanding star.

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