119302053
Empirical extinction coefficients for the GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS and WISE passbands
Using the "standard pair" technique of paring stars of almost nil and high extinction but otherwise of almost identical stellar parameters from the SDSS, and combing the SDSS, GALEX, 2MASS and WISE photometry ranging from the far UV to the mid-IR, we have measured dust reddening in the FUV-NUV, NUV-u, u-g, g-r, r-i, i-z, z-J, J-H, H-Ks, Ks-W1 and W1-W2 colors for thousands of Galactic stars. The measurements, together with the E(B-V) values given by Schlegel et al. (1998), allow us to derive the observed, model-free reddening coefficients for those colors. The results are compared with previous measurements and the predictions of a variety of Galactic reddening laws. We find that 1) The dust reddening map of Schlegel et al. (1998) over-estimates E(B-V) by about 14 per cent, consistent with the recent work of Schlafly et al. (2010) and Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011); 2) All the new reddening coefficients, except those for NUV-u and u-g, prefer the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick reddening law rather than the R(V) = 3.1 CCM and O'Donnell (O'Donnell 1994) reddening laws. Using the Ks-band extinction coefficient predicted by the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick law and the observed reddening coefficients, we have deduced new extinction coefficients for the FUV, NUV, u, g, r, i, z, J, H, W1 and W2 passbands. We recommend that the new reddening and extinction coefficients should be used in the future and an update of the Fitzpatrick reddening law in the UV is probably necessary. We stress however that the FUV- and NUV-band coefficients should be used with caution given their relatively large measurement uncertainties. Finally, potential applications of the "standard pair" technique with the LAMOST Galactic surveys are discussed.
118587112
Extremely metal-poor star candidates in the SDSS
For a sample of metal-poor stars ( 3.3 � (Fe/H) � 2.2) that have high- resolution spectroscopic abundance determinations, we have measured equivalent widths of the Ca II K, Mg I b and near-infrared Ca II triplet lines using low-resolution spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), calculated effective temperatures from (g z)0 color, deduced stellar surface gravities by fitting stellar isochrones, and determined metallicities based on the aforementioned quantities. Metallicities thus derived from the Ca II K line are in much better agreement with the results deter- mined from high-resolution spectra than the values given in the SDSS Data Release 7. The metallicities derived from the Mg I b lines have a large dispersion owing to the large measurement errors, whereas those deduced from the Ca II triplet lines are too high due to both non-local thermodynamical equilibrium (NLTE) effects and mea- surement errors. Abundances after correction for the NLTE effect for the Mg I b lines and Ca II triplet lines are also presented. Following this method, we have identified six candidates of ultra-metal-poor stars with (Fe/H) � 4.0 from a sample of 166 metal-poor star candidates. One of them, SDSS J102915+172927, was recently con- firmed to be an ultra-metal-poor ((Fe/H) < 4.0) star with the lowest metallicity ever measured. Follow-up high-resolution spectroscopy for the other five ultra-metal-poor stars in our sample will therefore be of great interest.
118527168
Detections of diffuse interstellar bands in the SDSS low-resolution spectra
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) have been discovered for almost a century, but their nature remains one of the most challenging problems in the astronomical spectroscopy. Most recent work to identify and investigate the properties and carriers of DIBs concentrates on highresolution spectroscopy of selected sight-lines. In this paper, we report detections of DIBs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) low-resolution spectra of a large sample of Galactic stars. Using a template subtraction method, we have successfully identified the DIBs λλ5780, 6283 in the SDSS spectra of a sample of about 2000 stars and measured their strengths and radial velocities. The sample is by far the largest ever assembled. The targets span a large range of reddening, E(B − V) ∼ 0.2–1.0, and are distributed over a large sky area and involve a wide range of stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicity), confirming that the carriers of DIBs are ubiquitous in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). The sample is used to investigate relations between strengths of DIBs and magnitudes of line-of-sight extinction, yielding results [i.e. EW(5780) = 0.61 × E(B − V) and EW(6283) = 1.26 × E(B − V)] consistent with previous studies. DIB features have also been detected in the commissioning spectra of the Guoshoujing Telescope [the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST)] of resolving power similar to that of the SDSS. Detections of DIBs of hundreds of thousands of stars are expected from the on-going and up-coming large-scale spectroscopic surveys such as Radial Velocity Experiment, SDSS III and LAMOST, particularly from the LAMOST Digital Sky Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (DSS-GAC). Such a huge data base will provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the demographical distribution and nature of DIBs as well as using DIBs to probe the distribution and properties of the ISM and the dust extinction.
119187574
Gamma-Ray Burst Spectrum with Decaying Magnetic Field
In the internal shock model for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the synchrotron spectrum from the fast cooling electrons in a homogeneous downstream magnetic field (MF) is too soft to produce the low-energy slope of GRB spectra. However, the MF may decay downstream with distance from the shock front. Here we show that the synchrotron spectrum becomes harder if electrons undergo synchrotron and inverse-Compton cooling in a decaying MF. To reconcile this with the typical GRB spectrum with low-energy slope nu F-nu proportional to nu, the postshock MF decay time must be comparable to the cooling time of the bulk electrons (corresponding to a MF decaying length typically of similar to 10(5) skin depths); that the inverse-Compton cooling should dominate synchrotron cooling after the MF decay time; and/or that the MF decays with comoving time roughly as B proportional to t(-1.5). An internal shock synchrotron model with a decaying MF can account for the majority of GRBs with low-energy slopes not harder than nu(4/3).
118328964
SUBSTRUCTURE IN BULK VELOCITIES OF MILKY WAY DISK STARS
We find that Galactic disk stars near the anticenter exhibit velocity asymmetries in both the Galactocentric radial and vertical components across the midplane as well as azimuthally. These findings are based on Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) spectroscopic velocities for a sample of ~400, 000 F-type stars, combined with proper motions from the PPMXL catalog for which we have derived corrections to the zero points based in part on spectroscopically discovered galaxies and QSOs from LAMOST. In the region within 2 kpc outside the Sun's radius and ±2 kpc from the Galactic midplane, we show that stars above the plane exhibit net outward radial motions with downward vertical velocities, while stars below the plane have roughly the opposite behavior. We discuss this in the context of other recent findings, and conclude that we are likely seeing the signature of vertical disturbances to the disk due to an external perturbation.
119225915
The LEGUE high latitude bright survey design for the LAMOST pilot survey
We describe the footprint and input catalog for bright nights in the LAMOST Pilot Survey, which began in October 2011. Targets are selected from two stripes in the north and south Galactic Cap regions, centered at delta = 29 degrees, with 10 degrees width in declination, covering right ascensions of 135 degrees to 290 degrees and -30 degrees to 30 degrees respectively. We selected spectroscopic targets from a combination of the SDSS and 2MASS point source catalogs. The catalog of stars defining the field centers (as required by the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor at the center of the LAMOST field) consists of all V < 8(m) stars from the Hipparcos catalog. We employ a statistical selection algorithm that assigns priorities to targets based on their positions in multidimensional color/magnitude space. This scheme overemphasizes rare objects and de-emphasizes more populated regions of magnitude and color phase space, while ensuring a smooth, well-understood selection function. A demonstration of plate design is presented based on the Shack-Hartmann star catalog and an input catalog that was generated by our target selection routines.
119236452
CONSTRAINING SUB-PARSEC BINARY SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN QUASARS WITH MULTI-EPOCH SPECTROSCOPY. II. THE POPULATION WITH KINEMATICALLY OFFSET BROAD BALMER EMISSION LINES*
A small fraction of quasars have long been known to show bulk velocity offsets (of a few hundred to thousands of km s–1) in the broad Balmer lines with respect to the systemic redshift of the host galaxy. Models to explain these offsets usually invoke broad-line region gas kinematics/asymmetry around single black holes (BHs), orbital motion of massive (~sub-parsec (sub-pc)) binary black holes (BBHs), or recoil BHs, but single-epoch spectra are unable to distinguish between these scenarios. The line-of-sight (LOS) radial velocity (RV) shifts from long-term spectroscopic monitoring can be used to test the BBH hypothesis. We have selected a sample of 399 quasars with kinematically offset broad Hβ lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Seventh Data Release quasar catalog, and have conducted second-epoch optical spectroscopy for 50 of them. Combined with the existing SDSS spectra, the new observations enable us to constrain the LOS RV shifts of broad Hβ lines with a rest-frame baseline of a few years to nearly a decade. While previous work focused on objects with extreme velocity offset (>103 km s–1), we explore the parameter space with smaller (a few hundred km s–1) yet significant offsets (99.7% confidence). Using cross-correlation analysis, we detect significant (99% confidence) radial accelerations in the broad Hβ lines in 24 of the 50 objects, of ~10-200 km s–1 yr–1 with a median measurement uncertainty of ~10 km s–1 yr–1, implying a high fraction of variability of the broad-line velocity on multi-year timescales. We suggest that 9 of the 24 detections are sub-pc BBH candidates, which show consistent velocity shifts independently measured from a second broad line (either Hα or Mg II) without significant changes in the broad-line profiles. Combining the results on the general quasar population studied in Paper I, we find a tentative anti-correlation between the velocity offset in the first-epoch spectrum and the average acceleration between two epochs, which could be explained by orbital phase modulation when the time separation between two epochs is a non-negligible fraction of the orbital period of the motion causing the line displacement. We discuss the implications of our results for the identification of sub-pc BBH candidates in offset-line quasars and for the constraints on their frequency and orbital parameters.
55621741
Observation of $e^+e^-\to \chi_{c0}\omega$ and missing higher charmonium $\psi(4S)$
Stimulated by the recent BESIII observation of a new resonance in $e^+ e^- \to \omega \chi_{c0}$ and by the fact that this state is consistent with our predicted $\psi(4S)$, in this work we estimate the meson loop contribution to $\psi(4S) \to \omega \chi_{c0}$. The evaluation indicates that our theoretical estimate can overlap with the experimental data in a reasonable parameter range. This fact shows that introduction of the missing higher charmonium $\psi(4S)$ provides a possible explanation to the recent BESIII observation. The upper limit of a branching ratio of $\psi(4S) \to \eta J/\psi$ is also predicted as $1.9 \times 10^{-3}$, which can be further tested by BESIII, Belle and forthcoming BelleII.
119163459
THE 1-JETTINESS EVENT-SHAPE FOR DIS WITH NNLL RESUMMATION
We propose the use of 1-jettiness, a global event shape, for exclusive single jet production in lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering (DIS). We derive a factorization formula, using the Soft-Collinear Effective Theory, differential in the transverse momentum and rapidity of the jet and the 1-jettiness event shape. It provides a quantitative measure of the shape of the final-state QCD radiation in the presence of the hard jet, providing a useful powerful probe of QCD and nuclear physics. For example, one expects differences in the observed pattern of QCD radiation between large and small nuclei and these can be quantified by the 1-jettiness event shape. Numerical results are given for this new DIS event shape at leading twist with resummation at the next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) level of accuracy, for a variety of nuclear targets. Such studies would be ideal at a future EIC or LHeC electron-ion collider, where a range of nuclear targets are planned.
117830965
A Novel explanation of charmonium-like structure in $e^+e^-\to \psi(2S)\pi^+\pi^-$
We first present a non-resonant description to charmonium-like structure $Y(4360)$ in the $\psi(2S)\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum of the $e^+e^-\to \psi(2S)\pi^+\pi^-$ process. The $Y(4360)$ structure is depicted well by the interference effect of the production amplitudes of $e^{+} e^{-} \to \psi(2S) \pi^+ \pi^-$ via the intermediate charmonia $\psi(4160)/\psi(4415)$ and direct $e^+e^-$ annihilation into $\psi(2S)\pi^+ \pi^-$. This fact shows that $Y(4360)$ is not a genuine resonance, which naturally explains why $Y(4360)$ was only reported in its hidden-charm decay channel $\psi(2S)\pi^+\pi^-$ and was not observed in the exclusive open-charm decay channel or $R$-value scan.
24721947
Development of the Central Task Processing Unit for space-borne Gamma-Ray Burst polarimeter, POLAR
POLAR, a joint European-Chinese experiment, is a novel compact space-borne Compton polarimeter conceived and optimized for detection of the prompt emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) and precise measurements of polarization in the hard X-ray energy range 50-500 keV. The complete instrument consists of two parts: internal one, placed inside spacelab and the detector itself, placed outside spacelab, called respectively IBOX and OBOX. The OBOX constitutes of 25 frontend electronic modules (FEE), high voltage and low voltage power supplies and the Central Task Processing Unit. The main functions of Central Task Processing Unit system are defined as follows: communication and transfer of data to IBOX, communication with all frontends, analysis of trigger signals and generation of global trigger signals, data acquisition, synchronizing of all frontends and control of power supplies. The functional requirements are fulfilled by three individual FPGA chips named respectively to their functions: Concentrator, Trigger and CPU. This article presents description of the Central Task Processing Unit hardware design and brief introduction to main components of the firmware developed for this device. Ongoing integration activities of the device with the complete POLAR instrument proved that all basic functions are working correctly. The qualification model of the instrument has been constructed and currently undergoes verification and validation tests in view of planned flight onboard the Chinese spacelab TG-2 scheduled for 2015.