119194691
Spectroscopic Observations of Planetary Nebulae in the Northern Spur of M31
We present spectroscopy of three planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Northern Spur of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) obtained with the Double Spectrograph on the 5.1m Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The samples are selected from the observations of Merrett et al. Our purpose is to investigate formation of the substructures of M31 using PNe as a tracer of chemical abundances. The [O iii] �4363 line is detected in the spectra of two objects, enabling temperature determinations. Ionic abundances are derived from the observed collisionally excited lines, and elemental abundances of nitrogen, oxygen, and neon as well as sulphur and argon are estimated. Correlations between oxygen and �-element abundance ratios are studied, using our sample and the M31 disk and bulge PNe from the literature. In one of the three PNe, we observed relatively higher oxygen abundance compared to the disk sample in M31 at similar galactocentric distances. The results of at least one of the three Northern Spur PNe might be in line with the proposed possible origin of the Northern Spur substructure of M31, i.e. the Northern Spur is connected to the Southern Stream and both substructures comprise the tidal debris of the satellite galaxies of M31. Subject headings: galaxies: abundances – galaxies: formation – galaxies: individual (M31) – ISM: abundances – planetary nebulae: general – stars: evolution
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
119189738
Newly observed D{sub sJ}(3040) and the radial excitations of P-wave charmed-strange mesons
Inspired by the newly observed D{sub sJ}(3040){sup +} state, in this work we systemically study the two-body strong decays of P-wave charmed-strange mesons with the first radial excitation. Under the assignment of 1{sup +}(j{sup P}=(1/2){sup +}), i.e. the first radial excitation of D{sub s1}(2460){sup +}, we find that the width of D{sub sJ}(3040){sup +} is close to the lower limit of the BABAR measurement. This indicates that it is reasonable to interpret D{sub sJ}(3040){sup +} as the first radial excitation of D{sub s1}(2460){sup +}. Our calculation further predicts that 0{sup -}+1{sup -} channels, e.g., D{sup +}K*{sup 0}, D{sup 0}K*{sup +}, and D{sub s}{sup +}{phi}, are important for the search for D{sub sJ}(3040){sup +}. To help future experiments find the remaining three P-wave charmed-strange mesons with the first radial excitation, we present the predictions for the strong decays of these three P-wave charmed-strange mesons.
15928792
VLBI observations of nineteen GHz-peaked-spectrum radio sources at 1.6 GHz
$\mathsfsl{Aims~and~Methods}$. We present the results of VLBI observations of nineteen GHz-peaked-spectrum (GPS) radio sources at 1.6 GHz. Of them, 15 sources are selected from the Parkes half-jansky (PHJ) sample (Snellen et al. 2002, MNRAS, 337, 981), and 4 others are from our previous observation list. We aimed at imaging the structure of GPS sources, searching for compact symmetric objects (CSOs) and studying the absorption for the convex radio spectra of GPS sources. $\mathsfsl{Results}$. We obtained total-intensity 1.6 GHz VLBI images of 17 sources for the first time. Of them, 80% show a mini-double-lobe radio structure, indicating that they are CSOs or candidates, and their host AGNs could be edge-on to us. This result suggests that there is a high incidence of mini double-lobe sources (or CSOs) in the PHJ sample. The sources J0323+0534, J1135-0021, J1352+0232, J2058+0540, J2123-0112, and J2325-0344 are classified as CSOs with measured redshift, showing double-lobe structure with sizes of <1 kpc. Three sources J1057+0012, J1600-0037, and J1753+2750 are considered as core-jet sources according to their morphologies and flux variability.
118574295
Position Angle Changes of Inner-Jets in a Sample of Blazars
We have carried out the Gaussian model-fitting to 15 GHz VLBA cores for a sample of blazars from the MOJAVE database, analysed the correlations in the model-fitted parameters and studied the variability properties for different group of sources. We found that the Fermi LAT-detected blazars have on an average higher position angle changes of cores than the non-LAT detected blazars, and that the LAT-detected ones are associated with more variable cores in flux density.
119155043
Effects of hadronic loops on the direct CP violation of $B_c$
It is well-known that the final state interaction plays an important role in the decays of B meson. The contribution of the final state interaction, which is supposed to be long-distance effects, to the concerned processes can interfere with that of the short-distance effects produced via the tree and/or loop diagrams at quark-gluon level. The interference may provide a source for the direct CP violation A{sub CP} in the process B{sub c}{sup +}{yields}D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}. We find that a typical value of A{sub CP} when the final state interaction effect is taken into account can be about -22% which is different from that without the final state interaction effect. Therefore, when we extract information on CP violation from the data which will be available at the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment (LHCb) and the new experiments in B factories, the contribution from the final state interaction must be included. This study may be crucial for searching new physics in the future.
119119786
Radio observations of the first three-months of Fermi AGN at 4.8 GHz
Using the Urumqi 25 m radio telescope, sources from the first t hree months of the Fermi-large area telescope detected active galactic nuclei (AGN) catalog with a declination of > 0 ◦ were observed in 2009 at 4.8 GHz. The radio flux density ap- peared to correlate with the -ray intensity. Intra-day variability (IDV) observations were performed in March, April and May 2009 for 42 selected -ray bright blazars, and ∼60% of them showed evidence of flux variability at 4.8 GHz duri ng the IDV observations. The IDV detection rate was higher than that in previous flat-spectrum AGN samples. IDV appeared more often in the very long baseline interferometry-core dominant blazars, and the non-IDV blazars showed relatively "steeper" spectral in- dices than the IDV blazars. Pronounced inter-month variability was also found in two BL Lac objects: J0112+2244 and J0238+1636.