Browsing by Subject "catalogs"

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  • Vardoulaki, E.; Andrade, E. F. Jimenez; Karim, A.; Novak, M.; Leslie, S. K.; Tisanic, K.; Smolcic, V.; Schinnerer, E.; Sargent, M. T.; Bondi, M.; Zamorani, G.; Magnelli, B.; Bertoldi, F.; Ruiz, N. Herrera; Mooley, K. P.; Delhaize, J.; Myers, S. T.; Marchesi, S.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Gozaliasl, G.; Finoguenov, A.; Middleberg, E.; Ciliegi, P. (2019)
    Context. Given the unprecedented depth achieved in current large radio surveys, we are starting to probe populations of radio sources that have not been studied in the past. However, identifying and categorising these objects, differing in size, shape and physical properties, is becoming a more difficult task. Aims. In this data paper we present and characterise the multi-component radio sources identified in the VLA-COSMOS Large Project at 3 GHz (0.75 arcsec resolution, 2.3 mu Jy beam(-1) rms), i.e. the radio sources which are composed of two or more radio blobs. Methods. The classification of objects into multi-components was done by visual inspection of 351 of the brightest and most extended blobs from a sample of 10,899 blobs identified by the automatic code BLOBCAT. For that purpose we used multi-wavelength information of the field, such as the 1.4 GHz VLA-COSMOS data and the Ultra Deep Survey with the VISTA telescope (UltraVISTA) stacked mosaic available for COSMOS. Results. We have identified 67 multi-component radio sources at 3 GHz: 58 sources with active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered radio emission and nine star-forming galaxies. We report eight new detections that were not observed by the VLA-COSMOS Large Project at 1.4 GHz, due to the slightly larger area coverage at 3 GHz. The increased spatial resolution of 0.75 arcsec has allowed us to resolve (and isolate) multiple emission peaks of 28 extended radio sources not identified in the 1.4 GHz VLA-COSMOS map. We report the multi-frequency flux densities (324 MHz, 325 MHz, 1.4 GHz & 3 GHz), star formation rates, and stellar masses of these objects. We find that multi-component objects at 3 GHz VLA-COSMOS inhabit mainly massive galaxies (>10(10.5)M(circle dot)). The majority of the multi-component AGN lie below the main sequence of star-forming galaxies (SFGs), in the green valley and the quiescent region. Furthermore, we provide detailed descriptions of the objects and find that amongst the AGN there are two head-tail, ten corelobe, nine wide-angle-tail (WAT), eight double-double or Z-/X-shaped, three bent-tail radio sources, and 26 symmetric sources, while amongst the SFGs we find the only star-forming ring seen in radio emission in COSMOS. Additionally, we report a large number (32 out of 58) of disturbed/bent multi-component AGN, 18 of which do not lie within X-ray groups in COSMOS (redshift range 0.08 Conclusion. The high angular resolution and sensitivity of the 3 GHz VLA-COSMOS data set give us the opportunity to identify peculiar radio structures and sub-structures of multi-component objects, and relate them to physical phenomena such as AGN or star-forming galaxies. This study illustrates the complexity of the mu Jy radio-source population; at the sensitivity and resolution of 3 GHz VLA-COSMOS, the radio structures of AGN and SFG both emitting radio continuum emission, become comparable in the absence of clear, symmetrical jets. Thus, disentangling the AGN and SFG contributions using solely radio observations can be misleading in a number of cases. This has implications for future surveys, such as those done by square kilometre array (SKA) and precursors, which will identify hundreds of thousands of multi-component objects.
  • Mirkazemi, M.; Finoguenov, A.; Pereira, M. J.; Tanaka, M.; Lerchster, M.; Brimioulle, F.; Egami, E.; Kettula, K.; Erfanianfar, G.; McCracken, H. J.; Mellier, Y.; Kneib, J. P.; Rykoff, E.; Seitz, S.; Erben, T.; Taylor, J. E. (2015)
  • Finoguenov, A.; Rykoff, E.; Clerc, N.; Costanzi, M.; Hagstotz, S.; Chitham, J. Ider; Kiiveri, K.; Kirkpatrick, C. C.; Capasso, R.; Comparat, J.; Damsted, S.; Dupke, R.; Erfanianfar, G.; Henry, J. Patrick; Kaefer, F.; Kneib, J. -P.; Lindholm, V.; Rozo, E.; van Waerbeke, L.; Weller, J. (2020)
    Context. Large area catalogs of galaxy clusters constructed from ROSAT All-Sky Survey provide the basis for our knowledge of the population of clusters thanks to long-term multiwavelength efforts to follow up observations of these clusters.Aims. The advent of large area photometric surveys superseding previous, in-depth all-sky data allows us to revisit the construction of X-ray cluster catalogs, extending the study to lower cluster masses and higher redshifts and providing modeling of the selection function.Methods. We performed a wavelet detection of X-ray sources and made extensive simulations of the detection of clusters in the RASS data. We assigned an optical richness to each of the 24 788 detected X-ray sources in the 10 382 square degrees of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey area using red sequence cluster finder redMaPPer version 5.2 run on Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry. We named this survey COnstrain Dark Energy with X-ray (CODEX) clusters.Results. We show that there is no obvious separation of sources on galaxy clusters and active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on the distribution of systems on their richness. This is a combination of an increasing number of galaxy groups and their selection via the identification of X-ray sources either by chance or by groups hosting an AGN. To clean the sample, we use a cut on the optical richness at the level corresponding to the 10% completeness of the survey and include it in the modeling of the cluster selection function. We present the X-ray catalog extending to a redshift of 0.6.Conclusions. The CODEX suvey is the first large area X-ray selected catalog of northern clusters reaching fluxes of 10(-13) ergs s(-1) cm(-2). We provide modeling of the sample selection and discuss the redshift evolution of the high end of the X-ray luminosity function (XLF). Our results on z<0.3 XLF agree with previous studies, while we provide new constraints on the 0.3<z<0.6 XLF. We find a lack of strong redshift evolution of the XLF, provide exact modeling of the effect of low number statistics and AGN contamination, and present the resulting constraints on the flat CDM.
  • Euclid Collaboration; Desprez, G.; Gozaliasl, G.; Keihänen, E.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Väliviita, J.; Kirkpatrick, C. C. (2020)
    Forthcoming large photometric surveys for cosmology require precise and accurate photometric redshift (photo-z) measurements for the success of their main science objectives. However, to date, no method has been able to produce photo-zs at the required accuracy using only the broad-band photometry that those surveys will provide. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current methods is a crucial step in the eventual development of an approach to meet this challenge. We report on the performance of 13 photometric redshift code single value redshift estimates and redshift probability distributions (PDZs) on a common set of data, focusing particularly on the 0.2-2.6 redshift range that the Euclid mission will probe. We designed a challenge using emulated Euclid data drawn from three photometric surveys of the COSMOS field. The data was divided into two samples: one calibration sample for which photometry and redshifts were provided to the participants; and the validation sample, containing only the photometry to ensure a blinded test of the methods. Participants were invited to provide a redshift single value estimate and a PDZ for each source in the validation sample, along with a rejection flag that indicates the sources they consider unfit for use in cosmological analyses. The performance of each method was assessed through a set of informative metrics, using cross-matched spectroscopic and highly-accurate photometric redshifts as the ground truth. We show that the rejection criteria set by participants are efficient in removing strong outliers, that is to say sources for which the photo-z deviates by more than 0.15(1+z) from the spectroscopic-redshift (spec-z). We also show that, while all methods are able to provide reliable single value estimates, several machine-learning methods do not manage to produce useful PDZs. We find that no machine-learning method provides good results in the regions of galaxy color-space that are sparsely populated by spectroscopic-redshifts, for example z> 1. However they generally perform better than template-fitting methods at low redshift (z<0.7), indicating that template-fitting methods do not use all of the information contained in the photometry. We introduce metrics that quantify both photo-z precision and completeness of the samples (post-rejection), since both contribute to the final figure of merit of the science goals of the survey (e.g., cosmic shear from Euclid). Template-fitting methods provide the best results in these metrics, but we show that a combination of template-fitting results and machine-learning results with rejection criteria can outperform any individual method. On this basis, we argue that further work in identifying how to best select between machine-learning and template-fitting approaches for each individual galaxy should be pursued as a priority.
  • Euclid Collaboration; Guglielmo, Christopher G.; Gozaliasl, G.; Keihanen, E.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Kirkpatrick IV, C.C. (2020)
    The Complete Calibration of the Colour-Redshift Relation survey (C3R2) is a spectroscopic e ffort involving ESO and Keck facilities designed specifically to empirically calibrate the galaxy colour-redshift relation - P(z jC) to the Euclid depth (iAB = 24 :5) and is intimately linked to the success of upcoming Stage IV dark energy missions based on weak lensing cosmology. The aim is to build a spectroscopic calibration sample that is as representative as possible of the galaxies of the Euclid weak lensing sample. In order to minimise the number of spectroscopic observations necessary to fill the gaps in current knowledge of the P(z jC), self-organising map (SOM) representations of the galaxy colour space have been constructed. Here we present the first results of an ESO@VLT Large Programme approved in the context of C3R2, which makes use of the two VLT optical and near-infrared multi-object spectrographs, FORS2 and KMOS. This data release paper focuses on high-quality spectroscopic redshifts of high-redshift galaxies observed with the KMOS spectrograph in the near-infrared H- and K-bands. A total of 424 highly-reliable redshifts are measured in the 1:3 2 galaxies.
  • Gaia Collaboration; Mignard, F.; Muinonen, K.; Fedorets, G.; Granvik, M.; Siltala, L. (2018)
    Context. The second release of Gaia data (Gaia DR2) contains the astrometric parameters for more than half a million quasars. This set defines a kinematically non-rotating reference frame in the optical domain. A subset of these quasars have accurate VLBI positions that allow the axes of the reference frame to be aligned with the International Celestial Reference System (ICRF) radio frame. Aims. We describe the astrometric and photometric properties of the quasars that were selected to represent the celestial reference frame of Gaia DR2 (Gaia-CRF2), and to compare the optical and radio positions for sources with accurate VLBI positions. Methods. Descriptive statistics are used to characterise the overall properties of the quasar sample. Residual rotation and orientation errors and large-scale systematics are quantified by means of expansions in vector spherical harmonics. Positional differences are calculated relative to a prototype version of the forthcoming ICRF3. Results. Gaia-CRF2 consists of the positions of a sample of 556 869 sources in Gaia DR2, obtained from a positional cross-match with the ICRF3-prototype and AllWISE AGN catalogues. The sample constitutes a clean, dense, and homogeneous set of extragalactic point sources in the magnitude range G similar or equal to 16 to 21 mag with accurately known optical positions. The median positional uncertainty is 0.12 mas for G <18 mag and 0.5 mas at G = 20 mag. Large-scale systematics are estimated to be in the range 20 to 30 mu as. The accuracy claims are supported by the parallaxes and proper motions of the quasars in Gaia DR2. The optical positions for a subset of 2820 sources in common with the ICRF3-prototype show very good overall agreement with the radio positions, but several tens of sources have significantly discrepant positions. Conclusions. Based on less than 40% of the data expected from the nominal Gaia mission, Gaia-CRF2 is the first realisation of a non-rotating global optical reference frame that meets the ICRS prescriptions, meaning that it is built only on extragalactic sources. Its accuracy matches the current radio frame of the ICRF, but the density of sources in all parts of the sky is much higher, except along the Galactic equator.
  • Gaia Collaboration; Luri, X.; Muinonen, K.; Fedorets, G.; Granvik, M.; Penttila, A.; Siltala, L. (2021)
    Context. This work is part of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium papers published with the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3). It is one of the demonstration papers aiming to highlight the improvements and quality of the newly published data by applying them to a scientific case. Aims. We use the Gaia EDR3 data to study the structure and kinematics of the Magellanic Clouds. The large distance to the Clouds is a challenge for the Gaia astrometry. The Clouds lie at the very limits of the usability of the Gaia data, which makes the Clouds an excellent case study for evaluating the quality and properties of the Gaia data. Methods. The basis of our work are two samples selected to provide a representation as clean as possible of the stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The selection used criteria based on position, parallax, and proper motions to remove foreground contamination from the Milky Way, and allowed the separation of the stars of both Clouds. From these two samples we defined a series of subsamples based on cuts in the colour-magnitude diagram; these subsamples were used to select stars in a common evolutionary phase and can also be used as approximate proxies of a selection by age. Results. We compared the Gaia Data Release 2 and Gaia EDR3 performances in the study of the Magellanic Clouds and show the clear improvements in precision and accuracy in the new release. We also show that the systematics still present in the data make the determination of the 3D geometry of the LMC a difficult endeavour; this is at the very limit of the usefulness of the Gaia EDR3 astrometry, but it may become feasible with the use of additional external data. We derive radial and tangential velocity maps and global profiles for the LMC for the several subsamples we defined. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the two planar components of the ordered and random motions are derived for multiple stellar evolutionary phases in a galactic disc outside the Milky Way, showing the differences between younger and older phases. We also analyse the spatial structure and motions in the central region, the bar, and the disc, providing new insightsinto features and kinematics. Finally, we show that the Gaia EDR3 data allows clearly resolving the Magellanic Bridge, and we trace the density and velocity flow of the stars from the SMC towards the LMC not only globally, but also separately for young and evolved populations. This allows us to confirm an evolved population in the Bridge that is slightly shift from the younger population. Additionally, we were able to study the outskirts of both Magellanic Clouds, in which we detected some well-known features and indications of new ones.
  • Gaia Collaboration; Brown, A. G. A.; Muinonen, K.; Fedorets, G.; Granvik, M.; Penttila, A.; Siltala, L. (2021)
    Context. We present the early installment of the third Gaia data release, Gaia EDR3, consisting of astrometry and photometry for 1.8 billion sources brighter than magnitude 21, complemented with the list of radial velocities from Gaia DR2. Aims. A summary of the contents of Gaia EDR3 is presented, accompanied by a discussion on the differences with respect to Gaia DR2 and an overview of the main limitations which are present in the survey. Recommendations are made on the responsible use of Gaia EDR3 results. Methods. The raw data collected with the Gaia instruments during the first 34 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium and turned into this early third data release, which represents a major advance with respect to Gaia DR2 in terms of astrometric and photometric precision, accuracy, and homogeneity. Results. Gaia EDR3 contains celestial positions and the apparent brightness in G for approximately 1.8 billion sources. For 1.5 billion of those sources, parallaxes, proper motions, and the (G(BP) - G(RP)) colour are also available. The passbands for G, G(BP), and G(RP) are provided as part of the release. For ease of use, the 7 million radial velocities from Gaia DR2 are included in this release, after the removal of a small number of spurious values. New radial velocities will appear as part of Gaia DR3. Finally, Gaia EDR3 represents an updated materialisation of the celestial reference frame (CRF) in the optical, the Gaia-CRF3, which is based solely on extragalactic sources. The creation of the source list for Gaia EDR3 includes enhancements that make it more robust with respect to high proper motion stars, and the disturbing effects of spurious and partially resolved sources. The source list is largely the same as that for Gaia DR2, but it does feature new sources and there are some notable changes. The source list will not change for Gaia DR3. Conclusions. Gaia EDR3 represents a significant advance over Gaia DR2, with parallax precisions increased by 30 per cent, proper motion precisions increased by a factor of 2, and the systematic errors in the astrometry suppressed by 30-40% for the parallaxes and by a factor similar to 2.5 for the proper motions. The photometry also features increased precision, but above all much better homogeneity across colour, magnitude, and celestial position. A single passband for G, G(BP), and G(RP) is valid over the entire magnitude and colour range, with no systematics above the 1% level
  • Klioner, S. A.; Lindegren, L.; Mignard, F.; Hernández, J.; Ramos-Lerate, M.; Bastian, U.; Biermann, M.; Bombrun, A.; de Torres, A.; Gerlach, E.; Geyer, R.; Hilger, T.; Hobbs, D.; Lammers, U. L.; McMillan, P. J.; Steidelmüller, H.; Teyssier, D.; Raiteri, C. M.; Bartolomé, S.; Muinonen, K. (EDP Sciences, 2022)
    Astronomy and astrophysics
    Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13–21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 µas yr–1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution.
  • Ade, P. A. R.; Juvela, M.; Keihanen, E.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Poutanen, T.; Suur-Uski, A. -S.; Valiviita, J.; Planck Collaboration (2015)
    We update the all-sky Planck catalogue of 1227 clusters and cluster candidates (PSZ1) published in March 2013, derived from detections of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect using the first 15.5 months of Planck satellite observations. As an addendum, we deliver an updated version of the PSZ1 catalogue, reporting the further confirmation of 86 Planck-discovered clusters. In total, the PSZ1 now contains 947 confirmed clusters, of which 214 were confirmed as newly discovered clusters through follow-up observations undertaken by the Planck Collaboration. The updated PSZ1 contains redshifts for 913 systems, of which 736 (similar to 80.6%) are spectroscopic, and associated mass estimates derived from the Y-z mass proxy. We also provide a new SZ quality flag for the remaining 280 candidates. This flag was derived from a novel artificial neural-network classification of the SZ signal. Based on this assessment, the purity of the updated PSZ1 catalogue is estimated to be 94%. In this release, we provide the full updated catalogue and an additional readme file with further information on the Planck SZ detections.
  • Planck Collaboration; Akrami, Y.; Keihänen, E.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Savelainen, M.; Suur-Uski, A-S; Valiviita, J.; Lindholm, V. (2020)
    We describe an extension of the most recent version of the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS2), produced using a new multi-band Bayesian Extraction and Estimation Package (BeeP). BeeP assumes that the compact sources present in PCCS2 at 857 GHz have a dust-like spectral energy distribution (SED), which leads to emission at both lower and higher frequencies, and adjusts the parameters of the source and its SED to fit the emission observed in Planck's three highest frequency channels at 353, 545, and 857 GHz, as well as the IRIS map at 3000 GHz. In order to reduce confusion regarding diffuse cirrus emission, BeeP's data model includes a description of the background emission surrounding each source, and it adjusts the confidence in the source parameter extraction based on the statistical properties of the spatial distribution of the background emission. BeeP produces the following three new sets of parameters for each source: (a) fits to a modified blackbody (MBB) thermal emission model of the source; (b) SED-independent source flux densities at each frequency considered; and (c) fits to an MBB model of the background in which the source is embedded. BeeP also calculates, for each source, a reliability parameter, which takes into account confusion due to the surrounding cirrus. This parameter can be used to extract sub-samples of high-frequency sources with statistically well-understood properties. We define a high-reliability subset (BeeP/base), containing 26 083 sources (54.1% of the total PCCS2 catalogue), the majority of which have no information on reliability in the PCCS2. We describe the characteristics of this specific high-quality subset of PCCS2 and its validation against other data sets, specifically for: the sub-sample of PCCS2 located in low-cirrus areas; the Planck Catalogue of Galactic Cold Clumps; the Herschel GAMA15-field catalogue; and the temperature- and spectral-index-reconstructed dust maps obtained with Planck's Generalized Needlet Internal Linear Combination method. The results of the BeeP extension of PCCS2, which are made publicly available via the Planck Legacy Archive, will enable the study of the thermal properties of well-defined samples of compact Galactic and extragalactic dusty sources.
  • Planck Collaboration; Akrami, Y.; Keihänen, E.; Kiiveri, K.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lindholm, V.; Savelainen, M.; Suur-Uski, A.-S.; Väliviita, J. (2018)
    This paper presents the Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal (i.e. synchrotron-dominated) Sources (PCNT) observed between 30 and 857 GHz by the ESA Planck mission. This catalogue was constructed by selecting objects detected in the full mission all-sky temperature maps at 30 and 143 GHz, with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 3 in at least one of the two channels after filtering with a particular Mexican hat wavelet. As a result, 29 400 source candidates were selected. Then, a multi-frequency analysis was performed using the Matrix Filters methodology at the position of these objects, and flux densities and errors were calculated for all of them in the nine Planck channels. This catalogue was built using a different methodology than the one adopted for the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS) and the Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources (PCCS2), although the initial detection was done with the same pipeline that was used to produce them. The present catalogue is the first unbiased, full-sky catalogue of synchrotron-dominated sources published at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths and constitutes a powerful database for statistical studies of non-thermal extragalactic sources, whose emission is dominated by the central active galactic nucleus. Together with the full multi-frequency catalogue, we also define the Bright Planck Multi-frequency Catalogue of Non-thermal Sources (PCNTb), where only those objects with a S/N > 4 at both 30 and 143 GHz were selected. In this catalogue 1146 compact sources are detected outside the adopted Planck GAL070 mask; thus, these sources constitute a highly reliable sample of extragalactic radio sources. We also flag the high-significance subsample (PCNThs), a subset of 151 sources that are detected with S/N > 4 in all nine Planck channels, 75 of which are found outside the Planck mask adopted here. The remaining 76 sources inside the Galactic mask are very likely Galactic objects.
  • Ade, P. A. R.; Juvela, M.; Keihänen, E.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Suur-Uski, A. -S.; Valiviita, J.; Planck Collaboration (2015)
    We present the results of approximately three years of observations of Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) sources with the Russian-Turkish 1.5m telescope (RTT150), as a part of the optical follow-up programme undertaken by the Planck collaboration. During this time period approximately 20% of all dark and grey clear time available at the telescope was devoted to observations of Planck objects. Some observations of distant clusters were also done at the 6 m Bolshoi Telescope Alt-azimutalnyi (BTA) of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In total, deep, direct images of more than one hundred fields were obtained in multiple filters. We identified 47 previously unknown galaxy clusters, 41 of which are included in the Planck catalogue of SZ sources. The redshifts of 65 Planck clusters were measured spectroscopically and 14 more were measured photometrically. We discuss the details of cluster optical identifications and redshift measurements. We also present new spectroscopic redshifts for 39 Planck clusters that were not included in the Planck SZ source catalogue and are published here for the first time.
  • Usoskin, Dmitry; Koldobskiy, S.; Kovaltsov, G. A.; Gil, A.; Usoskina; Willamo, T.; Ibragimov, A. (2020)
    Aims. Continuous measurements of ground-based neutron monitors (NMs) form the main data source for studying high-energy high-intensity solar energetic particle (SEP) events that are called ground-level enhancements (GLEs). All available data are collected in the International GLE Database (IGLED), which provides formal NM count-rate increases above the constant pre-increase level which is due to galactic cosmic rays (GCR). This data set is used to reconstruct the energy spectra of GLE events. However, the assumption of a constant GCR background level throughout GLE events is often invalid. Here we thoroughly revise the IGLED and provide a data set of detrended NM count-rate increases that accounts for the variable GCR background. Methods. The formal GLE count-rate increases were corrected for the variable GCR background, which may vary significantly during GLE events. The corresponding integral omnidirectional fluences of SEPs were reconstructed for all GLEs with sufficient strength from the detrended data using the effective rigidity method. Results. The database of the detrended NM count rate is revised for GLE events since 1956. Integral omnidirectional fluences were estimated for 58 GLE events and parametrised for 52 sufficiently strong events using the modified Ellison-Ramaty spectral shape. Conclusions. The IGLED was revised to account for the variable GCR background. Integral omnidirectional fluences reconstructed for most of GLE events were added to IGLED. This forms the basis for more precise studies of parameters of SEP events and thus for solar and space physics.
  • Gaia Collaboration; Brown, A. G. A.; Muinonen, K.; Fedorets, G.; Granvik, M.; Siltala, L. (2018)
    Context. We present the second Gaia data release, Gaia DR2, consisting of astrometry, photometry, radial velocities, and information on astrophysical parameters and variability, for sources brighter than magnitude 21. In addition epoch astrometry and photometry are provided for a modest sample of minor planets in the solar system. Aims. A summary of the contents of Gaia DR2 is presented, accompanied by a discussion on the differences with respect to Gaia DR1 and an overview of the main limitations which are still present in the survey. Recommendations are made on the responsible use of Gaia DR2 results. Methods. The raw data collected with the Gaia instruments during the first 22 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into this second data release, which represents a major advance with respect to Gaia DR1 in terms of completeness, performance, and richness of the data products. Results. Gaia DR2 contains celestial positions and the apparent brightness in G for approximately 1.7 billion sources. For 1.3 billion of those sources, parallaxes and proper motions are in addition available. The sample of sources for which variability information is provided is expanded to 0 : 5 million stars. This data release contains four new elements: broad-band colour information in the form of the apparent brightness in the G(BP) (330-680 nm) and G(RP) (630-1050 nm) bands is available for 1.4 billion sources; median radial velocities for some 7 million sources are presented; for between 77 and 161 million sources estimates are provided of the stellar effective temperature, extinction, reddening, and radius and luminosity; and for a pre-selected list of 14 000 minor planets in the solar system epoch astrometry and photometry are presented. Finally, Gaia DR2 also represents a new materialisation of the celestial reference frame in the optical, the Gaia-CRF2, which is the first optical reference frame based solely on extragalactic sources. There are notable changes in the photometric system and the catalogue source list with respect to Gaia DR1, and we stress the need to consider the two data releases as independent. Conclusions. Gaia DR2 represents a major achievement for the Gaia mission, delivering on the long standing promise to provide parallaxes and proper motions for over 1 billion stars, and representing a first step in the availability of complementary radial velocity and source astrophysical information for a sample of stars in the Gaia survey which covers a very substantial fraction of the volume of our galaxy.
  • Cappelluti, Nico; Li, Yanxia; Ricarte, Angelo; Agarwal, Bhaskar; Allevato, Viola; Ananna, Tonima Tasnim; Ajello, Marco; Civano, Francesca; Comastri, Andrea; Elvis, Martin; Finoguenov, Alexis; Gilli, Roberto; Hasinger, Guenther; Marchesi, Stefano; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Pacucci, Fabio; Treister, E.; Urry, C. Megan (2017)
    Using Chandra observations in the 2.15 deg(2) COSMOS-legacy field, we present one of the most accurate measurements of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB) spectrum to date in the [0.3-7] keV energy band. The CXB has three distinct components: contributions from two Galactic collisional thermal plasmas at kT similar to 0.27 and 0.07 keV and an extragalactic power law with a photon spectral index Gamma = 1.45 +/- 0.02. The 1 keV normalization of the extragalactic component is 10.91 +/- 0.16 keV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) keV(-1). Removing all X-ray-detected sources, the remaining unresolved CXB is best fit by a power law with normalization 4.18 +/- 0.26 keV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) keV(-1) and photon spectral index Gamma = 1.57 +/- 0.10. Removing faint galaxies down to i(AB) similar to 27-28 leaves a hard spectrum with Gamma similar to 1.25 and a 1 keV normalization of similar to 1.37 keV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) keV(-1). This means that similar to 91% of the observed CXB is resolved into detected X-ray sources and undetected galaxies. Unresolved sources that contribute similar to 8%-9% of the total CXB show marginal evidence of being harder and possibly more obscured than resolved sources. Another similar to 1% of the CXB can be attributed to still undetected star-forming galaxies and absorbed active galactic nuclei. According to these limits, we investigate a scenario where early black holes totally account for non-source CXB fraction and constrain some of their properties. In order to not exceed the remaining CXB and the z similar to 6 accreted mass density, such a population of black holes must grow in Compton-thick envelopes with N-H > 1.6 x 10(25) cm(-2) and form in extremely low-metallicity environments (Z(circle dot)) similar to 10(-3).
  • Marchesi, S.; Civano, F.; Elvis, M.; Salvato, M.; Brusa, M.; Comastri, A.; Gilli, R.; Hasinger, G.; Lanzuisi, G.; Miyaji, T.; Treister, E.; Urry, C. M.; Vignali, C.; Zamorani, G.; Allevato, V.; Cappelluti, N.; Cardamone, C.; Finoguenov, A.; Griffiths, R. E.; Karim, A.; Laigle, C.; LaMassa, S. M.; Jahnke, K.; Ranalli, P.; Schawinski, K.; Schinnerer, E.; Silverman, J. D.; Smolcic, V.; Suh, H.; Trakhtenbrot, B. (2016)
    We present the catalog of optical and infrared counterparts of the Chandra. COSMOS-Legacy. Survey, a 4.6 Ms Chandra. program on the 2.2 deg(2) of the COSMOS field, combination of 56 new overlapping observations obtained in Cycle 14 with the previous C-COSMOS survey. In this Paper we report the i, K, and 3.6 mu m identifications of the 2273 X-ray point sources detected in the new Cycle 14 observations. We use the likelihood ratio technique to derive the association of optical/infrared (IR) counterparts for 97% of the X-ray sources. We also update the information for the 1743 sources detected in C-COSMOS, using new K and 3.6 mu 3m information not available when the C-COSMOS analysis was performed. The final catalog contains 4016 X-ray sources, 97% of which have an optical/IR counterpart and a photometric redshift, while; similar or equal to 54% of the sources have a spectroscopic redshift. The full catalog, including spectroscopic and photometric redshifts and optical and X-ray properties described here in detail, is available online. We study several X-ray to optical (X/O) properties: with our large statistics we put better constraints on the X/O flux ratio locus, finding a shift toward faint optical magnitudes in both soft and hard X-ray band. We confirm the existence of a correlation between X/O and the the 2-10 keV luminosity for Type 2 sources. We extend to low luminosities the analysis of the correlation between the fraction of obscured AGNs and the hard band luminosity, finding a different behavior between the optically and X-ray classified obscured fraction.
  • Civano, F.; Marchesi, S.; Comastri, A.; Urry, M. C.; Elvis, M.; Cappelluti, N.; Puccetti, S.; Brusa, M.; Zamorani, G.; Hasinger, G.; Aldcroft, T.; Alexander, D. M.; Allevato, V.; Brunner, H.; Capak, P.; Finoguenov, A.; Fiore, F.; Fruscione, A.; Gilli, R.; Glotfelty, K.; Griffiths, R. E.; Hao, H.; Harrison, F. A.; Jahnke, K.; Kartaltepe, J.; Karim, A.; LaMassa, S. M.; Lanzuisi, G.; Miyaji, T.; Ranalli, P.; Salvato, M.; Sargent, M.; Scoville, N. J.; Schawinski, K.; Schinnerer, E.; Silverman, J.; Smolcic, V.; Stern, D.; Toft, S.; Trakhenbrot, B.; Treister, E.; Vignali, C. (2016)
    The COSMOS-Legacy survey is a 4.6 Ms Chandra program that has imaged 2.2 deg(2) of the COSMOS field with an effective exposure of similar or equal to 160 ks over the central 1.5 deg(2) and of similar or equal to 80 ks in the remaining area. The survey is the combination of 56 new observations obtained as an X-ray Visionary Project with the previous C-COSMOS survey. We describe the reduction and analysis of the new observations and the properties of 2273 point sources detected above a spurious probability of 2 x 10(-5). We also present the updated properties of the C-COSMOS sources detected in the new data. The whole survey includes 4016 point sources (3814, 2920 and 2440 in the full, soft, and hard band). The limiting depths are 2.2 x 10(-16), 1.5 x 10(-15), and 8.9 x 10(-16) erg cm(-2) s(-1)in the 0.5-2, 2-10, and 0.5-10 keV bands, respectively. The observed fraction of obscured active galactic nuclei with a column density >10(22) cm(-2) from the hardness ratio (HR) is similar to 50(-16)(+17)%. Given the large sample we compute source number counts in the hard and soft bands, significantly reducing the uncertainties of 5%-10%. For the first time we compute number counts for obscured (HR > -0.2) and unobscured (HR <-0.2) sources and find significant differences between the two populations in the soft band. Due to the unprecedent large exposure, COSMOS-Legacy area is three times larger than surveys at similar depths and its depth is three times fainter than surveys covering similar areas. The area-flux region occupied by COSMOS-Legacy is likely to remain unsurpassed for years to come.
  • Alam, Shadab; Finoguenov, Alexis; Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2015)
    The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg(2) of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg(2) of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg(2); 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra.