scholarly journals Astrometry with digital sky surveys: from SDSS to LSST

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 537-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ž. Ivezić ◽  
D. G. Monet ◽  
N. Bond ◽  
M. Jurić ◽  
B. Sesar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Milky Way ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Error Assessment ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Sky Surveys ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Astrometric Data ◽  
The Universe

AbstractMajor advances in our understanding of the Universe have historically come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. The astrometric observations obtained by modern digital sky surveys are enabling unprecedentedly massive and robust studies of the kinematics of the Milky Way. For example, the astrometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), together with half a century old astrometry from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), have enabled the construction of a catalog that includes absolute proper motions as accurate as 3 mas/year for about 20 million stars brighter than V=20, and for 80,000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars which provide exquisite error assessment. We discuss here several ongoing studies of Milky Way kinematics based on this catalog. The upcoming next-generation surveys will maintain this revolutionary progress. For example, we show using realistic simulations that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will measure proper motions accurate to 1 mas/year to a limit 4 magnitude fainter than possible with SDSS and POSS catalogs, or with the Gaia survey. LSST will also obtain geometric parallaxes with accuracy similar to Gaia's at its faint end (0.3 mas at V=20), and extend them to V=24 with an accuracy of 3 mas. We discuss the impact that these LSST measurements will have on studies of the Milky Way kinematics, and potential synergies with the Gaia survey.

scholarly journals Age-dating Stellar Populations of Luminous Red Galaxies

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S284) ◽  
pp. 265-267
Author(s):  
Ando Ratsimbazafy ◽  
Catherine Cress ◽  
Steve Crawford ◽  
Claudia Maraston ◽  
Robert Nichol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Age Dating ◽  
Expansion Rate ◽  
Large Telescope ◽  
Luminous Red Galaxies ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Red Galaxies ◽  
Star Formation Histories ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Universe

AbstractWe investigate the possibility of using Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) as “Cosmic chronometers” to measure the expansion rate of the universe to 3% over a redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.0. In this method, H(z) is directly measured by using the ages of passively evolving galaxies to determine dz/dt. We first present results from our study of LRGs in simulations Crawford et al. where we explore the impact of extended star formation histories on the measurements of the Hubble parameter. We then extract a carefully selected sample of LRGs taken from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Released Seven (DR7), stack spectra in redshift bins to increase the signal-to-noise, and use the Lick index modelling presented in Thomas et al. to age-date the sample. We discuss the implications for expansion rate measurements and outline a proposal to observe LRGs with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).

scholarly journals CONSTRAINTS ON THE SHAPE OF THE MILKY WAY DARK MATTER HALO FROM JEANS EQUATIONS APPLIED TO SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY DATA

2012 ◽  
Vol 758 (1) ◽  
pp. L23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Loebman ◽  
Željko Ivezić ◽  
Thomas R. Quinn ◽  
Fabio Governato ◽  
Alyson M. Brooks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Dark Matter Halo ◽  
Sky Survey

scholarly journals VMC proper motions of the Magellanic Bridge

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 130-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schmidt ◽  
Maria-Rosa Cioni ◽  
Florian Niederhofer ◽  
Jonathan Diaz ◽  
Gal Matijevic
Keyword(s):  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Dynamical Simulation ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractDwarf galaxies enable us to study early phases of galaxy evolution and are key to many open questions about the hierarchical structure of the Universe. The Large and Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC and SMC) are the most luminous dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way (MW). They are most likely gravitationally bound to each other, and their last interaction occurred about 200 Myr ago. Also, they are in an early phase of minor merging with the MW and will impact the Galactic structure in the future because of their relatively large mass. However, there are still major uncertainties regarding their origin and their interactions with one another and with the Milky Way. We cross-correlated the VMC and Gaia DR2 data to select a sample of stars that likely belong to the Magellanic Bridge, a feature formed of gas and stars which is connecting the LMC and the SMC. We removed potential MW foregound stars using a combination of parallax and colour-magnitude criteria and calculated the proper motions of the Bridge member stars. Our analysis supports a motion of star towards the LMC, which was found to be in good agreement with a dynamical simulation, of the SMC being stripped by the LMC.

scholarly journals Large Scale Structure of the Universe

1998 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 317-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.A. Bahcall
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Large Scale Structure ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Scale Structure ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Initial Spectrum ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
The Universe

How is the universe organized on large scales? How did this structure evolve from the unknown initial conditions of a rather smooth early universe to the present time? The answers to these questions will shed light on the cosmology we live in, the amount, composition and distribution of matter in the universe, the initial spectrum of density fluctuations that gave rise to this structure, and the formation and evolution of galaxies, lusters of galaxies, and larger scale structures.To address these fundamental questions, large and accurate sky surveys are needed—in various wavelengths and to various depths. In this presentation I review current observational studies of large scale structure, present the constraints these observations place on cosmological models and on the amount of dark matter in the universe, and highlight some of the main unsolved problems in the field of large-scale structure that could be solved over the next decade with the aid of current and future surveys. I briefly discuss some of these surveys, including the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that will provide a complete imaging and spectroscopic survey of the high-latitude northern sky, with redshifts for the brightest ∼ 106 galaxies, 105 quasars, and 103.5 rich clusters of galaxies. The potentialities of the SDSS survey, as well as of cross-wavelength surveys, for resolving some of the unsolved problems in large-scale structure and cosmology are discussed.

scholarly journals Studying Luminous Red Galaxies to probe H(z) at high redshift

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S295) ◽  
pp. 185-185
Author(s):  
A. Ratsimbazafy ◽  
C. Cress ◽  
S. Crawford ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Redshift ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Age Dating ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Spectral Fitting ◽  
Luminous Red Galaxies ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Intense Burst ◽  
Red Galaxies ◽  
The Universe

AbstractLuminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) have old, red stellar populations often interpreted as evidence of a formation scenario in which these galaxies form in a single intense burst of star formation at high redshift. By measuring the average age of LRGs at two different redshifts, one can potentially measure the redshift interval corresponding to a time interval and thus measure the Hubble parameter H(z) ≈ −(1 + z)−1 Δ z/Δt (as in Jimenez & Loeb). The goal of this project is to measure directly the expansion rate of the universe at the redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.0 within 3% precision. We explore the age-dating of Sloan Digital Sky Survey LRGs using the stellar population models of Lick absorption line indices after stacking spectra in redshift bins to increase the signal-to-noise. We also use the method of full spectral fitting to measure the ages of LRGs observed with the Southern Africa Large Telescope (SALT).

scholarly journals Real-Time Classification of Transient Events in Synoptic Sky Surveys

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S285) ◽  
pp. 355-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish A. Mahabal ◽  
C. Donalek ◽  
S. G. Djorgovski ◽  
A. J. Drake ◽  
M. J. Graham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Automated Classification ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Classification Techniques ◽  
Sky Surveys ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Transient Events ◽  
Real Time Classification

AbstractAn automated rapid classification of the transient events detected in modern synoptic sky surveys is essential for their scientific utility and effective follow-up when resources are scarce. This problem will grow by orders of magnitude with the next generation of surveys. We are exploring a variety of novel automated classification techniques, mostly Bayesian, to respond to those challenges, using the ongoing CRTS sky survey as a testbed. We describe briefly some of the methods used.

Combining simulations and physical observations to estimate cosmological parameters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Higdon ◽  
Katrin Heitmann ◽  
Charles Nakhleh ◽  
Salman Habib
Keyword(s):  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Cosmological Parameters ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Statistical Framework ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Computationally Intensive ◽  
Diverse Data ◽  
The Universe

This article focuses on the use of a Bayesian approach that combines simulations and physical observations to estimate cosmological parameters. It begins with an overview of the Λ-cold dark matter (CDM) model, the simplest cosmological model in agreement with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and largescale structure analysis. The CDM model is determined by a small number of parameters which control the composition, expansion and fluctuations of the universe. The present study aims to learn about the values of these parameters using measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Computationally intensive simulation results are combined with measurements from the SDSS to infer about a subset of the parameters that control the CDM model. The article also describes a statistical framework used to determine a posterior distribution for these cosmological parameters and concludes by showing how it can be extended to include data from diverse data sources.

Observing SNe Ia at z > 1 with the HST and at z ≃ 0.2 with the SDSS-II

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 314-315
Author(s):  
Hubert Lampeitl ◽  
Adam G. Riess
Keyword(s):  
Hubble Space Telescope ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Accelerated Expansion ◽  
Hubble Diagram ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe ◽  
Intermediate Redshifts ◽  
The Universe

AbstractSNe Ia are currently providing the most direct measurements of the accelerated expansion of the Universe and also put constraints on the nature and evolution of the so-called ‘dark energy’. Despite major efforts to increase the number of known high-redshift SNe Ia with reliable distance estimates, two regions in the Hubble diagram remain only sparsely observed. At redshifts z > 1 the limitations of ground-based instruments require the Hubble Space Telescope and its superior angular resolution to get meaningful distance estimates, while at intermediate redshifts (z ≃ 0.2) the large solid angle necessary presents an obstacle to most surveys that can be overcome with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS-II.

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