Spatially Resolving the Star Formation Histories of Three Nearby Nuclear Star Clusters

The formation of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) remains an open question. In this work, we use spatially-resolved HST/STIS spectroscopic observations of three nearby NSCs (hosted by NGC 5102, NGC 5206, and NGC 205) to constrain their formation histories by exploring radial variations of the stellar populations within each cluster. Utilizing full-spectrum fitting, we find substantial age and metallicity gradients within the central 0.″9 (16 pc) of the NSC in NGC 5102 where populations near the center are young/metal-rich (age ∼400 Myr and [M/H] ∼ −0.4) and become older/metal-poor at larger radii (mean age ∼1 Gyr and mean [M/H] ∼ −1.6 in the radial range [0.″3, 0.″9]). This behavior suggests that the young/metal-rich population at the center was formed from a period of in situ formation, while the older/metal-poor populations were likely formed by inspiraled globular clusters. The two broad populations observed in the NGC 5102 NSC (young/metal-rich and old/metal-poor) appear to be linked to the transition between the two morphological components of the NSC derived from the surface-brightness profile in Nguyen et al. (2018). The radial ranges explored in NGC 5206 and NGC 205 were much smaller due to poor data quality; in NGC 5206 we find a similar metallicity gradient to NGC 5102 (but with much lower significance), while the data for NGC 205 is too poor to reach any conclusions. Overall, this data highlights the links between the morphological and stellar population complexity of NSCs and their formation mechanisms.

Tailoring the optical properties of tin oxide thin films via gamma irradiation

In the current work, the optical properties of tin oxide thin films have been tailored via gamma irradiation for energy applications. The effect of Gamma radiation (50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kGy) on the microstructural, absorption and oscillator parameters of SnO2 thin films has been investigated. XRD results reveal that the SnO2 films have the symmetry of the space group P42/mnm belonging to the tetragonal system. The crystallite size of γ-irradiated SnO2 thin film slightly increases as the irradiation dose increases. The allowed optical band gaps are estimated by applying various methods such as Tauc’s method, derivation of absorption spectrum fitting and absorption spectrum fitting approaches. The dispersion parameters are extracted from the dispersion curve of the real part of the refractive index. The single-effective-oscillator and Drude models for free charge carrier absorption are applied to obtain the dispersion parameters before and after γ-irradiation.

INTERPRETATION OF OPTICAL AND IR LIGHT CURVES FOR TRANSITIONAL DISK CANDIDATES IN NGC 2264 USING THE EXTINCTED STELLAR RADIATION AND THE EMISSION OF OPTICALLY THIN DUST INSIDE THE HOLE

In the stellar forming region NGC 2264 there are objects catalogued as hosting a transitional disk according to spectrum modeling. Four members of this set have optical and infrared light curves coming from the CoRoT and Spitzer telescopes. In this work, we try to simultaneously explain the light curves using the extinction of the stellar radiation and the emission of the dust inside the hole of a transitional disk. For the object Mon-296, we were successful. However, for Mon-314, and Mon-433 our evidence suggests that they host a pre-transitional disk. For Mon-1308 a new spectrum fitting using the 3D radiative transfer code Hyperion allows us to conclude that this object hosts a full disk instead of a transitional disk. This is in accord to previous work on Mon-1308 and with the fact that we cannot find a fit for the light curves using only the contribution of the dust inside the hole of a transitional disk.

STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES WITH INTERMEDIATE CENTRAL AGES

This work is devoted to the study of the star formation histories (SFHs) of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with intermediate central ages (from 5 to 10Gyr), to confirm if BCGs with these ages represent different accretion histories or simply a stochastic effect. The sample is composed of 6 BCGs with intermediate central ages and 3 BCGs with old central ages (> 12Gyr) as comparison galaxies. The galaxies were observed with the integrated field spectrograph VIMOS installed in the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The SFHs were obtained with the full spectrum fitting technique using the star population code STARLIGHT. The BCGs of intermediate central age analyzed formed almost 100% of their stars at z > 2 and their SFHs are similar to the SFHs of BCGs of old central ages and elliptical galaxies of similar mass (MDyn > 1011 Mʘ); therefore, these BCGs do not represent different SFHs.

Simultaneous demodulation comparison of fiber-optic Fabry–Perot sensors connected in parallel and series

In this work, the spectra of two fiber-optic Fabry–Perot sensors in parallel and series connection were studied. The spectrum of the parallel structure is a simple superposition of the two sensors’ spectrum, and that of the series structure can be regarded as the interference occurring in two Fabry–Perot sensors successively. The sensors’ optical path difference can be obtained and separated by using the theoretical formula to fit the normalized spectrum of parallel or series structure, which showed that two or more Fabry–Perot sensors can be simultaneously demodulated by the spectrum fitting method.

Large-scale synthesis of a monophosphonated tetrathiatriarylmethyl spin probe for concurrent in vivo measurement of pO2, pH and inorganic phosphate by EPR

We report a new strategy for the synthesis of a mono-phosphonated triarylmethyl radical spin probe and a standalone application with a user-friendly interface for automatic spectrum fitting and extraction of pO2, pH, and [Pi] values.

On the precision of full-spectrum fitting of simple stellar populations – II. The dependence on star cluster mass in the wavelength range 0.3–5.0 µm

ABSTRACT In this second paper of a series on the accuracy and precision of the determination of age and metallicity of simple stellar populations (SSPs) by means of the full-spectrum fitting technique, we study the influence of star cluster mass through stochastic fluctuations of the number of stars near the top of the stellar mass function, which dominate the flux in certain wavelength regimes depending on the age. We consider SSP models based on the Padova isochrones, spanning the age range $7.0 \le \mbox{log(age/yr}) \le 10.1$. Simulated spectra of star clusters in the mass range 104 ≤ M/M⊙ < 106 are compared with SSP model spectra to determine best-fitting ages and metallicities using a full-spectrum fitting routine in four wavelength regimes: the blue optical (0.35–0.70 µm), the red optical (0.6–1.0 µm), the near-infrared (near-IR; 1.0–2.5 µm), and the mid-IR (2.5–5.0 µm). We compare the power of each wavelength regime in terms of both the overall precision of age and metallicity determination and its dependence on cluster mass. We also study the relevance of spectral resolution in this context by utilizing two different spectral libraries (BaSeL and BT-Settl). We highlight the power of the mid-IR regime in terms of identifying young massive clusters in dusty star-forming regions in distant galaxies. The spectra of the simulated star clusters and SSPs are made available online to enable follow-up studies by the community.