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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1990

On the disappearance of O I in some high-luminosity cool stars

Far UV spectra and flux measurements of cool giant and supergiant stars, focusing on the O I (UV 2) and S I/Si II fluxes and their dependence on stellar parameters are presented. The de-reddened O I surface fluxes vary by factors of several hundred over the 11 stars in the sample and, at a given luminosity, decrease with decreasing effective temperature. No flux at all is detected in the three M supergiants observed to date. In contrast, the S I/Si II blend near 1810 angstrom is clearly detected in all the stars. Its strength generally increases with luminosity, but has little effective temperature dependence. Possible explanations for the behavior of O I include changes in the intensities of Lyman alpha and beta which excite the lines of S I and O I, respectively, as well as scattering and/or absorption of the O I flux in a dense, circumstellar gas shell.

Carpenter, K. G.↗
DOE OSTI2020

The ALFALFA-SDSS Galaxy Catalog

We present a H i optical catalog of ~30,000 galaxies based on the 100% complete Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) survey combined with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our goal is to facilitate the public use of the completed ALFALFA catalog by providing carefully determined matches to SDSS counterparts, including matches for ~10,000 galaxies that do not have SDSS spectra. These identifications can provide a basis for further crossmatching with other surveys using SDSS photometric IDs as a reference point. We derive absolute magnitudes and stellar masses for each galaxy using optical colors combined with an internal reddening correction designed for small- and intermediate-mass galaxies with active star formation. We also provide measures of stellar masses and star formation rates based on infrared and/or ultraviolet photometry for galaxies that are detected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and/or the Galaxy Evolution Explorer. Finally, we compare the galaxy population in the ALFALFA-SDSS sample with the populations in several other publicly available galaxy catalogs and confirm that ALFALFA galaxies typically have lower masses and bluer colors.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Probing the optical depth of spiral galaxies using multi-waveband observations

The questions of the optical depth and extinction of galaxies obviously have far-reaching implications; from determining the true stellar content and baryonic mass of galaxies to the origin of the major component of their far infrared radiation. We have investigated whether the reddening of stars can be used to determine the amount and extent of obscuring dust. We find that the amount of reddening is very sensitive to the assumed geometry. The usually assumed case of a screen of dust between the observer and the star produces, for a given optical depth, the maximum amount of reddening. However, for external galaxies such a geometry is clearly wrong. More realistic geometries where the dust and stars are uniformly mixed (a 'slab') or where the dust is sandwiched by unobscured stars (a 'sandwich') produce significantly less reddening. For the slab geometry of the reddening rises to a maximum value as the optical depth is increased, and for a sandwich geometry the reddening will actually decrease as the optical depth becomes larger. The reddening vectors produced by these realistic geometries are compared to multi-waveband observations of individual regions of a sample of eight galaxies. We find evidence for significant optical depths in the central regions of some of these galaxies, but optical depths of less than unity at approx. 2 scale lengths from the centers. The optical depths derived are in good agreement with other tests such as the measured hydrogen column densities and the far infrared to blue light ratios. However, whereas these two latter approaches are insensitive to the relative distributions of the stars and the dust, the amount of reddening seen in these eight galaxies suggests that the dust to stellar scale height ratio xi is greater than or equal to 0.5. We find typical blue band extinctions of A(sub B) = 0.75-1.0, a factor of 3-4 higher than the RC2 value.

Evans, Rhodri↗
NASA NTRS1982

Picture gallery - A structured presentation of OAO-2 photometric data supported by OAO-2 spectrophotometric data and UBV, ANS and TD1 observations

Graphs are presented for the stellar fluxes of 531 stars in the 5500-1330 A wavelength range, which have been divided into 52 categories on the basis of spectral types. The merging of medium band interference filter photometry, UBV photometry, ANS photometry and TD1 fluxes, as well as the ordering of the objects, should prove helpful in studies of interstellar reddening, luminosity effects, bandwidth effects, and comparisons with model stellar atmospheres. The agreement between the various UV photometric systems for early-type stars is generally better than 0.10 mag. A list of stars whose photometric properties indicate stellar or interstellar anomalies is also provided.

Koornneef, J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies

We present far-infrared (FIR) photometry at 150 and 205 micron(s) of eight low-redshift starburst galaxies obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) ISOPHOT. Five of the eight galaxies are detected in both wave bands, and these data are used, in conjunction with IRAS archival photometry, to model the dust emission at lambda approximately greater than 40 microns. The FIR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are best fitted by a combination of two modified Planck functions, with T approx. 40 - 55 K (warm dust) and T approx. 20-23 K (cool dust) and with a dust emissivity index epsilon = 2. The cool dust can be a major contributor to the FIR emission of starburst galaxies, representing up to 60% of the total flux. This component is heated not only by the general interstellar radiation field, but also by the starburst itself. The cool dust mass is up to approx. 150 times larger than the warm dust mass, bringing the gas-to-dust ratios of the starbursts in our sample close to Milky Way values, once resealed for the appropriate metallicity. The ratio between the total dust FIR emission in the range 1-1000 microns and the IRAS FIR emission in the range 40 - 120 microns is approx. 1.75, with small variations from galaxy to galaxy. This ratio is about 40% larger than previously inferred from data at millimeter wavelengths. Although the galaxies in our sample are generally classified as "UV bright," for four of them the UV energy emerging shortward of 0.2 microns is less than 15% of the FIR energy. On average, about 30% of the bolometric flux is coming out in the UV-to-near-IR wavelength range; the rest is emitted in the FIR. Energy balance calculations show that the FIR emission predicted by the dust reddening of the UV-to-near-IR stellar emission is within a factor of approx. 2 of the observed value in individual galaxies and within 20% when averaged over a large sample. If our sample of local starbursts is representative of high-redshift (z approx. greater than 1), UV - bright star-forming galaxies, these galaxies' FIR emission will be generally undetected in submillimeter surveys, unless: (1) their bolometric luminosity is comparable to or larger than that of ultraluminous FIR galaxies and (2) their FIR SED contains a cool dust component.

Calzetti, Daniela↗
NASA NTRS1994

The metallicity of M4: Accurate spectroscopic fundamental parameters for four giants

High-quality spectra, covering the wavelength range 5480 to 7080 A, have been obtained for four giant stars in the intermediate-metallicity CN-bimodal globular cluster M4 (NGC 6121). We have employed a model atmosphere analysis that is entirely independent from cluster parameters, such as distance, age, and reddening, in order to derive accurate values for the stellar parameters effective temperature, surface gravity, and microturbulence, and for the abundance of iron relative to the Sun, (Fe/H), and of calcium, Ca/H, for each of the four stars. Detailed radiative transfer and statistical equilibrium calculations carried out for iron and calcium suggest that departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium are not significant for the purposes of our analysis. The spectroscopically derived effective temperatures for our program stars are hotter by about 200 K than existing photometric calibrations suggest. We conclude that this is due partly to the uncertain reddening of M4 and to the existing photometric temperature calibration for red giants being too cool by about 100 K. Comparison of our spectroscopic and existing photometric temperatures supports the prognosis of a significant east-west gradient in the reddening across M4. Our derived iron abundances are slightly higher than previous high-resolution studies suggested; the differences are most probably due to the different temperature scale and choice of microturbulent velocities adopted by earlier workers. The resulting value for the metallicity of M4 is (Fe/H )(sub M4) = -1.05 + or - 0.15. Based on this result, we suggest that metallicities derived in previous high-dispersion globular cluster abundance analyses could be too low by 0.2 to 0.3 dex. Our calcium abundances suggest an enhancement of calcium, an alpha element, over iron, relative to the Sun, in M4 of (Ca/H) = 0.23.

Drake, J. J.↗
DOE OSTI2020

A cautionary tale of attenuation in star-forming regions

ABSTRACT The attenuation of light from star-forming galaxies is correlated with a multitude of physical parameters including star formation rate, metallicity and total dust content. This variation in attenuation is even more evident on kiloparsec scales, which is the relevant size for many current spectroscopic integral field unit surveys. To understand the cause of this variation, we present and analyse Swift/UVOT near-UV (NUV) images and SDSS/MaNGA emission-line maps of 29 nearby (z < 0.084) star-forming galaxies. We resolve kiloparsec-sized star-forming regions within the galaxies and compare their optical nebular attenuation (i.e. the Balmer emission line optical depth, $\tau ^{l}_{B}\equiv \tau _{\textrm {H}\beta }-\tau _{\textrm {H}\alpha }$) and NUV stellar continuum attenuation (via the NUV power-law index, β) to the attenuation law described by Battisti et al. We show the data agree with that model, albeit with significant scatter. We explore the dependence of the scatter of the β–$\tau ^{l}_{B}$ measurements from the star-forming regions on different physical parameters, including distance from the nucleus, star formation rate and total dust content. Finally, we compare the measured $\tau ^{l}_{B}$ and β values for the individual star-forming regions with those of the integrated galaxy light. We find a strong variation in β between the kiloparsec scale and the larger galaxy scale that is not seen in $\tau ^{l}_{B}$. We conclude that the sightline dependence of UV attenuation and the reddening of β due to the light from older stellar populations could contribute to the scatter in the β–$\tau ^{l}_{B}$ relation.

Molina, Mallory↗
NASA NTRS1986

Unipolar bubbles in star-forming regions

Near-infrared images of two star-forming regins, AFGL 2591 and S140, reveal nearly circular loops with the young stellar object at one edge. The loops are aligned with the direction of high-velocity outflow and are interpreted as the outline of a bubble or cavity of dimensions about 10,000 AU in the dense molecular cloud material. In both cases, the bubble appears on only one side of the young stellar object. For AFGL 2591, it corresponds to the blueshifted CO lobe, while for S140 IRS 1 it corresponds to the redshifted CO lobe. In 1982, Koenigl predicted this shape and geometry bubble for a stellar wind impinging on a molecular cloud with density gradient of roughly 1/z-squared. A similar density gradient is implied by reddening measurements of the bubble in AFGL 2591. These images show directly the interaction of the stellar wind from a newly forming star with its environment on about 1000 AU (arcsec) scales.

Forrest, W. J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optical properties of Peaked Spectrum radio sources

ABSTRACT In this work, we study the optical properties of compact radio sources selected from the literature in order to determine the impact of the radio-jet in their circumnuclear environment. Our sample includes 58 Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) and GigaHertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) and 14 Megahertz-Peaked spectrum (MPS) radio sources located at z ≤ 1. The radio luminosity (LR) of the sample varies between Log LR ∼ 23.2 and 27.7 W Hz−1. We obtained optical spectra for all sources from SDSS-DR12 and performed a stellar population synthesis using the starlight code. We derived stellar masses (M⋆), ages 〈t⋆〉, star formation rates (SFR), metallicities 〈Z⋆〉 and internal reddening AV for all young AGNs of our sample. A visual inspection of the SDSS images was made to assign a morphological class for each source. Our results indicate that the sample is dominated by intermediate to old stellar populations and there is no strong correlation between optical and radio properties of these sources. Also, we found that young AGNs can be hosted by elliptical, spiral and interacting galaxies, confirming recent findings. When comparing the optical properties of CSS/GPS and MPS sources, we do not find any significant difference. Finally, the Mid-Infrared WISE colours analysis suggests that the compact radio sources defined as powerful AGNs are, in general, gas-rich systems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2019

Mapping the Interstellar Reddening and Extinction toward Baade's Window Using Minimum Light Colors of ab-type RR Lyrae Stars: Revelations from the De-reddened Color–Magnitude Diagrams

We have obtained repeated images of six fields toward the Galactic bulge in five passbands (u, g, r, i, z) with the DECam imager on the Blanco 4 m telescope at CTIO. From more than 1.6 billion individual photometric measurements in the field centered on Baade’s window, we have detected 4877 putative variable stars. A total of 474 of these have been confirmed as fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars, whose colors at minimum light yield line-of- sight reddening determinations, as well as a reddenning law toward the Galactic Bulge, which differs significantly from the standard R(V) = 3.1 formulation. Assuming that the stellar mix is invariant over the 3 square-degree field, we are able to derive a line-of-sight reddening map with sub-arcminute resolution, enabling us to obtain de-reddened and extinction corrected color–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of this bulge field using up to 2.5 million well-measured stars. The corrected CMDs show unprecedented detail and expose sparsely populated sequences: for example, delineation of the very wide red giant branch, structure within the red giant clump, the full extent of the horizontal branch, and a surprising bright feature that is likely due to stars with ages younger than 1 Gyr. We use the RR Lyrae stars to trace the spatial structure of the ancient stars and find an exponential decline in density with Galactocentric distance. We discuss ways in which our data products can be used to explore the age and metallicity properties of the bulge, and how our larger list of all variables is useful for learning to interpret future LSST alerts.

Abhijit Saha↗
NASA NTRS1977

Apollo-16 far-ultraviolet spectra in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Spectra in the wavelength ranges from 900 to 1600 A and 1050 to 1600 A of some OB associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud were obtained from the lunar surface by the Apollo-16 far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph on April 22, 1972. The observed spectral distributions appear consistent with a stellar model having an effective temperature of 30,000 K, reddened by E(B-V) = 0.3, and characterized by the average far-ultraviolet extinction curve of Bless and Savage (1972). However, the absolute intensity of the far-ultraviolet spectrum of the associations NGC 2050 and 2055 seems somewhat too bright in comparison with ground-based photometry.

Carruthers, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Ultraviolet photometry from the orbiting astronomical observatory. XVI - The stellar Lyman-alpha absorption line

The stellar Lyman-alpha line at 1216 A was observed in 29 lightly reddened stars of spectral type B2.5 to B9 by a far-UV spectrophotometer on OAO-2. The equivalent widths obtained range from 15 A at type B2.5 to 65 A at type B8; in the late-B stars, the L-alpha line removes 2 to 3% of the total stellar flux. In this sampling, the strength of the L-alpha line correlates well with measures of the Balmer discontinuity and Balmer line strengths; luminosity classification does not seem to affect the line strength. The observed line widths also agree with the predictions of Mihala's grid of non-LTE model atmospheres. In some cases, the L-alpha line influences the interstellar column densities reported in the interstellar OAO-2 L-alpha survey. Hence, these data toward lightly reddened B2 and B1.5 stars should be regarded as upper limits only.

Savage, B. D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The stellar content of LH 9 and 10 (N11) in the LMC - A case for sequential star formation

The young OB associations Lucke-Hodge 9 and 10 are studied with UBV photometry that is independent of reddening to determine the IMF directly from star counts. The temperature and reddening of the stars are determined which, in conjunction with the spectroscopic classification of the earliest stars, is employed to place the stellar groups on the theoretical H-R diagram. Observations are also presented of the highly compact H II region/knot N11A and the multiple system HD 32228, and LH 9 and 10 are compared. The Lyman ionizing flux calculated at 4.9-7.2 x 10 exp 50/s agrees well with flux required to generate the H-alpha luminosity of the H II region. LH 10 has a much flatter slope, a higher ratio of higher-mass to lower-mass stars, and greater reddening than LH 9, and LH 10 contains all of the O stars earlier than O6. It is concluded that LH 9 is older than LH 10 and probably contributed to the initiation of star formation in LH 10.

Parker, Joel WM.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Far infrared, near infrared, and radio molecular line studies of HFE 2, HFE 3, and FJM 6

Far-infrared, near-infrared, and radio molecular-line observations of the regions of HFE 2, HFE 3, and FJM 6 are described. At positions of high molecular column density nearest to the reported positions of these sources, their infrared emission cannot be confirmed at upper bounds below those of the original detection. Near-infrared observations of the FJM 6 region (which includes the Bok globule Barnard 361) reveal a number of stellar sources, most of which are behind the molecular cloud and are reddened by it. Visual extinction through B 361 estimated by star counts yields A sub V/N(/C-13/O) = 3.7 + or - 1.6) x 10 to the -16th mag sq cm. The gas temperature and the upper bound on the dust temperature in the FJM 6 region are consistent with cosmic-ray heating of the cloud, while the values of these parameters for the clouds in the HFE 2 and HFE 3 regions do not appear consistent with either cosmic-ray or radiative heating.

Fischer, J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Forward Modeling Populations of Flares from Tidal Disruptions of Stars by Supermassive Black Holes

Detections of the tidal disruption flares (TDFs) of stars by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are rapidly accumulating as optical surveys improve. These detections may provide constraints on SMBH demographics, stellar dynamics, and stellar evolution in galaxies. To maximize this scientific impact, we require a better understanding of how astrophysical parameters interact with survey selection effects in setting the properties of detected flares. In this study, we develop a framework for modeling the distributions of optical TDF detections in surveys across attributes of the host galaxies and the flares themselves. This model folds in effects of the stellar disruption rate in each galaxy, the flare luminosity and temperature distributions, the effects of obscuration and reddening by dust in the host galaxy, and survey selection criteria. We directly apply this model to the sample of TDFs detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility, and find that the overall flare detection rate is in line with simple theoretical expectation. The model can also reproduce the distribution of total stellar mass and redshift of the host galaxies, but fails to match all details of the detected flares, such as their luminosity and temperature distributions. We also find that dust obscuration likely plays an important role in suppressing the TDF detection rate in star-forming galaxies. While we do not find that the unusual preference of TDFs to have hosts in post-starburst galaxies in the "green valley" can be entirely explained by selection effects, our model can help to quantify the true rate enhancement in those galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Discovery of Extended Tidal Tails around the Globular Cluster Palomar 13

We use photometry from the DECam Legacy Survey to detect candidate tidal tails extending ~5° on either side of the Palomar 13 globular cluster. The tails are aligned with the proper motion of Palomar 13 and are consistent with its old, metal-poor stellar population. We identify three RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) that are plausibly associated with the tails, in addition to four previously known in the cluster. From these RRLs, we find that the mean distance to the cluster and tails is 23.6 ± 0.2 kpc and estimate the total (initial) luminosity of the cluster to be , consistent with previous claims that its initial luminosity was higher than its current luminosity. Combined with previously determined proper motion and radial velocity measurements of the cluster, we find that Palomar 13 is on a highly eccentric orbit (e ~ 0.8) with a pericenter of ~9 kpc and an apocenter of ~69 kpc, and a recent pericentric passage of the cluster ~75 Myr ago. We note a prominent linear structure in the interstellar dust map that runs parallel to the candidate tidal features, but conclude that reddening due to dust is unlikely to account for the structure that we observe. If confirmed, the Palomar 13 stellar stream would be one of very few streams with a known progenitor system, making it uniquely powerful for studying the disruption of globular clusters, the formation of the stellar halo, and the distribution of matter within our Galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1990

An infrared jet in Centaurus A (NGC 5128): Evidence for interaction between the active nucleus and the interstellar medium

In the present study, higher resolution near infrared images of the visually-obscured central region of Centaurus A were obtained in order to investigate the effects of the active nucleus on the surrounding galaxy. Researchers present J(1.25 microns), H(1.65 microns), and K(2.2 microns) images of the central 40 seconds of the galaxy, taken with the Univ. of Texas InSb array camera on the Anglo Australian 3.9 meter telescope. These images reveal a jet extending approx. 10 arcseconds to the northeast of the nucleus at the same position angle as the x ray and radio jets. The infrared jet is most prominent at the shortest wavelength (1.25 microns), where its brightness surpasses that of the nucleus. The blue appearance of the infrared jet is remarkable considering the heavy obscuration that is evident at visual wavelengths. The amount of reddening in the vicinity of the jet is determined from the measured colors of the stellar core of the galaxy, and this value is used to generate an extinction-corrected energy distribution. In contrast to previously studied optical and infrared jets in active nuclei, the short-wavelength prominence of the Cen A jet indicates that it cannot be attributed to synchrotron emission from a beam of relativistic electrons. The remaining viable mechanisms involve an interaction between the interstellar medium and the active nucleus: the infrared radiation from the jet may be due to emission from interstellar gas that has been entrained and heated by the flow of relativistic particles from the nucleus; alternatively, luminous blue stars may have been created by compression of interstellar material by the relativistic plasma. To investigate these proposed mechanisms, near-infrared spectroscopic studies of Cen A are in progress to look for collisionally excited molecular hydrogen emission lines and recombination lines from ionized gas.

Joy, Marshall↗
DOE OSTI2022

Aging of galaxies along the morphological sequence, marked by bulge growth and disk quenching

Aims: We revisit the color bimodality of galaxies using the extensive EFIGI morphological classification of nearby galaxies. Methods: The galaxy profiles from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) gri images were decomposed as a bulge and a disk by controlled profile modeling with the Euclid SourceXtractor++ software. The spectral energy distributions from our resulting gri SDSS photometry complemented with Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) NUV photometry were fitted with the ZPEG software and PEGASE.2 templates in order to estimate the stellar masses and specific star formation rates (sSFR) of whole galaxies as well as their bulge and disk components. Results: The absolute NUV-r color versus stellar mass diagram shows a continuous relationship between the present sSFR of galaxies and their stellar mass, which spans all morphological types of the Hubble sequence monotonously. Irregular galaxies to intermediate-type Sab spirals make up the “Blue Cloud” across 4 orders of magnitude in stellar mass but a narrow range of sSFR. This mass build-up of spiral galaxies requires major mergers, in agreement with their frequently perturbed isophotes. At high mass, the Blue Cloud leads to the “Green Plain”, dominated by S0a and Sa early-type spirals. It was formerly called the “Green Valley”, due to its low density, but we rename it because of its wide stretch and nearly flat density over ~2 mag in NUV-r color (hence sSFR), despite a limited range of stellar mass (1 order of magnitude). The Green Plain links up the “Red Sequence”, containing all lenticular and elliptical galaxies with a 2 order of magnitude mass interval, and systematically higher masses for the ellipticals. We confirm that the Green Plain cannot be studied using u - r optical colors because it is overlayed by the Red Sequence, hence NUV data are necessary. Galaxies across the Green Plain undergo a marked growth by a factor 2 to 3 in their bulge-to-total mass ratio and a systematic profile change from pseudo to classical bulges, as well as a significant reddening due to star formation fading in their disks. The Green Plain is also characterized by a maximum stellar mass of 10 11.7 M ⊙ beyond which only elliptical galaxies exist, hence supporting the scenario of ellipticals partly forming by major mergers of massive disk galaxies. Conclusions: The EFIGI attributes indicate that dynamical processes (spiral arms and isophote distortions) contribute to the scatter of the Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies (Blue Cloud), via the enhancement of star formation (flocculence, HII regions). The significant bulge growth across the Green Plain confirms that it is a transition region, and excludes a predominantly quick transit due to rapid quenching. The high frequency of bars for all spirals as well as the stronger spiral arms and flocculence in the knee of the Green Plain suggest that internal dynamics, likely triggered by flybys or (mainly minor) mergers, may be the key to the bulge growth of massive disk galaxies, which is a marker of the aging of galaxies from star forming to quiescence. The Hubble sequence can then be considered as an inverse sequence of galaxy physical evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗