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Observations at low redshift have begun to tease out the star formation rate in active galaxies (AGN), which marks the beginning of the black hole-star formation connection over cosmic time. Star formation appears to depend on AGN type, cluster richness, and black hole accretion, but in ways that are not direct and have yet to be understood. Much of the confusion is that while some AGN appear to enhance star formation, others seem to suppress it. By implementing simplified, yet informed assumptions about AGN feedback on star formation, we show how AGN with jets might be dominated by two phases in which star formation is first enhanced, then suppressed. With this new element incorporated into our model, we make sense of radio and quasar mode behavior in the star formation rate-stellar mass (SFR-SM) plane for AGN. Due to jet feedback on star formation, jetted AGN tend to move upwards and rightward in the SFR-SM plane and then downward and to the right, past both the star-forming main sequence (SFMS) as well as the radio-quiet AGN. This picture allows us to predict the black hole connection to star formation as a function of the environment over the history of the universe., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in the PASP Journal

We present results of using individual galaxies' probability distribution over redshift as a method of identifying potential catastrophic outliers in empirical photometric redshift estimation. In the course of developing this approach we develop a method of modification of the redshift distribution of training sets to improve both the baseline accuracy of high redshift (z>1.5) estimation as well as catastrophic outlier mitigation. We demonstrate these using two real test data sets and one simulated test data set spanning a wide redshift range (030%) of catastrophic outlier galaxies while simultaneously incorrectly flagging only a small percentage (10) percentage point decrease of outlier galaxies for z>1.5 with only a small (, Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, Published in PASP

Extragalactic very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) sources are unique objects to study the most powerful particle accelerators in nature, as active galactic nuclei are likely sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. BL Lacertae blazars are the most frequent extragalactic objects found in the VHE gamma-ray catalogs. It is very difficult to estimate their redshifts, considering they have no strong enough optical spectral features, hence ∼20% of them have unknown or poorly constrained redshifts. KUV 00311–1938 is a VHE BL Lacertae blazar, with an uncertain redshift in the range of 0.5 z z ≳ 0.475. We determined the redshifts of 41 galaxies observed in the field-of-view of the blazar and through a population study, identified three pairs and four groups consisting of 3 or 4 members with redshifts in the range z = 0.1468–0.4756. Due to the absence of a large group of galaxies, we could not associate KUV 00311–1938 with any of the groups detected.

The redshifted 21 cm line is an emerging tool in cosmology, in principle permitting three-dimensional surveys of our Universe that reach unprecedentedly large volumes, previously inaccessible length scales, and hitherto unexplored epochs of our cosmic timeline. Large radio telescopes have been constructed for this purpose, and in recent years there has been considerable progress in transforming 21 cm cosmology from a field of considerable theoretical promise to one of observational reality. Increasingly, practitioners in the field are coming to the realization that the success of observational 21cm cosmology will hinge on software algorithms and analysis pipelines just as much as it does on careful hardware design and telescope construction. This review provides a pedagogical introduction to state-of-the-art ideas in 21 cm data analysis, covering a wide variety of steps in a typical analysis pipeline, from calibration to foreground subtraction to mapmaking to power spectrum estimation to parameter estimation., 105 pages, 16 figures; Invited review for PASP; v2: replaced with accepted PASP version

Using data from the All Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS) we statistically detect the extended X-ray emission in the interstellar medium (ISM)/intracluster medium (ICM) in both active and normal galaxies at 0.3 ≤ z ≤ 1.3. For both active galactic nuclei (AGN) host galaxy and normal galaxy samples that are matched in restframe color, luminosity, and redshift distribution, we tentatively detect excess X-ray emission at scales of 1-10'' at a few σ significance in the surface brightness profiles. The exact significance of this detection is sensitive to the true characterization of Chandra's point-spread function. The observed excess in the surface brightness profiles is suggestive of lower extended emission in AGN hosts compared to normal galaxies. This is qualitatively similar to theoretical predictions of the X-ray surface brightness profile from AGN feedback models, where feedback from AGN is likely to evacuate the gas from the center of the galaxy/cluster. We propose that AGN that are intrinsically underluminous in X-rays, but have equivalent bolometric luminosities to our sources will be the ideal sample to study more robustly the effect of AGN feedback on diffuse ISM/ICM gas.

We reconsider the already published phenomenon of the blue shift of diffuse interstellar bands, observed in spectra of HD34078 (AE Aur) and members of the Sco OB1 association, in particular HD152233. We have analyzed 29 diffuse bands. Some of them, already proven as blue-shifted in our earlier study, are now confirmed using another instrument: the 6.5 m Clay telescope equipped with the MIKE spectrograph. The high signal-to-noise ratio (over 600) of our spectra allowed us to reveal even small small-scale displacements of positions (both blue and redshifts) of diffuse bands along the considered lines of sight. In some cases, the magnitude of deviation exceeds 10 km s-1. Also, we prove that profiles of many diffuse bands in spectra of HD34078 suffer significant broadening. The origin of the observed phenomena is discussed.

We present HIRES observations for 31 damped Lyα systems, selected on the basis of their large metal column densities from previous lower-resolution data. The measured metal column densities for Fe, Zn, S, Si, Cr, Mn, and Ni are provided for these 31 systems. Combined with previously observed large metal column density damped Lyα systems, we present a sample of 44 damped Lyα systems observed with high-resolution spectrographs (R ~ 30,000). These damped Lyα systems probe the most chemically evolved systems at redshifts greater than 1.5. We discuss the context of our sample with the general damped Lyα population, demonstrating that we are probing the top 10% of metal column densities with our sample. In a companion paper, we will present an analysis of the sample's elemental abundances in the context of galactic chemical enrichment.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will observe several stars for long cumulative durations while pursuing exoplanets as primary science targets for both Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) and very likely General Observer (GO) programs. Here we argue in favor of an automatic default parallels program to observe e.g., using the F200W/F277W filters or grism of NIRCAM/NIRISS in order to find high redshift (z >> 10) galaxies, cool red/brown dwarf-sub-stellar objects, Solar System objects, and observations of serendipitous planetary transits. We argue here the need for automated exploratory astrophysical observations with unused JWST instruments during these long duration exoplanet observations. Randomized fields that are observed in parallel mode reduce errors due to cosmic variance more effectively than single continuous fields of a typical wedding cake observing strategy (Trenti & Stiavelli 2008). Hence, we argue that the proposed automated survey will explore a unique and rich discovery space in high redshift Universe, Galactic structure, and Solar System. We show that the GTO and highly-probable GO target list of exoplanets covers the Galactic disk/halo and high redshift Universe, mostly well out of the plane of the disk of the Milky Way. Exposure times are of the order of the CEERS GTO medium deep survey in a single filter, comparable to CANDELS in HST's surveys and deep fields. The area covered by NIRISS and NIRCam combined could accumulate to a half square degree surveyed., 19 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication by PASP

In the near future, all-sky radio surveys are set to produce catalogues of tens of millions of sources with limited multi-wavelength photometry. Spectroscopic redshifts will only be possible for a small fraction of these new-found sources. In this paper, we provide the first in-depth investigation into the use of k-Nearest Neighbours Regression for the estimation of redshift of these sources. We use the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey radio data, combined with the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic Survey infra-red, the Dark Energy Survey optical and the Australian Dark Energy Survey spectroscopic survey data. We then reduce the depth of photometry to match what is expected from upcoming Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey, testing against both data sets. To examine the generalisation of our methods, we test one of the sub-fields of Australia Telescope Large Area Survey against the other. We achieve an outlier rate of ~10% across all tests, showing that the k-Nearest Neighbours regression algorithm is an acceptable method of estimating redshift, and would perform better given a sample training set with uniform redshift coverage., Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific special edition "Focus on Machine Intelligence in Astronomy and Astrophysics"

Future radio surveys will generate catalogues of tens of millions of radio sources, for which redshift estimates will be essential to achieve many of the science goals. However, spectroscopic data will be available for only a small fraction of these sources, and in most cases even the optical and infrared photometry will be of limited quality. Furthermore, radio sources tend to be at higher redshift than most optical sources and so a significant fraction of radio sources hosts differ from those for which most photometric redshift templates are designed. We therefore need to develop new techniques for estimating the redshifts of radio sources. As a starting point in this process, we evaluate a number of machine-learning techniques for estimating redshift, together with a conventional template-fitting technique. We pay special attention to how the performance is affected by the incompleteness of the training sample and by sparseness of the parameter space or by limited availability of ancillary multi-wavelength data. As expected, we find that the quality of the photometric-redshift degrades as the quality of the photometry decreases, but that even with the limited quality of photometry available for all sky-surveys, useful redshift information is available for the majority of sources, particularly at low redshift. We find that a template-fitting technique performs best with high-quality and almost complete multi-band photometry, especially if radio sources that are also X-ray emitting are treated separately. When we reduced the quality of photometry to match that available for the EMU all-sky radio survey, the quality of the template-fitting degraded and became comparable to some of the machine learning methods. Machine learning techniques currently perform better at low redshift than at high redshift, because of incompleteness of the currently available training data at high redshifts., Comment: Submitted to PASP

We analyze 10 years of Fermi gamma-ray observations of the high-redshift blazar S5 0836+71 (z = 2.172) that showed a strong flare in 2015 characterized by a several-fold increase in the gamma-ray flux within a few days. The discrete correlation function between the gamma-ray and the R band (AZT-8) shows a highly significant (>99.9% confidence) correlation with the gamma-ray variations leading the R band by about 75 days. The spectral energy distributions are modeled, with the adoption of a synchrotron self-Compton plus external Compton (EC) model, to discuss the reasons of transition between the low- and high-flux states. In both the pre-flare and flare states, the EC seed photons might be dominated by reprocessed emission from the dusty torus rather than the broadline region (BLR). This implies the location of radiating blob outside the BLR and inside the dusty torus. From the pre-flare state to the flare state, delta and B decrease, whereas N-0 and gamma(max) increase accordingly. The results of the modeling suggest that the increase in the total number of emitting electrons and hardening of the power spectrum of emitting electrons are primary causes of the flare in gamma-rays.

We have inspected all supernova discoveries reported during 2010 and 2011 (538 and 926 events, respectively). We examine the statistics of all discovered objects, as well as those of the subset of spectroscopically-confirmed events. In these two years we see the rise of wide-field non-targeted supernova surveys to prominence, with the largest numbers of events reported by the CRTS and PTF surveys (572 and 393 events in total respectively, contributing together 74% of all reported discoveries in 2011), followed by the integrated contribution of numerous amateurs (184 events). Among spectroscopically-confirmed events the PTF (393 events) leads, followed by CRTS (170 events), and amateur discoveries (144 events). Traditional galaxy-targeted surveys, such as LOSS and CHASE, maintain a strong contribution (86 and 61 events, respectively) with high spectroscopic completeness (~90% per cent). It is interesting to note that the community managed to provide substantial spectroscopic follow-up for relatively brighter amateur discoveries (=16.5 mag), but significant less help for fainter (and much more numerous) events promptly released by the CRTS (=18.6 mag). Inspecting discovery magnitude and redshift distributions we find that PS1 discoveries have similar properties (=21.6 mag, =0.23) to events found in previous seasons by cosmology-oriented projects (e.g., SDSS-II), while PTF (=19.2 mag, =0.095) and CRTS (=18.6 mag, =0.049) populate the relatively unexplored phase space of faint SNe (>19 mag) in nearby galaxies (mainly PTF), and events at 0.05, Comment: PASP, in press

The La Silla-QUEST Low Redshift Supernova Survey is a part of the La Silla-QUEST Southern Hemisphere Variability Survey. The survey uses the 10 deg210 deg2 QUEST camera installed at the prime focus of the 1.0-m Schmidt Telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile, and utilizes essentially all of the observing time of the telescope. The QUEST camera was installed on the ESO Schmidt telescope in 2009 after completing a 5 year variability survey in the northern hemisphere using the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar. La Silla-QUEST started science operations in 2009 September. The low redshift supernova survey commenced in 2011 December and is planned to continue for the next 4 years. In this article we describe the instrumentation, software, operation, and performance characteristics of the survey.

We present first results from a narrowband imaging program for intermediate-redshift emission-line galaxies using the newly commissioned FourStar infrared camera at the 6.5 m Magellan telescope. To enable prompt identification of Hα emitters, a pair of custom 1% filters, which sample low-airglow atmospheric windows at 1.19 μm and 2.10 μm, is used to detect both Hα and [O II] λ3727 emission from the same redshift volume at z = 2.2. Initial observations are taken over a 130 arcmin2 area in the CANDELS-COSMOS field. The exquisite image quality resulting from the combination of the instrument, telescope, and standard site conditions (~0.55'' FWHM) allows the 1.19 μm and 2.10 μm data to probe 3σ emission-line depths down to 1.0 × 10-17 erg s-1 cm-2 and 1.2 × 10-17 erg s-1 cm-2, respectively, in less than 10 hr of integration time in each narrow band. For Hα at z = 0.8 and z = 2.2, these fluxes correspond to observed star formation rates of ~0.3 and ~4 M⊙ yr-1, respectively. We find 122 sources with a 1.19 μm excess and 136 with a 2.10 μm excess, 41 of which show an excess in both bands. The dual-narrowband technique, as implemented here, is estimated to identify 80% of z = 2.2 Hα emitters in the narrowband excess population. With the most secure such sample obtained to date, we compute constraints on the faint-end slope of the z = 2.2 Hα luminosity function. Fitting of a pure power law gives α = -1.85 ± 0.31, which is steeper than other recent estimates based on coarser selection techniques, but consistent within the typically large uncertainties that currently characterize such measurements. Combining our LF points with those at higher luminosities from other work, the slope decreases to α = -1.58 ± 0.40. These "narrow-deep" FourStar observations have been obtained as part of the larger New Hα Survey, which will combine the data with "wide-shallow" imaging through a similar narrowband filter pair with NEWFIRM at the KPNO/CTIO 4 m telescopes, to enable study of both luminous (but rare) and faint emission-line galaxies in the intermediate-redshift universe.

He II λ4686 is identified in the spectra of nine of the original "Green Peas," a type of compact star-forming galaxy characterized by low mass; low metallicity; strong [O III] λλ4959, 5007; and redshifts in the range of ~0.1-0.4. Measured λ4686/Hβ ratios are roughly 1-2%, consistent with photoionization by Wolf-Rayet stars. Emission-line intensities are measured from Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra for 71 Green Peas and are used to determine Te-based abundances of O, N, Ne, S, and He. Neon abundances confirm the mass-metallicity relation inferred from O/H. The N/O ratio is roughly constant with O/H, and the average N/O is evidence of a modest nitrogen enhancement compared with other low-metallicity galaxies. Nitrogen enrichment could be due to Wolf-Rayet stars or to intermediate-mass stars during a previous quiescent period. The Te-based abundances allow a reevaluation of some of the strong-line methods favored for estimating O/H or N/O in large spectroscopic surveys of star-forming galaxies. Photoionization by Wolf-Rayet stars raises questions about the validity of strong-line methods based on [N II]/Hα, [N II]/[O III], or [N II]/[S II], as those line ratios are known to be ionization-sensitive. Analysis of these measurements shows that ionization, low metallicity, and the small variation in important line ratios in the Green Pea spectra all affect the behavior of one or more of the N2, O3N2, N2O2 and N2S2 strong-line methods. The previous findings for trends in O/H and N/O in the Green Peas can be reproduced and the discrepancies can be explained. In particular, the reported increase of N/O with O/H appears to be a bias introduced by combining N2 with N2S2. N2O2 does not give valid results in the Green Peas, while N2 and N2S2 do, although the calibrations of the N2 and N2S2 methods based on Green Pea abundances are different from the existing calibrations based primarily on abundances in extragalactic H II regions and H II galaxies.

The Hubble constant measured from the anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is shown to be independent of small changes from the standard model of the redshift dependence of dark energy. Modifications of the Friedmann equation to include phantom power (w < -1), textures (w = -2/3), and curvature are considered, and constraints on these dark energy contributors from supernova observations are derived. Modified values for the density of matter inferred from cosmic density perturbations and from the CMB under these circumstances are also estimated, as exemplified by 2dF and SDSS.

We study how the addition of on-board optical photometric bands to future space-based weak lensing instruments could affect the photometric redshift estimation of galaxies, and hence improve estimations of the dark energy parameters through weak lensing. Basing our study on the current proposed Euclid configuration and using a mock catalog of galaxy observations, various on-board options are tested and compared with the use of ground-based observations from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Pan-STARRS. Comparisons are made through the use of the dark energy Figure of Merit, which provides a quantifiable measure of the change in the quality of the scientific results that can be obtained in each scenario. Effects of systematic offsets between LSST and Euclid photometric calibration are also studied. We find that adding two (U and G) or even one (U) on-board optical band-passes to the space-based infrared instrument greatly improves its photometric redshift performance, bringing it close to the level that would be achieved by combining observations from both space-based and ground-based surveys while freeing the space mission from reliance on external datasets., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP. A high-quality version of Fig 1 can be found on http://www.ap.smu.ca/~sawicki/DEphotoz

We present an interactive IDL program for viewing and analyzing astronomical spectra in the context of modern imaging surveys. SpecPro's interactive design lets the user simultaneously view spectroscopic, photometric, and imaging data, allowing for rapid object classification and redshift determination. The spectroscopic redshift can be determined with automated cross-correlation against a variety of spectral templates or by overlaying common emission and absorption features on the 1-D and 2-D spectra. Stamp images as well as the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source can be displayed with the interface, with the positions of prominent photometric features indicated on the SED plot. Results can be saved to file from within the interface. In this paper we discuss key program features and provide an overview of the required data formats., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP) journal. Website: specpro.caltech.edu

Shifting the focus of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology to the near-infrared (NIR) is a promising way to significantly reduce the systematic errors, as the strategy minimizes our reliance on the empirical width-luminosity relation and uncertain dust laws. Observations in the NIR are also crucial for our understanding of the origins and evolution of these events, further improving their cosmological utility. Any future experiments in the rest-frame NIR will require knowledge of the SN Ia NIR spectroscopic diversity, which is currently based on a small sample of observed spectra. Along with the accompanying paper, Phillips et al. (2018), we introduce the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), to follow up nearby SNe Ia in both the optical and the NIR. In particular, this paper focuses on the CSP-II NIR spectroscopy program, describing the survey strategy, instrumental setups, data reduction, sample characteristics, and future analyses on the data set. In collaboration with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Supernova Group, we obtained 661 NIR spectra of 157 SNe Ia. Within this sample, 451 NIR spectra of 90 SNe Ia have corresponding CSP-II follow-up light curves. Such a sample will allow detailed studies of the NIR spectroscopic properties of SNe Ia, providing a different perspective on the properties of the unburned material, radioactive and stable nickel produced, progenitor magnetic fields, and searches for possible signatures of companion stars., 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PASP

The Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey (SHELS) is a magnitude-limited spectroscopically complete survey for R ≤ 21.0 covering 4 deg2. SHELS provides a large sample (15,513) of flux-calibrated spectra. The wavelength range covered by the spectra allows empirical determination of k-corrections for the g and r bands from z = 0 to ~0.68 and 0.33, respectively, based on large samples of spectra. We approximate the k-corrections using only two parameters in a standard way: Dn4000 and redshift, z. We use Dn4000 rather than the standard observed galaxy color, because Dn4000 is a redshift-independent tracer of the stellar population of the galaxy. Our approximations for the k-corrections using Dn4000 are as good as those based on observed galaxy color (g - r) (σ of the scatter is ~0.08 mag). The approximations for the k-corrections are available in an online calculator. Our results agree with previously determined analytical approximations from single stellar population (SSP) models fitted to multiband optical and near-infrared photometry for galaxies with a known redshift. Galaxies with the smallest Dn4000—the galaxies with the youngest stellar populations—are always attenuated and/or contain contributions from older stellar populations. We use simple single SSP fits to the SHELS spectra to study the influence of emission lines on the k-correction. The effects of emission lines can be ignored for rest-frame equivalent widths (REWs) 100 A, depending on required photometric accuracy. We also provide analytic approximations to the k-corrections determined from our model fits for z ≤ 0.7 as a function of redshift and Dn4000 for ugriz and UBVRI (σ of the scatter is typically ~0.10 mag, and the rms is typically ~0.15 mag). Again, the approximations using Dn4000 are as good as those based on a suitably chosen observed galaxy color. We provide all analytical approximations in an online calculator.

CfunBASE is a customizable C# cosmological functions library in the .NET framework. Its primary use is in CasJobs/SkyServer, where the functions are ported into a MS-SQL Server database hosting the SDSS science archive, and can be executed through simple T-SQL commands. This gives cloud-computing users the possibility of calculating cosmological distances, volumes and times as a function of redshift, as well as their respective inverse functions. Also included are basic data exploratory analysis tools, such as binning, N-dimensional weighted histograms, and quantile and cumulative distribution aggregate functions. Advanced astronomical examples are presented and discussed, such as the T-SQL implementation and fast computation of luminosity functions, color-magnitude diagrams, and the friends-of-friends galaxy cluster identification algorithm.

Spectrum-energy correlations of peak energy with total prompt γ-ray emission energies, namely , , and , had been studied for long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) previously by many authors. These energy correlations were proposed to measure the universe and classify GRBs as useful probes. However, most of these relations were built by non-Swift bursts. The spectrum-energy correlations of short bursts have not been systematically established yet; in particular, how the newly found GRB170817A matches these energy relations is unknown to date. We will first refresh the three spectrum-energy relations of Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM long bursts and build the corresponding relations of short bursts. Then, we confirm whether they are commonly available as a discriminator of short and long GRBs. Some potential violators to these relations will be investigated. Combining with the plane of peak energy versus fluence, we select 31 short and 252 long GRBs with well-measured peak energy and redshift to study the issue of GRB classifications connected with the above energy relations statistically. We find that the three energy relations do exist in our new GRB samples and they are marginally consistent with some previous results. We report for the first time that short GRBs hold the three corresponding energy relations having the consistent power-law indices with long GRBs. It is found that these energy relations can be adopted to discriminate GRBs successfully if they are put in the peak energy versus fluence plane. Excitingly, we point out that GRB090510 matches the energy relations of and , but violates the relation. More excitingly, we find that GRB170817A is an outlier to all the three energy correlations.

The Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) combines data from NASA's Spitzer, Chandra, Hubble and GALEX observatories, together with ground-based data into a comprehensive imaging and spectroscopic survey of over 200 low redshift Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). The LIRGs are a complete subset of the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS). The LIRGs targeted in GOALS span the full range of nuclear spectral types defined via traditional optical line-ratio diagrams as well as interaction stages. They provide an unbiased picture of the processes responsible for enhanced infrared emission in galaxies in the local Universe. As an example of the analytic power of the multi-wavelength GOALS dataset, we present data for the interacting system VV 340 (IRAS F14547+2449). Between 80-95% of the total far-infrared emission (or about 5E11 solar luminosities) originates in VV 340 North. While the IRAC colors of VV 340 North and South are consistent with star-forming galaxies, both the Spitzer IRS and Chandra ACIS data indicate the presence of a buried AGN in VV 340 North. The GALEX far and near-UV fluxes imply a extremely large infrared "excess" (IRX) for the system (IR/FUV = 81) which is well above the correlation seen in starburst galaxies. Most of this excess is driven by VV 340 N, which alone has an IR excess of nearly 400. The VV 340 system seems to be comprised of two very different galaxies - an infrared luminous edge-on galaxy (VV 340 North) that dominates the long-wavelength emission from the system and which hosts a buried AGN, and a face-on starburst (VV 340 South) that dominates the short-wavelength emission., 17 pages, 2 tables, 7 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in PASP. Updated manuscript includes complete source table (Table 1)

We bring you, as usual, the Sun and Moon and stars, plus some galaxies and a new section on astrobiology. Some highlights are short (the newly identified class of gamma-ray bursts, and the Deep Impact on Comet 9P/ Tempel 1), some long (the age of the universe, which will be found to have the Earth at its center), and a few metonymic, for instance the term "down-sizing" to describe the evolution of star formation rates with redshift., Comment: 1 fig

The galaxy cluster RX J0152.7−1357 at \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $z=0.8325$ \end{document} is one of the most luminous X‐ray clusters known. It is elongated toward the bright, nearby, X‐ray active galaxy NGC 720 about 14 \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcomm...

We have developed a CHi-square cOde for parameteRized modelIng and characteriZation of phOtometry and Spectrophotometry (CHORIZOS). CHORIZOS can use up to two intrinsic free parameters (e.g. temperature and gravity for stars; type and redshift for galaxies; or age and metallicity for stellar clusters) and two extrinsic ones (amount and type of extinction). The code uses chi-square minimization to find all models compatible with the observed data in the model N-dimensional (N=1,2,3,4) parameter space. CHORIZOS can use either correlated or uncorrelated colors as input and is especially designed to identify possible parameter degeneracies and multiple solutions. The code is written in IDL and is available to the astronomical community. Here we present the techniques used, test the code, apply it to a few well-known astronomical problems, and suggest possible applications. As a first scientific result from CHORIZOS, we confirm from photometry the need for a revised temperature-spectral type scale for OB stars previously derived from spectroscopy.

We present the results from an automated search for damped Lya (DLA) systems in the quasar spectra of Data Release 1 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR1). At z~2.5, this homogeneous dataset has greater statistical significance than the previous two decades of research. We derive a statistical sample of 71 damped Lya systems (>50 previously unpublished) at z>2.1 and measure HI column densities directly from the SDSS spectra. The number of DLA systems per unit redshift is consistent with previous measurements and we expect our survey has >95% completeness. We examine the cosmological baryonic mass density of neutral gas Omega_g inferred from the damped Lya systems from the SDSS-DR1 survey and a combined sample drawn from the literature. Contrary to previous results, the Omega_g values do not require a significant correction from Lyman limit systems at any redshift. We also find that the Omega_g values for the SDSS-DR1 sample do not decline at high redshift and the combined sample shows a (statistically insignificant) decrease only at z>4. Future data releases from SDSS will provide the definitive survey of DLA systems at z~2.5 and will significantly reduce the uncertainty in Omega_g at higher redshift.

We review recent theoretical results on the formation of the first stars and quasars in the universe, and emphasize related open questions. In particular, we list important differences between the star formation process at high redshifts and in the present-day universe. We address the importance of heavy elements in bringing about the transition from an early star formation mode dominated by massive stars, to the familiar mode dominated by low mass stars, at later times. We show how gamma-ray bursts can be utilized to probe the first epoch of star formation. Finally, we discuss how the first supermassive black holes could have formed through the direct collapse of primordial gas clouds., 11 pages, invited contribution to Proc. of 13th Annual October Astrophysics Conference in Maryland, "The Emergence of Cosmic Structure", College Park, October 2002, version with full resolution Figs. at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~vbromm/REVIEW/

The SIRTF Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey (SWIRE), the largest SIRTF Legacy program, is a wide-area, imaging survey to trace the evolution of dusty, star-forming galaxies, evolved stellar populations, and AGN as a function of environment, from redshifts z~3 to the current epoch. SWIRE will survey 7 high-latitude fields, totaling 60 - 65 sq. deg. in all 7 SIRTF bands: IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.6, 8 microns and MIPS 24, 70, 160 microns. The Legacy Extragalactic Catalog may contain in excess of 2 million IR-selected galaxies, dominated by (1) ~150,000 luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs: L{FIR}>10^11 L_sun), ~7000 of these with z>2; (2) 1 million early-type galaxies, ~10,000 with z>2; and (3) \~20,000 classical AGN, plus significantly more dust-obscured QSO/AGN among the LIRGs. SWIRE will provide an unprecedented view of the evolution of galaxies, structure, and AGN. The key scientific goals of SWIRE are: (1) to determine the evolution of actively star-forming and passively evolving galaxies in order to understand the history of galaxy formation in the context of cosmic structure formation; (2) to determine the evolution of the spatial distribution and clustering of evolved galaxies, starbursts and AGN in the key redshift range, 0.5, Comment: 65 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the P.A.S.P. Aug. 2003

This has been the Year of the Baryon. Some low temperature ones were seen at high redshift, some high temperature ones were seen at low redshift, and some cooling ones were (probably) reheated. Astronomers saw the back of the Sun (which is also made of baryons), a possible solution to the problem of ejection of material by Type II Supernovae (in which neutrinos push out baryons), the production of R Coronae Borealis stars (previously-owned baryons), and perhaps found the missing satellite galaxies (whose failing is that they have no baryons). A few questions were left unanswered for next year, and an attempt is made to discuss these as well.

We discuss optical and infrared emission from the putative planetary nebula in the young open cluster NGC 3572. Velocity images of [N ii] λ6583 obtained with the Rutgers/CTIO Fabry‐Perot interferometer reveal that most gas in the nebula is expanding at velocities ≲5 km s \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $^{-1}$ \end{document} , with marginal evidence for bipolar expansion. A few outer condensations are seen at faster redshifted velocities, but their origin is uncertain. Optical spectra reveal a spatial exc...

The measurement of the cosmological parameters from Type Ia supernovae hinges on our ability to compare nearby and distant supernovae accurately. Here we present an advance on a method for performing generalized K-corrections for Type Ia supernovae which allows us to compare these objects from the UV to near-IR over the redshift range 0, Comment: Accepted for the August issue of PASP. 39 pages, 15 figures

The optically variable source SDSS J124602.54+011318.8 first appears in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data as a bright point source with nonstellar colors. Subsequent SDSS imaging and spectroscopy showed that the point source declined or disappeared, revealing an underlying host galaxy at redshift 0.385. Based on these properties, the source was suggested to be a candidate ``orphan afterglow'': a moderately beamed optical transient, associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB) whose highly beamed radiation cone does not include our line of sight. We present new imaging and spectroscopic observations of this source. When combined with a careful re-analysis of archival optical and radio data, the observations prove that SDSS J124602.54+011318.8 is in fact an unusual radio-loud AGN, probably in the BL Lac class. The object displays strong photometric variability on time scales of weeks to years, including several bright flares, similar to the one initially reported. The SDSS observations are therefore almost certainly not related to a GRB. The optical spectrum of this object dramatically changes in correlation with its optical brightness. At the bright phase, weak, narrow oxygen emission lines and probably a broader H$\alpha$ line are superposed on a blue continuum. As the flux decreases, the spectrum becomes dominated by the host galaxy light, with emerging stellar absorption lines, while both the narrow and broad emission lines have larger equivalent widths. We briefly discuss the implications of this discovery on the study of AGNs and other optically variable or transient phenomena.

Deep, ground based, optical wide-field supernova searches are capable of detecting a large number of supernovae over a broad redshift range up to z~1.5. While it is practically unfeasible to obtain spectroscopic redshifts of all the supernova candidates right after the discovery, we show that the magnitudes and colors of the host galaxies, as well as the supernovae, can be used to select high-z supernova candidates, for subsequent spectroscopic and photometric follow-up. Using Monte-Carlo simulations we construct criteria for selecting galaxies in well-defined redshift bands. For example, with a selection criteria using B-R and R-I colors we are able to pick out potential host galaxies for which z>0.85 with 80% confidence level and with a selection efficiency of 64-86%. The method was successfully tested using real observations from the HDF. Similarly, we show that that the magnitude and colors of the supernova discovery data can be used to constrain the redshift. With a set of cuts based on V-R and R-I in a search to m_I~25, supernovae at z~1 can be selected in a redshift interval sigma_z, 33 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PASP (March 2002 issue)

The abundances of groups and clusters of galaxies are expected to have changed substantially since high redshift, with the strength of this evolution dependent upon fundamental cosmological parameters. Upcoming large redshift surveys of distant galaxies will make it possible to measure these quantities at z~1; when combined with the results of local redshift surveys currently underway, the evolution of cluster abundances may be determined. The DEEP2 Redshift Survey, planned to begin in Spring 2002, is particularly well-suited for this work because of the high spectroscopic resolution to be used; velocity dispersions of groups will be readily measurable. In this paper, we determine the constraints on dark energy models that counts of DEEP2 clusters should provide. We find that comparing cosmological models using the simultaneous distribution of clusters in both velocity dispersion and redshift yields significantly stronger constraints than the redshift distribution alone. The method can be made more powerful by employing a value of the fluctuation amplitude sigma_8 determined with upcoming techniques (external to DEEP2) that have no Omega_m degeneracy. The equation-of-state parameter for dark energy models, w=P/rho, can then be measured to ~0.1 from observations of clusters alone., 10 pages plus 5 figures; approved for publication in PASP

Hot dust-obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs) are a new population recently discovered in the \wise All-Sky survey. Multiwavelength follow-up observations suggest that they are luminous, dust-obscured quasars at high redshift. Here we present the JCMT SCUBA-2 850 $\mu m$ follow-up observations of 10 Hot DOGs. Four out of ten Hot DOGs have been detected at $>3\sigma$ level. Based on the IR SED decomposition approach, we derive the IR luminosities of AGN torus and cold dust components. Hot DOGs in our sample are extremely luminous with most of them having $L_{\rm IR}^{\rm tot}>10^{14} L_\odot$. The torus emissions dominate the total IR energy output. However, the cold dust contribution is still non-negligible, with the fraction of the cold dust contribution to the total IR luminosity $(\sim 8-24\%)$ being dependent on the choice of torus model. The derived cold dust temperatures in Hot DOGs are comparable to those in UV bright quasars with similar IR luminosity, but much higher than those in SMGs. Higher dust temperatures in Hot DOGs may be due to the more intense radiation field caused by intense starburst and obscured AGN activities. Fourteen and five submillimeter serendipitous sources in the 10 SCUBA-2 fields around Hot DOGs have been detected at $>3\sigma$ and $>3.5\sigma$ levels, respectively. By estimating their cumulative number counts, we confirm the previous argument that Hot DOGs lie in dense environments. Our results support the scenario in which Hot DOGs are luminous, dust-obscured quasars lying in dense environments, and being in the transition phase between extreme starburst and UV-bright quasars., Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, PASP accepted

Presence of dust in galaxies removes half or more of the stellar energy from the UV-optical budget of the Universe and has profound impact on our understanding of how galaxies evolve. Measures of opacity in local galaxies are reviewed together with widely used theoretical and empirical methods for quantifying its effects. Existing evidence shows that the dust content of nearby galaxies depends not only on their morphology, but also on their luminosity and activity level. A digression is devoted to starbursts in view of their potential relevance for measures of opacity in distant galaxies. Scarcity of coherent multiwavelength datasets hampers our ability to derive reliable obscuration estimates in intermediate and high redshift galaxies. This, in turn, limits the reliability of inferred physical quantities, such as star formation rates, stellar population ages, galaxy luminosity functions, and others., Comment: Invited Review for PASP, to appear in December 2001. 84 pages, including 6 tables and 11 embedded figures; uses AAS Latex macro

Nearly 4 years ago, two teams of observational astronomers reported that high-redshift Type Ia supernovae are fainter than expected in a decelerating or freely coasting universe. The radical conclusion that the universe has been accelerating in the past few billion years, possibly because of a nonzero value for Einstein's cosmological constant, has gripped the worlds of astronomy and physics, causing a flurry of new research. Having participated on both teams (but much more closely with one than the other), here I provide a personal, historical account of the story., To appear in the December 2001 issue of PASP, as part of the `Millennium Essay' series. Text and abstract revised in some locations

We describe the scientific motivation behind, and the methodology of, the Stanford Cluster Search (StaCS), a program to compile a catalog of optically selected galaxy clusters at intermediate and high (0.3 z 1) redshifts. The clusters are identified using a matched filter algorithm applied to deep CCD images covering ~60 deg2 of sky. These images are obtained from several data archives, principally that of the Berkeley Supernova Cosmology Project of Perlmutter et al. Potential clusters are confirmed with spectroscopic observations at the 9.2 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Follow-up observations at optical, submillimeter, and X-ray wavelengths are planned in order to estimate cluster masses. Our long-term scientific goal is to measure the cluster number density as a function of mass and redshift, n(M, z), which is sensitive to the cosmological density parameter Ωm and the amplitude of density fluctuations σ8. The combined data set will contain clusters ranging over an order of magnitude in mass and allow constraints on these parameters accurate to ~10%. We present our first spectroscopically confirmed cluster candidates and describe how to access them electronically.

Redshift surveys remain an important constraint on cosmological parameters and a key to characterizing the nature and evolution of the large‐scale distribution of galaxies. I discuss redshift surveys as a route to exploration of other issues associated with large‐scale structure including the low surface brightness universe and the links between star formation and the galaxy distribution.

We discuss the utility of a low-resolution prism as a component of a multiobject spectrometer for NASA's proposed Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Low-resolution prism spectroscopy permits simultaneous observation of the 0.6-5 μm wavelength regime at R 50. Such data can take advantage of modern techniques in spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to determine source redshifts, sometimes called "photometric redshifts." We compare simulated prism observations with filter imaging for this purpose with NGST. Low-resolution prism observations of galaxy SEDs provide a significant advantage over multifilter observations for any realistic observing strategy. For an ideal prism in sky background-limited observing, the prism has a signal-to-noise ratio advantage of the square root of the resolution over serial observations by filters with similar spatial and spectral resolution in equal integration time. For a realistic case the advantage is slightly less, and we have performed extensive simulations to quantify it. We define strict criteria for the recovery of input redshifts, such that to be considered a success, redshift residuals must be δz 30) objects at high redshift (z > 4), where the prism recovers 80% of redshifts, while the filters recover barely 35% to similar accuracy. The primary discovery space of NGST will be at the faintest magnitudes and the highest redshifts. Many important objects will be too faint for follow-up at higher spectral resolution, so prism observations are the optimal technique to study them. Prism observations also reduce the contamination of high-redshift samples by lower redshift interlopers.

This paper describes spectra of quasar candidates acquired during the commissioning phase of the Low-Resolution Spectrograph of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. The objects were identified as possible quasars from multicolor image data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The ten sources had typical r' magnitudes of 19-20, except for one extremely red object with r' of approximately 23. The data, obtained with exposure times between 10 and 25 minutes, reveal that the spectra of four candidates are essentially featureless and are not quasars, five are quasars with redshifts between 2.92 and 4.15 (including one Broad Absorption Line quasar), and the red source is a very late M