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We resolve the multiple images of the binary-lens microlensing event ASASSN-22av using the GRAVITY instrument of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). The light curves show weak binary perturbations, complicating the analysis, but the joint modeling with the VLTI data breaks several degeneracies, arriving at a strongly favored solution. Thanks to precise measurements of angular Einstein radius \theta_E = 0.724 +/- 0.002 mas and microlens parallax, we determine that the lens system consists of two M dwarfs with masses of M_1 = 0.258 +/- 0.008 M_sun and M_2 = 0.130 +/- 0.007 M_sun, a projected separation of r_\perp = 6.83 +/- 0.31 AU and a distance of D_L = 2.29 +/- 0.08 kpc. The successful VLTI observations of ASASSN-22av open up a new path for studying intermediate-separation (i.e., a few AUs) stellar-mass binaries, including those containing dark compact objects such as neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes., Comment: Accepted by ApJ. See the ancillary file for animation associated with Fig. 8

MICADO is a first-generation instrument for the ELT. It will provide diffraction-limited imaging in standard, astrometric, and coronagraphic modes and long-slit spectroscopy at near-infrared wavelengths. The core of the MICADO instrument is its cryostat, which cools the internal optical and mechanical subsystems to 80 K. Following a light ray entering the cryostat through the entrance window, the first mechanism it encounters is the Focal Plane Mechanism. It consists of two independent movable devices mounted in one assembly: the aperture wheel and the focal plane wheel. The primary purpose of the aperture wheel is to rapidly block the light path, which is needed to mitigate persistence on the detectors. The focal plane wheel holds field stops, calibration masks, slits, and coronagraphs. The positioning requirements for the wheel are dominated by the coronographic masks demanding a 15 $\mu$m RMS repeatability. To fulfill this specification and avoid mechanical wear in the drive, a novel magnetically coupled gear system was developed at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). A magnetically coupled worm gear uses magnetic forces to transmit torque from the motor to the driven component without direct mechanical contact. This paper describes the design and performance of the magnetic drive and the first results of the focal plane wheel prototype tests in a cryogenic environment., Comment: Proceeding of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024

MICADO, the European Extremely Large Telescope first light imager will feature a dedicated high contrast imaging mode specifically designed for observing and characterizing exoplanets and circumstellar disks. Two sparse aperture masks (SAM) will be included, consisting of opaque masks with a set of holes arranged in a non-redundant configuration. Pupil masking transforms a monolithic telescope into an interferometer, with the aim of recovering spatial information down to the diffraction limit of the telescope and below, even in the presence of residual aberrations, such as turbulent AO residuals, and non common path aberrations. On the ELT, SAM will enable the detection of features down to 3.3mas in the J band, 12mas in the K band. Two designs have been chosen and will be reviewed, with complementarity in terms of sensitivity and spatial frequency coverage for image reconstruction. In this contribution, the technical choices will be detailed, such as the hole diameter and arrangement, given the technical constraints such as spectral filter bandwidths, detector dimensions, sampling, read-out-noise and frame rate. We will also report on simulations performed to assess the expected capabilities of this mode, with application examples of close companion detection and contrast curves., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

We present the Python pipeline that was developed to simulate the high contrast mode images of the MICADO instrument. This mode will comprise three classical Lyot coronagraphs with different occulting spot sizes, one vector apodized phase plate, and two sparse aperture masks. One critical aspect of these modes lies in their sensitivity to aberrations, requiring careful integration of non common path aberrations, as well as turbulent adaptive optics (AO) residuals. Besides, they will be operated following a specific observing strategy based on pupil tracking mode. For these reasons, we have developed the MICADO SimulaTor for HIgh Contrast (MISTHIC) pipeline to simulate realistic image cubes and derive the expected performance of these modes. Several sources of aberrations can be included: turbulent AO residuals, but also static or rotating aberrations, amplitude aberrations, simple Zernike screens... Including MICADO's specific features, such as the absence of atmospheric dispersion prior to the coronagraphic focal plane mask, our intent is to make this pipeline available to the community. This tool can be used to prepare scientific observations with the high contrast mode of MICADO, by predicting the performance to be expected within the most realistic assumptions., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

Near-infrared long-slit spectroscopy has been used to study the stellar population (SP) of the low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) and matched analogues (LLAMA) sample. To perform the SP fits we have employed the X-shooter simple stellar population models together with the \st\ code. Our main conclusions are: The star formation history of the AGNs is very complex, presenting many episodes of star formation during their lifetimes. In general, AGN hosts have higher fractions of intermediate-age SP (light-weighted mean ages, $_L\lesssim$ 4.5 Gyr) when compared with their analogues ($_L\lesssim$ 8.0 Gyr). AGN are more affected by reddening and require significant fractions of featureless continuum and hot dust components. The ratio between the AGN radiated energy and the gravitational potential energy of the molecular gas ($E_{Rad}$/$E_{PG}$) for the AGN is compared with the \maL\ and a possible anti-correlation is observed. This suggests that the AGN is affecting the star formation in these galaxies, in the sense that more energetic AGN (log$(E_{Rad}$/$E_{PG}) \gtrsim 3$) tend to host nuclear younger SP ($ _L \lesssim$4Gyr). We found that the recent ($t<$2~Gyr) returned (recycled) stellar mass is higher in AGN than in the controls. We also provide evidence that the mass loss of stars would be enough to feed the AGN, thus providing observational constraints for models that predict that AGN feeding is partially due to the recycled gas from dying stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Polar dust has been discovered in a number of local Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), with radiation-driven torus models predicting a wind to be its main driver. However, little is known about its characteristics, spatial extent, or connection to the larger scale outflows. We present the first JWST/MIRI study aimed at imaging polar dust by zooming onto the centre of ESO 428-G14, part of the Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS) survey of local AGN. We detect extended mid-infrared (MIR) emission within 200 pc from the nucleus. This polar structure is co-linear with a radio jet and lies perpendicular to a molecular gas lane that feeds and obscures the nucleus. Its morphology bears a striking resemblance to that of gas ionised by the AGN in the narrow-line region. We demonstrate that part of this spatial correspondence is due to contamination within the JWST filter bands from strong emission lines. Correcting for the contamination, we find the morphology of the dust continuum to be more compact, though still clearly extended out to ~ 100 pc. We estimate the emitting dust has a temperature of ~ 120 K. Using simple models, we find that the heating of small dust grains by the radiation from the central AGN and/or radiative jet-induced shocks is responsible for the extended MIR emission. Radiation-driven dusty winds from the torus is unlikely to be important. This has important implications for scales to which AGN winds can carry dust and dense gas out into their host galaxies., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Published in MNRAS

We present new optical GTC/MEGARA seeing-limited (0.9") integral-field observations of NGC 5506, together with ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) transition at a 0.2" (25 pc) resolution. NGC 5506 is a luminous (bolometric luminosity of $\sim 10^{44}$ erg/s) nearby (26 Mpc) Seyfert galaxy, part of the Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). We modelled the CO(3-2) kinematics with 3D-Barolo, revealing a rotating and outflowing cold gas ring within the central 1.2 kpc. We derived an integrated cold molecular gas mass outflow rate for the ring of 8 M$_{\odot}$/yr. We fitted the optical emission lines with a maximum of two Gaussian components to separate rotation from non-circular motions. We detected high [OIII]$\lambda$5007 projected velocities (up to 1000 km/s) at the active galactic nucleus (AGN) position, decreasing with radius to an average 330 km/s around 350 pc. We also modelled the [OIII] gas kinematics with a non-parametric method, estimating the ionisation parameter and electron density in every spaxel, from which we derived an ionised mass outflow rate of 0.076 M$_{\odot}$/yr within the central 1.2 kpc. Regions of high CO(3-2) velocity dispersion, extending to projected distances of 350 pc from the AGN, appear to be the result from the interaction of the AGN wind with molecular gas in the galaxy's disc. Additionally, we find the ionised outflow to spatially correlate with radio and soft X-ray emission in the central kiloparsec. We conclude that the effects of AGN feedback in NGC 5506 manifest as a large-scale ionised wind interacting with the molecular disc, resulting in outflows extending to radial distances of 610 pc, Comment: 24 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics

The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has been providing breakthrough images of the dust in the central parsecs of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), a key component of the AGN unification scheme and AGN host galaxy interaction. In single IR bands, the images can have multiple interpretations some of which could challenge the unification scheme. This is the case for the archetypal type 2 AGN of NGC1068. The ambiguity is reduced by multi-band temperature maps which are hindered by uncertainty in intra-band alignment. We create a chromatic model capable of simultaneously explaining the VLTI GRAVITY+MATISSE 2$\mu$m-13$\mu$m observations of the AGN in NGC1068. We use a simple disk and wind geometry populated with spherical black body emitters and dust obscuration to create a versatile multi-wavelength model for IR interferometric data of dusty objects. This simple geometry is capable of reproducing the K-N-band VLTI data, explains the complex single band images, and solves the alignment between bands. We find that the resulting geometry is consistent with previous studies. Compared to molecular gas emission, our model wind position angle (PA) of $22^3_2{\deg}$ is close to the mas scale outflowing CO(6-5) PA of ~33{\deg} seen with the ALMA. The equivalent 90{\deg} offset model disk PA is also consistent with the CO(6-5) disk axis of 112{\deg} as well as the mas scale disk axis from CO(2-1), CO(3-2), and HCO$^+$(4-3) of 115$\pm$5{\deg}. Furthermore, the resulting model visually resembles the equivalent achromatic image reconstructions. We conclude that the IR emitting structure surrounding the AGN can indeed be explained by the clumpy disk+wind iteration of the AGN unification scheme. Within the scheme, we find it is best explained as a type 2 and the obscuring dust chemistry is consistent with a mix of olivine silicates and 16$\pm$1% amorphous carbon., Comment: 15 pages, 19 appendix pages, 23 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) is a new adaptive optics instrument installed at the Cassegrain focus of the VLT-UT4 telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. ERIS consists of two near-infrared instruments: SPIFFIER, an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph covering J to K bands, and NIX, an imager covering J to M bands. ERIS has an adaptive optics system able to work with both LGS and NGS. The Assembly Integration Verification (AIV) phase of ERIS at the Paranal Observatory was carried out starting in December 2021, followed by several commissioning runs in 2022. This contribution will describe the first preliminary results of the on-sky performance of ERIS during its commissioning and the future perspectives based on the preliminary scientific results., Comment: Proceeding of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022

Current state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) provides ground-based, diffraction-limited observations with high Strehl ratios (SR). However, a detailed knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) is required to fully exploit the scientific potential of these data. This is even more crucial for the next generation AO instruments that will equip 30-meter class telescopes, as the characterization of the PSF will be mandatory to fulfill the planned scientific requirements. For this reason, there is a growing interest in developing tools that accurately reconstruct the observed PSF of AO systems, the so-called PSF reconstruction. In this context, a PSF-R service is a planned deliverable for the MICADO@ELT instrument and our group is in charge of its development. In the case of MICADO, a blind PSF-R approach is being pursued to have the widest applicability to science cases. This means that the PSF is reconstructed without extracting information from the science data, relying only on telemetry and calibrations. While our PSF-R algorithm is currently being developed, its implementation is mature enough to test performances with actual observations. In this presentation we will discuss the reliability of our reconstructed PSFs and the uncertainties introduced in the measurements of scientific quantities for bright, on-axis observations taken with the SOUL+LUCI instrument of the LBT. This is the first application of our algorithm to real data. It demonstrates its readiness level and paves the way to further testing. Our PSF-R algorithm is able to reconstruct the SR and full-width at half maximum of the observed PSFs with errors smaller than 2% and 4.5%, respectively. We carried out the scientific evaluation of the obtained reconstructed PSFs thanks to a dedicated set of simulated observations of an ideal science case., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Proceeding of the SPIE conference Adaptive Optics Systems VIII, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022 (paper 12185-12). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2209.01563

MICADO is a workhorse instrument for the ESO ELT, allowing first light capability for diffraction limited imaging and long-slit spectroscopy at near-infrared wavelengths. The PSF Reconstruction (PSF-R) Team of MICADO is currently implementing, for the first time within all ESO telescopes, a software service devoted to the blind reconstruction of the PSF. This tool will work independently of the science data, using adaptive optics telemetry data, both for Single Conjugate (SCAO) and Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) allowed by the MORFEO module. The PSF-R service will support the state-of-the-art post-processing scientific analysis of the MICADO imaging and spectroscopic data. We provide here an update of the status of the PSF-R service tool of MICADO, after successfully fulfilling the Final Design Review phase, and discuss recent results obtained on simulated and real data gathered on instruments similar to MICADO., Comment: to appear in the Proceedings 12185-149 of the SPIE conference Adaptive Optics Systems VIII, Astronomical Telescopes+Instrumentation 2022 Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; updated affiliations

This paper presents the status of an ongoing project aimed at developing a PSF reconstruction software for adaptive optics (AO) observations. In particular, we test for the first time the implementation of pyramid wave-front sensor data on our algorithms. As a first step in assessing its reliability, we applied the software to bright, on-axis, point-like sources using two independent sets of observations, acquired with the single-conjugated AO upgrade for the Large Binocular Telescope. Using only telemetry data, we reconstructed the PSF by carefully calibrating the instrument response. The accuracy of the results has been first evaluated using the classical metric: specifically, the reconstructed PSFs differ from the observed ones by less than 2% in Strehl ratio and 4.5% in full-width at half maximum. Moreover, the recovered encircled energy associated with the PSF core is accurate at 4% level in the worst case. The accuracy of the reconstructed PSFs has then been evaluated by considering an idealized scientific test-case consisting in the measurements of the morphological parameters of a compact galaxy. In the future, our project will include the analysis of anisoplanatism, low SNR regimes, and the application to multi-conjugated AO observations., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems

We use Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) adaptive optics assisted data-cubes to map the stellar population of the inner few hundred parsecs of a sample of 18 nearby Seyfert galaxies. The near-infrared light is dominated by the contribution of young to intermediate old stellar populations, with light-weighted mean ages $_L\ \lesssim $ 1.5\,Gyr. Hot dust ($HD$) emission is centrally peaked (in the unresolved nucleus), but it is also needed to reproduce the continuum beyond the nucleus in nearly half of the sample. We have analysed the stellar population properties of the nuclear region and their relation with more global properties of the galaxies. We find a correlation between the X-ray luminosity and the contributions from the $HD$, featureless continuum $FC$ and reddening $A_V$. We attribute these correlations to the fact that all these properties are linked to the mass accretion rate to the active galactic nuclei (AGN). We also find a correlation of the bolometric luminosity $log(LBol_{obs})$ with the mass-weighted mean age of the stellar population, interpreted as due a delay between the formation of new stars and the triggering/feeding of the AGN. The gas reaching the supermassive black hole is probably originated from mass loss from the already somewhat evolved intermediate-age stellar population ($_L \lesssim $ 1.5\,Gyr). In summary, our results show that there is a significant fraction of young to intermediate age stellar populations in the inner few 100\,pc of active galaxies, suggesting that this region is facing a rejuvenation process in which the AGN, once triggered, precludes further star formation, in the sense that it can be associated with the lack of new star formation in the nuclear region., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Multi-adaptive optics Imaging CamerA for Deep Observations (MICADO) will image a field of view of nearly 1 arcminute at the diffraction limit of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), making use of the adaptive optics correction provided by single-conjugate adaptive optics (SCAO) and multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO). Its simple and robust design will yield an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and resolution across the field. This article outlines the characteristics of the observing modes offered and illustrates each of them with an astrophysical application. Potential users can explore their own ideas using the data simulator ScopeSim., Comment: Published in the ESO Messenger, issue 182

We present a detailed study of the molecular gas content and stellar population properties of three massive galaxies at 1 < z < 1.3 that are in different stages of quenching. The galaxies were selected to have a quiescent optical/near-infrared spectral energy distribution and a relatively bright emission at 24 micron, and show remarkably diverse properties. CO emission from each of the three galaxies is detected in deep NOEMA observations, allowing us to derive molecular gas fractions Mgas/Mstar of 13-23%. We also reconstruct the star formation histories by fitting models to the observed photometry and optical spectroscopy, finding evidence for recent rejuvenation in one object, slow quenching in another, and rapid quenching in the third system. To better constrain the quenching mechanism we explore the depletion times for our sample and other similar samples at z~0.7 from the literature. We find that the depletion times are highly dependent on the method adopted to measure the star formation rate: using the UV+IR luminosity we obtain depletion times about 6 times shorter than those derived using dust-corrected [OII] emission. When adopting the star formation rates from spectral fitting, which are arguably more robust, we find that recently quenched galaxies and star-forming galaxies have similar depletion times, while older quiescent systems have longer depletion times. These results offer new, important constraints for physical models of galaxy quenching., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We derive a distance of $D = 16.6 \pm 0.3$~Mpc ($\mu=31.10\pm0.04$~mag) to the archetypal narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 based on Cepheid Period--Luminosity relations and new Hubble Space Telescope multiband imaging. We identify 419 Cepheid candidates and estimate the distance at both optical and near-infrared wavelengths using subsamples of precisely-photometered variables (123 and 47 in the optical and near-infrared subsamples, respectively). We compare our independent photometric procedures and distance-estimation methods to those used by the SH0ES team and find agreement to 0.01~mag. The distance we obtain suggests an Eddington ratio $\dot{m} \approx 0.2$ for NGC 4051, typical of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, unlike the seemingly-odd value implied by previous distance estimates. We derive a peculiar velocity of $-490\pm34$~km~s$^{-1}$ for NGC 4051, consistent with the overall motion of the Ursa Major Cluster in which it resides. We also revisit the energetics of the NGC 4051 nucleus, including its outflow and mass accretion rates., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

The point spread function reconstruction (PSF-R) capability is a deliverable of the MICADO@ESO-ELT project. The PSF-R team works on the implementation of the instrument software devoted to reconstruct the point spread function (PSF), independently of the science data, using adaptive optics (AO) telemetry data, both for Single Conjugate (SCAO) and Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) mode of the MICADO camera and spectrograph. The PSF-R application will provide reconstructed PSFs through an archive querying system to restore the telemetry data synchronous to each science frame that MICADO will generate. Eventually, the PSF-R software will produce the output according to user specifications. The PSF-R service will support the state-of-the-art scientific analysis of the MICADO imaging and spectroscopic data., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Proceeding of the SPIE conference Adaptive Optics Systems VII, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2020 Digital Forum, 14-18 December 2020 (paper 11448-169)

The Covid Symptom Study, a smartphone-based surveillance study on COVID-19 symptoms in the population, is an exemplar of big data citizen science. Over 4.7 million participants and 189 million unique assessments have been logged since its introduction in March 2020. The success of the Covid Symptom Study creates technical challenges around effective data curation for two reasons. Firstly, the scale of the dataset means that it can no longer be easily processed using standard software on commodity hardware. Secondly, the size of the research group means that replicability and consistency of key analytics used across multiple publications becomes an issue. We present ExeTera, an open source data curation software designed to address scalability challenges and to enable reproducible research across an international research group for datasets such as the Covid Symptom Study dataset.

We derive a distance of $15.8\pm0.4$ Mpc to the archetypical Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151 based on the near-infrared Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation and new Hubble Space Telescope multiband imaging. This distance determination, based on measurements of 35 long-period ($P > 25$d) Cepheids, will support the absolute calibration of the supermassive black hole mass in this system, as well as studies of the dynamics of the feedback or feeding of its active galactic nucleus., Comment: 18 pages. 11 figures. 7 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

The $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation is considered a result of co-evolution between the host galaxies and their super-massive black holes. For elliptical-bulge hosting inactive galaxies, this relation is well established, but there is still a debate whether active galaxies follow the same relation. In this paper, we estimate black hole masses for a sample of 19 local luminous AGNs (LLAMA) in order to test their location on the $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation. Super-massive black hole masses ($M_{BH}$) were derived from the broad-line based relations for H$\alpha$, H$\beta$ and Pa$\beta$ emission line profiles for the Type 1 AGNs. We compare the bulge stellar velocity dispersion ($\sigma_{\star}$) as determined from the Ca II triplet (CaT) with the dispersion measured from the near-infrared CO (2-0) absorption features for each AGN and find them to be consistent with each other. We apply an extinction correction to the observed broad line fluxes and we correct the stellar velocity dispersion by an average rotation contribution as determined from spatially resolved stellar kinematic maps. The H$\alpha$-based black hole masses of our sample of AGNs were estimated in the range 6.34 $\leq$ $\log{M_{BH}}$ $\leq$ 7.75 M$_\odot$ and the $\sigma_{\star CaT}$ estimates range between 73 $\leq$ $\sigma_{\star CaT}$ $\leq$ 227 km s$^{-1}$. From the so-constructed $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation for our Type 1 AGNs, we estimate the black hole masses for the Type 2 AGNs and the inactive galaxies in our sample. In conclusion, we find that our sample of local luminous AGNs is consistent with the $M_{BH}$ - $\sigma_{\star}$ relation of lower luminosity AGNs and inactive galaxies, after correcting for dust extinction and the rotational contribution to the stellar velocity dispersion., Comment: Accepted by A&A, 30 pages, 19 figures

We present 1.4 pc resolution observations of 256 GHz nuclear radio continuum and HCN ($J=3 \to 2$) in the molecular torus of NGC 1068. The integrated radio continuum emission has a flat spectrum consistent with free-free emission and resolves into an X-shaped structure resembling an edge-brightened bicone. HCN is detected in absorption against the continuum, and the absorption spectrum shows a pronounced blue wing that suggests a high-velocity molecular outflow with speeds reaching 450 km/s. Analysis of the off-nucleus emission line kinematics and morphology reveals two nested, rotating disk components. The inner disk, inside $r\sim 1.2$ pc, has kinematics consistent with the nearly edge-on, geometrically thin water megamaser disk in Keplerian rotation around a central mass of $1.66\times 10^7\,\mbox{M}_\odot$. The outer disk, which extends to $\sim 7$~pc radius, counter-rotates relative to the inner disk. The rotation curve of the outer disk is consistent with rotation around the same central mass as the megamaser disk but in the opposite sense. The morphology of the molecular gas is asymmetric around the nuclear continuum source. We speculate that the outer disk formed from more recently introduced molecular gas falling out of the host galaxy or from a captured dwarf satellite galaxy. In NGC 1068, we find direct evidence that the molecular torus consists of counter-rotating and misaligned disks on parsec scales., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We present the $0.6

MICADO is the Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations, and it will be one of the first light instruments of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Doing high precision multi-object differential astrometry behind ELT is particularly effective given the increased flux and small diffraction limit. Thanks to its robust design with fixed mirrors and a cryogenic environment, MICADO aims to provide 50 $\mu$as absolute differential astrometry (measure star-to-star distances in absolute $\mu$as units) over a 53" FoV in the range 1.2-2.5 $\mu$m. Tackling high precision astrometry over large FoV requires Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) and an accurate distortion calibration. The MICADO control scheme relies on the separate calibration of the ELT, MAORY and MICADO systematics and distortions, to ensure the best disentanglement and correction of all the contributions. From a system perspective, we are developing an astrometric error budget supported by optical simulations to assess the impact of the main astrometric errors induced by the telescope and its optical tolerances, the MCAO distortions and the opto-mechanical errors between internal optics of ELT, MAORY and MICADO. The development of an overall astrometric error budget will pave the road to an efficient calibration strategy complementing the design of the MICADO calibration unit. At the focus of this work are a number of opto-mechanical error terms which have particular relevance for MICADO astrometry applications, and interface to the MCAO design., Comment: Proceedings of AO4ELT5

We present a spatially resolved stellar population study of the inner $\sim$200\,pc radius of NGC4303 based on near-infrared integral field spectroscopy with SINFONI/VLT at a spatial resolution of 40-80pc and using the STARLIGHT code. We found the distribution of the stellar populations presents a spatial variation, suggesting an age stratification. Three main structures stand out. Two nuclear blobs, one composed by young stars (t $\leq$ 50Myr) and one with intermediate-age stars (50Myr $<$ t $\leq$ 2Gyr) both shifted from the centre. The third one is an internal intermediate-age spiral arm-like structure, surrounding the blob of young stars. Our results indicate star formation has occurred through multiple bursts in this source. Furthermore, the youngest stellar populations (t $\lesssim$ 2Gyr) are distributed along a circumnuclear star-forming ring with r$\sim$250pc. The ring displays star formation rates (SFRs) in the range of 0.002-0.14M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$, favoring the `pearls-on-a-string' scenario. The old underlying bulge stellar population component (t $>$ 2Gyr) is distributed outside the two blob structures. For the nuclear region (inner $\sim$60pc radius) we derived a SFR of 0.43\,M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ and found no signatures of non-thermal featureless continuum and hot dust emission, supporting the scenario in which a LLAGN/LINER-like source is hidden in the centre of NGC4303. Thus, our results reveal a rather complex star formation history in NGC4303, with different stellar population components coexisting with a low efficiency accreting black hole in its centre.

We investigate the relationship between star formation activity and outflow properties on kiloparsec scales in a sample of 28 star forming galaxies at $z\sim$ 2-2.6, using adaptive optics assisted integral field observations from SINFONI on the VLT. The narrow and broad components of the H$\alpha$ emission are used to simultaneously determine the local star formation rate surface density ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$), and the outflow velocity $v_{\rm out}$ and mass outflow rate $\dot{M}_{\rm out}$, respectively. We find clear evidence for faster outflows with larger mass loading factors at higher $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$. The outflow velocities scale as $v_{\rm out}$ $\propto$ $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}^{0.34 \pm 0.10}$, which suggests that the outflows may be driven by a combination of mechanical energy released by supernova explosions and stellar winds, as well as radiation pressure acting on dust grains. The majority of the outflowing material does not have sufficient velocity to escape from the galaxy halos, but will likely be re-accreted and contribute to the chemical enrichment of the galaxies. In the highest $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ regions the outflow component contains an average of $\sim$45% of the H$\alpha$ flux, while in the lower $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ regions only $\sim$10% of the H$\alpha$ flux is associated with outflows. The mass loading factor, $\eta$ = $\dot{M}_{\rm out}$/SFR, is positively correlated with $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ but is relatively low even at the highest $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$: $\eta \lesssim$ 0.5 $\times$ (380 cm$^{-3}$/n$_e$). This may be in tension with the $\eta$ $\gtrsim$ 1 required by cosmological simulations, unless a significant fraction of the outflowing mass is in other gas phases and has sufficient velocity to escape the galaxy halos., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

MICADO will enable the ELT to perform diffraction limited near-infrared observations at first light. The instrument's capabilities focus on imaging (including astrometric and high contrast) as well as single object spectroscopy. This contribution looks at how requirements from the observing modes have driven the instrument design and functionality. Using examples from specific science cases, and making use of the data simulation tool, an outline is presented of what we can expect the instrument to achieve., Comment: Proc SPIE 10702. SPIE's copyright notice: "Copyright 2018 Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited."

ERIS is an instrument that will both extend and enhance the fundamental diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy capability for the VLT. It will replace two instruments that are now being maintained beyond their operational lifetimes, combine their functionality on a single focus, provide a new wavefront sensing module that makes use of the facility Adaptive Optics System, and considerably improve their performance. The instrument will be competitive with respect to JWST in several regimes, and has outstanding potential for studies of the Galactic Center, exoplanets, and high redshift galaxies. ERIS had its final design review in 2017, and is expected to be on sky in 2020. This contribution describes the instrument concept, outlines its expected performance, and highlights where it will most excel., Comment: 12 pages, Proc SPIE 10702 "Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII"

In this paper, we present the design and the expected performance of the classical Lyot coronagraph for the high contrast imaging modes of the wide-field imager MICADO. MICADO is a near-IR camera for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT, previously E-ELT), with wide-field, spectroscopic and coronagraphic capabilities. MICADO is one of the first-light instruments selected by the ESO. Optimized to work with a multi-conjugate adaptive optics corrections provided by the MOARY module, it will also come with a SCAO correction with a high-level, on-axis correction, making use of the M4 adaptive mirror of the telescope. After presenting the context of the high contrast imaging modes in MICADO, we describe the selection process for the focal plane masks and Lyot stop. We will also show results obtained in realistic conditions, taking into account AO residuals, atmospheric refraction, noise sources and simulating observations in angular differential imaging (ADI) mode. Based on SPHERE on-sky results, we will discuss the achievable gain in contrast and angular separation provided by MICADO over the current instruments on 10-m class telescopes, in particular for imaging young giant planets at very short separations around nearby stars as well as planets on wider orbits around more distant stars in young stellar associations., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, AO4ELT 5 conference proceeding

A randomly chosen star in today's Universe is most likely to live in a galaxy with a stellar mass between that of the Milky Way and Andromeda. Yet it remains uncertain how the structural evolution of these bulge-disk systems proceeded. Most of the unobscured star formation we observe building Andromdeda progenitors at 0.790% of their star formation is reprocessed by dust and remains unaccounted for. Here we map 500micron dust continuum emission in an Andromeda progenitor at z=1.25 to probe where it is growing through dust-obscured star formation. Combining resolved dust measurements from the NOEMA interferometer with Hubble Space Telescope Halpha maps and multicolor imaging (including new UV data from the HDUV survey), we find a bulge growing by dust-obscured star formation: while the unobscured star formation is centrally suppressed, the dust continuum is centrally concentrated, filling in the ring-like structures evident in the Halpha and UV emission. Reflecting this, the dust emission is more compact than the optical/UV tracers of star formation with r_e(dust)=3.4kpc, r_e(Halpha)/r_e(dust)=1.4, and r_e(UV)/r_e(dust)=1.8. Crucially, however, the bulge and disk of this galaxy are building simultaneously; although the dust emission is more compact than the rest-optical emission (r_e(optical)/r_e(dust)=1.4), it is somewhat less compact than the stellar mass (r_e(M_*)/r_e(dust)=0.9). Taking the 500micron emission as a tracer of star formation, the expected structural evolution of this galaxy can be accounted for by star formation: it will grow in size by Delta(r_e)/Delta(M_*)~0.3 and central surface density by Delta(Sigma_cen)/Delta(M_*)~0.9. Finally, our observations are consistent with a picture in which merging and disk instabilities drive gas to the center of galaxies, boosting global star formation rates above the main sequence and building bulges., Comment: Submitted to ApJ, key new result of paper shown in Fig. 2

We explore the relationship between X-ray absorption and optical obscuration within the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) which has been collecting and analyzing the optical and X-ray spectra for 641 hard X-ray selected ($E>14$ keV) active galactic nuclei (AGN). We use the deviation from a linear broad H$\alpha$-to-X-ray relationship as an estimate of the maximum optical obscuration towards the broad line region and compare the $A_{\rm V}$ to the hydrogen column densities ($N_{\rm H}$) found through systematic modeling of their X-ray spectra. We find that the inferred columns implied by $A_{\rm V}$ towards the broad line region (BLR) are often orders of magnitude less than the columns measured towards the X-ray emitting region indicating a small scale origin for the X-ray absorbing gas. After removing 30\% of Sy 1.9s that potentially have been misclassified due to outflows, we find that 86\% (164/190) of the Type 1 population (Sy 1--1.9) are X-ray unabsorbed as expected based on a single obscuring structure. However, 14\% (26/190), of which 70\% (18/26) are classified as Sy 1.9, are X-ray absorbed, suggesting the broad line region itself is providing extra obscuration towards the X-ray corona. The fraction of X-ray absorbed Type 1 AGN remains relatively constant with AGN luminosity and Eddington ratio, indicating a stable broad line region covering fraction., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 Appendix, submitted to ApJ

We present flame, a pipeline for reducing spectroscopic observations obtained with multi-slit near-infrared and optical instruments. Because of its flexible design, flame can be easily applied to data obtained with a wide variety of spectrographs. The flexibility is due to a modular architecture, which allows changes and customizations to the pipeline, and relegates the instrument-specific parts to a single module. At the core of the data reduction is the transformation from observed pixel coordinates (x, y) to rectified coordinates (lambda, gamma). This transformation consists in the polynomial functions lambda(x,y) and gamma(x,y) that are derived from arc or sky emission lines and slit edge tracing, respectively. The use of 2D transformations allows one to wavelength calibrate and rectify the data using just one interpolation step. Furthermore, the gamma(x,y) transformation includes also the spatial misalignment between frames, which can be measured from a reference star observed simultaneously with the science targets. The misalignment can then be fully corrected during the rectification, without having to further resample the data. Sky subtraction can be performed via nodding and/or modeling of the sky spectrum; the combination of the two methods typically yields the best results. We illustrate the pipeline by showing examples of data reduction for a near-infrared instrument (LUCI at the Large Binocular Telescope) and an optical one (LRIS at the Keck telescope)., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, published in MNRAS. The pipeline is available at https://github.com/siriobelli/flame

We present a proper motion measurement for the halo globular cluster Pyxis, using HST/ACS data as the first epoch, and GeMS/GSAOI Adaptive Optics data as the second, separated by a baseline of about 5 years. This is both the first measurement of the proper motion of Pyxis and the first calibration and use of Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics data to measure an absolute proper motion for a faint, distant halo object. Consequently, we present our analysis of the Adaptive Optics data in detail. We obtain a proper motion of mu_alpha cos(delta)=1.09+/-0.31 mas/yr and mu_delta=0.68+/-0.29 mas/yr. From the proper motion and the line-of-sight velocity we find the orbit of Pyxis is rather eccentric with its apocenter at more than 100 kpc and its pericenter at about 30 kpc. We also investigate two literature-proposed associations for Pyxis with the recently discovered ATLAS stream and the Magellanic system. Combining our measurements with dynamical modeling and cosmological numerical simulations we find it unlikely Pyxis is associated with either system. We examine other Milky Way satellites for possible association using the orbit, eccentricity, metallicity, and age as constraints and find no likely matches in satellites down to the mass of Leo II. We propose that Pyxis probably originated in an unknown galaxy, which today is fully disrupted. Assuming that Pyxis is bound and not on a first approach, we derive a 68% lower limit on the mass of the Milky Way of 0.95*10^12 M_sun., Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication by ApJ

We present 0".2-resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations at 870 um for 25 Halpha-seleced star-forming galaxies (SFGs) around the main-sequence at z=2.2-2.5. We detect significant 870 um continuum emission in 16 (64%) of these SFGs. The high-resolution maps reveal that the dust emission is mostly radiated from a single region close to the galaxy center. Exploiting the visibility data taken over a wide $uv$ distance range, we measure the half-light radii of the rest-frame far-infrared emission for the best sample of 12 massive galaxies with logM*>11. We find nine galaxies to be associated with extremely compact dust emission with R_{1/2,870um}<1.5 kpc, which is more than a factor of 2 smaller than their rest-optical sizes, R_{1/2,1.6um}=3.2 kpc, and is comparable with optical sizes of massive quiescent galaxies at similar redshifts. As they have an exponential disk with Sersic index of n=1.2 in the rest-optical, they are likely to be in the transition phase from extended disks to compact spheroids. Given their high star formation rate surface densities within the central 1 kpc of Sigma SFR1kpc=40 Msol/yr/kpc^2, the intense circumnuclear starbursts can rapidly build up a central bulge with Sigma M*1kpc>1e10 Msol/kpc^2 in several hundred Myr, i.e. by z~2. Moreover, ionized gas kinematics reveal that they are rotation-supported with an angular momentum as large as that of typical SFGs at z=1-3. Our results suggest bulges are commonly formed in extended rotating disks by internal processes, not involving major mergers., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

We have detected in ALMA observations CO J = 6 - 5 emission from the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. The low-velocity (up to +/- 70 km/s relative to systemic) CO emission resolves into a 12x7 pc structure, roughly aligned with the nuclear radio source. Higher-velocity emission (up to +/- 400 km/s) is consistent with a bipolar outflow in a direction nearly perpendicular (roughly 80 degrees) to the nuclear disk. The position-velocity diagram shows that in addition to the outflow, the velocity field may also contain rotation about the disk axis. These observations provide compelling evidence in support of the disk-wind scenario for the AGN obscuring torus., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 6 pages, 3 figures

With the aim of paving the road for future accurate astrometry with MICADO at the European-ELT, we performed an astrometric study using two different but complementary approaches to investigate two critical components that contribute to the total astrometric accuracy. First, we tested the predicted improvement in the astrometric measurements with the use of an atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC) by simulating realistic images of a crowded Galactic globular cluster. We found that the positional measurement accuracy should be improved by up to ~2 mas with the ADC, making this component fundamental for high-precision astrometry. Second, we analysed observations of a globular cluster taken with the only currently available Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics assisted camera, GeMS/GSAOI at Gemini South. Making use of previously measured proper motions of stars in the field of view, we were able to model the distortions affecting the stellar positions. We found that they can be as large as ~200 mas, and that our best model corrects them to an accuracy of ~1 mas. We conclude that future astrometric studies with MICADO requires both an ADC and an accurate modelling of distortions to the field of view, either through an a-priori calibration or an a-posteriori correction., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure. To appear in Adaptive Optics Systems V, eds. Marchetti E., Close L.M., V\'eran, J.-P., Proc. SPIE vol. 9909 id 54; 2016

We present in this study a first analysis of the astrometric error budget of absolute astrometry relative to background galaxies using adaptive optics. We use for this analysis multi-conjugated adaptive optics (MCAO) images obtained with GeMS/GSAOI at Gemini South. We find that it is possible to obtain 0.3 mas reference precision in a random field with 1 hour on source using faint background galaxies. Systematic errors are correctable below that level, such that the overall error is approximately 0.4 mas. Because the reference sources are extended, we find it necessary to correct for the dependency of the PSF centroid on the used aperture size, which would otherwise cause an important bias. This effect needs also to be considered for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). When this effect is corrected, ELTs have the potential to measure proper motions of dwarfs galaxies around M31 with 10 km/s accuracy over a baseline of 5 years., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proceedings of AO4ELT4, few changes in Section 2

We present a high spatial resolution optical and infrared study of the circumnuclear region in Arp 220, a late-stage galaxy merger. Narrowband imaging using HST/WFC3 has resolved the previously observed peak in H$\alpha$+[NII] emission into a bubble-shaped feature. This feature measures 1.6" in diameter, or 600 pc, and is only 1" northwest of the western nucleus. The bubble is aligned with the western nucleus and the large-scale outflow axis seen in X-rays. We explore several possibilities for the bubble origin, including a jet or outflow from a hidden active galactic nucleus (AGN), outflows from high levels of star formation within the few hundred pc nuclear gas disk, or an ultraluminous X-ray source. An obscured AGN or high levels of star formation within the inner $\sim$100 pc of the nuclei are favored based on the alignment of the bubble and energetics arguments., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 12 pages, 10 figures

We report ALMA Band 7 (350 GHz) imaging at 0.4 - 0.6arcsec resolution and Band 9 (696 GHz) at ~0.25arcsec resolution of the luminous IR galaxies Arp 220 and NGC 6240. The long wavelength dust continuum is used to estimate ISM masses for Arp 220 East, West and NGC 6240 of 1.9, 4.2 and 1.6x10^9 msun within radii of 69, 65 and 190 pc. The HCN emission was modeled to derive the emissivity distribution as a function of radius and the kinematics of each nuclear disk, yielding dynamical masses consistent with the masses and sizes derived from the dust emission. In Arp 220, the major dust and gas concentrations are at radii less than 50 pc in both counter-rotating nuclear disks. The thickness of the disks in Arp 220estimated from the velocity dispersion and rotation velocities are 10-20 pc and the mean gas densities are n_H2 ~10^5 cm^-3 at R < 50 pc. We develop an analytic treatment for the molecular excitation (including photon trapping), yielding volume densities for both the HCN and CS emission with n_H2 ~2x10^5 cm^-3. The agreement of the mean density from the total mass and size with that required for excitation suggests that the volume is essentially filled with dense gas, i.e. it is not cloudy or like swiss cheese.

KMOS is a multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrometer with 24 deployable cryogenic pick-off arms. Inevitably, data processing is a complex task that requires careful calibration and quality control. In this paper we describe all the steps involved in producing science-quality data products from the raw observations. In particular, we focus on the following issues: (i) the calibration scheme which produces maps of the spatial and spectral locations of all illuminated pixels on the detectors; (ii) our concept of minimising the number of interpolations, to the limiting case of a single reconstruction that simultaneously uses raw data from multiple exposures; (iii) a comparison of the various interpolation methods implemented, and an assessment of the performance of true 3D interpolation schemes; (iv) the way in which instrumental flexure is measured and compensated. We finish by presenting some examples of data processed using the pipeline., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

The AGN-heated dust distribution (the "torus") is increasingly recognized not only as the absorber required in unifying models, but as a tracer for the reservoir that feeds the nuclear Super-Massive Black Hole. Yet, even its most basic structural properties (such as its extent, geometry and elongation) are unknown for all but a few archetypal objects. Since most AGNs are unresolved in the mid-infrared, we utilize the MID-infrared interferometric Instrument (MIDI) at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) that is sensitive to structures as small as a few milli-arcseconds (mas). We present here an extensive amount of new interferometric observations from the MIDI AGN Large Program (2009 - 2011) and add data from the archive to give a complete view of the existing MIDI observations of AGNs. Additionally, we have obtained high-quality mid-infrared spectra from VLT/VISIR. We present correlated and total flux spectra for 23 AGNs and derive flux and size estimates at 12 micron using simple axisymmetric geometrical models. Perhaps the most surprising result is the relatively high level of unresolved flux and its large scatter: The median "point source fraction" is 70 % for type 1 and 47 % for type 2 AGNs meaning that a large part of the flux is concentrated on scales smaller than about 5 mas (0.1 - 10 pc). Among sources observed with similar spatial resolution, it varies from 20 % - 100 %. For 18 of the sources, two nuclear components can be distinguished in the radial fits. While these models provide good fits to all but the brightest sources, significant elongations are detected in eight sources. The half-light radii of the fainter sources are smaller than expected from the size ~ L^0.5 scaling of the bright sources and show a large scatter, especially when compared to the relatively tight size--luminosity relation in the near-infrared., Comment: A&A in press; 93 pages, 63 figures, 39 tables; data available only via CDS

In a matched sample of Seyfert and quiescent galaxies we simultaneously probe the stellar and molecular gas kinematics from 1 kpc down to 50 pc with the aim of identifying the dynamical processes dictating black hole accretion rates. This first paper compares the global characteristics of a sample of ten galaxies. We find several differences within a radius of 500 pc that are correlated with Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) activity. The Seyferts have: (1) a more centrally concentrated nuclear stellar surface brightness with lower stellar luminosities beyond a radius of 100 pc, (2) a lower stellar velocity dispersion within a radius of 200 pc, (3) elevated H2 luminosity out to a radius of at least 250 pc, and (4) more centrally concentrated H2 surface brightness profiles. These observed differences can be interpreted as evidence for Seyfert galaxies having a dynamically cold (in comparison to the bulge) nuclear structure composed of a significant gas reservoir and a relatively young stellar population. This structure is undetected (and possibly does not exist) in quiescent galaxies. The presence of such a nuclear structure in Seyfert galaxies provides evidence for inflow of the surrounding interstellar medium since the nuclear stellar population requires a supply of gas from which to form. The fueling of a Seyfert AGN is thus associated with the formation of a dynamically cold component of gas and stars on scales of hundreds of parsecs., Comment: 18 pages, 22 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Minor revisions to match published version

The zCOSMOS SINFONI project is aimed at studying the physical and kinematical properties of a sample of massive z~1.4-2.5 star-forming galaxies, through SINFONI near-IR integral field spectroscopy (IFS), combined with the multi-wavelength information from the zCOSMOS (COSMOS) survey. The project is based on 1 hour of natural-seeing observations per target, and Adaptive Optics (AO) follow-up for a major part of the sample, which includes 30 galaxies selected from the zCOSMOS/VIMOS spectroscopic survey. This first paper presents the sample selection, and the global physical characterization of the target galaxies from multicolor photometry, i.e., star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, age, etc. The Halpha integrated properties such as, flux, velocity dispersion, and size, are derived from the natural-seeing observations, while the follow up AO observations will be presented in the next paper of this series. Our sample appears to be well representative of star-forming galaxies at z~2, covering a wide range in mass and SFR. The Halpha integrated properties of the 25 Halpha detected galaxies are similar to those of other IFS samples at the same redshifts. Good agreement is found among the SFRs derived from Halpha luminosity and other diagnostic methods, provided the extinction affecting the Halpha luminosity is about twice that affecting the continuum. A preliminary kinematic analysis, based on the maximum observed velocity difference across the source, and on the integrated velocity dispersion, indicates that the sample splits nearly 50-50 into rotation-dominated and velocity dispersion-dominated galaxies, in good agreement with previous surveys., Comment: 41 pages, 21 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

NGC 6240 is a pair of colliding disk galaxies, each with a black hole in its core. We have used laser guide star adaptive optics on the Keck II telescope to obtain high-resolution ($\sim 0.06$") near-infrared integral-field spectra of the region surrounding the supermassive black hole in the south nucleus of this galaxy merger. We use the K-band CO absorption bandheads to trace stellar kinematics. We obtain a spatial resolution of about 20 pc and thus directly resolve the sphere of gravitational influence of the massive black hole. We explore two different methods to measure the black hole mass. Using a Jeans Axisymmetric Multi-Gaussian mass model, we investigate the limit that a relaxed mass distribution produces all of the measured velocity dispersion, and find an upper limit on the black hole mass at $2.0 \pm 0.2 \times 10^9 M_{\sun}$. When assuming the young stars whose spectra we observe remain in a thin disk, we compare Keplerian velocity fields to the measured two-dimensional velocity field measured and fit for a mass profile containing a black hole point mass plus a radially-varying spherical component, which suggests a lower limit for the black hole mass of $8.7 \pm 0.3 \times 10^8 M_{\sun}$. Our measurements of the stellar velocity dispersion place this AGN within the scatter of the $M_{BH}$-$\sigma_{*}$ relation. As NGC 6240 is a merging system, this may indicate that the relation is preserved during a merger at least until the final coalescence of the two nuclei., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures; accepted to ApJ

We describe several projects addressing the growth of galaxies and massive black holes, for which adaptive optics is mandatory to reach high spatial resolution but is also a challenge due to the lack of guide stars and long integrations. In each case kinematics of the stars and gas, derived from integral field spectroscopy, plays a key role. We explain why deconvolution is not an option, and that instead the PSF is used to convolve a physical model to the required resolution. We discuss the level of detail with which the PSF needs to be known, and the ways available to derive it. We explain how signal-to-noise can limit the resolution achievable and show there are many science cases that require high, but not necessarily diffraction limited, resolution. Finally, we consider what requirements astrometry and photometry place on adaptive optics performance and design., Comment: Contribution to "Adaptive Optics Systems II", SPIE 7736-51 (June 2010). High resolution version can be found at http://spiedl.org

KMOS is a multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrometer with 24 deployable pick-off arms. Data processing is inevitably complex. We discuss specific issues and requirements that must be addressed in the data reduction pipeline, the calibration, the raw and processed data formats, and the simulated data. We discuss the pipeline architecture. We focus on its modular style and show how these modules can be used to build a classical pipeline, as well as a more advanced pipeline that can account for both spectral and spatial flexure as well as variations in the OH background. A novel aspect of the pipeline is that the raw data can be reconstructed into a cube in a single step. We discuss the advantages of this and outline the way in which we have implemented it. We finish by describing how the QFitsView tool can now be used to visualise KMOS data., Comment: Contribution to "Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III', SPIE 7735-254 (June 2010). High resolution version can be found at http://spiedl.org

It is now well established that all galaxies with a massive bulge component harbour a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). The mass of the SMBH correlates with bulge properties such as the bulge mass and the velocity dispersion, which implies that the bulge and the SMBH of a galaxy have grown together during the formation process. The spiral galaxy NGC3368 and the S0 galaxy NGC3489 both host a pseudobulge and a much smaller classical bulge component at the centre. We present high resolution, near-infrared IFU data of these two galaxies, taken with SINFONI at the VLT, and use axisymmetric orbit models to determine the masses of the SMBHs. The SMBH mass of NGC3368 is M_BH=7.5x10^6 M_sun with an error of 1.5x10^6 M_sun, which mostly comes from the non-axisymmetry in the data. For NGC3489, a solution without black hole cannot be excluded when modelling the SINFONI data alone, but can be clearly ruled out when modelling a combination of SINFONI, OASIS and SAURON data, for which we obtain M_BH=6.00^{+0.56}_{-0.54} (stat) +/- 0.64 (sys) x 10^6 M_sun. Although both galaxies seem to be consistent with the M_BH-sigma relation, at face value they do not agree with the relation between bulge magnitude and black hole mass when the total bulge magnitude (i.e., including both classical bulge and pseudobulge) is considered; the agreement is better when only the small classical bulge components are considered. However, taking into account the ageing of the stellar population could change this conclusion., Comment: 28 pages, 31 figures. Accepted by MNRAS

We systematically investigate the error sources for high-precision astrometry from adaptive optics based near-infrared imaging data. We focus on the application in the crowded stellar field in the Galactic Center. We show that at the level of <=100 micro-arcseconds a number of effects are limiting the accuracy. Most important are the imperfectly subtracted seeing halos of neighboring stars, residual image distortions and unrecognized confusion of the target source with fainter sources in the background. Further contributors to the error budget are the uncertainty in estimating the point spread function, the signal-to-noise ratio induced statistical uncertainty, coordinate transformation errors, the chromaticity of refraction in Earth's atmosphere, the post adaptive optics differential tilt jitter and anisoplanatism. For stars as bright as mK=14, residual image distortions limit the astrometry, for fainter stars the limitation is set by the seeing halos of the surrounding stars. In order to improve the astrometry substantially at the current generation of telescopes, an adaptive optics system with high performance and weak seeing halos over a relatively small field (r<=3") is suited best. Furthermore, techniques to estimate or reconstruct the seeing halo could be promising., Comment: accepted by MNRAS, 13 pages, 14 figures

High signal-to-noise, representative spectra of star-forming galaxies at z~2, obtained via stacking, reveal a high-velocity component underneath the narrow H-alpha and [NII] emission lines. When modeled as a single Gaussian, this broad component has FWHM > 1500 km/s; when modeled as broad wings on the H-alpha and [NII] features, it has FWHM > 500 km/s. This feature is preferentially found in the more massive and more rapidly star-forming systems, which also tend to be older and larger galaxies. We interpret this emission as evidence of either powerful starburst-driven galactic winds or active supermassive black holes. If galactic winds are responsible for the broad emission, the observed luminosity and velocity of this gas imply mass outflow rates comparable to the star formation rate. On the other hand, if the broad line regions of active black holes account for the broad feature, the corresponding black holes masses are estimated to be an order of magnitude lower than those predicted by local scaling relations, suggesting a delayed assembly of supermassive black holes with respect to their host bulges., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted version, incorporating referee comments, including changes to title, abstract, figures, and discussion section

Low-ionization transitions such as the MgII 2796/2803 doublet trace cold gas in the vicinity of galaxies. It is not clear whether this gas is part of the interstellar medium of large proto-disks, part of dwarfs, or part of entrained material in supernovae-driven outflows. Studies based on MgII statistics, e.g. stacked images and clustering analysis, have invoked starburst-driven outflows where MgII absorbers are tracing the denser and colder gas of the outflow. A consequence of the outflow scenario is that the strongest absorbers ought to be associated with starbursts. We use the near-IR integral field spectrograph SINFONI to test whether starbursts are found around z~1 MgII absorbers. For 67% (14 out of 21) of the absorbers with rest-frame equivalent width larger than 2 AA, we do detect Ha in emission within 200 km/s of the predicted wavelength based on the \MgII redshift. The star-formation rate (SFR) inferred from Halpha ranges from 1 to 20 Msun/yr, i.e. showing a level of star-formation larger than in M82 by a factor of >4 on average. Our flux limit (3-sigma) corresponds to a SFR of 0.5 Msun/yr. We find evidence (at >95% confidence) for a correlation between SFR and equivalent width, indicating a physical connection between starburst phenomena and gas seen in absorption. In the cases where we can extract the velocity field, the host-galaxies reside in halos with mean mass =11.2 in good agreement with clustering measurements., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, minor typos corrected to match proofs

The SINFONI data reduction pipeline, as part of the ESO-VLT Data Flow System, provides recipes for Paranal Science Operations, and for Data Flow Operations at Garching headquarters. At Paranal, it is used for the quick-look data evaluation. For Data Flow Operations, it fulfills several functions: creating master calibrations; monitoring instrument health and data quality; and reducing science data for delivery to service mode users. The pipeline is available to the science community for reprocessing data with personalised reduction strategies and parameters. The pipeline recipes can be executed either with EsoRex at the command line level or through the Gasgano graphical user interface. The recipes are implemented with the ESO Common Pipeline Library (CPL). SINFONI is the Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (1.1-2.45 um) at the ESO-VLT. SINFONI was developed and build by ESO and MPE in collaboration with NOVA. It consists of the SPIFFI integral field spectrograph and an adaptive optics module which allows diffraction limited and seeing limited observations. The image slicer of SPIFFI chops the SINFONI field of view on the sky in 32 slices which are re-arranged to a pseudo slit. The latter is dispersed by one of the four possible gratings (J, H, K, H+K). The detector thus sees a spatial dimension (along the pseudo-slit) and a spectral dimension. We describe in this paper the main data reduction procedures of the SINFONI pipeline, which is based on SPRED - the SPIFFI data reduction software developed by MPE, and the most recent developments after more than a year of SINFONI operations., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, Proceedings ADA IV, 2006. A high resolution version of the paper and the SINFONI pipeline may be found on http://www.eso.org/pipelines