Search

Classical nova eruptions result from thermonuclear-powered runaways in, and ejection of, the hydrogen-rich envelopes of white dwarf stars accreted from their close binary companions. Novae brighten to up to 1,000,000 solar luminosities, and recur thousands of times over their lifetimes spanning several billion years. Between eruptions, mass transfer from the donor star to the white dwarf proceeds via an accretion disk unless the white dwarf possesses a strong magnetic field which can partially or totally disrupt the disk. In that case, accretion is focussed by the white dwarf's magnetic field towards its magnetic poles. Optical spectroscopy and interferometric radio maps demonstrate the presence of bipolar jets, typically arcsec in angular size, and orders of magnitude smaller than one parsec in linear size, during the days to months after nova eruptions. These jets expel collimated matter from the white dwarfs in nova binary stars, but well-resolved images of them are lacking. Here we report the Condor telescope's detection of a hitherto unknown, highly resolved and braided jet, three degrees (at least 25 parsecs) in length. The jet originates at the white dwarf of the old nova GK Persei (nova Per 1901 CE). It precesses on a ~ 3600 yr timescale, and must be at least 7200 years old. Detected across four decades of wavelength, the jet's ultimate energy source is likely the strong accretion shocks near the white dwarf's magnetic poles., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures

Just 10 recurrent novae (RNe) - which erupt repeatedly on timescales shorter than one century - are known in our Galaxy. The most extreme RN known (located in the Andromeda galaxy), M31N 2008-12a, undergoes a nova eruption every year, and is surrounded by a vast nova "super-remnant", 134 pc in extent. Simulations predict that all RNe should be surrounded by similar vast shells, but previous searches have failed to detect them. KT Eri has recently been suggested to be a RN, and we have used the Condor Array Telescope to image its environs through multiple narrowband filters. We report the existence of a large ($\sim$ 50 pc diameter), H$\,\alpha$-bright shell centered on KT Eri, exactly as predicted. This strongly supports the claim that KT Eri is the 11th Galactic recurrent nova, and only the second nova known to be surrounded by a super-remnant. SALT spectra of the super-remnant demonstrate that its velocity width is consistent with that of M31-2008-12a., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

The existence of a vast nova shell surrounding the prototypical dwarf nova Z Camelopardalis (Z Cam) proves that some old novae undergo metamorphosis to appear as dwarf novae thousands of years after a nova eruption. The expansion rates of ancient nova shells offer a way to constrain both the time between nova eruptions and the time for post-nova mass transfer rates to decrease significantly, simultaneously testing nova thermonuclear runaway models and hibernation theory. Previous limits on the expansion rate of part of the Z Cam shell constrain the inter-eruption time between Z Cam nova events to be $>$ 1300 years. Deeper narrow-band imaging of the ejecta of Z Cam with the Condor Array Telescope now reveals very low surface brightness areas of the remainder of the shell. A second, even fainter shell is also detected, concentric with and nearly three times the size of the "inner" shell. This is the first observational support of the prediction that concentric shells must surround the frequently-erupting novae of relatively massive white dwarfs. The Condor images extend our Z Cam imaging baseline to 15 years, yielding the inner shell's expansion rate as $v = 83 \pm 37$ km s$^{-1}$ at 23 degrees South of West, in excellent agreement with our 2012 prediction. This velocity corresponds to an approximate age of $t = 2672^{-817}_{+2102}$ yr. While consistent with the suggestion that the most recent nova eruption of Z Cam was the transient recorded by Chinese Imperial astrologers in the year 77 BCE, the age uncertainty is still too large to support or disprove a connection with Z Cam., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures

We used the Condor Array Telescope to obtain deep imaging observations through the luminance filter of the entirety of the NGC 5866 Group, including a very extended region surrounding the galaxy NGC 5907 and its stellar stream. We find that the stellar stream consists of a single curved structure that stretches $220$ kpc from a brighter eastern stream to a fainter western stream that bends to the north and then curls back toward the galaxy. This result runs contrary to a previous claim of a second loop of the stellar stream but is consistent with another previous description of the overall morphology of the stream. We further find that: (1) an extension of the western stream appears to bifurcate near its apex, (2) there is an apparent gap of $\approx 6$ kpc in the western stream due east of the galaxy, (3) contrary to a previous claim, there is no evidence of the remnant of a progenitor galaxy within the eastern stream, although (4) there are many other possible progenitor galaxies, (5) there is another structure that, if it is at the distance of the galaxy, stretches 240 kpc and contains two very large, very low-surface-brightness "patches" of emission, one of which was noted previously and another of which was not. We note the number and variety of stellar streams in the vicinity of NGC 5907 and the apparent gap in the western stream, which may be indicative of a dark subhalo or satellite in the vicinity of the galaxy., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures

The "Condor Array Telescope" or "Condor" is a high-performance "array telescope" comprised of six apochromatic refracting telescopes of objective diameter 180 mm, each equipped with a large-format, very low-read-noise ($\approx 1.2$ e$^-$), very rapid-read-time ($< 1$ s) CMOS camera. Condor is located at a very dark astronomical site in the southwest corner of New Mexico, at the Dark Sky New Mexico observatory near Animas, roughly midway between (and more than 150 km from either) Tucson and El Paso. Condor enjoys a wide field of view ($2.29 \times 1.53$ deg$^2$ or 3.50 deg$^2$), is optimized for measuring both point sources and extended, very low-surface-brightness features, and for broad-band images can operate at a cadence of 60 s (or even less) while remaining sky-noise limited with a duty cycle near 100\%. In its normal mode of operation, Condor obtains broad-band exposures of exposure time 60 s over dwell times spanning dozens or hundreds of hours. In this way, Condor builds up deep, sensitive images while simultaneously monitoring tens or hundreds of thousands of point sources per field at a cadence of 60 s. Condor is also equipped with diffraction gratings and with a set of He II 468.6 nm, [O III] 500.7 nm, He I 587.5 nm, H$\alpha$ 656.3 nm, [N II] 658.4 nm, and [S II] 671.6 nm narrow-band filters, allowing it to address a variety of broad- and narrow-band science issues. Given its unique capabilities, Condor can access regions of "astronomical discovery space" that have never before been studied. Here we introduce Condor and describe various aspects of its performance., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures

We present the e-TidalGCs Project which aims at modeling and predicting the extra-tidal features surrounding all Galactic globular clusters for which 6D phase space information, masses and sizes are available (currently 159 globular clusters). We focus the analysis and presentation of the results on the distribution of extra-tidal material on the sky, and on the different structures found at different heliocentric distances. We emphasize the wide variety of morphologies found: beyond the canonical tidal tails, our models reveal that the extra-tidal features generated by globular clusters take a wide variety of shapes, from thin and elongated shapes, to thick, and complex halo-like structures. We also compare some of the most well studied stellar streams found around Galactic globular clusters to our model predictions, namely those associated to the clusters NGC 3201, NGC 4590, NGC 5466 and Pal 5. Additionally, we investigate how the distribution and extension in the sky of the simulated streams vary with the Galactic potential by making use of three different models, containing or not a central spheroid, or a stellar bar. Overall, our models predict that the mass lost by the current globular cluster population in the field from the last 5 Gyrs is between $0.3-2.1\times10^{7}M_{\odot}$, an amount comparable between 7-55 % of current mass. Most of this lost mass is found in the inner Galaxy, with the half-mass radius of this population being between 4-6 kpc. The outputs of the simulations will be publicly available, at a time when the ESA Gaia mission and complementary spectroscopic surveys are delivering exquisite data to which these models can be compared., Comment: 51 pages, 34 figures, Accepted for publication on A&A

FIREBall-2 is a stratospheric balloon-borne 1-m telescope coupled to a UV multi-object slit spectrograph designed to map the faint UV emission surrounding z~0.7 galaxies and quasars through their Lyman-alpha line emission. This spectro-imager had its first launch on September 22nd 2018 out of Ft. Sumner, NM, USA. Because the balloon was punctured, the flight was abruptly interrupted. Instead of the nominal 8 hours above 32 km altitude, the instrument could only perform science acquisition for 45 minutes at this altitude. In addition, the shape of the deflated balloon, combined with a full Moon, revealed a severe off-axis scattered light path, directly into the UV science detector and about 100 times larger than expected. In preparation for the next flight, and in addition to describing FIREBall-2's upgrade, this paper discusses the exposure time calculator (ETC) that has been designed to analyze the instrument's optimal performance (explore the instrument's limitations and subtle trade-offs).

Gravastars are configurations of compact singularity-free gravitational objects which are interesting alternatives to classical solutions in the strong gravitational field regime. Although there are no static star-like solutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations for real scalar fields, we show that dynamical gravastars solutions arise through the direct interaction of a scalar field with matter. Two configurations presented here show that, within the internal zone, the scalar field plays a role similar to a cosmological constant, while the scalar field decays at large distances as the Yukawa potential. Like classical gravastars, these solutions exhibit small values of the temporal metric component near a transitional radial value, although this behaviour is not determined by the de Sitter nature of the internal space-time, but rather by a slowly-varying scalar field. The scalar field-matter interaction is able to define trapping forces that rigorously confine the polytropic gases to the interior of a sphere. At the surface of these spheres, pressures generated by the field-matter interaction play the role of "walls" preventing the matter from flowing out. These solutions predict a stronger scattering of the accreting matter with respect to Schwarzschild black holes., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

We investigate the properties of long tidal tails using the largest to date sample of 461 merging galaxies with $\log(M_\ast/\rm M_\odot)\geq9.5$ within $0.2 \leq z \leq 1$ from the COSMOS survey in combination with {\it Hubble Space Telescope} imaging data. Long tidal tails can be briefly divided into three shape types: straight (41\,per\,cent), curved (47\,per\,cent) and plume (12\,per\,cent). Their host galaxies are mostly at late stages of merging, although 31\,per\,cent are galaxy pairs with projected separations $d>20$\,kpc. The high formation rate of straight tidal tails needs to be understood as the projection of curved tidal tails accounts for only a small fraction of the straight tails. We identify 165 tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs), yielding a TDG production rate of 0.36 per merger. Combined with a galaxy merger fraction and a TDG survival rate from the literature, we estimate that $\sim$\,5\,per\,cent of local dwarf galaxies are of tidal origin, suggesting the tidal formation is not an important formation channel for the dwarf galaxies. More than half of TDGs are located at the tip of their host tails. These TDGs have stellar masses in the range of $7.5\leq\log (M_\ast/\rm M_\odot)\leq9.5$ and appear compact with half-light radii following the $M_\ast$ - $R_{\rm e}$ relation of low-mass elliptical galaxies. However, their surface brightness profiles are generally flatter than those of local disc galaxies. Only 10 out of 165 TDGs have effective radii larger than 1.5 kpc and would qualify as unusually bright ultra-diffuse galaxies., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Analysis pipelines commonly use high-level technologies that are popular when created, but are unlikely to be readable, executable, or sustainable in the long term. A set of criteria is introduced to address this problem: Completeness (no execution requirement beyond a minimal Unix-like operating system, no administrator privileges, no network connection, and storage primarily in plain text); modular design; minimal complexity; scalability; verifiable inputs and outputs; version control; linking analysis with narrative; and free and open source software. As a proof of concept, we introduce "Maneage" (Managing data lineage), enabling cheap archiving, provenance extraction, and peer verification that has been tested in several research publications. We show that longevity is a realistic requirement that does not sacrifice immediate or short-term reproducibility. The caveats (with proposed solutions) are then discussed and we conclude with the benefits for the various stakeholders. This article is itself a Maneage'd project (project commit 54e4eb2)., Comment: Published version. The downloadable source (on arXiv) includes the full/automatic reproduction resources (scripts, config files and input data links). Git repository: https://git.maneage.org/paper-concept.git (also on Software Heritage), Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3872247

Distance determinations of extremely-low-surface-brightness galaxies are expensive in terms of spectroscopic time. Because of this, their distances are often inferred by associating such galaxies with larger structures such as groups or clusters, leading to a systematic bias by selecting objects in high density environments. Here we report the discovery of a red ultra-diffuse galaxy (S82-DG-1: $r_{\mathrm{eff}}$ = 1.6 kpc; $<\mu _{g}>$ = 25.7 mag arcsec$^{-2}$; $g-i$ = 0.78 mag) located in a nearby cosmic void. We used multi-band luminosity functions of its globular clusters to obtain the distance to S82-DG-1, at 28.7$_{-3.6}^{+4.2}$ Mpc. Follow-up deep spectroscopy with the GTC telescope yields a redshift of 3353 $\pm$ 29 km s$^{-1}$, making its association with the NGC 1211 galaxy (one of the most isolated galaxies known) highly likely. Both galaxies have compatible distances and redshifts, share a high peculiar velocity ($\sim$1000 km s$^{-1}$) and lie within a void of radius 7 Mpc. The local surface density is $\Sigma_5 \sim 0.06$ Mpc$^{-2}$, an order of magnitude smaller than the field population and similar to the voids found in the GAMA survey. Our work shows: i) The high potential of using optical ground-based photometry of associated globular clusters to explore distances to ultra-diffuse galaxies and ii) the presence of red ultra-diffuse galaxies even in the most sparse environments, suggesting a wide range of formation mechanisms., Comment: 14 pages, 4 tables, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey is a survey of $>400$ square degrees centered on the Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33) galaxies that has provided the most extensive panorama of a $L_\star$ galaxy group to large projected galactocentric radii. Here, we collate and summarise the current status of our knowledge of the substructures in the stellar halo of M31, and discuss connections between these features. We estimate that the 13 most distinctive substructures were produced by at least 5 different accretion events, all in the last 3 or 4 Gyrs. We suggest that a few of the substructures furthest from M31 may be shells from a single accretion event. We calculate the luminosities of some prominent substructures for which previous estimates were not available, and we estimate the stellar mass budget of the outer halo of M31. We revisit the problem of quantifying the properties of a highly structured dataset; specifically, we use the OPTICS clustering algorithm to quantify the hierarchical structure of M31's stellar halo, and identify three new faint structures. M31's halo, in projection, appears to be dominated by two `mega-structures', that can be considered as the two most significant branches of a merger tree produced by breaking M31's stellar halo into smaller and smaller structures based on the stellar spatial clustering. We conclude that OPTICS is a powerful algorithm that could be used in any astronomical application involving the hierarchical clustering of points. The publication of this article coincides with the public release of all PAndAS data products., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 51 pages, 24 figures, 5 tables. Some figures have degraded resolution. All PAndAS data products are available via the CADC at http://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/community/pandas/query.html where you can also find a version of the paper with full resolution figures

The claimed detection of a diffuse galaxy lacking dark matter represents a possible challenge to our understanding of the properties of these galaxies and galaxy formation in general. The galaxy, already identified in photographic plates taken in the summer of 1976 at the UK 48-in Schmidt telescope, presents normal distance-independent properties (e.g. colour, velocity dispersion of its globular clusters). However, distance-dependent quantities are at odds with those of other similar galaxies, namely the luminosity function and sizes of its globular clusters, mass-to-light ratio and dark matter content. Here we carry out a careful analysis of all extant data and show that they consistently indicate a much shorter distance (13 Mpc) than previously indicated (20 Mpc). With this revised distance, the galaxy appears to be a rather ordinary low surface brightness galaxy (R_e=1.4+-0.1 kpc; M*=6.0+-3.6x10^7 Msun) with plenty of room for dark matter (the fraction of dark matter inside the half mass radius is >75% and M_halo/M*>20) corresponding to a minimum halo mass >10^9 Msun. At 13 Mpc, the luminosity and structural properties of the globular clusters around the object are the same as those found in other galaxies., Comment: MNRAS, in press. This version includes an extra new independent distance indicator confirming the 13 Mpc distance. New tests also reject the possibility that blends are causing a misidentification of the location of the TRGB

We present the design of an all-reflective, bi-folded Schmidt telescope aimed at surveys of extended astronomical objects with extremely-low surface brightness. The design leads to a high image quality without any diffracting spider, along with a large aperture and field of view, with a small central obstruction which barely alters the PSF. As an example, we present the design of a high-quality, 36 cm diameter, fast ( f /2.5) telescope working in the visible with a large field of view (1.6{\deg}x 2.6{\deg}). The telescope can operate with a curved detector (or with a flat detector with a field flattener) and a set of filters. The entrance mirror is anamorphic and replaces the classical Schmidt entrance corrector plate. We show that this anamorphic primary mirror can be manufactured through stress polishing, avoiding high spatial frequency errors, and tested with a simple interferometer scheme. This prototype is intended to serve as a fast-track scientific and technological pathfinder for the future space-based MESSIER mission., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

We report the discovery of DGSAT I, an ultra-diffuse, quenched galaxy located 10.4 degrees in projection from the Andromeda galaxy (M31). This low-surface brightness galaxy (mu_V = 24.8 mag/arcsec), found with a small amateur telescope, appears unresolved in sub-arcsecond archival Subaru/Suprime-Cam images, and hence has been missed by optical surveys relying on resolved star counts, in spite of its relatively large effective radius (R_e(V) = 12 arcsec) and proximity (15 arcmin) to the well-known dwarf spheroidal galaxy And II. Its red color (V-I = 1.0), shallow Sersic index (n_V=0.68), and the absence of detectable H-alpha emission are typical properties of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and suggest that it is mainly composed of old stars. Initially interpreted as an interesting case of an isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the local universe, our radial velocity measurement obtained with the BTA 6-meter telescope (V_h=5450 +/- 40 km/s) shows that this system is an M31-background galaxy associated with the filament of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster. At the distance of this cluster (~78 Mpc), DGSAT I would have an R_e ~ 4.7 kpc and M_V ~-16.3$. Its properties resemble those of the ultra-diffuse galaxies recently discovered in the Coma cluster. DGSAT I is the first case of these rare ultra-diffuse galaxies found in this galaxy cluster. Unlike the ultra-diffuse galaxies associated with the Coma and Virgo clusters, DGSAT I is found in a much lower density environment, which provides a fresh constraint on the formation mechanisms for this intriguing class of galaxy., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. 18 pages, 8 figures, 2 Tables

We reveal the highly structured nature of the Milky Way stellar halo within the footprint of the PAndAS photometric survey from blue main sequence and main sequence turn-off stars. We map no fewer than five stellar structures within a heliocentric range of ~5 to 30 kpc. Some of these are known (the Monoceros Ring, the Pisces/Triangulum globular cluster stream), but we also uncover three well-defined stellar structures that could be, at least partly, responsible for the so-called Triangulum/Andromeda and Triangulum/Andromeda 2 features. In particular, we trace a new faint stellar stream located at a heliocentric distance of ~17 kpc. With a surface brightness of \Sigma_V ~ 32-32.5 mag/arcsec^2, it follows an orbit that is almost parallel to the Galactic plane north of M31 and has so far eluded surveys of the Milky Way halo as these tend to steer away from regions dominated by the Galactic disk. Investigating our follow-up spectroscopic observations of PAndAS, we serendipitously uncover a radial velocity signature from stars that have colors and magnitudes compatible with the stream. From the velocity of eight likely member stars, we show that this stellar structure is dynamically cold, with an unresolved velocity dispersion that is lower than 7.1 km/s at the 90-percent confidence level. Along with the width of the stream (300-650 pc), its dynamics points to a dwarf-galaxy-accretion origin. The numerous stellar structures we can map in the Milky Way stellar halo between 5 and 30 kpc and their varying morphology is a testament to the complex nature of the stellar halo at these intermediate distances., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ, Figure 3 is the money plot

The metallicity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), which can be measured by emission line ratios in their broad and narrow line regions (BLRs and NLRs), provides invaluable information about the physical connection between the different components of AGNs. From the archival databases of the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we have assembled the largest sample available of AGNs which have adequate spectra in both the optical and ultraviolet bands to measure the narrow line ratio [N II]/H{\alpha} and also, in the same objects, the broad-line N V/C IV ratio. These permit the measurement of the metallicities in the NLRs and BLRs in the same objects. We find that neither the BLR nor the NLR metallicity correlate with black hole masses or Eddington ratios, but there is a strong correlation between NLR and BLR metallicities. This metallicity correlation implies that outflows from BLRs carry metal-rich gas to NLRs at characteristic radial distances of ~ 1.0 kiloparsec. This chemical connection provides evidence for a kinetic feedback of the outflows to their hosts. Metals transported into the NLR enhance the cooling of the ISM in this region, leading to local star formation after the AGNs turn to narrow line LINERs. This post-AGN star formation is predicted to be observable as an excess continuum emission from the host galaxies in the near infrared and ultraviolet, which needs to be further explored., Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication at MNRAS

We undertake an investigation into the spatial structure of the M31 satellite system utilizing the distance distributions presented in a previous publication. These distances make use of the unique combination of depth and spatial coverage of the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) to provide a large, homogeneous sample consisting of 27 of M31's satellites, as well as M31 itself. We find that the satellite distribution, when viewed as a whole, is no more planar than one would expect from a random distribution of equal size. A disk consisting of 15 of the satellites is however found to be highly significant, and strikingly thin, with a root-mean-square thickness of just $12.34^{+0.75}_{-0.43}$ kpc. This disk is oriented approximately edge on with respect to the Milky Way and almost perpendicular to the Milky Way disk. It is also roughly orthogonal to the disk like structure regularly reported for the Milky Way satellite system and in close alignment with M31's Giant Stellar Stream. A similar analysis of the asymmetry of the M31 satellite distribution finds that it is also significantly larger than one would expect from a random distribution. In particular, it is remarkable that 20 of the 27 satellites most likely lie on the Milky Way side of the galaxy, with the asymmetry being most pronounced within the satellite subset forming the aforementioned disk. This lopsidedness is all the more intriguing in light of the apparent orthogonality observed between the satellite disk structures of the Milky Way and M31., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (29 Jan 2013) 16 pages, 16 figures

Dwarf satellite galaxies are thought to be the remnants of the population of primordial structures that coalesced to form giant galaxies like the Milky Way. An early analysis noted that dwarf galaxies may not be isotropically distributed around our Galaxy, as several are correlated with streams of HI emission, and possibly form co-planar groups. These suspicions are supported by recent analyses, and it has been claimed that the apparently planar distribution of satellites is not predicted within standard cosmology, and cannot simply represent a memory of past coherent accretion. However, other studies dispute this conclusion. Here we report the existence (99.998% significance) of a planar sub-group of satellites in the Andromeda galaxy, comprising approximately 50% of the population. The structure is vast: at least 400 kpc in diameter, but also extremely thin, with a perpendicular scatter <14.1 kpc (99% confidence). Radial velocity measurements reveal that the satellites in this structure have the same sense of rotation about their host. This finding shows conclusively that substantial numbers of dwarf satellite galaxies share the same dynamical orbital properties and direction of angular momentum, a new insight for our understanding of the origin of these most dark matter dominated of galaxies. Intriguingly, the plane we identify is approximately aligned with the pole of the Milky Way's disk and is co-planar with the Milky Way to Andromeda position vector. The existence of such extensive coherent kinematic structures within the halos of massive galaxies is a fact that must be explained within the framework of galaxy formation and cosmology., Comment: Published in the 3rd Jan 2013 issue of Nature. 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 three-dimensional interactive figure. To view and manipulate the 3-D figure, an Adobe Reader browser plug-in is required; alternatively save to disk and view with Adobe Reader

In `A Bayesian Approach to Locating the Red Giant Branch Tip Magnitude (PART I),' a new technique was introduced for obtaining distances using the TRGB standard candle. Here we describe a useful complement to the technique with the potential to further reduce the uncertainty in our distance measurements by incorporating a matched-filter weighting scheme into the model likelihood calculations. In this scheme, stars are weighted according to their probability of being true object members. We then re-test our modified algorithm using random-realization artificial data to verify the validity of the generated posterior probability distributions (PPDs) and proceed to apply the algorithm to the satellite system of M31, culminating in a 3D view of the system. Further to the distributions thus obtained, we apply a satellite-specific prior on the satellite distances to weight the resulting distance posterior distributions, based on the halo density profile. Thus in a single publication, using a single method, a comprehensive coverage of the distances to the companion galaxies of M31 is presented, encompassing the dwarf spheroidals Andromedas I - III, V, IX-XXVII and XXX along with NGC147, NGC 185, M33 and M31 itself. Of these, the distances to Andromeda XXIV - XXVII and Andromeda XXX have never before been derived using the TRGB. Object distances are determined from high-resolution tip magnitude posterior distributions generated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique and associated sampling of these distributions to take into account uncertainties in foreground extinction and the absolute magnitude of the TRGB as well as photometric errors. The distance PPDs obtained for each object both with, and without the aforementioned prior are made available to the reader in tabular form..., Comment: 18 pages, 13 Figures

We critically examine the evidence available of the early ideas on the bending of light due to a gravitational attraction, which led to the concept of gravitational lenses, and attempt to present an undistorted historical perspective. Contrary to a widespread but baseless claim, Newton was not the precursor to the idea, and the first Query in his {\sl Opticks} is totally unrelated to this phenomenon. We briefly review the roles of Voltaire, Marat, Cavendish, Soldner and Einstein in their attempts to quantify the gravitational deflection of light. The first, but unpublished, calculations of the lensing effect produced by this deflection are found in Einstein's 1912 notebooks, where he derived the lensing equation and the formation of images in a gravitational lens. The brief 1924 paper by Chwolson which presents, without calculations, the formation of double images and rings by a gravitational lens passed mostly unnoticed. The unjustly forgotten and true pioneer of the subject is F. Link, who not only published the first detailed lensing calculations in 1936, nine months prior to Einstein's famous paper in {\sl Science}, but also extended the theory to include the effects of finite-size sources and lenses, binary sources, and limb darkening that same year. Link correctly predicted that the microlensing effect would be easier to observe in crowded fields or in galaxies, as observations confirmed five decades later. The calculations made by Link are far more detailed than those by Tikhov and Bogorodsky. We discuss briefly some papers of the early 1960s which marked the renaissance of this theoretical subject prior to the first detection of a gravitational lens in 1979, and we conclude with the unpublished chapter of Petrou's 1981 PhD thesis addressing the microlensing of stars in the Magellanic clouds by dark objects in the Galactic halo., Comment: Published in "Albert Einstein Century International Conference", AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 861, pp. 1163-1171 (2006)

The secular stellar mass-loss causes an amplification of the orbital separation in fragile, common proper motion, binary systems with separations of the order of 1000 A.U. In these systems, companions evolve as two independent coeval stars as they experience negligible mutual tidal interactions or mass transfer. We present models for how post-main sequence mass-loss statistically distorts the frequency distribution of separations in fragile binaries. These models demonstrate the expected increase in orbital seapration resulting from stellar mass-loss, as well as a perturbation of associated orbital parameters. Comparisons between our models and observations resulting from the Luyten survey of wide visual binaries, specifically those containing MS and white-dwarf pairs, demonstrate a good agreement between the calculated and the observed angular separation distribution functions., Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures

We present measurements of 68 classical Cepheids with periods from 10 to 78 days observed in the near-infrared by the PHAT Program using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The combination of HST's resolution and the use of near-infrared measurements provides a dramatic reduction in the dispersion of the Period--Luminosity relation over the present optical, ground-based data. Even using random-phase magnitudes we measure a dispersion of just 0.17 mag, implying a dispersion of just 0.12 mag for mean magnitudes. The error in the mean for this relation is 1% in distance. Combined with similar observations of Cepheids in other hosts and independent distance determinations, we measure a distance to M31 of mu_0=24.42 +/- 0.05 (statistical) +/- 0.03 (systematic), 765 +/- 28 kpc, in good agreement with past measurements though with a better, 3% precision here. The result is also in good agreement with independent distance determinations from two detached eclipsing binaries allowing for an independent calibration of the Cepheid luminosities and a determination of the Hubble constant., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ

We used deep wide-field observations obtained with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to study the blue straggler star (BSS) population in the innermost five arcminutes of the remote Galactic globular cluster Palomar 14. The BSS radial distribution is found to be consistent with that of the normal cluster stars, showing no evidence of central segregation. Palomar 14 is the third system in the Galaxy (in addition to OmegaCentauri and NGC 2419) showing a population of BSS not centrally segregated. This is the most direct evidence that in Palomar 14 two-body relaxation has not fully established energy equipartition yet, even in the central regions (in agreement with the estimated half-mass relaxation time, which is significantly larger than the cluster age). These observational facts have important implications for the interpretation of the shape of the mass function and the existence of the tidal tails recently discovered in this cluster., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

The Pan Andromeda Archeological Survey (PAndAS) CFHT Megaprime survey of the M31-M33 system has found a star stream which extends about 120 kpc NW from the center of M31. The great length of the stream, and the likelihood that it does not significantly intersect the disk of M31, means that it is unusually well suited for a measurement of stream gaps and clumps along its length as a test for the predicted thousands of dark matter sub-halos. The main result of this paper is that the density of the stream varies between zero and about three times the mean along its length on scales of 2 to 20 kpc. The probability that the variations are random fluctuations in the star density is less than 10^-5. As a control sample we search for density variations at precisely the same location in stars with metallicity higher than the stream, [Fe/H]=[0, -0.5] and find no variations above the expected shot noise. The lumpiness of the stream is not compatible with a low mass star stream in a smooth galactic potential, nor is it readily compatible with the disturbance caused by the visible M31 satellite galaxies. The stream's density variations appear to be consistent with the effects of a large population of steep mass function dark matter sub-halos, such as found in LCDM simulations, acting on an approximately 10Gyr old star stream. The effects of a single set of halo substructure realizations are shown for illustration, reserving a statistical comparison for another study., Comment: ApJ revised version submitted

We present the underlying relations between colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and synthesis models through the use of stellar luminosity distribution func- tions. CMDs studies make a direct use of the stellar luminosity distribution function while, in general, synthesis models only use its mean value, even though high-order moments can also be obtained. We show that the mean, high-order moments and in- tegrated luminosity distribution functions of stellar ensembles are related to the stellar luminosity distribution function, within the formalism of probabilistic synthesis mod- els. More details have been yet presented in Cervin ~ o & Luridiana (2006) and references therein. As a direct application of this formalism, we discuss two key issues. First, in- ferences on the upper mass limit of the initial mass function as a function of the total mass of clusters. Second, we apply extreme value theory to show that that the cluster mass obtained from normalising the IMF between mmax and mup does not provide the cluster mass in the case where only one star in this mass range is present, as assumed in the IGIMF theory. It provides instead the cluster mass with a 60% probability to have a star with mass larger than mmax, and we argue that in light of this result the basic formulation ofthe IGIMF theory must be revised., Comment: 8 pages, to appear in: Have observations revealed a variable upper end of the IMF?, ASP conf. Ser

In hierarchical cosmological models, galaxies grow in mass through the continual accretion of smaller ones. The tidal disruption of these systems is expected to result in loosely bound stars surrounding the galaxy, at distances that reach $10 - 100$ times the radius of the central disk. The number, luminosity and morphology of the relics of this process provide significant clues to galaxy formation history, but obtaining a comprehensive survey of these components is difficult because of their intrinsic faintness and vast extent. Here we report a panoramic survey of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). We detect stars and coherent structures that are almost certainly remnants of dwarf galaxies destroyed by the tidal field of M31. An improved census of their surviving counterparts implies that three-quarters of M31's satellites brighter than $M_V < -6$ await discovery. The brightest companion, Triangulum (M33), is surrounded by a stellar structure that provides persuasive evidence for a recent encounter with M31. This panorama of galaxy structure directly confirms the basic tenets of the hierarchical galaxy formation model and reveals the shared history of M31 and M33 in the unceasing build-up of galaxies., Comment: Published in Nature. Supplementary movie available at https://www.astrosci.ca/users/alan/PANDAS/Latest%20news%3A%20movie%20of%20orbit.html

We recently reported the discovery of FORJ0332-3557, a lensed Lyman-break galaxy at z=3.77 in a remarkable example of strong galaxy-galaxy gravitational lensing. We present here a medium-resolution rest-frame UV spectrum of the source, which appears to be similar to the well-known Lyman-break galaxy MS1512-cB58 at z=2.73. The spectral energy distribution is consistent with a stellar population of less than 30 Ma, with an extinction of A(V)=0.5 mag and an extinction-corrected star formation rate SFR(UV) of 200-300 Msun/a. The Lyman-alpha line exhibits a damped profile in absorption produced by a column density of about N(HI) = (2.5+_1.0) 10^21 atoms/cm^2, superimposed on an emission line shifted both spatially (0.5 arcsec with respect to the UV continuum source) and in velocity space (+830 km/s with respect to the low-ionisation absorption lines from its interstellar medium), a clear signature of outflows with an expansion velocity of about 270 km/s. A strong emission line from HeII 164.04nm indicates the presence of Wolf-Rayet stars and reinforces the interpretation of a very young starburst. The metallic lines indicate sub-solar abundances of elements Si, Al, and C in the ionised gas phase., Comment: MNRAS, in press. Figure 2 degraded to match arXiv file size limits

The unprecedented quality of recent colour-magnitude diagrams of resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies requires state-of-the-art techniques to infer the star formation histories which gave rise to the observed distributions. We have developed a maximum likelihood technique, which coupled to a variational calculus allows us to make a robust, non-parametric reconstruction of the evolution of the star formation rate. A full Bayesian analysis is also applied to assess whether the best solutions found are also good fits to the data. Applying this new method to WFPC2 observations of five dSph galaxies of the Local Group, we find a wide variety of star formation histories, with no particular epoch being dominant. In the case of the solar neighbourhood observed by Hipparcos we infer, with an unprecedented resolution of 50 Myr, its star formation history over the past 3 Gyr. The surprising regularity of star formation episodes separated by some 0.5 Gyr could be interpreted as the result of interactions with two spiral arms or the Galactic bar. These bursts possibly trigger the formation of massive star clusters which slowly dissolve into the galactic field., Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX. Published in Massive Stellar Clusters, A. Lancon & C.M. Boily (eds) ASP Conf. Series 211, pp. 270-280

We use data from the Hipparcos catalogue to construct colour-magnitude diagrams for the solar neighbourhood, which are then treated using advanced Bayesian analysis techniques to derive the star formation history, $SFR(t)$, of this region over the last 3 Gyr. The method we use allows the recovery of the underlying $SFR(t)$ without the need of assuming any {\it a priori} structure or condition on $SFR(t)$, and hence yields a highly objective result. The remarkable accuracy of the data permits the reconstruction of the local $SFR(t)$ with an unprecedented time resolution of $\approx 50 $ Myr. A $SFR(t)$ having an oscillatory component of period $\approx 0.5$ Gyr is found, superimposed on a small level of constant star formation activity. Problems arising from the non-uniform selection function of the Hipparcos satellite are discussed and treated. Detailed statistical tests are then performed on the results, which confirm the inferred $SFR(t)$ to be compatible with the observed distribution of stars., Comment: 9 pages including figures, MNRAS in press

We use recent HST colour-magnitude diagrams of the resolved stellar populations of a sample of local dSph galaxies (Carina, LeoI, LeoII, Ursa Minor and Draco) to infer the star formation histories of these systems, $SFR(t)$. Applying a new variational calculus maximum likelihood method which includes a full Bayesian analysis and allows a non-parametric estimate of the function one is solving for, we infer the star formation histories of the systems studied. This method has the advantage of yielding an objective answer, as one need not assume {\it a priori} the form of the function one is trying to recover. The results are checked independently using Saha's $W$ statistic. The total luminosities of the systems are used to normalize the results into physical units and derive SN type II rates. We derive the luminosity weighted mean star formation history of this sample of galaxies., Comment: 14 pages including 7 figures. Accepted to MNRAS

Late accretion models for formation of the Galactic halo require that many Galactic satellite galaxies have been cannibalised into the halo field. Comparison of the metallicity and age distribution function of stars in the surviving satellites with the apparently exclusively old stars in the field halo can constrain the importance of any such process. We have developed a new objective technique to determine star formation histories in dSph galaxies. We apply this technique to the surviving Galactic satellites, deducing an approximately uniform distribution of ages for the constituents, quite unlike the halo field stars. Thus, late accretion did not play a substantial part in Galactic halo formation., Comment: latex, 2 figures, 5 pages

An initially highly biased value of the spatial correlation function, which decreases with time up to a transition redshift z_t ~ 1-2, was predicted theoretically at least as early as 1993, and shown to be consistent with the HDF-N angular correlation function estimates in 1997. Observational analyses are presented here which show (i) an HDF-N estimate of the correlation function amplitude of galaxies selected at z ~ 2 (by the UV drop-{\em in} technique), which supports the estimate z_t ~ 2 and (ii) an HDF-N estimate of the correlation function amplitude of galaxies selected at z ~ 3.7 by using photometric redshifts, which suggests that the correlation function amplitude evolves as (1+z)^{2\pm3.5} during epochs earlier than z_t., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, proceedings of Clustering at High Redshift, IGRAP meeting, Marseille, 29 June - 2 July 1999, ed. Mazure, A., Le F\`evre, O., Le Brun, V

Objective determination of a star formation history from a colour-magnitude diagram, independently of assumed parametric descriptions, is necessary to determine the evolutionary history of a galaxy. We introduce a new method for solving maximum likelihood problems through variational calculus, and apply it to the case of recovering an unknown star formation history, SFR(t), from a colour-magnitude diagram. This method provides a non-parametric solution with the advantage of requiring no initial assumptions on the SFR(t). As a full maximum likelihood statistical model is used, one may exploit all the information available in the photometric data which can be explained by available isochrones. Extensive tests of the method show it to be reliable under noise conditions comparable to those appropriate for real observations. Implications for future surveys, such as the GAIA mission are significant: accurate determination of the evolutionary history of the Milky Way is limited only by adequate spectroscopy and/or photometry to provide a determination of stellar metallicity and temperature for a sufficient sample of stars of luminosities at and above an old main-sequence turnoff., Comment: 13pp, 3 figs, to appear in Astrophysical Dynamics, ApSpSci special issue, eds D Berry, D Breitschwerdt, A da Costa, J Dyson

The amplitude of the angular two-point galaxy correlation function w(\theta) for galaxies at z~2 is estimated for galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field by using a U < 27 complete sub-sample. (i) It is confirmed that the amplitude of the correlation can be corrected for the integral constraint without having to make assumptions about the shape of the correlation function and by avoiding the introduction of linear error terms. The estimate using this technique is w(5'') = 0.10 \pm 0.09. (ii) If the biases introduced in faint galaxy selection due to obscuration by large objects are not corrected for by masking areas around them, then the estimate would be w(5'') =0.16\pm 0.07. (iii) The effective (3-D) galaxy pair separation at 5'' and this redshift range is ~ 25-250 /h kpc, so the correction to the spatial correlation function \xi(r) due to exclusion of overlapping galaxy dark matter haloes should be considered. For clustering stable in proper units in an \Omega=1,\lambda=0 universe, our w(5\arcs) estimate (a) implies a present-day correlation length of r_0 ~ 2.6^{+1.1}_{-1.7}/h Mpc if halo overlapping is ignored, but (b) for a present-day correlation length of r_0=5.5/h Mpc implies that a typical halo exclusion radius is r_halo=70^{+420}_{-30}/h kpc. (iv) The decreasing correlation period (DCP) of a high initial bias in the spatial correlation function is not detected at this redshift. For an \Omega=1,\lambda=0 universe and (proper) stable clustering, possible detections of the DCP in other work would imply that \xi at redshifts greater than z_t = 1.7\pm0.9 would be [(1+z)/(1+z_t)]^{2.1\pm3.6} times higher than at z_t, which is consistent with our lack of a detection at z ~ 2., Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, accepted for MNRAS, additional FITS files with HDF images available at http://www.iap.fr/users/roukema/xi2/

We perform a discrete wavelet analysis of the COBE-DMR 4yr sky maps and find a significant scale-scale correlation on angular scales from about 11 to 22 degrees, only in the DMR face centered on the North Galactic Pole. This non-Gaussian signature does not arise either from the known foregrounds or the correlated noise maps, nor is it consistent with upper limits on the residual systematic errors in the DMR maps. Either the scale-scale correlations are caused by an unknown foreground contaminate or systematic errors on angular scales as large as 22 degrees, or the standard inflation plus cold dark matter paradigm is ruled out at the $> 99%$ confidence level., Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

We introduce a new method for solving maximum likelihood problems through variational calculus, and apply it to the case of recovering an unknown star formation history, $SFR(t)$, from a resulting HR diagram. This approach allows a totally non-parametric solution which has the advantage of requiring no initial assumptions on the $SFR(t)$. As a full maximum likelihood statistical model is used, we take advantage of all the information available in the HR diagram, rather than concentrating on particular features such as turn off points or luminosity functions. We test the method using a series of synthetic HR diagrams produced from known $SFR(t)$, and find it to be quite successful under noise conditions comparable to those present in current observations. At this point we restrict the analysis to situations where the metallicity of the system is known, as is the case with the resolved populations of the dwarf spheroidal companions to the Milky Way or the solar neighbourhood Hipparcos data. We also include tests to quantify the way uncertainties in the assumed metallicity, binary fraction and IMF affect our inferences., Comment: 16 pages including 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS, appendix added

The detection of microlensing events from stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud and in the Galactic bulge raise important constraints on the distribution of dark matter and on galactic structure, although some events may be due to a new type of intrinsic variability. When lenses are relatively close to the sources, we predict that chromatic and spectroscopic effects are likely to appear for a significant fraction of the microlensing events. These effects are due to the differential amplification of the limb and the centre of the stellar disc, and present a systematic dependence with wavelength and time that provide an unambiguous signature of a microlensing event (as opposed to a new type of intrinsic stellar variability). In addition, their measure would provide a direct constraint on stellar atmospheres, allowing a 3-dimensional reconstruction or imaging of its structure, a unique tool to test the current models of stellar atmospheres., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Latex, MNRAS

Several recent measurements have been made of the angular correlation function $w(\theta,m)$ of faint galaxies in deep surveys (e.g., Hubble Deep Field, HDF). Are the measured correlations indicative of gravitational growth of primordial perturbations or of the relationship between galaxies and (dark matter dominated) galaxy haloes? A first step in answering this question is to determine the typical spatial separations of galaxies whose spatial correlations, $\xi(r,z),$ contribute most to w. The median spatial separation of galaxy pairs contributing to a fraction $p$ of $w$ for a galaxy survey is denoted by r_{eff} and compared with the perpendicular distance, $r_\perp,$ at the median redshift, z_{median}, of the galaxies. Over a wide range in $\xi$ growth rates $\epsilon$ and in $z_{median}, \r_eff(50%) \ltsim r_\perp$ and $\r_eff(90%) \sim 4 r_\perp.$ Values of r_eff for typical redshift distributions indicate that many $w$ measurements correspond to spatial correlations at comoving length scales well below 1 h^-1 Mpc. For $\Omega_0=1$ and $\lambda_0=0$, the correlation signal at 4\arcsec predominant in the Villumsen et al. (1996) estimates of $w$ for faint HDF galaxies corresponds to r_eff(50%)(HDF) \approx 40 h^-1 kpc; other cosmologies and angles up to 10\arcsec can increase this to r_eff(50%)(HDF) $\ltsim 200 h^-1 kpc. The proper separations are (1+z) times smaller. These scales are small: the faint galaxy $w$ measurements are at scales where halo and/or galaxy existence, let alone interactions, may modify the spatial correlation function. These measurements could maybe be used to probe the radial extent of haloes at high redshift., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, \LaTeX files using aas2pp4.sty or aasms4.sty, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

By a combination of analytical and numerical methods, the density profile of a momentarily at rest spherical star is varied, and the corresponding response in the area of the spherical shells is monitored. It is shown that the inner apparent horizon (if it exists) must lie within or at most on the star's surface, while no such restriction is found for the outer apparent horizon. However, an apparent horizon lying in the vacuum region will always have non vanishing area, as long as the ADM mass of the system is non zero. Furthermore for density profiles not decreasing inwards, it appears that all spherical trapped surfaces lie on a thick spherical shell. Finally for a uniform density star a simple criterion is found, relating density and proper radius that guarantees the presence or absence of trapped regions., Comment: PostScript, 9 pages with 3 figures (included)

Nearby starburst galaxies have consistently shown anomalous Ly-alpha/H-beta ratios. By re-analysing the published IUE/optical observations, we show that most starbursts present a normal Ly-alpha emission, consistent with case B recombination theory, provided extinction laws appropriate to their metallicities are used. This implies that extinction is more important than multiple resonant scattering effects. The anomalous emission and absorption lines present in a few remaining galaxies are simply explained if they are observed in the post-burst phase, between about 10$^7$ and 10$^8$ yrs after the start of the burst. We use updated stellar population synthesis models to show that anomalous ratios are produced by the aging of stellar populations, since the underlying stellar Ly-alpha line is important in the cooler massive stars. The inferred low-duty cycle of massive star formation accounts naturally for the failure to detect large numbers of Ly-alpha--emitting galaxies in deep surveys and at high redshift. Some testable predictions of the proposed scenario are also discussed., Comment: 7 PostScript pages with 4 Figures (included), astro-ph/yymmnnn