Search

Artículo firmado por 355 autores. We would like to thank all the National Space Agencies who supported the EChO phase-A study. We also thank Nick Cowan for useful comments., The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune—all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10^-4 relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength cover, European Space Agency (ESA), Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO), Depto. de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© Springer International Publishing AG. Artículo firmado por 135 autores. We thank Florence Henry, Silvain Cnudde, CNES/PASO, Astrium GmbH Germany, AIM Infrarot-Module GmbH and Astrium UK for their support in preparing this paper., A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO—the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory—is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. The use of passive cooling, few moving parts and well established technology gives a low-risk and potentially long-lived mission. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and ground-based telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. However, EChO’s configuration and specifications are designed to study a number of systems in a consistent manner that will eliminate the ambiguities affecting prior observations. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region—from the visible to the mid-infrared—to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere, the abundances of the major carbon and oxygen bearing species, the expected photochemically-produced species and magnetospheric signatures. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules and retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures T_ eq up to 2,000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with T _eq \u223c 300 K. The list will include planets with no Solar System analog, such as the recently discovered planets GJ1214b, whose density lies between that of terrestrial and gaseous planets, or the rocky-iron planet 55 Cnc e, with day-side temperature close to 3,000 K. As the number of detected exoplanets is growing rapidly each year, and the mass and radius of those detecte, Depto. de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This work has been financed by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid through Project GR3/14-910133., We have numerically studied the influence of the absorption modulation depth of carbon-based saturable absorbers (graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)) on the Q-switched regime of a diode-pumped Nd:YLF laser. A short-length cavity was used with an end mirror on which CNTs or mono- or bi-layer graphene were deposited, forming a saturable absorber mirror (SAM). Using a standard model, the generated energy per pulse was calculated, as well as the pulse duration and repetition rate. The results show that absorbers with higher modulation depths, i.e., graphene, deliver higher energy pulses at lower repetition rates. However, the pulse duration did not have a monotonic behavior and reaches a minimum for a given low value of the modulation depth typical of CNTs., Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Depto. de Óptica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Artículo firmado por 26 autores. D.Z. acknowledges financial support from NASA ADAP NNX12AE27G and thanks the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and NYU CCPP for their hospitality during long-term visits. E. A. and A. B. acknowledge the CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales-France) for financial support. We acknowledge the support from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA grant agreement PITN-GA-2011-289313. The authors thank the entire S^(4)G team for the efforts in making this program possible. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. This research is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Taehyun Kim is a student at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory., We study the m = 1 distortions (lopsidedness) in the stellar components of 167 nearby galaxies that span a wide range of morphologies and luminosities. We confirm the previous findings of (1) a high incidence of lopsidedness in the stellar distributions, (2) increasing lopsidedness as a function of radius out to at least 3.5 exponential scale lengths, and (3) greater lopsidedness, over these radii, for galaxies of later type and lower surface brightness. Additionally, the magnitude of the lopsidedness (1) correlates with the character of the spiral arms (stronger arm patterns occur in galaxies with less lopsidedness), (2) is not correlated with the presence or absence of a bar, or the strength of the bar when one is present, (3) is inversely correlated to the stellar mass fraction, f_*, within one radial scale length, and (4) correlates directly with f_* measured within the radial range over which we measure lopsidedness. We interpret these findings to mean that lopsidedness is a generic feature of galaxies and does not, generally, depend on a rare event, such as a direct accretion of a satellite galaxy onto the disk of the parent galaxy. While lopsidedness may be caused by several phenomena, moderate lopsidedness (< A_1 >_i + < A_1>_o)/2 < 0.3) is likely to reflect halo asymmetries to which the disk responds or a gravitationally self-generated mode. We hypothesize that the magnitude of the stellar response depends both on how centrally concentrated the stars are with respect to the dark matter and whether there are enough stars in the region of the lopsidedness that self-gravity is dynamically important., NASA ADAP, CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales-France), FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA grant, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Unión Europea (UE), Séptimo Programa Marco de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico (FP7), UE, Depto. de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© Springer-Verlag 2007. The authors want to thank C. Cattuto for performing the computer simulations in the granular case. R.B. is supported by the Projects MOSAICO, FIS2004-271 and and UCM PR27/05- 13923-BSCH. U.M.B.M. acknowledges a grant COFIN-MIUR 2005, 2005027808. R.S. is supported by Fondecyt research grants 1030993 and 1061112 and Fondap grant 11980002., In this paper we present a method to calculate Casimir Forces for non equilibrium systems with long range correlations. The origin of the force are the fluctuating fields, and the modification that the external, macroscopic objects induce in the spectrum of the fluctuations. The method is first illustrated with a simple model: a reaction-diffusion non-equilibrium system with an structure factor that possesses a characteristic length. The second part of the paper deals with a granular fluid where correlations are long ranged at all scales. In the first case the hydrodynamic fluctuations are confined by two plates, while in the second one the confinement comes from two immobile large and heavy particles. In both cases Casimir forces are calculated, and their properties analyzed., MOSAICO, Fondecyt, Fondap, Depto. de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y Electrónica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© 2009. The American Astronomical Society. The authors acknowledge the referee, Bahram Mobasher, for his useful comments. E. M.-Q. acknowledges the SMES for a FPI PhD fellowship. This work has been partially supported by the SMES through the research project AYA2007-67752-C0301. N. C. also acknowledges financial support from the research project AYA2006-15698-C02-02. P. S.-B. acknowledges the financial support from a Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant within the 7th European Community Framework Programme., The study of stellar populations in early-type galaxies in different environments is a powerful tool for constraining their star formation histories. This study has been traditionally restricted to the optical range, where dwarfs around the turn-off and stars at the base of the red giant branch dominate the integrated light at all ages. The near-infrared spectral range is especially interesting since in the presence of an intermediate-age population, asymptotic giant branch stars are the main contributors. In this Letter, we measure the near-infrared indices Na I and D(CO) for a sample of 12 early-type galaxies in low-density environments and compare them with the Fornax galaxy sample presented by Silva et al.. The analysis of these indices in combination with Lick/IDS indices in the optical range reveals that (1) the Na I index is a metallicity indicator as good as C4668 in the optical range, and (2) D(CO) is a tracer of intermediate-age stellar populations. We find that low-mass galaxies in low-density environments show higher Na I and D(CO) than those located in the Fornax cluster, which points toward a late stage of star formation for the galaxies in less dense environments, in agreement with results from other studies using independent methods., SMES, Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant, Depto. de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Artículo firmado por 21 autores. S.E.M. thanks Arjen van der Wel for discussion and Angela Adamo and Anibal Garcia for their helpful comments on the manuscript. E.A. and A.B. thank the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales for financial support., We examine the effect of circumstellar dust extinction on the near-IR (NIR) contribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in intermediate-age clusters throughout the disk of M100. For our sample of 17AGB-dominated clusters we extract optical-to-mid-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and find that NIR brightness is coupled to the mid-IR dust emission in such a way that a significant reduction of AGB light, of up to 1 mag in the K band, follows from extinction by the dust shell formed during this stage. Since the dust optical depth varies with AGB chemistry (C-rich or O-rich), our results suggest that the contribution of AGB stars to the flux from their host clusters will be closely linked to the metallicity and the progenitor mass of the AGB star, to which dust chemistry and mass-loss rate are sensitive. Our sample of clusters-each the analogue of a similar to 1 Gyr old post-starburst galaxy-has implications within the context of mass and age estimation via SED modeling at high-z: we find that the average similar to 0.5 mag extinction estimated here may be sufficient to reduce the AGB contribution in the (rest-frame) K band from similar to 70%, as predicted in the latest generation of synthesis models, to similar to 35%. Our technique for selecting AGB-dominated clusters in nearby galaxies promises to be effective for discriminating the uncertainties associated with AGB stars in intermediate-age populations that plague age and mass estimation in high-z galaxies., Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Francia, Depto. de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

We report on a bulk thulium laser operating on the 3H4 → 3H5 transition with pure upconversion pumping at 1064 nm by an ytterbium fiber laser (addressing the 3F4 → 3F2,3 excited-state absorption (ESA) transition of Tm3+ ions) generating 433 mW at 2291 nm with a slope efficiency of 7.4% / 33.2% vs. the incident / absorbed pump power, respectively, and linear laser polarization representing the highest output power ever extracted from any bulk 2.3 µm thulium laser with upconversion pumping. As a gain material, a Tm3+-doped potassium lutetium double tungstate crystal is employed. The polarized ESA spectra of this material in the near-infrared are measured by the pump-probe method. The possible benefits of dual-wavelength pumping at 0.79 and 1.06 µm are also explored, indicating a positive effect of co-pumping at 0.79 µm on reducing the threshold pump power for upconversion pumping.

We study a cascade laser scheme involving the 3H4 → 3H5 and 3F4 → 3H6 consecutive transitions in Tm3+-doped materials as a promising technique to favor laser emission at 2.3 µm. We examine the conditions in terms of the Tm3+ doping levels for which the cascade laser is beneficial or not. For this, Tm:LiYF4 lasers based on crystals with several doping levels in the range of 2.5 - 6 at.% with and without cascade laser are studied. For low doping of 2.5 at.% Tm3+, adding the laser emission at 1.9 µm allows to double the output power at 2.3 µm, whereas for high doping of 6 at.%, allowing the laser to operate at 1.9 µm totally suppresses the laser emission at 2.3 µm. An analytical model is developed and confronted with experimental results to predict this doping-dependent phenomenon and forecast the potential benefits. This study of cascade laser emission on the 3H4→ 3H5 and 3F4→ 3H6 transitions versus the Tm3+ doping level is finally extended to other well-known Tm3+-doped laser materials.

We are grateful to the referee for a constructive report that has improved this paper. J.D.F. was supported by NASA through contract S-15633Y and through the Fermi GI program. A.D. is grateful for the support of the Ramón y Cajal program from the Spanish MINECO. A.S.L. acknowledges support from Swiss National Science Foundation. M.A. acknowledges support from Fermi GI Grant 80NSSC22K1579., We present an updated model for the extragalactic background light (EBL) from stars and dust, over wavelengths approximate to 0.1-1000 mu m. This model uses accurate theoretical stellar spectra, and tracks the evolution of star formation, stellar mass density, metallicity, and interstellar dust extinction and emission in the universe with redshift. Dust emission components are treated self-consistently, with stellar light absorbed by dust reradiated in the infrared as three blackbody components. We fit our model, with free parameters associated with star formation rate and dust extinction and emission, to a wide variety of data: luminosity density, stellar mass density, and dust extinction data from galaxy surveys; and gamma-ray absorption optical depth data from gamma-ray telescopes. Our results strongly constraint the star formation rate density and dust photon escape fraction of the universe out to redshift z = 10, about 90% of the history of the universe. We find our model result is, in some cases, below lower limits on the z = 0 EBL intensity, and below some low-z gamma-ray absorption measurements., NASA, Fermi GI program, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Swiss National Science Foundation, Fermi GI, Depto. de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y Electrónica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

© ESO 2022. Artículo firmado por 15 autores. A.A. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 834148). R.F.P. acknowledges financial support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 721463 to the SUNDIAL ITN network. A.V. and J.F-B acknowledge support through the RAVET project by the grant PID2019-107427GB-C32 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU), and through the IAC project TRACES which is partially supported through the state budget and the regional budget of the Consejería de Economía, Industria, Comercio y Conocimiento of the Canary Islands Autonomous Community. P.C. acknowledges support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) under grant 310041/2018-0 and from Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) process number 2018/05392-8. P.S-B. acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, through the grant PID2019107427GB-C31. L.M. thanks FAPESP (grant 2018/26381-4) and CNPQ (grant 306359/2018-9) for partial funding of this research., We present the third data release (DR3) of the X-shooter Spectral Library (XSL). This moderate-to-high resolution, near-ultraviolet-to-near-infrared (350-2480 nm, R similar to 10 000) spectral library is composed of 830 stellar spectra of 683 stars. DR3 improves upon the previous data release by providing the combined de-reddened spectra of the three X-shooter segments over the full 350-2480 nm wavelength range. It also includes additional 20 M-dwarf spectra from the ESO archive. We provide detailed comparisons between this library and Gaia EDR3, MILES, NGSL, CaT library, and (E-)IRTF. The normalised rms deviation is better than D = 0.05 or 5% for the majority of spectra in common between MILES (144 spectra of 180), NGSL (112/116), and (E-)IRTF (55/77) libraries. Comparing synthetic colours of those spectra reveals only negligible offsets and small rms scatter, such as the median offset(rms) 0.001 +/- 0.040 mag in the (box1 - box2) colour of the UVB arm, -0.004 +/- 0.028 mag in (box3 - box4) of the VIS arm, and -0.001 +/- 0.045 mag in (box2 - box3) colour between the UVB and VIS arms, when comparing stars in common with MILES. We also find an excellent agreement between the Gaia published (BP - RP) colours and those measured from the XSL DR3 spectra, with a zero median offset and an rms scatter of 0.037 mag for 449 non-variable stars. The unmatched characteristics of this library, which combine a relatively high resolution, a large number of stars, and an extended wavelength coverage, will help us to bridge the gap between the optical and the near-IR studies of intermediate and old stellar populations, and to probe low-mass stellar systems., Unión Europea. Horizonte 2020, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), IAC project TRACES, Regional budget of the Consejería de Economía, Industria, Comercio y Conocimiento of the Canary Islands Autonomous Community, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq), Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP), Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation Spanish Government, CNPQ Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ), Depto. de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y Electrónica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

We present the multiwavelength counterparts of 850-mu m selected submillimetre sources over a 2-deg(2) field centred on the North Ecliptic Pole. In order to overcome the large beam size (15 arcsec) of the 850-mu m images, deep optical to near-infrared (NIR) photometric data and arcsecond-resolution 20-cm images are used to identify counterparts of submillimetre sources. Among 647 sources, we identify 514 reliable counterparts for 449 sources (69 per cent in number), based either on probabilities of chance associations calculated from positional offsets or offsets combined with the optical-to-NIR colours. In the radio imaging, the fraction of 850-mu m sources having multiple counterparts is 7 percent. The photometric redshift, infrared luminosity, stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and the active galactic nucleus (AGN) contribution to the total infrared luminosity of the identified counterparts are investigated through spectral energy distribution fitting. The SMGs are infrared-luminous galaxies at an average < z > = 2.5 with log(10)(L-IR/L-circle dot) = 11.5-13.5, with a mean stellar mass of log(10)(M-star/M-circle dot) = 10.90 and SFR of log(10)(SFR/M-circle dot yr(-1)) = 2.34. The submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) show twice as large SFR as galaxies on the star-forming main sequence, and about 40 per cent of the SMGs are classified as objects with bursty star formation. At z >= 4, the contribution of AGN luminosity to total luminosity for most SMGs is larger than 30 per cent. The FIR-to-radio correlation coefficient of SMGs is consistent with that of main-sequence galaxies at z similar or equal to 2.

Star-forming galaxies are composed of various types of galaxies. However, the luminosity functions at z greater than or similar to 4-5 suggest that most galaxies have a relatively low stellar mass (log M-star similar to 10) and a low dust attenuation (A(FUV) similar to 1.0). The physical properties of these objects are quite homogeneous. We used an approach where we combined their rest-frame far-infrared and submillimeter emissions and utilized the universe and the redshift as a spectrograph to increase the amount of information in a collective way. From a subsample of 27 ALMA-detected galaxies at z > 4.5, we built an infrared spectral energy distribution composite template. It was used to fit, with CIGALE, the 105 galaxies (detections and upper limits) in the sample from the far-ultraviolet to the far-infrared. The derived physical parameters provide information to decipher the nature of the dust cycle and of the stellar populations in these galaxies. The derived IR composite template is consistent with the galaxies in the studied sample. A delayed star formation history with tau(main) = 500 Myr is slightly favored by the statistical analysis as compared to a delayed with a final burst or a continuous star formation history. The position of the sample in the star formation rate (SFR) versus M-star diagram is consistent with previous papers. The redshift evolution of the log M-star versus A(FUV) relation is in agreement with an evolution in redshift of this relation. This evolution is necessary to explain the cosmic evolution of the average dust attenuation of galaxies. Evolution is also observed in the L-dust/L-FUV (IRX) versus UV slope beta(FUV) diagram: younger galaxies have bluer beta(FUV). We modeled the shift of galaxies in the IRX versus the beta(FUV) diagram with the mass-weighted age as a free parameter, and we provide an equation to make predictions. The large sample studied in this paper is generally consistent with models that assume rapid dust for

We report on a detailed spectroscopic study of a Tm3+-doped transparent sesquioxide ceramic based on a solid-solution (lutetia – yttria, LuYO3) composition. The ceramic was fabricated using commercial oxide powders by hot isostatic pressing at 1600°C for 3 h at 190 MPa argon pressure. The most intense Raman peak in Tm:LuYO3 at 385.4 cm−1 takes an intermediate position between those for the parent compounds and is notably broadened (linewidth: 12.8 cm−1). The transition intensities of Tm3+ ions were calculated using the Judd-Ofelt theory; the intensity parameters are W2 = 2.537, W4 = 1.156 and W6 = 0.939 [1020 cm2]. For the 3F4 → 3H6 transition, the stimulated-emission cross-section amounts to 0.27 × 10−20 cm2 at 2059nm and the reabsorption-free luminescence lifetime is 3.47 ms (the 3F4 radiative lifetime is 3.85 ± 0.1 ms). The Tm3+ ions in the ceramic exhibit long-wave multiphonon-assisted emission extending up to at least 2.35 µm; a phonon sideband at 2.23 µm is observed and explained by coupling between electronic transitions and the dominant Raman mode of the sesquioxides. Low temperature (12 K) spectroscopy reveals a significant inhomogeneous spectral broadening confirming formation of a substitutional solid-solution. The mixed ceramic is promising for ultrashort pulse generation at >2 µm.

We present the second dust continuum data release in the Census of High- and Medium-mass Protostars (CHaMP), expanding the methodology trialed in Pitts et al. to the entire CHaMP survey area (280 degrees < l < 300 degrees, - 4 degrees < b < + 2 degrees). This release includes maps of dust temperature (T-d), H-2 column density (NH2), gas-phase CO abundance, and temperature-density plots for every prestellar clump with Herschel coverage, showing no evidence of internal heating for most clumps in our sample. We show that CO abundance is a strong function of T-d and can be fit with a second-order polynomial in log-space, with a typical dispersion of a factor of 2-3. The CO abundance peaks at 20.0(-1.0)(+0.4) K with a value of 7.4(-0.3)(+0.2) x 10(-5) per H-2; the low T-d at which this maximal abundance occurs relative to laboratory results is likely due to interstellar UV bombardment in the largest survey fields. Finally, we show that, as predicted by theoretical literature and hinted at in previous studies of individual clouds, the conversion factor from integrated (CO)-C-12 line intensity ((ICO)-C-12) to NH2, the X-CO factor, varies as a broken power law in I-CO(12) with a transition zone between 70 and 90 K km s(-1). The X-CO function we propose has NH2 proportional to I-12CO(0.51) for I-12CO less than or similar to 70 K km s(-1) N-H2 proportional to I-12CO(2.3) for I-12CO greater than or similar to 90 K km s(-1) The high-I-12CO side should be generalizable with known adjustments for metallicity, but the influence of interstellar UV fields on the low-I-12CO side may be sample specific. We discuss how these results expand on previous works in the CHaMP series and help tie together observational, theoretical, and laboratory studies on CO over the past decade.

Context. A variety of laboratory ice spectra simulating different chemical environments, ice morphologies, and thermal and energetic processing are needed in order to provide an accurate interpretation of the infrared spectra of protostars. To decipher the combination of laboratory data that best fits the observations, an automated, statistics-based computational approach is necessary.Aims. We aim to introduce a new approach, based on evolutionary algorithms, to searching for molecules in ice mantles via spectral decomposition of infrared observational data with laboratory ice spectra.Methods. We introduce a publicly available and open-source fitting tool called ENIIGMA (dEcompositioN of Infrared Ice features using Genetic Modelling Algorithms). The tool has dedicated Python functions to carry out continuum determination of the protostellar spectra, silicate extraction, spectral decomposition, and statistical analysis to calculate confidence intervals and quantify degeneracy. We conducted fully blind and non-blind tests with known ice samples and constructed mixtures in order to asses the code. Additionally, we performed a complete analysis of the Elias 29 spectrum and compared our findings with previous results from the literature.Results. The ENIIGMA fitting tool can identify the correct ice samples and their fractions in all checks with known samples tested in this paper. In the cases where Gaussian noise was added to the experimental data, more robust genetic operators and more iterations became necessary. Concerning the Elias 29 spectrum, the broad spectral range between 2.5 and 20 mu m was successfully decomposed after continuum determination and silicate extraction. This analysis allowed the identification of different molecules in the ice mantle, including a tentative detection of CH3CH2OH.Conclusions. The ENIIGMA is a toolbox for spectroscopy analysis of infrared spectra that is well-timed with the launch of the James Webb Spa

We use the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) project as a template to demonstrate how deep spectrophotometric surveys covering large cosmological volumes over extended fields (1-15 deg(2)) with a mid-IR imaging spectrometer (17-36 mu m) in conjunction with deep 70 mu m photometry with a far-IR camera, at wavelengths which are not affected by dust extinction can answer the most crucial questions in current galaxy evolution studies. A SPICA-like mission will be able for the first time to provide an unobscured three-dimensional (3D, i.e. x, y, and redshift z) view of galaxy evolution back to an age of the universe of less than similar to 2 Gyrs, in the mid-IR rest frame. This survey strategy will produce a full census of the Star Formation Rate (SFR) in the universe, using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) bands and fine-structure ionic lines, reaching the characteristic knee of the galaxy luminosity function, where the bulk of the population is distributed, at any redshift up to z similar to 3.5. Deep follow-up pointed spectroscopic observations with grating spectrometers onboard the satellite, across the full IR spectral range (17-210 mu m), would simultaneously measure Black Hole Accretion Rate (BHAR), from high-ionisation fine-structure lines, and SFR, from PAH and low- to mid-ionisation lines in thousands of galaxies from solar to low metallicities, down to the knee of their luminosity functions. The analysis of the resulting atlas of IR spectra will reveal the physical processes at play in evolving galaxies across cosmic time, especially its heavily dust-embedded phase during the activity peak at the cosmic noon (z similar to 1-3), through IR emission lines and features that are insensitive to the dust obscuration.

We present the first results from the Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) survey, the largest Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blank-field contiguous survey to date (184 arcmin(2)) and the only at 2 mm to search for dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). We use the 13 sources detected above 5 sigma to estimate the first ALMA galaxy number counts at this wavelength. These number counts are then combined with the state-of-the-art galaxy number counts at 1.2 and 3 mm and with a backward evolution model to place constraints on the evolution of the IR luminosity function and dust-obscured star formation in the past 13 billion years. Our results suggest a steep redshift evolution on the space density of DSFGs and confirm the flattening of the IR luminosity function at faint luminosities, with a slope of alpha(LF) = -0.42(-0.04)(+0.02). We conclude that the dust-obscured component, which peaks at z approximate to 2-2.5, has dominated the cosmic history of star formation for the past similar to 12 billion years, back to z similar to 4. At z = 5, the dust-obscured star formation is estimated to be similar to 35% of the total star formation rate density and decreases to 25%-20% at z = 6-7, implying a minor contribution of dusten-shrouded star formation in the first billion years of the universe. With the dust-obscured star formation history constrained up to the end of the epoch of reionization, our results provide a benchmark to test galaxy formation models, to study the galaxy mass assembly history, and to understand the dust and metal enrichment of the universe at early times.

We present an 850-mu m mosaic map and extracted catalogue of submillimetre sources in the extended North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) region over about 2 deg(2). The 850-mu m map is constructed using newly obtained observations by SCUBA-2 at the East Asian Observatory's James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, carried out using the observatory's large programme opportunities. The recent 850-mu m survey has extended the submillimetre data coverage by almost a factor of 4 compared to previous surveys, with a depth of sigma(rms) = 1.0-2.3 mJy beam(-1). The catalogue contains 549 sources selected above a significance level of 4 sigma, where the false-detection rate is 10 per cent; a higher threshold of 4.5 sigma is required in order to achieve a false-detection rate below 3 per cent, which results in 342 sources being selected. Despite the large spatial variation of the noise, the deboosted flux density of sources is comparable to results from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey, which covered the central 0.6 deg(2) of our survey area with better sensitivity. We construct the source counts at 850 mu m, finding results in agreement with other 850-mu m surveys in cosmological blank fields over S-850 = 4-15 mJy. We find a slight excess of bright galaxies (S-850 > 15 mJy), which can be considered to be at z(phot) = 2-4. The 850-mu m data add valuable long-wavelength information to mid-infrared-selected sources from the AKARI NEP-deep and NEP-wide surveys, which will be helpful in preparing for future near-infrared to millimetre wavelength observations in the NEP region. Our 850-mu m mosaic map and source catalogue will be made publicly available.

We analyze an extremely deep 450 mu m image (1 sigma = 0.56 mJy beam(-1)) of a similar or equal to 300 arcmin(2) area in the CANDELS/COSMOS field as part of the Sub-millimeter Common User Bolometric Array-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey. We select a robust (signal-to-noise ratio >= 4) and flux-limited (>= 4 mJy) sample of 164 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at 450 mu m that have K-band counterparts in the COSMOS2015 catalog identified from radio or mid-infrared imaging. Utilizing this SMG sample and the 4705 K-band-selected non-SMGs that reside within the noise level

Aims. We present the detailed characterisation of a sample of 56 sources serendipitously detected in ALMA band 7 as part of the ALMA Large Program to INvestigate CII at Early Times (ALPINE). These sources, detected in COSMOS and ECDFS, have been used to derive the total infrared luminosity function (LF) and to estimate the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD) up to z similar or equal to 6.Methods. We looked for counterparts of the ALMA sources in all the available multi-wavelength (from HST to VLA) and photometric redshift catalogues. We also made use of deeper UltraVISTA and Spitzer source lists and maps to identify optically dark sources with no matches in the public catalogues. We used the sources with estimated redshifts to derive the 250 mu m rest-frame and total infrared (8-1000 mu m) LFs from z similar or equal to 0.5 to 6.Results. Our ALMA blind survey (860 mu m flux density range: similar to 0.3-12.5 mJy) allows us to further push the study of the nature and evolution of dusty galaxies at high-z, identifying luminous and massive sources to redshifts and faint luminosities never probed before by any far-infrared surveys. The ALPINE data are the first ones to sample the faint end of the infrared LF, showing little evolution from z similar or equal to 2.5 to z similar or equal to 6, and a "flat" slope up to the highest redshifts (i.e. 4.5

We thoroughly explore the properties of (sub)-millimetre (mm) selected galaxies (SMGs) in the SHARK semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. Compared to observations, the predicted number counts at wavelengths (lambda) 0.6-2 mm and redshift distributions at 0.1-2 mm, agree well. At the bright end (greater than or similar to 1 mJy), SHARK galaxies are a mix of mergers and disc instabilities. These galaxies display a stacked far-ultraviolet (FUV)-to-far-infrared (FIR) spectrum that agrees well with observations. We predict that current optical/NIR surveys are deep enough to detect bright (>1 mJy) lambda = 0.85-2 mm-selected galaxies at z less than or similar to 5, but too shallow to detect counterparts at higher redshift. A James Webb Space Telescope 10 000s survey should detect all counterparts for galaxies with S-0.85mm greater than or similar to 0.01 mJy. We predict SMG's disks contribute significantly (negligibly) to the rest-frame UV (IR). We investigate the 0 1 mJy lambda = 0.85-2 mm-selected galaxies finding their: (i) stellar masses are > 10(10.2) M-circle dot, with the 2mm ones tracing the most massive galaxies (> 10(11) M-circle dot); (ii) specific star formation rates (SFR) are mildly (approximate to 3-10 times) above the main sequence (MS); (iii) host halo masses are greater than or similar to 10(12.3) M-circle dot, with 2 mm galaxies tracing the most massive haloes (protoclusters); (iv) SMGs have lower dust masses (approximate to 10(8) M-circle dot), higher dust temperatures (approximate to 40-45 K) and higher rest-frame V-band attenuation (>1.5) than MS galaxies; (v) sizes decrease with redshift, from 4 kpc at z = 1 to less than or similar to 1 kpc at z = 4; and (vi) the carbon monoxide line spectra of S-0.85mm greater than or similar to 1 mJy sources peak at 4 -> 3. Finally, we study the contribution of SMGs to the molecular gas and cosmic SFR density at 0 1 mJy sources make a negligible contribution at z greater than or similar to 3 a

Broadband mid-infrared light sources are highly desired for wide-ranging applications that span free-space communications to spectroscopy. In recent years, silicon has attracted great interest as a platform for nonlinear optical wavelength conversion in this region, owing to its low losses (linear and nonlinear) and high stability. However, most research in this area has made use of small core waveguides fabricated from silicon-on-insulator platforms, which suffer from high absorption losses of the use of silica cladding, limiting their ability to generate light beyond 3 µm. Here, we design and demonstrate a compact silicon core, silica-clad waveguide platform that has low losses across the entire silicon transparency window. The waveguides are fabricated from a silicon core fibre that is tapered to engineer mode properties to ensure efficient nonlinear propagation in the core with minimal interaction of the mid-infrared light with the cladding. These waveguides exhibit many of the benefits of fibre platforms, such as a high coupling efficiency and power handling capability, allowing for the generation of mid-infrared supercontinuum spectra with high brightness and coherence spanning almost two octaves (1.6–5.3 µm)., QC 20200218

We combine the SHARK semi-analytic model of galaxy formation with the PROSPECT software tool for spectral energy distribution (SED) generation to study the multiwavelength emission of galaxies from the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to the far-infrared (FIR) at 0