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Redshift measurement has always been a constant need in modern astronomy and cosmology. And as new surveys have been providing an immense amount of data on astronomical objects, the need to process such data automatically proves to be increasingly necessary. In this article, we use simulated data from the Dark Energy Survey, and from a pipeline originally created to classify supernovae, we developed a linear regression algorithm optimized through novel automated machine learning (AutoML) frameworks achieving an error score better than ordinary data pre-processing methods when compared with other modern algorithms (such as xgboost). Numerically, the photometric prediction RMSE of type Ia supernovae events was reduced from 0.16 to 0.09 and the RMSE of all supernovae types decreased from 0.20 to 0.14. Our pipeline consists of four steps: through spectroscopic data points we interpolate the light curve using Gaussian process fitting algorithm, then using a wavelet transform we extract the most important features of such curves; in sequence we reduce the dimensionality of such features through principal component analysis, and in the end we applied super learning techniques (stacked ensemble methods) through an AutoML framework dedicated to optimize the parameters of several different machine learning models, better resolving the problem. As a final check, we obtained probability distribution functions (PDFs) using Gaussian kernel density estimations through the predictions of more than 50 models trained and optimized by AutoML. Those PDFs were calculated to replicate the original curves that used SALT2 model, a model used for the simulation of the raw data itself.

In this study we define a new sample of distant powerful radio galaxies in order to study their host-galaxy properties and provide targets for future observations of HI absorption with new radio telescopes and to understand the fuelling and feedback from such sources. We have cross-matched the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) radio catalogue at 843 MHz with the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) near-infrared catalogue using the Likelihood Ratio technique. Photometric redshifts from the Dark Energy Survey are then used to assign redshifts to the radio source counterparts. We found a total of 249 radio sources with photometric redshifts over a 148 deg^2 region. By fitting the optical and near-infrared photometry with spectral synthesis models we determine the stellar mass and star-formation rates of the radio sources, finding typical stellar masses of 10^{11} - 10^{12}M$_{\odot}$ for the powerful high-redshift radio galaxies. We also find a population of low-mass blue galaxies. However, by comparing the derived star-formation rates to the radio luminosity, we suggest that these sources are false positives in our likelihood ratio analysis. Follow up, higher-resolution (, 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We have recently derived a manifestly covariant evolution law, under the geometrical optics approximation of the vacuum Maxwell's equations, for the electric field along null geodesics in a general spacetime, relative to an arbitrary set of instantaneous observers [arXiv:2004.03496]. As one of its applications, we derive here the final detected intensity signal arising from a prototypical laser interferometric gravitational wave (GW) Michelson-Morley detector, comoving with transverse traceless (TT) observers, valid for both long and short GW wavelengths. One of our main results is the presentation of the integrated null geodesic parametric equations exchanged between two TT observers in terms of explicitly observable quantities and the profile of the plane GW packet. This allows us to revisit the derivation of the consequential radar distance and Doppler shift, taking the opportunity to discuss some related subtle conceptual issues and how they might affect the interferometric process. Another achievement is the calculation of the electric field in each arm up to the detection event, for any relative orientations of the arms and the GW direction. The main quantitative result is the new expression for the final interference pattern, for normal GW incidence, which turns out to have three contributions: (i) the well-known traditional one due to the difference in optical paths, and two new ones due to (ii) the Doppler effect, and (iii) the divergence of the laser beams. The quantitative relevance of the last two contributions is compared to the traditional one and shown to be negligible within the geometrical optics regime of light. Although in general further contributions from the non-parallel transport of the polarization vector are expected, again in the case of GW normal incidence, such a vector is indeed parallel transported, and those contributions are absent., Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

We study the tunneling probability of a massive ($m_w$) uncharged scalar packet out from a near-extremal, static charged black hole (with mass $M$ and charge $Q\lesssim M$). We show that there is indeed a net probability that a massive uncharged particle tunnels out from the black hole so that the final state (with new mass $M'\equiv M-m_w < Q$) does violate the cosmic censorship conjecture. Nevertheless, the typical time for such a black hole to discharge (i.e, to absorb charge $-Q$ from its surroundings and then become neutral) is much smaller than the tunneling time; therefore, the violation is never attained in practice. Even for a completely isolated black hole (should it exist), the standard time dilation near the horizon stretches the typical violation time scale to unobservable values., 9 pages, 8 figures

Full list of authors: Bonoli, S.; Marín-Franch, A.; Varela, J.; Vázquez Ramió, H.; Abramo, L. R.; Cenarro, A. J.; Dupke, R. A.; Vílchez, J. M.; Cristóbal-Hornillos, D.; González Delgado, R. M.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; López-Sanjuan, C.; Muniesa, D. J.; Civera, T.; Ederoclite, A.; Hernán-Caballero, A.; Marra, V.; Baqui, P. O.; Cortesi, A.; Cypriano, E. S.; Daflon, S.; de Amorim, A. L.; Díaz-García, L. A.; Diego, J. M.; Martínez-Solaeche, G.; Pérez, E.; Placco, V. M.; Prada, F.; Queiroz, C.; Alcaniz, J.; Alvarez-Candal, A.; Cepa, J.; Maroto, A. L.; Roig, F.; Siffert, B. B.; Taylor, K.; Benitez, N.; Moles, M.; Sodré, L.; Carneiro, S.; Mendes de Oliveira, C.; Abdalla, E.; Angulo, R. E.; Aparicio Resco, M.; Balaguera-Antolínez, A.; Ballesteros, F. J.; Brito-Silva, D.; Broadhurst, T.; Carrasco, E. R.; Castro, T.; Cid Fernandes, R.; Coelho, P.; de Melo, R. B.; Doubrawa, L.; Fernandez-Soto, A.; Ferrari, F.; Finoguenov, A.; García-Benito, R.; Iglesias-Páramo, J.; Jiménez-Teja, Y.; Kitaura, F. S.; Laur, J.; Lopes, P. A. A.; Lucatelli, G.; Martínez, V. J.; Maturi, M.; Overzier, R. A.; Pigozzo, C.; Quartin, M.; Rodríguez-Martín, J. E.; Salzano, V.; Tamm, A.; Tempel, E.; Umetsu, K.; Valdivielso, L. ; von Marttens, R.; Zitrin, A.; Díaz-Martín, M. C.; López-Alegre, G.; López-Sainz, A.; Yanes-Díaz, A.; Rueda-Teruel, F.; Rueda-Teruel, S.; Abril Ibañez, J.; L Antón Bravo, J.; Bello Ferrer, R.; Bielsa, S.; Casino, J. M.; Castillo, J.; Chueca, S.; Cuesta, L.; Garzarán Calderaro, J.; Iglesias-Marzoa, R.; Íniguez, C.; Lamadrid Gutierrez, J. L.; Lopez-Martinez, F.; Lozano-Pérez, D.; Maícas Sacristán, N.; Molina-Ibáñez, E. L.; Moreno-Signes, A.; Rodríguez Llano, S.; Royo Navarro, M.; Tilve Rua, V.; Andrade, U.; Alfaro, E. J.; Akras, S.; Arnalte-Mur, P.; Ascaso, B.; Barbosa, C. E.; Beltrán Jiménez, J.; Benetti, M.; Bengaly, C. A. P.; Bernui, A.; Blanco-Pillado, J. J.; Borges Fernandes, M.; Bregman, J. N.; Bruzual, G.; Calderone, G.; Carvano, J. M.; Casarini, L.; Chaves-Montero, J.; Chies-Santos, A. L.; Coutinho de Carvalho, G.; Dimauro, P.; Duarte Puertas, S.; Figueruelo, D.; González-Serrano, J. I.; Guerrero, M. A.; Gurung-López, S.; Herranz, D.; Huertas-Company, M.; Irwin, J. A.; Izquierdo-Villalba, D.; Kanaan, A.; Kehrig, C.; Kirkpatrick, C. C.; Lim, J.; Lopes, A. R.; Lopes de Oliveira, R.; Marcos-Caballero, A.; Martínez-Delgado, D.; Martínez-González, E.; Martínez-Somonte, G.; Oliveira, N.; Orsi, A. A.; Penna-Lima, M.; Reis, R. R. R.; Spinoso, D.; Tsujikawa, S.; Vielva, P.; Vitorelli, A. Z.; Xia, J. Q.; Yuan, H. B.; Arroyo-Polonio, A.; Dantas, M. L. L.; Galarza, C. A.; Gonçalves, D. R.; Gonçalves, R. S.; Gonzalez, J. E.; Gonzalez, A. H.; Greisel, N.; Jiménez-Esteban, F.; Landim, R. G.; Lazzaro, D.; Magris, G.; Monteiro-Oliveira, R.; Pereira, C. B.; Rebouças, M. J.; Rodriguez-Espinosa, J. M.; Santos da Costa, S.; Telles, E., The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) will scan thousands of square degrees of the northern sky with a unique set of 56 filters using the dedicated 2:55m Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST) at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. Prior to the installation of the main camera (4:2 deg2 field-of-view with 1.2 Gpixels), the JST was equipped with the JPAS-Pathfinder, a one CCD camera with a 0:3 deg2 field-of-view and plate scale of 0.23 arcsec pixel?1. To demonstrate the scientific potential of J-PAS, the JPAS-Pathfinder camera was used to perform miniJPAS, a _1 deg2 survey of the AEGIS field (along the Extended Groth Strip). The field was observed with the 56 J-PAS filters, which include 54 narrow band (FWHM _ 145 ) and two broader filters extending to the UV and the near-infrared, complemented by the u; g; r; i SDSS broad band filters. In this miniJPAS survey overview paper, we present the miniJPAS data set (images and catalogs), as we highlight key aspects and applications of these unique spectro-photometric data and describe how to access the public data products. The data parameters reach depths of magAB ' 22?23:5 in the 54 narrow band filters and up to 24 in the broader filters (5_ in a 300 aperture). The miniJPAS primary catalog contains more than 64 000 sources detected in the r band and with matched photometry in all other bands. This catalog is 99% complete at r = 23:6 (r = 22:7) mag for point-like (extended) sources. We show that our photometric redshifts have an accuracy better than 1% for all sources up to r = 22:5, and a precision of _0:3% for a subset consisting of about half of the sample. On this basis, we outline several scientific applications of our data, including the study of spatially-resolved stellar populations of nearby galaxies, the analysis of the large scale structure up to z _ 0:9, and the detection of large numbers of clusters and groups. Sub-percent redshift precision can also be reached for quasars, allowing for the study of the large-scale structure to be pushed to z 2. The miniJPAS survey demonstrates the capability of the J-PAS filter system to accurately characterize a broad variety of sources and paves the way for the upcoming arrival of J-PAS, which will multiply this data by three orders of magnitude. © 2021 EDP Sciences. All rights reserved., Funding for OAJ, UPAD, and CEFCA has been provided by the Governments of Spain and Aragon through the Fondo de Inversiones de Teruel; the Aragon Government through the Research Groups E96, E103, and E16_17R; the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) with grant PGC2018-097585-B-C21; the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO/FEDER, UE) under AYA2015-66211-C2-1-P, AYA2015-66211-C2-2, AYA2012-30789, and ICTS2009-14; and European FEDER funding (FCDD10-4E-867, FCDD13-4E-2685). This work has made used of CEFCA's Scientific High Performance Computing system which has been funded by the Governments of Spain and Aragon through the Fondo de Inversiones de Teruel, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO-FEDER, grant AYA2012-30789). Funding for the J-PAS project has been provided also by the Brazilian agencies FINEP, FAPESP, FAPERJ and by the National Observatory of Brazil. Additional funding was also provided by the Tartu Observatory and by the Chinese Consortium from the Academy of Sciences SB acknowledges partial support from the project PGC2018-097585-B-C22. R.A.D. acknowledges support from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico -CNPq through BP grant 308105/2018-4, and the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos -FINEP grants REF. 1217/13 -01.13.0279.00 and REF 0859/10 -01.10.0663.00 and also FAPERJ PRONEX grant E-26/110.566/2010 for hardware funding support for the J-PAS project through the National Observatory of Brazil and Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas. LRA acknowledges financial support from CNPq (306696/2018-5) and FAPESP (2015/17199-0). VMthanks CNPq (Brazil) and FAPES (Brazil) for partial financial support and the H2020 project No 888258. L.A.D.G. and K.U. acknowledge support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (grant MOST 106-2628-M-001-003-MY3) and from the Academia Sinica (grant AS-IA-107-M01). J.M.D. and D.H acknowledge the support of project PGC2018-101814-B-100. MQ thanks CNPq (Brazil) and FAPERJ (Brazil) for financial support. PC acknowledges financial support from FAPESP (2018/05392-8) and CNPq (310041/2018-0). AAC acknowledges support from FAPERJ (E26/203.186/2016), CNPq (304971/2016-2 and 401669/2016-5), and the Universidad de Alicante (contract UATALENTO1802). C.Q. acknowledges support from FAPESP (2015/11442-0 and 2019/067661). V.M.P. is supported by NOIRLab, which is managed by AURA under a cooperative agreement with the NSF. P.B acknowledges support from CAPES -Finance Code 001. IAA researchers acknowledge financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-2017-0709). Authors acknowledge support from the Generalitat Valenciana project of excellence Prometeo/2020/085. RGD, GMS, JRM, RGB, EP acknowledge financial support from the project AyA2016-77846-P. TC is supported by the INFN INDARK PD51 and PRIN-MIUR 2015W7KAWC. MAR and ALM acknowledge support from the MINECO project FIS2016-78859P(AEI/FEDER, UE). ET, AT and JL acknowledge the support by ETAg grants IUT40-2 and by EU through the ERDF CoE grant TK133 and MOBTP86. CK, JMV, JIP acknowledge financial support from project AYA2016-79724C4-4P. PAAL thanks the support of CNPq (309398/2018-5). LC thanks CNPq for partial support. Y.J-T acknowledges financial support from the FAPERJ (E26/202.835/2016), and from the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 898633. DMD acknowledges financial support from the SFB 881 of the DFG and from the MINECO grant AYA2016-81065-C2-2. FP acknowledges support of the project PGC2018-101931-B-I00. JC acknowledges support of the project E AYA2017-88007-C3-1-P, and co-financed by the FEDER. JIGs acknowledges support of projects of reference AYA2017-88007-C3-3-P, and PGC2018-099705-B-I00 and co-financed by the FEDER. EMG and PV would like to acknowledge financial support from the project ESP2017-83921C2-1-R. GMS acknowleges financial support from a predoctoral contract, ref. PRE2018-085523 (MCIU/AEI/FSE, UE). S.C. is partially supported by CNPq. R.G.L. acknowledges CAPES (process 88881.162206/2017-01) and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the financial support. JSA acknowledges support from FAPERJ (E26/203.024/2017), CNP (310790/2014-0 and 400471/2014-0) and FINEP (1217/13 -01.13.0279.00 and Ref. 0859/10 -01.10.0663.00). RvM acknowledges support from CNPq. AFS, PAM, VJM and FJB acknowledge support from project AYA2016-81065-C2-2. PAM acknowledges support from the "Subprograma Atraccio de Talent -Contractes Postdoctorals de la Universitat de Valencia". ESC acknowledges support from CNPq (308539/20184) and FAPESP (2019/19687-2). CMdO acknowledges support from CNPq (grant 312333/2014-5) and FAPESP (grant 2009/54202-8). LSJ acknowledges support from CNPq (grant 304819/2017-4) and FAPESP (grant 2012/008004). JMC acknowledges support from CNPq (grant 310727/2016-2). C.H.-M. and N. Greisel also acknowledge the support of the European Union via the Career Integration Grant CIG-PCIG9-GA-2011-294183. JJBP and AMC would like to acknowledge the support from the grant PGC2018-094626-B-C21 and the Basque Government grant IT-979-16. AMC acknowledges the postdoctoral contract from the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU "Especializacioon de personal investigador doctor" program. MLLD acknowledges CAPES -Finance Code 001; and CNPq (142294/2018-7). GB acknowledges financial support from the UNAM through grant DGAPA/PAPIIT IG100319, from CONACyT through grant CB2015-252364, and from FAPESP projects 2017/02375-2 and 2018/05392-8. M.J. Reboucas acknowledges the support of FAPERJ under a CNE E-26/202.864/2017 grant, and CNPq. Support by CNPq (305409/2016-6) and FAPERJ (E-26/202.841/2017) is acknowledged by DL. AB acknowledges a CNPq fellowship. C.A.G.acknowledges support from CAPES. EA acknowledges support from FAPESP (2011/18729-1). AC acknowledges support from PNPD/CAPES. ABA and FSK acknowledge the Severo Ochoa program SEV-2015-0548. FSK also thanks the AYA2017-89891-P and the RYC2015-18693 grants. DF acknowledges support from the Atraccion del Talento Cientifico en Salamanca programme and the project PGC2018-096038B-I00.

A aplicação de supernovas do tipo Ia como velas padrão para a medida de distâncias no Universo revolucionou a cosmologia na década de 90. A constatação de que supernovas distantes pareciam menos brilhantes do que o esperado levou à construção da hipótese da expansão acelerada do Universo, atualmente parte fundamental do modelo padrão da cosmologia. Neste artigo, iniciaremos com uma revisão dos principais marcos na descrição de supernovas, desde a sua classificação moderna até a construção das hipóteses que levaram à concepção dos levantamentos SCP e High-Z, cujos resultados foram as primeiras evidências da expansão acelerada. Em seguida, apresentaremos a análise cosmológica realizada e os procedimentos para a padronização das curvas de luz adotados. Descreveremos também os principais levantamentos de supernovas já conduzidos e as diferentes amostras resultantes e finalizaremos comentando sobre os atuais desafios e perspectivas da área.

We derive, in a manifestly covariant and electromagnetic gauge independent way, the evolution law of the electric field $E^\alpha = Ee^\alpha\ (e^\alpha e_\alpha=1)$, relative to an arbitrary set of instantaneous observers along a null geodesic ray, for an arbitrary Lorentzian spacetime, in the geometrical optics limit of Maxwell's equations in vacuum. We show that, in general, neither the magnitude $E$ nor the direction $e^\alpha$ of the electric field (here interpreted as the observed polarization of light) are parallel transported along the ray. For an extended reference frame around the given light ray, we express the evolution of the direction $e^\alpha$ in terms of the frame's kinematics, proving thereby that its expansion never spoils parallel transport, which bears on the unbiased inference of intrinsic properties of cosmological sources, such as, for instance, the polarization field of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). As an application of the newly derived laws, we consider a simple setup for a gravitational wave (GW) interferometer, showing that, despite the (kinematic) shear induced by the GW, the change in the final interference pattern is negligible since it turns out to be of the order of the ratio of the GW and laser frequencies., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) is imaging similar to 9300 deg(2) of the celestial sphere in 12 optical bands using a dedicated 0.8mrobotic telescope, the T80-South, at the Cerro Tololo Inter-american Observatory, Chile. The telescope is equipped with a 9.2k x 9.2k e2v detector with 10 mu m pixels, resulting in a field of view of 2 deg(2) with a plate scale of 0.55 arcsec pixel-1. The survey consists of four main subfields, which include two non-contiguous fields at high Galactic latitudes (vertical bar b vertical bar > 30 degrees, 8000 deg(2)) and two areas of the Galactic Disc and Bulge (for an additional 1300 deg(2)). S-PLUS uses the Javalambre 12-band magnitude system, which includes the 5 ugriz broad-band filters and 7 narrow-band filters centred on prominent stellar spectral features: the Balmer jump/[OII], Ca H + K, Hd, G band, Mg b triplet, H alpha, and the Ca triplet. S-PLUS delivers accurate photometric redshifts (dz /(1 + z) = 0.02 or better) for galaxies with r < 19.7 AB mag and z < 0.4, thus producing a 3D map of the local Universe over a volume of more than 1 (Gpc/h)(3). The final S-PLUS catalogue will also enable the study of star formation and stellar populations in and around the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, as well as searches for quasars, variable sources, and low-metallicity stars. In this paper we introduce the main characteristics of the survey, illustrated with science verification data highlighting the unique capabilities of S-PLUS. We also present the first public data release of similar to 336 deg(2) of the Stripe 82 area, in 12 bands, to a limiting magnitude of r = 21, available at datalab.noao.edu/splus.© 2019 The Author(s).Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society, The S-PLUS project, including the T80S robotic telescope and the S-PLUS scientific survey, was founded as a partnership between the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP), the Observatorio Nacional (ON), the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), with important financial and practical contributions from other collaborating institutes in Brazil, Chile (Universidad de La Serena), and Spain (Centro de Estudios de Fisica del Cosmos de Aragon, CEFCA). The members of the collaboration are grateful for the support received from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq; grants 312333/2014-5, 306968/2014-2, 142436/2014-3, 459553/2014-3, 400738/2014-7, 302037/2015-2, 312307/2015-2, 300336/2016-0, 304184/2016-0, 304971/2016-2, 401669/2016-5, 308968/2016-6, 309456/2016-9, 421687/2016-9, 150237/2017-0, 311331/2017-3, 304819/2017-4, and 200289/2017-9), FAPESP (grants 2009/54202-8, 2011/51680-6, 2014/07684-5, 2014/11806-9, 2014/13723-3, 2014/18632-6, 2016/17119-9, 2016/12331-0, 2016/21532-9, 2016/21664-2, 2016/23567-4, 2017/01461-2, 2017/23766-0, 2018/02444-7, and 2018/21661-9), the Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES; grants 88881.030413/2013-01 and 88881.156185/2017-01), the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ; grants 202.876/2015, 202.835/2016, and 203.186/2016), the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP; grants 1217/13-01.13.0279.00 and 0859/10-01.10.0663.00), the Direccion de Investigacion y Desarrollo de la Universidad de La Serena (DIDULS/ULS; projects PR16143 and PTE16146 and the Programa de Investigadores Asociados), and the Direccion de Postgrado y Postitulo. TCB, VMP, and DDW acknowledge the support from the Physics Frontier Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE) through the US National Science Foundation (grant PHY 14-30152). JLNC is grateful for financial support received from the Southern Office of Aerospace Research and development (SOARD; grants FA9550-15-1-0167 and FA9550-18-1-0018) of the Air Force Office of the Scientific Research International Office of the United States (AFOSR/IO). YJT and RAD acknowledge support from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) I-COOP + 2016 program (grant COOPB20263), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (MINECO; grants AYA2013-48623-C2-1-P and AYA2016-81065-C2-1-P). RAOM acknowledges support from the Direccion General de Asuntos del Personal Academico of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (DGAPA-UNAM) through a post-doctoral fellowship from the Programa de Becas Posdoctorales en la UNAM. This work has made use of data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Enenergy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS Web Site is http://www.sdss.org/.The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, University of Cambridge, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), the New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. This publication makes use of data products from the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We are grateful for the contributions of CTIO staff in helping in the construction, commissioning, and maintenance of the telescope and camera and we are particularly thankful to the CTIO director, Steve Heathcote, for his support at every phase, without which this project would not have been completed. We thank Cesar Iniguez for making the 2D measurements of the filter transmissions at CEFCA. We warmly thank David Cristobal-Hornillos and his group for helping us to install and run the reduction package JYPE version 0.9.9 in the S-PLUS computer system in Chile. We warmly thank Mariano Moles, Javier Cenarro, Tamara Civera, Sergio Chueca, Javier Hernandez Fuertes, Antonio Marin Franch, Jesus Varella, and Hector Vazquez Ramio -the success of the S-PLUS project relies on the dedication of these and other CEFCA staff members in building OAJ and running J-PLUS and J-PAS. We deeply thank Rene Laporte and INPE, as well as Keith Taylor, for their contributions to the T80S camera.

We examine the static structure configurations and radial stability of compact stars within the context of $f(R, T)$ gravity, with $R$ and $T$ standing for the Ricci scalar and trace of the energy-momentum tensor, respectively. Considering the $f(R, T)=R+2\beta T$ functional form, with $\beta$ being a constant, we derive the corresponding hydrostatic equilibrium equation and the modified Chandrasekhar's pulsation equation. The mass-radius relations and radial mode frequencies are obtained for some realistic equations of state. Our results show that the traditional stellar stability criteria, namely, the necessary condition $dM/d\rho_c >0$ and sufficient condition $\omega^2 >0$, still hold in this theory of gravity., Comment: Accepted for publication in JCAP; 18 pages, 6 figures and new references added

In the metric approach of $f(R)$ theories of gravity, the fourth-order field equations are often recast as effective Einstein equations in the presence of standard matter and a curvature fluid (which gathers all the extra terms), always in the Jordan frame. In this picture, we investigate the strong gravity regime of the $f(R) = R+ \alpha R^2$ model. In particular, we focus on the stability of a compact star composed by a mixture of ordinary matter -- described by a polytropic equation of state -- and an effective curvature fluid in an otherwise standard Einstein gravity, so that we are able to apply the usual equations that govern the radial adiabatic oscillations of relativistic stars. Our new restriction on the free parameter is $\alpha \lesssim 2.4 \times 10^8\ \text{cm}^2$ in order to guarantee stellar stability, about $100$ times more restrictive than previous results (based on mass-radius relations alone) in the literature., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures

The efficient classification of different types of supernova is one of the most important problems for observational cosmology. However, spectroscopic confirmation of most objects in upcoming photometric surveys, such as the The Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), will be unfeasible. The development of automated classification processes based on photometry has thus become crucial. In this paper we investigate the performance of machine learning (ML) classification on the final cosmological constraints using simulated lightcurves from The Supernova Photometric Classification Challenge, released in 2010. We study the use of different feature sets for the lightcurves and many different ML pipelines based on either decision tree ensembles or automated search processes. To construct the final catalogs we propose a threshold selection method, by employing a \emph{Bias-Variance tradeoff}. This is a very robust and efficient way to minimize the Mean Squared Error. With this method we were able to get very strong cosmological constraints, which allowed us to keep $\sim 75\%$ of the total information in the type Ia SNe when using the SALT2 feature set and $\sim 33\%$ for the other cases (based on either the Newling model or on standard wavelet decomposition)., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables. Replaced to match the published version

Light is the richest information retriever for most physical systems, particularly so for astronomy and cosmology, in which gravitation is of paramount importance, and also for solid state defects and metamaterials, in which some effects can be mimicked by non-Euclidean or even non-Riemannian geometries. Thus, it is expedient to probe light motion in geometrical backgrounds alternative to that of general relativity. Here we investigate this issue in generic metric-affine theories and derive (i) the expression, in the geometrical optics (eikonal) limit, for light trajectories, showing that they still are null (extremal) geodesics and thus, in general, no longer autoparallels, (ii) a generic {formula} to obtain the relation between source (galaxy) and reception (observer) angular size (area) distances, generalizing Etherington's original distance reciprocity relation (DRR), and then applying it to two particular representative non-Riemannian geometries. First in metric-compatible, completely antisymmetric torsion geometries, the generalized DRR is not changed at all, and then in Weyl integrable spacetimes, the generalized DRR assumes a specially simple expression., 6 pages, 1 figure

The possibility of unifying dark-matter and dark-energy has recently attracted considerable interest. In this so called quartessence scenario, a single component is responsible for both the clustering of matter and the accelerated expansion of the universe. A model archetype for such scenario is provided by the Chaplygin gas. Although this model is in agreement with the data on the expansion history, problems arise in the power spectrum of density fluctuations for adiabatic perturbations. In this contribution we consider other quartessence models and confirm that instabilities and oscillations in the matter power spectrum are a characteristic of more generic quartessence models, namely those with a convex equation of state. We show that, as in the Chaplygin case, this kind of problem can be solved by considering intrinsic non-adiabatic perturbations such that, as an initial condition, the perturbed fluid is gradient pressure free. We also discuss how the problems of adiabatic quartessence can be circumvented by other types of equations of state., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, IOP class file used

We study the characteristics of a narrow band type Ia supernova survey through simulations based on the upcoming Javalambre Physics of the accelerating universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS). This unique survey has the capabilities of obtaining distances, redshifts, and the SN type from a single experiment thereby circumventing the challenges faced by the resource-intensive spectroscopic follow-up observations. We analyse the flux measurements signal-to-noise ratio and bias, the supernova typing performance, the ability to recover light curve parameters given by the SALT2 model, the photometric redshift precision from type Ia supernova light curves and the effects of systematic errors on the data. We show that such a survey is not only feasible but may yield large type Ia supernova samples (up to 250 supernovae at $z, Comment: 20 pages, 12 tables and 26 figures. Version accepted by MNRAS, with results slightly different from previous one

We revisit the kink-like parametrization of the deceleration parameter q(z), which considers a transition, at $z_t$, from cosmic deceleration to acceleration. In this parametrization the initial, at $z \gg z_t$, value of the q-parameter is $q_i$, its final, z=-1, value is $q_f$ and the duration of the transition is parametrized by $\tau$. By assuming a flat space geometry we obtain constraints on the free parameters of the model using recent data from type Ia supernovae, BAO, CMB and the Hubble parameter H(z). The use of H(z) data introduces an explicit dependence of the combined likelihood on the present value of the Hubble parameter $H_0$, allowing us to explore the influence of different priors when marginalizing over this parameter. We also study the importance of the CMB information in the results by considering data from WMAP7, WMAP9 and Planck. We show that the contours and best fit do not depend much on the different CMB data used and that the considered new BAO data is responsible for most of the improvement in the results. Assuming a flat space geometry, $q_i=1/2$ and expressing the present value of the deceleration parameter $q_0$ as a function of the other three free parameters, we obtain $z_t=0.67^{+0.10}_{-0.08}$, $\tau=0.26^{+0.14}_{-0.10}$ and $q_0=-0.48^{+0.11}_{-0.13}$, at 68\% of confidence level, with an uniform prior over $H_0$. If in addition we fix $q_f=-1$, as in flat $\Lambda$CDM, DGP and Chaplygin quartessence that are special models described by our parametrization, we get $z_t=0.66^{+0.03}_{-0.04}$, $\tau=0.33^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$ and $q_0=-0.54^{+0.05}_{-0.07}$, in excellent agreement with flat $\Lambda$CDM for which $\tau=1/3$. We also obtain for flat wCDM, another dark energy model described by our parametrization, the constraint on the equation of state parameter -1.22 < w < -0.78 at more than 99% confidence level., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures

By using type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) data in combination with recent baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations we constrain a kink-like parametrization of the deceleration parameter (q). By adopting a likelihood approach to deal with the SN Ia data we constrain the model parameters and show that, in combination with BAO/CMB, SN Ia data processed with the MLCS2k2 fitter favors Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati-like cosmological models, while SALT2 fitter favors ΛCDM-like ones.

Stripe 82 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey was observed multiple times, allowing deeper images to be constructed by coadding the data. Here we analyze the ellipticities of background galaxies in this 275 square degree region, searching for evidence of distortions due to cosmic shear. The E-mode is detected in both real and Fourier space with $>5$-$\sigma$ significance on degree scales, while the B-mode is consistent with zero as expected. The amplitude of the signal constrains the combination of the matter density $\Omega_m$ and fluctuation amplitude $\sigma_8$ to be $\Omega_m^{0.7}\sigma_8 = 0.252^{+0.032}_{-0.052}$., Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, submitted to ApJ. Analysis updated using revised photo-z catalog of Reis et al. arXiv:1111.6620v2. Changes in results are within the errors and the conclusions are unaffected

We describe and present initial results of a weak lensing survey of nearby ($\rm{z}\lesssim0.1$) galaxy clusters in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In this first study, galaxy clusters are selected from the SDSS spectroscopic galaxy cluster catalogs of \citet{miller05} and \citet{berlind06}. We report a total of seven individual low redshift cluster weak lensing measurements which include: A2048, A1767, A2244, A1066, A2199, and two clusters specifically identified with the C4 algorithm. Our program of weak lensing of nearby galaxy clusters in the SDSS will eventually reach $\sim 200$ clusters, making it the largest weak lensing survey of individual galaxy clusters to date., Comment: accepted to ApJL; 11 pages, 1 figure

Cosmic acceleration is investigated through a kink-like expression for the deceleration parameter (q). The new parametrization depends on the initial (q_i) and final (q_f) values of q, on the redshift of the transition from deceleration to acceleration (z_{t}) and the width of such transition (\tau). We show that although supernovae (SN) observations (Gold182 and SNLS data samples) indicate, at high confidence, that a transition occurred in the past (z_{t}>0) they do not, by themselves, impose strong constraints on the maximum value of z_{t}. However, when we combine SN with the measurements of the ratio between the comoving distance to the last scattering surface and the SDSS+2dfGRS BAO distance scale (S_{k}/D_{v}) we obtain, at 95.4% confidence level, z_{t}=0.84+{0.17}-{0.13} and \tau =0.51-{0.17}+{0.23} for (S_{k}/D_{v}+Gold182), and z_{t}=0.88-{0.10}+{0.12} and \tau =0.35-{0.10}+{0.12} for (S_{k}/D_{v} + SNLS), assuming q_i=0.5 and q_f=-1. We also analyze the general case, q_f\in(-\infty,0) finding the constraints that the combined tests (S_{k}/D_{v} + SNLS) impose on the present value of the deceleration parameter (q_0)., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Replaced to match the published version

The equation of state (EOS) in quartessence models interpolates between two stages: $p\simeq 0$ at high energy densities and $p\approx -\rho$ at small ones. In the quartessence models analyzed up to now, the EOS is convex, implying increasing adiabatic sound speed ($c_{s}^{2}$) as the energy density decreases in an expanding Universe. A non-negligible $c_{s}^{2}$ at recent times is the source of the matter power spectrum problem that plagued all convex (non-silent) quartessence models. Viability for these cosmologies is only possible in the limit of almost perfect mimicry to $\Lambda$CDM. In this work we investigate if similarity to $\Lambda$CDM is also required in the class of quartessence models whose EOS changes concavity as the Universe evolves. We focus our analysis in the simple case in which the EOS has a step-like shape, such that at very early times $p\simeq0$, and at late times $p\simeq const, Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, revised version to appear in PRD

Quartessence is one of the alternatives to Lambda-CDM that has lately attracted considerable interest. According to this unifying dark matter/energy scenario, the Universe evolved from an early non-relativistic matter-dominated phase to a more recent accelerated expansion phase, driven by a single fluid component. Recently, it has been shown that some problems of the quartessence model, such as the existence of instabilities and oscillations in the matter power spectrum, can be avoided if a specific type of intrinsic entropy perturbation is considered. In the present article we explore the role of skewness in constraining this non-adiabatic scenario. We show that non-adiabatic quartessence and quintessence have different signatures for the skewness of the density distribution on large scales and suggest that this quantity might prove helpful to break possible degeneracies between them., 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review D

We show that entropy perturbations can eliminate instabilities and oscillations, in the mass power spectrum of the quartessence Chaplygin models. Our results enlarge the current parameter space of models compatible with large scale structure and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations., references added, one figure corrected, results unchanged

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been intensively investigated due to its great homogeneity and high luminosity, which make it possible to use them as standardizable candles for the determination of cosmological parameters. In 2011, the physics Nobel prize was awarded for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae. This is a pedagogical article, aimed at those starting their study of that subject, in which we dwell on some topics related to the analysis of SNe Ia and their use in luminosity distance estimators. Here we investigate their spectral properties and light curve standardization, paying careful attention to the fundamental quantities directly related to the SNe Ia observables. Finally, we describe our own step-by-step implementation of a classical light curve fitter, the stretch, applying it to real data from the Carnegie Supernova Project., 25 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables

By using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) first year type Ia supernova (SN Ia) compilation, we compare two different approaches (traditional \chi^2 and complete likelihood) to determine parameter constraints when the magnitude dispersion is to be estimated as well. We consider cosmological constant + Cold Dark Matter (\Lambda CDM) and spatially flat, constant w Dark Energy + Cold Dark Matter (FwCDM) cosmological models and show that, for current data, there is a small difference in the best fit values and $\sim$ 30% difference in confidence contour areas in case the MLCS2k2 light-curve fitter is adopted. For the SALT2 light-curve fitter the differences are less significant ($\lesssim$ 13% difference in areas). In both cases the likelihood approach gives more restrictive constraints. We argue for the importance of using the complete likelihood instead of the \chi^2 approach when dealing with parameters in the expression for the variance., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. More complete analysis by including peculiar velocities and correlations among SALT2 parameters. Use of 2D contours instead of 1D intervals for comparison. There can be now a significant difference between the approaches, around 30% in contour area for MLCS2k2 and up to 13% for SALT2. Generic streamlining of text and suppression of section on model selection

The shapes of distant galaxies are sheared by intervening galaxy clusters. We examine this effect in Stripe 82, a 275 square degree region observed multiple times in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and coadded to achieve greater depth. We obtain a mass-richness calibration that is similar to other SDSS analyses, demonstrating that the coaddition process did not adversely affect the lensing signal. We also propose a new parameterization of the effect of tomography on the cluster lensing signal which does not require binning in redshift, and we show that using this parameterization we can detect tomography for stacked clusters at varying redshifts. Finally, due to the sensitivity of the tomographic detection to accurately marginalizing over the effect of the cluster mass, we show that tomography at low redshift (where dependence on exact cosmological models is weak) can be used to constrain mass profiles in clusters.

We present and describe a catalog of galaxy photometric redshifts (photo-z's) for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Coadd Data. We use the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique to calculate photo-z's and the Nearest Neighbor Error (NNE) method to estimate photo-z errors for $\sim$ 13 million objects classified as galaxies in the coadd with $r < 24.5$. The photo-z and photo-z error estimators are trained and validated on a sample of $\sim 83,000$ galaxies that have SDSS photometry and spectroscopic redshifts measured by the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7), the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology Field Galaxy Survey (CNOC2), the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe Data Release 3(DEEP2 DR3), the VIsible imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph - Very Large Telescope Deep Survey (VVDS) and the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. For the best ANN methods we have tried, we find that 68% of the galaxies in the validation set have a photo-z error smaller than $\sigma_{68} =0.031$. After presenting our results and quality tests, we provide a short guide for users accessing the public data.