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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 811 records · Page 45
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DOE OSTI2023

A nanocryotron memory and logic family

The development of superconducting electronics based on nanocryotrons has been limited so far to few device circuits, in part due to the lack of standard and robust logic cells. Here, we introduce and experimentally demonstrate designs for a set of nanocryotron-based building blocks that can be configured and combined to implement memory and logic functions. The devices were fabricated by patterning a single superconducting layer of niobium nitride and measured in liquid helium on a wide range of operating points. The tests show 10 - 4 bit error rates with above ± 20 % margins up to 50 MHz and the possibility of operating under the effect of an out-of-plane 36 mT magnetic field, with ± 30 % margins at 10 MHz. Additionally, we designed and measured an equivalent delay-flip-flop made of two memory cells to show the possibility of combining multiple building blocks to make larger circuits. These blocks may constitute a solid foundation for the development of nanocryotron logic circuits and finite-state machines with potential applications in the integrated processing and control of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Accelerating kinetic plasma simulations with machine-learning-generated initial conditions

Computational models of plasma technologies often solve for the system operating conditions by time-stepping an initial value problem to a quasi-steady solution. However, the strongly nonlinear and multi-timescale nature of plasma dynamics often necessitate millions, or even hundreds of millions, of steps to reach convergence, reducing the effectiveness of these simulations for computer-aided engineering. We consider acceleration of kinetic plasma simulations via data-driven machine-learning-generated initial conditions, which initialize the simulations close to their final quasi-steady-state, thereby reducing the number of steps to reach convergence. Three machine-learning models are developed to predict the density and ion kinetic profiles of capacitively coupled plasma discharges relevant to the microelectronics industry. The models are trained on kinetic simulations over a range of device operating frequencies and pressures. Best performance was observed when simulations were initialized with ion kinetic profiles generated by a convolutional neural network, reducing the mean number of steps to reach convergence by 17.1× when compared to initialization with a zero-dimensional global model. We also outline a workflow for continuous data-driven model improvement and simulation speedup, with the aim of generating sufficient data for full device digital twins.

Artificial neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2012

A MULTI-SURVEY APPROACH TO WHITE DWARF DISCOVERY

By selecting astrometric and photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Lepine and Shara Proper Motion North Catalog (LSPM-North), the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and the USNO-B1.0 catalog, we use a succession of methods to isolate white dwarf (WD) candidates for follow-up spectroscopy. Our methods include reduced proper motion diagram cuts, color cuts, and atmospheric model adherence. We present spectroscopy of 26 WDs obtained from the CTIO 4 m and APO 3.5 m telescopes. Additionally, we confirm 28 WDs with spectra available in the SDSS DR7 database but unpublished elsewhere, presenting a total of 54 WDs. We label one of these as a recovered WD while the remaining 53 are new discoveries. We determine physical parameters and estimate distances based on atmospheric model analyses. Three new WDs are modeled to lie within 25 pc. Two additional WDs are confirmed to be metal-polluted (DAZ). Follow-up time series photometry confirms another object to be a pulsating ZZ Ceti WD.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

GAS, STARS, AND STAR FORMATION IN ALFALFA DWARF GALAXIES

We examine the global properties of the stellar and H I components of 229 low H I mass dwarf galaxies extracted from the ALFALFA survey, including a complete sample of 176 galaxies with H I masses <10{sup 7.7} M{sub Sun} and H I line widths <80 km s{sup -1}. Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data are combined with photometric properties derived from Galaxy Evolution Explorer to derive stellar masses (M{sub *}) and star formation rates (SFRs) by fitting their UV-optical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In optical images, many of the ALFALFA dwarfs are faint and of low surface brightness; only 56% of those within the SDSS footprint have a counterpart in the SDSS spectroscopic survey. A large fraction of the dwarfs have high specific star formation rates (SSFRs), and estimates of their SFRs and M{sub *} obtained by SED fitting are systematically smaller than ones derived via standard formulae assuming a constant SFR. The increased dispersion of the SSFR distribution at M{sub *} {approx}< 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun} is driven by a set of dwarf galaxies that have low gas fractions and SSFRs; some of these are dE/dSphs in the Virgo Cluster. The imposition of an upper H I mass limit yields the selection of a sample with lower gas fractions for their M{sub *} than found for the overall ALFALFA population. Many of the ALFALFA dwarfs, particularly the Virgo members, have H I depletion timescales shorter than a Hubble time. An examination of the dwarf galaxies within the full ALFALFA population in the context of global star formation (SF) laws is consistent with the general assumptions that gas-rich galaxies have lower SF efficiencies than do optically selected populations and that H I disks are more extended than stellar ones.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

STATISTICAL STUDY OF 2XMMi-DR3/SDSS-DR8 CROSS-CORRELATION SAMPLE

Cross-correlating the XMM-Newton 2XMMi-DR3 catalog with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8, we obtain one of the largest X-ray/optical catalogs and explore the distribution of various classes of X-ray emitters in the multidimensional photometric parameter space. Quasars and galaxies occupy different zones while stars scatter in them. However, X-ray active stars have a certain distributing rule according to spectral types. The earlier the type of stars, the stronger its X-ray emitting. X-ray active stars have a similar distribution to most stars in the g - r versus r - i diagram. Based on the identified samples with SDSS spectral classification, a random forest algorithm for automatic classification is performed. The result shows that the classification accuracy of quasars and galaxies adds up to more than 93.0% while that of X-ray emitting stars only amounts to 45.3%. In other words, it is easy to separate quasars and galaxies, but it is difficult to discriminate X-ray active stars from quasars and galaxies. If we want to improve the accuracy of automatic classification, it is necessary to increase the number of X-ray emitting stars, since the majority of X-ray emitting sources are quasars and galaxies. The results obtained here will be used for the optical spectral survey performed by the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST, also named the Guo Shou Jing Telescope), which is a Chinese national scientific research facility operated by the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

CHARACTERIZING THE MID-INFRARED EXTRAGALACTIC SKY WITH WISE AND SDSS

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has completed its all-sky survey in four channels at 3.4-22 {mu}m, detecting hundreds of millions of objects. We merge the WISE mid-infrared data with optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and provide a phenomenological characterization of WISE extragalactic sources. WISE is most sensitive at 3.4 {mu}m (W1) and least sensitive at 22 {mu}m (W4). The W1 band probes massive early-type galaxies out to z {approx}> 1. This is more distant than SDSS identified early-type galaxies, consistent with the fact that 28% of 3.4 {mu}m sources have faint or no r-band counterparts (r > 22.2). In contrast, 92%-95% of 12 {mu}m and 22 {mu}m sources have SDSS optical counterparts with r {<=} 22.2. WISE 3.4 {mu}m detects 89.8% of the entire SDSS QSO catalog at S/N{sub W1} >7{sigma}, but only 18.9% at 22 {mu}m with S/N{sub W4} > 5{sigma}. We show that WISE colors alone are effective in isolating stars (or local early-type galaxies), star-forming galaxies, and strong active galactic nuclei (AGNs)/QSOs at z {approx}< 3. We highlight three major applications of WISE colors: (1) Selection of strong AGNs/QSOs at z {<=} 3 using W1 - W2 > 0.8 and W2 < 15.2 criteria, producing a better census of this population. The surface density of these strong AGN/QSO candidates is 67.5 {+-} 0.14 deg{sup -2}. (2) Selection of dust-obscured, type-2 AGN/QSO candidates. We show that WISE W1 - W2 > 0.8, W2 < 15.2 combined with r - W2 > 6 (Vega) colors can be used to identify type-2 AGN candidates. The fraction of these type-2 AGN candidates is one-third of all WISE color-selected AGNs. (3) Selection of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at z {approx} 2 with extremely red colors, r - W4 > 14 or well-detected 22 {mu}m sources lacking detections in the 3.4 and 4.6 {mu}m bands. The surface density of z {approx} 2 ULIRG candidates selected with r - W4 > 14 is 0.9 {+-} 0.07 deg{sup -2} at S/N{sub W4} {>=} 5 (the corresponding, lowest flux density of 2.5 mJy), which is consistent with that inferred from smaller area Spitzer surveys. Optical spectroscopy of a small number of these high-redshift ULIRG candidates confirms our selection, and reveals a possible trend that optically fainter or r - W4 redder candidates are at higher redshifts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

TRACERS OF CHROMOSPHERIC STRUCTURE. I. Ca II H and K EMISSION DISTRIBUTION OF 13,000 F, G, AND K STARS IN SDSS DR7 SPECTROSCOPIC SAMPLE

We present chromospheric activity index S{sub HK} measurements for over 13,000 F, G, and K disk stars with high signal-to-noise ratio (>60) spectra in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) spectroscopic sample. A parameter {delta}S is defined as the difference between S{sub HK} and a ''zero'' emission line fitted by several of the most inactive stars. The S{sub HK} indices of subgiant stars tend to be much lower than dwarfs, which provide a way to distinguish dwarfs and giants with relatively low-resolution spectra. Cooler stars are generally more active and display a larger scatter than hotter stars. Stars associated with the thick disk are in general less active than those of the thin disk. The fraction of K dwarfs that are active drops with vertical distance from the Galactic plane. Metallicity affects S{sub HK} measurements differently among F, G, and K dwarfs in this sample. Using the open clusters NGC 2420, M67, and NGC 6791 as calibrations, ages of most field stars in this SDSS sample range from 3 to 8 Gyr.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A search for optical variability of type 2 quasars in SDSS stripe 82

Hundreds of Type 2 quasars have been identified in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, and there is substantial evidence that they are generally galaxies with highly obscured central engines, in accord with unified models for active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A straightforward expectation of unified models is that highly obscured Type 2 AGNs should show little or no optical variability on timescales of days to years. As a test of this prediction, we have carried out a search for variability in Type 2 quasars in SDSS Stripe 82 using difference-imaging photometry. Starting with the Type 2 AGN catalogs of Zakamska et al. and Reyes et al., we find evidence of significant g-band variability in 17 out of 173 objects for which light curves could be measured from the Stripe 82 data. To determine the nature of this variability, we obtained new Keck spectropolarimetry observations for seven of these variable AGNs. The Keck data show that these objects have low continuum polarizations (p ≲ 1% in most cases) and all seven have broad Hα and/or Mg II emission lines in their total (unpolarized) spectra, indicating that they should actually be classified as Type 1 AGNs. We conclude that the primary reason variability is found in the SDSS-selected Type 2 AGN samples is that these samples contain a small fraction of Type 1 AGNs as contaminants, and it is not necessary to invoke more exotic possible explanations such as a population of 'naked' or unobscured Type 2 quasars. Aside from misclassified Type 1 objects, the Type 2 quasars do not generally show detectable optical variability over the duration of the Stripe 82 survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Black holes at the centers of nearby dwarf galaxies

Using a distance-limited portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7, we have identified 28 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in nearby (d⩽80 Mpc) low-mass, low-luminosity dwarf galaxies. The accreting objects at the galaxy centers are expected to be intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with M{sub BH}⩽10{sup 6} M{sub ⊙}. The AGNs were selected using several optical emission-line diagnostics after careful modeling of the continuum present in the spectra. We have limited our survey to objects with spectral characteristics similar to those of Seyfert nuclei, excluding emission-line galaxies with ambiguous spectra that could be powered by stellar processes. Thus, as a set, the host galaxies in our sample are the least massive objects in the very local universe certain to contain central black holes. Our sample is dominated by narrow-line (type 2) AGNs, and it appears to have a much lower fraction of broad-line objects than that observed for luminous, optically selected Seyfert galaxies. Given our focus on the nearest objects included in the SDSS, our survey is more sensitive to low-luminosity emission than previous optical searches for AGNs in low-mass galaxies. The [O iii] λ5007 luminosities of the Seyfert nuclei in our sample have a median value of L{sub 5007}=2×10{sup 5} L{sub ⊙} and extend down to ∼10{sup 4} L{sub ⊙}. Using published data for broad-line IMBH candidates, we have derived an [O iii] bolometric correction of log(L{sub bol}/L{sub 5007})=3.0±0.3, which is significantly lower than values obtained for high-luminosity AGNs. Applying this correction to our sample, we obtain minimum black hole mass estimates that fall mainly in the 10{sup 3} M{sub ⊙}–10{sup 4} M{sub ⊙} range, which is roughly where the predicted mass functions for different black hole seed formation scenarios overlap the most. In the stellar mass range that includes the bulk of the AGN host galaxies in our sample, we derive a lower limit on the AGN fraction of a few percent, indicating that active nuclei in dwarf galaxies are not as rare as previously thought.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Low surface brightness galaxies selected from the 40% sky area of the ALFALFA H i Survey. I. Sample and statistical properties

The population of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies, which are objects with central surface brightnesses at least one magnitude fainter than the night sky, is crucial for understanding the extremes of galactic formation and evolution of the universe. As LSB galaxies are mostly rich in gas (H i), the α.40 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) sample is one of the best survey combinations to select a sample of them in the local universe. Since the sky backgrounds are systematically overestimated for galactic images by the SDSS photometric pipeline, particularly for luminous galaxies or galaxies with extended LSB outskirts, in this paper, we above all estimated the sky backgrounds of SDSS images accurately in both the g and r bands for each galaxy in the α.40 SDSS DR7 sample, using a precise method of sky subtraction. Once subtracting the sky background, we did surface photometry with the Kron elliptical aperture using the SExtractor software and fitted geometric parameters with an exponential profile model using the Galfit software for each galactic image in the α.40 SDSS DR7 sample. Based on the photometric and geometric results, we further calculated the B-band central surface brightness, μ{sub 0}(B), for each galaxy and ultimately defined a sample of LSB galaxies consisting of 1129 galaxies with μ{sub 0}(B) > 22.5 mag arcsec{sup −2} and the axis ratio b/a > 0.3 from the 12,423 α.40 SDSS DR7 galaxies. This H i-selected sample of LSB galaxies is a relatively unbiased sample of gas-rich and disk-dominated LSB galaxies, which is complete both in H i observation and the optical magnitude within the limit of the SDSS DR7 photometric survey. This LSB galactic sample spans from 22.5 to 28.3 in μ{sub 0}(B) with a fraction of 4% fainter than 25.0 mag arcsec{sup −2} in B-band central surface brightness and distributes from −27.0 to −12.3 mag in absolute magnitude in the B band (M(B)), including the 43 faintest galaxies (M(B) > −17.3 mag). This sample is a blue LSB galactic sample, of which 98% are bluer than 0.75 mag in B–V color. As for 21 cm H i properties, our LSB galactic sample has a median M{sub H i}/L{sub B} = 0.87, and a large portion (95%) has high mass of H i (M(H i) > 10{sup 7.7}M⊙), which supports galaxies in this LSB galactic sample being mostly gas-rich. Additionally, we statistically investigated the environment of our LSB galaxies and found that up to 92% of the total LSB galaxies have less than eight neighboring galaxies, which provides strong evidence that LSB galaxies prefer to reside in the low-density environment.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

GALAXY CLUSTERING IN THE COMPLETED SDSS REDSHIFT SURVEY: THE DEPENDENCE ON COLOR AND LUMINOSITY

We measure the luminosity and color dependence of galaxy clustering in the largest-ever galaxy redshift survey, the main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Seventh Data Release. We focus on the projected correlation function w{sub p} (r{sub p}) of volume-limited samples, extracted from the parent sample of {approx}700,000 galaxies over 8000 deg{sup 2}, extending up to redshift of 0.25. We interpret our measurements using halo occupation distribution (HOD) modeling assuming a {Lambda}CDM cosmology (inflationary cold dark matter with a cosmological constant). The amplitude of w{sub p} (r{sub p}) grows slowly with luminosity for L < L{sub *} and increases sharply at higher luminosities, with a large-scale bias factor b(> L) x ({sigma}{sub 8}/0.8) = 1.06 + 0.21(L/L{sub *}){sup 1.12}, where L is the sample luminosity threshold. At fixed luminosity, redder galaxies exhibit a higher amplitude and steeper correlation function, a steady trend that runs through the 'blue cloud' and 'green valley' and continues across the 'red sequence'. The cross-correlation of red and blue galaxies is close to the geometric mean of their autocorrelations, dropping slightly below at r{sub p} < 1 h{sup -1} Mpc. The luminosity trends for the red and blue galaxy populations separately are strikingly different. Blue galaxies show a slow but steady increase of clustering strength with luminosity, with nearly constant shape of w{sub p} (r{sub p}). The large-scale clustering of red galaxies shows little luminosity dependence until a sharp increase at L > 4 L{sub *}, but the lowest luminosity red galaxies (0.04-0.25 L{sub *}) show very strong clustering on small scales (r{sub p} < 2 h{sup -1} Mpc). Most of the observed trends can be naturally understood within the {Lambda}CDM+HOD framework. The growth of w{sub p} (r{sub p}) for higher luminosity galaxies reflects an overall shift in the mass scale of their host dark matter halos, in particular an increase in the minimum host halo mass M{sub min}. The mass at which a halo has, on average, one satellite galaxy brighter than L is M{sub 1} {approx} 17 M{sub min}(L) over most of the luminosity range, with a smaller ratio above L{sub *}. The growth and steepening of w{sub p} (r{sub p}) for redder galaxies reflects the increasing fraction of galaxies that are satellite systems in high-mass halos instead of central systems in low-mass halos, a trend that is especially marked at low luminosities. Our extensive measurements, provided in tabular form, will allow detailed tests of theoretical models of galaxy formation, a firm grounding of semiempirical models of the galaxy population, and new constraints on cosmological parameters from combining real-space galaxy clustering with mass-sensitive statistics such as redshift-space distortions, cluster mass-to-light ratios, and galaxy-galaxy lensing.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR EXTREMELY METAL-POOR GALAXIES IN THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

We carry out a systematic search for extremely metal-poor (XMP) galaxies in the spectroscopic sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 7 (DR7). The XMP candidates are found by classifying all the galaxies according to the form of their spectra in a region 80 A wide around H{alpha}. Due to the data size, the method requires an automatic classification algorithm. We use k-means. Our systematic search renders 32 galaxies having negligible [N II] lines, as expected in XMP galaxy spectra. Twenty-one of them have been previously identified as XMP galaxies in the literature-the remaining 11 are new. This was established after a thorough bibliographic search that yielded only some 130 galaxies known to have an oxygen metallicity 10 times smaller than the Sun (explicitly, with 12 + log (O/H) {<=} 7.65). XMP galaxies are rare; they represent 0.01% of the galaxies with emission lines in SDSS/DR7. Although the final metallicity estimate of all candidates remains pending, strong-line empirical calibrations indicate a metallicity about one-tenth solar, with the oxygen metallicity of the 21 known targets being 12 + log (O/H) {approx_equal} 7.61 {+-} 0.19. Since the SDSS catalog is limited in apparent magnitude, we have been able to estimate the volume number density of XMP galaxies in the local universe, which turns out to be (1.32 {+-} 0.23) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} Mpc{sup -3}. The XMP galaxies constitute 0.1% of the galaxies in the local volume, or {approx}0.2% considering only emission-line galaxies. All but four of our candidates are blue compact dwarf galaxies, and 24 of them have either cometary shape or are formed by chained knots.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE CLOSE BINARY FRACTION OF DWARF M STARS

We describe a search for close spectroscopic dwarf M star binaries using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to address the question of the rate of occurrence of multiplicity in M dwarfs. We use a template-fitting technique to measure radial velocities from 145,888 individual spectra obtained for a magnitude-limited sample of 39,543 M dwarfs. Typically, the three or four spectra observed for each star are separated in time by less than four hours, but for {approx}17% of the stars, the individual observations span more than two days. In these cases we are sensitive to large-amplitude radial velocity variations on timescales comparable to the separation between the observations. We use a control sample of objects having observations taken within a four-hour period to make an empirical estimate of the underlying radial velocity error distribution and simulate our detection efficiency for a wide range of binary star systems. We find the frequency of binaries among the dwarf M stars with a < 0.4 AU to be 3%-4%. Comparison with other samples of binary stars demonstrates that the close binary fraction, like the total binary fraction, is an increasing function of primary mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF BROAD-LINE QUASARS IN THE MASS-LUMINOSITY PLANE. I. TESTING FWHM-BASED VIRIAL BLACK HOLE MASSES

We jointly constrain the luminosity function (LF) and black hole mass function (BHMF) of broad-line quasars with forward Bayesian modeling in the quasar mass-luminosity plane, based on a homogeneous sample of {approx}58, 000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 quasars at z {approx} 0.3-5. We take into account the selection effect of the sample flux limit; more importantly, we deal with the statistical scatter between true BH masses and FWHM-based single-epoch virial mass estimates, as well as potential luminosity-dependent biases of these mass estimates. The LF is tightly constrained in the regime sampled by SDSS and makes reasonable predictions when extrapolated to {approx}3 mag fainter. Downsizing is seen in the model LF. On the other hand, we find it difficult to constrain the BHMF to within a factor of a few at z {approx}> 0.7 (with Mg II and C IV-based virial BH masses). This is mainly driven by the unknown luminosity-dependent bias of these mass estimators and its degeneracy with other model parameters, and secondly driven by the fact that SDSS quasars only sample the tip of the active BH population at high redshift. Nevertheless, the most likely models favor a positive luminosity-dependent bias for Mg II and possibly for C IV, such that at fixed true BH mass, objects with higher-than-average luminosities have overestimated FWHM-based virial masses. There is tentative evidence that downsizing also manifests itself in the active BHMF, and the BH mass density in broad-line quasars contributes an insignificant amount to the total BH mass density at all times. Within our model uncertainties, we do not find a strong BH mass dependence of the mean Eddington ratio, but there is evidence that the mean Eddington ratio (at fixed BH mass) increases with redshift.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE NATURE OF LINER-LIKE EMISSION IN RED GALAXIES

Passive red galaxies frequently contain warm ionized gas and have spectra similar to low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). Here we investigate the nature of the ionizing sources powering this emission, by comparing nuclear spectroscopy from the Palomar survey with larger aperture data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find the line emission in the majority of passive red galaxies is spatially extended; the H{alpha} surface brightness profile depends on radius r as r{sup -1.28}. We detect strong line ratio gradients with radius in [N II]/H{alpha}, [S II]/H{alpha}, and [O III]/[S II], requiring the ionization parameter to increase outward. Combined with a realistic gas density profile, this outward increasing ionization parameter convincingly rules out active galactic nuclei (AGNs) as the dominant ionizing source and strongly favors distributed ionizing sources. Sources that follow the stellar density profile can additionally reproduce the observed luminosity dependence of the line ratio gradient. Post-asymptotic giant branch stars provide a natural ionization source candidate, though they have an ionization parameter deficit. Velocity width differences among different emission lines disfavor shocks as the dominant ionization mechanism, and suggest that the interstellar medium in these galaxies contains multiple components. We conclude that the line emission in most LINER-like galaxies found in large-aperture (>100 pc) spectroscopy is not primarily powered by AGN activity and thus does not trace the AGN bolometric luminosity. However, they can be used to trace warm gas in these red galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE IMPACT OF INTERACTIONS, BARS, BULGES, AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI ON STAR FORMATION EFFICIENCY IN LOCAL MASSIVE GALAXIES

Using atomic and molecular gas observations from the GASS and COLD GASS surveys and complementary optical/UV data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, we investigate the nature of the variations in the molecular gas depletion time observed across the local massive galaxy population. The large and unbiased COLD GASS sample allows us for the first time to statistically assess the relative importance of galaxy interactions, bar instabilities, morphologies, and the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in regulating star formation efficiency. We find that both the H{sub 2} mass fraction and depletion time vary as a function of the distance of a galaxy from the main sequence traced by star-forming galaxies in the SFR-M {sub *} plane. The longest gas depletion times are found in below-main-sequence bulge-dominated galaxies ({mu}{sub *} >5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 8} M {sub Sun} kpc{sup -2}, C > 2.6) that are either gas-poor (M{sub H{sub 2}}/M {sub *} <1.5%) or else on average less efficient by a factor of {approx}2 than disk-dominated galaxies at converting into stars any cold gas they may have. We find no link between the presence of AGNs and these long depletion times. In the regime where galaxies are disk-dominated and gas-rich, the galaxies undergoing mergers or showing signs of morphological disruptions have the shortest molecular gas depletion times, while those hosting strong stellar bars have only marginally higher global star formation efficiencies as compared to matched control samples. Our interpretation is that the molecular gas depletion time variations are caused by changes in the ratio between the gas mass traced by the CO(1-0) observations and the gas mass in high-density star-forming cores (as traced by observations of, e.g., HCN(1-0)). While interactions, mergers, and bar instabilities can locally increase pressure and raise the ratio of efficiently star-forming gas to CO-detected gas (therefore lowering the CO-based depletion time), massive bulges may prevent the formation of dense clumps by stabilizing gas disks against fragmentation, therefore producing the long depletion times. Building a sample representative of the local galaxy population with M {sub *} >10{sup 10} M {sub Sun }, we derive a global Kennicutt-Schmidt star formation relation of slope 1.18 {+-} 0.24 and observe structure within the scatter around this relation, with galaxies having low (high) stellar mass surface densities lying systematically above (below) the mean relation, suggesting that {Sigma}{sub H{sub 2}} is not the only parameter driving the global star formation ability of a galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

UNVEILING THE {sigma}-DISCREPANCY. II. REVISITING THE EVOLUTION OF ULIRGs AND THE ORIGIN OF QUASARS

We present the first central velocity dispersions ({sigma}{sub circle}) measured from the 0.85 {mu}m Calcium II Triplet (CaT) for eight advanced (i.e., single nuclei) local (z {<=} 0.15) Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs). First, these measurements are used to test the prediction that the '{sigma}-Discrepancy', in which the CaT {sigma}{sub circle} is systematically larger than the {sigma}{sub circle} obtained from the 1.6 or 2.3 {mu}m stellar CO band-heads, extends to ULIRG luminosities. Next, we combine the CaT data with rest-frame I-band photometry obtained from archival Hubble Space Telescope data and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to derive dynamical properties for the eight ULIRGs. These are then compared to the dynamical properties of 9255 elliptical galaxies from the SDSS within the same redshift volume and of a relatively nearby (z < 0.4) sample of 53 QSO host galaxies. A comparison is also made between the I-band and H-band dynamical properties of the ULIRGs. We find four key results: (1) the {sigma}-Discrepancy extends to ULIRG luminosities; (2) at I-band ULIRGs lie on the fundamental plane in a region consistent with the most massive elliptical galaxies and not low-intermediate mass ellipticals as previously reported in the near-infrared; (3) the I-band M/L of ULIRGs are consistent with an old stellar population, while at H-band ULIRGs appear significantly younger and less massive; and (4) we derive an I-band Kormendy Relation from the SDSS ellipticals and demonstrate that ULIRGs and QSO host galaxies are dynamically similar.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS AND SYSTEMATIC VARIATIONS IN THE SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS OF LUMINOUS RED GALAXIES FROM SDSS DR7

We describe the construction of a template set of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for the estimation of photometric redshifts of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) with a Bayesian template fitting method. By examining the color properties of several publicly available SED sets within a redshift range of 0 < z {approx}< 0.5 and comparing them to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 data, we show that only some of the investigated SEDs approximately match the colors of the LRG data throughout the redshift range, however not at the quantitative level required for precise photometric redshifts. This is because the SEDs of galaxies evolve with time (and redshift) and because at fixed redshift the LRG colors have an intrinsic spread such that they cannot be matched by one SED only. We generate new SEDs by superposing model SEDs of composite stellar populations with a burst model, allowing both components to be reddened by dust, in order to match the data in five different redshift bins. We select a set of SEDs which represents the LRG data in color space within five redshift bins, thus defining our new SED template set for photometric redshift estimates. The results we obtain with the new template set and our Bayesian template fitting photometric redshift code (PhotoZ) are nearly unbiased, with a scatter of {sigma}{sub {Delta}z} = 0.027 (including outliers), a fraction of catastrophic outliers (|z{sub phot} - z{sub spec}|/(1 + z{sub spec}) > 0.15) of {eta} = 0.12%, and a normalized median absolute rest frame deviation (NMAD) of {sigma}{sub NMAD} = 1.48 Multiplication-Sign MAD = 0.017 for non-outliers. We show that templates that optimally describe the brightest galaxies (-24.5 {<=} M{sub R} {<=} -22.7) indeed vary from z = 0.1 to z = 0.5, consistent with aging of the stellar population. Furthermore, we find that templates that optimally describe galaxies at z < 0.1 strongly differ as a function of the absolute magnitude of the galaxies, indicating an increase in star formation activity for less luminous galaxies. Our findings based on the photometry of the SDSS LRGs and our SED template fitting are supported by comparison to the average SDSS LRG spectra in different luminosity and redshift bins.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗