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At least 829 records · Page 46

GALAXY ENVIRONMENTS OVER COSMIC TIME: THE NON-EVOLVING RADIAL GALAXY DISTRIBUTIONS AROUND MASSIVE GALAXIES SINCE z = 1.6

We present a statistical study of the environments of massive galaxies in four redshift bins between z = 0.04 and z = 1.6, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the NEWFIRM Medium Band Survey. We measure the projected radial distribution of galaxies in cylinders around a constant number density selected sample of massive galaxies and utilize a statistical subtraction of contaminating sources. Our analysis shows that massive primary galaxies typically live in group halos and are surrounded by 2-3 satellites with masses more than one-tenth of the primary galaxy mass. The cumulative stellar mass in these satellites roughly equals the mass of the primary galaxy itself. We further find that the radial number density profile of galaxies around massive primaries has not evolved significantly in either slope or overall normalization in the past 9.5 Gyr. A simplistic interpretation of this result can be taken as evidence for a lack of mergers in the studied groups and as support for a static evolution model of halos containing massive primaries. Alternatively, there exists a tight balance between mergers and accretion of new satellites such that the overall distribution of galaxies in and around the halo is preserved. The latter interpretation is supported by a comparison to a semi-analytic model, which shows a similar constant average satellite distribution over the same redshift range.

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THE 300 km s{sup -1} STELLAR STREAM NEAR SEGUE 1: INSIGHTS FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF ITS BRIGHTEST STAR

We present a chemical abundance analysis of 300S-1, the brightest likely member star of the 300 km s{sup -1} stream near the faint satellite galaxy Segue 1. From a high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectrum, we determine a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.46 {+-} 0.05 {+-} 0.23 (random and systematic uncertainties) for star 300S-1, and find an abundance pattern similar to typical halo stars at this metallicity. Comparing our stellar parameters to theoretical isochrones, we estimate a distance of 18 {+-} 7 kpc. Both the metallicity and distance estimates are in good agreement with what can be inferred from comparing the Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric data of the stream stars to globular cluster sequences. While several other structures overlap with the stream in this part of the sky, the combination of kinematic, chemical, and distance information makes it unlikely that these stars are associated with either the Segue 1 galaxy, the Sagittarius Stream, or the Orphan Stream. Streams with halo-like abundance signatures, such as the 300 km s{sup -1} stream, present another observational piece for understanding the accretion history of the Galactic halo.

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ABOUT THE LINEARITY OF THE COLOR-MAGNITUDE RELATION OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES IN THE VIRGO CLUSTER

We revisit the color-magnitude relation of Virgo Cluster early-type galaxies in order to explore its alleged nonlinearity. To this aim, we reanalyze the relation already published from data obtained within the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey of the Hubble Space Telescope and perform our own photometry and analysis of the images of 100 early-type galaxies observed as part of this survey. In addition, we compare our results with those reported in the literature from data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have found that when the brightest galaxies and untypical systems are excluded from the sample, a linear relation arises in agreement with what is observed in other groups and clusters. The central regions of the brightest galaxies also follow this relation. In addition, we notice that Virgo contains at least four compact elliptical galaxies besides the well-known object VCC 1297 (NGC 4486B). Their locations in the ({mu}{sub eff})-luminosity diagram define a trend different from that followed by normal early-type dwarf galaxies, setting an upper limit in effective surface brightness and a lower limit in the effective radius for their luminosities. Based on the distribution of different galaxy sub-samples in the color-magnitude and ({mu}{sub eff})-luminosity diagrams, we draw some conclusions on their formation and the history of their evolution.

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RECONCILING THE GAMMA-RAY BURST RATE AND STAR FORMATION HISTORIES

While there are numerous indications that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) arise from the deaths of massive stars, the GRB rate does not follow the global cosmic star formation rate and, within their hosts, GRBs are more concentrated in regions of very high star formation. We explain both puzzles here. Using the publicly available VESPA database of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 spectra, we explore a multi-parameter space in galaxy properties such as stellar mass, metallicity, and dust to find the subset of galaxies that reproduces the GRB rate recently obtained by Wanderman and Piran. We find that only galaxies with present stellar masses below <10{sup 10} M{sub Sun} and low metallicity reproduce the observed GRB rate. This is consistent with direct observations of GRB hosts and provides an independent confirmation of the nature of GRB hosts. Because of the significantly larger sample of SDSS galaxies, we compute their correlation function and show that they are anti-biased with respect to dark matter: they are in filaments and voids. Using recent observations of massive stars in local dwarfs we show how the fact that GRB host galaxies are dwarfs can explain the observation that GRBs are more concentrated in regions of high star formation than are supernovae. Finally, we explain these results using new theoretical advances in the field of star formation.

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Precious metals in SDSS quasar spectra. II. Tracking the evolution of strong, 0.4 < z < 2.3 Mg II absorbers with thousands of systems

We have performed an analysis of over 34,000 Mg II doublets at 0.36 < z < 2.29 in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 quasar spectra; the catalog, advanced data products, and tools for analysis are publicly available. The catalog was divided into 14 small redshift bins with roughly 2500 doublets in each and from Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate 50% completeness at rest equivalent width W {sub r} ≈ 0.8 Å. The equivalent width frequency distribution is described well by an exponential model at all redshifts, and the distribution becomes flatter with increasing redshift, i.e., there are more strong systems relative to weak ones. Direct comparison with previous SDSS Mg II surveys reveals that we recover at least 70% of the doublets in these other catalogs, in addition to detecting thousands of new systems. We discuss how these surveys came by their different results, which qualitatively agree but because of the very small uncertainties, differ by a statistically significant amount. The estimated physical cross section of Mg II-absorbing galaxy halos increased approximately threefold from z = 0.4 to z = 2.3, while the W {sub r} ≥ 1 Å absorber line density, dN{sub MgII}/dX, grew by roughly 45%. Finally, we explore the different evolution of various absorber populations—damped Lyα absorbers, Lyman limit systems, strong C IV absorbers, and strong and weaker Mg II systems—across cosmic time (0 < z < 6).

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Star formation and substructure in galaxy clusters

We investigate the relationship between star formation (SF) and substructure in a sample of 107 nearby galaxy clusters using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Several past studies of individual galaxy clusters have suggested that cluster mergers enhance cluster SF, while others find no such relationship. The SF fraction in multi-component clusters (0.228 ± 0.007) is higher than that in single-component clusters (0.175 ± 0.016) for galaxies with M{sub r}{sup 0.1}<−20.5. In both single- and multi-component clusters, the fraction of star-forming galaxies increases with clustercentric distance and decreases with local galaxy number density, and multi-component clusters show a higher SF fraction than single-component clusters at almost all clustercentric distances and local densities. Comparing the SF fraction in individual clusters to several statistical measures of substructure, we find weak, but in most cases significant at greater than 2σ, correlations between substructure and SF fraction. These results could indicate that cluster mergers may cause weak but significant SF enhancement in clusters, or unrelaxed clusters exhibit slightly stronger SF due to their less evolved states relative to relaxed clusters.

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Discovery of a population of bulgeless galaxies with extremely red MID-IR colors: Obscured AGN activity in the low-mass regime?

In contrast to massive, bulge hosting galaxies, very few supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are known in either low-mass or bulgeless galaxies. Such a population could provide clues to the origins of SMBHs and to secular pathways for their growth. Using the all-sky Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE ) survey, and bulge-to-disk decompositions from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7, we report the discovery of a population of local (z < 0.3) bulgeless disk galaxies with extremely red mid-infrared colors which are highly suggestive of a dominant active galactic nucleus (AGN), despite having no optical AGN signatures in their SDSS spectra. Using various mid-infrared selection criteria from the literature, there are between 30 and over 300 bulgeless galaxies with possible AGNs. Other known scenarios that can heat the dust to high temperatures do not appear to explain the observed colors of this sample. If these galaxies are confirmed to host AGNs, this study will provide a breakthrough in characterizing the properties of SMBHs in the low bulge mass regime and in understanding their relation with their host galaxies. Mid-infrared selection identifies AGNs that dominate their host galaxy's emission and therefore reveal a different AGN population than that uncovered by optical studies. We find that the fraction of all galaxies identified as candidate AGNs by WISE is highest at lower stellar masses and drops dramatically in higher mass galaxies, in striking contrast to the findings from optical studies.

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Dusty WDs in the WISE all sky survey ∩ SDSS

A recent cross-correlation between the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 White Dwarf Catalog with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) all-sky photometry at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm performed by Debes et al. resulted in the discovery of 52 candidate dusty white dwarfs (WDs). However, the 6'' WISE beam allows for the possibility that many of the excesses exhibited by these WDs may be due to contamination from a nearby source. We present MMT+SAO Wide-Field InfraRed Camera J- and H-band imaging observations (0.''5-1.''5 point spread function) of 16 of these candidate dusty WDs and confirm that four have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) consistent with a dusty disk and are not accompanied by a nearby source contaminant. The remaining 12 WDs have contaminated WISE photometry and SEDs inconsistent with a dusty disk when the contaminating sources are not included in the photometry measurements. We find the frequency of disks around single WDs in the WISE ∩ SDSS sample to be 2.6%-4.1%. One of the four new dusty WDs has a mass of 1.04 M {sub ☉} (progenitor mass 5.4 M {sub ☉}) and its discovery offers the first confirmation that massive WDs (and their massive progenitor stars) host planetary systems.

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On the chemical and structural evolution of the galactic disk

We study the detailed properties of the radial metallicity gradient in the stellar disk of our Galaxy to constrain its chemical and structural evolution. For this purpose we select and analyze ∼18,500 disk stars taken from two data sets, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the High-Accuracy Radial velocity Planetary Searcher (HARPS). On these surveys we examine the metallicity gradient, Δ[Fe/H]/ΔR {sub g}, along the guiding center radii, R {sub g}, of stars and its dependence on the [α/Fe] ratios to infer the original metallicity distribution of the gas disk from which those stars formed and its time evolution. In both sample sources, the thick-disk candidate stars characterized by high [α/Fe] ratios ([α/Fe] > 0.3 in SDSS, [α/Fe] > 0.2 in HARPS) are found to show a positive Δ[Fe/H]/ΔR {sub g}, whereas the thin-disk candidate stars characterized by lower [α/Fe] ratios show a negative one. Furthermore, we find that the relatively young thin-disk population characterized by much lower [α/Fe] ratios ([α/Fe] < 0.2 in SDSS, [α/Fe] < 0.1 in HARPS) notably shows a flattening Δ[Fe/H]/ΔR {sub g} with decreasing [α/Fe], in contrast to the old one with higher [α/Fe] ratios ([α/Fe] ∼ 0.2 in SDSS, [α/Fe] ∼ 0.1 in HARPS). The possible implication for early disk evolution is discussed in the context of galaxy formation accompanying the rapid infall of primordial gas on the inner disk region, which can generate a positive metallicity gradient, and the subsequent chemical evolution of the disk, which results in a flattening effect of a metallicity gradient at later epochs.

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Faint dwarfs in nearby groups

The number and distribution of dwarf satellite galaxies remain a critical test of cold dark matter-dominated structure formation on small scales. Until recently, observational information about galaxy formation on these scales has been limited mainly to the Local Group. We have searched for faint analogues of Local Group dwarfs around nearby bright galaxies, using a spatial clustering analysis of the photometric catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8. Several other recent searches of SDSS have detected clustered satellite populations down to Δm{sub r} ≡ (m{sub r,} {sub sat} – m{sub r,} {sub main}) ∼ 6-8, using photometric redshifts to reduce background contamination. SDSS photometric redshifts are relatively imprecise, however, for faint and nearby galaxies. Instead, we use angular size to select potential nearby dwarfs and consider only the nearest isolated bright galaxies as primaries. As a result, we are able to detect an excess clustering signal from companions down to Δm{sub r} = 12, 4 mag fainter than most recent studies. We detect an overdensity of objects at separations <400 kpc, corresponding to about 4.6 ± 0.5 satellites per central galaxy, consistent with the satellite abundance expected from the Local Group, given our selection function. Although the sample of satellites detected is incomplete by construction, since it excludes the least and most compact dwarfs, this detection provides a lower bound on the average satellite luminosity function, down to luminosities corresponding to the faintest ''classical'' dwarfs of the Local Group.

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Comparing the host galaxies of type Ia, type II, and type Ibc supernovae

We compare the host galaxies of 902 supernovae (SNe), including SNe Ia, SNe II, and SNe Ibc, which are selected by cross-matching the Asiago Supernova Catalog with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. We selected an additional 213 galaxies by requiring the light fraction of spectral observations to be >15%, which could represent well the global properties of the galaxies. Among these 213 galaxies, 135 appear on the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich diagram, which allows us to compare the hosts in terms of whether they are star-forming (SF) galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGNs; including composites, LINERs, and Seyfert 2s) or absorption-line galaxies (Absorps; i.e., their related emission lines are weak or non-existent). The diagrams related to the parameters D{sub n}(4000), Hδ{sub A}, stellar masses, star formation rates (SFRs), and specific SFRs for the SNe hosts show that almost all SNe II and most of the SNe Ibc occur in SF galaxies, which have a wide range of stellar masses and low D{sub n}(4000). The SNe Ia hosts as SF galaxies following similar trends. A significant fraction of SNe Ia occurs in AGNs and absorption-line galaxies, which are massive and have high D{sub n}(4000). The stellar population analysis from spectral synthesis fitting shows that the hosts of SNe II have a younger stellar population than hosts of SNe Ia. These results are compared with those of the 689 comparison galaxies where the SDSS fiber captures less than 15% of the total light. These comparison galaxies appear biased toward higher 12+log(O/H) (∼0.1 dex) at a given stellar mass. Therefore, we believe the aperture effect should be kept in mind when the properties of the hosts for different types of SNe are discussed.

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RINGS AND RADIAL WAVES IN THE DISK OF THE MILKY WAY

Here, we show that in the anticenter region, between Galactic longitudes of 110° < l < 229°, there is an oscillating asymmetry in the main-sequence star counts on either side of the Galactic plane using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This asymmetry oscillates from more stars in the north at distances of about 2 kpc from the Sun to more stars in the south at 4–6 kpc from the Sun to more stars in the north at distances of 8–10 kpc from the Sun. We also see evidence that there are more stars in the south at distances of 12–16 kpc from the Sun. The three more distant asymmetries form roughly concentric rings around the Galactic center, opening in the direction of the Milky Way's spiral arms. The northern ring, 9 kpc from the Sun, is easily identified with the previously discovered Monoceros Ring. Parts of the southern ring at 14 kpc from the Sun (which we call the TriAnd Ring) have previously been identified as related to the Monoceros Ring, and others have been called the Triangulum Andromeda Overdensity. The two nearer oscillations are approximated by a toy model in which the disk plane is offset by the order of 100 pc up and then down at different radii. We also show that the disk is not azimuthally symmetric around the Galactic anticenter and that there could be a correspondence between our observed oscillations and the spiral structure of the Galaxy. Lastly, our observations suggest that the TriAnd and Monoceros Rings (which extend to at least 25 kpc from the Galactic center) are primarily the result of disk oscillations.

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The spatial distribution of satellite galaxies within halos: Measuring the very small scale angular clustering of SDSS galaxies

We measure the angular clustering of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 in order to probe the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies within their dark matter halos. Specifically, we measure the angular correlation function on very small scales (7″–320″) in a range of luminosity threshold samples (absolute r-band magnitudes from −18 up to −21) that are constructed from the subset of SDSS that has been spectroscopically observed more than once (the so-called plate overlap region). We choose to measure angular clustering in this reduced survey footprint in order to minimize the effects of fiber collision incompleteness, which are otherwise substantial on these small scales, and we discuss the possible impact that fiber collisions have on our measurements. We model our clustering measurements using a fully numerical halo model that populates dark matter halos in N-body simulations to create realistic mock galaxy catalogs. The model has free parameters that specify both the number and spatial distribution of galaxies within their host halos. We adopt a flexible density profile for the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies that is similar to the dark matter Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile, except that the inner slope is allowed to vary. We find that the angular clustering of our most luminous samples (M{sub r} < −20 and −21) suggests that luminous satellite galaxies have substantially steeper inner density profiles than NFW. Lower-luminosity samples are less constraining, however, and are consistent with satellite galaxies having shallow density profiles. Our results confirm the findings of Watson et al. while using different clustering measurements and modeling methodology.

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STAR FORMATION AND RELAXATION IN 379 NEARBY GALAXY CLUSTERS

We investigate the relationship between star formation (SF) and level of relaxation in a sample of 379 galaxy clusters at z < 0.2. We use data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to measure cluster membership and level of relaxation, and to select star-forming galaxies based on mid-infrared emission detected with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. For galaxies with absolute magnitudes M{sub r} < −19.5, we find an inverse correlation between SF fraction and cluster relaxation: as a cluster becomes less relaxed, its SF fraction increases. Furthermore, in general, the subtracted SF fraction in all unrelaxed clusters (0.117 ± 0.003) is higher than that in all relaxed clusters (0.097 ± 0.005). We verify the validity of our SF calculation methods and membership criteria through analysis of previous work. Our results agree with previous findings that a weak correlation exists between cluster SF and dynamical state, possibly because unrelaxed clusters are less evolved relative to relaxed clusters.

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The effect of halo mass on the H i content of galaxies in groups and clusters

We combine data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey (ALFALFA) to study the cold atomic gas content of galaxies in groups and clusters in the local universe. A careful cross-matching of galaxies in the SDSS, ALFALFA, and SDSS group catalogs provides a sample of group galaxies with stellar masses 10{sup 8.4}M{sub ⊙}⩽M{sub ∗}⩽10{sup 10.6}M{sub ⊙} and group halo masses 10{sup 12.5}h{sup −1}M{sub ⊙}⩽M{sub h}⩽10{sup 15.0}h{sup −1}M{sub ⊙}. Controlling our sample in stellar mass and redshift, we find no significant radial variation in the galaxy H i gas-to-stellar mass ratio for the halo mass range in our sample. However, the fraction of galaxies detected in ALFALFA declines steadily toward the centers of groups, with the effect being most prominent in the most massive halos. In the outskirts of massive halos a hint of a depressed detection fraction for low-mass galaxies suggests pre-processing that decreases the H i in these galaxies before they fall into massive clusters. We interpret the decline in the ALFALFA detection of galaxies in the context of a threshold halo mass for ram pressure stripping for a given galaxy stellar mass. The lack of an observable decrease in the galaxy H i gas-to-stellar mass ratio with the position of galaxies within groups and clusters highlights the difficulty of detecting the impact of environment on the galaxy H i content in a shallow H i survey.

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THE WIRED SURVEY. II. INFRARED EXCESSES IN THE SDSS DR7 WHITE DWARF CATALOG

With the launch of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a new era of detecting planetary debris and brown dwarfs (BDs) around white dwarfs (WDs) has begun with the WISE InfraRed Excesses around Degenerates (WIRED) Survey. The WIRED Survey is sensitive to substellar objects and dusty debris around WDs out to distances exceeding 100 pc, well beyond the completeness level of local WDs. In this paper, we present a cross-correlation of the preliminary Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) WD catalog between the WISE, Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), and SDSS DR7 photometric catalogs. From {approx}18,000 input targets, there are WISE detections comprising 344 'naked' WDs (detection of the WD photosphere only), 1020 candidate WD+M dwarf binaries, 42 candidate WD+BD systems, 52 candidate WD+dust disk systems, and 69 targets with indeterminate infrared excess. We classified all of the detected targets through spectral energy distribution model fitting of the merged optical, near-IR, and WISE photometry. Some of these detections could be the result of contaminating sources within the large ( Almost-Equal-To 6'') WISE point-spread function; we make a preliminary estimate for the rates of contamination for our WD+BD and WD+disk candidates and provide notes for each target of interest. Each candidate presented here should be confirmed with higher angular resolution infrared imaging or infrared spectroscopy. We also present an overview of the observational characteristics of the detected WDs in the WISE photometric bands, including the relative frequencies of candidate WD+M, WD+BD, and WD+disk systems.

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PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR GALAXIES IN THE SDSS DR8

We present redshift probability distributions for galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 imaging data. We used the nearest-neighbor weighting algorithm to derive the ensemble redshift distribution N(z), and individual redshift probability distributions P(z) for galaxies with r < 21.8 and u < 29.0. As part of this technique, we calculated weights for a set of training galaxies with known redshifts such that their density distribution in five-dimensional color-magnitude space was proportional to that of the photometry-only sample, producing a nearly fair sample in that space. We estimated the ensemble N(z) of the photometric sample by constructing a weighted histogram of the training-set redshifts. We derived P(z)'s for individual objects by using training-set objects from the local color-magnitude space around each photometric object. Using the P(z) for each galaxy can reduce the statistical error in measurements that depend on the redshifts of individual galaxies. The spectroscopic training sample is substantially larger than that used for the DR7 release. The newly added PRIMUS catalog is now the most important training set used in this analysis by a wide margin. We expect the primary sources of error in the N(z) reconstruction to be sample variance and spectroscopic failures: The training sets are drawn from relatively small volumes of space, and some samples have large incompleteness. Using simulations we estimated the uncertainty in N(z) due to sample variance at a given redshift to be {approx}10%-15%. The uncertainty on calculations incorporating N(z) or P(z) depends on how they are used; we discuss the case of weak lensing measurements. The P(z) catalog is publicly available from the SDSS Web site.

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SDSS DR7 WHITE DWARF CATALOG

We present a new catalog of spectroscopically confirmed white dwarf stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 spectroscopic catalog. We find 20,407 white dwarf spectra, representing 19,712 stars, and provide atmospheric model fits to 14,120 DA and 1011 DB white dwarf spectra from 12,843 and 923 stars, respectively. These numbers represent more than a factor of two increase in the total number of white dwarf stars from the previous SDSS white dwarf catalogs based on DR4 data. Our distribution of subtypes varies from previous catalogs due to our more conservative, manual classifications of each star in our catalog, supplementing our automatic fits. In particular, we find a large number of magnetic white dwarf stars whose small Zeeman splittings mimic increased Stark broadening that would otherwise result in an overestimated log g if fit as a non-magnetic white dwarf. We calculate mean DA and DB masses for our clean, non-magnetic sample and find the DB mean mass is statistically larger than that for the DAs.

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