Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Color”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,585 records · Page 88
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. II. A Public Statistical Sample for Exploring Supernova Demographics

Here we present a public catalog of transients from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Bright Transient Survey, a magnitude-limited ( m < 19 mag in either the g or r filter) survey for extragalactic transients in the ZTF public stream. We introduce cuts on survey coverage, sky visibility around peak light, and other properties unconnected to the nature of the transient, and show that the resulting statistical sample is spectroscopically 97% complete at <18 mag, 93% complete at <18.5 mag, and 75% complete at <19 mag. We summarize the fundamental properties of this population, identifying distinct duration–luminosity correlations in a variety of supernova (SN) classes and associating the majority of fast optical transients with well-established spectroscopic SN types (primarily SN Ibn and II/IIb). We measure the Type Ia SN and core-collapse (CC) SN rates and luminosity functions, which show good consistency with recent work. About 7% of CC SNe explode in very low-luminosity galaxies ( M i > –16 mag), 10% in red-sequence galaxies, and 1% in massive ellipticals. We find no significant difference in the luminosity or color distributions between the host galaxies of SNe Type II and SNe Type Ib/c, suggesting that line-driven wind stripping does not play a major role in the loss of the hydrogen envelope from their progenitors. Future large-scale classification efforts with ZTF and other wide-area surveys will provide high-quality measurements of the rates, properties, and environments of all known types of optical transients and limits on the existence of theoretically predicted but as yet unobserved explosions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Broadband Counterpart of the Short GRB 200522A at z = 0.5536: A Luminous Kilonova or a Collimated Outflow with a Reverse Shock?

In this work, we present the discovery of the radio afterglow and near-infrared (NIR) counterpart of the Swift short gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 200522A, located at a small projected offset of ≈1 kpc from the center of a young, star-forming host galaxy at z = 0.5536. The radio and X-ray luminosities of the afterglow are consistent with those of on-axis cosmological short GRBs. The NIR counterpart, revealed by our Hubble Space Telescope observations at a rest-frame time of ≈2.3 days, has a luminosity of ≈(1.3–1.7) × 10 42 erg s -1 . This is substantially lower than on-axis short GRB afterglow detections but is a factor of ≈8–17 more luminous than the kilonova of GW170817 and significantly more luminous than any kilonova candidate for which comparable observations exist. The combination of the counterpart's color (i - y = -0.08 ± 0.21; rest frame) and luminosity cannot be explained by standard radioactive heating alone. Additionally, we present two scenarios to interpret the broadband behavior of GRB 200522A: a synchrotron forward shock with a luminous kilonova (potentially boosted by magnetar energy deposition), or forward and reverse shocks from a ≈14°, relativistic (Γ0 ≳ 10) jet. Models that include a combination of enhanced radioactive heating rates, low-lanthanide mass fractions, or additional sources of heating from late-time central engine activity may provide viable alternate explanations. If a stable magnetar was indeed produced in GRB 200522A, we predict that late-time radio emission will be detectable starting ≈0.3–6 yr after the burst for a deposited energy of ≈10 53 erg. Counterparts of similar luminosity to GRB 200522A associated with gravitational wave events will be detectable with current optical searches to ≈250 Mpc.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Twins Embedding of Type Ia Supernovae. II. Improving Cosmological Distance Estimates

We show how spectra of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at maximum light can be used to improve cosmological distance estimates. In a companion article, we used manifold learning to build a three-dimensional parameterization of the intrinsic diversity of SNe Ia at maximum light that we call the "Twins Embedding."In this article, we discuss how the Twins Embedding can be used to improve the standardization of SNe Ia. With a single spectrophotometrically calibrated spectrum near maximum light, we can standardize our sample of SNe Ia with an rms of 0.101 0.007 mag, which corresponds to 0.084 0.009 mag if peculiar velocity contributions are removed and to 0.073 0.008 mag if a larger reference sample were obtained. Our techniques can standardize the full range of SNe Ia, including those typically labeled as peculiar and often rejected from other analyses. We find that traditional light-curve width + color standardization such as SALT2 is not sufficient. The Twins Embedding identifies a subset of SNe Ia, including, but not limited to, 91T-like SNe Ia whose SALT2 distance estimates are biased by 0.229 0.045 mag. Standardization using the Twins Embedding also significantly decreases host-galaxy correlations. We recover a host mass step of 0.040 0.020 mag compared to 0.092 0.026 mag for SALT2 standardization on the same sample of SNe Ia. These biases in traditional standardization methods could significantly impact future cosmology analyses if not properly taken into account.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improved Treatment of Host-galaxy Correlations in Cosmological Analyses with Type Ia Supernovae

Improving the use of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as standard candles requires a better approach to incorporate the relationship between SNe Ia and the properties of their host galaxies. Using a spectroscopically confirmed sample of ~1600 SNe Ia, we develop the first empirical model of underlying populations for SNe Ia light-curve properties that includes their dependence on host-galaxy stellar mass; we find a significant correlation between stretch population and stellar mass (99.9% confidence) and a weaker correlation between color and stellar mass (90% confidence). These populations are important inputs to simulations that are used to model selection effects and correct distance biases within the BEAMS with Bias Correction (BBC) framework. Here we improve BBC to also account for SNe Ia-host correlations, and we validate this technique on simulated data samples. Here, we recover the input relationship between SNe Ia luminosity and host-galaxy stellar mass (the mass step, γ) with a bias of 0.004 ±0.001 mag, which is a factor of 5 improvement over previous methods that have a γ bias of ~0.02 ± 0.001 mag. We adapt BBC for a novel dust-based model of intrinsic brightness variations, which results in a greatly reduced mass step for data (γ = 0.017 ± 0.008) and for simulations (γ = 0.006 ± 0.007). Analyzing simulated SNe Ia, the biases on the dark energy equation of state, w, vary from Δw = 0.006(5) to 0.010(5) with our new BBC method; these biases are significantly smaller than the 0.02(5) w bias using previous BBC methods that ignore SNe Ia-host correlations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Model Light Curves for Type Ib and Ic Supernovae

Using the Monte Carlo code SEDONA, multiband photometry and spectra are calculated for supernovae derived from stripped helium stars with presupernova masses of 2.2 to 10.0 M ⊙ . The models are representative of evolution in close binaries and have previously been exploded using a parameterized one-dimensional model for neutrino transport. A subset, those with presupernova masses in the range of 2.2–5.6 M⊙, have many properties in common with observed Type Ib and Ic supernovae, including a median ejected mass near 2 M ⊙ , explosion energies near 1 × 10 51 erg, typical 56 Ni masses of 0.07–0.09 M ⊙ , peak times of about 20 days, and a narrow range for the V - R color index 10 days post-V-maximum near 0.3 mag. The median peak bolometric luminosity, near 10 42.3 erg s -1 , is fainter, however, than several observational tabulations, and the brightest explosion has a bolometric luminosity of only 10 42.50 erg s -1 . The brightest absolute B, V, and R magnitudes at peak are -17.2, -17.8, and -18.0. These limits are fainter than some allegedly typical Type Ib and Ic supernovae and could reflect problems in our models or in the observational analysis. Helium stars with lower and higher masses also produce interesting transients that may have been observed, including fast, faint, blue transients and long, red, faint Type Ic supernovae. New models are specifically presented for SN 2007Y, SN 2007gr, SN 2009jf, LSQ 13abf, SN 2008D, and SN 2010X.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Kilonovae Across the Nuclear Physics Landscape: The Impact of Nuclear Physics Uncertainties on r-process-powered Emission

Merging neutron stars produce “kilonovae”—electromagnetic transients powered by the decay of unstable nuclei synthesized via rapid neutron capture (the r-process) in material that is gravitationally unbound during inspiral and coalescence. Kilonova emission, if accurately interpreted, can be used to characterize the masses and compositions of merger-driven outflows, helping to resolve a long-standing debate about the origins of r-process material in the Universe. We explore how the uncertain properties of nuclei involved in the r-process complicate the inference of outflow properties from kilonova observations. Using r-process simulations, we show how nuclear physics uncertainties impact predictions of radioactive heating and element synthesis. For a set of models that span a large range in both predicted heating and final abundances, we carry out detailed numerical calculations of decay product thermalization and radiation transport in a kilonova ejecta with a fixed mass and density profile. The light curves associated with our models exhibit great diversity in their luminosities, with peak brightness varying by more than an order of magnitude. We also find variability in the shape of the kilonova light curves and their color, which in some cases runs counter to the expectation that increasing levels of lanthanide and/or actinide enrichment will be correlated with longer, dimmer, redder emission.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simultaneous Estimation of Large-scale Structure and Milky Way Dust Extinction from Galaxy Surveys

The high cosmological precision offered by the next generation of galaxy surveys hinges on improved corrections for Galactic dust extinction. We explore the possibility of estimating both the dust extinction and large-scale structure from a single photometric galaxy survey, making use of the predictable manner in which Milky Way dust affects the measured brightness and colors of galaxies in a given sky location in several redshift bins. To test our method, we use a synthetic catalog from a cosmological simulation designed to model the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. At high Galactic latitude (|b| ≳ 20°) and a resolution of 1° (7'), we predict the uncertainty in the measurement of dust extinction, E(B - V), to be 0.005 mag (0.015 mag). This is similar to the uncertainty of existing dust maps, illustrating the feasibility of our method. Simultaneous estimation of large-scale structure is predicted to recover the galaxy overdensity δ with a precision of ~0.01 (~0.05) at 1° (7') resolution. Finally, we also introduce a Bayesian formalism that combines prior information from existing dust maps with the likelihood of Galactic dust extinction determined from the excursion of observed galaxy properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Near-infrared Supernova Ia Distances: Host Galaxy Extinction and Mass-step Corrections Revisited

We present optical and near-infrared (NIR, Y-, J-, H-band) observations of 42 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the untargeted intermediate Palomar Transient Factory survey. This new data set covers a broad range of redshifts and host galaxy stellar masses, compared to previous SN Ia efforts in the NIR. We construct a sample, using also literature data at optical and NIR wavelengths, to examine claimed correlations between the host stellar masses and the Hubble diagram residuals. The SN magnitudes are corrected for host galaxy extinction using either a global total-to-selective extinction ratio, R V = 2.0, for all SNe, or a best-fit R V for each SN individually. Unlike previous studies that were based on a narrower range in host stellar mass, we do not find evidence for a "mass step," between the color- and stretch-corrected peak J and H magnitudes for galaxies below and above $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })=10$. However, the mass step remains significant (3σ) at optical wavelengths (g, r, i) when using a global R V , but vanishes when each SN is corrected using their individual best-fit R V . Our study confirms the benefits of the NIR SN Ia distance estimates, as these are largely exempted from the empirical corrections dominating the systematic uncertainties in the optical.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

SALT3: An Improved Type Ia Supernova Model for Measuring Cosmic Distances

Abstract A spectral-energy distribution (SED) model for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is a critical tool for measuring precise and accurate distances across a large redshift range and constraining cosmological parameters. We present an improved model framework, SALT3, which has several advantages over current models—including the leading SALT2 model (SALT2.4). While SALT3 has a similar philosophy, it differs from SALT2 by having improved estimation of uncertainties, better separation of color and light-curve stretch, and a publicly available training code. We present the application of our training method on a cross-calibrated compilation of 1083 SNe with 1207 spectra. Our compilation is 2.5× larger than the SALT2 training sample and has greatly reduced calibration uncertainties. The resulting trained SALT3.K21 model has an extended wavelength range 2000–11,000 Å (1800 Å redder) and reduced uncertainties compared to SALT2, enabling accurate use of low- z I and iz photometric bands. Including these previously discarded bands, SALT3.K21 reduces the Hubble scatter of the low- z Foundation and CfA3 samples by 15% and 10%, respectively. To check for potential systematic uncertainties, we compare distances of low (0.01 < z < 0.2) and high (0.4 < z < 0.6) redshift SNe in the training compilation, finding an insignificant 3 ± 14 mmag shift between SALT2.4 and SALT3.K21. While the SALT3.K21 model was trained on optical data, our method can be used to build a model for rest-frame NIR samples from the Roman Space Telescope. Our open-source training code, public training data, model, and documentation are available at https://saltshaker.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ , and the model is integrated into the sncosmo and SNANA software packages.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Sonora Substellar Atmosphere Models. II. Cholla: A Grid of Cloud-free, Solar Metallicity Models in Chemical Disequilibrium for the JWST Era

Exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres commonly show signs of disequilibrium chemistry. In the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) era, high-resolution spectra of directly imaged exoplanets will allow the characterization of their atmospheres in more detail, and allow systematic tests for the presence of chemical species that deviate from thermochemical equilibrium in these atmospheres. Constraining the presence of disequilibrium chemistry in these atmospheres as a function of parameters such as their effective temperature and surface gravity will allow us to place better constraints on the physics governing these atmospheres. This paper is part of a series of works presenting the Sonora grid of atmosphere models. In this paper, we present a grid of cloud-free, solar metallicity atmospheres for brown dwarfs and wide-separation giant planets with key molecular species such as CH 4 , H 2 O, CO, and NH 3 in disequilibrium. Our grid covers atmospheres with T eff ∈ [500 K, 1300 K], log g ∈ [3.0, 5.5] (cgs) and an eddy diffusion parameter of logK zz = 2,4 and 7 (cgs). We study the effect of different parameters within the grid on the temperature and composition profiles of our atmospheres. We discuss their effect on the near-infrared colors of our model atmospheres and the detectability of CH 4 , H 2 O, CO, and NH 3 using the JWST. We compare our models against existing MKO and Spitzer observations of brown dwarfs and verify the importance of disequilibrium chemistry for T dwarf atmospheres. Finally, we discuss how our models can help constrain the vertical structure and chemical composition of these atmospheres.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Dependence of the Type Ia Supernova Host Bias on Observation or Fitting Technique

More luminous Type Ia supernovae prefer less massive hosts and regions of higher star formation. This correlation is inverted during width–color–luminosity light-curve standardization resulting in step-like biases of distance measurements with respect to host properties. Using the PMAS/PPak Integral-field Supernovahosts COmpilation (PISCO) supernova host sample and Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Galaxy Evolution Explorer, and Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry, we compare host stellar mass and specific star-formation rate (sSFR) from different observation methods, including local versus global, and fitting techniques to measure their impact on the host step biases. Mass-step measurements for all our mass samples are consistent within a 1σ significance from –0.03 ± 0.02 mag to –0.04 ± 0.02 mag. Including or excluding UV information had no effect on measured mass-step size or location. sSFR step sizes are more significant than mass-step measurements and varied from 0.05 ± 0.03 mag (Hα) and 0.06 ± 0.02 mag (UV) for a 51 host sample. The sSFR step location is influenced by the mass sample used to normalize star formation and by sSFR tracer choice. The step size is reduced to 0.04 ± 0.03 mag when using all available 73 hosts with Hα measurements. This 73 PISCO host subsample overall lacked a clear step signal, but here we are searching for whether different choices of mass or sSFR estimation can create a step signal. We find no evidence that different observation or fitting techniques choices can create a distance measurement step in either mass or sSFR.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photometric Objects around Cosmic Webs (PAC) Delineated in a Spectroscopic Survey. I. Methods

We provide a method for estimating the projected density distribution ${\bar{n}}_{2}{w}_{p}({r}_{p})$ of photometric objects around spectroscopic objects in a spectroscopic survey. This quantity describes the distribution of photometric sources with certain physical properties (e.g., luminosity, mass, and color) around cosmic webs (PAC) traced by the spectroscopic objects. The method can make full use of current and future deep and wide photometric surveys to explore the formation of galaxies up to medium redshift (z s < 2) 3 with the aid of cosmological spectroscopic surveys that sample only a fairly limited species of objects (e.g., emission line galaxies). As an example, we apply the PAC method to the CMASS spectroscopic and HSC-SSP PDR2 photometric samples to explore the distribution of galaxies for a wide range of stellar masses from 10 9.0 to 10 12.0 M ⊙ around massive galaxies at z s ≈ 0.6. Using the abundance-matching method, we model ${\bar{n}}_{2}{w}_{p}({r}_{p})$ in N-body simulation using Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling, and we accurately measure the stellar–halo mass relation and stellar mass function for the whole mass range. We can also measure the conditional stellar mass function of satellites for central galaxies of different mass. The PAC method has many potential applications for studying the evolution of galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dependence of the Ratio of Total to Visible Mass on Observable Properties of Sloan Digital Sky Survey MaNGA Galaxies

Abstract Using spectroscopic observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory Data Release 15, we study the relationships between the ratio of total to visible mass and various parameters characterizing the evolution and environment of the galaxies in this survey. Measuring the rotation curve with the relative velocities of the H α emission line across a galaxy’s surface, we estimate each galaxy’s total mass. We develop a statistical model to describe the observed distribution in the ratio of total to visible mass, from which we extract the most probable value of this mass ratio for a given sample of galaxies. We present the relationships between the ratio of total to visible mass and several characteristics describing galactic evolution, such as luminosity, gas-phase metallicity, distance to the nearest neighbor, and position on the color–magnitude diagram. We find that faint galaxies with low metallicities, typically in the blue cloud, have the highest ratios of total to visible mass. This mass ratio is significantly reduced when we include the H i mass in the total visible mass, implying that feedback mechanisms are not as strong in low-mass galaxies as previously thought. Those galaxies that exhibit the second-highest ratios of total to visible mass are the brightest with high metallicities, typically members of the red sequence or green valley. Active galactic nucleus activity is likely both the quenching mechanism and the feedback that drives the mass ratio higher in these massive galaxies. Finally, we introduce a parameterization that predicts a galaxy’s ratio of total to visible mass based only on its photometry and luminosity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of GW170817: Complete Light Curves and the Properties of the Galaxy Merger of NGC 4993

We present the complete set of Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its optical counterpart AT 2017gfo. Including deep template imaging in F814W, F110W, F140W, and F160W at 3.4 yr post-merger, we reanalyze the full light curve of AT 2017gfo across 12 bands from 5 to 1273 rest-frame days after merger. We obtain four new detections of the short γ-ray burst 170817A afterglow from 109 to 170 rest-frame days post-merger. These detections are consistent with the previously observed β = -0.6 spectral index in the afterglow light curve with no evidence for spectral evolution. We also analyze our limits in the context of kilonova afterglow or IR dust echo emission but find that our limits are not constraining for these models. We use the new data to construct deep optical and IR stacks, reaching limits of M = -6.3 to -4.6 mag, to analyze the local environment around AT 2017gfo and low surface brightness features in its host galaxy NGC 4993. We rule out the presence of any globular cluster at the position of AT 2017gfo to 2.3 × 10$^{4}$L$_{⊙}$, including those with the reddest V - H colors. Finally, we analyze the substructure of NGC 4993 in deep residual imaging and find shell features that extend up to 71."8 (14.2 kpc) from NGC 4993. The shells have a cumulative stellar mass of 6.3 × 10$^{8}$M$_{⊙}$, roughly 2% of NGC 4993, and mass-weighted ages of >3 Gyr. We conclude that it was unlikely that the GW170817 progenitor system formed in the galaxy merger.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

On the Spectral Evolution of Hot White Dwarf Stars. II. Time-dependent Simulations of Element Transport in Evolving White Dwarfs with STELUM

White dwarf stars are subject to various element transport mechanisms that can cause their surface composition to change radically as they cool, a phenomenon known as spectral evolution. In this paper, we undertake a comprehensive theoretical investigation of the spectral evolution of white dwarfs. First, we introduce STELUM, a new implementation of the stellar evolutionary code developed at the Université de Montréal. We provide a thorough description of the physical content and numerical techniques of the code, covering the treatment of both stellar evolution and chemical transport. Then, we present two state-of-the-art numerical simulations of element transport in evolving white dwarfs. Atomic diffusion, convective mixing, and mass loss are considered simultaneously as time-dependent diffusive processes and are fully coupled to the cooling. We first model the PG 1159-DO-DB-DQ evolutionary channel: a helium-, carbon-, and oxygen-rich PG 1159 star transforms into a pure-helium DB white dwarf due to gravitational settling and then into a helium-dominated, carbon-polluted DQ white dwarf through convective dredge-up. We also compute for the first time the full DO-DA-DC evolutionary channel: a helium-rich DO white dwarf harboring residual hydrogen becomes a pure-hydrogen DA star through the float-up process and then a helium-dominated, hydrogen-bearing DC star due to convective mixing. We demonstrate that our results are in excellent agreement with available empirical constraints. In particular, our DO-DA-DC simulation perfectly reproduces the lower branch of the bifurcation observed in the Gaia color–magnitude diagram, which can therefore be interpreted as a signature of spectral evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Joint Survey Processing. I. Compact Oddballs in the COSMOS Field—Low-luminosity Quasars at z > 6?

The faint-end slope of the quasar luminosity function at z ~ 6 and its implication on the role of quasars in reionizing the intergalactic medium at early times has been an outstanding problem for some time. The identification of faint high-redshift quasars with luminosities of <10 44.5 erg s –1 is challenging. They are rare (few per square degree), and the separation of these unresolved quasars from late-type stars and compact star-forming galaxies is difficult from ground-based observations alone. In addition, source confusion becomes significant at >25 mag, with ~30% of sources having their flux contaminated by foreground objects when the seeing resolution is ~0''.7. We mitigate these issues by performing a pixel-level joint processing of ground and space-based data from Subaru/Hyper-SuprimeCam (HSC) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). We create a deconfused catalog over the 1.64 deg 2 of the COSMOS field, after accounting for spatial varying point-spread functions and astrometric differences between the two data sets. We identify twelve low-luminosity (M UV ~ –21 mag) z > 6 quasar candidates through (i) their red color measured between ACS/F814W and HSC/i band and (ii) their compactness in the space-based data. Nondetections of our candidates in Hubble DASH data argues against contamination from late-type stars. Our constraints on the faint end of the quasar luminosity function at z ~ 6.4 suggest a negligibly small contribution to reionization compared to the star-forming galaxy population. The confirmation of our candidates and the evolution of number density with redshift could provide better insights into how supermassive galaxies grew in the first billion years of cosmic time.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Understanding the Nature of an Unusual Post-starburst Quasar with Exceptionally Strong Ne v Emission

We present a z = 0.94 quasar, SDSS J004846.45-004611.9, discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) BOSS survey. A visual analysis of this spectrum reveals highly broadened and blueshifted narrow emission lines, in particular, [Ne v] λ3426 and [O III ] λ5007, with outflow velocities of 4000 km s -1 , along with unusually large [Ne v] λ3426/[Ne III ] λ3869 ratios. The gas shows higher ionization at higher outflow velocities, indicating a connection between the powerful outflow and the unusual strength of the high ionization lines. The spectral energy distribution and the i – W3 color of the source reveal that it is likely a core extremely red quasar (ERQ); a candidate population of young active galactic nuclei (AGN) that are violently blowing out gas and dust from their centers. The dominance of host galaxy light in its spectrum and its fortuitous position in the SDSS S82 region allows us to measure its star formation history and investigate variability for the first time in an ERQ. Our analysis indicates that SDSS J004846.45-004611.9 underwent a short-lived starburst phase 400 Myr ago and was subsequently quenched, possibly indicating a time lag between star formation quenching and the onset of AGN activity. We also find that the strong extinction can be uniquely attributed to the AGN and does not persist in the host galaxy, contradicting a scenario where the source has recently transitioned from being a dusty submillimeter galaxy. In our relatively shallow photometric data, the source does not appear to be variable at 0.24–2.4 μm in the rest frame, most likely due to the dominant contribution of host galaxy starlight at these wavelengths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Near-infrared Look at AGN Feedback in Bulgeless Galaxies

While it is generally believed that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) lie in most galaxies with bulges, few SMBHs have been confirmed in bulgeless galaxies. Identifying such a population could provide important insights to the BH seed population and secular BH growth. To this end, we obtained near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic observations of a sample of low-redshift bulgeless galaxies with mid-infrared colors suggestive of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We find additional evidence of AGN activity (such as coronal lines and broad permitted lines) in 69% (9/13) of the sample, demonstrating that mid-infrared selection is a powerful tool to detect AGNs. More than half of the galaxies with confirmed AGN activity show fast outflows in [O III ] in the optical and/or [Si vi] in the NIR, with the latter generally having much faster velocities that are also correlated to their spatial extent. We are also able to obtain virial BH masses for some targets and find they fall within the scatter of other late-type galaxies in the M BH –M stellar relation. The fact that they lack a significant bulge component indicates that secular processes, likely independent of major mergers, grew these BHs to supermassive sizes. Finally, we analyze the rotational gas kinematics and find two notable exceptions: two AGN hosts with outflows that appear to be rotating faster than expected. There is an indication that these two galaxies have stellar masses significantly lower than expected from their dark matter halo masses. This, combined with the observed AGN activity and strong gas outflows, may be evidence of the effects of AGN feedback.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗