Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio

Stern et al.(2012) presented a study of WISE selection of AGN in the 2 deg^2 COSMOS field, finding that a simple criterion W1-W2>=0.8 provides a highly reliable and complete AGN sample for W2<15.05, where the W1 and W2 passbands are centered at 3.4 and 4.6 microns, respectively. Here we extend this study using the larger 9 deg^2 NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Bootes field which also has considerably deeper WISE observations than the COSMOS field, and find that this simple color-cut significantly loses reliability at fainter fluxes. We define a modified selection criterion combining the W1-W2 color and the W2 magnitude to provide highly reliable or highly complete AGN samples for fainter WISE sources. In particular, we define a color-magnitude cut that finds 130+/-4 deg^-2 AGN candidates for W2<17.11 with 90% reliability. Using the extensive UV through mid-IR broad-band photometry available in this field, we study the spectral energy distributions of WISE AGN candidates. As expected, the WISE AGN selection is biased towards objects where the AGN dominates the bolometric luminosity output, and that it can identify highly obscured AGN. We study the distribution of reddening in the AGN sample and discuss a formalism to account for sample incompleteness based on the step-wise maximum-likelihood method of Efstathiou et al.(1988). The resulting dust obscuration distributions depend strongly on AGN luminosity, consistent with the trend expected for a Simpson (2005) receding torus. At L_AGN~3x10^44 erg/s, 29+/-7% of AGN are observed as Type 1, while at ~4x10^45 erg/s the fraction is 64+/-13%. The distribution of obscuration values suggests that dust in the torus is present as both a diffuse medium and in optically thick clouds.

Context. The ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) started in 2010. VVV targets 562 sq. deg in the Galactic bulge and an adjacent plane region and is expected to run for about five years.

We present the first installment of a massive spectroscopic survey of Galactic O stars, based on new, high signal-to-noise ratio, R~2500 digital observations from both hemispheres selected from the Galactic O-Star Catalog of Maíz Apellániz et al. (2004) and Sota et al. (2008). The spectral classification system is rediscussed and a new atlas is presented, which supersedes previous versions. Extensive sequences of exceptional objects are given, including types Ofc, ON/OC, Onfp, Of?p, Oe, and double-lined spectroscopic binaries. The remaining normal spectra bring this first sample to 184 stars, which is close to complete to B=8 and north of delta = -20 and includes all of the northern objects in Maíz Apellániz et al. (2004) that are still classified as O stars. The systematic and random accuracies of these classifications are substantially higher than previously attainable, because of the quality, quantity, and homogeneity of the data and analysis procedures. These results will enhance subsequent investigations in Galactic astronomy and stellar astrophysics. In the future we will publish the rest of the survey, beginning with a second paper that will include most of the southern stars in Maíz Apellániz et al. (2004).

Abstract Following the discovery of the gravitational-wave source GW170817 by three Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo antennae (Abbott et al., 2017a), the MASTER Global Robotic Net telescopes obtained the first image of the NGC 4993 host galaxy. An optical transient, MASTER OTJ130948.10-232253.3/SSS17a was later found, which appears to be a kilonova resulting from the merger of two neutron stars (NSs). Here we describe this independent detection and photometry of the kilonova made in white light, and in B, V, and R filters. We note that the luminosity of this kilonova in NGC 4993 is very close to those measured for other kilonovae possibly associated with gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130603 and GRB 080503.

Following the discovery of the gravitational-wave source GW170817 by three Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo antennae (Abbott et al., 2017a), the MASTER Global Robotic Net telescopes obtained the first image of the NGC 4993 host galaxy. An optical transient, MASTER OTJ130948.10-232253.3/SSS17a was later found, which appears to be a kilonova resulting from the merger of two neutron stars (NSs). Here we describe this independent detection and photometry of the kilonova made in white light, and in B, V, and R filters. We note that the luminosity of this kilonova in NGC 4993 is very close to those measured for other kilonovae possibly associated with gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130603 and GRB 080503.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission has unveiled a rare population of high-redshift (z = 1-4.6), dusty, hyper-luminous galaxies, with infrared luminosities

Context. This work is part of a long-term spectroscopic study of a sample of 30 multiple stars with early-type components. In this second paper we present the results for six multiple systems in which new stellar components have been detected.
\nAims. The main aim is to increase the knowledge of stellar properties and dynamical structure of early-type multiple stellar systems.
\nMethods. Using spectroscopic observations taken over a time baseline of more than five years we measured radial velocities by cross-correlations and spectrally separated the double-lined systems. In addition to the discovery of objects with double-lined spectra, the existence of new spectroscopic subsystems were inferred from the radial velocity variations of single-lined components and through the variation of the barycentric velocity of double-lined subsystems. Orbital elements were calculated when possible.
\nResults. Seven new stellar components and two members that we expect to confirm with new observations have been discovered in the six studied multiples. We present orbital parameters for two double-lined binaries and preliminary orbits for three single-lined spectroscopic binaries. Five of the six analysed systems are quadruples, while the remaining has five components distributed on four hierarchical levels. These multiplicity orders are in fact lower limits, since these systems lack high-resolution visual observations and additional hierarchical levels might exist in that separation range.
\nConclusions. The six analysed systems have a higher degree of multiplicity and a more complex hierarchical structure than previously known, which suggests that high-order multiple systems are significantly more frequent than currently estimated. The long-term spectroscopic monitoring of multiple systems has shown to be useful for the detection of companions in intermediate hierarchical levels.

The solar cycle and its associated magnetic activity are the main drivers behind changes in the interplanetary environment and Earth’s upper atmosphere (commonly referred to as space weather). These changes have a direct impact on the lifetime of space-based assets and can create hazards to astronauts in space. In recent years there has been an effort to develop accurate solar cycle predictions (with aims at predicting the long-term evolution of space weather), leading to nearly a hundred widely spread predictions for the amplitude of solar cycle 24. A major contributor to the disagreement is the lack of direct long-term databases covering different components of the solar magnetic field (toroidal versus poloidal). Here, we use sunspot area and polar faculae measurements spanning a full century (as our toroidal and poloidal field proxies) to study solar cycle propagation, memory, and prediction. Our results substantiate predictions based on the polar magnetic fields, whereas we find sunspot area to be uncorrelated with cycle amplitude unless multiplied by area-weighted average tilt. This suggests that the joint assimilation of tilt and sunspot area is a better choice (with aims to cycle prediction) than sunspot area alone, and adds to the evidence in favor of active region emergence and decay as the main mechanism of poloidal field generation (i.e., the Babcock–Leighton mechanism). Finally, by looking at the correlation between our poloidal and toroidal proxies across multiple cycles, we find solar cycle memory to be limited to only one cycle.

Aims. We present fundamental stellar parameters, chemical abundances, and rotational velocities for a sample of 86 evolved stars with planets (56 giants; 30 subgiants), and for a control sample of 137 stars (101 giants; 36 subgiants) without planets. The analysis was based on both high signal-to-noise and resolution echelle spectra. The main goals of this work are i) to investigate chemical differences between evolved stars that host planets and those of the control sample without planets; ii) to explore potential differences between the properties of the planets around giants and subgiants; and iii) to search for possible correlations between these properties and the chemical abundances of their host stars. Implications for the scenarios of planet formation and evolution are also discussed.

We perform a statistical analysis of active galactic nucleus (AGN) host characteristics and nuclear activity for AGNs in pairs and without companions. Our study concerns a sample of AGNs derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 data by Kauffmann et al. and pair galaxies obtained from the same data set by Alonso et al. An eye-ball classification of images of 1607 close pairs (r p < 25 kpc h -1 , V < 350 km s -1 ) according to the evidence of interaction through distorted morphologies and tidal features provides us with a more confident assessment of galaxy interactions from this sample. We notice that, at a given luminosity or stellar mass content, the fraction of AGNs is larger for pair galaxies exhibiting evidence for strong interaction and tidal features which also show signs of strong star formation activity. Nevertheless, this process accounts only for a 10 per cent increase of the fraction of AGNs. As in previous works, we find AGN hosts to be redder and with a larger concentration morphological index than non-AGN galaxies. This effect does not depend on whether AGN hosts are in pairs or in isolation. The O III luminosity of AGNs with strong interaction features is found to be significantly larger than that of other AGNs, either in pairs or in isolation. Estimations of the accretion rate, L[O III]/M BH , show that AGNs in merging pairs are actively feeding their black holes, regardless of their stellar masses. We also find that the luminosity of the companion galaxy seems to be a key parameter in the determination of the black hole activity. At a given host luminosity, both the O III luminosity and the L[O III]/M BH are significantly larger in AGNs with a bright companion (M r < -20) than otherwise.

Ultra-massive white dwarfs are powerful tools used to study various physical processes in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), type Ia supernova explosions, and the theory of crystallization through white dwarf asteroseismology. Despite the interest in these white dwarfs, there are few evolutionary studies in the literature devoted to them. Here we present new ultra-massive white dwarf evolutionary sequences that constitute an improvement over previous ones. In these new sequences we take into account for the first time the process of phase separation expected during the crystallization stage of these white dwarfs by relying on the most up-to-date phase diagram of dense oxygen/neon mixtures. Realistic chemical profiles resulting from the full computation of progenitor evolution during the semidegenerate carbon burning along the super-AGB phase are also considered in our sequences. Outer boundary conditions for our evolving models are provided by detailed non-gray white dwarf model atmospheres for hydrogen and helium composition. We assessed the impact of all these improvements on the evolutionary properties of ultra-massive white dwarfs, providing updated evolutionary sequences for these stars. We conclude that crystallization is expected to affect the majority of the massive white dwarfs observed with effective temperatures below 40 000 K. Moreover, the calculation of the phase separation process induced by crystallization is necessary to accurately determine the cooling age and the mass-radius relation of massive white dwarfs. We also provide colors in the Gaia photometric bands for our H-rich white dwarf evolutionary sequences on the basis of new model atmospheres. Finally, these new white dwarf sequences provide a new theoretical frame to perform asteroseismological studies on the recently detected ultra-massive pulsating white dwarfs.

Context. VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) is one of the six ESO Public Surveys operating on the new 4-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). VVV is scanning the Milky Way bulge and an adjacent section of the disk, where star formation activity is high. One of the principal goals of the VVV Survey is to find new star clusters of differentages.

On the basis of an extensive new spectroscopic survey of Galactic O stars, we introduce the Ofc category, which consists of normal spectra with C III λλ4647-4650-4652 emission lines of comparable intensity to those of the Of defining lines N III λλ4634-4640-4642. The former feature is strongly peaked to spectral type O5, at all luminosity classes, but preferentially in some associations or clusters and not others. The relationships of this phenomenon to the selective C III λ5696 emission throughout the normal Of domain, and to the peculiar, variable Of?p category, for which strong C III λλ4647-4650-4652 emission is a defining characteristic, are discussed. Magnetic fields have recently been detected on two members of the latter category. We also present two new extreme Of?p stars, NGC 1624-2 and CPD -28° 2561, bringing the number known in the Galaxy to five. Modeling of the behavior of these spectral features can be expected to better define the physical parameters of both normal and peculiar objects, as well as the atomic physics involved.

Ultra-massive white dwarfs are powerful tools used to study various physical processes in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), type Ia supernova explosions, and the theory of crystallization through white dwarf asteroseismology. Despite the interest in these white dwarfs, there are few evolutionary studies in the literature devoted to them. Here we present new ultra-massive white dwarf evolutionary sequences that constitute an improvement over previous ones. In these new sequences we take into account for the first time the process of phase separation expected during the crystallization stage of these white dwarfs by relying on the most up-to-date phase diagram of dense oxygen/neon mixtures. Realistic chemical profiles resulting from the full computation of progenitor evolution during the semidegenerate carbon burning along the super-AGB phase are also considered in our sequences. Outer boundary conditions for our evolving models are provided by detailed non-gray white dwarf model atmospheres for hydrogen and helium composition. We assessed the impact of all these improvements on the evolutionary properties of ultra-massive white dwarfs, providing updated evolutionary sequences for these stars. We conclude that crystallization is expected to affect the majority of the massive white dwarfs observed with effective temperatures below 40 000 K. Moreover, the calculation of the phase separation process induced by crystallization is necessary to accurately determine the cooling age and the mass-radius relation of massive white dwarfs. We also provide colors in the Gaia photometric bands for our H-rich white dwarf evolutionary sequences on the basis of new model atmospheres. Finally, these new white dwarf sequences provide a new theoretical frame to perform asteroseismological studies on the recently detected ultra-massive pulsating white dwarfs.

The Southern Argentina Agile Meteor Radar (SAAMER) was installed at Rio Grande on Tierra del Fuego (53.8°S, 67.8°W) in May 2008 and has been operational for ∼24 months. This paper describes the motivations for the radar design and its placement at the southern tip of South America, its operating modes and capabilities, and observations of the mean winds, planetary waves, and tides during its first ∼20 months of operation. SAAMER was specifically designed to provide very high resolution of large‐scale motions and hopefully enable direct measurements of the vertical momentum flux by gravity waves, which have only been possible previously with dual‐ or multiple‐beam radars and lidars or in situ measurements. SAAMER was placed on Tierra del Fuego because it was a region devoid of similar measurements, the latitude was anticipated to provide high sensitivity to an expected large semidiurnal tide, and the region is now recognized to be a “hot spot” of small‐scale gravity wave activity extending from the troposphere into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, perhaps the most dynamically active location on Earth. SAAMER was also intended to permit simultaneous enhanced meteor studies, including “head echo” and “nonspecular” measurements, which were previously possible only with high‐power large‐aperture radars. Initial measurements have defined the mean circulation and structure, exhibited planetary waves at various periods, and revealed large semidiurnal tide amplitudes and variability, with maximum amplitudes at higher altitudes often exceeding 60 m s −1 and amplitude modulations at periods from a few to ∼30 days.

Aims. We study galaxy pair samples selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR7) and we perform an analysis of minor and major mergers with the aim of investigating the dependence of galaxy properties on interactions.

This paper presents a first observational investigation of the faint Of?p star NGC 1624-2, yielding important new constraints on its spectral and physical characteristics, rotation, magnetic field strength, X-ray emission and magnetospheric properties. Modelling the spectrum and spectral energy distribution, we conclude that NGC 1624-2 is a main-sequence star of mass M 30 M , and infer an effective temperature of 35 2 kK and log g = 4.0 0.2. Based on an extensive time series of optical spectral observations we report significant variability of a large number of spectral lines, and infer a unique period of 157.99 0.94 d which we interpret as the rotational period of the star. We report the detection of a very strong (5.35 0.5 kG) longitudinal magnetic field B z , coupled with probable Zeeman splitting of the Stokes I profiles of metal lines confirming a surface field modulus B of 14 1 kG, consistent with a surface dipole of polar strength 20 kG. This is the largest magnetic field ever detected in an O-type star, and the first report of Zeeman splitting of Stokes I profiles in such an object. We also report the detection of reversed Stokes V profiles associated with weak, high-excitation emission lines of O III, which we propose may form in the close magnetosphere of the star. We analyse archival Chandra ACIS-I X-ray data, inferring a very hard spectrum with an X-ray efficiency of log L x /L bol = -6.4, a factor of 4 larger than the canonical value for O-type stars Based on spectropolarimetric observations

We calculate the angular correlation function for a sample of ~170,000 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) extracted from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) catalog, selected to have red mid-IR colors (W1 − W2 &gt; 0.8) and 4.6 μm flux densities brighter than 0.14 mJy). The sample is expected to be &gt;90% reliable at identifying AGNs and to have a mean redshift of 〈z〉 = 1.1. In total, the angular clustering of WISE AGNs is roughly similar to that of optical AGNs. We cross-match these objects with the photometric Sloan Digital Sky Survey catalog and distinguish obscured sources with r − W2 &gt; 6 from bluer, unobscured AGNs. Obscured sources present a higher clustering signal than unobscured sources. Since the host galaxy morphologies of obscured AGNs are not typical red sequence elliptical galaxies and show disks in many cases, it is unlikely that the increased clustering strength of the obscured population is driven by a host galaxy segregation bias. By using relatively complete redshift distributions from the COSMOS survey, we find that obscured sources at 〈z〉 ~ 0.9 have a bias of b = 2.9 ± 0.6 and are hosted in dark matter halos with a typical mass of log (M/M_☉ h^(−1)) ~ 13.5. In contrast, unobscured AGNs at 〈z〉 ~ 1.1 have a bias of b = 1.6 ± 0.6 and inhabit halos of log (M/M_☉ h^(−1)) ~ 12.4. These findings suggest that obscured AGNs inhabit denser environments than unobscured AGNs, and they are difficult to reconcile with the simplest AGN unification models, where obscuration is driven solely by orientation.

Aims. We propose a method for measuring the projected rotational velocity vsini with high precision even in spectra with blended lines. Though not automatic, our method is designed to be applied systematically to large numbers of objects without excessive computational requirement.

Motivated by the strong discrepancy between the main sequence turn-off age and the white dwarf cooling age in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791, we compute a grid of white dwarf evolutionary sequences that incorporates for the first time the energy released by the processes of 22Ne sedimentation and of carbon/oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. The grid covers the mass range from 0.52 to 1.0 Msun, and it is appropriate for the study of white dwarfs in metal-rich clusters. The evolutionary calculations are based on a detailed and self-consistent treatment of the energy released from these two processes, as well as on the employment of realistic carbon/oxygen profiles, of relevance for an accurate evaluation of the energy released by carbon/oxygen phase separation. We find that 22Ne sedimentation strongly delays the cooling rate of white dwarfs stemming from progenitors with high metallicities at moderate luminosities, whilst carbon/oxygen phase separation adds considerable delays at low luminosities. Cooling times are sensitive to possible uncertainties in the actual value of the diffusion coefficient of 22Ne. Changing the diffusion coefficient by a factor of 2, leads to maximum age differences of approx. 8-20% depending on the stellar mass. We find that the magnitude of the delays resulting from chemical changes in the core is consistent with the slow down in the white dwarf cooling rate that is required to solve the age discrepancy in NGC 6791.