[en] For typical models of binary statistics, 50%-80% of core-collapse supernova (ccSN) progenitors are members of a stellar binary at the time of the explosion. Independent of any consequences of mass transfer, this has observational consequences that can be used to study the binary properties of massive stars. In particular, the secondary companion to the progenitor of a Type Ib/c SN is frequently (∼50%) the more optically luminous star since the high effective temperatures of the stripped progenitors make it relatively easy for a lower luminosity, cooler secondary to emit more optical light. Secondaries to the lower mass progenitors of Type II SN will frequently produce excess blue emission relative to the spectral energy distribution of the red primary. Available data constrain the models weakly. Any detected secondaries also provide an independent lower bound on the progenitor mass and, for historical SN, show that it was not a Type Ia event. Bright ccSN secondaries have an unambiguous, post-explosion observational signature-strong, blueshifted, relatively broad absorption lines created by the developing SN remnant (SNR). These can be used to locate historical SN with bright secondaries, confirm that a source is a secondary, and, potentially, measure abundances of ccSN ejecta. Luminous, hot secondaries will re-ionize the SNR on timescales of 100-1000 yr that are faster than re-ionization by the reverse shock, creating peculiar H II regions due to the high metallicity and velocities of the ejecta.

[en] We use a sample of galaxies from the Two Micron All Sky Survey Extended Source Catalog to refine a matched filter method of finding galaxy clusters that takes into account each galaxy's position, magnitude, and redshift if available. The matched filter postulates a radial density profile, luminosity function, and line-of-sight velocity distribution for cluster galaxies. We use this method to search for clusters in the galaxy catalog, which is complete to an extinction-corrected K-band magnitude of 13.25 and has spectroscopic redshifts for roughly 40% of the galaxies, including nearly all brighter than K = 11.25. We then use a stacking analysis to determine the average luminosity function, radial distribution, and velocity distribution of cluster galaxies in several richness classes, and use the results to update the parameters of the matched filter before repeating the cluster search. We also investigate the correlations between a cluster's richness and its velocity dispersion and core radius using these relations to refine priors that are applied during the cluster search process. After the second cluster search iteration, we repeat the stacking analysis. We find a cluster galaxy luminosity function that fits a Schechter form, with parameters M_K* – 5log h = –23.64 ± 0.04 and α = –1.07 ± 0.03. We can achieve a slightly better fit to our luminosity function by adding a Gaussian component on the bright end to represent the brightest cluster galaxy population. The radial number density profile of galaxies closely matches a projected Navarro-Frenk-White profile at intermediate radii, with deviations at small radii due to well-known cluster centering issues and outside the virial radius due to correlated structure. The velocity distributions are Gaussian in shape, with velocity dispersions that correlate strongly with richness.

[en] We present a Spitzer/IRS low-resolution mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectrum (5-14 μm) of the luminous transient discovered in the nearby galaxy NGC 300 in 2008 May. This transient had peak luminosity M_V ≅ -13, showed an optical spectrum dominated by relatively narrow Balmer and Ca II lines in emission, and its progenitor was identified in pre-explosion images as a dust-enshrouded ∼10 M _sun star, characteristics that make it a twin of SN 2008S. The Spitzer spectrum, obtained three months after discovery, shows that the transient is very luminous in the mid-IR. Furthermore, the spectrum shows strong, broad emission features at 8 μm and 12 μm that are observed in Galactic carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae. Combining these data with published optical and near-IR photometry obtained at the same epoch, we find that the mid-IR excess traced by the Spitzer spectrum accounts for ∼20% of the total energy output. This component can be well explained by emission from ∼3 x 10^-4 M_sun of pre-existing progenitor dust at temperature T ∼ 400 K. The spectral energy distribution of the transient also shows a near-IR excess that can be explained by emission from newly formed dust in the ejecta. Alternatively, both the near-IR and mid-IR excesses can together be explained by a single pre-existing geometrically thick dust shell. In light of the new observations obtained with Spitzer, we revisit the analysis of the optical spectra and kinematics, which were compared to the massive yellow-hypergiant IRC+10420 in previous studies. We show that proto-planetary nebulae share many properties with the NGC 300 transient and SN 2008S. We conclude that even though the explosion of a massive star (M ∼> 10 M_sun) cannot be ruled out, an explosive event on a massive (M ∼ 6-10 M_sun) carbon-rich AGB/super-AGB or post-AGB star is consistent with all observations of the transients and their progenitors presented thus far.

[en] We examine the UV emission from luminous early-type galaxies as a function of redshift. We perform a stacking analysis using Galaxy Evolution Explorer images of galaxies in the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey Booetes field and examine the evolution in the UV colors of the average galaxy. Our sample, selected to have minimal ongoing star formation based on the optical to mid-IR spectral energy distributions of the galaxies, includes 1843 galaxies spanning the redshift range 0.05 ≤ z ≤ 0.65. We find evidence that the strength of the UV excess decreases, on average, with redshift, and our measurements also show moderate disagreement with previous models of the UV excess. Our results show little evolution in the shape of the UV continuum with redshift, consistent either with the binary model for the formation of extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars or with no evolution in EHB morphology with look-back time. However, the binary formation model predicts that the strength of the UV excess should also be relatively constant, in contradiction with our measured results. Finally, we see no significant influence of a galaxy's environment on the strength of its UV excess.

[en] We analyzed Chandra observations of three gravitational lenses, SBS 0909+523, FBQS 0951+2635, and B 1152+199, to measure the differential X-ray absorption and the dust-to-gas ratio of the lens galaxies. We successfully detected the differential X-ray absorption in SBS 0909+523 and B 1152+199, and failed to detect it in FBQS 0951+2635 due to the dramatic drop in its flux from the ROSAT epoch. These measurements significantly increase the sample of dust-to-gas ratio measurements in cosmologically distant, normal galaxies. Using the larger sample, we obtain an average dust-to-gas ratio of E(B - V)/N _H = (1.5 ± 0.5) x 10^-22 mag cm² atoms^-1 with an estimated intrinsic dispersion in the ratio of ≅40%. This average dust-to-gas ratio is consistent with our previous measurement and the average Galactic value of 1.7 x 10^-22 mag cm² atoms^-1, and the estimated intrinsic dispersion is also consistent with the 30% observed in the Galaxy. A larger sample size is still needed to improve the measurements and to begin studying the evolution in the ratio with cosmic time. We also detected X-ray microlensing in SBS 0909+523 and significant X-ray variability in FBQS 0951+2635.

[en] We show that using mid-IR color selection to find active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is as effective in dense stellar fields such as the Magellanic Clouds as it is in extragalactic fields with low stellar densities using comparisons between the Spitzer Deep Wide Field Survey data for the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey Boeotes region and the SAGE Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud. We use this to build high-purity catalogs of ∼5000 AGN candidates behind the Magellanic Clouds. Once confirmed, these quasars will expand the available astrometric reference sources for the Clouds and the numbers of quasars with densely sampled, long-term (>decade) monitoring light curves by well over an order of magnitude and potentially identify sufficiently bright quasars for absorption line studies of the interstellar medium of the Clouds.

[en] We perform a global fit to ∼5000 radial velocity and ∼177, 000 magnitude measurements in 29 photometric bands covering 0.3 μm to 8.0 μm distributed among 287 Galactic, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud Cepheids with P > 10 days. We assume that the Cepheid light curves and radial velocities are fully characterized by distance, reddening, and time-dependent radius and temperature variations. We construct phase curves of radius and temperature for periods between 10 and 100 days, which yield light-curve templates for all our photometric bands and can be easily generalized to any additional band. With only four to six parameters per Cepheid, depending on the existence of velocity data and the amount of freedom in the distance, the models have typical rms light and velocity curve residuals of 0.05 mag and 3.5 km s^–1. The model derives the mean Cepheid spectral energy distribution and its derivative with respect to temperature, which deviate from a blackbody in agreement with metal-line and molecular opacity effects. We determine a mean reddening law toward the Cepheids in our sample, which is not consistent with standard assumptions in either the optical or near-IR. Based on stellar atmosphere models, we predict the biases in distance, reddening, and temperature determinations due to the metallicity and quantify the metallicity signature expected for our fit residuals. The observed residuals as a function of wavelength show clear differences between the individual galaxies, which are compatible with these predictions. In particular, we find that metal-poor Cepheids appear hotter. Finally, we provide a framework for optimally selecting filters that yield the smallest overall errors in Cepheid parameter determination or filter combinations for suppressing or enhancing the metallicity effects on distance determinations. We make our templates publicly available.

[en] Using 11 years of OGLE V-band photometry of Q2237+0305, we measure the transverse velocity of the lens galaxy and the mean mass of its stars. We can do so because, for the first time, we fully include the random motions of the stars in the lens galaxy in the analysis of the light curves. In doing so, we are also able to correctly account for Earth's parallax motion and the rotation of the lens galaxy, further reducing systematic errors. We measure a lower limit on the transverse speed of the lens galaxy, v_t > 338 km s^-1 (68% confidence) and find a preferred direction to the east. The mean stellar mass estimate, including a well-defined velocity prior, is 0.12 ≤ (M/M_sun) ≤ 1.94 at 68% confidence, with a median of 0.52 M_sun. We also show for the first time that analyzing subsets of a microlensing light curve, in this case the first and second halves of the OGLE V-band light curve, gives mutually consistent physical results.

[en] Using a microlensing analysis of 11 years of OGLE V-band photometry of the four image gravitational lens Q2237+0305, we measure the inclination i of the accretion disk to be cos i > 0.66 at 68% confidence. Very edge on (cos i < 0.39) solutions are ruled out at 95% confidence. We measure the V-band radius of the accretion disk, defined by the radius where the temperature matches the monitoring band photon emission, to be R_V = 5.8^+3.8_-2.3 x 10¹⁵ cm assuming a simple thin disk model and including the uncertainties in its inclination. The projected radiating area of the disk remains too large to be consistent with the observed flux for a T ∝ R ^-3/4 thin disk temperature profile. There is no strong correlation between the direction of motion (peculiar velocity) of the lens galaxy and the orientation of the disk.

[en] Microlensing perturbations to the magnification of gravitationally lensed quasar images are dependent on the angular size of the quasar. If quasar variability at visible wavelengths is caused by a change in the area of the accretion disk, it will affect the microlensing magnification. We derive the expected signal, assuming that the luminosity scales with some power of the disk area, and estimate its amplitude using simulations. We discuss the prospects for detecting the effect in real-world data and for using it to estimate the logarithmic slope of the luminosity's dependence on disk area. Such an estimate would provide a direct test of the standard thin accretion disk model. We tried fitting six seasons of the light curves of the lensed quasar HE 0435-1223 including this effect as a modification to the Kochanek et al. approach to estimating time delays. We find a dramatic improvement in the goodness of fit and relatively plausible parameters, but a robust estimate will require a full numerical calculation in order to correctly model the strong correlations between the structure of the microlensing magnification patterns and the magnitude of the effect. We also comment briefly on the effect of this phenomenon for the stability of time-delay estimates.