Peter W. Draper

Sagittarius II, Draco II and Laevens 3: Three New Milky Way Satellites Discovered in the Pan-STARRS 1 3π Survey

Author(s): Laevens, BPM; Martin, NF; Bernard, EJ; Schlafly, EF; Sesar, B; Rix, HW; Bell, EF; Ferguson, AMN; Slater, CT; Sweeney, WE; Wyse, RFG; Huxor, AP; Burgett, WS; Chambers, KC; Draper, PW; Hodapp, KA; Kaiser, N; Magnier, EA; Metcalfe, N; Tonry, JL; Wainscoat, RJ; Waters, C | Abstract:

A LARGE CATALOG OF ACCURATE DISTANCES TO MOLECULAR CLOUDS FROM PS1 PHOTOMETRY

Distance measurements to molecular clouds are important but are often made separately for each cloud of interest, employing very different data and techniques. We present a large, homogeneous catalog of distances to molecular clouds, most of which are of unprecedented accuracy. We determine distances using optical photometry of stars along lines of sight toward these clouds, obtained from PanSTARRS-1. We simultaneously infer the reddenings and distances to these stars, tracking the full probability distribution function using a technique presented in Green et al. We fit these star-by-star measurements using a simple dust screen model to find the distance to each cloud. We thus estimate the distances to almost all of the clouds in the Magnani et al. catalog, as well as many other well-studied clouds, including Orion, Perseus, Taurus, Cepheus, Polaris, California, and Monoceros R2, avoiding only the inner Galaxy. Typical statistical uncertainties in the distances are 5%, though the systematic uncertainty stemming from the quality of our stellar models is about 10%. The resulting catalog is the largest catalog of accurate, directly measured distances to molecular clouds. Our distance estimates are generally consistent with available distance estimates from the literature, though in some cases the literature estimates are off by a factor of more than two.

The superluminous supernova PS1-11ap: bridging the gap between low and high redshift

We present optical photometric and spectroscopic coverage of the superluminous supernova (SLSN) PS1-11ap, discovered with the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey at z = 0.524. This intrinsically blue transient rose slowly to reach a peak magnitude ofMu =− 21.4 mag and bolometric luminosity of 8 × 10 43 erg s −1 before settling on to a relatively shallow gradient of decline. The observed decline is significantly slower than those of the SLSNe-Ic which have been the focus of much recent attention. Spectroscopic similarities with the lower redshift SN2007bi and a decline rate similar to 56 Co decay time-scale initially indicated that this transient could be a candidate for a pair instability supernova (PISN) explosion. Overall the transient appears quite similar to SN2007bi and the lower redshift object PTF12dam. The extensive data set, from 30 d before peak to 230 d after, allows a detailed and quantitative comparison with published models of PISN explosions. We find that the PS1-11ap data do not match these model explosion parameters well, supporting the recent claim that these SNe are not pair instability explosions. We show that PS1-11ap has many features in common with the faster declining SLSNe-Ic, and the light-curve evolution can also be quantitatively explained by the magnetar spin-down model. At a redshift of z = 0.524, the observer-frame optical coverage provides comprehensive rest-frame UV data and allows us to compare it with the SLSNe recently found at high redshifts between z = 2 and 4. While these high-z explosions

MEASURING DISTANCES AND REDDENINGS FOR A BILLION STARS: TOWARD A 3D DUST MAP FROM PAN-STARRS 1

We present a method to infer reddenings and distances to stars based only on their broad-band photometry, and show how this method can be used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) dust map of the Galaxy. Our method samples from the full probability density function of distance, reddening, and stellar type for individual stars, as well as the full uncertainty in reddening as a function of distance in the 3D dust map. We incorporate prior knowledge of the distribution of stars in the Galaxy and the detection limits of the survey. For stars in the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) 3π survey, we demonstrate that our reddening estimates are unbiased and accurate to ~0.13 mag in E(B – V) for the typical star. Based on comparisons with mock catalogs, we expect distances for main-sequence stars to be constrained to within ~20%-60%, although this range can vary, depending on the reddening of the star, the precise stellar type, and its position on the sky. A later paper will present a 3D map of dust over the three quarters of the sky surveyed by PS1. Both the individual stellar inferences and the 3D dust map will enable a wealth of Galactic science in the plane. The method we present is not limited to the passbands of the PS1 survey but may be extended to incorporate photometry from other surveys, such as the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (where available), and in the future, LSST and Gaia.

Detection of a supervoid aligned with the cold spot of the cosmic microwave background

We use the WISE-2MASS infrared galaxy catalogue matched with Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) galaxies to search for a supervoid in the direction of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) cold spot (CS). Our imaging catalogue has median redshift z ≃ 0.14, and we obtain photometric redshifts from PS1 optical colours to create a tomographic map of the galaxy distribution. The radial profile centred on the CS shows a large low-density region, extending over tens of degrees. Motivated by previous CMB results, we test for underdensities within two angular radii, 5°, and 15°. The counts in photometric redshift bins show significantly low densities at high detection significance, ≳5σ and ≳6σ, respectively, for the two fiducial radii. The line-of-sight position of the deepest region of the void is z ≃ 0.15–0.25. Our data, combined with an earlier measurement by Granett, Szapudi & Neyrinck, are consistent with a large Rvoid = (220 ± 50) h−1 Mpc supervoid with δm ≃ −0.14 ± 0.04 centred at z = 0.22 ± 0.03. Such a supervoid, constituting at least a ≃3.3σ fluctuation in a Gaussian distribution of the Λ cold dark matter model, is a plausible cause for the CS.

Selecting superluminous supernovae in faint galaxies from the first year of the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey

The Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey has obtained imaging in 5 bands (grizyP1) over 10 Medium Deep Survey (MDS) fields covering a total of 70 square degrees . This paper describes the search for apparently hostless supernovae (SNe) within the first year of PS1 MDS data with an aim of discovering superluminous supernovae (SLSNe). A total of 249 hostless transients were discovered down to a limiting magnitude of MAB ∼ 23.5, of which 76 were classified as type Ia SNe. There were 57 SNe with complete light curves that are likely core-collapse SNe (CCSNe) or type Ic SLSNe and 12 of these have had spectra taken. Of these 12 hostless, non-type Ia SNe, 7 were SLSNe of type Ic at redshifts between 0.5-1.4. This illustrates that the discovery rate of type Ic SLSNe can be maximised by concentrating on hostless transients and removing normal SNe Ia. We present data for two possible SLSNe; PS1-10pm (z = 1.206) and PS1-10ahf (z = 1.1), and estimate the rate of type Ic SLSNe to be between 3 +3

The Complex Structure of Stars in the Outer Galactic Disk as revealed by Pan-STARRS1

We present a panoptic view of the stellar structure in the Galactic disks outer reaches commonly known as the Monoceros Ring, based on data from Pan-STARRS1. These observations clearly show the large extent of the stellar overdensities on both sides of the Galactic disk, extending between b = –25° and b = +35° and covering over 130° in Galactic longitude. The structure exhibits a complex morphology with both stream-like features and a sharp edge to the structure in both the north and the south. We compare this map to mock observations of two published simulations aimed at explaining such structures in the outer stellar disk, one postulating an origin as a tidal stream and the other demonstrating a scenario where the disk is strongly distorted by the accretion of a satellite. These morphological comparisons of simulations can link formation scenarios to observed structures, such as demonstrating that the distorted-disk model can produce thin density features resembling tidal streams. Although neither model produces perfect agreement with the observations—the tidal stream predicts material at larger distances that is not detected while in the distorted disk model, the midplane is warped to an excessive degree—future tuning of the models to accommodate these latest data may yield better agreement.

A Synoptic Map of Halo Substructures from the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey

We present a panoramic map of the entire Milky Way halo north of δ∼−30∘δ∼−30∘ (∼30 000 deg2), constructed by applying the matched-filter technique to the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey data set. Using single-epoch photometry reaching to g ∼22, we are sensitive to stellar substructures with heliocentric distances between 3.5 and ∼35 kpc. We recover almost all previously reported streams in this volume and demonstrate that several of these are significantly more extended than earlier data sets have indicated. In addition, we also report five new candidate stellar streams. One of these features appears significantly broader and more luminous than the others and is likely the remnant of a dwarf galaxy. The other four streams are consistent with a globular cluster origin, and three of these are rather short in projection (≲10∘≲10∘), suggesting that streams like Ophiuchus may not be that rare. Finally, a significant number of more marginal substructures are also revealed by our analysis; many of these features can also be discerned in matched-filter maps produced by other authors from SDSS data, and hence they are very likely to be genuine. However, the extant 3π data is currently too shallow to determine their properties or produce convincing colour–magnitude diagrams. The global view of the Milky Way provided by Pan-STARRS1 provides further evidence for the important role of both globular cluster disruption and dwarf galaxy accretion in building the Milky Ways stellar halo

The Pan-STARRS1 Medium-Deep Survey: the role of galaxy group environment in the star formation rate versus stellar mass relation and quiescent fraction out to z ~ 0.8

Using a large optically selected sample of field and group galaxies drawn from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium-Deep Survey (PS1/MDS), we present a detailed analysis of the specific star formation rate (SSFR)—stellar mass (M *) relation, as well as the quiescent fraction versus M * relation in different environments. While both the SSFR and the quiescent fraction depend strongly on stellar mass, the environment also plays an important role. Using this large galaxy sample, we confirm that the fraction of quiescent galaxies is strongly dependent on environment at a fixed stellar mass, but that the amplitude and the slope of the star-forming sequence is similar between the field and groups: in other words, the SSFR-density relation at a fixed stellar mass is primarily driven by the change in the star-forming and quiescent fractions between different environments rather than a global suppression in the star formation rate for the star-forming population. However, when we restrict our sample to the cluster-scale environments (M > 1014 M ☉), we find a global reduction in the SSFR of the star-forming sequence of 17% at 4σ confidence as opposed to its field counterpart. After removing the stellar mass dependence of the quiescent fraction seen in field galaxies, the excess in the quiescent fraction due to the environment quenching in groups and clusters is found to increase with stellar mass, although deeper and larger data from the full PS1/MDS will be required to draw firm conclusions. We argue that these results are in favor of galaxy mergers to be the primary environment quenching mechanism operating in galaxy groups whereas strangulation is able to reproduce the observed trend in the environment quenching efficiency and stellar mass relation seen in clusters. Our results also suggest that the relative importance between mass quenching and environment quenching depends on stellar mass—the mass quenching plays a dominant role in producing quiescent galaxies for more massive galaxies, while less massive galaxies are quenched mostly through the environmental effect, with the transition mass around 1-2 × 1010 M ☉ in the group/cluster environment.

The time domain spectroscopic survey: variable selection and anticipated results

We present the selection algorithm and anticipated results for the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS). TDSS is an Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) subproject that will provide initial identification spectra of approximately 220,000 luminosity-variable objects (variable stars and active galactic nuclei across 7500 deg2 selected from a combination of SDSS and multi-epoch Pan-STARRS1 photometry. TDSS will be the largest spectroscopic survey to explicitly target variable objects, avoiding pre-selection on the basis of colors or detailed modeling of specific variability characteristics. Kernel Density Estimate analysis of our target population performed on SDSS Stripe 82 data suggests our target sample will be 95% pure (meaning 95% of objects we select have genuine luminosity variability of a few magnitudes or more). Our final spectroscopic sample will contain roughly 135,000 quasars and 85,000 stellar variables, approximately 4000 of which will be RR Lyrae stars which may be used as outer Milky Way probes. The variability-selected quasar population has a smoother redshift distribution than a color-selected sample, and variability measurements similar to those we develop here may be used to make more uniform quasar samples in large surveys. The stellar variable targets are distributed fairly uniformly across color space, indicating that TDSS will obtain spectra for a wide variety of stellar variables including pulsating variables, stars with significant chromospheric activity, cataclysmic variables, and eclipsing binaries. TDSS will serve as a pathfinder mission to identify and characterize the multitude of variable objects that will be detected photometrically in even larger variability surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.