HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF THE B[e] STAR MWC 645

Optical high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the emission-line star MWC645 are presented. The spectrum exhibits strong variable double-peaked Balmer emission lines as well as low-excitation emission lines of FeII, [FeII], and [OI] which are signatures of the B[e] phenomenon, while lines of helium have not been found. In addition to the emission lines, for the first time we identified absorption lines of neutral metals (e.g., LiI 6708 A, CaI 6717 A, and a number of FeI and TiI lines) that indicate the presence of a cool component in the system. The heliocentric radial velocity measured in our best spectrum was found to be −65.1±1.0 kms −1 for the emission lines and −23.2±0.4 kms −1 for the absorption lines. Using a combination of photometric and spectroscopic data as well as the Gaia EDR3 distance (D=6.5±0.9 kpc), we disentangled the component contributions and estimated their temperatures and luminosities (∼15000 K and ∼4000 K, log L/L ? = 3.8±0.2 and 2.8±0.2 for the hot and cool component, respectively).

Spectroscopically Identified Emission Line Galaxy Pairs in the WISP Survey*

We identify a sample of spectroscopically measured emission line galaxy (ELG) Pairs up to z = 1.6 from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) Infrared Spectroscopic Parallels (WISP) survey. WISP obtained slitless, near-infrared grism spectroscopy along with direct imaging in the J and H bands by observing in the pure-parallel mode with the WFC3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. From our search of 419 WISP fields covering an area of ∼0.5 deg2, we find 413 ELG pair systems, mostly H α emitters. We then derive reliable star formation rates (SFRs) based on the attenuation-corrected H α fluxes. Compared to isolated galaxies, we find an average SFR enhancement of 40%–65%, which is stronger for major Pairs and Pairs with smaller velocity separations (Δ v < 300 km s−1). Based on the stacked spectra from various subsamples, we study the trends of emission line ratios in pairs, and find a general consistency with enhanced lower ionization lines. We study the pair fraction among ELGs, and find a marginally significant increase with redshift f ∝ (1 + z) α , where the power-law index α = 0.58 ± 0.17 from z ∼ 0.2 to ∼1.6. The fraction of active galactic nuclei is found to be the same in the ELG Pairs as compared to the isolated ELGs.

Deep-learning Reconstruction of Three-dimensional Galaxy Distributions with Intensity Mapping Observations

Line-intensity mapping is emerging as a novel method that can measure the collective intensity fluctuations of atomic/molecular line emission from distant galaxies. Several observational programs with various wavelengths are ongoing and planned, but there remains a critical problem of line confusion; emission lines originating from galaxies at different redshifts are confused at the same observed wavelength. We devise a generative adversarial network that extracts designated emission-line signals from noisy three-dimensional data. Our novel network architecture allows two input data, in which the same underlying large-scale structure is traced by two emission lines of H α and [Oiii], so that the network learns the relative contributions at each wavelength and is trained to decompose the respective signals. After being trained with a large number of realistic mock catalogs, the network is able to reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of emission-line galaxies at z = 1.3−2.4. Bright galaxies are identified with a precision of 84%, and the cross correlation coefficients between the true and reconstructed intensity maps are as high as 0.8. Our deep-learning method can be readily applied to data from planned spaceborne and ground-based experiments.

Discovery of 2716 hot emission-line stars from LAMOST DR5

We present a catalog of 3339 hot emission-line stars (ELSs) identified from 451 695 O, B and A type spectra, provided by LAMOST Data Release 5 (DR5). We developed an automated Python routine that identified 5437 spectra having a peak between 6561 and 6568 Å. False detections and bad spectra were removed, leaving 4138 good emission-line spectra of 3339 unique ELSs. We re-estimated the spectral types of 3307 spectra as the LAMOST Stellar Parameter Pipeline (LASP) did not provide accurate spectral types for these emission-line spectra. As Herbig Ae/Be stars exhibit higher excess in near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths than classical Ae/Be stars, we relied on 2MASS and WISE photometry to distinguish them. Finally, we report 1089 classical Be, 233 classical Ae and 56 Herbig Ae/Be stars identified from LAMOST DR5. In addition, 928 B[em]/A[em] stars and 240 CAe/CBe potential candidates are identified. From our sample of 3339 hot ELSs, 2716 ELSs identified in this work do not have any record in the SIMBAD database and they can be considered as new detections. Identification of such a large homogeneous set of emission-line spectra will help the community study the emission phenomenon in detail without worrying about the inherent biases when compiling from various sources.

The Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) Survey Design, Reductions, and Detections*

We describe the survey design, calibration, commissioning, and emission-line detection algorithms for the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). The goal of HETDEX is to measure the redshifts of over a million Lyα emitting galaxies between 1.88 < z < 3.52, in a 540 deg2 area encompassing a comoving volume of 10.9 Gpc3. No preselection of targets is involved; instead the HETDEX measurements are accomplished via a spectroscopic survey using a suite of wide-field integral field units distributed over the focal plane of the telescope. This survey measures the Hubble expansion parameter and angular diameter distance, with a final expected accuracy of better than 1%. We detail the project’s observational strategy, reduction pipeline, source detection, and catalog generation, and present initial results for science verification in the Cosmological Evolution Survey, Extended Groth Strip, and Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North fields. We demonstrate that our data reach the required specifications in throughput, astrometric accuracy, flux limit, and object detection, with the end products being a catalog of emission-line sources, their object classifications, and flux-calibrated spectra.

Observational Limits on the Early-time Dust Mass in SN 1987A

In recent years, dust masses of a few tenths of a solar mass have been found in the expanding ejecta of a number of core-collapse supernovae. How dust forms in such quantities remains poorly understood; theories of dust formation predict lower total masses and much faster formation rates than observations imply. One suggestion to reconcile observations and theory was made by Dwek et al., who proposed that the dust forms very rapidly, and because of its optical depth, is not initially observationally detectable, only being gradually revealed as the ejecta expand. Observational dust masses at early times would then only be lower limits. Using a large grid of radiative transfer models covering dust masses from 10−4 to 1 M ⊙ to calculate both the spectral energy distribution and the emission line profiles from clumpy dust shells, we show that this cannot be the case. Some clump distributions allow dust masses of ∼0.01 M ⊙ to be concealed in clumps and still predict an SED consistent with the observations. However, these geometries predict emission line profiles that are inconsistent with the observations. Similarly, clump geometries that reproduce the observed emission line profiles with dust masses >0.01 M ⊙ do not reproduce the SED. However, models with ∼10−3 M ⊙ of amorphous carbon can reproduce both the SED and the emission line profiles. We conclude that no large masses of dust can be hidden from view in the ejecta of SN 1987A at early epochs, and that the majority of dust must thus have formed at epochs >1000 days.

Characterizing Extreme Emission-line Galaxies. I. A Four-zone Ionization Model for Very High-ionization Emission*

Stellar population models produce radiation fields that ionize oxygen up to O+2, defining the limit of standard H ii region models (<54.9 eV). Yet, some extreme emission-line galaxies, or EELGs, have surprisingly strong emission originating from much higher ionization potentials. We present UV HST/COS and optical LBT/MODS spectra of two nearby EELGs that have very high-ionization emission lines (e.g., He ii λλ1640,4686 C iv λλ1548,1550, [Fe v]λ4227, [Ar iv]λλ4711,4740). We define a four-zone ionization model that is augmented by a very high-ionization zone, as characterized by He+2 (>54.4 eV). The four-zone model has little to no effect on the measured total nebular abundances, but does change the interpretation of other EELG properties: we measure steeper central ionization gradients; higher volume-averaged ionization parameters; and higher central T e , n e , and log U values. Traditional three-zone estimates of the ionization parameter can underestimate the average log U by up to 0.5 dex. Additionally, we find a model-independent dichotomy in the abundance patterns, where the α/H abundances are consistent but N/H, C/H, and Fe/H are relatively deficient, suggesting these EELGs are α/Fe-enriched by more than three times. However, there still is a high-energy ionizing photon production problem (HEIP3). Even for such α/Fe enrichment and very high log U s, photoionization models cannot reproduce the very high-ionization emission lines observed in EELGs.

A study of many-year spectral variability of the Ae Herbig star HD 36112

We present the results of long-term high-dispersion spectral observations (R = 20000) of the Ae Herbig star HD 36112 in the regions of the Ha emission line and the NaI D resonance doublet lines. They show that parameters of the Ha emission line demonstrate complicated variability on several time scales: 1) variability from night to night caused by inhomogeneity of the circumstellar envelope; 2) variability on a time scale of about 1200d characterized by a variation of the equivalent width, intensity, and other emission parameters; 3) variability on a time scale of more than 4000d observed as a many-year trend in variations of parameters of the Ha emission line. We associate these results with variability of physical and kinematic conditions in the inner regions of the accretion disk and wind. The most probable mechanism of this variability is a process of planet formation in the circumstellar disk.