Search Publications
LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
Aubourg, Éric; Strauss, Michael A.; Anderson, Scott F. +324 more
We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the solar system, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a large, wide-fiel…
Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid Standards Provide a 1% Foundation for the Determination of the Hubble Constant and Stronger Evidence for Physics beyond ΛCDM
Casertano, Stefano; Riess, Adam G.; Yuan, Wenlong +2 more
We present an improved determination of the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of 70 long-period Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These were obtained with the same WFC3 photometric system used to measure extragalactic Cepheids in the hosts of SNe Ia. Gyroscopic control of HST was employed to reduce overhead…
PSR J0030+0451 Mass and Radius from NICER Data and Implications for the Properties of Neutron Star Matter
Harding, A. K.; Ray, P. S.; Wood, K. S. +18 more
Neutron stars are not only of astrophysical interest, but are also of great interest to nuclear physicists because their attributes can be used to determine the properties of the dense matter in their cores. One of the most informative approaches for determining the equation of state (EoS) of this dense matter is to measure both a star’s equatoria…
A 3D Dust Map Based on Gaia, Pan-STARRS 1, and 2MASS
Speagle, Joshua S.; Zucker, Catherine; Finkbeiner, Douglas +2 more
We present a new three-dimensional map of dust reddening, based on Gaia parallaxes and stellar photometry from Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS. This map covers the sky north of a decl. of -30°, out to a distance of a few kiloparsecs. This new map contains three major improvements over our previous work. First, the inclusion of Gaia parallaxes dramatically …
The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. VIII. An Independent Determination of the Hubble Constant Based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
Madore, Barry F.; Freedman, Wendy L.; Beaton, Rachael L. +10 more
We present a new and independent determination of the local value of the Hubble constant based on a calibration of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) applied to Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We find a value of H 0 = 69.8 ± 0.8 (±1.1% stat) ± 1.7 (±2.4% sys) km s-1 Mpc-1. The TRGB method is both precise and accur…
The Optical to Mid-infrared Extinction Law Based on the APOGEE, Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS, and WISE Surveys
Wang, Shu; Chen, Xiaodian
A precise interstellar dust extinction law is critically important to interpret observations. There are two indicators of extinction: the color excess ratio (CER) and the relative extinction. Compared to the CER, the wavelength-dependent relative extinction is more challenging to be determined. In this work, we combine spectroscopic, astrometric, …
The Circular Velocity Curve of the Milky Way from 5 to 25 kpc
Hogg, David W.; Rix, Hans-Walter; Ness, Melissa K. +1 more
We measure the circular velocity curve v c(R) of the Milky Way with the highest precision to date across Galactocentric distances of 5 ≤ R ≤ 25 kpc. Our analysis draws on the six-dimensional phase-space coordinates of ≳23,000 luminous red giant stars, for which we previously determined precise parallaxes using a data-driven model that c…
Cluster Cosmology Constraints from the 2500 deg2 SPT-SZ Survey: Inclusion of Weak Gravitational Lensing Data from Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope
Gladders, M. D.; Schrabback, T.; Rest, A. +77 more
We derive cosmological constraints using a galaxy cluster sample selected from the 2500 deg2 SPT-SZ survey. The sample spans the redshift range 0.25 < z < 1.75 and contains 343 clusters with SZ detection significance ξ > 5. The sample is supplemented with optical weak gravitational lensing measurements of 32 clusters with 0.29 …
Kinematics in Young Star Clusters and Associations with Gaia DR2
Sills, Alison; Feigelson, Eric D.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A. +2 more
The Gaia mission has opened a new window into the internal kinematics of young star clusters at the sub-km s-1 level, with implications for our understanding of how star clusters form and evolve. We use a sample of 28 clusters and associations with ages from ∼1-5 Myr, where lists of members are available from previous X-ray, optical, an…
How to Constrain Your M Dwarf. II. The Mass-Luminosity-Metallicity Relation from 0.075 to 0.70 Solar Masses
Gaidos, Eric; Rizzuto, Aaron C.; Kraus, Adam L. +11 more
The mass-luminosity relation for late-type stars has long been a critical tool for estimating stellar masses. However, there is growing need for both a higher-precision relation and a better understanding of systematic effects (e.g., metallicity). Here we present an empirical relationship between {M}{KS} and M * sp…