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Register a new userThe Canada-France Imaging Survey: First results from the u-band component
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The Canada-France Imaging Survey (CFIS) will map the northern high Galactic latitude sky in the $u$-band (CFIS-u, 10,000$, {rm deg^2}$) and in the $r$-band (CFIS-r, 5,000$, {rm deg^2}$), enabling a host of stand-alone science investigations, and providing some of the ground-based data necessary for photometric redshift determination for the Euclid mission. In this first contribution we present the $u$-band component of the survey, describe the observational strategy, and discuss some first highlight results, based on approximately one third of the final area. We show that the Galactic anticenter structure is distributed continuously along the line of sight, out to beyond 20 kpc, and possesses a metallicity distribution that is essentially identical to that of the outer disk sampled by APOGEE. This suggests that it is probably a buckled disk of old metal-rich stars, rather than a stream or a flare. We also discuss the future potential for CFIS-u in discovering star-forming dwarf galaxies around the Local Group, the characterization of the white dwarf and blue straggler population of the Milky Way, as well as its sensitivity to low-surface brightness structures in external galaxies.
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We present a new fully data-driven algorithm that uses photometric data from the Canada-France-Imaging-Survey (CFIS; $u$), Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1; $griz$), and Gaia ($G$) to discriminate between dwarf and giant stars and to estimate their distances and metallicities. The algorithm is trained and tested using the SDSS/SEGUE spectroscopic dataset and Gaia photometric/astrometric dataset. At [Fe/H]$<-1.2$, the algorithm succeeds in identifying more than 70% of the giants in the training/test set, with a dwarf contamination fraction below 30% (with respect to the SDSS/SEGUE dataset). The photometric metallicity estimates have uncertainties better than 0.2 dex when compared with the spectroscopic measurements. The distances estimated by the algorithm are valid out to a distance of at least $sim 80$ kpc without requiring any prior on the stellar distribution, and have fully independent uncertainities that take into account both random and systematic errors. These advances allow us to estimate these stellar parameters for approximately 12 million stars in the photometric dataset. This will enable studies involving the chemical mapping of the distant outer disc and the stellar halo, including their kinematics using the Gaia proper motions. This type of algorithm can be applied in the Southern hemisphere to the first release of LSST data, thus providing an almost complete view of the external components of our Galaxy out to at least $sim 80$ kpc. Critical to the success of these efforts will be ensuring well-defined spectroscopic training sets that sample a broad range of stellar parameters with minimal biases. A catalogue containing the training/test set and all relevant parameters within the public footprint of CFIS is available online.
We report the orbital distribution of the Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the High Ecliptic Latitude (HiLat) extension of the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), conducted from June 2006 to July 2009. The HiLat component was designed to address one of the shortcomings of ecliptic surveys (like CFEPS), their lack of sensitivity to high-inclination objects. We searched 701~deg$^2$ of sky ranging from 12$^circ$ to 85$^circ$ ecliptic latitude and discovered lKBO TNOs, with inclinations between 15$^circ$ to 104$^circ$. This survey places a very strong constraint on the inclination distribution of the hot component of the classical Kuiper Belt, ruling out any possibility of a large intrinsic fraction of highly inclined orbits. Using the parameterization of citet{2001AJ....121.2804B}, the HiLat sample combined with CFEPS imposes a width $14^circ le sigma le 15.5^circ$, with a best match for $sigma = 14.5^circ$. HiLat discovered the first retrograde TNO, 2008~KV$_{42}$, with an almost polar orbit with inclination 104$^circ$, and (418993), a scattering object with perihelion in the region of Saturns influence, with $a sim 400$~AU and $i = 68^circ$.
As the remnants of stars with initial masses $lesssim$ 8 M$_{odot}$, white dwarfs contain valuable information on the formation histories of stellar populations. In this paper, we use deep, high-quality, u-band photometry from the Canada France Imaging Survey (CFIS), griz photometry from Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1), as well as proper motions from Gaia DR2, to select 25,156 white dwarf candidates over $sim$4500 deg$^2$ using a reduced proper motion diagram. We develop a new white dwarf population synthesis code that returns mock observations of the Galactic field white dwarf population for a given star formation history, while simultaneously taking into account the geometry of the Milky Way, survey parameters, and selection effects. We use this model to derive the star formation histories of the thin disk, thick disk, and stellar halo. Our results show that the Milky Way disk began forming stars (11.3 $pm$ 0.5) Gyr ago, with a peak rate of (8.8 $pm$ 1.4) M$_{odot}$yr$^{-1}$ at (9.8 $pm$ 0.4) Gyr, before a slow decline to a constant rate until the present day --- consistent with recent results suggesting a merging event with a satellite galaxy. Studying the residuals between the data and best-fit model shows evidence for a slight increase in star formation over the past 3 Gyr. We fit the local fraction of helium-atmosphere white dwarfs to be (21 $pm$ 3) %. Incorporating this methodology with data from future wide-field surveys such as LSST, Euclid, CASTOR, and WFIRST should provide an unprecedented view into the formation of the Milky Way at its earliest epoch through its white dwarfs.
We present optical spectroscopy for 18 halo white dwarfs identified using photometry from the Canada-France Imaging Survey and Pan-STARRS1 DR1 3$pi$ survey combined with astrometry from Gaia DR2. The sample contains 13 DA, 1 DZ, 2 DC, and two potentially exotic types of white dwarf. We fit both the spectrum and the spectral energy distribution in order to obtain the temperature and surface gravity, which we then convert into a mass, and then an age, using stellar isochrones and the initial-to-final mass relation. We find a large spread in ages that is not consistent with expected formation scenarios for the Galactic halo. We find a mean age of 9.03$^{+2.13}_{-2.03}$ Gyr and a dispersion of 4.21$^{+2.33}_{-1.58}$ Gyr for the inner halo using a maximum likelihood method. This result suggests an extended star formation history within the local halo population.
We present data products from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). CFHTLenS is based on the Wide component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). It encompasses 154 deg^2 of deep, optical, high-quality, sub-arcsecond imaging data in the five optical filters u^*griz. The article presents our data processing of the complete CFHTLenS data set. We were able to obtain a data set with very good image quality and high-quality astrometric and photometric calibration. Our external astrometric accuracy is between 60-70 mas with respect to SDSS data and the internal alignment in all filters is around 30 mas. Our average photometric calibration shows a dispersion on the order of 0.01 to 0.03 mag for griz and about 0.04 mag for u^* with respect to SDSS sources down to i <= 21. In the spirit of the CFHTLS all our data products are released to the astronomical community via the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. We give a description and how-to manuals of the public products which include image pixel data, source catalogues with photometric redshift estimates and all relevant quantities to perform weak lensing studies.
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