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Register a new userMetal-poor hypervelocity star candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
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Hypervelocity stars are believed to be ejected out from the Galactic center through dynamical interactions of (binary) stars with the central massive black hole(s). In this letter, we report 13 metal-poor F-type hypervelocity star candidates selected from 370,000 stars of the data release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. With a detailed analysis of the kinematics of these stars, we find that seven of them were likely ejected from the Galactic center (GC) or the Galactic disk, four neither originated from the GC nor the Galactic disk, and the other two were possibly ejected from either the Galactic disk or other regions. Those candidates which unlikely originated from the GC or the Galactic disk, may be explained by other mechanisms, like the tidal disruption of the Milky Ways dwarf galaxies in the Galactic potential, or the gravitational interactions with a massive black hole at the center of M31 or M32.
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We carry out a systematic search for extremely metal poor (XMP) galaxies in the spectroscopic sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 7 (DR7). The XMP candidates are found by classifying all the galaxies according to the form of their spectra in a region 80AA wide around Halpha. Due to the data size, the method requires an automatic classification algorithm. We use k-means. Our systematic search renders 32 galaxies having negligible [NII] lines, as expected in XMP galaxy spectra. Twenty one of them have been previously identified as XMP galaxies in the literature -- the remaining eleven are new. This was established after a thorough bibliographic search that yielded only some 130 galaxies known to have an oxygen metallicity ten times smaller than the Sun (explicitly, with 12+log(O/H) <= 7.65). XMP galaxies are rare; they represent 0.01% of the galaxies with emission lines in SDSS/DR7. Although the final metallicity estimate of all candidates remains pending, strong-line empirical calibrations indicate a metallicity about one-tenth solar, with the oxygen metallicity of the twenty one known targets being 12+log(O/H)= 7.61 +- 0.19. Since the SDSS catalog is limited in apparent magnitude, we have been able to estimate the volume number density of XMP galaxies in the local universe, which turns out to be (1.32 +- 0.23) x 10^-4 Mpc^-3. The XMP galaxies constitute 0.1% of the galaxies in the local volume, or some 0.2% considering only emission line galaxies. All but four of our candidates are blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs), and 24 of them have either cometary shape or are formed by chained knots.
We present spectroscopic observations with the 3.6m ESO telescope of two emission-line galaxies, J2104-0035 and J0113+0052, selected from the Data Release 4 (DR4) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). From our data we determine the oxygen abundance of these systems to be respectively 12+logO/H = 7.26+/-0.03 and 7.17+/-0.09, making them the two most metal-deficient galaxies found thus far in the SDSS and placing them among the five most metal-deficient emission-line galaxies ever discovered. Their oxygen abundances are close to those of the two most metal-deficient emission-line galaxies known, SBS0335-052W with 12+logO/H = 7.12+/-0.03 and I Zw 18 with 12+logO/H = 7.17+/-0.01.
Galaxies are usually classified as star forming or active by using diagnostic diagrams, such as [N II]/Halpha vs. [O III]/Hbeta. Active galaxies are further classified into Seyfert or LINER-like sources. We claim that a non-negligible fraction of galaxies classified as LINERs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are in fact ionized by hot post-AGB stars and white dwarfs.
We present a sample of 723 optically selected BL Lac candidates from the SDSS DR7 spectroscopic database encompassing 8250 deg^2 of sky; our sample constitutes one of the largest uniform BL Lac samples yet derived. Each BL Lac candidate has a high-quality SDSS spectrum from which we determine spectroscopic redshifts for ~60% of the objects. Redshift lower limits are estimated for the remaining objects utilizing the lack of host galaxy flux contamination in their optical spectra; we find that objects lacking spectroscopic redshifts are likely at systematically higher redshifts. Approximately 80% of our BL Lac candidates match to a radio source in FIRST/NVSS, and ~40% match to a ROSAT X-ray source. The homogeneous multiwavelength coverage allows subdivision of the sample into 637 radio-loud BL Lac candidates and 86 weak-featured radio-quiet objects. The radio-loud objects broadly support the standard paradigm unifying BL Lac objects with beamed radio galaxies. We propose that the majority of the radio-quiet objects may be lower-redshift (z<2.2) analogs to high-redshift weak line quasars (i.e., AGN with unusually anemic broad emission line regions). These would constitute the largest sample of such objects, being of similar size and complementary in redshift to the samples of high-redshift weak line quasars previously discovered by the SDSS. However, some fraction of the weak-featured radio-quiet objects may instead populate a rare and extreme radio-weak tail of the much larger radio-loud BL Lac population. Serendipitous discoveries of unusual white dwarfs, high-redshift weak line quasars, and broad absorption line quasars with extreme continuum dropoffs blueward of rest-frame 2800 Angstroms are also briefly described.
The SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey is carrying out a search for the most metal-poor stars in the Galaxy. It identifies candidates by way of its unique filter set that allows for estimation of stellar atmospheric parameters. The set includes a narrow filter centered on the Ca II K 3933A line, enabling a robust estimate of stellar metallicity. Promising candidates are then confirmed with spectroscopy. We present the analysis of Magellan-MIKE high-resolution spectroscopy of 122 metal-poor stars found by SkyMapper in the first two years of commissioning observations. 41 stars have [Fe/H] <= -3.0. Nine have [Fe/H] <= -3.5, with three at [Fe/H] ~ -4. A 1D LTE abundance analysis of the elements Li, C, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Sr, Ba and Eu shows these stars have [X/Fe] ratios typical of other halo stars. One star with low [X/Fe] values appears to be Fe-enhanced, while another star has an extremely large [Sr/Ba] ratio: >2. Only one other star is known to have a comparable value. Seven stars are CEMP-no stars ([C/Fe] > 0.7, [Ba/Fe] < 0). 21 stars exhibit mild r-process element enhancements (0.3 <=[Eu/Fe] < 1.0), while four stars have [Eu/Fe] >= 1.0. These results demonstrate the ability to identify extremely metal-poor stars from SkyMapper photometry, pointing to increased sample sizes and a better characterization of the metal-poor tail of the halo metallicity distribution function in the future.
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