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Register a new userHST/STIS observations of GRB000301C: CCD imaging and NUV MAMA spectroscopy
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We present HST/STIS observations of the optical counterpart (OT) of the gamma-ray burster GRB 000301C obtained on 2000 March 6, five days after the burst. CCD clear aperture imaging reveals a R ~ 21.50+/-0.15 source with no apparent host galaxy. An 8000 s, 1150 < lambda/A < 3300 NUV-MAMA prism spectrum shows a relatively flat continuum (in f_lambda) between 2800 and 3300 A, with a mean flux 8.7 (+0.8,-1.6)+/- 2.6 10^(-18) ergs/s/cm^2/A, and a sharp break centered at 2797+/-25 A. We interpret it as HI Lyman break at z = 2.067+/-0.025 indicating the presence of a cloud with a HI column density log(HI) > 18 on the line-of-sight to the OT. This value is conservatively a lower limit to the GRB redshift. However, the facts that large N(HI) system are usually considered as progenitors of present day galaxies and that other OTs are found associated with star forming galaxies strongly suggest that it is the GRB redshift. In any case, this represents the largest direct redshift determination of a gamma-ray burster to date. Our data are compatible with an OT spectrum represented by a power-law with an intrinsic index alpha = 1.2((f_nu propto nu^-alpha) and no extinction in the host galaxy or with alpha = 0.5 and extinction by a SMC-like dust in the OT rest-frame with A_V = 0.15. The large N(HI) and the lack of detected host is similar to the situation for damped Ly-alpha absorbers at z > 2.
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We present preliminary results on the low-redshift Lyman alpha forest as based on STIS spectra of 3C 273. A total of 121 intergalactic Lyman alpha-absorbing systems were detected, of which 60 are above the 3.5 sigma completness limit, log N(HI)~12.3. The median Doppler parameter, b=27 km/s, is similar to that seen at high redshift. However the distribution of HI column densities (dN/dN(HI) propto N(HI)^-beta) has a steeper slope, beta = 2.02 +- 0.21, than is seen at high redshift. Overall, the observed N(HI)-b distribution is consistent with that derived from a Lambda CDM hydrodynamic simulation.
We report new observations of the spectrum of Ganymede in the spectral range 1160 - 1720 A made with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on HST on 1998 October 30. The observations were undertaken to locate the regions of the atomic oxygen emissions at 1304 and 1356 A, previously observed with the GHRS on HST, that Hall et al. (1998) claimed indicated the presence of polar aurorae on Ganymede. The use of the 2 wide STIS slit, slightly wider than the disk diameter of Ganymede, produced objective spectra with images of the two oxygen emissions clearly separated. The OI emissions appear in both hemispheres, at latitudes above 40 degrees, in accordance with recent Galileo magnetometer data that indicate the presence of an intrinsic magnetic field such that Jovian magnetic field lines are linked to the surface of Ganymede only at high latitudes. Both the brightness and relative north-south intensity of the emissions varied considerably over the four contiguous orbits (5.5 hours) of observation, presumably due to the changing Jovian plasma environment at Ganymede. However, the observed longitudinal non-uniformity in the emission brightness at high latitudes, particularly in the southern hemisphere, and the lack of pronounced limb brightening near the poles are difficult to understand with current models. In addition to observed solar HI Lyman-alpha reflected from the disk, extended Lyman-alpha emission resonantly scattered from a hydrogen exosphere is detected out to beyond two Ganymede radii from the limb, and its brightness is consistent with the Galileo UVS measurements of Barth et al. (1997).
The Circumgalactic Medium (CGM) of late-type galaxies is characterized using UV spectroscopy of 11 targeted QSO/galaxy pairs at z < 0.02 with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and ~60 serendipitous absorber/galaxy pairs at z < 0.2 with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. CGM warm cloud properties are derived, including volume filling factors of 3-5%, cloud sizes of 0.1-30 kpc, masses of 10-1e8 solar masses and metallicities of 0.1-1 times solar. Almost all warm CGM clouds within 0.5 virial radii are metal-bearing and many have velocities consistent with being bound, galactic fountain clouds. For galaxies with L > 0.1 L*, the total mass in these warm CGM clouds approaches 1e10 solar masses, ~10-15% of the total baryons in massive spirals and comparable to the baryons in their parent galaxy disks. This leaves >50% of massive spiral-galaxy baryons missing. Dwarfs (<0.1 L*) have smaller area covering factors and warm CGM masses (<5% baryon fraction), suggesting that many of their warm clouds escape. Constant warm cloud internal pressures as a function of impact parameter ($P/k ~ 10 cm^{-3} K) support the inference that previous COS detections of broad, shallow O VI and Ly-alpha absorptions are of an extensive (~400-600 kpc), hot (T ~ 1e6 K) intra-cloud gas which is very massive (>1e11 solar masses). While the warm CGM clouds cannot account for all the missing baryons in spirals, the hot intra-group gas can, and could account for ~20% of the cosmic baryon census at z ~ 0 if this hot gas is ubiquitous among spiral groups.
A variety of on-orbit imaging and spectroscopic observations are used to characterize the Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) of the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. A set of formulae is presented to correct observations of point sources for CTE-related loss of signal. For data taken in imaging mode, the CTE loss is parametrized in terms of the location of the source on the CCD, the source signal level within the measurement aperture, the background level, and the time of observation. For spectroscopic data, it is found that one additional parameter is needed to provide an adequate calibration of the CTE loss, namely the signal in the point spread function located between the signal extraction box and the read-out amplifier. The effect of the latter parameter is significant for spectra taken using the G750L or G750M gratings of STIS. The algorithms presented here correct flux calibration inaccuracies due to CTE losses as large as 30% to within ~ 1.5% RMS throughout the wavelength range covered by the STIS CCD modes. This uncertainty is similar to the Poisson noise associated with a source detected at a signal level of about 2500 electrons per resolution element. Using bi-directional CCD readouts, centroid shifts incurred due to CTE loss are also derived. A tight correlation is found between the CTE loss and the centroid shift (both for imaging and spectroscopic modes), thus enabling one to correct for both effects of imperfect charge transfer to STIS CCD observations.
We present basic data and modeling for a survey of the cool, photo-ionized Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) of low-redshift galaxies using far-UV QSO absorption line probes. This survey consists of targeted and serendipitous CGM subsamples, originally described in Stocke et al. (2013, Paper 1). The targeted subsample probes low-luminosity, late-type galaxies at $z<0.02$ with small impact parameters ($langlerhorangle = 71$ kpc), and the serendipitous subsample probes higher luminosity galaxies at $zlesssim0.2$ with larger impact parameters ($langlerhorangle = 222$ kpc). HST and FUSE UV spectroscopy of the absorbers and basic data for the associated galaxies, derived from ground-based imaging and spectroscopy, are presented. We find broad agreement with the COS-Halos results, but our sample shows no evidence for changing ionization parameter or hydrogen density with distance from the CGM host galaxy, probably because the COS-Halos survey probes the CGM at smaller impact parameters. We find at least two passive galaxies with H I and metal-line absorption, confirming the intriguing COS-Halos result that galaxies sometimes have cool gas halos despite no on-going star formation. Using a new methodology for fitting H I absorption complexes, we confirm the CGM cool gas mass of Paper 1, but this value is significantly smaller than found by the COS-Halos survey. We trace much of this difference to the specific values of the low-$z$ meta-galactic ionization rate assumed. After accounting for this difference, a best-value for the CGM cool gas mass is found by combining the results of both surveys to obtain $log{(M/M_{odot})}=10.5pm0.3$, or ~30% of the total baryon reservoir of an $L geq L^*$, star-forming galaxy.
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