Chromospheric activity properties and search for subdwarfs and extreme subdwarfs based on LAMOST stellar spectral survey

Big data obtained from a stellar spectroscopic survey carried out using the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST, also known as Guo Shou Jing telescope) provide important information for studying chromospheric activity, variability of chromospheric activity, and chromospheric statistical properties, and for searching subdwarfs and extreme subdwarfs. Using as chromospheric activity indicator the H_α line, we detected 6391 active M stars among the 99741 stars in the M-star catalogue of the LAMOST survey. We also obtained the relationship between the fraction of active stars and the spectral types, which is consistent to previous results. We also studied the effects of activity on broadband photometric colors, and we did not see significant differences between active and inactive M stars. Using as spectroscopic molecular indicators the CaH123 and TiO5 lines, we found 1288 subdwarfs (including 120 active subdwarfs). We also found 15 extreme subdwarf (2 active extreme subdwarf) candidates. Our subdwarf candidates are slightly redder by about 0.05 mag in g-r compared with dwarfs using the g-r and r-i, and g-r and i-z color diagrams. Using our active M-star catalogue, we found that 898 stars exhibited H_α emission in at least two exposures (170 of them in at least three exposures). Among these 170 stars, 163 of them show variability in H_α emission on long timescales (more than 2.5 h). Furthermore, 34 stars show variability over short timescales (less than 2.5 h), and 29 actives show variability over both short and long time scales.     

Radio stars observed in the LAMOST spectral survey

Radio stars have attracted astronomers' attention for several decades. To better understand the physics behind stellar radio emissions, it is important to study their optical behaviors. The LAMOST survey provides a large database for researching stellar spectroscopic properties of radio stars. In this work, we concentrate on their spectroscopic properties and infer physical properties from their spectra,such as stellar activity and variability. We mined big data from the LAMOST spectral survey Data Release 2(DR2), published on 2016 June 30, by cross-matching them with radio stars from FIRST and other surveys. We obtained 783 good stellar spectra with high signal to noise ratio for 659 stars. The criteria for selection were positional coincidence within 1.5′′and LAMOST objects classified as stars.We calculated the equivalent widths(EWs) of the Ca II HK, Hδ, Hγ, Hβ, Hα and Ca II IRT lines by integrating the line profiles. Using the EWs of the Hα line, we detected 147 active stellar spectra of 89 objects having emissions above the Hα continuum. There were also 36 objects with repeated spectra,28 of which showed chromospheric activity variability. Furthermore, we found 14 radio stars emitting noticeably in the Ca II IRT lines. The low value of the EW8542/EW8498 ratio for these 14 radio stars possibly alludes to chromospheric plage regions.     

X-ray stars observed in LAMOST spectral survey

X-ray stars have been studied since the beginning of X-ray astronomy. Investigating and studying the chromospheric activity from X-ray stellar optical spectra is highly significant in providing insights into stellar magnetic activity. The big data of LAMOST survey provides an opportunity for researching stellar optical spectroscopic properties of X-ray stars. We inferred the physical properties of X-ray stellar sources from the analysis of LAMOST spectra. First, we cross-matched the X-ray stellar catalogue (12254 X-ray stars) from ARXA with LAMOST data release 3 (DR3), and obtained 984 good spectra from 713 X-ray sources. We then visually inspected and assigned spectral type to each spectrum and calculated the equivalent width (EW) of H\(\alpha\) line using the Hammer spectral typing facility. Based on the EW of H\(\alpha\) line, we found 203 spectra of 145 X-ray sources with H\(\alpha\) emission above the continuum. For these spectra we also measured the EWs of H\(\beta\), H\(\gamma\), H\(\delta\) and Ca ii IRT lines of these spectra. After removing novae, planetary nebulae and OB-type stars, we found there are 127 X-ray late-type stars with H\(\alpha\) line emission. By using our spectra and results from the literature, we found 53 X-ray stars showing H\(\alpha\) variability; these objects are Classical T Tauri stars (CTTs), cataclysmic variables (CVs) or chromospheric activity stars. We also found 18 X-ray stars showing obvious emissions in the Ca ii IRT lines. Of the 18 X-ray stars, 16 are CTTs and 2 are CVs. Finally, we discussed the relationships between the EW of H\(\alpha\) line and X-ray flux.     

Cataclysmic variables in a white dwarf survey at the South Galactic Pole

During a photometric and spectrophotometric survey of 200 white dwarf candidates with m_pg<15^m.0 in a field around the South Galactic Pole two new cataclysmic variables have been identified and new observations of one already known object have been accumulated. Observations in the visible and UV-region show variability and differences in spectral type. If compared to the numbers of cataclysmic variables/white dwarfs as computed by Ritter and Burkert (1985) there is a shortage of a factor of 5.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Developments, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986.     

Automatic determination of stellar atmospheric parameters and construction of stellar spectral templates of the Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST)

A number of spectroscopic surveys have been carried out or are planned to study the origin of the Milky Way. Their exploitation requires reliable automated methods and softwares to measure the fundamental parameters of the stars. Adopting the ULySS package,we have tested the effect of different resolutions and signal-tonoise ratios(SNR) on the measurement of the stellar atmospheric parameters(effective temperature Teff,surface gravity log g,and metallicity [Fe/H]) . We show that ULySS is reliable for determ...     

A sample of metal-poor galaxies identified from the LAMOST spectral survey

We present a sample of 48 metal-poor galaxies at z 0.14 selected from 92 510 galaxies in the LAMOST survey. These galaxies are identified by their detection of the auroral emission line[OⅢ]λ4363 above the 3σ level, which allows a direct measurement of electron temperature and oxygen abundance. The emission line fluxes are corrected for internal dust extinction using the Balmer decrement method. With electron temperature derived from [OⅢ]λλ4959, 5007/[OⅢ]λ4363 and electron density from [SⅡ]λ6731/[SⅡ]λ6717, we obtain the oxygen abundances in our sample which range from 12 + log(O/H) = 7.63(0.09 Z_⊙) to 8.46(0.6 Z_⊙). We find an extremely metal-poor galaxy with 12 + log(O/H) = 7.63 ± 0.01. With multiband photometric data from FUV to NIR and Hαmeasurements, we also determine the stellar masses and star formation rates, based on the spectral energy distribution fitting and Hα luminosity, respectively. We find that our galaxies have low and intermediate stellar masses with 6.39 ≤ log(M/M_⊙) ≤ 9.27, and high star formation rates(SFRs) with-2.18 ≤ log(SFR/M_⊙yr~(-1)) ≤ 1.95. We also find that the metallicities of our galaxies are consistent with the local T_e-based mass–metallicity relation, while the scatter is about 0.28 dex. Additionally,assuming the coefficient of α = 0.66, we find most of our galaxies follow the local mass–metallicity–SFR relation, but a scatter of about 0.24 dex exists, suggesting the mass–metallicity relation is weakly dependent on SFR for those metal-poor galaxies.     

Quasars in the Galactic Anti-Center Area from LAMOST DR3

We present a sample of quasars discovered in an area near the Galactic Anti-Center covering150?≤ l ≤ 210?and |b| ≤ 30?,based on LAMOST Data Release 3(DR3).This sample contains 151 spectroscopically confirmed quasars.Among them 80 are newly discovered with LAMOST.All these quasars are very bright,with i magnitudes peaking around 17.5 mag.All the new quasars were discovered serendipitously from objects that were originally targeted with LAMOST as stars having bluer colors,except for a few candidates targeted as variable,young stellar objects.This bright quasar sample at low Galactic latitudes will help fill the gap in the spatial distribution of known quasars near the Galactic disk that are used to construct an astrometric reference frame for the purpose of accurate proper motion measurements that can be applied to,for example,Gaia.They are also excellent tracers to probe the kinematics and chemistry of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way disk and halo via absorption line spectroscopy.     

Cataclysmic variables and the amplitude-cycle length relationship

After a survey of the latest state of knowledge on cataclysmic variables in general (Chapter 1) and recurrent novae in particular (Chapter 2), the amplitude-cycle length relationship (A-C relation) is rederived (Chapter 3) after statistical correction for published incorrect values of C. While the A-C relationship of dwarf novae is of the form A = -0.40 + 2.50 log C, it is, presumably for physical reasons less sharply defined for the few known recurrent novae.     

Exploring the spectral information content in the LAMOST medium-resolution survey(MRS)

Although high-resolution stellar spectra allow us to derive precise stellar labels(effective temperature, metallicity, surface gravity, elemental abundances, etc.) based on resolved atomic lines and molecular bands, low-resolution spectra have been proved to be competitive in determining many stellar labels at comparable precision. It is useful to consider the spectral information content when assessing the capability of a stellar spectrum in deriving precise stellar labels. In this work, we quantify the information content brought by the LAMOST-II medium-resolution spectroscopic survey(MRS) using the gradient spectra as well as the coefficients-of-dependence(CODs). In general, the wavelength coverage of the MRS well constrains the stellar labels but the sensitivities of different stellar labels vary with spectral types and metallicity of the stars of interest. Consequently, this affects the performance of the stellar label determination from the MRS spectra. By applying the SLAM method to the synthetic spectra which mimic the MRS data, we find that the precision of the fundamental stellar parameters Teff, log g and [M/H] are better when combining both the blue and red bands of the MRS. This is especially important for warm stars because the Hα line located in the red part plays a more important role in determining the effective temperature for warm stars. With blue and red parts together, we are able to reach similar performance to the low-resolution spectra except for warm stars. However, at [M/H] ~-2.0 dex, the uncertainties of fundamental stellar labels estimated from MRS are substantially larger than that from low-resolution spectra. We also tested the uncertainties of T_(eff), log g and [M/H] from MRS data induced from the radial velocity mismatch and find that a mismatch of about 1 km s~(-1), which is typical for LAMOST MRS data, would not significantly affect the stellar label estimates. Finally, reference precision limits are calculated using synthetic gradient spectra, according to which we expect abundances of at least 17 elements to be measured precisely from MRS spectra.     

Candidate members of the Pal 5,GD-1,Cetus Polar and Orphan tidal stellar halo streams from SDSS DR9,LAMOST DR3 and APOGEE catalogs

We present candidate members of the Pal 5,GD-1,Cetus Polar and Orphan tidal stellar streams found in LAMOST DR3,SDSS DR9 and APOGEE catalogs.In LAMOST DR3,we find 20,4 and 24 high confidence candidates of tidal streams GD-1,Cetus Polar and Orphan respectively.We also list 59,118 and 10 high confidence candidates of tidal streams Cetus Polar,Orphan and Pal 5,respectively from the SDSS DR9 spectroscopic catalog.Furthermore,we find seven high confidence candidates of the Pal 5 tidal stream in the APOGEE data.Compared with SDSS,the new candidates from LAMOST DR3 are brighter,so that together,more of the color-magnitude diagram,including the giant branch,can be explored.Analysis of the SDSS data shows that there are three metallicity peaks associated with the Orphan stream which also exhibit some spatial separation.The LAMOST data confirm multiple metallicities in this stream.The metallicity,given by the higher resolution APOGEE instrument,of the Pal 5 tidal stream is [Fe/H] ~-1.2,higher than that given earlier by SDSS spectra.Many previously unidentified stream members are tabulated here for the first time,along with existing members,allowing future researchers to further constrain the orbits of these objects as they move within the Galaxy's dark matter potential.     

Binary Star Fractions from the LAMOST DR4

Stellar systems composed of single, double, triple or higher-order systems are rightfully regarded as the fundamental building blocks of the Milky Way. Binary stars play an important role in formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Through comparing the radial velocity variations from multiepoch observations, we analyze the binary fraction of dwarf stars observed with LAMOST. Effects of different model assumptions, such as orbital period distributions on the estimate of binary fractions,are investigated. The results based on log-normal distribution of orbital periods reproduce the previous complete analyses better than the power-law distribution. We find that the binary fraction increases with Teff and decreases with [Fe/H]. We first investigate the relation between α-elements and binary fraction in such a large sample as provided by LAMOST. The old stars with high [α/Fe] dominate with a higher binary fraction than young stars with low [α/Fe]. At the same mass, earlier forming stars possess a higher binary fraction than newly forming ones, which may be related with evolution of the Galaxy.     

Halo stream candidates in the LAMOST DR2

We have cross-matched the LAMOST DR2 with the WISE, 2MASS and PPMXL catalogs and obtained a sample of 64 819 FGK metal-poor dwarfs with [Fe/H]-0.7, distances within 2 kpc from the Sun and reliable kinematics(space velocities,angular momenta and eccentricities). With a detection strategy for halo streams provided by Klement et al, nine significant "phase-space overdensities" with stars on very similar orbits are identified from this sample. Among these overdensities, three were previously known and six are new stream candidates. The kinematics and metallicities of these stream candidates are then analyzed; they have typical halo characteristics.We have extracted the most probable members of each halo stream according to their angles with respect to the North Galactic Pole and investigate the distribution of the angular momenta to further verify their existences. Detailed study of elemental abundances for these members based on high resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra from follow-up observations in the near future is of high interest to understand the origin of these streams.     

Validation of LAMOST stellar parameters with the PASTEL catalog

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST) published its first data release(DRl)in 2013,which is currently the largest dataset of stellar spectra in the world.We combine the PASTEL catalog and SIMBAD radial velocities as a testing standard to validate stellar parameters(effective temperature T_(eff),surface gravity log g,metallicity[Fe/H]and radial velocity V_r)derived from DR1.Through cross-identification of the DR1 catalogs and the PASTEL catalog,we obtain a preliminary sample of 422 stars.After removal of stellar parameter measurements from problematic spectra and applying effective temperature constraints to the sample,we compare the stellar parameters from DR1 with those from PASTEL and SIMBAD to demonstrate that the DR1 results are reliable in restricted ranges of T_(eff).We derive standard deviations of 110 K,0.19 dex and 0.11 dex for T_(eff),log g and[Fe/H]respectively when T_(eff)8000 K,and 4.91 km S~(-1) for V_r when T_(eff)10 000 K.Systematic errors are negligible except for those of V_r.In addition,metallicities in DR1 are systematically higher than those in PASTEL,in the range of PASTEL[Fe/H]-1.5.     

Adaptive stellar spectral subclass classification based on Bayesian SVMs

Stellar spectral classification is one of the most fundamental tasks in survey astronomy. Many automated classification methods have been applied to spectral data. However, their main limitation is that the model parameters must be tuned repeatedly to deal with different data sets. In this paper, we utilize the Bayesian support vector machines (BSVM) to classify the spectral subclass data. Based on Gibbs sampling, BSVM can infer all model parameters adaptively according to different data sets, which allows us to circumvent the time-consuming cross validation for penalty parameter. We explored different normalization methods for stellar spectral data, and the best one has been suggested in this study. Finally, experimental results on several stellar spectral subclass classification problems show that the BSVM model not only possesses good adaptability but also provides better prediction performance than traditional methods.     

LASPM:the LAMOST stellar parameter pipeline for M-type stars and application to the sixth and seventh data release(DR6 and DR7)

The molecular-rich atmospheres of M type stars complicate our understanding to their atmospheric properties.Recently,great progress has been made in atmospheric modeling of M-type stars,and we take advantage of the updated BT-Settl model grid to develop a pipeline LAS PM to measure atmospheric parameters(T_(eff),log g,[M/H]) of M-type stars from low-resolution spectra.The pipeline was applied to the sixth and seventh data release(DR6 DR7) of Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST),which released atmospheric parameters for 610419 and 680 185 Mtype spectra,respectively.The key algorithm is to find the best-matching for templates in the synthetic spectral library for an observed spectrum,and then minimizing χ~2 through a linear combination of five best-matching templates.The intrinsic precisions of the parameters were estimated by using the multiple epoch observations for the same stars,which are 118 K,0.20 dex,0.29 dex for T_(eff),log g,and [M/H]respectively.The Teff and log g are consistent with the spectral and luminosity classifications by LAMOST 1D pipeline,and the loci of giants and dwarfs both on spectral index and color-magnitude diagrams show the validity.The metallicities of LASPM are also checked with the selected members of four open clusters(NGC 2632,Melotte 22,ASCC_16,and ASCC_19),which are consistent without any bias.Comparing the results between LASPM and the APOGEE Stellar Parameter and Chemical Abundance Pipeline(ASPCAP),there is a scatter of 73 K,0.22 dex,0.21 dex for T_(eff),log g,and [M/H],respectively.     

A sample of galaxy pairs identified from the LAMOST spectral survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

A small fraction( 10%) of the SDSS main galaxy(MG) sample has not been targeted with spectroscopy due to the effect of fiber collisions. These galaxies have been compiled into the input catalog of the LAMOST Extra GAlactic Surveys and named the complementary galaxy sample. In this paper, we introduce this project and status of the spectroscopies associated with the complementary galaxies in the first two years of the LAMOST spectral survey(till Sep. of 2014). Moreover, we present a sample of 1102 galaxy pairs identified from the LAMOST complementary galaxies and SDSS MGs, which are defined as two members that have a projected distance smaller than 100 h_(70)~(-1)kpc and a recessional velocity difference smaller than 500 km s~(-1). Compared with galaxy pairs that are only selected from SDSS, the LAMOSTSDSS pairs have the advantages of not being biased toward large separations and therefore act as a useful supplement in statistical studies of galaxy interaction and galaxy merging.     

Search for the Metal-weak Thick Disk from the LAMOST DR5

Based on the data release of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope survey(LAMOST DR5)and the Gaia Early Data Release 3(Gaia EDR3),we con...     

Cataclysmic variables in the Edinburgh–Cape Blue Object Survey

The discovery of 15 new cataclysmic variables in the Edinburgh–Cape Blue Object Survey is announced. Photometric and spectroscopic observations are presented including high-speed photometry and time-resolved spectroscopy. On the basis of these data the systems are classified as dwarf novae and nova-like variables. In addition, two of them are of uncertain subtypes because of their peculiar behaviour.