Search

In order to constrain the evolutionary history of the Milky Way, we hunt for faint RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) using Dark Energy Camera data from the High cadence Transient Survey (HiTS) and the Halo Outskirts With Variable Stars (HOWVAST) survey. We report the detection of $\sim500$ RRLs, including previously identified stars and $\sim90$ RRLs not yet reported. We identify 9 new RRLs beyond $100$ kpc from the Sun, most of which are classified as fundamental-mode pulsators. The periods and amplitudes of the distant RRLs do not place them in either one of the two classical Oosterhoff groups, but in the Oosterhoff intermediate region. We detect two groups of clumped distant RRLs with similar distances and equatorial coordinates, which we interpret as an indication of their association with undiscovered bound or unbound satellites. We study the halo density profile using spheroidal and ellipsoidal ($q=0.7$) models, following a Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology. For a spheroidal halo, our derived radial profile is consistent with a broken power-law with a break at $18.1^{+2.1}_{-1.1}$ kpc separating the inner and the outer halo, and an outer slope of $-4.47^{+0.11}_{-0.18}$. For an ellipsoidal halo, the break is located at $24.3^{+2.6}_{-3.2}$ kpc and the outer slope is $-4.57^{+0.17}_{-0.25}$. The break in the density profile is a feature visible in different directions of the halo. The similarity of these radial distributions with previous values reported in the literature seems to depend on the regions of the sky surveyed (direction and total area) and halo tracer used. Our findings are compatible with simulations and observations that predict that the outer regions of Milky Way-like galaxies are mainly composed of accreted material., Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables. Submitted to MNRAS. Revised version. Waiting for reviewer's decision

We compare the molecular cloud properties in sub-galactic regions of two galaxies, barred spiral NGC 1313, which is forming many massive clusters, and flocculent spiral NGC 7793, which is forming significantly fewer massive clusters despite having a similar star formation rate to NGC 1313. We find that there are larger variations in cloud properties between different regions within each galaxy than there are between the galaxies on a global scale, especially for NGC 1313. There are higher masses, linewidths, pressures, and virial parameters in the arms of NGC 1313 and center of NGC 7793 than in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxies. The massive cluster formation of NGC 1313 may be driven by its greater variation in environments, allowing more clouds with the necessary conditions to arise, although no one parameter seems primarily responsible for the difference in star formation. Meanwhile NGC 7793 has clouds that are as massive and have as much kinetic energy as clouds in the arms of NGC 1313, but have densities and pressures more similar to the interarm regions and so are less inclined to collapse and form stars. The cloud properties in NGC 1313 and NGC 7793 suggest that spiral arms, bars, interarm regions, and flocculent spirals each represent distinct environments with regard to molecular cloud populations. We see surprisingly little difference in surface densities between the regions, suggesting that the differences in surface densities frequently seen between arm and interarm regions of lower-resolution studies are indicative of the sparsity of molecular clouds, rather than differences in their true surface density., Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present a comparative study of the molecular gas in two galaxies from the LEGUS sample: barred spiral NGC 1313 and flocculent spiral NGC 7793. These two galaxies have similar masses, metallicities, and star formation rates, but NGC 1313 is forming significantly more massive star clusters than NGC 7793, especially young massive clusters (<10 Myr, >10^4 Msol). Using ALMA CO(2-1) observations of the two galaxies with the same sensitivities and resolutions of 13 pc, we directly compare the molecular gas in these two similar galaxies to determine the physical conditions responsible for their large disparity in cluster formation. By fitting size-linewidth relations for the clouds in each galaxy, we find that NGC 1313 has a higher intercept than NGC 7793, implying that its clouds have higher kinetic energies at a given size scale. NGC 1313 also has more clouds near virial equilibrium than NGC 7793, which may be connected to its higher rate of massive cluster formation. However, these virially bound clouds do not show a stronger correlation with young clusters than that of the general cloud population. We find surprisingly small differences between the distributions of molecular cloud populations in the two galaxies, though the largest of those differences are that NGC 1313 has higher surface densities and lower free-fall times., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We report the spectroscopic analysis of 20 halo ab-type RR Lyrae stars with heliocentric distances between 15 and 165 kpc, conducted using medium-resolution spectra from the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) spectrograph. We obtain the systemic line-of-sight velocities of our targets with typical uncertainties of 5-10 km s$^{-1}$, and compute orbital parameters for a subsample out to 50 kpc from the Galactic centre, including proper motion data from Gaia DR3. The orientation of our stars' orbits, determined for an isolated Milky Way and for a model perturbed by the Large Magellanic Cloud, appears to suggest an accreted origin for at least half of the sample. In addition, we derive atmospheric parameters and chemical abundance ratios for seven stars beyond 20 kpc. The derived $\alpha$-abundances of five of these stars follow a Milky Way halo-like trend, while the other two display an underabundance of $\alpha$-elements for their [Fe/H], indicating an association with accretion events. Furthermore, based on the [Sr/Ba] ratio, we can speculate about the conditions for the formation of a potential chemically peculiar carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) RR Lyrae star. By analysing the stars' orbital parameters and abundance ratios, we find hints of association of two of our stars with two massive satellites, namely the Large Magellanic Cloud and Sagittarius. Overall, our results are in line with the suggestion that the accretion of sub-haloes largely contributes to the outer halo stellar populations., Comment: 33 pages, 22 figures, 7 tables. Published in MNRAS. Accepted 2022 December 2. Received 2022 November 30; in original form 2022 August 1

Using MUSE data, we investigate the radial gradients of stellar population properties (namely age, [M/H], and the abundance ratio of $\alpha$ elements [$\alpha$/Fe]) for a sample of nine dwarf early-type (dE) galaxies with log(M$_{\star}$/M$_{\odot}$) $\sim$ 9.0 and an infall time onto the Virgo cluster of 2-3Gyr ago. We followed a similar approach as in Bidaran et al. (2022) to derive their stellar population properties and star formation histories (SFHs) through fitting observed spectral indices and full spectral fitting, respectively. We find that these nine dE galaxies have truncated [Mg/Fe]vs.[Fe/H] profiles than equally-massive Virgo dE galaxies with longer past infall times. Short profiles of three dE galaxies are the result of their intense star formation which has been quenched long before their accretion onto the Virgo cluster, possibly as a result of their group environment. In the remaining six dE galaxies, profiles mainly trace a recent episode of star burst within 0.4R$_{\rm e}$ which results in higher light-weighted [$\alpha$/Fe] values. The latter SFH peak can be due to ram pressure exerted by the Virgo cluster at the time of the accretion of the dE galaxies. Also, we show that younger, more metal-rich and less $\alpha$-enhanced stellar populations dominate their inner regions (i.e., < 0.4R$_{\rm e}$) resulting in mainly flat $\nabla_{\rm age}$, negative $\nabla_{\rm [M/H]}$ and positive $\nabla_{\rm [\alpha/Fe]}$. We find that with increasing log($\sigma_{\rm Re}$) of dE galaxies, $\nabla_{\rm age}$ and $\nabla_{\rm [\alpha/Fe]}$ flatten, and the latter correlation persists even after including early-type galaxies up to log($\sigma_{\rm Re}$ $\sim$ 2.5), possibly due to the more extended star formation activity in the inner regions of dEs, as opposed to more massive early-type galaxies., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted in MNRAS

We present the first results of the \textsc{Dragon-II} simulations, a suite of 19 $N$-body simulations of star clusters with up to $10^6$ stars, with up to $33\%$ of them initially paired in binaries. In this work, we describe the main evolution of the clusters and their compact objects (COs). All \textsc{Dragon-II} clusters form in their centre a black hole (BH) subsystem with a density $10-100$ times larger than the stellar density, with the cluster core containing $50-80\%$ of the whole BH population. In all models, the BH average mass steeply decreases as a consequence of BH burning, reaching values $\langle m_{\rm BH}\rangle < 15$ M$_\odot$ within $10-30$ relaxation times. Generally, our clusters retain only BHs lighter than $30$ M$_\odot$ over $30$ relaxation times. Looser clusters retain a higher binary fraction, because in such environments binaries are less likely disrupted by dynamical encounters. We find that BH-main sequence star binaries have properties similar to recently observed systems. Double CO binaries (DCOBs) ejected from the cluster exhibit larger mass ratios and heavier primary masses than ejected binaries hosting a single CO (SCOBs). Ejected SCOBs have BH masses $m_{\rm BH} = 3-20$ M$_\odot$, definitely lower than those in DCOBs ($m_{\rm BH} = 10-100$ M$_\odot$)., Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, 4 tables. Comments welcome. Submitted to MNRAS

We analyse the quenched fractions, gas content, and star formation histories of ~1200 satellite galaxies with $M_* \geq 5 \times 10^6~{\rm M}_\odot$ around 198 Milky Way- (MW) and Andromeda-like (M31) hosts in TNG50, the highest-resolution simulation of IllustrisTNG. Satellite quenched fractions are larger for smaller masses, for smaller distances to their host galaxy, and in the more massive M31-like compared to MW-like hosts. As satellites cross their host's virial radius, their gas content drops: most satellites within 300 kpc lack detectable gas reservoirs at $z=0$, unless they are massive like the Magellanic Clouds and M32. Nevertheless, their stellar assembly exhibits a large degree of diversity. On average, the cumulative star formation histories are more extended for brighter, more massive satellites with a later infall, and for those in less massive hosts. Based on these relationships, we can even infer infall periods for observedMWand M31 dwarfs: e.g. 0-4 Gyr ago for the Magellanic Clouds and Leo I, 4-8 and 0-2 Gyr ago for M32 and IC 10, respectively. Ram pressure stripping (in combination with tidal stripping) deprives TNG50 satellites of their gas reservoirs and ultimately quenches their star formation, even though only a few per cent of the present-day satellites around the 198 TNG50 MW/M31-like hosts appear as jellyfish. The typical time since quenching for currently quenched TNG50 satellites is $6.9^{+2.5}_{-3.3}~{\rm Gyr}$ ago. The TNG50 results are consistent with the quenched fractions and stellar assembly of observed MW and M31 satellites, however, satellites of the SAGA survey with $M_* \sim 10^{8-9}~{\rm M}_\odot$ exhibit lower quenched fractions than TNG50 and other, observed analogues., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Using MUSE spectra, we investigate how pre-processing and accretion onto a galaxy cluster affect the integrated stellar population properties of dwarf early-type galaxies (dEs). We analyze a sample of nine dEs with stellar masses of $\rm \sim 10^9 \, M_\odot$, which were accreted ($\sim$ 2-3 Gyr ago) onto the Virgo cluster as members of a massive galaxy group. We derive their stellar population properties, namely age, metallicity ([M/H]), and the abundance ratio of $\alpha$ elements ([$\alpha$/Fe]), by fitting observed spectral indices with a robust, iterative procedure, and infer their star formation history (SFH) by means of full spectral fitting. We find that these nine dEs are more metal-poor (at the 2-3$\sigma$ level) and significantly more $\alpha$-enhanced than dEs in the Virgo and Coma clusters with similar stellar mass, cluster-centric distance, and infall time. Moreover, for six dEs, we find evidence for a recent episode of star formation during or right after the time of accretion onto Virgo. We interpret the high [$\alpha$/Fe] of our sample of dEs as the result of the previous exposure of these galaxies to an environment hostile to star formation, and/or the putative short burst of star formation they underwent after infall into Virgo. Our results suggest that the stellar population properties of low-mass galaxies may be the result of the combined effect of pre-processing in galaxy groups and environmental processes (such as ram-pressure triggering star formation) acting during the early phases of accretion onto a cluster., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

RR Lyrae stars are useful chemical tracers thanks to the empirical relationship between their heavy-element abundance and the shape of their light curves. However, the consistent and accurate calibration of this relation across multiple photometric wavebands has been lacking. We have devised a new method for the metallicity estimation of fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars in the Gaia optical $G$ and near-infrared VISTA $K_s$ wavebands by deep learning. First, an existing metallicity prediction method is applied to large photometric data sets, which are then used to train long short-term memory recurrent neural networks for the regression of the [Fe/H] to the light curves in other wavebands. This approach allows an unbiased transfer of our accurate, spectroscopically calibrated $I$-band formula to additional bands at the expense of minimal additional noise. We achieve a low mean absolute error of $0.1$ dex and high $R^2$ regression performance of $0.84$ and $0.93$ for the $K_s$ and $G$ bands, respectively, measured by cross-validation. The resulting predictive models are deployed on the Gaia DR2 and VVV inner-bulge RR Lyrae catalogs. We estimate mean metallicities of $-1.35$ dex for the inner bulge and $-1.7$ for the halo, which are significantly less than values obtained by earlier photometric prediction methods. Using our results, we establish a public catalog of photometric metallicities of over 60,000 Galactic RR Lyrae stars, and provide an all-sky map of the resulting RR Lyrae metallicity distribution. The software code used for training and deploying our recurrent neural networks is made publicly available in the open-source domain., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Software codes and data are available at: https://github.com/idekany/rrl_feh_nn and https://github.com/idekany/lcfit

It has been well established that dwarf early-type galaxies (ETGs) can often exhibit a complex morphology, whereby faint spiral arms, bars, edge-on disks or clumps are embedded in their main, brighter diffuse body. In our first paper (Brought to Light I: Michea et al. 2021), we developed a new method for robustly identifying and extracting substructures in deep imaging data of dwarf ETGs in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Here we apply our method to a sample of 23 dwarf ETGs in the Fornax galaxy cluster, out of which 9 have disk-like and 14 have clump-like substructures. According to Fornax Deep Survey (FDS) data, our sample constitutes $12\%$ of all dwarf ETGs in Fornax brighter than $\text{M}_{r}=-13$ mag, and contains all cases that unequivocally exhibit substructure features. We use $g$ and $r$-band FDS images to measure the relative contribution of the substructures to the total galaxy light and to estimate their $g-r$ colors. We find that substructures typically contribute $8.7\%$ and $5.3\%$ of the total galaxy light in the $g$ and $r$ bands, respectively, within two effective radii. Disk substructures are usually found in dwarf ETGs with redder global colors, and they can be either as red as or bluer than their galaxy's diffuse component. In contrast, clump substructures are found in comparatively bluer dwarf ETGs, and they are always bluer than their galaxy's diffuse component. These results provide further evidence that dwarf ETGs can hide diverse complex substructures, with stellar populations that can greatly differ from those of the dominant diffuse light in which they are embedded., Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables. Accepted to AJ

We present a pilot library of synthetic NUV, U, B, V, and I photometry of star clusters with stochastically sampled IMFs and ionized gas for initial masses, $M_i=10^3$, $10^4$, and $10^5$ M$_{\odot}$; $t=1$, 3, 4, and 8 Myr; $Z=0.014$ and $Z=0.002$; and log(U$_{\rm S}$) =-2 and -3. We compare the library with predictions from deterministic models and observations of isolated low-mass ($<10^4$ M$_{\odot}$) star clusters with co-spatial compact H\2 regions. The clusters are located in NGC 7793, one of the nearest galaxies observed as part of the \hst LEGUS and H$\alpha$-LEGUS surveys. 1) For model magnitudes that only account for the stars: a) the residual |deterministic mag - median stochastic mag| can be $\ge0.5$ mag, even for $M_i=10^5$ M$_{\odot}$; and b) the largest spread in stochastic magnitudes occurs when Wolf-Rayet stars are present. 2) For $M_i=10^5$ M$_{\odot}$: a) the median stochastic mag with gas can be $>$1.0 mag more luminous than the median stochastic magnitude without gas; and b) nebular emission lines can contribute with $>50\%$ and $>30\%$ to the total emission in the V and I bands, respectively. 3) Age-dating OB-star clusters via deterministic tracks in the U-B vs. V-I plane is highly uncertain at $Z=0.014$ for $M_i\sim10^3$ M$_{\odot}$ and $Z=0.002$ for $M_i\sim10^3-10^5$ M$_{\odot}$. 4) For low-mass clusters, the V-band extinction derived with stochastic models significantly depends on the value of log(U$_{\rm S}$). 5) The youngest clusters tend to have higher extinction. 6) The majority of clusters have multi-peaked age PDFs. 7) Finally, we discuss the importance of characterising the true variance in the number of stars per mass bin in nature.

We use the angular Two Point Correlation Function (TPCF) to investigate the hierarchical distribution of young star clusters in 12 local (3--18 Mpc) star-forming galaxies using star cluster catalogues obtained with the \textit{Hubble Space Telescope} (\textit{HST}) as part of the Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey). The sample spans a range of different morphological types, allowing us to infer how the physical properties of the galaxy affect the spatial distribution of the clusters. We also prepare a range of physically motivated toy models to compare with and interpret the observed features in the TPCFs. We find that, conforming to earlier studies, young clusters ($T \la 10\, \mathrm{Myr}$) have power-law TPCFs that are characteristic of fractal distributions with a fractal dimension $D_2$, and this scale-free nature extends out to a maximum scale $l_{\mathrm{corr}}$ beyond which the distribution becomes Poissonian. However, $l_{\mathrm{corr}}$, and $D_2$ vary significantly across the sample, and are correlated with a number of host galaxy physical properties, suggesting that there are physical differences in the underlying star cluster distributions. We also find that hierarchical structuring weakens with age, evidenced by flatter TPCFs for older clusters ($T \ga 10\, \mathrm{Myr}$), that eventually converges to the residual correlation expected from a completely random large-scale radial distribution of clusters in the galaxy in $\sim 100 \, \mathrm{Myr}$. Our study demonstrates that the hierarchical distribution of star clusters evolves with age, and is strongly dependent on the properties of the host galaxy environment., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Code for analysis and reproducing results available at https://github.com/shm-1996/legus-tpcf

We have revisited the problem of metallicity prediction of RR Lyrae stars from their near-infrared light curves in the Cousins I waveband. Our study is based on high-quality time-series photometry and state-of-the-art high-resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of 80 fundamental-mode (RRab) and 24 first-overtone (RRc) stars, spanning $\sim$[$-2.7$,$+0.18$] dex and $\sim$[$-3$,$-0.5$] dex ranges, respectively. Employing machine-learning methods, we investigated various light-curve representations and regression models to identify their optimal form for our objective. Accurate new empirical relations between the [Fe/H] iron abundance and the light-curve parameters have been obtained using Bayesian regression for both RRab and RRc stars with mean absolute prediction errors of 0.16 and 0.18 dex, respectively. We found that earlier $I$-band [Fe/H] estimates had a systematic positive bias of up to $\sim 0.4$ dex in the metal-poor regime. Our new predictive models were deployed on large ensembles of RR Lyrae stars to obtain photometric metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) for various old stellar populations in and around the Milky Way. We find that the mode of the old bulge component's MDF is approximately $-1.4$ dex, in remarkable agreement with the latest spectroscopic result. Furthermore, we derive MDF modes of $-1.83$, $-2.13$, and $-1.77$ dex for the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, respectively., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Data and codes are available at https://github.com/idekany/ifeh

We attempt to identify RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in stellar streams that might have escaped from seven globular clusters (GCs) based on proper motions, distances, color-magnitude diagrams, and other properties extracted from the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) database. Specifically, we cross-match two large RRL stars catalogs (from Gaia DR2 and Catalina Sky Survey) with each other and with the EDR3 database and we end up with a sample of ~ 150,000 unique RRL stars. We calculate distances to RRL stars using the (M_G-[Fe/H]) and (M_V-[Fe/H]) absolute magnitude-metallicity relations and adopt [Fe/H] values for the GCs from different spectroscopic studies. We also constrain our search in areas where stellar streams associated with GCs were previously suggested or identified in other studies. We identify 24 RRL stars that might have escaped from the following seven GCs: Palomar 13 (Pal 13), NGC 6341 (M92), NGC 5904 (M5), NGC 5466, NGC 1261, NGC 288, and NGC 1851. We list our findings in Table 2., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

In this paper we revisit the problem of identifying bona fide cluster Cepheids by performing an all-sky search for Cepheids associated with open clusters and making use of state-of-the-art catalogued information for both Cepheids and clusters, based on the unparalleled astrometric precision of the second and early third data releases of the Gaia satellite. We determine membership probabilities by following a Bayesian approach using spatial and kinematic information of the potential cluster-Cepheid pairs. We confirm 19 Cepheid-cluster associations considered in previous studies as bona-fide, and question the established cluster membership of six other associations. In addition, we identify 138 cluster Cepheid candidates of potential interest, mostly in recently discovered open clusters. We report on at least two new clusters possibly hosting more than one Cepheid. Furthermore, we explore the feasibility of using open clusters hosting Cepheids to empirically determine the Cepheid period-age relation through the use of Gaia and 2MASS photometry and a semi-automated method to derive cluster ages. We conclude that the usage of cluster Cepheids as tentative probes of the period-age relations still faces difficulties due to the sparsely populated red giant branch and the stochastically sampled main-sequence turn-off of the open clusters, making age determinations a challenging task. This biases the age-dateable cluster selection for Cepheid period-age studies towards older and high-mass clusters., Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Accepted 2021 April 28. Received 2021 March 31; in original form 2020 October 6

In our companion paper (Brought to Light I: Michea et al. 2021), we reveal spectacular spiral galaxy-like features in deep optical imaging of nine Virgo early-type dwarf galaxies, hidden beneath a dominating smooth stellar disk. Using a new combination of approaches, we find that bar- and spiral-like features contribute 2.2-6.4% of the total flux within 2 R$_{\rm{eff}}$. In this study, we conduct high resolution simulations of cluster harassment of passive dwarf galaxies. Following close pericenter passages of the cluster core, tidal triggering generates features in our model disks that bear a striking resemblance to the observed features. However, we find the disks must be highly rotationally supported (V$_{\rm{peak}}/\sigma_0 \sim 3$), much higher than typically observed. We propose that some early-type dwarfs may contain a few percent of their mass in a cold, thin disk which is buried in the light of a hot, diffuse disk, and only revealed when they undergo tidal triggering. The red optical colors of our sample do not indicate any recent significant star formation, and our simulations show that very plunging pericenter passages (r$_{\rm{peri}}<0.25$r$_{\rm{vir}}$) are required for tidal triggering. Thus, many cluster early-type dwarfs with less plunging orbits may host a yet undetected cold stellar disk component. We discuss possible origin scenarios and consider why similar mass star-forming galaxies in the field are significantly more thin disk dominated than in our cluster sample., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to ApJ. Companion paper: Brought to Light I (Michea et al. 2021) accepted to AJ, also listed on arXiv today (1st of April, 2021)

Dwarf early-type galaxies (ETGs) display a rich diversity in their photometric, structural, and dynamical properties. In this work, we address their structural complexity by studying with deep imaging a sample of nine dwarf ETGs from the Virgo galaxy cluster, characterized by having faint disk features, such as bars and spiral arms, which lie mostly hidden within the bright diffuse light of the galaxies. We present a new, robust method that aims to identify and extract the disk substructure embedded in these dwarf ETGs. The method consists in an iterative procedure that gradually separates a galaxy image into two components; the bright, dominant diffuse component, and the much fainter, underlying disk component. By applying it to the dwarf ETG sample, we quantify their disk substructure and find that its relative contribution to the total galaxy light ranges between 2.2 to 6.4% within two effective radii. We test the reliability of the method, and prove that it is accurate in recovering the disk substructure we introduce in mock galaxy images, even at low disk-to-total light fractions of a few percent. As a potential application of the method, we perform a Fourier analysis on the extracted disk substructures and measure the orientation, length, and strength of the bars, and the pitch angle and strength of the spiral arms. We also briefly discuss a scenario based on the numerical simulations presented in our companion paper, Brought to Light II: Smith et al. 2021, in which we investigate the origins of the substructure in such dwarf systems., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Accepted to AJ. Companion paper: Brought to Light II (Smith et al. 2021) accepted to ApJ, also listed on arXiv today (1st of April, 2021)

Multi-wavelength images from the farUV (~0.15 micron) to the sub-millimeter of the central region of the galaxy NGC 3351 are analyzed to constrain its stellar populations and dust attenuation. Despite hosting a ~1 kpc circumnuclear starburst ring, NGC 3351 deviates from the IRX-beta relation, the relation between the infrared-to-UV luminosity ratio and the UV continuum slope (beta) that other starburst galaxies follow. To understand the reason for the deviation, we leverage the high angular resolution of archival nearUV-to-nearIR HST images to divide the ring into ~60-180 pc size regions and model each individually. We find that the UV slope of the combined intrinsic (dust-free) stellar populations in the central region is redder than what is expected for a young model population. This is due to the region's complex star formation history, which boosts the nearUV emission relative to the farUV. The resulting net attenuation curve has a UV slope that lies between those of the starburst attenuation curve (Calzetti et al. 2000) and the Small Magellanic Cloud extinction curve; the total-to-selective attenuation value, R'(V)=4.93, is larger than both. As found for other star-forming galaxies, the stellar continuum of NGC 3351 is less attenuated than the ionized gas, with E(B-V)_{star}=0.40 E(B-V)_{gas}. The combination of the `red' intrinsic stellar population and the new attenuation curve fully accounts for the location of the central region of NGC 3351 on the IRX-beta diagram. Thus, the observed characteristics result from the complex mixture of stellar populations and dust column densities in the circumnuclear region. Despite being a sample of one, these findings highlight the difficulty of defining attenuation curves of general applicability outside the regime of centrally-concentrated starbursts., Comment: 45 page, 17 figures; accepted for publication on the Astrophysical Journal, March 21st, 2021

We explore the stellar mass density and colour profiles of 118 low redshift, massive, central galaxies, selected to have assembled 90 percent of their stellar mass 6 Gyr ago, finding evidence of the minor merger activity expected to be the driver behind the size growth of quiescent galaxies. We use imaging data in the $g, r, i, z, y$ bands from the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey and perform SED fitting to construct spatially well-resolved radial profiles in colour and stellar mass surface density. Our visual morphological classification reveals that $\sim 42$ percent of our sample displays tidal features, similar to previous studies, $\sim 43$ percent of the remaining sample display a diffuse stellar halo and only $\sim 14$ percent display no features, down to a limiting $\mu_{r\mathrm{-band}}$ $\sim$ 28 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. We find good agreement between the stacked colour profiles of our sample to those derived from previous studies and an expected smooth, declining stellar mass surface density profile in the central regions (< 3 R$_{\mathrm{e}}$). However, we also see a flattening of the profile ($\Sigma_* \sim 10^{7.5}$ M$_\odot$ kpc$^{-2}$) in the outskirts (up to 10 R$_{\mathrm{e}}$), which is revealed by our method of specifically targeting tidal/accretion features. We find similar levels of tidal features and behaviour in the stellar mass surface density profiles in a younger comparison sample, however a lack of diffuse haloes. We also apply stacking techniques, similar to those in previous studies, finding such procedures wash out tidal features and thereby produces smooth declining profiles. The stellar material in the outskirts contributes on average $\sim 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ or a few percent of the total stellar mass and has similar colours to SDSS satellites of similar stellar mass., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS Jan 2023

We study the abundance of satellite galaxies around 198 Milky Way- (MW) and M31-like hosts in TNG50, the final instalment in the IllustrisTNG suite of cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations. MW/M31-like analogues are defined as disky galaxies with stellar masses of Mstar = 10^10.5-11.2 Msun in relative isolation at z = 0. By defining satellites as galaxies with Mstar > 5*10^6 Msun within 300 kpc (3D) of their host, we find a remarkable level of diversity and host-to-host scatter across individual host galaxies. The median (16th - 84th percentiles) TNG50 MW/M31-like galaxy hosts a total of 5 (2-11) satellites with Mstar > 5*10^6 Msun, reaching up to Mstar ~ 10^8.5 Msun (10^7.4-9.4 Msun). The abundance of subhaloes with Mdyn > 5*10^7 Msun is larger by a factor of more than 10. The number of all satellites (subhaloes) ever accreted is larger by a factor of 4-5 (3-5) than those surviving to z = 0. Hosts with larger galaxy stellar mass, brighter K-band luminosity, larger total halo mass, and more recent halo assembly typically have a larger number of surviving satellites. The satellite abundances around TNG50 MW/M31-like galaxies are consistent with similar hosts from observational surveys (e.g. SAGA) and previous simulations (e.g. Latte). While the observed MW satellite system falls within the TNG50 scatter across all stellar masses considered, M31 is slightly more satellite-rich than our 1 sigma scatter, possibly due to volume and mass limitations. We find a handful of systems with both a Large and a Small Magellanic Cloud-like satellite. There is no missing satellites problem with TNG50., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. TNG50 is publicly available at https://www.tng-project.org/

This paper presents results from photometric and statistical-parallax analysis of a sample of 850 field RR Lyrae (RRL) variables. The photometric and spectroscopic data for sample RRLs are obtained from (1) our new spectroscopic observations (for 448 RRLs) carried out with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT); (2) our photometric observations using the 1.0-m telescope of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), and (3) literature. These are combined with accurate proper motion data from the second release of \textit{Gaia} mission (DR2). This study primarily determines the velocity distribution of solar neighborhood RRLs, and it also calibrates the zero points of the RRLs visual V-band luminosity-metallicity (LZ or $M_V-$[\text{Fe/H}]) relation and their period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relations in the \textit{WISE} $W_1-$ and \textit{2MASS} $Ks-$band. The calibrated PLZ and LZ relations are used to estimate the Galactic Center distance and the distance modulus of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which are found to be 7.99$\pm$0.49\,kpc and 18.46$\pm$0.09 \,mag, respectively. All our results are in excellent agreement with available literature based on statistical parallax analysis, but are considerably more accurate and precise. Moreover, the zero-points of our calibrated PLZ and LZ relations are quite consistent with current results found by other techniques and yield the LMC distance modulus that is within 0.04\,mag of the current most precise estimate., Comment: 20 pages,21 figueres

The discovery of very distant stars in the halo of the Milky Way provides valuable tracers on the Milky Way mass and its formation. Beyond 100 kpc from the Galactic center, most of the stars are likely to be in faint dwarf galaxies or tidal debris from recently accreted dwarfs, making the outer reaches of the Galaxy important for understanding the Milky Way's accretion history. However, distant stars in the halo are scarce. In that context, RR Lyrae are ideal probes of the distant halo as they are intrinsically bright and thus can be seen at large distances, follow well-known period-luminosity relations that enable precise distance measurements, and are easily identifiable in time-series data. Therefore, a detailed study of RR Lyrae will help us understand the accreted outskirts of the Milky Way. In this contribution, we present the current state of our systematic search for distant RR Lyrae stars in the halo using the DECam imager at the 4m telescope on Cerro Tololo (Chile). The total surveyed area consists of more than 110 DECam fields (~ 350 sq. deg) and includes two recent independent campaigns carried out in 2017 and 2018 with which we have detected > 650 candidate RR Lyrae stars. Here we describe the methodology followed to analyze the two latest campaigns. Our catalog contains a considerable number of candidate RR Lyrae beyond 100 kpc, and reaches out up to ~ 250 kpc. The number of distant RR Lyrae found is consistent with recent studies of the outer halo. These stars provide a set of important probes of the mass of the Milky Way, the nature of the halo, and the accretion history of the Galactic outskirts., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Contributed talk to appear on Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series Vol. 529 "RRLyrae/Cepheid2019: Frontiers of Classical Pulsators: Theory and Observations", p. 222. Proceedings of the meeting held in Cloudcroft, NM, USA October 13-18, 2019. Edited by K. Kinemuchi, C. Lovekin, H. Neilson, and K. Vivas. Revised Figure 3

Classical Cepheids in open clusters are key ingredients for stellar population studies and the characterization of variable stars, as they are tracers of young and massive populations and of recent star formation episodes. Cluster Cepheids are of particular importance since they can be age dated by using the cluster's stellar population to obtain the Cepheid period-luminosity-age relation. In this contribution, we present the preliminary results of an all-sky search for classical Cepheids in Galactic open clusters by taking advantage of the unprecedented astrometric precision of the second data release of the Gaia satellite. To do this, we determined membership probabilities by performing a Bayesian analysis based on the spatial distribution of Cepheids and clusters, and their kinematics. Here we describe our adopted methodology., Comment: 2 pages. Contributed poster to appear on Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series Vol. 529 "RRLyrae/Cepheid2019: Frontiers of Classical Pulsators: Theory and Observations", p. 334. Proceedings of the meeting held in Cloudcroft, NM, USA October 13-18, 2019. Edited by K. Kinemuchi, C. Lovekin, H. Neilson, and K. Vivas

Galaxy environment has been shown to play an important role in transforming late-type, star-forming galaxies to quiescent spheroids. This transformation is expected to be more severe for low-mass galaxies (M < $10^{10}$ \(M_\odot\)) in dense galaxy groups and clusters, mostly due to the influence of their past host halos (also known as pre-processing) and their present-day environments. For the first time, in this study, we investigate a sample of nine early-type dwarf galaxies (dEs) that were accreted as a likely bound group onto the Virgo galaxy cluster about 2-3 Gyr ago. Considering this special condition, these nine dEs may provide a test bed for distinguishing between the influence of the Virgo galaxy cluster and the effects of the previous host halo on their current properties. Specifically, we use VLT/MUSE integral-field unit spectra to derive their kinematics and specific angular momentum ($\lambda_{R}$) profiles. We observe a spread in the $\lambda_{R}$ profiles of our sample dEs, finding that the $\lambda_{R}$ profiles of half of them are as high as those of low-mass field galaxies. The remaining dEs exhibit $\lambda_{R}$ profiles as low as those of Virgo dEs that were likely accreted longer ago. Moreover, we detect nebular emission in one dE with a gas velocity offset suggesting ongoing gas stripping in Virgo. We suggest that the low-$\lambda_{R}$ dEs in our sample were processed by their previous host halo, prior to their infall to Virgo, and that the high-$\lambda_{R}$ dEs may be experiencing ram pressure stripping in Virgo., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

This compilation is the fourth data release from the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA) search for $r$-process-enhanced stars, and the second release based on "snapshot" high-resolution ($R \sim 30,000$) spectra collected with the du Pont 2.5m Telescope. In this data release, we propose a new delineation between the $r$-I and $r$-II stellar classes at $\mathrm{[Eu/Fe]} = +0.7$, instead of the empirically chosen $\mathrm{[Eu/Fe]} = +1.0$ level previously in use, based on statistical tests of the complete set of RPA data released to date. We also statistically justify the minimum level of [Eu/Fe] for definition of the $r$-I stars, [Eu/Fe] $> +0.3$. Redefining the separation between $r$-I and $r$-II stars will aid in analysis of the possible progenitors of these two classes of stars and whether these signatures arise from separate astrophysical sources at all. Applying this redefinition to previous RPA data, the number of identified $r$-II and $r$-I stars changes to 51 and 121, respectively, from the initial set of data releases published thus far. In this data release, we identify 21 new $r$-II, 111 new $r$-I (plus three re-identified), and 7 new (plus one re-identified) limited-$r$ stars out of a total of 232 target stars, resulting in a total sample of 72 new $r$-II stars, 232 new $r$-I stars, and 42 new limited-$r$ stars identified by the RPA to date., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables; accepted to ApJS

Aiming to extend the census of RR Lyrae stars to highly reddened low-latitude regions of the central Milky Way, we performed a deep near-IR variability search using data from the VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) survey of the bulge, analyzing the photometric time series of over a hundred million point sources. In order to separate fundamental-mode RR Lyrae (RRab) stars from other periodically variable sources, we trained a deep bidirectional long short-term memory recurrent neural network (RNN) classifier using VVV survey data and catalogs of RRab stars discovered and classified by optical surveys. Our classifier attained a ~99% precision and recall for light curves with signal-to-noise ratio above 60, and is comparable to the best-performing classifiers trained on accurate optical data. Using our RNN classifier, we identified over 4300 hitherto unknown bona fide RRab stars toward the inner bulge. We provide their photometric catalog and VVV J,H,Ks photometric time-series., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present a new catalog and results for the cluster system of the starburst galaxy NGC 4449 based on multi-band imaging observations taken as part of the LEGUS and Halpha-LEGUS surveys. We improve the spectral energy fitting method used to estimate cluster ages and find that the results, particularly for older clusters, are in better agreement with those from spectroscopy. The inclusion of Halpha measurements, the role of stochasticity for low mass clusters, the assumptions about reddening, and the choices of SSP model and metallicity all have important impacts on the age-dating of clusters. A comparison with ages derived from stellar color-magnitude diagrams for partially resolved clusters shows reasonable agreement, but large scatter in some cases. The fraction of light found in clusters relative to the total light (i.e., T_L) in the U, B, and V filters in 25 different ~kpc-size regions throughout NGC 4449 correlates with both the specific Region Luminosity, R_L, and the dominant age of the underlying stellar population in each region. The observed cluster age distribution is found to decline over time as dN/dt ~ t^g, with g=-0.85+/-0.15, independent of cluster mass, and is consistent with strong, early cluster disruption. The mass functions of the clusters can be described by a power law with dN/dM ~ M^b and b=-1.86+/-0.2, independent of cluster age. The mass and age distributions are quite resilient to differences in age-dating methods. There is tentative evidence for a factor of 2-3 enhancement in both the star and cluster formation rate ~100 - 300 Myr ago, indicating that cluster formation tracks star formation generally. The enhancement is probably associated with an earlier interaction event.

Clues to the formation and evolution of Nuclear Star Clusters (NSCs) lie in their stellar populations. However, these structures are often very faint compared to their host galaxy, and spectroscopic analysis of NSCs is hampered by contamination of light from the rest of the system. With the introduction of wide-field IFU spectrographs, new techniques have been developed to model the light from different components within galaxies, making it possible to cleanly extract the spectra of the NSCs and study their properties with minimal contamination from the light of the rest of the galaxy. This work presents the analysis of the NSCs in a sample of 12 dwarf galaxies in the Fornax Cluster observed with MUSE. Analysis of the stellar populations and star-formation histories reveal that all the NSCs show evidence of multiple episodes of star formation, indicating that they have built up their mass further since their initial formation. The NSCs were found to have systematically lower metallicities than their host galaxies, which is consistent with a scenario for mass-assembly through mergers with infalling globular clusters, while the presence of younger stellar populations and gas emission in the core of two galaxies is indicative of in-situ star formation. We conclude that the NSCs in these dwarf galaxies likely originated as globular clusters that migrated to the core of the galaxy which have built up their mass mainly through mergers with other infalling clusters, with gas-inflow leading to in-situ star formation playing a secondary role., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a large homogeneous set of stellar parameters and abundances across a broad range of metallicities, involving $13$ classical dwarf spheroidal (dSph) and ultra-faint dSph (UFD) galaxies. In total this study includes $380$ stars in Fornax, Sagittarius, Sculptor, Sextans, Carina, Ursa Minor, Draco, Reticulum II, Bootes I, Ursa Major II, Leo I, Segue I, and Triangulum II. This sample represents the largest, homogeneous, high-resolution study of dSph galaxies to date. With our homogeneously derived catalog, we are able to search for similar and deviating trends across different galaxies. We investigate the mass dependence of the individual systems on the production of $\alpha$-elements, but also try to shed light on the long-standing puzzle of the dominant production site of r-process elements. We use data from the Keck observatory archive and the ESO reduced archive to reanalyze stars from these $13$ dSph galaxies. We automatize the step of obtaining stellar parameters, but run a full spectrum synthesis to derive all abundances except for iron. The homogenized set of abundances yielded the unique possibility to derive a relation between the onset of type Ia supernovae and the stellar mass of the galaxy. Furthermore, we derived a formula to estimate the evolution of $\alpha$-elements. Placing all abundances consistently on the same scale is crucial to answer questions about the chemical history of galaxies. By homogeneously analysing Ba and Eu in the 13 systems, we have traced the onset of the s-process and found it to increase with metallicity as a function of the galaxy's stellar mass. Moreover, the r-process material correlates with the $\alpha$-elements indicating some co-production of these, which in turn would point towards rare core-collapse supernovae rather than binary neutron star mergers as host for the r-process at low [Fe/H] in the investigated dSph systems.

We present chemodynamical links between the present-day Milky Way halo field star population and Galactic globular clusters (GCs) using a dataset that combines information from the $\rm{\it Gaia}$ space mission and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV, DR14). Moreover, we incorporated a sample of halo giant stars with a distinct chemical signature (strong CN bandheads) that resembles the light-elements anomaly otherwise only seen in the second generation of GC stellar populations. Using three different tagging techniques, we could successfully establish unique associations between 151 extratidal stars in the neighborhood of eight GCs. In addition, we traced the possible origin of about $62\%$ of the sample of CN-strong giants to their potential host clusters. Several of the involved GCs have been brought into connection with the Gaia-Enceladus and Sequoia merger events. By establishing kinematic and chemical connections between 17 CN-strong stars and their surrounding fields, we could identify co-moving groups of stars at the same [Fe/H] with a possible cluster origin. We found strong evidence that four CN-strong stars and their associates are connected to the Sagittarius stream whilst their tightly confined [Fe/H] may hint to a birth site in M 54. Finally, we provide tentative estimates for the fraction of first-generation cluster stars among all stars lost to the halo. In the immediate cluster vicinity, this value amounts to $50.0\pm16.7\%$ while the associations in the halo field rather imply $80.2_{-5.2}^{+4.9}\%$. We speculate that -- if proven real by spectroscopic follow-up -- the disparity between these numbers could indicate a major contribution of low-mass clusters to the overall number of stars escaped to the halo or, alternatively, point toward a strong mass loss from the first generation during early cluster dissolution. [abridged], Comment: 20 pages (+9 pages of appendices), 39 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We study the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR) for central and satellite galaxies with total dynamical masses above 10^10.5 Msun using the suite of cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations IllustrisTNG. In particular, we quantify environmental effects on satellite populations from TNG50, TNG100, and TNG300 located within the virial radius of group- and cluster-like hosts with total masses of 10^12-15.2 Msun. At fixed stellar mass, the satellite SHMR exhibits a distinct shift towards lower dynamical mass compared to the SHMR of centrals. Conversely, at fixed dynamical mass, satellite galaxies appear to have larger stellar-to-total mass fractions than centrals by up to a factor of a few. The systematic deviation from the central SHMR is larger for satellites in more massive hosts, at smaller cluster-centric distances, with earlier infall times, and that inhabit higher local density environments; moreover, it is in place already at early times (z < 2). Systematic environmental effects might contribute to the perceived galaxy-to-galaxy variation in the measured SHMR when galaxies cannot be separated into satellites and centrals. The SHMR of satellites exhibits a larger scatter than centrals, over the whole range of dynamical mass (by up to 0.8 dex). The shift of the satellite SHMR results mostly from tidal stripping of their dark matter, which affects satellites in an outside-in fashion: the departure of the satellite SHMR from the centrals' relation diminishes for measurements of dynamical mass in progressively smaller apertures. Finally, we provide a family of fitting functions for the SHMR predicted by IllustrisTNG., Comment: Published in MNRAS. Key figures: 1 & 8. Corrected Equation 1 for the SHMR fitting formula

We present part 2 of the 6th and final Data Release (DR6 or FDR) of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), a magnitude-limited (9

The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) is a magnitude-limited (9

We present our chemical abundance investigation of the metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-1.60 dex), r-process-enriched ([Eu/Fe]=0.73 dex) halo star HD 20 using novel and archival high-resolution spectra at outstanding signal-to-noise ratios. By combining one of the first asteroseismic gravity measurements in the metal-poor regime from a TESS light curve with non-LTE analyses of iron lines, we derive a set of highly accurate and precise stellar parameters. These allow us to delineate a chemical pattern comprised of solid detections of 48 elements, including 28 neutron-capture elements, which establishes HD 20 among the few benchmark stars that have almost complete patterns with low systematic dependencies on the stellar parameters. Our light-element (Z<30) abundances are representative of other, similarly metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo with contributions from core-collapse supernovae of type II. A comparison to the scaled solar r-pattern shows that the lighter neutron-capture elements (37

Only about 19 Galactic and 25 extra-galactic bona-fide Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are known to date. This incomplete census prevents our understanding of this crucial phase of massive star evolution which leads to the formation of heavy binary black holes via the classical channel. With large samples of LBVs one could better determine the duration and maximum stellar luminosity which characterize this phase. We search for candidate LBVs (cLBVs) in a new galaxy, NGC 7793. For this purpose, we combine high spatial resolution images from two Hubble Space Telescope (HST) programs with optical spectroscopy from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). By combining PSF-fitting photometry measured on F547M, F657N, and F814W images, with restrictions on point-like appearance (at HST resolution) and H{\alpha} luminosity, we find 100 potential cLBVs, 36 of which fall in the MUSE fields. Five of the latter 36 sources are promising cLBVs which have M(V) less than or equal to -7 and a combination of: H{\alpha} with a P-Cygni profile; no [O I] 6300 emission; weak or no [O III] 5007 emission; large [N II]/H{\alpha} relative to H II regions; and [S II] 6716 / [S II] 6731 similar to 1. It is not clear if these five cLBVs are isolated from O-type stars, which would favor the binary formation scenario of LBVs. Our study, which approximately covers one fourth of the optical disc of NGC 7793, demonstrates how by combining the above HST surveys with multi-object spectroscopy from 8-m class telescopes, one can efficiently find large samples of cLBVs in nearby galaxies.

We present a catalog of 5437 morphologically classified sources in the direction of the Perseus galaxy cluster core, among them 496 early-type low-mass galaxy candidates. The catalog is primarily based on V-band imaging data acquired with the William Herschel Telescope, which we used to conduct automated source detection and to derive photometry. We additionally reduced archival Subaru multiband imaging data in order to measure aperture colors and to perform a morphological classification, benefiting from 0.5 arcsec seeing conditions in the r-band data. Based on morphological and color properties, we extracted a sample of early-type low-mass galaxy candidates with absolute V-band magnitudes in the range of -10 to -20 mag. In the color-magnitude diagram the galaxies are located where the red sequence for early-type cluster galaxies is expected, and they lie on the literature relation between absolute magnitude and S\'{e}rsic index. We classified the early-type dwarf candidates into nucleated and nonnucleated galaxies. For the faint candidates, we found a trend of increasing nucleation fraction toward brighter luminosity or higher surface brightness, similar to what is observed in other nearby galaxy clusters. We morphologically classified the remaining sources as likely background elliptical galaxies, late-type galaxies, edge-on disk galaxies, and likely merging systems and discussed the expected contamination fraction through non-early-type cluster galaxies in the magnitude-size surface brightness parameter space. Our catalog reaches its 50 per cent completeness limit at an absolute V-band luminosity of -12 mag and a V-band surface brightness of 26 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. This makes it to the largest and deepest catalog with coherent coverage compared to previous imaging studies of the Perseus cluster., Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

Globular clusters (GCs) have been posited, alongside dwarf galaxies, as significant contributors to the field stellar population of the Galactic halo. In order to quantify their contribution, we examine the fraction of halo stars formed in stellar clusters in the suite of 25 present-day Milky Way-mass cosmological zoom simulations from the E-MOSAICS project. We find that a median of $2.3$ and $0.3$ per cent of the mass in halo field stars formed in clusters and GCs, defined as clusters more massive than $5\times 10^3$ and $10^5~M_{\odot}$, respectively, with the $25$-$75$th percentiles spanning $1.9$-$3.0$ and $0.2$-$0.5$ per cent being caused by differences in the assembly histories of the host galaxies. Under the extreme assumption that no stellar cluster survives to the present day, the mass fractions increase to a median of $5.9$ and $1.8$ per cent. These small fractions indicate that the disruption of GCs plays a sub-dominant role in the build-up of the stellar halo. We also determine the contributed halo mass fraction that would present signatures of light-element abundance variations considered to be unique to GCs, and find that clusters and GCs would contribute a median of $1.1$ and $0.2$ per cent, respectively. We estimate the contributed fraction of GC stars to the Milky Way halo, based on recent surveys, and find upper limits of $2$-$5$ per cent (significantly lower than previous estimates), suggesting that models other than those invoking strong mass loss are required to describe the formation of chemically enriched stellar populations in GCs., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; submitted to MNRAS (Oct. 10th 2019)

We mapped the Galactic young massive star cluster Westerlund 2 (Wd2) with the integral field spectrograph MUSE (spatial resolution: 0.2arcsec/px, spectral resolution: $\Delta \lambda$ = 1.25A, wavelength range 4600-9350A) mounted on the VLT, as part of an on-going study to measure the stellar and gas kinematics of the cluster region. In this paper we present the fully reduced dataset and introduce our new Python package "MUSEpack", which we developed to measure stellar radial velocities with an absolute precision of 1-2km/s without the necessity of a spectral template library. This novel method uses the two-dimensional spectra and an atomic transition line library to create templates around strong absorption lines for each individual star. The code runs fully automatically on multi-core machines, which makes it possible to efficiently determine stellar radial velocities of a large number of stars with the necessary precision to measure the velocity dispersion of young star clusters. MUSEpack also provides an enhanced method for removing telluric lines in crowded fields without sky exposures and a Python wrapper for ESO's data reduction pipeline. We observed Wd2 with a total of 11 short and 5 long exposures to cover the bright nebular emission and OB stars, as well as the fainter pre-main sequence stars down to ~1M$_\odot$. The survey covers an area of ~11arcmin$^2$ (15.8pc$^2$). In total, we extracted 1,725 stellar spectra with a mean S/N>5 per pixel. A typical radial velocity (RV) uncertainty of 4.78km/s, 2.92km/s, and 1.1km/s is reached for stars with a mean S/N>10, S/N>20, S/N>50 per pixel, respectively. Depending on the number of spectral lines used to measure the RVs, it is possible to reach RV accuracies of 0.9km/s, 1.3km/s, and 2.2km/s with $\geq5$, 3-4, and 1-2 spectral lines, respectively. The combined statistical uncertainty on the radial velocity measurements is 1.10km/s., Comment: accepted to AJ; 19 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables; MUSEpack is available from https://github.com/pzeidler89/MUSEpack; The documentation can be found on: https://musepack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

The far side of the Milky Way's disk is one of the most concealed parts of the known Universe due to extremely high interstellar extinction and point source density toward low Galactic latitudes. Large time-domain photometric surveys operating in the near-infrared hold great potential for the exploration of these vast uncharted areas of our Galaxy. We conducted a census of distant classical and type II Cepheids along the southern Galactic mid-plane using near-infrared photometry from the VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea survey. We performed a machine-learned classification of the Cepheids based on their infrared light curves using a convolutional neural network. We have discovered 640 distant classical Cepheids with up to ~40 magnitudes of visual extinction, and over 500 type II Cepheids, most of them located in the inner bulge. Intrinsic color indices of individual Cepheids were predicted from sparse photometric data using a neural network, allowing their use as accurate reddening tracers. They revealed a steep, spatially varying near-infrared extinction curve toward the inner bulge. Type II Cepheids in the Galactic bulge were also employed to measure robust mean selective-to-absolute extinction ratios. They trace a centrally concentrated spatial distribution of the old bulge population with a slight elongation, consistent with earlier results from RR Lyrae stars. Likewise, the classical Cepheids were utilized to trace the Galactic warp and various substructures of the Galactic disk, and to uncover significant vertical and radial age gradients of the thin disk population at the far side of the Milky Way., Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal

Prompted by some inconsistencies in the photometry of the VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) survey, we conduct a revision of the standard calibration procedure of VISTA data in the $J$, $H$, and $K_S$ passbands. Two independent sources of bias in the photometric zero-points are identified: First, high sky backgrounds severely affect the $H$-band measurements, but this can mostly be minimized by strict data vetting. Secondly, during the zero-point calibration, stars serving as standards are taken from the 2MASS catalog, which can suffer from high degrees of blending in regions of high stellar density, affecting both the absolute photometric calibration, as well as the scatter of repeated observations. The former affects studies that rely on an absolute magnitude scale, while the latter can also affect the shapes and amount of scatter in the VVV light curves, thus potentially hampering their proper classification. We show that these errors can be effectively eliminated by relatively simple modifications of the standard calibration procedure, and demonstrate the effect of the recalibration on the VVV survey's data quality. We give recommendations for future improvements of the pipeline calibration of VISTA photometry, while also providing preliminary corrections to the VVV $JHK_\mathrm{S}$ observations as a temporary measure., Comment: Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy; Table 1 is available from the first author upon request

Understanding the evolutionary history of the Magellanic Clouds requires an in-depth exploration and characterization of the stellar content in their outer regions, which ultimately are key to tracing the epochs and nature of past interactions. We present new deep images of a shell-like over-density of stars in the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The shell, also detected in photographic plates dating back to the fifties, is located at ~1.9 degr from the center of the SMC in the north-east direction.The structure and stellar content of this feature were studied with multi-band, optical data from the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH) carried out with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. We also investigate the kinematic of the stars in the shell using the Gaia Data Release 2. The shell is composed of a young population with an age ~ 150 Myr, with no contribution from an old population. Thus, it is hard to explain its origin as the remnant of a tidally disrupted stellar system. The spatial distribution of the young main-sequence stars shows a rich sub-structure, with a spiral arm-like feature emanating from the main shell and a separated small arc of young stars close to the globular cluster NGC 362. We find that the absolute g-band magnitude of the shell is M_{g,shell} = -10.78+/- 0.02, with a surface brightness of mu_{g,shell} = 25.81+/- 0.01 mag/arcsec^{2}. We have not found any evidence that this feature is of tidal origin or a bright part of a spiral arm-like structure. Instead, we suggest that the shell formed in a recent star formation event, likely triggered by an interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud and/or the Milky Way, ~150 Myr ago., Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

The combination of the final version of the RAVE spectroscopic survey data release 6 with radial velocities and astrometry from Gaia DR2 allows us to identify and create a catalog of single lined binary star candidates (SB1), their inferred orbital parameters, and to inspect possible double lined binary stars (SB2). A probability function for the detection of radial velocity (RV) variations is used for identifying SB1 candidates. The estimation of orbital parameters for main sequence dwarfs is performed by matching the measured RVs with theoretical velocity curves sampling the orbital parameter space. The method is verified by studying a mock sample from the SB9 catalogue. Studying the boxiness and asymmetry of the spectral lines allows us to identify possible SB2 candidates, while matching their spectra to a synthetic library indicates probable properties of their components. From the RAVE catalog we select 37,664 stars with multiple RV measurements and identify 3838 stars as SB1 candidates. Joining RAVE and Gaia DR2 yields 450,646 stars with RVs measured by both surveys and 27,716 of them turn out to be SB1 candidates, which is an increase by an order of magnitude over previous studies. For main sequence dwarf candidates we calculate their most probable orbital parameters: orbital periods are not longer than a few years and primary components have masses similar to the Solar mass. All our results are available via Vizier/CDS., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures

There is ample evidence in the Milky Way for globular cluster (GC) disruption. Hence one may expect that also part of the Galactic halo field stars may once have formed in GCs. We quantify the fraction of halo stars donated by GCs by searching for stars that bear the unique chemical fingerprints typical for a subset of GC stars often dubbed `second-generation stars'. These are stars showing light element abundance anomalies such as a pronounced CN-band strength accompanied by weak CH-bands. Based on this indicator, past studies have placed the fraction of halo stars with a GC origin between a few to up to 50%. Using low-resolution spectra from the most recent data release of the latest extension of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV), we were able to identify 118 metal-poor ($-1.8\le$[Fe/H]$\le -1.3$) CN-strong stars in a sample of 4470 halo giant stars out to 50 kpc. This results in an observed fraction of these stars of 2.6$\pm$0.2%. Using an updated formalism to account for the fraction of stars lost early on in the GCs' evolution we estimate the fraction of the halo that stems from disrupted clusters to be 11$\pm$1%. This number represents the case that stars lost from GCs were entirely from the first generation and is thus merely an upper limit. Our conclusions are sensitive to our assumptions of the mass lost early on from the first generation formed in the GCs, the ratio of first-to-second generation stars, and other GC parameters. We carefully test the influence of varying these parameters on the final result and find that, under realistic scenarios, the above fraction depends on the main assumptions at less than 10%. We further recover a flat trend in this fraction with Galactocentric radius, with a marginal indication of a rise beyond 30 kpc that could reflect the ex-situ origin of the outer halo. (abridged), Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

A new moderately r-process-enhanced metal-poor star, RAVE J093730.5-062655, has been identified in the Milky Way halo as part of an ongoing survey by the R-Process Alliance. The temperature and surface gravity indicate that J0937-0626 is likely a horizontal branch star. At [Fe/H] = -1.86, J0937-0626 is found to have subsolar [X/Fe] ratios for nearly every light, alpha, and Fe-peak element. The low [alpha/Fe] ratios can be explained by an ~0.6 dex excess of Fe; J0937-0626 is therefore similar to the subclass of "iron-enhanced" metal-poor stars. A comparison with Milky Way field stars at [Fe/H] = -2.5 suggests that J0937-0626 was enriched in material from an event, possibly a Type Ia supernova, that created a significant amount of Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni and smaller amounts of Ca, Sc, Ti, and Zn. The r-process enhancement of J0937-0626 is likely due to a separate event, which suggests that its birth environment was highly enriched in r-process elements. The kinematics of J0937-0626, based on Gaia DR2 data, indicate a retrograde orbit in the Milky Way halo; J0937-0626 was therefore likely accreted from a dwarf galaxy that had significant r-process enrichment., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We present results from photometric and spectroscopic data obtained with SOAR and Gemini observatory facilities in the field of a recently discovered star cluster. The cluster, projected towards the Eastern side of the outer disc of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), was originally placed nearly 10 kpc behind the LMC with an age and metallicity typical of the innermost LMC star cluster population. We assigned radial velocity (RV) memberships to stars observed spectroscopically, and derived the cluster age and distance from theoretical isochrone fitting to the cluster colour-magnitude diagram. The new object turned out to be a 0.9 Gyr old outer LMC disc cluster, which possibly reached the present position after being scattered from the innermost LMC regions where it might have been born. We arrived at this conclusion by examining the spatial distribution of LMC star clusters of similar age, by comparing the derived spectroscopic metallicity with that expected for an outside-in galaxy formation scenario, by considering the cluster internal dynamical stage as inferred from its derived structural parameters and by estimating the circular velocity of a disc that rotates with the corresponding star cluster radial velocity at the cluster's deprojected distance, which resulted to be nearly 60 per cent higher than that of most of the outer LMC disc clusters., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Noticies of the Royal Astronomical Society

It is of broad interest for galaxy formation theory to carry out a full inventory of the numbers and properties of dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume, both satellites and isolated ones. Ultra-deep imaging in wide areas of the sky with small amateur telescopes can help to complete the census of these hitherto unknown low surface brightness galaxies, which cannot be detected by the current resolved stellar population and HI surveys. We report the discovery of Donatiello I, a dwarf spheroidal galaxy located one degree from the star Mirach (Beta And) in a deep image taken with an amateur telescope. The color--magnitude diagram obtained from follow-up observations obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (La Palma, Spain) reveals that this system is beyond the Local Group and is mainly composed of old stars. The absence of young stars and HI emission in the ALFALFA survey are typical of quenched dwarf galaxies. Our photometry suggests a distance modulus for this galaxy of (m-M)=27.6 +/- 0.2 (3.3 Mpc), although this distance cannot yet be established securely owing to the crowding effects in our color--magnitude diagram. At this distance, Donatiello I's absolute magnitude (M_v =-8.3), surface brightness (mu_v=26.5 mag arcsec^-2) and stellar content are similar to the "classical" Milky Way companions Draco or Ursa Minor. The projected position and distance of Donatiello I are consistent with being a dwarf satellite of the closest S0-type galaxy NGC 404 ("Mirach's Ghost"). Alternatively, it could be one of the most isolated quenched dwarf galaxies reported so far behind the Andromeda galaxy., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

This paper presents the detailed abundances and r-process classifications of 126 newly identified metal-poor stars as part of an ongoing collaboration, the R-Process Alliance. The stars were identified as metal-poor candidates from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) and were followed-up at high spectral resolution (R~31,500) with the 3.5~m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. The atmospheric parameters were determined spectroscopically from Fe I lines, taking into account <3D> non-LTE corrections and using differential abundances with respect to a set of standards. Of the 126 new stars, 124 have [Fe/H]<-1.5, 105 have [Fe/H]<-2.0, and 4 have [Fe/H]<-3.0. Nine new carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars have been discovered, 3 of which are enhanced in r-process elements. Abundances of neutron-capture elements reveal 60 new r-I stars (with +0.3<=[Eu/Fe]<=+1.0 and [Ba/Eu]<0) and 4 new r-II stars (with [Eu/Fe]>+1.0). Nineteen stars are found to exhibit a `limited-r' signature ([Sr/Ba]>+0.5, [Ba/Eu]<0). For the r-II stars, the second- and third-peak main r-process patterns are consistent with the r-process signature in other metal-poor stars and the Sun. The abundances of the light, alpha, and Fe-peak elements match those of typical Milky Way halo stars, except for one r-I star which has high Na and low Mg, characteristic of globular cluster stars. Parallaxes and proper motions from the second Gaia data release yield UVW space velocities for these stars which are consistent with membership in the Milky Way halo. Intriguingly, all r-II and the majority of r-I stars have retrograde orbits, which may indicate an accretion origin., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

The ratio of the first overtone (1O) / fundamental (F) periods of mixed-mode Cepheids that pulsate simultaneously in these two modes (F/1O) is metallicity-dependent. It can therefore be used to characterize the systems that host such variable stars. We want to take advantage of the F/1O double-mode Cepheids listed in the Gaia DR2 catalogue to derive the metallicity gradient in the Milky Way disk. The metallicity is derived from the ratio of the first overtone and fundamental periods provided by Gaia DR2 while the Gaia DR2 parallaxes are used to determine the Galactocentric distances of the stars. From a visual inspection of the light curves, it turns out that a large fraction (77%) of the Galactic F/1O double-mode Cepheids in Gaia DR2 are spurious detections. Gaia DR2 provides 3 new bona fide F/1O Cepheids. Combining them with the currently known F/1O Cepheids and using the Gaia DR2 parallaxes for the entire sample, we can derive the metallicity gradient in the Milky Way disk. We find a slope of -0.045$\pm$0.007 dex/kpc using a bootstrap method, and of -0.040$\pm$0.002 dex/kpc using a total least squares method. These results are in good agreement with previous determinations of the [Fe/H] gradient in the disk based on canonical Cepheids. The period ratio of F/1O Cepheids allows for a reliable determination of the metallicity gradient in the Milky Way, and in turn, in other systems that would be difficult to reach via classical spectroscopic methods., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted in A&A

Westerlund 2 (Wd2) is the central ionizing star cluster of the \ion{H}{2} region RCW~49 and the second most massive young star cluster (${\rm M} = (3.6 \pm 0.3)\times 10^4\,{\rm M}_\odot$) in the Milky Way. Its young age ($\sim2\,$Myr) and close proximity to the Sun ($\sim 4\,$kpc) makes it a perfect target to study stars emerging from their parental gas cloud, the large number of OB-stars and their feedback onto the gas, and the gas dynamics. We combine high-resolution multi-band photometry obtained in the optical and near-infrared with the \textit{Hubble} Space Telescope (HST), and VLT/MUSE integral field spectroscopy to study the gas, the stars, and their interactions, simultaneously. In this paper we focus on a small, $64\times64\,{\rm arcsec}^2$ region North of the main cluster center, which we call the Northern Bubble (NB), a circular cavity carved into the gas of the cluster region. Using MUSE data, we determined the spectral types of 17 stars in the NB from G9III to O7.5. With the estimation of these spectral types we add 2 O and 5 B-type stars to the previously published census of 37 OB-stars in Wd2. To measure radial velocities we extracted 72 stellar spectra throughout Wd2, including the 17 of the NB, and show that the cluster member stars follow a bimodal velocity distribution centered around $(8.10 \pm 1.53)\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$ and $(25.41 \pm 1.57)\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$ with a dispersion of $(4.52 \pm 1.78)\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$ and $(3.46 \pm 1.29)\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$, respectively. These are in agreement with CO($J=1$-2) studies of RCW~49 leaving cloud-cloud collision as a viable option for the formation scenario of Wd2. The bimodal distribution is also detected in the Gaia DR2 proper motions., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables