| 1. |
- Tinetti, Giovanna, et al.
(författare)
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The EChO science case
- 2015
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 40:2-3, s. 329-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune-all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10(-4) relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 mu m with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 mu m. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R similar to 300 for wavelengths less than 5 mu m and R similar to 30 for wavelengths greater than this. The transit spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m(2) is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m(2) telescope, diffraction limited at 3 mu m has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate than current observations. This would enable the detection of molecular abundances three orders of magnitude lower than currently possible and a fourfold increase from the handful of molecules detected to date. Combining these data with estimates of planetary bulk compositions from accurate measurements of their radii and masses would allow degeneracies associated with planetary interior modelling to be broken, giving unique insight into the interior structure and elemental abundances of these alien worlds. EChO would allow scientists to study exoplanets both as a population and as individuals. The mission can target super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300-3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. The EChO core science would be delivered by a three-tier survey. The EChO Chemical Census: This is a broad survey of a few-hundred exoplanets, which allows us to explore the spectroscopic and chemical diversity of the exoplanet population as a whole. The EChO Origin: This is a deep survey of a subsample of tens of exoplanets for which significantly higher signal to noise and spectral resolution spectra can be obtained to explain the origin of the exoplanet diversity (such as formation mechanisms, chemical processes, atmospheric escape). The EChO Rosetta Stones: This is an ultra-high accuracy survey targeting a subsample of select exoplanets. These will be the bright "benchmark" cases for which a large number of measurements would be taken to explore temporal variations, and to obtain two and three dimensional spatial information on the atmospheric conditions through eclipse-mapping techniques. If EChO were launched today, the exoplanets currently observed are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. The Chemical Census survey would consist of > 160 exoplanets with a range of planetary sizes, temperatures, orbital parameters and stellar host properties. Additionally, over the next 10 years, several new ground- and space-based transit photometric surveys and missions will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO's launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets.
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| 2. |
- Surendran, Praveen, et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of rare variants associated with blood pressure regulation through meta-analysis of 1.3 million individuals
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 52:12, s. 1314-1332
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genetic studies of blood pressure (BP) to date have mainly analyzed common variants (minor allele frequency > 0.05). In a meta-analysis of up to similar to 1.3 million participants, we discovered 106 new BP-associated genomic regions and 87 rare (minor allele frequency <= 0.01) variant BP associations (P < 5 x 10(-8)), of which 32 were in new BP-associated loci and 55 were independent BP-associated single-nucleotide variants within known BP-associated regions. Average effects of rare variants (44% coding) were similar to 8 times larger than common variant effects and indicate potential candidate causal genes at new and known loci (for example, GATA5 and PLCB3). BP-associated variants (including rare and common) were enriched in regions of active chromatin in fetal tissues, potentially linking fetal development with BP regulation in later life. Multivariable Mendelian randomization suggested possible inverse effects of elevated systolic and diastolic BP on large artery stroke. Our study demonstrates the utility of rare-variant analyses for identifying candidate genes and the results highlight potential therapeutic targets.
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| 3. |
- Cirasuolo, M., et al.
(författare)
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MOONS: the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph for the VLT
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. ; 9147, s. 91470-91470
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- MOONS (the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph) has been selected by ESO as a third-generation instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The light grasp of the large collecting area offered by the VLT (8.2m diameter), combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage (optical to near-IR: 0.8 -1.8 mu m) of MOONS will provide the European astronomical community with a powerful, unique instrument able to pioneer a wide range of Galactic, extragalactic and cosmological studies, and it will provide crucial follow-up for major facilities such as Gaia, VISTA, Euclid and LSST. MOONS has the observational power needed to unveil galaxy formation and evolution over the entire history of the Universe, from stars in our Milky Way, through the redshift desert, and up to the epoch of very first galaxies and reionization of the Universe at redshifts of z > 8-9, just a few million years after the Big Bang. From five years of observations MOONS will provide high-quality spectra for > 3M stars in our Galaxy and the Local Group, and for 1-2M galaxies at z > 1 (for an SDSS-like survey), promising to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. The baseline design consists of similar to 1000 fibres, deployable over a field-of-view of similar to 500 arcmin(2), the largest patrol field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total wavelength coverage is 0.8 -1.8 mu m with two spectral resolving powers: in the medium-resolution mode (R similar to 4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength range is observed simultaneously, while the high-resolution mode will cover three selected sub-regions simultaneously: one region with R similar to 8,000 near the Ca II triplet to measure stellar radial velocities, and two regions at R similar to 20,000 (one in each of the J- and H-bands), for precision measurements of chemical abundances.
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| 4. |
- Berta, S., et al.
(författare)
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z -GAL: A NOEMA spectroscopic redshift survey of bright Herschel galaxies: III. Physical properties
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 678
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The z-GAL survey observed 137 bright Herschel-selected targets with the IRAM Northern Extended Millimeter Array, with the aim to measure their redshift and study their properties. Several of them have been resolved into multiple sources. Consequently, robust spectroscopic redshifts have been measured for 165 individual galaxies in the range 0.8., <., z., <., 6.5. In this paper we analyse the millimetre spectra of the z-GAL sources, using both their continuum and line emission to derive their physical properties. At least two spectral lines are detected for each source, including transitions of 12CO, [CI], and H2O. The observed 12CO line ratios and spectral line energy distributions of individual sources resemble those of local starbursts. In seven sources the para-H2O (211-202) transition is detected and follows the IR versus H2O luminosity relation of sub-millimetre galaxies. The molecular gas mass of the z-GAL sources is derived from their 12CO, [CI], and sub-millimetre dust continuum emission. The three tracers lead to consistent results, with the dust continuum showing the largest scatter when compared to 12CO. The gas-to-dust mass ratio of these sources was computed by combining the information derived from 12CO and the dust continuum and has a median value of 107, similar to star-forming galaxies of near-solar metallicity. The same combined analysis leads to depletion timescales in the range between 0.1 and 1.0 Gyr, which place the z-GAL sources between the main sequence' of star formation and the locus of starbursts. Finally, we derived a first estimate of stellar masses "modulo possible gravitational magnification "by inverting known gas scaling relations: the z-GAL sample is confirmed to be mostly composed by starbursts, whereas ∼25% of its members lie on the main sequence of star-forming galaxies (within ±0.5 dex).
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| 5. |
- Borsato, E., et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of Herschel-selected strong lens candidates through HST and sub-mm/mm observations
- 2024
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 528:4, s. 6222-6279
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have carried out Hubble Space Telescope (HST) snapshot observations at 1.1 μm of 281 candidate strongly lensed galaxies identified in the wide-area extragalactic surveys conducted with the Herschel Space Observatory. Our candidates comprise systems with flux densities at 500 μm, S500 ≥ 80 mJy. We model and subtract the surface brightness distribution for 130 systems, where we identify a candidate for the foreground lens candidate. After combining visual inspection, archival high-resolution observations, and lens subtraction, we divide the systems into different classes according to their lensing likelihood. We confirm 65 systems to be lensed. Of these, 30 are new discoveries. We successfully perform lens modelling and source reconstruction on 23 systems, where the foreground lenses are isolated galaxies and the background sources are detected in the HST images. All the systems are successfully modelled as a singular isothermal ellipsoid. The Einstein radii of the lenses and the magnifications of the background sources are consistent with previous studies. However, the background source circularized radii (between 0.34 and 1.30 kpc) are ∼3 times smaller than the ones measured in the sub-millimetre/millimetre for a similarly selected and partially overlapping sample. We compare our lenses with those in the Sloan Lens Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Survey confirming that our lens-independent selection is more effective at picking up fainter and diffuse galaxies and group lenses. This sample represents the first step towards characterizing the near-infrared properties and stellar masses of the gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies.
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| 6. |
- Cox, P., et al.
(författare)
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z-GAL: A NOEMA spectroscopic redshift survey of bright Herschel galaxies: I. Overview
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 678
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using the IRAM NOrthern Extended Millimetre Array (NOEMA), we conducted a Large Programme (z-GAL) to measure redshifts for 126 bright galaxies detected in the Herschel Astrophysical Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS), the HerMES Large Mode Survey (HeLMS), and the Herschel Stripe 82 (HerS) Survey. We report reliable spectroscopic redshifts for a total of 124 of the Herschel-selected galaxies. The redshifts are estimated from scans of the 3 and 2-mm bands (and, for one source, the 1-mm band), covering up to 31 GHz in each band, and are based on the detection of at least two emission lines. Together with the Pilot Programme, where 11 sources had their spectroscopic redshifts measured, our survey has derived precise redshifts for 135 bright Herschel-selected galaxies, making it the largest sample of high-z galaxies with robust redshifts to date. Most emission lines detected are from 12CO (mainly from J = 2 1 to 5 4), with some sources seen in [CI] and H2O emission lines. The spectroscopic redshifts are in the range 0.8
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| 7. |
- Geach, J.E., et al.
(författare)
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The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: blank-field number counts of 450-mu m-selected galaxies and their contribution to the cosmic infrared background
- 2013
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 432:1, s. 53-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The first deep blank-field 450 mu m map (1 sigma approximate to 1.3 mJy) from the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array-2 SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS), conducted with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is presented. Our map covers 140 arcmin(2) of the Cosmological Evolution Survey field, in the footprint of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. Using 60 submillimetre galaxies detected at >= 3.75s, we evaluate the number counts of 450-mu m-selected galaxies with flux densities S-450 > 5 mJy. The 8 arcsec JCMT beam and high sensitivity of SCUBA-2 now make it possible to directly resolve a larger fraction of the cosmic infrared background (CIB, peaking at. similar to 200 mu m) into the individual galaxies responsible for its emission than has previously been possible at this wavelength. At S450 > 5 mJy, we resolve (7.4 +/- 0.7) x 10(-2) MJy sr(-1) of the CIB at 450 mu m (equivalent to 16 +/- 7 per cent of the absolute brightness measured by the Cosmic Background Explorer at this wavelength) into point sources. A further similar to 40 per cent of the CIB can be recovered through a statistical stack of 24 mu m emitters in this field, indicating that the majority (approximate to 60 per cent) of the CIB at 450 mu m is emitted by galaxies with S450 > 2 mJy. The average redshift of 450 mu m emitters identified with an optical/near-infrared counterpart is estimated to be = 1.3, implying that the galaxies in the sample are in the ultraluminous class (LIR approximate to 1.1 x 1012 L approximate to). If the galaxies contributing to the statistical stack lie at similar redshifts, then the majority of the CIB at 450 mu m is emitted by galaxies in the luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) class with LIR > 3.6 x 1011 L-circle dot.
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| 8. |
- Ismail, D., et al.
(författare)
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z-GAL: A NOEMA spectroscopic redshift survey of bright Herschel galaxies: II. Dust properties
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 678
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the dust properties of 125 bright Herschel galaxies selected from the z-GAL NOEMA spectroscopic redshift survey. All the galaxies have precise spectroscopic redshifts in the range 1.3 < z < 5.4. The large instantaneous bandwidth of NOEMA provides an exquisite sampling of the underlying dust continuum emission at 2 and 3 mm in the observed frame, with flux densities in at least four sidebands for each source. Together with the available Herschel 250, 350, and 500 μm and SCUBA-2 850 μm flux densities, the spectral energy distribution (SED) of each source can be analyzed from the far-infrared to the millimeter, with a fine sampling of the Rayleigh-Jeans tail. This wealth of data provides a solid basis to derive robust dust properties, in particular the dust emissivity index (β) and the dust temperature (Tdust). In order to demonstrate our ability to constrain the dust properties, we used a flux-generated mock catalog and analyzed the results under the assumption of an optically thin and optically thick modified black body emission. The robustness of the SED sampling for the z-GAL sources is highlighted by the mock analysis that showed high accuracy in estimating the continuum dust properties. These findings provided the basis for our detailed analysis of the z-GAL continuum data. We report a range of dust emissivities with β ∼1.5 -3 estimated up to high precision with relative uncertainties that vary in the range 7% 15%, and an average of 2.2 ± 0.3. We find dust temperatures varying from 20 to 50 K with an average of Tdust., ∼30 K for the optically thin case and Tdust., ∼38 K in the optically thick case. For all the sources, we estimate the dust masses and apparent infrared luminosities (based on the optically thin approach). An inverse correlation is found between Tdust and β with β Tdust-0.69, which is similar to what is seen in the local Universe. Finally, we report an increasing trend in the dust temperature as a function of redshift at a rate of 6.5 ±0.5 K/z for this 500 μm-selected sample. Based on this study, future prospects are outlined to further explore the evolution of dust temperature across cosmic time.
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| 9. |
- Bendo, G. J., et al.
(författare)
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The bright extragalactic ALMA redshift survey (BEARS) – II. Millimetre photometry of gravitational lens candidates
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 522:2, s. 2995-3017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present 101- and 151-GHz ALMA continuum images for 85 fields selected from Herschel observations that have 500-μm flux densities >80 mJy and 250–500-μm colours consistent with z > 2, most of which are expected to be gravitationally lensed or hyperluminous infrared galaxies. Approximately half of the Herschel 500-μm sources were resolved into multiple ALMA sources, but 11 of the 15 brightest 500-μm Herschel sources correspond to individual ALMA sources. For the 37 fields containing either a single source with a spectroscopic redshift or two sources with the same spectroscopic redshift, we examined the colour temperatures and dust emissivity indices. The colour temperatures only vary weakly with redshift and are statistically consistent with no redshift-dependent temperature variations, which generally corresponds to results from other samples selected in far-infrared, submillimetre, or millimetre bands but not to results from samples selected in optical or near-infrared bands. The dust emissivity indices, with very few exceptions, are largely consistent with a value of 2. We also compared spectroscopic redshifts to photometric redshifts based on spectral energy distribution templates designed for infrared-bright high-redshift galaxies. While the templates systematically underestimate the redshifts by ∼15 per cent, the inclusion of ALMA data decreases the scatter in the predicted redshifts by a factor of ∼2, illustrating the potential usefulness of these millimetre data for estimating photometric redshifts.
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| 10. |
- Geach, J.E., et al.
(författare)
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The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: 850 μm maps, catalogues and number counts
- 2017
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 465:2, s. 1789-1806
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a catalogue of similar to 3000 submillimetre sources detected (>= 3.5 sigma) at 850 mu m over similar to 5 deg(2) surveyed as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS). This is the largest survey of its kind at 850 mu m, increasing the sample size of 850 mu m selected submillimetre galaxies by an order of magnitude. The wide 850 mu m survey component of S2CLS covers the extragalactic fields: UKIDSS-UDS, COSMOS, Akari-NEP, Extended Groth Strip, Lockman Hole North, SSA22 and GOODS-North. The average 1s depth of S2CLS is 1.2 mJy beam(-1), approaching the SCUBA-2 850 mu m confusion limit, which we determine to be sigma(c) approximate to 0.8 mJy beam(-1). We measure the 850 mu m number counts, reducing the Poisson errors on the differential counts to approximately 4 per cent at S-850 approximate to 3 mJy. With several independent fields, we investigate field-to-field variance, finding that the number counts on 0.5 degrees-1 degrees scales are generally within 50 per cent of the S2CLS mean for S-850 > 3 mJy, with scatter consistent with the Poisson and estimated cosmic variance uncertainties, although there is a marginal (2 sigma) density enhancement in GOODS-North. The observed counts are in reasonable agreement with recent phenomenological and semi-analytic models, although determining the shape of the faint-end slope (S-850 < 3 mJy) remains a key test. The large solid angle of S2CLS allows us to measure the bright-end counts: at S-850 > 10 mJy there are approximately 10 sources per square degree, and we detect the distinctive up-turn in the number counts indicative of the detection of local sources of 850 mu m emission
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