Automated Separation of Stars and Normal Galaxies Based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with RBF Neural Networks

For LAMOST, the largest sky survey program in China, the solution of the problem of automatic discrimination of stars from galaxies by spectra has shown that the results of the PSF test can be significantly refined. However, the problem is made worse when the redshifts of galaxies are not available. We present a new automatic method of star/(normal) galaxy separation, which is based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (SMM-RBFNN). This work is a continuation of our previous one, where active and non-active celestial objects were successfully segregated. By combining the method in this paper and the previous one, stars can now be effectively separated from galaxies and AGNs by their spectra-a major goal of LAMOST, and an indispensable step in any automatic spectrum classification system. In our work, the training set includes standard stellar spectra from Jacoby's spectrum library and simulated galaxy spectra of EO, SO, Sa, Sb types with redshift ranging from 0 to 1     

Distance estimate and progenitor characteristics of SN 2005cs in M51

We present the excitation energies and lifetimes for the  3 s 3 p 3 d  ⁴ F  _7/2,9/2  levels for five aluminium-like ions of the iron group. Apart from the wavelengths, this also includes the transition probabilities and branching ratios for the electric-dipole allowed (E1) and forbidden (M1, E2, M2) lines into the energetically lower lying levels of the  3 s ²3 d , 3 s 3 p ²  and  3 s 3 p 3 d   configurations. Applying systematically enlarged multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock (MCDF) wavefunctions, here the effects of relativity and the electron–electron correlation are treated within the same (computational) model.     

Measurement of radiative lifetimes and determination of transition probabilities of astrophysical interest in Ho iii

Lifetimes of six levels belonging to the 4f¹⁰6p configuration of Ho  iii have been measured for the first time using the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence method. They are compared with multiconfigurational pseudo-relativistic Hartree–Fock calculations. A very good agreement is found. Using the experimental lifetimes and theoretical branching fractions, a first set of transition probabilities of astrophysical interest has been obtained for this ion.     

A Faraday rotation template for the Galactic sky

Using a set of compilations of measurements for extragalactic radio sources, we construct all-sky maps of the Faraday rotation produced by the Galactic magnetic field. In order to generate the maps, we treat the radio source positions as a kind of 'mask' and construct combinations of spherical harmonic modes that are orthogonal on the masked sky. As long as relatively small multipoles are used, the resulting maps are quite stable to changes in the selection criteria for the sources, and show clearly the structure of the local Galactic magnetic field. We also suggest the use of these maps as templates for cosmic microwave background (CMB) foreground analysis, illustrating the idea with a cross-correlation analysis between the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) data and our maps. We find a significant cross-correlation, indicating the presence of a significant residual contamination.     

球状星团的天体测量(英)

球状星团是银河系中最年老的天体之一，是储存着银河系早期演化珍贵信息的“化石”．球状星团的天体测量，主要包括球状星因天区内恒星相对自行的测定，并由这些相对自行数据采用适当方法定出星团的绝对自行，或者直接测定绝对自行．利用这些自行数据，或者进一步与测光和视向速度数据结合，可以开展与球状星团的距离、运动、动力学状况、质量、年龄、演化等等以及银河系的结构和演化等有关的一系列重要的研究．在本文中对本世纪70年代中期以来在球状星团相对自行测定和成员概率估计、内部运动检测、绝对自行测定和空间运动研究这三方面取得的成果和进展以及存在的问题作了评述．