SINFONI's take on Star Formation, Molecular Gas, and Black Hole Masses in AGN

We present some preliminary (half-way) results on our adaptive optics spectroscopic survey of AGN at spatial scales down to 0.085arcsec. Most of the data were obtained with SINFONI which provides integral field capability at a spectral resolution of R~4000. The themes on which we focus in this contribution are: star formation around the AGN, the properties of the molecular gas and its relation to the torus, and the mass of the black hole.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Science Perspectives for 3D Spectroscopy. ESO Astrophysics Symposia. Ed by M. Kissler-Patig, M. Roth and J. Wals

The QUEST Data Processing Software Pipeline

A program that we call the QUEST Data Processing Software Pipeline has been written to process the large volumes of data produced by the QUEST camera on the Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The program carries out both aperture and PSF photometry, combines data from different repeated observations of the same portion of sky, and produces a Master Object Catalog. A rough calibration of the data is carried out. This program, as well as the calibration procedures and quality checks on the output are described.Comment: 17 pages, 1 table, 8 figure

The Gemini spectral library of near-IR late type stellar templates and its application for velocity dispersion measurements

We present a spectroscopic library of late spectral type stellar templates in the near-IR range 2.15-2.42microns, at R=5300-5900 resolution, oriented to support stellar kinematics studies in external galaxies, such as the direct determination of the masses of supermassive black-holes in nearby active (or non-active) galaxies. The combination of high spectral resolution and state-of-the-art instrumentation available in 8-m class telescopes has made the analysis of circumnuclear stellar kinematics using the near-IR CO band heads one of the most used techniques for such studies, and this library aims to provide the supporting datasets required by the higher spectral resolution and larger spectral coverage currently achieved with modern near-IR spectrographs. Examples of the application for kinematical analysis are given for data obtained with two Gemini instruments, but the templates can be easily adjusted for use with other near-IR spectrographs at similar or lower resolution. The example datasets are also used to revisit the "template mismatch" effect and the dependence of the velocity dispersion values obtained from the fitting process with the characteristics of the stellar templates. The library is available in electronic form from the Gemini web pages (link above).Comment: To appear in the ApJ Supplement Series, December 2009. AASTex, 25 pages, 17 figures. The library spectra are available in standard FITS format from the Gemini Observatory webpage at http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/instruments/nearir-resources/?q=node/1016

A Machine Learning-Based Raman Spectroscopic Assay for the Identification of Burkholderia mallei and Related Species

Burkholderia (B.) mallei, the causative agent of glanders, and B. pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis in humans and animals, are genetically closely related. The high infectious potential of both organisms, their serological cross-reactivity, and similar clinical symptoms in human and animals make the differentiation from each other and other Burkholderia species challenging. The increased resistance against many antibiotics implies the need for fast and robust identification methods. The use of Raman microspectroscopy in microbial diagnostic has the potential for rapid and reliable identification. Single bacterial cells are directly probed and a broad range of phenotypic information is recorded, which is subsequently analyzed by machine learning methods. Burkholderia were handled under biosafety level 1 (BSL 1) conditions after heat inactivation. The clusters of the spectral phenotypes and the diagnostic relevance of the Burkholderia spp. were considered for an advanced hierarchical machine learning approach. The strain panel for training involved 12 B. mallei, 13 B. pseudomallei and 11 other Burkholderia spp. type strains. The combination of top- and sub-level classifier identified the mallei-complex with high sensitivities (>95%). The reliable identification of unknown B. mallei and B. pseudomallei strains highlighted the robustness of the machine learning-based Raman spectroscopic assay

Oxygen Metallicity Determinations from Optical Emission Lines in Early-type Galaxies

We measured the oxygen abundances of the warm (T$\sim 10^{4}K$) phase of gas in seven early-type galaxies through long-slit observations. A template spectra was constructed from galaxies void of warm gas and subtracted from the emission-line galaxies, allowing for a clean measurement of the nebular lines. The ratios of the emission lines are consistent with photoionization, which likely originates from the UV flux of post-asymototic giant branch (PAGB) stars. We employ H II region photoionization models to determine a mean oxygen metallicity of $1.01\pm0.50$ solar for the warm interstellar medium (ISM) in this sample. This warm ISM 0.5 to 1.5 solar metallicity is consistent with modern determinations of the metallicity in the hot (T$\sim 10^{6}-10^{7}K$) ISM and the upper range of this warm ISM metallicity is consistent with stellar population metallicity determinations. A solar metallicity of the warm ISM favors an internal origin for the warm ISM such as AGB mass loss within the galaxy.Comment: Accepted Astrophysical Journa

Dust and the Infrared Kinematic Properties of Early-Type Galaxies

We have obtained spectra and measured the stellar kinematics in a sample of 25 nearby early-type galaxies (with velocity dispersions from less than 100 km/s to over 300 km/s) using the near-infrared CO absorption bandhead at 2.29 microns. Our median uncertainty for the dispersions is ~10%. We examine the effects of dust on existing optical kinematic measurements. We find that the near-infrared velocity dispersions are in general smaller than optical velocity dispersions, with differences as large as 30%. The median difference is 11% smaller, and the effect is of greater magnitude for higher dispersion galaxies. The lenticular galaxies (18 out of 25) appear to be causing the shift to lower dispersions while the classical ellipticals (7 out of 25) are consistent between the two wavelength regimes. If uniformly distributed dust causes these differences, we would expect to find a correlation between the relative amount of dust in a galaxy and the fractional change in dispersion, but we do not find such a correlation. We do see correlations both between velocity dispersion and CO bandhead equivalent width, and velocity dispersion and Mg2 index. The differences in dispersion are not well explained by current models of dust absorption. The lack of correlation between the relative amount of dust and shift in dispersion possibly suggets that dust does not have a similar distribution from galaxy to galaxy. The CO equivalent widths of these galaxies are quite high (>10 angstroms for almost all), requiring the light at these wavelengths to be dominated by very cool stars.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted to The Astronomical Journa

The QUEST large area CCD camera

We have designed, constructed, and put into operation a very large area CCD camera that covers the field of view of the 1.2 m Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The camera consists of 112 CCDs arranged in a mosaic of four rows with 28 CCDs each. The CCDs are 600 x 2400 pixel Sarnoff thinned, back-illuminated devices with 13 µm x 13 µm pixels. The camera covers an area of 4.6° x 3.6° on the sky with an active area of 9.6 deg_2. This camera has been installed at the prime focus of the telescope and commissioned, and scientific-quality observations on the Palomar-QUEST Variability Sky Survey were started in 2003 September. The design considerations, construction features, and performance parameters of this camera are described in this paper

The central black hole mass of the high-sigma but low-bulge-luminosity lenticular galaxy NGC 1332

The masses of the most massive supermassive black holes (SMBHs) predicted by the M_BH-sigma and M_BH-luminosity relations appear to be in conflict. Which of the two relations is the more fundamental one remains an open question. NGC 1332 is an excellent example that represents the regime of conflict. It is a massive lenticular galaxy which has a bulge with a high velocity dispersion sigma of ~320 km/s; bulge--disc decomposition suggests that only 44% of the total light comes from the bulge. The M_BH-sigma and the M_BH-luminosity predictions for the central black hole mass of NGC 1332 differ by almost an order of magnitude. We present a stellar dynamical measurement of the SMBH mass using an axisymmetric orbit superposition method. Our SINFONI integral-field unit (IFU) observations of NGC 1332 resolve the SMBH's sphere of influence which has a diameter of ~0.76 arcsec. The sigma inside 0.2 arcsec reaches ~400 km/s. The IFU data allow us to increase the statistical significance of our results by modelling each of the four quadrants separately. We measure a SMBH mass of (1.45 \pm 0.20) x 10^9 M_sun with a bulge mass-to-light ratio of 7.08 \pm 0.39 in the R-band. With this mass, the SMBH of NGC 1332 is offset from the M_BH-luminosity relation by a full order of magnitude but is consistent with the M_BH-sigma relation.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

A Deep HST H-Band Imaging Survey of Massive Gas-Rich Mergers. II. The QUEST PG QSOs

We report the results from a deep HST NICMOS H-band imaging survey of 28 z < 0.3 QSOs from the Palomar-Green (PG) sample. This program is part of QUEST (Quasar / ULIRG Evolution STudy) and complements a similar set of data on 26 highly-nucleated ULIRGs presented in Paper I. Our analysis indicates that the fraction of QSOs with elliptical hosts is higher among QSOs with undetected far-infrared (FIR) emission, small infrared excess, and luminous hosts. The hosts of FIR-faint QSOs show a tendency to have less pronounced merger-induced morphological anomalies and larger QSO-to-host luminosity ratios on average than the hosts of FIR-bright QSOs, consistent with late-merger evolution from FIR-bright to FIR-faint QSOs. The spheroid sizes and total host luminosities of the radio-quiet PG QSOs in our sample are statistically indistinguishable from the ULIRG hosts presented in Paper I, while those of radio-loud PG QSOs are systematically larger and more luminous. ULIRGs and PG QSOs with elliptical hosts fall near, but not exactly on, the fundamental plane of inactive spheroids. We confirm the systematic trend noted in Paper I for objects with small (< 2 kpc) spheroids to be up to ~1 mag. brighter than inactive spheroids. The host colors and wavelength dependence of their sizes support the idea that these deviations are due at least in part to non-nuclear star formation. However, the amplitudes of these deviations does not depend on host R-H colors. Taken at face value (i.e., no correction for extinction or the presence of a young stellar population), the H-band spheroid-host luminosities imply BH masses ~5 -- 200 x 10^7 M_sun and sub-Eddington mass accretion rates for both QSOs and ULIRGs. These results are compared with published BH mass estimates derived from other methods. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 701, August 20 issue. Paper with high-resolution figures can be downloaded at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~veilleux/pubs/nicmos2.pd