We present the stellar mass (M-*)-gas-phase metallicity relation (MZR) and its scatter at intermediate redshifts (0.5 <= z <= 0.7) for 1381 field galaxies collected from deep spectroscopic surveys. The star formation rate (SFR) and color at a given M-* of this magnitude-limited (R less than or similar to 24 AB) sample are representative of normal star-forming galaxies. For masses below 10(9) M-circle dot, our sample of 237 galaxies is similar to 10 times larger than those in previous studies beyond the local universe. This huge gain in sample size enables superior constraints on the MZR and its scatter in the low-mass regime. We find a power-law MZR at 10(8) M-circle dot < M-* < 10(11) M-circle dot: 12 + log (O/H) = (5.83 +/- 0.19)+(0.30 +/- 0.02) log (M-*/M-circle dot). At 10(9) M-circle dot < M-* < 10(10.5) M-circle dot, our MZR shows agreement with others measured at similar redshifts in the literature. Our power-law slope is, however, shallower than the extrapolation of the MZRs of others to masses below 10(9) M-circle dot. The SFR dependence of the MZR in our sample is weaker than that found for local galaxies (known as the fundamental metallicity relation). Compared to a variety of theoretical models, the slope of our MZR for low-mass galaxies agrees well with predictions incorporating supernova energy-driven winds. Being robust against currently uncertain metallicity calibrations, the scatter of the MZR serves as a powerful diagnostic of the stochastic history of gas accretion, gas recycling, and star formation of low-mass galaxies. Our major result is that the scatter of our MZR increases as M-* decreases. Our result implies that either the scatter of the baryonic accretion rate (sigma((M) over dot)) or the scatter of the M-*-M-halo relation (sigma(SHMR)) increases as M-* decreases. Moreover, our measure of scatter at z = 0.7 appears consistent with that found for local galaxies. This lack of redshift evolution constrains models of galaxy evolution to have both sigma((M) over dot) and sigma(SHMR) remain unchanged from z = 0.7 to z = 0.

We present the effective temperatures (T-eff), metallicities, and colours in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Two Micron All Sky Survey, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer filters, of a sample of 3834 late-K and early-M dwarfs selected from the SDSS Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) spectroscopic survey ASPCAP (APOGEE Stellar Parameters and Chemical Abundances Pipeline) catalogue. We confirm that ASPCAP T-eff values between 3550 < T-eff < 4200 K are accurate to similar to 100 K compared to interferometric T-eff values. In that same T-eff range, ASPCAP metallicities are accurate to 0.18 dex between -1.0 <[M/H]< 0.2. For these cool dwarfs, nearly every colour is sensitive to both T-eff and metallicity. Notably, we find that g - r is not a good indicator of metallicity for near-solar metallicity early-M dwarfs. We confirm that J - K-S colour is strongly dependent on metallicity, and find that W1 - W2 colour is a promising metallicity indicator. Comparison of the late-K and early-M dwarf colours, metallicities, and T-eff to those from three different model grids shows reasonable agreement in r - z and J - K-S colours, but poor agreement in u - g, g - r, and W1 - W2. Comparison of the metallicities of the KM dwarf sample to those from previous colour-metallicity relations reveals a lack of consensus in photometric metallicity indicators for late-K and early-M dwarfs. We also present empirical relations for T-eff as a function of r - z colour combined with either [M/H] or W1 - W2 colour, and for [M/H] as a function of r - z and W1 - W2 colour. These relations yield T-eff to similar to 100 K and [M/H] to similar to 0.18 dex precision with colours alone, for T-eff in the range of 3550-4200 K and [M/H] in the range of -0.5-0.2.

We report the first detailed chemical abundance analysis of the exoplanet-hosting M-dwarf stars Kepler-138 and Kepler-186 from the analysis of high-resolution (R similar to 22,500) H-band spectra from the SDSS-IV-APOGEE survey. Chemical abundances of 13 elements-C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe-are extracted from the APOGEE spectra of these early M-dwarfs via spectrum syntheses computed with an improved line list that takes into account H2O and FeH lines. This paper demonstrates that APOGEE spectra can be analyzed to determine detailed chemical compositions of M-dwarfs. Both exoplanet-hosting M-dwarfs display modest sub-solar metallicities: [Fe/H](Kepler-138) = -0.09 +/- 0.09 dex and [Fe/H](Kepler-186) = -0.08 +/- 0.10 dex. The measured metallicities resulting from this high-resolution analysis are found to be higher by similar to 0.1-0.2 dex than previous estimates from lower-resolution spectra. The C/O ratios obtained for the two planet-hosting stars are near-solar, with values of 0.55 +/- 0.10 for Kepler-138 and 0.52 +/- 0.12 for Kepler-186. Kepler-186 exhibits a marginally enhanced [Si/Fe] ratio.

New CCD photometric observations of ten short-period LMB (Low Mass Binaries) were carried out. Data were obtained using 65 cm telescope in Ondřejov in the filters I, R and V from 2014 to 2016. Light curves were analysed using the program PHOEBE. The obtained masses and radii of the stars were compared with the theoretical mass-radii relation. There arises that the short-period binaries have the radii of about 4 % larger than the theoretical prediction from the stellar evolution models. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

We present a detailed search and analysis of chemically stratified hybrid (traces of helium and hydrogen) white dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Only one stratified white dwarf, PG 1305-017, was known prior to this analysis. The main objective is to confirm the existence of several new stratified objects. We first describe our new generation of stratified model atmospheres, where a thin hydrogen layer floats in diffusive equilibrium on top of a more massive helium layer. We then present the results of our search for hot (T-eff > 30,000 K) white dwarfs with a hybrid spectral type among the similar to 38,000 white dwarf spectra listed in the SDSS. A total of 51 spectra were retained in our final sample, which we analyze using spectroscopic fits to both chemically homogeneous and stratified model atmospheres. We identify 14 new stratified white dwarfs in the SDSS sample. From these results, we draw several conclusions regarding the physical processes that might explain the presence of helium in the atmospheres of all the stars in our sample.

We discovered a mistake in Eqs. (7) and (10) of Saglia et al. (2010, A&A, 524, A6), which propagates to Tables 8 and 9 and Fig. 25. We revise the tables, the figure and the affected statements in the paper. As a result, the reduction in the luminosity evolution due to the effects of the size and velocity dispersion evolution is smaller than claimed in Saglia et al. (2010).

Nosso grupo tem dedicado atenção especial em manter o Novo Catálogo de Aglomerados Abertos e Candidatos Opticamente Visíveis (Dias et.al. [1] denominado comumente DAML02), que vem sendo continuamente atualizado com novos resultados vindos da literatura. Além de manter o catálogo, nosso grupo está constantemente produzindo novos resultados como movimentos próprios médios e determinação de probabilidades de pertinência de estrelas aos aglomerados estudados (Dias et. al. [2] [3] [4]), também descobrindo novos aglomerados abertos (Alessi et. al. [5]) contribuindo para o conhecimento da amostra de aglomerados abertos conhecida na nossa Galáxia. Neste trabalho nós apresentamos os primeiros resultados de um estudo cinemático e fotométrico de uma amostra de aglomerados abertos com distância e idade desconhecidas. Trata-se de uma amostra de 850 aglomerados originalmente listados na versão 2.3 do catálogo DAML02. As probabilidades de pertinência das estrelas na região de cada aglomerado foram determinadas através de métodos estatísticos conhecidamente eficazes como (Vasilevskis e Rach [6], Sanders [7] e Zhao e He [8] aplicados aos movimentos próprios individuais UCAC2 (Zacharias et.al.[9]). Conseqüentemente, os movimentos próprios médios dos aglomerados também foram estimados. Utilizando apenas as estrelas membro e dados fotométricos 2MASS (Skrutskie et.al.[10]) construímos os diagramas cor-magnitude para cada aglomerado que nos permitiram estimar parâmetros fundamentais dos aglomerados como distâncias, excessos de cor nas bandas do infravermelho e idades. A determinação desses parâmetros envolve o ajuste de isócronas a seqüência principal do aglomerado e a partir de valores iniciais ajustamos essas curvas para a obtenção dos valores de distâncias, excessos de cor e idades. Desenvolvemos com o objetivo de fornecer esses valores preliminares, um programa que usa apenas as estrelas com Tipo Espectral identificado no SIMBAD. Portanto, neste trabalho determinamos movimentos próprios e probabilidades de pertinência para 319 aglomerados. Desses, 32 apresentaram solução para os parâmetros fundamentais (distância, excesso de cor e idade) e segundo nossas análises para os casos inéditos, 11 aglomerados encontram-se na vizinhança solar. Os erros envolvidos estimados são totalmente coerentes com os erros do catálogo DAML02. / Our group has dedicate a special attention to maintain the New Catalogue of Optically Visible Open Clusters and Candidates (Dias et al.[1] hereinafter DAML02) that is being continuously updated with new results from the literature. Besides maintaining the catalogue, our group is actively producing new results such as the mean absolute proper motion and membership determination (Dias et. al. [2] [3] [4]) and discovering new open clusters (Alessi et al.[5]) contributing to complete the knowledge of the hole sample of open clusters in the Galaxy. In this work we present the first results of the kinematic and photometric study of the open clusters with unknown distance and age in DAML02. The membership probabilities of the stars in the region of each cluster were determined applying the statistical method of Zhao e He [8] using the individual stellar UCAC2 (Zacharias et.al.[9]) proper motions. Consequently, the mean absolute proper motion of the clusters were also estimated. Using the investigated stars we were able to construct the colourmagnitude diagrams that allowed us to derive preliminary estimates of the fundamental parameters of the clusters such as reddening, distance and ages where the 2MASS (Strutskie et.al.[10]) photometric data were considered.

Some low-mass stars appear to have larger radii than predicted by standard 1D structure models; prior work has suggested that inefficient convective heat transport, due to rotation and/or magnetism, may ultimately be responsible. In this thesis, we explore this possibility using a combination of 1D stellar models, 2D and 3D simulations, and analytical theory. First, we examine this issue using 1D stellar models constructed using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) code. We begin by considering standard models that do not explicitly include rotational/magnetic effects, with convective inhibition modelled by decreasing a depth-independent mixing length theory (MLT) parameter αMLT. We provide formulae linking changes in αMLT to changes in the interior specific entropy, and hence to the stellar radius. Next, we modify the MLT formulation in MESA to mimic explicitly the influence of rotation and magnetism, using formulations suggested by Stevenson (1979) and MacDonald and Mullan (2014) respectively. We find rapid rotation in these models has a negligible impact on stellar structure, primarily because a star’s adiabat, and hence its radius, is predominantly affected by layers near the surface; convection is rapid and largely uninfluenced by rotation there. Magnetic fields, if they influenced convective transport in the manner described by MacDonald and Mullan (2014), could lead to more noticeable radius inflation. Finally, we show that these non-standard effects on stellar structure can be fabricated using a depth-dependent αMLT: a non-magnetic, non-rotating model can be produced that is virtually indistinguishable from one that explicitly parameterises rotation and/or magnetism using the two formulations above. We provide formulae linking the radially-variable αMLT to these putative MLT reformulations. We make further comparisons between MLT and simulations of convection, to establish how heat transport and stellar structure are influenced by rotation and magnetism, by looking at the entropy content of 2D local and 3D global convective calculations. Using 2D “box in a star” simulations, created using the convection code Dedalus, we investigate changes in bulk properties of the specific entropy for increasingly stratified domains. We observe regions stable against convection near the bottom boundary, resulting in the specific entropy in the bulk of the domain exceeding the bottom boundary value: this could be a result of physical effects, such as increased amounts of viscous dissipation for more supercritical, highly stratified cases, but may also be influenced by the artificial boundary conditions imposed by these local simulations. We then turn to 3D global simulations, created using the convection code Rayleigh, and investigate these same properties as a function of rotation rate. We find the average of the shell-averaged specific entropy gradient in the middle third of the domain to scale with rotation rate in a similar fashion to the scaling law derived via MLT arguments in Barker et al. (2014), i.e., |⟨ds/dr⟩| ∝ Ω^4/5.

Fornecemos uma amostra de 170 Aglomerados Globulares Galácticos (GCs) e analisamos as propriedades de sua distribuição espacial. Utilizando um vasto catálogo de nuvens escuras identificadas, listamos os GCs que estão atrás de uma ou mais delas e que podem estar submetidos a uma extinção mais complexa do que a considerada por mapas de extinção. Valores de incerteza em distância são obtidos da literatura recente e comparados com valores derivados de uma fórmula de propagação de erro. GCs são agrupados de acordo com características inusitadas, tais como idades relativamente jovens ou possível conexão com núcleos de galáxias anãs, de forma que o efeito desses grupos pode ser isolado na distribuição espacial geral. Adicionalmente, computamos o centróide da distribuição de GCs e estudamos como esse se relaciona com a distância ao centro da Galáxia. Considerando que uma formação galáctica via colapso monolítico é supostamente simétrica, investigamos assimetrias e como os valores de incerteza das distâncias as modificam. Velocidades espaciais e um potencial Galáctico são empregados para verificar se quaisquer assimetrias na distribuição espacial são devidas a objetos em movimento coerente, ou se são somente efeitos transientes. / We provide a sample of 170 Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs) and analyse its spatial distribution properties. Using a comprehensive dust cloud catalogue, we list the GCs that are behind one or more identified dust clouds and could be subjected to a more complex extinction curve than extinction catalogues consider. Distance uncertainty values are gathered from recent literature and compared to values derived from an error propagation formula. GCs are grouped according to unusual characteristics, such as relatively young age or possible connection to dwarf galaxy nuclei, so that their effect on the general distribution can be isolated. Additionally, we compute the centroid of the GC distribution and study how it relates to the distance to the centre of the Galaxy. Considering that galactic formation via monolithic collapse is expected to be symmetrical, we probe asymmetries and how distance uncertainty values modify them. Spatial velocities and a Galactic potential are used to verify if any asymmetries in the spatial distribution are due to co-moving objects, or if they are merely transient effects.

The transit method, employed by Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars (MOST), Kepler, and various ground-based surveys has enabled the characterization of extrasolar planets to unprecedented precision. These results are precise enough to begin to measure planet atmosphere composition, planetary oblateness, starspots, and other phenomena at the level of a few hundred parts per million. However, these results depend on our understanding of stellar limb darkening, that is, the intensity distribution across the stellar disk that is sequentially blocked as the planet transits. Typically, stellar limb darkening is assumed to be a simple parameterization with two coefficients that are derived from stellar atmosphere models or fit directly. In this work, we revisit this assumption and compute synthetic planetary-transit light curves directly from model stellar atmosphere center-to-limb intensity variations (CLIVs) using the plane-parallel Atlas and spherically symmetric SAtlas codes. We compare these light curves to those constructed using best-fit limb-darkening parameterizations. We find that adopting parametric stellar limb-darkening laws leads to systematic differences from the more geometrically realistic model stellar atmosphere CLIV of about 50–100 ppm at the transit center and up to 300 ppm at ingress/egress. While these errors are small, they are systematic, and they appear to limit the precision necessary to measure secondary effects. Our results may also have a significant impact on transit spectra.