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Abstract We assess the impact of Caiiλλ3934, 3969 and Naiλλ5891, 5897 absorption arising in the interstellar medium (ISM) on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar) and produce corrected spectroscopy for 80% of the 24,162-star catalog. We model the absorption strength of these transitions as a function of the stellar distance, Galactic latitude, and dust reddening based on high-spectral resolution studies. With this model, we identify 6342 MaStar stars that have negligible ISM absorption (WISM(CaiiK) < 0.07 Å andWISM(Nai5891) < 0.05 Å). For 12,110 of the remaining stars, we replace their NaiD profile (and their Caiiprofile for effective temperaturesTeff> 9000 K) with a coadded spectrum of low-ISM stars with similarTeff, surface gravity, and metallicity. For 738 additional stars withTeff> 9000 K, we replace these spectral regions with a matching ATLAS9-based BOSZ model. This results in a mean reduction inW(CaiiK) (W(NaiD)) of 0.4–0.7 Å (0.6–1.1 Å) for hot stars (Teff> 7610 K), and a mean reduction inW(NaiD) of 0.1–0.2 Å for cooler stars. We show that interstellar absorption in the simple stellar population (SSP) model spectra constructed from the original library artificially enhancesW(CaiiK) by ≳20% at young ages (<400 Myr); dramatically enhances the strength of stellar NaiD in starbursting systems (by ≳50%); and enhances stellar NaiD in older stellar populations (≳10 Gyr) by ≳10%. We provide SSP spectra constructed from the cleaned library and discuss the implications of these effects for stellar population synthesis analyses constraining the stellar age, [Na/Fe] abundance, and initial mass function.
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Measuring the 8621 A Diffuse Interstellar Band in Gaia DR3 RVS Spectra: Obtaining a Clean Catalog by Marginalizing over Stellar Types
Abstract Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are broad absorption features associated with interstellar dust and can serve as chemical and kinematic tracers. Conventional measurements of DIBs in stellar spectra are complicated by residuals between observations and best-fit stellar models. To overcome this, we simultaneously model the spectrum as a combination of stellar, dust, and residual components, with full posteriors on the joint distribution of the components. This decomposition is obtained by modeling each component as a draw from a high-dimensional Gaussian distribution in the data space (the observed spectrum)—a method we call “Marginalized Analytic Data-space Gaussian Inference for Component Separation” (MADGICS). We use a data-driven prior for the stellar component, which avoids missing stellar features not well modeled by synthetic spectra. This technique provides statistically rigorous uncertainties and detection thresholds, which are required to work in the low signal-to-noise regime that is commonplace for dusty lines of sight. We reprocess all public Gaia DR3 RVS spectra and present an improved 8621 Å DIB catalog, free of detectable stellar line contamination. We constrain the rest-frame wavelength to 8623.14 ± 0.087 Å (vacuum), find no significant evidence for DIBs in the Local Bubble from the 1/6th of RVS spectra that are public, and show unprecedented correlation with kinematic substructure in Galactic CO maps. We validate the catalog, its reported uncertainties, and biases using synthetic injection tests. We believe MADGICS provides a viable path forward for large-scale spectral line measurements in the presence of complex spectral contamination.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2019786
- PAR ID:
- 10451599
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 954
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 141
- Size(s):
- Article No. 141
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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{"Abstract":["This file contains a version of the SDSS-IV MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar) which has been corrected for the effects of absorption in the CaII 3934, 3969 and NaI D 5891, 5897 transitions arising in the Milky Way's interstellar medium (ISM). These corrections are described in full in Rubin et al. (2025). In brief, we first develop a model of the absorption strengths of these transitions as a function of stellar distance, Galactic latitude, and dust reddening based upon high-spectral resolution studies. We use this model to identify 6342 MaStar stars with negligible ISM absorption. For 12110 of the remaining stars, we replace their NaI D profile (and their CaII profile for effective temperatures > 9000 K) with a coadded spectrum of low-ISM stars with similar effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity. For 738 additional stars with effective temperatures > 9000 K, we replace these spectral regions with a matching ATLAS9-based BOSZ model. This procedure yields corrected spectroscopy for 80% of the 24162-star catalog.\n\nThe spectra in this file are identical to those which have been unified to the 99.5th-percentile spectral resolution curve for MaStar and made available at https://www.sdss4.org/dr17/mastar/mastar-spectra (with the exception of the corrected spectral regions described above). The datamodel is described below. \n\nMANGAID - The XX-XXXXXX format MaNGA IDWAVE - Vacuum wavelength grid. The wavelength sampling is logarithmic (Angstroms)FLUX - Observed flux, corrected for Milky Way ISM contamination. Extinction-corrected to above the Earth's atmosphere but not corrected for Galactic extinction (10^-17 erg/s/cm^2/Ang)IVAR - Inverse variance of the flux (10^34 s^2cm^4Ang^2/erg^2)PREDISP - Instrumental broadening sigma. Does not include the effect of pixel integration (Angstroms)SRES - Spectral resolution = WAVE/(sqrt(8*ln(2)) * PREDISP)REPLACEMENT_CAII_FLG - Flag indicating treatment of the CaII spectral region. Described in Table 3REPLACEMENT_NAID_FLG - Flag indicating treatment of the NaID spectral region. Described in Table 3NSIG_THRESH - Maximum 3D distance in stellar parameter space from stars included in empirical replacement stack, if one was constructed. Described in Sec. 3.1 and 3.2 (Psi_thresh)ewCaIIK_pred - Interstellar CaII K EW predicted by model described in Sec. 2.2 (Angstroms)ewNaI5891_pred - Interstellar NaI D 5891 EW predicted by model described in Sec. 2.2 (Angstroms)ewNaI5897_pred - Interstellar NaI D 5897 EW predicted by model described in Sec. 2.2 (Angstroms)"],"Other":["Preferred Citation\n\nIf you use these library spectra in your research, we ask that you please cite our article, "Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV MaStar: Quantification and Abatement of Interstellar Absorption in the Largest Empirical Stellar Spectral Library," Rubin et al. (2025), ApJ, 981 31, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad8eb6. Please also cite this Zenodo deposit."]}more » « less
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