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C. J. Conselice

Other affiliations: Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Bio: C. J. Conselice is an academic researcher from University of Nottingham. The author has contributed to research in topics: Galaxy & Redshift. The author has an hindex of 47, co-authored 133 publications receiving 7811 citations. Previous affiliations of C. J. Conselice include Kapteyn Astronomical Institute.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first catalogue of photometrically derived stellar mass estimates for intermediate-redshift (z < 0.65; median z= 0.2) galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey is described in this paper.
Abstract: This paper describes the first catalogue of photometrically derived stellar mass estimates for intermediate-redshift (z < 0.65; median z= 0.2) galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey. These masses, as well as the full set of ancillary stellar population parameters, will be made public as part of GAMA data release 2. Although the GAMA database does include near-infrared (NIR) photometry, we show that the quality of our stellar population synthesis fits is significantly poorer when these NIR data are included. Further, for a large fraction of galaxies, the stellar population parameters inferred from the optical-plus-NIR photometry are formally inconsistent with those inferred from the optical data alone. This may indicate problems in our stellar population library, or NIR data issues, or both; these issues will be addressed for future versions of the catalogue. For now, we have chosen to base our stellar mass estimates on optical photometry only. In light of our decision to ignore the available NIR data, we examine how well stellar mass can be constrained based on optical data alone. We use generic properties of stellar population synthesis models to demonstrate that restframe colour alone is in principle a very good estimator of stellar mass-to-light ratio, M*/Li. Further, we use the observed relation between restframe (g−i) and M*/Li for real GAMA galaxies to argue that, modulo uncertainties in the stellar evolution models themselves, (g−i) colour can in practice be used to estimate M*/Li to an accuracy of ≲0.1 dex (1σ). This ‘empirically calibrated’ (g−i)–M*/Li relation offers a simple and transparent means for estimating galaxies’ stellar masses based on minimal data, and so provides a solid basis for other surveys to compare their results to z≲0.4 measurements from GAMA.

555 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
T. M. C. Abbott, Filipe B. Abdalla1, Filipe B. Abdalla2, S. Allam3  +220 moreInstitutions (50)
TL;DR: The first public data release of the DES DR1 dataset is described in this paper, consisting of reduced single-epoch images, co-add images, and co-added source catalogs, and associated products and services.
Abstract: We describe the first public data release of the Dark Energy Survey, DES DR1, consisting of reduced single-epoch images, co-added images, co-added source catalogs, and associated products and services assembled over the first 3 yr of DES science operations. DES DR1 is based on optical/near-infrared imaging from 345 distinct nights (2013 August to 2016 February) by the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory in Chile. We release data from the DES wide-area survey covering similar to 5000 deg(2) of the southern Galactic cap in five broad photometric bands, grizY. DES DR1 has a median delivered point-spread function of g = 1.12, r = 0.96, i = 0.88, z = 0.84, and Y = 0.'' 90 FWHM, a photometric precision of <1% in all bands, and an astrometric precision of 151 mas. The median co-added catalog depth for a 1.'' 95 diameter aperture at signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) = 10 is g = 24.33, r = 24.08, i = 23.44, z = 22.69, and Y = 21.44 mag. DES DR1 includes nearly 400 million distinct astronomical objects detected in similar to 10,000 co-add tiles of size 0.534 deg(2) produced from similar to 39,000 individual exposures. Benchmark galaxy and stellar samples contain similar to 310 million and similar to 80 million objects, respectively, following a basic object quality selection. These data are accessible through a range of interfaces, including query web clients, image cutout servers, jupyter notebooks, and an interactive co-add image visualization tool. DES DR1 constitutes the largest photometric data set to date at the achieved depth and photometric precision.

506 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first catalogue of photometrically derived stellar mass estimates for intermediate-redshift (z < 0.65) galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey is described in this paper.
Abstract: This paper describes the first catalogue of photometrically-derived stellar mass estimates for intermediate-redshift (z < 0.65) galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey. These masses, as well as the full set of ancillary stellar population parameters, will be made public as part of GAMA data release 2. Although the GAMA database does include NIR photometry, we show that the quality of our stellar population synthesis fits is significantly poorer when these NIR data are included. Further, for a large fraction of galaxies, the stellar population parameters inferred from the optical-plus-NIR photometry are formally inconsistent with those inferred from the optical data alone. This may indicate problems in our stellar population library, or NIR data issues, or both; these issues will be addressed for future versions of the catalogue. For now, we have chosen to base our stellar mass estimates on optical photometry only. In light of our decision to ignore the available NIR data, we examine how well stellar mass can be constrained based on optical data alone. We use generic properties of stellar population synthesis models to demonstrate that restframe colour alone is in principle a very good estimator of stellar mass-to-light ratio, M*/Li. Further, we use the observed relation between restframe (g-i) and M*/Li for real GAMA galaxies to argue that, modulo uncertainties in the stellar evolution models themselves, (g-i) colour can in practice be used to estimate M*/Li to an accuracy of < ~0.1 dex. This 'empirically calibrated' (g-i)-M*/Li relation offers a simple and transparent means for estimating galaxies' stellar masses based on minimal data, and so provides a solid basis for other surveys to compare their results to z < ~0.4 measurements from GAMA.

479 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) was used to detect the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star merger detected through gravitational-wave emission, GW170817.
Abstract: We present the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) discovery of the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star merger detected through gravitational-wave emission, GW170817. Our observations commenced 10.5 hr post-merger, as soon as the localization region became accessible from Chile. We imaged 70 deg(2) in the i and z bands, covering 93% of the initial integrated localization probability, to a depth necessary to identify likely optical counterparts (e.g., a kilonova). At 11.4 hr post-merger we detected a bright optical transient located $10\buildrel{\prime\prime}\over{.} 6$ from the nucleus of NGC 4993 at redshift z = 0.0098, consistent (for ${H}_{0}=70$ km s(−)(1) Mpc(−)(1)) with the distance of 40 ± 8 Mpc reported by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration (LVC). At detection the transient had magnitudes of $i=17.3$ and $z=17.4$, and thus an absolute magnitude of ${M}_{i}=-15.7$, in the luminosity range expected for a kilonova. We identified 1500 potential transient candidates. Applying simple selection criteria aimed at rejecting background events such as supernovae, we find the transient associated with NGC 4993 as the only remaining plausible counterpart, and reject chance coincidence at the 99.5% confidence level. We therefore conclude that the optical counterpart we have identified near NGC 4993 is associated with GW170817. This discovery ushers in the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves and demonstrates the power of DECam to identify the optical counterparts of gravitational-wave sources.

478 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
T. M. C. Abbott, Filipe B. Abdalla, S. Allam, A. Amara, J. Annis, Jacobo Asorey, Santiago Avila, O. Ballester, M. Banerji, Wayne A. Barkhouse, L. Baruah, M. Baumer, Keith Bechtol, Matthew R. Becker, A. Benoit-Lévy, Gary Bernstein, E. Bertin, Jonathan Blazek, Sebastian Bocquet, David Brooks, D. Brout, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, V. C. Busti, Riccardo Campisano, Laia Cardiel-Sas, A. C arnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, Francisco J. Castander, R. Cawthon, Chihway Chang, C. J. Conselice, G. Costa, Martin Crocce, Carlos E. Cunha, C. B. D'Andrea, L. N. da Costa, R. Das, G. Daues, Tamara M. Davis, C. L. Davis, J. De Vicente, Darren L. DePoy, J. DeRose, Shantanu Desai, H. T. Diehl, J. P. Dietrich, Scott Dodelson, P. Doel, Alex Drlica-Wagner, T. F. Eifler, Ann Elliott, August E. Evrard, Arya Farahi, A. Fausti Neto, Enrique J. Fernández, D. A. Finley, M. Fitzpatrick, B. Flaugher, Ryan J. Foley, P. Fosalba, Douglas N. Friedel, Joshua A. Frieman, Juan Garcia-Bellido, E. Gaz tanaga, D. W. Gerdes, Tommaso Giannantonio, M. S. S. Gill, Karl Glazebrook, Daniel A. Goldstein, M. Gower, Daniel Gruen, Robert A. Gruendl, J. Gschwend, R. R. Gupta, G. Gutierrez, S. Hamilton, W. G. Hartley, Samuel Hinton, J. M. Hislop, D. L. Hollowood, K. Honscheid, Ben Hoyle, Dragan Huterer, Bhuvnesh Jain, David J. James, T. Jeltema, Marvin Johnson, Michael D. Johnson, S. Juneau, T. Kacpr zak, Steve Kent, G. Khullar, Matthias Klein, Attila Kovács, A. M. G. Koziol, Elisabeth Krause, A. Kremin, Richard G. Kron 
TL;DR: The first public data release of the DES DR1, consisting of reduced single epoch images, coadded images, and coadded source catalogs, and associated products and services assembled over the first three years of DES science operations, was described in this paper.
Abstract: We describe the first public data release of the Dark Energy Survey, DES DR1, consisting of reduced single epoch images, coadded images, coadded source catalogs, and associated products and services assembled over the first three years of DES science operations. DES DR1 is based on optical/near-infrared imaging from 345 distinct nights (August 2013 to February 2016) by the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. We release data from the DES wide-area survey covering ~5,000 sq. deg. of the southern Galactic cap in five broad photometric bands, grizY. DES DR1 has a median delivered point-spread function of g = 1.12, r = 0.96, i = 0.88, z = 0.84, and Y = 0.90 arcsec FWHM, a photometric precision of < 1% in all bands, and an astrometric precision of 151 mas. The median coadded catalog depth for a 1.95" diameter aperture at S/N = 10 is g = 24.33, r = 24.08, i = 23.44, z = 22.69, and Y = 21.44 mag. DES DR1 includes nearly 400M distinct astronomical objects detected in ~10,000 coadd tiles of size 0.534 sq. deg. produced from ~39,000 individual exposures. Benchmark galaxy and stellar samples contain ~310M and ~ 80M objects, respectively, following a basic object quality selection. These data are accessible through a range of interfaces, including query web clients, image cutout servers, jupyter notebooks, and an interactive coadd image visualization tool. DES DR1 constitutes the largest photometric data set to date at the achieved depth and photometric precision.

454 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
TL;DR: The first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger were reported in this paper, with a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203,000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ.
Abstract: On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10(-21). It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203,000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410(-180)(+160) Mpc corresponding to a redshift z=0.09(-0.04)(+0.03). In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36(-4)(+5)M⊙ and 29(-4)(+4)M⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62(-4)(+4)M⊙, with 3.0(-0.5)(+0.5)M⊙c(2) radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.

4,375 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors.
Abstract: On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of $\sim 1.7\,{\rm{s}}$ with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of ${40}_{-8}^{+8}$ Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 $\,{M}_{\odot }$. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at $\sim 40\,{\rm{Mpc}}$) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position $\sim 9$ and $\sim 16$ days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

2,746 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the radiative or quasar mode of feedback can account for the observed proportionality between the central black hole and the host galaxy mass, which can lead to ejection or heating of the gas.
Abstract: Radiation, winds, and jets from the active nucleus of a massive galaxy can interact with its interstellar medium, and this can lead to ejection or heating of the gas. This terminates star formation in the galaxy and stifles accretion onto the black hole. Such active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback can account for the observed proportionality between the central black hole and the host galaxy mass. Direct observational evidence for the radiative or quasar mode of feedback, which occurs when AGN are very luminous, has been difficult to obtain but is accumulating from a few exceptional objects. Feedback from the kinetic or radio mode, which uses the mechanical energy of radio-emitting jets often seen when AGN are operating at a lower level, is common in massive elliptical galaxies. This mode is well observed directly through X-ray observations of the central galaxies of cool core clusters in the form of bubbles in the hot surrounding medium. The energy flow, which is roughly continuous, heats the hot intraclu...

2,299 citations

01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: The Monthly Notices as mentioned in this paper is one of the three largest general primary astronomical research publications in the world, published by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAE), and it is the most widely cited journal in astronomy.
Abstract: Monthly Notices is one of the three largest general primary astronomical research publications. It is an international journal, published by the Royal Astronomical Society. This article 1 describes its publication policy and practice.

2,091 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Norman A. Grogin1, Dale D. Kocevski2, Sandra M. Faber2, Henry C. Ferguson1, Anton M. Koekemoer1, Adam G. Riess3, Viviana Acquaviva4, David M. Alexander5, Omar Almaini6, Matthew L. N. Ashby7, Marco Barden8, Eric F. Bell9, Frédéric Bournaud10, Thomas M. Brown1, Karina Caputi11, Stefano Casertano1, Paolo Cassata12, Marco Castellano, Peter Challis7, Ranga-Ram Chary13, Edmond Cheung2, Michele Cirasuolo14, Christopher J. Conselice6, Asantha Cooray15, Darren J. Croton16, Emanuele Daddi10, Tomas Dahlen1, Romeel Davé17, Duilia F. de Mello18, Duilia F. de Mello19, Avishai Dekel20, Mark Dickinson, Timothy Dolch3, Jennifer L. Donley1, James Dunlop11, Aaron A. Dutton21, David Elbaz10, Giovanni G. Fazio7, Alexei V. Filippenko22, Steven L. Finkelstein23, Adriano Fontana, Jonathan P. Gardner18, Peter M. Garnavich24, Eric Gawiser4, Mauro Giavalisco12, Andrea Grazian, Yicheng Guo12, Nimish P. Hathi25, Boris Häussler6, Philip F. Hopkins22, Jiasheng Huang26, Kuang-Han Huang1, Kuang-Han Huang3, Saurabh Jha4, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Robert P. Kirshner7, David C. Koo2, Kamson Lai2, Kyoung-Soo Lee27, Weidong Li22, Jennifer M. Lotz1, Ray A. Lucas1, Piero Madau2, Patrick J. McCarthy25, Elizabeth J. McGrath2, Daniel H. McIntosh28, Ross J. McLure11, Bahram Mobasher29, Leonidas A. Moustakas13, Mark Mozena2, Kirpal Nandra30, Jeffrey A. Newman31, Sami Niemi1, Kai G. Noeske1, Casey Papovich23, Laura Pentericci, Alexandra Pope12, Joel R. Primack2, Abhijith Rajan1, Swara Ravindranath32, Naveen A. Reddy29, Alvio Renzini, Hans-Walter Rix30, Aday R. Robaina33, Steven A. Rodney3, David J. Rosario30, Piero Rosati34, S. Salimbeni12, Claudia Scarlata35, Brian Siana29, Luc Simard36, Joseph Smidt15, Rachel S. Somerville4, Hyron Spinrad22, Amber Straughn18, Louis-Gregory Strolger37, Olivia Telford31, Harry I. Teplitz13, Jonathan R. Trump2, Arjen van der Wel30, Carolin Villforth1, Risa H. Wechsler38, Benjamin J. Weiner17, Tommy Wiklind39, Vivienne Wild11, Grant W. Wilson12, Stijn Wuyts30, Hao Jing Yan40, Min S. Yun12 
TL;DR: The Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) as discussed by the authors was designed to document the first third of galactic evolution, from z approx. 8 - 1.5 to test their accuracy as standard candles for cosmology.
Abstract: The Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) is designed to document the first third of galactic evolution, from z approx. 8 - 1.5. It will image > 250,000 distant galaxies using three separate cameras on the Hubble Space Tele8cope, from the mid-UV to near-IR, and will find and measure Type Ia supernovae beyond z > 1.5 to test their accuracy as standard candles for cosmology. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive ancillary data. The use of five widely separated fields mitigates cosmic variance and yields statistically robust and complete samples of galaxies down to a stellar mass of 10(exp 9) solar mass to z approx. 2, reaching the knee of the UV luminosity function of galaxies to z approx. 8. The survey covers approximately 800 square arc minutes and is divided into two parts. The CANDELS/Deep survey (5(sigma) point-source limit H =27.7mag) covers approx. 125 square arcminutes within GOODS-N and GOODS-S. The CANDELS/Wide survey includes GOODS and three additional fields (EGS, COSMOS, and UDS) and covers the full area to a 50(sigma) point-source limit of H ? or approx. = 27.0 mag. Together with the Hubble Ultradeep Fields, the strategy creates a three-tiered "wedding cake" approach that has proven efficient for extragalactic surveys. Data from the survey are non-proprietary and are useful for a wide variety of science investigations. In this paper, we describe the basic motivations for the survey, the CANDELS team science goals and the resulting observational requirements, the field selection and geometry, and the observing design.

2,088 citations