The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy

Chelsea L. MacLeod; Paul J. Green; Scott F. Anderson; Michael Eracleous; John J. Ruan; Jessie Runnoe; William Nielsen Brandt; Carles Badenes; Jenny Greene; Eric Morganson; Sarah J. Schmidt; Axel Schwope; Yue Shen; Rachael Amaro; Amy Lebleu; Nurten Filiz Ak; Catherine J. Grier; Daniel Hoover; Sean M. McGraw; Kyle Dawson; Patrick B. Hall; Suzanne L. Hawley; Vivek Mariappan; Adam D. Myers; Isabelle Paris; Donald P. Schneider; Keivan G. Stassun; Matthew A. Bershady; Michael R. Blanton; Hee Jong Seo; Jeremy Tinker; J. G. Fernández-Trincado; Kenneth Chambers; Nick Kaiser; R. P. Kudritzki; Eugene Magnier; Nigel Metcalfe; Chris Z. Waters

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy

Chelsea L. MacLeod, Paul J. Green, Scott F. Anderson, Michael Eracleous, John J. Ruan, Jessie Runnoe, William Nielsen Brandt, Carles Badenes, Jenny Greene, Eric Morganson, Sarah J. Schmidt, Axel Schwope, Yue Shen, Rachael Amaro, Amy Lebleu, Nurten Filiz Ak, Catherine J. Grier, Daniel Hoover, Sean M. McGraw, Kyle DawsonPatrick B. Hall, Suzanne L. Hawley, Vivek Mariappan, Adam D. Myers, Isabelle Paris, Donald P. Schneider, Keivan G. Stassun, Matthew A. Bershady, Michael R. Blanton, Hee Jong Seo, Jeremy Tinker, J. G. Fernández-Trincado, Kenneth Chambers, Nick Kaiser, R. P. Kudritzki, Eugene Magnier, Nigel Metcalfe, Chris Z. Waters

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Abstract

As astronomers increasingly exploit the information available in the time domain, spectroscopic variability in particular opens broad new channels of investigation. Here we describe the selection algorithms for all targets intended for repeat spectroscopy in the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), part of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV. Also discussed are the scientific rationale and technical constraints leading to these target selections. The TDSS includes a large "repeat quasar spectroscopy" (RQS) program delivering ∼13,000 repeat spectra of confirmed SDSS quasars, and several smaller "few-epoch spectroscopy" (FES) programs targeting specific classes of quasars as well as stars. The RQS program aims to provide a large and diverse quasar data set for studying variations in quasar spectra on timescales of years, a comparison sample for the FES quasar programs, and an opportunity for discovering rare, serendipitous events. The FES programs cover a wide variety of phenomena in both quasars and stars. Quasar FES programs target broad absorption line quasars, high signal-to-noise ratio normal broad line quasars, quasars with double-peaked or very asymmetric broad emission line profiles, binary supermassive black hole candidates, and the most photometrically variable quasars. Strongly variable stars are also targeted for repeat spectroscopy, encompassing many types of eclipsing binary systems, and classical pulsators like RR Lyrae. Other stellar FES programs allow spectroscopic variability studies of active ultracool dwarf stars, dwarf carbon stars, and white dwarf/M dwarf spectroscopic binaries. We present example TDSS spectra and describe anticipated sample sizes and results.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6
Journal	Astronomical Journal
Volume	155
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da
State	Published - Jan 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

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MacLeod, C. L., Green, P. J., Anderson, S. F., Eracleous, M., Ruan, J. J., Runnoe, J., Brandt, W. N., Badenes, C., Greene, J., Morganson, E., Schmidt, S. J., Schwope, A., Shen, Y., Amaro, R., Lebleu, A., Ak, N. F., Grier, C. J., Hoover, D., McGraw, S. M., ... Waters, C. Z. (2018). The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy. Astronomical Journal, 155(1), [6]. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

@article{efbfecbd0f6949be87a95d93ae0b1952,

title = "The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy",

abstract = "As astronomers increasingly exploit the information available in the time domain, spectroscopic variability in particular opens broad new channels of investigation. Here we describe the selection algorithms for all targets intended for repeat spectroscopy in the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), part of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV. Also discussed are the scientific rationale and technical constraints leading to these target selections. The TDSS includes a large {"}repeat quasar spectroscopy{"} (RQS) program delivering ∼13,000 repeat spectra of confirmed SDSS quasars, and several smaller {"}few-epoch spectroscopy{"} (FES) programs targeting specific classes of quasars as well as stars. The RQS program aims to provide a large and diverse quasar data set for studying variations in quasar spectra on timescales of years, a comparison sample for the FES quasar programs, and an opportunity for discovering rare, serendipitous events. The FES programs cover a wide variety of phenomena in both quasars and stars. Quasar FES programs target broad absorption line quasars, high signal-to-noise ratio normal broad line quasars, quasars with double-peaked or very asymmetric broad emission line profiles, binary supermassive black hole candidates, and the most photometrically variable quasars. Strongly variable stars are also targeted for repeat spectroscopy, encompassing many types of eclipsing binary systems, and classical pulsators like RR Lyrae. Other stellar FES programs allow spectroscopic variability studies of active ultracool dwarf stars, dwarf carbon stars, and white dwarf/M dwarf spectroscopic binaries. We present example TDSS spectra and describe anticipated sample sizes and results.",

author = "MacLeod, {Chelsea L.} and Green, {Paul J.} and Anderson, {Scott F.} and Michael Eracleous and Ruan, {John J.} and Jessie Runnoe and Brandt, {William Nielsen} and Carles Badenes and Jenny Greene and Eric Morganson and Schmidt, {Sarah J.} and Axel Schwope and Yue Shen and Rachael Amaro and Amy Lebleu and Ak, {Nurten Filiz} and Grier, {Catherine J.} and Daniel Hoover and McGraw, {Sean M.} and Kyle Dawson and Hall, {Patrick B.} and Hawley, {Suzanne L.} and Vivek Mariappan and Myers, {Adam D.} and Isabelle Paris and Schneider, {Donald P.} and Stassun, {Keivan G.} and Bershady, {Matthew A.} and Blanton, {Michael R.} and Seo, {Hee Jong} and Jeremy Tinker and Fern{\'a}ndez-Trincado, {J. G.} and Kenneth Chambers and Nick Kaiser and Kudritzki, {R. P.} and Eugene Magnier and Nigel Metcalfe and Waters, {Chris Z.}",

note = "Funding Information: National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Funding Information: National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Facilities: SDSS, Pan-STARRS. Funding Information: We thank an anonymous referee whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. We also thank Lile Wang for provided the data needed for the bottom panel of Figure 9. Support for this work was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Chandra Award Number AR4-15016X issued by the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of the National Aeronautics Space Administration under contract NAS8-03060. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants AST-1715121 and AST-1715763. W.N.B., C.J.G., and S.M. acknowledge support from NSF grant AST-1516784. Y.S. acknowledges support from an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF grant AST-1715579. Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS web site ishttp://www.sdss.org/ . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

year = "2018",

month = jan,

doi = "10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "155",

journal = "Astronomical Journal",

issn = "0004-6256",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "1",

}

MacLeod, CL, Green, PJ, Anderson, SF, Eracleous, M, Ruan, JJ, Runnoe, J, Brandt, WN, Badenes, C, Greene, J, Morganson, E, Schmidt, SJ, Schwope, A, Shen, Y, Amaro, R, Lebleu, A, Ak, NF, Grier, CJ, Hoover, D, McGraw, SM, Dawson, K, Hall, PB, Hawley, SL, Mariappan, V, Myers, AD, Paris, I, Schneider, DP, Stassun, KG, Bershady, MA, Blanton, MR, Seo, HJ, Tinker, J, Fernández-Trincado, JG, Chambers, K, Kaiser, N, Kudritzki, RP, Magnier, E, Metcalfe, N & Waters, CZ 2018, 'The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy', Astronomical Journal, vol. 155, no. 1, 6. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey

T2 - Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy

AU - MacLeod, Chelsea L.

AU - Green, Paul J.

AU - Anderson, Scott F.

AU - Eracleous, Michael

AU - Ruan, John J.

AU - Runnoe, Jessie

AU - Brandt, William Nielsen

AU - Badenes, Carles

AU - Greene, Jenny

AU - Morganson, Eric

AU - Schmidt, Sarah J.

AU - Schwope, Axel

AU - Shen, Yue

AU - Amaro, Rachael

AU - Lebleu, Amy

AU - Ak, Nurten Filiz

AU - Grier, Catherine J.

AU - Hoover, Daniel

AU - McGraw, Sean M.

AU - Dawson, Kyle

AU - Hall, Patrick B.

AU - Hawley, Suzanne L.

AU - Mariappan, Vivek

AU - Myers, Adam D.

AU - Paris, Isabelle

AU - Schneider, Donald P.

AU - Stassun, Keivan G.

AU - Bershady, Matthew A.

AU - Blanton, Michael R.

AU - Seo, Hee Jong

AU - Tinker, Jeremy

AU - Fernández-Trincado, J. G.

AU - Chambers, Kenneth

AU - Kaiser, Nick

AU - Kudritzki, R. P.

AU - Magnier, Eugene

AU - Metcalfe, Nigel

AU - Waters, Chris Z.

N1 - Funding Information: National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Funding Information: National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Facilities: SDSS, Pan-STARRS. Funding Information: We thank an anonymous referee whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. We also thank Lile Wang for provided the data needed for the bottom panel of Figure 9. Support for this work was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Chandra Award Number AR4-15016X issued by the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of the National Aeronautics Space Administration under contract NAS8-03060. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants AST-1715121 and AST-1715763. W.N.B., C.J.G., and S.M. acknowledge support from NSF grant AST-1516784. Y.S. acknowledges support from an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF grant AST-1715579. Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS web site ishttp://www.sdss.org/ . Publisher Copyright: © 2017 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/1

Y1 - 2018/1

N2 - As astronomers increasingly exploit the information available in the time domain, spectroscopic variability in particular opens broad new channels of investigation. Here we describe the selection algorithms for all targets intended for repeat spectroscopy in the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), part of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV. Also discussed are the scientific rationale and technical constraints leading to these target selections. The TDSS includes a large "repeat quasar spectroscopy" (RQS) program delivering ∼13,000 repeat spectra of confirmed SDSS quasars, and several smaller "few-epoch spectroscopy" (FES) programs targeting specific classes of quasars as well as stars. The RQS program aims to provide a large and diverse quasar data set for studying variations in quasar spectra on timescales of years, a comparison sample for the FES quasar programs, and an opportunity for discovering rare, serendipitous events. The FES programs cover a wide variety of phenomena in both quasars and stars. Quasar FES programs target broad absorption line quasars, high signal-to-noise ratio normal broad line quasars, quasars with double-peaked or very asymmetric broad emission line profiles, binary supermassive black hole candidates, and the most photometrically variable quasars. Strongly variable stars are also targeted for repeat spectroscopy, encompassing many types of eclipsing binary systems, and classical pulsators like RR Lyrae. Other stellar FES programs allow spectroscopic variability studies of active ultracool dwarf stars, dwarf carbon stars, and white dwarf/M dwarf spectroscopic binaries. We present example TDSS spectra and describe anticipated sample sizes and results.

AB - As astronomers increasingly exploit the information available in the time domain, spectroscopic variability in particular opens broad new channels of investigation. Here we describe the selection algorithms for all targets intended for repeat spectroscopy in the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), part of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV. Also discussed are the scientific rationale and technical constraints leading to these target selections. The TDSS includes a large "repeat quasar spectroscopy" (RQS) program delivering ∼13,000 repeat spectra of confirmed SDSS quasars, and several smaller "few-epoch spectroscopy" (FES) programs targeting specific classes of quasars as well as stars. The RQS program aims to provide a large and diverse quasar data set for studying variations in quasar spectra on timescales of years, a comparison sample for the FES quasar programs, and an opportunity for discovering rare, serendipitous events. The FES programs cover a wide variety of phenomena in both quasars and stars. Quasar FES programs target broad absorption line quasars, high signal-to-noise ratio normal broad line quasars, quasars with double-peaked or very asymmetric broad emission line profiles, binary supermassive black hole candidates, and the most photometrically variable quasars. Strongly variable stars are also targeted for repeat spectroscopy, encompassing many types of eclipsing binary systems, and classical pulsators like RR Lyrae. Other stellar FES programs allow spectroscopic variability studies of active ultracool dwarf stars, dwarf carbon stars, and white dwarf/M dwarf spectroscopic binaries. We present example TDSS spectra and describe anticipated sample sizes and results.

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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85040455203&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

DO - 10.3847/1538-3881/aa99da

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85040455203

SN - 0004-6256

VL - 155

JO - Astronomical Journal

JF - Astronomical Journal

IS - 1

M1 - 6

ER -

The Time-domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy

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