TY - JOUR
T1 - The time-domain spectroscopic survey
T2 - Understanding the optically variable sky with sequels in SDSS-III
AU - Ruan, John J.
AU - Anderson, Scott F.
AU - Green, Paul J.
AU - Morganson, Eric
AU - Eracleous, Michael
AU - Myers, Adam D.
AU - Badenes, Carles
AU - Bershady, Matthew A.
AU - Brandt, William N.
AU - Chambers, Kenneth C.
AU - Davenport, James R.A.
AU - Dawson, Kyle S.
AU - Flewelling, Heather
AU - Heckman, Timothy M.
AU - Isler, Jedidah C.
AU - Kaiser, Nick
AU - Kneib, Jean Paul
AU - MacLeod, Chelsea L.
AU - Paris, Isabelle
AU - Ross, Nicholas P.
AU - Runnoe, Jessie C.
AU - Schlafly, Edward F.
AU - Schmidt, Sarah J.
AU - Schneider, Donald P.
AU - Schwope, Axel D.
AU - Shen, Yue
AU - Stassun, Keivan G.
AU - Szkody, Paula
AU - Waters, Christoper Z.
AU - York, Donald G.
N1 - Funding Information:
J.J.R. acknowledges NASA support through Fermi Guest Investigator grant NNX14AQ23G. W.N.B. acknowledges NSF support through grant AST-1516784. Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SDSS-III web site is http://sdss3.org/.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/7/10
Y1 - 2016/7/10
N2 - The Time-Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) is an SDSS-IV eBOSS subproject primarily aimed at obtaining identification spectra of ∼220,000 optically variable objects systematically selected from SDSS/Pan-STARRS1 multi-epoch imaging. We present a preview of the science enabled by TDSS, based on TDSS spectra taken over ∼320 deg2 of sky as part of the SEQUELS survey in SDSS-III, which is in part a pilot survey for eBOSS in SDSS-IV. Using the 15,746 TDSS-selected single-epoch spectra of photometrically variable objects in SEQUELS, we determine the demographics of our variability-selected sample and investigate the unique spectral characteristics inherent in samples selected by variability. We show that variability-based selection of quasars complements color-based selection by selecting additional redder quasars and mitigates redshift biases to produce a smooth quasar redshift distribution over a wide range of redshifts. The resulting quasar sample contains systematically higher fractions of blazars and broad absorption line quasars than from color-selected samples. Similarly, we show that M dwarfs in the TDSS-selected stellar sample have systematically higher chromospheric active fractions than the underlying M-dwarf population based on their Hα emission. TDSS also contains a large number of RR Lyrae and eclipsing binary stars with main-sequence colors, including a few composite-spectrum binaries. Finally, our visual inspection of TDSS spectra uncovers a significant number of peculiar spectra, and we highlight a few cases of these interesting objects. With a factor of ∼15 more spectra, the main TDSS survey in SDSS-IV will leverage the lessons learned from these early results for a variety of time-domain science applications.
AB - The Time-Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) is an SDSS-IV eBOSS subproject primarily aimed at obtaining identification spectra of ∼220,000 optically variable objects systematically selected from SDSS/Pan-STARRS1 multi-epoch imaging. We present a preview of the science enabled by TDSS, based on TDSS spectra taken over ∼320 deg2 of sky as part of the SEQUELS survey in SDSS-III, which is in part a pilot survey for eBOSS in SDSS-IV. Using the 15,746 TDSS-selected single-epoch spectra of photometrically variable objects in SEQUELS, we determine the demographics of our variability-selected sample and investigate the unique spectral characteristics inherent in samples selected by variability. We show that variability-based selection of quasars complements color-based selection by selecting additional redder quasars and mitigates redshift biases to produce a smooth quasar redshift distribution over a wide range of redshifts. The resulting quasar sample contains systematically higher fractions of blazars and broad absorption line quasars than from color-selected samples. Similarly, we show that M dwarfs in the TDSS-selected stellar sample have systematically higher chromospheric active fractions than the underlying M-dwarf population based on their Hα emission. TDSS also contains a large number of RR Lyrae and eclipsing binary stars with main-sequence colors, including a few composite-spectrum binaries. Finally, our visual inspection of TDSS spectra uncovers a significant number of peculiar spectra, and we highlight a few cases of these interesting objects. With a factor of ∼15 more spectra, the main TDSS survey in SDSS-IV will leverage the lessons learned from these early results for a variety of time-domain science applications.
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U2 - 10.3847/0004-637X/825/2/137
DO - 10.3847/0004-637X/825/2/137
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84978524161
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 825
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 137
ER -