A Color-locus Method for Mapping R V Using Ensembles of Stars

Lee, Albert; Green, Gregory M.; Schlafly, Edward F.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.; Burgett, William; Chambers, Ken; Flewelling, Heather; Hodapp, Klaus; Kaiser, Nick; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Magnier, Eugene; Metcalfe, Nigel; Wainscoat, Richard; Waters, Christopher

Abstract

We present a simple but effective technique for measuring angular variation in R V across the sky. We divide stars from the Pan-STARRS1 catalog into Healpix pixels and determine the posterior distribution of reddening and R V for each pixel using two independent Monte Carlo methods. We find the two methods to be self-consistent in the limits where they are expected to perform similarly. We also find some agreement with high-precision photometric studies of R V in Perseus and Ophiuchus, as well as with a map of reddening near the Galactic plane based on stellar spectra from APOGEE. While current studies of R V are mostly limited to isolated clouds, we have developed a systematic method for comparing R V values for the majority of observable dust. This is a proof of concept for a more rigorous Galactic reddening map.

Citation

Lee, A., Green, G. M., Schlafly, E. F., Finkbeiner, D. P., Burgett, W., Chambers, K., …Waters, C. (2018). A Color-locus Method for Mapping R V Using Ensembles of Stars. Astrophysical Journal, 854(2), Article 79. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaa6d

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 18, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 15, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 15, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2018
• Journal: Astrophysical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0004-637X
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 854
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 79
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaa6d
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1333394