Re: Vega and k-corrections

From: Chris Lidman (clidman@eso.org)
Date: Sun May 16 2004 - 08:57:45 PDT

  • Next message: Alex Kim: "Re: Vega and k-corrections"

    Hi Serena,
      I've though a bit more about the issue of cross filter k-corrections
    and I attach a short report. Alex, I'd like you to read this and to give
    us your opinion.

    Cheers, Chris.

    IR to Optical k-corrections
    ===========================

    The cross filter k-correction is defined in Kim, Goobar and Perlmutter
    (1996)
    and is applied to apparent magnitudes according to

    m_y = m_x + K_xy(z)

    where x and y are different filters.

    Let's assume that z=0 and that Z=F. Let's further assume that we are
    using
    the Kurucz model for Vega. In this case K_xy(0) = 0 and, hence,

    m_y = m_x

    However this is not true for Vega for all x and y (i.e. all filters)

    m_V=0.026 +/- 0.008 (Bohlin and Gilliland, 2004)
    m_I=0.031 +/- 0.009 (Bessell, Castelli and Plez, 1998)

    m_J=-0.001 +/ -0.005 (Cohen, Wheaton and Megeath, 2003)

    where J is on the 2MASS system.

    If we set x to I and y to J

    Hence m_J=m_I-0.032.

    or m_I - m_J = 0.032 = -K_IJ

    I propose that we add an extra term to the cross filter k-correction as
    defined by Alex which reflects the colours of Vega. Note that Alex's
    definition is completely correct for an object in which all colours are
    zero.

    The new k correction is then

    K'_xy(z) = K_xy(z) - (x-y),

    where (x-y) is the colour of Vega and K_xy(z) is the k-correction
    defined by Alex.

    For the I band paper, we added this correction to the J band photometry.
    I think we should change this by changing the way we do the
    k-correction,
    as I have described above.

    Apart from the uncertainties described here, there is a systematic
    uncertainty
    in how well the Kurucz spectrum represents Vega. Bohlin and Gilliland
    quote an uncertainty of 2% from optical to IR wavelengths. We should add
    this systematic uncertainty to all IR to optical K corrections.

    Bessell, M. S., Castelli, F. and Plez, B. 1998, AA, 333, 231
    Bohlin, R. C. and Gilliland R. L. 2004, astro-ph/0403712
    Cohen, M., Wheaton, WM. A. and Megeath, AJ, 2003, 126,1090
    Kim, A, Goobar, A, and Perlmutter, S. 1996, PASP, 108, 190

    On Fri, 2004-05-07 at 19:59, Chris Lidman wrote:
    > Hi Serena,
    > I'd like to draw your attention to some nice work that has been done
    > on the absolute flux calibration of the Vega SED, which is central
    > to the way we compute cross-filter k-corrections and, in particular,
    > the corrections from IR to optical filters. See Bohlin and Gilliland
    > (astro-ph/040371) and Cohen et al. (AJ 126, 1090).
    >
    > The core of their results is that Vega has V-J = 0.026 +/- 0.008.
    > It is not 100% clear to me what this implies for IR -> optical
    > k-corrections, but I'll read these papers carefully over the
    > next week and I'll let you know what I think. It is interesting to note
    > that this number is not too far away from the ensemble of A0 stars
    > from the Hipparcos and 2MASS catalogs that were used to compute
    > the offset between IR and optical photometric systems - V_J-J_2MASS =
    > 0.043
    >
    > Cheers, Chris.
    >
    >



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