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Velocity and abundance precisions for future high-resolution spectroscopic surveys: A study for 4MOST

Caffau, E. ; Koch, A. ; Sbordone, L. ; Sartoretti, P. ; Hansen, C. J. ; Royer, F. ; Leclerc, N. ; Bonifacio, P. ; Christlieb, N. and Ludwig, H. -G. , et al. (2013) In Astronomical Notes - Astronomische Nachrichten 334(3). p.197-216
Abstract
In preparation for future, large-scale, multi-object, high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the Galaxy, we present a series of tests of the precision in radial velocity and chemical abundances that any such project can achieve at a 4 m class telescope. We briefly discuss a number of science cases that aim at studying the chemo-dynamical history of the major Galactic components (bulge, thin and thick disks, and halo) - either as a follow-up to the Gaia mission or on their own merits. Based on a large grid of synthetic spectra that cover the full range in stellar parameters of typical survey targets, we devise an optimal wavelength range and argue for a moderately high-resolution spectrograph. As a result, the kinematic precision is not... (More)
In preparation for future, large-scale, multi-object, high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the Galaxy, we present a series of tests of the precision in radial velocity and chemical abundances that any such project can achieve at a 4 m class telescope. We briefly discuss a number of science cases that aim at studying the chemo-dynamical history of the major Galactic components (bulge, thin and thick disks, and halo) - either as a follow-up to the Gaia mission or on their own merits. Based on a large grid of synthetic spectra that cover the full range in stellar parameters of typical survey targets, we devise an optimal wavelength range and argue for a moderately high-resolution spectrograph. As a result, the kinematic precision is not limited by any of these factors, but will practically only suffer from systematic effects, easily reaching uncertainties <1km s(-1). Under realistic survey conditions (namely, considering stars brighter than r = 16 mag with reasonable exposure times) we prefer an ideal resolving power of R similar to 20 000 on average, for an overall wavelength range (with a common two-arm spectrograph design) of [395;456.5] nm and [587; 673] nm. We show for the first time on a general basis that it is possible to measure chemical abundance ratios to better than 0.1 dex for many species (Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Na, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Y, Ba, Nd, Eu) and to an accuracy of about 0.2 dex for other species such as Zr, La, and Sr. While our feasibility study was explicitly carried out for the 4MOST facility, the results can be readily applied to and used for any other conceptual design study for high-resolution spectrographs. (C) 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Galaxy: abundances, Galaxy: evolution, Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics, instrumentation: spectrographs, methods: data analysis
in
Astronomical Notes - Astronomische Nachrichten
volume
334
issue
3
pages
197 - 216
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000325860700001
  • scopus:84874506889
ISSN
0004-6337
DOI
10.1002/asna.201211814
project
4MOST - massive spectroscopic surveys of the Milky Way and the Universe
The New Milky Way
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
855410ad-771f-4874-a029-e2a15075409c (old id 4160158)
alternative location
http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.1406
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:16:48
date last changed
2024-01-06 12:40:54
@article{855410ad-771f-4874-a029-e2a15075409c,
  abstract     = {{In preparation for future, large-scale, multi-object, high-resolution spectroscopic surveys of the Galaxy, we present a series of tests of the precision in radial velocity and chemical abundances that any such project can achieve at a 4 m class telescope. We briefly discuss a number of science cases that aim at studying the chemo-dynamical history of the major Galactic components (bulge, thin and thick disks, and halo) - either as a follow-up to the Gaia mission or on their own merits. Based on a large grid of synthetic spectra that cover the full range in stellar parameters of typical survey targets, we devise an optimal wavelength range and argue for a moderately high-resolution spectrograph. As a result, the kinematic precision is not limited by any of these factors, but will practically only suffer from systematic effects, easily reaching uncertainties &lt;1km s(-1). Under realistic survey conditions (namely, considering stars brighter than r = 16 mag with reasonable exposure times) we prefer an ideal resolving power of R similar to 20 000 on average, for an overall wavelength range (with a common two-arm spectrograph design) of [395;456.5] nm and [587; 673] nm. We show for the first time on a general basis that it is possible to measure chemical abundance ratios to better than 0.1 dex for many species (Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Na, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Y, Ba, Nd, Eu) and to an accuracy of about 0.2 dex for other species such as Zr, La, and Sr. While our feasibility study was explicitly carried out for the 4MOST facility, the results can be readily applied to and used for any other conceptual design study for high-resolution spectrographs. (C) 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim}},
  author       = {{Caffau, E. and Koch, A. and Sbordone, L. and Sartoretti, P. and Hansen, C. J. and Royer, F. and Leclerc, N. and Bonifacio, P. and Christlieb, N. and Ludwig, H. -G. and Grebel, E. K. and de Jong, R. S. and Chiappini, C. and Walcher, J. and Mignot, S. and Feltzing, Sofia and Cohen, M. and Minchev, I. and Helmi, A. and Piffl, T. and Depagne, E. and Schnurr, O.}},
  issn         = {{0004-6337}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxy: abundances; Galaxy: evolution; Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics; instrumentation: spectrographs; methods: data analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{197--216}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Astronomical Notes - Astronomische Nachrichten}},
  title        = {{Velocity and abundance precisions for future high-resolution spectroscopic surveys: A study for 4MOST}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asna.201211814}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/asna.201211814}},
  volume       = {{334}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}