Sky subtraction for LAMOST

Sky subtraction is a key technique in data reduction of multi-fiber spectra. Knowledge of characteristics related to the instrument is necessary to determine the method adopted in sky subtraction. In this study, we describe the sky subtraction method designed for the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope （LAMOST） survey. The method has been integrated into the LAMOST 2D Pipeline v2.6 and applied to data from LAMOST DR3 and later. For LAMOST, calibration using sky emission lines is used to alleviate the position-dependent （and thus time-dependent） ,-~ 4% fiber throughput uncertainty and small wavelength instability （0.1/~） during observation. Sky subtraction using principal component analysis （PCA） further reduces 25% of the sky line residual from OH fines in the red part of LAMOST spectra after the master sky spectrum, which is derived from a B-spline fit of 20 sky fibers in each spectrograph. Using this approach, values are adjusted by a sky emission line and subtracted from each fiber. Further analysis shows that our wavelength calibration accuracy is about 4.5 km s-1, and the averages of residuals after sky subtraction are about 3% for sky emission lines and 3% for the continuum region. The relative sky subtraction residuals vary with moonlight background brightness, and can reach as low as 1.5% for regions that have sky emission lines during a dark night. Tests on F stars with both similar sky emission line strength and similar object continuum intensity show that the sky emission line residual of LAMOST is smaller than that of the SDSS survey.

LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (LEGUE)——The survey's science plan

We describe the current plans for a spectroscopic survey of millions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy using the Guo Shou Jing Telescope （GSJT, formerly calledthe Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope -- LAMOST）. The survey will obtain spectra for 2.5 million stars brighter than r 〈 19 during dark/grey time, and 5 million stars brighter than r 〈 17 or J 〈 16 on nights that are moonlit or have low transparency. The survey will begin in the fall of 2012, and will run for at least four years. The telescope＇s design constrains the optimal declination range for observations to 10~ 〈 di 〈 50~, and site conditions lead to an emphasis on stars in the direction of the Galactic anticenter. The survey is divided into three parts with different target selection strategies： disk, anticenter, and spheroid. The resulting dataset will be used to study the merger history of the Milky Way, the substructure and evolution of the disks, the nature of the first generation of stars through identification of the lowest metallicity stars, and star formation through study of open clusters and OB associations. Detailed design of the LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration （LEGUE） survey will be completed in summer 2012, after a review of the results of the pilot survey.

The LEGUE disk targets for LAMOST's pilot survey

We describe the target selection algorithm for the low latitude disk por- tion of the LAMOST Pilot Survey, which aims to test systems in preparation for the LAMOST spectroscopic survey. We use the PPMXL astrometric catalog, which provides positions, proper motions, B/R/I magnitudes （mostly） from USNO-B and d/H/Ks from the Two Micron All Sky Survey （2MASS） as well. We chose eight plates along the Galactic plane, in the region 0° 〈 α° 〈 67° and 42° 〈 δ 〈 59°, which cover 22 known open clusters with a range of ages. Adjacent plates may have some small overlapping area. Each plate covers an area of 2.5° in radius, with its cen- tral star （for the Shack-Hartmann guider） brighter than 8th magnitude. For each plate, we create an input catalog in the magnitude range 11.3 〈 Imag 〈 16.3 and Bmag available from PPMXL. The stars are selected to satisfy the requirements of the fiber positioning system and have a uniform distribution in the I vs. B - I color-magnitude diagram. Our final input catalog consists of 12 000 objects on each of eight plates that are observable during the winter observing season from the Xinglong Station of the National Astronomical Observatory of China.

The LEGUE input catalog for dark night observing in the LAMOST pilot survey

We outline the design of the dark nights portion of the LAMOST Pilot Survey, which began observations in 2011 October. In particular, we focus on Milky Way stellar candidates that are targeted for the LEGUE （LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration） survey. We discuss the regions of sky in which spectroscopic candidates were selected, and the motivations for selecting each of these sky areas. Some limitations due to the unique design of the telescope are discussed, including the requirement that a bright （V 〈 8） star be placed at the center of each plate for wavefront sensing and active optics corrections. The target selection categories and scientific goals motivating them are briefly discussed, followed by a detailed overview of how these selection functions were implemented. We illustrate the difference between the overall input catalog - Sloan Digital Sky Survey （SDSS） photometry - and the final targets selected for LAMOST observations.

The LEGUE high latitude bright survey design for the LAMOST pilot survey

We describe the footprint and input catalog for bright nights in the LAMOST Pilot Survey, which began in October 2011. Targets are selected from two stripes in the north and south Galactic Cap regions, centered at δ = 29°, with 10° width in declination, covering right ascensions of 135° to 290° and -30° to 30° re- spectively. We selected spectroscopic targets from a combination of the SDSS and 2MASS point source catalogs. The catalog of stars defining the field centers （as re- quired by the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor at the center of the LAMOST field） consists of all V 〈 8m stars from the Hipparcos catalog. We employ a statistical selection algorithm that assigns priorities to targets based on their positions in mul- tidimensional color/magnitude space. This scheme overemphasizes rare objects and de-emphasizes more populated regions of magnitude and color phase space, while en- suring a smooth, well-understood selection function. A demonstration of plate design is presented based on the Shack-Hartmann star catalog and an input catalog that was generated by our target selection routines.

Overview of the LAMOST-Kepler project

The NASA Kepler mission obtained long-term high-quality photometric observations for a large number of stars in its original field of view from 2009 to 2013.To provide reliable stellar parameters in a homogeneous way,the LAMOST telescope began to carry out low-resolution spectroscopic observations for as many stars as possible in the Kepler field in 2012.By June 2018,238386 low-resolution spectra with SNRg≥6 had been collected for 155623 stars in the Kepler field,enabling the determination of atmospheric parameters and radial velocities,as well as spectral classification of the target stars.This information has been used by astronomers to carry out research in various fields,including stellar pulsations and asteroseismology,exoplanets,stellar magnetic activity and flares,peculiar stars and the Milky Way,binary stars,etc.We summarize the research progress in these fields where the usage of data from the LAMOST-Kepler(LK)project has played a role.In addition,time-domain medium-resolution spectroscopic observations have been carried out for about 12000 stars in four central plates of the Kepler field since 2018.The currently available results show that the LAMOST-Kepler medium resolution(LKMRS)observations provide qualified data suitable for research in additional science projects including binaries,high-amplitude pulsating stars,etc.As LAMOST is continuing to collect both low-and mediumresolution spectra of stars in the Kepler field,we expect more data to be released continuously and new scientific results to appear based on the LK project data.

Radial velocity measurements from LAMOST medium-resolution spectroscopic observations: a pointing towards the Kepler field

Radial velocity is one of the key measurements in understanding the fundamental properties of stars, stellar clusters and the Galaxy. A plate of stars in the Kepler field was observed in May of 2018 with the medium-resolution spectrographs of LAMOST, aiming to test the performance of this new system which is the upgraded equipment of LAMOST after the first five-year regular survey. We present our analysis on the radial velocity measurements(RVs) derived from these data. The results show that slight and significant systematic errors exist among the RVs obtained from the spectra collected by different spectrographs and exposures, respectively. After correcting the systematic errors with different techniques, the precision of RVs reaches ～1.3,～1.0,～0.5 and ～0.3 km s^(-1) at S/Nr = 10, 20, 50 and 100, respectively. Comparing with the RVs of standard stars from the APOGEE survey, our RVs are calibrated with a zero-point shift of～7 km s^(-1). The results indicate that the LAMOST medium-resolution spectroscopic system may provide RVs with a reasonable accuracy and precision for the selected targets.

Candidate members of the Pal 5, GD-1, Cetus Polar and Orphan tidal stellar halo streams from SDSS DR9, LAMOST DR3 and APOGEE catalogs

We present candidate members of the Pal 5, GD-1, Cetus Polar and Orphan tidal stellar streams found in LAMOST DR3, SDSS DR9 and APOGEE catalogs. In LAMOST DR3, we find 20, 4 and 24 high confidence candidates of tidal streams GD-1, Cetus Polar and Orphan respectively. We also list 59, 118 and 10 high confidence candidates of tidal streams Cetus Polar, Orphan and Pal 5, respectively from the SDSS DR9 spectroscopic catalog. Furthermore, we find seven high confidence candidates of the Pal 5 tidal stream in the APOGEE data. Compared with SDSS, the new candidates from LAMOST DR3 are brighter, so that together, more of the color-magnitude diagram, including the giant branch, can be explored. Analysis of the SDSS data shows that there are three metallicity peaks associated with the Orphan stream which also exhibit some spatial separation. The LAMOST data confirm multiple metallicities in this stream. The metallicity, given by the higher resolution APOGEE instrument, of the Pal 5 tidal stream is [Fe/H] ,- -1.2, higher than that given earlier by SDSS spectra. Many previously unidentified stream members are tabulated here for the first time, along with existing members, allowing future researchers to further constrain the orbits of these objects as they move within the Galaxy＇s dark matter potential.