skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Masses and Ages for 230,000 LAMOST Giants, via Their Carbon and Nitrogen Abundances

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
 [1]; ; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA, 91125 (United States)
  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
  3. Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road 20A, Beijing 100012 (China)

We measure carbon and nitrogen abundances to a precision of ≲0.1 dex for 450,000 giant stars from their low-resolution (R∼1800) LAMOST DR2 survey spectra. We use these [C/M] and [N/M] measurements, together with empirical relations based on the APOKASC sample, to infer stellar masses and implied ages for 230,000 of these objects to 0.08 dex and 0.2 dex respectively. We use The Cannon, a data-driven approach to spectral modeling, to construct a predictive model for LAMOST spectra. Our reference set comprises 8125 stars observed in common between the APOGEE and LAMOST surveys, taking seven APOGEE DR12 labels (parameters) as ground truth: T{sub eff}, log g, [M/H], [α/M], [C/M], [N/M], and A{sub k}. We add seven colors to the Cannon model, based on the g, r, i, J, H, K, W1, W2 magnitudes from APASS, 2MASS, and WISE, which improves our constraints on T{sub eff} and log g by up to 20% and on A{sub k} by up to 70%. Cross-validation of the model demonstrates that, for high-S/N objects, our inferred labels agree with the APOGEE values to within 50 K in temperature, 0.04 mag in A{sub k}, and <0.1 dex in log g, [M/H], [C/M], [N/M], and [α/M]. We apply the model to 450,000 giants in LAMOST DR2 that have not been observed by APOGEE. This demonstrates that precise individual abundances can be measured from low-resolution spectra and represents the largest catalog to date of homogeneous stellar [C/M], [N/M], masses, and ages. As a result, we greatly increase the number and sky coverage of stars with mass and age estimates.

OSTI ID:
22872699
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 841, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Label Transfer from APOGEE to LAMOST: Precise Stellar Parameters for 450,000 LAMOST Giants
Journal Article · Fri Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:22872699

Application of the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline to LAMOST Stellar Spectra
Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · The Astronomical Journal (Online) · OSTI ID:22872699

New H-BAND stellar spectral libraries for the SDSS-III/APOGEE Survey
Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · The Astronomical Journal (Online) · OSTI ID:22872699