J/MNRAS/482/3458 UVES Spectral Quasar Absorption Database DR1 (Murphy+, 2019)
The UVES Spectral Quasar Absorption Database (SQUAD) data release 1:
the first 10 million seconds.
Murphy M.T., Kacprzak G.G., Savorgnan G.A.D., Carswell R.F.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 482, 3458-3479 (2019)>
=2019MNRAS.482.3458M 2019MNRAS.482.3458M (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: QSOs ; Line Profiles ; Spectroscopy ; Redshifts ; Magnitudes
Keywords: line: profiles - instrumentation: spectrographs -
quasars: absorption lines - cosmology: miscellaneous -
cosmology: observations
Abstract:
We present the first data release (DR1) of the UVES Spectral Quasar
Absorption Database (SQUAD), comprising 467 fully reduced,
continuum-fitted high-resolution quasar spectra from the Ultraviolet
and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the European Southern
Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The quasars have redshifts z=0-5,
and a total exposure time of 10 million seconds provides
continuum-to-noise ratios of 4-342 (median 20) per 2.5km/s pixel at
5500Å. The SQUAD spectra are fully reproducible from the raw,
archival UVES exposures with open-source software, including our
uves_popler tool for combining multiple extracted echelle exposures
which we document here. All processing steps are completely
transparent and can be improved upon or modified for specific
applications. A primary goal of SQUAD is to enable statistical studies
of large quasar and absorber samples, and we provide tools and basic
information to assist three broad scientific uses: studies of damped
Lyman-α systems (DLAs), absorption-line surveys, and
time-variable absorption lines. For example, we provide a catalogue of
155 DLAs whose Lyman-α lines are covered by the DR1 spectra, 18
of which are reported for the first time. The HI column densities of
these new DLAs are measured from the DR1 spectra. DR1 is publicly
available and includes all reduced data and information to reproduce
the final spectra.
Description:
This DR1 is defined as containing the 475 quasars in the ESO UVES
archive whose first exposure (longer than 100s) was observed before
2008 June 30. All exposures of these quasars (longer than 100s)
observed before 2016 November 17 were included in the final, combined
spectra in DR1. In total, 3088 exposures were selected and
successfully processed, with a total exposure time of 10.09x106s
(2803h, an average of 5.9h per quasar). The quasar candidates
satisfying these date criteria were selected by cross-matching the
coordinates of all 'science' observations in the ESO UVES archive
(i.e. with DPR.CATG set to 'SCIENCE') with the MILLIQUAS quasar
catalogue (Flesch 2015PASA...32...10F 2015PASA...32...10F, Cat. VII/273).
Table 1 catalogues the DR1 quasar and spectrum properties. We have
identified 155 DLAs towards the 467 DR1 quasars with final spectra and
catalogued them in Table 3.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 2836 475 The UVES SQUAD DR1 sample of 475 quasars
table3.dat 40 155 The DR1 sample of 155 DLAs
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 14 A14 --- Name UVES SQUAD DR1 quasar name
(JHHMMSS+DDMMSS) (G1)
16- 17 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
19- 20 I2 min RAm Right ascension (J2000)
22- 26 F5.2 s RAs Right ascension (J2000)
28 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
29- 30 I2 deg DEd Declination (J2000)
32- 33 I2 arcmin DEm Declination (J2000)
35- 38 F4.1 arcsec DEs Declination (J2000)
40- 44 F5.3 --- zemadopt Adopted emission redshift
46- 47 I2 h RAUh UVES Right ascension (J2000) (1)
49- 50 I2 min RAUm UVES Right ascension (J2000) (1)
52- 56 F5.2 s RAUs UVES Right ascension (J2000) (1)
58 A1 --- DEU- UVES Declination sign (J2000) (1)
59- 60 I2 deg DEUd UVES Declination (J2000) (1)
62- 63 I2 arcmin DEUm UVES Declination (J2000) (1)
65- 68 F4.1 arcsec DEUs UVES Declination (J2000) (1)
70- 71 I2 h RASh SSS Right ascension (J2000) (2)
73- 74 I2 min RASm SSS Right ascension (J2000) (2)
76- 81 F6.3 s RASs SSS Right ascension (J2000) (2)
83 A1 --- DES- SSS Declination sign (J2000) (2)
84- 85 I2 deg DESd SSS Declination (J2000) (2)
87- 88 I2 arcmin DESm SSS Declination (J2000) (2)
90- 94 F5.2 arcsec DESs SSS Declination (J2000) (2)
96- 101 F6.3 mag Bmag ? B magnitude from SSS (2)
103- 108 F6.3 mag R1mag ? R1 magnitude from SSS (2)
110- 115 F6.3 mag R2mag R2 magnitude from SSS (2)
117- 122 F6.3 mag Imag ? I magnitude from SSS2 (2)
124- 147 A24 --- SDSS SDSS name (SDSS JHHMMSS.ss+DDMMSS.s) (3)
149- 153 F5.3 --- zemSDSS ? Emission redshift from SDSS (3)
155- 160 F6.3 mag umag ? u-band magnitude from SDSS (3)
162- 167 F6.3 mag gmag ? g-band magnitude from SDSS (3)
169- 174 F6.3 mag rmag ? r-band magnitude from SDSS (3)
176- 181 F6.3 mag imag ? i-band magnitude from SDSS (3)
183- 188 F6.3 mag zmag ? z-band magnitude from SDSS (3)
190- 214 A25 --- NED NED name (4)
216- 220 F5.3 --- zemNED ? Emission redshift from NED (4)
222- 255 A34 --- SName Simbad name
257- 261 F5.3 --- zemSim ? Emission redshift from Simbad
263- 265 A3 --- specstat Spectrum status (5)
267- 268 I2 --- Nexp Number of UVES exposures
270- 275 I6 s ExpTime Total exposure duration
277- 291 F15.10 0.1nm WavStart Starting wavelenght
293- 308 F16.10 0.1nm WavEnd Ending wavelenght
310-2453 A2144 0.1nm WavCvg Wavelenght coverage
2455-2458 F4.2 km/s Disp Dispersion of the final spectrum
2460-2478 A19 0.1nm CNR Continuum-to-noise ratio
2480-2503 A24 --- NRP Nominal resolving power
2505-2523 A19 arcsec Slit UVES Slit widths
2525-2535 A11 --- Binnings UVES On-chip binnings used
2537-2571 A35 nm Settings UVES wavelength settings
2573-2576 F4.2 arcsec b_Seeing ?=- Prevailing minimum seeing value
reported in the ESO Science Archive
2577 A1 --- --- [,]
2578-2581 F4.2 arcsec Seeing ?=- Prevailing median seeing value
reported in the ESO Science Archive
2582 A1 --- --- [,]
2583-2586 F4.2 arcsec B_Seeing ?=- Prevailing maximum seeing value
reported in the ESO Science Archive
2588-2669 A82 --- ProgID ESO program ID
2671-2737 A67 --- ObsName Target name as defined by the Principal
Investigator
2739-2761 A23 --- zabs DLA absorption redshift
2763-2784 A22 [cm-2] logNHI DLA HI column density
2786-2801 A16 [cm-2] e_logNHI Error on logNHI
2803-2836 A34 --- r_logNHI Reference of logNHI
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Note (1): Values taken from ESO's UVES data archive
Note (2): Values taken from the SuperCosmos Sky Survey data base
(Hambly et al. 2001MNRAS.326.1279H 2001MNRAS.326.1279H)
Note (3): Values taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR14;
Abolfathi et al. 2018ApJS..235...42A 2018ApJS..235...42A; Paris et al.
2018A&A...613A..51P 2018A&A...613A..51P, Cat. VII/286)
Note (4): Values taken from NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)
Note (5): Status as follows:
0 = a final spectrum was produced with no known problems
1 = not all available exposures could be successfully processed for lack of
appropriate calibration exposures (2 quasars)
2 = the wavelength calibration of at least some exposures are very obviously
distorted (1 quasar)
3 = quasars at redshifts zem≥5.8, so the extremely thick Ly-α forest
left very little flux in individual exposures (3 quasars)
4 = more than one object with similar magnitude aligned in the slit
(2 quasars)
5 = a lack of appropriate calibration exposures in the ESO UVES archive
precluded the basic data reduction steps required (3 quasars)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 14 A14 --- Name UVES SQUAD DR1 quasar name (JHHMMSS+DDMMSS) (G1)
16- 20 F5.3 --- zem Quasar emission redshifts taken from a hierarchy
of cross-matched data bases
22- 26 F5.3 --- zabs Absorption redshift
28- 32 F5.2 [cm-2] logNHI HI column density
34- 37 F4.2 [cm-2] e_logNHI Error on logNHI
39- 40 I2 --- r_logNHI Reference of logNHI (1)
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Note (1): References as follows:
1 = Wolfe, Briggs & Jauncey (1981ApJ...248..460W 1981ApJ...248..460W)
2 = Prochaska & Wolfe (1999ApJS..121..369P 1999ApJS..121..369P)
3 = Petitjean, Srianand & Ledoux (2000A&A...364L..26P 2000A&A...364L..26P)
4 = Dessauges-Zavadsky et al. (2001A&A...370..426D 2001A&A...370..426D, Cat. J/A+A/370/426)
5 = Prochaska et al. (2001ApJS..137...21P 2001ApJS..137...21P)
6 = Prochaska et al. (2003ApJS..147..227P 2003ApJS..147..227P)
7 = Prochaska et al. (2003ApJ...595L...9P 2003ApJ...595L...9P)
8 = Peroux et al. (2005MNRAS.363..479P 2005MNRAS.363..479P)
9 = Prochaska, Herbert-Fort & Wolfe (2005ApJ...635..123P 2005ApJ...635..123P,
Cat. J/ApJ/635/123)
10 = Ledoux et al. (2006A&A...457...71L 2006A&A...457...71L)
11 = Prochaska et al. (2007ApJS..171...29P 2007ApJS..171...29P, Cat. J/ApJS/171/29)
12 = Noterdaeme et al. (2008A&A...481..327N 2008A&A...481..327N)
13 = Prochaska, Hennawi & Herbert-Fort (2008ApJ...675.1002P 2008ApJ...675.1002P,
Cat. J/ApJ/675/1002)
14 = Wolfe et al. (2008ApJ...681..881W 2008ApJ...681..881W)
15 = Noterdaeme et al. (2009A&A...505.1087N 2009A&A...505.1087N, Cat. J/A+A/505/1087)
16 = Prochaska & Wolfe (2009ApJ...696.1543P 2009ApJ...696.1543P)
17 = Ellison et al. (2010MNRAS.406.1435E 2010MNRAS.406.1435E)
18 = Penprase et al. (2010ApJ...721....1P 2010ApJ...721....1P, Cat. J/ApJ/721/1)
19 = Guimaraes et al. (2012AJ....143..147G 2012AJ....143..147G)
20 = Zafar et al. (2013A&A...556A.141Z 2013A&A...556A.141Z, Cat. J/A+A/556/A141)
21 = Ledoux et al. (2015A&A...580A...8L 2015A&A...580A...8L)
22 = Parks et al. (2018MNRAS.476.1151P 2018MNRAS.476.1151P)
23 = This work
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Global notes:
Note (G1): All quasar candidates were identified in the SuperCosmos Sky Survey
data base (Hambly et al. 2001MNRAS.326.1279H 2001MNRAS.326.1279H) to determine a complete
set of J2000 coordinates. In cases where a spectrum is available from
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR14; Abolfathi et al.
2018ApJS..235...42A 2018ApJS..235...42A; Paris et al. 2018A&A...613A..51P 2018A&A...613A..51P, Cat. VII/286),
the SDSS coordinates were used in preference.
These coordinates were used to name all quasars in DR1; this results
in the unique 'DR1 Name' field for each quasar.
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Ana Fiallos [CDS] 01-Jul-2022