MaStar Stellar Parameters
Overview of the Stellar Parameter Value-Added Catalog
Algorithm Details
The methods are:
- JI: Derived using a neural network which models flux as a function of parameters and is trained on a combination of empirical MaStar spectra with ASPCAP parameters and the model spectra produced by Allende Prieto et al. (2018). This method also derives the microturbulence parameter. (Imig et al. in press)
- DL: Full-spectrum fitting with an Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler using interpolated BOSZ model spectra with continuum shape information included in the chi-square calculation. Extinction is fitted as a by-product (see the Caveats section below). No photometry priors is used.
- LH: Full-spectrum, single-template, pPXF fitting with an MCMC sampler, using interpolated BOSZ and MARCS model spectra, with a flat prior based on Gaia color-magnitude diagram. The continuum is modeled with a multiplicative polynomial. (Hill et al. in press)
- YC: Full-spectrum fitting using both the BOSZ and MARCS model spectra without interpolation, with the result produced by Bayesian average and a flat prior based on Gaia color-magnitude diagram. The continuum is modeled with a multiplicative polynomial. The [alpha/Fe] parameters provided currently by this method are considered not reliable and are not included in deriving the master set of parameter.
The master set of parameters is derived by taking the median of the parameters of the four methods when they are available and are considered valid. Each set of parameter measurements has an associated validity flag to indicate whether the parameters of that method is valid for each star or each visit. For the median set, we provide a few columns (INPUT_GROUPS and INPUT_GROUPS_NAME) to indicate results from which methods are included in the median calculation. The median for [alpha/Fe] is treated differently from the other three properties. Additional quality filtering is done on [alpha/Fe] beyond that indicated by the validity flag associated with each method. The columns, INPUT_ALPHA_GROUPS and INPUT_ALPHA_GROUPS_NAME, indicate which sets of [alpha/Fe] parameters were included in the median [alpha/Fe] calculation.
The parameter derivations are done for each visit spectrum individually and only for those good quality visits. For those stars with multiple good visits, multiple measurements are generated which could be used to assess the internal uncertainty. We provide two tables (files) in this VAC. One has one entry per visit giving the per-visit measurements. The other has one entry per star which gives the median measurements among the many good visits of the star. The master set for the per-star table is done by first taking median among multiple visits and then taking median among multiple methods.
The metallicity measurement is critical for assigning spectra to different metallicity bins when building stellar population models. We applied a calibration on 3 of the 4 sets of [Fe/H] measurements using the overlap sample with APOGEE and the parameters derived by ASPCAP. The median of the calibrated [Fe/H] is provided in this VAC along with the median of the original [Fe/H] measurements. For the parameters from each method, we only provide the original [Fe/H] but not the calibrated ones. The calibration formula are all quadratic in the following form with the coefficients given in the table below.
[Fe/H]cal = a[Fe/H]2+b[Fe/H]+c
Method Abbrv. | a | b | c |
---|---|---|---|
JI | 0 | 1 | 0 |
DL | -0.1161 | 0.7702 | 0.0755 |
LH | -0.2317 | 0.7882 | 0.1337 |
YC | -0.2418 | 0.9382 | 0.1260 |
The VAC also provides the total metallicity ([Z/H]) in addition to the iron-to-hydrogen ratio ([Fe/H]). This is derived by combining [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] measurements to compute the total number of atoms heavier than Helium, relative to the number of Hydrogen atoms. We assume the abundance pattern among the alpha-elements and that among the other elements respectively follow those in the solar abundance computed by Asplund (2005).
Data Access
The per-star file, mastar-goodstars-v3_1_1-v1_7_7-params-v1.fits can be downloaded at this link with the data model here. The table is also available on the SkyServer under the DR17 context with the name "mastar-goodstars-param". It can be queried using either the SQL Search tool or the CasJobs data access tool.
Caveats
The stellar parameter estimates presented here are our best effort at the moment. There can still be quality issues in the parameter estimates for some stars. Use with caution. We are continuing to improve them, and plan to provide an update of the catalog in the future.