Absolute Magnitudes of Pan-STARRS 1 Asteroids

It is well known that the absolute magnitudes (H) in the MPCORB and ASTORB orbital element catalogs suffer from a systematic offset. Juric at al. (2002) found 0.4 mag offset in the SDSS data and detailed light curve studies of WISE asteroids by Pravec et al. (2012) revealed size-dependent offsets of up to 0.5 mag. The offsets are thought to be caused by systematic errors introduced by earlier surveys using different photometric catalogs and filters. The next generation asteroid surveys provide an order of magnitude more asteroids and well-defined and calibrated magnitudes. The Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (PS1) has observed hundreds of thousands asteroids, submitted more than 2 million detections to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) and discovered almost 300 NEOs since the beginning of operations in late 2010. We transformed the observed apparent magnitudes of PS1-detected asteroids from the gP1,rP1,iP1,yP1,zP1 and wP1-bands into Johnson photometric system by assuming the mean S and C-type asteroid color (Fitzsimmons 2011 - personal communication, Schlafly et al. 2012, Magnier et al. 2012 - in preparation) and calculated the absolute magnitude (H) in the V-band and its uncertainty (Bowell et al., 1989) for more than 200,000 known asteroids having on average 6.7 detections per object. The H error with respect to the MPCORB catalog revealed a mean offset of -0.49+0.30 mag in good agreement with published values. We will also discuss the statistical and systematical errors in H and slope parameter G.

Systematic Uncertainties Associated with the Cosmological Analysis of the First PAN-STARRS1 Type Ia Supernova Sample

We probe the systematic uncertainties from the 113 Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) in the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) sample along with 197 SN Ia from a combination of low-redshift surveys. The companion paper by Rest et al. describes the photometric measurements and cosmological inferences from the PS1 sample. The largest systematic uncertainty stems from the photometric calibration of the PS1 and low-z samples. We increase the sample of observed Calspec standards from 7 to 10 used to define the PS1 calibration system. The PS1 and SDSS-II calibration systems are compared and discrepancies up to ∼0.02 mag are recovered. We find uncertainties in the proper way to treat intrinsic colors and reddening produce differences in the recovered value of w up to 3%. We estimate masses of host galaxies of PS1 supernovae and detect an insignificant difference in distance residuals of the full sample of 0.037 ± 0.031 mag for host galaxies with high and low masses. Assuming flatness and including systematic uncertainties in our analysis of only SNe measurements, we find w = -1.120^+0.360_-0.206(Stat)^+0.269_-0.291(Sys). With additional constraints from Baryon acoustic oscillation, cosmic microwave background (CMB) (Planck) and H₀ measurements, we find w = -1.166^+0.072_-0.069 and Ω_m = 0.280^+0.013_-0.012 (statistical and systematic errors added in quadrature). The significance of the inconsistency with w = -1 depends on whether we use Planck or Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe measurements of the CMB: w_{BAO+H0+SN+WMAP} = -1.124^+0.083_-0.065.

Cosmological Constraints from Measurements of Type Ia Supernovae Discovered During the First 1.5 Yr of the Pan-STARRS1 Survey

We present griz_P1 light curves of 146 spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia; 0.03 < z < 0.65) discovered during the first 1.5 yr of the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey. The Pan-STARRS1 natural photometric system is determined by a combination of on-site measurements of the instrument response function and observations of spectrophotometric standard stars. We find that the systematic uncertainties in the photometric system are currently 1.2% without accounting for the uncertainty in the Hubble Space Telescope Calspec definition of the AB system. A Hubble diagram is constructed with a subset of 113 out of 146 SNe Ia that pass our light curve quality cuts. The cosmological fit to 310 SNe Ia (113 PS1 SNe Ia + 222 light curves from 197 low-z SNe Ia), using only supernovae (SNe) and assuming a constant dark energy equation of state and flatness, yields w = -1.120^+0.360_-0.206(Stat)^+0.269_0.291(Sys). When combined with BAO+CMB(Planck)+H₀, the analysis yields Ω_M = 0.280^+0.013_0.012 and w = -1.166^+0.072_-0.069 including all identified systematics. The value of w is inconsistent with the cosmological constant value of -1 at the 2.3σ level. Tension endures after removing either the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) or the H₀ constraint, though it is strongest when including the H₀ constraint. If we include WMAP9 cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints instead of those from Planck, we find w = -1.124^+0.083_-0.065, which diminishes the discord to <2σ. We cannot conclude whether the tension with flat ΛCDM is a feature of dark energy, new physics, or a combination of chance and systematic errors. The full Pan-STARRS1 SN sample with ∼three times as many SNe should provide more conclusive results.

Total eclipse of the heart: the AM CVn Gaia14aae/ASSASN-14cn

We report the discovery and characterization of a deeply eclipsing AM CVn-system, Gaia14aae (=ASSASN-14cn). Gaia14aae was identified independently by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN; Shappee et al.) and by the Gaia Science Alerts project, during two separate outbursts. A third outburst is seen in archival Pan-STARRS-1 (PS1; Schlafly et al.; Tonry et al.; Magnier et al.) and ASAS-SN data. Spectroscopy reveals a hot, hydrogen-deficient spectrum with clear double-peaked emission lines, consistent with an accreting double-degenerate classification. We use follow-up photometry to constrain the orbital parameters of the system. We find an orbital period of 49.71 min, which places Gaia14aae at the long period extremum of the outbursting AM CVn period distribution. Gaia14aae is dominated by the light from its accreting white dwarf (WD). Assuming an orbital inclination of 90° for the binary system, the contact phases of the WD lead to lower limits of 0.78 and 0.015 M⊙ on the masses of the accretor and donor, respectively, and a lower limit on the mass ratio of 0.019. Gaia14aae is only the third eclipsing AM CVn star known, and the first in which the WD is totally eclipsed. Using a helium WD model, we estimate the accretor's effective temperature to be 12 900 ± 200 K. The three outburst events occurred within four months of each other, while no other outburst activity is seen in the previous 8 yr of Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS; Drake et al.), Pan-STARRS-1 and ASAS-SN data. This suggests that these events might be rebrightenings of the first outburst rather than individual events.