Bibcode
DOI
Snider, Shawn; Allende Prieto, Carlos; von Hippel, Ted; Beers, Timothy C.; Sneden, Christopher; Qu, Yuan; Rossi, Silvia
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 562, Issue 1, pp. 528-548.
Advertised on:
11
2001
Journal
Citations
55
Refereed citations
42
Description
We explore the application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the
estimation of atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, and [Fe/H])
for Galactic F- and G-type stars. The ANNs are fed with
medium-resolution (Δλ~1-2 Å) non-flux-calibrated
spectroscopic observations. From a sample of 279 stars with previous
high-resolution determinations of metallicity and a set of (external)
estimates of temperature and surface gravity, our ANNs are able to
predict Teff with an accuracy of
σ(Teff)=135-150 K over the range
4250<=Teff<=6500 K, logg with an accuracy of
σ(logg)=0.25-0.30 dex over the range 1.0<=logg<=5.0 dex, and
[Fe/H] with an accuracy σ([Fe/H])=0.15-0.20 dex over the range
-4.0<=[Fe/H]<=0.3. Such accuracies are competitive with the
results obtained by fine analysis of high-resolution spectra. It is
noteworthy that the ANNs are able to obtain these results without
consideration of photometric information for these stars. We have also
explored the impact of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) on the behavior
of ANNs and conclude that, when analyzed with ANNs trained on spectra of
commensurate S/N, it is possible to extract physical parameter estimates
of similar accuracy with stellar spectra having S/N as low as 13. Taken
together, these results indicate that the ANN approach should be of
primary importance for use in present and future large-scale
spectroscopic surveys.