ASPCAP: The APOGEE Stellar Parameter and Chemical Abundances Pipeline

Citation:

García Pérez AE, Allende Prieto C, Holtzman JA, Shetrone M, Mészáros S, Bizyaev D, Carrera R, Cunha K, García-Hernández DA, Johnson JA, et al. ASPCAP: The APOGEE Stellar Parameter and Chemical Abundances Pipeline. The Astronomical Journal. 2016;151.

Date Published:

June 1, 2016

Abstract:

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) hasbuilt the largest moderately high-resolution (R ≈ 22,500)spectroscopic map of the stars across the Milky Way, and includingdust-obscured areas. The APOGEE Stellar Parameter and ChemicalAbundances Pipeline (ASPCAP) is the software developed for the automatedanalysis of these spectra. ASPCAP determines atmospheric parameters andchemical abundances from observed spectra by comparing observed spectrato libraries of theoretical spectra, using χ2minimization in a multidimensional parameter space. The package consistsof a fortran90 code that does the actual minimization and a wrapper IDLcode for book-keeping and data handling. This paper explains in detailthe ASPCAP components and functionality, and presents results from anumber of tests designed to check its performance. ASPCAP providesstellar effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities

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