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SDSS Technical Publications
These technical papers describe various aspects of the technical operation of the original Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the SDSS-II's SEGUE and Supernova surveys. This list of papers is sorted by the technical system that the paper describes.
Technical Summaries
The original SDSS
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
York, D.G., Adelman, J., Anderson, J.E., et al., 2000. AJ, 120(3), 1579-1587.
BOSS
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
Dawson, K.S., Schlegel, D.J., et al., 2012. AJ, 145(1), 10 (41 pages), doi:10.1088/0004-6256/145/1/10
Telescope
The 2.5 m Telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Gunn, J.E., Siegmund, W.A., Mannery, E.J., Owen, R.E., et al., 2006. AJ, 131(4), 2332-2359.
Spectroscopy
Spectrographs
The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
Smee, S.A., Gunn, J.E., Uomoto, A., Roe, N., Schlegel, D., Rockosi, C.M., Carr, M.A., Leger, F., Dawson, K.D., Olmstead, M.D., Brinkmann, J., Owen, R., Barkhouser, R.H., Honscheid, K., Harding, P., Long, D., Lupton, R.H., Loomis, C., et al., 2012. AJ, submitted.
Spectral Classifications
Bolton, A.S., Schlegel, D.J., et al., 2012. AJ, 144(5), 144.
Camera
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Camera
Gunn, J.E., Carr, M.A., Rockosi, C.M., Sekiguchi, M., et al., 1998. AJ, 116(6), 3040-3081.
Photometry
Filter Definitions
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric System
Fukugita, M., Ichikawa, T., Gunn, J.E., Doi, M., Shimasaku, K., and Schneider, D.P. 1996. AJ, 111(4), 1748-1756.
Photometric Monitoring System
A Photometricity and Extinction Monitor at the Apache Point Observatory
Hogg, D.W., Finkbeiner, D.P., Schlegel, D.J., and Gunn, J.E. 2001. AJ, 122(4), 2129-2138.
Photometric Quality Assessment
SDSS Data Management and Photometric Quality Assessment
Ivezic, Z., Lupton, R.H., Schlegel, D., et al. 2004. AN, 325(6),583-589.
Photometric System
The u'g'r'i'z' Standard-Star System
Smith, J.A., Tucker, D.L., Kent, S.M., et al. 2002. AJ, 123(4), 2121-2144.
Monitor Telescope Pipeline
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Monitor Telescope Pipeline
Tucker, D., Kent, S., Richmond, M.W., et al. 2006. AN, 327(9), 821-843.
Ubercalibration
An Improved Photometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data
Padmanabhan, N., et al. 2008. ApJ, 674(2), 1217-1233.
Astrometry
Astrometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Pier, J. R., et al., 2003. AJ, 125(3), 1559-1579.
Magnitude System
If you are studying any objects near the magnitude limit of the survey, you should mention that SDSS uses asinh magnitudes, and reference the paper defining this magnitude system:
Lupton, R.H., Gunn, J.E., and Szalay, A.S. 1999. AJ, 118(3), 1406-1410.
Target Selection
If you are dealing with the quasar or galaxy samples, you should reference the corresponding target selection papers from the list below.
Main Galaxy Sample
Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample
Strauss, M.A., Weinberg, D.H., Lupton, R.H. et al. 2002. AJ, 124(3), 1810-1824.
Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) Sample
Spectroscopic Target Selection for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Luminous Red Galaxy Sample
Eisenstein, D.J., Annis, J., Gunn, J.E., et al. 2001. AJ, 122(5), 2267-2280.
Quasar Sample
Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Quasar Sample
Richards, G.T., Fan, X., Newberg, H., et al. 2002. AJ, 123(6), 2945-2975.
Tiling
If the tiling procedure is at all important to your analysis, you should also reference the tiling paper.
Blanton, M.R., Lin, H., Lupton, R.H., Maley, F.M., Young, N., Zehavi, I., and Loveday, J. 2003. AJ, 125(4), 2276-2286.
SDSS-II Supernova Survey
The SDSS Supernova Survey was one of three components of SDSS-II, an extension of the original SDSS. The Supernova Survey was a time-domain survey, involving repeat imaging of the same region of sky every other night, weather permitting. The primary scientific motivation was to detect and measure light curves for several hundred supernovae, to help constrain cosmological models in a redshift range where more data were needed.
The Supernova Survey repeatedly imaged the SDSS Southern Equatorial trip (Stripe 82), an area of sky 2.5° wide by 120° long (-1.25 ≤ dec ≤ 1.25, 310 < RA < 60). Every night, weather permitting, for three months in each of three years (Sept/Oct/Nov 2005-2007), the SDSS camera imaged that area. All these images are publicly available as FITS files from the SDSS Data Archive Server, and catalogs derived from the images are available from the Stripe 82 Catalog Archive Server. The SNANA supernova analysis package used by the team is publicly available on the SDSS Supernova Survey website.
Over the course of the three years, the SDSS Supernova Survey discovered and measured multi-band lightcurves for about 500 spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae in the redshift range z = 0.05-0.4. Additional light curves are available for a few hundred more Type Ia supernovae that could not be spectroscopically confirmed as supernovae, but for which host galaxy redshifts are known. The survey also discovered about 80 spectroscopically confirmed core-collapse supernovae (supernova types Ib/c and II).
For technical details of the SDSS supernova survey, see the technical papers below.
Technical Summary
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Technical Summary
Frieman, J.A., Bassett, B., Becker, A., et al. 2008. AJ, 135(1), 338-347.
Selection of Candidates
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Search Algorithm and Follow-Up Observations
Sako, M., Bassett, B., Becker, A., et al. 2008. AJ, 135(1), 348-373.
SEGUE (Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration )
SEGUE collected images and spectra of stars in the Milky Way to create a detailed three-dimensional map of our Galaxy. SEGUE obtained images of 3,200 square degrees of sky and spectra of 240,000 stars in the galactic disk and spheroid. Analysis of the spectra revealed the age, composition and phase space distribution of stars within the various Galactic components. More information can be found on the SEGUE web site.
The complete SEGUE dataset was part of the SDSS's Data Release 7, and additional images and spectra taken as part of the SDSS-III's SEGUE extension are available as a part of Data Release 8.
For technical details of the SEGUE survey, see the technical papers below.
Stellar Pipeline I: Overview
The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. I. Description and Comparison of Individual Methods
Lee, Y. S., Beers, T.C., Sivarani, T., et al. 2008. AJ, 136(5), 2022-2049.
Stellar Pipeline II: Validation with Star Clusters
The SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline. II. Validation with Galactic Globular and Open Clusters
Lee, Y. S., Beers, T.C., Sivarani, T., et al. 2008. AJ, 136(5), 2050-2069.
Stellar Pipeline III: High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Field Stars
Allende-Prieto, C., Sivarani, T., Beers, T.C., et al. 2008. AJ, 136(5), 2070-2082.
APOGEE (Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
APOGEE is one of the four surveys that make up SDSS-III. Its goal is to look through the Milky Way's central bulge and obtain high-resolution near-infrared spectra of more than 100,000 stars. These spectra will be a powerful source of data for understanding the chemical and kinematic evolution of the whole galaxy. APOGEE has been taking survey data since Fall 2011.
The following technical papers describe aspects of the APOGEE instrument system.
Spectrograph
Wilson, J.C. et al. 2010. Proc. SPIE, 7735, 77351C-1.
VPH (volume phase holographic) Grating
Development of a large mosaic volume phase holographic (VPH) grating for APOGEE
Arns, J. et al. 2010. Proc. SPIE, 7739, 773913.
Cryostat
Blank, B. et al. 2010. Proc. SPIE, 7735, 773569.
Fibers
APOGEE fiber development and FRD testing
Brunner, S. et al. 2010. Proc. SPIE, 7735, 77356A-1.