dust in M31, quasar redshifts

In the morning I wrote code to implement Dalcanton's M31 dust model, both for making fake data and for performing likelihood calculations given model parameters. By the time I was done she had moved on to a more sophisticated model! But I was pleased with my code; I think the simple model is strongly ruled out by the data.

In the afternoon, Hennawi, Tsalmantza, Maier, Myers, and I discussed using Tsalmantza and my HMF method to improve quasar redshift determination. Hennawi needs precise redshifts to do some sensitive IGM and proximity-effect measurements; when quasars don't have narrow lines in the visible, this is challenging. We are hoping to beat the current status quo. Gabriele Maier is making a training set for Tsalmantza and me to work with. Hennawi specified a very limited paper 1 for us to be working towards.