BOSS-CLAM: Utilizing a Constrained Linear Absorption Model to Infer Stellar Parameters from BOSS Spectra
Abstract
Large spectroscopic surveys require robust pipelines capable of inferring stellar parameters over a wide range of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram from data of varying quality. SDSS-V is one such survey, where the data from the lower-resolution, optical BOSS spectrograph will provide a large dataset covering a wide range of Galactic stellar populations. To better analyze these data, we present BOSS-CLAM, a generative, forward modeling pipeline for inferring effective temperature (Teff), surface gravity (log g), metallicity ([Fe/H]), and α−abundance ([α/M]) from continuum-normalized BOSS spectra. BOSS-CLAM maps stellar labels to Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) basis vector weights via a polynomial mapping jointly optimized with the spectral decomposition, which provides a more flexible framework for working with the lower-resolution BOSS data. Additionally, training labels are drawn from four complementary sources (ASPCAP, BOSS-MINESweeper, wide binaries, and a hot star validation sample), which enables coverage from cool M dwarfs through hot OB stars, and across a wide range of metallicity. We infer parameters for 1,708,214 BOSS spectra, with a recommended clean catalog of 915,514 sources. Validation against open and globular clusters demonstrates homogeneous, accurate abundances across a wide range of metallicity. Wide binary tests yield abundance uncertainties of σ[Fe/H] ≈ 0.15 dex and σ[α/M] ≈ 0.06 dex at SNR = 10. Finally, we demonstrate that the BOSS-CLAM catalog recovers known chemical structure of the Milky Way disk and is well-suited for Galactic archaeology, chemical tagging, and stellar population modeling. The pipeline, trained model, and catalog are publicly released as part of SDSS-V DR20.
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BibTeX
@misc{medan2026bossclam,
title = {{BOSS-CLAM: Utilizing a Constrained Linear Absorption Model to Infer Stellar Parameters from BOSS Spectra}},
author = {Ilija Medan and Andrew R. Casey and Alexander P. Ji and Jonah M. Otto and Kayvon Sharifi and Zachary Way and Madeleine McKenzie and Natalie R. Myers and Keivan G. Stassun and Peter J. Smith and Andrew Tkachenko and Vedant Chandra and Michael R. Blanton and Peter M. Frinchaboy and Guy S. Stringfellow and Sean Morrison},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.22822},
eprint = {2607.22822},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22822},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - BOSS-CLAM: Utilizing a Constrained Linear Absorption Model to Infer Stellar Parameters from BOSS Spectra
AU - Ilija Medan
AU - Andrew R. Casey
AU - Alexander P. Ji
AU - Jonah M. Otto
AU - Kayvon Sharifi
AU - Zachary Way
AU - Madeleine McKenzie
AU - Natalie R. Myers
AU - Keivan G. Stassun
AU - Peter J. Smith
AU - Andrew Tkachenko
AU - Vedant Chandra
AU - Michael R. Blanton
AU - Peter M. Frinchaboy
AU - Guy S. Stringfellow
AU - Sean Morrison
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.22822
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22822
AB - Large spectroscopic surveys require robust pipelines capable of inferring stellar parameters over a wide range of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram from data of varying quality. SDSS-V is one such survey, where the data from the lower-resolution, optical BOSS spectrograph will provide a large dataset covering a wide range of Galactic stellar populations. To better analyze these data, we present BOSS-CLAM, a generative, forward modeling pipeline for inferring effective temperature (T_eff), surface gravity (log g), metallicity ([Fe/H]), and α−abundance ([α/M]) from continuum-normalized BOSS spectra. BOSS-CLAM maps stellar labels to Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) basis vector weights via a polynomial mapping jointly optimized with the spectral decomposition, which provides a more flexible framework for working with the lower-resolution BOSS data. Additionally, training labels are drawn from four complementary sources (ASPCAP, BOSS-MINESweeper, wide binaries, and a hot star validation sample), which enables coverage from cool M dwarfs through hot OB stars, and across a wide range of metallicity. We infer parameters for 1,708,214 BOSS spectra, with a recommended clean catalog of 915,514 sources. Validation against open and globular clusters demonstrates homogeneous, accurate abundances across a wide range of metallicity. Wide binary tests yield abundance uncertainties of σ_[Fe/H] ≈ 0.15 dex and σ_[α/M] ≈ 0.06 dex at SNR = 10. Finally, we demonstrate that the BOSS-CLAM catalog recovers known chemical structure of the Milky Way disk and is well-suited for Galactic archaeology, chemical tagging, and stellar population modeling. The pipeline, trained model, and catalog are publicly released as part of SDSS-V DR20.
ER -