765 research outputs found
Lack of observational evidence for quantum structure of space-time at Plank scales
It has been noted (Lieu & Hillmann, 2002) that the cumulative affect of
Planck-scale phenomenology, or the structure of space-time at extremely small
scales, can be lead to the loss of phase of radiation emitted at large
distances from the observer. We elaborate on such an approach and demonstrate
that such an effect would lead to an apparent blurring of distant
point-sources. Evidence of the diffraction pattern from the HST observations of
SN 1994D and the unresolved appearance of a Hubble Deep Field galaxy at z=5.34
lead us to put stringent limits on the effects of Planck-scale phenomenology.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepter for ApJ
The 3-D ionization structure and evolution of NGC 7009 (Saturn Nebula)
Tomographic and 3-D analyses for extended, emission-line objects are applied
to long-slit ESO NTT + EMMI high-resolution spectra of the intriguing planetary
nebula NGC 7009, covered at twelve position angles. We derive the gas expansion
law, the diagnostics and ionic radial profiles, the distance and the central
star parameters, the nebular photo-ionization model and the spatial recovery of
the plasma structure and evolution. The Saturn Nebula (distance~1.4 kpc,
age~6000 yr, ionized mass~0.18 Mo) consists of several interconnected
components, characterized by different morphology, physical conditions,
excitation and kinematics. The internal shell, the main shell, the streams and
the ansae expand at V(exp)~4.0xR" km/s, the outer shell, the caps and the
equatorial pseudo-ring at V(exp)~3.15xR" km/s, and the halo at V(exp)~10 km/s.
We compare the radial distribution of the physical conditions and the line
fluxes observed in the eight sub-systems with the theoretical profiles coming
from the photo-ionization code CLOUDY, inferring that all the spectral
characteristics of NGC 7009 are explainable in terms of photo-ionization by the
central star, a hot (logT*~4.95) and luminous (log L*/Lo~3.70) 0.60--0.61 Mo
post--AGB star in the hydrogen-shell nuclear burning phase. The 3--D shaping of
the Saturn Nebula is discussed within an evolutionary scenario dominated by
photo-ionization and supported by the fast stellar wind: it begins with the
superwind ejection, passes through the neutral, transition phase (lasting ~
3000 yr), the ionization start (occurred ~2000 yr ago), and the full ionization
of the main shell (~1000 yr ago), at last reaching the present days: the whole
nebula is optically thin to the UV stellar flux, except the caps and the ansae.Comment: accepted for pub. in A&A, 28 pages, 14 figures, full text with
figures available at http://web.pd.astro.it/supern/ps/h4665.ps, movies on the
3D structure available at http://web.pd.astro.it/sabbadin
Resolving Stellar Populations outside the Local Group: MAD observations of UKS2323-326
We present a study aimed at deriving constraints on star formation at
intermediate ages from the evolved stellar populations in the dwarf irregular
galaxy UKS2323-326. These observations were also intended to demonstrate the
scientific capabilities of the multi-conjugated adaptive optics demonstrator
(MAD) implemented at the ESO Very Large Telescope as a test-bench of adaptive
optics (AO) techniques. We perform accurate, deep photometry of the field using
J and Ks band AO images of the central region of the galaxy. The near-infrared
(IR) colour-magnitude diagrams clearly show the sequences of asymptotic giant
branch (AGB) stars, red supergiants, and red giant branch (RGB) stars down to
~1 mag below the RGB tip. Optical-near-IR diagrams, obtained by combining our
data with Hubble Space Telescope observations, provide the best separation of
stars in the various evolutionary stages. The counts of AGB stars brighter than
the RGB tip allow us to estimate the star formation at intermediate ages.
Assuming a Salpeter initial mass function, we find that the star formation
episode at intermediate ages produced ~6x10^5 M_sun of stars in the observed
region.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
First Results From the Large Binocular Telescope: Deep Photometry of New dSphs
This contribution describes photometry for two Galactic dSphs obtained with
the Large Binocular Telescope to a magnitude of ~25.5. Using the Large
Binocular Camera, a purpose-built wide-field imager for the LBT, we have
examined the structure and star formation histories of two newly-discovered
Local Group members, the Hercules dSph and the Leo T dSph/dIrr system. We have
constructed a structural map for the Hercules system using three-filter
photometry to V ~ 25.5. This is the first deep photometry for this system, and
it indicates that Hercules is unusually elongated, possibly indicating
distortion due to the Galactic tidal field. We have also derived the first star
formation history for the Leo T system, and find that its oldest population of
stars (age ~ 13 Gyr) were relatively metal-rich, with [Fe/H] ~ -1.5.Comment: Four pages, two figures. To appear in the proceedings of "Galaxies in
the Local Volume", Astrophysics and Space Science, editors B. Koribalski and
H. Jerje
PYRAMIR: Calibration and operation of a pyramid near-infrared wavefront sensor
The concept of pyramid wavefront sensors (PWFS) has been around about a
decade by now. However, there is still a great lack of characterizing
measurements that allow the best operation of such a system under real life
conditions at an astronomical telescope. In this article we, therefore,
investigate the behavior and robustness of the pyramid infrared wavefront
sensor PYRAMIR mounted at the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory
under the influence of different error sources both intrinsic to the sensor,
and arising in the preceding optical system. The intrinsic errors include
diffraction effects on the pyramid edges and detector read out noise. The
external imperfections consist of a Gaussian profile in the intensity
distribution in the pupil plane during calibration, the effect of an optically
resolved reference source, and noncommon-path aberrations. We investigated the
effect of three differently sized reference sources on the calibration of the
PWFS. For the noncommon-path aberrations the quality of the response of the
system is quantified in terms of modal cross talk and aliasing. We investigate
the special behavior of the system regarding tip-tilt control. From our
measurements we derive the method to optimize the calibration procedure and the
setup of a PWFS adaptive optics (AO) system. We also calculate the total
wavefront error arising from aliasing, modal cross talk, measurement error, and
fitting error in order to optimize the number of calibrated modes for on-sky
operations. These measurements result in a prediction of on-sky performance for
various conditions
MCAO near-IR photometry of the Globular Cluster NGC 6388: MAD observations in crowded fields
Deep photometry of crowded fields, such as Galactic Globular Clusters, is
severely limited by the actual resolution of ground-based telescopes. On the
other hand, the Hubble Space Telescope does not provide the near-infrared (NIR)
filters needed to allow large color baselines. In this work we aim at
demonstrating how ground based observations can reach the required resolution
when using Multi-Conjugated Adaptive Optic (MCAO) devices in the NIR, such as
the experimental infrared camera (MAD) available on the VLT. This is
particularly important since these corrections are planned to be available on
all ground--based telescopes in the near future. We do this by combining the
infrared photometry obtained by MAD/VLT with ACS/HST optical photometry of our
scientific target, the bulge globular cluster NGC 6388, in which we imaged two
fields. In particular, we constructed color-magnitude diagrams with an
extremely wide color baseline in order to investigate the presence of multiple
stellar populations in this cluster. From the analysis of the external field,
observed with better seeing conditions, we derived the deepest optical-NIR CMD
of NGC 6388 to date. The high-precision photometry reveals that two distinct
sub-giant branches are clearly present in this cluster. We also use the CMD
from the central region to estimate the distance ((m-M)=15.33) and the
reddening (E(B-V)=0.38) for this cluster. We estimate the age to be ~11.5+/-
1.5 Gyr. The large relative-age error reflects the bimodal distribution of the
SGB stars. This study clearly demonstrates how MCAO correction in the NIR bands
implemented on ground based telescopes can complement the high-resolution
optical data from HST.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication on A. &
Recovering pyramid WS gain in non-common path aberration correction mode via deformable lens
It is by now well known that pyramid based wavefront sensors, once in closed
loop, have the capability to improve more and more the gain as the reference
natural star image size is getting smaller on the pyramid pin. Especially in
extreme adaptive optics applications, in order to correct the non-common path
aberrations between the scientific and sensing channel, it is common use to
inject a certain amount of offset wavefront deformation into the DM(s),
departing at the same time the pyramid from the optimal working condition. In
this paper we elaborate on the possibility to correct the low order non-common
path aberrations at the pyramid wavefront sensor level by means of an adaptive
refractive lens placed on the optical path before the pyramid itself, allowing
the mitigation of the gain loss
Ground-based CCD astrometry with wide field imagers. IV. An improved Geometric Distortion Correction for the Blue prime-focus Camera at the LBT
High precision astrometry requires an accurate geometric distortion solution.
In this work, we present an average correction for the Blue Camera of the Large
Binocular Telescope which enables a relative astrometric precision of ~15 mas
for the B_Bessel and V_Bessel broad-band filters. The result of this effort is
used in two companion papers: the first to measure the absolute proper motion
of the open cluster M67 with respect to the background galaxies; the second to
decontaminate the color-magnitude diagram of M67 from field objects, enabling
the study of the end of its white dwarf cooling sequence. Many other
applications might find this distortion correction useful.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. accepted for publication on Astronomy
and Astrophysic
Observations of Isolated Neutron Stars with the ESO Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator
High-energy observations have unveiled peculiar classes of isolated neutron
stars which, at variance with radio pulsars, are mostly radio silent and not
powered by the star rotation. Among these objects are the magnetars,
hyper-magnetized neutron stars characterized by transient X-ray/gamma-ray
emission, and neutron stars with purely thermal, and in most cases stationary,
X-ray emission (a.k.a., X-ray dim isolated neutron stars or XDINSs). While
apparently dissimilar in their high-energy behavior and age, both magnetars and
XDINSs have similar periods and unusually high magnetic fields. This suggests a
tantalizing scenario where the former evolve into the latter.Discovering so far
uninvestigated similarities between the multi-wavelength properties of these
two classes would be a further step forward to establish an evolutionary
scenario. A most promising channels is the near infrared (NIR) one, where
magnetars are characterized by a distinctive spectral flattening with respect
to the extrapolation of the soft X-ray spectrum.We observed the two XDINSs RX
J0420.0-5022 and RX J1856.5-3754 with the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics
Demonstrator (MAD) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) as part of the instrument
guaranteed time observations program, to search for their NIR counterparts.
Both RX J1856.5-3754 and RX J0420.0-5022 were not detected down to K_s ~20 and
Ks ~21.5, respectively. In order to constrain the relation between XDINSs and
magnetars it would be of importance to perform deeper NIR observations. A good
candidate is 1RXS J214303.7+065419 which is the XDINS with the highest inferred
magnetic field.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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