7,409 research outputs found
Towards Real-Time Detection and Tracking of Spatio-Temporal Features: Blob-Filaments in Fusion Plasma
A novel algorithm and implementation of real-time identification and tracking
of blob-filaments in fusion reactor data is presented. Similar spatio-temporal
features are important in many other applications, for example, ignition
kernels in combustion and tumor cells in a medical image. This work presents an
approach for extracting these features by dividing the overall task into three
steps: local identification of feature cells, grouping feature cells into
extended feature, and tracking movement of feature through overlapping in
space. Through our extensive work in parallelization, we demonstrate that this
approach can effectively make use of a large number of compute nodes to detect
and track blob-filaments in real time in fusion plasma. On a set of 30GB fusion
simulation data, we observed linear speedup on 1024 processes and completed
blob detection in less than three milliseconds using Edison, a Cray XC30 system
at NERSC.Comment: 14 pages, 40 figure
Scale Invariant Interest Points with Shearlets
Shearlets are a relatively new directional multi-scale framework for signal
analysis, which have been shown effective to enhance signal discontinuities
such as edges and corners at multiple scales. In this work we address the
problem of detecting and describing blob-like features in the shearlets
framework. We derive a measure which is very effective for blob detection and
closely related to the Laplacian of Gaussian. We demonstrate the measure
satisfies the perfect scale invariance property in the continuous case. In the
discrete setting, we derive algorithms for blob detection and keypoint
description. Finally, we provide qualitative justifications of our findings as
well as a quantitative evaluation on benchmark data. We also report an
experimental evidence that our method is very suitable to deal with compressed
and noisy images, thanks to the sparsity property of shearlets
Magnetic field correlations in a random flow with strong steady shear
We analyze magnetic kinematic dynamo in a conducting fluid where the
stationary shear flow is accompanied by relatively weak random velocity
fluctuations. The diffusionless and diffusion regimes are described. The growth
rates of the magnetic field moments are related to the statistical
characteristics of the flow describing divergence of the Lagrangian
trajectories. The magnetic field correlation functions are examined, we
establish their growth rates and scaling behavior. General assertions are
illustrated by explicit solution of the model where the velocity field is
short-correlated in time
A Sample of Intermediate-Mass Star-Forming Regions: Making Stars at Mass Column Densities <1 g/cm^2
In an effort to understand the factors that govern the transition from low-
to high-mass star formation, we identify for the first time a sample of
intermediate-mass star-forming regions (IM SFRs) where stars up to - but not
exceeding - 8 solar masses are being produced. We use IRAS colors and Spitzer
Space Telescope mid-IR images, in conjunction with millimeter continuum and CO
maps, to compile a sample of 50 IM SFRs in the inner Galaxy. These are likely
to be precursors to Herbig AeBe stars and their associated clusters of low-mass
stars. IM SFRs constitute embedded clusters at an early evolutionary stage akin
to compact HII regions, but they lack the massive ionizing central star(s). The
photodissociation regions that demarcate IM SFRs have typical diameters of ~1
pc and luminosities of ~10^4 solar luminosities, making them an order of
magnitude less luminous than (ultra)compact HII regions. IM SFRs coincide with
molecular clumps of mass ~10^3 solar masses which, in turn, lie within larger
molecular clouds spanning the lower end of the giant molecular cloud mass
range, 10^4-10^5 solar masses. The IR luminosity and associated molecular mass
of IM SFRs are correlated, consistent with the known luminosity-mass
relationship of compact HII regions. Peak mass column densities within IM SFRs
are ~0.1-0.5 g/cm^2, a factor of several lower than ultra-compact HII regions,
supporting the proposition that there is a threshold for massive star formation
at ~1 g/cm^2.Comment: 61 pages, 6 tables, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astronomical Journa
A robust constraint on cosmic textures from the cosmic microwave background
Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information
which has been pivotal in establishing the current cosmological model. These
data can also be used to test well-motivated additions to this model, such as
cosmic textures. Textures are a type of topological defect that can be produced
during a cosmological phase transition in the early universe, and which leave
characteristic hot and cold spots in the CMB. We apply Bayesian methods to
carry out a rigorous test of the texture hypothesis, using full-sky data from
the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. We conclude that current data do not
warrant augmenting the standard cosmological model with textures. We rule out
at 95% confidence models that predict more than 6 detectable cosmic textures on
the full sky.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: replaced with version accepted by PRL (minor
amendments to reduce length and address referee comments
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