43,153 research outputs found
Exploring the spectroscopic diversity of type Ia supernovae with DRACULA: a machine learning approach
The existence of multiple subclasses of type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) has been
the subject of great debate in the last decade. One major challenge inevitably
met when trying to infer the existence of one or more subclasses is the time
consuming, and subjective, process of subclass definition. In this work, we
show how machine learning tools facilitate identification of subtypes of SNeIa
through the establishment of a hierarchical group structure in the continuous
space of spectral diversity formed by these objects. Using Deep Learning, we
were capable of performing such identification in a 4 dimensional feature space
(+1 for time evolution), while the standard Principal Component Analysis barely
achieves similar results using 15 principal components. This is evidence that
the progenitor system and the explosion mechanism can be described by a small
number of initial physical parameters. As a proof of concept, we show that our
results are in close agreement with a previously suggested classification
scheme and that our proposed method can grasp the main spectral features behind
the definition of such subtypes. This allows the confirmation of the velocity
of lines as a first order effect in the determination of SNIa subtypes,
followed by 91bg-like events. Given the expected data deluge in the forthcoming
years, our proposed approach is essential to allow a quick and statistically
coherent identification of SNeIa subtypes (and outliers). All tools used in
this work were made publicly available in the Python package Dimensionality
Reduction And Clustering for Unsupervised Learning in Astronomy (DRACULA) and
can be found within COINtoolbox (https://github.com/COINtoolbox/DRACULA).Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Thai Studentsâ Understanding about Celestial Motion within Their Social and Cultural Context
This study investigated forty-one Thai 9th grade studentsâ understanding about the motion of the sun, moon, and stars within their social and cultural context. Students' understanding was explored using a survey tool titled âStudentsâ Understanding about Celestial Motion within Their Social and Cultural Context Questionnaire (SCMSCQ).â This questionnaire gave students the opportunity to express their ideas about celestial motion within their social and cultural context. The study reveals some interesting features of student understanding, and particularly their difficulty in perceiving the relationship between the study of celestial motion and their social and cultural context. Many students used descriptions from their everyday observations of the daily motion of the sun, moon, and stars, rather than scientific explanations, to answer questions about the relationship between social and cultural context and celestial motion. This study has implications for the development of teaching the sociocultural approach in Thailand
Near-Field Radio Holography of Large Reflector Antennas
We summarise the mathematical foundation of the holographic method of
measuring the reflector profile of an antenna or radio telescope. In
particular, we treat the case, where the signal source is located at a finite
distance from the antenna under test, necessitating the inclusion of the
so-called Fresnel field terms in the radiation integrals. We assume a ``full
phase'' system with reference receiver to provide the reference phase. We
describe in some detail the hardware and software implementation of the system
used for the holographic measurement of the 12m ALMA prototype submillimeter
antennas. We include a description of the practicalities of a measurement and
surface setting. The results for both the VertexRSI and AEC
(Alcatel-EIE-Consortium) prototype ALMA antennas are presented.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, to appear in IEEE Antennas and Propagation
Magazine, Vol. 49, No. 5, October 2007. Version 2 includes nice mug-shots of
the author
Wurdi Youang: an Australian Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indications
Wurdi Youang is an egg-shaped Aboriginal stone arrangement in Victoria,
Australia. Here we present a new survey of the site, and show that its major
axis is aligned within a few degrees of east-west. We confirm a previous
hypothesis that it contains alignments to the position on the horizon of the
setting sun at the equinox and the solstices, and show that two independent
sets of indicators are aligned in these directions. We show that these
alignments are unlikely to have arisen by chance, and instead the builders of
this stone arrangement appear to have deliberately aligned the site on
astronomically significant positions.Comment: Accepted by Rock Art Researc
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San CristĂłbal de La Laguna
The city of San CristĂłbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 (UNESCO World Heritage Committee, n.d.). We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San CristĂłbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches.Fil: Gangui, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de InvestigaciĂłnes CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Oficina de CoordinaciĂłn Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de AstronomĂa y FĂsica del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de AstronomĂa y FĂsica del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Belmonte, Juan Antonio. Instituto de AstrofĂsica de Canarias; Españ
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