541,655 research outputs found
From Small Space to Small Width in Resolution
In 2003, Atserias and Dalmau resolved a major open question about the
resolution proof system by establishing that the space complexity of CNF
formulas is always an upper bound on the width needed to refute them. Their
proof is beautiful but somewhat mysterious in that it relies heavily on tools
from finite model theory. We give an alternative, completely elementary proof
that works by simple syntactic manipulations of resolution refutations. As a
by-product, we develop a "black-box" technique for proving space lower bounds
via a "static" complexity measure that works against any resolution
refutation---previous techniques have been inherently adaptive. We conclude by
showing that the related question for polynomial calculus (i.e., whether space
is an upper bound on degree) seems unlikely to be resolvable by similar
methods
Nucleosynthetic Layers in the Shocked Ejecta of Cassiopeia A
We present a three-dimensional analysis of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A using high-resolution spectra from the Spitzer Space Telescope. We observe supernova ejecta both immediately before and during the shock-ejecta interaction. We determine that the reverse shock of the remnant is spherical to within 7%, although the center of this sphere is offset from the geometric center of the remnant by 810 km s^(–1). We determine that the velocity width of the nucleosynthetic layers is ~1000 km s^(–1) over 4000 arcsec^2 regions, although the velocity width of a layer along any individual line of sight is <250 km s^(–1). Si and O, which come from different nucleosynthetic layers in the progenitor star, are observed to be coincident in velocity space in some directions, but segregated by up to ~500 km s^(–1) in other directions. We compare these observations of the nucleosynthetic layers to predictions from supernova explosion models in an attempt to constrain such models. Finally, we observe small-scale, corrugated velocity structures that are likely caused during the supernova explosion itself, rather than hundreds of years later by dynamical instabilities at the remnant's reverse shock
Asymmetries of solar coronal extreme ultraviolet emission lines
The profiles of emission lines formed in the corona contain information on
the dynamics and the heating of the hot plasma. Only recently has data with
sufficiently high spectral resolution become available for investigating the
details of the profiles of emission lines formed well above 10^6 K. These show
enhanced emission in the line wings, which has not been understood yet. Line
profiles of Fe XV formed at 2.5 MK acquired by the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrometer (EIS) onboard the Hinode solar space observatory are studied using
multi Gaussian fits, with emphasis on the resulting line widths and Doppler
shifts. In the major part of the active region, the spectra are best fit by a
narrow line core and a broad minor component. The latter contributes some 10%
to 20% to the total emission, is about a factor of 2 broader than the core, and
shows strong blueshifts of up to 50 km/s. On average, the line width increases
from the footpoints to the loop top for both components. A component with high
upflow speeds can be found also in small restricted areas. The coronal
structures consist of at least two classes that are not resolved spatially but
only spectroscopically and that are associated with the line core and the minor
component. Because of their huge line width and strong upflows, it is proposed
that the major part of the heating and the mass supply to the corona is
actually located in source regions of the minor component. The siphon flows and
draining loops seen in the line core component are consistent with structures
found in a 3D MHD coronal model. Despite the quite different appearance of the
large active region corona and small network elements seen in transition region
lines, both show similar line profile characteristics. This indicates that the
same processes govern the heating and dynamics of the transition region and the
corona.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics (accepted), 17 pages, 13 figure
Reconstructing the Properties of Dark Energy using Standard Sirens
Future space-based gravity wave experiments such as the Big Bang Observatory
(BBO), with their excellent projected, one sigma angular resolution, will
measure the luminosity distance to a large number of gravity wave (GW) sources
to high precision, and the redshift of the single galaxies in the narrow solid
angles towards the sources will provide the redshifts of the gravity wave
sources. One sigma BBO beams contain the actual source only in 68 per cent
cases; the beams that do not contain the source may contain a spurious single
galaxy, leading to misidentification. To increase the probability of the source
falling within the beam, larger beams have to be considered, decreasing the
chances of finding single galaxies in the beams. Saini, Sethi and Sahni (2010)
argued, largely analytically, that identifying even a small number of GW source
galaxies furnishes a rough distance-redshift relation, which could be used to
further resolve sources that have multiple objects in the angular beam. In this
work we further develop this idea by introducing a self-calibrating iterative
scheme which works in conjunction with Monte-Carlo simulations to determine the
luminosity distance to GW sources with progressively greater accuracy. This
iterative scheme allows one to determine the equation of state of dark energy
to within an accuracy of a few percent for a gravity wave experiment possessing
a beam width an order of magnitude larger than BBO (and therefore having a far
poorer angular resolution). This is achieved with no prior information about
the nature of dark energy from other data sets such as SN Ia, BAO, CMB etc.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Expanded discussion, additional references.
Main results unchanged. Matches published versio
LoCuSS: First Results from Strong-lensing Analysis of 20 Massive Galaxy Clusters at z~0.2
We present a statistical analysis of a sample of 20 strong lensing clusters
drawn from the Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS), based on high
resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the cluster cores and follow-up
spectroscopic observations using the Keck-I telescope. We use detailed
parameterized models of the mass distribution in the cluster cores, to measure
the total cluster mass and fraction of that mass associated with substructures
within R<250kpc.These measurements are compared with the distribution of
baryons in the cores, as traced by the old stellar populations and the X-ray
emitting intracluster medium. Our main results include: (i) the distribution of
Einstein radii is log-normal, with a peak and 1sigma width of
=1.16+/-0.28; (ii) we detect an X-ray/lensing mass discrepancy of
=1.3 at 3 sigma significance -- clusters with larger substructure
fractions displaying greater mass discrepancies, and thus greater departures
from hydrostatic equilibrium; (iii) cluster substructure fraction is also
correlated with the slope of the gas density profile on small scales, implying
a connection between cluster-cluster mergers and gas cooling. Overall our
results are consistent with the view that cluster-cluster mergers play a
prominent role in shaping the properties of cluster cores, in particular
causing departures from hydrostatic equilibrium, and possibly disturbing cool
cores. Our results do not support recent claims that large Einstein radius
clusters present a challenge to the CDM paradigm.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, replaced
with accepted versio
Multiabsorber Transition-Edge Sensors for X-Ray Astronomy
We are developing arrays of position-sensitive microcalorimeters for future x-ray astronomy applications. These position-sensitive devices commonly referred to as hydras consist of multiple x-ray absorbers, each with a different thermal coupling to a single-transition-edge sensor microcalorimeter. Their development is motivated by a desire to achieve very large pixel arrays with some modest compromise in performance. We report on the design, optimization, and first results from devices with small pitch pixels (<75 m) being developed for a high-angular and energy resolution imaging spectrometer for Lynx. The Lynx x-ray space telescope is a flagship mission concept under study for the National Academy of Science 2020 decadal survey. Broadband full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) resolution measurements on a 9-pixel hydra have demonstrated E(FWHM) = 2.23 0.14 eV at Al-K, E(FWHM) = 2.44 0.29 eV at Mn-K, and E(FWHM) = 3.39 0.23 eV at Cu-K. Position discrimination is demonstrated to energies below <1 keV and the device performance is well-described by a finite-element model. Results from a prototype 20-pixel hydra with absorbers on a 50-m pitch have shown E(FWHM) = 3.38 0.20 eV at Cr-K1. We are now optimizing designs specifically for Lynx and extending the number of absorbers up to 25/hydra. Numerical simulation suggests optimized designs could achieve 3 eV while being compatible with the bandwidth requirements of the state-of-the art multiplexed readout schemes, thus making a 100,000 pixel microcalorimeter instrument a realistic goal
Bond angle distribution in amorphous germania and silica
The distribution of Ge-O-Ge and Si-O-Si bond angles alpha in amorphous
germania and silica is re-determined on the basis of diffraction experiments.
The bond angle alpha joining adjacent tetrahedra is the central parameter of
any continuous random network description (CRN) of these glasses. New high
energy photon diffraction experiments on amorphous germania (at photon energies
of 97 and 149 keV) are presented, covering the momentum transfer 0.6-33.5
AA^{-1}. In photon diffraction experiments on GeO2 the contribution of the OO
pairs is very small. To obtain a similar information for amorphous SiO2, high
energy photon diffraction experiments have been combined with neutron
diffraction data on amorphous silica in order to eliminate the OO- partial
structure factor. With this technique it is shown that the Si-O-Si angle
distribution is fairly narrow (sigma=7.5 degree) and in fact comparable in
width to the Ge-O-Ge angle distribution (sigma=8.3 degree), a result which
differs from current opinion. The narrower distribution found in this study are
in much better agreement to the determinations based on 29Si-MAS-NMR. Among the
various models relating the chemical shift to the bond angle, best agreement is
found with those models based on the secant model. Sharp components in the bond
angle distribution can be excluded within the reached real space resolution of
0.09 AA.Comment: 12 pages LATEX, 13 Postscript figures, experimental data includes as
LATEX comment
Contamination and exclusion in the sigma Orionis young group
We present radial velocities for 38 low-mass candidate members of the sigma
Orionis young group. We have measured their radial velocities by
cross-correlation of high resolution (R~6000) AF2/WYFFOS spectra of the gravity
sensitive NaI doublet at 8183, 8195Angstroms. The total sample contained 117
objects of which 54 have sufficient signal-to-noise to detect NaI at an
equivalent width of 3Angstroms, however we only detect NaI in 38 of these. This
implies that very low-mass members of this young group display weaker NaI
absorption than similarly aged objects in the Upper Scorpius OB association. We
develop a technique to assess membership using radial velocities with a range
of uncertainties that does not bias the selection when large uncertainties are
present. The resulting membership probabilities are used to assess the issue of
exclusion in photometric selections, and we find that very few members are
likely to be excluded by such techniques.
We also assess the level of contamination in the expected pre-main sequence
region of colour-magnitude space brighter than I = 17. We find that
contamination by non-members in the expected PMS region of the colour-magnitude
diagram is small. We conclude that although radial velocity alone is
insufficient to confirm membership, high signal-to-noise observations of the
NaI doublet provide the opportunity to use the strength of NaI absorption in
concert with radial velocities to asses membership down to the lowest masses,
where Lithium absorption no longer distinguishes youth.Comment: 11 pages, MNRAS accepted. Online data available from:
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/timn/Catalogues/service.htm
Background derivation and image flattening: getimages
Modern high-resolution images obtained with space observatories display
extremely strong intensity variations across images on all spatial scales.
Source extraction in such images with methods based on global thresholding may
bring unacceptably large numbers of spurious sources in bright areas while
failing to detect sources in low-background or low-noise areas. It would be
highly beneficial to subtract background and equalize the levels of small-scale
fluctuations in the images before extracting sources or filaments. This paper
describes getimages, a new method of background derivation and image
flattening. It is based on median filtering with sliding windows that
correspond to a range of spatial scales from the observational beam size up to
a maximum structure width . The latter is a single free parameter
of getimages that can be evaluated manually from the observed image
. The median filtering algorithm provides a background
image for structures of all widths below
. The same median filtering procedure applied to an image of
standard deviations derived from a
background-subtracted image results in a
flattening image . Finally, a flattened
detection image
is computed, whose standard deviations are uniform outside sources and
filaments. Detecting sources in such greatly simplified images results in much
cleaner extractions that are more complete and reliable. As a bonus, getimages
reduces various observational and map-making artifacts and equalizes noise
levels between independent tiles of mosaicked images.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures (main text + 3 appendices), accepted by
Astronomy & Astrophysics; fixed Metadata abstract (typesetting
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