15,432 research outputs found
SPIDER: a balloon-borne CMB polarimeter for large angular scales
We describe SPIDER, a balloon-borne instrument to map the polarization of the
millimeter-wave sky with degree angular resolution. Spider consists of six
monochromatic refracting telescopes, each illuminating a focal plane of
large-format antenna-coupled bolometer arrays. A total of 2,624 superconducting
transition-edge sensors are distributed among three observing bands centered at
90, 150, and 280 GHz. A cold half-wave plate at the aperture of each telescope
modulates the polarization of incoming light to control systematics. Spider's
first flight will be a 20-30-day Antarctic balloon campaign in December 2011.
This flight will map \sim8% of the sky to achieve unprecedented sensitivity to
the polarization signature of the gravitational wave background predicted by
inflationary cosmology. The Spider mission will also serve as a proving ground
for these detector technologies in preparation for a future satellite mission.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; as published in the conference proceedings for
SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and
Instrumentation for Astronomy V (2010
Adaptive and Iterative Multi-Branch MMSE Decision Feedback Detection Algorithms for MIMO Systems
In this work, decision feedback (DF) detection algorithms based on multiple
processing branches for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) spatial multiplexing
systems are proposed. The proposed detector employs multiple cancellation
branches with receive filters that are obtained from a common matrix inverse
and achieves a performance close to the maximum likelihood detector (MLD).
Constrained minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) receive filters designed with
constraints on the shape and magnitude of the feedback filters for the
multi-branch MMSE DF (MB-MMSE-DF) receivers are presented. An adaptive
implementation of the proposed MB-MMSE-DF detector is developed along with a
recursive least squares-type algorithm for estimating the parameters of the
receive filters when the channel is time-varying. A soft-output version of the
MB-MMSE-DF detector is also proposed as a component of an iterative detection
and decoding receiver structure. A computational complexity analysis shows that
the MB-MMSE-DF detector does not require a significant additional complexity
over the conventional MMSE-DF detector, whereas a diversity analysis discusses
the diversity order achieved by the MB-MMSE-DF detector. Simulation results
show that the MB-MMSE-DF detector achieves a performance superior to existing
suboptimal detectors and close to the MLD, while requiring significantly lower
complexity.Comment: 10 figures, 3 tables; IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications,
201
Instrumental performance and results from testing of the BLAST-TNG receiver, submillimeter optics, and MKID arrays
Polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains can be used to map
magnetic fields in star forming molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar
medium (ISM). The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for
Polarimetry (BLASTPol) flew from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012 and produced
degree-scale polarization maps of several nearby molecular clouds with
arcminute resolution. The success of BLASTPol has motivated a next-generation
instrument, BLAST-TNG, which will use more than 3000 linear polarization
sensitive microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) combined with a 2.5m
diameter carbon fiber primary mirror to make diffraction-limited observations
at 250, 350, and 500 m. With 16 times the mapping speed of BLASTPol,
sub-arcminute resolution, and a longer flight time, BLAST-TNG will be able to
examine nearby molecular clouds and the diffuse galactic dust polarization
spectrum in unprecedented detail. The 250 m detector array has been
integrated into the new cryogenic receiver, and is undergoing testing to
establish the optical and polarization characteristics of the instrument.
BLAST-TNG will demonstrate the effectiveness of kilo-pixel MKID arrays for
applications in submillimeter astronomy. BLAST-TNG is scheduled to fly from
Antarctica in December 2017 for 28 days and will be the first balloon-borne
telescope to offer a quarter of the flight for "shared risk" observing by the
community.Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared
Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII, June 29th, 201
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the 600< ell <8000 Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum at 148 GHz
We present a measurement of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) radiation observed at 148 GHz. The measurement uses
maps with 1.4' angular resolution made with data from the Atacama Cosmology
Telescope (ACT). The observations cover 228 square degrees of the southern sky,
in a 4.2-degree-wide strip centered on declination 53 degrees South. The CMB at
arcminute angular scales is particularly sensitive to the Silk damping scale,
to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from galaxy clusters, and to emission by
radio sources and dusty galaxies. After masking the 108 brightest point sources
in our maps, we estimate the power spectrum between 600 < \ell < 8000 using the
adaptive multi-taper method to minimize spectral leakage and maximize use of
the full data set. Our absolute calibration is based on observations of Uranus.
To verify the calibration and test the fidelity of our map at large angular
scales, we cross-correlate the ACT map to the WMAP map and recover the WMAP
power spectrum from 250 < ell < 1150. The power beyond the Silk damping tail of
the CMB is consistent with models of the emission from point sources. We
quantify the contribution of SZ clusters to the power spectrum by fitting to a
model normalized at sigma8 = 0.8. We constrain the model's amplitude ASZ < 1.63
(95% CL). If interpreted as a measurement of sigma8, this implies sigma8^SZ <
0.86 (95% CL) given our SZ model. A fit of ACT and WMAP five-year data jointly
to a 6-parameter LCDM model plus terms for point sources and the SZ effect is
consistent with these results.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
High-Rate Space-Time Coded Large MIMO Systems: Low-Complexity Detection and Channel Estimation
In this paper, we present a low-complexity algorithm for detection in
high-rate, non-orthogonal space-time block coded (STBC) large-MIMO systems that
achieve high spectral efficiencies of the order of tens of bps/Hz. We also
present a training-based iterative detection/channel estimation scheme for such
large STBC MIMO systems. Our simulation results show that excellent bit error
rate and nearness-to-capacity performance are achieved by the proposed
multistage likelihood ascent search (M-LAS) detector in conjunction with the
proposed iterative detection/channel estimation scheme at low complexities. The
fact that we could show such good results for large STBCs like 16x16 and 32x32
STBCs from Cyclic Division Algebras (CDA) operating at spectral efficiencies in
excess of 20 bps/Hz (even after accounting for the overheads meant for pilot
based training for channel estimation and turbo coding) establishes the
effectiveness of the proposed detector and channel estimator. We decode perfect
codes of large dimensions using the proposed detector. With the feasibility of
such a low-complexity detection/channel estimation scheme, large-MIMO systems
with tens of antennas operating at several tens of bps/Hz spectral efficiencies
can become practical, enabling interesting high data rate wireless
applications.Comment: v3: Performance/complexity comparison of the proposed scheme with
other large-MIMO architectures/detectors has been added (Sec. IV-D). The
paper has been accepted for publication in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in
Signal Processing (JSTSP): Spl. Iss. on Managing Complexity in Multiuser MIMO
Systems. v2: Section V on Channel Estimation is update
Could the GRB-Supernovae GRB 031203 and XRF 060218 be Cosmic Twins?
The gamma-ray burst (GRB) / X-ray flash (XRF) events GRB 031203, discovered
by INTEGRAL, and XRF 060218, discovered by Swift, represent two of only five
GRB-SNe with optical spectroscopic confirmation of their SN components. Yet
their observed high-energy properties offer a sharp contrast: While GRB 031203
was detected as a short 40-s burst with a spectrum peaking at E_peak > 190 keV,
XRF 060218 was a T_90 ~ 2100-s long, smoothly-evolving burst with peak energy
E_peak = 4.9 keV. At the same time, the properties of the two expanding
dust-scattered X-ray halos observed in a fast-response XMM-Newton observation
of GRB 031203 reveal that this event was accompanied by an "X-ray blast" with
fluence comparable to or greater than that of the prompt gamma-ray event.
Taking this observation as our starting point, we investigate the likely
properties of the X-ray blast from GRB 031203 via detailed modeling of the XMM
data, discovering a third halo due to scattering off a more distant dust sheet
at d_3 = 9.94 +/- 0.39 kpc, and constraining the timing of the X-ray blast
relative to the GRB trigger time to be t_0 = 11 +/- 417 s. Using our
constraints, we compare the properties of GRB 031203 to those of other GRB-SNe
in order to understand the likely nature of its X-ray blast, concluding that a
bright X-ray flare, as in GRB 050502B, or shock breakout event, as in XRF
060218, provide the most likely explanations. In the latter case, we consider
the added possibility that XRF 060218 may have manifested an episode of bright
gamma-ray emission prior to the burst observed by Swift, in which case GRB
031203 and XRF 060218 would be "cosmic twin" explosions with nearly identical
high-energy properties.Comment: MNRAS in press; 12 pages, 6 figures. v2: Expanded discussion of
related papers and minor changes in response to referee repor
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