10,093 research outputs found
Morphology and Dynamics of the Low Solar Chromosphere
The Interferometric Bidimensional Spectrometer (IBIS) installed at the Dunn
Solar Telescope of the NSO/SP is used to investigate the morphology and
dynamics of the lower chromosphere and the virtually non-magnetic fluctosphere
below. The study addresses in particular the structure of magnetic elements
that extend into these layers. We choose different quiet Sun regions in and
outside coronal holes. In inter-network regions with no significant magnetic
flux contributions above the detection limit of IBIS, we find intensity
structures with the characteristics of a shock wave pattern. The magnetic flux
elements in the network are long lived and seem to resemble the spatially
extended counterparts to the underlying photospheric magnetic elements. We
suggest a modification to common methods to derive the line-of-sight magnetic
field strength and explain some of the difficulties in deriving the magnetic
field vector from observations of the fluctosphere.Comment: accepted by ApJ, 16 pages, 8 figure
A scene model of exosolar systems for use in planetary detection and characterisation simulations
Instrumental projects that will improve the direct optical finding and
characterisation of exoplanets have advanced sufficiently to trigger organized
investigation and development of corresponding signal processing algorithms.
The first step is the availability of field-of-view (FOV) models. These can
then be submitted to various instrumental models, which in turn produce
simulated data, enabling the testing of processing algorithms. We aim to set
the specifications of a physical model for typical FOVs of these instruments.
The dynamic in resolution and flux between the various sources present in
such a FOV imposes a multiscale, independent layer approach. From review of
current literature and through extrapolations from currently available data and
models, we derive the features of each source-type in the field of view likely
to pass the instrumental filter at exo-Earth level.
Stellar limb darkening is shown to cause bias in leakage calibration if
unaccounted for. Occurrence of perturbing background stars or galaxies in the
typical FOV is unlikely. We extract galactic interstellar medium background
emissions for current target lists. Galactic background can be considered
uniform over the FOV, and it should show no significant drift with parallax.
Our model specifications have been embedded into a Java simulator, soon to be
made open-source. We have also designed an associated FITS input/output format
standard that we present here.Comment: 9 pages (+5 of appendices), 7 figures, accepted for publication in
Astronomy & Astrophysic
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulling Polarimeter for Cosmic Microwave Background Observations
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is an Explorer-class mission to
measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its
distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave
background. The instrument consists of a polarizing Michelson interferometer
configured as a nulling polarimeter to measure the difference spectrum between
orthogonal linear polarizations from two co-aligned beams. Either input can
view the sky or a temperature-controlled absolute reference blackbody
calibrator. PIXIE will map the absolute intensity and linear polarization
(Stokes I, Q, and U parameters) over the full sky in 400 spectral channels
spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 um
wavelength). Multi-moded optics provide background-limited sensitivity using
only 4 detectors, while the highly symmetric design and multiple signal
modulations provide robust rejection of potential systematic errors. The
principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear
polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with
tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10^{-3} at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE
data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology
to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar
medium of the Galaxy.Comment: 37 pages including 17 figures. Submitted to the Journal of Cosmology
and Astroparticle Physic
13CO Cores in Taurus Molecular Cloud
Young stars form in molecular cores, which are dense condensations within
molecular clouds. We have searched for molecular cores traced by CO
emission in the Taurus molecular cloud and studied their properties.
Our data set has a spatial dynamic range (the ratio of linear map size to the
pixel size) of about 1000 and spectrally resolved velocity information, which
together allow a systematic examination of the distribution and dynamic state
of CO cores in a large contiguous region. We use empirical fit to the CO
and CO ice to correct for depletion of gas-phase CO. The CO core
mass function (CO CMF) can be fitted better with a log-normal function
than with a power law function. We also extract cores and calculate the
CO CMF based on the integrated intensity of CO and the CMF from
2MASS. We demonstrate that there exists core blending, i.e.\ combined
structures that are incoherent in velocity but continuous in column density.
The core velocity dispersion (CVD), which is the variance of the core
velocity difference , exhibits a power-law behavior as a function of
the apparent separation :\ CVD (km/s) . This is
similar to Larson's law for the velocity dispersion of the gas. The peak
velocities of CO cores do not deviate from the centroid velocities of
the ambient CO gas by more than half of the line width. The low velocity
dispersion among cores, the close similarity between CVD and Larson's law, and
the small separation between core centroid velocities and the ambient gas all
suggest that molecular cores condense out of the diffuse gas without additional
energy from star formation or significant impact from converging flows.Comment: 46 pages, 23 figures, accepted by Ap
Kepler's First Rocky Planet: Kepler-10b
NASA's Kepler Mission uses transit photometry to determine the frequency of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The mission reached a milestone toward meeting that goal: the discovery of its first rocky planet, Kepler-10b. Two distinct sets of transit events were detected: (1) a 152 ± 4 ppm dimming lasting 1.811 ± 0.024 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] = 2454964.57375^(+0.00060)_(–0.00082) + N * 0.837495^(+0.000004)_(–0.000005) days and (2) a 376 ± 9 ppm dimming lasting 6.86 ± 0.07 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] = 2454971.6761^(+0.0020)_(–0.0023) + N * 45.29485^(+0.00065) _(–0.00076) days. Statistical tests on the photometric and pixel flux time series established the viability of the planet candidates triggering ground-based follow-up observations. Forty precision Doppler measurements were used to confirm that the short-period transit event is due to a planetary companion. The parent star is bright enough for asteroseismic analysis. Photometry was collected at 1 minute cadence for >4 months from which we detected 19 distinct pulsation frequencies. Modeling the frequencies resulted in precise knowledge of the fundamental stellar properties. Kepler-10 is a relatively old (11.9 ± 4.5 Gyr) but otherwise Sun-like main-sequence star with T_(eff) = 5627 ± 44 K, M_⋆ = 0.895 ± 0.060 M_⊙ , and R_⋆ = 1.056 ± 0.021 R_⊙. Physical models simultaneously fit to the transit light curves and the precision Doppler measurements yielded tight constraints on the properties of Kepler-10b that speak to its rocky composition: M_P = 4.56^9+1.17)_(–1.29) M_⊕, R_P = 1.416^(+0.033)_(–0.036) R_⊕, and ρ_P = 8.8^(+2.1)_(–2.9) g cm^(–3). Kepler-10b is the smallest transiting exoplanet discovered to date
Droplets I: Pressure-Dominated Sub-0.1 pc Coherent Structures in L1688 and B18
We present the observation and analysis of newly discovered coherent
structures in the L1688 region of Ophiuchus and the B18 region of Taurus. Using
data from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey (GAS), we identify regions of high
density and near-constant, almost-thermal, velocity dispersion. Eighteen
coherent structures are revealed, twelve in L1688 and six in B18, each of which
shows a sharp "transition to coherence" in velocity dispersion around its
periphery. The identification of these structures provides a chance to study
the coherent structures in molecular clouds statistically. The identified
coherent structures have a typical radius of 0.04 pc and a typical mass of 0.4
Msun, generally smaller than previously known coherent cores identified by
Goodman et al. (1998), Caselli et al. (2002), and Pineda et al. (2010). We call
these structures "droplets." We find that unlike previously known coherent
cores, these structures are not virially bound by self-gravity and are instead
predominantly confined by ambient pressure. The droplets have density profiles
shallower than a critical Bonnor-Ebert sphere, and they have a velocity (VLSR)
distribution consistent with the dense gas motions traced by NH3 emission.
These results point to a potential formation mechanism through pressure
compression and turbulent processes in the dense gas. We present a comparison
with a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a star-forming region, and we
speculate on the relationship of droplets with larger, gravitationally bound
coherent cores, as well as on the role that droplets and other coherent
structures play in the star formation process.Comment: Accepted by ApJ in April, 201
Radial Velocities as an Exoplanet Discovery Method
The precise radial velocity technique is a cornerstone of exoplanetary
astronomy. Astronomers measure Doppler shifts in the star's spectral features,
which track the line-of/sight gravitational accelerations of a star caused by
the planets orbiting it. The method has its roots in binary star astronomy, and
exoplanet detection represents the low-companion-mass limit of that
application. This limit requires control of several effects of much greater
magnitude than the signal sought: the motion of the telescope must be
subtracted, the instrument must be calibrated, and spurious Doppler shifts
"jitter" must be mitigated or corrected. Two primary forms of instrumental
calibration are the stable spectrograph and absorption cell methods, the former
being the path taken for the next generation of spectrographs. Spurious,
apparent Doppler shifts due to non-center-of-mass motion (jitter) can be the
result of stellar magnetic activity or photospheric motions and granulation.
Several avoidance, mitigation, and correction strategies exist, including
careful analysis of line shapes and radial velocity wavelength dependence.Comment: Invited review chapter. 13pp. v2 includes corrections to Eqs 3-6,
updated references, and minor edit
Spicule Dynamics over Plage Region
We studied spicular jets over a plage area and derived their dynamic
characteristics using Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) high-resolution
images. The target plage region was near the west limb of the solar disk. This
location permitted us to study the dynamics of spicular jets without the
overlapping effect of spicular structures along the line of sight.
In this work, to increase the ease with which we can identify spicules on the
disk, we applied the image processing method `MadMax' developed by Koutchmy et
al. (1989). It enhances fine, slender structures (like jets), over a diffuse
background. We identified 169 spicules over the target plage. This sample
permits us to derive statistically reliable results regarding spicular
dynamics.
The properties of plage spicules can be summarized as follows: (1) In a plage
area, we clearly identified spicular jet features. (2) They were shorter in
length than the quiet region limb spicules, and followed ballistic motion under
constant deceleration. (3) The majority (80%) of the plage spicules showed the
cycle of rise and retreat, while 10% of them faded out without a complete
retreat phase. (4) The deceleration of the spicule was proportional to the
velocity of ejection (i.e. the initial velocity).Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
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