695,523 research outputs found
Benchmark ultra-cool dwarfs in widely separated binary systems
Ultra-cool dwarfs as wide companions to subgiants, giants, white dwarfs and
main sequence stars can be very good benchmark objects, for which we can infer
physical properties with minimal reference to theoretical models, through
association with the primary stars. We have searched for benchmark ultra-cool
dwarfs in widely separated binary systems using SDSS, UKIDSS, and 2MASS. We
then estimate spectral types using SDSS spectroscopy and multi-band colors,
place constraints on distance, and perform proper motions calculations for all
candidates which have sufficient epoch baseline coverage. Analysis of the
proper motion and distance constraints show that eight of our ultra-cool dwarfs
are members of widely separated binary systems. Another L3.5 dwarf, SDSS 0832,
is shown to be a companion to the bright K3 giant Eta Cancri. Such primaries
can provide age and metallicity constraints for any companion objects, yielding
excellent benchmark objects. This is the first wide ultra-cool dwarf + giant
binary system identified.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, conference, "New Technologies for Probing the
Diversity of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets", oral tal
Dynamic Body VSLAM with Semantic Constraints
Image based reconstruction of urban environments is a challenging problem
that deals with optimization of large number of variables, and has several
sources of errors like the presence of dynamic objects. Since most large scale
approaches make the assumption of observing static scenes, dynamic objects are
relegated to the noise modeling section of such systems. This is an approach of
convenience since the RANSAC based framework used to compute most multiview
geometric quantities for static scenes naturally confine dynamic objects to the
class of outlier measurements. However, reconstructing dynamic objects along
with the static environment helps us get a complete picture of an urban
environment. Such understanding can then be used for important robotic tasks
like path planning for autonomous navigation, obstacle tracking and avoidance,
and other areas. In this paper, we propose a system for robust SLAM that works
in both static and dynamic environments. To overcome the challenge of dynamic
objects in the scene, we propose a new model to incorporate semantic
constraints into the reconstruction algorithm. While some of these constraints
are based on multi-layered dense CRFs trained over appearance as well as motion
cues, other proposed constraints can be expressed as additional terms in the
bundle adjustment optimization process that does iterative refinement of 3D
structure and camera / object motion trajectories. We show results on the
challenging KITTI urban dataset for accuracy of motion segmentation and
reconstruction of the trajectory and shape of moving objects relative to ground
truth. We are able to show average relative error reduction by a significant
amount for moving object trajectory reconstruction relative to state-of-the-art
methods like VISO 2, as well as standard bundle adjustment algorithms
Objects of maximum electromagnetic chirality
We introduce a definition of the electromagnetic chirality of an object and
show that it has an upper bound. Reciprocal objects attain the upper bound if
and only if they are transparent for all the fields of one polarization
handedness (helicity). Additionally, electromagnetic duality symmetry, i.e.,
helicity preservation upon interaction, turns out to be a necessary condition
for reciprocal objects to attain the upper bound. We use these results to
provide requirements for the design of such extremal objects. The requirements
can be formulated as constraints on the polarizability tensors for dipolar
objects or on the material constitutive relations for continuous media. We also
outline two applications for objects of maximum electromagnetic chirality: a
twofold resonantly enhanced and background-free circular dichroism measurement
setup, and angle-independent helicity filtering glasses. Finally, we use the
theoretically obtained requirements to guide the design of a specific
structure, which we then analyze numerically and discuss its performance with
respect to maximal electromagnetic chirality.Comment: This version contains an example of how to use the theoretically
derived constraints for designing realistic structures. It also contains a
discussion related to the optical chirality densit
Peccei-Quinn axions from frequency dependence radiation dimming
We explore how the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion parameter space can be constrained
by the frequency-dependence dimming of radiation from astrophysical objects. To
do so we perform accurate calculations of photon-axion conversion in the
presence of a variable magnetic field. We propose several tests where the PQ
axion parameter space can be explored with current and future astronomical
surveys: the observed spectra of isolated neutron stars, occultations of
background objects by white dwarfs and neutron stars, the light curves of
eclipsing binaries containing a white dwarf. We find that the lack of dimming
of the light curve of a detached eclipsing white dwarf binary recently
observed, leads to relevant constraints on the photon-axion conversion. Current
surveys designed for Earth-like planet searches are well matched to strengthen
and improve the constraints on the PQ axion using astrophysical objects
radiation dimming
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