Stellar Double Coronagraph: a multistage coronagraphic platform at Palomar observatory

We present a new instrument, the "Stellar Double Coronagraph" (SDC), a flexible coronagraphic platform. Designed for Palomar Observatory's 200" Hale telescope, its two focal and pupil planes allow for a number of different observing configurations, including multiple vortex coronagraphs in series for improved contrast at small angles. We describe the motivation, design, observing modes, wavefront control approaches, data reduction pipeline, and early science results. We also discuss future directions for the instrument.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures. Correspondence welcome. The published work is open access and differs trivially from the version posted here. The published version may be found at http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/128/965/075003/met

Analysis of Neptune's 2017 Bright Equatorial Storm

We report the discovery of a large ($\sim$8500 km diameter) infrared-bright storm at Neptune's equator in June 2017. We tracked the storm over a period of 7 months with high-cadence infrared snapshot imaging, carried out on 14 nights at the 10 meter Keck II telescope and 17 nights at the Shane 120 inch reflector at Lick Observatory. The cloud feature was larger and more persistent than any equatorial clouds seen before on Neptune, remaining intermittently active from at least 10 June to 31 December 2017. Our Keck and Lick observations were augmented by very high-cadence images from the amateur community, which permitted the determination of accurate drift rates for the cloud feature. Its zonal drift speed was variable from 10 June to at least 25 July, but remained a constant $237.4 \pm 0.2$ m s$^{-1}$ from 30 September until at least 15 November. The pressure of the cloud top was determined from radiative transfer calculations to be 0.3-0.6 bar; this value remained constant over the course of the observations. Multiple cloud break-up events, in which a bright cloud band wrapped around Neptune's equator, were observed over the course of our observations. No "dark spot" vortices were seen near the equator in HST imaging on 6 and 7 October. The size and pressure of the storm are consistent with moist convection or a planetary-scale wave as the energy source of convective upwelling, but more modeling is required to determine the driver of this equatorial disturbance as well as the triggers for and dynamics of the observed cloud break-up events.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables; Accepted to Icaru

Stereoscopic Photography of Shear Flow Turbulence

The last several years have seen numerous advances in the understanding of the coherent motions that exist in turbulent shear flows. These studies have provided the underlying basis of most of the experimental investigations of coherent motions using conditional sampling, quadrant splitting, pattern recognition, etc. Lacking, however, in the visual work is a true three- dimensional view of the processes, which are known to be three-dimensional in nature. Possible means of providing information about the third dimension are reviewed. Details of an evaluation of a stereoscopic-photographic, high-speed motion picture system are given. The system utilizes the boundary layer flow channel previously developed in our work by Nychas, Hershey and Brodkey (J. Fluid Mech. (1973) 6l, 513)

Image registration algorithm for molecular tagging velocimetry applied to unsteady flow in Hele-Shaw cell

In order to develop velocimetry methods for confined geometries, we propose to combine image registration and volumetric reconstruction from a monocular video of the draining of a Hele-Shaw cell filled with water. The cell’s thickness is small compared to the other two dimensions (e.g. 1x400 x 800 mm3). We use a technique known as molecular tagging which consists in marking by photobleaching a pattern in the fluid and then tracking its deformations. The evolution of the pattern is filmed with a camera whose principal axis coincides with the cell’s gap. The velocity of the fluid along this direction is not constant. Consequently, tracking the pattern cannot be achieved with classical methods because what is observed is the integral of the marked molecules over the entire cell’s gap. The proposed approach is built on top of direct image registration that we extend to specifically model the volumetric image formation. It allows us to accurately measure the motion and the velocity profiles for the entire volume (including the cell’s gap) which is something usually hard to achieve. The results we obtained are consistent with the theoretical hydrodynamic behaviour for this flow which is known as the Poiseuille flow

Theory and Validation of Magnetic Resonance Fluid Motion Estimation Using Intensity Flow Data

15 p.Background Motion tracking based on spatial-temporal radio-frequency signals from the pixel representation of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of a non-stationary fluid is able to provide two dimensional vector field maps. This supports the underlying fundamentals of magnetic resonance fluid motion estimation and generates a new methodology for flow measurement that is based on registration of nuclear signals from moving hydrogen nuclei in fluid. However, there is a need to validate the computational aspect of the approach by using velocity flow field data that we will assume as the true reference information or ground truth. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we create flow vectors based on an ideal analytical vortex, and generate artificial signal-motion image data to verify our computational approach. The analytical and computed flow fields are compared to provide an error estimate of our methodology. The comparison shows that the fluid motion estimation approach using simulated MR data is accurate and robust enough for flow field mapping. To verify our methodology, we have tested the computational configuration on magnetic resonance images of cardiac blood and proved that the theory of magnetic resonance fluid motion estimation can be applicable practically. Conclusions/Significance The results of this work will allow us to progress further in the investigation of fluid motion prediction based on imaging modalities that do not require velocity encoding. This article describes a novel theory of motion estimation based on magnetic resonating blood, which may be directly applied to cardiac flow imaging.Kelvin Kian Loong Wong, Richard Malcolm Kelso, Stephen Grant Worthley, Prashanthan Sanders, Jagannath Mazumdar, Derek Abbot

Model order reduction by convex displacement interpolation

We present a nonlinear interpolation technique for parametric fields that exploits optimal transportation of coherent structures of the solution to achieve accurate performance. The approach generalizes the nonlinear interpolation procedure introduced in [Iollo, Taddei, J. Comput. Phys., 2022] to multi-dimensional parameter domains and to datasets of several snapshots. Given a library of high-fidelity simulations, we rely on a scalar testing function and on a point set registration method to identify coherent structures of the solution field in the form of sorted point clouds. Given a new parameter value, we exploit a regression method to predict the new point cloud; then, we resort to a boundary-aware registration technique to define bijective mappings that deform the new point cloud into the point clouds of the neighboring elements of the dataset, while preserving the boundary of the domain; finally, we define the estimate as a weighted combination of modes obtained by composing the neighboring snapshots with the previously-built mappings. We present several numerical examples for compressible and incompressible, viscous and inviscid flows to demonstrate the accuracy of the method. Furthermore, we employ the nonlinear interpolation procedure to augment the dataset of simulations for linear-subspace projection-based model reduction: our data augmentation procedure is designed to reduce offline costs -- which are dominated by snapshot generation -- of model reduction techniques for nonlinear advection-dominated problems

Bending and Breaking of Stripes in a Charge-Ordered Manganite

In complex electronic materials, coupling between electrons and the atomic lattice gives rise to remarkable phenomena, including colossal magnetoresistance and metal-insulator transitions. Charge-ordered phases are a prototypical manifestation of charge-lattice coupling, in which the atomic lattice undergoes periodic lattice displacements (PLDs). Here we directly map the picometer scale PLDs at individual atomic columns in the room temperature charge-ordered manganite Bi$_{0.35}$Sr$_{0.18}$Ca$_{0.47}$MnO$_3$ using aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). We measure transverse, displacive lattice modulations of the cations, distinct from existing manganite charge-order models. We reveal locally unidirectional striped PLD domains as small as $\sim$5 nm, despite apparent bidirectionality over larger length scales. Further, we observe a direct link between disorder in one lattice modulation, in the form of dislocations and shear deformations, and nascent order in the perpendicular modulation. By examining the defects and symmetries of PLDs near the charge-ordering phase transition, we directly visualize the local competition underpinning spatial heterogeneity in a complex oxide.Comment: Main text: 20 pages, 4 figures. Supplemental Information: 27 pages, 14 figure

Flow in left atrium using MR fluid motion estimation

Copyright 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. This paper was published in Complex Systems II, edited by Derek Abbott, Tomaso Aste, Murray Batchelor, Robert Dewar, Tiziana Di Matteo, Tony Guttmann, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6802, 68021H and is made available as an electronic reprint with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.A recent development based on optical flow applied onto Fast Imaging in Steady State Free Precession (TrueFISP) magnetic resonance imaging is able to deliver good estimation of the flow profile in the human heart chamber. The examination of cardiac flow based on tracking of MR signals emitted by moving blood is able to give medical doctors insight into the flow patterns within the human heart using standard MRI procedure without specifically subjecting the patient to longer scan times using more dedicated scan protocols such as phase contrast MRI. Although MR fluid motion estimation has its limitations in terms of accurate flow mapping, the use of a comparatively quick scan procedure and computational post-processing gives satisfactory flow quantification and can assist in management of cardiac patients. In this study, we present flow in the left atria of five human subjects using MR fluid motion tracking. The measured flow shows that vortices exist within the atrium of heart. Although the scan is two-dimensional, we have produced multiple slices of flow maps in a spatial direction to show that the vortex exist in a three-dimensional space.Kelvin K. L. Wong, Richard M. Kelso, Stephen M. Worthley, Prash Sanders, Jagannath Mazumdar, Derek Abbot