5,879 research outputs found
Laser-only adaptive optics achieves significant image quality gains compared to seeing-limited observations over the entire sky
Adaptive optics laser guide star systems perform atmospheric correction of
stellar wavefronts in two parts: stellar tip-tilt and high-spatial-order
laser-correction. The requirement of a sufficiently bright guide star in the
field-of-view to correct tip-tilt limits sky coverage. Here we show an
improvement to effective seeing without the need for nearby bright stars,
enabling full sky coverage by performing only laser-assisted wavefront
correction. We used Robo-AO, the first robotic AO system, to comprehensively
demonstrate this laser-only correction. We analyze observations from four years
of efficient robotic operation covering 15,000 targets and 42,000 observations,
each realizing different seeing conditions. Using an autoguider (or a
post-processing software equivalent) and the laser to improve effective seeing
independent of the brightness of a target, Robo-AO observations show a 39+/-19%
improvement to effective FWHM, without any tip-tilt correction. We also
demonstrate that 50% encircled-energy performance without tip-tilt correction
remains comparable to diffraction-limited, standard Robo-AO performance.
Faint-target science programs primarily limited by 50% encircled-energy (e.g.
those employing integral field spectrographs placed behind the AO system) may
see significant benefits to sky coverage from employing laser-only AO.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. 7 pages, 6
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Investigation of Various Factors Affecting Quantification and Characterization Accuracy of NOx Measurement at Near Zero Level in a CVS Sampling Set-Up
Accurate measurement of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) concentrations at near-zero levels using the constant volume sampling (CVS) system is a critical consideration in emissions quantification for engine and vehicle research and certification purposes. Various technological efforts and research are being implemented to ensure emissions from automobile and on-road transportation sources tend towards lower concentrations. This development has resulted in NOx concentration measurements to shift towards near-zero and thus, reach the detection limits of traditional measurement approaches and methods. There are several factors that might deter achieving measurement accuracy at this level, as their effect becomes significant at low NOx concentrations. A number of selected factors were investigated as part of this study, including, making modifications to the current CVS measurement set-up to assess and ascertain the capability of the CVS in accurately quantifying NOx at near-zero concentration levels. The effect of background variability of NOx and total hydrocarbons (THC) was investigated, with both species exhibiting variations in concentrations within a 10 minutes span across 3 days of measurements. Additionally, a dilution air filter was incorporated into the CVS dilution and engine intake air duct system to reduce and stabilize the NOx and THC concentrations which resulted in a 31% average NOx across both analyzers and a 5% average THC reduction. Furthermore, low NOx capable analyzers were also utilized to enhance the CVS measurement system. In general, an average drift error of -1.7% was observed for both analyzers used over a 3-day period of measurements. Finally, the CVS dilution tunnel was heated to ensure a stable temperature across the tunnel within a range of 49â to 59â and thereby prevent any possible condensation inside the tunnel that could result in a reduced NOx and THC concentration measurement. Virtual NOx injections were carried out to simulate an average loss of NOx in the CVS sampling set-up. The analysis of the selected influencing factors showcased a tendency to affect the accurate characterization and quantification of NOx concentration measurements at near-zero level
Flat-top TIRF illumination boosts DNA-PAINT imaging and quantification
Super-resolution (SR) techniques have extended the optical resolution down to a few nanometers. However, quantitative treatment of SR data remains challenging due to its complex dependence on a manifold of experimental parameters. Among the different SR variants, DNA-PAINT is relatively straightforward to implement, since it achieves the necessary 'blinking' without the use of rather complex optical or chemical activation schemes. However, it still suffers from image and quantification artifacts caused by inhomogeneous optical excitation. Here we demonstrate that several experimental challenges can be alleviated by introducing a segment-wise analysis approach and ultimately overcome by implementing a flat-top illumination profile for TIRF microscopy using a commercially-available beam-shaping device. The improvements with regards to homogeneous spatial resolution and precise kinetic information over the whole field-of-view were quantitatively assayed using DNA origami and cell samples. Our findings open the door to high-throughput DNA-PAINT studies with thus far unprecedented accuracy for quantitative data interpretation
Adaptive evolution is substantially impeded by HillâRobertson interference in Drosophila
HillâRobertson interference (HRi) is expected to reduce the efficiency of natural selection when two or more linked selected sites do not segregate freely, but no attempt has been done so far to quantify the overall impact of HRi on the rate of adaptive evolution for any given genome. In this work, we estimate how much HRi impedes the rate of adaptive evolution in the coding genome of Drosophila melanogaster. We compiled a data set of 6,141 autosomal protein-coding genes from Drosophila, from which polymorphism levels in D. melanogaster and divergence out to D. yakuba were estimated. The rate of adaptive evolution was calculated using a derivative of the McDonaldâKreitman test that controls for slightly deleterious mutations. We find that the rate of adaptive amino acid substitution at a given position of the genome is positively correlated to both the rate of recombination and the mutation rate, and negatively correlated to the gene density of the region. These correlations are robust to controlling for each other, for synonymous codon bias and for gene functions related to immune response and testes. We show that HRi diminishes the rate of adaptive evolution by approximately 27%. Interestingly, genes with low mutation rates embedded in gene poor regions lose approximately 17% of their adaptive substitutions whereas genes with high mutation rates embedded in gene rich regions lose approximately 60%. We conclude that HRi hampers the rate of adaptive evolution in Drosophila and that the variation in recombination, mutation, and gene density along the genome affects the HRi effect
A Study of Exclusive Charmless Semileptonic B Decays and Extraction of |V_{ub}| at CLEO
We have studied semileptonic B decay to the exclusive charmless states pi,
rho/omega, eta and eta' using the full 15.5 fb^-1 CLEO Upsilon(4S) sample, with
measurements performed in subregions of phase space to minimize dependence on a
priori knowledge of the form factors involved. We find total branching
fractions B(B^0 -> pi^-l^+nu) = (1.37 +- 0.15_stat +- 0.11_sys) x 10^-4 and
B(B^0 -> rho^- l^+ nu) = (2.93 +- 0.37_stat +- 0.37_sys) x 10^-4. We find
evidence for B^+ -> eta' l^+ nu, with B(B^+ -> eta' l^+ nu) = (2.66 +-
0.80_stat +- 0.56_sys) x 10^-4 and 1.20 x 10^-4 eta' l^+ nu) < 4.46
x 10^-4 (90% CL). We also limit B(B^+ -> eta l^+ nu) < 1.01 x 10^-4 (90% CL).
By combining our B -> pi l nu information with unquenched lattice calculations,
we find |V_ub| = (3.6 +- 0.4 +- 0.2 +0.6 -0.4) x 10^-3, where the errors are
statistical, experimental systematic, and theoretical systematic, respectively.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures; revise
Survey for Transiting Extrasolar Planets in Stellar Systems: III. A Limit on the Fraction of Stars with Planets in the Open Cluster NGC 1245
We analyze a 19-night photometric search for transiting extrasolar planets in
the open cluster NGC 1245. An automated transit search algorithm with
quantitative selection criteria finds six transit candidates; none are bona
fide planetary transits. We characterize the survey detection probability via
Monte Carlo injection and recovery of realistic limb-darkened transits. We use
this to derive upper limits on the fraction of cluster members with close-in
Jupiter-radii, RJ, companions. We carefully analyze the random and systematic
errors of the calculation. For similar photometric noise and weather properties
as this survey, observing NGC 1245 twice as long results in a tighter
constraint on "Hot Jupiter", HJ, companions than observing an additional
cluster of similar richness as NGC 1245 for the same length of time as this
survey. This survey observed ~870 cluster members. If 1% of stars have 1.5 RJ
HJ companions, we expect to detect one planet for every 5000 dwarf stars
observed for a month. To reach a ~2% upper limit on the fraction of stars with
1.5 RJ HJ companions, we conclude a total sample size of ~7400 dwarf stars
observed for at least a month will be needed. Results for 1.0 RJ companions,
without substantial improvement in the photometric precision, will require a
small factor larger sample size.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, submitted A
Ultraviolet and X-ray variability of NGC 4051 over 45 days with XMM-Newton and Swift
We analyse 15 XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051 obtained
over 45 days to determine the ultraviolet (UV) light curve variability
characteristics and search for correlated UV/X-ray emission. The UV light curve
shows variability on all time scales, however with lower fractional rms than
the 0.2-10 keV X-rays. On days-weeks timescales the fractional variability of
the UV is Fvar ~ 8%, and on short (~ hours) timescales Fvar ~ 2%. The
within-observation excess variance in 4 of the 15 UV observations was found be
much higher than the remaining 11. This was caused by large systematic
uncertainties in the count rate masking the intrinsic source variance. For the
four "good" observations we fit an unbroken power-law model to the UV power
spectra with slope -2.0 +/- 0.5. We compute the UV/X-ray Cross-correlation
function for the "good" observations and find a correlation of ~ 0.5 at time
lag of ~ 3 ks, where the UV lags the X-rays. We also compute for the first time
the UV/X-ray Cross-spectrum in the range 0-28.5 ks, and find a low coherence
and an average time lag of ~ 3 ks. Combining the 15 XMM-Newton and the Swift
observations we compute the DCF over +/-40 days but are unable to recover a
significant correlation. The magnitude and direction of the lag estimate from
the 4 "good" observations indicates a scenario where ~ 25 % of the UV variance
is caused by thermal reprocessing of the incident X-ray emission.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
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