The Panchromatic High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Local Group Star Clusters - I. General Data Reduction Procedures for the VLT/X-shooter UVB and VIS arm

Our dataset contains spectroscopic observations of 29 globular clusters in the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way performed with VLT/X-shooter. Here we present detailed data reduction procedures for the VLT/X-shooter UVB and VIS arm. These are not restricted to our particular dataset, but are generally applicable to different kinds of X-shooter data without major limitation on the astronomical object of interest. ESO's X-shooter pipeline (v1.5.0) performs well and reliably for the wavelength calibration and the associated rectification procedure, yet we find several weaknesses in the reduction cascade that are addressed with additional calibration steps, such as bad pixel interpolation, flat fielding, and slit illumination corrections. Furthermore, the instrumental PSF is analytically modeled and used to reconstruct flux losses at slit transit and for optimally extracting point sources. Regular observations of spectrophotometric standard stars allow us to detect instrumental variability, which needs to be understood if a reliable absolute flux calibration is desired. A cascade of additional custom calibration steps is presented that allows for an absolute flux calibration uncertainty of less than ten percent under virtually every observational setup provided that the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high. The optimal extraction increases the signal-to-noise ratio typically by a factor of 1.5, while simultaneously correcting for resulting flux losses. The wavelength calibration is found to be accurate to an uncertainty level of approximately 0.02 Angstrom. We find that most of the X-shooter systematics can be reliably modeled and corrected for. This offers the possibility of comparing observations on different nights and with different telescope pointings and instrumental setups, thereby facilitating a robust statistical analysis of large datasets.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; V2 contains a minor change in the abstract. We note that we did not test X-shooter pipeline versions 2.0 or later. V3 contains an updated referenc

Symmetry related dynamics in parallel shear flows

Parallel shear flows come with continuous symmetries of translation in the downstream and spanwise direction. As a consequence, flow states that differ in their spanwise or downstream location but are otherwise identical are dynamically equivalent. In the case of travelling waves, this trivial degree of freedom can be removed by going to a frame of reference that moves with the state, thereby turning the travelling wave in the laboratory frame to a fixed point in the comoving frame of reference. We here discuss a general method by which the translational displacements can be removed also for more complicated and dynamically active states and demonstrate its application for several examples. For flows states in the asymptotic suction boundary layer we show that in the case of the long-period oscillatory edge state we can find local phase speeds which remove the fast oscillations and reveal the slow vortex dynamics underlying the burst phenomenon. For spanwise translating states we show that the method removes the drift but not the dynamical events that cause the big spanwise displacement. For a turbulent case we apply the method to the spanwise shifts and find slow components that are correlated over very long times. Calculations for plane Poiseuille flow show that the long correlations in the transverse motions are not special to the asymptotic suction boundary layer

Window Functions and Their Applications in Signal Processing

Window functions—otherwise known as weighting functions, tapering functions, or apodization functions—are mathematical functions that are zero-valued outside the chosen interval. They are well established as a vital part of digital signal processing. Window Functions and their Applications in Signal Processing presents an exhaustive and detailed account of window functions and their applications in signal processing, focusing on the areas of digital spectral analysis, design of FIR filters, pulse compression radar, and speech signal processing. Comprehensively reviewing previous research and recent developments, this book: Provides suggestions on how to choose a window function for particular applications Discusses Fourier analysis techniques and pitfalls in the computation of the DFT Introduces window functions in the continuous-time and discrete-time domains Considers two implementation strategies of window functions in the time- and frequency domain Explores well-known applications of window functions in the fields of radar, sonar, biomedical signal analysis, audio processing, and synthetic aperture rada

DMRG studies of Chebyshev-expanded spectral functions and quantum impurity models

This thesis is concerned with two main topics: first, the advancement of the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and, second, its applications. In the first project of this thesis we exploit the common mathematical structure of the numerical renormalization group and the DMRG, namely, matrix product states (MPS), to implement an efficient numerical treatment of a two-lead, multi-level Anderson impurity model. By adopting a star-like geometry, where each species (spin and lead) of conduction electrons is described by its own so-called Wilson chain, instead of a single Wilson chain we achieve a very significant reduction in the numerical resources required to obtain reliable results. Moreover, we show that it is possible to find an "optimal" chain basis, in which chain degrees of freedom of different Wilson chains become effectively decoupled from each other further out on the Wilson chains. This basis turns out to also diagonalize the model's chain-to-chain scattering matrix. In the second project we show that Chebychev expansions offer numerically efficient representations for calculating spectral functions of one-dimensional lattice models using MPS methods. The main features of this Chebychev matrix product state (CheMPS) approach are: (i) it achieves uniform resolution over the spectral function's entire spectral width; (ii) it offers a well-controlled broadening scheme; (iii) it is based on using MPS tools to recursively calculate a succession of Chebychev vectors, (iv) whose entanglement entropies were found to remain bounded with increasing recursion order for all cases analyzed here. We present CheMPS results for the structure factor of spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains and perform a detailed finite-size analysis. Making comparisons to benchmark methods, we find that CheMPS yields results comparable in quality to those of correction vector DMRG, at dramatically reduced numerical cost and agrees well with Bethe Ansatz results for an infinite system, within the limitations expected for numerics on finite systems. Following these technologically focused projects we study the so-called Kondo cloud by means of the DMRG in the third project. The Kondo cloud describes the effect of spatially extended spin-spin correlations of a magnetic moment and the conduction electrons which screen the magnetic moment through the Kondo effect at low temperatures. We focus on the question whether the Kondo screening length, typically assumed to be proportional to the inverse Kondo temperature, can be extracted from the spin-spin correlations. We investigate how perturbations which destroy the Kondo effect, like an applied gate potential or a magnetic field, affect the formation of the screening cloud. In a forth project we address the impact of Quantum (anti-)Zeno physics resulting from repeated single-site resolved observations on the many-body dynamics. We use time-dependent DMRG to obtain the time evolution of the full many-body wave function that is then periodically projected in order to simulate realizations of stroboscopic measurements. For the example of a 1-D lattice of spin-polarized fermions with nearest-neighbor interactions, we find regimes for which many-particle configurations are stabilized and destabilized depending on the interaction strength and the time between observations

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Near-Field Multi-Focusing Systems

RÉSUMÉ Dans les systèmes de communication modernes, les fonctionnalités d’efficacité énergétique et d'efficacité du spectre sont mises en évidence, attirant de plus en plus l’attention dans la conception des systèmes et des appareils grâce à la demande croissante en débit de données, densité et nombre de terminaux utilisateurs. La technique multi-faisceaux est une caractéristique essentielle de la conception du réseau d'antennes pour systèmes sans fil, qui peut être utilisée pour prendre en charge plusieurs utilisateurs et plusieurs spots avec une grande efficacité. Dans ce travail de recherche, une série de méthodes de développement d’un réseau d’antennes comportant multi-faisceaux de rayonnement électromagnétique dans sa région de champ proche est proposée et présentée. Les travaux de recherche sur la mise au point multiple en champ proche couvrent le développement d’algorithmes, la conception de composants associés, la discussion sur les propriétés de focalisation et leurs méthodes d’amélioration, ainsi que le développement de fonctions d’exploitation et de scénarios d’application. Dans ce travail, un certain nombre d’algorithmes de modélisation du réseau d’antennes prenant en compte le modèle de champ proche, la compensation de phase et la stratégie d’optimisation sont développés afin non seulement d’identifier les emplacements spatiaux de multiples points focaux dans la région de champ proche, mais également de formuler le modèle de faisceau à ou autour de ces points focaux. Dans l'essentiel, les algorithmes proposés visent essentiellement à réaliser une mise en forme de motif dans la région de champ proche en mettant un accent particulier sur les aspects de conception tels que l'ajustement de la localisation spatiale des points focaux, la spécification des distributions d'amplitude et de phase et l'attribution de polarisations.La réalisation pratique est également une partie importante de ce travail qui s'intéresse au développement de réseaux d'antennes multi-focales dans la région du champ proche. Par conséquent, les composants, notamment les réseaux d’antennes et les réseaux d’alimentation correspondants, sont conçus et fabriqués pour démontrer expérimentalement les propriétés et les applications à focalisation multiple de ce travail de recherche, validant ainsi la modélisation et l’analyse théoriques. Les réseaux d'antennes multi-focales sont conçus et des travaux expérimentaux sont effectués dans les bandes de fréquences radio et ondes millimétriques avec de bonnes performances.----------ABSTRACT In modern communications systems, the features of energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency are highlighted, attracting more and more attention in the design of systems and devices thanks to the requirement of ever-increasing data rate, density and quantity of user terminals. Multi-beam technique is an essential enabling design feature of antenna array for wireless systems, which can be used in support of multiple users and multiple spots with high efficiency. In this research work, a series of methods for developing an antenna array that features multiple electromagnetic beaming focuses in its near-field region are proposed and presented. The research work on near-field multi-focus covers the development of algorithms, design of related components, discussion about the focusing properties and their improvement methods, and the expansion of operating functions and application scenarios. In this work, a number of modeling algorithms of antenna array considering near-field model, phase compensation, and optimization strategy are developed in order not only to identify the spatial locations of multiple focal points in the near-field region but also to formulate the beam pattern at or around those focal points. In essentials, the proposed algorithms aim at realizing a pattern shaping in the near-field region with particular emphasis on design aspects such as adjustment of the spatial location of focal points, specification of amplitude and phase distributions, and allocation of polarizations. The practical realization is also an important part of this work with interest in developing multi-focus arrays in the near-field region. Therefore, components including antenna arrays and related feeding networks are designed and fabricated for experimentally demonstrating the multi-focusing properties and applications in this research work, which also validate the theoretical modeling and analysis. The multi-focusing antenna arrays are designed, and experimental work is carried out in both radio-frequency and millimeter-wave bands with good performance. Different from a far-field region of antennas, the electromagnetic field in a near-field region involves reactive and radiative energy components simultaneously

Window Functions and Their Applications in Signal Processing

Window functions—otherwise known as weighting functions, tapering functions, or apodization functions—are mathematical functions that are zero-valued outside the chosen interval. They are well established as a vital part of digital signal processing. Window Functions and their Applications in Signal Processing presents an exhaustive and detailed account of window functions and their applications in signal processing, focusing on the areas of digital spectral analysis, design of FIR filters, pulse compression radar, and speech signal processing. Comprehensively reviewing previous research and recent developments, this book: Provides suggestions on how to choose a window function for particular applications Discusses Fourier analysis techniques and pitfalls in the computation of the DFT Introduces window functions in the continuous-time and discrete-time domains Considers two implementation strategies of window functions in the time- and frequency domain Explores well-known applications of window functions in the fields of radar, sonar, biomedical signal analysis, audio processing, and synthetic aperture rada

Adaptive beamforming and switching in smart antenna systems

The ever increasing requirement for providing large bandwidth and seamless data access to commuters has prompted new challenges to wireless solution providers. The communication channel characteristics between mobile clients and base station change rapidly with the increasing traveling speed of vehicles. Smart antenna systems with adaptive beamforming and switching technology is the key component to tackle the challenges. As a spatial filter, beamformer has long been widely used in wireless communication, radar, acoustics, medical imaging systems to enhance the received signal from a particular looking direction while suppressing noise and interference from other directions. The adaptive beamforming algorithm provides the capability to track the varying nature of the communication channel characteristics. However, the conventional adaptive beamformer assumes that the Direction of Arrival (DOA) of the signal of interest changes slowly, although the interference direction could be changed dynamically. The proliferation of High Speed Rail (HSR) and seamless wireless communication between infrastructure ( roadside, trackside equipment) and the vehicles (train, car, boat etc.) brings a unique challenge for adaptive beamforming due to its rapid change of DOA. For a HSR train with 250km/h, the DOA change speed can be up to 4⁰ per millisecond. To address these unique challenges, faster algorithms to calculate the beamforming weight based on the rapid-changing DOA are needed. In this dissertation, two strategies are adopted to address the challenges. The first one is to improve the weight calculation speed. The second strategy is to improve the speed of DOA estimation for the impinging signal by leveraging on the predefined constrained route for the transportation market. Based on these concepts, various algorithms in beampattern generation and adaptive weight control are evaluated and investigated in this thesis. The well known Generalized Sidelobe Cancellation (GSC) architecture is adopted in this dissertation. But it faces serious signal cancellation problem when the estimated DOA deviates from the actual DOA which is severe in high mobility scenarios as in the transportation market. Algorithms to improve various parts of the GSC are proposed in this dissertation. Firstly, a Cyclic Variable Step Size (CVSS) algorithm for adjusting the Least Mean Square (LMS) step size with simplicity for implementation is proposed and evaluated. Secondly, a Kalman filter based solution to fuse different sensor information for a faster estimation and tracking of the DOA is investigated and proposed. Thirdly, to address the DOA mismatch issue caused by the rapid DOA change, a fast blocking matrix generation algorithm named Simplifized Zero Placement Algorithm (SZPA) is proposed to mitigate the signal cancellation in GSC. Fourthly, to make the beam pattern robust against DOA mismatch, a fast algorithm for the generation of at beam pattern named Zero Placement Flat Top (ZPFT) for the fixed beamforming path in GSC is proposed. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the beamforming algorithms, wireless channel simulation is needed. One of the challenging aspects for wireless simulation is the coupling between Probability Density Function (PDF) and Power Spectral Density (PSD) for a random variable. In this regard, a simplified solution to simulate Non Gaussian wireless channel is proposed, proved and evaluated for the effectiveness of the algorithm. With the above optimizations, the controlled simulation shows that the at top beampattern can be generated 380 times faster than iterative optimization method and blocking matrix can be generated 9 times faster than normal SVD method while the same overall optimum state performance can be achieved