31,809 research outputs found
A general trimming approach to robust Cluster Analysis
We introduce a new method for performing clustering with the aim of fitting
clusters with different scatters and weights. It is designed by allowing to
handle a proportion of contaminating data to guarantee the robustness
of the method. As a characteristic feature, restrictions on the ratio between
the maximum and the minimum eigenvalues of the groups scatter matrices are
introduced. This makes the problem to be well defined and guarantees the
consistency of the sample solutions to the population ones. The method covers a
wide range of clustering approaches depending on the strength of the chosen
restrictions. Our proposal includes an algorithm for approximately solving the
sample problem.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-AOS515 the Annals of
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Circularizing Planet Nine through dynamical friction with an extended, cold planetesimal belt
Unexpected clustering in the orbital elements of minor bodies beyond the
Kuiper belt has led to speculations that our solar system actually hosts nine
planets, the eight established plus a hypothetical "Planet Nine". Several
recent studies have shown that a planet with a mass of about 10 Earth masses on
a distant eccentric orbit with perihelion far beyond the Kuiper belt could
create and maintain this clustering. The evolutionary path resulting in an
orbit such as the one suggested for Planet Nine is nevertheless not easily
explained. Here we investigate whether a planet scattered away from the
giant-planet region could be lifted to an orbit similar to the one suggested
for Planet Nine through dynamical friction with a cold, distant planetesimal
belt. Recent simulations of planetesimal formation via the streaming
instability suggest that planetesimals can readily form beyond 100au. We
explore this circularisation by dynamical friction with a set of numerical
simulations. We find that a planet that is scattered from the region close to
Neptune onto an eccentric orbit has a 20-30% chance of obtaining an orbit
similar to that of Planet Nine after 4.6Gyr. Our simulations also result in
strong or partial clustering of the planetesimals; however, whether or not this
clustering is observable depends on the location of the inner edge of the
planetesimal belt. If the inner edge is located at 200au the degree of
clustering amongst observable objects is significant.Comment: Accepted to MNRA
An indoor variance-based localization technique utilizing the UWB estimation of geometrical propagation parameters
A novel localization framework is presented based on ultra-wideband (UWB) channel sounding, employing a triangulation method using the geometrical properties of propagation paths, such as time delay of arrival, angle of departure, angle of arrival, and their estimated variances. In order to extract these parameters from the UWB sounding data, an extension to the high-resolution RiMAX algorithm was developed, facilitating the analysis of these frequency-dependent multipath parameters. This framework was then tested by performing indoor measurements with a vector network analyzer and virtual antenna arrays. The estimated means and variances of these geometrical parameters were utilized to generate multiple sample sets of input values for our localization framework. Next to that, we consider the existence of multiple possible target locations, which were subsequently clustered using a Kim-Parks algorithm, resulting in a more robust estimation of each target node. Measurements reveal that our newly proposed technique achieves an average accuracy of 0.26, 0.28, and 0.90 m in line-of-sight (LoS), obstructed-LoS, and non-LoS scenarios, respectively, and this with only one single beacon node. Moreover, utilizing the estimated variances of the multipath parameters proved to enhance the location estimation significantly compared to only utilizing their estimated mean values
The Redshift Distribution of FIRST Radio Sources at 1 mJy
We present spectra for a sample of radio sources from the FIRST survey, and
use them to define the form of the redshift distribution of radio sources at
mJy levels.We targeted 365 sources and obtained 46 redshifts (13 per cent of
the sample). We find that our sample is complete in redshift measurement to R
, corresponding to . Early-type galaxies represent the
largest subset (45 per cent) of the sample and have redshifts 0.15\la z \la
0.5 ; late-type galaxies make up 15 per cent of the sample and have redshifts
0.05\la z \la 0.2; starbursting galaxies are a small fraction ( per
cent), and are very nearby (z\la 0.05). Some 9 per cent of the population
have Seyfert1/quasar-type spectra, all at z\ga 0.8, and there are 4 per cent
are Seyfert2 type galaxies at intermediate redshifts (). Using our
measurements and data from the Phoenix survey, we obtain an estimate for
at mJy and compare this with model predictions. At
variance with previous conclusions, we find that the population of starbursting
objects makes up \la 5 per cent of the radio population at S mJy.Comment: 20 pages, sumbitted to MNRA
The bimodal color distribution of small Kuiper Belt objects
We conducted a two-night photometric survey of small Kuiper Belt objects
(KBOs) near opposition using the wide-field Hyper Suprime-Cam instrument on the
8.2 m Subaru Telescope. The survey covered about 90 deg^2 of sky, with each
field imaged in the g and i bands. We detected 356 KBOs, ranging in absolute
magnitude from 6.5 to 10.4. Filtering for high-inclination objects within the
hot KBO population, we show that the g-i color distribution is strongly
bimodal, indicative of two color classes - the red and very red subpopulations.
After categorizing objects into the two subpopulations by color, we present the
first dedicated analysis of the magnitude distributions of the individual color
subpopulations and demonstrate that the two distributions are roughly identical
in shape throughout the entire size range covered by our survey. Comparing the
color distribution of small hot KBOs with that of Centaurs, we find that they
have similar bimodal shapes, thereby providing strong confirmation of previous
explanations for the attested bimodality of Centaurs. We also show that the
magnitude distributions of the two KBO color subpopulations and the two color
subpopulations observed in the Jupiter Trojans are statistically
indistinguishable. Finally, we discuss a hypothesis describing the origin of
the KBO color bimodality based on our survey results.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, supplemental
table accessible on online journa
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: the selection function and z=0.6 galaxy power spectrum
We report one of the most accurate measurements of the three-dimensional
large-scale galaxy power spectrum achieved to date, using 56,159 redshifts of
bright emission-line galaxies at effective redshift z=0.6 from the WiggleZ Dark
Energy Survey at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We describe in detail how we
construct the survey selection function allowing for the varying target
completeness and redshift completeness. We measure the total power with an
accuracy of approximately 5% in wavenumber bands of dk=0.01 h/Mpc. A model
power spectrum including non-linear corrections, combined with a linear galaxy
bias factor and a simple model for redshift-space distortions, provides a good
fit to our data for scales k < 0.4 h/Mpc. The large-scale shape of the power
spectrum is consistent with the best-fitting matter and baryon densities
determined by observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. By
splitting the power spectrum measurement as a function of tangential and radial
wavenumbers we delineate the characteristic imprint of peculiar velocities. We
use these to determine the growth rate of structure as a function of redshift
in the range 0.4 < z < 0.8, including a data point at z=0.78 with an accuracy
of 20%. Our growth rate measurements are a close match to the self-consistent
prediction of the LCDM model. The WiggleZ Survey data will allow a wide range
of investigations into the cosmological model, cosmic expansion and growth
history, topology of cosmic structure, and Gaussianity of the initial
conditions. Our calculation of the survey selection function will be released
at a future date via our website wigglez.swin.edu.au.Comment: 21 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Recent Developments of NEMO: Detection of Solar Eruptions Characteristics
The recent developments in space instrumentation for solar observations and
telemetry have caused the necessity of advanced pattern recognition tools for
the different classes of solar events. The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging
Telescope (EIT) of solar corona on-board SOHO spacecraft has uncovered a new
class of eruptive events which are often identified as signatures of Coronal
Mass Ejection (CME) initiations on solar disk. It is evident that a crucial
task is the development of an automatic detection tool of CMEs precursors. The
Novel EIT wave Machine Observing (NEMO) (http://sidc.be/nemo) code is an
operational tool that detects automatically solar eruptions using EIT image
sequences. NEMO applies techniques based on the general statistical properties
of the underlying physical mechanisms of eruptive events on the solar disc. In
this work, the most recent updates of NEMO code - that have resulted to the
increase of the recognition efficiency of solar eruptions linked to CMEs - are
presented. These updates provide calculations of the surface of the dimming
region, implement novel clustering technique for the dimmings and set new
criteria to flag the eruptive dimmings based on their complex characteristics.
The efficiency of NEMO has been increased significantly resulting to the
extraction of dimmings observed near the solar limb and to the detection of
small-scale events as well. As a consequence, the detection efficiency of CMEs
precursors and the forecasts of CMEs have been drastically improved.
Furthermore, the catalogues of solar eruptive events that can be constructed by
NEMO may include larger number of physical parameters associated to the dimming
regions.Comment: 12 Pages, 5 figures, submitted to Solar Physic
Evaluating the Differences of Gridding Techniques for Digital Elevation Models Generation and Their Influence on the Modeling of Stony Debris Flows Routing: A Case Study From Rovina di Cancia Basin (North-Eastern Italian Alps)
Debris \ufb02ows are among the most hazardous phenomena in mountain areas. To cope
with debris \ufb02ow hazard, it is common to delineate the risk-prone areas through
routing models. The most important input to debris \ufb02ow routing models are the
topographic data, usually in the form of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). The quality
of DEMs depends on the accuracy, density, and spatial distribution of the sampled
points; on the characteristics of the surface; and on the applied gridding methodology.
Therefore, the choice of the interpolation method affects the realistic representation
of the channel and fan morphology, and thus potentially the debris \ufb02ow routing
modeling outcomes. In this paper, we initially investigate the performance of common
interpolation methods (i.e., linear triangulation, natural neighbor, nearest neighbor,
Inverse Distance to a Power, ANUDEM, Radial Basis Functions, and ordinary kriging)
in building DEMs with the complex topography of a debris \ufb02ow channel located
in the Venetian Dolomites (North-eastern Italian Alps), by using small footprint full-
waveform Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data. The investigation is carried
out through a combination of statistical analysis of vertical accuracy, algorithm
robustness, and spatial clustering of vertical errors, and multi-criteria shape reliability
assessment. After that, we examine the in\ufb02uence of the tested interpolation algorithms
on the performance of a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based cell model for
simulating stony debris \ufb02ows routing. In detail, we investigate both the correlation
between the DEMs heights uncertainty resulting from the gridding procedure and
that on the corresponding simulated erosion/deposition depths, both the effect of
interpolation algorithms on simulated areas, erosion and deposition volumes, solid-liquid
discharges, and channel morphology after the event. The comparison among the tested
interpolation methods highlights that the ANUDEM and ordinary kriging algorithms
are not suitable for building DEMs with complex topography. Conversely, the linear
triangulation, the natural neighbor algorithm, and the thin-plate spline plus tension and completely regularized spline functions ensure the best trade-off among accuracy
and shape reliability. Anyway, the evaluation of the effects of gridding techniques on
debris \ufb02ow routing modeling reveals that the choice of the interpolation algorithm does
not signi\ufb01cantly affect the model outcomes
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