22,061 research outputs found
Identification of flexible structures for robust control
Documentation is provided of the authors' experience with modeling and identification of an experimental flexible structure for the purpose of control design, with the primary aim being to motivate some important research directions in this area. A multi-input/multi-output (MIMO) model of the structure is generated using the finite element method. This model is inadequate for control design, due to its large variation from the experimental data. Chebyshev polynomials are employed to fit the data with single-input/multi-output (SIMO) transfer function models. Combining these SIMO models leads to a MIMO model with more modes than the original finite element model. To find a physically motivated model, an ad hoc model reduction technique which uses a priori knowledge of the structure is developed. The ad hoc approach is compared with balanced realization model reduction to determine its benefits. Descriptions of the errors between the model and experimental data are formulated for robust control design. Plots of select transfer function models and experimental data are included
An Improved Method for 21cm Foreground Removal
21 cm tomography is expected to be difficult in part because of serious
foreground contamination. Previous studies have found that line-of-sight
approaches are capable of cleaning foregrounds to an acceptable level on large
spatial scales, but not on small spatial scales. In this paper, we introduce a
Fourier-space formalism for describing the line-of-sight methods, and use it to
introduce an improved new method for 21 cm foreground cleaning. Heuristically,
this method involves fitting foregrounds in Fourier space using weighted
polynomial fits, with each pixel weighted according to its information content.
We show that the new method reproduces the old one on large angular scales, and
gives marked improvements on small scales at essentially no extra computational
cost.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, replaced to match accepted MNRAS versio
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
A Panoply of Cepheid Light Curve Templates
We have generated accurate V and I template light curves using a combination
of Fourier decomposition and principal component analysis for a large sample of
Cepheid light curves. Unlike previous studies, we include short period Cepheids
and stars pulsating in the first overtone mode in our analysis. Extensive Monte
Carlo simulations show that our templates can be used to precisely measure
Cepheid magnitudes and periods, even in cases where there are few observational
epochs. These templates are ideal for characterizing serendipitously discovered
Cepheids and can be used in conjunction with surveys such as Pan-Starrs and
LSST where the observational sampling may not be optimized for Cepheids.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ fixed
embarrassing typo
Accelerating Computation of the Nonlinear Mass by an Order of Magnitude
The nonlinear mass is a characteristic scale in halo formation that has
wide-ranging applications across cosmology. Naively, computing it requires
repeated numerical integration to calculate the variance of the power spectrum
on different scales and determine which scales exceed the threshold for
nonlinear collapse. We accelerate this calculation by working in configuration
space and approximating the correlation function as a polynomial at r <= 5
Mpc. This enables an analytic rather than numerical solution, accurate
across a variety of cosmologies to 0.11% (depending on redshift) and 1020
times faster than the naive numerical method. We also present a further
acceleration (4080 times faster than the naive method) in which we determine
the polynomial coefficients using a Taylor expansion in the cosmological
parameters rather than re-fitting a polynomial to the correlation function. Our
acceleration greatly reduces the cost of repeated calculation of the nonlinear
mass. This will be useful for MCMC analyses to constrain cosmological
parameters from the highly nonlinear regime, e.g. with data from upcoming
surveys
On the Reliability of Cross Correlation Function Lag Determinations in Active Galactic Nuclei
Many AGN exhibit a highly variable luminosity. Some AGN also show a
pronounced time delay between variations seen in their optical continuum and in
their emission lines. In effect, the emission lines are light echoes of the
continuum. This light travel-time delay provides a characteristic radius of the
region producing the emission lines. The cross correlation function (CCF) is
the standard tool used to measure the time lag between the continuum and line
variations. For the few well-sampled AGN, the lag ranges from 1-100 days,
depending upon which line is used and the luminosity of the AGN. In the best
sampled AGN, NGC 5548, the H_beta lag shows year-to-year changes, ranging from
about 8.7 days to about 22.9 days over a span of 8 years. In this paper it is
demonstrated that, in the context of AGN variability studies, the lag estimate
using the CCF is biased too low and subject to a large variance. Thus the
year-to-year changes of the measured lag in NGC 5548 do not necessarily imply
changes in the AGN structure. The bias and large variance are consequences of
finite duration sampling and the dominance of long timescale trends in the
light curves, not due to noise or irregular sampling. Lag estimates can be
substantially improved by removing low frequency power from the light curves
prior to computing the CCF.Comment: To appear in the PASP, vol 111, 1999 Nov; 37 pages; 10 figure
Twenty-one centimeter tomography with foregrounds
Twenty-one centimeter tomography is emerging as a powerful tool to explore
the end of the cosmic dark ages and the reionization epoch, but it will only be
as good as our ability to accurately model and remove astrophysical foreground
contamination. Previous treatments of this problem have focused on the angular
structure of the signal and foregrounds and what can be achieved with limited
spectral resolution (bandwidths in the 1 MHz range). In this paper we introduce
and evaluate a ``blind'' method to extract the multifrequency 21cm signal by
taking advantage of the smooth frequency structure of the Galactic and
extragalactic foregrounds. We find that 21 cm tomography is typically limited
by foregrounds on scales Mpc and limited by noise on scales Mpc, provided that the experimental bandwidth can be made substantially
smaller than 0.1 MHz. Our results show that this approach is quite promising
even for scenarios with rather extreme contamination from point sources and
diffuse Galactic emission, which bodes well for upcoming experiments such as
LOFAR, MWA, PAST, and SKA.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Revised version including various cases with
high noise level. Major conclusions unchanged. Accepted for publication in
Ap
The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
We create a sample of spectroscopically identified galaxies with
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7, covering 6813 deg.
Galaxies are chosen to sample the highest mass haloes, with an effective bias
of 1.5, allowing us to construct 1000 mock galaxy catalogs (described in Paper
II), which we use to estimate statistical errors and test our methods. We use
an estimate of the gravitational potential to "reconstruct" the linear density
fluctuations, enhancing the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) signal in the
measured correlation function and power spectrum. Fitting to these
measurements, we determine Mpc; this is a better than 4 per cent distance measurement. This "fills
the gap" in BAO distance ladder between previously measured local and higher
redshift measurements, and affords significant improvement in constraining the
properties of dark energy. Combining our measurement with other BAO
measurements from BOSS and 6dFGS galaxy samples provides a 15 per cent
improvement in the determination of the equation of state of dark energy and
the value of the Hubble parameter at (). Our measurement is fully
consistent with the Planck results and the CDM concordance cosmology,
but increases the tension between PlanckBAO determinations and direct
measurements.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS, distance likelihood is available in source file
Functional Regression
Functional data analysis (FDA) involves the analysis of data whose ideal
units of observation are functions defined on some continuous domain, and the
observed data consist of a sample of functions taken from some population,
sampled on a discrete grid. Ramsay and Silverman's 1997 textbook sparked the
development of this field, which has accelerated in the past 10 years to become
one of the fastest growing areas of statistics, fueled by the growing number of
applications yielding this type of data. One unique characteristic of FDA is
the need to combine information both across and within functions, which Ramsay
and Silverman called replication and regularization, respectively. This article
will focus on functional regression, the area of FDA that has received the most
attention in applications and methodological development. First will be an
introduction to basis functions, key building blocks for regularization in
functional regression methods, followed by an overview of functional regression
methods, split into three types: [1] functional predictor regression
(scalar-on-function), [2] functional response regression (function-on-scalar)
and [3] function-on-function regression. For each, the role of replication and
regularization will be discussed and the methodological development described
in a roughly chronological manner, at times deviating from the historical
timeline to group together similar methods. The primary focus is on modeling
and methodology, highlighting the modeling structures that have been developed
and the various regularization approaches employed. At the end is a brief
discussion describing potential areas of future development in this field
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