106,546 research outputs found
Link between the chromospheric network and magnetic structures of the corona
Recent work suggested that the traditional picture of the corona above the
quiet Sun being rooted in the magnetic concentrations of the chromospheric
network alone is strongly questionable. Building on that previous study we
explore the impact of magnetic configurations in the photosphere and the low
corona on the magnetic connectivity from the network to the corona.
Observational studies of this connectivity are often utilizing magnetic field
extrapolations. However, it is open to which extent such extrapolations really
represent the connectivity found on the Sun, as observations are not able to
resolve all fine scale magnetic structures. The present numerical experiments
aim at contributing to this question. We investigated random
salt-and-pepper-type distributions of kilo-Gauss internetwork flux elements
carrying some to Mx, which are hardly distinguishable by
current observational techniques. These photospheric distributions are then
extrapolated into the corona using different sets of boundary conditions at the
bottom and the top. This allows us to investigate the fraction of network flux
which is connected to the corona, as well as the locations of those coronal
regions which are connected to the network patches. We find that with current
instrumentation one cannot really determine from observations, which regions on
the quiet Sun surface, i.e. in the network and internetwork, are connected to
which parts of the corona through extrapolation techniques. Future
spectro-polarimetric instruments, such as with Solar B or GREGOR, will provide
a higher sensitivity, and studies like the present one could help to estimate
to which extent one can then pinpoint the connection from the chromosphere to
the corona.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, acceped for publication in A&
Weak lensing cosmology with convolutional neural networks on noisy data
Weak gravitational lensing is one of the most promising cosmological probes
of the late universe. Several large ongoing (DES, KiDS, HSC) and planned (LSST,
EUCLID, WFIRST) astronomical surveys attempt to collect even deeper and larger
scale data on weak lensing. Due to gravitational collapse, the distribution of
dark matter is non-Gaussian on small scales. However, observations are
typically evaluated through the two-point correlation function of galaxy shear,
which does not capture non-Gaussian features of the lensing maps. Previous
studies attempted to extract non-Gaussian information from weak lensing
observations through several higher-order statistics such as the three-point
correlation function, peak counts or Minkowski-functionals. Deep convolutional
neural networks (CNN) emerged in the field of computer vision with tremendous
success, and they offer a new and very promising framework to extract
information from 2 or 3-dimensional astronomical data sets, confirmed by recent
studies on weak lensing. We show that a CNN is able to yield significantly
stricter constraints of () cosmological parameters than the
power spectrum using convergence maps generated by full N-body simulations and
ray-tracing, at angular scales and shape noise levels relevant for future
observations. In a scenario mimicking LSST or Euclid, the CNN yields 2.4-2.8
times smaller credible contours than the power spectrum, and 3.5-4.2 times
smaller at noise levels corresponding to a deep space survey such as WFIRST. We
also show that at shape noise levels achievable in future space surveys the CNN
yields 1.4-2.1 times smaller contours than peak counts, a higher-order
statistic capable of extracting non-Gaussian information from weak lensing
maps
Airborne chemical sensing with mobile robots
Airborne chemical sensing with mobile robots has been an active research areasince the beginning of the 1990s. This article presents a review of research work in this field,including gas distribution mapping, trail guidance, and the different subtasks of gas sourcelocalisation. Due to the difficulty of modelling gas distribution in a real world environmentwith currently available simulation techniques, we focus largely on experimental work and donot consider publications that are purely based on simulations
A proposal for a coordinated effort for the determination of brainwide neuroanatomical connectivity in model organisms at a mesoscopic scale
In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry
remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is however critical both for basic
and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted
effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural
circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive,
brain-wide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail
the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and
experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brain-wide
coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for
standardization and automation; centralized, open access data repository;
compatibility with existing resources, and tractability with current
informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse,
additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We
estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five
years with a comparatively modest budget.Comment: 41 page
Voids in cosmological simulations over cosmic time
We study evolution of voids in cosmological simulations using a new method
for tracing voids over cosmic time. The method is based on tracking watershed
basins (contiguous regions around density minima) of well developed voids at
low redshift, on a regular grid of density field. It enables us to construct a
robust and continuous mapping between voids at different redshifts, from
initial conditions to the present time. We discuss how the new approach
eliminates strong spurious effects of numerical origin when voids evolution is
traced by matching voids between successive snapshots (by analogy to halo
merger trees). We apply the new method to a cosmological simulation of a
standard LambdaCDM cosmological model and study evolution of basic properties
of typical voids (with effective radii between 6Mpc/h and 20Mpc/h at redshift
z=0) such as volumes, shapes, matter density distributions and relative
alignments. The final voids at low redshifts appear to retain a significant
part of the configuration acquired in initial conditions. Shapes of voids
evolve in a collective way which barely modifies the overall distribution of
the axial ratios. The evolution appears to have a weak impact on mutual
alignments of voids implying that the present state is in large part set up by
the primordial density field. We present evolution of dark matter density
profiles computed on iso-density surfaces which comply with the actual shapes
of voids. Unlike spherical density profiles, this approach enables us to
demonstrate development of theoretically predicted bucket-like shape of the
final density profiles indicating a wide flat core and a sharp transition to
high-density void walls.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
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