107,044 research outputs found
The First Public Release of South Pole Telescope Data: Maps of a 95 deg^2 Field from 2008 Observations
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) has nearly completed a 2500 deg^2 survey of the southern sky in three frequency bands. Here, we present the first public release of SPT maps and associated data products. We present arcminute-resolution maps at 150 GHz and 220 GHz of an approximately 95 deg^2 field centered at R.A. 82°.7, decl. –55°. The field was observed to a depth of approximately 17 μK arcmin at 150 GHz and 41 μK arcmin at 220 GHz during the 2008 austral winter season. Two variations on map filtering and map projection are presented, one tailored for producing catalogs of galaxy clusters detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect signature and one tailored for producing catalogs of emissive sources. We describe the data processing pipeline, and we present instrument response functions, filter transfer functions, and map noise properties. All data products described in this paper are available for download at http://pole.uchicago.edu/public/data/maps/ra5h30dec-55 and from the NASA Legacy Archive for Microwave Background Data Analysis server. This is the first step in the eventual release of data from the full 2500 deg^2 SPT survey
An Empirical Pixel-Based Correction for Imperfect CTE. I. HST's Advanced Camera for Surveys
We use an empirical approach to characterize the effect of charge-transfer
efficiency (CTE) losses in images taken with the Wide-Field Channel of the
Advanced Camera for Surveys. The study is based on profiles of warm pixels in
168 dark exposures taken between September and October 2009. The dark exposures
allow us to explore charge traps that affect electrons when the background is
extremely low. We develop a model for the readout process that reproduces the
observed trails out to 70 pixels. We then invert the model to convert the
observed pixel values in an image into an estimate of the original pixel
values. We find that when we apply the image-restoration process to science
images with a variety of stars on a variety of background levels, it restores
flux, position, and shape. This means that the observed trails contain
essentially all of the flux lost to inefficient CTE. The Space Telescope
Science Institute is currently evaluating this algorithm with the aim of
optimizing it and eventually providing enhanced data products. The empirical
procedure presented here should also work for other epochs (eg., pre-SM4),
though the parameters may have to be recomputed for the time when ACS was
operated at a higher temperature than the current -81 C. Finally, this
empirical approach may also hold promise for other instruments, such as WFPC2,
STIS, the ACS's HRC, and even WFC3/UVIS.Comment: 86 pages, 25 figures (6 in low resolution). PASP accepted on July 21,
201
Reionization and Cosmology with 21 cm Fluctuations
Measurement of the spatial distribution of neutral hydrogen via the
redshifted 21 cm line promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the epoch of
reionization and the first galaxies, and may provide a powerful new tool for
observational cosmology from redshifts 1<z<4 . In this review we discuss recent
advances in our theoretical understanding of the epoch of reionization (EoR),
the application of 21 cm tomography to cosmology and measurements of the dark
energy equation of state after reionization, and the instrumentation and
observational techniques shared by 21 cm EoR and post reionization cosmology
machines. We place particular emphasis on the expected signal and observational
capabilities of first generation 21 cm fluctuation instruments.Comment: Invited review for Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics (2010
volume
Extended depth-of-field imaging and ranging in a snapshot
Traditional approaches to imaging require that an increase in depth of field is associated with a reduction in
numerical aperture, and hence with a reduction in resolution and optical throughput. In their seminal
work, Dowski and Cathey reported how the asymmetric point-spread function generated by a cubic-phase
aberration encodes the detected image such that digital recovery can yield images with an extended depth of
field without sacrificing resolution [Appl. Opt. 34, 1859 (1995)]. Unfortunately recovered images are
generally visibly degraded by artifacts arising from subtle variations in point-spread functions with defocus.
We report a technique that involves determination of the spatially variant translation of image components
that accompanies defocus to enable determination of spatially variant defocus. This in turn enables recovery
of artifact-free, extended depth-of-field images together with a two-dimensional defocus and range map
of the imaged scene. We demonstrate the technique for high-quality macroscopic and microscopic imaging
of scenes presenting an extended defocus of up to two waves, and for generation of defocus maps with an
uncertainty of 0.036 waves
Robustness of Planar Fourier Capture Arrays to Colour Changes and Lost Pixels
Planar Fourier capture arrays (PFCAs) are optical sensors built entirely in
standard microchip manufacturing flows. PFCAs are composed of ensembles of
angle sensitive pixels (ASPs) that each report a single coefficient of the
Fourier transform of the far-away scene. Here we characterize the performance
of PFCAs under the following three non-optimal conditions. First, we show that
PFCAs can operate while sensing light of a wavelength other than the design
point. Second, if only a randomly-selected subset of 10% of the ASPs are
functional, we can nonetheless reconstruct the entire far-away scene using
compressed sensing. Third, if the wavelength of the imaged light is unknown, it
can be inferred by demanding self-consistency of the outputs.Comment: 15 pages including cover page, 12 figures, associated with the 9th
International Conference on Position Sensitive Detector
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