The Hyper Suprime-Cam Software Pipeline

In this paper, we describe the optical imaging data processing pipeline developed for the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) instrument. The HSC Pipeline builds on the prototype pipeline being developed by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope's Data Management system, adding customizations for HSC, large-scale processing capabilities, and novel algorithms that have since been reincorporated into the LSST codebase. While designed primarily to reduce HSC Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) data, it is also the recommended pipeline for reducing general-observer HSC data. The HSC pipeline includes high level processing steps that generate coadded images and science-ready catalogs as well as low-level detrending and image characterizations.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Quench propagation in High Temperature Superconducting materials integrated in high current leads

High temperature superconductors (HTS) have been integrated in the high current leads for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), under construction at CERN, in order to reduce the heat leak into the liquid helium bath due to the joule effect. The use of the HTS technology in the lower part of the current leads allowed to significantly reduce the heat charge on the cryogenic system. Hybrid current leads have been designed to fulfill the LHC requirements with respect to thermal load; several tests have been performed to study the lead behavior especially during a quench transient. Quench experiments have been performed at CERN on 13 kA prototypes to determine the adequate design and protection. In all the tests it is possible to know the temperature profile of the HTS only with the help of quench simulations that model the thermo-hydraulic processes during quench. The development of a theoretical model for the simulation allows reducing the number of test to perform and to scale the experimental result to other current lead sizes. In this work a theoretical quench model and a numerical code have been developed to compute the quench process and the thermal analysis in the HTS part of the current leads. The model approximates the heat balance equations with the finite difference method and considers the temperature dependence of material's properties. With this model it is possible to perform a thermal analysis of the HTS assembly in steady working condition as well as to study the resistive transition known as quench. The numerical approach is much more accurate than the analytical one, which involves a more approximated model with more physical approximations. In this work are given: the theoretical description of the model, its numerical implementation, the experimental validation and some simulation results

Semi-empirical dissipation source functions for ocean waves: Part I, definition, calibration and validation

New parameterizations for the spectra dissipation of wind-generated waves are proposed. The rates of dissipation have no predetermined spectral shapes and are functions of the wave spectrum and wind speed and direction, in a way consistent with observation of wave breaking and swell dissipation properties. Namely, the swell dissipation is nonlinear and proportional to the swell steepness, and dissipation due to wave breaking is non-zero only when a non-dimensional spectrum exceeds the threshold at which waves are observed to start breaking. An additional source of short wave dissipation due to long wave breaking is introduced to represent the dissipation of short waves due to longer breaking waves. Several degrees of freedom are introduced in the wave breaking and the wind-wave generation term of Janssen (J. Phys. Oceanogr. 1991). These parameterizations are combined and calibrated with the Discrete Interaction Approximation of Hasselmann et al. (J. Phys. Oceangr. 1985) for the nonlinear interactions. Parameters are adjusted to reproduce observed shapes of directional wave spectra, and the variability of spectral moments with wind speed and wave height. The wave energy balance is verified in a wide range of conditions and scales, from gentle swells to major hurricanes, from the global ocean to coastal settings. Wave height, peak and mean periods, and spectral data are validated using in situ and remote sensing data. Some systematic defects are still present, but the parameterizations yield the best overall results to date. Perspectives for further improvement are also given.Comment: revised version for Journal of Physical Oceanograph

Exact solution of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation for an hydrogen atom at the interface between the vacuum and a topologically insulating surface

When an hydrogen atom is brought near to the interface between $\theta$-media, the quantum-mechanical motion of the electron will be affected by the electromagnetic interaction between the atomic charges and the $\theta$-interface, which is described by an axionic extension of Maxwell electrodynamics in the presence of a boundary. In this paper we investigate the atom-surface interaction effects upon the energy levels and wave functions of an hydrogen atom placed at the interface between a $\theta$-medium and the vacuum. In the approximation considered, the Schr\"{o}dinger equation can be exactly solved by separation of variables in terms of hypergeometic functions for the angular part and hydrogenic functions for the radial part. In order to make such effects apparent we deal with unrealistic high values of the $\theta$-parameter. We also compute the energy shifts using perturbation theory for a particular small value of $\theta$ and we demonstrate that they are in a very good agreement with the ones obtained from the exact solution.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 6 tables, Accepted for publication in the European Physics Journal

Improved micro-contact resistance model that considers material deformation, electron transport and thin film characteristics

This paper reports on an improved analytic model forpredicting micro-contact resistance needed for designing microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switches. The originalmodel had two primary considerations: 1) contact materialdeformation (i.e. elastic, plastic, or elastic-plastic) and 2) effectivecontact area radius. The model also assumed that individual aspotswere close together and that their interactions weredependent on each other which led to using the single effective aspotcontact area model. This single effective area model wasused to determine specific electron transport regions (i.e. ballistic,quasi-ballistic, or diffusive) by comparing the effective radius andthe mean free path of an electron. Using this model required thatmicro-switch contact materials be deposited, during devicefabrication, with processes ensuring low surface roughness values(i.e. sputtered films). Sputtered thin film electric contacts,however, do not behave like bulk materials and the effects of thinfilm contacts and spreading resistance must be considered. Theimproved micro-contact resistance model accounts for the twoprimary considerations above, as well as, using thin film,sputtered, electric contact

Computability with polynomial differential equations

Tese dout., Matemática, Inst. Superior Técnico, Univ. Técnica de Lisboa, 2007Nesta dissertação iremos analisar um modelo de computação analógica, baseado em equações diferenciais polinomiais. Começa-se por estudar algumas propriedades das equações diferenciais polinomiais, em particular a sua equivalência a outro modelo baseado em circuitos analógicos (GPAC), introduzido por C. Shannon em 1941, e que é uma idealização de um dispositivo físico, o Analisador Diferencial. Seguidamente, estuda-se o poder computacional do modelo. Mais concretamente, mostra-se que ele pode simular máquinas de Turing, de uma forma robusta a erros, pelo que este modelo é capaz de efectuar computações de Tipo-1. Esta simulação é feita em tempo contínuo. Mais, mostramos que utilizando um enquadramento apropriado, o modelo é equivalente à Análise Computável, isto é, à computação de Tipo-2. Finalmente, estudam-se algumas limitações computacionais referentes aos problemas de valor inicial (PVIs) definidos por equações diferenciais ordinárias. Em particular: (i) mostra-se que mesmo que o PVI seja definido por uma função analítica e que a mesma, assim como as condições iniciais, sejam computáveis, o respectivo intervalo maximal de existência da solução não é necessariamente computável; (ii) estabelecem-se limites para o grau de não-computabilidade, mostrando-se que o intervalo maximal é, em condições muito gerais, recursivamente enumerável; (iii) mostra-se que o problema de decidir se o intervalo maximal é ou não limitado é indecídivel, mesmo que se considerem apenas PVIs polinomiais