426 research outputs found
CHIRON - A Fiber Fed Spectrometer for Precise Radial Velocities
The CHIRON optical high-resolution echelle spectrometer was commissioned at
the 1.5m telescope at CTIO in 2011. The instrument was designed for high
throughput and stability, with the goal of monitoring radial velocities of
bright stars with high precision and high cadence for the discovery of low-mass
exoplanets. Spectral resolution of R=79,000 is attained when using a slicer
with a total (including telescope and detector) efficiency of 6% or higher,
while a resolution of R=136,000 is available for bright stars. A fixed spectral
range of 415 to 880 nm is covered. The echelle grating is housed in a vacuum
enclosure and the instrument temperature is stabilized to +-0.2deg. Stable
illumination is provided by an octagonal multimode fiber with excellent
light-scrambling properties. An iodine cell is used for wavelength calibration.
We describe the main optics, fiber feed, detector, exposure-meter, and other
aspects of the instrument, as well as the observing procedure and data
reduction.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by PAS
Optimizing astrophotonic spatial reformatters using simulated on-sky performance
One of the most useful techniques in astronomical instrumentation is image
slicing. It enables a spectrograph to have a more compact angular slit, whilst
retaining throughput and increasing resolving power. Astrophotonic components
like the photonic lanterns and photonic reformatters can be used to replace
bulk optics used so far. This study investigates the performance of such
devices using end-to-end simulations to approximate realistic on-sky
conditions. It investigates existing components, tries to optimize their
performance and aims to understand better how best to design instruments to
maximize their performance. This work complements the recent work in the field
and provides an estimation for the performance of the new components.Comment: Conference proceedings in SPIE 2018 Austin Texa
Method and device for maximizing memory system bandwidth by accessing data in a dynamically determined order
A data processing system is disclosed which comprises a data processor and memory control device for controlling the access of information from the memory. The memory control device includes temporary storage and decision ability for determining what order to execute the memory accesses. The compiler detects the requirements of the data processor and selects the data to stream to the memory control device which determines a memory access order. The order in which to access said information is selected based on the location of information stored in the memory. The information is repeatedly accessed from memory and stored in the temporary storage until all streamed information is accessed. The information is stored until required by the data processor. The selection of the order in which to access information maximizes bandwidth and decreases the retrieval time
Evidence for He I 10830 \AA~ absorption during the transit of a warm Neptune around the M-dwarf GJ 3470 with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder
Understanding the dynamics and kinematics of out-flowing atmospheres of hot
and warm exoplanets is crucial to understanding the origins and evolutionary
history of the exoplanets near the evaporation desert. Recently, ground based
measurements of the meta-stable Helium atom's resonant absorption at 10830
\AA~has become a powerful probe of the base environment which is driving the
outflow of exoplanet atmospheres. We report evidence for the He I 10830 \AA~in
absorption (equivalent width \AA) in the exosphere of
a warm Neptune orbiting the M-dwarf GJ 3470, during three transits using the
Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) near infrared spectrograph. This marks the
first reported evidence for He I 10830 \AA\, atmospheric absorption for a
planet orbiting an M-dwarf. Our detected absorption is broad and its
blueshifted wing extends to -36 km/sec, the largest reported in the literature
to date. We modelled the state of Helium atoms in the exosphere of GJ3470b
based on assumptions on the UV and X-ray flux of GJ 3470, and found our
measurement of flux-weighted column density of meta-stable state Helium
, derived from our transit
observations, to be consistent with model, within its uncertainties. The
methodology developed here will be useful to study and constrain the
atmospheric outflow models of other exoplanets like GJ 3470b which are near the
edge of the evaporation desert.Comment: Accepted in Ap
Persistent starspot signals on M dwarfs: multi-wavelength Doppler observations with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder and Keck/HIRES
Young, rapidly-rotating M dwarfs exhibit prominent starspots, which create
quasiperiodic signals in their photometric and Doppler spectroscopic
measurements. The periodic Doppler signals can mimic radial velocity (RV)
changes expected from orbiting exoplanets. Exoplanets can be distinguished from
activity-induced false positives by the chromaticity and long-term incoherence
of starspot signals, but these qualities are poorly constrained for
fully-convective M stars. Coherent photometric starspot signals on M dwarfs may
persist for hundreds of rotations, and the wavelength dependence of starspot RV
signals may not be consistent between stars due to differences in their
magnetic fields and active regions. We obtained precise multi-wavelength RVs of
four rapidly-rotating M dwarfs (AD Leo, G 227-22, GJ 1245B, GJ 3959) using the
near-infrared (NIR) Habitable-zone Planet Finder, and the optical Keck/HIRES
spectrometer. Our RVs are complemented by photometry from Kepler, TESS, and the
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) network of telescopes. We found that all four
stars exhibit large spot-induced Doppler signals at their rotation periods, and
investigated the longevity and optical-to-NIR chromaticity for these signals.
The phase curves remain coherent much longer than is typical for Sunlike stars.
Their chromaticity varies, and one star (GJ 3959) exhibits optical and NIR RV
modulation consistent in both phase and amplitude. In general, though, we find
that the NIR amplitudes are lower than their optical counterparts. We conclude
that starspot modulation for rapidly-rotating M stars frequently remains
coherent for hundreds of stellar rotations, and gives rise to Doppler signals
that, due to this coherence, may be mistaken for exoplanets.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Complexity Analysis of Accelerated MCMC Methods for Bayesian Inversion
We study Bayesian inversion for a model elliptic PDE with unknown diffusion
coefficient. We provide complexity analyses of several Markov Chain-Monte Carlo
(MCMC) methods for the efficient numerical evaluation of expectations under the
Bayesian posterior distribution, given data . Particular attention is
given to bounds on the overall work required to achieve a prescribed error
level . Specifically, we first bound the computational complexity
of "plain" MCMC, based on combining MCMC sampling with linear complexity
multilevel solvers for elliptic PDE. Our (new) work versus accuracy bounds show
that the complexity of this approach can be quite prohibitive. Two strategies
for reducing the computational complexity are then proposed and analyzed:
first, a sparse, parametric and deterministic generalized polynomial chaos
(gpc) "surrogate" representation of the forward response map of the PDE over
the entire parameter space, and, second, a novel Multi-Level Markov Chain Monte
Carlo (MLMCMC) strategy which utilizes sampling from a multilevel
discretization of the posterior and of the forward PDE.
For both of these strategies we derive asymptotic bounds on work versus
accuracy, and hence asymptotic bounds on the computational complexity of the
algorithms. In particular we provide sufficient conditions on the regularity of
the unknown coefficients of the PDE, and on the approximation methods used, in
order for the accelerations of MCMC resulting from these strategies to lead to
complexity reductions over "plain" MCMC algorithms for Bayesian inversion of
PDEs.
Constrained modelling of instrumental radial velocity drift in precision Radial Velocity Spectrometers: Application to HPF
For precise measurement of the radial velocity change in a star, the precision of the wavelength solution is 4 orders more important than accuracy of the wavelength solution. Since the absolute wavelength solution model of a multi-order echelle spectrographs require a large number of parameters, it is better to track the change in wavelength solution over time instead of refitting the complete wavelength solution without any constrains. For stabilized spectrographs like The Habitable-Zone Planet Finder (HPF) and NEID, these changes in wavelength solution are significantly low order and can be modeled with only a few parameters. Table 1, shows an example of low order changes to dispersion solution we expect from various physical mechanisms in HPF or NEID
Solar Contamination in Extreme-precision Radial-velocity Measurements: Deleterious Effects and Prospects for Mitigation
Solar contamination, due to moonlight and atmospheric scattering of sunlight, can cause systematic errors in stellar radial velocity (RV) measurements that significantly detract from the ~10 cm s−1 sensitivity required for the detection and characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in or near habitable zones of Sun-like stars. The addition of low-level spectral contamination at variable effective velocity offsets introduces systematic noise when measuring velocities using classical mask-based or template-based cross-correlation techniques. Here we present simulations estimating the range of RV measurement error induced by uncorrected scattered sunlight contamination. We explore potential correction techniques, using both simultaneous spectrometer sky fibers and broadband imaging via coherent fiber imaging bundles, that could reliably reduce this source of error to below the photon-noise limit of typical stellar observations. We discuss the limitations of these simulations, the underlying assumptions, and mitigation mechanisms. We also present and discuss the components designed and built into the NEID (NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy) precision RV instrument for the WIYN 3.5 m telescope, to serve as an ongoing resource for the community to explore and evaluate correction techniques. We emphasize that while "bright time" has been traditionally adequate for RV science, the goal of 10 cm s−1 precision on the most interesting exoplanetary systems may necessitate access to darker skies for these next-generation instruments
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