400 research outputs found
The digital data processing concepts of the LOFT mission
The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT) is one of the five mission
candidates that were considered by ESA for an M3 mission (with a launch
opportunity in 2022 - 2024). LOFT features two instruments: the Large Area
Detector (LAD) and the Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a 10 m 2 -class
instrument with approximately 15 times the collecting area of the largest
timing mission so far (RXTE) for the first time combined with CCD-class
spectral resolution. The WFM will continuously monitor the sky and recognise
changes in source states, detect transient and bursting phenomena and will
allow the mission to respond to this. Observing the brightest X-ray sources
with the effective area of the LAD leads to enormous data rates that need to be
processed on several levels, filtered and compressed in real-time already on
board. The WFM data processing on the other hand puts rather low constraints on
the data rate but requires algorithms to find the photon interaction location
on the detector and then to deconvolve the detector image in order to obtain
the sky coordinates of observed transient sources. In the following, we want to
give an overview of the data handling concepts that were developed during the
study phase.Comment: Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014:
Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91446
Neutral Pion Photoproduction on Nuclei in Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory
Threshold neutral pion photoproduction on light nuclei is studied in the
framework of baryon chiral perturbation theory. We obtain a general formula for
the electric dipole amplitude in the special case of neutral pion
photoproduction on a nucleus. To third order in small momenta, the amplitude is
a sum of 2- and 3-body interactions with no undetermined parameters. With
reasonable input from the single nucleon sector, our result for neutral pion
photoproduction on the deuteron is in agreement with experiment.Comment: 24 pages, 4 uuencoded postscript figures, uses LaTex and epsf.tex.
Added footnote and references. Minor changes in text and forma
Threshold neutral pion photoproduction off the tri-nucleon to O(q^4)
We calculate electromagnetic neutral pion production off tri-nucleon bound
states (3H, 3He) at threshold in chiral nuclear effective field theory to
fourth order in the standard heavy baryon counting. We show that the fourth
order two-nucleon corrections to the S-wave multipoles at threshold are very
small. This implies that a precise measurement of the S-wave cross section for
neutral pion production off 3He allows for a stringent test of the chiral
perturbation theory prediction for the S-wave electric multipole E_{0+}^{pi0
n}.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, title changed, final version to appear in EPJA.
arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1103.340
On the Angular Resolution of the AGILE gamma-ray imaging detector
We present a study of the Angular Resolution of the AGILE gamma-ray imaging
detector (GRID) that is operational in space since April 2007. The AGILE
instrument is made of an array of 12 planes each equipped with a Tungsten
converter and Silicon micros trip detectors and is sensitive in the energy
range 50 MeV - 10 GeV. Among the space instruments devoted to gamma-ray
astrophysics, AGILE uniquely exploits an analog readout system with dedicated
electronics coupled with Silicon detectors. We show the results of Monte Carlo
simulations carried out to reproduce the gamma-ray detection by the GRID, and
we compare them to in-flight data. We use the Crab (pulsar + Nebula) system for
discussion of real data performance, since its E^{-2} energy spectrum is
representative of the majority of gamma-ray sources. For Crab-like spectrum
sources, the GRID angular resolution (FWHM of ~4deg at 100 MeV; ~0.8deg at 1
GeV; ~0.9deg integrating the full energy band from 100 MeV to tens of GeV) is
stable across a large field of view, being characterized by a flat response up
to 30deg off-axis. A comparison of the angular resolution obtained by the two
operational gamma-ray instruments, AGILE-GRID and Fermi-LAT, is interesting in
view of future gamma-ray missions, that are currently under study. The two
instruments exploit different detector configurations affecting the angular
resolution: the former being optimized in the readout and track reconstruction
especially in the low-energy band, the latter in terms of converter thickness
and power consumption. We show that, despite these differences, the angular
resolution of both instruments is very similar between 100 MeV and a few GeV.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Is the tetraneutron a bound dineutron-dineutron molecule?
In light of a new experiment which claims a positive identification, we
discuss the possible existence of the tetraneutron. We explore a novel model
based on a dineutron-dineutron molecule. We show that this model is not able to
explain the tetraneutron as a bound state, in agreement with other theoretical
models already discussed in the literature.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, J. Phys. G, in pres
The LOFT Ground Segment
LOFT, the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing, was one of the ESA M3 mission
candidates that completed their assessment phase at the end of 2013. LOFT is
equipped with two instruments, the Large Area Detector (LAD) and the Wide Field
Monitor (WFM). The LAD performs pointed observations of several targets per
orbit (~90 minutes), providing roughly ~80 GB of proprietary data per day (the
proprietary period will be 12 months). The WFM continuously monitors about 1/3
of the sky at a time and provides data for about ~100 sources a day, resulting
in a total of ~20 GB of additional telemetry. The LOFT Burst alert System
additionally identifies on-board bright impulsive events (e.g., Gamma-ray
Bursts, GRBs) and broadcasts the corresponding position and trigger time to the
ground using a dedicated system of ~15 VHF receivers. All WFM data are planned
to be made public immediately. In this contribution we summarize the planned
organization of the LOFT ground segment (GS), as established in the mission
Yellow Book 1 . We describe the expected GS contributions from ESA and the LOFT
consortium. A review is provided of the planned LOFT data products and the
details of the data flow, archiving and distribution. Despite LOFT was not
selected for launch within the M3 call, its long assessment phase (> 2 years)
led to a very solid mission design and an efficient planning of its ground
operations.Comment: Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014:
Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91446
Mitochondrial precursor proteins are imported through a hydrophilic membrane environment
We have analyzed how translocation intermediates of imported mitochondrial precursor proteins, which span contact sites, interact with the mitochondrial membranes. F1-ATPase subunit β(F1β) was trapped at contact sites by importing it into Neurospora mitochondria in the presence of low levels of nucleoside triphosphates. This F1β translocation intermediate could be extracted from the membranes by treatment with protein denaturants such as alkaline pH or urea. By performing import at low temperatures, the ADP/ATP carrier was accumulated in contact sites of Neurospora mitochondria and cytochrome b2 in contact sites of yeast mitochondria. These translocation intermediates were also extractable from the membranes at alkaline pH. Thus, translocation of precursor proteins across mitochondrial membranes seems to occur through an environment which is accessible to aqueous perturbants. We propose that proteinaceous structures are essential components of a translocation apparatus present in contact sites
The Agile Alert System For Gamma-Ray Transients
In recent years, a new generation of space missions offered great
opportunities of discovery in high-energy astrophysics. In this article we
focus on the scientific operations of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID)
onboard the AGILE space mission. The AGILE-GRID, sensitive in the energy range
of 30 MeV-30 GeV, has detected many gamma-ray transients of galactic and
extragalactic origins. This work presents the AGILE innovative approach to fast
gamma-ray transient detection, which is a challenging task and a crucial part
of the AGILE scientific program. The goals are to describe: (1) the AGILE
Gamma-Ray Alert System, (2) a new algorithm for blind search identification of
transients within a short processing time, (3) the AGILE procedure for
gamma-ray transient alert management, and (4) the likelihood of ratio tests
that are necessary to evaluate the post-trial statistical significance of the
results. Special algorithms and an optimized sequence of tasks are necessary to
reach our goal. Data are automatically analyzed at every orbital downlink by an
alert pipeline operating on different timescales. As proper flux thresholds are
exceeded, alerts are automatically generated and sent as SMS messages to
cellular telephones, e-mails, and push notifications of an application for
smartphones and tablets. These alerts are crosschecked with the results of two
pipelines, and a manual analysis is performed. Being a small scientific-class
mission, AGILE is characterized by optimization of both scientific analysis and
ground-segment resources. The system is capable of generating alerts within two
to three hours of a data downlink, an unprecedented reaction time in gamma-ray
astrophysics.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, 5 table
- …