2,672 research outputs found
VARTOOLS: A Program for Analyzing Astronomical Time-Series Data
This paper describes the VARTOOLS program, which is an open-source
command-line utility, written in C, for analyzing astronomical time-series
data, especially light curves. The program provides a general-purpose set of
tools for processing light curves including signal identification, filtering,
light curve manipulation, time conversions, and modeling and simulating light
curves. Some of the routines implemented include the Generalized Lomb-Scargle
periodogram, the Box-Least Squares transit search routine, the Analysis of
Variance periodogram, the Discrete Fourier Transform including the CLEAN
algorithm, the Weighted Wavelet Z-Transform, light curve arithmetic, linear and
non-linear optimization of analytic functions including support for Markov
Chain Monte Carlo analyses with non-trivial covariances, characterizing and/or
simulating time-correlated noise, and the TFA and SYSREM filtering algorithms,
among others. A mechanism is also provided for incorporating a user's own
compiled processing routines into the program. VARTOOLS is designed especially
for batch processing of light curves, including built-in support for parallel
processing, making it useful for large time-domain surveys such as searches for
transiting planets. Several examples are provided to illustrate the use of the
program.Comment: 83 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Computing, code available at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~jhartman/vartools.htm
The rich frequency spectrum of the triple-mode variable AC And
Fourier analysis of the light curve of AC And from the HATNet database
reveals the rich frequency structure of this object. Above 30 components are
found down to the amplitude of 3 mmag. Several of these frequencies are not the
linear combinations of the three basic components. We detect period increase in
all three components that may lend support to the Pop I classification of this
variable.Comment: Poster presented at IAU Symposium 301, "Precision Asteroseismology -
Celebration of the Scientific Opus of Wojtek Dziembowski", 19-23 August 2013,
Wroclaw, Polan
FPGA Acceleration of Gene Rearrangement Analysis
In this paper we present our work toward FPGA acceleration of phylogenetic reconstruction, a type of analysis that is commonly performed in the fields of systematic biology and comparative genomics. In our initial study, we have targeted a specific application that reconstructs maximum-parsimony (MP) phylogenies for gene-rearrangement data. Like other prevalent applications in computational biology, this application relies on a control-dependent, memory-intensive, and non-arithmetic combinatorial optimization algorithm. To achieve hardware acceleration, we developed an FPGA core design that implements the application\u27s primary bottleneck computation. Because our core is lightweight, we are able to synthesize multiple cores on a single FPGA. By using several cores in parallel, we have achieved a 25X end-to-end application speedup using simulated input data
High-Performance Heterogeneous Computing with the Convey HC-1
Unlike other socket-based reconfigurable coprocessors, the Convey HC-1 contains nearly 40 field-programmable gate arrays, scatter-gather memory modules, a high-capacity crossbar switch, and a fully coherent memory system
The HATNet and HATSouth Exoplanet Surveys
The Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) has been in operation
since 2003, with the key science goal being the discovery and accurate
characterization of transiting extrasolar planets (TEPs) around bright stars.
Using six small, 11\,cm\ aperture, fully automated telescopes in Arizona and
Hawaii, as of 2017 March, it has discovered and accurately characterized 67
such objects. The HATSouth network of telescopes has been in operation since
2009, using slightly larger, 18\,cm diameter optical tubes. It was the first
global network of telescopes using identical instrumentation. With three
premier sites spread out in longitude (Chile, Namibia, Australia), the HATSouth
network permits round-the-clock observations of a 128 square arcdegree swath of
the sky at any given time, weather permitting. As of this writing, HATSouth has
discovered 36 transiting exoplanets. Many of the altogether ~100 HAT and
HATSouth exoplanets were the first of their kind. They have been important
contributors to the rapidly developing field of exoplanets, motivating and
influencing observational techniques, theoretical studies, and also actively
shaping future instrumentation for the detection and characterization of such
objects.Comment: Invited review chapter, accepted for publication in "Handbook of
Exoplanets", edited by H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer Reference Work
Implementation of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities: A Three-Year Retrospective
In April 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) launched the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA) to increase the effectiveness of efforts to eliminate health disparities by coordinating partners, leaders, and stakeholders committed to action. At its core, the NPA is an experiment in collaboration that relies heavily on those on the front line who are actively engaged in minority health work at multiple levels. It gives them the responsibility of identifying and helping to define core actions, new approaches, and new partnerships that ultimately will help to close the health gap in the United States. This paper provides a retrospective examination of the NPA’s creation and development of health equity coalitions at the federal and regional levels and its establishment of strategic national partnerships to move a health equity agenda forward. The article explores how the development of this infrastructure has, in turn, led to the implementation of actions and activities to address health disparities. The article concludes with a reflection on emerging opportunities for improvement and ways forward to continue the initiative’s evaluation and secure its sustainability
HAT-P-12b: A Low-Density Sub-Saturn Mass Planet Transiting a Metal-Poor K Dwarf
We report on the discovery of HAT-P-12b, a transiting extrasolar planet
orbiting the moderately bright V=12.8 K4 dwarf GSC 03033-00706, with a period P
= 3.2130598 +- 0.0000021 d, transit epoch Tc = 2454419.19556 +- 0.00020 (BJD)
and transit duration 0.0974 +- 0.0006 d. The host star has a mass of 0.73 +-
0.02 Msun, radius of 0.70 +- ^0.02_0.01 Rsun, effective temperature 4650 +- 60
K and metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.29 +- 0.05. We find a slight correlation between
the observed spectral line bisector spans and the radial velocity, so we
consider, and rule out, various blend configurations including a blend with a
background eclipsing binary, and hierarchical triple systems where the
eclipsing body is a star or a planet. We conclude that a model consisting of a
single star with a transiting planet best fits the observations, and show that
a likely explanation for the apparent correlation is contamination from
scattered moonlight. Based on this model, the planetary companion has a mass of
0.211 +- 0.012 MJup, and a radius of 0.959 +- ^0.029_0.021 RJup yielding a mean
density of 0.295 +- 0.025 g cm^-3. Comparing these observations with recent
theoretical models we find that HAT-P-12b is consistent with a ~ 1-4.5 Gyr,
mildly irradiated, H/He dominated planet with a core mass Mc <~ 10 Mearth.
HAT-P-12b is thus the least massive H/He dominated gas giant planet found to
date. This record was previously held by Saturn.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 13 pages, 9 figures, 5 table
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