The Zwicky Transient Facility Observing System

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a synoptic optical survey for high-cadence time-domain astronomy. Building upon the experience and infrastructure of the highly successful Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) team, ZTF will survey more than an order of magnitude faster than PTF in sky area and volume in order to identify rare, rapidly varying optical sources. These sources will include a trove of supernovae, exotic explosive transients, unusual stellar variables, compact binaries, active galactic nuclei, and asteroids. The single-visit depth of 20.4 mag is well matched to spectroscopic follow-up observations, while the co-added images will provide wide sky coverage 1.5 – 2 mag deeper than SDSS. The ZTF survey will cover the entire Northern Sky and revisit fields on timescales of a few hours, providing hundreds of visits per field each year, an unprecedented cadence, as required to detect fast transients and variability. This high-cadence survey is enabled by an observing system based on a new camera having 47 deg^2 field of view – a factor of 6.5 greater than the existing PTF camera - equipped with fast readout electronics, a large, fast exposure shutter, faster telescope and dome drives, and various measures to optimize delivered image quality. Our project has already received an initial procurement of e2v wafer-scale CCDs and we are currently fabricating the camera cryostat. International partners and the NSF committed funds in June 2014 so construction can proceed as planned to commence engineering commissioning in 2016 and begin operations in 2017. Public release will allow broad utilization of these data by the US astronomical community. ZTF will also promote the development of transient and variable science methods in preparation for the seminal first light of LSST

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TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Jornalismo.Documentário em vídeo acerca da trajetória dos novos artistas independentes da música brasileira, que desenvolvem e distribuem seu trabalho por meio da internet e de suas plataformas. Através do depoimento de seis artistas, o vídeo problematiza as transformações que a era digital provocou no cenário da música brasileira, não apenas no que se refere à produção e distribuição, mas também na estética. O principal objetivo é mostrar as possibilidades que a internet proporciona para os músicos, que agora têm mais liberdade para criar e mais independência para distribuir seu trabalho. São abordados aspectos como: o crescimento das empresas que oferecem serviços de streaming e os impactos disto na indústria fonográfica; o espaço que a internet abriu para o ativismo político; um comparativo entre a tradicional indústria fonográfica e os novos formatos de venda de produtos culturais na web; além de um breve panorama avaliando as diferenças existentes entre o mercado de músicas na web no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos

Improved Spatial Resolution in Thick, Fully-Depleted CCDs withEnhanced Red Sensitivity

The point spread function (PSF) is an important measure of spatial resolution in CCDs for point-like objects, since it affects image quality and spectroscopic resolution. We present new data and theoretical developments for lateral charge diffusion in thick, fully-depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Because they can be over-depleted, the LBNL devices have no field-free region and diffusion is controlled through the application of an external bias voltage. We give results for a 3512 x 3512 format, 10.5 {micro}m pixel back-illuminated p-channel CCD developed for the SuperNova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a proposed satellite-based experiment designed to study dark energy. The PSF was measured at substrate bias voltages between 3 V and 115 V. At a bias voltage of 115 V, we measure an rms diffusion of 3.7 {+-} 0.2 {micro}m. Lateral charge diffusion in LBNL CCDs will meet the SNAP requirements

Astro2020 APC White Paper: The MegaMapper: a z > 2 spectroscopic instrument for the study of Inflation and Dark Energy

MegaMapper is a proposed ground-based experiment to measure Inflation parameters and Dark Energy from galaxy redshifts at

CMB-S4

We describe the stage 4 cosmic microwave background ground-based experiment CMB-S4

GWAS meta-analysis of over 29,000 people with epilepsy identifies 26 risk loci and subtype-specific genetic architecture

Epilepsy is a highly heritable disorder affecting over 50 million people worldwide, of which about one-third are resistant to current treatments. Here we report a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study including 29,944 cases, stratified into three broad categories and seven subtypes of epilepsy, and 52,538 controls. We identify 26 genome-wide significant loci, 19 of which are specific to genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE). We implicate 29 likely causal genes underlying these 26 loci. SNP-based heritability analyses show that common variants explain between 39.6% and 90% of genetic risk for GGE and its subtypes. Subtype analysis revealed markedly different genetic architectures between focal and generalized epilepsies. Gene-set analyses of GGE signals implicate synaptic processes in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the brain. Prioritized candidate genes overlap with monogenic epilepsy genes and with targets of current antiseizure medications. Finally, we leverage our results to identify alternate drugs with predicted efficacy if repurposed for epilepsy treatment

Measurement of lateral charge diffusion in thick, fully depleted, back-illuminated CCDs

Lateral charge diffusion in back-illuminated CCDs directly affects the point spread function (PSF) and spatial resolution of an imaging device. This can be of particular concern in thick, back-illuminated CCDs. We describe a technique of measuring this diffusion and present PSF measurements for an 800x1100, 15 mu m pixel, 280 mu m thick, back-illuminated, p-channel CCD that can be over-depleted. The PSF is measured over a wavelength range of 450 nm to 650 nm and at substrate bias voltages between 6 V and 80 V

Quantum efficiency characterization of LBNL CCD's Part 1: the Quantum Efficiency Machine

Instrumentation was developed in 2004 and 2005 to measure the quantum efficiency of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL)total-depletion CCD's, intended for astronomy and space applications. This paper describes the basic instrument. Although it is conventional even to the parts list, there are important innovations. A xenon arc light source was chosen for its high blue/UV and low red/IR output as compared with a tungsten light. Intensity stabilization has been difficult, but sinceonly flux ratios matter this is not critical. Between the light source andan Oriel MS257 monochromator are a shutter and two filter wheels. High-bandpass and low-bandpass filter pairs isolate the 150-nm wide bands appropriate to the wavelength, thus minimizing scattered light and providing order blocking. Light from the auxiliary port enters a 20-inch optical sphere, and the 4-inch output port is at right angles to the input port. An 80 cm drift space produces near-uniform illumination on the CCD. Next to the cold CCD inside the horizontal dewar is a calibrated reference photodiode which is regulated to the PD calibration temperature, 25$^\circ$ C. The ratio ofthe CCD and in-dewar reference PD signals provides the QE measurement. Additional cross-calibration to a PD on the integrating sphere permitslower-intensity exposures

Noise and zero point drift in 1.7 mu m cutoff detectors for SNAP

We present the results of a detailed study of the noise performance of candidate NIR detectors for the proposed Super-Nova Acceleration Probe. Effects of Fowler sampling depth and frequency, temperature, exposure time, detector material, detector reverse-bias and multiplexer type are quantified. We discuss several tools for determining which sources of low frequency noise are primarily responsible for the sub-optimal noise improvement when multiple sampling. The effectiveness of reference pixel subtraction to mitigate zero point drifts is demonstrated, and the circumstances under which reference pixel subtraction should or should not be applied are examined. Spatial and temporal noise measurements are compared, and a simple method for quantifying the effect of hot pixels and RTS noise on spatial noise is described