17,624 research outputs found
Implementation of robust image artifact removal in SWarp through clipped mean stacking
We implement an algorithm for detecting and removing artifacts from
astronomical images by means of outlier rejection during stacking. Our method
is capable of addressing both small, highly significant artifacts such as
cosmic rays and, by applying a filtering technique to generate single frame
masks, larger area but lower surface brightness features such as secondary
(ghost) images of bright stars. In contrast to the common method of building a
median stack, the clipped or outlier-filtered mean stacked point-spread
function (PSF) is a linear combination of the single frame PSFs as long as the
latter are moderately homogeneous, a property of great importance for weak
lensing shape measurement or model fitting photometry. In addition, it has
superior noise properties, allowing a significant reduction in exposure time
compared to median stacking. We make publicly available a modified version of
SWarp that implements clipped mean stacking and software to generate single
frame masks from the list of outlier pixels.Comment: PASP accepted; software for download at
http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/~dgruen
Reconstructing the direction of reactor antineutrinos via electron scattering in Gd-doped water Cherenkov detectors
The potential of elastic antineutrino-electron scattering in a Gd-doped water
Cherenkov detector to determine the direction of a nuclear reactor antineutrino
flux was investigated using the recently proposed WATCHMAN antineutrino
experiment as a baseline model. The expected scattering rate was determined
assuming a 13-km standoff from a 3.758-GWt light water nuclear reactor and the
detector response was modeled using a Geant4-based simulation package.
Background was estimated via independent simulations and by scaling published
measurements from similar detectors. Background contributions were estimated
for solar neutrinos, misidentified reactor-based inverse beta decay
interactions, cosmogenic radionuclides, water-borne radon, and gamma rays from
the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), detector walls, and surrounding rock. We show
that with the use of low background PMTs and sufficient fiducialization,
water-borne radon and cosmogenic radionuclides pose the largest threats to
sensitivity. Directional sensitivity was then analyzed as a function of radon
contamination, detector depth, and detector size. The results provide a list of
experimental conditions that, if satisfied in practice, would enable
antineutrino directional reconstruction at 3 significance in large
Gd-doped water Cherenkov detectors with greater than 10-km standoff from a
nuclear reactor.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Slice Stretching Effects for Maximal Slicing of a Schwarzschild Black Hole
Slice stretching effects such as slice sucking and slice wrapping arise when
foliating the extended Schwarzschild spacetime with maximal slices. For
arbitrary spatial coordinates these effects can be quantified in the context of
boundary conditions where the lapse arises as a linear combination of odd and
even lapse. Favorable boundary conditions are then derived which make the
overall slice stretching occur late in numerical simulations. Allowing the
lapse to become negative, this requirement leads to lapse functions which
approach at late times the odd lapse corresponding to the static Schwarzschild
metric. Demanding in addition that a numerically favorable lapse remains
non-negative, as result the average of odd and even lapse is obtained. At late
times the lapse with zero gradient at the puncture arising for the puncture
evolution is precisely of this form. Finally, analytic arguments are given on
how slice stretching effects can be avoided. Here the excision technique and
the working mechanism of the shift function are studied in detail.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, revised version including a study on how slice
stretching can be avoided by using excision and/or shift
Real structured singular value synthesis using the scaled Popov criterion
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77238/1/AIAA-21537-608.pd
Dynamic autonomous intelligent control of an asteroid lander
One of the future flagship missions of the European Space Agency (ESA) is the asteroid sample return mission Marco-Polo. Although there have been a number of past missions to asteroids, a sample has never been successfully returned. The return of asteroid regolith to the Earth's surface introduces new technical challenges. This paper develops attitude control algorithms for the descent phase onto an asteroid in micro-gravity conditions and draws a comparison between the algorithms considered. Two studies are also performed regarding the Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) of the control laws considered. The potential of using Direct Adaptive Control (DAC) as a controller for the surface sampling process is also investigated. Use of a DAC controller incorporates increased levels of robustness by allowing realtime variation of control gains. This leads to better response to uncertainties encountered during missions
On the role of entanglement in quantum computational speed-up
For any quantum algorithm operating on pure states we prove that the presence
of multi-partite entanglement, with a number of parties that increases
unboundedly with input size, is necessary if the quantum algorithm is to offer
an exponential speed-up over classical computation. Furthermore we prove that
the algorithm can be classically efficiently simulated to within a prescribed
tolerance \eta even if a suitably small amount of global entanglement
(depending on \eta) is present. We explicitly identify the occurrence of
increasing multi-partite entanglement in Shor's algorithm. Our results do not
apply to quantum algorithms operating on mixed states in general and we discuss
the suggestion that an exponential computational speed-up might be possible
with mixed states in the total absence of entanglement. Finally, despite the
essential role of entanglement for pure state algorithms, we argue that it is
nevertheless misleading to view entanglement as a key resource for quantum
computational power.Comment: Main proofs simplified. A few further explanatory remarks added. 22
pages, plain late
The Highly Oscillatory Behavior of Automorphic Distributions for SL(2)
Automorphic distributions for SL(2) arise as boundary values of modular forms
and, in a more subtle manner, from Maass forms. In the case of modular forms of
weight one or of Maass forms, the automorphic distributions have continuous
first antiderivatives. We recall earlier results of one of us on the Holder
continuity of these continuous functions and relate them to results of other
authors; this involves a generalization of classical theorems on Fourier series
by S. Bernstein and Hardy-Littlewood. We then show that the antiderivatives are
non-differentiable at all irrational points, as well as all, or in certain
cases, some rational points. We include graphs of several of these functions,
which clearly display a high degree of oscillation. Our investigations are
motivated in part by properties of "Riemann's nondifferentiable function", also
known as "Weierstrass' function".Comment: 27 pages, 6 Figures; version 2 corrects misprints and updates
reference
Raman detection of macular carotenoid pigments in intact human retina
Journal ArticlePURPOSE: To develop and test a novel noninvasive optical technique suitable for the objective measurement of macular carotenoid levels in human retina. METHODS: A resonance Raman scattering apparatus was constructed to measure carotenoid levels in flat-mounted human retinas and eyecups and in experimental animal eyes. Light from an argon laser was used to resonantly excite the electronic absorption of the carotenoid pigments, and scattered light was collected and analyzed by a Raman spectrometer. After carotenoid Raman measurements were completed on the retinal samples, macular carotenoid levels were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). RESULTS: Carotenoid resonance Raman scattering proved to be a highly sensitive and specific method for the noninvasive measurement of macular pigments in the human retina. Signal strength scaled linearly with actual macular carotenoid content as measured by HPLC. Our apparatus was also used to record resonance Raman signals from xanthophyll carotenoids stored in the retinal pigment epithelium of intact frog eyes. CONCLUSIONS: This new noninvasive optical method will facilitate studies of ocular carotenoid distributions and their role in degenerative diseases of the eye and may allow for the rapid screening of carotenoid levels in large populations at risk for vision loss from age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly in the United States. A prototype clinical instrument is under development
- …