Detecting Tidal Features using Self-Supervised Representation Learning

Low surface brightness substructures around galaxies, known as tidal features, are a valuable tool in the detection of past or ongoing galaxy mergers. Their properties can answer questions about the progenitor galaxies involved in the interactions. This paper presents promising results from a self-supervised machine learning model, trained on data from the Ultradeep layer of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program optical imaging survey, designed to automate the detection of tidal features. We find that self-supervised models are capable of detecting tidal features and that our model outperforms previous automated tidal feature detection methods, including a fully supervised model. The previous state of the art method achieved 76% completeness for 22% contamination, while our model achieves considerably higher (96%) completeness for the same level of contamination.Comment: Accepted at the ICML 2023 Workshop on Machine Learning for Astrophysic

Detecting Galaxy Tidal Features Using Self-Supervised Representation Learning

Low surface brightness substructures around galaxies, known as tidal features, are a valuable tool in the detection of past or ongoing galaxy mergers, and their properties can answer questions about the progenitor galaxies involved in the interactions. The assembly of current tidal feature samples is primarily achieved using visual classification, making it difficult to construct large samples and draw accurate and statistically robust conclusions about the galaxy evolution process. With upcoming large optical imaging surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), predicted to observe billions of galaxies, it is imperative that we refine our methods of detecting and classifying samples of merging galaxies. This paper presents promising results from a self-supervised machine learning model, trained on data from the Ultradeep layer of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program optical imaging survey, designed to automate the detection of tidal features. We find that self-supervised models are capable of detecting tidal features, and that our model outperforms previous automated tidal feature detection methods, including a fully supervised model. An earlier method achieved 76% completeness for 22% contamination, while our model achieves considerably higher (96%) completeness for the same level of contamination. We emphasise a number of advantages of self-supervised models over fully supervised models including maintaining excellent performance when using only 50 labelled examples for training, and the ability to perform similarity searches using a single example of a galaxy with tidal features.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to MNRAS. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2307.0496

Propos introductifs : la politique des droits de l'homme et le "révolutionnarisme"

La politique des droits de l'homme entretient avec l'idée révolutionnaire une relation particulière : faisant consensus quant à leur principe, les droits de l'homme invitent par nature à une critique sociale permanente, que l'on peut considérer comme étant portée par l'esprit révolutionnaire propre aux déclarations de droits. Mais, dans les démocraties libérales contemporaines, c'est dans la théorie de la désobéissance civile que s'exprime cette "passion révolutionnaire".The policy of human rights has with the revolutionary idea a special relationship: making consensus on principle, the human rights request by nature to a permanent social criticism which can be regarded as inherent to the declarations of rights revolutionary spirit. But, in contemporary liberal democracies, it is more in the theory of civil disobedience that expresses this "revolutionary passion.

Assignation et revendication : une question sexuelle ?

Passer d’une posture assignée à une posture revendiquée est un geste idéologique et politique, mais est aussi, lorsque ce passage n’est pas victi­maire, plaintif ou imaginairement identitaire, un geste sexuel. Comment ? Pourquoi ? Par différents exemples, on soulignera ici que l’assignation fait le plus souvent passer fictivement pour constatif ce qui est en fait performatif, en particulier dans les questions de « genre ». Alors, la revendication « affirmative », non victimaire, qui retourne (talvérise ?) l’assignation sur elle-même, déjoue ce geste fictif en le rejouant (par exemple dans le mouvement queer) – à l’instar peut-être du masochisme qui, extraordinairement, transforme la « souffrance » en « jouissance ». Voilà pourquoi nos revendications sont (peut-être) toujours sexuelles, et si potentiellement joyeuses…Going from an assigned position to an asserted position is an ideological and political move, but when it is not a question of victimhood, plaintiveness of imagined identity, it is also a sexual move. How? Why? Different examples are used here to emphasise that assignation most often fictively makes what is in fact performative appear as constative, in particular with respect to questions of «gender». Thus, «assertive» claims, avoiding victimhood, which throw back (talverise?) the assignation on itself, confound this fictive move by replying it (for example, in the «queer» movement) – perhaps like masochism which, extraordinarily, transforms «suffering» into «jouissance». This is why our claims are (perhaps) always sexual, and potentially joyful

Fully Eulerian models for the numerical simulation of capsules with an elastic bulk nucleus

In this paper, we present a computational framework based on fully Eulerian models for fluid-structure interaction for the numerical simulation of biological capsules. The flexibility of such models, given by the Eulerian treatment of the interface and deformations, allows us to easily deal with the large deformations experienced by the capsule. The modeling of the membrane is based on the full membrane elasticity model introduced in (Milcent, T., Maitre, E. (2016)) that is capable of capturing both area and shear variations thanks to the so-called backward characteristics. In the validation section several test cases are presented with the goal of comparing our results to others present in the literature. In this part, the comparisons are done with different well-known configurations (capsule in shear flow and square-section channel), and by deepening the effect of the elastic constitutive law and capillary number on the membrane dynamics. Finally, to show the potential of this framework we introduce a new test case that describes the relaxation of a capsule in an opening channel. In order to increase the challenges of this test we study the influence of an internal nucleus, modeled as a hyperelastic solid, on the membrane evolution. Several numerical simulations are presented to deeply study its influence by modifying the characteristic parameters of the nucleus (size and elastic parameter)

A New RF Tuning Method for the End Regions of the IPHI 4-vane RFQ

JaCoW web site http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/e06The 3-MeV High Intensity Proton Injector (IPHI) RFQ is constituted by the assembly of three 2-m-long segments. The tuning of the end regions of such an accelerator with respect to the quadrupole mode is generally made by machining the thickness of the end plates. The dipole modes are moved away from the accelerator mode frequency by adding dipole rods and adjusting their length. In the case of the last IPHI RFQ segment, the tuning range given by possible plate thickness was not sufficient to adjust the frequency at 352 Mhz without modifying the notch depth, leading to serious engineering problems for the cooling, new thermo-mechanical simulations and drawings. To avoid these difficulties, a new way has been investigated by replacing the end plate thickness adjustment by a "quadrupole rod" length adjustment. These rods are situated between the beam axis and the dipole rods, and the tuning range is largely increased. The paper will describe this method applied to the IPHI RFQ and some experimental results obtained on the cold model

Construction of the probe beam photo-injector of CTF3

JACoW web site http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/e06This paper describes the HF (High-Frequency) and dynamic beam modelling performed onto the 3 GHz / 2,5 cells photo-injector of the future CTF3 (CLIC Test Facility 3) probe beam linac. The latter provides the beam to demonstrate the feasibility of the 30 GHz accelerating sections in the framework of the CLIC project. The Probe Beam Photo-Injector (PBPI) is inspired from the Drive Beam Photo-Injector (DBPI) already designed by LAL and actually tested in our laboratory. However, the design of PBPI has been simplified with respect to the previous because the charge per bunch is 4 times lower and the number of bunches several orders of magnitude smaller. The internal geometry and the coupling system of the PBPI have been designed with 2D (SUPERFISH*) and 3D (HFSS**) codes. Based on the modified design, PARMELA and POISSON simulations showed that the technical specifications are fulfilled. The vacuum issue has been also carefully investigated, and NEG (Non Evaporated Getter) technology has been adopted in order to reach the $10^–10$ mbar pressure inside the structure. This work is done in deep collaboration with CEA/Saclay, which is responsible of the CTF3 Probe Beam Linac design and construction [1]

A global multilayer cloud identification with POLDER/PARASOL

The detection of multilayer cloud situations is important for satellite retrieval algorithms and for many climate related applications. In this paper, we describe an algorithm based on the exploitation of the POLarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectance (POLDER) observations to identify monolayered and multilayered cloudy situations along with a confidence index. Our reference comes from the synergy of the active instruments of the A-Train satellite constellation. The algorithm is based upon a decision tree that uses a metric from information theory and a series of tests on POLDER Level-2 products. We obtain a multilayer flag as the final result of a tree classification which takes discrete values between 0 and 100. Values closest to zero (resp. a hundred) indicate a higher confidence in the monolayer (resp. multilayer) character. This indicator can be used as it is, or with a threshold level that minimizes the risk of misclassification, as a binary index to distinguish between monolayer and multilayer clouds. For almost fully covered and optically thick enough cloud scenes, the risk of misclassification ranges from 29% to 34% over the period 2006–2010 and the average confidences in the estimated monolayer and multilayer characters of the cloud scenes are 74.0% and 58.2% respectively. With the binary distinction, POLDER provides a climatology of the mono/multi-layer cloud character that exhibits some interesting features. Comparisons with the performance of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) multilayerflag are given

Labile glycated haemoglobin and carbamylated haemoglobin are still critical points for HbA1c measurement

IntroductionHaemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is a key analyte for the monitoring of glycemic balance in diabetic patients and is used for diabetes diagnosis in many countries. The potential interference of carbamylated haemoglobin (cHb) and labile glycated haemoglobin (LA1c) on HbA1c assays must remain a matter of vigilance. Such a situation has occurred in our laboratory with a kit replacement on the Bio-Rad Variant™ II testing system, a cation-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. With this method, LA1c and cHb coeluted in a same peak which may have different consequences on HbA1c values. Materials and methodsThe influence of increasing LA1c and cHb values on HbA1c results was studied with in vitro glycation and carbamylation of samples. Samples from patients with high and normal blood urea concentrations were assayed by HPLC and immunological assay. ResultsWe observed that the degree of interference greatly varied depending on the nature of the interfering Hb fractions found under the so-called “LA1c peak”. Thus, we have decided to apply a decision tree using “LA1c” thresholds depending on: (i) the retention time, (ii) the shape of the peak, (iii) other analytes, like urea. If the peak recognized as “LA1c” is mainly formed by LA1c, we consider that there is no interference until 4%. If the peak is mainly formed by cHb, we consider an interference threshold equal to 2%. ConclusionsThis situation reminds that cHb and LA1c remain critical issues in chromatography-based HbA1c assays and that adapted criteria must be set up for result interpretation

Improved information about the vertical location and extent of monolayer clouds from POLDER3 measurements in the oxygen A-band

This paper describes new advances in the exploitation of oxygen A-band measurements from POLDER3 sensor onboard PARASOL, satellite platform within the A-Train. These developments result from not only an account of the dependence of POLDER oxygen parameters to cloud optical thickness τ and to the scene's geometrical conditions but also, and more importantly, from the finer understanding of the sensitivity of these parameters to cloud vertical extent. This sensitivity is made possible thanks to the multidirectional character of POLDER measurements. In the case of monolayer clouds that represent most of cloudy conditions, new oxygen parameters are obtained and calibrated from POLDER3 data colocalized with the measurements of the two active sensors of the A-Train: CALIOP/CALIPSO and CPR/CloudSat. From a parameterization that is (μs, τ) dependent, with μs the cosine of the solar zenith angle, a cloud top oxygen pressure (CTOP) and a cloud middle oxygen pressure (CMOP) are obtained, which are estimates of actual cloud top and middle pressures (CTP and CMP). Performances of CTOP and CMOP are presented by class of clouds following the ISCCP classification. In 2008, the coefficient of the correlation between CMOP and CMP is 0.81 for cirrostratus, 0.79 for stratocumulus, 0.75 for deep convective clouds. The coefficient of the correlation between CTOP and CTP is 0.75, 0.73, and 0.79 for the same cloud types. The score obtained by CTOP, defined as the confidence in the retrieval for a particular range of inferred value and for a given error, is higher than the one of MODIS CTP estimate. Scores of CTOP are the highest for bin value of CTP superior in numbers. For liquid (ice) clouds and an error of 30 hPa (50 hPa), the score of CTOP reaches 50% (70%). From the difference between CTOP and CMOP, a first estimate of the cloud vertical extent h is possible. A second estimate of h comes from the correlation between the angular standard deviation of POLDER oxygen pressure σPO2 and the cloud vertical extent. This correlation is studied in detail in the case of liquid clouds. It is shown to be spatially and temporally robust, except for clouds above land during winter months. The analysis of the correlation's dependence on the scene's characteristics leads to a parameterization providing h from σPO2. For liquid water clouds above ocean in 2008, the mean difference between the actual cloud vertical extent and the one retrieved from σPO2 (from the pressure difference) is 5 m (−12 m). The standard deviation of the mean difference is close to 1000 m for the two methods. POLDER estimates of the cloud geometrical thickness obtain a global score of 50% confidence for a relative error of 20% (40%) of the estimate for ice (liquid) clouds over ocean. These results need to be validated outside of the CALIPSO/CloudSat track