881 research outputs found
The ATLAS 9.0 GHz Survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: The Faint 9.0 GHz Radio Population
We present a new image of the 9.0 GHz radio emission from the extended
Chandra Deep Field South. A total of 181 hours of integration with the
Australia Telescope Compact Array has resulted in a 0.276 square degree image
with a median sensitivity of 20 Jy/beam rms, for a synthesised beam
of 4.0 1.3 arcsec. We present a catalogue of the 9.0 GHz radio
sources, identifying 70 source components and 55 individual radio galaxies.
Source counts derived from this sample are consistent with those reported in
the literature. The observed source counts are also generally consistent with
the source counts from simulations of the faint radio population. Using the
wealth of multiwavelength data available for this region, we classify the faint
9 GHz population and find that 91% are radio loud AGN, 7% are radio quiet AGN
and 2% are star forming galaxies. The 9.0 GHz radio sources were matched to 5.5
and 1.4 GHz sources in the literature and we find a significant fraction of
flat or inverted spectrum sources, with 36% of the 9 GHz sources having
-0.3 (for ). This flat or
inverted population is not well reproduced by current simulations of radio
source populations.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
How to Perform Umbilical Cord Arterial and Venous Blood Sampling in Neonatal Foals
Umbilical cord arterial and venous blood gas analysis is a commonly performed procedure in human neonatal medicine to help ascertain a newborn infant’s oxygenation and acid-base status prior to birth. Defined protocols for performing the procedure have been described in the medical literature. The aim of this report was to describe in detail the procedure for collecting paired blood samples from the umbilical artery and vein in newborn foals so that stall-side blood gas analysis could be carried out. Thirty-five Thoroughbred foals >320 days gestation from mares at one stud farm were sampled. Paired umbilical arterial and venous whole-blood samples were obtained in n=30 foals, umbilical artery only samples obtained in n=3 and umbilical vein only samples obtained in n=2 foals. There were no adverse events or clinical outcomes associated with the sampling protocol described. The authors found that umbilical cord blood collection for blood gas analysis was a practical clinical technique that potentially could be used as a stall-side method for assessing the in utero oxygenation and acid-base status of newborn foals
The Magnetic Field Geometry of Small Solar Wind Flux Ropes Inferred from their Twist Distribution
This work extends recent efforts on the force-free modeling of large flux
rope-type structures (magnetic clouds, MCs) to much smaller spatial scales. We
first select small flux ropes (SFRs) by eye whose duration is unambiguous and
which were observed by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) or
Wind spacecraft during solar maximum years. We inquire into which analytical
technique is physically most appropriate. We consider three models: (i) linear
force-free field ( B = B) with a
specific, prescribed constant (Lundquist solution), and (ii) with
as a free constant parameter (Lundquist-alpha solution), (iii) uniform
twist field (Gold-Hoyle solution). We retain only those cases where the impact
parameter is less than one-half the FR radius, , so the results should be
robust (29 cases). The SFR radii lie in the range [ 0.003, 0.059] AU.
Comparing results, we find that the Lundquist-alpha and uniform twist solutions
yielded comparable and small normalized values in most cases. We then
use Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction to analyze these events further. We then
considered the twist per unit length, , both its profile through the FR
and its absolute value. We find to lie in the range [5.6, 34] turns/AU.
The GH model-derived values are comparable to those obtained from GS
reconstruction. We find that twist unit length () is inversely proportional
to , as . We combine MC and SFR results on and
give a relation which is approximately valid for both sets. The axial and
azimuthal fluxes, and , vary as Mx and Mx/AU. The
relative helicity per unit length,
Mx/AU.Comment: abstract shortened for arxiv, 31 pages, 15 Figures, in press at Solar
Physic
Data Reduction Pipeline for the CHARIS Integral-Field Spectrograph I: Detector Readout Calibration and Data Cube Extraction
We present the data reduction pipeline for CHARIS, a high-contrast
integral-field spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope. The pipeline constructs a
ramp from the raw reads using the measured nonlinear pixel response, and
reconstructs the data cube using one of three extraction algorithms: aperture
photometry, optimal extraction, or fitting. We measure and apply both
a detector flatfield and a lenslet flatfield and reconstruct the wavelength-
and position-dependent lenslet point-spread function (PSF) from images taken
with a tunable laser. We use these measured PSFs to implement a -based
extraction of the data cube, with typical residuals of ~5% due to imperfect
models of the undersampled lenslet PSFs. The full two-dimensional residual of
the extraction allows us to model and remove correlated read noise,
dramatically improving CHARIS' performance. The extraction produces a
data cube that has been deconvolved with the line-spread function, and never
performs any interpolations of either the data or the individual lenslet
spectra. The extracted data cube also includes uncertainties for each spatial
and spectral measurement. CHARIS' software is parallelized, written in Python
and Cython, and freely available on github with a separate documentation page.
Astrometric and spectrophotometric calibrations of the data cubes and PSF
subtraction will be treated in a forthcoming paper.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, replaced with JATIS accepted version
(emulateapj formatted here). Software at
https://github.com/PrincetonUniversity/charis-dep and documentation at
http://princetonuniversity.github.io/charis-de
Cataloging the radio-sky with unsupervised machine learning: a new approach for the SKA era
We develop a new analysis approach towards identifying related radio
components and their corresponding infrared host galaxy based on unsupervised
machine learning methods. By exploiting PINK, a self-organising map algorithm,
we are able to associate radio and infrared sources without the a priori
requirement of training labels. We present an example of this method using
images from the FIRST and WISE surveys centred towards positions
described by the FIRST catalogue. We produce a set of catalogues that
complement FIRST and describe 802,646 objects, including their radio components
and their corresponding AllWISE infrared host galaxy. Using these data products
we (i) demonstrate the ability to identify objects with rare and unique radio
morphologies (e.g. 'X'-shaped galaxies, hybrid FR-I/FR-II morphologies), (ii)
can identify the potentially resolved radio components that are associated with
a single infrared host and (iii) introduce a "curliness" statistic to search
for bent and disturbed radio morphologies, and (iv) extract a set of 17 giant
radio galaxies between 700-1100 kpc. As we require no training labels, our
method can be applied to any radio-continuum survey, provided a sufficiently
representative SOM can be trained
The Spectral Energy Distribution of Powerful Starburst Galaxies I: Modelling the Radio Continuum
We have acquired radio continuum data between 70\,MHz and 48\,GHz for a
sample of 19 southern starburst galaxies at moderate redshifts () with the aim of separating synchrotron and free-free emission
components. Using a Bayesian framework we find the radio continuum is rarely
characterised well by a single power law, instead often exhibiting low
frequency turnovers below 500\,MHz, steepening at mid-to-high frequencies, and
a flattening at high frequencies where free-free emission begins to dominate
over the synchrotron emission. These higher order curvature components may be
attributed to free-free absorption across multiple regions of star formation
with varying optical depths. The decomposed synchrotron and free-free emission
components in our sample of galaxies form strong correlations with the
total-infrared bolometric luminosities. Finally, we find that without
accounting for free-free absorption with turnovers between 90 to 500\,MHz the
radio-continuum at low frequency (\,MHz) could be overestimated by
upwards of a factor of twelve if a simple power law extrapolation is used from
higher frequencies. The mean synchrotron spectral index of our sample is
constrained to be , which is steeper then the canonical value of
for normal galaxies. We suggest this may be caused by an intrinsically
steeper cosmic ray distribution
Correlative Microscopy Study of FIB Patterned Stainless Steel Surfaces as Novel Nano-Structured Stents for Cardiovascular Applications
Coronary artery disease is a major problem worldwide causing 7.2 million deaths worldwide annually, resulting from vascular occlusion, myocardial infarction and its complications. Stent implantation is a percutaneous interventional procedure that mitigates vessel stenosis, providing mechanical support within the artery. However, stenting causes physical damage to the arterial wall. It is well accepted that a valuable route to reduce in-stent re-stenosis can be based on promoting cell response to nano-structured stainless steel (SS) surfaces such as, for example, by patterning nano-pits in SS. In this regard patterning by Focussed Ion-Beam (FIB) milling offers several advantages for flexible prototyping (i) practically any substrate material that is able to withstand high vacuum conditions of the microscope chamber can be used, (ii) there is high flexibility in the obtainable shapes and geometries by modulating the ion beam current and the patterning conditions, (iii) reduced complexity of the pattering process e.g. it is a single-step process with a possibility of real-time monitoring of the milling progression. On the other hand FIB patterning of polycrystalline metals is greatly influenced by channelling effects and re-deposition. Correlative microscopy methods present an opportunity to study such effects comprehensively and derive structure-property understanding that is important for developing improved pattering.In this report we present a FIB patterning protocol for nano-structuring features (concaves) ordered in rectangular arrays on pre-polished 316L Stainless Steel (SS) surfaces. An investigation based on correlative microscopy approach of the size, shape and depth of the developed arrays in relation to the crystal orientation of the underlying SS domains, is presented. The correlative microscopy protocol is based on cross-correlation of top-view Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).Various dose tests were performed, aiming at improved productivity by preserving nano-size accuracy of the patterned process. The optimal FIB patterning conditions for achieving reasonably high throughput (patterned rate of about 0.03 mm2 per hour) and nano-size accuracy in dimensions and shapes of the features, are discussed as well
The Spectral Energy Distribution of Powerful Starburst Galaxies I : Modelling the Radio Continuum
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.We have acquired radio-continuum data between 70MHz and 48 GHz for a sample of 19 southern starburst galaxies at moderate redshifts (0.067 < z < 0.227) with the aim of separating synchrotron and free-free emission components. Using a Bayesian framework, we find the radio continuum is rarely characterized well by a single power law, instead often exhibiting lowfrequency turnovers below 500 MHz, steepening at mid to high frequencies, and a flattening at high frequencies where free-free emission begins to dominate over the synchrotron emission. These higher order curvature components may be attributed to free-free absorption across multiple regions of star formation with varying optical depths. The decomposed synchrotron and free-free emission components in our sample of galaxies form strong correlations with the total-infrared bolometric luminosities. Finally, we find that without accounting for free-free absorption with turnovers between 90 and 500MHz the radio continuum at low frequency (v < 200 MHz) could be overestimated by upwards of a factor of 12 if a simple power-law extrapolation is used from higher frequencies. The mean synchrotron spectral index of our sample is constrained to be α = -1.06, which is steeper than the canonical value of -0.8 for normal galaxies. We suggest this may be caused by an intrinsically steeper cosmic ray distribution.Peer reviewe
Connecting speeds, directions and arrival times of 22 coronal mass ejections from the Sun to 1 AU
Forecasting the in situ properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from
remote images is expected to strongly enhance predictions of space weather, and
is of general interest for studying the interaction of CMEs with planetary
environments. We study the feasibility of using a single heliospheric imager
(HI) instrument, imaging the solar wind density from the Sun to 1 AU, for
connecting remote images to in situ observations of CMEs. We compare the
predictions of speed and arrival time for 22 CMEs (in 2008-2012) to the
corresponding interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) parameters at in situ
observatories (STEREO PLASTIC/IMPACT, Wind SWE/MFI). The list consists of
front- and backsided, slow and fast CMEs (up to ). We
track the CMEs to degrees elongation from the Sun with J-maps
constructed using the SATPLOT tool, resulting in prediction lead times of
hours. The geometrical models we use assume different CME
front shapes (Fixed-, Harmonic Mean, Self-Similar Expansion), and
constant CME speed and direction. We find no significant superiority in the
predictive capability of any of the three methods. The absolute difference
between predicted and observed ICME arrival times is hours (
value of 10.9h). Speeds are consistent to within .
Empirical corrections to the predictions enhance their performance for the
arrival times to hours ( value of 7.9h), and for the speeds
to . These results are important for Solar Orbiter
and a space weather mission positioned away from the Sun-Earth line.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
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Intermittent release of transients in the slow solar wind: 2. In situ evidence
In paper 1, we showed that the Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments on the pair of NASA STEREO spacecraft can be used to image the streamer belt and, in particular, the variability of the slow solar wind which originates near helmet streamers. The observation of intense intermittent transient outflow by HI implies that the corresponding in situ observations of the slow solar wind and corotating interaction regions (CIRs) should contain many signatures of transients. In the present paper, we compare the HI observations with in situ measurements from the STEREO and ACE spacecraft. Analysis of the solar wind ion, magnetic field, and suprathermal electron flux measurements from
the STEREO spacecraft reveals the presence of both closed and partially disconnected interplanetary magnetic field lines permeating the slow solar wind. We predict that one of the transients embedded within the second CIR (CIR‐D in paper 1) should impact the near‐Earth ACE spacecraft. ACE measurements confirm the presence of a transient at the time of CIR passage; the transient signature includes helical magnetic fields and bidirectional suprathermal electrons. On the same day, a strahl electron dropout is observed at STEREO‐B, correlated with the passage of a high plasma beta structure. Unlike ACE, STEREO‐B observes the transient a few hours ahead of the CIR. STEREO‐A, STEREO‐B, and ACE spacecraft observe very different slow solar wind properties ahead of and during the CIR analyzed in this paper, which we associate with the intermittent release of transients
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