1,980 research outputs found
Improved Algorithms for Radar-based Reconstruction of Asteroid Shapes
We describe our implementation of a global-parameter optimizer and Square
Root Information Filter (SRIF) into the asteroid-modelling software SHAPE. We
compare the performance of our new optimizer with that of the existing
sequential optimizer when operating on various forms of simulated data and
actual asteroid radar data. In all cases, the new implementation performs
substantially better than its predecessor: it converges faster, produces shape
models that are more accurate, and solves for spin axis orientations more
reliably. We discuss potential future changes to improve SHAPE's fitting speed
and accuracy.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
Yarkovsky Drift Detections for 247 Near-Earth Asteroids
The Yarkovsky effect is a thermal process acting upon the orbits of small
celestial bodies, which can cause these orbits to slowly expand or contract
with time. The effect is subtle (da/dt ~ 10^-4 au/My for a 1 km diameter
object) and is thus generally difficult to measure. We analyzed both optical
and radar astrometry for 600 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for the purpose of
detecting and quantifying the Yarkovsky effect. We present 247 NEAs with
measured drift rates, which is the largest published set of Yarkovsky
detections. This large sample size provides an opportunity to examine the
Yarkovsky effect in a statistical manner. In particular, we describe two
independent population-based tests that verify the measurement of Yarkovsky
orbital drift. First, we provide observational confirmation for the Yarkovsky
effect's theoretical size dependence of 1/D, where D is diameter. Second, we
find that the observed ratio of negative to positive drift rates in our sample
is 2.34, which, accounting for bias and sampling uncertainty, implies an actual
ratio of . This ratio has a vanishingly small probability of
occurring due to chance or statistical noise. The observed ratio of retrograde
to prograde rotators is two times lower than the ratio expected from numerical
predictions from NEA population studies and traditional assumptions about the
sense of rotation of NEAs originating from various main belt escape routes. We
also examine the efficiency with which solar energy is converted into orbital
energy and find a median efficiency in our sample of 12%. We interpret this
efficiency in terms of NEA spin and thermal properties.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, published in the Astronomical Journal, 159, 92,
202
A search for technosignatures from 14 planetary systems in the Kepler field with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.15-1.73 GHz
Analysis of Kepler mission data suggests that the Milky Way includes billions
of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of their host star. Current
technology enables the detection of technosignatures emitted from a large
fraction of the Galaxy. We describe a search for technosignatures that is
sensitive to Arecibo-class transmitters located within ~420 ly of Earth and
transmitters that are 1000 times more effective than Arecibo within ~13 000 ly
of Earth. Our observations focused on 14 planetary systems in the Kepler field
and used the L-band receiver (1.15-1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter Green Bank
Telescope. Each source was observed for a total integration time of 5 minutes.
We obtained power spectra at a frequency resolution of 3 Hz and examined
narrowband signals with Doppler drift rates between +/-9 Hz/s. We flagged any
detection with a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 10 as a candidate signal
and identified approximately 850 000 candidates. Most (99%) of these candidate
signals were automatically classified as human-generated radio-frequency
interference (RFI). A large fraction (>99%) of the remaining candidate signals
were also flagged as anthropogenic RFI because they have frequencies that
overlap those used by global navigation satellite systems, satellite downlinks,
or other interferers detected in heavily polluted regions of the spectrum. All
19 remaining candidate signals were scrutinized and none were attributable to
an extraterrestrial source.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
Towards a Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Development of Media Related Needs
The question of why people select and prefer particular media activities has led to the development of a number of ‘needs’ approaches to media use. Whilst some frameworks have been developed within the context of media use (e.g. uses and gratifications), others (e.g. Tamborini et al, 2011) look to combine general theories of basic human needs, such as Self-Determination Theory (Deci &Ryan, 1985) with hedonic gratifications. Drawing on these approaches, a framework is proposed that maps findings from children’s and adolescents’ media use to four basic human needs: competence, autonomy, relatedness and hedonic needs. The current paper argues that a basic needs approach is useful for understanding how media-related needs emerge and are expressed through development
Overview of the SME: Implications and Phenomenology of Lorentz Violation
The Standard Model Extension (SME) provides the most general
observer-independent field theoretical framework for investigations of Lorentz
violation. The SME lagrangian by definition contains all Lorentz-violating
interaction terms that can be written as observer scalars and that involve
particle fields in the Standard Model and gravitational fields in a generalized
theory of gravity. This includes all possible terms that could arise from a
process of spontaneous Lorentz violation in the context of a more fundamental
theory, as well as terms that explicitly break Lorentz symmetry. An overview of
the SME is presented, including its motivations and construction. Some of the
theoretical issues arising in the case of spontaneous Lorentz violation are
discussed, including the question of what happens to the Nambu-Goldstone modes
when Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously violated and whether a Higgs mechanism
can occur. A minimal version of the SME in flat Minkowski spacetime that
maintains gauge invariance and power-counting renormalizability is used to
search for leading-order signals of Lorentz violation. Recent Lorentz tests in
QED systems are examined, including experiments with photons, particle and
atomic experiments, proposed experiments in space and experiments with a
spin-polarized torsion pendulum.Comment: 40 pages, Talk presented at Special Relativity: Will it Survive the
Next 100 Years? Potsdam, Germany, February, 200
Probing Lorentz and CPT violation with space-based experiments
Space-based experiments offer sensitivity to numerous unmeasured effects
involving Lorentz and CPT violation. We provide a classification of clock
sensitivities and present explicit expressions for time variations arising in
such experiments from nonzero coefficients in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating
Standard-Model Extension.Comment: 15 page
Generalized Relativistic Meson Wave Function
We study the most general, relativistic, constituent meson
wave function within a new covariant framework. We find that by including a
tensor wave function component, a pure valence quark model is now capable of
reproducing not only all static pion data (, )
but also the distribution amplitude, form factor , and structure
functions. Further, our generalized spin wave function provides a much better
detailed description of meson properties than models using a simple
relativistic extension of the nonrelativistic wave function.Comment: 17 pages, REXTeX 3.0 file, (uuencoded postscript files of 8 figures
appended
Threshold analyses and Lorentz violation
In the context of threshold investigations of Lorentz violation, we discuss
the fundamental principle of coordinate invariance, the role of an effective
dynamical framework, and the conditions of positivity and causality. Our
analysis excludes a variety of previously considered Lorentz-breaking
parameters and opens an avenue for viable dispersion-relation investigations of
Lorentz violation.Comment: 9 page
A search for technosignatures from TRAPPIST-1, LHS 1140, and 10 planetary systems in the Kepler field with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.15-1.73 GHz
As part of our ongoing search for technosignatures, we collected over three
terabytes of data in May 2017 with the L-band receiver (1.15-1.73 GHz) of the
100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. These observations focused primarily on
planetary systems in the Kepler field, but also included scans of the recently
discovered TRAPPIST-1 and LHS 1140 systems. We present the results of our
search for narrowband signals in this data set with techniques that are
generally similar to those described by Margot et al. (2018). Our improved data
processing pipeline classified over of the 6 million detected
signals as anthropogenic Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). Of the remaining
candidates, 30 were detected outside of densely populated frequency regions
attributable to RFI. These candidates were carefully examined and determined to
be of terrestrial origin. We discuss the problems associated with the common
practice of ignoring frequency space around candidate detections in radio
technosignature detection pipelines. These problems include inaccurate
estimates of figures of merit and unreliable upper limits on the prevalence of
technosignatures. We present an algorithm that mitigates these problems and
improves the efficiency of the search. Specifically, our new algorithm
increases the number of candidate detections by a factor of more than four
compared to Margot et al. (2018).Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure
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