2,138 research outputs found
High resolution imaging with Fresnel interferometric arrays: suitability for exoplanet detection
We propose a new kind of interferometric array that yields images of high
dynamic range and large field. The numerous individual apertures in this array
form a pattern related to a Fresnel zone plate. This array can be used for
astrophysical imaging over a broad spectral bandwidth spanning from the U.V.
(50 nanometers) to the I.R. (20 microns). Due to the long focal lengths
involved, this instrument requires formation-flying of two space borne vessels.
We present the concept and study the S/N ratio in different situations, then
apply these results to probe the suitability of this concept to detect
exoplanets.Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures, to be published in A&
Space-time estimation of a particle system model
13 pagesLet X be a discrete time contact process (CP) on the discrete bidimensional lattice as define by Durett - Levin (1994) . We study estimation of the model based on space-time evolution on a finite subset of sites. For this, we make use of a marginal pseudo-likelihood. The estimator obtained is consistent and asymptoticaly normal for non-vanishing supercritical CP. Numerical studies confirm these results
Comparison of coronagraphs for high contrast imaging in the context of Extremely Large Telescopes
We compare coronagraph concepts and investigate their behavior and
suitability for planet finder projects with Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs,
30-42 meters class telescopes). For this task, we analyze the impact of major
error sources that occur in a coronagraphic telescope (central obscuration,
secondary support, low-order segment aberrations, segment reflectivity
variations, pointing errors) for phase, amplitude and interferometric type
coronagraphs. This analysis is performed at two different levels of the
detection process: under residual phase left uncorrected by an eXtreme Adaptive
Optics system (XAO) for a large range of Strehl ratio and after a general and
simple model of speckle calibration, assuming common phase aberrations between
the XAO and the coronagraph (static phase aberrations of the instrument) and
non-common phase aberrations downstream of the coronagraph (differential
aberrations provided by the calibration unit). We derive critical parameters
that each concept will have to cope with by order of importance. We evidence
three coronagraph categories as function of the accessible angular separation
and proposed optimal one in each case. Most of the time amplitude concepts
appear more favorable and specifically, the Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph
gathers the adequate characteristics to be a baseline design for ELTs.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
Water-based peeling of thin hydrophobic films
Inks of permanent markers and water-proof cosmetics create elastic thin films
upon application on a surface. Such adhesive materials are deliberately
designed to exhibit water-repellent behavior. Therefore, patterns made up of
these inks become resistant to moisture and cannot be cleaned by water after
drying. However, we show that sufficiently slow dipping of such elastic films,
which are adhered to a substrate, into a bath of pure water allows complete
removal of the hydrophobic coatings. Upon dipping, the air-water interface in
the bath forms a contact line on the substrate, which exerts a
capillary-induced peeling force at the edge of the hydrophobic thin film. We
highlight that this capillary peeling process is more effective at lower
velocities of the air-liquid interface and lower viscosities. Capillary peeling
not only removes such thin films from the substrate but also transfers them
flawlessly onto the air-water interface
Pupil remapping for high contrast astronomy: results from an optical testbed
The direct imaging and characterization of Earth-like planets is among the
most sought-after prizes in contemporary astrophysics, however current optical
instrumentation delivers insufficient dynamic range to overcome the vast
contrast differential between the planet and its host star. New opportunities
are offered by coherent single mode fibers, whose technological development has
been motivated by the needs of the telecom industry in the near infrared. This
paper presents a new vision for an instrument using coherent waveguides to
remap the pupil geometry of the telescope. It would (i) inject the full pupil
of the telescope into an array of single mode fibers, (ii) rearrange the pupil
so fringes can be accurately measured, and (iii) permit image reconstruction so
that atmospheric blurring can be totally removed. Here we present a laboratory
experiment whose goal was to validate the theoretical concepts underpinning our
proposed method. We successfully confirmed that we can retrieve the image of a
simulated astrophysical object (in this case a binary star) though a pupil
remapping instrument using single mode fibers.Comment: Accepted in Optics Expres
Efficient simulation of non-crossing fibers and chains in a hydrodynamic solvent
An efficient simulation method is presented for Brownian fiber suspensions,
which includes both uncrossability of the fibers and hydrodynamic interactions
between the fibers mediated by a mesoscopic solvent. To conserve hydrodynamics,
collisions between the fibers are treated such that momentum and energy are
conserved locally. The choice of simulation parameters is rationalised on the
basis of dimensionless numbers expressing the relative strength of different
physical processes. The method is applied to suspensions of semiflexible fibers
with a contour length equal to the persistence length, and a mesh size to
contour length ratio ranging from 0.055 to 0.32. For such fibers the effects of
hydrodynamic interactions are observable, but relatively small. The
non-crossing constraint, on the other hand, is very important and leads to
hindered displacements of the fibers, with an effective tube diameter in
agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The simulation technique opens
the way to study the effect of viscous effects and hydrodynamic interactions in
microrheology experiments where the response of an actively driven probe bead
in a fiber suspension is measured.Comment: 12 pages, 2 tables, 5 figure
Exoplanets imaging with a Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization Coronagraph - I. Principle
Using 2 aspheric mirrors, it is possible to apodize a telescope beam without
losing light or angular resolution: the output beam is produced by
``remapping'' the entrance beam to produce the desired light intensity
distribution in a new pupil. We present the Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization
Coronagraph (PIAAC) concept, which uses this technique, and we show that it
allows efficient direct imaging of extrasolar terrestrial planets with a
small-size telescope in space. The suitability of the PIAAC for exoplanet
imaging is due to a unique combination of achromaticity, small inner working
angle (about 1.5 ), high throughput, high angular resolution and
large field of view. 3D geometrical raytracing is used to investigate the
off-axis aberrations of PIAAC configurations, and show that a field of view of
more than 100 in radius is available thanks to the correcting
optics of the PIAAC. Angular diameter of the star and tip-tilt errors can be
compensated for by slightly increasing the size of the occulting mask in the
focal plane, with minimal impact on the system performance. Earth-size planets
at 10 pc can be detected in less than 30s with a 4m telescope. Wavefront
quality requirements are similar to classical techniques.Comment: 35 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Magnetic pair-breaking in superconducting (Ba,K)BiO_3 investigated by magnetotunneling
The de Gennes and Maki theory of gapless superconductivity for dirty
superconductors is used to interpret the tunneling measurements on the strongly
type-II high-Tc oxide-superconductor Ba1-xKxBiO3 in high magnetic fields up to
30 Tesla. We show that this theory is applicable at all temperatures and in a
wide range of magnetic fields starting from 50 percent of the upper critical
field Bc2. In this magnetic field range the measured superconducting density of
states (DOS) has the simple energy dependence as predicted by de Gennes from
which the temperature dependence of the pair-breaking parameter alpha(T), or
Bc2(T), has been obtained. The deduced temperature dependence of Bc2(T) follows
the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg prediction for classical type-II
superconductors in agreement with our previous direct determination. The
amplitudes of the deviations in the DOS depend on the magnetic field via the
spatially averaged superconducting order parameter which has a square-root
dependence on the magnetic field. Finally, the second Ginzburg-Landau parameter
kappa2(T) has been determined from the experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Modélisation du comportement des biomasses bactériennes libres et fixées dans les réseaux de distribution d'eau potable
La prolifération bactérienne en réseaux de distribution d'eau potable est un souci majeur des distributeurs d'eau. La complexité des phénomènes impliqués dans la croissance bactérienne en réseaux nécessite une modélisation mathématique pour définir l'impact des différents paramètres de la qualité de l'eau et généraliser ces résultats à l'échelle du réseau de distribution. Une approche déterministe a été choisie pour développer cette modélisation prédictive de la croissance bactérienne dans les systèmes de distribution. Le modèle prend en compte : la croissance de fa biomasse libre et de la biomasse fixée, la consommation en nutriments exprimés par le CODB, l'action bactéricide du chlore sur la flore libre et la dore fixée, la déposition des bactéries en suspension et le détachement des bactéries fixées. Le modèle propose une approche originale pour la modélisation de l'action bactéricide du chlore. Par ailleurs, différentes formulations du détachement ont été testées algébriquement pour définir la modélisation la plus adaptée à notre système d'équations. Ce modèle a été couplé au logiciel de modélisation hydraulique IMCCOI.O développé par la SAFEGE. Utilisant les données hydrauliques et de géométrie générées par PICCOLO, le modèle prédit les numérations bactériennes en chaque noeud et sur chaque arc du réseau de distribution. Utilisant l'interface graphique de PICCOLO, le modèle permet une visualisation de l'évolution de la qualité bactérienne par cartographie. Des simulations ont été réalisées sur de nombreux réseaux présentant des tailles et des niveaux de complexité variables. Le modèle a été validé à partir de campagnes de prélèvements sur sites. Ce modèle permettant de simuler l'évolution de la qualité bactériologique à l'échelle du réseau est un outil unique pour le diagnostic et la gestion qualitative des systèmes de distribution d'eau potable.Of the many causes of distributed water quality deterioration, biological phenomena are undoubtedly the subject of the most study, and are also the most closely monitored because of short-term public health risks. Although high heterotrophic bacterial counts do not necessary constitute a health risk, they are the sign that a particular network is subject to biological disorders which can protect pathogenic species. What is more, the evolution of the bacterial biomass in the network also affects other aspects of distributed water quality, such as tastes and odours, the development macro-invertebrates, the appearance of colour and turbidity and the appearance of biocorrosion phenomena. Qualitative management of distribution networks is therefore to ensure that the quality of the product is kept as constant as possible up to the farthest points of the distribution. With this in mind, it is essential to understand, describe and model the various phenomena which lead to the evolution of water quality during distribution. Mathematical modelling is necessary in order to take ail parameters into account in view of the complexity of the different phenomena involved. A determinist type modelling was developed to predict bacterial variations (viable and total bacteria) during distribution. The model takes into account: - the fate of available nutrients consumed for the growth of suspended and fixed bacteria, - the influence of temperature on bacterial dynamics, - the natural mortality of bacteria by senescence and grazing, - the mortality resulting from the presence of chlorine disinfectant, with a differentiation between the action on free et fixed bacteria,- the impact of different forms of chlorine in water (HCIO/CIO-) dépending on pH on the mortality rate,- the deposition of suspended bacteria and the detachment of fixed bacteria,- the chlorine decay kinetics onder the influence of temperature, hydraulics and pipe materials.The modelling of the fixed biomass as a layer uniformly distributed over the pipe surface, expressed as an équivalent thickness of carbon, has been adopted. By this way, a differentiation between the mathematical expression of the free and that of the fixed biomass was made in the model. This mean it is possible to distinguish between phenomena depending on their locations: reactions in solution, réaction at the water/biofilm surface interface and within the biofiJm.This model proposes also an original approach for chlorine bactericidal action on suspended and fixed biomass. To model the action of chlorine on the fixed biomass and its stronger résistance compared with the free biomass, the diffusion of the chlorine through the boundary layer and the biofilm has been taken into account. This calculation of the average penetration depth of the chlorine front into the biofilm enables the identification of two layers: a chlorinated layer and a layer not attained by the chlorine which provides a material indication of the better resistance of the fixed biomass.As detachment is a key phenomenon in the modelling of bacterial dynamics in distribution Systems, the influence of different formulas of detachment kinetics on the mathematical expression of model variables were determined by soiving model equations.The model has been interfaced with PICCOLO software, the SAFEGE hydraulic calculation model. It is constructed by using hydraulic results previously generated by PICCOLO and a numerical scheme to predict bacterial count at each node and on each link of a network. Installed on a PC type computer, the model uses the graphic interface of PICCOLO and provides an effective and easy way to visualise on a computer screen water quality variations in the network, using a colour code for bacterial count, nutrient concentration and chlorine residual.The first model calibration was done using data from our pipe loop pilot under various operating conditions. The model has been also used to simulate a variety of distribution Systems of different sizes and levels of details and a validation of the model has been carried out by means of measurement campaigns on different distribution Systems.Animating and visualising variations of bacteria counts in distribution system is an unique approach to study the changes in water quality. This tool is helpful to propose strategies for the management of distribution Systems and treatment plants and define the different zones of bacterial regrowth in relation with hydraulic conditions
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