Implementation of the frequency-modulated sideband search method for gravitational waves from low mass X-ray binaries

We describe the practical implementation of the sideband search, a search for periodic gravitational waves from neutron stars in binary systems. The orbital motion of the source in its binary system causes frequency-modulation in the combination of matched filters known as the $\mathcal{F}$-statistic. The sideband search is based on the incoherent summation of these frequency-modulated $\mathcal{F}$-statistic sidebands. It provides a new detection statistic for sources in binary systems, called the $\mathcal{C}$-statistic. The search is well suited to low-mass X-ray binaries, the brightest of which, called Sco X-1, is an ideal target candidate. For sources like Sco X-1, with well constrained orbital parameters, a slight variation on the search is possible. The extra orbital information can be used to approximately demodulate the data from the binary orbital motion in the coherent stage, before incoherently summing the now reduced number of sidebands. We investigate this approach and show that it improves the sensitivity of the standard Sco X-1 directed sideband search. Prior information on the neutron star inclination and gravitational wave polarization can also be used to improve upper limit sensitivity. We estimate the sensitivity of a Sco X-1 directed sideband search on 10 days of LIGO data and show that it can beat previous upper limits in current LIGO data, with a possibility of constraining theoretical upper limits using future advanced instruments.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Two stage low noise advanced technology fan. 1: Aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic design

A two-stage fan was designed to reduce noise 20 db below current requirements. The first-stage rotor has a design tip speed of 365.8 m/sec and a hub/tip ratio of 0.4. The fan was designed to deliver a pressure ratio of 1.9 with an adiabatic efficiency of 85.3 percent at a specific inlet corrected flow of 209.2kg/sec/sq m. Noise reduction devices include acoustically treated casing walls, a flowpath exit acoustic splitter, a translating centerbody sonic inlet device, widely spaced blade rows, and the proper ratio of blades and vanes. Multiple-circular-arc rotor airfoils, resettable stators, split outer casings, and capability to go to close blade-row spacing are also included

Mass Spectum Imaging of Organics Injected into Stardust Aerogel by Cometary Impacts

Comets have largely escaped the hydrothermal processing that has affected the chemistry and mineralogy of even the most primitive meteorites. Consequently, they are expected to better preserve nebular and interstellar organic materials. Organic matter constitutes roughly 20-30% by weight of vol-atile and refractory cometary materials [1,2]. Yet organic matter identified in Stardust aerogel samples is only a minor component [3-5]. The dearth of intact organic matter, fine-grained and pre-solar materials led to suggestions that comet 81P/Wild-2 is com-posed largely of altered materials, and is more similar to meteorites than the primitive view of comets [6]. However, fine-grained materials are particularly susceptible to alteration and destruction during the hypervelocity impact. While hypervelocity capture can cause thermal pyrolysis of organic phases, some of the impacting organic component appears to have been explosively dispersed into surrounding aerogel [7]. We used a two-step laser mass spectrometer to map the distribution of organic matter within and sur-rounding a bulbous Stardust track to constrain the dispersion of organic matter during the impact

Random template banks and relaxed lattice coverings

Template-based searches for gravitational waves are often limited by the computational cost associated with searching large parameter spaces. The study of efficient template banks, in the sense of using the smallest number of templates, is therefore of great practical interest. The "traditional" approach to template-bank construction requires every point in parameter space to be covered by at least one template, which rapidly becomes inefficient at higher dimensions. Here we study an alternative approach, where any point in parameter space is covered only with a given probability < 1. We find that by giving up complete coverage in this way, large reductions in the number of templates are possible, especially at higher dimensions. The prime examples studied here are "random template banks", in which templates are placed randomly with uniform probability over the parameter space. In addition to its obvious simplicity, this method turns out to be surprisingly efficient. We analyze the statistical properties of such random template banks, and compare their efficiency to traditional lattice coverings. We further study "relaxed" lattice coverings (using Zn and An* lattices), which similarly cover any signal location only with probability < 1. The relaxed An* lattice is found to yield the most efficient template banks at low dimensions (n < 10), while random template banks increasingly outperform any other method at higher dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

NM-Scale Anatomy of an Entire Stardust Carrot Track

Comet Wild-2 samples collected by NASA s Stardust mission are extremely complex, heterogeneous, and have experienced wide ranges of alteration during the capture process. There are two major types of track morphologies: "carrot" and "bulbous," that reflect different structural/compositional properties of the impactors. Carrot type tracks are typically produced by compact or single mineral grains which survive essentially intact as a single large terminal particle. Bulbous tracks are likely produced by fine-grained or organic-rich impactors [1]. Owing to their challenging nature and especially high value of Stardust samples, we have invested considerable effort in developing both sample preparation and analytical techniques tailored for Stardust sample analyses. Our report focuses on our systematic disassembly and coordinated analysis of Stardust carrot track #112 from the mm to nm-scale

Chemical Evolution of Presolar Organics in Astromaterials

Sub-micron, hollow organic globules reported from several carbonaceous chondrites, interplanetary dust particles, and comet Wild-2 samples returned by NASA?s Stardust mission are enriched in N-15/N-14 and D/H compared with terrestrial materials and the parent materials [1-4]. These anomalies are ascribed to the preservation of presolar cold molecular cloud material from where H, C, and N isotopic constraints point to chemical fractionation near 10 K [5]. An origin well beyond the planet forming region and their survival in meteorites suggests submicrometer organic globules were once prevalent throughout the solar nebula. The survival of the membrane structures indicates primitive meteorites and cometary dust particles would have delivered these organic precursors to the early Earth as well as other planets and satellites. The physical, chemical, and isotopic properties of the organic globules varies to its meteorite types and its lithologies. For example, organic globules in the Tagish Lake meteorite are always embedded in fined grained (poorly crystallized) saponite, and hardly encapsulated in coarse grained serpentine, even though saponite and serpentine are both main components of phyllosilicate matrix of the Tagish Lake meteorite. The organic globules are commonly observed in the carbonate-poor lithology but not in the carbonate-rich one. In Tagish Lake, isolated single globules are common, but in the Bells (CM2) meteorite, globules are mostly aggregated. We will review the evolutions of the organic globules from its birth to alteration in the parent bodies in terms of its own physical and chemical properties as well as its associated minerals

Letter From Verona

Date is unknownhttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/civ_clip/1002/thumbnail.jp

Mineralogy of Interplanetary Dust Particles from the Comet Giacobini-Zinner Dust Stream Collections

The Draconoid meteor shower, originating from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, is a low-velocity Earth-crossing dust stream that had a peak anticipated flux on Oct. 8, 2012. In response to this prediction, NASA performed dedicated stratospheric dust collections to target interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) from this comet stream on Oct 15-17, 2012 [3]. Twelve dust particles from this targeted collection were allocated to our coordinated analysis team for studies of noble gas (Univ. Minnesota, Minnesota State Univ.), SXRF and Fe-XANES (SSL Berkeley) and mineralogy/isotopes (JSC). Here we report a mineralogical study of 3 IDPs from the Draconoid collection.

Pristine Stratospheric Collections of Cosmic Dust

Since 1981, NASA has routinely collected interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) in the stratosphere by inertial impact onto silicone oil-coated flat plate collectors deployed on the wings of high-altitude aircraft [1]. The highly viscous oil traps and localizes the particles, which can fragment during collection. Particles are removed from the collectors with a micromanipulator and washed of the oil using organic solvents, typically hexane or xylene. While silicone oil is an efficient collection medium, its use is problematic. All IDPs are initially coated with this material (polydimethylsiloxane, n(CH3)2SiO) and traces of oil may remain after cleaning. The solvent rinse itself is also a concern as it likely removes indigenous organics from the particles. To avoid these issues, we used a polyurethane foam substrate for the oil-free stratospheric collection of IDPs

Mineralogy and Oxygen Isotope Compositions of Two C-Rich Hydrated Interplanetary Dust Particles

Oxygen isotopic compositions of chondrites reflect mixing between a O-16-rich reservoir and a O-17,O-18-rich reservoir produced via mass-independent fractionation. The composition of the O-16-rich reservoir is reasonably well constrained, but material representing the O-17,O-18-rich end-member is rare. Self-shielding models predict that cometary water, presumed to represent this reservoir, should be enriched in O-17 and O-18 18O by > 200%. Hydrated interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) rich in carbonaceous matter may be derived from comets; such particles likely contain the products of reaction between O-16-poor water and anhydrous silicates that formed in the inner solar system. Here we present mineralogy and oxygen isotope compositions of two C-rich hydrated IDPs, L2083E47 and L2071E35