42 research outputs found
Atmospheric refractivity effects on mid-infrared ELT adaptive optics
We discuss the effect of atmospheric dispersion on the performance of a
mid-infrared adaptive optics assisted instrument on an extremely large
telescope (ELT). Dispersion and atmospheric chromaticity is generally
considered to be negligible in this wavelength regime. It is shown here,
however, that with the much-reduced diffraction limit size on an ELT and the
need for diffraction-limited performance, refractivity phenomena should be
carefully considered in the design and operation of such an instrument. We
include an overview of the theory of refractivity, and the influence of
infrared resonances caused by the presence of water vapour and other
constituents in the atmosphere. `Traditional' atmospheric dispersion is likely
to cause a loss of Strehl only at the shortest wavelengths (L-band). A more
likely source of error is the difference in wavelengths at which the wavefront
is sensed and corrected, leading to pointing offsets between wavefront sensor
and science instrument that evolve with time over a long exposure. Infrared
radiation is also subject to additional turbulence caused by the presence of
water vapour in the atmosphere not seen by visible wavefront sensors, whose
effect is poorly understood. We make use of information obtained at radio
wavelengths to make a first-order estimate of its effect on the performance of
a mid-IR ground-based instrument. The calculations in this paper are performed
using parameters from two different sites, one `standard good site' and one
`high and dry site' to illustrate the importance of the choice of site for an
ELT.Comment: 11 pages, to be published in SPIE Proceedings vol. 7015, Adaptive
Optics Systems, eds. N. Hubin, C.E. Max and P.L. Wizinowich, 200
Overcoming the boundary layer turbulence at Dome C: ground-layer adaptive optics versus tower
The unique atmospheric conditions present at sites such as Dome C on the Antarctic plateau are very favorable for high spatial resolution astronomy. At Dome C, the majority of the optical turbulence is confined to a 30 to 40 m thick stable boundary layer that results from the strong temperature inversion created by the heat exchange between the air and the ice-covered ground. To fully realize the potential of the exceptionally calm free atmosphere, this boundary layer must be overcome. In this article we compare the performance of two methods proposed to beat the boundary layer: mounting a telescope on a tower that physically puts it above the turbulent layer, and installing a telescope at ground level with a ground-layer adaptive optics system. A case is also made to combine these two methods to further improve the image quality
Speckle noise and dynamic range in coronagraphic images
This paper is concerned with the theoretical properties of high contrast
coronagraphic images in the context of exoplanet searches. We derive and
analyze the statistical properties of the residual starlight in coronagraphic
images, and describe the effect of a coronagraph on the speckle and photon
noise. Current observations with coronagraphic instruments have shown that the
main limitations to high contrast imaging are due to residual quasi-static
speckles. We tackle this problem in this paper, and propose a generalization of
our statistical model to include the description of static, quasi-static and
fast residual atmospheric speckles. The results provide insight into the
effects on the dynamic range of wavefront control, coronagraphy, active speckle
reduction, and differential speckle calibration. The study is focused on
ground-based imaging with extreme adaptive optics, but the approach is general
enough to be applicable to space, with different parameters.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figure
Quantum Symmetries and Strong Haagerup Inequalities
In this paper, we consider families of operators in
a tracial C-probability space , whose joint
-distribution is invariant under free complexification and the action of
the hyperoctahedral quantum groups . We prove a strong
form of Haagerup's inequality for the non-self-adjoint operator algebra
generated by , which generalizes the
strong Haagerup inequalities for -free R-diagonal families obtained by
Kemp-Speicher \cite{KeSp}. As an application of our result, we show that
always has the metric approximation property (MAP). We also apply
our techniques to study the reduced C-algebra of the free unitary
quantum group . We show that the non-self-adjoint subalgebra generated by the matrix elements of the fundamental corepresentation of
has the MAP. Additionally, we prove a strong Haagerup inequality for
, which improves on the estimates given by Vergnioux's property
RD \cite{Ve}
Adaptive optics sky coverage for dome C telescopes
The unique atmospheric characteristics found at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau offer significant advantages for the operation of adaptive optics systems. An analysis is presented here comparing the performance of adaptive optics systems on telescopes located at Dome C with similar systems located at a mid-latitude site. The large coherence length, wide isoplanatic angle, and long coherence time of the Dome C atmosphere allow an adaptive optics system located there to correct to high order, observe over wide fields and use faint guide stars, resulting in a lower total wavefront error and a significant increase in sky coverage factor than can be achieved at a typical mid-latitude site. While the same performance could in principle be achievable at mid-latitude sites, this would only occur under exceptionally stable atmospheric conditions that are likely to occur on only a few nights per year
On twisted Fourier analysis and convergence of Fourier series on discrete groups
We study norm convergence and summability of Fourier series in the setting of
reduced twisted group -algebras of discrete groups. For amenable groups,
F{\o}lner nets give the key to Fej\'er summation. We show that Abel-Poisson
summation holds for a large class of groups, including e.g. all Coxeter groups
and all Gromov hyperbolic groups. As a tool in our presentation, we introduce
notions of polynomial and subexponential H-growth for countable groups w.r.t.
proper scale functions, usually chosen as length functions. These coincide with
the classical notions of growth in the case of amenable groups.Comment: 35 pages; abridged, revised and update
On-Line Long-Exposure Phase Diversity: a Powerful Tool for Sensing Quasi-Static Aberrations of Extreme Adaptive Optics Imaging Systems
The phase diversity technique is a useful tool to measure and pre-compensate
for quasi-static aberrations, in particular non-common path aberrations, in an
adaptive optics corrected imaging system. In this paper, we propose and
validate by simulations an extension of the phase diversity technique that uses
long exposure adaptive optics corrected images for sensing quasi-static
aberrations during the scientific observation, in particular for high-contrast
imaging. The principle of the method is that, for a sufficiently long exposure
time, the residual turbulence is averaged into a convolutive component of the
image and that phase diversity estimates the sole static aberrations of
interest. The advantages of such a procedure, compared to the processing of
short-exposure image pairs, are that the separation between static aberrations
and turbulence-induced ones is performed by the long-exposure itself and not
numerically, that only one image pair must be processed, that the estimation
benefits from the high SNR of long-exposure images, and that only the static
aberrations of interest are to be estimated. Long-exposure phase diversity can
also be used as a phasing sensor for a segmented aperture telescope. Thus, it
may be particularly useful for future planet finder projects such as EPICS on
the European ELT.Comment: To be published in Optics Expres
Gemcitabine with Cisplatin Versus Hepatic Arterial Infusion Pump Chemotherapy for Liver-Confined Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma
Background: A post-hoc analysis of ABC trials included 34 patients with liver-confined unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) who received systemic chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin (gem-cis). The median overall survival (OS) was 16.7 months and the 3-year OS was 2.8%. The aim of this study was to compare patients treated with systemic gem-cis versus hepatic arterial infusion pump (HAIP) chemotherapy for liver-confined unresectable iCCA. Methods: We retrospectively collected consecutive patients with liver-confined unresectable iCCA who received gem-cis in two centers in the Netherlands to compare with consecutive patients who received HAIP chemotherapy with or without systemic chemotherapy in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Results: In total, 268 patients with liver-confined unresectable iCCA were included; 76 received gem-cis and 192 received HAIP chemotherapy. In the gem-cis group 42 patients (55.3%) had multifocal disease compared with 141 patients (73.4%) in the HAIP group (p = 0.023). Median OS for gem-cis was 11.8 months versus 27.7 months for HAIP chemotherapy (p < 0.001). OS at 3 years was 3.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0–13.6%) in the gem-cis group versus 34.3% (95% CI 28.1–41.8%) in the HAIP chemotherapy group. After adjusting for male gender, performance status, baseline hepatobiliary disease, and multifocal disease, the hazard ratio (HR) for HAIP chemotherapy was 0.27 (95% CI 0.19–0.39). Conclusions: This study confirmed the results from the ABC trials that survival beyond 3 years is rare for patients with liver-confined unresectable iCCA treated with palliative gem-cis alone. With HAIP chemotherapy, one in three patients was alive at 3 years.</p
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The European Solar Telescope
The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems
The European Solar Telescope
The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l’Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems