High-contrast Imaging with Spitzer: Deep Observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, and epsilon Eridani

Stars with debris disks are intriguing targets for direct imaging exoplanet searches, both due to previous detections of wide planets in debris disk systems, as well as commonly existing morphological features in the disks themselves that may be indicative of a planetary influence. Here we present observations of three of the most nearby young stars, that are also known to host massive debris disks: Vega, Fomalhaut, and eps Eri. The Spitzer Space Telescope is used at a range of orientation angles for each star, in order to supply a deep contrast through angular differential imaging combined with high-contrast algorithms. The observations provide the opportunity to probe substantially colder bound planets (120--330 K) than is possible with any other technique or instrument. For Vega, some apparently very red candidate point sources detected in the 4.5 micron image remain to be tested for common proper motion. The images are sensitive to ~2 Mjup companions at 150 AU in this system. The observations presented here represent the first search for planets around Vega using Spitzer. The upper 4.5 micron flux limit on Fomalhaut b could be further constrained relative to previous data. In the case of eps Eri, planets below both the effective temperature and the mass of Jupiter could be probed from 80 AU and outwards, although no such planets were found. The data sensitively probe the regions around the edges of the debris rings in the systems where planets can be expected to reside. These observations validate previous results showing that more than an order of magnitude improvement in performance in the contrast-limited regime can be acquired with respect to conventional methods by applying sophisticated high-contrast techniques to space-based telescopes, thanks to the high degree of PSF stability provided in this environment.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

”Svenska direktörers ersättning följer inte deras prestation”

Uppsatsens titel: ”Svenska direktörers ersättning följer inte deras prestation” Seminariedatum: 2014-06-05 Ämne/kurs: FEKH 89, Examensarbete i finansiering på kandidatnivå, 15 HP. Författare: Hampus Forsberg, Gustav Hall och Adam Janson Handledare: Johan Dergård Nyckelord: Agentteori, Managerialism, Kronism, direktörsersättning, horisont-problemet Syfte: Vårt syfte är att undersöka om ersättningen till verkställande direktörer är korrelerad med bolagens ekonomiska prestation under åren 2007 – 2012. Vår analys är ett bidrag till både den nationella och internationella ”Corporate Governance”- litteraturen. Metod: Vår analys grundar sig på en studie av börsnoterade företag på NASDAQ OMX Large Cap Stockholm. Författarna har valt att använda en kvantitativ metod där författarna analyserar de inbördes relationerna i vår insamlade paneldata med hjälp av en multipel regressionsmodell och en jämförande analys. Utgångspunkten är tidigare forskningsresultat och teorier från vilka författarna härlett resonemanget som lett fram till vår analys. Teoretiska perspektiv: Vår teoretiska hemvist är agentteori, managerialism, kronism och teorier kring ett möjligt horisontproblem bland yngre och äldre direktörer. Empiri: Studien omfattar 40 bolag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Large Cap-börsen mellan åren 2007-2012, totalt 240 observationer. Data är i första hand inhämtad från bolagens årsredovisningar och Retriever. Slutsatser: Författarna finner inget stöd för att svenska direktörslöner är korrelerade med företagets finansiella prestation. Den största faktorn när det gäller direktörens ersättning är företagets storlek mätt i börsvärde.Title: “Swedish CEO compensation is not tied to their performance” Seminar date: 2014-06-05 Course: FEKH 89, Examensarbete i finansiering på kandidatnivå, 15 HP. Authors: Hampus Forsberg, Gustav Hall och Adam Janson Advisor: Johan Dergård Keywords: Agent Theory, Managerialism, Cronism, CEO-compensation, Horizon problem. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the compensation paid to CEO’s of Swedish Large Cap corporations is correlated with performance measures for the years 2007 – 2012. Through this analysis we aim to contribute to national and international corporate governance research in the area. Methodology: Our analysis is based on a study of public corporations listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm’s Large Cap list. In the study the authors use a quantitative method formed from a deductive approach, that is, it is based on earlier scientific research and theories. We analyse the relations between our panel data with the help of a multiple regression model and a comparative analysis. Theoretical perspectives: The authors mainly base their theoretical research on literature from theories based on Agent theory, Managerialism, Cronism and theories regarding a possible horizon problem for young and old CEO’s. Empirical foundation: The study comprises 40 corporations noted on the stock exchange of Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Large Cap between the years 2007 – 2012. A total of 240 observations were made. The data is mainly gathered from the corporate’s financial statements and from the database Retriever Business. Conclusions: We find no evidence that Swedish CEO compensation is based on performance measures. The single largest determinant of CEO compensation appears to be the absolute firm value of the company

Model atmospheres for massive gas giants with thick clouds: Application to the HR 8799 planets and predictions for future detections

We have generated an extensive new suite of massive giant planet atmosphere models and used it to obtain fits to photometric data for the planets HR 8799b, c, and d. We consider a wide range of cloudy and cloud-free models. The cloudy models incorporate different geometrical and optical thicknesses, modal particle sizes, and metallicities. For each planet and set of cloud parameters, we explore grids in gravity and effective temperature, with which we determine constraints on the planet's mass and age. Our new models yield statistically significant fits to the data, and conclusively confirm that the HR 8799 planets have much thicker clouds than those required to explain data for typical L and T dwarfs. Both models with 1) physically thick forsterite clouds and a 60-micron modal particle size and 2) clouds made of 1 micron-sized pure iron droplets and 1% supersaturation fit the data. Current data are insufficient to accurately constrain the microscopic cloud properties, such as composition and particle size. The range of best-estimated masses for HR 8799b, HR 8799c, and HR 8799d conservatively span 2-12 M_J, 6-13 M_J, and 3-11 M_J, respectively and imply coeval ages between ~10 and ~150 Myr, consistent with previously reported stellar age. The best-fit temperatures and gravities are slightly lower than values obtained by Currie et al. (2011) using even thicker cloud models. Finally, we use these models to predict the near-to-mid IR colors of soon-to-be imaged planets. Our models predict that planet-mass objects follow a locus in some near-to-mid IR color-magnitude diagrams that is clearly separable from the standard L/T dwarf locus for field brown dwarfs.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Spectral and Photometric Diagnostics of Giant Planet Formation Scenarios

Gas-giant planets that form via core accretion might have very different characteristics from those that form via disk-instability. Disk-instability objects are typically thought to have higher entropies, larger radii, and (generally) higher effective temperatures than core-accretion objects. We provide a large set of models exploring the observational consequences of high-entropy (hot) and low-entropy (cold) initial conditions, in the hope that this will ultimately help to distinguish between different physical mechanisms of planet formation. However, the exact entropies and radii of newly-formed planets due to these two modes of formation cannot, at present, be precisely predicted. We introduce a broad range of "Warm Start" gas-giant planet models. Between the hottest and the coldest models that we consider, differences in radii, temperatures, luminosities, and spectra persist for only a few million to a few tens of millions of years for planets that are a few times Jupiter's mass or less. For planets that are ~five times Jupiter's mass or more, significant differences between hottest-start and coldest-start models persist for on the order of 100 Myrs. We find that out of the standard infrared bands (J, H, K, L', M, N) the K and H bands are the most diagnostic of the initial conditions. A hottest-start model can be from ~4.5 magnitudes brighter (at Jupiter's mass) to ~9 magnitudes brighter (at ten times Jupiter's mass) than a coldest-start model in the first few million years. In more massive objects, these large differences in luminosity and spectrum persist for much longer than in less massive objects. We consider the influence of atmospheric conditions on spectra, and find that the presence or absence of clouds, and the metallicity of an atmosphere, can affect an object's apparent brightness in different bands by up to several magnitudes.Comment: Due to an indexing error, the previous version had incorrect M- and N-band magnitudes in the tables (figures and text were correct). This version contains corrected table value

CHARIS Science: Performance Simulations for the Subaru Telescope's Third-Generation of Exoplanet Imaging Instrumentation

We describe the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, a high-contrast integral-field spectrograph (IFS) currently under construction for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS is part of a new generation of instruments, enabled by extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems (including SCExAO at Subaru), that promise greatly improved contrasts at small angular separation thanks to their ability to use spectral information to distinguish planets from quasistatic speckles in the stellar point-spread function (PSF). CHARIS is similar in concept to GPI and SPHERE, on Gemini South and the Very Large Telescope, respectively, but will be unique in its ability to simultaneously cover the entire near-infrared $J$, $H$, and $K$ bands with a low-resolution mode. This extraordinarily broad wavelength coverage will enable spectral differential imaging down to angular separations of a few $\lambda/D$, corresponding to $\sim$0.\!\!''1. SCExAO will also offer contrast approaching $10^{-5}$ at similar separations, $\sim$0.\!\!''1--0.\!\!''2. The discovery yield of a CHARIS survey will depend on the exoplanet distribution function at around 10 AU. If the distribution of planets discovered by radial velocity surveys extends unchanged to $\sim$20 AU, observations of $\sim$200 mostly young, nearby stars targeted by existing high-contrast instruments might find $\sim$1--3 planets. Carefully optimizing the target sample could improve this yield by a factor of a few, while an upturn in frequency at a few AU could also increase the number of detections. CHARIS, with a higher spectral resolution mode of $R \sim 75$, will also be among the best instruments to characterize planets and brown dwarfs like HR 8799 cde and $\kappa$ And b.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, proceedings from SPIE Montrea

A Research Agenda for the Why, What, and How of Gamification Designs: Outcomes of an ECIS 2019 Panel

This report summarizes a panel session on gamification designs at the 2019 European Conference on Information Systems in Stockholm, Sweden. The panel explored a research agenda for gamification design. The panel considered the “what, why, and how” to analyze state-of-the-art gamification research. We present an adapted definition of gamification as one outcome of the workshop to better describe what gamification is and what it can be used for. We discuss “why” and “how” to employ gamification for different contexts. Researchers and practitioners can use the report’s research questions and insights to gamify information systems, identity outcomes that gamification concepts address, and explore new ways to gamify. Overall, we present new areas for future research and practice by identifying innovative ways to bring existing gamification concepts to a more impactful level

Clouds in the Coldest Brown Dwarfs: FIRE Spectroscopy of Ross 458C

Condensate clouds are a salient feature of L dwarf atmospheres, but have been assumed to play little role in shaping the spectra of the coldest T-type brown dwarfs. Here we report evidence of condensate opacity in the near-infrared spectrum of the brown dwarf candidate Ross 458C, obtained with the Folded-Port Infrared Echellette (FIRE) spectrograph at the Magellan Telescopes. These data verify the low-temperature nature of this source, indicating a T8 spectral classification, log Lbol/Lsun = -5.62+/-0.03, Teff = 650+/-25 K, and a mass at or below the deuterium burning limit. The data also reveal enhanced emission at K-band associated with youth (low surface gravity) and supersolar metallicity, reflecting the properties of the Ross 458 system (age = 150-800 Myr, [Fe/H] = +0.2 to +0.3). We present fits of FIRE data for Ross 458C, the T9 dwarf ULAS J133553.45+113005.2, and the blue T7.5 dwarf SDSS J141624.08+134826.7B, to cloudless and cloudy spectral models from Saumon & Marley. For Ross 458C we confirm a low surface gravity and supersolar metallicity, while the temperature differs depending on the presence (635 [+25,-35] K) or absence (760 [+70,-45] K) of cloud extinction. ULAS J1335+1130 and SDSS J1416+1348B have similar temperatures (595 [+25,-45] K), but distinct surface gravities (log g = 4.0-4.5 cgs versus 5.0-5.5 cgs) and metallicities ([M/H] ~ +0.2 versus -0.2). In all three cases, cloudy models provide better fits to the spectral data, significantly so for Ross 458C. These results indicate that clouds are an important opacity source in the spectra of young cold T dwarfs, and should be considered when characterizing the spectra of planetary-mass objects in young clusters and directly-imaged exoplanets. The characteristics of Ross 458C suggest it could itself be regarded as a planet, albeit one whose cosmogony does not conform with current planet formation theories.Comment: Accepted for publication to ApJ: 18 pages, 11 figures in emulateapj forma

First Light LBT AO Images of HR 8799 bcde at 1.65 and 3.3 Microns: New Discrepancies between Young Planets and Old Brown Dwarfs

As the only directly imaged multiple planet system, HR 8799 provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of several planets in parallel. In this paper, we image all four of the HR 8799 planets at H-band and 3.3 microns with the new LBT adaptive optics system, PISCES, and LBTI/LMIRCam. Our images offer an unprecedented view of the system, allowing us to obtain H and 3.3$ micron photometry of the innermost planet (for the first time) and put strong upper-limits on the presence of a hypothetical fifth companion. We find that all four planets are unexpectedly bright at 3.3 microns compared to the equilibrium chemistry models used for field brown dwarfs, which predict that planets should be faint at 3.3 microns due to CH4 opacity. We attempt to model the planets with thick-cloudy, non-equilibrium chemistry atmospheres, but find that removing CH4 to fit the 3.3 micron photometry increases the predicted L' (3.8 microns) flux enough that it is inconsistent with observations. In an effort to fit the SED of the HR 8799 planets, we construct mixtures of cloudy atmospheres, which are intended to represent planets covered by clouds of varying opacity. In this scenario, regions with low opacity look hot and bright, while regions with high opacity look faint, similar to the patchy cloud structures on Jupiter and L/T transition brown-dwarfs. Our mixed cloud models reproduce all of the available data, but self-consistent models are still necessary to demonstrate their viability.Comment: Accepted to Ap

Scientific Design of a High Contrast Integral Field Spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope

Ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive-optics (AO) systems and specialized science cameras are now capable of directly detecting extrasolar planets. We present the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph, which is being built for the Subaru 8.2 m telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. CHARIS will be implemented behind the new extreme adaptive optics system at Subaru, SCExAO, and the existing 188-actuator system AO188. CHARIS will offer three observing modes over near-infrared wavelengths from 0.9 to 2.4 microns (the y-, J-, H-, and K-bands), including a low-spectral-resolution mode covering this entire wavelength range and a high-resolution mode within a single band. With these capabilities, CHARIS will offer exceptional sensitivity for discovering giant exoplanets, and will enable detailed characterization of their atmospheres. CHARIS, the only planned high-contrast integral field spectrograph on an 8m-class telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, will complement the similar instruments such as Project 1640 at Palomar, and GPI and SPHERE in Chile.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 201

MultiSero: An Open-Source Multiplex-ELISA Platform for Measuring Antibody Responses to Infection.

A multiplexed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that simultaneously measures antibody binding to multiple antigens can extend the impact of serosurveillance studies, particularly if the assay approaches the simplicity, robustness, and accuracy of a conventional single-antigen ELISA. Here, we report on the development of multiSero, an open-source multiplex ELISA platform for measuring antibody responses to viral infection. Our assay consists of three parts: (1) an ELISA against an array of proteins in a 96-well format; (2) automated imaging of each well of the ELISA array using an open-source plate reader; and (3) automated measurement of optical densities for each protein within the array using an open-source analysis pipeline. We validated the platform by comparing antibody binding to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigens in 217 human sera samples, showing high sensitivity (0.978), specificity (0.977), positive predictive value (0.978), and negative predictive value (0.977) for classifying seropositivity, a high correlation of multiSero determined antibody titers with commercially available SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests, and antigen-specific changes in antibody titer dynamics upon vaccination. The open-source format and accessibility of our multiSero platform can contribute to the adoption of multiplexed ELISA arrays for serosurveillance studies, for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens of significance