Monitoring vegetation dynamics using MERIS fused images

The MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) can be used to monitor vegetation dynamics at regional to global scales. However, the spatial resolutions provided by this sensor (300 or 1200 m) might not be appropriate to monitor fragmented landscapes. This is why the synergistic use of MERIS full resolution (300 m) and Landsat TM (25 m) data is studied in this paper. An unmixing-based data fusion approach was used to produce images that have the spectral and temporal resolutions provided by MERIS and the spatial resolution of Landsat TM. The central part of The Netherlands was selected to illustrate this approach. Seven MERIS full resolution and one Landsat TM image were available over this area. The radiometric characteristics of the fused images were evaluated at 25 and at 300 m. After this quantitative quality assessment, the best fused images were used to compute NDVI, MTCI and MGVI profiles for the main land cover types present in the study area

Measuring the Reduced Shear

Neglecting the second order corrections in weak lensing measurements can lead to a few percent uncertainties on cosmic shears, and becomes more important for cluster lensing mass reconstructions. Existing methods which claim to measure the reduced shears are not necessarily accurate to the second order when a point spread function (PSF) is present. We show that the method of Zhang (2008) exactly measures the reduced shears at the second order level in the presence of PSF. A simple theorem is provided for further confirming our calculation, and for judging the accuracy of any shear measurement method at the second order based on its properties at the first order. The method of Zhang (2008) is well defined mathematically. It does not require assumptions on the morphologies of galaxies and the PSF. To reach a sub-percent level accuracy, the CCD pixel size is required to be not larger than 1/3 of the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the PSF. Using a large ensemble (> 10^7) of mock galaxies of unrestricted morphologies, we find that contaminations to the shear signals from the noise of background photons can be removed in a well defined way because they are not correlated with the source shapes. The residual shear measurement errors due to background noise are consistent with zero at the sub-percent level even when the amplitude of such noise reaches about 1/10 of the source flux within the half-light radius of the source. This limit can in principle be extended further with a larger galaxy ensemble in our simulations. On the other hand, the source Poisson noise remains to be a cause of systematic errors. For a sub-percent level accuracy, our method requires the amplitude of the source Poisson noise to be less than 1/80 ~ 1/100 of the source flux within the half-light radius of the source, corresponding to collecting roughly 10^4 source photons.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, minor changes from the previous versio

Displaying the Heterogeneity of the SN 2002cx-like Subclass of Type Ia Supernovae with Observations of the Pan-STARRS-1 Discovered SN2009ku

SN2009ku, discovered by Pan-STARRS-1, is a Type Ia supernova (SNIa), and a member of the distinct SN2002cx-like class of SNeIa. Its light curves are similar to the prototypical SN2002cx, but are slightly broader and have a later rise to maximum in g. SN2009ku is brighter (~0.6 mag) than other SN2002cx-like objects, peaking at M_V = -18.4 mag - which is still significantly fainter than typical SNeIa. SN2009ku, which had an ejecta velocity of ~2000 kms^-1 at 18 days after maximum brightness is spectroscopically most similar to SN2008ha, which also had extremely low-velocity ejecta. However, SN2008ha had an exceedingly low luminosity, peaking at M_V = -14.2 mag, ~4 mag fainter than SN2009ku. The contrast of high luminosity and low ejecta velocity for SN2009ku is contrary to an emerging trend seen for the SN2002cx class. SN2009ku is a counter-example of a previously held belief that the class was more homogeneous than typical SNeIa, indicating that the class has a diverse progenitor population and/or complicated explosion physics. As the first example of a member of this class of objects from the new generation of transient surveys, SN2009ku is an indication of the potential for these surveys to find rare and interesting objects.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

The Structure and Stellar Content of the Outer Disks of Galaxies: A New View from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey

We present the results of an analysis of Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey multi-band (grizy) images of a sample of 698 low-redshift disk galaxies that span broad ranges in stellar mass, star-formation rate, and bulge/disk ratio. We use population synthesis spectral energy distribution fitting techniques to explore the radial distribution of the light, color, surface mass density, mass/light ratio, and age of the stellar populations. We characterize the structure and stellar content of the galaxy disks out to radii of about twice Petrosian r 90, beyond which the halo light becomes significant. We measure normalized radial profiles for sub-samples of galaxies in three bins each of stellar mass and concentration. We also fit radial profiles to each galaxy. The majority of galaxies have down-bending radial surface brightness profiles in the bluer bands with a break radius at roughly r 90. However, they typically show single unbroken exponentials in the reddest bands and in the stellar surface mass density. We find that the mass/light ratio and stellar age radial profiles have a characteristic "U" shape. There is a good correlation between the amplitude of the down-bend in the surface brightness profile and the rate of the increase in the M/L ratio in the outer disk. As we move from late- to early-type galaxies, the amplitude of the down-bend and the radial gradient in M/L both decrease. Our results imply a combination of stellar radial migration and suppression of recent star formation can account for the stellar populations of the outer disk

Heliospheric Transport of Neutron-Decay Protons

We report on new simulations of the transport of energetic protons originating from the decay of energetic neutrons produced in solar flares. Because the neutrons are fast-moving but insensitive to the solar wind magnetic field, the decay protons are produced over a wide region of space, and they should be detectable by current instruments over a broad range of longitudes for many hours after a sufficiently large gamma-ray flare. Spacecraft closer to the Sun are expected to see orders-of magnitude higher intensities than those at the Earth-Sun distance. The current solar cycle should present an excellent opportunity to observe neutron-decay protons with multiple spacecraft over different heliographic longitudes and distances from the Sun.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published in special issue of Solar Physic

Spectral functions of isoscalar scalar and isovector electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon at two-loop order

We calculate the imaginary parts of the isoscalar scalar and isovector electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon up to two-loop order in chiral perturbation theory. Particular attention is paid on the correct behavior of Im $\sigma_N(t)$ and Im $G_{E,M}^V(t)$ at the two-pion threshold $t_0=4 m_\pi^2$ in connection with the non-relativistic 1/M-expansion. We recover the well-known strong enhancement near threshold originating from the nearby anomalous singularity at $t_c = 4m_\pi^2-m_\pi^4/M^2 = 3.98 m_\pi^2$. In the case of the scalar spectral function Im $\sigma_N(t)$ one finds a significant improvement in comparison to the lowest order one-loop result. Higher order $\pi\pi$-rescattering effects are however still necessary to close a remaining 20%-gap to the empirical scalar spectral function. The isovector electric and magnetic spectral functions Im $G_{E,M}^V(t)$ get additionally enhanced near threshold by the two-pion-loop contributions. After supplementing their two-loop results by a phenomenological $\rho$-meson exchange term one can reproduce the empirical isovector electric and magnetic spectral functions fairly well.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Baryon polarization in low-energy unpolarized meson-baryon scattering

We compute the polarization of the final-state baryon, in its rest frame, in low-energy meson--baryon scattering with unpolarized initial state, in Unitarized BChPT. Free parameters are determined by fitting total and differential cross-section data (and spin-asymmetry or polarization data if available) for $pK^-$, $pK^+$ and $p\pi^+$ scattering. We also compare our results with those of leading-order BChPT

Pan-STARRS Pixel Analysis: Source Detection and Characterization

Over 3 billion astronomical sources have been detected in the more than 22 million orthogonal transfer CCD images obtained as part of the Pan-STARRS1 3π survey. Over 85 billion instances of those sources have been automatically detected and characterized by the Pan-STARRS Image Processing Pipeline photometry software, psphot. This fast, automatic, and reliable software was developed for the Pan-STARRS project but is easily adaptable to images from other telescopes. We describe the analysis of the astronomical sources by psphot in general as well as for the specific case of the third processing version used for the first two public releases of the Pan-STARRS 3π Survey data