532 research outputs found
MDia and POTS - The Munich Difference Imaging Analysis for the pre-OmegaTranS Project
We describe the Munich Difference Imaging Analysis pipeline that we developed
and implemented in the framework of the Astro-WISE package to automatically
measure high precision light curves of a large number of stellar objects using
the difference imaging approach. Combined with programs to detect time
variability, this software can be used to search for planetary systems or
binary stars with the transit method and for variable stars of different kinds.
As a first scientific application, we discuss the data reduction and analysis
performed with Astro-WISE on the pre-OmegaTranS data set, that we collected
during a monitoring campaign of a dense stellar field with the Wide Field
Imager at the ESO 2.2m telescope.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in topical issue of
Experimental Astronomy on Astro-WISE information syste
Microlensing events from the 11-year observations of the Wendelstein Calar Alto Pixellensing Project
We present the results of the decade-long M31 observation from the
Wendelstein Calar Alto Pixellensing Project (WeCAPP). WeCAPP has monitored M31
from 1997 till 2008 in both R- and I-filters, thus provides the longest
baseline of all M31 microlensing surveys. The data are analyzed with the
difference imaging analysis, which is most suitable to study variability in
crowded stellar fields. We extracted light curves based on each pixel, and
devised selection criteria that are optimized to identify microlensing events.
This leads to 10 new events, and sums up to a total of 12 microlensing events
from WeCAPP, for which we derive their timescales, flux excesses, and colors
from their light curves. The color of the lensed stars fall between (R-I) =
0.56 to 1.36, with a median of 1.0 mag, in agreement with our expectation that
the sources are most likely bright, red stars at post main-sequence stage. The
event FWHM timescales range from 0.5 to 14 days, with a median of 3 days, in
good agreement with predictions based on the model of Riffeser et al. (2006).Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures, 5 tables. ApJ accepte
Bias-Free Shear Estimation using Artificial Neural Networks
Bias due to imperfect shear calibration is the biggest obstacle when
constraints on cosmological parameters are to be extracted from large area weak
lensing surveys such as Pan-STARRS-3pi, DES or future satellite missions like
Euclid. We demonstrate that bias present in existing shear measurement
pipelines (e.g. KSB) can be almost entirely removed by means of neural
networks. In this way, bias correction can depend on the properties of the
individual galaxy instead on being a single global value. We present a
procedure to train neural networks for shear estimation and apply this to
subsets of simulated GREAT08 RealNoise data. We also show that circularization
of the PSF before measuring the shear reduces the scatter related to the PSF
anisotropy correction and thus leads to improved measurements, particularly on
low and medium signal-to-noise data. Our results are competitive with the best
performers in the GREAT08 competition, especially for the medium and higher
signal-to-noise sets. Expressed in terms of the quality parameter defined by
GREAT08 we achieve a Q = 40, 140 and 1300 without and 50, 200 and 1300 with
circularization for low, medium and high signal-to-noise data sets,
respectively.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
Avoiding the Hermit\u27s Way of Distance Learning: Augmenting Individual Learning With Synchronous Internet Based Seminars
Taking part in professional education is increasingly difficult for highly-skilled employees and executives because they cannot afford to be away from work for the time traditional face-to-face seminars demand. Individual, selfguided learning, on the other hand, lacks the benefits of direct interaction with people interested in the same subject. This calls for a combination of individual and collaborative learning in a virtual setting that preserves the flexibility of individual learning but augments it with virtual seminars that do not necessitate leaving work or travelling for extended periods. In this paper, we present a software environment for such virtual seminars built on widely available technology that provides tools to create a shared context of interaction among the participants and that enables a tutor to structure and facilitate virtual cooperation for learning. This environment was put into practice in an pilot course. Based on this evaluation we survey the fit of the software design for these situations of synchronous, dispersed group work. We particularly explore the role of a tutor or facilitator for successful virtual communication and cooperation. Furthermore, we present first insights into whether virtual seminars could help to improve isolated individual learning through a certain amount of scheduled events and motivating interaction with others. Finally, we describe the information systems community as an ideal test bed for such innovative ways of learning that could help to give IS research a greater bearing on the practice of the field
M31 PAndromeda Cepheid sample observed in four HST bands
Using the M31 PAndromeda Cepheid sample and the HST PHAT data we obtain the
largest Cepheid sample in M31 with HST data in four bands. For our analysis we
consider three samples: A very homogeneous sample of Cepheids based on the
PAndromeda data, the mean magnitude corrected PAndromeda sample and a sample
complementing the PAndromeda sample with Cepheids from literature. The latter
results in the largest catalog with 522 fundamental mode (FM) Cepheids and 102
first overtone (FO) Cepheids with F160W and F110W data and 559 FM Cepheids and
111 FO Cepheids with F814W and F475W data. The obtained dispersion of the
Period-Luminosity relations (PLRs) is very small (e.g. 0.138 mag in the F160W
sample I PLR). We find no broken slope in the PLRs when analyzing our entire
sample, but we do identify a subsample of Cepheids that causes the broken
slope. However, this effect only shows when the number of this Cepheid type
makes up a significant fraction of the total sample. We also analyze the sample
selection effect on the Hubble constant.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ,
electronic data will be available on CD
Multiband Transit Light Curve Modeling of WASP-4
We report on the simultaneous g′,r′,i′,z′ multiband, high time sampling (18-24s) ground-based photometric observations, which we use to measure the planetary radius and orbital inclination of the extrasolar transiting hot Jupiter WASP-4b. We recorded 987 images during three complete transits with the GROND instrument, mounted on the MPG/ESO-2.2m telescope at La Silla Observatory. Assuming a quadratic law for the stellar limb darkening we derive system parameters by fitting a composite transit light curve over all bandpasses simultaneously. To compute uncertainties of the fitted parameters we employ the Bootstrap Monte Carlo Method. The three central transit times are measured with precision down to 6 s. We find a planetary radius Rp = 1.413 ± 0.020RJup, an orbital inclination i = 88.°57 ± 0.45° and calculate new ephemeris, a period P = 1.33823144 ± 0.00000032 days and reference transit epoch T0 = 2454697.798311 ± 0.000046 (BJD). The analysis of the new transit mid-times in combination with previous measurements imply a constant orbital period and no compelling evidence for TTVs due to additional bodies in the syste
The Impact of the Internet on Telecommunication Architectures
The ever-growing popularity of the Internet is dramatically changing the landscape of the communications market place. The two separate worlds of the Internet and Telecommunications are converging. The respective advantages of the two environments are being integrated to fulfill the promise of the information super-highways. In this paper, we examine the impact of the Internet on the main telecommunication architectures, namely the IN, the TMN and TINA. There are two new tendencies for implementing telephony services in combination with the Internet: running part of the control sys tem over the Internet, or conveying both the user data and the control information over the Internet. We examine these two trends, and elaborate on possible ways of salvaging the best parts of the work achieved by the TINA-Consortium in the Internet context
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