12,812 research outputs found
A new method to detect solar-like oscillations at very low S/N using statistical significance testing
We introduce a new method to detect solar-like oscillations in frequency
power spectra of stellar observations, under conditions of very low signal to
noise. The Moving-Windowed-Power-Search, or MWPS, searches the power spectrum
for signatures of excess power, over and above slowly varying (in frequency)
background contributions from stellar granulation and shot or instrumental
noise. We adopt a false-alarm approach (Chaplin et al. 2011) to ascertain
whether flagged excess power, which is consistent with the excess expected from
solar-like oscillations, is hard to explain by chance alone (and hence a
candidate detection).
We apply the method to solar photometry data, whose quality was
systematically degraded to test the performance of the MWPS at low
signal-to-noise ratios. We also compare the performance of the MWPS against the
frequently applied power-spectrum-of-power-spectrum (PSxPS) detection method.
The MWPS is found to outperform the PSxPS method.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, Added
reference
Ballerina - Pirouettes in Search of Gamma Bursts
The cosmological origin of gamma ray bursts has now been established with
reasonable certainty. Many more bursts will need to be studied to establish the
typical distance scale, and to map out the large diversity in properties which
have been indicated by the first handful of events. We are proposing Ballerina,
a small satellite to provide accurate positions and new data on the gamma-ray
bursts. We anticipate a detection rate an order of magnitude larger than
obtained from Beppo-SAX.Comment: A&AS in press, proceedings of the Workshop "Gamma Ray Bursts in the
Afterglow Era" in Rome, November 199
Optical and near-infrared observations of the GRB 970616 error box
We report on near-infrared and optical observations of the GRB 970616 error
box and of the X-ray sources discovered by ASCA and ROSAT in the region. No
optical transient was found either within the IPN band or in the X-ray error
boxes, similarly to other bursts, and we suggest that either considerable
intrinsic absorption was present (like GRB 970828) or that the optical
transient displayed a very fast decline (like GRB 980326 and GRB 980519).Comment: 2 pages with one encapsulated PostScript figure included. Uses
Astronomy & Astrophysics LaTeX macros. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysics Supplement Serie
K2P A photometry pipeline for the K2 mission
With the loss of a second reaction wheel, resulting in the inability to point
continuously and stably at the same field of view, the NASA Kepler satellite
recently entered a new mode of observation known as the K2 mission. The data
from this redesigned mission present a specific challenge; the targets
systematically drift in position on a ~6 hour time scale, inducing a
significant instrumental signal in the photometric time series --- this greatly
impacts the ability to detect planetary signals and perform asteroseismic
analysis. Here we detail our version of a reduction pipeline for K2 target
pixel data, which automatically: defines masks for all targets in a given
frame; extracts the target's flux- and position time series; corrects the time
series based on the apparent movement on the CCD (either in 1D or 2D) combined
with the correction of instrumental and/or planetary signals via the KASOC
filter (Handberg & Lund 2014), thus rendering the time series ready for
asteroseismic analysis; computes power spectra for all targets, and identifies
potential contaminations between targets. From a test of our pipeline on a
sample of targets from the K2 campaign 0, the recovery of data for multiple
targets increases the amount of potential light curves by a factor .
Our pipeline could be applied to the upcoming TESS (Ricker et al. 2014) and
PLATO 2.0 (Rauer et al. 2013) missions.Comment: 14 pages, 20 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal (Apj
Damping rates and frequency corrections of Kepler LEGACY stars
Linear damping rates and modal frequency corrections of radial oscillation
modes in selected LEGACY main-sequence stars are estimated by means of a
nonadiabatic stability analysis. The selected stellar sample covers stars
observed by Kepler with a large range of surface temperatures and surface
gravities. A nonlocal, time-dependent convection model is perturbed to assess
stability against pulsation modes. The mixing-length parameter is calibrated to
the surface-convection-zone depth of a stellar model obtained from fitting
adiabatic frequencies to the LEGACY observations, and two of the nonlocal
convection parameters are calibrated to the corresponding LEGACY linewidth
measurements. The remaining nonlocal convection parameters in the 1D
calculations are calibrated so as to reproduce profiles of turbulent pressure
and of the anisotropy of the turbulent velocity field of corresponding 3D
hydrodynamical simulations. The atmospheric structure in the 1D stability
analysis adopts a temperature-optical-depth relation derived from 3D
hydrodynamical simulations. Despite the small number of parameters to adjust,
we find good agreement with detailed shapes of both turbulent pressure profiles
and anisotropy profiles with depth, and with damping rates as a function of
frequency. Furthermore, we find the absolute modal frequency corrections,
relative to a standard adiabatic pulsation calculation, to increase with
surface temperature and surface gravity.Comment: accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society (MNRAS); 15 pages, 8 figure
Spatial incoherence of solar granulation: a global analysis using BiSON 2B data
A poor understanding of the impact of convective turbulence in the outer
layers of the Sun and Sun-like stars challenges the advance towards an improved
understanding of their internal structure and dynamics. Assessing and
calibrating these effects is therefore of great importance. Here we study the
spatial coherence of granulation noise and oscillation modes in the Sun, with
the aim of exploiting any incoherence to beat-down observed granulation noise,
hence improving the detection of low-frequency p-modes. Using data from the
BiSON 2B instrument, we assess the coherence between different atmospheric
heights and between different surface regions. We find that granulation noise
from the different atmospheric heights probed is largely incoherent; frequency
regions dominated by oscillations are almost fully coherent. We find a
randomised phase difference for the granulation noise, and a near zero
difference for the evanescent oscillations. A reduction of the incoherent
granulation noise is shown by application of the cross-spectrum.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, MNRAS in pres
Discovery of a new INTEGRAL source: IGR J19140+0951
IGR J19140+0951 (formerly known as IGR J19140+098) was discovered with the
INTEGRAL satellite in March 2003. We report the details of the discovery, using
an improved position for the analysis. We have performed a simultaneous study
of the 5-100 keV JEM-X and ISGRI spectra from which we can distinguish two
different states. From the results of our analysis we propose that IGR
J19140+0951 is a persistent Galactic X-ray binary, probably hosting a neutron
star although a black hole cannot be completely ruled out.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A
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