From spectra to atmospheres: solving the underconstrained retrieval problem for exoplanets

Spectroscopic observations of transiting exoplanets have provided the first indications of their atmospheric structure and composition. Optimal estimation retrievals have been successfully applied to solar system planets to determine the temperature, composition and aerosol properties of their atmospheres, and have recently been applied to exoplanets. We show the effectiveness of the technique when combined with simulated observations from the proposed space telescope EChO, and also discuss the difficulty of constraining a complex system with sparse data and large uncertainties, using the super-Earth GJ 1214b as an exampl

Perception of soundscapes : an interdisciplinary approach

This paper takes an overall view of findings from the Positive Soundscape Project, a large inter-disciplinary soundscapes study. Qualitative fieldwork (soundwalks and focus groups) have found that soundscape perception is influenced by cognitive effects such as the meaning of a soundscape and its components, and how information is conveyed by a soundscape, for example on the behaviour of people within the soundscape. Three significant clusters were found in the language people use to describe soundscapes: sound sources, sound descriptors and soundscape descriptors. Results from listening tests and soundwalks have been integrated to show that the two principal dimensions of soundscape emotional response seem to be calmness and vibrancy. Further, vibrancy seems to have two aspects: organisation of sounds and changes over time. The possible application of the results to soundscape assessment and design are briefly discussed

Surviving the B2B Shakeout

Article on business-to-business supplying

A Vast Thin Plane of Co-rotating Dwarf Galaxies Orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy

Dwarf satellite galaxies are thought to be the remnants of the population of primordial structures that coalesced to form giant galaxies like the Milky Way. An early analysis noted that dwarf galaxies may not be isotropically distributed around our Galaxy, as several are correlated with streams of HI emission, and possibly form co-planar groups. These suspicions are supported by recent analyses, and it has been claimed that the apparently planar distribution of satellites is not predicted within standard cosmology, and cannot simply represent a memory of past coherent accretion. However, other studies dispute this conclusion. Here we report the existence (99.998% significance) of a planar sub-group of satellites in the Andromeda galaxy, comprising approximately 50% of the population. The structure is vast: at least 400 kpc in diameter, but also extremely thin, with a perpendicular scatter <14.1 kpc (99% confidence). Radial velocity measurements reveal that the satellites in this structure have the same sense of rotation about their host. This finding shows conclusively that substantial numbers of dwarf satellite galaxies share the same dynamical orbital properties and direction of angular momentum, a new insight for our understanding of the origin of these most dark matter dominated of galaxies. Intriguingly, the plane we identify is approximately aligned with the pole of the Milky Way's disk and is co-planar with the Milky Way to Andromeda position vector. The existence of such extensive coherent kinematic structures within the halos of massive galaxies is a fact that must be explained within the framework of galaxy formation and cosmology.Comment: Published in the 3rd Jan 2013 issue of Nature. 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 three-dimensional interactive figure. To view and manipulate the 3-D figure, an Adobe Reader browser plug-in is required; alternatively save to disk and view with Adobe Reade

On the Capacity-Achieving Input of Channels with Phase Quantization

Several information-theoretic studies on channels with output quantization have identified the capacity-achieving input distributions for different fading channels with 1-bit in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) output quantization. But can analytical results on the capacity-achieving input also be obtained for multi-bit quantization? We answer the question in the affirmative by considering multi-bit phase quantization. We first consider a complex Gaussian channel with $b$-bit phase-quantized output and prove that the capacity-achieving distribution is a rotated $2^b$-phase shift keying (PSK). The analysis is then extended to multiple fading scenarios. We show that the optimality of rotated $2^b$-PSK continues to hold under noncoherent fast fading Rician channels with $b$-bit phase quantization when line-of-sight (LoS) is present. When channel state information (CSI) is available at the receiver, we identify $\frac{2\pi}{2^b}$-symmetry and constant amplitude as the necessary and sufficient conditions for the ergodic capacity-achieving input distribution; which a $2^b$-PSK satisfies. Finally, an optimum power control scheme is presented which achieves ergodic capacity when CSI is also available at the transmitter.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor