11,393 research outputs found
Origin and evolution of the zodiacal dust cloud
The astrophysical importance of the zodiacal cloud became more apparent. The most useful source of information on the structure of the zodiacal cloud is the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) observations. A substantial fraction of the extensive IRAS data set was analyzed. Also, a numerical model was developed (SIMUL) that allows to calculate the distribution of night-sky brightness that would be produced by any particular distribution of dust particle orbits. This model includes the effects of orbital perturbations by both the planets and solar radiation, it reproduces the exact viewing geometry of the IRAS telescope, and allows for the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit. SIMUL now is used to model not just the solar system dust bands discovered by IRAS but the whole zodiacal cloud
Systematic study of Optical Feshbach Resonances in an ideal gas
Using a narrow intercombination line in alkaline earth atoms to mitigate
large inelastic losses, we explore the Optical Feshbach Resonance (OFR) effect
in an ultracold gas of bosonic Sr. A systematic measurement of three
resonances allows precise determinations of the OFR strength and scaling law,
in agreement with coupled-channels theory. Resonant enhancement of the complex
scattering length leads to thermalization mediated by elastic and inelastic
collisions in an otherwise ideal gas. OFR could be used to control atomic
interactions with high spatial and temporal resolution.Comment: Significant changes to text and figure presentation to improve
clarity. Extended supplementary material. 4 pages, 4 figures; includes
supplementary material 8 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Letter
Titan's atmosphere as observed by Cassini/VIMS solar occultations: CH, CO and evidence for CH absorption
We present an analysis of the VIMS solar occultations dataset, which allows
us to extract vertically resolved information on the characteristics of Titan's
atmosphere between 100-700 km with a characteristic vertical resolution of 10
km. After a series of data treatment procedures, 4 occultations out of 10 are
retained. This sample covers different seasons and latitudes of Titan. The
transmittances show clearly the evolution of the haze and detect the detached
layer at 310 km in Sept. 2011 at mid-northern latitudes. Through the inversion
of the transmission spectra with a line-by-line radiative transfer code we
retrieve the vertical distribution of CH and CO mixing ratio. The two
methane bands at 1.4 and 1.7 {\mu}m are always in good agreement and yield an
average stratospheric abundance of %. This is significantly less
than the value of 1.48% obtained by the GCMS/Huygens instrument. The analysis
of the residual spectra after the inversion shows that there are additional
absorptions which affect a great part of the VIMS wavelength range. We
attribute many of these additional bands to gaseous ethane, whose near-infrared
spectrum is not well modeled yet. Ethane contributes significantly to the
strong absorption between 3.2-3.5 {\mu}m that was previously attributed only to
C-H stretching bands from aerosols. Ethane bands may affect the surface windows
too, especially at 2.7 {\mu}m. Other residual bands are generated by stretching
modes of C-H, C-C and C-N bonds. In addition to the C-H stretch from aliphatic
hydrocarbons at 3.4 {\mu}m, we detect a strong and narrow absorption at 3.28
{\mu}m which we tentatively attribute to the presence of PAHs in the
stratosphere. C-C and C-N stretching bands are possibly present between 4.3-4.5
{\mu}m. Finally, we obtain the CO mixing ratio between 70-170 km. The average
result of ppm is in good agreement with previous studies.Comment: 51 pages, 28 figure
Winds of Planet Hosting Stars
The field of exoplanetary science is one of the most rapidly growing areas of
astrophysical research. As more planets are discovered around other stars, new
techniques have been developed that have allowed astronomers to begin to
characterise them. Two of the most important factors in understanding the
evolution of these planets, and potentially determining whether they are
habitable, are the behaviour of the winds of the host star and the way in which
they interact with the planet. The purpose of this project is to reconstruct
the magnetic fields of planet hosting stars from spectropolarimetric
observations, and to use these magnetic field maps to inform simulations of the
stellar winds in those systems using the Block Adaptive Tree Solar-wind Roe
Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) code. The BATS-R-US code was originally written to
investigate the behaviour of the Solar wind, and so has been altered to be used
in the context of other stellar systems. These simulations will give
information about the velocity, pressure and density of the wind outward from
the host star. They will also allow us to determine what influence the winds
will have on the space weather environment of the planet. This paper presents
the preliminary results of these simulations for the star Bo\"otis,
using a newly reconstructed magnetic field map based on previously published
observations. These simulations show interesting structures in the wind
velocity around the star, consistent with the complex topology of its magnetic
field.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed
proceedings of the 14th Australian Space Research Conference, held at the
University of South Australia, 29th September - 1st October 201
Coherent Line Removal: Filtering out harmonically related line interference from experimental data, with application to gravitational wave detectors
We describe a new technique for removing troublesome interference from
external coherent signals present in the gravitational wave spectrum. The
method works when the interference is present in many harmonics, as long as
they remain coherent with one another. The method can remove interference even
when the frequency changes. We apply the method to the data produced by the
Glasgow laser interferometer in 1996 and the entire series of wide lines
corresponding to the electricity supply frequency and its harmonics are
removed, leaving the spectrum clean enough to detect possible signals
previously masked by them. We also study the effects of the line removal on the
statistics of the noise in the time domain. We find that this technique seems
to reduce the level of non-Gaussian noise present in the interferometer and
therefore, it can raise the sensitivity and duty cycle of the detectors.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Revtex, psfig. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Importance of physical qualities for speed and change of direction ability in elite female soccer players.
The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of physical qualities for speed and change of direction (CoD) ability in female soccer players. Data were collected on 10 female soccer players who were part of a professional English Women’s Super League team. Player assessments included anthropometric (stature and body mass), body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), speed (10m, 30m sprint), CoD ability (505 agility), aerobic (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test), lower-body strength (bilateral knee extensions) and power (countermovement jump [CMJ], squat jump [SJ], 30cm drop jump [DJ]) measures). The relationships between the variables were evaluated using eigenvector analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. Multiple linear regression revealed that the performance variables (10 and 20m speed, mean 505, and CoD deficit mean) can be predicted with almost 100% accuracy (i.e. adjusted R2 > 0.999) using various combinations of the predictor variables (DJ height, CMJ height, SJ height, lean body mass). An increase of one standard deviation (SD) in DJ height was associated with reductions of -5.636 and 9.082 SD in 10 m and 20 m sprint times. A one SD increase in CMJ also results in a reduction of -3.317 and -0.922 SD respectively in mean 505 and CoD deficit mean values. This study provides comparative data for professional English female soccer players that can be used by strength and conditioning coaches when monitoring player development and assessing the effectiveness of training programmes. Findings highlight the importance of developing reactive strength to improve speed and CoD ability in female soccer players
High Dimensional Forecasting via Interpretable Vector Autoregression
Vector autoregression (VAR) is a fundamental tool for modeling multivariate
time series. However, as the number of component series is increased, the VAR
model becomes overparameterized. Several authors have addressed this issue by
incorporating regularized approaches, such as the lasso in VAR estimation.
Traditional approaches address overparameterization by selecting a low lag
order, based on the assumption of short range dependence, assuming that a
universal lag order applies to all components. Such an approach constrains the
relationship between the components and impedes forecast performance. The
lasso-based approaches work much better in high-dimensional situations but do
not incorporate the notion of lag order selection.
We propose a new class of hierarchical lag structures (HLag) that embed the
notion of lag selection into a convex regularizer. The key modeling tool is a
group lasso with nested groups which guarantees that the sparsity pattern of
lag coefficients honors the VAR's ordered structure. The HLag framework offers
three structures, which allow for varying levels of flexibility. A simulation
study demonstrates improved performance in forecasting and lag order selection
over previous approaches, and a macroeconomic application further highlights
forecasting improvements as well as HLag's convenient, interpretable output
- …