21,730 research outputs found
Telescopes and space exploration
The necessity for different types of telescopes for astronomical investigations is discussed. Major findings in modern astronomy by ground-based and spaceborne telescopes are presented. Observations of the Crab Nebula, solar flares, interstellar gas, and the Black Hole are described. The theory of the oscillating universe is explored. Operating and planned telescopes are described
The z>4 Quasar Population Observed by Chandra and XMM-Newton
The current status of our Chandra and XMM-Newton project on high-redshift
(z>4) quasars is briefly reviewed. We report the main results obtained in the
last few years for the detected quasars, along with a few (~10%) intriguing
cases where no detection has been obtained with Chandra snapshot observations.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in the proceedings of 'Multiwavelength AGN
surveys' (Cozumel, December 8-12 2003), ed. R. Maiolino and R. Mujic
Telescopes and space exploration
Progress in contemporary astronomy and astrophysics is shown to depend on complementary investigations with sensitive telescopes operating in several wavelength regions, some of which can be on the Earth's surface and others of which must be in space
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Microbial mats of the Tswaing impact crater: results of a South African exobiology expedition and implications for the search for biological molecules on Mars
We describe microbial mats from the Tswaing impact crater in South Africa. The mats provide insights into the unique biological characteristics of impact craters and can help strategies for the search for biomolecules on Mars
A Neural Network Gravitational Arc Finder based on the Mediatrix filamentation Method
Automated arc detection methods are needed to scan the ongoing and
next-generation wide-field imaging surveys, which are expected to contain
thousands of strong lensing systems. Arc finders are also required for a
quantitative comparison between predictions and observations of arc abundance.
Several algorithms have been proposed to this end, but machine learning methods
have remained as a relatively unexplored step in the arc finding process. In
this work we introduce a new arc finder based on pattern recognition, which
uses a set of morphological measurements derived from the Mediatrix
Filamentation Method as entries to an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). We show
a full example of the application of the arc finder, first training and
validating the ANN on simulated arcs and then applying the code on four Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) images of strong lensing systems. The simulated arcs use
simple prescriptions for the lens and the source, while mimicking HST
observational conditions. We also consider a sample of objects from HST images
with no arcs in the training of the ANN classification. We use the training and
validation process to determine a suitable set of ANN configurations, including
the combination of inputs from the Mediatrix method, so as to maximize the
completeness while keeping the false positives low. In the simulations the
method was able to achieve a completeness of about 90% with respect to the arcs
that are input to the ANN after a preselection. However, this completeness
drops to 70% on the HST images. The false detections are of the order of
3% of the objects detected in these images. The combination of Mediatrix
measurements with an ANN is a promising tool for the pattern recognition phase
of arc finding. More realistic simulations and a larger set of real systems are
needed for a better training and assessment of the efficiency of the method.Comment: Updated to match published versio
Report of the Terrestrial Bodies Science Working Group. Volume 8: The comets
The determination of the nuclear and atmospheric properties of comets, and the interaction of the solar wind with the comet tail are scientific objectives for a mission to one or more comets in the next decade. Recommended priorities for direct cometary exploration are listed
Meissner-London currents in superconductors with rectangular cross section
Exact analytic solutions are presented for the magnetic moment and screening
currents in the Meissner state of superconductor strips with rectangular cross
section in a perpendicular magnetic field and/or with transport current. The
extension to finite London penetration is achieved by an elegant numerical
method which works also for disks. The surface current in the specimen corners
diverges as l^(-1/3) where l is the distance from the corner. This enhancement
reduces the barrier for vortex penetration and should increase the nonlinear
Meissner effect in d-wave superconductors
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