13,395 research outputs found
Analysis of the acoustic cut-off frequency and HIPs in six Kepler stars with stochastically excited pulsations
Gravito-acoustic modes in the Sun and other stars propagate in resonant
cavities with a frequency below a given limit known as the cut-off frequency.
At higher frequencies, waves are no longer trapped in the stellar interior and
become traveller waves. In this article we study six pulsating solar-like stars
at different evolutionary stages observed by the NASA Kepler mission. These
high signal-to-noise targets show a peak structure that extends at very high
frequencies and are good candidates for studying the transition region between
the modes and the interference peaks or pseudo-modes. Following the same
methodology successfully applied on Sun-as-a-star measurements, we uncover the
existence of pseudo-modes in these stars with one or two dominant interference
patterns depending on the evolutionary stage of the star. We also infer their
cut-off frequency as the midpoint between the last eigenmode and the first peak
of the interference patterns. By using ray theory we show that, while the
period of one of the interference pattern is very close to half the large
separation the other, one depends on the time phase of mixed waves, thus
carrying additional information on the stellar structure and evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 14 pages, 28 figure
Copyright Protection of Color Imaging Using Robust-Encoded Watermarking
In this paper we present a robust-encoded watermarking method applied to color images for copyright protection, which presents robustness against several geometric and signal processing distortions. Trade-off between payload, robustness and imperceptibility is a very important aspect which has to be considered when a watermark algorithm is designed. In our proposed scheme, previously to be embedded into the image, the watermark signal is encoded using a convolutional encoder, which can perform forward error correction achieving better robustness performance. Then, the embedding process is carried out through the discrete cosine transform domain (DCT) of an image using the image normalization technique to accomplish robustness against geometric and signal processing distortions. The embedded watermark coded bits are extracted and decoded using the Viterbi algorithm. In order to determine the presence or absence of the watermark into the image we compute the bit error rate (BER) between the recovered and the original watermark data sequence. The quality of the watermarked image is measured using the well-known indices: Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Visual Information Fidelity (VIF) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The color difference between the watermarked and original images is obtained by using the Normalized Color Difference (NCD) measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides good performance in terms of imperceptibility and robustness. The comparison among the proposed and previously reported methods based on different techniques is also provided
Improving a Satellite Mission System by means of a Semantic Grid Architecture
The use of a semantic grid architecture can make easier the
deployment of complex applications, in which several organizations are involved and diverse resources are shared. This paper presents the application of the architecture defined in the Ontogrid project (S-OGSA) into a scenario for the analysis of the quality of the products of satellite missions
Rubidium and zirconium abundances in massive Galactic asymptotic giant branch stars revisited
Luminous Galactic OH/IR stars have been identified as massive (>4-5 M_s) AGB
stars experiencing HBB and Li production. Their Rb abundances and [Rb/Zr]
ratios derived from hydrostatic model atmospheres, are significantly higher
than predictions from AGB nucleosynthesis models, posing a problem to our
understanding of AGB evolution and nucleosynthesis. We report new Rb and Zr
abundances in the full sample of massive Galactic AGB stars, previously studied
with hydrostatic models, by using more realistic extended model atmospheres. We
use a modified version of the spectral synthesis code Turbospectrum and
consider the presence of a circumstellar envelope and radial wind. The Rb and
Zr abundances are determined from the 7800 A Rb I resonant line and the 6474 A
ZrO bandhead, respectively, and we explore the sensitivity of the derived
abundances to variations of the stellar (Teff) and wind (M_loss, beta and vexp)
parameters in the extended models. The Rb and Zr abundances derived from the
best spectral fits are compared with the most recent AGB nucleosynthesis
theoretical models. The new Rb abundances are much lower (even 1-2 dex) than
those derived with the hydrostatic models, while the Zr abundances are similar.
The Rb I line profile and Rb abundance are very sensitive to the M_loss rate
but much less sensitive to variations of the wind velocity-law and the
vexp(OH). We confirm the earlier preliminary results based on a smaller sample
of massive O-rich AGB stars, that the use of extended atmosphere models can
solve the discrepancy between the AGB nucleosynthesis theoretical models and
the observations of Galactic massive AGB stars. The Rb abundances, however, are
still strongly dependent of the M_loss, which is unknown in these AGB stars.
Accurate M_loss rates in these massive Galactic AGB stars are needed in order
to break the models degeneracy and get reliable Rb abundances in these stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 14 pages, 12 figures, 4 table
- …