5,836 research outputs found
Measurement of Antenna Surfaces from In- and Out-Of-Focus Beam Maps using Astronomical Sources
We present a technique for the accurate estimation of large-scale errors in
an antenna surface using astronomical sources and detectors. The technique
requires several out-of-focus images of a compact source and the
signal-to-noise ratio needs to be good but not unreasonably high. For a given
pattern of surface errors, the expected form of such images can be calculated
directly. We show that it is possible to solve the inverse problem of finding
the surface errors from the images in a stable manner using standard numerical
techniques. To do this we describe the surface error as a linear combination of
a suitable set of basis functions (we use Zernike polynomials). We present
simulations illustrating the technique and in particular we investigate the
effects of receiver noise and pointing errors. Measurements of the 15-m James
Clerk Maxwell telescope made using this technique are presented as an example.
The key result is that good measurements of errors on large spatial scales can
be obtained if the input images have a signal-to-noise ratio of order 100 or
more. The important advantage of this technique over transmitter-based
holography is that it allows measurements at arbitrary elevation angles, so
allowing one to characterise the large scale deformations in an antenna as a
function of elevation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures (accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics
Classical and Non-Relativistic Limits of a Lorentz-Invariant Bohmian Model for a System of Spinless Particles
A completely Lorentz-invariant Bohmian model has been proposed recently for
the case of a system of non-interacting spinless particles, obeying
Klein-Gordon equations. It is based on a multi-temporal formalism and on the
idea of treating the squared norm of the wave function as a space-time
probability density. The particle's configurations evolve in space-time in
terms of a parameter {\sigma}, with dimensions of time. In this work this model
is further analyzed and extended to the case of an interaction with an external
electromagnetic field. The physical meaning of {\sigma} is explored. Two
special situations are studied in depth: (1) the classical limit, where the
Einsteinian Mechanics of Special Relativity is recovered and the parameter
{\sigma} is shown to tend to the particle's proper time; and (2) the
non-relativistic limit, where it is obtained a model very similar to the usual
non-relativistic Bohmian Mechanics but with the time of the frame of reference
replaced by {\sigma} as the dynamical temporal parameter
Out-Of-Focus Holography at the Green Bank Telescope
We describe phase-retrieval holography measurements of the 100-m diameter
Green Bank Telescope using astronomical sources and an astronomical receiver
operating at a wavelength of 7 mm. We use the technique with parameterization
of the aperture in terms of Zernike polynomials and employing a large defocus,
as described by Nikolic, Hills & Richer (2006). Individual measurements take
around 25 minutes and from the resulting beam maps (which have peak signal to
noise ratios of 200:1) we show that it is possible to produce low-resolution
maps of the wavefront errors with accuracy around a hundredth of a wavelength.
Using such measurements over a wide range of elevations, we have calculated a
model for the wavefront-errors due to the uncompensated gravitational
deformation of the telescope. This model produces a significant improvement at
low elevations, where these errors are expected to be the largest; after
applying the model, the aperture efficiency is largely independent of
elevation. We have also demonstrated that the technique can be used to measure
and largely correct for thermal deformations of the antenna, which often exceed
the uncompensated gravitational deformations during daytime observing.
We conclude that the aberrations induced by gravity and thermal effects are
large-scale and the technique used here is particularly suitable for measuring
such deformations in large millimetre wave radio telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures (accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics
Atmospheric dispersion and the implications for phase calibration
The success of any ALMA phase-calibration strategy, which incorporates phase
transfer, depends on a good understanding of how the atmospheric path delay
changes with frequency (e.g. Holdaway & Pardo 2001). We explore how the wet
dispersive path delay varies for realistic atmospheric conditions at the ALMA
site using the ATM transmission code. We find the wet dispersive path delay
becomes a significant fraction (>5 per cent) of the non-dispersive delay for
the high-frequency ALMA bands (>160 GHz, Bands 5 to 10). Additionally, the
variation in dispersive path delay across ALMA's 4-GHz contiguous bandwidth is
not significant except in Bands 9 and 10. The ratio of dispersive path delay to
total column of water vapour does not vary significantly for typical amounts of
water vapour, water vapour scale heights and ground pressures above Chajnantor.
However, the temperature profile and particularly the ground-level temperature
are more important. Given the likely constraints from ALMA's ancillary
calibration devices, the uncertainty on the dispersive-path scaling will be
around 2 per cent in the worst case and should contribute about 1 per cent
overall to the wet path fluctuations at the highest frequencies.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, ALMA Memo 59
Science and Technology Review December 2011
This month's issue has the following articles: (1) High-Performance Computing for Energy Innovation - Commentary by Tomas Diaz de la Rubia; (2) Simulating the Next Generation of Energy Technologies - Projects using high-performance computing demonstrate Livermore's computational horsepower and improve the quality of energy solutions and the speed of deployment; (3) ARC Comes into Focus - The Advanced Radiographic Capability, a petawatt-class laser, can penetrate dense objects to reveal material dynamics during National Ignition Facility experiments; (4) A New Method to Track Viral Evolution - A sensitive technique developed at the Laboratory can identify virus mutations that may jump from host to host; and (5) Data for Defense: New Software Finds It Fast - Department of Defense warfighters and planners are using Livermore software systems to extract pertinent information from massive amounts of data
ALMA Temporal Phase Stability and the Effectiveness of Water Vapor Radiometer
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will be the world largest
mm/submm interferometer, and currently the Early Science is ongoing, together
with the commissioning and science verification (CSV). Here we present a study
of the temporal phase stability of the entire ALMA system from antennas to the
correlator. We verified the temporal phase stability of ALMA using data, taken
during the last two years of CSV activities. The data consist of integrations
on strong point sources (i.e., bright quasars) at various frequency bands, and
at various baseline lengths (up to 600 m). From the observations of strong
quasars for a long time (from a few tens of minutes, up to an hour), we derived
the 2-point Allan Standard Deviation after the atmospheric phase correction
using the 183 GHz Water Vapor Radiometer (WVR) installed in each 12 m antenna,
and confirmed that the phase stability of all the baselines reached the ALMA
specification. Since we applied the WVR phase correction to all the data
mentioned above, we also studied the effectiveness of the WVR phase correction
at various frequencies, baseline lengths, and weather conditions. The phase
stability often improves a factor of 2 - 3 after the correction, and sometimes
a factor of 7 improvement can be obtained. However, the corrected data still
displays an increasing phase fluctuation as a function of baseline length,
suggesting that the dry component (e.g., N2 and O2) in the atmosphere also
contributes the phase fluctuation in the data, although the imperfection of the
WVR phase correction cannot be ruled out at this moment.Comment: Proc. SPIE 8444-125, in press (7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table
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Embedding green infrastructure evaluation in neighbourhood masterplans – does BREEAM Communities change anything?
Green Infrastructure (GI) evaluation is reported to improve the sustainability of neighbourhood masterplans, but there has been little research examining the links between GI evaluation and masterplan decision-making. A study of six English masterplanned sites was carried out, with paired case studies reflecting three types of neighbourhood development (estate regeneration, urban infill, rural-urban extension) to examine whether the sustainable neighbourhood standard, BREEAM Communities (BC) affected GI evaluation and masterplan decisions. In each of three pairs, one site had adopted BC and one had not. Strategy-asPractice provided a conceptual framework to analyse 13 evaluative episodes, based on 48 interviews and public documents. The analysis revealed that GI-related recommendations were typically deprioritised at later masterplan stages, despite earlier decisions or the
application of BC. Potential ways to enhance the embeddedness of GI evaluative practice include improving practitioners’ understanding of GI and increasing accountability at later masterplan stages, such as through sustainability reporting
Investigation of possible causes for appearance of a crack in the welded joint of the ship winch frame
Ship winches are one of the most important parts of the ship equipment since they perform the most responsible tasks on various ships. In the majority of cases, the ship winches are welded structures. All the necessary calculations according to required standards, that have to be done prior to actual execution of the structure, should also include the verification by the finite elements method. For the high reliability requirements to be met, the welded joints integrity of all the parts must be examined before they are assembled into the winch. After all the tests are conducted and parts are assembled into the winch, the factory acceptance test (FAT) must be done. During those tests all the flaws, which can appear during manufacturing, must show. An appearance of a very unusual crack in the ship winch frame, which happened during the FAT, is described in this paper. The simulation by the finite elements method was performed to obtain the stresses at which the crack appeared. The possible causes for that crack appearance are considered. Some measures for reducing appearance of such cracks to a minimum are proposed, as well as certain directions for further research of this problem.
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