2,210 research outputs found
Stability of the Submillimeter Brightness of the Atmosphere Above Mauna Kea, Chajnantor and the South Pole
The summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the area near Cerro Chajnantor in Chile,
and the South Pole are sites of large millimeter or submillimeter wavelength
telescopes. We have placed 860 GHz sky brightness monitors at all three sites
and present a comparative study of the measured submillimeter brightness due to
atmospheric thermal emission. We report the stability of that quantity at each
site.Comment: 6 figure
The wintertime South Pole tropospheric water vapor column: Comparisons of radiosonde and recent terahertz radiometry, use of the saturated column as a proxy measurement, and inference of decadal trends
We use a fifty-year record of wintertime radiosonde observations at the South Pole to estimate the precipitable water vapor column (PWV) over the entire period. Humidity data from older radiosondes is of limited reliability; however, we think an estimation of PWV is possible using temperature data because the wintertime lower troposphere is very close to saturated. From temperature data we derived PWV_SAT which is the PWV if the troposphere was saturated over the entire column. Comparisons to recent radiosonde humidity data indicate that PWV ≃ 0.88PWV_SAT. Since 1998 a CMU/NRAO 860 GHz atmospheric radiometer has been operating at the South Pole producing zenith opacity data, τo. It is expected that τo ∝ PWV, and also τ_o ∝ PWV_SAT, since the lower atmospheric column is near to saturation. We compare trends in τo, PWV_SAT, and PWV. PWV and PWV_SAT showed little trend in the last fifty years, 1961 to 2010, except perhaps in the last two decades, when PWVSAT was below average, followed by an increasing trend to above average. This increasing trend in the last decade was also observed in τo, except for the final two years when it appears that something changed in the instrument response. PWV_SAT is a useful metric for estimating PWV in the earlier years of wintertime South Pole radiosonde, and it is generally useful for evaluating the wintertime performance of radiosonde humidity and atmospheric opacity instrumentation
Global Energetics of Thirty-Eight Large Solar Eruptive Events
We have evaluated the energetics of 38 solar eruptive events observed by a
variety of spacecraft instruments between February 2002 and December 2006, as
accurately as the observations allow. The measured energetic components
include: (1) the radiated energy in the GOES 1 - 8 A band; (2) the total energy
radiated from the soft X-ray (SXR) emitting plasma; (3) the peak energy in the
SXR-emitting plasma; (4) the bolometric radiated energy over the full duration
of the event; (5) the energy in flare-accelerated electrons above 20 keV and in
flare-accelerated ions above 1 MeV; (6) the kinetic and potential energies of
the coronal mass ejection (CME); (7) the energy in solar energetic particles
(SEPs) observed in interplanetary space; and (8) the amount of free
(nonpotential) magnetic energy estimated to be available in the pertinent
active region. Major conclusions include: (1) the energy radiated by the
SXR-emitting plasma exceeds, by about half an order of magnitude, the peak
energy content of the thermal plasma that produces this radiation; (2) the
energy content in flare-accelerated electrons and ions is sufficient to supply
the bolometric energy radiated across all wavelengths throughout the event; (3)
the energy contents of flare-accelerated electrons and ions are comparable; (4)
the energy in SEPs is typically a few percent of the CME kinetic energy
(measured in the rest frame of the solar wind); and (5) the available magnetic
energy is sufficient to power the CME, the flare-accelerated particles, and the
hot thermal plasma
The Yarkovsky Drift's Influence on NEAs: Trends and Predictions with NEOWISE Measurements
We used WISE-derived geometric albedos (p_V) and diameters, as well as
geometric albedos and diameters from the literature, to produce more accurate
diurnal Yarkovsky drift predictions for 540 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) out of
the current sample of \sim 8,800 known objects. As ten of the twelve objects
with the fastest predicted rates have observed arcs of less than a decade, we
list upcoming apparitions of these NEAs to facilitate observations.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. 41 pages, 3
figure
Millimeter Wavelength Brightness Fluctuations of the Atmosphere Above the South Pole
We report measurements of the millimeter wavelength brightness fluctuations
produced by the atmosphere above the South Pole made with the Arcminute
Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR). The data span the 2002 Austral
winter during which ACBAR was mounted on the Viper telescope at the South Pole.
We recover the atmospheric signal in the presence of instrument noise by
calculating the correlation between signals from distinct elements of the ACBAR
bolometer array. With this method, it is possible to measure atmospheric
brightness fluctuations with high SNR even under the most stable atmospheric
conditions. The observed atmospheric signal is characterized by the parameters
of the Komolgorov-Taylor (KT) model, which are the amplitude and power law
exponent describing the atmospheric power spectrum, and the two components of
the wind angular velocity at the time of the observation. The KT model is
typically a good description of the observed fluctuations, and fits to the data
produce values of the Komolgorov exponent that are consistent with theoretical
expectations. By combining the wind angular velocity results with measurements
of the wind linear velocity, we find that the altitude of the observed
atmospheric fluctuations is consistent with the distribution of water vapor
determined from radiosonde data. For data corresponding to frequency passbands
centered on 150, 219, and 274 GHz, we obtain median fluctuation power
amplitudes of [10, 38, 74] mK^{2} rad^{-5/3} in Rayleigh-Jeans temperature
units. Comparing with previous work, we find that these median amplitudes are
approximately an order of magnitude smaller than those found at the South Pole
during the Austral summer and at least 30 times lower than found at the ALMA
site in the Atacama desert.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, submitted to ApJ, vertical margins fixe
Technology Development for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory Balanced Receivers
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) is located on top of Mauna Kea,
Hawaii, at an altitude of 4.2 km. The existing suite of facility heterodyne
receivers covering the submillimeter band is rapidly aging and in need of
replacement. To facilitate deep integrations and automated spectral line
surveys, a family of remote programmable, synthesized, dual-frequency balanced
receivers covering the astronomical important 180 - 720 GHz atmospheric windows
is in an advanced stage of development. Installation of the first set of
receivers is expected in the spring of 2012.
Dual-frequency observation will be an important mode of operation offered by
the new facility instrumentation. Two band observations are accomplished by
separating the H and V polarizations of the incoming signal and routing them
via folded optics to the appropriate polarization sensitive balanced mixer.
Scientifically this observation mode facilitates pointing for the higher
receiver band under mediocre weather conditions and a doubling of scientific
throughput (2 x 4 GHz) under good weather conditions.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures; IEEE Terahertz Science & Technology, January
2012, Volume 2, Issue
Hole-burning experiments within solvable glassy models
We reproduce the results of non-resonant spectral hole-burning experiments
with fully-connected (equivalently infinite-dimensional) glassy models that are
generalizations of the mode-coupling approach to nonequilibrium situations. We
show that an ac-field modifies the integrated linear response and the
correlation function in a way that depends on the amplitude and frequency of
the pumping field. We study the effect of the waiting and recovery-times and
the number of oscillations applied. This calculation will help descriminating
which results can and which cannot be attributed to dynamic heterogeneities in
real systems.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, RevTe
Universal Power Law in the Noise from a Crumpled Elastic Sheet
Using high-resolution digital recordings, we study the crackling sound
emitted from crumpled sheets of mylar as they are strained. These sheets
possess many of the qualitative features of traditional disordered systems
including frustration and discrete memory. The sound can be resolved into
discrete clicks, emitted during rapid changes in the rough conformation of the
sheet. Observed click energies range over six orders of magnitude. The measured
energy autocorrelation function for the sound is consistent with a stretched
exponential C(t) ~ exp(-(t/T)^{b}) with b = .35. The probability distribution
of click energies has a power law regime p(E) ~ E^{-a} where a = 1. We find the
same power law for a variety of sheet sizes and materials, suggesting that this
p(E) is universal.Comment: 5 pages (revtex), 10 uuencoded postscript figures appended, html
version at http://rainbow.uchicago.edu/~krame
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