The first radial velocity measurements of a microlensing event: no evidence for the predicted binary

The gravitational microlensing technique allows the discovery of exoplanets around stars distributed in the disk of the galaxy towards the bulge. However, the alignment of two stars that led to the discovery is unique over the timescale of a human life and cannot be re-observed. Moreover, the target host is often very faint and located in a crowded region. These difficulties hamper and often make impossible the follow-up of the target and study of its possible companions. Gould et al. (2013) predicted the radial-velocity curve of a binary system, OGLE-2011-BLG-0417, discovered and characterised from a microlensing event by Shin et al. (2012). We used the UVES spectrograph mounted at the VLT, ESO to derive precise radial-velocity measurements of OGLE-2011-BLG-0417. To gather high-precision on faint targets of microlensing events, we proposed to use the source star as a reference to measure the lens radial velocities. We obtained ten radial velocities on the putative V=18 lens with a dispersion of ~100 m/s, spread over one year. Our measurements do not confirm the microlensing prediction for this binary system. The most likely scenario is that the assumed V=18 mag lens is actually a blend and not the primary lens that is 2 magnitude fainter. Further observations and analyses are needed to understand the microlensing observation and infer on the nature and characteristics of the lens itself.Comment: submitted on 3rd June 2015 to A&ALette

Photometry of K2 Campaign 9 bulge data

In its Campaign 9, K2 observed dense regions toward the Galactic bulge in order to constrain the microlensing parallaxes and probe for free-floating planets. Photometric reduction of the \emph{K2} bulge data poses a significant challenge due to a combination of the very high stellar density, large pixels of the Kepler camera, and the pointing drift of the spacecraft. Here we present a new method to extract K2 photometry in dense stellar regions. We extended the Causal Pixel Model developed for less-crowded fields, first by using the pixel response function together with accurate astrometric grids, second by combining signals from a few pixels, and third by simultaneously fitting for an astrophysical model. We tested the method on two microlensing events and a long-period eclipsing binary. The extracted K2 photometry is an order of magnitude more precise than the photometry from other method

Microsecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction for the investigation of fatigue behavior during ultrasonic fatigue loading

International audienceA new method based on time-resolved X-ray diffraction is proposed in order to measure the elastic strain and stress during ultrasonic fatigue loading experiments. Pure Cu was chosen as an example material for the experiments using a 20 kHz ultrasonic fatigue machine mounted on the six-circle diffractometer available at the DiffAbs beamline on the SOLEIL synchrotron facility in France. A two-dimensional hybrid pixel X-ray detector (XPAD3.2) was triggered by the strain gage signal in a synchronous data acquisition scheme (pump–probe-like). The method enables studying loading cycles with a period of 50 µs, achieving a temporal resolution of 1 µs. This allows a precise reconstruction of the diffraction patterns during the loading cycles. From the diffraction patterns, the position of the peaks, their shifts and their respective broadening can be deduced. The diffraction peak shift allows the elastic lattice strain to be estimated with a resolution of ∼10−5. Stress is calculated by the self-consistent scale-transition model through which the elastic response of the material is estimated. The amplitudes of the cyclic stresses range from 40 to 120 MPa and vary linearly with respect to the displacement applied by the ultrasonic machine. Moreover, the experimental results highlight an increase of the diffraction peak broadening with the number of applied cycles

Fatigue crack initiation detection by an infrared thermography method

In this paper, the study of the temperature variation during fatigue tests was carried out on different materials (steels and aluminium alloys). Tests were performed at ambient temperature using a piezoelectric fatigue system (20 kHz). The temperature field was measured on the surface of the specimen, by means of an infrared camera. Just at the beginning of the test, it was observed that the temperature increased, followed by a stabilization which corresponds to the balance between dissipated energy associated with microplasticity and the energy lost by convection and radiation at the specimen surface and by conduction inside the specimen. At the crack initiation, the surface temperature suddenly increases (whatever the localization of the initiation), which allows the determination of the number of cycles at the crack initiation and the number of cycles devoted to the fatigue crack propagation. In the gigacycle fatigue domain, more than 92% of the total life is devoted to the initiation of the crack. So, the study of the thermal dissipation during the test appears a promising method to improve the understanding of the damage and failure mechanism in fatigue and to determine the number of cycles at initiation

Microlensing Results Challenge the Core Accretion Runaway Growth Scenario for Gas Giants

We compare the planet-to-star mass-ratio distribution measured by gravitational microlensing to core accretion theory predictions from population synthesis models. The core accretion theory's runaway gas accretion process predicts a dearth of intermediate-mass giant planets that is not seen in the microlensing results. In particular, the models predict $\sim10\,\times$ fewer planets at mass ratios of $10^{-4} \leq q \leq 4 \times 10^{-4}$ than inferred from microlensing observations. This tension implies that gas giant formation may involve processes that have hitherto been overlooked by existing core accretion models or that the planet-forming environment varies considerably as a function of host-star mass. Variation from the usual assumptions for the protoplanetary disk viscosity and thickness could reduce this discrepancy, but such changes might conflict with microlensing results at larger or smaller mass ratios, or with other observations. The resolution of this discrepancy may have important implications for planetary habitability because it has been suggested that the runaway gas accretion process may have triggered the delivery of water to our inner solar system. So, an understanding of giant planet formation may help us to determine the occurrence rate of habitable planets.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

Association of progeny variance and genetic distances among parents and implications for the design of elite maize breeding programs

Choice of crosses is crucial for a successful and sustainable management of breeding programs. Our objectives were to (1) investigate the association between the Rogers’ distances among parents and the genetic variance within their crosses (σ2 within) in elite maize breeding germplasm, (2) study whether this association can be improved selecting trait-specific markers, and (3) evaluate the consequences to implement the usefulness criterion based on Rogers’ distances on the optimum choice of crosses. Testcross performance of eleven segregating crosses with a total of 930 progenies was evaluated in six environments for grain yield (GY) and grain moisture content (GMC). Moreover, the 930 genotypes were fingerprinted with 425 polymorphic SNP markers. Our findings revealed that working within a heterotic group, σ2 within increased with increasing Rogers’ distances among the parents. This was more pronounced for GY (rP = 0.55 P < 0.1) compared to GMC (rP = 0.17). Selecting trait specific markers, which were associated with putative QTL affecting these traits, led for GY to a decrease in the association between σ2 within and Rogers’ distances among the parents. Consequently, using for GY a regression model based on Rogers’ distances estimated with an unselected set of markers allows a rough implementation of the usefulness criterion in maize breeding programs. Our model calculations suggested that implementing the usefulness criterion will facilitate a broadening of the diversity of elite maize breeding pools by counterbalancing a reduction in parental performance with an increase in σ2 within

Back and forth: day–night alternation between cover types reveals complementary use of habitats in a large herbivore

Context The Complementary Habitat Hypothesis posits that animals access resources for different needs by moving between complementary habitats that can be seen as ‘resource composites’. These movements can occur over a range of temporal scales, from diurnal to seasonal, in response to multiple drivers such as access to food, weather constraints, risk avoidance and human disturbance. Within this framework, we hypothesised that large herbivores cope with human-altered landscapes through the alternate use of complementary habitats at both daily and seasonal scales. Objectives We tested the Complementary Habitat Hypothesis in European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) by classifying 3900 habitat-annotated movement trajectories of 154 GPS-monitored individuals across contrasting landscapes. Methods We considered day-night alternation between open food-rich and closed refuge habitats as a measure of complementary habitat use. We first identified day–night alternation using the Individual Movement - Sequence Analysis Method, then we modelled the proportion of day–night alternation over the year in relation to population and individual characteristics. Results We found that day-night alternation is a widespread behaviour in roe deer, even across markedly different landscapes. Day–night alternation followed seasonal trends in all populations, partly linked to vegetation phenology. Within populations, seasonal patterns of open/closed habitat alternation differed between male and female adults, but not in juveniles. Conclusion Our results support the Complementary Habitat Hypothesis by showing that roe deer adjust their access to the varied resources available in complex landscapes by including different habitats within their home range, and sequentially alternating between them in response to seasonal changes and individual life history

WFIRST Exoplanet Mass-measurement Method Finds a Planetary Mass of 39 ± 8 M_⊕ for OGLE-2012-BLG-0950Lb

We present the analysis of the simultaneous high-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck adaptive optics system of the planetary event OGLE-2012-BLG-0950 that determine that the system consists of a 0.58 ± 0.04 M_⊕ host star orbited by a 39 ± 8 M_⊕ planet at a projected separation of 2.54 ± 0.23 au. The planetary system is located at a distance of 2.19 ± 0.23 kpc from Earth. This is the second microlens planet beyond the snow line with a mass measured to be in the mass range 20–80 M_⊕. The runaway gas accretion process of the core accretion model predicts fewer planets in this mass range. This is because giant planets are thought to be growing rapidly at these masses, and they rarely complete growth at this mass. So this result suggests that the core accretion theory may need revision. This analysis also demonstrates the techniques that will be used to measure the masses of planets and their host stars by the WFIRST exoplanet microlensing survey: one-dimensional microlensing parallax combined with the separation and brightness measurement of the unresolved source and host stars to yield multiple redundant constraints on the masses and distance of the planetary system