106 research outputs found
The ALMA detection of CO rotational line emission in AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Context. Low- and intermediate-mass stars lose most of their stellar mass at the end of their lives on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). Determining gas and dust mass-loss rates (MLRs) is important in quantifying the contribution of evolved stars to the enrichment of the interstellar medium.
Aims: This study attempts to spectrally resolve CO thermal line emission in a small sample of AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
Methods: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array was used to observe two OH/IR stars and four carbon stars in the LMC in the CO J = 2-1 line.
Results: We present the first measurement of expansion velocities in extragalactic carbon stars. All four C stars are detected and wind expansion velocities and stellar velocities are directly measured. Mass-loss rates are derived from modelling the spectral energy distribution and Spitzer/IRS spectrum with the DUSTY code. The derived gas-to-dust ratios allow the predicted velocities to agree with the observed gas-to-dust ratios. The expansion velocities and MLRs are compared to a Galactic sample of well-studied relatively low MLRs stars supplemented with extreme C stars with properties that are more similar to the LMC targets. Gas MLRs derived from a simple formula are significantly smaller than those derived from dust modelling, indicating an order of magnitude underestimate of the estimated CO abundance, time-variable mass loss, or that the CO intensities in LMC stars are lower than predicted by the formula derived for Galactic objects. This could be related to a stronger interstellar radiation field in the LMC.
Conclusions: Although the LMC sample is small and the comparison to Galactic stars is non-trivial because of uncertainties in their distances (hence luminosities), it appears that for C stars the wind expansion velocities in the LMC are lower than in the solar neighbourhood, while the MLRs appear to be similar. This is in agreement with dynamical dust-driven wind models
Atypical birdsong and artificial languages provide insights into how communication systems are shaped by learning, use and transmission
In this article, I argue that a comparative approach focusing on the cognitive capacities and behavioral mechanisms that underlie vocal learning in songbirds and humans can provide valuable insights into the evolutionary origins of language. The experimental approaches I discuss use abnormal song and atypical linguistic input to study the processes of individual learning, social interaction, and cultural transmission. Atypical input places increased learning and communicative pressure on learners, so exploring how they respond to this type of input provides a particularly clear picture of the biases and constraints at work during learning and use. Furthermore, simulating the cultural transmission of these unnatural communication systems in the laboratory informs us about how learning and social biases influence the structure of communication systems in the long run. Findings based on these methods suggest fundamental similarities in the basic social–cognitive mechanisms underlying vocal learning in birds and humans, and continuing research promises insights into the uniquely human mechanisms and into how human cognition and social behavior interact, and ultimately impact on the evolution of language
Performance of Al-Mn Transition-Edge Sensor Bolometers in SPT-3G
SPT-3G is a polarization-sensitive receiver, installed on the South Pole
Telescope, that measures the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) from degree to arcminute scales. The receiver consists of ten
150~mm-diameter detector wafers, containing a total of 16,000 transition-edge
sensor (TES) bolometers observing at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. During the 2018-2019
austral summer, one of these detector wafers was replaced by a new wafer
fabricated with Al-Mn TESs instead of the Ti/Au design originally deployed for
SPT-3G. We present the results of in-lab characterization and on-sky
performance of this Al-Mn wafer, including electrical and thermal properties,
optical efficiency measurements, and noise-equivalent temperature. In addition,
we discuss and account for several calibration-related systematic errors that
affect measurements made using frequency-domain multiplexing readout
electronics.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to the Journal of Low Temperature
Physics: LTD18 Special Editio
Constraints on CDM Extensions from the SPT-3G 2018 and Power Spectra
We present constraints on extensions to the CDM cosmological model
from measurements of the -mode polarization auto-power spectrum and the
temperature--mode cross-power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) made using 2018 SPT-3G data. The extensions considered vary the
primordial helium abundance, the effective number of relativistic degrees of
freedom, the sum of neutrino masses, the relativistic energy density and mass
of a sterile neutrino, and the mean spatial curvature. We do not find clear
evidence for any of these extensions, from either the SPT-3G 2018 dataset alone
or in combination with baryon acoustic oscillation and \textit{Planck} data.
None of these model extensions significantly relax the tension between
Hubble-constant, , constraints from the CMB and from distance-ladder
measurements using Cepheids and supernovae. The addition of the SPT-3G 2018
data to \textit{Planck} reduces the square-root of the determinants of the
parameter covariance matrices by factors of across these models,
signaling a substantial reduction in the allowed parameter volume. We also
explore CMB-based constraints on from combined SPT, \textit{Planck}, and
ACT DR4 datasets. While individual experiments see some indications of
different values between the , , and spectra, the combined
constraints are consistent between the three spectra. For the full
combined datasets, we report , which is the tightest constraint on
from CMB power spectra to date and in tension with the most
precise distance-ladder-based measurement of . The SPT-3G survey is
planned to continue through at least 2023, with existing maps of combined 2019
and 2020 data already having lower noise than the maps used in
this analysis.Comment: Submitted to PRD; 19 pages, 7 figure
Performance and characterization of the SPT-3G digital frequency-domain multiplexed readout system using an improved noise and crosstalk model
The third generation South Pole Telescope camera (SPT-3G) improves upon its predecessor (SPTpol) by an order of magnitude increase in detectors on the focal plane. The technology used to read out and control these detectors, digital frequency-domain multiplexing (DfMUX), is conceptually the same as used for SPTpol, but extended to accommodate more detectors. A nearly 5x expansion in the readout operating bandwidth has enabled the use of this large focal plane, and SPT-3G performance meets the forecasting targets relevant to its science objectives. However, the electrical dynamics of the higher-bandwidth readout differ from predictions based on models of the SPTpol system. To address this, we present an updated derivation for electrical crosstalk in higher-bandwidth DfMUX systems, and identify two previously uncharacterized contributions to readout noise. The updated crosstalk and noise models successfully describe the measured crosstalk and readout noise performance of SPT-3G, and suggest improvements to the readout system for future experiments using DfMUX, such as the LiteBIRD space telescope
The Design and Integrated Performance of SPT-3G
SPT-3G is the third survey receiver operating on the South Pole Telescope
dedicated to high-resolution observations of the cosmic microwave background
(CMB). Sensitive measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies
of the CMB provide a powerful dataset for constraining cosmology. Additionally,
CMB surveys with arcminute-scale resolution are capable of detecting galaxy
clusters, millimeter-wave bright galaxies, and a variety of transient
phenomena. The SPT-3G instrument provides a significant improvement in mapping
speed over its predecessors, SPT-SZ and SPTpol. The broadband optics design of
the instrument achieves a 430 mm diameter image plane across observing bands of
95 GHz, 150 GHz, and 220 GHz, with 1.2 arcmin FWHM beam response at 150 GHz. In
the receiver, this image plane is populated with 2690 dual-polarization,
tri-chroic pixels (~16000 detectors) read out using a 68X digital
frequency-domain multiplexing readout system. In 2018, SPT-3G began a multiyear
survey of 1500 deg of the southern sky. We summarize the unique optical,
cryogenic, detector, and readout technologies employed in SPT-3G, and we report
on the integrated performance of the instrument.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to ApJ
A Measurement of Gravitational Lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background Using SPT-3G 2018 Data
We present a measurement of gravitational lensing over 1500 deg of the
Southern sky using SPT-3G temperature data at 95 and 150 GHz taken in 2018. The
lensing amplitude relative to a fiducial Planck 2018 CDM cosmology is
found to be , excluding instrumental and astrophysical
systematic uncertainties. We conduct extensive systematic and null tests to
check the robustness of the lensing measurements, and report a minimum-variance
combined lensing power spectrum over angular multipoles of , which
we use to constrain cosmological models. When analyzed alone and jointly with
primary cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectra within the CDM
model, our lensing amplitude measurements are consistent with measurements from
SPT-SZ, SPTpol, ACT, and Planck. Incorporating loose priors on the baryon
density and other parameters including uncertainties on a foreground bias
template, we obtain a constraint on using the SPT-3G 2018 lensing data alone, where
is a common measure of the amplitude of structure today and
is the matter density parameter. Combining SPT-3G 2018 lensing
measurements with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data, we derive parameter
constraints of , , and Hubble constant
km s Mpc. Using CMB anisotropy and lensing measurements from
SPT-3G only, we provide independent constraints on the spatial curvature of
(95% C.L.) and the dark energy density
of (68% C.L.). When combining SPT-3G
lensing data with SPT-3G CMB anisotropy and BAO data, we find an upper limit on
the sum of the neutrino masses of eV (95% C.L.)
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