2,039 research outputs found
Spacecraft 2000: The challenge of the future
Considerable opportunity exists to improve the systems, subsystems, components, etc., included in the space station bus, the non-payload portion of the spacecraft. The steps followed to date, the challenges being faced by industry, and the progress toward establishing a new NASA initiative which will identify the technologies required to build spacecraft of the 21st century and which will implement the technology development/validation programs necessary are described
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Ultrafast Coherent Diffractive Imaging of Nano-Scale Dynamics Using High Harmonic Sources
Imaging at the nano-scale is increasingly important for a host of applications. In order to fully characterize nano-scale processes, their dynamics must be studied at their characteristic length and time scales. When harnessed with coherent diffractive imaging techniques, especially ptychography, extreme ultraviolet light can image these processes at these scales.
This thesis extends ptychography to a higher throughput modality by developing the technique of multiple beam ptychography. This is first demonstrated with beams of different wavelengths, and then with beams of different polarization states. This allows for large field of view imaging and for simultaneous polarization resolved imaging. This thesis then develops these techniques for the case of beams of the same wavelength and polarization by leveraging the aliasing of the measured signal.
Colloidal crystals are important as templates for inverse lattice materials. These crystals are measured using newly developed small angle extreme ultraviolet scattering techniques and ptychographic imaging. These measurements reveal the local and extended symmetries present in the crystal arrangement paving the way for full characterization of novel materials.
Finally, full-field, time-resolved imaging is performed, harnessing the ultrafast nature of high harmonic generation. 10 fs temporal resolution, 100 nm transverse spatial resolution, and 50 pm axial resolution are attained by combining ptychography imaging with pump-probe spectroscopy. This time-resolved microscope directly images acoustic waves traveling in isolated nano-structures. The thermal and acoustic dynamics of these nano-structures are measured. This new capability for measurement at the nano-scale allows for previously impossible measurements of novel materials.</p
Ptychographic hyperspectral spectromicroscopy with an extreme ultraviolet high harmonic comb
We demonstrate a new scheme of spectromicroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet
(EUV) spectral range, where the spectral response of the sample at different
wavelengths is imaged simultaneously. It is enabled by applying ptychographical
information multiplexing (PIM) to a tabletop EUV source based on high harmonic
generation, where four spectrally narrow harmonics near 30 nm form a spectral
comb structure. Extending PIM from previously demonstrated visible wavelengths
to the EUV/X-ray wavelengths promises much higher spatial resolution and more
powerful spectral contrast mechanism, making PIM an attractive
spectromicroscopy method in both the microscopy and the spectroscopy aspects.
Besides the sample, the multicolor EUV beam is also imaged in situ, making our
method a powerful beam characterization technique. No hardware is used to
separate or narrow down the wavelengths, leading to efficient use of the EUV
radiation
Ultraviolet through far-infrared spatially resolved analysis of the recent star formation in M81 (NGC 3031)
The recent star formation (SF) in the early-type spiral galaxy M81 is characterized using imaging observations from the far-ultraviolet to the far-infrared. We compare these data with models of the stellar, gas, and dust emission for subgalactic regions. Our results suggest the existence of a diffuse dust emission not directly linked to the recent star formation. We find a radial decrease of the dust temperature and dust mass density, and in the attenuation of the stellar light. The IR emission in M81 can be modeled with three components: (1) cold dust with a temperature = 18 ± 2 K, concentrated near the H II regions but also presenting a diffuse distribution; (2) warm dust with = 53 ± 7 K, directly linked with the H II regions; and (3) aromatic molecules, with diffuse morphology peaking around the H II regions. We derive several relationships to obtain total IR luminosities from IR monochromatic fluxes, and we compare five different star formation rate (SFR) estimators for H II regions in M81 and M51: the UV, H alpha, and three estimators based on Spitzer data. We find that the H alpha luminosity absorbed by dust correlates tightly with the 24 mu m emission. The correlation with the total IR luminosity is not as good. Important variations from galaxy to galaxy are found when estimating the total SFR with the 24 mu m or the total IR emission alone. The most reliable estimations of the total SFRs are obtained by combining the H alpha emission (or the UV) and an IR luminosity (especially the 24 mu m emission), which probe the unobscured and obscured SF, respectively. For the entire M81 galaxy, about 50% of the total SF is obscured by dust. The percentage of obscured SF ranges from 60% in the inner regions of the galaxy to 30% in the outer zones
The Spectral Energy Distribution of Dust Emission in the Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4631 as seen with Spitzer and the James Clerk Maxwell telescope
We explore variations in dust emission within the edge-on Sd spiral galaxy NGC 4631 using 3.6-160 μm Spitzer Space Telescope data and 450-850 μm JCMT data with the goals of understanding the relation between PAHs and dust emission, studying the variations in the colors of the dust emission, and searching for possible excess submillimeter emission compared to what is expected from dust models extrapolated from far-infrared wavelengths. The 8 μm PAH emission correlates best with 24 μm hot dust emission on 1.7 kpc scales, but the relation breaks down on 650 pc scales, possibly because of differences in the mean free paths between photons that excite the PAHs and photons that heat the dust and possibly because the PAHs are destroyed by the hard radiation fields within some star formation regions. The ratio of 8 μm PAH emission to 160 μm cool dust emission appears to vary as a function of radius. The 70 μm/160 μm and 160 μm/450 μm flux density ratios are remarkably constant even though the surface brightnesses vary by factors of 25, which suggests that the emission is from dust heated by a nearly uniform radiation field. Globally, we find an excess of 850-1230 μm emission relative to what would be predicted by dust models. The 850 μm excess is highest in regions with low 160 μm surface brightnesses, although the magnitude depends on the model fit to the data. We rule out variable emissivity functions or ~4 K dust as the possible origins of this 850 μm emission, but we do discuss the other possible mechanisms that could produce the emission
ZFOURGE: Using Composite Spectral Energy Distributions to Characterize Galaxy Populations at 1<z<4
We investigate the properties of galaxies as they shut off star formation
over the 4 billion years surrounding peak cosmic star formation. To do this we
categorize galaxies from into groups based on the shape
of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and build composite SEDs with
resolution. These composite SEDs show a variety of spectral shapes
and also show trends in parameters such as color, mass, star formation rate,
and emission line equivalent width. Using emission line equivalent widths and
strength of the 4000\AA\ break, , we categorize the composite SEDs
into five classes: extreme emission line, star-forming, transitioning,
post-starburst, and quiescent galaxies. The transitioning population of
galaxies show modest H emission (\AA) compared to
more typical star-forming composite SEDs at
(\AA). Together with their smaller sizes (3 kpc vs. 4 kpc)
and higher S\'ersic indices (2.7 vs. 1.5), this indicates that morphological
changes initiate before the cessation of star formation. The transitional group
shows a strong increase of over one dex in number density from to
, similar to the growth in the quiescent population, while
post-starburst galaxies become rarer at . We calculate average
quenching timescales of 1.6 Gyr at and 0.9 Gyr at and
conclude that a fast quenching mechanism producing post-starbursts dominated
the quenching of galaxies at early times, while a slower process has become
more common since .Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
A Mid-Infrared Study of the Young Stellar Population in the NGC 2024 Cluster
We present the results of the first broadband 10.8 um survey of the NGC 2024
cluster. The mid-infrared data were combined with our previously published JHKL
photometry in order to construct spectral energy distributions for all detected
sources. The main scientific goals were to investigate the nature of the young
stellar objects (YSOs) in the cluster, and to examine the efficiency of
detecting circumstellar disk sources from near-infrared JHKL color-color
diagrams. Out of 59 sources surveyed having K-band magnitudes K < 10.5, we
detected 35 (~59%) at 10 um. Combining these detections, and upper limits for
the non-detections, with existing JHKL data, we identify 1 Class I, 6 flat
spectrum, 28 Class II and 5 Class III sources. We find a circumstellar disk
fraction for NGC 2024 of ~85% +/- 15%, which confirms earlier published
suggestions that the majority, if not all, of the stars in NGC 2024 formed with
disks, and these disks still exist at the present time. In addition, all but
one of the disk sources identified in our survey lie in the infrared excess
region of the JHKL color-color diagram for the cluster. This demonstrates that
JHKL color-color diagrams are extremely efficient in identifying YSOs with
disks. Of the 14 sources with K - L colors suggestive of protostellar objects,
\~29% are protostellar in nature, while ~7% are true Class I YSOs. This may be
due to extinction producing very red K - L colors in Class II YSOs, thus making
them appear similar in color to protostars. This suggests caution must be
applied when estimating the sizes and lifetimes of protostellar populations
within star forming regions based on K - L colors alone. Finally, we calculate
the luminosities of the Class II YSOs in NGC 2024, rho Oph and Taurus and
discuss the results.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, paper to appear in March A
High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies
High spatial and spectral resolution observations of star formation and
kinematics in early galaxies have shown that two-thirds are massive rotating
disk galaxies with the remainder being less massive non-rotating objects. The
line of sight averaged velocity dispersions are typically five times higher
than in today's disk galaxies. This has suggested that
gravitationally-unstable, gas-rich disks in the early Universe are fuelled by
cold, dense accreting gas flowing along cosmic filaments and penetrating hot
galactic gas halos. However these accreting flows have not been observed, and
cosmic accretion cannot power the observed level of turbulence. Here we report
on a new sample of rare high-velocity-dispersion disk galaxies we have
discovered in the nearby Universe where cold accretion is unlikely to drive
their high star-formation rates. We find that the velocity dispersion is most
fundamentally correlated with their star-formation rates, and not their mass
nor gas fraction, which leads to a new picture where star formation itself is
the energetic driver of galaxy disk turbulence at all cosmic epochs.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Supplimentary Info available at:
http://pulsar.swin.edu.au/~agreen/nature/sigma_mean_arXiv.pdf. Accepted for
publication in Natur
Warm Dust and Spatially Variable PAH Emission in the Dwarf Starburst Galaxy NGC 1705
We present Spitzer observations of the dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 1705
obtained as part of SINGS. The galaxy morphology is very different shortward
and longward of ~5 microns: short-wavelength imaging shows an underlying red
stellar population, with the central super star cluster (SSC) dominating the
luminosity; longer-wavelength data reveals warm dust emission arising from two
off-nuclear regions offset by ~250 pc from the SSC. These regions show little
extinction at optical wavelengths. The galaxy has a relatively low global dust
mass (~2E5 solar masses, implying a global dust-to-gas mass ratio ~2--4 times
lower than the Milky Way average). The off-nuclear dust emission appears to be
powered by photons from the same stellar population responsible for the
excitation of the observed H Alpha emission; these photons are unassociated
with the SSC (though a contribution from embedded sources to the IR luminosity
of the off-nuclear regions cannot be ruled out). Low-resolution IRS
spectroscopy shows moderate-strength PAH emission in the 11.3 micron band in
the eastern peak; no PAH emission is detected in the SSC or the western dust
emission complex. There is significant diffuse 8 micron emission after scaling
and subtracting shorter wavelength data; the spatially variable PAH emission
strengths revealed by the IRS data suggest caution in the interpretation of
diffuse 8 micron emission as arising from PAH carriers alone. The metallicity
of NGC 1705 falls at the transition level of 35% solar found by Engelbracht and
collaborators; the fact that a system at this metallicity shows spatially
variable PAH emission demonstrates the complexity of interpreting diffuse 8
micron emission. A radio continuum non-detection, NGC 1705 deviates
significantly from the canonical far-IR vs. radio correlation. (Abridged)Comment: ApJ, in press; please retrieve full-resolution version from
http://www.astro.wesleyan.edu/~cannon/pubs.htm
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