Functorial properties of Putnam's homology theory for Smale spaces

We investigate functorial properties of Putnam's homology theory for Smale spaces. Our analysis shows that the addition of a conjugacy condition is necessary to ensure functoriality. Several examples are discussed that elucidate the need for our additional hypotheses. Our second main result is a natural generalization of Putnam's Pullback Lemma from shifts of finite type to non-wandering Smale spaces.Comment: Updated to agree with published versio

Description of nuclear systems with a self-consistent configuration-mixing approach. I: Theory, algorithm, and application to the 12^{12}C test nucleus

Although self-consistent multi-configuration methods have been used for decades to address the description of atomic and molecular many-body systems, only a few trials have been made in the context of nuclear structure. This work aims at the development of such an approach to describe in a unified way various types of correlations in nuclei, in a self-consistent manner where the mean-field is improved as correlations are introduced. The goal is to reconcile the usually set apart Shell-Model and Self-Consistent Mean-Field methods. This approach is referred as "variational multiparticle-multihole configuration mixing method". It is based on a double variational principle which yields a set of two coupled equations that determine at the same time the expansion coefficients of the many-body wave function and the single particle states. The formalism is derived and discussed in a general context, starting from a three-body Hamiltonian. Links to existing many-body techniques such as the formalism of Green's functions are established. First applications are done using the two-body D1S Gogny effective force. The numerical procedure is tested on the $^{12}$C nucleus in order to study the convergence features of the algorithm in different contexts. Ground state properties as well as single-particle quantities are analyzed, and the description of the first $2^+$ state is examined. This study allows to validate our numerical algorithm and leads to encouraging results. In order to test the method further, we will realize in the second article of this series, a systematic description of more nuclei and observables obtained by applying the newly-developed numerical procedure with the same Gogny force. As raised in the present work, applications of the variational multiparticle-multihole configuration mixing method will however ultimately require the use of an extended and more constrained Gogny force.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C. v2: minor corrections and references adde

The Galactic bulge as seen in optical surveys

The bulge is a region of the Galaxy of tremendous interest for understanding galaxy formation. However measuring photometry and kinematics in it raises several inherent issues, such as severe crowding and high extinction in the visible. Using the Besancon Galaxy model and a 3D extinction map, we estimate the stellar density as a function of longitude, latitude and apparent magnitude and we deduce the possibility of reaching and measuring bulge stars with Gaia. We also present an ongoing analysis of the bulge using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.Comment: In SF2A-2008: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysic

Application of frequency map analysis to the ALS

Frequency map analysis is a numerical method based on Fourier techniques which provides a clear representation of the global dynamics of many multi-dimensional systems, and which is particularly useful for systems of 3 degrees of freedom and more. The frequency dependence with time also allows refined estimates of the diffusion of the orbits. Here are presented the theoretical foundation of the method, and some applications to the Advanced Light Source, demonstrating how frequency map analysis can be used to understand the limits of the dynamic aperture under various lattice conditions and predict more favorable working points

SlicerAstro: a 3-D interactive visual analytics tool for HI data

SKA precursors are capable of detecting hundreds of galaxies in HI in a single 12 hours pointing. In deeper surveys one will probe more easily faint HI structures, typically located in the vicinity of galaxies, such as tails, filaments, and extraplanar gas. The importance of interactive visualization has proven to be fundamental for the exploration of such data as it helps users to receive immediate feedback when manipulating the data. We have developed SlicerAstro, a 3-D interactive viewer with new analysis capabilities, based on traditional 2-D input/output hardware. These capabilities enhance the data inspection, allowing faster analysis of complex sources than with traditional tools. SlicerAstro is an open-source extension of 3DSlicer, a multi-platform open source software package for visualization and medical image processing. We demonstrate the capabilities of the current stable binary release of SlicerAstro, which offers the following features: i) handling of FITS files and astronomical coordinate systems; ii) coupled 2-D/3-D visualization; iii) interactive filtering; iv) interactive 3-D masking; v) and interactive 3-D modeling. In addition, SlicerAstro has been designed with a strong, stable and modular C++ core, and its classes are also accessible via Python scripting, allowing great flexibility for user-customized visualization and analysis tasks.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, Accepted by Astronomy and Computing. SlicerAstro link: https://github.com/Punzo/SlicerAstro/wiki#get-slicerastr

Ultra- and Hyper-compact HII regions at 20 GHz

We present radio and infrared observations of 4 hyper-compact HII regions and 4 ultra-compact HII regions in the southern Galactic plane. These objects were selected from a blind survey for UCHII regions using data from two new radio surveys of the southern sky; the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey (AT20G) and the 2nd epoch Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey (MGPS-2) at 843 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the first blind radio survey for hyper- and ultra-compact HII regions. We have followed up these sources with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to obtain H70-alpha recombination line measurements, higher resolution images at 20 GHz and flux density measurements at 30, 40 and 95 GHz. From this we have determined sizes and recombination line temperatures as well as modeling the spectral energy distributions to determine emission measures. We have classified the sources as hyper-compact or ultra-compact on the basis of their physical parameters, in comparison with benchmark parameters from the literature. Several of these bright, compact sources are potential calibrators for the Low Frequency Instrument (30-70 GHz) and the 100-GHz channel of the High Frequency Instrument of the Planck satellite mission. They may also be useful as calibrators for the Australia Telescope Compact Array, which lacks good non-variable primary flux calibrators at higher frequencies and in the Galactic plane region. Our spectral energy distributions allow the flux densities within the Planck bands to be determined, although our high frequency observations show that several sources have excess emission at 95 GHz (3 mm) that can not be explained by current models.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA