1,237 research outputs found
Design and characterization of 90 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeter pixels in the SPTPol camera
The SPTpol camera is a two-color, polarization-sensitive bolometer receiver, and was installed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope in January 2012. SPTpol is designed to study the faint polarization signals in the Cosmic Microwave Background, with two primary scientific goals. One is to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio of perturbations in the primordial plasma, and thus constrain the space of permissible in inflationary models. The other is to measure the weak lensing effect of large-scale structure on CMB polarization, which can be used to constrain the sum of neutrino masses as well as other growth-related parameters. The SPTpol focal plane consists of seven 84-element monolithic arrays of 150 GHz pixels (588 total) and 180 individual 90 GHz single- pixel modules. In this paper we present the design and characterization of the 90 GHz modules
An assessment of the resolution limitation due to radiation-damage in x-ray diffraction microscopy
X-ray diffraction microscopy (XDM) is a new form of x-ray imaging that is
being practiced at several third-generation synchrotron-radiation x-ray
facilities. Although only five years have elapsed since the technique was first
introduced, it has made rapid progress in demonstrating high-resolution
threedimensional imaging and promises few-nm resolution with much larger
samples than can be imaged in the transmission electron microscope. Both life-
and materials-science applications of XDM are intended, and it is expected that
the principal limitation to resolution will be radiation damage for life
science and the coherent power of available x-ray sources for material science.
In this paper we address the question of the role of radiation damage. We use a
statistical analysis based on the so-called "dose fractionation theorem" of
Hegerl and Hoppe to calculate the dose needed to make an image of a lifescience
sample by XDM with a given resolution. We conclude that the needed dose scales
with the inverse fourth power of the resolution and present experimental
evidence to support this finding. To determine the maximum tolerable dose we
have assembled a number of data taken from the literature plus some
measurements of our own which cover ranges of resolution that are not well
covered by reports in the literature. The tentative conclusion of this study is
that XDM should be able to image frozen-hydrated protein samples at a
resolution of about 10 nm with "Rose-criterion" image quality.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Design and characterization of 90 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeter pixels in the SPTPol camera
The SPTpol camera is a two-color, polarization-sensitive bolometer receiver, and was installed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope in January 2012. SPTpol is designed to study the faint polarization signals in the Cosmic Microwave Background, with two primary scientific goals. One is to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio of perturbations in the primordial plasma, and thus constrain the space of permissible in inflationary models. The other is to measure the weak lensing effect of large-scale structure on CMB polarization, which can be used to constrain the sum of neutrino masses as well as other growth-related parameters. The SPTpol focal plane consists of seven 84-element monolithic arrays of 150 GHz pixels (588 total) and 180 individual 90 GHz single- pixel modules. In this paper we present the design and characterization of the 90 GHz modules
The C12(α,γ)O16 reaction and its implications for stellar helium burning
The creation of carbon and oxygen in our Universe is one of the forefront questions in nuclear astrophysics. The determination of the abundance of these elements is key to our understanding of both the formation of life on Earth and to the life cycles of stars. While nearly all models of different nucleosynthesis environments are affected by the production of carbon and oxygen, a key ingredient, the precise determination of the reaction rate of C12(α, 3)O16, has long remained elusive. This is owed to the reaction's inaccessibility, both experimentally and theoretically. Nuclear theory has struggled to calculate this reaction rate because the cross section is produced through different underlying nuclear mechanisms. Isospin selection rules suppress the E1 component of the ground state cross section, creating a unique situation where the E1 and E2 contributions are of nearly equal amplitudes. Experimentally there have also been great challenges. Measurements have been pushed to the limits of state-of-the-art techniques, often developed for just these measurements. The data have been plagued by uncharacterized uncertainties, often the result of the novel measurement techniques that have made the different results challenging to reconcile. However, the situation has markedly improved in recent years, and the desired level of uncertainty ‰10% may be in sight. In this review the current understanding of this critical reaction is summarized. The emphasis is placed primarily on the experimental work and interpretation of the reaction data, but discussions of the theory and astrophysics are also pursued. The main goal is to summarize and clarify the current understanding of the reaction and then point the way forward to an improved determination of the reaction rate
Performance and on-sky optical characterization of the SPTpol instrument
In January 2012, the 10m South Pole Telescope (SPT) was equipped with a
polarization-sensitive camera, SPTpol, in order to measure the polarization
anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Measurements of the
polarization of the CMB at small angular scales (~several arcminutes) can
detect the gravitational lensing of the CMB by large scale structure and
constrain the sum of the neutrino masses. At large angular scales (~few
degrees) CMB measurements can constrain the energy scale of Inflation. SPTpol
is a two-color mm-wave camera that consists of 180 polarimeters at 90 GHz and
588 polarimeters at 150 GHz, with each polarimeter consisting of a dual
transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. The full complement of 150 GHz
detectors consists of 7 arrays of 84 ortho-mode transducers (OMTs) that are
stripline coupled to two TES detectors per OMT, developed by the TRUCE
collaboration and fabricated at NIST. Each 90 GHz pixel consists of two
antenna-coupled absorbers coupled to two TES detectors, developed with Argonne
National Labs. The 1536 total detectors are read out with digital
frequency-domain multiplexing (DfMUX). The SPTpol deployment represents the
first on-sky tests of both of these detector technologies, and is one of the
first deployed instruments using DfMUX readout technology. We present the
details of the design, commissioning, deployment, on-sky optical
characterization and detector performance of the complete SPTpol focal plane.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Conference: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 201
A Direct Measurement of the Linear Bias of Mid-infrared-selected Quasars at z ap 1 Using Cosmic Microwave Background Lensing
We measure the cross-power spectrum of the projected mass density as traced by the convergence of the cosmic microwave background lensing field from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and a sample of Type 1 and 2 (unobscured and obscured) quasars at langzrang ~ 1 selected with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, over 2500 deg2. The cross-power spectrum is detected at ≈7σ, and we measure a linear bias b = 1.61 ± 0.22, consistent with clustering analyses. Using an independent lensing map, derived from Planck observations, to measure the cross-spectrum, we find excellent agreement with the SPT analysis. The bias of the combined sample of Type 1 and 2 quasars determined in this work is similar to that previously determined for Type 1 quasars alone; we conclude that obscured and unobscured quasars trace the matter field in a similar way. This result has implications for our understanding of quasar unification and evolution schemes.Peer reviewe
Design and characterization of 90 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeter pixels in the SPTpol camera
The SPTpol camera is a two-color, polarization-sensitive bolometer receiver,
and was installed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope in January 2012. SPTpol
is designed to study the faint polarization signals in the Cosmic Microwave
Background, with two primary scientific goals. One is to constrain the
tensor-to-scalar ratio of perturbations in the primordial plasma, and thus
constrain the space of permissible inflationary models. The other is to measure
the weak lensing effect of large-scale structure on CMB polarization, which can
be used to constrain the sum of neutrino masses as well as other growth-related
parameters. The SPTpol focal plane consists of seven 84-element monolithic
arrays of 150 GHz pixels (588 total) and 180 individual 90 GHz single-pixel
modules. In this paper we present the design and characterization of the 90 GHz
modules
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