184 research outputs found
Turbulence and wind speed profiles for simulating the TMT AO performances
The site testing campaign of the Thirty Meter Telescope gathered an extensive amount of turbulence profiles. This data is modeled to describe the statistical characteristics of each site and act as "standard atmospheres" for use in AO simulations
Spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy and modeling of the nonthermal emission of the PWN in G0.9+0.1
We performed a spatially resolved spectral X-ray study of the pulsar wind
nebula (PWN) in the supernova remnant G0.9+0.1. Furthermore we modeled its
nonthermal emission in the X-ray and very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV)
gamma-ray regime. Using Chandra ACIS-S3 data, we investigated the east-west
dependence of the spectral properties of G0.9+0.1 by calculating hardness
ratios. We analyzed the EPIC-MOS and EPIC-pn data of two on-axis observations
of the XMM-Newton telescope and extracted spectra of four annulus-shaped
regions, centered on the region of brightest emission of the source. A radially
symmetric leptonic model was applied in order to reproduce the observed X-ray
emission of the inner part of the PWN. Using the optimized model parameter
values obtained from the X-ray analysis, we then compared the modeled inverse
Compton (IC) radiation with the published H.E.S.S. gamma-ray data. The spectral
index within the four annuli increases with growing distance to the pulsar,
whereas the surface brightness drops. With the adopted model we are able to
reproduce the characteristics of the X-ray spectra. The model results for the
VHE gamma radiation, however, strongly deviate from the H.E.S.S. data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Accurate measurements of Optical Turbulence with Sonic-anemometers
The minimization of optical turbulence in and around the dome is key to reach optimum performance on large telescopes equipped with adaptive optics. We present the method and preliminary results of in-situ measurements of optical measurements made using sonic-anemometers. We show the impact of correcting the raw data for aliasing, path averaging, pulse sequence delays and Taylors' hypothesis. Finally, we highlight the occurrence of non-Kolmogorov turbulence which complicates the quantitative impact of the measurements on the telescope's resolution
Spatially resolved XMM-Newton analysis and a model of the nonthermal emission of MSH 15-52
We present an X-ray analysis and a model of the nonthermal emission of the
pulsar wind nebula (PWN) MSH15-52. We analyzed XMM-Newton data to obtain the
spatially resolved spectral parameters around the pulsar PSRB1509-58. A
steepening of the fitted power-law spectra and decrease in the surface
brightness is observed with increasing distance from the pulsar. In the second
part of this paper, we introduce a model for the nonthermal emission, based on
assuming the ideal magnetohydrodynamic limit. This model is used to constrain
the parameters of the termination shock and the bulk velocity of the leptons in
the PWN. Our model is able to reproduce the spatial variation of the X-ray
spectra. The parameter ranges that we found agree well with the parameter
estimates found by other authors with different approaches. In the last part of
this paper, we calculate the inverse Compton emission from our model and
compare it to the emission detected with the H.E.S.S. telescope system. Our
model is able to reproduce the flux level observed with H.E.S.S., but not the
spectral shape of the observed TeV {\gamma}-ray emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 9 pages, 15 figure
Re-entrant superconductivity in Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x) bilayers
We report on the first observation of a pronounced re-entrant
superconductivity phenomenon in superconductor/ferromagnetic layered systems.
The results were obtained using a superconductor/ferromagnetic-alloy bilayer of
Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x). The superconducting transition temperature T_{c} drops sharply
with increasing thickness d_{CuNi} of the ferromagnetic layer, until complete
suppression of superconductivity is observed at d_{CuNi}= 4 nm. Increasing the
Cu(1-x)Ni(x) layer thickness further, superconductivity reappears at
d_{CuNi}=13 nm. Our experiments give evidence for the pairing function
oscillations associated with a realization of the quasi-one dimensional
Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state in the ferromagnetic layer.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, REVTEX4/twocolum
Comparison of the scintillation noise above different observatories measured with MASS instruments
Scintillation noise is a major limitation of ground base photometric
precision. An extensive dataset of stellar scintillation collected at 11
astronomical sites world-wide with MASS instruments was used to estimate the
scintillation noise of large telescopes in the case of fast photometry and
traditional long-exposure regime. Statistical distributions of the
corresponding parameters are given. The scintillation noise is mostly
determined by turbulence and wind in the upper atmosphere and comparable at all
sites, with slightly smaller values at Mauna Kea and largest noise at Tolonchar
in Chile. We show that the classical Young's formula under-estimates the
scintillation noise.The temporal variations of the scintillation noise are also
similar at all sites, showing short-term variability at time scales of 1 -- 2
hours and slower variations, including marked seasonal trends (stronger
scintillation and less clear sky during local winter). Some correlation was
found between nearby observatories.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 14 pages, 11
figure
Modeling of pulsed laser guide stars for the Thirty Meter Telescope project
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has been designed to include an adaptive
optics system and associated laser guide star (LGS) facility to correct for the
image distortion due to Earth's atmospheric turbulence and achieve
diffraction-limited imaging. We have calculated the response of mesospheric
sodium atoms to a pulsed laser that has been proposed for use in the LGS
facility, including modeling of the atomic physics, the light-atom
interactions, and the effect of the geomagnetic field and atomic collisions.
This particular pulsed laser format is shown to provide comparable photon
return to a continuous-wave (cw) laser of the same average power; both the cw
and pulsed lasers have the potential to satisfy the TMT design requirements for
photon return flux.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figure
Superconducting proximity effect in clean ferromagnetic layers
We investigate superconducting proximity effect in clean ferromagnetic layers
with rough boundaries. The subgap density of states is formed by Andreev bound
states at energies which depend on trajectory length and the ferromagnetic
exchange field. At energies above the gap, the spectrum is governed by resonant
scattering states. The resulting density of states, measurable by tunneling
spectroscopy, exhibits a rich structure, which allows to connect the
theoretical parameters from experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures (included
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