Dans le sillage du Rudens : de Plaute à Jules Verne

Publié par Hetzel en 1883 dans la série des « Voyages extraordinaires », Kéraban-le-Têtu n’est pas le plus connu des romans verniens, qui ont jadis passionné ma jeunesse. Je n’en connaissais que le titre sans rien savoir du sujet, et ne l’ai découvert que tout récemment, sous la forme d’un livre de poche déniché dans un vide-grenier. Surprise ! Sa lecture m’a rappelé un cours d’agrégation que j’ai fait à Toulouse en 1987-88 sur le Rudens, ma préférée peut-être parmi les comédies de Plaute. Le..

Degassing cascades in a shear-thinning viscoelastic fluid

International audienceWe report the experimental study of the degassing dynamics through a thin layer of shear-thinning viscoelastic fluid when a constant air flow is imposed at its bottom. The fluid is an aqueous solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium salicylate (NaSal). Over a large range of parameters, the air is periodically released through a series of successive bubbles, hereafter named cascades. Each cascade is followed by a continuous degassing, lasting for several seconds, corresponding to an open channel crossing the fluid layer. The periodicity between two cascades does not depend on the injected flow rate. Inside one cascade, the properties of the overpressure signal associated with the successive bubbles vary continuously. The pressure threshold above which the fluid starts flowing, fluid deformation and pressure drop due to degassing through the thin fluid layer can be simply described by a Maxwell model

Gaia Data Release 3: G_RVS photometry from the RVS spectra

Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) contains the first release of magnitudes estimated from the integration of Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) spectra for a sample of about 32.2 million stars brighter than G_RVS~14 mag (or G~15 mag). In this paper, we describe the data used and the approach adopted to derive and validate the G_RVS magnitudes published in DR3. We also provide estimates of the G_RVS passband and associated G_RVS zero-point. We derived G_RVS photometry from the integration of RVS spectra over the wavelength range from 846 to 870 nm. We processed these spectra following a procedure similar to that used for DR2, but incorporating several improvements that allow a better estimation of G_RVS. These improvements pertain to the stray-light background estimation, the line spread function calibration, and the detection of spectra contaminated by nearby relatively bright sources. We calibrated the G_RVS zero-point every 30 hours based on the reference magnitudes of constant stars from the Hipparcos catalogue, and used them to transform the integrated flux of the cleaned and calibrated spectra into epoch magnitudes. The G_RVS magnitude of a star published in DR3 is the median of the epoch magnitudes for that star. We estimated the G_RVS passband by comparing the RVS spectra of 108 bright stars with their flux-calibrated spectra from external spectrophotometric libraries. The G_RVS magnitude provides information that is complementary to that obtained from the G, G_BP, and G_RP magnitudes, which is useful for constraining stellar metallicity and interstellar extinction. The median precision of G_RVS measurements ranges from about 0.006 mag for the brighter stars (i.e. with 3.5 < G_RVS < 6.5 mag) to 0.125 mag at the faint end. The derived G_RVS passband shows that the effective transmittance of the RVS is approximately 1.23 times better than the pre-launch estimate.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

<i>Gaia</i> Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues – a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) – and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ∼3000 Cepheid and RR-Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr−1 for the proper motions. A systematic component of ∼0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ∼94 000 HIPPARCOS stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr−1. For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ∼10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ∼0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data

Gaia Data Release 3

CONTEXT: Gaia Data Release 3 (Gaia DR3) contains the second release of the combined radial velocities. It is based on the spectra collected during the first 34 months of the nominal mission. The longer time baseline and the improvements of the pipeline made it possible to push the processing limit from GRVS = 12 in Gaia DR2 to GRVS = 14 mag. AIMS: We describe the new functionalities implemented for Gaia DR3, the quality filters applied during processing and post-processing, and the properties and performance of the published velocities. METHODS: For Gaia DR3, several functionalities were upgraded or added to the spectroscopic pipeline. The calibrations were improved in order to better model the temporal evolution of the straylight and of the instrumental point spread function (PSF). The overlapped spectra, which were mostly discarded in Gaia DR2, are now handled by a dedicated module. The hot star template mismatch, which prevented publication of hot stars in Gaia DR2, is largely mitigated now, down to GRVS = 12 mag. The combined radial velocity of stars brighter than or equal to GRVS = 12 mag is calculated in the same way as in Gaia DR2, that is, as the median of the epoch radial velocity time series. The combined radial velocity of the fainter stars is measured from the average of the cross-correlation functions. RESULTS: Gaia DR3 contains the combined radial velocities of 33 812 183 stars. With respect to Gaia DR2, the temperature interval has been expanded from Teff ∈ [3600, 6750] K to Teff ∈ [3100, 14 500] K for the bright stars (GRVS ≤ 12 mag) and [3100, 6750] K for the fainter stars. The radial velocities sample a significant part of the Milky Way: they reach a few kiloparsecs beyond the Galactic centre in the disc and up to about 10−15 kpc vertically into the inner halo. The median formal precision of the velocities is 1.3 km s−1 at GRVS = 12 and 6.4 km s−1 at GRVS = 14 mag. The velocity zeropoint exhibits a small systematic trend with magnitude that starts around GRVS = 11 mag and reaches about 400 m s−1 at GRVS = 14 mag. A correction formula is provided that can be applied to the published data. The Gaia DR3 velocity scale agrees satisfactorily with APOGEE, GALAH, GES, and RAVE; the systematic differences mostly remain below a few hundred m s−1. The properties of the radial velocities are also illustrated with specific objects: open clusters, globular clusters, and the Large Magellanic Cloud. For example, the precision of the data allows mapping the line-of-sight rotational velocities of the globular cluster 47 Tuc and of the Large Magellanic Cloud

GAIA RVS data reduction : the 6^{th} dimension

International audienceThis poster describes the current organisation of RVS data processing among the Gaia-DPAC (Data Processing & Analysis Consortium), with a particular focus on the French community's contribution

Gaia Data Release 1: Open cluster astrometry: Performance, limitations, and future prospects

Context. The first Gaia Data Release contains the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). This is a subset of about 2 million stars for which, besides the position and photometry, the proper motion and parallax are calculated using Hipparcos and Tycho-2 positions in 1991.25 as prior information. Aims. We investigate the scientific potential and limitations of the TGAS component by means of the astrometric data for open clusters. Methods. Mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are derived taking into account the error correlations within the astrometric solutions for individual stars, an estimate of the internal velocity dispersion in the cluster, and, where relevant, the effects of the depth of the cluster along the line of sight. Internal consistency of the TGAS data is assessed. Results. Values given for standard uncertainties are still inaccurate and may lead to unrealistic unit-weight standard deviations of least squares solutions for cluster parameters. Reconstructed mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are generally in very good agreement with earlier Hipparcos-based determination, although the Gaia mean parallax for the Pleiades is a significant exception. We have no current explanation for that discrepancy. Most clusters are observed to extend to nearly 15 pc from the cluster centre, and it will be up to future Gaia releases to establish whether those potential cluster-member stars are still dynamically bound to the clusters. Conclusions. The Gaia DR1 provides the means to examine open clusters far beyond their more easily visible cores, and can provide membership assessments based on proper motions and parallaxes. A combined HR diagram shows the same features as observed before using the Hipparcos data, with clearly increased luminosities for older A and F dwarfs

Gaia Early Data Release 3: The Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars

Aims. We produce a clean and well-characterised catalogue of objects within 100 pc of the Sun from the Gaia Early Data Release 3. We characterise the catalogue through comparisons to the full data release, external catalogues, and simulations. We carry out a first analysis of the science that is possible with this sample to demonstrate its potential and best practices for its use. Methods. Theselection of objects within 100 pc from the full catalogue used selected training sets, machine-learning procedures, astrometric quantities, and solution quality indicators to determine a probability that the astrometric solution is reliable. The training set construction exploited the astrometric data, quality flags, and external photometry. For all candidates we calculated distance posterior probability densities using Bayesian procedures and mock catalogues to define priors. Any object with reliable astrometry and a non-zero probability of being within 100 pc is included in the catalogue. Results. We have produced a catalogue of 331 312 objects that we estimate contains at least 92% of stars of stellar type M9 within 100 pc of the Sun. We estimate that 9% of the stars in this catalogue probably lie outside 100 pc, but when the distance probability function is used, a correct treatment of this contamination is possible. We produced luminosity functions with a high signal-to-noise ratio for the main-sequence stars, giants, and white dwarfs. We examined in detail the Hyades cluster, the white dwarf population, and wide-binary systems and produced candidate lists for all three samples. We detected local manifestations of several streams, superclusters, and halo objects, in which we identified 12 members of Gaia Enceladus. We present the first direct parallaxes of five objects in multiple systems within 10 pc of the Sun. Conclusions. We provide the community with a large, well-characterised catalogue of objects in the solar neighbourhood. This is a primary benchmark for measuring and understanding fundamental parameters and descriptive functions in astronomy.</jats:p

Gaia Data Release 1: Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. We summarize Gaia DR1 and provide illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Gaia DR1 consists of: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set,consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ~3000 Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas/yr for the proper motions. A systematic component of ~0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ~94000 Hipparcos stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas/yr. For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ~10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ~0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data