Multifrequency Observations of Giant Radio Pulses from the Millisecond Pulsar B1937+21

Giant pulses are short, intense outbursts of radio emission with a power-law intensity distribution that have been observed from the Crab Pulsar and PSR B1937+21. We have undertaken a systematic study of giant pulses from PSR B1937+21 using the Arecibo telescope at 430, 1420, and 2380 MHz. At 430 MHz, interstellar scattering broadens giant pulses to durations of $\sim50 \mu$secs, but at higher frequencies the pulses are very short, typically lasting only $\sim1$-$2 \mu$secs. At each frequency, giant pulses are emitted only in narrow (\lsim10 \mus) windows of pulse phase located $\sim 55$-$70 \mu$sec after the main and interpulse peaks. Although some pulse-to-pulse jitter in arrival times is observed, the mean arrival phase appears stable; a timing analysis of the giant pulses yields precision competitive with the best average profile timing studies. We have measured the intensity distribution of the giant pulses, confirming a roughly power-law distribution with approximate index of -1.8, contributing \gsim0.1% to the total flux at each frequency. We also find that the intensity of giant pulses falls off with a slightly steeper power of frequency than the ordinary radio emission.Comment: 21 pages, 10 Postscript figures; LaTeX with aaspp4.sty and epsf.tex; submitted to Ap

Pulse-to-pulse intensity modulation and drifting subpulses in recycled pulsars

We report the detection of pulse-to-pulse periodic intensity modulations, in observations of recycled pulsars. Even though the detection of individual pulses was generally not possible due to their low flux density and short duration, through the accumulation of statistics over sequences of 10^5--10^6 pulses we were able to determine the presence and properties of the pulse-to-pulse intensity variations of six pulsars. In most cases we found that the modulation included a weak, broadly quasi-periodic component. For two pulsars the sensitivity was high enough to ascertain that the modulation phase apparently varies systematically across the profile, indicating that the modulation appears as drifting subpulses. We detected brighter than average individual pulses in several pulsars, with energies up to 2--7 times higher than the mean, similar to results from normal pulsars. We were sensitive to giant pulses of a rate of occurrence equal to (and in many instances much lower than) that of PSR B1937+21 at 1400 MHz (~30 times lower than at 430 MHz), but none were detected, indicating that the phenomenon is rare in recycled pulsars.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, accepted to A&

A Technique for Foreground Subtraction in Redshifted 21 cm Observations

One of the main challenges for future 21 cm observations is to remove foregrounds which are several orders of magnitude more intense than the HI signal. We propose a new technique for removing foregrounds of the redshifted 21 cm observations. We consider multi-frequency interferometer observations. We assume that the 21 cm signals in different frequency channels are uncorrelated and the foreground signals change slowly as a function of frequency. When we add the visibilities of all channels, the foreground signals increase roughly by a factor of ~N because they are highly correlated. However, the 21 cm signals increase by a factor of ~\sqrt{N} because the signals in different channels contribute randomly. This enables us to obtain an accurate shape of the foreground angular power spectrum. Then, we obtain the 21-cm power spectrum by subtracting the foreground power spectrum obtained this way. We describe how to obtain the average power spectrum of the 21 cm signal.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; To appear on the Astrophysical Journa

The Linear Polarization of Sagittarius A* II. VLA and BIMA Polarimetry at 22, 43 and 86 GHz

We present a search for linear polarization at 22 GHz, 43 GHz and 86 GHz from the nearest super massive black hole candidate, Sagittarius A*. We find upper limits to the linear polarization of 0.2%, 0.4% and 1%, respectively. These results strongly support the conclusion of our centimeter wavelength spectro-polarimetry that Sgr A* is not depolarized by the interstellar medium but is in fact intrinsically depolarized.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 13 pages, 2 figure

Settlement of Macoma balthica larvae in response to benthic diatom films

The role of multi-species benthic diatom films (BDF) in the settlement of late pediveliger larvae of the bivalve Macoma balthica was investigated in still-water bioassays and multiple choice flume experiments. Axenic diatom cultures that were isolated from a tidal mudflat inhabited by M. balthica were selected to develop BDF sediment treatments characterized by a different community structure, biomass, and amount of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Control sediments had no added diatoms. Although all larvae settled and initiated burrowing within the first minute after their addition in still water, regardless of treatment, only 48-52% had completely penetrated the high diatom biomass treatments after 5 min, while on average 80 and 69% of the larvae had settled and burrowed into the control sediments and BDF with a low diatom biomass (<3.5 mu g Chl a g(-1) dry sediment), respectively. The percentage of larvae settling and burrowing into the sediment was negatively correlated with the concentration of Chl a and EPS of the BDF. This suggests higher physical resistance to bivalve penetration by the BDF with higher diatom biomass and more associated sugar and protein compounds. The larval settlement rate in annular flume experiments at flow velocities of 5 and 15 cm s(-1) was distinctly lower compared to the still-water assays. Only 4.6-5.8% of the larvae were recovered from BDF and control sediments after 3 h. Nonetheless, a clear settlement preference was observed for BDF in the flume experiments; i.e., larvae settled significantly more in BDF compared to control sediments irrespective of flow speed. Comparison with the settlement of polystyrene mimics and freeze-killed larvae led to the conclusion that active selection, active secondary dispersal and, at low flow velocities (5 cm s(-1)), passive adhesion to the sediment are important mechanisms determining the settlement of M. balthica larvae in estuarine biofilms

Gravitational Waves Probe the Coalescence Rate of Massive Black Hole Binaries

We calculate the expected nHz--$\mu$Hz gravitational wave (GW) spectrum from coalescing Massive Black Hole (MBH) binaries resulting from mergers of their host galaxies. We consider detection of this spectrum by precision pulsar timing and a future Pulsar Timing Array. The spectrum depends on the merger rate of massive galaxies, the demographics of MBHs at low and high redshift, and the dynamics of MBH binaries. We apply recent theoretical and observational work on all of these fronts. The spectrum has a characteristic strain $h_c(f)~10^{-15} (f/yr^{-1})^{-2/3}$, just below the detection limit from recent analysis of precision pulsar timing measurements. However, the amplitude of the spectrum is still very uncertain owing to approximations in the theoretical formulation of the model, to our lack of knowledge of the merger rate and MBH population at high redshift, and to the dynamical problem of removing enough angular momentum from the MBH binary to reach a GW-dominated regime.Comment: 31 Pages, 8 Figures, small changes to match the published versio

Systems driven HLFC design

The paper presents an aerodynamic study carried out in parallel with the EU AFLoNext project to assess the issues involved in combining hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) technology for drag reduction with wing ice protection systems (WIPS). The paper describes the selection of appropriate test cases in the literature which are representative of wings designed for HLFC system and the progression from an initial baseline HLFC chamber layout to layouts driven by practical constraints such as WIPS requirements and aircraft structure. The resulting HLFC system is a compromise between all concerned systems. Conclusions are drawn about design driven not purely by performance but by the ability to physically implement the system on a commercial aircraft