274 research outputs found
Upper limits on neutrino masses from the 2dFGRS and WMAP: the role of priors
Solar, atmospheric, and reactor neutrino experiments have confirmed neutrino
oscillations, implying that neutrinos have non-zero mass, but without pinning
down their absolute masses. While it is established that the effect of
neutrinos on the evolution of cosmic structure is small, the upper limits
derived from large-scale structure data could help significantly to constrain
the absolute scale of the neutrino masses. In a recent paper the 2dF Galaxy
Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) team provided an upper limit m_nu,tot < 2.2 eV, i.e.
approximately 0.7 eV for each of the three neutrino flavours, or phrased in
terms of their contributioin to the matter density, Omega_nu/Omega_m < 0.16.
Here we discuss this analysis in greater detail, considering issues of assumed
'priors' like the matter density Omega_m and the bias of the galaxy
distribution with respect the dark matter distribution. As the suppression of
the power spectrum depends on the ratio Omega_nu/Omega_m, we find that the
out-of- fashion Mixed Dark Matter Model, with Omega_nu=0.2, Omega_m=1 and no
cosmological constant, fits the 2dFGRS power spectrum and the CMB data
reasonably well, but only for a Hubble constant H_0<50 km/s/Mpc. As a
consequence, excluding low values of the Hubble constant, e.g. with the HST Key
Project is important in order to get a strong constraint on the neutrino
masses. We also comment on the improved limit by the WMAP team, and point out
that the main neutrino signature comes from the 2dFGRS and the Lyman alpha
forest.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures Minor changes to matched version published in
JCA
Gyrokinetic analysis and simulation of pedestals, to identify the culprits for energy losses using fingerprints
Fusion performance in tokamaks hinges critically on the efficacy of the Edge
Transport Barrier (ETB) at suppressing energy losses. The new concept of
fingerprints is introduced to identify the instabilities that cause the
transport losses in the ETB of many of today's experiments, from widely posited
candidates. Analysis of the Gyrokinetic-Maxwell equations, and gyrokinetic
simulations of experiments, find that each mode type produces characteristic
ratios of transport in the various channels: density, heat and impurities.
This, together with experimental observations of transport in some channel, or,
of the relative size of the driving sources of channels, can identify or
determine the dominant modes causing energy transport. In multiple ELMy H-mode
cases that are examined, these fingerprints indicate that MHD-like modes are
apparently not the dominant agent of energy transport; rather, this role is
played by Micro-Tearing Modes (MTM) and Electron Temperature Gradient (ETG)
modes, and in addition, possibly Ion Temperature Gradient (ITG)/Trapped
Electron Modes (ITG/TEM) on JET. MHD-like modes may dominate the electron
particle losses. Fluctuation frequency can also be an important means of
identification, and is often closely related to the transport fingerprint. The
analytical arguments unify and explain previously disparate experimental
observations on multiple devices, including DIII-D, JET and ASDEX-U, and
detailed simulations of two DIII-D ETBs also demonstrate and corroborate this
Einstein Probe - a small mission to monitor and explore the dynamic X-ray Universe
Einstein Probe is a small mission dedicated to time-domain high-energy
astrophysics. Its primary goals are to discover high-energy transients and to
monitor variable objects in the keV X-rays, at higher sensitivity by
one order of magnitude than those of the ones currently in orbit. Its
wide-field imaging capability, featuring a large instantaneous field-of-view
(, sr), is achieved by using established
technology of micro-pore (MPO) lobster-eye optics, thereby offering
unprecedentedly high sensitivity and large Grasp. To complement this powerful
monitoring ability, it also carries a narrow-field, sensitive follow-up X-ray
telescope based on the same MPO technology to perform follow-up observations of
newly-discovered transients. Public transient alerts will be downlinked
rapidly, so as to trigger multi-wavelength follow-up observations from the
world-wide community. Over three of its 97-minute orbits almost the entire
night sky will be sampled, with cadences ranging from 5 to 25 times per day.
The scientific objectives of the mission are: to discover otherwise quiescent
black holes over all astrophysical mass scales by detecting their rare X-ray
transient flares, particularly tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes
at galactic centers; to detect and precisely locate the electromagnetic sources
of gravitational-wave transients; to carry out systematic surveys of X-ray
transients and characterize the variability of X-ray sources. Einstein Probe
has been selected as a candidate mission of priority (no further selection
needed) in the Space Science Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
aiming for launch around 2020.Comment: accepted to publish in PoS, Proceedings of "Swift: 10 Years of
Discovery" (Proceedings of Science; ed. by P. Caraveo, P. D'Avanzo, N.
Gehrels and G. Tagliaferri). Minor changes in text, references update
Generating Bijections between HOAS and the Natural Numbers
A provably correct bijection between higher-order abstract syntax (HOAS) and
the natural numbers enables one to define a "not equals" relationship between
terms and also to have an adequate encoding of sets of terms, and maps from one
term family to another. Sets and maps are useful in many situations and are
preferably provided in a library of some sort. I have released a map and set
library for use with Twelf which can be used with any type for which a
bijection to the natural numbers exists.
Since creating such bijections is tedious and error-prone, I have created a
"bijection generator" that generates such bijections automatically together
with proofs of correctness, all in the context of Twelf.Comment: In Proceedings LFMTP 2010, arXiv:1009.218
World-leading science with SPIRou - the nIR spectropolarimeter / high-precision velocimeter for CFHT
SPIRou is a near-infrared (nIR) spectropolarimeter / velocimeter proposed as
a new-generation instrument for CFHT. SPIRou aims in particular at becoming
world-leader on two forefront science topics, (i) the quest for habitable
Earth-like planets around very- low-mass stars, and (ii) the study of low-mass
star and planet formation in the presence of magnetic fields. In addition to
these two main goals, SPIRou will be able to tackle many key programs, from
weather patterns on brown dwarf to solar-system planet atmospheres, to dynamo
processes in fully-convective bodies and planet habitability. The science
programs that SPIRou proposes to tackle are forefront (identified as first
priorities by most research agencies worldwide), ambitious (competitive and
complementary with science programs carried out on much larger facilities, such
as ALMA and JWST) and timely (ideally phased with complementary space missions
like TESS and CHEOPS).
SPIRou is designed to carry out its science mission with maximum efficiency
and optimum precision. More specifically, SPIRou will be able to cover a very
wide single-shot nIR spectral domain (0.98-2.35 \mu m) at a resolving power of
73.5K, providing unpolarized and polarized spectra of low-mass stars with a
~15% average throughput and a radial velocity (RV) precision of 1 m/s.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, conference proceedings of the French Society of
Astronomy and Astrophysics meeting 201
Characterization of small planets with Kepler and HARPS-N
A. S. Bonomo, L. Malavolta, and X. Dumusque acknowledge fundings from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under agreement No. 313014 “Measuring ETAEARTH: characterization of terrestrial planetary systems with Kepler, HARPS-N, and Gaia” [PI: Dr. Alessandro Sozzetti].The high-accuracy and high-precision HARPS-N spectrograph has been installed at the italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in La Palma approximately two years and a half ago. Eighty nights per year of Guaranteed Time of Observation are mostly dedicated to the radial-velocity (RV) follow up of Kepler small-size planetary candidates to establish their nature and to determine accurately their masses. We report on recent results of this ongoing RV campaign, including the recent characterization of the planetary system Kepler-101.Publisher PD
The Chandrayaan-1 X-ray spectrometer
The Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) is a
compact X-ray spectrometer for the Chandrayaan-1
lunar mission. It exploits heritage from the D-C1XS
instrument on ESA’s SMART-1 mission. C1XS is
designed to measure absolute and relative abundances
of major rock-forming elements (principally Mg, Al,
Si, Ti, Ca and Fe) over the lunar surface. The baseline
design consists of 24 nadir pointing Swept Charge Device
detectors, which provide high detection efficiency
in the 1–7 keV range, which contains the X-ray fluorescence
lines of the above elements of interest. Micromachined
collimators provide a 14 degree FWHM FOV,
equivalent to 25 km from 100 km altitude. A deployable
door protects the instrument during launch and
cruise, and also provides a 55Fe calibration X-ray source
for detector calibration. Additional refinements compared
to D-C1XS will result in a significantly improved
energy resolution. To record the incident solar X-ray
flux at the Moon, C1XS carries an X-ray Solar Monitor
(XSM). C1XS will arrive at the Moon in the run
up to the maximum of the solar cycle 24, and the expected
high incident X-ray flux coupled to a 100 km
circular polar orbit, will provide composition data
accurate to better than 10% of major elemental abundances
over the lunar surface
On the interaction between the island divertor heat fluxes, the scrape-off layer radial electric field and the edge turbulence in Wendelstein 7-X plasmas
The formation of the radial electric field, E-r in the scrape-off layer (SOL) has been experimentally studied for attached divertor conditions in stellarator W7-X. The main objective of this study is to test the validity in a complex three-dimensional (3D) island divertor of simple models, typically developed in tokamaks, relating E-r in the SOL to the sheath potential drop gradient at the target. Additionally, we investigate the effect of the edge E-r shear on the reduction of density fluctuation amplitude, a well-established phenomenon according to the existing bibliography. The main diagnostic for measurements in the SOL is a V-band Doppler reflectometer that can provide the measurement of the E-r and density fluctuations with good spatial resolution. 3D measurements of divertor parameters have been carried out using infrared cameras, with the exponential decay length of the divertor heat flux (lambda(q)) resulting in a suitable proxy for the model-relevant lambda(T), the exponential decay length of the temperature at the divertor. In the investigated attached regimes, it is shown for the first time that the formation of the E-r in the SOL depends on parameters at the divertor, following a E-r proportional to T-e/lambda(q) qualitatively similar to that found in a tokamak. Then, from the analyzed plasmas, the observed E-r shear at the edge is linked to a moderate local reduction of the amplitude of density fluctuations
Understanding the core density profile in TCV H-mode plasmas
Results from a database analysis of H-mode electron density profiles on the
Tokamak \`a Configuration Variable (TCV) in stationary conditions show that the
logarithmic electron density gradient increases with collisionality. By
contrast, usual observations of H-modes showed that the electron density
profiles tend to flatten with increasing collisionality. In this work it is
reinforced that the role of collisionality alone, depending on the parameter
regime, can be rather weak and in these, dominantly electron heated TCV cases,
the electron density gradient is tailored by the underlying turbulence regime,
which is mostly determined by the ratio of the electron to ion temperature and
that of their gradients. Additionally, mostly in ohmic plasmas, the Ware-pinch
can significantly contribute to the density peaking. Qualitative agreement
between the predicted density peaking by quasi-linear gyrokinetic simulations
and the experimental results is found. Quantitative comparison would
necessitate ion temperature measurements, which are lacking in the considered
experimental dataset. However, the simulation results show that it is the
combination of several effects that influences the density peaking in TCV
H-mode plasmas.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
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