The possibilities for comprehensive studies involving the Thirty Meter Telescope of the ‘zoo’ of high energy sources

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will provide exciting capabilities for the study of high energy sources of many different types. Future ground based general purpose extremely large telescopes (ELTs) have important roles to play in studies of low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and neutron stars, super novae and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), super-massive black holes (SMBH) and feedback and other processes in their host galaxies, colliding galaxies and dark matter. From the perspective of TMT, I describe a selection of possible studies that will illustrate the capabilities that the TMT (and the other future ELTs) will provide such as support for ToO observations, time resolved and cadence observations and the importance of coordinated observations with other facilities. I give an overview of the timeline for the beginning of TMT operations and the flexible selection and development process for new instruments

The Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory facilitating transformative astrophysical science

The next major advancement in astronomy and cosmology will be driven by deep observations using very sensitive telescopes with high spatial and spectral resolution capabilities. An international consortium of astronomers, including Indian astronomers are building the Thirty Meter Telescope to achieve breakthroughs in different areas of astronomy starting from studies of the solar system to that of the early universe. This article provides a brief overview of the telescope, science objectives and details of the first light instruments.Comment: 10 page

The Thirty Meter Telescope Site Conditions Monitoring System

We examine the experiences and ideas from operating observatories regarding the measurements of the characteristics of the atmosphere that must be gathered within the locality of the observatory in order to support safe, efficient and scientifically optimized observatory operations as well as commissioning, performance monitoring and support the scientific analysis of telescope observations. We describe the expected requirements for the measurement capabilities of the the TMT Site Conditions Monitoring System (SCMS) and discuss how these plans are being developed with input from staff at operating observatories and active observational astronomers

Status of the TMT site evaluation process

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is currently acquiring site characterization data at ve candidate sites. The site testing equipment includes instruments for measuring the seeing and seeing proles, meteorological conditions, cloudiness, precipitable water vapor, etc. All site testing equipment and data have gone through extensive calibrations and verications in order to assure that a reliable and quantitative comparison between the candidate sites will be possible. Here, we present an update on the status of the site selection work, the equipment characterizations and the resulting accuracies of our site selection data

Evaluation of sonic anemometers as highly sensitive optical turbulence measuring devices for the Thirty Meter Telescope site testing campaign

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) site testing programme is evaluating the use of sonic anemometers as a means of measuring the optical turbulence at the level of its MASS/DIMM telescopes (7m). Tests were performed where sonic anemometers were directly compared against a differenced fine wire thermocouple system. We also show here that fine wire thermocouples produce turbulence measurements comparable to those from a traditional microthermal probe system

The possibilities for comprehensive studies involving the Thirty Meter Telescope of the ‘zoo’ of high energy sources

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will provide exciting capabilities for the study of high energy sources of many different types. Future ground based general purpose extremely large telescopes (ELTs) have important roles to play in studies of low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and neutron stars, super novae and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), super-massive black holes (SMBH) and feedback and other processes in their host galaxies, colliding galaxies and dark matter. From the perspective of TMT, I describe a selection of possible studies that will illustrate the capabilities that the TMT (and the other future ELTs) will provide such as support for ToO observations, time resolved and cadence observations and the importance of coordinated observations with other facilities. I give an overview of the timeline for the beginning of TMT operations and the flexible selection and development process for new instruments

Fireball Models for Flares in AE Aquarii

We examine the flaring behaviour of the cataclysmic variable AE~Aqr in the context of the `magnetic propeller' model for this system. The flares are thought to arise from collisions between high density regions in the material expelled from the system after interaction with the rapidly rotating magnetosphere of the white dwarf. We calculate the first quantitative models for the flaring and calculate the time-dependent emergent optical spectra from the resulting hot, expanding ball of gas. We compare the results under different assumptions to observations and derive values for the mass, lengthscale and temperature of the material involved in the flare. We see that the fits suggest that the secondary star in this system has Population II composition.Comment: 19 pages, 24 figure

Primary mirror dynamic disturbance models for TMT: vibration and wind

The principal dynamic disturbances acting on a telescope segmented primary mirror are unsteady wind pressure (turbulence) and narrowband vibration from rotating equipment. Understanding these disturbances is essential for the design of the segment support assembly (SSA), segment actuators, and primary mirror control system (M1CS). The wind disturbance is relatively low frequency, and is partially compensated by M1CS; the response depends on the control bandwidth and the quasi-static stiffness of the actuator and SSA. Equipment vibration is at frequencies higher than the M1CS bandwidth; the response depends on segment damping, and the proximity of segment support resonances to dominant vibration tones. We present here both disturbance models and parametric response. Wind modeling is informed by CFD and based on propagation of a von Karman pressure screen. The vibration model is informed by analysis of accelerometer and adaptive optics data from Keck. This information is extrapolated to TMT and applied to the telescope structural model to understand the response dependence on actuator design parameters in particular. Whether the vibration response or the wind response is larger depends on these design choices; "soft" (e.g. voice-coil) actuators provide better vibration reduction but require high servo bandwidth for wind rejection, while "hard" (e.g. piezo-electric) actuators provide good wind rejection but require damping to avoid excessive vibration transmission to the primary mirror segments. The results for both nominal and worst-case disturbances and design parameters are incorporated into the TMT actuator performance assessment