9,214 research outputs found
Influence of misalignments on performance of externally occulted solar coronagraphs. Application to PROBA-3/ASPIICS
ASPIICS is a novel externally occulted coronagraph that will be launched
onboard the PROBA-3 mission of ESA. The external occulter (EO) will be placed
on one satellite ~150 m ahead of the second satellite with an optical
instrument. During part of each orbit, the satellites will fly in a precise
formation, constituting a giant externally occulted coronagraph. Large distance
between the EO and the primary objective will allow observations of the
white-light solar corona starting already from ~1.1RSun. We analyze influence
of shifts of the satellites and misalignments of optical elements on diffracted
light. Based on the quantitative influence of misalignments on diffracted
light, we will provide a "recipe" for choosing the size of the internal
occulter (IO) to achieve a trade-off between the minimal height of observations
and sustainability to possible misalignments. We implement a numerical model of
the diffracted light and its propagation through the optical system, and
compute intensities of diffracted light throughout the instrument. Our
numerical model extends axi-symmetrical model of Rougeot et al. 2017 to
non-symmetrical cases. The computations fully confirm main properties of the
diffracted light obtained from semi-analytical consideration. Results: relative
influences of various misalignments are significantly different. We show that:
the IO with R=1.1RSun is large enough to compensate possible misalignments in
ASPIICS, apodizing the edge of the IO leads to additional suppression of the
diffracted light. Conclusions: the most important misalignment is the tilt of
the telescope WRT the line connecting the center of the EO and the entrance
aperture. Special care should be taken to co-align the EO and the coronagraph,
i.e. co-aligning the diffraction fringe from the EO and the IO. We suggest that
the best orientation strategy is to point the coronagraph to the center of the
EO.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure
Thomas-Ehrman effect in a three-body model: Ne case
The dynamic mechanism of the Thomas-Ehrman shift is studied in three-cluster
systems by example of Ne and C isobaric mirror partners. We
predict configuration mixings for and states in Ne and
C. Large isospin symmetry breaking on the level of wave function
component weights is demonstrated for these states and discussed as three-body
mechanism of Thomas-Ehrman shift. It is shown that the description of the
Coulomb displacement energies requires a consistency among three parameters:
the Ne decay energy , the F ground state energy , and
the configuration mixing parameters for the Ne/C and
states. Basing on this analysis we infer the F ground state
energy to be MeV.Comment: 10 pages 8 figure
Pauli-principle driven correlations in four-neutron nuclear decays
Mechanism of simultaneous non-sequential four-neutron () emission (or
`true' -decay) has been considered in phenomenological five-body approach.
This approach is analogous to the model of the direct decay to the continuum
often applied to - and -decays. It is demonstrated that -decay
fragments should have specific energy and angular correlations reflecting
strong spatial correlations of `valence' nucleons orbiting in their
-precursors. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, the valence neutrons are
pushed to the symmetry-allowed configurations in the -precursor structure,
which causes a `Pauli focusing' effect. Prospects of the observation of the
Pauli focusing have been considered for the -precursors H and O.
Fingerprints of their nuclear structure or/and decay dynamics are predicted
Possibility to study a two-proton halo in Ne
The nuclide Ne is studied theoretically in a three-body
O++ model. We demonstrate that the experimental condition for
existence of a proton halo in Ne can be reasonably quantified in terms
of configuration mixing. We discuss experimental evidences for a proton
halo in Ne. We define which kind of experimental data could elucidate
this issue.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Modeling and removal of optical ghosts in the PROBA-3/ASPIICS externally occulted solar coronagraph
Context: ASPIICS is a novel externally occulted solar coronagraph, which will
be launched onboard the PROBA-3 mission of the European Space Agency. The
external occulter will be placed on the first satellite approximately 150 m
ahead of the second satellite that will carry an optical instrument. During 6
hours per orbit, the satellites will fly in a precise formation, constituting a
giant externally occulted coronagraph. Large distance between the external
occulter and the primary objective will allow observations of the white-light
solar corona starting from extremely low heights 1.1RSun. Aims: To analyze
influence of optical ghost images formed inside the telescope and develop an
algorithm for their removal. Methods: We implement the optical layout of
ASPIICS in Zemax and study the ghost behaviour in sequential and non-sequential
regimes. We identify sources of the ghost contributions and analyze their
geometrical behaviour. Finally we develop a mathematical model and software to
calculate ghost images for any given input image. Results: We show that ghost
light can be important in the outer part of the field of view, where the
coronal signal is weak, since the energy of bright inner corona is
redistributed to the outer corona. However the model allows to remove the ghost
contribution. Due to a large distance between the external occulter and the
primary objective, the primary objective does not produce a significant ghost.
The use of the Lyot spot in ASPIICS is not necessary.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
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