1,670 research outputs found
Resolution and sensitivity of a Fabry-Perot interferometer with a photon-number-resolving detector
With photon-number resolving detectors, we show compression of interference
fringes with increasing photon numbers for a Fabry-Perot interferometer. This
feature provides a higher precision in determining the position of the
interference maxima compared to a classical detection strategy. We also
theoretically show supersensitivity if N-photon states are sent into the
interferometer and a photon-number resolving measurement is performed.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, minor extensions, title changed, new
figures added, reference correcte
Infrared Imaging of Capella with the IOTA Closure Phase Interferometer
We present infrared aperture synthesis maps produced with the upgraded IOTA
interferometer. Michelson interferograms on the close binary system Capella
(Alpha Aur) were obtained in the H-band between 2002 November 12 and 16 using
the IONIC3 beam combiner. With baselines of 15m < B < 38m, we were able to
determine the relative position of the binary components with milliarcsecond
(mas) precision and to track their movement along the approx. 14 degree arc
covered by our observation run. We briefly describe the algorithms used for
visibility and closure phase estimation. Three different Hybrid Mapping and
Bispectrum Fitting techniques were implemented within one software framework
and used to reconstruct the source brightness distribution. By dividing our
data into subsets, the system could be mapped at three epochs, revealing the
motion of the stars. The precise position of the binary components was also
determined with model fits, which in addition revealed I_Aa/I_Ab=1.49 +/- 0.10
and apparent stellar uniform-disk (UD) diameters of Theta_Aa=8.9 +/- 0.6 mas
and Theta_Ab=5.8 +/- 0.8 mas.
To improve the u, v-plane coverage, we compensated this orbital motion by
applying a rotation-compensating coordinate transformation. The resulting
model-independent map with a beam size of 5.4 x 2.6 mas allows the resolution
of the stellar surfaces of the Capella giants themselves.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journal (2005-03-21
Bright Localized Near-Infrared Emission at 1-4 AU in the AB Aurigae Disk Revealed by IOTA Closure Phases
We report on the detection of localized off-center emission at 1-4 AU in the
circumstellar environment of the young stellar object AB Aurigae. We used
closure phase measurements in the near-infrared made at the long baseline
interferometer IOTA, the first obtained on a young stellar object using this
technique. When probing sub-AU scales, all closure phases are close to zero
degrees, as expected given the previously-determined size of the AB Aurigae
inner dust disk. However, a clear closure phase signal of -3.5 +/- 0.5 degrees
is detected on one triangle containing relatively short baselines, requiring a
high degree of non-point symmetry from emission at larger (AU-sized) scales in
the disk. We have not identified any alternative explanation for these closure
phase results and demonstrate that a ``disk hot spot'' model can fit our data.
We speculate that such asymmetric near-infrared emission detected might arise
as a result of localized viscous heating due to a gravitational instability in
the AB Aurigae disk, or to the presence of a close stellar companion or
accreting sub-stellar object.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
Enhancing image contrast using coherent states and photon number resolving detectors
We experimentally map the transverse profile of diffraction-limited beams
using photon-number-resolving detectors. We observe strong compression of
diffracted beam profiles for high detected photon number. This effect leads to
higher contrast than a conventional irradiance profile between two Airy
disk-beams separated by the Rayleigh criterion.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Optics Expres
National Geodetic Satellite Program, Part II: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
A sequence of advances in the determination of geodetic parameters presented by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory are described. A Baker-Nunn photographic system was used in addition to a ruby-laser ranging system to obtain data for refinement of geodetic parameters. A summary of the data employed to: (1) derive coordinates for the locations of various tracking stations; and (2) determine the gravitational potential of the earth, is presented
Conservative evaluation of the uncertainty in the LAGEOS-LAGEOS II Lense-Thirring test
We deal with the test of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic
Lense-Thirring effect currently ongoing in the Earth's gravitational field with
the combined nodes \Omega of the laser-ranged geodetic satellites LAGEOS and
LAGEOS II.
One of the most important source of systematic uncertainty on the orbits of
the LAGEOS satellites, with respect to the Lense-Thirring signature, is the
bias due to the even zonal harmonic coefficients J_L of the multipolar
expansion of the Earth's geopotential which account for the departures from
sphericity of the terrestrial gravitational potential induced by the
centrifugal effects of its diurnal rotation. The issue addressed here is: are
the so far published evaluations of such a systematic error reliable and
realistic? The answer is negative. Indeed, if the difference \Delta J_L among
the even zonals estimated in different global solutions (EIGEN-GRACE02S,
EIGEN-CG03C, GGM02S, GGM03S, ITG-Grace02, ITG-Grace03s, JEM01-RL03B, EGM2008,
AIUB-GRACE01S) is assumed for the uncertainties \delta J_L instead of using
their more or less calibrated covariance sigmas \sigma_{J_L}, it turns out that
the systematic error \delta\mu in the Lense-Thirring measurement is about 3 to
4 times larger than in the evaluations so far published based on the use of the
sigmas of one model at a time separately, amounting up to 37% for the pair
EIGEN-GRACE02S/ITG-Grace03s. The comparison among the other recent GRACE-based
models yields bias as large as about 25-30%. The major discrepancies still
occur for J_4, J_6 and J_8, which are just the zonals the combined
LAGEOS/LAGOES II nodes are most sensitive to.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 12 tables, no figures, 64 references. To appear in
Central European Journal of Physics (CEJP
IL28B genotype predicts response to chronic hepatitis C triple therapy with telaprevir or boceprevir in treatment naïve and treatment-experienced patients other than prior partial- and null-responders
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL28B gene were shown to have limited utility in predicting response to telaprevir and boceprevir in treatment of chronic HCV infection in clinical trials. Data outside of the clinical trial setting are lacking. We assessed the value of single and combined IL28B SNPs rs12979860 and rs8099917 genotypes in predicting sustained virological response 12 weeks after cessation of triple therapy (SVR12) with telaprevir or boceprevir in a single-centre cohort of treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1 HCV mono-infection (n = 105). The overall SVR12 rate was 65.7%. By unadjusted bivariate logistic regression analysis, rs12979860-CC and rs8099917-TT were significantly associated with SVR12 in the subgroup of patients including all naïve patients and all treatment-experienced patients with the exception of partial- and null-responders to previous HCV therapy. The predictive value of rs12979860-CC was stronger than rs8099917-TT and only rs12979860-CC remained significantly predictive of treatment success when the two variants were assessed by adjusted logistic regression analysis in the whole study cohort. In patients presenting the rs12979860-CC variant, the additional determination of rs8099917 genotype had no value. IL28B rs12979860-CC remained significantly associated with SVR12 also in the multivariate analysis including the other baseline characteristics associated to SVR12 in the bivariate analysis (i.e., female gender, HCV genotype 1b, baseline viral load <800,000 IU/mL, advanced liver fibrosis and prior partial- or null-response to HCV therapy). Our study suggests that testing for the IL28B rs12979860 genotype may still be useful in predicting response to triple therapy with boceprevir and telaprevir in naïve patients and treatment-experienced patients other than partial and null-responders
Few Skewed Disks Found in First Closure-Phase Survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars
Using the 3-telescope IOTA interferometer on Mt. Hopkins, we report results
from the first near-infrared (lambda=1.65 mu) closure-phase survey of Young
Stellar Objects (YSOs). These closure phases allow us to unambiguously detect
departures from centrosymmetry (i.e., skew) in the emission pattern from YSO
disks on the scale of ~4 milliarcseconds, expected from generic ``flared disk''
models. Six of fourteen targets showed small, yet statistically-significant,
non-zero closure phases, with largest values from the young binary system MWC
361-A and the (pre-main sequence?) Be star HD 45677. Our observations are quite
sensitive to the vertical structure of the inner disk and we confront the
predictions of the ``puffed-up inner wall'' models of Dullemond, Dominik, and
Natta (DDN). Our data support disks models with curved inner rims because the
expected emission appear symmetrically-distributed around the star over a wide
range of inclination angles. In contrast, our results are incompatible with the
models possessing vertical inner walls because they predict extreme skewness
(i.e., large closure phases) from the near-IR disk emission that is not seen in
our data. In addition, we also present the discovery of mysterious H-band
``halos'' (~5-10% of light on scales 0.01-0.50 arcsec) around a few objects, a
preliminary ``parametric imaging'' study for HD 45677, and the first
astrometric orbit for the young binary MWC 361-A.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
- …