Experimental Study of the Cloud Architecture Selection for Effective Big Data Processing

Big data dictate their requirements to the hardware and software. Simple migration to the cloud data processing, while solving the problem of increasing computational capabilities, however creates some issues: the need to ensure the safety, the need to control the quality during data transmission, the need to optimize requests. Computational cloud does not simply provide scalable resources but also requires network infrastructure, unknown routes and the number of user requests. In addition, during functioning situation can occur, in which you need to change the architecture of the application - part of the data needs to be placed in a private cloud, part in a public cloud, part stays on the client

First results on a new PIAA coronagraph testbed at NASA Ames

Direct imaging of extrasolar planets, and Earth-like planets in particular, is an exciting but difficult problem requiring a telescope imaging system with 1010 contrast at separations of 100 mas and less. Furthermore, the current NASA science budget may only allow for a small 1-2 m space telescope for this task, which puts strong demands on the performance of the imaging instrument. Fortunately, an efficient coronagraph called the Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph has been maturing and may enable Earth-like planet imaging for such small telescopes. In this paper, we report on the latest results from a new testbed at NASA Ames focused on testing the PIAA coronagraph. This laboratory facility was built in 2008 and is designed to be flexible, operated in a highly stabilized air environment, and to complement existing efforts at NASA JPL. For our wavefront control we are focusing on using small Micro-Electro- Mechanical-System deformable mirrors (MEMS DMs), which promises to reduce the size of the beam and overall instrument, a consideration that becomes very important for small telescopes. At time of this writing, we are operating a refractive PIAA system and have achieved contrasts of about 1.2×10-7 in a dark zone from 2.0 to 4.8 λ/D (with 6.6×10-8 in selected regions). In this paper, we present these results, describe our methods, present an analysis of current limiting factors, and solutions to overcome them

Developing and demonstrating linear dark field control for exo-Earth Imaging with the Ames Coronagraph Experiment Testbed

Instrumentatio

The Pulsation of Chi Cygni Imaged by Optical Interferometry; a Novel Technique to Derive Distance and Mass of Mira Stars

We present infrared interferometric imaging of the S-type Mira star Chi Cygni. The object was observed at four different epochs in 2005-2006 with the IOTA optical interferometer (H band). Images show up to 40% variation in the stellar diameter, as well as significant changes in the limb darkening and stellar inhomogeneities. Model fitting gave precise time-dependent values of the stellar diameter, and reveals presence and displacement of a warm molecular layer. The star radius, corrected for limb darkening, has a mean value of 12.1 mas and shows a 5.1mas amplitude pulsation. Minimum diameter was observed at phase 0.94+/-0.01. Maximum temperature was observed several days later at phase 1.02+/-0.02. We also show that combining the angular acceleration of the molecular layer with CO (Delta v = 3) radial velocity measurements yields a 5.9+/-1.5 mas parallax. The constant acceleration of the CO molecules -- during 80% of the pulsation cycle -- lead us to argument for a free-falling layer. The acceleration is compatible with a gravitational field produced by a 2.1(+1.5/-0.7) solar mass star. This last value is in agreement with fundamental mode pulsator models. We foresee increased development of techniques consisting in combining radial velocity with interferometric angular measurements, ultimately allowing total mapping of the speed, density, and position of the diverse species in pulsation driven atmospheres.Comment: 36 pages, accepted in Ap

Theoretical Limits on Extrasolar Terrestrial Planet Detection with Coronagraphs

Many high contrast coronagraph designs have recently been proposed. In this paper, their suitability for direct imaging of extrasolar terrestrial planets is reviewed. We also develop a linear-algebra based model of coronagraphy that can both explain the behavior of existing coronagraphs and quantify the coronagraphic performance limit imposed by fundamental physics. We find that the maximum theoretical throughput of a coronagraph is equal to one minus the non-aberrated non-coronagraphic PSF of the telescope. We describe how a coronagraph reaching this fundamental limit may be designed, and how much improvement over the best existing coronagraph design is still possible. Both the analytical model and numerical simulations of existing designs also show that this theoretical limit rapidly degrades as the source size is increased: the ``highest performance'' coronagraphs, those with the highest throughput and smallest Inner Working Angle (IWA), are the most sensitive to stellar angular diameter. This unfortunately rules out the possibility of using a small IWA (lambda/d) coronagraph for a terrestrial planet imaging mission. Finally, a detailed numerical simulation which accurately accounts for stellar angular size, zodiacal and exozodiacal light is used to quantify the efficiency of coronagraph designs for direct imaging of extrasolar terrestrial planets in a possible real observing program. We find that in the photon noise limited regime, a 4m telescope with a theoretically optimal coronagraph is able to detect Earth-like planets around 50 stars with 1hr exposure time per target (assuming 25% throughput and exozodi levels similar to our solar system). We also show that at least 2 existing coronagraph design can approach this level of performance in the ideal monochromatic case considered in this study.Comment: Accepted for publication to ApJ Sup

Evolved star water maser cloud size determined by star size

Cool, evolved stars undergo copious mass loss but the details of how the matter is returned to the ISM are still under debate. We investigated the structure and evolution of the wind at 5 to 50 stellar radii from Asymptotic Giant Branch and Red Supergiant stars. 22-GHz water masers around seven evolved stars were imaged using MERLIN, at sub-AU resolution. Each source was observed at between 2 and 7 epochs (several stellar periods). We compared our results with long-term Pushchino single dish monitoring. The 22-GHz emission is located in ~spherical, thick, unevenly filled shells. The outflow velocity doubles between the inner and outer shell limits. Water maser clumps could be matched at successive epochs separated by <2 years for AGB stars, or at least 5 years for RSG. This is much shorter than the decades taken for the wind to cross the maser shell, and comparison with spectral monitoring shows that some features fade and reappear. In 5 sources, most of the matched features brighten or dim in concert from one epoch to the next. One cloud in W Hya was caught in the act of passing in front of a background cloud leading to 50-fold, transient amplification. The masing clouds are 1-2 orders of magnitude denser than the wind average and contain a substantial fraction of the mass loss in this region, with a filling factor <1%. The RSG clouds are ~10x bigger than those round the AGB stars. Proper motions are dominated by expansion, with no systematic rotation. The maser clouds survive for decades (the shell crossing time) but the masers are not always beamed in our direction. Radiative effects cause changes in flux density throughout the maser shells on short timescales. Cloud size is proportional to parent star size; clouds have a similar radius to the star in the 22-GHz maser shell. Stellar properties such as convection cells must determine the clumping scale.Comment: Accepted by A&A 2012 July 10 Main text 29 pages, 62 figures Appendix 44 pages, 23 figure

Speckle Interferometry of Metal-Poor Stars in the Solar Neighborhood.II

The results of speckle interferometric observations of 115 metal-poor stars [m/H]<-1 within 250 pc from the Sun and with proper motions mu <= 0.2"/yr, made with the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are reported. Close companions with separations ranging from 0.034" to 1" were observed for 12 objects - G76-21, G59-1, G63-46, G135-16, G168-42, G141-47, G142-44, G190-10, G28-43, G217-8, G130-7, and G89-14 - eight of them are astrometrically resolved for the first time. The newly resolved systems include one triple star - G190-10. If combined with spectroscopic and visual data, our results imply a single:binary:triple:quadruple star ratio of 147:64:9:1 for a sample of 221 primary components of halo and thick-disk stars