Differential Imaging with a Multicolor Detector Assembly: A New ExoPlanet Finder Concept

Simultaneous spectral differential imaging is a high contrast technique by which subtraction of simultaneous images reduces noise from atmospheric speckles and optical aberrations. Small non-common wave front errors between channels can seriously degrade its performance. We present a new concept, a multicolor detector assembly (MCDA), which can eliminate this problem. The device consists of an infrared detector and a microlens array onto the flat side of which a checkerboard pattern of narrow-band micro-filters is deposited, each micro-filter coinciding with a microlens. Practical considerations for successful implementation of the technique are mentioned. Numerical simulations predict a noise attenuation of 10^-3 at 0.5" for a 10^5 seconds integration on a mH=5 star of Strehl ratio 0.9 taken with an 8-m telescope. This reaches a contrast of 10^-7 at an angular distance of 0.5" from the center of the star image.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted APJ

Ising Field Theory on a Pseudosphere

We show how the symmetries of the Ising field theory on a pseudosphere can be exploited to derive the form factors of the spin fields as well as the non-linear differential equations satisfied by the corresponding two-point correlation functions. The latter are studied in detail and, in particular, we present a solution to the so-called connection problem relating two of the singular points of the associated Painleve VI equation. A brief discussion of the thermodynamic properties is also presented.Comment: 39 pages, 6 eps figures, uses harvma

Angular Differential Imaging: a Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique

Angular differential imaging is a high-contrast imaging technique that reduces quasi-static speckle noise and facilitates the detection of nearby companions. A sequence of images is acquired with an altitude/azimuth telescope while the instrument field derotator is switched off. This keeps the instrument and telescope optics aligned and allows the field of view to rotate with respect to the instrument. For each image, a reference PSF is constructed from other appropriately-selected images of the same sequence and subtracted to remove quasi-static PSF structure. All residual images are then rotated to align the field and are combined. Observed performances are reported for Gemini North data. It is shown that quasi-static PSF noise can be reduced by a factor \~5 for each image subtraction. The combination of all residuals then provides an additional gain of the order of the square root of the total number of acquired images. A total speckle noise attenuation of 20-50 is obtained for one-hour long observing sequences compared to a single 30s exposure. A PSF noise attenuation of 100 was achieved for two-hour long sequences of images of Vega, reaching a 5-sigma contrast of 20 magnitudes for separations greater than 8". For a 30-minute long sequence, ADI achieves 30 times better signal-to-noise than a classical observation technique. The ADI technique can be used with currently available instruments to search for ~1MJup exoplanets with orbits of radii between 50 and 300 AU around nearby young stars. The possibility of combining the technique with other high-contrast imaging methods is briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Effects of Quasi-Static Aberrations in Faint Companion Searches

We present the first results obtained at CFHT with the TRIDENT infrared camera, dedicated to the detection of faint companions close to bright nearby stars. The camera's main feature is the acquisition of three simultaneous images in three wavelengths (simultaneous differential imaging) across the methane absorption bandhead at 1.6 micron, that enables a precise subtraction of the primary star PSF while keeping the companion signal. The main limitation is non-common path aberrations between the three optical paths that slightly decorrelate the PSFs. Two types of PSF calibrations are combined with the differential simultaneous imaging technique to further attenuate the PSF: reference star subtraction and instrument rotation to smooth aberrations. It is shown that a faint companion with a DeltaH of 10 magnitudes would be detected at 0.5 arcsec from the primary.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Astronomy with High Contrast Imaging, EAS Publications Serie

A Case Study of Vermont\u27s Health Exchange: Missteps and Progress

Abstract: The implementation of Vermont’s state health exchange has been at the forefront of political debate in the Green Mountain State since the passage of Act No. 48 in 2011. This paper addresses the ways in which federal legislation under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), spurred the development of Vermont’s own state-based exchange. It identifies the objectives that policymakers put forth during development and assesses whether or not these goals have been met. The paper offers insight into the future prospects of Vermont Health Connect (VHC) under both new gubernatorial and presidential administrations. In addition to secondary source research, this analysis draws on informational interviews conducted with leading health care reform policymakers in Vermont, as well as reports to the Vermont General Assembly

Sleep quality influences subsequent motor skill acquisition

While the influence of sleep on motor memory consolidation has been extensively investigated, its relation to initial skill acquisition is less well understood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of sleep quality and quantity on subsequent motor skill acquisition in young adults without sleep disorders. Fifty-five healthy adults (mean age = 23.8 years; 34 women) wore actigraph wristbands for 4 nights, which provided data on sleep patterns before the experiment, and then returned to the laboratory to engage in a motor sequence learning task (explicit 5-item finger sequence tapping task). Indicators of sleep quality and quantity were then regressed on a measure of motor skill acquisition (Gains Within Training, GWT). Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO; i.e., the total amount of time the participants spent awake after falling asleep) was significantly and negatively related to GWT. This effect was not because of general arousal level, which was measured immediately before the motor task. Conversely, there was no relationship between GWT and sleep duration or self-reported sleep quality. These results indicate that sleep quality, as assessed by WASO and objectively measured with actigraphy before the motor task, significantly impacts motor skill acquisition in young healthy adults without sleep disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).Accepted manuscrip

Tricritical point of J1-J2 Ising model on hyperbolic lattice

A ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition of the two-dimensional frustrated Ising model on a hyperbolic lattice is investigated by use of the corner transfer matrix renormalization group method. The model contains ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction J_1 and the competing antiferromagnetic interaction J_2. A mean-field like second-order phase transition is observed when the ratio \kappa = J_2 / J_1 is less than 0.203. In the region 0.203 < \kappa < 1/4, the spontaneous magnetization is discontinuous at the transition temperature. Such tricritical behavior suggests that the phase transitions on hyperbolic lattices need not always be mean-field like.Comment: 7 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Stellar Content Near the Galactic Center

High angular resolution J, H, K, and L' images are used to investigate the stellar content within 6 arcsec of SgrA*. The data, which are complete to K ~ 16, are the deepest multicolor observations of the region published to date.Comment: 34 pages, including 12 figure