Search results for "Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods"
showing 10 items of 215 documents
A network of precision gravimeters as a detector of matter with feeble nongravitational coupling
2019
Hidden matter that interacts only gravitationally would oscillate at characteristic frequencies when trapped inside of Earth. For small oscillations near the center of the Earth, these frequencies are around 300 $\mu$Hz. Additionally, signatures at higher harmonics would appear because of the non-uniformity of Earth's density. In this work, we use data from a global network of gravimeters of the International Geodynamics and Earth Tide Service (IGETS) to look for these hypothetical trapped objects. We find no evidence for such objects with masses on the order of 10$^{14}$ kg or greater with an oscillation amplitude of 0.1 $r_e$. It may be possible to improve the sensitivity of the search by…
The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
2012
High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultra-dense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m^2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M…
Probing the physics of the solar atmosphere with the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): I. Coronal Heating
2022
The Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) is a proposed NASA MIDEX mission, currently in Phase A, composed of a multi-slit EUV spectrograph (in three narrow spectral bands centered around 171A, 284A, and 108A) and an EUV context imager (in two narrow passbands around 195A and 304A). MUSE will provide unprecedented spectral and imaging diagnostics of the solar corona at high spatial (<0.5 arcsec), and temporal resolution (down to ~0.5s) thanks to its innovative multi-slit design. By obtaining spectra in 4 bright EUV lines (Fe IX 171A , Fe XV 284A, Fe XIX-Fe XXI 108A) covering a wide range of transition region and coronal temperatures along 37 slits simultaneously, MUSE will for the first time …
IceTop : the surface component of IceCube
2012
IceTop, the surface component of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, is an air shower array with an area of 1 km2. The detector allows a detailed exploration of the mass composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range from about 100 TeV to 1 EeV by exploiting the correlation between the shower energy measured in IceTop and the energy deposited by muons in the deep ice. In this paper we report on the technical design, construction and installation, the trigger and data acquisition systems as well as the software framework for calibration, reconstruction and simulation. Finally the first experience from commissioning and operating the detector and the performance as an …
Convolutional Neural Networks for the classification of glitches in gravitational-wave data streams
2023
We investigate the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (including the modern ConvNeXt network family) to classify transient noise signals (i.e.~glitches) and gravitational waves in data from the Advanced LIGO detectors. First, we use models with a supervised learning approach, both trained from scratch using the Gravity Spy dataset and employing transfer learning by fine-tuning pre-trained models in this dataset. Second, we also explore a self-supervised approach, pre-training models with automatically generated pseudo-labels. Our findings are very close to existing results for the same dataset, reaching values for the F1 score of 97.18% (94.15%) for the best supervised (self-supervised) m…
Simulation-based marginal likelihood for cluster strong lensing cosmology
2015
Comparisons between observed and predicted strong lensing properties of galaxy clusters have been routinely used to claim either tension or consistency with $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. However, standard approaches to such cosmological tests are unable to quantify the preference for one cosmology over another. We advocate approximating the relevant Bayes factor using a marginal likelihood that is based on the following summary statistic: the posterior probability distribution function for the parameters of the scaling relation between Einstein radii and cluster mass, $\alpha$ and $\beta$. We demonstrate, for the first time, a method of estimating the marginal likelihood using the X-ray selected …
iLocater: a diffraction-limited Doppler spectrometer for the Large Binocular Telescope
2016
We are developing a stable and precise spectrograph for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) named "iLocater." The instrument comprises three principal components: a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph that operates in the YJ-bands (0.97-1.30 microns), a fiber-injection acquisition camera system, and a wavelength calibration unit. iLocater will deliver high spectral resolution (R~150,000-240,000) measurements that permit novel studies of stellar and substellar objects in the solar neighborhood including extrasolar planets. Unlike previous planet-finding instruments, which are seeing-limited, iLocater operates at the diffraction limit and uses single mode fibers to eliminate the effects of m…
Hierarchical Gompertzian growth maps with application in astrophysics
2010
The Gompertz model describes the growth in time of the size of significant quantities associated to a large number of systems, taking into account nonlinearity features by a linear equation satisfied by a nonlinear function of the size. Following this scheme, we introduce a class of hierarchical maps which describe discrete sequences of intermediate characteristic scales. We find the general solutions of the maps, which account for a rich set of possible phenomena. Eventually, we provide an important application, by showing that a map belonging to the class so introduced generates all the observed astrophysical length and mass scales.
Deep learning for multimessenger core-collapse supernova detection
2020
The detection of gravitational waves from core-collapse supernova (CCSN) explosions is a challenging task, yet to be achieved, in which it is key the connection between multiple messengers, including neutrinos and electromagnetic signals. In this work, we present a method for detecting these kind of signals based on machine learning techniques. We tested its robustness by injecting signals in the real noise data taken by the Advanced LIGO-Virgo network during the second observation run, O2. We trained a newly developed Mini-Inception Resnet neural network using time-frequency images corresponding to injections of simulated phenomenological signals, which mimic the waveforms obtained in 3D n…
Relativistic Positioning Systems: current status
2009
A {\em relativistic positioning system} consists in a set of four clocks broadcasting their respective proper time by means of light signals. Among them, the more important ones are the {\em auto-located positioning systems,} in which every clock broadcasts not only its proper time but also the proper times that it receives from the other three. At this level, no reference to any exterior system (the Earth surface, for example) and no synchronization are needed. The current status of the theory of relativistic positioning systems is sketched.