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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Precision ephemerides for gravitational wave searches. II. Cyg X-2

Accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries are candidate high-frequency persistent gravitational wave sources. These may be detectable with next-generation interferometers such as Advanced LIGO/VIRGO within this decade. However, the search sensitivity is expected to be limited principally by the uncertainty in the binary system parameters. We combine new optical spectroscopy of Cyg X-2 obtained with the Liverpool Telescope with available historical radial velocity data, which gives us improved orbital parameter uncertainties based on a 44 year baseline. We obtained an improvement of a factor of 2.6 in the orbital period precision and a factor of 2 in the epoch of inferior conjunction T {sub 0}. The updated orbital parameters imply a mass function of 0.65 ± 0.01 M {sub ⊙}, leading to a primary mass (M {sub 1}) of 1.67 ± 0.22 M {sub ⊙} (for i = 62. {sup ∘}5±4{sup ∘}). In addition, we estimate the likely orbital parameter precision through to the expected Advanced LIGO and VIRGO detector observing period and quantify the corresponding improvement in sensitivity via the required number of templates.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Solar Contamination in Extreme-precision Radial-velocity Measurements: Deleterious Effects and Prospects for Mitigation

Solar contamination, due to moonlight and atmospheric scattering of sunlight, can cause systematic errors in stellar radial velocity (RV) measurements that significantly detract from the ∼10 cm s{sup −1} sensitivity required for the detection and characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in or near habitable zones of Sun-like stars. The addition of low-level spectral contamination at variable effective velocity offsets introduces systematic noise when measuring velocities using classical mask-based or template-based cross-correlation techniques. Here we present simulations estimating the range of RV measurement error induced by uncorrected scattered sunlight contamination. We explore potential correction techniques, using both simultaneous spectrometer sky fibers and broadband imaging via coherent fiber imaging bundles, that could reliably reduce this source of error to below the photon-noise limit of typical stellar observations. We discuss the limitations of these simulations, the underlying assumptions, and mitigation mechanisms. We also present and discuss the components designed and built into the NEID (NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy) precision RV instrument for the WIYN 3.5 m telescope, to serve as an ongoing resource for the community to explore and evaluate correction techniques. We emphasize that while “bright time” has been traditionally adequate for RV science, the goal of 10 cm s{sup −1} precision on the most interesting exoplanetary systems may necessitate access to darker skies for these next-generation instruments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The K2 M67 Study: Precise Mass for a Turnoff Star in the Old Open Cluster M67

We present a study of the bright detached eclipsing main-sequence binary WOCS 11028 (Sanders 617) in the open cluster M67. Although the binary has only one eclipse per orbital cycle, we show that the masses of the stars can be derived very precisely thanks to a strong constraint on the orbital inclination: M {sub A} = 1.222 ± 0.006M {sub ⊙} and M {sub B} = 0.909 ± 0.004M {sub ⊙}. We use a spectral energy distribution fitting method to derive characteristics of the component stars in lieu of the precise radii that would normally be derived from a doubly eclipsing binary. The deconvolution of the SEDs reveals that the brighter component of the binary is at the faint turnoff point for the cluster—a distinct evolutionary point that occurs after the convective core has been established and while the star is in the middle of its movement toward lower surface temperatures, before the so-called hook at the end of the main sequence. The measurements are in distinct disagreement with evolution models at solar metallicity: higher metal abundances are needed to reproduce the characteristics of WOCS 11028 A. We discuss the changes to model physics that are likely to be needed to address the discrepancies. The clearest conclusions are that diffusion is probably necessary to reconcile spectroscopic abundances of M67 stars with the need for higher metallicity models and that reduced strength convective overshooting is occurring for stars at the turnoff. At super-solar bulk metallicity, various indicators agree on a cluster age between about 3.5 and 4.0 Gyr.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Precise Transit and Radial-velocity Characterization of a Resonant Pair: The Warm Jupiter TOI-216c and Eccentric Warm Neptune TOI-216b

TOI-216 hosts a pair of warm, large exoplanets discovered by the TESS mission. These planets were found to be in or near the 2:1 resonance, and both of them exhibit transit timing variations (TTVs). Precise characterization of the planets’ masses and radii, orbital properties, and resonant behavior can test theories for the origins of planets orbiting close to their stars. Previous characterization of the system using the first six sectors of TESS data suffered from a degeneracy between planet mass and orbital eccentricity. Radial-velocity measurements using HARPS, FEROS, and the Planet Finder Spectrograph break that degeneracy, and an expanded TTV baseline from TESS and an ongoing ground-based transit observing campaign increase the precision of the mass and eccentricity measurements. We determine that TOI-216c is a warm Jupiter, TOI-216b is an eccentric warm Neptune, and that they librate in 2:1 resonance with a moderate libration amplitude of 60{sub −2}{sup +2} deg, a small but significant free eccentricity of 0.0222{sub −0.0003}{sup +0.0005} for TOI-216b, and a small but significant mutual inclination of 1.°2–3.°9 (95% confidence interval). The libration amplitude, free eccentricity, and mutual inclination imply a disturbance of TOI-216b before or after resonance capture, perhaps by an undetected third planet.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

IGRINS RV: A Precision Radial Velocity Pipeline for IGRINS Using Modified Forward Modeling in the Near-infrared

Application of the radial velocity (RV) technique in the near-infrared is valuable because of the diminished impact of stellar activity at longer wavelengths, making it particularly advantageous for the study of late-type stars but also for solar-type objects. In this paper, we present the IGRINS RV open-source python pipeline for computing infrared RV measurements from reduced spectra taken with IGRINS, an R ≡ λ/Δλ ∼ 45,000 spectrograph with simultaneous coverage of the H band (1.49–1.80 μm) and K band (1.96–2.46 μm). Using a modified forward-modeling technique, we construct high-resolution telluric templates from A0 standard observations on a nightly basis to provide a source of common-path wavelength calibration while mitigating the need to mask or correct for telluric absorption. Telluric standard observations are also used to model the variations in instrumental resolution across the detector, including a yearlong period when the K band was defocused. Without any additional instrument hardware, such as a gas cell or laser frequency comb, we are able to achieve precisions of 26.8 m s{sup −1} in the K band and 31.1 m s{sup −1} in the H band for narrow-line hosts. These precisions are empirically determined by a monitoring campaign of two RV standard stars, as well as the successful retrieval of planet-induced RV signals for both HD 189733 and τ Boo A; furthermore, our results affirm the presence of the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect for HD 189733. The IGRINS RV pipeline extends another important science capability to IGRINS, with publicly available software designed for widespread use.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Label Transfer from APOGEE to LAMOST: Precise Stellar Parameters for 450,000 LAMOST Giants

In this era of large-scale spectroscopic stellar surveys, measurements of stellar attributes (“labels,” i.e., parameters and abundances) must be made precise and consistent across surveys. Here, we demonstrate that this can be achieved by a data-driven approach to spectral modeling. With The Cannon, we transfer information from the APOGEE survey to determine precise T{sub eff}, log g, [Fe/H], and [α/M] from the spectra of 450,000 LAMOST giants. The Cannon fits a predictive model for LAMOST spectra using 9952 stars observed in common between the two surveys, taking five labels from APOGEE DR12 as ground truth T{sub eff}, log g, [Fe/H], [α/M], and K-band extinction A{sub k}. The model is then used to infer T{sub eff}, log g, [Fe/H], and [α/M] for 454,180 giants, 20% of the LAMOST DR2 stellar sample. These are the first [α/M] values for the full set of LAMOST giants, and the largest catalog of [α/M] for giant stars to date. Furthermore, these labels are by construction on the APOGEE label scale; for spectra with S/N > 50, cross-validation of the model yields typical uncertainties of 70 K in T{sub eff}, 0.1 in log g, 0.1 in [Fe/H], and 0.04 in [α/M], values comparable to the broadly stated, conservative APOGEE DR12 uncertainties. Thus, by using “label transfer” to tie low-resolution (LAMOST R ≈ 1800) spectra to the label scale of a much higher-resolution (APOGEE R ≈ 22,500) survey, we substantially reduce the inconsistencies between labels measured by the individual survey pipelines. This demonstrates that label transfer with The Cannon can successfully bring different surveys onto the same physical scale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Large-scale Gravitational Lens Modeling with Bayesian Neural Networks for Accurate and Precise Inference of the Hubble Constant

We investigate the use of approximate Bayesian neural networks (BNNs) in modeling hundreds of time delay gravitational lenses for Hubble constant (H 0 ) determination. Here, our BNN was trained on synthetic Hubble Space Telescope quality images of strongly lensed active galactic nuclei with lens galaxy light included. The BNN can accurately characterize the posterior probability density functions (PDFs) of model parameters governing the elliptical power-law mass profile in an external shear field. We then propagate the BNN-inferred posterior PDFs into an ensemble H 0 inference, using simulated time delay measurements from a plausible dedicated monitoring campaign. Assuming well-measured time delays and a reasonable set of priors on the environment of the lens, we achieve a median precision of 9.3% per lens in the inferred H 0 . A simple combination of a set of 200 test lenses results in a precision of 0.5 km s –1 Mpc –1 (0.7%), with no detectable bias in this H 0 recovery test. The computation time for the entire pipeline—including the generation of the training set, BNN training and H0 inference—translates to 9 minutes per lens on average for 200 lenses and converges to 6 minutes per lens as the sample size is increased. Being fully automated and efficient, our pipeline is a promising tool for exploring ensemble-level systematics in lens modeling for H 0 inference.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-precision Galaxy Clustering Predictions from Small-volume Hydrodynamical Simulations via Control Variates

Abstract Cosmological simulations of galaxy formation are an invaluable tool for understanding galaxy formation and its impact on cosmological parameter inference from large-scale structures. However, their high computational cost is a significant obstacle for running simulations that probe cosmological volumes comparable to those analyzed by contemporary large-scale structure experiments. In this work, we explore the possibility of obtaining high-precision galaxy clustering predictions from small-volume hydrodynamical simulations such as MillenniumTNG and FLAMINGO via control variates. In this approach, the hydrodynamical full-physics simulation is paired with a matched low-resolution gravity-only simulation. By learning the galaxy–halo connection from the hydrodynamical simulation and applying it to the gravity-only counterpart, one obtains a galaxy population that closely mimics the one in the more expensive simulation. One can then construct an estimator of galaxy clustering that combines the clustering amplitudes in the small-volume hydrodynamical and gravity-only simulations with clustering amplitudes in a large-volume gravity-only simulation. Depending on the galaxy sample, clustering statistic, and scale, this galaxy clustering estimator can have an effective volume of up to around 100 times the volume of the original hydrodynamical simulation in the nonlinear regime. With this approach, we can construct galaxy clustering predictions from existing simulations that are precise enough for mock analyses of next-generation large-scale structure surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

Doytcheva, Alexandra (ORCID:0009000111254888)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photometric Recalibration of the SDSS Stripe 82 to a Few Millimagnitude Precision with the Stellar Color Regression Method and Gaia EDR3

By combining spectroscopic data from the LAMOST DR7, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR12, and corrected photometric data from the Gaia EDR3, we apply the stellar color regression (SCR) method to recalibrate the SDSS Stripe 82 standard stars catalog of Ivezic' et al. With a total number of about 30,000 spectroscopically targeted stars, we have mapped out the relatively large and strongly correlated photometric zero-point errors present in the catalog, ~2.5% in the u band and ~1% in the griz bands. Our study also confirms some small but significant magnitude dependence errors in the z band for some charge-coupled devices. Various tests show that we have achieved an internal precision of about 5 mmag in the u band and about 2 mmag in the griz bands, which is about five times better than previous results. We also apply the method to the latest version of the catalog (v4.2), and find modest systematic calibration errors of up to ~1% along the R.A. direction and smaller errors along the decl. direction. The results demonstrate the power of the SCR method when combining spectroscopic data and Gaia photometry in breaking the 1% precision barrier of ground-based photometric surveys. Our work paves the way for the recalibration of the whole SDSS photometric survey and has important implications for the calibration of future surveys. Future implementations and improvements of the SCR method under different situations are also discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Comparison of Vehicle-Broadcasted Fuel Consumption Rates against Precise Fuel Measurements for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Engines

Vehicles continuously report real-time fuel consumption estimates over their data bus, known as the controller area network (CAN). However, the accuracy of these fueling estimates is uncertain to researchers who collect these data from any given vehicle. To assess the accuracy of these estimates, CAN-reported fuel consumption data are compared against fuel measurements from precise instrumentation. The data analyzed consisted of eight medium/heavy-duty vehicles and two medium-duty engines. Varying discrepancies between CAN fueling rates and the more accurate measurements emerged but without a vehicular trend-for some vehicles the CAN under-reported fuel consumption and for others the CAN over-reported fuel consumption. Furthermore, a qualitative real-time analysis revealed that the operating conditions under which these fueling discrepancies arose varied among vehicles. A drive cycle analysis revealed that while CAN fueling estimate accuracy differs for individual vehicles, that CAN estimates capture the relative fuel consumption differences between drive cycles within 4% for all vehicles and even more accurately for some vehicles. Furthermore, in situations where only CAN-reported data are available, CAN fueling estimates can provide relative fuel consumption trends but not accurate or precise fuel consumption rates.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Model-Agnostic Exploration of the Mass Reach of Precision Higgs Boson Coupling Measurements

To understand the possibility for precision Higgs boson coupling measurements to access effects of very heavy new particles, I present five scenarios in which significant deviations in Higgs boson couplings are produced by new particles with multi-TeV masses. These scenarios indicate that such precision measurements provide opportunities to reach well beyond the capabilities of direct particle searches at the HL-LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

ClimateNet: an expert-labeled open dataset and deep learning architecture for enabling high-precision analyses of extreme weather

Abstract. Identifying, detecting, and localizing extreme weather events is a crucial first step in understanding how they may vary under different climate change scenarios. Pattern recognition tasks such as classification, object detection, and segmentation (i.e., pixel-level classification) have remained challenging problems in the weather and climate sciences. While there exist many empirical heuristics for detecting extreme events, the disparities between the output of these different methods even for a single event are large and often difficult to reconcile. Given the success of deep learning (DL) in tackling similar problems in computer vision, we advocate a DL-based approach. DL, however, works best in the context of supervised learning – when labeled datasets are readily available. Reliable labeled training data for extreme weather and climate events is scarce. We create “ClimateNet” – an open, community-sourced human-expert-labeled curated dataset that captures tropical cyclones (TCs) and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in high-resolution climate model output from a simulation of a recent historical period. We use the curated ClimateNet dataset to train a state-of-the-art DL model for pixel-level identification – i.e., segmentation – of TCs and ARs. We then apply the trained DL model to historical and climate change scenarios simulated by the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM5.1) and show that the DL model accurately segments the data into TCs, ARs, or “the background” at a pixel level. Further, we show how the segmentation results can be used to conduct spatially and temporally precise analytics by quantifying distributions of extreme precipitation conditioned on event types (TC or AR) at regional scales. The key contribution of this work is that it paves the way for DL-based automated, high-fidelity, and highly precise analytics of climate data using a curated expert-labeled dataset – ClimateNet. ClimateNet and the DL-based segmentation method provide several unique capabilities: (i) they can be used to calculate a variety of TC and AR statistics at a fine-grained level; (ii) they can be applied to different climate scenarios and different datasets without tuning as they do not rely on threshold conditions; and (iii) the proposed DL method is suitable for rapidly analyzing large amounts of climate model output. While our study has been conducted for two important extreme weather patterns (TCs and ARs) in simulation datasets, we believe that this methodology can be applied to a much broader class of patterns and applied to observational and reanalysis data products via transfer learning.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Precision Determination of Atmospheric Extinction at Optical and Near IR Wavelengths

The science goals for future ground-based all-sky surveys, such as the Dark Energy Survey, PanSTARRS, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, require calibration of broadband photometry that is stable in time and uniform over the sky to precisions of a per cent or better, and absolute calibration of color measurements that are similarly accurate. This performance will need to be achieved with measurements made from multiple images taken over the course of many years, and these surveys will observe in less than ideal conditions. This paper describes a technique to implement a new strategy to directly measure variations of atmospheric transmittance at optical wavelengths and application of these measurements to calibration of ground-based observations. This strategy makes use of measurements of the spectra of a small catalog of bright 'probe' stars as they progress across the sky and back-light the atmosphere. The signatures of optical absorption by different atmospheric constituents are recognized in these spectra by their characteristic dependences on wavelength and airmass. State-of-the-art models of atmospheric radiation transport and modern codes are used to accurately compute atmospheric extinction over a wide range of observing conditions. We present results of an observing campaign that demonstrate that correction for extinction due to molecular constituents and aerosols can be done with precisions of a few millimagnitudes with this technique.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Precision measurements of the top quark mass from the Tevatron in the pre-LHC era

The top quark is the heaviest of the six quarks of the Standard Model. Precise knowledge of its mass is important for imposing constraints on a number of physics processes, including interactions of the as yet unobserved Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the only missing particle of the Standard Model, central to the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism and generation of particle masses. In this Review, experimental measurements of the top quark mass accomplished at the Tevatron, a proton-antiproton collider located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, are described. Topologies of top quark events and methods used to separate signal events from background sources are discussed. Data analysis techniques used to extract information about the top mass value are reviewed. The combination of several most precise measurements performed with the two Tevatron particle detectors, CDF and D0, yields a value of M{sub t} = 173.3 {+-} 1.1 GeV/c{sup 2}.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

System and method for high precision isotope ratio destructive analysis

A system and process are disclosed that provide high accuracy and high precision destructive analysis measurements for isotope ratio determination of relative isotope abundance distributions in liquids, solids, and particulate samples. The invention utilizes a collinear probe beam to interrogate a laser ablated plume. This invention provides enhanced single-shot detection sensitivity approaching the femtogram range, and isotope ratios that can be determined at approximately 1% or better precision and accuracy (relative standard deviation).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Precision Measurement of {eta} --> {gamma} {gamma} Decay Width via the Primakoff Effect

A precision measurement of the {eta} --> {gamma} {gamma} decay width via the Primakoff effect is underway in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. The decay width will be extracted from measured differential cross sections at forward angles on two light targets, liquid hydrogen and 4He, using a 11.5 GeV tagged photon beam. Results of this experiment will not only potentially resolve a long standing discrepancy between the Primakoff and the collider measurements, but will also reduce the experimental uncertainty by a factor of two on the average value of previous experimental results listed by the Particle Data Group(PDG). It will directly improve all other eta partial decay widths which rely on the accuracy of the eta radiative decay width. The projected 3% precision on the {Gamma}({eta} --> {gamma} {gamma} ) measurement will have a significant impact on the experimental determination of the fundamental parameters in QCD, such as the ratio of light quark masses (m{sub u},m{sub d},m{sub s}) and the {eta} - {eta}' mixing angle. It will be a sensitive probe for understanding QCD symmetries and the origin and the dynamics of QCD symmetry breaking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

High-precision B(E2) measurements of semi-magic 58,60,62,64Ni by Coulomb excitation

High-precision reduced electric-quadrupole transition probabilities B(E2) have been measured from single-step Coulomb excitation of semi-magic 58,60,62,64 Ni (Z = 28) beams at 1.8 MeV per nucleon on a natural carbon target. The energy loss of the nickel beams through the carbon target were directly measured with a zero-degree Bragg detector and the absolute B(E2) values were normalized by Rutherford scattering. The B(E2) values disagree with recent lifetime studies that employed the Doppler-shift attenuation method. The present high-precision B(E2) values reveal an asymmetry about 62 Ni, midshell between N = 28 and 40, with larger values towards 56 Ni (Z = N = 28). The experimental B(E2) values are compared with shell-model calculations in the full pf model space and the results indicate a soft 56 Ni core.

Allmond, James M↗
DOE OSTI2015

Auto-calibrated scanning-angle prism-type total internal reflection microscopy for nanometer-precision axial position determination and optional variable-illumination-depth pseudo total internal reflection microscopy

A method, apparatus, and system for improved VA-TIRFM microscopy. The method comprises automatically controlled calibration of one or more laser sources by precise control of presentation of each laser relative a sample for small incremental changes of incident angle over a range of critical TIR angles. The calibration then allows precise scanning of the sample for any of those calibrated angles for higher and more accurate resolution, and better reconstruction of the scans for super resolution reconstruction of the sample. Optionally the system can be controlled for incident angles of the excitation laser at sub-critical angles for pseudo TIRFM. Optionally both above-critical angle and sub critical angle measurements can be accomplished with the same system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗