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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 919 records · Page 51
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DOE OSTI2013

BENCHMARK TESTS FOR MARKOV CHAIN MONTE CARLO FITTING OF EXOPLANET ECLIPSE OBSERVATIONS

Ground-based observations of exoplanet eclipses provide important clues to the planets' atmospheric physics, yet systematics in light curve analyses are not fully understood. It is unknown if measurements suggesting near-infrared flux densities brighter than models predict are real, or artifacts of the analysis processes. We created a large suite of model light curves, using both synthetic and real noise, and tested the common process of light curve modeling and parameter optimization with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm. With synthetic white noise models, we find that input eclipse signals are generally recovered within 10% accuracy for eclipse depths greater than the noise amplitude, and to smaller depths for higher sampling rates and longer baselines. Red noise models see greater discrepancies between input and measured eclipse signals, often biased in one direction. Finally, we find that in real data, systematic biases result even with a complex model to account for trends, and significant false eclipse signals may appear in a non-Gaussian distribution. To quantify the bias and validate an eclipse measurement, we compare both the planet-hosting star and several of its neighbors to a separately chosen control sample of field stars. Re-examining the Rogers et al. Ks-band measurement of CoRoT-1b finds an eclipse 3190{sup +370}{sub -440} ppm deep centered at {phi}{sub me} = 0.50418{sup +0.00197}{sub -0.00203}. Finally, we provide and recommend the use of selected data sets we generated as a benchmark test for eclipse modeling and analysis routines, and propose criteria to verify eclipse detections.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE PRISM MULTI-OBJECT SURVEY (PRIMUS). II. DATA REDUCTION AND REDSHIFT FITTING

The PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) is a spectroscopic galaxy redshift survey to z {approx} 1 completed with a low-dispersion prism and slitmasks allowing for simultaneous observations of {approx}2500 objects over 0.18 deg{sup 2}. The final PRIMUS catalog includes {approx}130,000 robust redshifts over 9.1 deg{sup 2}. In this paper, we summarize the PRIMUS observational strategy and present the data reduction details used to measure redshifts, redshift precision, and survey completeness. The survey motivation, observational techniques, fields, target selection, slitmask design, and observations are presented in Coil et al. Comparisons to existing higher-resolution spectroscopic measurements show a typical precision of {sigma}{sub z}/(1 + z) = 0.005. PRIMUS, both in area and number of redshifts, is the largest faint galaxy redshift survey completed to date and is allowing for precise measurements of the relationship between active galactic nuclei and their hosts, the effects of environment on galaxy evolution, and the build up of galactic systems over the latter half of cosmic history.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A fully Bayesian method for jointly fitting instrumental calibration and X-ray spectral models

Owing to a lack of robust principled methods, systematic instrumental uncertainties have generally been ignored in astrophysical data analysis despite wide recognition of the importance of including them. Ignoring calibration uncertainty can cause bias in the estimation of source model parameters and can lead to underestimation of the variance of these estimates. We previously introduced a pragmatic Bayesian method to address this problem. The method is 'pragmatic' in that it introduced an ad hoc technique that simplified computation by neglecting the potential information in the data for narrowing the uncertainty for the calibration product. Following that work, we use a principal component analysis to efficiently represent the uncertainty of the effective area of an X-ray (or γ-ray) telescope. Here, however, we leverage this representation to enable a principled, fully Bayesian method that coherently accounts for the calibration uncertainty in high-energy spectral analysis. In this setting, the method is compared with standard analysis techniques and the pragmatic Bayesian method. The advantage of the fully Bayesian method is that it allows the data to provide information not only for estimation of the source parameters but also for the calibration product—here the effective area, conditional on the adopted spectral model. In this way, it can yield more accurate and efficient estimates of the source parameters along with valid estimates of their uncertainty. Provided that the source spectrum can be accurately described by a parameterized model, this method allows rigorous inference about the effective area by quantifying which possible curves are most consistent with the data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

The typecasting of active galactic nuclei: Mrk 590 no longer fits the role

We present multiwavelength observations that trace more than 40 yr in the life of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in Mrk 590, traditionally known as a classic Seyfert 1 galaxy. From spectra recently obtained from Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra, and the Large Binocular Telescope, we find that the activity in the nucleus of Mrk 590 has diminished so significantly that the continuum luminosity is a factor of 100 lower than the peak luminosity probed by our long-baseline observations. Furthermore, the broad emission lines, once prominent in the UV/optical spectrum, have all but disappeared. Since AGN type is defined by the presence of broad emission lines in the optical spectrum, our observations demonstrate that Mrk 590 has now become a 'changing-look' AGN. If classified by recent optical spectra, Mrk 590 would be a Seyfert ∼1.9–2, where the only broad emission line still visible in the optical spectrum is a weak component of Hα. As an additional consequence of this change, we have definitively detected UV narrow-line components in a Type 1 AGN, allowing an analysis of these emission-line components with high-resolution COS spectra. These observations challenge the historical paradigm that AGN type is only a consequence of the line-of-sight viewing angle toward the nucleus in the presence of a geometrically flattened, obscuring medium (i.e., the torus). Our data instead suggest that the current state of Mrk 590 is a consequence of the change in luminosity, which implies the black hole accretion rate has significantly decreased.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

The distances to open clusters from main-sequence fitting. V. Extension of color calibration and test using cool and metal-rich stars in NGC 6791

We extend our effort to calibrate stellar isochrones in the Johnson–Cousins (BVI{sub C}) and the 2MASS (JHK{sub s}) filter systems based on observations of well-studied open clusters. Using cool main-sequence (MS) stars in Praesepe, we define empirical corrections to the Lejeune et al. color–effective temperature (T{sub eff}) relations down to T{sub eff}∼3600 K, complementing our previous work based on the Hyades and the Pleiades. We apply empirically corrected isochrones to existing optical and near-infrared photometry of cool (T{sub eff}≲5500 K) and metal-rich ([Fe/H]= +0.37) MS stars in NGC 6791. The current methodology relies on an assumption that color–T{sub eff} corrections are independent of metallicity, but we find that estimates of color excess and distance from color–magnitude diagrams with different color indices converge on each other at the precisely known metallicity of the cluster. Along with a satisfactory agreement with eclipsing binary data in the cluster, we view the improved internal consistency as a validation of our calibrated isochrones at super-solar metallicities. For very cool stars (T{sub eff}≲4800 K), however, we find that B − V colors of our models are systematically redder than the cluster photometry by ∼0.02 mag. We use color–T{sub eff} transformations from the infrared flux method and alternative photometry to examine a potential color-scale error in the input cluster photometry. After excluding B − V photometry of these cool MS stars, we derive E(B − V)=0.105±0.014, [M/H] = +0.42±0.07, (m − M){sub 0}=13.04±0.08, and the age of 9.5 ± 0.3 Gyr for NGC 6791.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINETIC-MHD MODEL OF THE GLOBAL HELIOSPHERE WITH THE HELIOPAUSE-SURFACE FITTING

This paper provides a detailed description of the latest version of our model of the solar wind (SW) interaction with the local interstellar medium (LISM). This model has already been applied to the analysis of Lyα absorption spectra toward nearby stars and for analyses of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/SWAN data. Katushkina et al. (this issue) used the model results to analyze IBEX-Lo data. At the same time, the details of this model have not yet been published. This is a three-dimensional (3D) kinetic-magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) model that takes into account SW and interstellar plasmas (including α particles in SW and helium ions in LISM), the solar and interstellar magnetic fields, and interstellar hydrogen atoms. The latitudinal dependence of SW and the actual flow direction of the interstellar gas with respect to the Sun are also taken into account in the model. It was very essential that our numerical code was developed in such a way that any numerical diffusion or reconnection across the heliopause were not allowed in the model. The heliospheric current sheet is a rotational discontinuity in the ideal MHD and can be treated kinematically. In the paper, we focus in particular on the effects of the heliospheric magnetic field and on the heliolatitudinal dependence of SW.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A no-scale inflationary model to fit them all

The magnitude of B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background as measured by BICEP2 favours models of chaotic inflation with a quadratic m{sup 2} φ{sup 2}/2 potential, whereas data from the Planck satellite favour a small value of the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio r that is highly consistent with the Starobinsky R +R{sup 2} model. Reality may lie somewhere between these two scenarios. In this paper we propose a minimal two-field no-scale supergravity model that interpolates between quadratic and Starobinsky-like inflation as limiting cases, while retaining the successful prediction n{sub s} ≅ 0.96.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Global fits of the dark matter-nucleon effective interactions

The effective theory of isoscalar dark matter-nucleon interactions mediated by heavy spin-one or spin-zero particles depends on 10 coupling constants besides the dark matter particle mass. Here we compare this 11-dimensional effective theory to current observations in a comprehensive statistical analysis of several direct detection experiments, including the recent LUX, SuperCDMS and CDMSlite results. From a multidimensional scan with about 3 million likelihood evaluations, we extract the marginalized posterior probability density functions (a Bayesian approach) and the profile likelihoods (a frequentist approach), as well as the associated credible regions and confidence levels, for each coupling constant vs dark matter mass and for each pair of coupling constants. We compare the Bayesian and frequentist approach in the light of the currently limited amount of data. We find that current direct detection data contain sufficient information to simultaneously constrain not only the familiar spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions, but also the remaining velocity and momentum dependent couplings predicted by the dark matter-nucleon effective theory. For current experiments associated with a null result, we find strong correlations between some pairs of coupling constants. For experiments that claim a signal (i.e., CoGeNT and DAMA), we find that pairs of coupling constants produce degenerate results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Does the first chaotic inflation model in supergravity provide the best fit to the Planck data?

I describe the first model of chaotic inflation in supergravity, which was proposed by Goncharov and the present author in 1983. The inflaton potential of this model has a plateau-type behavior V{sub 0}(1−(8/3) e{sup −√6|ϕ|}) at large values of the inflaton field. This model predicts n{sub s}=1−(2/N)≈0.967 and r=(4/(3N{sup 2}))≈4×10{sup −4}, in good agreement with the Planck data. I propose a slight generalization of this model, which allows to describe not only inflation but also dark energy and supersymmetry breaking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Systematic study of the uncertainties in fitting the cosmic positron data by AMS-02

The operation of AMS-02 opens a new era for the study of cosmic ray physics with unprecedentedly precise data which are comparable with the laboratory measurements. The high precision data allow a quantitative study on the cosmic ray physics and give strict constraints on the nature of cosmic ray sources. However, the intrinsic errors from the theoretical models to interpret the data become dominant over the errors in the data. In the present work we try to give a systematic study on the uncertainties of the models to explain the AMS-02 positron fraction data, which shows the cosmic ray e{sup +}e{sup −} excesses together with the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT measurements. The excesses can be attributed to contributions from the extra e{sup +}e{sup −} sources, such as pulsars or the dark matter annihilation. The possible systematic uncertainties of the theoretical models considered include the cosmic ray propagation, the treatment of the low energy data, the solar modulation, the pp interaction models, the nuclei injection spectrum and so on. We find that in general a spectral hardening of the primary electron injection spectrum above ∼50–100 GeV is favored by the data. Furthermore, the present model uncertainties may lead to a factor of ∼2 enlargement in the determination of the parameter regions of the extra source, such as the dark matter mass, annihilation rate and so on.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

New axion and hidden photon constraints from a solar data global fit

We present a new statistical analysis that combines helioseismology (sound speed, surface helium and convective radius) and solar neutrino observations (the {sup 8}B and {sup 7}Be fluxes) to place upper limits to the properties of non standard weakly interacting particles. Our analysis includes theoretical and observational errors, accounts for tensions between input parameters of solar models and can be easily extended to include other observational constraints. We present two applications to test the method: the well studied case of axions and axion-like particles and the more novel case of low mass hidden photons. For axions we obtain an upper limit at 3σ for the axion-photon coupling constant of g{sub aγ} < 4.1 · 10{sup −10} GeV{sup −1}. For hidden photons we obtain the most restrictive upper limit available accross a wide range of masses for the product of the kinetic mixing and mass of χ m < 1.8 ⋅ 10{sup −12} eV at 3σ. Both cases improve the previous solar constraints based on the Standard Solar Models showing the power of using a global statistical approach.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

PLATO hare-and-hounds exercise: asteroseismic model fitting of main-sequence solar-like pulsators

ABSTRACT Asteroseismology is a powerful tool to infer fundamental stellar properties. The use of these asteroseismic-inferred properties in a growing number of astrophysical contexts makes it vital to understand their accuracy. Consequently, we performed a hare-and-hounds exercise where the hares simulated data for six artificial main-sequence stars and the hounds inferred their properties based on different inference procedures. To mimic a pipeline such as that planned for the PLATO mission, all hounds used the same model grid. Some stars were simulated using the physics adopted in the grid, others a different one. The maximum relative differences found (in absolute value) between the inferred and true values of the mass, radius, and age were 4.32, 1.33, and 11.25 per cent, respectively. The largest systematic differences in radius and age were found for a star simulated assuming gravitational settling, not accounted for in the model grid, with biases of −0.88 per cent (radius) and 8.66 per cent (age). For the mass, the most significant bias (−3.16 per cent) was found for a star with a helium enrichment ratio outside the grid range. Moreover, an ∼7 per cent dispersion in age was found when adopting different prescriptions for the surface corrections or shifting the classical observations by ±1σ. The choice of the relative weight given to the classical and seismic constraints also impacted significantly the accuracy and precision of the results. Interestingly, only a few frequencies were required to achieve accurate results on the mass and radius. For the age the same was true when at least one l = 2 mode was considered.

Cunha, M. S. (ORCID:0000000182377343)↗