scholarly journals S-band Polarization All-Sky Survey (S-PASS): survey description and maps

2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (2) ◽  
pp. 2330-2354 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Carretti ◽  
M Haverkorn ◽  
L Staveley-Smith ◽  
G Bernardi ◽  
B M Gaensler ◽  
...  

Abstract We present the S-Band Polarization All Sky Survey (S-PASS), a survey of polarized radio emission over the southern sky at Dec. <−1° taken with the Parkes radio telescope at 2.3 GHz. The main aim was to observe at a frequency high enough to avoid strong depolarization at intermediate Galactic latitudes (still present at 1.4 GHz) to study Galactic magnetism, but low enough to retain ample signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) at high latitudes for extragalactic and cosmological science. We developed a new scanning strategy based on long azimuth scans and a corresponding map-making procedure to make recovery of the overall mean signal of Stokes Q and U possible, a long-standing problem with polarization observations. We describe the scanning strategy, map-making procedure and validation tests. The overall mean signal is recovered with a precision better than 0.5 per cent. The maps have a mean sensitivity of 0.81 mK on beam-size scales and show clear polarized signals, typically to within a few degrees of the Galactic plane, with ample S/N everywhere (the typical signal in low-emission regions is 13 mK and 98.6 per cent of pixels have S/N > 3). The largest depolarization areas are in the inner Galaxy, associated with the Sagittarius Arm. We have also computed a rotation measure map combining S-PASS with archival data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck experiments. A Stokes I map has been generated, with sensitivity limited to the confusion level of 9 mK.

2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A127 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ahmed ◽  
S. J. Warren

The space density of late M dwarfs, subtypes M7–M9.5, is not well determined. We applied the photo-type method to iz photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and YJHK photometry from the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, over an effective area of 3070 deg2, to produce a new, bright J(Vega) <  17.5, homogeneous sample of 33 665 M7–M9.5 dwarfs. The typical S/N of each source summed over the six bands is > 100. Classifications are provided to the nearest half spectral subtype. Through a comparison with the classifications in the BOSS Ultracool Dwarfs (BUD) spectroscopic sample, the typing is shown to be accurately calibrated to the BUD classifications and the precision is better than 0.5 subtypes rms; i.e. the photo-type classifications are as precise as good spectroscopic classifications. Sources with large χ2 >  20 include several catalogued late-type subdwarfs. The new sample of late M dwarfs is highly complete, but there is a bias in the classification of rare peculiar blue or red objects. For example, L subdwarfs are misclassified towards earlier types by approximately two spectral subtypes. We estimate that this bias affects only ∼1% of the sources. Therefore the sample is well suited to measure the luminosity function and investigate the softening towards the Galactic plane of the exponential variation of density with height.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S293) ◽  
pp. 413-415
Author(s):  
Zhaoxiang Qi ◽  
Yong Yu ◽  
Richard L. Smart ◽  
Mario G. Lattanzi ◽  
Zhenghong Tang ◽  
...  

AbstractMost of the discovered exoplanets are close to our sun. Usually their host star is with large proper motions, which is an important parameter for exoplanet searching. The first version of absolute proper motions catalog achieved based on Digitized Sky Survey Schmidt plate where outside the galactic plane |b|≥27° is presented, resulting in a zero point error less than ± 0.3 mas/yr, and the overall accuracy better than ± 4.5 mas/yr for objects brighter than RF=18.5, and ranging from 4.5 to 9.0 mas/yr for objects with magnitude 18.5<RF<20.5. The systematic errors of absolute proper motions related to the position, magnitude and color are practically all removed. The sky cover of this catalog is 22,525 degree2, the mean density is 6444 objects/degree2 and the magnitude limit is around RF=20.5.


1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 611-621
Author(s):  
Guillermo A. Lemarchand ◽  
Fernando R. Colomb ◽  
E. Eduardo Hurrell ◽  
Juan Carlos Olalde

AbstractProject META II, a full sky survey for artificial narrow-band signals, has been conducted from one of the two 30-m radiotelescopes of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (IAR). The search was performed near the 1420 Mhz line of neutral hydrogen, using a 8.4 million channels Fourier spectrometer of 0.05 Hz resolution and 400 kHz instantaneous bandwidth. The observing frequency was corrected both for motions with respect to three astronomical inertial frames, and for the effect of Earths rotation, which provides a characteristic changing signature for narrow-band signals of extraterrestrial origin. Among the 2 × 1013spectral channels analyzed, 29 extra-statistical narrow-band events were found, exceeding the average threshold of 1.7 × 10−23Wm−2. The strongest signals that survive culling for terrestrial interference lie in or near the galactic plane. A description of the project META II observing scheme and results is made as well as the possible interpretation of the results using the Cordes-Lazio-Sagan model based in interstellar scattering theory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (34) ◽  
pp. 4013-4022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Cheng ◽  
Xuan Xiao ◽  
Kuo-Chen Chou

Knowledge of protein subcellular localization is vitally important for both basic research and drug development. With the avalanche of protein sequences emerging in the post-genomic age, it is highly desired to develop computational tools for timely and effectively identifying their subcellular localization based on the sequence information alone. Recently, a predictor called “pLoc-mPlant” was developed for identifying the subcellular localization of plant proteins. Its performance is overwhelmingly better than that of the other predictors for the same purpose, particularly in dealing with multi-label systems in which some proteins, called “multiplex proteins”, may simultaneously occur in two or more subcellular locations. Although it is indeed a very powerful predictor, more efforts are definitely needed to further improve it. This is because pLoc-mPlant was trained by an extremely skewed dataset in which some subsets (i.e., the protein numbers for some subcellular locations) were more than 10 times larger than the others. Accordingly, it cannot avoid the biased consequence caused by such an uneven training dataset. To overcome such biased consequence, we have developed a new and bias-free predictor called pLoc_bal-mPlant by balancing the training dataset. Cross-validation tests on exactly the same experimentconfirmed dataset have indicated that the proposed new predictor is remarkably superior to pLoc-mPlant, the existing state-of-the-art predictor in identifying the subcellular localization of plant proteins. To maximize the convenience for the majority of experimental scientists, a user-friendly web-server for the new predictor has been established at http://www.jci-bioinfo.cn/pLoc_bal-mPlant/, by which users can easily get their desired results without the need to go through the detailed mathematics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 472-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuo-Chen Chou ◽  
Xiang Cheng ◽  
Xuan Xiao

<P>Background/Objective: Information of protein subcellular localization is crucially important for both basic research and drug development. With the explosive growth of protein sequences discovered in the post-genomic age, it is highly demanded to develop powerful bioinformatics tools for timely and effectively identifying their subcellular localization purely based on the sequence information alone. Recently, a predictor called “pLoc-mEuk” was developed for identifying the subcellular localization of eukaryotic proteins. Its performance is overwhelmingly better than that of the other predictors for the same purpose, particularly in dealing with multi-label systems where many proteins, called “multiplex proteins”, may simultaneously occur in two or more subcellular locations. Although it is indeed a very powerful predictor, more efforts are definitely needed to further improve it. This is because pLoc-mEuk was trained by an extremely skewed dataset where some subset was about 200 times the size of the other subsets. Accordingly, it cannot avoid the biased consequence caused by such an uneven training dataset. </P><P> Methods: To alleviate such bias, we have developed a new predictor called pLoc_bal-mEuk by quasi-balancing the training dataset. Cross-validation tests on exactly the same experimentconfirmed dataset have indicated that the proposed new predictor is remarkably superior to pLocmEuk, the existing state-of-the-art predictor in identifying the subcellular localization of eukaryotic proteins. It has not escaped our notice that the quasi-balancing treatment can also be used to deal with many other biological systems. </P><P> Results: To maximize the convenience for most experimental scientists, a user-friendly web-server for the new predictor has been established at http://www.jci-bioinfo.cn/pLoc_bal-mEuk/. </P><P> Conclusion: It is anticipated that the pLoc_bal-Euk predictor holds very high potential to become a useful high throughput tool in identifying the subcellular localization of eukaryotic proteins, particularly for finding multi-target drugs that is currently a very hot trend trend in drug development.</P>


Author(s):  
C. S. Anderson ◽  
G. H. Heald ◽  
J. A. Eilek ◽  
E. Lenc ◽  
B. M. Gaensler ◽  
...  

Abstract We present the first Faraday rotation measure (RM) grid study of an individual low-mass cluster—the Fornax cluster—which is presently undergoing a series of mergers. Exploiting commissioning data for the POlarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM) covering a ${\sim}34$ square degree sky area using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), we achieve an RM grid density of ${\sim}25$ RMs per square degree from a 280-MHz band centred at 887 MHz, which is similar to expectations for forthcoming GHz-frequency ${\sim}3\pi$ -steradian sky surveys. These data allow us to probe the extended magnetoionic structure of the cluster and its surroundings in unprecedented detail. We find that the scatter in the Faraday RM of confirmed background sources is increased by $16.8\pm2.4$ rad m−2 within 1 $^\circ$ (360 kpc) projected distance to the cluster centre, which is 2–4 times larger than the spatial extent of the presently detectable X-ray-emitting intracluster medium (ICM). The mass of the Faraday-active plasma is larger than that of the X-ray-emitting ICM and exists in a density regime that broadly matches expectations for moderately dense components of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium. We argue that forthcoming RM grids from both targeted and survey observations may be a singular probe of cosmic plasma in this regime. The morphology of the global Faraday depth enhancement is not uniform and isotropic but rather exhibits the classic morphology of an astrophysical bow shock on the southwest side of the main Fornax cluster, and an extended, swept-back wake on the northeastern side. Our favoured explanation for these phenomena is an ongoing merger between the main cluster and a subcluster to the southwest. The shock’s Mach angle and stand-off distance lead to a self-consistent transonic merger speed with Mach 1.06. The region hosting the Faraday depth enhancement also appears to show a decrement in both total and polarised radio emission compared to the broader field. We evaluate cosmic variance and free-free absorption by a pervasive cold dense gas surrounding NGC 1399 as possible causes but find both explanations unsatisfactory, warranting further observations. Generally, our study illustrates the scientific returns that can be expected from all-sky grids of discrete sources generated by forthcoming all-sky radio surveys.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Eric Järpe ◽  
Mattias Weckstén

A new method for musical steganography for the MIDI format is presented. The MIDI standard is a user-friendly music technology protocol that is frequently deployed by composers of different levels of ambition. There is to the author’s knowledge no fully implemented and rigorously specified, publicly available method for MIDI steganography. The goal of this study, however, is to investigate how a novel MIDI steganography algorithm can be implemented by manipulation of the velocity attribute subject to restrictions of capacity and security. Many of today’s MIDI steganography methods—less rigorously described in the literature—fail to be resilient to steganalysis. Traces (such as artefacts in the MIDI code which would not occur by the mere generation of MIDI music: MIDI file size inflation, radical changes in mean absolute error or peak signal-to-noise ratio of certain kinds of MIDI events or even audible effects in the stego MIDI file) that could catch the eye of a scrutinizing steganalyst are side-effects of many current methods described in the literature. This steganalysis resilience is an imperative property of the steganography method. However, by restricting the carrier MIDI files to classical organ and harpsichord pieces, the problem of velocities following the mood of the music can be avoided. The proposed method, called Velody 2, is found to be on par with or better than the cutting edge alternative methods regarding capacity and inflation while still possessing a better resilience against steganalysis. An audibility test was conducted to check that there are no signs of audible traces in the stego MIDI files.


1996 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 263-269
Author(s):  
Simon Johnston

PSR B1259-63 is a 47-millisecond pulsar which was discovered in a high frequency survey of the galactic plane (Johnston et al. 1992a) and was subsequently found to be in a highly eccentric orbit with a main-sequence Be star known as SS 2883 (Johnston et al. 1992b). Radio observations of the pulsar led to a phase connected timing solution which predicted the epoch of periastron to be 1994 January 9 (MJD 49361.2); optical observations of the Be star led to a determination of its mass and of the size of its circumstellar disk (Johnston et al. 1994a): the star is of approximate spectral type B1e, with mass 10 M⊙ and radius 6 R⊙. If this mass is correct and the pulsar has a mass of 1.4 M⊙, then the inclination angle of the plane of the orbit with respect to the sky is 35°. This pulsar has an unusually flat radio spectrum compared to most pulsars, which makes it easily detectable up to 8.4 GHz. The narrow pulse permits dispersion and scattering measurements for studying the ionized plasma in the system. Moreover, the pulses are highly linearly polarized and permit determination of the rotation measure (RM), allowing measurements of the magnetic field along the line of sight. The 3.5-yr orbit of the pulsar around its companion thus provides us with an excellent probe of the stellar wind of the Be star over a wide frequency range.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S304) ◽  
pp. 243-243
Author(s):  
Takamitsu Miyaji ◽  
M. Krumpe ◽  
A. Coil ◽  
H. Aceves ◽  
B. Husemann

AbstractWe present the results of our series of studies on correlation function and halo occupation distribution of AGNs utilizing data the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in the redshift range of 0.07<z<0.36. In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, we take cross-correlation approach, where cross-correlation functions (CCF) between AGNs and much more numerous AGNs are analyzed. The calculated CCFs are analyzed using the Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) model, where the CCFs are divided into the term contributed by the AGN-galaxy pairs that reside in one dark matter halo (DMH), (the 1-halo term) and those from two different DMHs (the 2-halo term). The 2-halo term is the indicator of the bias parameter, which is a function of the typical mass of the DMHs in which AGNs reside. The combination of the 1-halo and 2-halo terms gives, not only the typical DMH mass, but also how the AGNs are distributed among the DMHs as a function of mass separately for those at the center of the DMHs and satellites. The main results are as follows: (1) the range of typical mass of the DMHs in various sub-samples of AGNs log (MDMH/h−1MΘ) ~ 12.4–13.4, (2) we found a dependence of the AGN bias parameter on the X-ray luminosity of AGNs, while the optical luminosity dependence is not significant probably due to smaller dynamic range in luminosity for the optically-selected sample, and (3) the growth of the number of AGNs per DMH (N (MDMH)) with MDMH is shallow, or even may be flat, contrary to that of the galaxy population in general, which grows with MDMH proportionally, suggesting a suppression of AGN triggering in denser environment. In order to investigate the origin of the X-ray luminosity dependence, we are also investigating the dependence of clustering on the black hole mass and the Eddington ratio, we also present the results of this investigation.


1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 308-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Ta-Liang Teng

Abstract An artificial neural network-based pattern classification system is applied to seismic event detection. We have designed two types of Artificial Neural Detector (AND) for real-time earthquake detection. Type A artificial neural detector (AND-A) uses the recursive STA/LTA time series as input data, and type B (AND-B) uses moving window spectrograms as input data to detect earthquake signals. The two AND's are trained under supervised learning by using a set of seismic recordings, and then the trained AND's are applied to another set of recordings for testing. Results show that the accuracy of the artificial neural network-based seismic detectors is better than that of the conventional algorithms solely based on the STA/LTA threshold. This is especially true for signals with either low signal-to-noise ratio or spikelike noises.


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