Numerical simulations of pinhole and single-mode fibre spatial filters for optical interferometers

We use a numerical simulation to investigate the effectiveness of pinhole spatial filters for optical/IR interferometers and to compare them with single-mode optical fibre spatial filters and interferometers without spatial filters. We show that fringe visibility measurements in interferometers containing spatial filters are much less affected by changing seeing conditions than equivalent measurements without spatial filters. This reduces visibility calibration uncertainties, and hence can reduce the need for frequent observations of separate astronomical sources for calibration of visibility measurements. We also show that spatial filters can increase the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of visibility measurements and that pinhole filters give SNRs within 17 per cent of the values obtained with single-mode fibres for aperture diameters up to 3 r ₀. Given the simplicity of the use of pinhole filters we suggest that it represents a competitive, if not optimal, technique for spatial filtering in many current and next generation interferometers.     

Nature of the optical and ultraviolet variability of the nucleus of NGC 4151: A new concept

We have analyzed the optical (U BV) and ultraviolet (λ1000–2700 Å) observations of the nuclear variability of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 in the period 1987–2001 (the second cycle of activity). The fast (tens of days) and slow (～10 years) components of the nuclear variability, F and S, respectively, are shown to be completely different, but thermal in nature. We associate the S component with the formation and evolution of an accretion disk and the F component (flares) with instabilities in the accretion disk and their propagation over the disk in the form of a shock wave. The S component is present not only in the optical, but also in the ultraviolet range, with its amplitude being comparable over the entire range λ1000–5500 Å under study. The amplitude of the average flare (the F component) doubles as the wavelength decreases from 5500 to 1000 Å, while the rise time of the brightness to its maximum Δt (the variability time scale) decreases from

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to 6^d ± 2^d. The brightness decline (flare decay) time decreases by a factor of 16. The extinction in the ultraviolet is shown to have been grossly underestimated: beginning from the first IUE data, only the extinction in our Galaxy,

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, has been taken into account. A proper allowance for the total extinction, i.e., for the extinction in the nucleus of NGC 4151 as well

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leads to a large increase in the luminosity of the variable source in the nucleus of NGC 4151: L = (6–8) × 10⁴⁶ erg s^?1. The spectral energy distribution for the variable source (λ950–5500 Å) agrees well with two Planck distributions: T_e = 65 000 (λ_max = 450 Å) and 8000 K. The radiation with T_e = 8000 K is the reprocessing of the bulk of the ultraviolet radiation by the accretion disk with a lag of 0.5–0.6 days in the V band. The lag in the U-B variability of the slow component revealed the existence of an extended broad line region (EBLR) at an effective distance of 1.5 lt-years, as confirmed by spectroscopic data obtained at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. This yields the following mass of the central object in NGC 4151: M_c = (1–3) × 10⁹M_⊙. The luminosity of the variable source then accounts for 50–60% of L_Edd rather than 1–2%, as has been thought previously. In general, the pattern of ultraviolet and optical variability in NGC 4151 agrees excellently with the theory of disk accretion instability for a supermassive black hole suggested by N. Shakura and R. Sunyaev 30 years ago: the energy release is at a maximumin the ultraviolet (in the case under consideration, at λ450 Å), the luminosity is ～10⁴⁷ erg s^?1 for M_c ～ 10⁹M_⊙ (several tens of percent of L_Edd), and the variability time scale ranges from several days to many years.

     

Blind operation of optical astronomical interferometers options and predicted performance

Maximum sensitivity for optical interferometers is achieved only when the optical pathlengths between the different arms can be equalized without using interference fringes on the research object itself. This is called blind operation of the interferometer. In this paper I examine different options to achieve this, focussing on the application to the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). It is proposed that blind operation should be done using a so-called coherence autoguider, working on an unresolved star of magnitude V=11 to 13 within the isoplanatic patch for coherencing, which has a diameter of about 1 degree. Estimates of limiting magnitudes for the VLTI are also derived.     

UV detectors for spectrographs of WSO-UV project

The WUVS (WSO-UV Ultra Violet Spectrographs) consists of two high resolution spectrographs (R=50000) covering the Far-UV range of 115–176 nm and the Near-UV range of 174–310 nm, and a long-slit spectrograph (R=1000) covering the wavelength range of 115–305 nm. Significant progress in the CCD development gives a possibility to use back-illuminated CCD detectors with anti-reflection coating for observations in the UV. These detectors are under construction by e2v company (UK) based on their heritage of detectors production for numerous space missions including those for UV- and far-UV. The main parameters of WUVS detector subsystems are described.     

A blind deconvolution method for ground based telescopes and Fizeau interferometers

In the case of ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics systems, the point spread function (PSF) is only poorly known or completely unknown. Moreover, an accurate modeling of the PSF is in general not available. Therefore in several imaging situations the so-called blind deconvolution methods, aiming at estimating both the scientific target and the PSF from the detected image, can be useful. A blind deconvolution problem is severely ill-posed and, in order to reduce the extremely large number of possible solutions, it is necessary to introduce sensible constraints on both the scientific target and the PSF.In a previous paper we proposed a sound mathematical approach based on a suitable inexact alternating minimization strategy for minimizing the generalized Kullback–Leibler divergence, assuring global convergence. In the framework of this method we showed that an important constraint on the PSF is the upper bound which can be derived from the knowledge of its Strehl ratio. The efficacy of the approach was demonstrated by means of numerical simulations.In this paper, besides improving the previous approach by the use of a further constraint on the unknown scientific target, we extend it to the case of multiple images of the same target obtained with different PSFs. The main application we have in mind is to Fizeau interferometry. As it is known this is a special feature of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). Of the two expected interferometers for LBT, one, LINC-NIRVANA, is forthcoming while the other, LBTI, is already operating and has provided the first Fizeau images, demonstrating the possibility of reaching the resolution of a 22.8 m telescope. Therefore the extension of our blind method to this imaging modality seems to be timely.The method is applied to realistic simulations of imaging both by single mirrors and Fizeau interferometers. Successes and failures of the method in the imaging of stellar fields are demonstrated in simple cases. These preliminary results look promising at least in specific situations. The IDL code of the proposed method is available on request and will be included in the forthcoming version of the Software Package AIRY (v.6.1).     

A new concept for detecting electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in space plasmas

The proposed system measures the conduction current associated with electromagnetic and electrostatic waves propagated in space plasmas. The current collected by a probe flows through a measuring device, and is subsequently returned to the medium by means of an electron emitter. By way of illustration, the response of this system to the electron acoustic mode is investigated.This technique not only opens the way to the measurement of an additional plasma wave parameter, but it also offers inherent advantages over usual antennas, especially in magnetospheric and planetary environments.     

A cryogenic payload for the 3rd generation of gravitational wave interferometers

Thermal noise is a limiting factor of interferometric gravitational wave detectors sensitivity in the low and intermediate frequency range. A concrete possibility for beating this limit, is represented by the development of a cryogenic last stage suspension to be integrated within a complex seismic isolation system. To this purpose a last stage payload prototype has been designed and built. It has been suspended within a dedicated cryostat with the same technique adopted for the VIRGO payload and making use of two thin wires in a cradle configuration to support a mirror made of silicon.The cooling strategy, the thermal behaviour and the system mechanical response have been deeply studied while a measurement characterization campaign has been performed both at room temperature and at cryogenic temperature. In this paper, the preliminary results obtained together with the first cooling down of the 300 kg overall mass payload at about 25 K, are reported. This study will play a driving role in the design of the third generation gravitational wave detector.     

The prime-focus spectrometer: A new design concept

In a reflector, the light loss is at a minimum at the prime focus, but it is too awkward to mount a spectrometer of any size there. In this paper, I propose to place the slit at the prime focus to be followed immediately by a collimating mirror as shown in Fig. 1. The collimated beam diameter can be as large as one-ninth of the telescope aperture, and a maximum spectral resolving power of 10⁵ can be achieved. This new design can replace with advantage the conventional Cassegrain spectrometer in all types of work. It is eminently suited for use in the next generation of telescopes such as the MMT and the single telescope array.     

Continuing galactic formation: A new concept of galactic evolution

A new theory for galactic arm formation shows the arms to be continually eminating from the galactic nucleus due to a continual influx of cosmic dust. In the neighborhood of the nucleus the problem is treated as a fluid flow and a simple solution is given using conservation of momentum. When rotational dynamics are included the spinning arm system is the result. This solution resolves the problem of the missing mass, accounts for warped disk galaxies and gives a probable source for the gravity waves measured by Weber which eminate from our galactic center. Reversal of arm direction is demonstrated and examples of such reversals are cited. An approximate theoretical estimate of the age of our Sun is found to be in good agreement with radio isotope dating. A general result shows why twin star systems are in such great abundance in a galaxy. It gives a model of galactic evolution which begins with only a single massive nucleus with the collapsing gas clouds forming the arms.     

The Euro3D data format: A common FITS data format for integral field spectrographs

As integral field spectrographs have become more common around the world and in Europe in particular, the need for a common data format has been recognized. Here, we present the Euro3D format that is adapted as a post‐instrumentalsignature‐removal format for all instruments within the Euro3D network. It follows the FITS standard, and includes several extensions, all of them being binary FITS tables. This article is intended to give a comprehensive overview, but does not attempt to serve as a full definition document. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Radial velocity measurements with stellar spectrographs of the 6-m telescope

Solutions are considered that allow the accuracy of stellar radial velocity measurements with the spectroscopic instruments of the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences to be improved. The factors that limit the accuracy of spectroscopic V _r measurements are analyzed both in general and for the particular design of the telescope and its housing.     

Stellar kinematics and populations of early-type galaxies with the SAURON and OASIS integral-field spectrographs

We summarise the results and achievements of integral-field spectroscopy of early-type galaxies, observed as part of a survey using both the SAURON and OASIS spectrographs. From the perspective of integral-field spectroscopy, these otherwise smooth and featureless objects show a wealth of structure, both in their stellar kinematics and populations. We focus on the stellar content, and examine properties on both kiloparsec scales with SAURON, and scales of 100’s of parsecs with OASIS. These complementary studies reveal two types of kinematically distinct components (KDCs), differing primarily in their intrinsic sizes. In previous studies, KDCs and their host galaxies have generally been found to be unremarkable in other aspects. We show that large KDCs, typical of the well-studied cases, indeed show little or no age differences with their host galaxy. The KDCs detected with the higher spatial-resolution of OASIS are intrinsically smaller and include, in contrast, a significant fraction of young stars. We speculate on the relationship between KDCs and their host galaxies, and the implications for young populations in early-type galaxies.     

A systematic method for the analysis of high-resolution fraunhofer line profiles

A fraunhofer line profile depends on various parameters, partly related to the photospheric structure (T, P _g, P _e, v _conv, v _turb), partly to the atom or ion involved (such as oscillator strength, energy levels), partly also resulting from the interaction of the relevant kind of particles with the photosphere, and the photospheric radiation field. In this paper we shall mainly pay attention to the determination of: the macroturbulent (convective) velocities, v _conv (); the damping constant (); the abundance, A _el; the distribution function (v _conv, ) of the convective velocities at each depth ; the source function, S (); the microturbulent velocities, v _turb ().The particular difficulty with these unknowns is that they are, as a rule, coupled in the resulting line profiles, that is: the shapes and intensities in these profiles are determined by the combined influence of these unknowns (together with the other above-given parameters).In this paper we describe a method to determine these six unknowns empirically by separating them, in analysing accurate high-resolution observations of line profiles of a multiplet. The unknown functions and quantities are consecutively determined in the above given succession. For each determination another, appropriate part of the line profile is used. In some cases the influence of the mutual coupling of the various parameters cannot be completely eliminated, and an iterative method has to be used.The method is summarized in Table II and section 2, and is further explained in sections 3 to 8. It is applied to an infrared Ci multiplet. The main results are the following:     

A high-resolution stellar library for evolutionary population synthesis

We present a library of 1654 high-resolution stellar spectra, with a sampling of 0.3 Å and covering the wavelength range from 3000 to 7000 Å. The library was computed with the latest improvements in stellar atmospheres, incorporating non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) line-blanketed models for hot, massive  ( T _eff≥ 27 500 K)  and line-blanketed models for cool  (3000 ≤ T _eff≤ 4500 K)  stars. The total coverage of the grid is  3000 K ≤ T _eff≤ 55 000 K  and  −0.5 ≤ log g ≤ 5.5  , for four chemical abundance values: twice solar, solar, half solar and 1/10 solar. Evolutionary synthesis models using this library are presented in a companion paper. We tested the general behaviour of the library by calculating and comparing equivalent widths of numerous H and He  i lines, and some of the commonly used metallic indices. We also compared the library with the empirical libraries STELIB and Indo-US. The full set of the synthetic stellar spectra is available from our websites ( http://www.iaa.csic.es/~rosa and http://www.astro.iag.usp.br/~lucimara/library.htm ).     

A high-resolution bragg spectrometer for the observation of the hot interstellar medium X-ray emission

We present a high-resolution Bragg spectrometer designed for the observation of the soft X-ray cosmic diffuse background. The instrument concept is derived from the de Broglie geometry for the study of extended sources. It consists in a mosaïc of spherical TlAP crystals associated with position sensitive detectors located on the focussing surface. The spectral resolution and its variation with the field of view is estimated by Monte-Carlo simulations for different X-ray energies chosen among the most intense lines emitted by an astrophysical plasma in the temperature range 1–4×10⁶K. The estimated sensitivity and the simulations of actual space observations show that the instrument is capable to separate the strongest lines emitted by the most abundant ions (OVII,OVIII, FeXVII, NeIX, etc.) and to map the whole sky during a six month mission.     

A new concept and a preliminary design for a high resolution (HR) and very‐high resolution (VHR) spectrograph for the LBT

A way to fully exploit the large collecting area of modern 8–10m class telescopes is high resolution spectroscopy. Many astrophysical problems from planetary science to cosmology benefit from spectroscopic observations at the highest resolution currently achievable and would benefit from even higher resolutions. Indeed in the era of 8–10m class telescopes no longer the telescope collecting area but the size of the beam – which is related to the maximum size in which reflection gratings are manufactured – is what mainly limits the resolution. A resolution‐slit product R_φ ≃ 40,000 is the maximum currently provided by a beam of 20 cm illuminating the largest grating mosaics. We present a conceptual design for a spectrograph with R_φ ≃ 80,000, i.e. twice as large as that of existing instruments. Examples of the possible exploitation of such a high R_φ value, including spectropolarimetry and very high resolution (R ∼ 300,000), are discussed in detail. The new concept is illustrated through the specific case of a high resolution spectropolarimeter for the Large Binocular Telescope.     

Applications of interferometers in space to astrometry and planetary detection

Optical and infrared interferometers located outside the Earth's atmosphere should attain fully coherent performance over baselines as long as desired. This new capability should lead, if problems of compensating for angular stability can be solved, to extremely precise measurements of the angular distance between a star and one or more references. This property can be used for astrometric planetary detection, as well as for parallax and proper motion measurements. In addition, the interferometer's high rejection of stray radiation allows the construction of a sensitive direct planetary detection device.Presented at the Symposium Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics, held in honor of Paul Herget at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, November 30, 1978.     

Simulations of ultra-long wavelength interferometers in Earth orbit and on the lunar surface

We present simulations of interferometers in Earth orbit and on the lunar surface to guide the design and optimization of space-based ultra-long wavelength missions, such as those pioneered by China’s Chang’e Program. We choose parameters and present simulations using simulated data to identify inter-dependencies and constraints on science and engineering parameters. A regolith model is created for the lunar surface array simulation, and the results show that the lunar regolith will have an undesirable effect on the observations. We estimate data transmission requirements,calculate sensitivities for both cases, and discuss the trade-off between brightness temperature sensitivity and angular resolution for the Earth orbit array case.     

A concept for a superconducting tunnelling junction based spectrograph

We describe a multi-order spectrograph concept suitable for 8-m class telescopes, using the intrinsic spectral resolution of superconducting tunnelling junction detectors to sort the spectral orders. The spectrograph works at low orders, 1–5 or 1–6, and provides spectral coverage with a resolving power of   R ≃ 8000  from the atmospheric cut-off at 320 nm to the long-wavelength end of the infrared H or K band at 1800 nm or 2400 nm. We calculate that the spectrograph would provide substantial throughput and wavelength coverage, together with high time resolution and sufficient dynamic range. The concept uses currently available technology, or technologies with short development horizons, restricting the spatial sampling to two linear arrays; however, an upgrade path to provide more spatial sampling is identified. All of the other challenging aspects of the concept – the cryogenics, thermal baffling and magnetic field biasing – are identified as being feasible.     

A possible interpretation of the optical spectrum for BL Lac-type objects

On the basis of Sobolev's method, the population of 30 levels of hydrogen atom is determined allowing for the radiative and collision processes of the heating and ionization of the medium with velocity gradient gradv=10^–9–10^–11s^–1, electron temperatureT _e=10⁴ K-2×10⁴ K and electron densityN _e=10¹⁰ cm^–3–10¹¹ cm^–3. The central source radiation is characterized by a power spectrum with spectral indices varying from 0 to 2. A region of possible physical conditions is found where the thermal diffuse radiation of the envelope exceeds the emission in the Balmer H line.