A precompiler for the formula manipulation system TRIGMAN

A translator has been written which simplifies the programming of problems with the formula manipulation system TRIGMAN. It allows for the introduction of a new data type, SERIES, into a FORTRAN program, and translates the user's program into legal FORTRAN. It should not be difficult to adapt it for other formula manipulation systems now being used in Celestial Mechanics.     

A programming system for analytical series expansions on a computer

A programming system is described for the manipulation of Poisson series on a computer. The general structure is described together with the most important individual subroutines. The system exists in two versions, one with 3 angular and 3 polynomial variables and the other with twice as many variables. The programming has been done first in FORTRAN IV, but the most crucial subroutines have been rewritten in machine language for more efficiency. The storage mechanism is such that obsolete series can be erased from the main memory in order to make room for new series to be created.This paper presents the results of one phase of research carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under Contract No. NAS 7-100, sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.     

A computer aided analysis of the Sitnikov Problem

We deal with the problem of a zero mass body oscillating perpendicular to a plane in which two heavy bodies of equal mass orbit each other on Keplerian ellipses. The zero mass body intersects the primaries plane at the systems barycenter. This problem is commonly known as theSitnikov Problem. In this work we are looking for a first integral related to the oscillatory motion of the zero mass body. This is done by first expressing the equation of motion by a second order polynomial differential equation using a Chebyshev approximation techniques. Next we search for an autonomous mapping of the canonical variables over one period of the primaries. For that we discretize the time dependent coefficient functions in a certain number of Dirac Delta Functions and we concatenate the elementary mappings related to the single Delta Function Pulses. Finally for the so obtained polynomial mapping we look for an integral also in polynomial form. The invariant curves in the two dimensional phase space of the canonical variables are investigated as function of the primaries eccentricity and their initial phase. In addition we present a detailed analysis of the linearized Sitnikov Problem which is valid for infinitesimally small oscillation amplitudes of the zero mass body. All computations are performed automatically by the FORTRAN program SALOME which has been designed for stability considerations in high energy particle accelerators.     

预报大行星,月球掩点源事件的一种方法

以ＪＰＬ提供的太阳系天体数值历表ＤＥ２００／ＬＥ２００和美国海军天文台提供的岁差、章动改正程序为出发点，本文介绍预报大行星、月球掩源的一种方法，本方法分三个步骤：首先给出被掩源所满足的必要条件，并据此进行被掩源的初选；其次预报掩事件的全局情况，即掩发生的始终时刻和比较精确的地球椭球表面上可观测区域边界，在可观测区域边界中，本文发现了文献中未见出现过的出没南北界最后；预报地方见掩情况。     

A precise multipass method for satellite Doppler positioning

A precise and efficient algorithm is developed for determining the locations of radio beacons (e.g. of the ARGOS or COSPAS/SARSAT type) based on Doppler shift measurements in overflying satellites. The method distinguishes itself through: (1) the use of a very compact analytic orbital theory valid for all eccentricities, (2) autonomous orbit improvement based on Doppler data for one or more local reference beacons accessible at a single LUT, (3) simultaneous orbit improvement and calculation of beacon coordinates for an arbitrary number of satellites, satellite passes, and beacons, and (4) very efficient semi-analytic matrix inversion by partitioning into global, semi-global, and local parameters.The algorithm has been implemented in a FORTRAN program which can be run on a PC. Error statistics are presented from applications of the program to a large number of actual Doppler curves obtained with the ARGOS and COSPAS/SARSAT systems.     

Using Java for distributed computing in the Gaia satellite data processing

In recent years Java has matured to a stable easy-to-use language with the flexibility of an interpreter (for reflection etc.) but the performance and type checking of a compiled language. When we started using Java for astronomical applications around 1999 they were the first of their kind in astronomy. Now a great deal of astronomy software is written in Java as are many business applications. We discuss the current environment and trends concerning the language and present an actual example of scientific use of Java for high-performance distributed computing: ESA’s mission Gaia. The Gaia scanning satellite will perform a galactic census of about 1,000 million objects in our galaxy. The Gaia community has chosen to write its processing software in Java. We explore the manifold reasons for choosing Java for this large science collaboration. Gaia processing is numerically complex but highly distributable, some parts being embarrassingly parallel. We describe the Gaia processing architecture and its realisation in Java. We delve into the astrometric solution which is the most advanced and most complex part of the processing. The Gaia simulator is also written in Java and is the most mature code in the system. This has been successfully running since about 2005 on the supercomputer “Marenostrum” in Barcelona. We relate experiences of using Java on a large shared machine. Finally we discuss Java, including some of its problems, for scientific computing.     

An implementation ofN-body chain regularization

The chain regularization method (Mikkola and Aarseth 1990) for high accuracy computation of particle motions in smallN-body systems has been reformulated. We discuss the transformation formulae, equations of motion and selection of a chain of interparticle vectors such that the critical interactions requiring regularization are included in the chain. The Kustaanheimo-Stiefel (KS) coordinate transformation and a time transformation is used to regularize the dominant terms of the equations of motion. The method has been implemented for an arbitrary number of bodies, with the option of external perturbations. This formulation has been succesfully tested in a generalN-body program for strongly interacting subsystems. An easy to use computer program, written inFortran, is available on request.     

A baseband recorder for radio pulsar observations

Digital signal recorders are becoming widely used in several subfields of centimetre-wavelength radio astronomy. We review the benefits and design considerations of such systems and describe the Princeton Mark IV instrument, an implementation designed for coherent-dedispersion pulsar observations. Features of this instrument include corrections for the distortions caused by coarse quantization of the incoming signal, as well as algorithms that effectively excise both narrow-band and broad-band radio frequency interference. Observations at 430 MHz, using the Mark IV system in parallel with a system using a 250-kHz filter bank and incoherent dedispersion, demonstrated timing precision improvement by a factor of 3 or better for typical millisecond pulsars.     

A note on an attempt at more efficient Poisson series evaluation

Eliminating many of the trigonometric function calls by a suitable series transformation has resulted in a substantial reduction of on-line computing time while very long Poisson series are being evaluated. A further reduction has been realized by applying a short SNOBOL processor to the FORTRAN coding of the transformed series which eliminates many of the multiplication operations during the course of series evaluation.     

The Persian calendar for 3000 years

Using the analytical theory of the motion of the Earth around the Sun the times of the vernal (Spring) equinox has been calculated over the period from the Hijra (AD 622) to AD 3800. These data alone allow to decide whether a particular Persian (or Jalaali) calendar year is common or leap. Presented analysis shows that an algorithm implemented in the so called Khayam program is valid for the year 1799 to 2256 (1178 to 1634 Jalaali). A concise algorithm has been worked out that reconstructs the pattern of leap years over time span of about 3000 years. FORTRAN routines for conversion between the Jalaali, Gregorian and Julian calendars and the Julian Day Number are presented.     

对数周期偶极子天线的电特性分析

正在发展中的云南天文台０．５ＧＨｚ—１．５ＧＨｚ快速射电频谱分析仪的接收天线部分是计划在现有的十米口径抛物面天线的焦点上安装两付互相垂直的对数周期偶极子天线作为馈源。本文介绍了设计一个ＦＯＲＴＲＡＮ语言程序对对数周期偶极子天线电特性进行分析的过程，它可以在整个工作频段范围内计算出任意频率点上一副对数周期偶极子天线两个主平面内的方向图、波瓣宽度、增益和输入阻抗，并把结果以数据文件的形式记录下来，结合绘图软件，就可给出直观的结果，从而为对数周期偶极子天线的设计方案提供了可靠的理论判据。本文最后针对为云南天文台抛物面所设计的馈源作具体的分析。     

Equations for a plasma consisting of matter and antimatter

A set of fluid type equations is derived to describe the macroscopic behaviour of a plasma consisting of a mixture of matter and antimatter. The equations are written in a form which displays the full symmetry of the medium with respect to particle charge and mass, a symmetry absent in normal plasmas. This symmetry of the equations facilitates their manipulation and solution, and by way of illustration the equations are used to analyze the propagation of electromagnetic and acoustic waves through a matter-antimatter plasma. Some differences from the propagation of such waves in a normal plasma are noted.     

Active cavity radiometer type IV

A new cavity pyrheliometer, the active cavity radiometer type IV (ACR IV), has been developed for the measurement of total solar optical irradiance. Analysis predicts its ability to measure at the solar constant level with 0.1% uncertainty in SI units. In comparison tests ACR IVs have consistently demonstrated 0.5% higher results than the World Radiometrie Reference scale. A prototype has been tested, and a flight instrument has been developed and flown in a sounding rocket experiment to determine the solar constant. ACR IV instrumentation is being developed for flight experiments on the Spacelab 1 and Solar Maximum Missions to monitor the total solar output of optical radiation as part of a long-term program to detect variations of climatological significance.The full paper appeared in Appl. Opt. 18 (1979), 179.     

Compressed planetary and lunar ephemerides

A package of FORTRAN software has been developed which provides planetary and lunar positions, with respect to the solar system barycenter, for all times in the interval 1801–2049; positions agree to 1 milliarcsecond with those generated by Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris 200 (DE200). The system consists of approximately 800 kilobytes of ephemeris files and 40 kilobytes of programs, totalling 5% of the storage required by DE200. After removal of reference orbits, segments of DE200 positions were fitted by finite Chebyshev series of degree 40. The Chebyshev coefficients were rounded to integer multiples of a suitable unit and packed to form the ephemeris files.     

Chemical evolution of the high redshift galaxies

We have tried to determine the rate of chemical evolution of high redshift galaxies from the observed redshift distribution of the heavy element absorption systems in the spectra of QSOs, taking into account the evolution in the intensity of the metagalactic UV ionizing radiation background, the radius and/or the co-moving number density of, and the fraction of mass in the form of gas in, the absorbers. The data for both the Lyman limit systems and the C IV systems have been fitted simultaneously. It seems that the abundance of carbon has possibly increased by about a factor of 5 to 20 from the cosmic time corresponding to the redshift ≃ 4 to 2. The data also suggest that either the radius or the co-moving number density of the galaxies increased with redshift up to z = 2.0 and decreased slowly thereafter. The total mass of the halo gas was higher in the past, almost equal to the entire mass of the galaxy at z = 4. The hydrogen column density distribution for Lyman limit systems predicted by the model is in agreement with the observed distribution.     

UWB中Viterbi译码器的FPGA设计与实现

由于差错控制在超宽带室内导航系统中占据着十分重要的位置,并考虑到IEEE802．15．3a标准采用卷积编码和Viterbi译码来进行差错控制,因此利用现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）设计实现了一种约束长度为7,译码深度为64的全并行Viterbi译码器。本设计在xilinx ISE9．2环境下进行了综合,并采用Modelsim6．0对整个设计进行了仿真。仿真结果表明,该设计能够满足超宽带系统的要求。     

Protostellar classification using supervised machine learning algorithms

Classification of young stellar objects (YSOs) into different evolutionary stages helps us to understand the formation process of new stars and planetary systems. Such classification has traditionally been based on spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis. An alternative approach is provided by supervised machine learning algorithms, which can be trained to classify large samples of YSOs much faster than via SED analysis. We attempt to classify a sample of Orion YSOs (the parent sample size is 330) into different classes, where each source has already been classified using multiwavelength SED analysis. We used eight different learning algorithms to classify the target YSOs, namely a decision tree, random forest, gradient boosting machine (GBM), logistic regression, naïve Bayes classifier, \(k\)-nearest neighbour classifier, support vector machine, and neural network. The classifiers were trained and tested by using a 10-fold cross-validation procedure. As the learning features, we employed ten different continuum flux densities spanning from the near-infrared to submillimetre wavebands (\(\lambda= 3.6\mbox{--}870~\upmu\mbox{m}\)). With a classification accuracy of 82% (with respect to the SED-based classes), a GBM algorithm was found to exhibit the best performance. The lowest accuracy of 47% was obtained with a naïve Bayes classifier. Our analysis suggests that the inclusion of the \(3.6~\upmu\mbox{m}\) and \(24~\upmu\mbox{m}\) flux densities is useful to maximise the YSO classification accuracy. Although machine learning has the potential to provide a rapid and fairly reliable way to classify YSOs, an SED analysis is still needed to derive the physical properties of the sources (e.g. dust temperature and mass), and to create the labelled training data. The machine learning classification accuracies can be improved with respect to the present results by using larger data sets, more detailed missing value imputation, and advanced ensemble methods (e.g. extreme gradient boosting). Overall, the application of machine learning is expected to be very useful in the era of big astronomical data, for example to quickly assemble interesting target source samples for follow-up studies.     

PARSEC: An interactive Poisson series processor for personal computing systems

PARSEC is a PC-based, interactive algebraic manipulation package designed to manipulate series of the kind frequently found in Celestial Mechanics applications and perturbation procedures. The system is fundamentally an input/command interpreter which allows the user to enter algebraic expressions and procedures and to control the flow of series manipulations interactively. The system is designed to allow easy manipulations of polynomial-trigonometric series within the environment of an electronic scratchpad.     

POLIS: A spectropolarimeter for the VTT and for GREGOR

The polarimetric Littrow Spectrograph POLIS is designed for vector polarimetry at high angular and spectral resolution. It measures the magnetic field simultaneously in the photosphere and the chromosphere of the sun. Both branches of the polarimetry unit are dual beam systems with a single rotating modulator for both wavelengths and polarizing beam splitters in front of each CCD camera. POLIS has been installed at the VTT on Tenerife and has seen First Light on 17 May 2002. A modified version of POLIS will be developed for the balloon mission Sunrise . That version will have UV capabilities down to 200 nm.     

基于FPGA的IRIG-B（DC）码的解码方案的设计与实现

IRIG-B码是国际上通用的时间码格式,广泛应用于各种系统的时间同步。针对IRIG-B（DC）码的调制特性,介绍一种基于FPGA的B码解调方案。重点描述了如何在同步时序中准确提取秒同步信号并解调B码中包含的时间信息。整个方案中采用Verilog HDL语言进行设计,已成功实现,并给出了验证结果。