In-Flight Main Beam Reconstruction for Planck-LFI

In-flight measurements of the shape of the antenna main beam is a crucial input to the data analysis pipeline of each high resolution Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy experiment. We study the main beam reconstruction achievable by the PLANCK Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) through the observation of external planets. Although were strict our analysis to the 30 GHz LFI channel, the method can be easily extended to all the PLANCK frequency channels and to other CMB anisotropy experiments. We show that it is possible to fit the time ordered data from the external planets (mainly Jupiter and Saturn) to obtain an accurate, robust, simple and fast reconstruction of the main beam properties under very general conditions, almost independently of the calibration accuracy. In addition, we find that a bivariate Gaussian approximation of main beam shapes represents a significant improvement with respect to asymmetric representation. The impact of the most relevant systematic effects is also addressed. We demonstrate that by combining the recovery of the maximum signal at the planet transit with accurate in-flight calibration, it is possible to measure the intrinsic planet temperatures at millimetric wavelengths with < 1% accuracy. This work is based on PLANCK-LFI activities. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Photometric information on globular cluster stars from the Palomar Sky Survey prints

Photometric information that can be taken from the Palomar Sky Survey prints can be used to discriminate among the various evolutionary stages of stars that are members of globular clusters, as well as to obtain some idea of the HR diagram for vary faint stars. For a test case, it is shown that in a check analysis forM3 the known turn-off luminosity is given to within about 0.5 mag. The globular cluster NGC 5466 is examined and it is concluded that no turn-off occurs beforeP20 mag.     

Physical conditions in the convective envelopes of stars

The physical conditions in the convective envelopes of Pop. II main-sequence stars are described with some detail. A particular care has been devoted to the effects due to the formation of hydrogen molecules and to the pressure ionization.

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Riassunto Vengono descritte in dettaglio le condizioni fisiche nelle zone convettive esterne delle stelle di sequenza principale di Popolazione II. In particolare vengono studiati gli effetti dovuti alla formazione della molecola dell'idrogeno ed alla ionizzazione per pressione.

     

Overshooting of convective cores in helium-burning horizontal-branch stars

In helium-burning horizontal-branch stars, transformation of helium into carbon increases opacity in the convective core. Such a situation can drive an increase of the core-mass extension via the mixing by overshooting. The efficiency of this mechanism is investigated in order to obtain an indication of the time scale for the propagation of the convective boundary. Schwarzschild's criterion is shown to be fulfilled within a few percent at the innermost interface of the core boundary.

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Riassunto Nei primi stadi evolutivi di stelle di ramo orizzontale, la combustione di elio in carbonio aumenta l'opacità nel nucleo convettivo. Ne segue che il rimescolamento al bordo della convezione (overshooting) induce una progressiva instabilità convettiva negli strati contornanti il nucleo con conseguente incremento della massa del nucleo stesso. E' studiata l'efficienza di tale meccanismo al fine di ottenere indicazioni sui tempi scala caratteristici del processo di propagazione. Si mostra come il criterio di Schwarzschild risulti verificato entro qualche percento al bordo interno del nucleo convettivo.