2012.05006
Pyxel: the collaborative detection simulation framework
Prod'homme, et al
Pyxel is a novel python tool for end-to-end detection chain simulation i.e. from detector optical effects to readout electronics effects. It is an easy-to-use framework to host and pipeline any detector effect model. It is suited for simulating both Charge-Coupled Devices, CMOS Image Sensors and Mercury Cadmium Telluride hybridized arrays. It is conceived as a collaborative tool to promote reusability, knowledge transfer, and reliability in the instrumentation community. We provide a demonstration of Pyxel's basic principles, describe newly added capabilities, and give examples of more advanced applications.
2012.05025
A smartphone-based arbitrary scene projector for detector testing and instrument performance evaluation
Prod'homme, et al
Using the high-resolution OLED screen of a smartphone to project arbitrary scenes and patterns can open a complete new dimension for testing sensors in the visible. Based on an original concept from JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), this contribution describes a new experimental setup designed to achieve the demanding performance of its first application by ESA (European Space Agency): the evaluation of radiation-induced CTI (Charge Transfer Inefficiency) on Euclid's weak lensing measurement. We show that pushed to its limits especially in terms of calibration such a simple experiment can deliver a level of optical performance high enough to be applied in the verification of high-precision astronomy instrument performance.
2012.05028
A 5% measurement of the gravitational constant in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Desmond, et al
We perform a novel test of General Relativity by measuring the gravitational constant in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC contains six well-studied Cepheid variable stars in detached eclipsing binaries. Radial velocity and photometric observations enable a complete orbital solution, and precise measurements of the Cepheids' periods permit detailed stellar modelling. Both are sensitive to the strength of gravity, the former via Kepler's third law and the latter through the gravitational free-fall time. We jointly fit the observables for stellar parameters and the gravitational constant. Performing a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of the parameter space including all relevant nuisance parameters, we constrain the gravitational constant in the Large Magellanic Cloud relative to the Solar System to be $G_\text{LMC}/G_\text{SS} = 0.93^{+0.05}_{-0.04}$. We discuss the implications of this 5% measurement of Newton's constant in another galaxy for dark energy and modified gravity theories. This result excludes one Cepheid, CEP-1812, which is an outlier and needs further study: it is either a highly unusual system to which our model does not apply, or it prefers $G_\text{LMC}<G_\text{SS}$ at $2.6\sigma$. We also obtain new bounds on critical parameters that appear in semi-analytic descriptions of stellar processes. In particular, we measure the mixing length parameter to be $\alpha=0.90^{+0.36}_{-0.26}$ (when assumed to be constant across our sample), and obtain constraints on the parameters describing turbulent dissipation and convective flux.
2012.05271
Measuring the Sun's velocity using Gaia EDR3 observations of Stellar Streams
Malhan, et al
We measure the Sun's velocity with respect to the Galactic halo using Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) observations of stellar streams. Our method relies on the fact that, in low-mass streams, the proper motion of stars should be directed along the stream structure in a non-rotating rest frame of the Galaxy, but the observed deviation arises due to the Sun's own reflex motion. This principle allows us to implement a simple geometrical procedure, which we use to analyse 17 streams over a $\sim 3-30$ kpc range. Our constraint on the Sun's motion is independent of any Galactic potential model, and it is also uncorrelated with the Sun's galactocentric distance. We infer the Sun's velocity as $V_{R,\odot}=8.88^{+1.20}_{-1.22}\,\rm{kms^{-1}}$ (radially towards the Galactic centre), $V_{\phi,\odot}=241.91^{+1.61}_{-1.73}\,\rm{kms^{-1}}$ (in the direction of Galactic rotation) and $V_{z,\odot}=3.08^{+1.06}_{-1.10}\,\rm{kms^{-1}}$ (vertically upwards), in global agreement with past measurements through other techniques; although we do note a small but significant difference in the $V_{z,\odot}$ component. Some of these parameters show significant correlation and we provide our MCMC output so it can be used by the reader as an input to future works. The comparison between our Sun's velocity inference and previous results, using other reference frames, indicates that the inner Galaxy is not moving with respect to the inertial frame defined by the halo streams.
2012.05686
Calculation of crustal thickness difference of far and near sides of the Moon
Bischof
The cause for the difference in crustal thickness between the far and near sides of the moon has been considered an open problem in astronomy since 1959 when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 sent back the first images of the lunar farside. The problem is referred to as the lunar farside highlands problem. In this article, the author deduces the center of mass shift of the moon from its geometrical center and the difference in crustal thickness between the far and near lunar sides necessary to explain it. Although there have been other theories proposed to explain these phenomena, this theory explains them as arising naturally from the effects on lunar material due to the earth's external gravity force and the moon's synchronous rotation and revolution. The author's mathematical model results in a calculated value of 1.6 km for the center of mass shift and a crustal thickness difference of 16 km. Both of these values are close to their accepted values.
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