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C.

Publications and source records attributed to C..

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Comparisons of policies based on relevation and replacement by a new one unit in reliability

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of the relevation transform, where a failed unit is replaced by a used unit with the same age as the failed one, as an alternative to the policy based on the replacement by a new one. In particular, we compare the stochastic processes arising from a policy based on the replacement of a failed unit by a new one and from the one in which the unit is being continuously subjected to a relevation policy. The comparisons depend on the aging properties of the units under repair.

math.ST

Detection of ultracold neutrons with powdered scintillator screens

Zinc sulfide (ZnS:Ag) scintillators coated with a thin 10B layer are widely used for ultracold neutron (UCN) detection, but their application is limited by long decay times and significant phosphorescence. We investigated two possible replacement scintillators: yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP:Ce) and lutetium ttrium orthosilicate (LYSO:Ce). Both exhibit decay times on the order of 30-40 ns, which can help reduce dead time in high-count-rate experiments. YAP:Ce showed approximately 60% lower phosphorescence than ZnS:Ag after 2 days and detected about 20% more UCN. In contrast, LYSO:Ce exhibited higher phosphorescence and produced fewer UCN counts compared to both ZnS:Ag and YAP:Ce. While both tested scintillators are capable UCN detectors, YAP:Ce consistently outperformed LYSO:Ce across all measured performance metrics.

physics.ins-det

Tropical Pacific SST influence on seasonal streamflow variability in Ecuador

This study presents a basin wide assessment about the spatio-temporal variability of streamflows in Ecuador for the period 1979-2015. The influence of the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) on stremaflow variariability from February to April (FMA) period, as the months showing maximum stramflow for the wet season in Ecuador, and from the June to August (JJA), correspondign to the dry season, was analysed. First, a long-term trend analysis was carried out by applying the Sen's slope estimator and the Mann-Kendall test to monthly streamflow data from 45 gaging stations located in different basins across Ecuador. While the coastal region showed the highest generalized positive trends from July to January, the results for the Pacific Andean area suggested a strengthening of the seasonality, presenting an overall increase in the streamflow for all months except August, September and October, which showed negative trends. Second, a singular-value decomposition (SVD) was applied in order to find the main coupled variability patterns between the FMA streamflow and the quasi-coetaneous SST (December-February, DJF) and between the JJA streamflow and the coetaneous SST. The results revealed two main coupled modes for DJF SST/FMA streamflow, the first associated with the canonical El Ni\~no and the second with El Ni\~no Modoki. The latter exerted a major influence on FMA streamflow over most of Ecuador. For JJA streamflow, however, the pattern associated with the traditional El Ni\~no was even more relevant. These results establish the foundations for streamflow modelling in Ecuador based on the Pacific SST, showing the strong response of the streamflows to different types of El Ni\~no events

physics.ao-ph

Morphology of star-forming clumps in ram-pressure stripped galaxies as seen by HST

We characterize the morphological properties of a statistically relevant sample of H$\alpha$ and UV young star-forming clumps and optical complexes, observed with the \textit{Hubble Space Telescope} in six galaxies of the GASP sample undergoing ram-pressure stripping. The catalogs comprise 2406 (323 in the tails) H$\alpha$ clumps, 3750 (899) UV clumps and 424 tail optical complexes. About 15-20\% of the clumps and 50\% of the complexes are resolved in size. We find that more than half of the complexes contain no H$\alpha$ clumps, while most of them contain at least one UV clump. The clump number and size increase with the complex size, while the median complex filling factor is larger for UV clumps ($0.27$) than for H$\alpha$ clumps ($0.10$) and does not correlate with almost any morphological property. This suggests that the clumps number and size grow with the complex keeping the filling factor constant. When studying the position of the clumps inside their complexes, H$\alpha$ clumps, and UV clumps to a lesser extent, show a displacement from the complex center of $0.1-1$ kpc and, in $\sim 60$\% of the cases, they are displaced away from the galactic disk. This is in accordance with the fireball configuration, already observed in the tails of stripped galaxies. Finally, the filling factor and the clump radius increase with the distance from the galactic disk, suggesting that the reciprocal displacement of the different stellar generations increases as a consequence of the velocity gradient caused by ram pressure.

astro-ph.GA

Beyond the disk: EUV coronagraphic observations of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter

Most observations of the solar corona beyond 2 Rs consist of broadband visible light imagery from coronagraphs. The associated diagnostics mainly consist of kinematics and derivations of the electron number density. While the measurement of the properties of emission lines can provide crucial additional diagnostics of the coronal plasma (temperatures, velocities, abundances, etc.), these observations are comparatively rare. In visible wavelengths, observations at these heights are limited to total eclipses. In the VUV range, very few additional observations have been achieved since the pioneering results of UVCS. One of the objectives of the Full Sun Imager (FSI) channel of the EUI telescope on board the Solar Orbiter mission has been to provide very wide field-of-view EUV diagnostics of the morphology and dynamics of the solar atmosphere in temperature regimes that are typical of the lower transition region and of the corona. FSI carries out observations in two narrowbands of the EUV spectrum centered on 17.4 nm and 30.4 nm that are dominated, respectively, by lines of Fe IX/X (formed in the corona around 1 MK) and by the resonance line of He II (formed around 80 kK in the lower transition region). Unlike previous EUV imagers, FSI includes a moveable occulting disk that can be inserted in the optical path to reduce the amount of instrumental stray light to a minimum. FSI detects signals at 17.4 nm up to the edge of its FOV (7~Rs), which is about twice further than was previously possible. Comparisons with observations by the LASCO and Metis coronagraphs confirm the presence of morphological similarities and differences between the broadband visible light and EUV emissions, as documented on the basis of prior eclipse and space-based observations. The very-wide-field observations of FSI are paving the way for future dedicated instruments.

astro-ph.SR

The ASTRI Mini-Array of Cherenkov Telescopes at the Observatorio del Teide

The ASTRI Mini-Array (MA) is an INAF project to build and operate a facility to study astronomical sources emitting at very high-energy in the TeV spectral band. The ASTRI MA consists of a group of nine innovative Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The telescopes will be installed at the Teide Astronomical Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) on the basis of a host agreement with INAF. Thanks to its expected overall performance, better than those of current Cherenkov telescopes' arrays for energies above \sim 5 TeV and up to 100 TeV and beyond, the ASTRI MA will represent an important instrument to perform deep observations of the Galactic and extra-Galactic sky at these energies.

astro-ph.IM

Half-lives of neutron-rich $^{128-130}$Cd

The $\beta$-decay half-lives of $^{128\text{--}130}$Cd have been measured with the newly commissioned GRIFFIN $\gamma$-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility. The time structures of the most intense $\gamma$-rays emitted following the $\beta$-decay were used to determine the half-lives of $^{128}$Cd and $^{130}$Cd to be $T_{1/2}= 246.2(21)$ ms and $T_{1/2}= 126(4)$ ms, respectively. The half-lives of the 3/2$^+$ and 11/2$^-$ states of $^{129}$Cd were measured to be $T_{1/2}(3/2^+)= 157(8)$ ms and $T_{1/2}(11/2^-)= 147(3)$ ms. The half-lives of the Cd isotopes around the $N=82$ shell closure are an important ingredient in astrophysical simulations to derive the magnitude of the second $r$-process abundance peak in the $A\sim130$ region. Our new results are compared with recent literature values and theoretical calculations.

nucl-ex

Design, analysis, and testing of a microdot apodizer for the apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (Research note). III. Application to extremely large telescopes

The apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph is one of the most advanced starlight cancellation concepts studied intensively in the past few years. Extreme adaptive optics instruments built for present-day 8m class telescopes will operate with such coronagraph for imagery and spectroscopy of faint stellar companions. Following the development of an early demonstrator in the context of the VLT-SPHERE project (~2012), we manufactured and tested a second APLC prototype in microdots designed for extremely large telescopes. This study has been conducted in the context of the EPICS instrument project for the European-ELT (~2018), where a proof of concept is required at this stage. Our prototype was specifically designed for the European-ELT pupil, taking its large central obscuration ratio (30%) into account. Near-IR laboratory results are compared with simulations. We demonstrate good agreement with theory. A peak attenuation of 295 was achieved, and contrasts of 10^-5 and 10^-6 were reached at 7 and 12 lambda/D, respectively. We show that the APLC is able to maintain these contrasts with a central obscuration ratio of the telescope in the range 15% to 30%, and we report that these performances can be achieved in a wide wavelength bandpass (BW = 24%). In addition, we report improvement to the accuracy of the control of the local transmission of the manufactured microdot apodizer to that of the previous prototype. The local profile error is found to be less than 2%. The maturity and reproducibility of the APLC made with microdots is demonstrated. The apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph is confirmed to be a pertinent candidate for high-contrast imaging with ELTs.

astro-ph.IM

O VI Absorbers Tracing Hot Gas Associated with a Pair of Galaxies at z = 0.167

High signal-to-noise (S/N) observations of the QSO PKS 0405-123 (zem = 0.572) with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph from 1134 to 1796 A with a resolution of 17 km s-1 are used to study the multi-phase partial Lyman limit system (LLS) at z = 0.16716 which has previously been studied using relatively low S/N spectra from STIS and FUSE. The LLS and an associated H I-free broad O VI absorber likely originate in the circumgalactic gas associated with a pair of galaxies at z = 0.1688 and 0.1670 with impact parameters of 116 h70-1 and 99 h70-1. The broad and symmetric O VI absorption is detected in the z = 0.16716 restframe with v = -278 +/- 3 km s-1, log N(O VI) = 13.90 +/- 0.03 and b = 52 +/- 2 km s-1. This absorber is not detected in H I or other species with the possible exception of N V . The broad, symmetric O VI profile and absence of corresponding H I absorption indicates that the circumgalactic gas in which the collisionally ionized O VI arises is hot (log T ~ 5.8-6.2). The absorber may represent a rare but important new class of low z IGM absorbers. The LLS has strong asymmetrical O VI absorption with log N(O VI) = 14.72 +/- 0.02 spanning a velocity range from -200 to +100 km s-1. The high and low ions in the LLS have properties resembling those found for Galactic highly ionized HVCs where the O VI is likely produced in the conductive and turbulent interfaces between cool and hot gas.

astro-ph.CO

HD97048: a closer look to the disk

Aims: Today, large ground-based instruments, like VISIR on the VLT, providing diffraction-limited (about 0.3 arcsec) images in the mid-infrared where strong PAH features appear enable us to see the flaring structure of the disks around Herbig Ae stars. Although great progress has been made in modelling the disk with radiative transfer models able to reproduce the spectral energy distribution (SED) of Herbig Ae stars, the constraints brought by images have not been yet fully exploited. Here, we are interested in checking if these new observational imaging constraints can be accounted for by predictions based on existing models of passive centrally irradiated hydrostatic disks made to fit the SEDs of the Herbig Ae stars. Methods: The images taken by VISIR in the 8.6 and 11.3 microns aromatic features reveal a large flaring disk around HD97048 inclined to the line of sight. In order to analyse the spatial distribution of these data, we use a disk model which includes the most up to date understanding of disk structure and physics around Herbig Ae stars with grains in thermal equilibrium in addition to transiently-heated PAHs. Results: We compare the observed spatial distribution of the PAH emission feature and the adjacent continuum emission with predictions based on existing full disk models. Both SED and spatial distribution are in very good agreement with the model predictions for common disk parameters. Conclusions: We take the general agreement between observations and predictions as a strong support for the physical pictures underlying our flared disk model.

astro-ph