| 1. |
- de Graauw, Th., et al.
(författare)
-
The Herschel-Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI)
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. L6-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: This paper describes the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) that was launched onboard ESA's Herschel Space Observatory in May 2009. Methods: The instrument is a set of 7 heterodyne receivers that are electronically tuneable, covering 480-1250 GHz with SIS mixers and the 1410-1910 GHz range with hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. The local oscillator (LO) subsystem comprises a Ka-band synthesizer followed by 14 chains of frequency multipliers and 2 chains for each frequency band. A pair of auto-correlators and a pair of acousto-optical spectrometers process the two IF signals from the dual-polarization, single-pixel front-ends to provide instantaneous frequency coverage of 2 × 4 GHz, with a set of resolutions (125 kHz to 1 MHz) that are better than 0.1 km s-1. Results: After a successful qualification and a pre-launch TB/TV test program, the flight instrument is now in-orbit and completed successfully the commissioning and performance verification phase. The in-orbit performance of the receivers matches the pre-launch sensitivities. We also report on the in-orbit performance of the receivers and some first results of HIFI's operations. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
|
|
| 2. |
- Rauer, H., et al.
(författare)
-
The PLATO 2.0 mission
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 38:1-2, s. 249-330
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PLATO 2.0 has recently been selected for ESA's M3 launch opportunity (2022/24). Providing accurate key planet parameters (radius, mass, density and age) in statistical numbers, it addresses fundamental questions such as: How do planetary systems form and evolve? Are there other systems with planets like ours, including potentially habitable planets? The PLATO 2.0 instrument consists of 34 small aperture telescopes (32 with 25 s readout cadence and 2 with 2.5 s cadence) providing a wide field-of-view (2232 deg(2)) and a large photometric magnitude range (4-16 mag). It focuses on bright (4-11 mag) stars in wide fields to detect and characterize planets down to Earth-size by photometric transits, whose masses can then be determined by ground-based radial-velocity follow-up measurements. Asteroseismology will be performed for these bright stars to obtain highly accurate stellar parameters, including masses and ages. The combination of bright targets and asteroseismology results in high accuracy for the bulk planet parameters: 2 %, 4-10 % and 10 % for planet radii, masses and ages, respectively. The planned baseline observing strategy includes two long pointings (2-3 years) to detect and bulk characterize planets reaching into the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars and an additional step-and-stare phase to cover in total about 50 % of the sky. PLATO 2.0 will observe up to 1,000,000 stars and detect and characterize hundreds of small planets, and thousands of planets in the Neptune to gas giant regime out to the HZ. It will therefore provide the first large-scale catalogue of bulk characterized planets with accurate radii, masses, mean densities and ages. This catalogue will include terrestrial planets at intermediate orbital distances, where surface temperatures are moderate. Coverage of this parameter range with statistical numbers of bulk characterized planets is unique to PLATO 2.0. The PLATO 2.0 catalogue allows us to e. g.: - complete our knowledge of planet diversity for low-mass objects, - correlate the planet mean density-orbital distance distribution with predictions from planet formation theories,- constrain the influence of planet migration and scattering on the architecture of multiple systems, and - specify how planet and system parameters change with host star characteristics, such as type, metallicity and age. The catalogue will allow us to study planets and planetary systems at different evolutionary phases. It will further provide a census for small, low-mass planets. This will serve to identify objects which retained their primordial hydrogen atmosphere and in general the typical characteristics of planets in such a low-mass, low-density range. Planets detected by PLATO 2.0 will orbit bright stars and many of them will be targets for future atmosphere spectroscopy exploring their atmospheres. Furthermore, the mission has the potential to detect exomoons, planetary rings, binary and Trojan planets. The planetary science possible with PLATO 2.0 is complemented by its impact on stellar and galactic science via asteroseismology as well as light curves of all kinds of variable stars, together with observations of stellar clusters of different ages. This will allow us to improve stellar models and study stellar activity. A large number of well-known ages from red giant stars will probe the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Asteroseismic ages of bright stars for different phases of stellar evolution allow calibrating stellar age-rotation relationships. Together with the results of ESA's Gaia mission, the results of PLATO 2.0 will provide a huge legacy to planetary, stellar and galactic science.
|
|
| 3. |
- Weinstein, John N., et al.
(författare)
-
The cancer genome atlas pan-cancer analysis project
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 45:10, s. 1113-1120
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network has profiled and analyzed large numbers of human tumors to discover molecular aberrations at the DNA, RNA, protein and epigenetic levels. The resulting rich data provide a major opportunity to develop an integrated picture of commonalities, differences and emergent themes across tumor lineages. The Pan-Cancer initiative compares the first 12 tumor types profiled by TCGA. Analysis of the molecular aberrations and their functional roles across tumor types will teach us how to extend therapies effective in one cancer type to others with a similar genomic profile. © 2013 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 4. |
- Marseille, M. G., et al.
(författare)
-
Water abundances in high-mass protostellar envelopes : Herschel observations with HIFI
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L32-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: We derive the dense core structure and the water abundance in four massive star-forming regions in the hope of understanding the earliest stages of massive star formation. Methods: We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the para-H2O 111-000 and 202-111 and the para-H_218O 111-000 transitions. The envelope contribution to the line profiles is separated from contributions by outflows and foreground clouds. The envelope contribution is modeled with Monte-Carlo radiative transfer codes for dust and molecular lines (MC3D and RATRAN), and the water abundance and the turbulent velocity width as free parameters. Results: While the outflows are mostly seen in emission in high-J lines, envelopes are seen in absorption in ground-state lines, which are almost saturated. The derived water abundances range from 5×10-10 to 4×10-8 in the outer envelopes. We detect cold clouds surrounding the protostar envelope, thanks to the very high quality of the Herschel/HIFI data and the unique ability of water to probe them. Several foreground clouds are also detected along the line of sight. Conclusions: The low H2O abundances in massive dense cores are in accordance with the expectation that high densities and low temperatures lead to freeze-out of water on dust grains. The spread in abundance values is not clearly linked to physical properties of the sources. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation of NASA.Appendix (pages 6 to 7) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
|
|
| 5. |
- Lammer, H., et al.
(författare)
-
The Science of Exoplanets and Their Systems
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Astrobiology. - : Mary Ann Liebert Inc. - 1531-1074 .- 1557-8070. ; 13:9, s. 793-813
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A scientific forum on The Future Science of Exoplanets and Their Systems, sponsored by Europlanet(*) and the International Space Science Institute (ISSI)(dagger) and co-organized by the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)(double dagger) of the University of Bern, was held during December 5 and 6, 2012, in Bern, Switzerland. It gathered 24 well-known specialists in exoplanetary, Solar System, and stellar science to discuss the future of the fast-expanding field of exoplanetary research, which now has nearly 1000 objects to analyze and compare and will develop even more quickly over the coming years. The forum discussions included a review of current observational knowledge, efforts for exoplanetary atmosphere characterization and their formation, water formation, atmospheric evolution, habitability aspects, and our understanding of how exoplanets interact with their stellar and galactic environment throughout their history. Several important and timely research areas of focus for further research efforts in the field were identified by the forum participants. These scientific topics are related to the origin and formation of water and its delivery to planetary bodies and the role of the disk in relation to planet formation, including constraints from observations as well as star-planet interaction processes and their consequences for atmosphere-magnetosphere environments, evolution, and habitability. The relevance of these research areas is outlined in this report, and possible themes for future ISSI workshops are identified that may be proposed by the international research community over the coming 2-3 years.
|
|
| 6. |
- Alibert, Y., et al.
(författare)
-
Origin and Formation of Planetary Systems
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astrobiology. - : Mary Ann Liebert Inc. - 1531-1074 .- 1557-8070. ; 10:1, s. 19-32
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To estimate the occurrence of terrestrial exoplanets and maximize the chance of finding them, it is crucial to understand the formation of planetary systems in general and that of terrestrial planets in particular. We show that a reliable formation theory should not only explain the formation of the Solar System, with small terrestrial planets within a few AU and gas giants farther out, but also the newly discovered exoplanetary systems with close-in giant planets. Regarding the presently known exoplanets, we stress that our current knowledge is strongly biased by the sensitivity limits of current detection techniques (mainly the radial velocity method). With time and improved detection methods, the diversity of planets and orbits in exoplanetary systems will definitely increase and help to constrain the formation theory further. In this work, we review the latest state of planetary formation in relation to the origin and evolution of habitable terrestrial planets.
|
|
| 7. |
- Benz, A. O., et al.
(författare)
-
Hydrides in young stellar objects : Radiation tracers in a protostar-disk-outflow system
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L35-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Hydrides of the most abundant heavier elements are fundamental molecules in cosmic chemistry. Some of them trace gas irradiated by UV or X-rays. Aims: We explore the abundances of major hydrides in W3 IRS5, a prototypical region of high-mass star formation. Methods: W3 IRS5 was observed by HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory with deep integration (≃2500 s) in 8 spectral regions. Results: The target lines including CH, NH, H3O+, and the new molecules SH+, H2O+, and OH+ are detected. The H2O+ and OH+ J = 1-0 lines are found mostly in absorption, but also appear to exhibit weak emission (P-Cyg-like). Emission requires high density, thus originates most likely near the protostar. This is corroborated by the absence of line shifts relative to the young stellar object (YSO). In addition, H2O+ and OH+ also contain strong absorption components at a velocity shifted relative to W3 IRS5, which are attributed to foreground clouds. Conclusions: The molecular column densities derived from observations correlate well with the predictions of a model that assumes the main emission region is in outflow walls, heated and irradiated by protostellar UV radiation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by a European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendix (page 5) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
|
|
| 8. |
- Broeg, C., et al.
(författare)
-
CHEOPS: A transit photometry mission for ESA's small mission programme
- 2013
-
Ingår i: EPJ Web of Conferences. - : EDP Sciences. - 2101-6275 .- 2100-014X. - 9782759809851 ; 47
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ground based radial velocity (RV) searches continue to discover exoplanets below Neptune mass down to Earth mass. Furthermore, ground based transit searches now reach milli-mag photometric precision and can discover Neptune size planets around bright stars. These searches will find exoplanets around bright stars anywhere on the sky, their discoveries representing prime science targets for further study due to the proximity and brightness of their host stars. A mission for transit follow-up measurements of these prime targets is currently lacking. The first ESA S-class mission CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExoPlanet Satellite) will fill this gap. It will perform ultra-high precision photometric monitoring of selected bright target stars almost anywhere on the sky with sufficient precision to detect Earth sized transits. It will be able to detect transits of RV-planets by photometric monitoring if the geometric configuration results in a transit. For Hot Neptunes discovered from the ground, CHEOPS will be able to improve the transit light curve so that the radius can be determined precisely. Because of the host stars' brightness, high precision RV measurements will be possible for all targets. All planets observed in transit by CHEOPS will be validated and their masses will be known. This will provide valuable data for constraining the mass-radius relation of exoplanets, especially in the Neptune-mass regime. During the planned 3.5 year mission, about 500 targets will be observed. There will be 20% of open time available for the community to develop new science programmes.
|
|
| 9. |
- Bruderer, S., et al.
(författare)
-
Herschel/HIFI detections of hydrides towards AFGL 2591. Envelope emission versus tenuous cloud absorption
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L44-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) onboard the Herschel Space Observatory allows the first observations of light diatomic molecules at high spectral resolution and in multiple transitions. Here, we report deep integrations using HIFI in different lines of hydrides towards the high-mass star forming region AFGL 2591. Detected are CH, CH+, NH, OH+, H2O+, while NH+ and SH+ have not been detected. All molecules except for CH and CH+ are seen in absorption with low excitation temperatures and at velocities different from the systemic velocity of the protostellar envelope. Surprisingly, the CH(JF,P = 3/22,- - 1/21,+ ) and CH+(J = 1-0, J = 2-1) lines are detected in emission at the systemic velocity. We can assign the absorption features to a foreground cloud and an outflow lobe, while the CH and CH+ emission stems from the envelope. The observed abundance and excitation of CH and CH+ can be explained in the scenario of FUV irradiated outflow walls, where a cavity etched out by the outflow allows protostellar FUV photons to irradiate and heat the envelope at larger distances driving the chemical reactions that produce these molecules. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Apppendices and Table 1 (pages 6 to 7) are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
|
|
| 10. |
- Caselli, P., et al.
(författare)
-
Water vapor toward starless cores : The Herschel view
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L29-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: Previous studies by the satellites SWAS and Odin provided stringent upper limits on the gas phase water abundance of dark clouds (x(H2O) < 7 × 10-9). We investigate the chemistry of water vapor in starless cores beyond the previous upper limits using the highly improved angular resolution and sensitivity of Herschel and measure the abundance of water vapor during evolutionary stages just preceding star formation. Methods: High spectral resolution observations of the fundamental ortho water (o-H2O) transition (557 GHz) were carried out with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared onboard Herschel toward two starless cores: Barnard 68 (hereafter B68), a Bok globule, and LDN 1544 (L1544), a prestellar core embedded in the Taurus molecular cloud complex. Detailed radiative transfer and chemical codes were used to analyze the data. Results: The RMS in the brightness temperature measured for the B68 and L1544 spectra is 2.0 and 2.2 mK, respectively, in a velocity bin of 0.59 km s-1. The continuum level is 3.5 ± 0.2 mK in B68 and 11.4 ± 0.4 mK in L1544. No significant feature is detected in B68 and the 3σ upper limit is consistent with a column density of o-H2O N(o-H2O) < 2.5 × 1013 cm-2, or a fractional abundance x(o-H2O) < 1.3 × 10-9, more than an order of magnitude lower than the SWAS upper limit on this source. The L1544 spectrum shows an absorption feature at a 5σ level from which we obtain the first value of the o-H2O column density ever measured in dark clouds: N(o-H2O) = (8 ± 4) × 1012 cm-2. The corresponding fractional abundance is x(o-H2O) ≃ 5 × 10-9 at radii >7000 AU and ≃2 × 10-10 toward the center. The radiative transfer analysis shows that this is consistent with a x(o-H2O) profile peaking at ≃10-8, 0.1 pc away from the core center, where both freeze-out and photodissociation are negligible. Conclusions: Herschel has provided the first measurement of water vapor in dark regions. Column densities of o-H2O are low, but prestellar cores such as L1544 (with their high central densities, strong continuum, and large envelopes) appear to be very promising tools to finally shed light on the solid/vapor balance of water in molecular clouds and oxygen chemistry in the earliest stages of star formation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
|
|
