| 1. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 9780819496126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final downselection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supranuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study.
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| 2. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 34:2, s. 415-444
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultradense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m(2)-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Thanks to an innovative design and the development of large-area monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board LOFT will achieve an effective area of similar to 12 m(2) (more than an order of magnitude larger than any spaceborne predecessor) in the 2-30 keV range (up to 50 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of < 260 eV, LOFT will yield unprecedented information on strongly curved spacetimes and matter under extreme conditions of pressure and magnetic field strength.
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| 3. |
- Birkby, J. L., et al.
(författare)
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WTS-2 b: a hot Jupiter orbiting near its tidal destruction radius around a K dwarf
- 2014
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1365-2966 .- 0035-8711. ; 440:2, s. 1470-1489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the discovery of WTS-2 b, an unusually close-in 1.02-d hot Jupiter (M-P = 1.12M(J), R-P = 1.30R(J)) orbiting a K2V star, which has a possible gravitationally bound M-dwarf companion at 0.6 arcsec separation contributing similar to 20 per cent of the total flux in the observed J-band light curve. The planet is only 1.5 times the separation from its host star at which it would be destroyed by Roche lobe overflow, and has a predicted remaining lifetime of just similar to 40 Myr, assuming a tidal dissipation quality factor of Q(*)' = 10(6).Q(*)' is a key factor in determining how frictional processes within a host star affect the orbital evolution of its companion giant planets, but it is currently poorly constrained by observations. We calculate that the orbital decay of WTS-2 b would correspond to a shift in its transit arrival time of T-shift similar to 17 s after 15 yr assuming Q(*)' = 10(6). A shift less than this would place a direct observational constraint on the lower limit of Q(*)' in this system. We also report a correction to the previously published expected T-shift for WASP-18 b, finding that T-shift = 356 s after 10 yr for Q(*)' = 10(6), which is much larger than the estimated 28 s quoted in WASP-18 b discovery paper. We attempted to constrain Q(*)' via a study of the entire population of known transiting hot Jupiters, but our results were inconclusive, requiring a more detailed treatment of transit survey sensitivities at long periods. We conclude that the most informative and straightforward constraints on Q(*)' will be obtained by direct observational measurements of the shift in transit arrival times in individual hot Jupiter systems. We show that this is achievable across the mass spectrum of exoplanet host stars within a decade, and will directly probe the effects of stellar interior structure on tidal dissipation.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Dawson, Deborah A., et al.
(författare)
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New methods to identify conserved microsatellite loci and develop primer sets of high cross-species utility - as demonstrated for birds
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 10:3, s. 475-494
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have developed a new approach to create microsatellite primer sets that have high utility across a wide range of species. The success of this method was demonstrated using birds. We selected 35 avian EST microsatellite loci that had a high degree of sequence homology between the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata and the chicken Gallus gallus and designed primer sets in which the primer bind sites were identical in both species. For 33 conserved primer sets, on average, 100% of loci amplified in each of 17 passerine species and 99% of loci in five non-passerine species. The genotyping of four individuals per species revealed that 24-76% (mean 48%) of loci were polymorphic in the passerines and 18-26% (mean 21%) in the non-passerines. When at least 17 individuals were genotyped per species for four Fringillidae finch species, 71-85% of loci were polymorphic, observed heterozygosity was above 0.50 for most loci and no locus deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg proportions. This new set of microsatellite markers is of higher cross-species utility than any set previously designed. The loci described are suitable for a range of applications that require polymorphic avian markers, including paternity and population studies. They will facilitate comparisons of bird genome organization, including genome mapping and studies of recombination, and allow comparisons of genetic variability between species whilst avoiding ascertainment bias. The costs and time to develop new loci can now be avoided for many applications in numerous species. Furthermore, our method can be readily used to develop microsatellite markers of high utility across other taxa.
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| 6. |
- Ordóñez, J. I., et al.
(författare)
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Seawater leaching of caliche mineral in column experiments
- 2013
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Ingår i: Hydrometallurgy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-386X .- 1879-1158. ; 139, s. 79-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Caliche is a mineral that contains a high fraction of soluble minerals and that is exploited in Northern Chile through vat or heap leaching for the production of iodine and nitrate. In this zone, the water availability is scarce, being a critical issue for the mining industries and whereby the use of other leaching agents as seawater may be a viable alternative. For this reason in the present study, column-leaching experiments using seawater were performed, including different irrigation rates and column heights. It is found that the highly soluble minerals such as nitrate and iodate are rapidly leached, while for other minerals like sulphate and chloride, the outlet concentration increased once that part of the sodium has been removed. Crystals of sodium sulphate were found at the column bottom, when this was dismantled. An existing phenomenological model (Gálvez et al., 2012) was used to analyse the changes of concentration of nitrate and iodine (as iodate) with a good agreement between the experiments and the simulations. On the other hand, for sulphate and chloride a new model was developed, which takes into account the dissolution and precipitation phenomena of these ions. The model was able to capture the trends observed in the experiments for the outlet concentrations of the modelled ions.
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