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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2

A symbiotic approach to SETI observations: use of maps from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope

High spatial resolution continuum radio maps produced by the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) of The Netherlands at frequencies near the 21 cm HI line have been examined for anomalous sources of emmission coincident with the locations of nearby bright stars. From a total of 542 stellar positions investigated, no candidates for radio stars or ETI signals were discovered to formal limits on the minimum detectable signal ranging from 7.7 x 10(-22) W/m2 to 6.4 x 10(-24) W/m2. This preliminary study has verified that data collected by radio astronomers at large synthesis arrays can profitably be analysed for SETI signals (in a non-interfering manner) provided only that the data are available in the form of a more or less standard two dimensional map format.

Exobiology/methods↗

Multifrequency techniques for studying interplanetary scintillations

Rytov's approximation, or the method of smooth perturbations, is utilized to derive the temporal frequency spectra of the amplitude and phase fluctuations of multifrequency plane and spherical waves propagating in the interplanetary medium and solar corona. It is shown that multifrequency observations of interplanetary scintillations using either compact radio stars of spacecraft radio signals are desirable because the correlation of the multifrequency waves yields additional independent measurements of the solar wind and turbulence. Measurements of phase fluctuations are also desirable because, unlike amplitude fluctuations, they provide information on the full range of scale sizes for the electron-density fluctuations. It is also shown that a coherent dual-frequency radio system is particularly useful in making such measurements. In addition to providing a means for interpreting observations of multifrequency interplanetary scintillations, the present analysis is essential for estimating the effects of solar corona turbulence on the communications and navigation of a spacecraft whose line-of-sight path passes close to the sun.

Woo, R.↗

Precise Timing Based on Pulsar Observation for Grid Synchronization

While Global Positioning System signals are widely used as the synchronized timing Sources for wide-area measurement systems for power grid monitoring and control, they are vulnerable to failures and malicious attacks. To address this Problem, an alternative kind of timing sources, the millisecond pulsars, were proposed to serve the power grid as they are more precise and physically indestructible. Millisecond pulsars are a kind of neutron stars that emit radio pulse signals that have extremely stable periods of milliseconds. However, the observed pulse Signals from pulsars cannot be directly used for timing because of their low signal-to-noise ratio and the dispersion effects of interstellar medium. In this paper, the precise timing method based on pulsar observation data is proposed to interpret the pulsar observation data and therefrom to generate precise timing signal for the power grid synchronization. In our proposed method,. incoherent de-dispersion is used on the observation data to mitigate the effect of interstellar medium. dispersion. Then spectrum analysis and segment folding are used to precisely estimate the local pulsar period. Finally the standard pulse per second signal is generated from. the estimated pulsar period and its precision. is analyzed. Experiments with the observation data of the pulsar based timing signal can be more accurate compared to GPS timing signals.

Luo, Xiqian↗

Axion-photon conversion in strongly magnetised plasmas

Axion dark matter can resonantly convert to photons in the magnetosphere of neutron stars, possibly giving rise to radio signals observable on Earth. This method for the indirect detection of axion dark matter has recently received significant attention in the literature. The calculation of the radio signal is complicated by a number of effects; most importantly, the gravitational infall of the axions onto the neutron star accelerates them to semi-relativistic speed, and the neutron star magnetosphere is highly anisotropic. Both of these factors complicate the calculation of the conversion of axions to photons. In this work, we present the first fully three-dimensional calculation of the axion-photon conversion in highly magnetised anisotropic media. Depending on the axion trajectory, this calculation leads to orders-of-magnitude differences in the conversion compared to the simplified one-dimensional calculation used so far in the literature, altering the directionality of the produced photons. Our results will have important implications for the radio signal one would observe in a telescope.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Prospects for the Detection of Earths Orbiting Other Stars

Extrasolar planets have been detected by timing the radio signals from millisecond pulsars, from Doppler velocity changes in the spectra of main sequence stars, and most recently by the white-light transit of HD209458. Detection of Earth-sized planets in and near the habitable zone of main-sequence stars appears to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, from ground-based observatories because of noise introduced by scintillation and transparency changes in the Earth's atmosphere. To overcome these difficulties, several spaceborne photometric missions have been proposed. The COROT mission is a CNES/ESA mission with a 30 cm aperture telescope that will monitor each of several star fields for five months to find short period planets. The Kepler project is a USA effort designed to monitor 100,000 solar-like stars in a single field of view for a period of four years. The long duration enables the reliable detection of planets with orbital periods from a few days to as long as two years. Thus it should be able to determine the frequency of planets in and near the habitable zone and associate them with stellar spectral types. Canadian and Scandinavian missions are also being developed. This paper compares these missions and discusses their expected contribution to our understanding of the frequency of terrestrial-sized planets around other stars.

Bourcki, William J.↗

Engineering the Voyager Uranus mission

Several factors that affected the continuing expedition of Voyager 2 to Uranus are discussed. The hydrazine propellant and electrical power supplies on the spacecraft, and the radio signal strength and sun sensor and star tracker sensitivities are examined. The use of the on-board computer to steady the spacecraft and reduce image smear is described. The Voyager employs radiometric and optical data to navigate. The changes required to improve the transmission capabilities of the spacecraft and to eliminate the on-board hardware failures are analyzed.

Laeser, R. P.↗

Search for Transient Gravitational Waves in Coincidence with Short-Duration Radio Transients During 2007-2013

We present an archival search for transient gravitational-wave bursts in coincidence with 27 single-pulse triggers from Green Bank Telescope pulsar surveys, using the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory), Virgo (Variability of Solar Irradiance and Gravity Oscillations) and GEO (German-UK Interferometric Detector) interferometer network. We also discuss a check for gravitational-wave signals in coincidence with Parkes fast radio bursts using similar methods. Data analyzed in these searches were collected between 2007 and 2013. Possible sources of emission of both short-duration radio signals and transient gravitational-wave emission include star quakes on neutron stars, binary coalescence of neutron stars, and cosmic string cusps. While no evidence for gravitational-wave emission in coincidence with these radio transients was found, the current analysis serves as a prototype for similar future searches using more sensitive second-generation interferometers.

Abbott, B. P.↗

Millisecond radio spikes from the dwarf M flare star AD Leonis

Arecibo radio observations of millisec bursts of radio signals at 1415 MHz from AD Leonis are reported. The observed burst had an ellipticity of 0.95, 50-100 percent circular polarization, and a flux density maximum of 30 mJy. The 50 sec burst featured five quasi-periodic oscillations with a mean periodicity of about 3.2 sec. A second, less intense burst that occurred 20 sec later was 100 percent circularly polarized. The area emitting the bursts covered an estimated 0.005 of the radius of AD Leonis and had an electron density of 6 billion/cu cm and a longitudinal magnetic field strength of 250 gauss, if the source was an electron-cyclotron maser. A coherent plasma source would require, for the first harmonic, an electron density of 20 billion/cu cm and a magnetic field much less than 500 gauss. A second harmonic of the plasma frequency would require an electron density of 6 billion/cu cm and a field strength much less than 250 gauss. The possibility that the source was periodic oscillations in coronal loops is discussed.

Lang, K. R.↗

The coronae of 40 Eridani

High-resolution X-ray and radio images of the 40 Eridani triple star system have been obtained. The X-ray image, obtained with the Einstein Observatory, shows a corona of approximately solar intensity at the position of the K1 V star; the dM4e flare star is a strong X-ray source estimated at 2 x 10 to the 28th ergs/s. The hot white dwarf 40 Eridani B shows no X-ray signal down to a level of 8 x 10 to the 26th ergs/s. A VLA 4885 MHz radio image shows no evidence of signal from any of the three stars, down to the 0.95 mJy level.

Cash, W.↗

A Search for Technosignatures Around 11,680 Stars with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.15–1.73 GHz

We conducted a search for narrowband radio signals over four observing sessions in 2020–2023 with the $L$-band receiver (1.15–1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. We pointed the telescope in the directions of 62 TESS Objects of Interest, capturing radio emissions from a total of ~11,680 stars and planetary systems in the ~9' beam of the telescope. All detections were either automatically rejected or visually inspected and confirmed to be of anthropogenic nature. We also quantified the end-to-end efficiency of radio SETI pipelines with a signal injection and recovery analysis. The UCLA SETI pipeline recovers 94.0% of the injected signals over the usable frequency range of the receiver and 98.7% of the injections when regions of dense radio frequency interference are excluded. In another pipeline that uses incoherent sums of 51 consecutive spectra, the recovery rate is ~15 times smaller at ~6%. The pipeline efficiency affects calculations of transmitter prevalence and SETI search volume. Accordingly, we developed an improved Drake figure of merit and a formalism to place upper limits on transmitter prevalence that take the pipeline efficiency and transmitter duty cycle into account. Based on our observations, we can state at the 95% confidence level that fewer than 6.6% of stars within 100 pc host a transmitter that is continuously transmitting a narrowband signal with an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) > 10 13 W. For stars within 20,000 ly, the fraction of stars with detectable transmitters (EIRP > 5 × 10 16 W) is at most 3 × 10 -4 . Finally, we showed that the UCLA SETI pipeline natively detects the signals detected with AI techniques by Ma et al.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Circular polarization in 1612 MHz OH maser emission from OH/IR stars

In order to study the incidence of circular polarization in the 1612 MHz OH emission from envelopes of OH/IR stars, the Arecibo radio telescope was used to obtain high-resolution, high signal-to-noise 1612 MHz spectra in both circular polarizations for several OH/IR stars. The method of Troland and Heiles (1982) was used to estimate the intensities of magnetic fields in the envelopes. The fields appear to have complex structures, and intensities on the order of 1-100 microG. The spectra are weakly polarized, probably as a result of weakly polarized emission from individual emitting elements. Integration over the Stokes parameter V yields nonzero results for three of the stars, suggesting that another polarizing mechanism (in addition to simple Zeeman splittings) is at work.

Zell, Philip↗

New Ideas on the Formation and Astrophysical Detection of Primordial Black Holes

Recently, a number of novel scenarios for primordial black hole (PBH) formation have been discovered. Some of them require very minimal new physics, some others require no new ingredients besides those already present in commonly considered models, such as supersymmetry. At the same time, new strategies have emerged for detection of PBHs. For example, an observation of an orphan kilonova unaccompanied by the gravitational waves signal of merging neutron stars, but associated with a fast radio burst, could be a smoking gun of PBH dark matter. We review some new ideas for PBH formation and detection.

Flores, Marcos M.↗

VLSI processors for signal detection in SETI

The objective of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is to locate an artificially created signal coming from a distant star. This is done in two steps: (1) spectral analysis of an incoming radio frequency band, and (2) pattern detection for narrow-band signals. Both steps are computationally expensive and require the development of specially designed computer architectures. To reduce the size and cost of the SETI signal detection machine, two custom VLSI chips are under development. The first chip, the SETI DSP Engine, is used in the spectrum analyzer and is specially designed to compute Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs). It is a high-speed arithmetic processor that has two adders, one multiplier-accumulator, and three four-port memories. The second chip is a new type of Content-Addressable Memory. It is the heart of an associative processor that is used for pattern detection. Both chips incorporate many innovative circuits and architectural features.

NASA Program Exobiology↗

High-frequency continuum observations of young stars

31-GHz and/or 90-GHz radio continuum observations have been made towards 48 young stars. Only three signals are definitely detected and are shown to represent late O or early B stars. None of the 'continuum T Tauri stars' were detected, suggesting that these are unlikely to be hot stars. Some early B stars should have been detectable if they have normal Stromgren zones. Their undetectability may well signify that circumstellar dust modifies the ionization of surrounding gas.

Cohen, M.↗

To Boldly Go: America's Next Era in Space. Living Places in Other Solar Systems

Dr. Sargent noted that evidence of other solar systems that might sustain life, particularly human life, is being sought. Protoplanetary (or debris) disks have been observed and are considered evidence that other solar systems exist or are being formed. Also observed is a wobble which is seen as evidence of circulation around a celestial body and gaps that are created by the potential planet. One indicator of life may be these rings or disks of debris around stars. Interferometers, which are telescopic devices that consist of multiple lenses, are being developed in order to better see celestial objects and what may be found around them. Other methods for improving celestial viewing capabilities are also under development. She spoke of particularly looking for wobble and gaps and debris disks where new planets are being formed in an effort to discover another planet that might sustain life as we know it. The next speaker, Dr. Chris McKay, is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames. He talked about the possibility of life on Mars or in some other solar system. He commented on the sameness of the origin of all life, and of the origin of, and the need for, oxygen and water. He believes that water originally came to Earth from comets. At least that is a viable possible source. Water might also have come to Earth via asteroids. Dr. McKay also postulates that there can be no water on Mars because Mars has no plate tectonic system, which he believes is an essential for recycling water. . Dr. Wes Huntress, NASA s Associate Administrator for Space Science, and Dr. Barbara Stone, also from NASA Headquarters, joined Drs. Cordova, Sargent and McKay in the question and answer period following the presentations. (Mr. Goldin was excused to keep an appointment with the President.) The discussion included the following statements and questions: The more missions that there are, the more technology is developed. We need to study our solar system to have something to which we can compare other systems. Before we send people to distant places or to other planets, we need to study the psychological and biological problems that are created by going away from Earth for a long period of time. Pulsars appear to have planets rotating around them. This is of interest and should be studied further. Looking back in time, is there any thought to seeing the development of life? How long did it take for oxygen to rise on the Earth? Do debris disks around the stars provide velocity patterns? To detect life scientists are listening for radio signals, looking for oxygen or ozone, and looking for liquid water. On Earth liquid water is the defining ecological parameter for life. This means that operationally the search for life elsewhere is primarily a search for liquid water.

Source record↗

High-Energy X-rays from J174545.5-285829, the Cannonball: a Candidate Pulsar Wind Nebula Associated with Sgr a East

We report the unambiguous detection of non-thermal X-ray emission up to 30 keV from the Cannonball, a few arcsecond long diffuse X-ray feature near the Galactic Center, using the NuSTAR X-ray observatory. The Cannonball is a high-velocity (v(proj) approximately 500 km s(exp −1)) pulsar candidate with a cometary pulsar wind nebula (PWN) located approximately 2' north-east from Sgr A*, just outside the radio shell of the supernova remnant Sagittarius A (Sgr A) East. Its non-thermal X-ray spectrum, measured up to 30 keV, is well characterized by a Gamma is approximately 1.6 power law, typical of a PWN, and has an X-ray luminosity of L(3-30 keV) = 1.3 × 10(exp 34) erg s(exp −1). The spectral and spatial results derived from X-ray and radio data strongly suggest a runaway neutron star born in the Sgr A East supernova event. We do not find any pulsed signal from the Cannonball. The NuSTAR observations allow us to deduce the PWN magnetic field and show that it is consistent with the lower limit obtained from radio observations.

stars: neutron↗

Inpainting Galactic Foreground Intensity and Polarization Maps Using Convolutional Neural Networks

The Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) have been a popular tool for image generation and restoration. In this work, we applied DCNNs to the problem of inpainting non-Gaussian astrophysical signal, in the context of Galactic diffuse emissions at the millimetric and submillimetric regimes, specifically Synchrotron and Thermal Dust emissions. Both signals are affected by contamination at small angular scales due to extragalactic radio sources (the former) and dusty star-forming galaxies (the latter). Furthermore, we compare the performance of the standard diffusive inpainting with that of two novel methodologies relying on DCNNs, namely Generative Adversarial Networks and Deep-Prior. We show that the methods based on the DCNNs are able to reproduce the statistical properties of the ground-truth signal more consistently with a higher confidence level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗