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Significant advances in modeling and simulations for microwave reflectometry have been conducted in recent years. An example is the integration of improved numerical descriptions of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) instabilities, obtained from MHD codes, together with 2D full-wave codes to implement synthetic reflectometry diagnostics in realistic conditions. In particular, the nonlinear MHD code JOREK has been used previously together with the 2D full-wave code REFMUL, to assess the response of conventional O-mode reflectometry along a Type-I edge localized mode (ELM) crash. In this work, a similar framework and synthetic diagnostic set-up are considered but with an extended MHD simulation where a Type-I ELM cycle comprised of several ELM crashes is studied. This includes the self-consistent MHD evolution along inter-ELM periods, which was absent in the previous study. The reflectometer response at the mid-plane of the low magnetic field side is used to provide information about the behavior of density fluctuations along the full ELM cycle. The inter-ELM periods display density fluctuations in agreement with the ELM triggering mechanisms manifesting as reflectometry signatures which are identified with ELM precursors. The precursor signatures are observed a few milliseconds before a transition from linear to non-linear reflectometry regimes occurs, associated with the explosive onset of the ELM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a catalogue of galaxy photometric redshifts for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12. We use various supervised learning algorithms to calculate redshifts using photometric attributes on a spectroscopic training set. Two training sets are analysed in this paper. The first training set consists of 995,498 galaxies with redshifts up to z ≈ 0.8. On the first training set, we achieve a cost function of 0.00501 and a root mean squared error value of 0.0707 using the XGBoost algorithm. We achieved an outlier rate of 2.1% and 86.81%, 95.83%, 97.90% of our data points lie within one, two, and three standard deviation of the mean respectively. The second training set consists of 163,140 galaxies with redshifts up to z ≈ 0.2 and is merged with the Galaxy Zoo 2 full catalog. We also experimented on convolutional neural networks to predict five morphological features (Smooth, Features/Disk, Star, Edge-on, Spiral). We achieve a root mean squared error of 0.117 when validated against an unseen dataset with over 200 epochs. Morphological features from the Galaxy Zoo, trained with photometric features are found to consistently improve the accuracy of photometric redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of dedicated photometric space missions, the ability to rapidly process huge catalogues of stars has become paramount. Bellinger and Angelou et al. [1] recently introduced a new method based on machine learning for inferring the stellar parameters of main-sequence stars exhibiting solar-like oscillations. The method makes precise predictions that are consistent with other methods, but with the advantages of being able to explore many more parameters while costing practically no time. Here we apply the method to 52 so-called “LEGACY“ main-sequence stars observed by the Kepler space mission. For each star, we present estimates and uncertainties of mass, age, radius, luminosity, core hydrogen abundance, surface helium abundance, surface gravity, initial helium abundance, and initial metallicity as well as estimates of their evolutionary model parameters of mixing length, overshooting coeffcient, and diffusion multiplication factor. We obtain median uncertainties in stellar age, mass, and radius of 14.8%, 3.6%, and 1.7%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space-based photometric missions revealed a surprising abundance of millimagnitude-level additional modes in RR Lyrae stars. The modes that appear in the modulated fundamental-mode (RRab) stars can be ordered into four major categories. Here we present the distribution of these groups in the Petersen diagram, and discuss their characteristics and connections to additional modes observed in other RR Lyrae stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fermi LAT detected an increase in γ-ray activity of the quasar 0836+710 (z=2.17) in Spring 2011 that culminated in a sharp γ-ray flare at the end of 2011 when the source reached a flux of 2.9x10-6 phot s-1 cm-2 at 0.1-200 GeV. We monitor the quasar at optical wavelengths in photometric and polarimetric modes, at millimeter and centimeter wavelengths, and with the VLBA at 43 GHz. The optical brightness of the quasar increased by ~0.5 mag in R band and the degree of polarization oscillated between ~1% and ~6% during the highest γ-ray state, while the position angle of polarization rotated by ~300 . We have identified in the VLBA images a strong, highly polarized component that moves with an apparent speed of ~20 c. The component emerged from the core in the beginning of the γ-ray event and reached a flux maximum at the peak of the γ-ray outburst. We present the results of a correlative analysis of variations at different wavelengths along with the kinematic parameters of the parsec scale jet. We discuss the location of the high γ-ray emission in the relativistic jet, as well as the emission mechanisms responsible for γ-ray production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze total and polarized intensity images of the quasar PKS 0420-014 obtained monthly with the VLB A at 43 GHz during 2008-2012 along with γ-ray data provided by the Fermi Large Area Telescope and multi-color photometric and polarimetric measurements collected by different optical telescopes. During this period the quasar underwent a number of optical flares, which were accompanied by rapid rotation of polarization angle, an increase of activity in γ-rays, and the appearance of new superluminal knots in the parsec-scale jet. We investigate the fine structure of the flares at different wavelengths and in polarized light, and determine kinematic parameters of the knots. We compare the rapid evolution of the optical polarization with the polarization of the VLBI core and knots. We interpret the multi-wavelength behavior within a model that places the blazar "dissipation zone" at the millimeter-wave core of the parsec-scale jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results of 4 years of VLBA monitoring along with γ-ray and optical R-band photometric observations of 6 BL Lac objects (3C 66A, S5 0716+71, PKS 0735+17, S4 0954+68, W Com, and OT 081). We have analyzed total intensity images obtained with the VLBA at 43 GHz and investigated the kinematic evolution of the parsec scale jets of the sources. For all sources we compare flux variations in the VLBI core and bright superluminal knots with γ-ray and optical light curves. The majority of γ-ray flares have optical counterparts. 67% of the γ-ray events are coincident with the appearance of new superluminal knots and/or flares in the millimeter-wave core. These results support the conclusion that for many flares in blazars the region of the γ-ray and optical emission is located in the vicinity or downstream of the mm-wave VLBI core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the photometric solution of the eclipsing binary ET Psc (GSC 00608-00490). The ASAS V-band photometric data of the system was modelled using the Wilson-Devinney method. The result shows that the eclipsing pair could be classified as A-subtype of W UMa-type binary system. The absolute dimensions of the system were also estimated based on the photometric solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phase shift time of flight technique determines a position by comparing the phase angle of a continuously modulated signal in the source and its reflection on a target. However, due to its cyclical properties, the position information is contained within an ambiguity interval. For an absolute measurement, this interval is repeated N times plus a residual part given by the phase shift. In this work we propose an application of the Vernier method to determine N and a setup for mid-range applications (10-20) m with a 3 GHz amplitude modulated source to allow accuracies ≤ 100 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the design of a voice coil based white light intensity stabilization tool. A system is created capable of mechanically stabilizing the fluctuations in a beam of light. This is achieved with a use of a voice coil and simple PID based feedback loop, controlled using a LabVIEW interface. Stability results are shown using Allan deviations curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]