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A new Orbitrap-based ion analysis procedure is shown to be possible by determining the direct charge for numerous individual protein ions to generate true mass spectra. The deployment of an Orbitrap system for charge detection enables the characterization of highly complicated mixtures of proteoforms and their complexes in both denatured and native modes of operation, revealing information not obtainable by traditional measurement of an ensemble of ions.

A mass flow meter for tobacco measurement has been developed with a circular waveguide resonator. The design of a sensor that allows a contactless detection of the mass flow rate is mandatory for numerous applications in food and tobacco industry. The application of a permittivity sensor for the detection of tobacco for process monitoring applications is investigated in this paper. The spatial filtering velocimetry is applied to measure the average velocity of the conveyed tobacco. The simultaneous detection of the volumetric concentration and velocity with a single sensor only defines a true mass flow meter.

We present weak lensing (WL) mass constraints for a sample of massive galaxy clusters detected by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE). We use $griz$ imaging data obtained from the Science Verification (SV) phase of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) to fit the WL shear signal of 33 clusters in the redshift range $0.25 \le z \le 0.8$ with NFW profiles and to constrain a four-parameter SPT mass-observable relation. To account for biases in WL masses, we introduce a WL mass to true mass scaling relation described by a mean bias and an intrinsic, log-normal scatter. We allow for correlated scatter within the WL and SZE mass-observable relations and use simulations to constrain priors on nuisance parameters related to bias and scatter from WL. We constrain the normalization of the $\zeta-M_{500}$ relation, $A_\mathrm{SZ}=12.0_{-6.7}^{+2.6}$ when using a prior on the mass slope $B_\mathrm{SZ}$ from the latest SPT cluster cosmology analysis. Without this prior, we recover $A_\mathrm{SZ}=10.8_{-5.2}^{+2.3}$ and $B_\mathrm{SZ}=1.30_{-0.44}^{+0.22}$. Results in both cases imply lower cluster masses than measured in previous work with and without WL, although the uncertainties are large. The WL derived value of $B_\mathrm{SZ}$ is $\approx 20\%$ lower than the value preferred by the most recent SPT cluster cosmology analysis. The method demonstrated in this work is designed to constrain cluster masses and cosmological parameters simultaneously and will form the basis for subsequent studies that employ the full SPT cluster sample together with the DES data., Comment: Revised version in response to referee report

Studies of cluster mass and velocity anisotropy profiles are useful tests of dark matter models, and of the assembly history of clusters of galaxies. These studies might be affected by unknown systematics caused by projection effects. We aim at testing observational methods for the determination of mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of clusters of galaxies. Particularly, we focus on the MAMPOSSt technique (Mamon et al. 2013). We use results from two semi-analytic models of galaxy formation coupled with high-resolution N-body cosmological simulations, the catalog of De Lucia & Blaizot (2007) and the FIRE catalog based on the new GAlaxy Evolution and Assembly model. We test the reliability of the Jeans equation in recovering the true mass profile when full projected phase-space information is available. We examine the reliability of the MAMPOSSt method in estimating the true mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of the simulated halos when only projected phase-space information is available, as in observations. The spherical Jeans equation provides a reliable tool for the determination of cluster mass profiles, also for subsamples of tracers separated by galaxy color. Results are equally good for prolate and oblate clusters. Using only projected phase-space information, MAMPOSSt provides estimates of the mass profile with a standard deviation of 35-69 %, and a negative bias of 7-17 %, nearly independent of radius, and that we attribute to the presence of interlopers in the projected samples. The bias changes sign, that is, the mass is over-estimated, for prolate clusters with their major axis aligned along the line-of-sight. MAMPOSSt measures the velocity anisotropy profiles accurately in the inner cluster regions, with a slight overestimate in the outer regions, both for the whole sample of observationally-identified cluster members and separately for red and blue galaxies., 14 pages, 17 figures

We report on the detection of a black hole (NGC 1850 BH1) in the ∼100-Myr-old massive cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is in a binary system with a main-sequence turn-off star (4.9 ± 0.4 M·), which is starting to fill its Roche lobe and is becoming distorted. Using 17 epochs of Very Large Telescope/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer observations, we detected radial velocity variations exceeding 300 km s-1 associated with the target star, linked to the ellipsoidal variations measured by the fourth phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment in the optical bands. Under the assumption of a semidetached system, the simultaneous modelling of radial velocity and light curves constrains the orbital inclination of the binary to 38° ± 2°, resulting in a true mass of the unseen companion of 11.1 -2.4+2.1\M⊙. This represents the first direct dynamical detection of a black hole in a young massive cluster, opening up the possibility of studying the initial mass function and the early dynamical evolution of such compact objects in high-density environments., SS, NB and ICZ acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC-CoG-646928, Multi-Pop). SK acknowledges funding from the UKRI in the form of a Future Leaders Fellowship (grant no. MR/T022868/1). CU acknowledges the support of the Swedish Research Council, Vetenskapsrådet. MG acknowledges support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation through a Europa Excelencia grant (EUR2020-112157). VHB acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through grant RGPIN-2020-05990.

This paper presents a simple continuous-time linear vaccination-based control strategy for a SEIR (susceptible plus infected plus infectious plus removed populations) propagation disease model. The model takes into account the total population amounts as a refrain for the illness transmission since its increase makes more difficult contacts among the susceptible and infected. The control objective is the asymptotically tracking of the removed-by-immunity population to the total population while achieving simultaneously the remaining population (i.e., susceptible plus infected plus infectious) to asymptotically converge to zero. A state observer is used to estimate the true various partial populations of the susceptible, infected, infectious, and immune which are assumed to be unknown. The model parameters are also assumed to be, in general, unknown. In this case, the parameters are replaced by available estimates to implement the vaccination action. Ministerio de Educación DPI2009-07197 y Gobierno Vasco IT378-10,SAIOTEK SPE07UN04

We use a set of 45 simulated clusters with a wide mass range ($8\times 10^{13} < M_{500}~[$M$_{\odot}]~< 2\times 10^{15}$) to investigate the effect of varying hydrodynamics flavours on cluster mass estimates. The cluster zooms were simulated using the same cosmological models as the BAHAMAS and C-EAGLE projects, leading to differences in both the hydrodynamic solvers and the subgrid physics but still producing clusters which broadly match observations. At the same mass resolution as BAHAMAS, for the most massive clusters ($M_{500} > 10^{15}$ M$_{\odot}$), we find changes in the SPH method produce the greatest differences in the final halo, while the subgrid models dominate at lower mass. By calculating the mass of all of the clusters using different permutations of the pressure, temperature and density profiles, created with either the true simulated data or mock spectroscopic data, we find that the spectroscopic temperature causes a bias in the hydrostatic mass estimates which increases with the mass of the cluster, regardless of the SPH flavour used. For the most massive clusters, the estimated mass of the cluster using spectroscopic density and temperature profiles is found to be as low as 50 per cent of the true mass compared to $\sim$ 90 per cent for low mass clusters. When including a correction for non-thermal pressure, the spectroscopic hydrostatic mass estimates are less biased on average and the mass dependence of the bias is reduced, although the scatter in the measurements does increase., 21 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRAS

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S.Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC)., Our nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, hosts a temperate terrestrial planet. We detected in radial velocities evidence of a possible second planet with minimum mass mc sin ic = 5.8 ± 1.9M⊕ and orbital period Pc = 5.21–0.22 +0.26 years. The analysis of photometric data and spectro-scopic activity diagnostics does not explain the signal in terms of a stellar activity cycle, but follow-up is required in the coming years for confirming its planetary origin. We show that the existence of the planet can be ascertained, and its true mass can be determined with high accuracy, by combining Gaia astrometry and radial velocities. Proxima c could become a prime target for follow-up and characterization with next-generation direct imaging instrumentation due to the large maximum angular separation of ~1 arc second from the parent star. The candidate planet represents a challenge for the models of super-Earth formation and evolution. Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved., M.D. acknowledges financial support from Progetto Premiale 2015 FRONTIERA funding scheme of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research. P.G. acknowledges financial support from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) under contract 2014-025-R.1.2015 to INAF. D.B. acknowledges financial support from INAF and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI grant no. 2014-025-R.1.2015) for the 2016 PhD fellowship programme of INAF. H.R.A.J. is supported by UK STFC grant ST/R006598/1. J.S.S. and P.A.P.R. acknowledge support by FONDECYT grant 1161218 and partial support from CONICYT project Basal AFB-170002. M.J.L.-G., N.M., C.R.-L., E.R., G.A., and J.F.G. acknowledge financial support from Spanish MINECO AYA2016-79425-C3-3-P, AYA2017-84390-C2-1-R (co-funded by FEDER), ESP2017-87143R, and ESP2017-87676-C05-02-R and the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award for the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-2017-0709). G.A.-E. research is funded via grant ST/P000592/1 "Astronomy Research at Queen Mary"granted by the Science and Technology Facilities Council/United Kingdom.

We forecast constraints on the amplitude of matter clustering sigma_8(z) achievable with the combination of cluster weak lensing and number counts, in current and next-generation weak lensing surveys. We advocate an approach, analogous to galaxy-galaxy lensing, in which the observables in each redshift bin are the mean number counts and the mean weak lensing profile of clusters above a mass proxy threshold. The primary astrophysical nuisance parameter is the logarithmic scatter between the mass proxy and true mass near the threshold. For surveys similar to the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Roman Space Telescope High Latitude Survey (HLS), and the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), we forecast aggregate precision on sigma_8 of 0.26%, 0.24%, and 0.10%, respectively, if the mass-observable scatter has an external prior better than 0.01. These constraints would be degraded by about 20% for a 0.05 prior on scatter in the case of DES or HLS and for a 0.016 prior for LSST. A one-month observing program with Roman Space Telescope targeting approximately 2500 massive clusters could achieve a 0.5% constraint on sigma_8(z=0.7) on its own, or a ~0.33% constraint in combination with the HLS. Realizing the constraining power of clusters requires accurate knowledge of the mass-observable relation and stringent control of systematics. We provide analytic approximations to our numerical results that allow easy scaling to other survey assumptions or other methods of cluster mass estimation., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures; replaced to match published version

We present a first joint analysis of the power spectra of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect measured by the Planck and the number density fluctuations of galaxies in the 2MASS redshift survey (2MRS) catalog, including their cross-correlation. Combining these measurements with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and CMB lensing of Planck assuming a flat $\Lambda$CDM model, we constrain the mass bias parameter as $B = 1.54 \pm 0.098\;(1\sigma)$ [$(1-b) = 0.649 \pm 0.041$, where $(1-b) \equiv B^{-1}$], i.e., the Planck cluster mass should be $35\%$ lower than the true mass. The mass bias determined by the 2MRS-tSZ cross-power spectrum alone is consistent with that determined by the tSZ auto-power spectrum alone, suggesting that this large mass bias is not due to obvious systematics in the tSZ data. We find that the 2MRS-tSZ cross-power spectrum is more sensitive to less massive halos than the tSZ auto-power spectrum and it significantly improves a constraint on the mass dependence of the mass bias. The redshift dependence is not strongly constrained since the multipole range in which high redshift clusters mainly contribute to the tSZ auto is dominated by the contaminating sources. We conclude that no strong mass or redshift evolution of the mass bias is needed to explain the data., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS accepted, references corrected

The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is frequently used to measure the adsorption of molecules from a liquid bulk phase onto surfaces. However, determining the true mass adsorbed onto the surface from the raw frequency shift values often involves various correction factors. In this paper, we highlight yet another correction factor that arises from correcting for the bulk, Kanazawa–Gordon-like solvent contribution to the total frequency shift. This correction factor depends on the cross-sectional size of the solute and solvent molecules on the surface, and shows that the apparent mass adsorbed reported by the QCM can significantly differ from the true mass. By performing molecular dynamics simulations of adsorption from a liquid phase, we are able to accurately estimate the molecular sizes of the solvent and solute. Using stearic acid in heptane solutions, and iron oxide surfaces, we quantify the magnitude of the correction factor by comparing the uncorrected and corrected QCM data. This paper emphasizes the importance of accounting for deviations from widely used models in analyzing measured frequency shifts in QCM experiments, to accurately obtain the true adsorbed mass.

We consider a group of aerial manipulators (AM) collaboratively transporting a flexible payload. Each AM is a combination of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with a two-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator (RM) attached to it. Contact forces between the agents (AMs) and the payload are modeled as the gradient of nonlinear potentials that describe the deformation of the payload. We develop an adaptive decentralized control law for transporting a payload with an unknown mass without explicit communication between the agents. The algorithm guarantees that all the agents converge to a desired velocity and the contact forces are regulated. The sum of the estimates of the unknown mass from all the agents converge to the true mass. Using the inverse kinematics of the AM, we implement the developed algorithm at the kinematic level for the AMs and demonstrate its effectiveness in simulations.

We present a mathematical framework for describing the dynamical evolution of an ejecta cloud generated by a generic ejecta source model. We consider a piezoelectric sensor fielded in the path of an ejecta cloud, for experimental configurations in which the ejecta are created at a singly shocked planar surface and fly ballistically through vacuum to the stationary sensor. To do so, we introduce the concept of a time- and velocity-dependent ejecta “areal mass function.” We derive expressions for the analytic (“true”) accumulated ejecta areal mass at the sensor and the measured (“inferred”) value obtained via the standard method for analyzing piezoelectric voltages. In this way, we derive an exact expression and upper bound for the error imposed upon a piezoelectric ejecta mass measurement (in a perfect system) by the assumption of instantaneous creation, which is commonly required for momentum diagnostic analyses. This error term is zero for truly instantaneous source models; otherwise, the standard piezoelectric analysis is guaranteed to overestimate the true mass. When combined with a piezoelectric dataset, this framework provides a unique solution for the ejecta particle velocity distribution, subject to the assumptions inherent in the data analysis. The framework also leads to strong boundary conditions that any ejecta source model must satisfy in order to be consistent with apparently global properties of piezoelectric measurements from a wide range of experiments. We demonstrate this methodology by applying it to the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability+self-similar velocity distribution ejecta source model currently under development at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Data reconciliation methods for separation processes typically rely on classical statistical approaches to generate estimates of true mass flow rates from measurements. Knowledge regarding the uncertainty of these estimates has value in decision making, but is often not acquired. Bayesian approaches intrinsically quantify uncertainty; however, literature for Bayesian data reconciliation of separation processes is scarce. This publication outlines two Bayesian data reconciliation models and provides details for how the models were implemented for the BayesMassBal (V 1.0.0) software package written in R . To demonstrate the advantages of this approach for data reconciliation, the models were first applied to simulated data and then compared to a classical model through a Monte Carlo experiment. In this example, the Bayesian models were found to provide more accurate estimates of the simulated data, while also providing quantitative information on the estimate uncertainty. To demonstrate the use of the technique in a practical problem, the models were also applied to real data collected from a pilot-scale rare earth solvent extraction process. This publication provides a small window into how Bayesian methods can be used for data reconciliation, but findings suggest Bayesian data reconciliation models for separation processes have distinct advantages over classical alternatives.

International audience; Recent Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) surveys (ACT, Planck, SPT) have provided new cluster catalogs, very significantly expanding the coverage of the mass–redshift plane, while XMM-Newton surveys are pushing cluster detection to lower masses, up to z ∼ 1 and beyond. Cosmological analysis of the new cluster samples, particularly that of the largest Planck sample, found fewer clusters than predicted by the base Planck ΛCDM model derived from cosmic microwave (CMB) anisotropies. This could imply a need for extension of the model and/or a revision of cluster physics. In parallel, Chandra and XMM-Newton follow-up programs on these new SZ-discovered clusters have improved our knowledge of evolution, as well as providing new information on survey selection. These results challenge our understanding of fundamental issues such as (a) what the true mass of clusters is, with implications for the baryon depletion at cluster scales and cluster dynamical evolution, and (b) what the true underlying population is, that we are only partly detecting at various wavelengths. Potential new observations to address these issues with XMM-Newton in conjunction with other observatories are discussed.

A new Orbitrap-based single ion analysis procedure is shown to be possible by determining the direct charge on numerous measurements of individual protein ions to generate true mass spectra. The deployment of an Orbitrap system for charge detection enables the characterization of highly complicated mixtures of proteoforms and their complexes in both denatured and native modes of operation, revealing information not obtainable by traditional measurement of an ensemble of ions.

Machine learning (ML) techniques, in particular supervised regression algorithms, are a promising new way to use multiple observables to predict a cluster's mass or other key features. To investigate this approach we use the \textsc{MACSIS} sample of simulated hydrodynamical galaxy clusters to train a variety of ML models, mimicking different datasets. We find that compared to predicting the cluster mass from the $\sigma -M$ relation, the scatter in the predicted-to-true mass ratio is reduced by a factor of 4, from $0.130\pm0.004$ dex (${\simeq} 35$ per cent) to $0.031 \pm 0.001$ dex (${\simeq} 7$ per cent) when using the same, interloper contaminated, spectroscopic galaxy sample. Interestingly, omitting line-of-sight galaxy velocities from the training set has no effect on the scatter when the galaxies are taken from within $r_{200c}$. We also train ML models to reproduce estimated masses derived from mock X-ray and weak lensing analyses. While the weak lensing masses can be recovered with a similar scatter to that when training on the true mass, the hydrostatic mass suffers from significantly higher scatter of ${\simeq} 0.13$ dex (${\simeq} 35$ per cent). Training models using dark matter only simulations does not significantly increase the scatter in predicted cluster mass compared to training on simulated clusters with hydrodynamics. In summary, we find ML techniques to offer a powerful method to predict masses for large samples of clusters, a vital requirement for cosmological analysis with future surveys., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 12 pages, 7 figures, example pipeline can be found here: https://github.com/TomArmitage/ML_Template

Cosmological analyses based on surveys of galaxy clusters observed through the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect strongly rely on the mean pressure profile of the cluster population. A tension is currently observed between the cosmological constraints obtained from the analyses of the CMB primary anisotropies and those from cluster abundance in SZ surveys. This discrepancy may be explained by a wrong estimate of the hydrostatic bias parameter that links the hydrostatic mass to the true mass of galaxy clusters. However, a variation of both the amplitude and the shape of the mean pressure profile could also explain part of this tension. We analyse the effects of a modification of this profile on the constraints of the σ8 and Ωm parameters through the analysis of the SZ power spectrum measured by the Planck collaboration. We choose two mean pressure profiles that are respectively lower and higher than the one obtained from the observation of nearby clusters by Planck. The selection of the parameters of these two profiles is based on the current estimates of the pressure and gas mass fraction profile distributions at low redshift. The cosmological parameters found for these two profiles are significantly different from the ones obtained with the Planck pressure profile. We conclude that an ${\sim }15{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ decrease of the amplitude of the mean normalized pressure profile would alleviate the tension observed between the constraints of σ8 and Ωm from the CMB and cluster analyses without requiring extreme values of the mass bias parameter.

We investigate the solvability of the event kinematics in missing energy events at hadron colliders, as a function of the particle mass ansatz. To be specific, we reconstruct the neutrino momenta in dilepton $t\bar{t}$-like events, without assuming any prior knowledge of the mass spectrum. We identify a class of events, which we call extreme events, with the property that the kinematic boundary of their allowed region in mass parameter space passes through the true mass point. We develop techniques for recognizing extreme events in the data and demonstrate that they are abundant in a realistic data sample, due to expected singularities in phase space. We propose a new method for mass measurement whereby we obtain the true values of the mass parameters as the focus point of the kinematic boundaries for all events in the data sample. Since the masses are determined from a relatively sharp peak structure (the density of kinematic boundary curves), the method avoids some of the systematic errors associated with other techniques. We show that this new approach is complementary to previously considered methods in the literature where one studies the solvability of the kinematic constraints throughout the mass parameter space. In particular, we identify a problematic direction in mass space of nearly 100% solvability, and then show that the focus point method is effective in lifting the degeneracy., Comment: 41 pages, 51 figures

We investigate both experimentally and theoretically the apparent mass of a ferromagnetic granular assembly filling a cylindrical container and submitted to a magnetic fieldB, aligned vertically along the silo. We show that the mass of the ferromagnetic granular column depends strongly on the applied magnetic field. Notably, our measurements deviate strongly from the exponential saturation of the measured mass as a function of the true mass of the grain packing, as predicted by Janssen [H.A. Janssen, Vereins Eutscher Ingenieure Zeitschrift, 1045 (1895)]. In particular, the measured mass of tall columns decreases systematically as the amplitude of the magnetic field increases. We rationalize our experimental findings by considering the induced magnetic dipole-dipole interactions within the whole packing. We show the emergence of a global magnetic radial force along the walls of the silos, fully determined by the external magnetic field. The resulting tunable frictional interactions allows a full control of the effective mass of the ferromagnetic granular column.

The conventional value of the result of weighing in air is frequently used in commercial calibrations of balances. The guidance in OIML D-028 for reporting uncertainty of the conventional value is too terse. When calibrating mass standards at low measurement uncertainties, it is necessary to perform a buoyancy correction before reporting the result. When calculating the conventional result after calibrating true mass, the uncertainty due to calculating the conventional result is correlated with the buoyancy correction. We show through Monte Carlo simulations that the measurement uncertainty of the conventional result is less than the measurement uncertainty when reporting true mass.

Mass is one of the most important parameters for determining the true nature of an astronomical object. Yet, many published exoplanets lack a measurement of their true mass, in particular those detected as a result of radial-velocity (RV) variations of their host star. For those examples, only the minimum mass, or m sin i, is known, owing to the insensitivity of RVs to the inclination of the detected orbit compared to the plane of the sky. The mass that is given in databases is generally that of an assumed edge-on system (~90°), but many other inclinations are possible, even extreme values closer to 0° (face-on). In such a case, the mass of the published object could be strongly underestimated by up to two orders of magnitude. In the present study, we use GASTON, a recently developed tool taking advantage of the voluminous Gaia astrometric database to constrain the inclination and true mass of several hundreds of published exoplanet candidates. We find nine exoplanet candidates in the stellar or brown dwarf (BD) domain, among which six were never characterized. We show that 30 Ari B b, HD 141937 b, HD 148427 b, HD 6718 b, HIP 65891 b, and HD 16760 b have masses larger than 13.5 MJ at 3σ. We also confirm the planetary nature of 27 exoplanets, including HD 10180 c, d and g. Studying the orbital periods, eccentricities, and host-star metallicities in the BD domain, we found distributions with respect to true masses consistent with other publications. The distribution of orbital periods shows of a void of BD detections below ~100 d, while eccentricity and metallicity distributions agree with a transition between BDs similar to planets and BDs similar to stars in the range 40–50 MJ.

The mass-luminosity relation is a fundamental law of astrophysics. We have suggested that the currently used mass-luminosity relation is not correct for the M/M_sun > 2.7 range of mass since it was created using double-lined eclipsing binaries, where the components are synchronized and consequently change each other's evolutionary path. To exclude this effect we have started a project to study long-period massive eclipsing binaries in order to construct radial velocity curves and determine masses for the components. We outline our project and present the selected test sample together with the first HRS/SALT spectral observations and the software package, FBS (Fitting Binary Stars), that we developed for the analysis of our spectral data. As the first result we present the radial velocity curves and best-fit orbital elements for the two components of the FP Car binary system from our test sample., 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics

In a series of three papers, Eadie et al. developed a hierarchical Bayesian method to estimate the Milky Way Galaxy's mass given a physical model for the potential, a measurement model, and kinematic data of test particles such as globular clusters (GCs) or halo stars in the Galaxy's halo. The Galaxy's virial mass was found to have a 95\% Bayesian credible region (c.r.) of $(0.67, 1.09) \times 10^{12} M_{\odot}$. In the present study, we test the hierarchical Bayesian method against simulated galaxies created in the McMaster Unbiased Galaxy Simulations 2 (MUGS2), for which the true mass is known. We estimate the masses of MUGS2 galaxies using GC analogs from the simulations as tracers. The analysis, completed as a blind test, recovers the true $M_{200}$ of the MUGS2 galaxies within 95\% Bayesian c.r. in 8 out of 18 cases. Of the 10 galaxy masses that were not recovered within the 95\% c.r., a large subset have posterior distributions that occupy extreme ends of the parameter space allowed by the priors. A few incorrect mass estimates are explained by the exceptional evolution history of the galaxies. We also find evidence that the model cannot describe both the galaxies' inner and outer structure simultaneously in some cases. After removing the GC analogs associated with the galactic disks, the true masses were found more reliably (13 out of 18 were predicted within the c.r.). Finally, we discuss how representative the GC analogs are of the real GC population in the Milky Way., Published in ApJ. 17 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables

Silicon heterojunction solar cells have less manufacturing steps and have allowed achieving higher efficiency than PERC cells. However the market has been slow in taking up the technology. Here we discuss some of the obstacles that have been overcome in the last 10 years and show why the technology is now more ready than ever for a mass market launch. This bases on improvements at the device level reaching 24% with few process steps, on the availability of high-quality low cost n-type c-Si wafers, on improved metallization solutions, and on the availability of production solutions.

We consider a group of aerial manipulators (AM) collaboratively transporting a flexible payload. Each AM is a quadcopter with a single rigid link attached to it. We develop an adaptive decentralized control law for transporting a payload with an unknown mass without explicit communication between the agents. The algorithm provides desired thrust and attitude angles required for each quadcopter to cooperatively transport a flexible payload. It also guarantees that all the agents converge to a desired velocity and regulates the contact force. The sum of the estimates of the unknown mass from all the agents converge to the true mass. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm in simulations.

The spectrum of an exoplanet reveals the physical, chemical, and biological processes that have shaped its history and govern its future. However, observations of exoplanet spectra are complicated by the overwhelming glare of their host stars. This chapter focuses on high-resolution spectroscopy (HRS) (R = 25, 000-100, 000), which helps to disentangle and isolate the exoplanet's spectrum. At high spectral resolution, molecular features are resolved into a dense forest of individual lines in a pattern that is unique for a given molecule. For close-in planets, the spectral lines undergo large Doppler shifts during the planet's orbit, while the host star and Earth's spectral features remain essentially stationary, enabling a velocity separation of the planet. For slower-moving, wide-orbit planets, HRS, aided by high contrast imaging, instead isolates their spectra using their spatial separation. The lines in the exoplanet spectrum are detected by comparing them with high resolution spectra from atmospheric modelling codes; essentially a form of fingerprinting for exoplanet atmospheres. This measures the planet's orbital velocity and helps define its true mass and orbital inclination. Consequently, HRS can detect both transiting and non-transiting planets. It also simultaneously characterizes the planet's atmosphere, due to its sensitivity to the depth, shape, and position of the planet's spectral lines. These are altered by the planet's atmospheric composition, structure, clouds, and dynamics, including day-to-night winds and its rotation period. This chapter describes the HRS technique in detail, highlighting its successes in exoplanet detection and characterization, and concludes with the future prospects of using HRS to identify biomarkers on nearby rocky worlds and map features in the atmospheres of giant exoplanets.

The primary difficulty in measuring dynamical masses of galaxy clusters from galaxy data lies in the separation between true cluster members from interloping galaxies along the line of sight. We study the impact of membership contamination and incompleteness on cluster mass estimates obtained with 25 commonly used techniques applied to nearly 1000 mock clusters. We show that all methods overestimate or underestimate cluster masses when applied to contaminated or incomplete galaxy samples respectively. This appears to be the main source of the intrinsic scatter in the mass scaling relation. Applying corrections based on a prior knowledge of contamination and incompleteness can reduce the scatter to the level of shot noise expected for poorly sampled clusters. We establish an empirical model quantifying the effect of imperfect membership on cluster mass estimation and discuss its universal and method-dependent features. We find that both imperfect membership and the response of the mass estimators depend on cluster mass, effectively causing a flattening of the estimated - true mass relation. Imperfect membership thus alters cluster counts determined from spectroscopic surveys, hence the cosmological parameters that depend on such counts., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 3tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

The star 55 Cancri was one of the first known exoplanet hosts and each of the planets in this system is remarkable. Planets b and c are in a near 1:3 resonance. Planet d has a 14.5 year orbit, and is one of the longest known orbital periods for a gas giant planet. Planet e has a mass of 8 M? and transits this bright star, providing a unique case for modeling of the interior structure and atmospheric composition of an exoplanet. Planet f resides in the habitable zone of the star. If the planets are approximately co-planar, then by virtue of having one transiting planet, this is a system where the Doppler technique has essentially measured the true mass of the planets, rather than just Msin i. The unfolding history of planet discovery for this system provides a good example of the challenges and importance of understanding the star to understand the planets.

Aircraft mass is a crucial piece of information for studies on aircraft performance, trajectory prediction, and many other topics of aircraft traffic management. However, It is a common challenge for researchers, as well as air traffic control, to access this proprietary information. Previously, several studies have proposed methods to estimate aircraft weight based on specific parts of the flight. Due to inaccurate input data or biased assumptions, this often leads to less confident or inaccurate estimations. In this paper, combined with a fuel-flow model, different aircraft initial masses are computed independently using the total energy model and reference model at first. It then adopts a Bayesian approach that uses a prior probability of aircraft mass based on empirical knowledge and computed aircraft initial masses to produce the maximum a posteriori estimation. Variation in results caused by dependent factors such as prior, thrust and wind are also studied. The method is validated using 50 test flights of a Cessna Citation II aircraft, for which measurements of the true mass were available. The validation results show a mean absolute error of 4.3% of the actual aircraft mass.

We propose a new cosmological test of gravity, by using the observed mass fraction of X-ray emitting gas in massive galaxy clusters. The cluster gas fraction, believed to be a fair sample of the average baryon fraction in the Universe, is a well-understood observable, which has previously mainly been used to constrain background cosmology. In some modified gravity models, such as $f(R)$ gravity, gas temperature in a massive cluster is determined by the effective mass of that cluster, which can be larger than its true mass. On the other hand, X-ray luminosity is determined by the true gas density, which in both modified gravity and $\Lambda$CDM models depends mainly on $\Omega_{\rm b}/\Omega_{\rm m}$ and hence the true total cluster mass. As a result, the standard practice of combining gas temperatures and X-ray surface brightnesses of clusters to infer their gas fractions can, in modified gravity models, lead to a larger - in $f(R)$ gravity this can be $1/3$ larger - value of $\Omega_{\rm b}/\Omega_{\rm m}$ than that inferred from other observations such as the CMB. A quick calculation shows that the Hu-Sawicki $n=1$ $f(R)$ model with $|\bar{f}_{R0}|=3\sim5\times10^{-5}$ is in tension with the gas fraction data of the 42 clusters analysed by Allen et al. (2008). We also discuss the implications for other modified gravity models., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Characteristics of gas-liquid mass transfer and interfacial area were investigated in a bubble column of diameter and height of 0.102 m and 2.5 m, respectively. Effects of gas and liquid velocities on the volumetric gas liquid mass transfer coefficient (kLa), interfacial area (a) and liquid side true mass transfer coefficient (kL) were examined. The interfacial area and volumetric gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient were determined directly by adopting the simultaneous physical desorption of O2 and chemical absorption of CO2 in the column. The values of kLa and a increased with increasing gas velocity but decreased with increasing liquid velocity in the bubble column which was operated in the churn turbulent flow regime. The value of kL increased with increasing gas velocity but did not change considerably with increasing liquid velocity. The liquid side mass transfer was found to be related closely to the liquid circulation as well as the effective contacting frequency between the bubbles and liquid phases.

From a study of the integrated light properties of 200 globular clusters (GCs) in M31, Strader et al. found that the mass-to-light ratios are lower than what is expected from simple stellar population (SSP) models with a `canonical' stellar initial mass function (IMF), with the discrepancy being larger at high metallicities. We use dynamical multi-mass models, that include a prescription for equipartition, to quantify the bias in the inferred dynamical mass as the result of the assumption that light follows mass. For a universal IMF and a metallicity dependent present day mass function we find that the inferred mass from integrated light properties systematically under estimates the true mass, and that the bias is more important at high metallicities, as was found for the M31 GCs. We show that mass segregation and a flattening of the mass function have opposing effects of similar magnitude on the mass inferred from integrated properties. This makes the mass-to-light ratio as derived from integrated properties an inadequate probe of the low-mass end of the stellar mass function. There is, therefore, no need for variations in the IMF, nor the need to invoke depletion of low-mass stars, to explain the observations. Finally, we find that the retention fraction of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) is an equally important parameter in understanding the mass segregation bias. We speculatively put forward to idea that kinematical data of GCs can in fact be used to constrain the total mass in stellar-mass BHs in GCs., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS Letters, update to match final published version

The upsilon Andromedae system was the first multi-planet system discovered orbiting a main sequence star. We describe the detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of the innermost non-transiting gas giant ups~And~b by treating the star-planet system as a spectroscopic binary with high-resolution, ground-based spectroscopy. We resolve the signal of the planet's motion and break the mass-inclination degeneracy for this non-transiting planet via deep combined flux observations of the star and the planet. In total, seven epochs of Keck NIRSPEC $L$ band observations, three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC short wavelength $K$ band observations, and three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC long wavelength $K$ band observations of the ups~And~system were obtained. We perform a multi-epoch cross correlation of the full data set with an atmospheric model. We measure the radial projection of the Keplerian velocity ($K_P$ = 55 $\pm$ 9 km/s), true mass ($M_b$ = 1.7 $^{+0.33}_{-0.24}$ $M_J$), and orbital inclination \big($i_b$ = 24 $\pm$ 4$^{\circ}$\big), and determine that the planet's opacity structure is dominated by water vapor at the probed wavelengths. Dynamical simulations of the planets in the ups~And~system with these orbital elements for ups~And~b show that stable, long-term (100 Myr) orbital configurations exist. These measurements will inform future studies of the stability and evolution of the ups~And~system, as well as the atmospheric structure and composition of the hot Jupiter., Accepted to AJ

All estimates of cluster mass have some intrinsic scatter and perhaps some bias with true mass even in the absence of measurement errors for example caused by cluster triaxiality and large scale structure. Knowledge of the bias and scatter values is fundamental for both cluster cosmology and astrophysics. In this paper we show that the intrinsic scatter of a mass proxy can be constrained by measurements of the gas fraction because masses with higher values of intrinsic scatter with true mass produce more scattered gas fractions. Moreover, the relative bias of two mass estimates can be constrained by comparing the mean gas fraction at the same (nominal) cluster mass. Our observational study addresses the scatter between caustic (i.e., dynamically estimated) and true masses, and the relative bias of caustic and hydrostatic masses. For these purposes, we used the X-ray Unbiased Cluster Sample, a cluster sample selected independently from the intracluster medium content with reliable masses: 34 galaxy clusters in the nearby ($0.050, Comment: A&A, in press, minor language changes from previous version

One of the most active fields of research of modern-day astrophysics is that of massive black hole formation and co-evolution with the host galaxy. In these investigations, ranging from cosmological simulations, to semi-analytical modeling, to observational studies, the Bondi solution for accretion on a central point mass is widely adopted. In this work we generalize the classical Bondi accretion theory to take into account the effects of the gravitational potential of the host galaxy, and of radiation pressure in the optically thin limit. Then, we present the fully analytical solution, in terms of the Lambert-Euler $W$-function, for isothermal accretion in Jaffe and Hernquist galaxies with a central black hole. The flow structure is found to be sensitive to the shape of the mass profile of the host galaxy. These results and the formulae that are provided, mostly important the one for the critical accretion parameter, allow for a direct evaluation of all flow properties, and are then useful for the above mentioned studies. As an application, we examine the departure from the true mass accretion rate of estimates obtained using the gas properties at various distances from the black hole, under the hypothesis of classical Bondi accretion. An overestimate is obtained from regions close to the black hole, and an underestimate outside a few Bondi radii; the exact position of the transition between the two kinds of departure depends on the galaxy model., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ApJ, comments welcome

The kinematic dispersions of disc stars can be used to measure the dynamic contributions of baryons to the rotation curves of spiral galaxies and hence to trace the amount and distribution of the remaining dark matter. However, the simple single-component infinite disc model traditionally used to convert stellar dispersions to mass-densities is no longer adequate. The dark matter halo has a significant effect upon the stellar dispersions for any non-maximal disc. The correction for cuspy dark matter halos is particularly large, suggesting that such models are not consistent with the observed stellar dispersions. When a more realistic model for the vertical gravity of the disc is used, the derived stellar surface densities are generally larger (smaller) for disc radii smaller (larger) than 2.3 times the radial scale-length. When the vertical gravity correction is applied to the radially resolved stellar mass-to-light ratios derived by the DiskMass consortium, the true values are not constant but decrease with radius, as expected from photometric colour gradients, and the true mass scale-lengths are about 80% of the photometric scale-lengths. The effects of a thin gaseous disc are larger than expected, especially when an allowance is made for optically thick or CO-dark gas. The presence of a thick-disc stellar component has severe consequences, particularly if its radial scale-length is smaller than that of the thin disc, as it appears to be in the Milky Way., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

We study the matter effect caused by nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI) in the next generation long-baseline neutrino experiments, DUNE, T2HK and T2HKK. If multiple NSI parameters are nonzero, the potential of these experiments to detect CP violation, determine the mass hierarchy and constrain NSI is severely impaired by degeneracies between the NSI parameters and by the generalized mass hierarchy degeneracy. In particular, a cancellation between leading order terms in the appearance channels when $\epsilon_{e\tau} = \cot\theta_{23} \epsilon_{e\mu}$, strongly affects the sensitivities to these two NSI parameters at T2HK and T2HKK. We also study the dependence of the sensitivities on the true CP phase $\delta$ and the true mass hierarchy, and find that overall DUNE has the best sensitivity to the magnitude of the NSI parameters, while T2HKK has the best sensitivity to CP violation whether or not there are NSI. Furthermore, for T2HKK a smaller off-axis angle for the Korean detector is better overall. We find that due to the structure of the leading order terms in the appearance channel probabilities, the NSI sensitivities in a given experiment are similar for both mass hierarchies, modulo the phase change $\delta \to \delta + 180^\circ$., Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures, 1 table

Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies offers a powerful probe of their structure and mass distribution. Several research groups have developed techniques independently to achieve this goal. While these methods have all provided remarkably high-precision mass maps, particularly with exquisite imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the reconstructions themselves have never been directly compared. In this paper, we present for the first time a detailed comparison of methodologies for fidelity, accuracy and precision. For this collaborative exercise, the lens modelling community was provided simulated cluster images that mimic the depth and resolution of the ongoing HST Frontier Fields. The results of the submitted reconstructions with the un-blinded true mass profile of these two clusters are presented here. Parametric, free-form and hybrid techniques have been deployed by the participating groups and we detail the strengths and trade-offs in accuracy and systematics that arise for each methodology. We note in conclusion that several properties of the lensing clusters are recovered equally well by most of the lensing techniques compared in this study. For example, the reconstruction of azimuthally averaged density and mass profiles by both parametric and freeform methods matches the input models at the level of ~10 per cent. Parametric techniques are generally better at recovering the 2D maps of the convergence and of the magnification. For the best-performing algorithms, the accuracy in the magnification estimate is ~10 per cent at μtrue = 3 and it degrades to ~30 per cent at μtrue ~ 10., MM acknowledges support from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Directorate General for Country Promotion, from INAF via PRIN-INAF 2014 C.R.A. 1.05.01.94.02, and from ASI via contract ASI/INAF/I/023/12/0. This work was supported in part by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Initiative), MEXT, Japan and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 26800093 and 15H05892. AZ is supported by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant #HST-HF2-51334.001-A awarded by STScI, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. JMD acknowledges support of the consolider project CSD2010-00064 and AYA2012-39475-C02-01 funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain.

A low-amplitude periodic signal in the radial velocity (RV) time series of Barnard's Star was recently attributed to a planetary companion with a minimum mass of ${\sim}$3.2 $M_\oplus$ at an orbital period of $\sim$233 days. The relatively long orbital period and the proximity of Barnard's Star to the Sun raises the question whether the true mass of the planet can be constrained by accurate astrometric measurements. By combining the assumption of an isotropic probability distribution of the orbital orientation with the RV-analysis results, we calculated the probability density function of the astrometric signature of the planet. In addition, we reviewed the astrometric capabilities and limitations of current and upcoming astrometric instruments. We conclude that Gaia and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are currently the best-suited instruments to perform the astrometric follow-up observations. Taking the optimistic estimate of their single-epoch accuracy to be $\sim$30 $\mu$as, we find a probability of $\sim$10% to detect the astrometric signature of Barnard's Star b with $\sim$50 individual-epoch observations. In case of no detection, the implied mass upper limit would be $\sim$8 $M_\oplus$, which would place the planet in the super-Earth mass range. In the next decade, observations with the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope (WFIRST) may increase the prospects of measuring the true mass of the planet to $\sim$99%., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

The fundamental assumptions of the van Deemter height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) equation were formulated nearly 60 years ago in its rigorous final mathematical derivation in 1956. The limit of applicability of this classical theory of band broadening in chromatographic columns is discussed on the basis of accurate measurements of diffusion coefficients (in the bulk, in particles, and in column beds), of peak moments in both RPLC and HILIC, on the recent numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation and on the results of the simulation of the advection-diffusion transport in the bulk region of computer-generated random packed beds. A result of this discussion is that serious errors are made in the interpretations of the mass transfer mechanism in HILIC and RPLC that are based on the use of the original van Deemter expressions of the longitudinal diffusion coefficient through packed bed, of the mass transfer resistance in the mobile phase, and of the mass transfer resistance in the stationary phase. These errors are discussed and quantitatively assessed. Physically acceptable and relevant expressions are proposed to account for the true mass transfer mechanism in packed columns.

In this paper, we develop a spectral differential technique with which the dynamical mass of low-mass companions can be found. This method aims at discovering close companions to late-type stars by removing the stellar spectrum through a subtraction of spectra obtained at different orbital phases and discovering the companion spectrum in the difference spectrum in which the companion lines appear twice (positive and negative signal). The resulting radial velocity difference of these two signals provides the true mass of the companion, if the orbital solution for the radial velocities of the primary is known. We select the CO line region in the K band for our study, because it provides a favourable star-to-companion brightness ratio for our test case GJ 1046, an M2V dwarf with a low-mass companion that most likely is a brown dwarf. Furthermore, these lines remain largely unblended in the difference spectrum so that the radial velocity amplitude of the companion can be measured directly. Only if the companion rotates rapidly and has a small radial velocity due to a high mass, does blending occur for all lines so that our approach fails. We also consider activity of the host star, and show that the companion difference flux can be expected to have larger amplitude than the residual signal from the active star so that stellar activity does not inhibit the determination of the companion mass. In addition to determining the companion mass, we restore the single companion spectrum from the difference spectrum using singular value decomposition. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We target the thermal emission spectrum of the non-transiting gas giant HD 88133 b with high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy, by treating the planet and its host star as a spectroscopic binary. For sufficiently deep summed flux observations of the star and planet across multiple epochs, it is possible to resolve the signal of the hot gas giant's atmosphere compared to the brighter stellar spectrum, at a level consistent with the aggregate shot noise of the full data set. To do this, we first perform a principal component analysis to remove the contribution of the Earth's atmosphere to the observed spectra. Then, we use a cross-correlation analysis to tease out the spectra of the host star and HD 88133 b to determine its orbit and identify key sources of atmospheric opacity. In total, six epochs of Keck NIRSPEC L band observations and three epochs of Keck NIRSPEC K band observations of the HD 88133 system were obtained. Based on an analysis of the maximum likelihood curves calculated from the multi-epoch cross correlation of the full data set with two atmospheric models, we report the direct detection of the emission spectrum of the non-transiting exoplanet HD 88133 b and measure a radial projection of the Keplerian orbital velocity of 40 $\pm$ 15 km/s, a true mass of 1.02$^{+0.61}_{-0.28}M_J$, a nearly face-on orbital inclination of 15${^{+6}_{-5}}^{\circ}$, and an atmosphere opacity structure at high dispersion dominated by water vapor. This, combined with eleven years of radial velocity measurements of the system, provides the most up-to-date ephemeris for HD 88133., 9 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

We propose a class of kinematic variables, which is a smooth generalization of min-max type mass variables such as the Cambridge-$M_{T2}$ and $M_2$, for measuring a mass spectrum of intermediate resonances in a semi-invisibly decaying pair production. While kinematic endpoints of min-max type mass variables are only sensitive to a heavier resonance mass, kinematic endpoints of new variables are sensitive to all masses. These new mass variables can be used to resolve a mass spectrum, so that if the true mass spectrum is asymmetric, then the kinematic endpoints are separate while the endpoints are the same for the symmetric true mass spectrum. We demonstrate the behavior of kinematic endpoint of these new variables in pair production of two-body and three-body decays with one invisible particle., 19 pages, 10 figures, updated to the published version in JHEP

Context. The temperate Earth-mass planet Proxima b is the closest exoplanet to Earth and represents what may be our best ever opportunity to search for life outside the Solar System. Aims. We aim at directly detecting Proxima b and characterizing its atmosphere by spatially resolving the planet and obtaining high-resolution reflected-light spectra. Methods. We propose to develop a coupling interface between the SPHERE high-contrast imager and the new ESPRESSO spectrograph, both installed at ESO VLT. The angular separation of 37 mas between Proxima b and its host star requires the use of visible wavelengths to spatially resolve the planet on a 8.2-m telescope. At an estimated planet-to-star contrast of ~10^-7 in reflected light, Proxima b is extremely challenging to detect with SPHERE alone. However, the combination of a ~10^3-10^4 contrast enhancement from SPHERE to the high spectral resolution of ESPRESSO can reveal the planetary spectral features and disentangle them from the stellar ones. Results. We find that significant but realistic upgrades to SPHERE and ESPRESSO would enable a 5-sigma detection of the planet and yield a measurement of its true mass and albedo in 20-40 nights of telescope time, assuming an Earth-like atmospheric composition. Moreover, it will be possible to probe the O2 bands at 627, 686 and 760 nm, the water vapour band at 717 nm, and the methane band at 715 nm. In particular, a 3.6-sigma detection of O2 could be made in about 60 nights of telescope time. Those would need to be spread over 3 years considering optimal observability conditions for the planet. Conclusions. The very existence of Proxima b and the SPHERE-ESPRESSO synergy represent a unique opportunity to detect biosignatures on an exoplanet in the near future. It is also a crucial pathfinder experiment for the development of Extremely Large Telescopes and their instruments (abridged)., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, revised version accepted to A&A

The field of exoplanetary science has seen discovery rates increase dramatically over recent years, due largely to the data from the Kepler mission. Even so, individual discoveries of planets orbiting nearby stars are very important for studies of characterization and near-term follow-up prospects. The recent discovery of a terrestrial planet candidate orbiting Proxima Centauri presents numerous opportunities for studying a Super-Earth within our own stellar backyard. One of the remaining ambiguities of the discovery is the true mass of the planet since the discovery signature was obtained via radial velocities. Here we describe the effect of orbital inclination on the Proxima Centauri planet, in terms of mass, radius, atmosphere, and albedo. We calculate the astrometric, angular separation, and reflected light properties of the planet including the effects of orbital eccentricity. We further provide dynamical simulations that show how the presence of additional terrestrial planets within the Habitable Zone varies as a function of inclination. Finally, we discuss these effects in the context of future space-based photometry and imaging missions that could potentially detect the planetary signature and resolve the inclination and mass ambiguity of the planet., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, references updated

This paper examines the effects of the atmospheric density, more specifically, the effects that the changes of isobaric altitude have on the accuracy of a fireball׳s analysis. During winter, especially over high latitude regions like Finland, the true isobaric level may be more than three kilometers below the heights predicted by the US Standard Atmosphere 1976 model. It can differ even more when compared with the heights predicted by the simplified exponential scaled height model. Thus, the true mass of a fireball may differ significantly from those obtained by using either the isobaric altitudes derived from the Standard Atmosphere or the exponential atmospheric model, i.e. without taking into account the corrections for true atmospheric conditions. Likewise, the solutions for the ablation coefficient derived by the generalized models will be less accurate than those that do consider the true atmospheric conditions. This becomes especially crucial for potential meteorite droppers, i.e. low velocity fireballs, with small ablation rates and consequently, high terminal-to-initial mass ratio. We propose an atmospheric height correction method that utilizes real atmospheric data to analysis of the fireball. We demonstrate the proposed method by analyzing the data of three fireballs that were recently recorded by the Finnish Fireball Network and finally, we compare our results against those derived by using the US Standard Atmosphere 1976 model and the exponential atmosphere model.

The challenge of obtaining galaxy cluster masses is increasingly being addressed by multiwavelength measurements. As scatters in measured cluster masses are often sourced by properties of or around the clusters themselves, correlations between mass scatters are frequent and can be significant, with consequences for errors on mass estimates obtained both directly and via stacking. Using a high resolution 250 Mpc/h side N-body simulation, combined with proxies for observational cluster mass measurements, we obtain mass scatter correlations and covariances for 243 individual clusters along ~96 lines of sight each, both separately and together. Many of these scatters are quite large and highly correlated. We use principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize scatter trends and variations between clusters. PCA identifies combinations of scatters, or variations more generally, which are uncorrelated or non-covariant. The PCA combination of mass measurement techniques which dominates the mass scatter is similar for many clusters, and this combination is often present in a large amount when viewing the cluster along its long axis. We also correlate cluster mass scatter, environmental and intrinsic properties, and use PCA to find shared trends between these. For example, if the average measured richness, velocity dispersion and Compton decrement mass for a cluster along many lines of sight are high relative to its true mass, in our simulation the cluster's mass measurement scatters around this average are also high, its sphericity is high, and its triaxiality is low. Our analysis is based upon estimated mass distributions for fixed true mass. Extensions to observational data would require further calibration from numerical simulations, tuned to specific observational survey selection functions and systematics.