Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Bian, Qi; Bo, Yong; Zuo, Jun-Wei; Li, Min; Feng, Lu; Wei, Kai; Wang, Rui-Tao; Li, Hong-Yang; Peng, Qin-Jun; Xu, Zu-Yan

doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac7c8epmid: N/A

Multiple synthetic beacons are required for atmospheric-turbulence compensation in an extended-field-of-view multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) telescope. In this paper, we report on the first successful implementation of a microsecond-pulse sodium guidestars constellation laser system, based on a small angle precise polarized combining and splitting technology. At Lijiang Observatory of China, four-ways ∼20 W yellow laser beam with kHz repetition-rate and hundred-μs pulse width were projected into the sky through one small-aperture launching telescope, and generated a distinctive four-point grouping on a field of view of 40″ with variable configurations of linear, parallelogram, rhomboid and square. The sodium return signal could easily avoid Rayleigh light interference by the pulse synchro controlling technology delivering a higher spatial resolution. Moreover, the increase in return photons for alternated circularly and alternated linearly polarized light has been investigated. We believe that the above results could serve as a future reference for the MCAO system on large-aperture telescopes worldwide.

Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Tianmeng; Danzengluobu, ; Li, Zhitong; Zhao, Pinsong; Zhang, Bingqing; Du, Lin; Zhu, Yinan; Wu, Hong

doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac7583pmid: N/A

We present the optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the nearby Type Ia supernova (SN) 2021hpr. The observations covered the phase of −14.37 to +63.68 days relative to its maximum luminosity in the B band. The evolution of multiband light/color curves of SN 2021hpr is similar to that of normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with the exception of some phases, especially a plateau phase that appeared in the V − R color curve before peak luminosity, which resembles that of SN 2017cbv. The first spectrum we observed at t ∼ −14.4 days shows a higher velocity for the Si ii λ6355 feature (∼21,000 km s−1) than that of other normal velocity (NV) SNe Ia at the same phase. Based on the Si ii λ6355 velocity of ∼12,420 km s−1 around maximum light, we deduce that SN 2021hpr is a transitional object between high velocity (HV) and NV SNe Ia. Meanwhile, the Si ii λ6355 feature shows a high velocity gradient (HVG) of about 800 km s−1 day−1 from roughly −14.37 to −4.31 days relative to the B-band maximum, which indicates that SN 2021hpr can also be classified as an HVG SN Ia. Despite SN 2021hpr having a higher velocity for the Si ii λ6355 and Ca ii near-IR (NIR) triplet features in its spectra, its evolution is similar to that of SN 2011fe. Including SN 2021hpr, there have been six supernovae observed in the host galaxy NGC 3147; the supernovae explosion rate in the last 50 yr is slightly higher for SNe Ia, while for SNe Ibc and SNe II it is lower than expected rate from the radio data. Inspecting the spectra, we find that SN 2021hpr has a metal-rich (12 + log(O/H) ≈ 8.648) circumstellar environment, where HV SNe tend to reside. Based on the decline rate of SN 2021hpr in the B band, we determine the distance modulus of the host galaxy NGC 3147 using the Phillips relation to be 33.46 ± 0.21 mag, which is close to that found by previous works.

Cottalorda, É.; Aristidi, É.; Carbillet, M.; Guinard, M.; Pyanet, M.; Vourc’h, S.

doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac6699pmid: N/A

We analyze, in the framework of high angular resolution imaging, a novel image reconstruction method denoted as PSE (which stands for power spectrum extended). It works in the Fourier space, combining the information from both the average power spectrum of the images and a phase estimation from an ad-hoc shift-and-add process. PSE allows to perform image reconstruction up to the diffraction limit of the telescope from a series of short-exposure frames, with a refined lucky-imaging selection process. The method is well adapted to partially corrected adaptive-optics images, in particular in case of low Strehl corrections, and/or small diameter telescopes. In this paper we analyze the PSE technique by means of Monte-Carlo simulations and compare it with the ISFAS lucky-imaging method. Comparative performances were investigated using three metrics: Strehl ratio for reconstructed point-like sources, intensity ratio for binary stars, and least-square distance between images for a simulated artificial satellite. We found that PSE provides an improvement of a factor ∼2 over ISFAS on the Strehl ratio in the case of faint point sources. It seems also to give better images reconstruction on some kinds of extended objects (planets or binary stars with small magnitude difference). PSE has also the advantage to be very fast and well adapted to real-time image reconstruction.

Alimohamadi, P.; Ferland, G. J.

doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac7664pmid: N/A

The partition function, U, the number of available states in an atom or molecules, is crucial for understanding the physical state of any astrophysical system in thermodynamic equilibrium. There are surprisingly few useful discussions of the partition function’s numerical value. Textbooks often define U; some give tables of representative values, while others do a deep dive into the theory of dense plasma. Most say that it depends on temperature, atomic structure, density, and that it diverges, that is, it goes to infinity, at high temperatures, but few give practical examples. We aim to rectify this. We show that there are two limits, one- and two-electron (or closed-shell) systems like H or He, and species with a complicated electronic structure like C, N, O, and Fe. The high-temperature divergence does not occur for one- and two-electron systems in practical situations because, at high temperatures, species are collisionally ionized to higher-ionization stages and are not abundant. The partition function is then close to the statistical weight of the ground state. There is no such simplification for many-electron species. U is temperature sensitive across the range of temperatures where an ion is abundant but remains finite at even the highest practical temperatures. The actual value depends on highly uncertain truncation theories in high-density plasmas. We show that there are various theories for continuum lowering but that they are not in good agreement. This remains a long-standing unsolved problem.

Persson, S. E.

doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac67b0pmid: N/A

Stellar image motion measured differentially with small telescopes can be converted to image quality predictions for large telescopes at the same site. To demonstrate this methodology, multi-wavelength seeing distributions are predicted for Las Campanas Observatory based on the Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) results from the Giant Magellan Telescope site survey. The observed seeing distribution at 0.5 μm is used to compute a family of predicted seeing distributions from 0.32 to 4.7 μm. Tokovinin’s formula is used to transform the DIMM seeing distributions (based on Kolmogorov theory) to the large telescope image sizes expected in the von Karman theory. The latter framework includes an outer scale, or largest size, for the turbulent eddies above a telescope. The impact of seeing distributions on site selection and on telescope and instrument design are discussed. Other considerations in selecting an excellent site are also listed and explained.

Kristiansen, Martti H. K.; Rappaport, Saul A.; Vanderburg, Andrew M.; Jacobs, Thomas L.; Martin Schwengeler, Hans; Gagliano, Robert; Terentev, Ivan A.; LaCourse, Daryll M.; Omohundro, Mark R.; Schmitt, Allan R.; Powell, Brian P.; Kostov, Veselin B.