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E. Hernandez

Publications and source records attributed to E. Hernandez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2021

Mode expansion theory and application in step-index multimode fibres for astronomical spectroscopy

In astronomical spectroscopy, optical fibres are abundantly used for multiplexing and decoupling the spectrograph from the telescope to provide stability in a controlled environment. However, fibres are less than perfect optical components and introduce complex effects that diminish the overall throughput, efficiency, and stability of the instrument. We present a novel numerical field propagation model that emulates the effects of modal noise, scrambling, and focal ratio degradation with a rigorous treatment of wave optics. We demonstrate that the simulation of the near- and far-field output of a fiber, injected into a ray-tracing model of the spectrograph, allows to assess performance at the detector level.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2021

CHEOPS observations of the HD 108236 planetary system: A fifth planet, improved ephemerides, and planetary radii

The detection of a super-Earth and three mini-Neptunes transiting the bright ($V$ = 9.2 mag) star HD 108236 (also known as TOI-1233) was recently reported on the basis of TESS and ground-based light curves. We perform a first characterisation of the HD 108236 planetary system through high-precision CHEOPS photometry and improve the transit ephemerides and system parameters. We characterise the host star through spectroscopic analysis and derive the radius with the infrared flux method. We constrain the stellar mass and age by combining the results obtained from two sets of stellar evolutionary tracks. We analyse the available TESS light curves and one CHEOPS transit light curve for each known planet in the system. We find that HD 108236 is a Sun-like star with $R_{\star}=0.877\pm0.008 R_{\odot}$, $M_{\star}=0.869^{+0.050}_{-0.048} M_{\odot}$, and an age of $6.7_{-5.1}^{+4.0}$ Gyr. We report the serendipitous detection of an additional planet, HD 108236 f, in one of the CHEOPS light curves. For this planet, the combined analysis of the TESS and CHEOPS light curves leads to a tentative orbital period of about 29.5 days. From the light curve analysis, we obtain radii of $1.615\pm0.051$, $2.071\pm0.052$, $2.539_{-0.065}^{+0.062}$, $3.083\pm0.052$, and $2.017_{-0.057}^{+0.052}$ $R_{\oplus}$ for planets HD 108236 b to HD 108236 f, respectively. These values are in agreement with previous TESS-based estimates, but with an improved precision of about a factor of two. We perform a stability analysis of the system, concluding that the planetary orbits most likely have eccentricities smaller than 0.1. We also employ a planetary atmospheric evolution framework to constrain the masses of the five planets, concluding that HD 108236 b and HD 108236 c should have an Earth-like density, while the outer planets should host a low mean molecular weight envelope.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2020

The hot dayside and asymmetric transit of WASP-189b seen by CHEOPS

The CHEOPS space mission dedicated to exoplanet follow-up was launched in December 2019, equipped with the capacity to perform photometric measurements at the 20 ppm level. As CHEOPS carries out its observations in a broad optical passband, it can provide insights into the reflected light from exoplanets and constrain the short-wavelength thermal emission for the hottest of planets by observing occultations and phase curves. Here, we report the first CHEOPS observation of an occultation, namely, that of the hot Jupiter WASP-189b, a $M_P \approx 2 M_J$ planet orbiting an A-type star. We detected the occultation of WASP-189 b at high significance in individual measurements and derived an occultation depth of $dF = 87.9 \pm 4.3$ppm based on four occultations. We compared these measurements to model predictions and we find that they are consistent with an unreflective atmosphere heated to a temperature of $3435 \pm 27$K, when assuming inefficient heat redistribution. Furthermore, we present two transits of WASP-189b observed by CHEOPS. These transits have an asymmetric shape that we attribute to gravity darkening of the host star caused by its high rotation rate. We used these measurements to refine the planetary parameters, finding a $\sim25\%$ deeper transit compared to the discovery paper and updating the radius of WASP-189b to $1.619\pm0.021 R_J$. We further measured the projected orbital obliquity to be $λ= 86.4^{+2.9}_{-4.4}$deg, a value that is in good agreement with a previous measurement from spectroscopic observations, and derived a true obliquity of $Ψ= 85.4\pm4.3$deg. Finally, we provide reference values for the photometric precision attained by the CHEOPS satellite: for the V=6.6 mag star, and using a one-hour binning, we obtain a residual RMS between 10 and 17ppm on the individual light curves, and 5.7ppm when combining the four visits.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2020

First demonstration of OH suppression in a high efficiency near-infrared spectrograph

Ground-based near-infrared astronomy is severely hampered by the forest of atmospheric emission lines resulting from the rovibrational decay of OH molecules in the upper atmosphere. The extreme brightness of these lines, as well as their spatial and temporal variability, makes accurate sky subtraction difficult. Selectively filtering these lines with OH suppression instruments has been a long standing goal for near-infrared spectroscopy. We have shown previously the efficacy of fibre Bragg gratings combined with photonic lanterns for achieving OH suppression. Here we report on PRAXIS, a unique near-infrared spectrograph that is optimised for OH suppression with fibre Bragg gratings. We show for the first time that OH suppression (of any kind) is possible with high overall throughput (18 per cent end-to-end), and provide examples of the relative benefits of OH suppression.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2018

First Joint Observations of Space Weather Events over Mexico

The Mexican Space Weather Service (SCiESMEX in Spanish) and National Space Weather Laboratory (LANCE in Spanish) were organized in 2014 and in 2016 respectively to provide space weather monitoring and alerts, as well as scientific research in Mexico. In this work, we present the results of the first joint observations of two events (22 June, 2015, and 29 September, 2015) with our local network of instruments and their related products. This network includes the MEXART radio telescope (solar flare and radio burst), the Compact Astronomical Low-frequency, Low-cost Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatories (CALLISTO) at MEXART station (solar radio burst), the Mexico City Cosmic Ray Observatory (cosmics ray fluxes), GPS receiver networks (ionospheric disturbances), and the Geomagnetic Observatory of Teoloyucan (geomagnetic field). The observations show that we detected significant space weather effects over the Mexican territory: geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances (22 June, 2015), variations in cosmic rays fluxes, and also radio communications interferences (29 September, 2015). The effects of these perturbations were registered, for the first time, using space weather products by SCiESMEX: TEC maps, regional geomagnetic index K mex , radio spectrographs of low frequency, and cosmic rays fluxes. These results prove the importance of monitoring space weather phenomena in the region and the need to strengthening the instrumentation network.

physics.space-ph↗
arXiv2016

Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Nanostructured Ferrimagnetic Composites with Graphene - Graphite Fillers

We report the results of an experimental study of thermal and magnetic properties of nanostructured ferrimagnetic iron oxide composites with graphene and graphite fillers synthesized via the current activated pressure assisted densification. The thermal conductivity was measured using the laser-flash and transient plane source techniques. It was demonstrated that addition of 5 wt. % of equal mixture of graphene and graphite flakes to the composite results in a factor of x2.6 enhancement of the thermal conductivity without significant degradation of the saturation magnetization. The microscopy and spectroscopic characterization reveal that sp2 carbon fillers preserve their crystal structure and morphology during the composite processing. The strong increase in the thermal conductivity was attributed to the excellent phonon heat conduction properties of graphene and graphite. The results are important for energy and electronic applications of the nanostructured permanent magnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2016

Graphene-Enhanced Thermal Interface Materials for Thermal Management of Photovoltaic Solar Cells

The increase in the temperature of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells affects negatively their power conversion efficiency and decreases their lifetime. The negative effects are particularly pronounced in concentrator solar cells. Therefore, it is crucial to limit the PV cell temperature by effectively removing the excess heat. Conventional thermal phase change materials (PCMs) and thermal interface materials (TIMs) do not possess the thermal conductivity values sufficient for thermal management of the next generation of PV cells. In this paper, we report the results of investigation of the increased efficiency of PV cells with the use of graphene-enhanced TIMs. Graphene reveals the highest values of the intrinsic thermal conductivity. It was also shown that the thermal conductivity of composites can be increased via utilization of graphene fillers. We prepared TIMs with up to 6% of graphene designed specifically for PV cell application. The solar cells were tested using the solar simulation module. It was found that the drop in the output voltage of the solar panel under two-sun concentrated illumination can be reduced from 19% to 6% when graphene-enhanced TIMs are used. The proposed method can recover up to 75% of the power loss in solar cells.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2016

Present Status of Single Pion Production in Neutrino-Nucleus Reactions

Some of the recent progress in the physics of pion production induced by neutrinos on nucleons and nuclei is reviewed from a theoretical perspective. The importance of Watson's theorem to reconcile ANL and BNL data with the off-diagonal Goldberger-Treiman relation for the $Δ(1232)$ is discussed. The disagreement between MiniBooNE data and theoretical calculations is presented in the light of the new MINERvA data. The coherent pion production data on $^{12}$C obtained by MINERvA are also compared to different microscopic and PCAC models.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

$B_s$ mesons: semileptonic and nonleptonic decays

In this contribution we compute some nonleptonic and semileptonic decay widths of $B_s$ mesons, working in the context of constituent quark models \cite{Albertus:2014gba, Albertus:2014bfa}. For the case of semileptonic decays we consider reactions leading to kaons or different $J^π$ $D_s$ mesons. The study of nonleptonic decays has been done in the factorisation approximation and includes the final states enclosed in Table 2.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2013

Exclusive $c \to s,d$ semileptonic decays of spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 $cb$ baryons

We present results for exclusive semileptonic decay widths of ground state spin-$1/2$ and spin-$3/2$ $cb$ baryons corresponding to a $c\to s, d$ transition at the quark level. The relevance of hyperfine mixing in spin-1/2 $cb$ baryons is shown. Our form factors are compatible with heavy quark spin symmetry constraints obtained in the infinite heavy quark mass limit.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2013

Constituent quark model description of charmonium phenomenology

We review how quark models are able to describe the phenomenology of the charm meson sector. The spectroscopy and decays of charmonium and open charm mesons are described in a particular quark model and compared with the data and the results of other existing models in the literature. A quite reasonable global description of the heavy meson spectra is reached. A new assignment of the $ψ(4415)$ resonance as a 3D state leaving aside the 4S state to the X(4360) is tested through the analysis of the resonance structure in $e^{+}e^{-}$ exclusive reactions around the $ψ(4415)$ energy region. We make tentative assignments of some of the $XYZ$ mesons. To elucidate the structure of the $1^{+}$ $c\bar{s}$ states, i.e. $D_{s1}(2460)$ and $D_{s1}(2536)$, we study the strong decay properties of the $D_{s1}(2536)$ meson. We also perform a calculation of the branching fractions for the semileptonic decays of $B$ and $B_{s}$ mesons into final states containing orbitally excited charmed and charmed-strange mesons, which have become a very important source of information about the structure of heavy mesons. Analysis of the nonleptonic $B$ meson decays into $D^{(\ast)}D_{sJ}$ are also included.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Semileptonic decays of spin-1/2 doubly charmed baryons

We evaluate exclusive semileptonic decays of ground-state spin-1/2 doubly heavy charmed baryons. The decays are driven by a $c\to s,d$ transition at the quark level. Our form factors are consistent with Heavy Quark Symmetry constraints. The latter are valid in the limit of infinitely heavy quark mass at zero recoil.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Nonleptonic $B \to D^{(*)}D_{sJ}^{(*)}$ decays and the nature of the orbitally excited charmed-strange mesons

The Belle Collaboration has recently reported a study of the decays $B \to D_{s1}(2536)^{+}\bar{D}^{(\ast)}$ and has given also estimates of relevant ratios between branching fractions of decays $B \to D^{(\ast)}D_{sJ}^{(\ast)}$ providing important information to check the structure of the $D_{s0}^{\ast}(2317)$, $D_{s1}(2460)$ and $D_{s1}(2536)$ mesons. The disagreement between experimental data and Heavy Quark Symmetry has been used as an indication that $D_{s0}^{\ast}(2317)$ and $D_{s1}(2460)$ mesons could have a more complex structure than the canonical $c\bar{s}$ one. We analyze these ratios within the framework of a constituent quark model, which allows us to incorporate the effects given by finite $c$-quark mass corrections. Our findings are that while the $D_{s1}(2460)$ meson could have a sizable non-$q\bar{q}$ component, the $D_{s0}^{\ast}(2317)$ and $D_{s1}(2536)$ mesons seem to be well described by a pure $q\bar{q}$ structure.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

Selected topics on Hadrons in Nuclei

In this talk we report on selected topics on hadrons in nuclei. The first topic is the renormalization of the width of the $Λ(1520)$ in a nuclear medium. This is followed by a short update of the situation of the $ω$ in the medium. The investigation of the properties of $\bar{K}$ in the nuclear medium from the study of the $(K_{flight},p)$ reaction is also addressed, as well as properties of X,Y,Z charmed and hidden charm resonances in a nuclear medium. Finally we address the novel issue of multimeson states.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2010

Heavy Quark Spin Symmetry and Heavy Baryons: Electroweak Decays

Heavy quark spin symmetry is discussed in the context of single and doubly heavy baryons. A special attention is paid to the constraints/simplifications that this symmetry imposes on the non-relativistic constituent quark model wave functions and on the b->c semileptonic decays of these hadrons.

hep-ph↗