Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Imke de Pater

Publications and source records attributed to Imke de Pater.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2018

Potential for Solar System Science with the ngVLA

Radio wavelength observations of solar system bodies are a powerful method of probing many characteristics of those bodies. From surface and subsurface, to atmospheres (including deep atmospheres of the giant planets), to rings, to the magnetosphere of Jupiter, these observations provide unique information on current state, and sometimes history, of the bodies. The ngVLA will enable the highest sensitivity and resolution observations of this kind, with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of some of these bodies. In this article, we present a review of state-of-the-art radio wavelength observations of a variety of bodies in our solar system, varying in size from ring particles and small near-Earth asteroids to the giant planets. Throughout the review we mention improvements for each body (or class of bodies) to be expected with the ngVLA. A simulation of a Neptune-sized object is presented in Section 6. Section 7 provides a brief summary for each type of object, together with the type of measurements needed for all objects throughout the Solar System.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2018

Science with an ngVLA: The ngVLA Science Case and Associated Science Requirements

The science case and associated science requirements for a next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) are described, highlighting the five key science goals developed out of a community-driven vision of the highest scientific priorities in the next decade. Building on the superb cm observing conditions and existing infrastructure of the VLA site in the U.S. Southwest, the ngVLA is envisaged to be an interferometric array with more than 10 times the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the current VLA and ALMA, operating at frequencies spanning $\sim1.2 - 116$\,GHz with extended baselines reaching across North America. The ngVLA will be optimized for observations at wavelengths between the exquisite performance of ALMA at submm wavelengths, and the future SKA-1 at decimeter to meter wavelengths, thus lending itself to be highly complementary with these facilities. The ngVLA will be the only facility in the world that can tackle a broad range of outstanding scientific questions in modern astronomy by simultaneously delivering the capability to: (1) unveil the formation of Solar System analogues; (2) probe the initial conditions for planetary systems and life with astrochemistry; (3) characterize the assembly, structure, and evolution of galaxies from the first billion years to the present; (4) use pulsars in the Galactic center as fundamental tests of gravity; and (5) understand the formation and evolution of stellar and supermassive blackholes in the era of multi-messenger astronomy.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2018

Emission from Volcanic SO Gas on Io at High Spectral Resolution

Jupiter's moon Io hosts a dynamic atmosphere that is continually stripped off and replenished through frost sublimation and volcanic outgassing. We observed an emission band at 1.707 $μ$m thought to be produced by hot SO molecules directly ejected from a volcanic vent; the observations were made the NIRSPEC instrument on the Keck II telescope while Io was in eclipse by Jupiter on three nights in 2012-2016, and included two observations with 10x higher spectral resolution than all prior observations of this band. These high-resolution spectra reveal a contribution to the SO emission from gas reservoirs at both high and low rotational temperatures. The scenario preferred by de Pater et al. (2002) for the source of the SO gas - direct volcanic emission of SO in the excited state - is consistent with these two temperature components if the local gas density is high enough that rotational energy can be lost collisionally before the excited electronic state spontaneously decays. Under this scenario, the required bulk atmospheric gas density and surface pressure are $n\sim 10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$ and 1-3 nbar, consistent with observations and modeling of Io's dayside atmosphere at altitudes below 10 km. The low-temperature gas component is warmer for observations in the first 20 minutes of eclipse (in Dec 2015) than after Io had been in shadow for 1.5 hours (in May 2016), suggesting cooling of the atmosphere during eclipse. Excess emission is consistently observed at 1.69 $μ$m, which cannot be matched by two-temperature gas models but can be matched by models that over-populate high rotational states. Finally, a comparison of the total band strengths observed across eight dates from 1999-2016 reveals no significant dependence on thermal hot spot activity (including Loki Patera), on the time since Io has been in shadow, nor on the phase of Io's orbit at the time of observation.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2018

The Gas Composition and Deep Cloud Structure of Jupiter's Great Red Spot

We have obtained high-resolution spectra of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) between 4.6 and 5.4 microns using telescopes on Mauna Kea in order to derive gas abundances and to constrain its cloud structure between 0.5 and 5~bars. We used line profiles of deuterated methane CH3D at 4.66 microns to infer the presence of an opaque cloud at 5+/-1 bar. From thermochemical models this is almost certainly a water cloud. We also used the strength of Fraunhofer lines in the GRS to obtain the ratio of reflected sunlight to thermal emission. The level of the reflecting layer was constrained to be at 570+/-30 mbar based on fitting strong ammonia lines at 5.32 microns. We identify this layer as an ammonia cloud based on the temperature where gaseous ammonia condenses. We found evidence for a strongly absorbing, but not totally opaque, cloud layer at pressures deeper than 1.3 bar by combining Cassini/CIRS spectra of the GRS at 7.18 microns with ground-based spectra at 5 microns. This is consistent with the predicted level of an NH4SH cloud. We also constrained the vertical profile of water and ammonia. The GRS spectrum is matched by a saturated water profile above an opaque water cloud at 5~bars. The pressure of the water cloud constrains Jupiter's O/H ratio to be at least 1.1 times solar. The ammonia mole fraction is 200+/-50ppm for pressures between 0.7 and 5 bar. Its abundance is 40 ppm at the estimated pressure of the reflecting layer. We obtained 0.8+/-0.2 ppm for PH3, a factor of 2 higher than in the warm collar surrounding the GRS. We detected all 5 naturally occurring isotopes of germanium in GeH4 in the Great Red Spot. We obtained an average value of 0.35+/-0.05 ppb for GeH4. Finally, we measured 0.8+/-0.2 ppb for CO in the deep atmosphere.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2018

A New, Long-Lived, Jupiter Mesoscale Wave Observed at Visible Wavelengths

Small-scale waves were observed along the boundary between Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt and North Tropical Zone, ~16.5° N planetographic latitude in Hubble Space Telescope data in 2012 and throughout 2015 to 2018, observable at all wavelengths from the UV to the near IR. At peak visibility, the waves have sufficient contrast (~10%) to be observed from ground-based telescopes. They have a typical wavelength of about 1.2° (1400 km), variable-length wave trains, and westward phase speeds of a few m/s or less. New analysis of Voyager 2 data shows similar wave trains over at least 300 hours. Some waves appear curved when over cyclones and anticyclones, but most are straight, but tilted, shifting in latitude as they pass vortices. Based on their wavelengths, phase speeds, and faint appearance at high-altitude sensitive passbands, the observed NEB waves are consistent with inertia-gravity waves at the 500-mbar pressure level, though formation altitude is not well constrained. Preliminary General Circulation Model simulations generate inertia-gravity waves from vortices interacting with the environment and can reproduce the observed wavelengths and orientations. Several mechanisms can generate these waves, and all may contribute: geostrophic adjustment of cyclones; cyclone/anticyclone interactions; wind interactions with obstructions or heat pulses from convection; or changing vertical wind shear. However, observations also show that the presence of vortices and/or regions of convection are not sufficient by themselves for wave formation, implying that a change in vertical structure may affect their stability, or that changes in haze properties may affect their visibility.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2018

The methane distribution and polar brightening on Uranus based on HST/STIS, Keck/NIRC2, and IRTF/SpeX observations through 2015

HST/STIS observations of Uranus in 2015 show that the depletion of upper tropospheric methane has been relatively stable and that the polar region has been brightening over time as a result of increased aerosol scattering. This interpretation is confirmed by near-IR imaging from HST and from the Keck telescope using NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging. Our analysis of the 2015 spectra, as well as prior spectra from 2012, shows that there is a factor of three decrease in the effective upper tropospheric methane mixing ratio between 30°N and 70°N. The absolute value of the deep methane mixing ratio, which probably does not vary with latitude, is lower than our previous estimate, and depends significantly on the style of aerosol model that we assume, ranging from a high of 3.5$\pm$0.5% for conservative non-spherical particles with a simple Henyey-Greenstein phase function to a low of 2.7%$\pm$0.3% for conservative spherical particles. Our previous higher estimate of 4$\pm$0.5% was a result of a forced consistency with occultation results of Lindal et al. (1987, JGR 92, 14987-15001). That requirement was abandoned in our new analysis because new work by Orton et al. (2014, Icarus 243, 494-513) and by Lellouch et al. (2015, Astron. & AstroPhys. 579, A121) called into question the occultation results. For the main cloud layer in our models we found that both large and small particle solutions are possible for spherical particle models. At low latitudes the small-particle solution has a mean particle radius near 0.3 $μ$m, a real refractive index near 1.65, and a total column mass of 0.03 mg/cm$^2$, while the large-particle solution has a particle radius near 1.5 $μ$m, a real index near 1.24, and a total column mass 30 times larger. The pressure boundaries of the main cloud layer are between about 1.1 and 3 bars, within which H$_2$S is the most plausible condensable.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2018

The Robo-AO-2 facility for rapid visible/near-infrared AO imaging and the demonstration of hybrid techniques

We are building a next-generation laser adaptive optics system, Robo-AO-2, for the UH 2.2-m telescope that will deliver robotic, diffraction-limited observations at visible and near-infrared wavelengths in unprecedented numbers. The superior Maunakea observing site, expanded spectral range and rapid response to high-priority events represent a significant advance over the prototype. Robo-AO-2 will include a new reconfigurable natural guide star sensor for exquisite wavefront correction on bright targets and the demonstration of potentially transformative hybrid AO techniques that promise to extend the faintness limit on current and future exoplanet adaptive optics systems.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2018

A Wideband Self-Consistent Disk-Averaged Spectrum of Jupiter Near 30 GHz and Its Implications for NH$_{3}$ Saturation in the Upper Troposphere

We present a new set of measurements obtained with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) of Jupiter's microwave thermal emission near the 1.3 cm ammonia (NH$_{3}$) absorption band. We use these observations to investigate the ammonia mole fraction in the upper troposphere, near $0.3 < P < 2$ bar, based on radiative transfer modeling. We find that the ammonia mole fraction must be $\sim2.4\times 10^{-4}$ below the NH$_{3}$ ice cloud, i.e., at $0.8 < P < 8$ bar, in agreement with results by de Pater et al. (2001, 2016a). We find the NH$_{3}$ cloud-forming region between $0.3 < P < 0.8$ bar to be globally sub-saturated by 55% on average, in accordance with the result in Gibson et al. (2005). Although our data are not very sensitive to the region above the cloud layer, we are able to set an upper limit of $2.4\times 10^{-7}$ on the mole fraction here, a factor of $\sim$10 above the saturated vapor curve.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2017

Key Science Goals for the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA): Report from the ngVLA Science Advisory Council

This document describes some of the fundamental astrophysical problems that require observing capabilities at millimeter- and centimeter wavelengths well beyond those of existing, or already planned, telescopes. The results summarized in this report follow a solicitation from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to develop key science cases for a future U. S.-led radio telescope, the "next generation Very Large Array" (ngVLA). The ngVLA will have roughly 10 times the collecting area of the Jansky VLA, operate at frequencies from 1 GHz to 116 GHz with up to 20 GHz of bandwidth, possess a compact core for high surface-brightness sensitivity, and extended baselines of at least hundreds of kilometers and ultimately across the continent to provide high-resolution imaging. The ngVLA builds on the scientific and technical legacy of the Jansky VLA and ALMA, and will be designed to provide the next leap forward in our understanding of planets, galaxies, and black holes.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2017

Two Small Transiting Planets and a Possible Third Body Orbiting HD 106315

The masses, atmospheric makeups, spin-orbit alignments, and system architectures of extrasolar planets can be best studied when the planets orbit bright stars. We report the discovery of three bodies orbiting HD 106315, a bright (V = 8.97 mag) F5 dwarf targeted by our K2 survey for transiting exoplanets. Two small, transiting planets have radii of 2.23 (+0.30/-0.25) R_Earth and 3.95 (+0.42/-0.39) R_Earth and orbital periods of 9.55 d and 21.06 d, respectively. A radial velocity (RV) trend of 0.3 +/- 0.1 m/s/d indicates the likely presence of a third body orbiting HD 106315 with period >160 d and mass >45 M_Earth. Transits of this object would have depths of >0.1% and are definitively ruled out. Though the star has v sin i = 13.2 km/s, it exhibits short-timescale RV variability of just 6.4 m/s, and so is a good target for RV measurements of the mass and density of the inner two planets and the outer object's orbit and mass. Furthermore, the combination of RV noise and moderate v sin i makes HD 106315 a valuable laboratory for studying the spin-orbit alignment of small planets through the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. Space-based atmospheric characterization of the two transiting planets via transit and eclipse spectroscopy should also be feasible. This discovery demonstrates again the power of K2 to find compelling exoplanets worthy of future study.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2017

Atmospheric waves and dynamics beneath Jupiter's clouds from radiowavelength observations

We observed Jupiter at wavelengths near 2 cm with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in February 2015. These frequencies are mostly sensitive to variations in ammonia abundance and probe between ~0.5-2.0 bars of pressure in Jupiter's atmosphere; within and below the visible cloud deck which has its base near 0.7 bars. The resultant observed data were projected into a cylindrical map of the planet with spatial resolution of ~1500 km at the equator. We have examined the data for atmospheric waves and observed a prominent bright belt of radio hotspot features near 10N, likely connected to the same equatorial wave associated with the 5-micron hotspots. We conducted a passive tracer power spectral wave analysis for the entire map. The power spectra analysis revealed that the atmosphere sampled in our observation (excluding the NEB region) is in a 2-D turbulent regime and its dynamics are predominately governed by the shallow water equations. The GRS is also very prominent and has a noticeable meridional asymmetry and we compare it, and nearby storms, with optical images. We find that the meridional radio profile has a global north-south hemisphere distinction and find correlations of it to optical intensity banding and to shear zones of the zonal wind profile over select regions of latitude. Amateur optical images taken before and after our observation complemented the radio wavelength map to investigate dynamics of the equatorial region in Jupiter's atmosphere. We find that two radio hotspots at 2 cm are well correlated with optical plumes in the NEB, additionally revealing they are not the same 5 micron hotspot features correlated with optical dark patches between adjacent plumes. This analysis exploits the VLA's upgraded sensitivity and explores the opportunities now possible when studying gas giants, especially atmospheric dynamics of layers beneath upper level clouds.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2015

Observing Planetary Rings with JWST: Science Justification and Observation Requirements

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will provide unprecedented opportunities to observe the rings and small satellites in our solar system, accomplishing three primary objectives: 1) discovering new rings and moons, 2) unprecedented spectroscopy, and 3) time-domain observations. We give details on these science objectives and describe requirements that JWST must fulfill in order to accomplish the science objectives

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2015

Next Generation Very Large Array Memo No. 6, Science Working Group 1: The Cradle of Life

This paper discusses compelling science cases for a future long-baseline interferometer operating at millimeter and centimeter wavelengths, like the proposed Next Generation Vary Large Array (ngVLA). We report on the activities of the Cradle of Life science working group, which focused on the formation of low- and high-mass stars, the formation of planets and evolution of protoplanetary disks, the physical and compositional study of Solar System bodies, and the possible detection of radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. We propose 19 scientific projects based on the current specification of the ngVLA. Five of them are highlighted as possible Key Science Projects: (1) Resolving the density structure and dynamics of the youngest HII regions and high-mass protostellar jets, (2) Unveiling binary/multiple protostars at higher resolution, (3) Mapping planet formation regions in nearby disks on scales down to 1 AU, (4) Studying the formation of complex molecules, and (5) Deep atmospheric mapping of giant planets in the Solar System. For each of these projects, we discuss the scientific importance and feasibility. The results presented here should be considered as the beginning of a more in-depth analysis of the science enabled by such a facility, and are by no means complete or exhaustive.

astro-ph.SR↗
arXiv2015

Cometary Science with the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as the largest space-based astronomical observatory with near- and mid-infrared instrumentation, will elucidate many mysterious aspects of comets. We summarize four cometary science themes especially suited for this telescope and its instrumentation: the drivers of cometary activity, comet nucleus heterogeneity, water ice in comae and on surfaces, and activity in faint comets and main-belt asteroids. With JWST, we can expect the most distant detections of gas, especially CO2, in what we now consider to be only moderately bright comets. For nearby comets, coma dust properties can be studied with their driving gases, measured simultaneously with the same instrument or contemporaneously with another. Studies of water ice and gas in the distant Solar System will help us test our understanding of cometary interiors and coma evolution. The question of cometary activity in main-belt comets will be further explored with the possibility of a direct detection of coma gas. We explore the technical approaches to these science cases and provide simple tools for estimating comet dust and gas brightness. Finally, we consider the effects of the observatory's non-sidereal tracking limits, and provide a list of potential comet targets during the first 5 years of the mission.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2015

Spectral analysis of Uranus' 2014 bright storm with VLT/SINFONI

An extremely bright storm system observed in Uranus' atmosphere by amateur observers in September 2014 triggered an international campaign to observe this feature with many telescopes across the world. Observations of the storm system in the near infrared were acquired in October and November 2014 with SINFONI on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. SINFONI is an Integral Field Unit spectrometer returning 64x64 pixel images with 2048 wavelengths. Image cubes in the H-band (1.43 - 1.87 microns) were obtained at spatial resolutions of ~0.1". The observations show that the centre of the storm feature shifts markedly with increasing altitude, moving in the retrograde direction and slightly poleward with increasing altitude. We also see a faint 'tail' of more reflective material to the immediate south of the storm, which again trails in the retrograde direction. The observed spectra were analysed with the radiative transfer and retrieval code, NEMESIS. We find that the storm is well-modelled using either two main cloud layers of a 5-layer aerosol model based on Sromovsky et al. (2011) or by the simpler two-cloud-layer model of Tice et al. (2013). The deep component appears to be due to an increase in reflectivity and altitude of the main tropospheric cloud deck at 2 - 3 bars for both models, while the upper component of the feature was modelled as being due to either a thickening of the tropospheric haze of the 2-layer model or a vertical extension of the upper tropospheric cloud of the 5-layer model, assumed to be composed of methane ice and based at the methane condensation level at 1.23 bar. During the twelve days between our sets of observations the higher-altitude component of the feature was observed to have brightened significantly and extended to even higher altitudes, while the deeper component faded.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2015

SOFIA Infrared Spectrophotometry of Comet C/2012 K1 (Pan-STARRS)

We present pre-perihelion infrared 8 to 31 micron spectrophotometric and imaging observations of comet C/2012 K1 (Pan-STARRS), a dynamically new Oort Cloud comet, conducted with NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) facility (+FORCAST) in 2014 June. As a "new" comet (first inner solar system passage), the coma grain population may be extremely pristine, unencumbered by a rime and insufficiently irradiated by the Sun to carbonize its surface organics. The comet exhibited a weak 10 micron silicate feature ~1.18 +/- 0.03 above the underlying best-fit 215.32 +/- 0.95 K continuum blackbody. Thermal modeling of the observed spectral energy distribution indicates that the coma grains are fractally solid with a porosity factor D = 3 and the peak in the grain size distribution, a_peak = 0.6 micron, large. The sub-micron coma grains are dominated by amorphous carbon, with a silicate-to-carbon ratio of 0.80 (+0.25) (- 0.20). The silicate crystalline mass fraction is 0.20 (+0.30) (-0.10), similar to with other dynamically new comets exhibiting weak 10 micron silicate features. The bolometric dust albedo of the coma dust is 0.14 +/- 0.01 at a phase angle of 34.76 degrees, and the average dust production rate, corrected to zero phase, at the epoch of our observations was Afrho ~ 5340~cm.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2015

Uranus at equinox: Cloud morphology and dynamics

As the 7 December 2007 equinox of Uranus approached, ring and atmosphere observers produced a substantial collection of observations using the 10-m Keck telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. Those spanning the period from 7 June 2007 through 9 September 2007 we used to identify and track cloud features, determine atmospheric motions, characterize cloud morphology and dynamics, and define changes in atmospheric band structure. We confirmed the existence of the suspected northern hemisphere prograde jet, locating its peak near 58 N, and extended wind speed measurements to 73 N. For 28 cloud features we obtained extremely high wind-speed accuracy through extended tracking times. The new results confirm a small N-S asymmetry in the zonal wind profile, and the lack of any change in the southern hemisphere between 1986 (near solstice) and 2007 (near equinox) suggests that the asymmetry may be permanent rather than seasonally reversing. In the 2007 images we found two prominent groups of discrete cloud features with very long lifetimes. The one near 30 S has departed from its previous oscillatory motion and started a significant northward drift, accompanied by substantial morphological changes. The complex of features near 30 N remained at a nearly fixed latitude, while exhibiting some characteristics of a dark spot accompanied by bright companion features. Smaller and less stable features were used to track cloud motions at other latitudes, some of which lasted over many planet rotations, though many could not be tracked beyond a single transit. A bright band has developed near 45 N, while the bright band near 45 S has begun to decline, both events in agreement with the idea that the asymmetric band structure of Uranus is a delayed response to solar forcing, but with a surprisingly short delay of only a few years.

astro-ph.EP↗