arXiv subjects

Jack Dinsmore

Publications and source records attributed to Jack Dinsmore.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Lightspeed project: high-speed, ultra-low read noise imaging and polarimetry for the Magellan telescopes

Lightspeed will be an ultra-fast (> kHz), ultra-low read noise, multicolor (ugriz + IR) imager for the 6.5 meter Magellan Clay telescope. In a single-channel configuration, Lightspeed will also enable single-shot linear polarimetry, narrowband imaging, or white-light imaging. Lightspeed is designed around groundbreaking single-photon-resolving detector technologies: deep sub-electron read noise CMOS image sensors from Fairchild Imaging and a HgCdTe avalanche photodiode array from Leonardo. Here we present Lightspeed's basic optical design concept, predict its on-sky performance, and highlight science cases that Lightspeed has the potential to revolutionize. Lightspeed builds upon the success of proto-Lightspeed, a single-channel prototype employing commercial-off-the-shelf re-imaging optics. proto-Lightspeed is now available as a PI instrument on the Clay telescope. We also discuss the current status of proto-Lightspeed and lessons learned from its commissioning, applicable to the development of Lightspeed and any other instrument seeking to integrate scientific CMOS image sensors.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

proto-Lightspeed: a high-speed, ultra-low read noise imager on the Magellan Clay Telescope

proto-Lightspeed is a new instrument that has been commissioned on the Nasmyth East port of the Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory to deliver high-speed optical imaging with deep sub-electron read noise. Making use of commercial re-imaging lenses and the ORCA-Quest 2 camera from Hamamatsu, proto-Lightspeed images a field $1'$ in diameter at up to $200$ Hz or windowed fields at higher rates, up to 6600 Hz for a $1.6''\times 1'$ field of view. proto-Lightspeed delivers seeing-limited image quality in the $g'$, $r'$, and $i'$ bands and adjustable magnification for pixel scales between $0.017''-0.050''$. proto-Lightspeed is well suited to studying compact binary systems, exoplanet transits, rapid flaring associated with accretion, periodic optical emission from pulsars, occultations of background stars by small trans-Neptunian Objects, and any other rapidly variable source. proto-Lightspeed will be a P.I. instrument beginning in 2026B, available for use by members of the Magellan Consortium. In this paper, we discuss the design and performance of the instrument, results from its two commissioning runs, and plans for a facility instrument, Lightspeed, to support simultaneous multicolor imaging across a $7'\times4'$ field.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

An eclipsing 8.56 minute orbital period mass-transferring binary

We report the discovery of ATLAS J101342.5-451656.8 (hereafter ATLAS J1013-4516), an 8.56 minute orbital period mass transferring AM Canum Venaticorum binary with mean Gaia magnitude G=19.51. The system was identified via periodic variability in Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System light curves of Gaia white dwarf candidates. Follow-up spectroscopy with the Large Lenslet Array Magellan Spectrograph reveals a helium dominated accretion disk, while high speed ULTRACAM photometry shows pronounced primary and secondary eclipses. We construct a decade long orbital timing baseline using ATLAS and Gaia survey photometry together with high speed observations from ULTRACAM on the NTT and proto Lightspeed on the Magellan Clay telescope. From this baseline we measure an orbital period derivative Pdot = -1.60 +/- 0.07 x 10^-12 seconds per second. Interpreted in the context of stable mass transfer, the magnitude and sign of Pdot indicate orbital evolution governed by the interplay between gravitational wave driven angular momentum losses and mass transfer, directly probing the donor star structural response to mass loss. Assuming angular momentum loss dominated by gravitational radiation, we constrain the component masses and infer the characteristic gravitational wave strain. We predict a four year Laser Interferometer Space Antenna signal to noise ratio greater than 10, establishing ATLAS J1013-4516 as a strong prospective space based gravitational wave source that probes long term orbital evolution in the mass transferring regime.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

GPU coprocessors as a service for deep learning inference in high energy physics

In the next decade, the demands for computing in large scientific experiments are expected to grow tremendously. During the same time period, CPU performance increases will be limited. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), these two issues will confront one another as the collider is upgraded for high luminosity running. Alternative processors such as graphics processing units (GPUs) can resolve this confrontation provided that algorithms can be sufficiently accelerated. In many cases, algorithmic speedups are found to be largest through the adoption of deep learning algorithms. We present a comprehensive exploration of the use of GPU-based hardware acceleration for deep learning inference within the data reconstruction workflow of high energy physics. We present several realistic examples and discuss a strategy for the seamless integration of coprocessors so that the LHC can maintain, if not exceed, its current performance throughout its running.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2019

Schottky Anomaly of deSitter Black Holes

The interplay of black hole and cosmological horizons introduces distinctive thermodynamic behavior for deSitter black holes, including well-known upper bounds for the mass and entropy. We point to a new such feature, a Schottky peak in the heat capacity of Schwarzschild-deSitter (SdS) black holes. With this behavior in mind, we explore statistical models for the underlying quantum degrees of freedom of SdS holes. While a simple two-state spin model gives Schottky behavior, in order to capture the non-equilibrium nature of the SdS system we consider a system with a large number of non-interacting spins. We examine to what extent constrained states of this system reproduce the thermodynamic properties of the black hole. We also review results of a recent study of particle production in SdS spacetimes in light of the Schottky anomaly and our spin models.

hep-th↗