arXiv subjects

M. Tapia

Publications and source records attributed to M. Tapia.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Pre-deployment Verification and Predicted Mapping Speed of MUSCAT

The Mexico-UK Submillimetre Camera for AsTronomy (MUSCAT) is a 1.1 mm receiver consisting of 1,500 lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) for the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT; Volcán Sierra Negra in Puebla, México). MUSCAT utilises the maximum field of view of the LMT's upgraded 50-metre primary mirror and is the first México-UK collaboration to deploy a millimetre/sub-mm receiver on the Large Millimeter Telescope. Using a simplistic simulator, we estimate a predicted mapping speed for MUSCAT by combining the measured performance of MUSCAT with the observed sky conditions at the LMT. We compare this to a previously calculated bolometric-model mapping speed and find that our mapping speed is in good agreement when this is scaled by a previously reported empirical factor. Through this simulation we show that signal contamination due to sky fluctuations can be effectively removed through the use of principle component analysis. We also give an overview of the instrument design and explain how this design allows for MUSCAT to be upgraded and act as an on-sky demonstration testbed for novel technologies after the facility-class TolTEC receiver comes online.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

MUSCAT focal plane verification

The Mexico-UK Submillimetre Camera for Astronomy (MUSCAT) is the second-generation large-format continuum camera operating in the 1.1 mm band to be installed on the 50-m diameter Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in Mexico. The focal plane of the instrument is made up of 1458 horn coupled lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKID) divided equally into six channels deposited on three silicon wafers. Here we present the preliminary results of the complete characterisation in the laboratory of the MUSCAT focal plane. Through the instrument's readout system, we perform frequency sweeps of the array to identify the resonance frequencies, and continuous timestream acquisitions to measure and characterise the intrinsic noise and 1/f knee of the detectors. Subsequently, with a re-imaging lens and a black body point source, the beams of every detector are mapped, obtaining a mean FWHM size of $\sim$3.27 mm, close to the expected 3.1 mm. Then, by varying the intensity of a beam filling black body source, we measure the responsivity and noise power spectral density (PSD) for each detector under an optical load of 300 K, obtaining the noise equivalent power (NEP), with which we verify that the majority of the detectors are photon noise limited. Finally, using a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), we measure the spectral response of the instrument, which indicate a bandwidth of 1.0--1.2 mm centred on 1.1 mm, as expected.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

The richness of compact radio sources in NGC 6334D to F

The presence and properties of compact radio sources embedded in massive star-forming regions can reveal important physical properties about these regions and the processes occurring within them. The NGC 6334 complex, a massive star-forming region, has been studied extensively. Nevertheless, none of these studies has focused in its content in compact radio sources. We report on a systematic census of the compact radio sources toward NGC 6334, and their characteristics. This will be used to try and define their very nature. We use VLA C band (4-8 GHz) archive data with 0.36" of spatial resolution and noise level of 50 uJy/bm to carry out a systematic search for compact radio sources within NGC 6334. We also search for infrared counterparts to provide some constraints on the nature of the detected radio sources. A total of 83 compact sources and three slightly resolved sources were detected. Most of them are here reported for the first time. We found that 29 of these 86 sources have infrared counterparts and three are highly variable. Region D contains 18 of these sources. The compact source toward the center, in projection, of region E is also detected. From statistical analyses, we suggest that the 83 reported compact sources are real and most of them are related to NGC 6334 itself. A stellar nature for 27 of them is confirmed by their IR emission. Compared with Orion, region D suffers a deficit of compact radio sources. The infrared nebulosities around two of the slightly resolved sources are suggested to be warm dust, and we argue that the associated radio sources trace free-free emission from ionized material. We confirm the thermal radio emission of the compact source in region E. However, its detection at infrared wavelengths implies that it is located in the foreground of the molecular cloud. Three strongly variable sources are suggested to be magnetically active young stars.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Star Formation Across the W3 Complex

We present a multi-wavelength analysis of the history of star formation in the W3 complex. Using deep, near-infrared ground-based images, combined with images obtained with Spitzer and Chandra observatories, we identified and classified young embedded sources. We identified the principal clusters in the complex, and determined their structure and extension. We constructed extinction-limited samples for five principal clusters, and constructed K-band luminosity functions (KLF) that we compare with those of artificial clusters with varying ages. This analysis provided mean ages and possible age spreads for the clusters. We found that IC 1795, the centermost cluster of the complex, still hosts a large fraction of young sources with circumstellar disks. This indicates that star formation was active in IC 1795 as recently as 2 Myr ago, simultaneous to the star forming activity in the flanking embedded clusters, W3-Main and W3(OH). A comparison with carbon monoxide emission maps indicates strong velocity gradients in the gas clumps hosting W3-Main and W3(OH) and show small receding clumps of gas at IC 1795, suggestive of rapid gas removal (faster than the T Tauri timescale) in the cluster forming regions. We discuss one possible scenario for the progression of cluster formation in the W3 complex. We propose that early processes of gas collapse in the main structure of the complex could have defined the progression of cluster formation across the complex with relatively small age differences from one group to another. However, triggering effects could act as catalysts for enhanced efficiency of formation at a local level, in agreement with previous studies.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

The Peculiar Radio Source M17 JVLA 35

M17 JVLA 35 is a radio source detected in projection against the M17 HII region. In recent observations, its spectrum between 4.96 and 8.46 GHz was found to be positive and very steep, with $α\geq 2.9 \pm 0.6$ ($S_ν\propto ν^α$). Here we present Very Large Array observations made in the 18.5 to 36.5 GHz region that indicate a spectral turnover at $\sim$13 GHz and a negative spectral index ($α\simeq -2.0$) at higher frequencies. The spectrum is consistent with that of an extragalactic High Frequency Peaker (HFP). However, M17 JVLA 35 has an angular size of $\sim0\rlap.{''}5$ at 8.46 GHz, while HFPs have extremely compact, milliarcsecond dimensions. We discuss other possible models for the spectrum of the source and do not find them feasible. Finally, we propose that M17 JVLA35 is indeed an HFP but that its angular size becomes broadened by plasma scattering as its radiation travels across M17. If our interpretation is correct, accurate measurements of the angular size of M17 JVLA35 across the centimeter range should reveal the expected $ν^{-2}$ dependence.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2011

Extended Non-Thermal Emission Possibly Associated with Cyg OB2 #5

Cyg OB2 #5 is a contact binary system (O6.5-7+O5.5-6) with associated radio continuum emission. Two compact ($\leq 0\rlap.{"}3$) radio continuum components have been reported previously: the primary one is associated with the contact binary and the secondary one is an arc-like source $\sim 0\rlap.{"}8$ to the NE of the primary. This arc-like source results from the interaction of the winds of the contact binary and a B-type star in the region. In this paper we report the detection of an extended ($\sim 30"$), non-thermal component to the NE of the compact components. We propose that this extended emission could be an unresolved background source (i. e. a radio galaxy), extended galactic emission, or non-thermal emission related with relativistic electrons that are produced in the shock between the contact binary and the B-type star and that are carried away to large distances by the wind from the contact binary.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

SDSS J123813.73-033933.0, a cataclysmic variable evolved beyond the period minimum

We present infrared JHK photometry of the cataclysmic variable SDSS J123813.73-033933.0 (SDSS1238)and analyze it along with optical spectroscopy, demonstrating that the binary system is most probably comprised of a massive white dwarf with Teff=12000+/-1000 K and a brown dwarf of spectral type L4. The inferred system parameters suggest that this system may have evolved beyond the orbital period minimum and is a bounce-back system. SDSS1238 stands out among CVs by exhibiting the cyclical variability (brightenings). These are not related to specific orbital phases of the binary system and are fainter than dwarf novae outbursts, that usually occur on longer timescales. This phenomenon has not been observed extensively and, thus, is poor understood. The new time-resolved, multi-longitude photometric observations of SDSS1238 allowed us to observe two consecutive brightenings and to determine their recurrence time. The period analysis of all observed brightenings during 2007 suggests a typical timescale that is close to a period of ~9.3 hours. However, the brightenings modulation is not strictly periodic, possibly maintaining coherence only on timescales of several weeks. The characteristic variability with double orbital frequency that clearly shows up during brightenings is also analyzed. The Doppler mapping of the system shows the permanent presence of a spiral arm pattern in the accretion disk. A simple model is presented to demonstrate that spiral arms in the velocity map appear at the location and phase corresponding to the 2:1 resonance radius and constitute themselves as a double-humped light curves. The long-term and short-term variability of this CV is discussed together with the spiral arm structure of an accretion disk in the context of observational effects taking place in bounce-back systems.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

Orbitally modulated dust formation by the WC7+O5 colliding-wind binary WR140

We present high-resolution infrared (2--18 micron) images of the archetypal periodic dust-making Wolf-Rayet binary system WR140 (HD 193793) taken between 2001 and 2005, and multi-colour (J -- [19.5]) photometry observed between 1989 and 2001. The images resolve the dust cloud formed by WR140 in 2001, allowing us to track its expansion and cooling, while the photometry allows tracking the average temperature and total mass of the dust. The combination of the two datasets constrains the optical properties of the dust. The most persistent dust features, two concentrations at the ends of a `bar' of emission to the south of the star, were observed to move with constant proper motions of 324+/-8 and 243+/-7 mas/y. Longer wavelength (4.68-micron and 12.5-micron) images shows dust emission from the corresponding features from the previous (1993) periastron passage and dust-formation episode. A third persistent dust concentration to the east of the binary (the `arm') was found to have a proper motion ~ 320 mas/y. Extrapolation of the motions of the concentrations back to the binary suggests that the eastern `arm' began expansion 4--5 months earlier than those in the southern `bar', consistent with the projected rotation of the binary axis and wind-collision region (WCR) on the sky. Comparison of model dust images and the observations constrain the intervals when the WCR was producing sufficiently compressed wind for dust nucleation in the WCR, and suggests that the distribution of this material was not uniform about the axis of the WCR, but more abundant in the following edge in the orbital plane.

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