arXiv subjects

Saurabh Sharma

Publications and source records attributed to Saurabh Sharma.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

TIRCAM2 Fast Sub-array Readout Mode for Lunar Occultation studies

The TIFR Near Infrared Imaging Camera-II (TIRCAM2) is being used at the Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) operated by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. In addition to the normal full frame observations, there has been a requirement for high speed sub-array observations for applications such as lunar occultation and star speckle observations. Fast sub-array modes have been implemented in TIRCAM2 with suitable changes in the camera software at the computer and controller DSP code level. Successful observations have been carried out with the fast sub-array mode of observation.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Teutsch 76: a Deep Near-Infrared Study

We have performed a detailed analysis on the Teutsch 76 (T76) open cluster using the deep near-infrared (NIR) observations taken with the TANSPEC instrument mounted on the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) along with the recently available high quality proper motion data from the {\it Gaia} data release 3 and deep photometric data from Pan-STARRS1 survey. We have found that the T76 cluster is having a central density concentration with circular morphology, probably due to the star formation processes. The radius of the T76 cluster is found to be 45$^{\prime}{^\prime}$ (1.24 pc) and 28 stars within this radius were marked as highly probable cluster members. We have found that the cluster is located at a distance of $5.7\pm1.0$ kpc and is having an age of $50\pm10$ Myr. The mass function slope ($Γ$) in the cluster region in the mass range $\sim$0.75$<$M/M$_\odot$$<$5.8 is estimated as $-1.3\pm0.2$, which is similar to the value `-1.35' given by \citet{1955ApJ...121..161S}. The cluster is not showing any signatures of mass-segregation and is currently undergoing dynamical relaxation.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2023

Spectroscopy of 9 eruptive young variables using TANSPEC

In recent times, 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) has installed an optical to near infra-red spectrograph, TANSPEC, which provides spectral coverage from 0.55-2.5 microns. Using TANSPEC, we have obtained a single epoch spectrum of a set 9 FUors and EXors. We have analysed line profiles of the sources and compared with the previously published spectra of these objects. Comparing the line profile shapes with the existing theoretical predictions, we have tried to interpret the physical processes that are responsible for the current disc evolution and the present accretion dynamics. Our study has shown the importance for time evolved spectroscopic studies for better understanding the evolution of the accretion mechanisms. This in turn can help in better categorisation of the young stars displaying episodic accretion behaviour.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2023

Unposed: Unsupervised Pose Estimation based Product Image Recommendations

Product images are the most impressing medium of customer interaction on the product detail pages of e-commerce websites. Millions of products are onboarded on to webstore catalogues daily and maintaining a high quality bar for a product's set of images is a problem at scale. Grouping products by categories, clothing is a very high volume and high velocity category and thus deserves its own attention. Given the scale it is challenging to monitor the completeness of image set, which adequately details the product for the consumers, which in turn often leads to a poor customer experience and thus customer drop off. To supervise the quality and completeness of the images in the product pages for these product types and suggest improvements, we propose a Human Pose Detection based unsupervised method to scan the image set of a product for the missing ones. The unsupervised approach suggests a fair approach to sellers based on product and category irrespective of any biases. We first create a reference image set of popular products with wholesome imageset. Then we create clusters of images to label most desirable poses to form the classes for the reference set from these ideal products set. Further, for all test products we scan the images for all desired pose classes w.r.t. reference set poses, determine the missing ones and sort them in the order of potential impact. These missing poses can further be used by the sellers to add enriched product listing image. We gathered data from popular online webstore and surveyed ~200 products manually, a large fraction of which had at least 1 repeated image or missing variant, and sampled 3K products(~20K images) of which a significant proportion had scope for adding many image variants as compared to high rated products which had more than double image variants, indicating that our model can potentially be used on a large scale.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2023

Kronberger 55: A Candidate for End-dominated Collapse Scenario

Using optical photometric observations from 1.3m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope and deep near-infrared (NIR) photometric observations from TANSPEC mounted on 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope, along with the multi-wavelength archival data, we present our study of open cluster Kronberger 55 to understand the star formation scenario in the region. The distance, extinction and age of the cluster Kronberger 55 are estimated as ~3.5 kpc, E(B-V)~1.0 mag and $\lesssim$55 Myr, respectively. We identified Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) based on their excess infrared (IR) emission using the two-color diagrams (TCDs). The mid-infrared (MIR) images reveal the presence of extended structure of dust and gas emission along with the outflow activities in the region with two peaks, one at the location of cluster Kronberger 55 and another at 5'.35 southwards to it. The association of radio continuum emission with the southern peak, hints towards the formation of massive star/s. The Herschel sub-millimeter maps reveal the presence of two clumps connected with a filamentary strcuture in this region, and such configuration is also evident in the 12CO(1-0) emission map. Our study suggests that this region might be a hub-filament system undergoing star formation due to the 'end-dominated collapse scenario'.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Investigating the morphology and CO gas kinematics of Sh2-112 region

We present a study of the molecular cloud in Sh2-112 massive star forming region using the 3-2 transition of CO isotopologues - CO, 13CO, and C18O; supplemented in part by CGPS HI line emission and MSX data. Sh2-112 is an optically visible region powered by an O8V type massive star BD +45 3216, and hosts two Red MSX Survey sources - G083.7962+03.3058 and G083.7071+03.2817 - classified as HII region and young stellar object, respectively. Reduced spectral data products from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope archive, centered on the two RMS objects with ~7'x7' field of view each, were utilised for the purpose. The 13CO(3-2) channel map of the region shows the molecular cloud to have filamentary extensions directed away from the massive star, which also seems to be at the edge of a cavity like structure. Multiple molecular cloud protrusions into this cavity structure host local peaks of emission. The integrated emission map of the region constructed from only those emission clumps detected above 5$σ$ level in the position-position-velocity space affirms the same. MSX sources were found distributed along the cavity boundary where the gas has the been compressed. Spectral extraction at these positions yielded high Mach numbers and low ratios of thermal to non-thermal pressure, suggesting a dominance of supersonic and non-thermal motion in the cloud.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

pyTANSPEC: A Data Reduction Package for TANSPEC

The TIFR-ARIES Near Infrared Spectrometer (TANSPEC) instrument provides simultaneous wavelength coverage from 0.55 to 2.5 micron, mounted on India's largest ground-based telescope, 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope at Nainital, India. The TANSPEC offers three modes of observations, imaging with various filters, spectroscopy in the low-resolution prism mode with derived R~ 100-400 and the high-resolution cross-dispersed mode (XD-mode) with derived median R~ 2750 for a slit of width 0.5 arcsec. In the XD-mode, ten cross-dispersed orders are packed in the 2048 x 2048 pixels detector to cover the full wavelength regime. As the XD-mode is most utilized as well as for consistent data reduction for all orders and to reduce data reduction time, a dedicated pipeline is at the need. In this paper, we present the code for the TANSPEC XD-mode data reduction, its workflow, input/output files, and a showcase of its implementation on a particular dataset. This publicly available pipeline pyTANSPEC is fully developed in Python and includes nominal human intervention only for the quality assurance of the reduced data. Two customized configuration files are used to guide the data reduction. The pipeline creates a log file for all the fits files in a given data directory from its header, identifies correct frames (science, continuum and calibration lamps) based on the user input, and offers an option to the user for eyeballing and accepting/removing of the frames, does the cleaning of raw science frames and yields final wavelength calibrated spectra of all orders simultaneously.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

First Lunar Occultation Results with the TIRCAM2 Near-Infrared Imager at the Devasthal 3.6-m Telescope

TIRCAM2 is the facility near-infrared Imager at the Devasthal 3.6-m telescope in northern India, equipped with an Aladdin III InSb array detector. We have pioneered the use of TIRCAM2 for very fast photometry, with the aim of recording Lunar Occultations (LO). This mode is now operational and publicly offered. In this paper we describe the relevant instrumental details, we provide references to the LO method and the underlying data analysis procedures, and we list the LO events recorded so far. Among the results, we highlight a few which have led to the measurement of one small-separation binary star and of two stellar angular diameters. We conclude with a brief outlook on further possible instrumental developments and an estimate of the scientific return. In particular, we find that the LO technique can detect sources down to K~ 9 mag with SNR=1 on the DOT telescope. Angular diameters larger than ~ 1 milliarcsecond (mas) could be measured with SNR above 10, or K~6 mag. These numbers are only an indication and will depend strongly on observing conditions such as lunar phase and rate of lunar limb motion. Based on statistics alone, there are several thousands LO events observable in principle with the given telescope and instrument every year.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

Photometric studies on the host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts using 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope

In this article, we present multi-band photometric observations and analysis of the host galaxies for a sample of five interesting gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed using the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and the back-end instruments. The host galaxy observations of GRBs provide unique opportunities to estimate the stellar mass, ages, star-formation rates, and other vital properties of the burst environments and hence progenitors. We performed a detailed spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling of the five host galaxies using an advanced tool called Prospector, a stellar population synthesis model. Furthermore, we compared the results with a larger sample of well-studied host galaxies of GRBs, supernovae, and normal star-forming galaxies. Our SED modeling suggests that GRB 130603B, GRB 140102A, GRB 190829A, and GRB 200826A have massive host galaxies with high star formation rates (SFRs). On the other hand, a supernovae-connected GRB 030329 has a rare low-mass galaxy with a low star formation rate. We also find that GRB 190829A has the highest (in our sample) amount of visual dust extinction and gas in its local environment of the host, suggesting that the observed very high energy emission from this burst might have a unique local environment. Broadly, the five GRBs in our sample satisfy the typical correlations between host galaxies parameters and these physical parameters are more common to normal star-forming galaxies at the high-redshift Universe. Our results also demonstrate the capabilities of 3.6m DOT and the back-end instruments for the deeper photometric studies of the host galaxies of energetic transients such as GRBs, supernovae, and other transients in the long run.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Star-forming site RAFGL 5085: Is a perfect candidate of hub-filament system ?

To investigate the star formation process, we present a multi-wavelength study of a massive star-forming site RAFGL 5085, which has been associated with the molecular outflow, HII region, and near-infrared cluster. The continuum images at 12, 250, 350, and 500 $μ$m show a central region (having M$_{\rm clump}$ $\sim$225 M$_{\odot}$) surrounded by five parsec-scale filaments, revealing a hub-filament system (HFS). In the {\it Herschel} column density ($N({\rm{H}}_{2})$) map, filaments are identified with higher aspect ratios (length/diameter) and lower $N({\rm{H}}_{2})$ values ($\sim$0.1--2.4 $\times$10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$), while the central hub is found with a lower aspect ratio and higher $N({\rm{H}}_{2})$ values ($\sim$3.5--7.0 $\times$10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$). The central hub displays a temperature range of [19, 22.5]~K in the {\it Herschel} temperature map, and is observed with signatures of star formation (including radio continuum emission). The JCMT $^{13}$CO(J= 3--2) line data confirm the presence of the HFS and its hub is traced with supersonic and non-thermal motions having higher Mach number and lower thermal to non-thermal pressure ratio. In the $^{13}$CO position-velocity diagrams, velocity gradients along the filaments toward the HFS appear to be observed, suggesting the gas flow in the RAFGL 5085 HFS and the applicability of the clump-fed scenario.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

TANSPEC: TIFR-ARIES Near Infrared Spectrometer

We present the design and performance of the TANSPEC, a medium-resolution $0.55-2.5~μ$m cryogenic spectrometer and imager, now in operation at the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT), Nainital, India. The TANSPEC provides three modes of operation which include, photometry with broad- and narrow-band filters, spectroscopy with short slits of 20$^{\prime \prime}$ length and different widths (from 0.5$^{\prime \prime}$ to 4.0$^{\prime \prime}$) in cross-dispersed mode at a resolving power R of $\sim$2750, and spectroscopy with long slits of 60$^{\prime \prime}$ length and different widths (from 0.5$^{\prime \prime}$ to 4.0$^{\prime \prime}$) in prism mode at a resolving power R of $\sim$100-350. TANSPEC's imager mode provides a field of view of 60$^{\prime \prime} \times 60^{\prime \prime}$ with a plate scale of 0.245$^{\prime \prime}$/pixel on the 3.6-m DOT. The TANSPEC was successfully commissioned during April-May 2019 and the subsequent characterization and astronomical observations are presented here. The TANSPEC has been made available to the worldwide astronomical community for science observations from October 2020.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Tale of GRB 171010A/SN 2017htp and GRB 171205A/SN 2017iuk: Magnetar origin?

We present late-time optical follow-up observations of GRB 171010A/SN 2017htp ($z$ = 0.33) and low-luminosity GRB 171205A/SN 2017iuk ($z$ = 0.037) acquired using the 4K$\times$4K CCD Imager mounted at the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (3.6m DOT) along with the prompt emission data analysis of these two interesting bursts. The prompt characteristics (other than brightness) such as spectral hardness, T$_{90}$, and minimum variability time-scale are comparable for both the bursts. The isotropic $X$-ray and kinetic energies of the plateau phase of GRB 171205A are found to be less than the maximum energy budget of magnetars, supporting magnetar as a central engine powering source. The new optical data of SN 2017htp and SN 2017iuk presented here, along with published ones, indicate that SN 2017htp is one of the brightest and SN 21017iuk is among the faintest GRB associated SNe (GRB-SNe). Semi-analytical light-curve modelling of SN 2017htp, SN 2017iuk and only known GRB associated superluminous supernova (SLSN 2011kl) are performed using the $\texttt{MINIM}$ code. The model with a spin-down millisecond magnetar as a central engine powering source nicely reproduced the bolometric light curves of all three GRB-SNe mentioned above. The magnetar central engines for SN 2017htp, SN 2017iuk, and SLSN 2011kl exhibit values of initial spin periods higher and magnetic fields closer to those observed for long GRBs and H-deficient SLSNe. Detection of these rare events at such late epochs also demonstrates the capabilities of the 3.6m DOT for deep imaging considering longitudinal advantage in the era of time-domain astronomy.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Optical Observations of star clusters NGC 1513 and NGC 4147; white dwarf WD1145+017 and $K$ band imaging of star forming region Sh2-61 with the 3.6 meter Devasthal Optical Telescope

The $UBVRI$ CCD photometric data of open star cluster NGC 1513 are obtained with the 3.6-m Indo-Belgian Devasthal optical telescope (DOT). Analyses of the GAIA EDR3 astrometric data have identified 106 possible cluster members. The mean proper motion of the cluster is estimated as $μ_αCosδ=1.29\pm0.02$ and $μ_δ=-3.74\pm0.02$ mas yr$^{-1}$. Estimated values of reddening $E(B-V)$ and distance to the NGC 1513 are 0.65$\pm$0.03 mag and 1.33$\pm$0.1 kpc respectively. An age of $225\pm25$ Myr is assigned to the cluster by comparing theoretical isochrones with deep observed cluster sequence. Using observations taken with the 3.6-m DOT, values of distance and age of the galactic globular cluster NGC 4147 are estimated as $18.2\pm0.2$ Kpc and $14\pm2$ Gyr respectively. The optical observations of planetary transit around white dwarf WD1145+017 and $K$-band imaging of star-forming region Sharpless Sh 2-61 demonstrate observing capability of 3.6-m DOT. Optical and near-infrared observations of celestial objects and events are being carried out routinely with the 3.6-m DOT. They indicate that the performance of the telescope is at par with those of other similar telescopes located elsewhere in the world. We therefore state that this observing facility augurs well for multi-wavelength astronomy including study of astrophysical jets.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Pluto's atmosphere in plateau phase since 2015 from a stellar occultation at Devasthal

A stellar occultation by Pluto was observed on 6 June 2020 with the 1.3-m and 3.6-m telescopes located at Devasthal, Nainital, India, using imaging systems in the I and H bands, respectively. From this event, we derive a surface pressure for Pluto's atmosphere of $p_{\rm surf}= 12.23^{+0.65}_{-0.38} $~$μ$bar. This shows that Pluto's atmosphere is in a plateau phase since mid-2015, a result which is in excellent agreement with the Pluto volatile transport model of Meza et al. (2019}. This value does not support the pressure decrease reported by independent teams, based on occultations observed in 2018 and 2019, see Young et al. (2021} and Arimatu et al. (2020), respectively.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2021

TIFR Treasures for Astronomy from Ground to Space

The infrared astronomy group of Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research has been pursuing astronomical instrumentation activities since its inception. The group has been routinely involved in balloon-borne astronomy programs from the field station at Hyderabad with indigenously developed payloads. Ground-based astronomical activities began with a single element infrared detector. Later, over time, larger format array detectors are being used in the cameras. These astronomy cameras have been routinely used at observatories across India. Recently, the group has also developed a laboratory model of the Infrared Spectroscopic Imaging Survey payload, targeted for the small satellite mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation, which will carry out spectroscopic measurements in the wavelength range 1.7 to 6.4 $μ$m seamlessly

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Gaia 20eae: A newly discovered episodically accreting young star

The Gaia Alert System issued an alert on 2020 August 28, on Gaia 20eae when its light curve showed a $\sim$4.25 magnitude outburst. We present multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations of this source since 2020 August and identify it as the newest member of the FUor/EXor family of sources. We find that the present brightening of Gaia 20eae is not due to the dust clearing event but due to an intrinsic change in the spectral energy distribution. The light curve of Gaia 20eae shows a transition stage during which most of its brightness ($\sim$3.4 mag) has occurred at a short timescale of 34 days with a rise-rate of 3 mag/month. Gaia 20eae has now started to decay at a rate of 0.3 mag/month. We have detected a strong P Cygni profile in H$α$ which indicates the presence of winds originating from regions close to the accretion. We find signatures of very strong and turbulent outflow and accretion in Gaia 20eae during this outburst phase. We have also detected a red-shifted absorption component in all the Ca II IR triplet lines consistent with signature of hot in-falling gas in the magnetospheric accretion funnel. This enables us to constrain the viewing angle with respect to the accretion funnel. Our investigation of Gaia 20eae points towards magnetospheric accretion being the phenomenon for the current outburst.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

Sh 2-301: a blistered H II region undergoing star formation

We present a multiwavelength study of the H II region Sh 2-301 (S301) using deep optical data, near-infrared data, radio continuum data and other archival data at longer wavelengths. A cluster of young stellar objects (YSOs) is identified in the north-east (NE) direction of S301. The Hα and radio continuum images trace the distribution of the ionized gas surrounding a massive star ALS 207, and the S301 H II region is bounded by an arc-like structure of gas and dust emission in the south-eastern direction. The north-western part of S301 seems to be devoid of gas and dust emission, while the presence of molecular material between the NE cluster and the central massive star ALS 207 is found. The distribution of warm dust emission, ionized gas, and neutral hydrogen together suggests a blistered morphology of the S301 H II region powered by ALS 207, which appears to be located near the edge of the cloud. The location of the NE cluster embedded in the cold molecular cloud is found opposite to the blistered morphology. There is a noticeable age difference investigated between the massive star and the NE cluster. This age difference, pressure calculation, photodissociation regions (PDRs), and the distribution of YSOs favour the positive feedback of the massive star ALS 207 in S301. On a wider scale of S301, the H II region and the young stellar cluster are depicted toward the central region of a hub-filamentary system, which is evident in the infrared images.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Quest for the upcoming periastron passage of an episodic dust maker and particle accelerating colliding wind binary: WR 125

We have carried out a long term infrared and X-ray investigation of the colliding wind binary WR 125 (WC7+O9III). The source was monitored using AstroSat-Soft X-ray Telescope and TIRCAM2 mounted at the back of 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope. WR 125 appeared brighter in near infra-red K-band during the years 2017-2021 which is attributed to another episode of dust formation similar to the one reported during the likely periastron passage at the beginning of the 1990s. This is further supported by enhanced emission observed in W1 and W2 bands of WISE from 2018-19. By combining archival X-ray data sets with our new measurements, long-term variations have been noticed. The source reaches a lower emission state in June 2020 (close to the recent infrared maximum) which could be due to enhanced absorption of X-rays produced in the colliding wind region by the WC stellar wind close to the periastron in an eccentric orbit. The time interval between the previous and latest X-ray low states may indicate an orbital period of 28-29 years, in fair agreement with the recurrence time of episodic dust production. We also discuss published radio measurements in the context of a common picture based on a long period binary scenario. These results allow us to draw relevant guidelines for future multi-wavelength observations of WR 125.

astro-ph.HE↗