Related papers: Theoretical Limits of Star Sensor Accuracy
We present a new approach to constrain galaxy physical parameters from the combined interpretation of stellar and nebular emission in wide ranges of observations. This approach relies on the Bayesian analysis of any type of galaxy spectral…
Precise and reliable measurements of the masses and radii of neutron stars with a variety of masses would provide valuable guidance for improving models of the properties of cold matter with densities above the saturation density of nuclear…
Upcoming and ongoing large area weak lensing surveys will also discover large samples of galaxy clusters. Accurate and precise masses of galaxy clusters are of major importance for cosmology, for example, in establishing well calibrated…
Astrometry as a technique has so far proved of limited utility when employed as either a follow-up tool or to independently search for planetary mass companions orbiting nearby stars. However, this is bound to change during the next decade.…
It has been conjectured that the velocity of sound in any medium is smaller than the velocity of light in vacuum divided by $\sqrt{3}$. Simple arguments support this bound in non-relativistic and/or weakly coupled theories. The bound has…
The thermal emission of dust is one of the most important tracers of the interstellar medium: multi-wavelength photometry in the far-infrared (FIR) and submillimeter (submm) can be fitted with a model, providing estimates of the dust mass.…
Neutron stars involve extreme physics which is difficult (perhaps impossible) to explore in laboratory experiments. We have to turn to astrophysical observations, and try to extract information from the entire range of the electromagnetic…
The conventional method to determine the cosmic curvature is to measure the total mass density $\Omega_{\rm tot}$. Unfortunately the observational $\Omega_{\rm tot}$ is closely near the critical value 1. The computation of this paper shows…
We summarize some of the compelling new scientific opportunities for understanding stars and stellar systems that can be enabled by sub-milliarcsec (sub-mas) angular resolution, UV-Optical spectral imaging observations, which can reveal the…
Cells respond to chemical cues, and the precision with which they can sense these cues is fundamentally limited by the stochastic nature of diffusion and ligand binding. Berg and Purcell famously investigated how well a small sensor in an…
We have performed a careful analysis of constraints on the neutrino mass from current cosmological data. Combining data from the cosmic microwave background and the 2dF galaxy survey yields an upper limit on the sum of the three neutrino…
We propose an object detection algorithm which is efficient and fast enough to be used in (almost) real time with the limited computer capacities onboard satellites. For stars below the saturation limit of the CCD detectors it is based on a…
In this paper we examine the possibility of testing the equivalence principle, in its weak form, by analyzing the orbital motion of a pair of artificial satellites of different composition moving along orbits of identical shape and size in…
The recent explosive growth of small satellite operations driven primarily from an academic or pedagogical need, has demonstrated the viability of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies in space. They have also leveraged and shown the need…
We provide a preliminary estimate of the performance of reflex astrometry on Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. In Monte Carlo experiments, we analyze large samples of astrometric data sets with low to moderate…
Observations of the clustering of galaxies can provide useful information about the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. In order to extract accurate cosmological parameters from galaxy surveys, it is important to understand how the…
Exoplanets mass measurements will be a critical next step to assess the habitability of Earth-like planets: a key aspect of the 2020 vision in the previous decadal survey and also central to NASA's strategic priorities. Precision astrometry…
Finite-size effects on the gravitational wave signal from a neutron star merger typically manifest at high frequencies where detector sensitivity decreases. Proposed sensitivity improvements can give us access both to stronger signals and…
Conventional classical sensors are approaching their maximum sensitivity levels in many areas. Yet these levels still are far from the ultimate limits dictated by quantum mechanics. Quantum sensors promise a substantial step ahead by taking…
Our ability to calibrate current kilometer-scale interferometers can potentially confound the inference of astrophysical signals. Current calibration uncertainties are well described by a Gaussian process. I exploit this description to…