Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

About: Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology is a education organization based out in New York, New York, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gravitational microlensing & Planetary system. The organization has 727 authors who have published 708 publications receiving 14082 citations. The organization is also known as: College of Aeronautics.

Study by MOA of extrasolar planets in gravitational microlensing events of high magnification

Abstract: A search for extrasolar planets was carried out in three gravitational microlensing events of high magnification, MACHO 98-BLG-35, MACHO 99-LMC-2 and OGLE 00-BUL-12. Photometry was derived from observational images by the MOA and OGLE groups using an image subtraction technique. For MACHO 98-BLG-35, additional photometry derived from the MPS and PLANET groups was included. Planetary modelling of the three events was carried out in a supercluster computing environment. The estimated probability for explaining the data on MACHO 98-BLG-35 without a planet is < 1 per cent. The best planetary model has a planet of mass ∼ (0.4-1.5) X M E a r t h at a projected radius of either ∼ 1.5 or ∼ 2.3 au. We show how multiplanet models can be applied to the data. We calculate exclusion regions for the three events and find that Jupiter-mass planets can be excluded with projected radii from as wide as about 30au to as close as around 0.5 au for MACHO 98-BLG-35 and OGLE 00-BUL-12. For MACHO 99-LMC-2, the exclusion region extends out to around 10 au and constitutes the first limit placed on a planetary companion to an extragalactic star. We derive a particularly high peak magnification of ∼160 for OGLE 00-BUL-12. We discuss the detectability of planets with masses as low as Mercury in this and similar events.

A physics-informed machine learning model for porosity analysis in laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

Abstract: To control part quality, it is critical to analyze pore generation mechanisms, laying theoretical foundation for future porosity control. Current porosity analysis models use machine setting parameters, such as laser angle and part pose. However, these setting-based models are machine dependent; hence, they often do not transfer to analysis of porosity for a different machine. To address the first problem, a physics-informed, data-driven model (PIM) is used, which instead of directly using machine setting parameters to predict porosity levels of printed parts, first interprets machine settings into physical effects, such as laser energy density and laser radiation pressure. Then, these physical, machine-independent effects are used to predict porosity levels according to “pass,” “flag,” and “fail” categories instead of focusing on quantitative pore size prediction. With six learning methods’ evaluation, PIM proved to achieve good performances with prediction error of 10 $\sim $ 26%. Finally, pore-encouraging influence and pore-suppressing influence were analyzed for quality analysis.

Microlensing Discovery of a Population of very Tight, very Low Mass Binary Brown Dwarfs

Abstract: Although many models have been proposed, the physical mechanisms responsible for the formation of low-mass brown dwarfs (BDs) are poorly understood. The multiplicity properties and minimum mass of the BD mass function provide critical empirical diagnostics of these mechanisms. We present the discovery via gravitational microlensing of two very low mass, very tight binary systems. These binaries have directly and precisely measured total system masses of 0.025 M ☉ and 0.034 M ☉, and projected separations of 0.31 AU and 0.19 AU, making them the lowest-mass and tightest field BD binaries known. The discovery of a population of such binaries indicates that BD binaries can robustly form at least down to masses of ~0.02 M ☉. Future microlensing surveys will measure a mass-selected sample of BD binary systems, which can then be directly compared to similar samples of stellar binaries.

Campaign 9 of the $K2$ Mission: Observational Parameters, Scientific Drivers, and Community Involvement for a Simultaneous Space- and Ground-based Microlensing Survey

Abstract: $K2$'s Campaign 9 ($K2$C9) will conduct a $\sim$3.7 deg$^{2}$ survey toward the Galactic bulge from 7/April through 1/July of 2016 that will leverage the spatial separation between $K2$ and the Earth to facilitate measurement of the microlens parallax $\pi_{\rm E}$ for $\gtrsim$127 microlensing events. These will include several that are planetary in nature as well as many short-timescale microlensing events, which are potentially indicative of free-floating planets (FFPs). These satellite parallax measurements will in turn allow for the direct measurement of the masses of and distances to the lensing systems. In this white paper we provide an overview of the $K2$C9 space- and ground-based microlensing survey. Specifically, we detail the demographic questions that can be addressed by this program, including the frequency of FFPs and the Galactic distribution of exoplanets, the observational parameters of $K2$C9, and the array of resources dedicated to concurrent observations. Finally, we outline the avenues through which the larger community can become involved, and generally encourage participation in $K2$C9, which constitutes an important pathfinding mission and community exercise in anticipation of $WFIRST$.

Ogle-2013-blg-0102la,b: microlensing binary with components at star/brown dwarf and brown dwarf/planet boundaries

Abstract: We present an analysis of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0102. The light curve of the event is characterized by a strong short-term anomaly superposed on a smoothly varying lensing curve with a moderate magnification A max ~ 1.5. It is found that the event was produced by a binary lens with a mass ratio between the components of q = 0.13 and the anomaly was caused by the passage of the source trajectory over a caustic located away from the barycenter of the binary. Based on the analysis of the effects on the light curve due to the finite size of the source and the parallactic motion of the Earth, we determine the physical parameters of the lens system. The measured masses of the lens components are M 1 = 0.096 ± 0.013 M ☉ and M 2 = 0.012 ± 0.002 M ☉, which correspond to near the hydrogen-burning and deuterium-burning mass limits, respectively. The distance to the lens is 3.04 ± 0.31 kpc and the projected separation between the lens components is 0.80 ± 0.08 AU.