Abstract
We present a numerical code to simulate maps of Galactic emission in intensity and polarization at microwave frequencies, aiding in the design of cosmic microwave background experiments. ...This python code builds on existing efforts to simulate the sky by providing an easy-to-use interface and is based on publicly available data from the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) and Planck satellite missions. We simulate synchrotron, thermal dust, free–free and anomalous microwave emission over the whole sky, in addition to the cosmic microwave background, and include a set of alternative prescriptions for the frequency dependence of each component, for example, polarized dust with multiple temperatures and a decorrelation of the signals with frequency, which introduce complexity that is consistent with current data. We also present a new prescription for adding small-scale realizations of these components at resolutions greater than current all-sky measurements. The usefulness of the code is demonstrated by forecasting the impact of varying foreground complexity on the recovered tensor-to-scalar ratio for the LiteBIRD satellite. The code is available at: https://github.com/bthorne93/PySM_public.
The next generation of surveys will greatly improve our knowledge of cosmological gravity. In this paper we focus on how Stage IV photometric redshift surveys, including weak lensing and multiple ...tracers of the matter distribution and radio experiments combined with measurements of the cosmic microwave background will lead to precision constraints on deviations from general relativity. We use a broad subclass of Horndeski scalar-tensor theories to forecast the accuracy with which we will be able to determine these deviations and their degeneracies with other cosmological parameters. Our analysis includes relativistic effects, does not rely on the quasistatic evolution and makes conservative assumptions about the effect of screening on small scales. We define a figure of merit for cosmological tests of gravity and show how the combination of different types of surveys, probing different length scales and redshifts, can be used to pin down constraints on the gravitational physics to better than a few percent, roughly an order of magnitude better than present probes. Future cosmological experiments will be able to constrain the Brans-Dicke parameter at a level comparable to Solar System and astrophysical tests.
We examine the stability versus different types of perturbations of recently proposed shortcuts to adiabaticity to speed up the population inversion of a two-level quantum system. We find the ...optimally robust processes by using invariant-based engineering of the Hamiltonian. Amplitude noise and systematic errors require different optimal protocols.
•Roadmap presented for hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors.•A novel indium tin oxide (ITO)-based transparent low-emissivity coating applied directly to a PV cell is presented.•Quantitative ...comparison of evacuated cavities, transparent low-emissivity coatings, and silicon heterojunction photovoltaic cells for improved performance.•Cost requirements for technologies along the roadmap are estimated and compared to today’s costs.
For hybrid photovoltaic-thermal collectors to become competitive with other types of solar energy converters, they must offer high performance at fluid outlet temperatures above 60 °C, as is required for space heating and domestic hot water provision, which together account for nearly 50% of heat demand. A roadmap is presented of the technological advances required to achieve this goal. Strategies for reducing convective, radiative and electrical losses at elevated temperature are discussed, and an experimental characterisation of a novel transparent low-emissivity coating for photovoltaic solar cells is presented. An experimentally-validated simulation formalism is used to project the performance of different combinations of loss-reduction strategies implemented together. Finally, a techno-economic analysis is performed to predict the price points at which the hybrid technologies along the roadmap become competitive with non-hybrid photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies. The most advanced hybrid technology along the roadmap employs an evacuated cavity, a transparent low-emissivity coating, and silicon heterojunction photovoltaic cells.
The basic idea of importance sampling is to use independent samples from a proposal measure in order to approximate expectations with respect to a target measure. It is key to understand how many ...samples are required in order to guarantee accurate approximations. Intuitively, some notion of distance between the target and the proposal should determine the computational cost of the method. A major challenge is to quantify this distance in terms of parameters or statistics that are pertinent for the practitioner. The subject has attracted substantial interest from within a variety of communities. The objective of this paper is to overview and unify the resulting literature by creating an overarching framework. A general theory is presented, with a focus on the use of importance sampling in Bayesian inverse problems and filtering.
PDF
