HighTime Resolution Astrophysics HTRA in FP7

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High-Time Resolution Astrophysics (HTRA) in FP7

• Tom Marsh
• University of Warwick, UK

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Outline

• Scientific motivation
• HTRA within OPTICON FP6
• HTRA FP7

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Scientific Motivation - I.

• Stellar black-holes and neutron stars have
  innermost orbital periods 0.001 seconds
• White dwarfs are eclipsed and pulsate in
  0.1 to 200 seconds
• Earth-sized planet transit ingresses egresses
  take 100 seconds

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Flares from a black-hole
A 22nd mag black-hole accretor

• 5-10 sec long, 50 flares
• Unique to black-hole accretors
• Not detected with 60-sec photometry on Gemini

Shahbaz, VLT ULTRACAM, May 2005
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Brighter faster

• Factor 2-3 flares in 20ms from a 16th mag
  black-hole

(Spruit et al ESO/VLT)
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Scientific Motivation - II.

• Solar system occultations, e.g. detection of 100m
  KBOs
• Exo-planet transits, avoiding saturation

• Lucky imaging, wavefront sensing

Right 50 msec spikes caused by layers in the
atmosphere of Titan during an occultation
(Fitzsimmons et al)
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HTRA in a wider context
X-ray light curve

• HTR plays a major role in radio and X-ray
  astronomy
• LISA predicted to detect 10,000 ultra-short
  period, faint sources
• LSST, LOFAR, GAIA and SKA will also discover many
  time-variable objects and transients

Neutron star burst reveals its spin
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HTRA FP6
The following HTRA projects are supported via
OPTICON in FP6

• EMCCD development for fast imaging
• EMCCD development for fast spectroscopy
• AApnCCD development
• APD array development

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EMCCDs

• Electron-multiplying CCDs extend CCDs' range into
  the low count regime.

e-
Avalanche gain section amplifies before the
readout
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Lucky Imaging

• On modest aperture telescopes one can select a
  small number of best images with no other
  correction.
• Must image fast with low noise

Law, MacKay Baldwin (2005)
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Lucky Imaging
0.26, 10 best
0.65, no selection

• With the right controller and data processing,
  EMCCDs make this possible

M15
0.12 separation binary. Delta mag 2.5 0.65,
no selection
LuckyCam, Law, MacKay, Baldwin (IOA, Cambridge).
2.5m NOT, La Palma. Partial support from OPTICON
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Fast Spectroscopy

• The gain for spectroscopy is primarily one of
  reduced noise

Simulation 1 night VLT/FORS on V 21
ultra-compact binary RXJ08063127 (P 321 sec)
with (left) and without (right) readout noise.
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Fast Spectroscopy
Aim to characterise EMCCDs for astronomical
spectroscopy using hardware/software available
already (ULTRACAM). 1k x 1k chip mounted first
data when cold taken last week lt 1 e-
noise Test run on ESO 3.6/EFOSC in December 2006.
UK ATC/Sheffield/Warwick OPTICON JRA3
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AApnCCDs APD arrays

• AApnCCDs (MPI)
• alternatives to EMCCDs gt90 QE at 1 micron
• columns read out in parallel.
• 264x264 array _at_ 400 fps, 1.7 e- noise (now)
• avalanche amplification stages to give lt 1 e-
  (future)
• APD arrays (Galway)
• CCDs cannot reach ltlt 1 msec noise too high for
  fast pulsar work
• Developing 10 x 10 APD array

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HTRA FP7
The advent of fast, low-noise CCDs has altered
the landscape of HTRA which can now be divided
into

• CCDs for gt 1 msec
• APDs, STJs, TESs, GaAs for especially fast and/or
  low noise applications

Category (a) has the potential for upgrading
instruments on existing facilities
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EMCCDs for HTRA in FP7
Current EMCCDs are too small to be competitive
with standard detectors, and photon counting mode
requires fast readout even if targets do not vary.

• Need fast controllers which can handle
  multi-port, multi-chip detectors.
• Large format devices need to be procured and
  tested on sky.
• Software/hardware infrastructure is needed to
  handle the high data rates (up to 100 MB/sec for
  a single port)

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EMCCD deliverables costs

• High-speed controller with multi-port capability,
  able to run both E2V and Texas Instruments
  EMCCDs, integrated with array processor and
  controlling software. (IOA Cambridge)
• Specification, procurement and testing of a
  spectroscopic format EMCCD to match existing
  spectrographs (4k x 2k, split frame, 8 readout
  ports). (UK ATC/Sheffield/Warwick)

Total cost 2M (1.1 1.6)M for new chip
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FP7 APDs pnCCDs

• APDs fabricate arrays of larger pixels (100 vs
  20µ) to reduce dark count/unit area, increase
  throughput and field-of-view. Factor 2
  improvement possible. Timescale 5 years
• pnCCDs prototype astronomical camera /
  controller / data handling software placeholder

Total cost 3.5 M
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HTRA network

• FP6 developed contacts and spread knowledge
• FP7 continuing need to transfer knowledge on
  detector developments, but more emphasis on
  strategy
• Development of science drivers
• Enabling HTRA in current future instrumentation
  
• Linking up HTRA research across the EM spectrum

Deliverables International HTRA conference plus
proceedings workshops on science, detectors and
instrumentation
Cost 200K over 5 years
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Industrial EU dimensions

• EMCCDs have significant impetus from digital
  cameras astronomical applications can push the
  limits of these devices and motivate the
  development of new products.
• HTRA is strong in Europe which is the home of the
  ULTRACAM, OPTIMA and STJ fast photometers.
• HTRA-enabled instruments can promote access as
  many EU countries without direct access to 4m
  telescopes have HTRA communities.

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Management

• Single manager to report to OPTICON, track
  progress and adjust resources
• Management of sub-projects network devolved to
  small number of PIs
• Milestones timescales defined at the start
• 2 progress reviews 1 face-to-face meeting per
  year (2 in first year).

Cost 150K over 5 years
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Summary

• High time resolution is key to understanding the
  most extreme astrophysical environments
• HTR is demanding of detectors, and is sustained
  by advances in detector technology
• We propose a package that builds on the lead
  Europe has in this area
• Total cost 7M cost to FP7 ?