Newsletter - Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences

ISSUE 45

AABC - Volume 93 Suppl.1 2021

  
 
 

 
 

As previously noticed (see editorials), there has been a general lack of submissions to the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (AABC) in a particularly important scientific field: Physical Sciences. I am therefore very pleased to present this special issue of the AABC with a selection of 17 papers presented at the 2019 BRICS Astronomy Workshop! There is one contribution in Mathematical Sciences and 16 in Physical Sciences. In addition to the foreword, there are two letters to the editor that discuss the partnerships and networks being developed in astronomy by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - the BRICS nations. Collaborations between BRICS in several areas are more then welcome and necessary in the changing world we are living in.

On behalf of the AABC, I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers of the present issue: Bruno V. Castilho, Ulisses B. de Almeida, and Carlos A. Wuensche. I also thank Ronald Cintra Shellard for encouraging the realization of this publication.

Please keep in mind that since 2000 all papers published by the AABC can be downloaded free of charge at the SciELO site. Note that previous editions of the Newsletter are available at the ABC website.

We are now inviting you to scroll through the text and click on the title of the article that interests you! And send this newsletter to other colleagues that might be interested in the papers presented here.

Alexander W. A. Kellner
Editor-in-Chief

  
       
 

 

  
 

BRICS Astronomy

  
       
 

 

  
 

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

  
       
 

1- Data Science Strategies for Multimessenger Astronomy

REINALDO R. ROSA

This article aims to identify and suggest data science strategies to strengthen scientific research in astronomy. The improvements in data workflow performance that can be provided by these strategies can be crucial to the multimessenger astronomy (MMA). A special focus is given to the treatment of raw data in the context of big data networks for BRICS astronomy initiatives. A preliminary design of a prototype that incorporates an MMA data cube into a data lake system is presented.

 Read here

  
       
 

 

  
 

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

  
       
 

2- Multi-wavelength study of Galactic star-forming regions with near-infrared instruments on 2 - 4 meter class Indian telescopes

DEVENDRA K. OJHA

TIFR has been instrumental in commissioning three major ground-based instruments on 2-m and 3.6-m class telescopes in India which include TIRCAM2, an Infrared imager from 1 to 3.6 microns presently used on the side port of 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) which was designed and fabricated in our lab and TIRSPEC an imager and spectrograph in the 1 to 2.5 microns band on the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope, Hanle and TANSPEC, a spectrograph with imaging capability in the 0.6 to 2.5 microns band on the main port of the 3.6-m DOT. These instruments have been made available to the worldwide astronomical community for science observations.

 Read here

  
       
 

3- Search and study of the space debris and asteroids within ISON project

IGOR E. MOLOTOV, YURIJ N. KRUGLY, LEONID V. ELENIN, THOMAS SCHILDKNECHT, VASILIJ V. RUMYANTSEV, RAGULI YA. INASARIDZE, VOVA R. AIVAZYAN, GIVI V. KAPANADZE, LLUIS R. CANALS, FILIPPO GRAZIANI, PAOLO TEOFILATTO, SHUHRAT A. EHGAMBERDIEV, OTABEK A. BURKHONOV, EKATERINA D. CHORNAYA, ANTON V. KOCHERGIN, YEHIA A. ABDEL-AZIZ, AHMED M. ABDELAZIZ, VLADIMIR V. KOUPRIANOV, MIKHAIL V. ZAKHVATKIN, VICTOR A. STEPANYANTS, INNA V. REVA, ALEXANDER V. SEREBRYANSKIY, SERGEI E. SCHMALZ & IGOR V. NIKOLENKO

Article is describing activities of the ISON network of optical telescopes located in 15 countries. ISON is an informal project that brings together scientists, engineers, and astronomy amateurs. The project focuses on carrying out topical observations of space debris and dangerous asteroids. ISON develops technology of asteroid search with small telescopes and arrange regular photometry observations of near-Earth asteroids for investigating their physical properties and discovering new binary bodies. ISON's space debris data is used to maintain a catalog of high-orbit objects which is applied to develop a model of space debris population and ensure the safety of geostationary satellites.

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4- Intelligent Supernovae Classification Systems in the KDUST context

LUÍS R. ARANTES FILHO, REINALDO R. ROSA & LAMARTINE N.F. GUIMARÃES

This work presents a brief description of automatic classification systems based on computational intelligence developed for supernovae classification and spectral analysis. We present suitable systems to the application in autonomous systems that capture and analyze spectral data from extreme cosmic events. We discuss CINTIA, SUZAN, and DANI systems that perform a robust data analysis to classify classic types of thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae. We highlight the approach of the initial development of the DANI system, which is based on the Deep Learning paradigm to extract information from supernova data to perform type classification on a large dataset.

 Read here

  
       
 

5- BRICS Astronomy and the United Nations Open Universe Initiative

ULISSES BARRES DE ALMEIDA, PAOLO GIOMMI & ANDREW M.T. POLLOCK

The almost universal availability of electronic connectivity, portable devices and the web are responsible for a revolution where information is quickly becoming accessible to everyone, transforming social, economic and cultural life. The Internet represents an unprecedented two-way communication channel between data producers and users. The "Open Universe" Initiative is a project in implementation under the leadership of the United Nations whose aim is to stimulate a dramatic increase in the availability and usability of space science data, extending the potential for scientific discovery to new players around the globe. This article describes the Initiative in the context of the BRICS.

 Read here

  
       
 

6- The SiTian Project

JIFENG LIU, ROBERTO SORIA, XUE-FENG WU, HONG WU & ZHAOHUI SHANG

SiTian is an ambitious ground-based all-sky optical monitoring project, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The concept is an integrated network of dozens of 1-m-class telescopes deployed partly in China and partly at various other sites around the world. The main science goals are the detection, identification and monitoring of optical transients (such as gravitational wave events, fast radio bursts, supernovae) on the largely unknown timescales of less than 1 day. We plan to complete the installation of 72 telescopes by 2030 and start full scientific operations in 2032.

 Read here

  
       
 

7- An Overview of Some Latest Development in Chinese Astronomy

ZHONG WANG & YANCHUN LIANG

We present brief highlights and updates on some newer projects, both in operation/construction and in preparation stages, of astronomical research on Mainland China, with an emphasis on those involving international collaborations. Limited by the scope of this paper, this sample is not meant to be uniform nor comprehensive, and in some cases it may not be fully up to date. For more specific and detailed information on these or other projects, we refer the readers to the official websites of these projects and those of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

 Read here

  
       
 

8- Activities of PMO optical space debris survey

ZHANG CHEN & ZHAO CHANGYIN

Earth orbital environment is more and more critical to our daily life, considering the deep dependence on space activities. The debris group from Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences is survey the sky with an optical network for decades. The lastest telescope array CHES-YaoAn features a high cadence all sky survey to focus on the higher orbital objects, especially the unresolved ones. This manuscript describe all the operational software and data pipeline details.

 Read here

  
       
 

9- Towards a BRICS Optical Transient Network (BRICS-OTN)

DAVID A.H. BUCKLEY, VANESSA A. MCBRIDE, ULISSES BARRES DE ALMEIDA, BORIS SHUSTOV, ALEXEI POZANENKO, ALEXANDER LUTOVINOV, AMITESH OMAR, JAYANT MURTHY, MARGARITA SAFONOVA, JIFENG LIU & ROBERTO SORIA

This proceedings paper is based on a proposal for a BRICS astronomy flagship programme presented at the meeting of the BRICS Astronomy Working Group, held in Rio de Janeiro from 29 September to 2 October 2019. The proposal was formulated by a wide group of astronomers within the BRICS community, including the co-authors, and focuses on the detection and study of astrophysical transients, from the closest Solar System objects to the furthest and most luminous objects in the Universe. It builds on existing and future facilities within the BRICS community and has a strong educational and outreach component.

 Read here

  
       
 

10- The LLAMA Brazilian-Argentinian radiotelescope project: progress in Brazil and BRICS collaboration

JACQUES R.D. LÉPINE, ZULEMA ABRAHAM, CARLOS GUILLERMO G. DE CASTRO, JOAQUIM E.R. COSTA, JUAN JOSE LARRARTE, EMILIANO RASZTOCKY, GUILLERMO GANCIO, TANIA DOMICINI, PEDRO P.B. BEAKLINI, FATIMA S. CORRERA, WESLEY BECCARI, MARCOS AURELIO LUQUEZE, ANTONIO VERRI, DANILO CESAR ZANELLA, JACOB KOOI, SJOERD T. TIMMER, DANIELE A. RONSÓ, CARLOS EDUARDO FERMINO & RICARDO FERNANDO LUIZ

We present briefly the LLAMA sub-mm radiotelescope, a joint project of Argentina and Brazil, being mounted in the Andes, Argentina, at 4800 m altitude. Here we focus on the activities that are going on mostly under the responsibility of Brazil, like the high frequency receivers, parts of the back-end and electronics, the optical system of the telescope to bring the radiation to the receivers, the equipment needed for the integration and verification phase (optical telescope and holography) and the computation system.

 Read here

  
       
 

11- IKI GRB-FuN: observations of GRBs with small-aperture telescopes

ALINA VOLNOVA, ALEXEI POZANENKO,  ELENA MAZAEVA,  SERGEI BELKIN, IGOR MOLOTOV, LEONID ELENIN, NAMKHAI TUNGALAG & DAVID BUCKLEY

Optical observations of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the network of small aperture telescopes are discussed. GRBs are short-lived astrophysical objects discovered in gamma-rays  and their optical counterparts are  one of the key informational channels. The rapid detection of the optical counterpart is crucial for investigations of GRB physics. Only telescopes with small apertures allow a quick search for the optical counterpart in a large localization area alerted from space-born gamma-ray telescopes. We present some results from  a network based on Space Research Institute (IKI), also known as IKI-GRB. Follow up Network (IKI-GRB FuN), and discuss challenges for future development.

 Read here

  
       
 

12- S-PLUS: LEnticular Galaxies in Stripe 82 (LEGS82)

ARIANNA CORTESI, KANAK SAHA,  FABRICIO FERRARI, GEFERSON LUCATELLI, CLAUDIA M. DE OLIVEIRA, SURAJ DHIWAR, CLECIO R. BOM & LUCIANA OLIVIA DIAS

This work is a Brazilian-Indian collaboration. It aims at investigating the structural properties of Lenticular galaxies in the Stripe 82 using a combination of S-PLUS and SDSS data. BPZ and MFMTK are two complementary techniques, since the first one determines the most likely stellar population of a galaxy, in order to obtain its photometric redshift, and the second one recovers non-parametric morphological quantities. The combination of the two methods allows us to explore the correlation between galaxies shapes and their stellar contents. The preliminary results show how this new data set opens a new window on our understanding of the nearby universe.

 Read here

  
       
 

13- Towards an Intelligent Observatory

STEPHEN B. POTTER

The Intelligent Observatory (IO) refers to the vision of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) to meet the scientic needs of both the  South African and int ernational astronomical communitiesby providing a better and more efficient service. The idea behind the IO is to harmonise the astronomical operations of all the telescopes (~20) based at the observing station in the semie-arid Karoo region in South Africa. The vision requires both upgrades to some of the telescopes and a re-design of the current astronomy operations model. The primary science driver, for the IO, is the characterization and detailed study of newly discovered astronomical objects through their high-energy explosive events.

 Read here

  
       
 

14- Big Data Research Infrastructure Collaboration Toward the SKA (BRICSKA)

RUSS TAYLOR, FABIO PORTO, CHENZHOU CUI, YOGESH WADADEKAR & OLEG MALKOV

Astronomy is entering an era of mega-data that will render conventional research methods as well as data and visual analytics tools ineffective. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) drives one of the most significant big data challenges of the next decades. This project brings together teams leading programs in data innovation in each partner country to collaborate on the development of new technologies and systems to meet challenges that are critical to the advance of astronomy. We will prototype and demonstrate scalable big data technologies for the new big data era, establishing a BRICS multinational federated data intensive cloud network for collaborative programs in data intensive astronomy.

 Read here

  
       
 

15- Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations: an instrument to observe the 21 cm hydrogen line in the redshift range 0.13 < z < 0.45 - status update

CARLOS A. WUENSCHE, ELCIO ABDALLA, FILIPE ABDALLA, LUCIANO BAROSI, BIN WANG, RUI AN, JOÃO A.M. BARRETOS, RICHARD BATTYE, FRANCISCO A. BRITO, IAN BROWNE, DANIEL CORREIA, ANDRÉ A. COSTA, JACQUES DELABROUILLE, CLIVE DICKINSON, CHANG FENG, ELISA G.M. FERREIRA, KARIN FORNAZIER, GIANCARLO DE GASPERIS, PRISCILA GUTIERREZ, STUART HARPER, RICARDO G. LANDIM,
VINCENZO LICCARDO, YIN-ZHE MA, TELMO MACHADO, BRUNO MAFFEI, ALESSANDRO MARINS, MILENA M.M. MENDES, EDUARDO MERICIA, CHRISTIAN MONSTEIN, PABLO MOTTA, CAMILA NOVAES, CARLOS H. OTOBONE, MICHAEL PEEL, AMILCAR R. QUEIROZ, CHRISTOPHER RADCLIFFE, MATHIEU REMAZEILLES, RAFAEL M.G. RIBEIRO, YU SANG, JULIANA F.R. SANTOS, LARISSA SANTOS,
MARCELO V. SANTOS, CHENXI SHAN, GUSTAVO B. SILVA, FREDERICO VIEIRA, JORDANY VIEIRA, THYRSO VILLELA, LINFENG XIAO, WEIQIANG YANG, JIAJUN ZHANG, XUE ZHANG & ZENGHAO ZHU

BINGO (Baryon Acoustic Oscillations – BAO - from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations) is a unique radio telescope designed to map the intensity of neutral hydrogen distribution at cosmological distances, making the first detection of BAO in the redshift range 0.127 < z < 0.449. The telescope will be built in Paraíba, Brazil and consists of two mirrors with 40m diameter, a focal plane array of 50 horns, and no moving parts. It will cover about 15% of the sky. The project is led by USP, INPE and UFCG. Telescope operation is expected to start in late 2021.

 Read here

  
       
 

16- Electromagnetic emission from circumbinary disk of merging black holes

DMITRY BISIKALO & ANDREY ZHILKIN

In the paper a scenario of an electromagnetic response formation from the merging of two black holes is considered. It’s assumed that the binary black hole is surrounded by an accretion disk. As a result of the black holes merging and mass loss, the accretion disk experiences a disturbance, which is accompanied by shock waves propagation of sufficiently high intensity. This method can be used to discover of electromagnetic responses from gravitational-wave events, which registered by the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the Virgo detectors.

 Read here

  
       
 

17- IVIA - Ibero-American VLBI Initiative -Progress on the Brazilian side

JACQUES R.D. LEPINE, JEAN PIERRE RAULIN, TANIA DOMINICI, CARLOS GUILLERMO G. DE CASTRO, FERNANDO VIRGILIO ROIG, ANDRÉ WIERMANN, MARCELO BORGES FERNANDES, YASUCHI HADANO, FATIMA SALETE CORRERA, WESLEY BECCARO, MARCOS AURELIO LUQUEZE, ANTONIO SANDRO VERRI, DANILO CESAR ZANELLA, KARIN MENÉNDEZ-DELMESTRE, THIAGO SIGNORINI GONÇALVES, ULISSES BARRES DE ALMEIDA & MILITÃO VIEIRA FIGUEREDO

IVIA is a joint initiative of at least 8 Latin-American countries plus Portugal and Spain to make good use of large telecommunications antennas that are out of service in these countries. The first step will be to refurbish the antennas and then to start doing single dish observations of radiosources. In a second step the antennas  will be equipped with VLBI (Very Long Base Interferometry) equipment, to establish a network. This project will be able to effectively promote scientific integration in Ibero-America. Here we present several scientific cases for the use of the antennas, and we report on the first Brazilian activities.

 Read here

  
       
       
     
 

All abstracts of the publications were provided by the respective authors.

  
     
       
 
 

 

Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
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