Sharif Digital Repository

It has long been thought that intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) might be located in the cores of globular clusters. However, studies attempting to confirm this possibility have been inconclusive. To refine the search for these objects, Baumgardt et al. completed a series of N-body simulations to determine the observational properties that a host globular cluster should possess. Keys to revealing the presence of an IMBH were found to be the shape of the cluster's core proper motion dispersion profile and its surface density profile. Among the possible host clusters identified by Baumgardt et al., NGC6266 was found to be the most suitable object to search. Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field... 

We report six stellar occultations by Phoebe (Saturn IX), an irregular satellite of Saturn, obtained between mid-2017 and mid-2019. The 2017 July 6 event was the first stellar occultation by an irregular satellite ever observed. The occultation chords were compared to a 3D shape model of the satellite obtained from Cassini observations. The rotation period available in the literature led to a sub-observer point at themoment of the observed occultations where the chords could not fit the 3D model. A procedure was developed to identify the correct sub-observer longitude. It allowed us to obtain the rotation period with improved precision compared to the currently known value from literature.... 

In this paper, a framework for effective factors on the occurrence of economic corruption is presented. Corruption issues as an existing challenge need to be addressed comprehensively and accurately. Various factors affect this issue, and the lack of precise and comprehensive identification of these factors can create a constraint, in which the main causes of corruption may not be addressed and efforts may focus on less important issues. The existence of a framework of factors helps by examining the level of these factors and makes it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of context and personal factors to design and implement corrective solutions and eliminating weaknesses, so... 

We present time series photometric observations of 13 transits in the planetary systems WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26. All three systems have orbital obliquity measurements, WASP-24 andWASP-26 have been observed with Spitzer, andWASP-25 was previously comparatively neglected. Our light curves were obtained using the telescope-defocussing method and have scatters of 0.5-1.2 mmag relative to their best-fitting geometric models. We use these data to measure the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the systems to high precision, finding that our improved measurements are in good agreement with previous studies. High-resolution Lucky Imaging observations of all three targets show no... 

We present high-precision photometry of five consecutive transits of WASP-18, an extrasolar planetary system with one of the shortest orbital periods known. Through the use of telescope defocusing we achieve a photometric precision of 0.47-0.83 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The data are analyzed using the JKTEBOP code and three different sets of stellar evolutionary models. We find the mass and radius of the planet to be M b = 10.43 ± 0.30 ±0.24 M Jup and R b = 1.165± 0.055 ±0.014 R Jup (statistical and systematic errors), respectively. The systematic errors in the orbital separation and the stellar and planetary masses, arising from the use of theoretical predictions,... 

Transits in the planetary system WASP-4 were recently found to occur 80 s earlier than expected in observations from the TESS satellite. We present 22 new times of mid-transit that confirm the existence of transit timing variations, and are well fitted by a quadratic ephemeris with period decay dP/dt = −9.2 ± 1.1 ms yr−1. We rule out instrumental issues, stellar activity, and the Applegate mechanism as possible causes. The light-time effect is also not favoured due to the non-detection of changes in the systemic velocity. Orbital decay and apsidal precession are plausible but unproven. WASP-4 b is only the third hot Jupiter known to show transit timing variations to high confidence. We... 

We present newphotometric observations ofWASP-15 andWASP-16, two transiting extrasolar planetary systems with measured orbital obliquities but without photometric follow-up since their discovery papers. Our new data for WASP-15 comprise observations of one transit simultaneously in four optical passbands using GROND on the MPG/European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2.2 m telescope, plus coverage of half a transit from DFOSC on the Danish 1.54 m telescope, both at ESO La Silla. ForWASP-16 we present observations of fourcomplete transits, all from the Danish telescope. We use these new data to refine the measured physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the two systems. Whilst our results... 

Accurate measurements of the physical characteristics of a large number of exoplanets are useful to strongly constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, which lead to the large variety of exoplanets and planetary-system configurations that have been observed. We present a study of the planetary systemsWASP-45 andWASP-46, both composed of a mainsequence star and a close-in hot Jupiter, based on 29 new high-quality light curves of transits events. In particular, one transit of WASP-45 b and four of WASP-46 b were simultaneously observed in four optical filters, while one transit of WASP-46 b was observed with the NTT obtaining a precision of 0.30 mmag with a cadence of... 

In this paper an optimized wind/PV hybrid system with battery and diesel backup is designed. As a result of this study the costs of the hybrid system will be minimized in its 20-year life time. The optimization is done by considering the annual load increase and fuel cost rise. This Optimization is subject to load covering and minimizing the total cost. The total cost entailed maintenance, equipment and diesel fuel consumption substitution. An advanced variation of individual particle optimization algorithm (IPO) is used to solve the optimization problem  

This study aims to identify the learning orientations and language learning strategies of the students, to determine whether there are any significant differences in the motivational orientations and language learning strategies preferences between male and female learners, and investigate whether there is a relationship between students' motivational orientations and strategy preferences. A total of 206 intermediate level students who studied in English in private language institutes were asked to complete two questionnaires. One was used to identify students' motivational orientations and the other was used to identify students' learning strategies. Statistical analyses demonstrated that... 

We present photometric observations of four transits in the WASP-17 planetary system, obtained using telescope defocusing techniques and with scatters reaching 0.5mmag per point. Our revised orbital period is 4.0 ± 0.6s longer than previous measurements, a difference of 6.6σ, and does not support the published detections of orbital eccentricity in this system. We model the light curves using the jktebop code and calculate the physical properties of the system by recourse to five sets of theoretical stellar model predictions. The resulting planetary radius, R b = 1.932 ± 0.052 ± 0.010R Jup (statistical and systematic errors, respectively), provides confirmation that WASP-17b is the largest... 

In this paper, we propose a new strategy for the pixel-lensing observations of M87 in the Virgo cluster using theHubble Space Telescope(HST). In contrast to a previous observational strategy by Baltz et al., we show that a few days of intensive observations with the duration of ~90 min in eachHSTorbit will increase the observational efficiency of high-magnification events by more than one order of magnitude. We perform a Monte Carlo simulation for this strategy and we show that the number of high-magnification microlensing events will increase at the rate of 4.2 events per day with a typical transit time-scale of 16 h. We also examine the possibility of observing mini-halo dark matter... 

We present high-precision photometry of three transits of the extrasolar planetary system WASP-2, obtained by defocusing the telescopes, and achieving scatters of between 0.42 and 0.73 mmag versus the best-fitting model. These data are modelled using the jktebop code, and taking into account the light from the recently discovered faint star close to the system. The physical properties of the WASP-2 system are derived using tabulated predictions from five different sets of stellar evolutionary models, allowing both statistical and systematic error bars to be specified. We find the mass and radius of the planet to be Mb= 0.846 ± 0.055 ± 0.023 MJup and Rb= 1.043 ± 0.029 ± 0.015RJup. It has a... 

We present and analyse light curves of four transits of the Southern hemisphere extrasolar planetary system WASP-4, obtained with a telescope defocused so the radius of each point spread function was 17 arcsec (44 pixels). This approach minimizes both random and systematic errors, allowing us to achieve scatters of between 0.60 and 0.88 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The light curves are augmented by published observations and analysed using the jktebop code. The results of this process are combined with theoretical stellar model predictions to derive the physical properties of the WASP-4 system. We find that the mass and radius of the planet are M b = 1.289 +0.090 -0.090... 

The mean spherical approximation (MSA) has been applied to accurately correlate the activity coefficients of individual ions in aqueòus solutions of single 1:1 electrolytes. In order to account for changes in the hydration of the ions, the size parameters of the ions are considered to be composition dependent. The values of the size parameters show that the hydration of the ions decreases as the electrolyte concentration increases. Results obtained from the full MSA and from a simplified version of MSA (SMSA), were compared. The use of the simplified version had a small effect on the final results and dramatically reduced the computation of the effort  

HATS-18 b is a transiting planet with a large mass and a short orbital period, and is one of the best candidates for the detection of orbital decay induced by tidal effects. We present extensive photometry of HATS-18 from which we measure 27 times of mid-transit. Two further transit times were measured from data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and three more taken from the literature. The transit timings were fitted with linear and quadratic ephemerides and an upper limit on orbital decay was determined. This corresponds to a lower limit on the modified stellar tidal quality factor of $Q_star ^{, prime } gt 10^{5.11 pm 0.04}$. This is at the cusp of constraining the... 

A scheme for deterministic secure and high bit-rate direct communication without resorting to a distinct control interval is proposed. It utilizes three entangled qubits, and presents higher bit transfer rate of information and higher security. The security of protocol is asserted by introducing a security control for each transferred bit. The protocol is investigated for a class of individual attacks and it is explicitly showed that the protocol has a high security even in the presence of channel loss  

Aims. We present 11 high-precision photometric transitobservations of the transiting super-Earth planet GJ≠1214≠b. Combining these data with observations from other authors, we investigate the ephemeris for possible signs of transit timing variations (TTVs) using a Bayesian approach. Methods. The observations were obtained using telescope-defocusing techniques, and achieve a high precision with random errors in the photometry as low as 1 mmag per point. To investigate the possibility of TTVs in the light curve, we calculate the overall probability of a TTV signal using Bayesian methods. Results. The observations are used to determine the photometric parameters and the physical properties... 

WASP-80 is one of only two systems known to contain a hot Jupiter which transits its M-dwarf host star. We present eight light curves of one transit event, obtained simultaneously using two defocussed telescopes. These data were taken through the Bessell I, Sloan g and near-infrared JHK passbands. We use our data to search for opacity-induced changes in the planetary radius, but find that all values agree with each other. Our data are therefore consistent with a flat transmission spectrum to within the observational uncertainties. We also measure an activity index of the host star of log R 'HK =-4.495 log R HK ′ =-4.495, meaning that WASP-80 A shows strong chromospheric activity. The... 

We present new ground-based, multi-colour, broad-band photometric measurements of the physical parameters, transmission and emission spectra of the transiting extrasolar planet WASP-19b. The measurements are based on observations of eight transits and four occultations through a Gunn i filter using the 1.54-m Danish Telescope, 14 transits through an Rc filter at the Perth Exoplanet SurveyTelescope (PEST) observatory and one transit observed simultaneously through four optical (Sloan g', r', i', z') and three near-infrared (J,H,K) filters, using the Gamma Ray Burst Optical and Near-Infrared Detector (GROND) instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope. The GROND optical light curves have a...