on 19-11-2010
Orfeu Bertolami (U Porto).
November 19, 2010, Friday, 15h.
Location: Room P4.35, Post-Graduation Building, IST.
We discuss the main features of a phase space noncommutative model of quantum mechanics and its application for quantum cosmology and black holes in the context of the Kantowski-Sachs minisuperspace geometry.
Quantum Computation and Information Seminar
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on 15-11-2010
Radio astronomy and exploration of space: six decades together
L.I. Gurvits
Head of Space Applications and Innovation
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
Over its entire history, the exploration of space is closely linked with the developments of radior rastronomy. The interaction between the realms of radio astronomy and space science and industry is mutually beneficial: at numerous occasions, technologies, methods and facilities developed in one field provided crucial support in the other one. The present status of radio astronomy links to space science and exploration is very rich. It covers a broad range of applications from cosmology to planetary science to geophysics and even fine-tuning of global navigation systems.
The next big technological step in radio astronomy, the Square Kilometre Array will provide a basis for new radio astronomy applications in space and planetary science and exploration. These include Planetary Radio Astronomy and Doppler Experiments (PRIDE) aimed at an ultra-precise characterisation of vector-states of planetary probes and other deep space craft. PRIDE measurements will address a broad range of science topics from fundamental physics to evaluation of habitability of interiors of various bodies of the Solar System. Another challenging task for ultra-sensitive radio astronomy facilities is a Direct-to-Earth (DtE) delivery of science data from planetary probes via low-power and low-gain on-board transmission systems. In both PRIDE and DtE applications, SKA and its pathfinders will be indispensible due to their frequency agility, superior sensitivity and signal processing capabilities.
In this presentation I will review the current status of radio astronomy segments of several space-borne astronomy, planetary science and exploration missions. This will include the missions scheduled for launch during the implementation phase of SKA, thus relevant to the operational period of the SKA pathfinders and technology demonstrators, especially at frequency bands below 2.5 GHz. These bands are accepted as operational for radio communication systems of several prospective Mars exploration missions (such as ExoMars and MarsNet). At higher frequency bands, a number of SKA pathfinders will play an important role in planetary missions of the coming decade targeting Mars, Venus and Mercury. I will also present the case for major ESA and NASA flagship missions to outer planets, the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) and Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) accepted for pre-evaluation studies with the target launch dates around 2020 and later. Several scientific topics of these missions can be best addressed with a wide-field SKA as an Earth-based PRIDE and DtE facility.
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