Conference Papers (Physics)
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Item Biomass Energy Dependence in South Africa: Are the Western Cape Province households descending the energy ladder after improvement in electricity access?(Elsevier, 2020) Muazu, N.B; Ogujiuba, K; Tukur, H.RSouth Africa was considered to have attained universal access to modern energy from 1994 to 2012. This meant that the number of households that moved away from the use of dirty energy to clean energy for domestic activities has drastically increased “ascending the energy ladder”. However, recent trends in household energy consumption in many developing countries are showing many households have either retained or are reversing to fuelwood use despite the modern energy access "descending the energy ladder”. Against this backdrop, the present study evaluates whether or not South African households are still using fuelwood for domestic activities” descending the energy ladder” even after the rapid improvement in electricity access. Both theoretical and empirical literature suggests that households in developing countries often choose their energy type based on certain factors. We take this assumption to test in the Western Cape Province by employing a quantitative cross-sectional survey design involving a structured questionnaire from 1199 fuel-wood household consumers. The findings revealed that electricity access has made households to “move up the energy ladder” instead of “descending the energy ladder "for the reasons of household marital status, size of the household, household income, and employment status of the household. The study recommends more investment in human capital to enable households to have easy access to modern clean energyItem Cosmology from HI galaxy surveys with the SKA(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Maartens, Roy; Abdalla, Filipe B.; Bull, Philip; Camera, Stefano; Benoit-Levy, Aurelien; Joachimi, Benjamin; Kirk, Donnacha; Klöckner, Hans-Rainer; Raccanelli, Alvise; Santos, Mario G.; Zhao, Gong-BoThe Square Kilometer Array (SKA) has the potential to produce galaxy redshift surveys which will be competitive with other state of the art cosmological experiments in the next decade. In this chapter we summarise what capabilities the first and the second phases of the SKA will be able to achieve in its current state of design. We summarise the different cosmological experiments which are outlined in further detail in other chapters of this Science Book. The SKA will be able to produce competitive Baryonic Oscillation (BAOs) measurements in both its phases. The first phase of the SKA will provide similar measurements in optical and IR experiments with completely different systematic effects whereas the second phase being transformational in terms of its statistical power. The SKA will produce very accurate Redshift Space Distortions (RSD) measurements, being superior to other experiments at lower redshifts, due to the large number of galaxies. Cross correlations of the galaxy redshift data from the SKA with radio continuum surveys and optical surveys will provide extremely good calibration of photometric redshifts as well as extremely good bounds on modifications of gravity. Basing on a Principle Component Analysis (PCA) approach, we find that the SKA will be able to provide competitive constraint on dark energy and modified gravity models. Due to the large area covered the SKA it will be a transformational experiment in measuring physics from the largest scales such as non-Gaussian signals. Finally, the SKA might produce the first real time measurement of the redshift drift. The SKA will be a transformational machine for cosmology as it grows from an early Phase 1 to its full power.Item Cosmology on the largest scales with the SKA(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Camera, Stefano; Raccanelli, Alvise; Bull, Philip; Bertacca, Daniele; Chen, Xuelei; Ferreira, Pedro G.; Kunz, Martin; Maartens, Roy; Mao, Yi; Santos, Mario G.; Shapiro, Paul R.; Viel, Matteo; Xug, YidongThe study of the Universe on ultra-large scales is one of the major science cases for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The SKA will be able to probe a vast volume of the cosmos, thus representing a unique instrument, amongst next-generation cosmological experiments, for scrutinising the Universe’s properties on the largest cosmic scales. Probing cosmic structures on extremely large scales will have many advantages. For instance, the growth of perturbations is well understood for those modes, since it falls fully within the linear régime. Also, such scales are unaffected by the poorly understood feedback of baryonic physics. On ultra-large cosmic scales, two key effects become significant: primordial non-Gaussianity and relativistic corrections to cosmological observables. Moreover, if late-time acceleration is driven not by dark energy but by modifications to general relativity, then such modifications should become apparent near and above the horizon scale. As a result, the SKA is forecast to deliver transformational constraints on non-Gaussianity and to probe gravity on super-horizon scales for the first time.Item Cosmology with a SKA HI intensity mapping survey(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Santos, Mario G.; Bull, Philip; Alonso, David; Camera, Stefano; Ferreira, Pedro G.; Bernardi, Gianni; Maartens, Roy; Viel, Matteo; Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco; Abdalla, Filipe B.; Jarvis, Matt; Metcalf, R. Benton; Pourtsidou, A.; Wolz, LauraHI intensity mapping (IM) is a novel technique capable of mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe in three dimensions and delivering exquisite constraints on cosmology, by using HI as a biased tracer of the dark matter density field. This is achieved by measuring the intensity of the redshifted 21cm line over the sky in a range of redshifts without the requirement to resolve individual galaxies. In this chapter, we investigate the potential of SKA1 to deliver HI intensity maps over a broad range of frequencies and a substantial fraction of the sky. By pinning down the baryon acoustic oscillation and redshift space distortion features in the matter power spectrum – thus determining the expansion and growth history of the Universe – these surveys can provide powerful tests of dark energy models and modifications to General Relativity. They can also be used to probe physics on extremely large scales, where precise measurements of spatial curvature and primordial non-Gaussianity can be used to test inflation; on small scales, by measuring the sum of neutrino masses; and at high redshifts where non-standard evolution models can be probed. We discuss the impact of foregrounds as well as various instrumental and survey design parameters on the achievable constraints. In particular we analyse the feasibility of using the SKA1 autocorrelations to probe the large-scale signal.Item Measuring redshift-space distortion with future SKA surveys(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Raccanelli, Alvise; Bull, Philip; Camera, Stefano; Bacon, David; Blake, Chris; Dore, Olivier; Ferreira, Pedro G.; Maartens, Roy; Santos, Mario G.; Viel, Matteo; Zhao, Gong-BoThe peculiar motion of galaxies can be a particularly sensitive probe of gravitational collapse. As such, it can be used to measure the dynamics of dark matter and dark energy as well the nature of the gravitational laws at play on cosmological scales. Peculiar motions manifest themselves as an overall anisotropy in the measured clustering signal as a function of the angle to the line-ofsight, known as redshift-space distortion (RSD). Limiting factors in this measurement include our ability to model non-linear galaxy motions on small scales and the complexities of galaxy bias. The anisotropy in the measured clustering pattern in redshift-space is also driven by the unknown distance factors at the redshift in question, the Alcock-Paczynski distortion. This weakens growth rate measurements, but permits an extra geometric probe of the Hubble expansion rate. In this short chapter we will briefly describe the scientific background to the RSD technique, and forecast the potential of the SKA phase 1 and the SKA2 to measure the growth rate using both galaxy catalogues and intensity mapping, assessing their competitiveness with current and future optical galaxy surveys.Item Model-independent constraints on dark energy and modified gravity with the SKA(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Zhao, Gong-Bo; Bacon, David; Maartens, Roy; Santos, Mario G.; Raccanelli, AlviseEmploying a nonparametric approach of the principal component analysis (PCA), we forecast the future constraint on the equation of state w(z) of dark energy, and on the effective Newton constant m(k; z), which parameterise the effect of modified gravity, using the planned SKA HI galaxy survey. Combining with the simulated data of Planck and Dark Energy Survey (DES), we find that SKA Phase 1 (SKA1) and SKA Phase 2 (SKA2) can well constrain 3 and 5 eigenmodes of w(z) respectively. The errors of the best measured modes can be reduced to 0.04 and 0.023 for SKA1 and SKA2 respectively, making it possible to probe dark energy dynamics. On the other hand, SKA1 and SKA2 can constrain 7 and 20 eigenmodes of m(k; z) respectively within 10% sensitivity level. Furthermore, 2 and 7 modes can be constrained within sub percent level using SKA1 and SKA2 respectively. This is a significant improvement compared to the combined datasets without SKA.Item Overview of Cosmology with the SKA(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Maartens, Roy; Abdalla, Filipe B.; Jarvis, Matt; Santos, Mario G.The new frontier of cosmology will be led by three-dimensional surveys of the large-scale structure of the Universe. Based on its all-sky surveys and redshift depth, the SKA is destined to revolutionize cosmology, in combination with future optical/ infrared surveys such as Euclid and LSST. Furthermore, we will not have to wait for the full deployment of the SKA in order to see transformational science. In the first phase of deployment (SKA1), all-sky HI intensity mapping surveys and all-sky continuum surveys are forecast to be at the forefront on the major questions of cosmology. We give a broad overview of the major contributions predicted for the SKA. The SKA will not only deliver precision cosmology – it will also probe the foundations of the standard model and open the door to new discoveries on large-scale features of the Universe.Item Preface Metamorphism and Orogenic belts—response from micro- to macro-scale(Springerlink, 2019) reinhardt, jurgenThe geological toolbox for the analysis of orogenic processes has seen substantial additions over the recent decades. Major advances have been made in the ability to simulate geological conditions and processes by computer modeling, we have a much improved knowledge of geochemical processes (trace elements and isotopes in particular), and, last but not least, the range and versatility of micro-analytical methods and instrumentation available to us has been expanded dramatically. The latter aspect has had a particular impact on metamorphic petrology as the conventional tools to determine pressure-temperature-time paths via rock and mineral analysis combined with isotope geochronology have generally gained in precision and accuracy through a much improved resolution.Item Surveys with small optical telescopes(Oxford academic, 2019) gray, tonyodern astrophysics owes its existence to small-telescope surveys dating back to the 18th century, for example Flamsteed (1725). In the 19th century, Argelander’s survey based on visual observations with small telescopes and meridian circles culminated in the 1859 publication of the Bonner Durchmusterung (BD), a catalogue of northern hemisphere stars brighter than ninth magnitude, with accompanying charts (Batten 1991). The BD catalogue was later extended to the southern hemisphere by the Córdoba Durchmusterung (CD; 1892 onwards) prepared using Argelander’s method, and the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung (CPD; 1885onwards) based on photographic plates.Item Testing foundations of modern cosmology with SKA all-sky surveys(Proceedings of Science, 2014) Schwarz, Dominik J.; Bacon, David; Chen, Song; Clarkson, Chris; Huterer, Dragan; Kunz, Martin; Maartens, Roy; Raccanelli, Alvise; Rubart, Matthias; Starck, Jean-LucContinuum and HI surveys with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will allow us to probe some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern cosmology, including the Cosmological Principle. SKA all-sky surveys will map an enormous slice of space-time and reveal cosmology at superhorizon scales and redshifts of order unity. We illustrate the potential of these surveys and discuss the prospects to measure the cosmic radio dipole at high fidelity. We outline several potentially transformational tests of cosmology to be carried out by means of SKA all-sky surveys.]