Monthly Archives: January 2019

KERNEL, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur

My Innovation Is… on Youtube?

Back in November last year, the concept of kernel-nuller was featured as one of the ten projects selected by the SATT Sud-Est in the context of the innovation challenge called “My Innovation Is…”. Yesterday, the following video was posted on youtube… enjoy!

The following text was extracted from the description of the video (available here):

SATT Sud-Est and its partners present the Superheroes of Innovation, winners of the My innovation is… 2018 competition. During the third edition of the “My Innovation Is…” competition, held on November 27, 2018 at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France, 10 researchers and future startuppers from the public laboratories of the South & Corsica Regions presented their innovative projects before a jury of experts.

Ignacio CASUSO, Inserm, is able to visualize the nervous system at the molecular level. Sébastien GIRAUD (Aix-Marseille Université) is able to evaluate proprioception to better communicate with our body. Olivier CHUZEL of Aix-Marseille Université has the power to selectively kill cancer cells. Soraya MEZOUAR (Aix-Marseille University) is developing a new therapy using placental stem cells. Eric LECHEVALLIER (AP-HM) can describe and quantify the intensity of a bleed using a connected tool. Manuel ESPINOSA of the University of Corsica controls the storage of solar energy. Christine CONTINO-PEPIN from Avignon Université is able to extract and stabilize compounds of plant origin in an eco-compatible way. Michel Alain BARTOLI (AP-HM) is developing a stent graft dedicated to the endovascular treatment of aortic diseases. Mikaël CHELLI of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice masters medical statistics thanks to an autonomous application. Frantz MARTINACHE (Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur) reveals the presence of extrasolar planets in search of habitable worlds. Faced with a merciless jury, they had to fight to convince and ensure the next generation of innovation.

It’s not every day you are called a “super-hero” of innovation 😉

astrophysics, KERNEL

Kernel-phase science paper accepted by A&A!

Romain Laugier, PhD student contributing to the KERNEL project, saw his first paper accepted by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The paper shows how images affected by some amount of saturation can be salvaged to make them kernel-compatible again.

Using an archival HST/NICMOS dataset from 1997, Romain was able to show on a known low-mass binary that the recovery algorithm is effective. The signature of the 4.36 magnitude contrast companion, invisible in the original image, is present in the kernel-phase extracted from that image. This kernel-signature was used to constrain the position and contrast of the companion.

Saturated HST/NICMOS image of Gl 494.

This new resolved observation of the low mass companion to Gl 494 along with other recently published images, combined with a long series of archival radial velocity observations by two instruments, lead to very strong constraints on the orbital elements, and ultimately, the dynamical masses of this binary object.

Visual orbit of Gl 494 b.
Radial velocity of Gl 494 induced by the presence of the low mass companion.

Congratulations to Romain for successfully bringing this paper to the finish line: may this be the first of many others to come! The preprint version of the paper is available for download on the arXiv.org website: http://arxiv.org/abs/1901.02824