Constraining Cosmic Evolution of Type Ia Supernovae
We present a large-scale effort of creating composite spectra of high-redshift SNe Ia and comparing them to low-redshift counterparts in an attempt to understand possible cosmic evolution of SNe Ia, which has major implications for studies of dark energy. Through the ESSENCE project, we have obtained 107 spectra of 88 high-redshift SNe Ia with excellent light-curve information. In addition, we have obtained 397 spectra of low-redshift SNe Ia through a multiple-decade effort at the Lick and Keck Observatories, and we have used 45 UV spectra obtained by HST and IUE. The low-redshift spectra act as a control sample when comparing to the ESSENCE spectra. In all instances, the ESSENCE and Lick composite spectra appear very similar. The addition of galaxy light to the Lick composite spectra allows an excellent match of the overall SED with the ESSENCE composite spectra, indicating that the high-redshift SNe are more contaminated with host galaxy light than their low-redshift counterparts. This is caused by observing objects at all redshifts with similar angular slit widths, which corresponds to different projected physical distances. After correcting for the galaxy light contamination, a few marginally significant differences in the spectra remain. We have estimated the systematic errors when using current spectral templates for K-corrections to be ~0.02 mag. The variance in the composite spectra gives an estimate of the intrinsic variance in low-redshift maximum light SN spectra of ~3% relative flux in the optical and growing toward the UV. The difference between the maximum light low- and high-redshift spectra constrains the evolution of SN spectral features between our samples to be <10% relative flux in the rest-frame optical. Currently, galaxy contamination and the small samples of rest-frame UV spectra at low and high redshifts are the limiting factors for future studies.

title: The Mount Stromlo A bell Cluster Supernova Search
abstract: We have initiated a 3 year project to find supernovae in a well-defined sample of high-density southern Abell clusters with redshifts z ≤ 0.08. These observations will provide a volume-limited sample of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to more than a magnitude below their peak brightness and will enable us to (1) measure the luminosity function of SNe, (2) further explore the correlation of light-curve shape with the absolute luminosity of SNe Ia to better understand SNe Ia as distance indicators, (3) measure SN rates, (4) measure the bulk motion of the Local Group using SNe Ia, and (5) directly compare SN Ia distances with brightest cluster galaxy distances. We use the MACHO wide-field two-color imager on the 1.3 m telescope at Mount Stromlo to routinely monitor ~12 clusters per week. We describe our technique for target selection and scheduling search observations, and for finding and identifying SN candidates. We also describe the results from the first year of our program, including the detection of 19 SNe, several RR Lyrae variables, and hundreds of asteroids.

title: HATS-1b: The First Transiting Planet Discovered by the HATSouth Survey
abstract: We report the discovery of HATS-1b, a transiting extrasolar planet orbiting the moderately bright V = 12.05 G dwarf star GSC 6652-00186, and the first planet discovered by HATSouth, a global network of autonomous wide-field telescopes. HATS-1b has a period of P 3.4465 days, mass of Mp 1.86 M J, and radius of Rp 1.30 R J. The host star has a mass of 0.99 M ☉ and radius of 1.04 R ☉. The discovery light curve of HATS-1b has near-continuous coverage over several multi-day timespans, demonstrating the power of using a global network of telescopes to discover transiting planets.

title: The Science Case for PILOT I: Summary and Overview
abstract: PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5-m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. Conditions at Dome C are known to be exceptional for astronomy. The seeing (above ∼30 m height), coherence time, and isoplanatic angle are all twice as good as at typical mid-latitude sites, while the water-vapour column, and the atmosphere and telescope thermal emission are all an order of magnitude better. These conditions enable a unique scientific capability for PILOT, which is addressed in this series of papers. The current paper presents an overview of the optical and instrumentation suite for PILOT and its expected performance, a summary of the key science goals and observational approach for the facility, a discussion of the synergies between the science goals for PILOT and other telescopes, and a discussion of the future of Antarctic astronomy.

title: A THEORETICAL COLOR-VELOCITY CORRELATION FOR SUPERNOVAE ASSOCIATED WITH GAMMA-RAY BURSTS
abstract: We carry out the first multi-dimensional radiative transfer calculations to simultaneously compute synthetic spectra and light curves for models of supernovae driven by fast bipolar outflows. These allow us to make self-consistent predictions for the orientation dependence of both color evolution and spectral features. We compare models with different degrees of asphericity and metallicity and find significant observable consequences of both. In aspherical models, we find spectral and light curve features that vary systematically with observer orientation. In particular, we find that the early-phase light curves are brighter and bluer when viewed close to the polar axis but that the peak flux is highest for equatorial (off-axis) inclinations. Spectral line features also depend systematically on observer orientation, including the velocity of the Si II 6355 A line. Consequently, our models predict a correlation between line velocity and color that could assist the identification of supernovae associated with off-axis jet-driven explosions. The amplitude and range of this correlation depends on the degree of asphericity, the metallicity, and the epoch of observation but we find that it is always present and acts in the same direction.

title: First Searches for Optical Counterparts to Gravitational-wave Candidate Events
abstract: During the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type.

title: LAYOUT OF THE OPTICAL SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM FOR FLASH
abstract: At FLASH, we observe an electron bunch arrival time jitter ∼ 200 fs on a timescale of several minutes and drifts of picoseconds over the course of a day.. The short term jitter of 200 fs is mainly due to the amplitude stability of the first acceleration module. The long-term drifts however, are predominantly caused by the RF distribution and various front ends of the synchronization system. We propose a new type of synchronization system based on optical techniques. The optical synchronization system will satisfy 2 goals: Firstly to provide a high-stability local oscillator for low-level RF regulation, secondly to synchronize experimental lasers for the FEL users and for beam diagnostics which might also utilize the timing laser pulse train directly.

title: Measurement of the CKM angle $\gamma$ using $B^\pm \to D K^\pm$ with $D \to K^0_{\rm S} \pi^+\pi^-, K^0_{\rm S} K^+ K^-$ decays

title: MICROSTRIP GAS CHAMBERS : RECENT DEVELOPMENTS, RADIATION DAMAGE AND LONG-TERM BEHAVIOR
abstract: In the past years the technology of Microstrip Gas Chambers (MSGC) has made considerable progress offering a variety of possible new applications in various fields of research. MSGC are used to detect neutrons, X-rays, synchrotron radiation and VUV light as well as the full range of ionizing particles in nuclear and high energy physics. A variety of systematic studies led to a considerable increase in understanding of the functional principle and limiting parameters of the MSGC technology and enabled improved performances. In view of the large (HERA-B) and very large (CMS) detector systems planning to use MSGC in intense hadronic particle fluxes, the question of radiation hardness and long-term stability is of special importance. The problem of micro discharges, induced by heavy ionizing particles and destroying the electrode structure, turned out to be a major limitation to the applicability of MSGC in hadronic beams and demanded for new and revised solutions. The present status and future perspectives of the various technologies are discussed.

title: TADPOLE for longitudinal electron-bunch diagnostics based on electro-optic upconversion
abstract: Electron-bunch diagnostics are desired to utilize unambiguous, non-destructive, single-shot techniques. Various methods fulfill the latter two demands, but feature significant ambiguities and constraints in the reconstruction of time-domain electron-bunch profiles, e.g. uncertainties arising from the phase retrieval of coherent radiation using the Kramers–Kronig relation. We present a novel method of measuring the spectral phase. The measurement is based on upconversion in an electro-optic crystal, where the THz-field spectrum of fs-electron bunches is shifted to the near-infrared. This technique allows the single-shot detection of its longitudinal form factor in both, amplitude and phase. The spectral phase and amplitude information is measured and thus the temporal profile reconstructed using temporal analysis by dispersing a pair of light E-fields, also known as TADPOLE. This is a combination of frequency resolved optical gating (FROG) and spectral interferometry, enabling the temporal measurement of low-power laser pulses. In this procedure, a narrow-bandwidth laser pulse detecting the longitudinal variations in the transverse electric field of an electron bunch via frequency mixing is interfered with a broadband and FROG-characterized reference pulse. The longitudinal beam profile may therefore be unambiguously inferred from the generated interferogram and the detected spectral-phase-information of the reference pulse.

title: Performance of the NOMAD-STAR detector
abstract: The NOMAD-STAR detector is a silicon vertex installed in the NOMAD spectrometer at the CERN SPS neutrino beam. It consists of four layers of a passive boron carbide target with a total mass of 45 kg and five layers of 600 single sided silicon microstrip detectors covering a total area of 1.14m^2. About 11,500 nu_mu charged current interactions were reconstructed in the fiducial volume of NOMAD-STAR from the neutrino run in 1998. The potential use of silicon detectors for nu_mu (nu_e) nu_tau oscillations depends on the observation of the tau candidates by the experimental signature of a large impact parameter, in the case of the one prong decay of the tau, or a double vertex, in the case of the three prong decay. The main aim of NOMAD-STAR is to measure the impact parameter and vertex distributions of charged current interactions, which constitute the main backgrounds for the oscillation signals, to understand the significance of a potential signal in a future experiment. The present paper describes the experience gained in the operation of this silicon vertex detector, and the peformance achieved with it.