Exploring the Outer Solar System with the ESSENCE Supernova Survey
We report the discovery and orbital determination of 14 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the ESSENCE Supernova Survey difference imaging data set. Two additional objects discovered in a similar search of the SDSS-II Supernova Survey database were recovered in this effort. ESSENCE repeatedly observed fields far from the solar system ecliptic (–21° < β < –5°), reaching limiting magnitudes per observation of I ≈ 23.1 and R ≈ 23.7. We examine several of the newly detected objects in detail, including 2003 UC414, which orbits entirely between Uranus and Neptune and lies very close to a dynamical region that would make it stable for the lifetime of the solar system. 2003 SS422 and 2007 TA418 have high eccentricities and large perihelia, making them candidate members of an outer class of TNOs. We also report a new member of the "extended" or "detached" scattered disk, 2004 VN112, and verify the stability of its orbit using numerical simulations. This object would have been visible to ESSENCE for only ~2% of its orbit, suggesting a vast number of similar objects across the sky. We emphasize that off-ecliptic surveys are optimal for uncovering the diversity of such objects, which in turn will constrain the history of gravitational influences that shaped our early solar system.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: The Heidelberg cosmic ray project - aims and status
abstract: A new type of Extensive Air Shower (EAS) array is proposed which is based on the measurement of individual cosmic ray tracks and muon identification. Air showers can be detected in the range from 10 12 eV up to the highest energies. The direction of the primary γ-ray will be reconstructed with accuracies typically in the range of 0.1° to 0.3°. The sensitivity for the detection of point sources will be improved by about a factor of 100 in comparison to existing conventional EAS arrays or Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescopes.

title: MEASUREMENT AND STABILIZATION OF THE BUNCH ARRIVAL TIME AT FLASH
abstract: To fully exploit the experimental opportunities offered by the 10 − 30 fs long light pulses from FLASH, e.g. in pump-probe experiments, precise measurements and control of the electron-bunch arrival-time on the 10 fs scale are needed. A bunch arrival time monitor which uses the optical synchronization system of FLASH as a reference has been developed for this purpose. The bunch-induced signal from a GHz-bandwidth beam pick-up is guided into an electro-optical modulator in which the periodic laser pulse train of the optical synchronization system experiences an amplitude modulation. Detection of this modulation allows to determine the bunch arrival time with a resolution of better than 10 fs. The superconducting linac of FLASH generates trains of up to 800 bunches. The signals from the bunch arrival time monitor can be used for an intrabunch train feedback stabilizing the arrival time to 40 fs (rms). The feedback is capable of generating well-defined arrival time patterns within a bunch train which are useful for overlap-scans in pump-probe experiments. First results from the feedback installed at FLASH will be presented.

title: Axion searches with the EDELWEISS-II experiment
abstract: We present new constraints on the couplings of axions and more generic axion-like particles using data from the EDELWEISS-II experiment. The EDELWEISS experiment, located at the Underground Laboratory of Modane, primarily aims at the direct detection of WIMPs using germanium bolometers. It is also sensitive to the low-energy electron recoils that would be induced by solar or dark matter axions. Using a total exposure of up to 448 kg.d, we searched for axion-induced electron recoils down to 2.5 keV within four scenarios involving different hypotheses on the origin and couplings of axions. We set a 95% CL limit on the coupling to photons $g_{A\gamma}<2.13\times 10^{-9}$ GeV$^{-1}$ in a mass range not fully covered by axion helioscopes. We also constrain the coupling to electrons, $g_{Ae} < 2.56\times 10^{-11}$, similar to the more indirect solar neutrino bound. Finally we place a limit on $g_{Ae}\times g_{AN}^{\rm eff}<4.70 \times 10^{-17}$, where $g_{AN}^{\rm eff}$ is the effective axion-nucleon coupling for $^{57}$Fe. Combining these results we fully exclude the mass range $0.91\,{\rm eV}

title: The Outer Tracker detector of the HERA-B experiment. Part II: Front-end electronics
abstract: The HERA-B Outer Tracker is a large detector with 112,674 drift chamber channels. It is exposed to a particle flux of up to 2 × 10 5 cm - 2 s - 1 thus coping with conditions similar to those expected for the LHC experiments. The front-end readout system, based on the ASD-8 chip and a customized TDC chip, is designed to fulfil the requirements on low noise, high sensitivity, rate tolerance, and high integration density. The TDC system is based on an ASIC which digitizes the time in bins of about 0.5 ns within a total of 256 bins. The chip also comprises a pipeline to store data from 128 events which is required for a deadtime-free trigger and data acquisition system. We report on the development, installation, and commissioning of the front-end electronics, including the grounding and noise suppression schemes, and discuss its performance in the HERA-B experiment.

title: Evidence for the decay $B^0\to J/\psi \omega$ and measurement of the relative branching fractions of $B^0_s$ meson decays to $J/\psi\eta$ and $J/\psi\eta^{'}$
abstract: First evidence of the $B^0\to J/\psi\omega$ decay is found and the $B_{s}^0\to J/\psi\eta$ and $B_{s}^0\to J/\psi\eta^{\prime}$ decays are studied using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The branching fractions of these decays are measured relative to that of the $\mathrm{B}^0\to J/\psi\rho^0$ decay: $$\frac{Br(B^0\to J/\psi\omega)}{Br(B^0\to J/\psi\rho^0)} = 0.89 \pm0.19(stat)^{+0.07}_{-0.13}(syst)$$ $$\frac{Br(B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta)}{Br(B^0\to J/\psi\rho^0)} = 14.0 \pm 1.2(stat)^{+1.1}_{-1.5}(syst)^{+1.1}_{-1.0}(\frac{f_d}{f_s}),$$ $$\frac{Br(B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta^{\prime})}{Br(B^0\to J/\psi\rho^0)} = 12.7\pm1.1(stat)^{+0.5}_{-1.3}(syst)^{+1.0}_{-0.9}(\frac{f_d}{f_s}),$$ where the last uncertainty is due to the knowledge of $f_d/f_s$, the ratio of b-quark hadronization factors that accounts for the different production rate of $B^0$ and $B^0_s$ mesons. The ratio of the branching fractions of $B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta^{\prime}$ and $B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta$ decays is measured to be $$ \frac{Br(B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta^{\prime})}{Br(B^0_s\to J/\psi\eta)} = 0.90\pm0.09(stat)^{+0.06}_{-0.02}(syst).$$