The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey: The Multi-Telescope Robotic Observatory
The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) operates four fully automatic telescopes to search for occultations of stars by Kuiper Belt Objects. It is a versatile facility that is also useful for the study of initial optical GRB afterglows. This paper provides a detailed description of the TAOS multi-telescope system, control software, and high-speed imaging.

title: A Close Binary Star Resolved from Occultation by 87 Sylvia
abstract: The star BD +29 1748 was resolved to be a close binary from its occultation by the asteroid 87 Sylvia on 2006 December 18 UT. Four telescopes were used to observe this event at two sites separated by some 80 km. Two flux drops were observed at one site, whereas only one flux drop was detected at the other. From the long-term variation of Sylvia, we inferred the probable shape of the shadow during the occultation, and this in turn constrains the binary parameters: the two components of BD +29 1748 have a projected separation of 0:097-0:140 on the sky with a position angle 104°-110°. The asteroid was clearly resolved, with a size scale ranging from 130 to 290 km as projected onto the occultation direction, consistent with the size dimensions 385 × 265 × 230 km, mea- sured by direct adaptive optics imaging. No occultation was detected for either of the two known moonlets of 87 Sylvia.

title: HLS Turn-by-Turn System and its Application
abstract: Measurement principles and analysis of Turn-by-Turn beam position monitor system at Hefei Light Source (HLS) are presented in this paper. In emphases, several typical applications are presented here, which include the commissioning of upgraded injection system on HLS storage, monitoring of transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν transientν and damping time of storage ring, beam instability in injection, as well as experiments of low frequency feedback system. Precise analyses of experimental results offer some conclusions, which are consistent with theoretical expectations. The system plays an important role in study of beam instability and improvement of machine performance.

title: Bunch Tracing by Bunch by Bunch Measurement System in HLS
abstract: In this paper, we introduce a bunch tracing system which is based on a bunch-by-bunch (BxB) measurement system in Hefei Light Source (HLS), and present the analysis of the experiment results. Using an in-phase gate signal and a double balance mixer to control an external trigger of ADC, we test the reliability of the BxB system. By this system, we can trace all marked bunches in a set time slot or in manual burst mode. We can record all bunches’ data during the injection, ramping, wiggler excitation and normal operation, and provide a powerful facility for machine study.

title: The TAOS Project Stellar Variability II. Detection of 15 Variable Stars
abstract: The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) project has collected more than a billion photometric measurements since 2005 January. These sky survey data-covering timescales from a fraction of a second to a few hundred days-are a useful source to study stellar variability. A total of 167 star fields, mostly along the ecliptic plane, have been selected for photometric monitoring with the TAOS telescopes. This paper presents our initial analysis of a search for periodic variable stars from the time-series TAOS data on one particular TAOS field, No. 151 (RA = 17$^{\rm h}30^{\rm m}6\fs$67, Dec = 27\degr17\arcmin 30\arcsec, ), which had been observed over 47 epochs in 2005. A total of 81 candidate variables are identified in the 3 square degree field, with magnitudes in the range 8 < R < 16. On the basis of the periodicity and shape of the lightcurves, 29 variables, 15 of which were previously unknown, are classified as RR Lyrae, Cepheid, delta Scuti, SX Phonencis, semi-regular and eclipsing binaries.

title: Development of Measurement and Transverse Feedback System at HLS
abstract: In order to cure and damp coupled bunch (CB) instabilities caused by the high order modes (HOMs) of the RF cavity and the resistive wall impedance of the Ring vacuum chamber. HOMs are ineluctable during the operation of the accelerator. An observer system characterized by bunch by bunch measurement of transverse β oscillation and longitudinal synchrotron phase oscillation has been constructed and commissioned at Hefei Light Source (HLS) [1, 2]. A transverse bunch-by-bunch feedback system is under construction. The design and development of the observe systems, as well as diagnostics results of machine instabilities are presented in this paper.

title: The eighth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: first data from SDSS-III
abstract: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in 2008 August, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Lyα forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg2 in the southern Galactic cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameter pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high-metallicity stars.

title: Quantifying solar superactive regions with vector magnetic field observations
abstract: The vector magnetic field characteristics of superactive regions (SARs) hold the key for understanding why SARs are extremely active and provide the guidance in space weather prediction.  We aim to quantify the characteristics of SARs using the vector magnetograms taken by the Solar Magnetic Field Telescope at Huairou Solar Observatory Station.  The vector magnetic field characteristics of 14 SARs in solar cycles 22 and 23 were analyzed using the following four parameters: 1) the magnetic flux imbalance between opposite polarities; 2) the total photospheric free magnetic energy; 3) the length of the magnetic neutral line with its steep horizontal magnetic gradient; and 4) the area with strong magnetic shear. Furthermore, we selected another eight large and inactive active regions (ARs), which are called fallow ARs (FARs), to compare them with the SARs.  We found that most of the SARs have a net magnetic flux higher than 7.0×10 21 Mx, a total photospheric free magnetic energy higher than 1.0 ×10 24 ergcm −1 , a magnetic neutral line with a steep horizontal magnetic gradient (≥300 GMm −1 ) longer than 30 Mm, and an area with strong magnetic shear (shear angle ≥80 ◦ ) greater than 100 Mm 2 . In contrast, the values of these parameters for the FARs are mostly very low. The Pearson χ 2 test was used to examine the significance of the difference between the SARs and FARs, and the results indicate that these two types of ARs can be fairly distinguished by each of these parameters. The significance levels are 99.55%, 99.98%, 99.98%, and 99.96%, respectively. However, no single parameter can distinguish them perfectly. Therefore we propose a composite index based on these parameters, and find that the distinction between the two types of ARs is also significant with a significance level of 99.96%. These results are useful for a better physical understanding of the SAR and FAR.

title: The BES detector
abstract: The Beijing Spectrometer (BES) is a general purpose solenoidal detector at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC). It is designed to study exclusive final states in e + e − annihilations at the center of mass energy from 3.0 to 5.6 GeV. This requires large solid angle coverage combined with good charged particle momentum resolution, good particle identification and high photon detection efficiency at low energies. In this paper we describe the construction and the performance of BES detector.

title: POLARIZATION OF QUASARS: ELECTRON SCATTERING IN THE BROAD ABSORPTION LINE REGION
abstract: It is widely accepted that the broad absorption line region (BALR) exists in most (if not all) quasars with a small covering factor. Recent works showed that the BALR is optically thick to soft and even medium-energy X-rays, with a typical hydrogen column density of a few 1023 to >1024 cm-2. The electron scattering in the thick absorber might contribute significantly to the observed continuum polarization for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the electron scattering in the BALR by assuming an equatorial and axisymmetric outflow model. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to correct for the effect of radiative transfer. Assuming an average covering factor of 0.2 of the BALR, which is consistent with observations, we find that electron scattering in the BALR with a column density of ~4 × 1023 cm-2 can successfully produce the observed average continuum polarization for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs. The observed distribution of the continuum polarization of radio-quiet quasars (for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs) is used to constrain the dispersal distribution of the BALR. We find that to match the observations, the maximum continuum polarization produced by the BALR (while viewed edge-on) peaks at P = 0.34%, which is much smaller than the average continuum polarization of BAL QSOs (P = 0.93%). The discrepancy can be explained by a selection bias in which the BAL with a larger covering factor, and thus producing larger continuum polarization, is more likely to be detected. A larger sample of radio-quiet quasars with accurate measurement of the continuum polarization will give better constraints to the distribution of BALR properties.

title: The BTeV experiment at the Tevatron collider
abstract: The BTeV experiment is designed to study beauty and charm physics at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The goals are to make an exhaustive search for physics beyond the Standard Model and make precise measurements of the SM parameters. The description of the detector and the physics reach are presented.