Measurement of dijet electroproduction at small jet separation
Deep-inelastic scattering data in the range 150 < Q^2 < 35000 GeV^2 are used to investigate the minimum jet separation necessary to allow accurate description of the rate of dijet production using next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The required jet separation is found to be small, allowing about 1/3 of DIS data to be classified as dijet, as opposed to approximately 1/10 with more typical jet analyses. A number of precision measurements made using this dijet sample are well described by the calculations. The data are also described by the combination of leading order matrix elements and parton showers, as implemented in the QCD based Monte Carlo model RAPGAP.

title: Three-jet production in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA
abstract: Three-jet production is studied for the first time in deep-inelastic positron–proton scattering. The measurement carried out with the H1 detector at HERA covers a large range of four-momentum transfer squared 5 2 000 GeV 2 and invariant three-jet masses 25 3 jet ≲140 GeV . Jets are defined by the inclusive k ⊥ algorithm in the Breit frame. The size of the three-jet cross section and the ratio of the three-jet to the dijet cross section R 3/2 are described over the whole phase space by the predictions of perturbative QCD in next-to-leading order. The shapes of angular jet distributions deviate significantly from a uniform population of the available phase space but are well described by the QCD calculation.

title: Diffractive Jet Production in Deep-Inelastic $e^{+}p$ Collisions at HERA
abstract: A measurement is presented of dijet and 3-jet cross sections in low-\(|t|\) diffractive deep-inelastic scattering interactions of the type \(ep \rightarrow eXY\), where the system X is separated by a large rapidity gap from a low-mass baryonic system Y. Data taken with the H1 detector at HERA, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.0 pb\(^{-1}\), are used to measure hadron level single and double differential cross sections for \(4 4 \rm GeV\). The energy flow not attributed to jets is also investigated. The measurements are consistent with a factorising diffractive exchange with trajectory intercept close to 1.2 and tightly constrain the dominating diffractive gluon distribution. Viewed in terms of the diffractive scattering of partonic fluctuations of the photon, the data require the dominance of \(q\overline{q}g\) over \(q\overline{q}\) states. Soft colour neutralisation models in their present form cannot simultaneously reproduce the shapes and the normalisations of the differential cross sections. Models based on 2-gluon exchange are able to reproduce the shapes of the cross sections at low \(x_\mathbb{P}\) values.

title: Search for leptoquark bosons in ep collisions at HERA
abstract: A search for scalar and vector leptoquarks coupling to first generation fermions is performed using the e(+) p and e(-) p scattering data collected by the H1 experiment between 1994 and 2000. The data correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 117 pb(-1). No evidence for the direct or indirect production of such particles is found in data samples with a large transverse momentum final state electron or with large missing transverse momentum. Constraints on leptoquark models are established. For leptoquark couplings of electromagnetic strength, leptoquarks with masses up to 275-325 GeV are ruled out at 95% confidence level. These limits improve and supercede earlier H1 limits based on subsamples of the data used here.

title: Measurement of deeply virtual Compton scattering at HERA
abstract: The cross-section for deeply virtual Compton scattering in the reaction ep → egammap has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using integrated luminosities of 95.0 pb(-1) of e(+) p and 16.7 pb(-1) of e(-) p collisions. Differential cross-sections are presented as a function of the exchanged- photon virtuality, Q(2), and the centre-of-mass energy, W, of the gamma*p system in the region 5 lt Q(2) lt 100 GeV2 and 40 lt W lt 140 GeV. The measured cross-sections rise steeply with increasing W. The measurements are compared to QCD-based calculations.

title: Measurement and QCD Analysis of Neutral and Charged Current Cross Sections at HERA
abstract: The inclusive e(+)p single and double differential cross sections for neutral and charged current processes axe measured with the H1 detector at HERA. The data were taken in 1999 and 2000 at a centre-of-mass energy of roots = 319 GeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 65.2 pb(-1). The cross sections are measured in the range of four-momentum transfer squared Q(2) between 100 and 30 000 GeV2 and Bjorken x between 0.0013 and 0.65. The neutral current analysis for the new e(+)p data and the earlier e-p data taken in 1998 and 1999 is extended to small energies of the scattered electron and therefore to higher values of inelasticity y, allowing a determination of the longitudinal structure function F-L at high Q(2) (110 - 700 GeV2). A new measurement of the structure function x (F) over tilde (3) is obtained using the new e(+)p and previously published e p neutral current cross section data at high Q(2). These data together with H1 low Q(2) precision data are further used to perform new next-to-leading order QCD analyses in the framework of the Standard Model to extract flavour separated parton distributions in the proton.

title: HETE-2 Localizations and Observations of Four Short Gamma-Ray Bursts: GRBs 010326B, 040802, 051211 and 060121
abstract: Here we report the localizations and properties of four short-duration GRBs localized by the High Energy Transient Explorer 2 satellite (HETE-2): GRBs 010326B, 040802, 051211 and 060121, all of which were detected by the French Gamma Telescope (Fregate) and localized with the Wide-field X-ray Monitor (WXM) and/or Soft X-ray Camera (SXC) instruments. We discuss eight possible criteria for determining whether these GRBs are "short population bursts" (SPBs) or "long population bursts" (LPBs). These criteria are (1) duration, (2) pulse widths, (3) spectral hardness, (4) spectral lag, (5) energy Egamma radiated in gamma rays (or equivalently, the kinetic energy E_KE of the GRB jet), (6) existence of a long, soft bump following the burst, (7) location of the burst in the host galaxy, and (8) type of host galaxy. In particular, we have developed a likelihood method for determining the probability that a burst is an SPB or a LPB on the basis of its T90 duration alone. A striking feature of the resulting probability distribution is that the T90 duration at which a burst has an equal probability of being a SPB or a LPB is T90 = 5 s, not T90 = 2 s, as is often used. All four short-duration bursts discussed in detail in this paper have T90 durations in the Fregate 30-400 keV energy band of 1.90, 2.31, 4.25, and 1.97 sec, respectively, yielding probabilities P(S|T90) = 0.97, 0.91, 0.60, and 0.95 that these bursts are SPBs on the basis of their T90 durations alone. All four bursts also have spectral lags consistent with zero. These results provide strong evidence that all four GRBs are SPBs (abstract continues).

title: GRB Redshift Evolution Within the Unified Jet Model
abstract: HETE‐2 has provided new evidence that gamma‐ray bursts may evolve with redshift. We investigate the consequences of this possibility for the unified jet model of XRFs and GRBs. We find that burst evolution with redshift can be naturally explained within the unified jet model, and the resulting model provides excellent agreement with existing HETE‐2 and BeppoSAX data sets. In addition, this evolution model produces reasonable fits to the BATSE peak photon number flux distribution — something that cannot be easily done without redshift evolution.

title: MAGNETIC WHITE DWARFS FROM THE SDSS . THE FIRST DATA RELEASE
abstract: Beyond its goals related to the extragalactic universe, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is an effective tool for identifying stellar objects with unusual spectral energy distributions. Here we report on the 53 new magnetic white dwarfs discovered during the first two years of the survey, including 38 whose data are made public in the 1500 square-degree First Data Release. Discoveries span the magnitude range 16.3 ≤ g ≤ 20.5, and based on the recovery rate for previously-known magnetic white dwarfs, the completeness of the SDSS appears to be high for reasonably hot stars with B & 3 MG and g & 15. The new objects nearly double the total number of known magnetic white dwarfs, and include examples with polar field strengths Bp > 500 MG as well as several with exotic atmospheric compositions. The improved sample statistics and uniformity indicate that the distribution of magnetic white dwarfs has a broad peak in the range ∼5− 30 MG and a tail extending to nearly 10 G. Degenerates with polar fields Bp & 50 MG are consistent with being descendents of magnetic Ap/Bp main-sequence stars, but lowand moderate-field magnetic white dwarfs appear to imply another origin. Yet-undetected magnetic F-type stars with convective envelopes that destroy the ordered underlying field are attractive candidates.  white dwarfs — stars:magnetic fields

title: Implications of recent observational discoveries for the nature and origin of gamma-ray bursts
abstract: The discoveries that GRBs have X-ray, optical and radio afterglows have connected the study of GRBs to the rest of astronomy, and revolutionized the field. In this review, I discuss the implications that the observation of these afterglows have for burst energies and luminosities, and for models of the bursts and their afterglows. I describe recent evidence linking the long, softer, smoother GRBs detected by BeppoSAX and core collapse supernovae. Finally, I summarize recent work showing that, if these GRBs are due to the collapse of massive stars, they may provide a powerful probe of the very high redshift universe.

title: SDSS J124602.54 + 011318.8: A Highly Luminous Optical Transient at z = 0.385*
abstract: We report the discovery of a highly luminous optical transient (OT), SDSS J124602.54 + 011318.8, associated with a galaxy at a redshift of 0.385. In this paper, we consider the possibility that the OT may be a gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow. Three sets of images and two sets of spectra were obtained as part of the normal operations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In the first two image sets, observed two nights apart, the object appears as a point source at r* ≈ 17. The third image set, observed about 410 days later, shows an extended source which is more than 2.5 mags fainter. The spectra were observed about 400 and 670 days after the first two image sets, and both show an apparently normal galaxy at a redshift of 0.385. Associating the OT with the galaxy, the absolute magnitude was M = -24.8, which is over 4 mag brighter than the most luminous supernova ever measured. The spectral energy distributions of the galaxy-subtracted OT derived from the first two image sets are well-fitted by single power laws with indices of βν = -0.92 and -1.29, respectively, similar to most GRB afterglows. Based upon the luminosity of the OT, nondetections in contemporaneous ROTSE I images and the change in spectral slope, the OT, if an afterglow, was likely discovered early during a plateau or slowly fading phase. The discovery of a GRB afterglow at this stage of the SDSS is consistent with expectations, but only if the optical emission is much less strongly beamed than the gamma rays. We emphasize that other explanations for the OT cannot be ruled out; a recent follow-up study by Gal-Yam et al. (2002) provides strong evidence that this source is in fact an unusual active galactic nucleus (AGN).