VAST: An ASKAP survey for variables and slow transients
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae, and orphan afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of 5 s and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.

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: 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 operation of a free-electron laser generating GW power 
radiation at 32 nm wavelength
abstract: Many scientific disciplines ranging from physics, chemistry and biology to 
material sciences, geophysics and medical diagnostics need a powerful X-ray 
source with pulse lengths in the femtosecond range [1-4]. This would 
allow, for example, time-resolved observation of chemical reactions with 
atomic resolution. Such radiation of extreme intensity, and tunable over a 
wide range of wavelengths, can be accomplished using high-gain free-electron 
lasers (FEL) [5-10]. Here we present results of the first successful 
operation of an FEL at a wavelength of 32 nm, with ultra-short pulses (25 fs 
FWHM), a peak power at the Gigawatt level, and a high degree of transverse 
and longitudinal coherence. The experimental data are in full agreement with 
theory. This is the shortest wavelength achieved with an FEL to date and an 
important milestone towards a user facility designed for wavelengths down to 6 nm. With a peak brilliance exceeding the state-of-the-art of synchrotron radiation sources [4] by seven orders of magnitude, this device opens a new field of experiments, and it paves the way towards sources with even shorter wavelengths, such as the Linac Coherent Light Source [3] at Stanford, USA, and the European X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility [4] in Hamburg, Germany.

title: Observation of $B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi$ decay and study of $B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1,2}K^{*0}$ decays
abstract: The first observation of the decay $B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi$ and a study of $B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1,2}K^{*0}$ decays are presented. The analysis is performed using a dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: \begin{equation*} \begin{array}{lll} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi)}{\cal{B}(B^0_s\rightarrow J/\psi\phi)} &=& (18.9 \pm1.8\,(stat)\pm1.3\,(syst)\pm0.8\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1}K^{*0})}{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow J/\psiK^{*0})} &=& (19.8 \pm1.1\,(stat)\pm1.2\,(syst)\pm0.9\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c2}K^{*0})}{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c 1}K^{*0})} &=& (17.1 \pm5.0\,(stat)\pm1.7\,(syst)\pm1.1\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \end{array} \end{equation*} \noindent where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of ${\chi_{c}\rightarrow J/\psi \gamma}$ modes.

title: SINGLE SHOT LONGITUDINAL BUNCH PROFILE MEASUREMENTS AT FLASH USING ELECTRO-OPTIC TECHNIQUES
abstract: For the high-gain operation of a SASE FEL, extremely short electron bunches are essential to generate sufficiently high peak currents. At the superconducting linac of FLASH at DESY, we have installed an electro-optic experiment with temporal decoding and spectral decoding to probe the time structure of the electric field of single sub-200 fs electron bunches. In this technique, the fieldinduced birefringence in an electro-optic crystal is encoded on a chirped ps laser pulse. The longitudinal electric field profile of the electron bunch is then obtained from the encoded optical pulse by a single-shot cross correlation with a 30 fs laser pulse using a second-harmonic crystal (temporal decoding) or by a single-shot measurement of its spectrum (spectral decoding). In the temporal decoding measurements an electro-optic signal of 110 fs FWHM was observed, which is limited by the material properties of the particular electro-optic crystal used. Bunch profile and time jitter measurements were obtained simultaneously with SASE operation.

title: The LHCb upgrade detector
abstract: The LHCb experiment has been designed to perform precision measurements of CP asymmetries and to investigate potential effects of physics beyond the Standard Model. Results obtained from data collected in 2010 and 2011 show that the detector is robust and functioning well. While LHCb will be able to measure a host of interesting channels in heavy flavour decays in the coming years, a limit of about 1-2 fb−1 of data per year can only be overcome by upgrading the detector. With a detector read out at 40 MHz, a much more flexible software-based triggering strategy will allow a large increase not only in the data rate, as the detector will collect 5 fb−1 per year, but also in the ability to increase trigger efficiencies especially in decays to hadronic final states. In addition, it will be possible to modify trigger algorithms in order to explore different physics as LHC discoveries point to the most interesting channels. Here a short description of the physics motivations and proposed detector changes for exploring new phenomena in proton-proton collisions near 14 TeV centre-of-mass energy are presented.

title: Helium molecular gas mixtures for high resolution drift chambers
abstract: A comprehensive experimental study of helium based counting gases is presented. The properties of electron transport and gas amplification in mixtures of helium with a variety of molecular additives have been studied and compared with a standard argon based gas. Mixtures of helium with isobutane of CF 4 combine a low multiple scattering with excellent gas amplification properties and transport parameters.