HATSouth: A Global Network of Fully Automated Identical Wide-Field Telescopes*
HATSouth is the world's first network of automated and homogeneous telescopes that is capable of year-round 24 hr monitoring of positions over an entire hemisphere of the sky. The primary scientific goal of the network is to discover and characterize a large number of transiting extrasolar planets, reaching out to long periods and down to small planetary radii. HATSouth achieves this by monitoring extended areas on the sky, deriving high precision light curves for a large number of stars, searching for the signature of planetary transits, and confirming planetary candidates with larger telescopes. HATSouth employs six telescope units spread over three prime locations with large longitude separation in the southern hemisphere (Las Campanas Observatory, Chile; HESS site, Namibia; Siding Spring Observatory, Australia). Each of the HATSouth units holds four 0.18 m diameter f/2.8 focal ratio telescope tubes on a common mount producing an 8.2° × 8.2° field of view on the sky, imaged using four 4 K × 4 K CCD cameras and Sloan r filters, to give a pixel scale of 3.7'' pixel-1. The HATSouth network is capable of continuously monitoring 128 square arc degrees at celestial positions moderately close to the anti-solar direction. We present the technical details of the network, summarize operations, and present detailed weather statistics for the three sites. Robust operations have meant that on average each of the six HATSouth units has conducted observations on ~500 nights over a 2 years time period, yielding a total of more than 1 million science frames at a 4 minute integration time and observing ~10.65 hr day-1 on average. We describe the scheme of our data transfer and reduction from raw pixel images to trend-filtered light curves and transiting planet candidates. Photometric precision reaches ~6 mmag at 4 minute cadence for the brightest non-saturated stars at r ≈ 10.5. We present detailed transit recovery simulations to determine the expected yield of transiting planets from HATSouth. We highlight the advantages of networked operations, namely, a threefold increase in the expected number of detected planets, as compared to all telescopes operating from the same site.

title: UPGRADE AND EVALUATION OF THE BUNCH COMPRESSION MONITOR AT THE FREE-ELECTRON LASER IN HAMBURG (FLASH)
abstract: The control and stabilization of RF systems for accelerators are of considerable importance. In case of high-gain free-electron lasers (FEL) with magnetic bunch compressors, the RF phases determine the attainable bunch peak current, which is a relevant parameter for driving the FEL process. In order to measure the bunch peak current in a simple and fast but indirect way, both bunch compressors at FLASH are equipped with compression monitors (BCM) based on pyroelectric detectors and diffraction radiators. They provide substantial information to tune the bunch compression and are used for a beam-based feedback to stabilize the RF phases. This monitor system became more important and more challenging after the installation of a third-harmonic RF system for longitudinal phase space linearization. In this paper, we describe the hardware upgrade of the bunch compression monitor and show the expected performance by simulations of the CDR source and the radiation transport optics. Particle tracking simulations are used for generation of the simulated BCM signal for various compression schemes. Comparison with experimental data will be presented.

title: Electro-optic time profile monitors for femtosecond electron bunches at the soft x-ray free-electron laser FLASH
abstract: Precise measurements of the temporal profile of ultrashort electron bunches are of high interest for the optimization and operation of ultraviolet and x-ray free-electron lasers. The electro-optic (EO) technique has been applied for a single-shot direct visualization of the time profile of individual electron bunches at FLASH. This paper presents a thorough description of the experimental setup and the results. An absolute calibration of the EO technique has been performed utilizing simultaneous measurements with a transverse-deflecting radio-frequency structure that transforms the longitudinal bunch charge distribution into a transverse streak. EO signals as short as 60 fs (rms) have been observed using a gallium-phosphide (GaP) crystal, which is a new record in the EO detection of single electron bunches and close to the physical limit imposed by the EO material properties. The data are in quantitative agreement with a numerical simulation of the EO detection process.

title: BUNCH COMPRESSION MONITOR
abstract: The longitudinal charge distribution in the electron bunches has a strong impact on the lasing process in a Free-Electron Laser based on the principle of Self Amplified Spontaneous Emission of radiation. For the ultraviolet and soft X ray FEL FLASH at DESY, structures in the range of ten to hundred micrometers play a crucial role. The investigation of the longitudinal charge distribution in the electron bunches on a bunch-by-bunch basis is an important issue for optimizing the bunch compression and improving the performance of the machine. This paper introduces a new tool for longitudinal diagnostics based on THz spectroscopy of coherent radiation. A novel spectrometer has been designed which permits to analyze the radiation of single electron bunches in a broad spectral range and with high resolution. Preliminary measurements with this spectrometer are presented. A strong variation of the CTR intensity in the 40 μm regime is observed when the off-crest phase in the accelerating cavities preceding the first magnetic bunch compressor is changed in small steps. This variation in the CTR intensity is found to be correlated with a similar variation in the pulse energy of the FEL light. Hence the THz spectrometer appears to be a very sensitive device for controlling the parameters of the bunch compression scheme.

title: ELECTRON DRIFT VELOCITY AND TOWNSEND COEFFICIENT IN DME-BASED GAS MIXTURES
abstract: Drift velocity and Townsend coefficients in pure DME, Ar–DME (50/50) and (80/20) and Ne–DME (50/50) and (80/20) mixtures have been measured for high and very high electric fields. The use of a modified pulsed Townsend technique allowed the study of electron transport close to the steady breakdown field of the gas.

title: A SUB 100 FS ELECTRON BUNCH ARRIVAL-TIME MONITOR SYSTEM FOR FLASH
abstract: The stability of free-electron lasers and experiments carried out in pump-probe configurations depends sensitively on precise synchronization between the photoinjector laser, low-level RF-systems, probe lasers, and other components in the FEL. A precise measurement of the arrival-time of the electron bunch with respect to the clock signal of a master oscillator is, therefore, of special importance. For this task, we propose an arrival-time monitor based on a beam pick-up with several GHz bandwidth which permits measurements in the sub 100 fs regime. The RF-signal from the beam pick-up is sampled by an ultrashort laser pulse using a broadband electro-optical modulator. The modulator converts the deviation of the electron bunch arrival-timefrom a referenceinto an amplitudemodulation of the laser pulse. This modulation is detected by a photo detector and sampled by a fast ADC. By directly using the laser pulses from the future master laser oscillator of the machine, any additional timing jitter is avoided. In this paper we present the layout of the system and first experimental results.

title: Evidence for Type Ia Supernova Diversity from Ultraviolet Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope
abstract: We present ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy and photometry of four Type Ia supernovae (SNe 2004dt, 2004ef, 2005M, and 2005cf) obtained with the UV prism of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. This data set provides unique spectral time series down to 2000 A. Significant diversity is seen in the near-maximum-light spectra (~2000-3500 A) for this small sample. The corresponding photometric data, together with archival data from Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope observations, provide further evidence of increased dispersion in the UV emission with respect to the optical. The peak luminosities measured in the uvw1/F250W filter are found to correlate with the B-band light-curve shape parameter Δm 15(B), but with much larger scatter relative to the correlation in the broadband B band (e.g., ~0.4 mag versus ~0.2 mag for those with 0.8 mag 3σ), being brighter than normal SNe Ia such as SN 2005cf by ~0.9 mag and ~2.0 mag in the uvw1/F250W and uvm2/F220W filters, respectively. We show that different progenitor metallicity or line-expansion velocities alone cannot explain such a large discrepancy. Viewing-angle effects, such as due to an asymmetric explosion, may have a significant influence on the flux emitted in the UV region. Detailed modeling is needed to disentangle and quantify the above effects.

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: GRB 070125: The First Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst in a Halo Environment
abstract: We present the discovery and high signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observations of the optical afterglow of the long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 070125. Unlike all previously observed long-duration afterglows in the redshift range -->0.5 z 2.0, we find no strong (rest-frame equivalent width -->Wr 1.0 ?) absorption features in the wavelength range 4000-10000 ?. The sole significant feature is a weak doublet that we identify as Mg II ??2796 ( -->Wr = 0.18 ? 0.02 ?), 2803 ( -->Wr = 0.08 ? 0.01 ?) at -->z = 1.5477 ? 0.0001. The low observed Mg II and inferred H I column densities are typically observed in galactic halos, far away from the bulk of massive star formation. Deep ground-based imaging reveals no host directly underneath the afterglow to a limit of -->R > 25.4 mag. Either of the two nearest blue galaxies could host GRB 070125; the large offset ( -->d ? 27 kpc) would naturally explain the low column densities. To remain consistent with the large local (i.e., parsec scale) circumburst density inferred from broadband afterglow observations, we speculate that GRB 070125 may have occurred far away from the disk of its host in a compact star-forming cluster. Such distant stellar clusters, typically formed by dynamical galaxy interactions, have been observed in the nearby universe and should be more prevalent at -->z > 1, where galaxy mergers occur more frequently.

title: A new method based on noise counting to monitor the frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector
abstract: A new method has been developed to check the correct behaviour of the frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector. This method is based on the measurement of the electronic noise rate at different thresholds of the front-end discriminator. The method was used to choose the optimal discriminator thresholds. A procedure based on this method was implemented in the detector control system and allowed the detection of a small percentage of front-end channels which had deteriorated. A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to check the validity of the method.