We present a Spitzer/IRS low-resolution mid-infrared spectrum (5-14 micron) of the luminous transient discovered in the nearby galaxy NGC 300 in May 2008. The spectrum, obtained three months after discovery, shows that the transient is very luminous in the mid-IR. Furthermore, the spectrum shows strong, broad emission features at 8 and 12 micron that are observed in Galactic carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae. Combining these data with published optical and near-IR photometry obtained at the same epoch, we find that the mid-IR excess traced by the Spitzer spectrum accounts for ~20% of the total energy output. This component can be well explained by emission from ~10^-4 Msun of pre-existing progenitor dust at temperature ~500 K. The spectral energy distribution of the transient also shows a near-IR excess that can be explained by emission from newly-formed dust in the ejecta. Alternatively, both the near-IR and mid-IR excesses can together be explained by a single pre-existing geometrically thick dust shell. In light of the new observations obtained with Spitzer, we revisit the analysis of the optical spectra and kinematics, which were compared to the massive yellow-hypergiant IRC+10420 in previous studies. We show that proto-planetary nebulae share many properties with the NGC 300 transient and SN 2008S. We conclude that even though the explosion of a massive star (> 10 Msun) cannot be ruled out, an explosive event on a massive (6-10 Msun) carbon-rich AGB/super-AGB or post-AGB star is consistent with all observations of the transients and their progenitors presented thus far.

We study the cool gas around a galaxy at z = 0.4729 using Keck/LRIS spectroscopy of a bright (B = 21.7) background galaxy at z = 0.6942 at a transverse distance of 16.5/h_70 kpc. The background galaxy spectrum reveals strong FeII, MgII, MgI, and CaII absorption at the redshift of the foreground galaxy, with a MgII 2796 rest equivalent width of 3.93 +/- 0.08 Angstroms, indicative of a velocity width exceeding 400 km/s. Because the background galaxy is large (> 4/h_70 kpc), the high covering fraction of the absorbing gas suggests that it arises in a spatially extended complex of cool clouds with large velocity dispersion. Spectroscopy of the massive (log M_*/M_sun = 11.15 +/- 0.08) host galaxy reveals that it experienced a burst of star formation about 1 Gyr ago and that it harbors a weak AGN. We discuss the possible origins of the cool gas in its halo, including multiphase cooling of hot halo gas, cold inflow, tidal interactions, and galactic winds. We conclude the absorbing gas was most likely ejected or tidally stripped from the interstellar medium of the host galaxy or its progenitors during the past starburst event. Adopting the latter interpretation, these results place one of only a few constraints on the radial extent of cool gas driven or stripped from a galaxy in the distant Universe. Future studies with integral field unit spectroscopy of spatially extended background galaxies will provide multiple sightlines through foreground absorbers and permit analysis of the morphology and kinematics of the gas surrounding galaxies with a diverse set of properties and environments.

Using WMAP 5 year data, we look for the average Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) signal from clusters of galaxies by stacking the regions around hundreds of known X-ray clusters. We detect the average SZE at a very high significance level. The average cluster signal is spatially resolved in the W band. This mean signal is compared with the expected signal from the same clusters calculated on the basis of archival ROSAT data. From the comparison we conclude that the observed SZE seems to be less than the expected signal derived from X-ray measurements when a standard beta-model is assumed for the gas distribution. This conclusion is model dependent. Our predictions depend mostly on the assumptions made about the core radius of clusters and the slope of the gas density profile. Models with steeper profiles are able to simultaneously fit both X-ray and WMAP data better than a beta-model. However, the agreement is not perfect and we find that it is still difficult to make the X-ray and SZE results agree. A model assuming point source contamination in SZE clusters renders a better fit to the one-dimensional SZE profiles thus suggesting that contamination from point sources could be contributing to a diminution of the SZE signal. Selecting a model that better fits both X-ray and WMAP data away from the very central region, we estimate the level of contamination and find that on average, the point source contamination is on the level of 16 mJy (at 41 GHz), 26 mJy (at 61 GHz) and 18 mJy (at 94 GHz). These estimated fluxes are marginally consistent with the estimated contamination derived from radio and infrared surveys thus suggesting that the combination of a steeper gas profile and the contribution from point sources allows us to consistently explain the X-ray emission and SZE in galaxy clusters as measured by ROSAT and WMAP.

The final stage of planet formation is dominated by collisions between planetary embryos. The dynamics of this stage determine the orbital configuration and the mass and composition of planets in the system. In the solar system, late giant impacts have been proposed for Mercury, Earth, Mars, and Pluto. In the case of Mercury, this giant impact may have significantly altered the bulk composition of the planet. Here we present the results of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of high-velocity (up to ~5 v_esc) collisions between 1 and 10 M_Earth planets of initially terrestrial composition to investigate the end stages of formation of extrasolar super-Earths. As found in previous simulations of collisions between smaller bodies, when collision energies exceed simple merging, giant impacts are divided into two regimes: (1) disruption and (2) hit-and-run (a grazing inelastic collision and projectile escape). Disruption occurs when the impact parameter is near zero, when the projectile mass is small compared to the target, or at extremely high velocities. In the disruption regime, we derive the criteria for catastrophic disruption (when half the total colliding mass is lost), the transition energy between accretion and erosion, and a scaling law for the change in bulk composition (iron-to-silicate ratio) resulting from collisional stripping of a mantle.

SN 2008S erupted in early 2008 in the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 6946. The progenitor was detected by Prieto et al. in Spitzer Space Telescope images taken over the four years prior to the explosion, but was not detected in deep optical images, from which they inferred a self-obscured object with a mass of about 10 Msun. We obtained Spitzer observations of SN 2008S five days after its discovery, as well as coordinated Gemini and Spitzer optical and infrared observations six months after its outburst.
We have constructed radiative transfer dust models for the object before and after the outburst, using the same r^-2 density distribution of pre-existing amorphous carbon grains for all epochs and taking light-travel time effects into account for the early post-outburst epoch. We rule out silicate grains as a significant component of the dust around SN 2008S. The inner radius of the dust shell moved outwards from its pre-outburst value of 85 AU to a post-outburst value of 1250 AU, attributable to grain vaporisation by the light flash from SN 2008S. Although this caused the circumstellar extinction to decrease from Av = 15 before the outburst to 0.8 after the outburst, we estimate that less than 2% of the overall circumstellar dust mass was destroyed.
The total mass-loss rate from the progenitor star is estimated to have been (0.5-1.0)x10^-4 Msun yr^-1. The derived dust mass-loss rate of 5x10^-7 Msun yr^-1 implies a total dust injection into the ISM of up to 0.01 Msun over the suggested duration of the self-obscured phase. If objects like this are common, as has recently been proposed, they could be significant contributors to the dust observed in distant galaxies.

This work revisits the star formation rate (SFR) model of Krumholz and McKee, extends it to the case of a magnetized medium, and verifies it with a set of numerical simulations of driven, supersonic, magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, where collapsing cores are captured with accreting sink particles. The main results are: i) a new physical interpretation of the critical density for star formation not based on the concepts of turbulent pressure support and sonic scale; ii) the derivation of the critical density in the MHD case and the derivation of the corresponding MHD model of the SFR, predicting a lower SFR and a stronger dependence on the virial parameter than the hydrodynamic (HD) model; iii) the demonstration that driven supersonic turbulence results in a constant SFR, after an initial transient phase with increasing SFR; iv) the derivation of the SFR in the simulations as a function of the virial parameter, shown to agree well with the SFR predicted by the MHD model, and less with the prediction of the HD model, potentially due to the important role of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of postshock shear layers in the HD case. A physical model of the SFR is needed for implementing the star formation feedback in simulations of galaxy formation. We suggest that the new star formation law derived in this paper be implemented in future galaxy formation simulations.

Neutrinos emitted from a core-collapse supernova can experience collective flavor transformation because of high neutrino fluxes. As a result, neutrinos of different flavors can have their energy spectra (partially) swapped, a phenomenon known as the (stepwise) spectral swapping or spectral split. We give a brief review of a simple model that explains this phenomenon.

We develop an automated spectral synthesis technique for the estimation of metallicities ([Fe/H]) and carbon abundances ([C/Fe]) for metal-poor stars, including carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars, for which other methods may prove insufficient. This technique, autoMOOG, is designed to operate on relatively strong features visible in even low- to medium-resolution spectra, yielding results comparable to much more telescope-intensive high-resolution studies. We validate this method by comparison with 913 stars which have existing high-resolution and low- to medium-resolution to medium-resolution spectra, and that cover a wide range of stellar parameters. We find that at low metallicities ([Fe/H] < -2.0), we successfully recover both the metallicity and carbon abundance, where possible, with an accuracy of ~ 0.20 dex. At higher metallicities, due to issues of continuum placement in spectral normalization done prior to the running of autoMOOG, a general underestimate of the overall metallicity of a star is seen, although the carbon abundance is still successfully recovered. As a result, this method is only recommended for use on samples of stars of known sufficiently low metallicity. For these low-metallicity stars, however, autoMOOG performs much more consistently and quickly than similar, existing techniques, which should allow for analyses of large samples of metal-poor stars in the near future. Steps to improve and correct the continuum placement difficulties are being pursued.

We use observations of the radial profiles of the mass surface density of total, Sigma_g, and molecular, Sigma_H2, gas, rotation velocity and star formation rate surface density, Sigma_sfr, of the molecular dominated regions of 12 disk galaxies from Leroy et al. to test several star formation laws: a ``Kennicutt power law'', Sigma_sfr = A_g Sigma_g,2^1.5; a ``Constant molecular law'', Sigma_sfr = A_H2 Sigma_H2,2; the ``Turbulence-regulated laws'' of Krumholz & McKee (KM) and Krumholz, McKee & Tumlinson (KMT), a ``Kennicutt Omega law'', Sigma_sfr = B_Omega Sigma_g Omega; and a shear-driven ``GMC collisions law'', Sigma_sfr = B_CC Sigma_g Omega (1 - 0.7 beta), where beta is d ln v_circ / d ln r. We find the constant molecular law, KMT turbulence law and GMC collision law are the most accurate, with an rms error of a factor of 1.5 if the normalization constants are allowed to vary between galaxies. Of these three laws, the GMC collision law does not require a change in physics to account for the full range of star formation activity seen from normal galaxies to circumnuclear starbursts. A single global GMC collision law with B_CC = 8.0 x 10^-3, i.e. a gas consumption time of 20 orbital times for beta=0, yields an rms error of a factor of 1.8.

We study the extent to which one can distinguish primordial non--Gaussianity (NG) arising from adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. We make a joint analysis of different NG models based on various inflationary scenarios: local-type and equilateral-type NG from adiabatic perturbations and local-type and quadratic-type NG from isocurvature perturbations together with a foreground contamination by point sources. We separate the Fisher information of the bispectrum of CMB temperature and polarization maps by l for the skew spectrum estimator introduced by Munshi & Heavens (2009) to study the scale dependence of the signal-to-noise ratio of different NG components and their correlations. We find that the adiabatic and the isocurvature modes are strongly correlated, though the phase difference of acoustic oscillations helps to distinguish them. The correlation between local-and equilateral-type is weak, but the two isocurvature modes are too strongly correlated to be discriminated. Point source contamination, to the extent to which it can be regarded as white noise, can be almost completely separated from the primordial components for l>100. Including correlations among the different components, we find that the errors of the NG parameters increase by 20-30% for the WMAP 5-year observation, but 5% for Planck observations.

The well-known astrophysical resonant reaction rate equations for an isolated narrow resonance have been reexamined. The validity of those `look reliable' assumptions used in deriving the analytic reaction rate equations has been checked, and the reality is they only hold for certain circumstances. Importantly an integration-range issue hidden in the classical integration equations has been revealed and it hints us not to use those analytic equations in the future. This work may influence all those work in which the classical narrow resonant equations were used for calculating the stellar reaction rates, especially at low stellar temperatures, and may affect the results of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis network calculations considerably.

At least 50% of the baryons in the local universe are undetected and predicted to be in a hot dilute phase (1E5-1E7 K) in low and moderate overdensity environments. We searched for the predicted diffuse faint emission through shadowing observations whereby cool foreground gas absorbs more distant diffuse emission. Observations were obtained with Chandra and XMM-Newton. Using the cold gas in two galaxies, NGC 891 and NGC 5907, shadows were not detected and a newer observation of NGC 891 fails to confirm a previously reported X-ray shadow. Our upper limits lie above model predictions. For Local Group studies, we used a cloud in the Magellanic Stream and a compact high velocity cloud to search for a shadow. Instead of a shadow, the X-ray emission was brighter towards the Magellanic Stream cloud and there is a less significant brightness enhancement toward the other cloud also. The brightness enhancement toward the Magellanic Stream cloud is probably due to an interaction with a hot ambient medium that surrounds the Milky Way. We suggest that this interaction drives a shock into the cloud, heating the gas to X-ray emitting temperatures.

We study whether the bias factors of galaxies can be unbiasedly recovered from their power spectra and bispectra. We use a set of numerical N-body simulations and construct large mock galaxy catalogs based upon the semi-analytical model of Croton et al. (2006). We measure the reduced bispectra for galaxies of different luminosity, and determine the linear and first nonlinear bias factors from their bispectra. We find that on large scales down to that of the wavenumber k=0.1h/Mpc, the bias factors b1 and b2 are nearly constant, and b1 obtained with the bispectrum method agrees very well with the expected value. The nonlinear bias factor b2 is negative, except for the most luminous galaxies with M<-23 which have a positive b2. The behavior of b2 of galaxies is consistent with the b2 mass dependence of their host halos. We show that it is essential to have an accurate estimation of the dark matter bispectrum in order to have an unbiased measurement of b1 and b2. We also test the analytical approach of incorporating halo occupation distribution to model the galaxy power spectrum and bispectrum. The halo model predictions do not fit the simulation results well on the precision requirement of current cosmological studies.

In this paper we present chromospheric emission levels of the solar-type stars in the young open clusters IC 2391 and IC 2602. High resolution spectroscopic data were obtained for over 50 F, G, and K stars from these clusters over several observing campaigns using the University College London Echelle Spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. Unlike older clusters, the majority (28/52) of the solar-type stars in the two clusters are rapid-rotators (vsini > 20 km/s) with five of the stars being classified as ultra-rapid rotators (vsini > 100 km/s). The emission levels in the Calcium infrared triplet lines were then used as a measure of the chromospheric activity of the stars. When plotted against Rossby number (NR) the star's chromospheric emission levels show a plateau in the emission for Log(NR) < -1.1 indicating chromospheric saturation similar to the coronal saturation seen in previously observed X-ray emission from the same stars. However, unlike the coronal emission, the chromospheric emission of the stars show little evidence of a reduction in emission (i.e. supersaturation) for the ultra-rapid rotators in the clusters. Thus we believe that coronal supersaturation is not the result of an overall decrease in magnetic dynamo efficiency for ultra-rapid rotators.

Apart from the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the only other normal star-forming galaxy that was conclusively detected in high energy (> 100 MeV) gamma rays by the Energetic Gamma Ray Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. However, the sensitivity of EGRET was sufficient only to marginally resolve the LMC. We report on measurements of the gamma-ray emission from the LMC by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. For the first time an externally viewed star-forming galaxy is well resolved in gamma rays. We discuss the distribution of the LMC diffuse emission as seen by the LAT and implications for cosmic-ray physics.

The diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission is produced by cosmic rays (CRs) interacting with the interstellar gas and radiation field. Measurements by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory indicated excess gamma-ray emission > 1 GeV relative to diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission models consistent with directly measured CR spectra (the so-called ``EGRET GeV excess''). The excess emission was observed in all directions on the sky, and a variety of explanations have been proposed, including beyond-the-Standard-Model scenarios like annihilating or decaying dark matter. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has measured the diffuse gamma-ray emission with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. We report on LAT measurements of the diffuse gamma-ray emission for energies 100 MeV to 10 GeV and Galactic latitudes 10 deg. <= |b| <= 20 deg. The LAT spectrum for this region of the sky is well reproduced by the diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission models mentioned above and inconsistent with the EGRET GeV excess.

The LAT instrument on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope is performing an all-sky survey from 20 MeV to 300 GeV with unprecedented statistics and angular resolution. This is providing a wealth of new information on the non-thermal emission from the Galactic interstellar medium with implications for cosmic rays and Galactic structure. First results at intermediate latitudes have already shown good agreement with predictions based on direct measurements of cosmic rays, suggesting that at least the local (within about 1 kpc from the Sun) gamma-ray emission is understood. We will present the first spectra from regions over the sky using the LAT data, and profiles for selected energies. The aim here is to evaluate the agreement with the models and assess what we can expect to learn as this analysis matures.

Our aim is to determine the isotopic ratios {$^{12}$C/$^{13}$C}{} and {$^{14}$N/$^{15}$N}{} in a variety of comets and link these measurements to the formation and evolution of the solar system. The {$^{12}$C/$^{13}$C}{} and {$^{14}$N/$^{15}$N}{} isotopic ratios are measured {for} the CN radical by means of high-resolution optical spectra of the R branch of the B-X (0,0) violet band. {23 comets from different dynamical classes} have been observed, sometimes at various heliocentric {and nucleocentric} distances, in order to estimate possible variations of the isotopic ratios in parent molecules. The {$^{12}$C/$^{13}$C}{} and {$^{14}$N/$^{15}$N}{} isotopic ratios in CN are remarkably constant (average values of, respectively, $91.0\pm3.6$ and $147.8\pm5.7$) within our measurement errors, for all comets whatever their origin or heliocentric distance. While the carbon isotopic ratio does agree with the terrestrial value (89), the nitrogen ratio is a factor of two lower than the terrestrial value (272), indicating a fractionation in the early solar system, or in the protosolar nebula, common to all the comets of our sample. This points towards a common origin of the comets independently of their birthplaces, and a relationship between HCN and CN.

We have used measurements by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to study the interstellar gamma-ray emission in a region of the second Galactic quadrant, at 100 deg < l < 145 deg and -15 deg < b < 30 deg. This region encompasses the prominent Gould-Belt clouds of Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and the Polaris flare, as well as large atomic and molecular complexes at larger distances in several spiral arms. The good kinematic separation in velocity between the local, Perseus, and outer arms, and the presence of massive complexes in each, make this region very well suited to probe the gamma-ray emission from the interstellar medium beyond the solar circle. The unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution of the LAT provide improved constraints on the gradient of the cosmic-ray densities and on the increase of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, Xco, in the outer Galaxy.

Several projects are concentrating their efforts on opening the high energy neutrino window on the Universe with km-scale detectors. The detection principle relies on the observation, using photomultipliers, of the Cherenkov light emitted by charged leptons induced by neutrino interactions in the surrounding detector medium. In the Northern hemisphere, while the pioneering Baikal telescope, has been operating for 10 years, most of the activity now concentrates in the Mediterranean sea. Recently, the Antares collaboration has completed the construction of a 12 line array comprising ~ 900 photomultipliers. In this paper we will review the main results achieved with the detectors currently in operation in the Northern hemisphere, as well as the R&D efforts towards the construction of a large volume neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean.

Over the past years, the lambda-Orionis cluster has been a prime location for the study of young very low mass stars, substellar and isolated planetary mass objects and the determination of the initial mass function and other properties of low mass cluster members. In the continuity of our previous studies of young associations cores, we search for ultracool members and new multiple systems within the central 5.3' (~0.6pc) of the cluster. We obtained deep seeing limited J, Ks-band images of the 5.3' central part of the cluster with NTT/SofI and H-band images with CAHA/Omega2000. These images were complemented by multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) H and Ks images of the 1.5' central region of the lambda-Orionis cluster obtained with the prototype MCAO facility MAD at the VLT. The direct vicinity of the massive lambda-Ori O8III-star was probed using NACO/SDI at the VLT. Finally, we also retrieved Spitzer IRAC images of the same area and used archival Subaru Suprime-Cam and CFHT CFHT12K i-band images. We report the detection of 9 new member candidates selected from optical and near-IR color-color and color-magnitude diagrams and 7 previously known members. The high spatial resolution images resolve 3 new visual multiple systems. Two of them are most likely not members of the association. The third one is made of a brown dwarf candidate companion to the F8V star HD36861C. The simultaneous differential images allow us to rule out the presence of visual companions more massive than M>0.07Msun in the range 1-2.5", and M>0.25Msun in the range 0.5-2.5"

Aims. We present a solution to improve the performance of coronagraphs for the detection of exo-planets. Methods. We simulate numerically several kinds of coronagraphic systems, with the aim of evaluating the gain obtained with an adaptive hologram. Results. The detection limit in flux ratio between a star and a planet (Fs/Fp) observed with an apodized Lyot coronagraph characterized by wavefront bumpiness imperfections of lambda/20 (resp. lambda/100) turns out to be increased by a factor of 10^3.4 (resp. 10^5.1) when equipped with a hologram. Conclusions. This technique could provide direct imaging of an exo-Earth at a distance of 11 parsec with a 6.5m space telescope such as the JWST with the optical quality of the HST.

Combining cosmological SPH simulations with a previously developed Lyman Alpha production/transmission model and the Early Reionization Model (ERM, reionization ends at redshift z~7), we obtain Lyman Alpha and UV Luminosity Functions (LFs) for Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs) for redshifts between 5.7 and 7.6. Matching model results to observations at z~5.7 requires escape fractions of Lyman Alpha, f_alpha=0.3, and UV (non-ionizing) continuum photons, f_c=0.22, corresponding to a color excess, E(B-V)=0.15. We find that (i) f_c increases towards higher redshifts, due the decreasing mean dust content of galaxies, (ii) the evolution of f_alpha/f_c hints at the dust content of the ISM becoming progressively inhomogeneous/clumped with decreasing redshift. The clustering photoionization boost is important during the initial reionization phases but has little effect on the Lyman Alpha LF for a highly ionized IGM. With no more free parameters, the Spectral Energy Distributions of three LAE at z~5.7 observed by Lai et al. (2007) are well reproduced by an intermediate age (182-220 Myr) stellar population and the above E(B-V) value. Halo (stellar) masses are in the range 10.0 < \log M_h < 11.8 (8.1 < \log M_* < 10.4) with M_h \propto M_*^{0.64}. The star formation rates are between 3-120 solar masses per year, mass-weighted mean ages are greater than 20 Myr at all redshifts, while the mean stellar metallicity increases from Z=0.12 to 0.22 solar metallicity from z~7.6 to z~5.7; both age and metallicity positively correlate with stellar mass. The brightest LAEs are all characterized by large star formation rates and intermediate ages (~200 Myr), while objects in the faint end of the Lyman Alpha LF show large age and star formation rate spreads.

One of the complexities in modelling integrated spectra of stellar populations is the effect of interacting binary stars besides type Ia supernovae (SNeIa). These include common envelope systems, CVs, novae, and are usually ignored in models predicting the chemistry and spectral absorption line strengths in galaxies. In this paper predictions of chemical yields from populations of single and binary stars are incorporated into a galactic chemical evolution model to explore the significance of the effects of these other binary yields. Effects on spectral line strengths from different progenitor channels of SNeIa are also explored. Small systematic effects are found when the yields from binaries, other than SNeIa, are included, for a given star formation history. These effects are, at present, within the observational uncertainties on the line strengths. More serious differences can arise in considering different types of SNIa models, their rates and contributions.

Unlike gas-phase reactions, chemical reactions taking place on interstellar dust grain surfaces cannot always be modeled by rate equations. Due to the small grain sizes and low flux,these reactions may exhibit large fluctuations and thus require stochastic methods such as the moment equations.
We evaluate the formation rates of H2, HD and D2 molecules on dust grain surfaces and their abundances in the gas phase under interstellar conditions. We incorporate the moment equations into the Meudon PDR code and compare the results with those obtained from the rate equations. We find that within the experimental constraints on the energy barriers for diffusion and desorption and for the density of adsorption sites on the grain surface, H2, HD and D2 molecules can be formed efficiently on dust grains.
Under a broad range of conditions, the moment equation results coincide with those obtained from the rate equations. However, in a range of relatively high grain temperatures, there are significant deviations. In this range, the rate equations fail while the moment equations provide accurate results. The incorporation of the moment equations into the PDR code can be extended to other reactions taking place on grain surfaces.

We describe a technique that finds orbits through the Galaxy that are consistent with measurements of a tidal stream, taking into account the extent that tidal streams do not precisely delineate orbits. We show that if accurate line-of-sight velocities are measured along a well defined stream, the technique recovers the underlying orbit through the Galaxy and predicts the distances and proper motions along the stream to high precision. As the error bars on the location and velocities of the stream grow, the technique is able to find more and more orbits that are consistent with the data and the uncertainties in the predicted distances and proper motions increase. With radial-velocity data along a stream ~40deg long and <0.3deg wide on the sky accurate to ~1 km/s the precisions of the distances and tangential velocities along the stream are 4 percent and 5 km/s, respectively. The technique can be used to diagnose the Galactic potential: if circular-speed curve is actually flat, both a Keplerian potential and Phi(r) proportional to r are readily excluded. Given the correct radial density profile for the dark halo, the halo's mass can be determined to a precision of 5 percent.

In the context of the Large Binocular Telescope project, we present the results of force actuator calibrations performed on an adaptive secondary prototype called P45, a thin deformable glass with magnets glued onto its back. Electromagnetic actuators, controlled in a closed loop with a system of internal metrology based on capacitive sensors, continuously deform its shape to correct the distortions of the wavefront. Calibrations of the force actuators are needed because of the differences between driven forces and measured forces. We describe the calibration procedures and the results, obtained with errors of less than 1.5%.

The MAGIC collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S50716+714 (redshift uncertain) in very high energy gamma-rays. The observations were performed in November 2007 and in April 2008, and were triggered by the KVA telescope due to the high optical state of the object. The blazar S50716+714 is the third low frequency BL Lac detected at energies above 100 GeV until today. Here, we present the results of the MAGIC observations.

Madam is a CMB map-making code, designed to make temperature and polarization maps of time-ordered data of total power experiments like Planck. The algorithm is based on the destriping technique, but it also makes use of known noise properties in the form of a noise prior. The method in its early form was presented in an earlier work by Keihanen et al. (2005). In this paper we present an update of the method, extended to non-averaged data, and include polarization. In this method the baseline length is a freely adjustable parameter, and destriping can be performed at a different map resolution than that of the final maps. We show results obtained with simulated data. This study is related to Planck LFI activities.

The high frequency peaked BL Lac PKS 2155-304 with a redshift z=0.116 was discovered 1997 in the VHE range by the University of Durham Mark 6 gamma-ray telescope in Australia with a flux corresponding to approx. 0.2 times the Crab Nebula flux. It was later observed and detected with high significance by the Southern observatories CANGAROO and H.E.S.S. establishing this source as the best studied Southern TeV blazar. Detection from the Northern hemisphere was very difficult due to challenging observation conditions under large zenith angles. In July 2006, the H.E.S.S. collaboration reported an extraordinary outburst of VHE gamma-emission. During the outburst, the VHE gamma-ray emission was found to be variable on the time scales of minutes and at a mean flux of approx. 7 times the flux observed from the Crab Nebula. The MAGIC collaboration operates a 17m imaging air Cherenkov Telescope at La Palma (Northern Hemisphere). Follow up observations of the extraordinary outburst have been triggered in a Target of Opportunity program by an alert from the H.E.S.S. collaboration. The measured spectrum and light curve are presented.

The Fermi Large Area Telescope has provided the measurement of the high energy (20 GeV to 1 TeV) cosmic ray electrons and positrons spectrum with unprecedented accuracy. This measurement represents a unique probe for studying the origin and diffusive propagation of cosmic rays as well as for looking for possible evidences of Dark Matter. In this contribution we focus mainly on astrophysical sources of cosmic ray electrons and positrons which include the standard primary and secondary diffuse galactic contribution, as well as nearby point-sources which are expected to contribute more significantly to higher energies. In this framework, we discuss possible interpretations of Fermi results in relation with other recent experimental data on energetic electrons and positrons (specifically the most recent ones reported by PAMELA, ATIC, PPB-BETS and H.E.S.S.).

Comparing the signals measured by the surface and underground scintillator detectors of the Yakutsk Extensive Air Shower Array, we place upper limits on the integral flux and fraction of primary cosmic-ray photons with energies E > 10^18 eV, E > 2*10^18 eV and E > 4*10^18 eV. The large collected statistics of the showers measured by large-area muon detectors allows to test the photon fraction as small as a few per mil, thus opening the possibility to probe the chemical composition of cosmic rays at super-GZK energies, density of their astrophysical sources and relevant characteristics of the extragalactic medium, as well as to further constrain exotic new-physics scenarios.

The extremely energetic Fermi GRBs 080916C, with its Eiso of ~ 10^{55} erg in 1 keV - 10 GeV and intense GeV emission, and 090323 give us a unique opportunity to test the reliability and extension of spectrum-energy correlations. Based on Konus/WIND and Fermi spectral measurements, we find that both events are fully consistent with the updated (95 events as of April 2009) Ep,i - Eiso correlation, thus further confirming and extending it and pointing against a possible flattening or increased dispersion at very high energies. This also suggests that the physics behind the emission of peculiarly bright and hard GRBs is the same as for softer and weaker ones. In addition, we find that the normalization of the correlation obtained by considering these two GRBs and the other long ones for which Ep,i was measured with high accuracy by the Fermi/GBM are fully consistent with those obtained by other instruments (e.g., BeppoSAX, Swift, Konus-WIND), thus indicating that the correlation is not affected significantly by detectors limited thresholds and energy bands. Prompted by the extension of the spectrum of GRB 080916C up to several GeVs without any excess or cut-off, we also investigated if the evaluation of Eiso in the commonly adopted 1 keV - 10 MeV energy band may bias the Ep,i - Eiso correlation contributing to its scatter. By computing Eiso from 1 keV to 10 GeV, the slope of the correlation becomes slightly flatter, while its dispersion does not change significantly. Finally, we find that GRB 080916C is also consistent with most of the other spectrum energy correlations derived from it, with the possible exception of the Ep,i - Eiso - tb correlation.

The Fermi LAT collaboration has built up a detailed Monte Carlo simulation to characterize the instrument response and tune its performance. The simulation code is built around the widely used GEANT4 toolkit and was carefully validated against beam test and flight data. This poster shows how the full LAT simulation is used to develop the event selection for the Cosmic-Ray Electron (\emph{CRE}) analysis so as to optimize the instrument performance. In particular, we will show in detail the determination of the geometry factor and the residual hadron contamination. The very accurate MC simulation proved to be fundamental to control the systematic uncertainties on the CRE spectrum measured by the Fermi LAT.

Designed to be a successor of the previous flown space based gamma ray detectors, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) is also an electron detector. Taking advantage of its capability to separate electromagnetic and hadronic signals it is possible to accurately measure the Cosmic Ray electron spectrum. The spectra of primary cosmic ray electrons below 20 GeV is influenced by many local effects such as solar modulation and the geomagnetic cutoff. For energies below a few GeV it is possible to observe the albedo population of electrons which are controlled by the local magnetic field. In this paper we present the LAT electron analysis in particular event selection and validation as well as the first results on the measurement of the electron spectrum below 20 GeV.

The equation of state calculated by Saumon and collaborators has been adopted in most core--accretion simulations of giant--planet formation performed to date. Since some minor errors have been found in their original paper, we present revised simulations of giant--planet formation that considers a corrected equation of state. We employ the same code as Fortier and collaborators in repeating our previous simulations of the formation of Jupiter. Although the general conclusions of Fortier and collaborators remain valid, we obtain significantly lower core masses and shorter formation times in all cases considered. The minor errors in the previously published equation of state have been shown to affect directly the adiabatic gradient and the specific heat, causing an overestimation of both the core masses and formation times.

We consider the linear growth of matter perturbations on low redshifts in modified gravity Dark Energy (DE) models where G_eff(z,k) is explicitly scale-dependent. Dispersion in the growth today will only appear for scales of the order the critical scale ~ \lambda_{c,0}, the range of the fifth-force today. We generalize the constraint equation satisfied by the parameters \gamma_0(k) and \gamma'_0(k) \equiv \frac{d\gamma(z,k)}{dz}(z=0) to models with G_{eff,0}(k) \ne G. Measurement of \gamma_0(k) and \gamma'_0(k) on several scales can provide information about \lambda_{c,0}. In the absence of dispersion when \lambda_{c,0} is large compared to the probed scales, measurement of \gamma_0 and \gamma'_0 provides a consistency check independent of \lambda_{c,0}. This applies in particular to results obtained earlier for a viable f(R) model.

With (i) new observational data of the Cygnus OB2 (Cyg OB2) region from the MAGIC Collaboration at energies E_gamma > 400 GeV, (ii) the successful operation of the Fermi satellite at energies 30 MeV < E_gamma < 300 GeV, and (iii) the prospect for very large ground-based arrays (such as the planned Cerenkov Telescope Array, it is appropriate to update the collective impact of these experiments on gamma-ray production mechanisms in stellar associations. We consider two mechanisms of gamma-ray emission, pion production and decay (PION) and photo-excitation of high-energy nuclei followed by prompt photo-emission from the daughter nuclei (A*). We focus attention on the TeV J2032+4130 source within the Cyg OB2 environment. We also comment on neutrino emission and detection from the region if the PION and/or A* processes are operative.

Different theoretical models predict VHE gamma-ray emission to arise in tight binary star systems (high mass-loss and high wind speeds), which has not been confirmed experimentally so far. Here we present the first bounds on the VHE emission from two isolated Wolf-Rayet star binaries, WR147 and WR146, obtained with the MAGIC telescope.

Recent high-resolution measurements suggest that the soft X-ray spectrum of obscured Radio Galaxies (RG) exhibits signatures of photoionised gas (e.g. 3C 445 and 3C 33) similar to those observed in radio-quiet obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). While signatures of warm absorbing gas covering a wide range of temperature and ionisation states have been detected in about one half of the population on nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies, no traces of warm absorber gas have been discovered in the high-resolution spectra of Broad Line Radio Galaxies (BLRG). We present here the first detection of a soft X-ray warm absorber in the powerful FRII BLRG 3C 382 using the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) on-board XMM-Newton. The absorption gas appears to be highly ionised, with column density of the order of 10^{22} cm^{-2}, ionisation parameter log\xi>2 erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} and outflow velocities of the order of 10^{3} km s^{-1}. The absorption lines may come from regions located outside the torus, however at distances less than 60 pc. This result may indicate that a plasma ejected at velocities near the speed of light and a photoionised gas with slower, outflow velocities can coexist in the same source beyond the Broad Line Regions.

Experiments measuring cosmic rays above an energy of 10^14 eV deduce the energy and mass of the primary cosmic ray particles from air-shower simulations. We investigate the importance of hadronic interactions at low and high energies on the distributions of muons and electrons in showers on ground. In air shower simulation programs, hadronic interactions below an energy threshold in the range from 80 GeV to 500 GeV are simulated by low energy interaction models, like Fluka or Gheisha, and above that energy by high energy interaction models, e.g. Sibyll or QGJSJet. We find that the impact on shower development obtained by switching the transition energy from 80 GeV to 500 GeV is comparable to the difference obtained by switching between Fluka and Gheisha.

The star-formation histories of the main stellar components of the Milky Way constrain critical aspects of galaxy formation and evolution. I discuss recent determinations of such histories, together with their interpretation in terms of theories of disk galaxy evolution.

We present sensitive near--infrared VLT ISAAC spectroscopic observations of the z=6.08 quasar SDSS J030331.40-001912.9. This QSO is more than a magnitude fainter than other QSOs at z~6 for which NIR spectroscopy has been obtained to date and is therefore presumably more representative of the QSO population at the end of Cosmic Reionization. Combining rest--frame UV continuum luminosity with the width measurements of the Mg II and C IV lines, we derive a black hole mass of 2(+1.0/-0.5) x 10^8 solar masses, the lowest mass observed for z~6 QSOs to date, and derive an Eddington ratio of 1.6(+0.4/-0.6), amongst the highest value derived for QSOs at any redshift. The Spitzer 24 micron non--detection of this QSO does not leave space for a significant hot dust component in its optical/near--infrared SED, in common with one other faint QSO at z=6, but in contrast to more than twenty more z=6 QSOs and all known lower redshift QSOs with sufficiently deep multi-wavelength photometry. We conclude that we have found evidence for differences in the intrinsic properties of at least one z~6 QSO as compared to the lower--redshift population.

[abridged] Our knowledge of the inner structure of embedded massive young stellar objects is still quite limited. We attempt here to overcome the spatial resolution limitations of conventional thermal infrared imaging. We employed mid-infrared interferometry using the MIDI instrument on the ESO/VLTI facility for investigating M8E-IR, a well-known massive young stellar object suspected of containing a circumstellar disk. Spectrally dispersed visibilities in the 8-13 micron range have been obtained at seven interferometric baselines. We resolve the mid-infrared emission of M8E-IR and find typical sizes of the emission regions of the order of 30 milli-arcseconds (~45 AU). Radiative transfer simulations have been performed to interpret the data. The fitting of the spectral energy distribution, in combination with the measured visibilities, does not provide evidence for an extended circumstellar disk with sizes > 100 AU but requires the presence of an extended envelope. The data are not able to constrain the presence of a small-scale disk in addition to an envelope. In any case, the interferometry measurements indicate the existence of a strongly bloated, relatively cool central object, possibly tracing the recent accretion history of M8E-IR. In addition, we present 24.5 micron images that clearly distinguish between M8E-IR and the neighbouring ultracompact HII region and which show the cometary-shaped infrared morphology of the latter source. Our results show that IR interferometry, combined with radiative transfer modelling, can be a viable tool to reveal crucial structure information on embedded massive young stellar objects and to resolve ambiguities arising from fitting the SED.

The chemical composition of the gas in galaxies versus cosmic time provides a very important tool for understanding galaxy evolution. Although there are many studies at high redshift, they are rather scarce at lower redshifts. However, low redshift studies can provide important clues about the evolution of galaxies, furnishing the required link between local and high redshift universe. In this work we focus on the metallicity of the gas of star-forming galaxies at low redshift, looking for signs of chemical evolution.
To analyze the metallicity contents star-forming galaxies of similar luminosities and masses at different redshifts. With this purpose, we present a study of the metallicity of relatively massive (log(M_star/M_sun)>10.5) star forming galaxies from SDSS--DR5 (Sloan Digital Sky Survey--Data Release 5), using different redshift intervals from 0.04 to 0.4.
We used data processed with the STARLIGHT spectral synthesis code, correcting the fluxes for dust extinction, estimating metallicities using the R_23 method, and segregating the samples with respect to the value of the [NII]6583/[OII]3727 line ratio in order to break the R_23 degeneracy selecting the upper branch. We analyze the luminosity and mass-metallicity relations, and the effect of the Sloan fiber diameter looking for possible biases.
By dividing our redshift samples in intervals of similar magnitude and comparing them, significant signs of metallicity evolution are found. Metallicity correlates inversely with redshift: from redshift 0 to 0.4 a decrement of ~0.1 dex in 12+log(O/H) is found.

Designed as a high-sensitivity gamma-ray observatory, the Fermi Large Area Telescope is also an electron detector with a large acceptance exceeding 2 sq-mt sr at 300 GeV. Building on the gamma-ray analysis, we have developed an efficient electron detection strategy which provides sufficient background rejection for measurement of the steeply-falling electron spectrum up to 1 TeV. Our high precision data show that the electron spectrum falls with energy as E^(-3.0) and does not exhibit prominent spectral features

Crystals are the elementary constituents of Laue lenses, an emerging technology which could allow the realization of a space borne telescope 10 to 100 times more sensitive than existing ones in the 100 keV - 1.5 MeV energy range. This study addresses the current endeavor to the development of efficient crystals for the realization of a Laue lens.
In the theoretical part 35 candidate-crystals both pure and two-components are considered. Their peak reflectivity at 100 keV, 500 keV and 1 MeV is calculated assuming they are mosaic crystals. It results that a careful selection of crystals can allow a reflectivity above 30% over the whole energy range, and even reaching 40% in its lower part. Experimentally, we concentrated on three different materials (Si_{1-x}Ge_x with gradient of composition, mosaic Cu and Au) that have been measured both at ESRF and ILL using highly-monochromatic beams ranging from 300 keV up to 816 keV. The aim was to check their homogeneity, quality and angular spread (mosaicity). These crystals have shown outstanding performance such as reflectivity up to 31% at ~600 keV (Au) or 60% at 300 keV (SiGe) and angular spread as low as 15 arcsec for Cu, fulfilling very well the requirements for a Laue lens application. Unexpectedly, we also noticed important discrepancies with Darwin's model when a crystal is measured using various energies.

M87 is the first known radio galaxy to emit very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. During a monitoring program of M87, a rapid flare in VHE gamma-rays was detected by the MAGIC telescope in early 2008. The flux was found to be variable on a timescale as short as 1 day, reaching 15% of the Crab Nebula flux above 350 GeV. In contrast, the flux at lower energies (150 GeV to 350 GeV) is compatible with being constant. We present light curves and energy spectra, and argue that the observed day-scale flux variability favours the M87 core as source of the gamma-ray emission rather than the bright know HST-1 in the jet of M87.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is currently observing the cosmic microwave background with arcminute resolution at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. In this paper, we present ACT's first results. Data have been analyzed using a maximum-likelihood map-making method which uses B-splines to model and remove the atmospheric signal. It has been used to make high-precision beam maps from which we determine the experiment's window functions. This beam information directly impacts all subsequent analyses of the data. We also used the method to map a sample of galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, and show eight clusters previously detected in the X-ray or SZ and two new cluster candidates. We provide integrated Compton-y measurements for each cluster. Of particular interest is our detection of the z = 0.44 component of Abell 3128 and our current non-detection of the low-redshift part, providing strong evidence that the further cluster is more massive as suggested by X-ray measurements. This is a compelling example of the redshift-independent mass selection of the SZ effect.

To enhance our knowledge of the characteristics and distribution of the circumstellar dust associated with the individual components of the young hierarchical triple system T Tau, observations in the N-band with MIDI at the VLTI were performed. Our study is based on both the interferometric and the spectrophotometric measurements and is supplemented by new visual and infrared photometry. Also, the phases were investigated to determine the dominating mid-infrared source in the close southern binary. The data were fit with the help of a sophisticated physical disc model. This model utilises the radiative transfer code MC3D that is based on the Monte-Carlo method. Extended mid-infrared emission is found around all three components of the system. Simultaneous fits to the photometric and interferometric data confirm the picture of an almost face-on circumstellar disc around T Tau N. Towards this star, the silicate band is seen in emission. This emission feature is used to model the dust content of the circumstellar disc. Clear signs of dust processing are found. Towards T Tau S, the silicate band is seen in absorption. This absorption is strongly pronounced towards the infrared companion T Tau Sa as can be seen from the first individual N-band spectra for the two southern components. Our fits support the previous suggestion that an almost edge-on disc is present around T Tau Sa. This disc is thus misaligned with respect to the circumstellar disc around T Tau N. The interferometric data indicate that the disc around T Tau Sa is oriented in the north-south direction, which favours this source as launching site for the east-western jet. We further determine from the interferometric data the relative positions of the components of the southern binary.

In this contribution we describe the hardware, firmware and software components of the readout system of the MAGIC-II Cherenkov telescope on the Canary island La Palma. The PMT analog signals are transmitted by means of optical fibers from the MAGIC-II camera to the 80 m away counting house where they are routed to the new high bandwidth and fully programmable receiver boards (MONSTER), which convert back the signals from optical to electrical ones. Then the signals are split, one half provide the input signals for the level ONE trigger system while the other half is sent to the digitizing units. The fast Cherenkov pulses are sampled by low-power Domino Ring Sampler chips (DRS2) and temporarily stored in an array of 1024 capacitors. Signals are sampled at the ultra-fast speed of 2 GSample/s, which allows a very precise measurement of the signal arrival times in all pixels. They are then digitized with 12-bit resolution by an external ADC readout at 40 MHz speed. The Domino samplers are integrated in the newly designed mezzanines which equip a set of fourteen multi-purpose PULSAR boards. Finally, the data are sent through an S-LINK optical interface to a single computer. The entire DAQ hardware is controlled through a VME interface and steered by the slow control software program (MIR). The Data AcQuisition software program (DAQ) proceeds finally to the event building and data storage.