DECIGO and DECIGO pathfinder

A space gravitational-wave antenna, DECIGO (DECI-hertz interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory), will provide fruitful insights into the universe, particularly on the formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, dark energy and the inflation of the universe. In the current pre-conceptual design, DECIGO will be comprising four interferometer units; each interferometer unit will be formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000 km separation. Since DECIGO will be an extremely challenging mission with high-precision formation flight with long baseline, it is important to increase the technical feasibility before its planned launch in 2027. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions. DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is the first milestone mission, and key components for DPF are being tested on ground and in orbit. In this paper, we review the conceptual design and current status of DECIGO and DPF

Lyman Break Galaxies at z~5: Rest-frame UV Spectra II

We present the results of spectroscopy of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z~5 in the J0053+1234 field with the Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph on the Subaru telescope. Among 5 bright candidates with z' < 25.0 mag, 2 objects are confirmed to be at z~5 from their Ly alpha emission and the continuum depression shortward of Ly alpha. The EWs of Ly alpha emission of the 2 LBGs are not so strong to be detected as Ly alpha emitters, and one of them shows strong low-ionized interstellar (LIS) metal absorption lines. Two faint objects with z' \geq 25.0 mag are also confirmed to be at z~5, and their spectra show strong Ly alpha emission in contrast to the bright ones. These results suggest a deficiency of strong Ly alpha emission in bright LBGs at z~5, which has been discussed in our previous paper. Combined with our previous spectra of LBGs at z~5 obtained around the Hubble Deep Field-North (HDF-N), we made a composite spectrum of UV luminous (M_1400 \leq -21.5 mag) LBGs at z~5. The resultant spectrum shows a weak Ly alpha emission and strong LIS absorptions which suggests that the bright LBGs at z~5 have chemically evolved at least to ~0.1 solar metallicity. For a part of our sample in the HDF-N region, we obtained near-to-mid infrared data, which constraint stellar masses of these objects. With the stellar mass and the metallicity estimated from LIS absorptions, the metallicities of the LBGs at z~5 tend to be lower than those of the galaxies with the same stellar mass at z \lesssim 2, although the uncertainty is very large.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Cross-Correlated Force Measurement for Thermal Noise Reduction in Torsion Pendulum

The torsion pendulum is a prevailing instrument for measuring small forces acting on a solid body or those between solid bodies. While it offers powerful advantages, the measurement precision suffers from thermal noises of the suspending wires giving rise to stochastic torque noises. This letter proposes a new scheme to reduce the effect of such noise by employing a double torsion pendulum and cross-correlation technique based on the theoretical analysis that the thermal torque noise appears at each end of the suspending wire differentially. Cross-correlating two synthesized data streams which are composed of the rotation angles of two torsion stages, it yields the power spectral density estimate of external forces acting on the lower stage with the reduced effect from the thermal torque noises. As an example use case, we discuss the application to the study on the coupling strength of ultra light dark matter to standard model particles. Our evaluation indicates that the upper limit may be improved by an order of magnitude than the previous experiments at 2 mHz, which corresponds to about $8\times10^{-18}$ eV.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Variabilitas Curah Hujan Indonesia dan Hubungannya dengan ENSO/IOD: Estimasi Menggunakan Data JRA-25/JCDAS

Rainfall variability over Indonesia and its relation to El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events were investigated using the Japanese 25-year reanalysis/Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Climate Data Assimilation System (JRA-25/ JCDAS). The JRA-25 data consistently depicts seasonal variation of Indonesian rainfall with a wet season that peaks at December-January and a dry season that peaks in July-August when the convection belt moved northward. Composite analysis of rainfall, sea surface temperature and low-level wind anomalies have shown that the impact of ENSO/IOD on rainfall variations in Indonesia is clearly dominant during dry season. Drought conditions typically occur during El Niño years when SST anomalies surrounding Indonesia are cool and walker circulation is weakened, resulting in anomalous surface easterlies across Indonesia. In contrast, in the wet season, the weakening of the relationship between ENSO and Indonesian rainfall is linked to the transition between surface southeasterlies to northwesterlies. At this time persistent surface easterly anomalies across Indonesia superimposed on the climatological mean winds during a warm phase of ENSO event acts to reduce the wind speed resulting reduced the negative DJF rainfall anomalies