A Study of CO Emission in High Redshift QSOs Using the Owens Valley Millimeter Array

Searches for CO emission in high-redshift objects have traditionally suffered from the accuracy of optically-derived redshifts due to lack of bandwidth in correlators at radio observatories. This problem has motivated the creation of the new COBRA continuum correlator, with 4 GHz available bandwidth, at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter Array. Presented here are the first scientific results from COBRA. We report detections of redshifted CO(J=3-2) emission in the QSOs SMM J04135+10277 and VCV J140955.5+562827, as well as a probable detection in RX J0911.4+0551. At redshifts of z=2.846, z=2.585, and z=2.796, we find integrated CO flux densities of 5.4 Jy km/s, 2.4 Jy km/s, and 2.9 Jy km/s for SMM J04135+10277, VCV J140955.5+562827, and RX J0911.4+0551, respectively, over linewidths of Delta(V_{FWHM}) ~ 350 km/s. These measurements, when corrected for gravitational lensing, correspond to molecular gas masses of order M(H_2) ~ 10^{9.6-11.1} solar masses, and are consistent with previous CO observations of high-redshift QSOs. We also report 3-sigma upper limits on CO(3-2) emission in the QSO LBQS 0018-0220 of 1.3 Jy km/s. We do not detect significant 3mm continuum emission from any of the QSOs, with the exception of a tentative (3-sigma) detection in RX J0911.4+0551 of S_{3mm}=0.92 mJy/beam.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted to ApJ. Changes made for version 2: citations added, 2 objects added to Table 2 and Figure

Measurements of polarized photo-pion production on longitudinally polarized HD and Implications for Convergence of the GDH Integral

We report new measurements of inclusive pion production from frozen-spin HD for polarized photon beams covering the Delta(1232) resonance. These provide data simultaneously on both H and D with nearly complete angular distributions of the spin-difference cross sections entering the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH) sum rule. Recent results from Mainz and Bonn exceed the GDH prediction for the proton by 22 microbarns, suggesting as yet unmeasured high-energy components. Our pi0 data reveal a different angular dependence than assumed in Mainz analyses and integrate to a value that is 18 microbarns lower, suggesting a more rapid convergence. Our results for deuterium are somewhat lower than published data, considerably more precise and generally lower than available calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Submitted for publication in Physical Review Letter

The global campaign to eliminate HBV and HCV infection: International Viral Hepatitis Elimination Meeting and core indicators for development towards the 2030 elimination goals

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) affect more than 320 million people worldwide, which is more than HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria combined. Elimination of HBV and HCV will, therefore, produce substantial public health and economic benefits and, most importantly, the prevention of 1.2 million deaths per year. In 2016, member states of the World Health Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring that viral hepatitis should be eliminated by 2030. Currently, few countries have elimination programmes in place and even though the tools to achieve elimination are available, the right resources, commitments and allocations are lacking. During the fifth International Viral Hepatitis Elimination Meeting (IVHEM), 7–8 December 2018, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, an expert panel of clinicians, virologists and public health specialists discussed the current status of viral hepatitis elimination programmes across multiple countries, challenges in achieving elimination and the core indicators for monitoring progress, approaches that have failed and successful elimination plans

Extinction Curves of Lensing Galaxies out to z=1

We present a survey of the extinction properties of ten lensing galaxies, in the redshift range z = 0.04 - 1.01, using multiply lensed quasars imaged with the ESO VLT in the optical and near infrared. The multiple images act as 'standard light sources' shining through different parts of the lensing galaxy, allowing for extinction studies by comparison of pairs of images. We explore the effects of systematics in the extinction curve analysis, including extinction along both lines of sight and microlensing, using theoretical analysis and simulations. In the sample, we see variation in both the amount and type of extinction. Of the ten systems, seven are consistent with extinction along at least one line of sight. The mean differential extinction for the most extinguished image pair for each lens is A(V) = 0.56 +- 0.04, using Galactic extinction law parametrization. The corresponding mean R_V = 2.8 +- 0.4 is consistent with that of the Milky Way at R_V = 3.1, where R_V = A(V)/E(B-V). We do not see any strong evidence for evolution of extinction properties with redshift. Of the ten systems, B1152+199 shows the strongest extinction signal of A(V) = 2.43 +- 0.09 and is consistent with a Galactic extinction law with R_V = 2.1 +- 0.1. Given the similar redshift distribution of SN Ia hosts and lensing galaxies, a large space based study of multiply imaged quasars would be a useful complement to future dark energy SN Ia surveys, providing independent constraints on the statistical extinction properties of galaxies up to z~1

Serial Dictatorship: The Unique Optimal Allocation Rule When Information is Endogenous

The study of matching problems typically assumes that agents precisely know their preferences over the goods to be assigned. Within applied contexts, this assumption stands out as particularly counterfactual. Parents typically do invest a large amount of time and resources to find out which school would be best for their children, doctors run costly tests to establish which kidney might be best for a given patient. In this paper I introduce the assumption of endogenous information acquisition into otherwise standard house allocation problems. I find that there is a unique ex ante Pareto-optimal, strategy-proof and non-bossy allocation mechanism: serial dictatorship. This stands in sharp contrast to the very large set of such mechanisms for house allocation problems without endogenous information acquisition

Discovery of Very High-Energy Gamma-Ray Radiation from the BL Lac 1ES 0806+524

The high-frequency-peaked BL-Lacertae object \objectname{1ES 0806+524}, at redshift z=0.138, was observed in the very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray regime by VERITAS between November 2006 and April 2008. These data encompass the two-, and three-telescope commissioning phases, as well as observations with the full four-telescope array. \objectname{1ES 0806+524} is detected with a statistical significance of 6.3 standard deviations from 245 excess events. Little or no measurable variability on monthly time scales is found. The photon spectrum for the period November 2007 to April 2008 can be characterized by a power law with photon index $3.6 \pm 1.0_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 0.3_{\mathrm{sys}}$ between $\sim$300 GeV and $\sim$700 GeV. The integral flux above 300 GeV is $(2.2\pm0.5_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm0.4_{\mathrm{sys}})\times10^{-12}\:\mathrm{cm}^{2}\:\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ which corresponds to 1.8% of the Crab Nebula flux. Non contemporaneous multiwavelength observations are combined with the VHE data to produce a broadband spectral energy distribution that can be reasonably described using a synchrotron-self Compton model.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted to APJ

Multiplicities of charged pions and unidentified charged hadrons from deep-inelastic scattering of muons off an isoscalar target

Multiplicities of charged pions and unidentified hadrons produced in deep-inelastic scattering were measured in bins of the Bjorken scaling variable $x$, the relative virtual-photon energy $y$ and the relative hadron energy $z$. Data were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration using a 160 GeV muon beam and an isoscalar target ($^6$LiD). They cover the kinematic domain in the photon virtuality $Q^2$ > 1(GeV/c$)^2$, $0.004 < x < 0.4$, $0.2 < z < 0.85$ and $0.1 < y < 0.7$. In addition, a leading-order pQCD analysis was performed using the pion multiplicity results to extract quark fragmentation functions

The Polarised Valence Quark Distribution from semi-inclusive DIS

The semi-inclusive difference asymmetry A^{h^{+}-h^{-}} for hadrons of opposite charge has been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data were collected in the years 2002-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam scattered off a large polarised ^6LiD target and cover the range 0.006 < x < 0.7 and 1 < Q^2 < 100 (GeV/c)^2. In leading order QCD (LO) the asymmetry A_d^{h^{+}-h^{-}} measures the valence quark polarisation and provides an evaluation of the first moment of Delta u_v + Delta d_v which is found to be equal to 0.40 +- 0.07 (stat.) +- 0.05 (syst.) over the measured range of x at Q^2 = 10 (GeV/c)^2. When combined with the first moment of g_1^d previously measured on the same data, this result favours a non-symmetric polarisation of light quarks Delta u-bar = - Delta d-bar at a confidence level of two standard deviations, in contrast to the often assumed symmetric scenario Delta u-bar = Delta d-bar = Delta s-bar = Delta s.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, COMPASS, revised: details added, author list update

Social and health epidemiology of immigrants in Germany: past, present and future

Razum O, Wenner J. Social and health epidemiology of immigrants in Germany: past, present and future. Public Health Reviews. 2016;37(1): 4.Germany has experienced different forms of immigration for many decades. At the end of and after the Second World War, refugees, displaced persons and German resettlers constituted the largest immigrant group. In the 1950s, labor migration started, followed by family reunification. There has been a constant migration of refugees and asylum seekers reaching peaks in the early 1990s as well as today. Epidemiological research has increasingly considered the health, and the access to health care, of immigrants and people with migration background. In this narrative review we discuss the current knowledge on health of immigrants in Germany. The paper is based on a selective literature research with a focus on studies using representative data from the health reporting system. Our review shows that immigrants in Germany do not suffer from different diseases than non-immigrants, but they differ in their risk for certain diseases, in the resources to cope with theses risk and regarding access to treatment. We also identified the need for differentiation within the immigrant population, considering among others social and legal status, country of origin and duration of stay. Though most of the studies acknowledge the need for differentiation, the lack of data currently rules out analyses accounting for the existing diversity and thus a full understanding of health inequalities related to migration to Germany