Spectral analysis of 50 GRBs detected by HETE-2

FREGATE, the gamma-ray detector of HETE-2 is entirely dedicated to the study of GRBs. Its main characteristic is its broad energy range, from 7 keV to 400 keV. This energy range can be further extended down to 2 keV using the data from the WXM, the X-ray detector of HETE-2. Such a large energy range allows to study in details the prompt emission of GRBs, determining with a high precision their spectral parameters. Moreover, because this energy range extends at low energies, the sample of GRBs detected by both FREGATE and WXM contains a significant fraction of X-Ray Rich GRBs and X-Ray Flashes. We present here the distributions of the spectral parameters mesured for the time integrated spectra of 50 GRBs. We put emphasis on the distribution of the low energy spectral index alpha. Because FREGATE and WXM detected all classes of GRBs, we also discuss the connection between GRBs, X-Ray Rich GRBs and X-Ray Flashes.Comment: 4 pages aipTEX, contribution to the 2003 GRB Conference, held at Santa Fe,N

Mobility in excess of 10610^{6} cm2^2/Vs in InAs quantum wells grown on lattice mismatched InP substrates

InAs-based two-dimensional electron systems grown on lattice mismatched InP substrates offer a robust platform for the pursuit of topologically protected quantum computing. We investigated strained composite quantum wells of In$_{0.75}$Ga$_{0.25}$As/InAs/In$_{0.75}$Ga$_{0.25}$As with In$_{0.75}$Al$_{0.25}$As barriers. By optimizing the widths of the In$_{0.75}$Ga$_{0.25}$As layers, the In$_{0.75}$Al$_{0.25}$As barrier, and the InAs quantum well we demonstrate mobility in excess of $1 \times 10^{6}\,$cm$^{2}/$Vs. Mobility vs. density data indicates that scattering is dominated by a residual three dimensional distribution of charged impurities. We extract the Rashba parameter and spin-orbit length as important material parameters for investigations involving Majorana zero modes

Evidence From HETE-2 For GRB Evolution With Redshift

After taking into account threshold effects, we find that the isotropic-equivalent energies E_iso and luminosities L_iso of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are correlated with redshift at the 5% and 0.9% signficance levels, respectively. Our results are based on 10 BeppoSAX GRBs and 11 HETE-2 GRBs with known redshifts. Our results suggest that the isotropic-equivalent energies and luminosities of GRBs increase with redshift. They strengthen earlier clues to this effect from analyses of the BATSE catalog of GRBs, using the variability of burst time histories as an estimator of burst luminosities (and therefore redshifts), and from an analysis of BeppoSAX bursts only. If the isotropic-equivalent energies and luminosities of GRBs really do increase with redshift, it suggests that GRB jets at high redshifts may be narrower and thus the cores of GRB progenitor stars at high redshifts may be rotating more rapidly. It also suggests that GRBs at very high redshifts may be more luminous -- and therefore easier to detect -- than has been thought, which would make GRBs a more powerful probe of cosmology and the early universe than has been thought.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proc. 2003 GRB Conference, Santa Fe, N

Recent atmospheric neutrino results from Soudan 2

An updated measurement of the atmospheric nu_mu/nu_e ratio-of-ratios, 0.68+-0.11+-0.06, has been obtained using a 4.6-kty exposure of the Soudan-2 iron tracking calorimeter. The L/E distributions have been analyzed for effects of nu_mu -> nu_x oscillations, and an allowed region in the Delta m^2 vs. sin^2 2 theta plane has been determined.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; presented at TAUP99, the 6th Int. Workshop on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, Sept. 6-10, 1999, College de France, Paris, Franc

Observation and implications of the Epeak - Eiso correlation in Gamma-Ray Bursts

The availability of a few dozen GRB redshifts now allows studies of the intrinsic properties of these high energy transients. Amati et al. recently discovered a correlation between Epeak, the intrinsic peak energy of the $\nu f \nu$ spectrum, and Eiso, the isotropic equivalent energy radiated by the source. Lamb et al. have shown that HETE-2 data confirm and extend this correlation. We discuss here one of the consequences of this correlation: the existence of a 'spectral standard candle', which can be used to construct a simple redshift indicator for GRBs.Comment: Proceedings of the GRB 2003 Conference in SantaFe, 5 pages, 4 figure

Sterile neutrinos and RKR_K

Peer reviewe

Charged Current Universality in the MSSM

We compute the complete one-loop contributions to low-energy charged current weak interaction observables in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We obtain the constraints on the MSSM parameter space which arise when precision low-energy charged current data are analyzed in tandem with measurements of the muon anomaly. While the data allow the presence of at least one light neutralino, they also imply a pattern of mass splittings among first and second generation sleptons and squarks which contradict predictions of widely used models for supersymmetry breaking mediation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure