Compton reflection in AGN with Simbol-X

AGN exhibit complex hard X-ray spectra. Our current understanding is that the emission is dominated by inverse Compton processes which take place in the corona above the accretion disk, and that absorption and reflection in a distant absorber play a major role. These processes can be directly observed through the shape of the continuum, the Compton reflection hump around 30 keV, and the iron fluorescence line at 6.4 keV. We demonstrate the capabilities of Simbol-X to constrain complex models for cases like MCG-05-23-016, NGC 4151, NGC 2110, and NGC 4051 in short (10 ksec) observations. We compare the simulations with recent observations on these sources by INTEGRAL, Swift and Suzaku. Constraining reflection models for AGN with Simbol-X will help us to get a clear view of the processes and geometry near to the central engine in AGN, and will give insight to which sources are responsible for the Cosmic X-ray background at energies above 20 keV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of the second Simbol-X Symposium "Simbol-X - Focusing on the Hard X-ray Universe", AIP Conf. Proc. Series, P. Ferrando and J. Rodriguez ed

The CERN PS East Area in the LHC Era

Experiments planned at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will require a well-equipped test area with low momentum (<15 Gev/c) secondary particle beams. These beams will be used to test some of the LHC detectors components (ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb). In addition another recently approved experiment (DIRAC) will be installed in the PS East Area. This experiment will require a primary proton beam of 24 GeV/c to test QCD predictions. In this context, the EHNL project (East Hall New Look) has been launched. The major modifications include (i) an extension of the present area with a primary 24 GeV/c beam line, (ii) a new secondary beam line lay-out with test areas at 3.5, 7, 10 and 15 GeV/c, (iii) an additional irradiation area, (iv) an improved facility for beam sharing between the various users. This paper describes the scope of the project, its new features, the planned facilities and its installation schedul

SIMBOL-X : a new generation hard X-ray telescope

SIMBOL-X is a hard X-ray mission, operating in the 0.5-70 keV range, which is proposed by a consortium of European laboratories for a launch around 2010. Relying on two spacecraft in a formation flying configuration, SIMBOL-X uses a 30 m focal length X-ray mirror to achieve an unprecedented angular resolution (30 arcsec HEW) and sensitivity (100 times better than INTEGRAL below 50 keV) in the hard X-ray range. SIMBOL-X will allow to elucidate fundamental questions in high energy astrophysics, such as the physics of accretion onto Black Holes, of acceleration in quasar jets and in supernovae remnants, or the nature of the hard X-ray diffuse emission. The scientific objectives and the baseline concepts of the mission and hardware design are presented.Comment: 12 pages, 16 fig., Proc. SPIE conf. 5168, San Diego, Aug. 200

High Momentum Probes of Nuclear Matter

We discuss how the chemical composition of QCD jets is altered by final state interactions in surrounding nuclear matter. We describe this process through conversions of leading jet particles. We find that conversions lead to an enhancement of kaons at high transverse momentum in Au+Au collisions at RHIC, while their azimuthal asymmetry v_2 is suppressed.Comment: Contribution to the 4th international workshop High-pT physics at LHC 09, Prague; 6 pages, 6 figure

Hard X-ray polarimetry with Caliste, a high performance CdTe based imaging spectrometer

Since the initial exploration of soft gamma-ray sky in the 60's, high-energy celestial sources have been mainly characterized through imaging, spectroscopy and timing analysis. Despite tremendous progress in the field, the radiation mechanisms at work in sources such as neutrons stars and black holes are still unclear. The polarization state of the radiation is an observational parameter which brings key additional information about the physical process. This is why most of the projects for the next generation of space missions covering the tens of keV to the MeV region require a polarization measurement capability. A key element enabling this capability is a detector system allowing the identification and characterization of Compton interactions as they are the main process at play. The hard X-ray imaging spectrometer module, developed in CEA with the generic name of Caliste module, is such a detector. In this paper, we present experimental results for two types of Caliste-256 modules, one based on a CdTe crystal, the other one on a CdZnTe crystal, which have been exposed to linearly polarized beams at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. These results, obtained at 200-300 keV, demonstrate their capability to give an accurate determination of the polarization parameters (polarization angle and fraction) of the incoming beam. Applying a selection to our data set, equivalent to select 90 degrees Compton scattered interactions in the detector plane, we find a modulation factor Q of 0.78. The polarization angle and fraction are derived with accuracies of approximately 1 degree and 5%. The modulation factor remains larger than 0.4 when essentially no selection is made at all on the data. These results prove that the Caliste-256 modules have performances allowing them to be excellent candidates as detectors with polarimetric capabilities, in particular for future space missions.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables in Experimental Astronomy, 201

Simbol-X Hard X-ray Focusing Mirrors: Results Obtained During the Phase A Study

Simbol-X will push grazing incidence imaging up to 80 keV, providing a strong improvement both in sensitivity and angular resolution compared to all instruments that have operated so far above 10 keV. The superb hard X-ray imaging capability will be guaranteed by a mirror module of 100 electroformed Nickel shells with a multilayer reflecting coating. Here we will describe the technogical development and solutions adopted for the fabrication of the mirror module, that must guarantee an Half Energy Width (HEW) better than 20 arcsec from 0.5 up to 30 keV and a goal of 40 arcsec at 60 keV. During the phase A, terminated at the end of 2008, we have developed three engineering models with two, two and three shells, respectively. The most critical aspects in the development of the Simbol-X mirrors are i) the production of the 100 mandrels with very good surface quality within the timeline of the mission; ii) the replication of shells that must be very thin (a factor of 2 thinner than those of XMM-Newton) and still have very good image quality up to 80 keV; iii) the development of an integration process that allows us to integrate these very thin mirrors maintaining their intrinsic good image quality. The Phase A study has shown that we can fabricate the mandrels with the needed quality and that we have developed a valid integration process. The shells that we have produced so far have a quite good image quality, e.g. HEW <~30 arcsec at 30 keV, and effective area. However, we still need to make some improvements to reach the requirements. We will briefly present these results and discuss the possible improvements that we will investigate during phase B.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, invited talk at the conference "2nd International Simbol-X Symposium", Paris, 2-5 december, 200

Epitaxial MgB2 thin films on ZrB2 buffer layers: structural characterization by synchrotron radiation

Structural and superconducting properties of magnesium diboride thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on zirconium diboride buffer layers were studied. We demonstrate that the ZrB2 layer is compatible with the MgB2 two step deposition process. Synchrotron radiation measurements, in particular anomalous diffraction measurements, allowed to separate MgB2 peaks from ZrB2 ones and revealed that both layers have a single in plane orientation with a sharp interface between them. Moreover, the buffer layer avoids oxygen contamination from the sapphire substrate. The critical temperature of this film is near 37.6 K and the upper critical field measured at Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory up to 20.3 T is comparable with the highest ones reported in literature.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Supercond. Sci. and Techno

Goat biodiversity in Spain

Goats are located predominantly in the dry Spain specially in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Murcia and Extremadura. In this paper we have analyzed 867 samples of 18 Spanish goat populations from different parts of the Iberian Peninsula (Azpi-Gorri, Blanca de Rasquera, Blanca Andaluza, Blanca Celtibérica, Florida, Malagueña, Murciano-Granadina, Negra Serrana, Payoya and Retinta) and the Balearic (Ibicenca, Mallorquina and Formentera goat) and Canarian Archipelagos (Ajuí, Majorera, Palmera, Tenerife North and Tenerife South). Twenty-three microsatellites have been amplified and the within-breed genetic variation has been calculated through the analysis of the mean number of alleles, heterozygosity and FIS The values of expected heterozygosity (He) per breed ranged from 0.524 to 0.721 in Palmera and Florida, respectively, while the observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged between 0.515 and 0.705 in Palmera and Retinta, respectively. Goat genetic diversity in Spain is very high, with a mean number of alleles, expected and observed heterozigosities across the breeds of 7.04, 0.668 and 0.621, respectively.La especie caprina se localiza predominantemente en la España seca con gran protagonismo de Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha, Canarias, Murcia y Extremadura. En este trabajo se analizan 867 muestras de 18 poblaciones caprinas españolas provenientes de diferentes zonas de la Península Ibérica (Azpi-Gorri, Blanca de Rasquera, Blanca Andaluza, Blanca Celtibérica, Florida, Malagueña, Murciano-Granadina, Negra Serrana, Payoya y Retinta) y de los archipiélagos Balear (Ibicenca, Mallorquina y cabra de Formentera) y Canario (Ajuí, Majorera, Palmera, Tinerfeña del Norte y Tinerfeña del Sur). Se amplifican 23 microsatélites de ADN y se determina la variación genética de las razas mediante el análisis del número medio de alelos, la heterocigosis, y el estadístico FIS. Los valores de heterocigosis esperada (He) oscilan entre 0,524 en la raza Palmera y 0,721 en la Florida mientras que la heterocigosis observada (Ho) fluctúa entre 0,515 en la Palmera y 0,705 en la Retinta. En España existe una diversidad genética caprina elevada con valores de número medio de alelos, heterocigosis esperada y observada para todas las razas de 7,04, 0,668 y 0,621 respectivamente