New bryophyte records for Kosovo from Sharri National Park

The bryoflora of Kosovo is poorly investigated. The aim of this study was to increase that knowledge by investigating Sharri National Park for its moss flora. Several field trips were carried out in 2014, 2015 and 2018. About 1900 specimens were collected in various locations of the Park (e.g. Brezovicë, Prevallë, Prroi i Duhlës, Ostrovicë, Restelicë, Mushtishtë, Pashallarë, Burimi i Lumbardhit etc.). Thus far, most of the specimens are identified and represent 159 moss taxa. Seventy-three taxa are new records for Sharri National Park, in which a total of 255 moss taxa have now been reecorded. Furthermore, 19 species are new records for Kosovo, which is now known to have a total of 346 moss taxa. The new records are for Amphidium lapponicum, Blindiadelphus recurvatus, Brachythecium geheebii, Dicranella schreberiana, Didymodon rigidulus, Grimmia dissimulata, G. muehlenbeckii, G. trichophylla, Kiaeria starkei, Paraleucobryum longifolium, Pohlia melanodon, Ptychostomum elegans, Racomitrium affine, R. lanuginosum, R. macounii subsp. alpinum, Rhynchostegium murale, Schistidium dupretii, Thamnobryum alopecurum and Weissia brachycarpa. There is only one species, Brachythecium geheebii, which is a red list species at the European level. In addition, several species, e.g. Grimmia caespiticia, G. reflexidens, Meesia uliginosa, Schistidium papillosum etc. have conservation value in the context of the Balkans. All this shows for the enormous biodiversity values of Sharri National Park and the need for nature conservation through the institution

Aperçu de la diversité de la flore des bryophytes de la péninsule des Balkans dans le contexte européen

The bryophytes of the Balkan Peninsula are still very poorly known, and the region of South-Eastern Europe is bryologically the less investigated area in Europe. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stage of bryophyte flora knowledge and bryophyte diversity richness in the Balkan Peninsula compared to Europe. Thus, species richness (alpha diversity) and the size of territories, and their logarithmic ratio, are taken into consideration. At the present, bryophyte flora in the region of SE Europe counts 5 hornworts, 267 liverworts and 897 moss species. It comprises 59.9 % of European hepatic and 69.4 % of moss flora. The richest territories in hepatic species are Romania (197 sp.) followed by Bulgaria (170 sp.) and Slovenia (167 sp.). On the other side, the poorest territories in hepatic species are the European part of Turkey (27 sp.), FYR of Macedonia (69 sp.) and Albania (91sp.). Similarly, the moss flora counts most species in Romania (747 sp.) followed by Slovenia (637 sp.), Bulgaria (558 sp.) and Serbia (553 sp.). One hundred and twenty mosses (12.9 %) and 42 (16.1 %) hepatic species are known from only one of eleven regional territories of SE Europe. The picture can be drown with the species recorded in only two of eleven territories: 149 mosses (16.9 %) and 57 hepatics (20.95 %). Besides, many species described from the region in the past still remain open to investigation regarding their taxonomic status. In the last years, there have been high activity in bryophyte investigation in SE Europe, and data on regional bryoflora constantly increase. However, achieving recent data on bryophytes within SE Europe remains still a problem to face. Intensive investigation of bryophytes in SE Europe is urgently needed, just to approach the level of knowledge in other well-known European regionsLes bryophytes de la péninsule Balkanique sont toujours très pauvrement connues et, au point de vue bryologique, l'Europe du Sud-Est demeure la région la moins prospectée en Europe. Le but de cette étude est d'évaluer l'état des connaissances sur la richesse de la diversité des bryophytes dans la péninsule Balkanique par rapport à l'Europe. Ainsi, la richesse spécifique (diversité alpha), la taille des territoires et leur rapport logarithmique sont pris en considération. Actuellement, la flore bryologique compte, dans le S.-E. de l'Europe, 5 anthocérotées, 267 hépatiques et 897 espèces de mousses. Elle comporte 59,9 % des hépatiques européennes et 69,4 % de la flore des mousses. Les territoires les plus riches en hépatiques sont la Roumanie (197 sp.), suivie par la Bulgarie (170 sp.) et la Slovénie (167 sp.). A l'opposé, les territoires les plus pauvres en hépatiques sont la partie européenne de la Turquie (27 sp.), la FYR de Macédoine (69 sp.) et l'Albanie (91 sp.). De même, la flore des mousses compte la plupart des espèces en Roumanie (747 sp.), suivie par la Slovénie (637 sp.), la Bulgarie (558 sp.) et la Serbie (553 sp.). Cent vingt mousses (12,9 %) et 42 hépatique (16,1 %) sont connues de seulement un des onze territoires régionaux de l'Europe du S.-E. L'image peut être complétée avec les espèces enregistrées dans seulement deux des onze territoires: 149 mousses (16,9 %) et 57 hépatiques (20,95 %). De plus, beaucoup d'espèces décrites de la région dans le passé restent toujours en attente d'une enquête quant à leur statut taxinomique. Dans les dernières années, il y a eu une hausse de l'activité d'enquête sur les bryophytes du S.-E. de l'Europe et les données sur la flore bryologique régionale augmentent constamment. Néanmoins, l'obtention de données récentes sur les bryophytes du S.-E. de l'Europe reste toujours un problème d'actualité. Une enquête intensive des bryophytes du S.-E. de l'Europe est une urgente nécessité, ne serait-ce que pour approcher le niveau de connaissance d'autres régions européennes bien connues

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

Sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO detectors at the beginning of gravitational wave astronomy

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) consists of two widely separated 4 km laser interferometers designed to detect gravitational waves from distant astrophysical sources in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 kHz. The first observation run of the Advanced LIGO detectors started in September 2015 and ended in January 2016. A strain sensitivity of better than 10−23/Hz−−−√ was achieved around 100 Hz. Understanding both the fundamental and the technical noise sources was critical for increasing the astrophysical strain sensitivity. The average distance at which coalescing binary black hole systems with individual masses of 30  M⊙ could be detected above a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 8 was 1.3 Gpc, and the range for binary neutron star inspirals was about 75 Mpc. With respect to the initial detectors, the observable volume of the Universe increased by a factor 69 and 43, respectively. These improvements helped Advanced LIGO to detect the gravitational wave signal from the binary black hole coalescence, known as GW150914

First measurement of the Hubble Constant from a Dark Standard Siren using the Dark Energy Survey Galaxies and the LIGO/Virgo Binary–Black-hole Merger GW170814

International audienceWe present a multi-messenger measurement of the Hubble constant H 0 using the binary–black-hole merger GW170814 as a standard siren, combined with a photometric redshift catalog from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The luminosity distance is obtained from the gravitational wave signal detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo Collaboration (LVC) on 2017 August 14, and the redshift information is provided by the DES Year 3 data. Black hole mergers such as GW170814 are expected to lack bright electromagnetic emission to uniquely identify their host galaxies and build an object-by-object Hubble diagram. However, they are suitable for a statistical measurement, provided that a galaxy catalog of adequate depth and redshift completion is available. Here we present the first Hubble parameter measurement using a black hole merger. Our analysis results in , which is consistent with both SN Ia and cosmic microwave background measurements of the Hubble constant. The quoted 68% credible region comprises 60% of the uniform prior range [20, 140] km s−1 Mpc−1, and it depends on the assumed prior range. If we take a broader prior of [10, 220] km s−1 Mpc−1, we find (57% of the prior range). Although a weak constraint on the Hubble constant from a single event is expected using the dark siren method, a multifold increase in the LVC event rate is anticipated in the coming years and combinations of many sirens will lead to improved constraints on H 0

Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model

We present results from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to track spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of LIGO data by using an improved frequency domain matched filter, the J-statistic, and by analyzing data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 650 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. At 194.6 Hz, the most sensitive search frequency, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h095%=3.47×10-25 when marginalizing over source inclination angle. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1, to date, that is specifically designed to be robust in the presence of spin wandering. © 2019 American Physical Society

Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model

We present results from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to track spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of LIGO data by using an improved frequency domain matched filter, the J-statistic, and by analyzing data from Advanced LIGO’s second observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 650 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. At 194.6 Hz, the most sensitive search frequency, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h95%0=3.47×10−25 when marginalizing over source inclination angle. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1, to date, that is specifically designed to be robust in the presence of spin wandering

Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914

A gravitational-wave (GW) transient was identified in data recorded by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 2015 September 14. The event, initially designated G184098 and later given the name GW150914, is described in detail elsewhere. By prior arrangement, preliminary estimates of the time, significance, and sky location of the event were shared with 63 teams of observers covering radio, optical, near-infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths with ground- and space-based facilities. In this Letter we describe the low-latency analysis of the GW data and present the sky localization of the first observed compact binary merger. We summarize the follow-up observations reported by 25 teams via private Gamma-ray Coordinates Network circulars, giving an overview of the participating facilities, the GW sky localization coverage, the timeline, and depth of the observations. As this event turned out to be a binary black hole merger, there is little expectation of a detectable electromagnetic (EM) signature. Nevertheless, this first broadband campaign to search for a counterpart of an Advanced LIGO source represents a milestone and highlights the broad capabilities of the transient astronomy community and the observing strategies that have been developed to pursue neutron star binary merger events. Detailed investigations of the EM data and results of the EM follow-up campaign are being disseminated in papers by the individual teams