Milagrito: a TeV air-shower array

Milagrito, a large, covered water-Cherenkov detector, was the world's first air-shower-particle detector sensitive to cosmic gamma rays below 1 TeV. It served as a prototype for the Milagro detector and operated from February 1997 to May 1998. This paper gives a description of Milagrito, a summary of the operating experience, and early results that demonstrate the capabilities of this technique.Comment: 38 pages including 24 figure

The cepheid distance to the seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151

We derive a distance of 15.8 +- 0.4 Mpc to the archetypal Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151 based on the near-infrared Cepheid period-luminosity relation and new Hubble Space Telescope multiband imaging. This distance determination, based on measurements of 35 long-period (P > 25 days) Cepheids, will support the absolute calibration of the supermassive black hole mass in this system, as well as studies of the dynamics of the feedback or feeding of its active galactic nucleus.Support for HST program GO-13765 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. MV gratefully acknowledges support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark via grant number DFF 8021-00130

Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators

Distance measurements beyond geometrical and semi-geometrical methods, rely mainly on standard candles. As the name suggests, these objects have known luminosities by virtue of their intrinsic proprieties and play a major role in our understanding of modern cosmology. The main caveats associated with standard candles are their absolute calibration, contamination of the sample from other sources and systematic uncertainties. The absolute calibration mainly depends on their chemical composition and age. To understand the impact of these effects on the distance scale, it is essential to develop methods based on different sample of standard candles. Here we review the fundamental properties of young and intermediate-age distance indicators such as Cepheids, Mira variables and Red Clump stars and the recent developments in their application as distance indicators.Comment: Review article, 63 pages (28 figures), Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Chapter 3 of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age

Allan Sandage and the Cosmic Expansion

This is an account of Allan Sandage's work on (1) The character of the expansion field. For many years he has been the strongest defender of an expanding Universe. He later explained the CMB dipole by a local velocity of 220 +/- 50 km/s toward the Virgo cluster and by a bulk motion of the Local supercluster (extending out to ~3500 km/s) of 450-500 km/s toward an apex at l=275, b=12. Allowing for these streaming velocities he found linear expansion to hold down to local scales (~300 km/s). (2) The calibration of the Hubble constant. Probing different methods he finally adopted - from Cepheid-calibrated SNe Ia and from independent RR Lyr-calibrated TRGBs - H_0 = 62.3 +/- 1.3 +/- 5.0 km/s/Mpc.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, Submitted to Astrophysics and Space Science, Special Issue on the Fundamental Cosmic Distance Scale in the Gaia Er

The Cepheid Distance to the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 4051

We derive a distance of D = 16.6 ± 0.3 Mpc (μ = 31.10 ± 0.04 mag) to the archetypal narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 based on Cepheid period-luminosity relations and new Hubble Space Telescope multiband imaging. We identify 419 Cepheid candidates and estimate the distance at both optical and near-infrared wavelengths using subsamples of precisely photometered variables (123 and 47 in the optical and near-infrared subsamples, respectively). We compare our independent photometric procedures and distance-estimation methods to those used by the Supernovae, H0, for the Equation of State team and find agreement to 0.01 mag. The distance we obtain suggests an Eddington ratio of ˙m ≈ 0.2 for NGC 4051, typical of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, unlike the seemingly odd value implied by previous distance estimates. We derive a peculiar velocity of -490 ± 34 km s-1 for NGC 4051, consistent with the overall motion of the Ursa Major Cluster in which it resides. We also revisit the energetics of the NGC 4051 nucleus, including its outflow and mass accretion rates. © 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Recent actinide nuclear data efforts with the DANCE 4π BaF2 array

Much of the recent work in the DANCE collaboration has focused on nuclides of interest to stockpile stewardship, attribution science and the advanced fuel cycle initiative. As an example, we have recently begun a program to produce high precision measurements of the key production and destruction reactions of important nuclear fuel elements and radiochemical diagnostic isotopes. The neutron capture targets that have been fielded under this program include several isotopes of uranium, plutonium and americium. However, neutron capture measurements on many of the actinides are complicated by the presence of γ-rays arising from low energy neutron-induced fission. To overcome this difficulty we have designed and implemented a dual parallel-plate avalanche counter fission-tagging detector. This design provides a high efficiency for detecting fission fragments and is self-contained to allow loading of pre-assembled target/detector assemblies into the neutron beam line at DANCE. An outline of the recent experimental program will be presented as well as preliminary results from neutron capture measurements on 234,235,236U. Planned measurements on 238,239Pu will also be discussed

The BaBar detector: Upgrades, operation and performance

Contains fulltext : 121729.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access