Influence of Yb:YAG laser beam parameters on Haynes 188 weld fusion zone microstructure and mechanical properties

The weldability of 1.2 mm thick Haynes 188 alloy sheets by a disk Yb:YAG laser welding was examined. Butt joints were made, and the influence of parameters such as power, size, and shape of the spot, welding speed, and gas flow has been investigated. Based on an iconographic correlation approach, optimum process parameters were determined. Depending on the distribution of the power density (circular or annular), acceptable welds were obtained. Powers greater than 1700 W, welding speeds higher than 3.8 m mm1, and spot sizes between 160 and 320 lm were needed in the circular (small fiber) configuration. By comparison, the annular (large fiber) configuration required a power as high as 2500 W, and a welding speed less than 3.8 m min�1. The mechanical properties of the welds depended on their shape and microstructure, which in turn depended on the welding conditions. The content of carbides, the proportion of areas consisting of cellular and dendritic substructures, and the size of these substructures were used to explain the welded joint mechanical properties

High-contrast imaging constraints on gas giant planet formation - The Herbig Ae/Be star opportunity

Planet formation studies are often focused on solar-type stars, implicitly considering our Sun as reference point. This approach overlooks, however, that Herbig Ae/Be stars are in some sense much better targets to study planet formation processes empirically, with their disks generally being larger, brighter and simply easier to observe across a large wavelength range. In addition, massive gas giant planets have been found on wide orbits around early type stars, triggering the question if these objects did indeed form there and, if so, by what process. In the following I briefly review what we currently know about the occurrence rate of planets around intermediate mass stars, before discussing recent results from Herbig Ae/Be stars in the context of planet formation. The main emphasis is put on spatially resolved polarized light images of potentially planet forming disks and how these images - in combination with other data - can be used to empirically constrain (parts of) the planet formation process. Of particular interest are two objects, HD100546 and HD169142, where, in addition to intriguing morphological structures in the disks, direct observational evidence for (very) young planets has been reported. I conclude with an outlook, what further progress we can expect in the very near future with the next generation of high-contrast imagers at 8-m class telescopes and their synergies with ALMA.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysics and Space Science as invited short review in special issue about Herbig Ae/Be stars; 12 pages incl. 5 figures, 2 tables and reference

First Observation and Measurement of the Decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma

Using the full data set of the NA48/2 experiment, the decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma is observed for the first time, selecting 120 candidates with 7.3 +- 1.7 estimated background events. With K+- -> pi+- pi0D as normalisation channel, the branching ratio is determined in a model-independent way to be Br(K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma, m_eegamma > 260 MeV/c^2) = (1.19 +- 0.12_stat +- 0.04_syst) x 10^-8. This measured value and the spectrum of the e+ e- gamma invariant mass allow a comparison with predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Empirical parameterization of the K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decay Dalitz plot

As first observed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS, the \p0p0 invariant mass (M00) distribution from \kcnn decay shows a cusp-like anomaly at M00=2m+, where m+ is the charged pion mass. An analysis to extract the pi pi scattering lengths in the isospin I=0 and I=2 states, a0 and a2, respectively, has been recently reported. In the present work the Dalitz plot of this decay is fitted to a new empirical parameterization suitable for practical purposes, such as Monte Carlo simulations of K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decays.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Search for direct CP-violation in K+- --> pi+-pi0pi0 decays

A search for direct CP-violation in K+- --> pi+-pi0pi0 decays based on 47.14 million events has been performed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS. The asymmetry in the Dalitz plot linear slopes A_g=(g^+ - g^-)/(g^+ + g^-) is measured to be A_g=(1.8 +- 2.6).10^{-4}. The design of the experiment and the method of analysis provide good control of instrumental charge asymmetries in this measurement. The precision of the result is limited by statistics and is almost one order of magnitude better than that of previous measurements by other experiments.Comment: 14 page

A new measurement of direct CP violation in two pion decays of the neutral kaon

The NA48 experiment at CERN has performed a new measurement of direct CP violation, based on data taken in 1997 by simultaneously collecting K_L and K_S decays into pi0pi0 and pi+pi-. The result for the CP violating parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon) is (18.5 +/- 4.5(stat)} +/- 5.8 (syst))x10^{-4}.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Search for the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) in gamma gamma collisions

Data taken with the ALEPH detector at LEP1 have been used to search for gamma gamma production of the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) via their decay to pi+pi-. No signal is observed and upper limits to the product of gamma gamma width and pi+pi- branching ratio of the f0(1500) and the fJ(1710) have been measured to be Gamma_(gamma gamma -> f0(1500)). BR(f0(1500)->pi+pi-) < 0.31 keV and Gamma_(gamma gamma -> fJ(1710)). BR(fJ(1710)->pi+pi-) < 0.55 keV at 95% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

Two Intermediate-mass Transiting Brown Dwarfs from the TESS Mission

We report the discovery of two intermediate-mass transiting brown dwarfs (BDs), TOI-569b and TOI-1406b, from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. TOI-569b has an orbital period of P=.55604±0.00016 days, a mass of Mb = 64.1±1.9 MJ, and a radius of Rb = 0.75±0.02 RJ. Its host star, TOI-569, has a mass of Må = 1.21±0.05 M, a radius of Rå = 1.47±0.03 R, [Fe H 0.29 0.09] = + dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 5768±10K. TOI-1406b has an orbital period of P=10.57415±0.00063 days, a mass of Mb = 46.0± 2.7 MJ, and a radius of Rb = 0.86±0.03 RJ. The host star for this BD has a mass of Må = 1.18±0.09 M, a radius of Rå = 1.35±0.03 R, [Fe/H] =-0.08± 0.09 dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 6290±100 K. Both BDs are in circular orbits around their host stars and are older than 3 Gyr based on stellar isochrone models of the stars. TOI-569 is one of two slightly evolved stars known to host a transiting BD (the other being KOI-415). TOI-1406b is one of three known transiting BDs to occupy the mass range of 40-50 MJ and one of two to have a circular orbit at a period near 10 days (with the first being KOI-205b). Both BDs have reliable ages from stellar isochrones, in addition to their well-constrained masses and radii, making them particularly valuable as tests for substellar isochrones in the BD mass-radius diagram

Measurement of the Dalitz plot slope parameters of the K±→π±π+π−K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^+\pi^- decay

The distribution of the $K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^+\pi^-$ decays in the Dalitz plot has been measured by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS with a sample of $4.71\times 10^8$ fully reconstructed events. With the standard Particle Data Group parameterization the following values of the slope parameters were obtained: $g=(-21.134\pm0.017)\%$, $h=(1.848\pm0.040)\%$, $k=(-0.463\pm0.014)\%$. The quality and statistical accuracy of the data have allowed an improvement in precision by more than an order of magnitude, and are such as to warrant a more elaborate theoretical treatment, including pion-pion rescattering, which is in preparation.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Version submitted to Phys. Lett. B. Slightly improved analysis and bibliography