Current Status of VHE Astronomy

Very-high-energy astronomy studies the Universe at energies between 30 GeV and 100 TeV. The past decade has seen enormous progress in this field. There are now at least seven known sources of VHE photons. By studying these objects in the VHE regime one can begin to understand the environments surrounding these objects, and how particle acceleration is realized in nature. In addition the photon beams from the extragalactic gamma-ray sources can be used to study the electromagnetic fields in the intervening space. This recent progress can be traced to the development of a new class of detector with the ability to differentiate between air showers produced by gamma rays and those produced by the much more numerous hadronic cosmic-ray background. Much more sensitive instruments are currently in the design phase and two new types of instruments are beginning to take data. In this paper we will discuss the physics of these sources and describe the existing and planned detectors.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

The HAWC TeV gamma-ray Observatory

Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has historically implemented two dramatically different techniques. One method employs Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope(s) (IACT) that detect the Cherenkov light generated in the atmosphere by extensive air showers. The other method employs particle detectors that directly detect the particles that reach ground level—known as Extensive Air Shower (EAS) arrays. Until recently, the IACT method had been the only technique to yield solid detections of TeV gamma-ray sources. Utilizing water Cherenkov technology, Milagro, was the first EAS array to discover new gamma-ray sources and demonstrated the power of and need for an all-sky high duty-cycle instrument in the TeV energy regime. The transient nature of many TeV sources, the enormous number of potential sources, and the existence of TeV sources that encompass large angular areas all point to the need for an all-sky, high duty-factor instrument with even greater sensitivity than Milagro. The High AltitudeWater Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory will be over an order of magnitude more sensitive than Milagro. In this paper we will discuss the design and sensitivity of HAWC

Search for Short Duration Bursts of TeV Gamma Rays with the Milagrito Telescope

Abstract The Milagrito water Cherenkov telescope operated for over a year (2/97-5/98). The most probable gamma-ray energy was ~1 TeV and the trigger rate was as high as 400 Hz. Milagrito has opened a new window on the TeV Universe. We have developed an efficient technique for searching the entire sky for short duration bursts of TeV photons. Such bursts may result from "traditional" gamma-ray bursts that were not in the field-of-view of any other instruments, the evaporation of primordial black holes, or some as yet undiscovered phenomenon. We have begun to search the Milagrito data set for bursts of duration 10 seconds. Here we will present the technique and the expected results. Final results will be presented at the conference

Functional Evaluation of Plasmodium Export Signals in Plasmodium berghei Suggests Multiple Modes of Protein Export

The erythrocytic stage development of malaria parasites occurs within the parasitophorous vacuole inside the infected-erythrocytes, and requires transport of several parasite-encoded proteins across the parasitophorous vacuole to several locations, including the cytosol and membrane of the infected cell. These proteins are called exported proteins; and a large number of such proteins have been predicted for Plasmodium falciparum based on the presence of an N-terminal motif known as the Plasmodium export element (PEXEL) or vacuolar transport signal (VTS), which has been shown to mediate export. The majority of exported proteins contain one or more transmembrane domains at the C-terminus and one of three types of N-terminus domain architectures. (1) The majority, including the knob-associated histidine rich protein (KAHRP), contain a signal/hydrophobic sequence preceding the PEXEL/VTS motif. (2) Other exported proteins, including the P. berghei variant antigen family bir and the P. falciparum skeleton binding protein-1, do not appear to contain a PEXEL/VTS motif. (3) The P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 (PfEMP1) family lacks a signal/hydrophobic sequence before the motif. These different domain architectures suggest the presence of multiple export pathways in malaria parasites. To determine if export pathways are conserved in plasmodia and to develop an experimental system for studying these processes, we investigated export of GFP fused with N- and C-terminus putative export domains in the rodent malaria parasite P. berghei. Export was dependent on specific N- and C-terminal domains. Constructs with a KAHRP-like or bir N-terminus, but not the PfEMP1 N-terminus, exported GFP into the erythrocyte. The C-terminus of a P. falciparum variant antigen rifin prevented GFP export by the KAHRP-like N-terminus. In contrast, GFP chimeras containing KAHRP-like N-termini and the PfEMP1 C-terminus were exported to the surface of erythrocytes. Taken together, these results suggest that proteins with KAHRP-like architecture follow a common export pathway, but that PfEMP1s utilize an alternative pathway. Functional validation of common putative export domains of malaria parasites in P. berghei provides an alternative and simpler system to investigate export mechanisms