Density and reproductive characteristics of female brown bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain

Here we present annual nearest-neighbour distances (as a proxy of density) between females with cubs-of-the-year (hereafter FCOY) and reproductive characteristics of brown bears Ursus arctos in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain), from 1989 to 2017. FCOY nearest-neighbour distances and reproduction parameters of 19 focal females followed over several consecutive years (from 2004 to 2017) were obtained from bears inhabiting the western sector of the Cantabrian Mountains, where most of the bear population resides. In contrast, general reproductive characteristics were studied in the whole Cantabrian Mountains (western and eastern sectors together) on a sample of 362 litter sizes and 695 cubs. Mean nearest-neighbour distance between FCOY was 2559 ± 1222 m (range = 1305–4757 m). Mean litter size was significantly larger in the west (1.8 ± 0.2 cubs) than in the east (1.3 ± 0.6 cubs). Mean litter size for the whole of the Cantabrian Mountains was 1.6 ± 0.3 cubs. Litter sizes of one, two and three cubs represented 33.4, 56.1 and 10.5% of observed family groups, respectively. Interannual variations in litter size were not significant for both the western and the eastern areas. Mean cub mortality was 0.2 ± 0.5 cubs and did not vary among years. Cub mortality per litter size was 3.9% for one cub, 69.2% for two cubs and 26.9% for three cubs. Mean reproductive rate of the 19 focal females was 1.5 ± 0.6 cubs (n = 58 litters). Litter size of focal FCOY did not differ from the litter size obtained from systematic observations in the whole Cantabrian Mountains. During this period, cub mortality occurred in 24.1% of the 58 litters. Females usually bred every second year (average litter interval = 2.2 years). The estimated reproductive rate for the bear population was 0.7 young born/year/reproductive adult female

Field Scanner Design for MUSTANG of the Green Bank Telescope

MUSTANG is a bolometer camera for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) working at a frequency of 90 GHz. The detector has a field of view of 40 arcseconds. To cancel out random emission change from atmosphere and other sources, requires a fast scanning reflecting system with a few arcminute ranges. In this paper, the aberrations of an off-axis system are reviewed. The condition for an optimized system is provided. In an optimized system, as additional image transfer mirrors are introduced, new aberrations of the off-axis system may be reintroduced, resulting in a limited field of view. In this paper, different scanning mirror arrangements for the GBT system are analyzed through the ray tracing analysis. These include using the subreflector as the scanning mirror, chopping a flat mirror and transferring image with an ellipse mirror, and chopping a flat mirror and transferring image with a pair of face-to-face paraboloid mirrors. The system analysis shows that chopping a flat mirror and using a well aligned pair of paraboloids can generate the required field of view for the MUSTUNG detector system, while other systems all suffer from larger off-axis aberrations added by the system modification. The spot diagrams of the well aligned pair of paraboloids produced is only about one Airy disk size within a scanning angle of about 3 arcmin.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

CMB Telescopes and Optical Systems

The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is now firmly established as a fundamental and essential probe of the geometry, constituents, and birth of the Universe. The CMB is a potent observable because it can be measured with precision and accuracy. Just as importantly, theoretical models of the Universe can predict the characteristics of the CMB to high accuracy, and those predictions can be directly compared to observations. There are multiple aspects associated with making a precise measurement. In this review, we focus on optical components for the instrumentation used to measure the CMB polarization and temperature anisotropy. We begin with an overview of general considerations for CMB observations and discuss common concepts used in the community. We next consider a variety of alternatives available for a designer of a CMB telescope. Our discussion is guided by the ground and balloon-based instruments that have been implemented over the years. In the same vein, we compare the arc-minute resolution Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT). CMB interferometers are presented briefly. We conclude with a comparison of the four CMB satellites, Relikt, COBE, WMAP, and Planck, to demonstrate a remarkable evolution in design, sensitivity, resolution, and complexity over the past thirty years.Comment: To appear in: Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems (PSSS), Volume 1: Telescopes and Instrumentatio

Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO

A new design for the anode of a time projection chamber, consisting of a charge-detecting "tile", is investigated for use in large scale liquid xenon detectors. The tile is produced by depositing 60 orthogonal metal charge-collecting strips, 3~mm wide, on a 10~\si{\cm} $\times$ 10~\si{\cm} fused-silica wafer. These charge tiles may be employed by large detectors, such as the proposed tonne-scale nEXO experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Modular by design, an array of tiles can cover a sizable area. The width of each strip is small compared to the size of the tile, so a Frisch grid is not required. A grid-less, tiled anode design is beneficial for an experiment such as nEXO, where a wire tensioning support structure and Frisch grid might contribute radioactive backgrounds and would have to be designed to accommodate cycling to cryogenic temperatures. The segmented anode also reduces some degeneracies in signal reconstruction that arise in large-area crossed-wire time projection chambers. A prototype tile was tested in a cell containing liquid xenon. Very good agreement is achieved between the measured ionization spectrum of a $^{207}$Bi source and simulations that include the microphysics of recombination in xenon and a detailed modeling of the electrostatic field of the detector. An energy resolution $\sigma/E$=5.5\% is observed at 570~\si{keV}, comparable to the best intrinsic ionization-only resolution reported in literature for liquid xenon at 936~V/\si{cm}.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, as publishe

Distributed phase-covariant cloning with atomic ensembles via quantum Zeno dynamics

We propose an interesting scheme for distributed orbital state quantum cloning with atomic ensembles based on the quantum Zeno dynamics. These atomic ensembles which consist of identical three-level atoms are trapped in distant cavities connected by a single-mode integrated optical star coupler. These qubits can be manipulated through appropriate modulation of the coupling constants between atomic ensemble and classical field, and the cavity decay can be largely suppressed as the number of atoms in the ensemble qubits increases. The fidelity of each cloned qubit can be obtained with analytic result. The present scheme provides a new way to construct the quantum communication network.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

ECFA Detector R&D Panel, Review Report

Two special calorimeters are foreseen for the instrumentation of the very forward region of an ILC or CLIC detector; a luminometer (LumiCal) designed to measure the rate of low angle Bhabha scattering events with a precision better than 10$^{-3}$ at the ILC and 10$^{-2}$ at CLIC, and a low polar-angle calorimeter (BeamCal). The latter will be hit by a large amount of beamstrahlung remnants. The intensity and the spatial shape of these depositions will provide a fast luminosity estimate, as well as determination of beam parameters. The sensors of this calorimeter must be radiation-hard. Both devices will improve the e.m. hermeticity of the detector in the search for new particles. Finely segmented and very compact electromagnetic calorimeters will match these requirements. Due to the high occupancy, fast front-end electronics will be needed. Monte Carlo studies were performed to investigate the impact of beam-beam interactions and physics background processes on the luminosity measurement, and of beamstrahlung on the performance of BeamCal, as well as to optimise the design of both calorimeters. Dedicated sensors, front-end and ADC ASICs have been designed for the ILC and prototypes are available. Prototypes of sensor planes fully assembled with readout electronics have been studied in electron beams.Comment: 61 pages, 51 figure

On the Interplay between Resource Extraction and Polluting Emissions in Oligopoly

This paper offers an overview of the literature discussing oligopoly games in which polluti ng emissions are generated by the supply of goods requiring a natural resource as an input. An analytical summary of the main features of the interplay between pollution and resource extraction is then given using a differential game based on the Cournot oligopoly model, in which (i) the bearings on resource preservation of Pigouvian tax rate tailored on emissions are singled out and (ii) the issue of the optimal number of firms in the commons is also addressed