Tests of a multichannel photometer based on silicon diode detectors

A breadboard photometer was constructed that demonstrates a precision of 2 times 10 to the 4th power in the laboratory and scintillation-limited performance when used with an 0.5 m aperture telescope. Because the detectors and preamps are not cooled, only stars with m sub v approx. less than 4 are bright enough to allow the photometer to attain a precision of 1 times 10 to the 3rd power for three minute observations with an 0.5 m aperature telescope. Cooling the telescope should allow much fainter stars to be observed. Increasing the aperture of the telescope will allow higher precision and the observation of fainter stars

The Energy Spectra and Relative Abundances of Electrons and Positrons in the Galactic Cosmic Radiation

Observations of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons have been made with a new balloon-borne detector, HEAT (the "High-Energy Antimatter Telescope"), first flown in 1994 May from Fort Sumner, NM. We describe the instrumental approach and the data analysis procedures, and we present results from this flight. The measurement has provided a new determination of the individual energy spectra of electrons and positrons from 5 GeV to about 50 GeV, and of the combined "all-electron" intensity (e+ + e-) up to about 100 GeV. The single power-law spectral indices for electrons and positrons are alpha = 3.09 +/- 0.08 and 3.3 +/- 0.2, respectively. We find that a contribution from primary sources to the positron intensity in this energy region, if it exists, must be quite small.Comment: latex2e file, 30 pages, 15 figures, aas2pp4.sty and epsf.tex needed. To appear in May 10, 1998 issue of Ap.

A Measurement of the Angular Power Spectrum of the CMB from l = 100 to 400

We report on a measurement of the angular spectrum of the CMB between $l\approx 100$ and $l\approx 400$ made at 144 GHz from Cerro Toco in the Chilean altiplano. When the new data are combined with previous data at 30 and 40 GHz, taken with the same instrument observing the same section of sky, we find: 1) a rise in the angular spectrum to a maximum with $\delta T_l \approx 85~\mu$K at $l\approx 200$ and a fall at $l>300$, thereby localizing the peak near $l\approx 200$; and 2) that the anisotropy at $l\approx 200$ has the spectrum of the CMB.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Revised version; includes Ned Wright's postscript fix. Accepted by ApJL. Website at http://physics.princeton.edu/~cmb

WMAP constraint on the P-term inflationary model

In light of WMAP results, we examine the observational constraint on the P-term inflation. With the tunable parameter $f$, P-term inflation contains richer physics than D-term and F-term inflationary models. We find the logarithmic derivative spectral index with $n>1$ on large scales and $n<1$ on small scales in agreement to observation. We obtained a reasonable range for the choice of the gauge coupling constant $g$ in order to meet the requirements of WMAP observation and the expected number of the e-foldings. Although tuning $f$ and $g$ we can have larger values for the logarithmic derivative of the spectral index, it is not possible to satisfy all observational requirements for both, the spectral index and its logarithmic derivative at the same time.Comment: 6 pages, double column, 13 figures included. Version appearing in the Physical Review

The Robustness of Quintessence

Recent observations seem to suggest that our Universe is accelerating implying that it is dominated by a fluid whose equation of state is negative. Quintessence is a possible explanation. In particular, the concept of tracking solutions permits to adress the fine-tuning and coincidence problems. We study this proposal in the simplest case of an inverse power potential and investigate its robustness to corrections. We show that quintessence is not affected by the one-loop quantum corrections. In the supersymmetric case where the quintessential potential is motivated by non-perturbative effects in gauge theories, we consider the curvature effects and the K\"ahler corrections. We find that the curvature effects are negligible while the K\"ahler corrections modify the early evolution of the quintessence field. Finally we study the supergravity corrections and show that they must be taken into account as $Q\approx m_{\rm Pl}$ at small red-shifts. We discuss simple supergravity models exhibiting the quintessential behaviour. In particular, we propose a model where the scalar potential is given by $V(Q)=\frac{\Lambda^{4+\alpha }}{Q^{\alpha}}e^{\frac{\kappa}{2}Q^2}$. We argue that the fine-tuning problem can be overcome if $\alpha \ge 11$. This model leads to $\omega_Q\approx -0.82$ for $\Omega_{\rm m}\approx 0.3$ which is in good agreement with the presently available data.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Cosmic microwave background anisotropy power spectrum statistics for high precision cosmology

As the era of high precision cosmology approaches, the empirically determined power spectrum of the microwave background anisotropy, $C_l$, will provide a crucial test for cosmological theories. We present a unified semi-analytic framework for the study of the statistical properties of the $C_l$ coefficients computed from the results of balloon, ground based, and satellite experiments. An illustrative application shows that commonly used approximations {\it bias} the estimation of the baryon parameter $\Omega_b$ at the 1% level even for a satellite capturing as much as $\sim 70$% of the sky.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Also available at http://www.tac.dk/~wandelt/downloads.htm

Energy Spectra, Altitude Profiles and Charge Ratios of Atmospheric Muons

We present a new measurement of air shower muons made during atmospheric ascent of the High Energy Antimatter Telescope balloon experiment. The muon charge ratio mu+ / mu- is presented as a function of atmospheric depth in the momentum interval 0.3-0.9 GeV/c. The differential mu- momentum spectra are presented between 0.3 and about 50 GeV/c at atmospheric depths between 13 and 960 g/cm^2. We compare our measurements with other recent data and with Monte Carlo calculations of the same type as those used in predicting atmospheric neutrino fluxes. We find that our measured mu- fluxes are smaller than the predictions by as much as 70% at shallow atmospheric depths, by about 20% at the depth of shower maximum, and are in good agreement with the predictions at greater depths. We explore the consequences of this on the question of atmospheric neutrino production.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D (2000