Spallation Neutron Production by 0.8, 1.2 and 1.6 GeV Protons on various Targets

Spallation neutron production in proton induced reactions on Al, Fe, Zr, W, Pb and Th targets at 1.2 GeV and on Fe and Pb at 0.8, and 1.6 GeV measured at the SATURNE accelerator in Saclay is reported. The experimental double-differential cross-sections are compared with calculations performed with different intra-nuclear cascade models implemented in high energy transport codes. The broad angular coverage also allowed the determination of average neutron multiplicities above 2 MeV. Deficiencies in some of the models commonly used for applications are pointed out.Comment: 20 pages, 32 figures, revised version, accepted fpr publication in Phys. Rev.

Target Selection for the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) is a high-resolution infrared spectroscopic survey spanning all Galactic environments (i.e., bulge, disk, and halo), with the principal goal of constraining dynamical and chemical evolution models of the Milky Way. APOGEE takes advantage of the reduced effects of extinction at infrared wavelengths to observe the inner Galaxy and bulge at an unprecedented level of detail. The survey's broad spatial and wavelength coverage enables users of APOGEE data to address numerous Galactic structure and stellar populations issues. In this paper we describe the APOGEE targeting scheme and document its various target classes to provide the necessary background and reference information to analyze samples of APOGEE data with awareness of the imposed selection criteria and resulting sample properties. APOGEE's primary sample consists of ~100,000 red giant stars, selected to minimize observational biases in age and metallicity. We present the methodology and considerations that drive the selection of this sample and evaluate the accuracy, efficiency, and caveats of the selection and sampling algorithms. We also describe additional target classes that contribute to the APOGEE sample, including numerous ancillary science programs, and we outline the targeting data that will be included in the public data releases.Comment: Accepted to AJ. 31 pages, 11 figure

Measurement of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Function g_1 in the Resonance Region

We have measured the proton and deuteron spin structure functions g_1^p and g_1^d in the region of the nucleon resonances for W^2 < 5 GeV^2 and $Q^2\simeq 0.5$ and $Q^2\simeq 1.2$ GeV^2 by inelastically scattering 9.7 GeV polarized electrons off polarized $^{15}NH_3$ and $^{15}ND_3$ targets. We observe significant structure in g_1^p in the resonance region. We have used the present results, together with the deep-inelastic data at higher W^2, to extract $\Gamma(Q^2)\equiv\int_0^1 g_1(x,Q^2) dx$. This is the first information on the low-Q^2 evolution of Gamma toward the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn limit at Q^2 = 0.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Precision Determination of the Neutron Spin Structure Function g1n

We report on a precision measurement of the neutron spin structure function $g^n_1$ using deep inelastic scattering of polarized electrons by polarized ^3He. For the kinematic range 0.014<x<0.7 and 1 (GeV/c)^2< Q^2< 17 (GeV/c)^2, we obtain $\int^{0.7}_{0.014} g^n_1(x)dx = -0.036 \pm 0.004 (stat) \pm 0.005 (syst)$ at an average $Q^2=5 (GeV/c)^2$. We find relatively large negative values for $g^n_1$ at low $x$. The results call into question the usual Regge theory method for extrapolating to x=0 to find the full neutron integral $\int^1_0 g^n_1(x)dx$, needed for testing quark-parton model and QCD sum rules.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Planet Populations as a Function of Stellar Properties

Exoplanets around different types of stars provide a window into the diverse environments in which planets form. This chapter describes the observed relations between exoplanet populations and stellar properties and how they connect to planet formation in protoplanetary disks. Giant planets occur more frequently around more metal-rich and more massive stars. These findings support the core accretion theory of planet formation, in which the cores of giant planets form more rapidly in more metal-rich and more massive protoplanetary disks. Smaller planets, those with sizes roughly between Earth and Neptune, exhibit different scaling relations with stellar properties. These planets are found around stars with a wide range of metallicities and occur more frequently around lower mass stars. This indicates that planet formation takes place in a wide range of environments, yet it is not clear why planets form more efficiently around low mass stars. Going forward, exoplanet surveys targeting M dwarfs will characterize the exoplanet population around the lowest mass stars. In combination with ongoing stellar characterization, this will help us understand the formation of planets in a large range of environments.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Handbook of Exoplanet

Chemical Abundances of M-Dwarfs from the Apogee Survey. I. The Exoplanet Hosting Stars Kepler-138 and Kepler-186

We report the first detailed chemical abundance analysis of the exoplanet-hosting M-dwarf stars Kepler-138 and Kepler-186 from the analysis of high-resolution (R ∼ 22,500) H-band spectra from the SDSS-IV–APOGEE survey. Chemical abundances of 13 elements—C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe—are extracted from the APOGEE spectra of these early M-dwarfs via spectrum syntheses computed with an improved line list that takes into account H2O and FeH lines. This paper demonstrates that APOGEE spectra can be analyzed to determine detailed chemical compositions of M-dwarfs. Both exoplanet-hosting M-dwarfs display modest subsolar metallicities: [Fe/H]Kepler-138 = −0.09 ± 0.09 dex and [Fe/H]Kepler-186 = −0.08 ± 0.10 dex. The measured metallicities resulting from this high-resolution analysis are found to be higher by ∼0.1–0.2 dex than previous estimates from lower-resolution spectra. The C/O ratios obtained for the two planet-hosting stars are near-solar, with values of 0.55 ± 0.10 for Kepler-138 and 0.52 ± 0.12 for Kepler-186. Kepler-186 exhibits a marginally enhanced [Si/Fe] ratio

Measurements of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Functions g1g_{1} and g2g_{2}

Measurements are reported of the proton and deuteron spin structure functions g1 at beam energies of 29.1, 16.2, and 9.7 GeV and g2 at a beam energy of 29.1 GeV. The integrals of g1 over x have been evaluated at fixed Q**2 = 3 (GeV/c)**2 using the full data set. The Q**2 dependence of the ratio g1/F1 was studied and found to be small for Q**2 > 1 (GeV/c)**2. Within experimental precision the g2 data are well-described by the Wandzura-Wilczek twist-2 contribution. Twist-3 matrix elements were extracted and compared to theoretical predictions. The asymmetry A2 was measured and found to be significantly smaller than the positivity limit for both proton and deuteron targets. A2 for the proton is found to be positive and inconsistent with zero. Measurements of g1 in the resonance region show strong variations with x and Q**2, consistent with resonant amplitudes extracted from unpolarized data. These data allow us to study the Q**2 dependence of the first moments of g1 below the scaling region

Next-to-Leading Order QCD Analysis of Polarized Deep Inelastic Scattering Data

We present a Next-to-Leading order perturbative QCD analysis of world data on the spin dependent structure functions $g_1^p, g_1^n$, and $g_1^d$, including the new experimental information on the $Q^2$ dependence of $g_1^n$. Careful attention is paid to the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The data constrain the first moments of the polarized valence quark distributions, but only qualitatively constrain the polarized sea quark and gluon distributions. The NLO results are used to determine the $Q^2$ dependence of the ratio $g_1/F_1$ and evolve the experimental data to a constant $Q^2 = 5 GeV^2$. We determine the first moments of the polarized structure functions of the proton and neutron and find agreement with the Bjorken sum rule.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures; final version to be published in Phys. Lett. B. References updated. Uses elsart.cls version 1996/04/22, 2e-1.4

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), one of the programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), has now completed its systematic, homogeneous spectroscopic survey sampling all major populations of the Milky Way. After a three-year observing campaign on the Sloan 2.5 m Telescope, APOGEE has collected a half million high-resolution (R ~ 22,500), high signal-to-noise ratio (>100), infrared (1.51–1.70 μm) spectra for 146,000 stars, with time series information via repeat visits to most of these stars. This paper describes the motivations for the survey and its overall design—hardware, field placement, target selection, operations—and gives an overview of these aspects as well as the data reduction, analysis, and products. An index is also given to the complement of technical papers that describe various critical survey components in detail. Finally, we discuss the achieved survey performance and illustrate the variety of potential uses of the data products by way of a number of science demonstrations, which span from time series analysis of stellar spectral variations and radial velocity variations from stellar companions, to spatial maps of kinematics, metallicity, and abundance patterns across the Galaxy and as a function of age, to new views of the interstellar medium, the chemistry of star clusters, and the discovery of rare stellar species. As part of SDSS-III Data Release 12 and later releases, all of the APOGEE data products are publicly available

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society