Monolithic Ge:Ga Detector Development for SAFARI

We describe the current status and the prospect for the development of monolithic Ge:Ga array detector for SAFARI. Our goal is to develop a 64x64 array for the 45 -- 110 um band, on the basis of existing technologies to make 3x20 monolithic arrays for the AKARI satellite. For the AKARI detector we have achieved a responsivity of 10 A/W and a read-out noise limited NEP (noise equivalent power) of 10^-17 W/rHz. We plan to develop the detector for SAFARI with technical improvements; significantly reduced read-out noise with newly developed cold read-out electronics, mitigated spectral fringes as well as optical cross-talks with a multi-layer antireflection coat. Since most of the elemental technologies to fabricate the detector are flight-proven, high technical readiness levels (TRLs) should be achieved for fabricating the detector with the above mentioned technical demonstrations. We demonstrate some of these elemental technologies showing results of measurements for test coatings and prototype arrays.Comment: To appear in Proc. Workshop "The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology & Astrophysics: Revealing the Origins of Planets and Galaxies". Eds. A.M. Heras, B. Swinyard, K. Isaak, and J.R. Goicoeche

GAIA: AGB stars as tracers of star formation histories in the Galaxy and beyond

We discuss the tracing of star formation histories with ESA's space astrometry mission GAIA, emphasizing the advantages of AGB stars for this purpose. GAIA's microarcsecond-level astrometry, multi-band photometry and spectroscopy will provide individual distances, motions, effective temperatures, gravities and metallicities for vast numbers of AGB stars in the Galaxy and beyond. Reliable ages of AGB stars can be determined to distances of \~200 kpc in a wide range of ages and metallicities, allowing star formation histories to be studied in a diversity of astrophysical environments.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to be appear in 'Mass-Losing Pulsating Stars and their Circumstellar Matter', eds. Y. Nakada, M. Honma & M. Seki, Kluwer ASSL series, vol. 28

A venous occlusion plethysmography using a load cell as the sensing element

An application of the load cell as a sensor in venous occlusion plethysmography is presented. In this method the limb volume changes that follow venous occlusion are converted into water volume changes using a water tank for volume change detection. The hydrostatic pressure, as well as the water surface level, is measured and used for the calculation of the volume change. By using this method the influence of water pressure on limb blood flow, as well as drift and leakage of the sensing element, is avoided. The load cell has the advantage of measuring the weight of the displaced water volume, which simplifies the design principles of the plethysmography. The plethysmography is found to be sensitive, highly linear, and easy to handle. It has been evaluated in several subjects, and the results of these studies are in agreement with earlier results </p

Astrometry of circumstellar masers

The circumstellar masers around evolved stars offer an interesting possibility to measure stellar parameters through VLBI astrometry. In this paper the application of this technique is discussed, including the accuracy and the uncertainties of the method. The different maser species (OH, H_2O, SiO) have slightly different characteristics and applications. This paper does not concern astrometry of maser spots to study the kinematics of the envelope, but concentrates on attempting to measure the motion of the underlying star.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Mass-losing Stars and their Circumstellar Matter", eds Y. Nakada & M. Honma, Kluwer ASSL serie

Probing gluon polarization with pi0's in longitudinally polarized proton collisions at the RHIC-PHENIX experiment

This report presents double helicity asymmetry in inclusive $\pi^0$ production in polarized proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) of 200 GeV. The data were collected with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) during the 2004 run. The data are compared to a next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamic (NLO pQCD) calculation.Comment: 4pp. To appear in the proceedings of 16th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN 2004), Trieste, Italy, 10-16 Oct 200

3D modeling of 1612 MHz OH masers: Monte Carlo modeling of the maser shells and the amplified stellar image

We present the first results of our 3D Monte Carlo maser radiative transfer code, used to model the 1612 MHz OH maser shell and the amplification of emission from the stellar radio-photosphere.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure; to be published in: Proceeding of WS on Mass-Losing Pulsating Stars and their Circumstellar Matter, Sendai, Japan, Y.Nakada & M.Honma (eds), Kluwer ASSL serie

The Thin Gap Chambers database experience in test beam and preparations for ATLAS

Thin gap chambers (TGCs) are used for the muon trigger system in the forward region of the LHC experiment ATLAS. The TGCs are expected to provide a trigger signal within 25 ns of the bunch spacing. An extensive system test of the ATLAS muon spectrometer has been performed in the H8 beam line at the CERN SPS during the last few years. A relational database was used for storing the conditions of the tests as well as the configuration of the system. This database has provided the detector control system with the information needed for configuration of the front end electronics. The database is used to assist the online operation and maintenance. The same database is used to store the non event condition and configuration parameters needed later for the offline reconstruction software. A larger scale of the database has been produced to support the whole TGC system. It integrates all the production, QA tests and assembly information. A 1/12th model of the whole TGC system is currently in use for testing the performance of this database in configuring and tracking the condition of the system. A prototype of the database was first implemented during the H8 test beams. This paper describes the database structure, its interface to other systems and its operational performance.Comment: Proceedings IEEE, Nuclear Science Symposium 2005, Stockholm, Sweeden, May 200

Tracking Simulations Near Half-Integer Resonance at PEP-II

Beam-beam simulations predict that PEP-II luminosity can be increased by operating the horizontal betatron tune near and above a half-integer resonance. However, effects of the resonance and its synchrotron sidebands significantly enhance betatron and chromatic perturbations which tend to reduce dynamic aperture. In the study, chromatic variation of horizontal tune near the resonance was minimized by optimizing local sextupoles in the Interaction Region. Dynamic aperture was calculated using tracking simulations in LEGO code. Dependence of dynamic aperture on the residual orbit, dispersion and distortion of beta function after correction was investigated.Comment: 4 page

Teleportation of Quantum States

Bennett et al. (PRL 70, 1859 (1993)) have shown how to transfer ("teleport") an unknown spin quantum state by using prearranged correlated quantum systems and transmission of classical information. I will show how their results can be obtained in the framework of nonlocal measurements proposed by Aharonov and Albert I will generalize the latter to the teleportation of a quantum state of a system with continuous variables.Comment: 5 page

Jewish Revenge: Haredi Action in the Zionist Sphere

This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in (journal title, volume and issue numbers, and year) following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available from Wayne State University Press.Jewish ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) cinema in Israel has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Emerging as a highly controversial, secluded, and gender-segregated form of “amateur cinema,” it is currently seeing gradual professionalization. This article discusses Haredi cinema in the context of the Haredi community’s relationship with the Israeli state and the doctrine of Zionism. Appropriating generic conventions of mainstream Hollywood cinema, yet keeping within the secluded Haredi space, this form of minority cinema functions as an alternative (virtual) sphere in which a complex set of negotiations occurs between Jewish ultra-Orthodox ideals and those of the surrounding Israeli society and Zionism. It is reflective of and engaged in the production of recent social and discursive transformations within the Haredi community in Israel. We examine this phenomenon through a focused analysis of the male action genre, specifically the popular series Jewish Revenge (Yehuda Grovais, 2000–2010). As we demonstrate, the mode of representation and the narratives of these films bring models of masculinities and notions of heroism under scrutiny. The Zionist narrative, the national body, and the (imaginary) place of the Haredi within it are being reconfigured through the prism of body politics and fantasies of transgression