Extended radio emission in BL Lac objects - I: the images

We have observed 28 sources selected from the 1Jy sample of BL Lac objects (Stickel et al. 1991) with the Very Large Array (VLA) in A, B and D configurations at 1.36, 1.66 and 4.85 GHz, and/or with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at 1.40 GHz. In this paper we present high sensitivity images at arcsecond resolution of the 18 objects showing extended structure in our images, and of another source from the FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm) survey (Becker et al. 1995). In general our high sensitivity images reveal an amount of extended emission larger than previously reported. In some objects the luminosity of the extended structure is comparable with that of FR~II radio sources. A future paper will be devoted to the interpretation of these results.Comment: 12 pages, 35 figures, to appear on A&A Supp. Ser., postscript file with figures included available at http://www.ira.noto.cnr.it/staff/carlo/ds1030.ps.g

Detection of Contact Binaries Using Sparse High Phase Angle Lightcurves

We show that candidate contact binary asteroids can be efficiently identified from sparsely sampled photometry taken at phase angles >60deg. At high phase angle, close/contact binary systems produce distinctive lightcurves that spend most of the time at maximum or minimum (typically >1mag apart) brightness with relatively fast transitions between the two. This means that a few (~5) sparse observations will suffice to measure the large range of variation and identify candidate contact binary systems. This finding can be used in the context of all-sky surveys to constrain the fraction of contact binary near-Earth objects. High phase angle lightcurve data can also reveal the absolute sense of the spin.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Student and teacher outcomes from participating in a Philosophy for Children program: Volunteer ethics teachers’ perspectives

Despite the growth of philosophy for/with children (P4C) over the last five decades, its legitimacy remains contested. Key themes within the P4C literature are the potential learning outcomes for children as well as possible personal and professional development benefits for those that teach it. The literature on the former, while extensive, presents a mixed picture and highlights the challenges inherent in determining the impact of P4C on learning outcomes. The literature on the latter, while little explored, may provide valuable insights for teacher professional development. Unlike much of the literature, this paper examines the impact of P4C from the P4C educators’ perspective. The paper presents the findings from a pilot study of volunteer teachers with the Primary Ethics program in Sydney, Australia. Two key findings emerged. First, ethics teachers felt they were making a material and positive difference to the children they taught, which included: the development of critical thinking and reasoning skills; increased confidence to express themselves; and enjoyment derived from class discussions. Second, teachers that use a philosophical and a community of inquiry approach with their students may themselves become more reflective and engage in critical thinking and ethical reasoning

SiPM and front-end electronics development for Cherenkov light detection

The Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is involved in the development of a demonstrator for a SiPM-based camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) experiment, with a pixel size of 6$\times$6 mm$^2$. The camera houses about two thousands electronics channels and is both light and compact. In this framework, a R&D program for the development of SiPMs suitable for Cherenkov light detection (so called NUV SiPMs) is ongoing. Different photosensors have been produced at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), with different micro-cell dimensions and fill factors, in different geometrical arrangements. At the same time, INFN is developing front-end electronics based on the waveform sampling technique optimized for the new NUV SiPM. Measurements on 1$\times$1 mm$^2$, 3$\times$3 mm$^2$, and 6$\times$6 mm$^2$ NUV SiPMs coupled to the front-end electronics are presentedComment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Atmospheric 81Kr as an integrator of cosmic-ray flux on the hundred-thousand-year timescale

The atmospheric abundance of 81Kr is a global integrator of cosmic rays. It is insensitive to climate shifts, geographical variations, and short-term solar cycle activity, making it an ideal standard to test models of cosmic-ray flux on the time scale of 105 years. Here we present the first calculation of absolute 81Kr production rates in the atmosphere, and a measurement of the atmospheric 81Kr/Kr abundance via the Atom Trap Trace Analysis method. The measurement result significantly deviates from previously reported values. The agreement between measurement and model prediction supports the current understanding of the production mechanisms. Additionally, the calculated 81Kr atmospheric inventory over the past 1.5 Myr provides a more accurate input function for radiokrypton dating

Groundwater residence time estimates obscured by anthropogenic carbonate

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Seltzer, A. M., Bekaert, D. V., Barry, P. H., Durkin, K. E., Mace, E. K., Aalseth, C. E., Zappala, J. C., Mueller, P., Jurgens, B., & Kulongoski, J. T. Groundwater residence time estimates obscured by anthropogenic carbonate. Science Advances, 7(17), (2021): eabf3503, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf3503.Groundwater is an important source of drinking and irrigation water. Dating groundwater informs its vulnerability to contamination and aids in calibrating flow models. Here, we report measurements of multiple age tracers (14C, 3H, 39Ar, and 85Kr) and parameters relevant to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from 17 wells in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV), an agricultural region that is heavily reliant on groundwater. We find evidence for a major mid-20th century shift in groundwater DIC input from mostly closed- to mostly open-system carbonate dissolution, which we suggest is driven by input of anthropogenic carbonate soil amendments. Crucially, enhanced open-system dissolution, in which DIC equilibrates with soil CO2, fundamentally affects the initial 14C activity of recently recharged groundwater. Conventional 14C dating of deeper SJV groundwater, assuming an open system, substantially overestimates residence time and thereby underestimates susceptibility to modern contamination. Because carbonate soil amendments are ubiquitous, other groundwater-reliant agricultural regions may be similarly affected.his work was conducted as a part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) Enhanced Trends Project (https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/gwtrends/). Measurements at Argonne National Laboratory were supported by Department of Energy, Office of Science under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. Measurements at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory were part of the Ultra-Sensitive Nuclear Measurements Initiative conducted under the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program. PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. This work was also partially supported by NSF award OCE-1923915 (to A.M.S. and P.H.B. at WHOI)

Introduction to the functional RG and applications to gauge theories

These lectures contain an introduction to modern renormalization group (RG) methods as well as functional RG approaches to gauge theories. In the first lecture, the functional renormalization group is introduced with a focus on the flow equation for the effective average action. The second lecture is devoted to a discussion of flow equations and symmetries in general, and flow equations and gauge symmetries in particular. The third lecture deals with the flow equation in the background formalism which is particularly convenient for analytical computations of truncated flows. The fourth lecture concentrates on the transition from microscopic to macroscopic degrees of freedom; even though this is discussed here in the language and the context of QCD, the developed formalism is much more general and will be useful also for other systems.Comment: 60 pages, 14 figures, Lectures held at the 2006 ECT* School "Renormalization Group and Effective Field Theory Approaches to Many-Body Systems", Trento, Ital

Enhanced lithium depletion in Sun-like stars with orbiting planets

The surface abundance of lithium on the Sun is 140 times less than protosolar, yet the temperature at the base of the surface convective zone is not hot enough to burn Li. A large range of Li abundances in solar type stars of the same age, mass and metallicity is observed, but theoretically difficult to understand. An earlier suggestion that Li is more depleted in stars with planets was weakened by the lack of a proper comparison sample of stars without detected planets. Here we report Li abundances for an unbiased sample of solar-analogue stars with and without detected planets. We find that the planet-bearing stars have less than 1 per cent of the primordial Li abundance, while about 50 per cent of the solar analogues without detected planets have on average 10 times more Li. The presence of planets may increase the amount of mixing and deepen the convective zone to such an extent that the Li can be burned.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure