Ke4 decays and Wigner cusp

The NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS collected in 2003 and 2004 large samples of the decays K+- -> pi+ pi- e+- nu (Ke4+-), K+- -> pi0 pi0 e+- nu (Ke400) and K+- -> pi0 pi0 pi+-. From the Ke4+- form factors and from the cusp in the M00^2 distribution of the K+- -> pi0 pi0 pi+- events, the pi-pi scattering lengths a00 and a20 could be extracted. This measurement is a fundamental test of Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT). The branching fraction and form factors of the Ke400 decay were precisely measured, using a much larger data sample than in previous experiments. An improved measurement of the slope parameters for the decay K+- -> pi0 pi0 pi+- showed evidence for a non-zero value of k.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of HQL06, Munich, October 16th-20th 200

The GRB followup Euro-US Consortium: results from the ESO telescopes

In October 1997, the Italian and Dutch GRB teams started a collaboration on ESO optical follow-up of rapidly and accurately localized GRBs. Subsequently, starting April 1, 2000, this collaboration was extended to astronomers from other countries, who contributed their expertise for the creation of a Consortium committed to the study of GRB counterparts and host galaxies at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. The collaboration aims at the joint exploitation of the observations taken within an ESO Large Programme approved for the two-year period April 1, 2000 - March 31, 2002. Here we describe history and organization of this Consortium, the goals of the ESO Large Programme, and the main results obtained up to now with ESO telescopes.Comment: 3 pages, no figures, no tables. Appeared on: Costa E., Frontera F., Hjorth J. (eds.) "Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era", ESO Astrophysics Symposia, Springer-Verlag, p. 12

INTEGRAL and Swift/XRT observations of IGR J19405-3016

IGR J19405-3016 is reported in the 3rd IBIS catalog as being one of its lowest significance sources (~4.6 sigma under an exposure of about 371 ks). This leads to a caveat in multi-wavelength study although the source was identified in optical as a Seyfert 1. The currently increased INTEGRAL data stimulate us to investigate the reality of this source. We analyze all available observations carried out by INTEGRAL and Swift on IGR J19405-3016. We find that IGR J19405-3016 has a detection significance of ~ 9.4 sigma in the 20-60 keV band during the observational period between March 2003 and March 2008. Thus confirms a real source detection reported previously. The source position and error location are therefore updated. The source is found to be constant over years at the hard X-rays. Over the three XRT observations, the source flux varied by up to 39% from the average, and the spectrum is generally soft. The combined XRT/ISGRI spectrum is well fitted with a simple power law model (photon index 2.11+-0.03). Such a photon index is well consistent with the mean value 1.98 (dispersion 0.27) as obtained from Swift/BAT AGN samples at 14-195 keV. The spectral slope of IGR J19405-3016 is larger than the average spectral slope found by Molina et al. (2009). A similar discrepancy is found with the results of Beckmann et al. (2009) regarding Seyfert 1 AGNs. A possible explanation of this simple spectral description may be that the low level of the column density allows for the `true' spectrum to appear at soft X-rays as well.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics, in pres

Environmental Risks Monitoring of Shipwrecks in Italian Seas

After a description of the international regulatory framework, this paper examines the European project DE.E.P.P. and provides an overview of shipwreck databases in Italy. Afterwards, it reconstructs the recent history of the supertanker VLCC Haven which represents one of the largest Mediterranean shipwrecks. The findings of this paper emphasize the need to unify all the various agencies databases into a national Territorial Information System of potentially polluting wrecks. This System would be completed by all the information available in archives and press, to allow an adequate environmental risk monitoring and classification of shipwrecks in the Italian seas

Development of a fusion adaptive algorithm for marine debris detection within the post-Sandy restoration framework

Recognition of marine debris represent a difficult task due to the extreme variability of the marine environment, the possible targets, and the variable skill levels of human operators. The range of potential targets is much wider than similar fields of research such as mine hunting, localization of unexploded ordnance or pipeline detection. In order to address this additional complexity, an adaptive algorithm is being developing that appropriately responds to changes in the environment, and context. The preliminary step is to properly geometrically and radiometrically correct the collected data. Then, the core engine manages the fusion of a set of statistically- and physically-based algorithms, working at different levels (swath, beam, snippet, and pixel) and using both predictive modeling (that is, a high-frequency acoustic backscatter model) and phenomenological (e.g., digital image processing techniques) approaches. The expected outcome is the reduction of inter-algorithmic cross-correlation and, thus, the probability of false alarm. At this early stage, we provide a proof of concept showing outcomes from algorithms that dynamically adapt themselves to the depth and average backscatter level met in the surveyed environment, targeting marine debris (modeled as objects of about 1-m size). The project relies on a modular software library, called Matador (Marine Target Detection and Object Recognition)