Observing the Earth as an exoplanet with LOUPE, the Lunar Observatory for Unresolved Polarimetry of Earth

The detections of small, rocky exoplanets have surged in recent years and will likely continue to do so. To know whether a rocky exoplanet is habitable, we have to characterise its atmosphere and surface. A promising characterisation method for rocky exoplanets is direct detection using spectropolarimetry. This method will be based on single pixel signals, because spatially resolving exoplanets is impossible with current and near-future instruments. Well-tested retrieval algorithms are essential to interpret these single pixel signals in terms of atmospheric composition, cloud and surface coverage. Observations of Earth itself provide the obvious benchmark data for testing such algorithms. The observations should provide signals that are integrated over the Earth's disk, that capture day and night variations, and all phase angles. The Moon is a unique platform from where the Earth can be observed as an exoplanet, undisturbed, all of the time. Here, we present LOUPE, the Lunar Observatory for Unresolved Polarimetry of Earth, a small and robust spectropolarimeter to observe our Earth as an exoplanet.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted in special Issue of Planetary and Space Science on Scientific Preparations for Lunar Exploratio

The Environment of z > 1 3CR Radio Galaxies and QSOs: From Proto-clusters to Clusters of Galaxies?

Galaxie

P-wave excited baryons from pion- and photo-induced hyperon production

We report evidence for $N(1710)P_{11}$, $N(1875)P_{11}$, $N(1900)P_{13}$, $\Delta(1600)P_{33}$, $\Delta(1910)P_{31}$, and $\Delta(1920)P_{33}$, and find indications that $N(1900)P_{13}$ might have a companion state at 1970\,MeV. The controversial $\Delta(1750)P_{31}$ is not seen. The evidence is derived from a study of data on pion- and photo-induced hyperon production, but other data are included as well. Most of the resonances reported here were found in the Karlsruhe-Helsinki (KH84) and the Carnegie-Mellon (CM) analyses but were challenged recently by the Data Analysis Center at GWU. Our analysis is constrained by the energy independent $\pi N$ scattering amplitudes from either KH84 or GWU. The two $\pi N$ amplitudes from KH84 or GWU, respectively, lead to slightly different $\pi N$ branching ratios of contributing resonances but the debated resonances are required in both series of fits.Comment: 22 pages, 28 figures. Some additional sets of data are adde

Cold Gas in Cluster Cores

I review the literature's census of the cold gas in clusters of galaxies. Cold gas here is defined as the gas that is cooler than X-ray emitting temperatures (~10^7 K) and is not in stars. I present new Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations of Abell 2597 (PI: Sparks) that reveal significant amounts of warm dust and star formation at the level of 5 solar masses per year. This rate is inconsistent with the mass cooling rate of 20 +/- 5 solar masses per year inferred from a FUSE [OVI] detection.Comment: 10 pages, conference proceeding

Raining in MKW 3 s: a Chandra-MUSE analysis of X-Ray cold filaments around 3CR 318.1

High Energy Astrophysic

Optical Light Curves of Supernovae

Photometry is the most easily acquired information about supernovae. The light curves constructed from regular imaging provide signatures not only for the energy input, the radiation escape, the local environment and the progenitor stars, but also for the intervening dust. They are the main tool for the use of supernovae as distance indicators through the determination of the luminosity. The light curve of SN 1987A still is the richest and longest observed example for a core-collapse supernova. Despite the peculiar nature of this object, as explosion of a blue supergiant, it displayed all the characteristics of Type II supernovae. The light curves of Type Ib/c supernovae are more homogeneous, but still display the signatures of explosions in massive stars, among them early interaction with their circumstellar material. Wrinkles in the near-uniform appearance of thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae have emerged during the past decade. Subtle differences have been observed especially at near-infrared wavelengths. Interestingly, the light curve shapes appear to correlate with a variety of other characteristics of these supernovae. The construction of bolometric light curves provides the most direct link to theoretical predictions and can yield sorely needed constraints for the models. First steps in this direction have been already made.Comment: To be published in:"Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursters", Lecture Notes in Physics (http://link.springer.de/series/lnpp

Properties of baryon resonances from a multichannel partial wave analysis

Properties of nucleon and $\Delta$ resonances are derived from a multichannel partial wave analysis. The statistical significance of pion and photo-induced inelastic reactions off protons are studied in a multichannel partial-wave analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 8 Table

RECENT RESEARCH ADVANCES ON THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER IN NORTH AMERICA 1,2,3

BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY Distribution The recorded distribution of the European corn borer, Osttinia nubilalis, has not changed significantly since Brindley & Dicke\u27s review in 1963 (15), except along the southernmost portion of its range. Annual articles presenting the status of the European corn borer (3) indicate that each year the borer spreads into a few previously uninfested counties within known infested states. Sparks & Young (116) made a survey and found 34 of 35 counties infested in southern Georgia and concluded that the borer probably was present in all areas of extensive com production in Georgia. Light-trap records from Tifton, Georgia, indicate that the borer\u27s seasonal life history is very similar to its life history in South Carolina (31) and in Alabama (32). There are three complete generations each year and a fourth-generation completes development in most years. Although official records do not show the presence of the borer in Florida, records from the southern tier of counties in Alabama (H. F. McQueen, personal communication) and in Georgia (116) indicate that com-growing areas of the Florida panhandle probably are infested. Showers, Reed & Brindley (109) conducted laboratory studies and concluded that the Georgia borer had adapted to the photoperiod-temperature interaction of the region and was capable of producing large numbers of moths for the summer and autumn genera­tions. Chiang (20) studied the dispersion of the borer in Minnesota and in South Dakota from 1945 to 1970 and suggested that after the initial invasion in 1943, two distinctly different populations could have invaded Minnesota, one in 1952 and one in 1966. Chiang & Hodson (21) concluded that populations in the Waseca, Minnesota, area were kept at relatively low levels by environmental factors, but that with favorable temperatures, the borer populations could return to an economically significant level