Screening High-z GRBs with BAT Prompt Emission Properties

Detecting high-z GRBs is important for constraining the GRB formation rate, and tracing the history of re-ionization and metallicity of the universe. Based on the current sample of GRBs detected by Swift with known redshifts, we investigated the relationship between red-shift, and spectral and temporal characteristics, using the BAT event-by-event data. We found red-shift trends for the peak-flux-normalized temporal width T90, the light curve variance, the peak flux, and the photon index in simple power-law fit to the BAT event data. We have constructed criteria for screening GRBs with high red-shifts. This will enable us to provide a much faster alert to the GRB community of possible high-z bursts.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in the proceedings of ''Gamma Ray Bursts 2007'', Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 5-

TALON - The Telescope Alert Operation Network System: Intelligent Linking of Distributed Autonomous Robotic Telescopes

The internet has brought about great change in the astronomical community, but this interconnectivity is just starting to be exploited for use in instrumentation. Utilizing the internet for communicating between distributed astronomical systems is still in its infancy, but it already shows great potential. Here we present an example of a distributed network of telescopes that performs more efficiently in synchronous operation than as individual instruments. RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response (RAPTOR) is a system of telescopes at LANL that has intelligent intercommunication, combined with wide-field optics, temporal monitoring software, and deep-field follow-up capability all working in closed-loop real-time operation. The Telescope ALert Operations Network (TALON) is a network server that allows intercommunication of alert triggers from external and internal resources and controls the distribution of these to each of the telescopes on the network. TALON is designed to grow, allowing any number of telescopes to be linked together and communicate. Coupled with an intelligent alert client at each telescope, it can analyze and respond to each distributed TALON alert based on the telescopes needs and schedule.Comment: Presentation at SPIE 2004, Glasgow, Scotland (UK

SkyDOT (Sky Database for Objects in the Time Domain): A Virtual Observatory for Variability Studies at LANL

The mining of Virtual Observatories (VOs) is becoming a powerful new method for discovery in astronomy. Here we report on the development of SkyDOT (Sky Database for Objects in the Time domain), a new Virtual Observatory, which is dedicated to the study of sky variability. The site will confederate a number of massive variability surveys and enable exploration of the time domain in astronomy. We discuss the architecture of the database and the functionality of the user interface. An important aspect of SkyDOT is that it is continuously updated in near real time so that users can access new observations in a timely manner. The site will also utilize high level machine learning tools that will allow sophisticated mining of the archive. Another key feature is the real time data stream provided by RAPTOR (RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response), a new sky monitoring experiment under construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).Comment: to appear in SPIE proceedings vol. 4846, 11 pages, 5 figure

Optomechanical sideband cooling of a thin membrane within a cavity

We present an experimental study of dynamical back-action cooling of the fundamental vibrational mode of a thin semitransparent membrane placed within a high-finesse optical cavity. We study how the radiation pressure interaction modifies the mechanical response of the vibrational mode, and the experimental results are in agreement with a Langevin equation description of the coupled dynamics. The experiments are carried out in the resolved sideband regime, and we have observed cooling by a factor 350 We have also observed the mechanical frequency shift associated with the quadratic term in the expansion of the cavity mode frequency versus the effective membrane position, which is typically negligible in other cavity optomechanical devices.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

GRB 070714B - Discovery of the Highest Spectroscopically Confirmed Short Burst Redshift

Gemini Nod & Shuffle spectroscopy on the host of the short GRB 070714B shows a single emission line at 7167 angstroms which, based on a grizJHK photometric redshift, we conclude is the 3727 angstrom [O II] line. This places the host at a redshift of z=.923 exceeding the previous record for the highest spectroscopically confirmed short burst redshift of z=.546 held by GRB 051221. This dramatically moves back the time at which we know short bursts were being formed, and suggests that the present evidence for an old progenitor population may be observationally biased.Comment: Conference procedings for Gamma Ray Bursts 2007 November 5-9, 2007 Santa Fe, New Mexico (4 pages, 2 figures

Results for the response function determination of the Compact Neutron Spectrometer

The Compact Neutron Spectrometer (CNS) is a Joint European Torus (JET) Enhancement Project, designed for fusion diagnostics in different plasma scenarios. The CNS is based on a liquid scintillator (BC501A) which allows good discrimination between neutron and gamma radiation. Neutron spectrometry with a BC501A spectrometer requires the use of a reliable, fully characterized detector. The determination of the response matrix was carried out at the Ion Accelerator Facility (PIAF) of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). This facility provides several monoenergetic beams (2.5, 8, 10, 12 and 14 MeV) and a 'white field'(Emax ~17 MeV), which allows for a full characterization of the spectrometer in the region of interest (from ~1.5 MeV to ~17 MeV. The energy of the incoming neutrons was determined by the time of flight method (TOF), with time resolution in the order of 1 ns. To check the response matrix, the measured pulse height spectra were unfolded with the code MAXED and the resulting energy distributions were compared with those obtained from TOF. The CNS project required modification of the PTB BC501A spectrometer design, to replace an analog data acquisition system (NIM modules) with a digital system developed by the 'Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente' (ENEA). Results for the new digital system were evaluated using new software developed specifically for this project.Comment: Proceedings of FNDA 201

Conedy: a scientific tool to investigate Complex Network Dynamics

We present Conedy, a performant scientific tool to numerically investigate dynamics on complex networks. Conedy allows to create networks and provides automatic code generation and compilation to ensure performant treatment of arbitrary node dynamics. Conedy can be interfaced via an internal script interpreter or via a Python module

Discontinuous Molecular Dynamics for Semi-Flexible and Rigid Bodies

A general framework for performing event-driven simulations of systems with semi-flexible or rigid bodies interacting under impulsive torques and forces is outlined. Two different approaches are presented. In the first, the dynamics and interaction rules are derived from Lagrangian mechanics in the presence of constraints. This approach is most suitable when the body is composed of relatively few point masses or is semi-flexible. In the second method, the equations of rigid bodies are used to derive explicit analytical expressions for the free evolution of arbitrary rigid molecules and to construct a simple scheme for computing interaction rules. Efficient algorithms for the search for the times of interaction events are designed in this context, and the handling of missed interaction events is discussed.Comment: 16 pages, double column revte

Regge Calculus as a Fourth Order Method in Numerical Relativity

The convergence properties of numerical Regge calculus as an approximation to continuum vacuum General Relativity is studied, both analytically and numerically. The Regge equations are evaluated on continuum spacetimes by assigning squared geodesic distances in the continuum manifold to the squared edge lengths in the simplicial manifold. It is found analytically that, individually, the Regge equations converge to zero as the second power of the lattice spacing, but that an average over local Regge equations converges to zero as (at the very least) the third power of the lattice spacing. Numerical studies using analytic solutions to the Einstein equations show that these averages actually converge to zero as the fourth power of the lattice spacing.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 8 figures mailed in separate file or email author directl