[en] We present the analysis of high-resolution optical spectra of four transits of 55Cnc e, a low-density super-Earth that orbits a nearby Sun-like star in under 18 hr. The inferred bulk density of the planet implies a substantial envelope, which, according to mass–radius relationships, could be either a low-mass extended or a high-mass compact atmosphere. Our observations investigate the latter scenario, with water as the dominant species. We take advantage of the Doppler cross-correlation technique, high-spectral resolution, and the large wavelength coverage of our observations to search for the signature of thousands of optical water absorption lines. Using our observations with HDS on the Subaru telescope and ESPaDOnS on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, we are able to place a 3 σ lower limit of 10 g mol⁻¹ on the mean-molecular weight of 55Cnc e’s water-rich (volume mixing ratio >10%), optically thin atmosphere, which corresponds to an atmospheric scale-height of ∼80 km. Our study marks the first high-spectral resolution search for water in a super-Earth atmosphere, and demonstrates that it is possible to recover known water-vapor absorption signals in a nearby super-Earth atmosphere, using high-resolution transit spectroscopy with current ground-based instruments.

[en] We report a measurement of the neutron detection efficiency for an array of neutron detectors behind a lead-steel wall consisting of 10.16 cm thick lead bricks sandwiched between 3.18 cm steel plates. The neutron detection efficiency was obtained from the ratio of coincidence to single-arm proton cross sections using the gamma+²₁H -->p+n reaction. Knowledge of the neutron detection efficiency was necessary to extract the cross section for the exclusive ²H(e,e'n)¹H reaction, which we used to obtain the elastic magnetic form factor Gⁿ_M of the neutron. The measurements for three different neutron energies were carried out at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center with an incident electron beam energy of 254 MeV

[en] We analyze the high-resolution emission spectrum of WASP-33b taken using the High Dispersion Spectrograph (R ≈ 165,000) on the 8.2 m Subaru telescope. The data cover λ ≈ 6170–8817 Å, divided over 30 spectral orders. The telluric and stellar lines are removed using a de-trending algorithm, SysRem, before cross-correlating with planetary spectral templates. We calculate the templates assuming a 1D plane-parallel hydrostatic atmosphere including continuum opacity of bound–free H⁻ and Rayleigh scattering by H₂ with a range of constant abundances of Fe i. Using a likelihood-mapping analysis, we detect an Fe i emission signature at 6.4σ located at $K_{\mathrm{p}}$ of 226.0 ${}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->2.3}^{+2.1}$ km s⁻¹ and v _sys of −3.2 ${}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->1.8}^{+2.1}$ km s⁻¹—consistent with the planet’s expected velocity in the literature. We also confirm the existence of a thermal inversion in the dayside of the planet, which is very likely to be caused by the presence of Fe i and previously detected TiO in the atmosphere. This makes WASP-33b one of the prime targets to study the relative contributions of both species to the energy budget of an ultra-hot Jupiter.

[en] We determined the electric form factor GnE of the neutron from the quasielastic 2H(e-->,e'n-->)1H reaction at a central squared four-momentum transfer Q2=0.255 (GeV/c)2 with a longitudinally polarized electron beam of 868 MeV and a low (∼0.8%) duty factor. A neutron polarimeter designed and constructed specifically for this experiment was used to measure the sideways polarization of the recoil neutron, which was detected in coincidence with the scattered electron. Theoretical calculations have established that this polarization-transfer technique for quasielastic scattering produces a value of GnE that shows little sensitivity to the influence of final-state interactions, meson-exchange currents, isobar configurations, and deuteron structure. The value for GnE from this measurement is 0.066 ± 0.036 ± 0.009

[en] We investigated simultaneously the 12C(e,e'p) and 12C(e,e'pp) reactions at Q2 = 2 [GeV/c]2, x_B = 1.2, and in an (e,e'p) missing-momentum range from 300 to 600 MeV/c. At these kinematics, with a missing-momentum greater than the Fermi momentum of nucleons in a nucleus and far from the delta excitation, short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations are predicted to dominate the reaction. For (9.5 +/- 2)% of the 12C(e,e'p) events, a recoiling partner proton was observed back-to-back to the 12C(e,e'p) missing momentum vector, an experimental signature of correlations

[en] We report the first detection of a hydroxyl radical (OH) emission signature in the planetary atmosphere outside the solar system, in this case, in the dayside of WASP-33b. We analyze high-resolution near-infrared emission spectra of WASP-33b taken using the InfraRed Doppler spectrograph on the 8.2 m Subaru telescope. The telluric and stellar lines are removed using a detrending algorithm, SysRem. The residuals are then cross-correlated with OH and H₂O planetary spectrum templates produced using several different line lists. We check and confirm the accuracy of OH line lists by cross-correlating with the spectrum of GJ 436. As a result, we detect the emission signature of OH at K _p of ${230.9}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->7.4}^{+6.9}$ km s⁻¹ and v _sys of −0.3${}_{-<!--\; ???\; -->5.6}^{+5.3}$ km s⁻¹ with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 5.4 and a significance of 5.5σ. Additionally, we marginally detect H₂O emission in the H-band with an S/N of 4.0 and a significance of 5.2σ using the POKAZATEL line list. However, no significant signal is detected using the HITEMP 2010, which might be due to differences in line positions and strengths, as well as the incompleteness of the line lists. Nonetheless, this marginal detection is consistent with the prediction that H₂O is mostly thermally dissociated in the upper atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiters. Therefore, along with CO, OH is expected to be one of the most abundant O-bearing molecules in the dayside atmosphere of ultra-hot Jupiters and should be considered when studying their atmospheres.

[en] The deuteron elastic structure function A(Q²) has been extracted in the range 0.7 < or = Q² < or = 6.0 (GeV/c)² from cross section measurements of elastic electron-deuteron scattering in coincidence using the Hall A Facility of Jefferson Laboratory. The data are compared to theoretical models, based on the impulse approximation with the inclusion of meson-exchange currents, and to predictions of quark dimensional scaling and perturbative quantum chromodynamics