[en] We report on the discovery of a very bright z = 2.00 star-forming galaxy that is strongly lensed by a foreground z = 0.422 luminous red galaxy (LRG). This system was found in a systematic search for bright arcs lensed by LRGs and brightest cluster galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 sample. Follow-up observations on the Subaru 8.2m telescope on Mauna Kea and the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory confirmed the lensing nature of this system. A simple lens model for the system, assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid mass distribution, yields an Einstein radius of θ_Ein = 3.82 ± 0.03(double_prime) or 14.8 ± 0.1h^-1 kpc at the lens redshift. The total projected mass enclosed within the Einstein radius is 2.10 ± 0.03 x 10¹²h^-1M_#circle_dot#, and the magnification factor for the source galaxy is 27 ± 1. Combining the lens model with our gVriz photometry, we find an (unlensed) star formation rate for the source galaxy of 32 h^-1 M_#circle_dot# hr^-1, adopting a fiducial constant star formation rate model with an age of 100 Myr and E(B-V) = 0.25. With an apparent magnitude of r = 19.9, this system is among the very brightest lensed z (ge) 2 galaxies, and provides an excellent opportunity to pursue detailed studies of the physical properties of an individual high-redshift star-forming galaxy

[en] We report on the serendipitous discovery of the brightest Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG) currently known, a galaxy at z = 2.73 that is being strongly lensed by the z = 0.38 Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) SDSS J002240.91+143110.4. The arc of this gravitational lens system, which we have dubbed the ''8 o'clock arc'' due to its time of discovery, was initially identified in the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4); followup observations on the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory confirmed the lensing nature of this system and led to the identification of the arc's spectrum as that of an LBG. The arc has a spectrum and a redshift remarkably similar to those of the previous record-holder for brightest LBG (MS 1512-cB58, a.k.a ''cB58''), but, with an estimated total magnitude of (g,r,i) = (20.0,19.2,19.0) and surface brightness of (μ_g, μ_r, μ_i) = (23.3, 22.5, 22.3) mag arcsec^-2, the 8 o'clock arc is thrice as bright. The 8 o'clock arc, which consists of three lensed images of the LBG, is 162^o(9.6'') long and has a length-to-width ratio of 6:1. A fourth image of the LBG--a counter-image--can also be identified in the ARC 3.5m g-band images. A simple lens model for the system assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid potential yields an Einstein radius of θ_Ein = 2.91'' ± 0.14'', a total mass for the lensing LRG (within the 10.6 ± 0.5 h^-1 kpc enclosed by the lensed images) of 1.04 x 10¹² h^-1 M_#circle_dot#, and a magnification factor for the LBG of 12.3_-3.6⁺¹⁵. The LBG itself is intrinsically quite luminous (∼ 6 x L_*) and shows indications of massive recent star formation, perhaps as high as 160 h^-1 M_#circle_dot# yr^-1

[en] We present new results of our program to systematically search for strongly lensed galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data. In this study six strong lens systems are presented which we have confirmed with followup spectroscopy and imaging using the 3.5m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. Preliminary mass models indicate that the lenses are group-scale systems with velocity dispersions ranging from 466?878 km s^-1 at z = 0.17-0.45 which are strongly lensing source galaxies at z = 0.4-1.4. Galaxy groups are a relatively new mass scale just beginning to be probed with strong lensing. Our sample of lenses roughly doubles the confirmed number of group-scale lenses in the SDSS and complements ongoing strong lens searches in other imaging surveys such as the CFHTLS (Cabanac et al. 2007). As our arcs were discovered in the SDSS imaging data they are all bright (r ≅ 22), making them ideally suited for detailed follow-up studies

[en] Large mosaic multiCCD camera is the key instrument for modern digital sky survey. DECam is an extremely red sensitive 520 Megapixel camera designed for the incoming Dark Energy Survey (DES). It is consist of sixty two 4k x 2k and twelve 2k x 2k 250-micron thick fully-depleted CCDs, with a focal plane of 44 cm in diameter and a field of view of 2.2 square degree. It will be attached to the Blanco 4-meter telescope at CTIO. The DES will cover 5000 square-degrees of the southern galactic cap in 5 color bands (g, r, i, z, Y) in 5 years starting from 2011. To achieve the science goal of constraining the Dark Energy evolution, stringent requirements are laid down for the design of DECam. Among them, the flatness of the focal plane needs to be controlled within a 60-micron envelope in order to achieve the specified PSF variation limit. It is very challenging to measure the flatness of the focal plane to such precision when it is placed in a high vacuum dewar at 173 K. We developed two image based techniques to measure the flatness of the focal plane. By imaging a regular grid of dots on the focal plane, the CCD offset along the optical axis is converted to the variation the grid spacings at different positions on the focal plane. After extracting the patterns and comparing the change in spacings, we can measure the flatness to high precision. In method 1, the regular dots are kept in high sub micron precision and cover the whole focal plane. In method 2, no high precision for the grid is required. Instead, we use a precise XY stage moves the pattern across the whole focal plane and comparing the variations of the spacing when it is imaged by different CCDs. Simulation and real measurements show that the two methods work very well for our purpose, and are in good agreement with the direct optical measurements.

[en] Objective: To investigate the MRI features of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD type III) coexisting with other brain lesions. Methods: MRI of 158 histologically proven FCD type III was analyzed retrospectively and the imaging features were summarized. Results: FCD type III was located in the temporal lobe (147/158, 93.0%) with type III a (120/158, 75.9%) in the anterior temporal lobe. MRI abnormalities were found in 113 FCD type III cases (71.5%) with positive MRI findings in 81.7% (type III a), 47.8% (III b), 50.0% (III c), and 11.1% (III d). The FCD lesions appeared slightly T₂-hyperintense on FLAIR-(69.9%) and T₂-(20.4%) weighted images with slightly indistinct boundary between grey and white matter (83.2%), mildly thickened cortex (49.6%), or focal cerebral atrophy (14.2%). Conclusion: The FCD type III lesions are more common in the temporal lobes and may coexist with hippocampal sclerosis, tumors, and vascular malformations. Subtle abnormalities in the anterior temporal lobes should raise suspicion of coexisting FCD type III a. (authors)

[en] We present new results of our program to systematically search for strongly lensed galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data. In this study six strong lens systems are presented which we have confirmed with follow-up spectroscopy and imaging using the 3.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. Preliminary mass models indicate that the lenses are group-scale systems with velocity dispersions ranging from 464 to 882 km s^-1 at z = 0.17 - 0.45 which are strongly lensing source galaxies at z = 0.4 - 1.4. Galaxy groups are a relatively new mass scale just beginning to be probed with strong lensing. Our sample of lenses roughly doubles the confirmed number of group-scale lenses in the SDSS and complements ongoing strong lens searches in other imaging surveys. As our arcs were discovered in the SDSS imaging data they are all bright (r ∼< 22), making them ideally suited for detailed follow-up studies.

[en] We report the discovery of four very bright, strongly lensed galaxies found via systematic searches for arcs in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 and 6. These were followed up with spectroscopy and imaging data from the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m telescope at Apache Point Observatory and found to have redshift z > 2.0. With isophotal magnitudes r = 19.2-20.4 and 3'' diameter magnitudes r = 20.0-20.6, these systems are some of the brightest and highest surface brightness lensed galaxies known in this redshift range. In addition to the magnitudes and redshifts, we present estimates of the Einstein radii, which range from 5.''0 to 12.''7, and use those to derive the enclosed masses of the lensing galaxies.

[en] The core power control is an important issue for the study of dynamic characteristics in China initiative accelerator driven subcritical system (CiADS), which has direct impact on the control strategy and safety analysis process. The CiADS is an experimental facility that is only controlled by the proton beam intensity without considering the control rods in the current engineering design stage. In order to get the optimized operation scheme with the stable and reliable features, the variation of beam intensity using the continuous and periodic control approaches has been adopted, and the change of collimator and the adjusting of duty ratio have been proposed in the power control process. Considering the neutronics and the thermal-hydraulics characteristics in CiADS, the physical model for the core power control has been established by means of the point reactor kinetics method and the lumped parameter method. Moreover, the multi-inputs single-output (MISO) logical structure for the power control process has been constructed using proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, and the meta-heuristic algorithm has been employed to obtain the global optimized parameters for the stable running mode without producing large perturbations. Finally, the verification and validation of the control method have been tested based on the reference scenarios in considering the disturbances of spallation neutron source and inlet temperature respectively, where all the numerical results reveal that the optimization method has satisfactory performance in the CiADS core power control scenarios

[en] We report on a thermal diffusivity study of suspended graphene foam (GF) using the transient electro-thermal technique. Our Raman study confirms the GF is composed of two-layer graphene. By measuring GF of different lengths, we are able to exclude the radiation effect. Using Schuetz’s model, the intrinsic thermal diffusivity of the free-standing two-layer graphene is determined with a high accuracy without using knowledge of the porosity of the GF. The intrinsic thermal diffusivity of the two-layer graphene is determined at 1.16–2.22 × 10⁻⁴ m² s⁻¹. The corresponding intrinsic thermal conductivity is 182–349 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, about one order of magnitude lower than those reported for single-layer graphene. Extensive surface impurity defects, wrinkles and rough edges are observed under a scanning electron microscope for the studied GF. These structural defects induce substantial phonon scattering and explain the observed significant thermal conductivity reduction. Our thermal diffusivity characterization of GF provides an advanced way to look into the thermal transport capacity of free-standing graphene with high accuracy and ease of experimental implementation. (paper)

[en] We present measurements of two types of cluster galaxy alignments based on a volume limited and highly pure (≥90%) sample of clusters from the GMBCG catalog derived from Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR7). We detect a clear brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) alignment (the alignment of major axis of the BCG toward the distribution of cluster satellite galaxies). We find that the BCG alignment signal becomes stronger as the redshift and BCG absolute magnitude decrease and becomes weaker as BCG stellar mass decreases. No dependence of the BCG alignment on cluster richness is found. We can detect a statistically significant (≥3σ) satellite alignment (the alignment of the major axes of the cluster satellite galaxies toward the BCG) only when we use the isophotal fit position angles (P.A.s), and the satellite alignment depends on the apparent magnitudes rather than the absolute magnitudes of the BCGs. This suggests that the detected satellite alignment based on isophotal P.A.s from the SDSS pipeline is possibly due to the contamination from the diffuse light of nearby BCGs. We caution that this should not be simply interpreted as non-existence of the satellite alignment, but rather that we cannot detect them with our current photometric SDSS data. We perform our measurements on both SDSS r-band and i-band data, but do not observe a passband dependence of the alignments.