Rubin-LSST

Abstract:

We describe the scientific motivations, the mission concept and the instrumentation of SPACE, a class-M mission proposed for concept study at the first call of the ESA Cosmic-Vision 2015-2025 planning cycle. SPACE aims to produce the largest three-dimensional evolutionary map of the Universe over the past 10 billion years by taking near-IR spectra and measuring redshifts for more than half a billion galaxies at 0∈<∈z∈<∈2 down to AB~23 over 3π sr of the sky. In addition, SPACE will also target a smaller sky field, performing a deep spectroscopic survey of millions of galaxies to AB~26 and at 2∈<∈z∈<∈10∈+. These goals are unreachable with ground-based observations due to the ≈500 times higher sky background (see e.g. Aldering, LBNL report number LBNL-51157, 2001). To achieve the main science objectives, SPACE will use a 1.5 m diameter Ritchey-Chretien telescope equipped with a set of arrays of Digital Micro-mirror Devices covering a total field of view of 0.4 deg2, and will perform large-multiplexing multi-object spectroscopy (e.g. ≈6000 targets per pointing) at a spectral resolution of R~400 as well as diffraction-limited imaging with continuous coverage from 0.8 to 1.8 μm. Owing to the depth, redshift range, volume coverage and quality of its spectra, SPACE will reveal with unique sensitivity most of the fundamental cosmological signatures, including the power spectrum of density fluctuations and its turnover. SPACE will also place high accuracy constraints on the dark energy equation of state parameter and its evolution by measuring the baryonic acoustic oscillations imprinted when matter and radiation decoupled, the distance-luminosity relation of cosmological supernovae, the evolution of the cosmic expansion rate, the growth rate of cosmic large-scale structure, and high-z galaxy clusters. The datasets from the SPACE mission will represent a long lasting legacy for the whole astronomical community whose data will be mined for many years to come. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Abstract:

We present a measurement of the ratio of the tt̄ production cross section via gluon-gluon fusion to the total tt̄ production cross section in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV at the Tevatron. Using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 955pb-1 recorded by the CDF II detector at Fermilab, we select events based on the tt̄ decay to lepton+jets. Using an artificial neural network technique we discriminate between tt̄ events produced via qq̄ annihilation and gg fusion, and find Gf=σ(gg→tt̄)/ σ(pp̄→tt̄)<0.33 at the 68% confidence level. This result is combined with a previous measurement to obtain the most stringent measurement of this quantity by CDF to date, Gf=0.07-0.07+0.15. © 2009 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

Using a 281pb-1 data sample collected at the ψ(3770) resonance with the CLEO-c detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we report the first observation of D+→ηe+νe. We also set upper limits for D+→η′e+νe and D+→φe+νe that are about 2 orders of magnitude more restrictive than those obtained by previous experiments. © 2009 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

This is the users manual of the black-hole event generator BlackMax, which simulates the experimental signatures of microscopic and Planckian black-hole production and evolution at proton-proton, proton-antiproton and electron-positron colliders in the context of brane world models with low-scale quantum gravity. The generator is based on phenomenologically realistic models free of serious problems that plague low-scale gravity. It includes all of the black-hole gray-body factors known to date and incorporates the effects of black-hole rotation, splitting between the fermions, non-zero brane tension and black-hole recoil due to Hawking radiation (although not all simultaneously).