Ultra-Luminous Supernovae as a New Probe of the Interstellar Medium in Distant Galaxies
(2012)
The History and Environment of a Faded Quasar: Hubble Space Telescope observations of Hanny's Voorwerp and IC 2497
ArXiv 1206.3797 (2012)
Abstract:
We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging and spectroscopy for the extended high-ionization cloud known as Hanny's Voorwerp, near the spiral galaxy IC 2497. WFC3 images show complex dust absorption near the nucleus of IC 2497. STIS spectra show a type 2 Seyfert AGN of rather low luminosity. The ionization parameter log U = -3.5 is in accord with its weak X-ray emission. We find no high-ionization gas near the nucleus, adding to evidence that the AGN is currently at low radiative output (perhaps now dominated by kinetic energy). The nucleus is accompanied by an expanding ring of ionized gas 500 pc in projected diameter on the side opposite Hanny's Voorwerp, with Doppler offset 300 km/s from the nucleus (kinematic age < 7 x10^5 years). [O III] and H-alpha + [N II] images show fine structure in Hanny's Voorwerp, with limb-brightened sections and small areas where H-alpha is strong. We identify these as regions ionized by recent star formation, in contrast to the AGN ionization of the entire cloud. These candidate "normal" H II regions contain blue continuum objects, whose colors are consistent with young stellar populations; they appear only in a 2-kpc region toward IC 2497 in projection. The ionization-sensitive ratio [O III]/H-alpha shows no discernible pattern near the prominent "hole" in the ionized gas. The independence of ionization and surface brightness suggests that substantial spatial structure remains unresolved, to such an extent that the surface brightness sample the number of denser filaments rather than the characteristic density in emission regions. These results fit with our picture of an ionization echo from an AGN whose ionizing luminosity has dropped by a factor > 100 (and possibly much more) within the last 1-2 x 10^5 years; we suggest a sequence of events and discuss implications of such rapid fluctuations for AGN demographics. (Abridged)Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top quark pair production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector
European Physical Journal C 72:6 (2012)
Abstract:
A measurement of the top-antitop production charge asymmetry AC is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are selected with a single lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum and at least four jets of which at least one jet is identified as coming from a b-quark. A kinematic fit is used to reconstruct the tt event topology. After background subtraction, a Bayesian unfolding procedure is performed to correct for acceptance and detector effects. The measured value of AC is AC =−0.019±0.028 (stat.)±0.024 (syst.), consistent with the prediction from the MC@NLO Monte Carlo generator of AC = 0.006±0.002. Measurements of AC in two ranges of invariant mass of the top-antitop pair are also shown.Search for gluinos in events with two same-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at √s=7TeV
Physical Review Letters 108:24 (2012)
Abstract:
A search is presented for gluinos decaying via the supersymmetric partner of the top quark using events with two same-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum. The analysis is performed with 2.05fb-1 of integrated luminosity from pp collisions at √s=7TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No excess beyond the standard model expectation is observed, and exclusion limits are derived for simplified models where the gluino decays via the supersymmetric partner of the top quark and in the minimal supergravity and constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model framework. In those scenarios, gluino masses below 550 GeV are excluded at 95% C.L. within the parameter space considered, significantly extending the coverage with respect to existing limits. Depending on the model parameters, gluino masses up to 750 GeV can also be excluded at 95% C.L. © 2012 CERN.Search for supersymmetry in pp collisions at √s=7TeV in final states with missing transverse momentum and b-jets with the ATLAS detector
Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 85:11 (2012)