| 1. |
- Cirasuolo, M., et al.
(författare)
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MOONS: the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph for the VLT
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. ; 9147, s. 91470-91470
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- MOONS (the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph) has been selected by ESO as a third-generation instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The light grasp of the large collecting area offered by the VLT (8.2m diameter), combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage (optical to near-IR: 0.8 -1.8 mu m) of MOONS will provide the European astronomical community with a powerful, unique instrument able to pioneer a wide range of Galactic, extragalactic and cosmological studies, and it will provide crucial follow-up for major facilities such as Gaia, VISTA, Euclid and LSST. MOONS has the observational power needed to unveil galaxy formation and evolution over the entire history of the Universe, from stars in our Milky Way, through the redshift desert, and up to the epoch of very first galaxies and reionization of the Universe at redshifts of z > 8-9, just a few million years after the Big Bang. From five years of observations MOONS will provide high-quality spectra for > 3M stars in our Galaxy and the Local Group, and for 1-2M galaxies at z > 1 (for an SDSS-like survey), promising to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe. The baseline design consists of similar to 1000 fibres, deployable over a field-of-view of similar to 500 arcmin(2), the largest patrol field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total wavelength coverage is 0.8 -1.8 mu m with two spectral resolving powers: in the medium-resolution mode (R similar to 4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength range is observed simultaneously, while the high-resolution mode will cover three selected sub-regions simultaneously: one region with R similar to 8,000 near the Ca II triplet to measure stellar radial velocities, and two regions at R similar to 20,000 (one in each of the J- and H-bands), for precision measurements of chemical abundances.
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| 2. |
- Marconi, A., et al.
(författare)
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ANDES, the high resolution spectrograph for the ELT : science case, baseline design and path to construction
- 2022
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Ingår i: GROUND-BASED AND AIRBORNE INSTRUMENTATION FOR ASTRONOMY IX. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 9781510653504 - 9781510653498
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The first generation of ELT instruments includes an optical-infrared high resolution spectrograph, indicated as ELT-HIRES and recently christened ANDES (ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph). ANDES consists of three fibre-fed spectrographs (UBV, RIZ, YJH) providing a spectral resolution of similar to 100,000 with a minimum simultaneous wavelength coverage of 0.4-1.8 mu m with the goal of extending it to 0.35-2.4 mu m with the addition of a K band spectrograph. It operates both in seeing- and diffraction-limited conditions and the fibre-feeding allows several, interchangeable observing modes including a single conjugated adaptive optics module and a small diffraction-limited integral field unit in the NIR. Its modularity will ensure that ANDES can be placed entirely on the ELT Nasmyth platform, if enough mass and volume is available, or partly in the Coude room. ANDES has a wide range of groundbreaking science cases spanning nearly all areas of research in astrophysics and even fundamental physics. Among the top science cases there are the detection of biosignatures from exoplanet atmospheres, finding the fingerprints of the first generation of stars, tests on the stability of Nature's fundamental couplings, and the direct detection of the cosmic acceleration. The ANDES project is carried forward by a large international consortium, composed of 35 Institutes from 13 countries, forming a team of more than 200 scientists and engineers which represent the majority of the scientific and technical expertise in the field among ESO member states.
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| 3. |
- Rodriguez, D., et al.
(författare)
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MATS and LaSpec : High-precision experiments using ion traps and lasers at FAIR
- 2010
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Ingår i: The European physical journal. Special topics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1951-6355 .- 1951-6401. ; 183, s. 1-123
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nuclear ground state properties including mass, charge radii, spins and moments can be determined by applying atomic physics techniques such as Penning-trap based mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy. The MATS and LaSpec setups at the low-energy beamline at FAIR will allow us to extend the knowledge of these properties further into the region far from stability. The mass and its inherent connection with the nuclear binding energy is a fundamental property of a nuclide, a unique ""fingerprint"". Thus, precise mass values are important for a variety of applications, ranging from nuclear-structure studies like the investigation of shell closures and the onset of deformation, tests of nuclear mass models and mass formulas, to tests of the weak interaction and of the Standard Model. The required relative accuracy ranges from 10(-5) to below 10(-8) for radionuclides, which most often have half-lives well below 1 s. Substantial progress in Penning trap mass spectrometry has made this method a prime choice for precision measurements on rare isotopes. The technique has the potential to provide high accuracy and sensitivity even for very short-lived nuclides. Furthermore, ion traps can be used for precision decay studies and offer advantages over existing methods. With MATS (Precision Measurements of very short-lived nuclei using an Advanced Trapping System for highly-charged ions) at FAIR we aim to apply several techniques to very short-lived radionuclides: High-accuracy mass measurements, in-trap conversion electron and alpha spectroscopy, and trap-assisted spectroscopy. The experimental setup of MATS is a unique combination of an electron beam ion trap for charge breeding, ion traps for beam preparation, and a high-precision Penning trap system for mass measurements and decay studies. For the mass measurements, MATS offers both a high accuracy and a high sensitivity. A relative mass uncertainty of 10(-9) can be reached by employing highly-charged ions and a non-destructive Fourier-Transform Ion-Cyclotron-Resonance (FT-ICR) detection technique on single stored ions. This accuracy limit is important for fundamental interaction tests, but also allows for the study of the fine structure of the nuclear mass surface with unprecedented accuracy, whenever required. The use of the FT-ICR technique provides true single ion sensitivity. This is essential to access isotopes that are produced with minimum rates which are very often the most interesting ones. Instead of pushing for highest accuracy, the high charge state of the ions can also be used to reduce the storage time of the ions, hence making measurements on even shorter-lived isotopes possible. Decay studies in ion traps will become possible with MATS. Novel spectroscopic tools for in-trap high-resolution conversion-electron and charged-particle spectroscopy from carrier-free sources will be developed, aiming e. g. at the measurements of quadrupole moments and E0 strengths. With the possibility of both high-accuracy mass measurements of the shortest-lived isotopes and decay studies, the high sensitivity and accuracy potential of MATS is ideally suited for the study of very exotic nuclides that will only be produced at the FAIR facility. Laser spectroscopy of radioactive isotopes and isomers is an efficient and model-independent approach for the determination of nuclear ground and isomeric state properties. Hyperfine structures and isotope shifts in electronic transitions exhibit readily accessible information on the nuclear spin, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments as well as root-mean-square charge radii. The dependencies of the hyperfine splitting and isotope shift on the nuclear moments and mean square nuclear charge radii are well known and the theoretical framework for the extraction of nuclear parameters is well established. These extracted parameters provide fundamental information on the structure of nuclei at the limits of stability. Vital information on both bulk and valence nuclear properties are derived and an exceptional sensitivity to changes in nuclear deformation is achieved. Laser spectroscopy provides the only mechanism for such studies in exotic systems and uniquely facilitates these studies in a model-independent manner. The accuracy of laser-spectroscopic-determined nuclear properties is very high. Requirements concerning production rates are moderate; collinear spectroscopy has been performed with production rates as few as 100 ions per second and laser-desorption resonance ionization mass spectroscopy (combined with beta-delayed neutron detection) has been achieved with rates of only a few atoms per second. This Technical Design Report describes a new Penning trap mass spectrometry setup as well as a number of complementary experimental devices for laser spectroscopy, which will provide a complete system with respect to the physics and isotopes that can be studied. Since MATS and LaSpec require high-quality low-energy beams, the two collaborations have a common beamline to stop the radioactive beam of in-flight produced isotopes and prepare them in a suitable way for transfer to the MATS and LaSpec setups, respectively.
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| 4. |
- Groenen, M. A., et al.
(författare)
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Analyses of pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography and evolution
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 491:7424, s. 393-398
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For 10,000 years pigs and humans have shared a close and complex relationship. From domestication to modern breeding practices, humans have shaped the genomes of domestic pigs. Here we present the assembly and analysis of the genome sequence of a female domestic Duroc pig (Sus scrofa) and a comparison with the genomes of wild and domestic pigs from Europe and Asia. Wild pigs emerged in South East Asia and subsequently spread across Eurasia. Our results reveal a deep phylogenetic split between European and Asian wild boars approximately 1 million years ago, and a selective sweep analysis indicates selection on genes involved in RNA processing and regulation. Genes associated with immune response and olfaction exhibit fast evolution. Pigs have the largest repertoire of functional olfactory receptor genes, reflecting the importance of smell in this scavenging animal. The pig genome sequence provides an important resource for further improvements of this important livestock species, and our identification of many putative disease-causing variants extends the potential of the pig as a biomedical model.
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| 5. |
- Adrich, P., et al.
(författare)
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Production of antihydrogen atoms by 6 keV antiprotons through a positronium cloud
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Nature. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 83:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the first production of an antihydrogen beam by charge exchange of 6.1 keV antiprotons with a cloud of positronium in the GBAR experiment at CERN. The 100 keV antiproton beam delivered by the AD/ELENA facility was further decelerated with a pulsed drift tube. A 9 MeV electron beam from a linear accelerator produced a low energy positron beam. The positrons were accumulated in a set of two Penning-Malmberg traps. The positronium target cloud resulted from the conversion of the positrons extracted from the traps. The antiproton beam was steered onto this positronium cloud to produce the antiatoms. We observe an excess over background indicating antihydrogen production with a significance of 3-4 standard deviations.
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| 6. |
- Marconi, Alessandro, et al.
(författare)
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ELT-HIRES, the high resolution spectrograph for the ELT : Phase A study and path to construction
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 9781510636828 - 9781510636811
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- HIRES is the high-resolution spectrograph of the European Extremely Large Telescope at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. It consists of three fibre-fed spectrographs providing a wavelength coverage of 0.4-1.8 µm (goal 0.35-2.4 µm) at a spectral resolution of 100,000. The fibre-feeding allows HIRES to have several, interchangeable observing modes including a SCAO module and a small diffraction-limited IFU in the NIR. Therefore, it will be able to operate both in seeing- and diffraction-limited modes. Its modularity will ensure that HIRES can be placed entirely on the Nasmyth platform, if enough mass and volume is available, or part on the Nasmyth and part in the Coud`e room. ELT-HIRES has a wide range of science cases spanning nearly all areas of research in astrophysics and even fundamental physics. Among the top science cases there are the detection of biosignatures from exoplanet atmospheres, finding the fingerprints of the first generation of stars (PopIII), tests on the stability of Nature’s fundamental couplings, and the direct detection of the cosmic acceleration. The HIRES consortium is composed of more than 30 institutes from 14 countries, forming a team of more than 200 scientists and engineers.
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| 7. |
- Perez, P., et al.
(författare)
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The GBAR antimatter gravity experiment
- 2015
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Ingår i: Hyperfine Interactions. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0304-3843 .- 1572-9540. ; , s. 21-27
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The GBAR project (Gravitational Behaviour of Anti hydrogen at Rest) at CERN, aims to measure the free fall acceleration of ultracold neutral anti hydrogen atoms in the terrestrial gravitational field. The experiment consists preparing anti hydrogen ions (one antiproton and two positrons) and sympathetically cooling them with Be (+) ions to less than 10 mu K. The ultracold ions will then be photo-ionized just above threshold, and the free fall time over a known distance measured. We will describe the project, the accuracy that can be reached by standard techniques, and discuss a possible improvement to reduce the vertical velocity spread.
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| 8. |
- Banerjee, D., et al.
(författare)
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Towards a test of the Weak Equivalence Principle of gravity using anti-hydrogen at CERN
- 2016
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Ingår i: 2016 Conference On Precision Electromagnetic Measurements (CPEM 2016). - 9781467391344
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the GBAR (Gravitational Behavior of Antimatter at Rest) experiment is to measure the free fall acceleration of an antihydrogen atom, in the terrestrial gravitational field at CERN and therefore test the Weak Equivalence Principle with antimatter. The aim is to measure the local gravity with a 1% uncertainty which can be reduced to few parts of 10(-3).
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| 9. |
- Blumer, P., et al.
(författare)
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Positron accumulation in the GBAR experiment
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 1040
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a description of the GBAR positron (e+) trapping apparatus, which consists of a three stage Buffer Gas Trap (BGT) followed by a High Field Penning Trap (HFT), and discuss its performance. The overall goal of the GBAR experiment is to measure the acceleration of the neutral antihydrogen (H¯) atom in the terrestrial gravitational field by neutralising a positive antihydrogen ion (H¯+), which has been cooled to a low temperature, and observing the subsequent H¯ annihilation following free fall. To produce one H¯+ ion, about 1010 positrons, efficiently converted into positronium (Ps), together with about 107 antiprotons (p¯), are required. The positrons, produced from an electron linac-based system, are accumulated first in the BGT whereafter they are stacked in the ultra-high vacuum HFT, where we have been able to trap 1.4(2) × 109 positrons in 1100 s.
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| 10. |
- Charlton, M., et al.
(författare)
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Positron production using a 9 MeV electron linac for the GBAR experiment
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 985
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the GBAR (Gravitational Behaviour of Antihydrogen at Rest) experiment at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator (AD) facility we have constructed a source of slow positrons, which uses a low-energy electron linear accelerator (linac). The driver linac produces electrons of 9 MeV kinetic energy that create positrons from bremsstrahlung-induced pair production. Staying below 10 MeV ensures no persistent radioactive activation in the target zone and that the radiation level outside the biological shield is safe for public access. An annealed tungsten-mesh assembly placed directly behind the target acts as a positron moderator. The system produces 5 x 10(7) slow positrons per second, a performance demonstrating that a low-energy electron linac is a superior choice over positron-emitting radioactive sources for high positron flux.
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