Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to study pendeo-epitaxial GaN layers grown on polar and non-polar 4H SiC substrates. The structural quality of the overgrown layers was evaluated using a number of TEM methods. Growth of pendeo-epitaxial layers on polar substrates leads to better structural quality of the overgrown areas, however edge-on dislocations are found at the meeting fronts of two wings. Some misorientation between the 'seed' area and wing area was detected by Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction. Growth of pendeo-epitaxial layers on non-polar substrates is more difficult. Two wings on the opposite site of the seed area grow in two different polar directions with different growth rates. Most dislocations in a wing grown with Ga polarity are 10 times wider than wings grown with N-polarity making coalescence of these layers difficult. Most dislocations in a wing grown with Ga polarity bend in a direction parallel to the substrate, but some of them also propagate to the sample surface. Stacking faults formed on the c-plane and prismatic plane occasionally were found. Some misorientation between the wings and seed was detected using Large Angle Convergent Beam Diffraction.

An open question about the dynamical behavior of materials is how phase transition occurs in highly non-equilibrium systems. One important class of study is the excitation of a solid by an ultrafast, intense laser. The preferential heating of electrons by the laser field gives rise to initial states dominated by hot electrons in a cold lattice. Using a femtosecond laser pump-probe approach, we have followed the temporal evolution of the optical properties of such a system. The results show interesting correlation to non-thermal melting and lattice disordering processes. They also reveal a liquid-plasma transition when the lattice energy density reaches a critical value.

CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) is a proposed next generation experiment designed to search for the neutrinoless DBD of {sup 130}Te using a bolometric technique. The present status of the CUORE is presented along with the latest results from its operating prototype, CUORICINO.

We present results from the analysis of the optical spectra of 47 radio-selected narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). These objects are a subset of the First Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS) and were initially detected at 20 cm (flux density limit {approx} 1 mJy) in the VLA FIRST Survey. We run Spearman rank correlation tests on several sets of parameters and conclude that, except for their radio properties, radio-selected NLS1 galaxies do not exhibit significant differences from traditional NLS1 galaxies. Our results are also in agreement with previous studies suggesting that NLS1 galaxies have small black hole masses that are accreting very close to the Eddington rate. We have found 16 new radio-loud NLS1 galaxies, which increases the number of known radio-loud NLS1 galaxies by a factor of {approx} 5.

We study the evolution of the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at the end of the reionization epoch using moderate resolution spectra of a sample of nineteen quasars at 5.74 < z{sub em} < 6.42 discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Three methods are used to trace IGM properties: (a) the evolution of the Gunn-Peterson (GP) optical depth in the Ly{alpha}, {beta}, and {gamma} transitions; (b) the distribution of lengths of dark absorption gaps, and (c) the size of HII regions around luminous quasars. Using this large sample, we find that the evolution of the ionization state of the IGM accelerated at z > 5.7: the GP optical depth evolution changes from {tau}{sub GP}{sup eff} {approx} (1 + z){sup 4.3} to (1 + z){sup {approx}> 11}, and the average length of dark gaps with {tau} > 3.5 increases from < 10 to > 80 comoving Mpc. The dispersion of IGM properties along different lines of sight also increases rapidly, implying fluctuations by a factor of {approx}> 4 in the UV background at z > 6, when the mean free path of UV photons is comparable to the correlation length of the star forming galaxies that are thought …

We report on new measurements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements |V{sub cb}| and |V{sub ub}| with inclusive and exclusive semileptonic B decays, highlighting the recent precision measurements with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) sees the human retina sharply with adaptive optics. In vivo cellular visualization of the human retina at micrometer-scale resolution is possible by enhancing Fourier-domain optical-coherence tomography with adaptive optics, which compensate for the eye's optical aberrations.

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The present NLL prediction for the decay rate of the rare inclusive process {bar B} {yields} X{sub s}{gamma} has a large uncertainty due to the charm mass renormalization scheme ambiguity. We estimate that this uncertainty will be reduced by a factor of 2 at the NNLL level. This is a strong motivation for the on-going NNLL calculation, which will thus significantly increase the sensitivity of the observable {bar B} {yields} X{sub s}{gamma} to possible new degrees of freedom beyond the SM. We also give a brief status report of the NNLL calculation.

We present a study of the decay B{sup -} {yields} D{sub (CP)}{sup 0} K{sup -} and its charge conjugate, where D{sub (CP)}{sup 0} is reconstructed in CP-even, CP-odd, and non-CP flavor eigenstates, based on a sample of 232 million {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring. We measure the partial-rate charge asymmetries AC{sub CP{+-}} and the ratios R{sub CP{+-}} of the B {yields} D{sup 0} K decay branching fractions as measured in CP{+-} and non-CP D{sup 0} decays: A{sub CP+} = 0.35 {+-} 0.13(stat) {+-} 0.04(syst), A{sub CP-} = -0.06 {+-} 0.13(stat) {+-} 0.04(syst), R{sub CP+} = 0.90 {+-} 0.12(stat) {+-} 0.04(syst), R{sub CP-} = 0.86 {+-} 0.10(stat) {+-} 0.05(syst).

The ILC extraction line for 2 mrad crossing angle is under development by the SLAC-BNL-UK-France task force collaboration. This report describes the progress in the 2 mrad optics design which includes the changes to the final focus doublet, the complete optics for the extraction diagnostics, and the changes to the sextupole and collimation systems. The results of disrupted beam tracking simulations are presented.

By combining the Sloan Digitized Sky Survey Third Data Release quasar list with the VLA FIRST survey, we have identified five objects having both broad absorption lines in their optical spectra and FR-II radio morphologies. We identify an additional example of this class from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey, J1408+3054. Including the original FR-II-BAL object, J1016+5209, brings the number of such objects to eight. These quasars are relatively rare; finding this small handful has required the 45,000-large quasar sample of SDSS. The FR-II-BAL quasars exhibit a significant anti-correlation between radio-loudness and the strength of the BAL features. This is easily accounted for by the evolutionary picture in which quasars emerge from cocoons of BAL-producing material which stifle the development of radio jets and lobes. There is no such simple explanation for the observed properties of FR-II-BALs in the unification-by-orientation model of quasars. The rarity of the FR-II-BAL class implies that the two phases do not coexist for very long in a single quasar, perhaps less than 10{sup 5} years, with the combined FR-II, high ionization broad absorption phase being even shorter by another factor of 10 or more.

The authors present the discovery of seven quasars at z > 5.7, selected from {approx} 2000 deg{sup 2} of multicolor imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The new quasars have redshifts z from 5.79 to 6.13. Five are selected as part of a complete flux-limited sample in the SDSS Northern Galactic Cap; two have larger photometric errors and are not part of the complete sample. One of the new quasars, SDSS J1335+3533 (z = 5.93), exhibits no emission lines; the 3-{sigma} limit on the rest-frame equivalent width of Ly{alpha}+NV line is 5 {angstrom}. It is the highest redshift lineless quasar known, and could be a gravitational lensed galaxy, a BL Lac object or a new type of quasar. Two new z > 6 quasars, SDSS 1250+3130 (z = 6.13) and SDSS J1137+3549 (z = 6.01), show deep Gunn-Peterson troughs in Ly{alpha}. These troughs are narrower than those observed among quasars at z > 6.2 and do not have complete Ly{beta} absorption.

The authors have discovered nine ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) in the Virgo Cluster, extending samples of these objects outside the Fornax Cluster. Using the 2dF multi-fiber spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, the new Virgo members were found among 1500 color-selected, star-like targets with 16.0 < b{sub j} < 20.2 in a two-degree diameter field centered on M87 (NGC4486). The newly-found UCDs are comparable to the UCDs in the Fornax Cluster, with sizes {approx} 100 pc, -12.9 < M{sub B} < -10.7, and exhibiting red, absorption-line spectra, indicative of an older stellar population. The properties of these objects remain consistent with the tidal threshing model for the origin of UCDs from the surviving nuclei of nucleated dwarf ellipticals disrupted in the cluster core. The discovery that UCDs exist in Virgo shows that this galaxy type is probably a ubiquitous phenomenon in clusters of galaxies; coupled with their possible origin by tidal threshing, the UCD population is a potential indicator and probe of the formation history of a given cluster. They also describe one additional bright UCD with M{sub B} = -12.0 in the core of the Fornax Cluster. They find no further UCDs in our Fornax Cluster Spectroscopic Survey down to …