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astro-ph2008★ 169 cited

Power Asymmetry in Cosmic Microwave Background Fluctuations from Full Sky to Sub-degree Scales: Is the Universe Isotropic?

F. K. Hansen, A. J. Banday, K. M. Gorski +2

We repeat and extend the analysis of Eriksen et al 2004 and Hansen et al 2004 testing the isotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fluctuations. We find that the hemispher…

astro-ph2008★ 118 cited

New Limits on the Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Neutrino Flux from the ANITA Experiment

ANITA collaboration, P. Gorham, P. Allison +40

We report initial results of the first flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA-1) 2006-2007 Long Duration Balloon flight, which searched for evidence of a diffus…

astro-ph2008★ 100 cited

Determination of the minimum masses of heavy elements in the envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn

Olivier Mousis, Ulysse Marboeuf, Jonathan I. Lunine +5

We calculate the minimum mass of heavy elements required in the envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn to match the observed oversolar abundances of volatiles. Because the clathration eff…

astro-ph2008★ 191 cited

The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna Ultra-high Energy Neutrino Detector Design, Performance, and Sensitivity for 2006-2007 Balloon Flight

ANITA collaboration, P. Gorham, P. Allison +40

We present a detailed report on the experimental details of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) long duration balloon payload, including the design philosophy and rea…

astro-ph2008★ 2 cited

Molecular Signatures in the Near Infrared Dayside Spectrum of HD 189733b

M. R. Swain, G. Vasisht, G. Tinetti +5

We have measured the dayside spectrum of HD 189733b between 1.5 and 2.5 microns using the NICMOS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The emergent spectrum contains significan…

astro-ph2008★ 20 cited

Sub-Microarcsecond Astrometry with SIM-Lite: A Testbed-based Performance Assessment

M. Shao, B. Nemati

SIM-Lite is an astrometric interferometer being designed for sub-microarcsecond astrometry, with a wide range of applications from searches for Earth-analogs to determining the dis…

astro-ph2008★ 126 cited

Carbon isotope fractionation in protoplanetary disks

Paul M. Woods, Karen Willacy

We investigate the gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry in the inner 30 AU of a typical protoplanetary disk using a new model which calculates the gas temperature by solving the g…

astro-ph2008★ 39 cited

Signals of Statistical Anisotropy in WMAP Foreground-Cleaned Maps

Pramoda Kumar Samal, Rajib Saha, Pankaj Jain +1

Recently a symmetry-based method to test for statistical isotropy of the cosmic microwave background was developed. We apply the method to template-cleaned 3-year and 5-year WMAP-$…

astro-ph2008★ 43 cited

Super Earth Explorer: A Coronagraphic Off-Axis Space Telescope

J. Schneider, A. Boccaletti, D. Mawet +12

The Super-Earth Explorer is an Off-Axis Space Telescope (SEE-COAST) designed for high contrast imaging. Its scientific objective is to make the physico-chemical characterization of…

astro-ph2008★ 112 cited

Dust Processing and Grain Growth in Protoplanetary Disks in the Taurus-Auriga Star-Forming Region

B. A. Sargent, W. J. Forrest, C. Tayrien +9

Mid-infrared spectra of 65 T Tauri stars (TTS) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope are modeled using dust at two temperatures to probe t…

astro-ph2008★ 96 cited

Silica in Protoplanetary Disks

B. A. Sargent, W. J. Forrest, C. Tayrien +10

Mid-infrared spectra of a few T Tauri stars (TTS) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope show prominent narrow emission features indicating…

astro-ph2008★ 853 cited

Optical Images of an Exosolar Planet 25 Light Years from Earth

Paul Kalas, James R. Graham, Eugene Chiang +6

Fomalhaut is a bright star 7.7 parsecs (25 light years) from Earth that harbors a belt of cold dust with a structure consistent with gravitational sculpting by an orbiting planet.…

astro-ph2008★ 43 cited

Astrometry with the Keck-Interferometer: the ASTRA project and its science

Jorg-Uwe Pott, Julien Woillez, Rachel L. Akeson +22

The sensitivity and astrometry upgrade ASTRA of the Keck Interferometer is introduced. After a brief overview of the underlying interferometric principles, the technology and conce…

astro-ph2008★ 39 cited

High-velocity neon line emission from the ULIRG IRAS F00183-7111: revealing the optically obscured base of a nuclear outflow

H. W. W. Spoon, L. Armus, J. A. Marshall +4

We report the first mid-IR detection of highly disturbed ionized gas in the ultraluminous infrared galaxy IRAS F00183-7111. The gas, traced by the 12.81um [NeII] and 15.56um [NeIII…

astro-ph2008★ 1.7k cited

The Spitzer c2d Legacy Results: Star Formation Rates and Efficiencies; Evolution and Lifetimes

Neal J. Evans, Michael M. Dunham, Jes K. Jørgensen +15

(Abridged) The c2d Spitzer Legacy project obtained images and photometry with both IRAC and MIPS instruments for five large, nearby molecular clouds. This paper combines informatio…

astro-ph2008★ 82 cited

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Prospects for polarized foreground removal

J. Dunkley, A. Amblard, C. Baccigalupi +28

In this report we discuss the impact of polarized foregrounds on a future CMBPol satellite mission. We review our current knowledge of Galactic polarized emission at microwave freq…

astro-ph2008★ 49 cited

HST Morphologies of z~2 Dust Obscured Galaxies I: Power-law Sources

R. S. Bussmann, Arjun Dey, J. Lotz +12

We present high spatial resolution optical and near-infrared imaging obtained using the ACS, WFPC2 and NICMOS cameras aboard the Hubble Space Telescope of 31 24um--bright z~2 Dust…

astro-ph2008★ 128 cited

Parity violation constraints using 2006-2007 QUaD CMB polarization spectra

QUaD Collaboration, E. Y. S. Wu, P. Ade +29

We constrain parity-violating interactions to the surface of last scattering using spectra from the QUaD experiment's second and third seasons of observations by searching for a po…

astro-ph2008★ 144 cited

Epsilon Eridani's Planetary Debris Disk: Structure and Dynamics based on Spitzer and CSO Observations

D. Backman, M. Marengo, K. Stapelfeldt +9

Spitzer and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) images and spectrophotometry of epsilon Eridani at wavelengths from 3.5 to 350 um reveal new details of its bright debris disk.…

astro-ph2008★ 41 cited

Detection of the 13CO(J=6-5) Transition in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253

S. Hailey-Dunsheath, T. Nikola, G. J. Stacey +5

We report the detection of 13CO(J=6-5) emission from the nucleus of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with the redshift (z) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS), a new submillimeter g…

astro-ph2008★ 35 cited

Empirical Models of Pressure and Density in Saturn's Interior: Implications for the Helium Concentration, its Depth Dependence, and Saturn's Precession Rate

Ravit Helled, Gerald Schubert, John D. Anderson

We present 'empirical' models (pressure vs. density) of Saturn's interior constrained by the gravitational coefficients J_2, J_4, and J_6 for different assumed rotation rates of th…

astro-ph2008★ 82 cited

First Results from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project: The Mass of the Black Hole in Arp 151

Misty C. Bentz, Jonelle L. Walsh, Aaron J. Barth +24

We have recently completed a 64-night spectroscopic monitoring campaign at the Lick Observatory 3-m Shane telescope with the aim of measuring the masses of the black holes in 13 ne…

astro-ph2008★ 28 cited

Dichotomy in the Dynamical Status of Massive Cores in Orion

T. velusamy, R. Peng, D. Li +2

To study the evolution of high mass cores, we have searched for evidence of collapse motions in a large sample of starless cores in the Orion molecular cloud. We used the Caltech S…

astro-ph2008★ 19 cited

A Distance-Limited Imaging Survey of Sub-Stellar Companions to Solar Neighborhood Stars

Joseph C. Carson, Kyle D. Hiner, Gregorio G. Villar +3

We report techniques and results of a Palomar 200-inch (5 m) adaptive optics imaging survey of sub-stellar companions to solar-type stars. The survey consists of Ks coronagraphic o…