We report on the all-sky Planck catalogue of 1227 clusters and cluster candidates (PSZ1) published in March 2013, derived from detections of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect using the first 15.5 months of Planck satellite observations. As an addendum, we deliver an updated version of the PSZ1 catalogue, reporting the further confirmation of 86 Planck -discovered clusters. In total, the PSZ1 now contains 947 confirmed clusters, of which 214 were confirmed as newly discovered clusters through follow-up observations undertaken by the Planck Collaboration. The updated PSZ1 contains redshifts for 913 systems, of which 736 (~ 80.6%) are spectroscopic, and associated mass estimates derived from the Yzmass proxy. We also provide a new SZ quality flag for the remaining 280 candidates. This flag was derived from a novel artificial neural-network classification of the SZ signal. Due to this assessment, the purity of the updated PSZ1 catalogue is estimated to be 94%. In this release, we provide the full updated catalogue and an additional readme file with further information on the Planck SZ detections.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Measurements of dielectron production in Au + Au collisions at s N N = 200 GeV from the STAR experiment

We report on measurements of dielectron (e⁺e⁻) production in Au+Au collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair using the STAR detector at RHIC. Systematic measurements of the dielectron yield as a function of transverse momentum (p T ) and collision centrality show an enhancement compared to a cocktail simulation of hadronic sources in the low invariant-mass region (M ee < 1GeV/c 2 ). This enhancement cannot be reproduced by the ρ-meson vacuum spectral function. In minimum-bias collisions, in the invariant-mass range of 0.30 – 0.76GeV/c², integrated over the full p T acceptance, the enhancement factor is 1.76±0.06(stat.)±0.26(sys.)±0.29(cocktail). The enhancement factor exhibits weak centrality and p T dependence in STAR's accessible kinematic regions, while the excess yield in this invariant-mass region as a function of the number of participating nucleons follows a power-law shape with a power of 1.44±0.10. Models that assume an in-medium broadening of the ρ-meson spectral function consistently describe the observed excess in these measurements. In addition, we report on measurements of ω- and Φ-meson production through their e⁺e⁻ decay channel. These measurements show good agreement with Tsallis blast-wave model predictions, as well as, in the case of the Φ meson, results through its K⁺K⁻ decay channel. In the intermediate invariant-mass region (1.1 < M ee < 3GeV/c²), we investigate the spectral shapes from different collision centralities. Physics implications for possible in-medium modification of charmed hadron production and other physics sources are discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

VERITAS detection of γ-ray flaring activity from the BL LAC object 1ES 1727+502 during bright moonlight observations

During moonlit nights, observations with ground-based Cherenkov telescopes at very high energies (VHEs, E>100 GeV) are constrained since the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) in the telescope camera are extremely sensitive to the background moonlight. Observations with the VERITAS telescopes in the standard configuration are performed only with a moon illumination less than 35% of full moon. Since 2012, the VERITAS collaboration has implemented a new observing mode under bright moonlight, by either reducing the voltage applied to the PMTs (reduced-high-voltage; RHV configuration), or by utilizing UV-transparent filters. While these operating modes result in lower sensitivity and increased energy thresholds, the extension of the available observing time is useful for monitoring variable sources such as blazars and sources requiring spectral measurements at the highest energies. In this paper we report the detection of γ-ray flaring activity from the BL Lac object 1ES 1727+502 during RHV observations. This detection represents the first evidence of VHE variability from this blazar. The integral flux is (1.1±0.2)×10{sup −11} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} above 250 GeV, which is about five times higher than the low-flux state. The detection triggered additional VERITAS observations during standard dark-time. Multiwavelength observations with the FLWO 48″ telescope, and the Swift and Fermi satellites are presented and used to produce the first spectral energy distribution (SED) of this object during γ-ray flaring activity. The SED is then fitted with a standard synchrotron-self-Compton model, placing constraints on the properties of the emitting region and of the acceleration mechanism at the origin of the relativistic particle population in the jet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Measurement of the matrix elements for the decays η → π + π − π 0 and η / η ′ → π 0 π 0 π 0

Not Available

Ablikim, M.↗

DOE OSTI2015

Assessment of model estimates of land-atmosphere CO 2 exchange across Northern Eurasia

A warming climate is altering land-atmosphere exchanges of carbon, with a potential for increased vegetation productivity as well as the mobilization of permafrost soil carbon stores. Here we investigate land-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) cycling through analysis of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and its component fluxes of gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) and soil carbon residence time, simulated by a set of land surface models (LSMs) over a region spanning the drainage basin of Northern Eurasia. The retrospective simulations cover the period 1960–2009 at 0.5° resolution, which is a scale common among many global carbon and climate model simulations. Model performance benchmarks were drawn from comparisons against both observed CO 2 fluxes derived from site-based eddy covariance measurements as well as regional-scale GPP estimates based on satellite remote-sensing data. The site-based comparisons depict a tendency for overestimates in GPP and ER for several of the models, particularly at the two sites to the south. For several models the spatial pattern in GPP explains less than half the variance in the MODIS MOD17 GPP product. Across the models NEP increases by as little as 0.01 to as much as 0.79 g C m⁻² yr⁻², equivalent to 3 to 340 % of the respective model means, over the analysis period. For the multimodel average the increase is 135 % of the mean from the first to last 10 years of record (1960–1969 vs. 2000–2009), with a weakening CO 2 sink over the latter decades. Vegetation net primary productivity increased by 8 to 30 % from the first to last 10 years, contributing to soil carbon storage gains. The range in regional mean NEP among the group is twice the multimodel mean, indicative of the uncertainty in CO 2 sink strength. The models simulate that inputs to the soil carbon pool exceeded losses, resulting in a net soil carbon gain amid a decrease in residence time. Our analysis points to improvements in model elements controlling vegetation productivity and soil respiration as being needed for reducing uncertainty in land-atmosphere CO 2 exchange. These advances will require collection of new field data on vegetation and soil dynamics, the development of benchmarking data sets from measurements and remote-sensing observations, and investments in future model development and intercomparison studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2015