Polarbear is a ground-based experiment located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The experiment is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode polarization at several arcminute resolution. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic in ation and B-mode signal on sub-degree scales is induced by the gravitational lensing from large-scale structure. Science observations began in early 2012 with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-couple Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers at 150 GHz. We published the first CMB-only measurement of the B-mode polarization on sub-degree scales induced by gravitational lensing in December 2013 followed by the first measurement of the B-mode power spectrum on those scales in March 2014. In this proceedings, we review the physics of CMB B-modes and then describe the Polarbear experiment, observations, and recent results.

We present the current status (as of August 2014) of SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics), which is a mission optimized for mid- and far-infrared astronomy with a cryogenically cooled 3m-class telescope. SPICA is expected to achieve high spatial resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- and far-infrared, which will enable us to address a number of key problems in present-day astronomy, ranging from the star-formation history of the universe to the formation of planets. We have carried out the "Risk Mitigation Phase" activity, in which key technologies essential to the realization of the mission have been extensively developed. Consequently, technical risks for the success of the mission have been significantly mitigated. Along with these technical activities, the international collaboration framework of SPICA has been revisited, which resulted in la arger contribution from ESA than that in the original plan. To enable the ESA participation under the new framework, a SPICA proposal to ESA is under consideration as a medium-class mission under the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision. The target launch year of SPICA under the new framework is the mid-2020s.

We observed multiple CO transition lines and the HCN(1-0) line at ~ 1" (~ 34 pc) or higher resolution toward the Seyfert 2 nucleus of M51 using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA). All the images show very similar overall molecular gas distribution; there are two discrete clouds at the eastern and western sides of the nucleus, and the western cloud exhibits an elongated distribution and velocity gradient along the radio jet. In addition, high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratios of about unity have been observed, especially along the radio jet, similar to those observed in shocked molecular gas in our Galaxy. This strongly indicates that the molecular gas along the jet is shocked, that the radio jet and the molecular gas are interacting, and the jet is entraining both diffuse (CO) and dense (HCN) molecular gas outwards from the circumnuclear region. This is the first clear imaging of the out owing molecular gas entrained by the AGN jet, and showing the detailed physical status of out owing molecular gas. Since a relatively high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) ratio has been observed in the high velocity wing of ultraluminous infrared galaxies, it can also be explained by a similar mechanism to those we describe here.

We use the millennium simulation for studying the evolution of groups of galaxies over time. We find fossil and non-fossil groups as well as old and young groups at redshift z = 0 and follow them back in time to investigate the evolution of their parameters, such as mass assembly, luminosity gap and halo mass concentration. We find that fossils assemble a larger fraction of their mass at z = 0 than controls. The magnitude gaps between fossil and non-fossil groups are not the same because of major and minor mergers, in old and young groups as well. We also find that WMAP1 and WMAP7 cosmologies lead to the same evolutionary history for fossil and control groups.

This study deals with the generalization of the Elliptic Restricted Three-Body Problem (ER3BP) by considering the effects of radiation and oblate spheroid primaries. This may illustrate a gas giant exoplanet orbiting its host star with eccentric orbit. In the three dimensional case, this generalization may possess two additional equilibrium points (L6,7, out-of-plane). We determine the existence of L6,7 in ER3BP under the effects of radiation (bigger primary) and oblateness (small primary). We analytically derive the locations of L6;7 and assume initial approximations of (μ-1, ±3A2), where  and A2 are the mass parameter and oblateness factor, respectively. The fixed locations are then determined. Our results show that the locations of L6,7 are periodic and affected by A2 and the radiation factor (q1).

This work considers the elliptic restricted three-body problem under effects of radiation of the bigger primary, and an oblate spheroid for the smaller primary to mimic an exoplanetary system with a gas giant planet. Under the in uences of both effects we look for the existence of the triangular equilibrium points and the in uences of the radiation and oblateness on the locations and motion of the points. We set the system in a normalized rotating coordinate system and derive equations of motion for the third infinitesimal object. Our study shows that the effects modify the equilateral/isosceles triangle shape with respect to the primaries. The triangular points also have non-planar motion with period depending on the value of the planet oblateness.

Most of the stars in the Galaxy are in binary systems. Binaries should be possible as the hosting stars of planets. Searching for planetary companions to binaries, especially evolved close binary stars, can provide insight into the formation and the ultimate fate of circumbinary planets and shed light on the late evolution of binary stars. In order to do this, we have chosen some post common envelope binaries including sdB-type eclipsing binaries and detached WD+dM eclipsing binaries as our targets and monitored them for several years. In this paper, we will present some of our new observations and results for three targets, NSVS 07826147, NSVS14256825 and RR Cae.

Classical novae (CNe) are interacting binary systems whose outbursts are powered by a thermonuclear runaway in accreted material onto the surface of a white dwarf (WD). The secondary star in such systems fills its Roche lobe and material is transferred onto the WD primary star via an accretion disk. Recurrent novae (RNe) show many similarities to CNe, but have had more than one recorded outburst. RNe play an important role as one of the suspected progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae, which are used as primary distance indicators in cosmology. Thus, it is important to investigate the nature of their central binary systems to determine the relation between the parameters of the central system and the outburst type, and finally ascertain the population of novae that might be available to give rise to the progenitors of Type Ia SNe. A low outburst amplitude is adopted as a criterion that may help distinguish RNe from CNe and was therefore used to select targets for observations from ground-based observatories including the Liverpool Telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope as well as the full-sky space-based archive of the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI). We found that at least four objects currently classified as CNe are possibly RNe candidates based on their quiescent spectra. We also searched the SMEI archive for additional outbursts of bright CNe that might otherwise have been missed but did not find a conclusive example.

The results of spectral studies of the CTTS type young star RY Tau with spectrograms of the ultraviolet and the visual ranges are presented. We show the first detection of periodic variability of the emission line intensities in UV and visual ranges with a period of 23 days.

Due to the lack of an accretion disk in a polar (magnetic cataclysmic variable, MCV), the material transferred from the secondary is directly accreted onto the white dwarf, forming an accretion stream and a hot spot on the white-dwarf component. During the eclipses, different light components can be isolated. Therefore, the monitoring of eclipsing polars could provide valuable information on several modern astrophysical problems, e.g., CVs as planetary hosting stars, mass transfer and mass accretion in CVs, and the magnetic activity of the most rapidly rotating cool dwarfs. In the past five years, we have monitored about 10 eclipsing polars (e.g., DP Leo and HU Aqr) using several 2-m class telescopes and about 100 eclipse profiles were obtained. In this paper, we will introduce the progress of our research group at YNOs. The first direct evidence of variable mass transfer in a CV is obtained and we show that it is the dark-spot activity that causes the mass transfer in CVs. Magnetic activity cycles of the cool secondary were detected and we show that the variable mass transfer is not caused by magnetic activity cycles. These results will shed light on the structure and evolution of close binary stars (e.g., CVs and Algols).

We present an ongoing study of the complete sample of supernova remnants (SNRs) and candidates in the Magellanic Clouds. 108 objects in both Clouds are considered to be either SNR or reliable candidates. This represents the most complete sample of all known SNRs in any galaxy. It therefore allows us to study SNR population properties such as the age-diameter (Age-D) relation. Here, we show that this Age-D relation is strongly dependant on the local environment in which SNRs are residing.

We describe a survey of nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion sites using integral field spec- troscopy (IFS) techniques, which is an extension of the work described in Kuncarayakti et al. (2013). The project aims to constrain SN progenitor properties based on the study of the immediate environment of the SN. The stellar populations present at the SN explosion sites are studied by means of integral field spectroscopy, which enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information of the object simultaneously. The spectrum of the SN parent stellar population gives an estimate of its age and metal- licity. With this information, the initial mass and metallicity of the once coeval SN progenitor star are derived. While the survey is mostly done in optical, the additional utilization of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy assisted with adaptive optics (AO) enables us to examine the explosion sites in high spatial detail, down to a few parsecs. This work is being carried out using multiple 2-8 m class telescopes equipped with integral field spectrographs in Chile and Hawaii.

We made phase-referencing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of Galactic 22 GHz H2O maser sources with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). We measured the parallax dis- tances of G48.61+0.02, G48.99-0.30, G49.19-0.34, ON1, IRAS 20056+3350, IRAS 20143+3634, ON2N, and IRAS 20126+4104, which are located near the tangent point and the Solar circle. The angular ve- locity of the Galactic rotation at the LSR (i.e. the ratio of the Galactic constants) is derived using the measured parallax distances and proper motions of these sources. The derived value of Ω0 = 28:8  1:7 km s-1 kpc-1 is consistent with recent values obtained using VLBI astrometry but 10% larger than the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recommended value of 25.9 km s-1 kpc-1 = (220 km s-1) / (8.5 kpc).

In photobiophysics, biophoton means a kind of biological energy which enhances most metabolisms of the body. To investigate the immuno-enhancing effects of biophoton energy projector (BEP) producing light energy, pigs were irradiated with BEP for 8 weeks. Swine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (sPBMCs) were isolated from the blood of irradiated pigs. In this study, the antigen uptake and mitochondrial membrane potential of sPBMCs were measured by flow cytometric analysis. The irradiation of BEP increased the antigen uptake of sPBMCs. For functional analysis, the production of Bordetella bronchiseptica-specific IgG, measured using antigen-specific ELISA, was increased during the period of BEP irradiation. Taken together, the results suggest that the irradiation of BEP has immune-enhancing effects on sPBMCs.

The surfaces of most atmosphereless solar system objects are referred to as regolith, layers of loosely connected fragmentary debris, produced by meteorite impacts. Measurements of light scattered from such surfaces provides information about the composition and structure of the surface. A suitable way to characterize the scattering properties is to consider how the intensity and polarization of scattered light depends on the particle size, composition, porosity, roughness, wavelength of incident light and the geometry of observation. In the present work, the effect of porosity on bidirectional re ectance as a function of phase angle is studied for alumina powder with grain size of 0.3 μm and olivine powder with grain size of 49 μm at 543.5 nm. The optical constants of the alumina sample for each porosity were calculated with Maxwell Garnett eective medium theory. On using each of the optical constants of alumina sample in Mie theory with the Hapke model the variation of bidirectional re ectance is obtained as a function of phase angle with porosity as a parameter. Experimental re ectance data are in good agreement the model. For the olivine sample the effect of porosity is studied using Hapke (2008).

The purpose of this research is to study the evolution of the price of Burgundy wines and to try to identify the reasons for such an evolution. Land prices, rent prices and wine prices in Burgundy will be analysed over the last decades. In terms of results, the price of wine in Burgundy has been observed to rise drastically in recent years as well as the evolution of land and rent prices. A better comprehension of price variations could help wine companies manage their long term profitability, especially if land were considered as an investment (and therefore, part of the company). As a recommendation, marketing tools but also training should be used by craftsmen to build, promote and distribute strong brands in order to remain on the market but also to attract major agents and importers and be distributed worldwide.