The ASACUSA (atomic spectroscopy and collisions using slow antiprotons) Cusp experiment requires the production of dense positron plasmas with a high repetition rate to produce a beam of antihydrogen. In this work, details of the positron production apparatus used for the first observation of the antihydrogen beam, and subsequent measurements, are described in detail. This apparatus replaced the previous compact trap design resulting in an improvement in the positron accumulation rate by a factor of $52\pm 3$.

Methods for reducing the radius, temperature and space charge of a non-neutral plasma are usually reported for conditions which approximate an ideal Penning Malmberg trap. Here, we show that (i) similar methods are still effective under surprisingly adverse circumstances: we perform strong drive regime (SDR) compression and SDREVC in a strong magnetic mirror field using only 3 out of 4 rotating wall petals. In addition, we demonstrate (ii) an alternative to SDREVC, using e-kick instead of evaporative cooling (EVC) and (iii) an upper limit for how much plasma can be cooled to $T<20\ \mathrm {K}$ using EVC. This limit depends on the space charge, not on the number of particles or the plasma density.

Turbulent structures in stably stratified shear layers are studied with direct numerical simulation. Flow visualization confirms the existence of hairpin vortices and highly elongated structures with positive and negative velocity fluctuations, whose streamwise lengths divided by the layer thickness are $O(10^{0})$ and $O(10^{1})$, respectively. The flow at the wavelength related to these structures makes a large contribution to turbulent kinetic energy. These structures become prominent in late time, but with small buoyancy Reynolds numbers indicating suppression of turbulent mixing. Active turbulent mixing associated with the hairpin vortices, however, does occur. The structures and the vertical profile of the integral shear parameter show connections between stable stratified shear layers and wall-bounded shear flows.

The ALMA twenty-six arcmin2 survey of GOODS-S at one millimeter (ASAGAO) is a deep (1σ ∼ 61μJy/beam) and wide area (26 arcmin2) survey on a contiguous field at 1.2 mm. By combining with archival data, we obtained a deeper map in the same region (1σ ∼ 30μJy/beam−1, synthesized beam size 0.59″ × 0.53″), providing the largest sample of sources (25 sources at 5σ, 45 sources at 4.5σ) among ALMA blank-field surveys. The median redshift of the 4.5σ sources is 2.4. The number counts shows that 52% of the extragalactic background light at 1.2 mm is resolved into discrete sources. We create IR luminosity functions (LFs) at z = 1–3, and constrain the faintest luminosity of the LF at 2 < z < 3. The LFs are consistent with previous results based on other ALMA and SCUBA-2 observations, which suggests a positive luminosity evolution and negative density evolution.

The Endangered proboscis monkey Nasalis larvatus is endemic to the island of Borneo. Habitat loss is a major threat to this species, and an understanding of long-term demographic trends is crucial for its conservation. We assessed the population trends and group sizes of proboscis monkeys over 10 years in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Comparisons of observed populations between 2004 and 2014 revealed significantly reduced group sizes, which is probably a result of forest fragmentation. Three long-term studies over 34–73 months in specific areas showed fluctuating estimated densities in each area, but no overall population increase or decrease. Riparian forests are the most important habitat for these monkeys, and one reason for the relatively stable population could be that there were only minor losses of forest along rivers during 2004–2014 because protected areas have been established in the region in 2005. However, proboscis monkey habitat remains under threat in areas allocated for oil palm, and protection of these areas is paramount to maintaining this population.

It has been shown that lipid raft, a microdomain of plasma membrane, is a hot spot of signal transduction in somatic cells, because it contains several transducer proteins as well as various receptor molecules. The lipid raft is characterised by its low-density detergent-insoluble nature and by enrichment of glycosphingolipids (GSLs). We hypothesised that lipid raft was also on the gamete surface, and might function as a sperm–egg adhesion site as well as in signal transduction during fertilisation. To test this hypothesis, we have initiated studies using sea urchin gametes. Recently we have demonstrated the presence of the lipid raft in sperm of three sea urchin species as the first example in gametic cells (Ohta et al., 1999). Here we show several lines of evidence for the functional importance of the lipid raft in sperm–egg interaction as well as in subsequent signal transduction.

In sea urchin sperm, lipid rafts were able to be prepared as a low-density detergent-insoluble membrane (LD-DIM) fraction and were rich in GSLs including gangliosides and sulphatide, containing more than 50% of the total amount of GSL present in sperm. On the other hand, cholesterol and sphingomyelin were not so enriched, which contrasted with the LD-DIM from MDCK cells, where these lipids were reported to be abundant (Brown & Rose, 1992).

Localized turbulence bounded by non-turbulent flow in a uniformly stratified environment is studied with direct numerical simulations of stably stratified shear layers. Of particular interest is the turbulent/non-turbulent interfacial (TNTI) layer, which is detected by identifying the turbulent region in terms of its potential vorticity. Fluid near the outer edge of the turbulent region gains potential vorticity and becomes turbulent by diffusion arising from both viscous and molecular effects. The flow properties near the TNTI layer change depending on the buoyancy Reynolds number near the interface, $Re_{bI}$. The TNTI layer thickness is approximately 13 times the Kolmogorov length scale for large $Re_{bI}$ ($Re_{bI}\gtrsim 30$), consistent with non-stratified flows, whereas it is almost equal to the vertical length scale of the stratified flow, $l_{vI}=l_{hI}Re^{-1/2}$ (here $l_{hI}$ is the horizontal length scale near the TNTI layer, and $Re$ is the Reynolds number), in the low-$Re_{bI}$ regime ($Re_{bI}\lesssim 2$). Turbulent fluid is vertically transported towards the TNTI layer when $Re_{bI}$ is large, sustaining the thin TNTI layer with large buoyancy frequency and mean shear. This sharpening effect is weakened as $Re_{bI}$ decreases and eventually becomes negligible for very low $Re_{bI}$. Overturning motions occur near the TNTI layer for large $Re_{bI}$. The dependence on buoyancy Reynolds number is related to the value of $Re_{bI}$ near the TNTI layer, which is smaller than the value deep inside the turbulent core region. An imprint of the internal gravity waves propagating in the non-turbulent region is found for vorticity within the TNTI layer, inferring an interaction between turbulence and internal gravity waves. The wave energy flux causes a net loss of the kinetic energy in the turbulent core region bounded to the TNTI layer, and the amount of kinetic energy extracted from the turbulent region by internal gravity waves is comparable to the amount dissipated in the turbulent region.

Our new compilation of interferometric CO data suggests that nuclear and extended molecular gas disks are common in the final stages of mergers. Comparing the sizes of the molecular gas disk and gas mass fractions to early-type and late-type galaxies, about half of the sample show similar properties to early-type galaxies, which have compact gas disks and low gas mass fractions. We also find that sources with extended gas disks and large gas mass fractions may become disk-dominated galaxies.

To study the nature of Lyα blobs (aka LABs), we conduct a deep C IV and He II narrowband imaging survey of 13 Lyα blobs located in SSA22 proto-cluster at z ~ 3.1. We reach the unprecedented sensitivity, 5σ surface brightness limit of 2.1 − 3.4 × 10−18 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2 per 1 arcsec2 aperture for two emission lines. We do not detect any extended C IV and He II emission, placing strong upper limits on the He II/Lyα and C IV/Lyα line ratios. We compare our limits with data in the literature related to the nebulae associated with high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) and quasars, and we recover the data by modeling the LABs as nebulosities powered by a central QSO. For further information see Arrigoni Battaia et al. (2014).

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Microstructure evolution of YBa2Cu3O7−y (YBCO) films during the two heat-treatments in the advanced trifluoroacetates metalorganic deposition (TFA-MOD) process has been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. In the calcination process, precursor films including nanopores were formed through the shrinkage of the film after a remarkable increase of the thickness due to the thermal decomposition of metalorganic salts in the starting solution. During the crystallization process, the densification and shrinkage of the film occurred after agglomeration of nanopores and coarsening of unreacted phase particles such as Y2Cu2O5, CuO, and Ba–O–F in the precursor films. The YBCO films were then epitaxially grown with the remaining unreacted phase particles in the film, finally pores were generated again by a reaction of these unreacted particles to form YBCO accompanied by the volume reduction. It is important to control the densification of precursor films and coarsening of the unreacted phase particles in the crystallization process, to fabricate YBCO final films with fine crystallinity and high critical current values.

Elastic deformation of coating/substrate composites was examined for axisymmetric indentations with three different geometries of flat-ended cylinder, sphere, and cone. Intensive theoretical considerations were made for the Boussinesq problems not only in its Fredholm integral equation of the second kind, but also in its Green function using the principle of superposition for the approximated contact stress distribution. The agreement and the disagreement between these two different numerical/analytical assessments for elastic surface deformations are discussed. Along with these theoretical considerations, experimental scrutiny was conducted for the theoretical predictions for spherical indentation by the use of a sol-gel-derived MeSiO3/2 film coated on a soda-lime glass plate. A novel technique is also proposed for estimating in a simultaneous manner the elastic moduli of both the coating film and of the substrate or the elastic modulus of the film and its thickness in spherical indentation tests.

We numerically simulate the surface flow of a gas-supplying companion star in a semi-detached binary system and construct the Doppler map. Our numerical results indicate an eddy configuration composed of a Heddy, a L1-eddy, and a L2-eddy associated with high/low pressures on the surface of the companion star. We find that the formation of these eddies can be explained in terms of the astrostrophic wind. We apply our calculations to the Galactic supersoft X-ray source RX J0019.8+2156. This object is very attractive for the present study since the observed Doppler map might reflect the surface flow on the companion star. We have constructed the Doppler map of RX J0019.8+2156 and compare it with observations.

The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, developed originally to calculate rarefied gas dynamical problems, is applied to continuous flow including shocks assuming that the Knudsen number is sufficiently small. In particular, we study the formation of spiral shocks in the accretion disc of a close binary system. The method involves viscosity and thermal conduction automatically, and can thus simulate turbulent viscosity.

A single crystalline Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+8 which has columnar defects in its inside are observed by Lorentz microscopy using the newly developed 1-MV field emission electron microscope at the first time. The superconducting vortices are observed with higher contrast than ever. Simultaneous observation of vortices and columnar defect is succeeded in real time.

Two types of shape and contrast features of superconducting vortices in a Lorentz micrograph were obtained by the newly developed 1-MV field-emission transmission electron microscope on a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+8(Bi-2212) thin specimen containing tilted columnar defects. The shape and contrast features could be consistently interpreted by the simulation that some vortices were pinned along tilted columnar defects and others were unpinned. The interesting property for temperature change of vortex core inside the material was also observed.

We have developed 100-kV, 200-kV, and 350-kV cold-field-emission transmission electron microscopes (FE-TEMs) successively up to this time. Using these instruments, we have been studying the magnetic structure of materials, high-resolution imaging by electron holography, and dynamic observation of the vortex in superconductors by Lorentz microscopy. To make more progress in our research, we need a better electron beam in terms of coherency, beam brightness, and penetration. Here, we report a new lMV-cold-field-emission transmission electron microscope we have developed. Historically, the pioneering projects on a lMV-field-emission scanning transmission electron microscope (FE-STEM) (Zeitler and Crewe, 1974) and a 1.6MV FE-STEM (Jouffrey et al., 1984) have been reported. In 1988, Maruse and Shimoyama obtained a lMV-field-emission beam using their 1.25MV-STEM connected to a field-emission gun. Since then, continuous improvements in beam brightness has been made.

The target specifications of our 1 MV-cold-field-emission TEM (H-1000FT) are as follows: Acceleration voltage: 1MV, high-voltage stability :