We present details of the technical design and manufacture of the ZEPLIN-III dark matter experiment. ZEPLIN-III is a two-phase xenon detector which measures both the scintillation light and the ionisation charge generated in the liquid by interacting particles and radiation. The instrument design is driven by both the physics requirements and by the technology requirements surrounding the use of liquid xenon. These include considerations of key performance parameters, such as the efficiency of scintillation light collection, restrictions placed on the use of materials to control the inherent radioactivity levels, attainment of high vacuum levels and chemical contamination control. The successful solution has involved a number of novel design and manufacturing features which will be of specific use to future generations of direct dark matter search experiments as they struggle with similar and progressively more demanding requirements.

D. Yu. Akimov G. J. Alner H. M. Araujo A. Bewick C. Bungau A. A. Burenkov M. J. Carson V. Chepel D. Cline D. Davidge J. C. Davies E. Daw J. Dawson T. Durkin B. Edwards T. Gamble C. Chag R. J. Hollingworth A. S. Howard W. G. Jones M. Joshi J. Kirkpatrick A. Kovalenko V. A. Kudryavtsev I. S. Kuznetsov T. Lawson V. N. Lebedenko J. D. Lewin P. Lightfoot A. Lindote I. Liubarsky M. I. Lopes R. Luscher J. E. McMillan B. Morgan D. Muna A. S. Murphy F. Neves G. G. Nicklin S. M. Paling D. Muna J. Pinto da Cunha S. J. S. Plank R. Preece J. J. Quenby M. Robinson C. Silva V. N. Solovov N. J. T. Smith P. F. Smith N. J. C. Spooner V. Stekhanov T. J. Sumner C. Thorne D. R. Tovey E. Tziaferi R. J. Walker H. Wang J. White F. Wolfs

We report that HAT-P-7 has a common proper motion stellar companion. The companion is located at $\sim3.9$ arcsec to the east and estimated as an M5.5V dwarf based on its colors. We also confirm the presence of the third companion, which was first reported by Winn et al. (2009), based on long-term radial velocity measurements. We revisit the migration mechanism of HAT-P-7b given the presence of those companions, and propose sequential Kozai migration as a likely scenario in this system. This scenario may explain the reason for an outlier in the discussion of the spin-orbit alignment timescale for HAT-P-7b by Albrecht et al. (2012).

Norio Narita Yasuhiro H. Takahashi Masayuki Kuzuhara Teruyuki Hirano Takuya Suenaga Ryo Kandori Tomoyuki Kudo Bun'ei Sato Ryuji Suzuki Shigeru Ida Makiko Nagasawa Lyu Abe Wolfgang Brandner Timothy D. Brandt Joseph Carson Sebastian E. Egner Markus Feldt Miwa Goto Carol A. Grady Olivier Guyon Jun Hashimoto Yutaka Hayano Masahiko Hayashi Saeko S. Hayashi Thomas Henning Klaus W. Hodapp Miki Ishii Masanori Iye Markus Janson Gillian R. Knapp Nobuhiko Kusakabe Jungmi Kwon Taro Matsuo Satoshi Mayama Michael W. McElwain Shoken Miyama Jun-Ichi Morino Amaya Moro-Martin Tetsuo Nishimura Tae-Soo Pyo Eugene Serabyn Hiroshi Suto Michihiro Takami Naruhisa Takato Hiroshi Terada Christian Thalmann Daigo Tomono Edwin L. Turner Makoto Watanab John P. Wisniewski Toru Yamada Hideki Takami Tomonori Usuda Motohide Tamara

A high angular resolution near-infrared polarized-intensity image of the GG Tau A binary system was obtained with the Subaru Telescope. The image shows the circumbinary disk scattering the light from the central binary. The azimuthal profile of the polarized intensity of the circumbinary disk is roughly reproduced by a simple disk model with the Henyey-Greenstein function and the Rayleigh function, indicating small dust grains at the surface of the disk. Combined with a previous observation of the circumbinary disk, our image indicates that the gap structure in the circumbinary disk orbits anti-clockwise, while material in the disk orbit clockwise. We propose a shadow of material located between the central binary and the circumbinary disk. The separations and position angles of the stellar components of the binary in the past 20 years are consistent with the binary orbit with a = 33.4 AU and e = 0.34.

Yoichi Itoh Yumiko Oasa Tomoyuki Kudo Nobuhiko Kusakabe Jun Hashimoto Lyu Abe Wolfgang Brandner Timothy D. Brandt Joseph C. Carson Sebastian Egner Markus Feldt Carol A. Grady Olivier Guyon Yutaka Hayano Masahiko Hayashi Saeko S. Hayashi Thomas Henning Klaus W. Hodapp Miki Ishii Masanori Iye Markus Janson Ryo Kandori Gillian R. Knapp Masayuki Kuzuhara Jungmi Kwon Taro Matsuo Michael W. McElwain Shoken Miyama Jun-Ichi Morino Amaya Moro-Martin Tetsuo Nishimura Tae-Soo Pyo Eugene Serabyn Takuya Suenaga Hiroshi Suto Ryuji Suzuki Yasuhiro H. Takahashi Naruhisa Takato Hiroshi Terada Christian Thalmann Daigo Tomono Edwin L. Turner Makoto Watanabe John Wisniewski Toru Yamada Satoshi Mayama Thayne Currie Hideki Takami Tomonori Usuda Motohide Tamura

We present high-contrast H-band polarized intensity images of the transitional disk around the young solar-like star LkCa 15. By utilizing Subaru/HiCIAO for polarimetric differential imaging, both the angular resolution and the inner working angle reach 0.07" and r=0.1", respectively. We obtained a clearly resolved gap (width <~ 27 AU) at ~ 48 AU from the central star. This gap is consistent with images reported in previous studies. We also confirmed the existence of a bright inner disk with a misaligned position angle of 13+/-4 degree with respect to that of the outer disk, i.e., the inner disk is possibly warped. The large gap and the warped inner disk both point to the existence of a multiple planetary system with a mass of <~1Mjup.

Daehyeon Oh Jun Hashimoto Motohide Tamura John Winsiewski Eiji Akiyama Thayne Currie Satoshi Mayama Michihiro Takami Christian Thalmann Tomoyuki Kudo Nobuhiko Kusakabe Lyu Abe Wolfgang Brandner Timothy D. Brandt Joseph C. Carson Sebastian Egner Markus Feldt Miwa Goto Carol A. Grady Olivier Guyon Yutaka Hayano Masahiko Hayashi Saeko S. Hayashi Thomas Henning Klaus W. Hodapp Miki Ishii Masanori Iye Markus Janson Ryo Kandori Gillian R. Knapp Masayuki Kuzuhara Jungmi Kwon Taro Matsuo Michael W. Mcelwain Shoken Miyama Jun-Ichi Morino Amaya Moro-Martin Tetsuo Nishimura Tae-Soo Pyo Eugene Serabyn Takuya Suenaga Hiroshi Suto Ryuji Suzuki Yasuhiro H. Takahashi Naruhisa Takato Hiroshi Terada Edwin L. Turner Makoto Watanabe Toru Yamada Hideki Takami Tomonori Usuda

We report the discovery of a scattering component around the HD 141569 A circumstellar debris system, interior to the previously known inner ring. The discovered inner disk component, obtained in broadband optical light with HST/STIS coronagraphy, was imaged with an inner working angle of 0".25, and can be traced from 0".4 (~46 AU) to 1".0 (~116 AU) after deprojection using i=55deg. The inner disk component is seen to forward scatter in a manner similar to the previously known rings, has a pericenter offset of ~6 AU, and break points where the slope of the surface brightness changes. It also has a spiral arm trailing in the same sense as other spiral arms and arcs seen at larger stellocentric distances. The inner disk spatially overlaps with the previously reported warm gas disk seen in thermal emission. We detect no point sources within 2" (~232 AU), in particular in the gap between the inner disk component and the inner ring. Our upper limit of 9+/-3 M_J is augmented by a new dynamical limit on single planetary mass bodies in the gap between the inner disk component and the inner ring of 1 M_J, which is broadly consistent with previous estimates.

Mihoko Konishi Carol A. Grady Glenn Schneider Hiroshi Shibai Michael W. McElwain Erika R. Nesvold Marc J. Kuchner Joseph Carson John. H. Debes Andras Gaspar Thomas K. Henning Dean C. Hines Philip M. Hinz Hannah Jang-Condell Amaya Moro-Martin Marshall Perrin Timothy J. Rodigas Eugene Serabyn Murray D. Silverstone Christopher C. Stark Motohide Tamura Alycia J. Weinberger John. P. Wisniewski

We present new Hubble Space Telescope observations of three a priori known starlight-scattering circumstellar debris systems (CDSs) viewed at intermediate inclinations around nearby close-solar analog stars: HD 207129, HD 202628, and HD 202917. Each of these CDSs possesses ring-like components that are more-massive analogs of our solar system's Edgeworth- Kuiper belt. These systems were chosen for follow-up observations to provide higher-fidelity and better sensitivity imaging for the sparse sample of solar-analog CDSs that range over two decades in systemic ages with HD 202628 and HD 202917 (both ~ 2.3 Gyr) currently the oldest CDSs imaged in visible or near-IR light. These deep (10 - 14 ksec) observations, with six-roll point-spread-function template subtracted visible-light coronagraphy using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were designed to better reveal their angularly large, diffuse/low surface brightness, debris rings, and for all targets probe their exo-ring environments for starlight-scattering materials that present observational challenges for current ground-based facilities and instruments. Contemporaneously also observing with a narrower occulter position, these observations additionally probe the CDS endo-ring environments seen to be relatively devoid of scatterers. We discuss the morphological, geometrical, and photometric properties of these CDSs also in the context of other FGK-star hosted CDSs we have previously imaged as a homogeneously observed ensemble. From this combined sample we report a general decay in quiescent disk F_disk/F_star optical brightness ~ t^-0.8, similar to what is seen in at thermal IR wavelengths, and CDSs with a significant diversity in scattering phase asymmetries, and spatial distributions of their starlight-scattering grains.

Glenn Schneider Carol A. Grady Christopher C. Stark Andras Gaspar Joseph Carson John H. Debes Thomas Henning Dean C. Hines Hannah Jang-Condell Marc J. Kuchner Marshall Perrin Timothy J. Rodigas Motohide Tamura John P. Wisniewski

We present and analyze Subaru/IRCS L' and M' images of the nearby M dwarf VHS J125601.92-125723.9 (VHS 1256), which was recently claimed to have a ~11 M_Jup companion (VHS 1256 b) at ~102 au separation. Our AO images partially resolve the central star into a binary, whose components are nearly equal in brightness and separated by 0.106" +/- 0.001". VHS 1256 b occupies nearly the same near-IR color-magnitude diagram position as HR 8799 bcde and has a comparable L' brightness. However, it has a substantially redder H - M' color, implying a relatively brighter M' flux density than for the HR 8799 planets and suggesting that non-equilibrium carbon chemistry may be less significant in VHS 1256 b. We successfully match the entire SED (optical through thermal infrared) for VHS 1256 b to atmospheric models assuming chemical equilibrium, models which failed to reproduce HR 8799 b at 5 microns. Our modeling favors slightly thick clouds in the companion's atmosphere, although perhaps not quite as thick as those favored recently for HR 8799 bcde. We estimate that the system is at least older than 200 Myr and the masses of the stars comprising the central binary are at least 58 M_Jup each. Moreover, we find some of the properties of VHS 1256 are inconsistent with the recent suggestion that it is a member of the AB Dor moving group. Given the possible ranges in distance (12.7 pc vs. 17.1 pc), the lower mass limit for VHS 1256 b ranges from 10.5 - 26.2 M_Jup. Our detection limits rule out companions more massive than VHS 1256 b exterior to 6-8 au, placing significant limits on and providing some evidence against a second, more massive companion that may have scattered the wide-separation companion to its current location. VHS 1256 is most likely a very low mass hierarchical triple system, and could be the third such system in which all components reside in the brown dwarf mass regime.

Evan A. Rich Thayne Currie John P. Wisniewski Jun Hashimoto Timothy D. Brandt Joseph C. Carson Masayuki Kuzuhara Taichi Uyama

We present results from the first three years of observations of moving group targets in the SEEDS high-contrast imaging survey of exoplanets and disks using the Subaru telescope. We achieve typical contrasts of ~10^5 at 1" and ~10^6 beyond 2" around 63 proposed members of nearby kinematic moving groups. We review each of the kinematic associations to which our targets belong, concluding that five, \beta Pictoris (~20 Myr), AB Doradus (~100 Myr), Columba (~30 Myr), Tucana-Horogium (~30 Myr), TW Hydrae (~10 Myr), are sufficiently well-defined to constrain the ages of individual targets. Somewhat less than half of our targets are high-probability members of one of these moving groups. For all of our targets, we combine proposed moving group membership with other age indicators where available, including Ca II HK emission, X-ray activity, and rotation period, to produce a posterior probability distribution of age. SEEDS observations discovered a substellar companion to one of our targets, \kappa And, a late B star. We do not detect any other substellar companions, but do find seven new close binary systems, of which one still needs to be confirmed. A detailed analysis of the statistics of this sample, and of the companion mass constraints given our age probability distributions and exoplanet cooling models, will be presented in a forthcoming paper.

Timothy D. Brandt Masayuki Kuzuhara Michael W. McElwain Joshua E. Schlieder John P. Wisniewski Edwin L. Turner J. Carson T. Matsuo B. Biller M. Bonnefoy C. Dressing M. Janson G. R. Knapp A. Moro-Martín C. Thalmann T. Kudo N. Kusakabe J. Hashimoto L. Abe W. Brandner T. Currie S. Egner M. Feldt T. Golota M. Goto C. A. Grady O. Guyon Y. Hayano M. Hayashi S. Hayashi T. Henning K. W. Hodapp M. Ishii M. Iye R. Kandori J. Kwon K. Mede S. Miyama J. -I. Morino T. Nishimura T. -S. Pyo E. Serabyn T. Suenaga H. Suto R. Suzuki M. Takami Y. Takahashi N. Takato H. Terada D. Tomono M. Watanabe T. Yamada H. Takami T. Usuda M. Tamura

We conduct a statistical analysis of a combined sample of direct imaging data, totalling nearly 250 stars. The stars cover a wide range of ages and spectral types, and include five detections ($\kappa$ And b, two $\sim$60 M$_{\rm J}$ brown dwarf companions in the Pleiades, PZ Tel B, and CD$-$35 2722B). For some analyses we add a currently unpublished set of SEEDS observations, including the detections GJ 504b and GJ 758B. We conduct a uniform, Bayesian analysis of all stellar ages using both membership in a kinematic moving group and activity/rotation age indicators. We then present a new statistical method for computing the likelihood of a substellar distribution function. By performing most of the integrals analytically, we achieve an enormous speedup over brute-force Monte Carlo. We use this method to place upper limits on the maximum semimajor axis of the distribution function derived from radial-velocity planets, finding model-dependent values of $\sim$30--100 AU. Finally, we model the entire substellar sample, from massive brown dwarfs to a theoretically motivated cutoff at $\sim$5 M$_{\rm Jup}$, with a single power law distribution. We find that $p(M, a) \propto M^{-0.65\pm0.60} a^{-0.85\pm0.39}$ (1$\sigma$ errors) provides an adequate fit to our data, with 1.0--3.1\% (68\% confidence) of stars hosting 5--70 $M_{\rm Jup}$ companions between 10 and 100 AU. This suggests that many of the directly imaged exoplanets known, including most (if not all) of the low-mass companions in our sample, formed by fragmentation in a cloud or disk, and represent the low-mass tail of the brown dwarfs.

Timothy D. Brandt Michael W. McElwain Edwin L. Turner Kyle Mede David S. Spiegel Masayuki Kuzuhara Joshua E. Schlieder John P. Wisniewski L. Abe B. Biller W. Brandner J. Carson T. Currie S. Egner M. Feldt T. Golota M. Goto C. A. Grady O. Guyon J. Hashimoto Y. Hayano M. Hayashi S. Hayashi T. Henning K. W. Hodapp S. Inutsuka M. Ishii M. Iye M. Janson R. Kandori G. R. Knapp T. Kudo N. Kusakabe J. Kwon T. Matsuo S. Miyama J. -I. Morino A. Moro-Martín T. Nishimura T. -S. Pyo E. Serabyn H. Suto R. Suzuki M. Takami N. Takato H. Terada C. Thalmann D. Tomono M. Watanabe T. Yamada H. Takami T. Usuda M. Tamura

We analyse ASCA x-ray data and Whipple \gamma-ray data from the blazars Mkn421 and Mkn501 for short-timescale variability. We find no evidence for statistically significant (>3\sigma) variability in these data, in either source, on timescales of less than \sim 10 minutes.

M. J. Carson B. McKernan T. Yaqoob D. J. Fegan