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Levitated systems in vacuum have many potential applications ranging from new types of inertial and magnetic sensors through to fundamental issues in quantum science, the generation of massive Schrodinger cats, and the connections between gravity and quantum physics. In this work, we demonstrate the passive, diamagnetic levitation of a centimeter-sized massive oscillator which is fabricated using a novel method that ensures that the material, though highly diamagnetic, is an electrical insulator. By chemically coating a powder of microscopic graphite beads with silica and embedding the coated powder in high-vacuum compatible wax, we form a centimeter-sized thin square plate which magnetically levitates over a checkerboard magnet array. The insulating coating reduces eddy damping by almost an order of magnitude compared to uncoated graphite with the same particle size. These plates exhibit a different equilibrium orientation to pyrolytic graphite due to their isotropic magnetic susceptibility. We measure the motional quality factor to be Q~1.58*10^5 for an approximately centimeter-sized composite resonator with a mean particle size of 12 microns. Further, we apply delayed feedback to cool the vertical motion of frequency ~19 Hz from room temperature to 320 millikelvin., Comment: 5 pages main + 13 pages supplementary

CVSO 30 is a unique young low-mass system, because, for the first time, a close-in transiting and a wide directly imaged planet candidates are found around a common host star. The inner companion, CVSO 30 b, is the first possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star. With five telescopes of the 'Young Exoplanet Transit Initiative' (YETI) located in Asia, Europe and South America we monitored CVSO 30 over three years in a total of 144 nights and detected 33 fading events. In two more seasons we carried out follow-up observations with three telescopes. We can confirm that there is a change in the shape of the fading event between different observations and that the fading event even disappears and reappears. A total of 38 fading event light curves were simultaneously modelled. We derived the planetary, stellar, and geometrical properties of the system and found them slightly smaller but in agreement with the values from the discovery paper. The period of the fading event was found to be 1.36 s shorter and 100 times more precise than the previous published value. If CVSO 30 b would be a giant planet on a precessing orbit, which we cannot confirm, yet, the precession period may be shorter than previously thought. But if confirmed as a planet it would be the youngest transiting planet ever detected and will provide important constraints on planet formation and migration time-scales., Comment: 14 pages (20 with appendix), 7 figures (16 with appendix), 6 tables (7 with appendix)

We present preliminary results of the CIDA Equatorial Variability Survey (CEVS), looking for quasar (hereafter QSO) candidates near the Galactic plane. The CEVS contains photometric data from extended and adjacent regions of the Milky Way disk ($\sim$ 500 sq. deg.). In this work 2.5 square degrees with moderately high temporal sampling in the CEVS were analyzed. The selection of QSO candidates was based on the study of intrinsic optical photometric variability of 14,719 light curves. We studied samples defined by cuts in the variability index (Vindex $>$ 66.5), periodicity index (Q $>$ 2), and the distribution of these sources in the plane (AT , ${\gamma}$), using a slight modification of the first-order of the structure function for the temporal sampling of the survey. Finally, 288 sources were selected as QSO candidates. The results shown in this work are a first attempt to develop a robust method to detect QSO towards the Galactic plane in the era of massive surveys such as VISTA and Gaia., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of SF2A 2015

We present the Young Exoplanet Transit Initiative (YETI), in which we use several 0.2 to 2.6m telescopes around the world to monitor continuously young (< 100 Myr), nearby (< 1 kpc) stellar clusters mainly to detect young transiting planets (and to study other variability phenomena on time-scales from minutes to years). The telescope network enables us to observe the targets continuously for several days in order not to miss any transit. The runs are typically one to two weeks long, about three runs per year per cluster in two or three subsequent years for about ten clusters. There are thousands of stars detectable in each field with several hundred known cluster members, e.g. in the first cluster observed, Tr-37, a typical cluster for the YETI survey, there are at least 469 known young stars detected in YETI data down to R=16.5 mag with sufficient precision of 50 milli-mag rms (5 mmag rms down to R=14.5 mag) to detect transits, so that we can expect at least about one young transiting object in this cluster. If we observe 10 similar clusters, we can expect to detect approximately 10 young transiting planets with radius determinations. The precision given above is for a typical telescope of the YETI network, namely the 60/90-cm Jena telescope (similar brightness limit, namely within +/-1 mag, for the others) so that planetary transits can be detected. For planets with mass and radius determinations, we can calculate the mean density and probe the internal structure. We aim to constrain planet formation models and their time-scales by discovering planets younger than 100 Myr and determining not only their orbital parameters, but also measuring their true masses and radii, which is possible so far only by the transit method. Here, we present an overview and first results. (Abstract shortened), Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, AN accepted 2011 June 15

We have performed a census of disks around brown dwarfs in the Sigma Ori cluster using all available images from IRAC onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. To search for new low-mass cluster members with disks, we have measured photometry for all sources in the Spitzer images and have identified the ones that have red colors that are indicative of disks. We present 5 promising candidates, which may consist of 2 brown dwarfs, 2 stars with edge-on disks, and a low-mass protostar if they are bona fide members. Spectroscopy is needed to verify the nature of these sources. We have also used the Spitzer data to determine which of the previously known probable members of Sigma Ori are likely to have disks. By doing so, we measure disk fractions of ~40% and ~60% for low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, respectively. These results are similar to previous estimates of disk fractions in IC 348 and Cha I, which have roughly the same median ages as Sigma Ori (3 Myr). Finally, we note that our photometric measurements and the sources that we identify as having disks differ significantly from those of other recent studies that analyzed the same Spitzer images. For instance, previous work has suggested that the T dwarf S Ori 70 is redder than typical field dwarfs, which has been cited as possible evidence of youth and cluster membership. However, we find that this object is only slightly redder than the reddest field dwarfs in [3.6]-[4.5] (1.56+/-0.07 vs. 0.93-1.46). We measure a larger excess in [3.6]-[5.8] (1.75+/-0.21 vs. 0.87-1.19), but the flux at 5.8um may be overestimated because of the low signal-to-noise ratio of the detection. Thus, the Spitzer data do not offer strong evidence of youth and membership for this object, which is the faintest and coolest candidate member of Sigma Ori that has been identified to date., Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in press

We present new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of two fields in the Orion OB1 association. We report here IRAC/MIPS observations for 115 confirmed members and 41 photometric candidates of the ~10 Myr 25 Orionis aggregate in the OB1a subassociation, and 106 confirmed members and 65 photometric candidates of the 5 Myr region located in the OB1b subassociation. The 25 Orionis aggregate shows a disk frequency of 6% while the field in the OB1b subassociation shows a disk frequency of 13%. Combining IRAC, MIPS and 2MASS photometry we place stars bearing disks in several classes: stars with optically thick disks (class II systems), stars with an inner transitional disks (transitional disk candidates) and stars with "evolved disks"; the last exhibit smaller IRAC/MIPS excesses than class II systems. In all, we identify 1 transitional disk candidate in the 25 Orionis aggregate and 3 in the OB1b field; this represents ~10% of the disk bearing stars, indicating that the transitional disk phase can be relatively fast. We find that the frequency of disks is a function of the stellar mass, suggesting a maximum around stars with spectral type M0. Comparing the infrared excess in the IRAC bands among several stellar groups we find that inner disk emission decays with stellar age, showing a correlation with the respective disk frequencies. The disk emission at the IRAC and MIPS bands in several stellar groups indicates that disk dissipation takes place faster in the inner region of the disks. Comparison with models of irradiated accretion disks, computed with several degrees of settling, suggests that the decrease in the overall accretion rate observed in young stellar groups is not sufficient to explain the weak disk emission observed in the IRAC bands for disk bearing stars with ages 5 Myr or older., Comment: Accepted in the Astrophysical Journal

We investigate the electronic band structure of two of the rare-earth nitrides, DyN and SmN. Resistivity measurements imply that both materials have a semiconducting ground state, and both show resistivity anomalies coinciding with the magnetic transition, despite the different magnetic states in DyN and SmN. X-ray absorption and emission measurements are in excellent agreement with LSDA+U calculations, although for SmN the calculations predict a zero band gap., Comment: 2 figures