The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is a multipurpose highcontrast imaging platform designed for the discovery and detailed characterization of exoplanetary systems and serves as a testbed for high-contrast imaging technologies for ELTs. It is a multi-band instrument which makes use of light from 600 to 2500 nm allowing for coronagraphic direct exoplanet imaging of the inner 3 λ/D from the stellar host. Wavefront sensing and control are key to the operation of SCExAO. A partial correction of low-order modes is provided by Subaru's facility adaptive optics system with the final correction, including high-order modes, implemented downstream by a combination of a visible pyramid wavefront sensor and a 2000-element deformable mirror. The well corrected NIR (y-K bands) wavefronts can then be injected into any of the available coronagraphs, including but not limited to the phase induced amplitude apodization and the vector vortex coronagraphs, both of which offer an inner working angle as low as 1 λ/D. Non-common path, loworder aberrations are sensed with a coronagraphic low-order wavefront sensor in the infrared (IR). Low noise, high frame rate, NIR detectors allow for active speckle nulling and coherent differential imaging, while the HAWAII 2RG detector in the HiCIAO imager and/or the CHARIS integral field spectrograph (from mid 2016) can take deeper exposures and/or perform angular, spectral and polarimetric differential imaging. Science in the visible is provided by two interferometric modules: VAMPIRES and FIRST, which enable sub-diffraction limited imaging in the visible region with polarimetric and spectroscopic capabilities respectively. We describe the instrument in detail and present preliminary results both on-sky and in the laboratory.

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Monocytes and macrophages comprise a variety of subsets with diverse functions. It is thought that these cells play a crucial role in homeostasis of peripheral organs, key immunological processes and development of various diseases. Among these diseases, fibrosis is a life-threatening disease of unknown aetiology. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood, and there are few effective therapies. The development of fibrosis is associated with activation of monocytes and macrophages. However, the specific subtypes of monocytes and macrophages that are involved in fibrosis have not yet been identified. Here we show that Ceacam1Msr1Ly6CF4/80Mac1 monocytes, which we term segregated-nucleus-containing atypical monocytes (SatM), share granulocyte characteristics, are regulated by CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ), and are critical for fibrosis. Cebpb deficiency results in a complete lack of SatM. Furthermore, the development of bleomycin-induced fibrosis, but not inflammation, was prevented in chimaeric mice with Cebpb haematopoietic cells. Adoptive transfer of SatM into Cebpb mice resulted in fibrosis. Notably, SatM are derived from Ly6CFcεRI granulocyte/macrophage progenitors, and a newly identified SatM progenitor downstream of Ly6CFcεRI granulocyte/macrophage progenitors, but not from macrophage/dendritic-cell progenitors. Our results show that SatM are critical for fibrosis and that C/EBPβ licenses differentiation of SatM from their committed progenitor.

We present new results of [Fe II] λ1.644 µm spectroscopy toward the jets from HL Tau and RW Aur carried out with the Subaru Telescope combined with the adaptive optics system. We observed the regions within 2 ′′ -3 ′′ from the stars with the sub-arcsecond resolutions of 0.′′ 5 and 0. ′′ 2 for HL Tau and RW Aur, respectively. In addition to the strong, high velocity emission extended along each jet, we detected a blueshifted low velocity emission feature seen as a wing or shoulder of the high velocity emission at each stellar position. Detailed analysis shows that the low velocity emission of HL Tau is peaked at 0. ′′ 077 ± 0. ′′ 04 away from the stellar position, or 15 AU of actual distance from the star. We did not confirm such displacement for RW Aur in its position velocity diagram (PVD). The PVDs of HL Tau and RW Aur show a characteristic similar to those of the cold disk wind and X-wind models in that the [Fe II] line width is broad

Supernovae (SNe) have been proposed to be the main production sites of dust grains in the Universe. Our knowledge on their importance to dust production is, however, limited by observationally poor constraints on the nature and amount of dust particles produced by individual SNe. In this paper, we present a spectrum covering optical through near-Infrared (NIR) light of the luminous Type IIn supernova (SN IIn) 2010jl around one and half years after the explosion. This unique data set reveals multiple signatures of newly formed dust particles. The NIR portion of the spectrum provides a rare example where thermal emission from newly formed hot dust grains is clearly detected. We determine the main population of the dust species to be carbon grains at a temperature of ∼ 1, 350 − 1, 450K at this epoch. The mass of the dust grains is derived to be ∼ (7.5 − 8.5) × 10 −4 M ⊙ . Hydrogen emission lines show wavelength-dependent absorption, which provides a good estimate on the typical size of the newly formed dust grains ( ∼ < 0.1µm, and most likely ∼ < 0.01µm). We attribute the dust grains to have been formed in a dense cooling shell as a result of a strong SN-circumstellar media (CSM) interaction. The dust grains occupy ∼ 10% of the emitting volume, suggesting an inhomogeneous, clumpy structure. The average CSM density is required to be ∼ > 3×10 7 cm −3 , corresponding to a mass loss rate of ∼ > 0.02M ⊙ yr −1 (for a mass loss wind velocity of ∼ 100 km s −1 ). This strongly supports a scenario that SN 2010jl and probably other luminous SNe IIn are powered by strong interactions within very dense CSM, perhaps created by Luminous Blue Variable (LBV)-like eruptions within the last century before the explosion.

We present medium-resolution 3 lm spectroscopy of the carbon-rich proto-planetary nebula IRAS 22272+5435. Spectroscopy with the Subaru Telescope adaptive optics system revealed a spatial variation of hydrocarbon molecules and dust surrounding the star. The rovibrational bands of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) at 3.0 lm are evident in the central star spectra. The molecules are concentrated in the compact region near the center. The 3.3 and 3.4 lm emission of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons is detected at 600-1300 AU from the central star. The separation of spatial distribution between gas and dust suggests that the small hydrocarbon molecules are indeed the source of solid material and that the gas left over from the grain formation is being observed near the central star. The intensity of aliphatic hydrocarbon emission relative to the aromatic hydrocarbon emission decreases with distance from the central star. The spectral variation is well matched to that of a laboratory analog thermally annealed with different temperatures. We suggest that either the thermal process after the formation of a grain or the variation in the temperature in the dust-forming region over time determines the chemical composition of the hydrocarbon dust around the proto-planetary nebula.

We present the results of an imaging observation campaign conducted with the Subaru Telescope adaptive optics system (IRCS+AO188) on 28 gravitationally lensed quasars and candidates (23 doubles, 1 quad, 1 possible triple and 3 candidates) from the SDSS Quasar Lens Search. We develop a novel modelling technique that fits analytical and hybrid point spread functions (PSFs), while simultaneously measuring the relative astrometry, photometry, as well as the lens galaxy morphology. We account for systematics by simulating the observed systems using separately observed PSF stars. The measured relative astrometry is comparable with that typically achieved with the Hubble Space Telescope, even after marginalizing over the PSF uncertainty. We model for the first time the quasar host galaxies in 5 systems, without a-priory knowledge of the PSF, and show that their luminosities follow the known correlation with the mass of the supermassive black hole. For each system, we obtain mass models far more accurate than those previously published from low-resolution data, and we show that in our sample of lensing galaxies the observed light profile is more elliptical than the mass, for ellipticity 0.25. We also identify eight doubles for which the sources of external and internal shear are more reliably separated, and should therefore be prioritized in monitoring campaigns aimed at measuring time-delays in order to infer the Hubble constant.

Subaru adaptive optics system (AO188) is an 188-elements curvature sensor adaptive optics system that is operated in both natural and laser guide star modes. AO188 was installed at Nasmyth platform of the Subaru telescope and it has been successfully operating in the natural guide star mode since October 2008. The performance of AO188 in the natural guide star mode has been well verified from on-sky data obtained with the infrared camera and spectrograph (IRCS). Under normal seeing condition, AO188 achieves K-band Strehl ratio between 60% and 70% using R = 9.0 magnitude natural guide stars and it works well with faint guide stars down to R = 16.5 magnitude. We measured the FWHM and Strehl ratio of stellar images in globular clusters and found that the isoplanatic angle is approximately 30 arcsec. In this paper, we describe an overview of the operation procedure for AO188, as well as its performance such as angular resolution, Strehl ration, and sensitivity gain for detecting faint objects.