A sample of 19 low-redshift (0.03

In supersymmetric scenarios with a low scale of SUSY breaking [sqrt{F}=O(TeV)] the conventional MSSM Higgs sector can be substantially modified, mainly because the Higgs potential contains additional effective quartic terms. The Higgs spectrum can be dramatically changed, and the lightest state can be much heavier than in usual SUSY scenarios

We present a detailed spectroscopic analysis of nitrogen abundances in 91 solar-type stars, 66 with and 25 without known planetary mass companions. All comparison sample stars and 28 planet hosts were analysed by spectral synthesis of the near-UV NH band at 3360 Å observed at high resolution with the VLT/UVES, while the near-IR N I 7468 Å was

By observing the high Galactic latitude equatorial sky in drift-scan mode with the QUEST (Quasar Equatorial Survey Team) Phase 1 camera, we have collected multibandpass photometry on a large strip of sky, resolved over a large range of timescales (from hourly to biennially). A robust method of ensemble photometry reveals those objects within the

We present optical spectroscopic observations of three Ultra Luminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Two of them are very close to the active galaxy NGC 720 and the other is near NGC 1073. The two around NGC 720 turn out to be quasars at z= 2.216 and z= 0.959, the one near NGC 1073 seems to be associated to an HII region at the redshift of NGC 1073. We

We present U, B, V, I (SUSI@NTT) and J, Ks (SOFI@NTT) photometry of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) cluster Reticulum. The observing strategy and data reduction (DAOPHOTII/ALLFRAME) allowed us to reach an accuracy of the order of 0.01 - 0.03 mag in all the bands at limiting magnitudes typical of RR Lyrae stars. Reticulum hosts a sizable sample of