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Large Area X-ray Propositional Counter (LAXPC) instrument on AstroSat is aimed at providing high time resolution X-ray observations in 3 to 80 keV energy band with moderate energy resolution. To achieve large collecting area, a cluster of three co-aligned identical LAXPC detectors, is used to realize an effective area in access of about 6000 cm2 at 15 keV. The large detection volume of the LAXPC detectors, filled with xenon gas at about 2 atmosphere pressure, results in detection efficiency greater than 50%, above 30 keV. In this article, we present salient features of the LAXPC detectors, their testing and characterization in the laboratory prior to launch and calibration in the orbit. Some preliminary results on timing and spectral characteristics of a few X-ray binaries and other type of sources, are briefly discussed to demonstrate that the LAXPC instrument is performing as planned in the orbit., Comment: 11 pages, 15 Figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics

AstroSat is a multi-wavelength satellite launched on 2015 September 28. The CZT Imager of AstroSat on its very first day of operation detected a long duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) namely GRB 151006A. Using the off-axis imaging and spectral response of the instrument, we demonstrate that CZT Imager can localise this GRB correct to about a few degrees and it can provide, in conjunction with Swift, spectral parameters similar to that obtained from Fermi/GBM. Hence CZT Imager would be a useful addition to the currently operating GRB instruments (Swift and Fermi). Specifically, we argue that the CZT Imager will be most useful for the short hard GRBs by providing localisation for those detected by Fermi and spectral information for those detected only by Swift. We also provide preliminary results on a new exciting capability of this instrument: CZT Imager is able to identify Compton scattered events thereby providing polarisation information for bright GRBs. GRB 151006A, in spite of being relatively faint, shows hints of a polarisation signal at 100-300 keV (though at a low significance level). We point out that CZT Imager should provide significant time resolved polarisation measurements for GRBs that have fluence 3 times higher than that of GRB 151006A. We estimate that the number of such bright GRBs detectable by CZT Imager is 5 - 6 per year. CZT Imager can also act as a good hard X-ray monitoring device for possible electromagnetic counterparts of Gravitational Wave events., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

Charged Particle Monitor (CPM) on-board the AstroSat satellite is an instrument designed to detect the flux of charged particles at the satellite location. A Cesium Iodide Thallium (CsI(Tl)) crystal is used with a Kapton window to detect protons with energies greater than 1 MeV. The ground calibration of CPM was done using gamma-rays from radioactive sources and protons from particle accelerators. Based on the ground calibration results, energy deposition above 1 MeV are accepted and particle counts are recorded. It is found that CPM counts are steady and the signal for the onset and exit of South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region are generated in a very reliable and stable manner., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. To appear in JAA special issue on AstroSat

The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) is a high energy, wide-field imaging instrument on AstroSat. CZT's namesake Cadmium Zinc Telluride detectors cover an energy range from 20 keV to > 200 keV, with 11% energy resolution at 60 keV. The coded aperture mask attains an angular resolution of 17' over a 4.6 deg x 4.6 deg (FWHM) field of view. CZTI functions as an open detector above 100 keV, continuously sensitive to GRBs and other transients in about 30% of the sky. The pixellated detectors are sensitive to polarisation above ~100 keV, with exciting possibilities for polarisation studies of transients and bright persistent sources. In this paper, we provide details of the complete CZTI instrument, detectors, coded aperture mask, mechanical and electronic configuration, as well as data and products., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. To appear in Astrosat special issue of the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope on ASTROSAT Satellite mission is a suite of Far Ultra Violet (FUV; 130 to 180 nm), Near Ultra Violet (NUV; 200 to 300 nm) and Visible band (VIS; 320 to 550nm) imagers. ASTROSAT is a first multi wavelength mission of INDIA. UVIT will image the selected regions of the sky simultaneously in three channels & observe young stars, galaxies, bright UV Sources. FOV in each of the 3 channels is about 28 arc-minute. Targeted angular resolution in the resulting UV images is better than 1.8 arc-second (better than 2.0 arc-second for the visible channel). Two identical co-aligned telescopes (T1, T2) of Ritchey-Chretien configuration (Primary mirror of 375 mm diameter) collect the celestial radiation and feed to the detector system via a selectable filter on a filter wheel mechanism; gratings are available in the filter wheels of FUV and NUV channels for slit-less low resolution spectroscopy. The detector system for each of the 3 channels is generically identical. One telescope images in the FUV channel, and other images in NUV and VIS channels. One time open-able mechanical cover on each telescope also works as Sun-shield after deployment.We will present the optical tests and calibrations done on the two telescopes. Results on vibrations test and thermo-vacuum tests on the engineering model will also be presented., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Proc. SPIE 8443, "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray"

A low cost PC based real time data logging system can be used in the laboratories for the measurement, monitoring and storage of the data for slowly varying signals in science and engineering stream. This can be designed and interfaced to the PCs Parallel Port, which is common to all desktop computers or Personal Computers (PCs). By the use of this data logging system one can monitor, measure and store data for slowly varying signals, which is hard to visualise the signal waveforms by ordinary CRO (Cathode Ray Oscilloscope) and DSO (Digital Storage Oscilloscope). The data so stored can be used for further study and analysis. It can be used for a wide range of applications to monitor and store data of temperature, humidity, light intensity, ECG signals etc. with proper signal conditioning circuitry., Comment: Published in the Journal of Assam Science Society, December 2009

The present paper describes the design of a cost effective, better resolution data acquisition system (DAS) which is compatible to most of the PC and laptops. A low cost DAS has been designed using PIC12F675 having 4-channel analog input with 10-bit resolution for the monitoring of slowly varying signals. The DAS so designed is interfaced to the serial port of the PC. Firmware is written in Basic using Oshonsoft PIC IDE and burn to the microcontroller by using PICkit2 programmer. An application program is also developed using Visual Basic 6 which allows to display the waveform of the signal(s) and simultaneously the data also can be saved into the hard disk of the computer for future use and analysis., Comment: Published in the Journal of Instrument Society of India (ISOI)

We study the EPR correlation implied by the entangled wavefunction of the $B^0\bar{B}^0$ pair created by the $\Upsilon $(4S) resonance. The analysis uses the basis provided by the mass eigenstates $B_1,B_2$ rather than the flavour states $B^0, \bar{B}^0$. Data on the inclusive dilepton charge ratio are close to the expectation of quantum mechanics, but nearly 8 standard deviations away from that of complete decoherence., Comment: 10 pages, Latex, no figures

Extraction of the mass difference $\Delta m$ from $B^0\bar B^0$ oscillations involves tagging of bottom flavour at production and at decay. We show that the asymmetry between the unmixed and mixed events factorizes into two parts, one depending on the production-tag and the other on the decay-tag., Comment: 6 pages, Latex, no figures

Correlations that signal direct CP violation in the bottom sector are suggested. They need data on $Z\to b\bar b$ events which consist of a bottom hadron decay into an exclusive semileptonic channel $h \ell \nu $ (where $h$ is a hadron), and the other bottom hadron decay into a multi-body final state that manifests as a jet in the opposite hemisphere., Comment: 10 pages, Latex, no figures, expanded version

We estimate the product of the relative strength of the $\Delta B = -\Delta Q$ amplitude in the decay $B_d^0 \rightarrow D^{*} \ell \bar \nu_{\ell }$ and the width-difference parameter $y$. For this we have used the data on time-dependence of $B_{d}^0\bar B_{d}^0$ oscillations in Z decays and the fraction of like-sign dilepton events at the $\Upsilon (4S)$., Comment: 8 pages, Latex, no figures

In order to detect the possible presence of $\Delta B = - \Delta Q$ amplitudes in neutral $B$ meson decays, we consider the measurement of decay time asymmetries involving like-sign dilepton events at the $B$ factories., Comment: 5 pages, latex, no figs