The connection between helium-rich hot subdwarfs of spectral types O and B (He-sdB) has been relatively unexplored since the latter were found in significant numbers in the 1980s. In order to explore this connection further, we have analysed the surface composition of six He-sdB stars, including LB 1766, LB 3229, SB 21 (= Ton-S 137 = BPS 29503-0009), BPS 22940-0009, BPS 29496-0010, and BPS 22956-0094. Opacity-sampled line-blanketed model atmospheres have been used to derive atmospheric properties and elemental abundances. All the stars are moderately metal-poor compared with the Sun ([Fe/H] ~ -0.5). Four stars are nitrogen-rich, two of these are carbon-rich, and at least four appear to be neon-rich. The data are insufficient to rule out binarity in any of the sample. The surface composition and locus of the N-rich He-sdBs are currently best explained by the merger of two helium white dwarfs, or possibly by the merger of a helium white dwarf with a post-sdB white dwarf. C-rich He-sdBs require further investigation.
A small set of final prototypes of the ATLAS Inner Detector silicon tracker (Pixel and SCT) were used to take data during the 2004 Combined Test Beam. Data were collected from runs with beams of different flavour (electrons, pions, muons and photons) with a momentum range of 2 to 180 GeV/c. Four independent methods were used to align the silicon modules. The corrections obtained were validated using the known momenta of the beam particles and were shown to yield consistent results among the different alignment approaches. From the residual distributions, it is concluded that the precision attained in the alignment of the silicon modules is of the order of 5 micrometers in their most precise coordinate.
