Spatial modulation search applied to the search and confirmation of highly scintillated pulsars at FAST with a pulsar discovered in M3

We present a pulsar candidate identification and confirmation procedure based on a position-switch mode during the pulsar search observations. This method enables the simultaneous search and confirmation of a pulsar in a single observation, by utilizing the different spatial features of a pulsar signal and radio frequency interference(RFI). Based on this method, we performed test pulsar search observations in globular clusters M3, M15 and M92. We discovered and confirmed a new pulsar, M3 F, and detected the known pulsars M3 B, M15 A to G(except C) and M92 A.     

Test for detection of fine structure of the solar wind velocity

A new method of search and analysis of the fine structure in the velocity of interplanetary plasma irregularities is developed.     

A new search method for streams in meteor data bases and its application

A new search method for locating meteoroid streams within an orbit data base and obtaining their central core orbits is introduced. The method is based on the transformation of a data base of discrete orbits into a continuous density map. Artificial data bases are used to determine if a density is statistically unlikely to occur by random chance. A search is then run to identify all density peaks within the map that correspond to the central core of a meteoroid stream. Drummond D' criterion is used as a metric within the transformation and a D' acceptability limit, D _l, defines the length scale over which a discrete meteor orbit can have an influence on the density map. Examination of the search dependence on D _l for both real and artificial data sets indicates an appropriate standard value. A full search is run on 5280 meteor orbits from the IAU data base, detecting 16 known major and minor meteoroid streams. New central core orbits are presented for these. No major differences from the published orbits are detected, apart from possible multi-branched structure in the southern δ Aquarids.     

A method solving kepler's equation without transcendental function evaluations

We developed two approximations of the Newton-Raphson method. The one is a sort of discretization, namely to search an approximate solution on pre-specified grid points. The other is a Taylor series expansion. A combination of these was applied to solving Kepler's equation for the elliptic case. The resulting method requires no evaluation of transcendental functions. Numerical measurements showed that, in the case of Intel Pentium processor, the new method is three times as fast as the original Newton-Raphson method. Also it is more than 2.5 times as fast as Halley's method, Nijenhuis's method, and others.     

A grid search for three-dimensional motions and three new types of such motions

A grid search method aimed at locating ‘all’ doubly symmetric orbits of the three-dimensional restricted problems of one, two, etc. revolutions is developed and applied numerically on the CDC-3300 computer. Three new types of orbits have thus been located and a second order ‘predictorcorrector’ method is applied in order to determine a certain number of members of the families of which the ‘located’ orbits are members. The stability of these members is also discussed.     

Asteroid identification over apparitions

We present a new method for the linking of scarce asteroid astrometry over apparitions, and apply it both to simulated and real data to prove its feasibility. Up to date, there has not been a robust method available to search for linkages between the approximately 50,000 provisionally designated sets of asteroid astrometry spanning less than two days. Unless such a scarce set of astrometry is linked to another set of astrometry, the underlying object can be considered lost as the ephemeris uncertainties are substantial. The new method, which can tackle the challenges, is based on Ranging, which is a fully nonlinear, statistical orbital inversion method. Ranging properly treats astrometric uncertainties and propagates the uncertainty to the resulting orbital-element probability density, which is sampled by a set of orbits. The new orbital-element-space multiple-address-comparison (oMAC) method uses dimensionality-reduction techniques and tree structures to efficiently search for overlapping probability densities in the orbital-element phase space. Overlapping probability densities indicate a candidate linkage between astrometric observation sets. To accept a candidate linkage, we have to find a many-body orbital solution which reproduces the observed positions within the observational uncertainties. To find the linking orbit, we use a multi-step approach starting from a Monte-Carlo generation of possible orbits in a reduced volume of the orbital-element phase space and ending with a least-squares orbital solution, which, in addition to the Sun's gravitation, also takes into account the gravitational influence of the relevant planets. The new multiple-address-comparison method has a loglinear computational complexity, that is, it scales as O(nlogn), where n is the number of included observation sets. It has recently also been implemented for the ephemeris-space multiple-address-comparison (eMAC) method, which is optimized for the short-term linking of scarce astrometry.     

Periodicity search for possible X-ray counterparts to radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsar candidates

A periodicity search of gamma-ray data is usually difficult because of the small number of detected photons. A periodicity in the timing signal at other energy bands from the counterpart to the gamma-ray source may help to establish the periodicity in the gamma-ray emission and strengthen the identification of the source in different energy bands. However, it may still be difficult to find the period directly from X-ray data because of limited exposure. We have developed a procedure, by cross-checking two X-ray data sets, to find candidate periods for X-ray sources that are possible counterparts to gamma-ray pulsar candidates. Here, we report on the results of this method obtained with all the currently available X-ray data of eight X-ray sources. Some attractive periodicity features were found. These candidate periods can serve as the target periods for a future search when new data become available, so that a blind search with a huge number of trials can be avoided.     

A WIMP detector with two-phase xenon

We describe an important new technique to search for WIMPs. This technique employs a method of background discrimination using double phase xenon as detector target. We describe the construction of a two-phase, 1-kg xenon detector. The detector will be installed at the underground laboratory in the Mt. Blanc tunnel, which provides a low background rate. A comparison between the sensitivity curve of our detector and the theoretical events limit from SUSY calculations is presented.     

一颗新的γ射线脉冲星：PSR0740－28

本文作者对ＣＯＳ－Ｂ卫星的两次观测数据进行了周期折叠分析，获得了来自ＰＳＲ０７４０－２８方向上的γ光子的周期位相脉冲结构．从两次不同观测数据中获得的相位图具有相似的结构，其对应的周期和周期变率值都在射电预期值附近；显著性分析表明，随机出现上述两个位相结构的概率不大于２×１０－５．由此我们相信ＰＳＲ０７４０－２８是一颗新的γ射线脉冲星．     

基于解析梯度的近地小天体探测机会搜索问题研究木

研究近地小天体的探测机会搜索问题．针对交会型探测任务,通过结合变分理论和状态转移矩阵推导了性能指标关于可调参数的解析偏导数,然后在搜索空间中随机生成初始点,并从这些初始点出发利用解析偏导数寻优,从而得到搜索空间内对应潜在发射机会的全部局部极小值点．此方法既在一定程度上保持了传统搜索方法全局搜索的特点,又克服了传统搜索方法的盲目性,因此计算速度获得很大提高．此外该方法可以对探测机会的搜索精度进行有效地控制．     

Fast radio burst search: cross spectrum vs. auto spectrum method

The search for fast radio bursts(FRBs) is a hot topic in current radio astronomy studies. In this work, we carry out a single pulse search with a very long baseline interferometry(VLBI) pulsar observation data set using both auto spectrum and cross spectrum search methods. The cross spectrum method,first proposed in Liu et al., maximizes the signal power by fully utilizing the fringe phase information of the baseline cross spectrum. The auto spectrum search method is based on the popular pulsar software package PRESTO, which extracts single pulses from the auto spectrum of each station. According to our comparison, the cross spectrum method is able to enhance the signal power and therefore extract single pulses from data contaminated by high levels of radio frequency interference(RFI), which makes it possible to carry out a search for FRBs in regular VLBI observations when RFI is present.     

A search for astrophysical burst signals at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has confirmed the standard solar model and neutrino oscillations through the observation of neutrinos from the solar core. In this paper we present a search for neutrinos associated with sources other than the solar core, such as gamma-ray bursts and solar flares. We present a new method for looking for temporal coincidences between neutrino events and astrophysical bursts of widely varying intensity. No correlations were found between neutrinos detected in SNO and such astrophysical sources.     

Stellar Population Analysis of Galaxies based on Genetic Algorithms

We present a new method for determining the age and relative contribution of different stellar populations in galaxies based on the genetic algorithm. We apply this method to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3384, using CCD images in U, B, V, R and I bands. This analysis indicates that the galaxy NGC 3384 is mainly inhabited by old stellar population (age >109yr). Some problems were encountered when numerical simulations are used for determining the contribution of different stellar populations in the integrated color of a galaxy. The results show that the proposed genetic algorithm can search efficiently through the very large space of the possible ages.     

Separation of periodic, chaotic, and random components in solar activity

Two new techniques were applied to search for chaotic behavior in solar activity. A mixture of periodic and chaotic components in a time series makes it difficult to find chaotic behavior. The singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method (Broomhead and King, 1986) was used to separate periodic and irregular components in solar activity (e.g., sunspot number and 10.7 cm flux). The nonlinear prediction method (Sugihara and May, 1990) was applied for each component to examine whether it has a chaotic characteristic. The result suggests that are are dominant periodic components and highly irregular (random) components in solar activity.     

Asteroid identification at discovery

We present a novel method for the search of linkages among astrometric observations of asteroids, that is, tentative identifications among asteroids observed. Having two different master sets of asteroid observations each containing a number of separate subsets, we define a linkage as a pair of subsets residing in separate master sets that can be tied together with an orbit for given observational errors. To find linkages among a wealth of observations we use an efficient stepwise filtering approach. First, we start with what we call phase-space address comparison. The first step substantially reduces the initially huge amount of pairs by requiring that pairs to be subjected to further analysis have similar geocentric spherical coordinates at common epochs (for example, at three epochs). Second, we search for orbits for each of the selected pairs of subsets. Succeeding in the effort proves that a linkage exists. If there are contradictions among linkages found—for example, a single subset being linked to several mutually exclusive subsets—additional new or archive observations are usually needed to discard erroneous linkages. The new method is built on six-dimensional statistical orbital inversion (Ranging), and is therefore particularly suitable for analyzing objects with the shortest observational arcs, that is, newly discovered asteroids (and comets). Results from extensive and successful tests on simulated survey observations are presented and discussed. Theoretical and empirical scaling results show that the method is applicable to future large-scale surveys that will increase the rate of asteroid discovery by at least two orders of magnitude. The successful linking of faint single-night observation sets obtained with the Very Large Telescope are briefly reviewed.     

脉冲星搜寻软件的安装和使用

搜寻射电脉冲星需要成熟的软件套路以保证有效地得到新发现。介绍了脉冲星搜寻过程,提供了安装脉冲星搜寻软件的工具,并给出了脉冲星搜寻的例子。     

类星体QSO2000-330的重元素吸收线系统的证认

本文利用文[1]和文[2]所给出的高红移类星体吸收系统的证认方法,对目前最大红移类星体QS02000-330(z_e=3.78)的吸收光谱进行了吸收线红移系统的证认,并得到了六个重元素的吸收线系统:z_a=3.1881,3.1913,3.3335,3.5519以及z_a=1.3441,3.3459。前四个系统和Hunstead等人(1986)所得到的A、B、C、D系统(红移值分别是z_a=3.1881,3.1914,3.3332,3.5519)相符合;后两个是我们新发现的吸收系统。     

Search for extrasolar planets by polarimetry

Optical polarimetry is suggested as a new method for detecting “hot Jupiter” planets around stars. The polarimetric search method has been tested experimentally; for this purpose, the necessary astronomical observations and their processing have been performed. The results obtained allow us to assert with caution that the suggested method yields positive results and can be of use both in searching for exoplanets and in refining their masses. According to our results, a tangential transit of the planet 51 Peg b may be observed. The angle between the orbital plane of 51 Peg b and the observer’s direction must then be small, sin i ≈ 1, and the mass of 51 Peg b must be close to 0.46 M _J (Jupiter mass).