An Annular Gap Acceleration Model for γ-ray Emission of Pulsars

If the binding energy of the pulsar's surface is not so high (the case of a neutron star), both negative and positive charges will flow out freely from the surface of the star. An annular free flow model for γ-ray emission of pulsars is suggested. It is emphasized that: (1) Two kinds of acceleration regions (annular and core) need to be taken into account. The annular acceleration region is defined by the magnetic field lines that cross the null charge surface within the light cylinder. (2) If the potential drop in the annular region of a pulsar is high enough (normally the case for young pulsars), charges in both the annular and the core regions could be accelerated and produce primary gamma-rays. Secondary pairs are generated in both regions and stream outwards to power the broadband radiations. (3) The potential drop grows more rapidly in the annular region than in the core region. The annular acceleration process is a key process for producing the observed wide emission beams. (4) The advantages of both the polar cap and outer gap models are retained in this model. The geometric properties of the γ-ray emission from the annular flow are analogous to that pre-sented in a previous work by Qiao et al., which match the observations well. (5) Since charges with different signs leave the pulsar through the annular and the core regions respectively, the current closure problem can be partially solved.     

The nature of the γ-ray flare associated with blazar 3C 454.3

We have studied the simultaneous spectral energy distributions(SEDs) of the 2009 December flare and those of the quiescent state of blazar 3C 454.3 by constructing a multi-component model. We find that all six SEDs can be explained by a one-zone leptonic model involving synchrotron self-Compton(SSC) plus external Compton emission from an accretion disk(ECD) and that from a broad-line region(ECC). X-ray emission is dominated by the SSC mechanism, and the γ-ray spectrum is well represented by a combination of ECD and ECC processes. Our results indicate that the energy density of the magnetic field and electrons decrease with distance from the central engine, and the Doppler factor increases with the blob moving outward in the development of the 2009 December flare. The increase in the observed flux density is possibly due to the increase in the Doppler factor of the blob. The relation between the Doppler factor δb and the distance from the central black hole suggests the magnetically driven jets span a sub-pc scale, and the relation between the magnetic field B′ and the dimension of the emission region R′b is in good agreement with what is required by conservation of magnetic flux. The weak "harder-when-brighter" behavior of the γ-ray spectrum could be a result of the increase in Doppler factor during the outward motion of the blob. The parameters during the quiescent state obviously deviate from those during the flare state. We propose that the flare was likely caused by the ejection of a new blob. The gamma-ray emissions in different states are associated with the evolution of the blob.     

Asteroseismology of DAV white dwarf stars and G29-38

Asteroseismology is a powerful tool used for detecting the inner structure of stars, which is also widely used to study white dwarfs. We discuss the asteroseismology of DAV stars. The period-to-period fitting method is discussed in detail, including its reliability in detecting the inner structure of DAV stars. If we assume that all observed modes of some DAV stars are the l = I cases, the errors associated with model fitting will be always large. If we assume that the observed modes are com- posed of I = 1 and 2 modes, the errors associated with model fitting in this case will be small. However, there will be modes identified as l = 2 that do not have ob- served quintuplets. G29-38 has been observed spectroscopically and photometrically for many years. Thompson et al. made 1 modes identifications in the star through the limb darkening effect. With 11 known I modes, we also study the asteroseismology of G29-38, which reduces the blind l fittings and is a fair choice. Unfortunately, our two best-fitting models are not in line with the previous atmospheric results. Based on factors like only a few observed modes, stability and identification of eigenmodes, identification of spherical degrees, construction of physical and realistic models and so on, detecting the inner structure of DAV stars by asteroseismology needs further development.     

Separation of Different Contributions to the Total X-ray Luminosity in Gamma-ray Loud Blazars

The relativistic beaming model has been successfully used to explain many of the observational properties of active galactic nuclei. In this model the total emission is formed by two components, one beamed, one unbeamed. However, the exact contribution from each component in unresolved sources is still not clear. In the radio band, the core and extended emissions are clearly separated. We adopt the method proposed by Kembhavi to separate the two contributions in the X-ray emissions in a sample of 19 gamma-ray loud blazars. It is clearly shown that the beamed emission dominates the X-ray flux and the unbeamed X-ray emission is correlated with the extended radio emission of the considered objects. We also find that the ratio of the beamed to the unbeamed X-ray luminosity is correlated with the X-ray spectral index, an effect that should be a consequence of the underlying X-ray emission mechanism.     

Effects of Magnetic Fields on Neutrino-dominated Accretion Model for Gamma-ray Bursts

Many models of gamma-ray bursts suggest a common central engine:a black hole of several solar masses accreting matter from a disk at an accretion rate from 0.01 to 10 M_⊙s~(-1),the inner region of the disk is cooled by neutrino emission and large amounts of its binding energy are liberated,which could trigger the fireball.We improve the neutrino- dominated accreting flows by including the effects of magnetic fields.We find that more than half of the liberated energy can be extracted directly by the large-scale magnetic fields in the disk,and it turns out that the temperature of the disk is a bit lower than the neutrino-dominated accreting flows without magnetic field.Therefore,the outflows are magnetically-dominated rather than neutrino dominated.In our model,the neutrino mechanism can fuel some GRBs (not the brightest ones),but cannot fuel X-ray flares.The magnetic processes(both BZ and electromagnetic luminosity from a disk)are viable mechanisms for most of GRBs and their following X-ray flares.     

A magnetic reconnection model for quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole systems

The quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in black hole (BH) systems with different scales are interpreted based on the magnetic reconnection of large-scale magnetic fields generated by toroidal electric currents flowing in the inner region of the accretion disk, where the current density is assumed to be proportional to the mass density of the accreting plasma. The magnetic connection (MC) is taken into account in resolving dynamic equations describing the accretion disk, in which the MC between the inner and outer disk regions, between the plunging region and the disk, and between the BH horizon and the disk are involved. It turns out that a single QPO frequency associated with several BH systems with different scales can be fitted by invoking the magnetic reconnection due to the MC between the inner and outer regions of the disk, including the BH binaries XTE J1859+226, XTE J1650-500 and GRS 1915+105 and the massive BHs in NGC 5408 X-1 and RE J1034+396. In addition, the X-ray spectra corresponding to the QPOs for these sources are fitted based on the typical disk-corona model.     

Testing a solar coronal magnetic field extrapolation code with the Titov–Dmoulin magnetic flux rope model

In the solar corona, the magnetic flux rope is believed to be a fundamental structure that accounts for magnetic free energy storage and solar eruptions. Up to the present, the extrapolation of the magnetic field from boundary data has been the primary way to obtain fully three-dimensional magnetic information about the corona. As a result, the ability to reliably recover the coronal magnetic flux rope is important for coronal field extrapolation. In this paper, our coronal field extrapolation code is examined with an analytical magnetic flux rope model proposed by Titov D′emoulin, which consists of a bipolar magnetic configuration holding a semi-circular line-tied flux rope in force-free equilibrium. By only using the vector field at the bottom boundary as input, we test our code with the model in a representative range of parameter space and find that the model field can be reconstructed with high accuracy. In particular, the magnetic topological interfaces formed between the flux rope and the surrounding arcade, i.e., the "hyperbolic flux tube" and "bald patch separatrix surface," are also reliably reproduced. By this test, we demonstrate that our CESE–MHD–NLFFF code can be applied to recovering the magnetic flux rope in the solar corona as long as the vector magnetogram satisfies the force-free constraints.     

A synchrotron self-Compton scenario for the very high energy γ-ray emission of the intermediate BL Lacertae object W Comae

W Comae has significant variability in multi-wavelengthes, from radio to gamma-ray bands. A bright outburst in optical and X-ray bands was observed in 1998, and most recently, a strong TeV flare was detected by VERITAS in 2008. It is the first TeV intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae source. I find that both the broadband spectral energy distributions （SEDs） which were quasi-simultaneously obtained during the TeV flare and during the optical/X-ray outburst are well fit by using a single-zone synchrotron ＋ synchrotron-self-Compton model. The satisfactory fitting requires a large beaming factor, i.e., δ- 25 and δ- 20 for the TeV flare and the optical/X-ray outburst, respectively, suggesting that both the optical/X-ray outburst and the TeV flare are from a relativistic jet. The size of the emission region of the TeV flare is three times larger than that of the optical/X-ray outburst, and the strength of the magnetic field for the TeV flare is - 14 times smaller than that of the X-ray/optical outburst, likely indicating that the region of the TeV flare is more distant from the core than that of the X-ray/optical outburst. The inverse Compton component of the TeV flare peaks around 1.3 GeV, but it is around 20 MeV for the X-ray/optical outburst, lower than that for the TeV flare by two orders of magnitude. The model predicts that the optical/X-ray outburst might be accompanied by a strong MeV/GeV emission, but the TeV flare may be not associated with the X-ray/optical outburst. The GeV emission is critical for characterizing the SEDs of the optical/X-ray outburst and the TeV flare. The predicted GeV flux is above the sensitivity of Fermi/LAT, and it could be verified with the observations by Fermi/LAT in the near future.     

Magnetic Energy of Force-Free Fields with Detached Field Lines

Using an axisymmetrical ideal MHD model in spherical coordinates, we present a numerical study of magnetic configurations characterized by a levitating flux rope embedded in a bipolar background field whose normal field at the solar surface is the same or very close to that of a central dipole. The characteristic plasma β (the ratio between gas pressure and magnetic pressure) is taken to be sosmall (β= 10^-4) that the magnetic field is close to being force-free. The system as a whole is then let evolve quasi-statically with a slow increase of either the annular magnetic flux or the axial magnetic flux of the rope, and the total magneticenergy of the system grows accordingly. It is found that there exists an energy threshold: the flux rope sticks to the solar surface in equilibrium if the magneticenergy of the system is below the threshold, whereas it loses equilibrium if the threshold is exceeded. The energy threshold is found to be larger than that of thecorresponding fully-open magnetic field by a factor of nearly 1.08 irrespective as towhether the background field is completely closed or partly open, or whether the magnetic energy is enhanced by an increase of annular or axial flux of the rope.This gives an example showing that a force-free magnetic field may have an energy larger than the corresponding open field energy if part of the field lines is allowed tobe detached from the solar surface. The implication of such a conclusion in coronal mass ejections is briefly discussed and some comments are made on the maximum energy of force-free magnetic fields.     

Jet-dominated quiescent state in black hole X-ray binaries: the cases of A0620–00 and XTE J1118+480

The radiative mechanism of black hole X-ray transients(BHXTs) in their quiescent states(defined as the 2–10 ke V X-ray luminosity 10~(34) erg s~(-1)) remains unclear. In this work, we investigate the quasi-simultaneous quiescent state spectrum(including radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet and X-ray)of two BHXTs, A0620–00 and XTE J1118+480. We find that these two sources can be well described by a coupled accretion – jet model. More specifically, most of the emission(radio up to infrared, and the X-ray waveband) comes from the collimated relativistic jet. Emission from hot accretion flow is totally insignificant, and it can only be observed in mid-infrared(the synchrotron peak). Emission from the outer cold disk is only evident in the UV band. These results are consistent with our previous investigation on the quiescent state of V404 Cyg and confirm that the quiescent state is jet-dominated.     

Polarization of GRB prompt emission and its application to POLAR’s data

Synchrotron emission polarization is very sensitive to the magnetic field configuration.Recently,polarization of synchrotron emission with a mixed(SM)magnetic field in the gamma-ray burst(GRB)afterglow phase has been developed.Here,we apply these SM models to the GRB prompt phase and compare their polarization properties with that of synchrotron emission in purely ordered(SO)magnetic field.We find that the polarization properties in an SM model are very similar to these in a corresponding SO model(e.g.,synchrotron emission in a mixed magnetic field with an aligned ordered part(SMA)and synchrotron emission with a purely ordered aligned magnetic field(SOA)),only with a lower polarization degree(PD).We also discuss the statistical properties of the models.We find PDs of the simulated bursts are concentrated around 25%for both SOA and synchrotron emission in a purely ordered toroidal magnetic field(SOT),while they can range from 0%to 25%for SMA and synchrotron emission in a mixed magnetic field with a toroidal ordered part(SMT),depending onξ_B value,i.e.,the ratio of magnetic reduction of the ordered magnetic field over that of random magnetic field.From statistics,if PDs of majority GRBs are non-zero,then it favors SO and SM models.Further,if there are some bright GRBs with prominently lower PDs than that of the majority GRBs,it favors SOT(SMT)models;if all the bright GRBs have comparable PDs with the majority ones,it favors SOA(SMA)models.Finally,we apply our results to POLAR’s data and find that~10%time-integrated PDs of the observed bursts favor SMA and SMT models,and theξ_B parameter of these bursts is constrained to be around 1.135.     

An Intrinsic Model for the Polarization Position Angle Swing Observed in QSO 1150＋812

The rapid polarization position angle swing of ~ 180?observed in QSO 1150+812 at 2cm by Kochenov and Gabuzda is quite a regular event. One interesting property of the event is that, during the time of the swing the polarized flux density remained almost constant. We suggest that such an event can be explained in terms of a relativistic thin shock propagating through a uniform helical magnetic field, giving rise to relativistic aberration effects as the transverse field component rotates. The model may also be applicable to other similar events in which variations in polarization are not accompanied by variations in total flux density.     

Transequatorial Filament Eruption and Its Link to a Coronal Mass Ejection

We revisit the Bastille Day flare/CME Event of 2000 July 14, and demonstrate that this flare/CME event is not related to only one single active region (AR). Activation and eruption of a huge transequatorial filament are seen to precede the simultaneous filament eruption and flare in the source active region, NOAA AR 9077, and the full halo-CME in the high corona. Evidence of reconfiguration of large-scale magnetic structures related to the event is illustrated by SOHO EIT and Yohkoh SXT observations, as well as, the reconstructed 3D magnetic lines of force based on the force-free assumption. We suggest that the AR filament in AR9077 was connected to the transequatorial filament. The large-scale magnetic composition related to the transequatorial filament and its sheared magnetic arcade appears to be an essential part of the CME parent magnetic structure. Estimations show that the filament-arcade system has enough magnetic helicity to account for the helicity carried by the related CMEs. In addition, rather global magnetic connectivity, covering almost all the visible range in longitude and a huge span in latitude on the Sun, is implied by the Nancay Radioheliograph (NRH) observations. The analysis of the Bastille Day event suggests that although the triggering of a global CME might take place in an AR, a much larger scale magnetic composition seems to be the source of the ejected magnetic flux, helicity and plasma. The Bastille Day event is the first described example in the literature, in which a transequatorial filament activity appears to play a key role in a global CME. Many tens of halo-CME are found to be associated with transequatorial filaments and their magnetic environment.     

What is the right way to quench star formation in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation?

Semi-analytic models of galaxy formation are powerful tools to study the evolution of a galaxy population in a cosmological context. However, most models overpredict the number of lowmass galaxies at high redshifts and the colors of model galaxies are not right in the sense that low-mass satellite galaxies are too red and centrals are too blue. The recent version of the L-Galaxies model by Henriques et al.(H15) is a step forward to solve these problems by reproducing the evolution of stellar mass function and the overall fraction of red galaxies. In this paper we compare the two model predictions of L-Galaxies(the other is Guo et al., G13) to SDSS data in detail. We find that in the H15 model the red fraction of central galaxies now agrees with the data due to their implementation of strong AGN feedback, but the stellar mass of centrals in massive halos is now slightly lower than what is indicated by the data. For satellite galaxies, the red fraction of low-mass galaxies(log M*/M⊙ 10)also agrees with the data, but the color of massive satellites(10 log M*/M⊙ 11) is slightly bluer.The correct color of centrals and the bluer color of massive satellites indicate that quenching in massive satellites is not strong enough. We also find that there are too many red spirals and less bulge-dominated galaxies in both H15 and G13 models. Our results suggest that additional mechanisms, such as more minor mergers or disk instability, are needed to slightly increase the stellar mass of the central galaxy in massive galaxies, mainly in the bulge component, and bulge dominated galaxies will be quenched not only by minor mergers, but also by some other mechanisms.     

History of Star Formation and Chemical Enrichment in the Mily Way Disk

Based on a physical treatment of the star formation law similar to that given by Efstathiou, we have improved our two-component chemical evolution model for the Milky Way disk. Two gas infall retes are compared, one exponential, one Gaussiant. It is shown that the star formation law adopted in this paper depends more strongly on the gas surface density than that in Chang et al. It has large effects on the history of star formation and gas evolution of the whole disk. In the solar neighborhood, the history of chemical evolution and star formation is not sensitive to whether the infall rate is Gaussian or exponential. For the same infall time scale, both forms predict the same behavior for the current properties of the Galactic disk. The model predictions do depend on whether or not the infall time scale varies with the radius, but current available observations cannot decide which case is the more realistic. Our results also show that it would be inadequate to describe the gradient evolution along the Galactic disk by only one word “ flatter” or “steeper”, as was suggested by Hou et al. and Chiapinni et al. We point out that both the absolute value and the evolution of the abundance gradient may be different in the inner and outer regions.     

On the magnetic fields of ultraluminous X-ray pulsars

So far quite a few ultraluminous X-ray(ULX) pulsars have been discovered.In this work,we construct a super-Eddington,magnetic accretion disk model to estimate the dipole magnetic field of eight ULX pulsars based on their observed spin-up variations and luminosities.We obtain two branches of dipole magnetic field solutions.They are distributed in the range of B～(0.156-64.5) × 10~(10) G and～(0.275-79.0) × 10~(13) G corresponding to the low-and high-B solutions respectively.The low magnetic field solutions correspond to the state that the neutron stars are far away from the spin equilibrium,and the high magnetic field solutions are close to the spin equilibrium.The ultra-strong magnetic fields derived in Be-type ULX pulsars imply that the accretion mode in Be-type ULX pulsars could be more complicated than in the persistent ULX pulsars and may not be accounted for by the magnetized accretion disk model.We suggest that the transition between the accretor and the propeller regimes may be used to distinguish between the low-and high-B magnetic field solutions in addition to the detection of the cyclotron resonance scattering features.     

Coronal Flux Rope Equilibria in Closed Magnetic Fields

Using a 2.5-dimensional ideal MHD model in Cartesian coordinates,we investigate the equilibrium properties of coronal magnetic flux ropes in background magnetic fields that are completely closed.The background fields are produced by a dipole,a quadrupole,and an octapole,respectively,located below the photosphere at the same depth.A magnetic flux rope is then launched from below the photo-sphere,and its magnetic properties,i.e,the annular magnetic fluxφp and the axial magnetic fluxφz,are controlled by a single emergence parameter.The whole sys-tem eventually evolves into equilibrium,and the resultant flux rope is characterized by three geometrical parameters:the height of the rope axis,the half-width of the rope,and the length of the vertical current sheet below the rope.It is found that the geometrical parameters increase monotonically and continuously with increasing φp and φz:no catastrophe occurs.Moreover,there exists a steep segment in the profiles of the geometrical parameters versus either φp or φz,and the faster the background field decays with height,the larger both the gradient and the growth amplitude within the steep segment will be.     

X-ray Emission Lines in GRB Afterglows： Evidence for a Two-component Jet Model

X-ray emission lines have been observed in X-ray afterglows of several γ-ray bursts (GRBs). It is a major breakthrough for understanding the nature of the progenitors. It has been proposed that the X-ray emission lines can be well explained by the Geometry-Dominated models, but in these models the illuminating angle is much larger than that of the collimated jet of the GRB. For GRB 011211, we have obtained an illuminating angle of about θ- 45°, while the angle of the GRB jet is only 3.6°. So we propose that the outflow of GRBs with emission lines should have two distinct components: a wide component that illuminates the reprocessing material and produces the emission lines and a narrow one that produces the GRB. Observations show the energy for producing the emission lines is higher than that of the GRB. In this case, when the wide component dominates the afterglows, a bump should appear in the GRB afterglow. For GRB 011211, the bump should occur within 0.05 days of the GRB, which is obviously too early for the observation to catch it. Alongside the X-ray emission lines there should also be a bright emission component between the UV and the soft X-rays. These features can be tested by the Swift satellite in the near future.     

Formation of Solar Delta Active Regions： Twist and Writhe of Magnetic Ropes

We analyze the process of formation of delta configuration in some well-known super active regions based on photospheric vector magnetogram observations. It is found that the magnetic field in the initial developing stage of some delta active regions shows a potential-like configuration in the solar atmosphere, the magnetic shear develops mainly near the magnetic neutral line with magnetic islands of opposite polarities, and the large-scale photospheric twisted field forming gradually later. Some results are obtained: (1) The analysis of magnetic writhe of whole active regions cannot be limited in the strong field of sunspots, because the contribution of the fraction of decayed magnetic field is non-negligible. (2) The magnetic model of kink magnetic ropes, supposed to be generated in the subatmosphere, is not consistent with the evolution of large-scale twisted photospheric transverse magnetic field and not entirely consistent with the relationship with magnetic shear in some delta active regions. (3) T     

Spectral Analysis and Atmospheric Models of Microflares

By use of the high-resolution spectral data obtained with THEMIS on 2002 September 5, the spectra and characteristics of five well-observed microflares have been analyzed. Our results indicate that some of them are located near the longitudinal magnetic polarity inversion lines. All the microflares are accompanied by mass motions. The most obvious characteristic of the Ha microflare spectra is the emission at the center of both Ha and Can 8542 A lines. For the first time both thermal and non-thermal semi-empirical atmospheric models for the conspicuous and faint microflares are computed. In computing the non-thermal models, we assume that the electron beam resulting from magnetic reconnection is produced in the chromosphere, because it requires lower energies for the injected particles. It is found there is obvious heating in the low chromosphere. The temperature enhancement is about 1000-2200 K in the thermal models. If the non-thermal effects are included, then the required temperature increase can be reduced by 100-150 K. These imply that the Ha microflares can probably be produced by magnetic reconnection in the solar lower atmosphere. The radiative and kinetic energies of the Ha microflares are estimated and the total energy is found to be 1027 - 4×1028 erg.