藏北高原双湖地区中侏罗统海相油页岩生物标志化合物分布特征及其意义

重点报道了藏北双湖地区中侏罗统海相油页岩的生物标志化合物特征,首次在该层位油页岩中检出丰富的正烷烃、类异戊二烯烷烃、萜类化合物及甾类化合物。正烷烃图谱呈单峰形,nC₁₅、nC₁₆或nC₁₇为主峰碳,轻烃组份占有绝对优势,OEP值 0.93～ 1.0 1,无明显的奇偶碳数优势分布;Pr/Ph值为 0.77～ 1.5 9,在剖面序列中呈波动分布,显示弱植烷优势或姥鲛烷优势;藿烷以C₃₀ 占优势,萜烷相对丰度五环三萜烷 >三环萜烷 >四环萜烷;规则甾烷∑ (C₂₇+C₂₈) >∑C₂₉,∑C₂₇/∑C₂₉值为 0.79～ 1.2 0,在剖面序列中下部C₂₇甾烷略占优势,上部C₂₉甾烷略占优势,重排甾烷C₂₇/规则甾烷C₂₇值为 0.5 1～ 3.6 3,在剖面序列中具有显著的波动性,同时检出了少量孕甾烷和 4-甲基甾烷。有机质母质构成中,既有丰富的藻类等低等水生生物,可能还有一定比例陆生高等植物输入混合的特点。油页岩处于成熟阶段,整个油页岩剖面序列具有一致的热演化程度。剖面中部油页岩具有极高的原始生产力,氧化-还原条件也是控制油页岩TOC和沥青“A”含量在剖面垂向变化的重要因素.     

Wide-Field Camera for Gravitational Microlensing Survey: MOA-cam2

We have constructed a large, mosaic CCD camera called MOA-cam2 which has 4096 × 6144-pixelsto search for gravitational microlensing events. MOA-cam2 has three4096 × 2048-pixel SITe CCD chips, which have a very high quantum efficiency (nearly 80% in the wave region 500 to 800 nm),and three buttable sides. We have placed the threechips side by side with 100 m dead space. MOA-cam2 has been installed on the 61 cm Boller and Chivens telescope of the MOA collaboration at the Mt. John University Observatory (MJUO) in NewZealand since July 1998. The field coverage is 0.92° × 1.38° per exposure. The technical details of MOA-cam2 and the first images obtained with the Boller and Chivens telescope are presented. MOA-cam2 introduces a second phase of research on gravitational microlensing by the MOA collaboration.     

Early star formation and the evolution of the stellar initial mass function in galaxies

It has frequently been suggested in the literature that the stellar IMF in galaxies was top-heavy at early times. This would be plausible physically if the IMF depended on a mass-scale such as the Jeans mass that was higher at earlier times because of the generally higher temperatures that were present then. In this paper it is suggested, on the basis of current evidence and theory, that the IMF has a universal Salpeter-like form at the upper end, but flattens below a characteristic stellar mass that may vary with time. Much of the evidence that has been attributed to a top-heavy early IMF, including the ubiquitous G-dwarf problem, the high abundance of heavy elements in clusters of galaxies, and the high rate of formation of massive stars in high-redshift galaxies, can be accounted for with such an IMF if the characteristic stellar mass was several times higher during the early stages of galaxy evolution. However, significant variations in the mass-to-light ratios of galaxies and large amounts of dark matter in stellar remnants are not as easily explained in this way, because they require more extreme and less plausible assumptions about the form and variability of the IMF. Metal-free 'population III' stars are predicted to have an IMF that consists exclusively of massive stars, and they could help to account for some of the evidence that has been attributed to a top-heavy early IMF, as well as contributing importantly to the energetics and chemical enrichment of the early Universe.     

Dark haloes of spiral galaxies: ISO photometry

We exclude hydrogen-burning stars, of any mass above the hydrogen-burning limit and any metallicity, as significant contributors to the massive haloes deduced from rotation curves to dominate the outer parts of spiral galaxies. We present and analyse images of four nearly edge-on bulgeless spiral galaxies (UGC 711, NGC 2915, UGC 12426, UGC 1459) obtained with ISOCAM (The CAMera instrument on board the Infrared Space Observatory ) at 14.5 and 6.75 μm. Our sensitivity limit for detection of any diffuse infrared emission associated with the dark haloes in these galaxies is a few tens of μJy per 6 × 6 arcsec² pixel, with this limit currently set by remaining difficulties in modelling the non-linear behaviour of the detectors. All four galaxies show zero detected signal from extended non-disc emission, consistent with zero halo-like luminosity density distribution. The 95 per cent upper limit on any emission, for NGC 2915 in particular, allows us to exclude very low mass main-sequence stars ( M  > 0.08 M⊙) and young brown dwarfs (≲1 Gyr) as significant contributors to dark matter in galactic haloes. Combining our results with those of the Galactic microlensing surveys, which exclude objects with M  < 0.01 M⊙, excludes almost the entire possible mass range of compact baryonic objects from contributing to Galactic dark matter.     

Constraining the Mass Distribution of Cluster Galaxies by Weak Lensing

Analysing the weak lensing distortions of the images of faint background galaxies provides a means to constrain the average mass distribution of cluster galaxies and potentially to test the extent of their dark matter haloes as a function of the density of their environment. The observable image distortions are a consequence of the interplay between the effects of a global cluster mass distribution and the perturbations resulting from individual cluster galaxies. Starting from a reconstruction of the cluster mass distribution with conventional techniques, we apply a maximum likelihood method to infer the average properties of an ensemble of cluster galaxies. From simulations this approach is found to be reliable as long as the galaxies including their dark matter haloes only contribute a small fraction to the total mass of the system. If their haloes are extended, the galaxies contain a substantial mass fraction. In this case our method is still applicable in the outer regions of clusters, where the surface mass density is low, but yields biased estimates of the parameters describing the mass profiles of the cluster galaxies in the central part of the cluster. In that case it will be necessary to resort to more sophisticated strategies by modelling cluster galaxies and an underlying global mass distribution simultaneously. We conclude that galaxy–galaxy lensing in clusters provides a unique means to probe the presence and extent of dark haloes of cluster galaxies.     

An excursion set model for the distribution of dark matter and dark matter haloes

A model of the gravitationally evolved dark matter distribution, in the Eulerian space, is developed. It is a simple extension of the excursion set model that is commonly used to estimate the mass function of collapsed dark matter haloes. In addition to describing the evolution of the Eulerian space distribution of the haloes, the model allows one to describe the evolution of the dark matter itself. It can also be used to describe density profiles, on scales larger than the virial radius of these haloes, and to quantify the way in which matter flows in and out of Eulerian cells. When the initial Lagrangian space distribution is white noise Gaussian, the model suggests that the Inverse Gaussian distribution should provide a reasonably good approximation to the evolved Eulerian density field, in agreement with numerical simulations. Application of this model to clustering from more general Gaussian initial conditions is discussed at the end.     

Mass constraints from multiphase cooling flow models

I review the multiphase cooling flow equations that reduce to a relatively simple form for a wide class of self-similar density distributions described by the single parameter, k , first introduced by Nulsen. It is shown that steady-state cooling flows are not consistent with all possible emissivity profiles, which can therefore be used as a test of the theory. In combination, they provide strong constraints on the temperature profile and mass distribution within the cooling radius. The model is applied to ROSAT HRI data for three rich clusters. At one extreme ( K  ∼ 1) these show evidence for cores in the mass distribution of size 110–140 h ⁻¹₅₀ kpc and have temperatures that decline towards the flow centre. At the other ( k ∈ ∞), the mass density and gas temperature both rise sharply towards the flow centre. The former are more consistent with observations which usually show a lower emission-weighted temperature within the cooling flow than from the cluster as a whole. The requirement that the solutions have a temperature gradient that is non-increasing towards the cluster centre limits the matter density gradient to be shallower than ρ_grav ∝∼  r ^−1.2 in the cluster core.     

Testing deprojection algorithms on mock angular catalogues: evidence for a break in the power spectrum

We produce mock angular catalogues from simulations with different initial power spectra to test methods that recover measures of clustering in three dimensions, such as the power spectrum, variance and higher order cumulants. We find that the statistical properties derived from the angular mock catalogues are in good agreement with the intrinsic clustering in the simulations. In particular, we concentrate on the detailed predictions for the shape of the power spectrum, P ( k ). We find that there is good evidence for a break in the galaxy P ( k ) at scales in the range 0.02< k <0.06 h Mpc⁻¹, using an inversion technique applied to the angular correlation function measured from the APM Galaxy Survey. For variants on the standard cold dark matter (CDM) model, a fit at the location of the break implies Ω h =0.45±0.10, where Ω is the ratio of the total matter density to the critical density, and Hubble's constant is parametrized as H ₀=100 h km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹. On slightly smaller, though still quasi-linear scales, there is a feature in the APM power spectrum where the local slope changes appreciably, with the best match to CDM models obtained for Ω h ≃0.2. Hence the location and narrowness of the break in the APM power spectrum combined with the rapid change in its slope on quasi-linear scales cannot be matched by any variant of CDM, including models that have a non-zero cosmological constant or a tilt to the slope of the primordial P ( k ). These results are independent of the overall normalization of the CDM models or any simple bias that exists betwen the galaxy and mass distributions.     

Inferring dark halo structure from observed scaling laws of late-type galaxies and LSBs

We re-examine the Fall & Efstathiou scenario for galaxy formation, including the dark halo gravitational reaction to the formation of the baryon disc, as well as continuous variations in the intrinsic halo density profile. The recently published rotation curves of low surface brightness (LSB) and dwarf galaxies together with previously known scaling relations provide sufficient information on the present-day structure of late-type disc galaxies to invert the problem. By requiring that the models reproduce all the observational restrictions we can fully constrain the initial conditions of galaxy formation, with a minimum of assumptions, in particular without the need to specify a cold dark matter (CDM) halo profile. This allows one to solve for all the initial conditions, in terms of the halo density profile, the baryon fraction and the total angular momentum. We find that a unique initial halo shape is sufficient to accurately reproduce the rotation curves of both LSB and normal late-type spiral galaxies. This unique halo profile differs substantially from that found in standard CDM models. A galactic baryon fraction of 0.065 is found. The initial value of the dimensionless angular momentum is seen to be the principal discriminator between the galaxy classes we examine. The present-day scalings between structural parameters are seen to originate in the initial conditions.     

The C/CO ratio in B335 and the decaying dark matter neutrino hypothesis

C¹⁸O J  = 2–1, C¹⁷O J  = 2–1 and [C  I ] ³P₁–³P₀ emission from the dense cold cloud B335 has been observed and modelled in order to determine the C/CO ratio. The observed ratio is compared with a prediction by Tarafdar who assumes a mechanism in which the CO dissociation is caused by photons of energy ∼ 13.8 eV. These were postulated by Sciama to result from the decay of dark matter neutrinos. Our value for the C/CO ratio sets an upper limit to the strength of the neutrino decay dissociation process, thus providing a significant datum for interstellar chemistry theory.