Evolutionary and structural properties of mirror star MACHOs

There can exist a hidden sector of the Universe in the form of parallel “mirror” world which has the same particle physics as the observable world and interacts with the latter only gravitationally. Big Bang nucleosynthesis bounds demand that the mirror sector should have a smaller temperature than the ordinary one. This implies that the mirror matter could play a role of dark matter, and in addition its chemical content should be dominated by helium. Here we study the evolutionary and structural properties of the mirror stars which essentially are similar to that of the ordinary stars but with higher helium contents. Being invisible in terms of photons, they could be observed only as MACHOs in the microlensing experiments. Using a numerical code, we compute evolution of stars with large helium abundances (Y = 0.30–0.80) and a wide range of masses, from 0.5 to 10 M. We found that helium dominated mirror star should have much faster evolutionary time (up to a factor 30) than the ordinary star with the same mass. In addition, we show the diagrams of luminosities, effective temperatures, central temperatures and densities, and compute the masses of the He-core at ignition and the minimum mass for carbon ignition, for different chemical compositions. The general conclusion is that mirror stars evolve faster as compared to ordinary ones, and explode earlier as type II supernovae, thus enriching the galactic halo of processed mirror gas with higher metallicity, with implications for MACHO observations and galaxy evolution.     

Potash in a salt mushroom at Hormoz Island, Hormoz Strait, Iran

Increasing volumes of potash are currently being discovered in a cluster of diapirs of Hormoz (formerly Hormuz) salt near Bandar Abbas, Iran. Most of the potash beds studied so far occur in complex recumbent folds in a salt mountain that would be difficult to exploit safely. However, Holocene marine erosion removed any salt mountains from a sub-group of near-shore Zagros diapirs and exposed their deeper structural levels. Even though these diapirs are still active, their potash deposits are likely more tractable to safe exploitation than in a salt mountain — as we make clear here for Hormoz Island.Geochemical surveys on Hormoz Island reveal two separate potash anomalies that are valuable pseudo-stratigraphic markers. Integrating field measurements of the attitudes of bedding with lineaments on air photos suggests that Hormoz Island consists of a mature bell- or plume-shaped mushroom diapir with potash beds wound around a toroidal axis of rotation near current exposure levels.2D numerical models simulate the salt mushroom on Hormoz Island and its internal circulation. They also suggest that the diapir has a wide overhand above a narrow stem in this gas-rich region. We use the mushroom diapir model to outline a regional exploration strategy that has the potential of influencing the world potash market thereafter.     

Assessment of uncertainties related to seismic hazard using fuzzy analysis

Seismic hazard analysis in the last few decades has become a very important issue. Recently, new technologies and available data have been improved that have helped many scientists to understand where and why earthquakes happen, the physics of earthquakes, etc. Scientists have begun to understand the role of uncertainty in seismic hazard analysis. However, how to handle existing uncertainty is still a significant problem. The same lack of information causes difficulties in quantifying uncertainty accurately. Usually, attenuation curves are obtained in a statistical manner: regression analysis. Statistical and probabilistic analyses show overlapping results for the site coefficients. This overlapping takes place not only at the border between two neighboring classes but also among more than three classes. Although the analysis starts from classifying sites using geological terms, these site coefficients are not classified at all. In the present study, this problem is solved using fuzzy set theory. Using membership functions, the ambiguities at the border between neighboring classes can be avoided. Fuzzy set theory is performed for southern California in the conventional way. In this study, standard deviations that show variations between each site class obtained by fuzzy set theory and the classical manner are compared. Results of this analysis show that when we have insufficient data for hazard assessment, site classification based on fuzzy set theory shows values of standard deviations less than those obtained using the classical way, which is direct proof of less uncertainty.     

The control of salt supply on entrainment of an anhydrite layer within a salt diapir

The influence of four parameters (sedimentation rate, viscosity of salt, stratigraphic location of the anhydrite layer within the salt layer, and the perturbation width) on salt supply to down-built diapirs and its entrainment capacity are studied systematically in numerical models. Model results show that these four parameters affect salt supply, and the evolution history of a salt diapir. As such, these parameters strongly influence the style and the amount of entrainment of dense inclusions into a diapir. In active diapirs (i.e. unburied diapirs), salt supply increases with increasing sedimentation rate whereas it decreases with an increase in salt viscosity. Diapirs initiating from wide perturbation provide more salt supply to feed the diapir. Presence and initial stratigraphic location of any denser layer (e.g. an anhydrite layer) within a salt layer also affects salt supply. When lateral forces are negligible, salt supply into a diapir depends on these four parameters, which directly control the entrainment of any embedded anhydrite layer into the diapir.     

Nonlinear Wave Dynamics in Two-Temperature Electron-Positron-Ion Plasma

The hot electron-positron unmagnetized plasma with small fraction of cold electron-ion plasma is investigated. The modulational interactions of the electromagnetic waves and the electron-sound waves are studied. The possibility of soliton formation is investigated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Late Miocene to Pliocene stratigraphy of the Kura Basin,a subbasin of the South Caspian Basin: implications for the diachroneity of stage boundaries

Relative ages of late Cenozoic stratigraphy throughout the Caspian region are referenced to regional stages that are defined by changes in microfauna and associated extreme (>1000 m) variations in Caspian base level. However, the absolute ages of these stage boundaries may be significantly diachronous because many are based on the first occurrence of either transgressive or regressive facies, the temporal occurrence of which should depend on position within a basin. Here, we estimate the degree of diachroneity along the Akchagyl regional stage boundary within the Caspian basin system by presenting two late Miocene‐Pliocene aged measured sections, Sarica and Vashlovani, separated by 50 km and exposed within the Kura fold‐thrust belt in the interior of the Kura Basin. The Kura Basin is a western subbasin of the South Caspian Basin and the sections presented here are located >250 km from the modern Caspian coast. New U‐Pb detrital zircon ages from the Sarica section constrain the maximum depositional age for Productive Series strata, a lithostratigraphic package considered correlative with the 2–3 Myr‐long regional Eoakchagylian or Kimmerian stage that corresponds to a period of extremely low (>500 m below the modern level) Caspian base level. This new maximum depositional age from the Productive Series at Sarica of 2.5 ± 0.2 Ma indicates that the regionally extensive Akchagyl transgression, which ended the deposition of the Productive Series near the Caspian coast at 3.2 Ma, may have appeared a minimum of 0.5 Myr later in the northern interior of the Kura Basin than at the modern Caspian Sea coast. The results of this work have important implications for the tectonic and stratigraphic history of the region, suggesting that the initiation of the Plio‐Pleistocene Kura fold‐thrust belt may have not been as diachronous along strike as previously hypothesized. More generally, these results also provide a measure of the magnitude of diachroneity possible along sequence boundaries, particularly in isolated basins. Comparison of accumulation rates between units in the interior of the Kura subbasin and the South Caspian main basin suggest that extremely large variations in these rates within low‐stand deposits may be important in identifying the presence of subbasins in older stratigraphic packages.     

uvbyβ Electrophotometry of the components of trapezium multiple star systems

The results of electrophotometric observations of the 19 components of six Trapezium multiple star systems with primary stars of class M are presented. The Strömgren spectral intervals are determined. Of the 19 components, 18 belong to interval 3 ("late group").Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 407–410, July–September, 1996.     

Scaling features of ambient noise at different levels of local seismic activity: A case study for the Oni seismic station

Investigation of dynamical features of ambient seismic noise is one of the important scientific and practical research challenges. We investigated scaling features of the ambient noises at the Oni seismic station, Georgia, using detrended fluctuation analysis method. Data from this seismic station, located in the epicentral zone of Oni M6.0, 2009, earthquake, were selected to include time periods with different levels of local seismic activity.     

Physical parameters of multiple systems like the trapezium of early spectral types, derived fromuvbyβ photometry. I

The results of electrophotometric observations of 51 stars in multiple systems of the Trapezium type in the Strömgren-Crawford six-color photometric system are given. The following Trapezia were selected from the Abastumani Catalog for observations: ABAO 2, 8, 34, 48, 51, 62, 94, 313, 316, 348, 356, 359, 363, 387, 396. The observations were made on the 125-cm, automatically computer controlled, reflecting telescope of Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory. The results of the observations are given in Table 1. Most of the components of the observed Trapezia belong to the early “B ” group based on Stromgren ’s criteria. The absolute stellar magnitudes of the Trapezia components are determined and their distance moduli are calculated (Table 2). It is concluded that these Trapezia are physical systems with a high probability.