Mark4格式器升级为Mark5B采样器的方法及步骤

近年来世界VLBI（Very Large Baseline Interferometry）终端技术发展迅速,主流的记录终端已发展到Mark5B记录系统,Mark5C也正在研制和测试阶段。为了适应未来高速率、海量数据以及数字基带转换器观测的要求,需要将现有的Mark5A升级到Mark5B或Mark5B＋,相应地需要将Mark4格式器升级为MarkB采样器。主要描述了相关设备的原理以及Mark4格式器升级的步骤。     

Mark5B格式器及10G网络传输系统在VLBI中的应用

由于遥远的天体发出的无线电信号极其微弱,信噪比极低,VLBI系统要想得到较高的测量精度,必须尽量加大测量带宽和提高采样位数,但是这样会导致VLBI终端(比如数字基带转换器)产生的观测数据激增。传统的VLBI终端数据传输系统采用VSI接口,数据最高传输速率限制在2 Gbps,且数据记录设备必须采用定制的Mark5B设备,极其不灵活,因此已经不能适应现在VLBI系统的观测需求。为了提高数据传输速率,增加数据记录设备的灵活性,上海天文台新研制的基于多相滤波器组和快速傅里叶变换方式的数字基带转换器的数据传输系统采用了高速灵活的10 G网络接口。10 G网络系统中数据传输采用报文交换方式,因此数据到达接收端的时间不是精确可靠的,这要求数据在进入10 G网络接口之前必须已经具有标准的VLBI数据格式,所以在10 G网络前端设计了Mark5B格式器。详细介绍了基于现场可编程门阵列的Mark5B格式器及10 G网络传输系统的设计原理,并在文章的最后通过三组实验验证了其功能的正确性和性能的稳定性。     

VLBI MK5B通道检测软件的设计与实现

针对国际上VLBI专用硬盘记录终端升级到MK5B后,数据记录格式发生了显著变化,设计了能够适应MK5B数据格式的通道检测软件。MK5B通道检测软件主要用于检查硬盘记录器记录数据的可读性以及确认接收机和VLBI终端等观测设备的参数设定。在软件设计过程中,考虑到软件的可维护性及可移植性,采用面向对象的设计方法。通过对两段观测数据的处理表明,MK5B通道检测软件工作稳定,处理结果正确,能够满足工作需要。     

VLBI终端系统的发展历史和未来展望

甚长干涉测量技术(Very Long Baseline Interferometry,VLBI)起源于20世纪60年代,它的发展已经对大地测量、地球动力学和天体测量产生了深远的影响。同样,VLBI终端系统作为VLBI系统的重要组成部分,在近40年里也在不断地更新和快速发展,从一开始的Mark 1系统发展到现在的Mark 5系统,从一开始的磁带记录到现在的硬盘记录甚至通过因特网就能实现数据的实时传输,可以说发生了翻天覆地的变化。如今Mark 6系统也已经开发出来,相信不久的将来,该系统会广泛应用于天文领域。主要描述了VLBI终端系统的发展历程和未来展望。     

VLBI数据记录系统Mark6及相关技术研究进展

随着数据记录速率的提高以及对数据准确性的要求,老的采集系统已经不能满足新的要求,迫切要求采用新的终端和技术。Mark6是麻省理工学院研制的最新的记录终端,已经用于主要的天文机构,比如JIVE、KASI、Max-Planck-Institute等。首先介绍了VLBI数据记录终端的现状,给出了上海天文台对Mark6软硬件的调试与配置;然后介绍了使用Mark6与CDAS2互连进行数据记录的测试及分析;最后对Mark6系统的应用及相关软件的后续研发进行了简洁阐述。可为后续终端采集系统的安装、配置及升级提供指导及参考。     

乌鲁木齐天文站Mark 5系统实施及其研究

分析了VLBIMark5磁盘记录系统的硬件结构和软件结构。对其软件实现做了设计层面上的分析。给出了乌鲁木齐天文站Mark5系统实施后的操作流程图。分析了Haystack天文台e VLBI软件的结构。     

用计算机技术实现Mark Ⅳ解码

从硬件实现和软件实现的角度介绍了如何利用计算机技术实现Mark Ⅳ解码。利用它可对Mark Ⅳ记录设备输出的数据进行质量分析并提取相位校正信号，检测VLBI观测设备的工作状态，消除设备对Mark Ⅳ记录数据的影响。     

新一代S2FS终端控制软件

上海天文台佘山 2 5m观测站S2 -PT终端系统用于甚长基线干涉测量 (VLBI)实验。它在实验中按不同的模式将实验数据记录在录像带上。新一代S2FS控制软件使用一个观测纲要文件和一个过程控制文件在FS(FieldSystem)软件下控制S2终端系统     

上海天文台硬件相关处理机Mark5数据回放功能实现

m2hc程序是上海天文台硬件相关处理机的一个子系统，实现从Mark5系统自动回放甚长基线干涉测量（VLBI）原始观测数据给相关处理机的功能。目前已工作在绕月探测工程VLBI测轨任务中。该文详细介绍了m2hc的设计和实现以及应用结果。     

基于磁盘的新型VLBI终端系统--MK5A终端系统

阐述了国内外VLBI终端系统的发展历史；介绍了MK5A终端系统的概况、工作原理、工作模式和数据模式；展望了下一代VLBI终端系统MK5B和e-VLBI．     

Instructions for authors

正Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics publishes original research papers and reviews on all branches of astronomy and astrophysics.Reviews are by invitation only.Important new results that require rapid publication can be submitted as a Letter(Letters must be restricted in length to 6 printed pages).Authors who submit a paper are expected to be able to certify that the paper is original work,     

Alkali and halogen chemistry in volcanic gases on Io

We use chemical equilibrium calculations to model the speciation of alkalis and halogens in volcanic gases emitted on Io. The calculations cover wide temperature (500-2000 K) and pressure (10⁻⁶ to 10⁺¹ bars) ranges, which overlap the nominal conditions at Pele (T=1760 K, P=0.01 bars). About 230 compounds of 11 elements (O, S, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, F, Cl, Br, I) are considered. The elemental abundances for O, S, Na, K, and Cl are based upon observations. CI chondritic elemental abundances relative to sulfur are used for the other alkalis and halogens (as yet unobserved on Io). We predict the major alkali species in Pele-like volcanic gases and the percentage distribution of each alkali are LiCl (73%), LiF (27%); NaCl (81%), Na (16%), NaF (3%); KCl (91%), K (5%), KF (4%); RbCl (93%), Rb (4%), RbF (3%); CsCl (92%), CsF (6%), Cs (2%). Likewise the major halogen species and the percentage distribution of each halogen are NaF (88%), KF (10%), LiF (2%); NaCl (89%), KCl (11%); NaBr (89%), KBr (10%), Br (1%); NaI (61%), I (30%), KI (9%). We predict the major halogen condensates and their condensation temperatures at P=0.01 bar are NaF (1115 K), LiF (970 K); NaCl (1050 K), KCl (950 K); KBr (750 K), RbBr (730 K), CsBr (645 K); and solid I₂ (200 K). We also model disequilibrium chemistry of the alkalis and halogens in the volcanic plume. Based on this work and our prior modeling for Na, K, and Cl in a volcanic plume, we predict the major loss processes for the alkali halide gases are photolysis and/or condensation onto grains. Their estimated photochemical lifetimes range from a few minutes for alkali iodides to a few hours for alkali fluorides. Condensation is apparently the only loss process for elemental iodine. On the basis of elemental abundances and photochemical lifetimes, we recommend searching for gaseous KCl, NaF, LiF, LiCl, RbF, RbCl, CsF, and CsCl around volcanic vents during eruptions. Based on abundance considerations and observations of brown dwarfs we also recommend a search of Io's extended atmosphere and the Io plasma torus for neutral and ionized Li, Cs, Rb, and F.     

The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts

Modern-day synoptic-scale eastern Mediterranean climatology provides a useful context to synthesize the diverse late Pleistocene (60–12 ka) paleohydrologic and paleoenvironmental indicators of past climatic conditions in the Levant and the deserts to its south and east. We first critically evaluate, extract, and summarize paleoenvironmental and paleohydrologic records. Then, we propose a framework of eastern Mediterranean atmospheric circulation features interacting with the morphology and location of the southeast Mediterranean coast. Together they strongly control the spatial distribution of rainfall and wind pattern. This cyclone–physiography interaction enforces the observed rainfall patterns by hampering rainfall generation south and southeast of the latitude of the north Sinai coast, currently at 31°15′.The proposed framework explains the much-increased rains in Lebanon and northern Israel and Jordan as deduced from pollen, rise and maintenance of Lake Lisan, and speleothem formation in areas currently arid and semiarid. The proposed framework also accounts for the southward and eastward transition into semiarid, arid, and hyperarid deserts as expressed in thick loess accumulation at the deserts' margins, dune migration from west to east in the Sinai and the western Negev, and the formation of hyperarid (< 80 mm yr^− 1) gypsic–salic soils in the southern Negev and Sinai. Our climatic synthesis explains the hyperarid condition in the southern Negev, located only 200–250 km south of the much-increased rains in the north, probably reflecting a steeper rainfall gradient than the present-day gradient from the wetter Levant into its bordering southern and eastern deserts.At present, the rainiest winter seasons in Lebanon and northern and central Israel are associated with more frequent (+ 20%), deeper Cyprus Lows traversing the eastern Mediterranean at approximately the latitude of southern Turkey. Even these wettest years in northern Israel do not yield above average annual rainfall amounts in the hyperarid southern Negev. This region is mainly influenced by the Active Red Sea Troughs that produce only localized rains. The eastern Mediterranean Cyprus Lows also produce more dust storms and transport higher amounts of suspended dust to the loess area than any other atmospheric pattern. Concurrent rainfall and dust are essential to the late Pleistocene formation of the elongated thick loess zone along the desert northern margin. Even with existing dust storms, the lack of rain and very sparse vegetation account for the absence of late Pleistocene loess sequences from the southern Negev and the formation of hyperarid soils.When the north Sinai coast shifted 30–70 km northwest due to last glacial global sea level lowering, the newly exposed coastal areas supplied the sand and dust to these active eastern Mediterranean cyclones. This enforced the latitude of the northern boundary of the loess zone to be directly due east of the LGM shoreline. This shift of coast to the northwest inhibited rainfall in the southern Levant deserts and maintained their hyperaridity. Concurrently, frequent deep eastern Mediterranean Cyprus Lows were funneled along the northern Mediterranean increasing (probably doubling) the rains in central and northern Israel, Lebanon, southwestern Syria and northern Jordan. These storms and rains formed lakes, forests, and speleothems only a short distance north of the deserts in the southern Levant.     

Active hot star shells

Interferometry in the visible provides milliarcsecond spatial resolution and thus has been used for studying the circumstellar environment of active hot stars. In this paper I will illustrate how the visibility modulus and phase can be used to better constrain the physics of Be disks through results from the VLA, the MkII and the GI2T interferometers. I will insist on the importance and the potential of coupling high angular resolution with high spectral resolution to the study of Be shells. Finally I will present a possible study of the circumstellar disk of Be stars using the VLTI. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fitting X-ray Afterglow Light curves of Gamma-ray Bursts by Using the Magnetar Energy Injection Model

The central compact object for some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be a strongly magnetized millisecond pulsar. It can inject energy to the outer shock of the GRB by through the magnetic dipole radiation, and therefore causes the shallow decay of the early afterglow. Recently, from a large number of GRB X-ray afterglows observed by Swift/XRT(X-ray telescope), it is revealed that many of them exhibit the shallow decay about 10²∼10⁴ s after the burst prompt emission. We have fitted the X-ray afterglow light curves of 11 GRBs by using the energy injection model of a magnetar with the rotation period in the millisecond order of magnitude. The obtained result shows the validity and universality of the magnetar energy injection model in explaining the shallow decay of afterglows, and simultaneously provides some constraints on the magnetic field strength and rotation period of the central magnetar.     

Dynamical study of wide pairs of stars based on data from the WDS catalog

Using the method of apparent motion parameters, we have studied the relative motion of the components in 561 pairs of wide (ρ > 2″) and relatively nearby (Hipparcos parallaxes > 0.01″) visual double stars based on data from the WDS catalog. The minimum masses of the double stars have been calculated at given parallaxes. We have identified 358 optical pairs. For 11 stellar pairs, we have found the minimum mass to exceed the estimate corresponding to their spectral types and luminosities. This excess is 5–7 M _⊙ for two stars, ADS 7446 and 9701.     

Microscopic black hole detection in UHECR: the double bang signature

According to recent conjectures on the existence of large extra dimensions in our universe, black holes could be produced during the interaction of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays with the atmosphere. However, and so far, the proposed signatures are based on statistical effects, not allowing identification on an event by event basis, and may lead to large uncertainties. In this note, events with a double bang topology, where the production and instantaneous decay of a microscopic black hole (first bang) is followed, at a measurable distance, by the decay of an energetic tau lepton (second bang) are proposed as an almost background free signature. The characteristics of these events and the capability of large cosmic ray experiments to detect them are discussed.     

A thermodynamic model of high temperature lava vaporization on Io

We modified the MAGMA chemical equilibrium code developed by Fegley and Cameron (1987, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 82, 207-222) and used it to model vaporization of high temperature silicate lavas on Io. The MAGMA code computes chemical equilibria in a melt, between melt and its equilibrium vapor, and in the gas phase. The good agreement of MAGMA code results with experimental data and with other computer codes is demonstrated. The temperature-dependent pressure and composition of vapor in equilibrium with lava is calculated from 1700 to 2400 K for 109 different silicate lavas in the ONaKFeSiMgCaAlTi system. Results for five lavas (tholeiitic basalt, alkali basalt, Barberton komatiite, dunite, and a molten type B1 Ca, Al-rich inclusion) are discussed in detail. The effects of continuous fractional vaporization on chemistry of these lavas and their equilibrium vapor are presented. The predicted abundances (relative to Na) of K, Fe, Si, Al, Ca, and Ti in the vapor equilibrated with lavas at 1900 K are lower than published upper limits for Io's atmosphere (which do not include Mg). We predict evaporative loss of alkalis, Fe, and Si during volcanic eruptions. Sodium is more volatile than K, and the Na/K ratio in the gas is decreased by fractional vaporization. This process can match Io's atmospheric Na/K ratio of 10±3 reported by Brown (2001, Icarus 151, 190-195). Silicon monoxide is an abundant species in the vapor above lavas. Spectroscopic searches are recommended for SiO at IR and mm wavelengths. Reactions of metallic vapors with S- and Cl-bearing volcanic gases may form other unusual gases including MgCl₂, MgS, MgCl, FeCl₂, FeS, FeCl, and SiS.