Variations in the accretion rate and luminosity in gravitationally unstable protostellar disks

Self-consistent modeling of a protostar and protostellar disk is carried out for early stages of their evolution. The accretion rate at distances of sevral astronomical units from the protostar is appreciably variable, which is reflected in the protostar’s luminosity. The amplitude of the variations in the accretion rate and luminosity grows together with the sampling period, as a consequence of the nature of gravitationally unstable protostellar disks. A comparison of model luminosity variations with those derived from observations of nearby sites of star formation shows that the model variations are appreciably lower than the observed values for sampling periods of less than 10 years, indicating the presence of additional sources of variability on small dynamical distances from the protostar.     

Hall instability in protostellar disks

Non-axial perturbations of a protostellar disk possessing vertical and azimuthal magnetic-field components are studied in the framework of Hall magnetohydrodynamics. The convective transport of the magnetic field by the Hall current leads to instability of fluctuations within a limited interval of wave numbers. The fundamental possibility of the existence of Hall instability in a medium that does not contain an inhomogeneous density distribution, which has not been discussed earlier, is demonstrated. The dependence of the instability increment on both the plasma parameter ?? and the degree of ionization of the protostellar material are analyzed. Possible consequences for weakly ionized astrophysical disks are discussed.     

Periodic instabilities in protostellar disks with azimuthal magnetic fields

The stability of magnetohydrodynamic oscillations in a protostellar disk with a toroidal magnetic field is analyzed. It is shown that, apart from the aperiodic magnetorotational instability, two other types of periodic instabilities of non-axisymmetric perturbations can exist. The simultaneous presence of azimuthal and vertical components of the wave vector are necessary for these to exist. One instability is due to the inductive winding-up of the azimuthal magnetic field of the wave, and the other arises when the field amplitude is increased by a comoving Hall wave, transferring magnetic field into a region of enhanced field intensity. The bandwidths of the unstable wave numbers are analyzed as a function of the Hall current, the β parameter of a plasma, and the angle between the direction of wave propagation and the plane of the disk. Regions in the accretion disks typical of T Tauri stars are indentified where these instabilities could be most active.     

Modeling of protostellar clouds and their observational properties

A physical model and two-dimensional numerical method for computing the evolution and spectra of protostellar clouds are described. The physical model is based on a system of magneto-gas-dynamical equations, including ohmic and ambipolar diffusion, and a scheme for calculating the thermal and ionization structure of a cloud. The dust and gas temperatures are determined when calculating the thermal structure of the cloud. The results of computing the dynamical and thermal structure of the cloud are used to model the transfer of continuum and molecular-line radiation in the cloud. Results are presented for clouds in hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium. The evolution of a rotating magnetic protostellar cloud that is compressed starting from a quasi-static equilibrium state is also considered. Spectral maps for optically thick lines of linear molecules are analyzed. The influence of the magnetic field and rotation can lead to a redistribution of angular momentum in the cloud and the formation of a characteristic rotational-velocity structure. As a result, the distribution of the velocity centroid of the molecular lines can acquire an hourglass shape. It is planned in future to use the developed program package and a model for the chemical evolution of clouds to interpret and model in detail observed starless and protostellar cores.     

Circumstellar disks around young low-mass stars: Observed properties and lifetime

Unveiling the physical processes leading to planet formation is one of the major challenges of modern astrophysics. Until the last fifteen years, the origin of planetary systems was mostly investigated from observations and modelling of our own Solar System. However, the new generation of astronomical facilities is slowly but surely changing this. Observations of circumstellar disks around young stars similar to the Sun in its infancy are now routinely provided by large astronomical facilities, from the optical wavelengths to the millimeter range. These observations begin to have the sensitivity and angular resolution needed to provide invaluable information inside the regions of disks where planets should form. In this review, I show some new results which illustrate how fast this new domain is evolving and which kind of physical/chemical parameters can be explored. In particular, I present what recent observations tell us about disk lifetime and evolution.I conclude by some open questions which represent important astrophysical challenges for tomorrow in order to understand how planetary systems form.     

Self-similar regimes for the collapse of magnetic protostellar clouds

Self-similar solutions describing the homogeneous, free, isothermal collapse of protostellar clouds are considered. One such solution correponds to the critical case of the propagation of a rarefaction wave near the time when it is focused in the central region of the cloud. The speed of the rarefaction front is finite and equal to three times the isothermal sound speed. The asymptotic distributions of gas-dynamical quantities in the central part of the collapsing cloud and the surrounding envelopes are considered at both early and late stages of compression, after the formation of an opaque core (protostar). These solutions are used in a magneto-kinematic approximation to study the geometry and evolution of the large-scale magnetic fields of collapsing protostellar clouds. All the solutions are verified using direct numerical simulations. It is shown that an initially uniform magnetic field acquires an “hourglass” geometry with time. The characteristic opening angles in the self-similar solutions are in satisfactory agreement with observations.     

Modeling of the formation of complex molecules in protostellar objects

The results of molecular composition modeling are presented for the well studied low-mass star-forming region TMC-1 and the massive star-forming region DR21(OH), which is poorly studied from a chemical point of view. The column densities of dozens of molecules, ranging from simple diatomic to complex organic molecules, are reproduced to within an order of magnitude using a one-dimensional model for the physical and chemical structure of these regions. The chemical ages of the regions are approximately 105 years in both cases. The main desorption mechanisms that are usually included in chemical models (photodesorption, thermal desorption, and cosmic-ray-induced desorption) do not provide sufficient gasphase abundances of molecules that are synthesized in surface reactions; however, this shortcoming can be removed by introducing small amount of reactive desorption into the model. It is possible to reproduce the properties of the TMC-1 chemical composition in a standard model, without requiring additional assumptions about an anomalous C/O ratio or the recent accretion of matter enriched with atomic carbon, as has been proposed by some researchers.     

Different-sized dust grains and the chemical evolution of protostellar objects

Results of modeling the chemical evolution of protostellar objects are presented. The models take into account the existence of different dust populations with distinct grain sizes, total mass fractions, and temperatures. In addition to ”classical” dust grains, the models include an entirely different second dust population, with dust grain sizes of 30 Å and a higher temperature. Two chemical-evolution models are compared, one taking into account only classical dust and the other including both dust populations. The influence of a complex dust composition on the general evolution of the molecular contents of prestellar cores and the abundances of a number of chemical species is studied. At early evolutionary stages, differences are mainly determined by the modification changes in the photoprocesses’ balance due to efficient UV absorption by the second population of dust grains and in collisional reactions with the dust grains. At late stages, distinctions between the models are also determined by the increasing dominance of additional reaction channels. The species that respond to the presence of small grains in different ways are separated into different groups. Allowing for the presence of small grains makes it possible to significantly lower the water abundance in the gas phase.     

Determining the parameters of massive protostellar clouds via radiative transfer modeling

A one-dimensional method for reconstructing the structure of prestellar and protostellar clouds is presented. The method is based on radiative-transfer computations and a comparison of theoretical and observed intensity distributions at both millimeter and infrared wavelengths. The radiative transfer of dust emission is modeled for specified parameters of the density distribution, central star, and external background, and the theoretical distribution of the dust temperature inside the cloud is determined. The intensity distributions at millimeter and IR wavelengths are computed and quantitatively compared with observational data. The best-fit model parameters are determined using a genetic minimization algorithm, which makes it possible to reveal the ranges of parameter degeneracy as well. The method is illustrated by modeling the structure of two infrared dark clouds IRDC-320.27+029 (P2) and IRDC-321.73+005 (P2). The derived density and temperature distributions can be used to model the chemical structure and spectral maps in molecular lines.     

A multicomponent model for computing the thermal structure of collapsing protostellar clouds

A model for simulating the thermal and dynamical evolution of protostellar clouds is presented. In the model, the dust and gas temperatures are treated separately, making it possible to more precisely describe the initial stages of the cloud’s gravitational contraction and collapse. The model is fast enough to be applied in hydrodynamical computations, and has a high enough accuracy for the results to be used to compute emission spectra and comparing them with observational data. Two problems are considered as test examples and simple applications: calculation of the structure of clouds in thermal and hydrostatic equilibrium, and modeling the evolution of a protostellar cloud in a spherically symmetric approximation, including the formation of the first hydrostatic core.     

Molecular structure of brown-dwarf disks

We describe typical features of the chemical composition of proto-planetary disks around brown dwarfs. We model the chemical evolution in the disks around a low-mass T Tauri star and a cooler brown dwarf over a time span of 1 Myr using a model for the physical structure of an accretion disk with a vertical temperature gradient and an extensive set of gas-phase chemical reactions. We find that the disks of T Tauri stars are, in general, hotter and denser than the disks of lower-luminosity substellar objects. In addition, they have more pronounced vertical temperature gradients. The atmospheres of the disks around low-mass stars are more strongly ionized by UV and X-ray radiation, while less dense brown-dwarf disks have higher fractional ionizations in their midplanes. Nevertheless, in both cases, most molecules are concentrated in the so-called warm molecular layer between the ionized atmosphere and cold midplane, where grains with ice mantles are abundant.     

冻融作用对兰州黄土力学性质的影响

以兰州黄土为研究对象,让土样在封闭系统下经历一个冻融循环,再考察土的强度参数（c,φ）和前期固结压力（Pc）在冻融作用下的变化规律。试验表明,冻融循环对不同干容重的土具有强化和弱化的双重作用,并由此导致其力学性质发生相应的变化。相同冻结温度梯度下,随着土样干容重的增大,冻融后Pc和c具有首先增大然后减小的规律,并存在一个临界干容重,在这个干容重下,土样经过冻融后Pc和c不发生变化;干容重较小时,冻融后φ变化不大,随着干容重的逐渐增大,φ有少许增大。同一干容重下,随着冻结温度梯度的增大,冻融后Pc变化量减小,c的变化量增大,而φ的变化不大（呈逐渐增大趋势）。冻结温度梯度对力学性质的影响,主要是孔隙水的不同冻结方式造成的。     

VLBI of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts

Supernovae and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest events in the universe. Excluding Type Ia supernovae and short GRBs, they are the result of the core collapse of a massive star with material being ejectedwith speeds of several 1000 km/s to nearly the speed of light, and with a neutron star or a black hole left over as the compact remnant of the explosion. Synchrotron radiation in the radio is generated in a shell when the ejecta interact with the surrounding medium and possibly also in the central region near the compact remnant itself. VLBI has allowed resolving some of these sources and monitoring their expansion in detail, thereby revealing characteristics of the dying star, the explosion, the expanding shock front, and the expected compact remnant. We report on updates of some of the most interesting results that have been obtained with VLBI so far. Movies of supernovae are available from our website. They show the evolution from shortly after the explosion to decades thereafter, in one case revealing an emerging compact central source, which may be associated with shock interaction near the explosion center or with the stellar corpse itself, a neutron star or a black hole.     

木质素磺酸盐对兰州黄土力学性质的影响

作为土壤改良的重要手段,化学加固利用化学材料与土体反应生成凝胶并胶结土粒达到固化目的。采用木质素磺酸盐进行黄土加固试验,开展界限含水率、导热系数试验、无侧限抗压强度试验、加卸载试验、应力松弛试验和X射线衍射等,研究了木质素磺酸盐固化黄土的物理性质和力学特征,从矿相角度探讨木质素磺酸盐的固化机制。结果表明,风干条件下木质素磺酸钠会造成黄土盐渍化,且对提高黄土强度没有显著的效果;木质素磺酸钙掺入黄土后,随着其掺量的增加,固化黄土的塑性指数和导热系数逐渐降低,强度明显增大,7 d龄期掺量为5%的木钙固化土无侧限抗压强度可以达到11.81 MPa,是素黄土的5.58倍;黄土的刚度在木质素磺酸钙的作用下显著提高,相同应变水平下所需能耗大幅度增加,同时其应力松弛程度也得到了改善。结合X射线衍射仪(XRD)测试结果,推测木质素磺酸钙能够与黄土中的黏土矿物反应,生成石英质和碳酸盐矿物,加强土粒间的硅质和钙质胶结,令土体结构更加密实,是值得深入研究的新型固化材料。     

Comparison of the luminosity functions of open clusters based on USNO-A1 data

The luminosity and mass functions of a group of Galactic open clusters are constructed by applying a statistical method to photometric data from the USNO-A1 catalog. Despite some limitations, this catalog can be used for statistical analyses in Galactic astronomy. Pairwise comparisons of the derived cluster luminosity functions are performed for five age intervals. The differences between the luminosity functions of the open clusters are not statistically significant in most cases. It is concluded that the luminosity functions are approximately universal throughout a large volume in the solar neighborhood. Combined luminosity and mass functions are constructed for six age intervals. The slope of the mass spectrum may vary somewhat from cluster to cluster, and the mean slope may be somewhat higher than the Salpetervalue.     

物理性质对黄土初始结构性的综合影响研究

黄土是具有特殊结构性的土,目前对其结构性影响因素的研究大多处于单因素定性分析阶段。构度指标反映的是黄土的初始结构性。为研究物理指标对初始结构性的综合影响,首先,对西安、兰州两地原状及重塑的黄土试样开展了不同含水率下的无侧限抗压强度试验,得到了相应黄土的构度。分析得出:构度随含水率、干密度、最小密度比、塑性指数、液性指数的增大均呈减小的趋势,除此之外,还与黄土的形成时代及其分布地区有关。其次,根据以上结论,用基本物理指标构造了一个综合物理量,进一步分析了构度与综合物理指标的关系,得出了区分地区、区分地质时代的由综合物理量直接定量计算构度指标的经验公式。最后,通过对西安另一场地的黄土进行试验得出的构度指标与运用本经验公式计算所得的构度值的对比,初步验证了其合理性、适用性。经验公式为以后通过简单易测的物理指标定量计算构度提供了一种方法。     

Models of astrophysical decretion-accretion diffusional disks

The formation of gaseous diffusional accretion-decretion disks is an important stage in the evolution of numerous astronomical objects. Matter is accreted onto the object in the accretion part of these disks, while the angular momentum of the accreted matter is transported from the central region to the periphery in the decretion part. Here, we consider general questions connected with the formation and evolution of diffusive accretion-decretion disks in various astrophysical objects. Such disks can be described using nonstationary diffusion models. The phenomenological parameters of these models are the coefficients in the relations for the characteristic turbulent velocity and mean free path of diffusion elements in the disk. We have developed a numerical technique to compute the disk evolution for a number of models (a massive disk, a disk with continuous accretion, a purely decretion disk). Analytical expressions estimating the basic parameters of accretion-decretion disks are presented. We discuss the relationship between the models considered and the classical α model of an accretion disk.     

纳米材料对低固相冲洗液性能影响的研究

低固相冲洗液是最适合绳索取心钻探工艺的冲洗液类型之一,但其防塌护壁能力和钻孔净化能力弱,阻碍了绳索取心钻探工艺在复杂地层的应用。本文通过实验研究,分析了纳米四氧化三铁、纳米氮化硼、纳米二氧化钛、多壁碳纳米管和纳米二氧化硅对低固相冲洗液的流变性能和滤失性能的影响规律。结果表明：纳米四氧化三铁、多壁碳纳米管和纳米氮化硼对低固相冲洗液的性能影响最明显,且具有增粘提切的作用。在此基础之上,通过正交实验分析了上述3种纳米材料复合后对低固相冲洗液性能的影响规律,得到性能优良的复合纳米低固相冲洗液体系优化配方：3%钠基膨润土+0.5%CMC-HV+0.3%纳米四氧化三铁+0.9%纳米氮化硼+0.9%多壁碳纳米管。最后,分析了纳米材料改善低固相冲洗液性能的作用机理。     

Influence of sedimentary environments on mechanical properties of clastic rocks

The sedimentary environments are the intrinsic factor controlling the mechanical properties of clastic rocks. Examining the relationship between rock sedimentary environments and rock mechanical properties gives a better understanding of rock deformation and failure mechanisms. In this study, more than 55 samples in coal measures were taken from seven different lithologic formations in eastern China. Using the optical microscope the sedimentary characteristics, such as components of clastic rocks and sizes of clastic grains were quantitatively tested and analyzed. The corresponding mechanical parameters were tested using the servo-controlled testing system. Different lithologic attributes in the sedimentary rocks sampled different stress–strain behaviors and failure characteristics under different confining pressures, mainly due to different compositions and textures. Results demonstrate that clastic rocks have the linear best-fit for Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The elastic moduli in clastic rocks are highly dependent upon confining pressures, unlike hard rocks. The envelope lines of the mechanical properties versus the contents of quartz, detritus of the grain diameter of more than 0.03 mm, and grain size in clastic rocks are given. The compressive strength or elastic modulus and the grain diameter have a non-monotonic relation and demonstrate the “grain-diameter softening” effect.