What can Lyman α observations of nearby galaxies tell us about the high redshift Universe?

This discussion session started off with a quick review of some key results regarding Lyα emitters (LAEs) at low redshift: some illustrative images were shown, some intriguing results highlighted, and some comparison with high redshift LAEs made. Then followed an open discussion for about 1 h which touched upon questions such as: how similar are low- and high-z objects, Lyα escape fractions, what observations are needed to go from interesting to understandable results on low-z objects, how do we understand the complexity of Lyα in local galaxies and what does it imply for high-z objects?     

Hα diagnostics of (post)-flare loops based on narrow-band filtergram observations

Using narrow-band H filtergrams, we develop a quantitative non-LTE approach to determine the physical conditions prevailing at the tops of (post)-flare loops observed against the solar disc. At temperatures 10000–15000 K, the tops of flare loops turn to emission at H line center when the gas pressure P _g reaches 1 dyn cm^–2 and should be clearly visible for P _g 3 dyn cm^–2, independently of the loop diameter. This situation corresponds to the electron density of the order 10¹² cm^–3. The contrast of flare-loops (in projection on the disc) at H line center is mainly the function of P _g , while in the line wings (H ± 1 Å) the loop can be visible in absorption or emission only when rather strong microturbulence is present or for unrealistically high gas pressures. Finally, we briefly discuss our diagnostical results in frame of the latest (post)-flare loop model.     

What can meteorites tell us about nebular conditions and processes during planetesimal accretion?

Analysis of the most primitive meteorites can yield detailed information about environmental conditions and physical/chemical processes in the earliest Solar System, including the nebular stage during which planetesimals were accreted. Such information pertains to time scales, thermal and chemical evolution, inhomogeneity and mixing, magnetic fields, and grain growth in the solar nebula. Nebular processes identified include evaporation, condensation, localized melting, and fractionation both of solids from gas and among different solids. Little direct evidence remains even in primitive meteorites of the actual accretion process. The absence of intrinsic factors capable of enhancing accretion among meteoritic constituents suggests that gravitational instabilities might have been important in promoting planetesimal accretion.     

The Neupert effect: What can it tell us about the impulsive and gradual phases of solar flares?

The Neupert effect is the name given to the correlation observed in many flares between the time-integrated microwave and hard X-ray emissions and the soft X-ray emission light curve. We have used hard X-ray data from the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer (HXRBS) on the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) and soft X-ray data from the detector on GOES to determine what fraction of all events show this correlation and how the correlation changes from the impulsive to the gradual phase. We have found that of 66 HXRBS events observed in 1980 with a peak rate of > 1000 counts s^-1, 58 (80%) showed good correlations with peaks in the GOES time derivative plot corresponding to peaks in the hard X-ray (HXR) plots to within ±20 s. In 20 of these good-correlation cases (30%), the soft X-ray (SXR) time derivative stays high after the HXR emission has decreased suggesting that the later emissions result from energy release in a loop already affected by the initial energy release. In 8 of the 13 flares that showed poor correlation, the SXR time derivative shows no peak corresponding to the initial HXR impulsive peak that has structure on a time scale of 1 s. This suggests that in these events the initial impulsive energy release results primarily in electron acceleration, and that the secondary plasma heating from the accelerated electrons contributes relatively little compared to the more gradual plasma heating already taking place at the same time. The more gradually varying events, commonly referred to as type C flares, tend to show poorer correlation between the SXR time derivative and the HXR time profile. Of 26 GOES X1 or greater flares recorded between 1980 and 1989 with HXR peaks lasting over 10 rain, 13 (50%) showed poor correlation with the gradual HXR peaks either not registering at all in the SXR time derivative plots or showing up as very broad peaks. In one case, on 1981 April 26, the SXR time derivative peak was delayed by 13 rain. Only 17 (65%) of the 26 X-flares had an earlier, impulsive component and of those, 12 (71%) showed good correlation between the impulsive peaks.     

The model of a flat (Euclidean) expansive homogeneous and isotropic relativistic Universe in the light of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) confirmed the model of a flat (Euclidean) expansive homogeneous and isotropic relativistic universe with the total zero mass (energy), which describes the properties of our observed expansive homogeneous and isotropic relativistic Universe in the first (linear, Newtonian or classical-mechanical) approximation.     

Is the β Pictoris member GJ 3039AB a physical binary? What the rotation periods tell us?

We have carried out a multi-band photometric monitoring of the close visual binary GJ 3039, consisting of a M4 primary and a fainter secondary component, and likely member of the young stellar association β Pictoris (24-Myr old). From our analysis we found that both components are photometric variables and, for the first time, we detected two micro-flare events. We measured from periodogram analysis of the photometric time series two rotation periods P = 3.355 d and P = 0.925 d, that we could attribute to the brighter GJ 3039A and the fainter GJ 3039B components, respectively. A comparison of these rotation periods with the period distribution of other β Pictoris members further supports that GJ 3039A is a member of this association. We find that also GJ 3039B could be a member, but the infrared magnitude differences between the two components taken from the literature and the photometric variability, which is found to be comparable in both stars, suggest that GJ 3039B could be a foreground star physically unbound to the primary A component.     

Is the Suess cycle present in historical naked-eye observations of sunspots?

Sunspot numbers are available for the past four centuries. However, solar activity indices with a longer time span are required by geophysicists and solar physicists. The yearly naked-eye sunspot number in the past is reconstructed using observations recorded in historical documents. Some studies from different solar proxies (including radiocarbon and aurora records) show the presence of the so-called Suess cycle (around 200 years) in solar variability. In this work, a modified Lomb–Scargle periodogram analysis is used to investigate the Suess cycle in naked-eye observations of sunspots during 200 BC–1918 AD. The most relevant characteristic of the periodogram is a cycle with a frequency very close to the Suess cycle, though this cycle is not significant statistically.     

Why do Trojan ASCs (not) Escape?

The orbits of 12 Trojan asteroids, which have Lyapunov times T _L10⁵ years and were previously classified as ASCs(=asteroids in stable chaos), are integrated for 50 Myrs, along with a group of neighbouring initial conditions for each nominal orbit. About 40% of the orbits present strong instabilities in the inclination, which may be attributed primarily to the action of the ₁₆ secular resonance; two escapes are also recorded. Higher-order secular resonances, involving the nodes of the outer planets, are also found to be responsible for chaotic motion. Orbital stability depends critically on the choice of initial conditions and, thus, these objects can be regarded as being on the edge of strong chaos.     

How rapidly do neutron stars spin at birth? Constraints from archival X-ray observations of extragalactic supernovae

Traditionally, studies aimed at inferring the distribution of birth periods of neutron stars are based on radio surveys. Here we propose an independent method to constrain the pulsar spin periods at birth based on their X-ray luminosities. In particular, the observed luminosity distribution of supernovae (SNe) poses a constraint on the initial rotational energy of the embedded pulsars, via the     correlation found for radio pulsars, and under the assumption that this relation continues to hold beyond the observed range. We have extracted X-ray luminosities (or limits) for a large sample of historical SNe observed with Chandra , XMM and Swift , which have been firmly classified as core-collapse SNe. We have then compared these observational limits with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the pulsar X-ray luminosity distribution for a range of values of the birth parameters. We find that a pulsar population dominated by millisecond periods at birth is ruled out by the data.     

Cosmogenic radionuclides and mineralogical properties of the Chelyabinsk (LL5) meteorite: What do we learn about the meteoroid?

On February 15, 2013, after the observation of a brilliant fireball and a spectacular airburst over the southern Ural region (Russia), thousands of stones fell and were rapidly recovered, bringing some extremely fresh material for scientific investigations. We undertook a multidisciplinary study of a dozen stones of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, including petrographic and microprobe investigations to unravel intrinsic characteristics of this meteorite. We also study the short and long‐lived cosmogenic radionuclides to characterize the initial meteoroid size and exposure age. Petrographic observations, as well as the mineral compositions obtained by electron microprobe analyses, allow us to confirm the classification of the Chelyabinsk meteorite as an LL5 chondrite. The fragments studied, a few of which are impact melt rocks, contain abundant shock melt veins and melt pockets. It is likely that the catastrophic explosion and fragmentation of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid into thousands of stones was in part determined by the initial state of the meteoroid. The radionuclide results obtained show a wide range of concentrations of ¹⁴C, ²²Na, ²⁶Al, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁵⁷Co, ⁵⁸Co, and ⁶⁰Co, which indicate that the pre‐atmospheric object had a radius >5 m, consistent with other size estimates based on the magnitude of the airburst caused by the atmospheric entry and breakup of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid. Considering the observed ²⁶Al activities of the investigated samples, Monte Carlo simulations, and taking into account the ²⁶Al half‐life (0.717 Myr), the cosmic‐ray exposure age of the Chelyabinsk meteorite is estimated to be 1.2 ± 0.2 Myr. In contrast to the other radionuclides, ¹⁴C showed a very large range only consistent with most samples having been exposed to anthropogenic sources of ¹⁴C, which we associate with radioactive contamination of the Chelyabinsk region by past nuclear accidents and waste disposal, which has also been confirmed by elevated levels of anthropogenic ¹³⁷Cs and primordial ⁴⁰K in some of the Chelyabinsk fragments.     

What can we learn from arcs in clusters of galaxies?

Photon-counting techniques have been applied to a study of the movement of the image of an unresolved star at the 50 cm telescope of the Royal Academy of Sciences, at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. The temporal autocorrelation function of such movement has been computed, the results are discussed in terms of atmospheric turbulence and in relation to high-resolution imaging.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

What causes the absence of pulsations in Central Compact Objects in supernova remnants?

Most young neutron stars belonging to the class of Central Compact Objects(CCOs)in supernova remnants do not have known periodicities.We investigated seven such...     

Diurnal variation of electron density in Saturn’s ionosphere: Model comparisons with Saturn Electrostatic Discharge (SED) observations

Using the Saturn Thermosphere Ionosphere Model (STIM), we present a study of the diurnal variation of electron density, with a focus on comparisons with peak electron densities (N_MAX) inferred from the low-frequency cutoff of radio emission due to lightning in the lower atmosphere, called Saturn Electrostatic Discharges (SEDs). It is demonstrated that photochemistry in Saturn’s ionosphere cannot reproduce the SED-inferred diurnal variation in N_MAX unless additional production and loss sources outside of the current best estimates are considered. Additional explanations of the SED-inferred diurnal variation of N_MAX are presented and analyzed, such as the possibility that the low-frequency cutoff seen in SEDs is due to the presence of sharp low-altitude layers of plasma, as frequently seen in radio occultation measurements. Finally, we outline the observational constraints that must be fulfilled by any candidate explanations of the SED-inferred diurnal variation of N_MAX.     

The properties of molecular clouds with high redshifts (z=2–3)

This paper deals with molecular clouds discovered in the absorption spectra (z=2–3) of distant quasars. It is argued that these clouds belong to the gaseous subsystems of young galaxies. We estimate the gas concentration to ben<10⁴ cm^–3 in the cloud observed in the direction of the quasar PHL957. It is shown that this cloud is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. The UV-energy flux does not exceed the value typical for our Galaxy by an order of magnitude (F2×10^–6 ergs cm^–2 s^–1 Å^–1 at =2000 Å). The mechanisms maintaining the thermal balance in this cloud are discussed.     

How do we see the nuclear region (r<0.1 pc) of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies?

We propose two statistical tests to investigate how we see the nuclear region (r<0.1 pc) of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). 1) The high-ionization nuclear emission-line region (HINER) test: Seyfert 1 galaxies (S1s) have systematically higher flux ratios of [Fe vii] λ6087 to [O iii] λ5007 than Seyfert 2 galaxies (S2s). This is interpreted in that a significant part of the [Fe vii] λ6087 emission arises from the inner walls of dusty tori that cannot be seen in S2s [Murayama, T., Taniguchi, Y., 1998a. ApJ 497, L9; 1998b. ApJ 503, L115]. 2) The mid-infrared test: S1s have systematically higher flux ratios of the L band (3.5 μm) to the IRAS 25 μm band than S2s. This is also interpreted in that a significant part of the L band emission arises from the inner walls of dusty tori, because the tori are optically thick enough to absorb the L band emission if the tori are viewed nearly edge on [Murayama, T. et al., 2000. ApJ 528, 179]. Applying these tests to a sample of NLS1s, we have found that the NLS1s possibly have nearly the same properties as S1s.     

Radio loudness of high-redshift (z≥3) quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Using a homogenous sample of 1962 quasars with redshift 3.0≤z≲4.5 drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we study the relationships between radio loudness, virial black hole (BH) mass and Eddington ratio (accretion rate relative to the Eddington limit). For the radio-detected objects, we find a significant (>99.5 per cent) anticorrelation between radio loudness R parameter and BH mass, consistent with previous studies of low-redshift radio-loud quasars. The truly radio-loud quasars (R>30) are found to be confined to M _BH≲10¹⁰ M_⊙ within our sample. We also find that R is only weakly correlated with Eddington ratio L _bol/L _Edd. Combined with previous results on the low-redshift R−L _bol/L _Edd relation, this result indicates no strong L _bol/L _Edd dependence of R at L _bol/L _Edd≳10⁻². On the other hand, the large scatter in these relationships suggests that other physical properties such as BH spin and quasar clustering must also play an important role in quasar radio emission.     

First ever in situ observations of Venus’ polar upper atmosphere density using the tracking data of the Venus Express Atmospheric Drag Experiment (VExADE)

On its highly elliptical 24 h orbit around Venus, the Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft briefly reaches a periapsis altitude of nominally 250 km. Recently, however, dedicated and intense radio tracking campaigns have taken place in August 2008, October 2009, February and April 2010, for which the periapsis altitude was lowered to the 186–176 km altitude range in order to be able to probe the upper atmosphere of Venus above the North Pole for the first time ever in situ. As the spacecraft experiences atmospheric drag, its trajectory is measurably perturbed during the periapsis pass, allowing us to infer total atmospheric mass density at the periapsis altitude. A Precise Orbit Determination (POD) of the VEX motion is performed through an iterative least-squares fitting process to the Doppler tracking data, acquired by the VEX radioscience experiment (VeRa). The drag acceleration is modelled using an initial atmospheric density model (VTS3 model, Hedin, A.E., Niemann, H.B., Kasprzak, W.T., Seiff, A. [1983]. J. Geophys. Res. 88, 73–83). A scale factor of the drag acceleration is estimated for each periapsis pass, which scales Hedin’s density model in order to best fit the radio tracking data. Reliable density scale factors have been obtained for 10 passes mainly from the second (October 2009) and third (April 2010) VExADE campaigns, which indicate a lower density by a factor of about 1.8 than Hedin’s model predicts. These first ever in situ polar density measurements at solar minimum have allowed us to construct a diffusive equilibrium density model for Venus’ thermosphere, constrained in the lower thermosphere primarily by SPICAV-SOIR measurements and above 175 km by the VExADE drag measurements (Müller-Wodarg et al., in preparation). The preliminary results of the VExADE campaigns show that it is possible to obtain with the POD technique reliable estimates of Venus’ upper atmosphere densities at an altitude of around 175 km. Future VExADE campaigns will benefit from the planned further lowering of VEX pericenter altitude to below 170 km.     

Om diagnostic of dilaton dark energy with two-parameter ω in potential [1+(σ−A)2]e (−Bσ)

Based on a new geometric diagnostic method-Om, we consider a new independent-model parametrization . When we work in potential W _σ [1+(σ−A)²]e ^(−Bσ), we investigate the evolutional behavior of Om with respect to red-shift z and the influence of coupling parameter α on the trajectory of Om with respect to z. We get that phantom model of Dilaton dark energy can avoid the future singularity “Big Rip”. The numerical results give current value of EOS which fits the latest observational data WMAP5+BAO+SNe very well.     

Lα, Lβ (of Hi), k and h (of Mgii), K and H (of Ca ii) observations in a quiescent prominence with the OSO-8 LPSP instrument

A sequence of images taken at different positions in the resonance lines of Ca ii, Mg ii, and H i was obtained over a quiescent prominence with the LPSP instrument on OSO-8. Ca ii K (and H) profiles are reconstructed at different locations in the prominence with a (10 × 5) arc sec² resolution. Significant variations of FWHM and line shifts are found: FWHM range from 0.14 Å to 0.5 Å; blue shifts reach about 14 km s^-1. The ratio of K to H absolute intensities shows a large spread around the average value of 1.2. The same ratio for the Mg ii lines in the whole prominence is higher (1.7), a fact already noticed at the edge of an active prominence (Vial et al., 1979). The ionization degree, as measured by the L/Ca K ratio, shows noticeable variations within the prominence. The L intensity is about 0.3 times the intensity measured in the quiet Sun, and the L/L ratio is less than one half the disk value. These results indicate important variations of the thermal conditions inside the prominence.DASOP, Observatoire de Paris, 92190 Meudon, France.