Three-dimensional calculations of high- and low-mass planets embedded in protoplanetary discs

We analyse the non-linear, three-dimensional response of a gaseous, viscous protoplanetary disc to the presence of a planet of mass ranging from 1 Earth mass (1 M_⊕) to 1 Jupiter mass (1 M_J) by using the zeus hydrodynamics code. We determine the gas flow pattern, and the accretion and migration rates of the planet. The planet is assumed to be in a fixed circular orbit about the central star. It is also assumed to be able to accrete gas without expansion on the scale of its Roche radius. Only planets with masses   M _p≳ 0.1 M_J  produce significant perturbations in the surface density of the disc. The flow within the Roche lobe of the planet is fully three-dimensional. Gas streams generally enter the Roche lobe close to the disc mid-plane, but produce much weaker shocks than the streams in two-dimensional models. The streams supply material to a circumplanetary disc that rotates in the same sense as the orbit of the planet. Much of the mass supply to the circumplanetary disc comes from non-coplanar flow. The accretion rate peaks with a planet mass of approximately 0.1 M_J and is highly efficient, occurring at the local viscous rate. The migration time-scales for planets of mass less than 0.1 M_J, based on torques from disc material outside the Roche lobes of the planets, are in excellent agreement with the linear theory of type I (non-gap) migration for three-dimensional discs. The transition from type I to type II (gap) migration is smooth, with changes in migration times of about a factor of 2. Starting with a core which can undergo runaway growth, a planet can gain up to a few M_J with little migration. Planets with final masses of the order of 10 M_J would undergo large migration, which makes formation and survival difficult.     

Palomar Testbed Interferometer Observations of Young Stellar Objects

We present observations of a sample of Herbig AeBe stars, as well as the FU Orionis object V1057 Cygni. Our K-band (2.2μm) observations from the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) used baselines of 110 m and 85 m, resulting in fringe spacings of ∼4 mas and 5 mas, respectively. Fringes were obtained for the first time on V1057 Cygnias well as V594 Cas. Additional measurements were made of MWC147, while upper limits to visibility-squared are obtained for MWC297, HD190073, and MWC614. These measurements are sensitive to the distribution of warm, circumstellar dust in these sources. If the circumstellar infrared emission comes from warm dust in a disk, the inclination of the disk to the line of sight implies that the observed interferometric visibilities should depend upon hour angle. Surprisingly, the observations of Millan-Gabet, Schloerb and Traub (2001)(hereafter MST) did not show significant variation with hour angle. However, limited sampling of angular frequencies on the sky was possible with the IOTA interferometer, motivating us to study a subset of their objects to further constrain these systems. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observations with the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) during Cassini's flyby of Jupiter

The Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) is an imaging spectrometer covering the wavelength range 0.3-5.2 μm in 352 spectral channels, with a nominal instantaneous field of view of 0.5 mrad. The Cassini flyby of Jupiter represented a unique opportunity to accomplish two important goals: scientific observations of the jovian system and functional tests of the VIMS instrument under conditions similar to those expected to obtain during Cassini's 4-year tour of the saturnian system. Results acquired over a complete range of visual to near-infrared wavelengths from 0.3 to 5.2 μm are presented. First detections include methane fluorescence on Jupiter, a surprisingly high opposition surge on Europa, the first visual-near-IR spectra of Himalia and Jupiter's optically-thin ring system, and the first near-infrared observations of the rings over an extensive range of phase angles (0-120°). Similarities in the center-to-limb profiles of H⁺₃ and CH₄ emissions indicate that the H⁺₃ ionospheric density is solar-controlled outside of the auroral regions. The existence of jovian NH₃ absorption at 0.93 μm is confirmed. Himalia has a slightly reddish spectrum, an apparent absorption near 3 μm, and a geometric albedo of 0.06±0.01 at 2.2 μm (assuming an 85-km radius). If the 3-μm feature in Himalia's spectrum is eventually confirmed, it would be suggestive of the presence of water in some form, either free, bound, or incorporated in layer-lattice silicates. Finally, a mean ring-particle radius of 10 μm is found to be consistent with Mie-scattering models fit to VIMS near-infrared observations acquired over 0-120° phase angle.     

On the Spectral Index－Flux Density Relation for Large Samples of Radio Sources

We present new statistical results on the spectral index-flux density relation for large samples of radio sources using archival data of the most sensitive surveys, such as 6C, Miyun, WENSS, B3, NVSS, GB87. Instrumental selection effects and the completeness of the catalogs are discussed. Based on the spectral indices calculated for about 200 000 sources from the WENSS (327 MHz) and NVSS (1.4 GHz) catalogs, we obtained (1) The median spectral index increases from amed --0.9 toαmed --0.8 (Svαvα), while S327 flux densities decrease from 0.1 Jy down to 25mJy. The median spectral indices nearly show no variation within the error bars when the flux density is larger than 0.1 Jy. (2) A dependence of the fraction of ultra-steep spectrum sources (USS, -1.5 <α<-1.0), steep spectrum sources (SSS, -1.0 <α< -0.5) and flat spectrum sources (FSS, -0.5≤α≤0.0) is partly responsible for the spectral flattening. Another contribution to the spectral flattening comes from the variation of αmed of steep spectrum so     

F stars, metallicity and the ages of red galaxies at z > 1

We explore whether the rest-frame near-ultraviolet spectral region, observable in high-redshift galaxies via optical spectroscopy, contains sufficient information to allow the degeneracy between age and metallicity to be lifted. We do this by first testing the ability of evolutionary synthesis models to reclaim the correct metallicity when fitted to the near-ultraviolet spectra of F stars of known (subsolar and supersolar) metallicity. F stars are of particular interest because the rest-frame near-ultraviolet spectra of the oldest known elliptical galaxies at   z > 1  appear to be dominated by F stars near to the main-sequence turn-off.
We find that, in the case of the F stars, where the Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra have a high signal-to-noise ratio, fitting models in which the metallicity is allowed to vary as a free parameter is rather successful at deriving the correct metallicity. As a result, the estimated turn-off ages of these stars yielded by model-fitting are well constrained. Encouraged by this we have fitted these same variable-metallicity models to the deep, optical spectra of the   z ≃ 1.5 mJy  radio galaxies 53W091 and 53W069 obtained with the Keck telescope. While the age and metallicity are not so easily constrained for these galaxies, we find that even when metallicity is allowed as a free parameter, the best estimates of their ages are still ≥3 Gyr, with ages younger than 2 Gyr now strongly excluded. Furthermore, we find that a search of the entire parameter space of metallicity and star formation history using MOPED leads to the same conclusion. Our results therefore continue to argue strongly against an Einstein–de Sitter universe, and favour a Λ-dominated universe in which star formation in at least these particular elliptical galaxies was completed somewhere in the redshift range   z = 3–5  .