Transneptunian Binaries

The discovery of binaries among the population of transneptunian objects isa landmark advance in the study of this remote region of the solar system.Determination of binary orbits will enable direct determination of systemmasses, fundamental for determination of density, internal structure, and bulkcomposition. The mere existence of binaries with the observed separations andapparent masses constrains models of planetary formation.     

Microtextures and crystal chemistry in P21/c pigeonites

Summary ?A single-crystal X-ray investigation was performed on crystals of P2₁/c natural pigeonite with varying Ca and Fe^* ( = Fe²⁺ + Mn²⁺) contents, in order to verify the effect of microtextural disorder on structure refinements and to constrain the crystal chemistry of pigeonite. Antiphase domains and exsolution lamellae affect differently the refinement results. In a crystal free of exsolution the structure obtained after refinement with all reflections is an average of that of the antiphase domains and of their boundaries, whereas in an exsolved crystal it represents only the structure of the prevailing pigeonite lamellae. The refinement using only h + k odd reflections seems to give the structure of the Ca-free pigeonite characteristic of the antiphase domains rather than that of Ca-rich domain walls. The ratio of the scale factors in refinements with all reflections and with only h + k odd reflections allows the ratios of the exsolved augite and pigeonite phases to be estimated. The crystal chemistry of the investigated samples follows the trends outlined by data on Ca-free and Fe-free synthetic samples. In particular, it is shown that Ca and Fe^* substitution for Mg induce similar changes in the average structure, i.e. both induce an expansion in the M1 polyhedron and decrease the difference between the M2–O3 distances. Received October 18, 2001; revised version accepted February 15, 2002     

A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of experimental model catchment evolution

Due to the geological time scales required for observation of catchment evolution, surrogates or analogues of field data are necessary to understand long‐term processes. To investigate long‐term catchment behaviour, two experimental model catchments that developed without rigid boundaries under controlled conditions are examined and a qualitative and quantitative analysis of their evolution is presented. Qualitatively, the experimental catchments have the visual appearance of field scale data. Observation demonstrates that changes in catchment shape and network form are conservative. Quantitative analysis suggests that the catchments reach an equilibrium form while a reduction in the channel network occurs. While the catchments are laboratory scale models, the results provide insights into field scale behaviour. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2D/3D Dust Continuum Radiative Transfer Codes to Analyze and Predict VLTI Observations

Radiative Transfer (RT) codes with image capability are a fundamental tool for preparing interferometric observations and for interpreting visibility data. In view of the upcoming VLTI facilities, we present the first comparison of images/visibilities coming from two 3D codes that use completely different techniques to solve the problem of self-consistent continuum RT. In addition, we focus on the astrophysical case of a disk distorted by tidal interaction with by-passing stars or internal planets and investigate for which parameters the distortion can be best detected in the mid-infrared using the mid-infrared interferometric device MIDI. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Interstellar Extinction and the Intrinsic Colors of Classical Cepheids in the Galaxy, the LMC, and the SMC

New methods are applied to samples of classical cepheids in the galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the Small Magellanic Cloud to determine the interstellar extinction law for the classical cepheids, R _B:R _V:R _I:R _J:R _H:R _K= 4.190:3.190:1.884:0.851:0.501:0.303, the color excesses for classical cepheids in the galaxy, E(B-V)=-0.382-0.168logP+0.766(V-I), and the color excesses for classical cepheids in the LMC and SMC, E(B-V)=-0.374-0.166logP+0.766(V-I). The dependence of the intrinsic color (B-V)₀ on the metallicity of classical cepheids is discussed. The intrinsic color (V-I)₀ is found to be absolutely independent of the metallicity of classical cepheids. A high precision formula is obtained for calculating the intrinsic colors of classical cepheids in the galaxy: (<B>-<V>)₀=0.365(±0.011)+0.328(±0.012)logP.     

Plane Symmetric Domain Wall in Lyra Geometry

In this paper general solutions are found for domain walls in Lyra geometry in the plane symmetric spacetime metric given by Taub. Expressions for the energy density and pressure of domain walls are derived in both cases of uniform and time varying displacement field β. It is also shown that the results obtained by Rahaman et al [IJMPD, 10, 735 (2001)] are particular case of our solutions. Finally, the geodesic equations and acceleration of the test particle are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Large-scale structure in the NIR-selected MUNICS survey

The Munich Near-IR Cluster Survey (MUNICS) is a wide-area, medium-deep, photometric survey selected in the K' band. The project's main scientific aims are the identification of galaxy clusters up to redshifts of unity and the selection of a large sample of field early-type galaxies up to z < 1.5 for evolutionary studies. We created a Large Scale Structure catalog, using a new structure finding technique specialized for photometric datasets, that we developed on the basis of a friends-of-friends algorithm. We tested the plausibility of the resulting galaxy group and cluster catalog with the help of Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMD), as well as a likelihood- and Voronoi-approach. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.