Light Curve Analysis of Early-Type Close Lmc Binaries

Results are presented of an analysis of eclipsing binaries in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The sample of close OB-type stars was taken from the MACHO microlensing survey. The present study was restricted to systems with orbital periods shorter than 2 days and V and R light curves with large eclipse amplitudes, high S/N and homogeneous and dense phase coverage. Problems encountered during the analysis are discussed, especially with respect to the degeneracy of photometric mass ratios and other parameter correlations.     

Seismostratigraphy and structural framework of the SW Baltic Sea

The SW part of the Baltic Sea between Scania, Rügen, Bornholm and Mön constitutes a complex crustal transition between the Baltic Shield and the accreted Phanerozoic provinces of the West European Platform. An integrated interpretation of marine reflection seismic data sets from the BABEL AC line and two commercial surveys offshore NE Germany and S Sweden have resulted in a complete view of the structural framework in the area. The general seismic picture can best be detected by two characteristic sets of reflection phases. The lower set is dominated by slightly dipping and vertically displaced prominent reflectors corresponding to downfaulted Lower Palaeozoic strata on top of the Precambrian basement. The upper set represents Mesozoic and Cenozoic coherent reflection phases including a thick Upper Cretaceous unit. The Caledonian deformation front is identified in the southern part of the investigated area as the border against which basement rocks have been affected by Caledonian metamorphism and deformation. Major structural elements also include the N–S trending Agricola–Svedala Fault and North Rügen-Skurup Fault. Several NW–SE trending faults are also identified including the Nordadler–Kamien Fault, Jutland–Mön Fault, Carlsberg Fault, Romeleåsen Fault Zone and the Fyledalen Fault Zone. The sedimentary record from NE German offshore wells and Scanian boreholes is compared with the seismic data. The Cambro-Silurian strata are composed mainly of quartzitic sandstones, shales and biomicritic limestones. The Silurian is dominated by grey, micaceous shale and micaceous siltstone deposited in a marginal basin. Upper Palaeozoic strata are merely encountered in the southernmost part of the investigated area. These include Zechstein strata. The Mesozoic deposits are dominated by a thick Cretaceous sequence of mainly limestones with interbedded sandstones.     

Late‐stage deformation in a collisional orogen (Western Alps): nappe refolding,back‐thrusting or normal faulting?

ABSTRACT Nappe refolding, back-thrusting and normal faulting frequently cause severe late-stage overprinting of the architecture of an orogen. A combined investigation of nappe stack polarity, kinematics of shearing and metamorphic gradients in the Western Alps develops criteria for distinguishing between these three modes of late-stage deformation. This distinction is a prerequisite for any retro-deformation necessary for understanding the main tectonic and metamorphic evolution of collisional orogens. In the case of the Western Alps overprint was by mega-scale nappe refolding in the Oligocene. This implies exhumation of the HP-rocks prior to postnappe folding, i.e. during nappe stacking and by foreland-directed ascent within a subduction channel.     

Strong lensing optical depths in a ΛCDM universe

We investigate strong gravitational lensing in the concordance ΛCDM cosmology by carrying out ray tracing along past light cones through the Millennium Simulation, the largest simulation of cosmic structure formation ever carried out. We extend previous ray-tracing methods in order to take full advantage of the large volume and the excellent spatial and mass resolution of the simulation. As a function of source redshift we evaluate the probability that an image will be highly magnified, will be highly elongated or will be one of a set of multiple images. We show that such strong lensing events can almost always be traced to a single dominant lensing object and we study the mass and redshift distribution of these primary lenses. We fit analytic models to the simulated dark haloes in order to study how our optical depth measurements are affected by the limited resolution of the simulation and of the lensing planes that we construct from it. We conclude that such effects lead us to underestimate total strong lensing cross-sections by about 15 per cent. This is smaller than the effects expected from our neglect of the baryonic components of galaxies. Finally we investigate whether strong lensing is enhanced by material in front of or behind the primary lens. Although strong lensing lines of sight are indeed biased towards higher than average mean densities, this additional matter typically contributes only a few per cent of the total surface density.     

Groundwater recharge in the Akaki catchment,central Ethiopia: evidence from environmental isotopes (δ18O, δ2H and 3H) and chloride mass balance

Recharge patterns, possible flow paths and the relative age of groundwater in the Akaki catchment in central Ethiopia have been investigated using stable environmental isotopes δ¹⁸O and δ²H and radioactive tritium (³H) coupled with conservative chloride measurements. Stable isotopic signatures are encoded in the groundwater solely from summer rainfall. Thus, groundwater recharge occurs predominantly in the summer months from late June to early September during the major Ethiopian rainy season. Winter recharge is lost through high evaporation–evapotranspiration within the unsaturated zone after relatively long dry periods of high accumulated soil moisture deficits. Chloride mass balance coupled with the isotope results demonstrates the presence of both preferential and piston flow groundwater recharge mechanisms. The stable and radioactive isotope measurements further revealed that groundwater in the Akaki catchment is found to be compartmentalized into zones. Groundwater mixing following the flow paths and topography is complicated by the lithologic complexity. An uncommon, highly depleted stable isotope and zero‐³H groundwater, observed in a nearly east–west stretch through the central sector of the catchment, is coincident with the Filwoha Fault zone. Here, deep circulating meteoric water has lost its isotopic content through exchange reactions with CO₂ originating at deeper sources or it has been recharged with precipitation from a different rainfall regime with a depleted isotopic content. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-Frequency Studies of Intrinsic Intraday Variability

Intraday variability is detected in Blazars throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Only radio emission is affected by interstellar scintillation. The characteristics of variability observed at different frequencies are often similar and suggest that intrinsic variations also contribute to the changes detected in the radio wavelength regime. This in turn implies very high brightness temperatures. Unambiguous signatures of scintillation and of intrinsic changes have been identified. The properties of intrinsic variations are reviewed to illustrate their potential contribution to variability in the radio domain. Such intrinsic changes need to be discriminated against when studying scintillation in quasars and BL Lac objects. Observations of scintillating sources and of sources with significant intrinsic IDV suggest interesting modifications to the standard paradigm of AGN. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Greigite: a true intermediate on the polysulfide pathway to pyrite

The formation of pyrite (FeS₂) from iron monosulfide precursors in anoxic sediments has been suggested to proceed via mackinawite (FeS) and greigite (Fe₃S₄). Despite decades of research, the mechanisms of pyrite formation are not sufficiently understood because solid and dissolved intermediates are oxygen-sensitive and poorly crystalline and therefore notoriously difficult to characterize and quantify.     

Gradient in the climate change signal of European discharge predicted by a multi-model ensemble

In order to perform hydrological studies on the PRUDENCE regional climate model (RCM) simulations, a special focus was put on the discharge from large river catchments located in northern and central Europe. The discharge was simulated with a simplified land surface (SL) scheme and the Hydrological Discharge (HD) model. The daily fields of precipitation, 2 m temperature and evapotranspiration from the RCM simulations were used as forcing. Therefore the total catchment water balances are constrained by the hydrological cycle of the different RCMs. The validation of the simulated hydrological cycle from the control simulations shows that the multi-model ensemble mean is closer to the observations than each of the models, especially if different catchments and hydrological variables are considered. Therefore, the multi-model ensemble mean can be used to largely reduce the uncertainty that is introduced by a single RCM. This also provides more confidence in the future projections for the multi-model ensemble means. The scenario simulations predict a gradient in the climate change signal over Northern and Central Europe. Common features are the overall warming and the general increase of evapotranspiration. But while in the northern parts the warming will enhance the hydrological cycle leading to an increased discharge, the large warming, especially in the summer, will slow down the hydrological cycle caused by a drying in the central parts of Europe which is accompanied by a reduction of discharge. The comparison of the changes predicted by the multi-model ensemble mean to the changes predicted by the driving GCM indicates that the RCMs can compensate problems that a driving GCM may have with local scale processes or parameterizations.     

Trace element partitioning between apatite and silicate melts

We present new experimental apatite/melt trace element partition coefficients for a large number of trace elements (Cs, Rb, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Sm, Gd, Lu, Y, Sr, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, U, Pb, and Th). The experiments were conducted at pressures of 1.0 GPa and temperatures of 1250 °C. The rare earth elements (La, Ce, Pr, Sm, Gd, and Lu), Y, and Sr are compatible in apatite, whereas the larger lithophile elements (Cs, Rb, and Ba) are strongly incompatible. Other trace elements such as U, Th, and Pb have partition coefficients close to unity. In all experiments we found D_Hf > D_Zr, D_Ta ≈ D_Nb, and D_Ba > D_Rb > D_Cs. The experiments reveal a strong influence of melt composition on REE partition coefficients. With increasing polymerisation of the melt, apatite/melt partition coefficients for the rare earth elements increase for about an order of magnitude. We also present some results in fluorine-rich and water-rich systems, respectively, but no significant influence of either H₂O or F on the partitioning was found. Furthermore, we also present experimentally determined partition coefficients in close-to natural compositions which should be directly applicable to magmatic processes.     

Chemo-dynamical Evolution of the ISM in Galaxies

Chemo-dynamical models have been introduced in the late eighties andare a generally accepted tool for understanding galaxy evolution. Theyhave been successfully applied to one-dimensional problems, e.g. theevolution of non-rotating galaxies, and two-dimensional problems,e.g. the evolution of disk galaxies. Recently, also three-dimensionalchemo-dynamical models have become available. In these models thedynamics of different components, i.e. dark matter, stars and amulti-phase interstellar medium, are treated in a self-consistent wayand several processes allow for an exchange of matter, energy andmomentum between the components or different gas phases. Some resultsof chemo-dynamical models and their comparison with observations ofchemical abundances or star formation histories will be reviewed.