Magnetic Reconnection and Extraplanar Diffuse Ionized Gas

Photoionization by stars cannot be the only cause for the diffuseionized gas component in the distant halos of galaxies.Quasistationary localized magnetic reconnection can efficientlycontribute to the ionization of the extraplanar halo gas. The gas isheated and re-ionized in numerous current filaments fast enough tocompensate recombination. The necessary magnetic energy is provided bythe disk activity.     

Alignment of Fabry-Pérot Interferometer Plates in a Solar Vector Magnetograph

I describe a method for quickly and accurately determining the plate parallelism in a tunable Fabry-Pérot interferometer. The method takes advantage of the fact that our Fabry-Pérot is installed in a spectropolarimeter: we measure profiles of solar or telluric absorption lines in three differently polarized telescope subapertures and use the residual polarization profiles to determine the plate parallelism error. An example of the error as a function of time during the observing day is also shown; it changes in a consistent way with telescope hour angle but the drift is enough to require frequent adjustment.     

Acceleration of anomalous cosmic rays at the heliospheric termination shock

Astronomy Letters - The acceleration of anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs) at the heliospheric termination shock and their influence on the shock structure and location are analyzed in terms of a...     

On the aging of comets

This study is based primarily on the calculations of comet orbits over ~ 10⁶ years for 160 short-period comets by Harold F. Levison and Martin J. Duncan from which there are calculated “ablation AGES”. There are positive statistical correlations (having many deviations) with radial nongravitational forces, comet activity measures, and dust-to-gas ratios in the spectra, in the sense that comets of greater “AGES” tend to be less active and to show less dust in their spectra than comets of lesser “AGES”.     

Emission-line outflows in PKS1549−79: the effects of the early stages of radio-source evolution?

We present new spectroscopic observations of the southern radio galaxy         . Despite the flat-spectrum character of the radio emission from this source, our optical spectra show no sign of the broad permitted lines and non-stellar continuum characteristic of quasar nuclei and broad-line radio galaxies. However, the high-ionization forbidden lines, including [O  iii ] λλ 5007, 4959, are unusually broad for a narrow-line radio galaxy     , and are blueshifted by 600 km s⁻¹ relative to the low-ionization lines such as [O  ii ] λλ 3726,3729. The [O  ii ] lines are also considerably narrower     than the [O  iii ] lines, and have a redshift consistent with that of the recently detected H  i 21-cm absorption-line system. Whereas the kinematics of the [O  iii ] emission lines are consistent with outflow in an inner narrow-line region, the properties of the [O  ii ] emission lines suggest that they are emitted by a more extended and quiescent gaseous component. We argue that, given the radio properties of the source, our line of sight is likely to be lying close to the direction of bulk outflow of the radio jets. In this case it is probable that the quasar nucleus is entirely obscured at optical wavelengths by the material responsible for the H  i absorption-line system. The unusually broad [O  iii ] emission lines suggest that the radio source is intrinsically compact. Overall, our data are consistent the idea that     is a radio source in an early stage of evolution.     

Circumstellar Silicate Mineralogy

This paper reviews spectra obtained with the SWS on board of ISO of dust shells around O-rich objects. These spectra reveal the presence of many new emission features between 10 and 45 μm. These bands are generally much narrower than the well-known 10 and 20 μm silicates features. The strength of these features relative to the underlying broad continuum varies from source to source (≅ 5-50%). The 10 μm region shows evidence for the presence of Al2O3 grains. At longer wavelength, the spectra are dominated by features due to crystalline olivine and pyroxene. The exact peak position of these features shows that the emitting grains consist of the Mg-rich end-members of these minerals with an Fe-content of < 10%. The underlying continuum is attributed to amorphous silicate grains. These observations of aluminum-rich and magnesium-rich compounds compare well with the thermodynamic condensation sequence of minerals expected for O-rich outflows. The observations also imply that freeze out (ie., kinetics) of this condensation sequence at different temperatures is an important characteristic of dust formation in these objects. It is suggested that the absence of Fe-rich silicates is a natural consequence of the low temperature at which gaseous Fe reacts with Mg-rich silicates in these outflows, resulting in amorphous grains with little characterizing spectral detail. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Exposure history of the Torino meteorite

Abstract— We determined He, Ne, Ar, ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, and ¹⁴C concentrations, as well as cosmic-ray track densities and halogen concentrations in different specimens of the H6 chondrite Torino, in order to constrain its exposure history to cosmic radiation. The Torino meteoroid had a radius of ～20 cm and travelled in interplanetary space for 2.5–10 Ma. Earlier, Torino was part of a larger body. The smallest possible precursor had a radius of 55 cm and a journey through space longer than ～65 Ma. If the first-stage exposure took place in a body with a radius of >3 m or in the parent asteroid, then it lasted nearly 300 Ma. The example of Torino shows that it is easy to underestimate first-stage exposure ages when constructing two-stage histories.     

Evolution of 2:1 layered silicates in low-grade metamorphosed Liassic shales of Central Switzerland

White mica from the Liassic black shales and slates in Central Switzerland was analysed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron microprobe to determine its textural and compositional evolution during very low-grade prograde metamorphism. Samples were studied from the diagenetic zone, anchizone and epizone (T ≈100°–450 °C). Phyllosilicate minerals analysed include illite/smectite (I/S), phengite, muscovite, brammallite, paragonite, margarite and glauconite. Textural evolution primarily is towards larger, more defect-free grains with compositions that approach those of their respective end-members. The smectite-to-illite transformation reduced the amounts of the exchange components SiK_?1Al_?1, MgSiAl_?2, and Fe³⁺Al_?1. These trends continue to a lesser degree in the anchizone and epizone. Correlations between the proportion of smectite in I/S and the composition of I/S indicate that smectite layers may contain a high layer charge. Illite in I/S bears a compositional resemblance to macrocrystalline phengite in some samples, but is different in others. Paragonite first appears in the upper diagenetic zone or lower anchizone as an interlayer-deficient brammallite, and it may be mixed with muscovite on the nanometre scale. Owing to the small calculated structure factor for paragonite-muscovite superstructures, conventional X-ray powder diffraction cannot distinguish between mixed-layer structures and a homogeneous compositionally intermediate solid solutions. However, indirect TEM evidence shows that irregularly shaped domains of Na- and K-rich mica exist below 10 nm. Subsequent coarsening of domains at higher grades produced discrete paragonite grains at the margins of muscovite crystals or in laths parallel to the basal plane of the host muscovite. Margarite appears in the epizone and follows a textural evolution similar to paragonite in that mixtures of margarite, paragonite, and muscovite may initially occur on the nanometre scale. However, no evidence of interlayer-poor margarite has been found.     

The radio and X-ray properties of Abell 2319

New radio and X-ray data are reported for the rich cluster Abell 2319. This object is known from optical data to consist of two separate clusters, which are displaced by about 10′ in the NW direction, and could be in a pre-merger state.

In the radio domain, the cluster is characterized by the presence of a central diffuse halo source, more extended and powerful than the prototype halo in the Coma cluster. The radio halo shows an irregular structure, elongated in the NE-SW direction, and also extended towards the NW. We also report data on the extended radio galaxies located within the halo, or in its proximity.

The cluster X-ray brightness distribution shows an elongated structure towards the NW, in the radial region between 6′–12′, i.e. in the direction of the subcluster. This feature is exactly coincident with the NW extension of the radio halo. In addition, more substructural features are identified which could be due to an ongoing merger of the cluster with yet another mass component.

The radio halo morphology is correlated with the X-ray structure and the existence of merger processes in the cluster. The cluster merger can provide energy to maintain the radio halo, while the origin of the relativistic particles seems more problematic.