Relaxation of the Vela pulsar’s angular velocity following its jumps

The dynamics of the vortex lattice in the inner crust of a neutron star is considered. A general equation of motion is obtained and solved under the assumption that there are regions of pinned and of free vortices. By comparing these solutions with observational data for the Vela pulsar, the relative moments of inertia of regions of relaxation with the corresponding characteristic times are calculated for two model stars with different equations of state. It is shown that the theory can be reconciled with observations of the relaxation of pulsar angular velocity only for model stars with extremely stiff equations of state. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 67–76, January–March, 1997.     

The Monahans chondrite and halite: Argon‐39/argon‐40 age,solar gases,cosmic‐ray exposure ages,and parent body regolith neutron flux and thickness

Abstract— The Monahans H‐chondrite is a regolith breccia containing light and dark phases and the first reported presence of small grains of halite. We made detailed noble gas analyses of each of these phases. The ³⁹Ar‐⁴⁰Ar age of Monahans light is 4.533 ± 0.006 Ma. Monahans dark and halite samples show greater amounts of diffusive loss of ⁴⁰Ar and the maximum ages are 4.50 and 4.33 Ga, respectively. Monahans dark phase contains significant concentrations of He, Ne and Ar implanted by the solar wind when this material was extant in a parent body regolith. Monahans light contains no solar gases. From the cosmogenic ³He, ²¹Ne, and ³⁸Ar in Monahans light we calculate a probable cosmic‐ray, space exposure age of 6.0 ± 0.5 Ma. Monahans dark contains twice as much cosmogenic ²¹Ne and ³⁸Ar as does the light and indicates early near‐surface exposure of 13–18 Ma in a H‐chondrite regolith. The existence of fragile halite grains in H‐chondrites suggests that this regolith irradiation occurred very early. Large concentrations of ³⁶Ar in the halite were produced during regolith exposure by neutron capture on ³⁵Cl, followed by decay to ³⁶Ar. The thermal neutron fluence seen by the halite was (2–4) × 10¹⁴ n/cm². The thermal neutron flux during regolith exposure was ～0.4‐0.7 n/cm²/s. The Monahans neutron fluence is more than an order of magnitude less than that acquired during space exposure of several large meteorites and of lunar soils, but the neutron flux is lower by a factor of ≤5. Comparison of the ³⁶Ar_n/²¹Ne_cos ratio in Monahans halite and silicate with the theoretically calculated ratio as a function of shielding depth in an H‐chondrite regolith suggests that irradiation of Monahans dark occurred under low shielding in a regolith that may have been relatively shallow. Late addition of halite to the regolith can be ruled out. However, irradiation of halite and silicate for different times at different depths in an extensive regolith cannot be excluded.     

Structurally controlled gold and sulfosalt mineralization: the Altenberg example, Salzburg Province, Austria

Summary ?In the south-eastern Altenbergkar–Silbereck area in the eastern Tauern window (Lungau, Salzburg) structurally controlled precious-metal (Au–Ag) mineralization is hosted in marbles of the Permo(?)-Mesozoic Silbereck Formation and in the underlying Variscan Central gneiss. During the Alpine otogeny both lithologies were affected by ductile deformation (shearing, D1; folding, D2/D3) and subsequent brittle deformation (tension gashes, D4; normal faulting, D5) related to the uplift and exhumation of the Tauern window. Mineralization is controlled by brittle D4 structures. NE–SW trending steeply dipping tension gashes of the “Tauerngoldgang” type occur within the Central gneiss. Three different marble-hosted ore types following fracture systems as well as foliation and bedding planes can be distinguished: 1) metasomatic replacement ores, 2) ores in tension gashes and 3) ores in talc-bearing structures, often containing high-grade gold and silver mineralization (native gold in association with Ag–Pb–Bi–sulfosalts). Four stages of mineralization can be distinguished which occur in all ore types: arsenopyrite–pyrite–pyrrhotite (first stage), Au–(Ag–Pb–Bi–sulfosalts) (second stage), base-metal sulfides and tetrahedrite–tennantite (third stage) and Ag-rich galena (fourth stage). Preliminary fluid inclusion data indicate temperatures of ore formation well above 300 °C (346 °C mean) for the second stage within the Central gneiss and temperatures between 310 and 230 °C for the second and third stages in the marble. Received October 12, 2001; revised version accepted September 5, 2002 Published online March 10, 2003     

Laboratory measurement of the OI1173989 Å branching ratio

Laboratory measurements of the $\text{OI}\text{1173}\text{989}$ Å (3s' ³D° → 2p⁴¹D, 3s' ³D° → 2p⁴³P) branching ratio have been made with a value of 1.5 × 10^t-4 indicated. This value makes the branching transition at 1173 Å an order of magnitude stronger than the branch at 7990 Å (3s' 3D° → 3p ³P). The 1173 Å branching loss is still too weak a loss process for multiply scattered 989 Å photons to resolve the 989 Å intensity problem in the dayglow.     

Tidal dwarfs in the M81 group: the second generation?

We present a quantitative star formation history derivation of the four suspected tidal dwarf galaxies in the M 81 group: Holmberg IX, BK3N,Arp-loop (A0952+69) and Garland using HST/WFPC2 images of these galaxies. We construct a library of synthetic Colour-Magnitude Diagrams(CMDs) based on theoretical isochrones and data-derived determinations of photometric errors. These synthetic CMDs were combined linearly andχ²-compared to observed photometry. All the galaxies show continuous star formation between about 20 and 200 Myr ago with star formation rates between 7.5⋅10^-3 M_⊙/yr and 7.67⋅10^-4 M_⊙/yr. The metallicity of the detected stars is spanning rather a wide range, being lower than solar abundance. We suppose, that all the galaxies were formed out of material from metal-poor outer part of the giant spiral galaxy M81after tidal interaction about 200 Myr ago. However, this suggestion requires significantly more deep color-magnitude diagrams to be sure with the scenario of the galaxy evolution. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Bond rolling resistance and its effect on yielding of bonded granulates by DEM analyses

A discrete element modelling of bonded granulates and investigation on the bond effect on their behaviour are very important to geomechanics. This paper presents a two‐dimensional (2‐D) discrete element theory for bonded granulates with bond rolling resistance and provides a numerical investigation into the effect of bond rolling resistance on the yielding of bonded granulates. The model consists of mechanical contact models and equations governing the motion of bonded particles. The key point of the theory is that the assumption in the original bond contact model previously proposed by the authors (55th CSCE‐ASCE Conference, Hamilton, Ont., Canada, 2002; 313–320; J. Eng. Mech. (ASCE) 2005; 131 (11):1209–1213) that bonded particles are in contact at discrete points, is here replaced by a more reliable assumption that bonded particles are in contact over a width. By making the idealization that the bond contact width is continuously distributed with the normal/tangential basic elements (BE) (each BE is composed of spring, dashpot, bond, slider or divider), we establish a bond rolling contact model together with bond normal/tangential contact models, and also relate the governing equations to local equilibrium. Only one physical parameter β needs to be introduced in the theory in comparison to the original bond discrete element model. The model has been implemented into a 2‐D distinct element method code, NS2D. Using the NS2D, a total of 86 1‐D, constant stress ratio, and biaxial compressions tests have been carried out on the bonded granular samples of different densities, bonding strengths and rolling resistances. The numerical results show that: (i) the new theory predicts a larger internal friction angle, a larger yielding stress, more brittle behaviour and larger final broken contact ratio than the original bond model; (ii) the yielding stress increases nonlinearly with the increasing value of β, and (iii) the first‐yield curve (initiation of bond breakage), which define a zone of none bond breakage and which shape and size are affected by the material density, is amplified by the bond rolling resistance in analogous to that predicted by the original bond model. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling of deformation response and chemo‐mechanical coupling in chalk

A constitutive relation is derived for describing the mechanical response of chalk. The approach is based on a phenomenological framework which employs chemo‐plasticity. The properties of the material are assumed to be affected by the physico‐chemical processes that occur through the interaction between the skeleton and the pore fluid. The underlying mechanism is discussed by invoking a micromechanical analysis. The performance of the framework is illustrated by examining the evolution of mechanical characteristics in the presence of different pore fluids. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.