Pregalactic nucleosynthesis

We discuss the behavior of density fluctuations in an expanding universe and show that these should lead to the early formation of pregalactic hydrogen-helium stars of several hundred to several thousand solar masses. These stars flood the universe with radiation having a color temperature ≳10⁵ K; this terminates star formation but permits galaxy formation to continue. About 10⁻² of the mass of the galaxies is converted into heavy elements by pregalactic nucleosynthesis, with an error factor of a few.     

Culgoora radio and skylab euv observations of emerging magnetic flux in the lower corona

Detailed comparisons of Culgoora 160 MHz radioheliograms of solar noise storms and Skylab EUV spectroheliograms of coronal loop structures are presented. It is concluded that: (1) there is a close association between changes in large-scale magnetic fields in the corona and the onset or cessation of noise storms; (2) these coronal changes result from the emergence of new magnetic flux at the photospheric level; (3) although new magnetic flux at the photospheric level is often accompanied by an increase in flare activity the latter is not directly responsible for noise storm activity; rather the new magnetic flux diffuses slowly outwards through the corona at rates 1–2 km s^–1 and produces noise storms at 160 MHz 1–2 days later; (4) the coronal density above or in large-scale EUV loop systems is sufficiently dense to account for noise storm emission at the fundamental plasma frequency; (5) the scatter in noise storm positions can be accounted for by the appearance and disappearance of individual loops in a system.     

The Arunta Inlier: a complex ensialic mobile belt in central Australia. Part 1: Stratigraphy,correlations and origin

The Arunta Inlier is a 200 000 km² region of mainly Precambrian metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rock in central Australia. To the N it merges with similar rocks of lower metamorphic grade in the Tennant Creek Inlier, and to the NW it merges with schist and gneiss of The Granites‐Tanami Province. It is characterized by mafic and felsic meta‐igneous rocks, abundant silicic and aluminous metasediments and carbonate, and low‐ to medium‐pressure metamorphism. Hence, the Arunta Inlier is interpreted as a Proterozoic ensialic mobile belt floored by continental crust. The belt evolved over about 1500 Ma, and began with mafic and felsic volcanism and mafic intrusion in a latitudinal rift, followed by shale and limestone deposition, deformation, metamorphism and emergence. Flysch sedimentation and volcanism then continued in geosynclinal troughs flanking the ridge of meta‐igneous rocks, and were followed by platform deposition of thin shallow‐marine sediments, further deformation, and episodes of metamorphism and granite intrusion.     

Possible influence of comets on the chemical evolution of the galaxy

It has been suggested by Cameron that a cloud of comets containing a mass of condensable elements, comparable to the mass of such elements in the sun, formed on the outskirts of the solar system. If the formation of such comet clouds is a general feature of star formation, they constitute a significant sink of elements heavier than helium. It is shown here that this process provides a possible explanation for the very slow rate at which the mean metal abundance of disk stars has increased during the lifetime of the Galaxy.     

The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: bulge–disc decomposition of 10 095 nearby galaxies

We present near-infrared (NIR) adaptive optics-assisted spectroscopic observations of the  CO (Δμ= 2)  absorption bands towards the centre of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. The observations were made with NAOS-CONICA (on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope) and have a full width at half-maximum resolution of 0.15 arcsec (14 pc). Kinematic analysis of the observations reveals a decoupled core and strongly non-Gaussian line-of-sight velocity profiles in the central 0.2 arcsec (19 pc). NIR imaging also indicates an asymmetric elongation of the central isophotes in the same region.
We use spherical orbit-superposition models to interpret the kinematics, using a set of orthogonal 'eigen-velocity profiles' that allow us to fit models directly to spectra. The models require a central black hole of mass  1.2^+0.5_−0.6× 10⁹ M_⊙  , with a strongly tangentially biased orbit distribution in the inner 40 pc.     

Evolution of Planetesimal Velocities Based on Three-Body Orbital Integrations and Growth of Protoplanets

We obtain the viscous stirring and dynamical friction rates of planetesimals with a Rayleigh distribution of eccentricities and inclinations, using three-body orbital integration and the procedure described by Ohtsuki (1999, Icarus137, 152), who evaluated these rates for ring particles. We find that these rates based on orbital integrations agree quite well with the analytic results of Stewart and Ida (2000, Icarus 143, 28) in high-velocity cases. In low-velocity cases where Kepler shear dominates the relative velocity, however, the three-body calculations show significant deviation from the formulas of Stewart and Ida, who did not investigate the rates for low velocities in detail but just presented a simple interpolation formula between their high-velocity formula and the numerical results for circular orbits. We calculate evolution of root mean square eccentricities and inclinations using the above stirring rates based on orbital integrations, and find excellent agreement with N-body simulations for both one- and two-component systems, even in the low-velocity cases. We derive semi-analytic formulas for the stirring and dynamical friction rates based on our numerical results, and confirm that they reproduce the results of N-body simulations with sufficient accuracy. Using these formulas, we calculate equilibrium velocities of planetesimals with given size distributions. At a stage before the onset of runaway growth of large bodies, the velocity distribution calculated by our new formulas are found to agree quite well with those obtained by using the formulas of Stewart and Ida or Wetherill and Stewart (1993, Icarus106, 190). However, at later stages, we find that the inclinations of small collisional fragments calculated by our new formulas can be much smaller than those calculated by the previously obtained formulas, so that they are more easily accreted by larger bodies in our case. The results essentially support the previous results such as runaway growth of protoplanets, but they could enhance their growth rate by 10-30% after early runaway growth, where those fragments with low random velocities can significantly contribute to rapid growth of runaway bodies.     

Relativistically induced instellar density fluctuations

The spectrum of cold electron density fluctuations induced by a relativistic electron gas is investigated and the results discussed in relation to the interstellar medium.     

Controls on biochemical oxygen demand in the upper Klamath River,Oregon

A series of 30-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) experiments were conducted on water column samples from a reach of the upper Klamath River that experiences hypoxia and anoxia in summer. Samples were incubated with added nitrification inhibitor to measure carbonaceous BOD (CBOD), untreated to measure total BOD, which included demand from nitrogenous BOD (NBOD), and coarse-filtered to examine the effect of removing large particulate matter. All BOD data were fit well with a two-group model, so named because it considered contributions from both labile and refractory pools of carbon: BOD_t = a₁(1 ? e^? a₀t) + a₂t. Site-average labile first-order decay rates a₀ ranged from 0.15 to 0.22/day for CBOD and 0.11 to 0.29/day for BOD. Site-average values of refractory zero-order decay rates a₂ ranged from 0.13 to 0.25 mg/L/day for CBOD and 0.01 to 0.45 mg/L/day for BOD; the zero-order CBOD decay rate increased from early- to mid-summer. Values of ultimate CBOD for the labile component a₁ ranged from 5.5 to 28.8 mg/L for CBOD, and 7.6 to 30.8 mg/L for BOD. Two upstream sites had higher CBOD compared to those downstream. Maximum measured total BOD₅ and BOD₃₀ during the study were 26.5 and 55.4 mg/L; minimums were 4.2 and 13.6 mg/L. For most samples, the oxygen demand from the three components considered here were: labile CBOD > NBOD > refractory CBOD, though the relative importance of refractory CBOD to oxygen demand increased over time. Coarse-filtering reduced CBOD for samples with high particulate carbon and high biovolumes of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae. There was a strong positive correlation between BOD, CBOD, and the labile component of CBOD to particulate C and N, with weaker positive correlation to field pH, field dissolved oxygen, and total N. The refractory component of CBOD was not correlated to particulate matter, instead showing weak but statistically significant correlation to dissolved organic carbon, UV absorbance at 254 nm, and total N. Particulate organic matter, especially the alga A.flos-aquae, is an important component of oxygen demand in this reach of the Klamath River, though refractory dissolved organic matter would continue to exert an oxygen demand over longer time periods and as water travels downstream.     

Protoplanetary core formation by rain-out of minerals

Models of giant gaseous protoplanets calculated by DeCampli and Cameron (1979) indicate that iron and probably other minerals in the interior of a planet would be in the liquid state during part of the protoplanet evolution. Liquid drops in a protoplanet would grow by coalescence much as cloud drops in the Earth's atmosphere grow to rain drops. We have modeled this process by using the stochastic collection equation (Slattery, 1978) for various initial conditions. In all of the cases considered, the growth time (to centimeter-sized droplets) is much shorter than the time, as estimated by detailed evolutionary calculations, that the drops are in the liquid state. Brownian collection is effective in quickly coalescing tiny liquid droplets to an average radius of about 0.005 cm with very few drops remaining with radii less than 0.001 cm. For radii larger than 0.005 cm gravitational collection is dominant. Since the particles are rapidly swept from interstellar grain sizes to much larger sizes, the opacity in the cloud layer is expected to drop sharply following melting of the grains.