The Cosmology of Extra Dimensions and Varying Fundamental Constants

I briefly present the Organizing Committee's and my own motivation for organizing this workshop, and I suggest a few key questions for which we will try to find possible answers in the coming days. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Metamorphic phase relations in orthopyroxene-bearing granitoids: implication for high-pressure metamorphism and prograde melting in the continental crust

In this work, the factors controlling the formation and preservation of high-pressure mineral assemblages in the metamorphosed orthopyroxene-bearing metagranitoids of the Sandmata Complex, Aravalli-Delhi Mobile Belt (ADMB), northwestern India have been modelled. The rocks range in composition from farsundite through quartz mangerite to opdalite, and with varying K₂O, Ca/(Ca + Na)_rock and FeO_tot + MgO contents. A two stage metamorphic evolution has been recorded in these rocks.
An early hydration event stabilized biotite with or without epidote at the expense of magmatic orthopyroxene and plagioclase. Subsequent high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism (∼15 kbar, ∼800 °C) of these hydrated rocks produced two rock types with contrasting mineralogy and textures. In the non-migmatitic metagranitoids, spectacular garnet ± K-feldspar ± quartz corona was formed around reacting biotite, plagioclase, quartz and/or pyroxene. In contrast, biotite ± epidote melting produced migmatites, containing porphyroblastic garnet incongruent solids and leucosomes.
Applying NCKFMASHTO T–M (H₂O) and P–T pseudosection modelling techniques, it is demonstrated that the differential response of these magmatic rocks to high-pressure metamorphism is primarily controlled by the scale of initial hydration. Rocks, which were pervasively hydrated, produced garnetiferous migmatites, while for limited hydration, the same metamorphism formed sub-solidus garnet-bearing coronae. Based on the sequence of mineral assemblage evolution and the mineral compositional zoning features in the two metagranitoids, a clockwise metamorphic P–T path is constrained for the high-pressure metamorphic event. The finding has major implications in formulating geodynamic model of crustal amalgamation in the ADMB.     

Comet nuclei: Morphology and implied processes of surface modification

Surface morphology and related issues for nuclei of three comets: Halley, Borrelly and Wild 2, are considered in the paper. Joint consideration of publications and results of our analysis of the comets’ images led to conclusions, partly new, partly repeating conclusions published by other researchers. It was found that typical for all three nuclei is the presence of rather flat areas: floors of craters and other depressions, mesas and terraces. This implies that flattening surfaces or planation is a process typical for the comet nuclei. Planation seems to work through the sublimation-driven slope collapse and retreat. This requires effective sublimation so this process should work only when a comet is close to the Sun and if on the nucleus there are starting slopes, steep and high enough to support the “long-distance” avalanching of the collapsing material. If the surface had no starting slopes, then instead of planation, the formation of pitted-and-hilly surfaces should occur. An example of this could be the mottled terrain of the Borelly nucleus. Both ways of the sublimational evolution on the nucleus surface should lead to accumulation of cometary regolith. The thickness of the degassed regolith is not known, but it is obvious that in surface depressions, including the flat-floor ones, it should be larger compared with nondepression areas. This may have implications for the in situ study of comets by the Deep Impact and Rosetta missions.Our morphological analysis puts constraints on the applicability of the popular “rubble-pile comet nucleus” hypothesis (Weissman, 1986. Are cometery nuclei primordial rubble piles? Nature 320, 242-244.). We believe that the rubble pile hypothesis can be applicable to the blocky Halley nucleus. The Borelly and Wild 2 nuclei also could be rubble piles. But in these cases the “rubbles” have to be either smaller than 30-50 m (a requirement to keep lineament geometry close to ideal), or larger than 1-2 km (a requirement to form the rather extended smooth, flat surfaces of mesa tops and crater floors). Another option is that the Borelly and Wild 2 nuclei are not rubble piles.In relation to surface morphology we suggest that three end-member types of the comet nuclei may exist: (1) impact cratered “pristine” bodies, (2) non-cratered fragments of catastrophic disruption, and (3) highly Sun-ablated bodies. In this threefold classification, the Wild 2 nucleus is partially ablated primarily cratered body. Borrelly is significantly ablated and could be either primarily cratered or not-cratered fragment. Halley is certainly partially ablated but with the available images it is difficult to say if remnants of impact craters do exist on it.Recently published observations and early results of analysis of the Tempel 1 nucleus images taken by Deep Impact mission are in agreement with our conclusions on the processes responsible for the Halley, Borrelly and Wild 2 nuclei morphologies. In particular, we have now more grounds to suggest that decrease in crater numbers and increase of the role of smooth flat surfaces in the sequence Wild 2?Tempel 1?Borelli reflects a progress in the sublimational degradation of the nucleus surface during comet passages close to the Sun.     

Single star scidar: atmospheric parameters profiling using the simulated annealing algorithm

In this paper, we present a new method to estimate, for each turbulent layer labelled i , the horizontal wind speed   v ( h _i )  , the standard deviation of the horizontal wind speed fluctuations  σ _v ( h_i )  and the integrated value of   C ² _n   over the thickness  Δ h_i   of the turbulent layer   C ² _n ( h_i )Δ h_i   , where   h_i   is the altitude of the turbulent layer. These parameters are extracted from single star scintillation spatiotemporal cross-correlation functions of atmospheric speckles obtained within the generalized mode. This method is based on the simulated annealing algorithm to find the optimal solution required to solve the problem. Astrophysics parameters for adaptive optics are also calculated using   C ² _n ( h_i )  and   v ( h_i )  values. The results of other techniques support this new method.     

On the orbits and masses of the satellites of the Pluto-Charon system

Two small satellites of Pluto, S/2005 P1 (hereafter P1) and S/2005 P2 (hereafter P2), have recently been discovered outside the orbit of Charon, and their orbits are nearly circular and nearly coplanar with that of Charon. Because the mass ratio of Charon-Pluto is ∼0.1, the orbits of P2 and P1 are significantly non-Keplerian even if P2 and P1 have negligible masses. We present an analytic theory, with P2 and P1 treated as test particles, which shows that the motion can be represented by the superposition of the circular motion of a guiding center, the forced oscillations due to the non-axisymmetric components of the potential rotating at the mean motion of Pluto-Charon, the epicyclic motion, and the vertical motion. The analytic theory shows that the azimuthal periods of P2 and P1 are shorter than the Keplerian orbital periods, and this deviation from Kepler's third law is already detected in the unperturbed Keplerian fit of Buie and coworkers. In this analytic theory, the periapse and ascending node of each of the small satellites precess at nearly equal rates in opposite directions. From direct numerical orbit integrations, we show the increasing influence of the proximity of P2 and P1 to the 3:2 mean-motion commensurability on their orbital motion as their masses increase within the ranges allowed by the albedo uncertainties. If the geometric albedos of P2 and P1 are high and of order of that of Charon, the masses of P2 and P1 are sufficiently low that their orbits are well described by the analytic theory. The variation in the orbital radius of P2 due to the forced oscillations is comparable in magnitude to that due to the best-fit Keplerian eccentricity, and there is at present no evidence that P2 has any significant epicyclic eccentricity. However, the orbit of P1 has a significant epicyclic eccentricity, and the prograde precession of its longitude of periapse with a period of 5300 days should be easily detectable. If the albedos of P2 and P1 are as low as that of comets, the large inferred masses induce significant short-term variations in the epicyclic eccentricities and/or periapse longitudes on the 400-500-day timescales due to the proximity to the 3:2 commensurability. In fact, for the maximum inferred masses, P2 and P1 may be in the 3:2 mean-motion resonance, with the resonance variable involving the periapse longitude of P1 librating. Observations that sample the orbits of P2 and P1 well on the 400-500-day timescales should provide strong constraints on the masses of P2 and P1 in the near future.