Radial velocity searches for other planetary systems:Current status and future prospects

Measurement of variations in the radial velocities of stars due to the reflex orbital motion of the star around the planetary-system barycenter constitutes a powerful method of searching for substellar or planetary mass companions. After several years of patient data acquisition, radial-velocity searches for planetary systems around other stars are now beginning to bear fruit. In late 1995 and early 1996, three candidate systems were announced with Jovian-mass planets around solar-type stars. The current paradigm for low-mass star formation suggests that planetary systems should be able to form in the circumstellar disks surrounding young stellar objects. These newly discovered systems, and other discoveries which will soon follow them, will test critically our understanding of the processes of star- and planet-formation. We review the techniques used in these radial-velocity searches and their results to date. We then discuss planned improvements in the surveys, and the prospects for the next 20 years.     

An expansion of the Voigt function

The Voigt function and its derivatives are represented by means of series in Hermite polynomials. The equations obtained can be used both for numerical calculations of these functions and for analytical research.Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 619–625, October–December, 1996.     

Palaeointensity In the Pelagic Realm: Marine Sediment Data Compared With Archaeomagnetic and Lake Sediment Records

Summary. Four box cores collected from the Ontong—Java plateau during the Eurydice expedition have been used to make relative geomagnetic palaeo-intensity measurements. Rock magnetic measurements on the sediments show that they are characterized by a uniform magnetic mineralogy, and that they are suitable for relative intensity estimates. These are obtained by normalizing the NRM by an ARM imparted in a low DC bias field. the palaeoceanographic event known as the preservation spike is used to establish a crude time-scale for the record so that it may be compared with other data from the same region, and also with global palaeointensity estimates. the marine sediment data are quite similar to Australian intensity data from lake sediments and archaeomagnetic sources, but as might be expected exhibit some obvious differences from the global record.     

The MPE X-ray test facility PANTER: Calibration of hard X-ray (15–50 kev) optics

The Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) in Garching, Germany, uses its large X-ray beam line facility PANTER for testing X-ray astronomical instrumentation. A number of telescopes, gratings, filters, and detectors, e.g. for astronomical satellite missions like Exosat, ROSAT, Chandra (LETG), BeppoSAX, SOHO (CDS), XMM-Newton, ABRIXAS, Swift (XRT), have been successfully calibrated in the soft X-ray energy range (< 15keV). Moreover, measurements with mirror test samples for new missions like ROSITA and XEUS have been carried out at PANTER. Here we report on an extension of the energy range, enabling calibrations of hard X-ray optics over the energy range 15–50 keV. Several future X-ray astronomy missions (e.g., Simbol-X, Constellation-X, XEUS) have been proposed, which make use of hard X-ray optics based on multilayer coatings. Such optics are currently being developed by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), Milano, Italy, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, MA, USA. These optics have been tested at the PANTER facility with a broad energy band beam (up to 50 keV) using the XMM-Newton EPIC-pn flight spare CCD camera with its good intrinsic energy resolution, and also with monochromatic X-rays between C-K (0.277 keV) and Cu-Kα (8.04 keV). PACS: 95.55.Ka, 95.55.Aq, 41 50.+h, 07.85.Fv     

Pulsar Wind Nebulae in Egret Error Boxes

A remarkable number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) are coincident with EGRET γ-ray sources. X-ray and radio imaging studies of unidentified EGRET sources have resulted in the discovery of at least six new pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). Stationary PWN (SPWN) appear to be associated with steady EGRET sources with hard spectra, typical for γ-ray pulsars. Their toroidal morphologies can help determine the geometry of the pulsar which is useful for constraining models of pulsed γ-ray emission. Rapidly moving PWN (RPWN) with more cometary morphologies seem to be associated with variable EGRET sources in regions where the ambient medium is dense compared to what is typical for the ISM.