PHoToNs–A parallel heterogeneous and threads oriented code for cosmological N-body simulation

We introduce a new code for cosmological simulations, PHo To Ns, which incorporates features for performing massive cosmological simulations on heterogeneous high performance computer(HPC) systems and threads oriented programming. PHo To Ns adopts a hybrid scheme to compute gravitational force, with the conventional Particle-Mesh(PM) algorithm to compute the long-range force,the Tree algorithm to compute the short range force and the direct summation Particle-Particle(PP) algorithm to compute gravity from very close particles. A self-similar space filling a Peano-Hilbert curve is used to decompose the computing domain. Threads programming is advantageously used to more flexibly manage the domain communication, PM calculation and synchronization, as well as Dual Tree Traversal on the CPU+MIC platform. PHo To Ns scales well and efficiency of the PP kernel achieves68.6% of peak performance on MIC and 74.4% on CPU platforms. We also test the accuracy of the code against the much used Gadget-2 in the community and found excellent agreement.     

Hard x-ray and Microwave Flux Spectra of the 2 November 1991 Solar Flare

We analysed the hard X-ray and microwave flux spectra of the solar flare (BATSE No. 1791) on 2 November 1991, which started at 16:11:03 UT and ended at 16:56:10 UT. This flare is particularly interesting because of its deep cyclic intensity modulation. Data are available simultaneously from the 16-channel BATSE/LAD hard X-ray and 45-frequency OVRO microwave database. We quantitatively compare the time variations in profiles of the hard X-ray spectral photon index, the 50 keV X-ray flux, and microwave spectral indices (at both high and low frequency ends). As expected, the X-ray photon spectral index decreases as the hard X-ray flux increases. This pattern appears in all the sub-peaks. This is consistent with previous observations that hard X-ray emission hardens at the emission peak. However, the behaviour of the high-frequency microwave index is unexpected. We observe an anti-correlation between the high-frequency microwave index and the hard X-ray photon index during the course of the flare. Finally, we study the arrival time of microwave flux peaks as a function of frequency and find that the microwave peak at a higher frequency comes earlier than that at a lower frequency. A maximum delay of 72 s is found among the main peaks at different frequencies. Shorter delays are found for the other five sub-peaks.     

Large-scale structure, the cosmic microwave background and primordial non-Gaussianity

Cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure data will shortly improve dramatically with the Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Planck Surveyor , and the Anglo-Australian 2-Degree Field and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It is therefore timely to ask which of the microwave background and large-scale structure will provide a better probe of primordial non-Gaussianity. In this paper we consider this question, using the bispectrum as a discriminating statistic. We consider several non-Gaussian models and find that in each case the microwave background will provide a better probe of primordial non-Gaussianity. Our results suggest that if microwave background maps appear Gaussian, then apparent deviations from Gaussian initial conditions in galaxy surveys can be attributed with confidence to the effects of biasing. We demonstrate this precisely for the spatial bispectrum induced by local non-linear biasing.     

Three types of 2-degree field compensating atmospheric dispersion correctors for prime focus

Three types of prime focus correctors for Chinese 2.16m telescope are introduced in this paper. Each corrector has a 2 degree field and can be used to compensate the atmospheric dispersion of 6″. All the three correctors have excellent image quality and the angles between the principal rays and the optical axes are quite small. There is no special technological difficulty in their fabrication. These designs can not only be used in the 2.16m telescope but also be applied to other large telescopes.     

On the dynamic activity in sheared corridors of large delta spots

In the extraordinarily flare-prolific region of March 1989, NOAA region No. 5395, unusual dynamic activity in the photosphere was observed for the first time inside the large delta spot (Wanget al., 1991). Analyses of two additional large delta spots with sheared penumbral fibrils revealed that what occurred in the March 1989 delta spot is not an isolated case; similar complex dynamic activity was observed in the August and October 1989 delta spots. Both are flare-prolific regions as well, each producing 5 X-class flares. As in the March 1989 case, registered and highly time-compressed white-light movies were made from digital data obtained at Big Bear Solar Observatory. The new evidence confirmed the unusual activity: (1) penumbral motions in the directions of sheared penumbral fibrils near the inversion line as well as elsewhere in the delta complex, and (2) new spots emerging in the midst of penumbral motions. The manner and place of emergence are different from those in ordinary emerging flux regions, and often the spots are without observable opposite polarity flux. It is easy to see how the emergence of new spots in the midst of strong fields as well as the shear motions near the inversion line further enhance the flare productivity of the large delta spot regions. But we have yet to understand the origin of the dynamic activity observed.     

银河系中球状星团的空间运动

球状星团是银河系中最古老的天体类型之一,其累积光度很大,是银晕中重要的示踪天体。已以发现的银河系球状星团有１４０多个,其中１２０个银心距Ｒ〈４０Ｋｐｃ的星团已被准确地测定了视向速度。根据结数据以及球状星团金属度的统计分析,可以把球状星团次系再进一步分成某些不同的族群。目前已经测定过绝对自行的球状星团只有３８个,尽管这些自行的精度比视向速度和距离的精度差很多,然而,由此可以得出三维的空间速度,在统计     

THEMIS-VIS observations of clouds in the martian mesosphere: Altitudes, wind speeds, and decameter-scale morphology

We present measurements of the altitude and eastward velocity component of mesospheric clouds in 35 imaging sequences acquired by the Mars Odyssey (ODY) spacecraft’s Thermal Emission Imaging System visible imaging subsystem (THEMIS-VIS). We measure altitude by using the parallax drift of high-altitude features, and the velocity by exploiting the time delay in the THEMIS-VIS imaging sequence.We observe two distinct classes of mesospheric clouds: equatorial mesospheric clouds observed between 0° and 180° L_s; and northern mid-latitude clouds observed only in twilight in the 200–300° L_s period. The equatorial mesospheric clouds are quite rare in the THEMIS-VIS data set. We have detected them in only five imaging sequences, out of a total of 2048 multi-band equatorial imaging sequences. All five fall between 20° south and 0° latitude, and between 260° and 295° east longitude. The mid-latitude mesospheric clouds are apparently much more common; for these we find 30 examples out of 210 northern winter mid-latitude twilight imaging sequences. The observed mid-latitude clouds are found, with only one exception, in the Acidalia region, but this is quite likely an artifact of the pattern of THEMIS-VIS image targeting. Comparing our THEMIS-VIS images with daily global maps generated from Mars Orbiter Camera Wide Angle (MOC-WA) images, we find some evidence that some mid-latitude mesospheric cloud features correspond to cloud features commonly observed by MOC-WA. Comparing the velocity of our mesospheric clouds with a GCM, we find good agreement for the northern mid-latitude class, but also find that the GCM fails to match the strong easterly winds measured for the equatorial clouds.Applying a simple radiative transfer model to some of the equatorial mesospheric clouds, we find good model fits in two different imaging sequences. By using the observed radiance contrast between cloud and cloud-free regions at multiple visible-band wavelengths, these fits simultaneously constrain the optical depths and particles sizes of the clouds. The particle sizes are constrained primarily by the relative contrasts at the available wavelengths, and are found to be quite different in the two imaging sequences: r_eff = 0.1 μm and r_eff = 1.5 μm. The optical depths (constrained by the absolute contrasts) are substantial: 0.22 and 0.5, respectively. These optical depths imply a mass density that greatly exceeds the saturated mass density of water vapor at mesospheric temperatures, and so the aerosol particles are probably composed mainly of CO₂ ice. Our simple radiative transfer model is not applicable to twilight, when the mid-latitude mesospheric clouds were observed, and so we leave the properties of these clouds as a question for further work.     

An Emulation Research on the Radio Occultation Exploration of Martian Ionosphere

The technical system of the Sino-Russian joint satellite-to-satellite Mars ionosphere occultation is analyzed and introduced. The analogue computation of the observed values of the radio waves of the ionosphere occultation event is carried out by adopting the three-dimensional ray tracking method and the electron density profile inversion is conducted by means of the simulated occultation observational data, with the result showing that the emulation algorithm is reliable. By taking advantage of the emulation method the case computation and analysis of the inversion errors caused by the observational error of the occultation radio wave phase and the satellite orbital error are respectively carried out, and it is obtained from the result that the effect of the phase measuring error of the 5% circle on the result of the daytime ionosphere occultation exploration may be neglected, while the absolute error of the night electron density measurement is less than 4 × 108 m^?3, and the main effect of the satellite orbital error on the occultation leads to the lifting or falling of the ionospheric height. The result shows that the technical system of the Sino-Russian joint Mars ionosphere occultation exploration is advanced. It can be expected that the high accuracy electron density profile is obtained and the technical system can be applied to the exploration of the lunar ionospheric environment.     

The Influence of Merges with Various Mass Ratios on the Spins of Black Holes

The distribution of black hole spins in consideration of only the effect of merges is discussed. The angular momentum after merging is treated via the post-Newtonian approximation, and the effects of merges under different conditions are simulated by adopting the Monte Carlo method. The obtained results indicate that the major merge cannot make the distribution of black hole spins stable, but the minor merge can make the black hole spin smoothly slow down. The distribution of black hole spins can stay at a stable level with the overwhelming proportion of small spins, when the mass ratio of merging black holes takes the form of power-law function. In addition, based on the simulated results, the possible relationship between radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and black hole spins is also discussed. Finally, the distribution of radio loudness is calculated and presented.     

Cosmic‐ray rejection for single spectroscopic CCD images by means of template matching

This article describes a novel algorithm for cosmic‐ray rejection in single spectroscopic CCD images. This algorithm is based on a variation of template matching. It focuses on identifying those pixels belong to spectra, while other conventional algorithms tried to locate the cosmic‐ray hits directly. The main principle is applying template matching to find suspicious blocks, which is followed by surface patching to locate the legitimate pixels accurately. Therefore, the rest pixels are the ones corrupted by cosmic‐ray hits. Meanwhile, almost all the parameters are automatically extracted from the images. Examples of its performance are given for both simulated and observed images. It shows an advantage of significantly low false alarm rate with relatively high detection rate (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)