Puzzling Origin of CEMP-r/s Stars: An Interpretation of Abundance and Enrichment of s- and r-Process Elements from Asymptotic Giant Branch Supernovae

CEMP-r/s stars at low metallicity are known as double-enhanced stars that show enhancements of both r-process and s-process elements. The chemical abundances of these very metal-poor stars provide us a lot of information for putting new restraints on models of neutron-capture processes. In this article, we put forward an accreted scenario in which the double enrichment of r-process and s-process elements is caused by a former intermediate-mass Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) companion in a detached binary system. As the AGB superwind is only present at the ultimate phase of AGB stars, there is thus a lot of potential that the degenerate-core mass of an intermediate-mass AGB star reaches the Chandrasekhar limit before the AGB superwind. In these circumstances, both s-process elements produced in the AGB shell and r-process elements synthesized in the subsequent explosion would be sprayed contemporaneously and accreted by its companion. Despite similarity to physical conditions of a core-collapse supernova, a major focus in this scenario is the degenerate C–O core surrounded by an envelope of a former intermediate-mass AGB donor that may collapse and explode. Due to the existence of an outer envelope, r-process nucleosynthesis is expected to occur. Hypothesizing the material-rich europium (Eu) accreted by the secondary via the wind from the supernova to be in proportion to the geometric fraction of the companion with respect to the exploding donor star, we find that the estimated yield of Eu (as representative of r-process elements) per AGB supernova event is about 1 × 10^?9 M _⊙ ～ 5 × 10^?9 M _⊙. Using the yields of Eu, the overabundance of r-process elements in CEMP-r/s stars can be accounted for. The calculated results show that the value of parameter f , standing for efficiency of wind pollution from the AGB supernova, will reach about 10⁴, which means that the enhanced factor is much larger than unity due to the impact of gravity of the donor and the result of the gravitational focusing effect of the companion.     

Venus Express observations of ULF and ELF waves in the Venus ionosphere: Wave properties and sources

Electrical activity in a planetary atmosphere enables chemical reactions that are not possible under conditions of local thermodynamic equilibrium. In both the Venus and terrestrial atmospheres, lightning forms nitric oxide. Despite the existence of an inventory of NO at Venus like the Earth’s, and despite observations of the signals expected from lightning at optical, VLF, and ELF frequencies, the existence of Venus lightning still is met with some skepticism. The Venus Express mission was equipped with a fluxgate magnetometer gradiometer system sampling at rates as high as 128 Hz, and making measurements as low as 200 km altitude above the north polar regions of Venus. However, significant noise levels are present on the Venus Express spacecraft. Cleaning techniques have been developed to remove spacecraft interference at DC, ULF, and ELF frequencies, revealing two types of electromagnetic waves, a transverse right-handed guided mode, and a linearly polarized compressional mode. The propagation of both types of signals is sensitive to the magnetic field in ways consistent with propagation from a distant source to the spacecraft. The linearly polarized compressional waves generally are at lower frequencies than the right-handed transverse waves. They appear to be crossing the usually horizontal magnetic field. At higher frequencies above the lower hybrid frequency, waves cannot enter the ionosphere from below when the field is horizontal. The arrival of signals at the spacecraft is controlled by the orientation of the magnetic field. When the field dips into the atmosphere, the higher frequency guided mode above the lower hybrid frequency can enter the ionosphere by propagating along the magnetic field in the whistler mode. These properties are illustrated with examples from five orbits during Venus Express’ first year in orbit. These properties observed are consistent with the linearly polarized compressional waves being produced at the solar wind interface and the transverse guided waves being produced in the atmosphere.     

The study of s-process nucleosynthesis based on barium stars, CEMP-s and CEMP-r/s stars

In order to get a broader view of the s-process nucleosynthesis we study the abundance distribution of heavy elements of 35 barium stars and 24 CEMP-stars, including nine CEMP-s stars and 15 CEMP-r/s stars. The similar distribution of [Pb/hs] between CEMP-s and CEMP-r/s stars indicate that the s-process material of both CEMP-s and CEMP-r/s stars should have a uniform origin, i.e. mass transfer from their predominant AGB companions. For the CEMP-r/s stars, we found that the r-process should provide similar proportional contributes to the second s-peak and the third s-peak elements, and also be responsible for the higher overabundance of heavy elements than those in CEMP-s stars. Which hints that the r-process origin of CEMP-r/s stars should be closely linked to the main r-process. The fact that some small r values exist for both barium and CEMP-s stars, implies that the single exposure event of the s-process nucleosynthesis should be general in a wide metallicity range of our Galaxy. Based on the relation between C _r and C _s, we suggest that the origin of r-elements for CEMP-r/s stars have more sources. A common scenario is that the formation of the binary system was triggered by only one or a few supernova. In addition, accretion-induced collapse(AIC) or SN 1.5 should be the supplementary scenario, especially for these whose pre-AGB companion with higher mass and smaller orbit radius, which support the higher values of both C _r and C _s.     

Studies on post-flare loop prominence of 1981 April 27

By use of the H observations of the Astrophysical Observatory in Catania, Italy and the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanking, China as well as hard X-ray and gamma-ray burst data from the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS), a major eruptive loop prominence was studied during the limb solar flare event of 1981 April 27.Our preliminary analysis shows that there seems to exist a second abrupt energy release for this event, almost 20 min after the end of the impulsive phase of the flare. This energy release is probably associated with the rapidity in upward motion or activation of the loop prominence.A possible candidate for such a process could be the reconnection of the old magnetic field with a newly emerging magnetic field.A theoretical gross estimate for the energy release and particle acceleration has also been made in this work. It appears that the proposed model for charged particle acceleration is very efficient.     

黑子活动区流场精细结构

本文通过太阳活动区光球和色球速度场和磁场观测资料,讨论了黑子活动区附近流场的精细结构,论述了太阳大气中物质的流动呈纤维结构,以及速度场纤维与磁场,色球纤维和网络结构之间的关系。     

天鹅座X-1硬X射线的能量谱

1985年9月22日,我们用空间硬X射线望远镜HAPI-2,在我国的高空气球上,对天鹅座X-1进行了观测,望远镜几何面积为140cm~2,观测能区20—200keV,空间定向精度±0.2°。获得的硬X射线能谱陡,总辐射能流LX～1.0×1~(37)erg/sec,低于常规态。本文将介绍望远镜的性能和观测过程,能谱分析的结果,并对当时天鹅座X-1可能的“态”进行讨论。     

Optical observations of the broad-lined type Ic supernova SN 2012ap

The optical observations of the type Ic supernova(SN Ic) SN 2012 ap in NGC 1729 are presented. A comparison with other SNe Ic indicates that SN 2012 ap is highly reddened(with E(B- V)host～0.8 mag) and may represent one of the most luminous SNe Ic ever observed, with an absolute V-band peak magnitude of ～-19.3±0.5 mag after extinction correction. The near-maximum-light spectrum shows wide spectral features that are typical of broad-lined SNe Ic. One interesting feature in the spectrum is the appearance of some narrow absorption features that can be attributed to the diffuse interstellar bands, consistent with the large reddening inferred from the photometric method. Based on the light curves and the spectral data, we estimate that SN 2012 ap produced a56 Ni mass of ～ 0.3 ± 0.1M in the explosion, with an ejecta mass of 2.4+0.7-0.7M and a kinetic energy of E5K= 1.1+0.4-0.4× 102 erg. The properties of its progenitor are also briefly discussed.     

The Venusian induced magnetosphere: A case study of plasma and magnetic field measurements on the Venus Express mission

Plasma and magnetic field measurements made onboard the Venus Express on June 1, 2006, are analyzed and compared with predictions of a global model. It is shown that in the orbit studied, the plasma and magnetic field observations obtained near the North Pole under solar minimum conditions were qualitatively and, in many cases also, quantitatively in agreement with the general picture obtained using a global numerical quasi-neutral hybrid model of the solar wind interaction (HYB-Venus). In instances where the orbit of Venus Express crossed a boundary referred to as the magnetic pileup boundary (MPB), field line tracing supports the suggestion that the MPB separates the region that is magnetically connected to the fluctuating magnetosheath field from a region that is magnetically connected to the induced magnetotail lobes.     

Solar radio pulsating structures during September 9, 2001 at meter wavelength

Pulsating structures recorded at 237 MHz that are associated to decimetric continuum enhancement during the September 9, 2001 solar radio burst are described. We analyzed the radiopolarimetric data recorded at the Trieste Solar Radio System (INAF—Trieste Astronomical Observatory—Basovizza Observing Station) with very high time resolution (1 ms) at metric frequencies. Two different types of pulsations that occur in about 4 minutes at the same frequency are described. The possible mechanisms are analyzed and some parameters of the associated magnetic structure are estimated.     

The unification of RBLs with XBLs

Many astronomers have discussed the property of BL Lacertae objects, including the variation of spectrum, the correlation of multi-wave bands and the property of polarization, which could give good information for studying intrinsic correlation of components and position of BL Lacertae objects. In the paper, we investigated the properties of RBLs and XBLs and RBLs/XBLs (these objects can also be found by radio survey as by X-ray survey). Firstly, we collected the light curve of 28 BL Lacertae objects, and gained their short timescales by Structure Function (SF). Secondly, we analyzed the distribution of the short timescales of some BL Lacertae objects, including 28 objects’ timescales calculated by SF, as well as the distribution of the redshift and the black hole mass and the flux densities of the multi-wavebands (radio, near-infrared, optical and Gamma-ray). Based on statistical analysis, the result of the paper support the unification model of RBLs and XBLs.