Observations and physics of prompt emission of gamma ray bursts

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the brightest explosions known to occur in the Universe. For the last several decades, they have been extensively observed and studied using both space as well as ground based observatories. In this review, the observational breakthroughs made till date, the techniques of observation and analyses of obtained data, temporal and spectral properties of the observed prompt emission of GRBs including polarisation, as well as the various theoretical models adopted to explain them are discussed.     

Measuring supermassive black holes via reverberation mapping in the UV

Over the past three decades the reverberation mapping technique was used to measure the central regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), their size, velocity field, and the mass of the black hole in the center. This technique was used mainly in the optical with several studies in the UV. Reverberation mapping in the UV adds essential information to the AGN studies. This paper reviews these recent studies done in the UV, presents results from the recent HST campaign toward NGC?5548, and discuss two projects of reverberation mapping of UV emission lines in high-luminosity quasars. The advantages of reverberation mapping in the UV will be discussed as well as the needs from new UV missions in order to be able to advance UV reverberation mapping campaigns.     

Recurring coronal holes and their rotation rates during the solar cycles 22–24

Coronal holes (CHs) play a significant role in making the Earth geo-magnetically active during the declining and minimum phases of the solar cycle. In this study, we analysed the evolutionary characteristics of the Recurring CHs from the year 1992 to 2016. The extended minimum of Solar Cycle 23 shows unusual characteristics in the number of persistent coronal holes in the mid- and low-latitude regions of the Sun. Carrington rotation maps of He 10830 Å and EUV 195 Å observations are used to identify the Coronal holes. The latitude distribution of the RCHs shows that most of them are appeared between \(\pm 20^{\circ }\) latitudes. In this period, more number of recurring coronal holes appeared in and around \(100^{\circ }\) and \(200^{\circ }\) Carrington longitudes. The large sized coronal holes lived for shorter period and they appeared close to the equator. From the area distribution over the latitude considered, it shows that more number of recurring coronal holes with area \(<10^{21}~\mbox{cm}^{2}\) appeared in the southern latitude close to the equator. The rotation rates calculated from the RCHs appeared between \(\pm 60^{\circ }\) latitude shows rigid body characteristics. The derived rotational profiles of the coronal holes show that they have anchored to a depth well below the tachocline of the interior, and compares well with the helioseismology results.     

Precipitable water vapor (PWV) estimations from the site of the Eastern Anatolia Observatory<Superscript>∗</Superscript> (DAG), a new astronomical observatory in Turkey

We present preliminary statistics on the precipitable water vapor (PWV) content over the Karakaya Hills in Erzurum city, where the largest optical and near-infrared astronomical telescope in Turkey will be operated. Since the observatory will observe in the near-infrared (NIR), it is intended to perform PWV measurements of the atmosphere above the site by using signal delays in Global Positioning System (GPS) communication. The analysis of the GPS data recorded on the summit for almost one year shows that the atmosphere over the site of the observatory, which has an altitude of 3170 m, has favorable conditions for NIR observations. From GPS measurements, we report that the site had an average PWV of 3.2 mm and a median PWV of 2.7 mm between October 6, 2016, and June 15, 2017. We also present the time dependency of the PWV content and the correlations between the amount of PWV and the other meteorological records gathered from radiosonde flights and ground-based measurements.     

Advective accretion flow properties around rotating black holes – application to GRO J1655-40

We examine the properties of the viscous dissipative accretion flow around rotating black holes in the presence of mass loss. Considering the thin disc approximation, we self-consistently calculate the inflow-outflow solutions and observe that the mass outflow rates decrease with the increase in viscosity parameter (\(\alpha \)). Further, we carry out the model calculation of quasi-periodic oscillation frequency (\(\nu _{\mathrm{QPO}}\)) that is frequently observed in black hole sources and observe that \(\nu ^\mathrm{max}_{\mathrm{QPO}}\) increases with the increase of black hole spin (\(a_k\)). Then, we employ our model in order to explain the High Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (HFQPOs) observed in black hole source GRO J1655-40. While doing this, we attempt to constrain the range of \(a_k\) based on observed HFQPOs (\(\sim \)300 Hz and \(\sim \)450 Hz) for the black hole source GRO J1655-40.     

On the use of logistic regression for stellar classification

We are totally immersed in the Big Data era and reliable algorithms and methods for data classification are instrumental for astronomical research. Random Forest and Support Vector Machines algorithms have become popular over the last few years and they are widely used for different stellar classification problems. In this article, we explore an alternative supervised classification method scarcely exploited in astronomy, Logistic Regression, that has been applied successfully in other scientific areas, particularly biostatistics. We have applied this method in order to derive membership probabilities for potential T Tauri star candidates from ultraviolet-infrared colour-colour diagrams.     

Research and Test of Real-time Search Algorithm of Fast Radio Bursts Based on GPU Acceleration

In order to satisfy the research need of Nanshan 25 m radio telescope of Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) and study the key technology of the planned QiTai radio Telescope (QTT), on the basis of the original CPU (Central Processing Unit)-based real-time search algorithm of FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts), we have studied the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)-based real-time search algorithm of FRBs, and built the corresponding real-time search system of FRBs. We have made the comparison and analysis on the GPU system and CPU system, the test result shows that under a given searching accuracy, the speed of the GPU-accelerated algorithm is improved by 35–45 times compared with that of the CPU algorithm.     

基于地学信息图谱的河道、海岸线演变对黄河三角洲景观格局影响研究

本文利用1988、1998、2009和2016年四期遥感影像,运用GIS技术,将地学信息图谱的图形思维与景观生态学的定量思维相结合,以距今不同时期的亚三角洲和滨海湿地为研究区,从景观结构和景观演替两个方面探究黄河三角洲河道、海岸线演变对景观格局的影响。结果表明:(1)距今不同时间的河道对黄河三角洲景观结构的影响程度不同,距今时间越长的亚三角洲研究区内耕地占总面积的比例越大且耕地是亚三角洲研究区中的第一优势景观类型。在1855—1889亚三角洲研究区内,除耕地和建筑用地外,其他各类景观占总面积的比例都较小且随时间变化不明显;在1929—1934亚三角洲研究区内,盐田、养殖池占总面积的比例从2009年到2016年增加了近40%,涨幅明显;在1964—1976亚三角洲研究区内,各类景观占总面积的比例趋于平均;在2017至今的亚三角洲研究区内,耕地和光滩占总面积的比例较高,达到24%左右。(2)距今不同时间的海岸线对黄河三角洲景观结构的影响程度也不同,在1855滨海湿地研究区内,耕地占总面积比例为60%左右,而海域占总面积比例接近于0,极差较大;在1934和1974滨海湿地研究区内,光滩、柽柳、碱蓬群落、芦苇、白茅群落占总面积比例随时间变化几乎呈逐渐下降趋势,而建筑用地和盐田、养殖池则呈逐渐上升趋势;2009滨海湿地研究区,河流、人工水域占总面积比例在2009年和2016年均达到32%以上。(3)根据景观类型重心变化特征,分析河道、海岸线演变对景观演替的影响程度,将不同时期亚三角洲和滨海湿地研究区景观演替分为如下几类:亚三角洲人类活动主导型、废弃河道主导型、行水河道主导型、滨海湿地人类活动主导型、废弃海岸主导型、新海岸主导型。