On The Origin of The High-Perihelion Scattered Disk: The Role of The Kozai Mechanism And Mean Motion Resonances

We study the transfer process from the scattered disk (SD) to the high-perihelion scattered disk (HPSD) (defined as the population with perihelion distances q > 40 AU and semimajor axes a>50 AU) by means of two different models. One model (Model 1) assumes that SD objects (SDOs) were formed closer to the Sun and driven outwards by resonant coupling with the accreting Neptune during the stage of outward migration (Gomes 2003b, Earth, Moon, Planets 92, 29–42.). The other model (Model 2) considers the observed population of SDOs plus clones that try to compensate for observational discovery bias (Fernández et al. 2004, Icarus , in press). We find that the Kozai mechanism (coupling between the argument of perihelion, eccentricity, and inclination), associated with a mean motion resonance (MMR), is the main responsible for raising both the perihelion distance and the inclination of SDOs. The highest perihelion distance for a body of our samples was found to be q = 69.2 AU. This shows that bodies can be temporarily detached from the planetary region by dynamical interactions with the planets. This phenomenon is temporary since the same coupling of Kozai with a MMR will at some point bring the bodies back to states of lower-q values. However, the dynamical time scale in high-q states may be very long, up to several Gyr. For Model 1, about 10% of the bodies driven away by Neptune get trapped into the HPSD when the resonant coupling Kozai-MMR is disrupted by Neptune’s migration. Therefore, Model 1 also supplies a fossil HPSD, whose bodies remain in non-resonant orbits and thus stable for the age of the solar system, in addition to the HPSD formed by temporary captures of SDOs after the giant planets reached their current orbits. We find that about 12 – 15% of the surviving bodies of our samples are incorporated into the HPSD after about 4 – 5 Gyr, and that a large fraction of the captures occur for up to the 1:8 MMR (a ⋍ 120 AU), although we record captures up to the 1:24 MMR (a ≃ 260 AU). Because of the Kozai mechanism, HPSD objects have on average inclinations about 25°–50°, which are higher than those of the classical Edgeworth–Kuiper (EK) belt or the SD. Our results suggest that Sedna belongs to a dynamically distinct population from the HPSD, possibly being a member of the inner core of the Oort cloud. As regards to 2000 CR₁₀₅ , it is marginally within the region occupied by HPSD objects in the parametric planes (q,a) and (a,i), so it is not ruled out that it might be a member of the HPSD, though it might as well belong to the inner core.     

Using SHRIMP zircon dating to unravel tectonothermal events in arc environments. The early Palaeozoic arc of NW Iberia revisited

Abstract Dating of zircon cores and rims from granulites developed in a shear zone provides insights into the complex relationship between magmatism and metamorphism in the deep roots of arc environments. The granulites belong to the uppermost allochthonous terrane of the NW Iberian Massif, which forms part of a Cambro‐Ordovician magmatic arc developed in the peri‐Gondwanan realm. The obtained zircon ages confirm that voluminous calc‐alkaline magmatism peaked around 500 Ma and was shortly followed by granulite facies metamorphism accompanied by deformation at c. 480 Ma, giving a time framework for crustal heating, regional metamorphism, deformation and partial melting, the main processes that control the tectonothermal evolution of arc systems. Traces of this arc can be discontinuously followed in different massifs throughout the European Variscan Belt, and we propose that the uppermost allochthonous units of the NW Iberian Massif, together with the related terranes in Europe, constitute an independent and coherent terrane that drifted away from northern Gondwana prior to the Variscan collisional orogenesis.     

X-ray intensity-hardness correlation and deep IR observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1RXS J170849-400910

We report here on X-ray and IR observations of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar (AXP) 1RXS J170849-400910. First, we report on new XMM-Newton, Swift-XRT and Chandra observations of this AXP, which confirm the intensity–hardness correlation observed in the long term X-ray monitoring of this source. These new X-ray observations show that the AXP flux is rising again, and the spectrum hardening. If the increase of the source intensity is indeed connected with the glitches and a possible bursting activity, we expect this source to enter in a bursting active phase around 2006–2007. Second, we report on deep IR observations of 1RXS J170849-400910, taken with the VLT-NACO adaptive optics, showing that there are many weak sources consistent with the AXP position. Neither star A or B, as previously proposed by different authors, might yet be conclusively recognised as the IR counterpart of 1RXS J170849-400910. Third, using Monte Carlo simulations, we re-address the calculation of the significance of the absorption line found in a phase-resolved spectrum of this source, and interpreted as a resonant scattering cyclotron feature.     

Transversal ejection-collision orbits in Hill's problem forC≫1

In a recent paper [3], Lacomba and Llibre showed numerically the existence of two transversal ejection-collision orbits in Hill's problem for a valueC=5 of the Jacobian constant. This result can be used to prove the non-existence ofC ¹-extendable regular integrals for Hill's problem. Here we give an analytic proof of the existence of four ejection-collision orbits which are transversal for large enough values ofC.     

Optical observations of the nucleus of NGC 4151

Photographic observations of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151, carried out during the last seven years, are reported. The object shows irregular variations between photographic magnitudes 11.2 and 13.0.     

Radial velocities in the open cluster IC 2602

We determined radial velocities for 25 probable members of the open cluster IC 2602. We identified the stars with variable radial velocity. We improved the orbit of HD 93030, and computed a preliminary orbit for another spectroscopic binary. We discussed with such data the average cluster radial velocity and we compare the incidence of short period binaries among the Main-Sequence members of IC 2602 with the incidence for other clusters with different values of the average axial rotation of their members.Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Sr-rich minerals in a carbonatite skarn, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Spain)

Summary Metamorphosed carbonatites and related skarn deposits, located in Fuerteventura Basal Complex, contain unusual Sr-rich minerals. Maximum SrO concentration in the following minerals are: calcite, 7.23wt%; apatite, 5.22wt%; epidote, 11.64wt%; clinozoisite, 1.25wt%; allanite, 5.63wt%; britholite, 4.11wt% and a Sr–Na aluminosilicate (probably stronalsite), 16.44wt% SrO. Calcite and apatite are chemically similar to those found in carbonatites and are therefore considered to be of igneous origin. Textural evidence indicates that the first skarn stage garnet+diopside+Sr–Na aluminosilicate formed as the result of chemical interaction between carbonatites and adjacent silicate rocks. The formation of Sr-bearing epidote/clinozoisite, allanite and britholite appears to be related to the release of Sr into the fluid phase from the breakdown of high temperature assemblages during the retrograde skarn stage. During the final evolution stages, further alteration of britholite by bastnäsite and törnebohmite took place. The occurrence of REE minerals shows that the fluids responsible for this metasomatism must also have transported significant quantities of REE.     

Application of lead stable isotopes to the Guadiamar Aquifer study after the mine tailings spill in Aznalcóllar (SW Spain)

On 25 April 1998 the tailings dam of the Aznalcóllar mine burst, a great quantity of pyrite waste sludge and acid water was spilled reaching the vicinity of the Doñana National Park. In surface and ground water samples taken a week after dam breaking, metals, trace elements and Pb isotopic ratios (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb) were analysed. In September 1998 a second sampling survey was carried out. The surface waters have a similar isotopic composition as the lead contained in the pyrite from the Aznalcóllar mine. The polluted groundwater of the Guadiamar aquifer also shows the influence of the mining origin of the lead. Lead isotope ratios (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb) in the groundwater of the Almonte-Marismas are very low and they differ clearly from the rest of groundwater samples. A further group of wells has a lead isotope composition intermediate between the Aznalcóllar mine and the atmospheric aerosols of the Iberian Peninsula.     

Duplicity of some T Tauri stars and related variables

A number of double stars of which at least one component is a T Tauri star or related variable were measured in three fields: φ and χ Tauri (Taurus dark cloud); NGC 7023 and NGC 2264.