River Warren boulders, Minnesota, USA: catastrophic paleoflow indicators in the southern spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz

Boulders resting on meltwater-sculpted and striated-granite bedrock near the head of the southern outlet spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz are used to generate paleodischarge calculations. The rounded nature of many boulders suggests fluvial transport and a corestone origin. The distribution of boulders in clusters and linear trains records the interaction of clasts during transport and deposition. The geomorphology of the spillway with streamlined erosional remnant hills is characteristic of other large flood spillways. Using the Manning equation and a variety of empirical equations to determine paleovelocity, preferred discharges between 0.364 and 0.102 Sv are calculated. These discharges agree well with flood discharges using modeling methodologies, and most likely represent ephemeral and catastrophic flood events linked to either episodic incision at the outlet or the result of rapid inputs of meltwater to Lake Agassiz.     

Low-frequency electric field fluctuations excited by ring current protons

Energetic protons haying ring type distributions are shown to generate low-frequency electrostatic waves, propagating nearly transverse to the geomagnetic field lines, in the ring current region by exciting Mode 1 arid Mode 2 nonresonant instabilities and a resonant instability. Mode 1 nonresonant instability has frequencies around ~4 Hz with transverse wavelengths of ~(8–80) km, and it is likely to occur in the region L = (7–8). Mode 2 nonresonant instability can generate frequencies ~(850–1450) Hz with transverse wavelengths ~(2–20) km. The typical frequencies and transverse wavelengths associated with the resonant instability are (950–1250) Hz and (30–65) km. Both the Mode 2 nonresonant instability and the resonant instability can occur in the ring current region with L = (4–6). The low-frequency modes driven by energetic protons could attain maximum saturation electric field amplitude varying from 0.8 mV/m to 70 mV/m. It is suggested that the turbulence produced by the low-frequency modes may cause pitch angle scattering of ring current protons in the region outside the plasmapause resulting in the ring current decay.     

A technique for calibration of monostatic echosounder systems

A calibration technique has been adapted to render complete system calibrations of high-frequency acoustical instrumentation. This is based on standard targets; specifically, precisely manufactured spheres composed of tungsten carbide with 6% cobalt binder. The use of multiple sphere sizes was found to be advantageous, both as an independent check of the calibrations, and so that resonances in the sphere responses at certain frequencies could be avoided. Complete system gains and beam patterns, which include effects of bandpass filters and finite-pulse lengths, were determined by moving the spheres individually in the transducer far-fields. Use of this procedure ensures control over the acoustical characteristics of transducers, which may change from the time of manufacture and first testing due, for example, to platform mounting. It also provides a direct means of measuring the sampling volume at relatively high and constant signal-to-noise ratios. Implementation of this technique is discussed using a multifrequency sonar system as an example     

Studying Hydrodynamic Instability Using Shock-Tube Experiments

The hydrodynamic instability, which develops on the contact surface between two fluids, has great importance in astrophysical phenomena such as the inhomogeneous density distribution following a supernova event. In this event acceleration waves pass across a material interface and initiate and enhance unstable conditions in which small perturbations grow dramatically. In the present study, an experimental technique aimed at investigating the above-mentioned hydrodynamic instability is presented. The experimental investigation is based on a shock-tube apparatus by which a shock wave is generated and initiates the instability that develops on the contact surface between two gases. The flexibility of the system enables one to vary the initial shape of the contact surface, the shock-wave Mach number, and the density ratio across the contact surface. Three selected sets of shock-tube experiments are presented in order to demonstrate the system capabilities: (1) large-initial amplitudes with low-Mach-number incident shock waves; (2) small-initial amplitudes with moderate-Mach-number incident shock waves; and (3) shock bubble interaction. In the large-amplitude experiments a reduction of the initial velocity with respect to the linear growth prediction was measured. The results were compared to those predicted by a vorticity-deposition model and to previous experiments with moderate- and high-Mach number incident shock waves that were conducted by others. In this case, a reduction of the initial velocity was noted. However, at late times the growth rate had a 1/t behavior as in the small-amplitude low-Mach number case. In the small-amplitude moderate-Mach number shock experiments a reduction from the impulsive theory was noted at the late stages. The passage of a shock wave through a spherical bubble results in the formation of a vortex ring. Simple dimensional analysis shows that the circulation depends linearly on the speed of sound of the surrounding material and on the initial bubble radius.     

Measurement of radiative lifetimes and determination of transition probabilities of astrophysical interest in Ho iii

Lifetimes of six levels belonging to the 4f¹⁰6p configuration of Ho  iii have been measured for the first time using the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence method. They are compared with multiconfigurational pseudo-relativistic Hartree–Fock calculations. A very good agreement is found. Using the experimental lifetimes and theoretical branching fractions, a first set of transition probabilities of astrophysical interest has been obtained for this ion.     

The evolutionary history of early-type galaxies as derived from the fundamental plane

The fundamental plane (FP) scaling relations and their evolution are a powerful tool for studying the global properties of early-type galaxies and their evolutionary history. The form of the FP, as derived by surveys in the local Universe at wavelengths ranging from the U to the K band, cannot be explained by metallicity variations alone among early-type galaxies; systematic variations in age, dark matter content, or homology breaking are required. A large-scale study of early-type galaxies at 0.1 < z < 0.6demonstrates that the SB intercept of the FP, the rest frame (U-V) colour, and the absorption line strengths all evolve passively, thereby implying a high mean formation redshift for the stellar content. The slope of the FP evolves with redshift, which is broadly consistent with systematic age effects occurring along the early-type galaxy sequence. The implication that the least luminous early-type galaxies formed later than the luminous galaxies is discussed in the context of the evolution of thecolour–magnitude relation, the Butcher–Oemler effect and hierarchical galaxy formation models. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mid-infrared observations of methanol maser sites and ultracompact H ii regions: signposts of high-mass star formation

N -band (10.5 μm) and/or Q -band (20.0 μm) images taken with MANIAC on the ESO/MPI 2.2-m telescope are presented for 31 methanol maser sites and 19 ultracompact (UC) H  ii regions. Most of the maser sites and UC H  ii regions are coincident with mid-infrared (MIR) sources to within the positional uncertainties of ∼ 3 arcsec, consistent with the maser emission being powered by the MIR source. The IRAS source positions, however, do not always coincide with the MIR sources.
Based on an average infrared spectral energy distribution, we deduce that the MIR objects are luminous enough that they should also produce a strong ionizing radiation. Some sources are consistent with stars of later spectral type, but not all can be. A number of maser sites show no detectable radio continuum emission associated with MIR emission, despite a powering source luminous enough potentially to produce an UC H  ii region. Since no signs of an UC H  ii region are detected here, these maser sites might be produced during a very early stage of stellar evolution.
We present objects that show evidence of outflow activity stemming from a maser site, exhibiting CO and/or CS line profiles indicative of outflows coincident with the MIR source. These cases are promising examples of maser sites signposting the earliest stages of high-mass star formation.     

Invariance and scaling properties in the distributions of contributing area and energy in drainage basins

The cumulative probability distributions for stream order, stream length, contributing area, and energy dissipation per unit length of channel are derived, for an ordered drainage system, from Horton's laws of network composition. It is shown how these distributions can be related to the fractal nature of single rivers and river networks. Finally, it is shown that the structure proposed here for these probability distributions is able to fit the observed frequency distributions, and their deviations from straight lines in a log-log plot.     

Fractal space-time and black-body radiation

We discuss the possibility of setting upper limits to deviations of the dimensionD of space from the standard integer value of 3. The method we suggest — a reanalysis of the Planck law for the black-body radiation in aD-dimensional space — is less sensitive than other methods previously suggested. It offers, however, the possibility of probing the fractal dimension of space-time over cosmological distances.