Graded-Density Reservoirs for Accessing High Stress Low Temperature Material States

In recently developed laser-driven shockless compression experiments an ablatively driven shock in a primary target is transformed into a ramp compression wave in a secondary target via unloading followed by stagnation across an intermediate vacuum gap. Current limitations on the achievable peak longitudinal stresses are limited by the ability of shaping the temporal profile of the ramp compression pulse. We report on new techniques using graded density reservoirs for shaping the loading profile and extending these techniques to high peak pressures.     

Is Ursa Major II the progenitor of the Orphan Stream?

Prominent in the 'Field of Streams'– the Sloan Digital Sky Survey map of substructure in the Galactic halo – is an 'Orphan Stream' without obvious progenitor. In this numerical study, we show a possible connection between the newly found dwarf satellite Ursa Major II (UMa II) and the Orphan Stream. We provide numerical simulations of the disruption of UMa II that match the observational data on the position, distance and morphology of the Orphan Stream. We predict the radial velocity of UMa II as −100 km s⁻¹, as well as the existence of strong velocity gradients along the Orphan Stream. The velocity dispersion of UMa II is expected to be high, though this can be caused both by a high dark matter content or by the presence of unbound stars in a disrupted remnant. However, the existence of a gradient in the mean radial velocity across UMa II provides a clear-cut distinction between these possibilities. The simulations support the idea that some of the anomalous, young halo globular clusters like Palomar 1 or Arp 2 or Ruprecht 106 may be physically associated with the Orphan Stream.     

SWAS observations of water vapor in the Venus mesosphere

We present the first detections of the ground-state H₂¹⁶O (₁₁₀-₁₀₁) rotational transition (at 556.9 GHz) and the ¹³CO (5-4) rotational transition from the atmosphere of Venus, measured with the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS). The observed spectral features of these submillimeter transitions originate primarily from the 70-100 km altitude range, within the Venus mesosphere. Observations were obtained in December 2002, and January, March, and July 2004, coarsely sampling one Venus diurnal period as seen from Earth. The measured water vapor absorption line depth shows large variability among the four observing periods, with strong detections of the line in December 2002 and July 2004, and no detections in January and March 2004. Retrieval of atmospheric parameters was performed using a multi-transition inversion algorithm, combining simultaneous retrievals of temperature, carbon monoxide, and water profiles under imposed constraints. Analysis of the SWAS spectra resulted in measurements or upper limits for the globally averaged mesospheric water vapor abundance for each of the four observation periods, finding variability over at least two orders of magnitude. The results are consistent with both temporal and diurnal variability, but with short-term fluctuations clearly dominating. These results are fully consistent with the long-term study of mesospheric water vapor from millimeter and submillimeter observations of HDO [Sandor, B.J., Clancy, R.T., 2005. Icarus 177, 129-143]. The December 2002 observations detected very rapid change in the mesospheric water abundance. Over five days, a deep water absorption feature consistent with a water vapor abundance of 4.5±1.5 parts per million suddenly gave way to a significantly shallower absorption, implying a decrease in the water vapor abundance by a factor of nearly 50 in less that 48 h. In 2004, similar changes in the water vapor abundance were measured between the March and July SWAS observing periods, but variability on time scales of less than a week was not detected. The mesospheric water vapor is expected to be in equilibrium with aerosol particles, primarily composed of concentrated sulfuric acid, in the upper haze layers of the Venus atmosphere. If true, moderate amplitude (10-15 K) variability in mesospheric temperature, previously noted in millimeter spectroscopy observations of Venus, can explain the rapid water vapor variability detected by SWAS.     

Iapetus' geophysics: Rotation rate, shape, and equatorial ridge

Iapetus has preserved evidence that constrains the modeling of its geophysical history from the time of its accretion until now. The evidence is (a) its present 79.33-day rotation or spin rate, (b) its shape that corresponds to the equilibrium figure for a hydrostatic body rotating with a period of ∼16 h, and (c) its high, equatorial ridge, which is unique in the Solar System. This paper reports the results of an investigation into the coupling between Iapetus' thermal and orbital evolution for a wide range of conditions including the spatial distributions with time of composition, porosity, short-lived radioactive isotopes (SLRI), and temperature. The thermal model uses conductive heat transfer with temperature-dependent conductivity. Only models with a thick lithosphere and an interior viscosity in the range of about the water ice melting point can explain the observed shape. Short-lived radioactive isotopes provide the heat needed to decrease porosity in Iapetus' early history. This increases thermal conductivity and allows the development of the strong lithosphere that is required to preserve the 16-h rotational shape and the high vertical relief of the topography. Long-lived radioactive isotopes and SLRI raise internal temperatures high enough that significant tidal dissipation can start, and despin Iapetus to synchronous rotation. This occurred several hundred million years after Iapetus formed. The models also constrain the time when Iapetus formed because the successful models are critically dependent upon having just the right amount of heat added by SLRI decay in this early period. The amount of heat available from short-lived radioactivity is not a free parameter but is fixed by the time when Iapetus accreted, by the canonical concentration of ²⁶Al, and, to a lesser extent, by the concentration of ⁶⁰Fe. The needed amount of heat is available only if Iapetus accreted between 2.5 and 5.0 Myr after the formation of the calcium aluminum inclusions as found in meteorites. Models with these features allow us to explain Iapetus' present synchronous rotation, its fossil 16-h shape, and the context within which the equatorial ridge arose.     

Search for GRB related prompt optical emission and other fast varying objects with “Pi of the Sky” detector

Experiment “Pi of the Sky” is designed to search for prompt optical emission from GRB sources. 32 CCD cameras covering 2 steradians will monitor the sky continuously. The data will be analysed on-line in search for optical flashes. The prototype with 2 cameras operated at Las Campanas (Chile) since 2004 has recognised several outbursts of flaring stars and has given limits for a few GRB.     

3He, 20,21,22Ne, 14C, 10Be, 26Al,and 36Cl in magnetic fractions of cosmic dust from Greenland and Antarctica

Abstract— We report on studies of the concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides in the magnetic fraction of cosmic dust particles recovered from the South Pole Water Well (SPWW) and from Greenland. Our results confirm that cosmic dust material from these locations contains measurable amounts of cosmogenic nuclides. The Antarctic particles (and possibly those from Greenland as well) also contain minor amounts of solar Ne. Concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides are consistent with irradiation of this material as small objects in space, with exposure ages similar to the expected Poynting‐Robertson (P‐R) lifetimes of 50–200 kyr for particles 25–100 μm in size.