Probing the physics of interacting galaxies

The morphological and velocity structures in the gaseous (HI and CO) and stellar components of two interacting systems are examined. Both Arp 140 and Arp 104 reveal extended tidal tails in the HI. The Hα and FIR fluxes of Arp 140 yield similar SFR of ∼ 0.8 M_⊙ yr^-1. In contrast the Hα flux of Arp 104 yields a SFR of ∼ 0.05 M_⊙ yr^-1, ∼ 20 times smaller than that obtained from the FIR flux. Spectra were used to examine the changing velocity of atomic and molecular gas in NGC 5218 (Arp 104). The atomic and molecular gas were found to be dynamically similar with comparable velocities and velocity widths across the galaxy; consistent with the two phases responding similarly to the interaction, or enhanced HI to CO conversion in the centre of the galaxy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Resonant and Secular Families of the Kuiper Belt

We review ongoing efforts to identify occupants of mean-motion resonances(MMRs) and collisional families in the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt. Directintegrations of trajectories of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) reveal the 1:1(Trojan), 5:4, 4:3, 3:2 (Plutino), 5:3, 7:4, 9:5, 2:1 (Twotino), and 5:2 MMRsto be inhabited. Apart from the Trojan, resonant KBOs typically have largeorbital eccentricities and inclinations. The observed pattern of resonanceoccupation is consistent with resonant capture and adiabatic excitation bya migratory Neptune; however, the dynamically cold initial conditions priorto resonance sweeping that are typically assumed by migration simulationsare probably inadequate. Given the dynamically hot residents of the 5:2 MMRand the substantial inclinations observed in all exterior MMRs, a fraction ofthe primordial belt was likely dynamically pre-heated prior to resonancesweeping. A pre-heated population may have arisen as Neptune gravitationallyscattered objects into trans-Neptunian space. The spatial distribution of Twotinosoffers a unique diagnostic of Neptune's migration history. The Neptunian Trojanpopulation may rival the Jovian Trojan population, and the former's existence isargued to rule out violent orbital histories for Neptune. Finally, lowest-order seculartheory is applied to several hundred non-resonant KBOs with well-measured orbitsto update proposals of collisional families. No convincing family is detected.     

Observations of SN1988A with the faint object spectrograph on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope

We present two spectra of the supernova SN1988A in M58 (NGC4579) over the wavelength range 4000–9700 Å, as recorded by the Faint Object Spectrograph on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. We conclude that SN1988A was a type II supernova.     

Magnetic Reconnection, Turbulence, and Collisionless Shock

A short summary of recent progress in measuring and understanding turbulence during magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas is given. Magnetic reconnection is considered as a primary process to dissipate magnetic energy in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. A central question concerns why the observed reconnection rates are much faster than predictions made by classical theories, such as the Sweet–Parker model based on MHD with classical Spitzer resistivity. Often, the local resistivity is conjectured to be enhanced by turbulence to accelerate reconnection rates either in the context of the Sweet–Parker model or by facilitating setup of the Pestchek model. Measurements at a dedicated laboratory experiment, called MRX or Magnetic Reconnection Experiment, have indicated existence of strong electromagnetic turbulence in current sheets undergoing fast reconnection. The origin of the turbulence has been identified as right-hand polarized whistler waves, propagating obliquely to the reconnecting field, with a phase velocity comparable to the relative drift velocity. These waves are consistent with an obliquely propagating electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift instability driven by drift speeds large compared to the Alfven speed in high-beta plasmas. Interestingly, this instability may explain electromagnetic turbulence also observed in collisionless shocks, which are common in energetic astrophysical phenomena.     

Observation and preliminary analysis of a recent Jovian satellite phenomenon

The occultation of Io by Ganymede as observed on 10 June 1985 is reported. The middle of the occultation minimum was found to occur at 14h 14m 5.7s UT. In the plane perpendicular to the line of sight the centres of the two satellite disks passed to within ~ 2530 km of each other, at a relative velocity, in this plane, of about 11 kms^–1. The values of these last two quantities, however, depend on what assumptions are made about the light distribution over io's disk.     

A neural network approach to ship track-keeping control

This paper presents an on-line trained neural net work controller for ship track-keeping problems. Following a brief review of the ship track-keeping control development since the 1980's, an analysis of various existing backpropagation-based neural controllers is provided. We then propose a single-input multioutput (SIMO) neural control strategy for situations where the exact mathematical dynamics of the ship are not available. The aim of this study is to build an autonomous neural controller which uses rudder to regulate both the tracking error and heading error. During the whole control process, the proposed SIMO neural controller adapts itself on-line from a direct evaluation of the control accuracy, and hence the need for a “teacher” or an off-line training process can be removed. With a relatively modest amount of quantitative knowledge of the ship behavior, the design philosophy enables real time control of a nonlinear ship model under random wind disturbances and measurement noise. Three different track-keeping tasks have been simulated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the training method and the robust performance of the proposed neural control strategy     

A numerical study of the pre-ejection, magnetically-sheared corona as a free boundary problem

A class of magnetostatic equilibria with axial symmetry outside a unit sphere in the presence of plasma pressure and an r ^–2 gravitational field is constructed. The structure contains a localized current-carrying region confined by a background bipolar potential field, and the shape of the region changes subject to the variation of the electric current. The continuity requirement for the magnetic field and plasma pressures at the outer boundary of the cavity defines a free boundary problem, which is solved numerically using a spectral boundary scheme. The model is then used to study the expansion of the current-carrying region, caused by the buildup of magnetic shear, against the background confining field. The magnetic shear in our model is induced by the loading of an azimuthal field, accompanied by a depletion of plasma density.We show that due to the additional effect of confinement by the dense surrounding plasma, the energy of the magnetic field can exceed the energy of its associated open field, presumably a necessary condition for the onset of coronal mass ejections. (However, the plasma beta of the confining fluid is higher than that in the outer boundary of a realistic helmet-streamer structure.) Furthermore, under the assumption that coronal mass ejections are driven by magnetic buoyancy, the result from our model study lends further support to the notion of a suspended magnetic flux rope in the low-density cavity of a helmet-streamer as a promising pre-ejection configuration.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.