A realistic model for point-sources imaged on array detectors: The model and initial results

We have constructed a computer model for simulation of point-sources imaged on two-dimensional detectors. An attempt has been made to ensure that the model produces data that mimic real data taken with 2-D detectors. To be realistic, such simulations must include randomly generated noise of the appropriate type from all sources (e.g. source, background, and detector). The model is generic and accepts input values for parameters such as pixel size, read noise, source magnitude, and sky brightness. Point-source profiles are then generated with noise and detector characteristics added via our model. The synthetic data are output as simple integrations (onedimensional), as radial slices (two-dimensional), and as intensity-contour plots (three-dimensional). Each noise source can be turned on or off so that they can be studied separately as well as in combination to yield a realistic view of an image. This paper presents the basic properties of the model and some examples of how it can be used to simulate the effects of changing image position, image scale, signal strength, noise characteristics, and data reduction procedures.Use of the model has allowed us to confirm and quantify three points: 1) The use of traditionalsize apertures for photometry of faint point-sources adds substantial noise to the measurement which can significantly degrade the quality of the observation; 2) The number of pixels used to estimate the background is important and must be considered when estimating errors; and 3) The CCD equation normally used by the astronomical community consistently overestimates the signal-to-noise obtainable by a measurement while a revised equation, discussed here, provides a better estimator.     

A multivariate statistical and geostatistical study on the geochemistry of allochtonous karst bauxite deposits in Hungary

A geochemical evaluation of the Szc-Halimba-Kisld area, Hungary, covering an area of more than 200 km² is presented using different statistical and geostatistical methods. The study area is a representative example of allochtonous karst bauxite accumulation. The three groups of deposits studied here have been explored and mined since 1950. Several thousand boreholes have been drilled, and bauxite cores were analyzed for the five main chemical components. A total of 80,000 pleces of analytical data were processed, followed by a geological examination of borehole logs and of mining excavations.The quantitative geochemical evaluation of the data set led to both geochemical and practical results: The geochemical behavior of the allochtonous, clastic karst bauxite deposits differs essentially from that of the autochtonous and parautochtonous ones, as well as that of the lateritic bauxite deposits. The deposits of the study area can be split into several subsequent geochemical-sedimentological units, each representing an event of bauxite transport and accumulation. Clear regional patterns can be revealed in the composition of these units. The geostatistically measured chemical variability of the geochemical units is rather different, the lowest units showing the smallest variability. The interrelations of the main chemical components are weaker and more irregular in the studied deposits than in the autochtonous lateritic bauxite deposits. Additional local genetic features, such as transport routes, can be delineated by the methods applied. Within each deposit, local changes of chemical composition and of its variability can be determined more precisely. These results can be used in bauxite prospecting and exploration, because areas of high or low bauxite quality can be predicted.     

Far-infrared observations of main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells

We present 50 and 100µm photometry and size information for several main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells. The observations from NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory include the Vega-like stars, Beta Pic, Fomalhaut, as well as four stars suggested by Walker and Wolstencroft to belong possibly to the same class. The results of our observations are best interpreted as upper limits to the far-infrared sizes of the dust clouds around all of the stars except Fomalhaut and Beta Pic. We have also fit simple, optically thin models to the Beta Pic data to explore the range of shell parameters consistent with our limits and with previous observations.     

Dark matter particles and the flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies

It is shown that a gas of massive bosonic particles (m 60 eV), e.g. Higgs particles, surrounding disk galaxies is able to generate the flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies without internal difficulties with physical principles. We have analyzed 36 galaxies and find good agreement with the empirical data.     

Circumstellar dust and circumstellar extinction curves

We have calculated the circumstellar extinction curves produced by dust grains which absorb and scatter the stellar radiation in the shells of pre-main-sequence stars. A Monte Carlo method was used to model the radiative transfer in non-spherical shells. The dependence on the particle size distribution and the dust shell parameters has been examined.The application of the theoretical results to explain the extinction and polarization of the Herbig Be star HD 45677 shows that the dust shell is not disk-like and that very small grains are absent in it.     

Phase transitions in the ISM a source of dissipative behaviour

By considering a simple fluid model, we investigate the role of phase transitions in the ISM on the galaxy- scale gas dynamics. Cooling and heating timescales in the ISM are typically shorter than typical galactic rotation timescales, so the individual phases in the ISM can be assumed to be in temperature equilibrium with the radiation field. Using this approximation we can construct an equation of state which depends upon the average density and mass fractions in the individual phases. Previous studies suggest that there is an equilibrium phase fraction as a function of pressure. We incorporate evolution towards this equilibrium state as a relaxation term with a time to obtain equilibrium . We derive a condition in terms of a critical Mach number when one dimensional shocks should be continuous. For small values of the relaxation time we show that the relaxation term acts like a viscosity. We show with one dimensional simulations that increasing causes shocks to become smoother. This work suggests that phase changes can strongly effect the gas dynamics of the ISM across spiral arms and bars.     

Large,solid particles in the clouds of Venus: Do they exist?

The discovery of large, solid particles in the clouds of Venus is one of the most significant findings of Pioneer Venus because it means that a substantial mass of the clouds is composed of a material other than sulfuric acid. The evidence which suggests that solid particles form a distinctive size mode is reexamined. The mode is defined by a discontinuity between two size ranges of the Pioneer Venus particle size spectrometer. This discontinuity could represent a real size mode. However, it could also be an artifact of the measurement technique. R. G. Knollenberg (1984) discusses several possible instrumental effects which might have caused this discontinuity. It is hypothesized herein that such effects did occur and that the large particles are really the tail of the mode 2 sulfuric acid particle size distribution and are not a separate mode of solid particles. Using such a revised size distribution, it is shown that all of the Pioneer Venus and Venera optical data from the lower clouds can be explained with sulfuric acid droplets without introducing any solid particles. As a by-product of this analysis, it is also found that the upper clouds of Venus must contain a material with a higher refractive index than sulfuric acid. A small quantity of sulfur could account for this observation.     

Decimetric type III radio bursts and associated hard X-ray spikes

A detailed comparison is made between hard X-ray spikes and decimetric type III radio bursts for a relatively weak solar flare on 1981 August 6 at 10: 32 UT. The hard X-ray observations were made at energies above 30 keV with the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission and with a balloon-born coarse-imaging spectrometer from Frascati, Italy. The radio data were obtained in the frequency range from 100 to 1000 MHz with the analog and digital instruments from Zürich, Switzerland. All the data sets have a time resolution of 0.1 s or better. The dynamic radio spectrum shows many fast drift type III radio bursts with both normal and reverse slope, while the X-ray time profile contains many well resolved short spikes with durations of 1 s. Some of the X-ray spikes appear to be associated in time with reverse-slop bursts suggesting either that the electron beams producing the radio bursts contain two or three orders of magnitude more fast electrons than has previously been assumed or that the electron beams can trigger or occur in coincidence with the acceleration of additional electrons. One case is presented in which a normal slope radio burst at 600 MHz occurs in coincidence with the peak of an X-ray spike to within 0.1 s. If the coincidence is not merely accidental and if it is meaningful to compare peak times, then the short delay would indicate that the radio signal was at the harmonic and that the electrons producing the radio burst were accelerated at an altitude of 4 × 10⁹ cm. Such a short delay is inconsistent with models invoking cross-field drifts to produce the electron beams that generate type III bursts but it supports the model incorporating a MASER proposed by Sprangle and Vlahos (1983).     

Thermal effect on the pulses of the rotating Sun

In this paper, a theoretical investigation is undertaken of the group travel-time for the Sun's pulses to travel from the source of the pulse to the solar surface. For mathematical simplicity, we consider a simple ionized model of the Sun that includes the thermal effect and rotation with uniform angular velocity. The expression for the group travel time gives two terms: the term arising from the linear theory which varies inversely to (2-)^1/2 and the term introduced by the thermal effect which is inversely proportional to (2-)^7/2. The thermal effect variation has been shown and an estimation of the temperature of the medium has been made. Furthermore, the velocity distribution and the amplitude of the magnetic field of the wave, arising from the damping of ionized particles, have been calculated.     

Limb-darkening and solar cycle variation of sunspot intensities

New observations of the umbral limb-darkening are presented. We find a real and significant decrease in the umbra/photosphere intensity ratio towards the limb. This result contrasts the findings of previous authors and we believe this to be the first time such a decrease is reported. Our conclusion is based on broad band pinhole photometer intensity observations of 22 large sunspots covering the spectral region 0.387–2.35 m. The data are selected from measurements on approximately 600 days during the last 15.5 yr. The application of the limb-darkening data to the study of the temperature stratification in the umbra is briefly discussed. The observations confirm the suggestion that the umbra/photosphere intensity ratio seems to be a linear function of the phase in the solar cycle.