Dynamical studies of cluster pairs in the Magellanic Clouds

We performed N -body simulations of star cluster encounters with Hernquist's TREECODE in a CRAY YMP-2E computer under different initial conditions (relative positions and velocities, cluster sizes, masses and concentration degrees). The total number of particles per simulation ranged from 1024 to 20480. These models are compared with a series of isodensity maps of cluster pairs in the Magellanic Clouds. Evidence is found that during the interactions, transient morphological effects such as an expanded halo, isophotal deformation and isophotal twisting can occur as a result of tidal effects and dynamical friction. The simulations also show that different outcomes are possible depending on the initial parameters: (i) long-standing changes of concentration degree can occur after the collision; (ii) one member can disaggregate; or (iii) the pair can coalesce into a single cluster with a distinct structure compared with the original ones. These simulations can reproduce a wide range of morphological structures in observed cluster pairs.     

不同天气背景下京津冀降水临近外推预报

基于2019—2020年京津冀地区不同天气系统影响下的降水过程,采用交叉相关法和光流法对快速更新多尺度分析和预报综合集成系统（Rapid-refresh Multi-Scale Analysis and Prediction System-Integration,RMAPS_IN）的降水分析产品进行0~2 h临近外推预报的批量试验。结果表明：由交叉相关法和光流法计算的两种外推矢量在大小和方向上存在一定差异,直接差异与影响降水的天气系统位置有明显的对应关系,而方向差异受地理位置的影响更明显,台风类降水呈弧形带状分布,低槽冷锋类、低涡类、气旋类、暖切变线类等几类降水均呈西北大东南小的特点;预报效果方面,总体上交叉相关法优于光流法,尤其是预报时效超过30 min以后,各种降水类型的批量检验结果显示交叉相关法的预报评分优于光流法,且预报时效越长、优势越明显,但预报时效为10 min时,光流法在低涡类、台风类、暖切变线类的空报率上优于交叉相关法。此外,基于外推的临近预报方法对京津冀地区台风类降水的预报效果最好,其次为暖切变线类、低涡类、低槽冷锋类、气旋类。     

Numerical Study of the First Compression of a Two-Dimensional Pinch

For studying the first compression phase of a Plasma Focus machine, we developed a 2-fluid, time-dependent, 2-D code. The code includes two species (ions and electrons), two temperatures, radiation, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, magnetic diffusion, and viscosity and is coupled to an external circuit. In order to get reasonable initial conditions for the pinch phase, a simple 1-D model is used for the run-down phase. Under this somewhat ideal Plasma Focus discharge condition, relatively simple scaling laws are obtained. In particular, for a given machine, the pressure (p_o) of maximum thermonuclear production scales with the charging voltage (V_o) as p_o V_{o 2}; the thermonuclear production (Y_n) at these pressures increases with the current (I_o) as Y_n I_o ⁴ and the mean energy per particle is almost independent of all parameters (note that this means that the converging speed should be almost the same regardless of the machine at the optimum conditions). These laws show a reasonable agreement with experimental data and can be explained with a dimensional analysis.     

Residence time distribution in a large unconfined–semiconfined aquifer in the Argentine Pampas using <Superscript>3</Superscript>H/<Superscript>3</Superscript>He and CFC tracers

The Pampa region in Argentina includes vast unconfined–semiconfined aquifers that local economies depend upon, but detailed knowledge of the associated water resources is still lacking. The Pampeano aquifer in the Pampa plain of Argentina covers around 1.5 million km². In order to achieve a better understanding of the hydrogeological system through the estimation of mean residence times (MRT), water samples were taken from 12 monitoring wells, drilled at different depths in four locations, and analyzed for environmental tracers. The concentrations of ³H, tritiogenic ³He and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can be explained by mixtures of young waters adjusted to exponential piston flow models (EPM) or dispersion models (DM), and different proportions of tracer-free waters (dead water). The sampling site located very close to the water divide shows a dominance of young waters: 85 % of water best represented by a DM model with a MRT of 3 years. For the shallow wells at other sites, best-fitting models result in a DM with MRT between 20 and 35 years, and proportions of dead water between 40 and 60 %. These results lead to important updates in the conceptual model of the Pampeano aquifer. Large proportions of dead water at a few meters depth can be the consequence of upward flows in a multilayered aquifer or diffusive retardation in the inter-bedded clay layers.     

Population synthesis of H ii galaxies

We study the stellar population of galaxies with active star formation, determining ages of the stellar components by means of spectral population synthesis of their absorption spectra. The data consist of optical spectra of 185 nearby ( z 0.075) emission-line galaxies . They are mostly H  ii galaxies, but we also include some starbursts and Seyfert 2s, for comparison purposes. They were grouped into 19 high signal-to-noise ratio template spectra, according to their continuum distribution, absorption- and emission-line characteristics. The templates were then synthesized with a star cluster spectral base.
The synthesis results indicate that H  ii galaxies are typically age-composite stellar systems, presenting important contributions from generations up to as old as 500 Myr. We detect a significant contribution of populations with ages older than 1 Gyr in two groups of H  ii galaxies. The age distributions of stellar populations among starbursts can vary considerably despite similarities in the emission-line spectra. In the case of Seyfert 2 groups we obtain important contributions from the old population, consistent with a bulge.
From the diversity of star formation histories, we conclude that typical H  ii galaxies in the local Universe are not systems presently forming their first stellar generation.     

Constraining the LMC cluster age gap: Washington photometry of NGC 2155 and SL 896 (LW 480)

We carried out Washington system photometry of the intermediate-age Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) star clusters NGC 2155 and SL 896 (LW 480). We derive ages and metallicities from the T ₁ versus     colour–magnitude diagrams (CMDs). For the first time an age has been obtained for SL 896,     . For NGC 2155 we derive     . The two clusters basically define the lower age limit of the LMC age gap. In particular, NGC 2155 is confirmed as the oldest intermediate-age LMC cluster so far studied. The derived metallicities are     and     for NGC 2155 and SL 896, respectively. We also studied the CMDs of the surrounding fields, which have a dominant turn-off comparable to that of the clusters themselves, and similar metallicity, showing that one is dealing with an intermediate-age disc where clusters and field stars have the same origin. We inserted the present clusters in the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) age–metallicity relations, using a set of homogeneous determinations with the same method as in our previous studies, now totalling 15 LMC clusters and four SMC clusters, together with some additional values from the literature. The LMC and SMC age–metallicity relations appear to be remarkably complementary, since the SMC was actively star-forming during the LMC quiescent age gap epoch.     

Ages and metallicities of five intermediate-age star clusters projected towards the Small Magellanic Cloud

Colour–magnitude diagrams are presented for the first time for L32, L38, K28 (L43), K44 (L68) and L116, which are clusters projected on to the outer parts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The photometry was carried out in the Washington system C and T ₁ filters, allowing the determination of ages by means of the magnitude difference between the red giant clump and the main-sequence turn-off, and metallicities from the red giant branch locus. The clusters have ages in the range 2–6 Gyr , and metallicities in the range −1.65<[Fe/H]<−1.10, increasing the sample of intermediate-age clusters in the SMC. L116, the outermost cluster projected on to the SMC, is a foreground cluster, and somewhat closer to us than the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our results, combined with those for other clusters in the literature, show epochs of sudden chemical enrichment in the age–metallicity plane, which favour a bursting star formation history as opposed to a continuous one for the SMC.