Possibility of Excitation of Low-ℓ P-Modes by Energetic Solar Transients

We examine the temporal variation of power in low-ℓ modes using GONG data for the period of May 1995–October 2005 and compare this with disk-integrated flare and CME indices. A poor correlation between the running means of Flare Index and mode power is found. A similar result is found for CME Index also. Variations in the running mean mode power corresponding to ℓ = 0 modes with different radial orders are generally stochastic in nature. This behaviour is also reflected in the distribution of mode power.     

Bayesian foreground analysis with CMB data

The quality of CMB observations has improved dramatically in the last few years, and will continue to do so in the coming decade. Over a wide range of angular scales, the uncertainty due to instrumental noise is now small compared to the cosmic variance. One may claim with some justification that we have entered the era of precision CMB cosmology. However, some caution is still warranted: The errors due to residual foreground contamination in the CMB power spectrum and cosmological parameters remain largely unquantified, and the effect of these errors on important cosmological parameters such as the optical depth τ and spectral index n_s is not obvious. A major goal for current CMB analysis efforts must therefore be to develop methods that allow us to propagate such uncertainties from the raw data through to the final products. Here we review a recently proposed method that may be a first step towards that goal.     

Clusters and groups of galaxies in the 2dF galaxy redshift survey: A new catalogue

We create a new catalogue of groups and clusters, applying the friends‐of‐friends method to the 2dF GRS final release. We investigate various selection effects due to the use of a magnitude limited sample. For this purpose we follow the changes in group sizes and mean galaxy number densities within groups when shifting nearby observed groups to larger distances. We study the distribution of sizes of dark matter haloes in N ‐body simulations and compare properties of these haloes and the 2dF groups. We show that at large distances from the observer luminous and intrinsically greater groups dominate, but in these groups only very bright members are seen, which form compact cores of the groups. These two effects almost cancel each other, so that the mean sizes and densities of groups do not change considerably with distance. Our final sample contains 10750 groups in the Northern part, and 14465 groups in the Southern part of the 2dF survey with membership N _gal ≥ 2. We estimate the total luminosities of our groups, correcting for group members fainter than the observational limit of the survey. The cluster catalogue is available at our web‐site ( http://www.aai.ee/∼maret/2dfgr.html ). (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Suzaku observation of NGC 3516: complex absorption and the broad and narrow Fe K lines

We present preliminary results from a 150 ks Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3516. Suzaku 's wide bandpass has enabled us to deconvolve the broadband emitting and absorbing components in this object, breaking model degeneracies inherent in previous, smaller‐bandpass spectra. The primary power‐law continuum is absorbed by an ionized absorber as well as a partial‐covering absorber; the column density of the ionized absorber has increased by a factor of ∼3 since XMM‐Newton observations in 2001. We detect a soft power‐law component which may be scattered emission. We confirm the presence of the broad Fe line, finding a eV equivalent width line that indicates emission extending down to a few Schwarzschild radii. Models which exclude either the broad line or the partial‐covering absorber are rejected. Suzaku 's high effective area and low background near 6 keV also allow us to resolve the narrow Fe K emission line; we find a FWHM velocity width near 4000 km s^–1, commensurate with Broad Line Region velocities. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A modelling study of satellite beacon measurements of protonospheric replenishment

Recent satellite beacon derived measurements of the recovery of protonospheric ionization following periods of increased geomagnetic activity show that the recovery takes longer than is indicated by whistler measurements. Realistic plasmasphere models have been used to determine whether satellite beacon measurements are reliable indicators of this recovery. It is found that the recovery time of the protonospheric content is similar to that of the minimum L-value flux tube intersected by the slant raypaths. Satellite beacon results are therefore useful indicators of protonospheric recovery after a storm provided any unrepresentative diurnal variations are eliminated.     

Hill stability of satellite orbits

Szebehely's criterion for Hill stability of satellites is derived from Hill's problem and a more exact result is obtained. Direct, Hill stable, circular satellites can exist almost twice as far from the planet as retrograde satellites. For direct satellites the new result agrees with Kuiper's empirical estimate that such satellites are stable up to a distance of half the radius of action of the planet. Comparison with the results of numerical experiments shows that Hill 'stability is valid for direct satellites but meaningless for retrograde satellites. Further accuracy for the maximum distance of Hill stable orbits is obtained from the restricted problem formulation. This provides estimates for planetary distances in double star systems.