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.     

The Sun–Earth saddle point: characterization and opportunities to test general relativity

The saddle points are locations where the net gravitational accelerations balance. These regions are gathering more attention within the astrophysics community. Regions about the saddle points present clean, close-to-zero background acceleration environments where possible deviations from General Relativity can be tested and quantified. Their location suggests that flying through a saddle point can be accomplished by leveraging highly nonlinear orbits. In this paper, the geometrical and dynamical properties of the Sun–Earth saddle point are characterized. A systematic approach is devised to find ballistic orbits that experience one or multiple passages through this point. A parametric analysis is performed to consider spacecraft initially on \(L_{1,2}\) Lagrange point orbits. Sun–Earth saddle point ballistic fly-through trajectories are evaluated and classified for potential use. Results indicate an abundance of short-duration, regular solutions with a variety of characteristics.     

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna double black holes: dynamics in gaseous nuclear discs

We study the inspiral of double black holes, with masses in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna ( LISA ) window of detectability, orbiting inside a massive circumnuclear, rotationally supported gaseous disc. Using high-resolution smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we follow the black hole dynamics in the early phase when gas-dynamical friction acts on the black holes individually, and continue our simulation until they form a close binary. We find that in the early sinking the black holes lose memory of their initial orbital eccentricity if they corotate with the gaseous disc. As a consequence, the massive black holes bind forming a binary with a low eccentricity, consistent with zero within our numerical resolution limit. The cause of circularization resides in the rotation present in the gaseous background where dynamical friction operates. Circularization may hinder gravitational waves from taking over and leading the binary to coalescence. In the case of counter-rotating orbits, the initial eccentricity (if present) does not decrease, and the black holes may bind forming an eccentric binary. When dynamical friction has subsided, for equal mass black holes and regardless their initial eccentricity, angular momentum loss, driven by the gravitational torque exerted on the binary by surrounding gas, is nevertheless observable down to the smallest scale probed (≃1 pc). In the case of unequal masses, dynamical friction remains efficient down to our resolution limit, and there is no sign of formation of any ellipsoidal gas distribution that may further harden the binary. During inspiral, gravitational capture of gas by the black holes occurs mainly along circular orbits; eccentric orbits imply high relative velocities and weak gravitational focusing. Thus, the active galactic nucleus activity may be excited during the black hole pairing process and double active nuclei may form when circularization is completed, on distance scales of tens of parsecs.     

Star formation in the starburst cluster in NGC 3603

We have used new, deep, visible and near infrared observations of the compact starburst cluster in the giant HII region NGC 3603 and its surroundings with the WFC3 on HST and HAWK-I on the VLT to study in detail the physical properties of its intermediate mass (∼1–3 M_⊙) stellar population. We show that after correction for differential extinction and actively accreting stars, and the study of field star contamination, strong evidence remains for a continuous spread in the ages of pre-main sequence stars in the range ∼2 to ∼30 Myr within the temporal resolution available. Existing differences among presently available theoretical models account for the largest possible variation in shape of the measured age histograms within these limits. We also find that this isochronal age spread in the near infrared and visible Colour-Magnitude Diagrams cannot be reproduced by any other presently known source of astrophysical or instrumental scatter that could mimic the luminosity spread seen in our observations except, possibly, episodic accretion. The measured age spread and the stellar spatial distribution in the cluster are consistent with the hypothesis that star formation started at least 20–30 Myrs ago progressing slowly but continuously up to at least a few million years ago. All the stars in the considered mass range are distributed in a flattened oblate spheroidal pattern with the major axis oriented in an approximate South-East–North-West direction, and with the length of the equatorial axis decreasing with increasing age. This asymmetry is most likely due to the fact that star formation occurred along a filament of gas and dust in the natal molecular cloud oriented locally in this direction.     

Optical and X-Ray Observations of the Symbiotic System Ag Draconis During Quiescence and Outburst

We review the main characteristics of the symbiotic system AG Draconis, with special emphasis on its optical and X-ray variations. We also discuss the X-ray to visual energy distribution during quiescence and outburst and describe our spectroscopic and X-ray observations during the 2003 outburst. Based on X-ray observations collected with the XMM–Newton Observatory, on INES data from the IUE satellite, and on optical spectra collected with the Asiago–Cima Ekar, Bologna–Loiano and La Palma–Galileo Italian telescopes.     

Tank-reservoir drainage as a simulation of the recession limb of karst spring hydrographs

Drainage of a cylindrical water-filled tank-reservoir has been analysed by different physical models, providing relative discharge-time equations. The process has been simulated (1) in a condition of free-flow discharge, where no energy is lost during the process, and (2) where friction forces and water viscosity take effect. Simulation (1) is considered to be a Torricelli reservoir, characterised by a linear decrease of discharge; (2) is based on Darcy’s law or on Poiseuille’s law, where discharge decreases exponentially with time, giving a straight line in the semilogarithm plot. For the Darcy’s law simulation, the tank tube was filled with sand. The cylindrical water-filled tank-reservoir drainage analysis has been applied to simulation of the actual shape of karst spring hydrographs. It has been determined that the recession coefficient, α, is proportional to a hydraulic constant, c, which represents the hydraulic characteristics during the baseflow recession, and α is inversely proportional to the product of the water-table area with the effective porosity. This product expresses the area of the aquifer filled by free-flowing water along the water table and can vary during the aquifer drainage.     

High-P (P = 1.5–1.8 GPa) blueschist from Elba: Implications for underthrusting and exhumation of continental units in the Northern Apennines

The Acquadolce Subunit on the Island of Elba, Italy, records blueschist facies metamorphism related to the Oligocene–early Miocene stages of continental collision in the Northern Apennines. The blueschist facies metamorphism is represented by glaucophane- and lawsonite-bearing metabasite associated with marble and calcschist. These rock types occur as lenses in a schistose complex representing foredeep deposits of early Oligocene age. Detailed petrological analyses on metabasic and metapelitic protoliths, involving mineral and bulk-rock chemistry coupled with P–T and P–T–X(Fe₂O₃) pseudosection modelling using PERPLE_X, show that the Acquadolce Subunit recorded nearly isothermal exhumation from peak pressure–temperature conditions of 1.5–1.8 GPa and 320–370°C. During exhumation, peak lawsonite- and possibly carpholite- or stilpnomelane-bearing assemblages were overprinted and partially obliterated by epidote-blueschist and, subsequently, albite-greenschist facies metamorphic assemblages. This study sheds new light on the tectonic evolution of Adria-derived metamorphic units in the Northern Apennines, by showing (a) the deep underthrusting of continental crust during continental collision and (b) rapid exhumation along ‘cold’ and nearly isothermal paths, compatible with syn-orogenic extrusion.     

Nouvelles données sur le Messinien de Méditerranée occidentale : les gisements à Aphanius crassicaudus (Agassiz poissons téléostéens,cyprinodontiformes) des Marches (Italie)

Résumén

La découverte, dans le Nord des Marches (Italie), de nouveaux gisements de Poissons Cyprinodontidae appartenant à l’espèce Aphanius crassicaudus (AGASSIZ), conduit à réexaminer, à la lumière des données lithostratigraphiques, la signification géodynamique des ichthyofaunes messiniennes de ce secteur de l’Apennin. Après avoir précisé la position stratigraphique et la répartition paléogéographique des gisements étudiés, les auteurs montrent que le développement des faunes à Aphanius crassicaudus (AGASSIZ) dans les eaux saumâtres du domaine continental n’implique pas la disparition corrélative du milieu marin. En effet, certains genres marins sont parfois présents à côté de cette espèce, comme c’est le cas dans le gisement de Pésaro. Les auteurs contestent en outre l’interprétation selon laquelle le fait qu’aucune ichthyofaune marine ne soit connue dans le Messinien supérieur d’Italie puisse suffire à conclure que la Méditerranée était asséchée pendant le dépôt de la « Formation à colombacci »