Be star candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud: the catalogue and comparison with the Small Magellanic Cloud sample

We present a catalogue with coordinates and photometric data of 2446 Be star candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), based on a search of the OGLE II data base. The I -band light curves of these stars show outbursts in 24 per cent of the sample (Type-1 stars), high and low states in 10 per cent, periodic variations in 6 per cent (Type-3 stars), and stochastic variations in 60 per cent of the cases. We report on the result of the statistical study of light curves of Type-1 and Type-3 stars in the LMC, and the comparison with the previously reported results of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) sample. We find a statistically significant difference between amplitude, duration and asymmetry distributions of outbursts in both galaxies. Outbursts of SMC Type-1 stars are usually brighter, longer and with a slower decline. We find a bimodal distribution of periods of Type-3 stars in both galaxies, probably related to the recently discovered double periodic blue variables. We find also period and amplitude distributions of Type-3 LMC stars statistically different from those of the SMC stars. Our findings above suggest that the mechanisms causing the observed photometric variability of Type-1 and Type-3 stars could depend on metallicity. Moreover, they suggest that the outbursts are not primarily caused by stellar winds.     

Compact radio cores and the relation between the radio and optical axes of elliptical galaxies

We have reinvestigated the reported tendency for the extended radio structures associated with bright elliptical galaxies to be oriented preferentially along the optical minor axes. It is found that such a tendency exists only for those galaxies in which the compact radio cores coincident with their nuclei are quite prominent. If the galaxies are divided into two groups according to whether their cores account for less than or greater than 10 per cent of the total flux density at 2.7 GHz, the angle Φ (between the radio axis and the optical minor axis) appears to be uniformly distributed between 0‡ and 90‡ for the former, but is nearly always < 30‡ for the latter group. One possible explanation is that the radio emission from compact cores suffers thermal absorption by ionized gas that is distributed differently in the two groups.     

A VLBI Study of Compact Steep Spectrum Sources 3C43, 3C48 and 3C454

We used the VLBA(NRAO, USA) and made VLBI observations towards the compact steep spectrum sources 3C43, 3C48 and 3C454 at the central frequency 1.6 GHz, and obtained their total flux density maps and information on the structures of their components. By comparison with the previous data, we analyzed the variations of their flux densities as well as the displacements of their components. It is found that the total flux density of the source 3C43, as well as the flux densities and relative positions of its components are quite stable in 14 years. For the source 3C454, the total flux density and the flux densities of its components are also relatively stable, but two of the components moved away from the central core with superluminal velocities of 21.6c and 17.7c. Fitted to their flux densities at 4 L-band frequencies, the spectral indexes of the sources 3C43 and 3C454 were obtained to be 0.63 and 0.86, respectively, in good agreement with previous results, and consistent with the definition of α ≥0.5 for compact steep spectrum sources.     

Solar Type III Bursts and the Generation of Backward Langmuir Wave

It is generally believed that the conversion of Langmuir wave (LW) to electromagnetic wave is the generating mechanism of solar type III bursts. The Langmuir wave can be easily excited by the instability of the electron-beam current, and the interaction of the forward and backward Langmuir waves is considered to be the cause for the second harmonic of a type III burst, but, so far, the dispersion equation and generating mechanism of the backward Langmuir wave have not yet been thoroughly studied. For the equation of two-stream instability with temperature included, an analytical solution is derived. It is found that the dispersion relation of the forward LW strongly depends on the beam-current speed, while that of the backward LW depends only on the thermal velocity, when the other parameters are fixed. These analytical results are partially confirmed by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. With the PIC simulation, the generating mechanism of the backward LW is studied, and it is revealed that the backward LW can not be excited directly by the electron-beam current, and that its energy is obtained basically from the scattering of the forward LW. However, the electron-beam current does cause a direct amplification of the second harmonic of the forward LW.     

射电选和X射线选BL Lacertae天体的射电性质

收集了射电选和X射线选BL Lac天体的射电数据(包括核和延展光度), 并计算了它们的核主导系数R.研究显示: 射电选BL Lac(RBLs)天体的总射电光度是X射线选BL Lac(XBLs)天体的2个量级.详细分析得到这种差别主要是来自于核光度的差别因为延展光度差别只有1个量级.研究RBLs和XBLs的核(延展元)光度与核主导系数之间的关系, 发现延展元光度与核主导系数负相关, 而核(总)光度几乎与核主导系数没有相关.     

Near-infrared/optical counterparts of hotspots in radio galaxies

We present new high spatial resolution Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Very Large Array (VLA) observations of a sample of nine low-power (   P _1.4 GHz≤ 10²⁵  W Hz⁻¹) radio hotspots. Infrared/optical emission is definitely detected in four of the nine observed objects, resulting in a detection rate of at least 45 per cent. This emission is interpreted as synchrotron radiation from the electrons accelerated in the hotspots. The integrated spectra of these hotspots reveal typical break frequencies between 10⁵ and 10⁶ GHz, two orders of magnitude higher than typically found in high-power hotspots. This supports the idea that in low-power hotspots with their relatively low magnetic field strengths, electrons emit most of their energy at higher frequencies. A simple spectral ageing analysis would imply that the emitting electrons have been injected into the hotspot volume less than  ∼10³  years ago. We discuss possible scenarios to explain the lack of older electrons in the hotspot region. In particular, the extended morphology of the near-infrared/optical emission would suggest that efficient re-acceleration mechanisms rejuvenate the electron populations.     

Observations of the OH Radical in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) with the Nançay Radio Telescope

We present OH 18-cm observations of comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) at the Nançay radio telescope. On nucleus and offset position observations allowed us to obtain both OH production rates and quenching radii. The maximum OH production rate was reached around perihelion, at about10³¹ s^-1.     

Covariance of dark energy parameters and sound speed constraints from large H i surveys

An interesting probe of the nature of dark energy is the measure of its sound speed, c _s. We review the significance for constraining sound speed models of dark energy using large neutral hydrogen (H  i ) surveys with the square kilometre array (SKA). Our analysis considers the effect on the sound speed measurement that arises from the covariance of c _s with the dark energy density, Ω_de, and a time-varying equation of state,   w ( a ) = w ₀+ (1 − a ) w _a   . We find that the approximate degeneracy between dark energy parameters that arises in power spectrum observations is lifted through redshift tomography of the H  i -galaxy angular power spectrum, resulting in sound speed constraints that are not severely degraded. The cross-correlation of the galaxy and the integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect spectra contributes approximately 10 per cent of the information that is needed to distinguish variations in the dark energy parameters, and most of the discriminating signal comes from the galaxy auto-correlation spectrum. We also find that the sound speed constraints are weakly sensitive to the H  i bias model. These constraints do not improve substantially for a significantly deeper H  i survey since most of the clustering sensitivity to sound speed variations arises from   z ≲ 1.5  . A detection of models with sound speeds close to zero,   c _s≲ 0.01,  is possible for dark energy models with   w ≳−0.9  .     

基于脉冲星计时的航天器自主定位误差估计方法

目前很多学者希望从"X射线脉冲星自主导航"的导航算法研究入手,利用数据分析或仿真进行验证.其中关于航天器自主定位的误差估计方法、误差量级和各种影响因素的讨论,并没有在给定详细初始条件的基础上系统性地说明问题.为了分析上述问题,需从天体测量学的角度出发,对自主定位的各种误差源及其影响因素进行探讨和误差量级的估计.首先,由...