Collisionless Slowing Down of Nova and Supernova Shells in Magnetized Interstellar Medium

The collisionless interaction of an expanding plasma cloud with a magnetized background plasma is examined in the framework of a 3D kinetic-hydrodynamic model. The slowing down of a hydrogen cloud is studied for high Alfven-Mach numbers and magneto-laminar interaction parameters. A particle-in-cell method is used to study the dynamics of the magnetic field, plasma cloud, background plasma, and collisionless shock wave generated by the intense particle flux. A numerical simulation is consistent with the nonstationary interactions between the plasma shells formed during nova and supernova explosions and the interstellar plasma medium.     

On the self-consistency of evolutionary synthesis models

Evolutionary synthesis models have been used to study the physical properties of unresolved populations in a wide range of scenarios. Unfortunately, their self-consistency is difficult to test and there are some theoretical open questions without an answer: (1) The change of the homology relations assumed in the computation of isochrones due to the effect of stellar winds (or rotation) and the discontinuities in the stellar evolution are not considered. (2) There is no consensus about how the isochrones must be integrated. (3) The discreteness of the stellar populations (that produce an intrinsic statistical dispersion) usually are not taken into account, and model results are interpreted in a deterministic way instead of a statistical one. The objective of this contribution is to present some inconsistencies in the computation and some cautions in the application of the results of such codes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Strong magnetic field in W75N OH maser flare

A flare of OH maser emission was discovered in W75N in 2000. Its location was determined with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to be within 110 au from one of the ultracompact H  ii regions, Very Large Array 2 (VLA2). The flare consisted of several maser spots. Four of the spots were found to form Zeeman pairs, all of them with a magnetic field strength of about 40 mG. This is the highest ever magnetic field strength found in OH masers, an order of magnitude higher than in typical OH masers. Three possible sources for the enhanced magnetic field are discussed: (i) the magnetic field of the exciting star dragged out by the stellar wind; (ii) the general interstellar field in the gas compressed by the magnetohydrodynamic shock; and (iii) the magnetic field of planets which orbit the exciting star and produce maser emission in gaseous envelopes.     

On the influence of magnetic fields on level populations

The influence of magnetic fields on the energy level populations of atoms is firstly studied by analysing the Stokes profiles of Fe  i 6302.5 forming in the solar magnetized atmosphere, with the aid of a departure factor defined to evaluate the deviation from the normal Boltzmann distribution without a magnetic field. This factor is directly related to the ratio of line-source function to the continuum one. The relationship between the departure and the magnetic field reveals an effect that the magnetic field induces an exponential increase in the level population of the lower level of Fe  i 6302.5 (Landé factor   g = 2.5  ) with the field strength. This indicates that the magnetic field can cause the redistribution of populations of those levels whose Landé factors are non-zero. Therefore, this effect should be included in the calculation of the statistical equilibrium. Secondly, an experiment utilizing the Hg5461 line in the laboratory on the Earth is carried out to reveal that the exponential relation is independent of variations in temperature, and the excitation is completely magneto-induced. Finally, the exponential relation is explained by taking account of the magnetic energy in the Boltzmann distribution.