Tertiary coal geology and stratigraphy of the Port Phillip Basin,Victoria

Results from coal‐exploration drilling in the onshore part of the Port Phillip Basin, Victoria, have established stratigraphic and age correlations of the Lower Miocene Werribee Formation brown coal deposits at Bacchus Marsh to similar brown coals at Altona. The coal deposits occur in a northwest‐southeast structural depression (the Parwan Trough) that appears to be a southeast continuation of the Ballan Graben. Recent drilling for potential coal‐bed methane in the trough has provided new data on the deeper stratigraphy not penetrated by earlier drilling, including recognition of an Upper Cretaceous to Eocene Yaloak Formation coal‐bearing interval, similar to the Anglesea area, Ballan Graben and Lal Lal Basin. Up to 200 m of coal‐bearing sediment and minor volcanics underlie the Miocene coal measures. A marine facies transition takes place between the Miocene coal swamps of the Parwan Trough, through barrier sands west of Werribee, to carbonate facies near Geelong. To the south beneath Port Phillip Bay, a similar transition probably occurs between coal swamps of the Parwan Trough and fully marine carbonate environments of the contiguous Sorrento Graben. The palaeogeographical reconstructions suggest a similar coal‐to‐carbonate facies transition as in the adjacent onshore Gippsland Basin.     

The origin of the initial mass function and its dependence on the mean Jeans mass in molecular clouds

We investigate the dependence of stellar properties on the mean thermal Jeans mass in molecular clouds. We compare the results from the two largest hydrodynamical simulations of star formation to resolve the fragmentation process down to the opacity limit, the first of which was reported by Bate, Bonnell & Bromm. The initial conditions of the two calculations are identical except for the radii of the clouds, which are chosen so that the mean densities and mean thermal Jeans masses of the clouds differ by factors of 9 and 3, respectively.
We find that the denser cloud, with the lower mean thermal Jeans mass, produces a higher proportion of brown dwarfs and has a lower characteristic (median) mass of the stars and brown dwarfs. This dependence of the initial mass function (IMF) on the density of the cloud may explain the observation that the Taurus star-forming region appears to be deficient in brown dwarfs when compared with the Orion Trapezium cluster. The new calculation also produces wide binaries (separations >20 au), one of which is a wide binary brown dwarf system.
Based on the hydrodynamical calculations, we develop a simple accretion/ejection model for the origin of the IMF. In the model, all stars and brown dwarfs begin with the same mass (set by the opacity limit for fragmentation) and grow in mass until their accretion is terminated stochastically by their ejection from the cloud through dynamically interactions. The model predicts that the main variation of the IMF in different star-forming environments should be in the location of the peak (due to variations in the mean thermal Jeans mass of the cloud) and in the substellar regime. However, the slope of the IMF at high masses may depend on the dispersion in the accretion rates of protostars.     

Spectral analysis of water vapour in cool stars

M-star spectra, at wavelengths beyond 1.35 μm, are dominated by water vapour, yet terrestrial water vapour makes it notoriously difficult to obtain accurate measurement from ground-based observations. We have used the short-wavelength spectrometer on the Infrared Space Observatory at four wavelength settings to cover the  2.5–3.0 μm  region for a range of M stars. The observations show a good match with previous ground-based observations and with synthetic spectra based on the Partridge & Schwenke line list, although not with the SCAN line list. We have used a least-squared minimization technique to systematically find best-fitting parameters for the sample of stars. The temperatures that we find indicate a relatively hot temperature scale for M dwarfs. We consider that this could be a consequence of problems with the Partridge & Schwenke line list which leads to synthetic spectra predicting water bands that are too strong for a given temperature. Such problems need to be solved in the next generation of water vapour line lists, which will extend the calculation of water vapour to higher energy levels with the good convergence necessary for reliable modelling of hot water vapour. Then water bands can assume their natural role as the primary tool for the spectroscopic analysis of M stars.     

The optical counterpart to SAX J1808.4−3658: observations in quiescence

We report the first extensive set of optical photometric observations of the counterpart to SAX J1808.4−3658 (V4580 Sagittarii) in quiescence. The source was detected at V ∼21 , 5 mag fainter than at the peak of its 1998 outburst. However, a comparable ∼6 per cent semi-amplitude 2-h modulation of its flux is revealed. This has the same phasing and approximately sinusoidal modulation as seen during outburst, and with photometric minimum when the pulsar is behind the companion. The lack of a double-humped morphology rules out an ellipsoidal origin, implying that the bulk of the optical flux does not arise from the companion. Moreover, applying crude modelling to the disc and X-ray irradiated face of the donor shows that the internal energy release of a remnant disc (with mass transfer driven by gravitational radiation) is sufficient to explain most of the optical emission, and with the modulation because of the varying contribution of the heated face of the star. We note that this model is also consistent with the much lower X-ray to optical flux ratio in quiescence versus outburst, and with the phasing of the optical modulation.     

Circumstellar discs in the young σ Orionis cluster

We present new K - and L '-band imaging observations for members of the young (3–5 Myr) σ Orionis cluster, obtained at the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) with the UKIRT 1–5 micron Imager Spectrometer (UIST). We determine ( K − L ') colour excesses with respect to the photospheres, finding evidence for warm circumstellar dust around 27 out of 83 cluster members that have masses between 0.04 and  1.0 M_⊙  . This indicates a circumstellar disc frequency of at least (33 ± 6) per cent for this cluster, consistent with previous determinations from smaller samples and also consistent with the 3-Myr disc half-life suggested by Haisch et al. There is marginal evidence that the disc frequency declines towards lower masses, but the data are also consistent with no mass dependence at all. There is no evidence for spatial segregation of objects with and without circumstellar discs.     

The brown dwarf desert as a consequence of orbital migration

We show that the dearth of brown dwarfs in short-period orbits around Solar-mass stars – the brown dwarf desert – can be understood as a consequence of inward migration within an evolving protoplanetary disc. Brown dwarf secondaries forming at the same time as the primary star have masses which are comparable to the initial mass of the protoplanetary disc. Subsequent disc evolution leads to inward migration, and destruction of the brown dwarf, via merger with the star. This is in contrast with massive planets, which avoid this fate by forming at a later epoch when the disc is close to being dispersed. Within this model, a brown dwarf desert arises because the mass at the hydrogen-burning limit is coincidentally comparable to the initial disc mass for a Solar mass star. Brown dwarfs should be found in close binaries around very low mass stars, around other brown dwarfs, and around Solar-type stars during the earliest phases of star formation.     

电感耦合等离子体质谱-原子荧光光谱法研究上海口岸进口印度尼西亚煤炭微量元素的赋存形态特征

印度尼西亚是我国最大的煤炭进口国,本文应用电感耦合等离子体质谱、原子荧光光谱、直接测汞仪等技术分析了上海口岸31批进口印度尼西亚煤炭中的12种微量元素,结合数理统计方法研究该类煤炭中微量元素的赋存形态。结果表明,进口印尼煤炭中含有高汞煤、三级含砷煤,As、Hg的平均富集系数大于1,其迁移风险值得关注;Be、Cu、Mo、Cd、Sn、Pb含量均低于中国煤和世界煤炭的平均水平,体现出印尼煤炭低灰分的品质特征。12种微量元素和相关项目(灰分和全硫)可划分为3类:第一类归纳为黏土矿物吸附类,包括As、Be、Cr、Co、Ni、Cu、Mo、Cd、Sn、Pb、灰分;第二类归纳为硫铁矿类,包括Hg、全硫;第三类归纳为碳酸盐矿物类,包括Ba。本文研究结果对于指导进口煤炭开发、利用过程中的环境评价和洁净化处理具有一定的参考价值。     

Radial and rotational velocities of young brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association and the ρ Ophiuchi cloud core

We present the results of a radial velocity (RV) survey of 14 brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low-mass (VLM) stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association (UScoOB) and three BD candidates in the ρ Ophiuchi dark cloud core. We obtained high-resolution echelle spectra at the Very Large Telescope using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at two different epochs for each object, and measured the shifts in their RVs to identify candidates for binary/multiple systems in the sample. The average time separation of the RV measurements is 21.6 d, and our survey is sensitive to the binaries with separation <0.1 au. We found that four out of 17 objects (or 24⁺¹⁶₋₁₃ per cent by fraction) show a significant RV change in 4–33 d time-scale, and are considered as binary/multiple 'candidates'. We found no double-lined spectroscopic binaries in our sample, based on the shape of cross-correlation curves. The RV dispersion of the objects in UScoOB is found to be very similar to that of the BD and VLM stars in Chamaeleon I (Cha I). We also found the distribution of the mean rotational velocities ( v   sin   i ) of the UScoOB objects is similar to that of the Cha I, but the dispersion of v   sin   i is much larger than that of the Cha I objects.