The UVX quasar optical luminosity function and its evolution

The recently finished Edinburgh UVX quasar survey at B <18 is used together with other complete samples to estimate the shape and evolution of the optical luminosity function in the redshift range 0.3< z <2.2. There is a significantly higher space density of quasars at high luminosity and low redshift than previously found in the PG sample of Schmidt & Green, with the result that the shape of the luminosity function at low redshifts ( z <1) is seen to be consistent with a single power law. At higher redshifts the slope of the power law at high luminosities appears to steepen significantly. There does not appear to be any consistent break feature which could be used as a tracer of luminosity evolution in the population.     

赣东北地区构造演化的新认识

根据近几年来赣东北地区的区域地质调查及科研工作所获的地质资料、化石资料和实测数据,论述了该区晋宁期以来的构造演化,提出了以下看法：①该区是一个多期造山作用的复合体,它经历了褶皱基底形成、洋陆转化和陆内发展三大阶段和晋宁期、加里东期、印支期、燕山期四个构造旋回;②早古生代该区存在一小洋盆;③加里东期构造旋回在赣东北地区是明显的,其造山作用是存在的,并由此奠定了该区构造分区的总体格局。     

北秦岭二郎坪岩群与秦岭岩群间构造边界的地质特征

二郎坪岩群与秦岭岩群间的构造边界是北秦岭一条重要的地质界线,经历了多期、不同层次复杂的构造变形,经研究可进一步划分为：早期韧性逆冲推覆变形期和晚期脆韧性逆冲推覆与走滑剪切变形期两个变形阶段。早期变形与二郎坪弧后盆地构造演化密切相关,晚期变形反映了陆内造山阶段的构造特征。     

上新世湖相纹泥及其环境信息与时间标尺记录

纹泥反映了湖相沉积物中特有的沉积韵律,是气候的季节变化和年际变化的产物。山西榆社张村地区上新世晚期的湖心相沉积中发育了极为完好的纹泥剖面。纹泥深浅相间形成清晰的纹理,分别代表夏秋和冬春。一深一浅组成一对,代表一年。纹泥层的单层厚度平均为0．12～0．25mm／条,薄者＜0．1mm／条,厚者可达0．3mm／条。暗色纹泥层的厚度大于浅色纹泥层。暗色纹泥的有机质含量丰富,木本植物孢粉占优势,同时CaO的含量低;浅色纹泥恰好相反。湖相纹泥具有建立高分辨率时间标尺和环境演化序列的特殊优越条件。     

上地幔熔体-岩石相互作用与大陆地幔演化

根据实验岩石学、幔源岩石的岩石地球化学资料以及微量元素地球化学理论模拟等,评述了上地幔熔体岩石相互作用研究领域的最新进展,指出熔体岩石相互作用不仅深刻地制约了岩石圈地幔的矿物学、地球化学和物理性质的变化以及地幔不均一性的形成及演化,而且也会最终控制各种构造环境下喷出岩浆的地球化学特征,以及深部岩浆的分离机制。     

Stellar forensics — II. Millisecond pulsar binaries

We use the grid of models described in Paper I to analyse those millisecond pulsar binaries whose secondaries have been studied optically. In particular, we find cooling ages for these binary systems that range from < 1 to ∼ 15 Gyr. Comparison of cooling ages and characteristic spin-down ages allows us to constrain the initial spin periods and spin-up histories for individual systems, showing that at least some millisecond pulsars had sub-Eddington accretion rates and long magnetic field decay times.     

Submillimetre-wave gravitational lenses and cosmology

One of the most direct routes for investigating the geometry of the Universe is provided by the numbers of strongly magnified gravitationally lensed galaxies as compared with those that are either weakly magnified or de-magnified. In the submillimetre waveband the relative abundance of strongly lensed galaxies is expected to be larger as compared with the optical or radio wavebands, both in the field and in clusters of galaxies. The predicted numbers depend on the properties of the population of faint galaxies in the submillimetre waveband, which was formerly very uncertain; however, recent observations of lensing clusters have reduced this uncertainty significantly and confirm that a large sample of galaxy–galaxy lenses could be detected and investigated using forthcoming facilities, including the FIRST and Planck Surveyor space missions and a large ground-based millimetre/submillimetre-wave interferometer array (MIA). We discuss how this sample could be used to impose limits on the values of cosmological parameters and the total density and form of evolution of the mass distribution of bound structures, even in the absence of detailed lens modelling for individual members of the sample. The effects of different world models on the form of the magnification bias expected in sensitive submillimetre-wave observations of clusters are also discussed, because an MIA could resolve and investigate images in clusters in detail.     

Observational limits to source confusion in the millimetre/submillimetre waveband

The first observations to detect a population of distant galaxies directly in the submillimetre waveband have recently been made using the new Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The results indicate that a large number of distant galaxies are radiating strongly in this waveband. Here we discuss their significance for source confusion in future millimetre/submillimetre-wave observations of both distant galaxies and cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) anisotropies. Earlier estimates of such confusion involved significant extrapolation of the results of observations of galaxies at low redshifts; our new estimates do not, as they are derived from direct observations of distant galaxies in the submillimetre waveband. The results have important consequences for the design and operation of existing and proposed millimetre/submillimetre-wave telescopes: the Planck Surveyor survey will be confusion-limited at frequencies greater than 350 GHz, even in the absence of Galactic dust emission; a 1σ confusion noise limit of about 0.44 mJy beam⁻¹ is expected for the JCMT/SCUBA at a wavelength of 850 μm; and the subarcsecond resolution of large millimetre/submillimetre-wave interferometer arrays will be required in order to execute very deep galaxy surveys.     

Formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies and QSO activity

We present the results of a numerical code that combines multi-zone chemical evolution with 1D hydrodynamics to follow in detail the evolution and radial behaviour of gas and stars during the formation of elliptical galaxies. We use the model to explore the links between the evolution and formation of elliptical galaxies and QSO activity. The knowledge of the radial gas flows in the galaxy allows us to trace metallicity gradients, and, in particular, the formation of a high-metallicity core in ellipticals. The high-metallicity core is formed soon enough to explain the metal abundances inferred in high-redshift quasars. The star formation rate and the subsequent feedback regulate the episodes of wind, outflow and cooling flow, thus affecting the recycling of the gas and the chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium. The evolution of the galaxy shows several stages, some of which are characterized by a complex flow pattern, with inflow in some regions and outflow in other regions. All models, however, exhibit during their late evolution a galactic wind at the outer boundary and, during their early evolution, an inflow towards the galactic nucleus. The characteristics of the inner inflow could explain the bolometric luminosity of a quasar lodged at the galactic centre as well as the evolution of the optical luminosity of quasars.