Initial Venus Express magnetic field observations of the Venus bow shock location at solar minimum

In this study, magnetic field measurements obtained by the Venus Express spacecraft are used to determine the bow shock position at solar minimum. The best fit of bow shock location from solar zenith angle 20-120° gives a terminator bow shock location of 2.14 R_V (1 R_V=6052 km) which is 1600 km closer to Venus than the 2.40 R_V determined during solar maximum conditions, a clear indication of the solar cycle variation of the Venus bow shock location. The best fit to the subsolar bow shock is 1.32 R_V, with the bow shock completely detached. Finally, a global bow shock model at solar minimum is constructed based on our best-fit empirical bow shock in the sunlit hemisphere and an asymptotic limit of the distant bow shock which is a Mach cone under typical Mach number of 5.5 at solar minimum. We also describe our approach to making the measurements and processing the data in a challenging magnetic cleanliness environment. An initial evaluation of the accuracy of measurements shows that the data are of a quality comparable to magnetic field measurements made onboard magnetically clean spacecraft.     

X-ray flares, plateaus and chromatic breaks of GRB afterglows from up-scattered forward-shock emission

Scattering of the forward-shock synchrotron emission by a relativistic outflow located behind the leading blast wave may produce an X-ray emission brighter than that coming directly from the forward shock and may explain four features displayed by Swift X-ray afterglows: flares, plateaus (slow decays), chromatic light-curve breaks and fast post-plateau decays. For a cold scattering outflow, the reflected flux overshines the primary one if the scattering outflow is nearly baryon-free and highly relativistic. These two requirements can be relaxed if the scattering outflow is energized by weak internal shocks, so that the incident forward-shock photons are also inverse-Compton scattered, in addition to bulk scattering. Sweeping-up of the photons left behind by the forward shock naturally yields short X-ray flares. Owing to the boost in photon energy produced by bulk scattering, the reflected emission is more likely to overshine that coming directly from the forward shock at higher photon energies, yielding light-curve plateaus and breaks that appear only in the X-ray. The brightness, shape and decay of the X-ray light-curve plateau depend on the radial distribution of the scatterer's Lorentz factor and mass flux. Chromatic X-ray light-curve breaks and sharp post-plateau decays cannot be accommodated by the direct forward-shock emission and argue in favour of the scattering-outflow model proposed here. On the other hand, the X-ray afterglows without plateaus, those with achromatic breaks and those with very long lived power-law decays are more naturally accommodated by the standard forward-shock model. Thus, the diversity of X-ray light curves arises from the interplay of the scattered and direct forward-shock emissions.     

重力坝坝后背管高烈度地震反应研究

考虑管道外包混凝土在设计荷载下开裂的影响,采用振型分解反应谱法,研究了重力坝坝后背管在9度地震作用下的自振特性和承载性能规律。研究表明:管道外包混凝土开裂对结构的自振特性影响较小,而对管道钢材应力和管腰截面应力影响较大;高烈度地震作用使背管上弯段至斜直段顶部出现双向裂缝,不利于钢衬与外包混凝土联合承载,同时管坝接缝面和管腰截面呈现较大的拉剪应力状态,不利于管道和坝体的联合承载;坝段间、岸坡坝段与岩体间有可靠的相互约束作用时,横河向地震作用对整体结构的承载性能影响很小。     

做好城市防震避险工作促进社会和谐稳定

详实介绍了厦门市在地震宣传及救援方面取得的一些经验成果,包括采用多种手段对城市居民进行防震减灾常识教育,使居民具备应有的防震知识,使人们懂得避震的时机、方法,并在城市地震安全区设置避难场所,使居民能够在有组织、有目的的情况下进行自救互救,在对居民进行地震常识教育的同时,还注重对骨干的培训和组织演练,确保在破坏性地震发生时,使人民的生命财产损失降到最低限度。     

2005年11月26日江西九江-瑞昌Ms5．7地震序列的破裂过程研究

利用江西南昌遥测台网和临时台网资料,借助于主地震相对定位法,对2005年11月26日江西九江-瑞昌MS5.7地震序列进行了重新定位,分析了该序列的破裂过程。这次地震的余震震中呈线性分布,约沿北西37°,与美国哈佛大学给出的主震震源机制解中的N35°W节面和北西向的洋鸡山-武山-通江岭断裂的走向基本一致,震中位于该断裂的东南端。这次地震破裂扩展过程主要发生在2005年11月30日19时前,其后平稳。主震发生在余震分布区的西北端部,似乎表明本次地震为单侧破裂,破裂向东南方向扩展。震后4小时内震源深度由浅到深变化,之后逐渐稳定在15 km左右。破裂过程大致可分为两个阶段:第1个阶段是从主震到2005年11月26日16时22分0.8秒,破裂尺度为13.8 km,历时约7.54小时,平均破裂速度约为50.8 cm/s;第2个阶段是从2005年11月29日11时35分21.7秒到2005年11月30日19时57分58秒,破裂尺度为17.9 km,历时约32.4小时,平均破裂速度约为15.4 cm/s。整个破裂过程扩展了31.7 km,平均破裂速度约为22 cm/s,前一阶段速度明显高于后一阶段,破裂是减速的。     

Numerical simulations of astrophysical jets from Keplerian discs – III. The effects of mass loading

We present 2.5D time-dependent simulations of the non-linear evolution of non-relativistic outflows from the surface of Keplerian accretion discs. The gas is accelerated from the surface of the disc (which is a fixed platform in these simulations) into a cold corona in stable hydrostatic equilibrium. We explore the dependence of the resulting jet characteristics upon the mass loading of the winds. Two initial configurations of the threading disc magnetic field are studied: a potential field and a uniform vertical field configuration.
We show that the nature of the resulting highly collimated, jet-like outflows (steady or episodic) is determined by the mass load of the disc wind. The mass load controls the interplay between the collimating effects of the toroidal field and the kinetic energy density in the outflow. In this regard, we demonstrate that the onset of episodic behaviour of jets appears to be determined by the quantity     which compares the speed for a toroidal Alfvén wave to cross the diameter of the jet, with the flow speed v _p along the jet. This quantity decreases with increasing load. For sufficiently large N (small mass loads), disturbances appear to grow leading to instabilities and shocks. Knots are then generated and the outflow becomes episodic. These effects are qualitatively independent of the initial magnetic configuration that we employed and are probably generic to a wide variety of magnetized accretion disc models.     

A generic dynamical model of gamma-ray burst remnants

The conventional generic model is considered to explain the dynamics of gamma-ray burst remnants very well, no matter whether they are adiabatic or highly radiative. However, we find that, for adiabatic expansion, the model cannot reproduce the Sedov solution in the non-relativistic phase, and thus it needs to be revised. In this paper a new differential equation is derived. The generic model based on this equation is shown to be correct for both radiative and adiabatic fireballs, and in both ultrarelativistic and non-relativistic phases.     

On the observability of spiral structures in cataclysmic variable accretion discs

We use the grid of hydrodynamic accretion disc calculations of Stehle to construct orbital phase‐dependent emission‐line profiles of thin discs carrying spiral density waves. The observational signatures of spiral waves are explored to establish the feasibility of detecting spiral waves in cataclysmic variable discs using prominent emission lines in the visible range of the spectrum. For high Mach number accretion discs ( M v _φ c _s≃ 15 – 30), we find that the spiral shock arms are so tightly wound that they leave few obvious fingerprints in the emission lines. Only a minor variation of the double peak separation in the line profile at a level of ∼8 per cent is produced. For accretion discs in outburst ( M ≃ 5 – 20) however, the lines are dominated by the emission from an m =2 spiral pattern in the disc. We show that reliable Doppler tomograms of spiral shock patterns can be reconstructed provided that a signal‐to‐noise ratio of at least 15, a wavelength resolution of ∼80 km s⁻¹ and a time resolution of ∼50 spectra per binary orbit are achieved. We confirm that the observed spiral pattern in the disc of IP Pegasi can be reproduced by tidal density waves in the accretion disc and demands the presence of a large, hot disc, at least in the early outburst stages.