A numerical study of the r-mode instability of rapidly rotating nascent neutron stars

The first results of numerical analysis of classical r-modes of rapidly rotating compressible stellar models are reported. The full set of linear perturbation equations of rotating stars in Newtonian gravity is solved numerically without the slow rotation approximation. A critical curve of gravitational wave emission induced instability, which restricts the rotational frequencies of hot young neutron stars, is obtained. Taking the standard cooling mechanisms of neutron stars into account, we also show the 'evolutionary curves' along which neutron stars are supposed to evolve as cooling and spinning down proceed. Rotational frequencies of 1.4-M_⊙ stars suffering from this instability decrease to around 100 Hz when the standard cooling mechanism of neutron stars is employed. This result confirms the results of other authors, who adopted the slow rotation approximation.     

青海省沙柳河南区有色金属矿成矿物质来源及矿床成矿模式探讨

本文简述了沙柳河南区有色金属矿床的基本特征。通过对成矿热液及成矿物质的来源与性质的研究,认为该矿床的成因类型为火山沉积—接触交代改造叠加型,进而探讨了该矿床的成矿模式。     

甘肃北山地区红山铁矿硅质岩的地球化学特征及沉积环境

通过野外地质调查和系统的岩石主量元素、微量元素、稀土元素等的研究,探讨红山铁矿床硅质岩的地球化学特征及其沉积环境。红山铁矿床中广泛发育一套与铁矿体呈共生关系的硅质岩。研究表明,与铁矿密切共生的呈层状和透镜状产出的灰色、紫红色硅质岩总体属于低硅类型的硅质岩。在SiO2-Al2O3判别图解中,SiO2与Al2O3负相关,样品数据点均落入热水沉积区域;稀土元素配分模式经北美页岩标准化后呈平缓型,与东太平洋热泉水、红海热卤水具有相似的正Eu异常和配分模式,δEu值均大于1,显示热水沉积的特征;硅质岩中的V、Ni、Cu、Ba等微量元素的含量具有陆缘海盆热水沉积的特征。     

桂西南晚泥盆世锰矿床锰质豆鲕粒类型及其成因探讨

桂西南锰矿赋存于上泥盆统五指山组中段,产锰矿三层,大多由锰质豆鲕粒组成。笔者研究了下雷锰矿床的锰质豆鲕粒,按其形态、结构构造和矿物成份划分为16种类型,并据①其沉积环境属断陷深水台沟相;②富集于几个矿段;③其碳酸锰矿物δC~(13)值为-6.23～-7.78‰,说明碳源于深部岩浆;④豆鲕粒由菱锰矿,蔷薇辉石、黑云母、锰铁叶蛇纹石、绿泥石、柘榴石等热液矿物组成。因此认为,锰质豆鲕粒形成于海底热气液喷溢口及其附近热水流动带,而低温滞水带不易形成豆鲕粒。     

Under the shadow of the Magellanic Bridge: A measurement of the extragalactic background at ∼ 0.7 keV

We measured the extragalactic 0.7 keV X-ray background by observing the X-ray shadow of a neutral gas cloud in the Magellanic Bridge region. Two ROSAT PSPC observations of total 104 ks were complemented by a detailed H I mapping of the cloud with both the Parkes 64 m telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. From the detected anti-correlation between the observed background intensity and the H I column density of the cloud, we derived the unabsorbed extragalactic background intensity as ∼ 28 keV s⁻¹ cm⁻² keV⁻¹ sr⁻¹ at ∼ 0.7 keV. The 95% confidence lower limit 18 keV s⁻¹ cm⁻² keV⁻¹ sr⁻¹ is greater than the expected point-like source contribution ? 14 keV s⁻¹ cm⁻² keV⁻¹ sr⁻¹, constrained by the mean source spectrum together with the total background intensity in the 1-2 keV band. A significant fraction of the 0.7 keV background likely arises in a diffuse hot intergalactic medium of a few million degrees, as has been predicted in hydrodynamic simulations of cosmological structure formation.Richard McCray     

Simulations of deep pencil-beam redshift surveys

We create mock pencil-beam redshift surveys from very large cosmological N -body simulations of two cold dark matter (CDM) cosmogonies, an Einstein–de Sitter model ( τ CDM) and a flat model with Ω₀=0.3 and a cosmological constant (ΛCDM). We use these to assess the significance of the apparent periodicity discovered by Broadhurst et al. Simulation particles are tagged as 'galaxies' so as to reproduce observed present-day correlations. They are then identified along the past light-cones of hypothetical observers to create mock catalogues with the geometry and the distance distribution of the Broadhurst et al. data. We produce 1936 (2625) quasi-independent catalogues from our τ CDM (ΛCDM) simulation. A couple of large clumps in a catalogue can produce a high peak at low wavenumbers in the corresponding one-dimensional power spectrum, without any apparent large-scale periodicity in the original redshift histogram. Although the simulated redshift histograms frequently display regularly spaced clumps, the spacing of these clumps varies between catalogues and there is no 'preferred' period over our many realizations. We find only a 0.72 (0.49) per cent chance that the highest peak in the power spectrum of a τ CDM (ΛCDM) catalogue has a peak-to-noise ratio higher than that in the Broadhurst et al. data. None of the simulated catalogues with such high peaks shows coherently spaced clumps with a significance as high as that of the real data. We conclude that in CDM universes, the regularity on a scale of ∼130  h ⁻¹ Mpc observed by Broadhurst et al. has a priori probability well below 10⁻³.     

山东省平邑左庄石膏矿区非采空致塌机理与治理方法

平邑左庄石膏矿区曾发生过3次地面塌陷,但井下实地调查发现,该矿区地面塌陷并非地下采空塌陷波及地表后而引发的地面塌陷。根据矿区地质环境条件、采矿方法及井巷工程布置等因素,分析认为地面塌陷原因是矿山布置的第一开采中段未预留出足够的顶柱厚度,致使井下回采时揭穿矿房顶柱接触到上覆第四纪松散盖层,第四纪孔隙水携带泥砂泄入矿坑发生潜蚀作用,在矿房顶柱与第四纪松散盖层之间形成"天窗式"砂漏,第四纪松散盖层中逐渐形成土洞,土洞扩大并塌陷后引发地面塌陷。     

Short gamma-ray bursts from SGR giant flares and neutron star mergers: two populations are better than one

There is increasing evidence of a local population of short duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRB), but it remains to be seen whether this is a separate population to higher redshift bursts. Here we choose plausible luminosity functions (LFs) for both neutron star binary mergers and giant flares from soft gamma repeaters (SGR), and combined with theoretical and observed Galactic intrinsic rates we examine whether a single progenitor model can reproduce both the overall Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) sGRB number counts and a local population, or whether a dual progenitor population is required. Though there are large uncertainties in the intrinsic rates, we find that at least a bimodal LF consisting of lower and higher luminosity populations is required to reproduce both the overall BATSE sGRB number counts and a local burst distribution. Furthermore, the best-fitting parameters of the lower luminosity population agree well with the known properties of SGR giant flares, and the predicted numbers are sufficient to account for previous estimates of the local sGRB population.     

Spatially resolved spectroscopy of the E+A galaxies in the z= 0.32 cluster AC 114

We present spatially resolved intermediate-resolution spectroscopy of a sample of 12 E+A galaxies in the   z = 0.32  rich galaxy cluster AC 114, obtained with the FLAMES multi-integral field unit system on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory. Previous integrated spectroscopy of all these galaxies by Couch & Sharples had shown them to have strong Balmer line absorption and an absence of [O  ii ]λ3727 emission – the defining characteristics of the 'E+A' spectral signature, indicative of an abrupt halt to a recent episode of quite vigorous star formation. We have used our spectral data to determine the radial variation in the strength of Hδ absorption in these galaxies and hence map out the distribution of this recently formed stellar population. Such information provides important clues as to what physical event might have been responsible for this quite dramatic change in star formation activity in the recent past of these galaxies. We find a diversity of behaviour amongst these galaxies in terms of the radial variation in Hδ absorption: four galaxies show little Hδ absorption across their entire extent; it would appear they were misidentified as E+A galaxies in the earlier integrated spectroscopic studies. The remainder show strong Hδ absorption, with a gradient that is either negative (Hδ equivalent width decreasing with radius), flat or positive . By comparison with numerical simulations we suggest that the first of these different types of radial behaviour provides evidence for a merger/interaction origin, whereas the latter two types of behaviour are more consistent with the truncation of star formation in normal disc galaxies with the Hδ gradient becoming increasingly positive with time after truncation. It would seem therefore that more than one physical mechanism is responsible for E+A formation in the same environment.