Dynamical studies of cluster pairs in the Magellanic Clouds

We performed N -body simulations of star cluster encounters with Hernquist's TREECODE in a CRAY YMP-2E computer under different initial conditions (relative positions and velocities, cluster sizes, masses and concentration degrees). The total number of particles per simulation ranged from 1024 to 20480. These models are compared with a series of isodensity maps of cluster pairs in the Magellanic Clouds. Evidence is found that during the interactions, transient morphological effects such as an expanded halo, isophotal deformation and isophotal twisting can occur as a result of tidal effects and dynamical friction. The simulations also show that different outcomes are possible depending on the initial parameters: (i) long-standing changes of concentration degree can occur after the collision; (ii) one member can disaggregate; or (iii) the pair can coalesce into a single cluster with a distinct structure compared with the original ones. These simulations can reproduce a wide range of morphological structures in observed cluster pairs.     

气候变化和生态建设对秦岭—淮河南北植被动态的影响

论文基于2000-2019年秦岭—淮河南北MODIS-NDVI植被覆盖数据,对中国南北过渡带植被时空变化进行分析,并探讨植被动态变化驱动因素.结果 表明:①在趋势变化上,2000-2019年秦岭—淮河南北植被显著恢复.其中,秦巴山区植被恢复面积占比最高,其次是巫山山区和关中平原;植被退化区面积占比仅为6.4％,主要分布...     

3D triangulation of a Sun-grazing comet

The bright Kreutz Comet C/2007 L3 (SOHO) entered the fields of view of the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) COR1 telescopes on 7–8 June 2007. The 12° separation between the two spacecraft at the time afforded the opportunity to derive the position of the comet's tail in three-dimensional space using direct triangulation. The track of the comet's orbit is compared against more traditional orbital calculations using observations from the STEREO COR2 telescopes, and from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The shape of the comet's tail shows that it is composed of dust particles released when the comet was between 18 and 22 solar radii, with no significant dust production after that. The comet did not survive perihelion passage, but a rare faint remnant of the comet tail persisted for several hours after the break-up, and was seen by both the SOHO and STEREO coronagraphs to drift slowly away from the Sun. This tail remnant was found to be composed of particles far back from the head of the comet. The motion of the tail remnant shows a loss of angular momentum during the passage through the solar corona. Atmospheric drag is estimated to account for a significant fraction of this change in angular momentum, but indications are that other mechanisms may be required to completely account for the total amount of change.     

Integrated Approaches,Multiple Scales: Snag Dynamics in Burned Versus Unburned Landscapes*

By studying landscape form and patterns, we can study processes at multiple scales and determine how collectively those processes inform us about function(s). Integrating landscape ecology from a biogeographical perspective with geographic information science (GIScience) practices offers new ways to study how landscapes change over time and space, including how they can be measured, analyzed, and modeled for management needs. This article presents methodologies and selected results of analyzing spatial patterns from field data across multiple scales by examining standing dead tree (snag) processes across wildfire‐disturbed landscapes in Arizona. Our primary motivation was to illustrate a particular type of work benefiting from the coalescing of landscape ecology and GIScience, functioning at the methodological and practical overlap of these two contributing fields. Our management goals were to (1) describe spatial patterns and characteristics of snags in pairs of burned and unburned ponderosa pine forests of Arizona in four recent (within the past ten years) wildfires, (2) document bird response to wildfires by combining landscape ecology and GIScience methods, and (3) link these patterns to snag monitoring plots and cavity‐nesting bird use to predict the probability of snag use by birds and cavity nesters based on snag characteristics (snag use model). The methods and results demonstrate how integration of landscape ecology with both GIS and GIScience improves the ways to study landscapes and land management issues, in this case offering guidelines for retention of snags that provide habitat for wildlife.     

Invariant manifolds, phase correlations of chaotic orbits and the spiral structure of galaxies

In the presence of a strong   m = 2  component in a rotating galaxy, the phase-space structure near corotation is shaped to a large extent by the invariant manifolds of the short-period family of unstable periodic orbits terminating at L ₁ or L ₂. The main effect of these manifolds is to create robust phase correlations among a number of chaotic orbits large enough to support a spiral density wave outside corotation. The phenomenon is described theoretically by soliton-like solutions of a Sine–Gordon equation. Numerical examples are given in an N -body simulation of a barred spiral galaxy. In these examples, we demonstrate how the projection of unstable manifolds in configuration space reproduces essentially the entire observed bar–spiral pattern.     

施肥对新垦绿洲风沙土肥力及碳积累的影响

利用2005年安排在临泽边缘绿洲沙地农田的长期施肥定位试验,研究不同用量有机肥、化肥、有机肥和化肥配施对绿洲沙地土壤肥力及有机碳积累的影响。试验包括高量有机肥单施(M3),氮磷化肥单施(NP3),低、中、高量氮磷钾化肥单施(NPK1,NPK2,NPK3),及低、中、高量氮磷钾化肥配施高、中、低量有机肥9个处理(NPK1M3,NPK2M2,NPK3M1),测定分析10年后不同施肥处理耕层(0~20 cm)土壤物理化学性状特征及有机碳动态。结果表明:施有机肥及有机无机配施处理较单施化肥处理容重下降0.13 g·cm^-3,田间持水量提高6.7%,单施有机肥、有机无机配施较单施化肥,土壤有机碳(SOC)和全氮含量分别提高64.8%、36.3%和64.9%、49.5%。高量施用氮磷化肥和氮磷钾化肥处理全磷含量最高,有机肥及有机无机配施较单施化肥有效氮含量显著增加,有机无机配施及高量施用磷肥土壤有效磷积累明显,高量施用有机肥能显著提升有效钾含量。连续施肥处理10年后,SOC含量提高了1.68~2.84倍,土壤全氮、全磷、碱解氮及有效磷均有一定程度的提高,但单施化肥及有机肥与氮磷化肥配施有效钾含量下降。SOC的积累速率单施化肥、有机无机配施、单施有机肥处理分别为0.27、0.59,0.87 g·kg^-1·a^-1。增施有机肥、适量减少化肥投入、氮磷钾化肥的平衡施用是绿洲沙地农田土壤肥力持续提升的施肥管理对策。     

入海泥沙减少对黄河三角洲潮滩粒度特征的影响

为探究不同悬沙浓度下潮滩粒度特征的变化,对黄河三角洲潮滩进行了物理模拟实验。使用采自研究区的潮滩表层沉积物,设定与实际潮滩尺寸按比例缩小的室内水槽以及波浪潮汐动力模拟,对不同悬沙浓度条件（0～14.9 kg/m3）下的模拟“潮滩”进行粒度分析。结果表明,随着悬沙浓度的减少,潮滩粒度特征发生了明显变化。随着含沙量的减少,整个潮滩的细颗粒沉积物分布范围减小,总体上沉积物呈现粗化特征,但颗粒较大的极粗粉砂的分布同样减少;在不同含沙量条件下,分选系数、偏度和峰度均值总体呈现出潮下带上部高、潮间带和潮下带下部低的特征,反映了模拟的潮间带上部和潮下带前缘的分选较潮滩中部更好的特征。含沙量的变化同样影响了模拟潮滩的微地貌形态,随着含沙量的降低,潮滩微地貌逐渐侵蚀破碎。潮滩物理模型实验有助于快速再现潮滩冲淤形态和变化特征,使特定条件下潮滩的变化具备可预见性,从而为人类有针对性地进行生产活动提供参考。     

Dynamical friction force exerted on spherical bodies

We present a rigorous calculation of the dynamical friction force exerted on a spherical massive perturber moving through an infinite homogenous system of field stars. By calculating the shape and mass of the polarization cloud induced by the perturber in the background system, which decelerates the motion of the perturber, we recover Chandrasekhar's drag force law with a modified Coulomb logarithm. As concrete examples, we calculate the drag force exerted on a Plummer sphere or a sphere with the density distribution of a Hernquist profile. It is shown that the shape of the perturber only affects the exact form of the Coulomb logarithm. The latter converges on small scales because encounters of the test and field stars with impact parameters less than the size of the massive perturber become inefficient. We confirm in this way the earlier results based on the impulse approximation of small angle scatterings.     

Trace constituents of Europa's atmosphere

Europa is bombarded by intense radiation that erodes the surface, launching molecules into a thin “atmosphere” representative of surface composition. In addition to atoms and molecules created in the mostly water ice surface such as H₂O, O₂, H₂, the atmosphere is known to have species representative of trace surface materials. These trace species are carried off with the 10-10⁴ H₂O molecules ejected by each energetic heavy ion, a process we have simulated using molecular dynamics. Using the results of those simulations, we found that a neutral mass spectrometer orbiting ∼100 km above the surface could detect species with surface concentrations above ∼0.03%. We have also modeled the atmospheric spatial structure of the volatile species CO₂ and SO₂ under a variety of assumptions. Detections of these species with moderate time and space resolution would allow us to constrain surface composition, chemistry and to study space weathering processes.     

BHαBAR: big Hα kinematical sample of barred spiral galaxies – I. Fabry–Perot observations of 21 galaxies

We present the Hα gas kinematics of 21 representative barred spiral galaxies belonging to the BHαBAR sample. The galaxies were observed with FaNTOmM, a Fabry–Perot integral-field spectrometer, on three different telescopes. The three-dimensional data cubes were processed through a robust pipeline with the aim of providing the most homogeneous and accurate data set possible useful for further analysis. The data cubes were spatially binned to a constant signal-to-noise ratio, typically around 7. Maps of the monochromatic Hα emission line and of the velocity field were generated and the kinematical parameters were derived for the whole sample using tilted-ring models. The photometrical and kinematical parameters (position angle of the major axis, inclination, systemic velocity and kinematical centre) are in relative good agreement, except perhaps for the later-type spirals.