岁差模型研究的新进展——P03模型

简述了岁差P03模型提出的背景情况;指出IAU1976岁差模型的缺陷, IAU 2000A岁差和章动模型中虽有改进但仍不完善;对IAU2006岁差模型(即Capitaine提出的P03模型)作了介绍,并将其与其他岁差模型L77、B03和F03进行了比较;述及GCRS至ITRS的2种表达方法,基于春分点的岁差和章动旋转角方法和运动参考架CIO的X、Y、s的方法;给出了CIP和CIO位置确定的各种方法以及其精度;最后叙述了20世纪IAU采用的岁差一章动模型和IAU天文常数工作组的有关情况,给出了在惯性参考架中"非旋转原点"的运动.     

Observations of Giant Pulses of the Crab Pulsar

The Crab Pulsar was observed at 1540 MHz with the 25m radio telescope at Urumqi with a filterbank de-dispersion backend. A total of 2436 giant pulses with pulse energies larger than 4300 Jy μs were detected in two observing sets. All of these giant pulses are located in the main pulse (MP) and inter pulse (IP) windows of the average profile of the Crab Pulsar. The ratio of the numbers of giant pulses detected in the IP and MP windows is about 0.05. Our results show that, at 1540 MHz, the emission in the IP is contributed by giant and normal pulses, while that in the MP is almost dominated by giant pulses. The distribution of energy of the 2436 giant pulses at 1540 MHz can be described by a power-law with index α=3.13±0.09. The intrinsic threshold of giant pulse energy in the MP window is about 1400 Jy μs at 1540 MHz.     

Feedback of Active Galactic Nuclei in Seyfert 2 Galaxies

It is well accepted that feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) plays an important role in the coevolution of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) and its host galaxy,but the concrete mechanism of feedback remains unclear.A considerable body of evidence suggests that AGN feedback suppresses star formation in the host galaxy.We assemble a sample of Seyfert 2 galaxies with recent observational data of compact nuclear starbursts and estimate the gas surface density as a function of column density to illuminate the relation between feedback and AGN properties.Although there are some uncertainties,our data still imply the deviation from the star formation law (Kennicutt-Schmidt law).Further,they indicate that:(1) Feedback correlates with the Eddington ratio,rather than with the mass of SMBH,as a result of decreasing star formation efficiency.(2) The SMBH and the torus are probably undergoing coevolution.Conclusions presented here can be refined through future high resolution CO or HCN observations.     

An X-Ray Study of Lobe-Dominated Radio-Loud Quasars with XMM-Newton

We report on our results of X-ray spectral analysis for a sample of radio-loud quasars covering a wide range of the radio core-dominance parameter, R, from core-dominated to lobe-dominated objects, using data obtained mostly with the XMM-Newton Observatory. We find that the spectral shape of the underlying power-law continuum is flat even for the lobe-dominated objects (average photon index ～ 1.5), indistinguishable from that of core-dominated quasars. For lobe-dominated objects, contribution of X-rays from the jets is expected to be very small based on previous unification schemes, more than one order of magnitude lower than the observed X-ray luminosities. Assuming that radio-loud quasars follow the same X-ray-UV/optical luminosity relation for the disk-corona emission as found for radio-quiet quasars, we estimate the X-ray flux contributed by the disk-corona component from the optical/UV continuum. We find that neither the luminosity, nor the spectral shape, of the disk-corona X-ray emission can account for the bulk of the observed X-ray properties. Thus in lobe-dominated quasars, either the disk-corona X-ray emission is much enhanced in strength and flatter in spectral shape (photon index～1.5) compared to normal radio-quiet quasars, or their jet X-ray emission is much enhanced compared to their weak radio core-jet emission. If the latter is the case, our result may imply that the jet emission in X-rays is less Doppler beamed than that in the radio. As a demonstrating example, we test this hypothesis by using a specific model in which the X-ray jet has a larger opening angle than the radio jet.     

Application of Accelerometer Data in Precise Orbit Determination of GRACE -A and -B

We investigate how well the GRACE satellite orbits can be determined using the onboard GPS data combined with the accelerometer data.The preprocessing of the accelerometer data and the methods and models used in the orbit determination are presented.In order to assess the orbit accuracy,a number of tests are made,including external orbit comparison,and through Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) residuals and K-band ranging (KBR) residuals.It is shown that the standard deviations of the position differences between the so-called precise science orbits (PSO) produced by GFZ,and the single-difference (SD) and zero-difference (ZD) dynamic orbits are about 7 cm and 6 cm,respectively.The independent SLR validation indicates that the overall root-mean-squared (RMS) errors of the SD solution for days 309-329 of 2002 are about 4.93cm and 5.22cm,for GRACE-A and B respectively; theoverall RMS errors of the ZD solution are about 4.25 cm and 4.71 cm,respectively.The relative accuracy between the two GRACE satellites is validated by the KBR data to be on a level of 1.29 cm for the SD,and 1.03 cm for the ZD solution.     

Formation of Transient Coronal Holes during the Eruption of a Quiescent Filament and its Overlying Sigmoid

By using Hα, He I 10830, EUV and soft X-ray (SXR) data, we examined a filament eruption that occurred on a quiet-sun region near the center of the solar disk on 2006 January 12, which disturbed a sigmoid overlying the filament channel observed by the GOES-12 SXR Imager (SXI), and led to the eruption of the sigmoid. The event was associated with a partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraphs (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and resulted in the formation of two flare-like ribbons, post-eruption coronal loops, and two transient coronal holes (TCHs), but there were no significantly recorded GOES or Hα flares corresponding to the eruption. The two TCHs were dominated by opposite magnetic polarities and were located on the two ends of the eruptive sigmoid. They showed similar locations and shapes in He Ⅰ 10830, EUV and SXR observations. During the early eruption phase, brightenings first appeared on the locations of the two subsequent TCHs, which could be clearly identified on He Ⅰ 10830, EUV and SXR images. This eruption could be explained by the magnetic flux rope model, and the two TCHs were likely to be the feet of the flux rope.     

The Structure of Narrow-Line Region in LINERs

Low-ionization nuclear emission regions (LINERs) are present in a large fraction of local galaxies, while their connection to the more luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) remains elusive. We analyze the narrow band images obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in Hα [NⅡ] and/or [OⅢ] band for 23 LINERs and low luminosity Seyfert galaxies in the sample of the Palomar Optical Spectroscopic Survey of nearby galaxies in an attempt to resolve the structure of Narrow Emission Line Regions (NLRs) of these objects. In all cases, NLRs are well resolved and their morphology differs from object to object. Clumps, linear structure, spiral arms or a ring are detected in a large fraction of the objects, while there is no significant difference between Seyfert galaxies and LINERs. We find that the NLR size and the narrow line luminosity are strongly correlated for both LINERs and low luminosity Seyfert galaxies, and that the size of Hα [NⅡ] emission line region scales with Hα luminosity as RNLR∞L0.4±0.06Hα, consistent with an extension of the NLR size-luminosity relation defined for luminous Seyfert galaxies and quasars, to two orders of magnitude lower in luminosity and to lower activity levels. Our results suggest that NLRs in LINERs are similar to those of Seyfert galaxies, and they are powered by the central active galactic nucleus.     

A GRB Follow-up System at the Xinglong Observatory and Detection of the High-Redshift GRB 060927

A gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical photometric follow-up system at the Xinglong Observatory of National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) has been constructed. It uses the 0.8-m Tsinghua-NAOC Telescope (TNT) and the 1-m EST telescope, and can au-tomatically respond to GRB Coordinates Network (GCN) alerts. Both telescopes slew rela-tively fast, being able to point to a new target field within ～ 1 min upon a request. Whenever available, the 2.16-m NAOC telescope is also used. In 2006 the system responded to 15 GRBs and detected seven early afterglows. In 2007 six GRBs have been detected among 18 follow-up observations. TNT observations of the second most distant GRB 060927 (z = 5.5) are shown, which started as early as 91 s after the GRB trigger. The afterglow was detected in the combined image of the first 19 × 20 s unfiltered exposures. This GRB follow-up system has joined the East-Asia GRB Follow-up Observation Network (EAFON).