Jupiter and Super-Earth embedded in a gaseous disc

In this paper we investigate the evolution of a pair of interacting planets – a Jupiter-mass planet and a Super-Earth with a mass of  5.5 M _⊕  – orbiting a Solar-type star and embedded in a gaseous protoplanetary disc. We focus on the effects of type I and II orbital migrations, caused by the planet–disc interaction, leading to the capture of the Super-Earth in first-order mean-motion resonances by the Jupiter. The stability of the resulting resonant system in which the Super-Earth is on the internal orbit relative to the Jupiter is studied numerically by means of full 2D hydrodynamical simulations. Our main aim is to determine the Super-Earth behaviour in the presence of the gas giant in the system. It is found that the Jupiter captures the Super-Earth into the interior 3:2 or 4:3 mean-motion resonance, and that the stability of such configurations depends on the initial positions of the planets and on the evolution of the eccentricity. If the initial separation of the orbits of the planets is larger than or close to that required for the exact resonance, the final outcome is the migration of the pair of planets at a rate similar to that of the gas giant, at least for the time of our simulations. Otherwise, we observe a scattering of the Super-Earth from the disc. The evolution of planets immersed in a gaseous disc is compared with their behaviour in the case of the classical three-body problem when the disc is absent.     

The Evolution of Giant Oil Field Production Behavior

The giant oil fields of the world are only a small fraction of the total number of fields, but their importance is huge. Over 50% of the world’s oil production came from giants by 2005 and more than half of the world’s ultimate reserves are found in giants. Based on this, it is reasonable to assume that the future development of the giant oil fields will have a significant impact on the world oil supply. In order to better understand the giant fields and their future behavior, one must first understand their history. This study has used a comprehensive database on giant oil fields in order to determine their typical parameters, such as the average decline rate and life-times of giants. The evolution of giant oil field behavior has been investigated to better understand future behavior. One conclusion is that new technology and production methods have generally led to high depletion rates and rapid decline. The historical trend points towards high decline rates of fields currently on plateau production. The peak production generally occurs before half the ultimate reserves have been produced in giant oil fields. A strong correlation between depletion-at-peak and average decline rate is also found, verifying that high depletion rate leads to rapid decline. Our result also implies that depletion analysis can be used to rule out unrealistic production expectations from a known reserve, or to connect an estimated production level to a needed reserve base.     

ULMSF conference summary

Ten years on from the discovery of the first brown dwarf and the first exoplanet, how well have we progressed in our understanding of these low‐mass objects? In particular how well do we understand their formation? The strong impression from this conference was that the formation of brown dwarfs was just a continuation of the star formation process, no special additional mechanism is indicated. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

对金斯定则的几点认识

用物理学基本定律可导出金斯经验定则,它似应称为金斯定则,该定则的速度、高度或能量等表述完全等效,可随意选用,用能量观点更容易解释此定则,满足金斯定则只是给定的粒子成为具有稠密大气的行星或卫星的主要大气成分的必要条件,该定则的适应范围可用方程或其图像表示,也能用诺模图确定,它适用于太阳系内的行星,卫星,小行星,流星体和像柯伊伯带天体与半人马族星这样的外太阳系天体,此定则现在仍有普遍的现实意义。     

Rummaging through Earth's Attic for Remains of Ancient Life

We explore the likelihood that early remains of Earth, Mars, and Venus have been preserved on the Moon in high enough concentrations to motivate a search mission. During the Late Heavy Bombardment, the inner planets experienced frequent large impacts. Material ejected by these impacts near the escape velocity would have had the potential to land and be preserved on the surface of the Moon. Such ejecta could yield information on the geochemical and biological state of early Earth, Mars, and Venus. To determine whether the Moon has preserved enough ejecta to justify a search mission, we calculate the amount of terran material incident on the Moon over its history by considering the distribution of ejecta launched from the Earth by large impacts. In addition, we make analogous estimates for Mars and Venus. We find, for a well-mixed regolith, that the median surface abundance of terran material is roughly 7 ppm, corresponding to a mass of approximately 20,000 kg of terran material over a 10×10-square-km area. Over the same area, the amount of material transferred from Venus is 1-30 kg and material from Mars as much as 180 kg. Given that the amount of terran material is substantial, we estimate the fraction of this material surviving impact with intact geochemical and biological tracers.     

地外生命搜索和太阳系外的行星的发现

阐述地外生命搜索的意义，手段和现状，地外生命搜索的SETI计划及其发展，并着重介绍太阳系外的行星系统的发现，它的目的，成果以及未来。太阳系外的行星系统的发展是当代天文学最时髦的，也将是未来21世纪成果最丰富的研究领域之一，从1992年第一个确认了脉冲星PSR 1257＋12的行星系统以来，1995年确认主序星51Peg有一颗行星，至2001年5月，已经发现了60个太阳系外的行星系统，太阳系外的行星系统的发现与地外生命搜索研究是密不可分的，新的发现也提出了很多新的谜，这项研究近10年来发展很快，它的研究也促进了航天学，宇宙化学，天文生物学乃至哲学等其他学科的发展。     

Implications of mean field accretion disc theory for vorticity and magnetic field growth

In addition to the scalar Shakura–Sunyaev α _ss turbulent viscosity transport term used in simple analytic accretion disc modelling, a pseudo-scalar transport term also arises. The essence of this term can be captured even in simple models for which vertical averaging is interpreted as integration over a half-thickness and each hemisphere is separately studied. The additional term highlights a complementarity between mean field magnetic dynamo theory and accretion disc theory treated as a mean field theory. Such pseudo-scalar terms have been studied, and can lead to large-scale magnetic field and vorticity growth. Here it is shown that vorticity can grow even in the simplest azimuthal and half-height integrated disc model, for which mean quantities depend only on radius. The simplest vorticity growth solutions seem to have scales and vortex survival times consistent with those required for facilitating planet formation. In addition, it is shown that, when the magnetic back-reaction is included to lowest order, the pseudo-scalar driving the magnetic field growth and that driving the vorticity growth will behave differently with respect to shearing and non-shearing flows: the former pseudo‐scalar can more easily reverse sign in the two cases.