The changing interstellar medium of massive elliptical galaxies and cosmic evolution of radio galaxies and quasars

The recently discovered apparent dramatic expansion in the effective radii of massive elliptical galaxies from   z ≃ 2  to ≃0.1 has been interpreted in terms of either galaxy mergers or the rapid loss of cold gas due to active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback. In examining the latter case, we have quantified the extent of the expansion, which is uncertain observationally, in terms of the star formation parameters and time of the expulsion of the cold gas. In either case, the large global decrease in stellar density should translate into a major drop in the interstellar medium density and pressure with cosmic epoch. These cosmological changes are expected to have a major influence on the gas accretion mode, which will shift from 'cold' thin disc accretion at high redshifts towards 'hot' Bondi fed Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF) accretion at low redshifts. The decline of angular momentum inflow would then lead to a spin down of the black hole, for which we have calculated more precise time-scales; a value of about 0.2 Gyr is typical for a  10⁹ M_⊙  central black hole. These results have implications for the different cosmological evolutionary patterns found for the luminosity functions of powerful and weak radio galaxies.     

六溴环十二烷环境研究进展

极地区域由于其独特的地理位置和自然条件,是对全球气候变化和环境污染响应和反馈最为敏感的区域之一,在全球气候变化和环境污染研究中占据重要地位。HBCDs作为一种新型持久性有机污染物,近几年受到国际社会的广泛关注。文章对HBCDs特性及近几年来极地、中低纬度区域HBCDs研究进行了综述,对比分析了环境中大气、水体、土壤、沉积物、植被和生物等多介质中HBCDs赋存水平,探讨了其异构体在多介质中的浓度分配差异,并对其可能原因给出解释,论证了HBCDs污染防治及其进一步环境行为研究对人类健康及生态环境安全的重要意义。     

辽宁省地震重点监视防御区典型村镇房屋抗震现状调查与分析

为了解辽宁省地震重点监视防御区典型村镇房屋抗震能力现状,通过现场调查的方式对辽阳、锦州和盘锦等地的村镇民居进行了随机抽样调查,并从场地选择、地基基础、建筑材料、构件的连接及抗震构造措施等方面对其抗震性能进行了分析。总体上看:房屋抗震能力不足的比例占85%左右,主要体现在抗震构造措施缺失及构件连接问题上。在此基础上对提高村镇房屋抗震性能提出了一些对策和建议,为辽宁省农村防震减灾工作提供参考。     

低纬地区平流层准零风层时空分布特征分析

利用ERA-Interim逐日再分析资料,使用EOF（Empirical Orthogonal Function）等统计方法,分析了中国低纬地区平流层准零风层（Quasi-Zero Wind Layer,QZWL）的时空分布特征,旨在为平流层飞艇寻找合适的运行区域及时段。低纬地区QZWL主要受到热带平流层大气环流季节性变化和平流层准两年振荡（Quasi-BiennialOscillation,QBO）的影响。在二者共同作用下,低纬地区QZWL高概率带可分为南北两支:“北支”出现在10月至次年4月间,QBO东风位相时期,“北支”中心纬度基本维持在20°N附近,西风位相时期,“北支”中心纬度随高度降低南移明显;“南支”仅出现在QBO西风位相期间,5~11月在5°N附近,其余时段与“北支”合并,可以认为是“北支”向南延伸。通过对比海口站和南沙站Weibull概率密度函数与风速资料的拟合结果,表明Weibull分布可以很好拟合不同QBO位相下平流层逐月风速频率分布,根据Weibull分布计算特定的累积概率风速值,可以作为选取适宜平流层飞艇运行的低风速风场的判据。海口站30~50 hPa高度11月至次年4月、南沙站50~70 hPa高度QBO西风位相时期全年均较为适合平流层飞艇运行。     

Interfacial instabilities driven by self-gravity: first numerical results

The evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) is driven by a variety of phenomena, including turbulence, shearing flows, magnetic fields and the thermal properties of the gas. Among the most important forces at work is self-gravity, which ultimately drives protostellar collapse. As part of an ongoing study of instabilities in the ISM, Hunter, Whitaker & Lovelace have discovered another process driven by self-gravity: the instability of an interface of discontinuous density. Theory predicts that this self-gravity driven interfacial instability persists in the static limit and in the absence of a constant background acceleration. Disturbances to a density interface are found to grow on a time-scale of the order of the free-fall time, even when the perturbation wavelength is much less than the Jeans length. Here we present the first numerical simulations of this instability. The theoretical growth rate is confirmed and the non-linear morphology displayed. The self-gravity interfacial instability is shown to be fundamentally different from the Rayleigh–Taylor instability, although both exhibit similar morphologies under the condition of a high density contrast, such as is commonly found in the ISM. Such instabilities are a possible mechanism by which observed features, such as the pillars of gas seen near the boundaries of interstellar clouds, are formed.     

Molecular hydrogen line emission from the reflection nebula Parsamyan 18

The newly commissioned University of New South Wales Infrared Fabry–Perot (UNSWIRF) has been used to image molecular hydrogen emission at 2.12 and 2.25 μm in the reflection nebula Parsamyan 18. P 18 is known to exhibit low values of the (1–0)/(2–1) S(1) ratio, suggestive of UV-pumped fluorescence rather than thermal excitation by shocks. Our line ratio mapping reveals the full extent of this fluorescent emission from extended arc-like features, as well as a more concentrated thermal component in regions closer to the central exciting star. We show that the emission morphology, line fluxes and gas density are consistent with the predictions of photodissociation region (PDR) theory. Those regions with the highest intrinsic 1–0 S(1) intensities also tend to show the highest (1–0)/(2–1) S(1) line ratios. Furthermore, variations in the line ratio can be attributed to intrinsic fluctuations in the incident radiation field and/or the gas density, through the self-shielding action of H₂. An isolated knot of emission discovered just outside P 18, and having both an unusually high (1–0)/(2–1) S(1) ratio and relative velocity, provides additional evidence for an outflow source associated with P 18.     

海南岛农业地貌

本文在充分消化前人已有资料的基础上,论述了海南岛的主要地貌类型与地貌轮廓,阐明了海南岛地貌形成的条件与过程、地貌对农业生产的影响及农业地貌分区。     

Statistical analysis of time-dependent earthquake occurrence and its impact on hazard in the low seismicity region Lower Rhine Embayment

The time-dependence of earthquake occurrence is mostly ignored in standard seismic hazard assessment even though earthquake clustering is well known. In this work, we attempt to quantify the impact of more realistic dynamics on the seismic hazard estimations. We include the time and space dependences between earthquakes into the hazard analysis via Monte Carlo simulations. Our target region is the Lower Rhine Embayment, a low seismicity area in Germany. Including aftershock sequences by using the epidemic type aftershock-sequence (ETAS) model, we find that on average the hypothesis of uncorrelated random earthquake activity underestimates the hazard by 5–10 per cent. Furthermore, we show that aftershock activity of past large earthquakes can locally increase the hazard even centuries later. We also analyse the impact of the so-called long-term behaviour, assuming a quasi-periodic occurrence of main events on a major fault in that region. We found that a significant impact on hazard is only expected for the special case of a very regular recurrence of the main shocks.