瓦斯突出煤层的无线电波响应特征

在瓦斯突出煤体和非突出煤体的电学性质研究基础上 ,研究了瓦斯突出煤层的无线电波响应特征 ,为利用无线电波透视技术探测瓦斯突出煤体和进行瓦斯突出带的非接触式预测提供了理论基础     

在97.8GHz处测量地球大气的不透明度

用研制的全自动辐射计在97．8GHz上测量南京市内大气的不透明度以及这种不透明度随时间的变化．辐射计记录大气在不同天顶高度的辐射温度,由此测出天顶方向的大气不透明度。在56小时的测量时间内,取得了1400多组数据,拟合得到了在观测时段内天顶方向的大气不透明度在0．2至0．7之间,典型值为0．4,表明测试地点的大气条件允许进行3mm波段的射电天文观测．由于在工作频段内大气不透明度的主要来源是对流层水汽的吸收,测量的不透明度可用来直接反映大气内水汽的含量,并实时校准大气吸收．     

Interferometer phase calibration sources — II. The region 0° ≤ δB1950≤ +20°

We present a catalogue of 781 compact radio sources in the declination range 0° ≤ δ_B1950≤ +20° whose positions have been measured to an rms accuracy of about 14 mas with the Very Large Array (VLA). These sources are primarily intended for use as phase calibration sources for the Jodrell Bank MERLIN. However, they will also be suitable as phase calibrators for the VLA and can be considered as candidate phase calibrators for very long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) networks.     

Red quasars not so dusty

Webster et al. claimed that up to 80 per cent of QSOs may be obscured by dust. They inferred the presence of this dust from the remarkably broad range of B − K optical–infrared colours of a sample of flat-spectrum PKS radio QSOs. If such dust is typical of QSOs, it will have rendered invisible most of those which would otherwise have been detected by optical surveys. We used the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma to obtain K infrared images of 54 B3 radio QSOs selected at low frequency (mainly steep-spectrum), and we find that although several have very red optical–infrared colours, most of these can be attributed to an excess of light in K rather than a dust-induced deficit in B. We present evidence that some of the infrared excess comes from the light of stars in the host galaxy (some, as previously suggested, comes from synchrotron radiation associated with flat-spectrum radio sources). The B − K colours of the B3 QSOs provide no evidence for a large reddened population. Either the Webster et al. QSOs are atypical in having such large extinctions, or their reddening is not due to dust; either way, the broad range of their B − K colours does not provide evidence that a large fraction of QSOs has been missed from optical surveys.     

Submillimetre-wave gravitational lenses and cosmology

One of the most direct routes for investigating the geometry of the Universe is provided by the numbers of strongly magnified gravitationally lensed galaxies as compared with those that are either weakly magnified or de-magnified. In the submillimetre waveband the relative abundance of strongly lensed galaxies is expected to be larger as compared with the optical or radio wavebands, both in the field and in clusters of galaxies. The predicted numbers depend on the properties of the population of faint galaxies in the submillimetre waveband, which was formerly very uncertain; however, recent observations of lensing clusters have reduced this uncertainty significantly and confirm that a large sample of galaxy–galaxy lenses could be detected and investigated using forthcoming facilities, including the FIRST and Planck Surveyor space missions and a large ground-based millimetre/submillimetre-wave interferometer array (MIA). We discuss how this sample could be used to impose limits on the values of cosmological parameters and the total density and form of evolution of the mass distribution of bound structures, even in the absence of detailed lens modelling for individual members of the sample. The effects of different world models on the form of the magnification bias expected in sensitive submillimetre-wave observations of clusters are also discussed, because an MIA could resolve and investigate images in clusters in detail.     

Observational limits to source confusion in the millimetre/submillimetre waveband

The first observations to detect a population of distant galaxies directly in the submillimetre waveband have recently been made using the new Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The results indicate that a large number of distant galaxies are radiating strongly in this waveband. Here we discuss their significance for source confusion in future millimetre/submillimetre-wave observations of both distant galaxies and cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) anisotropies. Earlier estimates of such confusion involved significant extrapolation of the results of observations of galaxies at low redshifts; our new estimates do not, as they are derived from direct observations of distant galaxies in the submillimetre waveband. The results have important consequences for the design and operation of existing and proposed millimetre/submillimetre-wave telescopes: the Planck Surveyor survey will be confusion-limited at frequencies greater than 350 GHz, even in the absence of Galactic dust emission; a 1σ confusion noise limit of about 0.44 mJy beam⁻¹ is expected for the JCMT/SCUBA at a wavelength of 850 μm; and the subarcsecond resolution of large millimetre/submillimetre-wave interferometer arrays will be required in order to execute very deep galaxy surveys.     

The radio properties of radio-quiet quasars

Although radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) constitute ≳ 90 per cent of optically identified quasar samples, their radio properties are only poorly understood. In this paper we present the results of a multi-frequency VLA study of 27 low-redshift RQQs. We detect radio emission from 20 objects, half of which are unresolved (≤ 0.24 arcsec). In cases where significant structure can be resolved, double, triple and linear radio sources on scales of a few kpc are found. The radio emission (typically) has a steep spectrum (α ∼ 0.7, where S  ∝ ν^−α), and high brightness temperatures ( T _B ≥ 10⁵ K) are measured in some of the radio components. The RQQs form a natural extension to the radio luminosity–absolute magnitude distribution of nearby Seyfert 1s. We conclude that a significant fraction of the radio emission in RQQs originates in a compact nuclear source directly associated with the quasar. There are no significant differences between the radio properties of RQQs with elliptical hosts and those in disc galaxies within the current sample.     

A new look at the isotropy of narrow-line emission in extragalactic radio sources

We undertake a quantitative investigation, using Monte Carlo simulations, of the amount by which quasars are expected to exceed radio galaxies in optical luminosity in the context of the 'receding torus' model. We compare these simulations with the known behaviour of the [O  III ] λ5007 and [O  II ] λ3727 emission lines and conclude that [O  III ] is the better indicator of the strength of the underlying non-stellar continuum.     

Possible formation scenarios for the giant H i envelope around the NGC 4490/4485 system

We present observations of H i in the nearby interacting galaxies NGC 4490 and 4485 made with the VLA in both C and D arrays. The galaxies are embedded in an extensive envelope of neutral hydrogen which is elongated in a direction approximately perpendicular to the plane of NGC 4490, with an extent of about 56 kpc. We argue that this distribution of neutral hydrogen can best be explained by a galactic-scale bipolar outflow of H  i driven by supernovae in NGC 4490. The flow from the disc appears to be reasonably well collimated and has probably persisted for approximately 6 × 10⁸ yr. The implications for galaxy evolution when such mass loss occurs are briefly discussed.     

Optical, infrared and radio observations of the Seyfert galaxy Markarian 315

We report on new optical, infrared and radio observations of the Seyfert galaxy Markarian 315. We confirm the detection at all wavelengths of a secondary peak of emission, which lies ≈ 2 arcsec east of the Seyfert nucleus. Moreover, we detect a chain-like structure which surrounds the active nucleus, with peculiar behaviour westward of the nucleus. We consider different interpretations for the origin of the secondary peak emission.