More than two hundred and fifty thousand spectroscopic binary or variable star candidates discovered by LAMOST

About 786.4 thousand stars were observed by LAMOST twice or more during the first stage of its spectroscopic survey. The radial velocity differences for about 256 thousand targets are larger than10 km s^-1 and they are possible spectroscopic binary or variable candidates(SBVCs). It is shown that most SBVCs are slightly metal poorer than the Sun. There are two peaks in the temperature distribution of SBVCs around 5760 K and 4870 K, while there are three peaks in the distribution of the gravitational acceleration at 2.461, 4.171 and 4.621 cm s^-2. The locations of SBVCs on the [Fe/H]-T, [Fe/H]-log g, log g-T and H-R diagrams are investigated. It is found that the detected SBVCs could be classified into four groups. The first group has higher log g～4.621 and lower T ～ 4870 K which are mainly cool red dwarf binaries. The second group of SBVCs has logg around 4.171 cm s^-2 that includes binaries and pulsating stars such as δSet and γ Dor variables. The gravitational accelerations of the third group of SBVCs are higher and some of them are below the zero-age main sequence. They may be contact binaries in which the primary components are losing energy to the secondaries in the common envelopes and are at a special stellar evolutionary stage.The last group is composed of giants or supergiants with log g around 2.461 cm s^-2 that may be evolved pulsating stars. One target(C134624.29+333921.2) is confirmed as an eclipsing binary with a period of 0.65 days. A preliminary analysis suggests that it is a detached binary with a mass ratio of 0.46. The primary fills its critical Roche lobe by about 89%, indicating that mass transfer will occur between the two components.     

Preface: Modern studies of variable stars

In this Mini-Volume, seven papers written on the basis of talks selected from those presented at the scientific conference "Modern studies of variable stars," commemorating Prof. M. A. Svechnikov(1933–2011), are published. The conference covered a variety of variable-star topics; the papers in this Mini-Volume deal with close, mainly eclipsing, binaries, Herbig Be stars and stellar molecular masers, with an accent on stellar catalogs of different kinds. We briefly review the contents of these papers.     

Database of molecular masers and variable stars

We present the database of maser sources in H2 O, OH and Si O lines that can be used to identify and study variable stars at evolved stages. Detecting the maser emission in H2 O, OH and Si O molecules toward infrared-excess objects is one of the methods for identifing long-period variables(LPVs, including miras and semiregulars), because these stars exhibit maser activity in their circumstellar shells. Our sample contains 1803 known LPV objects. Forty-six percent of these stars(832 objects) manifest maser emission in the line of at least one molecule: H2 O, OH or Si O. We use the database of circumstellar masers in order to search for LPVs which are not included in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars(GCVS). Our database contains 4806 objects(3866 objects without associations in GCVS) with maser detection in at least one molecule. Therefore it is possible to use the database in order to locate and study the large sample of LPV stars. The database can be accessed at http://maserdb.net.     

IU Cancri:a solar-type contact binary with mass transfer

We present new CCD photometry of the solar-type contact binary IU Cnc, which was observed from November 2017 to March 2018 with three small telescopes in China. BV light curves imply that IU Cnc is a W-type contact binary with total eclipses. The photometric solution indicates that the mass ratio and fill-out factor are q = 4.104 ± 0.004 and f = 30.2%± 0.3%, respectively. From all available light minimum times, the orbital period may increase at a rate of dP/dt =+6.93(4)× 10^-7 d yr^-1, which may result from mass transfer from the secondary component to the primary one. With mass transferring,IU Cnc may evolve from a contact configuration into a semi-detached configuration.     

Search for H I emission from superdisk candidates associated with radio galaxies

Giant gaseous layers(termed “superdisks”) have been hypothesized in the past to account for the strip-like radio emission gap(or straight-edged central brightness depression) observed between twin radio lobes, in over a dozen relatively nearby powerful Fanaroff-Riley Class II radio galaxies. They could also provide a plausible alternative explanation for a range of observations. Although a number of explanations have been proposed for the origin of the superdisks, little is known about their material content. Some X-ray observations of superdisk candidates indicate the presence of hot gas, but a cool dusty medium also seems to be common. If they are entirely or partly composed of neutral gas, then it may be directly detectable and we report here a first attempt to detect/image any neutral hydrogen gas present in the superdisks that are inferred to be present in four nearby radio galaxies. We have not found a positive H I signal in any of the four sources, resulting in tight upper limits on the H I number density in the postulated superdisks,estimated directly from the central rms noise values of the final radio continuum subtracted image. The estimated ranges of the upper limit on neutral hydrogen number density and column density are 10^-4-10^-3 atoms per cm3 and 10^19-10^20 atoms per cm^2, respectively. No positive H I signal is detected even after combining all the four available H I images(with inverse variance weighting). This clearly rules out an H I dominated superdisk as a viable model to explain these structures, however, the possibility of a superdisk being composed of warm/hot gas still remains open.     

A method for aligning the plastic scintillator detector on DAMPE

The Plastic Scintillator Detector(PSD) onboard the DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)is designed to measure cosmic ray charge(Z) and to act as a veto detector for gamma ray identification.To fully exploit the charge identification potential of PSD and to enhance its capability to identify gamma ray events, we develop an alignment method for the PSD. The path length of a given track in the volume of a PSD bar is derived taking into account the shift and rotation alignment corrections. By examining energy spectra of corner-passing events and fully contained events, position shifts and rotations of all PSD bars are obtained, and are found to be on average about 1 mm and 0.0015 radian respectively. To validate the alignment method, we introduce artificial shifts and rotations of PSD bars into the detector simulation.These shift and rotation parameters can be recovered successfully by the alignment procedure. As a result of the PSD alignment procedure, the charge resolution of the PSD is improved from 4% to 8%, depending on the nuclei.     

ALMA observations of the circumstellar envelope around EP Aqr

Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array(ALMA) observations of CO(1–0) and CO(2–1) emissions from the circumstellar envelope of the asymptotic giant branch(AGB) star EP Aqr have been made with four times better spatial resolution than previously available. They are analysed with emphasis on the de-projection in space of the effective emissivity and flux of matter using as input a prescribed configuration of the velocity field, assumed to be radial. The data are found to display an intrinsic axisymmetry with respect to an axis making a small angle with respect to the line of sight. A broad range of wind configurations, from prolate(bipolar) to oblate(equatorial) has been studied and found to be accompanied by significant equatorial emission. Qualitatively, the effective emissivity is enhanced near the equator to produce the central narrow component observed in the Doppler velocity spectra and its dependence on star latitude generally follows that of the wind velocity with the exception of an omni-present depression near the poles. In particular, large equatorial expansion velocities produce a flared disc or a ring of effective emissivity and mass loss. The effect on the determination of the orientation of the star axis of radial velocity gradients, and possibly competing rotation and expansion in the equatorial disc, is discussed. In general,the flux of matter is found to reach a broad maximum at distances of the order of 500 AU from the star.Arguments are given that may be used to favour one wind velocity distribution over another. As a result of the improved quality of the data, a deeper understanding of the constraints imposed on morphology and kinematics has been obtained.     

New photometric investigation of the low-mass-ratio contact binary star V1853 Orionis

Four-color charge-coupled device(CCD) light curves in the B, V, Rc and I c bands of the totaleclipsing binary system V1853 Orionis(V1853 Ori) are presented. By comparing our light curves with those published by previous investigators, it is determined that the O'Connell effect on the light curves has disappeared. By analyzing those multi-color light curves with the Wilson-Devinney code(W-D code),it is discovered that V1853 Ori is an A-type intermediate-contact binary with a degree of contact factor of f = 33.3%(3.7%) and a mass ratio of q = 0.1896(0.0013). Combining our 10 newly determined times of light minima together with others published in the literature, the period changes of the system are investigated. We found that the general trend of the observed minus calculated(O-C) curve shows a downward parabolic variation that corresponds to a long-term decrease in the orbital period with a rate of d P/dt =-1.96(0.46)×10^-7 d yr^-1. The long-term period decrease could be explained by mass transfer from the more-massive component to the less-massive one. By combining our photometric solutions with data from Gaia DR_2, absolute parameters were derived as M_1 = 1.20 M⊙, M_2 = 0.23 M⊙, R_1 = 1.36 R⊙and R_2 = 0.66 R⊙. The long-term period decrease and intermediate-contact configuration suggest that V1853 Ori will evolve into a high fill-out overcontact binary.     

The symmetry energy and incompressibility constrained by the observations of glitching pulsars

We investigate the masses of glitching pulsars in order to constrain their equation of state(EOS). The observations of glitches(sudden jumps in rotational frequency) may provide information on the interior physics of neutron stars. With the assumption that glitches are triggered by superfluid neutrons, the masses of glitching neutron stars can be estimated using observations of maximum glitches.Together with the observations of thermal emission from glitching pulsars Vela and J1709–4429, the slope of symmetry energy and incompressibility of nuclear matter at saturation density can be constrained.The slope of symmetry energy L should be larger than 67 MeV while the lower limit of incompressibility for symmetric nuclear matter K_0 is 215 MeV. We also obtain a relationship between L and K_0:6.173 MeV + 0.283 K_0≤ L ≤ 7.729 MeV + 0.291 K_0. The restricted EOSs are consistent with the observations of 2-solar-mass neutron stars and gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral.     

背负式移动激光扫描系统测绘大比例尺地形图精度试验研究

将背负式移动激光扫描系统应用在测绘大比例尺地形图中,其扫描精度至关重要。本文利用徕卡Pegasus Backpack对苏州工业园园区测绘地理信息大楼进行扫描,采用Inertial Explorer、Infinity、AoTumatic Processing对点云数据进行预处理,运用RealWorks提取特征点,将特征点在MicroStation V8联图中绘制成1：500地形图。通过与传统方法绘制的1：500地形图相叠合,发现两幅地形图具有很好重合度。对地物检测点精度分析后,得到点位中误差为0.026 m,高程中误差为0.041 m。研究结果表明徕卡Pegasus Backpack满足1：500地形图测量精度要求。