Development of the Automatic Seeing Monitor for the Site Testing of Dome A

The Antarctic site-testing campaigns have shown that Dome C is an excellent astronomical site on the earth, it is better than any of existing mid-latitude astronomical sites in the world, because of its cold and dry weather, low infrared background radiation, continuously observable time as long as 3–4 months, clear and highly transparent atmosphere, low wind speed, and the absence of dust and light pollution. And in the international astronomical community it is generally believed that Dome A with a higher altitude may be better than Dome C as a potential excellent astronomical site. In the past 3 years, although held by the Center for Antarctic Astronomy of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the site testing at Dome A has preliminarily con?rmed the many advantages of Dome A as an excellent astronomical site, but the data about the atmospheric seeing, which is an important parameter for assessing the site quality for optical observations, have not been obtained until now. Hence, on the basis of a commercial telescope with the diameter of 35 cm, we have made the hardware reformation and software development to have it operate as a DIMM (Differential Image Motion Monitor), which can simultaneously monitor both the seeing and isoplanatic angle at Dome A automatically. At present this instrument has been shipped to Antarctica by the “Xuelong” exploration ship, and will be installed at Dome A, and begin to work in early 2011. Before the shipment, by through the comparative measurements together with an existing seeing monitor at the Xinglong astronomical station, the software, hardware, as well as the installation and adjustment of the instrument, are further veri?ed by testing.     

The origin of our galactic magnetic field

A serious difficulty with the standard alpha‐omega theory of the origin of galactic magnetic fields involves the question of flux expulsion. This is intimately related to flux freezing. The alpha‐omega theory is shown in the context of the giant superbubble explosions that have a large impact on the physics of the interstellar medium. It is shown that superbubbles alone can duplicate the processes of the alpha‐omega dynamo and produce exponential growth of the galactic magnetic field. The possibility of the blow‐out of pieces of the magnetic field is discussed and it is shown that they have the potential to solve the flux‐expulsion problem. However, such an explanation must lead to apparent ‘gaps’ in the field in the galactic disc. These gaps are probably unavoidable in any dynamo theory and should have important observable consequences, one of which is an explanation for the escape of cosmic rays from the disc (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

New Experimental Platform for Studies of Turbulence and Turbulent Mixing in Accelerating and Rotating Fluids at High Reynolds Numbers

We present a new experimental platform for studies of turbulence and turbulent mixing in accelerating and rotating fluids. The technology is based on the ultra-high performance optical holographic digital data storage. The state-of-the-art electro-mechanical, electronic, and laser components allow for realization of turbulent flows with high Reynolds number (>10⁷) in a relatively small form-factor, and quantification of their properties with extremely high spatio-temporal resolutions and high data acquisition rates. The technology can be applied for investigation of a large variety of hydrodynamic problems including the fundamental properties of non-Kolmogorov turbulence and turbulent mixing in accelerating, rotating and multiphase flows, magneto-hydrodynamics, and laboratory astrophysics. Unique experimental and metrological capabilities enable the studies of spatial and temporal properties of the transports of momentum, angular momentum, and energy and the identification of scalings, invariants, and statistical properties of these complex turbulent flows.     

Dynamo coefficients from local simulations of the turbulent ISM

Observations in polarized emission reveal the existence of large‐scale coherent magnetic fields in a wide range of spiral galaxies. Radio‐polarization data show that these fields are strongly inclined towards the radial direction, with pitch angles up to 35° and thus cannot be explained by differential rotation alone. Global dynamo models describe the generation of the radial magnetic field from the underlying turbulence via the so called α ‐effect. However, these global models still rely on crude assumptions about the small‐scale turbulence. To overcome these restrictions we perform fully dynamical MHD simulations of interstellar turbulence driven by supernova explosions. From our simulations we extract profiles of the contributing diagonal elements of the dynamo α ‐tensor as functions of galactic height. We also measure the coefficients describing vertical pumping and find that the ratio between these two effects has been overestimated in earlier analytical work, where dynamo action seemed impossible. In contradiction to these models based on isolated remnants we always find the pumping to be directed inward. In addition we observe that depends on whether clustering in terms of superbubbles is taken into account. Finally, we apply a test field method to derive a quantitative measure of the turbulent magnetic diffusivity which we determine to be ∼2 kpckms^–1. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

赤道电离层泡短波区密度谱理论分析

本文主要讨论在导致赤道夜间扩展F回波的上升汽泡中,短波区（λ25m）等离子体密度谱分布的物理机制,说明不均匀体内不同的湍动水平将产生不同的谱结构。对于较低湍动水平的汽泡,由于纵向离子声波和具有有限平行波矢漂移波的耦合共振相互作用,导致波模间能量的有效传输,从而控制湍动水平的发展,形成等能多峰谱结构。另一方面,对于湍动充分发展的汽泡,由长波区大幅度扰动维持的短波区强漂移湍动态,在Kr_Li≈2处形成一较宽的极大谱峰,然后谱以K^-2.6的形式减小。理论分析和探测结果符合甚好。     

GRADIENT MEASUREMENTS OF METHANE FLUX IN LIN’AN RICE PADDIES*

From July to September of 1990,CH₄ flux measurements were made in Lin'an rice paddies using gradient profile techniques.Some characteristics of the turbulence structure under the stable conditions have been verified in the surface layer according to the in situ measurements.The semi-empirical turbulent parameters β_m,β_h and β_c and their changes with the stability parameter Ri are given.Observed results indicate that CH₄ flux in the rice-paddy is mainly decided by the methnogenesis and the process of CH₄ transport from internal soils to the atmosphere,and that the CH₄ vertical transfer is depressed in the stable surface layer.The CH₄ flux shows that its obvious diurnal changes,and the mean CH₄ flux are higher in nighttime and lower in daytime,and the peaks appear at about 2000 BST at night and 0300 BST in the early morning,respectively.The mean value of CH₄ flux is about 4.18±2.3 mg/m² h.