Principal components in active galactic nuclei variability data and the estimation of the flux contributions from different components

It has been found that the near-infrared flux variations of Seyfert galaxies satisfy relations of the form   F_i ≈α _{i j} +β _{i j} F_j   , where F_i , F_j are the fluxes in filters i and j ; and  α _{i , j} , β _{i , j}   are constants. These relations have been used to estimate the constant contributions of the non-variable underlying galaxies. The paper attempts a formal treatment of the estimation procedure, allowing for the possible presence of a third component, namely non-variable hot dust. In an analysis of a sample of 38 Seyfert galaxies, inclusion of the hot dust component improves the model fit in approximately half the cases. All derived dust temperatures are below 300 K, in the range 540–860 K or above 1300 K. A noteworthy feature is the estimation of confidence intervals for the component contributions: this is achieved by bootstrapping. It is also pointed out that the model implies that such data could be fruitfully analysed in terms of principal components.     

Automatic Determination of Stellar Atmospheric Parameters Using Neural Networks and Instance-Based Machine Learning

In this article we show how machine learning methods can beeffectively applied to the problem of automatically predictingstellar atmospheric parameters from spectral information, a veryimportant problem in stellar astronomy. We apply feedforwardneural networks, Kohonen's self-organizing maps andlocally-weighted regression to predict the stellar atmosphericparameters effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicityfrom spectral indices. Our experimental results show that thethree methods are capable of predicting the parameters with verygood accuracy. Locally weighted regression gives slightly betterresults than the other methods using the original dataset asinput, while self-organizing maps outperform the other methods when significant amounts of noise are added. We also implemented a heterogeneous ensemble of predictors, combining the results given by the three algorithms. This ensemble yields better results than any of the three algorithms alone, using both the original and the noisy data.     

几个活动区精细H_α结构的物理浅析

本文利用紫金山天文台赣榆站太阳精细结构望远镜拍得的高分辨率色球Ｈ_α照片，分析了三个典型活动区。文中利用并检验了七十年代获得的磁图推导法则，应用自己的数值模拟知识和Ｚｗａａｎ对ＡＦＳ系新浮流区概括的特征，参考七十和九十年代总结的有关耀斑和ＥｌｌｅｒｍａｎＢｏｍｂ的出现规律，逐日分析活动区发展，定出其内部的中性线位置，提出简单和复合中性线的区分，由ＡＦＳ系和亮谱斑同时出现判断新浮流区，从近离带图找等离子体不稳定点，从远离带图找普遍的磁场流场分布，由Ｈ_α结构的综合迹象推测磁场变化。总结出有关活动区Ｈ_α结构、磁场及等离子体性质关系的几点启示。     

Chromospheric evolution and the flare activity of super-active region NOAA 6555

Super-active region NOAA 6555 was highly flare productive during the period March 21st–27th, 1991 of its disk passage. We have st udied its chromospheric activity using high spatial resolution Hα filtergrams taken at Udaipur along with MSFC vector magnetograms. A possible relationship of flare productivity and the variation in shear has been explored. Flares were generally seen in those subareas of the active region which possessed closed magnetic field configuration, whereas only minor flares and/or surges occurred in subareas showing open magnetic field configuration. Physical mechanisms responsible for the observed surges are also discussed.     

The SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey – III. Astrometry

In this, the third in a series of three papers concerning the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey, we describe the astrometric properties of the data base. We describe the algorithms employed in the derivation of the astrometric parameters of the data, and demonstrate their accuracies by comparison with external data sets using the first release of data, the South Galactic Cap survey. We show that the celestial coordinates, which are tied to the International Celestial Reference Frame via the Tycho–2 reference catalogue, are accurate to better than ±0.2 arcsec at J , R ∼19,18 , rising to ±0.3 arcsec at J , R ∼22,21 , with positional-dependent systematic effects from bright to faint magnitudes at the ∼0.1-arcsec level. The proper motion measurements are shown to be accurate to typically ±10 mas yr⁻¹ at J , R ∼19,18 , rising to ±50 mas yr⁻¹ at J , R ∼22,21 , and are tied to zero using the extragalactic reference frame. We show that the zero-point errors in the proper motions are ≤1 mas yr⁻¹ for R >17 , and are no larger than ∼10 mas yr⁻¹ for R <17 mas yr⁻¹ .     

The electron pressure in the outer atmosphere of ε Eri (K2 V)

Observations of ε Eri (K2 V) have been made with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope . The spectra obtained show a number of emission lines which can be used to determine, or place limits on, the electron density and pressure. Values of the electron pressure are required in order to make quantitative models of the transition region and inner corona from absolute line fluxes, and to constrain semi-empirical models of the chromosphere. Using line flux ratios in Si  iii and O  iv a mean electron pressure of P _e= N _e T _e=4.8×10¹⁵ cm⁻³ K is derived. This value is compatible with the lower and upper limits to P _e found from flux ratios in C  iii , O  v and Fe  xii . Some inconsistencies which may be because of small uncertainties in the atomic data used are discussed.     

抗差估计的初值选择

对L1 范估计的平差值和LS估计的平差值作为抗差估计的初值进行了比较 ,指出在 ρ函数是严凸函数时 ,二者无明显的区别。因为LS估计简单且易于计算 ,因此建议用LS估计的平差值作为抗差估计的初值。     

Particle-mesh simulations of the Lyα forest

We have analysed short-exposure high-resolution images obtained on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), Big Telescope Azimuthal (BTA) and CanadaFranceHawaii Telescope (CFHT) in order to investigate mechanical vibrations that are capable of reducing the high angular resolution allowed by speckle-interferometric methods. After filtering the photon noise we have computed power spectra of the image centres of gravity. In these spectra we have found vibration features that differ from one telescope to another and that vary in particular with the zenith angle. In the case of the WHT we discuss these results in terms of possible causes and in terms of degradation of the transfer function. We present some means to improve the data.