A focal plane detector design for a wide-band Laue-lens telescope

The energy range above 60 keV is important for the study of many open problems in high energy astrophysics such as the role of Inverse Compton with respect to synchrotron or thermal processes in GRBs, non thermal mechanisms in SNR, the study of the high energy cut-offs in AGN spectra, and the detection of nuclear and annihilation lines. Recently the development of high energy Laue lenses with broad energy bandpasses from 60 to 600keV have been proposed for a Hard X ray focusing Telescope (HAXTEL) in order to study the X-ray continuum of celestial sources. The required focal plane detector should have high detection efficiency over the entire operative range, a spatial resolution of about 1mm, an energy resolution of a few keV at 500keV and a sensitivity to linear polarization. We describe a possible configuration of the focal plane detector based on several CdTe/CZT pixelated layers stacked together to achieve the required detection efficiency at high energy. Each layer can operate both as a separate position sensitive detector and polarimeter or work with other layers to increase the overall photopeak efficiency. Each layer has a hexagonal shape in order to minimize the detector surface required to cover the lens field of view. The pixels would have the same geometry so as to provide the best coupling with the lens point spread function and to increase the symmetry for polarimetric studies.     

What type was SN 1987A?

A comparison is made of the light and colour curves of the SN 1987A in the first 280 days with the mean properties of type II supernovae. The conclusion is that even though it has H lines, and was not a typical type II supernova, but a peculiar object from a photometric point of view. The implications for inclusion of SN 1987A in the context of the usual Minkowski-Zwicky classification are explicitly discussed.     

Illite K–Ar dating and crystal growth processes in diagenetic environments: a critical review

K–Ar dating of illitic minerals is commonly used in studies of diagenetic series applied to oil prospecting. In spite of a great number of specialized papers, some problems remain unresolved. These are mostly due to a misunderstanding of the argon accumulation process during illitization. Criteria for identifying detrital–authigenic mineral mixtures, crystal ripening, fast precipitation or continuous nucleation‐growth processes are discussed using K–Ar data available in the literature. Using different parameters, such as Δ_age (age_K–Ar ? age_strati), Δ_cryst (diagenetic age_K–Ar ? age_strati) or Δ_frac (age_{K–Arfraction} ?age_K–Arfinest), it is shown that the K–Ar age significance depends on the illite nucleation–growth processes. A ‘diagenetic age’ is obtained when these processes are rapid (the K₂O accumulation period is shorter than 2σ). If lower than this value, the K–Ar ratio depends on the proportions of new and old particles, respectively, which are controlled by the relative rates of nucleation, crystal growth and ripening.     

Notes on Hori Method for Canonical Systems

In this paper a slightly different approach is proposed for the process of determining the functions S _m and H _m ^* of the algorithm of the canonical version of Hori method. This process will be referred to as integration theory of the mth order equation of the method. It will be shown that the ordinary differential equation with an auxiliary parameter t ^* as independent variable, introduced through Hori auxiliary system, can be replaced by a partial differential equation in the time t. In this way, the mth order equation of the algorithm assumes a form very similar to the one of other perturbation methods. In virtue of this new approach of the integration theory for Hori method, Lagrange's variational equations introduced by Sessin are revised. As an example, the Duffing equation is solved through this new approach.     

Baryon loading and the Weibel instability in gamma-ray bursts

The dynamics of two counter-streaming electron–positron–ion unmagnetized plasma shells with zero net charge is analysed in the context of magnetic field generation in gamma-ray burst internal shocks due to the Weibel instability. The effects of large thermal motion of plasma particles, arbitrary mixture of plasma species and space charge effects are taken into account. We show that, although thermal effects slow down the instability, baryon loading leads to a non-negligible growth rate even for large temperatures and different shell velocities, thus guaranteeing the robustness and the occurrence of the Weibel instability for a wide range of scenarios.     

The presence of anomalous trace element levels in present day Jamaican soils and the geochemistry of Late-Miocene or Pliocene phosphorites

High levels of Cd and Zn in Jamaican soils observed in geochemical surveys are related to the presence of phosphorites of possible Late-Miocene or Pliocene age. The trace element and REE geochemistry of the phosphorites, together with SEM studies, indicate a guano origin for the phosphorites. No specific host minerals for Cd could be identified in the fossiliferous phosphorite which is characterized by uniquely high levels of Cd, Zn, Ag, Be, U and Y. However, in the soil Cd is present in lithiophorite and a complex history of pedological development is preserved in the aluminous–goethite present in the soil. The unique guano signature is preserved in the soil despite the fact that guanos themselves have either not been observed or have been destroyed by continuing karst and soil development. The phosphorite geochemical signature can be traced in the data of a 1988 island-wide soil geochemical survey, identifying areas where the Palaeo-environment that supported bird ‘rookeries’ existed in the Late-Miocene or Pliocene.