POLARIX: a pathfinder mission of X-ray polarimetry

Since the birth of X-ray astronomy, spectral, spatial and timing observation improved dramatically, procuring a wealth of information on the majority of the classes of the celestial sources. Polarimetry, instead, remained basically unprobed. X-ray polarimetry promises to provide additional information procuring two new observable quantities, the degree and the angle of polarization. Polarization from celestial X-ray sources may derive from emission mechanisms themselves such as cyclotron, synchrotron and non-thermal bremsstrahlung, from scattering in aspheric accreting plasmas, such as disks, blobs and columns and from the presence of extreme magnetic field by means of vacuum polarization and birefringence. Matter in strong gravity fields and Quantum Gravity effects can be studied by X-ray polarimetry, too. POLARIX is a mission dedicated to X-ray polarimetry. It exploits the polarimetric response of a Gas Pixel Detector, combined with position sensitivity, that, at the focus of a telescope, results in a huge increase of sensitivity. The heart of the detector is an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip with 105,600 pixels each one containing a full complete electronic chain to image the track produced by the photoelectron. Three Gas Pixel Detectors are coupled with three X-ray optics which are the heritage of JET-X mission. A filter wheel hosting calibration sources unpolarized and polarized is dedicated to each detector for periodic on-ground and in-flight calibration. POLARIX will measure time resolved X-ray polarization with an angular resolution of about 20 arcsec in a field of view of 15 × 15 arcmin and with an energy resolution of 20% at 6 keV. The Minimum Detectable Polarization is 12% for a source having a flux of 1 mCrab and 10⁵ s of observing time. The satellite will be placed in an equatorial orbit of 505 km of altitude by a Vega launcher. The telemetry down-link station will be Malindi. The pointing of POLARIX satellite will be gyroless and it will perform a double pointing during the earth occultation of one source, so maximizing the scientific return. POLARIX data are for 75% open to the community while 25% + SVP (Science Verification Phase, 1 month of operation) is dedicated to a core program activity open to the contribution of associated scientists. The planned duration of the mission is one year plus three months of commissioning and SVP, suitable to perform most of the basic science within the reach of this instrument. A nice to have idea is to use the same existing mandrels to build two additional telescopes of iridium with carbon coating plus two more detectors. The effective area in this case would be almost doubled.     

Properties of Knots in Cooling Stellar Jets

Modelling the formation of the maximal emission regions in Herbig-Haro flows, the so-called ‘knots,’ remains a main challenge in the investigation of the YSO's outflows. Recent HST images of optical regions reveal their wide morphological variety. Knotty structures and arc-like regions coexist, suggesting that several mechanisms could be responsible for the global scenario. Arc-like emissions are probably due to other mini-working surfaces or non-axially symmetric interaction of the kinking jet matter with the external medium, while knots seen in [SII] are mostly axially symmetric objects and may have a different origin. In this paper we show that a pattern of regularly spaced, knotty emission regions forms in stationary jets, with emissivity and kinematic features consistent with observations. To this purpose, numerical simulations of non-equilibrium, radiative, hydrodynamical jets in axial symmetric geometry have been performed.     

Re-testing the JET-X Flight Module No. 2 at the PANTER facility

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) was the core instrument of the Russian Spectrum-X- γ space observatory. It consisted of two identical soft X-ray (0.3–10 keV) telescopes with focusing optical modules having a measured angular resolution of nearly 15 arcsec. Soon after the payload completion, the mission was cancelled and the two optical flight modules (FM) were brought to the Brera Astronomical Observatory where they had been manufactured. After 16 years of storage, we have utilized the JET-X FM2 to test at the PANTER X-ray facility a prototype of a novel X-ray polarimetric telescope, using a Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) with polarimetric capabilities in the focal plane of the FM2. The GPD was developed by a collaboration between INFN-Pisa and INAF-IAPS. In the first phase of the test campaign, we have re-tested the FM2 at PANTER to have an up-to-date characterization in terms of angular resolution and effective area, while in the second part of the test the GPD has been placed in the focal plane of the FM2. In this paper we report the results of the tests of the sole FM2, using an unpolarized X-ray source, comparing the results with the calibration done in 1996.     

Distribution of Early Tertiary volcanic rocks in south Sumatra and west Java

Abstract   The evolution of volcanism in Sumatra and Java during Tertiary and Quaternary time can be divided into three phases: (i) lava flows of the Early Tertiary event (43–33 Ma) consisting of island arc tholeiites; followed by (ii) eruption of tholeiitic pillow basalt at the beginning of the Late Tertiary (11 Ma); and succeeded by (iii) medium-K calc-alkaline magmatism in the Pliocene and Quaternary. The present available field data on the occurrence of Paleogene volcanic rocks and subsurface data in south Sumatra and northern west Java indicate a much larger area of distribution of the volcanic rocks than previously recognized. Because the eastward continuation of the northern west Java volcanic rocks had not been found, early investigators were inclined to assume that they continued to south Kalimantan. In contrast, the early Tertiary volcanic rocks that occupy the south coast of Java can be traced further east as far as Flores. The occurrence of Paleogene volcanics in south Sumatra and northern west Java can be interpreted as a Paleogene volcanic arc that was presumably related to the late Cretaceous–Paleogene trench parallel to Sumatra and west Java due to subduction of the Indian Plate toward the northeast (Meratus trend).     

Water regime of Vrana Lake in Dalmatia (Croatia): changes,risks and problems

Abstract

Vrana Lake in Dalmatia is a karstic kryptodepression connected to the nearby sea through the karstic subsoil and a canal. Due to interactions with the sea, lake water salinity increases greatly during severe dry periods, seriously endangering the ecosystem. Trend analysis (1961–2010) reveals a decrease in precipitation and surface inflow, but an increase in air temperature, and in sea and lake water levels. Lake inflow and water losses are only partially monitored. Average annual inflow from the monitored part of the catchment is 1722 m³ s^-1, but total inflow is significantly greater; the average difference between total inflow and cumulative water losses is 3072 m³ s^-1. The paper uses modelling to evaluate total inflow into the lake system, taking into consideration projected climate changes/variations till 2100 from the RegCM3 and ALADIN climate models. The analysis indicates marked decrease in discharge values by the end of this century, by as much as 60%.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz     

Climate Change Impacts on Groundwater Resources in the Coastal Karstic Adriatic Area: A Case Study from the Dinaric Karst

Natural Resources Research - The Bokanjac–Poli?nik system, as a complex set of mutually interrelated Dinaric karst catchments and sub-catchments, is a highly vulnerable and limited...     

Water losses from a reservoir built in karst: the example of the Boljunčica reservoir (Istria,Croatia)

The paper presents the case of the Boljunčica reservoir, which began operation in 1973. It is situated on the Istria peninsula (Croatia). This is a multipurpose reservoir which was built in order to protect the downstream area from flood, to store water for irrigation, and to control sediment transport. The reservoir is situated on the contact zone between water impermeable Eocene flysch and deep Eocene and Cretaceous limestone. The bottom of the reservoir is covered partly by both flysch and quaternary deposits. Water losses from the reservoir bottom are so large that the main service intended for the reservoir, the storage of water for irrigation, is impossible. After every intensive precipitation, which occurs often in this region, the reservoir fills very quickly. The problem is that its retention of water is very short, and lasts only a few days. The water volume of the reservoir at the spillway altitude of 93.00 m a. s. l. is about 6.5 × 10⁶ m³. Because of water losses from the reservoir bottom, the mean annual volume of water stored in it, during the period of 1977–2005 was only 0.5 × 10⁶ m³, which is less than 8% of the full reservoir volume. On the reservoir bottom, many new swallow holes opened through the sediment cover after each time it filled and emptied with water. Special attention is paid to the groundwater level analyses. Interdisciplinary analyses and investigations of hydrological and hydrogeological factors causing the formation of swallow holes and water losses from the Boljunčica reservoir are discussed. The example given in this paper explains one unsuccessful case of building a reservoir in Dinaric karst, caused mainly due to insufficient geological, hydrogeological and hydrological investigations. In order to prevent water losses from the Boljunčica reservoir, very complex and expensive work needs to be done, but its success regarding the reasonable reduction of water losses from the reservoir is in question.