Effects of in-track maneuver on Sun illumination conditions of near-circular low Earth orbits

By developing approximate analytical models considering the J₂ perturbation, the effects of an in-track maneuver on the orbital Sun illumination conditions of near-circular low Earth orbits are analyzed. First, two approximate models for the variations in orbital sunshine angles are developed, one for variations at a given time and the other for variations at a given argument of latitude. Next, two approximate models for variations in orbital arc in Earth shadow are developed, one considers the small eccentricity and the other uses the zero eccentricity. Finally, the developed approximate models are applied to analyzing the Sun illumination conditions of a typical in-track maneuver mission on a near-circular low Earth orbit. From the results obtained, three major conclusions can be drawn. First, the variations in orbital sunshine angles at a given time may reach tens of degrees when the drifting time reaches hundreds of orbital periods, and the approximate model for that situation cannot effectively approach the numerical results. Second, the variations in orbital sunshine angles for any given argument of latitude are only a couple of degrees even when the drifting time reaches 500 orbital periods, and the approximation model developed can effectively approach the numerical results. Third, for variations in orbital arc in Earth shadow, the approximate model considering the small eccentricity has simple expressions and can effectively approach the numerical results; in contrast, the approximate model using the zero eccentricity has relatively worse precision.     

The gas pixel detector as a solar X-ray polarimeter and imager

The Sun is the nearest astrophysical source with a very intense emission in the X-ray band. The study of energetic events, such as solar flares, can help us to understand the behaviour of the magnetic field of our star. There are in the literature numerous studies published about polarization predictions, for a wide range of solar flares models involving the emission from thermal and/or non-thermal processes, but observations in the X-ray band have never been exhaustive.The gas pixel detector (GPD) was designed to achieve X-ray polarimetric measurements as well as X-ray images for far astrophysical sources. Here we present the possibility to employ this instrument for the observation of our Sun in the X-ray band.     

Improved bolometric corrections for WR stars

Evolutionary models allow an assignment of both a mass and a luminosity to a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in a cluster, and hence allow a determination of the Bolometric Correction (B.C.). The B.C.'s derived for WN stars range from –4.0 to –6.0 with the expected trend of larger values (in absolute values) for stars with higher excitation spectra. For WC stars, there is little evidence for a similar trend; most observations presented here are consistent with B.C.=–4.5, as found by Smith and Maeder (1989). The convergence of B.C. values derived from evolutionary and atmospheric models is extremely satisfactory, giving increased confidence in both methods.     

软件无线电概念及直接中频采样软件接收机方案

软件无线电是最近几年提出的一种实现无线电通信的新的体系结构，文章介绍了软件无线电的概念、特点、历史和现状，并且提出和分析了直接中频采样软件接收机实现方案。     

Halo White Dwarfs and Baryonic Dark Matter

We describe the formation of hot intergalactic gas along with baryonic remnants in galaxy halos. In this scenario, the mass and metallicity of the hot intracluster and intragroup gas relates directly to the production of baryonic remnants during the collapse of galactic halos. We construct a schematic but self-consistent model in which early bursts of star formation lead to a large remnant population in the halo, and to the outflow of stellar ejecta into the halo and ultimately the Local Group. We consider local as well as high redshift constraints on this scenario. This study suggests that the microlensing objects in the Galactic halo may predominantly be 0.5M white dwarfs, assuming that the initial mass function for early star formation favored the formation of intermediate mass stars with m 1M. However, the bulk of the baryonic dark matter in this scenario is associated with the ejecta of the white dwarf progenitors, and resides in the hot intergalactic medium.     

On the electrodynamics of counter stream in pulsar’s inner annular cap region

The electric properties of pulsar’s inner annular gap are explored in this paper. Under two main assumptions, (1) the pulsar is alive, (2) the total charge of pulsar should not vary with time, the condition for the acceleration of negative particle in the annular region is derived. The acceleration condition is j₋ ? 0.5j₊, i.e., the current carried by negative particles is greater than or equal to 0.5 times of the current carried by positive particles. This condition holds even when the backward flow of positive particles exists in the annular region. It is noted that the outflow of negative particles offers good opportunities to understand the current closure problem of pulsar as well as wide radiation beam of pulsar observed at high energy band.     

Comparison of decision tree methods for finding active objects

The automated classification of objects from large catalogs or survey projects is an important task in many astronomical surveys. Faced with various classification algorithms, astronomers should select the method according to their requirements. Here we describe several kinds of decision trees for finding active objects by multi-wavelength data, such as REPTree, Random Tree, Decision Stump, Random Forest, J48, NBTree, AdTree. All decision tree approaches investigated are in the WEKA package. The classification performance of the methods is presented. In the process of classification by decision tree methods, the classification rules are easily obtained, moreover these rules are clear and easy to understand for astronomers. As a result, astronomers are inclined to prefer and apply them, thus know which attributes are important to discriminate celestial objects. The experimental results show that when various decision trees are applied in discriminating active objects (quasars, BL Lac objects and active galaxies) from non-active objects (stars and galaxies), ADTree is the best only in terms of accuracy, Decision Stump is the best only considering speed, J48 is the optimal choice considering both accuracy and speed.     

Variations of the solar acoustic high-degree mode frequencies over solar cycle 23

Using full-disk observations obtained with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, we present variations of the solar acoustic mode frequencies caused by the solar activity cycle. High-degree (100 < ? < 900) solar acoustic modes were analyzed using global helioseismology analysis techniques over most of solar cycle 23. We followed the methodology described in details in [Korzennik, S.G., Rabello-Soares, M.C., Schou, J. On the determination of Michelson Doppler Imager high-degree mode frequencies. ApJ 602, 481–515, 2004] to infer unbiased estimates of high-degree mode parameters ([see also Rabello-Soares, M.C., Korzennik, S.G., Schou, J. High-degree mode frequencies: changes with solar cycle. ESA SP-624, 2006]). We have removed most of the known instrumental and observational effects that affect specifically high-degree modes. We show that the high-degree changes are in good agreement with the medium-degree results, except for years when the instrument was highly defocused. We analyzed and discuss the effect of defocusing on high-degree estimation. Our results for high-degree modes confirm that the frequency shift scaled by the relative mode inertia is a function of frequency and it is independent of degree.     

Oxygen line mapping of SN 1006 with Suzaku

SN 1006 is one of the supernova remnants (SNRs) with relatively low-temperature electrons, considering the young age of just 1000 years. We carried out SN 1006 mapping observations with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometers (XIS) and the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) onboard Suzaku, the fifth Japanese X-ray satellite. Thanks to the excellent spectral resolution of XIS in the soft X-ray band, H-like and He-like oxygen emission lines were clearly detected, and we could make a map of the line intensity, and as well as a flux and the photon index of nonthermal component. We found that these parameters have spatial dependences from region to region in the SNR; the north region is bright in nonthermal, while dim in thermal; the east region is bright in both nonthermal and thermal; the inner region shows dim nonthermal and bright thermal emission. The photon index is the smallest in the north region.     

Cosmic ray acceleration by supernova shocks

We analyse the results of recent measurements of nonthermal emission from individual supernova remnants (SNRs) and their correspondence to the nonlinear kinetic theory of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in SNRs. It is shown that the theory fits these data in a satisfactory way and provides the strong evidences for the efficient CR production in SNRs accompanied by significant magnetic field amplification. Magnetic field amplification leads to considerable increase of CR maximum energy so that the spectrum of CRs accelerated in SNRs is consistent with the requirements for the formation of Galactic CR spectrum up to the energy ∼10¹⁷ eV.