Relativistic astrophysics explorer

The great success of the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) has shown that X-ray timing is an excellent tool for the study of strong gravitational fields and the measurement of fundamental physical properties of black holes and neutron stars. Here, we describe a next-generation X-ray timing mission, the Relativistic Astrophysics Explorer (RAE), designed to fit within the envelope of a medium-sized mission. The instruments will be a narrow-field X-ray detector array with an area of 6 m² equal to 10 times that of RXTE and a wide-field X-ray monitor. We describe the science made possible with this mission, the design of the instruments, and results on prototype large-area X-ray detectors.     

Thermal radiation from magnetized neutron stars

Surface thermal emission has been detected byROSAT from four nearby young neutron stars. Assuming black body emission, the significant pulsations of the observed light curves can be interpreted as due to large surface temperature differences produced by the effect of the crustal magnetic field on the flow of heat from the hot interior toward the cooler surface. However, the energy dependence of the modulation observed in Geminga is incompatible with blackbody emission: this effect will give us a strong constraint on models of the neutron star surface.     

Research by the Tasmanian cosmic ray group during the International Geophysical Year

Systematic recording of the cosmic radiation commenced in Hobart in 1946 and at Mawson in Antarctica in 1955, making these two of the longest running cosmic ray observatories in the world. For the IGY, observations were also made at a sub-Antarctic island and near the equator, and an airborne survey of the nucleonic component was made from Geomagnetic Latitude −60°, south of Australia, to Japan and back. At Hobart there were neutron monitors, vertical and inclined muon telescopes, an ionization chamber, and two muon telescopes at ∼40 m of water equivalent underground. The research based on these and other observations determined the energy dependence of the Forbush and 11-year variations and concentrated, in particular, on understanding the anisotropic nature of galactic cosmic rays up to 150 GeV; the anisotropies in the onset phase of Forbush decreases; and the anisotropies in solar cosmic ray events. An investigation was initiated to calculate the trajectories and cutoff rigidities of cosmic rays in a high order simulation of the geomagnetic field. This was completed in 1959–60.     

视场内导航星分布的预测

给出理想情况下视场内导航星分布模型的基础上,根据敏感器的星等门限和测量精度,进一步实现了存在星等误差情况下导航星分布的预测,使得该模型更为接近真实的情况.实验表明,采用该模型获得的分布与用MonteCarlo方法获得的统计分布极为接近,证明了该模型的正确性和有效性,从而得到了一种事先对视场内导航星分布作出较为准确估计的新的方法.      

Primordial Helium and ΔY/ΔZ from H II Regions and from Fine Structure in the Main Sequence Based on Hipparcos Parallaxes

The primordial helium abundance YP is important for cosmology and the ratio Y/Z of the changes relative to primordial abundances constrains models of stellar evolution. While the most accurate estimates of YP come from emission lines in extragalactic H II regions, they involve an extrapolation to zero metallicity which itself is closely tied up with the slope Y/Z. Recently certain systematic effects have come to light in this exercise which make it useful to have an independent estimate of Y/Z from fine structure in the main sequence of nearby stars. We derive such an estimate from Hipparcos data for stars with Z Z and find values between 2 and 3, which are consistent with stellar models, but still have a large uncertainty.     

热中子照相灵敏度的估算

由X光胶片特性曲线推导出中子照相反差公式，应用此公式，可以估算使用指示剂的最佳用量，以及用此剂量指示剂进行中子照相所能发现缺陷的反差值。由此可以更好地控制中子照相的质量，即更好地控制产品的质量，同时还介绍了中子照相总不清晰度的估算方法。     

Cyclotron features in X-ray spectra of accreting pulsars

The hard X-ray spectra of small subset of accreting pulsars show absorption-like line features in the range 10–100 keV. These lines, referred to as cyclotron lines or cyclotron resonance scattering features, are due to photons scattered out of the line of sight by electrons trapped in the 10¹² G pulsar polar cap magnetic field. In this paper we present a review of observations, from the discovery of a cyclotron line in Hercules X-1 to recent results with RXTE and INTEGRAL.     

Neutron monitor asymptotic directions of viewing during the event of 13 December 2006

During the recent ground level enhancement of 13 December 2006, also known as GLE70, solar cosmic ray particles of energy bigger that ∼500 MeV/nucleon propagated inside the Earth’s magnetosphere and finally accessed low-altitude satellites and ground level neutron monitors. The magnitude and the characteristics of this event registered at different neutron monitor stations of the worldwide network can be interpreted adequately on the basis of an estimation of the solar particle trajectories in the near Earth interplanetary space. In this work, an extended representation of the Earth’s magnetic field was realized applying the Tsyganenko 1989 model. Using a numerical back-tracing technique the solar proton trajectories inside the magnetospheric field of the Earth were calculated for a variety of particles, initializing their travel at different locations, covering a wide range of energies. In this way, the asymptotic directions of viewing were calculated for a significant number of neutron monitor stations, providing crucial information on the Earth’s “magnetospheric optics” for primary solar cosmic rays, on the top of the atmosphere, during the big solar event of December 2006. The neutron monitor network has been treated, therefore, as a multidimensional tool that gives insights into the arrival directions of solar cosmic ray particles as well as their spatial and energy distributions during extreme solar events.     

Origin and Evolution of the Light Nuclides

After a short historical (and highly subjective) introduction to the field, I discuss our current understanding of the origin and evolution of the light nuclides D, ³He, ⁴He, ⁶Li, ⁷Li, ⁹Be, ¹⁰B and ¹¹B. Despite considerable observational and theoretical progress, important uncertainties still persist for each and every one of those nuclides. The present-day abundance of D in the local interstellar medium is currently uncertain, making it difficult to infer the recent chemical evolution of the solar neighborhood. To account for the observed quasi-constancy of ³He abundance from the Big Bang to our days, the stellar production of that nuclide must be negligible; however, the scarce observations of its abundance in planetary nebulae seem to contradict this idea. The observed Be and B evolution as primaries suggests that the source composition of cosmic rays has remained ∼constant since the early days of the Galaxy, a suggestion with far reaching implications for the origin of cosmic rays; however, the main idea proposed to account for that constancy, namely that superbubbles are at the source of cosmic rays, encounters some serious difficulties. The best explanation for the mismatch between primordial Li and the observed “Spite-plateau” in halo stars appears to be depletion of Li in stellar envelopes, by some yet poorly understood mechanism. But this explanation impacts on the level of the recently discovered early “⁶Li plateau”, which (if confirmed), seriously challenges current ideas of cosmic ray nucleosynthesis.     

Accretion-powered millisecond pulsars

I review X-ray observations of accretion-powered millisecond pulsars and current theories for formation of their spectra and pulse profiles.