Astrophysics in 2006

The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the Universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries.     

High Excitation ISM and Gas

An overview is given of ISO results on regions of high excitation ISM and gas, i.e. HII regions, the Galactic Centre and Supernova Remnants. IR emission due to fine-structure lines, molecular hydrogen, silicates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dust are summarised, their diagnostic capabilities illustrated and their implications highlighted. Based on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.     

On the levels of enzymatic substrate specificity: implications for the early evolution of metabolic pathways.

The most frequently invoked explanation for the origin of metabolic pathways is the retrograde evolution hypothesis. In contrast, according to the so-called "patchwork" theory, metabolism evolved by the recruitment of relatively inefficient small enzymes of broad specificity that could react with a wide range of chemically related substrates. In this paper it is argued that both sequence comparisons and experimental results on enzyme substrate specificity support the patchwork assembly theory. The available evidence supports previous suggestions that gene duplication events followed by a gradual neoDarwinian accumulation of mutations and other minute genetic changes lead to the narrowing and modification of enzyme function in at least some primordial metabolic pathways.     

Magnetar spectra and twisted magnetospheres

The huge potential drop between the footpoints of the closed field lines in the twisted magnetospheres of magnetars may accelerate electrons up to very high energies, γ ? 10⁶. On the other hand, the comparison between the observed spectra of magnetars and spectra obtained by accurate theoretical models seems to favor of a picture in which the magnetosphere is filled by “slow” electrons (v ? 0.8c), rather than by ultra-relativistic particles.     

Modeling the broadband persistent emission of magnetars

In this paper, we discuss our first attempts to model the broadband persistent emission of magnetars within a self-consistent, physical scenario. We present the predictions of a synthetic model that we calculated with a new Monte Carlo 3D radiative code. The basic idea is that soft thermal photons (e.g. emitted by the star surface) can experience resonant cyclotron upscattering by a population of relativistic electrons treated in the twisted magnetosphere. Our code is specifically tailored to work in the ultra-magnetized regime; polarization and QED effects are consistently accounted for, as well different configurations for the magnetosphere. We discuss the predicted spectral properties in the 0.1–1000 keV range, the polarization properties, and we present the model application to a sample of magnetars soft X-ray spectra.     

Very Long Baseline Interferometry: Dependencies on Frequency Stability

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a differential technique observing radiation of compact extra-galactic radio sources with pairs of radio telescopes. For these observations, the frequency standards at the telescopes need to have very high stability. In this article we discuss why this is, and we investigate exactly how precise the frequency standards need to be. Four areas where good clock performance is needed are considered: coherence, geodetic parameter estimation, correlator synchronization, and UT1 determination. We show that in order to ensure the highest accuracy of VLBI, stability similar to that of a hydrogen maser is needed for time-scales up to a few hours. In the article, we are considering both traditional VLBI where extra-galactic radio sources are observed, as well as observation of man-made artificial radio sources emitted by satellites or spacecrafts.     

Investigations of the Mars Upper Atmosphere with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Space Science Reviews - Time measured by an ideal clock crucially depends on the gravitational potential and velocity of the clock according to general relativity. Technological advances in...     

A concept mission for the Stellar Population and Evolution with Cubesats (SPEC)

Binary or multiple stellar systems, constituting almost a third of the content of the Milky Way, represent a high priority astronomical target due to their repercussions on the stellar dynamical and evolutionary parameters. Moreover the spectral study of such class of stars allows to better constrain the evolutionary theories of the Galactic stellar populations. By resolving the members of stellar systems through photometric observations we are able to perform more detailed measurements to infer their mass. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of a cubesat based mission including an optical payload to directly optically discriminate the members of a selected sample of binary systems. The scientific targets, consisting 11?M class dwarf stars binary systems, have been extracted from the already studied Riaz catalogue. These subset has been selected considering the star distance, the members angular separation, and the distance from the Galactic plane (due to limit the background and foreground contamination). The satellite concept is based on a 6 unit Cubesat embedding some commercial off the shelf components and an ad hoc designed optical payload occupying almost 4 units. The optical configuration has been chosen in order to fit the angular resolution requirements, as derived from the target characteristics. Moreover, according to the optical analysis and the computed field of view some requirements on the attitude control system have been inferred and fulfilled by the component selection. The paper is organized as in the following: a brief scientific introduction is made; consequently the project is described with particular attention to the optical design and the standard sub-systems; finally the conclusions are drawn and the future perspectives are investigated.