9327494
The sky brightness and transparency in i-band at Dome A, Antarctica
The i-band observing conditions at Dome A on the Antarctic plateau have been investigated using data acquired during 2008 with the Chinese Small Telescope ARray. The sky brightness, variations in atmospheric transparency, cloud cover, and the presence of aurorae are obtained from these images. The median sky brightness of moonless clear nights is 20.5 mag arcsec^{-2} in the SDSS $i$ band at the South Celestial Pole (which includes a contribution of about 0.06 mag from diffuse Galactic light). The median over all Moon phases in the Antarctic winter is about 19.8 mag arcsec^{-2}. There were no thick clouds in 2008. We model contributions of the Sun and the Moon to the sky background to obtain the relationship between the sky brightness and transparency. Aurorae are identified by comparing the observed sky brightness to the sky brightness expected from this model. About 2% of the images are affected by relatively strong aurorae.
54757692
The First Release of the CSTAR Point Source Catalog from Dome A, Antarctica
In 2008 January the twenty-fourth Chinese expedition team successfully deployed the Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau. CSTAR consists of four 14.5 cm optical telescopes, each with a different filter (g, r, i, and open) and has a 4.5° × 4.5° field of view (FOV). It operates robotically as part of the Plateau Observatory, PLATO, with each telescope taking an image every ~30 s throughout the year whenever it is dark. During 2008, CSTAR 1 performed almost flawlessly, acquiring more than 0.3 million i-band images for a total integration time of 1728 hr during 158 days of observations. For each image taken under good sky conditions, more than 10,000 sources down to ~16th magnitude could be detected. We performed aperture photometry on all the sources in the field to create the catalog described herein. Since CSTAR has a fixed pointing centered on the south celestial pole (decl. = -90°), all the sources within the FOV of CSTAR were monitored continuously for several months. The photometric catalog can be used for studying any variability in these sources, and for the discovery of transient sources such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and minor planets.
118485758
Unveiling the super-orbital modulation of LS I +61 303 in X-rays
We found evidence for the super-orbital modulation in the X-ray emission of LS I +61 303 from the longest monitoring date by the RXTE. The time evolution of the modulated fraction in the orbital light curves can be well fitted with a sinusoidal function having a super-orbital period of 1667 days. However, we have found a 281.8+/-44.6 day shift between the super-orbital variability found at radio frequencies and our X-ray data. We also find a super-orbital modulation in the maximum count rate of the orbital light curves, compatible with the former results, including the shift.
118151192
Emissive mechanism of radio flat spectrum on X-ray binaries
We present that the radio emission with flat spectrum in X-ray binaries comes from the synchrotron emission of relativistic electrons in the high energy tail of hot electrons in continuous conical jet. The jet is assumed to be produced by the advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) and maintains ion and electron temperatures constant in the case of adiabatic steady conical expansion. The flat spectrum is result of self-absorbed synchrotron emission by relativistic thermal electrons. We find that the critical frequency at which the radiation becomes optically thin declines along the jet. The emission observed at higher frequencies originates at smaller distance, closer to the base of the jet. The highest cut-off frequency of the flat spectrum is at the base of the jet, and is determined by the physics of the ADAF and the position of the jet formation. We assert that it is a characteristic of the ADAF in black hole X-ray binaries that a continuous steady outflow is formed and causes the observed flat spectrum in the low/hard state. The observed synchrotron emission consists of the flat spectral component from the jet and the steep spectral component from the ADAF. The flat spectral component extends from infrared to radio wavelengths, while the steep spectral component with the 2/5 spectral slope extends from infrared to shorter wavelengths, it will be dominated by the thermal emission from companion star.
119239648
Substructure lensing: Effects of galaxies, globular clusters and satellite streams
Lensing flux-ratio anomalies have been frequently observed and taken as evidence for the presence of abundant dark matter substructures in lensing galaxies, as predicted by the cold dark matter (CDM) model of cosmogony. In previous work, we examined the cusp-caustic relations of the multiple images of background quasars lensed by galaxy-scale dark matter haloes, using a suite of high-resolution N-body simulations (the Aquarius simulations). In this work, we extend our previous calculations to incorporate both the baryonic and diffuse dark components in lensing haloes. We include in each lensing simulation: (1) a satellite galaxy population derived from a semi-analytic model applied to the Aquarius haloes; (2) an empirical Milky Way globular cluster population and (3) satellite streams (diffuse dark component) identified in the simulations. Accounting for these extra components, we confirm our earlier conclusion that the abundance of intrinsic substructures (dark or bright, bound or diffuse) is not sufficient to explain the observed frequency of cusp-caustic violations in the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS). We conclude that the observed effect could be the result of the small number statistics of CLASS, or intergalactic haloes along the line of sight acting as additional sources of lensing flux anomalies. Another possibility is that this discrepancy signals a failure of the CDM model.
19699493
Optical-fiber notch filter for storage ring transverse feedback system
An optical-fiber two-tap FIR (Notch) filter has been developed for storage ring transverse feedback system of Hefei light source. The optical notch filter has advantages of low loss, which is not related to the size of the storage ring, high-frequency response, and compact in size. Measurements have been done with storage ring beam signals. The paper presents the principle and the experimental results.
16582011
Evidence for a population of beamed radio intermediate quasars
Whether radio intermediate quasars possess relativistic jets as radio-loud quasars is an important issue in the understanding of the origin of radio emission in quasars. In this letter, using the two-epoch radio data obtained during Faint Image of Radio Sky at Twenty centimeter sky (FIRST) and NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), we identified 89 radio variable sources in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Among them, more than half are radio intermediate quasars (RL = f20cm/f 2500u < 250). For all objects with available multiple band radio observations, the radio spectra are either flat or inverted. The brightness temperature inferred from the variability is larger than the synchrotron-self Compton limit for a stationary source in 87 objects, indicating of relativistic beaming. Considering the sample selection and the viewing angle effect, we conclude that relativistic jets probably exist in a substantial fraction of radio intermediate quasars.