Water vapour and hydrogen in the terrestrial-planet-forming region of a protoplanetary disk

Planetary systems (ours included) formed in disks of dust and gas around young stars. Disks are an integral part of the star and planet formation process, and knowledge of the distribution and temperature of inner-disk material is crucial for understanding terrestrial planet formation, giant planet migration, and accretion onto the central star. Although the inner regions of protoplanetary disks in nearby star-forming regions subtend only a few nano-radians, near-infrared interferometry has recently enabled the spatial resolution of these terrestrial zones. Most observations have probed only dust, which typically dominates the near-infrared emission. Here I report spectrally dispersed near-infrared interferometric observations that probe the gas (which dominates the mass and dynamics of the inner disk), in addition to the dust, within one astronomical unit (1 au, the Sun-Earth distance) of the young star MWC 480. I resolve gas, including water vapour and atomic hydrogen, interior to the edge of the dust disk; this contrasts with results of previous spectrally dispersed interferometry observations. Interactions of this accreting gas with migrating planets may lead to short-period exoplanets like those detected around main-sequence stars. The observed water vapour is probably produced by the sublimation of migrating icy bodies, and provides a potential reservoir of water for terrestrial planets.     

Reflected light from sand grains in the terrestrial zone of a protoplanetary disk

In the standard model of terrestrial planet formation, the first step in the process is for interstellar dust to coagulate within a protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, forming large grains that settle towards the disk plane. Interstellar grains of typical size approximately 0.1 microm are expected to grow to millimetre- (sand), centimetre- (pebble) or even metre-sized (boulder) objects rather quickly. Unfortunately, such evolved disks are hard to observe because the ratio of surface area to volume of their constituents is small. We readily detect dust around young objects known as 'classical' T Tauri stars, but there is little or no evidence of it in the slightly more evolved 'weak-line' systems. Here we report observations of a 3-Myr-old star, which show that grains have grown to about millimetre size or larger in the terrestrial zone (within approximately 3 au) of this star. The fortuitous geometry of the KH 15D binary star system allows us to infer that, when both stars are occulted by the surrounding disk, it appears as a nearly edge-on ring illuminated by one of the central binary components. This work complements the study of terrestrial zones of younger disks that have been recently resolved by interferometry.     

Evidence for planet engulfment by the star HD82943

Current models of the evolution of the known extrasolar planetary systems need to incorporate orbital migration and/or gravitational interactions among giant planets to explain the presence of large bodies close to their parent stars. These processes could also lead to planets being ingested by their parent stars, which would alter the relative abundances of elements heavier than helium in the stellar atmospheres. In particular, the abundance of the rare 6Li isotope, which is normally destroyed in the early evolution of solar-type stars but preserved intact in the atmospheres of giant planets, would be boosted substantially. 6Li has not hitherto been observed reliably in a metal-rich star, where metallicity refers to the total abundance of elements heavier than helium. Here we report the discovery of 6Li in the atmosphere of the metal-rich solar-type star HD82943, which is known to have an orbiting giant planet. The presence of 6Li can probably be interpreted as evidence for a planet (or planets) having been engulfed by the parent star.     

An extrasolar planet that transits the disk of its parent star

Planets orbiting other stars could in principle be found through the periodic dimming of starlight as a planet moves across--or 'transits'--the line of sight between the observer and the star. Depending on the size of the planet relative to the star, the dimming could reach a few per cent of the apparent brightness of the star. Despite many searches, no transiting planet has been discovered in this way; the one known transiting planet--HD209458b--was first discovered using precise measurements of the parent star's radial velocity and only subsequently detected photometrically. Here we report radial velocity measurements of the star OGLE-TR-56, which was previously found to exhibit a 1.2-day transit-like light curve in a survey looking for gravitational microlensing events. The velocity changes that we detect correlate with the light curve, from which we conclude that they are probably induced by an object of around 0.9 Jupiter masses in an orbit only 0.023 au from its star. We estimate the planetary radius to be around 1.3 Jupiter radii and its density to be about 0.5 g x cm(-3). This object is hotter than any known planet (approximately 1,900 K), but is still stable against long-term evaporation or tidal disruption.     

An extended upper atmosphere around the extrasolar planet HD209458b

The planet in the system HD209458 is the first one for which repeated transits across the stellar disk have been observed. Together with radial velocity measurements, this has led to a determination of the planet's radius and mass, confirming it to be a gas giant. But despite numerous searches for an atmospheric signature, only the dense lower atmosphere of HD209458b has been observed, through the detection of neutral sodium absorption. Here we report the detection of atomic hydrogen absorption in the stellar Lyman alpha line during three transits of HD209458b. An absorption of 15 +/- 4% (1sigma) is observed. Comparison with models shows that this absorption should take place beyond the Roche limit and therefore can be understood in terms of escaping hydrogen atoms.     

High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies

Observations of star formation and kinematics in early galaxies at high spatial and spectral resolution have shown that two-thirds are massive rotating disk galaxies, with the remainder being less massive non-rotating objects. The line-of-sight-averaged velocity dispersions are typically five times higher than in today's disk galaxies. This suggests that gravitationally unstable, gas-rich disks in the early Universe are fuelled by cold, dense accreting gas flowing along cosmic filaments and penetrating hot galactic gas halos. These accreting flows, however, have not been observed, and cosmic accretion cannot power the observed level of turbulence. Here we report observations of a sample of rare, high-velocity-dispersion disk galaxies in the nearby Universe where cold accretion is unlikely to drive their high star formation rates. We find that their velocity dispersions are correlated with their star formation rates, but not their masses or gas fractions, which suggests that star formation is the energetic driver of galaxy disk turbulence at all cosmic epochs.     

Clustered star formation as a natural explanation for the Halpha cut-off in disk galaxies

The rate of star formation in a galaxy is often determined by the observation of emission in the Halpha line, which is related to the presence of short-lived massive stars. Disk galaxies show a strong cut-off in Halpha radiation at a certain galactocentric distance, which has led to the conclusion that star formation is suppressed in the outer regions of disk galaxies. This is seemingly in contradiction to recent observations in the ultraviolet which imply that disk galaxies have star formation beyond the Halpha cut-off, and that the star-formation-rate surface density is linearly related to the underlying gas surface density, which is a shallower relationship than that derived from Halpha luminosities. In a galaxy-wide formulation, the clustered nature of star formation has recently led to the insight that the total galactic Halpha luminosity is nonlinearly related to the galaxy-wide star formation rate. Here we show that a local formulation of the concept of clustered star formation naturally leads to a steeper radial decrease in the Halpha surface luminosity than in the star-formation-rate surface density, in quantitative agreement with the observations, and that the observed Halpha cut-off arises naturally.     

A dusty torus around the luminous young star LkH alpha101

A star forms when a cloud of dust and gas collapses. It is generally believed that this collapse first produces a flattened rotating disk, through which matter is fed onto the embryonic star at the centre of the disk. When the temperature and density at the centre of the star pass a critical threshold, thermonuclear fusion begins. The remaining disk, which can still contain up to 0.3 times the mass of the star, is then sculpted and eventually dissipated by the radiation and wind from the newborn star. But this picture of the structure and evolution of the disk remains speculative because of the lack of morphological data of sufficient resolution and uncertainties regarding the underlying physical processes. Here we present images of a young star, LkH alpha101, in which the structure of the inner accretion disk is resolved. We find that the disk is almost face-on, with a central gap (or cavity) and a hot inner edge. The cavity is bigger than previous theoretical predictions, and we infer that the position of the inner edge is probably determined by sublimation of dust grains by direct stellar radiation, rather than by disk-reprocessing or viscous-heating processes as usually assumed.     

Forward scattering due to slow-down of the intermediate in the H + HD --> D + H(2) reaction

Quantum dynamical processes near the energy barrier that separates reactants from products influence the detailed mechanism by which elementary chemical reactions occur. In fact, these processes can change the product scattering behaviour from that expected from simple collision considerations, as seen in the two classical reactions F + H(2) --> HF + H and H + H(2) --> H(2) + H and their isotopic variants. In the case of the F + HD reaction, the role of a quantized trapped Feshbach resonance state had been directly determined, confirming previous conclusions that Feshbach resonances cause state-specific forward scattering of product molecules. Forward scattering has also been observed in the H + D(2) --> HD + D reaction and attributed to a time-delayed mechanism. But despite extensive experimental and theoretical investigations, the details of the mechanism remain unclear. Here we present crossed-beam scattering experiments and quantum calculations on the H + HD --> H(2) + D reaction. We find that the motion of the system along the reaction coordinate slows down as it approaches the top of the reaction barrier, thereby allowing vibrations perpendicular to the reaction coordinate and forward scattering. The reaction thus proceeds, as previously suggested, through a well-defined 'quantized bottleneck state' different from the trapped Feshbach resonance states observed before.     

Energetic neutral atoms as the explanation for the high-velocity hydrogen around HD 209458b

Absorption in the stellar Lyman-alpha (Lyalpha) line observed during the transit of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b in front of its host star reveals high-velocity atomic hydrogen at great distances from the planet. This has been interpreted as hydrogen atoms escaping from the planet's exosphere, possibly undergoing hydrodynamic blow-off, and being accelerated by stellar radiation pressure. Energetic neutral atoms around Solar System planets have been observed to form from charge exchange between solar wind protons and neutral hydrogen from the planetary exospheres, however, and this process also should occur around extrasolar planets. Here we show that the measured transit-associated Lyalpha absorption can be explained by the interaction between the exosphere of HD 209458b and the stellar wind, and that radiation pressure alone cannot explain the observations. As the stellar wind protons are the source of the observed energetic neutral atoms, this provides a way of probing stellar wind conditions, and our model suggests a slow and hot stellar wind near HD 209458b at the time of the observations.     

[Co(C10H8N2)2CO3]NO3·5H2O的合成及其结构确定

合成了Co(Ⅲ)的2,2'-联吡啶配合物,经元素分析、红外、差热-热重等表征确定了其组成为[Co(C10H8N2)2CO3]NO3·5H2O.通过X-射线单晶衍射仪测定了其结构,配合物晶体属单斜晶系,C2/c空间群,晶胞参数:a=10.954 1(17),b=16.071(2),c=14.462(3)A,α=90.00,β=101.991(2),γ=90.00°,V=2 490.4(7)A 3,Z=4,F(000)=1 208,S=1.026.配合物由配位阳离子[Co(C10H8N2)2CO3] 、平衡阴离子NO3-,结晶水分子构成.在配位阳离子中,每个钴原子与来自两个2,2'-联吡啶的4个氮,碳酸根的两个氧配位,形成了畸变的八面体构型.CCDC:621673.图4,表2,参8.     

三氧化铬-乙酸与诺卜醇乙酸酯的反应研究

用三氧化铬的乙酸水溶液对诺卜醇乙酸酯进行了反应,反应的主要产物为质子酸作用下原料发生重排使四员环开裂并进一步水合生成的4—(1—甲基—1—羟基乙基)—1—环己烯—1—乙醇乙酸酯及该酯水解所生成的醇．对反应的其他产物进行色谱—质谱联机分析并对所得图谱进行解析后,确认了6个化合物的结构,它们是原料中的双键发生环氧化及进一步氧化桥头叔氢所生成的化合物,未发现双键断裂生成的四员环化合物。     

Extreme collisions between planetesimals as the origin of warm dust around a Sun-like star

The slow but persistent collisions between asteroids in our Solar System generate a tenuous cloud of dust known as the zodiacal light (because of the light the dust reflects). In the young Solar System, such collisions were more common and the dust production rate should have been many times larger. Yet copious dust in the zodiacal region around stars much younger than the Sun has rarely been found. Dust is known to orbit around several hundred main-sequence stars, but this dust is cold and comes from a Kuiper-belt analogous region out beyond the orbit of Neptune. Despite many searches, only a few main-sequence stars reveal warm (> 120 K) dust analogous to zodiacal dust near the Earth. Signs of planet formation (in the form of collisions between bodies) in the regions of stars corresponding to the orbits of the terrestrial planets in our Solar System have therefore been elusive. Here we report an exceptionally large amount of warm, small, silicate dust particles around the solar-type star BD+20,307 (HIP 8920, SAO 75016). The composition and quantity of dust could be explained by recent frequent or huge collisions between asteroids or other 'planetesimals' whose orbits are being perturbed by a nearby planet.     

A star in a 15.2-year orbit around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way

Many galaxies are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centres-more than a million times the mass of the Sun. Measurements of stellar velocities and the discovery of variable X-ray emission have provided strong evidence in favour of such a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, but have hitherto been unable to rule out conclusively the presence of alternative concentrations of mass. Here we report ten years of high-resolution astrometric imaging that allows us to trace two-thirds of the orbit of the star currently closest to the compact radio source (and massive black-hole candidate) Sagittarius A*. The observations, which include both pericentre and apocentre passages, show that the star is on a bound, highly elliptical keplerian orbit around Sgr A*, with an orbital period of 15.2 years and a pericentre distance of only 17 light hours. The orbit with the best fit to the observations requires a central point mass of (3.7 +/- 1.5) x 10(6) solar masses (M(*)). The data no longer allow for a central mass composed of a dense cluster of dark stellar objects or a ball of massive, degenerate fermions.     

H3PNH＋H2CO类Wittig反应中四元环中间体的从头算研究

用从头算方法在ＭＰ２／６－３１Ｇ＊＊水平上优化出类Ｗｉｔｉｇ反应Ｈ３ＰＮＨ＋Ｈ２ＣＯ→Ｈ３ＰＯ＋Ｈ２ＣＮＨ中的中间稳定态、过渡态及复合态的几何构型。计算结果表明该反应是一个二步反应,在反应途径上存在一个四元环中间体。     

铜配合物[Cu(C3N2H3)2(H2NC6H4SO3)2(H2O)2]·2H2O的合成和晶体结构

合成了一种新的铜配合物[Cu(C3N2H3)2(H2NC6H4SO3)2(H2O)2]·2H2O,经元素分析和X-射线衍射得该化合物的分子式为C18H26CuN6O10S2,该晶体属单斜晶系,空间群为P 121／n,晶胞参数为a=7．2928(15) A,b=15．635(3)A,c=11．361(2)A;α=γ=90°,β=104．94(3)°;Z=2;DC=1．629 mg／m3;F(000)= 634;对于可观测衍射点的R1=0．0548,wR2=0．1516,S=1．014;最终差图中最大电子密度峰值和洞值分别为0．968e．A-3和-0．465e．A-3．两个对氨基苯磺酸和两个吡唑各自提供一个N原子、另有两个H2O分别与 Cu2 配位,Cu2 的配位多面体为畸变八面体．     

硒催化CO/H_2O还原3,4-二氯硝基苯制3,4-二氯苯胺

报道了一种绿色、经济、简易、高效的制备3,4-二氯苯胺的方法.以廉价易得的非金属硒作催化剂,用CO/H2O可将3,4-二氯硝基苯还原为3,4-二氯苯胺,在优化条件下,3,4-二氯硝基苯可完全转化,目标产物3,4-二氯苯胺的收率可达96%.     

廉价金属催化剂可见光催化还原CO2的研究

本研究利用廉价过渡金属锰配合物fac-Mn(bpy)(CO)3Br和四苯基卟啉锌(ZnTPP)在可见光下催化还原CO_2.结果表明,在可见光环境下,该体系能够有效地将CO_2选择性转化为CO,而随着ZnTPP的浓度的增大,CO_2的光催化还原产物CO的产生速率和产量均有增大.当Mn(bpy)(CO)3Br与ZnTPP的浓度比为1∶2时,产物CO的转化值TON达到97.