A stellar relic from the early Milky Way

The chemical composition of the most metal-deficient stars largely reflects the composition of the gas from which they formed. These old stars provide crucial clues to the star formation history and the synthesis of chemical elements in the early Universe. They are the local relics of epochs otherwise observable only at very high redshifts; if totally metal-free ('population III') stars could be found, this would allow the direct study of the pristine gas from the Big Bang. Earlier searches for such stars found none with an iron abundance less than 1/10,000 that of the Sun, leading to the suggestion that low-mass stars could form from clouds above a critical iron abundance. Here we report the discovery of a low-mass star with an iron abundance as low as 1/200,000 of the solar value. This discovery suggests that population III stars could still exist--that is, that the first generation of stars also contained long-lived low-mass objects. The previous failure to find them may be an observational selection effect.     

Charon's radius and atmospheric constraints from observations of a stellar occultation

The physical characteristics of Pluto and its moon, Charon, provide insight into the evolution of the outer Solar System. Although previous measurements have constrained the masses of these bodies, their radii and densities have remained uncertain. The observation of a stellar occultation by Charon in 1980 established a lower limit on its radius of 600 km (ref. 3) (later refined to 601.5 km; ref. 4) and suggested a possible atmosphere. Subsequent, mutual event modelling yielded a range of 600-650 km (ref. 5), corresponding to a density of 1.56 +/- 0.22 g cm(-3) (refs 2, 5). Here we report multiple-station observations of a stellar occultation by Charon. From these data, we find a mean radius of 606 +/- 8 km, a bulk density of 1.72 +/- 0.15 g cm(-3), and rock-mass fraction 0.63 +/- 0.05. We do not detect a significant atmosphere and place 3sigma upper limits on atmospheric number densities for candidate gases. These results seem to be consistent with collisional formation for the Pluto-Charon system in which the precursor objects may have been differentiated, and they leave open the possibility of atmospheric retention by the largest objects in the outer Solar System.     

An ultraviolet-optical flare from the tidal disruption of a helium-rich stellar core

The flare of radiation from the tidal disruption and accretion of a star can be used as a marker for supermassive black holes that otherwise lie dormant and undetected in the centres of distant galaxies. Previous candidate flares have had declining light curves in good agreement with expectations, but with poor constraints on the time of disruption and the type of star disrupted, because the rising emission was not observed. Recently, two 'relativistic' candidate tidal disruption events were discovered, each of whose extreme X-ray luminosity and synchrotron radio emission were interpreted as the onset of emission from a relativistic jet. Here we report a luminous ultraviolet-optical flare from the nuclear region of an inactive galaxy at a redshift of 0.1696. The observed continuum is cooler than expected for a simple accreting debris disk, but the well-sampled rise and decay of the light curve follow the predicted mass accretion rate and can be modelled to determine the time of disruption to an accuracy of two days. The black hole has a mass of about two million solar masses, modulo a factor dependent on the mass and radius of the star disrupted. On the basis of the spectroscopic signature of ionized helium from the unbound debris, we determine that the disrupted star was a helium-rich stellar core.     

The star-formation history of the Universe from the stellar populations of nearby galaxies

The determination of the star-formation history of the Universe is a key goal of modern cosmology, as it is crucial to our understanding of how galactic structures form and evolve. Observations of young stars in distant galaxies at different times in the past have indicated that the stellar birthrate peaked some eight billion years ago before declining by a factor of around ten to its present value. Here we report an analysis of the 'fossil record' of the current stellar populations of 96,545 nearby galaxies, from which we obtained a complete star-formation history. Our results broadly support those derived from high-redshift galaxies. We find, however, that the peak of star formation was more recent--around five billion years ago. We also show that the bigger the stellar mass of the galaxy, the earlier the stars were formed, which indicates that high- and low-mass galaxies have very different histories.     

阴离子交换树脂回收细菌浸出液中铀的实验

为了得到低铀细菌浸出液培养浸矿菌种，以细菌浸出液为吸附原液，采用了静态和动态实验方法，研究717#强碱阴离子交换树脂的饱和吸附性能。因细菌浸出液的Fe^3 0与铀共存于树脂上，实验以抗坏血酸去除铁的影响。对铀的分离研究表明：该树脂对铀吸附性能好，铀回收率高，每克干树脂的吸附铀容量可达62．2mg，单位体积的湿树脂的吸附容量为145．7mg。     

Charon's size and an upper limit on its atmosphere from a stellar occultation

Pluto and its satellite, Charon (discovered in 1978; ref. 1), appear to form a double planet, rather than a hierarchical planet/satellite couple. Charon is about half Pluto's size and about one-eighth its mass. The precise radii of Pluto and Charon have remained uncertain, leading to large uncertainties on their densities. Although stellar occultations by Charon are in principle a powerful way of measuring its size, they are rare, as the satellite subtends less than 0.3 microradians (0.06 arcsec) on the sky. One occultation (in 1980) yielded a lower limit of 600 km for the satellite's radius, which was later refined to 601.5 km (ref. 4). Here we report observations from a multi-station stellar occultation by Charon, which we use to derive a radius, R(C) = 603.6 +/- 1.4 km (1sigma), and a density of rho = 1.71 +/- 0.08 g cm(-3). This occultation also provides upper limits of 110 and 15 (3sigma) nanobar for an atmosphere around Charon, assuming respectively a pure nitrogen or pure methane atmosphere.     

The removal of cusps from galaxy centres by stellar feedback in the early Universe

The standard cosmological model, now strongly constrained by direct observations of the Universe at early epochs, is very successful in describing the evolution of structure on large and intermediate scales. Unfortunately, serious contradictions remain on smaller, galactic scales. Among the main small-scale problems is a significant and persistent discrepancy between observations of nearby galaxies, which imply that galactic dark matter haloes have a density profile with a flat core, and the cosmological model, which predicts that the haloes should have divergent density (a cusp) at the centre. Here we report numerical simulations that show that random bulk motions of gas in small primordial galaxies, of the magnitude expected in these systems, will result in a flattening of the central dark matter cusp on relatively short timescales (approximately 10(8) years). Gas bulk motions in early galaxies are driven by supernova explosions that result from ongoing star formation. Our mechanism is general, and would have operated in all star-forming galaxies at redshifts z > or = 10. Once removed, the cusp cannot be reintroduced during the subsequent mergers involved in the build-up of larger galaxies. As a consequence, in the present Universe both small and large galaxies would have flat dark matter core density profiles, in agreement with observations.     

Revised rates for the stellar triple-alpha process from measurement of 12C nuclear resonances

In the centres of stars where the temperature is high enough, three alpha-particles (helium nuclei) are able to combine to form 12C because of a resonant reaction leading to a nuclear excited state. (Stars with masses greater than approximately 0.5 times that of the Sun will at some point in their lives have a central temperature high enough for this reaction to proceed.) Although the reaction rate is of critical significance for determining elemental abundances in the Universe, and for determining the size of the iron core of a star just before it goes supernova, it has hitherto been insufficiently determined. Here we report a measurement of the inverse process, where a 12C nucleus decays to three alpha-particles. We find a dominant resonance at an energy of approximately 11 MeV, but do not confirm the presence of a resonance at 9.1 MeV (ref. 3). We show that interference between two resonances has important effects on our measured spectrum. Using these data, we calculate the triple-alpha rate for temperatures from 10(7) K to 10(10) K and find significant deviations from the standard rates. Our rate below approximately 5 x 10(7) K is higher than the previous standard, implying that the critical amounts of carbon that catalysed hydrogen burning in the first stars are produced twice as fast as previously believed. At temperatures above 10(9) K, our rate is much less, which modifies predicted nucleosynthesis in supernovae.     

Experimental detection of alpha-particles from the radioactive decay of natural bismuth

The only naturally occurring isotope of bismuth, 209Bi, is commonly regarded as the heaviest stable isotope. But like most other heavy nuclei abundant in nature and characterized by an exceptionally long lifetime, it is metastable with respect to alpha-decay. However, the decay usually evades observation because the nuclear structure of 209Bi gives rise to an extremely low decay probability and, moreover, generates low-energy alpha-particles difficult to detect. Indeed, dedicated experiments attempting to record the alpha-decay of 209Bi in nuclear emulsions failed. However, scintillating bolometers operated at temperatures below 100 mK offer improved detection efficiency and sensitivity, whereas a broad palette of targets could be available. Here we report the successful use of this method for the unambiguous detection of 209Bi alpha-decay in bismuth germanate detectors cooled to 20 mK. We measure an energy release of 3,137 +/- 1 (statistical) +/- 2 (systematic) keV and a half-life of (1.9 +/- 0.2) x 10(19) yr, which are in agreement with expected values.     

No stellar p-mode oscillations in space-based photometry of Procyon

Pressure-driven (p-mode) oscillations at the surface of the Sun, resulting from sound waves travelling through the solar interior, are a powerful probe of solar structure, just as seismology can reveal details about the interior of the Earth. Astronomers have hoped to exploit p-mode asteroseismology in Sun-like stars to test detailed models of stellar structure and evolution, but the observations are extremely difficult. The bright star Procyon has been considered one of the best candidates for asteroseismology, on the basis of models and previous reports of p-modes detected in ground-based spectroscopy. Here we present a search for p-modes in 32 days of nearly continuous photometric satellite-based observations of Procyon. If there are p-modes in Procyon, they must have lifetimes less than 2-3 days and/or peak amplitudes <15 parts per million, which defy expectations from the Sun's oscillations and previous theoretical predictions. Target selection for future planned asteroseismology space missions may need to be reconsidered, as will the theory of stellar oscillations.     

广西合浦独木舟放射性碳定年

为了确定在广西合浦县发现的古独木舟的年代,利用北京大学的小加速器质谱计对4个取自独木舟不同部位的木头样品进行了14C年代测定,结果表明,此独木舟的14C年龄为(365±20)BP.经14C-树轮年代校正曲线校正后,表明独木舟建造的日历年龄在1460～1580 AD(2σ的置信区间).     

基于神经网络的恒星大气参数自动测量

提出了一种基于神经网络的恒星光谱大气参数的自动测量方法,该方法能够根据恒星的光谱自动得到恒星的三个重要参数:有效温度Teff,表面重力log g和金属丰度[Fe/H]的估计值.首先对实测恒星光谱进行预处理,包括小波去噪,光谱波长统一化;然后通过对训练样本进行PCA分析获得特征空间变换矩阵进行数据降维;最后通过训练好的神经网络得到参数的估计值.实验结果分析表明,该方法比其它估计方法如非参数估计、支持向量回归和偏最小二乘回归具有更高的测量精度.     

基于神经网络的恒星大气参数自动测量

提出了一种基于神经网络的恒星光谱大气参数的自动测量方法,该方法能够根据恒星的光谱自动得到恒星的三个重要参数:有效温度Teff,表面重力logg和金属丰度[Fe/H]的估计值。首先对实测恒星光谱进行预处理,包括小波去噪,光谱波长统一化;然后通过对训练样本进行PCA分析获得特征空间变换矩阵进行数据降维;最后通过训练好的神经网络得到参数的估计值。实验结果分析表明,该方法比其它估计方法如非参数估计、支持向量回归和偏最小二乘回归具有更高的测量精度。     

Nanometre-size products of uranium bioreduction

One strategy that is being pursued to tackle the international problem of actinide contamination of soils, sediments and water is to use microbial activity to 'fix' these radionuclides into an insoluble form that cannot be readily dispersed. Here we show that uraninite (UO(2)) particles formed from uranium in sediments by bacterial reduction are typically less than 2 nanometres across and that the small size has important implications for uraninite reactivity and fate. Because these tiny particles may still be transported in an aqueous environment, precipitation of uranium as insoluble uraninite cannot be presumed to immobilize it.     

放射系衰变图研究

放射系衰变图研究①雷洁李锦于群力（陕西师范大学物理学系，西安７１００６２；第一作者，男，５４岁，教授）放射性衰变是原子核的重要特性．人们很早就发现了４个较长的放射系，绘出了衰变图并研究了它们的特点，总结了放射衰变规律．但是，随着大量放射性核素的发现，...     

Two stellar components in the halo of the Milky Way

The halo of the Milky Way provides unique elemental abundance and kinematic information on the first objects to form in the Universe, and this information can be used to tightly constrain models of galaxy formation and evolution. Although the halo was once considered a single component, evidence for its dichotomy has slowly emerged in recent years from inspection of small samples of halo objects. Here we show that the halo is indeed clearly divisible into two broadly overlapping structural components--an inner and an outer halo--that exhibit different spatial density profiles, stellar orbits and stellar metallicities (abundances of elements heavier than helium). The inner halo has a modest net prograde rotation, whereas the outer halo exhibits a net retrograde rotation and a peak metallicity one-third that of the inner halo. These properties indicate that the individual halo components probably formed in fundamentally different ways, through successive dissipational (inner) and dissipationless (outer) mergers and tidal disruption of proto-Galactic clumps.     

连续测量法同时测定空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体浓度

222Rn子体浓度可通过测定母体222Rn浓度,根据平衡因子进行大致估算.由于220Rn及其子体之间并不存在相对稳定的平衡因子,因此,若要准确获得220Rn子体浓度,需借助仪器通过累积、连续测量进行测定.文章应用我国不常见的工作水平监测仪(working level monitor),同时实现空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体的累积连续测量,从而计算得到两者浓度.通过借助液体闪烁仪的参照比较,验证了此法同时测量空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体的准确性与可靠性.