An origin in the local Universe for some short gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) divide into two classes: 'long', which typically have initial durations of T90 > 2 s, and 'short', with durations of T90 < 2 s (where T90 is the time to detect 90% of the observed fluence). Long bursts, which on average have softer gamma-ray spectra, are known to be associated with stellar core-collapse events-in some cases simultaneously producing powerful type Ic supernovae. In contrast, the origin of short bursts has remained mysterious until recently. A subsecond intense 'spike' of gamma-rays during a giant flare from the Galactic soft gamma-ray repeater, SGR 1806-20, reopened an old debate over whether some short GRBs could be similar events seen in galaxies out to approximately 70 Mpc (refs 6-10; redshift z approximately 0.016). Shortly after that, localizations of a few short GRBs (with optical afterglows detected in two cases) have shown an apparent association with a variety of host galaxies at moderate redshifts. Here we report a correlation between the locations of previously observed short bursts and the positions of galaxies in the local Universe, indicating that between 10 and 25 per cent of short GRBs originate at low redshifts (z < 0.025).     

No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts

It is now accepted that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced during the collapse of a massive star. The standard 'collapsar' model predicts that a broad-lined and luminous type Ic core-collapse supernova accompanies every long-duration GRB. This association has been confirmed in observations of several nearby GRBs. Here we report that GRB 060505 (ref. 10) and GRB 060614 (ref. 11) were not accompanied by supernova emission down to limits hundreds of times fainter than the archetypal supernova SN 1998bw that accompanied GRB 980425, and fainter than any type Ic supernova ever observed. Multi-band observations of the early afterglows, as well as spectroscopy of the host galaxies, exclude the possibility of significant dust obscuration and show that the bursts originated in actively star-forming regions. The absence of a supernova to such deep limits is qualitatively different from all previous nearby long-duration GRBs and suggests a new phenomenological type of massive stellar death.     

An unexpectedly rapid decline in the X-ray afterglow emission of long gamma-ray bursts

'Long' gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are commonly accepted to originate in the explosion of particularly massive stars, which give rise to highly relativistic jets. Inhomogeneities in the expanding flow result in internal shock waves that are believed to produce the gamma-rays we see. As the jet travels further outward into the surrounding circumstellar medium, 'external' shocks create the afterglow emission seen in the X-ray, optical and radio bands. Here we report observations of the early phases of the X-ray emission of five GRBs. Their X-ray light curves are characterised by a surprisingly rapid fall-off for the first few hundred seconds, followed by a less rapid decline lasting several hours. This steep decline, together with detailed spectral properties of two particular bursts, shows that violent shock interactions take place in the early jet outflows.     

An exceptionally bright flare from SGR 1806-20 and the origins of short-duration gamma-ray bursts

Soft-gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are galactic X-ray stars that emit numerous short-duration (about 0.1 s) bursts of hard X-rays during sporadic active periods. They are thought to be magnetars: strongly magnetized neutron stars with emissions powered by the dissipation of magnetic energy. Here we report the detection of a long (380 s) giant flare from SGR 1806-20, which was much more luminous than any previous transient event observed in our Galaxy. (In the first 0.2 s, the flare released as much energy as the Sun radiates in a quarter of a million years.) Its power can be explained by a catastrophic instability involving global crust failure and magnetic reconnection on a magnetar, with possible large-scale untwisting of magnetic field lines outside the star. From a great distance this event would appear to be a short-duration, hard-spectrum cosmic gamma-ray burst. At least a significant fraction of the mysterious short-duration gamma-ray bursts may therefore come from extragalactic magnetars.     

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.     

Magnetic vortex core reversal by excitation with short bursts of an alternating field

The vortex state, characterized by a curling magnetization, is one of the equilibrium configurations of soft magnetic materials and occurs in thin ferromagnetic square and disk-shaped elements of micrometre size and below. The interplay between the magnetostatic and the exchange energy favours an in-plane, closed flux domain structure. This curling magnetization turns out of the plane at the centre of the vortex structure, in an area with a radius of about 10 nanometres--the vortex core. The vortex state has a specific excitation mode: the in-plane gyration of the vortex structure about its equilibrium position. The sense of gyration is determined by the vortex core polarization. Here we report on the controlled manipulation of the vortex core polarization by excitation with small bursts of an alternating magnetic field. The vortex motion was imaged by time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. We demonstrate that the sense of gyration of the vortex structure can be reversed by applying short bursts of the sinusoidal excitation field with amplitude of about 1.5 mT. This reversal unambiguously indicates a switching of the out-of-plane core polarization. The observed switching mechanism, which can be understood in the framework of micromagnetic theory, gives insights into basic magnetization dynamics and their possible application in data storage.     

A short gamma-ray burst apparently associated with an elliptical galaxy at redshift z = 0.225

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) come in two classes: long (> 2 s), soft-spectrum bursts and short, hard events. Most progress has been made on understanding the long GRBs, which are typically observed at high redshift (z approximately 1) and found in subluminous star-forming host galaxies. They are likely to be produced in core-collapse explosions of massive stars. In contrast, no short GRB had been accurately (< 10') and rapidly (minutes) located. Here we report the detection of the X-ray afterglow from--and the localization of--the short burst GRB 050509B. Its position on the sky is near a luminous, non-star-forming elliptical galaxy at a redshift of 0.225, which is the location one would expect if the origin of this GRB is through the merger of neutron-star or black-hole binaries. The X-ray afterglow was weak and faded below the detection limit within a few hours; no optical afterglow was detected to stringent limits, explaining the past difficulty in localizing short GRBs.     

An apparently normal gamma-ray burst with an unusually low luminosity

Much of the progress in understanding gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has come from studies of distant events (redshift z approximately 1). In the brightest GRBs, the gamma-rays are so highly collimated that the events can be seen across the Universe. It has long been suspected that the nearest and most common events have been missed because they are not as collimated or they are under-energetic (or both). Here we report soft gamma-ray observations of GRB 031203, the nearest event to date (z = 0.106; ref. 2). It had a duration of 40 s and peak energy of >190 keV, and therefore appears to be a typical long-duration GRB. The isotropic gamma-ray energy of < or =10(50) erg, however, is about three orders of magnitude smaller than that of the cosmological population. This event--as well as the other nearby but somewhat controversial GRB 980425--is a clear outlier from the isotropic-energy/peak-energy relation and luminosity/spectral-lag relations that describe the majority of GRBs. Radio calorimetry shows that both of these events are under-energetic explosions. We conclude that there does indeed exist a large population of under-energetic events.     

线路两相短路故障电流控制的新方法

两相短路后,传统方法是切除故障线路,但这可能导致系统潮流大转移并可能引起系统不稳定,造成大面积停电事故。为此提出一种新型的故障电流控制器及与之对应的控制方法。故障电流控制器由串联变压器、并联变压器、2个可调电感以及有载调节开关构成,嵌入在线路的两端,工作时等效于电压源和电感的串联。两相故障后,改变与并联变压器原边相连开关的位置,将改变故障电流控制器等效电压源电压的相位,使故障相线路发送端(接受端)的电压源电压与超前(滞后)于故障相的电源电压同相,再协调控制2个可调电感,能独立控制其等效电压源电压的幅值和电感值,适当地控制这2个分量,能控制故障相间的线电流等于正常电流,该状态下线路的故障电流不仅为0,同时故障线路的电流也等于其正常运行时的电流,并在此基础上提出了两相短路故障电流的控制策略,建立了与之对应的控制系统。该方法能保持故障线路的继续运行,提高了线路供电的可靠性。实验证明了故障电流控制器能控制故障线路上的电流,使其等于正常运行电流,同时理论分析和仿真结果也证明了提出的故障电流控制器以及与之对应的两相短路电流的控制原理、控制策略的正确性。     

An earlier origin for the Acheulian

The Acheulian is one of the first defined prehistoric techno-complexes and is characterized by shaped bifacial stone tools. It probably originated in Africa, spreading to Europe and Asia perhaps as early as ～1?million years (Myr) ago. The origin of the Acheulian is thought to have closely coincided with major changes in human brain evolution, allowing for further technological developments. Nonetheless, the emergence of the Acheulian remains unclear because well-dated sites older than 1.4?Myr ago are scarce. Here we report on the lithic assemblage and geological context for the Kokiselei 4 archaeological site from the Nachukui formation (West Turkana, Kenya) that bears characteristic early Acheulian tools and pushes the first appearance datum for this stone-age technology back to 1.76?Myr ago. Moreover, co-occurrence of Oldowan and Acheulian artefacts at the Kokiselei site complex indicates that the two technologies are not mutually exclusive time-successive components of an evolving cultural lineage, and suggests that the Acheulian was either imported from another location yet to be identified or originated from Oldowan hominins at this vicinity. In either case, the Acheulian did not accompany the first human dispersal from Africa despite being available at the time. This may indicate that multiple groups of hominins distinguished by separate stone-tool-making behaviours and dispersal strategies coexisted in Africa at 1.76?Myr ago.     

缩短测量引线测量大型接地网接地电阻的方法

针对0.618法测量大型接地网接地电阻存在测量引线过长的缺点,采用计算机数值方法对大量不同形状、不同面积及不同布置方式的接地网地面电位分布进行计算和分析,提出将接地网等效为直径等于接地网长边长度的圆盘接地极,取测量电流极引线长度为1倍地网长边长度,电压极引线为0.509倍电流极引线长度来测量接地电阻的新方法.通过对实际接地网接地电阻的测量结果表明:该方法克服了0.618法测量引线过长的缺点,且测量结果准确,适用于大型接地网接地电阻的测量.     

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.     

基于积分场光谱数据的近邻星系恒星形成区多波段恒星形成率定标研究

为探究多波段数据相结合的恒星形成率定标在近邻星系恒星形成区的可应用性,基于窄带Hα成像观测数据、二维积分场光谱数据(IFS)以及Spitzer/MIPS 24μm和Herschel/PACS 70、100、160μm的中远红外波段高空间分辨率图像,对5个近邻恒星形成星系中119个恒星形成区进行恒星形成率定标研究.以由IFS数据测得的巴尔末减缩得到的内部消光改正后的Hα光度为基准,将24、70、100和160μm与未经过内部消光改正的Hα光度相结合进行定标.结果发现:在1034~1039 erg/s光度范围内,4个红外波段与Hα光度的结合均能很好地示踪经过内部消光改正的Hα光度,RMS为0.20~0.27 dex.良好的数据分布表明基于较小样本的研究结果具有统计意义和可应用性.     

An early evolutionary origin for the minor spliceosome

The minor spliceosome is a ribonucleoprotein complex that catalyses the removal of an atypical class of spliceosomal introns (U12-type) from eukaryotic messenger RNAs. It was first identified and characterized in animals, where it was found to contain several unique RNA constituents that share structural similarity with and seem to be functionally analogous to the small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) contained in the major spliceosome. Subsequently, minor spliceosomal components and U12-type introns have been found in plants but not in fungi. Unlike that of the major spliceosome, which arose early in the eukaryotic lineage, the evolutionary history of the minor spliceosome is unclear because there is evidence of it in so few organisms. Here we report the identification of homologues of minor-spliceosome-specific proteins and snRNAs, and U12-type introns, in distantly related eukaryotic microbes (protists) and in a fungus (Rhizopus oryzae). Cumulatively, our results indicate that the minor spliceosome had an early origin: several of its characteristic constituents are present in representative organisms from all eukaryotic supergroups for which there is any substantial genome sequence information. In addition, our results reveal marked evolutionary conservation of functionally important sequence elements contained within U12-type introns and snRNAs.     

图的邻点可区别星边色数的一个上界

提出了图的邻点可区别星边染色及邻点可区别星边色数χ’ass(G)的概念,并用Lovász局部引理证明了若G=(V,E)是一个最小度为δ(G)≥3的简单无向图,则χ’ass(G)≤「32Δ32?。     

图的点可区别星边色数的一个上界

图\,$G$\,的点可区别星边边色数, 记为\,$\chi'_{\rm vds}{(G)}$, 是图\,$G$\,的点可区别星边染色所用色的最小数目. 得到了一些特殊图的星边染色,
并证明了若图\,$G$\,是一个最小度不小于\,5, 且顶点数不超过\,$\Delta^7$\,的图时, $\chi'_{\rm vds}{(G)}\leqslant {14\Delta^{2}}$, 其中\,$\Delta$\,是图\,$G$\,的最大度.     

A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf-W chronometry of meteorites

Determining the chronology for the assembly of planetary bodies in the early Solar System is essential for a complete understanding of star- and planet-formation processes. Various radionuclide chronometers (applied to meteorites) have been used to determine that basaltic lava flows on the surface of the asteroid Vesta formed within 3 million years (3 Myr) of the origin of the Solar System. Such rapid formation is broadly consistent with astronomical observations of young stellar objects, which suggest that formation of planetary systems occurs within a few million years after star formation. Some hafnium-tungsten isotope data, however, require that Vesta formed later (approximately 16 Myr after the formation of the Solar System) and that the formation of the terrestrial planets took a much longer time (62(-14)(+4504) Myr). Here we report measurements of tungsten isotope compositions and hafnium-tungsten ratios of several meteorites. Our measurements indicate that, contrary to previous results, the bulk of metal-silicate separation in the Solar System was completed within <30 Myr. These results are completely consistent with other evidence for rapid planetary formation, and are also in agreement with dynamic accretion models that predict a relatively short time (approximately 10 Myr) for the main growth stage of terrestrial planet formation.     

A minimum column density of 1 g cm(-2) for massive star formation

Massive stars are very rare, but their extreme luminosities make them both the only type of young star we can observe in distant galaxies and the dominant energy sources in the Universe today. They form rarely because efficient radiative cooling keeps most star--forming gas clouds close to isothermal as they collapse, and this favours fragmentation into stars of one solar mass or lower. Heating of a cloud by accreting low-mass stars within it can prevent fragmentation and allow formation of massive stars, but the necessary properties for a cloud to form massive stars-and therefore where massive stars form in a galaxy--have not yet been determined. Here we show that only clouds with column densities of at least 1 g cm(-2) can avoid fragmentation and form massive stars. This threshold, and the environmental variation of the stellar initial mass function that it implies, naturally explain the characteristic column densities associated with massive star clusters and the difference between the radial profiles of Halpha and ultraviolet emission in galactic disks. The existence of a threshold also implies that the initial mass function should show detectable variation with environment within the Galaxy, that the characteristic column densities of clusters containing massive stars should vary between galaxies, and that star formation rates in some galactic environments may have been systematically underestimated.     

An integrated current measurement system for nanopore analysis

Nanopore-based techniques have attracted increasing attention as a unique tool for single-molecule analysis. To accurately detect individual motions of each single molecule, nanopore techniques are used to develop an ultrasensitive current measurement system. This work proposes an integrated current measurement system con- taining an amplifier system and a current signal acquisition system with a high current resolution and a high temporal resolution for nanopore analysis. The exploration and achievements in instrument and signal processing endow nanopore techniques with reliability, affordability, and portability, which make a great leap toward its real applications.     

一种采用电流缓冲器的反嵌套密勒补偿型LDO

为了提高低压差线性稳压器(low dropout regulator, LDO)在全负载电流范围内的稳定性,提出了一种采用电流缓冲器的反嵌套密勒补偿结构(reverse nested miller compensation with current buffers, RNMCCB)的LDO,外部补偿环使用电流镜作为反相电流缓冲器,内部补偿环使用共栅级放大器作为电流缓冲器。该补偿结构不需要额外的晶体管,保证了LDO的负反馈性质;引入两个左半平面的零点,增加了电路的相位裕度。仿真结果表明,在轻载(1 mA)至重载(600 mA)、输出电容为0.1～5μF环境下,最小相位裕度为38°,输出电压的下冲为10.6 mV,上冲为11.7 mV,达到设计要求。