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  • Near Mean Motion Resonance of Terrestrial Planet Pair Induced by Giant Planet: Application to Kepler-68 System

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2024-06-08

    摘要: In this work, we investigate configuration formation of two inner terrestrial planets near mean motion resonance (MMRs) induced by the perturbation of a distant gas-giant for the Kepler-68 system, by conducting thousands of numerical simulations. The results show that the formation of terrestrial planets is relevant to the speed of Type I migration, the mass of planets, and the existence of giant planet. The mass and eccentricity of the giant planet may play a crucial role in shaping the final configuration of the system. The inner planet pair can be trapped in 5:3 or 7:4 MMRs if the giant planet revolves the central star with an eccentric orbit, which is similar to the observed configuration of Kepler-68. Moreover, we find that the eccentricity of the middle planet can be excited to roughly 0.2 if the giant planet is more massive than 5 $M_J$,otherwise the terrestrial planets are inclined to remain near-circular orbits. Our study may provide a likely formation scenario for the planetary systems that harbor several terrestrial planets near MMRs inside and one gas-giant exterior to them.

  • Peculiar orbital characteristics of Earth quasi-satellite 469219 Kamo`oalewa: implications for the Yarkovsky detection and orbital uncertainty propagation

    分类: 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 分类: 其他 提交时间: 2024-06-08

    摘要: 469219 Kamo`oalewa is selected as one of the primary targets of Tianwen-2 mission, which is currently believed to be the most stable quasi-satellite of Earth. Here we derive a weak detection of the Yarkovsky effect for Kamo`oalewa, giving $A_2 = -1.075 pm0.447 times 10^{-13} rm{au/d}^2$, with the available ground-based optical observations from Minor Planet Center and a relatively conservative weighting scheme. Due to the quasi-satellite resonance with Earth, we show that the detection of Yarkovsky effect by orbital fitting with astrometric observations becomes difficult as its orbital drift shows a slow oscillatory growth resulting from the Yarkovsky effect. In addition, we extensively explore the characteristics of orbital uncertainty propagation and find that the positional uncertainty mainly arises from the geocentric radial direction in 2010-2020, and then concentrates in the heliocentric transverse direction in 2020-2030. Furthermore, the heliocentric transverse uncertainty is clearly monthly dependent, which can arrive at a minimum around January and a maximum around July as the orbit moves towards the leading and trailing edges, respectively, in 2025-2027. Finally, we investigate a long-term uncertainty propagation in the quasi-satellite regime, implying that the quasi-satellite resonance with Earth may play a crucial role in constraining the increase of uncertainty over time. Such interesting feature further implies that the orbital precision of Kamo`oalewa is relatively stable at its quasi-satellite phase, which may also be true for other quasi-satellites of Earth.

  • PyMsOfa: A Python Package for the Standards of Fundamental Astronomy (SOFA) Service

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2024-06-08

    摘要: The Standards of Fundamental Astronomy (SOFA) is a service provided by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that offers algorithms and software for astronomical calculations, which was released in two versions by FORTRAN 77 and ANSI C, respectively. In this work, we implement the python package PyMsOfa for SOFA service by three ways: (1) a python wrapper package based on a foreign function library for Python (ctypes), (2) a python wrapper package with the foreign function interface for Python calling C code (cffi), and (3) a python package directly written in pure python codes from SOFA subroutines. The package PyMsOfa has fully implemented 247 functions of the original SOFA routines. In addition, PyMsOfa is also extensively examined, which is exactly consistent with those test examples given by the original SOFA. This python package can be suitable to not only the astrometric detection of habitable planets of the Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES) mission (Ji et al. 2022), but also for the frontiers themes of black holes and dark matter related to astrometric calculations and other fields. The source codes are available via https://github.com/CHES2023/PyMsOfa.

  • Evolution of the Planetary Obliquity: The Eccentric Kozai-Lidov Mechanism Coupled with Tide

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2024-06-03

    摘要: The planetary obliquity plays a significant role in determining physical properties of planetary surfaces and climate. As direct detection is constrained due to the present observation accuracy, kinetic theories are helpful to predict the evolution of the planetary obliquity. Here the coupling effect between the eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) effect and the equilibrium tide is extensively investigated, the planetary obliquity performs to follow two kinds of secular evolution paths, based on the conservation of total angular momentum. The equilibrium timescale of the planetary obliquity $t_{ mathrm{eq}}$ varies along with $r_{t}$, which is defined as the initial timescale ratio of the tidal dissipation and secular perturbation. We numerically derive the linear relationship between $t_{ mathrm{eq}}$ and $r_{t}$ with the maximum likelihood method. The spin-axis orientation of S-type terrestrials orbiting M-dwarfs reverses over $90^ circ$ when $r_{t} > 100$, then enter the quasi-equilibrium state between $40^ circ$ and $60^ circ$, while the maximum obliquity can reach $130^ circ$ when $r_{t} > 10^4 $. Numerical simulations show that the maximum obliquity increases with the semi-major axis ratio $a_1$/$a_2$, but is not so sensitive to the eccentricity $e_2$. The likelihood of obliquity flip for S-type terrestrials in general systems with $a_2 < 45$ AU is closely related to $m_1$. The observed potential oblique S-type planets HD 42936 b, GJ 86 Ab and $ tau$ Boot Ab are explored to have a great possibility to be head-down over the secular evolution of spin.

  • Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES). I. Astrometric Noise and Planetary Detection Efficiency due to Stellar Spots and Faculae

    分类: 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 分类: 其他 分类: 其他 分类: 其他 提交时间: 2024-06-03

    摘要: The Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES) is dedicated to the astrometric exploration for habitable-zone Earth-like planets orbiting solar-type stars in close proximity, achieving unprecedented micro-arcsecond precision. Given the elevated precision, thorough consideration of photocenter jitters induced by stellar activity becomes imperative. This study endeavors to model the stellar activity of solar-type stars, compute astrometric noise, and delineate the detection limits of habitable planets within the astrometric domain. Simulations were conducted for identified primary targets of CHES, involving the generation of simulated observed data for astrometry and photometry, accounting for the impact of stellar activity. Estimation of activity levels in our samples was achieved through chromospheric activity indices, revealing that over 90% of stars exhibited photocenter jitters below 1 $ mu mathrm{as}$. Notably, certain proximate stars, such as $ alpha$ Cen A and B, displayed more discernible noise arising from stellar activity. Subsequent tests were performed to evaluate detection performance, unveiling that stellar activity tends to have a less pronounced impact on planetary detectability for the majority of stars. Approximately 95% of targets demonstrated a detection efficiency exceeding 80%. However, for several cold stars, e.g., HD 32450 and HD 21531, with the habitable zones close to the stars, a reduction in detection efficiency was observed. These findings offer invaluable insights into the intricate interplay between stellar activity and astrometric precision, significantly advancing our understanding in the search for habitable planets.

  • Simulation study of the performance of the Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope

    分类: 核科学技术 >> 辐射物理与技术 提交时间: 2024-05-26

    摘要: The Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope (VLAST) is a mission concept proposed to detect gamma#2;ray photons through both Compton scattering and electron-positron pair production mechanisms, thus enablingthe detection of photons with energies ranging from MeV to TeV. This project aims to conduct a comprehensivesurvey of the gamma-ray sky from a low-Earth orbit using an anti-coincidence detector, a tracker detectorthat also serves as a low-energy calorimeter, and a high-energy imaging calorimeter. We developed a MonteCarlo simulation application of the detector using the GEANT4 toolkit to evaluate the instrument performance,including the effective area, angular resolution, and energy resolution, and explored specific optimizations ofthe detector configuration. Our simulation-based analysis indicates that the current design of the VLAST isphysically feasible, with an acceptance above 10 m2 sr which is four times larger than that of the Fermi-LAT,an energy resolution better than 2% at 10 GeV, and an angular resolution better than 0.2 ◦ at 10 GeV. TheVLAST project promises to make significant contributions to the field of gamma ray astronomy and enhanceour understanding of the cosmos.

  • Atypical radio pulsations from magnetar SGR 1935+2154

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-12-29

    摘要: Magnetars are neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, frequently powering high-energy activity in X-rays. Pulsed radio emission following some X-ray outbursts have been detected, albeit its physical origin is unclear. It has long been speculated that the origin of magnetars' radio signals is different from those from canonical pulsars, although convincing evidence is still lacking. Five months after magnetar SGR 1935+2154's X-ray outburst and its associated Fast Radio Burst (FRB) 20200428, a radio pulsar phase was discovered. Here we report the discovery of X-ray spectral hardening associated with the emergence of periodic radio pulsations from SGR 1935+2154 and a detailed analysis of the properties of the radio pulses. The complex radio pulse morphology, which contains both narrow-band emission and frequency drifts, has not been seen before in other magnetars, but is similar to those of repeating FRBs - even though the luminosities are many orders of magnitude different. The observations suggest that radio emission originates from the outer magnetosphere of the magnetar, and the surface heating due to the bombardment of inward-going particles from the radio emission region is responsible for the observed X-ray spectral hardening.