Using the Monte Carlo simulations and a set of theoretical galaxy templates, which are built on the Yunnan evolutionary population synthesis models with and without binary interactions, we compare the optical color-color (C-C) relations for passive and star-forming galaxies at redshift z~2.0, and study the effect of binary interactions on this relation. We find that the influence of binary interactions on the C-C relation is insignificant for passive galaxies at z~2.0.

We report detection of the weak but significant linear polarization from the Supernova Remnant Cas A at low radio frequencies (327 MHz) using the GMRT. The spectro-polarimetric data (16 MHz bandwidth with 256 spectral channels) was analyzed using the technique of Faraday Tomography. Ascertaining association of this weak polarization to the source is non-trivial in the presence of the remnant instrumental polarization (<1% in our case) – the expected anti-correlation ρlp,x, between the linear polarized intensity and the soft X-ray counts gets masked by the correlation between the Stokes-I dependent instrumental leakage and the X-radiation that is spatially correlated with Stokes-I, if ρlp,x is computed naively. Hence, we compute ρlp,x using pixels within ultra narrow bins of Stokes-I within which the instrumental leakage is expected to remain constant, and establish the anti-correlation as well as the correspondence of this correlation with the mean X-ray profile (Figure 1). Given the angular and RM-resolution in our data, the observed depolarization relative to that at higher frequencies, implies that the mixing of thermal and non-thermal plasma within the source might be occurring on spatial scales ~ 1000 AU, assuming random superposition of polarization states.

Motivated by the wealth of past, existing, and upcoming X-ray and gamma-ray missions, we have developed the first public database of high-energy observations of all known Galactic Supernova Remnants (SNRs): http://www.physics.umanitoba.ca/snr/SNRcat. The catalogue links to, and complements, other existing related catalogues, including Dave Green's radio SNRs catalogue. We here highlight the features of the high-energy catalogue, including allowing users to filter or sort data for various purposes. The catalogue is currently targeted to Galactic SNR observations with X-ray and gamma-ray missions, and is timely with the upcoming launch of X-ray missions (including Astro-H in 2014). We are currently developing the existing database to include an up-to-date Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe)-dedicated webpage, with the goal to provide a global view of PWNe and their associated neutron stars/pulsars. This extensive database will be useful to both theorists to apply their models or design numerical simulations, and to observers to plan future observations or design new instruments. We welcome input and feedback from the SNR/PWN/neutron stars community.

Recent simulations show long -lived sub- and super-Keplerian flows in protoplanetary disks. These so-called zonal flows are found in local as well as global simulations of magneto-rotationally unstable disks. We investigate the strength and life-time of the resulting long-lived gas over- and under-densities as well as particle concentrations function of the azimuthal and radial size of the local shearing box. Changes in the azimuthal extent do not affect the zonal flow features. However, strength and life-time of zonal flows increase with increasing radial box sizes. Our simulations show indications, and support earlier results, that zonal flows have a natural length scale of approximately 5 pressure scale heights. For the first time, the reaction of dust particles in boxes with zonal flows are studied. We show that particles of some centimeters in size reach a hundred-fold higher density than initially, without any self-gravitating forces acting on the point masses. We further investigate collision velocities of dust grains in a turbulent medium.

The Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) will provide an unrivalled sample of galaxies, probing the normal star-forming submillimetre population of galaxies for the first time. Here, we exploit the Science Demonstration Phase (SDP) data to model the evolution of the interstellar content of galaxies in recent history. The most massive H-ATLAS galaxies show a large increase in the dust content five billion years ago compared to the present epoch. These observations are difficult to explain using standard dust models, one possibility could be contributions from a non-stellar source of dust e.g. grain growth in dense clouds; this would imply that less than 10% of dust would be condensed in stellar atmospheres. Alternatively, an initial mass function which becomes top heavy at high star formation rate densities could also explain this discrepancy.

The study objects of our work were 91 TNO with diameters greater than 200 km. On the other hand, the paper used the data for 1048 and comets with aphelion and perihelion distances Q > 30 AU and q > 0.1AU, respectively, were observed until 2012. Short-perihelion comets (sporadic and concentrated in separate groups) were excluded from the analysis. If some comet split into several parties, we have taken data for only one fragment, which is marked with the letter A. Data for comets are taken from the catalog [4] and the individual Circulars International Astronomical Union, issued in period after 2008. The data for TNO, mostly borrowed from the website [5], as well as the issues of the same circulars.

A few years before the Hinode space telescope was launched, an investigation based on the Hanle effect in atomic and molecular lines indicated that the bulk of the quiet solar photosphere is significantly magnetized, due to the ubiquitous presence of an unresolved magnetic field with an average strength 〈B〉, ≈ 130 G. It was pointed out also that this “hidden” field must be much stronger in the intergranular regions of solar surface convection than in the granular regions, and it was suggested that this unresolved magnetic field could perhaps provide the clue for understanding how the outer solar atmosphere is energized. In fact, the ensuing magnetic energy density is so significant that the energy flux estimated using the typical value of 1 km/s for the convective velocity (thinking in rising magnetic loops) or the Alfvén speed (thinking in Alfvén waves generated by magnetic reconnection) turns out to be substantially larger than that required to balance the chromospheric energy losses. Here we present a brief review of the research that led to such conclusions, with emphasis on a new three-dimensional radiative transfer investigation aimed at determining the magnetization of the quiet Sun photosphere from the Hanle effect in the Sr I 4607 Å line and the Zeeman effect in Fe I lines.

A new paradigm in astronomical research has been emerging – “Data Intensive Astronomy” that utilizes large amounts of data combined with statistical data analyses.

The first research method in astronomy was observations by our eyes. It is well known that the invention of telescope impacted the human view on our Universe (although it was almost limited to the solar system), and lead to Keplerfs law that was later used by Newton to derive his mechanics. Newtonian mechanics then enabled astronomers to provide the theoretical explanation to the motion of the planets. Thus astronomers obtained the second paradigm, theoretical astronomy. Astronomers succeeded to apply various laws of physics to reconcile phenomena in the Universe; e.g., nuclear fusion was found to be the energy source of a star. Theoretical astronomy has been paired with observational astronomy to better understand the background physics in observed phenomena in the Universe. Although theoretical astronomy succeeded to provide good physical explanations qualitatively, it was not easy to have quantitative agreements with observations in the Universe. Since the invention of high-performance computers, however, astronomers succeeded to have the third research method, simulations, to get better agreements with observations. Simulation astronomy developed so rapidly along with the development of computer hardware (CPUs, GPUs, memories, storage systems, networks, and others) and simulation codes.

We carried out the multicolor surface photometry in BVR and griz filters parallel with stellar kinematic measurements from the long slit spectra for the low surface brightness galaxy Malin 2. The use of the multicolor surface photometry as well as the available HI rotation curve allowed us to construct the mass distribution model of the galaxy. Photometrical and dynamical mass estimates agree with the dark halo mass fraction of about 70% within four disc radial scalelengths (~ 70 kpc). We used our dynamical model to obtain radial profiles of the equilibrium disc volume density and gas pressure in the galaxy midplane based on the available HI and CO data. The observed molecular gas fraction appears to be much higher than in the high surface brightness galaxies for a similar gas pressure.

Geomagnetic and solar storms and their occurrence rate with respect to the solar activity cycle is an important topic of space environment research. The minimum of solar activity during the solar cycle number 23 (SC-23) have detectable effects on the space environments, where the monthly mean of sunspot number and solar proton events effecting the space environment and produced many of Geophysical effects. A detailed study of the centers of activity produced the proton events are carried out. The electromagnetic emissions at the different bands during the impulsive phase of the flare are tabulated and discussed. The different Geophysical effects due to the events are studied. Conclusions about the proton solar events at minimum activity are presented.

We report the analysis of a 19-year span of timing data on PSR J1713+0747 taken by the Arecibo and Green Bank telescopes. PSR J1713+0747 is one of the best high-timing-precision pulsars monitored by the NANOGrav project for the purpose of detecting gravitational waves. The timing precision of this pulsar can be regarded as the benchmark of NANOGrav timing instruments. We show the precision improvement achieved by multi-generation instruments including the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument (GUPPI) and its counterpart in Arecibo. The new timing solution we found improves the measurement of the pulsars mass, its orbital and geometric parameters, sets new limits on alternative gravitational theories, and may provide a high-quality single pulsar gravitational wave upper limit.

The possibility to measure the solar diameter using the transits of Mercury has been exploited to investigate the past three centuries of its evolution and to calibrate these measurements made with satellites. This measurement basically consists to compare the ephemerides of the internal contact timings with the observed timings. The transits of Venus of 2004 and 2012 gave the possibility to apply this method, involving a planet with atmosphere, with the refraction of solar light through it creating a luminous arc all around the disk of the planet. The observations of the 2012 transit made to measure the solar diameter participate to the project Venus Twilight Experiment to study the aureole appearing around it near the ingress/egress phases.

Highly symmetric double features observed in averaged pulsar profiles can be interpreted as the imprint of microscopic radiation beam characteristic of radiative mechanism operating in pulsar magnetosphere. The data put strong constraints on the possible radiation patterns, excluding entire classes of mechanisms, such as those based on parallel acceleration, or those that have complicated beams. Instead, several properties of double features (such as their symmetry, depth, shape, merging rate, large polarisation degree, and the association with bifurcated emission components) are consistent with the extraordinary-mode part of the curvature radiation beam. This shows that double notches are a clear signature of the curvature radiation process. We show that even with the emission process fixed, detailed modelling of double features remains a rather sophisticated and demanding task.

Based on several tens of R0 measurements made during the past two decades, several studies have been performed to derive the best estimate of R0. Some used just simple averaging to derive a result, whereas others provided comprehensive analyses of possible errors in published results. In either case, detailed statistical analyses of data used were not performed. However, a computation of the best estimates of the Galactic rotation constants is not only an astronomical but also a metrological task. Here we perform an analysis of 53 R0 measurements (published in the past 20 years) to assess the consistency of the data. Our analysis shows that they are internally consistent. It is also shown that any trend in the R0 estimates from the last 20 years is statistically negligible, which renders the presence of a bandwagon effect doubtful. On the other hand, the formal errors in the published R0 estimates improve significantly with time.

We investigate the fortune of young neutron stars (NS) in the whole volume of the Milky Way with new code for population synthesis. We start our modeling from the birth of massive OB stars and follow their motion in the Galaxy up to the Supernova explosion. Next we integrate the equations of motion of NS in the averaged gravitational potential of the Galaxy. We estimate the mean kick velocities from a comparison the model Z and R-distributions of radio emitting NS with that for galactic NS accordingly ATNF pulsar catalog. We follow the history of the rotational velocity and the surface magnetic field of NS taking into account the significant magnetic field decay during the first million year of a neutron star's life. The derived value for the mean time of ohmic decay is 2.3ċ105 years. We model the subsample of galactic radio pulsars which can be detected with available radio telescopes, using a radio beaming model with inhomogeneous distribution of the radio emission in the cone. The distributions functions of the pulsar periods P, period derivatives Ṗ and surface magnetic fields B appear to be in a close agreement with those obtained from an ensemble of neutron stars in the ATNF catalogue.

The extreme conditions found in and around pulsars make them fantastic natural laboratories, providing insights to a rich variety of fundamental physics and astronomy. To discover more pulsars we have begun the High Time Resolution Universe (HTRU) survey: a blind survey of the northern sky with the 100-m Effelsberg radio telescope in Germany and a twin survey of the southern sky with the 64-m Parkes radio telescope in Australia. The HTRU is an international collaboration with expertise shared among the MPIfR in Germany, ATNF/CASS and Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, University of Manchester in the UK and INAF in Italy. The HTRU survey uses multi-beam receivers and backends constructed with recent advancements in technology, providing unprecedentedly high time and frequency resolution, allowing us to probe deeper into the Galaxy than ever before. While a general overview of HTRU has been given by Keith at this conference, here we focus on three further aspects of HTRU discoveries and highlights. These include the ‘Diamond-planet pulsar’ binary J1719-1438 and a second similar system recently discovered. In addition, we provide specifications of the HTRU-North survey and an update of its status. In the last section we give an overview of the search for highly-accelerated binaries in the Galactic plane region. We discuss the computational challenges arising from the processing of the petabyte-sized HTRU survey data. We present an innovative segmented search technique which aims to increase our chances of discovering highly accelerated relativistic binary systems, potentially including pulsar-black-hole binaries.

We present an analysis of the lensed Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG), the 8 o'clock arc, at redshift 2.735. We reduced Near-IR IFU data from SINFONI on VLT covering λ= 2900 Å to 6500 Å in the rest-frame. From this we recovered the Hβ map and the spatially-resolved Hβ profile which are shown in the right plot in Fig. 1. We can see that Hβ shows different profiles at different spatial pixels and it is composed of multiple components. To study the de-lensed morphology of the galaxy we make use of existing B & H band imaging from the HST. Based on this we constructed a rigorous lens model for the system using the Bayesian grid based lens modeling technique presented by Vegetti & Koopmans (2009, MNRAS, 392, 945). In order to obtain a robust lens model, we first considered the high resolution B band HST image (rest-frame UV, left plot in Fig. 1) and then used this modeling to reconstruct the Hβ line map of the galaxy. We then present the de-lensed Hβ line map, velocity and velocity dispersion maps of this LBG galaxy.

We report new calculations of the effective recombination coefficients for the nebular N ii and O ii lines and very deep spectroscopy of the bright planetary nebula (PN) NGC 7009.

Dynamics of magnetic field decay is numerically studied. For neutron stars with strong magnetic fields, the Hall drift timescale in their crust is very short, and therefore the evolution is significantly affected. The nonlinear coupling between poloidal and toroidal components of the magnetic field is studied. It is also found that the polar field at the surface is highly distorted during the Hall drift timescale. For example, polar dipole field-strength temporarily decreases not by dissipation but by advection. This fact suggests that the dipole field-strength is not sufficient to determine the border between pulsars and magnetars.

We have compiled and analyzed historical meter and meteor shower records in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese chronicles. We have confirmed the peaks of Perseids and an excess due to the mixture of Orionids, north-Taurids, or Leonids through the Monte-Carlo test from the Korean records. The peaks persist for almost one thousand years. We have also analyzed seasonal variation of sporadic meteors from Korean records. Major features in Chinese meteor shower records are quite consistent with those of Korean records, particularly for the last millennium. Japanese records also show Perseids feature and Orionids/north-Taurids/Leonids feature, although they are less prominent compared to those of Korean or Chinese records.