Pulsar Wind Nebulae in Egret Error Boxes

A remarkable number of pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) are coincident with EGRET γ-ray sources. X-ray and radio imaging studies of unidentified EGRET sources have resulted in the discovery of at least six new pulsar wind nebulae (PWN). Stationary PWN (SPWN) appear to be associated with steady EGRET sources with hard spectra, typical for γ-ray pulsars. Their toroidal morphologies can help determine the geometry of the pulsar which is useful for constraining models of pulsed γ-ray emission. Rapidly moving PWN (RPWN) with more cometary morphologies seem to be associated with variable EGRET sources in regions where the ambient medium is dense compared to what is typical for the ISM.     

The NAIAD experiment for WIMP searches at Boulby mine and recent results

The NAIAD experiment (NaI Advanced Detector) for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches at Boulby mine (UK) is described. The detector consists of an array of encapsulated and unencapsulated NaI(Tl) crystals with high light yield. Six crystals are collecting data at present. Data accumulated by four of them (10.6 kg × year exposure) have been used to set upper limits on the WIMP–nucleon spin-independent and WIMP–proton spin-dependent cross-sections. Pulse shape analysis has been applied to discriminate between nuclear recoils, as may be caused by WIMP interactions, and electron recoils due to gamma background. Various calibrations of crystals are presented.     

The time-scale for core collapse in spherical star clusters

The collapse time for a cluster of equal-mass stars is usually stated to be either 330 central relaxation times (t_rc) or 12-19 half-mass relaxation times (t_rh). But the first of these times applies only to the late stage of core collapse, and the second only to low-concentration clusters. To clarify how the time depends on the density profile, the Fokker-Planck equation is solved for the evolution of a variety of isotropic cluster models, including King models, models with power-law density cusps of ρ ∼ r^−γ, and models with nuclei. The collapse times for King models vary considerably with the cluster concentration when expressed in units of t_rc or t_rh, but vary much less when expressed in units of t_rc divided by a dimensionless measure of the temperature gradient in the core. Models with cusps have larger temperature gradients and evolve faster than King models, but not all of them collapse: those with 0 < γ < 2 expand because they start with a temperature inversion. Models with nuclei collapse or expand as the nuclei would in isolation if their central relaxation times are short; otherwise their evolution is more complicated. Suggestions are made for how the results can be applied to globular clusters, galaxies, and clusters of dark objects in the centers of galaxies.Scott D. Tremaine     

Time signatures of impulsively generated waves in a coronal plasma

Impulsively generated waves in solar coronal loops are numerically simulated in the frame-work of cold magnetohydrodynamics. Coronal inhomogeneities are approximated by gas density slabs embedded in a uniform magnetic field. The simulations show that an initially excited pulse results in the propagation of wave packets which correspond to both trapped and leaky waves. Whereas the leaky waves propagate outside the slab, the trapped waves occur as a result of a total reflection from the slab walls. Time signatures of these waves are made by a detection of the trapped waves at a fixed spatial location. For waves excited within the slab, time signatures exhibit periodic, quasi-periodic and decay phases. The time signatures for waves excited outside the slab, or for a multi-series of variously shaped impulses generated at different places and times, can possess extended quasi-periodic phases. The case of parallel slabs, when the presence of a second slab influences the character of wave propagation in the first slab, exhibits complex time signatures as a result of solitary waves interaction.     

Nonlinearly selected frequencies in coronal loops

A nonlinear process for the resonant generation of low-frequency fast magnetosonic kink waves in coronal loops is discussed. The efficiency of the process is strongly enhanced due to the existence of a nonlinearly selected frequency produced by a constant frequency difference in the dispersion curves in the short wavelength limit. The kink wave with the selected frequency interacts with high-frequency kink and sausage waves. The efficiency of such interaction does not require coherence in the interactive waves. In a loop of width 2 × 10³ km, field strength 50 G and number density 5 × 10¹⁵ m^–3, the nonlinearly selected frequency is of order 46 mHz (period 21.8 s), but this may range through 11 mHz to 184 mHz (periods 86.5 s to 5.4 s) for typical coronal conditions.     

CONGRESS AND THE CHANGING DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERAL OUTLAYS,FY81-FY86*

Did Congressional influence play a role in the distribution of federal outlays between FY81 and FY86? This study hypothesizes that states with majority party House and Senate delegations and with seniority in the delegations experienced the largest increases in federal expenditures. These two hypotheses are tested for fifteen divisions of federal outlays using a stepwise regression model. The results provide only very modest evidence of any systematic Congressional influence over changes in the distribution of federal outlays during the study period.     

Late Holocene relative sea level rise and the Neoglacial history of the Greenland ice sheet

In West Greenland, early and mid Holocene relative sea level (RSL) fall was replaced by late Holocene RSL rise during the Neoglacial, after 4–3 cal. ka BP (thousand calibrated years before present). Here we present the results of an isolation basin RSL study completed near to the coastal town of Sisimiut, in central West Greenland. RSL fell from 14 m above sea level at 5.7 cal. ka BP to reach a lowstand of ?4.0 m at 2.3–1.2 cal. ka BP, before rising by an equivalent amount to present. Differences in the timing and magnitude of the RSL lowstand between this and other sites in West and South Greenland record the varied interplay of local and non‐Greenland RSL processes, notably the reloading of the Earth's crust caused by a Neoglacial expansion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and the subsidence associated with the collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet forebulge. This means that the timing of the sea level lowstand cannot be used to infer directly when the GIS advanced during the Neoglacial. The rise in Late Holocene RSL is contrary to recently reported bedrock uplift in the Sisimiut area, based on repeat GPS surveys. This indicates that a belt of peripheral subsidence around the current ice sheet margin was more extensive in the late Holocene, and that there has been a switch from subsidence to uplift at some point in the last thousand years or so. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpretation of transient electromagnetic soundings over three-dimensional structures for the central-loop configuration

Summary. An assessment is made of the bias of fitting constrained layered-earth models to transient electromagnetic data obtained over 3-D structures. In this assessment we use the central-loop configuration and show that accurate estimates of the depth of burial of 3-D structures can be obtained with layered-earth model fitting. However, layered-earth interpretations are not reliable for estimating depth extents and resistivities of 3-D structures. When layered earths are used for interpretation, it is advantageous in some cases to use data based on the magnetic field instead of the voltage. A magnetic-field definition of apparent resistivity, in contrast to a definition based on the voltage, eliminates apparent-resistivity overshoots and undershoots in the data. A resistivity undershoot in the data can produce an extraneous and misleading layer in an interpretation of a 3-D resistive structure. Due to 3-D effects, apparent-resistivity soundings (magnetic field and voltage) may rise so steeply at late times that it may not be possible to fit a sounding to a reasonable layered-earth model. Truncating such a sounding, over a buried conductor, allows for a reasonable layered-earth fit and an accurate estimate of the depth to the conductor. However, the resistivity of the conductor is overestimated.
Measurements of the horizontal field in the central-loop configuration can map 3-D structures, provided the sensor is located accurately at the centre of the transmitting loop. Horizontal-field calculations show that the transients peak on the flanks of a 3-D structure, but are depressed over the structure's centre. Weak transient responses flanked by two large transient responses, which are opposite in sign, locate the structure. The sign reversal is caused by a corresponding reversal in the currents that are channelled through or deflected away from conductive or resistive structures, respectively.