Algebraic Solution for the Forward Displacement Analysis of the General 6-6 Stewart Mechanism

The solution for the forward displacement analysis（FDA） of the general 6-6 Stewart mechanism（i.e., the connection points of the moving and fixed platforms are not restricted to lying in a plane） has been extensively studied, but the efficiency of the solution remains to be effectively addressed. To this end, an algebraic elimination method is proposed for the FDA of the general 6-6 Stewart mechanism. The kinematic constraint equations are built using conformal geometric algebra（CGA）. The kinematic constraint equations are transformed by a substitution of variables into seven equations with seven unknown variables. According to the characteristic of anti-symmetric matrices, the aforementioned seven equations can be further transformed into seven equations with four unknown variables by a substitution of variables using the Grobner basis. Its elimination weight is increased through changing the degree of one variable, and sixteen equations with four unknown variables can be obtained using the Grobner basis. A 40th-degree univariate polynomial equation is derived by constructing a relatively small-sized 9 × 9 Sylvester resultant matrix. Finally, two numerical examples are employed to verify the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method can effectively improve the efficiency of solution and reduce the computational burden because of the small-sized resultant matrix.

An algorithm to resolve γ-rays from charged cosmic rays with DAMPE

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer（DAMPE）,also known as Wukong in China,which was launched on 2015 December 17,is a new high energy cosmic ray and γ-ray satellite-borne observatory.One of the main scientific goals of DAMPE is to observe Ge V-Te V high energy γ-rays with accurate energy,angular and time resolution,to indirectly search for dark matter particles and for the study of high energy astrophysics. Due to the comparatively higher fluxes of charged cosmic rays with respect to γ-rays,it is challenging to identify γ-rays with sufficiently high efficiency,minimizing the amount of charged cosmic ray contamination. In this work we present a method to identify γ-rays in DAMPE data based on Monte Carlo simulations,using the powerful electromagnetic/hadronic shower discrimination provided by the calorimeter and the veto detection of charged particles provided by the plastic scintillation detector. Monte Carlo simulations show that after this selection the number of electrons and protons that contaminate the selected γ-ray events at～10 Ge V amounts to less than 1% of the selected sample.Finally,we use flight data to verify the effectiveness of the method by highlighting known γ-ray sources in the sky and by reconstructing preliminary light curves of the Geminga pulsar.

A Possible 456-Day Optical Period of OQ 530

The post-1994 observations of the blazar OQ 530 in optical BVRI bands, and radio observations at 22 GHz and 37 GHz were collected. The date compensated discrete Fourier transform （DCDFr） and CLEANest methods were used to search for possible periodicities. Two possible periods of 456±100 days and 258±29 days were found in the optical bands. The existence of possible correlations between the optical and radio emissions was investigated by means of discrete correlation function （DCF） analysis, and no significant correlation was found. Some possible mechanisms for the periodic variability are discussed.

Optical quasi-periodic oscillation and color behavior of blazar PKS 2155–304

PKS 2155-304 is a well studied BL Lac object in the southern sky. The historical optical data during different periods have been collected and compiled. Light curves spanning 35 yr have been constructed. The R-band light curve has been ana- lyzed by means of three methods： the epoch folding method, the Jurkevich method and the discrete correlation function method. It is derived that there is an evident periodic component of 317 d （i.e. 0.87 yr） superposed on a long-term trend with large- amplitude variation in the light curve. The variability of this source is accompanied by a slight color variation, and the brightness and color index are correlated with each other. On a long-term time scale, PKS 2155-304 exhibits a tendency of bluer-when- brighter, which means the spectrum becomes flatter when the source brightens.

Growth of Black Holes and Their Host Spheroids in (Sub)mm-loud High-Redshift QSOs

We study the growth of black holes and stellar population in spheroids at high redshift using several （sub）mm-loud QSO samples. Applying the same criteria established in an earlier work, we find that, similar to IR QSOs at low redshift, the far-infrared emission of these （sub）mm-loud QSOs mainly originates from dust heated by starbursts. By combining low-z IR QSOs and high-z （sub）mm-loud QSOs, we find a trend that the star formation rate （M＊） increases with the accretion rate （Mace）. We compare the values of M＊/Macc for submm emitting galaxies （SMGs）, far-infrared ultraluminous/hypeduminous QSOs and typical QSOs, and construct a likely evolution scenario for these objects. The （sub）mm-loud QSO transition phase has both high Macc and M＊ and hence is important for establishing the correlation between the masses of black holes and spheroids.

The intrinsic γ-ray emissions of Fermi blazars

The beaming effect is important for understanding the observational properties of blazars.In this work, we collect 91 Fermi blazars with available radio Doppler factors. γ-ray Doppler factors are estimated and compared with radio Doppler factors for some sources. The intrinsic（de-beamed）γ-ray flux density（fγin）, intrinsic γ-ray luminosity（Lγin） and intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency（VPin）are calculated. Then we study the correlations between finγand redshift and find that they follow the theoretical relation： log f =-2.0 log z ＋ const. When the subclasses are considered, we find that stationary jets are perhaps dominant in low synchrotron peaked blazars. Sixty-three Fermi blazars with both available short variability time scales（？T） and Doppler factors are also collected. We find that the intrinsic relationship between Lγin and ？Tinobeys the Elliot ＆ Shapiro and Abramowicz ＆ Nobili relations. Strong positive correlation between fγinand VPinis found, suggesting that synchrotron emissions are highly correlated with γ-ray emissions.

Simultaneous Multi-Wavelength Observations of the TeV Blazar Mrk 421 during February-March,2003:X-Ray and NIR Correlated Variability

We report the result of simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 during February - March 2003. We observed Mrk 421 using the Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes （PACT） of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Pachmarhi, India. Other simultaneous data were taken from the literature and public data archives. We have analyzed the high quality X-ray （2-20 keV） observations from the NASA Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer （RXTE）. We obtained a possible correlated variability between X-ray and J band （1.25 μ） near infrared （NIR） wavelength. This is the first case of X-ray and NIR correlated variability in Mrk 421 or any high energy peaked （HBL） blazar. The correlated variability reported here indicates a similar origin for the NIR and X-ray emissions. The emission is not affected much by the environment of the surrounding medium of the central engine of Mrk 421. The observations are consistent with the shock-in-jet model for the emissions.

Similarity of jet radiation between flat spectrum radio quasars and GeV narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies: a universal δ-Lc correlation

By modeling the broadband spectral energy distributions （SEDs） of a typical flat spectrum radio quasar （FSRQ, 3C 279） and two GeV narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies （NLSls, PMN J0948＋0022 and 1H 0323＋342） in different flux stages with one-zone leptonic models, we find a universal correlation between their Doppler factors （δ） and peak luminosities （Lc） of external Compton scattering bumps. Compiling a combined sample of FSRQs and GeV NLSls, it is found that both FSRQs and GeV NLSls in different stages and in different sources follow the same δ-Lc correlation well. This indicates that the variations of observed luminosities may be essentially due to the Doppler boosting effect. The universal δ-Lo relation between FSRQs and GeV NLS 1 s in different stages may be further evidence that the particle acceleration and radiation mechanisms for the two kinds of sources are similar. In addition, by replacing Lc with the observed luminosity in the Fermi/LAT band （LLAT）, this correlation holds and it may serve as an empirical indicator of δ. We estimate the δ values with LLAT for 484 FSRQs in the Fermi/LAT Catalog and they range from 3 to 41, with a median of 16, which are statistically consistent with the values derived by other methods.

Constraints on individual supermassive binary black holes using observations of PSR J1909-3744

We perform a search for gravitational waves(GWs) from several supermassive binary black hole(SMBBH) candidates(NGC 5548, Mrk 231, OJ 287, PG 1302–102, NGC 4151, Ark 120 and 3C 66B) in long-term timing observations of the pulsar PSR J1909-3744 obtained using the Parkes radio telescope.No statistically significant signals were found. We constrain the chirp masses of those SMBBH candidates and find the chirp mass of NGC 5548 and 3C 66B to be less than 2.4 × 10^9 M⊙ and 2.5 × 10^9 M⊙(with 95% confidence), respectively. Our upper limits remain a factor of 3 to 370 above the likely chirp masses for these candidates as estimated from other approaches. The observations processed here provide upper limits on the GW strain amplitude that improve upon the results from the first Parkes Pulsar Timing Array data release by a factor of 2 to 7. We investigate how information about the orbital parameters can help to improve the search sensitivity for individual SMBBH systems. Finally, we show that these limits are insensitive to uncertainties in the Solar System ephemeris model.

A statistical classification of the unassociated gamma-ray sources in the second Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog

With the assistance of the identified/associated sources in the second Fermi Large Area Telescope （LAT） catalog, we analyze and resolve the spatial distribution and the distributions of the gamma-ray spectral and variability indices of the remaining 575 unassociated Fermi LAT sources. Consequently, it is suggested that the unassociated sources could statistically consist of Galactic supernova remnants/pulsar wind nebulae, BL Lacertae objects, fiat spectrum radio quasars and other types of active galaxies with fractions of 25%, 29%, 41% and 5%, respectively.

An Analysis of Average Pulsar Profiles and A Study of the ρ-P relation of Pulsars

Using the method of Gaussian Fit Separation of Average Profile (GF-SAP), we re-examine the average profiles of nine pulsars at several frequencies, ranging from 408-1642 MHz. This method enables us to obtain the number of components for each pulsar, and the parameters for each component, the width, position and amplitude. The ρ-P relation for the inner cone and outer cone are studied separately, and the results are, respectively, ρ = p-0.51±0.05 and ρ= p-0.42±0.06 The results can be interpreted as a confirmation of the double-cone structure of pulsar emission beams. The altitudes of emission region, and the radius-to-frequency-map (RFM) are also examined; for the outer cone, we obtained γ(v) ∝v-0.19±0.09.

Statistical Cluster-QSO Weak Lensing in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We investigate the cross-correlation between galaxy clusters and QSOs using Sloan Digital Sky Survey （SDSS） DR4 - 5000 deg^2 data. With photometric redshifts of galaxies, we select galaxy clusters based on the local projected densities of LRGs brighter than Mr′ = -22. The QSOs are from the main sample of SDSS QSO spectroscopic survey to i′ = 19. A significant positive correlation is found between the clusters and QSOs. Under the assumption that the signal is caused by gravitational lensing, we fit the signal with singular isothermal sphere （SIS） model and NFW profile halo model. The velocity dispersion σv = 766 km s^-1 is derived for the best-fit of SIS model. Best-fit for the NFW model requires the dark matter halo mass within 1.5 h^-1 Mpc to be 4.6 × 10^14 h^-1 M⊙. The mass parameter Ωcl of the cluster sample is deduced as 0.077 with the SIS model and 0.083 with the NFW model. Our results of Ωcl are smaller than those given by Croom ＆ Shanks and by Myers et al.

The Fifth Edition of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars:experiences in the constellation Centaurus

We have recently announced that the General Catalogue of Variable Stars enters the stage of its fifth, purely electronic edition （GCVS 5.1）. We have included 1408 variable stars in the constellation Centaurus in this new version, GCVS 5.1. Working on this revision, we applied current possibilities from data mining, suggested new variability types for many variable stars and found new light elements for a large number of periodic variables. This paper describes the work completed during the preparation of GCVS 5.1 for Centaurus and discusses in detail a number of the most astrophysically significant cases.

Mass-accreting white dwarfs and type Ia supernovae

Type Ia supernovae（SNe Ia） play a prominent role in understanding the evolution of the Universe. They are thought to be thermonuclear explosions of mass-accreting carbon-oxygen white dwarfs（CO WDs） in binaries, although the mass donors of the accreting WDs are still not well determined. In this article, I review recent studies on mass-accreting WDs, including H-and He-accreting WDs. I also review currently most studied progenitor models of SNe Ia, i.e., the single-degenerate model（including the WD＋MS channel, the WD＋RG channel and the WD＋He star channel）, the doubledegenerate model（including the violent merger scenario） and the sub-Chandrasekhar mass model.Recent progress on these progenitor models is discussed, including the initial parameter space for producing SNe Ia, the binary evolutionary paths to SNe Ia, the progenitor candidates for SNe Ia, the possible surviving companion stars of SNe Ia, some observational constraints, etc. Some other potential progenitor models of SNe Ia are also summarized, including the hybrid CONe WD model, the core-degenerate model, the double WD collision model, the spin-up/spin-down model and the model of WDs near black holes. To date, it seems that two or more progenitor models are needed to explain the observed diversity among SNe Ia.

Accreting CO material onto ONe white dwarfs towards accretion-induced collapse

The final outcomes of accreting ONe white dwarfs（ONe WDs） have been studied for several decades,but there are still some issues that are not resolved. Recently,some studies suggested that the deflagration of oxygen would occur for accreting ONe WDs with Chandrasekhar masses. In this paper,we aim to investigate whether ONe WDs can experience accretion-induced collapse（AIC） or explosions when their masses approach the Chandrasekhar limit. Employing the stellar evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics（MESA）,we simulate the longterm evolution of ONe WDs with accreting CO material. The ONe WDs undergo weak multicycle carbon flashes during the mass-accretion process,leading to mass increase of the WDs. We found that different initial WD masses and mass-accretion rates influence the evolution of central density and temperature. However,the central temperature cannot reach the explosive oxygen ignition temperature due to neutrino cooling. This work implies that the final outcome of accreting ONe WDs is electroncapture induced collapse rather than thermonuclear explosion.

The pc-scale radio structure of MIR-observed radio galaxies

We investigated the relationship between the accretion process and jet properties by utilizing very long baseline array （VLBA） and mid-infrared （MIR） data for a sample of 45 3CRR radio galaxies selected with a flux density at 178MHz 〉 16.4Jy, 5 GHz very large array （VLA） core flux density ≥7 mJy and MIR observations. The pc-scale radio structure at 5 GHz is presented by using our VLBA observations for 21 sources acquired in February, 2016, the analysis of archival data for 16 objects and directly obtaining measurements for eight radio galaxies available from literatures. The accretion mode is constrained from the Eddington ratio with a dividing value of 0.01, which is estimated from the MIR-based bolometric luminosity and the black hole masses. While most Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies （FRIIs） have higher Eddington ratio than Fanaroff-Riley type I radio galaxies （FRIs）, we found that there is indeed no single correspondence between the FR morphology and accretion mode with eight FRIIs at low accretion rate and two FRIs at high accretion rate. There is a significant correlation between the VLBA core luminosity at 5 GHz and the Eddington ratio. Various morphologies are identi- fied in our sample, including core only, single-sided core-jet and two-sided core-jet structures. We found that the higher accretion rate may be more likely related with the core-jet structure, thus generating a more extended jet. These results imply that the higher accretion rates are likely able to produce more powerful jets. There is a strong correlation between the MIR luminosity at 15 ktm and VLBA 5 GHz core luminosity, in favor of the tight relation between the accretion disk and jets. In our sample, the core brightness temperature ranges from 109 to 101338 K with a median value of 10^11.09K, indicating that systematically the beaming effect may not be significant. The exceptional cases, FRIs at high accretion rates and FRIIs at low accretion rates, are exclusively at the high and low ends, respectively, of the distribution of the flux ratio for VLBA core to 178 MHz flux density. It is not impossible that the locations of these sources are due to the recent shining or weakening of their central engines （i.e., both accretion and jet）.

A low-latency pipeline for GRB light curve and spectrum using Fermi/GBM near real-time data

Rapid response and short time latency are very important for Time Domain Astronomy, such as the observations of Gamma-ray Bursts（GRBs） and electromagnetic（EM） counterparts of gravitational waves（GWs）. Based on near real-time Fermi/GBM data, we developed a low-latency pipeline to automatically calculate the temporal and spectral properties of GRBs. With this pipeline, some important parameters can be obtained, such as T_（90） and fluence, within ～ 20 min after the GRB trigger.For ～ 90% of GRBs, T90 and fluence are consistent with the GBM catalog results within 2σ errors.This pipeline has been used by the Gamma-ray Bursts Polarimeter（POLAR） and the Insight Hard Xray Modulation Telescope（Insight-HXMT） to follow up the bursts of interest. For GRB 170817 A, the first EM counterpart of GW events detected by Fermi/GBM and INTEGRAL/SPI-ACS, the pipeline gave T90 and spectral information 21 min after the GBM trigger, providing important information for POLAR and Insight-HXMT observations.

New open cluster candidates discovered in the XSTPS-GAC survey

The Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anti-center（XSTPS-GAC）is a photometric sky survey that covers nearly 6000 deg^2 towards the Galactic Anti-center（GAC） in the g,r,i bands. Half of its survey field is located on the Galactic Anti-center disk,which makes XSTPSGAC highly suitable to search for new open clusters in the GAC region. In this paper,we report new open cluster candidates discovered in this survey,as well as properties of these open cluster candidates,such as age,distance and reddening,derived by isochrone fitting in the color-magnitude diagram（CMD）.These open cluster candidates are stellar density peaks detected in the star density maps by applying the method from Koposov et al. Each candidate is inspected in terms of its true color image composed from three XSTPS-GAC band images. Then its CMD is checked,in order to identify whether the central region stars have a clear isochrone-like trend differing from background stars. The parameters derived from isochrone fitting for these candidates are mainly based on three band photometry of XSTPS-GAC.Moreover,when these new candidates are able to be seen clearly in 2 MASS data,their parameters are also derived based on the 2 MASS（J-H,J） CMD. There are a total of 320 known open clusters rediscovered and 24 new open cluster candidates discovered in this work. Furthermore,the parameters of these new candidates,as well as another 11 previously known open clusters,are properly determined for the first time.

Powerful CMD:a tool for color-magnitude diagram studies

We present a new tool for color-magnitude diagram（CMD） studies, Powerful CMD. This tool is built based on the advanced stellar population synthesis（ASPS） model, in which single stars, binary stars, rotating stars and star formation history have been taken into account. Via Powerful CMD, the distance modulus, color excess, metallicity, age, binary fraction, rotating star fraction and star formation history of star clusters can be determined simultaneously from observed CMDs. The new tool is tested via both simulated and real star clusters. Five parameters of clusters NGC 6362, NGC 6652, NGC 6838 and M67 are determined and compared to other works. It is shown that this tool is useful for CMD studies, in particular for those utilizing data from the Hubble Space Telescope（HST）. Moreover, we find that inclusion of binaries in theoretical stellar population models may lead to smaller color excess compared to the case of single-star population models.

Tail Emission from a Ring-like Jet: Its Application to Shallow Decays of Early Afterglows and GRB 050709

Similar to the case of pulsars the magnetic axis and the spin axis of gamma-ray burst sources may not lie on the same line. This may cause the formation of a ring-like jet due to collimation of the precessing magnetic axis. We analyze the tail emission from such a jet, and find that it has a shallow decay phase with a temporal index of - 1/2 if the Lorentz factor of the ejecta is not very high, which is consistent with the shallow decay phase of some early X-ray afterglow detected by Swift. The ring-like jet has a tail cusp with sharp rising and very sharp decay. This effect can provide an explanation for the re-brightening and sharp decay of the X-ray afterglow＇of GRB 050709.