Evolution of Subkilometer-scale Impact Craters on the Lunar Maria as Constrained from Mini-RF Data and Topographic Degradation Model

Physical properties(e.g.,ejecta size and distribution)of impact craters are crucial and essential to understanding the ejecta excavation and deposition process,estimating rock breakdown rate,and revealing their evolution characteristics.However,whether these physical properties are scale-dependent and how they evolve in different radial regions needs further studies.In this study,we first investigated the physical properties and evolution of subkilometer(D≤800 m)craters on lunar maria based on the radar circular polarization ratio(CPR).In addition,we estimated the periods over which rocks and blocky ejecta are exposed and buried in the shallow subsurface layer(termed as exposure time)in different radial regions and assessed the retention time and degradation states for potential radar anomalous craters.We found that in the central region of craters,the largest median CPR occurs after an 80 Myr delay following crater formation.In the rim region,there is no obvious CPR peak in the first100 Ma,whereas in the upper wall region,an evident CPR peak occurs beyond 100 Ma and could last over one billion years.In addition,the probable exposure time of rocks and blocky ejecta is estimated to be~2.0 Gyr(central region),~2.7 Gyr(upper wall region),~2.1 Gyr(rim region),and~0.6 Gyr(continuous ejecta blanket region).We also propose that the retention time of radar anomalous craters depends on the crater size,whereas their degraded states are independent of crater size.

Atmospheric regimes and trends on exoplanets and brown dwarfs

A planetary atmosphere is the outer gas layer of a planet. Besides its scientific significance among the first and most accessible planetary layers observed from space, it is closely connected with planetary formation and evolution, surface and interior processes, and habitability of planets. Current theories of planetary atmospheres were primarily obtained through the studies of eight large planets, Pluto and three large moons(Io, Titan, and Triton) in the Solar System. Outside the Solar System, more than four thousand extrasolar planets(exoplanets) and two thousand brown dwarfs have been confirmed in our Galaxy, and their population is rapidly growing. The rich information from these exotic bodies offers a database to test, in a statistical sense, the fundamental theories of planetary climates. Here we review the current knowledge on atmospheres of exoplanets and brown dwarfs from recent observations and theories. This review highlights important regimes and statistical trends in an ensemble of atmospheres as an initial step towards fully characterizing diverse substellar atmospheres, that illustrates the underlying principles and critical problems.Insights are obtained through analysis of the dependence of atmospheric characteristics on basic planetary parameters. Dominant processes that influence atmospheric stability, energy transport, temperature, composition and flow pattern are discussed and elaborated with simple scaling laws. We dedicate this review to Dr. Adam P. Showman(1968–2020) in recognition of his fundamental contribution to the understanding of atmospheric dynamics on giant planets, exoplanets and brown dwarfs.

Formation and Evolution of the Solar System as well as Expansion of the Universe and Global Climate Change

Having found some orbit variation mechanisms of natural satellites and planets, the author has revealed the formation and evolution law of the Moon. According to this law, the author has further revealed the formation and evolution law of the Solar System and other galaxies in the universe. Especially, the author has also explained why the eight planets around the Sun are prograde planets, why the orbits of the eight planets almost lie in the same plane, and why most planets rotate around their own axes from west to east. Additionally, the author could also explain the expansion of the universe as well as the cause of global climate change.

A tale of planet formation: from dust to planets

The characterization of exoplanets and their birth protoplanetary disks has enormously advanced in the last decade.Benefitting from that,our global understanding of the planet formation processes has been substantially improved.In this review,we first summarize the cutting-edge states of the exoplanet and disk observations.We further present a comprehensive panoptic view of modern core accretion planet formation scenarios,including dust growth and radial drift,planetesimal formation by the streaming instability,core growth by planetesimal accretion and pebble accretion.We discuss the key concepts and physical processes in each growth stage and elaborate on the connections between theoretical studies and observational revelations.Finally,we point out the critical questions and future directions of planet formation studies.

Lunar surface potential and electric field

The Moon has no significant atmosphere, thus its surface is exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation and the solar wind. Photoemission and collection of the solar wind electrons and ions may result in lunar surface charging. On the dayside, the surface potential is mainly determined by photoelectrons, modulated by the solar wind;while the nightside surface potential is a function of the plasma distribution in the lunar wake. Taking the plasma observations in the lunar environment as inputs, the global potential distribution is calculated according to the plasma sheath theory, assuming Maxwellian distributions for the surface emitted photoelectrons and the solar wind electrons. Results show that the lunar surface potential and sheath scale length change versus the solar zenith angle, which implies that the electric field has a horizontal component in addition to the vertical one. By differentiating the potential vertically and horizontally, we obtain the global electric field. It is found that the vertical electric field component is strongest at the subsolar point,which has a magnitude of 1 V m-1. The horizontal component is much weaker, and mainly appears near the terminator and on the nightside, with a magnitude of several mV m-1. The horizontal electric field component on the nightside is rotationally symmetric around the wake axis and is strongly determined by the plasma parameters in the lunar wake.

Influence of Megaregolith on the Thermal Evolution of Mercury's Silicate Shell

A so-called megaregolith layer that is considered to be produced by continuous impacts in Mercury’s early stages is integrated into the thermal evolution models of Mercury to study its influence on the thermal evolution of Mercury’s silicate shell.This research first implements a one-dimensional parametric global thermal evolution model.Our results indicate that megaregolith directly affects the thermal evolution of Mercury’s silicate shell by virtue of its good insulation performance.The way megaregolith exerts its influence is by prolonging the process of partial melting and reducing the heat loss,resulting in a thicker crust and thinner stagnant lid.As for the deep parts of the silicate shell,it is suggested that more energy is taken away from the mantle due to the longer partial melting,leading to lower temperatures below the crust compared with the case in the absence of megaregolith,which further helps to advance the formation time of the inner core and promote its final size.In addition,we also carry out a simplified two-dimensional mantle convection simulation as a supplement to the one-dimensional model.The two-dimensional simulation depicts a typical mantle plume fractional melting scenario.Our calculations indicate that megaregolith may be key to the long-term volcanic activities on Mercury.As far as the megaregolith itself is concerned,the thermal structure of this particular layer is more sensitive to thermal conductivity,suggesting that for such a highly fragmented structure,the thermal conductivity coefficient plays a key role in its evolution.Our work emphasizes the importance of megaregolith to the evolution of Mercury.

Near-resonance tidal evolution of the Earth-Moon system influenced by orbital-scale climate change

We build a conceptual coupled model of the climate and tidal evolution of the Earth-Moon system to find the influence of the former on the latter. An energy balance model is applied to calculate steady-state temperature field from the mean annual insolation as a function of varying astronomical parameters. A harmonic oscillator model is applied to integrate the lunar orbit and Earth’s rotation with the tidal torque dependent on the dominant natural frequency of ocean. An ocean geometry acts as a bridge between temperature and oceanic frequency. On assumptions of a fixed hemispherical continent and an equatorial circular lunar orbit, considering only the 41 kyr periodicity of Earth’s obliquity ε and the M2 tide, simulations are performed near tidal resonance for 106 yr. It is verified that the climate can influence the tidal evolution via ocean. Compared with the tidal evolution with constant ε, that with varying ε is slowed down;the EarthMoon distance oscillates in phase with ε before the resonance maximum but exactly out of phase after that;the displacement of the oscillation is in positive correlation with the difference between oceanic frequency and tidal frequency.

Detecting and Monitoring Tidal Dissipation of Hot Jupiters in the Era of SiTian

Transit Timing Variation(TTV)of hot Jupiters provides direct observational evidence of planet tidal dissipation.Detecting tidal dissipation through TTV needs high precision transit timings and long timing baselines.In this work,we predict and discuss the potential scientific contribution of the SiTian Survey in detecting and analyzing exoplanet TTV.We develop a tidal dissipation detection pipeline for the SiTian Survey that aims at time-domain astronomy with 721 m optical telescopes.The pipeline includes the modules of light curve deblending,transit timing acquisition and TTV modeling.SiTian is capable of detecting more than 25,000 exoplanets among which we expect~50 sources to show evidence of tidal dissipation.We present detection and analysis of tidal dissipating targets,based on simulated SiTian light curves of XO-3b and WASP-161 b.The transit light curve modeling gives consistent results within 1σto input values of simulated light curves.Also,the parameter uncertainties predicted by Markov Chain Monte Carlo are consistent with the distribution obtained from simulating and modeling the light curve 1000 times.The timing precision of SiTian observations is~0.5 minutes with one transit visit.We show that differences between TTV origins,e.g.,tidal dissipation,apsidal precession and multiple planets,would be significant,considering the timing precision and baseline.The detection rate of tidal dissipating hot Jupiters would answer a crucial question of whether the planet migrates at an early formation stage or random stages due to perturbations,e.g.,planet scattering or secular interaction.SiTian identified targets would be constructive given that the sample would extend tenfold.

Orbital evolution of a planet with tidal dissipation in a restricted three-body system

The angle between planetary spin and the normal direction of an orbital plane is supposed to reveal a range of information about the associated planetary formation and evolution. Since the orbit’s eccentricity and inclination oscillate periodically in a hierarchical triple body and tidal friction makes the spin parallel to the normal orientation of the orbital plane with a short timescale in an isolated binary system, we focus on the comprehensive effect of third body perturbation and tidal mechanism on the angle. Firstly, we extend the Hut tidal model(1981) to the general spatial case, adopting the equilibrium tide and weak friction hypothesis with constant delay time, which is suitable for arbitrary eccentricity and any angle ? between the planetary spin and normal orientation of the orbital plane. Furthermore, under the constraint of angular momentum conservation, the equations of orbital and ratational motion are given. Secondly, considering the coupled effects of tidal dissipation and third body perturbation, and adopting the quadrupole approximation as the third body perturbation effect, a comprehensive model is established by this work. Finally, we find that the ultimate evolution depends on the timescales of the third body and tidal friction. When the timescale of the third body is much shorter than that of tidal friction, the angle ? will oscillate for a long time,even over the whole evolution;when the timescale of the third body is observably larger than that of the tidal friction, the system may enter stable states, with the angle ? decaying to zero ultimately, and some cases may have a stable inclination beyond the critical value of Lidov-Kozai resonance. In addition, these dynamical evolutions depend on the initial values of the orbital elements and may aid in understanding the characteristics of the orbits of exoplanets.

The Investigation of the Dynamical Evolution of Extrasolar Three-planetary System GJ 3138

This article is devoted to studying the dynamical evolution and orbital stability of compact extrasolar threeplanetary system GJ 3138. In this system, all semimajor axes are less than 0.7 au. The modeling of planetary motion is performed using the averaged semi-analytical motion theory of the second order in planetary masses,which the authors construct. Unknown and known with errors orbital elements vary in allowable limits to obtain a set of initial conditions. Each of these initial conditions is applied for the modeling of planetary motion. The assumption about the stability of observed planetary systems allows to eliminate the initial conditions leading to excessive growth of the orbital eccentricities and inclinations and to identify those under which these orbital elements conserve moderate values over the whole modeling interval. Thus, it becomes possible to limit the range of possible values of unknown orbital elements and determine their most probable values in terms of stability.

基于物理规划的多星多站访问规划

随着在轨卫星数量增加,对大量卫星进行有效监管具有迫切需求,需要研究如何合理分配和调度有限的地面资源对卫星进行访问。提出了一种基于物理规划的多星多站访问指派规划方法,以地面设施对卫星的访问窗口指派为设计变量,以相同地面设施相邻访问窗口的最小时间间隔及单个地面设施的最大访问次数为约束条件,以任务耗时、考虑成功率的访问收益、访问成本为目标函数,建立了考虑成本和收益的多星多站非均衡访问规划模型;采用物理规划将多目标函数合理地映射为单目标函数,使用差分进化算法进行寻优。将所提方法应用于3站4星的小规模问题及20站96星的大规模问题的求解。结果表明,所提方法能够获得符合约束的权衡多目标偏好的解。相较于加权法和约束法等,求解更加稳定高效,各指标均能得到均衡的优化。

Effect of Orbital Characteristic of Inclined Third-body on Motion of Secondary-body for a Hierarchical Triple Systems

The influence of a third-body's orbital elements on the second-body's motion in a hierarchical triple system is a crucial problem in astrophysics.Most prolonged evaluation studies have focused on a distant zero-inclined thirdbody.This study presents a new perspective on second-body motion equations that addresses a perturbing-body in an elliptic orbit derived with consideration of the axial-tilt(obliquity)of the primary.The proposed model is compared by the dual-averaged method and the N-body problem algorithm.After validation,a generalized threebody model is derived to investigate the effects of the third-body's orbital elements on secondary-body motion behavior.The proposed model considers short-time oscillations that affect secular evaluation and applies to exoplanets with all the primary and third body eccentricities,inclinations,and mass ratios.It is shown that the obliquity of the primary(or third-body's inclination)must be considered for precise long-term assessment,even in highly-hierarchical systems.

Studying the Equilibrium Points of the Modified Circular Restricted Three-body Problem: The Case of Sun–Haumea System

We intend to study a modified version of the planar Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem(CRTBP) by incorporating several perturbing parameters. We consider the bigger primary as an oblate spheroid and emitting radiation while the small primary has an elongated body. We also consider the perturbation from a disk-like structure encompassing this three-body system. First, we develop a mathematical model of this modified CRTBP.We have found there exist five equilibrium points in this modified CRTBP model, where three of them are collinear and the other two are non-collinear. Second, we apply our modified CRTBP model to the Sun–Haumea system by considering several values of each perturbing parameter. Through our numerical investigation, we have discovered that the incorporation of perturbing parameters has resulted in a shift in the equilibrium point positions of the Sun–Haumea system compared to their positions in the classical CRTBP. The stability of equilibrium points is investigated. We have shown that the collinear equilibrium points are unstable and the stability of non-collinear equilibrium points depends on the mass parameter μ of the system. Unlike the classical case, non-collinear equilibrium points have both a maximum and minimum limit of μ for achieving stability. We remark that the stability range of μ in non-collinear equilibrium points depends on the perturbing parameters. In the context of the Sun–Haumea system, we have found that the non-collinear equilibrium points are stable.

半分析方法在地球卫星100yr尺度长期预报中的性能评估

为了能够充分掌握空间目标的长期演化规律和分布情况,对它们的轨道进行长期预报是一种常用的方法.相比于几天的短期预报,长期预报更加关心计算速度以及几个主要轨道根数的精度.这里的主要根数指的是决定轨道形状的半长径a和偏心率e以及决定轨道空间指向的轨道倾角i和升交点经度?.考虑到以上这些需求,半分析方法是一种十分合适的预报手段.它首先在一个轨道周期内消除短周期项,而后用数值方法计算剩下的平均系统.虽然半分析法不是一种新方法,但几乎找不到定量评估其性能的文献.定量给出了半分析法在常用地球卫星轨道中的精度和速度,通过这些结果可以帮助了解半分析法在长期预报中的适用性.对于半分析法在一些特殊算例中的异常表现,也讨论了原因和可能的解决方法.在半分析的实现方法和精度选择上,均采用了比较通用的方法,希望结果可以为相关半分析工作提供有价值的参考.

基于天体测量法探测系外行星的仿真模拟与轨道求解算法

天体测量法是探测系外行星一种有效的手段,具有其他探测方法所不具备的独特优势,如可以探测到行星的3维轨道参数及确定行星的质量等,这些将为现有的行星样本提供重要补充.高精度的空间天体测量卫星Gaia(Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics)在2013年成功发射升空,可以预期未来基于其探测数据,将可能发现大量的长周期类木行星.针对αCentauri A、HD 62509和GJ 876系统,根据Gaia单次天体测量精度生成对应的仿真数据,使用Lomb-Scargle周期谱分析行星轨道周期信号,并采用Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC)算法对行星系统进行轨道反演,得到的结果与行星的初始参数相吻合.

行星构造:寻求地球演化的踪迹

地质构造是记录地球内、外动力地质作用过程的标志。和地球相似,太阳系其他天体上也发育丰富的地质构造。以研究天体表面的地质构造及其动力学机制为目的的"行星构造学"是建立在构造地质学、遥感地质学和地球物理学等学科基础上的一门新兴前沿学科。由于天体的大小、组分和轨道位置不同,表面构造特征及其形成机制各异。对比研究地球和其他天体上的构造特征,是完善地球动力学的重要途径。水星和月球的热演化轨迹大致相同,内部持续冷却造成全球收缩,表面形成大量的挤压构造,而伸展构造仅局部发育。火星的岩石圈主要通过热传导散热,表面发育大量的挤压构造,且其形成时间可能呈单峰式分布。同时,火星表面的伸展和挤压构造和大火山群紧密相关,表明深部动力过程影响了火星上的区域构造。金星和地球的大小相似,但金星表面的最大年龄远小于地球大陆地壳的平均年龄,~80%的早期地质记录完全被后期的岩浆-构造活动抹去,表面发育大量的火山-深大裂谷系,说明"幔柱"活动对金星的构造演化至关重要,因此热传导可能也是当前金星岩石圈的主要散热方式。以上天体的岩石圈形变均以垂直运动为主。在外太阳系,一些卫星的表壳主要由冰水和其他挥发分组成,有些卫星存在下伏的液态水圈,潮汐作用可能是驱动其构造演化的主要动力。在特殊的应力来源和物质特性的共同作用下,在这些卫星上发育大量的走滑断层和疑似俯冲消减带。行星地质构造从能量和物质属性的角度探究构造运动的物理和化学过程,与地球动力学研究相辅相成,对揭示地球早期动力学过程的关键科学问题具有重要的指示意义。

Inversion of Venus internal structure based on geodetic data

Understanding the internal structure of Venus promotes the exploration of the evolutionary history of this planet.However,the existing research concerning the internal structure of Venus has not used any inversion methods.In this work we employed an inversion method to determine the internal structure of Venus using observational or hypothetical geodetic data;these data include mass,mean radius,mean moment of inertia and second degree tidal Love number k2.To determine the core state of Venus,we created two models of Venus,an isotropic 3-layer model with entire liquid core and an isotropic 4-layer model with liquid outer core and a solid inner core,assuming that the interior of Venus is spherically symmetric and in hydrostatic equilibrium.A series of the sensitivity analysis of interior structure parameters to the geodetic data considered in here shows that not all of the parameters can be constrained by the geodetic data from Venus.On this basis,a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm was used to determine the posterior probability distribution and the optimal values of the internal structure parameters of Venus with the geodetic data.We found that the 3-layer model is more credible than the 4-layer model via currently geodetic data.For the assumption of the 3-layer model with the k2=0.295±0.066,I/MR^2=0.33±0.0165,andρ=5242.7±2.6 kg m^-3,the liquid iron-rich core of Venus has a radius of 3294+215-261km,which suggests a larger core than previous research has indicated.The average density of the mantle and liquid core of Venus are 4101+325-375and 11885+955-1242kg m~^-3,respectively.

对WASP-43 b和TrES-3 b凌星主食的测光后续观测及凌星中心时刻变化研究

使用紫金山天文台盱眙观测站近地天体望远镜对WASP-43 b和TrES-3 b分别做了2次和4次凌星主食的测光后续观测.经过较差测光和光变曲线拟合,分别得到了两个系统的相关物理参数,结果与之前的文献结果吻合.结合多篇文献中的数据,对两个系统凌星中心时刻的观测残差O-C分别作了线性和二次函数拟合,根据线性拟合得到了行星的轨道周期及凌星中心时刻变化即TTV,分析后认为在两个系统中尚未发现明显的周期性TTV信号,并给出了WASP-43和TrES-3系统中1:2轨道共振位置上可能存在行星的质量上限分别为1.826和1.504个地球质量.通过二次函数拟合,尚未发现TrES-3b存在长期TTV即轨道衰变;证认了WASP-43 b可能存在轨道衰变,得到其轨道衰变率P=(-0.005248±0.001714)s·yr^(-1),并与文献中的相关结果做了比较,还据此计算出了该系统的恒星潮汐质量参数下限为Q_*~'≥1.5×10~5,并分别对两个系统中不同的Q_*~'值给出了相应的行星剩余寿命.

两个可能具有2:1平运动共振结构系统的稳定性研究

通过分析现有视向速度资料提供的轨道拟合解,发现HD 155358和24 Sextanis两系统都有可能处于2:1平运动共振状态.主要讨论了两系统共振结构的动力学稳定性问题,计算了两系统最优拟合值1σ置信区间内大量样本的混沌指标?emax.结果表明:HD155358系统长期稳定,不依赖于平运动共振的保护.但是,24 Sextanis系统如果要维持长期稳定,2:1平运动共振保护是必要条件.

Effects of Self-gravity on Mass-loss of the Post-impact Super-Earths

Kepler’s observations show most of the exoplanets are super-Earths.The formation of a super-Earth is generally related to the atmospheric mass loss that is crucial in the planetary structure and evolution.The shock driven by the giant impact will heat the planet,resulting in the atmosphere escape.We focus on whether self-gravity changes the efficiency of mass loss.Without self-gravity,if the impactor mass is comparable to the envelope mass,there is a significant mass-loss.The radiative-convective boundary will shift inward by self-gravity.As the temperature and envelope mass increase,the situation becomes more prominent,resulting in a heavier envelope.Therefore,the impactor mass will increase to motivate the significant mass loss,as the self-gravity is included.With the increase of envelope mass,the self-gravity is particularly important.