Rotating Massive Strangeon Stars and X-Ray Plateau of Short GRBs

Strangeon stars,which are proposed to describe the nature of pulsar-like compact stars,have passed various observational tests.The maximum mass of a non-rotating strangeon star could be high,which implies that the remnants of binary strangeon star mergers could even be long-lived massive strangeon stars.We study rigidly rotating strangeon stars in the slowly rotating approximation,using the Lennard-Jones model for the equation of state.Rotation can significantly increase the maximum mass of strangeon stars with unchanged baryon numbers,enlarging the mass-range of long-lived strangeon stars.During spin-down after merger,the decrease of radius of the remnant will lead to the release of gravitational energy.Taking into account the efficiency of converting the gravitational energy luminosity to the observed X-ray luminosity,we find that the gravitational energy could provide an alternative energy source for the plateau emission of X-ray afterglow.The fitting results of X-ray plateau emission of some short gamma-ray bursts suggest that the magnetic dipole field strength of the remnants can be much smaller than that of expected when the plateau emission is powered only by spin-down luminosity of magnetars.

Free Energy of Anisotropic Strangeon Stars

Can pulsar-like compact objects release further huge free energy besides the kinematic energy of rotation?This is actually relevant to the equation of state of cold supra-nuclear matter,which is still under hot debate.Enormous energy is surely needed to understand various observations,such asγ-ray bursts,fast radio bursts and softγ-ray repeaters.In this paper,the elastic/gravitational free energy of solid strangeon stars is revisited for strangeon stars,with two anisotropic models to calculate in general relativity.It is found that huge free energy(>10^(46)erg)could be released via starquakes,given an extremely small anisotropy((p_(t)-p_(r))/p_(r)~10^(-4),with pt/pr the tangential/radial pressure),implying that pulsar-like stars could have great potential of free energy release without extremely strong magnetic fields in the solid strangeon star model.

On the Identification of N-rich Metal-poor Field Stars with Future Chinese Space Station Telescope

During the long term evolution of globular clusters(GCs), some member stars are lost to the field. The recently found nitrogen-rich(N-rich) metal-poor field stars are promising candidates of these GC escapees, since N enhancement is the fingerprint of chemically enhanced populations in GCs. In this work, we discuss the possibility of identifying N-rich metal-poor field stars with the upcoming Chinese Space Station Telescope(CSST). We focus on the main survey camera with NUV, u, g, r, i, z, y filters and slitless spectrograph with a resolution about 200.The combination of UV sensitive equipment and prominent N-related molecular lines in the UV band bodes well for the identification: the color–color diagram of(u-g) versus(g-r) is capable of separating N-rich field stars from normal halo stars, if metallicity can be estimated without using the information on u-band photometry.Besides, the synthetic spectra show that a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 is sufficient to identify N-rich field stars. In the near future, a large sample of N-rich field stars found by CSST, combined with state-of-the-art N-body simulations will be crucial to deciphering GC-Galaxy co-evolution.

Period–Luminosity Relationship forδScuti Stars Revisited

The Gaia DR3 parallax approach was used to estimate the absolute parameters of 2375δScuti stars from the ASAS catalog.The selected stars have a variety of observational characteristics,with a higher than 80%probability of beingδScuti stars.We have displayed all the stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram along with theδScuti instability strip,the Zero Age Main Sequence and the Terminal Age Main Sequence.Then,we determined which fundamental and overtone modes each star belongs to using pulsation constant(Q)calculations.In addition,we evaluated the parameters in the Q calculation equation using three machine learning methods,which showed that surface gravity and temperature have the greatest effect on its calculation.The Period-Luminosity(P-L)relationship of theδScuti stars was also revisited.Eventually,using least squares linear regression,we made four linear fits for fundamental and overtone modes and updated their relationships.

Variable Stars in the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey.Ⅲ.NGC 884

Open clusters are the basic building blocks that serve as a laboratory for the study of young stellar populations in the Milky Way.Variable stars in open clusters provide a unique way to accurately probe the internal structure,temporal and dynamical evolutionary stages of individual stars and the host cluster.The most powerful tool for such studies is time-domain photometric observations.This paper follows the route of our previous work,concentrating on a photometric search for variable stars in NGC 884.The target cluster is the companion of NGC869,forming the well-known double cluster system that is gravitationally bound.From the observation run in 2016 November,a total of 9247 B-band CCD images and 8218Ⅴ-band CCD images were obtained.We detected a total of 15 stars with variability in visual brightness,including five Be stars,three eclipsing binaries,and seven of unknown types.Two new variable stars were discovered in this work.We also compared the variable star content of NGC 884 with its companion NGC 869.

Early Phases of Star Formation: Testing Chemical Tools

Star-forming processes strongly influence the ISM chemistry.Nowadays,many high-quality databases are available at millimeter wavelengths.Using them,it is possible to carry out studies that review and deepen previous results.If these studies involve large samples of sources,it is preferred to use direct tools to study the molecular gas.With the aim of testing these tools such as the use of the HCN/HNC ratio as a thermometer,and the use of H^(13)CO^(+),HC_(3)N,N_(2)H^(+) and C_(2)H as "chemical clocks," we present a molecular line study toward 55 sources representing massive young stellar objects at different evolutionary stages:infrared dark clouds(IRDCs),highmass protostellar objects(HMPOs),hot molecular cores(HMCs) and ultracompact H II regions.We found that the use of the HCN/HNC ratio as a universal thermometer in the ISM should be taken with care because the HCN optical depth is a big issue that can affect the method.Hence,this tool should be utilized only after a careful analysis of the HCN spectrum,checking that no line,neither the main nor the hyperfine ones,presents absorption features.We point out that the analysis of the emission of H^(13)CO^(+),HC_(3)N,N_(2)H^(+) and C_(2)H could be useful to trace and distinguish regions among IRDCs,HMPOs and HMCs.The molecular line widths of these four species increase from the IRDC to the HMC stage,which can be a consequence of the gas dynamics related to the starforming processes taking place in the molecular clumps.Our results not only contribute with more statistics,acting as a probe of such chemical tools,useful to obtain information in large samples of sources,but also complement previous works through the analysis of other types of sources.

Life Origin in the Milky Way Galaxy: III. Spatial Distribution of Overheated Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

A concept of ensemble averaged stellar reactors is developed to study the dynamics of processes occurring in stars, allocated in the ~200 pc solar neighborhood. According to the effective temperature value, four stellar classes are identified, for which the correlation coefficients and standard deviation are counted. The theory of the buoyancy terrestial elements is generalized to stellar systems. It was suggested that stars are over-heated due to the shift parameters of the nuclear processes occurring inside the stars, which leads to the synthesis of transuranium elements until the achievement of a critical nuclear mass and star explosion. The heavy transuranium elements sink downward and are concentrated in the stellar depth layers. The physical explanation of the existence of the critical Chandrasekhar star limit has been offered. Based on the spatial analysis of overheated stars, it was suggested that the withdrawal of the stellar reactor from the equilibrium state is a consequence of extragalactic compression inside the galaxy arm due to the arm spirality (not to be confused with the spirality of the galaxy itself).

日本沼虾StAR基因克隆及其低氧胁迫下表达分析

为了研究类固醇激素合成急性调节蛋白(steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, StAR)在日本沼虾应答低氧胁迫过程中所发挥的作用,实验应用c DNA末端快速扩增(RACE)PCR技术克隆了日本沼虾StAR全长cDNA序列,并利用在线软件对其序列特征进行生物信息学分析,采用半定量RT-PCR方法分析StAR在日本沼虾不同组织的分布情况,采用实时荧光定量PCR(qRT-PCR)与免疫印迹(Western blot)技术对其在不同低氧胁迫阶段中的表达规律进行检测,观察低氧胁迫下精巢组织中StAR蛋白免疫组化定位。结果显示,日本沼虾StAR其cDNA全长3 361 bp (NCBI登录号:MW263908),包括5′-UTR 323 bp,3′-UTR 2 129 bp,开放阅读框909 bp,编码302个氨基酸。氨基酸序列比对及系统进化分析结果显示,日本沼虾StAR基因与三疣梭子蟹等甲壳动物StAR聚类一支,具有最近的亲缘关系。半定量RT-PCR检测结果显示,StAR在日本沼虾不同组织中均有表达,其表达量在肝胰腺和心脏组织中最低,在精巢组织中表达处于较高水平。使用qRT-PCR技术检测日本沼虾精巢中StAR在低氧胁迫下时空表达情况,结果表明,与对照组相比,低氧处理组精巢中StAR基因表达量在1~48 h均显著上调,而在低氧处理组96 h显著降低。此外,本实验对StAR进行了原核表达及抗血清制备,采用Western blot检测StAR蛋白表达丰度基本与基因表达模式相似,免疫组化结果显示,StAR蛋白在精细胞与间质细胞中均有表达。综上所述,长期低氧胁迫显著降低了StAR基因的转录表达水平,并且该基因可能在类固醇合成路径及精子发生过程中均发挥重要作用。本研究结果为进一步解析日本沼虾类固醇激素合成分子机制奠定基础。

STAR基因在不同发育期绵羊睾丸和附睾中的表达与组织分布

为探讨STAR基因在发育的绵羊睾丸和附睾中的表达模式及潜在功能,该研究采集3月龄、 1周岁和3周岁藏绵羊睾丸和附睾(头、体和尾)组织样本,利用实时荧光定量PCR、蛋白免疫印迹和免疫组织荧光染色法检测STAR基因的表达及其编码蛋白的细胞定位。结果发现,随着年龄的增加,在藏绵羊睾丸和附睾(附睾头除外)中STAR基因在转录水平的表达总体呈下降趋势,而在蛋白质水平的表达呈上调趋势。STAR蛋白主要存在于藏绵羊睾丸间质细胞和附睾假复层纤毛上皮主细胞。鉴于间质细胞和主细胞的主要生物学功能是分泌睾酮和分泌促进精子成熟所需的蛋白质,由此推测,STAR基因可能主要在睾丸间质细胞和附睾主细胞的发育和功能维持中发挥作用,进而促进雄激素的合成和精子的成熟。

STAR基因与东湖杂交奶绵羊繁殖性状的关联分析

本实验旨在探究类固醇激素合成急性调节蛋白(Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein,STAR)基因多态性与东湖杂一代奶绵羊发情鉴定评分、产羔数的相关性,鉴定出影响绵羊繁殖性能的关键性位点。本研究以339只东湖杂一代奶绵羊为研究对象,采用竞争性等位基因特异性PCR(KASP)技术对STAR基因的g.31959747T>C、g.31959875A>C2个位点进行基因分型,并利用GLM模型对SNP位点与发情鉴定评分和产羔数进行关联分析。结果表明,g.31959747T>C与奶绵羊发情鉴定评分呈极显著相关,TT型的发情表现更优,但与产羔数差异不显著;g.31959875A>C与发情评分和产羔数均无显著关系;聚合基因型与繁殖性状的关联分析结果表明,TCAC型个体在发情评分、平均产羔数方面均较低。综上,STAR基因g.31959747T>C位点是影响奶绵羊发情评分的关键性位点,可根据育种目标将g.31959747T>C位点作为提高奶绵羊同期发情效果的分子标记,同时将TCAC聚合基因型及时淘汰。本研究结果可为奶绵羊繁殖性状的选育提供参考。

New Cases of Superflares on Slowly Rotating Solar-type Stars and Large Amplitude Superflares in G-and M-type Main Sequence Stars

In our previous work,we searched for superflares on different types of stars while focusing on G-type dwarfs using entire Kepler data to study statistical properties of the occurrence rate of superflares.Using these new data,as a byproduct,we found 14 cases of superflare detection on 13 slowly rotating Sun-like stars with rotation periods of24.5–44 days.This result supports the earlier conclusion by others that the Sun may possibly undergo a surprise superflare.Moreover,we found 12 and seven new cases of detection of exceptionally large amplitude superflares on six and four main sequence stars of G-and M-type,respectively.No large-amplitude flares were detected in A,F or K main sequence stars.Here we present preliminary analysis of these cases.The superflare detection,i.e.,an estimation of flare energy,is based on a more accurate method compared to previous studies.We fit an exponential decay function to flare light curves and study the relation between e-folding decay time,τ,versus flare amplitude and flare energy.We find that for slowly rotating Sun-like stars,large values ofτcorrespond to small flare energies and small values ofτcorrespond to high flare energies considered.Similarly,τis large for small flare amplitudes andτis small for large amplitudes considered.However,there is no clear relation between these parameters for large amplitude superflares in the main sequence G-and M-type stars,as we could not establish clear functional dependence between the parameters via standard fitting algorithms.

Analysis of X-Ray Emission from OB Stars. IV. About X-Ray Emission from Inhomogeneous Winds of OB Stars

We study the origin of X-ray emission from OB stars due to collisions of stellar winds and/or inhomogeneities in the winds. The low-resolution X-ray spectra of a big sample of OB stars were fitted by both the stationary APEC/MEKAL models and by this model with an additional PSHOCK component describing the nonstationary X-ray emission. These spectra were also described by two-temperature PSHOCK models. More than ~50% of considered spectra can be described by the above-mentioned model combinations including the PSHOCK model and the quality of the fits appears to be better for O stars. The plasma temperature of the PSHOCK component is about 1–5 keV with the ionization timescale τ_(u)~ 10^(8)–10^(13)s cm^(-3). The temperature of the PSHOCK component increases with the momentum and kinetic energy of the stellar wind by a power law with an index ~0.12–0.14.Such dependencies were not revealed through modeling by the stationary APEC/MEKAL models only. At the same time the X-ray luminosity of OB stars depends on momentum and kinetic energy of their winds similarly either for stationary or for nonstationary models. We conclude that many O stars and some B stars can be sources of the nonstationary X-rays formed in their inhomogeneous stellar wind.

An Update of the Catalog of Radial Velocity Standard Stars from the APOGEE DR17

We present an updated catalog of 46,753 radial velocity(RV)standard stars selected from the APOGEE DR17.These stars cover the Northern and Southern Hemispheres almost evenly,with 62%being red giants and 38%being main sequence stars.These RV standard stars are stable on a baseline longer than 200 days(with 54%longer than one year and 10%longer than five years)with a median stability better than 215 m s~(-1).The average number of observations of those stars is 5 and each observation is required to have signal-to-noise ratio greater than50 and RV measurement error smaller than 500 m s~(-1).Based on the new APOGEE RV standard star catalog,we have checked the RV zero-points(RVZPs)for current large-scale stellar spectroscopic surveys including RAVE,LAMOST,GALAH and Gaia.By careful analysis,we estimate their mean RVZP to be+0.149 kms~(-1),+4.574 km s~(-1)(for LRS),-0.031 km s~(-1)and+0.014 kms~(-1),respectively,for the four surveys.In the RAVE,LAMOST(for MRS),GALAH and Gaia surveys,RVZP exhibits a systematic trend with stellar parameters(mainly[Fe/H],T_(eff),log g,G_(BP)-G_(RP)and G_(RVS)).The corrections to those small but clear RVZPs are of vital importance for these massive spectroscopic surveys in various studies that require extremely high RV accuracies.

Asteroseismology of 16 Kepler Solar-like Stars:Stellar Parameters and the Effects of Element Diffusion

Element diffusion has small but significant effects on the structure of the stellar interior.It is interesting to investigate the effects of element diffusion using asteroseismology.We have constructed two grids of stellar models,one with diffusion and one without,for solar-like stars with masses between 0.9 and 1.4 solar masses,and varied initial helium abundance and metallicity.The oscillation frequencies of all stellar models have also been calculated.Piecewise Hermite cubic polynomials are adopted to interpolate stellar p-mode frequencies at an arbitrary age on a stellar evolutionary track.We have investigated 16 Kepler solar-like stars by comparing the model frequencies with observations.The suggested ranges of stellar parameters and some global variables are obtained.For all stars,the best model reproduces the observational frequencies with aχ^(2)of the order of unity.It has been found that element diffusion is important in modeling solar-like stars.Without diffusion,the best value of the initial helium abundance is below the primordial helium abundance from Big Bang nucleosynthesis.When diffusion is taken into account,the required initial helium abundance increases to be higher than the primordial abundance.Diffusion also generally improves the frequency fitting results by reducing the minimum ofχ^(2).Investigation of the second difference of the oscillation frequencies on KIC 8694723 and KIC 10454113 indicates that the current model of element diffusion may underestimate the strength of settling.

Searching For Wide Binary Stars with Non-coeval Components in the Southern Sky

We have completed our observational program to search for wide binary systems with non-coeval components in the southern sky and report our results here.The final set of four systems was spectroscopically investigated in this paper.No binary systems with components of different ages were found among them.Taking into account our previous studies,we estimate the fraction of such binaries(i.e.,binaries formed,presumably,by capture)to be not higher than 0.06%.The study will be continued on the northern sky.

Probing the Internal Physics of Neutron Stars through the Observed Braking Indices and Magnetic Tilt Angles of Several Young Pulsars

The braking indices of pulsars may contain important information about the internal physics of neutron stars(NSs),such as neutron superfluidity and internal magnetic fields.As a subsequent paper of Cheng et al.,we perform the same analysis as that done in the previous paper to other young pulsars with a steady braking index,n.Combining the timing data of these pulsars with the theory of magnetic field decay,and using their measured magnetic tilt angles,we can set constraints on the number of precession cycles,ξ,which represents the interactions between superfluid neutrons and other particles in the NS interior.For the pulsars considered in this paper,the results show thatξis within the range of a few×10~3 to a few×10~6.Interestingly,for the Crab and Vela pulsars,the constraints onξobtained with our method are generally consistent with that derived from modeling of the glitch rise behaviors of the two pulsars.Furthermore,we find that the internal magnetic fields of pulsar with n<3 may be dominated by the toroidal components.Our results may not only help to understand the interactions between the superfluid neutrons and other particles in the interior of NSs but also be important for the study of continuous gravitational waves from pulsars.

Sodium Abundances in Very Metal-poor Stars

Chemical composition of very metal-poor(VMP)stars can provide observational constraints on current models of nucleosynthesis and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy.It has been found that the scatter of[Na/Fe]versus[Fe/H]in VMP stars is very large in contrast with most other elements.Moreover,a negative slope in[Na/Fe]versus[Fe/H]was found for giants,which is very unlikely according to the theory of nucleosynthesis.For the sample of93 VMP stars in the metallicity range-4.25<[Fe/H]<-1.64 we obtained NLTE sodium abundances using the line profile fitting method by employing accurate atmospheric parameters determined when taking into account NLTE line formation for both FeⅠand FeⅡ.Originally selected from the LAMOST low-resolution spectral database,the spectra of stars were obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph of the Subaru Telescope.For 57turn-off stars in metallicity domain-3.04<[Fe/H]<-1.64,we obtained mean[Na/Fe]=-0.29±0.14 and positive slope 0.09±0.06.For 21 giants distributed over metallicity-3.59<[Fe/H]<-2.19,we found mean[Na/Fe]=-0.35±0.1 and positive slope 0.07±0.07.Our[Na/Fe]trend is lower by~0.2 dex,compared to the modern GCE model.We believe the GCE model should be adjusted,by considering the associated scatter.Twelve stars in our sample are found to be outliers,with too low or too high Na abundances.

Pulsation Analysis of High-AmplitudeδScuti Stars with TESS

In this work,the pulsation analysis is performed on 83 high-amplitudeδScuti stars(HADS),which have been observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.The results show that 49 of these HADS show single-mode pulsation,27 of them show radial double-modes pulsation(in which 22 of them pulsate with the fundamental and first overtone modes and five of them pulsate with the first and second overtone modes),and seven of them show radial triple-modes pulsation(three of which are newly confirmed triple-mode HADS).The histogram of the fundamental periods and the ratios between the fundamental and first overtone periods show bimodal structures,which might be caused by the stellar evolution in this specific phase.Most of the radial triple-mode HADS have a fundamental amplitude of 41-54 mmag,and 50%of them have similar amplitudes of the fundamental and first overtone pulsation modes.All these hints require further confirmation not only in observations with more HADS samples,but also in theoretical models with suitable treatments of stellar evolution and pulsation.

Properties of Flare Events on M Stars from LAMOST Spectral Survey Based on Kepler and TESS Light Curves

A catalog of M stars has been published from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope data release 7(LAMOST DR7).We cross-matched the LAMOST M catalog with Kepler,Kepler 2(K2)and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS)surveys.We obtained the light curves from the Kepler and TESS surveys.We detected 20,047 flare events from 4053 M stars and calculated their durations,amplitudes,and energies.We analyzed the distribution of the flare durations and energies.The distributions of flare duration for Kepler,K2 and TESS peak are at 3–3.5 hr,4–6 hr and 1–1.5 hr,respectively.This may be the result of the different cadences for the three data sets.The highest regions of the flare energies of Kepler,K2 and TESS are 32–32.5,32–32.5 and31–31.5 erg in Log format,respectively.A linear relationship between flare duration and energy emerges from our analysis.The ratio of flare duration to total observational time is approximately 0.2%–0.3%for the Kepler,K2 and TESS surveys.The occurrence rate of a star with a flare event increases from the M0 to M4 subtypes.We also determined the spatial distribution of the flare rate of M stars in the Milky Way.It seems that the flare rate decreases as the vertical height increases.The power index of the flare energies is in the region of 1.53–2.32,which is similar to previous result for solar type star(2.0).Further,we examined the relationship between the flare amplitude and chromospheric intensity.The flare activity increases rapidly with the increase in the HαEW at the lower values(less approximately 2?)and it increases slowly at the higher values.

Astrometric Reduction of Saturnian Satellites with Cassini-ISS Images Degraded by Trailed Stars

The Imaging Science Subsystem(ISS)mounted on the Cassini spacecraft has taken a lot of images,which provides an important source of high-precision astrometry of some planets and satellites.However,some of these images are degraded by trailed stars.Previously,these degraded images cannot be used for astrometry.In this paper,a new method is proposed to detect and compute the centers of these trailed stars automatically.The method is then performed on the astrometry of ISS images with trailed stars.Finally,we provided 658 astrometric positions between 2004 and 2017 of several satellites that include Enceladus,Dione,Tethys,Mimas and Rhea.Compared with the JPL ephemeris SAT427,the mean residuals of these measurements are 0.11 km and 0.26 km in R.A.and decl.,respectively.Their standard deviations are 1.08 km and 1.37 km,respectively.The results show that the proposed method performs astrometric measurements of Cassini ISS images with trailed stars effectively.