The galaxy luminosity function in the LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area at the Southern Galactic Cap

We present optical luminosity functions(LFs) of galaxies in the0.1 g,0.1 r,0.1 i bands, calculated using data in40 deg2 sky area of the LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area(LaCoSSPAr) in the Southern Galactic Cap. Redshifts for galaxies brighter than r = 18.1 were obtained mainly with LAMOST. In each band, LFs derived using both parametric and non-parametric maximum likelihood methods agree well with each other. In the0.1 r band, our fitting parameters of the Schechter function are φ*=(1.65 ± 0.36) × 10-2 h3 Mpc-3, M*=-20.69 ± 0.06 mag and α =-1.12 ± 0.08,which agree with previous studies. Separate LFs are also derived for emission line galaxies and absorption line galaxies. The LFs of absorption line galaxies show a dip at0.1 r 18.5 and can be fitted well by a double-Gaussian function, suggesting a bimodality in passive galaxies.

New variable stars from the photographic archive:semi-automated discoveries,attempts at automatic classification and the new field 104 Her

Using 172 plates taken with the 40-cm astrograph of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute （Lomonosov Moscow University） in 1976-1994 and digitized with a resolution of 2400dpi, we dis- covered and studied 275 new variable stars. We present the list of our new variables with all necessary information concerning their brightness variations. As in our earlier studies, the new discoveries show a rather large number of high-amplitude Delta Scuti variables, predicting that many stars of this type re- main not detected in the whole sky. We also performed automated classification of the newly discovered variable stars based on the Random Forest algorithm. The results of the automated classification were compared to traditional classification and showed that automated classification was possible even with noisy photographic data. However, further improvement of automated techniques is needed, which is especially important when considering the very large numbers of new discoveries expected from all-sky surveys.

Comparison between the eruptive X2.2 flare on 2011 February15 and confined X3.1 flare on 2014 October 24

We compare two contrasting X-class flares in terms of magnetic free energy, relative magnetic helicity and decay index of the active regions （ARs） in which they occurred. The events in question are the eruptive X2.2 flare from AR 11158 accompanied by a halo coronal mass ejection （CME） and the confined X3.1 flare from AR 12192 with no associated CME. These two flares exhibit similar behavior of free magnetic energy and helicity buildup for a few days preceding them. A major difference between the two flares is found to lie in the time-dependent change of magnetic helicity of the ARs that hosted them. AR 11158 shows a significant decrease in magnetic helicity starting -4 hours prior to the flare, but no apparent decrease in helicity is observed in AR 12192. By examining the magnetic helicity injection rates in terms of sign, we confirmed that the drastic decrease in magnetic helicity before the eruptive X2.2 flare was not caused by the injection of reversed helicity through the photosphere but rather the CME-related change in the coronal magnetic field. Another major difference we find is that AR 11158 had a significantly larger decay index and therefore weaker overlying field than AR 12192. These results suggest that the coronal magnetic helicity and the decay index of the overlying field can provide a clue about the occurrence of CMEs.