Astronomical Site Monitoring System at Lijiang Observatory

We installed two sets of Astronomical Site Monitoring Systems(ASMSs)at Lijiang Observatory(GMG),for the running of the 2.4-meter Lijiang optical telescope(LJT)and the 1.6-meter Multi-channel Photometric Survey Telescope(Mephisto).The Mephisto is under construction.The ASMS has been running on robotic mode since 2017.The core instruments:Cloud Sensor,All-Sky Camera and AutonomousDIMM that are developed by our group,together with the commercial Meteorological Station and Sky Quality Meter,are combined into the astronomical optical site monitoring system.The new Cloud Sensor's Cloud-Clear Relationship is presented for the first time,which is used to calculate the All-Sky cloud cover.We designed the Autonomous-DIMM located on a tower,with the same height as LJT.The seeing data have been observed for a full year.ASMS's data for the year 2019 are also analysed in detail,which are valuable to observers.

Physical properties and catalog of EW-type eclipsing binaries observed byLAMOST

EW-type eclipsing binaries(hereafter called EWs)are strong interacting systems in which both component stars usually fill their critical Roche lobes and share a common envelope.Numerous EWs were discovered by several deep photometric surveys and there were about 40 785 EW-type binary systems listed in the international variable star index(VSX)by 2017 March 13.7938 of them were observed with LAMOST by 2016 November 30 and their spectral types were identified.Stellar atmospheric parameters of 5363 EW-type binary stars were determined based on good spectroscopic observations.In the paper,those EWs are cataloged and their properties are analyzed.The distributions of orbital period(P),effective temperature(T),gravitational acceleration(log(g)),metallicity([Fe/H])and radial velocity(RV)are presented for these observed EW-type systems.It is shown that about 80.6% of sample stars have metallicity below zero,indicating that EW-type systems are old stellar populations.This is in agreement with the conclusion that EW binaries are formed from moderately close binaries through angular momentum loss via magnetic braking that takes a few hundred million to a few billion years.The unusually high metallicities of a few percent of EWs may be caused by contamination of material from the evolution of unseen neutron stars or black holes in the systems.The correlations between orbital period and effective temperature,gravitational acceleration and metallicity are presented and their scatters are mainly caused by(i)the presence of third bodies and(ii)sometimes wrongly determined periods.It is shown that some EWs contain evolved component stars and the physical properties of EWs mainly depend on their orbital periods.It is found that extremely short-period EWs may be older than their long-period cousins because they have lower metallicities.This reveals that they have a longer timescale of pre-contact evolution and their formation and evolution are mainly driven by angular momentum loss via magnetic braking.

Pulsar candidate classification with deep convolutional neural networks

As the performance of dedicated facilities has continually improved, large numbers of pulsar candidates are being received, which makes selecting valuable pulsar signals from the candidates challenging. In this paper, we describe the design for a deep convolutional neural network(CNN) with 11 layers for classifying pulsar candidates. Compared to artificially designed features, the CNN chooses the subintegrations plot and sub-bands plot for each candidate as inputs without carrying biases. To address the imbalance problem, a data augmentation method based on synthetic minority samples is proposed according to the characteristics of pulsars. The maximum pulses of pulsar candidates were first translated to the same position, and then new samples were generated by adding up multiple subplots of pulsars. The data augmentation method is simple and effective for obtaining varied and representative samples which keep pulsar characteristics. In experiments on the HTRU 1 dataset, it is shown that this model can achieve recall of 0.962 and precision of 0.963.

Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope and its instruments

The Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope(LJT), the largest common-purpose optical telescope in China,has been available to the worldwide astronomical community since 2008. It is located at the Gaomeigu site,Lijiang Observatory(LJO), in the southwest of China. The site has very good observational conditions.During its 10-year operation, several instruments have been equipped on the LJT. Astronomers can perform both photometric and spectral observations. The main scientific goals of LJT include recording photometric and spectral evolution of supernovae, reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei, investigating the physical properties of binary stars and near-earth objects(comets and asteroids), and identification of exoplanets and all kinds of transients. Until now, the masses of 41 high accretion rate black holes have been measured, and more than 168 supernovae have been identified by the LJT. More than 190 papers related to the LJT have been published. In this paper, the general observation conditions of the Gaomeigu site is introduced at first. Then, the structure of the LJT is described in detail, including the optical, mechanical, motion and control system. The specification of all the instruments and some detailed parameters of the YFOSC is also presented. Finally, some important scientific results and future expectations are summarized.

Photometric investigation on the W-subtype contact binary V1197 Her

Multi-color light curves of V1197 Her were obtained with the 2.4 meter optical telescope at the Thai National Observatory and the Wilson-Devinney(W-D)program was used to model the observational light curves.The photometric solutions reveal that V1197 Her is a W-subtype shallow contact binary system with a mass ratio of q=2.61 and a fill-out factor of f=15.7%.The temperature difference between the primary star and secondary star is only 140 K in spite of the low degree of contact,which means that V1197 Her is not only in geometrical contact configuration but is also already under thermal contact status.The orbital inclination of V1197 Her is as high as i=82.7?,and the primary star is completely eclipsed at the primary minimum.The totally eclipsing characteristic implies that the determined physical parameters are highly reliable.The masses,radii and luminosities of the primary star(star 1)and secondary star(star2)are estimated to be M1=0.30(1)M⊙,M2=0.77(2)M⊙,R1=0.54(1)R⊙,R2=0.83(1)R⊙,L1=0.18(1)L⊙and L2=0.38(1)L⊙.The evolutionary statuses of the two component stars are drawn in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram,showing that the less massive but hotter primary star is more evolved than the secondary star.The period of V1197 Her is decreasing continuously at a rate of d P/dt=-2.58×10^-7 day·year^-1,which can be explained by mass transfer from the more massive star to the less massive one at a rate of dM2/dt=-1.61×10^-7 M⊙year^-1.The light curves of V1197 Her are reported to show the O’Connell effect.Thus,a cool spot is added to the more massive star to model the asymmetry in the light curves.

Photometric investigation of the eclipsing binary TX Herculis observed by LUT

The lander of China’s Chang’E-3 spacecraft is equipped with a 15-cm telescope that is very useful for monitoring celestial objects in the ultraviolet(UV) band(245–340 nm).The Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope(LUT) is the first long-term lunar-based astronomical observatory,that can make uninterrupted observations of a target from the Moon.Here we present the continuous complete UV light curve of the eclipsing binary TX Herculis(TX Her).The analysis of the light curve suggests that TX Her is a detached binary.The dip in the light curve was explained by the emergence of a stellar dark spot on the less massive F0 type component.The cyclic change of arrival eclipse times for the system reveals that it contains an additional stellar companion with a minimal mass of 0.35 M⊙ and a period of 48.92 yr,which is supported by the detected light contribution of the third body from light curve analysis.This third body may play an important role in the formation of the present short-period system TX Her.

Period investigation of Algol systems TZ Eri and TU Her

TZ Eri and TU Her are both classic Algol-type systems(Algols). By observing and collecting times of minimum light, we constructed the O-C curves for the two systems. The long-time upward and downward parabolas shown in these diagrams are considered to be the result of the combination of mass transfer and angular momentum loss. The secular orbital period change rates are d P/dt = 4.74(±0.12) ×10-7 d yr-1 and d P/dt =-2.33(±0.01) × 10-6 d yr-1, respectively. There are also cyclic variations in their O-C curves which might be caused by the light-travel time effect(LTTE). A circumbinary star may exist in the TZ Eri system with a mass of at least 1.34 M⊙, while there are possibly two celestial bodies that almost follow a 2 : 1 resonance orbit around the TU Her binary pair. Their masses are at least 2.43 M⊙and 1.27 M⊙.

Physical properties of γ Doradus pulsating stars and their relationship with long-period δ Scuti variables

We present LAMOST data on 168 γ Doradus(γ Dor) pulsating stars including stellar atmospheric parameters of 137 variables and spectral types for all of the samples. The distributions of period(P), temperature(T), gravitational acceleration(log(g)) and metallicity [Fe/H] are shown. It is found that most γ Dor variables are main-sequence stars with early F spectral types and temperatures from 6880 K to7280 K. They are slightly more metal poor than the Sun with a metallicity range from-0.4 to 0. On the H-R and log g-T diagrams, both the γ Dor and δ Scuti(δ Sct) stars occupy in the same region and some are beyond the borders predicted by current stellar pulsation theories. It is discovered that the physical properties of γ Dor stars are similar to those of long-period δ Sct(P > 0.3 d) stars. The stellar atmospheric parameters are all correlated with the pulsation period for short-period δ Sct variables(P < 0.3 d), but there are no such relations for γ Dor or long-period δ Sct stars. These results reveal that γ Dor and long-period δ Sct are the same group of pulsating stars and they are different from short-period δ Sct variables. Meanwhile, 33γ Dor stars are identified as candidates of binary or multiple systems.

ASAS J174406+2446.8 is identified as a marginal-contact binary with a possible cool third body

ASAS J174406+2446.8 was originally found as aδScuti-type pulsating star with the period P=0.189068 d by ASAS survey.However,the LAMOST stellar parameters reveal that it is far beyond the red edge of pulsational instability strip on the log g-T diagram ofδScuti pulsating stars.To understand the physical properties of the variable star,we observed it by the 1.0-m Cassegrain reflecting telescope at Yunnan Observatories.Multi-color light curves in B,V,R_c and I_c bands were obtained and are analyzed by using the W-D program.It is found that this variable star is a shallow-contact binary with an EB-type light curve and an orbital period of 0.3781 d rather than aδScuti star.It is a W-subtype contact binary with a mass ratio of 1.135(±0.019)and a fill-out factor of 10.4%(±5.6)%.The situation of ASAS J174406+2446.8 resembles those of other EB-type marginal-contact binaries such as UU Lyn,ⅡPer and GW Tau.All of them are at a key evolutionary phase from a semi-detached configuration to a contact system predicted by the thermal relaxation oscillation theory.The linear ephemeris was corrected by using 303 new determined times of light minimum.It is detected that the O-C curve shows a sinusoidal variation that could be explained by the light-travel-time effect via the presence of a cool red dwarf.The present investigation reveals that some of theδScuti-type stars beyond the red edge of pulsating instability strip on the log g-T diagram are misclassified eclipsing binaries.To understand their structures and evolutionary states,more studies are required in the future.

New CCD photometric investigation of the early-type overcontact binary BH Cen in the young star-forming Galactic cluster IC 2944

BH Cen is a short-period early-type binary with a period of 0.792^d in the extremely young star-forming cluster IC 2944. New multi-color CCD photometric light curves in U, B, V, R and I bands are presented and are analyzed by using the Wilson-Devinney code. It is detected that BH Cen is a high-mass-ratio overcontact binary with a fill-out factor of 46.4% and a mass ratio of 0.89. The derived orbital inclination i is 88.9 degrees, indicating that it is a totally eclipsing binary and the photometric parameters can be determined reliably. By adding new eclipse times, the orbital period changes in the binary are analyzed. It is confirmed that the period of BH Cen shows a long-term increase while it undergoes a cyclic oscillation with an amplitude of A3 = 0.024 d and a period of P3 = 50.3 yr. The high mass ratio, overcontact configuration and long-term continuous increase in the orbital period all suggest that BH Cen is in the evolutionary state after the shortest-period stage of Case A mass transfer.The continuous increase in period can be explained by mass transfer from the secondary component to the primary one at a rate of˙M2 = 2.8×10^-6 M⊙per year. The cyclic change can be plausibly explained by the presence of a third body because both components in the BH Cen system are early-type stars. Its mass is determined to be no less than 2.2 M⊙ at an orbital separation of about 32.5 AU. Since no third light was found during the photometric solution, it is possible that the third body may be a candidate for a compact object.

Study of photometric phase curve:assuming a cellinoid ellipsoid shape for asteroid(106)Dione

We carried out new photometric observations of asteroid （106） Dione at three apparitions （2004, 2012 and 2015） to understand its basic physical properties. Based on a new brightness model, new photometric observational data and published data of （106） Dione were analyzed to characterize the morphology of Dione＇s photometric phase curve. In this brightness model, a cellinoid ellipsoid shape and three-parameter （H, G1, G2） magnitude phase function system were involved. Such a model can not only solve the phase function system parameters of （106） Dione by considering an asymmetric shape of an asteroid, but also can be applied to more asteroids, especially those without enough photometric data to solve the convex shape. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo （MCMC） method, Dione＇s absolute magnitude of H = 7.66＋0.03-0.03 mag, and phase function parameters G1 = 0.682＋0.077-0.077 and G2 = 0.081＋0.042-0.042 were obtained. Simultaneously, Dione＇s simplistic shape, orientation of pole and rotation period were also determined preliminarily.

Optical multi-color monitoring of OJ 287 from 2006 to 2012

We present our optical multi-color monitoring of the BL Lac object OJ 287 from January 2006to December 2012 in the V,R and I bands.A relatively active state in OJ 287 has been found over all monitored epochs,among which the variations of average magnitude in V/R/I bands were measured with ?V=1.956 mag,?R=2.067 mag and ?I=2.115 mag,respectively.No reliable intraday variability is detected,but possible variability is detected on 16 nights.Their relative variation amplitudes fall into the range between 1% and 8%,with the majority between 2% and 4%.No time lags have been detected,but strong correlations exist among light curves in the three wavebands.The bluer-when-brighter trend is dominant over intraday timescales,which supports the shock-in-jet model.When combining with additional V/R band data obtained from SMARTS and the Steward Observatory,we also find a bluer-when-brighter trend over a long-term timescale.Some possible periods of 513,176,36,30,26,17 and 14 d are found in all time-series data sets from 2006 to 2017.Possible explanations about these periods are given.

Contact binaries at different evolutionary stages

Contact binaries consist of two strongly interacting component stars where they are filling their critical Roche lobes and sharing a common envelope.Most of them are main-sequence stars,but some of them are post main-sequence systems.They are good astrophysical laboratories for studying several problems such as the merging of binary stars,evolution of the common envelope,the origin of luminous red nova outbursts and the formation of rapidly rotating single stars with possible planetary systems.A large number of contact binary candidates were detected by several photometric surveys around the world and many of them were observed by the LAMOST spectroscopic survey.Based on follow-up observations,the evolutionary states and geometrical structures of some systems were understood well.In this review,we will introduce and catalog new stellar atmospheric parameters(i.e.,the effective temperature(Teff),the gravitational acceleration(log(g)),metallicity([Fe/H])and radial velocity(Vr))for 9149 EW-type contact binaries that were obtained based on low-and medium-resolution spectroscopic surveys of LAMOST.Then we will focus on several groups of contact binary stars,i.e.,marginal contact binary systems,deep and low-mass ratio contact binary stars,binary systems below the short-period limit of contact binaries and evolved contact binaries.Marginal contact binaries are at the beginning of the contact stage,while deep and low-mass ratio contact binary stars are at the final evolutionary stage of tidally locked binaries.Several statistical relations including the period-temperature relation are determined well by applying LAMOST data and their formation and evolutionary states are reviewed.The period-color relation of M-type binaries reveals that there are contact binaries below the short-period limit.Searching for and investigating contact binaries near and below this limit will help us to understand the formation of contact binary systems and a new prediction for the short-period limit is about 0.15 d.Some evolved contact binaries were detected by the LAMOST survey where both components are sub-giants or giants.They provide a good opportunity to investigate evolution of the common envelope and are the progenitors of luminous red novae like V1309 Sco.

Electron acceleration in interaction of magnetic islands in large temporal-spatial turbulent magnetic reconnection

A new combined Fermi, betatron, and turbulent electron acceleration mechanism is proposed in interaction of magnetic islands during turbulent magnetic reconnection evolution in explosive astrophysical phenomena at large temporal-spatial scale(LTSTMR), the ratio of observed current sheets thickness to electron characteristic length, electron Larmor radius for low-β and electron inertial length for high-β, is on the order of 10^(10)–10^(11); the ratio of observed evolution time to electron gyroperiod is on the order of 10~7–10~9).The original combined acceleration model is known to be one of greatest importance in the interaction of magnetic islands; it assumes that the continuous kinetic-dynamic temporal-spatial scale evolution occurs as two separate independent processes.In this paper, we reconsider the combined acceleration mechanism by introducing a kinetic-dynamic-hydro full-coupled model instead of the original micro-kinetic or macro-dynamic model.We investigate different acceleration mechanisms in the vicinity of neutral points in magnetic islands evolution, from the stage of shrink and breakup into smaller islands(kinetic scale), to the stage of coalescence and growth into larger islands(dynamic scale), to the stages of constant and quasi-constant(contracting-expanding) islands(hydro scale).As a result, we give for the first time the acceleration efficiencies of different types of acceleration mechanisms in magnetic islands' interactions in solar atmosphere LTSTMR activities(pico-, 10^(–2)–10~5 m; nano-, 10~5–10~6 m; micro-, 10~6–10~7 m; macro-, 10~7–10~8 m; large-,10~8–10~9 m).

More than two hundred and fifty thousand spectroscopic binary or variable star candidates discovered by LAMOST

About 786.4 thousand stars were observed by LAMOST twice or more during the first stage of its spectroscopic survey. The radial velocity differences for about 256 thousand targets are larger than10 km s^(-1) and they are possible spectroscopic binary or variable candidates(SBVCs). It is shown that most SBVCs are slightly metal poorer than the Sun. There are two peaks in the temperature distribution of SBVCs around 5760 K and 4870 K, while there are three peaks in the distribution of the gravitational acceleration at 2.461, 4.171 and 4.621 cm s^(-2). The locations of SBVCs on the [Fe/H]-T, [Fe/H]-log g, log g-T and H-R diagrams are investigated. It is found that the detected SBVCs could be classified into four groups. The first group has higher log g～4.621 and lower T ～ 4870 K which are mainly cool red dwarf binaries. The second group of SBVCs has logg around 4.171 cm s^(-2) that includes binaries and pulsating stars such as δSet and γ Dor variables. The gravitational accelerations of the third group of SBVCs are higher and some of them are below the zero-age main sequence. They may be contact binaries in which the primary components are losing energy to the secondaries in the common envelopes and are at a special stellar evolutionary stage.The last group is composed of giants or supergiants with log g around 2.461 cm s^(-2) that may be evolved pulsating stars. One target(C134624.29+333921.2) is confirmed as an eclipsing binary with a period of 0.65 days. A preliminary analysis suggests that it is a detached binary with a mass ratio of 0.46. The primary fills its critical Roche lobe by about 89%, indicating that mass transfer will occur between the two components.

Binary Population Synthesis

Binary interactions lead to the formation of intriguing objects,such as compact binaries,supernovae,gamma ray bursts,X-ray binaries,pulsars,novae,cataclysmic variables,hot subdwarf stars,barium stars and blue stragglers.To study the evolution of binary populations and the consequent formation of these objects,many methods have been developed over the years,for which a robust approach named binary population synthesis(BPS)warrants special attention.This approach has seen widespread application in many areas of astrophysics,including but not limited to analyses of the stellar content of galaxies,research on galactic chemical evolution and studies concerning star formation and cosmic re-ionization.In this review,we discuss the role of BPS,its general picture and the various components that comprise it.We pay special attention to the stability criteria for mass transfer in binaries,as this stability largely determines the fate of binary systems.We conclude with our perspectives regarding the future of this field.

Past and future of the central double-degenerate core of Henize 2–428

It has been suggested that Type Ia supernovae(SNe Ia) could be produced in the conditions of the violent merger scenario of the double-degenerate model, in which a thermonuclear explosion could be produced when a double carbon-oxygen white dwarf(CO WD) merges. It has been recently found that the nucleus of the bipolar planetary nebula Henize 2–428 consists of a double CO WD system that has a total mass of^1.76 M⊙, a mass ratio of^1 and an orbital period of^4.2 h, which is the first and only discovered progenitor candidate for an SN Ia predicted by the violent merger scenario. In this work, we aim to reproduce the evolutionary history of the central double CO WD of Henize 2–428. We find that the planetary nebula Henize 2–428 may originate from a primordial binary that has a^5.4 M⊙primary and a^2.7 M⊙secondary with an initial orbital period of^15.9 d. The double CO WD was formed after the primordial binary experienced two Roche-lobe overflows and two common-envelope ejection processes.According to our calculations, it takes about^840 Myr for the double CO WD to merge and form an SN Ia driven by gravitational wave radiation after their birth. To produce the current status of Henize 2–428,a large common-envelope parameter is needed. We also estimate that the rate of SNe Ia from the violent merger scenario is at most 2.9 × 10^(-4) yr^(-1), and that the delay time is in the range of^90 Myr to the Hubble time.

The first photometric investigations of the G-type shallow contact binary IO Cnc

IO Cnc was classified to be a new G-type(G0)W UMa-type eclipsing binary system.Our first multicolor photometric solutions show that IO Cnc is a new W-subtype shallow contact binary with a fill-out factor of f=16.1%and a low mass ratio of q=3.12(or 1/q=0.32).During orbital period investigations,a cyclic variation and a downward parabolic variation with a rate of(-1.28±0.43)×10^(-7) d yr^(-1) was discovered in the observed–calculated(O-C)curve.The cyclic variation was analyzed by the light travel time effect(LTTE)via a potential red dwarf companion star,an orbital semi-major axis shorter than 4.88±0.82 AU was obtained.Finally,we collect physical parameters of a sample of 50 G-type shallow contact binaries(f≤20%),it is suggested that most of the G-type shallow contact binaries are undergoing a longterm and periodic orbital period changes,especially more systems show long-term decreases.The long-term orbital period decrease indicates that IO Cnc is in a mass transferring from the more massive component to the less massive one.With the long-term decrease of the orbital period,this shallow contact binary will evolve into a deeper contact one.

Identification of temperature anomaly RR Lyrae stars in LAMOST survey,misclassification and binarities

RR Lyrae stars,a well-known type of pulsating variable stars,have been known about for more than a century.A large amount of photometric data on RR Lyrae stars has been accumulated by space-and ground-based sky surveys,but the spectral data are relatively poor.Fortunately,the LAMOST sky survey project provides an opportunity to view them from the point of view of spectra.We collect the atmospheric parameters of 1685 RR Lyrae stars provided by the LAMOST catalog,and carry out research by using the reliable Teff.We find that there is a clear correlation between their Teff and pulsation periods,which is consistent with the pulsation and evolution theories of RR Lyrae stars.In addition,we focus on those RR Lyrae stars with abnormal temperatures.After analyzing the data from several photometric surveys,we find that some of these temperature anomalies are misclassified variable stars(e.g.,eclipsing binaries,pulsating stars on main sequence),and some are RR Lyrae binary candidates.For the latter,the temperatures of potential companions should be lower and their luminosities should not be neglected(e.g.,red giant stars).We obtain that the ratio of temperature anomaly stars to all the sample stars is 4%,which means that the impact on the further analysis(e.g.,kinematics analysis)is low.We also present the catalogs of spectral anomaly RR Lyrae stars.

The photometric monitoring of γ-ray-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H0323+342 from 2006 to 2010

1H 0323＋342 is a γ-ray-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy（NLS1）. The variability mechanism of γ-ray-loud NLS1 s remains unclear. We have observed 1H 0323＋342 photometrically from 2006 to2010 with a total of 41 nights of observations in order to constrain the variability mechanism. Intraday variabilities（IDVs） are detected on four nights. When considering the nights with time spans 〉 2 hours,the duty cycle is 28.3%. The average variability amplitude is 10.8% for IDVs and possibly variable nights. In the color-magnitude diagram, there are bluer-when-brighter chromatic trends for intraday and long-term timescales, which could be explained by the shock-in-jet model, and also could possibly be due to two distinct components or an accretion disk model.