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In the internal shock model for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the synchrotron spectrum from the fast cooling electrons in a homogeneous downstream magnetic field (MF) is too soft to produce the low-energy slope of GRB spectra. However the magnetic field may decay downstream with distance from the shock front. Here we show that the synchrotron spectrum becomes harder if electrons undergo synchrotron and inverse-Compton cooling in a decaying MF. To reconcile this with the typical GRB spectrum with low energy slope $\nu F_\nu\propto\nu$, it is required that the postshock MF decay time is comparable to the cooling time of the bulk electrons (corresponding to a MF decaying length typically of $\sim10^5$ skin depths); that the inverse-Compton cooling should dominate synchrotron cooling after the MF decay time; and/or that the MF decays with comoving time roughly as $B\propto t^{-1.5}$. An internal shock synchrotron model with a decaying MF can account for the majority of GRBs with low energy slopes not harder than $\nu^{4/3}$., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present spectroscopy of three planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Northern Spur of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) obtained with the Double Spectrograph on the 5.1 m Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The samples are selected from the observations of Merrett et al. Our purpose is to investigate formation of the substructures of M31 using PNe as a tracer of chemical abundances. The [O III] 4363 auroral line is detected in the spectra of two objects, enabling temperature determinations. Ionic abundances are derived from the observed collisionally excited lines, and elemental abundances of nitrogen, oxygen, and neon as well as sulphur and argon are estimated. Correlations between oxygen and the alpha-element abundance ratios are studied, using our sample and the M31 disk and bulge PNe from the literature. In one of the three PNe, we observed relatively higher oxygen abundance compared to the disk sample in M31 at similar galactocentric distances. The results of at least one of the three Northern Spur PNe might be in line with the proposed possible origin of the Northern Spur substructure of M31, i.e. the Northern Spur is connected to the Southern Stream and both substructures comprise the tidal debris of the satellite galaxies of M31., Comment: 5 tables, 17 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

As a major component of the LAMOST Galactic surveys, the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anti-center (LSS-GAC) will survey a significant volume of the Galactic thin/thick disks and halo in a contiguous sky area of ~ 3,400sq.deg., centered on the Galactic anti-center (|b| <= 30{\deg}, 150 <= l <= 210{\deg}), and obtain \lambda\lambda 3800--9000 low resolution (R ~ 1,800) spectra for a statistically complete sample of >= 3M stars of all colors, uniformly and randomly selected from (r, g - r) and (r, r - i) Hess diagrams obtained from a CCD imaging photometric survey of ~ 5,400sq.deg. with the Xuyi 1.04/1.20 m Schmidt Telescope, ranging from r = 14.0 to a limiting magnitude of r = 17.8 (18.5 for limited fields). The survey will deliver spectral classification, radial velocity Vr and stellar parameters (effective temperature Teff, surface gravity log g and metallicity [Fe/H]) for millions of Galactic stars. Together with Gaia which will provide accurate distances and tangential velocities for a billion stars, the LSS-GAC will yield a unique dataset to study the stellar populations, chemical composition, kinematics and structure of the disks and their interface with the halo, identify streams of debris of tidally disrupted dwarf galaxies and clusters, probe the gravitational potential and dark matter distribution, map the 3D distribution of interstellar dust extinction, search for rare objects (e.g. extremely metal-poor or hyper-velocity stars), and ultimately advance our understanding of the assemblage of the Milky Way and other galaxies and the origin of regularity and diversity of their properties. ... (abridged), Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 298 "Setting the Scene for Gaia and LAMOST"

We present measurements of the optical broadband atmospheric extinction coefficients and the night sky brightness at the Xuyi Observational Station of Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO). The measurements are based on CCD imaging data taken in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey g, r and i bands with the Xuyi 1.04/1.20m Schmidt Telescope for the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anti-center (XSTPS-GAC), the photometric part of the Digital Sky Survey of the Galactic Anti-center (DSS-GAC). The data were collected in more than 130 winter nights from 2009 to 2011. We find that the atmospheric extinction coefficients for the g, r and i bands are 0.70, 0.55 and 0.38 mag/airmass, respectively, based on observations taken in several photometric nights. The night sky brightness determined from images of good quality has median val- ues of 21.7, 20.8 and 20.0 mag/arcsec2 and reaches 22.1, 21.2 and 20.4 mag/arcsec2 under the best observing conditions for the g, r and i bands, respectively. The relatively large extinction coefficients compared with other good astronomical observing sites are mainly due to the relatively low elevation (i.e. 180 m) and high humidity of the Station., Comment: 10pages, 5 figures; Accepted for publication in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics

The very small braking index of PSR J1734-3333, $n=0.9\pm0.2$, challenges the current theories of braking mechanisms in pulsars. We present a possible interpretation that this pulsar is surrounded by a fall-back disk and braked by it. A modified braking torque is proposed based on the competition between the magnetic energy density of a pulsar and the kinetic energy density of a fall-back disk. With this torque, a self-similar disk can fit all the observed parameters of PSR J1734-3333 with natural initial parameters. In this regime, the star will evolve to the region having anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters in the $P-\dot{P}$ diagram in about 20000 years and stay there for a very long time. The mass of the disk around PSR J1734-3333 in our model is about $10M_{\oplus}$, similar to the observed mass of the disk around AXP 4U 0142+61., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

The origin of the 6.67 hr period X-ray source, 1E161348-5055, in the young supernova remnant RCW 103 is puzzling. We propose that it may be the descendant of a Thorne-Zytkow Object (TZO). A TZO may at its formation have a rapidly spinning neutron star as a core, and a slowly rotating envelope. We found that the core could be braked quickly to an extremely long spin period by the coupling between its magnetic field and the envelope, and that the envelope could be disrupted by some powerful bursts or exhausted via stellar wind. If the envelope is disrupted after the core has spun down, the core will become an extremely long-period compact object, with a slow proper motion speed, surrounded by a supernova-remnant-like shell. These features all agree with the observations of 1E161348-5055. TZOs are expected to have produced extraordinary high abundances of lithium and rapid proton process elements that would remain in the remnants and could be used to test this scenario., Comment: 6 pages

NGC 2392 is a young double-shell planetary nebula (PN). Its intrinsic structure and shaping mechanism are still not fully understood. In this paper we present new spectroscopic observations of NGC 2392. The slits were placed at two different locations to obtain the spectra of the inner and outer regions. Several [Fe III] lines are clearly detected in the inner region. We infer that NGC 2392 might have an intrinsic structure similar to the bipolar nebula Mz 3, which also exhibits a number of [Fe III}] lines arising from the central regions. In this scenario, the inner and outer regions of NGC 2392 correspond to the inner lobes and the outer outflows of Mz 3, respectively. We construct a three-dimensional morpho-kinematic model to examine our hypothesis. We also compare the physical conditions and chemical composition of the inner and outer regions, and discuss the implications on the formation of this type of PN., Comment: 41 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

To investigate the missing compact star of Supernova 1987A, we analyzed both the cooling and the heating processes of a possible compact star based on the upper limit of observational X-ray luminosity. From the cooling process we found that a solid quark-cluster star, which has a stiffer equation of state than that of conventional liquid quark star, has a heat capacity much smaller than a neutron star. It can cool down quickly, which can naturally explain the non-detection of a point source (neutron star or quark star) in X-ray band. On the other hand, we consider the heating process from magnetospheric activity and possible accretion, and obtain some constraints to the parameters of a possible pulsar. We conclude that a solid quark-cluster star can be fine with the observational limit in a large and acceptable parameter space. A pulsar with a short period and a strong magnetic field (or with a long period and a weak field) would has luminosity higher than the luminosity limit if the optical depth is not large enough to hide the compact star. The constraints of the pulsar parameters can be tested if the central compact object in 1987A is discovered by advanced facilities in the future., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures (submitted to MNRAS)

Here we report new ${\it ab initio}$ calculations of the effective recombination coefficients for the \ion{N}{ii} recombination spectrum. We have taken into account the density dependence of the coefficients arising from the relative populations of the fine-structure levels of the ground state of the recombining ion, an elaboration that has not been attempted before for this ion, and it opens up the possibility of electron density determination via recombination line analysis. Photoionization cross-sections, bound state energies, and the oscillator strengths of \ion{N}{ii} with $n \leq 11$ and $l \leq 4$ have been obtained using the close-coupling R-matrix method in the intermediate coupling scheme. Photoionization data were computed that accurately map out the near-threshold resonances and were used to derive recombination coefficients, including radiative and dielectronic recombination. Also new is including the effects of dielectronic recombination via high-$n$ resonances lying between the $^2$P$^{\rm o}$\,$_{1/2}$ and $^2$P$^{\rm o}$\,$_{3/2}$ levels. The new calculations are valid for temperatures down to an unprecedentedly low level (approximately 100 K). The newly calculated effective recombination coefficients allow us to construct plasma diagnostics based on the measured strengths of the \ion{N}{ii} optical recombination lines (ORLs). The derived effective recombination coefficients are fitted with analytic formulae as a function of electron temperature for different electron densities. The dependence of the emissivities of the strongest transitions of \ion{N}{ii} on electron density and temperature is illustrated. Potential applications of the current data to electron density and temperature diagnostics for photoionized gaseous nebulae are discussed. We also present a method of determining electron temperature and density simultaneously., Comment: 43 pages, 8 figures. Has been accepted for publication in A&A (section 12. Atomic, molecular, and nuclear data)

We present very deep CCD spectrum of the bright, medium-excitation planetary nebula NGC 7009, with a wavelength coverage from 3040 to 11000 A. Traditional emission line identification is carried out to identify all the emission features in the spectra, based on the available laboratory atomic transition data. Since the spectra are of medium resolution, we use multi-Gaussian line profile fitting to deblend faint blended lines, most of which are optical recombination lines (ORLs) emitted by singly ionized ions of abundant second-row elements such as C, N, O and Ne. Computer-aided emission-line identification, using the code EMILI developed by Sharpee et al., is then employed to further identify all the emission lines thus obtained. In total about 1200 emission features are identified, with the faintest ones down to fluxes 10^{-4} of H_beta. The flux errors for all emission lines, estimated from multi-Gaussian fitting, are presented. Plots of the whole optical spectrum, identified emission lines labeled, are presented along with the results of multi-Gaussian fits. Plasma diagnostics using optical forbidden line ratios are carried out. Also derived are electron temperatures and densities from the H I, He I and He II recombination spectrum., Comment: 66 pages, 16 figures, 7 tables, paper accepted by MNRAS in March

Deep spectroscopy of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC\,6153 shows that its heavy element abundances derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs) are ten times higher than those derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs), and points to the existence of H-deficient inclusions embedded in the diffuse nebula. In this study, we have constructed chemically homogeneous and bi-abundance three-dimensional photoionization models, using the Monte Carlo photoionization code {\sc mocassin}. We attempt to reproduce the multi-waveband spectroscopic and imaging observations of NGC\,6153, and investigate the nature and origin of the postulated H-deficient inclusions, as well as their impacts on the empirical nebular analyses assuming a uniform chemical composition. Our results show that chemically homogeneous models yield small electron temperature fluctuations and fail to reproduce the strengths of ORLs from C, N, O and Ne ions. In contrast, bi-abundance models incorporating a small amount of metal-rich inclusions ($\sim 1.3$ per cent of the total nebular mass) are able to match all the observations within the measurement uncertainties. The metal-rich clumps, cooled down to a very low temperature ($\sim 800$~K) by ionic infrared fine-structure lines, dominate the emission of heavy element ORLs, but contribute almost nil to the emission of most CELs. We find that the abundances of C, N, O and Ne derived empirically from CELs, assuming a uniform chemical composition, are about 30 per cent lower than the corresponding average values of the whole nebula, including the contribution from the H-deficient inclusions. Ironically, in the presence of H-deficient inclusions, the traditional standard analysis of the optical helium recombination lines, assuming a chemically homogeneous nebula, overestimates the helium abundance by 40 per cent., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

V605 Aquilae is today widely assumed to have been the result of a final helium shell flash occurring on a single post-asymptotic giant branch star. The fact that the outbursting star is in the middle of an old planetary nebula and that the ejecta associated with the outburst is hydrogen deficient supports this diagnosis. However, the material ejected during that outburst is also extremely neon rich, suggesting that it derives from an oxygen-neon-magnesium star, as is the case in the so-called neon novae. We have therefore attempted to construct a scenario that explains all the observations of the nebula and its central star, including the ejecta abundances. We find two scenarios that have the potential to explain the observations, although neither is a perfect match. The first scenario invokes the merger of a main sequence star and a massive oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf. The second invokes an oxygen-neon-magnesium classical nova that takes place shortly after a final helium shell flash. The main drawback of the first scenario is the inability to determine whether the ejecta would have the observed composition and whether a merger could result in the observed hydrogen-deficient stellar abundances observed in the star today. The second scenario is based on better understood physics, but, through a population synthesis technique, we determine that its frequency of occurrence should be very low and possibly lower than what is implied by the number of observed systems. While we could not envisage a scenario that naturally explains this object, this is the second final flash star which, upon closer scrutiny, is found to have hydrogen-deficient ejecta with abnormally high neon abundances. These findings are in stark contrast with the predictions of the final helium shell flash and beg for an alternative explanation., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figures, 2 tables, accepted for MNRAS. Better title and minor corrections compared to previous version

A significant fraction of the mature FGK stars have cool dusty disks at least an orders of magnitudes brighter than the solar system's outer zodiacal light. Since such dusts must be continually replenished, they are generally assumed to be the collisional fragments of residual planetesimals analogous to the Kuiper Belt objects. At least 10% of solar type stars also bear gas giant planets. The fraction of stars with known gas giants or detectable debris disks (or both) appears to increase with the stellar mass. Here, we examine the dynamical evolution of systems of long-period gas giant planets and residual planetesimals as their host stars evolve off the main sequence, lose mass, and form planetary nebula around remnant white dwarf cores. The orbits of distant gas giant planets and super-km-size planetesimals expand adiabatically. During the most intense AGB mass loss phase, sub-meter-size particles migrate toward their host stars due to the strong hydrodynamical drag by the intense stellar wind. Along their migration paths, gas giant planets capture and sweep up sub-km-size planetesimals onto their mean-motion resonances. These planetesimals also acquire modest eccentricities which are determined by the mass of the perturbing planets, the rate and speed of stellar mass loss. The swept-up planetesimals undergo disruptive collisions which lead to the production of grains with an extended size range. The radiation drag on these particles is ineffective against the planets' resonant barrier and they form 30-to-150-AU-sizes rings which can effective reprocess the stellar irradiation in the form of FIR continuum. We identify the recently discovered dust ring around the white dwarf WD 2226-210 at the center of the Helix nebula as a prototype of such disks and suggest such rings may be common., Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, single column, accepted by ApJ

We have used the He I discontinuities at 3421A to determine the electron temperatures, designated Te(He I), for a sample of five Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). We compared Te(He I) with the electron temperatures derived from the hydrogen Balmer jump at 3646A, designated Te(H I), and found that Te(He I) are generally lower than Te(H I). There are two possible interpretations, a) the presence of substantial He+2 zone, or b) the presence of hydrogen-deficient cold clumps within diffuse nebulae. A series of photoionization models were constructed to test the two scenarios. We found that the observed Te(He I)/Te(H I) discrepancies are beyond the predictions of chemically homogeneous models. Our modelling shows that the presence of a small amount of hydrogen-deficient inclusions seems to be able to reproduce the observed intensities of He I discontinuities. We stress the value of He I discontinuities in investigating nebular physical conditions. Albeit with some observational and technical limitations, He I discontinuities should be considered in future modelling work., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Aims. The high-redshift (z = 4:048) gamma-ray burst GRB 060206 showed unusual behavior, with a significant rebrightening by a factor of ~ 4 at about 3000 s after the burst. We argue that this rebrightening implies that the central engine became active again after the main burst produced by the first ejecta, then drove another more collimated jet-like ejecta with a larger viewing angle. The two ejecta both interacted with the ambient medium, giving rise to forward shocks that propagated into the ambient medium and reverse shocks that penetrated into the ejecta. The total emission was a combination of the emissions from the reverse- and forward- shocked regions. We discuss how this combined emission accounts for the observed rebrightening. Methods. We apply numerical models to calculate the light curves from the shocked regions, which include a forward shock originating in the first ejecta and a forward-reverse shock for the second ejecta. Results. We find evidence that the central engine became active again 2000 s after the main burst. The combined emission produced by interactions of these two ejecta with the ambient medium can describe the properties of the afterglow of this burst. We argue that the rapid rise in brightness at ~ 3000 s in the afterglow is due to the off-axis emission from the second ejecta. The precession of the torus or accretion disk of the central engine is a natural explanation for the departure of the second ejecta from the line of sight., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

A thorough critical literature survey has been carried out for reliable measurements of oxygen and neon abundances of planetary nebulae (PNe) and HII regions. By contrasting the results of PNe and of HII regions, we aim to address the issues of the evolution of oxygen and neon in the interstellar medium (ISM) and in the late evolutionary phases of low- and intermediate-mass stars (LIMS), as well as the currently hotly disputed solar Ne/O abundance ratio. Through the comparisons, we find that neon abundance and Ne/O ratio increase with increasing oxygen abundance in both types of nebulae, with positive correlation coefficients larger than 0.75. The correlations suggest different enrichment mechanisms for oxygen and neon in the ISM, in the sense that the growth of neon is delayed compared to oxygen. The differences of abundances between PNe and HII regions, are mainly attributed to the results of nucleosynthesis and dredge-up processes that occurred in the progenitor stars of PNe. We find that both these alpha-elements are significantly enriched at low metallicity (initial oxygen abundance <= 8.0) but not at metallicity higher than the SMC. The fact that Ne/O ratios measured in PNe are almost the same as those in HII regions, regardless of the metallicity, suggests a very similar production mechanism of neon and oxygen in intermediate mass stars (IMS) of low initial metallicities and in more massive stars, a conjecture that requires verification by further theoretical studies. This result also strongly suggests that both the solar neon abundance and the Ne/O ratio should be revised upwards by ~0.22 dex from the Asplund, Grevesse & Sauval values or by ~0.14 dex from the Grevesse & Sauval values., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to be published in MNRAS Letter

(abridged) Search for planets around main-sequence (MS) stars more massive than the Sun is hindered by their hot and rapidly spinning atmospheres. This obstacle has been sidestepped by radial-velocity surveys of those stars on their post-MS evolutionary track (G sub-giant and giant stars). Preliminary observational findings suggest a deficiency of short-period hot Jupiters around the observed post MS stars, although the total fraction of them with known planets appears to increase with their mass. Here we consider the possibility that some very close- in gas giants or a population of rocky planets may have either undergone orbital decay or been engulfed by the expanding envelope of their intermediate-mass host stars. If such events occur during or shortly after those stars' main sequence evolution when their convection zone remains relatively shallow, their surface metallicity can be significantly enhanced by the consumption of one or more gas giants. We show that stars with enriched veneer and lower-metallicity interior follow slightly modified evolution tracks as those with the same high surface and interior metallicity. As an example, we consider HD149026, a marginal post MS 1.3 Msun star. We suggest that its observed high (nearly twice solar) metallicity may be confined to the surface layer as a consequence of pollution by the accretion of either a planet similar to its known 2.7-day-period Saturn-mass planet, which has a 70 Mearth compact core, or a population of smaller mass planets with a comparable total amount of heavy elements. It is shown that an enhancement in surface metallicity leads to a reduction in effective temperature, in increase in radius and a net decrease in luminosity. The effects of such an enhancement are not negligible in the determinations of the planet's radius based on the transit light curves., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ

(Abridged) Results from the first dedicated study of Galactic PNe by means of optical integral field spectroscopy with the VLT FLAMES Argus IFU are presented. Three typical Galactic-disk PNe have been mapped with the 11.5''x7.2'' Argus array: two dimensional spectral maps of NGC 5882, 6153 and 7009 with 297 spatial pixels per target were obtained at sub-arcsec resolutions and 297 spectra per target were obtained in the 396.4-507.8 nm range. Spatially resolved maps of emission lines and of nebular physical properties were produced. The abundances of helium and of doubly ionized carbon and oxygen were derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs), while those of O^2+ were also derived from the collisionally excited lines (CELs). The abundance discrepancy problem was investigated by mapping the ratio of ORL/CEL abundances for O^2+ (the abundance discrepancy factor; ADF) across the face of the PNe. The ADF varies between targets and also with position within the targets attaining values of ~40 in the case of NGC 6153. Correlations of the ADF with geometric distance from the nucleus, as well as with [O III] electron temperature, plasma ionization state and other physical properties are established. Very small values of the temperature fluctuation parameter in the plane of the sky are found in all cases. It is argued that these results provide further evidence for the existence in typical PNe of a distinct nebular component consisting of hydrogen-deficient plasma. The zones containing this posited component appear as undulations in the C II and C II ORL abundance diagnostics of about 2 spatial pixels across; any associated structures should have physical sizes of less than ~1000 astronomical units. We propose that circumstellar disks, Abell 30-type knots, or Helix-type cometary globules may be involved., Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures (the resolution of some figures has been reduced); Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The high-redshift (z = 4.048) gamma-ray burst GRB 060206 showed unusual behavior, with a significant re-brightening about 3000 s after the burst. We assume that the central engine became active again 2000 s after the main burst and drove another more collimated off-axis jet. The two jets both interacted with the ambient medium and contributed to the whole emission. We numerically fit this optical afterglow from the two jets using the forward-shock model and the forward-reverse shock model. Combining with the zero time effect, we suggest that the fast rise at ~3000 s in the afterglow was due to the off-axis emission from the second jet. The precession of the torus or accretion disk of the gamma ray burst engine is the natural explanation for the symmetry axes of these two jets not to lie on the same line.