Cold debris disks have the potential to answer many outstanding questions in wide-orbit planet formation and evolution. We characterized the infrared excess SEDs of 174 cold debris disks with Spitzer IRS and MIPS. We found a trend between the temperature of the disks and the stellar type of the stars they orbit. This argues against the importance of strictly temperature-dependent processes (e.g. ice lines) in setting the dimensions of cold debris disks. We also found no evidence that delayed stirring causes the trend. The trend may result from outward planet migration that traces the extent of the primordial protoplanetary disk, or from planet formation that halts at an orbital radius limited by the efficiency of core accretion. For the full details of this work, see Ballering et al. (2013).

Recently, massive early-type galaxies have shed their red-and-dead moniker, thanks to the discovery that many host residual star formation. As part of the ATLAS-3D project, we have conducted a complete, volume-limited survey of the molecular gas in 260 local early-type galaxies with the IRAM-30m telescope and the CARMA interferometer, in an attempt to understand the fuel powering this star formation. We find that around 22% of early-type galaxies in the local volume host molecular gas reservoirs. This detection rate is independent of galaxy luminosity and environment. Here we focus on how kinematic misalignment measurements and gas-to-dust ratios can be used to put constraints on the origin of the cold ISM in these systems. The origin of the cold ISM seems to depend strongly on environment, with misaligned, dust poor gas (indicative of externally acquired material) being common in the field but completely absent in rich groups and in the Virgo cluster. Very massive galaxies also appear to be devoid of accreted gas. This suggests that in the field mergers and/or cold gas accretion dominate the gas supply, while in clusters internal secular processes become more important. This implies that environment has a strong impact on the cold gas properties of ETGs.

Previous studies of the molecular gas excitation in high-redshift galaxies have focused on galaxy-wide averages of CO line ratios. However, it is possible that these averages hide spatial variation on sub-galactic scales, disguising the true distribution and conditions of the molecular gas within star-forming galaxies. Even in the pre-ALMA era we have begun to see evidence for spatial variation of CO excitation in both rest-UV selected and submillimeter-selected galaxies at z > 2, aided both by the increased frequency coverage of the Jansky Very Large Array (allowing high-resolution observations of the CO(1–0) line, the best tracer for the coldest molecular gas) and by the benefits of gravitational lensing for spatially extended sources. We show new results for multiple high-redshift systems that reveal spatial and/or spectral variations in CO excitation, including an early-stage merger that has different conditions in its two components, thereby illustrating the need for high spatial and spectral resolution mapping in order to accurately characterize the molecular ISM in high-z galaxies.

Filaments may be mistaken for coronal holes when observed in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images; however, a closer and more careful look reveals that their photometric properties are different. The combination of EUV images with photospheric magnetograms shows some characteristic differences between filaments and coronal holes. We have performed analyses with 7 different SDO/AIA wavelengths (94, 131, 171, 211, 193, 304, 335 Å) and SDO/HMI magnetograms obtained in September 2011 and March 2012 to study coronal holes and filaments from the photometric, magnetic, and also geometric point of view, since projection effects play an important role on the aforementioned traits.

We consider twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in the accreting low-mass neutron star (NS) binaries and explore restrictions to NS properties that are implied by various QPO models. For each model and each source, the consideration results in a specific relation between the NS mass M and the angular-momentum j rather than in their single preferred combination. Furthermore, the inferred restrictions on NS properties (or QPO models) are weaker for the low-frequency sources than for the high-frequency sources.

We present 3D zero-beta ideal MHD simulations of the solar flare/CME event that occurred in Active Region 11060 on 2010 April 8. The initial magnetic configurations of the two simulations are stable nonlinear force-free field and unstable magnetic field models constructed by Su et al. (2011) using the flux rope insertion method. The MHD simulations confirm that the stable model relaxes to a stable equilibrium, while the unstable model erupts as a CME. Comparisons between observations and MHD simulations of the CME are also presented.

We present the results of our broadband (0.5 − 200 keV) spectral analysis of 42 SGR J1550–5418 bursts simultaneously detected with the Swift/X-ray Telescope (XRT) and the Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), during the 2009 January active episode of the source. We find that, on average, the burst spectra are better described with two blackbody functions than with the Comptonized model. Thus, our joint XRT/GBM analysis clearly shows for the first time that the SGR J1550–5418 burst spectra might naturally be expected to exhibit a more truly thermalized character, such as a two-blackbody or even a multi-blackbody signal. We also studied the spin phase of the XRT burst emission, which indicate that the burst emitting sites on the neutron star need not to be co-located with hot spots emitting the bulk of the persistent X-ray emission and the surface magnetic field of SGR J1550–5418 is likely non-uniform over the emission zone.

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are the best cosmological distance indicator, however, there is still no agreement on the nature of their progenitors. There are mainly two progenitor scenarios, i.e., the single degenerate (SD) and double degenerate (DD) scenarios. In this article, we introduced our binary evolution models of various progenitor scenarios. We also obtained many properties of the surviving companions from various SD systems, which may be helpful for identifying SN Ia progenitor model. At present, it seems likely that more than one progenitor model may be required to explain the observed diversity of SNe Ia.

Millisecond pulsars are shown to have highly regular rotations and stable profiles, which enables the utilisation of them as accurate clocks. In this talk, I will present the latest studies on profile stability of several millisecond pulsars. I will focus on single pulse stability and its influence on the shape and phase of integrated profiles achieved on short timescales. It will be shown that the single pulse instability seems to be a source dependent issue, and they would influence differently on timing precision of the pulsar. The understanding of profile stability is essential in determining the timing precision limit and the optimal timing scheme with the future radio telescopes.

Kanzelhöhe Observatory (kso.ac.at) performs regular high-cadence full-disk observations of the solar chromosphere in the Hα and CaIIK spectral lines as well as the solar photosphere in white-light. In the frame of ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) activities, a new system for near real-time Hα image provision through the SSA Space Weather (SWE) portal (swe.ssa.esa.int) and for automatic alerting of flares and erupting filaments is under development. Image segmentation algorithms, based on optical flow image registration, for the automatic detection of solar filaments in real time Hα images have been developed and implemented at the Kanzelhöhe observing system. We present first results of this system with respect to the automatic recognition and segmentation of filaments and filament eruptions on the Sun.

Most early-type galaxies are not devoid of cold and warm gas. The origin and ionization of this gas reveal the intriguing ongoing evolution of these galaxies. In most cases, the warm ionized gas shows emission-line spectra similar to low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). Their ionization mechanism has been hotly debated. We will present evidence from line ratio gradient that rules out AGN and shocks as the dominant ionization mechanism, and suggests the ionizing sources follow the stellar density profile. Hot evolved stars are the favorite candidates but bring new puzzles.

This finding allows us to obtain a gas-phase metallicity calibration in these early-type galaxies, using the line emission. We will show how the metallicity of the warm gas depends on stellar mass and stellar age, and what it tells us about the origin of the warm gas in these galaxies.

A microwave quasi-periodic pulsation with zigzag pattern (Z-QPP) in a solar flare on 2005-01-15 is observed by the Chinese Solar Broadband Spectrometer in Huairou (SBRS/Huairou) at 1.10-1.34 GHz. The zigzag pulsation occurred just in the early rising phase of the flare with weakly right-handed circular polarization. Its period is only several decades millisecond. Particularly, before and after the pulsation, there are many spectral fine structures, such as zebra patterns, fibers, and millisecond spikes. The microwave Z-QPP can provide some kinematic information of the source region in the early rising phase of the flare, and the source width changes from ~1000 km to 3300 km, even if we have no imaging observations. The abundant spectral fine structures possibly reflect the dynamic features of non-thermal particles.

Dwarf irregular galaxies are usually low-metallicity objects, and show ongoing or very recent star formation, giving rise to their irregular appearance. Especially HII galaxies, a sub-category of dwarf irregulars showing unusually high star formation activity, are believed to be among the least evolved galaxies in existence today. Therefore, they are very interesting objects for studies of early galaxy evolution and of metallicity enrichment mechanisms.

Several groups have developed theoretical evolutionary models of galaxies of this type, describing different possible formation and evolutionary scenarii, and varying factors such as gas infall and outflow, as well as the star formation history, and making predictions about their chemical evolution. One way to evaluate these models is by determining the metallicities of the different components of these galaxies, their gas and stars.

We examine a sample of HII galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which possibly contains the largest homogeneous sample of HII galaxy spectra to date. Using very restrictive selection criteria, which guarantee a sample of high quality spectra and avoid “contamination” by spectra of objects of other nature, we defined a sample of ∼ 700 HII galaxies spectra.

Through emission line strength calibrations and a detailed stellar population synthesis, we determined the metallicities of both the gas and the stellar content of these galaxies.

For HII galaxies up to stellar masses of 5 × 109M⊙, we find enrichment mechanisms not to vary with galactic mass, being the same for low- and high-mass galaxies on average. They do seem to present a greater variety at the high-mass end, though, indicating a more complex assembly history. Our results favour galaxy evolutionary models featuring constantly infalling low-metallicity clouds that retain part of the galactic winds. Above 5 × 109M⊙ stellar mass, the retention of high metallicity gas by the galaxies' gravitational potential dominates.

I would like to thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support.

Whilst debris discs orbiting main-sequence stars are well studied, very little is known regarding their fate when the star evolves onto the giant branch. For intermediate mass (A-type) stars, giants provide a unique opportunity to detect planets using the radial velocity technique, otherwise prohibited by high jitter levels and rotationally broadened lines in main-sequence intermediate mass (A-type) stars. Such stars can provide key insights into the structure of planetary systems around intermediate mass stars. In our Herschel OT1 program (PI Bonsor) we searched for the presence of debris discs orbiting a sample of 36 subgiants, half of which have RV detected companions. Our best detection is the resolved debris disc orbiting κ CrB.

A GPU-based acceleration for the direct boundary integral equation method (GPU-DBIE) to extrapolate solar coronal magnetic fields is developed, which is about 1000 times faster than the original DBIE. The 3-d coronal magnetic field is reconstructed for NOAA 11158 on 14-Feb-2011 with the SDO/HMI vector magnetogram as bottom boundary condition. The extrapolated results agree well with the projected SDO/AIA, EUV loops and the STEREO EUV sideviews, which verifies the correctness of our GPU-DBIE method. It is also found that the group of bright EUV loops along magnetic neutral lines agree well with current lines, which may have played an important role in the flare process of the active region.

We have searched for dust in an optical sample of 910 Early-Type Galaxies (ETGs) in the Virgo cluster (447 of which are optically complete at mpg ≤ 18.0), extending also to the dwarf ETGs, using Herschel images at 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 μm. Dust was found in 52 ETGs (46 are in the optically complete sample), including M87 and another 3 ETGs with strong synchrotron emisssion. Dust is detected in 17% of ellipticals, 41% of lenticulars, and in about 4% of dwarf ETGs. The dust-to-stars mass ratio increases with decreasing optical luminosity, and for some dwarf ETGs reaches values similar to those of the dusty late-type galaxies. Slowly rotating ETGs are more likely to contain dust than fast rotating ones. Only 8 ETGs have both dust and HI, while 39 have only dust and 8 have only HI, surprisingly showing that only rarely dust and HI survive together. ETGs with dust appear to be concentrated in the densest regions of the cluster, while those with HI tend to be at the periphery. ETGs with an X-ray active SMBH are more likely to have dust and vice versa the dusty ETGs are more likely to have an active SMBH.

We report the discovery of the first ‘X’-shaped double-double radio galaxy (DDRG), MRC0929+164 (J0932+1611), from FIRST radio survey. The intersection angle of the lines of two pairs of radio lobes is around 20.6° for this object, much larger than other DDRGs. This unusual morphology may be a hint that the growth of its central super-massive black hole suffered a violent galaxy merger once.

Using photometry at just two wavelengths it is possible to fit a blackbody to the spectrum of infrared excess that is the signature of a debris disc. From this the location of the dust can be inferred. However, it is well known that dust in debris discs is not a perfect blackbody. By resolving debris discs we can find the actual location of the dust and compare this to that inferred from the blackbody fit. Using the Herschel Space Observatory we resolved many systems as part of the DEBRIS survey. Here we discuss a sample of 9 discs surrounding A stars and find that the discs are actually located between 1 and 2.5 times further from their star than predicted by blackbody fits to the spectral energy distribution (SED). The variation in this ratio is due to differences in stellar luminosities, location of the dust, size distribution and composition of the dust.

Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP-S), developed by HAO/NCAR, has been introduced to regular operation at the Lomnicky Peak Observatory (High Tatras in northern Slovakia, 2633 m a.s.l.) of the Astronomical Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences. We present here the technical parameters of the current version of the instrument and its potential for observations of prominences in the visual and near-IR spectral regions. The first results derived from observations of prominences in the Hα emission line taken during a coordinated observing campaign of several instruments in October 2012 are shown here.

To investigate the missing compact star of Supernova 1987A, we analyzed the cooling and 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 (SQS), having a stiffer equation of state than that of a conventional liquid quark star, has a heat capacity much smaller than a neutron star. The SQS can cool down quickly, naturally explaining the non-detection of a point source in X-ray wavelengths. On the other hand, we considered the heating processes due to magnetospheric activity and possible accretion and obtained some constraints on the parameters of a possible pulsar. Therefore, we concluded that a SQS can explain the observational limit in a confident parameter space. As a possible central compact object, the pulsar parameter constraints can be tested for SN1987A with advanced, future facilities.