# Partially Ionized Plasmas in Astrophysics [SSA]

Partially ionized plasmas are found across the Universe in many different astrophysical environments. They constitute an essential ingredient of the solar atmosphere, molecular clouds, planetary ionospheres and protoplanetary disks, among other environments, and display a richness of physical effects which are not present in fully ionized plasmas. This review provides an overview of the physics of partially ionized plasmas, including recent advances in different astrophysical areas in which partial ionization plays a fundamental role. We outline outstanding observational and theoretical questions and discuss possible directions for future progress.

J. Ballester, I. Alexeev, M. Collados, et. al.
Wed, 26 Jul 17
36/68

Comments: 163 pages, submitted to Space Science Reviews

# Production, Processing and Consumption of the Dust in the Galaxy [SSA]

The recent results obtained by the modern telescopes and spacecrafts allow us for the first time to compare directly the mass, spatial density and size distribution of the dust grains in the regions of their production, processing and consumption in our Galaxy. The ALMA and VLT/SPHERE telescopes allow us to estimate the production of the dust by supergiants and collapsing core supernovae. The 2MASS, WISE, SDSS, Planck and other telescopes allow us to estimate the processing of the dust in the interstellar medium. After renewed Besan\c{c}on Galaxy model the medium appears to contain about half the local mass of matter (both baryonic and dark) in the Galactic neighborhood of the Sun. The Helios, Ulysses, Galileo, Cassini and New Horizons spacecrafts allow us to estimate the consumption of the dust into large solid bodies. The results are consistent each other assuming the local mean spatial density of the dust is about of $3.5\times10^{-26}$ g/cm$^3$, mean density of the grain is about 1 g/cm$^3$, and the dust production rate is about of 0.015 Solar mass per year for whole the Galaxy.

G. Gontcharov
Wed, 26 Jul 17
38/68

Comments: 4 pages, 1 figure, conference proceedings Stars: From Collapse to Collapse, Proceedings of a conference held at Special Astrophysical Observatory, Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia 3-7 October 2016. Edited by Yu. Yu. Balega, D. O. Kudryavtsev, I. I. Romanyuk, and I. A. Yakunin. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2017, p.71

# Solar differential rotation in the period 1964 – 2016 determined by the Kanzelhöhe data set [SSA]

The main aim of this work is to determine the solar differential rotation by tracing sunspot groups during the period 1964-2016, using the Kanzelh{\”o}he Observatory for Solar and Environmental Research (KSO) sunspot drawings and white light images. Two procedures for the determination of the heliographic positions were applied: an interactive procedure on the KSO sunspot drawings (1964 – 2008, solar cycles nos. 20 – 23) and an automatic procedure on the KSO white light images (2009 – 2016, solar cycle no. 24). For the determination of the synodic angular rotation velocities two different methods have been used: a daily shift (DS) method and a robust linear least-squares fit (rLSQ) method. Afterwards, the rotation velocities had to be converted from synodic to sidereal, which were then used in the least-squares fitting for the solar differential rotation law. For the test data from 2014, we found the rLSQ method for calculating rotational velocities to be more reliable than the DS method. The best fit solar differential rotation profile for the whole time period is $\omega(b)$ = (14.47 $\pm$ 0.01) – (2.66 $\pm$ 0.10) $\sin^2b$ (deg/day) for the DS method and $\omega(b)$ = (14.50 $\pm$ 0.01) – (2.87 $\pm$ 0.12) $\sin^2b$ (deg/day) for the rLSQ method. A barely noticeable north – south asymmetry is observed for the whole time period 1964 – 2016 in the present paper. Rotation profiles, using different data sets (e.g. Debrecen Photoheliographic Data, Greenwich Photoheliographic Results), presented by other authors for the same time periods and the same tracer types, are in good agreement with our results. Therefore, the KSO data set is suitable for the investigation of the long-term variabilities in the solar rotation profile.

I. Beljan, R. Jurdana-Sepic, R. Brajsa, et. al.
Wed, 26 Jul 17
39/68

# Spatial Variations of the Interstellar Polarization and Interstellar Extinction [GA]

For more than 5000 stars with accurate parallaxes from the Hipparcos and Gaia DR1 Tycho-Gaia astrometric solution (TGAS), Tycho-2 photometry, interstellar polarization from eight catalogues and interstellar extinction from eight 3D maps the largest up to date comparison of the polarization and extinction is provided. The extinction maps give different estimations of the extinction and of the polarization efficiency as the polarization divided into extinction $P/A_V$ as well as of the percentage of the stars with the polarization efficiency higher than the limit of Serkowski $P/A_V>0.03$. Using the Hipparcos parallaxes we found about 200 stars (4\%, mainly OB stars) drop higher than the limit when we use any extinction map. However, the usage of more accurate TGAS parallaxes decreases them to only 17 stars (0.3\%). The polarization and extinction are negligible inside the Local Bubble within 80 pc from the Sun. In the vast Bubble’s shell at the distances 80–118 pc from the Sun the polarization and extinction rapidly grow with the distance whereas the position angle of the polarization is oriented predominantly along the shell of the Bubble. Outside the Bubble the polarization and extinction grow with the distance slowly. In addition, within a radius of 80–300 pc of the Sun a disc of some filamentary dust clouds (including well-known Markkanen cloud) is observed as in the polarization map as in the reddening one by Schlegel et al. In this disc the position angle of polarization is preferably oriented along the plane of the disk. For the regions further than 300 pc the position angle of polarization is preferably oriented along the Local spiral arm, i.e. Y coordinate axis. The polarization and its efficiency is lower in the dust layer in the Gould belt than in the equatorial dust layer. It may means different properties of dust in these two layers.

G. Gontcharov
Wed, 26 Jul 17
43/68

Comments: 2 pages, 1 figure, conference proceedings – Stars: From Collapse to Collapse, Proceedings of a conference held at Special Astrophysical Observatory, Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia 3-7 October 2016. Edited by Yu. Yu. Balega, D. O. Kudryavtsev, I. I. Romanyuk, and I. A. Yakunin. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2017, p.78

# LUNA: Status and Prospects [CL]

The essential ingredients of nuclear astrophysics are the thermonuclear reactions which shape the life and death of stars and which are responsible for the synthesis of the chemical elements in the Universe. Deep underground in the Gran Sasso Laboratory the cross sections of the key reactions responsible for the hydrogen burning in stars have been measured with two accelerators of 50 and 400 kV voltage right down to the energies of astrophysical interest. As a matter of fact, the main advantage of the underground laboratory is the reduction of the background. Such a reduction has allowed, for the first time, to measure relevant cross sections at the Gamow energy. The qualifying features of underground nuclear astrophysics are exhaustively reviewed before discussing the current LUNA program which is mainly devoted to the study of the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis and of the synthesis of the light elements in AGB stars and classical novae. The main results obtained during the study of reactions relevant to the Sun are also reviewed and their influence on our understanding of the properties of the neutrino, of the Sun and of the Universe itself is discussed. Finally, the future of LUNA during the next decade is outlined. It will be mainly focused on the study of the nuclear burning stages after hydrogen burning: helium and carbon burning. All this will be accomplished thanks to a new 3.5 MV accelerator able to deliver high current beams of proton, helium and carbon which will start running under Gran Sasso in 2019. In particular, we will discuss the first phase of the scientific program with the 3.5 MV accelerator. Such a program will be focused on the study of $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C and of the two reactions which generate free neutrons inside stars: $^{13}$C($\alpha$,n)$^{16}$O and $^{22}$Ne($\alpha$,n)$^{25}$Mg.

C. Broggini, D. Bemmerer, A. Caciolli, et. al.
Wed, 26 Jul 17
49/68

Comments: To be puplished 2017 in Progess in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 45 pages, 27 figures

# Ground-based parallax confirmed by Spitzer: binary microlensing event MOA-2015-BLG-020 [SSA]

We present the analysis of the binary gravitational microlensing event MOA-2015-BLG-020. The event has a fairly long timescale (about 63 days) and thus the light curve deviates significantly from the lensing model that is based on the rectilinear lens-source relative motion. This enables us to measure the microlensing parallax through the annual parallax effect. The microlensing parallax parameters constrained by the ground-based data are confirmed by the Spitzer observations through the satellite parallax method. By additionally measuring the angular Einstein radius from the analysis of the resolved caustic crossing, the physical parameters of the lens are determined. It is found that the binary lens is composed of two dwarf stars with masses $M_1 = 0.606 \pm 0.028M_\odot$ and $M_2 = 0.125 \pm 0.006M_\odot$ in the Galactic disk. Assuming the source star is at the same distance as the bulge red clump stars, we find the lens is at a distance $D_L = 2.44 \pm 0.10 kpc$. In the end, we provide a summary and short discussion of all published microlensing events in which the annual parallax effect is confirmed by other independent observations.

T. Wang, W. Zhu, S. Mao, et. al.
Wed, 26 Jul 17
53/68