Search

Purpose: We present the five-year in-orbit background evolution of Insight-HXMT since the launch, as well as the effects of the background model in data analysis. Methods: The backgrounds of the three main payloads, i.e., Low-Energy Telescope, Medium-Energy Telescope and High-Energy Telescope, are described, respectively. The evolution of the background over time is obtained by simply comparing the background in every year during the in-orbit operation of Insight-HXMT. Results: The major observational characteristics of the Insight-HXMT in-orbit background are presented, including the light curve, spectrum, geographical distribution, and long-term evolution. The systematic error in background estimation is investigated for every year. Conclusion: The observational characteristics of the five-year in-orbit background are consistent with our knowledge of the satellite design and the space environment, and the background model is still valid for the latest observations of Insight-HXMT., 22 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in RDTM

The rocket exhaust, as a source of the disturbance, provides a way to examine physical and chemical phenomena in the ionosphere. Since the disturbance morphological characteristics are closely related to rocket orbit, the ionospheric perturbation produced by the rocket exhaust considering the trajectory effect is simulated. The three-stage booster rocket trajectory is calculated, considering multi-stage thrust, aerodynamic drag, gravity and apparent force. Based on trajectory calculation and the electron density depletion theory of neutral gas injected into ionosphere, the exhaust is divided into a series of mass elements released at different time and different positions along the trajectory. The theory considers the charge exchange between the ambient O+ ions and the high-speed exhaust molecules (primarily H2O) in the exhaust plume. The simulation results show that the depletion structure restricted by the trajectory are dramatically different from the structure produced by a point source release, meaning that it no longer appears as an isotropic quasi-symmetric distribution, but the overall orientation of the depletion structure is consistent with the trajectory direction. Furthermore, the ray tracing technique is used to simulate the propagation of radio waves passing through the depletion structures. Due to the steepness of the depletion boundary and the difference in the shape of the boundary, the “focusing” effect of the rays which though the disturbance structure restricted by the trajectory disappear. These characteristics results can be an important reference for rocket detection and identification.

A black hole X-ray binary produces hard X-ray radiation from its corona and disk when the accreting matter heats up. During an outburst, the disk and corona co-evolves with each other. However, such an evolution is still unclear in both its geometry and dynamics. Here we report the unusual decrease of the reflection fraction in MAXI J1820+070, which is the ratio of the coronal intensity illuminating the disk to the coronal intensity reaching the observer, as the corona is observed to contrast during the decay phase. We postulate a jet-like corona model, in which the corona can be understood as a standing shock where the material flowing through. In this dynamical scenario, the decrease of the reflection fraction is a signature of the corona's bulk velocity. Our findings suggest that as the corona is observed to get closer to the black hole, the coronal material might be outflowing faster., 11 pages, 5 figures; published in Nature Communications; An artist's impression of Figure 5 is updated here, and the animation is available at http://youbei.work/research/

Accurate background estimation is essential for spectral and temporal analysis in astrophysics. In this work, we construct the in-orbit background model for the High-Energy Telescope (HE) of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (dubbed as Insight-HXMT). Based on the two-year blank sky observations of Insight-HXMT/HE, we first investigate the basic properties of the background and find that both the background spectral shape and intensity have long-term evolution at different geographical sites. The entire earth globe is then divided into small grids, each with a typical area of 5x5 square degrees in geographical coordinate system. For each grid, an empirical function is used to describe the long-term evolution of each channel of the background spectrum; the intensity of the background can be variable and a modification factor is introduced to account for this variability by measuring the contemporary flux of the blind detector. For a given pointing observation, the background model is accomplished by integrating over the grids that are passed by the track of the satellite in each orbit. Such a background model is tested with both the blank sky observations and campaigns for observations of a series of celestial sources. The results show an average systematic error of 1.5% for the background energy spectrum (26-100 keV) under a typical exposure of 8 ks, and, 27 pages, 16 figures, accepted by Journal of High Energy Astrophysics

Recently, the system parameters of Cygnus X-1, i.e., the black hole mass M, the orbital inclination i and the source distance D, have been updated. As the input constraints of the continuum-fitting method, it is necessary to refine the spin with these new parameters. The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT, also named Insight) was successfully launched on June 15th, 2017 in China. In this work, we analyzed spectra obtained by the Insight-HXMT during 2017-2018 and re-estimated the spin via the continuum-fitting method. We first re-estimated the spin using old parameters and found the dimensionless spin parameter to be a ⁎ > 0.934 (3σ), which is consistent with previous measurements both from the continuum-fitting and iron-line fitting methods ( Gou et al. 2011 , Gou et al. 2014 ; Fabian et al. 2012 , Walton et al. 2016 , Tomsick et al. 2018 ). Then, when the new parameters were applied, we obtained an increased spin: a ⁎ > 0.967 (3σ), which is also consistent with the recent measurement (Zhao et al. 2020, submitted to ApJ) and also confirms an extreme Kerr black hole lying in this system.

With more than 150 blank sky observations at high Galactic latitude, we make a systematic study to the background of the Low Energy Telescope (LE) of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (dubbed as Insight-HXMT). Both the on-ground simulation and the in-orbit observation indicate that the background spectrum mainly has two components. One is the particle background that dominates above 7 keV and its spectral shape is consistent in every geographical locations. Another is the diffuse X-ray background that dominates below 7 keV and has a stable spectrum less dependent of the sky region. The particle background spectral shape can be obtained from the blind detector data of all the blank sky observations, and the particle background intensity can be measured by the blind detector at 10-12.5 keV. The diffuse X-ray background in the high Galactic latitude can also be obtained from the blank sky spectra after subtracting the particle background. Based on these characteristics, we develop the background model for both the spectrum and the light curve. The systematic error for the background spectrum is investigated with different exposures (T_exp). For the spectrum with T_exp=1 ks, the average systematic errors in 1-7 keV and 1-10 keV are 4.2% and 3.7%, respectively. We also perform the systematic error analyses of the background light curves with different energy bands and time bins. The results show that the systematic errors for the light curves with different time bins are, 24 pages, 17 figures, accepted by Journal of High Energy Astrophysics

Vaporized samarium (Sm) has been released in the ionosphere for artificially creating plasma clouds, which may be tailored as radio wave reflectors for over-the-horizon communications. The model of samarium releases needs to be further refined for filling the gap between experimental observations and theoretical simulations. A sophisticated simulation model, so far to date, for samarium release in the ionosphere has been developed, and the redundancy reaction, inversion, and the photochemical reactions are all taken into account. The model results are consistent with experimental observations. Due to the geomagnetic field and neutral wind, the shape of artificial plasma clouds significantly changes. The error of the spherically symmetric reflection model is large. According to the density distribution of plasma clouds, the geometric theory of diffraction (GTD) is introduced here to deal with the electromagnetic scattering. The GTD-based scattering model has been established and used to study the time–space evolution of the ground-received power patterns in this article.

Magnetars are neutron stars with extreme magnetic field and sometimes manifest as soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs). SGR J1935+2154 is one of the most prolific bursters and the first confirmed source of fast radio burst (i.e. FRB 200428). Encouraged by the discovery of the first X-ray counterpart of FRB, Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) implemented a dedicated 33-day long ToO observation of SGR J1935+2154 since April 28, 2020. With the HE, ME, and LE telescopes, Insight-HXMT provides a thorough monitoring of burst activity evolution of SGR J1935+2154, in a very broad energy range (1-250 keV) with high temporal resolution and high sensitivity, resulting in a unique valuable data set for detailed studies of SGR J1935+2154. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of this observation including detailed burst search, identification and temporal analyses. After carefully removing false triggers, we find a total of 75 bursts from SGR J1935+2154, out of which 70 are single-pulsed. The maximum burst rate is about 56 bursts/day. Both the burst duration and the waiting time between two successive bursts follow log-normal distributions, consistent with previous studies. We also find that bursts with longer duration (some are multi-pulsed) tend to occur during the period with relatively high burst rate. There is no correlation between the waiting time and the fluence or duration of either the former or latter burst. It also seems that there is no correlation between burst duration and hardness ratio, in contrast to some previous reports. In addition, we do not find any X-ray burst associated with any reported radio bursts except for FRB 200428., 31 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs), which usually appear as temporal pulsations of the total flux, are frequently detected in the light curves of solar/stellar flares. In this study, we present the investigation of non-stationary QPPs with multiple periods during the impulsive phase of a powerful flare on 2017 September 06, which were simultane- ously measured by the Large-Yield RAdiometer (LYRA) and the Hard X-ray Modula- tion Telescope (Insight-HXMT), as well as the ground-based BLENSW. The multiple periods, detected by applying a wavelet transform and Lomb-Scargle periodogram to the detrended light curves, are found to be about 20-55 s in the Ly-alpha and mid-ultraviolet Balmer continuum emissions during the flare impulsive phase. Similar QPPs with multi- ple periods are also found in the hard X-ray emission and low-frequency radio emission. Our observations suggest that the flare QPPs could be related to nonthermal electrons accelerated by the repeated energy release process, i.e., triggering of repetitive magnetic reconnection, while the multiple periods might be modulated by the sausage oscillation of hot plasma loops. For the multi-periodic pulsations, other generation mechanisms could not be completely ruled out., Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

This paper proposes an approach to extract the mode shapes of beam-like structures from the dynamic response of a moving mass. When a mass passes through a beam containing several artificially installed humps, its vertical acceleration can be recorded. After applying fast Fourier transformation to the dynamic response, one can extract the mode shapes of the beam. The surface roughness was neglected compared to the humps and its adverse effect on the extraction was reduced. The passing mass performs as both “exciter” and “massage receiver”; therefore, this method requires only one single accelerometer, making it more convenient and time saving in practice. Moreover, to estimate the possible error in extracting mode shapes, a wavenumber domain filtering technique is used to reconstruct the general profiles of mode shapes. Experimental validation of this approach in laboratory scale was conducted. The experimental results show that the proposed method performs well in extracting lower order mode shapes. It should also be noted that the passing mass can not have a very high velocity (e.g. 80 mm/s), otherwise the mass may jump and separate from the beam, and the proposed method may fail to identify mode shapes.

Since April 28, 2020, Insight-HXMT has implemented a dedicated observation on the magnetar SGR J1935+2154. Thanks to the wide energy band (1-250 keV) and high sensitivity of Insight-HXMT, we obtained 75 bursts from SGR J1935+2154 during a month-long activity episode after the emission of FRB 200428. Here, we report the detailed time-integrated spectral analysis of these bursts and the statistical distribution of the spectral parameters. We find that for 15%(11/75) of SGR J1935+2154 bursts, the CPL model is preferred, and most of them occurred in the latter part of this active epoch. In the cumulative fluence distribution, we find that the fluence of bursts in our sample is about an order of magnitude weaker than that of Fermi/GBM, but follows the same power law distribution. Finally, we find a burst with similar peak energy to the time-integrated spectrum of the X-ray burst associated with FRB 200428 (FRB 200428-Associated Burst), but the low energy index is harder., 35 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

We present the observational results from a detailed timing analysis of the black hole candidate EXO 1846–031 during its outburst in 2019 with the observations of Insight-HXMT, NICER and MAXI. This outburst can be classified roughly into four different states. Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed by NICER (about 0.1–6 Hz) and Insight-HXMT (about 0.7–8 Hz) are also reported in this work. Meanwhile, we study various physical quantities related to QPO frequency. The QPO rms–frequency relationship in the energy band 1–10 keV indicates that there is a turning pointing in frequency around 2 Hz, which is similar to that of GRS 1915+105. A possible hypothesis for the relationship above may be related to the inclination of the source, which may require a high inclination to explain it. The relationships between QPO frequency and QPO rms, hardness, total fractional rms and count rate have also been found in other transient sources, which can indicate that the origin of type–C QPOs is non-thermal.

Low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (LFQPOs) are commonly found in black hole X-ray binaries, and their origin is still under debate. The properties of LFQPOs at high energies (above 30 keV) are closely related to the nature of the accretion flow in the innermost regions, and thus play a crucial role in critically testing various theoretical models. The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) is capable of detecting emissions above 30 keV, and is therefore an ideal instrument to do so. Here we report the discovery of LFQPOs above 200 keV in the new black hole MAXI J1820+070 in the X-ray hard state, which allows us to understand the behaviours of LFQPOs at hundreds of kiloelectronvolts. The phase lag of the LFQPO is constant around zero below 30 keV, and becomes a soft lag (that is, the high-energy photons arrive first) above 30 keV. The soft lag gradually increases with energy and reaches ~0.9s in the 150-200 keV band. The detection at energies above 200 keV, the large soft lag and the energy-related behaviors of the LFQPO pose a great challenge for most currently existing models, but suggest that the LFQPO probably originates from the precession of a small-scale jet., 36 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables; published in Nature Astronomy

Insight-HXMT, the first X-ray astronomical satellite in China, aims to reveal new sources in the Galaxy and to study fundamental physics of X-ray binaries from 1\,keV to 250\,keV. It has three collimated telescopes, the High Energy X-ray telescope (HE), the Medium Energy X-ray telescope (ME) and the Low Energy X-ray telescope (LE). Before the launch, in-orbit backgrounds of these three telescopes had been estimated through Geant4 simulation, in order to investigate the instrument performance and the achievement of scientific goals. In this work, these simulated backgrounds are compared with in-orbit observations. Good agreement is shown for all three telescopes. For HE, 1) the deviation of the simulated background rate after two years of operation in space is $\sim5\%$ from the observation; 2) the total background spectrum and the relative abundance of the $\sim$67\,keV line show long-term increases both in simulations and observations. For ME, 1) the deviation of simulated background rate is within $\sim15\%$ from the observation, and 2) there are no obvious long-term increase features in the background spectra of simulations and observations. For LE, the background level given by simulations is also consistent with observations. The consistencies of these comparisons validate that the Insight-HXMT mass model, i.e. space environment components and models adopted, physics processes selected and detector constructions built, is reasonable. However, the line features at $\sim$7.5\,keV and 8.0\,keV, which are obvious in the observed spectra of LE, are not evident in simulations. This might result from uncertainties in the LE constructions., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science

We present the calibration of the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) X-ray satellite, which can be used to perform timing and spectral studies of bright X-ray sources. Insight-HXMT carries three main payloads onboard: the High Energy X-ray telescope (HE), the Medium Energy X-ray telescope (ME) and the Low Energy X-ray telescope (LE). In orbit, the radioactive sources, activated lines, the fluorescence lines and celestial sources are used to calibrate the energy scale and energy resolution of the payloads. The Crab nebular is adopted as the primary effective area calibrator and empirical functions are constructed to modify the simulated effective areas of the three payloads respectively. The systematic errors of HE, compared to the model of the Crab nebular, are less than 2% in 28--120 keV and 2%--10% above 120 keV. The systematic errors of ME are less than 1.5% in 10--35 keV. The systematic errors of LE are less than 1% in 1--7 keV except the Si K--edge (1.839 keV, up to 1.5%) and less than 2% in 7--10 keV., 14 pages, 28 figures, accepted by Journal of High Energy Astrophysics

As China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), which was dubbed as Insight-HXMT after the launch on June 15, 2017, is a wide-band (1-250 keV) slat-collimator-based X-ray astronomy satellite with the capability of all-sky monitoring in 0.2-3 MeV. It was designed to perform pointing, scanning and gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations and, based on the Direct Demodulation Method (DDM), the image of the scanned sky region can be reconstructed. Here we give an overview of the mission and its progresses, including payload, core sciences, ground calibration/facility, ground segment, data archive, software, in-orbit performance, calibration, background model, observations and some preliminary results., 29 pages, 40 figures, 6 tables, to appear in Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1910.04434

This paper proposes a nonlinear multi-spring tire (NMST) model for dynamic analysis of vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) system considering separation and surface roughness. First, a nonlinear single-spring tire (NSST) model is developed, which can only provide compression force rather than extension force. By introducing it into VBI system, the dynamic interaction problem considering separation and road roughness becomes a typical dynamic problem with material nonlinearity which can be easily solved by the combination of Newmark method and Newton method: the coupled governing equations never change whatever the tire separates from the bridge or not. It is more convenient because iterative process is required in conventional method to check the separation status and once separation occurs, the coupled governing equations have to change and decouple into independent equations corresponding to vehicle and bridge, respectively. It is then extended to NMST model which is more realistic because the contact surface of tire and road are of finite size instead of a point and the tire usually cannot touch the bottom of valleys in the road profile. In the numerical examples, it can be found that the dynamic responses of both bridge and vehicle obtained by NMST model are better than those obtained by NSST model because they have lower high frequency components, which is closer to the observation in the field testing. The proposed NMST model can be easily incorporated into various VBI models, which benefits for numerical study of dynamic responses of both vehicle and bridge and indirect methods to identify modal properties and local damage of bridge structures.

In this study, fatigue assessment of cracked pipes with weld misalignment is carried out by using fracture mechanics approach. Two types of weld misalignment, viz., centreline offset weld misalignment with equal thickness but unequal diameters, and centreline offset weld misalignment with unequal thickness but aligned inside surface, are considered. A finite element (FE) mesh generator for cracked plain pipes is developed first, and then it is used for the misaligned pipes by incorporating a coordinate transformation method. A small-scale experimental test on the stress concentration curve along the longitudinal direction of misaligned pipes is conducted to ascertain the accuracy of the transformation method. Then, extensive FE analyses are performed to determine the stress intensity magnification factor ( M k ) at the crack deepest point and the crack ends of a surface crack in misaligned pipes. A new set of M k equations for the misaligned pipes are built up using multiple regression analysis, and statistical analyses are carried out to validate the goodness of fit of these equations. The proposed equations can be employed in the fatigue strength calculation and fatigue life prediction based on the fatigue assessment procedure provided by BS 7910:2013.

Ionospheric inhomogeneous plasma produced by single point chemical release has simple space-time structure, and cannot impact radio wave frequencies higher than Very High Frequency (VHF) band. In order to produce more complicated ionospheric plasma perturbation structure and trigger instabilities phenomena, multiple-point chemical release scheme is presented in this paper. The effects of chemical release on low latitude ionospheric plasma are estimated by linear instability growth rate theory that high growth rate represents high irregularities, ionospheric scintillation occurrence probability and high scintillation intension in scintillation duration. The amplitude scintillations and the phase scintillations of 150 MHz, 400 MHz, and 1000 MHz are calculated based on the theory of multiple phase screen (MPS), when they propagate through the disturbed area.

A nonlocal elastic micro/nanobeam is theoretically modeled with the consideration of the surface elasticity, the residual surface stress, and the rotatory inertia, in which the nonlocal and surface effects are considered. Three types of boundary conditions, i.e., hinged-hinged, clamped-clamped, and clamped-hinged ends, are examined. For a hinged-hinged beam, an exact and explicit natural frequency equation is derived based on the established mathematical model. The Fredholm integral equation is adopted to deduce the approximate fundamental frequency equations for the clamped-clamped and clamped-hinged beams. In sum, the explicit frequency equations for the micro/nanobeam under three types of boundary conditions are proposed to reveal the dependence of the natural frequency on the effects of the nonlocal elasticity, the surface elasticity, the residual surface stress, and the rotatory inertia, providing a more convenient means in comparison with numerical computations.

Load-carrying cruciform fillet welded joints configuration is frequently encountered in many welded structures. Different from non-load-carrying joints, the crack in load-carrying joints can propagate from the weld root or from the weld toe. Hence, the crack propagation location is critical for a given weld size, transverse and main plates thickness. In this study, a finite element (FE) mesh generator developed previously is extended to generate 3-D models of load-carrying joints containing cracks at the weld root and the weld toe. Then, extensive parametric study is carried out to calculate the stress intensity factors (SIFs). Corresponding SIF equations are proposed according to multiple regression analysis. Based on these equations obtained for the weld root and weld toe cracks, the critical crack and weld sizes at which the crack propagates from the weld root to the weld toe are determined. Accepted version

Due to the dispersion nature of the ionosphere, the spaceborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) systems at L or lower frequencies will generally experience more severe effects in comparison to frequencies above L-band. Correspondingly, according to the mechanism of how ionosphere destroys the scattering matrix of PolSAR data, the total electron content (TEC), an important input in computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT), can be retrieved by model inversion. Thus, this paper presents a technique of CIT based on the spaceborne PolSAR data. The CIT technique is a means to obtain the spatial distribution of ionospheric electron density from the TEC values. Because of the high spatial resolution of spaceborne SAR, the kilometer-scale TEC information can be obtained by the PolSAR data where such resolution was previously inaccessible. The spatial distribution of ionospheric electron density with high resolution can therefore be obtained. In addition, the potential limitation of previous CIT based on SAR imaging information is the difficulty in requiring strong point targets with high signal-to-clutter (SCR) ratio in scenes. In contrast, the CIT reconstruction based on scattering matrix information can be easily realized without aforementioned special requirements. In this paper, by using the simulated data of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased-Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) full-pol data, the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2007, and the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) models, the reconstruction of ionospheric electron density distribution is first simulated to validate the feasibility of the proposed technique. Then, possible effects of SAR system and model errors on the reconstruction results are also simulated and analyzed to show the applicability.

A set of fatigue and fracture assessment equations had been incorporated into British Standard 7910:2013 (BS 7910:2013) to estimate the effect of misalignment for various geometric configurations containing a surface crack. In this study, extensive 3-D finite element (FE) analyses are carried out to determine the dimensionless stress intensity factors (Y) at the crack deepest point and crack ends of plate-to-plate butt welds with parallel misalignment of same thickness. In comparison to BS 7910:2013, it is observed that the assessment equations underestimate the Y values for shallow cracks and overestimate the corresponding values for deeper cracks with percentage differences in values being as high as 82% and 12%, respectively. New Y equations for misaligned butt welds are proposed using multiple regression analyses. Accepted version

A number of significant studies have been dedicated to SF 6 releases. However, given the complicated nature, the simulations provided at the design phases are still not consistent with those diagnosed in experiments. It is mainly because the actual conditions of experiments have not been fully introduced in the state-of-art models. A temporal 3D refined simulation model of SF 6 release by a rocket payload is proposed in this paper. It first considers the release status (rocket attitude, velocity, etc.), release process (duration, injection velocity, the flux of the chemical release, etc.) and ambient neutral wind. This model is better than existing ones; the latter can only deal with release from a point source. The time-dependent drift of the released cloud, driven by the velocities of the rocket inertia and neutral wind, are calculated accurately. The non-uniform spherical structure of the electron density hole driven by the lasting release along the trajectory and the injection velocity are also described. The release flow field is calculated by using a new microcell method. The temporal 3D refined model proposed could be useful for improving the diagnosis and also helpful for the theory on chemical releases.

British Standard 7910:2013 (BS 7910:2013) includes a set of equations for estimating the effect of misalignment on different types of welded joints with a semi-elliptical surface crack. In this study, extensive finite element (FE) analyses are carried out to determine the dimensionless stress intensity factor ( Y ) of plate-to-plate butt-welded joints between axially aligned members of different thickness. The Y values at the crack deepest points and the crack ends are determined. It is observed that BS 7910:2013 underestimates the Y results of misaligned butt welds for shallow cracks with percentage difference in values being as high as 56%. An overestimation percentage difference of 26% for deep cracks is given by BS 7910:2013. The new Y equations for misaligned butt welds are proposed using multiple regression analyses.

This paper shows an approach to evaluate mode shapes for beams through using a passing auxiliary mass. The coupled system of an auxiliary mass passing over a beam is time-dependent, and the corresponding instantaneous frequencies (IFs) are equivalent to the mode shapes. Hence, reconstruction of the mode shapes is easy to be achieved through estimating the IFs. A simple algorithm based on ridge detection is proposed to reconstruct the mode shapes. This method is effective if the beam is light or the lumped mass is heavy. It is convenient since it requires an accelerometer mounted on the passing auxiliary mass rather than a serious of sensors mounted on the structure itself. It is also more practical because it is usually difficult to install external exciter. A lab-scale experimental validation shows that the new technique is capable of identifying the first three mode shapes accurately.

The recently discovered neutron star transient Swift J0243.6+6124 has been monitored by {\it the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} ({\it Insight-\rm HXMT). Based on the obtained data, we investigate the broadband spectrum of the source throughout the outburst. We estimate the broadband flux of the source and search for possible cyclotron line in the broadband spectrum. No evidence of line-like features is, however, found up to $\rm 150~keV$. In the absence of any cyclotron line in its energy spectrum, we estimate the magnetic field of the source based on the observed spin evolution of the neutron star by applying two accretion torque models. In both cases, we get consistent results with $B\rm \sim 10^{13}~G$, $D\rm \sim 6~kpc$ and peak luminosity of $\rm >10^{39}~erg~s^{-1}$ which makes the source the first Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source hosting a neutron star., published

Considerations of nonlocal elasticity and surface effects in micro- and nanoscale beams are both important for the accurate prediction of natural frequency. In this study, the governing equation of a nonlocal Timoshenko beam with surface effects is established by taking into account three types of boundary conditions: hinged–hinged, clamped–clamped and clamped–hinged ends. For a hinged–hinged beam, an exact and explicit natural frequency equation is obtained. However, for clamped–clamped and clamped–hinged beams, the solutions of corresponding frequency equations must be determined numerically due to their transcendental nature. Hence, the Fredholm integral equation approach coupled with a curve fitting method is employed to derive the approximate fundamental frequency equations, which can predict the frequency values with high accuracy. In short, explicit frequency equations of the Timoshenko beam for three types of boundary conditions are proposed to exhibit directly the dependence of the natural frequency on the nonlocal elasticity, surface elasticity, residual surface stress, shear deformation and rotatory inertia, avoiding the complicated numerical computation.

A reference strain J -estimation formulation is developed to perform the fracture assessment of misaligned clad pipelines containing a circumferential part-through crack located at the interface of weld metal and outer pipe. An extensive parametric study including a total of 896 finite element (FE) models is carried out to investigate the effects of various parameters (pipe diameter, crack depth, crack length, centreline offset, strength mismatch level, and strain hardening exponent) on the J -integral. Then, the estimation formulation characterizing the linear relationship between the J -integral and the applied displacement loading is proposed using the standard least square fitting, and a goodness of fit for the J -integral values obtained from the formulation and the FE analysis is endorsed. Finally, the application range of the estimation formulation is mostly extended by conducting further comparative study.

To study the influence of solar and geomagnetic activity on Es layers over low, mid and high latitude stations, hourly values of parameters of Es layer during four solar cycles (1970–2010) over different latitude stations are considered. It has been suggested that there is a relationship between solar and geomagnetic activity with Es layer, and the correlations are different over low, mid and high latitude stations. The reasons of different behavior of Es frequency parameters to solar and geomagnetic activity are also studied.

Finding the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart of binary compact star merger, especially the binary neutron star (BNS) merger, is critically important for gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, cosmology and fundamental physics. On Aug. 17, 2017, Advanced LIGO and \textit{Fermi}/GBM independently triggered the first BNS merger, GW170817, and its high energy EM counterpart, GRB 170817A, respectively, resulting in a global observation campaign covering gamma-ray, X-ray, UV, optical, IR, radio as well as neutrinos. The High Energy X-ray telescope (HE) onboard \textit{Insight}-HXMT (Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope) is the unique high-energy gamma-ray telescope that monitored the entire GW localization area and especially the optical counterpart (SSS17a/AT2017gfo) with very large collection area ($\sim$1000 cm$^2$) and microsecond time resolution in 0.2-5 MeV. In addition, \textit{Insight}-HXMT quickly implemented a Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation to scan the GW localization area for potential X-ray emission from the GW source. Although it did not detect any significant high energy (0.2-5 MeV) radiation from GW170817, its observation helped to confirm the unexpected weak and soft nature of GRB 170817A. Meanwhile, \textit{Insight}-HXMT/HE provides one of the most stringent constraints (~10$^{-7}$ to 10$^{-6}$ erg/cm$^2$/s) for both GRB170817A and any other possible precursor or extended emissions in 0.2-5 MeV, which help us to better understand the properties of EM radiation from this BNS merger. Therefore the observation of \textit{Insight}-HXMT constitutes an important chapter in the full context of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observation of this historical GW event., Comment: accepted by Science China - Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy. Planned to publish on Oct 17, but postponed due to a problem on pdf file

This paper concerns the fracture assessment of a clad pipeline subjected to large bending moment, and identifies different parameters influencing the fracture behaviors. The evolution of Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) of a pipeline containing a canoe shape crack on the external surface of the girth weld is studied under pure bending and combined pure bending and internal pressure through 3D elastic-plastic Finite Element (FE) simulations. Various parameters affecting the evolution of CTOD like crack depth, crack length to perimeter diameter ratio, internal pressure and the weld geometrical configurations have been investigated. It is observed that only the average width of the weld has a significant influence on the fracture response under pure bending, while the weld reinforcement height and fusion line slope have a moderate influence on the fracture behavior under biaxial loading. The crack at the interface between the weld and back steel has a similar fracture response to that of a crack located in the weld with equivalent effective crack depth. Finally, a strain based Failure Assessment Diagram (FAD) is proposed and compared with the fracture assessments produced by BS7910:2013, and 3D elastic-plastic FE simulations suggest that the British Standard is more conservative especially for deep cracks.

A Cu–Pd–V brazing alloy with the composition of Cu–(38.0~42.0)Pd–(7.0~10.0)V (in wt.%) was designed as a filler for joining Si3N4. Its wettability on Si3N4 ceramic was measured with the sessile drop method. It was shown that the Cu–Pd–V alloy gave a contact angle of 71° at 1473 K. The filler alloy was fabricated into foils with a thickness of 0.15 mm. The Si3N4–Si3N4 joints brazed at 1443 K for 10 min exhibit average three-point bend strength of 263 MPa at room temperature, and the joint strengths at 973 K and 1073 K are 277 MPa and 218 MPa, respectively. The analysis results of SEM, XRD, and TEM for the brazed joint indicate the presence of V2N at the surface of the Si3N4. The increase of the thickness of V2N reaction layer obeyed parabolic law, and the parabolic rate constant (k) can be described as k = 2.8739 × 10−9 exp(−162989.4/RT) m2/s. Pd2Si and Cu3Pd compounds as well as (Cu, Pd) solid solution were detected in the central part of the joints. The presence of (Cu, Pd) phases and especially refractory Pd2Si compounds within the joints should contribute to the stable high-temperature property. The interfacial reaction mechanisms were discussed.

Au38.0–Pd28.0–Co18.0–Ni7.0–V9.0 (in wt%) alloy was designed as a filler for joining Si 3 N 4 . The filler alloy showed a contact angle of 77.2° on Si 3 N 4 ceramic at 1473 K. The Si 3 N 4 /Si 3 N 4 joint brazed with the rapidly-solidified filler foils at 1443 K for 10 min exhibits an average three-point bend strength of 320.7 MPa at room temperature and the strength values are 217.9 MPa and 102.9 MPa at 1073 K and 1173 K respectively. The interfacial reaction products were composed of V 2 N and Pd 2 Si, and the elements Co and Ni in the brazing alloy did not participate in the interfacial reactions. The coarse-network-like distribution of refractory Pd 2 Si compound within the Au–Pd–Co–Ni alloy matrix throughout the joint contributes to the stable high-temperature joint strengths.

We investigate the properties of the centroid frequency of low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (LF QPOs, 0.1-30 Hz) during the 2003 outburst of H1743-322, by using the observational data of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We find that the frequency shows different energy dependences for each of the sub-classes of LF QPOs: the QPO frequency is proportional to photon energy for the type C QPOs while it is ambiguous for the type A and B QPOs. For type C QPOs, the slope of the frequency-energy relation versus frequency plot can be well described by a power law with frequency till similar to 7.5 Hz. Beyond similar to 7.5 Hz the slope goes down. The LF QPO amplitude decreases monotonically with the frequency for the type C but increases for the other two types. These properties provide a joint diagnostic for discriminating the different types of LF QPO.

AIM: To systematically review the association between complement factors I (CFI) polymorphisms and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to explore whether CFI polymorphisms are associated with AMD. METHODS: Meta-analysis of articles published from 1995 to January 2015 of articles involved with AMD and polymorphisms of the CFI gene. Eligible data were pooled in a Meta-analysis, analyzing using STATA software (version 12.0), Review Manager (version 5.2) and different models based on the heterogeneity of effect sizes. Egger’s test, Begg’s rank correlation methods were used to evaluate for publication bias. RESULTS: Thirteen articles were eligible, describing two loci polymorphisms of the CFI gene (of which 12 articles focus on rs10033900T>C and 3 articles focus on rs2285714C>T). For rs10033900T>C, the results of our study revealed that having a mutant allele C, TC, CC and TC+CC was associated with a decreased risk of AMD in all population groups studied (C versus T models, OR=0.84, 95%CI: 0.72-0.99, P=0.04; TC versus TT models OR=0.89, 95%CI: 0.88-0.99, P=0.04; CC versus TT models, OR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.60-0.98, P=0.03; TC+CC versus TT models, OR=0.81, 95%CI:0.65-0.99, P=0.04). We found that C allele were related to lower AMD risk in the Caucasian population by subgroup analysis, but there was no association with AMD under the allele and genotypes comparison in Asian studies. For rs2285714 C>T, the TC, TT genotypes contributed to a higher risk of AMD, compared with the CC carriers and TC+CC (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.09-1.63, P=0.004; OR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.25-1.80, PC and rs2285714C>T polymorphisms may contribute to AMD.

This paper presents an idea for modeling the road surface roughness in a vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI) system, by simulating it equivalently as two external forces each acting on the two subsystems of vehicle and bridge. Such an idea can be easily included in general-purpose commercial finite element (FE) software like ABAQUS and ANSYS. Compared with frequently used coupled and uncoupled FE models, the present approach is more convenient, since it does not require any self-developed FE codes. The other advantage is that it does not require very small elements in the FE modeling, as is the case with conventional approaches for simulating the irregularity in the profile of road surface roughness, which may be computationally inefficient.

The Einstein Probe is a small mission dedicated to time-domain astronomy to monitor the sky in the soft X-ray band (0.5–4 keV). It will carry out systematic survey and characterisation of high-energy transients at unprecedented sensitivity, spatial resolution, Grasp and monitoring cadence. Its wide-field imaging capability, as provided by an X-ray monitor with a field of view of 3600 square degrees, is enabled by using established technology of micro-pore lobster-eye focusing optics. Complementary to this wide-field instrument is a follow-up X-ray telescope with a large effective area and a narrow field of view. It is also capable of real time triggering and downlink of transient alerts on the fly, in order to activate multi-wavelength follow-up observations by other astronomical facilities worldwide. Its scientific goals are concerned with discovering new or rare types of transients, particularly tidal disruption events, supernova shock breakouts, high-redshift gamma-ray bursts and, particularly, electromagnetic sources associated with gravitational wave events. The mission is planned for launch around end of 2022, with a lifetime of three years and five years as a goal.

It is well known that the Faraday rotation (FR) is obviously embedded in spaceborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data at L-band and lower frequencies. By model inversion, some widely used FR angle estimators have been proposed for compensation and provide a new field in high-resolution ionospheric soundings. However, as an integrated product of electron density and the parallel component of the magnetic field, FR angle measurements/observations demonstrate the ability to characterize horizontal ionosphere. In order to make a general study of ionospheric structure, this paper reconstructs the electron density distribution based on a modified two-dimensional computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT) technique, where the FR angles, rather than the total electron content (TEC), are regarded as the input. By using the full-pol (full polarimetric) data of Phase Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) on board Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) and International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) models, numerical simulations corresponding to different FR estimators and SAR scenes are made to validate the proposed technique. In simulations, the imaging of kilometer-scale ionospheric disturbances, a spatial scale that is rarely detectable by CIT using GPS, is presented. In addition, the ionospheric reconstruction using SAR polarimetric information does not require strong point targets within a SAR scene, which is necessary for CIT using SAR imaging information. Finally, the effects of system errors including noise, channel imbalance and crosstalk on the reconstruction results are also analyzed to show the applicability of CIT based on spaceborne full-pol SAR data.

The solar oscillations along one coronal loop in AR 11504 are observed simultaneously in white light emission and Doppler velocity by SDO/HMI, and in UV and EUV emissions by SDO/AIA. The technique of the time-distance diagram is used to detect the propagating oscillations of the emission intensities along the loop. We find that although all the oscillation signals were intercorrelated, the low chromospheric oscillation correlated more closely to the oscillations of the transition region and corona than to those of the photosphere. Situated above the sunspot, the oscillation periods were similar to 3 minutes in the UV/EUV emissions; however, moving away from the sunspot and into the quiet Sun, the periods became longer, e. g., up to similar to 5 minutes or more. In addition, along another loop we observe both the high-speed outflows and oscillations, which roughly had a one-to-one corresponding relationship. This indicates that the solar periodic oscillations may modulate the magnetic reconnections between the loops of the high and low altitudes that drive the high-speed outflows along the loop.