As the quantity and quality of timing data improves, we have reached the point at which the difference between timing noise and small glitches is unclear. As a consequence, the number of events reported as glitches which show unusual properties, quite different to those of giant glitches, has increased. For example, there is now a substantial population of glitches that apparently involve a decrease in spin-down rate rather than an increase. Motivated by the theoretical implications of such a result, we are conducting a detailed review of how glitches are detected and characterised. We have focused on three main questions: the observational biases affecting glitch detection; the methods used to characterise error bars on changes in spin and spin derivatives; and the physical mechanisms that could potentially explain the different populations of timing irregularities, in the light of improved characterisation. While glitches are thought to be a consequence of the internal dynamics of the star, magnetospheric processes may be responsible for other irregularities, as timing noise and peculiar glitch recoveries. We report the first results from this study, using a small sample of radio pulsars that exhibit a wide variety of glitching behaviour.

We use the spatially resolved gas-phase metallicity as a new diagnostic for tagging recent interactions in QSO host galaxies. With this technique we also identified a QSO with extremely low gas-phase metallicity as likely evidence for gas accretion from the environment.

We present a study of the VLBA polarimetry of GHz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) quasar OQ172. GPS quasar OQ172 is one of the source with the extremely highest rest-frame rotation measure (RM > 20,000 rad/m2). By analyzed our of VLBA polarimetry observation, we found the Rotation Measure on C & X band would be well fitted by linear relationship of the square of λ2. Combined other evidences of physical environment in the core of OQ172, we suggest that this source might be a young AGN.

Based on radial velocity data and Hipparcos proper motions, we present a new determination of the Galactocentric distance based on a purely kinematic model. We have selected three subgroups of Galactic thin-disk components (O–B5 stars, classical Cepheids and Galactic open clusters) to trace the local structure and kinematics of the Galactic disk. Adopting the approximation of axisymmetric circular rotation, we have derived the Sun's distance to the Galactic Center, R0 = 8.25 ± 0.79 kpc based on O–B5 stars, R0 = 7.98 ± 0.79 kpc based on Galactic Cepheids and R0 = 8.03 ± 0.70 kpc using open clusters, all of which are in excellent agreement with the current-best estimate of the Galactocentric distance.

This work presents an overview of the microwave observations of the Chinese Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at Huairou (SBRS/Huairou) during 1997-2011. The relationships between the microwave bursts and solar flares and the calibration of spectrometers are also studied.

We report on high-resolution astrometry of 22 GHz H2O maser emission in the Galactic massive star-forming region W51 Main/South using the Very Long Baseline Array. We measured the trigonometric parallax of W51 Main/South to be 0.185 ± 0.010 mas, corresponding to a distance of 5.41+0.31−0.28 kpc. The H2O maser emission in W51 Main/South traces four powerful bipolar outflows within a 0.4 pc size region, three of which are associated with dusty molecular hot cores and/or hyper- or ultra-compact Hii regions. The maser outflows in W51 Main/South have a relatively small range of internal 3D speeds, suggesting that multiple speed maser outflows in other Galactic massive star-forming regions may come from separate young stellar objects closely spaced on the sky.

Radio pulsars in relativistic binary systems are unique tools to study the curved space-time around massive compact objects. The discovery of a pulsar closely orbiting the super-massive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy, Sgr A⋆, would provide a superb test-bed for gravitational physics. To date, the absence of any radio pulsar discoveries within a few arc minutes of Sgr A⋆ has been explained by one principal factor: extreme scattering of radio waves caused by inhomogeneities in the ionized component of the interstellar medium in the central 100 pc around Sgr A⋆. Scattering, which causes temporal broadening of pulses, can only be mitigated by observing at higher frequencies. Here we describe recent searches of the Galactic centre region performed at a frequency of 18.95 GHz with the Effelsberg radio telescope.

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) was proposed in 2010 for a five-year M-class mission in the context of ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars (<25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses down to super-Earths (~2 Earth radii, ~10 M⊕), possibly habitable. In addition, circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System can be studied. SPICES is based on a 1.5-m off-axis telescope and can perform spectro-polarimetric measurements in the visible (450 - 900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40. This paper summarizes the top science program and the choices made to conceive the instrument. The performance is illustrated for a few emblematic cases.

We investigated the connection between AGN and star formation (SF) activities of various kinds of AGNs and their host galaxies. In order to probe SF activity, we measured the 3.3 μm PAH emission luminosity utilizing the slitless spectroscopic capability of AKARI space telescope. We present the results from two missions, ASCSG and LQSONG.

We present a grid of stellar and substellar atmosphere models covering the range from solar-mass stars to the latest-type T and Y dwarfs with a single setup. For the first time our synthetic spectra and photometry reproduce the formation of clouds and in particular their clearing at the L/T transition. The BT-Settl models also naturally explain the dustier infrared properties of planets as an effect of low surface gravity.

We present preliminary results on the investigation of one polar crown prominence that erupted on 2012 March 11. This prominence is viewed at the east limb by SDO/AIA and displays a simple vertical-thread structure. A bright U-shape (double horn-like) structure is observed surrounding the upper portion of the prominence before the eruption and becomes more prominent during the eruption. When viewed on the disk, STEREO_B shows that this prominence is composed of series of vertical threads and displays a loop-like structure during the eruption. We focus on the magnetic support of the prominence by studying the structure and dynamics before and during the eruption using observations from SDO and STEREO. We will also present preliminary DEM analysis of the cavity surrounding the prominence.

The connection between the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation activity is one of the most important issues in understanding the coevolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and galaxies. In our recent study, by using SDSS quasar spectra we found that the emission-line flux rations involving a nitrogen line correlate with the Eddington ratio. This correlation suggests that the mass accretion in quasars is associated with a post-starburst phase, when AGB stars enrich the interstellar medium with the nitrogen. Moreover, we focused on nitrogen-loud quasars, that have prominent emission lines of the nitrogen, to investigate whether this argument is correct. In this symposium, we present our results regarding the relation between the star formation and feeding to SMBHs traced by the nitrogen abundance.

The NASA/DLR Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a 2.5-meter infrared telescope on board a Boeing 747-SP, will conduct 0.3 - 1,600 μm photometric, spectroscopic, and imaging observations from altitudes as high as 45,000 ft., where the average atmospheric transmission is greater than 80 percent. SOFIA's first light cameras and spectrometers, as well as future generations of instruments, will make important contributions to the characterization of the physical properties of exoplanets. Our analysis shows that optical and near-infrared photometric and spectrophotometric follow-up observations during planetary transits and eclipses will be feasible with SOFIA's instrumentation, in particular the HIPO-FLITECAM optical/NIR instruments. The airborne-based platform has unique advantages in comparison to ground- and space-based observatories in this field of research which we will outline here. Furthermore we will present two exemplary science cases, that will be conducted in SOFIA's cycle 1.

An approach for high-precision 2D linear polarimetry is briefly described. The key components are reducing random errors, reducing systematic errors, and obtaining 2D distributions of the linear polarization degree, p, and polarization angle, χ (deviation of the polarization plane from the direction tangential to the solar limb).

Several pulsars show sudden cessation of pulsed emission, which is known as pulsar nulling. In this paper, the nulling behaviour of 15 pulsars is presented. The nulling fraction of these pulsars, along with the degree of reduction in the pulse energy during the null phase are reported for these pulsars. A unique nulling behaviour is re- ported for PSR J1738-2330, which also showed quasi-periodic bursts. The distributions of lengths of the null and burst phases as well as the typical nulling time scales are estimated for eight strong pulsars. A comparison of the nulling time scales of four pulsars with similar nulling fraction suggests that the fraction of null pulses probably does not quantify the nulling behaviour of a pulsar in full detail. Analysis of these distributions also indicate that while the null and the burst pulses occur in groups, the transition from the null to burst phase and vice verse can be modeled by a Poisson point process.

We have derived and tested a simple analytical model for placing limits on the transit timing variations of circumbinary exoplanets. These are generally of days in magnitude, dwarfing those found in multi-planet systems. The derived method is fast, efficient and is accurate to approximately 1% in predicting limits on the possible times of transits over a 3-year campaign.

This work applied Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph(CSRH) to simulate the quiet Sun to produce the radio image. Then, we simulate a point source, and make all antennas have a typical phase error(5°) to calculate the dynamic range. It is found that the dynamic range agrees with the theoretical value. The image processing and simulated results are presented.

We study the host galaxy properties of radio sources in the AKARI-North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) field, using an ensemble of multi-wavelength datasets. We identify both radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN and study their host galaxy properties by means of SED fitting. We investigate the relative importance of nuclear and star-formation activity in radio-AGN and assess the role of radio-AGN as efficient quenchers of star-formation in their host galaxies.

As a part of the BeSSeL (Bar and Spiral Structure Legacy) survey, we report a trigonometric parallax for the massive star-forming region G348.70–1.04. Its distance is 3.38−0.27+0.33 kpc, indicating that it is in the Scutum-Centaurus arm. Its proper motion is −0.73 ± 0.04 mas yr−1 toward the east and −2.83 ± 0.50 mas yr−1 toward the north.