The business meeting of Commission 36 was held during the General Assembly in Prague on 16 August. It was attended by about 15 members. The issues presented included a review of the work made by members of Commission 36, and the election of the new Organising Committee. We note that a comprehensive report on the activities of the commission during the last triennium has been published in Reports on Astronomy, Transactions IAU Volume XXVIA. The scientific activity of the members of the commission has been very intense, and has led to the publication of a large number of papers.

We present preliminary results of a MERLIN polarization study of 6.0-GHz OH masers in the W3(OH) region of massive star-formation. We have detected a small but significant amount of linear polarization in the 6031-MHz masers, as well as a much larger fraction of circular polarization. We have found many Zeeman pairs, the analysis of which (along with the results at 6035-MHz) will be presented elsewhere. MERLIN is well-suited to detecting all the single-dish maser flux in these regions, owing to its range of short baselines (tens of kilometers) and resulting sensitivity to extended emission. We have found core-halo structure in the 6031-MHz OH maser emission in the region of the highly extended 4.7-GHz OH and 6.7-GHz methanol maser filament found by Harvey-Smith & Cohen (2005, 2006).

The distribution of eccentricities e of extra-solar planets with semi-major axes a > 0.2 AU is very uniform, and values for e are generally large. For a < 0.2 AU, eccentricities are much smaller (most e < 0.2), a characteristic widely attributed to damping by tides after the planets formed and the protoplanetary gas disk dissipated. We have integrated the classical coupled tidal evolution equations for e and a backward in time over the estimated age of each planet, and confirmed that the distribution of initial e values of close-in planets matches that of the general population for reasonable tidal dissipation values Q, with the best fits for stellar and planetary Q being ∼ 105.5 and ∼ 106.5, respectively. The current small values of a were only reached gradually due to tides over the lifetimes of the planets, i.e., the earlier gas disk migration did not bring all planets to their current orbits. As the orbits tidally evolved, there was substantial tidal heating within the planets. The past tidal heating of each planet may have contributed significantly to the thermal budget that governed the planet's physical properties, including its radius, which in many cases may be measured by observing transit events. Here we also compute the plausible heating histories for a few planets with anomalously large measured radii, including HD 209458 b. We show that they may have undergone substantial tidal heating during the past billion years, perhaps enough to explain their large radii. Theoretical models of exoplanet interiors and the corresponding radii should include the role of large and time-variable tidal heating. Our results may have important implications for planet formation models, physical models of “hot Jupiters”, and the success of transit surveys.

The generation of parallel electric fields by the propagation of ion cyclotron waves (with frequency 0.3 ωci) in the plasma with a transverse density inhomogeneity was studied. Using two-fluid, cold plasma linearised equations, it was shown for the first time that, in this particular context, E∥ generation can be understood by an analytic equation that couples E∥ to the transverse electric field of the driving ion cyclotron wave. It was proven that the minimal model required to reproduce the previous kinetic simulation results of E∥ generation [Tsiklauri et al 2005, Génot et al 2004] is the two-fluid, cold plasma approximation in the linear regime. By considering the numerical solutions it was also shown that the cause of E∥ generation is the electron and ion flow separation induced by the transverse density inhomogeneity. We also investigate how E∥ generation is affected by the mass ratio and found that amplitude attained by E∥ decreases linearly as inverse of the mass ratio mi/me. For realistic mass ratio of mi/me=1836, such empirical scaling law, within a time corresponding to 3 periods of the driving ion cyclotron wave, is producing E∥=14 Vm−1 for solar coronal parameters. Increase in mass ratio does not have any effect on final parallel (magnetic field aligned) speed attained by electrons. However, parallel ion velocity decreases linearly with inverse of the mass ratio mi/me. These results can be interpreted as following: (i) ion dynamics plays no role in the E∥ generation; (ii) E∥ ∝ 1/mi scaling is caused by the fact that ωd = 0.3 ωci ∝ 1/mi is decreasing with the increase of ion mass, and hence the electron fluid can effectively “short-circuit” (recombine with) the slowly oscillating ions, hence producing smaller E∥.

We first summarize work that has been done on the effects of binaries on theoretical population synthesis of stars and stellar phenomena. Next, we highlight the influence of stellar dynamics in young clusters by discussing a few candidate UFOs (unconventionally formed objects) like intermediate mass black holes, η Car, ζ Pup, γ2 Velorum and WR 140.

Massive low surface brightness galaxies have disk central surface brightnesses at least one magnitude fainter than the night sky, but total magnitudes and masses that show they are among the largest galaxies known. Like all low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies, massive LSB galaxies are often in the midst of star formation yet their stellar light has remained diffuse, raising the question of how star formation is proceeding within these galaxies. We have undertaken a multi-wavelength study to clarify the structural parameters and stellar and gas content of these enigmatic systems. The results of these studies, which include HI, CO, optical, near UV, and far UV images of the galaxies will provide the most in depth study done to date of how, when, and where star formation proceeds within this unique subset of the galaxy population.

Long-baseline interferometry with facilities such as the ESO VLTI is beginning to have the capability to measure directly in the range of milliarcsecond and less the angular separation and the angular diameter of some selected eclipsing binary systems. We have begun to carry out such observations with the AMBER instrument. In the special case of double-lined eclipsing binaries with well-detached components, from radial velocity and light curves it is possible to obtain a full solution of all orbital and stellar parameters, with the exception of the effective temperature of one star, which is normally estimated from spectral type or derived from atmospheric analysis of the spectrum or reddening-corrected photometric colors. In particular, we aim at deriving directly the effective temperature at least of one component in the proposed system, thereby avoiding any assumptions in the global solution through the Wilson-Devinney method. We have obtained an independent check of the results of this method concerning the distance to the system. This represents the first step toward a global calibration of eclipsing binaries as distance indicators. Our results will also contribute to the effective temperature scale for hot stars. The extension of this approach to a wider sample of eclipsing binaries could provide an independent method to assess the distance to the LMC.

We systematically study the effects of collisions on the overall dynamical evolution of dense star clusters using Monte Carlo simulations over many relaxation times. We derive many observable properties of these clusters, including their core radii and the radial distribution of collision products. We also study different aspects of collisions in a cluster taking into account the shorter lifetimes of more massive stars, which has not been studied in detail before. Depending on the lifetimes of the significantly more massive collision products, observable properties of the cluster can be modified qualitatively; for example, even without binaries, core collapse can sometimes be avoided simply because of stellar collisions.

In this contribution we first briefly review our current knowledge on the physics of accretion discs driving self-confined jets. It will be shown that a large scale magnetic field is expected to thread the innermost disc regions, giving rise to a transition from an outer standard accretion disc to an inner jet emitting disc. We then report new progresses on the theory of star-disc interaction, allowing to explain the formation of accretion funnel flows with stellar dipole fields consistent with observational constraints. Such a connection is now not only probed by modern observations but it is also requested for spinning down protostars, which are known to be both actively accreting and contracting. This spin down most probably relies on the angular momentum removal by ejection. Two such scenarios will be addressed here, namely “accretion-powered stellar winds” (Matt & Pudritz 2005) and “Reconnection X-winds” (Ferreira, Pelletier & Appl 2000). The latter can slow down a protostar on time scales shorter or comparable to the embedded phase. It will be shown that these two scenarios are not incompatible and that transitions from one to another may even occur as they mainly depend on the stellar dynamo.

The dynamics of a barred galaxy depends on the pattern speed of its bar. The only direct method for measuring the pattern speed of a bar is the Tremaine-Weinberg technique. This method is best suited to the analysis of the distribution and dynamics of the stellar component. Therefore it has been mostly used for early-type barred galaxies. Most of them host a classical bulge. On the other hand, a variety of indirect methods, which are based on the analysis of the distribution and dynamics of the gaseous component, has been used to measure the bar pattern speed in late-type barred galaxies. Nearly all the measured bars are as rapidly rotating as they can be. By comparing this result with high-resolution numerical simulations of bars in dark matter halos, it is possible to conclude that these bars reside in maximal disks.

The Business Meeting of Commission 45 was held on 16 August 2006. It was attended by the president and vice-president of the Commission as well as by twenty other members of the Commission. Attendance was limited, as usual, by the unavoidable occurrence of parallel sessions.

The thickening of the bar in barred disk galaxies has a strong influence in shaping the morphology in the inner regions of a disk galaxy above the galactic plane. The result of such a secular evolutionary process can be observed in galaxies with box/peanut shaped (b/ps) bulges. We have applied a one–dimensional fitting method to our sample of 30 edge–on disk galaxies using different fitting function approaches. A clear increase in scale height can be observed in the area of the most prominent b/ps isophotes compared to the neighbouring disk and bulge areas, in agreement with the predictions of the bar thickening model.

With a dynamical mass Mdyn ~ 1.3×105 M⊙ and a lower limit Mcl > 5 × 104 M⊙ from star counts, Westerlund 1 is the most massive young open cluster known in the Galaxy and thus the perfect laboratory to study massive star evolution. We have developed a comprehensive spectral classification scheme for supergiants based on features in the 6000–9000Å range, which allows us to identify > 30 very luminous supergiants in Westerlund 1 and ~ 100 other less evolved massive stars, which join the large population of Wolf-Rayet stars already known. Though detailed studies of these stars are still pending, preliminary rough estimates suggest that the stars we see are evolving to the red part of the HR diagram at approximately constant luminosity.

The presence of close (≲ 0.1 AU) stellar companions must greatly alter the circumstellar environment of classical T Tauri stars, including severe truncation if not elimination of circumstellar disks. It is thus remarkable how little impact the presence of a close companion has on our observable diagnostics for accretion and outflow. Emission line shapes, degrees of continuum veiling, and spectral energy distributions are all indistinguishable between single classical T Tauri stars and classical T Tauri close binaries. Some of the most classical T Tauri stars that laid the foundation for our single-star accretion-disk paradigm have turned out to have close companions. Periodicities in spectral signatures are suggestive of the presence of accretion flows from circumbinary disks to the circumstellar regions; the subsequent flow of material through the circumstellar region to the stellar surface in the presence of a stellar magnetosphere is unstudied. Observations of stellar rotation distributions in close binaries suggest that inner disk regions may act to regulate stellar angular momentum.

In this report, we present results of analytical and numerical calculations of evolution the axis of rotation of planets moving at very close orbits. We consider the evolution of the axis of rotation caused by tidal perturbations of a parent star and obtain estimates of the principal moment of inertia and the dynamical flattening for nine exoplanets. From analysis of evolutionary equations, we obtain the critical values of the kinetic momentum vector, , for different values of orbital eccentricity. We find a general tendency of vector to evolve to the direction perpendicular to the orbital plane.

The majority of the inhomogeneities in the chemical composition of Globular Cluster (GC) stars appear due to primordial enrichment by hot-CNO cycled material processed in stars belonging to a first stellar generation. Either massive AGB envelopes subject to hot bottom burning, or the envelopes of massive fastly rotating stars could be the progenitors. In both cases, the stars showing chemical anomalies must have also enhanced helium abundance, and we have proposed that this higher helium could be at the basis of the many different morphologies of GC horizontal branches (HB) for similar ages and metallicities. The helium variations have been beautifully confirmed by the splitting of the main sequence in the clusters ω Cen and NGC 2808, but this effect can show up only for somewhat extreme helium abundances. Therefore it is important to go on using the HB morphology to infer the number ratio of the first to the second generation in as many clusters as possible. We exemplify how it is possible to infer the presence of a He – rich stellar component in different clusters thanks to different HB features (gaps, RR Lyr periods and period distribution, ratio of blue to red stars, blue tails). In many clusters at least 50% of the stars belong to the second stellar generation, and in some cases we suspect that the stars might all belong to the second generation. We shortly examine the problem of the initial mass function required to achieve the observed number ratios and conclude that: 1) the initial cluster must have been much more massive than today's cluster, and 2) formation of the second stellar generation mainly in the central regions of the cluster may help in obtaining the desired values.

The current contribution investigates the solar flare of 16th August 2004 with the multi-wavelength observations with high temporal resolution from RHESSI, Large Solar Vacuum Telescope (LSVT), Hiraiso Solar observatory, Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH, 17 and 34 GHz) and Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT, 5.7 GHz), TRACE. The main flare was preceded by a pre-flare event with a very short energy release time. The observations of the main flare reveal a close temporal correlation between the Hα intensity observed with LSVT and those in hard and soft X-ray emissions observed with RHESSI, and in microwave fluxes observed with NoRH and SSRT. This close temporal correlation can be only associated with high-energy particles. The role of energetic particles in energy transport and non-thermal excitation and ionisation on Hα emission during the pre-flare and pre-flare event is investigated with full non-LTE approach and possible agents and scenarios of energy transport are discussed.

The reasons for the presence of two branches of galaxy evolution, one producing high surface brightness disks and one creating low surface brightness disks, is still unknown. Possible are the imprint of the properties of the dark matter halo, as well as evolutionary effects. In this paper we present an analysis of the clustering properties of LSB and HSB galaxies using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We show that LSB galaxies reside in regions of lower galaxy density than HSB galaxies on all scales between 0.8 and 8 Mpc, from scales of galaxy pairs to filaments of the Large Scale Structure. This implies a probable scenario of LSB galaxies preferentially forming as a result of local peaks in the large-scale valleys of the primordial density distribution.

We have carried out multi-epoch VLBI observations of the H2O maser sources associated with young stellar objects (YSOs) in nearby molecular clouds with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), which is a newly constructed VLBI network in Japan (Kobayashi et al. 2003). The main goal of our study is to measure the absolute proper motions and distances to nearby molecular clouds within 1 kpc from the Sun, to reveal their 3-dimensional structures and dynamical properties. Using the VERA dual-beam receiving system (Honma et al. 2003), we have carried out phase-referencing VLBI observations and measured annual parallaxes and absolute proper motions of the H2O maser features with respect to the extragalactic radio sources. We have successfully detected the annual parallax of one of the H2O maser features in Orion KL to be 2.29±0.10 mas, corresponding to the distance of 437±19 pc from the Sun (Hirota et al. 2007). In addition, the annual parallax of SVS13 in NGC 1333 is also determined to be4.10±0.17 mas, corresponding to the distance of 244±10 pc from the Sun, although the life time of the maser features are only 6 months. The absolute proper motions of the H2O maser features associated with Orion KL and NGC 1333 are derived, possibly indicating the outflow motions from the YSOs as well as the systemic motions of the powering sources.

The reconstruction of the Photographic Zenith Tube (PZT) at Ondřejov has been finished recently. The main improvement of the instrument consists in the replacement of the photographic plate with the CCD chip, and a completely new electronic control system. In addition to the astrometric use of the observations we intend to derive the variations of the local vertical and compare them with gravimetric observations of the nearby station Pecný.