R. Schoen has asked whether the sphere and the cylinder are the only complete (almost) embedded constant mean curvature surfaces with finite absolute total curvature. We propose an infinite family of such surfaces. The existence of examples of this kind is supported by results of computer experiments we carried out using an algorithm developed by Oberknapp and Polthier. The cylinder of radius 1...

Aims. We measure the mass and kinematics of the massive molecular torus in the planetary nebula NGC 6302. The nebula is the proto-typical butterfly nebula. The origin of the wing-like morphology is disputed: determining the mass-loss history of the confining torus is an important step in understanding the formation of this structure. Methods. We performed submillimeter observations with JCMT an...

The mission of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is the demonstration of the physics basis required to extrapolate to the next steps for the spherical torus (ST), such as a plasma facing component test facility (NHTX) or an ST based component test facility (ST-CTF), and to support ITER. Key issues for the ST are transport, and steady state high β operation. To better understand ele...

The dust clouds in the torus of the quasar are irradiated by the central source, and the clouds at the inner radius of the torus re-radiate mostly in the near-infrared (NIR) wavebands. The ratio of the near-infrared luminosity to the bolometric luminosity LNIR/Lbol can therefore reflect the torus geometry to some extent. We find a significant correlation between the ratio of the near-infrared l...

A geometrically thick dusty torus in NGC 1068 has been unambiguously resolved by an infrared interferometry telescope. This implies clouds composing the dusty torus are undergoing supersonic collisions with each other. We show that the collisions form strong non-relativistic shocks, which accelerate populations of relativistic electrons. Torus reprocesses emission from accretion disk into infra...