An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The property of events occurring → simultaneously.

Noun from → simultaneous; → -ity.

1) General: Happening, existing, or operating at the same time.
2) In a → space-time diagram, the points that have the same time values. Two events that are simultaneous in one → inertial frame are not, in general, simultaneous in another inertial reference frame moving relative to the first. → relativity of simultaneity. Compare → synchronous.

From L.L. simultaneus, from L. simul "at the same time" + -taneous, abstracted from → spontaneous.

Hamzamân, from ham-, → syn- + zamân, → time.

In trigonometry, the function of an acute angle of a right triangle represented by the ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse.

Greek mathematicians were not aware of the advantages of sine and instead used chord. The invention of this function is a great Indian contribution. It seems that Aryabhata (c. AD 500) was the first who coined a term in Skt. for this concept: árdha-jiyā- "half chord," which was later shortened to jiyā- "chord." This Skt. word was subsequently loaned in Ar. and corrupted to jayb (جیب). Later on Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187), who translated Ar. scientific texts in L., took the corrupted Skt. form jayb for Ar. jayb "pocket, bundle, bosom, fold," and translated it to L. sinus "pocket, fold, curve." The Skt. jiyā- "chord, bow-string;" is cognate with Av. jiiā- "bow-string;" Pers. zeh "chord, string;" → zij "astronomical table;" PIE base *g^whi- "thread, tendon" (from which derive also Gk. bios "bow;" L. filum "thread;" Russ. žca "thread").

Sinus loanword from Fr., as above.

A periodic oscillation that is defined by the function y = sin x.

→ sine; → wave.

Only one in number; one only; unique; sole.

M.E., from O.Fr. sengle "being one, separate," from L. singulus "one, individual, separate," from sim- (stem of simplus) + diminutive suffix, → -ule.

Tak"single, alone," related to tâq "odd, single," tâ, tâh "piece, part; fold, plait, ply;" Mid.Pers. tak "single," tâg, tâk, tâi "unit, piece."

A type of scattering where photons are scattered only once. Single scattering dominates in → optically thin media, since photons have a high probability of exiting the medium (e.g., a thin cloud) before being scattered again.

→ single; → scattering.

A radio astronomical observation which uses only one antenna, in contrast to interferometric observations.

→ single; → dish; → observation.

A → spectroscopic binary in which only one set of → spectral lines is detectable. The binary nature of the system is deduced from the fact that the spectral lines exhibit periodic → Doppler shifts due to orbital motions in the system. Same as → SB1 binary. See also: → double-lined binary.

→ single; → line; → binary.

A single unit; an unpaired or separate item. → doublet; → octet; → quadruplet.

From → single + -et diminutive suffix, M.E. from O.F. -et (masc.), -ette (fem.).

Taktâyé, literally "single-folded," from tak, → single, + -tâyé, from tâ- "fold, plait, ply; piece, part;" Mid.Pers. tâg "piece, part" + -yé nuance suffix.

In atomic physics, the electronic state of an atom or molecule for which the total → spin angular momentum is zero.

→ singlet; → state.

An atom that has lost one electron and has become a positive ion.

→ single; → ionized; → atom.

A carbon atom → singly ionized by a photon of energy 11.3 eV. The ion C⁺ emits a → fine-structure line (²P_3/2→ ²P_1/2) at 157.7 μm when excitation conditions are satisfied (critical density ~ 3 x 10³ cm^-3). In → photodissociation regions, [C II] 157.7 μm is a major cooling line for regions exposed to significant → far ultraviolet (FUV) photon fluxes. In Galactic → H II regions, as well as in the central regions of external galaxies, the luminosity of the [C II] line is typically ~ 0.05-0.5% of the FUV luminosity and correlates well with → carbon monoxide (CO) line intensities.

→ single; → ionized; → carbon.

Math.: 1) Of or pertaining to a linear transformation from a vector space to itself that is not one-to-one.
2) Of or pertaining to a matrix having a determinant equal to zero.

M.E., from O.Fr. singuler "single, separate," from L. singularis "single, solitary," from singulus "one, individual, separate," from sim- (stem of simplus) + diminutive suffix.

Takin, from tak "single, alone," related to tâq "odd, single," tâ, tâh "piece, part; fold, plait, ply;" Mid.Pers. tak "single," tâg, tâk, tâi "unit, piece, after numerals" + -in adj. suffix.

In models of star formation, an isothermal sphere in which the density distribution in the static or nearly static outer envelope obeys an r^-2 power law. In the limit of infinite central concentration, the unstable equilibrium approaches the singular isothermal sphere which has the density and mass distributions ρ(r) = (a²/2πG)r^-2 and M(r) = (2a²/G)r, where a is the isothermal → sound speed inside the cloud, G is the → gravitational constant, and r the distance from the center (F. H. Shu, 1977, ApJ 214, 488).

→ singular; → isothermal; → sphere.

A → square matrix that does not have a → matrix inverse.

→ singular; → matrix.

The point M₀(x₀,y₀) of the curve F(x,y) = 0, where at least one of the → partial derivatives ∂F/∂x and ∂F/∂y vanishes. See also → ordinary point.

→ singular; → point.

Of partial differential equations, the solution which cannot be obtained from the general solution by particular choice of arbitrary functions. → general solution; → particular solution.

→ singular; → solution.

1) Math.: A point at which a given mathematical object is not defined.
2) Physics: A point in → space-time in which gravitational force causes space-time to have infinite curvature; matter is crushed to infinite density and zero volume. This happens at the center of a → black hole where space and time cease to exist as we know them, and the known laws of physics break down. See also → Schwarzschild singularity; → initial singularity.

→ singular + → -ity.

1) A region within a system where mass or energy is given up, in contrast to a → source, where mass or energy is released.
2) In hydrodynamics simulation codes of gaseous collapse and → accretion, such as → smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), a region of the flow that accretes incoming material but that does not allow it to leave. In in theses simulations an enormous dynamic range is usually encountered, which makes the full problem computationally infeasible. Indeed dynamic range requires enough resolution elements in both space and time to resolve the largest and smallest scales present in the problem. Sinks provide a way of concentrating resolution in regions of interest and evolving different regions with different time-steps. These entities can have stellar scale masses. See also → sink particle.

M.E. sinken, O.E. sincan, from verb; cf. O.S. sinkan, O.N. sökkva, M.Du. sinken, Du. zinken, O.H.G. sinkan, Ger. sinken, Goth. sigqan "to sink."

Câhak, from câh "a well" (Mid.Pers. câh "a well;" Av. cāt- "a well," from kan- "to dig," uskən- "to dig out;" O.Pers. kan- "to dig;" Mod.Pers. kandan "to dig;" cf. Skt. khan- "to dig," khanati "he digs," kha- "cavity, hollow, cave, aperture") + -ak diminutive suffix.

In hydrodynamics codes, a way of treating a collapsing or accreting region, such as a star, as a simple → point mass. Indeed, in many situations, the scale of interest is much larger than the scale of the → accreting object itself and it would be impossible to perform the calculation otherwise. → Sinks are generally modeled as → Lagrangian particles (see, e.g., Bates et al. 1995, MNRAS 277, 362; Krumholz et al. 2004, ApJ 611, 399; Federrath et al. 2010, ApJ 713, 269).

→ sink; → particle.