A search for local sources of the S-component at decameter wavelengths

In an effort to find local sources of the Slowly Varying Component (SVC), an analysis is made of the episodical observations carried out since 1972 during periods of low solar activity at 20 and 25 MHz. In contrast to other writers who reported on successful observations of such sources (Kundu et al., 1977; Sastry et al., 1981, 1983), we have not found local sources, though we used the UTR-2 radio telescope to observe from several to several tens brightness distributions of the quiet Sun per day.The multiple daily measurements allowed tracing the dynamics of the burst development. As has been found, bursts of high intensity can give rise to nonthermal radiation from the region of generation, thus producing a considerable increase in the maximum brightness temperature of scans across the Sun. The relaxation time of this process is 20 to 30 min. It is not improbable that this is the effect responsible for large variations in the maximum brightness temperatures of the scans that Sastry et al. (1981) connected with the SVC.25 MHz radioheliograms of April 29 and 30, 1976, are presented which supplement the data of observations at Clark Lake (Kundu et al., 1977). It is shown that the sources observed there on April 27 and April 29, 1976, were most likely of nonthermal nature.We conclude that at present, in spite of reports of some workers, there is no convincing evidence for the existence of local SVC sources at decameter wavelengths. Their reality could be confirmed or denied by more observations with better radio telescopes and a better account of the specific features of the decameter band.Formely Division of Radio Astronomy, Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics.     

脉冲星的射电发射

脉冲星的射电辐射与其他天体物理辐射源有很大的不同 ,因为它们有着极高的亮温度和高度的线或圆偏振。极高的亮温度意味着起作用的发射机制一定是相干的。至今尚无对这种辐射普遍接受的模型。本文讨论了关于脉冲星的射电辐射产生和传播研究中的新进展。     

Spectral variability of LBV star V 532 (Romano’s star)

We present the results of studying the spectral and photometric variability of the luminous blue variable star V532 in M33. The photometric variations are traced from 1960 to 2010, spectral variations—from 1992 to 2009. The star has revealed an absolute maximum of visual brightness (1992–1994, high/cold state) and an absolute minimum (2007–2008, low/hot state) with a brightness difference of ΔB ≈ 2.3 ^m . The temperature estimates in the absolute maximum and absolute minimum were found to be T ∼ 22000 K and T ∼ 42000 K, respectively. The variability of the spectrum of V532 is fully consistent with the temperature variations in its photosphere, while both permitted and forbidden lines are formed in an extended stellar atmosphere. Broad components of the brightest lines were found, the broadening of these components is due to electron scattering in the wind parts closest to the photosphere. We measured the wind velocity as a difference between the emission and absorption peaks in the PCyg type profiles. The wind velocity clearly depends on the size of the stellar photosphere or on the visual brightness, when brightness declines, the wind velocity increases. In the absolute minimum a kinematic profile of the V532 atmosphere was detected. The wind velocity increases and its temperature declines with distance from the star. In the low/hot state, the spectral type of the star corresponds to WN8.5h, in the high/cold state—to WN11. We studied the evolution of V532 along with the evolution of AGCar and the massive WR binary HD5980 in SMC. During their visual minima, all the three stars perfectly fit with the WNL star sequence by Crowther and Smith (1997). However, when visual brightness increases, all the three stars form a separate sequence. It is possible that this reflects a new property of LBV stars, namely, in the high/cold states they do not pertain to the bona fide WNL stars.     

High Brightness Temperatures in IDV Sources

High brightness temperatures are a characteristic feature of IntraDay Variability (IDV) of extragalactic radio sources. Recent studies of the polarization properties of some IDV sources (e.g., 1150 812, PKS 0405-385 and 0716 714) have shown that these sources harbor several compact IDV components with angular sizes of -10-30/uas and very high polarizations (of up to -50%-70%). These results indicate the possibility of the existence of uniform magnetic fields in the IDV components. We investigate the incoherent synchrotron and self- Compton radiation of an anisotropic distribution of relativistic electrons which spin around the magnetic field lines at small pitch angles. The brightness temperature limit caused by second-order Compton losses is discussed and compared to the brightness temperatures derived from energy equipartition arguments. It is found that anisotropic distributions of electrons moving in ordered magnetic fields can raise the equipartition and Compton brightness temperatures by a factor of up to -3-5. This would remove some of the difficulties in the interpretation of extremely high intrinsic brightness temperatures of > 1012 K (or apparent brightness temperatures of - 1014 K with a Doppler factor of -30).     

Microwave,ultraviolet, and soft X-Ray observations of hale region 16898

Hale region 16898 was observed by the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope at 6 cm and by the Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter and the X-Ray Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. Optical pictures of the same active region were taken at Sacramento Peak, Big Bear, and Meudon Observatories. The radio emission mechanisms are identified by comparing radio data with ultraviolet and soft X-ray data. The height of the radio sources and the magnetic field strength at that height are deduced. A radio source above a large sunspot shows a crescent shaped depression of circular polarization and a high brightness temperature. The emission mechanism is identified as gyroresonance at the second and the third harmonic layers and it is found that the second harmonic layer, where the magnetic field strength is 900 G, must be in the corona. An extended loop-like source connecting the leading and the following part of the active region as well as the sources associated with small spots are mainly due to thermal free-free emission by hot and dense plasma which is also observed in ultraviolet and soft X-ray radiation. The calculated radio brightness temperature, using the physical parameters deduced from the ultraviolet and soft X-ray line intensities, agrees with the observed brightness temperature. The height of the low brightness temperature sources above the small spots is 6000 ± 3000 km and that above the large spot is less than 3000 km: the source above the large spot does not show any shift relative to the sunspot due to the projection effect. Very strong radio emission was found which was associated with the merging of a group of small spots into the large sunspot. In the same day, warm ( 10⁶ K) and dense matter was present above the large spot. Evidence for nonthermal emission is presented.     

The brightness temperatures of solar type III bursts

There is a characteristic maximum brightness temperature T _B 10¹⁵K for type III solar radio bursts in the solar wind. The suggestion is explored that the maximum observed values of T _Bmay be attributed to saturation of the processes involved in the plasma emission. The processes leading to fundamental and second harmonic emission saturate when T _Bis approximately equal to the effective temperature T _Lof the Langmuir waves. The expected maximum value of T _Bis estimated for this saturation model in two ways: from the growth rate for the beam instability, and from the maximum amplitude of the observed Langmuir turbulence. The agreement with the observed values is satisfactory in view of the uncertainties in the estimates (a) of the intrinsic brightness temperature from the observed brightness temperature, (b) of the actual growth rate of the beam instability, which must be driven by local, transient features (that are unobservable using available instruments) in the electron distribution, and (c) in the k-space volume filled by the Langmuir waves, and this is consistent with the observational data on two well-studied events at the orbit of the Earth and with statistical data for events over a range of radial distances from the Sun.     

Examples of extreme intraday variability

We present results of the ATCA IDV Survey of southern extragalactic radio sources. We discuss briefly the properties of the 22 new intraday variable sources discovered in the Survey. The follow-up observations of a few extreme examples of strong intraday variability are presented. We find that the characteristics of the total flux density fluctuations at different wavelengths are consistent with intersteller scintillations (ISS) of the microarcsecondsize soorten components. However, the scintillating components of a few extreme IDVs are characterized by the brightness temperatures far exceeding the T _B=10¹² K limit. The relativistic beaming invoked in such sources would require Doppler factors up to as high as δ∼ 10³. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Extragalactic sources with very asymmetric radio structure: VLA and MERLIN observations

As part of our study to understand the nature of extragalactic radio sources which are very asymmetric in the surface brightness of the two lobes, often with radio emission on only one side of the nucleus, we have observed a large number of them with high angular resolution and good surface brightness sensitivity at radio frequencies. In this paper we present VLA and MERLIN observations of 15 such sources. We discuss their observed structures and spectra, and possible explanations for their morphologies. We report evidence of a possible correlation between the hot-spot brightness ratio and the degree of core prominence, used as a Statistical measure of source orientation, suggesting that relativistic beaming of the hot-spot emission does play a significant role in the observed brightness asymmetry. To explain the apparently one-sided sources within the relativistic beaming framework, the velocities required are in the range of 0.2 to 0.8c. We discuss the possibility that the lobe which is seen to the south of the jet in 3C273 is the counter-lobe seen in projection. We also draw-attention to a number of one-sided sources with very weak cores, and discuss their possible nature.     

The effects of scattering on quiet Sun emission at frequencies less than 200 MHz

The problem of predicting the radio emission from the quiet Sun for meter and decameter waves may be formulated in terms of a standard radiative transfer problem with conservative scattering. One may therefore avoid the numerical complications involved in using a ray-tracing approach which incorporates a Monte-Carlo routine for representing scattering. The brightness and extent of the radio Sun are calculated for several values of the electron temperature and scattering parameter of Steinberg et al. (1971). It is concluded that the temperature and density model of Newkirk (1967) for solar maximum reasonably represents the observations. However, some observations appear to be inconsistent with scattering models and further observations are needed. It is shown (in Appendix B) that the standard ray-tracing technique incorporating a Monte-Carlo routine for the scattering may be replaced by a diffusion approximation.     

EVN observations of low-luminosity flat-spectrum active galactic nuclei

We present and discuss the results of very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI, EVN) observations of three low-luminosity     broad emission line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) carefully selected from a sample of flat-spectrum radio sources (CLASS). Based on the total and the extended radio power at 5 and at 1.4 GHz respectively, these objects should be technically classified as radio-quiet AGN and thus the origin of their radio emission is not clearly understood. The VLBI observations presented in this paper have revealed compact radio cores which imply a lower limit on the brightness temperature of about     . This result rules out a thermal origin for the radio emission and strongly suggests an emission mechanism similar to that observed in more powerful radio-loud AGNs. Since, by definition, the three objects show a flat (or inverted) radio spectrum between 1.4 and 8.4 GHz, the observed radio emission could be relativistically beamed. Multi-epoch VLBI observations can confirm this possibility in two years' time.     

Properties of OH Megamaser Galaxies in the Radio Continuum. II. Data Analysis

The properties of OH megamaser galaxies in the radio continuum are discussed. Many radio sources in OH megamaser galaxies exhibit relatively flat (α ≥ −0.5) radio spectra between frequencies of 1.49 and 8.44 GHz along with high brightness temperatures (T_b ≥ 10⁴ K). In these galaxies the line and radio continuum fluxes are not correlated. The continuum radio emission of OH megamasers is predominantly nonthermal and is associated either with an active nucleus or with compact star formation. The thermal component of the radio emission from these galaxies can be neglected. The observed flat radio spectra and high brightness temperatures imply the existence of an active galactic nucleus, although some megamasers may be associated with compact star formation.__________Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 281–290 (May 2005).     

Radio Intra-Day Variability: Answers and Questions

Intra-day variability (IDV) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) has been detected from gamma-ray energies to radio wavelengths. At high energies, such variability appears to be intrinsic to the sources themselves. However, at radio wavelengths, brightness temperatures as high as10¹⁸ to 10²¹ K are encountered if the IDV is intrinsic to the source. We discuss here the accumulating evidence showing that, at radio wavelengths where the highest brightness temperatures are encountered, interstellar scintillation (ISS) is the principal mechanism causing IDV. While ISS reduces the implied brightness temperatures, they still remain uncomfortably high. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Struktur und Entwicklung kompakter Radioquellen

A model is suggested which accounts for (i) the observed shape and angular variation of compact radio sources (especially the apparent superrelativistic velocities and the absence of contracting sources), (ii) the flux variation associated with the angular variation, and (iii) all the known cases of apparent occurence of surface brightness exceeding the theoretical upper limit provided by the inverse COMPTON effect, preserving the usual premises: cosmological origin of the redshift and incoherent synchrotron radiation of electrons. The model consists of a plasma ring expanding with moderate relativistic velocity. It provides two possibilities for estimating the distance of the sources by radio data: from the time dependence of the angular expansion and from the angular diameter and the shape of flux variation. In the context of cosmology this distances are „angular distances”︁ and therefore, if the redshift is also known, the HUBBLE constant or the acceleration parameter q₀ may be obtained. The second method is applied to BL Lac yielding approximately 6 Mpc. So the underlying galaxy would be a dwarf system of M ≈︂–13. The active nucleus of M ≈︂ – 16 is rather below the normal quasars. This seems very satisfactory in view of the short time scale of variations in BL Lac compared to the quasars.     

Quiet-Sun emission and local sources at meter and decimeter wavelengths and their relationship with the coronal neutral sheet

We analysed multifrequency 2-dimensional maps of the solar corona obtained with the Nançay radioheliograph during two solar rotations in 1986. We discuss the emission of the quiet Sun, coronal holes and local sources and its association with chromospheric and coronal features as well as with large-scale magnetic fields. The brightness temperature of the quiet Sun was 5 to 5.5 × 10⁵ K at 164 MHz and 4.5 to 5 × 10⁵ K at 408 MHz. A coronal hole, also detected in the 10830 Å He i line, had a brightness temperature of 4.5 × 10⁵ at 164 and 2.5 × 10⁵ at 408 MHz. We give statistics of source brightness temperatures (on the average 8% above the background at 164 MHz and 14% at 408 MHz), as well as distributions in longitude and latitude. Although we found no significant center-to-limb effect in the brightness temperature, the sources were not visible far from the central meridian (apparently a refraction effect). The brightest sources at 164 MHz were near, but not directly above active regions and had characteristics of faint type I continua. At 408 MHz some sources were observed directly above active regions and one was unambiguously a type I continuum. The majority of the fainter sources showed no association with chromospheric features seen on H synoptic charts, including filaments. Most of them were detected at one frequency only. Sources identified at three frequencies (164, 327, and 408 MHz) were located in regions of enhanced large-scale magnetic field, some of them at the same location as decayed active regions visible one rotation before on synoptic H charts. Multifrequency sources are associated with maxima of the green line corona. The comparison with K-corona synoptic charts shows a striking association of the radio sources with dense coronal regions, associated with the coronal neutral sheet. Furthermore, we detected an enhanced brightness region which surrounds the local sources and is stable over at least one solar rotation. We call this feature a coronal plateau and we identify it with the radio counterpart of the coronal neutral sheet.     

The effects of large- and small-scale density structures on the radio emission from coronal streamers

The radio observations of the coronal streamers obtained using Clark Lake radioheliograph at 73.8, 50.0, and 38.5 MHz during a period of minimum activity in September 1986 are presented. Streamers appear to correlate with two prominent disk sources whose intensities fluctuated randomly. The variations in half-power diameter of the radio Sun are found to correspond with the variations in the white-light extents of the coronal streamers. It appears that the shape of the radio Sun is not a function of the phase of the solar cycle; instead it depends on the relative positions of the streamers in the corona. The observed peak brightness temperatures,T _B , of the streamers are found to be very low, being 6 × 10⁴ K.We compute the brightness temperature distribution along the equator by tracing the rays in the coronal plasma. The rays are deflected away by the streamers before reaching the critical density level, whereas they penetrate deeper into the coronal hole for small angles between the line of sight and the streamer axis. As a consequence, it is found that the streamers and coronal holes appear in the calculated equatorial brightness distribution as irregular brightness depressions and enhancements, respectively. The fine structures are found to disappear when the scattering due to small-scale density inhomogeneities is included in the ray-tracing calculations. The required relative level of density fluctuations, ₁ = N/N, is found to be greater than 12% to reduce the peak brightness temperature from 10⁶ K to 6 × 10⁴ K for all the three frequencies.On leave from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India.     

The brightness temperature problem in extreme intra-day variable quasars: a model for PKS 0405-385

I re-examine the brightness temperature problem in PKS 0405-385, which is an extreme intra-day variable radio quasar with an inferred brightness temperature of  ∼5 × 10¹⁴ K  at 5 GHz, well above the Compton catastrophe limit of  ∼10¹¹ K  that is reached when the synchrotron photon energy density exceeds the energy density of the magnetic field. If one takes into account the uncertainty in the distance to the ionized clouds responsible for interstellar scintillation causing rapid intra-day variability in PKS 0405-385, it is possible that the brightness temperature could be as low as  ∼10¹³ K  at 5 GHz, or even lower. The radio spectrum can be fitted by optically thin emission from mono-energetic electrons, or an electron spectrum with a low-energy cut-off such that the critical frequency of the lowest energy electrons is above the radio frequencies of interest. If one observes optically thin emission along a long narrow emission region, the average energy density in the emission region can be many orders of magnitude lower than calculated from the observed intensity if one assumed a spherical emission region. I discuss the physical conditions in the emission region and find that the Compton catastrophe can then be avoided using a reasonable Doppler factor. I also show that MeV to 100-GeV gamma-ray emission at observable flux levels should be expected from extreme intra-day variable sources such as PKS 0405-385.     

Observation of solar radio emission by the 22-m radio telescope at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory at 2.25 mm and 8.15 mm wavelengths

The results are given of observation of solar radio emission of the S-component at 8.15 mm-, and 2.25 mm- made with the 22 m radio telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Solar radio images are obtained at both wavelengths. The data are presented of radio emission intensity and brightness temperatures of 10 sources of the S-component as well as the result of a flare observed. The sources of the S-component appear to be opaque at millimetre wavelengths.     

Some features of the solar microwave emission and their connection with geomagnetic activity

The quiet component of the 9.1-cm solar radio emission is studied from the Stanford radioheliograms covering the period April–October 1964. The distribution of the brightness temperature in heliographic coordinates is not entirely uniform, but positive and negative departures from the average value appear at a number of stable locations. The most important negative departure crosses the central meridian 4 days before the maximum of the recurrent geomagnetic activity. Two out of three less important brightness depressions are connected with geomagnetic disturbances in the same manner. It is suggested that the brightness depressions are identical with M-regions.The result is confirmed by the construction of polytrope models for the solar wind, for various values of the parameters (the polytrope index) and T (the temperature in the inner corona). The velocities near the earth's orbit and in the inner corona are computed as functions of the model parameters, the density results from the observed proton flux at 1 AU. For quiet conditions the model with T = 1.26 × 10⁶ K and = 1.10 is appropriate. The corresponding density and temperature in the corona lead to a value of 4000 K for the contribution of the corona to the 9-cm brightness. For disturbed conditions the suitable model has the parameters T 2.0 × 10⁶ K, a 1.04. It being given that the proton flux at 1 AU is relatively constant, the equation of continuity leads to a low coronal density because of the high solar-wind velocity. The corresponding coronal contribution to the 9-cm brightness is of the order of 10 K. This confirms that the brightness temperature is considerably reduced in the regions where the enhanced solar wind originates. We suggest the name coronal depression for such regions.Papers II and III will appear in forthcoming issues of this journal.     

A search for electron cyclotron maser emission from compact binaries

Unipolar induction (UI) is a fundamental physical process, which occurs when a conducting body transverses a magnetic field. It has been suggested that UI is operating in RX J0806+15 and RX J1914+24, which are believed to be ultracompact binaries with orbital periods of 5.4 and 9.6 min, respectively. The UI model predicts that those two sources may be electron cyclotron maser sources at radio wavelengths. Other systems in which UI has been predicted to occur are short period extrasolar terrestrial planets with conducting cores. If UI is present, circularly polarized radio emission is predicted to be emitted. We have searched for this predicted radio emission from short period binaries using the Very Large Array (VLA) and Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). In one epoch, we find evidence for a radio source, coincident in position with the optical position of RX J0806+15. Although we cannot completely exclude that this is a chance alignment between the position of RX J0806+15 and an artefact in the data reduction process, the fact that it was detected at a significance level of 5.8σ and found to be transient suggests that it is more likely that RX J0806+15 is a transient radio source. We find an upper limit on the degree of circular polarization to be ∼50 per cent. The inferred brightness temperature exceeds 10¹⁸ K, which is too high for any known incoherent process, but is consistent with maser emission and UI being the driving mechanism. We did not detect radio emission from ES Cet, RX J1914+24 or Gliese 876.