Shear angle of magnetic fields

In this paper we introduce a new parameter, the shear angle of vector magnetic fields, , to describe the non-potentiality of magnetic fields in active regions, which is defined as the angle between the observed vector magnetic field and its corresponding current-free field. In the case of highly inclined field configurations, this angle is approximately equal to the angular shear, , defined by Hagyardet al. (1984). The angular shear, , can be considered as the projection of the shear angle, , on the photosphere. For the active region studied, the shear angle, , seems to have a better and neater correspondence with flare activity than does . The shear angle, , gives a clearer explanation of the non-potentiality of magnetic fields. It is a better measure of the deviation of the observed magnetic field from a potential field, and is directly related to the magnetic free energy stored in non-potential fields.     

On the pulsation amplitude of cepheid variables

On the basis of more abundant data a relation logPV/logR for cepheid variables (Fernie, 1965) is constructed. A linear relation between logP V and logR for classical cepheids is found, which perhaps has a break at R=10R . On the logR/logP diagram thes-cepheids (Efremov, 1968) show a distinct sequence. Alls-cepheids present a relative variation of the radii R/R0.075. The existence of non-s-cepheids with R/R0.075 raises a point about the evolutionary place of these stars (see Efremov, 1968). One could suppose that cepheids with logP>1.1 pulsate in the first overtone.     

Absolute and relative amplitudes of variations in radius of classical cepheids

On the basis of observational data for the absolute R and relative R/R amplitudes of variations in radius of galactic classical cepheids (55 stars from Balona and Stobie (1979) and 30 stars from Sollazzoet al. (1981)), four kinds of empirical linear relations are obtained: log(P V)–logR, logP–logR, log(P V)–log(R/R), and logP–log(R/R);P, R, and V are the pulsation periods, the mean stellar radii, and the amplitudes of light variations, respectively. Three groups of stars are considered: short-period cepheids (SPC)-with logP1.1; long-period cepheids (LPC)-with logP>1.1; and s-cepheids (sC). Both the R values and the R/R values increase withP andP V, for a given group of variables. A comparison is performed with our results obtained from data in other sources (Kurochkin, 1966; Gieren, 1982; etc.). The investigated relations can be applied for determining R and R/R of galactic classical cepheids, by using their observedP and V. All studied galactic classical cepheids have R/R<0.35, R<10R for SPC and 10R <R60R for LPC. The sC have smaller R and R/R values than other classical cepheids, at the same periods (the difference is about 2 times for R and 1.4–2.8 times for R/R); the studied sC have R/R in the range 0.025–0.075 and R in the range 1–3R (only Y Oph has R8R ).     

Observed oddities in the lines H,K, b and Hβ

We compare microphotometer intensity traces perpendicular to dispersion in simultaneous spectrograms of good spatial resolution traced at various 's in each of the lines. Cross correlations between the different traces show the following: (a) For each _K there is a corresponding _{b 1}at which the coefficient of correlation, r, is a maximum, usually > 0.8. (b) No such high correlations are found between H and H. (c) Comparison of traces in the continuum and at all observed 's in K, H, b₁, b₂ show a range of 's in each line over which r is very significantly negative, while H shows no such peculiarity.     

Properties of the solar chromosphere Hα spicules as observed spectrally

Time succession of 25 H spicules has been studied. The spectra are obtained at a height of 6 arc sec during 21 min (38 pictures) with the 53 cm Lyot coronagraph. Total intensities W, widths and radial velocities V _r are determined (about 650 H line profiles). For 14 spicules the sign of V _r varies, for the rest the sign variation is absent or it is doubtful. Characterized period of V _r variation is 3–7 min with a mean amplitude of ± 4km s^–1. W and also vary with a similar period and mean amplitudes equal to 50% and 30% respectively. dependence of W (Figure 1) points to the existence of two spicules groups: group I (70%) characterized by relatively small W and (mean values are 0.08 Å and 1.3 Å respectively); group II comprising brighter (W 0.13 Å) spicules with wider profiles ( 1.6 Å). Group II may consist of the unresolved, superimposed group I spicules. We believe, that H spicules involve formations consisting of separate elements having the temperature of 6000 K and non-thermal velocities of 25 km s^–1.     

Mass loss in semi-detached binaries

Pre-Main-Sequence contracting objects, post-Main-Sequence expanding stars and mass-losing components of semi-detached systems all occupy more or less the same region in the conventional H-R-diagram. We make a transformation to variables (logL) and (logT _e), where is the difference between the observed quantity, logL or logT _e, and the value of that quantity which a star of the same mass would have on the empirical Main Sequence. It is demonstrated that a plot between the new variables clearly separates the mass-losing stars from other objects which is essentially an effect of the increasing abundance of helium relative to hydrogen.Paper presented at the Lembang-Bamberg IAU Colloquium No. 80 on Double Stars: Physical Properties and Generic Relations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, 3–7 June, 1983.     

A new type of a photoelectric magnetograph

The electro-optic deflector as an analyzer of circular polarization in the photoelectric magnetograph is described. The electro-optic deflector consists of an electro-optic crystal and a polarizing beamsplitter. The plane bifurcation of this beamsplitter coincides with the spectrograph dispersion direction. The beamsplitter bifurcates a spectral line in two components. The distance between them is ₀. The photometer slit is situated between these components. Both components of Zeeman splitting fall on the photometer slit but the distance between them varies from ₀ + 2 _H to ₀ – 2 _H (where _H is the Zeeman splitting) with the electric voltage frequency applied to the electro-optic crystal. The intensity variations at the photometer slit are proportional to 4 _H .     

On the interpretation of the π-component splitting in sunspot spectra

It is shown that in order to explain the observed splitting of the -component in the sunspot umbra spectrum by the hypothesis of the coexistence in sunspots of weak- and strong-field regions with opposite polarities, one has to admit the additional assumption that in the weak-field regions the Doppler halfwidth ( _D) and the ratio between line opacity and continuum opacity ( ₀) are both less than those in the strong-field regions.     

On the solar oblateness: The combined effect of a pole-equator difference in effective temperature and mechanical heating

With the help of a model atmosphere of the Sun we evaluate the pole-equator difference in flux (as measured by Dicke and Goldenberg) assuming the following type of pole-equator temperature difference (T=T _e –T _p ): (a) T 2K for > ₀ (₀ 0.05); (b) T 10K for < ₀.The small T at all optical depths given by (a) could, for example, be due to a pole-equator difference in effective temperatures. At small optical depths a difference in mechanical heating could give rise to the larger temperature difference given by (b). We compare the results of our calculations with Dicke and Goldenberg's observations.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

The change in satellite orbital inclination caused by a rotating atmosphere with day-to-night density variation

The theory specifying the change i in a satellite's orbital inclination due to atmospheric rotation, in terms of the decrease in orbital period T, has been extended to an atmosphere with sinusoidal variation of density between day and night. It is found that with certain special sets of values for the orbital parameters, the day-to-night variation in the Earth's atmosphere can alter the equation for i/T by as much as 25% though only for a few days. Appreciable changes in i/T persisting for several months can only occur for certain resonant orbits: the maximum change is then about 8%. Near-resonance is very unlikely, but the resonance conditions are derived so that orbits can be recognised and avoided.     

The light curved in the CM field

In this paper we introduce the CM field in Sections 2 and 3 based on the paper by Wang and Peng (1985), and calculate the light curved in the CM field in Section 4. The result shows thatP makes _CM larger than _C at , and smaller at . Under a special circumstance which source, CM lens, and observer are in the same line, if we get | ₀₌₀ , and | _=/2 , we can determine theP(M) andQ(M) of the CM lens,M is the mass of the CM lens.     

On the relation of SPA measured at VLF to solar microwave burst energies

A surprisingly good correlation has been found for SPA measured at VLF propagation () and 7 GHz solar microwave burst energies (E ). The data are correlated in the form = a log E + b and include all kind of solar events, irrespectively from type, complexity or duration. Soft X-ray peak fluxes (I _x) have a known similar correlation to SPA, and a functional relationship of the form 479-01 can be established. As one practical application, the energies from solar events can be reasonably well inferred from SPA data, which are quite reliable and easily obtainable.     

The effect of increasing helium content and disk dwarfs evolution on the chemical enrichment of the Galaxy

This paper deals with two main effects: First the empirical metal abundance distribution in Main Sequence disk dwarfs of the solar neighbourhood, and second, the theoretical possibility of (i) an increased helium content as the Galaxy evolves, and (ii) the presence of evolutionary effects in disk dwarfs (i.e., the age of some or all stars considered up to the subgiant phase is not necessarily longer than the age of the galactic disk). We take into account a linear increase of helium content with metal content, and we impose some constraints relative to initial, solar and present-day observed values ofY andZ, and to observed relative helium to heavy element enrichment, Y/Z. In this way, little influence is found on the empirical metal abundance distribution in the range 0Y/Z3, while larger values of Y/Z would lead to a more significant influence. Evolved and unevolved theoretical metal abundance distributions are derived by accounting for a two-phase model of chemical evolution of galaxies and for a linear mass dependence of star lifetimes in the spectral range G2V–G8V, and are compared with the empirical distribution. All are in satisfactory agreement due to systematic shift data by different observations; several values o collapse timeT _c and age of the GalaxyT are also considered. Finally, models of chemical evolution invoking homogeneous collapse without infall and inhomogeneous collapse with infall, are briefly discussed relative to the empirical metal abundance distribution in Main Sequence disk dwarfs of the solar neighbourhood.     

A New Method for Resolving the 180° Ambiguity in Solar Vector Magnetograms

We present a new method to resolve the 180° ambiguity for solar vector magnetogram measurements. The basic assumption is that the magnetic shear angle (), which is defined as the difference between the azimuth components of observed and potential fields, approximately follows a normal distribution. The new method is composed of three steps. First, we apply the potential field method to determine the azimuthal components of the observed magnetic fields. Second, we resolve the ambiguity with a new criterion: –90°+_mp lele90°+_mp, where _mp is the most probable value of magnetic shear angle from its number distribution. Finally, to remove some localized field discontinuities, we use the criterion B _tB _mt ge0, where B _t and B _mt are an observed transverse field and its mean value for a small surrounding region, respectively. For an illustration, we have applied the new ambiguity removal method (Uniform Shear Method) to a vector magnetogram which covers a highly sheared region near the polarity inversion line of NOAA AR 0039. As a result, we have found that the new ambiguity solution was successful and removed spatial discontinuities in the transverse vector fields produced in the magnetogram by the potential field method. It is also found that our solution to the ambiguity gives nearly the same results, for highly sheared vector magnetograms and vertical current density distributions, of NOAA AR 5747 and AR 6233 as those of other methods. The validity of the basic assumption for an approximate normal distribution is demonstrated by the number distributions of magnetic shear angle for the three active regions under consideration.     

Acoustic oscillations in the K2III star arcturus

Simultaneous spectrometric and photometric observations have been performed, on the red giant star Arcturus ( Boo), in a search for radial velocity or luminosity variations related to global oscillations of the stellar structure. From a preliminary analysis of the spectrometric data, several frequencies have been discovered in the range from 1 to 50 Hz, the highest amplitude being of 60 ms^–1 at 4.3 Hz. From the analysis of the photometric data, slight evidence of this variation has been found, yielding a value of V/m=48 km s^–1 mag^–1.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

On the relation between the amplitude of light and radial velocity variations of β Canis Majoris stars

The relation between the amplitude of light m and the amplitude of the radial velocity 2K for Canis Majoris stars is investigated. A linear relationship between m and 2K is found. However, the two stars BW Vul and Sco, which have the largest radial velocity variations, do not seem to share this relationship.     

Comparison between some Hα and X-ray flares

In the present paper, H-evolutive curves of chromospheric events are compared with flux evolutive curves of X-ray events observed at the same time in different spectral regions. A correspondence between the emissions E(I _H/I _chr)'s at higher and higher H-intensity levels, and the X-ray fluxes F()'s in harder and harder -ranges is shown. Further, the present observations seem to indicate the existence of a single triggering mechanism during the flash-phase of a flare. It is also shown that these results may be in agreement with Brown's model for chromospheric flares.     

Detection of background gravitational radiation by Doppler tracking of spacecraft

Low-frequency gravitational radiation, with wavelengths reaching or exceeding interplanetary distances, and with a mean energy density of the order of the critical cosmological density _c , generates a frequency-shift of order/10^–15 h ₀(1/10⁸km)(/ _c )^1/2 in electromagnetic signals transponded by interplanetary spacecraft at a distancel from the Earth.     

The velocity correlation function in cosmic-ray diffusion theory

The concept of velocity correlation functions is introduced and applied to the calculation of cosmic ray spatial diffusion coefficients. It is assumed that the pitch angle scattering coefficient is already known from some other theory, and is reasonably well-behaved. Previous results for the coefficient for diffusion parallel to the mean field are recovered when the velocity-changing mechanism is artificially restricted to pitch angle scattering. The velocity correlation method is then applied to the more general case where there are fluctuations in the local mean field. It is found that the parallel diffusion coefficient is reduced in proportion to the amplitude of the field fluctuations, and that the ratio of the perpendicular to parallel diffusion coefficients cannot be greater than B _x ² /B ₀ ² . It is shown in the appendix that the Liouville form of the scattering equation implies that the Fokker-Planck coefficients ²/t=2D and /t=D /, and that all higher-order coefficients are identically zero.     

The ellipsoidal variables IV: Light variations

The V variations of ellipsoidal variables are investigated as a function of the spectral type of the primary. A model is developed on the assumption that the primary has near Main-Sequence characteristics. It is argued that the observed minimum in the V variations around spectral type F is real and is due to variations in the gravity-darkening exponent . The absolute upper limit to V variations is found to be 0.2 mag.