Solar quadrupole moment and purely relativistic gravitation contributions to Mercury's perihelion advance

The perihelion advance of the orbit of Mercury has long been one of the observational cornerstones for testing General Relativity (G.R.).The main goal of this paper is to discuss how, presently, observational and theoretical constraints may challenge Einstein's theory of gravitation characterized by β=γ=1. To achieve this purpose, we will first recall the experimental constraints upon the Eddington-Robertson parameters γ,β and the observational bounds for the perihelion advance of Mercury, Δω_obs. A second point will address the values given, up to now, to the solar quadrupole moment by several authors. Then, we will briefly comment why we use a recent theoretical determination of the solar quadrupole moment, J ₂=(2.0 ± 0.4) 10^-7, which takes into account both surfacic and internal differential rotation, in order to compute the solar contribution to Mercury's perihelion advance. Further on, combining bounds on γ and J ₂ contributions, and taking into account the observational data range for Δω_obs,we will be able to give a range of values for β. Alternatively, taking into account the observed value of Δω_obs, one can deduce a dynamical estimation of J ₂ in the setting of G.R. This point is important as it provides a solar model independent estimation that can be confronted with other determinations of J ₂ based upon solar theory and solar observations (oscillation data, oblateness...). Finally, a glimpse at future satellite experiments will help us to understand how stronger constraints upon the parameter space (γω J ₂) as well as a separation of the two contributions (from the quadrupole moment, J ₂, or purely relativistic, 2α²+2αγ–β) might be expected in the future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Instability of LBV stars against radial oscillations

Hydrodynamic calculations of nonlinear radial oscillations of LBV stars with effective temperatures 1.5 × 10⁴ K ⩽ T _eff ⩽ 3 × 10⁴ K and luminosities 1.2 × 10⁶ L _⊙ ⩽ L ⩽ 1.9 × 10⁶ L _⊙ have been performed. Models for the evolutionary sequences of Population I stars (X = 0.7, Z = 0.02) with initial masses 70M _⊙ ⩽ M _ZAMS ⩽ 90M _⊙ at the initial helium burning stage have been used as the initial conditions. The radial oscillations develop on a dynamical time scale and are nonlinear traveling waves propagating from the core boundary to the stellar surface. The amplitude of the velocity variations for the outer layers is several hundred km s⁻¹, while the bolometric magnitude variations are within ΔM _bol ⩽ 0_· ^m 2. The onset of oscillations is not related to the κ-mechanism and is attributable to the instability of a self-gravitating envelope gas whose adiabatic index is close to its critical value of Γ₁ = 4/3 due to the dominant contribution of radiation in the internal energy and pressure. The interval of magnitude variation periods (6 days ≤ II ≤ 31 days) encompasses all currently available estimates of the microvariability periods for LBV stars, suggesting that this type of nonstationarity is pulsational in origin.     

A Colliding-Winds Interpretation of the U Orbital Variation of the Symbiotic Binary AG Pegasi

The photometric U orbital variations of the symbiotic binary AG Peg, caused by occultation of a bright gaseous region by the M giant in this system, are used to determine the geometry of this region whose existence is explained in the framework of the colliding winds model. The emission of the bright region varies and a particular value of its mean density of 2–3 10¹⁰ cm^-3 has been derived. The causes for the irregular variations of the light in the orbital minimum and maximum are discussed. It is also obtained, when the mass-loss rate of the hot companion of the system decreases to about 5 10^-10 Ms _⊙ yr^-1, this bright region will disappear. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Measurement of the orbital period of the X-ray burster GS 1826-238 based on observations of its optical brightness variations

The variability of the optical and X-ray fluxes from the binary GS 1826-238 is investigated. An epoch-folding analysis of the optical data obtained with the RTT-150 telescope in 2003–2004 has revealed periodic brightness variations in the source with a period P _orb = 2.24940 ± 0.00015 h with a high statistical significance. When estimating the detection significance of the periodic signal, we have specially taken into account the presence of a powerful aperiodic component (“red noise”) in the source’s brightness variability. The source’s power density spectra in the frequency range ∼10⁻⁵–0.01 Hz have been obtained. We have detected a statistically significant break in the power density spectrum of GS 1826-238 at a frequency ν _br ≈ (8.48 ± 0.14) × 10⁻⁵ Hz in both optical and X-ray energy bands. We have estimated the orbital period of the binary GS 1826-238 using the correlation between the break frequency in the power density spectrum and the orbital period of binaries, P _orb ∝ 1/ν _br, found by Gilfanov and Arefiev (2005): P _orb = 3.7 ± 0.8 h and P _orb = 11.3 ± 5.9 h when using Sco X-1 and 1H 16267-273, respectively, as reference sources. It seems to us that the method for estimating the orbital periods of low-mass X-ray binaries using the correlation P _orb ∝ 1/ν _br may turn out to be very promising, especially for persistent low-luminosity X-ray binaries.     

Do Average Hamiltonians Exist?

The word "average" and its variations became popular in the sixties and implicitly carried the idea that "averaging" methods lead to "average" Hamiltonians. However, given the Hamiltonian H = H₀(J) + ∈R(θ, J), (∈ < < 1), the problem of transforming it into a new Hamiltonian H^* (J^*) (dependent only on the new actions J^*), through a canonical transformation given by zero-average trigonometrical series has no general solution at orders higher than the first. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Temperature of Polar Corona of the Sun According to Kislovodsk Observations During 1957–2002

We continued a study of the long-term variations of temperature in the solar corona at all latitudes (Makarov, Tlatov, and Callebaut, 2002a). The series of the green (Fe xiv 530.3 nm; KI₅₃₀₃) and red (Fe x 637.4 nm; KI₆₃₇₄) coronal intensities for 1957–2002 has been obtained using the coronal observations at the Kislovodsk Solar Station. The mean monthly coronal intensities have been calculated at all latitudes (0–90^˚) and in the high latitude (45–90^˚) zones. It was found that the value of KI₆₃₇₄/KI₅₃₀₃increased about 2.0 times at the high latitudes during the last 45 years. This corresponds to a decrease of the average temperature by 0.1 ×10⁶K of the polar corona. We suppose that a polar decrease of coronal temperature is connected with an increase of the area of polar zones A _PZoccupied by unipolar magnetic fields (Makarov et al., 2002) and, probably, with an increase of the area of polar coronal holes. The maximum ratio KI₆₃₇₄/KI₅₃₀₃is observed during the minimum sunspot activity.     

Helium contamination from the progenitor stars of planetary nebulae: The He/H radial gradient and the ΔY / ΔZ enrichment ratio

In this work, two aspects of the chemical evolution of ⁴He in the Galaxy are considered on the basis of a sample of disk planetary nebulae (PN). First, an application of corrections owing to the contamination of ⁴He from the evolution of the progenitor stars shows that the He/H abundance by number of atoms is reduced by 0.012 to 0.015 in average, leading to an essentially flat He/H radial distribution. Second, a determination of the helium to heavy element enrichment ratio using the same corrections leads to values in the range 2.8 < ΔY / ΔZ < 3.6 for Y _p = 0.23 and 2.0 < ΔY / ΔZ < 2.8 for Y _p = 0.24, in good agreement with recent independent determinations and theoretical models. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Tritium chain of the hydrogen cycle of thermonuclear reactions in the solar interior

The tritium chain of the hydrogen cycle on the Sun including the reactions ³He(e⁻, ν _e) ³H(p, γ)⁴He is considered. The flux of tritium neutrinos at a distance of 1 AU is 8.1 × 10⁴ cm⁻² s⁻¹. It exceeds the neutrino flux from the (hep)-reaction by one order of magnitude. The radial distribution of the yield of ³H neutrinos inside the Sun and their energy spectrum, which has the form of a line at an energy of 2.5–3.0 keV, have also been calculated. The flux of thermal tritium neutrinos is accompanied by a very weak flux of antineutrinos (∼10³ cm⁻² yr⁻¹) with an energy below 18.6 keV. These antineutrinos are produced in the URCA processes ³He ⇆ ³H.     

How does inflation depend upon the nature of fluids filling up the universe in brane world scenario?

By constructing different parameters which are able to give us the information about our universe during inflation, (specially at the start and the end of the inflationary universe) a brief idea of brane world inflation is given in this work. What will be the size of the universe at the end of inflation, i.e., how many times will it grow than the original size is been speculated and analysed thereafter. Different kinds of fluids are taken to be the matter inside the brane. It is observed that in the case of highly positive pressure giving gas like polytropic, the size of the universe at the end of inflation is comparatively smaller. Whereas for negative pressure creators (like Chaplygin gas) this size is much bigger. Except these two cases, inflation has been studied for barotropic fluid and linear red shift parametrization ω(z)=ω ₀+ω ₁ z too. For them the size of the universe after inflation is much more high. We also have seen that this size does not depend upon the potential energy at the end of the inflation. On the contrary, there is a high impact of the initial potential energy upon the size of inflation.     

A search for protocliisters atz = 3.3

We have used the Very Large Array to image a single field in a set of adjacent frequency bands around 333.0 MHz in an attempt to detect 21 cm emission from large scale H I inhomogeneities at a redshift of z = 3.3. Following the subtraction of continuum radio sources, the absence of any spectral signals apart from that expected due to the system thermal noise has been used to derive constraints on the evolutionary scenario leading to the formation of the present day clusters of galaxies. The observations rule out the existence of H I protoclusters atz = 3.3 with masses ≃3.5 × 10¹⁴ M _⊙ in H I gas and space density exceeding (74 Mpc)⁻³. This indicates that the present day rich clusters of galaxies either formed as gaseous protocluster condensates prior toz = 3.3 or else they formed through the clustering of their constituent galaxies.     

Further confirmations of mass transfer in Algol type binary U Sagittae

This paper describes how a new photometric V light curve solution of Algol type binary U Sge was obtained using Wilson–Devinney code. I also discuss how the physical and orbital parameters, along with absolute dimensions of the system, were determined. The Roche lobe configurations of the system indicate that the secondary component has filled its Roche lobe and therefore is losing mass at the rate of 6.15×10⁻⁷ M _sun yr⁻¹. The conservative mass flow is the most likely process in this system.     

On 17 – 22 January 2005 Events in Space Weather

This contribution is a follow-up to the recent paper of Kuznetsov et al. (Contrib. Astron. Obs. Skalnaté Pleso 36, 85, 2006) on the ground level enhancement (GLE) on 20 January 2005. We focused on a study of Forbush decrease (FD) of 17 – 18 and 21 – 22 January 2005, respectively. The data from the neutron monitor at Lomnicky Štít (1 min counts) and from the Geomagnetic Observatory in Hurbanovo, both in Slovakia, were used as the basis for our investigation. The data on magnetic field and solar wind from GOES 10 and 12, SOHO-CELIAS, ACE and WIND satellites were used for better understanding of the global evolution of the event. The magnetic field is transformed to the RTN (Radial – Tangential – Normal) system where only the disturbed part of the field is compared, i.e., daily variations and a constant part are subtracted. The field reduction method is described. Our results are temporal vector diagrams of variation of all parameters at all positions from where we used the data. The amplitudes of |B| exceed 100 nT and variations during the arrival of the wavefront of CME take place simultaneously at the ground-based station and at GOES satellites. The character of the variations is as if there would be regions with the dominant electric charge of opposite signs, or electric currents with different orientations in the CME. On the basis of the values v _p and n _p and using certain assumptions we determined the mass of CME on 17 January and 21 January, respectively, of 10¹² kg. A decrease of the cosmic ray level runs suddenly (during 10 minutes), starting, however, about two hours after a sudden change of the magnetic field.     

Discovery of a Giant Radio Halo in a Massive Merging Cluster at z?=?0.443

We have discovered a giant radio halo in the massive merging cluster MACSJ0417.5-1154. This cluster, at a redshift of 0.443, is one of the most X-ray luminous galaxy cluster in the MAssive Cluster Survey (MACS) with an X-ray luminosity in the 0.1–2.4 keV band of 2.9×10⁴⁵ erg s^− 1. Recent observations from GMRT at 230 and 610 MHz have revealed a radio halo of ∼ 1.2 × 0.3 Mpc² in extent. This halo is elongated along the North-West, similar to the morphology of the X-ray emission from Chandra. The 1400 MHz radio luminosity (L _r) of the halo is ∼2 × 10²⁵ W Hz^− 1, in good agreement with the value expected from the L _x − L _r correlation for cluster halos.     

Spectroscopic study of the variable planetary nebula IC 4997

Based on our spectroscopic observations of the variable planetary nebula IC 4997 in 2003–2009, we have obtained the relative fluxes in optical emission lines. The interstellar extinction c = 0.35 has been found from the Balmer decrement by taking into account the effect of self-absorption in hydrogen lines in dense nebular regions. The variations in the Balmer decrement point to variability of the self-absorption and circumstellar extinction. We have investigated the variations in the relative intensities of some spectral lines and their ratios with time. The drop in the ratios F(λ4363)/F(Hγ) and F(λ363)/F(λ4959) that began back in 1990–1995 has continued, suggesting a decrease in the electron density and temperature in the central nebular region. The ratio F(λ6731)/F(λ6717) has remained constant. It gives an estimate for the electron density in the outer regions of IC 4997, N _e ∼ 10⁴ cm⁻³.     

Infrared photometry for three RV Tau variable stars

We have analyzed our long-term (1995–2008) JHKLM photometry for three variable RV Tau supergiants. It follows from this analysis that: the amplitude of the JHK brightness variations is approximately the same, 0 ^m . 9–1 ^m , for the three stars; a negative linear trend is noticeable in the variations of the mean J brightness for AC Her; and the mean J brightness of R Sct and V Vul remained constant. The observed J brightness fluctuations in the supergiants are shown to be consistent either only with the temperature pulsations (AC Her and V Vul) or with the temperature and radial pulsations (R Sct). We have detected long-term pulsations in the J brightness and J-H color variations of the supergiants with the following characteristic time scales: ∼1500 days (AC Her), ∼3500 days (R Sct), and ∼800 and ∼1500 days (V Vul). Our search for a periodic component in the infrared brightness variations of the three stars has revealed periods that differ from those obtained from optical observations. We show that relatively hot dust shells (T _d ∼ 700–800 K) exist around the supergiants under study; the densest and most massive shell was observed for V Vul. The ranges of optical-depth variations for the dust shells were τ(1.25 μm) ≈ 0.04–0.10 (AC Her), ≈0.02–0.12 (R Sct), and ≈0.18–0.32 (V Vul). The spectral types in the infrared varied over narrower ranges than those that followed from optical observations of these stars.     

Kronos: exploring the depths of Saturn with probes and remote sensing through an international mission

Kronos is a mission aimed to measure in situ the chemical and isotopic compositions of the Saturnian atmosphere with two probes and also by remote sensing, in order to understand the origin, formation, and evolution of giant planets in general, including extrasolar planets. The abundances of noble gases, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and their compounds, as well as of the D/H, ⁴He/³He, ²²Ne/²¹Ne/²⁰Ne, ³⁶Ar/³⁸Ar, ¹³C/¹²C, ¹⁵N/¹⁴N, ¹⁸O/(¹⁷O)/¹⁶O, ¹³⁶Xe/¹³⁴Xe/¹³²Xe/¹³⁰Xe/¹²⁹Xe isotopic ratios will be measured by mass spectrometry on two probes entering the atmosphere of Saturn at two different locations near mid-latitudes, down to a pressure of 10 Bar. The global composition of Saturn will be investigated through these measurements, together with microwave radiometry determination of H₂O and NH₃ and their 3D variations. The dynamics of Saturn’s atmosphere will be investigated from: (1) measurements of pressure, temperature, vertical distribution of clouds and wind speed along the probes’ descent trajectories, and (2) determination of deep winds, differential rotation and convection with combined probe, gravity and radiometric measurements. Besides these primary goals, Kronos will also measure the intensities and characteristics of Saturn’s magnetic field inside the D ring as well as Saturn’s gravitational field, in order to constrain the abundance of heavy elements in Saturn’s interior and in its central core. Depending on the preferred architecture (flyby versus orbiter), Kronos will be in a position to measure the properties of Saturn’s innermost magnetosphere and to investigate the ring structure in order to understand how these tiny structures could have formed and survived up to the present times. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Strong and Weak Damping of Slow MHD Standing Waves in Hot Coronal Loops

Slow magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) standing wave oscillations in hot coronal loops for both strong (i.e. τ_d/P∼ 1) and weak (i.e. τ_d/P≥ 2) damping are investigated taking account of viscosity, thermal conductivity and optically thin radiation. The individual effect of the dissipative terms is not sufficient to explain the observed damping. However, the combined effect of these dissipative terms is sufficient to explain the observed strong damping, as well as weak damping seen by SUMER. We find that, the ratio of decay time (τ_d) and period (P) of wave, i.e., τ_d/P (which defines the modes of damping, whether it is strong or weak) is density dependent. By varying density from 10⁸ to 10¹⁰ cm⁻³ at a fixed temperature in the temperature range 6 – 10 MK, observed by SUMER, we get two sets of damping: one for which τ _d/P∼ 1 corresponds to strong damping that occurs at lower density and another that occurs at higher density for which τ_d/P ≥ 2 corresponds to weak damping. Contrary to strong-damped oscillations, the effect of optically thin radiation provides some additional dissipation apart from thermal conductivity and viscosity in weak-damped oscillations. We have, therefore, derived a resultant dispersion relation including the effect of optically thin radiation. Solutions of this dispersion relation illustrate how damping time varies with physical parameters of loops in both strong and weak damping cases.     

HD/H<Subscript>2</Subscript> molecular clouds in the early Universe: The problem of primordial deuterium

We have detected new HD absorption systems at high redshifts, z _abs = 2.626 and z _abs = 1.777, identified in the spectra of the quasars J0812+3208 and Q1331+170, respectively. Each of these systems consists of two subsystems. The HD column densities have been determined: log N _HD^A = 15.70 ± 0.07 for z _A = 2.626443(2) and log N _HD^B = 12.98 ± 0.22 for z _B = 2.626276(2) in the spectrum of J0812+3208 and log N _HD^C = 14.83 ± 0.15 for z _C = 1.77637(2) and log N _HD^D = 14.61 ± 0.20 for z _D = 1.77670(3) in the spectrum of Q1331+170. The measured HD/H₂ ratio for three of these subsystems has been found to be considerably higher than its values typical of clouds in our Galaxy.We discuss the problem of determining the primordial deuterium abundance, which is most sensitive to the baryon density of the Universe Ω_b. Using a well-known model for the chemistry of a molecular cloud, we have estimated the isotopic ratio D/H=HD/2H₂ = (2.97 ± 0.55) × 10⁻⁵ and the corresponding baryon density Ω_b h ² = 0.0205_−0.0020^+0.0025. This value is in good agreement with Ω_b h ² = 0.0226_−0.0006^0.0006 obtained by analyzing the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy. However, in high-redshift clouds, under conditions of low metallicity and low dust content, hydrogen may be incompletely molecularized even in the case of self-shielding. In this situation, the HD/2H₂ ratio may not correspond to the actual D/H isotopic ratio. We have estimated the cloud molecularization dynamics and the influence of cosmological evolutionary effects on it.     

Classical and relativistic node precessional effects in WASP-33b and perspectives for detecting them

WASP-33 is a fast rotating, main sequence star which hosts a hot Jupiter moving along a retrograde and almost polar orbit with semi-major axis a=0.02 au and eccentricity provisionally set to e=0. The quadrupole mass moment J₂^*J_{2}^{\star} and the proper angular momentum S _⋆ of the star are 1900 and 400 times, respectively, larger than those of the Sun. Thus, huge classical and general relativistic non-Keplerian orbital effects should take place in such a system. In particular, the large inclination Ψ_⋆ of the orbit of WASP-33b to the star’s equator allows to consider the node precession [(W)\dot]\dot{\Omega} and the related time variation dt _d /dt of the transit duration t _d . The WASP-33b node rate due to J₂^*J_{2}^{\star} is 9×10⁹ times larger than the same effect for Mercury induced by the Sun’s oblateness, while the general relativistic gravitomagnetic node precession is 3×10⁵ times larger than the Lense-Thirring effect for Mercury due to the Sun’s rotation. We also consider the effect of the centrifugal oblateness of the planet itself and of a putative distant third body X. The magnitudes of the induced time change in the transit duration are of the order of 3×10⁻⁶,2×10⁻⁷,8×10⁻⁹ for J₂^*J_{2}^{\star}, the planet’s rotational oblateness and general relativity, respectively. A yet undiscovered planet X with the mass of Jupiter orbiting at more than 1 au would induce a transit duration variation of less than 4×10⁻⁹. A conservative evaluation of the accuracy in measuring dt _d /dt over 10 yr points towards ≈10⁻⁸. The analysis presented here will be applicable also to other exoplanets with similar features if and when they will ne discovered.     

Studying the first galaxies with ALMA

We discuss observations of the first galaxies, within cosmic reionization, at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths. We present a summary of current observations of the host galaxies of the most distant QSOs (z∼6). These observations reveal the gas, dust, and star formation in the host galaxies on kpc-scales. These data imply an enriched ISM in the QSO host galaxies within 1 Gyr of the big bang, and are consistent with models of coeval supermassive black hole and spheroidal galaxy formation in major mergers at high redshift. Current instruments are limited to studying truly pathologic objects at these redshifts, meaning hyper-luminous infrared galaxies (L _FIR ∼10¹³ L _⊙). ALMA will provide the one to two orders of magnitude improvement in millimeter astronomy required to study normal star forming galaxies (i.e. Ly-α emitters) at z∼6. ALMA will reveal, at sub-kpc spatial resolution, the thermal gas and dust—the fundamental fuel for star formation—in galaxies into cosmic reionization.