Log(gf) for singly-ionized elements of the iron group

Moderately accurate oscillator strengths are obtained by application of systematic corrections to Warner's-log(gf) for the once ionized elements of the iron group. Corrections are derived by comparison of Warner's values with those of Kurucz-Peytremann (Scii, Tiii,Vii, Crii, Mnii, Coii, and Niii) and Kurucz (Feii).K–P andK derived log(gf) by semi-empirical methods for many transitions using scaled Thomas-Fermi-Dirac potentials for the atoms of the elements from B to Ni. Although their individual values may be seriously in error, it has been shown that their mean scales are acceptable, being affected at most by rather small errors. It is known, for example, that when interacting terms are not properly accounted for in the semi-empirical method, very small values are derived for log(gf); these were dropped away in calculating mean corrections as they exhibited gross deviations.The relations loggf(KP)–loggf(W) vs , loggf(W), andE _u (energy of the upper level) have been investigated, and constant corrections, or weak dependences are found.Using Warner's corrected log(gf) for these elements, we have shown in a rather qualitative way that abundances consistent with the values accepted at present are found in the solar photosphere.Research supported in part by the SECYT.     

Representation of the Earth's gravitational potential

The paper represents the Earth's gravitational potentialV, outside a sphere bounding the Earth, by means of its difference V from the author's spheroidal potential. The difference V is in turn represented as arising from a surface density on the sphere bounding the Earth. Because of the slow decrease with ordern of the normalized coefficients in the spherical harmonic expansion ofV, the density anomalies from which the higher coefficients arise must occur in regions close to the Earth's surface. The surface density is thus an idealization of the product of the density anomaly and the crustal thicknessb. Values of are computed from potential coefficients obtained from two sources, Rapp and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The two sources give qualitative agreement for the values of and for its contour map. The numerical values obtained for are compatible with the idea that the responsible density anomalies are reasonably small, i.e., less than 0.05 g/cm³, and occur in the crust alone.This paper was prepared under the sponsorship of the Electronics Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through NASA Grant NGR 22-009-311.     

Velocity dispersion profiles ofN-body simulations

The time evolution of the velocity dispersion as a function of radius, called v-profiles, of threeN-body simulations of Wielen are presented in units ofr/R _G (whereR _G is the gravitational or virial radius) and discussed as a function of mass sample. The evolution of the radial and tangential components of the velocity dispersion is discussed, and each v-profile is fitted to a simple power law in the halo (0.15r/R _G2.0). Several structural features appear at late time intervals: (a) an upturn in the radial component of v which occurs in a decreasing shell (closer to the core) in time, (b) the v-profile of the massive particles mimics that of the total sample, since equipartition of kinetic energy does not obtain, and (c) a local minimum atr0.3–0.5R _G appears in one model which coincides with the local minimum in the number density profiles and possibly with feature (a).The line-of-sight v-profile, called LS-profile, of each model as a function of time and mass sample are also presented and discussed. They contain the same structural features as the v-profiles. Projection factors at small radii are also discussed. The LS-profiles of the models can be compared with the observed velocity dispersion profiles of clusters of galaxies in Struble (1979a).     

Oscillations of a polytrope with a toroidal magnetic field

The radial and the non-radial (l=2) modes of oscillation of a gaseous polytrope with a toroidal magnetic field are examined using a variational principle. It is found that the frequencies of oscillation of the radial mode and the Kelvin mode (l=2) decrease due to the presence of the magnetic field. The shift in the frequency of the Kelvin mode may be split up into two parts, viz. the shift in frequency due to the magnetic field on the unperturbed sphere [(1²)m, say] and the shift in frequency due to the distortion of the structure by the magnetic field [(1²)s, say]. In the first order calculations using one parameter trial function, it is found that (1²)m is indeed positive but is overweighed by a negative (1²)s. In the second order calculations using a trial function with two variational parameters, we find that the general behaviour of (1²)m and (1²)s is unchanged but that (1²)m becomes negative for polytropic indicesn1.5.In Appendix I we study the effect of a small rotation and toroidal magnetic field on the structure of a polytrope. It is found that the resulting configuration is a prolate spheroid, a sphere or an oblate spheroid according as respectively. Here denotes the magnetic energy andT the kinetic energy due to rotation andq is a constant which depends on the polytropic indexn. The values ofq are given in Table I.     

On the Abundance of Holmium in the sun

The abundance of holmium (Z=67) in the Sun remains uncertain. The photospheric abundance, based on lines of Hoii, has been reported as + 0.26±0.16 (on the usual scale where log(H) = 12.00), while the meteoritic value is + 0.51±0.02. Cowan-code calculations have been undertaken to improve the partition function for this ion by including important contributions from unobserved levels arising from the (4f ¹¹6p+4f ¹⁰(5d+6s)²) group. Based on 6994 computed energy levels, the partition function for Hoii is 67.41 for a temperature of 6000 K. This is 1.5 times larger than the value derived from the 49 published levels. The new partition function alone leads to an increase in the solar abundance of Ho to log (Ho) =+ 0.43. This is within 0.08 dex of the meteoritic abundance. Support for this result has been obtained through LTE spectrum synthesis calculations of a previously unidentified weak line at 3416.38. Attributing the feature to Hoii, the observations may be fitted with log (Ho) =+ 0.53. This calculation assumes log (gf)=0.25 and is uncertain by at least 0.1 dex.     

Expanding and shearing magneto-viscous fluid cosmological model in general relativity

The object of this paper is to investigate the behavior of a magnetic field in a viscous fluid cosmological model. It has been assumed that the expansion () is proportional to the eigenvalue ₁ of the shear tensor _i ^j and the coefficient of shearing viscosity is proportional to the scalar of expansion. The paper also discusses the behavior of the model when the magnetic field tends to zero and comments on some other physical properties.     

Pulsars and interstellar medium: Multiple regression analysis of related parameters

An empirical relation which relates the 408 MHz galactic continuum background temperature (408GCBT) to dispersion measures, position and radio-luminosity of 325 pulsars is obtained by means of multple stepwise regression analysis. This relation showns that pulsars may be considered as galactic probes for the distribution of 408GCBT and interstellar electron density (IED) in interstellar medium (ISM).Peculiar pulsars (O-C±2.5) point out galactic regions where the observedT ₄₀₈ are higher (or lower) andn _e lower (or higher) than the averaged ones.Normal pulsars (–2.5T ₄₀₈ andn _e are in agreement, on, the average.Standard pulsars (O-C±0.05) show galactic regions where observed and computedT ₄₀₈ andn _e are in good agreement. Recent models of pulsar disk systems, suggested by Michel and Dessler (1981) could justify the conclusions drawn for peculiar pulsars having O-C>2.5.     

Search for a radio counterpart to GRB 940301 with westerbork

The COMPTEL instrument onboard theCompton Gamma-Ray Observatory imaged the bright gamma-ray burst GRB 940301 within 1.6 hours of the event, with a mean 1 error radius of 1.5°. The error region was subsequently refined by combining the COMPTEL location with the arc derived from differences in the event arrival time at the Ulysses and BATSE detectors. Westerbork observations of the COMPTEL error region began on March 4 1994 at 21 cm, however coverage of the refined position was not obtained until 32 days after the GRB occurrence, by which time the operating wavelength had changed to 92 cm. We have constrained the level of variability of sources within the triangulation arc-COMPTEL 2 error box region to be less than 40 mJy (5 upper limit) at 92 cm 41 days after the burst.     

The relationship between r.m.s. doppler velocities and temperature in the solar transition region

An attempt is made in this paper to determine the coefficient a in a power-law relationship of the form V ~T between the r.m.s. velocity fluctuation, V for raster images with 3 resolution and the temperature, T of line formation using SMM solar data. For T between 8000 and 10⁵ K, the data suggest a best fit with 3/4 < 1. It is argued, however, that unresolved fine structure tends to reduce the observed value of V and that higher resolution data may yield different values for . Skylab data have shown that the non-thermal line broadening velocity, , is proportional to T ^1/2. Also, for all temperatures less than 10⁵ K, V . This latter result, however, is again dependent on spatial resolution and may not be true in observations made with sufficient spatial resolution. The magnitudes of both V and indicate that bulk motions play important roles in the structure of the solar atmosphere as well as in its energy and momentum balance. It is important, therefore, to identify the true nature of such motions with better accuracy than is possible with currently available data.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Bidimensional spectroscopy of network bright points

We develop an automatic, computer controlled procedure to select and to analyze the Network Bright Points (NBPs) on solar images. These have been obtained at the Sac Peak Vacuum Tower Telescope by means of the Universal Birefringent Filter and Zeiss H filters, tuned, respectively, along the profiles of the H, Mg-b1, Na-D2, and H lines.A structure is identified as an NBP if at the wavelength H- 1.5 A its maximum intensity is greater than I + 3 and its area is greater than 1.5 arc sec² at I + 1.5, where I is the mean value and the standard deviation of the intensity distribution on the image. Each detected NBP is then searched and confirmed in all the remaining 31 images at different wavelengths.For each NBP several parameters are measured (position, area, mean and maximum contrast, Dopplergram velocity, compactness, and so on) and some identification constraints are applied.The statistical analysis of the various parameter distributions, for NBPs present within an active region and its surroundings, shows that two types of NBPs can be identified according to the value of their mean contrast C _min the H- 1.5 Å image (C _m 0.1 type I, C _m> 0.1 type II). The type I NBPs (all occurring on the boundaries of the supergranular network) appear to be much more frequent (180/26) than the type II ones.The size A of type I NBPs is less than 1.0 arc sec for H/H wings but of the order of 1.2 arc sec for Na-D2 and Mg-bl. The mean contrast C _m is around the value of 10% along the Na-D2 and Mg-bl profiles and of 20% along the H/H wings.The C _m - A scatter diagrams show, for the photospheric radiation (h < 100 km), a narrow range of variability for C _min correspondence with a wide range for A. For radiation orginated at higher levels (h > 200 km), the C _m- A scatter diagrams seem to indicate, even if with a large variance, that the highest C _m's tend to correspond to the highest A values.The mean Doppler shift is close to zero for Na-D2 and Mg-bl lines but negative (downward motion) for H and H lines.The type II NBPs tends to be preferentially located in the neighbourhood of small, compact sunspots and their detectability is almost constant through all the 4 studied line profiles. No conclusions can be derived on the mean size, contrast and Doppler shift values because their distributions are too dispersed. The only positive information is that its C _m- A scatter diagram, in H and H wings, indicates a wide range of variability for C _m in correspondence with very narrow range of variability for A.     

Comparative Solar Seeing and Scintillation Studies at the Fuxian Lake Solar Station

Starting November 1999 we are carrying out simultaneous seeing observations with the Solar Differential Image Motion Monitor (S-DIMM) at the Fuxian Lake station of the Yunnan Observatory and a solar scintillometer of the type used in the recent site survey by one of us (Beckers et al., 1997). The purpose was to compare the two methods of assessing the daytime atmospheric seeing for a lake site. We report here the first results of this comparison. We find that the relation between the seeing as measured by the S-DIMM (the Fried parameter r ₀) and the scintillation in the solar irradiance (_I) differs greatly from the relation found by Seykora (1993) for NSO/Sac Peak. We conclude that the _I measurements give a good indication for the amount of near-Earth seeing but that they are a poor proxy for the total atmospheric seeing. We interpret the simultaneous (r ₀, _I) observations in terms of an atmospheric seeing model and find good quantitative agreement with a model in which a fraction () of the seeing originated near the Earth (ground or water) and the rest (1–) originates at higher layers. For lake sites is small all day and the seeing is determined primarily by the refractive index variations at higher atmospheric layers. For land sites is small in the early morning but rapidly increases as the day progresses, near-Earth seeing dominating there most of the time.     

From inflation to Friedmann regime inR 2 cosmology

A cosmological model describing the different stages of the universe, i.e.: inflation, radiation dominated period and matter dominated (Friedmann-like) period is shown. The model consists of the usual gravitational lagrangian with a R ² term, and, for the matter content, the lagrangian of a massive conformally coupled scalar field. The effect of backreaction is evaluated by means of an extremum condition on the entropy at each time. The differential equation, obtained when the lowest quantum order is considered, describes all the periods of evolution of the universe. For a range of values of, inflation is unstable and the universe can reach the following regime.     

On the Freundlich red shift

The Freundlich red shift of wavelengths in the solar spectrum is discussed. Born's approach on the photon-photon interaction is used in conjunction with Melvin's recalculation of Freundlich's universal constant in order to derive the cross-section for scattering in the solar atmosphere. The new cross-section appears to be = 1.58 × 10^–18 cm², which is about one thousand times Born's estimate for the effective cross-section. However, a modified value of the constant is in a good agreement with the one obtained by Ter Haar by scattering process methods, which leads to 10^–18 cm² for the photon-photon interaction cross-section of the solar atmosphere. A new expression for Freundlich's red shift formula is obtained. Some numerical examples are given and some interesting aspects of Freundlich's parameters are discussed.     

The configuration of a thin,rotating self-similar disk in general relativity

Einstein's equations for a rotating pressure-free space-time are reduced to a system of four first-order non-linear ordinary differential equations in one self-similar dimensionless variable. Numerical results are given for the vacuum solution. A compatible thin disk can be specified by a surface density and an angular velocity . Self-similarity as a statement of the absence of scales implies that and can be written as=c ²/4Gr, =c/r, and demands that and be pure numbers.     

Seeing Conditions at Sutherland. Results of the 1992/93 seeing campaign

In order to decide whether the seeing conditions at SAAO/Sutherland justify the erection of a 3.5 m telescope and also to compare Sutherland with the Gamsberg/Namibia site, a seeing campaign covering 15 months has been carried out. For direct comparison with the results of the seeing campaign at Gamsberg twenty years before the same QUESTAR telescope was employed. The seeing is determined by the scattering of the star-trail exposed on a film in the focal plane of the telescope. The campaign commenced in February 1992. Up to May 1993, data for 204 nights, that is 47.3% of the total number of nights, were collected. Due to wind speeds above 30 km h^-1, 25 out of the 204 nights were not considered in the final reduction. The useful 179 nights are evenly distributed over the campaign period. The median seeing value for the whole period is = 0.52. There are differences during the year: the best season gives = 0.42, the worst = 0.67. Each night was divided into three intervals, although data for each of the three intervals were not always available. Generally, there is an improvement in the seeing during the course of a night. The results are compared to the seeing values of Gamsberg/Namibia and ESO/La Silla.     

The peculiarities of diffusion of the galactic cosmic rays at low energies

I give an interpretation of a result of Simpsonet al. (1988) on the variation with kinetic energyT _i of the mean pathlengthX _m (T _i ) of the galactic cosmic rays (CGRs) in the range 0.1T _i 10.0 GeV nucl^–1. I argue that the data onX _m (T _i ) may be interpreted in terms of a model of GCR diffusion on the one-dimensional Alfvén-wave turbulence, having a cutoff in the spectrum at frequencies _h , where _h is the proton gyrofrequency. The cutoff results in changing of the character of variation of the GCR diffusion coefficientD(T _i )T ^a in the rangeT _i 1 GeV nucl^–1 towards some more complicated variation at 0.1T _i 1.0 GeV nucl^–1 due to the peculiarities of the pitch-angle scattering at 90⁰.     

Pulsar dispersion measures and the mean and mean-squared interstellar electron density

Theoretical distributions of pulsar dispersion measures (times sinb ^II) are computed for various assumed pulsar spatial distributions above (and below) the galactic plane, assuming a distribution for the ionized gas. The statistics on the twelve high-latitude pulsars lead to the conclusion that the pulsar distribution inz is at least as broad as the distribution of the ionized gas. The value derived for the local mean interstellar electron density in the galactic plane is 0.12 cm^–3 and is interpreted to be due to a uniform ionized intercloud medium.Interstellar absorption of radio waves at low frequencies and cosmic X-rays at low energies are considered with regard to irregularities in the distribution of ionized gas. It is shown that if the obervations are made with a wide angle receiver the effective absorption optical deph is –²/2 where is the mean value and is the dispersion in . This relation assumes is much larger than . Analysis of recent low-frequency radio measurements from a satellite-borne receiver, however, leads to the conclusion that effects of irregulatirities are large.     

Rosat X-ray light curves of early-type stars

We have investigated ROSAT X-ray data of OB stars to search for evidence of time variability in the X-ray emission from early-type stars. As an example for such studies we present a detailed variability analysis for our two program stars Ori and Ori which have been multiply observed with ROSAT. The long-term analysis of both stars now covers a time range of 2.5 years and includes six pointed PSPC observations, an additional pointed HRI observation of Ori and the ROSAT all-sky survey data of both stars. Over a long time range the X-ray light curves of Ori and Ori show no evidence for variability. In the case of Ori we detected a moderate increase in X-ray count rate during a period of 2 days which can be explained as a strong shock propagating in the wind of an O-type star.     

Zonal comparison of modern selenodetic reference systems

An account is given of the results of a comparison of existing basic selenodetic systems in the equatorial zone of the Moon together with plan and altitude data, which have been provided by means of a specially worked out method, based on the use of the LAC charts of the Moon (scale 1:1000000), and which does not require the presence of common catalogued reference points. It is shown that systematic differences of the form () for different catalogues are, on the whole, relatively small and do not exceed 2. Systematic differences of the form () have a minimum in the region = ± 20° and significantly increase towards the edges of the visible disk, where they may attain a value of 6 between catalogues. Random errors in latitude have on the whole, a similar behaviour in different catalogues, being practically independent of longitude and not exceeding 3. Random errors in longitude significantly increase towards the limb regions in all the studied catalogues, and may reach values of 6 to 8. Author's estimates of the accuracy of absolute heights in selenodetic catalogues is not always sufficiently precise; in certain cases it was found that the accuracy was underestimated by a factor of one and a half. The data on relative heights in the LAC charts are expressed with a vertical step of 300 m, errors in these values are of the order of 250 m for each step in height. As a result of the comparison a set of better points has been obtained forming a catalogue which may be referred to as LPL. The selection was made on the basis of magnitude and character of both the systematic and random errors.     

Rapidly rotating polytropes in the post-Newtonian approximation to general relativity

The study of uniformly polytropes with axial symmetry is extended to include all rotational terms of order ⁴, where is the angular velocity, consistently within the first post-Newtonian approximation to general relativity. The equilibrium structure is determined by treating the effects of rotation and post-Newtonian gravitation as independent perturbations on the classical polytropic structure. The perturbation effects are characterized by a rotation parameter = ²/2G _c and a relativity parameter, =p _c / _c C ² , wherep _c and _c are the central pressure and density respectively. The solution to the structural problem is obtained by following Chandrasekhar's series expansion technique and is complete to the post-Newtonian rotation terms of order ². The critical rotation parameterv _c , which characterizes the configuration with maximum uniform rotation, is accurately evaluated as a function of . Numerical values for all the structural parameters needed to determine the equilibrium configurations are presented for polytropes with indicesn=1, 1.5, 2, 2 5, 3, and 3.5.