The Structure and Long-Term Variability of the Bottom Layer in the Irminger Sea

This paper shows the important role that circulation can play in the long-term variability of thermohaline properties of the bottom layer in the Irminger Sea, and the increase in salinity in the 21st century in spite of intense ice melting in the Arctic and freshening of the upper and intermediate layers that started over the last 5–7 years in the North Atlantic.     

Taking into Account the Influence of Relief in the Method of Microseismic Sounding

The traveling of surface waves in a model geophysical medium with a nonsmooth boundary is studied. It is shown that relief significantly distorts the microseismic noise field recorded at the day surface. This result should be taken into consideration when interpreting the data of passive surface-wave geophysical studies of deep crustal inhomogeneities.     

Observations of Near-Earth Optical Transients with the Lomonosov Space Observatory

The results of observations with the MASTER-SHOK robotic wide-field optical cameras onboard the Lomonosov Space Observatory carried out in 2016 are presented. In all, the automated transient detection system transmitted 22 181 images of moving objects with signal-to-noise ratios greater than 5 to the Earth. Approximately 84% of these images are identified with well-known artificial Earth satellites (including repeated images of the same satellite) and fragments of such satellites (space debris), according to databases of known satellites. The remaining 16% of the images are relate to uncatalogued objects. This first experience in optical space-based monitoring of near-Earth space demonstrates the high efficiency and great potential of using large-aperture cameras in space, based on the software and technology of the MASTER robotic optical complexes (the Mobile Astronomical System of TElescope- Robots (MASTER) global network of robotic telescopes of Lomonosov Moscow State University).     

The Role of Pressure as a Source of Gravity and Wormholes

The role of pressure as a source of gravity in general relativity is considered. In homogeneous, anisotropic cosmological models, the anisotropic pressure components along different coordinate axes are included as terms in the equations determining the accelerations along these axes; in this sense, this situation is similar to how the mass density is included in these equations. A change in the pressure component along one of the coordinates leads to an anisotropic change in the accelerations along all three coordinates. However, the pressure components are not present in the equation determining the initial conditions. On the other hand, with an inhomogeneous matter density distribution, the mass density and pressure play fundamentally different roles as sources of gravity. The consequences of this are considered.     

Features of the Flow Structure in the Vicinity of the Inner Lagrangian Point in Polars

The structures of plasma flows in close binary systems whose accretors have strong intrinsic magnetic fields are studied. A close binary system with the parameters of a typical polar is considered. The results of three-dimensional numerical simulations of the matter flow from the donor into the accretor Roche lobe are presented. Special attention is given to the flow structure in the vicinity of the inner Lagrangian point, where the accretion flow is formed. The interaction of the accretion-flow material from the donor’s envelope with the magnetic field of the accretor results in the formation of a hierarchical structure of the magnetosphere, because less dense areas of the accretion flow are stopped by the magnetic field of the white dwarf earlier than more dense regions. Taking into account this kind of magnetosphere structure can affect analysis results and interpretation of the observations.     

Diagnostic of a Solar Flare via Analyses of Emission in Spectral Lines of Highly Ionized Iron

An analysis of the dynamics of the electron temperature of the solar atmosphere in regions where solar flares appear is presented. The temperatures are estimated from the emission in spectral lines of ions with various degrees of ionization. The emission of ionized helium and highly ionized iron was used. Images of preflare states and of flares from the archive of the American SDO spacecraft are analyzed. A solar flare is usually preceded by the registration of a bright glowing structure above the action region, with a temperature exceeding that of the corona. This preflare structure (~10¹⁰ cm) is identified with the development of a system of currents, which, according to numerical simulations, is responsible for the accumulation of energy above the active region before the flare. After several tens of hours of a slow increase in the brightness of the preflare glow in the 94 Å iron (FeXVIII) line, the emission in the 193 Å line of FeXXIV increases sharply, indicating a flare-like growth of the temperature up to at least 20 MK. This growth of the emission coincides with the onset of the solar flare. The observed dynamics of the emission in spectral lines of highly ionized ions is consistent with an electrodynamic model of a solar flare based on the accumulation of magnetic energy in a current sheet above the active region and the explosive release of the stored energy. Studies of mechanisms for solar flares are of special importance in connection with the discovery of solar cosmic rays. Information from the worldwide network of neutron monitors and from the GOES spacecraft has made it possible to firmly state that the source of solar rays is solar flares, not shocks generated by such flares. It cannot be ruled out that a similar mechanism, not shocks, is also responsible for the acceleration of cosmic rays in the Galaxy.     

A Pulsar Time Scale Based on Parkes Observations in 1995–2010

Timing of highly stable millisecond pulsars provides the possibility of independently verifying terrestrial time scales on intervals longer than a year. An ensemble pulsar time scale is constructed based on pulsar timing data obtained on the 64-m Parkes telescope (Australia) in 1995–2010. Optimal Wiener filters were applied to enhance the accuracy of the ensemble time scale. The run of the time-scale difference PT_ens?TT(BIPM2011) does not exceed 0.8 ± 0.4 μs over the entire studied time interval. The fractional instability of the difference PT_ens?TT(BIPM2011) over 15 years is σ _z = (0.6 ± 1.6) × 10^?15, which corresponds to an upper limit for the energy density of the gravitational-wave background Ω _g h² ~ 10^?10 and variations in the gravitational potential ~10^?15 Hz at the frequency 2 × 10^?9 Hz.     

The Spots and Activity of Stars in the Beehive Cluster Observed by the Kepler Space Telescope (K2)

The spottedness parameters S (the fraction of the visible surface of the star occupied by spots) characterizing the activity of 674 stars in the Beehive Cluster (age 650 Myr) are estimated, together with variations of this parameter as a function of the rotation period, Rossby number Ro and other characteristics of the stars. The activity of the stars in this cluster is lower than the activity of stars in the younger Pleiades (125 Myr). The average S value for the Beehive Cluster stars is 0.014, while Pleiades stars have the much higher average value 0.052. The activity parameters of 61 solar-type stars in the Beehive Cluster, similar Hyades stars (of about the same age), and stars in the younger Pleiades are compared. The average S value of such objects in the Beehive Cluster is 0.014± 0.008, nearly coincident with the estimate obtained for solar-type Hyades stars. The rotation periods of these objects are 9.1 ± 3.4 day, on average, in agreement with the average rotation period of the Hyades stars (8.6 ^d ). Stars with periods exceeding 3–4 ^d are more numerous in the Beehive Cluster than in the Pleiades, and their periods have a larger range, 3–30 ^d . The characteristic dependence with a kink at Ro (saturation) = 0.13 is not observed in the S–Rossby number diagram for the Beehive and Hyades stars, only a clump of objects with Rossby numbers Ro > 0.7. The spottedness data for the Beehive Cluster and Hyades stars are in good agreement with the S values for dwarfs with ages of 600–700 Myr. This provides evidence for the reliability of the results of gyrochronological calibrations. The data for the Beehive and Pleiades stars are used to analyze variations in the spot-forming activity for a large number of stars of the same age that are members of a single cluster. A joint consideration of the data for two clusters can be used to draw conclusions about the time evolution of the activity of stars of different masses (over a time interval of the order of 500 Myr).     

A Search for a Globular Cluster whose Passage Through the Galactic Disk Could Induce the Formation of the Gould Belt

The distribution of sites where globular clusters have crossed the Galactic disk during the last 100 million years has been analyzed using the most recent kinematic data for 133 globular clusters (GCs). ThreeGCs (NGC 6341, NGC 7078, and ω Cen) whose distances between the positions where they crossed the Galactic disk and trajectories of the Gould Belt are less than 20% of their heliocentric distances at the crossing time (82, 98, and 96 million years ago, respectively) have been identified. For each of the clusters, this was their next to last, rather than their last, crossing of the Galactic disk. The passage of any one of these three GCs through the disk could potentially have initiated the formation of the Gould Belt.     

Polarization of Gravitational Waves in General Teleparallel Theories of Gravity

We determine the possible gravitational wave polarizations in two general classes of teleparallel gravity theories, using the metric and symmetric teleparallel geometries. For this purpose we apply the Newman–Penrose formalism, and find that depending on the choice of parameters, the E(2) class of the theories is one of N₂,N₃, III₅, II₆, corresponding to two to six polarizations, where all of them include the two tensor polarizations known from general relativity. We also find classes of theories apart from general relativity which yield the same polarizations.