Highly accurate determination of the coordinates and the Earth’s rotation parameters involving the Svetloe VLBI Observatory

We present the results of our processing of the first observations of extragalactic radio sources obtained with the eight-element International VLBI Network, which includes the Svetloe Russian Radio Astronomy Observatory equipped with a Mark 3A recording terminal. Our observations and their processing yielded highly accurate coordinates (in meters) of the Svetloe Observatory in the ITRF 2000 system: X = 2730173.854 ± 0.002, Y = 1562442.668 ± 0.004, Z = 5529969.069 ± 0.007. We also show that including the Svetloe Observatory in the International Network led to an appreciable improvement in the accuracy of determining the Earth’s rotation parameters (microarcseconds for the coordinates of the pole and nutation angles, microseconds for Universal Time): X_p = ?154683 ± 77, Y_p = 361809 ± 59, UT1-UTC = ?325162.9 ± 2.5, Δψ = ?53147 ± 114, Δε = ?2286 ± 47.     

Local burst model of CMB temperature fluctuations: Scattering in the resonance lines of primordial hydrogen and helium

The propagation of an instantaneous burst of isotropic radiation from the time of its onset at some redshift z ₀ to the time of its detection at the present epoch (at z = 0) is considered within the framework of a flat Universe. The Thomson scattering by free electrons and the scattering in the primordial hydrogen Lα and Lβ lines and in the He I 1s2–1s2p, 1s3p (¹S–¹P*) lines are taken into account. It is shown that the relative amplitude of the spectral distortions due to the scattering in these lines at the corresponding frequencies can be a factor of 10³?10⁴ greater than the maximum possible amplitude from the scattering in the subordinate hydrogen lines considered previously (Dubrovich and Grachev 2015). In the linear approximation in optical depth, the distortion profiles in the resonance lines turn out to be purely absorption ones and depend neither on the direction nor on the distance to the burst center, in contrast to the profiles in the subordinate lines. The profiles contain jumps at frequencies corresponding to the instant the source (burst) appears at a given redshift z ₀. For example, at z ₀ = 5000 the jumps in the hydrogen Lα and Lβ lines lie at frequencies of 493 and 584 GHz, respectively, while in the above two helium lines they lie at frequencies of 855 and 930 GHz at z ₀ = 6000. The relative magnitude of the jumps ranges from 10?4 to 3 × 10?3.     

Luminescence in Primordial Helium Lines at the Pre-recombination Epoch

The formation of luminescent subordinate He I lines by the absorption of radiation from a source in lines of the main He I series in an expanding Universe is considered. A burst of radiation in continuum is assumed to occur at some instant of time corresponding to redshift z₀. This radiation is partially absorbed at different z < z₀ in lines of the main He I series (different pumping channels) and then is partially converted into radiation in subordinate lines. If ν _ik is the laboratory transition frequency of some subordinate line emerging at some z, then at the present epoch its frequency will be ν = ν _ik /(1 + z). The quantum yield, i.e., the number of photons emitted in the subordinate line per initial excited atom, has been calculated for different z (and, consequently, for different ν). Several pumping channels have been considered. We show that the luminescent lines can be both emission and absorption ones; the same line can be an emission one for one of the pumping channels and an absorption one for another. For example, the 1s2s–1s2p (1S–1P*) line is an emission one for the 1s2–1s2p pumping and an absorption one for the 1s2–1s3p pumping. We show that in the frequency range 30–80 GHz the total quantum yield for the first and second of the above channels can reach +50 and ?50%, respectively.     

Titanomagnetites and ilmenites from the Early Cenozoic basalts and limburgites of the Northern Tien Shan

Based on X-ray spectrometry and thermomagnetic analysis, the chemical composition is studied and the Curie points are determined for the Early Cenozoic basalts and limburgites of the Northern Tien Shan. The microprobe analysis used in combination with the thermomagnetic analysis unambiguously identified a series of homogeneous primarily magmatic titanomagnetites in the studied samples against the broad variety of grains of titanomagnetite that underwent single-phase heterophase oxidation, which are often undetectable by a microprobe alone. The titanium content or TiO₂/FeO ratio in titanomagnetites and, correspondingly, the Curie points reflect the depth of the most recent equilibrium state of the magma, i.e., the depth of the magma sources. According to the dependence of the content of primarily magmatic titanomagnetite on the source depth, the latest equilibrium state of the magmatic melt of the Northern Tien Shan occurred at a depth of 40 ± 5 km. The obtained results agree with the reduction in the seismic velocities by a few percent below the Moho revealed by seismic tomography.     

On nonstationary radiative transfer in a spectral line in stellar atmospheres

We consider nonstationary radiative transfer in a line in stellar atmospheres simulated as a stationary semi-infinite plane-parallel medium. We assume complete frequency redistribution in the elementary act of scattering. We assume that the time a photon spends in the medium is determined only by the mean time spent in the absorbed state. We obtain an explicit expression for the resolvent of the nonstationary integral equation of transfer, which is a bilinear expansion with respect to the eigenfunctions found in [12] for the corresponding stationary transfer equation.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1994.I am grateful to the American Astronomical Society for financial support of this work.     

Propagation of a burst of radiation in an expanding and recombining universe: Thomson scattering

The propagation of an instantaneous burst of nonpolarized isotropic radiation from the time of its onset at some redshift z ₀ to the time of its recording at the present epoch is considered within the framework of a flat cosmological model. Thomson (Rayleigh) scattering by free electrons is believed to be the only source of opacity. The spatial distributions of the mean (over the directions) radiation intensity as well as the angular distributions of the radiation intensity and polarization at various distances from the burst center have been constructed. The mean intensity profile normalized to the total number of photons emitted during the burst is shown to depend weakly on the initial conditions (the burst time z ₀, the width and shape of the initial radiation distribution) at fairly high z ₀ (≥1400). As regards the angular intensity and polarization distributions, they turn out to be rather narrow (3–10 arcmin), while the polarization can reach 70%. On average, the expected polarization can be about 15%.