Daily variation of the geomagnetic field in equatorial region and sector boundary passage

The mean daily range in horizontal intensity at low latitudes shows a significant departure on the day of a sector boundary passage in relation to its magnitude on adjacent days with a measure of dependence on phase of the solar activity. It is shown that this arises because of a substantial difference, in the nature of the response to sector boundary passage, between the instantaneous maximum field and minimum field. From the fact that the responses at three stations spanning the latitudes near dip equator to that near the focus of Sq currents are almost identical, it is suggested that the cause of the observed feature is primarily disturbance and is essentially non-ionospheric. Differences in the nature of responses between pre-1957 and post-1957 periods reported earlier in the planetary indices or low latitude disturbance indices are shown to be true for the daily range, maximum and minimum fields at low latitudes.     

Electromagnetic instabilities in an anisotropic loss-cone plasma

A form of general dispersion relation for electromagnetic waves in a fully ionized anisotropic plasma with loss-cone that explicates the contribution of the loss-cone to the dispersion relation is developed. By initially ignoring effects due to anisotropy, it is shown by means of Nyquist diagram technique that an isotropic loss-cone distribution can be unstable to EM waves corresponding to the whistler mode (0<< _e ). The growth rate is then determined analytically for this distribution, assuming cyclotron resonance between the waves in the whistler mode and particles in the high energy tail of the velocity distribution. By including the effects of anisotropy, a general growth rate is obtained which is found to depend on the anisotropy, the size of the loss-cone, the softness of the energy spectrum, and the fraction of the particles which are resonant with the wave. For particular distributions the relative contributions of the anisotropy and of the loss-cone to the growth rate have been determined. It is seen that loss-cone effects, which depend on the size of the loss-cone as well as the softness of the energy spectrum, can be a significant factor in the determination of the growth rate. For the Lorentzian distribution, the half-width of unstable waves is considerably broadened and the growth rates are somewhat more severe as compared to a two-temperature Maxwellian. The threshold frequency is which confirms the presence of unstable EM waves in the magnetospheric plasma leading to turbulence.     

A polarimetric investigation of the eclipsing binary XY ursae majoris

On three nights in February 1976 we carried out polarimetric measurements, in V, of the short periodic eclipsing binary XY UMa, covering a complete cycle. The results are as follows:

1. Within all phase intervals the linear polarization does not exceed 0.1%.
2. In the phase range 0 ^p .95–1 ^p .35 the scatter of the Stokes parametersQ andU is about twice that within the phase interval 0 ^p .35–0 ^p .95.
3. A periodogram analysis of these data revealed a period of 21000 s, which is equal to half the orbital periodP _o=0^d.47899 within 1.5%.

From these we derive the conclusions that no circumstellar envelope can be made responsible for the observed long-term changes of the light curve and system brightness, supporting the earlier spectroscopic finding. The different scatter of the Stokes parameters at different phase intervals and theP _o/2 periodicity are in favor of the star spot model for XY UMa proposed by one of the authors (E. G.).     

Some bianchi type II universes with special free-gravitational fields

The paper considers a homogeneous Bianchi type II universe. Under each of the conditionsC _hijk C ^hijk =0 and^* C _hijk C ^hijk =0 different types of models have been studied and their physical and kinematical properties have been discussed.     

An exact solution of the equation of transfer with three-term scattering indicatrix in an exponential atmosphere

The general equation for radiative transfer in the Milne-Eddington model is considered here. The scattering function is assumed to be quadratically anisotropic in the cosine of the scattering angle and Planck's intensity function is assumed for thermal emission. Here we have taken Planck's function as a nonlinear function of optical depth, viz.,B _v(T)=b _o+b ₁ e ^–. The exact solution for emergent intensity from the bounding face is obtained by the method of the Laplace transform in combination with the Wiener-Hopf technique.     

Beaming Effects in GRBs and Orphan Afterglows

The overall dynamical evolution and radiation mechanism of γ-ray burst (GRB) jets are briefly introduced. Various interesting topics concerning beaming in GRBs are discussed, including jet structures, orphan afterglows and cylindrical jets. The possible connection between GRBs and neutron stars is also addressed.     

Moments of inertia and the Chandlerian period for two-and three-layer models of the Galilean satellite Io

We consider two-layer (Fe-FeS core+silicate mantle) and three-layer (Fe-FeS core+silicate mantle+crust) models of the Galilean satellite Io. Two parameters are known from observations for the equilibrium figure of the satellite, the mean density ρ₀ and the Love number k₂. Previously, the Radau-Darwin formula was used to determine the mean moment of inertia. Using formulas of the Figure Theory, we calculated the principal moments of inertia A, B, and C and the mean moment of inertia I for the two-and three-layer models of Io using ρ₀ and k₂ as the boundary conditions. We concluded that when modeling the internal structure of Io, it is better to use the observed value of k₂ than the moment of inertia I derived from k₂ using the Radau-Darwin formula. For the models under consideration, we calculated the Chandlerian wobble periods of Io. For the three-layer model, this period is approximately 460 days.     

EFFECT OF PERPENDICULAR A.C. ELECTRIC FIELD ON THE OBLIQUE WHISTLER MODE INSTABILITY IN THE EARTH’S MAGNETOSPHERE

The elements of dielectric tensor and dispersion relation for obliquely propagating whistler waves with finite in an infinite magnetoplasma are obtained for a kappa distribution in the presence of perpendicular a.c. electric field. Integrals and modified plasma dispersion functions are reduced in power series form. Numerical calculations have been performed to obtain temporal growth rate and real frequencies of the plasma waves for magnetospheric plasma, using linear theory of dispersion relation. The effect and modification introduced by the perpendicular a.c. electric field on the temporal growth rates, real frequencies and resonance condition are discussed for kappa and Maxwellian distributions. Our results and their interpretation are compared with known whistler observations obtained by ground-based techniques and satellite observations.