Strongly flattened galaxies in the abastumani merged catalogue of galaxies

1200 strongly flattened galaxies with axis ratio b/a ≤ 0.15 were selected from the UGC catalogue, contained in the Abadumani Merged Catalogue of Galaxies, and their properties were studied. The possibility of using strongly flattened galaxies and several other samples of galaxies according to their morphological type as a distance indicator has been examined by the Tully-Fisher relation. The investigation has shown that angular diameters of strongly flattened as well as flat, seen edge-on galaxies designated as F and L in the MCG catalogue can be used for the estimation of distance moduli with accuracy O.^m7. The distribution of absolute magnitudes of strongly flattened galaxies was approximated by analytic Schechter expression with main parameters M* = -21.^m2 and α = -1.0. The statistical method of the nearest companion applied to the apparent distribution of strongly flattened galaxies has shown that these galaxies are considerably more frequently found in mixed pairs and multiple systems than spirals. Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 23–34, January-March, 1998.     

Internal differentiation and mantle composition of Mimas

An argument is given, based on considerations of moments of inertia and the equatorial location of the large crater Herschel, which implies that Mimas (one of the smallest satellites of the major planets) shows a high degree of internal differentiation (with a silicate-type core but a mantle with a density rather greater than for water-ice alone). Some consequences of these arguments are adduced and possible compositions of the mantle considered.     

An Anisotropic Cosmic-Ray Enhancement Event on 07-June-2015: A Possible Origin

A usual event, called anisotropic cosmic-ray enhancement (ACRE), was observed as a small increase (\({\leq}\,5\%\)) in the count rates of polar neutron monitors during 12?–?19 UT on 07 June 2015. The enhancement was highly anisotropic, as detected only by neutron monitors with asymptotic directions in the southwest quadrant in geocentric solar ecliptic (GSE) coordinates. The estimated rigidity of the corresponding particles is \({\leq}\,1\) GV. No associated detectable increase was found in the space-borne data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), the Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron (ERNE) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), or the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) instruments, whose sensitivity was not sufficient to detect the event. No solar energetic particles were present during that time interval. The heliospheric conditions were slightly disturbed, so that the interplanetary magnetic field strength gradually increased during the event, followed by an increase of the solar wind speed after the event. It is proposed that the event was related to a crossing of the boundary layer between two regions with different heliospheric parameters, with a strong gradient of low-rigidity (\({<}\,1\) GV) particles. It was apparently similar to another cosmic-ray enhancement (e.g., on 22 June 2015) that is thought to have been caused by the local anisotropy of Forbush decreases, with the difference that in our case, the interplanetary disturbance was not observed at Earth, but passed by southward for this event.     

C-Band Radiometer for Continuum Observations at RATAN-600 Radio Telescope

We describe the development of the tools and methods of 4.7-GHz band observations on RATAN-600 radio telescope and present a new design solution—a radiometric unit, and the development of an uncooled tuned receiver based on this unit and meant for operating in the “total power” radiometer mode.We discuss the design of the radio unit and the specificities of the radiometer design.We demonstrate the possibility of conducting observations in the total power radiometer mode at the theoretical sensitivity on time scales up to 10 seconds. The sensitivity of such a radiometer remains higher than that of a Dicke radiometer on time scales up to 100 seconds.     

A catalog of cosmic gamma-ray bursts detected by the PHEBUS instrument on the Granat observatory: October 1994–December 1996

We present the final part of the catalog of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed in the PHEBUS experiment on the Granat orbiting astrophysical observatory. The first three parts of the catalog were published by Terekhov et al. (1994, 1995a) and Tkachenko et al. (1998). The fourth part contains information on 32 events recorded from October 1994 until December 1996. We give burst light curves in the energy range 100 keV to 1.6 MeV, integrated energy spectra, and information on the fluence and energy flux at the luminosity peak for energies above 100 keV. Over the entire period of its operation, the PHEBUS instrument detected 206 cosmic GRBs. The mean ?V/V_max? was 0.336±0.007. The mean hardness corresponding to the ratio of count numbers in the energy ranges 400–1000 and 100–400 keV is 0.428±0.018 for events with a duration shorter than 2 s and 0.231±0.004 for events with a duration longer than 2 s.     

Increase of the Magnetic Flux From Polar Zones of the sun in the Last 120 Years

Lockwood, Stamper, and Wild (1999) argued that the average strength of the magnetic field of the Sun has doubled in the last 100 years. They used an analysis of the geomagnetic index aa. We calculated the area of polar zones of the Sun, A _pz, occupied by unipolar magnetic field on H synoptic magnetic charts, following Makarov (1994), from 1878 to 2000. We found a gradual decrease of the annual minimum latitude of the high-latitude zone boundaries, _2m, of the global magnetic field of the Sun at the minimum of activity from 53° in 1878 down to 38° in 1996, yielding an average decrease of 1.2° per cycle. Consequently the area of polar zones A _pz of the Sun, occupied by unipolar magnetic field at the minimum activity, has risen by a factor of 2 during 1878–1996. This means that the behavior of the index aa and consequently the magnetic flux from the Sun may be explained by an increase of the area of polar caps with roughly the same value of the magnetic field in this period. The area of the unipolar magnetic field at the poles (A _pz) may be used as a new index of magnetic activity of the Sun. We compared A _pz with the aa, the Wolf number W and A^* -index (Makarov and Tlatov, 2000). Correlations based on `11-year' averages are discussed. A temperature difference of about 1° between the Maunder Minimum and the present time was deduced. We have found that the highest latitude of the polar zone boundaries of the large-scale magnetic field during very low solar activity reaches about 60°, cf., the Maunder Minimum. It is supposed that the _2m-latitude coincides with the latitude where _r=0, with (r,) being the angular frequency of the solar rotation. The causes of the waxing and waning of the Sun's activity in conditions like Maunder Minimum are discussed.     

Search for long term variations of the interplanetary magnetic field

A statistical study is made of the long term variations of the interplanetary magnetic field parameters collected in the years 1964 to 1973 by 12 spacecraft (IMP's, Pioneers and HEOS). Although temporal fluctuations are observed on field components and magnitudes no clear solar cycle variation is found. The same conclusion holds for the statistical distributions and variances of these parameters. A search for possible heliographic latitude effects on the field also leads to a negative conclusion.     

The magnetic nature of solar flares

The main challenge for the theory of solar eruptions has been to understand two basic aspects of large flares. These are the cause of the flare itself and the nature of the morphological features which form during its evolution. Such features include separating ribbons of H emission joined by a rising arcade of soft x-ray loops, with hard x-ray emission at their summits and at their feet. Two major advances in our understanding of the theory of solar flares have recently occurred. The first is the realisation that a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) catastrophe is probably responsible for the basic eruption and the second is that the eruption is likely to drive a reconnection process in the field lines stretched out by the eruption. The reconnection is responsible for the ribbons and the set of rising soft x-ray loops, and such a process is well supported by numerical experiments and detailed observations from the Japanese satellite Yohkoh. Magnetic energy conversion by reconnection in two dimensions is relatively well understood, but in three dimensions we are only starting to understand the complexity of the magnetic topology and the MHD dynamics which are involved. How the dynamics lead to particle acceleration is even less well understood. Particle acceleration in flares may in principle occur in a variety of ways, such as stochastic acceleration by MHD turbulence, acceleration by direct electric fields at the reconnection site, or diffusive shock acceleration at the different kinds of MHD shock waves that are produced during the flare. However, which of these processes is most important for producing the energetic particles that strike the solar surface remains a mystery. Received 2 January 2001 / Published online 17 July 2001     

Vacuum Cosmological Models in Einstein and Barber Theories

An attempt has been made to solve the field equations with perfect fluid in an inhomogeneous space-time governed by the metric

Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt

The total mass of the asteroid belt is estimated from an analysis of the motions of the major planets by processing high precision measurements of ranging to the landers Viking-1, Viking-2, and Pathfinder (1976-1997). Modeling of the perturbing accelerations of the major planets accounts for individual contributions of 300 minor planets; the total contribution of all remaining small asteroids is modeled as an acceleration caused by a solid ring in the ecliptic plane. Mass M_ring of the ring and its radius R are considered as solve-for parameters. Masses of the 300 perturbing asteroids have been derived from their published radii based mainly on measured fluxes of radiation, making use of the corresponding densities. This set of asteroids is grouped into three classes in accordance with physical properties and then corrections to the mean density for each class are estimated in the process of treating the observations. In this way an improved system of masses of the perturbing asteroids has been derived.The estimate M_ring≈(5±1)×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙ is obtained (M_⊙ is the solar mass) whose value is about one mass of Ceres. For the mean radius of the ring we have R≈2.80 AU with 3% uncertainty. Then the total mass M_belt of the main asteroid belt (including the 300 asteroids mentioned above) may be derived: M_belt≈(18±2)×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙. The value M_belt includes masses of the asteroids which are already discovered, and the total mass of a large number of small asteroids—most of which cannot be observed from the Earth. The second component M_ring is the hidden mass in the asteroid belt as evaluated from its dynamical impact onto the motion of the major planets.Two parameters of a theoretical distribution of the number of asteroids over their masses are evaluated by fitting to the improved set of masses of the 300 asteroids (assuming that there is no observational selection effect in this set). This distribution is extrapolated to the whole interval of asteroid masses and as a result the independent estimate M_belt≈18×10⁻¹⁰M_⊙ is obtained which is in excellent agreement with the dynamical finding given above.These results make it possible to predict the total number of minor planets in any unit interval of absolute magnitude H. Such predictions are compared with the observed distribution; the comparison shows that at present only about 10% of the asteroids with absolute magnitude H<14 have been discovered (according to the derived distribution, about 130,000 such asteroids are expected to exist).