Rapid rotation,active nests of convection and global-scale flows in solar-likestars

In the solar convection zone, rotation couples with intensely turbulent convection to build global-scale flows of differential rotation and meridional circulation. Our sun must have rotated more rapidly in its past, as is suggested by observations of many rapidly rotating young solar-type stars. Here we explore the effects of more rapid rotation on the patterns of convection in such stars and the global-scale flows which are self-consistently established. The convection in these systems is richly time dependent and in our most rapidly rotating suns a striking pattern of spatially localized convection emerges. Convection near the equator in these systems is dominated by one or two patches of locally enhanced convection, with nearly quiescent streaming flow in between at the highest rotation rates. These active nests of convection maintain a strong differential rotation despite their small size. The structure of differential rotation is similar in all of our more rapidly rotating suns, with fast equators and slower poles. We find that the total shear in differential rotation, as measured by latitudinal angular velocity contrast, ΔΩ, increases with more rapid rotation while the relative shear, ΔΩ/Ω, decreases. In contrast, at more rapid rotation the meridional circulations decrease in both energy and peak velocities and break into multiple cells of circulation in both radius and latitude. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Modelling the differential rotation of F stars

We model stellar differential rotation based on the mean-field theory of fluid dynamics. DR is mainly driven by Reynolds stress, which is anisotropic and has a non-diffusive component because the Coriolis force affects the convection pattern. Likewise, the convective heat transport is not strictly radial but slightly tilted towards the rotation axis, causing the polar caps to be slightly warmer than the equator. This drives a flow opposite to that caused by differential rotation and so allows the system to avoid the Taylor-Proudman state. Our model reproduces the rotation pattern in the solar convection zone and allows predictions for other stars with outer convection zones. The surface shear turns out to depend mainly on the spectral type and only weakly on the rotation rate. We present results for stars of spectral type F which show signs of very strong differential rotation in some cases. Stars just below the mass limit for outer convection zones have shallow convection zones with short convective turnover times. We find solar-type rotation and meridional flow patterns at much shorter rotation periods and horizontal shear much larger than on the solar surface, in agreement with recent observations. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Turbulent viscosity and Λ-effect from numerical turbulence models

Homogeneous anisotropic turbulence simulations are used to determine off-diagonal components of the Reynolds stress tensor and its parameterization in terms of turbulent viscosity and Λ-effect. The turbulence is forced in an anisotropic fashion by enhancing the strength of the forcing in the vertical direction. The Coriolis force is included with a rotation axis inclined relative to the vertical direction. The system studied here is significantly simpler than that of turbulent stratified convection which has often been used to study Reynolds stresses. Certain puzzling features of the results for convection, such as sign changes or highly concentrated latitude distributions, are not present in the simpler system considered here. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Investigation of the open star cluster NGC 2323 (M50) based on the proper motions and photometry of its constituent stars

The results of a comprehensive study of the Galactic open cluster NGC 2323 (M50) are presented. The positions of stars to a limiting magnitude {ie74-1} in a {ie74-2} area centered on the cluster were measured on six plates from the Pulkovo normal astrograph with a maximum epoch difference of 60 yr. The measurements were performed with the Pulkovo “Fantasy” automated measuring system upgraded in 2010. The corresponding areas from the USNO-A2.0, USNO-B1, and 2MASS catalogues were used as additional plates. As a result, the relative proper motions of stars were obtained with a root-mean-square error of 5.85 mas yr⁻¹. A catalogue of UBV and JHK magnitudes for objects in the investigated area was compiled from available published resources. The astrometric selection of cluster members was made by the maximum likelihood method. A high individual cluster membership probability of a star (P ≥ 80%) served as the first selection criterion. The position of a star on the photometric color-magnitude (V ∝ (B-V), J ∝ (J-K)) diagrams of the cluster was considered as the second criterion. The position of an object on the color-color ((U-B)-(B-V), (J-H)-(J-K)) diagrams served as the third criterion. On the basis of these criteria, it was established that 508 stars are members of NGC 2323. These data were used to refine the physical parameters of the cluster: the mean reddening {ie74-3}, the true distance modulus {ie74-4}, and the cluster age of about 140 Myr from the grid of isochrones computed by the Padova group for solar chemical composition. Two tables contain the catalogues of proper motions and photometry for stars in the area. The luminosity and mass functions were constructed. The cluster membership of red and blue giants, variable, double, and multiple stars was considered. The position of the cluster center was improved: {ie74-5}, δ = −08°20′16″(2000.0).     

Dark energy and the anthropic principle

The Hubble constant is split into two terms H = H₁ + H₂ , where H₁ is a decreasing function due to the Big Bang and the subsequent gravitational interaction that slows the expansion of the Universe and H₂ is an increasing function that corresponds to dark energy which accelerates this expansion. For T = 13.7 Gyr we prove that H₂(T) > 5 m/(yr AU). This is a quite large number and thus the impact of dark energy, which is spread almost everywhere uniformly, should be observable not only on large scales, but also in our Solar system. In particular, we show that Earth, Mars and other planets were closer to the Sun 4.5 Gyr ago. The recession speed ≈5.3 m/yr of the Earth from the Sun seems to be just right for an almost constant influx of solar energy from the origin of life on Earth up to the present over which time the Sun’s luminosity has increased approximately linearly. This presents further support for the Anthropic Principle. Namely, the existence of dark energy guarantees very stable conditions for the development of intelligent life on Earth over a period of 3.5 Gyr.     

Heliospheric Observations of STEREO-Directed Coronal Mass Ejections in 2008?–?2010: Lessons for Future Observations of Earth-Directed CMEs

We present a study of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which impacted one of the STEREO spacecraft between January 2008 and early 2010. We focus our study on 20 CMEs which were observed remotely by the Heliospheric Imagers (HIs) onboard the other STEREO spacecraft up to large heliocentric distances. We compare the predictions of the Fixed-?? and Harmonic Mean (HM) fitting methods, which only differ by the assumed geometry of the CME. It is possible to use these techniques to determine from remote-sensing observations the CME direction of propagation, arrival time and final speed which are compared to in-situ measurements. We find evidence that for large viewing angles, the HM fitting method predicts the CME direction better. However, this may be due to the fact that only wide CMEs can be successfully observed when the CME propagates more than 100^° from the observing spacecraft. Overall eight CMEs, originating from behind the limb as seen by one of the STEREO spacecraft can be tracked and their arrival time at the other STEREO spacecraft can be successfully predicted. This includes CMEs, such as the events on 4 December 2009 and 9 April 2010, which were viewed 130^° away from their direction of propagation. Therefore, we predict that some Earth-directed CMEs will be observed by the HIs until early 2013, when the separation between Earth and one of the STEREO spacecraft will be similar to the separation of the two STEREO spacecraft in 2009??C?2010.     

Comparison of Line-of-Sight Magnetograms Taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Michelson Doppler Imager

We compare line-of-sight magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The line-of-sight magnetic signal inferred from the calibrated MDI data is greater than that derived from the HMI data by a factor of 1.40. This factor varies somewhat with center-to-limb distance. An upper bound to the random noise for the 1′′ resolution HMI 720-second magnetograms is 6.3 Mx?cm^?2, and 10.2 Mx?cm^?2 for the 45-second magnetograms. Virtually no p-mode leakage is seen in the HMI magnetograms, but it is significant in the MDI magnetograms. 12-hour and 24-hour periodicities are detected in strong fields in the HMI magnetograms. The newly calibrated MDI full-disk magnetograms have been corrected for the zero-point offset and underestimation of the flux density. The noise is 26.4 Mx?cm^?2 for the MDI one-minute full-disk magnetograms and 16.2 Mx?cm^?2 for the five-minute full-disk magnetograms observed with four-arcsecond resolution. The variation of the noise over the Sun’s disk found in MDI magnetograms is likely due to the different optical distortions in the left- and right-circular analyzers, which allows the granulation and p-mode to leak in as noise. Saturation sometimes seen in sunspot umbrae in MDI magnetograms is caused by the low intensity and the limitation of the onboard computation. The noise in the HMI and MDI line-of-sight magnetic-field synoptic charts appears to be fairly uniform over the entire map. The noise is 2.3 Mx?cm^?2 for HMI charts and 5.0 Mx?cm^?2 for MDI charts. No evident periodicity is found in the HMI synoptic charts.     

Analysis of the activity of the blazar BL Lacertae over the period 1998–2011

In 1998–2011 the blazar (active galactic nucleus) BL Lacertae was observed at Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO) with the second-generation GT-48 Cherenkov telescope at energies >1 TeV with a total significance of 11.8σ. More than 20 flares and a fourfold change in yearly mean fluxes (>1 TeV) were recorded. The optical (B band) data obtained at CrAO and the TeV data are shown to correlate in some time intervals. The optical data are also compared with the X-ray RXTE/ASM (2–10 keV) data. In addition, the data from GT-48 are compared with the gamma-ray fluxes recorded by the Fermi LAT space telescope (0.1–300 GeV). The 2009 flare at TeV and Fermi energies has been studied. As a result, it has been found that as the activity rises the increase in flux at high energies exceeds its increase at low energies. This conclusion may be related to the conversion mechanism of particle acceleration. This is consistent with the results of studies for a similar object, 1ES 1426+428.     

Indices of growth of danger for space activities from orbital debris and the related mitigation measures

Intensive development of near-earth space, often followed by breakups of spacecraft, has led to its significant and progressive contamination. Investigation of this problem seems to be of current importance. Collision of space objects (SO), whose relative velocities reaching up to 17.5 km/s, implies catastrophic consequences, especially for active SOs. Particular trouble is caused concerning piloted spacecraft, in particular for the International Space Station (ISS). In this paper, taking ISS as an example, the dangerous progressive growth of the contamination of near space is shown.