Photopolarimetric studies of comet Austin

Photopolarimetric observations of comet Austin with the IAU/IHW filter system were obtained on the 2.34 m Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, at Kavalur, India, during pre-perihelion phase on February 20,1990 and on the 1.2 m telescope of the Physical Research Laboratory at Gurusikhar, Mount Abu during postperihelion phase on May 2 and 4, 1990. The comet appeared bluer than a solar analog during post-perihelion phase on May 2 and 4. The percent polarization shows a sharp increase towards the red on May 2 and 4. The dominant sizes of the dust particles appear to lie in a narrow range of 0.1 to 0.5 Μm. Regarding the molecular band emission, CN and C₂ bands are quite strong; C₃ emission was also found to be strong though the observations on May 2 and 4 show significant variation as compared to C₂ emission. Molecular band polarization for CN, C₃, C₂ and H₂ O+ have been calculated. It has been found that emission polarization in CN, C₂ and C₃ is between 1–7% (phase angle between 107.4–109 degrees). For CN and C₂ the polarization values are close to the theoretically predicted values, but for C₃ the polarization value falls much below the theoretically predicted value. A similar result was found for comet Halley.     

Spectrophotometry of comet Levy (1990c)

Two spectrophotometric scans of comet Levy (1990c) have been analysed to estimate Haser model column densities and production rates of CN andC ₂ molecules.     

Finite-element analysis of time-dependent large-deformation problems

An updated Lagrangian finite-element formulation has been developed for time-dependent problems of soil consolidation involving finite deformations. Large plastic strains as well as rotations occur in such problems and nominal stress measures are introduced in the formulation to redefine stresses. This leads to corrective terms for equilibrium and yield violations in addition to geometric stiffening terms in the governing integral equations. The soil is considered to be either a linear elastic or an elastoplastic, critical-state material. Some simple numerical examples are studied to validate the formulation, followed by a detailed analysis of the problem of penetration of a pile into soil. The results of this problem are viewed with emphasis on the physical interpretation and practical significance.     

Line-of-sight magnetic flux imbalances caused by electric currents

Several physical and observational effects may contribute to the significant imbalances of magnetic flux that are often observed in active regions. We consider an effect not previously treated: the influence of electric currents in the photosphere. Electric currents can cause a line-of-sight flux imbalance because of the directionality of the magnetic field they produce. Currents associated with magnetic flux tubes produce larger imbalances than do smoothly-varying distributions of flux and current. We estimate the magnitude of this effect for current densities, total currents, and magnetic geometry consistent with observations. The expected imbalances lie approximately in the range 0–15%, depending on the character of the current-carrying fields and the angle from which they are viewed. Observationally, current-induced flux imbalances could be indicated by a statistical dependence of the imbalance on angular distance from disk center. A general study of magnetic flux balance in active regions is needed to determine the relative importance of other - probably larger -effects such as dilute flux (too weak to measure or rendered invisible by radiative transfer effects), merging with weak background fields, and long-range connections between active regions.Operated for the National Science Foundation by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.     

Porphyroblast inclusion-trail orientation data: eppure non son girate*!

Extensive examination of large numbers of spatially orientated thin sections of orientated samples from orogens of all ages around the world has demonstrated that porphyroblasts do not rotate relative to geographical coordinates during highly non-coaxial ductile deformation of the matrix subsequent to their growth. This has been demonstrated for all tectonic environments so far investigated. The work also has provided new insights and data on metamorphic, structural and tectonic processes including: (1) the intimate control of deformation partitioning on metamorphic reactions; (2) solutions to the lack of correlation between lineations that indicate the direction of movement within thrusts and shear zones, and relative plate motion; and (3) a possible technique for determining the direction of relative plate motion that caused orogenesis in ancient orogens.     

Observing the CMB at high-ℓ using the VSA and AMI

We discuss two experiments – the Very Small Array (VSA) and the Arcminute MicroKelvin Imager (AMI) – and their prospects for observing the CMB at high angular multipoles. Whilst the VSA is primarily designed to observe primary anisotropies in the CMB, AMI is designed to image secondary anisotropies via the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect. The combined ℓ-range of these two instruments is between ℓ=150 and 10,000.     

Environmental effects on galaxy luminosity functions: the cluster Abell 496

We have derived the galaxy luminosity function in various regions of the cluster of galaxies Abell 496 from a wide field image in the I band. A Schechter function fit in the 17≤ I_AB ≤22(–19.5≤ M_IAB ≤ –14.5) magnitude interval gives a steep power law index, which is somewhat steeper in the outer regions than in the inner zones. This result agrees with previous findings obtained by several teams on the Coma cluster and can be interpreted as due to the fact that faint galaxies are accreted by large ones in the central regions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Siberian Solar Radio Telescope: the current state of the instrument,observations, and data

The Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) is one of the world's largest solar radio heliographs. It commenced operation in 1983, and since then has undergone several upgrades. The operating frequency of the SSRT is 5.7 GHz. Since 1992 the instrument has had the capability to make one-dimensional scans with a high time resolution of 56 ms and an angular resolution of 15 arc sec. Making one of these scans now takes 14 ms. In 1996 the capability was added to make full, two-dimensional images of the solar disk. The SSRT is now capable of obtaining images with an angular resolution of 21 arc sec every 2 min. In this paper we describe the main features and operation of the instrument, particularly emphasizing issues pertaining to the imaging process and factors limiting data quality. Some of the data processing and analysis techniques are discussed. We present examples of full-disk solar images of the quiet Sun, recorded near solar activity minimum, and images of specific structures: plages, coronal bright points, filaments and prominences, and coronal holes. We also present some observations of dynamic phenomena, such as eruptive prominences and solar flares, which illustrate the high-time-resolution observations that can be done with this instrument. We compare SSRT observations at 5.7 GHz, including computed `light curves', both morphologically and quantatively, with observations made in other spectral domains, such as 17 GHz radio images, Hα filtergrams and magnetograms, extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray observations, and dynamic radio spectra.     

Towards a free–free template for CMB foregrounds

A full-sky template map of the Galactic free–free foreground emission component is increasingly important for high-sensitivity cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. We use the recently published Hα data of both the northern and southern skies as the basis for such a template.
The first step is to correct the Hα maps for dust absorption using the 100-μm dust maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis. We show that for a range of longitudes, the Galactic latitude distribution of absorption suggests that it is 33 per cent of the full extragalactic absorption. A reliable absorption-corrected Hα map can be produced for ∼95 per cent of the sky; the area for which a template cannot be recovered is the Galactic plane area  | b | < 5°, l = 260°–0°–160°  and some isolated dense dust clouds at intermediate latitudes.
The second step is to convert the dust-corrected Hα data into a predicted radio surface brightness. The free–free emission formula is revised to give an accurate expression (1 per cent) for the radio emission covering the frequency range 100 MHz–100 GHz and the electron temperature range 3000–20 000 K. The main uncertainty when applying this expression is the variation of electron temperature across the sky. The emission formula is verified in several extended H  ii regions using data in the range 408–2326 MHz.
A full-sky free–free template map is presented at 30 GHz; the scaling to other frequencies is given. The Haslam et al. all-sky 408-MHz map of the sky can be corrected for this free–free component, which amounts to a  ≈6  per cent correction at intermediate and high latitudes, to provide a pure synchrotron all-sky template. The implications for CMB experiments are discussed.