Comparison of global storm activity rate calculated from Schumann resonance background components to electric field intensity E0Z

This work presents the results of a comparison between the global storm activity rate I_RS and electric field intensity E_0Z. The permanent analysis of the I_RS may become an important tool for testing Global Electric Circuit models. I_RS is determined by a new method that uses the background component of the first 7 Schumann resonances (SR). The rate calculations are based on ELF observations carried out in 2005 and 2006 in the observatory station “Hylaty” of the Jagiellonian University in the Eastern Carpathians (Kułak, A., Zięba, S., Micek, S., Nieckarz, Z., 2003. Solar variations in extremely low frequency propagation parameters: I. A two-dimensional telegraph equation (TDTE) model of ELF propagation and fundamental parameters of Schumann resonances, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 1270, doi:10.1029/2002JA009304). Diurnal runs of the I_RS rate were compared with diurnal runs of E_0Z amplitudes registered at the Earth's surface in the Geophysical Observatory of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Świder (Kubicki, M., 2005. Results of Atmospheric Electricity and Meteorological Observations, S. Kalinowski Geophysical Observatory at Świder 2004, Pub. Inst. Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences, D-68 (383), Warszawa.). The days with the highest values of the correlation coefficient (R) between amplitudes of both observed parameters characterizing atmosphere electric activity are shown. The seasonal changes of R, I_RS and E_0Z are also presented.     

Orbit calculations near by the equilibrium points by a discrete mechanics method

Basic formulas of discrete mechanics in a rotating frame of references are obtained. Its application to several computer examples of orbits near by the equilibrium points of the Earth-Moon system are presented, and—for computational purposes—an algorithm is given.     

Comptonization in the vicinity of the black hole horizon

Using a Monte Carlo method, we derive spectra arising from Comptonization taking place close to a Kerr black hole. We consider a model consisting of a hot thermal corona Comptonizing seed photons emitted by a cold accretion disc. We find that general relativistic effects are crucial for the emerging spectra in models, which involve significant contribution of radiation produced in the black hole ergosphere. As a result of this contribution, spectra of hard X-ray emission produced in the vicinity of a rapidly rotating black hole strongly depend on the inclination of the line of sight, with larger inclinations corresponding to harder spectra. Remarkably, such anisotropy could be responsible for properties of the X-ray spectra of Seyfert galaxies, which appear to be intrinsically harder in type 2 objects than in type 1, as reported recently.     

Robertson-Walker cosmologies with a trace anomaly effect in their dynamical description

The evolution of some vacuum spatially-flat Robertson-Walker universes filled with a massless conformally-invariant quantum field is presented in the energy density-curvature phase plane.     

Charge States of Krypton and Xenon in the Solar Wind

We calculate charge state distributions of Kr and Xe in a model for two different types of solar wind using the effective ionization and recombination rates provided from the OPEN_ADAS data base. The charge states of heavy elements in the solar wind are essential for estimating the efficiency of Coulomb drag in the inner corona. We find that xenon ions experience particularly low Coulomb drag from protons in the inner corona, comparable to the notoriously weak drag of protons on helium ions. It has been found long ago that helium in the solar wind can be strongly depleted near interplanetary current sheets, whereas coronal mass ejecta are sometimes strongly enriched in helium. We argue that if the extraordinary variability of the helium abundance in the solar wind is due to inefficient Coulomb drag, the xenon abundance must vary strongly. In fact, a secular decrease of the solar wind xenon abundance relative to the other heavier noble gases (Ne, Ar, Kr) has been postulated based on a comparison of noble gases in recently irradiated and ancient samples of ilmenite in the lunar regolith. We conclude that decreasing solar activity and decreasing frequency of coronal mass ejections over the solar lifetime might be responsible for a secularly decreasing abundance of xenon in the solar wind.     

On the variability and spectral distortion of fluorescent iron lines from black hole accretion discs

We investigate the properties of fluorescent iron lines that arise as a result of the illumination of a black hole accretion disc by an X-ray source located above the disc's surface. We study in detail the light-bending model of the variability of the lines, extending previous work on the subject. We indicate that the bending of photon trajectories to the equatorial plane (a distinct property of the Kerr metric) is the most feasible effect underlying the reduced variability of the lines observed in several objects. A model involving an X-ray source with a varying radial distance, located within a few central gravitational radii around a rapidly rotating black hole, close to the disc's surface, may explain both the elongated red wing of the line profile and the complex variability pattern observed in MCG–6-30-15 by XMM–Newton . We also point out that illumination by radiation that returns to the disc (following the previous reflection) contributes significantly to the formation of the line profile in some cases. As a result of this effect, the line profile always has a pronounced blue peak (which is not observed in the deep minimum state in MCG–6-30-15), unless the reflecting material is absent within the innermost 2–3 gravitational radii.     

Solutions homoclinic to regular precessions of a symmetric satellite

The aim of this paper is to study numerically asymptotic manifolds and homoclinic solutions to the regular precessions of a rigid symmetric satellite in a circular orbit.