Statistical Feature Recognition for Multidimensional Solar Imagery

A maximum a posteriori (MAP) technique is developed to identify solar features in cotemporal and cospatial images of line-of-sight magnetic flux, continuum intensity, and equivalent width observed with the NASA/National Solar Observatory (NSO) Spectromagnetograph (SPM). The technique facilitates human understanding of patterns in large data sets and enables systematic studies of feature characteristics for comparison with models and observations of long-term solar activity and variability. The method uses Bayes’ rule to compute the posterior probability of any feature segmentation of a trio of observed images from per-pixel, class-conditional probabilities derived from independently-segmented training images. Simulated annealing is used to find the most likely segmentation. New algorithms for computing class-conditional probabilities from three-dimensional Gaussian mixture models and interpolated histogram densities are described and compared. A new extension to the spatial smoothing in the Bayesian prior model is introduced, which can incorporate a spatial dependence such as center-to-limb variation. How the spatial scale of training segmentations affects the results is discussed, and a new method for statistical separation of quiet Sun and quiet network is presented.     

Sunspots with the Strongest Magnetic Fields

The strongest observed solar magnetic fields are found in sunspot umbrae and associated light bridges. We investigate systematic measurements of approximately 32 000 sunspot groups observed from 1917 through 2004 using data from Mt. Wilson, Potsdam, Rome and Crimea observatories. Isolated observations from other observatories are also included. Corrections to Mt. Wilson measurements are required and applied. We found 55 groups (0.2%) with at least one sunspot with one magnetic field measurement of at least 4000 G including five measurements of at least 5000 G and one spot with a record field of 6100 G. Although typical strong-field spots are large and show complex structure in white light, others are simple in form. Sometimes the strongest fields are in light bridges that separate opposite polarity umbras. The distribution of strongest measured fields above 3 kG appears to be continuous, following a steep power law with exponent about −9.5. The observed upper limit of 5 – 6 kG is consistent with the idea that an umbral field has a more or less coherent structure down to some depth and then fragments. We find that odd-numbered sunspot cycles usually contain about 30% more total sunspot groups but 60% fewer >3 kG spots than preceding even-numbered cycles.     

Unique components of the WZ Sge-type dwarf nova SDSS J080434.20+510349.2

Detailed photometrical monitoring of the cataclysmic variable SDSS J080434.20+510349.2 began at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (Ukraine) and the Apache Point Observatory (United States) before the 2006 outburst, continued during the outburst, as well as the following two years. We established the unique nature of the primary and secondary components of the binary. We performed a comprehensive study of the white dwarf’s pulsations over the course of five months, two years after the 2006 outburst. It is shown that the most stable pulsations are equal to or double a period of 12.6 min. On the basis of all the available observations, more precise values for the orbital and the superhump periods were found to be 0.0590048(3) days and 0.059729(4) days, respectively. Our estimation of the mass of the secondary component lies in the range of solar mass from 0.037 to 0.087. This confirms the previous suggestion that the secondary component is most probably a brown dwarf.     

Analysis of He I 1083 nm Imaging Spectroscopy Using a Spectral Standard

We develop a technique for the analysis of Hei 1083 nm spectra which addresses several difficulties through determination of a continuum background by comparison with a well-calibrated standard and through removal of nearby solar and telluric blends by differential comparison to an average spectrum. The method is compared with earlier analysis of imaging spectroscopy obtained at the National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope (NSO/KPVT) with the NASA/NSO Spectromagnetograph (SPM). We examine distributions of Doppler velocity and line width as a function of central intensity for an active region, filament, quiet Sun, and coronal hole. For our example, we find that line widths and central intensity are oppositely correlated in a coronal hole and quiet Sun. Line widths are comparable to the quiet Sun in the active region, are systematically lower in the filament, and extend to higher values in the coronal hole. Outward velocities of 2–4 km s^–1 are typically observed in the coronal hole. The sensitivity of these results to analysis technique is discussed.     

Element abundances in the atmosphere of the chemically peculiar star β Cr B

Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 251–258, September–October, 1990.     

Variability of the spectrum of β CrB in the region of the lithium line Li I λ6708Å

Some results of observations of the spectrum of the spectroscopic-binary Ap star CrB in the region of the lithium line Li I 6708Å are presented. The observations were made at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory over the period 1993–1995 with the coudé spectrograph equipped with a CCD camera on the 2.6-m telescope. Several factors which can affect the behavior of the lithium blend are examined: stellar rotation, magnetic field, isotopic shift, the binary system, and blending by unidentified elements. The principal result of this work is the detection of variability of the lithium blend Li I 6708Å over the period of rotation of the star. The variations of the radial velocity V_r, and the FWHM of the lithium blend are reported here for the first time. They indicate either a nonuniform distribution of lithium or a nonuniform distribution of conditions for excitation of the lithium resonance doublet in the complex structure of the strong surface magnetic field. Similar variations are also shown by the lines of the rare-earth elements Gd II 6702.10 Å, Gd II + Ce II 6704.3Å, and Ce II + Fe I 6706.0 Å.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 19–30, January–March, 1996.