Co2 and Climate: a Geologist's View

Climate is discussed as an integral part of System Earth, determined by a complex interplay of numerous geological, biological and solar processes. The historical and geological record of changing climate and atmospheric CO₂ pressure does not support the current popular vision that this greenhouse gas is the dominant climate controlling agent. When empirically ante post tested against past global climate changes, the forecasts of the climate models mainly based on forcing by atmospheric CO₂ are not borne out. On the other hand, recent studies show that solar variability rather than changing CO₂ pressure is an important, probably the dominant climate forcing factor.     

Primordial Helium and ΔY/ΔZ from H II Regions and from Fine Structure in the Main Sequence Based on Hipparcos Parallaxes

The primordial helium abundance YP is important for cosmology and the ratio Y/Z of the changes relative to primordial abundances constrains models of stellar evolution. While the most accurate estimates of YP come from emission lines in extragalactic H II regions, they involve an extrapolation to zero metallicity which itself is closely tied up with the slope Y/Z. Recently certain systematic effects have come to light in this exercise which make it useful to have an independent estimate of Y/Z from fine structure in the main sequence of nearby stars. We derive such an estimate from Hipparcos data for stars with Z Z and find values between 2 and 3, which are consistent with stellar models, but still have a large uncertainty.     

Temperature Fluctuations,H II Region Abundances,and Primordial Helium

There is evidence for temperature fluctuations in Planetary Nebulae and in some Galactic H II regions. If such fluctuations occur in the low metallicity, extragalactic H II regions used to probe the primordial helium abundance, the derived 4He mass fraction, YP, could be systematically different from the true primordial value. Although this effect could be large, there are no data which allow us to estimate the size of the temperature fluctuations for the extragalactic H II regions. Therefore, we have explored this effect via Monte Carlo simulations of the data in which the abundances derived from a fiducial data set are modified by T chosen from a distribution with 0 T Tmax where Tmax is varied from 500 K to 4000 K.     

Energetic particles at high latitudes

We review work on diffusion coefficients of energetic particles with an attempt to extract implications on their behaviour at high latitudes. In the ecliptic plane results from solar energetic particle propagation between the Sun and about 5 AU can be described by an effective radial mean free path _r which is approximately constant as a function of distancer. When particle propagation in three dimensions in the heliosphere is considered it is not sufficient to consider _r only. Jovian electrons can be used as probes to determine the parameters of three-dimensional diffusion. In the polar regions diffusion is dominated by its parallel component. Some predictions how should vary with latitude are discussed. For different choices of this variation we present expectations for intensity-time profiles of solar particle events during the Ulysses polar passages.     

Study of magnetospheric dynamics using energetic solar particles

Information can be obtained from energetic particle measurements through the chemical composition, energy spectrum, directional anisotropy, temporal and spatial intensity variations. This is equivalent to saying that there is a distribution functionf _k(p,r,t) wherek corresponds to thekth particle species of momentump at positionr and timet.Particle transport is described by the Boltzmann equation, and because the densities are generally low in the case of cosmic rays or energetic solar flare particles, collective transport effects can be neglected. In the absence of magnetospheric motion it is relatively easy to treat the problems of particle transport as simple propagation of charged particles in a stationary magnetic field configuration using, for instance, trajectory calculations in model fields. The method here is to use correlated measurements of the particle distribution at two points along a dynamic trajectory, and in this way to learn something about the geomagnetic field. This approach provides a good basis from which to study magnetospheric dynamics. If the magnetosphere moves, large scale electric fields, turbulent electromagnetic fields and sources and sinks affect the propagation of energetic particles considerably. These effects change the distribution functionf _k(p,r,t) and can thus be detected.In this paper, we shall show the importance of the single particle approximation (trajectories in a reference field) in forming the basis of our understanding of the quiet-time penetration of cosmic rays into the magnetosphere, we shall consider the steady dynamics such as wave-particle inter-action and field line reconnection, which is believed to exist nearly all the time, and finally we shall review the work which has been done in the much more complex and less well-understood field of impulsive dynamics such as geomagnetic storms and substorms. This last topic is only just beginning to be investigated in detail, and it is hoped that the study of impulsive dynamics, using energetic particles, may be as successful as the study of the quiet magnetosphere and the steady dynamics.     

Electron coronal density irregularity\overline {n^2 } /(\bar n)^2 from measurements of K-coronal and lyman lines brightnesses

We propose a technique to derive the coronal density irregularity factor , wheren is the electron density. The absolute photometric comparison between the intensity of UV lines and the white-light K-coronal polarized brightness (pB) provides an unique constraint on the inhomogeneity of the corona. The ratio of the measured H I Lyman (Ly-) line intensity to the resonant-scattering dominated H I Lyman (Ly-) intensity can be used to extract the collisonal component of the Ly-. This component yields an estimate of . The quantity is then obtained from white-light K-coronal measurements. The use of lines of the same atomic species minimizes the effects due to outflow velocities (i.e., Doppler dimming), and reduces the errors introduced by the uncertainties in the ionization balance, the atomic parameters, and the solar abundances. The UVCS/SOHO unique capability of performing cotemporal and cospatial measurements of the Ly- and Ly- lines, and ofpB makes this instrument ideal for implementing this technique.     

Observed Densities in the Universe

Baryons observed in Ly absorbers contribute to the density parameter 0 by bar 0.06 in close agreement with the value of 0.06 from primordial nucleosynthesis (H0=55 km s-1 Mpc-1, = 0 assumed throughout). A number of methods are known to measure 0 from density fluctuations; bound structures tend to yield lower values (m 0.2-0.4), field galaxies over large scales higher, but still undercritical values (m 0.6 ± 0.2). The best compromise value is 0 0.5, but the present methods are blind to diffusely distributed, exotic matter which still could make 0 = 1. A satisfactory solution of 0 (and ) will only come from a fundamental cosmological test (e.g. the Hubble diagram of [evolution-corrected] supernovae type Ia) in combination with the CMB fluctuation spectrum.     

Non-BBN Constraints on the Key Cosmological Parameters

Since the baryon-to-photon ratio 10 is in some doubt at present, we ignore the constraints on 10 from big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and fit the three key cosmological parameters (h, M, 10) to four other observational constraints: Hubble parameter (ho), age of the universe (to), cluster gas (baryon) fraction (fo fGh3/2), and effective shape parameter (o). We consider open and flat CDM models and flat CDM models, testing goodness of fit and drawing confidence regions by the 2 method. CDM models with M = 1 (SCDM models) are accepted only because we allow a large error on ho, permitting h < 0.5. Open CDM models are accepted only for _M 0.4. CDM models give similar results. In all of these models, large 10 ( 6) is favored strongly over small 10 ( 2), supporting reports of low deuterium abundances on some QSO lines of sight, and suggesting that observational determinations of primordial 4He may be contaminated by systematic errors. Only if we drop the crucial o constraint are much lower values of M and 10 permitted.     

ULF waves: Conjugated ground-satellite relationships

We study the simultaneous occurrence of ULF waves observed on board GEOS and at two of its conjugated stations: Husafell (Iceland) and Skibotn (Norway). We try to deduce some properties of the regions in which these waves are generated. The few number of simultaneous observations of pearl events indicates that such structured oscillations can occur only in specific conditions which are not met generally at the geostationary altitude. We introduce a new method for measuring time delays between the satellite and the ground. We show that this time is much higher than it would be expected from a simple extrapolation of measurements done at lower latitudes on structured events.     

NGC 4151 and MCG 8-11-11: Two X-ray seyfert galaxies with strong soft γ-ray emission

During a balloon flight of the MISO telescope on the 30th September 1979, the Seyfert galaxies NGC 4151 and MGC 8-11-11 were studied in the hard X-ray range (E_X > 20 keV) and low-energy -ray range up to 19 MeV. An emission at the 4.5 level above 20 keV (4 above 260 keV) was detected in the direction of NGC 4151. -ray emission at the 3.9 level above 90 keV was also observed from the direction of MCG 8-11-11. The emission photon spectrum shows a high-energy cutoff at about 3 MeV. A large amount of the observed low-energy -ray diffuse background could be produced by a few percent of the X-ray emitting Seyfert galaxies having a -ray luminosity comparable to that observed from the regions of NGC 4151 or MCG 8-11-11.     

SOHO: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), together with the Cluster mission, constitutes ESA's Solar Terrestrial Science Programme (STSP), the first Cornerstone of the Agency's long-term programme Space Science — Horizon 2000. STSP, which is being developed in a strong collaborative effort with NASA, will allow comprehensive studies to be made of the both the Sun's interior and its outer atmosphere, the acceleration and propagation of the solar wind and its interaction with the Earth. This paper gives a brief overview of one part of STSP, the SOHO mission.     

Characteristics and interpretation of the photometric variability of eta carinae and its nebula

A short review is given on the history of the peculiar variable object Car and on a number of relevant references describing and discussing its physical characteristics and behaviour, based on different types of observational techniques. The star is known to be variable since the 17th century. The excessive mass loss to which it was subject during the 19th century is now visible as an ellipsoidal reflection nebula of 15 diameter: the so-called homunculus. The remainder of the paper is spent on different kinds of problems partly based on the results of a decade of photometric monitoring in the VBLUW photometric system of Walraven. Foreground reddening and reddening by dust in the homunculus are determined and amount to E(B - V) _J = 0 50 and < 6, respectively. Scanning of the homunculus revealed an estimate for the photometric characteristics of the central object, which presumably consists of a massive hot star surrounded by a cooler gas envelope. The total luminosity is derived using fluxes of various sources in the wavelength region 0.15 < < 175 n resulting in M _bol = - 12 3 ± 0 2. The total observed flux corrected for foreground extinction corresponds to a star with R 96 R if T _eff 30 000 K. The mass may be near 150 M . The excess luminosity in 1843, when the star was presumably bolometrically at least 2 5 brighter than at present, may have been caused by envelope-energized pulsations when the star's luminosity was close to its Eddington limit. The temperature should then have been 50 000 K. The mass loss rate, during the excess luminosity phase lasting 30 yr, is estimated to amount to M 4 × 10^-3 M yr^-1. At present the mass loss may be M 10^-4M yr^-1. Since the homunculus is mainly built up from material expelled in the 30 yr interval (from 1830 to 1860), its total mass amounts to M _hom 0.15 M . The historical observations of the colours of Car and a comparison with the characteristics of S Dor type stars, suggest that Car was subject to a number of S Dor type phases similar to those of P Cyg (in the 17th century), S Dor and others. A satisfactory explanation is found for the complete historical light curve. The decrease in light after the 1843 maximum by 9 ^m , presumably consists of a fading of the luminosity excess and the S Dor effect by 2 5 and 3^m, respectively, and a 3 5 extinction by circumstellar dust. The small amplitude light variations which Car showed during the last decade, were studied with the aid of the variations of the Balmer jump. They are presumably caused by temperature variations of the central star.Percy and Welch (1983) (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific 95, 491) have observed P Cyg on a number of nights in 1982 and found for the photometric variations a time scale of 30 to 50 days and an amplitude of 0 _. ^m 15.Based partly on observations collected at the ESO, La Silla, Chile.     

The importance of anisotropic interstellar turbulence and molecular-cloud magnetic mirrors for galactic cosmic-ray propagation

Recent studies suggest that when magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is excited by stirring a plasma at large scales, the cascade of energy from large to small scales is anisotropic, in the sense that small-scale fluctuations satisfy the inequality k k , where k and k are, respectively, the components of a fluctuations wave vector and to the background magnetic field. Such anisotropic fluctuations are very inefficient at scattering cosmic rays. Results based on the quasilinear approximation for scattering of cosmic rays by anisotropic MHD turbulence are presented and explained. The important role played by molecular-cloud magnetic mirrors in confining and isotropizing cosmic rays when scattering is weak is also discussed.     

Gamma-ray line production in astronomical objects

This review focuses on the conditions for -ray line production in the most interesting astronomical objects, in light of the planned experiments: Gamma-1, GRO, Sigma, GRASP, and others. Among these objects are the Sun, the galactic center region, molecular and dust clouds, accreting and exploding stars.     

Fourier parameters of heliospheric current sheet and their significance

If the path of the neutral line on the coronal source surface is expressible as a singlevalued function (colatitude vs longitude ), then Fourier analysis of ctn with respect to leads to a simple algorithm for realistically mapping the neutral line outward to model the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) at distancesr1 AU. To be compatible with MHD, the source surface used for this mapping should be prolate (aligned with dipole axis) rather than spherical. Orientation of the Sun's magnetic-dipole moment is indicated by them=1 Fourier amplitude (a ₁ sin +b ₁ cos ) of ctn on the source surface. Physical features (including the neutral line) on a prolate source surface intrinsically map to lower dipole latitudes atr1 AU in the heliosphere, and Ulysses observations of a unipolar field at latitudes beyond 30°S (when the neutral line on the source surface still reached 39°S) confirm the expected geometry.     

The solar grazing incidence (GRIST) and optical (SOT) telescopes joint accommodation

Some of the problems foreseen for the joint accommodation and operation of the Grazing Incidence Solar Telescope (GRIST) under study by ESA to operate in the extreme ultraviolet region (90 < < 1700 Å), and the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), developed by NASA to operate in the ultraviolet, optical and infrared region (A > 1100 Å) on a Spacelab mission are described.Proceedings of the Conference Solar Physics from Space, held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), 11–14 November 1980.     

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nebular Morphologies and Their Implications

The morphologies of nebulae, as revealed by HST observations are presented. Mechanisms for the formation of axisymmetric and point-symmetric nebulae are reviewed. Critical observations that can test the models presented in this paper are suggested.     

Relative ionizations in the nearest interstellar gas

We compare CLOUDY predictions for the equilibrium ionization in the interstellar cloud surrounding the solar system with pick-up ion data. The incident radiation field includes contributions from hot stars, the emission from the conductive cloud boundary and the diffuse FUV back-ground. To within the observational uncertainties, CLOUDY predictions for the ratios n(He)/n(O), n(N)/n(O), n(Ne)/n(O), and n(He)/n(Ne) are consistent with pick-up ion data, provided that O and N are filtered by 50% in the heliopause region and the outer heliosphere as predicted by others. Thus, the steady-state ionization model and assumed radiation field appear approximately valid. However, the youth and low intervening column density towards the Vela pulsar leave open the possibility that the parent supernova explosion 10,500 years ago, and 200 pc distant, may also have affected LISM ionization, although the mechanism is uncertain. Support for this last possibility is provided by the apparent signature of the Vela explosion in the terrestrial geological record.Abbreviations ISM Interstellar Medium - FUV Far Ultraviolet - EUV Extreme Ultraviolet - SNR SN remnant - SXRB SXR Background - LISM Local Interstellar Matter     

A dissection of 30 Doradus and a discussion of other Magellanic Cloud OB associations

I Present the results of ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope photometry and spectroscopy of the stars in the central region (roughly 7×7 arcmin) of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Using photometric data for over 2400 stars (complete toV18 mag), and spectroscopic observations of over 150 stars in the region, the best estimate of the initial mass function (IMF) yields a slope of =–1.5±0.2 for masses > 12M, where the Salpeter slope is =–1.35. I compare these results to other measurements of the IMF for OB associations in the Magellanic Clouds.     

Some results of ionospheric investigations by means of coherent radiowaves emitted by satellites

In this paper we discuss theoretical expressions, determining the difference of Doppler shifts of various coherent radiowave frequencies emitted by a radiator moving in the ionosphere or interplanetary medium. The rotating Doppler effect (Faraday effect) caused by the Doppler shifts ±H of the ordinary and extraordinary waves is also considered. In a three-dimensional inhomogeneous ionosphere, stationary in time (N/t = 0), is determined in the general case, by an equation with three variables. The equation for proper depends only on the local value of the electron concentration N _c around the radiator and on integral values, determining, by means of additional calculations, the angle of refraction or its components, the horizontal gradients of electron concentration N/x and N/y, and in some cases, the integral electron concentration ₀ ^zcN dz. We describe the analysis of the measurements, made with the satellites Cosmos I, II and partially XI, assuming that N/t = N/y = 0, with a two variables equation. The expected errors are considered. The results coincide well for different points (Moscow, The Crimea, Sverdlovsk) and thus agree with the measurements of _H and with height-frequency ionospheric characteristics. The curve giving electron concentration versus height N (z) in the outer ionosphere (above the maximum of F2), shows a new maximum higher than the main maximum of the ionosphere N _MF2 at 120–140 km. At this maximum the value of N (z) is (0.9–0.95) N _MF2. The new data on the large-scale horizontal inhomogeneities of the ionosphere, exceed the previous ones by about a factor 10. By means of the irregular variations of the spectrum W() of the inhomogenous formation is determined. Three unknown constant maxima with values 16 to 18 km, 28 to 32 km and 100 to 120 km are found. The spectrum W () mainly characterizes the local properties of the ionosphere along the orbit of the satellite.