New 6-cm observations of a large sample of radio SNRs

Almost 50 radio SNR objects were selected from Green's catalogue for continuum and polarization observations. We present preliminary results of this observational campaign at 4.7 GHz carried out with Torun 32-metre radio telescope.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, proceedings for "Supernova 1987A: 20 Years After: Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursters" AIP, New York, eds. S. Immler, K.W. Weiler, and R. McCra

Preliminary Sunyaev Zel'dovich Observations of Galaxy Clusters with OCRA-p

We present 30 GHz Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) observations of a sample of four galaxy clusters with a prototype of the One Centimetre Receiver Array (OCRA-p) which is mounted on the Torun 32-m telescope. The clusters (Cl0016+16, MS0451.6-0305, MS1054.4-0321 and Abell 2218) are popular SZ targets and serve as commissioning observations. All four are detected with clear significance (4-6 sigma) and values for the central temperature decrements are in good agreement with measurements reported in the literature. We believe that systematic effects are successfully suppressed by our observing strategy. The relatively short integration times required to obtain these results demonstrate the power of OCRA-p and its successors for future SZ studies.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by MNRAS, online earl

Iridium Cyclooctene Complex Forms a Hyperpolarization Transfer Catalyst Before Converting to a Binuclear C-H Bond Activation Product Responsible for Hydrogen Isotope Exchange

[IrCl(COE)2]2 ( 1 ) reacts with pyridine and H2 to form crystallo-graphically characterized IrCl(H)2(COE)(py)2 ( 2 ). 2 undergoes pyridine loss to form 16-electron IrCl(H)2(COE)(py) (3) with equivalent hydride ligands. When this reaction is studied with parahydrogen, 1 efficiently achieves the hyperpolarization of free pyridine (and nicotinamide, nicotine, 5-aminopyrimidine and 3,5-lutudine) via signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) and hence reflects a simple and readily available precatayst for this process. 2 reacts further over 48 hrs at 298 K to form crystallographically characterized (Cl)(H)(py)(μ-Cl)(μ-H)(κ-μ-NC5H4)Ir(H)(py)2 (4). This dimer is shown to be active in the hydrogen isotope exchange process that is used in radiophar-maceutical preparations. Furthermore, while [Ir(H)2(COE)(py)3]PF6 ( 6 ) forms on addition of AgPF6 to 2 , its stability precludes its efficient involvement in SABRE

Fibre-optic delivery of time and frequency to VLBI station

The quality of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio observations predominantly relies on precise and ultra-stable time and frequency (T&F) standards, usually hydrogen masers (HM), maintained locally at each VLBI station. Here, we present an operational solution in which the VLBI observations are routinely carried out without use of a local HM, but using remote synchronization via a stabilized, long-distance fibre-optic link. The T&F reference signals, traceable to international atomic timescale (TAI), are delivered to the VLBI station from a dedicated timekeeping laboratory. Moreover, we describe a proof-of-concept experiment where the VLBI station is synchronized to a remote strontium optical lattice clock during the observation.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, matches the version published in A&A, section Astronomical instrumentatio

RoboPol: Connection between optical polarization plane rotations and gamma-ray flares in blazars

We use results of our 3 year polarimetric monitoring program to investigate the previously suggested connection between rotations of the polarization plane in the optical emission of blazars and their gamma-ray flares in the GeV band. The homogeneous set of 40 rotation events in 24 sources detected by {\em RoboPol} is analysed together with the gamma-ray data provided by {\em Fermi}-LAT. We confirm that polarization plane rotations are indeed related to the closest gamma-ray flares in blazars and the time lags between these events are consistent with zero. Amplitudes of the rotations are anticorrelated with amplitudes of the gamma-ray flares. This is presumably caused by higher relativistic boosting (higher Doppler factors) in blazars that exhibit smaller amplitude polarization plane rotations. Moreover, the time scales of rotations and flares are marginally correlated.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, accepted to MNRA

Tracking control for a cascade perturbed control system using the active disturbance rejection paradigm

In this paper the stability of a closed-loop cascade control system in the trajectory tracking task is addressed. The considered plant consists of underlying second-order fully actuated perturbed dynamics and the first order system which describes dynamics of the input. The main theoretical result presented in the paper concerns stability conditions formulated based on the Lyapunov analysis for the cascade control structure taking advantage of the active rejection disturbance approach. In particular, limitations imposed on a feasible set of an observer bandwidth are discussed. In order to illustrate characteristics of the closed-loop control system simulation results are presented. Furthermore, the controller is verified experimentally using a two-axis telescope mount. The obtained results confirm that the considered control strategy can be efficiently applied for mechanical systems when a high tracking precision is required.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 2 table