A search for x-ray counterparts of gamma-ray bursts with the ROSAT PSPC

We search for faint X-ray bursts with duration 10--300 seconds in the ROSAT PSPC pointed observations with a total exposure of 1.6e7 seconds. We do not detect any events shorter than ~100s, i.e. those that could be related to the classic gamma-ray bursts. At the same time, we detect a number of long flares with durations of several hundred seconds. Most, but not all, of the long flares are associated with stars. If even a small number of those long flares, that cannot identified with stars, are X-ray afterglows of GRB, the number of X-ray afterglows greatly exceeds the number of BATSE GRB. This would imply that the beaming factor of gamma-rays from the burst should be >100. The non-detection of any short bursts in our data constrains the GRB counts at the fluences 1--2.5 orders of magnitude below the BATSE limit. The constrained burst counts are consistent with the extrapolation of the BATSE log N - log S relation. Finally, our results do not confirm a reality of short X-ray flashes found in the Einstein IPC data by Gotthelf, Hamilton and Helfand.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letters. 4 pages with 3 figures, LaTeX2

The research of the maximum wind speed in Tomsk and calculations of dynamic load on antenna systems

The work is concerned with calculations and analysis of the maximum wind speed in Tomsk city. The data for analysis were taken from the TOR-station located in the north-eastern part of the city. The TOR-station sensors to measure a speed and a direction of wind are installed on the 10-meter meteorological mast. Wind is measured by M-63, which uses the standard approach and the program with one-minute averaging for wind gusts recording as well. According to the measured results in the research performed, the estimation of the dynamic and wind load on different types of antenna systems was performed. The work shows the calculations of wind load on ten types of antenna systems, distinguished by their different constructions and antenna areas. For implementation of calculations, we used methods developed in the Central Research and Development Institute of Building Constructions named after V.A. Kucherenko. The research results could be used for design engineering of the static antenna systems and mobile tracking systems for the distant objects

First hours of the GRB 030329 optical afterglow

We present the first results of the observations of the extremely bright optical afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 030329 with the 1.5m Russian-Turkish telescope RTT150 (TUBITAK National Observatory, Bakyrlytepe, Turkey). RTT150 was one of the first 1.5m-class telescopes pointed to the afterglow. Observations were started approximately 6 hours after the burst. During the first 5 hours of our observations the afterglow faded exactly as a power law with index -1.19+-0.01 in each of the BVRI Bessel filters. After that, in all BVRI filters simultaneously we observe a steepening of the power law light curve. The power law decay index smoothly approaches the value ~= -1.9, observed by other observatories later. This power law break occurs at t-t_0 =0.57 days and lasts for +-0.1 days. We observe no variability above the gradual fading with the upper limits 10--1% on time scales 0.1--1000s. Spectral flux distribution in four BVRI filters corresponds to the power law spectrum with spectral index \alpha=0.66+-0.01. The change of the power law decay index in the end of our observations can be interpreted as a signature of collimated ultrarelativistic jet. The afterglow flux distribution in radio, optical and x-rays is consistent with synchrotron spectrum. We continue our observations of this unique object with RTT150.Comment: Astronomy Letters, Vol. 29, No. 9, p. 573; 6 pages, 5 figures; pagination corrected; the original Russian version can be found at http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~br/030329/pfh030329.pd

Radiative corrections and parity nonconservation in heavy atoms

The self-energy and the vertex radiative corrections to the effect of parity nonconservation in heavy atoms are calculated analytically in orders Z alpha^2 and Z^2 alpha^3 ln(lambda_C/r_0), where lambda_C and r_0 being the Compton wavelength and the nuclear radius, respectively. The value of the radiative correction is -0.85% for Cs and -1.41% for Tl. Using these results we have performed analysis of the experimental data on atomic parity nonconservation. The obtained values of the nuclear weak charge, Q_W=-72.90(28)_{exp}(35)_{theor} for Cs, and Q_W=-116.7(1.2)_{exp}(3.4)_{theor} for Tl, agree with predictions of the standard model. As an application of our approach we have also calculated analytically dependence of the Lamb shift on the finite nuclear size.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Finite nuclear size and Lamb shift of p-wave atomic states

We consider corrections to the Lamb shift of p-wave atomic states due to the finite nuclear size (FNS). In other words, these are radiative corrections to the atomic isotop shift related to FNS. It is shown that the structure of the corrections is qualitatively different from that for s-wave states. The perturbation theory expansion for the relative correction for a $p_{1/2}$-state starts from $\alpha\ln(1/Z\alpha)$-term, while for $s_{1/2}$-states it starts from $Z\alpha^2$ term. Here $\alpha$ is the fine structure constant and $Z$ is the nuclear charge. In the present work we calculate the $\alpha$-terms for $2p$-states, the result for $2p_{1/2}$-state reads $(8\alpha/9\pi)[\ln(1/(Z\alpha)^2)+0.710]$. Even more interesting are $p_{3/2}$-states. In this case the ``correction'' is by several orders of magnitude larger than the ``leading'' FNS shift.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure