Volume 61, Nº 10 (2017)

In the course of monitoring interplanetary scintillations of a large number of sources using the Big Scanning Antenna of the Lebedev Physical Institute, a search for pulsars with periods ≥0.4 s at declinations −9◦ < δ < 42◦ and right ascensions 0h < α < 24h was simultaneously carried out. The search was conducted using four years of observations carried out at 110.25MHz in six frequency channels making up a 2.5 MHz band and having a time resolution of 100 ms. The initial identification of pulsar candidates was done using Fourier power spectra averaged over the entire observational period; the pulsar candidates were then verified using observations with higher frequency and time resolution: 32 frequency channels and a time resolution of 12.5 ms. Eighteen new pulsars were discovered in the studied area, whose main characteristics are presented.

An analysis of the activity of the Hyades M4.5 dwarf EPIC 210490365, K2–25 (2MASS J04130560+1514520), based on observational data obtained with the Kepler Space Telescope is presented. This dwarf has a Neptune-type planet. The continuous evolution of active regions on the surface of K2–25 is traced over 70 days. The brightness changes of the star display a fairly stable nature. The rotation period of K2–25 is 1.878 ± 0.030 day. Maps of temperature inhomogeneities on the surface of K2–25 are constructed for 37 sets of observations. All these maps show concentrations of spots at two longitudes, with more active region having the larger area. The total spotted surface area S is, on average, 2.6% of the total visible surface of the star. The estimated differential rotation speed of the star is ΔΩ = 0.0071 ± 0.002 rad/day. The positions of K2–25 in S–age, S–rotation period, and S–Rossby number diagrams are consistent with the general trends of these dependences established earlier for M dwarfs. The derived Rossby number for K2–25, Ro = 0.36, is used to estimate the star’s X-ray luminosity to be log(R_X) = −4.20.

Trigonometric parallaxesmeasuredwith ground-based telescopes of the RECONS consortium as part of the CTIOPI program are used to search for stars that have either had an encounter with the solar system in the past or will have such an encounter in the future, at distances of less than a few parsecs. These are mainly low-mass dwarfs and subdwarfs of types M, L, and T currently at distances of less than 30 pc from the Sun. Six stars for which encounters with the solar orbit at distances of less than 1 pc are possible have been identified for the first time. For example, the minimum distance for the star **SOZ 3A will be 0.72 ± 0.11 pc at an epoch of 103 ± 44 thousand years in the future.

Helioseismology and neutrino experiments probing the internal structure of the Sun have yieldedmuch information, such as the adiabatic elasticity index, density, and sound speed in the convective and radiative zones, the depth of the convective zone, and the flux of neutrinos from the core. The standard model of the Sun does not adequately reproduce these characteristics, with models with low heavy element contents (mass fraction of metals Z = 0.013 in the convective zone) deviating from the helioseismic data appreciably more strongly than models with high heavy element contents (Z = 0.018). However, a spectroscopic low Z value is supported by studies reconstructing the Γ₁ profile in the adiabatic part of the convective zone based on the oscillation frequencies. Models of the convective zone show a good agreement precisely for low Z values. This study attempts to construct a model for the Sun with low Z that satisfies the helioseismic constraints. This model requires changes in the p + p reaction cross section and the opacities in the radiative zone. In our view, the helioseismic result for the mass concentrated in the convective zone testifies that the p + p reaction cross section or the electron-screening coefficient in the solar core must be increased by several percent over the current values. This requires a comparatively small correction to the opacities (by less than 5%), in order to obtain a solar model with low Z that is in agreement with the results of helioseismology and the observed solar neutrino fluxes.