arXiv subjects

O. Titov

Publications and source records attributed to O. Titov.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Recent VLBA/VERA/IVS Tests of General Relativity

We report on recent VLBA/VERA/IVS observational tests of General Relativity. First, we will summarize the results from the 2005 VLBA experiment that determined gamma with an accuracy of 0.0003 by measuring the deflection of four compact radio sources by the solar gravitational field. We discuss the limits of precision that can be obtained with VLBA experiments in the future. We describe recent experiments using the three global arrays to measure the aberration of gravity when Jupiter and Saturn passed within a few arcmin of bright radio sources. These reductions are still in progress, but the anticipated positional accuracy of the VLBA experiment may be about 0.01 mas.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2009

Systematic effects in the radio source proper motion

Some models of the expanding Universe predict that the astrometric proper motion of distant radio sources embedded in space-time are non-zero as radial distance from observer to the source grows. Systematic effects due to this proper motion can even increase with distance making possible to measure them with high precision astrometric techniques like VLBI. We analyzed a large set of geodetic VLBI data spanning from 1979 till 2008 to estimate the dipole and the quadrupole harmonics in the expansion of the vector field of the proper motions of quasars in the sky. We estimated the vector spherical harmonics (three parameters for the dipole and ten - for the quadrupole systematic) directly from the VLBI group delays without intermediate calculation of the individual proper motion. The estimates have been obtained separately for different red shift zones. It was shown that the dipole harmonic does not vary significantly, whereas the amplitude of the quadrupole gradually increases with the red shift. This quadrupole pattern can be interpreted either as an anisotropic Hubble expansion, or as an indication of the primordial gravitational waves in the early Universe. However, more prosaic explanations may also be possible.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Systematic effects in apparent proper motion of radio sources

The galactocentric rotation of the Solar system generates the systematic effect in proper motions known as 'secular aberration drift'. This tiny effect (about five microseconds per year) in the quasar proper motion can be measured by VLBI. However, the motions of relativistic jets from the active extragalactic nuclei can reach several hundred microseconds per year and mimic the proper motion of the observed radio sources. These apparent motions exceed the secular aberration drift by factor of 10-100. In this paper we search the ways to overcome the difficulties and discuss our estimates of the secular aberration drift using OCCAM software.

astro-ph↗