arXiv subjects

Zinovy Malkin

Publications and source records attributed to Zinovy Malkin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Connecting VLBI and Gaia celestial reference frames

The current state of the link problem between radio and optical celestial reference frames is considered. The main objectives of the investigations in this direction during the next few years are the preparation of a comparison and the mutual orientation and rotation between the optical {\it Gaia} Celestial Reference Frame (GCRF) and the 3rd generation radio International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3), obtained from VLBI observations. Both systems, ideally, should be a realization of the ICRS (International Celestial Reference System) at micro-arcsecond level accuracy. Therefore, the link accuracy between the ICRF and GCRF should be obtained with similar error level, which is not a trivial task due to relatively large systematic and random errors in source positions at different frequency bands. In this paper, a brief overview of recent work on the GCRF--ICRF link is presented. Additional possibilities to improve the GCRF--ICRF link accuracy are discussed. The suggestion is made to use astrometric radio sources with optical magnitude to 20$^m$ rather than to 18$^m$ as currently planned for the GCRF--ICRF link. In addition, the use of radio stars is also a prospective method to obtain independent and accurate orientation between the Gaia frame and the ICRF.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Application of the Allan Variance to Time Series Analysis in Astrometry and Geodesy: A Review

The Allan variance (AVAR) was introduced 50 years ago as a statistical tool for assessing of the frequency standards deviations. For the past decades, AVAR has increasingly being used in geodesy and astrometry to assess the noise characteristics in geodetic and astrometric time series. A specific feature of astrometric and geodetic measurements, as compared with the clock measurements, is that they are generally associated with uncertainties; thus, an appropriate weighting should be applied during data analysis. Besides, some physically connected scalar time series naturally form series of multi-dimensional vectors. For example, three station coordinates time series $X$, $Y$, and $Z$ can be combined to analyze 3D station position variations. The classical AVAR is not intended for processing unevenly weighted and/or multi-dimensional data. Therefore, AVAR modifications, namely weighted AVAR (WAVAR), multi-dimensional AVAR (MAVAR), and weighted multi-dimensional AVAR (WMAVAR), were introduced to overcome these deficiencies. In this paper, a brief review is given of the experience of using AVAR and its modifications in processing astro-geodetic time series.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Using radio stars to link the Gaia and VLBI reference frames

A possible method for linking the optical Gaia Celestial Reference Frame (GCRF) to the VLBI-based International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) is to use radio stars in a manner similar to that in the linking of the Hipparcos Celestial Reference Frame (HCRF) to ICRF. In this work, an obtainable accuracy of the orientation angles between GCRF and ICRF frames was estimated by Monte Carlo simulation. If the uncertainties in the radio star positions obtained by VLBI are in the range of 0.1-4 mas and those obtained by Gaia are in the range of 0.005-0.4 mas, the orientation angle uncertainties are 0.018-0.72 mas if 46 radio stars are used, 0.013-0.51 mas if 92 radio stars are used, and 0.010-0.41~mas if 138 radio stars are used. The general conclusion from this study is that a properly organized VLBI programme for radio star observation with a reasonable load on the VLBI network can allow for the realization of GCRF-ICRF link with an error of about 0.1 mas.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Free core nutation: new large disturbance and connection evidence with geomagnetic jerks

Variations in free core nutation (FCN) are connected with various processes in the Earth's fluid core and core-mantle coupling, which are also largely responsible for the geomagnetic field variations, particularly the geomagnetic jerks (GMJs). A previous study (Malkin, 2013) revealed that the epochs of the observed extremes in the FCN amplitude and phase variations are close to the GMJ epochs. In this paper, a new evidence of this connection was found. The large FCN amplitude and phase disturbance occurred at the epoch close to the newly revealed GMJ 2011. This event occurred to be the second large change in the FCN amplitude and phase after the 1999 disturbance that is also associated with the GMJ 1999. Moreover, the long-time FCN phase drift had changed suddenly in 1998--1999, immediately before the GMJ 1999, and seemed to change again at the epoch immediately preceding the GMJ 2011. The FCN amplitude showed a general long-time decrease before GMJ 1999, and it subsequently grew until GMJ 2011, and then seemed to decrease again. A smaller FCN change can be observed at the epoch around 2013, which is also suspected as the GMJ epoch. The latter confirms the suggestion that a rapid change in the FCN amplitude and/or phase can be used as an evidence of the GMJ that is not clearly detected from the geomagnetic observations.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2015

How much can Galactic aberration impact the link between radio (ICRF) and optical (GCRF) reference frames

The highly-accurate optical reference frame GCRF (Gaia Celestial Reference Frame) is expected to be available in several years. By the same time, a new version of radio reference frame ICRF (International Celestial Reference Frame) will be also published. The link of GCRF to ICRF will be defined by means of computation of the orientation angles between the two frames using the common extragalactic objects observed in both radio (VLBI) and optics (Gaia). Taking into account the expected accuracy of ICRF and GCRF of the first tens microarcseconds, the link between them should be defined at a microarcsecond level, which requires using the most accurate algorithms and models. One of such models is the Galactic aberration in proper motions, which is not included in the data processing yet. In this paper its impact on the ICRF-Gaia link is estimated. Preliminary results showed that this impact is at a level of about 1 microarcsecond.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Some results of analysis of source position time series

Source position time series produced by International VLBI Service for Geodesy and astrometry (IVS) Analysis Centers were analyzed. These series was computed using different software and analysis strategy. Comparison of this series showed that they have considerably different scatter and systematic behavior. Based on the inspection of all the series, new sources were identified as sources with irregular (non-random) position variations. Two statistics used to estimate the noise level in the time series, namely RMS and ADEV were compared.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

On the implications of the Galactic aberration in proper motions for celestial reference frame

During the last years, much attention has been paid to the astrometric implications of the galactic aberration in proper motions (GA). This effect causes systematic errors in astrometric measurements at a microarcsecond level. Some authors consider it so serious that it requires redefinition of the celestial reference system (CRF). We argue that such attention to the GA is too much exaggerated. It is just a small astrometric correction that must be taken into account during highly accurate astrometric and geodetic data processing. The accuracy of this correction depends on accuracy of the Galactic rotation parameters and, for most application, on the accuracy of the rotation matrix between Galactic and equatorial systems. Our analysis has shown that our today knowledge of these two factors is sufficient to compute the GA correction with accuracy of better than 10%. The remaining effect at a level of few tenths microarcsecond/yr is negligible nowadays. Another consequence of introducing the GA correction is necessity to return to classical astrometric modeling of the VLBI-derived extragalactic radio source position by the linear trend model. Changing the current paradigm of VLBI-derived CRF based on assumption of zero motion of radio sources to classical one leads to bias in the radio source positions up to several tens microarcseconds for catalog at epoch J2000.0.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Interaction between celestial and terrestrial reference frames and some considerations for the next VLBI-based ICRF

In this paper we outline several problems related to the realization of the international celestial and terrestrial reference frames ICRF and ITRF at the millimeter level of accuracy, with emphasis on ICRF issues. The main topics considered are: analysis of the current status of the ICRF, mutual impact of ICRF and ITRF, and some considerations for future ICRF realizations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Software for Geodynamical Researches Used in the LSGER IAA

Laboratory of Space Geodesy and Earth Rotation (LSGER) of the Institute of Applied Astronomy (IAA) of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been carrying on, since its creation, the computation of geodynamical products: Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and station coordinates (TRF) based on observations of space geodesy techniques: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Global Positioning System (GPS). Principal software components, used for these investigations, include: package GROSS for processing of SLR observations, package Bernese for processing of GPS observations, package OCCAM for processing of VLBI observations, software for data exchange, and software for combination of space geodesy products.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

On the impact of correlation information on the orientation parameters between celestial reference frame realizations

In this study, we compared results of determination of the orientation angles between celestial reference frames realized by radio source position catalogues using three methods of accounting for correlation information: using the position errors only, using additionally the correlations be-tween the right ascension and declination (RA/DE correlations) reported in radio source position catalogues published in the IERS format, and using the full covariance matrix. The computations were performed with nine catalogues computed at eight analysis centres. Our analysis has shown that using the RA/DE correlations only slightly influences the computed rotational angles, whereas using the full correlation matrices leads to substantial change in the orientation parameters be-tween the compared catalogues.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Comparison of CPO and FCN empirical models

In this presentation, several publicly available empiric models of the celestial pole offset (CPO) and free core nutation (FCN), included those developed by the author, are investigated and compared each other from different points of view, such as representation of the observation data, FCN parameters variation, prediction accuracy. Based on this study, some practical recommendations are proposed.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2013

Connecting terrestrial to celestial reference frames

In this paper we outline several problems related to the realization of the international celestial and terrestrial reference frames --- the ICRF and ITRF --- at the millimeter level of accuracy, with emphasis on ICRF issues. We consider here the current status of the ICRF, the interrelationship between the ICRF and ITRF, and considerations for future ICRF realizations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

On errors of radio source position catalogs

In this paper, a new method of investigation of the external radio source position catalogs RSPCs stochastic errors is presented. Using this method the stochastic errors of nine recently published RSPCs were evaluated. It has been shown that the result can be affected by the systematic differences between catalogs if the latter are not accounted for. It was also found that the formal uncertainties of the source position in the RSPCs correlate with the external errors. We also investigated several topics related to the formal uncertainties and systematic errors of RSPC.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

A new approach to the assessment of stochastic errors of radio source position catalogues

Assessing the external stochastic errors of radio source position catalogues derived from VLBI observations is important for tasks such as estimating the quality of the catalogues and their weighting during combination. One of the widely used methods to estimate these errors is the three-cornered-hat technique, which can be extended to the N-cornered-hat technique. A critical point of this method is how to properly account for the correlations between the compared catalogues. We present a new approach to solving this problem that is suitable for simultaneous investigations of several catalogues. To compute the correlation between two catalogues $A$ and $B$, the differences between these catalogues and a third arbitrary catalogue $C$ are computed. Then the correlation between these differences is considered as an estimate of the correlation between catalogues $A$ and $B$. The average value of these estimates over all catalogues $C$ is taken as a final estimate of the target correlation. In this way, an exhaustive search of all possible combinations allows one to compute the paired correlations between all catalogues. As an additional refinement of the method, we introduce the concept of weighted correlation coefficient. This technique was applied to nine recently published radio source position catalogues. We found large systematic differences between catalogues, that significantly impact determination of their stochastic errors. Finally, we estimated the stochastic errors of the nine catalogues.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Statistical analysis of the determinations of the Sun's Galactocentric distance

Based on several tens of Ro measurements made during the past decades, several studies have been performed to derive the best estimate of Ro. Some used just simple averaging to derive a result, whereas others provided comprehensive analyses of possible errors in published results. In either case, detailed statistical analyses of data used were not performed. However, a computation of the best estimates of the Galactic rotation constants is not only an astronomical but also a metrological task. Here we perform an analysis of 53 Ro measurements (published in the past 20 years) to assess the consistency of the data. Our analysis shows that they are internally consistent. It is also shown that any trend in the Ro estimates from the last 20 years is statistically negligible, which renders the presence of a bandwagon effect doubtful. On the other hand, the formal errors in the published Ro estimates improve significantly with time.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Analysis of Determinations of the Distance between the Sun and the Galactic Center

The paper investigates the question of whether or not determinations of the distance between the Sun and the Galactic center R0 are affected by the so-called "bandwagon effect", leading to selection effects in published data that tend to be close to expected values, as was suggested by some authors. It is difficult to estimate numerically a systematic uncertainty in R0 due to the bandwagon effect; however, it is highly probable that, even if widely accepted values differ appreciably from the true value, the published results should eventually approach the true value despite the bandwagon effect. This should be manifest as a trend in the published R0 data: if this trend is statistically significant, the presence of the bandwagon effect can be suspected in the data. Fifty two determinations of R0 published over the last 20 years were analyzed. These data reveal no statistically significant trend, suggesting they are unlikely to involve any systematic uncertainty due to the bandwagon effect. At the same time, the published data show a gradual and statistically significant decrease in the uncertainties in the R0 determinations with time.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

The current best estimate of the Galactocentric distance of the Sun based on comparison of different statistical techniques

In this paper, the current best estimate of a fundamental Galactic parameter Galactocentric distance of the Sun $R_0$ has been evaluated using all the available estimates published during the last 20 years. Unlike some other studies, our analysis of these results showed no statistically significant trend in $R_0$ during this period. However we revealed a statistically valuable improvement in the $R_0$ uncertainties with time of about 0.2 kpc for 20 years. Several statistical techniques have been used and compared to obtain the most reliable common mean of 52 determinations made in 1992--2011 and its realistic uncertainty. The statistical methods used include unweighted mean, seven variants of the weighted mean, and two variants of median technique. The $R_0$ estimates obtained with these methods range from 7.91 to 8.06 kpc with uncertainties varying from 0.05 to 0.08 kpc. The final value derived in this analysis is $R_0 = 7.98 \pm 0.15\,|_{stat} \pm 0.20\,|_{syst}$ kpc, which can be recommended as the current best estimate of the Galactocentric distance of the Sun. For most of the practical applications the value of $R_0 = 8.0 \pm 0.25$ kpc can be used.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2011

On computation of a common mean

Combining several independent measurements of the same physical quantity is one of the most important tasks in metrology. Small samples, biased input estimates, not always adequate reported uncertainties, and unknown error distribution make a rigorous solution very difficult, if not impossible. For this reason, many methods to compute a common mean and its uncertainty were proposed, each with own advantages and shortcomings. Most of them are variants of the weighted average (WA) approach with different strategies to compute WA and its standard deviation. Median estimate became also increasingly popular during recent years. In this paper, these two methods in most widely used modifications are compared using simulated and real data. To overcome some problems of known approaches to compute the WA uncertainty, a new combined estimate has been proposed. It has been shown that the proposed method can help to obtain more robust and realistic estimate suitable for both consistent and discrepant measurements.

physics.data-an↗