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We have established an iterative scheme to calculate with 15-digit accuracy the numerical values of Ambartsumian-Chandrasekhar's H-functions for anisotropic scattering characterized by the four-term phase function: the method incorporates some advantageous features of the iterative procedure of Kawabata (2015) and the double-exponential integration formula~(DE-formula) of Takahashi and Mori (1974), which proved highly effective in Kawabata (2016). Actual calculations of the H-functions have been carried out employing 27 selected cases of the phase function, 56 values of the single scattering albedo $\varpi_0$, and 36 values of an angular variable $\mu(=\cos \theta)$, with $\theta$ being the zenith angle specifying the direction of incidence and/or emergence of radiation. Partial results obtained for conservative isotropic scattering, Rayleigh scattering, and anisotropic scattering due to a full four-term phase function are presented. As a sample application of the isotropic scattering H-function, an attempt is made in Appendix to simulate by iteratively solving the Ambartsumian equation the values of the plane and spherical albedos of a semi-infinite, homogeneous atmosphere calculated by Rogovtsov and Borovik (2016), who employed their analytical representations for these quantities and the single-term and two-term Henyey-Greenstein phase functions of appreciably high degrees of anisotropy, to find that our results are in satisfactory agreement with theirs., Comment: 23 pages including 10 main text pages, 3 pages for Appendix A, 1 page for table and figure captions, 7 tables, and 2 figures. This is a pre-print of an article published in Astrophysics and Space Science, January 2018, 363:1. The final authenticated version is available on line at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-017-3218-5. (First Online: 01 December 2017)

This work shows that it is possible to calculate numerical values of the Chandrasekhar $H$-function for isotropic scattering at least with 15-digit accuracy by making use of the double exponential formula (DE-formula) of Takahashi and Mori (Publ. RIMS, Kyoto Univ. Vol. 9, 721, 1974) instead of the Gauss-Legendre quadrature employed in the numerical scheme of Kawabata and Limaye (Astrophys. Space Sci. Vol. 332, 365, 2011) and simultaneously taking a precautionary measure to minimize the effects due to loss of significant digits particularly in the cases of near-conservative scattering and/or errors involved in returned values of library functions supplied by compilers in use. The results of our calculations are presented for 18 selected values of single scattering albedo $\varpi_0$ and 22 values of an angular variable $\mu$, the cosine of zenith angle $\theta$ specifying the direction of radiation incident on or emergent from semi-infinite media., Comment: 15 pages, 8 tables, The article is available electronically: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10509-016-2961-3

This work shows that notable acceleration of the speed of calculating Chandrasekhar's H-functions for general laws of scattering with an iterative method can be realized by supplying a starting pproximation produced by the following procedure: (i) in the cases of azimuth-angle independent Fourier components, values of the isotropic scattering H-function given by an accurate yet simple-to-apply formula, in particular, the one by Kawabata and Limaye (Astrophys. and Space Sci. Vol. 332, 365-371, 2011 DOI 10.1007/s10509-010-0512-x; see also Astrophys. and Space Sci. Vol. 348, 601, 2013 DOI 10.1007/1009-013-1589-9, for erratum), and (ii) for azimuth-angle dependent Fourier components, an already obtained solution of the next lower order term. The paper has been published in Astrophys. and Space Sci. Vol. 358, 32-38 (2015) DOI 10.1007/s10509-015-2434-0, and the final publication is available at link.springer.com., Comment: 10 pages, 0 figure, 4 tables

An efficient hybrid numerical method for multiple scattering calculations is proposed. We use the well established doubling--adding method to find the reflection function of the lowermost homogeneous slab comprising the atmosphere of our interest. This reflection function provides the initial value for the fast invariant imbedding method of Sato et al., (1977), with which layers are added until the final reflection function of the entire atmosphere is obtained. The execution speed of this hybrid method is no slower than one half of that of the doubling-adding method, probably the fastest algorithm available, even in the most unsuitable cases for the fast invariant imbedding method. The efficiency of the proposed method increases rapidly with the number of atmospheric slabs and the optical thickness of each slab. For some cases, its execution speed is approximately four times faster than the doubling--adding method. This work has been published in NAIS Journal (ISSN 1882-9392) Vol. 7, 5-16 (2012)., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, a commemorative paper dedicated to late Prof. Sueo Ueno

We have succeeded in establishing a cosmological model with a non-minimally coupled scalar field $\phi$ that can account not only for the spatial periodicity or the picket-fence structure exhibited by the galaxy $N$-$z$ relation of the 2dF survey, but also for the spatial power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) temperature anisotropy observed by the WMAP satellite. The scalar field of our model universe starts from an extremely small value at around the nucleosynthesis epoch, remains in that state for sufficiently long periods, allowing sufficient time for the CMB temperature anisotropy to form, and then starts to grow in magnitude at the redshift $z$ of $\sim 1$, followed by a damping oscillation which is required to reproduce the observed picket-fence structure of the $N$-$z$ relation. To realize such behavior of the scalar field, we have found it necessary to introduce a new form of potential $V(\phi)\propto \phi^2\exp(-q\phi^2)$, with $q$ being a constant. Through this parameter $q$, we can control the epoch at which the scalar field starts growing., Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of VIII Asia-Pacific International Conference on Gravitation and Astophysics (ICGA8), Press Section of ICGA8 (2008), p.28

We first establish a simple procedure to obtain with 11-figure accuracy the values of Chandrasekhar's H-function for isotropic scattering using a closed-form integral representation and the Gauss-Legendre quadrature. Based on the numerical values of the function produced by this method for various values of the single scattering albedo and the cosine of the azimuth angle of the direction of radiation emergent from or incident upon a semi-infinite scattering-absorbing medium, we propose a rational approximation formula, which allows us to reproduce the correct values of the H-function within a relative error of 2.1/100000 without recourse to any iterative procedure or root-finding process., Comment: 12 pages, 1 table, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science

We investigate whether or nor it is possible to find a scalar field model or models that are capable of explaining simultaneously the observed $N$-$z$ relation given by the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, which still seems to exhibit a spatial periodicity of the galaxy distribution(the 'picket-fence structure'), and the CMB spectrum obtained by the WMAP experiments. It is found that both the observed size of the spatial periodicity and the amplitude of the 2dF $N$-$z$ relation can be fairly well fitted by the theoretical computations based on the scalar field models with $-20\le \xi\le -10$, and $140\le m_{\rm s} \le 160$, where $\xi$ is the gravitational coupling parameter, and $m_{\rm s}$ the normalized mass of the scalar field, respectively. To reproduce the CMB spectrum of the WMAP, we find that it is very crucial to have a null state of the scalar field in the early epochs of evolution of the universe., Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of 59th Yamada Conference "Inflating Horizons of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology", Universal Academy Press (2006), p.219

We have succeeded in establishing a cosmological model with a non-minimally coupled scalar field $\phi$ that can account not only for the spatial periodicity or the {\it picket-fence structure} exhibited by the galaxy $N$-$z$ relation of the 2dF survey but also for the spatial power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) temperature anisotropy observed by the WMAP satellite. The Hubble diagram of our model also compares well with the observation of Type Ia supernovae. The scalar field of our model universe starts from an extremely small value at around the nucleosynthesis epoch, remains in that state for sufficiently long periods, allowing sufficient time for the CMB temperature anisotropy to form, and then starts to grow in magnitude at the redshift $z$ of $\sim 1$, followed by a damping oscillation which is required to reproduce the observed picket-fence structure of the $N$-$z$ relation. To realize such behavior of the scalar field, we have found it necessary to introduce a new form of potential $V(\phi)\propto \phi^2\exp(-q\phi^2)$, with $q$ being a constant. Through this parameter $q$, we can control the epoch at which the scalar field starts growing., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science

We report on the results of detailed spectral studies of the ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX), M81 X-9 (Holmberg IX X-1), made with XMM-Newton on 2001 April 22 and with ASCA on 1999 April 6. On both occasions, the source showed an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV luminosity of ~2E40 erg/s (assuming a distance of 3.4Mpc) and a soft spectrum apparently represented by a multi-color disk model with an innermost disk temperature of 1.3-1.5 keV. Adding a power-law model further improved the fit. However, as previously reported, the high luminosity cannot be reconciled with the high disk temperature within a framework of the standard accretion disk radiating at a sub-Eddington luminosity. Therefore, we modified the multi-color disk model, and allowed the local disk temperature to scale as r^(-p) on the distance r from the black hole, with p being a free parameter. We then found that the XMM-Newton and the ASCA spectra can be both reproduced successfully with p~0.6 and the innermost disk temperature of 1.4-1.8 keV. These flatter temperature profiles suggest deviation from the standard Shakura-Sunyaev disk, and are consistent with predictions of a slim disk model., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, to appear in PASJ vol 58 No.6

An X-ray compact source was discovered with Chandra in a supernova remnant (SNR) N23, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The compact source (CXOU J050552.3-680141) is seen in only the hard band (> 2 keV) image of N23, while the soft band image (< 2 keV) shows diffuse emission of the SNR, with an extent of ~60 arcsec times ~80 arcsec. The compact source is located at almost the center of N23, and there is no identifiable object for the source from previous observations at any other wavelength. The source spectrum is best explained by a power-law model with a photon index of 2.2 (1.9-2.7) and an absorption-corrected luminosity of 1.0 x 10^34 ergs s^-1 in the 0.5--10 keV band for a distance of 50 kpc. Neither pulsation nor time variability of the source was detected with this observation with a time resolution of 3.2 sec. These results correspond with those of Hughes et al. (2006) who carried out analysis independently around the same time as our work. Based on information from the best-fit power-law model, we suggest that the source emission is most likely from a rotation-powered pulsar and/or a pulsar wind nebula. It is generally inferred that the progenitor of N23 is a core-collapsed massive star. Based on information from the best-fit power-law model, we suggest that the source emission is most likely from a rotation-powered pulsar and/or a pulsar wind nebula. It is generally inferred that the progenitor of N23 is a core-collapsed massive star., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Accepted to ApJ

We have analyzed two data sets of Jupiter's limb darkening taken before (March 1990) and after (March 1991) a South Equatorial Belt (SEB) disturbance. The vertical aerosol structure has been determined for the SEB, the Equatorial Zone (EZ), and the North Equatorial Belt (NEB). We find that all regions can be well represented with a two-cloud layer model, with slightly higher NH3-cloud top altitude in the EZ than in the two belts. The cloud single-scattering albedos tilda-omega(sub cl) (determined within plus or minus 0.003) show little difference in the EZ (from 0.9956 to 0.9952) and the NEB (from 0.9925 to 0.9926) during a 1-year period, while a relatively larger decrease is found in the SEB from 0.9975 to 0.9957, indicating the recovery of the belt through the disturbance. The NH3-cloud top altitude in the SEB shows the most prominent change, lower in 1990 and higher in 1991. We suggest that the brightening and the darkening of the SEB may originate not only from the changes of tilda-omega(sub cl) but also from changes of the ammonia condensation level in the atmosphere, probably due to a decrease of the tropospheric temperature and/or an increase of the ammonia vapor.

The horizontal distribution of haze particles in the equatorial region of Venus was investigated using selected polarimetry maps obtained by the Orbiter Cloud Photopolarimeter (OCP) aboard the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, with five of these maps having been acquired on five consecutive terrestrial days. Nine sets of OCP polarimetry maps (PM) similar to PM 16 employed by Kawabata et al. (1980) were selected, and 935 nm data points were extracted to construct a cloud-haze model, from which the haze fraction f(h) within the cloud and the corresponding optical thickness tau(h) were determined for the period from December 1978 to October 1980. The results indicate that, in this period, the upper cloud layer of Venus had haze layers with tau(h) of about 0.02. Furthermore, the submicron particles present within the principal cloud contributed approximately 6 percent to the total scattering cross section per unit volume. Although no systematic time variations in the derived values of tau(h) and f(h) were noticeable, the consecutive five day observations indicated a presence of a large-scale horizontal inhomogeneity in haze particle distribution.