The value of excess charge in the kernel of massive body (and the opposite in sign excess charge at the surface) caused by the influence of gravitational forces is determined.

This article contains reminiscences about Academician M. A. Markov, one of the most prominent experts in high-energy physics and the physics of fundamental interactions, the theory of gravitation, and cosmology. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.

standing physicist and a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, marked his 70th birthday. He was born in a family of research workers of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow. He joined the community of theoretical physicists in an unusual way. After he had successfully finished the preparatory division and firstyear course of education at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), Ritus determined to enter the first course of the Faculty of Physics at Moscow State University (MSU), specializing in nuclear physics. That was in year 1945, a year of exciting advances in theoretical and experimental nuclear physics, which culminated in the first nuclear explosions. It was therefore easy to see why the young man found new interests. Still, his first attempt to make his wishes come true failed. As the reason for his refusal, the University's rector wrote onRitus's application: `` I don't feel it possible to accept a successful MAI student. A typical case of delay in specialist training.'' However, everything had a happy end owing to Ritus's reasonable insistence. He carried out his diploma project under the guidance of I Ya Barit, a talented experimental physicist, in I M Frank's laboratory at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (known as FIAN for short in Russian). The project evoked the strong interest of I V Shtranikh and F L Shapiro. In this work, probably for the first time in this country, a system of scintillation counters was constructed and the angular correlation of cascade g-quanta of several nuclei was measured. In January 1951, Ritus was admitted to a postgraduate course. However, unforeseen circumstances soon changed the natural course of events. By a special decision, the government ruled to set up a team to work on thermonuclear weapons, and Ritus was `pulled out' of the post-graduate studentship and sent to the `installation' where he was to join I E Tamm's and A D Sakharov's group. Working with these remarkable persons, Ritus was engrossed in complicated scientific and applied problems and did much to resolve them. This won him a USSR State Prize in 1953. About two years after the Soviet Union had built and tested its first H-bomb, Tamm was able to return Ritus to FIAN's Theoretical Department he headed. Soon, Ritus reported in the Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. his first unclassified studies which he had begun at Tamm's suggestion at the `installation'. The studies were concerned with the theory of pion photoproduction and the scattering of photons on nucleons with regard to isobaric states. This choice of studies had been induced by Fermi's pion ± nucleon interaction experiments which revealed the resonance behaviour of the scattering cross-section. Ritus derived angular polynomials ± matrices which proved a very efficient tool for studying the polarization effects in nuclear reactions. Even at that time, Ritus's scientific self-reliance, exceptional conscientiousness, and emphasis on quality performance won him the deep respect not only of his colleagues but of all those who were around him. His candidate of sciences dissertation (1959) on the theory of reactions involving polarized particles could have made several dissertations. Its findings were cited inmonographs by other authors, but it was not until 1971 that Ritus published it. Ritus's doctor of sciences dissertation (1969) dealt with a different subject Ð quantum processes in strong external electromagnetic fields. This fundamental work had been the outcome of many years' strenuous effort, and nobody would have doubted its carrying enough weight for a doctor's degree, but Ritus did. His reward was his opponents' Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk 167 (5) 569 ± 570 (1997) Translated by B V Kuznetsov PERSONALIA PACS number: 01.60.+q

A general-relativistic description of a vortex filament in a superfluid core of a massive compact body is given. It is shown that the gravimagnetic field engendered by the rotation of the fluid around the filament, in reacting back on this rotation can change the direction of the rotation. It is found that the general formula relating the angular momentum of a body with the asymptotic behavior of its gravimagnetic field at large distances is invalid when vortex filaments are present.

It is shown that if a potential in a nonrelativistic system of Fermi particles has a sufficiently strong singularity, anomalies (nonzero values of quantities formally equal to zero) will probably appear. For different types of singularities (in paticular, for the Coulomb potential), anomalies associated with the energy and total number of particles in the system are calculated. These anomalies may be beneficial in deriving a semiclassical description of electron- nuclear systems.

The excess charge in the core of a heavy body (and the excess opposite charge at its surface) resulting from the action of gravitation is determined.

The phenomenon of superfluidity (as well as the related phenomenon of superconductivity) is of quantum nature and as such looks paradoxical from the standpoint of both classical physics and common sense. Suffice it to say that these phenomena imply the ability to flow without exhibiting viscosity or resistance (for this reason, for example, the circulation of a superconducting current within a closed circuit in the absence of external sources would last without damping for a period much in excess of the age of the Universe). At the same time, a number of unusual and quite unexpected features appear to be intrinsic to specific events of superfluid physics. Some of them will be considered in the present study.