Table of contents

Research on the polaron–polaron interaction and the theory of large-radius bipolarons are reviewed. The difference between the two-center and one-center continuum bipolaron models in isotropic and anisotropic crystals is discussed. It is shown that the inclusion of electron–electron correlations can significantly reduce the bipolaron and D⁻-center energies as well as the energies of exchange-bound pairs of shallow hydrogen-like centers. The two-center bipolaron configuration corresponds to a shallow secondary minimum and is unstable. The phonon-mediated exchange interaction between Pekar polarons has an antiferromagnetic nature and exceeds the ferromagnetic interaction due to the Coulomb interaction of electrons localized in polaron potential wells. The possibility that the superfluidity of bipolarons can give rise to high-temperature superconductivity is discussed and problems related to the Wigner crystallization of a polaron gas are examined.

The current knowledge of the physics of electromagnetic cloaking of material objects by the wave flow method is reviewed. Experiments demonstrating the feasibility of this cloaking method are described. Some aspects of calculating cloak profiles are examined, and achievements and unsolved problems in the theory of the interaction of electromagnetic waves with shells are considered. Prospects for developing the cloaking method for waves of other physical nature (acoustic and probability density waves) are discussed.

The properties of acoustic phonon polarization vectors in high-symmetry crystals are considered. Elliptic polarization of phonons in the presence of a magnetic field is shown to occur in crystals with the spin–phonon coupling.

A scientific session of the Physical Sciences Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN) (Troitsk, Moscow region) was held in the conference hall of IZMIRAN on 25 November 2009. The following reports were put on the session agenda posted on the web site www.gpad.ac.ru of the Physical Sciences Division, RAS:

(1) Gurevich A V (Lebedev Physical Institute RAS, Moscow) "The role of cosmic rays and runaway electron breakdown in atmospheric lightning discharges"; (2) Aleksandrov E B (Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, RAS, St. Petersburg) "Advances in quantum magnetometry for geomagnetic research"; (3) Dorman L I (IZMIRAN, Troitsk, Moscow region, CR & SWC, Israel) "Cosmic ray variations and space weather"; (4) Mareev E A (Institute of Applied Physics, RAS, Nizhnii Novgorod) "Global electric circuit research: achievements and prospects"; (5) Tereshchenko E D, Safargaleev V V (Polar Geophysical Institute, Kola Research Center, RAS, Murmansk) "Geophysical research in Spitsbergen Archipelago: status and prospects"; (6) Gulyaev Yu V, Armand N A, Efimov A I, Matyugov S S, Pavelyev A G, Savich N A, Samoznaev L N, Smirnov V V, Yakovlev O I (Kotel'nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics RAS, Fryazino Branch, Fryazino, Moscow region) "Results of solar wind and planetary ionosphere research using radiophysical methods"; (7) Kunitsyn V E (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow) "Satellite radio probing and the radio tomography of the ionosphere"; (8) Kuznetsov V D (IZMIRAN, Troitsk, Moscow region) "Space Research at the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences."

Papers based on reports 2–8 are published below. The main contents of report 1 are reproduced in A V Gurevich's review, "Nonlinear effects in the ionosphere" [Phys. Usp. 50 1091 (2007)] and in the paper by A V Gurevich et al., "Nonlinear phenomena in the ionospheric plasma. Effects of cosmic rays and runaway breakdown on thunderstorm discharges" [Phys. Usp. 52 735 (2009)]. • Advances in quantum magnetometry for geomagnetic research , E B Aleksandrov Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 487–496 • Cosmic ray variations and space weather, L I Dorman Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 496–503 • Global electric circuit research: achievements and prospects, E A Mareev Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 504–511 • Geophysical research in Spitsbergen Archipelago: status and prospects, V V Safargaleev, E D Tereshchenko Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 511–517 • Results of solar wind and planetary ionosphere research using radiophysical methods, N A Armand, Yu V Gulyaev, A L Gavrik, A I Efimov, S S Matyugov, A G Pavelyev, N A Savich, L N Samoznaev, V M Smirnov, O I Yakovlev Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 517–523 • Satellite radio probing and radio tomography of the ionosphere, V E Kunitsyn, E D Tereshchenko, E S Andreeva, I A Nesterov Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 523–528 • Space research at the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences , V D Kuznetsov Physics-Uspekhi, 2010, Volume 53, Number 5, Pages 528–534