Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· References in the article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
The Physical Basis of the Leap Second
Authors:
McCarthy, Dennis D.; Hackman, Christine; Nelson, Robert A.
Affiliation:
AA(U. S. Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20392, USA ), AB(U. S. Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20392, USA ), AC(Satellite Engineering Research Corporation, 7710 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1109, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA )
Publication:
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 136, Issue 5, pp. 1906-1908 (2008). (AJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
11/2008
Origin:
IOP
AJ Keywords:
celestial mechanics, Earth, reference systems, relativity, time
DOI:
10.1088/0004-6256/136/5/1906
Bibliographic Code:
2008AJ....136.1906M

Abstract

International Atomic Time (TAI) is the internationally recognized timescale based on the second of the Système International d'Unités produced by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures using data from timing laboratories around the world. TAI is an atomic timescale without steps. Coordinated Universal Time, the basis of civil time, is derived from TAI but is currently defined such that it is maintained within 0.9 s of Universal Time (UT1), the measure of time defined by the Earth's rotation angle, through the insertion of 1 s increments called leap seconds. The difference between UT1 and TAI that motivates the use of leap seconds is related to the tidal deceleration of the Earth's rotation. However, a recent paper by Deines and Williams claims that the divergence is caused by a relativistic time dilation effect. The purpose of this paper is to explain the physical basis of the leap second and to point out that leap seconds are unrelated to relativity.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints