Papers for Thursday, Apr 29 2021

X-ray emission from the gravitational wave transient GW170817 is well described as non-thermal afterglow radiation produced by a structured relativistic jet viewed off-axis. We show that the X-ray counterpart continues to be detected at 3.3 years after the merger. Such long-lasting signal is not a prediction of the earlier jet models characterized by a narrow jet core and a viewing angle of about 20 deg, and is spurring a renewed interest in the origin of the X-ray emission. We present a comprehensive analysis of the X-ray dataset aimed at clarifying existing discrepancies in the literature, and in particular the presence of an X-ray rebrightening at late times. Our analysis does not find evidence for an increase in the X-ray flux, but confirms a growing tension between the observations and the jet model. Further observations at radio and X-ray wavelengths would be critical to break the degeneracy between models.

If the formation of central galaxies in dark matter haloes traces the assembly history of their host haloes, in haloes of fixed mass, central galaxy clustering may show dependence on properties indicating their formation history. Such a galaxy assembly bias effect has been investigated by Lin et al. 2016, with samples of central galaxies constructed in haloes of similar mass and with mean halo mass verified by galaxy lensing measurements, and no significant evidence of assembly bias is found from the analysis of the projected two-point correlation functions of early- and late-forming central galaxies. In this work, we extend the the investigation of assembly bias effect from real space to redshift (velocity) space, with an extended construction of early- and late-forming galaxies. We carry out halo occupation distribution modelling to constrain the galaxy-halo connection to see whether there is any sign of the effect of assembly bias. We find largely consistent host halo mass for early- and late-forming central galaxies, corroborated by lensing measurements. The central velocity bias parameters, which are supposed to characterise the mutual relaxation between central galaxies and their host haloes, are inferred to overlap between early- and late-forming central galaxies. However, we find a large amplitude of velocity bias for early-forming central galaxies (e.g. with central galaxies moving at more than 50% that of dark matter velocity dispersion inside host haloes), which may signal an assembly bias effect. A large sample with two-point correlation functions and other clustering measurements and improved modelling will help reach a conclusive result.

Ultraluminous Lyman alpha (Lya) emitting galaxies (ULLAEs) with log L (Lya)>43.5 erg/s near the epoch of reionization (z>5) make up the bright end of the LAE luminosity function (LF) and may provide insight into the process of reionization, including the formation of ionized bubbles around these extreme systems. We present a spectroscopic LF for ULLAEs at z=5.7. We used data from the HEROES ~45 sq. deg Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey, which is centered on the North Ecliptic Pole and has both broadband (grizY) and narrowband (NB816 and NB921) imaging, to select candidate ULLAEs based on a NB816 excess and a strong broadband Lyman break. We spectroscopically observed 17 ULLAE candidates with DEIMOS on Keck II. We confirmed 12 as LAEs at z=5.7, 9 of which are ULLAEs. The remaining sources are an AGN at z=5.7, an [OIII]5007 emitter at z=0.63, a red star, and two spectroscopic non-detections. Using the 9 confirmed ULLAEs, we construct a ULLAE LF at z=5.7. After applying a comprehensive incompleteness correction, we compare our new z=5.7 LF with our recent z=6.6 LF and with other LFs from the literature to look for evolution at the ultraluminous end. We find the overall ratio of the z=5.7 to z=6.6 ULLAE comoving number densities to be 1.92 (+1.12, -0.71), which corresponds to a LF offset of 0.28 (+0.20, -0.20) dex.

We perform a binary population synthesis calculation incorporating very massive population (Pop.) III stars up to 1500 $M_\odot$, and investigate the nature of binary black hole (BBH) mergers. Above the pair-instability mass gap, we find that the typical primary black hole (BH) mass is 135-340 $M_\odot$. The maximum primary BH mass is as massive as 686 $M_\odot$. The BBHs with both of their components above the mass gap have low effective inspiral spin $\sim$ 0. So far, no conclusive BBH merger beyond the mass gap has been detected, and the upper limit on the merger rate density is obtained. If the initial mass function (IMF) of Pop. III stars is simply expressed as $\xi_m(m) \propto m^{-\alpha}$ (single power law), we find that $\alpha \gtrsim 2.8$ is needed in order for the merger rate density not to exceed the upper limit. In the future, the gravitational wave detectors such as Einstein telescope and Pre-DECIGO will observe BBH mergers at high redshift. We suggest that we may be able to impose a stringent limit on the Pop. III IMF by comparing the merger rate density obtained from future observations with that derived theoretically.

The best constraints on the internal structures of giant planets have historically come from measurements of their gravity fields. These gravity data are inherently mostly sensitive to a planet's outer regions, providing only loose constraints on the deep interiors of Jupiter and Saturn. This fundamental limitation stymies efforts to measure the mass and compactness of these planets' cores, crucial properties for understanding their formation pathways and evolution. However, studies of Saturn's rings have revealed waves driven by pulsation modes within Saturn, offering independent seismic probes of Saturn's interior. The observations reveal gravity mode (g mode) pulsations which indicate that a part of Saturn's interior is stably stratified by composition gradients, and the g mode frequencies directly probe the buoyancy frequency within the planet. Here, we compare structural models with gravity and seismic measurements to show that the data can only be explained by a diffuse, stably stratified core-envelope transition region in Saturn extending to approximately 60% of the planet's radius and containing approximately 17 Earth masses of ice and rock. The gradual distribution of heavy elements constrains mixing processes at work in Saturn, and it may reflect the planet's primordial structure and accretion history.

Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs) are extreme high-amplitude bursts of X-ray radiation recurring every few hours and originating near the central supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. It is currently unknown what triggers these events, how long they last and how they are connected to the physical properties of the inner accretion flows. Previously, only two such sources were known, found either serendipitously or in archival data, with emission lines in their optical spectra classifying their nuclei as hosting an actively accreting supermassive black hole. Here we present the detection of QPEs in two further galaxies, obtained with a blind and systematic search over half of the X-ray sky. The optical spectra of these galaxies show no signature of black hole activity, indicating that a pre-existing accretion flow typical of active nuclei is not required to trigger these events. Indeed, the periods, amplitudes and profiles of the newly discovered QPEs are inconsistent with current models that invoke radiation-pressure driven accretion disk instabilities. Instead, QPEs might be driven by an orbiting compact object. Furthermore, their observed properties require the mass of the secondary object to be much smaller than the main body and future X-ray observations may constrain possible changes in the period due to orbital evolution. This scenario could make QPEs a viable candidate for the electromagnetic counterparts of the so-called extreme mass ratio inspirals, with considerable implications for multi-messenger astrophysics and cosmology.

At ~16-17Mpc from us, the Virgo cluster is a formidable source of information to study cluster formation and galaxy evolution in rich environments. Several observationally-driven formation scenarios arose within the past decade to explain the properties of galaxies that entered the cluster recently and the nature of the last significant merger that the cluster underwent. Confirming these scenarios requires extremely faithful numerical counterparts of the cluster. This paper presents the first CLONE, Constrained LOcal and Nesting Environment, simulation of the Virgo cluster within a ~15Mpc radius sphere. This cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, with feedback from supernovae and active galactic nuclei, with a ~3x10^7Msun dark matter particle mass and a minimum cell size of 350pc in the zoom region, reproduces Virgo within its large scale environment unlike a random cluster simulation. Overall the distribution of the simulated galaxy population matches the observed one including M87. The simulated cluster formation reveals exquisite agreements with observationally-driven scenarios: within the last Gigayear, about 300 small galaxies (M*>10^7Msun) entered the cluster, most of them within the last 500Myr. The last significant merger event occurred about 2 Gigayears ago: a group with a tenth of the mass of today's cluster entered from the far side as viewed from the Milky Way. This excellent numerical replica of Virgo will permit studying different galaxy type evolution (jellyfish, backsplash, etc.) as well as feedback phenomena in the cluster core via unbiased comparisons between simulated and observed galaxies and hot gas phase profiles to understand this great physics laboratory.

Fomalhaut C (LP 876-10) is a low mass M4V star in the intriguing Fomalhaut triple system and, like Fomalhaut A, possesses a debris disc. It is one of very few nearby M-dwarfs known to host a debris disc and of these has by far the lowest stellar mass. We present new resolved observations of the debris disc around Fomalhaut C with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array which allow us to model its properties and investigate the system's unique history. The ring has a radius of 26 au and a narrow full width at half maximum of at most 4.2 au. We find a 3$\sigma$ upper limit on the eccentricity of 0.14, neither confirming nor ruling out previous dynamic interactions with Fomalhaut A that could have affected Fomalhaut C's disc. We detect no $^{12}$CO J=3-2 emission in the system and do not detect the disc in scattered light with HST/STIS or VLT/SPHERE. We find the original Herschel detection to be consistent with our ALMA model's radial size. We place the disc in the context of the wider debris disc population and find that its radius is as expected from previous disc radius-host luminosity trends. Higher signal-to-noise observations of the system would be required to further constrain the disc properties and provide further insight to the history of the Fomalhaut triple system as a whole.

Observations of massive stars in young open clusters (< ~8 Myr) have shown that a majority of them are in binary systems, most of which will interact during their life. Populations of massive stars older than ~20 Myr allow us to probe the outcome of such interactions after many systems have experienced mass and angular momentum transfer. Using multi-epoch integral-field spectroscopy, we investigate the multiplicity properties of the massive-star population in NGC 330 (~40 Myr) in the Small Magellanic Cloud to search for imprints of stellar evolution on the multiplicity properties. From six epochs of VLT/MUSE observations supported by adaptive optics we extract spectra and measure radial velocities for stars brighter than F814W = 19. We identify single-lined spectroscopic binaries through significant RV variability as well as double-lined spectroscopic binaries, and quantify the observational biases for binary detection. The observed spectroscopic binary fraction is 13.2+/-2.0 %. Considering period and mass ratio ranges from log(P)=0.15-3.5, and q = 0.1-1.0, and a representative set of orbital parameter distributions, we find a bias-corrected close binary fraction of 34 +8 -7 %. This seems to decline for the fainter stars, which indicates either that the close binary fraction drops in the B-type domain, or that the period distribution becomes more heavily weighted towards longer orbital periods. Both fractions vary strongly in different regions of the color-magnitude diagram which probably reveals the imprint of the binary history of different groups of stars. We provide the first homogeneous RV study of a large sample of B-type stars at a low metallicity. The overall bias-corrected close binary fraction of B stars in NGC 330 is lower than the one reported for younger Galactic and LMC clusters. More data are needed to establish whether this result from an age or a metallicty effect.

Establishing the origin of the water D/H ratio in the Solar System is central to our understanding of the chemical trail of water during the star and planet formation process. Recent modeling suggests that comparisons of the D$_2$O/HDO and HDO/H$_2$O ratios are a powerful way to trace the chemical evolution of water and, in particular, determine whether the D/H ratio is inherited from the molecular cloud or established locally. We seek to determine the D$_2$O column density and derive the D$_2$O/HDO ratios in the warm region toward the low-mass Class 0 sources B335 and L483. The results are compared with astrochemical models and previous observations to determine their implications for the chemical evolution of water. We present ALMA observations of the D$_2$O transition at 316.8 GHz toward B335 and L483 at $<$0.5" ($<$ 100 au) resolution, probing the inner warm envelope gas. The column densities of D$_2$O, HDO, and H$_{2}^{18}$O are determined by synthetic spectrum modeling and direct Gaussian fitting, under the assumption of a single excitation temperature and similar spatial extent for the three water isotopologs. D$_2$O is detected toward both sources in the inner warm envelope. The derived D$_2$O/HDO ratios is $(1.0\pm0.2)\times10^{-2}$ for L483 and $(1.4\pm0.1)\times10^{-2}$ for B335. The high D$_2$O/HDO ratios are a strong indication of chemical inheritance of water from the prestellar phase down to the inner warm envelope. This implies that the local cloud conditions in the prestellar phase, such as temperatures and timescales, determine the water chemistry at later stages and could provide a source of chemical differentiation in young systems. In addition, the observed D$_2$O/H$_2$O ratios support an observed dichotomy in the deuterium fractionation of water toward isolated and clustered protostars, namely, a higher D/H ratio toward isolated sources

Context. The North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) field provides a unique set of panchromatic data, well suited for active galactic nuclei (AGN) studies. Selection of AGN candidates is often based on mid-infrared (MIR) measurements. Such method, despite its effectiveness, strongly reduces a catalog volume due to the MIR detection condition. Modern machine learning techniques can solve this problem by finding similar selection criteria using only optical and near-infrared (NIR) data. Aims. Aims of this work were to create a reliable AGN candidates catalog from the NEP field using a combination of optical SUBARU/HSC and NIR AKARI/IRC data and, consequently, to develop an efficient alternative for the MIR-based AKARI/IRC selection technique. Methods. A set of supervised machine learning algorithms was tested in order to perform an efficient AGN selection. Best of the models were formed into a majority voting scheme, which used the most popular classification result to produce the final AGN catalog. Additional analysis of catalog properties was performed in form of the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting via the CIGALE software. Results. The obtained catalog of 465 AGN candidates (out of 33 119 objects) is characterized by 73% purity and 64% completeness. This new classification shows consistency with the MIR-based selection. Moreover, 76% of the obtained catalog can be found only with the new method due to the lack of MIR detection for most of the new AGN candidates. Training data, codes and final catalog are available via the github repository. Final AGN candidates catalog will be also available via the CDS service after publication.

The [CII] fine-structure transition at 158 micron is frequently the brightest far-infrared line in galaxies. Due to its low ionization potential, C+ can trace the ionized, atomic, and molecular phases of the ISM. We present velocity resolved [CII] and [NII] pointed observations from SOFIA/GREAT on ~500 pc scales in the nearby galaxies M101 and NGC 6946 and investigate the multi-phase origin of [CII] emission over a range of environments. We show that ionized gas makes a negligible contribution to the [CII] emission in these positions using [NII] observations. We spectrally decompose the [CII] emission into components associated with the molecular and atomic phases using existing CO(2-1) and HI data and show that a peak signal-to-noise ratio of 10-15 is necessary for a reliable decomposition. In general, we find that in our pointings greater than or equal to 50% of the [CII] emission arises from the atomic phase, with no strong dependence on star formation rate, metallicity, or galactocentric radius. We do find a difference between pointings in these two galaxies, where locations in NGC 6946 tend to have larger fractions of [CII] emission associated with the molecular phase than in M101. We also find a weak but consistent trend for fainter [CII] emission to exhibit a larger contribution from the atomic medium. We compute the thermal pressure of the cold neutral medium through the [CII] cooling function and find log(P_th/k)=3.8-4.6 [K cm^-3], a value slightly higher than similar determinations, likely because our observations are biased towards star-forming regions.

The results of joint analyses of available cosmological data have motivated an important debate about a possible detection of a non-zero spatial curvature. If confirmed, such a result would imply a change in our present understanding of cosmic evolution with important theoretical and observational consequences. In this paper we discuss the legitimacy of carrying out joint analyses with the currently available data sets and explore their implications for a non-flat universe and extensions of the standard cosmological model. We use a robust tension estimator to perform a quantitative analysis of the physical consistency between the latest data of Cosmic Microwave Background, type Ia supernovae, Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations and Cosmic Chronometers. We consider the flat and non-flat cases of the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology and of two dark energy models with a constant and varying dark energy EoS parameter. The present study allows us to better understand if possible inconsistencies between these data sets are significant enough to make the results of their joint analyses misleading, as well as the actual dependence of such results with the spatial curvature and dark energy parameterizations.

We present the results of the X-ray flaring activity of 1ES 1959+650 during October 25-26, 2017 using AstroSat observations. The source was variable in the X-ray. We investigated the evolution of the X-ray spectral properties of the source by dividing the total observation period ($\sim 130$ ksecs) into time segments of 5 ksecs, and fitting the SXT and LAXPC spectra for each segment. Synchrotron emission of a broken power-law particle density model provided a better fit than the log-parabola one. The X-ray flux and the normalised particle density at an energy less than the break one, were found to anti-correlate with the index before the break. However, a stronger correlation between the density and index was obtained when a delay of $\sim 60$ ksec was introduced. The amplitude of the normalised particle density variation $|\Delta n_\gamma/n_\gamma| \sim 0.1$ was found to be less than that of the index $\Delta \Gamma \sim 0.5$. We model the amplitudes and the time delay in a scenario where the particle acceleration time-scale varies on a time-scale comparable to itself. In this framework, the rest frame acceleration time-scale is estimated to be $\sim 1.97\times10^{5}$ secs and the emission region size to be $\sim 6.73\times 10^{15}$ cms.

Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound systems in the Universe and, as such, play an important role in cosmological studies. An important resource for studying their properties in a statistical manner are homogeneous and large image datasets covering diverse environments. In this sense, the wide-field images (1.4 deg^{2}) obtained by the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) in 12 optical bands, constitute a valuable tool for that type of studies. In this work, we present a photometric analysis of pixel color-magnitude diagrams, corresponding to a sample of 24 galaxies of different morphological types located in the Fornax cluster.

Asteroid Ryugu and asteroid Bennu, which were recently visited by spacecraft Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, respectively, are spinning top-shaped rubble piles. Other axisymmetric top-shaped near-Earth asteroids have been observed with ground-based radar, most of which rotate near breakup rotation periods of ~ 3 hours. This suggests that rotation-induced deformation of asteroids through rotational spinup produces top shapes. Although some previous simulations using the Discrete Element Method showed that spinup of rubble piles may produce oblate top shapes, it is still unclear what kinds of conditions such as friction angles of constituent materials and spinup timescales are required for top-shape formation. Here we show, through Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations of granular bodies spinning-up at different rates, that the rotation-induced deformation of spherical rubble piles before breakup can be classified into three modes according to the friction angle \phi_{d}: quasi-static and internal deformation for \phi_{d} < 40 degrees, dynamical and internal deformation for 50 degrees < \phi_{d} < 60 degrees, and surface landslides for \phi_{d} > 70 degrees. Note that these apparent large values of friction angle can be acceptable if we consider the effect of cohesion among blocks of a rubble pile under weak gravity. Bodies with \phi_{d} < 60 degrees evolve into oblate spheroids through internal deformation, but never form pronounced equators defining a top shape. In contrast, bodies with \phi_{d} > 70 degrees deform into axisymmetric top shapes through an axisymmetric surface landslides if spinup timescales are < a few days. In addition, through slow spinups with timescales > 1 month, bodies with \phi_{d} > 70 degrees deform into non-axisymmetric shapes via localized landslides. We suggest that rapid spinup mechanisms are preferable for the formation of axisymmetric top shapes.

Carbon is one of the most essential elements to support a sustained human presence in space, and more immediately, several large-scale methalox-based transport systems will begin operating in the near future. This raises the question of whether indigenous carbon on the Moon is abundant and concentrated to the extent where it could be used as a viable resource including as propellant. Here, I assess potential sources of lunar carbon based on previous work focused on polar water ice. A simplified model is used to estimate the temperature-dependent Carbon Content of Ices at the lunar poles, and this is combined with remote sensing data to estimate the total amount of carbon and generate a Carbon Favorability Index that highlights promising deposits for future ground-based prospecting. Hotspots in the index maps are identified, and nearby staging areas are analyzed using quantitative models of trafficability and solar irradiance. Overall, the Moon is extremely poor in carbon sources compared to more abundant and readily accessible options at Mars. However, a handful of polar regions may contain appreciable amounts of subsurface carbon-bearing ices that could serve as a rich source in the near term, but would be easily exhausted on longer timescales. Four of those regions were found to have safe nearby staging areas with equatorial-like illumination at a modest height above the surface. Any one of these sites could yield enough C, H and O to produce propellant for hundreds of refuelings of a large spacecraft. Other potential lunar carbon sources including bulk regolith and pyroclastic glasses are less viable due to their low carbon concentrations.

Future direct imaging missions will primarily observe planets that have been previously detected, mostly via the radial velocity (RV) technique, to characterize planetary atmospheres. In the meantime, direct imaging may discover new planets within existing planetary systems that have bright enough reflected flux, yet with insufficient signals for other methods to detect. Here, we investigate the parameter space within which planets are unlikely to be detected by RV in the near future due to precision limitations, but could be discovered through reflected light with future direct imaging missions. We use the HD 134987 system as a working example, combine RV and direct imaging detection limit curves in the same parameter space through various assumptions, and insert a fictitious planet into the system while ensuring it lies between the RV and imaging detection limits. Planet validity tested through dynamical simulations and retrieval tests revealed that the planet could indeed be detected by imaging while remaining hidden from RV surveys. Direct imaging retrieval was carried out using starshade simulations for two mission concepts: the Starshade Rendezvous Probe that could be coupled with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory. This method is applicable to any other systems and high contrast direct imaging instruments, and could help inform future imaging observations and data analysis on the discovery of new exoplanets.

The interstellar traveler, 2I/Borisov, is the first clearly active extrasolar comet, ever detected in our Solar system. We obtained high-resolution interferometric observations of 2I/Borisov with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and multi-color optical observations with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dust properties of this comet. We found that the dust coma of 2I/Borisov consists of compact "pebbles" of radii exceeding ~1 mm, suggesting that the dust particles have experienced compaction through mutual impacts during the bouncing collision phase in the protoplanetary disk. We derived a dust mass loss rate of >= 200 kg/s and a dust-to-gas ratio >=3. Our long term monitoring of 2I/Borisov with VLT indicates a steady dust mass loss with no significant dust fragmentation and/or sublimation occurring in the coma. We also detected emissions from carbon monoxide gas (CO) with ALMA and derived the gas production rate of Q(CO) (3.3+/-0.8)x10^{26} mole/s. We found that the CO/H$_2$O mixing ratio of 2I/Borisov changed drastically before and after perihelion, indicating the heterogeneity of the cometary nucleus, with components formed at different locations beyond the volatile snow-line with different chemical abundances. Our observations suggest that 2I/Borisov's home system, much like our own system, experienced efficient radial mixing from the innermost parts of its protoplanetary disk to beyond the frost line of CO.

Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for the formation of solar prominences or filaments, among which direct injection and evaporation-condensation models are the two most popular ones. In the direct injection model, cold plasma is ejected from the chromosphere into the corona along magnetic field lines; In the evaporation-condensation model, the cold chromospheric plasma is heated to over a million degrees and is evaporated into the corona, where the accumulated plasma finally reaches thermal instability or non-equilibrium so as to condensate to cold prominences. In this paper, we try to unify the two mechanisms: The essence of filament formation is the localized heating in the chromosphere. If the heating happens in the lower chromosphere, the enhanced gas pressure pushes the cold plasma in the upper chromosphere to move up to the corona, such a process is manifested as the direct injection model. If the heating happens in the upper chromosphere, the local plasma is heated to million degrees, and is evaporated into the corona. Later, the plasma condensates to form a prominence. Such a process is manifested as the evaporation-condensation model. With radiative hydrodynamic simulations we confirmed that the two widely accepted formation mechanisms of solar prominences can really be unified in such a single framework. A particular case is also found where both injection and evaporation-condensation processes occur together.

Originating from neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) or neutron star-black hole (NS-BH) mergers, short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) are the first electromagnetic emitters associated with gravitational waves. This association makes the determination of SGRB formation rate (FR) a critical issue. We determine the true SGRB FR and its relation to the cosmic star formation rate (SFR). This can help in determining the expected Gravitation Wave (GW) rate involving small mass mergers. We present non-parametric methods for the determination of the evolutions of the luminosity function (LF) and the FR using SGRBs observed by {\it Swift}, without any assumptions. These are powerful tools for small samples, such as our sample of 68 SGRBs. We combine SGRBs with and without extended emission (SEE), assuming that both descend from the same progenitor. To overcome the incompleteness introduced by redshift measurements we use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to find flux thresholds yielding a sample of sources with a redshift drawn from the parent sample including all sources. Using two subsamples of SGRBs with flux limits of $4.57 \times 10^{-7}$ and $2.15 \times 10^{-7}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ with respective KS {\it p=(1, 0.9)}, we find a 3 $\sigma$ evidence for luminosity evolution (LE), a broken power-law LF with significant steepening at $L\sim 10^{50}$ erg s$^{-1}$, and a FR evolution that decreases monotonically with redshift (independent of LE and the thresholds). Thus, SGRBs may have been more luminous in the past with a FR delayed relative to the SFR as expected in the merger scenario.

Solar filaments, also called solar prominences when appearing above the solar limb, are cold, dense materials suspended in the hot tenuous solar corona, consisting of numerous long, fibril-like threads. These threads are the key to disclosing the physics of solar filaments. Similar structures also exist in galaxy clusters. Besides their mysterious formation, filament threads are observed to move with alternating directions, which are called counterstreaming flows. However, the origin of these flows has not been clarified yet. Here we report that turbulent heating at the solar surface is the key, which randomly evaporates materials from the solar surface to the corona, naturally reproducing the formation and counterstreamings of the sparse threads in the solar corona. We further suggest that while the cold H$\alpha$ counterstreamings are mainly due to longitudinal oscillations of the filament threads, there are million-kelvin counterstreamings in the corona between threads, which are alternating unidirectional flows.

We propose a novel method to detect cosmic magnification signals by cross-correlating foreground convergence fields constructed from galaxy shear measurements with background galaxy positional distributions, namely shear-number density correlation. We apply it to the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) survey data. With 27 non-independent data points and their full covariance, $\chi_0^2\approx 34.1$ and $\chi_T^2\approx 24.0$ with respect to the null and the cosmological model with the parameters from HSC shear correlation analyses in Hamana et al. 2020 (arXiv:1906.06041), respectively. The Bayes factor of the two is $\log_{10}B_{T0}\approx 2.2$ assuming equal model probabilities of null and HSC cosmology, showing a clear detection of the magnification signals. Theoretically, the ratio of the shear-number density and shear-shear correlations can provide a constraint on the effective multiplicative shear bias $\bar m$ using internal data themselves. We demonstrate the idea with the signals from our HSC-SSP mock simulations and rescaling the statistical uncertainties to a survey of $15000\deg^2$. For two-bin analyses with background galaxies brighter than $m_{lim}=23$, the combined analyses lead to a forecasted constraint of $\sigma(\bar m) \sim 0.032$, $2.3$ times tighter than that of using the shear-shear correlation alone. Correspondingly, $\sigma(S_8)$ with $S_8=\sigma_8(\Omega_\mathrm{m}/0.3)^{0.5}$ is tightened by $\sim 2.1$ times. Importantly, the joint constraint on $\bar m$ is nearly independent of cosmological parameters. Our studies therefore point to the importance of including the shear-number density correlation in weak lensing analyses, which can provide valuable consistency tests of observational data, and thus to solidify the derived cosmological constraints.

The last few years have seen tremendous progress in the observation of the global properties of neutron stars (NSs), e.g. masses, radii and tidal deformabilities. Such properties provide information about possible phase transitions in the inner cores of NSs, provided the connection between observed masses and radii and the equation of state (EoS) is well understood. We focus the present study on first-order phase transitions, which often softens the EoS and consequently reduces the maximum mass as well as the radii of NSs. Here, we challenge this conventional expectation by constructing explicit examples of EoSs undergoing a first-order phase transition, but which are much stiffer that their purely hadronic counterparts. We also provide comparisons with the recently proposed quarkyonic EoS which suggests a strong repulsion in the core of NSs, and we show that their stiffness can be realistically masqueraded by first-order phase transitions to exotic matter.

In the stellar chromospheres, radiative energy transport is dominated by only the strongest spectral lines. For these lines, the approximation of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) is known to be very inaccurate, and a state of equilibrium cannot be assumed in general. To calculate the radiative energy transport under these conditions, the population evolution equation must be evaluated explicitly, including all time-dependent terms. We develop a numerical method to solve the evolution equation for the atomic-level populations in a time-implicit way, keeping all time-dependent terms to first order. We show that the linear approximation of the time dependence of the populations can handle very large time steps without losing the accuracy. We reproduce the benchmark solutions from earlier, well-established works in terms of non-LTE kinetic equilibrium solution and typical ionization/recombination time-scales in the solar chromosphere.

We explore the orbital dynamics of systems consisting of three planets, each as massive as the Earth, on coplanar, initially circular, orbits about a star of one solar mass. The initial semimajor axes of the planets are equally spaced in terms of their mutual Hill radius, which is equivalent to a geometric progression of orbital periods for small planets of equal mass. Our simulations explore a wide range of spacings of the planets, and were integrated for virtual times of up to 10 billion years or until the orbits of any pair of planets crossed. We find the same general trend of system lifetimes increasing exponentially with separation between orbits seen by previous studies of systems of three or more planets. One focus of this paper is to go beyond the rough trends found by previous numerical studies and quantitatively explore the nature of the scatter in lifetimes and the destabilizing effects of mean motion resonances. In contrast to previous results for five-planet systems, a nontrivial fraction of three-planet systems survive at least several orders of magnitude longer than most other systems with similar initial separation between orbits, with some surviving $10^{10}$ years at much smaller orbital separations than any found for five-planet systems. Substantial shifts in the initial planetary longitudes cause a scatter of roughly a factor of two in system lifetime, whereas the shift of one planet's initial position by 100 meters along its orbit results in smaller changes in the logarithm of the time to orbit crossing, especially for systems with short lifetimes.

Recent observational missions have uncovered a significant number of compact multi-exoplanet systems. The tight orbital spacing of these systems has led to much effort being applied to the understanding of their stability; however, a key limitation of the majority of these studies is the termination of simulations as soon as the orbits of two planets cross. In this work we explore the stability of compact, three-planet systems and continue our simulations all the way to the first collision of planets to yield a better understanding of the lifetime of these systems. We perform over $25,000$ integrations of a Sun-like star orbited by three Earth-like secondaries for up to a billion orbits to explore a wide parameter space of initial conditions in both the co-planar and inclined cases, with a focus on the initial orbital spacing. We calculate the probability of collision over time and determine the probability of collision between specific pairs of planets. We find systems that persist for over $10^8$ orbits after an orbital crossing and show how the post-instability survival time of systems depends upon the initial orbital separation, mutual inclination, planetary radius, and the closest encounter experienced. Additionally, we examine the effects of very small changes in the initial positions of the planets upon the time to collision and show the effect that the choice of integrator can have upon simulation results. We generalise our results throughout to show both the behaviour of systems with an inner planet initially located at $1$ AU and $0.25$ AU.

Modelling of stellar radiative intensities in various spectral pass-bands plays an important role in stellar physics. At the same time the direct calculations of the high-resolution spectrum and then integrating it over the given spectral pass-band is computationally demanding due to the vast number of atomic and molecular lines. This is particularly so when employing three-dimensional (3D) models of stellar atmospheres. To accelerate the calculations, one can employ approximate methods, e.g., the use of Opacity Distribution Functions (ODFs). Generally, ODFs provide a good approximation of traditional spectral synthesis i.e., computation of intensities through filters with strictly rectangular transmission function. However, their performance strongly deteriorates when the filter transmission noticeably changes within its pass-band, which is the case for almost all filters routinely used in stellar physics. In this context, the aims of this paper are a) to generalize the ODFs method for calculating intensities through filters with arbitrary transmission functions; b) to study the performance of the standard and generalized ODFs methods for calculating intensities emergent from 3D models of stellar atmosphere. For this purpose we use the newly-developed MPS-ATLAS radiative transfer code to compute intensities emergent 3D cubes simulated with the radiative magnetohydrodynamics code MURaM. The calculations are performed in the 1.5D regime, i.e., along many parallel rays passing through the simulated cube. We demonstrate that generalized ODFs method allows accurate and fast syntheses of spectral intensities and their centre-to-limb variations.

The emergence of novel differential rotation laws that can reproduce the rotational profile of binary neutron star merger remnants has opened the way for the construction of equilibrium models with properties that resemble those of remnants in numerical simulations. We construct models of merger remnants, using the 4-parameter differential rotation law by Uryu et al. (2017) and three tabulated, zero-temperature equations of state. The models have angular momenta that are determined by empirical relations, constructed through numerical simulations. After a systematic exploration of the parameter space of merger remnant equilibrium sequences, which includes the determination of turning points along constant-angular-momentum sequences, we find that a particular rotation law can reproduce the threshold mass to prompt collapse to a black hole with a relative difference of only 1% with respect to numerical simulations, in all cases considered. Furthermore, our results indicate a possible correlation between the compactness of equilibrium models of remnants at the threshold mass and the compactness of maximum-mass nonrotating models. Another key prediction of binary neutron star merger simulations is a relatively slowly rotating inner region, where the angular velocity $\Omega$ (as measured by an observer at infinity) is mostly due to the frame dragging angular velocity $\omega$. In our investigation of the parameter space of the Uryu+ rotation law, we naturally find quasi-spherical (Type A) remnant models with this property. Our investigation clarifies the impact of the differential rotation law and of the equation of state on key properties of binary neutron star remnants and lays the groundwork for including thermal effects in future studies.

Disintegrating/evaporating rocky exoplanets can be observed not only as transiting planets, but also in a grazing, non-transiting regime, where the solid body of the planet does not transit, but part of the comet-like tail can transit. In this case the forward scattering on the escaping particles is the dominant process, which amplifies the photometric signal of the parent star detected by the observer. The change in the flux is small, about 10^-3 (1000 ppm) at the best properties of the planetary system, but if the observation is enough precise, the detection is possible. The planned Ariel space observatory is designed to achieve a stability of < 100 ppm (the goal is 10 ppm) over the temporal bandwidth of the transit, typically less than 10 hours. In this case study we took the disintegrating exoplanet Kepler-1520b and changed the orbital properties of the system to get a grazing, non-transiting orbit scenario, and investigated, how different particle sizes, species, Ariel observational channels, and other factors affect the amplitude of the forward-scattering peak, and the detectability of the scattering event. Our most important result is that the forward-scattering amplitude is not sensitive to the dust composition, but is very sensitive to the particle size, observational channel, and other factors. These factors can reduce mainly the detectability of 1-micron grains. 0.1-micron grains will be detectable at short wavelengths. 0.01-micron grains generate long and very small forward scattering amplitude, which is below the detection limit. Based on our results we can conclude that using Ariel will be possible to detect and investigate not only transiting, but also grazing, non-transiting disintegrating exoplanets based on the forward scattering. From the viewpoint of such objects the big advantage of Ariel will be the possibility of multiwavelength observations.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) presents a new approach for controlling Adaptive Optics (AO) systems for Astronomy. It promises to effectively cope with some aspects often hampering AO performance such as temporal delay or calibration errors. We formulate the AO control loop as a model-based RL problem (MBRL) and apply it in numerical simulations to a simple Shack-Hartmann Sensor (SHS) based AO system with 24 resolution elements across the aperture. The simulations show that MBRL controlled AO predicts the temporal evolution of turbulence and adjusts to mis-registration between deformable mirror and SHS which is a typical calibration issue in AO. The method learns continuously on timescales of some seconds and is therefore capable of automatically adjusting to changing conditions.

The Metis coronagraph is one of the remote sensing instruments hosted on board the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission. Metis is devoted to carry out the first simultaneous imaging of the solar corona in both visible light (VL) and ultraviolet (UV). High-energy particles penetrate spacecraft materials and may limit the performance of on-board instruments. A study of galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) tracks observed in the first VL images gathered by Metis during the commissioning phase for a total of 60 seconds of exposure time is presented here. A similar analysis is planned for the UV channel. A prediction of the GCR flux up to hundreds of GeV is made here for the first part of the Solar Orbiter mission to study the Metis coronagraph performance. GCR model predictions are compared to observations gathered on board Solar Orbiter by the EPD/HET experiment in the range 10 MeV-100 MeV in the summer 2020 and with previous measurements. Estimated cosmic-ray fluxes above 70 MeV n$^{-1}$ have been also parameterized and used for Monte Carlo simulations aiming at reproducing the cosmic-ray track observations in the Metis coronagraph VL images. The same parameterizations can also be used to study the performance of other detectors. By comparing observations of cosmic-ray tracks in the Metis VL images with FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations of cosmic-ray interactions in the VL detector, it is found that cosmic rays fire a fraction of the order of 10$^{-4}$ of the whole image pixel sample. Therefore, cosmic rays do not affect sensibly the quality of Metis VL images. It is also found that the overall efficiency for cosmic-ray identification in the Metis VL images is approximately equal to the contribution of Z$>$2 particles. As a result, the Metis coronagraph may play the role of a proton monitor for long-term GCR variations during the overall mission duration.

Cosmic-ray (CR) sources temporarily enhance the relativistic particle density in their vicinity over the background distribution accumulated from the Galaxy-wide past injection activity and propagation. If individual sources are close enough to the solar system, their localised enhancements may present as features in the measured spectra of the CRs and in the associated secondary electromagnetic emissions. Large scale loop like structures visible in the radio sky are possible signatures of such nearby CR sources. If so, these loops may also have counterparts in the high-latitude $\gamma$-ray sky. Using $\sim$10 years of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, applying Bayesian analysis including Gaussian Processes, we search for extended enhanced emission associated with putative nearby CR sources in the energy range from 1 GeV to 1 TeV for the sky region $|b| > 30^\circ$. We carefully control the systematic uncertainty due to imperfect knowledge of the interstellar gas distribution. Radio Loop~IV is identified for the first time as a $\gamma$-ray emitter and we also find significant emission from Loop~I. Strong evidence is found for asymmetric features about the Galactic $l = 0^\circ$ meridian that may be associated with parts of the so-called "Fermi Bubbles", and some evidence is also found for $\gamma$-ray emission from other radio loops. Implications for the CRs producing the features and possible locations of the sources of the emissions are discussed.

We present a GPU-accelerated numerical approach for fast kernel and differential background solutions. The model image proposed in the Bramich (2008) difference image analysis algorithm is analogous to a very simple Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), with a single convolutional filter (i.e. the kernel) and an added scalar bias (i.e. the differential background). Here, we do not solve for the discrete pixel array in the classical, analytical linear least-squares sense. Instead, by making use of PyTorch tensors (GPU compatible multi-dimensional matrices) and associated deep learning tools, we solve for the kernel via an inherently massively parallel optimisation. By casting the Difference Image Analysis (DIA) problem as a GPU-accelerated optimisation which utilises automatic differentiation tools, our algorithm is both flexible to the choice of scalar objective function, and can perform DIA on astronomical data sets at least an order of magnitude faster than its classical analogue. More generally, we demonstrate that tools developed for machine learning can be used to address generic data analysis and modelling problems.

The Rosetta mission provided us with detailed data of the surface of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.In order to better understand the physical processes associated with the comet activity and the surface evolution of its nucleus, we performed a detailed comparative morphometrical analysis of two depressions located in the Ash region. To detect morphological temporal changes, we compared pre- and post-perihelion high-resolution (pixel scale of 0.07-1.75 m) OSIRIS images of the two depressions. We quantified the changes using the dynamic heights and the gravitational slopes calculated from the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the studied area using the ArcGIS software before and after perihelion. Our comparative morphometrical analysis allowed us to detect and quantify the temporal changes that occurred in two depressions of the Ash region during the last perihelion passage. We find that the two depressions grew by several meters. The area of the smallest depression (structure I) increased by 90+/-20%, with two preferential growths: one close to the cliff associated with the apparition of new boulders at its foot, and a second one on the opposite side of the cliff. The largest depression (structure II) grew in all directions, increasing in area by 20+/-5%, and no new deposits have been detected. We interpreted these two depression changes as being driven by the sublimation of ices, which explains their global growth and which can also trigger landslides. The deposits associated with depression II reveal a stair-like topography, indicating that they have accumulated during several successive landslides from different perihelion passages. Overall, these observations bring additional evidence of complex active processes and reshaping events occurring on short timescales, such as depression growth and landslides, and on longer timescales, such as cliff retreat.

High precision CCD observations of six totally eclipsing contact binaries were presented and analyzed. It is found that only one target is an A-type contact binary (V429 Cam), while the others are W-type contact ones. By analyzing the times of light minima, we discovered that two of them exhibit secular period increase while three manifest long-term period decrease. For V1033 Her, a cyclic variation superimposed on the long-term increase was discovered. By comparing the Gaia distances with those calculated by the absolute parameters of 173 contact binaries, we found that Gaia distance can be applied to estimate absolute parameters for most contact binaries. The absolute parameters of our six targets were estimated by using their Gaia distances. The evolutionary status of contact binaries was studied, we found that the A- and W- subtype contact binaries may have different formation channels. The relationship between the spectroscopic and photometric mass ratios for 101 contact binaries was presented. It is discovered that the photometric mass ratios are in good agreement with the spectroscopic ones for almost all the totally eclipsing systems, which is corresponding to the results derived by Pribulla et al. (2003a) and Terrell & Wilson (2005).

The Internal Linear Combination (ILC) method has been extensively used to extract the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy map from foreground contaminated multi-frequency maps. However, the performance of simple ILC is limited and can be significantly improved by heavily constraint equations, dubbed cILC. The standard ILC and cILC works on the spin-0 field. Recently, a generalized version of ILC is developed to estimate polarization maps in which the quantity $Q \pm iU$ is combined at multiple frequencies using complex coefficients called Polarization ILC (PILC). A statistical moment expansion method has recently been developed for high precision modelling of the Galactic foregrounds. This paper develops a semi-blind component separation method combining the moment approach of foreground modelling with a generalized version of the PILC method for heavily constraint equations. The algorithm is developed in pixel space and performs for a spin-2 field. We employ this component separation technique in simultaneous estimation of Stokes $Q$, $U$ maps of the thermal dust at 353 GHz and synchrotron at 30 GHz over 78 % of the sky. We demonstrate the performance of the method on three sets of absolutely calibrated simulated maps at WMAP and planck frequencies with varying foreground models.

Dust plays a central role in several astrophysical processes. Hence the need of dust/gas numerical solutions, and analytical problems to benchmark them. In the seminal dustywave problem, we discover a regime where sound waves can not propagate through the mixture above a large critical dust fraction. We characterise this regime analytically, making it of use for testing accuracy of numerical solvers at large dust fractions.

In this work, we investigate the influence of planetary tidal interactions on the transit-timing variations of short-period low-mass rocky exoplanets. For such purpose, we employ the recently-developed creep tide theory to compute tidally-induced TTVs. We implement the creep tide in the recently-developed Posidonius N-body code, thus allowing for a high-precision evolution of the coupled spin-orbit dynamics of planetary systems. As a working example for the analyses of tidally-induced TTVs, we apply our version of the code to the K2-265 b planet. We analyse the dependence of tidally-induced TTVs with the planetary rotation rate, uniform viscosity coefficient and eccentricity. Our results show that the tidally-induced TTVs are more significant in the case where the planet is trapped in non-synchronous spin-orbit resonances, in particular the 3/2 and 2/1 spin-orbit resonant states. An analysis of the TTVs induced separately by apsidal precession and tidally-induced orbital decay has allowed for the conclusion that the latter effect is much more efficient at causing high-amplitude TTVs than the former effect by 2 - 3 orders of magnitude. We compare our findings for the tidally-induced TTVs obtained with Posidonius with analytical formulations for the transit timings used in previous works, and verified that the results for the TTVs coming from Posidonius are in excellent agreement with the analytical formulations. These results show that the new version of Posidonius containing the creep tide theory implementation can be used to study more complex cases in the future. For instance, the code can be used to study multiplanetary systems, in which case planet-planet gravitational perturbations must be taken into account additionally to tidal interactions to obtain the TTVs.

In addition to the gamma-ray binaries which contain a compact object, high energy (HE) and very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays have also been detected from colliding-wind binaries. The collision of the winds produces two strong shock fronts, one for each wind, both surrounding a shock region of compressed and heated plasma, where particles are accelerated to very high energies. Magnetic field is also amplified in the shocked region, on which the acceleration of particles greatly depends. In this work we performed full three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of colliding winds, coupled to a code that evolves the kinematics of passive charged test particles subject to the plasma fluctuations. After the run of a large ensemble of test particles with initial thermal distributions we show that such shocks produce a non-thermal population (nearly 1% of total particles) of few tens of GeVs up to few TeVs, depending on the initial magnetization level of the stellar winds. We were able to determine the loci of fastest acceleration, in the range of MeV/s to GeV/s, to be related to the turbulent plasma with amplified magnetic field of the shock. These results show that colliding wind binaries are indeed able to produce a significant population of high energy particles, in relatively short timescales, compared to the dynamical and diffusion timescales.

We studied the long term flux distribution of Cygnus X-1 using RXTE-ASM lightcurves in two energy bands B (3-5 keV) & C (5-12.1 keV) as well as MAXI lightcurves in energy bands B (4-10 keV) & C (10-20 keV). The flux histograms were fitted using a two component model. For MAXI data, each of the components is better fitted by a log-normal distribution, rather than a Gaussian one. Their best fit centroids and fraction of time the source spends being in that component are consistent with those of the Hard and Soft spectral states Thus, the long term flux distribution of the states of Cygnus X-1 have a log-normal nature which is the same as that found earlier for much shorter time-scales. For RXTE-ASM data, one component corresponding approximately to the Hard state is better represented by a log-normal but for the other one a Gaussian is preferred and whose centroid is not consistent with the Soft state.This discrepancy, could be due to the larger fraction of the Intermediate state (~11.25%) in the RXTE-ASM data as compared to the MAXI one (~4%). Fitting the flux distribution with three components did not provide an improvement for either RXTE-ASM or MAXI data, suggesting that the data corresponding to the Intermediate state may not represent a separate spectral state, but rather represent transitions between the two states.

The recently discovered Indus stellar stream exhibits a diverse chemical signature compared to what is found for most other streams due to the abundances of two outlier stars, Indus$\_$0 and Indus$\_$13. Indus$\_$13, exhibits an extreme enhancement in rapid neutron-capture ($r$-)process elements with $\mathrm{[Eu/Fe]} = +1.81$. It thus provides direct evidence of the accreted nature of $r$-process enhanced stars. In this paper we present a detailed chemical analysis of the neutron-capture elements in Indus$\_$13, revealing the star to be slightly actinide poor. The other outlier, Indus$\_0$, displays a globular cluster-like signature with high N, Na, and Al abundances, while the rest of the Indus stars show abundances compatible with a dwarf galaxy origin. Hence, Indus$\_0$ provides the first chemical evidence of a fully disrupted dwarf containing a globular cluster. We use the chemical signature of the Indus stars to discuss the nature of the stream progenitor which was likely a chemically evolved system, with a mass somewhere in the range from Ursa Minor to Fornax.

This paper proposes a morpho-statistical characterisation of the galaxy distribution through spatial statistical modelling based on inhomogeneous Gibbs point processes. The galaxy distribution is supposed to exhibit two components. The first one is related to the major geometrical features exhibited by the observed galaxy field, here, its corresponding filamentary pattern. The second one is related to the interactions exhibited by the galaxies. Gibbs point processes are statistical models able to integrate these two aspects in a probability density, controlled by some parameters. Several such models are fitted to real observational data via the ABC Shadow algorithm. This algorithm provides simultaneous parameter estimation and posterior based inference, hence allowing the derivation of the statistical significance of the obtained results.

To what extent can the Planck satellite observations be interpreted as confirmation of the quantum part of the inflationary paradigm? Has it "seen" the Bunch-Davies state? We compare and contrast the Bunch-Davies interpretation with one using a so-called entangled state in which the fluctuations of a spectator scalar field are entangled with those of the metric perturbations $\zeta$. We first show how a spectator scalar field $\Sigma$, with an expectation value $\sigma(t)$ that evolves in time, will generically generate such a state. We then use this state to compute the power spectrum $P_{\zeta}(k)$ and thence the temperature anisotropies $C_l$ in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). We find interesting differences from the standard calculations using the Bunch-Davies (BD) state. We argue that existing data may already be used to place interesting bounds on this class of deviations from the BD state and that, for some values of the parameters of the state, the power spectra may be consistent with the Planck satellite data.

Gadolinium-loading of large water Cherenkov detectors is a prime method for the detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB). While the enhanced neutron tagging capability greatly reduces single-event backgrounds, correlated events mimicking the IBD coincidence signature remain a potentially harmful background. Neutral-Current (NC) interactions of atmospheric neutrinos potentially dominate the DSNB signal especially in the low-energy range of the observation window that reaches from about 12 to 30 MeV. The present paper investigates a novel method for the discrimination of this background. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) offer the possibility for a direct analysis and classification of the PMT hit patterns of the prompt events. Based on the events generated in a simplified SuperKamiokande-like detector setup, we find that a trained CNN can maintain a signal efficiency of 96 % while reducing the residual NC background to 2 % of the original rate. Comparing to recent predictions of the DSNB signal and measurements of the NC background levels in Super-Kamiokande, the corresponding signal-to-background ratio is about 4:1, providing excellent conditions for a DSNB discovery.

The Standard Model of Fundamental Interactions (SM) represents one of the most precise theories in physics. Among the predictions of the SM we find, for instance, the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron $a_e = 0.001159652181643(764)$. This prediction agrees with the experimental results to more than ten significant digits, the most accurate prediction in the history of physics. However, nowadays we have several evidences that the SM only explains $5 \%$ of the matter content of the Universe. The other $95 \%$ are composed by the so-called Dark Energy and Dark Matter. As their names suggest, the nature of these two components of the energy/matter content of the Universe is still unclear and represents one of the most important challenges for the particle physicists. In this Thesis we have focused in the study of the phenomenology of one of these mysterious components of the Universe, the Dark Matter. Although we have many evidences of its existence, this new type of matter has not been detected yet. As a consequence, the landscape of the models that can explain the Dark Matter properties is huge. In the present work we propose and study several Dark Matter models, setting limits by using experimental results.

We study the stability against infinitesimal radial oscillations of neutron stars generated by a set of equations of state obtained from first-principle calculations in cold and dense QCD and constrained by observational data. We consider mild and large violations of the conformal bound, $c_{s} = 1/\sqrt{3}$, in stars that can possibly contain a quark matter core. Some neutron star families in the mass-radius diagram become dynamically unstable due to large oscillation amplitudes near the core.

We propose a novel scenario of Dark Matter production naturally connected with generation of gravitational waves. Dark Matter is modelled as a real scalar, which interacts with the hot primordial plasma through a portal coupling to another scalar field. For a particular sign of the coupling, this system exhibits an inverse second order phase transition. The latter leads to an abundant Dark Matter production, even if the portal interaction is so weak that the freeze-in mechanism is inefficient. The model predicts domain wall formation in the Universe, long time before the inverse phase transition. These domain walls have a tension decreasing with time, and completely disappear at the inverse phase transition, so that the problem of overclosing the Universe is avoided. The domain wall network emits gravitational waves with characteristics defined by those of Dark Matter. In particular, the peak frequency of gravitational waves is determined by the portal coupling constant, and falls in the observable range for currently planned gravitational wave detectors.

When baryon-quark continuity is formulated in terms of a topology change without invoking "explicit " QCD degrees of freedom at a density higher than twice the nuclear matter density $n_0$ the core of massive compact stars can be described in terms of fractionally charged particles, behaving neither like pure baryons nor deconfined quarks. Hidden symmetries, both local gauge and pseudo-conformal (or broken scale), lead to the pseudo-conformal (PC) sound velocity $v_{pcs}^2/c^2\approx 1/3$ at $\gsim 3n_0$ in compact stars. We argue these symmetries are "emergent" from strong nuclear correlations and conjecture that they reflect hidden symmetries in QCD proper exposed by nuclear correlations. We make the suggestion for a possible link between the quenching of $g_A$ in superallowed Gamow-Teller transitions in nuclei and the precocious onset at $n\gsim 3n_0$ of the PC sound velocity predicted at the dilaton limit fixed point. We propose that implementing explicit quark degrees of freedom for baryon-quark continuity as is done in terms of the "quarkyonic" and other hybrid structure belongs to the class of the Cheshire Cat mechanism or what may be called "Cheshire Catism." Confrontation with currently available experimental observations is discussed to support this notion.

Axion scenarios in which the spontaneous breaking of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry takes place before or during inflation, and in which axion dark matter arises from the misalignment mechanism, can be constrained by Cosmic Microwave Background isocurvature bounds. Dark matter isocurvature is thought to be suppressed in models with axion-inflaton interactions, for which axion perturbations are assumed to freeze at horizon crossing during inflation. However, this assumption can be an oversimplification due to the interactions themselves. In particular, non-perturbative effects during reheating may lead to a dramatic growth of axion perturbations. We perform lattice calculations in two models in which the Peccei-Quinn field participates in inflation. We find that the growth of axion perturbations is such that the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is restored for an axion decay constant $f_A\lesssim10^{16}$-$10^{17}$ GeV, leading to an over-abundance of dark matter, unless $f_A \lesssim 2 \times 10^{11}$ GeV. For $f_A\gtrsim10^{16}$-$10^{17}$ GeV we still find a large growth of axion perturbations at low momentum, such that a naive extrapolation to CMB scales suggests a violation of the isocurvature bounds.