Papers for Tuesday, Jun 22 2021

We investigate the strongly lensed (\mu x10-100) Lyman continuum (LyC) galaxy, dubbed Sunburst, at z=2.37, taking advantage of a new accurate model of the lens. A characterization of the intrinsic (delensed) properties of the galaxy yields a size of ~3 sq.kpc, a luminosity Muv=-20.3,and a stellar mass M~10^9 Msun;16% of the ultraviolet light is located in a 3 Myr old gravitationally-bound young massive star cluster (YMC) with an effective radius of Re~8 pc and a dynamical mass of ~10^7 Msun (similar to the stellar mass), from which LyC radiation is detected (\lambda < 912A). The inferred outflowing gas velocity (>300 km/s) exceeds the escape velocity of the star cluster. The resulting escape fraction of the ionizing radiation emerging from the Sunburst galaxy is >6-12%, whilst it is >46-93% if inferred from the YMC. 12 additional likely star clusters with 3<Re<20 pc are identified in the galaxy from which we derive a cluster formation efficiency \Gamma>~30%, which is consistent with the high \Gamma derived in local galaxies experiencing extreme gas physical conditions. The presence of the YMC influences the morphology (nucleation), photometry (photometric jumps) and spectroscopic output (nebular emission) of the entire galaxy. The de-lensed LyC and UV (1600A) magnitudes of the YMC are ~30.6 and ~26.9, whilst the galaxy has m1600~24.8. A relatively large rest-frame equivalent width of EWrest(Hb+[OIII]4959-5007)~450A emerges from the galaxy with the YMC contributing to ~30%. If O-type stars are mainly forged in star clusters, then such engines were the key ionizing agents during reionization and the increasing occurrence of high EW lines (Hb+[OIII]) observed at z>6.5 might be an indirect signature of a high \Gamma at reionization.Future facilities (like VLT/MAVIS or ELT), will probe bound clusters on moderately magnified (\mu<5-10) galaxies across cosmic epochs up to reionization[ABRIDGED]

Using ultra-deep imaging ($\mu_g = 30.4$ mag/arcsec$^2$; 3$\sigma$, 10"x10"), we probed the surroundings of the first galaxy "lacking" dark matter KKS2000[04] (NGC 1052-DF2). Signs of tidal stripping in this galaxy would explain its claimed low content of dark matter. However, we find no evidence of tidal tails. In fact, the galaxy remains undisturbed down to a radial distance of 80 arcsec. This radial distance triples previous spatial explorations of the stellar distribution of this galaxy. In addition, the distribution of its globular clusters (GCs) is not extended in relation to the bulk of the galaxy (the radius containing half of the GCs is 21 arcsec). We also found that the surface brightness radial profiles of this galaxy in the g and r bands decline exponentially from 35 to 80 arcsec. That, together with a constant ellipticity and position angle in the outer parts of the galaxy strongly suggests the presence of a low-inclination disk. This is consistent with the evidence of rotation found for this object. This finding implies that the dynamical mass of this galaxy is a factor of 2 higher than previously reported, bringing the dark matter content of this galaxy in line with galaxies of similar stellar mass.

Relativistic AGN jets exhibit multi-timescale variability and a broadband non-thermal spectrum extending from radio to gamma-rays. These highly magnetized jets are prone to undergo several Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities during their propagation in space and could trigger jet radiation and particle acceleration. This work aims to study the implications of relativistic kink mode instability on the observed long-term variability in the context of the twisting in-homogeneous jet model. To achieve this, we investigate the physical configurations preferable for forming kink mode instability by performing high-resolution 3D relativistic MHD simulations of a portion of highly magnetized jets. In particular, we perform simulations of cylindrical plasma column with Lorentz factor $\geq 5$ and study the effects of magnetization values and axial wave-numbers with decreasing pitch on the onset and growth of kink instability. We have confirmed the impact of axial wave-number on the dynamics of the plasma column including the growth of the instability. In this work, we have further investigated the connection between the dynamics of the plasma column with its time-varying emission features. From our analysis, we find a correlated trend between the growth rate of kink mode instability and the flux variability obtained from the simulated light curve.

We present a strong lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 (z=0.443) using multi-band observations with Hubble Space Telescope, complemented with VLT/MUSE spectroscopic data. The MUSE observations provide redshift estimates for the lensed sources and help reducing the mis-identification of the multiple images. Spectroscopic data are also used to measure the inner velocity dispersions of 15 cluster galaxies and calibrate the scaling relations to model the subhalo cluster component. The model is based on 62 multiple images grouped in 17 families belonging to 4 different sources. The majority of them are multiple images of compact stellar knots belonging to a single star-forming galaxy at z=2.3702. This source is strongly lensed by the cluster to form the Sunburst Arc system. To accurately reproduce all the multiple images, we build a parametric mass model, which includes both cluster-scale and galaxy-scale components. The resulting model has a r.m.s. separation between the model-predicted and the observed positions of the multiple images of only 0.14''. We conclude that PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 has a relatively round projected shape and a large Einstein radius (29'' for z_s = 2.3702), which could indicate that the cluster is elongated along the line of sight. The Sunburst Arc source is located at the intersection of a complex network of caustics, which explains why parts of the arc are imaged with unprecedented multiplicity (up to 12 times).

Formation of hazes at microbar pressures has been explored by theoretical models of exoplanet atmospheres to explain Rayleigh scattering and/or featureless transmission spectra, however observational evidence of aerosols in the low pressure formation environments has proved elusive. Here, we show direct evidence of aerosols existing at $\sim$1 microbar pressures in the atmosphere of the warm sub-Saturn WASP-69b using observations taken with Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. The transmission spectrum shows a wavelength-dependent slope induced by aerosol scattering that covers 11 scale heights of spectral modulation. Drawing on the extensive studies of haze in our Solar System, we model the transmission spectrum based on a scaled version of Jupiter's haze density profile to show that WASP-69b transmission spectrum can be produced by scattering from an approximately constant density of particles extending throughout the atmospheric column from 40 millibar to microbar pressures. These results are consistent with theoretical expectations based on microphysics of the aerosol particles that have suggested haze can exist at microbar pressures in exoplanet atmospheres.

Accompanying the mounting detections of planets orbiting white dwarfs and giant stars are questions about their physical history and evolution, particularly regarding detectability of their atmospheres and potential for habitability. Here we determine how the size of planetary magnetospheres evolve over time from the end of the main sequence through to the white dwarf phase due to the violent winds of red giant and asymptotic giant branch stars. By using a semianalytic prescription, we investigate the entire relevant phase space of planet type, planet orbit and stellar host mass (1-7Msun). We find that a planetary magnetosphere will always be quashed at some point during the giant branch phases unless the planet's magnetic field strength is at least two orders of magnitude higher than Jupiter's current value. We also show that the time variation of the stellar wind and density generates a net increase in wind ram pressure and does not allow a magnetosphere to be maintained at any time for field strengths less than 10^{-5} T (0.1 G). This lack of protection hints that currently potentially habitable planets orbiting white dwarfs would have been previously inhospitable.

Intense X-ray and ultraviolet stellar irradiation can heat and inflate the atmospheres of closely orbiting exoplanets, driving mass outflows that may be significant enough to evaporate a sizable fraction of the planet atmosphere over the system lifetime. The recent surge in the number of known exoplanets, together with the imminent deployment of new ground and space-based facilities for exoplanet discovery and characterization, requires a prompt and efficient assessment of the most promising targets for intensive spectroscopic follow-ups. To this purpose, we developed ATES (ATmospheric EScape); a new hydrodynamics code that is specifically designed to compute the temperature, density, velocity and ionization fraction profiles of highly irradiated planetary atmospheres, along with the current, steady-state mass loss rate. ATES solves the one-dimensional Euler, mass and energy conservation equations in radial coordinates through a finite-volume scheme. The hydrodynamics module is paired with a photoionization equilibrium solver that includes cooling via bremsstrahlung, recombination and collisional excitation/ionization for the case of an atmosphere of primordial composition (i.e., pure hydrogen-helium), whilst also accounting for advection of the different ion species. Compared against the results of The PLUTO-CLOUDY Interface (TPCI; arXiv:1502.06517), which couples two sophisticated and computationally expensive hydrodynamics and radiation codes of much broader astrophysical applicability, ATES yields remarkably good agreement at a teensy fraction of the time. The code, which also features a user-friendly graphic interface, is available publicly at https://github.com/AndreaCaldiroli/ATES-Code.

We report the earliest-ever detection of optical polarization from a GRB forward shock (GRB 141220A), measured $129.5-204.3\,$s after the burst using the multi-colour RINGO3 optical polarimeter on the 2-m fully autonomous robotic Liverpool Telescope. The temporal decay gradient of the optical light curves from $86\,$s to $\sim 2200\,$s post-burst is typical of classical forward shocks with $\alpha = 1.091 \pm 0.008$. The low optical polarization $P_{BV} = 2.8_{- 1.6} ^{+ 2.0} \, \%$ (2$\sigma$) at mean time $\sim 168\,$s post-burst is compatible with being induced by the host galaxy dust ($A_{V, {\rm HG}}= 0.71 \pm 0.15 \,$mag), leaving low polarization intrinsic to the GRB emission itself -- as theoretically predicted for forward shocks and consistent with previous detections of low degrees of optical polarization in GRB afterglows observed hours to days after the burst. The current sample of early-time polarization data from forward shocks suggests polarization from (a) the Galactic and host galaxy dust properties (i.e. $P \sim 1\%-3\%$), (b) contribution from a polarized reverse shock (GRB deceleration time, jet magnetization) or (c) forward shock intrinsic polarization (i.e. $P \leq 2\%$), which depends on the magnetic field coherence length scale and the size of the observable emitting region (burst energetics, circumburst density).

An equation is derived for the energy of a small disturbance in a system that is generated by a distribution function (DF) of the form $f(\vJ)$ -- most galaxies and star clusters can be closely approximated by such a DF. The theory of van Kampen modes is extended to such general systems. An inner product on the space of DFs is defined such that the energy of a disturbance is its norm under this product. It is shown that van Kampen modes that differ in frequency are then orthogonal, with the consequence that the energies of van Kampen modes are additive. Consequently, most of the insight into the dynamics of ergodic systems that was gained in a recent paper on the van Kampen modes of ergodic systems applies to real clusters and galaxies.

Collisions between interstellar gas clouds are potentially an important mechanism for triggering star formation. This is because they are able to rapidly generate large masses of dense gas. Observationally, cloud collisions are often identified in position-velocity (PV) space through bridging features between intensity peaks, usually of CO emission. Using a combination of hydrodynamical simulations, time-dependent chemistry, and radiative transfer, we produce synthetic molecular line observations of overlapping clouds that are genuinely colliding, and overlapping clouds that are just chance superpositions. Molecules tracing denser material than CO, such as NH$_3$ and HCN, reach peak intensity ratios of $0.5$ and $0.2$ with respect to CO in the `bridging feature' region of PV space for genuinely colliding clouds. For overlapping clouds that are just chance superpositions, the peak NH$_3$ and HCN intensities are co-located with the CO intensity peaks. This represents a way of confirming cloud collisions observationally, and distinguishing them from chance alignments of unrelated material.

Many observed disc galaxies harbour a central bar. In the standard cosmological paradigm, galactic bars should be slowed down by dynamical friction from the dark matter halo. This friction depends on the galaxy's physical properties in a complex way, making it impossible to formulate analytically. Fortunately, cosmological hydrodynamical simulations provide an excellent statistical population of galaxies, letting us quantify how simulated galactic bars evolve within dark haloes. We measure bar lengths and pattern speeds in barred galaxies in state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of the IllustrisTNG and EAGLE projects, using techniques similar to those used observationally. We then compare our results with the largest available observational sample at $z=0$. We show that the tension between these simulations and observations in the ratio of corotation radius to bar length is $12.62\sigma$ (TNG50), $13.56\sigma$ (TNG100), $2.94\sigma$ (EAGLE50), and $9.69\sigma$ (EAGLE100), revealing for the first time that the significant tension reported previously persists in the recently released TNG50. The slightly lower statistical tension in EAGLE50 is actually caused by it only having 5 galaxies suitable for our analysis, but all four simulations give similar statistics for the bar pattern speed distribution. In addition, the fraction of disc galaxies with bars is similar between TNG50 and TNG100, though somewhat above EAGLE100. The simulated bar fraction and its trend with stellar mass both differ greatly from observations. These dramatic disagreements cast serious doubt on the efficiency of dynamical friction acting on real-world galactic bars, and therefore also on the actual presence of cold dark matter particles on these scales.

Aims: We investigate a new method to for obtaining the plasma parameters of solar prominences observed in the Mgii h&k spectral lines by comparing line profiles from the IRIS satellite to a bank of profiles computed with a one-dimensional non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative transfer code. Methods: Using a grid of 1007 one-dimensional non-LTE radiative transfer models we carry out this new method to match computed spectra to observed line profiles while accounting for line core shifts not present in the models. The prominence observations were carried out by the IRIS satellite on 19 April 2018. Results: The prominence is very dynamic with many flows. The models are able to recover satisfactory matches in areas of the prominence where single line profiles are observed. We recover: mean temperatures of 6000 to 50,000K; mean pressures of 0.01 to 0.5 dyne cm$^{-2}$; column masses of 3.7$\times10^{-8}$ to 5$\times10^{-4}$ g cm$^{-2}$; a mean electron density of 7.3$\times10^{8}$ to 1.8$\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$; and an ionisation degree ${n_\text{HII}}/{n_\text{HI}}=0.03 - 4500$. The highest values for the ionisation degree are found in areas where the line of sight crosses mostly plasma from the PCTR, correlating with high mean temperatures and correspondingly no H$\alpha$ emission. Conclusions: This new method naturally returns information on how closely the observed and computed profiles match, allowing the user to identify areas where no satisfactory match between models and observations can be obtained. Regions where satisfactory fits were found were more likely to contain a model encompassing a PCTR. The line core shift can also be recovered from this new method, and it shows a good qualitative match with that of the line core shift found by the quantile method. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach to line core shifts in the new method.

We investigate the origin of the observed scaling $j\sim R^{3/2}$ between the specific angular momentum $j$ and the radius $R$ of molecular clouds (MCs) and their their substructures, and of the observed near independence of $\beta$, the ratio of rotational to gravitational energy, from $R$. To this end, we measure the angular momentum (AM) of sets of particles in an SPH simulation of the formation, collapse and fragmentation of giant MCs. The sets of SPH particles are defined either as ``clumps'' (connected particle sets), or as lagrangian sets that conform a connected clump only at a certain time $\tdef$. We find that: {\it i)} Clumps evolve along the observed \jR\ relation at all times, {\it ii)} Lagrangian particle sets evolve along the observed relation when the volume containing them also contains a large number of other ``intruder'' particles. Otherwise, they evolve with $j\sim$ cst. {\it iii)} Tracking lagrangian sets to the future, we find that a subset of the SPH particles participates in the collapse, while another disperses away. {\it iv)} Noting that, under AM conservation, $\beta$ increases during contraction, we suggest that its near independence of radius may arise from the competition between this increase and an increase in the AM exchange rate at higher rotational energy density gradient. {\it v)} We suggest that, if MCs are globally dominated by gravity, the observed \jR\ relation arises because the observational selection of its dense structures amounts to selecting the fragments that have lost AM via Reynolds stresses from their neighbors.

In the cold dark matter scenario, galactic dark matter halos are populated with a large number of smaller subhalos. Previous work has shown that dark matter annihilations in subhalos can generate a distinctive, non-Poisson signal in the gamma-ray photon counts probability distribution function (PDF). Here we show that the gamma-ray PDF also carries information about the velocity dependence of the dark matter annihilation cross section. After calculating the PDF assuming $s$-wave and Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation, we perform a mock data analysis to illustrate how current and future observations can constrain the microphysics of the dark matter annihilation. We find that, with current Fermi data, and assuming a dark matter annihilation cross section roughly at the limit of current bounds from annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies, one can potentially distinguish the non-Poissonian fluctuations expected from dark matter annihilation in subhalos from Poisson sources, as well as from dark matter models with an incorrect velocity-dependence. We explore how robust these results are to assumptions about the modeling of astrophysical backgrounds. We also point out a four-parameter degeneracy between the velocity dependence of the dark matter annihilation, the minimum subhalo mass, the power law index of the subhalo mass function, and the normalization of the dark matter signal. This degeneracy can be broken with priors from N-body simulations or from observational constraints on the subhalo mass function.

High-mass gamma-ray binaries consist of a presumptive pulsar in orbit with a massive star. The intense outflows from the star can absorb radio emission from the pulsar, making the detection of pulsation difficult. In this work, we present the basic geometry and formulae that describe the absorption process of a pulsar in binary with an O/B star and apply our model to two typical and well-studied binaries: PSR~B1259-63/LS~2883 and LS 5039. We investigate the influences of the equatorial disc of LS 2883 with different orientations on the dispersion measure and free-free absorption of the radio pulsation from PSR B1259-63. The observed data are consistent with the disc inserted on the orbital plane with a relatively large inclination angle. For LS 5039, due to its tight orbit, it was believed that the strong wind absorption makes detecting radio emissions from the putative pulsar unlikely. However, considering the wind interaction and orbital motion, a bow shock cavity and a Coriolis shock would be formed, thereby allowing the pulsations to partially avoid stellar outflow absorption. We investigate the dependence of the radio optical depth on the observing frequencies, the orbital inclination angle, and the wind parameters. We suppose that the presumptive pulsar in LS 5039 is similar to PSR B1259-63 with pulsed emission extending to several tens of gigahertz. In that case, there could be a transparent window for radio pulsations when the pulsar is moving around the inferior conjunction. The following deep monitoring of LS 5039 and other systems by radio telescopes at high radio frequencies might reveal the nature of compact objects in the future. Alternatively, even a null detection could still provide further constraints on the properties of the putative pulsar and stellar outflows.

In this work we present the results of the survey carried out on one of the deepest X-ray fields observed by the XMM-Newton satellite. The 1.75 Ms Ultra Narrow Deep Field (XMM175UNDF) survey is made by 13 observations taken over 2 years with a total exposure time of 1.75 Ms (1.372 Ms after flare-filtered) in a field of $30' \times 30' $ centered around the blazar 1ES 1553+113. We stacked the 13 observations reaching flux limits of $4.03 \times 10^{-16} $, $1.3 \times 10^{-15}$, and $9.8 \times 10^{-16}\, erg\, s^{-1}\, cm^{-2}$ in the soft $(0.2 - 2\, \mathrm{keV})$, hard $(2 - 12\, \mathrm{keV})$, and full $(0.2 - 12\, \mathrm{keV})$ bands, respectively. Using a conservative threshold of Maximum Likelihood significance of $ML \geq 6$, corresponding to $3\sigma$, we detected 301 point-sources for which we derived positions, fluxes in different bands, and hardness ratios. Thanks to an optical follow-up carried out using the 10.4m the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) on the same field in the $u'g'r'i'z'$ bands, combined with WISE/2MASS IR data; we identified 244 optical/IR counterpart candidates for our X-ray sources and estimated their X-ray luminosities, redshift distribution, X-ray/optical $-$ X-ray/IR flux ratios, and absolute magnitudes. Finally, we divided this subsample in 40 non-active sources and 204 AGNs, of which 139 are classified as Seyfert galaxies and 41 as Quasars.

In this work, we have modeled the hydrodynamic evolution of the GRBs fireball in violent interaction with the external medium (the ISM) surrounding the burst source by assuming a power law distribution of the accelerated relativistic electrons. For this purpose, a computer code based only on the contribution of the predominant synchrotron radiation mechanism was developed. Light curves for the afterglow emissions following several GRBs over the X-ray and the visible R frequency bands were calculated. Their comparison to observed data by the XRT/Swift satellite and Earth telescopes, respectively, points out fair overall agreements, thus confirming the validity of our hydrodynamic simulation based on the model of Feng et al. (2002).

We present a new insight into the propagation, attenuation and dissipation of two-fluid, torsional Alfv\'en waves in the context of heating of the lower solar atmosphere. By means of numerical simulations of the partially-ionized plasma, we solve the set of two-fluid equations for ion plus electron and neutral fluids in three-dimensional (3D) Cartesian geometry. We implement initially a current-free magnetic field configuration, corresponding to a magnetic flux-tube that is rooted in the solar photosphere and expands into the chromosphere and corona. We put the lower boundary of our simulation region in the low chromosphere, where ions and neutrals begin to decouple, and implement there a monochromatic driver that directly generates Alfv\'en waves with a wave period of 30 s. As the ion-neutral drift increases with height, the two-fluid effects become more significant and the energy carried by both Alfv\'en and magneto-acoustic waves can be thermalized in the process of ion-neutral collisions there. In fact, we observe a significant increase in plasma temperature along the magnetic flux-tube. In conclusion, the two-fluid torsional Alfv\'en waves can potentially play a role in the heating of the solar chromosphere.

The Sun is the only star where we can resolve the intricate magnetism that all convective stars harbor. Yet, more than 99% of its visible surface along the solar cycle (the so-called quiet Sun) is filled with a tangled, unresolved magnetism. These "hidden" fields are thought to store enough magnetic energy to play a role in the heating of the Sun's outer atmosphere, but its field strength is still not constrained. Previous investigations based on the Hanle effect in atomic lines claim a strong magnetization of about 100 G, while the same effect in molecules show a factor of 10 weaker fields. The discrepancy disappears if the magnetic field strength of the hidden is not homogeneous in the solar surface. In this letter, we prove using magnetohydrodynamical simulations that it is possible to infer the average field strength of the hidden quiet Sun magnetic fields using multi-line inversions of intensity profiles in the Zeeman regime. Using this technique with 15 spectral lines in the 1.5 $\mu$m spectral range, we reveal that the spatial distribution of the hidden field is strongly correlated with convection motions, and that the average magnetization is about 46 G. Reconciling our findings with the Hanle ones is not obvious and will require future work on both sides, since it implies an increase of the field strength with height, something that is physically questionable.

In-situ measurements carried out by spacecraft in radial alignment are critical to advance our knowledge on the evolutionary behavior of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and their magnetic structures during propagation through interplanetary space. Yet, the scarcity of radially aligned CME crossings restricts investigations on the evolution of CME magnetic structures to a few case studies, preventing a comprehensive understanding of CME complexity changes during propagation. In this paper, we perform numerical simulations of CMEs interacting with different solar wind streams using the linear force-free spheromak CME model incorporated into the EUropean Heliospheric FORecasting Information Asset (EUHFORIA) model. The novelty of our approach lies in the investigation of the evolution of CME complexity using a swarm of radially aligned, simulated spacecraft. Our scope is to determine under which conditions, and to what extent, CMEs exhibit variations of their magnetic structure and complexity during propagation, as measured by spacecraft that are radially aligned. Results indicate that the interaction with large-scale solar wind structures, and particularly with stream interaction regions, doubles the probability to detect an increase of the CME magnetic complexity between two spacecraft in radial alignment, compared to cases without such interactions. This work represents the first attempt to quantify the probability of detecting complexity changes in CME magnetic structures by spacecraft in radial alignment using numerical simulations, and it provides support to the interpretation of multi-point CME observations involving past, current (such as Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter), and future missions.

Ground-based spectroscopy of Ganymede's surface has revealed the surprising presence of dense-phase molecular oxygen (O$_2$) via weak absorptions at visible wavelengths. To date, the state and stability of this O$_2$ at the temperatures and pressures of Ganymede's surface are not understood. Its spatial distribution in relation to albedo, expected temperatures, particle irradiation patterns, or composition may provide clues to these unknowns. We present spatially resolved observations of Ganymede's surface O$_2$ obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and construct the first comprehensive map of its geography. In agreement with the limited spatially resolved data published previously, our map suggests that the condensed O$_2$ is concentrated at the low- to mid-latitudes of the trailing hemisphere, a distribution that may reflect influences of Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field on the bombardment of its surface by Jovian magnetospheric particles. Overlapping regions from different observations within our dataset also show evidence for moderate temporal variability in the surface O$_2$, but we are unable to distinguish between potential causes with the available data.

We present the X-ray point-source catalogs in two of the XMM-Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (XMM-SERVS) fields, W-CDF-S (4.6 deg$^2$) and ELAIS-S1 (3.2 deg$^2$), aiming to fill the gap between deep pencil-beam X-ray surveys and shallow X-ray surveys over large areas. The W-CDF-S and ELAIS-S1 regions were targeted with 2.3 Ms and 1.0 Ms of XMM-Newton observations, respectively; 1.8 Ms and 0.9 Ms exposures remain after flare filtering. The survey in W-CDF-S has a flux limit of 1.0 $\times$ 10$^{-14}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ over 90% of its area in the 0.5-10 keV band; 4053 sources are detected in total. The survey in ELAIS-S1 has a flux limit of 1.3 $\times$ 10$^{-14}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ over 90% of its area in the 0.5-10 keV band; 2630 sources are detected in total. Reliable optical-to-IR multiwavelength counterpart candidates are identified for $\approx$ 89% of the sources in W-CDF-S and $\approx$ 87% of the sources in ELAIS-S1. 3186 sources in W-CDF-S and 1985 sources in ELAIS-S1 are classified as AGNs. We also provide photometric redshifts for X-ray sources; $\approx$ 84% of the 3319/2001 sources in W-CDF-S/ELAIS-S1 with optical-to-NIR forced photometry available have either spectroscopic redshifts or high-quality photometric redshifts. The completion of the XMM-Newton observations in the W-CDF-S and ELAIS-S1 fields marks the end of the XMM-SERVS survey data gathering. The $\approx$ 12,000 point-like X-ray sources detected in the whole $\approx$ 13 deg$^2$ XMM-SERVS survey will benefit future large-sample AGN studies.

Knowledge of electric fields in the photosphere is required to calculate the electromagnetic energy flux through the photosphere and set up boundary conditions for data-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of solar eruptions. Recently, the PDFI_SS method for inversions of electric fields from a sequence of vector magnetograms and Doppler velocity measurements was improved to incorporate spherical geometry and a staggered-grid description of variables. The method was previously validated using synthetic data from anelastic MHD (ANMHD) simulations. In this paper, we further validate the PDFI_SS method, using approximately one-hour long MHD simulation data of magnetic flux emergence from the upper convection zone into the solar atmosphere. We reconstruct photospheric electric fields and calculate the Poynting flux, and compare those to the actual values from the simulations. We find that the accuracy of the PDFI_SS reconstruction is quite good during the emergence phase of the simulated ephemeral active region evolution and decreases during the shearing phase. Analysing our results, we conclude that the more complex nature of the evolution (compared to the previously studied ANMHD case) that includes the shearing evolution phase is responsible for the obtained accuracy decrease.

We present the results from a spectroscopic monitoring campaign to obtain reverberation-mapping measurements and investigate the broad-line region kinematics for active galactic nuclei (AGN) of Mrk~817 and NGC~7469. This campaign was undertaken with the Lijiang 2.4-meter telescope, the median spectroscopic sampling is 2.0 days for Mrk~817 and 1.0 days for NGC~7469. We detect time lags of the broad emission lines including H$\beta$, H$\gamma$, He~{\sc ii} and He~{\sc i} for both AGNs, and including Fe~{\sc ii} for Mrk~817 with respect to the varying AGN continuum at 5100~\AA. Investigating the relationship between line widths and time lags of the broad emission lines, we find that the BLR dynamics of Mrk~817 and NGC~7469 are consistent with the virial prediction. We estimate the masses of central supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the accretion rates of both AGNs. Using the data of this campaign, we construct the velocity-resolved lag profiles of the broad H$\gamma$, H$\beta$, and He~{\sc i} lines for Mrk~817, which show almost the same kinematic signatures that the time lags in the red wing are slightly larger than the time lags in the blue wing. For NGC~7469, we only clearly construct the velocity-resolved lag profiles of the broad H$\gamma$ and H$\beta$, which show very similar kinematic signatures to the BLR of Mrk~817. These signatures indicate that the BLR of Keplerian motion in both AGNs seemingly has outflowing components during the monitoring period. We discuss the kinematics of the BLR and the measurements including SMBH mass and accretion rates.

The image quality budget of many telescopes can have substantial contributions from local seeing, both``mirror'' and ``dome'', which arise from turbulence and temperature variations that are difficult to quantify, measure directly, and ameliorate. We describe a method to determine the ``local'' seeing degradation due to wavefront perturbations within the final tens of meters of the optical path from celestial sources to a ground-based telescope, using the primary instrument and along the same path taken by light from celestial sources. The concept involves placing strobed emitters along the light path to produce images on the main focal plane that ``freeze'' different realizations of index perturbations. This method has the advantage of measuring directly the image motion and scintillation imparted by the dynamic spatial and temporal structure of local perturbations in the index of refraction along the light path, with a clean separation from seeing induced in the atmosphere above the dome. The strobed-source approach allows for rapid image motion and scintillation to be measured directly on the focal plane, even for large-aperture telescopes with wide field instruments and slow shutters, such as that being constructed for the Rubin Observatory. A conceptual design is presented that uses the ``guider'' CCDs in the Rubin telescope focal plane to make local-seeing measurements on demand, perhaps even during science exposures.

We use X-ray Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory within the 9.3 deg$^2$ Bo$\rm \ddot{o}$tes field of the NDWFS to study whether there is a correlation between X-ray luminosity (L$_X$) and star formation rate (SFR) of the host galaxy, at $\rm 0.5<z<2.0$, with respect to the position of the galaxy to the main sequence (SFR$_{norm}$). About half of the sources in the X-ray sample have spectroscopic redshifts. We also construct a reference galaxy catalogue. For both datasets, we use photometric data from optical to the far infrared, compiled by the HELP project and apply spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, using the X-CIGALE code. We exclude quiescent sources from both the X-ray and the reference samples. We also account for the mass completeness of our dataset, in different redshifts bins. Our analysis highlights the importance of studying the SFR-L$_X$ relation, in a uniform manner, taking into account the systematics and selection effects. Our results suggest that, in less massive galaxies ($\rm log\,[M_*(M_\odot)] \sim 11$), AGN enhances the SFR of the host galaxy by $\sim 50\%$ compared to non AGN systems. A flat relation is observed for the most massive galaxies. SFR$_{norm}$ does not evolve with redshift. The results, although tentative, are consistent with a scenario in which, in less massive systems, both AGN and star formation (SF) are fed by cold gas, supplied by a merger event. In more massive galaxies, the flat relation could be explained by a different SMBH fuelling mechanism that is decoupled from the star formation of the host galaxy (e.g. hot diffuse gas). Finally, we compare the host galaxy properties of X-ray absorbed and unabsorbed sources. Our results show no difference which suggests that X-ray absorption is not linked with the properties of the galaxy.

The mass-accretion rate, Macc, is a crucial parameter for the study of the evolution of accretion disks around young low-mass stellar objects (YSOs) and for planet formation studies. The Taurus star forming region (SFR) is rich in pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, most of them of the T Tauri class. A variety of methodologies have been used in the past to measure mass accretion in samples of YSOs in Taurus, but despite being a general benchmark for star formation studies, a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the Taurus T Tauri population, where the stellar and accretion properties are derived homogeneously and simultaneously, is still missing. As part of the GIARPS High-resolution Observations of T Tauri stars (GHOsT) project, here we present a pilot study of the stellar and accretion properties of seven YSOs in Taurus using the spectrograph GIARPS at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). Contemporaneous low-resolution spectroscopic and photometric ancillary observations allow us to perform an accurate flux calibration of the high-resolution spectra. The simultaneity of the high-resolution, wide-band spectroscopic observations, from the optical to the near-infrared (NIR), the veiling measurements in such wide spectral range, and many well-calibrated emission line diagnostics allows us to derive the stellar and accretion properties of the seven YSOs in a homogeneous and self-consistent way. The procedures and methodologies presented here will be adopted in future works for the analysis of the complete GHOsT data set. We discuss the accretion properties of the seven YSOs in comparison with the 90\% complete sample of YSOs in the Lupus SFR and investigate possibilities for the origin of the continuum excess emission in the NIR. }

The Sun provides a standard reference against which we compare the chemical abundances found anywhere else in the Universe. Nevertheless, there is not a unique 'solar' composition, since the chemical abundances found in the solar interior, the photosphere, the upper atmosphere, or the solar wind, are not exactly the same. The composition of the solar photosphere, usually preferred as a reference, changes with time due to diffusion, convection, and probably accretion. In addition, we do not know the solar photospheric abundances, inferred from the analysis of the solar spectrum using model atmospheres, with high accuracy, and uncertainties for many elements exceed 25%. This paper gives an overview of the methods and pitfalls of spectroscopic analysis, and discusses the chemistry of the Sun in the context of the solar system.

We present the results of an analysis aimed at testing the accuracy and precision of the PARSEC v1.2S library of stellar evolution models, in a Bayesian framework, to infer stellar parameters. We mainly employ the online DEBCat catalogue by Southworth, a compilation of detached eclipsing binary systems with published measurements of masses and radii to $\sim$ 2 per cent precision. We select a sample of 318 binary components, with masses between 0.10 and 14.5 Msun, at distances between 1.3 pc and ~ 8 kpc for Galactic objects and ~ 44-68 kpc for extragalactic ones. The Bayesian analysis applied takes as input effective temperature, radius, and [Fe/H], and their uncertainties, returning theoretical predictions for other stellar parameters. From the comparison with dynamical masses, we conclude that the inferred masses are precisely derived for stars on the main-sequence and in the core-helium-burning phase, with uncertainties of 4 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, on average. Masses for subgiants and red giants are predicted within 14 per cent, and those for early asymptotic giant branch stars within 24 per cent. These results are helpful to further improve the models, in particular for advanced evolutionary stages for which our understanding is limited. We obtain distances and ages for the binary systems and compare them, whenever possible, with precise literature estimates, finding excellent agreement. We discuss evolutionary effects and challenges for inferring stellar ages from evolutionary models. We also provide useful polynomial fittings to theoretical zero-age main-sequence relationships.

The search of close (a<=5 au) giant planet(GP) companions with radial velocity(RV) around young stars and the estimate of their occurrence rates is important to constrain the migration timescales. Furthermore, this search will allow the giant planet occurrence rates to be computed at all separations via the combination with direct imaging techniques. The RV search around young stars is a challenge as they are generally faster rotators than older stars of similar spectral types and they exhibit signatures of spots or pulsation in their RV time series. Specific analyses are necessary to characterize, and possibly correct for, this activity. Our aim is to search for planets around young nearby stars and to estimate the GP occurrence rates for periods up to 1000 days. We used the SOPHIE spectrograph to observe 63 A-M young (<400 Myr) stars. We used our SAFIR software to compute the RVs and other spectroscopic observables. We then combined this survey with the HARPS YNS survey to compute the companion occurrence rates on a total of 120 young A-M stars. We report one new trend compatible with a planetary companion on HD109647. We also report HD105693 and HD112097 as binaries, and we confirm the binarity of HD2454, HD13531, HD17250A, HD28945, HD39587, HD131156, HD 142229, HD186704A, and HD 195943. We constrained for the first time the orbital parameters of HD195943B. We refute the HD13507 single brown dwarf (BD) companion solution and propose a double BD companion solution. Based on our sample of 120 young stars, we obtain a GP occurrence rate of 1_{-0.3}^{+2.2}% for periods lower than 1000 days, and we obtain an upper limit on BD occurrence rateof 0.9_{-0.9}^{+2}% in the same period range. We report a possible lack of close (1<P<1000 days) GPs around young FK stars compared to their older counterparts, with a confidence level of 90%.

Wolf-Rayet ([WR]) and weak emission-line ($wels$) central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) have hydrogen-deficient atmospheres, whose origins are not well understood. In the present study, we have conducted plasma diagnostics and abundance analysis of 18 Galactic PNe surrounding [WR] and $wels$ nuclei, using collisionally excited lines (CELs) and optical recombination lines (ORLs) measured with the Wide Field Spectrograph on the ANU 2.3-m telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory complemented with optical archival data. Our plasma diagnostics implies that the electron densities and temperatures derived from CELs are correlated with the intrinsic nebular H$\beta$ surface brightness and excitation class, respectively. A self-consistent method of plasma diagnostics of heavy element ORLs of N${}^{2+}$ and O${}^{2+}$ likely suggests the presence of a small fraction of cool ($\lesssim$ 7000 K), dense ($\sim$ $10^4$--$10^5$ cm$^{-3}$) materials in some objects, though with large uncertainties. Our abundance analysis indicates that the abundance discrepancy factor (ADF$\equiv$ORLs/CELs) of O${}^{2+}$ is correlated with the dichotomy between forbidden-line and He {\sc i} temperatures. Our results likely suggest the presence of a tiny fraction of cool, oxygen-rich dense clumps within the diffuse warm ionized nebulae. Moreover, our elemental abundances derived from CELs are mostly consistent with AGB models for initial masses from 1.5 to 5M$_{\odot}$. Further studies are necessary to understand better the origins of abundance discrepancies in PNe around [WR] and $wels$ stars.

The present work studies the secular resonance associated with the critical argument $\sigma = \varpi$ ($\varpi$ is the longitude of pericentre) for inner test particles moving in low-eccentricity region with inclination $i$ smaller than $39^{\circ}$. To formulate the dynamical model, the double-averaged Hamiltonian is formulated up to an arbitrary order in the semimajor axis ratio, and then those high-order periodic terms are removed from the double-averaged Hamiltonian by means of Hori--Deprit transformation technique. The resulting Hamiltonian determines a resonant model with a single degree of freedom. Based on the resonant model, it becomes possible to explore the phase-space structure, resonant centre, and resonant width in an analytical manner. In particular, an excellent correspondence is found between the resonant width in terms of the eccentricity variation and the maximum variation of eccentricity ($\Delta e$) for test particles initially placed on quasi-circular orbits. It means that the secular dynamics in the low-eccentricity space with $i < 39^{\circ}$ is dominantly governed by the secular resonance associated with $\sigma = \varpi$.

We report a massive quiescent galaxy at $z_{\rm spec}=3.0922^{+0.008}_{-0.004}$ spectroscopically confirmed at a protocluster in the SSA22 field by detecting the Balmer and Ca {\footnotesize II} absorption features with multi-object spectrometer for infrared exploration (MOSFIRE) on the Keck I telescope. This is the most distant quiescent galaxy confirmed in a protocluster to date. We fit the optical to mid-infrared photometry and spectrum simultaneously with spectral energy distribution (SED) models of parametric and nonparametric star formation histories (SFH). Both models fit the observed SED well and confirm that this object is a massive quiescent galaxy with the stellar mass of $\log(\rm M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) = 11.26^{+0.03}_{-0.04}$ and $11.54^{+0.03}_{-0.00}$, and star formation rate of $\rm SFR/M_{\odot}~yr^{-1} <0.3$ and $=0.01^{+0.03}_{-0.01}$ for parametric and nonparametric models, respectively. The SFH from the former modeling is described as an instantaneous starburst while that of the latter modeling is longer-lived but both models agree with a sudden quenching of the star formation at $\sim0.6$ Gyr ago. This massive quiescent galaxy is confirmed in an extremely dense group of galaxies predicted as a progenitor of a brightest cluster galaxy formed via multiple mergers in cosmological numerical simulations. We newly find three plausible [O III]$\lambda$5007 emitters at $3.0791\leq z_{\rm spec}\leq3.0833$ happened to be detected around the target. Two of them just between the target and its nearest massive galaxy are possible evidence of their interactions. They suggest the future strong size and stellar mass evolution of this massive quiescent galaxy via mergers.

Superwinds and superbubbles driven by mechanical feedback from super star clusters (SSCs) are common features in many star-forming galaxies. While the adiabatic fluid model can well describe the dynamics of superwinds, several observations of starburst galaxies revealed the presence of compact regions with suppressed superwinds and strongly radiative cooling, i.e., catastrophic cooling. In the present study, we employ the non-equilibrium atomic chemistry and cooling package MAIHEM, built on the FLASH hydrodynamics code, to generate a grid of models investigating the dependence of cooling modes on the metallicity, SSC outflow parameters, and ambient density. While gas metallicity plays a substantial role, catastrophic cooling is more sensitive to high mass-loading and reduced kinetic heating efficiency. Our hydrodynamic simulations indicate that the presence of a hot superbubble does not necessarily imply an adiabatic outflow, and vice versa. Using CLOUDY photoionization models, we predict UV and optical line emission for both adiabatic and catastrophic cooling outflows, for radiation-bounded and partially density-bounded models. Although the line ratios predicted by our radiation-bounded models agree well with observations of star-forming galaxies, they do not provide diagnostics that unambiguously distinguish the parameter space of catastrophically cooling flows. Comparison with observations suggests a small degree of density bounding, non-equilibrium ionization, and/or observational bias toward the central outflow regions.

Magnetic investigations of icy moons have provided some of the most compelling evidence available confirming the presence of subsurface, liquid water oceans. In the exploration of ocean moons, especially Europa, there is a need for mathematical models capable of predicting the magnetic fields induced under a variety of conditions, including in the case of asymmetric oceans. Existing models are limited to either spherical symmetry or assume an ocean with infinite conductivity. In this work, we derive an analytic result capable of determining the induced magnetic moments for an arbitrary, layered body. Crucially, we find that degree-2 tidal deformation results in changes to the induced dipole moments. We demonstrate application of our results to models of plausible asymmetry from the literature within the oceans of Europa and Miranda and the ionospheres of Callisto and Triton. For the models we consider, we find that in the asymmetric case, the induced magnetic field differs by more than 2 nT near the surface of Europa, 0.25$-$0.5 nT at 1 $R$ above Miranda and Triton, and is essentially unchanged for Callisto. For Miranda and Triton, this difference is as much as 20$-$30% of the induced field magnitude. If measurements near the moons can be made precisely to better than a few tenths of a nT, these values may be used by future spacecraft investigations to characterize asymmetry within the interior of icy moons.

The characteristic electron densities, temperatures, and thermal distributions of 1MK active region loops are now fairly well established, but their coronal magnetic field strengths remain undetermined. Here we present measurements from a sample of coronal loops observed by the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode. We use a recently developed diagnostic technique that involves atomic radiation modeling of the contribution of a magnetically induced transition (MIT) to the Fe X 257.262A spectral line intensity. We find coronal magnetic field strengths in the range of 60--150G. We discuss some aspects of these new results in the context of previous measurements using different spectropolarimetric techniques, and their influence on the derived Alfv\'{e}n speeds and plasma $\beta$ in coronal loops.

The interpretation of Galactic synchrotron observations is complicated by the degeneracy between the strength of the magnetic field perpendicular to the line of sight (LOS), $B_\perp$, and the cosmic-ray electron (CRe) spectrum. Depending on the observing frequency, an energy-independent spectral energy slope $s$ for the CRe spectrum is usually assumed: $s=-2$ at frequencies below $\simeq$400 MHz and $s=-3$ at higher frequencies. Motivated by the high angular and spectral resolution of current facilities such as the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and future telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), we aim to understand the consequences of taking into account the energy-dependent CRe spectral energy slope on the analysis of the spatial variations of the brightness temperature spectral index, $\beta$, and on the estimate of the average value of $B_\perp$ along the LOS. We illustrate analytically and numerically the impact that different realisations of the CRe spectrum have on the interpretation of the spatial variation of $\beta$. We find that the common assumption of an energy-independent $s$ is valid only in special cases. We show that for typical magnetic field strengths of the diffuse interstellar medium ($\simeq$2$-$20 $\mu$G), at frequencies of 0.1$-$10 GHz, the electrons that are mainly responsible for the synchrotron emission have energies in the range $\simeq$100 MeV$-$50 GeV. This is the energy range where the spectral slope, $s$, of CRe has its greatest variation. We also show that the polarisation fraction can be much smaller than the maximum value of $\simeq 70\%$ because the orientation of ${\bf B}_\perp$ varies across the telescope's beam and along the LOS. Finally, we present a look-up plot that can be used to estimate the average value of $B_\perp$ along the LOS from a set of values of $\beta$ measured at centimetre to metre wavelengths, for a given CRe spectrum.

The continuum-fitting and the iron line methods are currently the two leading techniques for probing the strong gravity region around accreting black holes. In the present work, we test the Kerr black hole hypothesis with the stellar-mass black hole in GRS 1915+105 by analyzing five disk-dominated RXTE spectra and one reflection-dominated Suzaku spectrum. The combination of the constraints from the continuum-fitting and the iron line methods has the potential to provide more stringent tests of the Kerr metric. Our constraint on the Johannsen deformation parameter $\alpha_{13}$ is $-0.15 < \alpha_{13} < 0.14$ at 3$\sigma$, where the Kerr metric is recovered when $\alpha_{13} = 0$.

The coupling of large telescopes to astronomical instruments has historically been challenging due to the tension between instrument throughput and stability. Light from the telescope can either be injected wholesale into the instrument, maintaining high throughput at the cost of point-spread function (PSF) stability, or the time-varying components of the light can be filtered out with single-mode fibers (SMFs), maintaining instrument stability at the cost of light loss. Today, the field of astrophotonics provides a potential resolution to the throughput-stability tension in the form of the photonic lantern (PL): a tapered waveguide which can couple a time-varying and aberrated PSF into multiple diffraction-limited beams at an efficiency that greatly surpasses direct SMF injection. As a result, lantern-fed instruments retain the stability of SMF-fed instruments while increasing their throughput. To this end, we present a series of numerical simulations characterizing PL performance as a function of lantern geometry, wavelength, and wavefront error (WFE), aimed at guiding the design of future diffraction-limited spectrometers. These characterizations include a first look at the interaction between PLs and phase-induced amplitude apodization (PIAA) optics.

Astrometric precision and knowledge of the point spread function are key ingredients for a wide range of astrophysical studies including time-delay cosmography in which strongly lensed quasar systems are used to determine the Hubble constant and other cosmological parameters. Astrometric uncertainty on the positions of the multiply-imaged point sources contributes to the overall uncertainty in inferred distances and therefore the Hubble constant. Similarly, knowledge of the wings of the points spread function (PSF) is necessary to disentangle light from the background sources and the foreground deflector. We analyze adaptive optics (AO) images of the strong lens system J0659+1629 obtained with the W. M. Keck Observatory using the laser guide star AO system. We show that by using a reconstructed point spread function we can i) obtain astrometric precision of $< 1$ milliarcsecond (mas), which is more than sufficient for time-delay cosmography; and ii) subtract all point-like images resulting in residuals consistent with the noise level. The method we have developed is not limited to strong lensing, and is generally applicable to a wide range of scientific cases that have multiple point sources nearby.

We make use of snapshots taken from the Quijote suite of simulations, consisting of 2000 simulations where five cosmological parameters have been varied ($\Omega_m$, $\Omega_b$, $h$, $n_s$ and $\sigma_8$) in order to investigate the possibility of determining them using machine learning techniques. In particular, we show that convolutional neural networks can be employed to accurately extract $\Omega_m$ and $\sigma_8$ from the N-body simulations, and that these parameters can also be found from the non-linear matter power spectrum obtained from the same suite of simulations using both random forest regressors and deep neural networks. We show that the power spectrum provides competitive results in terms of accuracy compared to using the simulations and that we can also estimate the scalar spectral index $n_s$ from the power spectrum, at a lower precision.

We present a study of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in the local Universe (z < 0.33) and its correlation with the host galaxy properties, derived from a Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR8) sample with spectroscopic star-formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass ($\mathcal{M}_{\ast}$) determination. To quantify the level of AGN activity we used X-ray information from the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue (3XMM DR8). Applying multiwavelength AGN selection criteria (optical BPT-diagrams, X-ray/optical ratio etc) we found that 24% of the detected sources are efficiently-accreting AGN with moderate-to-high X-ray luminosity, which are twice as likely to be hosted by star-forming galaxies than by quiescent ones. The distribution of the specific Black Hole accretion rate (sBHAR, $\lambda_{\mathrm{sBHAR}}$) shows that nuclear activity in local, non-AGN dominated galaxies peaks at very low accretion rates ($-4 \lesssim \log\lambda_{\mathrm{sBHAR}} \lesssim -3$) in all stellar mass ranges. However, we observe systematically larger values of sBHAR for galaxies with active star-formation than for quiescent ones, as well as an increase of the mean $\lambda_{\mathrm{sBHAR}}$ with SFR for both star-forming and quiescent galaxies. These findings confirm the decreased level of AGN activity with cosmic time and are consistent with a scenario where both star-formation and AGN activity are fuelled by a common gas reservoir.

Accretion discs around black holes can become warped by Lense-Thirring precession if the disc is tilted with respect to the black hole spin vector. When the disc viscosity is sufficiently large that warp propagation is diffusive, the inner disc can align with the black hole spin. However, if the viscosity is small, such that the warp propagates as a wave, then steady-state solutions to the linearised fluid equations exhibit an oscillatory radial profile of the disc tilt angle close to the black hole. Here we show, for the first time, that these solutions are in good agreement with three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, in which the viscosity is isotropic and measured to be small compared to the disc angular semi-thickness, and in the case that the disc tilt -- and thus the warp amplitude -- remains small. We show using both the linearised fluid equations and hydrodynamical simulations that the inner disc tilt can be more than several times larger than the original disc tilt, and we provide physical reasoning for this effect. We explore the transition in disc behaviour as the misalignment angle is increased, finding increased dissipation associated with regions of strong warping. For large enough misalignments the disc becomes unstable to disc tearing and breaks into discrete planes. For the simulations we present here, we show that the total (physical and numerical) viscosity at the time the disc breaks is small enough that the disc tearing occurs in the wave-like regime, substantiating that disc tearing is possible in this region of parameter space. Our simulations demonstrate that high spatial resolution, and thus low numerical viscosity, is required to accurately model the warp dynamics in this regime. Finally, we discuss the observational implications of our results.

Many stars evolve into magnetic white dwarfs, and observations may help to understand when the magnetic field appears at the stellar surface, if and how it evolves during the cooling phase, and what are the mechanisms that generate it. After obtaining new spectropolarimetric observations and combining them with previous literature data, we have checked the population of about 152 white dwarfs within 20 pc from the Sun for the presence of magnetic fields, with a sensitivity that ranges from better than 1 kG for most of the stars of spectral class DA, to 1 MG for some of the featureless white dwarfs. We find that 33 white dwarfs of the local 20 pc volume are magnetic. Statistically the data are consistent with the possibility that the frequency of the magnetic field occurrence is similar in stars of all spectral classes, except that in the local 20 pc volume, either DQ stars are more frequently magnetic, or host much stronger fields than average. The distribution of the observed field strength ranges from 40 kG to 300 MG and is uniform per decade, in striking contrast to the field frequency distribution resulting from spectroscopic surveys. No fields weaker than 40 kG are found. We confirm that magnetic fields are more frequent in white dwarfs with higher than average mass. We find a marked deficiency of magnetic white dwarfs younger than 0.5 Gyr, and that the frequency of the occurrence of the magnetic field is significantly higher in white dwarfs that have undergone the process of core crystallisation than in white dwarfs with fully liquid core. There is no obvious evidence of field strength decay with time. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to some of the proposals that have been put forward to explain the origin and evolution of magnetic fields in degenerate stars, in particular those that predict the presence of a dynamo acting during the crystallisation phase.

We use 78 reverberation-measured Mg II time-lag quasars (QSOs) in the redshift range $0.0033 \leq z \leq 1.89$ to constrain cosmological parameters in six different cosmological models. The basis of our method is the use of the radius-luminosity or $R-L$ relation to standardize these 78 Mg II QSOs. In each cosmological model we simultaneously determine $R-L$ relation and cosmological model parameters, thus avoiding the circularity problem. We find that the $R-L$ relation parameter values are independent of the cosmological model used in the analysis thus establishing that current Mg II QSOs are standardizable candles. Cosmological constraints obtained using these QSOs are significantly weaker than, but consistent with, those obtained from a joint analysis of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) observations and Hubble parameter [$H(z)$] measurements. So, we also analyse these QSOs in conjunction with the BAO + $H(z)$ data and find cosmological constraints consistent with the standard spatially-flat $\Lambda$CDM model as well as with mild dark energy dynamics and a little spatial curvature. A larger sample of higher-quality reverberation-measured QSOs should have a smaller intrinsic dispersion and so should provide tighter constraints on cosmological parameters.

Particle acceleration to suprathermal energies in strong astrophysical shock waves is a widespread phenomenon, generally explained by diffusive shock acceleration. Such shocks can also amplify upstream magnetic field considerably beyond simple compression. The complex plasma physics processes involved are often parameterized by assuming that shocks put some fraction $\epsilon_e$ of their energy into fast particles, and another fraction $\epsilon_B$ into magnetic field. Modelers of shocks in supernovae, supernova remnants, and gamma-ray bursters, among other locations, often assume typical values for these fractions, presumed to remain constant in time. However, it is rare that enough properties of a source are independently constrained that values of the epsilons can be inferred directly. Supernova remnants (SNRs) can provide such circumstances. Here we summarize results from global fits to spatially integrated emission in six young SNRs, finding $10^{-4} \le \epsilon_e \le 0.05$ and $0.001 \le \epsilon_B \le 0.1$. These large variations might be put down to the differing ages and environments of these SNRs, so we conduct a detailed analysis of a single remnant, that of Kepler's supernova. Both epsilons can be determined at seven different locations around the shock, and we find even larger ranges for both epsilons, as well as for their ratio (thus independent of the shock energy itself). We conclude that unknown factors have a large influence on the efficiency of both processes. Shock obliquity, upstream neutral fraction, or other possibilities need to be explored, while calculations assuming fixed values of the epsilons should be regarded as provisional.

SPT-3G is the third survey receiver operating on the South Pole Telescope dedicated to high-resolution observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Sensitive measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB provide a powerful dataset for constraining cosmology. Additionally, CMB surveys with arcminute-scale resolution are capable of detecting galaxy clusters, millimeter-wave bright galaxies, and a variety of transient phenomena. The SPT-3G instrument provides a significant improvement in mapping speed over its predecessors, SPT-SZ and SPTpol. The broadband optics design of the instrument achieves a 430 mm diameter image plane across observing bands of 95 GHz, 150 GHz, and 220 GHz, with 1.2 arcmin FWHM beam response at 150 GHz. In the receiver, this image plane is populated with 2690 dual-polarization, tri-chroic pixels (~16000 detectors) read out using a 68X digital frequency-domain multiplexing readout system. In 2018, SPT-3G began a multiyear survey of 1500 deg$^{2}$ of the southern sky. We summarize the unique optical, cryogenic, detector, and readout technologies employed in SPT-3G, and we report on the integrated performance of the instrument.

The oscillation of the neutron $n$ into mirror neutron $n'$, its partner from dark mirror sector, can gradually transform an ordinary neutron star into a mixed star consisting in part of mirror dark matter. The implications of the reverse process taking place in the mirror neutron stars depend on the sign of baryon asymmetry in mirror sector. Namely, if it is negative, as predicted by certain baryogenesis scenarios, then $\bar{n}'-\bar{n}$ transitions create a core of our antimatter gravitationally trapped in the mirror star interior. The annihilation of accreted gas on such antimatter cores could explain the origin $\gamma$-source candidates, with unusual spectrum compatible to baryon-antibaryon annihilation, recently identified in the Fermi LAT catalog, In addition, some part of this antimatter escaping after the mergers of mirror neutron stars can produce the flux of cosmic antihelium and also heavier antinuclei which are hunted in the AMS-02 experiment.

Most stars in the Universe are red dwarfs. They outnumber stars like our Sun by a factor of 5 and outlive them by another factor of 20 (population-weighted mean). When combined with recent observations uncovering an abundance of temperate, rocky planets around these diminutive stars, we're faced with an apparent logical contradiction - why don't we see a red dwarf in our sky? To address this "Red Sky paradox", we formulate a Bayesian probability function concerning the odds of finding oneself around a F/G/K-spectral type (Sun-like) star. If the development of intelligent life from prebiotic chemistry is a universally rapid and ensured process, the temporal advantage of red dwarfs dissolves softening the Red Sky paradox, but exacerbating the classic Fermi paradox. Otherwise, we find that humanity appears to be a 1-in-100 outlier. Whilst this could be random chance (resolution I), we outline three other non-mutually exclusive resolutions (II-IV) that broadly act as filters to attenuate the suitability of red dwarfs for complex life. Future observations may be able to provide support for some of these. Notably, if surveys reveal a paucity temperate rocky planets around the smallest (and most numerous) red dwarfs then this would support resolution II. As another example, if future characterization efforts were to find that red dwarf worlds have limited windows for complex life due to stellar evolution, this would support resolution III. Solving this paradox would reveal guidance for the targeting of future remote life sensing experiments and the limits of life in the cosmos.

GW170817 has provided valuable constraints on the equations of state of merging binary neutron stars, which can be considered as the most probable candidate for the source of gravitational waves. On the other hand, these natural laboratories of extreme temperature and density may lead to the estimation of some exotic matter like {deconfined quark matter in their cores}. In this paper, we investigate the neutron star matter equation of state (EoS) with the lowest order constrained variational (LOCV) method considering the excluded volume effect (VLOCV) for nucleons {to} compute the tidal deformability of binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs). Within this approach, the size of nucleons makes the EoS {so} stiff that requires a phase transition in order to avoid causality violation. Therefore, this phase transition {may lead} to the appearance of the third family of compact stars {including} ``twin star'' configurations. {Our EoS models are confronted with observations from GW170817, GW190814, GW190425, and also NICER. We find out that regarding all these constraints, the EoS models having the {transition} pressure$\approx$30-100 MeV/fm$^{3}$ and the energy density discontinuity $\Delta\varepsilon$$\lesssim$300 MeV/fm$^{3}$ are preferable.

We place observational constraints on two models within a class of scenarios featuring an elastic interaction between dark energy and dark matter that only produces momentum exchange up to first order in cosmological perturbations. The first one corresponds to a perfect-fluid model of the dark components with an explicit interacting Lagrangian, where dark energy acts as a dark radiation at early times and behaves as a cosmological constant at late times. The second one is a dynamical dark energy model with a dark radiation component, where the momentum exchange covariantly modifies the conservation equations in the dark sector. Using Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), and Supernovae type Ia (SnIa) data, we show that the Hubble tension can be alleviated due to the additional radiation, while the $\sigma_8$ tension present in the $\Lambda$-Cold-Dark-Matter model can be eased by the weaker galaxy clustering that occurs in these interacting models. Furthermore, we show that, while CMB+BAO+SnIa data put only upper bounds on the coupling strength, adding low-redshift data in the form of a constraint on the parameter $S_8$ strongly favours nonvanishing values of the interaction parameters. Our findings are in line with other results in the literature that could signal a universal trend of the momentum exchange among the dark sector.

The question of whether to attempt deflections during planetary defence emergencies has been subject to considerable decision-making analysis (Schmidt 2018; SMPAG Ad-Hoc Working Group on Legal Issues 2020). Hypothetical situations usually involve a newly discovered asteroid with a high impact probability on a set timescale. This paper addresses two further complexities: (1) limiting missions to an asteroid due to the risk of a human-caused Earth impact; and (2) active management of asteroids to place them in "safe harbours", even when impact risks are otherwise below "decision to act" thresholds. We use Apophis as a case study, and address the two complexities in turn.

Several results indicate that the atmospheric temperature of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b in the main line formation region is a few thousand degrees higher than predicted by self-consistent models. We test whether non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects are responsible for the presumably higher temperature. We employ the Cloudy NLTE radiative transfer code to self-consistently compute the upper atmospheric temperature-pressure (TP) profile of KELT-9b, assuming solar metallicity. The Cloudy NLTE TP profile is $\approx$2000 K hotter than that obtained with previous models assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). In particular, in the 1-10$^{-7}$ bar range the temperature increases from $\approx$4000 K to $\approx$8500 K, remaining roughly constant at lower pressures. We find that the high temperature in the upper atmosphere of KELT-9b is driven principally by NLTE effects modifying the Fe and Mg level populations, which strongly influence the atmospheric thermal balance. We employ Cloudy to compute LTE and NLTE synthetic transmission spectra on the basis of the TP profiles computed in LTE and NLTE, respectively, finding that the NLTE model generally produces stronger absorption lines than the LTE model (up to 30%), which is largest in the ultraviolet. We compare the NLTE synthetic transmission spectrum with the observed H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ line profiles obtaining an excellent match, thus supporting our results. The NLTE synthetic transmission spectrum can be used to guide future observations aiming at detecting features in the planet's transmission spectrum. Metals, such as Mg and Fe, and NLTE effects shape the upper atmospheric temperature structure of KELT-9b and thus affect the mass-loss rates derived from it. Finally, our results call for checking whether this is the case also of cooler planets.

Due to the nature of their pathways, NASA Terra and NASA Aqua satellites capture imagery containing swath gaps, which are areas of no data. Swath gaps can overlap the region of interest (ROI) completely, often rendering the entire imagery unusable by Machine Learning (ML) models. This problem is further exacerbated when the ROI rarely occurs (e.g. a hurricane) and, on occurrence, is partially overlapped with a swath gap. With annotated data as supervision, a model can learn to differentiate between the area of focus and the swath gap. However, annotation is expensive and currently the vast majority of existing data is unannotated. Hence, we propose an augmentation technique that considerably removes the existence of swath gaps in order to allow CNNs to focus on the ROI, and thus successfully use data with swath gaps for training. We experiment on the UC Merced Land Use Dataset, where we add swath gaps through empty polygons (up to 20 percent areas) and then apply augmentation techniques to fill the swath gaps. We compare the model trained with our augmentation techniques on the swath gap-filled data with the model trained on the original swath gap-less data and note highly augmented performance. Additionally, we perform a qualitative analysis using activation maps that visualizes the effectiveness of our trained network in not paying attention to the swath gaps. We also evaluate our results with a human baseline and show that, in certain cases, the filled swath gaps look so realistic that even a human evaluator did not distinguish between original satellite images and swath gap-filled images. Since this method is aimed at unlabeled data, it is widely generalizable and impactful for large scale unannotated datasets from various space data domains.

In this paper, we derive a set of equations of motions for binaries on eccentric orbits undergoing spin-induced precession that can efficiently be integrated on the radiation-reaction timescale. We find a family of solutions with a computation cost improved by a factor $10$ - $50$ down to $\sim 10$ ms per waveform evaluation compared to waveforms obtained by directly integrating the precession equations, that maintain a mismatch of the order $10^{-4}$ - $10^{-6}$ for waveforms lasting a million orbital cycles and a thousand spin-induced precession cycles. We express it in terms of parameters that make the solution regular in the equal-mass limit, thus bypassing a problem of previous similar solutions. We point to ways in which the solution presented in this paper can be perturbed to take into account effects such as general quadrupole momenta and post-Newtonian corrections to the precession equations. This new waveform, with its improved efficiency and its accuracy, makes possible Bayesian parameter estimation using the full spin and eccentricity parameter volume for long lasting inspiralling signals such as stellar-origin black hole binaries observed by LISA.

We promote the teaching of mass functions as an integral part of an interdisciplinary science education. Mass functions characterize the frequency distributions of objects with different masses on all cosmic scales. We intend to enhance experiential learning of this concept with a creative LEGO brick experiment for a diverse student audience. To our surprise, the LEGO mass function is not only qualitatively but also quantitatively comparable to mass functions found across the Universe. We also discuss the relation between gravitation and mass distributions as a possible explanation for the continuity of the universal mass function.

We investigate the possible presence of dark matter (DM) in massive and rotating neutron stars (NSs). For the purpose we extend our previous work [1] to introduce a light new physics vector mediator besides a scalar one in order to ensure feeble interaction between fermionic DM and $\beta$ stable hadronic matter in NSs. The masses of DM fermion, the mediators and the couplings are chosen consistent with the self-interaction constraint from Bullet cluster and from present day relic abundance. Assuming that both the scalar and vector mediators contribute equally to the relic abundance, we compute the equation of state (EoS) of the DM admixed NSs to find that the present consideration of the vector new physics mediator do not bring any significant change to the EoS and static NS properties of DM admixed NSs compared to the case where only the scalar mediator was considered [1]. However, the obtained structural properties in static conditions are in good agreement with the various constraints on them from massive pulsars like PSR J0348+0432 and PSR J0740+6620, the gravitational wave (GW170817) data and the recently obtained results of NICER experiments for PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620. We also extended our work to compute the rotational properties of DM admixed NSs rotating at different angular velocities. The present results in this regard suggest that the secondary component of GW190814 may be a rapidly rotating massive DM admixed NS. The constraints on rotational frequency from pulsars like PSR B1937+21 and PSR J1748-2446ad are also satisfied by our present results. Also, the constraints on moment of inertia are satisfied considering slow rotation. The universality relation in terms of normalized moment of inertia also holds good with our DM admixed EoS.

We study hybrid stars considering the effects on stellar stability of the hadron-quark conversion speed at the sharp interface. The equation of state is constructed by combining a model-agnostic hadronic description with a constant speed of sound model for quark matter. We show that current LIGO/Virgo, NICER, low-density nuclear and high-density perturbative QCD constraints can be satisfied in two scenarios with low and high transition pressures. If the conversion speed is slow, a new class of hybrid objects is possible and very stiff hadronic equations of state cannot be discarded.

Recent observations in the quasi-parallel bow shock by the MMS spacecraft show rapid heating and acceleration of ions up to an energy of about 100 keV. It is demonstrated that a prominent acceleration mechanism is the nonlinear interaction with a spectrum of waves produced by gradient driven instabilities, including the lower hybrid drift (LHD) instability, modified two-stream (MTS) instability and electron cyclotron drift (ECD) instability. Test-particle simulations show that the observed spectrum of waves can rapidly accelerate protons up to a few hundreds keV by the ExB mechanism. The ExB wave mechanism is related to the surfatron mechanism at shocks but through the coupling with the stochastic heating condition it produces significant acceleration on much shorter temporal and spatial scales by the interaction with bursts of waves within a cyclotron period. The results of this paper are built on the heritage of four-point measurement techniques developed for the Cluster mission and imply that the concepts of Fermi acceleration, diffusive shock acceleration, and shock drift acceleration are not needed to explain proton acceleration to hundreds keV at the Earth's bow shock.

In this present work, we have obtained a singularity-free spherically symmetric stellar model with anisotropic pressure in the background of Einstein's general theory of relativity. The Einstein's field equations have been solved by exploiting Tolman {\em ansatz} [Richard C Tolman, Phys. Rev. 55:364, 1939] in $(3+1)$-dimensional space-time. Using observed values of mass and radius of the compact star PSR J1903+327, we have calculated the numerical values of all the constants from the boundary conditions. All the physical characteristics of the proposed model have been discussed both analytically and graphically. The new exact solution satisfies all the physical criteria for a realistic compact star. The matter variables are regular and well behaved throughout the stellar structure. Constraints on model parameters have been obtained. All the energy conditions are verified with the help of graphical representation. The stability condition of the present model has been described through different testings.

The univariate Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test is a non-parametric statistical test designed to assess whether a set of data is consistent with a given probability distribution (or, in the two-sample case, whether the two samples come from the same underlying distribution). The versatility of the KS test has made it a cornerstone of statistical analysis and is commonly used across the scientific disciplines. However, the test proposed by Kolmogorov and Smirnov does not naturally extend to multidimensional distributions. Here, we present the fasano.franceschini.test package, an R implementation of the 2-D KS two-sample test as defined by Fasano and Franceschini (Fasano and Franceschini 1987). The fasano.franceschini.test package provides three improvements over the current 2-D KS test on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN): (i) the Fasano and Franceschini test has been shown to run in $O(n^2)$ versus the Peacock implementation which runs in $O(n^3)$; (ii) the package implements a procedure for handling ties in the data; and (iii) the package implements a parallelized bootstrapping procedure for improved significance testing. Ultimately, the fasano.franceschini.test package presents a robust statistical test for analyzing random samples defined in 2-dimensions.

We address the two issues raised by Bayle, Vallisneri, Babak, and Petiteau (in their gr-qc document arxiv.org/abs/2106.03976) about our matrix formulation of Time-Delay Interferometry (TDI) (arxiv.org/abs/2105.02054) \cite{TDJ21}. In so doing we explain and quantify our concerns about the results derived by Vallisneri, Bayle, Babak and Petiteau \cite{Vallisneri2020} by applying their data processing technique (named TDI-$\infty$) to the two heterodyne measurements made by a two-arm space-based GW interferometer. First we show that the solutions identified by the TDI-$\infty$ algorithm derived by Vallisneri, Bayle, Babak and Petiteau \cite{Vallisneri2020} {\underbar {do}} depend on the boundary-conditions selected for the two-way Doppler data. We prove this by adopting the (non-physical) boundary conditions used by Vallisneri {\it et al.} and deriving the corresponding analytic expression for a laser-noise-canceling combination. We show it to be characterized by a number of Doppler measurement terms that grows with the observation time and works for any time-dependent time delays. We then prove that, for a constant-arm-length interferometer whose two-way light times are equal to twice and three-times the sampling time, the solutions identified by TDI-$\infty$ are linear combinations of the TDI variable $X$. In the second part of this document we address the concern expressed by Bayle {\it et al.} regarding our matrix formulation of TDI when the two-way light-times are constant but not equal to integer multiples of the sampling time. We mathematically prove the homomorphism between the delay operators and their matrix representation \cite{TDJ21} holds in general. By sequentially applying two order-$m$ Fractional-Delay (FD) Lagrange filters of delays $l_1$, $l_2$ we find its result to be equal to applying an order-$m$ FD Lagrange filter of delay $l_1 + l_2$.

We study the impact of non-local modifications of General Relativity on stellar structure. In particular, assuming an analytic distortion function, we made use of remnant stars to put qualitative constraints on a parameter not directly restricted by solar system tests. Using current data sets available for white dwarfs and strange quark stars candidates, we find that the most stringent bounds come from the objects displaying the highest core densities, such as strange quark stars and neutron stars. Specifically, the constraints obtained from this class of stars are three to four orders of magnitude tighter than those obtained using white dwarfs.

We generalize and unify the $f(R,T)$ and $f(R,L_m)$ type gravity models by assuming that the gravitational Lagrangian is given by an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar $R$, of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor $T$, and of the matter Lagrangian $L_m$, so that $L_{grav}=f(R,L_m,T)$. We obtain the gravitational field equations in the metric formalism, the equations of motion for test particles, and the energy and momentum balance equations, which follow from the covariant divergence of the energy-momentum tensor. Generally, the motion is non-geodesic, and takes place in the presence of an extra force orthogonal to the four-velocity. The Newtonian limit of the equations of motion is also investigated, and the expression of the extra acceleration is obtained for small velocities and weak gravitational fields. The generalized Poisson equation is also obtained in the Newtonian limit, and the Dolgov-Kawasaki instability is also investigated. The cosmological implications of the theory are investigated for a homogeneous, isotropic and flat Universe for two particular choices of the Lagrangian density $f(R,L_m,T)$ of the gravitational field, with a multiplicative and additive algebraic structure in the matter couplings, respectively, and for two choices of the matter Lagrangian, by using both analytical and numerical methods.

In this work we generalize the constant-roll condition for minimally coupled canonical scalar field inflation. Particularly, we shall assume that the scalar field satisfies the condition $\ddot{\phi}=\alpha (\phi) V'(\phi)$, and we derive the field equations under this assumption. We call the framework extended constant-roll framework. Accordingly we calculate the inflationary indices and the corresponding observational indices of inflation. In order to demonstrate the inflationary viability, we choose three potentials that are problematic in the context of slow-roll dynamics, namely chaotic, linear power-law and exponential inflation, and by choosing a simple power-law form for the smooth function $\alpha (\phi)$, we show that in the extended constant-roll framework, the models are compatible with the latest 2018 Planck constraints on inflation. We also justify appropriately why we called this new framework extended constant-roll framework, and we show that the condition $\ddot{\phi}=\alpha (\phi) V'(\phi)$ is equivalent to the condition $\ddot{\phi}=\beta (\phi) H \dot{\phi}$, with the latter condition being a simple generalization of the constant-roll condition. Finally, we examine an interesting physical situation, in which a general extended constant-roll scalar field model is required to satisfy the cosmological tracker condition used in quintessence models. In contrast to the slow-roll and ordinary constant-roll cases, in which case the tracker condition is not compatible with neither the slow-roll or the ordinary constant-roll conditions, the extended constant-roll condition can be compatible with the tracker condition. This feature leads to a new inflationary phenomenological framework, the essential features of which we develop in brief.

The Euclidean path integral is well approximated by instantons. If instantons are dynamical, then instantons are necessarily complexified. These fuzzy instantons can have various physical applications. In slow-roll inflation models, fuzzy instantons can explain the probability distribution of the initial conditions of the universe. Even though the potential shape does not satisfy the slow-roll conditions following the swampland criteria, still the fuzzy instantons can explain the origin of the universe. If we extend the Euclidean path integral beyond the no-boundary proposal, we may study fuzzy Euclidean wormholes that have various physical applications in cosmology and black hole physics. We summarize them and discuss possible future research topics.

A significant abundance of primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter can be produced by curvature perturbations with power spectrum $\Delta_\zeta^2(k_{\mathrm{peak}})\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ at small scales, associated with the generation of observable scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). However, the primordial non-Gaussianity may play a non-negligible role, which isn't usually considered. We propose two inflation models that predict double peaks of order $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ in the power spectrum, and study the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on PBHs and SIGWs. This model is driven by a power-law potential, and has a non-canonical kinetic term whose coupling function admits two peaks. By field-redefinition, it can be recast into a canonical inflation model with two quasi-inflection points in the potential. We find that the PBH abundance will be altered saliently if non-Gaussianity parameter satisfies $|f_{\mathrm{NL}}(k_{\text{peak}},k_{\text{peak}},k_{\text{peak}})|\gtrsim \Delta^2_{\zeta}(k_{\mathrm{peak}})/(23\delta^3_c) \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$. Whether the PBH abundance is suppressed or enhanced depends on the $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ being positive or negative, respectively. In our model, non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}(k_{\mathrm{peak}},k_{\mathrm{peak}},k_{\mathrm{peak}})\sim \mathcal{O}(1)$ takes positive sign, thus PBH abundance is suppressed dramatically. But SIGWs are within the sensitivities of space-based GWs observatories and Square Kilometer Array.

For the next galactic supernova, operational neutrino telescopes will measure the neutrino flux several hours before their optical counterparts. Existing detectors, relying mostly on charged current interactions, are mostly sensitive to $\bar{\nu}_e$ and to a lesser extent to $\nu_e$. In order to measure the flux of other flavors ($\nu_{\mu},\bar{\nu}_{\mu},\nu_{\tau},\text{and}~\bar{\nu}_{\tau}$), we need to observe their neutral current interactions with the detector. Such a measurement is not only crucial for overall normalization of the supernova neutrino flux but also for understanding the intricate neutrino oscillation physics. A deuterium based detector will be sensitive to all neutrino flavors. In this paper, we propose a 1 kton deuterated liquid scintillator (DLS) based detector that will see about 435 neutral current events and 170 (108) charged current $\nu_e$ ($\bar{\nu}_e$) events from a fiducial supernova at a distance of 10 kpc from Earth. We explore the possibility of extracting spectral information from the neutral current channel $\overset{\scriptscriptstyle(-)}{\nu} d \rightarrow \overset{\scriptscriptstyle(-)}{\nu}np$ by measuring the quenched kinetic energy of the proton in the final state, where the neutron in the final state is tagged and used to reduce backgrounds.

We report the first Vivaldi arrays monolithically fabricated exclusively using commercial, low-cost, 3D metal printing (direct metal laser sintering). Furthermore, we developed one of the first dual-polarized Vivaldi arrays on a triangular lattice, and compare it to a square lattice array. The triangular lattice is attractive because it has a 15.5% larger cell size compared to the square lattice and can be more naturally truncated into a wide range of aperture shapes such as a rectangle, hexagon, or triangle. Both arrays operate at 3-20 GHz and scan angles out to 60 degree from normal. The fabrication process is significantly simplified compared to previously published Vivaldi arrays since the antenna is ready for use directly after the standard printing process is complete. This rapid manufacturing is further expedited by printing the 'Sub-Miniature Push-on, Micro' (SMPM) connectors directly onto the radiating elements, which simplifies assembly and reduces cost compared to utilizing discrete RF connectors. The arrays have a modular design that allow for combining multiple sub-arrays together for arbitrarily increasing the aperture size. Simulations and measurement show that our arrays have similar performance as previously published Vivaldi arrays, but with simpler fabrication.

Covariate shift arises when the labelled training (source) data is not representative of the unlabelled (target) data due to systematic differences in the covariate distributions. A supervised model trained on the source data subject to covariate shift may suffer from poor generalization on the target data. We propose a novel, statistically principled and theoretically justified method to improve learning under covariate shift conditions, based on propensity score stratification, a well-established methodology in causal inference. We show that the effects of covariate shift can be reduced or altogether eliminated by conditioning on propensity scores. In practice, this is achieved by fitting learners on subgroups ("strata") constructed by partitioning the data based on the estimated propensity scores, leading to balanced covariates and much-improved target prediction. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our general-purpose method on contemporary research questions in observational cosmology, and on additional benchmark examples, matching or outperforming state-of-the-art importance weighting methods, widely studied in the covariate shift literature. We obtain the best reported AUC (0.958) on the updated "Supernovae photometric classification challenge" and improve upon existing conditional density estimation of galaxy redshift from Sloan Data Sky Survey (SDSS) data.