Papers for Tuesday, Jul 13 2021

While X-ray emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is common, the detailed physics behind this emission is not well understood. This is in part because high quality broadband spectra are required to precisely derive fundamental parameters of X-ray emission such as the photon index, folding energy, and reflection coefficient. Here we present values of such parameters for 33 AGN observed as part of the 105 month Swift/BAT campaign and with coordinated archival XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations. We look for correlations between the various coronal parameters in addition to correlations between coronal parameters and physical properties such as black hole mass and Eddington ratio. Using our empirical model, we find good fits to almost all of our objects. The folding energy was constrained for 30 of our 33 objects. When comparing Seyfert 1 - 1.9 to Seyfert 2 galaxies, a K-S test indicates that Seyfert 2 AGN have lower Eddington ratios and photon indices than Seyfert 1 - 1.9 objects with p-values of $5.6 \times 10^{-5}$ and $7.5 \times 10^{-3}$ respectively. We recover a known correlation between photon index and reflection coefficient as well as the X-ray Baldwin effect. Finally, we find that the inclusion of the high energy Swift BAT data significantly reduces the uncertainties of spectral parameters as compared to fits without the BAT data.

Gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy is transforming our understanding of the Universe by probing phenomena invisible to electromagnetic observatories. A comprehensive exploration of the GW frequency spectrum is essential to fully harness this potential. Remarkably, current methods have left the $\mu$Hz frequency band almost untouched. Here we show that this $\mu$Hz gap can be filled by searching for deviations in the orbits of binary systems caused by their resonant interaction with GWs. In particular, we show that laser ranging of the Moon and artificial satellites around the Earth, as well as timing of binary pulsars, may discover the first GW signals in this band, or otherwise set stringent new constraints. To illustrate the discovery potential of these binary resonance searches, we consider the GW signal from a cosmological first-order phase transition, showing that our methods will probe regions of the parameter space that are inaccessible to any other near-future GW mission. We also discuss how our methods can shed light on the possible GW signal detected by NANOGrav, either constraining its spectral properties or even giving an independent confirmation.

The calibration and validation of scientific analysis in simulations is a fundamental tool to ensure unbiased and robust results in observational cosmology. In particular, mock galaxy catalogs are a crucial resource to achieve these goals in the measurement of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of galaxies. Here we present a set of 1952 galaxy mock catalogs designed to mimic the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 BAO sample over its full photometric redshift range $0.6 < z_{\rm photo} < 1.1$. The mocks are based upon 488 ICE-COLA fast $N$-body simulations of full-sky light-cones and are created by populating halos with galaxies, using a hybrid Halo Occupation Distribution - Halo Abundance Matching model. This model has 10 free parameters, which are determined, for the first time, using an automatic likelihood minimization procedure. We also introduce a novel technique to assign photometric redshift for simulated galaxies, following a two-dimensional probability distribution with VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) data. The calibration was designed to match the observed abundance of galaxies as a function of photometric redshift, the distribution of photometric redshift errors, and the clustering amplitude on scales smaller than those used for BAO measurements. An exhaustive analysis is done to ensure that the mocks reproduce the input properties. Finally, mocks are tested by comparing the angular correlation function $w(\theta)$, angular power spectrum $C_\ell$ and projected clustering $\xi_p(r_\perp)$ to theoretical predictions and data. The success in reproducing accurately the photometric redshift uncertainties and the galaxy clustering as a function of redshift render this mock creation pipeline as a benchmark for future analyses of photometric galaxy surveys.

High-contrast imaging observations are fundamentally limited by the spatially and temporally correlated noise source called speckles. Suppression of speckle noise is the key goal of wavefront control and adaptive optics (AO), coronagraphy, and a host of post-processing techniques. Speckles average at a rate set by the statistical speckle lifetime, and speckle-limited integration time in long exposures is directly proportional to this lifetime. As progress continues in post-coronagraph wavefront control, residual atmospheric speckles will become the limiting noise source in high-contrast imaging, so a complete understanding of their statistical behavior is crucial to optimizing high-contrast imaging instruments. Here we present a novel power spectral density (PSD) method for calculating the lifetime, and develop a semi-analytic method for predicting intensity PSDs behind a coronagraph. Considering a frozen-flow turbulence model, we analyze the residual atmosphere speckle lifetimes in a MagAO-X-like AO system as well as 25--39 m giant segmented mirror telescope (GSMT) scale systems. We find that standard AO control shortens atmospheric speckle lifetime from ~130 ms to ~50 ms, and predictive control will further shorten the lifetime to ~20 ms on 6.5 m MagAO-X. We find that speckle lifetimes vary with diameter, wind speed, seeing, and location within the AO control region. On bright stars lifetimes remain within a rough range of ~20 ms to ~100 ms. Due to control system dynamics there are no simple scaling laws which apply across a wide range of system characteristics. Finally, we use these results to argue that telemetry-based post-processing should enable ground-based telescopes to achieve the photon-noise limit in high-contrast imaging.

We introduce the cosmological HYPER code based on an innovative hydro-particle-mesh (HPM) algorithm for efficient and rapid simulations of gas and dark matter. For the HPM algorithm, we update the approach of Gnedin & Hui (1998) to expand the scope of its application from the lower-density intergalactic medium (IGM) to the higher-density intracluster medium (ICM). While the original algorithm tracks only one effective particle species, the updated version separately tracks the gas and dark matter particles as they do not exactly trace each other on small scales. For the approximate hydrodynamics solver, the pressure term in the gas equations of motion is calculated using robust physical models. In particular, we use a dark matter halo model, ICM pressure profile, and IGM temperature-density relation, all of which can be systematically varied for parameter-space studies. We show that the HYPER simulation results are in good agreement with the halo model expectations for the density, temperature, and pressure radial profiles. Simulated galaxy cluster scaling relations for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) and X-ray observables are also in good agreement with mean predictions, with scatter comparable to that found in hydrodynamic simulations. HYPER also produces lightcone catalogs of dark matter halos and full-sky tomographic maps of the lensing convergence, SZ effect, and X-ray emission. These simulation products are useful for testing data analysis pipelines, generating training data for machine learning, understanding selection and systematic effects, and for interpreting astrophysical and cosmological constraints.

PSR J1713+0747 is one of the most precisely timed pulsars in the international pulsar timing array experiment. This pulsar showed an abrupt profile shape change between April 16, 2021 (MJD 59320) and April 17, 2021 (MJD 59321). In this paper, we report the results from multi-frequency observations of this pulsar carried out with the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) before and after the event. We demonstrate the profile change seen in Band 5 (1260 MHz - 1460 MHz) and Band 3 (300 MHz - 500 MHz). The timing analysis of this pulsar shows a disturbance accompanying this profile change followed by a recovery with a timescale of ~ 140 days. Our data suggest that an achromatic exponential dip model is preferred over models with an inverse square or inverse quartic frequency dependence in Band 5.

Radiation-dust driven outflows, where radiation pressure on dust grains accelerates gas, occur in many astrophysical environments. Almost all previous numerical studies of these systems have assumed that the dust was perfectly-coupled to the gas. However, it has recently been shown that the dust in these systems is unstable to a large class of 'resonant drag instabilities' (RDIs) which de-couple the dust and gas dynamics and could qualitatively change the nonlinear outcome of these outflows. We present the first simulations of radiation-dust driven outflows in stratified, inhomogeneous media, including explicit grain dynamics and a realistic spectrum of grain sizes and charge, magnetic fields and Lorentz forces on grains (which dramatically enhance the RDIs), Coulomb and Epstein drag forces, and explicit radiation transport allowing for different grain absorption and scattering properties. In this paper we consider conditions resembling giant molecular clouds (GMCs), HII regions, and distributed starbursts, where optical depths are modest ($\lesssim 1$), single-scattering effects dominate radiation-dust coupling, Lorentz forces dominate over drag on grains, and the fastest-growing RDIs are similar, such as magnetosonic and fast-gyro RDIs. These RDIs generically produce strong size-dependent dust clustering, growing nonlinear on timescales that are much shorter than the characteristic times of the outflow. The instabilities produce filamentary and plume-like or 'horsehead' nebular morphologies that are remarkably similar to observed dust structures in GMCs and HII regions. Additionally, in some cases they strongly alter the magnetic field structure and topology relative to filaments. Despite driving strong micro-scale dust clumping which leaves some gas 'behind,' an order-unity fraction of the gas is always efficiently entrained by dust.

The main goal of pulsar timing array experiments is to detect correlated signals such as nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves. Pulsar timing data collected in dense monitoring campaigns can also be used to study the stars themselves, their binary companions, and the intervening ionised interstellar medium. Timing observations are extraordinarily sensitive to changes in path length between the pulsar and the Earth, enabling precise measurements of the pulsar positions, distances and velocities, and the shapes of their orbits. Here we present a timing analysis of 25 pulsars observed as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project over time spans of up to 24 yr. The data are from the second data release of the PPTA, which we have extended by including legacy data. We make the first detection of Shapiro delay in four Southern pulsars (PSRs J1017$-$7156, J1125$-$6014, J1545$-$4550, and J1732$-$5049), and of parallax in six pulsars. The prominent Shapiro delay of PSR J1125$-$6014 implies a neutron star mass of $M_p = 1.5 \pm 0.2 M_\odot$ (68% credibility interval). Measurements of both Shapiro delay and relativistic periastron advance in PSR J1600$-$3053 yield a large but uncertain pulsar mass of $M_p = 2.06^{+0.44}_{-0.41}$ M$_\odot$ (68% credibility interval). We measure the distance to PSR J1909$-$3744 to a precision of 10 lyr, indicating that for gravitational wave periods over a decade, the pulsar provides a coherent baseline for pulsar timing array experiments.

We study the prompt phase of low-luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts (LL-GRBs) as potential source of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We model the spectral energy distribution of three representative events (with observed properties similar to GRBs 980425, 100316D and 120714B) self-consistently in a leptonic synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario using the internal shock model for the relativistic outflow. To investigate the conditions under which inverse Compton radiation may lead to a peak in the GeV-TeV range potentially observable in Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), we vary the fraction of the internal energy supplying the magnetic field. Further, we determine the maximal energies achievable for UHECR nuclei and derive constraints on the baryonic loading and typical GRB duration by comparing to the extragalactic gamma-ray background. We find that LL-GRBs are potential targets for multi-wavelength studies and may be in reach of IACTs and optical/ UV instruments. For comparable sub-MeV emission and similar dynamical evolution of the outflow, the multi-wavelength predictions depend on the magnetic field: weak (strong) magnetic fields induce high (low) fluxes in the VHE regime and low (high) fluxes in the optical. VHE emission might be suppressed by $\gamma \gamma $-absorption close to the engine (especially for high magnetic fields) or interactions with the extragalactic background light for redshifts $z > 0.1$. For UHECRs, the maximal energies of iron nuclei (protons) can be as high as $\simeq 10^{11}$-GeV ($10^{10}$-GeV) if the magnetic energy density is large (where we found a weak VHE component). These high energies are possible by decoupling the production regions of UHECR and gamma-rays in our multi-zone model. Finally, we find basic consistency with the energy budget needed to accommodate the UHECR origin from LL-GRBs.

Non-spherical structure in massive stars at the point of iron core collapse can have a qualitative impact on the properties of the ensuing core-collapse supernova explosions and the multi-messenger signals they produce. Strong perturbations can aid successful explosions by strengthening turbulence in the post-shock region. Here, we report on a set of $4\pi$ 3D hydrodynamic simulations of O- and Si-shell burning in massive star models of varied initial masses using MESA and the FLASH simulation framework. We evolve four separate 3D models for roughly the final ten minutes prior to, and including, iron core collapse. We consider initial 1D MESA models with masses of 14-, 20-, and 25 $M_{\odot}$ to survey a range of O/Si shell density and compositional configurations. We characterize the convective shells in our 3D models and compare them to the corresponding 1D models. In general, we find that the angle-average convective speeds in our 3D simulations near collapse are three to four times larger than the convective speeds predicted by MESA at the same epoch for our chosen mixing length parameter of $\alpha_{\rm{MLT}}=1.5$. In three of our simulations, we observe significant power in the spherical harmonic decomposition of the radial velocity field at harmonic indices of $\ell=1-3$ near collapse. Our results suggest that large-scale modes are common in massive stars near collapse and should be considered a key aspect of pre-supernova progenitor models.

Lithium abundances for red giants in the GALAH DR3 survey are studied. The rare examples of Li-enriched stars with abundances A(Li) $\geq 1.5$ are confirmed to be He-core burning stars belonging to or evolved from the red clump with similar masses and metallicity: $M\simeq 1.1\pm0.2{\rm M_\odot}$ and [Fe/H] $\simeq-0.3\pm0.3$. Li enrichment over the Li abundance present in a star's predecessor at the tip of the red giant branch likely occurs in all these red clump stars. Examination of the elemental abundances (C to Eu) in the GALAH catalogue shows no anomalous abundances in red clump giants and, in particular, no dependence on the Li abundance, which ranges over at least five dex. Lithium synthesis is attributed to the He-core flash occurring in stars at the tip of the red giant branch. Models from the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) match the observed evolution of these stars along the red giant branch and to the red clump but only at the low effective temperature end of the observed spread of red clump giants. Run of Li abundance on the red giant branch is fairly well reproduced by MESA models. A speculation is presented that the series of He-core flashes not only leads to $^7$Li synthesis from a star's internal reservoir of $^3$He but also may lead to internal restructuring leading to the observed effective temperature spread of red clump stars at about a constant luminosity. Giants exhibiting marked Li enrichments are not found at other evolutionary phases and, in particular, not directly associated with the luminosity bump on the red giant branch for which the Li abundance increase does not exceed 0.3 dex.

Current theoretical models predict a mass gap with a dearth of stellar black holes (BHs) between roughly $50\,M_\odot$ and $100\,M_\odot$, while, above the range accessible through massive star evolution, intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs) still remain elusive. Repeated mergers of binary BHs, detectable via gravitational wave emission with the current LIGO/Virgo/Kagra interferometers and future detectors such as LISA or the Einstein Telescope, can form both mass-gap BHs and IMBHs. Here we explore the possibility that mass-gap BHs and IMBHs are born as a result of successive BH mergers in dense star clusters. In particular, nuclear star clusters at the centers of galaxies have deep enough potential wells to retain most of the BH merger products after they receive significant recoil kicks due to anisotropic emission of gravitational radiation. We show that a massive stellar BH seed can easily grow to $\sim 10^3 - 10^4\,M_\odot$ as a result of repeated mergers with other smaller BHs. We find that lowering the cluster metallicity leads to larger final BH masses. We also show that the growing BH spin tends to decrease in magnitude with the number of mergers, so that a negative correlation exists between final mass and spin of the resulting IMBHs. Assumptions about the birth spins of stellar BHs affect our results significantly, with low birth spins leading to the production of a larger population of massive BHs.

We present angular diameter measurements obtained by measuring the position of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in an optimised sample of galaxies from the first three years of Dark Energy Survey data (DES Y3). The sample consists of 7 million galaxies distributed over a footprint of 4100 deg$^2$ with $0.6 < z_{\rm photo} < 1.1$ and a typical redshift uncertainty of $0.03(1+z)$. The sample selection is the same as in the BAO measurement with the first year of DES data, but the analysis presented here uses three times the area, extends to higher redshift and makes a number of improvements, including a fully analytical BAO template, the use of covariances from both theory and simulations, and an extensive pre-unblinding protocol. We used two different statistics: angular correlation function and power spectrum, and validate our pipeline with an ensemble of over 1500 realistic simulations. Both statistics yield compatible results. We combine the likelihoods derived from angular correlations and spherical harmonics to constrain the ratio of comoving angular diameter distance $D_M$ at the effective redshift of our sample to the sound horizon scale at the drag epoch. We obtain $D_M(z_{\rm eff}=0.835)/r_{\rm d} = 18.92 \pm 0.51$, which is consistent with, but smaller than, the Planck prediction assuming flat \lcdm, at the level of $2.3 \sigma$. The analysis was performed blind and is robust to changes in a number of analysis choices. It represents the most precise BAO distance measurement from imaging data to date, and is competitive with the latest transverse ones from spectroscopic samples at $z>0.75$. When combined with DES 3x2pt + SNIa, they lead to improvements in $H_0$ and $\Omega_m$ constraints by $\sim 20\%$

We present combined photometric and spectroscopic analyses of the southern binary star PU Pup. High-resolution spectra of this system were taken at the University of Canterbury Mt. John Observatory in the years 2008 and again in 2014-15. We find the light contribution of the secondary component to be only $\sim$2\% of the total light of the system in optical wavelengths, resulting in a single-lined spectroscopic binary. Recent TESS data revealed grazing eclipses within the light minima, though the tidal distortion, examined also from HIPPARCOS data, remains the predominating light curve effect. Our model shows PU Pup to have the more massive primary relatively close to filling its Roche lobe. PU Pup is thus approaching the rare `fast phase' of interactive (Case B) evolution. Our adopted absolute parameters are as follows: $M_1$ = 4.10 ($\pm$0.20) M$_{\odot}$, $M_2$ = 0.65 ($\pm$0.05) M$_{\odot}$, $R_{1}$ = 6.60 ($\pm$0.30) R$_{\odot}$, $R_2$ = 0.90 ($\pm$0.10) R$_{\odot}$; $T_{1}$ = 11500 ($\pm$500) K, $T_{2}$ = 5000 ($\pm$350) K; photometric distance = 186 ($\pm$20) pc, age = 170 ($\pm$20) My. The less-massive secondary component is found to be significantly oversized and overluminous compared to standard Main Sequence models. We discuss this discrepancy referring to heating from the reflection effect.

We present new radio and optical data, including very long baseline interferometry, as well as archival data analysis, for the luminous decades-long radio transient FIRST J141918.9+394036. The radio data reveal a synchrotron self-absorption peak around 0.3 GHz and a radius of $1.2\pm0.5$ mas ($0.5\pm0.2$ pc) 26 years post-discovery, indicating a blastwave energy $\sim5 \times 10^{50}$ erg. The optical spectrum shows a broad [OIII]$\lambda$4959,5007 emission-line that may indicate collisional-excitation in the host galaxy, but its association with the transient cannot be ruled out. The properties of the host galaxy are suggestive of a massive stellar progenitor that formed at low metallicity. Based on the radio light curve, blastwave velocity, energetics, nature of the host galaxy and transient rates we find that the properties of FIRST J1419+39 are most consistent with long gamma-ray burst (LGRB) afterglows. Other classes of (optically-discovered) stellar explosions as well as neutron star mergers are disfavored, and invoking any exotic scenario may not be necessary. It is therefore likely that FIRST J1419+39 is an off-axis LGRB afterglow (as suggested by Law et al. and Marcote et al.), and under this premise the inverse beaming fraction is found to be $f_b^{-1}\simeq280^{+700}_{-200}$, corresponding to an average jet half-opening angle $<\theta_j>\simeq5^{+4}_{-2}$ degrees (68% confidence), consistent with previous estimates. From the volumetric rate we predict that surveys with the VLA, ASKAP and MeerKAT will find a handful of FIRST J1419+39-like events over the coming years.

This monograph presents a study of the nature and origin of meteorites, asteroids and comets; and of the consequences of encounters of these cosmic objects with the Earth. The purpose of this monograph is mainly of divulgation for non-specialists, even though we have not avoided some elementary technical aspects and some own proposals: 1) Calculation of the evolution of an expanding bubble originated by the explosion of a cosmic object that releases 50 Mt of energy in the terrestrial atmosphere, at a height of 5 km from the ground. 2) A new explanation of the white nights observed in Eurasia and of other phenomena related to the Tunguska's explosion of 1908.

Magnetism of fullerene C60 was studied by three methods of the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, laboratory experiment and astronomical observation. DFT revealed that the most stable spin state was non-magnetic one of Sz=0/2. This is contrary to our recent study on void induced graphene molecules of C23 and C53 to be magnetic one of Sz=2/2. Two graphene molecules combined model suggested that two up-spin at every carbon pentagon ring may cancel each other to bring Sz=0/2. Similar cancelation may occur on C60. Molecular vibrational infrared spectrum of C60 show four major bands, which coincide with gas-phase laboratory experiment, also with astronomically observed one of carbon rich planetary nebula Tc1 and Lin49. However, there remain many unidentified bands on astronomical one. We supposed multiple voids on graphene sheet, which may create both C60 and complex graphene molecules. It was revealed that spectrum of two voids induced graphene molecule coincident well with major astronomical bands. Simple sum of C60 and graphene molecules could successfully reproduce astronomical bands in detail.

The spectacular results provided by the second-generation VLTI instruments GRAVITY and MATISSE on active galactic nuclei (AGN) trigger and justify a strong increase in the sensitivity limit of optical interferometers. A key component of such an upgrade is off-axis fringe tracking. To evaluate its potential and limitations, we describe and analyse its error budget including fringe sensing precision and temporal, angular and chromatic perturbations of the piston. The global tracking error is computed using standard seeing parameters for different sites, seeing conditions and telescope sizes for the current GRAVITY Fringe Tracker (GFT) and a new concept of Hierarchical Fringe Tracker. Then, it is combined with a large catalogue of guide star candidates from Gaia to produce sky coverage maps that give the probability to find a usable off-axis guide star in any part of the observable sky. These maps can be used to set the specifications of the system, check its sensitivity to seeing conditions, and evaluate the feasibility of science programs. We check the availability of guide stars and the tracking accuracy for a large set of 15 799 Quasars to confirm the feasibility of a large program on Broad Line Regions in the K band with the GFT and show how it can be extended to the L, M, and N bands. Another set of 331 well-characterized nearby AGNs shows the high potential of MATISSE for imaging and characterization of the dust torus in the N band under off-axis tracking on both Unit Telescopes and Auxiliary Telescopes.

Contamination of interloper galaxies due to misidentified emission lines can be a big issue in the spectroscopic galaxy clustering surveys, especially in future high-precision observations. We propose a statistical method based on the cross-correlations of the observational data itself between two redshift bins to efficiently reduce this effect, and it also can derive the interloper fraction f_i in a redshift bin with a high level of accuracy. The ratio of cross and auto angular correlation functions or power spectra between redshift bins are suggested to estimate f_i, and the key equations are derived for theoretical discussion. In order to explore and prove the feasibility and effectiveness of this method, we also run simulations, generate mock data, and perform cosmological constraints considering systematics based on the observation of the China Space Station Telescope (CSST). We find that this method can effectively reduce the interloper effect, and accurately constrain the cosmological parameters for f_i<1%~10%, which is suitable for most future surveys. This method also can be applied to other kinds of galaxy clustering surveys like line intensity mapping.

We investigate a single field model in the context of the constant-roll inflation in which inflaton moves down to the minimum point of the potential with a constant rate of rolling. We use a Lorentzian function which is dependent on the number of e-folds in order to obtain the slow-roll parameters. We present the inflationary analysis for the model and find the observational constraints on the parameters space using the observations of CMB anisotropies \textit{i.e.} the Planck and Keck/array datasets. We find the observationally acceptable values of the Width of the Lorentzian function as $0.3<\Gamma\leq0.5$ at the $68\%$ CL and $\Gamma\leq0.3$ at the $95\%$ CL when $\xi=120$, $|\beta|=0.02$ and $N=60$. Also, we acquire the observationally favoured values of the amplitude of the Lorentzian function as $400<\xi\leq600$ at the $68\%$ CL and $\xi\leq400$ at the $95\%$ CL when $\Gamma=0.1$, $|\beta|=0.02$ and $N=60$. Moreover, we study the model from the Weak Gravity Conjecture approach using the swampland criteria.

The first observational evidence for the cosmic acceleration appeared from the type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) Hubble diagram from two different groups. However, the empirical treatment of SNe Ia and their ability to show cosmic acceleration have been the subject of some debate in the literature. In this work we probe the assumption of redshift-independent absolute magnitude $(M_{\mathrm{B}})$ of SNe along with its correlation with spatial curvature ($\Omega_{k0}$) and cosmic distance duality relation (CDDR) parameter ($\eta(z)$). This work is divided into two parts. Firstly, we check the validity of CDDR which relates the luminosity distance ($d_L$) and angular diameter distance ($d_A$) via redshift. We use three different redshift-dependent parametrizations of the distance duality parameter $(\eta(z))$. CDDR is fairly consistent for almost every parametrization within $95\%$ confidence level in both flat and non-flat universe. However, one of the parametrizations does not validate CDDR in the case of a non-flat universe. In second part, we take the validity of CDDR for granted and emphasise on the variability of $M_{\mathrm{B}}$ and its correlation with $\Omega_{k0}$. We choose three different redshift-dependent parametrizations of $M_{\mathrm{B}}$. The results indicate no evolution of $M_{\mathrm{B}}$ at $99\%$ confidence level but clearly indicates the inclination towards a non-flat open universe. We further extend our analysis and examine the dependence of the results on the choice of different priors for $H_0$.

In this work we explore signatures of evolution for the dark energy density $X(z)=\rho_{de}(z)/\rho_{de}(0)$ using latest observations on SNIa and H(z). The models consist of parametrizations of the dark energy density and consequently a reconstruction for the EoS parameter w(z) as a function of redshift. Both parametrization methods using the SH0Es prior results in a small deviation from LCDM at 1$\sigma$ for $X(z)$. Extending the analysis up to 2$\sigma$, the evidence for evolution of $X(z)$ dilute in both cases. We have also studied an interacting dark model where this trend is also found.

Fluctuations of gravitational forces cause so-called Newtonian noise (NN) in gravitational-wave (GW) detectors which is expected to limit their low-frequency sensitivity in upcoming observing runs. Seismic NN is produced by seismic waves passing near a detector's suspended test masses. It is predicted to be the strongest contribution to NN. Modeling this contribution accurately is a major challenge. Arrays of seismometers were deployed at the Virgo site to characterize the seismic field near the four test masses. In this paper, we present results of a spectral analysis of the array data from one of Virgo's end buildings to identify dominant modes of the seismic field. Some of the modes can be associated with known seismic sources. Analyzing the modes over a range of frequencies, we provide a dispersion curve of Rayleigh waves. We find that the Rayleigh speed in the NN frequency band 10 Hz - 20 Hz is very low ($\lesssim$100\,m/s), which has important consequences for Virgo's seismic NN. Using the new speed estimate, we find that the recess formed under the suspended test masses by a basement level at the end buildings leads to a 10 fold reduction of seismic NN.

The solar minimum 23/24 is considered to be unusual because it exhibits features that differ notably from those commonly seen in pervious minima. In this letter, we analyze the solar polar magnetic field, the potential-field solution of the solar corona, and the in-situ solar wind measurements to see whether the recent solar minimum 24/25 is another unusual one. While the dipolar configuration that are commonly seen during minimum 22/23 and earlier minima persist for about half a year after the absolute minimum of solar cycle 24, the corona has a morphology more complex than a simple dipole before the absolute minimum. The fast solar wind streams are less dominant than minimum 23/24. The IMF strength, density and mass flux that are historically low in the minimum 23/24 are regained during minimum 24/25, but still do not reach the minimum 22/23 level. From the analysis of this Letter, it seems that the minimum 24/25 is only partially unusual, and the recovery of the commonly minimum features may result from the enhancement of the polar field.

This paper presents a new method to obtain the deformation distribution on the main reflector of an antenna only by measuring the electric intensity on a spherical surface with the focal point as the center of the sphere, regardless of phase. Combining the differential geometry theory with geometric optics method, this paper has derived a deformation-intensity equation to relate the surface deformation to the intensity distribution of a spherical near-field directly. Based on the Finite difference method (FDM) and Gauss-Seidel iteration, deformation has been calculated from intensity simulated by GO and PO method, respectively, with relatively small errors, which prove the effectiveness of the equation proposed in this paper. By means of this method , it is possible to measure the deformation only by scanning the electric intensity of a single hemispherical near-field whose area is only about $1/15$ of the aperture. And the measurement only needs a plane wave at any frequency as the incident wave, which means that both the signals from the outer space satellite and the far-field artificial beacon could be used as the sources. The scanning can be realized no matter what attitude and elevation angle the antenna is in because the size and angle of the hemisphere are changeable.

We present a rotation curve (RC) of the inner Galaxy of the 1st quadrant at $10\deg \le l \le 50\deg ~ (R=1.3-6.2~{\rm kpc})$ with the highest spatial (2 pc) and velocity (1.3 km/s) resolutions. We used the ${^{12}}$CO(J=1-0)-line survey data observed with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope at an effective angular resolution of $20"$ (originally $15")$, and applied the tangent-velocity method to the longitude-velocity diagrams by employing the Gaussian deconvolution of the individual CO-line profiles. A number of RC bumps, or local variation of rotation velocity, with velocity amplitudes $\pm \sim 9$ km/s and radial scale length $\sim 0.5-1$ kpc are superposed on the mean rotation velocity. The prominent velocity bump and corresponding density variation around $R\sim 4$ kpc in the tangential direction of the Scutum arm (4-kpc molecular arm) is naturally explained by an ordinary galactic shock wave in a spiral arm with small pitch angle, not necessarily requiring a bar-induced strong shock. Tables of RC are available at the PASJ supplementary data site and this http URL

An inverse P-Cygni profile of H13CO+ (1-0) in G31.41+0.31 was recently observed, which indicates the presence of an infalling gas envelope. Also, an outflow tracer, SiO, was observed. Here, exclusive radiative transfer modelings have been implemented to generate synthetic spectra of some key species (H13 CO+, HCN, SiO, NH3, CH3 CN, CH3OH, CH3SH, and CH3NCO) and extract the physical features to infer the excitation conditions of the surroundings where they observed. The gas envelope is assumed to be accreting in a spherically symmetric system towards the central hot core region. Our principal intention was to reproduce the observed line profiles toward G31.41+0.31 and extract various physical parameters. The LTE calculation with CASSIS and non-LTE analysis with the RATRAN radiative transfer codes are considered for the modeling purpose. The best-fitted line parameters are derived, which represents the prevailing physical condition of the gas envelope. Our results suggest that an infalling gas could explain the observed line profiles of all the species mentioned above except SiO. An additional outflow component is required to confer the SiO line profile. Additionally, an astrochemical model is implemented to explain the observed abundancests various species in this source.

Integral field unit (IFU) spectra of face-on star-forming galaxies from the MaNGA survey are stacked in radial bins so as to reach a S/N high enough to measure emission lines and Lick indices out to 2.5-3 R_e. Two thirds of galaxies have stellar populations in the outer disks that are older, more metal poor and less dusty than in the inner disks. Recent bursts of star formation have occurred more frequently in the outer disk, but extinction-corrected Halpha equivalent widths are significantly lower at fixed D_n(4000) in these regions. I examine the properties of a subset of galaxies with the the most H$\alpha$ deficient outer disks. These regions contain young stellar populations that must have formed within the last 0.5 Gyr, but extinction-corrected Halpha values well below the values predicted for a standard Kroupa IMF. The Halpha deficient galaxies have flat D_n(4000) and Hdelta_A profiles with little radial fluctuation, indicating that star formation has occurred extremely uniformly across the entire disk. The H$\alpha$ line profiles indicate that the ionized gas kinematics is also very regular across the disk. The main clue to the origin of the Halpha deficiency is that it sets in at the same radius where the dust extinction abruptly decreases, suggesting a mode of star formation deficient in massive stars in quiescent, HI-dominated gas. Finally, I have carried out a search for galaxies with signatures of unusual Halpha kinematics and find that 15% of the sample exhibit evidence for significant ionized gas that is displaced from the systemic velocity of the disk.

This paper describes a search for galaxy centers with clear indications of unusual stellar populations with an initial mass function flatter than Salpeter at high stellar masses. Out of a sample of 668 face-on galaxies with stellar masses in the range 10^10- 10^11 M_sol, I identify 15 galaxies with young to intermediate age central stellar populations with unusual stellar population gradients in the inner regions of the galaxy. In these galaxies, the 4000 Angstrom break is either flat or rising towards the center of the galaxy, indicating that the central regions host evolved stars, but the H$\alpha$ equivalent width also rises steeply in the central regions. The ionization parameter [OIII]/[OII] is typically low in these galactic centers, indicating that ionizing sources are stellar rather than AGN. Wolf Rayet features characteristic of hot young stars are often found in the spectra and these also get progressively stronger at smaller galactocentric radii. These outliers are compared to a control sample of galaxies of similar mass with young inner stellar populations, but where the gradients in Halpha equivalent width and 4000 Angstrom break follow each other more closely. The outliers exhibit central Wolf Rayet red bump excesses much more frequently, they have higher central stellar and ionized gas metallicities, and they are also more frequently detected at 20 cm radio wavelengths. I highlight one outlier where the ionized gas is clearly being strongly perturbed and blown out either by massive stars after they explode as supernovae, or by energy injection from matter falling onto a black hole.

In this paper, we have investigated a scalar field cosmological model of accelerating Universe with the simplest parametrization of equation of state parameter of the scalar field. We used $H(z)$ data, pantheon compilation of SN Ia data and BAO data to constrained the model parameters using $\chi^{2}$ minimization technique. We obtain the present values of Hubble constant $H_{0}$ as $66.2^{+1.42}_{-1.34}$, $70.7^{+0.32}_{-0.31}$ and $67.74^{+1.24}_{-1.04}$ for $H(z)$, $H(z)$ + Pantheon and $H(z)$ + BAO respectively. Also, we have estimated the present age of the Universe in derived model $t_{0} = 14.38^{+0.63}_{-0.64}$ for joint $H(z)$ and pantheon compilation of SN Ia data which has only $0.88~\sigma$ tension with its empirical value obtained in Plank collaboration \cite{Ade/2016}. Moreover, the present values of the deceleration parameter $q_{0}$ come out to be $-0.55^{+0.031}_{-0.038}$, $-0.61^{+0.030}_{-0.021}$ and $-0.627^{+0.022}_{-0.025}$ by bounding the Universe in derived model with $H(z)$, $H(z)$ + Pantheon compilation of SN Ia and $H(z)$ + BAO data sets respectively. We also have performed the state-finder diagnostics to discover the nature of dark energy.

We present here an explicit form of the random spectral measure element, what allows us to express a stationary random field as a stochastic integral explicitly depending on its power spectrum and a spectral tensor if the field is a vector one. It has been shown here that convergence mechanism of such integral is significantly different from the one of the Fourier transform and that the traditional formalism is a partial limiting case of the one presented here. The fact that there is an explicit expression of a random field makes calculation of higher order statistics of it much more straightforward (see for example Chepurnov et al. 2020). For a vector field such expression contains a projection of an isotropically distributed random vector by a spectral tensor, what makes geometrical interpretation of harmonics behavior possible, simplifying its analysis (see Sect. 2). This spectral representation also makes straightforward numerical generation of a random field, what is extensively used by Chepurnov et al. 2020. We also present here some practical applications of this formalism.

Context. Due to their low transit probability, the long-period planets are, as a population, only partially probed by transit surveys. Radial velocity surveys thus have a key role to play, in particular for giant planets. Cold Jupiters induce a typical radial velocity semi-amplitude of 10m.s^{-1}, which is well within the reach of multiple instruments that have now been in operation for more than a decade. Aims. We take advantage of the ongoing radial velocity survey with the sophie high-resolution spectrograph, which continues the search started by its predecessor elodie to further characterize the cold Jupiter population. Methods. Analyzing the radial velocity data from six bright solar-like stars taken over a period of up to 15 years, we attempt the detection and confirmation of Keplerian signals. Results. We announce the discovery of six planets, one per system, with minimum masses in the range 4.8-8.3 Mjup and orbital periods between 200 days and 10 years. The data do not provide enough evidence to support the presence of additional planets in any of these systems. The analysis of stellar activity indicators confirms the planetary nature of the detected signals. Conclusions. These six planets belong to the cold and massive Jupiter population, and four of them populate its eccentric tail. In this respect, HD 80869 b stands out as having one of the most eccentric orbits, with an eccentricity of 0.862^{+0.028}_{-0.018}. These planets can thus help to better constrain the migration and evolution processes at play in the gas giant population. Furthermore, recent works presenting the correlation between small planets and cold Jupiters indicate that these systems are good candidates to search for small inner planets.

We report a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) search for redshifted CO(1-0) or CO(2-1) emission, and a Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera~3 (HST-WFC3) search for rest-frame near-ultraviolet (NUV) stellar emission, from seven HI-selected galaxies associated with high-metallicity ([M/H]~$\geq -1.3$) damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) at $z\approx 4$. The galaxies were earlier identified by ALMA imaging of their [CII]~158$\mu$m emission. We also used the JVLA to search for CO(2-1) emission from the field of a low-metallicity ([M/H]~$=-2.47$) DLA at $z\approx 4.8$. No statistically significant CO emission is detected from any of the galaxies, yielding upper limits of $M_{mol}<(7.4 - 17.9)\times 10^{10}\times (\alpha_{CO}/4.36) M_\odot$ on their molecular gas mass. We detect rest-frame NUV emission from four of the seven [CII]~158$\mu$m-emitting galaxies, the first detections of the stellar continuum from HI-selected galaxies at $z\gtrsim 4$. The HST-WFC3 images yield typical sizes of the stellar continua of $\approx 2-4$~kpc and inferred dust-unobscured star-formation rates (SFRs) of $\approx 5.0-17.5 M_\odot$/yr, consistent with, or slightly lower than, the total SFRs estimated from the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity. We further stacked the CO(2-1) emission signals of six [CII]~158$\mu$m-emitting galaxies in the image plane. Our non-detection of CO(2-1) emission in the stacked image yields the limit $M_{mol}<4.1 \times 10^{10}\times (\alpha_{CO}/4.36) M_\odot$ on the average molecular gas mass of the six galaxies. Our molecular gas mass estimates and NUV SFR estimates in HI-selected galaxies at $z\approx 4$ are consistent with those of main-sequence galaxies with similar [CII]~158$\mu$m and FIR luminosities at similar redshifts. However, the NUV emission in the HI-selected galaxies appears more extended than that in main-sequence galaxies at similar redshifts.

The young star PDS110 in the Ori OB1a association underwent two similar eclipses in 2008 and 2011, each of which lasted for a period of at least 25 days. One plausible explanation for these events is that the star was eclipsed by an unseen giant planet (named PDS110b) circled by a ring system that fills a large fraction of its Hill sphere. Through thousands of numerical simulations of the three-body problem, we constrain the mass and eccentricity of this planet as well the size and inclination of its ring, parameters that are not well determined by the observational data alone. We carried out a broad range of different configurations for the PDS110b ring system and ruled out all that did not match with the observations. The result shows that the ring system could be prograde or retrograde; the preferred solution is that the ring has an inclination lower than $60^\circ$ and a radius between 0.1 and 0.2 au and that the planet is more massive than $35 M_\mathrm{Jup}$ and has a low eccentricity (<0.05).

The change of the total mass density slope, $\gamma$, of early-type galaxies through cosmic time is a probe of evolutionary pathways. Hydrodynamical cosmological simulations show that at high redshifts density profiles of early-type galaxies were on average steep ($\gamma \sim -3$). As redshift approaches zero, gas-poor mergers progressively cause the total mass density slope to approach the `isothermal' slope of $\gamma \sim -2$. Simulations therefore predict steep density slopes at high redshifts, with little to no evolution in density slopes below $z \sim 1$. Gravitational lensing results in the same redshift range find the opposite, namely a significant trend of shallow density slopes at high redshifts, becoming steeper as redshift approaches zero. Gravitational lensing results indicate a different evolutionary mechanism for early-type galaxies than dry merging, such as continued gas accretion or off-axis mergers. At redshift zero, isothermal solutions are obtained by both simulations and dynamical modelling. This work applies the Jeans dynamical modelling technique to observations of galaxies at intermediate redshifts ($0.29 < z < 0.55 $) in order to derive density slopes to address the tension between observations and simulations. We combine two-dimensional kinematic fields from MUSE data with Hubble Space Telescope photometry. The density slopes of 90 early-type galaxies from the Frontier Fields project are presented. The total sample has a median of ${\gamma = -2.11 \pm 0.03}$ (standard error), in agreement with dynamical modelling studies at redshift zero. The lack of evolution in total density slopes in the past 4-6 Gyrs supports a dry merging model for early-type galaxy evolution.

This paper reports that the X-ray spectrum from the Galactic Center X-ray Emission (GCXE) is expressed by the assembly of active binaries, non-magnetic Cataclysmic Variables, magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (X-ray active star: XAS), cold matter and diffuse sources. In the fitting of the limited components of the XASs, the GCXE spectrum exhibits significant excesses with $\chi^2/d.o.f. =5.67$. The excesses are found at the energies of K$\alpha$, He$\alpha$, Ly$\alpha$ and radiative recombination continuum of S, Fe and Ni. By adding components of the cold matter and the diffuse sources, the GCXE spectrum is nicely reproduced with $\chi^2/d.o.f. = 1.53$, which is a first quantitative model for the origin of the GCXE spectrum. The drastic improvement is mainly due to the recombining plasmas in the diffuse sources, which indicate the presence of high-energy activity of Sgr A$^*$ in the past of $> 1000$~years.

Through numerical simulations, it is predicted that the gravitational waves (GWs) reflect the characteristics of the core-collapse supernova (CCSN) explosion mechanism. There are multiple GW excitation processes that occur inside a star before its explosion, and it is suggested that the GWs originating from the CCSN have a mode for each excitation process in terms of time-frequency representation. Therefore, we propose an application of the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT), which is a high-resolution time-frequency analysis method, to analyze these GW modes for theoretically probing and increasing our understanding of the explosion mechanism. The HHT defines frequency as a function of time, and is not bound by the trade-off between time and frequency resolutions. In this study, we analyze a gravitational waveform obtained from a three-dimensional general-relativistic CCSN model that showed a vigorous activity of the standing-accretion-shock-instability (SASI). We succeed in extracting the SASI induced GWs with high resolution on a time-frequency representation using the HHT and we examine their instantaneous frequencies.

We present a catalogue containing 839 candidate post common envelope systems. Common envelope evolution is very important in stellar astrophysics, particularly in the context of very compact and short-period binaries, including cataclysmic variables, as progenitors of e.g. supernovae type Ia or mergers of black holes and/or neutron stars. At the same time it is a barely understood process in binary evolution. Due to limitations, since partially remedied, on direct simulation, early investigations were mainly focused on providing analytic prescriptions of the outcome of common envelope evolution. In recent years, detailed hydrodynamical calculations have produced deeper insight into the previously elusive process of envelope ejection. However, a direct link between observations and theory of this relatively short-lived phase in binary evolution has not been forthcoming. Therefore, the main insight to be gained from observations has to be derived from the current state of systems likely to have gone through a common envelope. Here we present an extensive catalogue of such observations as found in the literature. The aim of this paper is to provide a reliable set of data, obtained from observations, to be used in the theoretical modelling of common envelope evolution. In this catalogue, the former common envelope donor star is commonly observed as a white dwarf star or as a hot sub-dwarf star. This catalogue includes period and mass estimates, wherever obtainable. Some binaries are border line cases to allow an investigation of the transition between a common envelope formation and other mass-transfer processes.

The solar photosphere, chromosphere and corona are known to rotate differentially as a function of latitude. To date, it is unclear if the solar transition region also rotates differentially. In this paper, we investigate differential rotational profile of solar transition region as a function of latitude, using solar full disk (SFD) images at 30.4 nm wavelength recorded by Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) onboard Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) space mission for the period from 2008 to 2018 (Solar Cycle 24). Our investigations show that solar transition region rotates differentially. The sidereal rotation rate obtained at +/- 5 degree equatorial band is quite high (~ 14.7 degree/day), which drops to ~ 13.6 degree/day towards both polar regions. We also obtain that the rotational differentiality is low during the period of high solar activity (rotation rate varies from 14.86 to 14.27 degree/day) while it increases during the ascending and the descending phases of the 24th solar cycle (rotation rate varies from 14.56 to 13.56 degree/day in 2008 and 14.6 to 13.1 degree/day in 2018). Average sidereal rotation rate (over SFD) follows the trend of solar activity (maximum ~ 14.97 degree/day during the peak phase of the solar activity, which slowly decreases to minimum ~ 13.9 degree/day during ascending and the descending phases of the 24th solar cycle). We also observe that solar transition region rotates less differentially than the corona.

The X-ray variability in the soft X-ray spectral state of black hole binaries is primarily characterized by a power-law noise (PLN), which is thought to originate from the propagation of the modulation in the mass accretion rate of a standard accretion disk flow. Such a PLN has also been revealed in the disk spectral component in the hard and the intermediate states in several black hole binaries. Here we present an investigation of the {\it Rossi} X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of four black hole transients in which soft spectral states were observed twenty times or more. We show that in the soft spectral state, the PLN index varied in a large range between -1.64 and -0.62, and the fractional rms variability calculated in the 0.01 -- 20 Hz frequency range reached as large as 7.67\% and as low as 0.83\%. Remarkably, we have found the evidence of an inclination dependence of the maximal fractional rms variability, the averaged fractional rms variability and the fractional rms variability of the median in the sample based on current knowledge of inclination of black hole binaries. An inclination dependence has only been predicted in early magnetohydrodynamic simulations of isothermal disks limited to a high-frequency regime. In theory, the noise index is related to the physics of inward propagation of disk fluctuations, while the fractional rms amplitude reflects the intrinsic properties of the magnetohydrodynamic nature of the accretion flow. Our results therefore suggest that X-ray variability in the soft state can be used to put constraints on the properties of the accretion flow as well as the inclination of the accretion disk.

The recently discovered exoplanets in binary or higher-order multiple stellar systems sparked a new interest in the study of proto-planetary discs in stellar aggregations. Here we focus on disc solids, as they make up the reservoir out of which exoplanets are assembled and dominate (sub-)millimetre disc observations. These observations suggest that discs in binary systems are fainter and smaller than in isolated systems. In addition, disc dust sizes are consistent with tidal truncation only if they orbit very eccentric binaries. In a previous study we showed that the presence of a stellar companion hastens the radial migration of solids, shortening disc lifetime and challenging planet formation. In this paper we confront our theoretical and numerical results with observations: disc dust fluxes and sizes from our models are computed at ALMA wavelengths and compared with Taurus and $\rho$ Ophiuchus data. A general agreement between theory and observations is found. In particular, we show that the dust disc sizes are generally smaller than the binary truncation radius due to the combined effect of grain growth and radial drift: therefore, small disc sizes do not require implausibly high eccentricities to be explained. Furthermore, the observed binary discs are compatible within $1\sigma$ with a quadratic flux-radius correlation similar to that found for single-star discs and show a close match with the models. However, the observational sample of resolved binary discs is still small and additional data are required to draw more robust conclusions on the flux-radius correlation and how it depends on the binary properties.

We report new radio observations of a sample of thirty-six neutron star (NS) X-ray binaries, more than doubling the sample in the literature observed at current-day sensitivities. These sources include thirteen weakly-magnetised ($B<10^{10}$ G) and twenty-three strongly-magnetised ($B\geq10^{10}$ G) NSs. Sixteen of the latter category reside in high-mass X-ray binaries, of which only two systems were radio-detected previously. We detect four weakly and nine strongly-magnetised NSs; the latter are systematically radio fainter than the former and do not exceed $L_R \approx 3\times10^{28}$ erg/s. In turn, we confirm the earlier finding that the weakly-magnetized NSs are typically radio fainter than accreting stellar-mass black holes. While an unambiguous identification of the origin of radio emission in high-mass X-ray binaries is challenging, we find that in all but two detected sources (Vela X-1 and 4U 1700-37) the radio emission appears more likely attributable to a jet than the donor star wind. The strongly-magnetised NS sample does not reveal a global correlation between X-ray and radio luminosity, which may be a result of sensitivity limits. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of NS spin and magnetic field on radio luminosity and jet power in our sample. No current model can account for all observed properties, necessitating the development and refinement of NS jet models to include magnetic field strengths up to $10^{13}$ G. Finally, we discuss jet quenching in soft states of NS low-mass X-ray binaries, the radio non-detections of all observed very-faint X-ray binaries in our sample, and future radio campaigns of accreting NSs.

We use the Hamilton-Jacobi (H-J) formulation of stochastic inflation to describe the evolution of the inflaton during a period of Ultra-Slow Roll (USR), taking into account the field's velocity and its gravitational backreaction. We demonstrate how this formalism allows one to modify existing slow-roll (SR) formulae to be fully valid outside of the SR regime. We then compute the mass fraction, $\beta$, of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) formed by a plateau in the inflationary potential. By fully accounting for the inflaton velocity as it enters the plateau, we find that PBHs are generically overproduced before the inflaton's velocity reaches zero, ruling out a period of free diffusion or even stochastic noise domination on the inflaton dynamics. We also examine a local inflection point and similarly conclude that PBHs are overproduced before entering a quantum diffusion dominated regime. We therefore surmise that the evolution of the inflaton is always predominantly classical with diffusion effects always subdominant. Both the plateau and the inflection point are characterized by a very sharp transition between the under- and over-production regimes. This can be seen either as severe fine-tunning on the inflationary production of PBHs, or as a very strong link between the fraction $\beta$ and the shape of the potential and the plateau's extent.

Flares of known astronomical sources and new transient phenomena occur on different timescales, from sub-seconds to several days or weeks. The discovery potential of both serendipitous observations and multi-messenger and multi-wavelength follow-up observations could be maximized with a tool which allows for quickly acquiring an overview over both persistent sources as well as transient events in the relevant phase space. We here present COincidence LIBrary for Real-time Inquiry (Astro-COLIBRI), a novel and comprehensive tool for this task. Astro-COLIBRI's architecture comprises a RESTful API, a real-time database, a cloud-based alert system and a website (https://astro-colibri.com) as well as apps for iOS and Android as clients for users. The structure of Astro-COLIBRI is optimized for performance and reliability and exploits concepts such as multi-index database queries, a global content delivery network (CDN), and direct data streams from the database to the clients. Astro-COLIBRI evaluates incoming VOEvent messages of astronomical observations in real time, filters them by user-specified criteria and puts them into their MWL and MM context. The clients provide a graphical representation with an easy to grasp summary of the relevant data to allow for the fast identification of interesting phenomena and provides an assessment of observing conditions at a large selection of observatories around the world. We here summarize the key features of Astro-COLIBRI, the architecture and used data resources. We specifically provide examples for applications and use cases. Focussing on the high-energy domain, we showcase how Astro-COLIBRI facilitates the search for high-energy gamma-ray counterparts to high-energy neutrinos and scheduling of follow-up observations of a large variety of transient phenomena like gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves, TDEs, FRBs, and others.

This work is a theoretical study of the speed at which the material of an impacted target is ejected during the formation of an impact crater. Our model, starting from the first principle of thermodynamics, can describes the speed of the ejecta recursing to considerations that include complex process in simple calculations. The fit of the model with observations shows that the many complex details implicit in an impact process could be included in some few parameters. Ejecta speed could be described independent of impactor parameters. The model is compared with subsonic and supersonic speed experiments showing coincidence in several cases. The model works with subsonic and supersonic impacts. We do not compare the model with hypersonic impacts (> 5 km/s), however, as the model derivation no depends on the impactor velocity it is likely that also work with this kind of impacts.

We report the discovery of one super-Earth- (TOI-1749b) and two sub-Neptune-sized planets (TOI-1749c and TOI-1749d) transiting an early M dwarf at a distance of 100~pc, which were first identified as planetary candidates using data from the TESS photometric survey. We have followed up this system from the ground by means of multiband transit photometry, adaptive-optics imaging, and low-resolution spectroscopy, from which we have validated the planetary nature of the candidates. We find that TOI-1749b, c, and d have orbital periods of 2.39, 4.49, and 9.05 days, and radii of 1.4, 2.1, and 2.5 $R_\oplus$, respectively. We also place 95\% confidence upper limits on the masses of 57, 14, and 15 $M_\oplus$ for TOI-1749b, c, and d, respectively, from transit timing variations. The periods, sizes, and tentative masses of these planets are in line with a scenario in which all three planets initially had a hydrogen envelope on top of a rocky core, and only the envelope of the innermost planet has been stripped away by photoevaporation and/or core-powered mass loss mechanisms. These planets are similar to other planetary trios found around M dwarfs, such as TOI-175b,c,d and TOI-270b,c,d, in the sense that the outer pair has a period ratio within 1\% of 2. Such a characteristic orbital configuration, in which an additional planet is located interior to a near 2:1 period-ratio pair, is relatively rare around FGK dwarfs.

The Visible InfraRed (VIR) mapping spectrometer onboard Dawn mission has obtained the spatial distribution of the spectral reflectance of Vesta in the wavelength ranges between 0.25-1.07 micrometers and 0.95-5.1 micrometers. A photometric correction allows to characterize the intrinsic variability of the surface albedo by removing the dependance of the reflectance from the observing geometry. In this work, we present the photometric correction obtained for observations from the Survey, HAMO and HAMO 2 mission phases at Vesta in the whole spectral range investigated by VIR, as well as the surface albedo maps.

In this paper we present and validate the galaxy sample used for the analysis of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation signal (BAO) in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y3 data. The definition is based on a colour and redshift-dependent magnitude cut optimized to select galaxies at redshifts higher than 0.5, while ensuring a high quality photometric redshift determination. The sample covers $\approx 4100$ square degrees to a depth of $i = 22.3 \ (AB)$ at $10\sigma$. It contains 7,031,993 galaxies in the redshift range from $z$= 0.6 to 1.1, with a mean effective redshift of 0.835. Photometric redshifts are estimated with the machine learning algorithm DNF, and are validated using the VIPERS PDR2 sample. We find a mean redshift bias of $z_{\mathrm{bias}} \approx 0.01$ and a mean uncertainty, in units of $1+z$, of $\sigma_{68} \approx 0.03$. We evaluate the galaxy population of the sample, showing it is mostly built upon Elliptical to Sbc types. Furthermore, we find a low level of stellar contamination of $\lesssim 4\%$. We present the method used to mitigate the effect of spurious clustering coming from observing conditions and other large-scale systematics. We apply it to the DES Y3 BAO sample and calculate sample weights that are used to get a robust estimate of the galaxy clustering signal. This paper is one of a series dedicated to the analysis of the BAO signal in the DES Y3 data. In the companion papers, Ferrero et al. (2021) and DES Collaboration (2021), we present the galaxy mock catalogues used to calibrate the analysis and the angular diameter distance constraints obtained through the fitting to the BAO scale, respectively. The galaxy sample, masks and additional material will be released in the public DES data repository upon acceptance.

Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization measurements in the 2-8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC acting as a charge-collecting anode. In this paper we shall review the design, manufacturing, and test of the IXPE focal-plane detectors, with particular emphasis on the connection between the science drivers, the performance metrics and the operational aspects. We shall present a thorough characterization of the GPDs in terms of effective noise, trigger efficiency, dead time, uniformity of response, and spectral and polarimetric performance. In addition, we shall discuss in detail a number of instrumental effects that are relevant for high-level science analysis -- particularly as far as the response to unpolarized radiation and the stability in time are concerned.

A significative fraction of all massive stars in the Milky Way move supersonically through their local interstellar medium (ISM), producing bow shock nebulae by wind-ISM interaction. The stability of these observed astrospheres around cool massive stars challenges precedent two-dimensional (magneto-)hydrodynamical simulations of their surroundings. We present three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamical (3D MHD) simulations of the circumstellar medium of runaway M-type red supergiant stars moving with velocity v_star= 50 km/s. We treat the stellar wind with a Parker spiral and assume a 7 microG magnetisation of the ISM. Our free parameter is the angle theta_mag between ISM flow and magnetisation, taken to 0, 45 and 90 degrees. It is found that simulation dimension, coordinate systems and grid effects can greatly affect the development of the modelled astrospheres. Nevertheless, as soon as the ISM flow and magnetisation directions differs by more than a few degrees (theta_mag>5 degree), the bow shock is stabilised, most clumpiness and ragged structures vanishing. The complex shape of the bowshocks induce important projection effects, e.g. at optical Ha line, producing complex of astrospheric morphologies. We speculate that those effects are also at work around earlier-type massive stars, which would explain their diversity of their observed arc-like nebula around runaway OB stars. Our 3D MHD models are fitting well observations of the astrospheres of several runaway red supergiant stars. The results interpret the smoothed astrosphere of IRC-10414 and Betelgeuse aOri) are stabilised by an organised, non-parallel ambient magnetic field. Our findings suggest that IRC-10414 is currently in a steady state of its evolution, and that Betelgeuse's bar is of interstellar origin.

As the advent of precision cosmology, the Hubble constant ($H_0$) inferred from the Lambda Cold Dark Matter fit to the Cosmic Microwave Background data is increasingly in tension with the measurements from the local distance ladder. To approach its real value, we need more independent methods to measure, or to make constraint of, the Hubble constant. In this paper, we apply a plain method, which is merely based on the Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmology together with geometrical relations, to constrain the Hubble constant by proper motions of radio components observed in AGN twin-jets. Under the assumption that the ultimate ejection strengths in both sides of the twin-jet concerned are intrinsically the same, we obtain a lower limit of the $H_{\rm 0,min}=51.5\pm2.3\,\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}$ from the measured maximum proper motions of the radio components observed in the twin-jet of NGC 1052.

Considerable observational efforts are being dedicated to measuring the sky-averaged (global) 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization. Deriving observational constraints on the astrophysics of this era requires modelling tools that can quickly and accurately generate theoretical signals across the wide astrophysical parameter space. For this purpose artificial neural networks were used to create the only two existing global signal emulators 21cmGEM and globalemu. In this paper we introduce 21cmVAE, a global signal emulator based on advanced machine learning methods such as variational autoencoder (VAE) and trained with the same dataset of ~ 30,000 global signals as the other two emulators. The VAE allows us to explore a low-dimensional representation of the dataset and establish the most important astrophysical processes that drive the global 21-cm signal at different epochs. 21cmVAE has a relative rms error of only 0.41\% -- equivalently 0.66 mK -- on average, which is a significant improvement compared to the existing emulators, and a run time of 0.04 seconds per parameter set. The emulator, the code, and the processed datasets are publicly available at https://github.com/christianhbye/21cmVAE and through this http URL

The Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory is currently conducting its 4-year all-sky X-ray survey, which started on December 12, 2019. The survey is periodically interrupted for technological operations with the spacecraft. These time intervals are usually used by the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope to perform calibrations. A number of objects of different nature have been targeted. In particular, SRG carried out scanning observations of the Puppis A supernova remnant (SNR) with the aim to check the imaging performance of ART-XC and to optimize the technique of image reconstruction for very extended objects having an angular size larger than the telescope field of view (36' in diameter). Using the unique imaging capabilities of ART-XC, we attempted to investigate the morphology of this supernova remnant at energies >4 keV. The region of the Puppis A SNR was observed in 2019 and 2020 with SRG/ART-XC, conducting 1.5 x 1.5 degrees shallow surveys with a total exposure of 36 hours, which resulted in a highly uniform survey of this region at energies of 4-12 keV. Additional deep pointed observations of the central part of Puppis A were carried out in 2021 with the total exposure of 31 hours to highlight the morphology of the extended emission. The X-ray emission of the Puppis A SNR was significantly detected as an extended structure in the 4-6 keV energy band. The morphology of the emission is in general agreement with that observed in soft X-rays previously. The deep sky image of Puppis A obtained with the ART-XC telescope is characterized by a contrast SNR shell rim, an extended emission and a bright emission knot in the north-eastern part of the supernova shell. Also, four point X-ray sources have been detected, including three objects identified in 4XMM-DR10 and Chandra point source catalogs, and one newly discovered X-ray emitter.

We report a discovery of a new long-period X-ray pulsar SRGA J204318.2+443815/SRGe J204319.0+443820 in the Be binary system. The source was found in the second all-sky survey by the Mikhail Pavlinsky telescope on board the SRG mission. The follow-up observations with XMM-Newton, NICER and NuSTAR observatories allowed us to discover a strong coherent signal in the source light curve with the period of $\sim742$ s. The pulsed fraction was found to depend on the energy increasing from $\sim20$% in soft X-rays to $>50$% at high energies, as it is typical for X-ray pulsars. The source demonstrate a quite hard spectrum with an exponential cutoff at high energies and bolometric luminosity of $L_X \simeq 4\times10^{35}$ erg/s. Dedicated optical and infrared observations with the RTT-150, NOT, Keck and Palomar telescopes revealed a number of emission lines (H$_{\alpha}$, HeI, Pashen and Braket series) with the strongly absorbed continuum. All of above suggests that SRGAJ204318.2+443815/ SRGeJ204319.0+443820 is a new persistent low luminosity X-ray pulsar in a distant binary system with a Be-star of the B0-B2e class. Thus the SRG observatory allow us to unveil the hidden population of faint persistent objects including the population of slowly rotating X-ray pulsars in Be systems.

Context: During the ongoing all-sky survey, the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope on board the SRG observatory should discover new X-ray sources, many of which can be transient. Here we report on the discovery and multiwavelength follow-up of a peculiar X-ray source SRGA J043520.9+552226=SRGe J043523.3+552234 - the high-energy counterpart of the optical transient AT2019wey. Aims: Thanks to its sensitivity and the survey strategy, the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope uncovers poorly studied weak transient populations. Using a synergy with current public optical surveys, we are aiming at revealing the nature of these transients to study its parent populations. The SRGA J043520.9+552226 is the first transient detected by ART-XC which has a bright optical counterpart suitable for further studies. Methods: We have used available public X-ray and optical data and observations with SRG, INTEGRAL, NuSTAR, NICER and ground-based telescopes to investigate the source spectral energy distributions at different phases of the outburst. Results: Based on X-ray spectral and timing properties derived from space observations, optical spectroscopy and photometry obtained with the 2.5-m and RC600 CMO SAI MSU telescopes, we propose the source to be a black hole in a low-mass close X-ray binary system.

SXP 1323 is a peculiar high-mass X-ray binary located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, renowned for its rapid spin-up. We investigate for the first time broadband X-ray properties of SXP1323, as observed by the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC and eRosita telescopes on board the SRG observatory. Using ART-XC and eRosita, data we produced first broadband 1-20 keV X-ray spectrum and estimated pulsed fraction above 8 keV. With the addition of archival XMM-Newton observations we traced evolution of the SXP 1323 spin period over the last five years and found that after 2016 the source switched to a linear spin-up with rate of -29.9 s yr$^{-1}$. Broadband X-ray spectrum is typical for accreting X-ray pulsars, with steep powerlaw index ($\Gamma$=-0.15) and exponential cutoff energy of 5.1 keV. No significant difference between spectra obtained in states with and without pulsations were found.

Stellar Intensity Interferometry is a technique based on the measurement of the second order spatial correlation of the light emitted from a star. The physical information provided by these measurements is the angular size and structure of the emitting source. A worldwide effort is presently under way to implement stellar intensity interferometry on telescopes separated by long baselines and on future arrays of Cherenkov telescopes. We describe an experiment of this type, realized at the Asiago Observatory (Italy), in which we performed for the first time measurements of the correlation counting photon coincidences in post-processing by means of a single photon software correlator and exploiting entirely the quantum properties of the light emitted from a star. We successfully detected the temporal correlation of Vega at zero baseline and performed a measurement of the correlation on a projected baseline of $\sim$2 km. The average discrete degree of coherence at zero baseline for Vega is $< g^{(2)} > \, = 1.0034 \pm 0.0008$, providing a detection with a signal-to-noise ratio $S/N \gtrsim 4$. No correlation is detected over the km baseline. The measurements are consistent with the expected degree of spatial coherence for a source with the 3.3 mas angular diameter of Vega. The experience gained with the Asiago experiment will serve for future implementations of stellar intensity interferometry on long-baseline arrays of Cherenkov telescopes.

Since the launch of the Kepler space telescope in 2009 and the subsequent K2 mission, hundreds of multi-planet systems have been discovered. The study of such systems, both as individual systems and as a population, leads to a better understanding of planetary formation and evolution. Kepler-80, a K-dwarf hosting six super-Earths, was the first system known to have four planets in a chain of resonances, a repeated geometric configuration. Transiting planets in resonant chains can enable us to estimate not only the planets' orbits and sizes but also their masses. Since the original resonance analysis and TTV fitting of Kepler-80, a new planet has been discovered whose signal likely altered the measured masses of the other planets. Here, we determine masses and orbits for all six planets hosted by Kepler-80 by direct forward photodynamical modeling of the lightcurve of this system. We then explore the resonant behaviour of the system. We find that the four middle planets are in a resonant chain, but that the outermost planet only dynamically interacts in $\sim14$\% of our solutions. We also find that the system and its dynamic behaviour are consistent with \emph{in situ} formation and compare our results to two other resonant chain systems, Kepler-60 and TRAPPIST-1.

We present a study of galaxy mergers up to $z=10$ using the Planck Millennium cosmological dark matter simulation and the {\tt GALFORM} semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. Utilising the full ($800$ Mpc)$^3$ volume of the simulation, we studied the statistics of galaxy mergers in terms of merger rates and close pair fractions. We predict that merger rates begin to drop rapidly for high-mass galaxies ($M_*>10^{11.3}-10^{10.5}$ $M_\odot$ for $z=0-4$), as a result of the exponential decline in the galaxy stellar mass function. The predicted merger rates increase and then turn over with increasing redshift, in disagreement with the Illustris and EAGLE hydrodynamical simulations. In agreement with most other models and observations, we find that close pair fractions flatten or turn over at some redshift (dependent on the mass selection). We conduct an extensive comparison of close pair fractions, and highlight inconsistencies among models, but also between different observations. We provide a fitting formula for the major merger timescale for close galaxy pairs, in which the slope of the stellar mass dependence is redshift dependent. This is in disagreement with previous theoretical results that implied a constant slope. Instead we find a weak redshift dependence only for massive galaxies ($M_*>10^{10}$ M$_\odot$): in this case the merger timescale varies approximately as $M_*^{-0.55}$. We find that close pair fractions and merger timescales depend on the maximum projected separation as $r_\mathrm{max}^{1.35}$. This is in agreement with observations of small-scale clustering of galaxies, but is at odds with the linear dependence on projected separation that is often assumed.

We report the discovery of three previously unknown cataclysmic variables in the data of the first year of the all-sky X-ray survey by the SRG orbital observatory. The sources were selected due to their brightness in the 4--12 keV band in the data of the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope. They are also detected by the eROSITA telescope, which provided accurate localizations and spectral data for broad-band spectral analysis. All three objects had been previously known as X-ray sources from the ROSAT all-sky survey and XMM-Newton slew survey, but their nature remained unknown. The X-ray spectra obtained by eROSITA and ART-XC are consistent with optically thin thermal emission with a temperature kT>~15 keV for SRGAJ194638.9+704552 and SRGAJ225412.8+690658 and kT>~5 keV for SRGAJ204547.8+672642. This, together with the inferred high X-ray luminosities ($2\times 10^{32}$-$3\times 10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$), strongly suggests that all three sources are CVs. We have obtained optical photometry and spectroscopy for these objects using the AZT-33IK 1.6-m telescope of the Sayan Observatory. The optical properties confirm the CV nature of the objects. We conclude that SRGAJ194638.9+704552 is an intermediate polar, SRGAJ204547.8+672642 is most likely a polar or an intermediate polar, and SRGAJ225412.8+690658 can be either a magnetic or a non-magnetic CV. We also measured an orbital period of 2.98~hours for SRGAJ204547.8+672642, based on TESS data. Three out of the planned eight SRG all-sky surveys have now been completed. We expect to find plenty of new CVs during the survey and to continue our optical follow-up program.

Recently, artificial neural networks have been gaining momentum in the field of gravitational wave astronomy, for example in surrogate modelling of computationally expensive waveform models for binary black hole inspiral and merger. Surrogate modelling yields fast and accurate approximations of gravitational waves and neural networks have been used in the final step of interpolating the coefficients of the surrogate model for arbitrary waveforms outside the training sample. We investigate the existence of underlying structures in the empirical interpolation coefficients using autoencoders. We demonstrate that when the coefficient space is compressed to only two dimensions, a spiral structure appears, wherein the spiral angle is linearly related to the mass ratio. Based on this finding, we design a spiral module with learnable parameters, that is used as the first layer in a neural network, which learns to map the input space to the coefficients. The spiral module is evaluated on multiple neural network architectures and consistently achieves better speed-accuracy trade-off than baseline models. A thorough experimental study is conducted and the final result is a surrogate model which can evaluate millions of input parameters in a single forward pass in under 1ms on a desktop GPU, while the mismatch between the corresponding generated waveforms and the ground-truth waveforms is better than the compared baseline methods. We anticipate the existence of analogous underlying structures and corresponding computational gains also in the case of spinning black hole binaries.

Automated tools for the computation of particle physics' processes have become the backbone of phenomenological studies beyond the standard model. Here, we present MadDM v3.2. This release enables the fully automated computation of loop-induced dark-matter annihilation processes, relevant for indirect detection observables. Special emphasis lies on the annihilation into $\gamma X$, where $X=\gamma, Z, h$ or any new particle even under the dark symmetry. These processes lead to the sharp spectral feature of monochromatic gamma lines - a smoking-gun signature of dark matter in our Galaxy. MadDM provides the predictions for the respective fluxes near-Earth and derives constraints from the gamma-ray line searches by Fermi-LAT and HESS. As an application, we discuss the implications for the viable parameter space of a top-philic $t$-channel mediator model and the inert doublet model.

The accretion of a spherically symmetric, collisionless kinetic gas cloud on to a Schwarzschild black hole is analysed. Whereas previous studies have treated this problem by specifying boundary conditions at infinity, here the properties of the gas are given at a sphere of finite radius. The corresponding steady-state solutions are computed using four different models with an increasing level of sophistication, starting with the purely radial infall of Newtonian particles and culminating with a fully general relativistic calculation in which individual particles have angular momentum. The resulting mass accretion rates are analysed and compared with previous models, including the standard Bondi model for a hydrodynamic flow. We apply our models to the supermassive black holes Sgr A* and M87*, and we discuss how their low luminosity could be partially explained by a kinetic description involving angular momentum. Furthermore, we get results consistent with previous model-dependent bounds for the accretion rate imposed by rotation measures of the polarised light coming from Sgr A* and with estimations of the accretion rate of M87* from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration. Our methods and results could serve as a first approximation for more realistic black hole accretion models in various astrophysical scenarios in which the accreted material is expected to be nearly collisionless.

It has been recently shown that quadruply lensed gravitational-wave (GW) events due to coalescing binaries can be localized to one or just a few galaxies, even in the absence of an electromagnetic counterpart. We discuss how this can be used to extract information on modified GW propagation, which is a crucial signature of modifications of gravity at cosmological scales. We show that, using quadruply lensed systems, it is possible to constrain the parameter $\Xi_0$ that characterizes modified GW propagation, without the need of imposing a prior on $H_0$. A LIGO/Virgo/Kagra network at target sensitivity might already get a significant measurement of $\Xi_0$, while a third generation GW detector such as the Einstein Telescope could reach a very interesting accuracy.

We investigate the creation of scalar particles inside a region delimited by a bubble which is expanding with non-zero acceleration. The bubble is modelled as a thin shell and plays the role of a moving boundary, thus influencing the fluctuations of the test scalar field inside it. Bubbles expanding in Minkowski spacetime as well as those dividing two de Sitter spacetimes are explored in a unified way. Our results for the Bogoliubov coefficient $\beta_k$ in the adiabatic approximation show that in all cases the creation of scalar particles decreases with the mass, and is much more significant in the case of nonzero curvature. They also show that the dynamics of the bubble and its size are relevant for particle creation, but in the dS-dS case the combination of both effects leads to a behaviour different from that of Minkowski space-time, due to the presence of a length scale (the Hubble radius of the internal geometry).

A recent study pointed out that macroscopic dark matter (macros) traversing through the earth's atmosphere can give rise to hot and ionized channels similar to those associated with lightning leaders. The authors of the study investigated the possibility that when such channels created by macros pass through a thundercloud, lightning leaders may locked into these ionized channels creating lightning discharges with perfectly straight channels. They suggested the possibility of detecting such channels as a means of detecting the passage of macros through the atmosphere. In this paper, we show that macros crossing the atmosphere under fair weather conditions could also give rise to mini lightning flashes with current amplitudes in the order of few hundreds of Amperes. These mini lightning flashes would generate a thunder signature similar to or stronger than those of long laboratory sparks and they could also be detected by optical means. As in the case of thunderstorm assisted macro lightning, these mini-lightning flashes are also associated with straight channels. Moreover, since the frequency of mini lightning flashes are about a thousand times more frequent than the macro generated lightning flashes which were assisted by thunderstorms, they could be used as a means to look for the paths of macroscopic dark matter crossing the atmosphere.

We use direct numerical simulations of decaying primordial hydromagnetic turbulence with helicity to compute the resulting gravitational wave (GW) production and its degree of circular polarization. We find a clear dependence of the polarization of the resulting GWs on the fractional helicity of the turbulent source and we show that driven magnetic fields produce GWs more efficiently than magnetic fields that are initially present, leading to larger spectral amplitudes. The helicity does not have a huge impact on the maximum spectral amplitude in any of the two types of turbulence considered. However, the GW spectrum at wave numbers away from the peak becomes smaller for larger values of the magnetic fractional helicity. The degree of circular polarization approaches zero at frequencies below the peak, and reaches its maximum at the peak. At higher frequencies, it stays finite if the magnetic field is initially present, and it approaches zero if it is driven. We predict that the spectral peak of the GW signal can be detected by LISA if the turbulent energy density is at least $\sim\!3\%$ of the radiation energy density, and the characteristic scale is a hundredth of the horizon at the electroweak scale. We show that the resulting GW polarization is unlikely to be detectable by the anisotropies induced by our proper motion in the dipole response function of LISA. Such signals can, however, be detectable by cross-correlating data from the LISA-Taiji network for turbulent energy densities of $\sim\!5\%$, and fractional helicity of 0.5 to 1. Second-generation space-base GW detectors, such as BBO and DECIGO, would allow for the detection of a larger range of the GW spectrum and smaller amplitudes of the magnetic field.

Focus accuracy affects the quality of the astronomical observations. Auto-focusing is necessary for imaging systems designed for astronomical observations. The automatic focus system searches for the best focus position by using a proposed search algorithm. The search algorithm uses the image's focus levels as its objective function in the search process. This paper aims to study the performance of several search algorithms to select a suitable one. The proper search algorithm will be used to develop an automatic focus system for Kottamia Astronomical Observatory (KAO). The optimal search algorithm is selected by applying several search algorithms into five sequences of star-clusters observations. Then, their performance is evaluated based on two criteria, which are accuracy and number of steps. The experimental results show that the Binary search is the optimal search algorithm.

We propose a novel model for the natural extrapolation of the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) theory, in order to account for the origin of primordial inhomogeneities during inflation. This particular model is based on three main elements: (i) the semiclassical gravity framework, (ii) a collapse-generating operator associated to a relativistic invariant scalar of the energy-momentum tensor, and (iii) an extension of the CSL parameter(s) as a function of the spacetime curvature. Furthermore, employing standard cosmological perturbation theory at linear order, and for a reasonable range within the parameter space of the model, we obtain a nearly scale invariant power spectrum consistent with recent observational CMB data. This opens a vast landscape of different options for the application of the CSL theory to the cosmological context, and possibly sheds light on searches for a full covariant version of the CSL theory.

The ultralight boson is a promising candidate for dark matter. These bosons may form long-lived bosonic clouds surrounding rotating black holes via superradiance, acting as sources of gravity and affecting the propagation of gravitational waves around the host black hole. If the mass ratio of a compact merger is sufficiently small, the bosonic cloud will survive the inspiral phase of a binary merger and can affect the quasinormal-mode frequencies of the perturbed black hole and bosonic cloud system. In this work, we compute the shift of gravitational QNMFs of a rotating black hole due to the presence of a surrounding bosonic cloud. We then perform a mock analysis on simulated LISA observational data containing injected ringdown signals from supermassive black holes with and without a bosonic cloud. We find that with less than an hour of observational data of the ringdown phase of nearby supermassive black holes such as Sagittarius A* and M32, we can rule out or confirm the existence of cloud-forming ultralight bosons of mass $ \sim 10^{-17} \rm eV$.

The symmetry energy and its density dependence are pivotal for many nuclear physics and astrophysics applications, as they determine properties ranging from the neutron-skin thickness of nuclei to the crust thickness and the radius of neutron stars. Recently, PREX-II reported a value of $0.283\pm0.071$ fm for the neutron-skin thickness of $^{208}$Pb, $R_{\rm skin}^{^{208}\text{Pb}}$, implying a symmetry-energy slope parameter $L$ of $106\pm37$ MeV, larger than most ranges obtained from microscopic calculations and other nuclear experiments. We use a nonparametric equation of state representation based on Gaussian processes to constrain the symmetry energy $S_0$, $L$, and $R_{\rm skin}^{^{208}\text{Pb}}$ directly from observations of neutron stars with minimal modeling assumptions. The resulting astrophysical constraints from heavy pulsar masses, LIGO/Virgo, and NICER favor smaller values of the neutron skin and $L$, as well as negative symmetry incompressibilities. Combining astrophysical data with chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT) and PREX-II constraints yields $S_0 = 33.0^{+2.0}_{-1.8}$ MeV, $L=53^{+13}_{-15}$ MeV, and $R_{\rm skin}^{^{208}\text{Pb}} = 0.17^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$ fm. We also examine the consistency of several individual $\chi$EFT calculations with astrophysical observations and terrestrial experiments. We find that there is only mild tension between $\chi$EFT, astrophysical data, and PREX-II's $R_\mathrm{skin}^{^{208}\mathrm{Pb}}$ measurement ($p$-value $= 12.3\%$) and that there is excellent agreement between $\chi$EFT, astrophysical data, and other nuclear experiments.

Matched filter (MF) techniques have been widely used for retrieval of greenhouse gas enhancements (enh.) from imaging spectroscopy datasets. While multiple algorithmic techniques and refinements have been proposed, the greenhouse gas target spectrum used for concentration enh. estimation has remained largely unaltered since the introduction of quantitative MF retrievals. The magnitude of retrieved methane and carbon dioxide enh., and thereby integrated mass enh. (IME) and estimated flux of point-source emitters, is heavily dependent on this target spectrum. Current standard use of molecular absorption coefficients to create unit enh. target spectra does not account for absorption by background concentrations of greenhouse gases, solar and sensor geometry, or atmospheric water vapor absorption. We introduce geometric and atmospheric parameters into the generation of scene-specific (SS) unit enh. spectra to provide target spectra that are compatible with all greenhouse gas retrieval MF techniques. For methane plumes, IME resulting from use of standard, generic enh. spectra varied from -22 to +28.7% compared to SS enh. spectra. Due to differences in spectral shape between the generic and SS enh. spectra, differences in methane plume IME were linked to surface spectral characteristics in addition to geometric and atmospheric parameters. IME differences for carbon dioxide plumes, with generic enh. spectra producing integrated mass enh. -76.1 to -48.1% compared to SS enh. spectra. Fluxes calculated from these integrated enh. would vary by the same %s, assuming equivalent wind conditions. Methane and carbon dioxide IME were most sensitive to changes in solar zenith angle and ground elevation. SS target spectra can improve confidence in greenhouse gas retrievals and flux estimates across collections of scenes with diverse geometric and atmospheric conditions.

A perturbed black hole rings down by emitting gravitational waves in tones with specific frequencies and durations. Such tones encode prized information about the geometry of the source spacetime and the fundamental nature of gravity, making the measurement of black hole ringdowns a key goal of gravitational wave astronomy. However, this task is plagued by technical challenges that invalidate the naive application of standard data analysis methods and complicate sensitivity projections. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive account of the formalism required to properly carry out ringdown analyses, examining in detail the foundations of recent observational results, and providing a framework for future measurements. We build on those insights to clarify the concepts of ringdown detectability and resolvability -- touching on the drawbacks of both Bayes factors and naive Fisher matrix approaches -- and find that overly pessimistic heuristics have led previous works to underestimate the role of ringdown overtones for black hole spectroscopy. We put our framework to work on the analysis of a variety of simulated signals in colored noise, including analytic injections and a numerical relativity simulation consistent with GW150914. We demonstrate that we can use tones of the quadrupolar angular harmonic to test the no-hair theorem at current sensitivity, with precision comparable to published constraints from real data. Finally, we assess the role of modeling systematics, and project measurements for future, louder signals. We release ringdown, a Python library for analyzing black hole ringdowns using the the methods discussed in this paper, under a permissive open-source license at https://github.com/maxisi/ringdown

The balanced homodyne detection as a readout scheme of gravitational-wave detectors is carefully examined from the quantum field theoretical point of view. The readout scheme in gravitational-wave detectors specifies the directly measured quantum operator in the detection. This specification is necessary when we apply the recently developed quantum measurement theory to gravitational-wave detections. We examine the two models of measurement. One is the model in which the directly measured quantum operator at the photodetector is Glauber's photon number operator, and the other is the model in which the power operator of the optical field is directly measured. These two are regarded as ideal models of photodetectors. We first show these two models yield the same expectation value of the measurement. Since it is consensus in the gravitational-wave community that vacuum fluctuations contribute to the noises in the detectors, we also clarify the contributions of vacuum fluctuations to the quantum noise spectral density without using the two-photon formulation which is used in the gravitational-wave community. We found that the conventional noise spectral density in the two-photon formulation includes vacuum fluctuations from the main interferometer but does not includes those from the local oscillator. Although this difference implies that the choice of these two detector models is important from a theoretical point of view, in a realistic situation, this contribution from the vacuum fluctuations of the local oscillator is negligible.