Papers for Friday, Aug 27 2021

We report follow-up spectroscopic observations of the 1.62 day, K-type, detached, active, near-circular, double-lined eclipsing binary EPIC 219511354 in the open cluster Ruprecht 147, identified previously on the basis of photometric observations from the Kepler/K2 mission. This is the fourth eclipsing system analyzed in this cluster. A combined analysis of the light curve and radial velocities yields accurate masses of M(Aa) = 0.912 +/- 0.013 MSun and M(Ab) = 0.822 +/- 0.010 MSun for the primary (star Aa) and secondary (Ab), along with radii of R(Aa) = 0.920 +/- 0.016 RSun and R(Ab) = 0.851 +/- 0.016 RSun, and effective temperatures of 5035 +/- 150 and 4690 +/- 130 K, respectively. Comparison with current models of stellar evolution for the known age and metallicity of the cluster reveals that both radii are larger (by 10--14%) and both temperatures cooler (by $\sim$6%) than theoretically predicted, as is often seen in M dwarfs. This is likely caused by the significant stellar activity in the system, manifested here by 6% peak-to-peak out-of-eclipse variability, a filled-in H$\alpha$ line, and its detection as an X-ray source. We also find EPIC 219511354 to be a hierarchical triple system, with a low-mass tertiary in an eccentric 220 day orbit.

It is likely that young protostellar discs undergo a self-gravitating phase. Such systems are characterised by the presence of a spiral pattern that can be either in a quasi-steady state or in a non-linear unstable condition. This spiral wave affects both the gas dynamics and kinematics, resulting in deviations from the Keplerian rotation. Recently, a lot of attention has been devoted to kinematic studies of planet forming environments, and we are now able to measure even small perturbations of velocity field thanks to high spatial and spectral resolution observations of protostellar discs. In this work, we investigate the kinematic signatures of gravitational instability: we perform an analytical study of the linear response of a self-gravitating disc to a spiral-like perturbation, focusing our attention on the velocity field perturbations. We show that unstable discs have clear kinematic imprints into the gas component across the entire disc extent, due to the GI spiral wave perturbation, resulting in deviations from Keplerian rotation. The shape of these signatures depends on several parameters, but they are significantly affected by the cooling factor: by detecting these features, we can put constraints on protoplanetary discs cooling.

Messier 15 (NGC 7078) is an old and metal-poor post core-collapse globular cluster which hosts a rich population of variable stars. We report new optical ($gi$) and near-infrared (NIR, $JK_s$) multi-epoch observations for 129 RR Lyrae, 4 Population II Cepheids (3 BL Herculis, 1 W Virginis), and 1 anomalous Cepheid variable candidate in M15 obtained using the MegaCam and the WIRCam instruments on the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Multi-band data are used to improve the periods and classification of variable stars, and determine accurate mean magnitudes and pulsational amplitudes from the light curves fitted with optical and NIR templates. We derive optical and NIR period-luminosity relations for RR Lyrae stars which are best constrained in the $K_s$-band, $m_{K_s} = -2.333~(0.054) \log P + 13.948~(0.015)$ with a scatter of only $0.037$ mag. Theoretical and empirical calibrations of RR Lyrae period-luminosity-metallicity relations are used to derive a true distance modulus to M15: $15.196~\pm~0.026$~(statistical)~$\pm~ 0.039$~(systematic) mag. Our precise distance moduli based on RR Lyrae stars and Population II Cepheid variables are mutually consistent and agree with recent distance measurements in the literature based on {\it Gaia} parallaxes and other independent methods.

Do white dwarfs have inner cores made of iron? Neutron rich nuclei like $^{56}$Fe experience a net gravitational force and sediment toward the core. Using new phase diagrams and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that $^{56}$Fe should separate into mesoscopic Fe-rich crystallites due to its large charge relative to the background. At solar abundances, these crystallites rapidly precipitate and form an inner core of order 100 km and $10^{-3} M_\odot$ that may be detectable with asteroseismology. Associated cooling delays could be up to a Gyr for low mass white dwarfs but are only $\sim$0.1 Gyr for massive white dwarfs, so while this mechanism may contribute to the Q-branch the heating is insufficient to fully explain it.

Classical Cepheids (DCEPs) are the most important primary indicators of the extragalactic distance scale. Establishing the dependence on metallicity of their period--luminosity and period--Wesenheit ($PLZ$/$PWZ$) relations has deep consequences on the calibration of secondary distance indicators that lead to the final estimate of the Hubble constant (H$_0$). We collected high-resolution spectroscopy for 47 DCEPs plus 1 BL Her variables with HARPS-N@TNG and derived accurate atmospheric parameters, radial velocities and metal abundances. We measured spectral lines for 29 species and characterized their chemical abundances, finding very good agreement with previous results. We re-determined the ephemerides for the program stars and measured their intensity-averaged magnitudes in the $V,I,J,H,K_s$ bands. We complemented our sample with literature data and used the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) to investigate the $PLZ$/$PWZ$ relations for Galactic DCEPs in a variety of filter combinations. We find that the solution without any metallicity term is ruled out at more than the 5 $\sigma$ level. Our best estimate for the metallicity dependence of the intercept of the $PLK_s$, $PWJK_s$, $PWVK_s$ and $PWHVI$ relations with three parameters, is $-0.456\pm$0.099, $-0.465\pm$0.071, $-0.459\pm$0.107 and $-0.366\pm$0.089 mag/dex, respectively. These values are significantly larger than the recent literature. The present data are still inconclusive to establish whether or not also the slope of the relevant relationships depends on metallicity. Applying a correction to the standard zero point offset of the Gaia parallaxes has the same effect of reducing by $\sim$22\% the size of the metallicity dependence on the intercept of the PLZ/PWZ relations.

We use spectra observed with the integral-field spectrograph MUSE to reveal the central kinematics of the Galactic globular cluster Messier 80 (M80, NGC 6093). Using observations obtained with the recently commissioned narrow-field mode of MUSE, we are able to analyse 932 stars in the central 7.5 arcsec by 7.5 arcsec of the cluster for which no useful spectra previously existed. Mean radial velocities of individual stars derived from the spectra are compared to predictions from axisymmetric Jeans models, resulting in radial profiles of the velocity dispersion, the rotation amplitude, and the mass-to-light ratio. The new data allow us to search for an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) in the centre of the cluster. Our Jeans model finds two similarly probable solutions around different dynamical cluster centres. The first solution has a centre close to the photometric estimates available in the literature and does not need an IMBH to fit the observed kinematics. The second solution contains a location of the cluster centre that is offset by about 2.4 arcsec from the first one and it needs an IMBH mass of $4600^{+1700}_{-1400}$ solar masses. N-body models support the existence of an IMBH in this cluster with a mass of up to 6000 solar masses in this cluster, although models without an IMBH provide a better fit to the observed surface brightness profile. They further indicate that the cluster has lost nearly all stellar-mass black holes. We further discuss the detection of two potential high-velocity stars with radial velocities of 80 to 90 km/s relative to the cluster mean.

We present optical photometry of the cataclysmic variable LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 taken with the high-speed, five-band CCD camera HiPERCAM on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). We detect pulsations originating from the spin of its white dwarf, finding a spin period of 24.9328(38)s. The pulse amplitude is of the order of 0.2% in the g-band, below the detection limits of previous searches. This detection establishes LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 as only the second white dwarf magnetic propeller system, a twin of its long-known predecessor, AE Aquarii. At 24.93s, the white dwarf in LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 has the shortest known spin period of any cataclysmic variable star. The white dwarf must have a mass of at least 0.7MSun to sustain so short a period. The observed faintest u-band magnitude sets an upper limit on the white dwarf's temperature of ~25000K. The pulsation amplitudes measured in the five HiPERCAM filters are consistent with an accretion spot of ~30000K covering ~2% of the white dwarf's visible area, although much hotter and smaller spots cannot be ruled out.

An $N$-element interferometer measures correlations between pairs of array elements. Closure invariants associated with closed loops among array elements are immune to multiplicative, local, element-based corruptions that occur in these measurements. Till now, it has been unclear how a complete set of independent invariants can be analytically determined. We view the local, element-based corruptions in co-polar correlations as gauge tranformations belonging to the gauge group $\textrm{GL}(1,\mathbb{C})$. Closure quantities are then naturally gauge invariant. Using an Abelian $\textrm{GL}(1,\mathbb{C})$ gauge theory, we provide a simple and effective formalism to isolate the complete set of independent closure invariants from co-polar interferometric correlations only using quantities defined on the $(N-1)(N-2)/2$ elementary and independent triangular loops. The $(N-1)(N-2)/2$ closure phases and $N(N-3)/2$ closure amplitudes (totaling $N^2-3N+1$ real invariants), familiar in astronomical interferometry, naturally emerge from this formalism, which unifies what has required separate treatments until now. Our formalism does not require auto-correlations, but can easily include them if reliably measured, including potentially from cross-correlation between two short-spaced elements. The gauge theory framework presented here extends to $\textrm{GL}(2,\mathbb{C}$) for full polarimetric interferometry presented in a companion paper, which generalizes and clarifies earlier work. Our findings can be relevant to cutting-edge co-polar and full polarimetric very long baseline interferometry measurements to determine features very near the event horizons of blackholes at the centers of M87, Centaurus~A, and the Milky Way.

We aim to resolve a misunderstanding about whether the so-called "Earth term" in the pulsar timing response to a gravitational wave is in phase among a set of pulsars. We note that the misunderstanding has potentially arisen from the statements that the Earth term is "coherent" or "builds up coherently" among the pulsars. We clarify what authors mean by "coherent" in these statements, pointing out that "coherent" does not indicate that the Earth terms are in phase among the pulsars. Using the pulsar timing residuals induced by a continuous gravitational wave, we show that the Earth term does not align across different pulsars except for the special case when the gravitational-wave source is edge-on, i.e. when the orbital inclination angle of the source is either $\iota=\pi/2$ or $3\pi/2$. We demonstrate the same concept using the pulsar timing software libstempo by plotting the Earth terms from a set of pulsars.

Magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars exhibit complex atmospheres that allow the investigation of the interplay of atomic diffusion, magnetic fields, and stellar rotation. A non-uniform surface distribution of chemical elements and the non-alignment of the rotational and magnetic axes result in the variability of several observables. Photometrically variable mCP stars are referred to as alpha2 Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables. The present work presents a case study of known variables from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey, with the aim of investigating the survey's suitability for the detection and study of new ACV variables. Using suitable selection criteria based on the known characteristics of ACV variables, candidate ACV stars were selected from the ZTF Catalog of Periodic Variable Stars. All light curves were inspected in detail to select the most promising candidates. Where available, low-resolution spectra from the LAMOST were employed to classify the stars on the MK system and confirm their status as mCP stars. We have identified 86 new promising ACV star candidates. 15 of these stars have LAMOST spectra available, which, in all cases, confirm them as classical mCP stars, which highlights the viability of our approach. The sample stars can be sorted into four subgroups characterized by distinct light curve shapes. Anti-phase variations in different photometric passbands, in particular, is a unique characteristic of a subset of ACV stars readily usable for their identification. The availability of data in three different passbands (g, r, and i) is a major advantage of the ZTF survey. On the basis of our experience with other photometric surveys and the analysis of light curves, we conclude that the ZTF is well suited for the search for, and the analysis of, ACV variables, which, however, are not considered in the available ZTF variable star catalogues.

Although Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) have been detected for many decades, the lack of knowledge regarding the radiation mechanism that produces the energetic flash of radiation, or prompt emission, from these events has prevented the full use of GRBs as probes of high energy astrophysical processes. While there are multiple models that attempt to describe the prompt emission, each model can be tuned to account for observed GRB characteristics in the gamma and X-ray energy bands. One energy range that has not been fully explored for the purpose of prompt emission model comparison is that of the optical band, especially with regards to polarization. Here, we use an improved MCRaT code to calculate the expected photospheric optical and gamma-ray polarization signatures ($\Pi_\mathrm{opt}$ and $\Pi_\gamma$, respectively) from a set of two relativistic hydrodynamic long GRB simulations, which emulate a constant and variable jet. We find that time resolved $\Pi_\mathrm{opt}$ can be large ($\sim 75\%$) while time-integrated $\Pi_\mathrm{opt}$ can be smaller due to integration over the asymmetries in the GRB jet where optical photons originate; $\Pi_\gamma$ follows a similar evolution as $\Pi_\mathrm{opt}$ with smaller polarization degrees. We also show that $\Pi_\mathrm{opt}$ and $\Pi_\gamma$ agree well with observations in each energy range. Additionally, we make predictions for the expected polarization of GRBs based on their location within the Yonetoku relationship. While improvements can be made to our analyses and predictions, they exhibit the insight that global radiative transfer simulations of GRB jets can provide with respect to current and future observations.

We present the discovery of a magnetic field on the white dwarf component in the detached post common envelope binary (PCEB) CC Cet. Magnetic white dwarfs in detached PCEBs are extremely rare, in contrast to the high incidence of magnetism in single white dwarfs and cataclysmic variables. We find Zeeman-split absorption lines in both ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectra and archival optical spectra of CC Cet. Model fits to the lines return a mean magnetic field strength of approximately 600-700 kG. Differences in the best-fit magnetic field strength between two separate HST observations and the high v sin i of the lines indicate that the white dwarf is rotating with a period ~0.5 hours, and that the magnetic field is not axisymmetric about the spin axis. The magnetic field strength and rotation period are consistent with those observed among the intermediate polar class of cataclysmic variable, and we compute stellar evolution models that predict CC Cet will evolve into an intermediate polar in 7-17 Gyr. Among the small number of known PCEBs containing a confirmed magnetic white dwarf, CC Cet is the hottest (and thus youngest), with the weakest field strength, and cannot have formed via the recently proposed crystallisation/spin-up scenario. In addition to the magnetic field measurements, we update the atmospheric parameters of the CC Cet white dwarf via model spectra fits to the HST data and provide a refined orbital period and ephemeris from TESS photometry.

Gravitational microlensing is currently the only technique that helps study the Galactic distribution of planets as a function of distance from the Galactic center. The Galactic location of a lens system can be uniquely determined only when at least two of the three quantities that determine the mass--distance relations are measured. However, even if only one mass--distance relation can be obtained, a large sample of microlensing events can be used to statistically discuss the Galactic distribution of the lenses. In this study, we extract the Galactic distribution of planetary systems from the distribution of the lens-source proper motion, $\mu_{\rm rel}$, for a given Einstein radius crossing time, $t_{\rm E}$, measured for the 28 planetary events in the statistical sample by Suzuki et al. (2016). Because microlensing is randomly caused by stars in our Galaxy, the observational distribution can be predicted using a Galactic model. We incorporate the planet-hosting probability, $P_{\rm host} \propto M_{\rm L}^m R_{\rm L}^r$, into a Galactic model for random-selected stars, where $M_{\rm L}$ is the lens mass ($\sim$ host mass), and $R_{\rm L}$ is the Galactocentric distance. By comparing the observed distribution with the model-predicted $\mu_{\rm rel}$ distribution for a given $t_{\rm E}$ at various combinations of $(m ,r)$, we obtain an estimate $r = 0.2 \pm 0.4$ under a plausible uniform prior for $m$ of $0<m<2$. This indicates that the dependence of the planet frequency on the Galactocentric distance is not large, and suggests that the Galactic bulge does have planets.

The cubic-kilometre neutrino telescope, which consists of large-scale 3D-arrays of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) currently under construction on the Mediterranean seabed, relies on accurate calibration procedures in order to answer its science goals. These proceedings present the gain calibration method used in KM3NeT, which is based on highly compressed PMT hit information. In particular, it is shown that the PMT gains can be tuned to within 2% of the nominal value, based on the measured single photoelectron time-over-threshold distribution of each PMT.

During its performance verification phase, the soft X-ray instrument eROSITA aboard the Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma(SRG) spacecraft observed large regions in the Magellanic Clouds, where almost 40 known high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs, including candidates) are located. We looked for new HMXBs in the eROSITA data, searched for pulsations in HMXB candidates and investigated the long-term behaviour of the full sample using archival X-ray and optical data. For sources sufficiently bright, a detailed spectral and temporal analysis of their eROSITA data was performed. A source detection analysis of the eROSITA images in different energy bands provided count rates and upper limits for the remaining sources. We report the discovery of a new Be/X-ray binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The transient SRGEt J052829.5-690345 was detected with a 0.2-8.0 keV luminosity of ~10^35 erg/s and exhibits a hard X-ray spectrum, typical for this class of HMXBs. The OGLE I-band light curve of the V~15.7 mag counterpart shows large variations by up to 0.75 mag, which occur quasi periodically with ~511 days. The eROSITA observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud covered 16 Be/X-ray binary pulsars, five of them were bright enough to accurately determine their current pulse period. The pulse periods for SXP 726 and SXP 1323 measured from eROSITA data are ~800 s and ~1006 s, respectively, far away from their discovery periods. Including archival XMM-Newton observations we update the spin-period history of the two long-period pulsars which show nearly linear trends in their period evolution since more than 15 years. The corresponding average spin-down rate for SXP 726 is 4.3 s/yr while SXP 1323 shows spin-up with a rate of -23.2 s/yr. We discuss the spin evolution of the two pulsars in the framework of quasi-spherical accretion.

Using publicly available code and data, we present a systematic study of projection biases in the weak lensing analysis of the first year of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) experiment. In the analysis we used a $\Lambda$CDM model and three two-point correlation functions. We show that these biases are a consequence of projecting, or marginalizing, over parameters like $h_0$, $\Omega_b$, $n_s$ and $\Omega_\nu$ that are both poorly constrained and correlated with the parameters of interest like $\Omega_m$, $\sigma_8$ and $S_8$. Covering the relevant parameter space we show that the projection biases are a function of where the true values of the poorly constrained parameters lie with respect to the parameter priors. For example, biases can exceed the 1.5$\sigma$ level if the true values of $h$ and $n_s$ are close to the top of the prior's range and the true values of $\Omega_b$ and $\Omega_\nu$ are close to the bottom of the range of their priors. We also show that in some cases the 1D confidence intervals can be over-specified by as much as 30%. Finally we estimate these projection biases for the analysis of three and six years worth of DES data.

Gravitational wave propagation encounters a spacetime friction from a running Planck mass in modified gravity, causing the luminosity distance to deviate from that in general relativity (or given by the photon luminosity distance to the source), thus making it a valuable cosmological probe. We present the exact expression for the cosmological distance deviation in Horndeski gravity including theories that have a $G_5$ term yet propagate at the speed of light. An especially simple result ensues for coupled Gauss-Bonnet gravity, which we use to show it does not give a viable cosmology. We also generalize such coupling, and review the important connection of gravitational wave cosmological distance deviations to growth of cosmic structure measured by redshift space distortions.

Gas cooling and accretion in haloes delivers mass and angular momentum onto galaxies. In this work, we investigate the accuracy of the modelling of this important process in several different semi-analytic (SA) galaxy formation models (GALFORM, L-GALAXIES and MORGANA) through comparisons with a hydrodynamical simulation performed with the moving-mesh code AREPO. Both SA models and the simulation were run without any feedback or metal enrichment, in order to focus on the cooling and accretion process. All of the SA models considered here assume that gas cools from a spherical halo. We found that the assumption that the gas conserves its angular momentum when moving from the virial radius, $r_{\rm vir}$, to the central region of the halo, $r\sim 0.1 r_{\rm vir}$, is approximately consistent with the results from our simulation, in which gas typically retains $70-80\%$ of its angular momentum during this process. We also found that, compared to the simulation, the MORGANA model tends to overestimate the mean specific angular momentum of cooled-down gas, the L-GALAXIES model also tends to overestimate this in low-redshift massive haloes, while the two older GALFORM models tend to underestimate the angular momentum. In general, the predictions of the new GALFORM cooling model developed by Hou et al. agree the best with the simulation.

In this study, dynamics of secular resonances for inner test particles are investigated under the octupole-level approximation by taking non-perturbative approaches. In practice, webs of the major secular resonances are produced by identifying families of stable periodic orbits and the associated stable libration zones are obtained by analysing Poincar\'e surfaces of section. By taking different values of the factor $\epsilon$ ($\epsilon$ measures the contribution of octupole terms), the influences of the octupole-order terms upon the dynamical structures are evaluated. Under the condition of $\epsilon = 0$ (no octupole-order contribution), the dynamical model is totally integrable and there is only Kozai resonance arising in the phase space. When the factor $\epsilon$ is different from zero, the dynamical structure in the phase space becomes complicated due to varieties of secular resonances appearing. Numerical results further indicate that (a) distributions of libration centres and stable libration zones remain qualitatively similar with different values of $\epsilon$, (b) Kozai resonance disappears due to the chaotic motion in the low-eccentricity region, and (c) the chaotic area arising in the low-eccentricity region increases with the factor $\epsilon$. Secular resonances are the source of many important dynamical phenomena, such as chaos, orbit alignment and orbit flipping, and thus the results presented in this work could be useful to understand the secular dynamics for those high-eccentricity and/or high-inclination objects in hierarchical planetary systems.

Martian atmospheric neon (Ne) has been detected by Viking and also found as trapped gas in Martian meteorites, though its abundance and isotopic composition have not been well determined. Because the timescale of Ne loss via atmospheric escape estimated from recent measurements with MAVEN is short (0.6--1 $\times$ 10$^8$ years), the abundance and isotope composition of Martian atmospheric Ne reflect recent atmospheric gas supply mostly from volcanic degassing. Thus, it can serve as a probe for the volatile content of the interior. Here we show that the tentatively-informed atmospheric Ne abundance suggests recent active volcanism and the mantle being richer in Ne than Earth's mantle today by more than a factor of 5--80. The estimated mantle Ne abundance requires efficient solar nebular gas capture or accretion of Ne-rich materials such as solar-wind-implanted dust in the planet formation stage, both of which provide important constraints on the abundance of other volatile elements in the interior and the accretion history of Mars. More precise determination of atmospheric Ne abundance and isotopic composition by in situ analysis or Mars sample return is crucial for distinguishing the possible origins of Ne.

In this study, a new expansion of planetary disturbing function is developed for describing the resonant dynamics of minor bodies with arbitrary inclinations and semimajor axis ratios. In practice, the disturbing function is expanded around circular orbits in the first step and then, in the second step, the resulting mutual interaction between circular orbits is expanded around a reference point. As usual, the resulting expansion is presented in the Fourier series form, where the force amplitudes are dependent on the semimajor axis, eccentricity and inclination and the harmonic arguments are linear combinations of the mean longitude, longitude of pericenter and longitude of ascending node of each mass. The resulting new expansion is valid for arbitrary inclinations and semimajor axis ratios. In the case of mean motion resonant configuration, the disturbing function can be easily averaged to produce the analytical expansion of resonant disturbing function. Based on the analytical expansion, the Hamiltonian model of mean motion resonances is formulated, and the resulting analytical developments are applied to Jupiter's inner and co-orbital resonances and Neptune's exterior resonances. Analytical expansion is validated by comparing the analytical results with the associated numerical outcomes.

The paper considers dynamo generated by a shallow fluid layer in a celestial body (planet or star). This dynamo is based on the extra invariant for interacting magnetic Rossby waves. The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is linearized on the background of strong toroidal magnetic field. The extra invariant is used to show that the background field is maintained.

By linking galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to subhaloes in the ELUCID simulation, we investigate the relation between subhalo formation time and the galaxy properties, and the dependence of galaxy properties on the cosmic web environment. We find that central and satellite subhaloes have different formation time, where satellite subhaloes are older than central subhaloes at fixed mass. At fixed mass, the galaxy stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is a good proxy of the subhalo formation time, and increases with the subhalo formation redshifts, especially for massive galaxies. The subhalo formation time is dependent on the cosmic web environment. For central subhaloes, there is a characteristic subhalo mass of $\sim 10^{12} \msun$, below which subhaloes in knots are older than subhaloes of the same mass in filaments, sheets, or voids, while above which it reverses. The cosmic web environmental dependence of stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is similar to that of the subhalo formation time. For centrals, there is a characteristic subhalo mass of $\sim 10^{12} \msun$, below which the stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is higher in knots than in filaments, sheets and voids, above which it reverses. Galaxies in knots have redder colors below $10^{12} \msun$, while above $10^{12} \msun$, the environmental dependence vanishes. Satellite fraction is strongly dependent on the cosmic web environment, and decreases from knots to filaments to sheets to voids, especially for low-mass galaxies.

In heliospheric plasmas the transport of energy and particles is governed by various fluxes (e.g., heat flux) triggered by different forces, electromagnetic fields, and gradients in density or temperature. In the outer corona and at relatively low heliocentric distances in the solar wind (i.e., < 1 AU), particle-particle collisions play an important role in the transport of energy, momentum, and matter, described within classical transport theory by the transport coefficients, which relate the fluxes to their sources. The present paper aims to improve the evaluation of the main transport coefficients in such nonequilibrium plasmas, on the basis of an implicit realistic characterization of their particle velocity distributions, in accord with the in situ observations. Of particular interest is the presence of suprathermal populations and their influence on these transport coefficients. Using the Boltzmann transport equation and macroscopic laws for the energy and particle fluxes, we derived electric conductivity, thermoelectric coefficient, thermal conductivity, diffusion, and mobility coefficient. These are conditioned by the electrons, which are empirically well described by the Kappa distribution, with a nearly Maxwellian core and power-law tails enhanced by the suprathermal population. Here we have adopted the original Kappa approach that has the ability to outline and quantify the contribution of suprathermal populations. Without exception, the transport coefficients are found to be systematically and markedly enhanced in the presence of suprathermal electrons, due to the additional kinetic energy with which these populations contribute to the dynamics of space plasma systems. The present results also show how important an adequate Kappa modeling of suprathermal populations is, which is in contrast to other modified interpretations that underestimate the effects of these populations.

We determined astrophysical and dynamical parameters of the open clusters (OCs) NGC 2587, Collinder 268 (Col 268), Melotte 72 (Mel 72), and Pismis 7 from Gaia DR2 photometric/astrometric data and a new technique, fitCMD. fitCMD provides (Z, Age(Gyr)) as (0.025, 0.45) for NGC 2587, (0.0025, 0.5) for Col. 268, (0.011, 1.25) for Mel 72, and (0.008, 1.00) for Pismis 7, respectively. As compared to Gaia DR2 distances, the obtained photometric distances from fitCMD provide somewhat close distances. For NGC 2587 and Mel 72, both distances are in good concordance. Except for NGC 2587, the ages of the remaining OCs are higher than their relaxation times, which suggests that they are dynamically relaxed. NGC 2587 did not undergo dynamical evolution. Mel 72 and Pismis 7 with relatively flat MF slopes indicate signs of a somewhat advanced dynamical evolution, in the sense that they appear to have lost a significant fraction of their low-mass stars to the field. Pismis 7's negative/flat MFs indicates that its high mass stars slightly outnumber its low mass ones. Given its mild dynamical evolution, the high mass stars move towards the central region, while low-mass stars are continually being lost to the field. Col 268 presents small dimensions which suggest a primordial origin. The outer parts of Mel 72 and Pismis 7 - with large cluster radii expand with time, while Mel 72's core contracts because of dynamical relaxation (Figs. 10e--f).

We develop an automatic bubble-recognition routine based on Minkowski functionals (MF) and tensors (MT) to detect bubble-like interstellar structures in optical emission line images. Minkowski functionals and MT are powerful mathematical tools for parameterizing the shapes of bodies. Using the papaya2-library, we created maps of the desired MF or MT of structures at a given window size. We used maps of the irreducible MT $\psi_2$, which is sensitive to elongation, to find filamentary regions in H$\alpha$, [SII], and [OIII] images of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS). Using the phase of $\psi_2$, we were able to draw lines perpendicular to each filament and thus obtain line-density maps. This allowed us to find the center of a bubble-like structure and to detect structures at different window sizes. The detected bubbles in all bands are spatially correlated to the distribution of massive stars, showing that we indeed detect interstellar bubbles without large spatial bias. Eighteen out of 59 supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 13 out of 20 superbubbles are detected in at least one wavelength. The lack of detection is mostly due to surrounding emission that disturbs the detection, a too small size, or the lack of a (circular) counterpart in our emission line images. In line-density maps at larger scales, maxima can be found in regions with high star formation in the past, often inside supergiant shells (SGS). In SGS LMC 2, there is a maximum west of the shell where a collision of large gas clouds is thought to have occurred. In the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), bubble detection is impaired by the more complex projected structure of the galaxy. Line maps at large scales show large filaments in the SMC in a north-south direction, especially in the [SII] image. The origin of these filaments is unknown.

Dark matter (DM) comes from long-range gravitational observations, and it is considered as something that does not interact with ordinary matter or emits light. However, also on much smaller scales, a number of unexpected observations of the solar activity and the dynamic Earth atmosphere might arise from DM contradicting the aforementioned DM picture. Because, gravitational (self) focusing effects by the Sun or its planets of streaming DM fit as the interpretation of the otherwise puzzling 11-year solar cycle, the mysterious heating of the solar corona, atmospheric transients, etc. Observationally driven, an external impact by overlooked streaming invisible matter reconciles the investigated mysterious behavior showing otherwise unexpected planetary relationships; this is a signature for gravitational focusing of streaming DM by the solar system bodies. Then, focusing of DM streams could also occur in exoplanetary systems, suggesting for the first time the carrying out of investigations by searching for the associated stellar activity as a function of the exoplanetary orbital phases.

Electron conduction opacities are one of the main physics inputs for the calculation of low- and intermediate-mass stellar models, and a critical question is how to bridge calculations for moderate and strong degeneracy, which are necessarily performed adopting different methods. The density-temperature regime at the boundary between moderate and strong degeneracy is in fact crucial for modelling the helium cores of red giant branch stars and the hydrogen/helium envelopes of white dwarfs. Prompted by recently published new, improved calculations of electron thermal conductivities and opacities for moderate degeneracy, we study different, physically motivated prescriptions to bridge these new computations with well established results in the regime of strong degeneracy. We find that these different prescriptions have a sizable impact on the predicted He-core masses at the He-flash (up to 0.01$M_{\odot}$ for initial total masses far from the transition to non-degenerate He-cores, and up to $\sim 0.04M_{\odot}$ for masses around the transition), the tip of the red giant branch (up to $\sim$0.1~mag) and the zero age horizontal branch luminosities (up to 0.03~dex for masses far from the transition, and up to $\sim$0.2~dex around the transition), and white dwarf cooling times (up to 40-45\% at high luminosities, and up to $\sim$25\% at low luminosities). Current empirical constraints on the tip of the red giant branch and the zero age horizontal branch absolute magnitudes do not allow yet to definitely exclude any of these alternative options for the conductive opacities. Tests against observations of slowly-cooling faint WDs in old stellar populations will need to be performed to see whether they can set some more stringent constraints on how to bridge calculations of conductive opacities for moderate and strong degeneracy.

We estimate the amplitude of the nano-Hz stochastic gravitational wave background (GWB) resulting from an unresolved population of inspiralling massive black hole binaries (MBHBs). To this aim, we use the L-Galaxies semi-analytical model applied on top of the Millennium merger trees. The dynamical evolution of massive binary black holes includes dynamical friction, stellar and gas binary hardening, and gravitational wave feedback. At the frequencies proved by the Pulsar Timing Array experiments, our model predicts an amplitude of ${\sim}1.2\,{\times}\,10^{-15}$ at ${\sim}\,3\,{\times}\,10^{-8}\, \rm Hz$ in agreement with current upper limits. The contribution to the background comes primarily from equal mass binaries with chirp masses above $\rm 10^{8}\, M_{\odot}$. We then consider the recently detected common red noise in the NANOGrav data, working under the hypothesis that it is indeed a stochastic GWB coming from MBHBs. By boosting the massive black hole growth via gas accretion, we show that our model can produce a signal with an amplitude $A\approx 2-3 {\times}\,10^{-15}$. There are, however, difficulties in predicting this background level without mismatching key observational constraints such as the quasar bolometric luminosity functions or the local black hole mass function. This highlights how current and forthcoming gravitational wave observations can, for the first time, confront galaxy and black hole evolution models.

It has recently been suggested that all giant stars with mass below 2 $M_{\odot}$ suffer an episode of surface lithium enrichment between the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and the red clump (RC). We test if the above result can be confirmed in a sample of RC and RGB stars that are members of open clusters. We discuss Li abundances in six open clusters with ages between 1.5 and 4.9 Gyr (turn-off masses between 1.1 and 1.7 $M_{\odot}$). These observations are compared with the predictions of different models that include rotation-induced mixing, thermohaline instability, mixing induced by the first He flash, and energy losses by neutrino magnetic moment. In six clusters, we find about 35\% RC stars with Li abundances that are similar or higher than those of upper RGB stars. This can be a sign of fresh Li production. Because of the extra-mixing episode connected to the luminosity bump, the expectation was for RC stars to have systematically lower surface Li abundances. However, we cannot confirm that the possible Li production is ubiquitous. For about 65\% RC giants we can only determine abundance upper limits that could be hiding very low Li abundances. Our results indicate a possible production of Li during the RC, at levels that would not classify the stars as Li rich. Determination of their carbon isotopic ratio would help to confirm that the RC giants have suffered extra mixing followed by Li enrichment. The Li abundances of the RC stars can be qualitatively explained by the models with an additional mixing episode close to the He flash.

Cosmic-ray acceleration at non-relativistic shocks relies on scattering by turbulence that the cosmic rays drive upstream of the shock. We explore the rate of energy transfer from cosmic rays to non-resonant Bell modes and the spectral softening it implies. Accounting for the finite time available for turbulence driving at supernova-remnant shocks yields a smaller spectral impact than found earlier with steady-state considerations. Generally, for diffusion scaling with the Bohm rate by a factor $\eta$, the change in spectral index is at most $\eta$ divided by the Alfv\'enic Mach number of the thermal sub-shock. For $M_\mathrm{A}\lesssim 50$ it is well below this limit. Only for very fast shocks and very efficient cosmic-ray acceleration the change in spectral index may reach $0.1$. For standard SNR parameters it is negligible. Independent confirmation is derived by considering the synchrotron energy losses of electrons: if intense nonthermal multi-keV emission is produced, the energy loss, and hence the spectral steepening, is very small for hadronic cosmic rays that produce TeV-band gamma-ray emission.

The enigmatic class of Fanaroff-Riley type 0 (FR0) radio galaxies is emerging as the missing link between the faint yet numerous population of compact radio sources in nearby galaxies and the canonical Fanaroff-Riley classification scheme. This letter reports the first gamma-ray identification of three FR0 galaxies above 1 GeV using more than a decade of the Fermi Large Area Telescope observations. A cumulative gamma-ray emission at >5 sigma significance was also detected from the gamma-ray unresolved FR0 sources using the stacking technique, suggesting the FR0 population to be a gamma-ray emitter as a whole. The multi-frequency properties of the gamma-ray detected sources are similar to other FR0s, thus indicating the high-energy radiation to originate from misaligned jets. Given their large abundance, FR0 radio galaxies are proposed as plausible candidates for IceCube-detected neutrinos and the results presented in this letter may provide crucial constraints on their gamma-ray production mechanism and the origin of cosmic neutrinos.

As is well known, gravitational wave detections of coalescing binaries are standard sirens, allowing a measurement of source distance by gravitational wave means alone. In this paper we explore the analogue of this for continuous gravitational wave emission from individual spinning neutron stars, whose spin-down is driven purely by gravitational wave emission. We show that in this case, the distance measurement is always degenerate with one other parameter, which can be taken to be the moment of inertia of the star. We quantify the accuracy to which such degenerate measurements can be made. We also discuss the practical application of this to scenarios where one or other of distance or moment of inertia is constrained, breaking this degeneracy and allowing a measurement of the remaining parameter. Our results will be of use following the eventual detection of a neutron star spinning down through such gravitational wave emission.

We probe the radial clumping stratification of OB stars in the intermediate and outer wind regions (r>~2 R*) to derive upper limits for mass-loss rates, and compare to current mass-loss implementation. Together with archival multi-wavelength data, our new far-infrared continuum observations for a sample of 25 OB stars (including 13 B Supergiants) uniquely constrain the clumping properties of the intermediate wind region. We derive the minimum radial stratification of the clumping factor through the stellar wind, fclmin(r), and the corresponding maximum mass-loss rate, Mdotmax, normalising clumping factors to the outermost wind region (clfar=1). The clumping degree for r>~2 R* decreases or stays constant with increasing radius for almost the whole sample. There is a dependence on luminosity class and spectral type at the intermediate region relative to the outer ones: O Supergiants (OSGs) present a factor 2 larger clumping factors than B Supergiants (BSGs). The maximum clumping of roughly 1/3 of the OB Supergiants occurs close to the wind base (r<~2 R*) and then decreases monotonically. This contrasts with the more frequent case where the lowermost clumping increases towards a maximum, and needs to be addressed by theoretical models. Additionally, the estimated Mdotmax for BSGs is at least one order of magnitude lower than theoretical values, whereas for OSGs our results and predictions agree within errors. Assuming values of clfar=4-9 from hydrodynamical models would imply a reduction of mass-loss rates included in stellar evolution models by a factor 2-3 for OSGs and by factors 6-200 for BSGs below the first bi-stability jump. This implies large reductions of mass-loss rates applied in evolution-models for BSGs, independently of the actual clumping properties of these winds, and a thorough re-investigation of BSG mass-loss rates and their effects on stellar evolution.

Adopting a binned method, we model-independently reconstruct the mass function of primordial black holes (PBHs) from GWTC-2 and find that such a PBH mass function can be explained by a broad red-tilted power spectrum of curvature perturbations. Even though GW190521 with component masses in upper mass gap $(m>65M_\odot)$ can be naturally interpreted in the PBH scenario, the events (including GW190814, GW190425, GW200105, and GW200115) with component masses in the light mass range $(m<3M_\odot)$ are quite unlikely to be explained by binary PBHs although there are no electromagnetic counterparts because the corresponding PBH merger rates are much smaller than those given by LIGO-Virgo. Furthermore, we predict that both the gravitational-wave (GW) background generated by the binary PBHs and the scalar-induced GWs accompanying the formation of PBHs should be detected by the ground-based and space-borne GW detectors and pulsar timing arrays in the future.

Data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has produced of order one million light curves at cadences of 120 s and especially 1800 s for every ~27-day observing sector during its two-year nominal mission. These data constitute a treasure trove for the study of stellar variability and exoplanets. However, to fully utilize the data in such studies a proper removal of systematic noise sources must be performed before any analysis. The TESS Data for Asteroseismology (T'DA) group is tasked with providing analysis-ready data for the TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium, which covers the full spectrum of stellar variability types, including stellar oscillations and pulsations, spanning a wide range of variability timescales and amplitudes. We present here the two current implementations for co-trending of raw photometric light curves from TESS, which cover different regimes of variability to serve the entire seismic community. We find performance in terms of commonly used noise statistics to meet expectations and to be applicable to a wide range of different intrinsic variability types. Further, we find that the correction of light curves from a full sector of data can be completed well within a few days, meaning that when running in steady-state our routines are able to process one sector before data from the next arrives. Our pipeline is open-source and all processed data will be made available on TASOC and MAST.

A pioneering study showed that the fine structure in the luminosity function (LF) of young star clusters contains information about the evolutionary stage (age) and composition of the stellar population. The notable features include the H-peak, which is the result of the onset of hydrogen burning turning pre-main sequence stars into main sequence stars. The feature moves toward the faint end of the LF, and eventually disappears as the population evolves. Another detectable feature is the Wielen dip, a dip at M_V ~ 7 mag in the LF first identified in 1974 for stars in the solar environment. Later studies also identified this feature in the LF of star clusters. The Wielen dip is caused by the increased importance of H- opacity in a certain range of low-mass stars. We studied the detailed structure in the luminosity function using the data from Gaia DR2 and PARSEC stellar evolution models with the aim to further our understanding of young stellar populations. We analyzed the astrometric properties of stars in the solar neighborhood (< 20 pc) and in various relatively nearby (< 400 pc) young (< 50 Myr) open clusters and OB associations, and compare the features in the luminosity function with those generated by PARSEC models. The Wielen dip is confirmed in the LF of all the populations, including the solar neighborhood, at M_G ~7 mag. The H-peak is present in the LF of the field stars in the solar neighborhood. It likely signals that the population is mixed with a significant number of stars younger than 100 Myr. The H-peak is found in the LF of young open clusters and OB associations, and its location varies with age. Our observations with Gaia DR2 confirm the evolution of the H-peak from 5 Myr up to 47 Myr. The fine structure in the luminosity function in young stellar populations can be used to estimate their age.

The typical detection rate of $\sim1$ gamma-ray burst (GRB) per day by the \emph{Fermi} Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) provides a valuable opportunity to further our understanding of GRB physics. However, the large uncertainty of the \emph{Fermi} localization typically prevents rapid identification of multi-wavelength counterparts. We report the follow-up of 93 \emph{Fermi} GRBs with the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) prototype on La Palma. We selected 53 events (based on favourable observing conditions) for detailed analysis, and to demonstrate our strategy of searching for optical counterparts. We apply a filtering process consisting of both automated and manual steps to 60\,085 candidates initially, rejecting all but 29, arising from 15 events. With $\approx3$ GRB afterglows expected to be detectable with GOTO from our sample, most of the candidates are unlikely to be related to the GRBs. Since we did not have multiple observations for those candidates, we cannot confidently confirm the association between the transients and the GRBs. Our results show that GOTO can effectively search for GRB optical counterparts thanks to its large field of view of $\approx40$ square degrees and its depth of $\approx20$ mag. We also detail several methods to improve our overall performance for future follow-up programs of \emph{Fermi} GRBs.

The Gaia Data Release 2 provides precise astrometry for nearly 1.5 billion sources across the entire sky, including several thousand asteroids. In this work, we provide evidence that reasonably large asteroids (diameter $>$ 20 km) have high correlations with Gaia relative flux uncertainties and systematic right ascension errors. We further capture these correlations using a logistic Bayesian additive regression tree model. We compile a small list of probable large asteroids that can be targeted for direct diameter measurements and shape reconstruction.

Stellar photometric variability and instrumental effects, like cosmic ray hits, data discontinuities, data leaks, instrument aging etc. cause difficulties in the characterization of exoplanets and have an impact on the accuracy and precision of the modelling and detectability of transits, occultations and phase curves. This paper aims to make an attempt to improve the transit, occultation and phase-curve modelling in the presence of strong stellar variability and instrumental noise. We invoke the wavelet-formulation to reach this goal. We explore the capabilities of the software package Transit and Light Curve Modeller (TLCM). It is able to perform a joint radial velocity and light curve fit or light curve fit only. It models the transit, occultation, beaming, ellipsoidal and reflection effects in the light curves (including the gravity darkening effect, too). The red-noise, the stellar variability and instrumental effects are modelled via wavelets. The wavelet-fit is constrained by prescribing that the final white noise level must be equal to the average of the uncertainties of the photometric data points. This helps to avoid the overfit and regularizes the noise model. The approach was tested by injecting synthetic light curves into Kepler's short cadence data and then modelling them. The method performs well over a certain signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. In general a S/N ratio of 10 is needed to get good results but some parameters requires larger S/N, some others can be retrieved at lower S/Ns. We give limits in terms of signal-to-noise ratio for every studied system parameter which is needed to accurate parameter retrieval. The wavelet-approach is able to manage and to remove the impacts of data discontinuities, cosmic ray events, long-term stellar variability and instrument ageing, short term stellar variability and pulsation and flares among others. (...)

The traditional cone models achieve great success in studying the geometrical and kinematic properties of halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs). In this paper, a revised cone model is proposed to investigate the properties of CMEs as a result of non-radial prominence eruptions. The cone apex is located at the source region of an eruption instead of the Sun center. The cone axis deviates from the local vertical by an inclination angle of $\theta_1$ and an angle of $\phi_1$. The length and angular width of the cone are $r$ and $\omega$, respectively. The model is successfully applied to two CMEs originating from the western limb on 2011 August 11 and 2012 December 7. By comparing the projections of the cones with the CME fronts simultaneously observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) on board the ahead Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), the properties of the CMEs are derived, including the distance, angular width, inclination angle, deviation from the plane of the sky, and true speed in space. This revised cone model provides a new and complementary approach in exploring the whole evolutions of CMEs.

Based on the photographic and the CCD observations of the relative motion of A, B components of the binary system ADS~9346 obtained with the 26-inch refractor of the Pulkovo Observatory during 1979-2019, we discover an invisible companion associated with the A-star. Comparison of the ephemerides with the positional and the spectroscopic observations allowed us to calculate the preliminary orbit of the photocenter ($P=15$ years). The minimal mass of the companion is approximately $0.13~M_\odot$. The existence of the invisible low-mass companion is implied by the IR-excess based on the IRAS data. To confirm this, additional observations of the radial velocity near the periastron need to be carried out.

We present the results of a large-scale proper motion study of the central ~36'x16' of the Milky Way, based on our high angular resolution GALACTICNUCLEUS survey (epoch 2015) combined with the HST Paschen-alpha survey (epoch 2008). Our catalogue contains roughly 80,000 stars, an unprecedented kinematic data set for this region. We describe the data analysis and the preparation of the proper motion catalogue. We verify the catalogue by comparing our results with measurements from previous work and data. We provide a preliminary analysis of the kinematics of the studied region. Foreground stars in the Galactic Disc can be easily identified via their small reddening. Consistent with previous work and with our expectations, we find that stars in the nuclear stellar disc have a smaller velocity dispersion than Bulge stars, in particular in the direction perpendicular to the Galactic Plane. The rotation of the nuclear stellar disc can be clearly seen in the proper motions parallel to the Galactic Plane. Stars on the near side of the nuclear stellar disc are less reddened than stars on its far side. Proper motions enable us to detect co-moving groups of stars that may be associated with young clusters dissolving in the Galactic Centre that are difficult to detect by other means. We demonstrate a technique based on a density clustering algorithm that can be used to find such groups of stars.

The detection of mixed modes in red giants with space missions CoRoT and Kepler has revealed their deep internal structure. These modes allow us to characterize the pattern of pressure modes (through the measurement of their asymptotic frequency separation $\Delta\nu$) and the pattern of gravity modes (through the determination of their asymptotic period spacing $\Delta\Pi_1$). It has been shown that red giant branch (RGB) stars regroup on a well-defined sequence in the $\Delta\nu$-$\Delta\Pi_1$ plane. Our first goal is to theoretically explain the features of this sequence and understand how it can be used to probe the interiors of red giants. Using a grid of red giant models computed with MESA, we demonstrate that red giants join the $\Delta\nu$-$\Delta\Pi_1$ sequence whenever electron degeneracy becomes strong in the core. We argue that this can be used to estimate the central densities of these stars, and potentially to measure the amount of core overshooting during the main sequence part of the evolution. We also investigate a puzzling subsample of red giants that are located below the RGB sequence, in contradiction with stellar evolution models. After checking the measurements of the asymptotic period spacing for these stars, we show that they are mainly intermediate-mass red giants. This is doubly peculiar because these stars should have non-degenerate cores and are expected to be located well above the RGB sequence. We show that these peculiarities are well accounted for if these stars result from the interaction between two low-mass ($M\lesssim2\,M_\odot$) close companions during the red giant branch phase. If the secondary component has already developed a degenerate core before mass transfer begins, it becomes an intermediate-mass giant with a degenerate core. The secondary star is then located below the degenerate sequence, in agreement with the observations.

Strong magnetic fields play an important role in powering the emission of neutron stars. Nevertheless a full understanding of the interior configuration of the field remains elusive. In this work, we present General Relativistic MagnetoHydroDynamics simulations of the magnetic field evolution in neutron stars lasting 500 ms (5 Alfven crossing times) and up to resolutions of 0.231 km using Athena++. We explore two different initial conditions, one with purely poloidal magnetic field and the other with a dominant toroidal component, and study the poloidal and toroidal field energies, the growth times of the various instability-driven oscillation modes and turbulence. We find that the purely poloidal setup generates a toroidal field which later decays exponentially reaching 1% of the total magnetic energy, showing no evidence of reaching equilibrium. The initially stronger toroidal field setup, on the other hand, loses up to 20% of toroidal energy and maintains this state till the end of our simulation. We also explore the hypothesis, drawn from previous MHD simulations, that turbulence plays an important role in the quasi equilibrium state. An analysis of the spectra in our higher resolution setups reveal, however, that in most cases we are not observing turbulence at small scales, but rather a noisy velocity field inside the star. We also observe that the majority of the magnetic energy gets dissipated as heat increasing the internal energy of the star, while a small fraction gets radiated away as electromagnetic radiation.

The goal of the Ariel space mission is to observe a large and diversified population of transiting planets around a range of host star types to collect information on their atmospheric composition. The planetary bulk and atmospheric compositions bear the marks of the way the planets formed: Ariel's observations will therefore provide an unprecedented wealth of data to advance our understanding of planet formation in our Galaxy. A number of environmental and evolutionary factors, however, can affect the final atmospheric composition. Here we provide a concise overview of which factors and effects of the star and planet formation processes can shape the atmospheric compositions that will be observed by Ariel, and highlight how Ariel's characteristics make this mission optimally suited to address this very complex problem.

I study a triple star common envelope evolution (CEE) of a tight binary system that is spiraling-in inside a giant envelope and launches jets that spin-up the envelope with an angular momentum component perpendicular to the orbital angular momentum of the triple star system. This occurs when the orbital plane of the tight binary system and that of the triple star system are inclined to each other, so the jets are not along the triple star orbital angular momentum. The merger of the tight binary stars also tilts the envelope spin direction. If the giant is a red supergiant (RSG) star that later collapses to form a black hole (BH) the BH final spin is misaligned with the orbital angular momentum. Therefore, CEE of neutron star (NS) or BH tight binaries with each other or with one main sequence star (MSS) inside the envelope of an RSG, where the jets power a common envelope jets supernova (CEJSN) event, might end with a NS/BH - NS/BH close binary system with spin-orbit misalignment. Such binaries can later merge to be gravitational waves sources. I list five triple star scenarios that might lead to spin-orbit misalignments of NS/BH - NS/BH binary systems, two of which predict that the two spins be parallel to each other. In the case of a tight binary system of two MSSs inside an asymptotic giant branch star the outcome is an additional non-spherical component to the mass loss with the formation of a messy planetary nebula.

We use the public code ebhlight to carry out 3D radiative general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) simulations of accretion onto the supermassive black hole in M87. The simulations self-consistently evolve a frequency-dependent Monte Carlo description of the radiation field produced by the accretion flow. We explore two limits of accumulated magnetic flux at the black hole (SANE and MAD), each coupled to several sub-grid prescriptions for electron heating that are motivated by models of turbulence and magnetic reconnection. We present convergence studies for the radiation field and study its properties. We find that the near-horizon photon energy density is an order of magnitude higher than is predicted by simple isotropic estimates from the observed luminosity. The radially dependent photon momentum distribution is anisotropic and can be modeled by a set of point-sources near the equatorial plane. We draw properties of the radiation and magnetic field from the simulation and feed them into an analytic model of gap acceleration to estimate the very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray luminosity from the magnetized jet funnel, assuming that a gap is able to form. We find luminosities of $\rm \sim 10^{41} \, erg \, s^{-1}$ for MAD models and $\rm \sim 2\times 10^{40} \, erg \, s^{-1}$ for SANE models, which are comparable to measurements of M87's VHE flares. The time-dependence seen in our calculations is insufficient to explain the flaring behavior. Our results provide a step towards bridging theoretical models of near-horizon properties seen in black hole images with the VHE activity of M87.

Building accurate and predictive models of the underlying mechanisms of celestial motion has inspired fundamental developments in theoretical physics. Candidate theories seek to explain observations and predict future positions of planets, stars, and other astronomical bodies as faithfully as possible. We use a data-driven learning approach, extending that developed in Lu et al. ($2019$) and extended in Zhong et al. ($2020$), to a derive stable and accurate model for the motion of celestial bodies in our Solar System. Our model is based on a collective dynamics framework, and is learned from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab's development ephemerides. By modeling the major astronomical bodies in the Solar System as pairwise interacting agents, our learned model generate extremely accurate dynamics that preserve not only intrinsic geometric properties of the orbits, but also highly sensitive features of the dynamics, such as perihelion precession rates. Our learned model can provide a unified explanation to the observation data, especially in terms of reproducing the perihelion precession of Mars, Mercury, and the Moon. Moreover, Our model outperforms Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation in all cases and performs similarly to, and exceeds on the Moon, the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffman equations derived from Einstein's theory of general relativity.

The emission of the so-called extreme blazars challenges the particle acceleration models. The hardness of its spectrum, $<2$, demands extreme parameters using the standard one-zone SSC model in the high energy band. Some authors use both two-zone or hadronic/leptohadronic models to relax these extreme values. In this work, we present a leptohadronic two-zone model with external radiation fields to explain the broadband emission, where the contribution of two components forms the hard-spectrum in the $\gamma$-rays band. The first is produced by the photopion process, where accelerated protons in an inner blob located close to the core interact with the X-ray photons coming from a pair plasma. This mechanism will be responsible for $\gamma$-rays in the TeV's energies range. The second contribution is produced by an outer blob, which corresponds to the source of X-rays and $\gamma$-rays with sub-TeV energies via the standard SSC and EIC model. We exemplify our model with the prototype extreme blazar 1ES 0229 +200 obtaining a good description of its spectral energy distribution.

Recent wide-area surveys have enabled us to study the Milky Way with unprecedented detail. Its inner regions, hidden behind dust and gas, have been partially unveiled with the arrival of near-IR photometric and spectroscopic datasets. Among recent discoveries, there is a population of low-mass globular clusters, known to be missing, especially towards the Galactic bulge. In this work, five new low-luminosity globular clusters located towards the bulge area are presented. They were discovered by searching for groups in the multi-dimensional space of coordinates, colours, and proper motions from the Gaia EDR3 catalogue and later confirmed with deeper VVV survey near-IR photometry. The clusters show well-defined red-giant branches and, in some cases, horizontal branches with their members forming a dynamically coherent structure in proper motion space. Four of them were confirmed by spectroscopic follow-up with the MUSE instrument on the ESO VLT. Photometric parameters were derived, and when available, metallicities, radial velocities and orbits were determined. The new clusters Gran 1, 2 and 4, are halo globular clusters, while Gran 3 and 5 present disk- and bulge-like properties, respectively. Preliminary orbits indicate that Gran 1 and 3 might be related to Sequoia or the so-called 'high-energy' group, Gran 2 to the Helmi stream, and Gran 5 to Gaia-Enceladus. This study demonstrates that the Gaia proper motions, combined with the spectroscopic follow-up and colour-magnitude diagrams, are required to confirm the nature of cluster candidates towards the inner Galaxy. High stellar crowding and differential extinction may hide other low-luminosity clusters.

We study the effect of density perturbations on the process of first-order phase transitions and gravitational wave production in the early Universe. We are mainly interested in how the distribution of nucleated bubbles is affected by fluctuations in the local temperature. We find that large-scale density fluctuations ($H_* < k_* < \beta$) result in a larger effective bubble size at the time of collision, enhancing the produced amplitude of gravitational waves. The amplitude of the density fluctuations necessary for this enhancement is ${\cal P}_\zeta (k_*) \gtrsim (\beta / H_*)^{-2}$, and therefore the gravitational wave signal from first-order phase transitions with relatively large $\beta / H_*$ can be significantly enhanced by this mechanism even for fluctuations with moderate amplitudes.

Light scalar fields typically develop spatially varying backgrounds during inflation. Very often they do not directly affect the density perturbations, but interact with other fields that do leave nontrivial signals in primordial perturbations. In this sense they become "missing scalars" at the cosmological collider. We study potentially observable signals of these missing scalars, focusing on a special example where a missing scalar distorts the usual oscillatory features in the squeezed bispectrum. The distortion is also a useful signal distinguishing the de Sitter background induced thermal mass from a constant intrinsic mass.

It has recently been shown that a subdominant hidden sector of atomic dark matter in the early universe can resolve the Hubble tension while maintaining good agreement with most precision cosmological observables. However, such a solution requires a hidden sector whose energy density ratios are the same as in our sector and whose recombination also takes place at redshift $z \approx 1100$, which presents an apparent fine tuning. We introduce a realistic model of this scenario that dynamically enforces these coincidences without fine tuning. In our setup, the hidden sector contains an identical copy of Standard Model (SM) fields, but has a smaller Higgs vacuum expectation value (VEV) and a lower temperature. The baryon asymmetries and reheat temperatures in both sectors arise from the decays of an Affleck-Dine scalar field, whose branching ratios automatically ensure that the reheat temperature in each sector is proportional to the corresponding Higgs VEV. The same setup also naturally ensures that the Hydrogen binding energy in each sector is proportional to the corresponding VEV, so the ratios of binding energy to temperature are approximately equal in the two sectors. Furthermore, our scenario predicts a correlation between the SM/hidden temperature ratio and the atomic dark matter abundance and automatically yields values for these quantities that resolve the Hubble tension.

The discovery of magnetic fields close to the M87 black hole using Very Long Baseline Interferometry by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration utilized the novel concept of "closure traces", that are immune to antenna-based corruptions. We take a fundamentally new approach to this promising tool of polarimetric interferometry. The corruption of measurements of polarized signals at the individual antennas are represented by general $2\times 2$ complex matrices, which are identified with gauge transformations belonging to the group $\textrm{GL}(2,\mathbb{C})$, so the closure traces now appear as gauge-invariant quantities. We apply this formalism to polarimetric interferometry and generalize it to any number of interferometer elements. Our approach goes beyond existing studies in the following respects: (1) we do not need auto-correlations, which are susceptible to large systematic biases, and therefore unreliable (2) we use triangular combinations of correlations as basic building blocks (analogous to the "elementary plaquettes" of lattice gauge theory), and (3) we use the Lorentz group and its properties to transparently identify a complete and independent set of invariants. This set contains all the information immune to corruption available in the interferometer measurements, thus providing robust constraints which would be important in future interferometric studies.

Neutrinos, as the anisotropic stress tensor, have a damping effect on the tensor mode perturbation from inflation to the $ \Lambda$ dominated era. First, we study the squared amplitude reduction for the wavelength entering the horizon during radiation and matter-dominated phases in the negatively curved de Sitter spacetime. Then, by comparing with other spatial spacetimes, $ K=0 $ and $K=1$, the highest difference between closed and open cases is seen in the matter-dominated era. Thus, neutrinos can be added as another candidate for determining the nature of space-time.

The curved spacetime Maxwell equations are applied to the anisotropically expanding Kasner metrics. Using the application of vector identities we derive 2$^\textrm{nd}$-order differential wave equations for the electromagnetic field components; through this explicit derivation, we find that the 2$^\textrm{nd}$-order wave equations are not uncoupled for the various components (as previously assumed), but that gravitationally-induced coupling between the electric and magnetic field components is generated directly by the anisotropy of the expansion. The lack of such coupling terms in the wave equations from several prior studies may indicate a generally incomplete understanding of the evolution of electromagnetic energy in anisotropic cosmologies. Uncoupling the field components requires the derivation of a 4$^\textrm{th}$-order wave equation, which we obtain for Kasner-like metrics with generalized expansion/contraction rate indices. For the axisymmetric Kasner case, $(p_{1}, p_{2}, p_{3}) = (1,0,0)$, we obtain exact field solutions (for general propagation wavevectors), half of which appear not to have been found before in previous studies. For the other axisymmetric Kasner case, $\{p_{1}, p_{2}, p_{3}\} = \{(-1/3),(2/3),(2/3)\}$, we use numerical methods to demonstrate the explicit violation of the geometric optics approximation at early times, showing the physical phase velocity of the wave to be inhibited towards the initial singularity, with $v \rightarrow 0$ as $t \rightarrow 0$.

In this paper, we extend the mimetic gravity to the multi-field setup with a curved field space manifold. The multi-field mimetic scenario is realized via the singular limit of the conformal transformation between the auxiliary and the physical metrics. We look for the cosmological implications of the setup where it is shown that at the background level the mimetic energy density mimics the roles of dark matter. At the perturbation level, the scalar field perturbations are decomposed into the tangential and normal components with respect to the background field space trajectory. The adiabatic perturbation tangential to the background trajectory is frozen while the entropy mode perpendicular to the background trajectory propagates with the speed of unity. Whether or not the entropy perturbation is healthy directly depends on the signature of the field-space metric. We perform the full non-linear Hamiltonian analysis of the system with the curved field space manifold and calculate the physical degrees of freedom verifying that the system is free from the Ostrogradsky-type ghost.

We examine nature of longitudinal electrical conductivity in magnetized electron-ion plasma in the context of binary neutron star mergers. In presence of strong magnetic field, high density and temperature, quantum oscillatory behaviour for electrons emerge due to breakdown of the classical description. For pronounced thermodynamic effects, we consider zeroth Landau level population of electrons for electrical conductivity. We solve Boltzmann equation in presence of magnetic field to obtain the dissipative component of the conductivity. The conductivity is formulated considering dynamically scattering centres in the medium with magnetically modified screening. Numerical estimations show that the effect of magnetically modified screening mass on electrical conductivity is less. On the other hand, we observe that frequency dependent screening reduces electrical conductivity leading to a reduction in the Ohmic decay time scale to become of the order of the characteristic timescale of the merger process in the low density regime. This indicates the relevance of dissipative process for the merger simulation in the above mentioned domain.

We examine cosmological inflation in a broad family of scalar-tensor models characterized by scalar-dependent non minimal kinetic couplings and Gauss-Bonnet terms. Using a slow roll-approximation, we compute in detail theoretical expectations of observables as spectral indexes, scalar-to-tensor ratio, their running and their running of the running in terms of the parameters which characterize the scalar-tensor model. Hierarchies of consistency equations relating scalar and tensor pertubations and higher order running parameters are presented and examined at the slow roll approximation for the kind of models of interest in this work. From We find detailed expressions for constraints among these parameters. For a specific model, we analyse such quantities and make contact with latest Planck observational data .

Laser experiments are becoming established as a new tool for astronomical research that complements observations and theoretical modeling. Localized strong magnetic fields have been observed at a shock front of supernova explosions. Experimental confirmation and identification of the physical mechanism for this observation are of great importance in understanding the evolution of the interstellar medium. However, it has been challenging to treat the interaction between hydrodynamic instabilities and an ambient magnetic field in the laboratory. Here, we developed an experimental platform to examine magnetized Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI). The measured growth velocity was consistent with the linear theory, and the magnetic-field amplification was correlated with RMI growth. Our experiment validated the turbulent amplification of magnetic fields associated with the shock-induced interfacial instability in astrophysical conditions for the first time. Experimental elucidation of fundamental processes in magnetized plasmas is generally essential in various situations such as fusion plasmas and planetary sciences.