Papers for Monday, Oct 04 2021

We cross-matched 1.3 million white dwarf (WD) candidates from Gaia EDR3 with spectral data from LAMOST DR7 within 3 arcsec. Applying machine learning described in our previous work, we spectroscopically identified 6,190 WD objects after visual inspection, among which 1,496 targets were firstly confirmed. 32 detailed classes were adopted for them, including but not limited to DAB and DB+M. We estimated the atmospheric parameters for the DA and DB type WD using Levenberg-Marquardt least-squares algorithm (LM). Finally, a catalog of WD spectra from LAMOST was provided online.

Two currently debated problems in galaxy evolution, the fundamentally local or global nature of the main sequence of star formation and the evolution of the mass-size relation of star forming galaxies (SFGs), are shown to be intimately related to each other. As a preliminary step, a growth function $g$ is defined, which quantifies the differential change in half-mass radius per unit increase in stellar mass ($g = d \log R_{1/2}/d \log M_\star$) due to star formation. A general derivation shows that $g = K \Delta(sSFR)/sSFR$, meaning that $g$ is proportional to the relative difference in specific star formation rate between the outer and inner half of a galaxy, with $K$ a dimensionless structural factor for which handy expressions are provided. As an application, it is shown that galaxies obeying a fundamentally local main sequence also obey, to a good approximation, $g \simeq \gamma n$, where $\gamma$ is the slope of the normalized local main sequence ($sSFR \propto \Sigma_\star^{-\gamma}$) and $n$ the Sersic index. An exact expression is also provided. Quantitatively, a fundamentally local main sequence is consistent with SFGs growing along a stationary mass-size relation, but inconsistent with the continuation at $z=0$ of evolutionary laws derived at higher $z$. This demonstrates that either the main sequence is not fundamentally local, or the mass-size relation of SFGs has converged to an equilibrium state some finite time in the past, or both.

We recently presented a new mechanism for primordial black hole formation during a first-order phase transition in the early Universe, which relies on the build-up of particles which are predominantly reflected from the advancing bubble wall. In this companion paper we provide details of the supporting numerical calculations. After describing the general mechanism, we discuss the criteria that need to be satisfied for a black hole to form. We then set out the Boltzmann equation that describes the evolution of the relevant phase space distribution function, carefully describing our treatment of the Liouville operator and the collision term. Finally, we show that black holes will form for a wide range of parameters.

Using deep rest-frame optical spectroscopy from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysical Census (LEGA-C) survey, conducted using VIMOS on the ESO Very Large Telescope, we systematically search for low-ionization [OII] 3726,3729 emission in the spectra of a mass-complete sample of z~0.85 galaxies. Intriguingly, we find that 59 percent of UVJ-quiescent (i.e. non star-forming) galaxies in the sample have ionized gas, as traced by [OII] emission, detected above our completeness limit of 1.5 Angstroms. The median stacked spectrum of the lowest equivalent width quiescent galaxies also shows [OII] emission. The overall fraction of sources with [OII] above our equivalent width limit is comparable to what we find in the low-redshift Universe from GAMA and MASSIVE, except perhaps at the highest stellar masses (log Mstar/Msol > 11.5). However, stacked spectra for the individual low-equivalent width systems uniquely indicates ubiquitous [OII] emission in the higher-z LEGA-C sample, with typical [OII] luminosities per unit stellar mass that are a factor of 3 larger than the lower-z GAMA sample. Star formation in these otherwise quiescent galaxies could play a role in producing the [OII] emission at higher-z, although it is unlikely to provide the bulk of the ionizing photons. More work is required to fully quantify the contributions of evolved stellar populations or active galactic nuclei to the observed spectra.

We study the ratio $R$ between the luminosity of the torus and that of the accretion disk, inferred from the relativistic model KERRBB for a sample of approximately 2000 luminosity-selected radio-quiet Type I active galactic nuclei from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey catalog. We find a mean ratio $R \approx 0.8$ and a considerable number of sources with $R \gtrsim 1$. Our statistical analysis regarding the distribution of the observed ratios suggests that the largest values might be linked to strong relativistic effects due to a large black hole spin ($a > 0.8$), despite the radio-quiet nature of the sources. The mean value of $R$ sets a constraint on the average torus aperture angle (in the range $30^{\circ} < \theta_{\rm T} < 70^{\circ}$) and, for about one-third of the sources, the spin must be $a > 0.7$. Moreover, our results suggest that the strength of the disk radiation (i.e., the Eddington ratio) could shape the torus geometry and the relative luminosity ratio $R$. Given the importance of the involved uncertainties on this statistical investigation, an extensive analysis and discussion have been made to assess the robustness of our results.

Observing nearby galaxies with submillimeter telescopes on the ground has two major challenges. First, the brightness is significantly reduced at long submillimeter wavelengths compared to the brightness at the peak of the dust emission. Second, it is necessary to use a high-pass spatial filter to remove atmospheric noise on large angular scales, which has the unwelcome by-product of also removing the galaxy's large-scale structure. We have developed a technique for producing high-resolution submillimeter images of galaxies of large angular size by using the telescope on the ground to determine the small-scale structure (the large Fourier components) and a space telescope (Herschel or Planck) to determine the large-scale structure (the small Fourier components). Using this technique, we are carrying out the HARP and SCUBA-2 High Resolution Terahertz Andromeda Galaxy Survey (HASHTAG), an international Large Program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, with one aim being to produce the first high-fidelity high-resolution submillimeter images of Andromeda. In this paper, we describe the survey, the method we have developed for combining the space-based and ground-based data, and present the first HASHTAG images of Andromeda at 450 and 850um. We also have created a method to predict the CO(J=3-2) line flux across M31, which contaminates the 850um band. We find that while normally the contamination is below our sensitivity limit, the contamination can be significant (up to 28%) in a few of the brightest regions of the 10 kpc ring. We therefore also provide images with the predicted line emission removed.

Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) forming at $z \sim$ 20 are currently the leading candidates for the seeds of the first quasars, over 200 of which have now been found at $z >$ 6. Recent studies suggest that DCBHs could be detected in the near infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope, Euclid, and the Roman Space Telescope. However, new radio telescopes with unprecedented sensitivities such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and the Next-Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) may open another window on the properties of DCBHs in the coming decade. Here we estimate the radio flux from DCBHs at birth at $z =$ 8 - 20 with several fundamental planes of black hole accretion. We find that they could be detected at $z \sim$ 8 by the SKA-FIN all-sky survey. Furthermore, SKA and ngVLA could discover 10$^6$ - 10$^7$ $M_{\odot}$ BHs out to $z \sim$ 20, probing the formation pathways of the first quasars in the Universe.

As main-sequence stars with C$>$O, dwarf carbon (dC) stars are never born alone but inherit carbon-enriched material from a former asymptotic giant branch (AGB) companion. In contrast to M dwarfs in post-mass transfer binaries, C$_2$ and/or CN molecular bands allow dCs to be identified with modest-resolution optical spectroscopy, even after the AGB remnant has cooled beyond detectability. Accretion of substantial material from the AGB stars should spin up the dCs, potentially causing a rejuvenation of activity detectable in X-rays. Indeed, a few dozen dCs have recently been found to have photometric variability with periods under a day. However, most of those are likely post-common-envelope binaries (PCEBs), spin-orbit locked by tidal forces, rather than solely spun-up by accretion. Here, we study the X-ray properties of a sample of the five nearest known dCs with $Chandra$. Two are detected in X-rays, the only two for which we also detected short-period photometric variability. We suggest that the coronal activity detected so far in dCs is attributable to rapid rotation due to tidal locking in short binary orbits after a common-envelope phase, late in the thermally pulsing (TP) phase of the former C-AGB primary (TP-AGB). As the radius of a TP-AGB star rapidly expands once it reaches the C giant phase, the initial range of orbital periods that can lead to the mass transfer balance necessary to form a short period dC remains a mystery.

Line intensity mapping (LIM) is emerging as a powerful technique to map the cosmic large-scale structure and to probe cosmology over a wide range of redshifts and spatial scales. We perform Fisher forecasts to determine the optimal design of wide-field ground-based mm-wavelength LIM surveys for constraining properties of neutrinos and light relics. We consider measuring the auto-power spectra of several CO rotational lines (from J=2-1 to J=6-5) and the [CII] fine-structure line in the redshift range of $0.25<z<12$. We study the constraints with and without interloper lines as a source of noise in our analysis, and for several one- and multi-parameter extensions of $\Lambda$CDM. We show that LIM surveys deployable this decade, in combination with existing CMB (primary) data, could achieve order of magnitude improvements over Planck constraints on $N_{\rm eff}$ and $M_\nu$. Compared to next-generation CMB and galaxy surveys, a LIM experiment of this scale could achieve bounds that are a factor of $\sim3$ better than those forecasted for surveys such as EUCLID (galaxy clustering), and potentially exceed the constraining power of CMB-S4 by a factor of $\sim1.5$ and $\sim3$ for $N_{\rm eff}$ and $M_\nu$, respectively. We show that the forecasted constraints are not substantially affected when enlarging the parameter space, and additionally demonstrate that such a survey could also be used to measure $\Lambda$CDM parameters and the dark energy equation of state exquisitely well.

We present new redshift measurements for 19 candidate, ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) from the Systematically Measuring Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (SMUDGes) survey after conducting a long-slit, spectroscopic follow-up campaign on 23 candidates at the Large Binocular Telescope. We combine these results with redshift measurements from other sources for 29 SMUDGes and 20 non-SMUDGes candidate UDGs. Together, this sample yields 44 spectroscopically-confirmed UDGs ($r_e\geq1.5$ kpc and $\mu_g(0)\geq24$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ within uncertainties) and spans cluster and field environments, with all but one projected on the Coma cluster and environs. We find no statistically significant differences in the structural parameters of cluster and non-cluster confirmed UDGs, although there are hints of differences among the axis ratio distributions. Similarly, we find no significant structural differences among those in locally dense or sparse environments. However, we observe a significant difference in color with respect to projected cluster-centric radius, confirming trends observed previously in statistical UDG samples. This trend strengthens further when considering whether UDGs reside in either cluster or locally dense environments, suggesting starkly different star formation histories for UDGs residing in high and low-density environments. Of the 16 large ($r_e \geq 3.5$ kpc) UDGs in our sample, only one is a field galaxy that falls near the early-type galaxy red sequence. No other field UDGs found in low density environments fall near the red sequence. This finding, in combination with our detection of GALEX NUV flux in nearly half of the UDGs in sparse environments, suggest that field UDGs are a population of slowly evolving galaxies.

Former analyses of the BOSS data using the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure (EFTofLSS) have measured that the largest counterterms are the redshift-space distortion ones. This allows us to adjust the power-counting rules of the theory, and to explicitly identify that the leading next-order terms have a specific dependence on the cosine of the angle between the line-of-sight and the wavenumber of the observable, $\mu$. Such a specific $\mu$-dependence allows us to construct a linear combination of the data multipoles, $\slashed{P}$, where these contributions are effectively projected out, so that EFTofLSS predictions for $\slashed{P}$ have a much smaller theoretical error and so a much higher $k$-reach. The remaining data are organized in wedges in $\mu$ space, have a $\mu$-dependent $k$-reach because they are not equally affected by the leading next-order contributions, and therefore can have a higher $k$-reach than the multipoles. Furthermore, by explicitly including the highest next-order terms, we define a `one-loop+' procedure, where the wedges have even higher $k$-reach. We study the effectiveness of these two procedures on several sets of simulations and on the BOSS data. The resulting analysis has identical computational cost as the multipole-based one, but leads to an improvement on the determination of some of the cosmological parameters that ranges from $10\%$ to $100\%$, depending on the survey properties.

The ongoing interaction between the Milky Way (MW) and its largest satellite - the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) - creates a significant perturbation in the distribution and kinematics of distant halo stars, globular clusters and satellite galaxies, and leads to biases in MW mass estimates from these tracer populations. We present a method for compensating these perturbations for any choice of MW potential by computing the past trajectory of LMC and MW and then integrating the orbits of tracer objects back in time until the influence of the LMC is negligible, at which point the equilibrium approximation can be used with any standard dynamical modelling approach. We add this orbit-rewinding step to the mass estimation approach based on simultaneous fitting of the potential and the distribution function of tracers, and apply it to two datasets with the latest Gaia EDR3 measurements of 6d phase-space coordinates: globular clusters and satellite galaxies. We find that models with LMC mass in the range (1-2)x10^11 Msun produce a better fit to the observed distribution of tracers, and measure the virial mass and radius of the MW mass as (1.2+-0.4)x10^12 Msun and 275+-35 kpc, while neglecting the LMC perturbation increases the virial mass estimate by 15-20%.

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of six radio-loud quasar host galaxies at $z=1.4-2.3$. We combine the kpc-scale resolution ALMA observations with high spatial-resolution adaptive optics integral field spectrograph data of the ionized gas. We detect molecular gas emission in five quasar host galaxies and resolve the molecular interstellar medium using the CO (3-2) or CO (4-3) rotational transitions. Clumpy molecular outflows are detected in four quasar host galaxies and in a merger system 21 kpc away from one quasar. Between the ionized and cold-molecular gas phases, the majority of the outflowing mass is in a molecular phase, while for three out of four detected multi-phase gas outflows, the majority of the kinetic luminosity and momentum flux is in the ionized phase. Combining the energetics of the multi-phase outflows, we find that their driving mechanism is consistent with energy-conserving shocks produced by the impact of the quasar jets with the gas in the galaxy. By assessing the molecular gas mass to the dynamics of the outflows, we estimate a molecular gas depletion time scale of a few Myr. The gas outflow rates exceed the star formation rates, suggesting that quasar feedback is a major mechanism of gas depletion at the present time. The coupling efficiency between the kinetic luminosity of the outflows and the bolometric luminosity of the quasar of 0.1-1% is consistent with theoretical predictions. Studying multi-phase gas outflows at high redshift is important for quantifying the impact of negative feedback in shaping the evolution of massive galaxies.

In recent years, significant growth in the amount of data available to astronomers has opened up the possibility to uncover fundamental correlations, linking the dust component of a galaxy to its star formation rate (SFR). In this paper, we re-examine these correlations, investigating the origin of the observed scatter, and the ability of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore such relations in the early Universe. We defined a sample of about 800 normal star-forming galaxies with photometries in the range of 0.15 < $\lambda$ < 500 microns and analysed them with different spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting methods. With the SEDs extracted, we investigated the detection rate at different redshifts with the MId-Infrared instruments (MIRI) onboard the JWST. Dust luminosity (L$_d$) and SFR show a strong correlation, but for SFR < 2 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, the correlation scatter increases dramatically. We show that selection based on the fraction of ultraviolet (UV) emission absorbed by dust, that is, the UV extinction, greatly reduces the data dispersion. Reproducing the sensitivity of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS) and classifying galaxies according to their SFR and stellar mass (M$_\ast$), we investigated the MIRI detection rate as a function of the physical properties of the galaxies. Fifty percent of the objects with SFR $\sim$ 1 M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$ at $z$ = 6 are detected with F770, which decreases to 20% at $z$ = 8. For such galaxies, only 5% of the subsample will be detected at 5$\sigma$ with F770 and F1000 at $z$ = 8, and only 10% with F770, F1000, and F1280 at $z$ = 6. The link between dust and star formation is complex, and many aspects remain to be fully understood. In this context, the JWST will revolutionise the field, allowing investigation of the dust--star interplay well within the epoch of reionisation.

We employ self-supervised representation learning to distill information from 76 million galaxy images from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys' Data Release 9. Targeting the identification of new strong gravitational lens candidates, we first create a rapid similarity search tool to discover new strong lenses given only a single labelled example. We then show how training a simple linear classifier on the self-supervised representations, requiring only a few minutes on a CPU, can automatically classify strong lenses with great efficiency. We present 1192 new strong lens candidates that we identified through a brief visual identification campaign, and release an interactive web-based similarity search tool and the top network predictions to facilitate crowd-sourcing rapid discovery of additional strong gravitational lenses and other rare objects: github.com/georgestein/ssl-legacysurvey

In compact stellar triple systems, an evolved tertiary star can overflow its Roche lobe around the inner binary. Subsequently, the tertiary star can transfer mass to the inner binary in a stable manner, or Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) can be unstable and lead to common-envelope (CE) evolution. In the latter case, the inner binary enters the extended envelope of the tertiary star and spirals in towards the donor's core, potentially leading to mergers or ejections. Although studied in detail for individual systems, a comprehensive statistical view on the various outcomes of triple RLOF is lacking. Here, we carry out 10^5 population synthesis simulations of tight triples, self-consistently taking into account stellar evolution, binary interactions, and gravitational dynamics. Also included are prescriptions for the long-term evolution of stable triple mass transfer, and triple CE evolution. Although simple and ignoring hydrodynamic effects, these prescriptions allow for a qualitative statistical study. We find that triple RLOF occurs in ~0.06% of triples, with ~64% leading to stable mass transfer, and ~36% to triple CE evolution. Triple CE is most often (~76%) followed by one or multiple mergers in short succession, most likely an inner binary merger of two main-sequence stars. Other outcomes of triple CE are a binary+single system (~23%, most of which not involving exchange interactions), and a stable triple (~1%). We also estimate the rate of Type Ia supernovae involving white dwarf mergers following triple RLOF, but find only a negligible contribution.

We describe how the observed polarization properties of an astronomical object are related to its intrinsic polarization properties and the finite temporal and spectral resolutions of the observing device. Moreover, we discuss the effect that a scattering screen, with non-zero magnetic field, between the source and observer has on the observed polarization properties. We show that the polarization properties are determined by the ratio of observing bandwidth and coherence bandwidth of the scattering screen and the ratio of temporal resolution of the instrument and the variability time of screen, as long as the length over which the Faraday rotation induced by the screen changes by $\sim\pi$ is smaller than the size of the screen visible to the observer. We describe the conditions under which a source that is 100\% linearly polarized intrinsically might be observed as partially depolarized, and how the source's temporal variability can be distinguished from the temporal variability induced by the scattering screen. In general, linearly polarized waves passing through a magnetized scattering screen can develop a significant circular polarization. We apply the work to the observed polarization properties of a few fast radio bursts (FRBs).

Gaps imaged in protoplanetary discs are suspected to be opened by planets. We compute the present-day mass accretion rates $\dot{M}_{\rm p}$ of seven hypothesized gap-embedded planets, plus the two confirmed planets in PDS 70, by combining disc gas surface densities $\Sigma_{\rm gas}$ from C$^{18}$O observations with planet masses $M_{\rm p}$ from simulations fitted to observed gaps. Assuming accretion is Bondi-like, we find in eight out of nine cases that $\dot{M}_{\rm p}$ is consistent with the time-averaged value given by the current planet mass and system age, $M_{\rm p}/t_{\rm age}$. As system ages are comparable to circumstellar disc lifetimes, these gap-opening planets may be undergoing their last mass doublings, reaching final masses of $M_{\rm p} \sim 10-10^2 \, M_\oplus$ for the non-PDS 70 planets, and $M_{\rm p} \sim 1-10 \, M_{\rm J}$ for the PDS 70 planets. For another fifteen gaps without C$^{18}$O data, we predict $\Sigma_{\rm gas}$ by assuming their planets are accreting at their time-averaged $\dot{M}_{\rm p}$. Bondi accretion rates for PDS 70b and c are orders of magnitude higher than accretion rates implied by measured U-band and H$\alpha$ fluxes, suggesting most of the accretion shock luminosity emerges in as yet unobserved wavebands, or that the planets are surrounded by dusty, highly extincting, quasi-spherical circumplanetary envelopes. Thermal emission from such envelopes or from circumplanetary discs, on Hill sphere scales, peaks at wavelengths in the mid-to-far-infrared, and can reproduce observed mm-wave excesses.

We present a comparison of the nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (N/O) in 37 high-redshift galaxies at $z\sim$2 taken from the KMOS Lensed Emission Lines and VElocity Review (KLEVER) Survey with a comparison sample of local galaxies, taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The KLEVER sample shows only a mild enrichment in N/O of $+$0.1 dex when compared to local galaxies at a given gas-phase metallicity (O/H), but shows a depletion in N/O of $-$0.36 dex when compared at a fixed stellar mass (M$_*$). We find a strong anti-correlation in local galaxies between N/O and SFR in the M$_*$-N/O plane, similar to the anti-correlation between O/H and SFR found in the mass-metallicity relation (MZR). We use this anti-correlation to construct a fundamental nitrogen relation (FNR), analogous to the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR). We find that KLEVER galaxies are consistent with both the FMR and the FNR. This suggests that the depletion of N/O in high-$z$ galaxies when considered at a fixed M$_*$ is driven by the redshift-evolution of the mass-metallicity relation in combination with a near redshift-invariant N/O-O/H relation. Furthermore, the existence of an fundamental nitrogen relation suggests that the mechanisms governing the fundamental metallicity relation must be probed by not only O/H, but also N/O, suggesting pure-pristine gas inflows are not the primary driver of the FMR, and other properties such as variations in galaxy age and star formation efficiency must be important.

One of the fascinating topics in radio astronomy is how to associate the complexity of observed radio structures to their environment, in order to understand their interplay and the reason for the plethora of radio structures found in surveys. In this project, we explore the distortion of the radio structure of Fanaroff-Riley (FR) type radio sources in the VLA-COSMOS Large Project at 3 GHz, and relate it to their large-scale environment. We quantify the distortion by using the angle formed between the jets/lobes of two-sided FRs, namely bent angle (BA). Our sample includes 108 objects in the redshift range 0.08 $< z <$ 3, which we cross-correlate to a wide range of large-scale environments (X-ray galaxy groups, density fields, and cosmic web probes) in the COSMOS field. The median BA of FRs in COSMOS at $z_{\rm med} \sim$ 0.9 is 167.5$^{+11.5}_{-37.5}$ degrees. We do not find significant correlations between BA and large-scale environments within COSMOS, covering scales from a few kpc to several hundred Mpc, nor between BA and host properties. Finally, we compare our observational data to magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) adaptive-mesh simulations ENZO-MHD of two FR sources at $z$ = 0.5 and at $z$ = 1. Although the scatter in BA of the observed data is large, we see an agreement between observations and simulations in the bent angles of FRs, following a mild redshift evolution with BA. We conclude that the dominant mechanism affecting the radio structures of FRs could be the evolution of the ambient medium, where higher densities and longer depths at lower redshifts allow for more space for jet interactions.

Ulysses data obtained at high solar latitudes during periods of minimum solar activity in 1994 and 2007 are examined to determine the relation between velocity structures called microstreams and folds in the magnetic field called switchbacks. A high correlation is found. The possibility of velocity peaks in microstreams originating from coronal X-ray jets is re-examined; we now suggest that microstreams are the consequence of the alternation of patches of switchbacks and quiet periods, where the switchbacks could be generated by minifilament/flux rope eruptions that cause coronal jets.

The supernovae (SNe) associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are generally seen as a homogenous population, but at least one exception exists, both in terms of luminosity as well as Spectral Energy Distribution (SED). However, this event, SN 2011kl, was associated with an ultra-long GRB 111209A. Do such outliers also exist for more typical GRBs? Within the context of a systematic analysis of photometric signatures of GRB-associated SNe, we found an anomalous bump in the late-time transient following GRB 140506A. We hereby aim to show this bump is significantly more luminous and blue than usual SNe following GRBs. We compile all available data from the literature, and add a full analysis of the Swift UVOT data, which allows us to trace the light curve from the first minutes all the way to the host galaxy, as well as construct a broad SED of the afterglow that extends the previous SED analysis based on ground-based spectroscopy. We find robust evidence for a late-time bump/plateau following the afterglow which shows evidence for a strong colour change, with the spectral slope becoming flatter in the blue region of the spectrum. This bump can be interpreted as a luminous SN bump which is spectrally dissimilar to typical GRB-SNe. Correcting it for the large line-of-sight extinction results in extreme values which make the SN associated with GRB 140506A the most luminous detected so far. Even so, it would be in agreement with a luminosity-duration relation of GRB-SNe. While not supported by spectroscopic evidence, it is likely the blue bump following GRB 140506A is the signature of a SN which is spectrally dissimilar to classical GRB-SNe and more similar to SN 2011kl -- while being associated with an average GRB, indicating the GRB-SN population is more diverse than thought so far, and can reach luminosities comparable to those of superluminous SNe.

We examine all-sky cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps on large angular scales to test consistency with a hypothesized cosmological symmetry: a universal variance of primordial curvature perturbations on great circles. This symmetry is not a property of standard quantum inflation, but may be a natural hypothesis in a holographic model with causal quantum coherence on null surfaces. If this symmetry is assumed for primordial curvature perturbations, the amplitude and direction of the unobserved intrinsic dipole (that is, the unobserved $\ell=1$ harmonics) can be inferred from measured $\ell = 2, 3$ harmonics by minimizing the variance of great-circle variances. It is shown that universality of great-circle variance requires unusual patterns, such as a previously noted anomalously high sectorality of the $\ell = 3$ components, and a close alignment of principal axes of $\ell=2$ and $\ell = 3$ components. Simulations are used to show that in standard quantum inflation, only a small fraction of realizations combine dipole, quadrupole and octopole harmonics with great-circle variances as uniform as the inferred real sky. It is found that adding the intrinsic dipole leads to a nearly-null angular correlation function over the range $\Theta = [90^\circ, 135^\circ]$, in agreement with a null anti-hemispherical symmetry independently motivated by holographic causal arguments, but highly anomalous in standard cosmology. The precision of these results appears to be primarily limited by errors introduced by models of Galactic foregrounds.

The Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches (GNOME) conducts an experimental search for certain forms of dark matter based on their spatiotemporal signatures imprinted on a global array of synchronized atomic magnetometers. The experiment described here looks for a gradient coupling of axion-like particles (ALPs) with proton spins as a signature of locally dense dark matter objects such as domain walls. In this work, stochastic optimization with machine learning is proposed for use in a search for ALP domain walls based on GNOME data. The validity and reliability of this method were verified using binary classification. The projected sensitivity of this new analysis method for ALP domain-wall crossing events is presented.

The tension between the diverging density profiles in Lambda Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) simulations and the constant-density inner regions of observed galaxies is a long-standing challenge known as the `core-cusp' problem. We demonstrate that the \texttt{SMUGGLE} galaxy formation model implemented in the \textsc{Arepo} moving mesh code forms constant-density cores in idealized dwarf galaxies of $M_\star \approx 8 \times 10^7$ M$_{\odot}$ with initially cuspy dark matter halos of $M_{200} \approx 10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$. Identical initial conditions run with the Springel and Hernquist (2003; SH03) feedback model preserve cuspiness. Literature on the subject has pointed to the low density threshold for star formation, $\rho_\text{th}$, in SH03-like models as an obstacle to baryon-induced core formation. Using a \texttt{SMUGGLE} run with equal $\rho_\text{th}$ to SH03, we demonstrate that core formation can proceed at low density thresholds, indicating that $\rho_\text{th}$ is insufficient on its own to determine whether a galaxy develops a core. We suggest that the ability to resolve a multiphase interstellar medium at sufficiently high densities is a more reliable indicator of core formation than any individual model parameter. In \texttt{SMUGGLE}, core formation is accompanied by large degrees of non-circular motion, with gas rotational velocity profiles that consistently fall below the circular velocity $v_\text{circ} = \sqrt{GM/R}$ out to $\sim 2$ kpc. This may artificially mimic larger core sizes when derived from observable quantities compared to the size measured from the dark matter distribution ($\sim 0.5$ kpc), highlighting the need for careful modeling in the inner regions of dwarfs to infer the true distribution of dark matter.

Unbiased understandings of molecular distributions in a disk/envelope system of a low-mass protostellar source are crucial for investigating physical and chemical evolution processes. We have observed 23 molecular lines toward the Class 0 protostellar source L483 with ALMA and have performed principal component analysis (PCA) for their cube data (PCA-3D) to characterize their distributions and velocity structures in the vicinity of the protostar. The sum of the contributions of the first three components is 63.1 %. Most oxygen-bearing complex-organic-molecule lines have a large correlation with the first principal component (PC1), representing the overall structure of the disk/envelope system around the protostar. Contrary, the C18O and SiO emissions show small and negative correlations with PC1. The NH2CHO lines stand out conspicuously at the second principal component (PC2), revealing more compact distribution. The HNCO lines and the high excitation line of CH3OH have a similar trend for PC2 to NH2CHO. On the other hand, C18O is well correlated with the third principal component (PC3). Thus, PCA-3D enables us to elucidate the similarities and the differences of the distributions and the velocity structures among molecular lines simultaneously, so that the chemical differentiation between the oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules and the nitrogen-bearing ones is revealed in this source. We have also conducted PCA for the moment 0 maps (PCA-2D) and that for the spectral line profiles (PCA-1D). While they can extract part of characteristics of the molecular-line data, PCA-3D is essential for comprehensive understandings. Characteristic features of the molecular-line distributions are discussed on NH2CHO.

We performed a wide-field survey observation of small asteroids using the Hyper Suprime-Cam installed on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. We detected more than 3,000 main-belt asteroids with a detection limit of 24.2 mag in the r-band, which were classified into two groups (bluish C-like and reddish S-like) by the g-r color of each asteroid and obtained size distributions of each group. We found that the shapes of size distributions of asteroids with the C-like and S-like colors agree with each other in the size range of 0.4-5 km in diameter. Assuming the asteroid population in this size range is under collision equilibrium, our results indicate that compositional difference hardly affects the size dependence of impact strength, at least for the size range between several hundred meters and several kilometers. This size range corresponds to the size range of ``spin-barrier'', an upper limit observed in the rotation rate distribution. Our results are consistent with the view that most asteroids in this size range have a rubble-pile structure.

The properties of the young pulsars and their relations to the supernova remnants (SNRs) have been the interesting topics. At present, 383 SNRs in the Milky Way galaxy have been published, which are associated with 64 radio pulsars and 46 pulsars with high energy emissions. However, we noticed that 630 young radio pulsars with spin periods of less than half a second have been not yet observed the SNRs surrounding or nearby them, which arises a question of that could the two types of young radio pulsars with/without SNRs hold distinctive characteristics? Here, we employ the statistical tests on the two groups of young radio pulsars with (52) and without (630) SNRs to reveal if they share different origins. Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon (M-W-W) tests indicate that the two samples have the different distributions with parameters of spin period ($P$), derivative of spin period ($\dot P$), surface magnetic field strength ($B$), and energy loss rate ($\dot E$). Meanwhile, the cumulative number ratio between the pulsars with and without SNRs at the different spindown ages decreases significantly after $\rm10-20\,Kyr$. So we propose that the existence of the two types of supernovae (SNe), corresponding to their SNR lifetimes, which can be roughly ascribed to the low-energy and high-energy SNe. Furthermore, the low-energy SNe may be formed from the $\rm8-12\,M_{\odot}$ progenitor, e.g., possibly experiencing the electron capture, while the main sequence stars of $\rm12-25\,M_{\odot}$ may produce the high-energy SNe probably by the iron core collapse.

A planetary instability occurring at time $<100$ My after formation of the giant planets in our solar system can be responsible for some characteristics of the inner solar system. However, the actual influence of the instability on the terrestrial planet formation is not well understood. The simulations of terrestrial planet formation are very CPU-expensive, and this limits the exploration of different instability scenarios. To include the effects of the giant planets instability in the simulations of terrestrial planets formation in a feasible way, we approach the problem in two steps. First, we model and record an evolution of the giant planets that replicates the present outer solar system in the end. Then, we use that orbital record, properly interpolated, as the input for a second step to simulate its effects on the terrestrial planet formation. For this second step, we developed iSyMBA, a symplectic massive bodies algorithm, where ``i'' stands for interpolation. iSyMBA is a very useful code to accurately evaluate the effects of planetary instabilities on minor body reservoirs, while accounting for close encounters among massive objects. We provide a detailed description of how iSyMBA was developed and implemented to study terrestrial planet formation. Adapting iSyMBA for other problems that demand interpolation from previous simulations can be done following the method described here.

During the late stage of terrestrial planet formation, hit-and-run collisions are about as common as accretionary mergers, for expected velocities and angles of giant impacts. Average hit-and-runs leave two major remnants plus debris: the target and impactor, somewhat modified through erosion, escaping at lower relative velocity. Here we continue our study of the dynamical effects of such collisions. We compare the dynamical fates of intact runners that start from hit-and-runs with proto-Venus at 0.7 AU and proto-Earth at 1.0 AU. We follow the orbital evolutions of the runners, including the other terrestrial planets, Jupiter, and Saturn, in an N-body code. We find that the accretion of these runners can take $\gtrsim$10 Myr (depending on the egress velocity of the first collision) and can involve successive collisions with the original target planet or with other planets. We treat successive collisions that the runner experiences using surrogate models from machine learning, as in previous work, and evolve subsequent hit-and-runs in a similar fashion. We identify asymmetries in the capture, loss, and interchange of runners in the growth of Venus and Earth. Hit-and-run is a more probable outcome at proto-Venus, being smaller and faster orbiting than proto-Earth. But Venus acts as a sink, eventually accreting most of its runners, assuming typical events, whereas proto-Earth loses about half, many of those continuing to Venus. This leads to a disparity in the style of late-stage accretion that could have led to significant differences in geology, composition, and satellite formation at Earth and Venus.

In the canonical model of Moon formation, a Mars-sized protoplanet "Theia" collides with proto-Earth at close to their mutual escape velocity $v_{\rm esc}$ and a common impact angle 45{\deg}. The "graze-and-merge" collision strands a fraction of Theia's mantle into orbit, while Earth accretes most of Theia and its momentum. Simulations show that this produces a hot, high angular momentum, silicate-dominated protolunar system, in substantial agreement with lunar geology, geochemistry, and dynamics. However, a Moon that derives mostly from Theia's mantle, as angular momentum dictates, is challenged by the fact that O, Ti, Cr, radiogenic W, and other elements are indistinguishable in Earth and lunar rocks. Moreover, the model requires an improbably low initial velocity. Here we develop a scenario for Moon formation that begins with a somewhat faster collision, when proto-Theia impacts proto-Earth at ~1.2 $v_{\rm esc}$, also around 45{\deg}. Instead of merging, the bodies come into violent contact for a half-hour and their major components escape, a "hit-and-run collision." N-body evolutions show that the "runner" often returns ~0.1-1 Myr later for a second giant impact, closer to $v_{\rm esc}$; this produces a postimpact disk of ~2-3 lunar masses in smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, with angular momentum comparable to canonical scenarios. The disk ends up substantially inclined, in most cases, because the terminal collision is randomly oriented to the first. Proto-Earth contributions to the silicate disk are enhanced by the compounded mixing and greater energy of a collision chain.

The cosmological models exhibiting tracker properties have great significance in the context of dark energy as they can reach the present value of dark energy density from a wide range of initial conditions, thereby alleviating both the fine-tuning and the cosmic coincidence problem. The $\alpha$-attractors, which are originally discussed in the context of inflation, can exhibit the properties of dark energy as they can behave like cosmological trackers at early times and show the late time behaviour of a cosmological constant. In the present paper, we study the Oscillatory Tracker Model (OTM), which belongs to the family of $\alpha$-attractor dark energy models. Using the current observational data sets like Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) and type 1a supernova data (Pantheon compilation), we constrain the parameters of the model and estimate both the mean and best-fit values. Although the oscillatory tracker model contains a larger set of parameters than the usual LCDM model, the common set of parameters of both agree within $1\, \sigma$ error limits. Our observations using both high redshift and low redshift data supports Hubble parameter value $H_0 = 67.4$ Kms$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$. We study the effect of the OTM on the CMB temperature and polarization power spectra, matter power spectrum and $f \sigma_8$. Our analysis of the CMB power spectrum and matter power spectrum suggests that the oscillatory tracker dark energy model has noticeable differences from usual LCDM predictions. Yet, in most cases, the agreement is very close.

Context. The study of old, metal-poor stars deepens our knowledge on the early stages of the universe. In particular, the study of these stars gives us a valuable insight into the masses of the first massive stars and their emission of ionising photons. Aims. We present a detailed chemical analysis and determination of the kinematic and orbital properties of a sample of 11 dwarf stars. These are metal-poor stars, and a few of them present a low lithium content. We inspected whether the other elements also present anomalies. Methods. We analysed the high-resolution UVES spectra of a few metal-poor stars using the Turbospectrum code to synthesise spectral lines profiles. This allowed us to derive a detailed chemical analysis of Fe,

Determining the properties of solar-like oscillating stars can be subject to many biases. A particularly important example is the helium-mass degeneracy, where the uncertainties regarding the internal physics can cause a poor determination of both the mass and surface helium content. Accordingly, an independent helium estimate is needed to overcome this degeneracy. A promising way to obtain such an estimate is to exploit the so-called ionisation glitch, i.e. a deviation from the asymptotic oscillation frequency pattern caused by the rapid structural variation in the He ionisation zones. Although progressively becoming more sophisticated, the glitch-based approach faces problems inherent to its current modelling such as the need for calibration by realistic stellar models. This requires a physical model of the ionisation region explicitly involving the parameters of interest such as the surface helium abundance, $Y_s$. Through a thermodynamic treatment of the ionisation region, an analytical approximation for the first adiabatic exponent $\Gamma_1$ is presented. The induced stellar structure is found to depend on only three parameters including the surface helium abundance $Y_s$ and the electron degeneracy $\psi_\textrm{CZ}$ in the convective region. The model thus defined allows a wide variety of structures to be described and, in particular, is able to approximate a realistic model in the ionisation region. The modelling work conducted enables us to study the structural perturbations causing the glitch. More elaborate forms of perturbations than the ones usually assumed are found. It is also suggested that there might be a stronger dependence of the structure on both the electron degeneracy in the convection zone and on the position of the ionisation region rather than on the amount of helium itself.

Aims. Estimates of coronal wave energy remain uncertain as a large fraction of the energy is likely hidden in the non-thermal line widths of emission lines. In order to estimate these wave energies, many previous studies have considered the root mean squared wave amplitudes to be a factor of $\sqrt{2}$ greater than the non-thermal line widths. However, other studies have used different factors. To investigate this problem, we consider the relation between wave amplitudes and the non-thermal line widths within a variety of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Methods. We consider the following 3D numerical models: Alfv\'en waves in a uniform magnetic field, transverse waves in a complex braided magnetic field, and two simulations of coronal heating in an arcade. We applied the forward modelling code FoMo to generate the synthetic emission data required to analyse the non-thermal line widths. Results. Determining a single value for the ratio between the non-thermal line widths and the root mean squared wave amplitudes is not possible across multiple simulations. It was found to depend on a variety of factors, including line-of-sight angles, velocity magnitudes, wave interference, and exposure time. Indeed, some of our models achieved the values claimed in recent articles while other more complex models deviated from these ratios. Conclusions. To estimate wave energies, an appropriate relation between the non-thermal line widths and root mean squared wave amplitudes is required. However, evaluating this ratio to be a singular value, or even providing a lower or upper bound on it, is not realistically possible given its sensitivity to various MHD models and factors. As the ratio between wave amplitudes and non-thermal line widths is not constant across our models, we suggest that this widely used method for estimating wave energy is not robust.

Recently, work on self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) cosmologies has shown that an enormous diversity of dark matter (DM) halo density profiles is possible for a fixed SIDM model, ranging from the development of low-density cores to high-density core-collapsed cusps. The possibility of the growth of high central density in low-mass halos, accelerated if halos are subhalos of larger systems, has intriguing consequences for small-halo searches with substructure lensing. However, following the evolution of $\lesssim 10^8 M_\odot$ subhalos in lens-mass systems ($\sim 10^{13}M_\odot$) is computationally expensive with traditional N-body simulations. In this work, we develop a new hybrid semi-analytical + N-body method to study the evolution of SIDM subhalos with high fidelity, from core formation to core-collapse, in staged simulations. With this method, we are able to capture the evaporation of subhalo particles by interactions with host halo particles, an effect that has not yet been fully explored in the context of subhalo core-collapse. We find three main processes driving subhalo evolution: subhalo internal heat outflow, host-subhalo evaporation, and tidal effects. We conclude that the subhalo central density grows only when the heat outflow outweighs the energy gain from evaporation and tidal heating. Thus, evaporation delays or even disrupts subhalo core-collapse. We map out the parameter space for subhalos to core-collapse, and find that it is nearly impossible to drive core collapse in subhalos in SIDM models with constant cross sections. Any discovery of ultra-compact dark substructures with future substructure lensing observations disfavors SIDM models with constant cross sections, indicating instead the presence of additional degrees of freedom, such as velocity-dependence or dissipation of energy.

We report our new spectropolarimetric observations for 67P dust over 4,000--9,000 Angstrom using the ESO/Very Large Telescope in January--March 2016 (phase angle ranging $\sim$26--5 deg) to constrain the properties of the dust particles of 67P and therefrom diagnose the dust environment of its coma and near-surface layer at around the end of the Southern summer of the comet. We examined the optical behaviours of the dust, which, together with Rosetta colour data, were used to search for dust evolution with cometocentric distance. Modelling was also conducted to identify the dust attributes compatible with the results. The spectral dependence of the polarisation degree of 67P dust is flatter than found in other dynamical groups of comets in similar observing geometry. The depth of its negative polarisation branch appears to be a bit shallower than in long-period comets and might be getting shallower as 67P repeats its apparitions. Its dust colour shows a change in slope around 5,500 Angstrom, (17.3 $\pm$ 1.4) and (10.9 $\pm$ 0.6) % (1,000 Angstrom)$^{\rm -1}$ for shortward and longward of the wavelength, respectively, which are slightly redder but broadly consistent with the average of Jupiter-Family comets. Observations of 67P dust in this study can be attributed to dust agglomerates of $\sim$100 $\mu$m in size detected by Rosetta in early 2016. A porosity of 60 % shows the best match with our polarimetric results, yielding a dust density of $\sim$770 kg m$^{\rm -3}$. Compilation of Rosetta and our data indicates the dust's reddening with increasing nucleus distance, which may be driven by water-ice sublimation as the dust moves out of the nucleus. We estimate the possible volume fraction of water ice in the initially ejected dust as $\sim$6 % (i.e. the refractory-to-ice volume ratio of $\sim$14).

Context. Galaxy clusters can be sources of high energy (HE) $\gamma$-ray radiation due to the efficient acceleration of particles up to the highest energies. Up to now, the only candidate of emitting $\gamma$-rays is the Coma cluster, towards which there is an excess of the $\gamma$-ray emission detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Aims. In particular, we aim to understand the origin of this excess and its connection with the Coma cluster. Methods. Using $\mathrm{\sim12.3}$ years of Fermi-LAT data, we analysed the region of the Coma cluster between energies 100 MeV and 1 TeV by detailed spectral and morphological analysis. Results. We detected a diffuse $\gamma$-ray emission between 100 MeV and 1 TeV energies in the region of the Coma cluster with $5.4\sigma$ extension significance and 68\% containment radius of $0.82^{+0.1}_{-0.05}$ degrees derived with a 2D homogeneous disk model. The corresponding $\gamma$-ray spectrum extends up to $\sim50$ GeV with power-law spectral index $\mathrm{\Gamma=2.23\pm0.11}$ and energy flux of $\mathrm{(3.48\pm0.68)\times10^{-12}\,erg\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$. Besides, we also found that three point-like sources in the background with power-law indexes of $\mathrm{2.44\pm0.28}$, $\mathrm{2.56\pm0.32}$, and $\mathrm{1.99\pm0.30}$ show improvement in the fit by $\mathrm{\Delta_{AIC}}=-7.2$. Conclusions. We suggest that the observed $\gamma$-ray emission can be produced within the Coma cluster since the contribution from the background AGNs and star-forming galaxies is not sufficient to provide the observed total $\gamma$-ray luminosity and the morphology. However, to confirm this suggestion, we need more data because of the low statistics of each component in the model.

We present MG-GLAM, a code developed for the very fast production of full $N$-body cosmological simulations in modified gravity (MG) models. We describe the implementation, numerical tests and first results of a large suite of cosmological simulations for three classes of MG models with conformal coupling terms: the $f(R)$ gravity, symmetron and coupled quintessence models. Derived from the parallel particle-mesh code GLAM, MG-GLAM incorporates an efficient multigrid relaxation technique to solve the characteristic nonlinear partial differential equations of these models. For $f(R)$ gravity, we have included new variants to diversify the model behaviour, and we have tailored the relaxation algorithms to these to maintain high computational efficiency. In a companion paper, we describe versions of this code developed for derivative coupling MG models, including the Vainshtein- and K-mouflage-type models. MG-GLAM can model the prototypes for most MG models of interest, and is broad and versatile. The code is highly optimised, with a tremendous speedup of a factor of more than a hundred compared with earlier $N$-body codes, while still giving accurate predictions of the matter power spectrum and dark matter halo abundance. MG-GLAM is ideal for the generation of large numbers of MG simulations that can be used in the construction of mock galaxy catalogues and the production of accurate emulators for ongoing and future galaxy surveys.

One of the targets of future Cosmic Microwave Background and Baryon Acoustic Oscillation measurements is to improve the current accuracy in the neutrino sector and reach a much better sensitivity on extra dark radiation in the Early Universe. In this paper we study how these improvements can be translated into constraining power for well motivated extensions of the Standard Model of elementary particles that involve axions thermalized before the QCD phase transition by scatterings with gluons. Assuming a fiducial $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, we simulate future data for CMB-S4-like and DESI-like surveys and analyze a mixed scenario of axion and neutrino hot dark matter. We further account also for the effects of these QCD axions on the light element abundances predicted by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The most constraining forecasted limits on the hot relic masses are $m_{\rm a} \lesssim 0.92$ eV and $\sum m_\nu\lesssim 0.12$ eV at 95% CL, showing that future cosmic observations can substantially improve the current bounds, supporting multi-messenger analyses of axion, neutrino and primordial light element properties.

We discuss some aspects of Sousa et al.(2020a, 2020b) concerning two mechanisms of gravitational wave (GW) emission in fast-spinning white dwarfs (WDs): accretion of matter and magnetic deformation. In both cases, the GW emission is generated by an asymmetry around the rotation axis of the star. However, in the first case, the asymmetry is due to the amount of accreted matter in the magnetic poles, while in the second case it is due to the intense magnetic field. We have estimated the GW amplitude and luminosity for three binary systems that have a fast-spinning magnetized WD, namely, AE Aquarii, AR Scorpii and RX J0648.0-4418. In addition, we applied the magnetic deformation mechanism for SGRs/AXPs described as WD pulsars. We found that, for the first mechanism, the systems AE Aquarii and RX J0648.0-4418 can be observed by the space detectors BBO and DECIGO if they have an amount of accreted mass of $\delta m \geq 10^{-5}M_{\odot }$. For the second mechanism, the three systems studied require that the WD has a magnetic field above $\sim 10^{9}$ G to emit GWs that can be detected by BBO. Furthermore, we found that some SGRs/AXPs as WD pulsars can be detected by BBO and DECIGO, whereas SGRs/AXPs as highly magnetized neutron stars are far below the sensitivity curves of these detectors.

MIGHTEE is a galaxy evolution survey using simultaneous radio continuum, spectro-polarimetry, and spectral line observations from the South African MeerKAT telescope. When complete, the survey will image $\sim$20 deg$^{2}$ over the COSMOS, E-CDFS, ELAIS-S1, and XMM-LSS extragalactic deep fields with a central frequency of 1284 MHz. These were selected based on the extensive multiwavelength datasets from numerous existing and forthcoming observational campaigns. Here we describe and validate the data processing strategy for the total intensity continuum aspect of MIGHTEE, using a single deep pointing in COSMOS (1.6 deg$^{2}$) and a three-pointing mosaic in XMM-LSS (3.5 deg$^{2}$). The processing includes the correction of direction-dependent effects, and results in thermal noise levels below 2~$\mathrm{\mu}$Jy beam$^{-1}$ in both fields, limited in the central regions by classical confusion at $\sim$8$''$ angular resolution, and meeting the survey specifications. We also produce images at $\sim$5$''$ resolution that are $\sim$3 times shallower. The resulting image products form the basis of the Early Science continuum data release for MIGHTEE. From these images we extract catalogues containing 9,896 and 20,274 radio components in COSMOS and XMM-LSS respectively. We also process a close-packed mosaic of 14 additional pointings in COSMOS and use these in conjunction with the Early Science pointing to investigate methods for primary beam correction of broadband radio images, an analysis that is of relevance to all full-band MeerKAT continuum observations, and wide field interferometric imaging in general. A public release of the MIGHTEE Early Science continuum data products accompanies this article.

We report our ongoing search for extremely inverted spectrum compact radio galaxies, for which the defining feature in the radio spectrum is not the spectral peak, but instead the slope of the spectrum (alpha) in the high-opacity (i.e., lower frequency) part of the radio spectrum. Specifically, our focus is on the spectral regime with spectral index, alpha >+2.5. The motivation for our study is, firstly, extragalactic sources with such extreme spectral index are extremely rare, because of the unavailability of right combination of sensitivity and resolution over a range of low frequencies. The second reason is more physically motivated, since alpha = +2.5 is the maximum slope theoretically possible for a standard radio source emitting synchrotron radiation. Therefore such sources could be the test-bed for some already proposed alternative scenarios for synchrotron self-absorption (SSA), like the free-free absorption (FFA) highlighting the importance of jet-ISM interaction in the radio galaxy evolution.

We report detection of radio recombination line (RRL) H40U toward 75 sources, with data obtained from ACA observations in the ATOMS survey of 146 active Galactic star forming regions. We calculated ionized gas mass and star formation rate with H40U line emission. The mass of ionized gas is significantly smaller than molecular gas mass, indicating that ionized gas is negligible in the star forming clumps of the ATOMS sample. The star formation rate (SFRH40U ) estimated with RRL H40U agrees well with that (SFRLbol ) calculated with the total bolometric luminosity (Lbol) when SFR > 5 M? MyA?1, suggesting that millimeter RRLs could well sample the upper part of the initial mass function (IMF) and thus be good tracers for SFR. We also study the relationships between Lbol and the molecular line luminosities (L0mol) of CS J=2-1 and HC3N J=11-10 for all the 146 ATOMS sources. The Lbol-L0mol correlations of both the CS J=2-1 and HC3N J=11-10 lines appear approximately linear and these transitions have success in predicting Lbol similar to that of more commonly used transitions. The Lbol-to-L0mol ratios or SFR-to-mass ratios (star formation efficiency; SFE) do not change with galactocentric distances (RGC). Sources with H40U emission (or H?? regions) show higher Lbol-to-L0mol than those without H40U emission, which may be an evolutionary effect.

Most of the exoplanets detected up to now transit in front of their host stars, allowing for the generation of transmission spectra; the study of exoplanet atmospheres relies heavily upon accurate analysis of these spectra. Recent discoveries mean that the study of atmospheric signals from low-mass, temperate worlds are becoming increasingly common. The observed transit depth in these planets is small and more difficult to analyze. Analysis of simulated transmission spectra for two small, temperate planets (GJ 1214 b and K2-18 b) is presented, giving evidence for significant differences in simulated transit depth when the water vapor continuum is accounted for when compared to models omitting it. These models use cross-sections from the CAVIAR lab experiment for the water self-continuum up to 10,000 cm$^{-1}$; these cross-sections exhibit an inverse relationship with temperature, hence lower-temperature atmospheres are the most significantly impacted. Including the water continuum strongly affects transit depths, increasing values by up to 80 ppm, with the differences for both planets being detectable with the future space missions Ariel and JWST. It is imperative that models of exoplanet spectra move toward adaptive cross-sections, increasingly optimized for H$_2$O-rich atmospheres. This necessitates including absorption contribution from the water vapor continuum into atmospheric simulations.

We study the origin of misalignments between the stellar and star-forming gas components of simulated galaxies in the EAGLE simulations. We focus on galaxies with stellar masses $\geq 10^9$ M$_\odot$ at 0$\leq$z$\leq$1. We compare the frequency of misalignments with observational results from the SAMI survey and find that overall, EAGLE can reproduce the incidence of misalignments in the field and clusters, as well as the dependence on stellar mass and optical colour within the uncertainties. We study the dependence on kinematic misalignments with internal galaxy properties and different processes related to galaxy mergers and sudden changes in stellar and star-forming gas mass. We found that despite the environment being relevant in setting the conditions to misalign the star-forming gas, the internal galaxy properties play a crucial role in determining whether the gas quickly aligns with the stellar component or not. Hence, galaxies that are more triaxial and more dispersion dominated display more misalignments because they are inefficient at realigning the star-forming gas towards the stellar angular momentum vector.

New non-linear hydrodynamic models have been constructed to simulate the radial pulsations observed in the extreme helium star V652 Her. These use a finer zoning to allow higher radial resolution than in previous simulations. Models incorporate updated OPAL and OP opacity tables and adopt a composition based on the best atmospheric analyses to date. Key pulsation properties including period, velocity amplitude and shock acceleration are examined as a function of the mean stellar parameters (mass, luminosity, and effective temperature). The new models confirm that, for large amplitude pulsations, a strong shock develops at minimum radius, and is associated with a large phase delay between maximum brightness and minimum radius. Using the observed pulsation period to constrain parameter space in one dimension, other pulsation properties are used to constrain the model space further, and to critically discuss observational measurements. Similar models may be useful for the interpretation of other blue large amplitude pulsators, which may also exhibit pulsation-driven shocks.

Ultraviolet (UV) light plays a key role in surficial theories of the origin of life, and numerous studies have focused on constraining the atmospheric transmission of UV radiation on early Earth. However, the UV transmission of the natural waters in which origins-of-life chemistry (prebiotic chemistry) is postulated to have occurred is poorly constrained. In this work, we combine laboratory and literature-derived absorption spectra of potential aqueous-phase prebiotic UV absorbers with literature estimates of their concentrations on early Earth to constrain the prebiotic UV environment in marine and terrestrial natural waters, and consider the implications for prebiotic chemistry. We find that prebiotic freshwaters were largely transparent in the UV, contrary to assumptions by some models of prebiotic chemistry. Some waters, e.g., high-salinity waters like carbonate lakes, may be deficient in shortwave ($\leq220$ nm) UV flux. More dramatically, ferrous waters can be strongly UV-shielded, particularly if the Fe$^{2+}$ forms highly UV-absorbent species like Fe(CN)$_6^{4-}$. Such waters may be compelling venues for UV-averse origin-of-life scenarios, but are disfavorable for some UV-dependent prebiotic chemistries. UV light can trigger photochemistry even if attenuated through photochemical transformations of the absorber (e.g., $e^{-}_{aq}$ production from halide irradiation), which may have both constructive and destructive effects for prebiotic syntheses. Prebiotic chemistries invoking waters containing such absorbers must self-consistently account for the chemical effects of these transformations. The speciation and abundance of Fe$^{2+}$ in natural waters on early Earth is a major uncertainty, and should be prioritized for further investigation as it plays a major role in UV transmission in prebiotic natural waters.

Context: SteParSyn is an automatic code written in Python 3.X designed to infer the stellar atmospheric parameters Teff, log(g), and [Fe/H] of FGKM-type stars following the spectral synthesis method. Aims: We present a description of the SteParSyn code and test its performance against a sample of late-type stars that were observed with the HERMES spectrograph mounted at the 1.2-m Mercator Telescope. This sample contains 35 late-type targets with well-known stellar parameters determined independently from spectroscopy. The code is available to the astronomical community in a GitHub repository. Methods: SteParSyn uses a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler to explore the parameter space by comparing synthetic model spectra generated on the fly to the observations. The synthetic spectra are generated with an spectral emulator. Results: We computed Teff, log(g), and [Fe/H] for our sample stars and discussed the performance of the code. We calculated an internal scatter for these targets of -12 +- 117 K in Teff, 0.04 +- 0.14 dex in log(g), and 0.05 +- 0.09 dex in [Fe/H]. In addition, we find that the log(g) values obtained with SteParSyn are consistent with the trigonometric surface gravities to the 0.1 dex level. Finally, SteParSyn can compute stellar parameters that are accurate down to 50 K, 0.1 dex, and 0.05 dex for Teff, log(g), and [Fe/H] for stars with vsini <= 30 km/s.

With the advent of Integral Field Units (IFUs), surveys can now measure metallicities across the discs of nearby galaxies at scales $\lesssim 100~$ pc. At such small scales, many of these regions contain too few stars to fully sample all possible stellar masses and evolutionary states, leading to stochastic fluctuations in the ionising continuum. The impact of these fluctuations on the line diagnostics used to infer galaxy metallicities is poorly understood. In this paper, we quantify this impact for six most commonly-used diagnostics. We generate stochastic stellar populations for galaxy patches with star formation rates varying over a factor of $1000$, compute the nebular emission that results when these stars ionise gas at a wide range of densities, metallicities, and determine how much inferred metallicities vary with fluctuations in the driving stellar spectrum. We find that metallicities derived from diagnostics that measure multiple ionisation states of their target elements (e.g.~electron temperature methods) are weakly affected (variation $< 0.1$ dex), but that larger fluctuations ($\sim 0.4$ dex) occur for diagnostics that depend on a single ionisation state. Scatter in the inferred metallicity is generally largest at low star formation rate and metallicity, and is larger for more sensitive observations than for shallower ones. The main cause of the fluctuations is stochastic variation in the ionisation state in the nebula in response to the absence of Wolf-Rayet stars, which dominate the production of $\gtrsim 2-3$ Ryd photons. Our results quantify the trade-off between line brightness and diagnostic accuracy, and can be used to optimise observing strategies for future IFU campaigns.

We describe the scientific goals and survey design of the First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH), a wide field survey for 21-cm line absorption in neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) at intermediate cosmological redshifts. FLASH will be carried out with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and is planned to cover the sky south of $\delta \approx +40$deg at frequencies between 711.5 and 999.5MHz. At redshifts between $z = 0.4$ and $1.0$ (look back times of 4 - 8Gyr), the HI content of the Universe has been poorly explored due to the difficulty of carrying out radio surveys for faint 21-cm line emission and, at ultra-violet wavelengths, space-borne searches for Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption in quasar spectra. The ASKAP wide field of view and large spectral bandwidth, in combination with a radio-quiet site, will enable a search for absorption lines in the radio spectra of bright continuum sources over 80% of the sky. This survey is expected to detect at least several hundred intervening 21-cm absorbers, and will produce an HI-absorption-selected catalogue of galaxies rich in cool, star-forming gas, some of which may be concealed from optical surveys. Likewise, at least several hundred associated 21-cm absorbers are expected to be detected within the host galaxies of radio sources at $0.4 < z < 1.0$, providing valuable kinematical information for models of gas accretion and jet-driven feedback in radio-loud active galactic nuclei. FLASH will also detect OH 18-cm absorbers in diffuse molecular gas, megamaser OH emission, radio recombination lines, and stacked HI emission.

We report on the design and performance of the BICEP3 instrument and its first three-year data set collected from 2016 to 2018. BICEP3 is a 52cm aperture, refracting telescope designed to observe the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales at 95GHz. It started science observation at the South Pole in 2016 with 2400 antenna-coupled transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers. The receiver first demonstrated new technologies such as large-diameter alumina optics, Zotefoam infrared filters, and flux-activated SQUIDs, allowing $\sim 10\times$ higher optical throughput compared to the Keck design. BICEP3 achieved instrument noise-equivalent temperatures of 9.2, 6.8 and 7.1$\mu\text{K}_{\text{CMB}}\sqrt{\text{s}}$ and reached Stokes $Q$ and $U$ map depths of 5.9, 4.4 and 4.4$\mu$K-arcmin in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The combined three-year data set achieved a polarization map depth of 2.8$\mu$K-arcmin over an effective area of 585 square degrees, which is the deepest CMB polarization map made to date at 95GHz.

We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the BICEP2, Keck Array and BICEP3 CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2018 observing season. We add additional Keck Array observations at 220 GHz and BICEP3 observations at 95 GHz to the previous 95/150/220 GHz data set. The $Q/U$ maps now reach depths of 2.8, 2.8 and 8.8 $\mu{\mathrm K}_{cmb}$ arcmin at 95, 150 and 220 GHz respectively over an effective area of $\approx 600$ square degrees at 95 GHz and $\approx 400$ square degrees at 150 & 220 GHz. The 220 GHz maps now achieve a signal-to-noise on polarized dust emission exceeding that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto- and cross-spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz and evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed-$\Lambda$CDM+$r$+dust+synchrotron+noise. The foreground model has seven parameters, and no longer requires a prior on the frequency spectral index of the dust emission taken from measurements on other regions of the sky. This model is an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint $r_{0.05}<0.036$ at 95% confidence. Running maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that $\sigma(r)=0.009$. These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.

We analyse the pulsating behaviour of TIC 308396022 observed by the TESS mission. The star is a high-amplitude $\delta$ Sct star (HADS) that shows a very rich amplitude spectrum using the 3-yr light curve. Among these frequencies, the strongest peak of $f_{1}= 13.20362567(12) \rm{d^{-1}}$ is identified as the radial fundamental mode, and we also find the first and second overtones ($f_2$ and $f_3$). In the low frequency range (< 2.5 $\rm{d^{-1}}$), 22 peaks are identified to be gravity modes, which show a regular period spacing of about 2460\,s and have the angular degree $l = 1$. The period spacing pattern does not show a significant downward trend, suggesting the star rotates slowly. We note that this is a $\delta$ Sct--$\gamma$ Dor hybrid star containing a high-amplitude radial fundamental mode and a regular g-mode period spacing pattern. With O-C analysis, we find the star shows a significant time delay, implying that the star has a companion which is likely to be a white dwarf. The history of possible mass transfer provides a great opportunity to test the current theories of binary evolution, mass transfer, and pulsation.

Precise measurements of the internal dynamics of galaxies have proven of great importance for understanding the internal dark matter distribution of galaxies. We present a novel method for measuring the line-of-sight (LOS) velocities across the face of galaxies by cross-correlation of spectral pixels (spaxels) and an iterative method of smoothing. On simulated data the method can accurately recover the input LOS velocities for different types of spectra (absorption line dominated, emission line dominated, and differing shapes of the continuum), and can handle stellar population radial gradients. Most important of all, it continues to provide reliable measurements of LOS velocities even when the spectra are very low signal-to-noise (approaching $\sim 1$), which is a challenge for traditional template-fitting approaches. We apply our method to data from a real MaNGA galaxy as a demonstration and find promising results, with good precision. This novel approach can be complementary to existing methods primarily based on template fitting.

We report the discovery of a new transiting exoplanet orbiting the star TIC~257060897 and detected using {\it TESS} full frame images. We acquired HARPS-N time-series spectroscopic data, and ground-based photometric follow-up observations from which we confirm the planetary nature of the transiting body. For the host star we determined: T$\rm_{eff}$=(6128$\pm$57) K, log~g=(4.2$\pm$0.1) and [Fe/H]=(+0.20$\pm$0.04). The host is an intermediate age ($\sim$3.5~Gyr), metal-rich, subgiant star with M$_{\star}$=(1.32$\pm$0.04) M$_{\odot}$ and R$_{\star}$=(1.82$\pm$0.05) R$_{\odot}$. The transiting body is a giant planet with a mass m$\rm_p=$(0.67$\pm$0.03) M$\rm_{j}$, a radius r$\rm_p=$(1.49$\pm$0.04) R$\rm_{j}$ yielding a density $\rho_p$=(0.25$\pm$0.02) g cm$^{-3}$ and revolving around its star every $\sim$3.66 days. TIC~257060897b is an extreme system having one of the smallest densities known so far. We argued that the inflation of the planet's radius may be related to the fast increase of luminosity of its host star as it evolves outside the main sequence and that systems like TIC~257060897b could be precursors of inflated radius short period planets found around low luminosity red giant branch stars, as recently debated in the literature.

We compare the predictions of AAfrag for the spectra of secondary photons, neutrinos, electrons, and positrons produced in proton-proton collisions to those of the parameterisations of Kamae et al., Kelner et al., and Kafexhiu et al. We find that the differences in the normalisation of the photon energy spectra reach 20$-$50% at intermediate values of the transferred energy fraction $x$, growing up to a factor of two for $x\rightarrow\,$1, while the differences in the neutrino spectra are even larger. We argue that LHCf results on the forward production of photons favor the use of the QGSJET-II-04m model on which AAfrag is based. The differences in the normalisation have important implications in the context of multi-messenger astronomy, in particular, for the prediction of neutrino fluxes based on gamma-ray flux measurements, or regarding the inference of the cosmic ray spectrum, based on gamma-ray data. We note also that the positron-electron ratio from hadronic interactions increases with energy towards the cutoff, an effect which is missed using the average electron-positron spectrum from Kelner et al. Finally, we describe the publicly available python package aafragpy, which provides the secondary spectra of photons, neutrinos, electrons, and positrons. This package complements the AAfrag results for protons with energies above 4 GeV with previous analytical parameterizations of particle spectra for lower energy protons.

We present the first targeted measurement of the power spectrum of anisotropies of the radio synchrotron background, at 140 MHz where it is the overwhelmingly dominant photon background. This measurement is important for understanding the background level of radio sky brightness, which is dominated by steep-spectrum synchrotron radiation at frequencies below $\nu$ $\sim$ 0.5 GHz and has been measured to be significantly higher than that which can be produced by known classes of extragalactic sources and most models of Galactic halo emission. We determine the anisotropy power spectrum on scales ranging from 2$^{\circ}$ to 0.2 arcminutes with LOFAR observations of two 18 deg$^2$ fields -- one centered on the Northern hemisphere coldest patch of radio sky where the Galactic contribution is smallest and one offset from that location by 15$^{\circ}$. We find that the anisotropy power is higher than that attributable to the distribution of point sources above 100 $\mu$Jy in flux. This level of radio anisotropy power indicates that if it results from point sources, those sources are likely at low fluxes and incredibly numerous, and likely clustered in a specific manner.

The local sources, such as Geminga SNR, may play important role for the anomaly of proton, electron and anisotropy in the past works. In fact, there exists twelve SNRs around solar system within $1$ kpc. One question is that can other SNRs also possibly contribute the spectra of nuclei and electron and explain the special structure of anisotropy? In this work, under the spatial-dependent propagation, we systematically study the contribution of all local SNRs within 1 kpc around solar to the spectra of nuclei and electron, as well as the energy dependence of anisotropy. As a result, only Geminga, Monogem, and Vela SNRs have quantitive contribution to the nuclei and electron spectra and anisotropy. Here, Geminga SNR is the sole optimal candidate and Monogem SNR is controversial due to the tension of anisotropy between model calculation and observations. The Vela SNR contributes a new spectral structure beyond TeV energy, hinted by HESS, VERITAS, DAMPE and CALET measurements. More interesting is that the electron anisotropy satisfies the Fermi-LAT limit below TeV energy, but rises greatly and reaches $10\%$ at several TeV. This new structure will shed new light to check our model. We hope that the new structure of electron spectrum and anisotropy can be observed by space-borne DAMPE and HERD and ground-based HAWC and LHAASO experiments in the near future.

The ARIEL Space Telescope will provide a large and diverse sample of exoplanet spectra, performing spectroscopic observations of about 1000 exoplanets in the wavelength range $0.5 \to 7.8 \; \mu m$. In this paper, we investigate the information content of ARIEL's Reconnaissance Survey low resolution transmission spectra. Among the goals of the ARIEL Reconnaissance Survey is also to identify planets without molecular features in their atmosphere. In this work, (1) we present a strategy that will allow to select candidate planets to be reobserved in a ARIEL's higher resolution Tier; (2) we propose a metric to preliminary classify exoplanets by their atmospheric composition without performing an atmospheric retrieval; (3) we introduce the possibility to find other methods to better exploit the data scientific content.

A bulk acoustic wave cavity as high frequency gravitational wave antenna has recently detected two rare events at $5.5$MHz. Assuming that the detected events are due to gravitational waves, their characteristic strain amplitude lies at about $h_c\approx 2.5 \times 10^{-16}$. While a cosmological signal is out of the picture due to the large energy carreid by the high frequency waves, the signal could be due to the merging of two planet mass primordial black holes ($\approx 4\times 10^{-4} M_\odot$) inside the Oort cloud at roughly $0.025$ pc ($5300$ AU) away. In this short note, we show that the probablity of one such event to occur within this volume per year is around $1:10^{24}$, if such saturn-like mass primordial primordial black holes are $1\%$ of the dark matter. Thus, the detected signal is very unlikely to be due the merger of planet mass primordial black holes. Nevertheless, this scenario can be falsified by future measurements of a stochastic background by DECIGO and BBO.

We present MG-GLAM, a code developed for the very fast production of full $N$-body cosmological simulations in modified gravity (MG) models. We describe the implementation, numerical tests and first results of a large suite of cosmological simulations for two broad classes of MG models with derivative coupling terms -- the Vainshtein- and Kmouflage-type models -- which respectively features the Vainshtein and Kmouflage screening mechanism. Derived from the parallel particle-mesh code GLAM, MG-GLAM incorporates an efficient multigrid relaxation technique to solve the characteristic nonlinear partial differential equations of these models. For Kmouflage, we have proposed a new algorithm for the relaxation solver, and run the first simulations of the model to understand its cosmological behaviour. In a companion paper, we describe versions of this code developed for conformally-coupled MG models, including several variants of $f(R)$ gravity, the symmetron model and coupled quintessence. Altogether, MG-GLAM has so far implemented the prototypes for most MG models of interest, and is broad and versatile. The code is highly optimised, with a tremendous (over two orders of magnitude) speedup when comparing its running time with earlier $N$-body codes, while still giving accurate predictions of the matter power spectrum and dark matter halo abundance. MG-GLAM is ideal for the generation of large numbers of MG simulations that can be used in the construction of mock galaxy catalogues and accurate emulators for ongoing and future galaxy surveys.

In the first two papers of this series (Rhea et al. 2020; Rhea et al. 2021), we demonstrated the dynamism of machine learning applied to optical spectral analysis by using neural networks to extract kinematic parameters and emission-line ratios directly from the spectra observed by the SITELLE instrument located at the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope. In this third installment, we develop a framework using a convolutional neural network trained on synthetic spectra to determine the number of line-of-sight components present in the SN3 filter (656--683nm) spectral range of SITELLE. We compare this methodology to standard practice using Bayesian Inference. Our results demonstrate that a neural network approach returns more accurate results and uses less computational resources over a range of spectral resolutions. Furthermore, we apply the network to SITELLE observations of the merging galaxy system NGC2207/IC2163. We find that the closest interacting sector and the central regions of the galaxies are best characterized by two line-of-sight components while the outskirts and spiral arms are well-constrained by a single component. Determining the number of resolvable components is crucial in disentangling different galactic components in merging systems and properly extracting their respective kinematics.

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has emerged as the prime telescope for detecting fast radio bursts (FRBs). CHIME/FRB Outriggers will be a dedicated very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) instrument consisting of outrigger telescopes at continental baselines working with CHIME and its specialized real-time transient-search backend (CHIME/FRB) to detect and localize FRBs with 50 mas precision. In this paper we present a minimally invasive clock stabilization system that effectively transfers the CHIME digital backend reference clock from its original GPS-disciplined ovenized crystal oscillator to a passive hydrogen maser. This enables us to combine the long-term stability and absolute time tagging of the GPS clock with the short and intermediate-term stability of the maser to reduce the clock timing errors between VLBI calibration observations. We validate the system with VLBI-style observations of Cygnus A over a 400 m baseline between CHIME and the CHIME Pathfinder, demonstrating agreement between sky-based and maser-based timing measurements at the 30 ps rms level on timescales ranging from one minute to up to nine days, and meeting the stability requirements for CHIME/FRB Outriggers. In addition, we present an alternate reference clock solution for outrigger stations which lack the infrastructure to support a passive hydrogen maser.

We study the gravito-electromagnetic perturbations of the Kerr-Newman (KN) black hole metric and identify the two $-$ photon sphere and near-horizon $-$ families of quasinormal modes (QNMs) of the KN black hole, computing the frequency spectra (for all the KN parameter space) of the modes with the slowest decay rate. We uncover a novel phenomenon for QNMs that is unique to the KN system, namely eigenvalue repulsion between QNM families. Such a feature is common in solid state physics where \eg it is responsible for energy bands/gaps in the spectra of electrons moving in certain Schr\"odinger potentials. Exploiting the enhanced symmetries of the near-horizon limit of the near-extremal KN geometry we also develop a matching asymptotic expansion that allows us to solve the perturbation problem using separation of variables and provides an excellent approximation to the KN QNM spectra near extremality. The KN QNM spectra here derived are required not only to account for the gravitational emission in astrophysical environments, such as the ones probed by LIGO, Virgo and LISA, but also allow to extract observational implications on several new physics scenarios, such as mini-charged dark-matter or certain modified theories of gravity, degenerate with the KN solution at the scales of binary mergers.

We propose a self-interacting dark matter (DM) scenario with right handed neutrino (RHN) portal to the standard model (SM). The dark sector consists of a particle DM, assumed to be a Dirac fermion, and a light mediator in terms of a dark Abelian vector boson to give rise to the required velocity dependent self-interactions in agreement with astrophysical observations. Irrespective of thermal or non-thermal production of such a DM, its final relic remains under-abundant due to efficient annihilation rates of DM into light mediators by virtue of large self-interaction coupling. We then show that a feeble portal of DM-SM interaction via RHN offers a possibility to fill the relic deficit of DM via the late decay of RHN. As RHN also arises naturally in seesaw models explaining the origin of light neutrino masses, we outline two UV complete realizations of the minimal setup in terms of scotogenic and gauged B-L frameworks where connection to neutrino mass and other phenomenology like complementary discovery prospects are discussed.

We derive new constraints on combination of dark matter - electron cross-section ($\sigma_{\chi e}$) and dark matter - neutrino cross-section ($\sigma_{\chi \nu}$) utilising the gain in kinetic energy of the dark matter (DM) particles due to scattering with the cosmic ray electrons and the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Since the flux of the DSNB neutrinos is comparable to the CR electron flux in the energy range $\sim 1\,{\rm MeV} - 50 \,{\rm MeV}$, scattering with the DSNB neutrinos can also boost low-mass DM significantly in addition to the boost due to interaction with the cosmic ray electrons. We use the XENON1T as well as the Super-Kamiokande data to derive bounds on $\sigma_{\chi e}$ and $\sigma_{\chi \nu}$. While our bounds for $\sigma_{\chi e}$ are comparable with those in the literature, we show that the Super-Kamiokande experiment provides the strongest constraint on $\sigma_{\chi \nu}$ for DM masses below a few MeV.

The observation of the shadow of the supermassive black hole M87$^{*}$ by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is sensitive to the spacetime geometry near the circular photon orbit and beyond, and it thus has the potential to test general relativity in the strong field regime. Obstacles to this program, however, include degeneracies between putative deviations from general relativity and both the description of the accretion flow and the uncertainties on "calibration parameters", such as e.g. the mass and spin of the black hole. In this work, we introduce a formalism, based on a principal component analysis, capable of reconstructing the black hole metric (i.e. the "signal") in an agnostic way, while subtracting the "foreground" due to the uncertainties in the calibration parameters and the modelling of the accretion flow. We apply our technique to simulated mock data for spherically symmetric black holes surrounded by a thick accretion disk. We show that separation of signal and foreground may be possible with next generation EHT-like experiments.

We prove that a spectral crossing is necessary for any collective instability in the flavor evolution of ultra-relativistic Standard Model neutrinos. Our argument applies for any number of flavors, for both slow and fast instabilities, and also in the presence of damping due to collisions. This result provides a simple but rigorous condition for collective flavor transformations that are believed to be important for stellar dynamics, nucleosynthesis, and neutrino phenomenology.

In recent years, CCD-in-CMOS TDI image sensors are becoming increasingly popular for many small satellite missions to assure a fast and affordable access to space for Low Earth Observation. Our monolithic CCD-in-CMOS TDI imager features a specifically developed technology which combines the benefits of a classical CCD TDI with the advantages of CMOS System-On-a-Chip (SoC) design. Like CCD, this detector is also controlled by a large number of clock voltages. Optimizing these voltages allows to increase the performance of the detector by improving multiple characteristic parameters, such as full well capacity (FWC), dark current, linearity, dark signal non-uniformity (DSNU) and charge transfer efficiency (CTE). Traditionally, it has been the standard practice to adjust the CCD voltages by trial and error methods to get a better image. Because of the large parameter space, such subjective procedures may yield far from the optimum performance. This paper reports a design of experiments (DOE) technique applied on the clock voltages to improve the multiple performance parameters of the detector. This method utilizes the Taguchi's orthogonal arrays of experiments to reduce the number of experiments with different voltage combinations. Finally, optimal combination of clock voltages is obtained by converting the multiple performance parameters of the detector into a single Grey relational grade. In this process, the sequences of obtaining parameter values are categorized according to the performance characteristics. The condition Higher-the-better is used for parameters like FWC and CTE whereas condition Lower-the-better is applied for parameters, such as dark current, linearity error and DSNU.

The low density nuclear matter equation of state is strongly constrained by nuclear properties, however, for constraining the high density equation of state it is necessary to resort to indirect information obtained from the observation of neutron stars, compact objects that may have a central density several times nuclear matter saturation density, $n_0$. Taking a meta-modelling approach to generate a huge set of equation of state that satisfy nuclear matter properties close to $n_0$ and that do not contain a first order phase transition, the possibility of constraining the high density equation of state was investigated. The entire information obtained from the GW170817 event for the probability distribution of $\tilde{\Lambda}$ was used to make a probabilistic inference of the EOS, which goes beyond the constraints imposed by nuclear matter properties. Nuclear matter properties close to saturation, below $2n_0$, do not allow us to distinguish between equations of state that predict different neutron star (NS) maximum masses. This is, however, not true if the equation of state is constrained at low densities by the tidal deformability of the NS merger associated to GW170817. Above $3n_0$, differences may be large, for both approaches, and, in particular, the pressure and speed of sound of the sets studied do not overlap, showing that the knowledge of the NS maximum mass may give important information on the high density EOS. Narrowing the maximum mass uncertainty interval will have a sizeable effect on constraining the high density EOS.

In the present paper we consider the Type-2.x and Type-3.x extraterrestrial von-Neumann probes and study the problem of their detectability by the world's largest radio telescope: the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST). For this purpose we estimate the radio spectral parameters and analyse the obtained results in the context of technical characteristics of FAST. As a result, it is shown that FAST can detect as galactic as well as extragalactic self-replicating probes with high precision.

In many areas of science, complex phenomena are modeled by stochastic parametric simulators, often featuring high-dimensional parameter spaces and intractable likelihoods. In this context, performing Bayesian inference can be challenging. In this work, we present a novel method that enables amortized inference over arbitrary subsets of the parameters, without resorting to numerical integration, which makes interpretation of the posterior more convenient. Our method is efficient and can be implemented with arbitrary neural network architectures. We demonstrate the applicability of the method on parameter inference of binary black hole systems from gravitational waves observations.

We investigate how a combination of a nonmagnetic-impurity scattering rate $\gamma$ and finite subgap states parametrized by Dynes $\Gamma$ affects various physical quantities relevant to to superconducting devices: kinetic inductance $L_k$, complex conductivity $\sigma$, surface resistance $R_s$, quality factor $Q$, and depairing current density $J_d$. All the calculations are based on the Eilenberger formalism of the BCS theory. We assume the device materials are extreme type-II $s$-wave superconductors. It is well known that the optimum impurity concentration ($\gamma/\Delta_0 \sim 1$) minimizes $R_s$. Here, $\Delta_0$ is the pair potential for the idealized ($\Gamma\to 0$) superconductor for the temperature $T\to 0$. We find the optimum $\Gamma$ can also reduce $R_s$ by one order of magnitude for a clean superconductor ($\gamma/\Delta_0 < 1$) and a few tens $\%$ for a dirty superconductor ($\gamma/\Delta_0 > 1$). Also, we find a nearly-ideal ($\Gamma/\Delta_0 \ll 1$) clean-limit superconductor exhibits a frequency-independent $R_s$ for a broad range of frequency $\omega$, which can significantly improve $Q$ of a very compact cavity with a few tens of GHz frequency. As $\Gamma$ or $\gamma$ increases, the plateau disappears, and $R_s$ obeys the $\omega^2$ dependence. The subgap-state-induced residual surface resistance $R_{\rm res}$ is also studied, which can be detected by an SRF-grade high-$Q$ 3D resonator. We calculate $L_k(\gamma, \Gamma,T)$ and $J_d(\gamma, \Gamma,T)$, which are monotonic increasing and decreasing functions of $(\gamma, \Gamma,T)$, respectively. Measurements of $(\gamma, \Gamma)$ of device materials can give helpful information on engineering $(\gamma, \Gamma)$ via materials processing, by which it would be possible to improve $Q$, engineer $L_k$, and ameliorate $J_d$.