Papers for Tuesday, Nov 09 2021

We present the largest collection of delta Scuti-type stars in the Milky Way. Together with the recently published OGLE collection of delta Sct variables in the inner Galactic bulge, our sample consists of 24 488 objects distributed along the Milky Way plane, over Galactic longitudes ranging from about -170 deg to +60 deg. The collection data include the I- and V-band time-series photometry collected since 1997 during the OGLE-II, OGLE-III, and OGLE-IV surveys. We show the on-sky distribution of delta Sct stars in the Galactic bulge and disk, discuss their period, luminosity and amplitude distributions, present Petersen diagram for multimode pulsators, distinguish 34 delta Sct stars in eclipsing and ellipsoidal binary systems, and list probable members of globular clusters.

We introduce a probabilistic approach to select 6<z<8 quasar candidates for spectroscopic follow-up, which is based on density estimation in the high-dimensional space inhabited by the optical and near-infrared photometry. Density distributions are modeled as Gaussian mixtures with principled accounting of errors using the extreme deconvolution (XD) technique, generalizing an approach successfully used to select lower redshift (z<3) quasars. We train the probability density of contaminants on 733,694 7-d flux measurements from the 1076 square degrees overlapping area from the DECaLS (z), VIKING (YJHK), and unWISE (W1W2) imaging surveys, after requiring they dropout of DECaLS g and r, whereas the distribution of high-z quasars are trained on synthetic model photometry. Extensive simulations based on these density distributions and current estimates of the quasar luminosity function indicate that this method achieves a completeness of >75% and an efficiency of >15% for selecting quasars at 6<z<8 with J<21.5. Among the classified sources are 8 known 6<z<7 quasars, of which 2/8 are selected suggesting a completeness ~25%, whereas classifying the 6 known (J<21.5) quasars at z>7 from the entire sky, we select 5/6 or a completeness of ~80%.The failure to select the majority of 6<z<7 quasars arises because our model of quasar SEDs underestimates the scatter in the distribution of fluxes. This new optimal approach to quasar selection paves the way for efficient spectroscopic follow-up of Euclid quasar candidates with ground based telescopes and JWST.

Fluorine is one of the most interesting elements for nuclear and stellar astrophysics. Fluorine abundance was first measured for stars other than the Sun in 1992, then for a handful metal-poor stars, which are likely to have formed in the early Universe. The main production sites of fluorine are under debate and include asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, $\nu$-process in core-collapse supernovae, and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. Due to the difference in the mass and lifetime of progenitor stars, high redshift observations of fluorine can help constrain the mechanism of fluorine production in massive galaxies. Here, we report the detection of HF (S/N = 8) in absorption in a gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxy at redshift z=4.4 with $N_{\rm HF}$/$N_{\rm{H_2}}$ as high as $\sim2\times10^{-9}$, indicating a very quick ramp-up of the chemical enrichment in this high-z galaxy. At z=4.4, AGB stars of a few solar masses are very unlikely to dominate the enrichment. Instead, we show that WR stars are required to produce the observed fluorine abundance at this time, with other production mechanisms becoming important at later times. These observations therefore provide an insight into the underlying processes driving the `ramp-up' phase of chemical enrichment alongside rapid stellar mass assembly in a young massive galaxy.

Investigation of the triggering mechanisms of radio AGN is important for improving our general understanding of galaxy evolution. In the first paper in this series, detailed morphological analysis of high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs) with intermediate radio powers suggested that the importance of triggering via galaxy mergers and interactions increases strongly with AGN radio power and weakly with optical emission-line luminosity. Here, we use an online classification interface to expand our morphological analysis to a much larger sample of 155 active galaxies (3CR radio galaxies, radio-intermediate HERGs and Type 2 quasars) that covers a broad range in both 1.4 GHz radio power and [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission-line luminosity. All active galaxy samples are found to exhibit excesses in their rates of morphological disturbance relative to 378 stellar-mass- and redshift-matched non-active control galaxies classified randomly and blindly alongside them. These excesses are highest for the 3CR HERGs (4.7$\sigma$) and Type 2 quasar hosts (3.7$\sigma$), supporting the idea that galaxy mergers provide the dominant triggering mechanism for these subgroups. When the full active galaxy sample is considered, there is clear evidence to suggest that the enhancement in the rate of disturbance relative to the controls increases strongly with [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission-line luminosity but not with 1.4 GHz radio power. Evidence that the dominant AGN host types change from early-type galaxies at high radio powers to late-type galaxies at low radio powers is also found, suggesting that triggering by secular, disk-based processes holds more importance for lower-power radio AGN.

We use FIRE-2 zoom cosmological simulations of Milky Way size galaxy halos to calculate astrophysical J-factors for dark matter annihilation and indirect detection studies. In addition to velocity-independent (s-wave) annihilation cross sections $\sigma_v$, we also calculate effective J-factors for velocity-dependent models, where the annihilation cross section is either either p-wave ($\propto v^2/c^2$) or d-wave ($\propto v^4/c^4$). We use 12 pairs of simulations, each run with dark-matter-only (DMO) physics and FIRE-2 physics. We observe FIRE runs produce central dark matter velocity dispersions that are systematically larger than in DMO runs by factors of $\sim 2.5-4$. They also have a larger range of central ($\sim 400$ pc) dark matter densities than the DMO runs ($\rho_{\rm FIRE}/\rho_{\rm DMO} \simeq 0.5 - 3$) owing to the competing effects of baryonic contraction and feedback. At 3 degrees from the Galactic Center, FIRE J-factors are $5-50$ (p-wave) and $15-500$ (d-wave) times higher than in the DMO runs. The change in s-wave signal at 3 degrees is more modest and can be higher or lower ($\sim 0.3-6$), though the shape of the emission profile is flatter (less peaked towards the Galactic Center) and more circular on the sky in FIRE runs. Our results for s-wave are broadly consistent with the range of assumptions in most indirect detection studies. We observe p-wave J-factors that are significantly enhanced compared to most past estimates. We find that thermal models with p-wave annihilation may be within range of detection in the near future.

We present the first results from applying the Santa Cruz semi-analytic model (SAM) for galaxy formation on merger trees extracted from a dark matter only version of the IllustrisTNG (TNG) simulations. We carry out a statistical comparison between the predictions of the Santa Cruz SAM and TNG for a subset of central galaxy properties at z=0, with a focus on stellar mass, cold and hot gas mass, star formation rate (SFR), and black hole (BH) mass. We find fairly good agreement between the mean predictions of the two methods for stellar mass functions and the stellar mass vs. halo mass (SMHM) relation, and qualitatively good agreement between the SFR or cold gas mass vs. stellar mass relation and quenched fraction as a function of stellar mass. There are greater differences between the predictions for hot (circumgalactic) gas mass and BH mass as a function of halo mass. Going beyond the mean relations, we also compare the dispersion in the predicted scaling relations, and the correlation in residuals on a halo-by-halo basis between halo mass and galaxy property scaling relations. Intriguingly, we find similar correlations between residuals in SMHM in the SAM and in TNG, suggesting that these relations may be shaped by similar physical processes. Other scaling relations do not show significant correlations in the residuals, indicating that the physics implementations in the SAM and TNG are significantly different.

We present a sample of 318, $z < 1.5$ active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from optical photometric variability in three of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) deep fields (E2, C3, and X3) over a total area of 4.64 deg$^2$. We construct light curves using difference imaging aperture photometry for resolved sources and non-difference imaging PSF photometry for unresolved sources, respectively, and characterize the variability significance. Our DES light curves have a mean cadence of 7 days, a 6 year baseline, and a single-epoch imaging depth of up to $g \sim 24.5$. Using spectral energy distribution fitting, we find 181 out of total 318 variable galaxies are consistent with dwarf galaxies (with $M_{\ast}<10^{9.5}\ M_\odot$ at a median photometric redshift of 0.9). However, our stellar mass estimates are subject to strong model degeneracies and contamination from AGN light. We identify 11 dwarf AGN candidates (a subset at a median photometric redshift of 0.4) by their rapid characteristic timescales ($\sim$ weeks) of optical variability which independently supports the dwarf hypothesis. We confirm the low-mass AGN nature of one source with a high S/N optical spectrum. We present a catalog of variability-selected AGNs with optical light curves and supplementary data, such as X-ray properties and optical spectra, when available. We measure a variable AGN fraction of $\sim 0.008$ between $M_{\ast}\sim10^7\ M_\odot$ and $\sim10^{11}\ M_\odot$, with no evidence for a stellar mass dependence. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using optical variability to identify AGNs with lower black hole masses than other methods in deep fields, which may be more ``pristine'' analogs of supermassive black hole (SMBH) seeds. Further work is needed to study the variability characteristics of dwarf AGNs and improve the statistics to robustly distinguish between seeding mechanisms of SMBHs.

This note presents an initial survey design for the Nancy Grace Roman High-latitude Time Domain Survey. This is not meant to be a final or exhaustive list of all the survey strategy choices, but instead presents a viable path towards achieving the desired precision and accuracy of dark energy measurements using Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We describe a survey strategy that use six filters (RZYJH and F) and the prism on the Roman Wide Field Instrument. This survey has two tiers, one "wide" which targets SNe Ia at redshifts up to 1 and one "deep" targeting redshifts up to 1.7; for each, four filters are used (with Y and J used in both tiers). We propose one field each in the north and south continuous viewing zones, and expect to obtain high-quality distances of $\sim$12,000 SNe Ia with $\sim$5,000 at z > 1. We propose a wide-tier area of $\sim$19 deg$^2$ and a deep tier of $\sim$5 deg$^2$. Exposure times range from 100 s to 900 s for imaging and 900 s to 3600 s for the prism. These exposure times would reach $\sim$25.5 mag and $\sim$26.5 mag for the wide and deep tiers respectively, with deep co-add stacks reaching $\sim$28 mag and $\sim$29 mag. The total survey spans two years, with a total allocation time of six months, and a cadence of $\sim$5 days.

The atmospheres and accretion disks of planetary-mass and substellar companions provide an unprecedented look into planet and moon formation processes, most notably the frequency and lifetime of circumplanetary disks. In our ongoing effort to leverage the extraordinary sensitivity of the Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 $\mu$m to study wide planetary-mass and substellar companions near the diffraction limit, we present point-spread function (PSF) fitting photometry of archival Spitzer/IRAC images for nine stars (G0 to M4+M7) in nearby star-forming regions or stellar associations that host companions at separations of $\rho = 1.17^{\prime\prime}-12.33^{\prime\prime}$. We detect all system primaries in all four IRAC channels and recover eight low-mass companions in at least one IRAC channel for our sample, five of which have not been resolved previously in IRAC images. We measure non-photospheric $[3.6]-[8.0]$ colors for four of the system companions (DH Tau B, 2M0441 B, SR 12 c, ROXs 42B b), confirming or discovering the presence of circumstellar or circum(sub)stellar disks. We detect fluxes consistent with photospheric emission for four other companions (AB Pic b, CHXR 73 b, 1RXS J1609 b, HD 203030 b) that are unlikely to host disks. Combined with past detections of accretion or disk indicators, we determine the global disk frequency of young ($<$15 Myr) wide companions with masses near the deuterium-burning limit to be $56\%\pm12\%$.

Photoionization modeling of active galactic nuclei (AGN) predicts that diffuse continuum (DC) emission from the broad-line region makes a substantial contribution to the total continuum emission from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths. Evidence for this DC component is present in the strong Balmer jump feature in AGN spectra, and possibly from reverberation measurements that find longer lags than expected from disk emission alone. However, the Balmer jump region contains numerous blended emission features, making it difficult to isolate the DC emission strength. In contrast, the Paschen jump region near 8200 \r{A} is relatively uncontaminated by other strong emission features. Here, we examine whether the Paschen jump can aid in constraining the DC contribution, using Hubble Space Telescope STIS spectra of six nearby Seyfert 1 nuclei. The spectra appear smooth across the Paschen edge, and we find no evidence of a Paschen spectral break or jump in total flux. We fit multi-component spectral models over the range $6800-9700$ \r{A} and find that the spectra can still be compatible with a significant DC contribution if the DC Paschen jump is offset by an opposite spectral break resulting from blended high-order Paschen emission lines. The fits imply DC contributions ranging from $\sim$10% to 50% at 8000 \r{A}, but the fitting results are highly dependent on assumptions made about other model components. These degeneracies can potentially be alleviated by carrying out fits over a broader wavelength range, provided that models can accurately represent the disk continuum shape, Fe II emission, high-order Balmer line emission, and other components.

As the number of detected gravitational wave sources increase with increasing sensitivity of the gravitational wave observatories, observing strongly lensed pair of events will become a real possibility. Lensed GW events will have very accurately measured time delays, as well as magnification ratios. If the corresponding lens system can be identified electromagnetically and the redshifts of the lens and the host galaxy can be measured, such events can be used to constrain important astrophysical parameters of the lens system. As most lensing events will have image separations that will be significantly smaller than the GW event localization uncertainties, it is important that we develop diagnostics that will aid in the robust identification of such lensed events. We define a new statistic based on the joint probability of lensing observables that can be used to discriminate lensed pair of events from the unlensed ones. To this end, we carry out simulations of lensed GW events to infer the distribution of the relative time delays, relative magnifications sub-divided by the type of lensed images. We compare this distribution to a similar one obtained for random unlensed event pairs. Our improved statistic can be used to improve the existing ranking approach adopted by the search pipelines in order to down-select event pairs for joint parameter estimates. The distributions we obtain can further be used to define more informative priors in joint parameter estimation analyses for candidate lensed events.

The core collapse of rapidly rotating massive ~10 Msun stars ("collapsars"), and resulting formation of hyper-accreting black holes, are a leading model for the central engines of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and promising sources of r-process nucleosynthesis. Here, we explore the signatures of collapsars from progenitors with extremely massive helium cores >130 Msun above the pair-instability mass gap. While rapid collapse to a black hole likely precludes a prompt explosion in these systems, we demonstrate that disk outflows can generate a large quantity (up to >50 Msun) of ejecta, comprised of >5-10 Msun in r-process elements and ~0.1-1 Msun of $^{56}$Ni, expanding at velocities ~0.1c. Radioactive heating of the disk-wind ejecta powers an optical/infrared transient, with a characteristic luminosity $\sim 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and spectral peak in the near-infrared (due to the high optical/UV opacities of lanthanide elements) similar to kilonovae from neutron star mergers, but with longer durations $\gtrsim$ 1 month. These "super-kilonovae" (superKNe) herald the birth of massive black holes >60 Msun, which, as a result of disk wind mass-loss, can populate the pair-instability mass gap 'from above' and could potentially create the binary components of GW190521. SuperKNe could be discovered via wide-field surveys such as those planned with the Roman Space Telescope or via late-time infrared follow-up observations of extremely energetic GRBs. Gravitational waves of frequency ~0.1-50 Hz from non-axisymmetric instabilities in self-gravitating massive collapsar disks are potentially detectable by proposed third-generation intermediate and high-frequency observatories at distances up to hundreds of Mpc; in contrast to the "chirp" from binary mergers, the collapsar gravitational-wave signal decreases in frequency as the disk radius grows ("sad trombone").

Recent photometric observations of first-overtone classical Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars have led to the discovery of additional frequencies showing a characteristic period ratio of 0.60-0.65 with the main pulsation mode. In a promising model proposed by Dziembowski (2016), these signals are suggested to be due to the excitation of non-radial modes with degrees 7, 8 and 9 (Cepheids) or 8 and 9 (RR Lyrae). Such modes usually have low amplitudes in photometric data. Spectroscopic time series offer an unexplored and promising way forward. We simulated time series of synthetic line profiles for a representative first-overtone classical Cepheid model and added a low-amplitude non-radial mode. We studied sets of spectra with dense sampling and without noise, so-called 'perfect' cases, as well as more realistic samplings and signal-to-noise levels. Besides the first-overtone mode and the non-radial mode, also the harmonics of both modes and combination signals were often detected, but a sufficiently high sampling and signal-to-noise ratio prove essential. The amplitudes of the non-radial mode and its harmonic depend on the azimuthal order $m$. The inclination is also an important factor determining the detectability of the non-radial mode and/or its harmonic. We compared the results obtained for the predicted high degrees with those for lower-degree modes. Finally, we studied the sampling requirements for detecting the non-radial mode. Our findings can be used to plan a spectroscopic observing campaign tailored to uncover the nature of these mysterious modes.

We employ the Delphi semi-analytical model to study the impact of black hole growth on high-redshift galaxies, both in terms of the observed UV luminosity and of the star formation rate. To do this, firstly, we assess the contribution of AGN to the total galaxy UV luminosity as a function of stellar mass and redshift. We estimate, together with their duty cycle, the observed fraction of AGN-dominated galaxies and find that they outnumber stellar-dominated galaxies at $M_{UV} \leq -24$ mag and $z \approx 5 - 6$. Secondly, we study the evolution of the AGN and stellar luminosity functions (LFs), finding that it is driven both by changes in their characteristic luminosities $M^*$ (i.e. evolution of the intrinsic brightness of galaxies) and in their normalisations $\phi^*$ (i.e. evolution of the number densities of galaxies), depending on the luminosity range considered. Finally, we follow the mass assembly history for three different halo mass bins, finding that the magnitude of AGN-driven outflows depends on the host halo mass. We show that AGN feedback is most effective when the energy emitted by the accreting black hole is approximately $1\%$ of the halo binding energy, and that this condition is met in galaxies in halos with $M_h \sim 10^{11.75} M_\odot$ at $z=4$. In such cases, AGN feedback can drive outflows that are up to 100 times more energetic than SN-driven outflows, and the star formation rate is a factor of three lower than for galaxies of the same mass without black hole activity.

Earth's distant past and potentially its future include extremely warm "hothouse" climate states, but little is known about how the atmosphere behaves in such states. One distinguishing characteristic of hothouse climates is that they feature lower-tropospheric radiative heating, rather than cooling, due to the closing of the water vapor infrared window regions. Previous work has suggested that this could lead to temperature inversions and significant changes in cloud cover, but no previous modeling of the hothouse regime has resolved convective-scale turbulent air motions and cloud cover directly, thus leaving many questions about hothouse radiative heating unanswered. Here, we conduct simulations that explicitly resolve convection and find that lower-tropospheric radiative heating in hothouse climates causes the hydrologic cycle to shift from a quasi-steady regime to a "relaxation oscillator" regime, in which precipitation occurs in short and intense outbursts separated by multi-day dry spells. The transition to the oscillatory regime is accompanied by strongly enhanced local precipitation fluxes, a significant increase in cloud cover, and a transiently positive (unstable) climate feedback parameter. Our results indicate that hothouse climates may feature a novel form of "temporal" convective self-organization, with implications for both cloud coverage and erosion processes.

In this paper we compute predictions for the number of stellar collisions derived from analytic models based on the mean free path (MFP) approximation and compare them to the results of $N$-body simulations. Our goal is to identify the cluster conditions under which the MFP approximation remains valid. Adopting a range of particle numbers ($100\leq N\leq5000$) and different combinations of particle masses and radii, we explore three different channels leading to stellar collisions, all of which are expected to occur in realistic stellar environments. At high densities, binaries form from isolated three-body interactions of single stars. Hence, we consider collisions between single stars and collisions involving binary stars, after they form in our simulations. For the latter, we consider two channels for mergers, namely direct stellar collisions during chaotic single-binary interactions and perturbation-driven mergers of binaries due to random walks in eccentricity approaching unity. In the densest systems considered here, a very massive object is formed at the cluster centre, causing local stellar orbits to become increasingly Keplerian and the assumptions going into our analytic model to break down. Before reaching this limit, we obtain excellent agreement between our theoretical predictions and the simulations: the analytic rates are typically accurate to within one standard deviation for the entire parameter space considered here, but the agreement is best for short integration times. Our results have direct implications for blue straggler formation in dense star clusters, and stellar mergers in galactic nuclei hosting massive black holes.

Prior studies have hypothesized that some polluted white dwarfs record continent-like granitic crust--which is abundant on Earth and perhaps uniquely indicative of plate tectonics. But these inferences derive from only a few elements, none of which define rock type. We thus present the first estimates of rock types on exoplanets that once orbited polluted white dwarfs--stars whose atmospheric compositions record the infall of formerly orbiting planetary objects--examining cases where Mg, Si, Ca and Fe are measured with precision. We find no evidence for continental crust, or other crust types, even after correcting for core formation. However, the silicate mantles of such exoplanets are discernible: one case is Earth like, but most are exotic in composition and mineralogy. Because these exoplanets exceed the compositional spread of >4,000 nearby main sequence stars, their unique silicate compositions are unlikely to reflect variations in parent star compositions. Instead, polluted white dwarfs reveal greater planetary variety in our solar neighborhood than currently appreciated, with consequently unique planetary accretion and differentiation paths that have no direct counterparts in our Solar System. These require new rock classification schemes, for quartz + orthopyroxene and periclase + olivine assemblages, which are proposed here.

The Gamma-ray Module (GMOD) is an experiment designed for the detection of gamma-ray bursts in low Earth orbit as the principal scientific payload on a 2-U CubeSat, EIRSAT-1. GMOD comprises a cerium bromide scintillator coupled to silicon photomultipliers which are processed and digitised by a bespoke ASIC. Custom firmware on the GMOD motherboard has been designed, implemented and tested for the MSP430 microprocessor which manages the experiment including readout, storage and configuration of the system. The firmware has been verified in a series of experiments testing the response over a realistic range of input detector trigger frequencies from 50Hz to 1kHz for the primary time tagged event (TTE) data. The power consumption and ability of the firmware to successfully receive and transmit the packets to the on-board computer was investigated. The experiment demonstrated less than 1% loss of packets up to 1kHz for the standard transfer mode with the power not exceeding 31mW. The transfer performance and power consumption demonstrated are within the required range of this CubeSat instrument.

In this manuscript we reassess the potential of interacting dark matter-dark energy models in solving the Hubble constant tension. These models, mostly modifying late-time physics, have been proposed but also questioned as possible solutions to the $H_0$ problem. Here we examine several interacting scenarios against cosmological observations, focusing on the important role played by the calibration of Supernovae data. In order to reassess the ability of interacting dark matter-dark energy scenarios in easing the Hubble constant tension, we systematically confront their theoretical predictions for $H_0$ to SH0ES measurements of \textit{(a) the Hubble constant} and \textit{(b) the intrinsic magnitude $M_B$}, explicitly showing that the choice of prior is irrelevant, as a higher value of $H_0$ is always recovered within interacting scenarios. We also find that one of the interacting scenarios provides a better fit to the cosmological data than the $\Lambda$CDM model itself.

We present the analysis of the full shape of anisotropic clustering measurement from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) quasar sample together with the combined galaxy sample from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), re-analysed using an updated recipe for the non-linear matter power spectrum and the non-local bias parameters. We obtain constraints for flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmologies, focusing on the cosmological parameters that are independent of the Hubble parameter $h$. Our recovered value for the RMS linear perturbation theory variance as measured on the scale of $12\,{\rm Mpc}$ is $\sigma_{12}=0.805\pm 0.049$, while using the traditional reference scale of $8\,h^{-1}{\rm Mpc}$ gives $\sigma_{8}=0.814\pm 0.044$. We quantify the agreement between our measurements and the latest CMB data from Planck using the suspiciousness metric, and find them to be consistent within $0.64 \pm 0.07\sigma$. Combining our clustering constraints with the $3\times2$pt data sample from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 release slightly degrades this agreement to the level of $1.54 \pm 0.10\sigma$, while still showing an overall consistency with Planck. We furthermore study the effect of imposing a Planck - like prior on the parameters that define the shape of the linear matter power spectrum, and find significantly tighter constraints on the parameters that control the evolution of density fluctuations. In particular, the combination of low-redshift data sets prefers a value of the physical dark energy density $\omega_{\rm DE}=0.335 \pm 0.011$, which is 1.7$\sigma$ higher than the one preferred by Planck.

Kanzelh\"ohe Observatory for Solar and Environmental Research (KSO) of the University of Graz (Austria) is in continuous operation since its foundation in 1943. Since the beginning its main task was the regular observation of the Sun in full disc. In this long time span covering almost seven solar cycles, a substantial amount of data was collected, which is made available online. In this paper we describe the separate processing steps from data acquisition to high level products for the different observing wavelengths. First of all we work out in detail the quality classification, which is important for further processing of the raw images. We show how we construct centre-to-limb variation (CLV) profiles and how we remove large scale intensity variations produced by the telescope optics in order to get images with uniform intensity and contrast. Another important point is an overview of the different data products from raw images to high contrast images with heliographic grids overlaid. As the data products are accessible via different sources we also present how to get information about the availability and how to obtain these data. Finally, in an appendix, we describe in detail the information in the FITS headers, the file naming and the data hierarchy.

We describe the energy budget of a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on 1999 May 17 with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS). We constrain the physical properties of the CME's core material as a function of height along the corona by using the spectra taken by the single-slit coronagraph spectrometer at heliocentric distances of 2.6 and 3.1 solar radii. We use plasma diagnostics from intensity ratios, such as the O VI doublet lines, to determine the velocity, density, temperature, and non-equilibrium ionization states. We find that the CME core's velocity is approximately 250 km/s, and its cumulative heating energy is comparable to its kinetic energy for all of the plasma heating parameterizations that we investigated. Therefore, the CME's unknown heating mechanisms have the energy to significantly affect the CME's eruption and evolution. To understand which parameters might influence the unknown heating mechanism, we constrain our model heating rates with the observed data and compare them to the rate of heating generated within a similar CME that was constructed by the MAS code's 3D MHD simulation. The rate of heating from the simulated CME agrees with our observationally constrained heating rates when we assume a quadratic power law to describe a self-similar CME expansion. Furthermore, the heating rates agree when we apply a heating parameterization that accounts for the CME flux rope's magnetic energy being converted directly into thermal energy. This UVCS analysis serves as a case study for the importance of multi-slit coronagraph spectrometers for CME studies.

We focus on weak inhomogeneous models of the Universe at low redshifts, described by the Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) metric. The principal aim of this work is to compare the evolution of inhomogeneous perturbations in the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model and $f(R)$ modified gravity theories, considering a flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric for the background. More specifically, we adopt the equivalent scalar-tensor formalism in the Jordan frame, in which the extra degree of freedom of the $f(R)$ function is converted into a non-minimally coupled scalar field. We investigate the evolution of local inhomogeneities in time and space separately, following a linear perturbation approach. Then, we obtain spherically symmetric solutions in both cosmological models. Our results allow us to distinguish between the presence of a cosmological constant and modified gravity scenarios, since a peculiar Yukawa-like solution for radial perturbations occurs in the Jordan frame. Furthermore, the radial profile of perturbations does not depend on a particular choice of the $f(R)$ function, hence our results are valid for any $f(R)$ model.

Small-scale internetwork (IN) magnetic fields are considered to be the main building blocks of the quiet Sun magnetism. For this reason, it is crucial to understand how they appear on the solar surface. Here, we employ a high-resolution, high-sensitivity, long-duration Hinode/NFI magnetogram sequence to analyze the appearance modes and spatio-temporal evolution of individual IN magnetic elements inside a supergranular cell at the disk center. From identification of flux patches and magnetofrictional simulations, we show that there are two distinct populations of IN flux concentrations: unipolar and bipolar features. Bipolar features tend to be bigger and stronger than unipolar features. They also live longer and carry more flux per feature. Both types of flux concentrations appear uniformly over the solar surface. However, we argue that bipolar features truly represent the emergence of new flux on the solar surface, while unipolar features seem to be formed by coalescence of background flux. Magnetic bipoles appear at a faster rate than unipolar features (68 as opposed to 55 Mx cm$^{-2}$ day$^{-1}$), and provide about 70% of the total instantaneous IN flux detected in the interior of the supergranule.

Radio interferometry allows astronomers to probe small spatial scales that are often inaccessible with single-dish instruments. However, recovering the radio sky from an interferometer is an ill-posed deconvolution problem that astronomers have worked on for half a century. More challenging still is achieving resolution below the array's diffraction limit, known as super-resolution imaging. To this end, we have developed a new learning-based approach for radio interferometric imaging, leveraging recent advances in the computer vision problems deconvolution and single-image super-resolution (SISR). We have developed and trained a high dynamic range residual neural network to learn the mapping between the dirty image and the true radio sky. We call this procedure POLISH, in contrast to the traditional CLEAN algorithm. The feed forward nature of learning-based approaches like POLISH is critical for analyzing data from the upcoming Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-2000). We show that POLISH achieves super-resolution, and we demonstrate its ability to deconvolve real observations from the Very Large Array (VLA). Super-resolution on DSA-2000 will allow us to measure the shapes and orientations of several hundred million star forming radio galaxies (SFGs), making it a powerful cosmological weak lensing survey and probe of dark energy. We forecast its ability to constrain the lensing power spectrum, finding that it will be complementary to next-generation optical surveys such as Euclid.

Currently, the sub-60 Hz sensitivity of gravitational-wave (GW) detectors like Advanced LIGO is limited by the control noises from auxiliary degrees of freedom, which nonlinearly couple to the main GW readout. One particularly promising way to tackle this contamination is to perform nonlinear noise mitigation using machine-learning-based convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which we examine in detail in this study. As in many cases the noise coupling is bilinear and can be viewed as a few fast channels' outputs modulated by some slow channels, we show that we can utilize this knowledge of the physical system and adopt an explicit "slow$\times$fast" structure in the design of the CNN to enhance its performance of noise subtraction. We then examine the requirement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in both the target channel (i.e., the main GW readout) and in the auxiliary sensors in order to reduce the noise by at least a factor of a few. In the case of limited SNR in the target channel, we further demonstrate that the CNN can still reach a good performance if we adopt curriculum learning techniques, which in reality can be achieved by combining data from quiet times and those from periods with active noise injections.

The isotopic compositions of ruthenium (Ru) are measured from presolar silicon carbide (SiC) grains. In a popular scenario, the presolar SiC grains formed in the outskirt of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star, left the star as a stellar wind, and joined the presolar molecular cloud from which the solar system formed. The Ru isotopes formed inside the star, moved to the stellar surface during the AGB phase, and were locked into the SiC grains. Following this scenario, we analyze the NuGrid data which provide the abundances of the Ru isotopes in the stellar wind for a set of stars in a wide range of initial masses and metallicities. We apply the C>O (carbon abundance larger than the oxygen abundance) condition which is commonly adopted for the condition of the SiC formation in the stellar wind. The NuGrid data confirm that SiC grains do not form in the winds of massive stars. The isotopic compositions of Ru in the winds of low-mass stars can explain measurements. We find that lower-mass stars ($1.65~M_\odot$ and $2~M_\odot$) with low metallicity (Z=0.0001) can explain most of the measured isotopic compositions of Ru. We confirm that the abundance of ${^{99}}$Ru inside the presolar grain includes the contribution from the in-situ decay of ${^{99}}$Tc. We also verify our conclusion by comparing the isotopic compositions of Ru integrated over all the pulses with those calculated at individual pulses.

Despite their large impact on stellar and galactic evolution, the properties of outflows from red supergiants are not well characterised. We used the Onsala 20m telescope to perform a spectral survey at 3mm and 4mm (68 - 116 GHz) of the red supergiant NML Cyg, alongside the yellow hypergiant IRC+10420. Our observations of NML Cyg were combined with complementary archival data to enable a search for signatures of morphological complexity in the circumstellar environment, using emission lines from 15 molecular species. The recovered parameters imply the presence of three distinct, coherent and persistent components, comprised of blue-shifted and red-shifted components, in addition to an underlying outflow centred at the stellar systemic velocity. Furthermore, to reproduce CO emission with three-dimensional radiative transfer models required a spherical outflow with three superposed conical outflows, one towards and one away from the observer, and one in the plane of the sky. These components are higher in density than the spherical outflow by up to an order of magnitude. We hence propose that NML Cyg's circumstellar environment consists of a small number of high-density large-scale coherent outflows embedded in a spherical wind. This would make the mass-loss history similar to that of VY CMa, and distinct from mu Cep, where the outflow contains many randomly distributed smaller clumps. A possible correlation between stellar properties, outflow structures and content is critical in understanding the evolution of massive stars and their environmental impact.

About a quarter of massive binary stars undergo mass transfer while both stars burn hydrogen at their cores, first on the thermal and then on the nuclear timescale. The nuclear timescale mass transfer leads to observable counterparts: the semi-detached so-called massive Algol binaries. However, comprehensive model predictions for these systems are sparse. We study them using a large grid of ~10,000 detailed binary evolution models calculated with the stellar evolution code MESA, covering initial donor masses between 10-40 M$_{\odot}$ and initial orbital periods above 1.4 d, at a metallicity suitable for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Our models imply ~30, or ~3% of the ~1,000 core hydrogen burning O-star binaries in the LMC to be currently in the semi-detached phase. Our donor models are up to 25-times more luminous than single stars of identical mass and effective temperature, which agrees with the observed Algols. A comparison of our models with the observed orbital periods and mass ratios implies rather conservative mass transfer in some systems, while very inefficient one in others. This is generally well reproduced by our spin-dependent mass transfer algorithm, except for the lowest considered masses. The observations reflect the slow increase of the surface nitrogen enrichment of the donors during the semi-detached phase all the way to CNO equilibrium. We also investigate the properties of our models after core hydrogen depletion of the donor star, when these models correspond to Wolf-Rayet/helium+OB star binaries. A dedicated spectroscopic survey of massive Algol systems may allow to derive the dependence of the efficiency of thermal timescale mass transfer on the binary parameters, as well as the efficiency of semiconvective mixing in the stellar interior. This would be a crucial step towards reliable binary models up to the formation of supernovae and compact objects.

We initiated a deep-imaging survey of Scorpius-Centaurus A-F stars with predicted warm inner and cold outer belts of debris reminiscent of the architecture of emblematic systems such as HR 8799. We present resolved SPHERE images of a narrow ring of debris around the F5-type star HD 141011 that was observed as part of our survey in 2015, 2016, and 2019. The ring extends up to ~1.1" (~141 au) from the star in the IRDIS and IFS data obtained in 2016 and 2019. The disk is not detected in the 2015 data which are of poorer quality. The disks is best reproduced by models of a noneccentric ring centered on the star with an inclination of $69.1\pm0.9^{\circ}$, a position angle of $-24.6 \pm 1.7^{\circ}$, and a semimajor axis of $127.5\pm3.8$ au. The combination of radial velocity and imaging data excludes brown-dwarf (M>13.6 MJup) companions coplanar with the disk from 0.1 to 0.9 au and from 20 au up to 500 au (90% probability). HD 141011 adds to the growing list of debris disks that are resolved in Sco-Cen. It is one of the faintest disks that are resolved from the ground and has a radial extent and fractional width ($\sim$12.5%) reminiscent of Fomalhaut. Its moderate inclination and large semimajor axis make it a good target for the James Webb Space Telescope and should allow a deeper search for putative companions shaping the dust distribution.

WASP-43 b is one of the most important candidates for detecting an orbital decay. We investigate pieces of evidence for this expectation as variations in its transit timings, based on the ground and space observations. The data set includes the transit observations at the TUBITAK National Observatory of Turkey and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). We present a global model of the system, based on the most precise photometry from space, ground, and archival radial velocity data. Using the homogenized data set and modeled light curves, we measure the mid-transit times for WASP-43 b. Our analysis agrees with a linear ephemeris for which we refine the light elements for future observations of the system. However, there is a negative difference between the transit timings derived from TESS data in two sectors (9 and 35) and a hint of an orbital period decrease in the entire data set. Both findings are statistically insignificant due to the short baseline of observations, which prevents us from drawing firm conclusions about the orbital decay of this ultra-short-period planet. However, assuming the effect of this decrease of the period in the planet's orbit, we derive a lower limit for the reduced tidal quality factor as Q'_* > (4.01 +_ 1.15). 10^5 from the best-fitting quadratic function. Finally, we calculate a probable rotational period for this system as 7.52 days from the out-of-transit flux variation in the TESS light curves due to spot modulation.

Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of active galactic nuclei at millimeter wavelengths have the power to reveal the launching and initial collimation region of extragalactic radio jets, down to $10-100$ gravitational radii ($r_g=GM/c^2$) scales in nearby sources. Centaurus A is the closest radio-loud source to Earth. It bridges the gap in mass and accretion rate between the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in Messier 87 and our galactic center. A large southern declination of $-43^{\circ}$ has however prevented VLBI imaging of Centaurus A below ${\lambda}1$cm thus far. Here, we show the millimeter VLBI image of the source, which we obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope at $228$GHz. Compared to previous observations, we image Centaurus A's jet at a tenfold higher frequency and sixteen times sharper resolution and thereby probe sub-lightday structures. We reveal a highly-collimated, asymmetrically edge-brightened jet as well as the fainter counterjet. We find that Centaurus A's source structure resembles the jet in Messier 87 on ${\sim}500r_g$ scales remarkably well. Furthermore, we identify the location of Centaurus A's SMBH with respect to its resolved jet core at ${\lambda}1.3$mm and conclude that the source's event horizon shadow should be visible at THz frequencies. This location further supports the universal scale invariance of black holes over a wide range of masses.

The aim of this work is to determine fundamental parameters of three Ap stars, GO And (HD 4778), $\kappa$ Psc (HD 220825), and 84 UMa (HD 120198), using spectroscopic techniques. By analysing these stars, we complete the sample of Ap stars for which fundamental parameters have additionally been derived by means of interferometry. This enables a cross-comparison of results derived by direct and indirect methods. For all investigated stars, we determined fundamental parameters and derived chemical abundances that are typical for Ap stars. The abundances are mainly characterised by a gradual increase of heavy element atmospheric abundances from an order of magnitude for iron peak elements up to very significant excesses of 3-4 dex of the rare-earth elements relative to the solar values. The only exception is Ba, whose abundance is close to the solar abundance. There is also a significant He deficiency in the atmospheres of HD 120198 and HD 220825, whereas the He abundance in HD 4778 is close to the solar abundance. We do not find significant Fe and Cr stratification. Using these abundances, we constructed self-consistent atmospheric models for each star. The effect of the surface chemical inhomogeneity on the derived fundamental parameters did not exceed +/-100 K in effective temperature, which lies within the range of errors in similar self-consistent analyses of Ap stars. Finally, we compared spectroscopically derived effective temperatures, radii, and luminosity for 13 out of 14 Ap stars in a benchmark sample with the interferometric results. While radii and luminosity agree within the quoted errors of both determinations, the spectroscopic effective temperatures are higher than the interferometric temperatures for stars with temperatures $T_{eff} >$ 9000 K. The observed hydrogen line profiles favour the spectroscopically derived temperatures.

In this paper we make predictions for the behaviour of wind bubbles around young massive stars using analytic theory. We do this in order to determine why there is a discrepancy between theoretical models that predict that winds should play a secondary role to photoionisation in the dynamics of HII regions, and observations of young HII regions that seem to suggest a driving role for winds. In particular, regions such as M42 in Orion have neutral hydrogen shells, suggesting that the ionising radiation is trapped closer to the star. We first derive formulae for wind bubble evolution in non-uniform density fields, focusing on singular isothermal sphere density fields with a power law index of -2. We find that a classical "Weaver"-like expansion velocity becomes constant in such a density distribution. We then calculate the structure of the photoionised shell around such wind bubbles, and determine at what point the mass in the shell cannot absorb all of the ionising photons emitted by the star, causing an "overflow" of ionising radiation. We also estimate perturbations from cooling, gravity, magnetic fields and instabilities, all of which we argue are secondary effects for the conditions studied here. Our wind-driven model provides a consistent explanation for the behaviour of M42 to within the errors given by observational studies. We find that in relatively denser molecular cloud environments \around single young stellar sources, champagne flows are unlikely until the wind shell breaks up due to turbulence or clumping in the cloud.

The angular momentum (spin) acquisition by a collapsing domain wall at the cosmological radiation-dominated stage is investigated. During the collapses, primordial black holes and their clusters can be born in various mass ranges. Spin accumulation occurs under the influence of tidal gravitational perturbations from the surrounding density inhomogeneities at the epoch when the domain wall crosses the cosmological horizon. It is shown that the dimensionless spin parameter can have the small values $a_S<1$ only for primordial black holes with masses $M>10^{-3}M_\odot$, whereas less massive black holes receive extreme spins $a_S\simeq1$. It is possible that primordial black holes obtain an additional spin due to the vector mode of perturbations.

Recent kinetic simulations sparked a debate regarding the emission mechanism responsible for pulsed GeV $\gamma$-ray emission from pulsars. Some models invoke curvature radiation, while other models assume synchrotron radiation in the current-sheet. We interpret the curved spectrum of the Vela pulsar as seen by H.E.S.S. II (up to $\sim$100 GeV) and the $Fermi$ Large Area Telescope (LAT) to be the result of curvature radiation due to primary particles in the pulsar magnetosphere and current sheet. We present phase-resolved spectra and energy-dependent light curves using an extended slot gap and current sheet model, invoking a step function for the accelerating electric field as motivated by kinetic simulations. We include a refined calculation of the curvature radius of particle trajectories in the lab frame, impacting the particle transport, predicted light curves, and spectra. Our model reproduces the decrease of the flux of the first peak relative to the second one, evolution of the bridge emission, near-constant phase positions of peaks, and narrowing of pulses with increasing energy. We can explain the first of these trends because we find that the curvature radii of the particle trajectories in regions where the second $\gamma$-ray light curve peak originates are systematically larger than those associated with the first peak, implying that the spectral cutoff of the second peak is correspondingly larger. However, an unknown azimuthal dependence of the $E$-field as well as uncertainty in the precise spatial origin of the GeV emission, precludes a simplistic discrimination of emission mechanisms.

The hot gas in clusters of galaxies creates a distinctive spectral distortion in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. The spectral signature of the SZ can be used to measure the CMB temperature at cluster redshift ($T_{\rm CMB}(z)$) and to constrain the monopole of the y-type spectral distortion of the CMB spectrum. In this work, we start showing the measurements of $T_{\rm CMB}(z)$ for a sample extracted from the Second Catalog of galaxy clusters produced by Planck (PSZ2) and containing 75 clusters selected from CHEX-MATE. Then we show the forecasts for future CMB experiments about the constraints on the monopole of the y-type spectral distortion of the CMB spectrum via the spectrum of the SZE.

We search for features in the mass distribution of detected compact binary coalescences which signify the transition between neutron stars and black holes. We analyze all gravitational wave detections by LIGO-Virgo made through the end of the first half of the third observing run, and find clear evidence for two different populations of compact objects based solely on gravitational wave data. We confidently (99.3%) find a deviation from a single power law describing both neutron stars and low-mass black holes at $2.4^{+0.5}_{-0.5} M_{\odot}$, which is consistent with many predictions for the maximum neutron star mass. We find suggestions of the purported lower mass gap between the most massive neutron stars and the least massive black holes, but are unable to conclusively resolve it with current data. If it exists, we find the lower mass gap's edges to lie at $2.2^{+0.7}_{-0.5} M_{\odot}$ and $6.0^{+2.4}_{-1.4} M_{\odot}$. We then re-examine events that have been deemed "exceptional" by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaborations in the context of these features. We analyze GW190814 self-consistently in the context of the full population of compact binaries, finding support for its secondary mass to be either a NS or a lower mass gap object, consistent with previous claims. Our models are the first to be able to accommodate this event, which is an outlier with respect to the binary black hole population. We find that the NSBH events GW200105 and GW200115 probe the edges of, and may have components within, the lower mass gap. As future data improves the global population models, the classification of these events will also become more precise.

The period-change rate (PCR) of pulsating variable stars is a useful probe of changes in their interior structure, and thus of their evolutionary stages. So far, the PCRs of Classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been explored in a limited sample of the total population of these variables. Here we use a template-based method to build observed minus computed (O-C) period diagrams, from which we can derive PCRs for these stars by taking advantage of the long time baseline afforded by the Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH) light curves, combined with additional data from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE), the MAssive Compact Halo Object (MACHO) project, Gaia's Data Release 2, and in some cases the All-Sky Automated Survey (ASAS). From an initial sample of 2315 sources, our method provides an unprecedented sample of 1303 LMC Classical Cepheids with accurate PCRs, the largest for any single galaxy, including the Milky Way. The derived PCRs are largely compatible with theoretically expected values, as computed by our team using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) code, as well as with similar previous computations available in the literature. Additionally, five long-period (P>50 d) sources display a cyclic behavior in their O-C diagrams, which is clearly incompatible with evolutionary changes. Finally, on the basis of their large positive PCR values, two first-crossing Cepheid candidates are identified.

Benefiting from the GAIA second and early third releases of photometric and astrometric data we examine the population of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars that appear in the fields of intermediate-age and young open star clusters. We identify 49 AGB star candidates, brighter than the tip of the red giant branch, with a good-to-high cluster membership probability. Among them we find 19 TP-AGB stars with known spectral type: 4 M stars, 3 MS/S stars and 12 C stars. By combining observations, stellar models, and radiative transfer calculations that include the effect of circumstellar dust, we characterize each star in terms of initial mass, luminosity, mass-loss rate, core mass, period and mode of pulsation. The information collected helps us shed light on the TP-AGB evolution at solar-like metallicity, placing constraints on the third dredge-up process, the initial masses of carbon stars, stellar winds, and the initial-final mass relation (IFMR). In particular, we find that two bright carbon stars, MSB 75 and BM IV 90, members of the clusters NGC 7789 and NGC 2660 (with similar ages of $\simeq 1.2-1.6$ Gyr and initial masses $ 2.1 \ge M_{\rm i}/M_{\odot} \ge 1.9$), have unusually high core masses, $M_{\rm c} \approx 0.67-0.7\,M_{\odot}$. These results support the findings of a recent work (Marigo et al. 2020) that identified a kink in the IFMR, which interrupts its monotonic trend just at the same initial masses. Finally, we investigate two competing scenarios to explain the $M_{\rm c}$ data: the role of stellar winds in single-star evolution, and binary interactions through the blue-straggler channel.

Observations indicate that large, dust-laden protoplanetary discs are common. Some features, like gaps, rings and spirals, suggest they may host young planets, which can excite the orbits of nearby leftover planetesimals. Energetic collisions among these bodies can lead to the production of second-generation dust. Grains produced by collisions may have a dynamical behaviour different from that of first-generation, primordial dust out of which planetesimals and planets formed. We aim to study these differences for the HD 163296 system and determine whether dynamical signatures in the mixture of the two dust populations can help separate their contributions. We use three-dimensional (3-D) hydrodynamic models to describe the gaseous disc with three, Saturn- to Jupiter-mass, embedded planets. Dust grains, of sizes 1um-1mm, are treated as Lagrangean particles with resolved thermodynamics and mass loss. Initial disc and planet configurations are derived from observation-based work, which indicates low gas viscosity. The 3-D approach also allows us to detect the formation of vortices induced by Rossby waves, where dust becomes concentrated and may contribute to planetesimal formation. We find that the main differences in the dynamical behaviour of first- and second-generation dust occur in the vertical distribution. The two populations have similar distributions around the disc mid-plane, although second-generation dust shows longer residence times close to the radial locations of the planets' gas gaps. Sedimentation rates of um-size grains are comparable to or lower than the production rates by planetesimals' collisions, making this population potentially observable. These outcomes can be extended to similar systems harbouring giant planets.

The morphology of galaxies reflects their assembly history and ongoing dynamical perturbations from the environment. Analyzing i-band images from the Pan-STARRS1 Survey, we study the optical morphological asymmetry of the host galaxies of a large, well-defined sample of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to investigate the role of mergers and interactions in triggering nuclear activity. The AGNs, comprising 245 type 1 and 4514 type 2 objects, are compared with 4537 star-forming galaxies matched in redshift and stellar mass. We develop a comprehensive masking strategy to isolate the emission of the target from foreground stars and other contaminating sources, all the while retaining projected companions of comparable brightness that may be major mergers. Among three variants of nonparametric indices, both the popular CAS asymmetry parameter and the outer asymmetry parameter (A_outer) yield robust measures of morphological distortion for star-forming galaxies and type 2 AGNs, while only A_outer is effective for type 1 AGNs. The shape asymmetry, by comparison, is affected more adversely by background noise. Asymmetry indices > 0.4 effectively trace systems that are candidate ongoing mergers. Contrary to theoretical expectations, galaxy interactions and mergers are not the main drivers of nuclear activity, at least not in our sample of low-redshift, relatively low-luminosity AGNs, whose host galaxies are significantly less asymmetric than the control sample of star-forming galaxies. Moreover, type 2 AGNs are morphologically indistinguishable from their type 1 counterparts. The level of AGN activity does not correlate with asymmetry, not even among the major merger candidates. As a by-product, we find, consistent with previous studies, that the average asymmetry of star-forming galaxies increases above the main sequence, although not all major mergers exhibit enhanced star formation.

Based on the long-term monitoring data of the water maser since 2019.0 to 2021.0 allowed us detecting in IRAS 16293-2422 two powerful phenomena lasted about year at radial velocities near 6 and 8 km s$^{-1}$. In both cases, powerful short flares were located on the tops of less powerful, but more prolonged ones (2.5 and 0.5 kJy), radiation of which initiated the emission of more powerful flares. For the first time, configurations of several emitting maser spots located at the line of sight to the observer were discovered experimentally. This made it possible to confirm the hypothesis of activation of the water maser, based on an increase in the amplification length of the maser due to several maser condensations located at the line of sight to the observer. The unsaturated state of the most powerful and shortest maser flares, as well as the saturated state of the weak, has been established. New important parameters of the water maser and the assumed location of the maser spots have been obtained.

We use 47 gravitational-wave sources from the Third LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-3) to estimate the Hubble parameter $H(z)$, including its current value, the Hubble constant $H_0$. Each gravitational-wave (GW) signal provides the luminosity distance to the source and we estimate the corresponding redshift using two methods: the redshifted masses and a galaxy catalog. Using the binary black hole (BBH) redshifted masses, we simultaneously infer the source mass distribution and $H(z)$. The source mass distribution displays a peak around $34\, {\rm M_\odot}$, followed by a drop-off. Assuming this mass scale does not evolve with redshift results in a $H(z)$ measurement, yielding $H_0=68^{+13}_{-7} {\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$ ($68\%$ credible interval) when combined with the $H_0$ measurement from GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart. This represents an improvement of 13% with respect to the $H_0$ estimate from GWTC-1. The second method associates each GW event with its probable host galaxy in the catalog GLADE+, statistically marginalizing over the redshifts of each event's potential hosts. Assuming a fixed BBH population, we estimate a value of $H_0=68^{+8}_{-6} {\rm km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$ with the galaxy catalog method, an improvement of 41% with respect to our GWTC-1 result and 20% with respect to recent $H_0$ studies using GWTC-2 events. However, we show that this result is strongly impacted by assumptions about the BBH source mass distribution; the only event which is not strongly impacted by such assumptions (and is thus informative about $H_0$) is the well-localized event GW190814.

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (1 November 2019 15:00 UTC-27 March 2020 17:00 UTC).We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 gamma-ray bursts and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short gamma-ray burst progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these gamma-ray bursts. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for sub-threshold gravitational wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each gamma-ray burst. Finally, we constrain the population of low luminosity short gamma-ray bursts using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate.

HCN is considered a good tracer of the dense molecular gas that serves as fuel for star formation. However, recent large-scale surveys of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) have detected extended HCN line emission. Such observations often resolve the HCN J=1-0 hyperfine structure (HFS). A precise determination of the physical conditions of the gas requires treating the HFS line overlap effects. Here, we study the HCN HFS excitation and line emission using nonlocal radiative transfer models that include line overlaps and new HFS-resolved collisional rate coefficients for inelastic collisions of HCN with both para-H2 and ortho-H2 (computed via the scaled-IOS approximation up to Tk=500 K). In addition, we account for the role of electron collisions in the HFS level excitation. We find that line overlap and opacity effects frequently produce anomalous HCN J=1-0 HFS line intensity ratios (inconsistent with the common assumption of the same Tex for all HFS lines) as well as anomalous HFS line width ratios. Line overlap and electron collisions also enhance the excitation of the higher J rotational lines. Electron excitation becomes important for molecular gas with H2 densities below a few 10^5 cm-3 and electron abundances above ~10^-5. In particular, electron excitation can produce low-surface-brightness HCN emission from very extended but low-density gas in GMCs. The existence of such a widespread HCN emission component may affect the interpretation of the extragalactic relationship HCN luminosity versus star-formation rate. Alternatively, extended HCN emission may arise from dense star-forming cores and become resonantly scattered by large envelopes of lower density gas. There are two scenarios - namely, electron-assisted (weakly) collisionally excited versus scattering - that lead to different HCN J=1-0 HFS intensity ratios, which can be tested on the basis of observations.

Our motion through the Universe generates a dipole in the temperature anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and also in the angular distribution of sources. If the cosmological principle is valid, these two dipoles are directly linked, such that the amplitude of one determines that of the other. However, it is a longstanding problem that number counts of radio sources and of quasars at low and intermediate redshifts exhibit a dipole that is well aligned with that of the CMB but with about twice the expected amplitude, leading to a tension reaching up to $4.9 \sigma$. In this paper, we revisit the theoretical derivation of the dipole in the sources number counts, explicitly accounting for the redshift evolution of the population of sources. We argue that if the spectral index and magnification bias of the sources vary with redshift, the standard theoretical description of the dipole may be inaccurate. We provide an alternative expression which does not depend on the spectral index, but instead on the time evolution of the population of sources. We then determine the values that this evolution rate should have in order to remove the tension with the CMB dipole.

In the past decade filaments have been recognised as a major structural element of the interstellar medium, the densest of these filaments hosting the formation of most stars. In some star-forming molecular clouds converging networks of filaments, also known as hub filament systems, can be found. These hubs are believed to be preferentially associated to massive star formation. As of today, there are no metrics that allow the systematic quantification of a filament network convergence. Here, we used the IRAM 30m NIKA2 observations of the Galactic plane from the GASTON large programme to systematically identify filaments and produce a filament convergence parameter map. We use such a map to show that: i. hub filaments represent a small fraction of the global filament population; ii. hubs host, in proportion, more massive and more luminous compact sources that non-hubs; iii. hub-hosting clumps are more evolved that non-hubs; iv. no discontinuities are observed in the properties of compact sources as a function of convergence parameter. We propose that the rapid global collapse of clumps is responsible for (re)organising filament networks into hubs and, in parallel, enhancing the mass growth of compact sources.

Using the Parker Solar Probe FIELDS bandpass filter data and SWEAP electron data from Encounters 1 through 9, we show statistical properties of narrowband whistlers from ~16 Rs to ~130 Rs, and compare wave occurrence to electron properties including beta, temperature anisotropy and heat flux. Whistlers are very rarely observed inside ~28 Rs (~0.13 au). Outside 28 Rs, they occur within a narrow range of parallel electron beta from ~1 to 10, and with a beta-heat flux occurrence consistent with the whistler heat flux fan instability. Because electron distributions inside ~30 Rs display signatures of the ambipolar electric field, the lack of whistlers suggests that the modification of the electron distribution function associated with the ambipolar electric field or changes in other plasma properties must result in lower instability limits for the other modes (including solitary waves, ion acoustic waves) that are observed close to the Sun. The lack of narrowband whistler-mode waves close to the Sun and in regions of either low (<.1) or high (>10) beta is also significant for the understanding and modeling of the evolution of flare-accelerated electrons, and the regulation of heat flux in astrophysical settings including other stellar winds, the interstellar medium, accretion disks, and the intra-galaxy cluster medium

We report on the population properties of 76 compact binary mergers detected with gravitational waves below a false alarm rate of 1 per year through GWTC-3. The catalog contains three classes of binary mergers: BBH, BNS, and NSBH mergers. We infer the BNS merger rate to be between 13 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ and 1900 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ and the NSBH merger rate to be between 7.4 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ and 320 $\rm{Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}}$ , assuming a constant rate density versus comoving volume and taking the union of 90% credible intervals for methods used in this work. Accounting for the BBH merger rate to evolve with redshift, we find the BBH merger rate to be between 17.3 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ and 45 $\rm{Gpc^{-3}\, yr^{-1}}$ at a fiducial redshift (z=0.2). We obtain a broad neutron star mass distribution extending from $1.2^{+0.1}_{-0.2} M_\odot$ to $2.0^{+0.3}_{-0.2} M_\odot$. We can confidently identify a rapid decrease in merger rate versus component mass between neutron star-like masses and black-hole-like masses, but there is no evidence that the merger rate increases again before 10 $M_\odot$. We also find the BBH mass distribution has localized over- and under-densities relative to a power law distribution. While we continue to find the mass distribution of a binary's more massive component strongly decreases as a function of primary mass, we observe no evidence of a strongly suppressed merger rate above $\sim 60 M_\odot$. The rate of BBH mergers is observed to increase with redshift at a rate proportional to $(1+z)^{\kappa}$ with $\kappa = 2.7^{+1.8}_{-1.9}$ for $z\lesssim 1$. Observed black hole spins are small, with half of spin magnitudes below $\chi_i \simeq 0.26$. We observe evidence of negative aligned spins in the population, and an increase in spin magnitude for systems with more unequal mass ratio.

Recent observations have shown that pulsars are surrounded by extended regions which emit TeV-scale gamma rays through the inverse Compton scattering of very high energy electrons and positrons. Such TeV halos are responsible for a large fraction of the Milky Way's TeV-scale gamma-ray emission. In this paper, we calculate the gamma-ray spectrum from the population of TeV halos located within the Andromeda Galaxy, predicting a signal that is expected to be detectable by the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). We also calculate the contribution from TeV halos to the isotropic gamma-ray background (IGRB), finding that these sources should contribute significantly to this flux at the highest measured energies, constituting up to $\sim 20\%$ of the signal observed above $\sim 0.1 \, {\rm TeV}$.

Considering extreme-mass-ratio inspirals along with the conservative dynamics of gravitational self-force, we compare viable theories of gravity. In particular, by examining a Schwarzschild background we analyse the self-force-induced corrections to gauge-invariant benchmarks given by the orbital frequency at the ISCO and the spin-precession rate. Moreover, following an established indication of modifications to the equations of motion in extended theories of gravity, we exploit a phenomenological approach, relying on the variability of the gravitational constant G, to incorporate these modifications. We find that conservative effects shape up to be a test-bed for theories of gravity, allowing us to contrast General Relativity with competing theories. By examining strong-field constraints, we highlight a wide margin of investigation in the context of LISA Mission.

The Vector-Tensor (VT) theories of gravity are a class of alternative theories to General Relativity (GR) that are characterized by the presence of a dynamical vector field besides the metric. They are studied in attempts to understand spontaneous Lorentz violation, to generate massive gravitons, and as models of dark matter and dark energy. In this article, I outline how the nature of singularities and horizons in VT theories differ greatly from GR even under the same ordinary conditions. This is illustrated with Einsteinaether theory where vacuum black hole solutions have naked singularities and vacuum cosmological solutions have new singularities that are otherwise absent in GR. It would be interesting to explore these deviations using gravitational waves

We look for and place observational constraints on the imprint of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) soliton cores in rotation-dominated galaxies. Extending previous analyses, we find a conservative, model-independent constraint which disfavours the soliton-host halo relation found in numerical simulations over a broad range in the ULDM particle mass $m$. Combining the observational constraints with theoretical arguments for the efficiency of soliton formation via gravitational dynamical relaxation, our results disfavour ULDM from comprising 100% of the total cosmological dark matter in the range $10^{-24}~{\rm eV}\lesssim m\lesssim10^{-20}~{\rm eV}$. The constraints probe the ULDM fraction down to $f\lesssim0.3$ of the total dark matter.

Charged-lepton flavor violation (CLFV) is a smoking-gun signature of physics beyond the Standard Model. The discovery of CLFV in upcoming experiments would indicate that CLFV processes must have been efficient in the early Universe at relatively low temperatures. In this letter, we point out that such efficient CLFV interactions open up new ways of creating the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. First, we revisit the one-loop corrections from charged-lepton Yukawa interactions to the chemical transport in the Standard Model plasma, which imply that nonzero lepton flavor asymmetries summing up to $B-L = 0$ are enough to generate the baryon asymmetry. Then, we describe two scenarios of what we call {\it leptoflavorgenesis}, where efficient CLFV processes are responsible for the generation of primordial lepton flavor asymmetries that are subsequently converted to a baryon asymmetry by weak sphaleron processes. Here, the conversion factor from lepton flavor asymmetry to baryon asymmetry is suppressed by charged-lepton Yukawa couplings squared, which provides a natural explanation for the smallness of the observed baryon-to-photon ratio.

We explore whether the axion which solves the strong CP problem can naturally be much lighter than the canonical QCD axion. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ symmetry proposed by Hook, with $\mathcal{N}$ mirror and degenerate worlds coexisting in Nature and linked by the axion field, is considered and the associated phenomenology is studied in detail. On a second step, we show that dark matter can be accounted for by this extremely light axion. This includes the first proposal of a "fuzzy dark matter" QCD axion. A novel misalignment mechanism occurs -- trapped misalignment -- due to the peculiar temperature dependence of the $Z_\mathcal{N}$ axion potential, which in some cases can also dynamically source the recently proposed kinetic misalignment mechanism. The resulting universal enhancement of all axion interactions relative to those of the canonical QCD axion has a strong impact on the prospects of ALP experiments such as ALPS II, IAXO and many others. For instance, even Phase I of Casper Electric could discover this axion.

DEAP-3600 is a single-phase liquid argon (LAr) dark matter detector, located 2 km underground at SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada, which started taking data in 2016. The detector is sensitive to nuclear recoils induced by scattering of dark matter particles, which would cause emission of prompt scintillation light. DEAP-3600 demonstrated excellent performance, holds the leading WIMP exclusion among LAr detectors, and published several physics results. The WIMP sensitivity of the detector is currently limited by backgrounds induced by alpha activity at the LAr inlet, in a shadowed region of detector. The ongoing hardware upgrade aims at fixing that limitation and, in consequence, at reaching the full WIMP sensitivity. This paper summarizes the latest results from DEAP-3600 and details of the upgrade.

Gravitational-wave measurements of the tidal deformability of neutron stars could reveal important information regarding their internal structure, the equation of state of high-dense nuclear matter and gravity in strong field regime. In this work, we extend the relativistic theory of the tidal deformability of neutron stars to Rastall gravity. Both the electric-type and magnetic-type quadrupole tidal Love numbers are calculated for neutron stars in the polytrope model. It is found that neutron star's tidal Love numbers in Rastall gravity is significantly smaller than those in general relativity. Our results provide new evidence of the degeneracy between the modification of gravity and the equation of state of nuclear matter in neutron stars.

We consider necessary and sufficient conditions for photons emitted from an arbitrary spacetime position of the extremal Kerr black hole to escape to infinity. The radial equation of motion determines necessary conditions for photons emitted from $r=r_*$ to escape to infinity, and the polar angle equation of motion further restricts the allowed region of photon motion. From these two conditions, we provide a method to visualize a two-dimensional photon impact parameter space that allows photons to escape to infinity, i.e., the escapable region. Finally, we completely identify the escapable region for the extremal Kerr black hole spacetime. This study has generalized our previous result [K.~Ogasawara and T.~Igata, Phys. Rev. D \textbf{103}, 044029 (2021)], which focused only on light sources near the horizon, to the classification covering light sources in the entire region.

In this paper, we develop a novel data-driven method for Deformable Mirror (DM) control. The developed method updates both the DM model and DM control actions that produce desired mirror surface shapes. The novel method explicitly takes into account actuator constraints and couples a feedback control algorithm with an algorithm for recursive estimation of DM influence function models. In addition to this, we explore the possibility of using Walsh basis functions for DM control. By expressing the desired and observed mirror surface shapes as sums of Walsh pattern matrices, we formulate the control problem in the 2D Walsh basis domain. We thoroughly experimentally verify the developed approach on a 140-actuator MEMS DM, developed by Boston Micromachines. Our results show that the novel method produces the root-mean-square surface error in the $14-40$ nanometer range. These results can additionally be improved by tuning the control and estimation parameters. The developed approach is also applicable to other DM types, such as for example, segmented DMs.

Focusing on the rotating black hole (BH) surrounded by the anisotropic fluid matters; radiation, dust, and dark matter, we study the massive scalar superradiant scattering and the stability in the Kiselev spacetime. Superradiance behavior is dependent on the intensity parameter of the anisotropic matter $K$ in the Kiselev spacetime. By adopting the manifest of low-frequency and low-mass for the scalar perturbation, we find $K<0$ enhances the superradiance scattering within the broader frequency range, compared to $K=0$ while $K>0$ suppresses within the narrower frequency range. As a result, the radiation and dark matter around the rotating BH act as amplifier and attenuator for the massive scalar superradiance, respectively. This is while the dust has a twofold role because of admitting both signs of $K$. Through stability analysis in the light of the BH bomb mechanism, we show in the presence of dark matter, the instability regime of standard Kerr BH ($K=0$) gets improved in favor of stabilization while the radiation and dust do not affect it. In other words, by taking the dark matter fluid around BH into account, we obtain a broader regime that allows the massive scalar field dynamic to enjoy superradiant stability.

We employ the recently improved description of dense baryonic matter within the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model to construct neutron stars. In contrast to previous holographic approaches, the presence of an isospin asymmetry allows us to implement beta equilibrium and electric charge neutrality. As a consequence, we are able to model the crust of the star within the same formalism and compute the location of the crust-core transition dynamically. After showing that a simple pointlike approximation for the baryons fails to satisfy astrophysical constraints, we demonstrate that our improved description does account for neutron stars that meet the current experimental constraints for mass, radius, and tidal deformability. However, we also point out tensions in the parameter fit and large-$N_c$ artifacts and discuss how to potentially resolve them in the future.

Astrotourism and related citizen science activities are becoming a major trend of a sustainable, high-quality tourism segment, core elements to the protection of Dark skies in many countries. In the Summer of 2020, in the middle of COVID pandemics, we started an initiative to train young students - Cyber-Cosmos - using an Unistellar eVscope, a smart, compact and user-friendly digital telescope that offers unprecedented opportunities for deep-sky observation and citizen science campaigns. Sponsored by the Ci\^encia Viva Summer program, this was probably the first continuous application of this equipment in a pedagogical and citizen-science context, and in a pandemic context. Pampilhosa da Serra, home to a certified Dark Sky destination (Aldeias do Xisto) in central Portugal, was the chosen location for this project, where we expect astrotourism and citizen science to flourish and contribute to space sciences education.

The third Gravitational-wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-3) describes signals detected with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo up to the end of their third observing run. Updating the previous GWTC-2.1, we present candidate gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences during the second half of the third observing run (O3b) between 1 November 2019, 15:00 UTC and 27 March 2020, 17:00 UTC. There are 35 compact binary coalescence candidates identified by at least one of our search algorithms with a probability of astrophysical origin $p_\mathrm{astro} > 0.5$. Of these, 18 were previously reported as low-latency public alerts, and 17 are reported here for the first time. Based upon estimates for the component masses, our O3b candidates with $p_\mathrm{astro} > 0.5$ are consistent with gravitational-wave signals from binary black holes or neutron star-black hole binaries, and we identify none from binary neutron stars. However, from the gravitational-wave data alone, we are not able to measure matter effects that distinguish whether the binary components are neutron stars or black holes. The range of inferred component masses is similar to that found with previous catalogs, but the O3b candidates include the first confident observations of neutron star-black hole binaries. Including the 35 candidates from O3b in addition to those from GWTC-2.1, GWTC-3 contains 90 candidates found by our analysis with $p_\mathrm{astro} > 0.5$ across the first three observing runs. These observations of compact binary coalescences present an unprecedented view of the properties of black holes and neutron stars.

Supergravity embedding of the Standard Model of particle physics provides phenomenologically well-motivated and observationally viable inflationary scenarios. We study a class of inflationary models based on the superconformal framework of supergravity and discuss constraints from the reheating temperature, with the particular focus on the gravitino problem inherent in these scenarios. We point out that a large part of the parameter space within the latest BICEP/Keck 95\% confidence contour has already been excluded by the gravitino constraints. Precision measurements of the scalar spectral index by a future mission may falsify these scenarios conclusively.

Axion or axion-like particle (ALP) has been usually considered as a CP-odd Nambu-Goldstone boson (NGB) from the spontaneous breakdown of a global U(1) symmetry. In this paper, we point out that the NGB behaves as a CP-even particle coupled to the SM particles in a large class of simple (or perhaps the simplest) renormalizable models. We provide a first study of the collider phenomenology and cosmology of the CP-even ALP. In a natural parameter region, the CP-even ALP can be produced from the Higgs boson decay in colliders. When the mass is not very light, the signals will be Higgs exotic decays, Higgs decay to displaced vertex $\times 2$, Higgs decay to displaced vertex + missing energy. The signal can be discriminated from other models, e.g. hidden photon, by measuring the decay length and the decay products of the light new particles. In addition, when $ m_a\lesssim$MeV, in which case the Higgs boson invisible decay may be probed in the colliders, the CP-even ALP is a nice DM candidate. The DM can be probed by 21cm line measurement as well as X- or $\gamma$-ray observations. The DM production mechanisms are discussed.