Papers for Friday, Jan 21 2022

Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) are more nearly standard candles when measured in the near-infrared (NIR) than in the optical. With this motivation, from 2012-2017 we embarked on the RAISIN program with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to obtain rest-frame NIR light curves for a cosmologically distant sample of 37 SN Ia ($0.2<z<0.7$) discovered by Pan-STARRS and the Dark Energy Survey. By comparing higher-$z$ HST data with 43 SN Ia at $z<0.1$ observed in the NIR by the Carnegie Supernova Project, we construct a Hubble diagram exclusively from NIR observations to pursue a unique avenue to constrain the dark energy equation of state parameter, $w$. We analyze the dependence of the full set of Hubble residuals on the SN Ia host galaxy mass and find Hubble residual steps of size $\sim$0.08-0.12 mag with 2- to 3-$\sigma$ significance depending on the method and step location used. Combining our NIR sample with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) constraints, we find $1+w=-0.04\pm0.12$ (statistical$+$systematic errors). The largest systematic errors are the redshift-dependent SN selection biases and the properties of the NIR mass step. We also use these data to measure ${\rm H}_0=75.4\pm 2.4~{\rm km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}}$ from stars with geometric distance calibration in the hosts of 8 SNe Ia observed in the NIR versus ${\rm H}_0=65.9\pm3.4~{\rm km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}}$ using an inverse distance ladder approach tied to Planck. Using optical data we find $1+w=-0.01\pm0.09$ and with optical and NIR data combined, we find $1+w=0.03\pm0.08$; these shifts of up to $\sim$0.07 in $w$ could point to inconsistency in the optical versus NIR SN models. There will be many opportunities to improve this NIR measurement and better understand systematic uncertainties through larger low-$z$ samples, new light-curve models, calibration improvements, and eventually building high-$z$ samples from the Roman Space Telescope.

The observed optical colors of quasars are generally interpreted in one of two frameworks: unified models which attribute color to random orientation of the accretion disk along the line-of-sight, and evolutionary models which invoke connections between quasar systems and their environments. We test these schema by probing the dark matter halo environments of optically-selected quasars as a function of $g-i$ optical color by measuring the two-point correlation functions of $\sim$ 0.34 million eBOSS quasars as well as the gravitational deflection of cosmic microwave background photons around $\sim$ 0.66 million XDQSO photometric quasar candidates. We do not detect a trend of halo bias with optical color through either analysis, finding that optically-selected quasars at $0.8 < z < 2.2$ occupy halos of characteristic mass $M_{h}\sim 3\times 10^{12} \ h^{-1} M_{\odot}$ regardless of their color. This result implies that a quasar's large-scale halo environment is not strongly connected to its observed optical color. We also confirm findings of fundamental differences in the radio properties of red and blue quasars by stacking 1.4 GHz FIRST images at their positions, suggesting the observed differences cannot be attributed to orientation. Instead, the differences between red and blue quasars likely arise on nuclear-galactic scales, perhaps owing to reddening by a nuclear dusty wind. Finally, we show that optically-selected quasars' halo environments are also independent of their $r-W2$ optical-infrared colors, while previous work has suggested that mid-infrared-selected obscured quasars occupy more massive halos. We discuss implications of this result for models of quasar and galaxy co-evolution.

The advent of Gaia has led to the discovery of nearly 300 elongated stellar associations (called `strings') spanning hundreds of parsecs in length and mere tens of parsecs in width. These newfound populations present an excellent laboratory for studying the assembly process of the Milky Way thin disk. In this work, we use data from GALAH DR3 to investigate the chemical distributions and ages of 18 newfound stellar populations, 10 of which are strings and 8 of which are compact in morphology. We estimate the intrinsic abundance dispersions in [X/H] of each population and compare them with those of both their local fields and the open cluster M 67. We find that all but one of these groups are more chemically homogeneous than their local fields. Furthermore, half of the strings, namely Theias 139, 169, 216, 303, and 309, have intrinsic [X/H] dispersions that range between 0.01 and 0.07 dex in most elements, equivalent to those of many open clusters. These results provide important new observational constraints on star formation and the chemical homogeneity of the local interstellar medium (ISM). We investigate each population's Li and chemical clock abundances (e.g., [Sc/Ba], [Ca/Ba], [Ti/Ba], and [Mg/Y]) and find that the ages suggested by chemistry generally support the isochronal ages in all but six structures. This work highlights the unique advantages that chemistry holds in the study of kinematically-related stellar groups.

We investigate the cool gas absorption in galaxy clusters by cross-correlating MgII absorbers detected in quasar spectra from Data Release 16 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with galaxy clusters identified in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. We find significant covering fractions ($3-5\, \%$ within $r_{500}$), $\sim 4-5$ times higher than around random sightlines. While the covering fraction of cool gas in clusters decreases with increasing mass of the central galaxy, the total MgII mass within $r_{\rm 500}$ is nonetheless $\sim 10$ times higher than for SDSS luminous red galaxies (LRGs). The MgII covering fraction versus impact parameter is well described by a power law in the inner regions and a exponential function at larger distances. The characteristic scale of the transition between these two regimes is smaller for large equivalent width absorbers. Cross-correlating MgII absorption with photo-z selected cluster member galaxies from DESI reveals a statistically significant connection. The median projected distance between MgII absorbers and the nearest cluster member is $\sim200$ kpc, compared to $\sim500$ kpc in random mocks with the same galaxy density profiles. We do not find a correlation between MgII strength and the star formation rate of the closest cluster neighbour. This suggests that cool gas in clusters, as traced by MgII absorption, is: (i) associated with satellite galaxies, (ii) dominated by cold gas clouds in the intracluster medium, rather than by the interstellar medium of galaxies, and (iii) may originate in part from gas stripped from these cluster satellites in the past.

We present an analysis of the quenching of star formation in galaxies, bulges, and disks throughout the bulk of cosmic history, from $z=2-0$. We utilise observations from the SDSS and MaNGA at low redshifts. We complement these data with observations from CANDELS at high redshifts. Additionally, we compare the observations to detailed predictions from the LGalaxies semi-analytic model. To analyse the data, we developed a machine learning approach utilising a Random Forest classifier. We first demonstrate that this technique is extremely effective at extracting causal insight from highly complex and inter-correlated model data, before applying it to various observational surveys. Our primary observational results are as follows: At all redshifts studied in this work, we find bulge mass to be the most predictive parameter of quenching, out of the photometric parameter set (incorporating bulge mass, disk mass, total stellar mass, and $B/T$ structure). Moreover, we also find bulge mass to be the most predictive parameter of quenching in both bulge and disk structures, treated separately. Hence, intrinsic galaxy quenching must be due to a stable mechanism operating over cosmic time, and the same quenching mechanism must be effective in both bulge and disk regions. Despite the success of bulge mass in predicting quenching, we find that central velocity dispersion is even more predictive (when available in spectroscopic data sets). In comparison to the LGalaxies model, we find that all of these observational results may be consistently explained through quenching via preventative `radio-mode' active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. Furthermore, many alternative quenching mechanisms (including virial shocks, supernova feedback, and morphological stabilisation) are found to be inconsistent with our observational results and those from the literature.

We present spectroscopic measurements for 71 galaxies associated with 62 of the brightest high-redshift submillimeter sources from the Southern fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS), while targeting 85 sources which resolved into 142. We have obtained robust redshift measurements for all sources using the 12-m Array and an efficient tuning of ALMA to optimise its use as a redshift hunter, with 73 per cent of the sources having a robust redshift identification. Nine of these redshift identifications also rely on observations from the Atacama Compact Array. The spectroscopic redshifts span a range $1.41<z<4.53$ with a mean value of 2.75, and the CO emission line full-width at half-maxima range between $\rm 110\,km\,s^{-1} < FWHM < 1290\,km\,s^{-1}$ with a mean value of $\sim$ 500kms$^{-1}$, in line with other high-$z$ samples. The derived CO(1-0) luminosity is significantly elevated relative to line-width to CO(1-0) luminosity scaling relation, which is suggestive of lensing magnification across our sources. In fact, the distribution of magnification factors inferred from the CO equivalent widths is consistent with expectations from galaxy-galaxy lensing models, though there is a hint of an excess at large magnifications that may be attributable to the additional lensing optical depth from galaxy groups or clusters.

Much of the parameter space relevant to the evolution of astrophysical circumbinary accretion discs remains unexplored. We have carried out a suite of circumbinary disc simulations surveying both disc thickness and kinematic viscosity, using both constant-$\nu$ and constant-$\alpha$ prescriptions. We focus primarily on disc aspect ratios between $0.1$ and $0.033$, and on viscosities between $\nu=0.0005$ and $\nu=0.008$ (in units of binary semi-major axis and orbital frequency), and specialise to circular equal-mass binaries. Both factors strongly influence the evolution of the binary semi-major axis: at $\nu=0.0005,$ inspirals occur at aspect ratios $\lesssim0.059$, while at $\nu=0.004$ inspirals occur only at aspect ratios $\lesssim0.04$. Inspirals occur largely because of the increasingly strong negative torque on the binary by streams of material which lag the binary, with negligible contributions from resonant torques excited in the circumbinary disc. We find that reductions in accretion rate occur when simulations are initialised too far from the eventual quasi-steady state driven by interaction with the binary, rather than being intrinsically linked to the disc aspect ratio. We find not only that the cavity size increases as viscosity is decreased, but that thinner circumbinary discs become more eccentric. Our results suggest that supermassive black hole binaries should be driven, more rapidly than previous estimates, from $\sim$parsec separations to distances where gravitational waves drive their inspiral, potentially reducing the number of binaries observable by pulsar timing arrays.

The connection between galaxies and their dark matter haloes is often described with the Stellar-to-Halo Mass relation (SHMR). Satellite galaxies in clusters have been shown to follow a SHMR distinct from central galaxies because of the environmental processes that they are subject to. In addition, the variety of accretion histories leads to an important scatter in this relation, even more for satellites than for central galaxies. In this work, we use the hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG to study the scatter in the satellite galaxy SHMR, and extract the parameters that can best allow to understand it. Active galaxies, that represent a very small fraction of cluster galaxies, follow a very different relation than their passive counterparts, mainly because they were accreted much more recently. For this latter population, we find that the distance to the cluster centre is a good predictor of variations in the SHMR, but some information on the galaxy orbital history, such as the distance of closest approach to the host centre, is an even better one, although it is in practice more difficult to measure. In addition, we found that galaxy compactness is also correlated with the SHMR, while the host cluster properties (mass and concentration, formation redshift, mass and size of BCG) do not play a significant role. We provide accurate fitting functions and scaling relations to the scientific community, useful to predict the subhalo mass given a set of observable parameters. Finally, we connect the scatter in the SHMR to the physical processes affecting galaxies in clusters, and how they impact the different satellite sub-populations.

The red hypergiant VY CMa and the more typical red supergiant Betelgeuse provide clear observational evidence for discrete, directed gaseous outflows in their optical and infrared imaging, spectra, and light curves. In the very luminous VY CMa, mass loss estimates from the infrared bright knots and clumps, not only dominate its measured overall mass loss, but explain it. In the lower luminosity Betelgeuse, similar mass estimates of its circumstellar condensations show that they contribute significantly to its measured mass loss rate. We present new measurements for both stars and discuss additional evidence for gaseous ejections in other red supergiants. Gaseous outflows are the dominant mass loss mechanism for the most luminous RSGs and an important contributor to the more typical red supergiants like Betelgeuse. We conclude that gaseous outflows, related to magnetic fields and surface activity, comparable to coronal mass ejections, are a major contributor to mass loss from red supergiants and the missing component in discussions of their mass loss mechanism.

We present the first detection of pulsations from a neutron star in the submillimeter range. The source is the magnetar XTE J1810-197, observed with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on 2020 February 27, 2020 July 9 and 2021 May 15. XTE J1810-197 is detected at 353 GHz ($\lambda=0.85\,$mm) in the three epochs, but not detected in the simultaneously-observed band at 666 GHz ($\lambda=0.45\,$mm). We measure an averaged flux density at 353 GHz of 6.7$\pm$1.0, 4.0$\pm$0.6, and 1.3$\pm$0.3 mJy and set 3$\sigma$ flux density upper limits at 666 GHz of 11.3, 4.7 and 4.3 mJy, at each of the three observing epochs, respectively. Combining close-in-time observations with the Effelsberg 100m and IRAM 30m telescopes covering non-contiguously from 6 to 225 GHz (5.0 cm$>\lambda>$1.33 mm), we investigate the spectral shape and frequency range of a potential spectral turn-up predicted by some pulsar radio emission models. The results demonstrate that the beamed radio emission from neutron stars can extend into the submillimeter regime, but are inconclusive on the existence and location of a potential spectral turn-up within the covered frequency range. The observed properties of the submillimeter emission resemble those of the longer wavelengths, and support a coherent mechanism for the production of pulsations at 353 GHz.

The National Laboratory of Space Weather in Mexico (Laboratorio Nacional de ClimaEspacial: LANCE) coordinates instrumentation for monitoring the space-weatherimpact over Mexico. Two of these instruments are the Mexican Array Radio Telescope(MEXART) and Compound Astronomical Low frequency Low cost Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Observatory(CALLISTO) station from the e-CALLISTO network (CALLMEX). Both instruments are located at the same facility(Coeneo Michoacan, Mexico) and share a spectral band centered at 140 MHz. In this work we show the capabilities of the e-CALLISTO network as support to identify a solar radio burst in the signal of the MEXART radiotelescope. We identify 75 solarradio bursts in the MEXART signal: five events of Type II and 70 of Type III between September 2015 and May 2019. The analysis of solar radio bursts in the MEXART signal provide us valuable information about the development of the radio event due their high sensitivity, time resolution, and isotropic response. For the case of Type III solar radio events, we identify three characteristic phases in the dynamical evolution ofthe signal at 140 MHz: a pre-phase, a main peak, a decay phase, and a post-event phase.A Morlet wave transform was done of MEXART signals in the Type III solar radiobusts; in their spectra it was identified a pine tree structure preceding the main event in the time series. These characteristics are not observable in the data from the e-Callistonetwork.

Measurements of the cosmological parameter $S_8$ provided by cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data reveal some tension between them, suggesting that the clustering features of matter in these early and late cosmological tracers could be different. In this work, we use a supervised learning method designed to solve Bayesian approach to regression, known as Gaussian Processes regression, to quantify the cosmic evolution of $S_8$ up to $z \sim 1.5$. For this, we propose a novel approach to find firstly the evolution of the function $\sigma_8(z)$, then we find the function $S_8(z)$. As a sub-product we obtain a minimal cosmological model-dependent $\sigma_8(z=0)$ and $S_8(z=0)$ estimates. We select independent data measurements of the growth rate $f(z)$ and of $[f\sigma_8](z)$ according to criteria of non-correlated data, then we perform the Gaussian reconstruction of these data sets to obtain the cosmic evolution of $\sigma_8(z)$, $S_8(z)$, and the growth index $\gamma(z)$. Our statistical analyses show that $S_8(z)$ is compatible with Planck $\Lambda$CDM cosmology; when evaluated at the present time we find $\sigma_8(z=0) = 0.766 \pm 0.116$ and $S_8(z=0) = 0.732 \pm 0.115$. Applying our methodology to the growth index, we find $\gamma(z=0) = 0.465 \pm 0.140$. Moreover, we compare our results with others recently obtained in the literature. In none of these functions, i.e. $\sigma_8(z)$, $S_8(z)$, and $\gamma(z)$, do we find significant deviations from the standard cosmology predictions.

Narrowband bursts (spikes) appear on dynamic spectra from microwave to decametric frequencies. They are believed to be manifestations of small-scale energy release through magnetic reconnection. We study the position of the spike-like structures relative to the front of type-II bursts and their role in the burst emission. We used high-sensitivity, low-noise dynamic spectra obtained with the acousto-optic analyzer (SAO) of the ARTEMIS-JLS radiospectrograph, in conjunction with images from the Nan\c{c}ay Radioheliograph (NRH) in order to study spike-like bursts near the front of a type-II radio burst during the November 3, 2003 extreme solar event. The spike-like emission in the dynamic spectrum was enhanced by means of high-pass-time filtering. We identified a number of spikes in the NRH images. Due to the lower temporal resolution of the NRH, multiple spikes detected in the dynamic spectrum appeared as single structures in the images. These spikes had an average size of ~200" and their observed brightness temperature was 1.4-5.6x10^9K, providing a significant contribution to the emission of the type-II burst front. At variance with a previous study on the type-IV associated spikes, we found no systematic displacement between the spike emission and the emission between spikes. At 327.0 MHz, the type II emission was located about 0.3 RSUN above the pre-existing continuum emission, which, was located 0.1 RSUN above the western limb. This study indicates that the spike-like chains aligned along the type II burst MHD shock front are not a perturbation of the type II emission, as in the case of type IV spikes, but a manifestation of the type II emission itself. The preponderance of these chains, together with the lack of isolated structures or irregular clusters, points towards some form of small-scale magnetic reconnection, organized along the type-II propagating front.

The origin of the cold gas in central galaxies in groups is still a matter of debate. We present Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of 18 optically selected local Brightest Group Galaxies (BGGs) to study the kinematics and distribution of the optical emission-line gas. MUSE observations reveal a distribution of gas morphologies including ten complex networks of filaments extending up to 10 kpc to two compact (<3 kpc) and five extended (>5 kpc) disk-dominated structures. Some rotating disks show rings and elongated structures arising from the central disk. The kinematics of the stellar component is mainly rotation-dominated, which is very different from the disturbed kinematics and distribution found in the filamentary sources. The ionized gas is kinematically decoupled from the stellar component for most systems, suggesting an external origin for the gas. We also find that the Halpha luminosity correlates with the cold molecular mass. By exploring the thermodynamical properties of the hot atmospheres, we find that the filamentary sources and compact disks are found in systems with small central entropy values and tcool/teddy ratios. This suggests that, like for Brightest Cluster Galaxies in cool core clusters, the ionized gas are likely formed from hot halo gas condensations, consistently with the Chaotic Cold Accretion simulations (as shown via the C-ratio, Tat, and k-plot). We note that gaseous rotating disks are more frequent than in BCGs. An explanation for the origin of the gas in those objects is a contribution to gas fueling by mergers or group satellites, as qualitatively hinted by some sources of the present sample. Nonetheless, we discuss the possibility that some extended disks could also be a transition stage in an evolutionary sequence including filaments, extended disks and compact disks, as described by hot gas condensation models of cooling flows.

We report on the energy dependence of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) in the very local interstellar medium (VLISM) as measured by the Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument on the Voyager 1 (V1) spacecraft. The LECP instrument includes a dual-ended solid state detector particle telescope mechanically scanning through 360 deg across eight equally-spaced angular sectors. As reported previously, LECP measurements showed a dramatic increase in GCR intensities for all sectors of the >=211 MeV count rate (CH31) at the V1 heliopause (HP) crossing in 2012, however, since then the count rate data have demonstrated systematic episodes of intensity decrease for particles around 90{\deg} pitch angle. To shed light on the energy dependence of these GCR anisotropies over a wide range of energies, we use V1 LECP count rate and pulse height analyzer (PHA) data from >=211 MeV channel together with lower energy LECP channels. Our analysis shows that while GCR anisotropies are present over a wide range of energies, there is a decreasing trend in the amplitude of second-order anisotropy with increasing energy during anisotropy episodes. A stronger pitch-angle scattering at the higher velocities is argued as a potential cause for this energy dependence. A possible cause for this velocity dependence arising from weak rigidity dependence of the scattering mean free path and resulting velocity-dominated scattering rate is discussed. This interpretation is consistent with a recently reported lack of corresponding GCR electron anisotropies.

Over the last 25 years, radiowave detection of neutrino-generated signals, using cold polar ice as the neutrino target, has emerged as perhaps the most promising technique for detection of extragalactic ultra-high energy neutrinos (corresponding to neutrino energies in excess of 0.01 Joules, or $10^{17}$ electron volts). During the summer of 2021 and in tandem with the initial deployment of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G), we conducted radioglaciological measurements at Summit Station, Greenland to refine our understanding of the ice target. We report the result of one such measurement, the radio-frequency electric field attenuation length $L_\alpha$. We find an approximately linear dependence of $L_\alpha$ on frequency with the best fit of the average field attenuation for the upper 1500 m of ice: $\langle L_\alpha \rangle = \big( (1024 \pm 50) - (0.65 \pm 0.06) (\nu/$MHz$)\big)$ m for frequencies $\nu \in [145 - 350]$ MHz.

The observed diversity in Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) -- the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarf stars used as cosmological standard candles -- is currently met with a variety of explosion models and progenitor scenarios. To help improve our understanding of whether and how often different models contribute to the occurrence of SNe Ia and their assorted properties, we present a comprehensive analysis of seven nearby SNe Ia. We obtained one to two epochs of optical spectra with Gemini Observatory during the nebular phase ($>$200 days past peak) for each of these events, all of which had time-series of photometry and spectroscopy at early times (the first $\sim$8 weeks after explosion). We use the combination of early- and late-time observations to assess the predictions of various models for the explosion (e.g., double-detonation, off-center detonation, stellar collisions), progenitor star (e.g., ejecta mass, metallicity), and binary companion (e.g., another white dwarf or a non-degenerate star). Overall, we find general consistency in our observations with spherically-symmetric models for SN Ia explosions, and with scenarios in which the binary companion is another degenerate star. We also present an in-depth analysis of SN 2017fzw, a member of the sub-group of SNe Ia which appear to be transitional between the subluminous "91bg-like" events and normal SNe Ia, and for which nebular-phase spectra are rare.

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a drift scan radio telescope operating across the 400-800 MHz band. CHIME is located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory near Penticton, BC Canada. The instrument is designed to map neutral hydrogen over the redshift range 0.8 to 2.5 to constrain the expansion history of the Universe. This goal drives the design features of the instrument. CHIME consists of four parallel cylindrical reflectors, oriented north-south, each 100 m $\times$ 20 m and outfitted with a 256 element dual-polarization linear feed array. CHIME observes a two degree wide stripe covering the entire meridian at any given moment, observing 3/4 of the sky every day due to Earth rotation. An FX correlator utilizes FPGAs and GPUs to digitize and correlate the signals, with different correlation products generated for cosmological, fast radio burst, pulsar, VLBI, and 21 cm absorber backends. For the cosmology backend, the $N_\mathrm{feed}^2$ correlation matrix is formed for 1024 frequency channels across the band every 31 ms. A data receiver system applies calibration and flagging and, for our primary cosmological data product, stacks redundant baselines and integrates for 10 s. We present an overview of the instrument, its performance metrics based on the first three years of science data, and we describe the current progress in characterizing CHIME's primary beam response. We also present maps of the sky derived from CHIME data; we are using versions of these maps for a cosmological stacking analysis as well as for investigation of Galactic foregrounds.

Tsallis' thermostatistical has received increasing attention due to its success in describing phenomena that manifest unusual thermodynamic properties. In this context, the generalized Saha equation must follow a condition of generalized thermal equilibrium of matter and radiation. The present work aims to explore the non-Gaussian effects on Saha's ionization via Tsallis statistics. To accomplish this, we generalized the number density taking into account a non-Gaussian Fermi-Dirac distribution, and then set out the Saha equation for the cosmological recombination. As a result, we highlight two new non-Gaussian effects: $i$) two generalized chemical equilibrium conditions, one for the relativistic regime and the other for the non-relativistic one; and $ii$) the hydrogen binding $q$-energy. We demonstrated that to yields smooth shifts in the binding energy, the $a$-parameter must be very small. We also showed that binding $q$-energy exhibits symmetrical behavior around the value of the standard binding energy. Besides, we used the $q$-energy in order to access other hydrogen energy levels, and we ascertained the values of the $a$-parameter that access those levels and their relationship to temperature. Finally, we employed these results to examine the non-Gaussian effects of the deuterium bottleneck, recombination and the particle anti-particle excess.

We present statistics on the number of refereed astronomy journal articles that used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope through the end of the calendar year 2020. We discuss the various types of science programs and science categories that were used to collect data during the mission and discuss how operational changes brought on by the depletion of cryogen in May 2009, including the resulting budget cuts, impacted the publication rate. The post-cryogenic (warm) mission produced fewer papers than the cryogenic mission, but the percentage of the exposure time published did not appreciably change between the warm and cryogenic missions. This was mostly because in the warm mission the length of observations increased, so that each warm paper on average uses more data than the cryogenic papers. We also discuss the speed of publication, archival usage, and the tremendous efficacy of the Legacy and Exploration Science programs (large, coherent investigations), including the value of having well-advertised enhanced data products hosted in centralized archives. We also identify the observations that have been published the largest number of times, and sort them by a variety of metrics (including program type, instrument used, and observation length). Data that have the highest reuse rates in publications were taken early in the Spitzer mission, or belong to one of the large surveys (large either in number of objects, in number of hours observed, or in area covered on the sky). We also assess how often authors have cited the Spitzer fundamental papers or have correctly referenced the Spitzer data they used, finding that as many as 40% of papers have failed to cite the papers, and 15% have made it impossible to identify the data they used.

Measuring magnetic fields in the interstellar medium and obtaining their distribution along line-of-sight is very challenging with the traditional techniques. The Velocity Gradient Technique (VGT), which utilizes anisotropy of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, provides an attractive solution. Targeting the central molecular zone (CMZ), we test this approach by applying the VGT to $\rm ^{12}CO$ and $\rm ^{13}CO$ (J = 1-0) data cubes. We first used the SCOUSEPY algorithm to decompose the CO line emissions into separate velocity components, and then we constructed pseudo-Stokes parameters via the VGT to map the plane-of-the-sky magnetic fields in three-dimension. We present the decomposed magnetic field maps and investigate their significance. While the line-of-sight integrated magnetic field orientation is shown to be consistent with the polarized dust emission from the Planck survey at 353 GHz, individual velocity components may exhibit different magnetic fields. We present a scheme of magnetic field configuration in the CMZ based on the decomposed magnetic fields. In particular, we observe a nearly vertical magnetic field orientation in the dense clump near the Sgr B2 and a change in the outflow regions around the Sgr A*. Two high-velocity structures associated with an expanding ring in the CMZ show distinct swirling magnetic field structures. These results demonstrate the potential power of the VGT to decompose velocity or density-dependent magnetic structures.

By means of the data sets from the Pan-STARRAS1 survey, we have systematically examined the relationship between the variability characteristics and the physical parameters of the largest NLS1 galaxy sample up to now. The results are summarized as follows: (1). We find significant anti-correlations between variability amplitude and absolute magnitude in g, r, i, z and y bands, which are consistent with the results in previous works. (2) The correlations between the variability amplitude in optical band and many physical parameters (e.g., {\lambda}L(5100 {\AA}), black hole mass, Eddington ratio, R4570 and R5007) are investigated. The results show the variability amplitude is significantly anti-correlated with L(5100 {\AA}), MBH, Eddington ratio and R4570, but positively correlated with R5007. The relation could be explained by the simple standard accretion disk model. (3) We further investigate the relationship between optical variability and radio luminosity/radio-loudness. The results present weak positive correlation in g and r bands, but insignificant correlation in i, z and y bands. The large error of the approximate fraction of the host galaxy in i, z and y bands may lead to insignificant correlations.

Context. Observations reveal that shocks can be driven by fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and play essential roles in particle accelerations. A critical ratio, $\delta$, derived from a shock standoff distance normalized by the radius of curvature (ROC) of a CME, allows us to estimate shock and ambient coronal parameters. However, true ROCs of CMEs are difficult to measure due to observed projection effects. Aims. We investigate the formation mechanism of a shock driven by an aspherical CME without evident lateral expansion. Through three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions without a priori assumptions of the object morphology, we estimate two principal ROCs of the CME surface and demonstrate how the difference between two principal ROCs of the CME affects the estimate of the coronal physical parameters. Methods. The CME was observed by the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instruments and the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO). We used the mask-fitting method to obtain the irregular 3D shape of the CME and reconstructed the shock surface using the bow-shock model. Through smoothings with fifth-order polynomial functions and Monte Carlo simulations, we calculated the ROCs at the CME nose. Results. We find that (1) the maximal ROC is 2-4 times the minimal ROC of the CME. A significant difference between the CME ROCs implies that the assumption of one ROC of an aspherical CME could cause over-/under- estimations of the shock and coronal parameters. (2) The shock nose obeys the bow-shock formation mechanism, considering the constant standoff distance and the similar speed between the shock and CME around the nose. (3) With a more precise $\delta$ calculated via 3D ROCs in space, we derive corona parameters at high latitudes of about -50$^{\circ}$, including the Alfv{\'e}n speed and the coronal magnetic field strength.

We present the photometric properties of V608 Cas from detailed studies of light curves and eclipse timings. The light curve synthesis indicates that the eclipsing pair is an overcontact binary with parameters of $\Delta T$ = 155 K, $q$ = 0.328, and $f$ = 26 %. We detected the third light $\ell_{3}$, which corresponds to about 8 % and 5 % of the total systemic light in $V$ and $R$ bands, respectively. Including our 6 timing measurements, a total of 38 times of minimum light were used for a period study. It was found that the orbital period of V608 Cas has varied in some combination of an upward parabola and two periodic variations. The continuous period increase with a rate of $+$3.99$\times$10$^{-7}$ d yr$^{-1}$ can be interpreted as a mass transfer from the secondary component to the primary star at a rate of 1.51$\times$10$^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. The periods and semi-amplitudes of the two periodic variations are about $P_3$ = 16.0 yr and $P_4$ = 26.3 yr, and $K_3$ = 0.0341 d and $K_4$ = 0.0305 d, respectively. The most likely explanation of both cycles is a pair of light-traveling time effects operated by the possible presence of third and fourth components with estimated masses of $M_3$ = 2.20 M$_\odot$ and $M_4$ = 1.27 M$_\odot$ in eccentric orbits of $e_3$ = 0.66 and $e_4$ = 0.52. Because the contribution of $\ell_{3}$ is very low compared to the estimated masses of two circumbinary objects, they can be inferred as very faint compact objects.

The S-shaped magnetic structure in the solar wind formed by the twisting of magnetic field lines is called a switchback, whose main characteristics are the reversal of the magnetic field and the significant increase in the solar wind radial velocity. We identify 242 switchbacks during the first two encounters of Parker Solar Probe (PSP). Statistics methods are applied to analyze the distribution and the rotation angle and direction of the magnetic field rotation of the switchbacks. The diameter of switchbacks is estimated with a minimum variance analysis (MVA) method based on the assumption of a cylindrical magnetic tube. We also make a comparison between switchbacks from inside and the boundary of coronal holes. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the rotation angles of switchbacks observed during the first encounter seem larger than those of the switchbacks observed during the second encounter in general; (2) the tangential component of the velocity inside the switchbacks tends to be more positive (westward) than in the ambient solar wind; (3) switchbacks are more likely to rotate clockwise than anticlockwise, and the number of switchbacks with clockwise rotation is 1.48 and 2.65 times of those with anticlockwise rotation during the first and second encounters, respectively; (4) the diameter of switchbacks is about 10^5 km on average and across five orders of magnitude (10^3 -- 10^7 km).

This paper investigates the neutral gas phase of galactic winds via the Na I D$\lambda\lambda 5890,5895${\AA} feature within $z \sim 0.04$ MaNGA galaxies, and directly compares their incidence and strength to the ionized winds detected within the same parent sample. We find evidence for neutral outflows in 127 galaxies ($\sim 5$ per cent of the analysed line-emitting sample). Na I D winds are preferentially seen in galaxies with dustier central regions and both wind phases are more often found in systems with elevated SFR surface densities, especially when there has been a recent upturn in the star formation activity according to the SFR$_{5Myr}$/SFR$_{800Myr}$ parameter. We find the ionized outflow kinematics to be in line with what we measure in the neutral phase. This demonstrates that, despite their small contributions to the total outflow mass budget, there is value to collecting empirical measurements of the ionized wind phase to provide information on the bulk motion in the outflow. Depending on dust corrections applied to the ionized gas diagnostics, the neutral phase has $\sim 1.2 - 1.8$ dex higher mass outflow rates ($\dot{M}_{out}$), on average, compared to the ionized phase. We quantify scaling relations between $\dot{M}_{out}$ and the strengths of the physical wind drivers (SFR, $L_{AGN}$). Using a radial-azimuthal stacking method, and by considering inclination dependencies, we find results consistent with biconical outflows orthogonal to the disk plane. Our work complements other multi-phase outflow studies in the literature which consider smaller samples, more extreme objects, or proceed via stacking of larger samples.

Two fundamentally different processes of rocky planet formation exist, but it is unclear which one built the terrestrial planets of the solar system. Either they formed by collisions among planetary embryos from the inner solar system, or by accreting sunward-drifting millimeter-sized 'pebbles' from the outer solar system. We show that the isotopic compositions of Earth and Mars are governed by two-component mixing among inner solar system materials, including material from the innermost disk unsampled by meteorites, whereas the contribution of outer solar system material is limited to a few percent by mass. This refutes a pebble accretion origin of the terrestrial planets, but is consistent with collisional growth from inner solar system embryos. The low fraction of outer solar system material in Earth and Mars indicates the presence of a persistent dust-drift barrier in the disk, highlighting the specific pathway of rocky planet formation in the solar system.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next ground-based $\gamma$-ray observatory in the TeV $\gamma$-ray spectral region operating with the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique. It is based on almost 70 telescopes of different class diameters - LST, MST and SST of 23, 12, and 4 m, respectively - to be installed in two sites in the two hemispheres (at La Palma, Canary Islands, and near Paranal, Chile). Several thousands of reflecting mirror tiles larger than 1 m$^2$ will be produced for realizing the segmented primary mirrors of a so large number of telescopes. Almost in parallel, the ASTRI Mini-Array (MA) is being implemented in Tenerife (Canary Islands), composed of nine 4 m diameter dual-mirror Cherenkov telescopes (very similar to the SSTs). We completed the mirror production for all nine telescopes of the ASTRI MA and two MST telescopes (400 segments in total) using the cold glass slumping replication technology. The results related to the quality achieved with a so large-scale production are presented, also discussing the adopted testing methods and approaches. They will be very useful for the adoption and optimization of the quality assurance process for the huge production (almost 3000 m$^2$ of reflecting surface) of the MST and SST CTA telescopes.

We report new Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) observations of the [CII], [NII] and [OI] atomic fine structure lines and dust continuum emission of J1148+5251, a z=6.42 quasar, that probe the physical properties of its interstellar medium (ISM). The radially-averaged [CII] and dust continuum emission have similar extensions (up to $\theta = 2.51^{+0.46}_{-0.25}\ \rm{arcsec}$, corresponding to $r= 9.8^{+3.3}_{-2.1}\ \rm{kpc}$ accounting for beam-convolution), confirming that J1148+5251 is the quasar with the largest [CII]-emitting has reservoir known at these epochs.Moreover, if the [CII] emission is examined only along its NE-SW axis, a significant excess ($>5.8\sigma$) of [CII] emission (with respect to the dust) is detected. The new wide--bandwidth observations enable us to accurately constrain the continuum emission, and do not statistically require the presence of broad [CII] line wings that were reported in previous studies. We also report the first detection of the [OI] and (tentatively) [NII] emission lines in J1148+5251. Using Fine Structure Lines (FSL) ratios of the [CII], [NII], [OI] and previously measured [CI] emission lines, we show that J1148+5251 has similar ISM conditions compared to lower--redshift (ultra)-luminous infrared galaxies. CLOUDY modelling of the FSL ratios exclude X--ray dominated regions (XDR) and favours photodissociation regions (PDR) as the origin of the FSL emission. We find that a high radiation field ($10^{3.5-4.5}\,G_0$), high gas density ($n \simeq 10^{3.5-4.5}\, \rm{cm}^{-3}$) and HI column density of $10^{23} \,\rm{cm^{-2}}$ reproduce the observed FSL ratios well.

Helium-rich hot subdwarf stars of spectral type O (He-sdO) are considered prime candidates for stellar merger remnants. Such events should lead to the generation of strong magnetic fields. However, no magnetic He-sdO has yet been unambiguously discovered despite the high magnetic rate (20%) among white dwarf stars, the progeny of hot subdwarfs. Here we present the discovery of a strong magnetic field (B = 353 $\pm$ 10 kG) from Zeeman-split hydrogen, helium, and metal lines in the optical X-SHOOTER spectrum of an He-sdO and present the first spectroscopic analysis of any magnetic hot subdwarf. For this we used line-blanketed Tlusty non-local thermodynamic equilibrium models and assumed a simple homogeneous magnetic field. The derived atmospheric parameters $T_\mathrm{eff}$ = 44900 $\pm$ 1000 K and log g = 5.93 $\pm$ 0.15 are typical for He-sdO stars, while the star is less hydrogen-poor than most He-sdOs at log n(He)/n(H) = +0.28 $\pm$ 0.10. The star is a slow rotator ($v_\mathrm{rot}\sin i$ < 40 km s$^{-1}$). Its chemical composition is N-rich and C- and O-poor, and the Si and S abundances are close to solar. Combining the atmospheric parameters with Gaia parallax and photometry, the stellar radius and luminosity are found to be typical for He-sdOs and place the star on the helium main sequence in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Its mass of $0.93^{+0.44}_{-0.30}$ $M_\odot$, although uncertain, appears to be remarkably high. The strong magnetic field along with the atmospheric parameters and metal abundances provide overwhelming evidence for the double-degenerate merger scenario.

A hard TeV $\gamma$-ray component excess over the single-zone leptonic model prediction (TeV excess) is observed in the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of some BL Lacs. Its origin is uncertain. We revisit this issue with four BL Lacs (1ES 0229+200, 1ES 0347--121, 1ES 1101--232, and H2356--309), in which the TeV excess is detected in their intrinsic SEDs. We represent their SEDs with a single-zone leptohadronic model, where radiations of the electrons and protons as well as the cascade electrons produced by the $\gamma\gamma$ and p$\gamma$ interactions within their jets are considered. We show that the observed SEDs below the GeV gamma-ray band are attributed to the synchrotron radiations and self-Compton process of the primary electrons, and the TeV excess is explained with the $\gamma$-ray emission from the p$\gamma$ process via the $\pi^{0}$ decay. The cascade emission of the electrons produced via the $\gamma\gamma$ and p$\gamma$ interactions results in a keV-MeV excess in the SEDs, illustrated as a bump or plateau. This extra photon field enhances the production of TeV photons from the $p\gamma$ process, resulting in a reduction of the proton power by about one order of magnitude. However, the derived powers are still 3--4 orders of magnitude larger than the Eddington limit, being challenged by the current black hole accretion physics. Applying our model to Mrk 421, we propose that synergic observations with current and upcoming TeV and keV-MeV telescopes for its tentative TeV and MeV excesses can give insights to the hadronic process in its jet.

Large galaxies harbor massive central black holes and their feedback causes a substantial impact in their evolution. Recently, observations suggested that dwarf galaxies might host black holes in their centers, but with lower masses (intermediate-mass black holes - IMBH). The impact of such IMBHs on the evolution of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), however, has not been so far properly analysed. In this work, we investigate the effects of an outflow from an IMBH on the gas dynamics in dSph galaxies by means of non-cosmological, three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, letting the galactic gas distribution evolve over 3 Gyr under the influence of the IMBH's outflow and supernova feedback. All simulations have a numerical resolution of 20.0 pc cell$^{-1}$. Two scenarios are considered to infer the differences in the propagation of the outflow, one with a homogeneous ISM and another one with inhomogeneities caused by supernovae feedback. A minimal initial speed and a minimal initial density are required for the outflow to propagate, with the values depending on the conditions of the medium. In an unperturbed medium, the outflow propagates freely in both directions with the same velocity (lower than the initial one), removing a small fraction of the gas from the galaxy (the exact fraction depends on the initial physical conditions of the outflow). However, in an inhomogeneous ISM, the impact of the outflow is substantially reduced, and its contribution to the removal of gas from the galaxy is almost negligible.

The cosmic 21-cm line of hydrogen is expected to be measured in detail by the next generation of radio telescopes. The enormous dataset from future 21-cm surveys will revolutionize our understanding of early cosmic times. We present a machine learning approach that uses emulation in order to uncover the astrophysics in the epoch of reionization and cosmic dawn. Using a seven-parameter astrophysical model that covers a very wide range of possible 21-cm signals, over the redshift range $6$ to $30$ and wavenumber range $0.05 \ \rm{Mpc}^{-1}$ to $1 \ \rm{Mpc}^{-1}$ we emulate the 21-cm power spectrum with a typical accuracy of $10 - 20\%$. As a realistic example, we train an emulator using the 21-cm power spectrum with an optimistic model for observational noise as expected for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Fitting to mock SKA data results in a typical measurement accuracy of $5\%$ in the optical depth to the CMB, $30\%$ in the star-formation efficiency of galactic halos, and a factor of $3.5$ in the X-ray efficiency of galactic halos; the latter two parameters are currently uncertain by orders of magnitude. In addition to standard astrophysical models, we also consider two exotic possibilities of strong excess radio backgrounds at high redshifts. We use a neural network to identify the type of radio background present in the 21-cm power spectrum, with an accuracy of $87\%$ for mock SKA data.

The inflated radii of giant short-period extrasolar planets collectively indicate that the interiors of hot Jupiters are heated by some anomalous energy dissipation mechanism. Although a variety of physical processes have been proposed to explain this heating, recent statistical evidence points to the confirmation of explicit predictions of the Ohmic-dissipation theory, elevating this mechanism as the most promising candidate for resolving the radius inflation problem. In this work, we present an analytic model for the dissipation rate and derive a simple scaling law that links the magnitude of energy dissipation to the thickness of the atmospheric weather layer. From this relation, we find that the penetration depth influences the Ohmic dissipation rate by an order of magnitude. We further investigate the weather layer depth of hot Jupiters from the extent of their inflation and show that, depending on the magnetic field strength, hot Jupiter radii can be maintained even if the circulation layer is relatively shallow. Additionally, we explore the evolution of zonal wind velocities with equilibrium temperature by matching our analytic model to statistically expected dissipation rates. From this analysis, we deduce that the wind speed scales approximately like $1/\sqrt{T_\mathrm{eq}-T_0}$, where $T_0$ is a constant that evaluates to $T_0 \sim 1000~\mathrm{K}-1800~\mathrm{K}$ depending on planet-specific parameters (radius, mass, etc.). This work outlines inter-related constraints on the atmospheric flow and the magnetic field of hot Jupiters and provides a foundation for future work on the Ohmic heating mechanism.

The $UBVRI$ CCD photometric data of open star cluster NGC 1513 are obtained with the 3.6-m Indo-Belgian Devasthal optical telescope (DOT). Analyses of the GAIA EDR3 astrometric data have identified 106 possible cluster members. The mean proper motion of the cluster is estimated as $\mu_{\alpha}Cos{\delta}=1.29\pm0.02$ and $\mu_{\delta}=-3.74\pm0.02$ mas yr$^{-1}$. Estimated values of reddening $E(B-V)$ and distance to the NGC 1513 are 0.65$\pm$0.03 mag and 1.33$\pm$0.1 kpc respectively. An age of $225\pm25$ Myr is assigned to the cluster by comparing theoretical isochrones with deep observed cluster sequence. Using observations taken with the 3.6-m DOT, values of distance and age of the galactic globular cluster NGC 4147 are estimated as $18.2\pm0.2$ Kpc and $14\pm2$ Gyr respectively. The optical observations of planetary transit around white dwarf WD1145+017 and $K$-band imaging of star-forming region Sharpless Sh 2-61 demonstrate observing capability of 3.6-m DOT. Optical and near-infrared observations of celestial objects and events are being carried out routinely with the 3.6-m DOT. They indicate that the performance of the telescope is at par with those of other similar telescopes located elsewhere in the world. We therefore state that this observing facility augurs well for multi-wavelength astronomy including study of astrophysical jets.

Next-generation weak lensing (WL) surveys, such as by the Vera Rubin Observatory's LSST, the $\textit{Roman}$ Space Telescope, and the $\textit{Euclid}$ space mission, will supply vast amounts of data probing small, highly nonlinear scales. Extracting information from these scales requires higher-order statistics and the controlling of related systematics such as baryonic effects. To account for baryonic effects in cosmological analyses at reduced computational cost, semi-analytic baryonic correction models (BCMs) have been proposed. Here, we study the accuracy of BCMs for WL peak counts, a well studied, simple, and effective higher-order statistic. We compare WL peak counts generated from the full hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG and a baryon-corrected version of the corresponding dark matter-only simulation IllustrisTNG-Dark. We apply galaxy shape noise expected at the depths reached by DES, KiDS, HSC, LSST, $\textit{Roman}$, and $\textit{Euclid}$. We find that peak counts in BCMs are (i) accurate at the percent level for peaks with $\mathrm{S/N}<4$, (ii) statistically indistinguishable from IllustrisTNG in most current and ongoing surveys, but (iii) insufficient for deep future surveys covering the largest solid angles, such as LSST and $\textit{Euclid}$. We find that BCMs match individual peaks accurately, but underpredict the amplitude of the highest peaks. We conclude that existing BCMs are a viable substitute for full hydrodynamical simulations in cosmological parameter estimation from beyond-Gaussian statistics for ongoing and future surveys with modest solid angles. For the largest surveys, BCMs need to be refined to provide a more accurate match, especially to the highest peaks.

Microlensing events have historically been discovered throughout the Galactic bulge and plane by surveys designed solely for that purpose. We conduct the first multi-year search for microlensing events on the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), an all-sky optical synoptic survey that observes the entire visible Northern sky every few nights. We discover 128 high quality microlensing events in the three years of ZTF-I using the bulk lightcurves in the ZTF Public Data Release 5. We find an excess of long-duration Galactic plane events when comparing our results to both previous surveys and simulations. 35 of our events are found outside of the Galactic plane ($|b| \geq 15^\circ$), nearly tripling the number of previously discovered events in the stellar halo from surveys pointed toward the Magellanic Clouds and the Andromeda Galaxy. We also record 1690 ongoing candidate events as potential microlensing that can continue to be observed by ZTF-II for identification. The scalable and computationally efficient methods developed in this work can be applied to future synoptic surveys such as the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as they attempt to find microlensing events in even larger and deeper datasets.

Neutron stars host the strongest magnetic fields that we know of in the Universe. Their magnetic fields are the main means of generating their radiation, either magnetospheric or through the crust. Moreover, the evolution of the magnetic field has been intimately related to explosive events of magnetars, which host strong magnetic fields, and their persistent thermal emission. The evolution of the magnetic field in the crusts of neutron stars has been described within the framework of the Hall effect and Ohmic dissipation. Yet, this description is limited by the fact that the Maxwell stresses exerted on the crusts of strongly magnetised neutron stars may lead to failure and temperature variations. In the former case, a failed crust does not completely fulfil the necessary conditions for the Hall effect. In the latter, the variations of temperature are strongly related to the magnetic field evolution. Finally, sharp gradients of the star's temperature may activate battery terms and alter the magnetic field structure, especially in weakly magnetised neutron stars. In this review, we discuss the recent progress made on these effects. We argue that these phenomena are likely to provide novel insight into our understanding of neutron stars and their observable properties.

Grazing transits present a special problem for statistical studies of exoplanets. Even though grazing planetary orbits are rare (due to geometric selection effects), for many low to moderate signal-to-noise cases, a significant fraction of the posterior distribution is nonetheless consistent with a grazing geometry. A failure to accurately model grazing transits can therefore lead to biased inferences even for cases where the planet is not actually on a grazing trajectory. With recent advances in stellar characterization, the limiting factor for many scientific applications is now the quality of available transit fits themselves, and so the time is ripe to revisit the transit fitting problem. In this paper, we model exoplanet transits using a novel application of umbrella sampling and a geometry-dependent parameter basis that minimizes covariances between transit parameters. Our technique splits the transit fitting problem into independent Monte Carlo sampling runs for the grazing, non-grazing, and transition regions of the parameter space, which we then recombine into a single joint posterior probability distribution using a robust weighting scheme. Our method can be trivially parallelized and so requires no increase in the wall clock time needed for computations. Most importantly, our method produces accurate estimates of exoplanet properties for both grazing and non-grazing orbits, yielding more robust results than standard methods for many common star-planet configurations.

Many catalogues of isolated compact groups of galaxies (CGs) have been extracted using Hickson's criteria to identify isolated, dense systems of galaxies, with at least three or four galaxies concordant in magnitude and redshift. But is not clear to what extent the catalogues of CGs are complete and reliable, relative to 3D truly isolated, dense groups. Using five different semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (SAMs), we identify isolated dense groups in 3D real space, containing at least three galaxies. We then build mock redshift space galaxy catalogues and run a Hickson-like CG finder. We find that the Hickson-like algorithm in redshift space is poor at recovering 3D CGs of at least 3 galaxies, with a purity of $\sim 10\%$ and a completeness of $\sim 22\%$. Among the $\sim 90\%$ of spurious systems, typically $60\%$ are dense structures that failed the 3D isolation criteria, while the remaining $40\%$ are chance alignments of galaxies along the line of sight, nearly all of which are within regular groups, with some variation with the SAM used for the analysis. In other words, while only $10\%$ of CGs are isolated dense groups, as intended, half are dense structures embedded within larger groups, and one-third are chance alignments within larger groups. The low completeness of the extracted CG sample is mainly due to the flux limits of the selection criteria. Our results suggest that a new observational algorithm to identify compact groups in redshift space is required to obtain dense isolated galaxy systems.

About 2.5 billion years ago, microbes learned to harness plentiful Solar energy to reduce CO$_2$ with H$_2$O, extracting energy and producing O$_2$ as waste. O$_2$ production from this metabolic process was so vigorous that it saturated its photochemical sinks, permitting it to reach "runaway" conditions and rapidly accumulate in the atmosphere despite its reactivity. Here we argue that O$_2$ may not be unique: diverse gases produced by life may experience a "runaway" effect similar to O$_2$. This runaway occurs because the ability of an atmosphere to photochemically cleanse itself of trace gases is generally finite. If produced at rates exceeding this finite limit, even reactive gases can rapidly accumulate to high concentrations and become potentially detectable. Planets orbiting smaller, cooler stars, such as the M dwarfs that are the prime targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), are especially favorable for runaway due to their lower UV emission compared to higher-mass stars. As an illustrative case study, we show that on a habitable exoplanet with an H$_2$-N$_2$ atmosphere and net surface production of NH$_3$ orbiting an M dwarf (the "Cold Haber World" scenario, Seager et al. 2013ab), the reactive biogenic gas NH$_3$ can enter runaway, whereupon an increase in surface production flux of 1 order of magnitude can increase NH$_3$ concentrations by 3 orders of magnitude and render it detectable with JWST in just 2 transits. Our work on this and other gases suggests that diverse signs of life on exoplanets may be readily detectable at biochemically plausible production rates.

Using a series of 3D relativistic hydrodynamical simulations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) we investigate how AGN power, a clumpy ISM structure, and AGN jet angle with respect to the galactic disk affect the morphology and content of the resulting galactic outflow. For low power AGN across three orders of magnitude of AGN luminosities ($10^{41}-10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$) our simulations did not show significant changes to either the morphology or total mass of the outflow. Changing the angle of the AGN jet with respect to the galaxy did show small changes in the total outflow mass of a factor of 2-3. Jets perpendicular to the galactic disk were created hot single phase outflows, while jets close to parallel with the disk created the outflows were multi-phase with equal parts warm and hot, and significant cold gas. Overall The final morphology of low power AGN outflows depends primarily on how the jet impacts and interacts with large, dense clouds in the clumpy ISM. These clouds can disrupt, deflect, split, or suppress the jet preventing it from leaving the galactic disk as a coherent structure. But for simulations with AGN luminosities $> 10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$ the ISM played a minor role in determining the morphology of the outflow with an undisrupted jet leaving the disk. The final morphology of AGN outflows is different for low power AGNs vs. high power AGNs with the final morphology of low power AGN outflows dependent on the ISM structure within the first kpc surrounding the AGN.

Accretion disc theory predicts that an AGN disc becomes self-gravitating and breaks up into stars at an outer radius $R_{\rm sg}$ ~ 12 light-days, with effectively no free parameter. We present evidence that the longer observed AGN light echoes are all close to 12d in the AGN rest frames. These observations give a stringent test of AGN disc theory. Further monitoring should offer insight into the formation angular momentum of the gas forming the disc. For distant AGN, observed lags significantly longer than 12d give lower limits on their redshifts.

The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S$^{4}$G) is a detailed study of over 2300 nearby galaxies in the near-infrared (NIR), which has been critical to our understanding of the detailed structures of nearby galaxies. Because the sample galaxies were selected only using radio-derived velocities, however, the survey favored late-type disk galaxies over lenticulars and ellipticals. A follow-up Spitzer survey was conducted to rectify this bias, adding 465 early-type galaxies (ETGs) to the original sample, to be analyzed in a manner consistent with the initial survey. We present the data release of this ETG extension, up to the third data processing pipeline (P3): surface photometry. We produce curves of growth and radial surface brightness profiles (with and without inclination corrections) using reduced and masked Spitzer IRAC 3.6$\mu$m and 4.5$\mu$m images produced through Pipelines 1 and 2, respectively. From these profiles, we derive the following integrated quantities: total magnitudes, stellar masses, concentration parameters, and galaxy size metrics. We showcase NIR scaling relations for ETGs among these quantities. We examine general trends across the whole S$^{4}$G and ETG extension among our derived parameters, highlighting differences between ETGs and late-type galaxies (LTGs). ETGs are, on average, more massive and more concentrated than LTGs, and also show subtle distinctions among ETG morphological sub-types. We also derive the following scaling relations and compare with previous results in visible light: mass--size (both half-light and isophotal), mass--concentration, mass--surface brightness (central, effective, and within 1 kpc), and mass--color. We find good agreement with previous works, though some relations (e.g., mass--central surface brightness) will require more careful multi-component decompositions to be fully understood.

Anomalies from the LHCb lepton flavour universality and Fermilab muon anomalous magnetic momentum, show tantalizing hints of possible new physics from the lepton sectors. Due to its large mass and shorter lifetime than muon, the tau lepton is believed to couple more to possible new physics beyond the standard model. Traditionally, tau leptons are probed through the decay products due to tau's short life time. On the other hand, at a high energy scale, a large fraction of tau leptons could be boosted to a much longer life time and fly a visible distance from several centimetres up to kilometer length scale, yet very informative to new physics beyond the standard model or high energy cosmic rays. In this article, we show unique yet promising tau physics by exploiting long-lived taus as a microscope or macroscope, to measure tau's anomalous magnetic momentum to an unprecedented level of accuracy and detect high energy cosmic neutrinos at the 1 TeV to 1 PeV scale, respectively.

Transition radiation detectors (TRDs) have been used to identify high-energy particles (in particular, to separate electrons from heavier particles) in accelerator experiments. In space, they have been used to identify cosmic-ray electrons and measure the energies of cosmic-ray nuclei. To date, radiators have consisted of regular configurations of foils with fixed values of foil thickness and spacing (or foam or fiber radiators with comparable average dimensions) that have operated over a relatively restricted range of Lorentz factors. In order to extend the applicability of future TRDs (for example, to identify 0.5 - 3 TeV pions, kaons, and protons in the far forward region in a future accelerator experiment or to measure the energy spectrum of cosmic-ray nuclei up to 20 TeV/nucleon or higher), there is a need to increase the signal strength and extend the range of Lorentz factors that can be measured in a single detector. A possible approach is to utilize compound radiators consisting of varying radiator parameters. We discuss the case of a compound radiator and derive the yield produced in a TRD with an arbitrary configuration of foil thicknesses and spacings.

We study the existence and property of Fast magnetosonic modes in 3D compressible MHD turbulence by carrying out a number of simulations with compressible and incompressible driving conditions. We use two approaches to determine the presence of Fast modes: mode decomposition based on spatial variations only and spatio-temporal 4D-FFT analysis of all fluctuations. The latter method enables us to quantify fluctuations that satisfy the dispersion relation of Fast modes with finite frequency. Overall, we find that the fraction of Fast modes identified via spatio-temporal 4D FFT approach in total fluctuation power is either tiny with nearly incompressible driving or ~2% with highly compressible driving. We discuss the implications of our results for understanding the compressible fluctuations in space and astrophysics plasmas.

The preprint is an English translation of the paper by famous astrophysicist Samuil Kaplan (1921-1978) "O krugovykh orbitakh v teorii tyagoteniya Einsteina (On circular orbits in Einstein's theory of gravitation)", published in 1949 in the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 951-952) in Russian. This important 1 and 1/3 page paper is still inaccessible to a wide range of experts and students due to the lack of such translation. This paper is the first scientific publication of Samuil Kaplan and the pioneering work in this field. The aim of this presentation is to make the article available to a wide range of experts in the field of general relativity, relativistic astrophysics and the history of science, as well as to honor its author on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

We present a new experimental method to generate quasi-perpendicular supercritical magnetized collisionless shocks. In our experiment, ambient nitrogen (N) plasma is at rest and well-magnetized, and it has uniform mass density. The plasma is pushed by laser-driven ablation aluminum (Al) plasma. Streaked optical pyrometry and spatially resolved laser collective Thomson scattering clarify structures of plasma density and temperatures, which are compared with one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is indicated that just after the laser irradiation, the Al plasma is magnetized by self-generated Biermann battery field, and the plasma slaps the incident N plasma. The compressed external field in the N plasma reflects N ions, leading to counter-streaming magnetized N flows. Namely we identify the edge of the reflected N ions. Such interacting plasmas is forming a magnetized collisionless shock.

AMoRE-II is the second phase of the Advanced Molybdenum-based Rare process Experiment aiming to search for the neutrino-less double beta decay of 100Mo isotopes using ~ 200 kg of molybdenum-containing cryogenic detectors. The AMoRE-II needs to keep the background level below 10-5 counts/keV/kg/year with various methods to maximize the sensitivity. One of the methods is to have the experiment be carried out in a deep underground free from the cosmic ray backgrounds. The AMoRE-II will run at Yemilab with ~ 1,000 m depth. Even in such a deep underground environment, however, there are still survived cosmic muons which can affect the measurement and should be excluded as much as possible. A muon veto detector is necessary to reject muon-induced particles coming to the inner detector where the molybdate cryogenic detectors are located. We have studied the possibility of using an extruded plastic scintillator and wavelength shifting fiber together with SiPM as a muon veto system. We obtained a muon flux of 428.4 events/m2/day at Yangyang underground laboratory using a prototype muon detector, in agreement with a COSINE-100 measurement. The estimated event rate in the AMoRE-II muon veto system for a 135 m2 total veto area is 2.04 events/s.

First order phase transitions could play a major role in the early universe, providing important phenomenological consequences, such as the production of gravitational waves and the generation of baryon asymmetry. An important aspect that determines the properties of the phase transition is the dynamics of the true-vacuum bubbles, which is controlled by the density perturbations in the hot plasma. We study this aspect presenting, for the first time, the full solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation for the top quark species coupled to the Higgs field during a first-order electroweak phase transition. Our approach, differently from the traditional one based on the fluid approximation, does not rely on any ansatz and can fully capture the density perturbations in the plasma. We find that our results significantly differ from the ones obtained in the fluid approximation (including its extensions and modifications), both at the qualitative and quantitative level. In particular sizable differences are found for the friction acting on the bubble wall.

The AGC was designed with the sole purpose of providing navigational guidance and spacecraft control during the Apollo program throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The AGC sported 72kb of ROM, 4kb of RAM, and a whopping 14,245 FLOPS, roughly 30 million times fewer than the computer this report is being written on. These limitations are what make the AGC so interesting, as its programmers had to ration each individual word of memory due to the bulk of memory technology of the time. Despite these limitations (or perhaps due to them), the AGC was highly optimized, and arguably the most advanced computer of its time, as its computational power was only matched in the late 1970s by computers like the Apple II. It is safe to say that the AGC had no intended market, and was explicitly designed to enhance control of the Apollo Command Module and Apollo Lunar Module. The AGC was not entirely internal to NASA, however, and was designed in MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, and manufactured by Raytheon, a weapons and defense contractor.

In this paper we propose a novel strategy to control optomechanical parametric instability (PI) in gravitational wave (GW) detectors, based on radiation pressure. The fast deflection of a high power beam is the key element of our approach. We built a 2D deflection system based on a pair of acousto-optic modulators (AOMs) that combines high rapidity and large scan range. As fast frequency switching configurable AOM driver we used an Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) combined with a high performance personal computer (PC). In this way we demonstrate a 2D beam steering system with flat efficiency over the whole scan range and with a transition time of 50 ns between two arbitrary consecutive deflection positions for a beam power of 3.6 W.

We propose a dual-path interferometry amplification configuration in the cavity axion dark matter searches. We show quantum-mechanically that, in a low temperature cavity permeated by a magnetic field, the single axion-photon conversion rate is enhanced by the cavity quality factor $Q$, which is consistent with the classical result. Under modern cryogenic conditions, thermal photons in the cavity are negligible, thus the axion cavity can be considered as a quantum device emitting single-photons with temporal separations. The correlation of photon field quadratures in the amplification chain, within current technology, enhances the single-to-noise ratio two orders of magnitude compared with single-path amplification scheme. This enhancement would greatly reduce the signal scanning time and improve the sensitivity of the axion-photon coupling.

Superradiance is a process by which massive bosonic particles can extract energy from spinning black holes, leading to the build up of a "cloud" if the particle has a Compton wavelength comparable to the black hole's Schwarzschild radius. One interesting possibility is that superradiance may occur for photons in a diffuse plasma, where they gain a small effective mass. Studies of the spin-0 case have indicated that such a build up is suppressed by a spatially varying effective mass, supposed to mimic the photons' interaction with a physically realistic plasma density profile. We carry out relativistic simulations of a massive Proca field evolving on a Kerr background, with modifications to account for the spatially varying effective mass. This allows us to treat the spin-1 case directly relevant to photons, and to study the effect of thinner disk profiles in the plasma. We find similar qualitative results to the scalar case, and so support the conclusions of that work: either a constant asymptotic mass or a shell-like plasma structure is required for superradiant growth to occur. We study thin disks and find a leakage of the superradiant cloud that suppresses its growth, concluding that thick disks are more likely to support the instability.