Papers for Thursday, Apr 28 2022

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, $10^{3-6} \, \rm{M_\odot}$), are typically found at the center of dwarf galaxies and might be wandering, thus far undetected, in the Milky Way (MW). We use model spectra for advection-dominated accretion flows to compute the typical fluxes, in a range of frequencies spanning from radio to X-rays, emitted by a putative population of $10^5 \, \rm{M_\odot}$ IMBHs wandering in five realistic, volume-weighted, MW environments. We predict that $\sim 27\%$ of the wandering IMBHs can be detected in the X-ray with Chandra, $\sim 37\%$ in the near-infrared with the Roman Space Telescope, $\sim 49\%$ in the sub-mm with CMB-S4 and $\sim 57\%$ in the radio with ngVLA. We find that the brightest fluxes are emitted by IMBHs passing through molecular clouds or cold neutral medium, where they are always detectable. We propose criteria to facilitate the selection of candidates in multi-wavelength surveys. Specifically, we compute the X-ray to optical ratio ($\alpha_{\rm ox}$) and the optical to sub-mm ratio, as a function of the accretion rate of the IMBH. We show that at low rates the sub-mm emission of IMBHs is significantly higher than the optical, UV and X-ray emission. Finally, we place upper limits on the number $N_\bullet$ of these objects in the MW: $N_\bullet<2000$ and $N_\bullet<100$, based on our detectability expectations and current lack of detections in molecular clouds and cold neutral medium, respectively. These predictions will guide future searches of IMBHs in the MW, which will be instrumental to understanding their demographics and evolution.

3C186, a radio-loud quasar at $z=1.0685$, was previously reported to have both velocity and spatial offsets from its host galaxy, and has been considered as a promising candidate for a gravitational wave recoiling black hole triggered by a black hole merger. Another possible scenario is that 3C186 is in an on-going galaxy merger, exhibiting a temporary displacement. In this study, we present analyses of new deep HST/WFC3-IR and ACS images, aiming to characterize the host galaxy and test this alternative scenario. We carefully measure the light-weighted center of the host and reveal a significant spatial offset from the quasar core ($11.1\pm0.1$kpc). The direction of the confirmed offset aligns almost perpendicularly to the radio jet. We do not find evidence of a recent merger, such as a young starburst in disturbed outskirts, but only marginal light concentration in F160W at $\sim30$kpc. The host consists of matured ($>200$Myr) stellar populations and one compact star-forming region. We compare with hydro-dynamical simulations and find that those observed features are consistently seen in late-stage merger remnants. Taken together, those pieces of evidence indicate that the system is not an on-going/young merger remnant, suggesting that the recoiling black hole scenario is still a plausible explanation for the puzzling nature of 3C186.

Long-duration $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs) accompany the collapse of massive stars and carry important information about the central engine. However, no 3D models have been able to follow these jets from their birth by a rotating black-hole (BH) to the photosphere. We present the first such 3D general-relativity magnetohydrodynamic simulations, which span over $6$ orders of magnitude in space and time. The collapsing stellar envelope forms an accretion disk, which drags inward the magnetic flux that accumulates around the BH, becomes dynamically-important and launches bipolar jets. The jets reach the photosphere at $\sim10^{12}$ cm with an opening angle, $\theta_j\sim6^\circ$ and a Lorentz factor, $\Gamma_j\lesssim30$, unbind $\gtrsim90\%$ of the star and leave the BH mass essentially unchanged after the initial core-collapse. We find that: (i) The disk-jet system spontaneously develops misalignment relative to the BH rotational axis. As a result, the jet direction wobbles with an angle $\theta_t\sim12^\circ$, which can naturally explain quiescent times in GRB lightcurves. The effective opening angle for detection $\theta_j+\theta_t$ suggests that the intrinsic (beaming-corrected) GRB rate is lower by an order of magnitude than standard estimates. This implies that successful GRBs can be much rarer than currently thought, and emerge in only $\sim0.1\%$ of supernovae Ib/c. A possible explanation is that jets are either not launched or choked inside most supernova Ib/c progenitors. (ii) The magnetic energy in the jet decreases due to dissipation and mixing with the stellar material, resulting in jets with a hybrid composition of magnetic and thermal components at the photosphere, where $\sim 20\%$ of the gas maintains magnetization $\sigma\gtrsim0.1$. This indicates that both a photospheric component and magnetic reconnection play a role in the GRB prompt emission.

We study the effect of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) and baryons on the shapes of early-type galaxies (ETGs) and their dark matter haloes, comparing them to the predictions of the standard cold dark matter (CDM) scenario. We use a sample of five zoom-in simulations of haloes hosting ETGs ($M_{\text vir}\sim 10^{13}M_{\odot}$ and $M_{*}\sim10^{11}M_{\odot}$), simulated in CDM and a SIDM model with constant cross-section of $\sigma_T/m_\chi = 1\ \mathrm{cm}^2 \mathrm{g}^{-1}$, with and without the inclusion of baryonic physics. We measure the three-dimensional and projected shapes of the dark matter haloes and their baryonic content by means of the inertia tensor and compare our measurements to the results of gravitational lensing and X-ray observations. We find that the inclusion of baryons greatly reduces the differences between CDM and a SIDM and thus the ability to draw constraints on the basis of shapes. We find that lensing measurements clearly reject the predictions from CDM dark-matter-only simulations, whereas they show a different degree of preference for the CDM and SIDM hydro scenarios, and cannot discard the SIDM dark-matter-only case. The shapes of the X-ray emitting gas are also comparable to observational results in both hydro runs, with CDM predicting higher elongations only in the very center. Contrary to previous claims at the scale of elliptical galaxies, we conclude that both CDM and our SIDM model with $\sigma_T/m_\chi = 1\ \mathrm{cm}^2 \mathrm{g}^{-1}$ are able to explain observed distributions of halo shapes, once baryons are included in the simulations

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons that scatter off free electrons in the large-scale structure induce a linear polarization pattern proportional to the remote CMB temperature quadrupole observed in the electrons' rest frame. The associated blackbody polarization anisotropies are known as the polarized Sunyaev Zel'dovich (pSZ) effect. Relativistic corrections to the remote quadrupole field give rise to a non-blackbody polarization anisotropy proportional to the square of the transverse peculiar velocity field; this is the kinetic polarized Sunyaev Zel'dovich (kpSZ) effect. In this paper, we forecast the ability of future CMB and galaxy surveys to detect the kpSZ effect, finding that a statistically significant detection is within the reach of planned experiments. We further introduce a quadratic estimator for the square of the peculiar velocity field based on a galaxy survey and CMB polarization. Finally, we outline how the kpSZ effect is a probe of cosmic birefringence and primordial non-Gaussianity, forecasting the reach of future experiments.

The joint detection of GW170817 and GRB 170817A opened the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves (GWs) and provided the first direct probe that at least some binary neutron star (BNS) mergers are progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts (S-GRBs). In the next years, we expect to have more multi-messenger detections of BNS mergers, thanks to the increasing sensitivity of GW detectors. Here, we present a comprehensive study on the prospects for joint GW and electromagnetic observations of merging BNSs in the fourth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA observing run with \emph{Fermi}, \emph{Swift}, INTEGRAL and SVOM. This work combines accurate population synthesis models with simulations of the expected GW signals and the associated S-GRBs, considering different assumptions about the GRB jet structure. We show that the expected rate of joint GW and electromagnetic detections could be up to $\sim$ 6 yr$^{-1}$ when \emph{Fermi}/GBM is considered. Future joint observations will help us to better constrain the association between BNS mergers and S-GRBs, as well as the geometry of the GRB jets.

Wide black hole binaries (wide-BBHs; $\geqslant 10^3$ AU) in the field can be perturbed by random stellar flybys that excite their eccentricities. Once a wide binary is driven to a sufficiently small pericenter approach, gravitational wave (GW) emission becomes significant, and the binary inspirals and merges. In our previous study, using simplified models for wide-BBHs, we found that successive flybys lead to significant merger fractions of wide-BBHs in less than Hubble time, making the flyby perturbation mechanism a relevant contributor to the production rate of GW-sources. However, the exact rates and detailed properties of the resulting GW sources depend on the wide binary progenitors. In this paper we use detailed population synthesis models for the initial wide-BBH population, considering several populations corresponding to different natal-kick models and metallicities, and then follow the wide-BBHs evolution due to flyby perturbations and GW-emission. We show that the cumulative effect of flybys is conductive for the production of GW sources in non-negligible rates of $1-20$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$, which are sensitive to the natal kicks model. Such rates are relevant to the observationally inferred rate. Our models, now derived from detailed population of binaries, provide the detailed properties of the produced GW-sources, including mass-functions and delay times. The GW mergers are circularized when enter the aLIGO band; have a preference for high velocity dispersion host galaxies (in particular ellipticals); have a relatively uniform delay-time distribution; and likely have mildly correlated (less than isolated evolution channels and more than dynamical channels) prograde spin-spin and spin-orbits.

Characterizing the masses and orbits of near-Earth-mass planets is crucial for interpreting observations from future direct imaging missions (e.g., HabEx, LUVOIR). Therefore, the Exoplanet Science Strategy report (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018) recommended further research so future extremely precise radial velocity surveys could contribute to the discovery and/or characterization of near-Earth-mass planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars prior to the launch of these future imaging missions. Newman et al. (2021) simulated such 10-year surveys under various telescope architectures, demonstrating they can precisely measure the masses of potentially habitable Earth-mass planets in the absence of stellar variability. Here, we investigate the effect of stellar variability on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the planet mass measurements in these simulations. We find that correlated noise due to active regions has the largest effect on the observed mass SNR, reducing the SNR by a factor of $\sim$5.5 relative to the no-variability scenario -- granulation reduces by a factor of $\sim$3, while p-mode oscillations has little impact on the proposed survey strategies. We show that in the presence of correlated noise, 5-cm s$^{-1}$ instrumental precision offers little improvement over 10-cm s$^{-1}$ precision, highlighting the need to mitigate astrophysical variability. With our noise models, extending the survey to 15 years doubles the number of Earth-analogs with mass SNR $>$ 10, and reaching this threshold for any Earth-analog orbiting a star $>$ 0.76 M$_{\odot}$ in a 10-year survey would require an increase in number of observations per star from that in Newman et al. (2021).

Centres of galaxy clusters must be efficiently reheated to avoid a cooling catastrophe. One potential reheating mechanism is anisotropic thermal conduction, which could transport thermal energy from intermediate radii to the cluster center. However, if fields are not re-randomised, anisotropic thermal conduction drives the heat buoyancy instability (HBI) which reorients magnetic field lines and shuts off radial heat fluxes. We revisit the efficiency of thermal conduction under the influence of spin-driven AGN jets in idealised magneto-hydrodynamical simulations with anisotropic thermal conduction. Despite the black hole spin's ability to regularly re-orientate the jet so that the jet-induced turbulence is driven in a quasi-isotropic fashion, the HBI remains efficient outside the central 50 kpc of the cluster, where the reservoir of heat is the largest. As a result, conduction plays no significant role in regulating the cooling of the intra-cluster medium if central active galactic nuclei are the sole source of turbulence.

Most massive stars reside in multiple systems that will interact over the course of their lifetime. Classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars represent the final end stages of stellar evolution at the upper-mass end. As part of a homogeneous, magnitude-limited ($V\leq12$) spectroscopic survey of northern Galactic WR stars, this paper aims to establish the observed and intrinsic multiplicity properties of the early-type nitrogen-rich WR population (WNE). We obtained high-resolution spectroscopic time series of the complete magnitude-limited sample of 16 WNE stars observable with the 1.2 m Mercator telescope at La Palma, typically providing a time base of about two to eight years. We measured relative radial velocities (RVs) using cross-correlation and used RV variations to flag binary candidates. Adopting a peak-to-peak RV variability threshold of 50 km/s as a criterion found an observed multiplicity fraction of 0.44$\pm$0.12. Using an updated Monte Carlo method with a Bayesian framework, we calculated the three-dimensional likelihood for the intrinsic binary fraction, the maximum period, and the power-law index for the period distribution for the WNE population. We also re-derived multiplicity parameters for the Galactic WC population. We found an intrinsic multiplicity fraction of $0.56\substack{+0.20 \\ -0.15}$ for the parent WNE population. For the Galactic WC population, we re-derive an intrinsic multiplicity fraction of $0.96\substack{+0.04 \\ -0.22}$. The derived multiplicity parameters for the WNE population are quite similar to those derived for main-sequence O binaries but differ from those of the WC population. The significant shift in the WC period distribution towards longer periods is too large to be explained via expansion of the orbit due to stellar winds, and we discuss possible implications of our results.

We present the theoretical framework and numerical methods we have implemented to solve the problem of the generation and transfer of polarized radiation in spectral lines out of local thermodynamical equilibrium, while accounting for scattering polarization, partial frequency redistribution, J-state interference, and hyperfine structure. The resulting radiative transfer code allows modeling the impact of magnetic fields of arbitrary strength and orientation through the Hanle, incomplete Paschen-Back, and magneto-optical effects. We also evaluate the suitability of a series of approximations for modeling the scattering polarization in the wings of strong resonance lines that would be particularly useful for the numerically intensive case of three-dimensional radiative transfer. We examine the suitability of the considered approximation using our radiative transfer code to model the Stokes profiles of the Mg II h & k lines and of the H I Lyman alpha line in magnetized one-dimensional models of the solar atmosphere. Neglecting Doppler redistribution in the scattering processes that are unperturbed by elastic collisions produces a negligible error in the scattering polarization wings of the Mg II resonance lines and a minor one in the Lyman alpha wings, although it is unsuitable to model the cores of these lines. For both lines, the scattering processes that are perturbed by elastic collisions give a significant contribution only to the intensity component of the emissivity. Neglecting collisional as well as Doppler redistribution represents a rough but suitable approximation for the wings of the Mg II resonance lines, but a very poor one for the Lyman alpha wings. The magnetic sensitivity in the scattering polarization wings of the considered lines can be modeled by accounting for the magnetic field only in the eta I and rho V coefficients of the Stokes-vector transfer equation.

We present a complex study of the eclipsing binary system, AB Cas. The analysis of the whole TESS light curve, corrected for the binary effects, reveals 112 significant frequency peaks with 17 independent signals. The dominant frequency $f_1 = $17.1564 d$^{-1}$ is a radial fundamental mode. The $O-C$ analysis of the times of light minima from over 92 years leads to a conclusion that due to the ongoing mass transfer the system exhibits a change of the orbital period at a rate of 0.03 s per year. In order to find evolutionary models describing the current stage of AB Cas, we perform binary evolution computations. Our results show the AB Cas system as a product of the rapid non-conservative mass transfer with about 5-26 % of transferred mass lost from the system. This process heavily affected the orbital characteristics of this binary and its components in the past. In fact, this system closely resembles the formation scenarios of EL CVn type binaries. For the first time, we demonstrate the effect of binary evolution on radial pulsations and determine the lines of constant frequency on the HR diagram. From the binary and seismic modelling, we obtain constraints on various parameters. In particular, we constrain the overshooting parameter, $f_{\rm ov}\in [0.010,~0.018]$, the mixing-length parameter, $\alpha_{\rm MLT}\in[1.2,~1.5]$ and the age, $t \in [2.3,~3.4]$ Gyr.

The distance to the Galactic center $R_0$ is a fundamental parameter for understanding the Milky Way, because all observations of our Galaxy are made from our heliocentric reference point. The uncertainty in $R_0$ limits our knowledge of many aspects of the Milky Way, including its total mass and the relative mass of its major components, and any orbital parameters of stars employed in chemo-dynamical analyses. While measurements of $R_0$ have been improving over a century, measurements in the past few years from a variety of methods still find a wide range of $R_0$ being somewhere within $8.0$ to $8.5\,\mathrm{kpc}$. The most precise measurements to date have to assume that Sgr A$^*$ is at rest at the Galactic center, which may not be the case. In this paper, we use maps of the kinematics of stars in the Galactic bar derived from APOGEE DR17 and Gaia EDR3 data augmented with spectro-photometric distances from the \texttt{astroNN} neural-network method. These maps clearly display the minimum in the rotational velocity $v_T$ and the quadrupolar signature in radial velocity $v_R$ expected for stars orbiting in a bar. From the minimum in $v_T$, we measure $R_0 = 8.23 \pm 0.12\,\mathrm{kpc}$. We validate our measurement using realistic $N$-body simulations of the Milky Way. We further measure the pattern speed of the bar to be $\Omega_\mathrm{bar} = 40.08\pm1.78\,\mathrm{km\,s}^{-1}\mathrm{kpc}^{-1}$. Because the bar forms out of the disk, its center is manifestly the barycenter of the bar+disc system and our measurement is therefore the most robust and accurate measurement of $R_0$ to date.

Galactic star clusters are known to harbour a significant amount of binary stars, yet their role in the dynamical evolution of the cluster as a whole is not comprehensively understood. We investigated the influence of binary stars on the total mass estimate for the case of the moderately populated Galactic star cluster NGC 225. The analysis of multi-epoch radial velocities of the 29 brightest cluster members, obtained over two observational campaigns, in 1990-1991 and in 2019-2020, yields a value of binary fraction of $\alpha =0.52$ (15 stars out of 29). Using theoretical isochrones and Monte Carlo simulations we found that the cluster mass increases at least 1.23 times when binaries are properly taken into account. By combining Gaia EDR3 photometric data with our spectroscopic observations, we derived estimates of NGC 225 fundamental parameters as follows: mean radial velocity $<V_r> = -9.8 \pm 0.7$ km s$^{-1}$, $\log(\tau)$=8.0-8.2 dex, distance $ D = 676 \pm 22$ pc, and colour excess $E(B-V) = 0.29 \pm 0.01$ mag.

Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3, and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasars (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). The Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13 to 21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 ${\mu}$as yr${}^{-1}$ on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of the Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases.

We compare the properties of shocked gas in Sgr B2 with maps obtained from 3D simulations of a collision between two fractal clouds. In agreement with $^{13}$CO(1-0) observations, our simulations show that a cloud-cloud collision produces a region with a highly turbulent density substructure with an average $N_{\rm H2}\gtrsim 5\times10^{22}\,\rm cm^{-2}$. Similarly, our numerical multi-channel shock study shows that colliding clouds are efficient at producing internal shocks with velocities of $5-50\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$ and Mach numbers of $\sim4-40$, which are needed to explain the $\sim 10^{-9}$ SiO abundances inferred from our SiO(2-1) IRAM observations of Sgr B2. Overall, we find that both the density structure and the shocked gas morphology in Sgr B2 are consistent with a $\lesssim 0.5\,\rm Myr$-old cloud-cloud collision. High-velocity shocks are produced during the early stages of the collision and can ignite star formation, while moderate- and low-velocity shocks are important over longer time-scales and can explain the extended SiO emission in Sgr B2.

We explore a sample of 1492 galaxies with measurements of the mean stellar population properties and the spin parameter proxy, $\lambda_{R_{\rm{e}}}$, drawn from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We fit a global $\left[\alpha/\rm{Fe}\right]$-$\sigma$ relation, finding that $\left[\alpha/\rm{Fe}\right]=(0.395\pm0.010)\rm{log}_{10}\left(\sigma\right)-(0.627\pm0.002)$. We observe an anti-correlation between the residuals $\Delta\left[\alpha/\rm{Fe}\right]$ and the inclination-corrected $\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}$, which can be expressed as $\Delta\left[\alpha/\rm{Fe}\right]=(-0.057\pm0.008)\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}+(0.020\pm0.003)$. The anti-correlation appears to be driven by star-forming galaxies, with a gradient of $\Delta\left[\alpha/\rm{Fe}\right]\sim(-0.121\pm0.015)\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}$, although a weak relationship persists for the subsample of galaxies for which star formation has been quenched. We take this to be confirmation that disk-dominated galaxies have an extended duration of star formation. At a reference velocity dispersion of 200 km s$^{-1}$, we estimate an increase in half-mass formation time from $\sim$0.5 Gyr to $\sim$1.2 Gyr from low- to high-$\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}$ galaxies. Slow rotators do not appear to fit these trends. Their residual $\alpha$-enhancement is indistinguishable from other galaxies with $\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}\lessapprox0.4$, despite being both larger and more massive. This result shows that galaxies with $\lambda_{\,R_{\rm{e}}}^{\rm{\,eo}}\lessapprox0.4$ experience a similar range of star formation histories, despite their different physical structure and angular momentum.

Digital radio arrays have become an effective tool to measure air showers at energies around and above 100 PeV. Compared to optical techniques, the radio technique is not restricted to clear nights. Thanks to recent progress on computational analysis techniques, radio arrays can provide an equally accurate measurement of the energy and the depth of the shower maximum. Stand-alone radio arrays offer an economic way towards huge apertures, e.g., for the search for ultra-high-energy neutrinos, but still require technical demonstration on large scales. Hybrid arrays combining radio antennas and particle detectors have already started to contribute to cosmic-ray physics in the energy range of the presumed Galactic-to-extragalactic transition. In particular, the combination of radio and muon detectors can pave a path to unprecedented accuracy for the mass composition of cosmic rays. This proceeding reviews recent developments regarding the radio technique and highlights selected running and planned antennas arrays, such as GCOS, GRAND, the SKA, the AugerPrime Upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory, and IceCube-Gen2.

It is theorized that in gas giants, an outer convection zone advances into the interior as the surface cools, and multiple convective layers form beneath that convective front. To study layer formation below an outer convection zone in a similar scenario, we investigate the evolution of a stably-stratified fluid with a linear composition gradient that is constantly being cooled from above. We use the Boussinesq approximation in a series of 2D simulations at low and high Prandtl numbers ($\mathrm{Pr} = 0.5$ and 7), initialized with different temperature stratifications, and cooled at different rates. We find that simulations initialized with an isothermal temperature profile form multiple convective layers at $\mathrm{Pr} = 7$. These layers result from an instability of a diffusive thermal boundary layer below the outer convection zone. At low Pr, layers do not form. Double-diffusive instabilities drive the fluid below the outer convection zone into a state of turbulent diffusion rather than layered convection. Changing the initial distribution of temperature to decrease linearly with depth results in lower values of the inverse density ratio $R^{-1}\equiv S_{z}/T_{z}$ (given the normalization in this work), and consequently, the spontaneous formation of multiple convective layers at low Pr. For the stratifications used in this study, on the long-term the composition gradient is an ineffective barrier against the propagation of the outer convection zone and the entire fluid becomes fully-mixed, whether layers form or not. Our results challenge 1D evolutionary models of gas giant planets, which predict that layers are long-lived and that the outer convective envelope stops advancing inwards. We discuss what is needed for future work to build more realistic models.

We propose a new consistency test for the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology using baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and redshift space distortion (RSD) measurements from galaxy redshift surveys. Specifically, we determine the peak position of $f\sigma_8(z)$ in redshift $z$ offered by a RSD measurement, and compare it to the one predicted by the BAO observables assuming a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. We demonstrate this new test using the simulated data for the DESI galaxy survey, and argue that this test complements those using the background observables alone, and is less subject to systematics in the RSD analysis, compared to traditional methods using values of $f\sigma_8(z)$ directly.

The discovery of the first two interstellar comets implies that, on average, every star contributes a substantial amount of material to the galactic population by ejecting such bodies from the host system. Since scattering is a chaotic process, a comparable amount of material should be injected into the inner regions of each system that ejects comets. For comets that are transported inwards and interact with planets, this Letter estimates the fraction of material that is accreted or outward-scattered as a function of planetary masses and orbital parameters. These calculations indicate that planets with escape velocities smaller than their current day orbital velocities will efficiently accrete comets. We estimate the accretion efficiency for members of the current census of extrasolar planets, and find that planetary populations including but not limited to hot and warm Jupiters, sub-Neptunes and super-Earths can efficiently capture incoming comets. This cometary enrichment may have important ramifications for post-formation atmospheric composition and chemistry. As a result, future detections and compositional measurements of interstellar comets will provide direct measurements of material that potentially enriched a sub-population of the extrasolar planets. Finally, we estimate the efficiency of this enrichment mechanism for extrasolar planets that will be observed with the $\textit{James Webb Space Telescope}$ (JWST). With JWST currently operational and these observations imminently forthcoming, it is of critical importance to investigate how enrichment from interstellar comet analogues may affect the interpretations of exoplanet atmospheric compositions.

We present timing solutions of PSR B0950+08, using 14 years of observations at Nanshan 26-m Radio Telescope of Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. The braking index of PSR B0950+08 varies from --367 392 to 168 883, which shows an oscillation with large amplitude ($\sim 10^5$) and uncertainty. Considering the variation of braking indices and the most probable kinematic age of PSR B0950+08, a model withe long-term magnetic field decay modulated by short-term oscillations is proposed to explain the timing data. With this magnetic field decay model, we discuss the spin and thermal evolution of PSR B0950+08. The uncertainties of its age are also considered. The results show that three-component oscillations are the more reasonable for the spin-frequency derivative distributions of PSR B0950+08, and the initial spin period of PSR B0950+08 must be shorter than $97\rm\ ms$ when the age is equal to the lower bound of its kinematic age. The standard cooling model could explain the surface temperature of PSR B0950+08 with its most probable kinematic age. Vortex creep heating with a long-term magnetic field decay could maintain a relatively high temperature at the later stages of evolution and explain the thermal emission data of old and warm pulsars. Coupling with the long-term magnetic field decay, an explanation of the temperature of PSR B0950+08 with roto-chemical heating needs an implausibly short initial rotation period ($P_0 \lesssim 17\rm{ ms}$). The spin and thermal evolution of pulsars should be studied simultaneously. Future timing, ultraviolet or X-ray observations are essential for studying the evolution and interior properties of pulsars.

A new one-dimensional, inviscid, and vertically integrated disk model with prescribed infall is presented. The flow is computed using a second-order shock-capturing scheme. Included are vertical infall, radial infall at the outer radial boundary, radiative cooling, stellar irradiation, and heat addition at the disk-surface shock. Simulation parameters are chosen to target the L1527 IRS disk which has been observed using ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array). The results give an outer envelope of radial infall and $u_\phi \propto 1/r$ which encounters a radial shock at $\rrshock \sim 1.5\ \times$ the centrifugal radius ($\rc$) across which the radial velocity is greatly reduced and the temperature rises from a pre-shock value of $20$ K to $\approx 60$ K. At $\rc$, the azimuthal velocity $u_\phi$ transitions from being $\propto 1/r$ to being nearly Keplerian. These results qualitatively agree with recent ALMA observations which indicate a radial shock where SO is sublimated as well as a transition from a $u_\phi \sim 1/r$ region to a Keplerian inner disk. However, the observed position-velocity map of cyclic-C$_3$H$_2$, together with a certain ballistic maximum velocity relation, has suggested that the radial shock coincides with a ballistic centrifugal barrier, which places the shock at $\rrshock = 0.5 \rc$, i.e, inward of $\rc$, rather than outward as given by our simulations, as well as previous magnetic rotating-collapse simulations. This discrepancy is analyzed and discussed, but remains unresolved.

To understand the impact of active galactic nuclei (AGN) on their host galaxies and large scale environment it is crucial to determine their total radiative power across all wavelengths (i.e., bolometric luminosity). In this contribution we describe how quasar accretion disk spectral energy distribution (SED) templates, parameterized by the black hole (BH) mass, Eddington ratio, and spin can be used to estimate their total radiated luminosity. To estimate the bolometric luminosity of AGN, we integrate the accretion disk SEDs from 1$\mu$m to 10keV. Our approach self-consistently covers any gaps in observations and does not include reprocessed emission from the torus. The accretion disk SED, and consequently the bolometric correction inferred from it, strongly depend on the BH mass, the Eddington ratio, and spin. In particular, the bolometric correction in the visible bands (5100$\,\mathring{A}$ and 3000$\,\mathring{A}$) strongly depends on BH mass, and at X-ray strongly depends on the Eddington ratio. At wavelengths closer to the peak of the accretion disk SED the dependence becomes weaker. Additionally, maximally-rotating (spin = 1) quasars require a higher bolometric correction than their non-rotating (spin = 0) counterparts at all wavelengths. The SEDs and the bolometric correction presented in this work can determine the radiative power of any sample of radio-quiet to radio-loud Type 1 AGN with observations in the range from 1$\mu$m to 10$\,$keV provided the observations are corrected for extinction.

We have selected six sources (G209.55-19.68S2, G205.46-14.56S1$_{-}$A, G203.21-11.20W2, G191.90-11.21S, G205.46-14.56S3, and G206.93-16.61W2) from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP), in which these sources have been mapped in the CO (J=2-1), SiO (J=5-4), and C$^{18}$O (J=2-1) lines. These sources have high-velocity SiO jets surrounded by low-velocity CO outflows. The SiO jets consist of a chain of knots. These knots have been thought to be produced by semi-periodical variations in jet velocity. Therefore, we adopt a shock-forming model, which uses such variations to estimate the inclination angle and velocity of the jets. We also derive the inclination angle of the CO outflows using the wide-angle wind-driven shell model, and find it to be broadly consistent with that of the associated SiO jets. In addition, we apply this shock-forming model to another three protostellar sources with SiO jets in the literature -- HH 211, HH 212, and L1448C(N) -- and find that their inclination angle and jet velocity are consistent with those previously estimated from proper motion and radial velocity studies.

We review the tools and procedures for the analysis of the data collected by X-ray photoelectric gas polarimeters, like the ones on-board the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Although many of such tools are in principle common with polarimeters working at other energy bands, the peculiar characteristics and performance of these devices require a specific approach. We will start from the analysis of the raw data read-out from this kind of instruments, that is, the image of the track of the photoelectron. We will briefly present how such images are processed with highly-specialized algorithms to extract all the information collected by the instrument. These include energy, time of arrival and, possibly, absorption point of the photon, in addition to the initial direction of emission of the photoelectron. The last is the quantity relevant for polarimetry, and we will present different methods to obtain the polarization degree and angle from it. A simple method, used extensively especially during the development phase of X-ray photoelectric gas polarimeters, is based on the construction and fitting of the azimuthal distribution of the photoelectrons. We will discuss that there are several reasons to prefer an analysis based on Stokes parameters, especially when one wants to analyze measurements of real, i.e., not laboratory, sources. These are quantities commonly used at all wavelengths because they are additive, and then operations like background subtraction or the application of calibration are trivial to apply. We will summarize how Stokes parameters can be used to adapt current spectroscopy software based on forward folding fitting to perform spectro-polarimetry. Moreover, we will derive how to properly associate the statistical uncertainty on a polarimetry measurement and the relation with another statistical indicator, which is in the minimum detectable polarization.

The puzzle of Li-rich giant is still unsolved, contradicting the prediction of the standard stellar models. Although the exact evolutionary stages play a key role in the knowledge of Li-rich giants, a limited number of Li-rich giants have been taken with high-quality asteroseismic parameters to clearly distinguish the stellar evolutionary stages. Based on the LAMOST Data Release 7 (DR7), we applied a data-driven neural network method to derive the parameters for giant stars, which contain the largest number of Li-rich giants. The red giant stars are classified into three stages of Red Giant Branch (RGB), Primary Red Clump (PRC), and Secondary Red Clump (SRC) relying on the estimated asteroseismic parameters. In the statistical analysis of the properties (i.e. stellar mass, carbon, nitrogen, Li-rich distribution, and frequency) of Li-rich giants, we found that: (1) Most of the Li-rich RGB stars are suggested to be the descendants of Li-rich pre-RGB stars and/or the result of engulfment of planet or substellar companions; (2) The massive Li-rich SRC stars could be the natural consequence of Li depletion from the high-mass Li-rich RGB stars. (3) Internal mixing processes near the helium flash can account for the phenomenon of Li-rich on PRC that dominated the Li-rich giants. Based on the comparison of [C/N] distributions between Li-rich and normal PRC stars, the Li-enriched processes probably depend on the stellar mass.

We describe a new low-frequency wideband radio survey of the southern sky. Observations covering 72 - 231 MHz and Declinations south of $+30^\circ$ have been performed with the Murchison Widefield Array "extended" Phase II configuration over 2018 - 2020 and will be processed to form data products including continuum and polarisation images and mosaics, multi-frequency catalogues, transient search data, and ionospheric measurements. From a pilot field described in this work, we publish an initial data release covering 1,447 sq. deg over 4h < RA < 13h, -32.7deg < Dec < -20.7deg. We process twenty frequency bands sampling 72 - 231 MHz, with a resolution of $2'$ - $45"$, and produce a wideband source-finding image across 170 - 231MHz with a root-mean-square noise of $1.27\pm0.15$ mJy/beam. Source-finding yields 78,967 components, of which 71,320 are fitted spectrally. The catalogue has a completeness of 98% at $\sim50$mJy, and a reliability of 98.2% at $5\sigma$ rising to 99.7% at $7\sigma$. A catalogue is available from Vizier; images are made available on AAO Data Central, SkyView, and the PASA Datastore. This is the first in a series of data releases from the GLEAM-X survey.

Some recent findings have shown that the duration of gamma-ray burst (GRB), although crucially related to the GRB central engine time scale, is not determinative in inferring the GRB origins in terms of their progenitors. In this paper, we report a peculiarly long-duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 211211A, that is associated with a kilonova in optical and near-infrared bands and is therefore likely the result of a binary neutron star merger. The burst broadly resembles the properties of GRB 060614 but with a much higher brightness in its light curve and harder spectra in both the main and extended emission phases, making it difficult to be explained as a short GRB with soft extended emission. Such a genuinely long-duration GRB suggests that merger product is likely a magnetar, which powers up the burst through magnetic and rotation energy for at least $\sim 70$ seconds.

The gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters is a convenient probe to use in cosmological studies, as it can help derive constraints on a collection of cosmological parameters. It is however subject to various effects from the baryonic physics inside galaxy clusters, which may bias the obtained cosmological constraints. Among different aspects of the baryonic physics, in this paper we focus on the impact of the hydrostatic equilibrium assumption. We analyse the hydrostatic mass bias $B$, constraining a possible mass and redshift evolution of this quantity and its impact on the cosmological constraints. To that end we consider cluster observations of the {\it Planck}-ESZ sample and evaluate the gas mass fraction using X-ray counterpart observations. We show a degeneracy between the redshift dependence of the bias and cosmological parameters. In particular we find a $3.8 \sigma$ evidence for a redshift dependence of the bias when assuming a {\it Planck} prior on $\Omega_m$. On the other hand, assuming a constant mass bias would lead to the extreme large value of $\Omega_m > 0.849$. We however show that our results are entirely dependent on the cluster sample we consider. In particular, the mass and redshift trends that we find for the lowest mass-redshift and highest mass-redshift clusters of our sample are not compatible. Nevertheless, in all the analyses we find a value for the amplitude of the bias that is consistent with $B \sim 0.8$, as expected from hydrodynamical simulations and local measurements, but still in tension with the low value of $B \sim 0.6$ derived from the combination of cosmic microwave background primary anisotropies with cluster number counts.

The intensity mapping of the [CII] 158um line redshifted to the sub-mm window is a promising probe of the z>4 star formation and its spatial distribution into the large-scale structure. To prepare the first-generation experiments (e.g., CONCERTO), we need realistic simulations of the sub-mm extragalactic sky in spectroscopy. We present a new version of the SIDES simulation including the main sub-mm lines around 1mm (CO, [CII], [CI]). This approach successfully reproduces the observed line luminosity functions. We then use our simulation to generate CONCERTO-like cubes (125-305GHz) and forecast the power spectra of the fluctuations caused by the various astrophysical components at those frequencies. Depending on our assumptions on the relation between star formation rate and [CII] luminosity, and the star formation history, our predictions of the z~6 [CII] power spectrum vary by two orders of magnitude. This highlights how uncertain the predictions are and how important future measurements will be to improve our understanding of this early epoch. SIDES can reproduce the CO shot noise recently measured at ~100 GHz by the mmIME experiment. Finally, we compare the contribution of the different astrophysical components at various redshift to the power spectra. The continuum is by far the brightest, by a factor of 3 to 100 depending on the frequency. At 300GHz, the CO foreground power spectrum is higher than the [CII] one for our base scenario. At lower frequency, the contrast between [CII] and extragalactic foregrounds is even worse. Masking the known galaxies from deep surveys should allow to reduce the foregrounds to 20% of the [CII] power spectrum up to z~6.5. However, this masking method will not be sufficient at higher redshifts. The code and the products of our simulation are released publicly and can be used for both intensity mapping experiments and sub-mm continuum and line surveys.

The Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) instrument on board the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) "Hope", for the first time, is providing us with the temperature measurements of Mars at all local times covering most of the planet. It is therefore possible now to compare surface temperature measurements made from orbit with those from the surface by rovers during the same time period. We use data of diurnal temperature variation from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) suite on board the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) "Curiosity" rover, and the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) suite on board the Mars 2020 "Perseverance" rover, between June and August 2021 and compare them with EMIRS observations. We also compare these measurements with estimates of the Mars Climate Database (MCD) model. We show that although the overall trend of temperature variation is in excellent agreement across missions, EMIRS measurements are systematically lower at night compared to Mars 2020. We describe a number of factors which could lead to this discrepancy. We discuss the implications of these results in improving our understanding of the Martian climate which would lead to better modeling of local weather prediction, useful for future robotic and potentially crewed missions to Mars.

We have investigated the grain alignment and dust properties towards the direction of the cluster NGC 2345 using the multi-band optical polarimetric observations. For the majority of the stars, the observed polarization is found to be due to the interstellar medium with average values of maximum polarization and wavelength corresponding to it as 1.55% and 0.58 $\mu m$, respectively. This reveals a similar size distribution of dust grains to that in the general interstellar medium in the direction of NGC 2345. Alteration of dust properties near the distance of 1.2 kpc towards the direction of NGC 2345 has been noticed. The dust grains located beyond this distance are found to be aligned with the Galactic magnetic field, whereas a dispersion in orientation of the dust grains lying in the foreground of this distance is found. Polarizing efficiency of grains in this direction is found to be close to the average efficiency for our Galaxy. The decreased grain size along with the increased polarizing efficiency towards the core region of the cluster indicates the local radiation field is higher within the cluster which is responsible for the increased alignment efficiency of small grains. The wavelength of maximum polarization (associated with the average size of aligned grains) is also found to increase with extinction and reduces with the increase in polarizing efficiency, which can be explained by the radiative torque alignment mechanism.

Recently, Espinoza et al. (2014, 2021) reported the existence of "glitch candidates" and "anti-glitch candidates" which are effectively small spin-ups and spin-downs of a neutron star with magnitudes smaller than those seen in typical glitches. The physical origin of these small events is not yet understood. In this paper, we outline a model that can account for the changes in spin, and crucially, is independently testable with gravitational wave observations. In brief, the model posits that small spin-up/spin-down events are caused by the excitation and decay of non-axisymmetric $f$-modes which radiate angular momentum away in a burst-like way as gravitational waves. The model takes the change in spin frequency as an input and outputs the initial mode amplitude and the signal-to-noise ratio achievable from gravitational wave detectors. We find that the model presented here will become falsifiable once 3rd generation gravitational wave detectors, like the Einstein Telescope, begin taking data.

If gauge fields are coupled to an axion field during inflation, they lead to unique observational signatures within the reach of next generation experiments. However, this system often shows strong backreaction effects, invalidating the standard perturbation theory approach. In this paper, we present the first nonlinear lattice simulation of inflation driven by an axion field coupled to an abelian U(1) field. We use it to fully characterize the statistics of the comoving curvature perturbation $\zeta$. We find that non-Gaussianity of $\zeta$ is large in the linear regime, whereas it is strongly suppressed when the dynamics becomes nonlinear. This relaxes bounds from overproduction of primordial black holes.

I study the possibility that within the frame of the core degenerate (CD) scenario for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) the merger process of the core of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star and the white dwarf (WD) maintains an envelope mass of ~0.03Mo that causes a later helium shell flash. I estimate the number of pre-explosion helium shell flash events to be less than few per cents of all CD scenario SNe Ia. A helium shell flash while the star moves to the left on the HR diagram as a post-AGB star (late thermal pulse -- LTP) or along the WD cooling track (very-LTP) causes the star to expand and become a born again AGB star. Merger remnants exploding while still on the AGB form peculiar SNe Ia or peculiar SNe II (if hydrogen is detected), while an explosion inside an inflated born-again star results in an early flux excess in the light curve of the SN Ia. The fraction of systems that might show an early flux excess due to LTP/VLTP is <0.0003 of all SNe Ia, much below the observed fraction. In the frame of the CD scenario SNe Ia with early flux excess result from SN ejecta collision with planetary nebula fallback gas, or from mixing of 56Ni to the outer regions of the SN ejecta. Ongoing sky surveys might find about one case per year where LTP/VLTP influences the SN light curve.

We study post-inflationary evolution in $\alpha$-attractor T-models of inflation. We consider the dynamics of both scalar fields present in these models: the inflaton and the spectator, as a negative field-space curvature may lead to geometrical destabilization of the spectator. We perform state-of-the-art lattice simulations with a dedicated numerical code optimized for those models. We corroborate earlier findings that the perturbations of the spectator field are much more unstable than the perturbations of the inflaton field, so the dynamics of early stages of preheating is dominated by the evolution of spectator perturbations. We also calculate the spectrum of gravitational waves originating from scalar fluctuations and find that the $\alpha$-attractor T-models can be constrained or even ruled out by present cosmological observations, but not by direct searches of gravitational waves.

We present the project of a VLBI study of the 22 GHz H$_2$O maser in a prototypical low-mass protostellar system IRAS 16293-2422. The observation was conducted to characterise the cause of the newly discovered enhanced maser activity in the source and to study the source's ejection behaviour as traced by maser emission. Single-dish monitoring and analysis of archival data indicate that the activity of the H$_2$O maser in IRAS 16293-2422 has a cyclic character and traces episodic ejection events in the source. A new maser flare was recently discovered in a spectral feature that has never shown such a significant increase in flux density before. The flare of this feature seems to indicate the beginning of a new cycle of activity.

NectarCAM is a camera developed to detect Cherenkov light between 80 GeV and 30 TeV. It will equip the medium-sized telescopes (MST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). The camera comprises 265 modules, covering a field of view of 8 degrees. Each module consists of 7 photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) equipped with light guides and a front-end board performing the data capture. NectarCAM is based on the NECTAr chip, which combines a switch capacitor array sampling at 1GHz and a 12-bit Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The NectarCAM camera is currently under integration in CEA Paris-Saclay (France). In this contribution, I focus on the ongoing performance tests for its characterization and calibration before deployment on the CTAO North site.

Existence of pulsating stars in eclipsing binaries has been known for decades. These types of objects are extremely valuable systems for astronomical studies as they exhibit both eclipsing and pulsation variations. The eclipsing binaries are the only way to directly measure the mass and radius of stars with a good accuracy ($\leq$1\%), while the pulsations are a unique way to probe the stellar interior via oscillation frequencies. There are different types of pulsating stars existing in eclipsing binaries. One of them is the Delta Scuti variables. Currently, the known number of Delta Scuti stars in eclipsing binaries is around 90 according to the latest catalog of these variables. An increasing number of these kinds of variables is important to understand the stellar structure, evolution and the effect of binarity on the pulsations. Therefore, in this study, we focus on discovering new eclipsing binaries with Delta Scuti component(s). We searched for the northern TESS field with a visual inspection by following some criteria such as light curve shape, the existence of pulsation like variations in the out-of-eclipse light curve and the Teff values of the targets. As a result of these criteria, we determined some targets. The TESS light curves of the selected targets first were removed from the binarity and frequency analysis was performed on the residuals. The luminosity, absolute and bolometric magnitudes of the targets were calculated as well. To find how much of these parameters represent the primary binary component (more luminous) we also computed the flux density ratio of the systems by utilizing the area of the eclipses. In addition, the positions of the systems in the H-R diagram were examined considering the flux density ratios. As a consequence of the investigation, we defined 38 candidates Delta Scuti and also one Maia variable in eclipsing binary systems.

SXP 15.6 is a recently established Be star X-ray binary system (BeXRB) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Like many such systems the variable X-ray emission is driven by the underlying behaviour of the mass donor Be star. It is shown here that the neutron star in this system is exceptionally close to spin equilibrium averaged over several years, with the angular momentum gain from mass transfer being almost exactly balanced by radiative losses. This makes SXP 15.6 exceptional compared to all other known members of its class in the SMC, all of whom exhibit much higher spin period changes. In this paper we report on X-ray observations of the brightest known outburst from this system. These observations are supported by contemporaneous optical and radio observations, as well as several years of historical data.

The first secure detection of a gravitationally lensed gravitational (GW) will be a watershed moment, as it will bring together these two pillars of General Relativity for the first time. Accurate selection and interpretation of candidate lensed GWs is challenging for numerous reasons, including large sky localization uncertainties for most GW detections, the broad range of gravitational lenses spanning galaxy/group/cluster-scales in the dark matter halo mass function, and uncertainty in the intrinsic mass function of compact object remnants of stellar evolution. We introduce a new magnification-based approach to predicting the rates of lensed GWs that is agnostic to the mass and structure of the lenses and combine it with expressions for arrival time difference for representative lenses and their catastrophes to delineate the range of expected arrival time differences. We also predict the lightcurves of lensed kilonova counterparts to lensed binary neutron star (NS-NS) mergers and assess the feasibility of detection with the Vera Rubin Observatory. Our main conclusions are: (1) selection of candidate lensed NS-NS mergers from the mass gap between NS and black holes in low latency is an efficient approach with a rate approaching one per year in the mid-2020s, (2) the arrival time differences of lensed NS-NS/kilonovae are typically $\lesssim1\,$year, and thus well-matched to the operations of GW detectors and optical telescopes, and (3) detection of lensed kilonovae is feasible with the Vera Rubin Observatory. Whilst our predictions are motivated by lensing, they provide a physically well-understood approach to exploring the mass gap electromagnetically as the number of detections in this exciting region of parameter space grows.

We search for gravitational wave (GW) events from LIGO-Virgo's third run that may have been affected by gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing delays the arrival of GWs, and alters their amplitude -- thus biasing the inferred progenitor masses. This would provide a physically well-understood interpretation of GW detections in the "mass gap" between neutron stars and black holes, as gravitationally lensed binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We selected three GW detections in LIGO-Virgo's third run for which the probability of at least one of the constituent compact objects being in the mass gap was reported as high with low latency -- i.e. candidate lensed BNS mergers. Our observations of powerful strong lensing clusters located adjacent to the peak of their sky localisation error maps reached a sensitivity $\rm AB\simeq25.5$ in the $z'$-band with the GMOS instruments on the Gemini telescopes, and detected no candidate lensed optical counterparts. We combine recent kilonova lightcurve models with recent predictions of the lensed BNS population and the properties of the objects that we followed up to show that realistic optical counterparts were detectable in our observations. Further detailed analysis of two of the candidates suggests that they are a plausible pair of images of the same low-mass binary black hole merger, lensed by a local galaxy or small group of galaxies. This further underlines that access to accurate mass information with low latency would improve the efficiency of candidate lensed NS-NS selection.

Cross-referencing a watchlist of galaxy groups and clusters with transient detections from real-time streams of wide-field survey data is a promising method for discovering gravitationally lensed explosive transients including supernovae, kilonovae, gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts in the next ten years. However, currently there exists no catalogue of lenses with both sufficient angular extent and depth to adequately perform such a search. In this study, we develop a method capable of creating an all-sky list of galaxy group- and cluster-scale objects out to $z\simeq1$ based on their lens-plane properties and using only existing data from wide-field infrared surveys. Importantly, the data exists ready to implement our methods in advance of when the Vera Rubin Observatory's (Rubin's) Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) commences survey operations. In testing this method, we recover 91 per cent of a sample containing known and candidate lensing objects with Einstein radii of $\theta_E \geq 5\arcsec$. We also search the surrounding regions of this test sample for other groups and clusters using our method and verify the existence of any significant findings by visual inspection, deriving estimates of the false positive rate that are as low as 6 per cent. The method is also tested on simulated Rubin data from their DP0 programme, which yields complementary results of a good recovery rate and low false positives.

Ultrahot Jupiters are ideal candidates to explore with high-resolution emission spectra. Detailed theoretical studies are necessary to investigate the range of spectra we can expect to see from these objects throughout their orbit, because of the extreme temperature and chemical longitudinal gradients that exist across day and nightside regions. Using previously published 3D GCM models of WASP-76b with different treatments of magnetic drag, we post-process the 3D atmospheres to generate high-resolution emission spectra for two wavelength ranges and throughout the planet's orbit. We find that the high-resolution emission spectra vary strongly as a function of phase, at times showing emission features, absorption features, or both, which are a direct result of the 3D structure of the planet. At phases exhibiting both emission and absorption features, the Doppler shift differs in direction between the two spectral features, making them differentiable instead of canceling each other out. Through the use of cross-correlation, we find different patterns in net Doppler shift for models with different treatments of drag: the nightside spectra show opposite signs in their Doppler shift, while the dayside phases have a reversal in the trend of net shift with phase. Finally, we caution researchers from using a single spectral template throughout the planet's orbit; this can bias the corresponding net Doppler shift returned, as it can pick up on a bright region on the edge of the planet disk that is highly red- or blue-shifted.

The observation of global acoustic waves (p modes) in the Sun has been key to unveil its internal structure and dynamics. A different kind of waves, known as sectoral Rossby modes, have been observed and identified relatively recently, which potentially opens the door to probe internal processes that are inaccessible through p mode helioseismology. Yet another set of waves, appearing as retrograde-propagating, equatorially antisymmetric vorticity waves, have been observed very recently but their identification remained elusive. Here, through a numerical model implemented as an eigenvalue problem, we provide evidence supporting the identification of those waves as inertial eigenmodes, of a class distinct from Rossby modes, with substantial amplitudes deep in the solar convective zone. We also suggest that the signature of tesseral Rossby modes might be present in the recent observational data.

We extend the standard model of forward-reverse shock (FS-RS) for gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow to more general cases. On one hand, we derive the analytical solution to the hydrodynamics of the shocks in two limiting cases, i.e., an ultra-relativistic reverse shock case and a Newtonian reverse shock case. Based on the asymptotic solutions in these two limiting cases, we constitute a semi-analytical solution for the hydrodynamics of the shocks in the generic case, covering the mildly-relativistic reverse shock case. On the other hand, we derive the evolution of the system taking into account the condition of energy conservation which is not satisfied in the standard FS-RS model. A generic solution of semi-analytical expressions is also given. In both the extended standard FS-RS model (satisfying pressure balance condition) and the model satisfying energy conservation, we find that the results in the ultra-relativistic reverse shock case and in the early stage of the Newtonian reverse shock case are different from those in the standard FS-RS model by only a factor that close to one while the same initial conditions adopted. However, the asymptotic solutions in the limiting cases are not good approximations to those in the intermediate case. Our semi-analytical results agree well with the numerical results for a large range of model parameters, and hence can be easily employed to diagnose the physical quantities of the GRB shell and circumburst environment.

We use new experiments and a theoretical analysis of the results to show that the isotopic fractionation associated with laser-heating aerodynamic levitation experiments is consistent with the velocity of flowing gas as the primary control on the fractionation. The new Fe and Mg isotope data are well explained where the gas is treated as a low-viscosity fluid that flows around the molten spheres with high Reynolds numbers and minimal drag. A relationship between the ratio of headwind velocity to thermal velocity and saturation is obtained on the basis of this analysis. The recognition that it is the ratio of flow velocity to thermal velocity that controls fractionation allows for extrapolation to other environments in which molten rock encounters gas with appreciable headwinds. In this way, in some circumstances, the degree of isotope fractionation attending evaporation is as much a velocimeter as it is a barometer.

Our understanding of the convective-engine paradigm driving core-collapse supernovae has been used for 2 decades to predict the remnant mass distribution from stellar collapse. These predictions improve as our understanding of this engine increases. In this paper, we review our current understanding of convection (in particular, the growth rate of convection) in stellar collapse and study its effect on the remnant mass distribution. We show how the depth of the mass gap between neutron stars and black holes can help probe this convective growth. We include a study of the effects of stochasticity in both the stellar structure and the convective seeds caused by stellar burning. We study the role of rotation and its effect on the pair-instability mass gap. Under the paradigm limiting stellar rotation to those stars in tight binaries, we determine the effect of rotation on the remnant mass distribution.

We revisit the problem of the isothermal slab (in standard Cartesian coordinates, density distributions and mean gravitational potential are considered to be independent of $x$ and $y$ and to be a function of $z$, symmetric with respect to the $z = 0$ plane) in the context of the general issues related to the role of weak collisionality in inhomogeneous self-gravitating stellar systems. We thus consider the two-component case, that is a system of heavy and light stars with assigned mass ratio ($\mu$) and assigned global relative abundance ($\alpha$; the ratio of the total mass of the heavy and light stars). The system is imagined to start from an initial condition in which the two species are well mixed and have identical spatial and velocity distributions and to evolve into a final configuration in which collisions have generated equipartition and mass segregation. Initial and final distribution functions are assumed to be Maxwellian. Application of mass and energy conservation allows us to derive the properties of the final state from the assumed initial conditions. In general, the derivation of these properties requires a simple numerical integration of the Poisson equation. Curiously, the case in which the heavy stars are exactly twice as massive as the light stars ($\mu = 2$) turns out to admit a relatively simple analytic solution. Although the general framework of this investigation is relatively straightforward, some non-trivial issues related to energy conservation and the possible use of a virial constraint are noted and clarified. The formulation and the results of this paper prepare the way to future studies in which the evolution induced by weak collisionality will be followed either by considering the action of standard collision operators or by means of dedicated numerical simulations.

The detection of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the light curves of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can provide insights on the physics of the super-massive black-holes (SMBHs) powering these systems, and could represent a signature of the existence of SMBH binaries, setting fundamental constraints on SMBH evolution in the Universe. Identification of long term QPOs, with periods of the order of months to years, is particularly challenging and can only be achieved via all-sky monitoring instruments that can provide unbiased, continuous light-curves of astrophysical objects. The Fermi-LAT satellite, thanks to its monitoring observing strategy, is an ideal instrument to reach such a goal, and we aim to identify QPOs in the $\gamma$-ray light-curves of the brightest AGNs within the Fermi-LAT catalog. We analyze the light curves of the thirty-five brightest Fermi-LAT AGNs, including data from the beginning of the Fermi mission (August 2008) to April 2020, and energies from 100 MeV to 300 GeV. Two time binnings are investigated, 7 and 30 days. The search for quasi-periodic features is then performed using the continuous wavelet transform. The significance of the result is tested via Monte Carlo simulations of artificial light curves with the same power spectral density and probability distribution function as the original light curves. We identify thirty quasars with candidate QPOs. We confirm several QPO candidates discussed in the literature: PKS 2247-131, B2 1520+31, PKS 0426-380, PKS 0537-441, S5 0716+714, Mrk 421, PKS 1424-418, PG 1553+113, Mrk 501 and PKS 2155-304. The most significant QPO (> 4$\sigma$ in the global wavelet spectrum, with a period of about 1100 days) is observed in the quasar S5 1044+71, and is reported here for the first time.

Titan's atmosphere is a natural laboratory for exploring the photochemical synthesis of organic molecules. Significant recent advances in the study of the atmosphere of Titan include: (a) detection of C$_3$ molecules: C$_3$H$_6$, CH$_2$CCH$_2$, c-C$_3$H$_2$, and (b) retrieval of C$_6$H$_6$, which is formed primarily via C$_3$ chemistry, from Cassini-UVIS data. The detection of $c$-C$_3$H$_2$ is of particular significance since ring molecules are of great astrobiological importance. Using the Caltech/JPL KINETICS code, along with the best available photochemical rate coefficients and parameterized vertical transport, we are able to account for the recent observations. It is significant that ion chemistry, reminiscent of that in the interstellar medium, plays a major role in the production of c-C$_3$H$_2$ above 1000 km.

Multiplicity is a ubiquitous characteristic of massive stars. Multiple systems offer us a unique observational constraint on the formation of high-mass systems. Herschel 36 A is a massive triple system composed of a close binary (Ab1-Ab2) and an outer component (Aa). We measured the orbital motion of the outer component of Herschel 36 A using infrared interferometry with the AMBER and PIONIER instruments of ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Our immediate aims are to constrain the masses of all components of this system and to determine if the outer orbit is co-planar with the inner one. Reported spectroscopic data for all three components of this system and our interferometric data allow us to derive full orbital solutions for the outer orbit Aa-Ab and the inner orbit Ab1-Ab2. For the first time, we derive the absolute masses of mAa = 22.3 +/- 1.7 M_sun, mAb1 = 20.5 +/- 1.5 M_sun and mAb2 = 12.5 +/- 0.9 M_sun. Despite not being able to resolve the close binary components, we infer the inclination of their orbit by imposing the same parallax as the outer orbit. Inclinations derived from the inner and outer orbits imply a modest difference of about 22 deg. between the orbital planes. We discuss this result and the formation of Herschel 36 A in the context of Core Accretion and Competitive Accretion models, which make different predictions regarding the statistic of the relative orbital inclinations.

Inspired by observations of sunspots embedded in active regions, it is often assumed that large-scale, strong magnetic flux emerges from the Sun's deep interior in the form of arched, cylindrical structures, colloquially known as flux tubes. Here, we continue to examine the different dynamics encountered when these structures are considered as concentrations in a volume-filling magnetic field rather than as isolated entities in a field-free background. Via 2.5D numerical simulations, we consider the buoyant rise of magnetic flux concentrations from a radiative zone through an overshooting convection zone that self-consistently (via magnetic pumping) arranges a volume-filling large-scale background field. This work extends earlier papers that considered the evolution of such structures in a purely adiabatic stratification with an assumed form of the background field. This earlier work established the existence of a bias that created an increased likelihood of successful rise for magnetic structures with one (relative) orientation of twist and a decreased likelihood for the other. When applied to the solar context, this bias is commensurate with the solar hemispherical helicity rules (SHHR). This paper establishes the robustness of this selection mechanism in a model incorporating a more realistic background state, consisting of overshooting convection and a turbulently-pumped mean magnetic field. Ultimately, convection only weakly influences the selection mechanism, since it is enacted at the initiation of the rise, at the edge of the overshoot zone. Convection does however add another layer of statistical fluctuations to the bias, which we investigate in order to explain variations in the SHHR.

We study how supermassive blackhole accretion affects the mass density profile of a fuzzy dark matter soliton core at the centre of a dark matter halo. The supermassive blackhole at the center of a galaxy was regarded as a point mass. The Schr\"{o}dinger-Newton equation for the scalar field was solved numerically. We find that the time-dependent perturbation has a significant squeezing effect on the soliton density profile, which both reduces the size of the core and increases the central density.

The isotopic composition of beryllium nuclei and its energy dependence encode information of fundamental importance about the propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. The effects of decay on the spectrum of the unstable beryllium--10 isotope can be described introducing the average survival probability $P_{\rm surv} (E_0)$ that can inferred from measurements of the isotopic ratio Be10/Be9 if one has sufficiently good knowledge of the nuclear fragmentation cross sections that determine the isotopic composition of beryllium nuclei at injection. The average survival probability can then be interpreted in terms of propagation parameters, such as the cosmic ray average age, adopting a theoretical framework for Galactic propagation. Recently the AMS02 Collaboration has presented preliminary measurements of the beryllium isotopic composition that extend the observations to a broad energy range ($E_0 \simeq 0.7$-12 GeV/n) with small errors. In this work we discuss the average survival probability that can be inferred from the preliminary AMS02 data, adopting publically available models of the nuclear fragmentation cross sections, and interpret the results in the framework of a simple diffusion model, This study shows that the effects of decay decrease more slowly than the predictions, resulting in an average cosmic ray age that increases with energy. An alternative possibility is that the cosmic ray age distribution is broader than in the models that are now commonly accepted, suggesting that the Galactic confinement volume has a non trivial structure and is formed by an inner halo contained in an extended one.

In this paper, we study the effective field theory (EFT) of dark energy for the $k$-essence model beyond linear order. Using particle-mesh $N$-body simulations that consistently solve the dark energy evolution on a grid, we find that the next-to-leading order in the EFT expansion, which comprises the terms of the equations of motion that are quadratic in the field variables, gives rise to a new instability in the regime of low speed of sound (high Mach number). We rule out the possibility of a numerical artefact by considering simplified cases in spherically and plane symmetric situations analytically. If the speed of sound vanishes exactly, the non-linear instability makes the evolution singular in finite time, signalling a breakdown of the EFT framework. The case of finite (but small) speed of sound is subtle, and the local singularity could be replaced by some other type of behaviour with strong non-linearities. While an ultraviolet completion may cure the problem in principle, there is no reason why this should be the case in general. As a result, for a large range of the effective speed of sound $c_s$, a linear treatment is not adequate.

An array of DEPFET pixels is one of several concepts to implement an active pixel sensor. Similar to PNCCD and SDD detectors, the typically $450~\mu\text{m}$ thick silicon sensor is fully depleted by the principle of sideward depletion. They have furthermore in common to be back-illuminated detectors, which allows for ultra-thin and homogeneous photon entrance windows. This enables relatively high quantum efficiencies at low energies and close to $100\%$ for photon energies between $1~\text{keV}$ and $10~\text{keV}$. Steering of the DEPFET sensor is enabled by a so-called Switcher ASIC and readout is performed by e.g. a VERITAS ASIC. The configuration enables a readout time of a few microseconds per row. This results in full frame readout times of a few milliseconds for a $512 \times 512$ pixel array in a rolling shutter mode. The read noise is then typically three electrons equivalent noise charge RMS. DEPFET detectors can be applied in particular for spectroscopy in the energy band from $0.2~\text{keV}$ to $20~\text{keV}$. For example, an energy resolution of about $130~\text{eV}~\text{FWHM}$ is achieved at an energy of $6~\text{keV}$ which is close to the theoretical limit given by Fano noise. Pixel sizes of a few tens of microns up to a centimetre are feasible by the DEPFET concept.

The eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS), with a sky area of 140 square degrees with depth equivalent to the equatorial patch of the final eROSITA all-sky survey, represents the largest continuous non full-sky X-ray fields to-date, making it the premier dataset for measuring the angular power spectrum. In this work, we measure the X-ray angular power spectrum of galaxy clusters and groups in the eFEDS field. We show that the measured power spectrum at large angular scales is consistent with that of the ROSAT All Sky Survey, as well as the predictions of cluster gas halo model that is calibrated from Chandra observations of galaxy clusters. At small angular scales, the eFEDS power spectrum is around an order of magnitude higher than the power spectrum of the Chandra/COSMOS field, and the halo model prediction. A follow-up of the impact of point source contamination with the higher angular resolution instruments like Chandra will resolve this tension. If we restrict the angular scales where eFEDS power agrees with observations and model predictions, we show that the X-ray power spectrum from the upcoming eROSITA all sky data can achieve percent-level constraints on $\Omega_M$ and $\sigma8$, which are competitive to other cosmological probes.

It has recently been demonstrated that magnetized black holes in composed Einstein-Maxwell-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet field theories with a non-minimal negative coupling of the scalar field to the Gauss-Bonnet curvature invariant may support spatially regular scalar hairy configurations. In particular, it has been revealed that, for Schwarzschild-Melvin black-hole spacetimes, the onset of the near-horizon spontaneous scalarization phenomenon is marked by the numerically computed dimensionless critical relation $(BM)_{\text{crit}}\simeq0.971$, where $\{M,B\}$ are respectively the mass and the magnetic field of the spacetime. In the present paper we prove, using analytical techniques, that the boundary between bald Schwarzschild-Melvin black-hole spacetimes and hairy (scalarized) black-hole solutions of the composed Einstein-Maxwell-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory is characterized by the exact dimensionless relation $(BM)_{\text{crit}}=\sqrt{{{\sqrt{6}-2}\over{2\sqrt{6}}}+\sqrt{{{\sqrt{6}-1}\over{2}}}}$ for the critical magnetic strength. Intriguingly, we prove that the critical dimensionless magnetic parameter $(BM)_{\text{crit}}$ corresponds to magnetized black holes that support a pair of linearized non-minimally coupled thin scalar rings that are characterized by the non-equatorial polar angular relation $(\sin^2\theta)_{\text{scalar-ring}}={{690-72\sqrt{6}+4\sqrt{3258\sqrt{6}-7158}}\over{789}}<1$. It is also proved that the classically allowed angular region for the negative-coupling near-horizon spontaneous scalarization phenomenon of magnetized Schwarzschild-Melvin spacetimes is restricted to the black-hole poles, $\sin^2\theta_{\text{scalar}}\to0$, in the asymptotic large-strength magnetic regime $BM\gg1$.

Black holes located within a dark matter cloud can create overdensity regions known as dark matter spikes. The presence of spikes modifies the gravitational-wave signals from binary systems through changes in the gravitational potential or dynamical friction effects. We assess the importance of including relativistic effects in both the dark matter distribution and the dynamical friction. As a first step we numerically calculate the particle dark matter spike distribution in full general relativity, using both Hernquist and Navarro-Frenk-White profiles in a Schwarzschild background, and we produce analytical fits to the spike profiles for a large range of scale parameters. Then we use a post-Newtonian prescription for the gravitational-wave dephasing to estimate the effect of relativistic corrections to the spike profile and to the dynamical friction. Finally we include the torques generated by dynamical friction in fast-to-generate relativistic models for circular extreme mass-ratio inspirals around a nonspinning black hole. We find that both types of relativistic corrections positively impact the detectability of dark matter effects, leading to higher dephasings and mismatches between gravitational-wave signals with and without dark matter spikes.

The gravitational wave signal from a binary neutron star merger carries the imprint of the deformability properties of the coalescing bodies, and then of the equation of state of neutron stars. In current models of the waveforms emitted in these events, the contribution of tidal deformation is encoded in a set of parameters, the tidal Love numbers. More refined models include tidal-rotation couplings, described by an additional set of parameters, the rotational tidal Love numbers, which appear in the waveform at $6.5$ post-Newtonian order. For neutron stars with spins as large as $\sim0.1$, we show that neglecting tidal-rotation couplings may lead to a significant error in the parameter estimation by third-generation gravitational wave detectors. By performing a Fisher matrix analysis we assess the measurability of rotational tidal Love numbers, showing that their contribution in the waveform could be measured by third-generation detectors. Our results suggest that current models of tidal deformation in late inspiral should be improved in order to avoid waveform systematics and extract reliable information from gravitational wave signals observed by next generation detectors.

The paper is dedicated to the anniversary of the discovery of Alfv\'en waves. The concept of Alfv\'en waves has played an outstanding role in the formation and development of cosmical electrodynamics. A distinctive feature of Alfv\'en waves is that at each point in space the group velocity vector and the external magnetic field vector are collinear to each other. As a result, Alfv\'en waves can carry momentum, energy, and information over long distances. We briefly describe two Alfv\'en resonators, one of which is formed in the ionosphere, and the second presumably exists in the Earth's radiation belt. The existence of an ionospheric resonator is justified theoretically and confirmed by numerous observations. The second resonator is located between reflection points located high above the Earth symmetrically with respect to the plane of the geomagnetic equator. Keywords: Alfv\'en velocity, dispersion law, group velocity, geometric optics, heavy ions.

In hydrodynamics, Taylor's frozen-in hypothesis connects the wavenumber spectrum to the frequency spectrum of a time series measured in real space. In this paper, we generalize Taylor's hypothesis to magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We analytically derive one-point two-time correlation functions for Els\"{a}sser variables whose Fourier transform yields the corresponding frequency spectra, $ E^\pm(f) $. We show that $ E^\pm(f) \propto |{\bf U}_0 \mp {\bf B}_0|^{2/3} $ in Kolmogorov-like model, and $ E^\pm(f) \propto (B_0 |{\bf U}_0 \mp {\bf B}_0|)^{1/2} $ in Iroshnikov-Kraichnan model, where $ {\bf U}_0, {\bf B}_0$ are the mean velocity and mean magnetic fields respectively.

In the period of 1948-1955, Chandrasekhar wrote four papers on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, which are the first set of papers in the area. The field moved on following these pioneering efforts. In this paper, I will briefly describe important works of MHD turbulence, starting from those by Chandrasekhar.

$f(Q)$ gravity is an extension of the symmetric teleparallel equivalent to general relativity (STEGR). We demonstrate the Hamiltonian analysis of $f(Q)$ gravity with fixing the coincident gauge condition. Using the standard Dirac-Bergmann algorithm, we show that $f(Q)$ gravity has eight physical degrees of freedom. This result reflects that the diffeomorphism symmetry of $f(Q)$ gravity is completely broken due to the gauge fixing. Moreover, in terms of the perturbations, we discuss the possible mode decomposition of those degrees of freedom.

In this work, we obtain the shadow images of spherically symmetric scalar boson and Proca stars using analytical fittings of numerical solutions, when illuminated by a geometrically thin accretion disk. We chose a sample of four boson and four Proca stars with radii ranging from more compact configurations with $R\sim 9M$ to more dilute configurations with $R\sim 20M$, where $M$ is the total mass of the bosonic star. In these configurations, the absence of the photon sphere (the locus of unstable bound geodesics) makes the optical appearance of these stars to be dominated by a single luminous ring enclosing a central brightness depression, and no further light rings are available. We show that if one considers face-on observations and a disk model whose emission is truncated at some finite radius at which the luminosity attains its maximum value, both the size of the shadow, as well as the luminosity and depth of the bright region, are heavily influenced by the emission profile, with the choice of the type and parameters of the bosonic stars in our samples having a sub-dominant influence. These differences are nonetheless significantly magnified when one allows the accretion disk to extend close enough to the center of the star. Our results point out that even though bosonic stars are horizonless and do not have a photon sphere, some of them may be able to produce conventional black hole shadow-like images provided that their compactness is large enough, thus being potentially consistent with current and future observations.

Sheaths ahead of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are turbulent heliospheric structures. Knowledge of their structure and fluctuations is important for understanding their geoeffectiveness, their role in accelerating particles, and the interaction of ICMEs with the solar wind. We studied observations from the Parker Solar Probe of a sheath observed at 0.5 au in March 2019, ahead of a slow streamer blowout CME. To examine the MHD-scale turbulent properties, we calculated fluctuation amplitudes, magnetic compressibility, partial variance of increments (PVI), cross helicity ($\sigma_c$), residual energy ($\sigma_r$), and the Jensen-Shannon permutation entropy and complexity. The sheath consisted of slow and fast flows separated by a 15-min change in magnetic sector that coincided with current sheet crossings and a velocity shear zone. Fluctuation amplitudes and PVI were greater through the sheath than upstream. Fluctuations had mostly negative $\sigma_r$ and positive $\sigma_c$ in the sheath, the latter indicating an anti-sunward sense of propagation. The velocity shear region marked an increase in temperature and specific entropy, and the faster flow behind had local patches of positive $\sigma_r$ as well as higher fluctuation amplitudes and PVI. Fluctuations in the preceding wind and sheath were stochastic, with the sheath fluctuations showing lower entropy and higher complexity than upstream. The two-part sheath structure likely resulted from a warp in the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) being swept up and compressed. The ejecta accelerated and heated the wind at the sheath rear, which then interacted with the slower wind ahead of the HCS warp. This caused differences in fluctuation properties across the sheath. Sheaths of slow ICMEs can thus have complex structure where fluctuation properties are not just downstream shock properties, but are generated within the sheath.