Papers for Thursday, Oct 27 2022

Recent theoretical studies predict that the circumgalactic medium (CGM) around low-redshift, $\sim L_{\ast}$ galaxies could have substantial nonthermal pressure support in the form of cosmic rays. However, these predictions are sensitive to the specific model of cosmic-ray transport employed, which is theoretically and observationally underconstrained. In this work, we propose a novel observational constraint for calculating the lower limit of the radially-averaged, effective cosmic-ray transport rate, $\kappa_{\rm min}^{\rm eff}$. Under a wide range of assumptions (regardless of whether the cosmic-ray pressure is important or not in the CGM), we demonstrate a well-defined relationship between $\kappa_{\rm min}^{\rm eff}$ and three observable galaxy properties: the total hydrogen column density, the average star formation rate, and the gas circular velocity. We use a suite of FIRE-2 galaxy simulations with a variety of cosmic-ray transport physics to demonstrate that our analytic model of $\kappa_{\rm min}^{\rm eff}$ is a robust lower limit of the true cosmic-ray transport rate. We then apply our new model to calculate $\kappa_{\rm min}^{\rm eff}$ for galaxies in the COS-Halos sample, and confirm this already reveals strong evidence for an effective transport rate which rises rapidly away from the interstellar medium to values $\kappa_{\rm min}^{\rm eff} \gtrsim 10^{30-31}\,{\rm cm}^2\,{\rm s}^{-1}$ (corresponding to anisotropic streaming velocities of $v^{\rm stream}_{\rm eff} \gtrsim 1000\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$) in the diffuse CGM, at impact parameters larger than $50-100$ kpc. We discuss how future observations can provide qualitatively new constraints in our understanding of cosmic rays in the CGM and intergalactic medium.

Deriving oxygen abundances from the electron temperature (hereafter the $T_e$-method) is the gold-standard for extragalactic metallicity studies. However, unresolved temperature fluctuations in HII regions can bias metallicity estimates low, with a magnitude that depends on the underlying and typically unknown temperature distribution. Using a toy model, we confirm that computing $T_e$-based metallicities using the temperature derived from the [O III] $\lambda$4363/$\lambda$5007 ratio ('ratio temperature'; $T_{\rm ratio}$) results in an underprediction of metallicity when temperature fluctuations are present. In contrast, using the unobservable 'line temperatures' ($T_{\rm line}$) that provide the mean electron and ion density-weighted emissivity yield an accurate metallicity estimate. To correct this bias, we demonstrate an example calibration of a relation between $T_{\rm ratio}$ and $T_{\rm line}$ based on a high-resolution (4.5 pc) RAMSES-RTZ simulation of a dwarf galaxy that self-consistently models the formation of multiple HII regions and ion temperature distribution in a galactic context. Applying this correction to the low-mass end of the mass-metallicity relation shifts its normalization up by 0.18 dex on average and flattens its slope from 0.87 to 0.58, highlighting the need for future studies to account for, and correct, this bias.

We analyze the stellar abundances of massive galaxies ($\log M_\ast/M_\odot>10.5$) at $z=2$ in the IllustrisTNG simulation with the goal of guiding the interpretation of current and future observations, particularly from the James Webb Space Telescope. We find that the effective size, $R_e$, of galaxies strongly affects the abundance measurements: both [Mg/H] and [Fe/H] are anti-correlated with $R_e$, while the relative abundance [Mg/Fe] slightly increases with $R_e$. The $\alpha$ enhancement as tracked by [Mg/Fe] traces the formation timescale of a galaxy weakly, and mostly depends on $R_e$. Aperture effects are important: measuring the stellar abundances within 1~kpc instead of within $R_e$ can make a large difference. These results are all due to a nearly universal, steeply declining stellar abundance profile that does not scale with galaxy size -- small galaxies appear metal-rich because their stars live in the inner part of the profile where abundances are high. The slope of this profile is mostly set by the gas-phase abundance profile and not substantially modified by stellar age gradients. The gas-phase abundance profile, in turn, is determined by the strong radial dependence of the gas fraction and star formation efficiency. We develop a simple model to describe the chemical enrichment, in which each radial bin of a galaxy is treated as an independent closed-box system. This model reproduces the gas-phase abundance profile of simulated galaxies, but not the detailed distribution of their stellar abundances, for which gas and/or metal transport are likely needed.

Numerical simulations in cosmology require trade-offs between volume, resolution and run-time that limit the volume of the Universe that can be simulated, leading to sample variance in predictions of ensemble-average quantities such as the power spectrum or correlation function(s). Sample variance is particularly acute at large scales, which is also where analytic techniques can be highly reliable. This provides an opportunity to combine analytic and numerical techniques in a principled way to improve the dynamic range and reliability of predictions for clustering statistics. In this paper we extend the technique of Zel'dovich control variates, previously demonstrated for 2-point functions in real space, to reduce the sample variance in measurements of 2-point statistics of biased tracers in redshift space. We demonstrate that with this technique, we can reduce the sample variance of these statistics down to their shot-noise limit out to $k \sim 0.2\, h\rm Mpc^{-1}$. This allows a better matching with perturbative models and improved predictions for the clustering of e.g.~quasars, galaxies and neutral Hydrogen measured in spectroscopic redshift surveys at very modest computational expense. We discuss the implementation of ZCV, give some examples and provide forecasts for the efficacy of the method under various conditions.

The origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) remains elusive. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the best candidates able to meet the stringent energy requirements needed for particle acceleration to such high energies. If UHECRs were accelerated by the central engine of GRB 221009A, it might be possible to detect secondary photons and neutrinos as the UHECRs travel from the source to the Earth. Here we attempt to interpret some of the early publicly available data connected to this burst. If the reported early GeV-TeV detection was produced by secondary emission from UHECRs it probably indicates that UHECRs reached energies $> 10^{21}$ eV and that GRB 221009A exploded inside a magnetic void with intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) strength $B \leq 3 \times 10^{-16}$ G. In order to understand the entire energy deposition mechanism, we propose to search existing and future Fermi-LAT data for secondary emission arriving over larger spatial scales and longer time-scales. This strategy might help clarify the origin of UHECRs, constrain the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) strength along this line of sight and start to quantify the fraction of magnetic voids around GRBs.

The Milky Way as well as external galaxies possess a thick disc. However, the dynamical role of the (geometrically) thick disc on the bar formation and evolution is not fully understood. Here, we investigate the effect of thick discs in bar formation and evolution by means of a suite of $N$-body models of (kinematically cold) thin-(kinematically hot) thick discs. We systematically vary the mass fraction of the thick disc, the thin-to-thick disc scale length ratio as well as thick disc's scale height to examine the bar formation under diverse dynamical scenarios. Bars form almost always in our models, even in presence of a massive thick disc. The bar in the thick disc closely follow the overall growth and temporal evolution of the thin disc's bar, only the bar in the thick disc is weaker than the bar in the thin disc. The formation of stronger bars is associated with a simultaneous larger loss of angular momentum and a larger radial heating. In addition, we demonstrate a preferential loss of angular momentum and a preferential radial heating of disc stars, along the azimuthal direction within the extent of the bar, in both thin and thick disc stars. For purely thick disc models (without any thin disc), the bar formation critically depends on the disc scale length and scale height. A larger scale length and/or a larger vertical scale height delays the bar formation time and/or suppresses the bar formation almost completely in thick-disc-only models. We find that the Ostriker-Peeble criterion predicts the bar instability scenarios in our models better than the Efstathiou-Lake-Negroponte criterion.

The diffuse light within galaxy groups and clusters provides valuable insight into the growth of massive cosmic structures. Groups are particularly interesting in this context, because they represent the link between galactic haloes and massive clusters. However, low surface brightness makes their diffuse light extremely challenging to detect individually. Stacking many groups is a promising alternative, but its physical interpretation is complicated by possible systematic variations of diffuse light profiles with other group properties. Another issue is the often ambiguous choice of group centre. We explore these challenges using mock observations for 497 galaxy groups and clusters with halo masses from $~ 10^{12} \textrm{M}_{\odot}$ to $1.5 \times 10^{15}\textrm{M}_{\odot}$ at redshift $0.1$ from the Hydrangea cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. In 18 per cent of groups with at least five galaxies above $10^{9} \textrm{M}_{\odot}$ in stellar mass, the $r$-band brightest galaxy is not the one at the centre of the gravitational potential; line-of-sight projections account for half of these cases. Miscentring does not significantly affect the ensemble average mass density profile or the surface brightness profile for our sample: even within ambiguously centred haloes, different centring choices lead to only a 1 per cent change in the total fraction of diffuse intra-group light, $f_{\textrm{IGL}}$. We find strong correlations of $f_{\textrm{IGL}}$ with the luminosity of the central group galaxy and halo mass. Stacking groups in narrow bins of central galaxy luminosity will therefore make the physical interpretation of the signal more straightforward than combining systems across a wide range of mass.

Magnetars are neutron stars with exceptionally strong dipole magnetic fields which are observed to display a range of x-ray flaring behavior, but the flaring mechanism is not well understood. The third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo extended from April 1, 2019 to March 27, 2020, and contained x-ray flares from known magnetar SGR 1935+2154, as well as the newly-discovered magnetar, Swift J1818-1607. We search for gravitational waves coincident with these magnetar flares with minimally modeled, coherent searches which specifically target both short-duration gravitational waves produced by excited f-modes in the magnetar's core, as well as long-duration gravitational waves motivated by the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations observed in the tails of giant flares. In this paper, we report on the methods and sensitivity estimates of these searches, and the astrophysical implications.

The density profiles of dark matter haloes contain rich information about their growth history and physical properties. One particularly interesting region is the splashback radius, $R_{\rm sp}$, which marks the transition between particles orbiting in the halo and particles undergoing first infall. While the dependence of $R_{\rm sp}$ on the recent accretion rate is well established and theoretically expected, it is not clear exactly what parts of the accretion history $R_{\rm sp}$ responds to, and what other halo properties might additionally influence its position. We comprehensively investigate these questions by correlating the dynamically measured splashback radii of a large set of simulated haloes with their individual growth histories as well as their structural, dynamical, and environmental properties. We find that $R_{\rm sp}$ is sensitive to the accretion over one crossing time but largely insensitive to the prior history (in contrast to concentration, which probes earlier epochs). All secondary correlations are much weaker, but we discern a relatively higher $R_{\rm sp}$ in less massive, older, more elliptical, and more tidally deformed haloes. Despite these minor influences, we conclude that the splashback radius is a clean indicator of a halo's growth over the past dynamical time. We predict that the magnitude gap should be a promising observable indicator of a halo's accretion rate and splashback radius.

Abrupt and permanent photospheric magnetic field changes have been observed in many flares. It is believed that such changes are related to the reconfiguration of magnetic field lines, however, the real origin is still unclear. In this study we analyze 37 flares to understand the magnetic field vector changes in the photosphere using high-cadence (135 s) vector magnetograms obtained from the HMI/SDO. We also co-align these magnetogram sequences with flare ribbon images (1600 \AA), obtained from the AIA/SDO, to understand how the field change is associated with the ribbon morphology. We find that the permanent change in the horizontal component lies near the polarity inversion line, whereas the vertical component pixels are less pronounced and distributed in small patches. We also find that the pixels exhibiting ultraviolet emission are not always associated with permanent field change. In 84% of 37 events the UV emission starts early by several minutes compared to the field change start time for the pixels showing both UV emission and permanent horizontal field change. The field change properties show no relation with the size of active regions, but are strongly related to the flare ribbon properties like ribbon magnetic flux and ribbon area. The permanent field change duration is strongly correlated with the GOES flaring duration, with an average value of 29% of total GOES flare time. Our analysis suggests that the change in photospheric magnetic field is caused by combination of two scenarios: contraction of flare loops driven by magnetic reconnection and coronal implosion.

Presently, it is broadly assumed that fast radio bursts (FRBs) are sources of coherent emission powered by the magnetic energy release in magnetars. However, the exact emission mechanism is not known, yet. Two main frameworks exist: magnetospheric emission and radiation from external relativistic shocks. In this brief review, I describe basics of both approaches and discuss how they are probed by modern observations.

High-dimensional data sets are expected from the next generation of large-scale surveys. These data sets will carry a wealth of information about the early stages of galaxy formation and cosmic reionization. Extracting the maximum amount of information from the these data sets remains a key challenge. Current simulations of cosmic reionization are computationally too expensive to provide enough realizations to enable testing different statistical methods, such as parameter inference. We present a non-Gaussian generative model of reionization maps that is based solely on their summary statistics. We reconstruct large-scale ionization fields (bubble spatial distributions) directly from their power spectra (PS) and Wavelet Phase Harmonics (WPH) coefficients. Using WPH, we show that our model is efficient in generating diverse new examples of large-scale ionization maps from a single realization of a summary statistic. We compare our model with the target ionization maps using the bubble size statistics, and largely find a good agreement. As compared to PS, our results show that WPH provide optimal summary statistics that capture most of information out of a highly non-linear ionization fields.

The search for life beyond the Earth is the overarching goal of the NASA Astrobiology Program, and it underpins the science of missions that explore the environments of Solar System planets and exoplanets. However, the detection of extraterrestrial life, in our Solar System and beyond, is sufficiently challenging that it is likely that multiple measurements and approaches, spanning disciplines and missions, will be needed to make a convincing claim. Life detection will therefore not be an instantaneous process, and it is unlikely to be unambiguous-yet it is a high-stakes scientific achievement that will garner an enormous amount of public interest. Current and upcoming research efforts and missions aimed at detecting past and extant life could be supported by a consensus framework to plan for, assess and discuss life detection claims (c.f. Green et al., 2021). Such a framework could help increase the robustness of biosignature detection and interpretation, and improve communication with the scientific community and the public. In response to this need, and the call to the community to develop a confidence scale for standards of evidence for biosignature detection (Green et al., 2021), a community-organized workshop was held on July 19-22, 2021. The meeting was designed in a fully virtual (flipped) format. Preparatory materials including readings, instructional videos and activities were made available prior to the workshop, allowing the workshop schedule to be fully dedicated to active community discussion and prompted writing sessions. To maximize global interaction, the discussion components of the workshop were held during business hours in three different time zones, Asia/Pacific, European and US, with daily information hand-off between group organizers.

Tensions between cosmological parameters (in particular the local expansion rate $H_0$ and the amplitude of matter clustering $S_8$) inferred from low-redshift data and data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large-scale structure (LSS) experiments have inspired many extensions to the standard cosmological model, $\Lambda$CDM. Models which simultaneously lessen both tensions are of particular interest. We consider one scenario with the potential for such a resolution, in which some fraction of the dark matter has converted into dark radiation since the release of the CMB. Such a scenario encompasses and generalizes the more standard "decaying dark matter" model, allowing additional flexibility in the rate and time at which the dark matter converts into dark radiation. In this paper, we constrain this scenario with a focus on exploring whether it can solve (or reduce) these tensions. We find that such a model is effectively ruled out by low-$\ell$ CMB data, in particular by the excess Integrated Sachs--Wolfe (ISW) signal caused by the additional dark energy density required to preserve flatness after dark matter conversion into dark radiation. Thus, such a model does not have the power to reduce these tensions without further modifications. This conclusion extends and generalizes related conclusions derived for the standard decaying dark matter model.

We consider the recent results on UHECR (Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray), clustering, composition, distribution in the sky, from the energy of several EeV with the dipole anisotropy up to the highest ones. We have suggested since 2008 and we reconfirm here that UHECR at 40 up to 70 EeV are mostly made by light and lightest nuclei. The remarkable Virgo absence and the few localized nearby extragalactic sources as CenA, NG 253, M82 may be well understood by the lightest nuclei fragility and opacity within Mpc distances. We comment also on the role of a few galactic UHECR sources at ten EeV that may be partially feeding the Auger dipole UHECR anisotropy. The recent anisotropy in the UHECR spectral composition of lightest and heavy nuclei, outside and along the galactic plane, could also be a first confirmation of our previous claims (2012). The interplay of the heavier and most energetic UHECR galactic nuclei with the mainly local (Mpcs) extragalactic signals ruled by lightest nuclei, seems to fit the main pieces of UHECR puzzle.

Type Iax Supernovae (SNe Iax) form a class of peculiar SNe Ia, whose early-phase spectra share main spectral line identifications with canonical SNe Ia but with higher ionization and much lower line velocities. Their late-time behaviors deviate from usual SNe Ia in many respects; SNe Iax keep showing photospheric spectra over several 100 days and the luminosity decline is very slow. In the present work, we study the late-time spectra of SN Iax 2019muj including a newly-presented spectrum at ~500 days. The spectrum is still dominated by allowed transitions but with lower ionization state, with possible detection of [O I]6300, 6363. By comprehensively examining the spectral formation processes of allowed transitions (Fe II, Fe I, and the Ca II NIR triplet) and forbidden transitions ([Ca II]7292, 7324 and the [O I]), we quantitatively constrain the nature of the innermost region and find that it is distinct from the outer ejecta; the mass of the innermost component is ~0.03 Msun dominated by Fe (which can be initially 56Ni), expanding with the velocity of ~760 km/s. We argue that the nature of the inner component is explained by the failed/weak white-dwarf thermonuclear explosion scenario. We suggest that a fraction of the 56Ni-rich materials initially confined in (the envelope of) the bound remnant can later be ejected by the energy input through the 56Ni/Co/Fe decay, forming the `second' unbound ejecta component which manifests itself as the inner dense component seen in the late phase.

Gravitational microlensing has the potential to provide direct gravitational masses of single, free-floating brown dwarfs, independent of evolutionary and atmospheric models. The proper motions and parallaxes of nearby brown dwarfs can be used to predict close future alignments with distant background stars that cause a microlensing event. Targeted astrometric follow up of the predicted microlensing events permits the brown dwarf's mass to be measured. Predicted microlensing events are typically found via searching for a peak threshold signal using an estimate of the lens mass. We develop a novel method that finds predicted events that instead will lead to a target lens mass precision. The main advantage of our method is that it does not require a lens mass estimate. We use this method to search for predicted astrometric microlensing events occurring between 2014 - 2032 using a catalog of 1225 low mass star and brown dwarf lenses in the Solar Neighborhood of spectral type M6 or later and a background source catalog from DECaLS Data Release 9. The background source catalog extends to $g = $ 23.95, providing a more dense catalog compared to Gaia. Our search did not reveal any upcoming microlensing events. We estimate the rate of astrometric microlensing event for brown dwarfs in the Legacy Survey and find it to be low $\sim10^{-5}$yr$^{-1}$. We recommend carrying out targeted searches for brown dwarfs in front of the Galactic Bulge and Plane to find astrometric microlensing events that will allow the masses of single, free-floating brown dwarfs to be measured.

We construct a three-dimensional and redshift-evolutionary X-ray and ultraviolet ($L_X-L_{UV}$) luminosity relation for quasars from the powerful statistic tool called copula, and find that the constructed $L_X-L_{UV}$ relation from copula is more viable than the standard one and the observations favor the redshift-evolutionary relation more than $3\sigma$. The Akaike and Bayes information criterions indicate that the quasar data support strongly the three-dimensional $L_X-L_{UV}$ relation. Our results show that the quasars can be regarded as a reliable indicator of the cosmic distance if the $L_X-L_{UV}$ relation from copula is used to calibrate quasar data.

We explore the parameter space for the contribution to Callisto's H corona observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (Roth et al. 2017a) from sublimated H2O and radiolytically produced H2 using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The spatial morphology of this corona produced via photo- and magnetospheric electron impact-induced dissociation is described by tracking the motion of and simulating collisions between the hot H atoms and thermal molecules including a near-surface O2 component. Our results indicate that sublimated H2O produced from the surface ice, whether assumed to be intimately mixed with or distinctly segregated from the dark non-ice or ice-poor regolith, cannot explain the observed structure of the H corona. On the other hand, a global H2 component can reproduced the observation, and is also capable of producing the enhanced electron densities observed at high altitudes by Galileo's plasma-wave instrument (Gurnett et al., 1997, 2000), providing the first evidence of H2 in Callisto's atmosphere. The range of H2 surface densities explored, under a variety of conditions, that are consistent with these observations is ~(0.4-1)x10^8 cm^-3. The simulated H2 escape rates and estimated lifetimes suggest that Callisto has a neutral H2 torus. We also place a rough upper limit on the peak H2O number density (<~10^8 cm^-3), column density (<~10^15 cm^-2), and sublimation flux (<~10^12 cm^-2 s^-1), all of which are 1-2 orders of magnitude less than that assumed in previous models. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results, as well as how they compare to Europa and Ganymede.

Cosmological simulations show that dark matter halos surrounding baryonic disks have a wide range of angular momenta, measured by the spin parameter ($\lambda$). In this study, we bring out the importance of inner angular momentum($<$30 kpc), measured in terms of the halo spin parameter, on the secular evolution of the bar using N-body simulations. We have varied the halo spin parameter $\lambda$ from 0 to 0.1 for co-rotating (prograde) spinning halos and one counter-rotating (retrograde) halo spin ($\lambda$=-0.1) with respect to the disk. We report that as the halo spin increases, the buckling is also triggered earlier and is followed by a second buckling phase in high-spin halo models. The timescale for the second buckling is significantly longer than the first buckling. We find that bar strength does not reduce significantly after the buckling in all of our models, which provides new insights about the role of inner halo angular momentum, unlike previous studies. Also, the buckled bar can still transfer significant angular momentum to the halo in the secular evolution phase, but it reduces with increasing halo spin. In the secular evolution phase, the bar strength increases and saturates to nearly equal values for all the models irrespective of halo spin and the sense of rotation with respect to the disk. The final boxy/peanut shape is more pronounced ($\sim$20 $\%$) in high spin halos having higher angular momentum in the inner region compared to non-rotating halos. We explain our results with angular momentum exchanges between the disk and halo.

We analyse the characteristics of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) during Solar Cycles 23 and 24. The present analysis is primarily based on the near-Earth ICME catalogue (Richardson and Cane, 2010). An important aspect of this study is to understand the near-Earth and geoeffective aspects of ICMEs in terms of their association (type II ICMEs) versus absence (non-type II ICMEs) of decameter-hectometer (DH) type II radio bursts, detected by Wind/WAVES and STEREOS/WAVES. Notably, DH type II radio bursts driven by a CME indicate powerful MHD shocks leaving the inner corona and entering the interplanetary medium. We find a drastic reduction in the occurrence of ICMEs by 56% in Solar Cycle 24 compared to the previous cycle (64 versus 147 events). Interestingly, despite a significant decrease in ICME/CME counts, both cycles contain almost the same fraction of type II ICMEs (~47%). Our analysis reveals that, even at a large distance of 1 AU, type II CMEs maintain significantly higher speeds compared to non-type II events (523 km/s versus 440 km/s). While there is an obvious trend of decrease in ICME transit times with increase in the CME initial speed, there also exists a noticeable wide range of transit times for a given CME speed. Contextually, Cycle 23 exhibits 10 events with shorter transit times ranging between 20-40 hours of predominantly type II categories while, interestingly, Cycle 24 almost completely lacks such "fast" events. We find a significant reduction in the parameter $V_{ICME} \times B_{z}$, the dawn to dusk electric field, by 39% during Solar Cycle 24 in comparison with the previous cycle. Further, $V_{ICME} \times B_{z}$ shows a strong correlation with Dst index, which even surpasses the consideration of $B_{z}$ and $V_{ICME}$ alone. The above results imply the crucial role of $V_{ICME} \times B_{z}$ toward effectively modulating the geoeffectiveness of ICMEs.

I report the results of a new search for transiting planets on a set of 1.4 million lightcurves extracted from TESS Full Frame Images (FFIs) using the DIAmante pipeline. The data come from the first two years of observations of TESS (Sectors 1-26) and the study is focused on a sample of FGKM dwarf and subgiant stars optimized for the search of transiting planets. The search was performed on the detrended and stitched multi-sector lightcurves applying the Box-fitting Least Squares algorithm and a Random Forest classifier. I present a catalogue of 1160 transiting planet candidates, among which 842 are novel discoveries. The median radius of the transiting bodies in the catalog is 6.8 R$_{\oplus}$. The radii range from 0.8 R$_{\oplus}$ to 27.3R$_{\oplus}$ while the orbital periods range from 0.19 days to 197.2 days with a median of 3.6 days. Each candidate is accompained by a validation report and the corresponding DIAmante lightcurve. The material is available at CDS, on the ExoFOP website and on the DIAmante portal at MAST.

The solar active region NOAA 12887 produced a strong X1.0 flare on 2021 October 28, which exhibits X-shaped flare ribbons and a circle-shaped erupting filament. To understand the eruption process with these characteristics, we conducted a data-constrained magnetohydrodynamics simulation using a nonlinear force-free field of the active region about an hour before the flare as the initial condition. Our simulation reproduces the filament eruption observed in the Ha images of GONG and the 304 angstrom images of SDO/AIA and suggests that two mechanisms can possibly contribute to the magnetic eruption. One is the torus instability of the pre-existing magnetic flux rope (MFR), and the other is upward pushing by magnetic loops newly formed below the MFR via continuous magnetic reconnection between two sheared magnetic arcades. The presence of this reconnection is evidenced by the SDO/AIA observations of the 1600 angstrom brightening in the footpoints of the sheared arcades at the flare onset. To clarify which process is more essential for the eruption, we performed an experimental simulation in which the reconnection between the sheared field lines is suppressed. In this case too, the MFR could erupt, but at a much reduced rising speed. We interpret this result as indicating that the eruption is not only driven by the torus instability, but additionally accelerated by newly formed and rising magnetic loops under continuous reconnection.

Recent observations of several massive pulsars, with masses near and above $2~M_\odot$, point towards the existence of matter at very high densities, compared to normal matter that we are familiar with in our terrestrial world. This leads to the possibility of appearance of exotic degrees of freedom other than nucleons inside the core of the neutrons stars (NS). Another significant property of NSs is the presence of high surface magnetic field, with highest range of the order of $\sim~10^{16}$ G. We study the properties of highly dense matter with the possibility of appearance of heavier strange and non-strange baryons, and kaons in presence of strong magnetic field. We find that the presence of a strong magnetic field stiffens the matter at high density, delaying the kaon appearance and, hence, increasing the maximum attainable mass of NS family.

The observation of pits at the surface of comets offers the opportunity to take a glimpse into the properties and the mechanisms that shape a nucleus through cometary activity. If the origin of these pits is still a matter of debate, multiple studies have recently suggested that known phase transitions alone could not have carved these morphological features on the surface of 67P/C-G. We want to understand how the progressive modification of 67P's surface due to cometary activity might have affected the characteristics of pits. In particular, we aim to understand whether signatures of the formation mechanism of these morphological features can still be identified. To quantify the amount of erosion sustained at the surface of 67P since it arrived on its currently observed orbit, we selected 380 facets of a medium-resolution shape model of the nucleus, sampling 30 pits across the surface. We computed the surface energy balance with a high temporal resolution, including shadowing and self-heating. We then applied a thermal evolution model to assess the amount of erosion sustained after ten orbital revolutions under current illumination conditions. We find that the maximum erosion sustained after ten orbital revolutions is on the order of 80 m, for facets located in the southern hemisphere. We thus confirm that progressive erosion cannot form pits and alcoves, as local erosion is much lower than their observed depth and diameter. We find that plateaus tend to erode more than bottoms, especially for the deepest depressions, and that some differential erosion can affect their morphology. As a general rule, our results suggest that sharp morphological features tend to be erased by progressive erosion. This study supports the assumption that deep circular pits, such as Seth1, are the least processed morphological features at the surface of 67P, or the best preserved since their formation.

We investigate archival Hubble Space Telescope ACS/SBC F140LP observations of NGC~1399 to search for evidence of multiple stellar populations in extragalactic globular clusters. Enhanced FUV populations are thought to be indicators of He-enhanced second generation populations in globular clusters, specifically extreme/blue horizontal branch stars. Out of 149 globular clusters in the field of view, 58 have far ultraviolet (FUV) counterparts with magnitudes brighter than 28.5. Six of these FUV-deteced globular clusters are also detected in X-rays, including one ultraluminous X-ray source ($L_X > 10^{39}$ erg/s). While optically bright clusters corresponded to brighter FUV counterparts, we observe FUV emission from both metal-rich and metal-poor clusters, which implies that the FUV excess is not dependent on optical colour. We also find no evidence that the cluster size influences the FUV emission. The clusters with X-ray emission are not unusually FUV bright, which suggests that even the ultraluminous X-ray source does not provide significant FUV contributions. NGC 1399 is only the fourth galaxy to have its globular cluster system probed for evidence of FUV-enhanced populations, and we compare these clusters to previous studies of the Milky Way, M31, M87, and the brightest cluster in M81. These sources indicate that many globular clusters likely host extreme HB stars and/or second generation stars, and highlight the need for more complete FUV observations of extragalactic globular cluster systems.

Shell stars, in particular the cooler ones, often do not show conspicuous Balmer-line emission and may consequently be missed in surveys that specifically search for emission signatures in the Halpha line. The present work is aimed at identifying stars with shell-signatures via a search for strong FeII multiplet 42 lines at 4924, 5018, 5169A in archival LAMOST spectra. Candidates were selected by probing the FeII 42 lines in the spectra of a sample of colour-preselected early-type stars using a modified version of the MKCLASS code and then categorised by visual inspection of their spectra. We identified 75 stars showing conspicuous shell features, 43 Am/CP1 stars, 12 Ap/CP2 stars, and three objects with composite spectra. Spectral types and equivalent width measurements of the FeII 42 lines are presented for the sample of shell stars. Except for three objects, all shell stars appear significantly removed from the ZAMS in the colour-magnitude diagram, which is likely due to extinction by circumstellar material. We find a correlation between the equivalent width of the 5169A line and the distance to the locus of the main-sequence stars (the larger the IR-excess, the stronger the 5169A line) and studied the variability of the shell star sample using TESS data, identifying a very high proportion of double stars. All but 14 shell stars are new discoveries, which highlights the efficiency of the here presented novel approach to identify stars with subtle shell features. This study may be used as a blueprint for discovering these objects in massive spectral databases.

We present a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the morphological and structural properties of a large sample of galaxies at z=3-9 using early JWST CEERS NIRCam observations. Our sample consists of 850 galaxies at z>3 detected in both CANDELS HST imaging and JWST CEERS NIRCam images to enable a comparison of HST and JWST morphologies. Our team conducted a set of visual classifications, with each galaxy in the sample classified by three different individuals. We also measure quantitative morphologies using the publicly available codes across all seven NIRCam filters. Using these measurements, we present the fraction of galaxies of each morphological type as a function of redshift. Overall, we find that galaxies at z>3 have a wide diversity of morphologies. Galaxies with disks make up a total of 60\% of galaxies at z=3 and this fraction drops to ~30% at z=6-9, while galaxies with spheroids make up ~30-40% across the whole redshift range and pure spheroids with no evidence for disks or irregular features make up ~20%. The fraction of galaxies with irregular features is roughly constant at all redshifts (~40-50%), while those that are purely irregular increases from ~12% to ~20% at z>4.5. We note that these are apparent fractions as many selection effects impact the visibility of morphological features at high redshift. The distributions of S\'ersic index, size, and axis ratios show significant differences between the morphological groups. Spheroid Only galaxies have a higher S\'ersic index, smaller size, and higher axis ratio than Disk/Irregular galaxies. Across all redshifts, smaller spheroid and disk galaxies tend to be rounder. Overall, these trends suggest that galaxies with established disks and spheroids exist across the full redshift range of this study and further work with large samples at higher redshift is needed to quantify when these features first formed.

(abridged)Multiple systems for which the astrometric and spectroscopic orbit are known offer the unique possibility of determining the distance to these systems directly without any assumptions. They are therefore ideal objects for a comparison of Gaia data release 3 (GDR3) parallax data, especially since GDR3 presents the results of the non-single star (NSS) analysis that potentially results in improved parallaxes. An sample of 192 orbital parallax determinations for 186 systems is compiled from the literature. The stars are also potentially in wide binary systems, and 37 candidates were found. Only for 21 objects does the NSS analysis provide information, including 8 from the astrometric binary pipeline, for which the parallaxes do improve significantly compared to those in the main catalogue. It appears that most of the objects in the sample are eliminated in the pre-filtering stage of the NSS analysis. The difference between the orbital parallax and the (best) \G\ parallax was finally obtained for 170 objects. When objects with large parallax errors or unrealistically large differences between the orbital and \G\ parallaxes are eliminated, and objects with a GOF < 100 or <8 are selected, samples of 68 and 20 stars remain. Three recipes that calculate the PZPO are tested. After these corrections are applied the remaining parallax differences are formally consistent with zero within the error bar for all three recipes. The method of using orbital parallaxes is shown to work, but the full potential is not reached as an improved parallax from the NSS analysis is available for only few systems. In the final selection, the orbital parallax of 18 of 20 stars is known to better than 5%. In the full sample, 148 objects reach this precision and therefore the full potential of using orbital parallaxes may hopefully be reached with GDR4.

Coherent radio emission via electron cyclotron maser emission (ECME) from hot magnetic stars was discovered more than two decades ago, but the physical conditions that make the generation of ECME favourable remain uncertain. Only recently was an empirical relation, connecting ECME luminosity with the stellar magnetic field and temperature, proposed to explain what makes a hot magnetic star capable of producing ECME. This relation was, however, obtained with just fourteen stars. Therefore, it is important to examine whether this relation is robust. With the aim of testing the robustness, we conducted radio observations of five hot magnetic stars. This led to the discovery of three more stars producing ECME. We find that the proposed scaling relation remains valid after the addition of the newly discovered stars. However we discovered that the magnetic field and effective temperature correlate for $T_\mathrm{eff}\lesssim 16$ kK (likely an artifact of the small sample size), rendering the proposed connection between ECME luminosity and $T_\mathrm{eff}$ unreliable. By examining the empirical relation in light of the scaling law for incoherent radio emission, we arrive at the conclusion that both types of emission are powered by the same magnetospheric phenomenon. Like the incoherent emission, coherent radio emission is indifferent to $T_\mathrm{eff}$ for late-B and A-type stars, but $T_\mathrm{eff}$ appears to become important for early-B type stars, possibly due to higher absorption, or, higher plasma density at the emission sites suppressing the production of the emission.

We present a first systematic time series study of a sample of blazars observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite $\textit{TESS}$ spacecraft. By cross matching the positions of the sources in the TESS observations with those from Roma-BZCAT, 29 blazars including both BL Lacerate objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars were identified. The observation lengths of the 79 light curves of the sources, across all sectors on which the targets of interest have been observed by $\textit{TESS}$, range between 21.25 and 28.2 days. The light curves were analyzed using various methods of time series analysis. The results show that the sources exhibit significant variability with fractional variability spanning between 1.41% and 53.84%. The blazar flux distributions were studied by applying normal and lognormal probability density function models. The results indicate that optical flux histogram of the sources are consistent with normal probability density function with most of them following bi-modal distribution as opposed to uni-modal distribution. This suggests that the days-timescale optical variability is contributed either by two different emission zones or two distinct states of short-term activity in blazars. Power spectral density analysis was performed by using the power spectral response method and the true power spectra of unevenly sampled light curves were estimated. The power spectral slopes of the light curves ranged from 1.7 to 3.2.

We define deriving semantic class targets as a novel multi-modal task. By doing so, we aim to improve classification schemes in the physical sciences which can be severely abstracted and obfuscating. We address this task for upcoming radio astronomy surveys and present the derived semantic radio galaxy morphology class targets.

The change of physical conditions across the turbulent and magnetized interstellar medium (ISM) induces a 3D spatial variation of the properties of Galactic polarized emission. The observed signal results from the averaging of different spectral energy distributions (SED) and polarization angles, along and between lines of sight. As a consequence, the total Stokes parameters $Q$ and $U$ will have different distorted SEDs, so that the polarization angle becomes frequency dependent. In the present work, we show how this phenomenon similarly induces a different distorted SED for the three polarized angular power spectra $EE$, $BB$ and $EB$, implying a variation of the $EE/BB$ ratio with frequency. We demonstrate how the previously introduced spin-moment formalism provides a natural framework to grasp these effects, allowing us to derive analytical predictions for the spectral behaviors of the polarized spectra, focusing here on the example of thermal dust polarized emission. After a quantitative discussion based on a model combining emission from a filament with its background, we further reveal that the spectral complexity implemented in the dust models commonly used by the cosmic microwave background (CMB) community produce such effects. This new understanding is crucial for CMB component separation, in which an extreme accuracy is required in the modeling of the dust signal to allow for the search of the primordial imprints of inflation or cosmic birefringence. For the latter, as long as the dust $EB$ signal is not measured accurately, great caution is required about the assumptions made to model its spectral behavior, as it may not simply follow from the other dust angular power spectra.

We study the spherical collapse of non-top-hat matter fluctuations in the presence of dark energy with arbitrary sound speed. The model is described by a system of partial differential equations solved using a pseudo-spectral method with collocation points. This method can reproduce the known analytical solutions in the linear regime with an accuracy better than $10^{-6}\%$ and better than $10^{-2}\%$ for the virialization threshold given by the usual spherical collapse model. We show the impact of nonlinear dark energy fluctuations on matter profiles, matter peculiar velocity and gravitational potential. We also show that phantom dark energy models with low sound speed can develop a pathological behaviour around matter halos, namely negative energy density. The dependence of the virialization threshold density for collapse on the dark energy sound speed is also computed, confirming and extending previous results in the limit for homogeneous and clustering dark energy.

We present a multi-band sequence of $Hubble~Space~Telescope$ images documenting the emergence and evolution of multiple light echoes (LEs) linked to the stripped-envelope supernova (SN) 2016adj located in the central dust-lane of Centaurus A. Following point-spread function subtraction, we identify the earliest LE emission associated with a SN at only $+$34 days (d) past the epoch of $B$-band maximum. Additional HST images extending through $+$578 d cover the evolution of LE1 taking the form of a ring, while images taken on $+$1991 d reveals not only LE1, but also segments of a new inner LE ring (LE2) as well as two additional outer LE rings (LE3 & LE4). Adopting the single scattering formalism, the angular radii of the LEs suggest they originate from discrete dust sheets in the foreground of the SN. This information, combined with measurements of color and optical depth of the scattering surfaces, informs a scenario with multiple sheets of clumpy dust characterized by a varying degree of holes. In this case, the larger the LE's angular radii, the further in the foreground of the SN its dust sheet is located. However, an exception to this is LE2, which is formed by a dust sheet located in closer proximity to the SN than the dust sheets producing LE1, LE3, and LE4. The delayed appearance of LE2 can be attributed to its dust sheet having a significant hole along the line-of-sight between the SN and Earth.

We incorporate new scale-intelligent models of metal-enriched star formation (\starss) with surrogate models of primordial stellar feedback (\starnet) into the astrophysics simulation code \enzo to analyze the impact of heterogeneous metal enrichment on the first galaxies. Our study includes the earliest generations of stars and the protogalaxies ($10^6 \lesssim M_v/M_\odot \lesssim 10^8$) containing them. We compare results obtained with the new methods to two common paradigms of metallicity initial conditions in simulations: ignoring the metallicity initial condition and assuming a uniform metallicity floor. We find that ignoring metallicity requirements for enriched star formation results in a redshift-dependent excess in stellar mass created and compounding errors consisting of stars forming in pristine gas. We find that using a metallicity floor causes an early underproduction of stars before $z=21$ that reverses to overproduction by $z=18$. At the final redshift, $z=14.95$, there is $\sim 20\%$ excess stellar mass with 8.6\% increased protogalaxy count. Heterogeneous metallicity initial conditions greatly increase the range of halo observables, e.g., stellar metallicity, stellar mass, and luminosity. The increased range leads to better agreement with observations of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies when compared to metallicity-floor simulations. \starnet generates protogalaxies with low stellar mass, $M_* \lesssim 10^3 M_\odot$, so may also serve to model low-luminosity protogalaxies more effectively than a metallicity floor criterion at similar spatial and mass resolution.

Aims. We wish to establish a firm link between jet simulations and analytical studies of magnetically-driven steady-state jets from Keplerian accretion disks. In particular, the latter have predicted the existence of recollimation shocks due to the dominant hoop-stress, so far never observed in platform simulations. Methods. We perform a set of axisymmetric MHD simulations of non-relativistic jets using the PLUTO code. The simulations are designed to reproduce the boundary conditions generally expected in analytical studies. We vary two parameters: the magnetic flux radial exponent $\alpha$ and the jet mass load $\kappa$. In order to reach the huge unprecedented spatial scales implied by the analytical solutions, a new method allowing to boost the temporal evolution has been used. Results. We confirm the existence of standing recollimation shocks at large distances, behaving qualitatively with the mass load $\kappa$ as in self-similar studies. The shocks are weak and correspond to oblique shocks in a moderately high fast-magnetosonic flow. The jet emitted from the disk is focused towards the axial inner spine, which is the outflow connected to the central objet. The presence of this spine is shown to have a strong influence on jet asymptotics. Conclusions. Internal recollimation shocks may produce observable features such as standing knots of enhanced emission and a decrease of the flow rotation rate. However, more realistic simulations, e.g. fully three-dimensional, must be done in order to investigate non-axisymmetric instabilities and with ejection only from a finite zone in the disk, so as to to verify whether these MHD recollimation shocks and their properties are maintained.

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory~(LHAASO) is one of the most sensitive gamma-ray detector arrays, whose ultrahigh-energy~(UHE) work bands not only help to study the origin and acceleration mechanism of UHE cosmic rays, but also provide the opportunity to test fundamental physics concepts such as Lorentz symmetry. LHAASO directly observes the $1.42~\mathrm{PeV}$ highest-energy photon. By adopting the synchrotion self-Compton model LHAASO also suggests that the $1.12~\mathrm{PeV}$ high-energy photon from Crab Nebula corresponds to a $2.3~\mathrm{PeV}$ high-energy electron. We study the $1.42~\mathrm{PeV}$ photon decay and the $2.3~\mathrm{PeV}$ electron decay to perform a joint analysis on photon and electron two-dimensional Lorentz violation~(LV) parameter plane. Our analysis is systematic and comprehensive, and we naturally get the strictest constraints from merely considering photon LV effect in photon decay and electron LV effect in electron decay. Our result also permits the parameter space for new physics beyond relativity.

Molecular line observations are powerful tracers of the physical and chemical conditions across the different evolutionary stages of star, disk and planet formation. Using the high angular resolution and unprecedented sensitivity of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) there is now a drive to detect small-scale gas structures in protoplanetary disks that can be attributed directly to forming planets. We report high angular resolution ALMA Band 7 observations of sulphur monoxide (SO) in the nearby planet-hosting disk around Herbig star HD 100546. SO is rarely detected in evolved protoplanetary disks but in other environments, it is most often utilised as a tracer of shocks. The SO emission from the HD 100546 disk is primarily originating from gas within the approx. 20 au mm-dust cavity and shows a clear azimuthal brightness asymmetry of a factor of 2. In addition, we see a significant difference in the line profile shape when comparing these new Cycle 7 data to Cycle 0 data of the same SO transitions. We discuss the different physical/chemical mechanisms that could be responsible for this asymmetry and time variability including disk winds, disk warps, and a shock triggered by a (forming) planet. We propose that the SO is enhanced in the cavity due to the presence of a giant planet. The SO asymmetry complements evidence for hot circumplanetary material around the giant planet HD 100546 c traced via CO ro-vibrational emission. This work sets the stage for further observational and modelling efforts to detect and understand the chemical imprint of a forming planet on its parent disk.

The observation of the polarised emission from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from future ground-based and satellite-borne experiments holds the promise of indirectly detecting the elusive signal from primordial tensor fluctuations in the form of large-scale $B$-mode polarisation. Doing so, however, requires an accurate and robust separation of the signal from polarised Galactic foregrounds. We present a component separation method for multi-frequency CMB observations that combines some of the advantages of map-based and power-spectrum-based techniques, and which is direcly applicable to data in the presence of realistic foregrounds and instrumental noise. We demonstrate that the method is able to reduce the contamination from Galactic foregrounds below an equivalent tensor-to-scalar ratio $r_{\rm FG}\lesssim5\times10^{-4}$, as required for next-generation observatories, for a wide range of foreground models with varying degrees of complexity. This bias reduction is associated with a mild $\sim20-30\%$ increase in the final statistical uncertainties, and holds for large sky areas, and for experiments targeting both the reionisation and recombination bumps in the $B$-mode power spectrum.

We present a family of analytical potential-density pairs for barred discs, which can be combined to describe galactic bars in a realistic way, including boxy/peanut components. We illustrate this with two reasonable compound models. Computer code for the evaluation of potential, forces, density, and projected density is freely provided.

Circumstellar discs around Be stars are formed by the material ejected by the central star. This process removes excess angular momentum from the star as viscosity facilitates the mass and angular momentum transfer within the disc and its growth. The angular momentum loss rates (AMLR) of Be stars is a subject of debate in the literature. Through the modelling of the disc formation and dissipation phases observed from Be stars, their average AMLR can be determined and this is the goal of this work. We use the viscous decretion disc (VDD) model to provide a range of the average AMLR for Be stars and compare these rates with predicted values from the literature. We explore the reasons for discrepancies between the predicted values of average AMLR using the VDD and Geneva stellar evolution (GSE) models that were previously reported in literature and find that the largest differences occur when Be stars are rotating below their critical speeds. We show that the time over which the mass reservoir builds up is inversely proportional to the average AMLR. Also, we determine a revised value of the average AMLR for the Galactic Be star omega CMa of 4.7x10^36 g cm^2/s^2, which is in better agreement with the values expected for a typical B2 type star. Finally, the effect of disc truncation due to the presence of a companion star is investigated and we find that this has a minimal effect on the average AMLR.

We present the deconvolved distribution estimator (DDE), an extension of the voxel intensity distribution (VID), in the context of future observations proposed as part of the CO Mapping Array Project (COMAP). The DDE exploits the fact that the observed VID is a convolution of correlated signal intensity distributions and uncorrelated noise or interloper intensity distributions. By deconvolving the individual VID of two observables away from their joint VID in a Fourier-space operation, the DDE suppresses sensitivity to interloper emission while maintaining sensitivity to correlated components. The DDE thus improves upon the VID by rejecting uncorrelated noise and interloper biases, which is useful in the context of COMAP observations that observe different rotational transitions of CO from the same comoving volume in different observing frequency bands. Fisher forecasts suggest that the theoretical sensitivity in the DDE allows significant improvements in constraining power compared to either the cross power spectrum or the individual VID data, and matches the constraining power of the combination of all other one- and two-point summary statistics. Future work should further investigate the covariance and model-dependent behaviour of this novel one-point cross-correlation statistic.

We introduce a novel unbiased, cross-correlation estimator for the one-point statistics of cosmological random fields. One-point statistics are a useful tool for analysis of highly non-Gaussian density fields, while cross-correlations provide a powerful method for combining information from pairs of fields and separating them from noise and systematics. We derive a new Deconvolved Distribution Estimator that combines the useful properties of these two methods into one statistic. Using two example models of a toy Gaussian random field and a line intensity mapping survey, we demonstrate these properties quantitatively and show that the DDE can be used for inference. This new estimator can be applied to any pair of overlapping, non-Gaussian cosmological observations, including large-scale structure, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, weak lensing, and many others.

An interactive binary star system simulation was developed to be showcased on an educational platform. The main purpose of the project is to provide insight into the orbital mechanics of such star systems with the help of a three-body simulation. The initial simulation script was written in the Python programming language with the help of the VPython addition. The custom-made models were created on Blender and exported. For the final implementation of the simulation on the Godot game engine, the Python code was converted into GDScript and the Blender models were re-textured.

Simulations of explosive nucleosynthesis in novae predict the production of $^{22}$Na, a key astronomical observable to constrain nova models. Its gamma-ray line at 1.275 MeV has not yet been observed by the gamma-ray space telescopes. The $^{20}$Ne/$^{22}$Ne ratio in presolar grains, a possible tool to identify nova grains, also depends on $^{22}$Na produced. Uncertainties on its yield in classical novae currently originate from the rate of the $^{22}$Na(p, $\gamma$)$^{23}$Mg reaction. At peak novae temperatures, this reaction is dominated by a resonance at E$_{\text{R}}$=0.204 MeV, corresponding to the $E_x$=7.785 MeV excited state in $^{23}$Mg. The resonance strengths measured so far disagree by one order of magnitude. An experiment has been performed at GANIL to measure the lifetime and the proton branching ratio of this key state, with a femtosecond resolution for the former. The reactions populating states in $^{23}$Mg have been studied with a high resolution detection set-up, i.e. the particle VAMOS, SPIDER and gamma tracking AGATA spectrometers, allowing the measurements of lifetimes and proton branchings. We present here a comparison between experimental results and shell-model calculations, that allowed us to assign the spin and parity of the key state. Rather small values obtained for reduced $M1$ matrix elements, $|M(M1)|\lesssim 0.5$ $\mu_N$, and proton spectroscopic factors, $C^{2}S_{\text{p}}$<10$^{-2}$, seem to be beyond the accuracy of the shell model. With the reevaluated $^{22}$Na(p, $\gamma$)$^{23}$Mg rate, the $^{22}$Na detectability limit and its observation frequency from novae are found promising for the future space telescopes.

Building and maintaining a catalog of resident space objects involves several tasks, ranging from observations to data analysis. Once acquired, the knowledge of a space object needs to be updated following a dedicated observing schedule. Dynamics mismodeling and unknown maneuvers can alter the catalog's accuracy, resulting in uncorrelated observations originating from the same object. Starting from two independent orbits, this work presents a novel approach to detect and estimate maneuvers of resident space objects, which allows for correlation recovery. The estimation is performed with successive convex optimization without a-priori assumption on the thrust arcs structure and thrust direction.

The $^{16}$O(p,$\gamma$)$^{17}$F reaction is the slowest hydrogen-burning process in the CNO mass region. Its thermonuclear rate sensitively impacts predictions of oxygen isotopic ratios in a number of astrophysical sites, including AGB stars. The reaction has been measured several times at low bombarding energies using a variety of techniques. The most recent evaluated experimental rates have a reported uncertainty of about 7.5\% below $1$~GK. However, the previous rate estimate represents a best guess only and was not based on rigorous statistical methods. We apply a Bayesian model to fit all reliable $^{16}$O(p,$\gamma$)$^{17}$F cross section data, and take into account independent contributions of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The nuclear reaction model employed is a single-particle potential model involving a Woods-Saxon potential for generating the radial bound state wave function. The model has three physical parameters, the radius and diffuseness of the Woods-Saxon potential, and the asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANCs) of the final bound state in $^{17}$F. We find that performing the Bayesian $S$ factor fit using ANCs as scaling parameters has a distinct advantage over adopting spectroscopic factors instead. Based on these results, we present the first statistically rigorous estimation of experimental $^{16}$O(p,$\gamma$)$^{17}$F reaction rates, with uncertainties ($\pm 4.2$\%) of about half the previously reported values.

Sunspot number (SSN) is an important - albeit nuanced - parameter that can be used as an indirect measure of solar activity. Predictions of upcoming active intervals, including the peak and timing of solar maximum can have important implications for space weather planning. Forecasts for the strength of solar cycle 25 have varied considerably, from it being very weak, to one of the strongest cycles in recorded history. In this study, we develop a novel quantile based superposed epoch analysis that can be updated on a monthly basis, and which currently predicts that solar cycle 25 will be a very modest cycle (within the 25th percentile of all numbered cycles), with a monthly-averaged (13-month average) peak of - 130 (110) likely occurring in December, 2024. We validate the model by performing retrospective forecasts (hindcasts) for the previous 24 cycles, finding that it out performs the baseline (reference) model (the average cycle) 75% of the time.

The fundamental quasinormal modes of black holes in higher derivative gravity given by the Einstein-Weyl action are known to be moderately corrected by the Weyl term. Here we will show that the first several overtones are highly sensitive to even a relatively small Weyl correction, which might be important when representing the earlier stage of the black-hole ringdown. In addition, we have solved the problem related to analytical parametrized approximation of the numerical black hole solution in the Einstein-Weyl theory: In some range of parameters the approximation for the metric developed up to the third order lead to the unusual highly non-monotonic behavior of the frequencies. We have shown that this problem can be solved via the extension of the parametrization of the metric to higher orders until reaching the regime when the frequencies do not change with further increasing of the order.

We develop and apply a multi-dimensional conception of explanatory depth towards a comparative analysis of inflationary and bouncing paradigms in primordial cosmology. Our analysis builds on earlier work due to Azhar and Loeb (2021) that establishes initial condition fine-tuning as a dimension of explanatory depth relevant to debates in contemporary cosmology. We propose dynamical fine-tuning and autonomy as two further dimensions of depth in the context of problems with instability and trans-Planckian modes that afflict bouncing and inflationary approaches respectively. In the context of the latter issue, we argue that the recently formulated trans-Planckian censorship conjecture leads to a trade-off for inflationary models between dynamical fine-tuning and autonomy. We conclude with the suggestion that explanatory preference with regard to the different dimensions of depth is best understood in terms of differing attitudes towards heuristics for future model building.

We explore the dynamics of multi-field inflationary models with more than two fields. We first revisit the two-field case where the attractor solution with either small or large turn rate can be found analytically. For three fields in the slow-roll, slow-twist and extreme turning regime we provide elegant expressions for the attractor solution for generic field-space geometries and potentials and study the behaviour of first order perturbations. For generic $\mathcal{N}$-field models, our method quickly grows in algebraic complexity. We observe that field-space isometries are common in the literature and we are able to obtain the attractor solutions and deduce stability for some isometry classes of $\mathcal{N}$-field models. Finally, we apply our discussion to concrete supergravity models. These analyses conclusively demonstrate the existence of $\mathcal{N}>2$ dynamical attractors distinct from the two-field case, and provide tools useful for future studies of their phenomenology in the cosmic microwave background and stochastic gravitational wave spectrum.