Papers for Monday, Nov 21 2022

Observations have been carried out in order to assess the optical characteristics of the BlueWalker 3 spacecraft. The illumination phase function has been determined and evaluated. The average visual magnitude when seen overhead at the beginning or ending of astronomical twilight is found to be 1.5.

Rapid advances in deep learning have brought not only myriad powerful neural networks, but also breakthroughs that benefit established scientific research. In particular, automatic differentiation (AD) tools and computational accelerators like GPUs have facilitated forward modeling of the Universe with differentiable simulations. Current differentiable cosmological simulations are limited by memory, thus are subject to a trade-off between time and space/mass resolution. They typically integrate for only tens of time steps, unlike the standard non-differentiable simulations. We present a new approach free of such constraints, using the adjoint method and reverse time integration. It enables larger and more accurate forward modeling, and will improve gradient based optimization and inference. We implement it in a particle-mesh (PM) $N$-body library pmwd (particle-mesh with derivatives). Based on the powerful AD system JAX, pmwd is fully differentiable, and is highly performant on GPUs.

On the pre-main-sequence, the rotation rates of Sun-like stars are dictated by the interplay between the protostellar disk and the star's contraction. At ages exceeding 100 million years (Myr), magnetic spin-down erases the initial stellar spin rate and enables rotation-based age dating (gyrochronology). The exact time at which the transition between these two regimes occurs depends on stellar mass, and has been challenging to empirically resolve due to a lack of viable calibration clusters. The $\alpha$ Persei open cluster ($t\approx80$ Myr, $d\approx170$ pc) may provide the needed calibrator, but recent analyses of the Gaia data have provided wildly varying views of its age and spatial extent. As such, we analyze a combination of TESS, Gaia, and LAMOST data to calibrate gyrochronology at the age of $\alpha$ Per and to uncover the cluster's true morphology. By assembling a list of rotationally-confirmed $\alpha$ Per members, we provide strong evidence that $\alpha$ Per is part of a larger complex of similarly-aged stars. Through kinematic back-integration, we show that the most diffuse components of $\alpha$ Per were five times closer together 50 Myr ago. Finally, we use our stellar rotation periods to derive a relative gyrochronology age for $\alpha$ Per of 67 $\pm$ 12% the age of the Pleiades, which yields 86 $\pm$ 16 Myr given current knowledge. We show that by this age, stars more massive than $\approx$0.8 M$_{\odot}$ have converged to form a well-defined slow sequence.

We performed detailed photometric and astrometric analyses of the open star clusters Berkeley 68 and Stock 20. This was based on ground-based CCD UBV photometric data complemented by space-based Gaia Data Release 3 photometry and astrometry. 198 stars were identified as likely cluster members for Berkeley 68 and 51 for Stock 20. Two-color diagrams were used to derive the reddening and photometric metallicity for each cluster. The reddening for Berkeley 68 is $E(B-V)=0.520 \pm 0.032$ and $0.400 \pm 0.048$ mag for Stock 20. Photometric metallicity [Fe/H] is $-0.13 \pm 0.08$ dex for Berkeley 68, and $-0.01 \pm 0.06$ dex for Stock 20. Keeping as constant reddening and metallicity, we determined the distance moduli and ages of the clusters through fitting isochrones to the UBV and Gaia based color-magnitude diagrams. Photometric distances are $d=3003 \pm 165$ pc for Berkeley 69 and $2911 \pm 216$ pc for Stock 20. The cluster ages are $2.4 \pm 0.2$ Gyr and $50 \pm 10$ Myr for Berkeley 68 and Stock 20, respectively. Present-day mass function slopes were found to be $\Gamma = 1.38 \pm 0.71$ and $\Gamma = 1.53 \pm 0.39$ for Berkeley 68 and Stock 20, respectively. These values are compatible with the value of Salpeter (1955). The relaxation times were estimated as 32.55 Myr and 23.17 Myr for Berkeley 68 and Stock 20, respectively. These times are less than the estimated cluster ages, indicating that both clusters are dynamically relaxed. Orbit integration was carried out only for Berkeley 68 since radial velocity data was not available for Stock 20. Analysis indicated that Berkeley 68 was born outside the solar circle and belongs to the thin-disc component of the Milky Way.

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is an X-ray Probe for the 2030s that will answer the outstanding questions of the Universe's structure formation. It will also provide transformative new observing capabilities for every area of astrophysics, and to heliophysics and planetary physics as well. LEM's main goal is a comprehensive look at the physics of galaxy formation, including stellar and black-hole feedback and flows of baryonic matter into and out of galaxies. These processes are best studied in X-rays, and emission-line mapping is the pressing need in this area. LEM will use a large microcalorimeter array/IFU, covering a 30x30' field with 10" angular resolution, to map the soft X-ray line emission from objects that constitute galactic ecosystems. These include supernova remnants, star-forming regions, superbubbles, galactic outflows (such as the Fermi/eROSITA bubbles in the Milky Way and their analogs in other galaxies), the Circumgalactic Medium in the Milky Way and other galaxies, and the Intergalactic Medium at the outskirts and beyond the confines of galaxies and clusters. LEM's 1-2 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2-2 keV band will make it possible to disentangle the faintest emission lines in those objects from the bright Milky Way foreground, providing groundbreaking measurements of the physics of these plasmas, from temperatures, densities, chemical composition to gas dynamics. While LEM's main focus is on galaxy formation, it will provide transformative capability for all classes of astrophysical objects, from the Earth's magnetosphere, planets and comets to the interstellar medium and X-ray binaries in nearby galaxies, AGN, and cooling gas in galaxy clusters. In addition to pointed observations, LEM will perform a shallow all-sky survey that will dramatically expand the discovery space.

The disappearance of the accretion disc in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) leaves behind a faint optical nuclear continuum whose nature has been largely debated, mainly due to serious observational limitations in the IR to UV range. We combine multi-wavelength sub-arcsecond resolution observations -- able to isolate the genuine nuclear continuum -- with nebular lines in the mid-IR, to indirectly probe the shape of the extreme UV continuum. We found that 8 of the nearest prototype LLAGN are compatible with pure compact jet emission (self-absorbed synchrotron plus the associated self-Compton component) over more than ten orders of magnitude in frequency. When compared with typical radio galaxies, the LLAGN continua show two peculiarities: $i)$ a very steep spectral slope in the IR-to-optical/UV range ($-3.7 < \alpha_0 < -1.3$; $F_\nu \propto \nu^{\alpha_0}$); and $ii)$ a very high turnover frequency ($0.2-30\, \rm{THz}$; $1.3\,\rm{mm}-10\,\rm{\mu m}$). These attributes can be explained if the synchrotron continuum is mainly dominated by thermalised particles at the jet base or corona with considerably high temperatures, whereas only a small fraction of the energy ($\sim 20\%$) would be distributed along the high-energy power-law tail of accelerated particles. On the other hand, the nebular gas excitation in LLAGN is in agreement with photo-ionisation from inverse Compton radiation ($\alpha_{\rm x} \sim -0.7$), which would dominate the nuclear continuum shortwards of $\sim 3000$ \r{A}. Our results suggest that the LLAGN continuum can be dominated at all wavelengths by undeveloped jets, powered by a thermalised particle distribution, similar to the behaviour observed in compact jets of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries. This has important implications in the context of galaxy evolution, since LLAGN may represent a major but underestimated source of kinetic feedback in galaxies.

JWST promises to be the most versatile infrared observatory for the next two decades. The Near Infrared and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument, when used in the Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) mode, will provide an unparalleled combination of angular resolution and sensitivity compared to any existing observatory at mid-infrared wavelengths. Using simulated observations in conjunction with evolutionary models, we present the capability of this mode to image planetary mass companions around nearby stars at small orbital separations near the circumstellar water frost-line for members of the young, kinematic moving groups Beta Pictoris, TW Hydrae, as well as the Taurus-Auriga association. We show that for appropriately chosen stars, JWST/NIRISS operating in the AMI mode can image sub-Jupiter companions near the water frost-lines with ~68% confidence. Among these, M-type stars are the most promising. We also show that this JWST mode will improve the minimum inner working angle by as much as ~50% in most cases when compared to the survey results from the best ground-based exoplanet direct imaging facilities (e.g. VLT/SPHERE). We also discuss how the NIRISS/AMI mode will be especially powerful for the mid-infrared characterization of the numerous exoplanets expected to be revealed by Gaia. When combined with dynamical masses from Gaia, such measurements will provide a much more robust characterization of the initial entropies of these young planets, thereby placing powerful constraints on their early thermal histories.

Fragmentation of rotating gaseous systems via gravitational instability is believed to be a crucial mechanism in several astrophysical processes, such as formation of planets in protostellar discs, of molecular clouds in galactic discs, and of stars in molecular clouds. Gravitational instability is fairly well understood for infinitesimally thin discs. However, the thin-disc approximation is not justified in many cases, and it is of general interest to study the gravitational instability of rotating fluids with different degrees of rotation support and stratification. We derive dispersion relations for axisymmetric perturbations, which can be used to study the local gravitational stability at any point of a rotating axisymmetric gaseous system with either barotropic or baroclinic distribution. 3D stability criteria are obtained, which generalize previous results and can be used to determine whether and where a rotating system of given 3D structure is prone to clump formation. For a vertically stratified gaseous disc of thickness $h_z$ (defined as containing $\approx$70% of the mass per unit surface), a sufficient condition for local gravitational instability is $Q_{\rm 3D}\equiv\left(\sqrt{\kappa^2+\nu^2}+c_s h_z^{-1}\right)/{\sqrt{4\pi G\rho}}<1$, where $\rho$ is the gas volume density, $\kappa$ the epicycle frequency, $c_s$ the sound speed, and $\nu^2\equiv\rho_z p_z/\rho^2$, where $\rho_z$ and $p_z$ are the vertical gradients of, respectively, gas density and pressure. The combined stabilizing effects of rotation ($\kappa^2$) and stratification ($\nu^2$) are apparent. In unstable discs, the conditions for instability are typically met close to the midplane, where the perturbations that are expected to grow have characteristic radial extent of a few $h_z$.

The shortest-period binary star system known to date, RX J0806.3+1527 (HM Cancri), has now been observed in the optical for more than two decades. Although it is thought to be a double degenerate binary undergoing mass transfer, an early surprise was that its orbital frequency, $f_0$, is currently increasing as the result of gravitational wave radiation. This is unusual since it was expected that the mass donor was degenerate and would expand on mass loss, leading to a decreasing $f_0$. We exploit two decades of high-speed photometry to precisely quantify the trajectory of HM Cancri, allowing us to find that $\ddot f_0$ is negative, where $\ddot f_0~=~(-5.38\pm2.10)\times10^{-27}$ Hz s$^{-2}$. Coupled with our positive frequency derivative, we show that mass transfer is counteracting gravitational-wave dominated orbital decay and that HM Cancri will turn around within $2100\pm800\,$yrs from now. We present Hubble Space Telescope ultra-violet spectra which display Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption, indicative of the presence of hydrogen accreted from the donor star. We use these pieces of information to explore a grid of permitted donor and accretor masses with the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics suite, finding models in good accordance with many of the observed properties for a cool and initially hydrogen-rich extremely-low-mass white dwarf ($\approx0.17\,$M$_\odot$) coupled with a high accretor mass white dwarf ($\approx 1.0\,$M$_\odot$). Our measurements and models affirm that HM~Cancri is still one of the brightest verification binaries for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna spacecraft.

Star cluster formation in the early universe and their contribution to reionization remains to date largely unconstrained. Here we present JWST/NIRCam imaging of the most highly magnified galaxy known at z ~ 6, the Sunrise arc. We identify six young massive star clusters (YMCs) with measured radii spanning ~ 20 pc down to ~ 1 pc (corrected for lensing magnification), estimated stellar masses of ~ $10^{(6-7)}$ Msun, and with ages 1-30 Myr based on SED fitting to photometry measured in 8 filters extending to rest-frame 7000A. The resulting stellar mass surface densities are higher than 1000 Msun pc$^{-2}$ (up to a few $10^5$ Msun pc$^{-2}$) and their inferred dynamical ages qualify the majority of these systems as gravitationally-bound stellar clusters. The star cluster ages map the progression of star formation along the arc, with to evolved systems (>~ 10 Myr old) followed by very young clusters. The youngest stellar clusters (< 5 Myr) show evidence of prominent Hbeta + [OIII]4959,5007 emission, based on photometry, with equivalent widths larger than 1000 A rest-frame, and are hosted in a 200 pc sized star-forming complex. Such a region dominates the ionizing photon production, with a high efficiency log($\xi_{ion}$ [Hz erg$^{-1}$]) ~ 25.7. A significant fraction of the recently formed stellar mass of the galaxy (> 10-30 %) occurred in these YMCs. We speculate that such sources of ionizing radiation boost the ionizing photon production efficiency which eventually carve ionized channels that might favor the escape of Lyman continuum radiation. The survival of some of the clusters would make them the progenitors of massive and relatively metal-poor globular clusters in the local Universe.

Benchmark brown dwarf companions with well-determined ages and model-independent masses are powerful tools to test substellar evolutionary models and probe the formation of giant planets and brown dwarfs. Here, we report the independent discovery of HIP~21152~B, the first imaged brown dwarf companion in the Hyades, and conduct a comprehensive orbital and atmospheric characterization of the system. HIP~21152 was targeted in an ongoing high-contrast imaging campaign of stars exhibiting proper motion changes between Hipparcos and Gaia, and was also recently identified by Bonavita et al. (2022) and Kuzuhara et al. (2022). Our Keck/NIRC2 and SCExAO/CHARIS imaging of HIP~21152 revealed a comoving companion at a separation of $0.37^{\prime\prime}$ (16 au). We perform a joint orbit fit of all available relative astrometry and radial velocities together with the Hipparcos-Gaia proper motions, yielding a dynamical mass of $24^{+6}_{-4}\,\mathrm{M_{Jup}}$, which is $1{-}2{\sigma}$ lower than evolutionary model predictions. Hybrid grids that include the evolution of cloud properties best reproduce the dynamical mass. We also identify a comoving wide-separation ($1837^{\prime\prime}$ or $7.9 \times 10^4 \, \mathrm{au}$) early-L dwarf with an inferred mass near the hydrogen-burning limit. Finally, we analyze the spectra and photometry of HIP~21152~B using the Saumon & Marley (2008) atmospheric models and a suite of retrievals. The best-fit grid-based models have $f_{\mathrm{sed}}=2$, indicating the presence of clouds, $T_{\mathrm{eff}}=1400 \, \mathrm{K}$, and $\log{g}=4.5 \, \mathrm{dex}$. These results are consistent with the object's spectral type of $\mathrm{T0\pm1}$. As the first benchmark brown dwarf companion in the Hyades, HIP~21152~B joins the small but growing number of substellar companions with well-determined ages and dynamical masses.

The winds of hot, massive stars are variable from processes happening on both large and small spatial scales. A particular case of such wind variability is 'discrete-absorption components' (DACs) that manifest themselves as outward moving density features in UV resonance line spectra. Such DACs are believed to be caused by large-scale spiral-shaped density structures in the stellar wind. We consider novel 3-D radiation-hydrodynamic models of rotating hot star winds and study the emergence of co-rotating spiral structures due to a local (pseudo-)magnetic spot on the stellar surface. Subsequently, the hydrodynamic models are used to retrieve DAC spectral signatures in synthetic UV spectra created from a 3-D short characteristics radiative transfer code.

We discuss the formation and evolution of systems comprised of a low-mass ($M_\star \lesssim 4 \, \rm M_\odot$) main sequence star, orbiting a $10^5-10^7 \, \rm M_\odot$ supermassive black hole with an orbital period of order $\sim$hours, and a mild eccentricity ($e\approx0.1-0.2$), episodically shedding mass at each pericenter passage. We argue that the resulting mass transfer is likely unstable, with Roche lobe overflow initially driven by gravitational wave emission, but then being accelerated by the star's expansion in response to its mass loss, undergoing a runaway process. We show that such systems are naturally produced by two-body gravitational encounters within the inner parsec of a galaxy, followed by gravitational wave circularization and inspiral from initially highly eccentric orbits. We argue that such systems can produce recurring flares similar to the recently identified class of X-ray transients known as Quasi-Periodic Eruptions, observed at the centers of a few distant galaxies.

Searches for phosphine in Venus' atmosphere have sparked a debate. Cordiner et al. 2022 analyse spectra from the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and infer <0.8 ppb of PH3. We noticed that spectral artefacts arose mainly from inessential calibration-load signals. By-passing these signals allows simpler post-processing, and 6.5{\sigma} detection of 1 ppb of PH3 at ~75 km altitude (just above the clouds). Compiling six phosphine results would suggest the abundance inverts: decreasing above the clouds but rising again in the mesosphere from some unexplained source. However, no such extra source is needed if phosphine is undergoing destruction by sunlight (photolysis), as it does on Earth. Low values/limits were found where the viewed part of the super-rotating Venusian atmosphere had passed through sunlight, while the high values are from views moving into sunlight. We suggest Venusian phosphine is indeed present, and so merits further work on models of its origins.

Arago is a concept of space mission submitted to the European Space Agency's M7 science program. It will target a number of science cases in stellar physics including the characterisation of star-planet interactions. The concept is based on a 1-m class Ritchey-Chretien F/13 telescope mounted on an Ariel-type platform. The scientific payload includes a common polarimetric unit and 2 spectrographs connected via a dichroic splitter. The polarimetric unit consists of 6 MgF2 plates in pairs connected by optical contact and a Wollaston analyzer. Each of the spectral channels represents an echelle spectrograph. The first one will operate in the UV range 119-320 nm with the spectral resolving power of R>25 000. It consists of an off-axis parabolic collimator, an echelle grating in a quasi-Littrow mounting, a cross-disperser concave grating, and a CMOS camera. The cross-disperser grating works also as a camera mirror and represents a holographic grating recorded with aberrated wavefronts and on a spherical substrate. The spectral image is projected onto a d-doped CMOS detector. The second spectral channel operates in the visible range 350-888 nm with R>35 000 and uses an immersed grating. The image is focused with a 4-lens objective onto a CMOS detector. In addition, the optical design includes two stages of fine-guiding system. The first stage represents a projecting system tracking the image around the entrance pinhole and communicating with the platform actuators. The second one is fed by the 0-th diffraction order of the visible channel echelle. It is communicating with a tip-tilt mirror in front of the dichroic. The first stage should improve the platform pointing accuracy from 8" to 200 mas precision to guarantee that the star images passes through the instrument's entrance pinhole. The second stage should correct the pointing accuracy further as well as some thermo-elastic deformations.

A challenge in characterizing active region (AR) coronal heating is in separating transient (bursty) loop heating from the diffuse background (steady) heating. We present a method of quantifying coronal heating's bursty and steady components in ARs, applying it to FeXVIII (hot94) emission of an AR observed by SDO/AIA. The maximum, minimum, and average brightness values for each pixel, over a 24 hour period, yield a maximum-brightness map, a minimum-brightness map, and an average-brightness map of the AR. Running sets of such three maps come from repeating this process for each time step of running windows of 20, 16, 12, 8, 5, 3, 1 and 0.5 hours. From each running window's set of three maps, we obtain the AR's three corresponding luminosity light curves. We find: (1) The time-averaged ratio of minimum-brightness-map luminosity to average-brightness-map luminosity increases as the time window decreases, and the time-averaged ratio of maximum-brightness-map luminosity to average-brightness-map luminosity decreases as the window decreases. (2) For the 24-hour window, the minimum-brightness map's luminosity is 5% of the average-brightness map's luminosity, indicating that at most 5% of the AR's hot94 luminosity is from heating that is steady for 24 hours. (3) This upper limit on the fraction of the hot94 luminosity from steady heating increases to 33% for the 30-minute running window. This requires that the heating of the 4--8 MK plasma in this AR is mostly in bursts lasting less than 30 minutes: at most a third of the heating is steady for 30 minutes.

The cool-core galaxy cluster RXJ1720.1+2638 hosts extended radio emission near the cluster core, known as a minihalo. The origin of this emission is still debated and one piece of the puzzle has been the question of whether the supermassive black hole in the brightest central galaxy is actively powering jets. Here we present high-resolution e-MERLIN observations clearly indicating the presence of sub-kpc jets; this may have implications for the proposed origin of the minihalo emission, providing an ongoing source of relativistic electrons rather than a single burst sometime in the past, as previously assumed in simulations attempting to reproduce observational characteristics of minihalo-hosting systems.

The formation of the large-scale structure, the evolution and distribution of galaxies, quasars, and dark matter on cosmological scales, requires numerical simulations. Differentiable simulations provide gradients of the cosmological parameters, that can accelerate the extraction of physical information from statistical analyses of observational data. The deep learning revolution has brought not only myriad powerful neural networks, but also breakthroughs including automatic differentiation (AD) tools and computational accelerators like GPUs, facilitating forward modeling of the Universe with differentiable simulations. Because AD needs to save the whole forward evolution history to backpropagate gradients, current differentiable cosmological simulations are limited by memory. Using the adjoint method, with reverse time integration to reconstruct the evolution history, we develop a differentiable cosmological particle-mesh (PM) simulation library pmwd (particle-mesh with derivatives) with a low memory cost. Based on the powerful AD library JAX, pmwd is fully differentiable, and is highly performant on GPUs.

We investigate the influence of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback on the galaxy cold gas content and its connection to galaxy quenching in three hydrodynamical simulations of Illustris, IllustrisTNG and SIMBA. By comparing to the observed atomic and molecular neutral hydrogen measurements for central galaxies, we find that Illustris over-predicts the cold gas masses in star-forming galaxies and significantly under-predicts them for quenched galaxies. IllustrisTNG performs better in this comparison than Illustris, but quenched galaxies retain too much cold gas compared with observations. SIMBA shows good agreement with observations, by depleting the global cold gas reservoir for quenched galaxies. We find that the discrepancies in IllustrisTNG are caused by its weak kinetic AGN feedback that only redistributes the cold gas from the inner disks to the outer regions and reduces the inner cold gas densities. It agrees with observations much better when only the cold gas within the stellar disk is considered to infer the star formation rates. From dependences of cold gas reservoir on the black hole mass and Eddington ratio, we find that the cumulative energy release during the black hole growth is the dominant reason for the cold gas depletion and thus the galaxy quenching. We further measure the central stellar surface density within 1 kpc ($\Sigma_1$) for the high-resolution run of IllustrisTNG and find a tight correlation between $\Sigma_1$ and black hole mass. It suggests that the observed decreasing trend of cold gas mass with $\Sigma_1$ is also a reflection of the black hole growth.

We report three searches for high energy neutrino emission from astrophysical objects using data recorded with IceCube between 2011 and 2020. Improvements over previous work include new neutrino reconstruction and data calibration methods. In one search, the positions of 110 a priori selected gamma-ray sources were analyzed individually for a possible surplus of neutrinos over atmospheric and cosmic background expectations. We found an excess of $79_{-20}^{+22}$ neutrinos associated with the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068 at a significance of 4.2$\,\sigma$. The excess, which is spatially consistent with the direction of the strongest clustering of neutrinos in the Northern Sky, is interpreted as direct evidence of TeV neutrino emission from a nearby active galaxy. The inferred flux exceeds the potential TeV gamma-ray flux by at least one order of magnitude.

We propose an updated dust evolution model that focuses on the grain size distribution in a galaxy. We treat the galaxy as a one-zone object and include five main processes (stellar dust production, dust destruction in supernova shocks, grain growth by accretion and coagulation, and grain disruption by shattering). In this paper, we improve the predictions related to small carbonaceous grains, which are responsible for the 2175 \AA\ bump in the extinction curve and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features in the dust emission spectral energy distribution (SED), both of which were underpredicted in our previous model. In the new model, we hypothesize that small carbonaceous grains are not involved in interstellar processing. This avoids small carbonaceous grains being lost by coagulation. We find that this hypothetical model shows a much better match to the Milky Way (MW) extinction curve and dust emission SED than the previous one. The following two additional modifications further make the fit to the MW dust emission SED better: (i) The chemical enrichment model is adjusted to give a nearly solar metallicity in the present epoch, and the fraction of metals available for dust growth is limited to half. (ii) Aromatization for small carbonaceous grains is efficient, so that the aromatic fraction is unity at grain radii $\lesssim 20$ \AA. As a consequence of our modelling, we succeed in obtaining a dust evolution model that explains the MW extinction curve and dust emission SED at the same time.

A model is presented that explains the charging rate of the LISA Pathfinder test masses by the interplanetary cosmic ray environment. The model incorporates particle-tracking from TeV to eV energies using a combination of GEANT4 and a custom low-energy particle generation and tracking code. The electrostatic environment of the test mass is simulated allowing for a comparison of the test-mass charging-rate dependence on local electric fields with observations made in orbit. The model is able to reproduce the observed charging behavior with good accuracy using gold surface properties compatible with literature values. The results of the model confirm that a significant fraction of the net charging current is caused by a population of low-energy ($\sim$eV) electrons produced by electron- and ion-induced kinetic emission from the test mass and surrounding metal surfaces. Assuming a gold work function of 4.2 eV, the unbalanced flow of these electrons to and from the unbiased test mass contributes $\sim$10% of the overall test mass charging rate. Their contribution to the charging-current shot noise is disproportionately higher and it adds $\sim$40% to the overall predicted noise. However, even with this increased noise contribution the overall charging-current noise is still only 40% of that measured in-orbit, and this remains an unsolved issue.

Magnetic free energy powers solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and the buildup of magnetic helicity might play a role in the development of unstable structures that subsequently erupt. To better understand the roles of energy and helicity in large flares and eruptions, we have characterized the evolution of magnetic energy and helicity associated with 21 X-class flares from 2010 to 2017. Our sample includes both confined and eruptive events, with 6 and 15 in each category, respectively. Using HMI vector magnetic field observations from several hours before to several hours after each event, we employ (a) the Differential Affine Velocity Estimator for Vector Magnetograms (DAVE4VM) to determine the photospheric fluxes of energy and helicity, and (b) non-linear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolations to estimate the coronal content of energy and helicity in source-region fields. Using Superposed Epoch analysis (SPE), we find, on average: (1) decreases in both magnetic energy and helicity, in both photospheric fluxes and coronal content, that persist for a few hours after eruptions, but no clear changes, notably in relative helicity, for confined events; (2) significant increases in the twist of photospheric fields in eruptive events, with twist uncertainties too large in confined events to constrain twist changes (and lower overall twist in confined events); and (3) on longer time scales (event time +12 hours), replenishment of free magnetic energy and helicity content to near pre-event levels for eruptive events. For eruptive events, magnetic helicity and free energy in coronal models clearly decrease after flares, with the amounts of decrease proportional to each region's pre-flare content.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) may occur in supermassive black holes (SMBHs) surrounded by clouds. TDEs can generate ultrafast and large opening-angle outflow with a velocity of $\sim$ 0.01--0.2 c, which will collide with clouds with time lags depending on outflow velocity and cloud distances. Since the fraction of the outflow energy transferred into cloud's radiation is anti-correlated with the cloud density, high density clouds was thought to be inefficient in generating radiation. In this work, we studied the radiation from the outflow-cloud interactions for high density clouds, and found that thermal conduction plays crucial roles in increasing the cloud's radiation. Up to 10\% of the bow shock energy can be transferred into clouds and gives rise to X-ray emission with equivalent temperature of $10^{5-6}$ Kelvins due to the cooling catastrophe. The inverse Compton scattering of TDE UV/optical photons by relativistic electrons at bow shock generates power-law X-ray spectra with photon indices $\Gamma\sim 2-3$. This mechanism may account for some TDE candidates with delayed X-ray emission, and can be examined by delayed radio and gamma-ray emissions.

We report the extended GeV $\gamma$-ray emission that spatially associated with the high Galactic latitude supernova remnant (SNR) candidate - Calvera's SNR with the Pass 8 data recorded by the {\em Fermi} Large Area Telescope. The $\gamma$-ray spectrum of Calvera's SNR between 100 MeV and 1 TeV shows an evident ($\sim$ 3.4$\sigma$) spectral curvature at several tens of GeV. The multi-wavelength data can be fitted with either a leptonic model or a hadronic one. However, the leptonic model exhibits the inconsistent between the flat radio spectrum and the hard GeV $\gamma$-ray spectrum of Calvera's SNR. For the hadronic model, the spectral index of protons should be harder than 1.6. And the total energy of protons is fitted to be more than one order of magnitude higher than the explosion energy of a typical supernova, which also challenges the hadronic model. The evident spectral curvature and the absence of non-thermal X-ray emission from Calvera's SNR makes it to be an interesting source bridging young-aged SNRs with bright non-thermal X-ray emission and old-aged SNRs interacting with molecular clouds.

The selection of high-redshift galaxies often involves spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to photometric data, an expectation for contamination levels, and measurement of sample completeness -- all vetted through comparison to spectroscopic redshift measurements of a sub-sample. The first JWST data is now being taken over several extragalactic fields, to different depths and across various areas, which will be ideal for the discovery and classification of galaxies out to distances previously uncharted. As spectroscopic redshift measurements for sources in this epoch will not be initially available to compare with the first photometric measurements of z > 8 galaxies, robust photometric redshifts are of the utmost importance. Galaxies at z > 8 are expected to have bluer rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) colors than typically-used model SED templates, which could lead to catastrophic photometric redshift failures. We use a combination of BPASS and Cloudy models to create a supporting set of templates that match the predicted rest-UV colors of z > 8 the simulated galaxies in a mock catalog (Yung et al. 2022), which mimics expected field depths and areas of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS: m$_{5\sigma}$ ~ 28.6 over ~100 arcmin$^2$; Finkelstein et al. 2022a, Bagley et al. 2022). We use EAZY to highlight the improvements in redshift recovery with the inclusion of our new template set and suggest criteria for selecting galaxies at 8 < z < 10 with JWST, providing an important test case for observers venturing into this new era of astronomy.

We present a detailed prompt emission and early optical afterglow analysis of the two very high energy (VHE) detected bursts GRB 201015A and GRB 201216C, and their comparison with a subset of similar bursts. Time-resolved spectral analysis of multi-structured GRB 201216C using the Bayesian binning algorithm revealed that during the entire duration of the burst, the low energy spectral index ($\alpha_{\rm pt}$) remained below the limit of the synchrotron line of death. However, statistically some of the bins supported the additional thermal component. Additionally, the evolution of spectral parameters showed that both peak energy (Ep) and $\alpha_{\rm pt}$ tracked the flux. These results were further strengthened using the values of the physical parameters obtained by synchrotron modeling of the data. Our earliest optical observations of both bursts using FRAM-ORM and BOOTES robotic telescopes displayed a smooth bump in their early optical light curves, consistent with the onset of the afterglow due to synchrotron emission from an external forward shock. Using the observed optical peak, we constrained the initial bulk Lorentz factors of GRB 201015A and GRB 201216C to $\Gamma_0$ = 204 and $\Gamma_0$ = 310, respectively. The present early optical observations are the earliest known observations constraining outflow parameters and our analysis indicate that VHE-detected bursts could have a diverse range of observed luminosity within the detectable redshift range of present VHE facilities.

The Dragonfly Nebula (G75.2$+$0.1) powered by the young pulsar J2021$+$3651 is a rare pulsar wind nebula (PWN) that shows double tori and polar jets enclosed by a bow-shock structure in X-rays. We present new radio observations of this source taken with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 6 GHz. The radio PWN has an overall size about two times as large as the X-ray counterpart, consisting of a bright main body region in the southwest, a narrow and fainter bridge region in the northeast, and a dark gap in between. The nebula shows a radio spectrum much softer than that of a typical PWN. This could be resulting from compression by the ram pressure as the system travels mildly supersonically in the interstellar medium (ISM). Our polarization maps reveal a highly ordered and complex $B$-field structure. This can be explained by a toroidal field distorted by the pulsar motion.

The equipartition analysis yields estimates of the radius and energy of synchrotron self-absorbed radio sources. Here we generalize this method to relativistic off-axis viewed emitters. We find that the Lorentz factor $\Gamma$ and the viewing angle $\theta$ cannot be determined independently but become degenerate along a trajectory of minimal energy solutions. The solutions are divided into on-axis and off-axis branches with the former reproducing the classical analysis. A relativistic source viewed off-axis can be disguised as an apparent Newtonian one. Applying this method to radio observations of several tidal disruption events (TDEs), we find that the radio flare of AT 2018hyz which was observed a few years after the optical discovery could have been produced by a relativistic off-axis jet with kinetic energy of $\sim10^{53}\,\rm erg$ that was launched around the time of discovery.

Massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) play a crucial role in star formation. Given that MYSOs were previously identified based on the extended structure and the observational data for them is limited, screening the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) objects showing green features (for the common coding of the 4.6 $\mu$m band as green channel in three-color composite WISE images) will yield more MYSO candidates. Using WISE images in the whole Galactic Plane ($ 0^\circ<l<360^\circ $ and $\mid b \mid <2^\circ$), we identified sources with strong emissions at 4.6 $\mu$m band, then according to morphological features divided them into three groups. We present a catalog of 2135 WISE Green Objects (WGOs). 264 WGOs have an extended structure. 1366 WGOs show compact green feature but without extended structure. 505 WGOs have neither extended structure nor green feature, but the intensity at 4.6 $\mu$m is numerically at least 4.5 times that of 3.4 $\mu$m. According to the analysis of the coordinates of WGOs, we find WGOs are mainly distributed in $\mid l \mid< 60^\circ$, coincident with the position of the giant molecular clouds in $\mid l \mid> 60^\circ$. Matching results with various masers show that those three groups of WGOs are at different evolutionary stages. After cross-matching WGOs with published YSO survey catalogs, we infer that $\sim$50% of WGOs are samples of newly discovered YSOs. In addition, 1260 WGOs are associated with Hi-GAL sources, according to physical parameters estimated by spectral energy distribution fitting, of which 231 are classified as robust MYSOs and 172 as candidate MYSOs.

With the measurement of the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart, a gravitational wave (GW) event could be treated as a standard siren. As a novel cosmological probe, the standard siren will bring significant implications for cosmology. In this paper, by considering the coincident detections of GW and associated $\gamma$ ray burst (GRB), we find that only about 400 GW bright standard sirens from binary neutron star mergers could be detected in a 10-year observation of the Einstein Telescope and the THESEUS satellite mission. Based on this mock sample, we investigate the implications of GW standard sirens on the interaction between dark energy and dark matter. In our analysis, four viable interacting dark energy (IDE) models, with interaction forms $Q=3\beta H \rho_{\mathrm{de}}$ and $Q=3 \beta H \rho_{\mathrm{c}}$, are considered. Compared with the traditional EM observational data such as CMB, BAO, and SN Ia, the combination of both GW and EM observations could effectively break the degeneracies between different cosmological parameters and provide more stringent cosmological fits. We also find that the GW data could play a more important role for determining the interaction in the models with $Q=3 \beta H \rho_{\mathrm{c}}$, compared with the models with $Q=3\beta H \rho_{\mathrm{de}}$.

Determining the phase structure of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and its Equation of State (EOS) at densities and temperatures realized inside neutron stars and their mergers is a long-standing open problem. The holographic V-QCD framework provides a model for the EOS of dense and hot QCD, which describes the deconfinement phase transition between a dense baryonic and a quark matter phase. We use this model in fully general relativistic hydrodynamic (GRHD) simulations to study the formation of quark matter and the emitted gravitational wave signal of binary systems that are similar to the first ever observed neutron star merger event GW170817.

Planets are born from the gas and dust discs surrounding young stars. Energetic radiation from the central star can drive thermal outflows from the discs atmospheres, strongly affecting the evolution of the discs and the nascent planetary system. In this context several numerical models of varying complexity have been developed to study the process of disc photoevaporation from their central stars. We describe the numerical techniques, the results and the predictivity of current models and identify observational tests to constrain them.

GRB 170817A, the first short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) to be detected in coincidence with a gravitational wave signal, demonstrated that merging binary neutron star (BNS) systems can power collimated ultra-relativistic jets and, in turn, produce sGRBs. Moreover, it revealed that sGRB jets possess an intrinsic angular structure that is imprinted in the observable prompt and afterglow emission. Advanced numerical simulations represent the leading approach to investigate the physical processes underlying the evolution of sGRB jets breaking out of post-merger environments, and thus connect the final angular structure and energetics with specific jet launching conditions. In a previous paper, we carried out the first three-dimensional (3D) special-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of incipient (top-hat) sGRB jets propagating across the realistic environment resulting from a general-relativistic (GR) hydrodynamic BNS merger simulation. While the above work marked an important step toward a consistent end-to-end description of sGRB jets from BNS mergers, those simulations did not account for the presence of magnetic fields, which are expected to play a key role. Here, we overcome this limitation, reporting the first 3D special-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of a magnetized (structured and rotating) sGRB jet piercing through a realistic magnetized post-merger environment, wherein the initial conditions of the latter are directly imported from the outcome of a previous GR-MHD BNS merger simulation.

Distance estimates derived from spectroscopy or parallax have been unified by considering extinction by large grains. The addition of such a population of what is called Dark Dust to models of the diffuse interstellar medium is tested against a contemporary set of observational constraints. The dark dust model explains, by respecting representative solid-phase element abundances, simultaneously the typical wavelength-dependent reddening, extinction, and emission of polarized and unpolarized light by interstellar dust particles between far UV and millimetre wavelengths. The physical properties of dark dust are derived. Dark dust consists of micrometre-sized particles, which have been recently detected in-situ. It provides significant wavelength-independent reddening from the far UV to the near-infrared. Light absorbed by dark dust is re-emitted in the submillimeter region by grains at dust temperatures of 8-12K. Such very cold dust has been frequently observed in external galaxies. Dark dust contributes to the polarisation at greater than about 1 mm to ~35% and at shorter wavelengths marginally. Optical constants for silicate dust analogous are investigated. By mixing 3% in mass of Mg$_{0.8}$Fe$^{2+}_{0.2}$ SiO$_3$ to MgO$-$0.5 SiO$_2$ a good fit to the data is derived that still can accommodate up to 5 - 10% of mass in dark dust. The extra diming of light by dark dust is unexplored when discussing SN~Ia light curves and in other research. Previous models that ignore dark dust do not account for the unification of the distance scales.

The KM3NeT Collaboration is constructing two large neutrino detectors in the Mediterranean Sea: ARCA, located near Sicily and aiming at neutrino astronomy, and ORCA located near Toulon and designed for the study of intrinsic neutrino properties. The two detectors together will have hundreds of Detection Units with Digital Optical Modules kept vertically by buoyancy forming a large 3D optical array for detecting the Cherenkov light produced after the neutrino interactions. To properly reconstruct the direction of the incoming neutrino, the position of the DOMs, which are not static due to the sea currents, must be monitored. For this purpose, the detector is equipped with an Acoustic Positioning System, which is composed of fixed acoustic emitters on the sea bottom, a hydrophone in each DU base, and a piezoceramic sensor in each DOM, as acoustic receivers. This network of acoustic sensors can be used not only for positioning, but also for acoustic monitoring studies such as bioacoustics, ship noise monitoring, environmental noise control, and acoustic neutrinos detection. This work explores the possibility of creating a trigger for saving the data for ultra-high-energy neutrino candidates detected acoustically by the hydrophones. The acoustic signal caused by the neutrino interaction in a fluid is a short-time duration Bipolar Pulse extremely directive and with a Fourier transform extending over a wide range of frequencies. A study of signal detection, has been done by simulating BP produced by the interaction of a UHE neutrino at 1 km from the detector at zero-degree incidence added to the experimental real acoustic data. Finally, a trigger proposal has been developed in order to record candidates of BPs and it has been tested. The number of candidates per second, precision, and recall have been monitored according to the cuts applied and parameters calculated by the algorithm.

Narrow-band filters are often used to constrain the chemical composition of astronomical objects through photometry. A challenge to derive accurate photometry is that narrow-band filters are based on interference of multiple reflections and refractions between thin layers of transparent dielectric material. When the light rays reach the surface of a filter not perpendicular to it, they cross the layers obliquely travelling a path longer than the thickness of the layers and different for each inclination. This results in a blue-shift of the central wavelength and a distortion of the transmission curve. Hence, particular care should be taken when narrow band filters are used in presence of small f-numbers and large non-telecentric angles, as frequent in the large field of view (FoV) instruments. Sometimes, the broadening and central wavelength shift of the transmission curve are considered and compensated in the design of filters for instruments with a small f-number. Here we consider the combined effect of small f-number, non-telecentricity and large FoV. Where single spectral lines are considered, a shift in central wavelength or a change in the shape of the transmission curve may introduce an instrumental dispersion in luminosity and in the linked color indices. We found that transmission curves of narrow band filters can be significantly different in shape than the nominal ones. The bottom limits for filters' effective FWHM for each f-number; the monotonic behavior of the blue-shift with distance from the center of FoV; the monotonic quality decrease of the transmission curves and the photometric dispersion introduced by the filters are computationally estimated. This work could represent a useful tool to evaluate the fitness of a particular filter at a particular facility.

We employ planetary evolution modeling to reproduce the MR distribution of the 198 so far detected planets with mass and radius measured to the <45% and <15% level, respectively, and less massive than 108Me. We simultaneously account for atmospheric escape, based on the results of hydrodynamic models, and thermal evolution, based on planetary structure evolution models. Since high-energy stellar radiation affects atmospheric evolution, we account for the entire range of possible stellar rotation histories. To set the planetary parameters at formation, we use analytical approximations based on formation models. Finally, we build a grid of synthetic planets with parameters reflecting those of the observed distribution. The predicted radius spread reproduces well the observed MR distribution, except for two distinct groups of outliers (~20% of the population). The first one consists of close-in Saturn-mass planets with Jupiter-like radii for which we underpredict the radius likely because it lacks additional heating similar to that responsible for inflation in hot Jupiters. The second group consists of warm sub-Neptunes, which should host massive primordial H-dominated atmospheres, but instead present high densities indicative of small gaseous envelopes. This suggests that their formation, internal structure, and evolution are different from that of atmospheric evolution through the escape of H-dominated envelopes accreted onto rocky cores. The observed characteristics of low-mass planets (<10-15Me) strongly depend on the impact of atmospheric escape, and thus on the evolution of the host star, while primordial parameters are less relevant. Instead, for more massive planets, the parameters at formation play the dominant role in shaping the final MR distribution.

Following the discovery of a new class of X-ray variability seen in four galaxies, dubbed Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs), we reconsider the variability seen in the low-mass AGN 2XMM J123103.2+110648 to ascertain whether it should be considered the fifth QPE host galaxy. We apply the autocorrelation function to two archival XMM-Newton observations to determine characteristic timescales for variability of $\sim$ 13.52 ks and $\sim$ 14.35 ks. The modelling of lightcurves, both folded at these timescales and unfolded, indicates that a Gaussian model is preferable over a sinusoidal model, with average durations for the bright phases of 6.17 ks and 7.69 ks. In a broad 0.2-1.0 keV band the average amplitude of the bright phases was found to be 2.86 and 8.56 times the quiescent count rate. The pattern of variability seen in 2XMM J123103.2+110648 cannot be definitively declared as a series of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions. Instead, this suggests there may be a continuum of quasi-periodic variability ranging from eruptions to oscillations being caused by a single mechanism. This offers the possibility of finding further sources that continue to bridge the gap between QPEs and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations. A targeted analysis of 47 observations of 11 other low-mass AGN $(log(M_{BH}) \lesssim 6)$ found no evidence of QPE or QPO-like behaviour in a sample of other similar mass objects.

We implement adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) simulations of global topological strings using the public code, GRChombo. We perform a quantitative investigation of massive radiation from single sinusoidally displaced string configurations, studying a range of string widths defined by the coupling parameter $\lambda$ over two orders of magnitude, effectively varying the mass of radiated particles $m_H \sim \sqrt{\lambda}$. We perform an in-depth investigation into the effects of AMR on massive radiation emission, including radiation trapping and the refinement required to resolve high frequency modes. We use quantitative diagnostic tools to determine the eigenmode decomposition, showing a complex superposition of high frequency propagating modes with different phase and group velocities. We conclude that massive radiation is generally strongly suppressed relative to the preferred massless channel, with suppression increasing at lower amplitudes and higher $\lambda$. Only in extreme nonlinear regimes (e.g.\ with relative amplitude $\varepsilon \sim 1.5$ and $\lambda < 1$) do we observe massive and massless radiation to be emitted at comparable magnitude. We find that massive radiation is emitted in distinct high harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the string, and we demonstrate that, for the sinusoidal configurations studied, massive radiation is exponentially suppressed with $\sqrt{\lambda}$ (i.e. the particle mass). Finally, we place these results in the context of axions and gravitational waves produced by cosmological cosmic string networks, and note that AMR provides a significant opportunity to explore higher $\lambda$ (thin string) regimes whilst using fewer computational resources.

Weak lensing studies via cosmic voids are a promising probe of Modified Gravity (MG). The Excess Surface mass Density (ESD) is widely used as a lensing statistics in weak lensing researches. In this paper we use the ray-tracing method to study the ESD around voids in simulations based on the Cubic Galileon (CG) gravity. With the compilation of N-body simulation and ray-tracing method, changes on the structure formation and deflection angle resulting from MG can both be considered, making the extraction of lensing signals more realistic. We find good agreements between the measurement and theoretical prediction of ESD for CG gravity. Meanwhile, the effect on the deflection angle is found to be incomparable to that on the structure formation in CG, indicating an equivalence between ESD (statistics) and the projection of 3D dark matter density field for this gravity. Finally, we demonstrate that it is impossible to distinguish CG and General Relativity in our simulation with an effective survey area $\sim1550deg^2$ and a galaxy number density of $10arcmin^{-2}$, implying that void lensing statistics may not be the optimal probe on testing CG gravity. The methodology employed in this paper that combines N-body simulation and ray-tracing method can be a robust way to measure the lensing signals from simulations based on the MGs, and especially on that who significantly modifies the deflection angle.

Solar flares, along with other sun-originated events such as Coronal Mass Ejections, fast solar wind streams, and solar energetic particles are among the most relevant events in Space Weather. Moreover, solar flares are the most energetic processes that occur in our solar system. The in-depth study of their occurrence statistics, both over extended periods or during individual solar cycles, allows us to improve and constrain the basic physical models of their origin. Increasing the number of detected events, especially those of lower intensity, and the number of physical parameters that describe the detected flares is, therefore, a mandatory goal. In this paper, we present a computationally efficient algorithm for the detection of solar flares in the soft-X solar flux provided by the GOES (NASA/NOAA) satellite constellation. Our code produces a new flare catalogue increasing the number of events with respect to the official GOES list. In addition to increasing the number of identified events, the catalogue contains information such as: an estimate of the total energy released, start and end time of the event, possible overlap with other events, background level of the GOES X-ray emission close to the revealed event. After a detailed description of the detection algorithm, we carry out a preliminary analysis of the flares reported in our catalogue and compare our results with the official list of GOES for the period from 1998 to 2020.

The mass distribution of dense cores is a potential key to understand the process of star formation. Applying dendrogram analysis to the CARMA-NRO Orion C$^{18}$O ($J$=1--0) data, we identify 2342 dense cores, about 22 \% of which have virial ratios smaller than 2, and can be classified as gravitationally bound cores. The derived core mass function (CMF) for bound starless cores which are not associate with protostars has a slope similar to Salpeter's initial mass function (IMF) for the mass range above 1 $M_\odot$, with a peak at $\sim$ 0.1 $M_\odot$. We divide the cloud into four parts based on the declination, OMC-1/2/3, OMC-4/5, L1641N/V380 Ori, and L1641C, and derive the CMFs in these regions. We find that starless cores with masses greater than 10 $M_\odot$ exist only in OMC-1/2/3, whereas the CMFs in OMC-4/5, L1641N, and L1641C are truncated at around 5--10 $M_\odot$. From the number ratio of bound starless cores and Class II objects in each subregion, the lifetime of bound starless cores is estimated to be 5--30 free-fall times, consistent with previous studies for other regions. In addition, we discuss core growth by mass accretion from the surrounding cloud material to explain the coincidence of peak masses between IMFs and CMFs. The mass accretion rate required for doubling the core mass within a core lifetime is larger than that of Bondi-Hoyle accretion by a factor of order 2. This implies that more dynamical accretion processes are required to grow cores.

On the Sun, Doppler shifts of bidirectional outflows from the magnetic-reconnection site have been found only in confined regions through spectroscopic observations. Without spatially resolved spectroscopic observations across an extended region, the distribution of reconnection and its outflows in the solar atmosphere cannot be made clear. Magnetic reconnection is thought to cause the splitting of filament structures, but unambiguous evidence has been elusive. Here we report spectroscopic and imaging analysis of a magnetic-reconnection event on the Sun, using high-resolution data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Our findings reveal that the reconnection region extends to an unprecedented length of no less than 14,000 km. The reconnection splits a filament structure into two branches, and the upper branch erupts eventually. Doppler shifts indicate clear bidirectional outflows of ~100 km/s, which decelerate beyond the reconnection site. Differential-emission-measure analysis reveals that in the reconnection region the temperature reaches over 10 MK and the thermal energy is much larger than the kinetic energy. This Letter provides definite spectroscopic evidence for the splitting of a solar filament by magnetic reconnection in an extended region.

We present a 140ks observation of NGC 4593 with XMM-Newton providing simultaneous and continuous PN X-ray and OM UV (UVW1 2910\AA) lightcurves which sample short-timescale variations better than previous observations. These observations were simultaneous with 22d of Swift X-ray and UV/optical monitoring, reported previously, and 4d of AstroSat X-ray (SXT), far (FUV 1541\AA), and near (NUV 2632\AA) UV allowing lag measurements between them and the highly-sampled XMM. From the XMM we find that UVW1 lags behind the X-rays by 29.5$\pm$1.3ks, $\sim$half the lag previously determined from the Swift monitoring. Re-examination of the \textit{Swift} data reveals a bimodal lag distribution, with evidence for both the long and short lags. However if we detrend the Swift lightcurves by LOWESS filtering with a 5d width, only the shorter lag (23.8$\pm$21.2ks) remains. The NUV observations, compared to PN and SXT, confirm the $\sim$30ks lag found by XMM and, after 4d filtering is applied to remove the long-timescale component, the FUV shows a lag of $\sim$23ks. The resultant new UVW1, FUV, and NUV lag spectrum extends to the X-ray band without requiring additional X-ray to UV lag offset, which if the UV arises from reprocessing of X-rays, implies direct illumination of the reprocessor. By referencing previous Swift and HST lag measurements, we obtain an X-ray to optical lag spectrum which agrees with a model using the KYNreverb disc-reprocessing code, assuming the accepted mass of $7.63\times10^{6}M_{\odot}$ and a spin approaching maximum. Previously noted lag contribution from the BLR in the Balmer and Paschen continua are still prominent.

The current analysis is dedicated to a detailed investigation of the non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) effects influencing the formation of the Fe I 6173 A line, which is widely used by many instruments including the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on-board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on board the Solar Orbiter. We synthesize the Stokes profiles in a snapshot of a three dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the solar photosphere under both LTE and NLTE conditions. The simulation cube contains a sunspot and a plage region around it. The LTE and NLTE Stokes profiles formed in different features are compared and analysed. NLTE effects are evident in both intensity and polarization profiles. For the 6173 A line, UV overionization is the dominant NLTE mechanism, and scattering effects are much less important. In addition to Fe, an NLTE treatment of Si, Mg and Al is necessary to set the right photon density in the UV. This is found to further enhance the LTE departures compared to the case where Fe alone is treated in NLTE. These effects in the Stokes profiles survive even when the profiles are averaged spatially or sampled on a coarse wavelength grid such as that used by the SDO/HMI and other magnetographs. The deviations from the LTE profiles are stronger in the Fe I 6173 A compared to the 6301 A - 6302 A lines because in case of the latter, line scattering compensates the effect of UV overionization. Based on the nature of departures from LTE, treating the 6173 A line in LTE will likely result in an over-estimation of temperature and an under-estimation of the magnetic field strength.

The environment where galaxies reside affects their evolutionary histories. Galaxy triplets (systems composed of three physically bound galaxies) constitute one of simplest group of galaxies and are therefore excellent laboratories to study evolutionary mechanisms where effects of the environment are minimal. We present a statistical study of the dynamical properties of isolated galaxy triplets as a function of their local and large scale environments. To explore the connection of the dynamical evolution on the systems with the evolution of the galaxies composing the triplets, we consider observational properties as morphology and star formation rate (SFR). We used the SDSS-based catalog of Isolated Triplets (SIT), which contains 315 triplets. We classified each triplet according to galaxy morphologies and defined a parameter $Q_{trip}$ to quantify the total local tidal strengths in the systems. To quantify the dynamical stage of the system we used the parameters harmonic radius, $R_H$, velocity dispersion, $\sigma_{vr}$, crossing time, $H_0t_c$, and virial mass, $M_{vir}$. Triplets composed of three early type galaxies present smallest $R_H$, indicating that they are in general more compact than triplets with one or more late type galaxies. Among triplets with low values of $R_H$ and $H_0t_c$, SIT triplets with $Q_{trip}$<-2 are relaxed systems, more dynamically evolved, while triplets with $Q_{trip}$>-2 show compact configurations due to interactions within the system, such as on-going mergers. We found that there is no dominant galaxy in triplets in terms of properties of stellar populations such as global colour and SFR. Moreover, the global SFR in isolated triplets composed of two or more early-type galaxies increases with the stellar mass ratio of the galaxies with respect to the central galaxy, therefore the system is globally 'rejuvenated'.

We present the analysis of a spectroscopic secondary eclipse of the hottest transiting exoplanet detected to date, KELT-9b, obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We complement these data with literature information on stellar pulsations and Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite eclipse depths of this target to obtain a broadband thermal emission spectrum. Our extracted spectrum exhibits a clear turnoff at 1.4$\mu$m. This points to H$^{-}$ bound-free opacities shaping the spectrum. To interpret the spectrum, we perform grid retrievals of self-consistent 1D equilibrium chemistry forward models, varying the composition and energy budget. The model with solar metallicity and C/O ratio provides a poor fit because the H$^{-}$ signal is stronger than expected, requiring an excess of electrons. This pushes our retrievals toward high atmospheric metallicities ($[M/H]=1.98^{+0.19}_{-0.21}$) and a C/O ratio that is subsolar by 2.4$\sigma$. We question the viability of forming such a high-metallicity planet, and therefore provide other scenarios to increase the electron density in this atmosphere. We also look at an alternative model in which we quench TiO and VO. This fit results in an atmosphere with a slightly subsolar metallicity and subsolar C/O ratio ($[M/H]=-0.22^{+0.17}_{-0.13}$, log(C/O)$=-0.34^{+0.19}_{-0.34}$). However, the required TiO abundances are disputed by recent high-resolution measurements of the same planet.

We have obtained simultaneous and continuous photo-polarization observations of the blazar BL Lacertae in optical and near-infrared (NIR) bands during a historical outburst from 2020 to 2021. In total, fourteen nights of observations were performed where ten observations show microvariability on timescales of a few minutes to several hours. This suggests a compact emission region, and the timescales are difficult to explain by a one-zone shock-in-jet model. Moreover, we found significant differences in the polarization degree (PD) and angle between optical and NIR bands. Nine nights showed a PD in the optical band that is greater than or equal to that in the NIR band, which can be explained by either a shock-in-jet model or the Turbulent Extreme Multi-Zone (TEMZ) model. On the other hand, five nights showed higher PD in a NIR band than an optical band, which cannot be explained by simple shock-in-jet models nor the simple TEMZ model. The observed timescales and wavelength dependency of the PD and polarization angle suggest the existence of complicated multiple emission regions such as an irregular TEMZ model.

The study of quasar light curves poses two problems: inference of the power spectrum and interpolation of an irregularly sampled time series. A baseline approach to these tasks is to interpolate a time series with a Damped Random Walk (DRW) model, in which the spectrum is inferred using Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). However, the DRW model does not describe the smoothness of the time series, and MLE faces many problems in terms of optimization and numerical precision. In this work, we introduce a new stochastic model that we call $\textit{Convolved Damped Random Walk}$ (CDRW). This model introduces a concept of smoothness to a DRW, which enables it to describe quasar spectra completely. We also introduce a new method of inference of Gaussian process parameters, which we call $\textit{Neural Inference}$. This method uses the powers of state-of-the-art neural networks to improve the conventional MLE inference technique. In our experiments, the Neural Inference method results in significant improvement over the baseline MLE (RMSE: $0.318 \rightarrow 0.205$, $0.464 \rightarrow 0.444$). Moreover, the combination of both the CDRW model and Neural Inference significantly outperforms the baseline DRW and MLE in interpolating a typical quasar light curve ($\chi^2$: $0.333 \rightarrow 0.998$, $2.695 \rightarrow 0.981$). The code is published on GitHub.

As an initial step towards in-situ exploration of the interiors of Ocean Worlds to search for life using cryobot architectures, we test how various communication tethers behave under potential Europa-like stress conditions. By freezing two types of pretensioned insulated fiber optic cables inside ice blocks, we simulate tethers being refrozen in a probe's wake as it traverses through an Ocean World's ice shell. Using a cryogenic biaxial apparatus, we simulate shear motion on pre-existing faults at various velocities and temperatures. These shear tests are used to evaluate the mechanical behavior of ice, characterize the behavior of communication tethers, and explore their limitations for deployment by a melt probe. We determine (a) the maximum shear stress tethers can sustain from an ice fault, prior to failure (viable/unviable regimes for deployment) and (b) optical tether performance for communications. We find that these tethers are fairly robust across a range of temperature and velocity conditions expected on Europa (T(K) = 95 to 260; velocity (m/s) = 5 x 10-7 to 3 x 10-4). However, damage to the outer jackets of the tethers and stretching of inner fibers at the coldest temperatures tested both indicate a need for further tether prototype development. Overall, these studies constrain the behavior of optical tethers for use at Ocean Worlds, improve the ability to probe thermomechanical properties of dynamic ice shells likely to be encountered by landed missions, and guide future technology development for accessing the interiors of (potentially habitable / inhabited) Ocean Worlds.

Ultralight dark matter is a compelling dark matter candidate. In this work, we examine the impact of quadratically-coupled ultralight dark matter on the predictions of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The presence of ultralight dark matter can modify the effective values of fundamental constants during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, modifying the predicted abundances of the primordial elements such as Helium-4. We improve upon the existing literature in two ways: firstly, we take into account the thermal mass acquired by the ultralight dark matter due to its quadratic interactions with the Standard Model bath, which affects the cosmological evolution of the dark matter. Secondly, we treat the weak freeze-out using the full kinetic equations instead of using an instantaneous approximation. Both improvements were shown to impact the Helium-4 prediction in the context of universally-coupled dark matter in previous work. We extend these lessons to more general couplings. We show that with these modifications, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis provides strong constraints of ultralight dark matter with quadratic couplings to the Standard Model for a large range of masses as compared to other probes of this model, such as equivalence principle tests, atomic and nuclear clocks, as well as astrophysical and other cosmological probes.

We study the scattering of monochromatic planar scalar waves in a geometry that interpolates between the Schwarzschild solution, regular black holes and traversable wormhole spacetimes. We employ the partial waves approach to compute the differential scattering cross section of the regular black hole, as well as of the wormhole solutions. We compare our full numerical results with the classical geodesic scattering and the glory approximation, obtaining excellent agreement in the appropriate regime of validity of such approximations. We obtain that the differential scattering cross section for the regular black hole case is similar to the Schwarzschild result. Notwithstanding, the results for wormholes can be very distinctive from the black hole ones. In particular, we show that the differential scattering cross section for wormholes considerably decreases at large scattering angles for resonant frequencies.

In this work, we propose polarimetry experiments to search for low-mass (sub-eV) bosonic field dark matter, including axions and axion-like particles. We show that a polarimetry configuration consisting of a thick birefringent solid inside a Fabry-P\'erot cavity is exceptionally sensitive to scalar field dark matter, which may cause oscillatory variations in the solid's thickness. In addition, we show that a reconfiguration of this polarimetry experiment, in which two quarter-wave plates are placed inside the Fabry-P\'erot cavity instead of a thick birefringent solid, is very sensitive to axion-like particles. We investigate the possibility of using cross-correlation of twin polarimeters to increase the sensitivity of the experiment, which in turn could allow us to explore unexplored parts of the parameter space and potentially detect a signal in either dark matter scenario.

As an emerging approach to space situational awareness and space imaging, the practical use of an event-based camera in space imaging for precise source analysis is still in its infancy. The nature of event-based space imaging and data collection needs to be further explored to develop more effective event-based space image systems and advance the capabilities of event-based tracking systems with improved target measurement models. Moreover, for event measurements to be meaningful, a framework must be investigated for event-based camera calibration to project events from pixel array coordinates in the image plane to coordinates in a target resident space object's reference frame. In this paper, the traditional techniques of conventional astronomy are reconsidered to properly utilise the event-based camera for space imaging and space situational awareness. This paper presents the techniques and systems used for calibrating an event-based camera for reliable and accurate measurement acquisition. These techniques are vital in building event-based space imaging systems capable of real-world space situational awareness tasks. By calibrating sources detected using the event-based camera, the spatio-temporal characteristics of detected sources or `event sources' can be related to the photometric characteristics of the underlying astrophysical objects. Finally, these characteristics are analysed to establish a foundation for principled processing and observing techniques which appropriately exploit the capabilities of the event-based camera.

This report summarizes the current status of Cosmic Frontier physics and the broad and exciting future prospects identified for the Cosmic Frontier as part of the 2021 Snowmass Process.

A stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background consists of a large number of weak, independent and uncorrelated events of astrophysical or cosmological origin. The GW power on the sky is assumed to contain anisotropies on top of an isotropic component, i.e., the angular monopole. Complementary to the LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA (LVK) searches, we develop an efficient analysis pipeline to compute the maximum-likelihood anisotropic sky maps in stochastic backgrounds directly in the sky pixel domain using data folded over one sidereal day. We invert the full pixel-pixel correlation matrix in map-making of the GW sky, up to an optimal eigenmode cutoff decided systematically using simulations. In addition to modeled mapping, we implement a model-independent method to probe spectral shapes of stochastic backgrounds. Using data from LIGO-Virgo's first three observing runs, we obtain upper limits on anisotropies as well as the isotropic monopole as a limiting case, consistent with the LVK results. We also set constraints on the spectral shape of the stochastic background using this novel model-independent method.

In this work we study a relativistic mean-field (RMF) hadronic model, with nucleonic short-range correlations (SRC) included, coupled to dark matter (DM) through the Higgs boson. We study different parametrizations of this model by running the dark particle Fermi momentum, and its mass in the range of $50$ GeV $\leqslant M_\chi\leqslant 500$ GeV, compatible with experimental spin-independent scattering cross-sections. By using this RMF-SRC-DM model, we calculate some neutron star quantities, namely, mass-radius profiles, dimensionless tidal deformabilities, and crustal properties. Our findings show that is possible to construct RMF-SRC-DM parametrizations in agreement with constraints provided by LIGO and Virgo collaboration (LVC) on the GW170817 event, and recent observational data from the NICER mission. Furthermore, we show that the increase of $M_\chi$ favors the model to attain data from LVC regarding the tidal deformabilities. Higher values of $M_\chi$ also induce a reduction of the neutron star crust (mass and thickness), and cause a decrease of the crustal fraction of the moment of inertia ($I_{\rm{\tiny crust}}/I$). Nevertheless, we show that some RMF-SRC-DM parametrizations still exhibit $I_{\rm{\tiny crust}}/I>7\%$, a condition that explains the glitch activity in rotation-powered pulsars such as the Vela one. Therefore, dark matter content can also be used for describing such a phenomenon.

We propose a scenario that explains the comparable abundances of dark matter (DM) and baryons without any coincidence in the corresponding particle masses. Here, DM corresponds to heavy "dark baryons" in a hidden MSSM-like dark sector, where the supersymmetry breaking scale can be several orders of magnitude larger than in the visible sector. In both sectors a baryon asymmetry is generated via the Affleck-Dine mechanism, and the smaller dark baryon-to-entropy ratio partially compensates the larger dark baryon masses to give similar densities in the two sectors. The large mass hierarchy also naturally results in an asymmetric reheating of these sequestered sectors. Moreover, this scenario predicts uncorrelated DM and baryon isocurvature perturbations.

A sizable magnetic moment for neutrinos would be evidence of exotic physics. In the early Universe, left-handed neutrinos with a magnetic moment would interact with electromagnetic fields in the primordial plasma, flipping their helicity and producing a population of right-handed (RH) neutrinos. In this work, we present a new calculation of the production rate of RH neutrinos in a multi-component primordial plasma and quantify their contribution to the total energy density of relativistic species at early times, stressing the implications of the dependence on the initial time for production. Our results improve the previous cosmological limits by almost two orders of magnitudes. Prospects for upcoming cosmological experiments are also discussed.

Inflaton seeds non-thermal leptogenesis by pair producing right-handed neutrinos in the seesaw model. We show that the inevitable graviton bremsstrahlung associated with inflaton decay can be a unique probe of non-thermal leptogenesis. The emitted gravitons contribute to a high-frequency stochastic gravitational waves background with a characteristic fall-off below the peak frequency. Besides leading to a lower bound on the frequency ($f\gtrsim 10^{11}$ Hz), the seesaw-perturbativity condition makes the mechanism sensitive to the lightest neutrino mass. For an inflaton mass close to the Planck scale, the gravitational waves contribute to sizeable dark radiation, which is within the projected sensitivity limits of future experiments such as CMB-S4 and CMB-HD.