Papers for Tuesday, Jan 31 2023

We present the deepest Chandra observation to date of the galaxy M84 in the Virgo Cluster, with over 840 kiloseconds of data provided by legacy observations and a recent 730 kilosecond campaign. The increased signal-to-noise allows us to study the origins of the accretion flow feeding the supermassive black hole in the center of M84 from the kiloparsec scales of the X-ray halo to the Bondi radius, $R_{\rm B}$. Temperature, metallicity, and deprojected density profiles are obtained in four sectors about M84's AGN, extending into the Bondi radius. Rather than being dictated by the potential of the black hole, the accretion flow is strongly influenced by the AGN's bipolar radio jets. Along the jet axis, the density profile is consistent with $n_e \propto r^{-1}$; however, the profiles flatten perpendicular to the jet. Radio jets produce a significant asymmetry in the flow, violating a key assumption of Bondi accretion. Temperature in the inner kiloparsec is approximately constant, with only a slight increase from 0.6 to 0.7 keV approaching $R_{\rm B}$, and there is no evidence for a temperature rise imposed by the black hole. The Bondi accretion rate $\dot{M}_{\rm B}$ exceeds the rate inferred from AGN luminosity and jet power by over four orders of magnitude. In sectors perpendicular to the jet, $\dot{M}_{\rm B}$ measurements agree; however, the accretion rate is $> 4 \sigma$ lower in the North sector along the jet, likely due to cavities in the X-ray gas. Our measurements provide unique insight into the fueling of AGN responsible for radio mode feedback in galaxy clusters.

We study the impact of small-scale flavor conversions of neutrinos, the so-called fast flavor conversions (FFCs), on the dynamical evolution and neutrino emission of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). In order to do that, we implement FFCs in the 1D CCSN simulations of a 20 solar-mass progenitor model parametrically, assuming that FFCs happen at densities lower than a systematically varied threshold value and lead to a spontaneous flavor equilibrium consistent with lepton number conservation. We find that besides hardening the electron neutrino and antineutrino spectra, which helps the expansion of the shock by enhanced postshock heating, FFCs can lead to significant, nontrivial modifications of the energy transport in the SN environment via increasing the heavy-lepton neutrino luminosities. In our non-exploding models this results in extra cooling of the layers around the neutrinospheres, which triggers a faster contraction of the proto-neutron star and hence, in our 1D models, hampers the CCSN explosion. Although our study is limited by the 1D nature of our simulations, it provides valuable insights into how neutrino flavor conversions in the deepest CCSN regions can impact the neutrino release and the corresponding response of the stellar medium.

AT 2022cmc is a luminous optical transient ($\nu L_{\nu}\gtrsim10^{45}\,\rm erg\,s^{-1}$) accompanied by decaying non-thermal X-rays (peak duration $t_{\rm X}\lesssim$ days and isotropic energy $E_{\rm X,iso}\gtrsim10^{53}$ erg) and a long-lived radio/mm synchrotron afterglow, which has been interpreted as a jetted tidal disruption event (TDE). Both an equipartition analysis and a detailed afterglow model reveals the radio/mm emitting plasma to be expanding mildly relativistically (Lorentz factor $\Gamma\gtrsim\,few$) with an opening angle $\theta_{\rm j}\simeq0.1$ and roughly fixed energy $E_{\rm j,iso}\gtrsim few\times10^{53}$ erg into an external medium of density profile $n\propto R^{-k}$ with $k\simeq1.5-2$, broadly similar to that of the first jetted TDE candidate Swift J1644+57 and consistent with Bondi accretion at a rate $\sim10^{-3}\dot{M}_{\rm Edd}$ onto a $10^{6}M_{\odot}$ black hole before the outburst. The rapidly decaying optical emission phase over the first days is consistent with fast-cooling synchrotron radiation from the same forward shock as the radio/mm emission, while the bluer slowly decaying phase likely represents a separate thermal emission component. Emission from the reverse shock may have peaked during the first days, but whose non-detection in the optical light curve places an upper bound $\Gamma_{\rm j}\lesssim100$ on the Lorentz factor of the unshocked jet. Although a TDE origin for AT 2022cmc is indeed supported by some observations, the vast difference between the short-lived jet activity $t_{\rm X}\lesssim$ days relative to the months-long thermal optical emission, also challenges this scenario. A stellar core-collapse event giving birth to a magnetar or black hole engine of peak duration $\sim1$ day, which both generates a successful relativistic jet and powers a bright optical supernova, offers an alternative model.

We investigate the origin of stars in the innermost $500\,\mathrm{pc}$ of galaxies spanning stellar masses of $5\times10^{8-12}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ at $\mathrm{z=0}$ using the cosmological magnetohydrodynamical TNG50 simulation. Three different origins of stars comprise galactic centers: 1) in-situ (born in the center), 2) migrated (born elsewhere in the galaxy and ultimately moved to the center), 3) ex-situ (accreted from other galaxies). In-situ and migrated stars dominate the central stellar mass budget on average with 73% and 23% respectively. The ex-situ fraction rises above 1% for galaxies $\gtrsim10^{11}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$. Yet, only 9% of all galaxies exhibit no ex-situ stars in their centers and the scatter of ex-situ mass is significant ($4-6\,\mathrm{dex}$). Migrated stars predominantly originate closely from the center ($1-2\,\mathrm{kpc}$), but if they travelled together in clumps distances reach $\sim10\,\mathrm{kpc}$. Central and satellite galaxies possess similar amounts and origins of central stars. Star forming galaxies ($\gtrsim10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) have on average more ex-situ mass in their centers than quenched ones. We predict readily observable stellar population and dynamical properties: 1) migrated stars are distinctly young ($\sim2\,\mathrm{Gyr}$) and rotationally supported, especially for Milky Way mass galaxies, 2) in-situ stars are most metal-rich and older than migrated stars, 3) ex-situ stars are on random motion dominated orbits and typically the oldest, most metal-poor and $\alpha$-enhanced population. We demonstrate that the interaction history with other galaxies leads to diverse pathways of building up galaxy centers in a $\Lambda$CDM universe. Our work highlights the necessity for cosmological context in formation scenarios of central galactic components and the potential to use galaxy centers as tracers of overall galaxy assembly.

We report the first direct detection of the cosmological power spectrum using the intensity signal from 21-cm emission of neutral hydrogen (HI), derived from interferometric observations with the L-band receivers of the new MeerKAT radio telescope. Intensity mapping is a promising technique to map the three-dimensional matter distribution of the Universe at radio frequencies and probe the underlying Cosmology. So far, detections have only been achieved through cross-correlations with galaxy surveys. Here we present independent measurements of the HI power spectrum at redshifts $0.32$ and $0.44$ with high statistical significance using a foreground avoidance method (at $8.0\sigma$ and $11.5\sigma$ respectively). We constrain the rms of the fluctuations of the HI distribution to be $\sigma_{\rm HI} = (0.44\pm 0.04)\,{\rm mK}$ and $\sigma_{\rm HI} = (0.63\pm 0.03)\,{\rm mK}$ respectively at scales of 1.0 Mpc. The information contained in the power spectrum measurements allows us to probe the parameters of the HI mass function and HI halo model. These results are a significant step towards precision cosmology with HI intensity mapping using the new generation of radio telescopes.

The ages of the oldest stars shed light on the birth, chemical enrichment, and chemical evolution of the Universe. Nucleocosmochronometry provides an avenue to determining the ages of these stars independent from stellar evolution models. The uranium abundance, which can be determined for metal-poor $r$-process enhanced (RPE) stars, has been known to constitute one of the most robust chronometers known. So far, U abundance determination has used a $single$ U II line at $\lambda3859$ \r{A}. Consequently, U abundance has been reliably determined for only five RPE stars. Here, we present the first homogeneous U abundance analysis of four RPE stars using two novel U II lines at $\lambda4050$ \r{A} and $\lambda4090$ \r{A}, in addition to the canonical $\lambda3859$ \r{A} line. We find that the U II lines at $\lambda4050$ \r{A} and $\lambda4090$ \r{A} are reliable and render U abundances in agreement with the $\lambda3859$ U abundance, for all the stars. We, thus, determine revised U abundances for RPE stars, 2MASS J09544277+5246414, RAVE J203843.2-002333, HE 1523-0901, and CS 31082-001, using multiple U II lines. We also provide nucleocosmochronometric ages of these stars based on the newly derived U, Th, and Eu abundances. The results of this study open up a new avenue to reliably and homogeneously determine U abundance for a significantly larger number of RPE stars. This will, in turn, enable robust constraints on the nucleocosmochronometric ages of RPE stars, which can be applied to understand the chemical enrichment and evolution in the early Universe, especially of $r$-process elements.

Feedback from both supermassive black holes and massive stars plays a fundamental role in the evolution of galaxies and the inter-galactic medium. In this paper we use available data to estimate the total amount of kinetic energy and momentum created per co-moving volume element over the history of the universe from three sources: massive stars and supernovae, radiation pressure and winds driven by supermassive black holes, and radio jets driven by supermassive black holes. Kinetic energy and momentum injection from jets peaks at z ~ 1, while the other two sources peak at z ~ 2. Massive stars are the dominant global source of momentum injection. For supermassive black holes, we find that the amount of kinetic energy from jets is about an order-of-magnitude larger than that from winds. We also find that amount of kinetic energy created by massive stars is about 2.5 epsilon times that carried by jets (where epsilon is the fraction of injected energy not lost to radiative cooling). We discuss the implications of these results for the evolution of galaxies and the IGM. Because the ratio of black hole mass to galaxy mass is a steeply increasing function of mass, we show that the relative importance of black hole feedback to stellar feedback likewise increases with mass. We show that there is a trend in the present-day universe which, in the simplest picture, is consistent with galaxies that have been dominated by black hole feedback being generally quenched, while galaxies that have been dominated by stellar feedback are star-forming. We also note that the amount of kinetic energy carried by jets and winds appears sufficient to explain the properties of hot gas in massive halos (> 10^13 solar masses).

As the statistical power of imaging surveys grows, it is crucial to account for all systematic uncertainties. This is normally done by constructing a model of these uncertainties and then marginalizing over the additional model parameters. The resulting high dimensionality of the total parameter spaces makes inferring the cosmological parameters significantly more costly using traditional Monte-Carlo sampling methods. A particularly relevant example is the redshift distribution, $p(z)$, of the source samples, which may require tens of parameters to describe fully. However, relatively tight priors can be usually placed on these parameters through calibration of the associated systematics. In this paper we show, quantitatively, that a linearisation of the theoretical prediction with respect to these calibratable systematic parameters allows us to analytically marginalise over these extra parameters, leading to a factor $\sim30$ reduction in the time needed for parameter inference, while accurately recovering the same posterior distributions for the cosmological parameters that would be obtained through a full numerical marginalisation over 160 $p(z)$ parameters. We demonstrate that this is feasible not only with current data and current achievable calibration priors but also for future Stage-IV datasets.

GRB 210731A was a long-duration gamma-ray burst discovered by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) aboard the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory. Swift triggered the wide-field, robotic MeerLICHT optical telescope in Sutherland; it began observing the BAT error circle 286 seconds after the Swift trigger and discovered the optical afterglow of GRB 210731A in its first 60-second q-band exposure. Multi-colour observations of the afterglow with MeerLICHT revealed a light curve that showed three peaks of similar brightness within the first four hours. We present the results of our follow-up campaign and interpret our observations in the framework of the synchrotron forward shock model. We performed temporal and spectral fits to determine the spectral regime and external medium density profile, and performed detailed multi-wavelength theoretical modelling of the afterglow following the last optical peak at 0.2 days to determine the intrinsic blast wave parameters. We find a preference for a stellar wind density profile consistent with a massive star origin, while our theoretical modelling results in fairly typical shock microphysics parameters. Based on the energy released in gamma-rays and the kinetic energy in the blast wave, we determine a low radiative efficiency of ~0.02. The first peak in the optical light curve is likely the onset of the afterglow. We find that energy injection into the forward shock offers the simplest explanation for the subsequent light curve evolution, and that the blast wave kinetic energy increasing by a factor of ~1000 from the first peak to the last peak is indicative of substantial energy injection. Our highest-likelihood theoretical model overpredicts the 1.4 GHz flux by a factor of approximately three with respect to our upper limits, possibly implying a population of thermal electrons within the shocked region.

Reliable analytical modeling of the non-linear power spectrum (PS) of matter perturbations is among the chief pre-requisites for cosmological analyses from the largest sky surveys. This is especially true for the models that extend the standard general-relativity paradigm by adding the fifth force, where numerical simulations can be prohibitively expensive. Here we present a method for building accurate PS models for two modified gravity (MG) variants: namely the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$, and the normal branch of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (nDGP) braneworld. We start by modifying the standard halo model (HM) with respect to the baseline Lambda-Cold-Dark-Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) scenario, by using the HM components with specific MG extensions. We find that our $P(k)_{\text{HM}}$ retains 5% accuracy only up to mildly non-linear scales ($k \lesssim 0.3$ $h/\,\mbox{Mpc}$) when compared to PS from numerical simulations. At the same time, our HM prescription much more accurately captures the ratio $\Upsilon(k) = P(k)_{\text{MG}}/P(k)_{\Lambda \text{CDM}}$ up to non-linear scales. We show that using HM-derived $\Upsilon(k)$ together with a viable non-linear $\Lambda$CDM $P(k)$ prescription (such as HALOFIT), we render a much better and more accurate PS predictions in MG. The new approach yields considerably improved performance, with modeled $P(k)_{\text{MG}}$ being now accurate to within 5% all the way to non-linear scales of $k \lesssim 2.5-3$ $h/\,\mbox{Mpc}$. The magnitude of deviations from GR as fostered by these MG models is typically $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$ in these regimes. Therefore reaching 5% PS modeling is enough for forecasting constraints on modern-era cosmological observables.

Comparison of horizon-scale observations of Sgr A* and M87* with numerical simulations has provided considerable insight in their interpretation. Most of these simulations are variations of the same physical scenario consisting of a rotation-supported torus seeded with poloidal magnetic fields. This setup has several well known limitations, most notably, it differs in important ways from what observed in simulations of accretion from large scales. We aim to study the flow patterns that arise at horizon scales in more general scenarios, that have a clearer connection with the large scale flow and are at the same time controlled by a reduced set of parameters. As a first step in this direction, we perform three dimensional general relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of rotating transonic flows with velocity perturbations injected from a spherical boundary located 1000 gravitational radii away from the central object. We study the general properties of these flows with varying angular momentum and perturbation amplitudes. We observe a rich phenomenology in accretion patterns, that includes smooth Bondi-like flows, turbulent torus-like structures, shocks, filaments, and complex sonic structures. For sufficiently large perturbations and angular momentum, radial profiles deviate from the constant entropy and angular momentum profiles used for initialization and resemble those of advection dominated accretion flows, showing evidence of entropy generation and angular momentum redistribution not mediated by magnetic fields. Fluctuations are amplified and extend further in frequency than the injected white noise spectrum, producing a red noise spectrum for synthetic Bremsstrahlung light curves. Future inclusion of magnetic fields and radiative cooling could make this type of simulations a viable alternative for numerical modeling of general low-luminosity active galactic nuclei.

We simulate scattering delays from the interstellar medium to examine the effectiveness of three estimators in recovering these delays in pulsar timing data. Two of these estimators use the more traditional process of fitting autocorrelation functions to pulsar dynamic spectra to extract scintillation bandwidths, while the third estimator uses the newer technique of cyclic spectroscopy on baseband pulsar data to to recover the interstellar medium's impulse response function. We find that either fitting a Lorentzian or Gaussian distribution to an autocorrelation function or recovering the impulse response function from the cyclic spectrum are, on average, accurate in recovering scattering delays, although autocorrelation function estimators have a large variance, even at high S/N. We find that, given sufficient S/N, cyclic spectroscopy is more accurate than both Gaussian and Lorentzian fitting for recovering scattering delays at specific epochs, suggesting that cyclic spectroscopy is a superior method for scattering estimation in high quality data.

Age is a stellar parameter that is both fundamental and difficult to determine. Among middle-aged M dwarfs, the most prolific hosts of close-in and detectable exoplanets, gyrochronology is the most promising method to assign ages, but requires calibration by rotation-temperature sequences (gyrochrones) in clusters of known ages. We curated a catalog of 249 late K- and M-type (($T_{eff}$=3200-4200K) exoplanet host stars with established rotation periods, and applied empirical, temperature-dependent rotation-age relations based on relevant published gyrochrones, including one derived from observations of the 4 Gyr-old open cluster M67. We estimated ages for 227 of these stars, and upper limits for 8 others, excluding 14 which have too rapidly rotating or are otherwise outside the valid parameter range of our gyrochronology. We estimated uncertainties based on observed scatter in rotation periods in young clusters, error in the gyrochrones, and uncertainties in temperature and non-solar metallicity. For those stars with measured metallicities, we provide but do not incorporate a correction for the effects of deviation from solar metallicity. The age distribution of our sample declines to near zero at 10 Gyr, the age of the Galactic disk, with the handful of outliers explainable by large uncertainties. Continued addition or extension of cluster rotation sequences to more thoroughly calibrate the gyrochronology in time and temperature space, more precise and robust measurement of rotation periods, and more accurate stellar parameter measurements will enable continued improvements in the age estimates of these important exoplanet host stars.

We develop a first-principles model for the relativistic magnetic reconnection rate in strongly magnetized pair plasmas. By considering the energy budget and required current density near the x-line, we analytically show that in the magnetically-dominated relativistic regime, the x-line thermal pressure is significantly lower than the upstream magnetic pressure due to the extreme energy needed to sustain the current density, consistent with kinetic simulations. This causes the upstream magnetic field lines to collapse in, producing the open outflow geometry which enables fast reconnection. The result is important for understanding a wide range of extreme astrophysical environments, where fast reconnection has been evoked to explain observations such as transient flares and nonthermal particle signatures.

Coherent curvature radiation by charged bunches has been discussed as the radiation mechanism for radio pulsars and fast radio bursts. Important issues for this radiation mechanism include how the bunches form and disperse in the magnetosphere of a pulsar or magnetar. More likely, bunches form and disperse continuously and it remains unclear what the spectral features are for these fluctuating bunches. In this work, we consider that the bunches in a magnetosphere have a formation rate of $\lambda_B$, a lifetime of $\tau_B$, and a typical Lorentz factor of $\gamma$, and analyze the spectral features of coherent curvature radiation by these fluctuating bunches. We find that the emission spectrum by a single fluctuating bunch is suppressed by a factor of $\sim(\lambda_B\tau_B)^2$ compared with that of a single persistent bunch, and there is a quasi-white noise in a wider band in the frequency domain. The high-frequency cutoff of the spectrum is at $\sim\max(\omega_c,2\gamma^2/\tau_B)$, where $\omega_c$ is the typical frequency of curvature radiation. If the observed spectrum is not white-noise-like, the condition of $2\gamma^2\lambda_B\gtrsim \min(\omega_c,2\gamma^2/\tau_B)$ would be required. On the other hand, due to the random fluctuation of bunches, the radiation by multiple fluctuating bunches along a field line is the incoherent summation of the radiation by single bunches, and the spectral shape is the same as that of a single bunch. We further discuss the effects of bunch structures and some possible mechanisms of bunch formation and dispersion.

In the accretion-driven growth scenario, part of the intracluster light is formed in the group environment. We report the serendipitous discovery of a group of galaxies with signs of diffuse light in the foreground of the known galaxy cluster MACS J0329-0211 at z=0.45. Our investigation began with the detection of diffuse light streams around a pair of bright galaxies in the southeastern region of a Suprime-Cam image of the galaxy cluster MACS J0329-0211. Our analysis is based on the extended CLASH-VLT redshift catalog and on new spectroscopic data obtained ad hoc with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We use the density reconstruction method to analyze the redshift distribution of the galaxies in the region around the galaxy pair. We also use available photometric and X-ray data to better characterize the properties of the group. Thanks to the large amount of redshift data collected in this region, we have been able to discover the existence of a group of galaxies, here called GrG J0330-0218, which is associated with the pair of galaxies. These are the two brightest group galaxies (BGG1 and BGG2). We extracted 41 group members from the redshift catalog and estimate a mean redshift z=0.1537 and a line-of-sight velocity dispersion sigmav=370 km/s. In the phase-space diagram, the distribution of the galaxies of GrG J0330-0218 follows the characteristic trumpet-shaped pattern, which is related to the escape velocity of galaxy clusters, suggesting that the group is a virialized structure. Under this assumption, the mass of the group is M200 about 6E13 Msun. We also measured a mass-to-light ratio of 130 Msun/Lsun and a luminosity fraction of diffuse light of about 20% within 0.5 R200. We conjecture that galaxy pairs that are surrounded by diffuse light, probably due to tidal interactions, can serve as signposts for groups.

The "middle corona," defined by West et al. (2022) as the region between ~1.5-6 solar radii, is a critical transition region that connects the highly structured lower corona to the outer corona where the magnetic field becomes predominantly radial. At radio wavelengths, remote-sensing of the middle corona falls in the meter-decameter wavelength range where a critical transition of radio emission mechanisms occurs. In addition, plasma properties of the middle corona can be probed by trans-coronal radio propagation methods including radio scintillation and Faraday rotation techniques. Together they offer a wealth of diagnostic tools for the middle corona, complementing current and planned missions at other wavelengths. These diagnostics include unique means for detecting and measuring the magnetic field and energetic electrons associated with coronal mass ejections, mapping coronal shocks and electron beam trajectories, as well as constraining the plasma density, magnetic field, and turbulence of the "young" solar wind. Following a brief overview of pertinent radio diagnostic methods, this white paper will discuss the current state of radio studies on the middle corona, challenges to obtaining a more comprehensive picture, and recommend an outlook in the next decade. Our specific recommendations for advancing the middle coronal sciences from the radio perspective are: (1) Prioritizing solar-dedicated radio facilities in the ~0.1-1 GHz range with broadband, high-dynamic-range imaging spectropolarimetry capabilities. (2) Developing facilities and techniques to perform multi-perspective, multiple lines-of-sight trans-coronal radio Faraday Rotation measurements.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the most important drivers of space weather. Central to most CMEs is thought to be the eruption of a bundle of highly twisted magnetic field lines known as magnetic flux ropes. A comprehensive understanding of CMEs and their impacts hence requires detailed observations of physical parameters that lead to the formation, destabilization, and eventual eruption of the magnetic flux ropes. Recent advances in remote-sensing observations of coronal cavities, filament channels, sigmoids, EUV "hot channels," white light CMEs, and in situ observations of magnetic clouds points to the possibility of significant progress in understanding CMEs. In this white paper, we provide a brief overview of the potential of radio diagnostics for CMEs and CME progenitors, with a particular focus on the unique means for constraining their magnetic field and energetic electron population. Using synthetic observations based on realistic 3D MHD models, we also demonstrate the transformative potential of advancing such diagnostics by using broadband radio imaging spectropolarimetry with a high image dynamic range and high image fidelity. To achieve this goal, a solar-dedicated radio facility with such capabilities is recommended for implementation in the coming decade.

We theoretically investigate the recovery of global spectrum (monopole) from visibilities (cross-correlation only) measured by the interferometer array and the feasibility of extracting 21 cm signal of cosmic dawn. In our approach, the global spectrum is obtained by solving the monopole and higher-order components simultaneously from the visibilities measured with up to thousands of baselines. Using this algorithm, the monopole of both foreground and the 21 cm signal can be correctly recovered in a broad range of conditions. We find that a 3D baseline distribution can have much better performance than a 2D (planar) baseline distribution, particularly when there is a lack of shorter baselines. We simulate for ground-based 2D and 3D array configurations, and a cross-shaped space array located at the Sun-Earth L2 point that can form 3D baselines through orbital precession. In all simulations we obtain good recovered global spectrum, and successfully extract the 21 cm signal from it, with reasonable number of antennas and observation time.

Dwarf galaxies are found to have lost most their metals via feedback processes; however, there still lacks consistent assessment on the retention rate of metals in their circumgalactic medium (CGM). Here we investigate the metal content in the CGM of 49 isolated dwarf galaxies with $M_*=10^{6.5-9.5}~M_\odot$ ($M_{\rm 200m}=10^{10.0-11.5}~M_\odot$) using HST/COS spectroscopy. While HI (Ly$\alpha$) is ubiquitously detected ($89\%$) within the CGM, we find low detection rates ($\approx5-21\%$) in CII, CIV, SiII, SiIII, and SiIV, largely consistent with literature values. Assuming these ions form in the cool ($T\approx10^4$ K) CGM with photoionization equilibrium, the observed HI and metal column density profiles can be best explained by an empirical model with low gas density and high volume filling factor. For a typical galaxy with $M_{\rm 200m}=10^{10.9}~M_\odot$ (median of the sample), our model predicts a cool gas mass of $M_{\rm CGM,cool}\sim10^{8.4}~M_\odot$, corresponding to $\sim2\%$ of the galaxy's baryonic budget. Assuming a metallicity of $0.3Z_\odot$, we estimate that the dwarf galaxy's cool CGM only harbors $\sim10\%$ of the metals ever produced, with the rest either in warmer phases yet to be detected, or transported to the intergalactic medium. We further examine the EAGLE simulation and show that HI and low ions may arise from a dense cool medium, while CIV from a diffuse warmer medium. Our work provides the community a uniform dataset on dwarf galaxies' CGM that combines our recent observations, additional archival data and literature compilation, which can be used to test various theoretical models of dwarf galaxies.

Lateral distribution of muons in extensive air showers registered at the Yakutsk array was investigated. The analysis covers two periods of observation: before 2018 and after 2020, when the revision of muon detectors with 1-GeV threshold was complete. Measured values of muon density are compared to computational results obtained within the framework of two hadron interaction models. Within the energy domain above $10^{18}$ eV the best agreement is observed for proton composition primary cosmic rays.

We present and briefly discuss results of several studies of the source J2102+6015 with tentatively defined redshift z=4:575 which demonstrates unusual properties in imaging and astrometric VLBI observations. Its properties might be considered as indications on the supermassive black hole binary which can be considered as a so far rare example of a high-redshift source of known electromagnetic and predictable gravitational wave emissions.

Propyl cyanide (PrCN) (C3H7CN) with both linear and branched isomers is ubiquitous in interstellar space and is important for astrochemistry as it is one of the most complex molecules found to date in the interstellar medium. Furthermore, it is the only one observed species to share the branched atomic backbone of amino acids, some of the building blocks of life. Radical-radical chemical reactions are examined in detail using density functional theory, second order M{\phi}ller Plesset perturbation theory, coupled cluster methods, and the energy resolved master equation formalism to compute the rate constants in the low pressure limit prevalent in the ISM. Quantum chemical studies are reported for the formation of propyl-cyanide (n-PrCN) and its branched isomer (iso-PrCN) from the gas phase association and surface reactions of radicals on a 34-water model ice cluster. We identify two and three paths for the formation of iso-PrCN, and n-PrCN respectively. The reaction mechanism involves the following radicals association: CH3CHCH3+CN, CH3+CH3CHCN for iso-PrCN formation and CH3CH2+CH2CN, CH3+CH2CH2CN, CN+CH3CH2CH2 leading to n-PrCN formation. We employ the M062X/6-311++G(d,p) DFT functional and MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ for reactions on the ice model, and gas phase respectively to optimize the structures, compute minimum energy paths and zero-point vibrational energies of all reaction mechanisms. In gas phase, the energetics of the five reactions are also calculated using the explicitly correlated cluster ab initio methods (CCSD(T)-F12). All reaction paths are exoergic and barrier-less in gas phase and on the ice-model suggesting that the formation of iso-PrCN and n-PrCN is efficient on the water-ice model adopted in this paper. The gas phase formation of iso-PrCN and n-PrCN however requires a third body or spontaneous emission of a photon in order to stabilize the molecules.

As the early universe expands and cools the rates of the weak interactions that keep neutrinos in thermal equilibrium with the matter and the related rates of the reactions that inter-convert neutrons and protons decrease. Eventually, these rates fall below the expansion rate -- they freeze out. Likewise, the rates of the strong and electromagnetic nuclear reactions that build up and tear down nuclei, though fast enough to maintain equilibrium early on, slow down and ultimately lead to freeze out. Together these freeze out processes comprise the epoch of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). The relics emerging from this early time include the light element abundances, for example of helium and deuterium, and a background of decoupled neutrinos, a "C$\nu$B" , roughly analogous to the Cosmic Microwave Background, the CMB. These fossil relics encode the history of the physics operating in the early universe. Consequently, BBN has emerged as a key tool for constraining new, beyond-standard-model (BSM) physics. BBN may become an even finer probe of BSM physics, given the anticipated higher precision in measurements of the primordial abundances of deuterium and helium afforded by the advent of large optical telescopes and Stage-4 CMB experiments. The latter experiments will also provide higher precision determinations of $N_{\rm eff}$, a measure of the relativistic energy density at the photon decoupling epoch and, hence, an important probe of the C$\nu$B.

In compact and dense star-forming clouds a global star cluster wind could be suppressed. In this case the stellar feedback is unable to expel the leftover gas from the cluster. Young massive stars remain embedded into a dense residual gas and stir it moving in the gravitational well of the system. Here we present a self-consistent model for the molecular gas distribution in such young, enshrouded stellar clusters. It is assumed that the cloud collapse terminates and the star formation ceases when a balance between the turbulent pressure and gravity and between the turbulent energy dissipation and regeneration rates is established. These conditions result in an equation that determines the residual gas density distribution that, in turn, allows one to determine the other characteristics of the leftover gas and the star formation efficiency. It is shown that model predictions are in good agreement with several observationally determined properties of cloud D1 in nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy NGC 5253 and its embedded cluster.

We performed two data-based magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations for solar active region 12371 which produced an M6.5 flare. The first simulation is a full data-driven simulation where the initial condition is given by a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF). This NLFFF was extrapolated from photospheric magnetograms approximately 1 hour prior to the flare, and then a time-varying photospheric magnetic field is imposed at the bottom surface. The second simulation is also a data-driven simulation, but it stops driving at the bottom before the time of flare onset and then switches to the data-constrained simulation, where the horizontal component of the magnetic field varies according to an induction equation while the normal component is fixed with time. Both simulations lead to an eruption, with both simulations producing highly twisted field lines before the eruption which were not found in the NLFFF alone. After the eruption, the first simulation based on the time-varying photospheric magneitic field, continues to produce sheared field lines after the flare without reproducing phenomena such as post-flare loops. The second simulation reproduces the phenomena associated with flares well. However in this case the evolution of the bottom magnetic field is inconsistent with the evolution of the observed magnetic field. In this letter, we report potential advantages and disadvantages in data-constrained and data-driven MHD simulations that need to be taken into consideration by future studies.

The bright pulsar PSR B0329+54 was previously known for many years to have two emission modes. Sensitive observations of individual pulses reveal that the central component of pulse profile, which is called core component, is found to be very weakened occasionally for some periods and then recovered. This is the newly identified core-weak mode. Based on our long observations of PSR B0329+54 by the Jiamusi 66-m telescope at 2250 MHz, we report here that the profile components of individual pulses, including these for the core and the leading and trailing peaks, are relatedly varying over some periods even before and after the core-weak mode, forming a regular pattern in the phase-vs-time plot for a train of period-folded pulses. The pattern has a similar structure for the core-weak mode with a time scale of 3 to 14 periods. It starts with an intensity brightening at the trailing phase of the core component, and then the core intensity declines to a very low level, as if the core component is drifting out from the normal radiation window within one or two periods. Then the intensity for the trailing components is enhanced, and then the leading component appears at an advanced phase. Such a core-weak mode lasts for several periods. Finally, the core-weak mode ends up with an enhanced intensity at the leading phase for the core component, as if the core gradually comes back and finally stays at the phase of the profile center as it used to.

We present 0.4 arcsec-resolution imaging polarimetry at 8.7, 10.3, and 12.5 microns, obtained with CanariCam at the Gran Telescopio Canarias, of the central region of W51 IRS2. The polarization, as high as 14 percent, arises from silicate particles aligned by the interstellar magnetic field. We separate, or unfold, the polarization of each sightline into emission and absorption components, from which we infer the morphologies of the corresponding projected magnetic fields that thread the emitting and foreground-absorbing regions. We conclude that the projected magnetic field in the foreground material is part of the larger-scale ambient field. The morphology of the projected magnetic field in the mid-IR emitting region spanning the cometary HII region W51 IRS2W is similar to that in the absorbing region. Elsewhere, the two magnetic fields differ significantly with no clear relationship between them. The magnetic field across the W51 IRS2W cometary core appears to be an integral part of a champagne outflow of gas originating in the core and dominating the energetics there. The bipolar outflow, W51north jet, that appears to originate at or near SMA1/N1 coincides almost exactly with a clearly demarcated north-south swath of lower polarization. While speculative, comparison of mid-IR and submm polarimetry on two different scales may support a picture in which SMA1/N1 plays a major role in the magnetic field structure across W51 IRS2.

This report provides a brief summary of the properties of new cameras selected for NSF's Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) facilities operated by the NSO Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP). These camera replacements are part of a GONG refurbishment project aimed to extend GONG operations through roughly FY 2030. Testing has confirmed the suitability of the new cameras and that current data products would be largely unchanged. GONG magnetograms show approximately one-to-one scaling with old data, and the helioseismology data (l-nu diagrams) are nearly identical without any identifiable artifacts. A number of tests were also conducted for GONG processing pipelines and have demonstrated that the modified NISP data center pipelines can transition smoothly to processing observations taken with the new cameras

The presence of Galactic cirrus is an obstacle for studying both faint objects in our Galaxy and low surface brightness extragalactic structures. With the aim of studying individual cirrus filaments in SDSS Stripe 82 data, we develop techniques based on machine learning and neural networks that allow one to isolate filaments from foreground and background sources in the entirety of Stripe 82 with a precision similar to that of the human expert. Our photometric study of individual filaments indicates that only those brighter than 26 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in the SDSS $r$ band are likely to be identified in SDSS Stripe~82 data by their distinctive colours in the optical bands. We also show a significant impact of data processing (e.g. flat-fielding, masking of bright stars, and sky subtraction) on colour estimation. Analysing the distribution of filaments' colours with the help of mock simulations, we conclude that most filaments have colours in the following ranges: $0.55 \leq g-r \leq 0.73$ and $0.01 \leq r-i \leq 0.33$. Our work provides a useful framework for an analysis of all types of low surface brightness features (cirri, tidal tails, stellar streams, etc.) in existing and future deep optical surveys. For practical purposes, we provide the catalogue of dust filaments.

The local supercluster acts as a gravity deflection source for cosmic background neutrinos. This deflection by gravity changes the neutrino helicity and therefore has important consequences for ground based tritium capture experiments aimed at determining if the neutrino is Dirac or Majorana. Here we explore the deflection effect of the local supercluster using the higher resolution DEMNUni simulation suite and reaffirm our previous results. We show that the lightest neutrinos are ultra-relativistic enough to suffer little deflection by gravity and at the same time not relativistic enough to achieve the same capture rate for Dirac and Majorana cases. This means that the capture rate in Ptolemy-like experiments will be sensitive to the neutrino nature and that gravity deflection enlarges the difference between Majorana and Dirac rates. Moreover, using the relation between mass and momentum of the neutrinos frozen Fermi-Dirac distribution, we are able to calculate the deflection angle for different neutrino masses from the same set of neutrinos obtained from the simulation. Doing so, we provide a formula to compute the deflection angle for any neutrino mass, such that when cosmology detects an absolute neutrino mass, precise predictions can be made for tritium ground-based detectors on Earth aimed to determine neutrinos nature.

This paper describes the acceleration of high energies protons captured by electrostatic waves in the frame of jet arising in the area of instability of relativistic jet, where spiral structures are excited. The wave has a spatially heterogeneous structure of $\exp(i k_\parallel z +i m_\phi \phi)$. Protons can be captured in potential wells created by spiral waves, and thereby experience acceleration with a mechanism known as surfatron acceleration. Expressions of the maximum energy ($ E_p \simeq 10^{19} eV $) and the energy spectrum from jet parameters are obtained.

While the spectrum of the light emitted by a star can be calculated by simulating the flow of radiation through each layer of the star's atmosphere, this process is computationally expensive. Therefore, it is often far more efficient to pre-calculate spectra over a grid of photospheric parameters, and then interpolate within this grid. MSG (short for Multidimensional Spectral Grids) is a software package that implements this interpolation capability.

Context. A novel high-performance exact pair counting toolkit called Fast Correlation Function Calculator (FCFC) is presented, which is publicly available at https://github.com/cheng-zhao/FCFC. Aims. As the rapid growth of modern cosmological datasets, the evaluation of correlation functions with observational and simulation catalogues has become a challenge. High-efficiency pair counting codes are thus in great demand. Methods. We introduce different data structures and algorithms that can be used for pair counting problems, and perform comprehensive benchmarks to identify the most efficient ones for real-world cosmological applications. We then describe the three levels of parallelisms used by FCFC -- including SIMD, OpenMP, and MPI -- and run extensive tests to investigate the scalabilities. Finally, we compare the efficiency of FCFC against alternative pair counting codes. Results. The data structures and histogram update algorithms implemented in FCFC are shown to outperform alternative methods. FCFC does not benefit much from SIMD as the bottleneck of our histogram update algorithm is mostly cache latency. Nevertheless, the efficiency of FCFC scales well with the numbers of OpenMP threads and MPI processes, albeit the speedups may be degraded with over a few thousand threads in total. FCFC is found to be faster than most (if not all) other public pair counting codes for modern cosmological pair counting applications.

Ultrarelativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets are strong gravitational wave (GW) sources with memory-type signals. The plateau (or shallow decay) phases driven by the energy injection might appear in the early X-ray afterglows of GRBs. In this paper, we investigate the GW signal as well as X-ray afterglow emission in the framework of GRB jets with energy injection, and both short- and long-duration GRBs are considered. We find that, regardless of the case, because of the antibeaming and time delay effects, a rising slope emerging in the waveform of GW signal due to the energy injection lags far behind the energy ejection, and the typical frequency of the characteristic amplitudes falls within a low-frequency region of $\sim10^{-4}-10^{-6} \,{\rm Hz}$; and we consider that the GW memory triggered by GRB jets with energy injection are previously unaware and the nearby GRBs with strong energy injection might disturb the measurement of the stochastic GW background. Such GW memory detection would provide a direct test for models of energy injection in the scenario of GRB jets.

Peculiar velocities are an important probe of the growth rate of structure in the Universe, directly measuring the effects of gravity on the largest scales and thereby providing a test for theories of gravity. Complete peculiar velocity datasets comprise both galaxy redshifts and redshift-independent distance measures, estimated by methods such as the Tully-Fisher relation. Traditionally, the Tully-Fisher relation is first calibrated using distance indicators such as Cepheid variables in a small sample of galaxies; the calibrated relation is then used to determine peculiar velocities. In this analysis, we employ a one-step Bayesian method to simultaneously determine the parameters of the Tully-Fisher relation and the peculiar velocity field. We have also generalised the Tully-Fisher relation by allowing for a curvature at the bright end. We design a mock survey to emulate the Cosmicflows-4 (CF4) peculiar velocity dataset. We then apply our method to the CF4 data to obtain new constraints for the growth rate of structure parameter ($\beta=0.40\pm0.07$), the residual bulk flow ($\mathbf{V}_{\textrm{ext}} =$[69$\pm$15,$-$158$\pm$9,14$\pm$7]\,km$~s^{-1}$ in Supergalactic coordinates), and the parameters for a Tully-Fisher relation with curvature. We obtain an estimate for the product of the growth rate and mass fluctuation amplitude $f\sigma_{8}=0.40\pm0.07$. We combine this measurement of $f\sigma_{8}$ with those of other galaxy redshift surveys to fit the growth index $\gamma$. Assuming cosmological parameters from the latest Planck CMB results, we find that $\gamma>6/11$ is favoured. We plan to use this improved method for recovering peculiar velocities on the large new samples of Tully-Fisher data from surveys such as WALLABY, resulting in more precise growth rate measurements at low redshifts.

The goal of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is to quantify the prevalence of technological life beyond Earth via their "technosignatures". One theorized technosignature is narrowband Doppler drifting radio signals. The principal challenge in conducting SETI in the radio domain is developing a generalized technique to reject human radio frequency interference (RFI). Here, we present the most comprehensive deep-learning based technosignature search to date, returning 8 promising ETI signals of interest for re-observation as part of the Breakthrough Listen initiative. The search comprises 820 unique targets observed with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, totaling over 480, hr of on-sky data. We implement a novel beta-Convolutional Variational Autoencoder to identify technosignature candidates in a semi-unsupervised manner while keeping the false positive rate manageably low. This new approach presents itself as a leading solution in accelerating SETI and other transient research into the age of data-driven astronomy.

The anisotropy of pressure arises due to the various complex phenomena that happen inside the neutron star (NS). In this study, we calculate the degree of anisotropy inside the NS using the scalar pressure anisotropy model. Macroscopic properties such as mass, radius, compactness, redshift, tidal deformability, the moment of inertia, and surface curvature (SC) are computed for the anisotropic NS with the equation of states spanning from relativistic to nonrelativistic cases. The variation of SC as the functions of the above-mentioned quantities are computed by changing the degree of anisotropy. Pressure anisotropy has significant effects on the magnitude of SC. The universal relations between the canonical SC$-\Lambda$ and SC$-\bar{I}$ are studied. From the GW170817 tidal deformability data constraints on SC are found to be SC$_{1.4}(10^{14}) = 3.44_{-1.0}^{+0.4}, 2.85_{-1.20}^{+0.62}, \ {\rm and} \ 2.52_{-1.02}^{+0.61}$ for $\lambda_{\rm BL} = 0.0, 1.0$, and $2.0$ respectively.

We report our analysis results for the globular cluster (GC) NGC~6341 (M92), as a millisecond pulsar (MSP) J1717$+$4308A has recently been reported found in this GC. The data used are from the Large Area Telescope onboard the {\it Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi)}. We detect $\gamma$-ray pulsations of the MSP at a $4.4\sigma$ confidence level (the corresponding weighted H-test value is $\sim$28.4). This MSP, the fourth $\gamma$-ray pulsar found in a GC, does not have significant off-pulse emission and has $\gamma$-ray luminosity and efficiency $1.3\times10^{34}$\,erg\,s$^{-1}$ and 1.7\% respectively. In order to have a clear view on the properties of the known GC $\gamma$-ray MSPs, we re-analyze the \fermi\ LAT data for the other three ones. These four MSPs share the properties of either having high $\dot{E}$ ($\sim 10^{36}$\,erg\,s$^{-1}$) or being in the GCs that contain only limited numbers of known MSPs. In addition, we find that PSRs~J1823$-$3021A and B1821$-$24, in NGC~6624 and NGC~6626 respectively, have detectable off-pulse $\gamma$-ray emission and PSR J1835$-$3259B in NGC~6652 does not. Using the obtained off-pulse spectra or spectral upper limits, we constrain the numbers of other MSPs in the four GCs. The results are consistent with the numbers of the radio pulsars reported in them. While at least in NGC~6624 and NGC~6626, the contribution of other MSPs to their observed $\gamma$-ray emission can not be ignored, our study indicates that the presence of a bright MSP could be the dominant factor for whether a GC is detectable at $\gamma$-rays or not.

We carry out an in-depth analysis of the capability of the upcoming space-based gravitational wave mission eLISA in addressing the Hubble tension, with primary focus on observations at intermediate redshifts ($3<z<8$). We consider six different parametrisations representing different classes of cosmological models, which we constrain using the latest datasets of CMB + BAO + SNIa, to find out the up-to-date tensions with direct measurement data. Subsequently, these constraints are used to construct mock catalogues for eLISA. We then employ a three-pronged approach involving Fisher analysis, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, and Machine Learning using Gaussian Processes on the simulated catalogues to forecast on the future performance of each model. Based on our analysis, we present a thorough comparison among the three methods as forecasting tools, as well as among the different models predicted by each method. Our analysis confirms that eLISA would constrain $H_0$ at the sub-percent level. MCMC and GP results predict reduced tensions for models which are currently harder to reconcile with direct measurements of $H_0$, whereas no significant change occurs for models at lesser tensions with the latter. This feature warrants further investigation in this direction.

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is the only existing radio interferometer able to observe at ultra-low frequencies (<100 MHz) with high resolution (<15") and high sensitivity (<1 mJy/beam). To exploit these capabilities, the LOFAR Surveys Key Science Project is using the LOFAR Low Band Antenna (LBA) to carry out a sensitive wide-area survey at 41-66 MHz named the LOFAR LBA Sky Survey (LoLSS). LoLSS is covering the whole northern sky above declination 24 deg with a resolution of 15" and a sensitivity of 1-2 mJy/beam (1 sigma) depending on declination, field properties, and observing conditions. Here we present the first data release. An automated pipeline was used to reduce the 95 fields included in this data release. The data reduction procedures developed for this project have general application and are currently being used to process LOFAR LBA interferometric observations. Compared to the preliminary release, direction-dependent errors have been corrected for during the calibration process. This results in a typical sensitivity of 1.55 mJy/beam at the target resolution of 15". The first data release of the LOFAR LBA Sky Survey covers 650 sqdeg in the HETDEX spring field. The resultant data products released to the community include mosaic images (I and V Stokes) of the region, and a catalogue of 42463 detected sources and related Gaussian components used to describe sources' morphologies. Separate catalogues for 6 in-band frequencies are also released. The first data release of LoLSS shows that, despite the influences of the ionosphere, LOFAR can conduct large-scale surveys in the frequency window 42-66 MHz with unprecedentedly high sensitivity and resolution. The data can be used to derive unique information on the low-frequency spectral properties of many thousands of sources with a wide range of applications in extragalactic and galactic astronomy.

Given a \textit{model building} assumption on the (effective) equation of state (EoS) of the Universe, the Hubble constant $H_0$ arises as an integration constant when one solves the Friedmann equations. Therefore, while $H_0$ is \textit{mathematically} a constant, it need not be a constant \textit{observationally}, unless the EoS or model accurately describes the Universe. Building on earlier results, we show that redshift evolution of flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmological parameters $(H_0, \Omega_{m})$ persists in the most up-to-date Pantheon+ sample. In particular, an increasing $\Omega_m$ (decreasing $H_0$) trend with effective redshift leads to $\Omega_m > 1$ best fits, corresponding to negative dark energy (DE) density, beyond $z = 1$. The redshift range of the Pantheon+ sample is presented as $0 < z \lesssim 2.26$, but this masks redshift evolution of flat $\Lambda$CDM fitting parameters across the sample.

In a 1992 paper of ours the role of opacity-driven thermal instabilities in shaping the course of stellar evolution was amply illustrated. This included the classical issue of ``{\it why stars become red giants"} as well as the subsequent formation of extended ``Cepheids" {\it blue loops} during the helium burning phases. Our explanation of these evolutionary phenomena has been occasionally dismissed with just a few words in refereed or not refereed publications. In a most recent case, the fact that, through the years, I did not reply to these criticisms is interpreted as evidence that they were well founded. In this paper it is made clear that this is not at all the case, the leading role of such instabilities is instead reaffirmed and the criticisms are shown to be insubstantial.

The presence of superfluid phases in the interior of a neutron star affects its dynamics, as neutrons can flow relative to the non-superfluid (normal) components of the star with little or no viscosity. A probe of superfluidity comes from pulsar glitches, sudden jumps in the observed rotational period of radio pulsars. Most models of glitches build on the idea that a superfluid component of the star is decoupled from the spin-down of the normal component, and its sudden re-coupling leads to a glitch. This transition in the strength of the hydrodynamic coupling is explained in terms of quantum vortices (long-lived vortices that are naturally present in the neutron superfluid at the microscopic scale). After introducing some basic ideas, we derive (as a pedagogical exercise) the formal scheme shared by many glitch studies. Then, we apply these notions to present some recent advances and discuss how observations can help us to indirectly probe the internal physics of neutron stars.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are transient, multi-wavelength events in which a star is ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Observations show that in a small fraction of TDEs, a short-lived, synchrotron emitting jet is produced. We observed the newly discovered TDE AT2022cmc with a slew of radio facilities over the first 100 days after its discovery. The light curve from the AMI-LA radio interferometer shows day-timescale variability which we attribute to a high brightness temperature emitting region as opposed to scintillation. We measure a brightness temperature of 2x10^15 K, which is unphysical for synchrotron radiation. We suggest that the measured high brightness temperature is a result of relativistic beaming caused by a jet being launched at velocities close to the speed of light along our line of sight. We infer from day-timescale variability that the jet associated with AT2022cmc has a relativistic Doppler factor of at least 16, which corresponds to a bulk Lorentz factor of at least 8 if we are observing the jet directly on axis. Such an inference is the first conclusive evidence that the radio emission observed from some TDEs is from relativistic jets because it does not rely on an outflow model. We also compare the first 100 days of radio evolution of AT2022cmc with that of the previous bright relativistic TDE, Swift J1644, and find a remarkable similarity in their evolution.

Hot giant exoplanets are very exotic objects with no equivalent in the Solar System that allow us to study the behavior of atmospheres under extreme conditions. Their thermal and chemical day--night dichotomies associated with extreme wind dynamics make them intrinsically 3D objects. Thus, the common 1D assumption, relevant to study colder atmospheres, reaches its limits in order to be able to explain hot and ultra-hot atmospheres and their evolution in a consistent way. In this review, we highlight the importance of these 3D considerations and how they impact transit, eclipse and phase curve observations. We also analyze how the models must adapt in order to remain self-consistent, consistent with the observations and sufficiently accurate to avoid bias or errors. We particularly insist on the synergy between models and observations in order to be able to carry out atmospheric characterizations with data from the new generation of instruments that are currently in operation or will be in the near future.

Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope unexpectedly revealed that the dwarf galaxy ESO 006-001 is a near neighbor to the Local Group at a distance of 2.70 +- 0.11 Mpc. The stellar population in the galaxy is well resolved into individual stars to a limit of M I ~ -0.5 mag. The dominant population is older than 12 Gyr yet displays a significant range in metallicity of -2 < [Fe/H] < -1, as evidenced by a Red Giant Branch with substantial width. Superimposed on the dominant population are stars on the Main Sequence with ages less than 100 Myr and Helium burning Blue Loop stars with ages of several hundred Myr. ESO 006-001 is an example of a transition dwarf; a galaxy dominated by old stars but one that has experienced limited recent star formation in a swath near the center. No H i gas is detected at the location of the optical galaxy in spite of the evidence for young stars. Intriguingly, an H i cloud with a similar redshift is detected 9 kpc away in projection. Otherwise, ESO 006-001 is a galaxy in isolation with its nearest known neighbor IC 3104, itself a dwarf, at a distance of ~ 500 kpc.

High-spectral resolution observations of clusters of galaxies are a powerful tool to understand the physical processes taking place in these massive objects. Their hot multi-million-degree X-ray emitting cluster atmospheres, containing most of the baryons in these systems, are enriched to around 1/3 of the solar metallicity. Therefore, cluster spectra host a variety of spectral lines, in particular, the Fe-L complex around 1 keV typically emitted from cooler systems and Fe-K at 6.7 keV seen from more massive clusters. The line ratios and continuum are sensitive probes of the temperature distribution of the gas, while the strength of lines compared to the continuum measures metallicity. With sufficient spectral resolution, the velocity structure can be obtained from line widths and shifts in position. Using detailed modelling, we can then understand better processes such as feedback from active galactic nuclei, mergers and enrichment, that are taking place in clusters.

We apply the Tenerife Inversion Code (TIC) to the plage spectropolarimetric observations obtained by the Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP2). These unprecedented data consist of full Stokes profiles in the spectral region around the Mg II h and k lines for a single slit position, with around two thirds of the 200 arcsec slit crossing a plage region and the rest crossing an enhanced network. A former analysis of these data had allowed us to infer the longitudinal component of the magnetic field by applying the weak field approximation (WFA) to the circular polarization profiles, and to assign the inferred magnetic fields to different layers of the solar atmosphere based on the results of previous theoretical radiative transfer investigations. In this work, we apply the recently developed TIC to the same data. We obtain the stratified model atmosphere that fits the intensity and circular polarization profiles at each position along the spectrograph slit and we compare our results for the longitudinal component of the magnetic field with the previously obtained WFA results, highlighting the generally good agreement in spite of the fact that the WFA is known to produce an underestimation when applied to the outer lobes of the Mg II h and k circular polarization profiles. Finally, we use the inverted model atmospheres to give a rough estimation of the energy that could be carried by Alfv\`en waves propagating along the chromosphere in the plage and network regions, showing that it is sufficient to compensate the estimated energy losses in the chromosphere of solar active regions.

The next generation of wide spectroscopic surveys such as Euclid will scan the sky in the near-infrared to obtain both photometry and spectroscopy. For this purpose, the Euclid telescope will rely on a Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) instrument whose spectroscopic channel has been designed to operate in slitless configuration. This powerful and easy to operate configuration makes it possible to avoid any prior selection on the targeted galaxies while covering the entire field of view. Beyond the observed flux of the galaxy, the detector capabilities will strongly depend on the shape of the galaxy, which gets convolved with the galaxy spectra. To test the effect of the galaxy shape on the quality of the Euclid slitless spectra, we have performed simulations testing potentially impactful morphological parameters. We then characterized the effect of the disk half-light radius on the quality of the Euclid slitless spectra.

We report on the discovery of the C7N- anion towards the starless core TMC-1 and towards the carbon-rich evolved star IRC+10216. We used the data of the QUIJOTE line survey towards TMC-1 and found six lines in perfect harmonic frequency relation from J=27-26 up to J=32-31. The frequency of the lines can be reproduced with rotational and distortion constants of B=582.68490+/-0.00024 MHz and D=4.01+/-0.13 Hz, respectively. The standard deviation of the fit is 4 kHz. Towards IRC+10216 seventeen lines, from J=27-26 up to J=43-42, have been identified whose frequencies are also in harmonic relation providing B=582.6827+/-0.00085 MHz and D=3.31+/-0.31 Hz. The nearly exact coincidence of the rotational and distortion constants in both sources points unambigously to a common molecular carrier. Taking into account the chemical peculiarities of both sources, the carrier could be a radical or an anion. The radical can be discarded as the observed lines belong to a singlet species. Hence, the most possible carrier is an anion. High-level ab initio calculations indicate that C7N-, for which a rotational constant of B=582.0 MHz and a dipole moment of 7.5D have been computed, is the carrier of the lines in both sources. The neutral C7N has been predicted to have a ground electronic state 2Pi and a dipole moment around 1 D. Due to this low value of and to its much larger rotational partition function, its lines are expected to be well below the sensitivity of our data for both sources.

Spectral energy distribution (SED) models of galaxies at 0.3 <= z <= 2.5 were constructed to be processed by the Euclid spectroscopic channel simulator in order to investigate the Euclid Near- Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) capabilities. We developed a solid methodology to build a realistic and representative synthetic SED library of star-forming galaxies, including reliable emission line fluxes and widths. The construction of the SEDs consists in computing the continuum using the Bruzual & Charlot (2003) models, calling out SED fitting parameters available in publicly released multi-wavelength catalogues. Emission lines were added using empirical and theoretical relations.

We present the evolution of the mass-metallicity (MZ) relations at z=4-10 derived with 111 galaxies identified in the JWST/NIRSpec data taken from the three major public spectroscopy programs of ERO, GLASS, and CEERS. Because there are many discrepancies between flux measurements reported by early ERO studies, we first establish our NIRSpec data reduction procedure for reliable emission-line flux measurements and errors successfully explaining Balmer decrements with no statistical tensions via thorough comparisons of the early ERO studies. Applying the reduction procedure to the 111 galaxies, we obtain emission-line fluxes for physical property measurements. We confirm that 9 out of the 111 galaxies with [OIII]4363-lines have electron temperatures of (1.1-2.2)*10^4 K, similar to lower-z star-forming galaxies, that can be explained by heating of young massive stars. We derive metallicities of the 9 galaxies by the direct method and the rest of the galaxies with strong lines by the metallicity calibrations of Nakajima et al. (2022) applicable for these low-mass metal-poor galaxies, anchoring the metallicities with the direct-method measurements. We thus obtain MZ relations and star-formation rate (SFR)-MZ relations over z=4-10. We find that there is a small evolution of the MZ relation from z~2-3 to z=4-10, while interestingly that the SFR-MZ relation shows no evolution up to z~8 but a significant decrease at z>8 beyond the error. This SFR-MZ relation decrease at z>8 may suggest a break of the metallicity equilibrium state via star-formation, inflow, and outflow, while further statistical studies are needed for a conclusion.

To characterise the NISP (Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer) instrument optical capability before the launch of the Euclid telescope to orbit, foreseen in 2023, data analysis of ground-based tests and Monte Carlo simulations that mimic the expected NISP performance were carried out. Pre-launch test data were analysed to assess the fulfilment of the mission specifications in terms of Point Spread Function (PSF), set at EE50(PSF) <= 0.003, and with a spectral resolution below 16 angstroms per pixel. We also provide a first comparison between real images from the ground-based tests with simulated ones. We confirm the high optical quality of the NISP instrument, fulfilling the mission specifications in terms of PSF and spectral dispersion with a good agreement between the different test campaigns. We validated the PSF and spectral dispersion provided by the NISP simulator, a crucial aspect to validate the consistency between real and simulated images.

The spectral index images of the jet in the nearby radio galaxy M87 have previously been shown with Very Long Baseline Interferometric arrays at 2-43 GHz. They exhibit flattening of the spectra at a location of inner (central) spine and toward outer ridges. This could imply optical depth effects, lower energy cutoff or stratification of the emitting particles energy distribution. In this paper we employ simulations of multifrequency VLBI observations of M87 radio jet with various model brightness distributions. CLEAN deconvolution errors produce significant features in the observed images. For intensity images they result in the appearance of the inner ridge line in the intrinsically edge brightened jet models. For spectral index images they flatten the spectra in a series of stripes along the jet. Another bias encountered in our simulations is steepening of the spectra in a low surface brightness jet regions. These types of the imaging artefacts do not depend on the model considered. We propose a methods for the compensation of the systematics using only the observed data.

Precision radial velocity (RV) measurements continue to be a key tool to detect and characterise extrasolar planets. While instrumental precision keeps improving, stellar activity remains a barrier to obtain reliable measurements below 1-2 m/s accuracy. Using simulations and real data, we investigate the capabilities of a Deep Neural Network approach to produce activity free Doppler measurements of stars. As case studies we use observations of two known stars (Eps Eridani and AUMicroscopii), both with clear signals of activity induced RV variability. Synthetic data using the starsim code are generated for the observables (inputs) and the resulting RV signal (labels), and used to train a Deep Neural Network algorithm. We identify an architecture consisting of convolutional and fully connected layers that is adequate to the task. The indices investigated are mean line-profile parameters (width, bisector, contrast) and multi-band photometry. We demonstrate that the RV-independent approach can drastically reduce spurious Doppler variability from known physical effects such as spots, rotation and convective blueshift. We identify the combinations of activity indices with most predictive power. When applied to real observations, we observe a good match of the correction with the observed variability, but we also find that the noise reduction is not as good as in the simulations, probably due to the lack of detail in the simulated physics. We demonstrate that a model-driven machine learning approach is sufficient to clean Doppler signals from activity induced variability for well known physical effects. There are dozens of known activity related observables whose inversion power remains unexplored indicating that the use of additional indicators, more complete models, and more observations with optimised sampling strategies can lead to significant improvements in our detrending capabilities.

Context: The sizes of dust in the interstellar medium follows a distribution where most of the dust mass is in smaller grains. However, the re-distribution from larger grains towards smaller sizes especially by means of rotational disruption is poorly understood. Aims: We aim to study the dynamics of porous grain aggregates under accelerated ration. Especially, we determine the deformation of the grains and the maximal angular velocity up to the rotational disruption event by caused by centrifugal forces. Methods: We pre-calculate aggregates my means of ballistic aggregation analogous to the interstellar dust as input for subsequent numerical simulations. In detail, we perform three-dimensional N-body simulations mimicking the radiative torque spin-up process up to the point where the grain aggregates become rotationally disrupted. Results: Our simulations results are in agreement with theoretical models predicting a characteristic angular velocity $\omega_{\mathrm{disr}}$ of the order of ${ 10^8 - 10^9\ \mathrm{rad\ s^{-1}} }$, where grains become rotationally disrupted. In contrast to theoretical predictions, we show that for large porous aggregates ($< 300\ \mathrm{nm}$) $\omega_{\mathrm{disr}}$ reaches a lower asymptotic value. Hence, such grains can withstand an accelerated ration more efficiently up to a factor of 10 because the displacement of mass by centrifugal forces and the subsequent mechanical deformation supports the buildup of new connections within the aggregate. Furthermore, we report that the rapid rotation of grains deforms an ensemble with initially 50:50 prolate and oblate shapes, respectively, preferentially into oblate shapes. Finally, we present a best fit formula to predict the average rotational disruption of an ensemble of porous dust aggregates dependent on internal grain structure, total number of monomers, and applied material properties.

Recent cosmic shear studies have shown that higher-order statistics (HOS) developed by independent teams now outperform standard two-point estimators in terms of statistical precision thanks to their sensitivity to the non-Gaussian features of large-scale structure. The aim of the Higher-Order Weak Lensing Statistics (HOWLS) project is to assess, compare, and combine the constraining power of $10$ different HOS on a common set of $Euclid$-like mocks, derived from N-body simulations. In this first paper of the HOWLS series we compute the non-tomographic ($\Omega_{\rm m}$, $\sigma_8$) Fisher information for one-point probability distribution function, peak counts, Minkowski functionals, Betti numbers, persistent homology Betti numbers and heatmap, and scattering transform coefficients, and compare them to the shear and convergence two-point correlation functions in the absence of any systematic bias. We also include forecasts for three implementations of higher-order moments, but these cannot be robustly interpreted as the Gaussian likelihood assumption breaks down for these statistics. Taken individually, we find that each HOS outperforms the two-point statistics by a factor of around $2$ in the precision of the forecasts with some variations across statistics and cosmological parameters. When combining all the HOS, this increases to a $4.5$ times improvement, highlighting the immense potential of HOS for cosmic shear cosmological analyses with $Euclid$. The data used in this analysis are publicly released with the paper.

Pulsar wind nebulae are fascinating systems, and archetypal sources for high-energy astrophysics in general. Due to their vicinity, brightness, to the fact that they shine at multi-wavelengths, and especially to their long-living emission at gamma-rays, modelling their properties is particularly important for the correct interpretation of the visible Galaxy. A complication in this respect is the variety of properties and morphologies they show at different ages. Here we discuss the differences among the evolutionary phases of pulsar wind nebulae, how they have been modeled in the past and what progresses have been recently made. We approach the discussion from a phenomenological, theoretical (especially numerical) and observational point of view, with particular attention to the most recent results and open questions about the physics of such intriguing sources.

In laboratory experiments, we heated chondritic material up to 1400K in a hydrogen atmosphere. Moessbauer spectroscopy and magnetometry reveal that, at high temperatures, metallic iron forms from silicates. The transition temperature is about 1200K after 1 h of tempering, likely decreasing to about 1000K for longer tempering. This implies that in a region of high temperatures within protoplanetary disks, inward drifting solids will generally be a reservoir of metallic iron. Magnetic aggregation of iron-rich matter then occurs within the magnetic field of the disk. However, the Curie temperature of iron, 1041 K, is a rather sharp discriminator that separates the disk into a region of strong magnetic interactions of ferromagnetic particles and a region of weak paramagnetic properties. We call this position in the disk the Curie line. Magnetic aggregation will be turned on and off here. On the outer, ferromagnetic side of the Curie line, large clusters of iron-rich particles grow and might be prone to streaming instabilities. To the inside of the Curie line, these clusters dissolve, but that generates a large number density that might also be beneficial for planetesimal formation by gravitational instability. One way or the other, the Curie line may define a preferred region for the formation of iron-rich bodies.

We present a study of the relation between the [OIII] 5007A emission line width (sigma_{[OIII]}) and stellar velocity dispersion (sigma_{*}), utilizing a sample of 740 type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with high-quality spectra at redshift z < 1.0. We find the broad correlation between the core component of [OIII] emission line width (sigma_{[OIII,core]}) and sigma_{*} with a scatter of 0.11~dex for the low redshift (z < 0.1) sample; for redshift (0.3 < z < 1.0) AGNs, the scatter is larger, being 0.16~dex. We also find that the Eddington ratio (L_{bol}/L_{Edd}) may play an important role in the discrepancies between sigma_{[OIII,core]} and sigma_{*}. As the L_{bol}/L_{Edd} increases, sigma_{[OIII,core]} tends to be larger than sigma_{*}. By classifying our local sample with different minor-to-major axis ratios, we find that sigma_{*} is larger than sigma_{[OIII,core]} for those edge-on spiral galaxies. In addition, we also find that the effects of outflow strength properties such as maximum outflow velocity (V_{max}) and the broader component of [OIII] emission line width and line shift (sigma_{[OIII,out]} and V_{[OIII,out]}) may play a major role in the discrepancies between sigma_{[OIII,core]} and sigma_{*}. The discrepancies between sigma_{[OIII,core]} and sigma_{*} are larger when V_{max}, V_{[OIII,out]}, and sigma_{[OIII,out]} increase. Our results show that the outflow strengths may have significant effects on the differences between narrow-line region gas and stellar kinematics in AGNs. We suggest that caution should be taken when using sigma_{[OIII,core]} as a surrogate for sigma_{*}. In addition, the substitute of sigma_{[OIII,core]} for sigma_{*} could be used only for low luminosity AGNs.

Magnetars are the most strongly magnetized neutron stars, and one of the most promising targets for X-ray polarimetric measurements. We present here the first Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observation of the magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910, jointly analysed with a new Swift observation and archival NICER data. The total (energy and phase integrated) emission in the 2-8 keV energy range is linerarly polarized, at a ~35% level. The phase-averaged polarization signal shows a marked increase with energy, ranging from ~20% at 2-3 keV up to ~80% at 6-8 keV, while the polarization angle remain constant. This indicates that radiation is mostly polarized in a single direction. The spectrum is well reproduced by a combination of either two thermal (blackbody) components or a blackbody and a power law. Both the polarization degree and angle also show a variation with the spin phase, and the former is almost anti-correlated with the source counts in the 2-8 keV and 2-4 keV bands. We discuss the possible implications and interpretations, based on a joint analysis of the spectral, polarization and pulsation properties of the source. A scenario in which the surface temperature is not homogeneous, with a hotter cap covered by a gaseous atmosphere and a warmer region in a condensed state, provides a satisfactory description of both the phase- and energy-dependent spectro-polarimetric data. The (comparatively) small size of the two emitting regions, required to explain the observed pulsations, does not allow to reach a robust conclusion about the presence of vacuum birefringence effects.

The activation of materials due to the exposure to cosmic rays may become an important background source for experiments investigating rare event phenomena. DarkSide-20k is a direct detection experiment for galactic dark matter particles, using a two-phase liquid argon time projection chamber filled with 49.7 tonnes (active mass) of Underground Argon (UAr) depleted in 39Ar. Here, the cosmogenic activity of relevant long-lived radioisotopes induced in the argon and other massive components of the set-up has been estimated; production of 120 t of radiopure UAr is foreseen. The expected exposure above ground and production rates, either measured or calculated, have been considered. From the simulated counting rates in the detector due to cosmogenic isotopes, it is concluded that activation in copper and stainless steel is not problematic. Activation of titanium, considered in early designs but not used in the final design, is discussed. The activity of 39Ar induced during extraction, purification and transport on surface, in baseline conditions, is evaluated to be 2.8% of the activity measured in UAr from the same source, and thus considered acceptable. Other products in the UAr such as 37Ar and 3H are shown to not be relevant due to short half-life and assumed purification methods.

We present the results of a survey of CO(1-0) emission in 14 infrared luminous dusty star forming galaxies (DSFGs) at 2 < z < 4 with the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. All sources are detected in CO(1-0), with an ~1arcsec angular resolution. Seven sources show extended and complex structure. We measure CO luminosities of $({\mu})L'_{CO(1-0)}=0.4-2.9x10^{11}$ K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^2$, and molecular gas masses of (${\mu}$)M$_{H2}$ = 1.3 - 8.6 x 10$^{11}$ Mo, where ({\mu}) is the magnification factor. The derived molecular gas depletion times of t$_{\rm dep}$ = 40 - 460 Myr, cover the expected range of both normal star forming galaxies and starbursts. Comparing to the higher-J CO transitions previously observed for the same sources, we find CO temperature brightness ratios of r$_{32/10}$ = 0.4 - 1.4, r$_{43/10}$ = 0.4 - 1.7, and r$_{54/10}$ = 0.3 - 1.3. We find a wide range of CO spectral line energy distributions (SLEDs), in agreement with other high-z DSFGs, with the exception of three sources that are most comparable to the Cloverleaf and APM08279+5255. Based on radiative transfer modelling of the CO SLEDs we determine densities of n$_{H2}$ = 0.3 - 8.5 x 10$^3$ cm$^{-3}$ and temperatures of T$_K$ = 100 - 200 K. Lastly, four sources are detected in the continuum, three have radio emission consistent with their infrared derived star formation rates, while HerBS-70E requires an additional synchrotron radiation component from an active galactic nucleus. Overall, we find that even though the sample is similarly luminous in the infrared, by tracing the CO(1-0) emission a diversity of galaxy and excitation properties are revealed, demonstrating the importance of CO(1-0) observations in combination to higher-J transitions.

We model cataclysmic variables (CVs) with solar metallicity donors ($X=0.7,\:Z=0.02$) that evolve to form AM CVn stars through the Evolved CV formation channel using various angular momentum loss mechanisms by magnetic braking ($\mathrm{AML_{MB}}$). We find that the time-scale for $\mathrm{AML_{MB}}$ in our double-dynamo (DD) model is shorter than that of previously used empirical formulae. Owing to the shorter time-scales, a larger parameter space of initial conditions evolves to form AM CVn stars with the DD model than with other models. We perform an analysis of the expected number of AM CVn stars formed through the Evolved CV channel and find about $3$ times as many AM CVn stars as reported before. We evolve these systems in detail with the Cambridge stellar evolution code (STARS) and show that evolved CVs populate a region with orbital period $P_\mathrm{orb}\geq5.5\,\mathrm{hr}$. We evolve our donors beyond their orbital period minimum and find that a significant number become extremely H-exhausted systems. This makes them indistinguishable from systems evolved from the He-star and the White Dwarf (WD) channels in terms of the absence of H in their spectra. We also compare the masses, mass-transfer rates of the donor, and the orbital period with observations. We find that the state of the donor and the absence of H in systems such as YZ LMi and V396 Hya match with our modelled trajectories, while systems such as CR Boo and HP Lib match with our modelled tracks if their actual donor mass lies on the lower-end of the observed mass range.

The benchmark hot Jupiter HD 189733b has been a key target to lay out the foundations of comparative planetology for giant exoplanets. As such, HD 189733b has been extensively studied across the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we report the observation and analysis of three transit light curves of HD 189733b obtained with {\Hubble}/STIS in the near ultraviolet, the last remaining unexplored spectral window to be probed with present-day instrumentation for this planet. The NUV is a unique window for atmospheric mass-loss studies owing to the strong resonance lines and large photospheric flux. Overall, from a low-resolution analysis ($R=50$) we found that the planet's near-ultraviolet spectrum is well characterized by a relatively flat baseline, consistent with the optical-infrared transmission, plus two regions at $\sim$2350 and $\sim$2600 {\AA} that exhibit a broad and significant excess absorption above the continuum. From an analysis at a higher resolution ($R=4700$), we found that the transit depths at the core of the magnesium resonance lines are consistent with the surrounding continuum. We discarded the presence of \ion{Mg}{ii} absorption in the upper atmosphere at a $\sim$2--4$\sigma$ confidence level, whereas we could place no significant constraint for \ion{Mg}{i} absorption. These broad absorption features coincide with the expected location of \ion{Fe}{ii} bands; however, solar-abundance hydrodynamic models of the upper atmosphere are not able to reproduce the amplitude of these features with iron absorption. Such scenario would require a combination of little to no iron condensation in the lower-atmosphere, super-solar metallicities, and a mechanism to enhance the absorption features (such as zonal wind broadening). The true nature of this feature remains to be confirmed.

JWST has now made it possible to probe the rest-frame optical line emission of high-redshift galaxies extending to z~9, and potentially beyond. To aid in the interpretation of these emerging constraints, in this work we explore predictions for [OIII] emission in high-redshift galaxies using the First Light and Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES). We produce predictions for the [OIII] luminosity function, its correlation with the UV luminosity, and the distribution of equivalent widths (EWs). We also explore how the [OIII] EW correlates with physical properties including specific star formation rate, metallicity, and dust attenuation. Our predictions are largely consistent with recent observational constraints on the luminosity function, average equivalent widths, and line ratios. However, they fail to reproduce the observed tail of high-EW sources and the number density of extreme line emitters. Possibilities to explain these discrepancies include an additional source of ionising photons and/or greater stochasticity in star formation in the model or photometric scatter and/or bias in the observations. With JWST now rapidly building larger samples and a wider range of emission lines the answer to this remaining discrepancy should be available imminently.

We numerically investigate tidally induced surface refreshing on Apophis during its close approach with Earth within a perigee distance of 5.96 Earth radii on April 13, 2029. We implement a tidal resurfacing model with two stages: dynamics modeling of the entire body to determine time-varying accelerations and surface slope profiles felt by each surface patch during the 6-h-long closest encounter, and DEM modeling to track motions of surface grains in localized patches. The surface slope profiles and measured grain motions are combined to statistically extrapolate the 'expected' percentage of resurfaced area. Using the tidal resurfacing model, we present surface maps showing the total expected resurfacing on Apophis given 3 representative encounter orientations. Our simulation results indicate that tidal resurfacing, limited to certain localized regions, will likely occur half an hour before perigee and on the scale of 1 per cent of Apophis's entire surface area. Our models indicate that the most likely locations to detect tidal resurfacing are: initially high-sloped regions (> 30 deg) regardless of the encounter orientation of Apophis, and mid-sloped regions (15 - 30 deg) that experience a significant positive slope variation (> 0.5 deg), which is mainly controlled by the encounter orientation. Expected data from ground-based observations of the 2029 flyby will help us better constrain the targeted locations likely to experience tidal resurfacing. We thus expect to find evidence supporting tidal resurfacing via further analysis of post-encounter surface images or albedo changes at the expected resurfaced areas.

Large-amplitude oscillations (LAOs) are often detected in filaments. Using multiwavelength observations, their origin can be traced back to the interaction with eruptions and jets. We present two different case studies as observational evidence in support of 2.5D MHD numerical experiments that show that the LAOs in the filament channels can be initiated by solar jets. In the two studied events, we can identify a quadrupolar configuration with an X-point at the top of the parasitic region suggestive of a classical null-point. A reconnection flow emanates from this structure leading to a jet that propagates along the filament channel. In both cases we can identify the quiescent and eruptive phases of the jet. The triggered LAOs have periods of around 70-80 minutes and are damped after a few oscillations. The minimum magnetic field intensity inferred with seismology for the filament turns out to be around 30 Gauss. We conclude that the two case studies are consistent with the recent numerical model of Luna and Moreno-Insertis (2021), in which the LAOs are initiated by jets. The relationship between the onset of the jet and filament oscillations is straight-forward for the first case and less for the second case. In the second event, although there is some evidence, we cannot rule out other possibilities such as activity unrelated to the null-point or changes in the magnetic structure of the filament. Both jets are associated with very weak flares which did not launch any EUV wave. Therefore the role of EUV waves for triggering the filament oscillations can be eliminated for these two case.

The nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the unsolved mysteries of modern physics. An intriguing possibility is to assume that DM consists of ultralight bosonic particles in the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) state. We study stationary DM structures by using the system of the Gross-Pitaevskii and Poisson equations, including the effective temperature effect with parameters chosen to describe the Milky Way galaxy. We have investigated DM structure with BEC core and isothermal envelope. We compare the spherically symmetric and vortex core states, which allows us to analyze the impact of the core vorticity on the halo density, velocity distribution, and, therefore, its gravitational field. Gravitational field calculation is done in the gravitoelectromagnetism approach to include the impact of the core rotation, which induces a gravimagnetic field. As result, the halo with a vortex core is characterized by smaller orbital velocity in the galactic disk region in comparison with the non-rotating halo. It is found that the core vorticity produces gravimagnetic perturbation of celestial body dynamics, which can modify the circular trajectories.

We present a novel approach for classifying stars as binary or exoplanet using deep learning techniques. Our method utilizes feature extraction, wavelet transformation, and a neural network on the light curves of stars to achieve high-accuracy results. We have also compiled a dataset of binary and exoplanet stars for training and validation by cross-matching observations from multiple space-based telescopes with catalogs of known binary and exoplanet stars. The application of wavelet transformation on the light curves has reduced the number of data points and improved the training time. Our algorithm has shown exceptional performance, with a test accuracy of 79.91 %. This method can be applied to large datasets from current and future space-based telescopes, providing an efficient and accurate way of classifying stars.

We performed Herschel observations of the continuum and line emission from the high-mass star-forming region IRAS20126+4104, which hosts a well-studied B-type (proto)star powering a bipolar outflow and is associated with a Keplerian circumstellar disk. The continuum images at six wavelengths allowed us to derive an accurate estimate of the bolometric luminosity and mass of the molecular clump enshrouding the disk. The same region has been mapped in 12 rotational transitions of carbon monoxide, which were used in synergy with the continuum data to determine the temperature and density distribution inside the clump and improve upon the mass estimate. The maps of two fine structure oxygen far-IR lines were used to estimate the volume density of the shocked region at the surface of the southern lobe of the outflow and the mass-loss rate. Our findings lend further support to the scenario previously proposed by various authors, confirming that at the origin of the bolometric luminosity and bipolar outflow from IRAS20126+4104 is a B-type star located at the centre of the Keplerian disk.

Cosmological observations precisely measure primordial variations in the density of the universe at megaparsec and larger scales, but much smaller scales remain poorly constrained. However, sufficiently large initial perturbations at small scales can lead to an abundance of ultradense dark matter minihalos that form during the radiation epoch and survive into the late-time universe. Due to their early formation, these objects can be compact enough to produce detectable microlensing signatures. We investigate whether the EROS, OGLE, and HSC surveys can probe these halos by fully accounting for finite source size and extended lens effects. We find that current data may already constrain the amplitudes of primordial curvature perturbations in a new region of parameter space, but this conclusion is strongly sensitive to yet undetermined details about the internal structures of these ultradense halos. Under optimistic assumptions, current and future HSC data would constrain a power spectrum that features an enhancement at scales $k \sim 10^7/{\rm Mpc}$, and an amplitude as low as $\mathcal{P}_\zeta\simeq 10^{-4}$ may be accessible. This is a particularly interesting regime because it connects to primordial black hole formation in a portion of the LIGO/Virgo/Kagra mass range and the production of scalar induced gravitational waves in the nanohertz frequency range reachable by pulsar timing arrays.

The measurement of the $21$ cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn is a major goal for several existing and upcoming radio interferometers such as NenuFAR and the SKA. During this era before the beginning of the Epoch of Reionization, the signal is more difficult to observe due to brighter foregrounds but reveals additional information on the underlying astrophysical processes encoded in the spatial fluctuations of the spin temperature of hydrogen. To interpret future measurements, controlling the level of accuracy of the Lyman-$\alpha$ flux modelling is mandatory. In this work, we evaluate the impact of various approximations that exist in the main fast modelling approach compared to the results of a costly full radiative transfer simulation. The fast SPINTER code, presented in this work, computes the Lyman-$\alpha$ flux including the effect of wing scatterings for an inhomogeneous emissivity field, but assuming an otherwise homogeneous expanding universe. The LICORICE code computes the full radiative transfer in the Lyman-$\alpha$ line without any substantial approximation. We find that the difference between homogeneous and inhomogeneous gas density and temperature is very small for the computed flux. On the contrary, neglecting the effect of gas velocities produces a significant change in the computed flux. We identify the causes (mainly Doppler shifts due to velocity gradients) and quantify the magnitude of the effect in both an idealised setup and a realistic cosmological situation. We find that the amplitude of the effect, up to a factor of $\sim 2$ on the $21$ cm signal power spectrum on some scales (depending on both other model parameters and the redshift), can be easily discriminated with an SKA-like survey and already be approached, particularly for exotic signals, by the ongoing NenuFAR Cosmic Dawn Key Science Program.

The thermodynamic evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) in the inner corona (< 1.5 R$_{sun}$) is not yet completely understood. In this work, we study the evolution of thermodynamic properties of a CME core observed in the inner corona on July 20, 2017, by combining the MLSO/K-Cor white-light and the MLSO/CoMP Fe XIII 10747 {\AA} line spectroscopic data. We also estimate the emission measure weighted temperature (T$_{EM}$) of the CME core by applying the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) inversion technique on the SDO/AIA six EUV channels data and compare it with the effective temperature (T$_{eff}$) obtained using Fe XIII line width measurements. We find that the T$_{eff}$ and T$_{EM}$ of the CME core show similar variation and remain almost constant as the CME propagates from ~1.05 to 1.35 R$_{sun}$. The temperature of the CME core is of the order of million-degree kelvin, indicating that it is not associated with a prominence. Further, we estimate the electron density of this CME core using K-Cor polarized brightness (pB) data and found it decreasing by a factor of ~ 3.6 as the core evolves. An interesting finding is that the temperature of the CME core remains almost constant despite expected adiabatic cooling due to the expansion of the CME core, which suggests that the CME core plasma must be heated as it propagates. We conclude that the expansion of this CME core behaves more like an isothermal than an adiabatic process.

The study of the angular power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies, both in intensity and in polarisation, has led to the tightest constraints on cosmological parameters. However, this statistical quantity is not sensitive to any deviation from Gaussianity and statistical isotropy in the CMB data. Minkowski Functionals (MFs) have been adopted as one of the most powerful statistical tools to study such deviations, given that they characterise the topology and geometry of the field of interest. In this paper, we extend the application of MFs to CMB polarisation data by introducing a new formalism, where we lift the spin $2$ polarisation field to a scalar function in a higher dimensional manifold: the group of rotations of the sphere, $SO(3)$. Such function is defined as $f = Q \cos(2\psi) - U \sin(2\psi)$. We analytically obtain the expected values for the MFs of $f$ in the case of Gaussian isotropic polarisation maps. Furthermore, we present a new pipeline which estimates these MFs from input HEALPix polarisation maps. We apply it to CMB simulations in order to validate the theoretical results and the methodology. The pipeline is to be included in the publicly available Python package $\texttt{Pynkowski}$ available at https://github.com/javicarron/pynkowski.

We explore the internal structures of the white dwarfs in two different modified theories of gravity: (i) scalar-tensor-vector gravity and (ii) beyond Horndeski theories of $G_3$ type. The modification of the gravitational force inside the white dwarf results in the modification of the mass and radius of the white dwarf. We use observational data from various astrophysical probes including $\textit{Gaia}$ to test the validity of these two classes of modified theories of gravity. We update the constraints on the parameters controlling the deviation from general relativity (and Newtonian gravity in the weak field limit) as : $0.007 \le \alpha$ for the scalar-tensor-vector gravity and $-0.08 \le \gamma \le 0.007$ for the beyond Horndeski theories of $G_3$ type. Finally, we demonstrate the selection effect of the astrophysical data on the tests of the nature of gravity using white dwarf mass-radius relations specially in cases where the number of data-points are not many.

Source separation entails the ill-posed problem of retrieving a set of source signals observed through a mixing operator. Solving this problem requires prior knowledge, which is commonly incorporated by imposing regularity conditions on the source signals or implicitly learned in supervised or unsupervised methods from existing data. While data-driven methods have shown great promise in source separation, they are often dependent on large amounts of data, which rarely exists in planetary space missions. Considering this challenge, we propose an unsupervised source separation scheme for domains with limited data access that involves solving an optimization problem in the wavelet scattering representation space$\unicode{x2014}$an interpretable low-dimensional representation of stationary processes. We present a real-data example in which we remove transient thermally induced microtilts, known as glitches, from data recorded by a seismometer during NASA's InSight mission on Mars. Owing to the wavelet scattering covariances' ability to capture non-Gaussian properties of stochastic processes, we are able to separate glitches using only a few glitch-free data snippets.

We constrain the photon mass from well-localized fast radio bursts (FRBs) using Bayes inference method. The probability distributions of dispersion measures (DM) of host galaxy and intergalactic medium are properly taken into account. The photon mass is tightly constrained from 17 well-localized FRBs in the redshift range $0<z<0.66$. Assuming that there is no redshift evolution of host DM, the $1\sigma$ and $2\sigma$ upper limits of photon mass are constrained to be $m_\gamma<4.8\times 10^{-51}$ kg and $m_\gamma<7.1\times 10^{-51}$ kg, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations show that, even enlarging the FRB sample to 200 and extending the redshift range to $0<z<3$ couldn't significantly improve the constraining ability on photon mass. This is because of the large uncertainty on the DM of intergalactic medium.

The first order variation of the matter energy-momentum tensor $T_{\mu \nu}$ with respect to the metric tensor $g^{\alpha \beta}$ plays an important role in modified gravity theories with geometry-matter coupling, and in particular in the $f(R,T)$ modified gravity theory. We obtain the expression of the variation $\delta T_{\mu \nu}/\delta g^{\alpha \beta}$ for the baryonic matter described by an equation given in a parametric form, with the basic thermodynamic variables represented by the particle number density, and by the specific entropy, respectively. The first variation of the matter energy-momentum tensor turns out to be independent on the matter Lagrangian, and can be expressed in terms of the pressure, the energy-momentum tensor itself, and the matter fluid four-velocity. We apply the obtained results for the case of the $f(R,T)$ gravity theory, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar, and $T$ is the trace of the matter energy-momentum tensor, which thus becomes a unique theory, also independent on the choice of the matter Lagrangian. A simple cosmological model, in which the Hilbert-Einstein Lagrangian is generalized through the addition of a term proportional to $T^n$ is considered in detail, and it is shown that it gives a very good description of the observational values of the Hubble parameter up to a redshift of $z\approx 2.5$.

The spacetime around astrophysical black holes is thought to be described by the Kerr solution. However, even within general relativity, there is not yet a proof that the final product of the complete collapse of an uncharged body can only be a Kerr black hole. We can thus speculate on the possibility that the spacetime around astrophysical black holes may be described by other solutions of the Einstein Equations and we can test such a hypothesis with observations. In this work, we consider the $\delta$-Kerr metric, which is an exact solution of the field equations in vacuum and can be obtained from a non-linear superposition of the Kerr metric with a static axially symmetric solution, often referred to as the $\delta$-metric. The parameter $\delta=1+q$ quantifies the departure of the source from the Kerr metric and for $q=0$ we recover the Kerr solution. From the analysis of the reflection features in the X-ray spectrum of the Galactic black hole in EXO 1846-031, we find $-0.1 < q < 0.7$ (90% CL), which is consistent with the hypothesis that the spacetime around the compact object in EXO 1846-031 is a Kerr black hole but does not entirely rule out the $\delta$-Kerr metric.

The recent increase in global temperature is attributed to anthropological global warming, (A.G.W), with a minor role for natural trends in temperature. The I.P.P.C estimates natural temperature (NAT) from climate models and attributes the difference from recent recorded temperature to A.G.W. We use the temperature record to assess if trends in temperature are due to NAT or A.G.W effects. The method requires long records like the 362-year Central England temperature (C.E.T) record. The C.E.T was divided into a 262 year-long early part when only NAT was significant, and a 100 year-long later part. The early part was decomposed into eight components in the spectral range 15 to 257 years and the components were forward projected to the next 100 years. The projected NAT replicated the recorded cooling from 1950 to 1980 and the rapid increase from 1980 to 2010, indicating that the recent strong 50-year trend in C.E.T was primarily NAT. Based on the small difference between the projected NAT and the recorded C.E.T a minor role was attributed to A.G.W and a climate sensitivity to CO2 doubling of 0.7 +/- 0.2 K estimated. Components, at 514 and 1028 years, were derived from the C.E.T record providing a means for validation of long projections against proxy records of past temperature. Future projection of combined NAT and A.G.W indicated a cooling of C.E.T by 0.5 C from now to year 2060 before A.G.W becomes dominant. The possible cause of an imminent decrease in C.E.T was explored by applying the same method of component estimation to temperature data from Melbourne, Australia (MET) and the geomagnetic a.a index, a proxy for the solar wind. Comparing cyclic variations of the a.a index and the C.E.T and MET data indicated a complex relationship with the strong recent increase in C.E.T and MET lagging the increase in the solar wind by ~15 years.

Unimodular Gravity is one of the oldest geometric gravity theory alternative to General Relativity. Essentially, it is based on the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian with an additional constraint on the determinant of the metric. It can be explicitly shown that Unimodular Gravity can be recast as General Relativity in presence of a cosmological constant. This fact has led to many discussions on the equivalence of both theories at classical and quantum levels. Here we present an analysis focused on the classical scalar perturbations around a cosmological background. The discussion is extended for the case where a non-minimal coupled scalar field is introduced. Our results indicate that the equivalence is not verified completely at perturbative level.

Following very elementary time-scale arguments, we know that multiple nucleon-nucleon scatterings in high-energy nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions or multiple partonic scatterings in proton-proton (pp) collisions must happen in parallel. However, a parallel scattering formalism does not automatically lead to inclusive cross sections showing factorization in pp or binary scaling in AA scatterings. We will report on new ideas (leading to EPOS4), which will provide some new understanding of a deep connection between four basic concepts in pp and AA collisions: parallel scattering, energy conservation, factorization, and saturation. Missing one will spoil the whole picture. From a practical point of view, we can compute within the EPOS4 framework parton distribution functions (EPOS PDFs) and use them to compute inclusive pp cross sections. So for the first time, we may compute inclusive jet production (for heavy or light flavors) at very high transverse momentum (p_{t}) and at the same time in the same formalism study flow effects at low p_{t} in high-multiplicity pp events, making EPOS4 a full-scale "general purpose event generator". We discuss applications, essentially multiplicity dependencies (of particle ratios, mean p_{t}, charm production) which are very strongly affected by the saturation issues discussed in this paper.

The supersymmetrized DFSZ axion model is especially compelling in that it contains 1. the SUSY solution to the gauge hierarchy problem, 2. the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) solution to the strong CP problem and 3. the Kim-Nilles solution to the SUSY mu problem. In a string setting, where a discrete R-symmetry ({\bf Z}_{24}^R for example) may emerge from the compactification process, a high-quality accidental axion (accion) can emerge from the accidental, approximate remnant global U(1)_{PQ} symmetry where the decay constant f_a is linked to the SUSY breaking scale, and is within the cosmological sweet zone. In this setup, one also expects the presence of stringy remnant moduli fields \phi_i. Here, we consider the situation of a single light modulus \phi coupled to the PQMSSM in the early universe, with mixed axion plus higgsino-like WIMP dark matter. We evaluate dark matter and dark radiation production via nine coupled Boltzmann equations and assess the severity of the cosmological moduli problem (CMP) along with dark matter and dark radiation production rates. We find that typically the light modulus mass should be m_{\phi}>~ 10^4 TeV to avoid the moduli-induced dark matter overproduction problem. If one is able to (anthropically) tune the modulus field amplitude, we find a value of \phi_0 <~ 10^{-7}m_P would be required to solve the overall CMP.

We study the formation of primordial black holes (PBH) in the Starobinsky supergravity coupled to the nilpotent superfield describing Volkov-Akulov goldstino. By using the no-scale K\"ahler potential and a polynomial superpotential, we find that under certain conditions our model can describe effectively single-field inflation with the ultra-slow-roll phase that appears near a critical (nearly-inflection) point of the scalar potential. This can lead to the formation of PBH as part of (or whole) dark matter, while keeping the inflationary spectral tilt and the tensor-to-scalar ratio in good agreement with the current cosmic microwave background (CMB) bounds. After inflation, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at the inflationary scale with the vanishing cosmological constant.

A proof of principle of a novel concept for event recording in dual-phase liquid xenon detectors -- the Floating Hole Multiplier (FHM) -- is presented. It is shown that a standard Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM), freely floating on the liquid xenon surface permits extraction of electrons from the liquid to the gas. Secondary scintillation induced by the extracted electrons in the THGEM holes as well as in the uniform field above it was observed. The first results with the FHM indicate that the concept of floating electrodes may offer new prospects for large-scale dual-phase detectors, for dark matter searches in particular.

E. B. Gliner started his scientific career in 1963 at the age of 40. In 1965, when the existence of the cosmological constant $\lambda$ seemed unnecessary to most cosmologists, he renewed interest in the problem by emphasizing a material interpretation of de Sitter space (i.e., the space curved in the presence of $\lambda$). According to that interpretation, the curvature is produced by a cosmological vacuum (now identified as dark energy of the universe). In 1970, Gliner proposed a description of exponential expansion (or contraction) of the universe at the early (or late) evolution stage dominated by cosmological vacuum. In 1975, Gliner (with I.G. Dyminikova) suggested a model of the early universe free of Big Bang singularity, and developed a scenario of nonsingular Friedmann cosmology. Many of these findings were used in the modern inflation scenarios of the universe, first proposed by A.A. Starobinsky (1979) and A. Guth (1981) and greatly multiplied later. However, these inflation scenarios differ from the scenario of Gliner and Dymnikova, and Gliner's contribution to cosmology is nearly forgotten. The history and the essence of this contribution are outlined, as well the difference from the inflation theories.