Papers for Friday, Feb 10 2023

Multi-wavelength scattered light imaging of debris disks may inform dust properties including typical size and mineral composition. Existing studies have investigated a small set of individual systems across a variety of imaging instruments and filters, calling for uniform comparison studies to systematically investigate dust properties. We obtain the surface brightness of dust particles in debris disks by post-processing coronagraphic imaging observations, and compare the multi-wavelength reflectance of dust. For a sample of resolved debris disks, we perform a systematic analysis on the reflectance properties of their birth rings. We reduced the visible and near-infrared images of 23 debris disk systems hosted by A through M stars using two coronagraphs onboard the Hubble Space Telescope: the STIS instrument observations centering at 0.58 $\mu$m, and the NICMOS instrument at 1.12 $\mu$m or 1.60 $\mu$m. For proper recovery of debris disks, we used classical reference differential imaging for STIS, and adopted non-negative matrix factorization with forward modeling for NICMOS. By dividing disk signals by stellar signals to take into account of intrinsic stellar color effects, we systematically obtained and compared the reflectance of debris birth rings at ~90 deg scattering angle. Debris birth rings typically exhibit a blue color at ~90 deg scattering angle. As the stellar luminosity increases, the color tends to be more neutral. A likely L-shaped color-albedo distribution indicates a clustering of scatterer properties. The observed color trend correlates with the expected blow-out size of dust particles. The color-albedo clustering likely suggests different populations of dust in these systems. More detailed radiative transfer models with realistic dust morphology will contribute to explaining the observed color and color-albedo distribution of debris systems.

The upcoming Simons Observatory Small Aperture Telescopes aim at achieving a constraint on the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ at the level of $\sigma(r=0)\lesssim0.003$, observing the polarized CMB in the presence of partial sky coverage, cosmic variance, inhomogeneous non-white noise, and Galactic foregrounds. We present three different analysis pipelines able to constrain $r$ given the latest available instrument performance, and compare their predictions on a set of sky simulations that allow us to explore a number of Galactic foreground models and elements of instrumental noise, relevant for the Simons Observatory. The three pipelines use different combinations of parametric and non-parametric component separation at the map and power spectrum levels, and employ $B$-mode purification to estimate the CMB $B$-mode power spectrum. They are tested and compared regarding their capability to analyze a common set of simulated realistic frequency maps, and to extract constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. Their performance is evaluated in terms of bias and statistical uncertainty on this parameter. In most of the scenarios the three methodologies achieve similar performance. Nevertheless, several simulations with complex foreground signals lead to a $>2\sigma$ bias on $r$ if analyzed with the default versions of these pipelines, highlighting the need for more sophisticated pipeline components that marginalize over foreground residuals. We show two such extensions, using power-spectrum-based and map-based methods, that are able to fully reduce the bias on $r$ below the statistical uncertainties in all foreground models explored, at a moderate cost in terms of $\sigma(r)$.

Neptunian Trojans (NTs), trans-Neptunian objects in 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune, are generally thought to have been captured from the original trans-Neptunian protoplanetary disk into co-orbital resonance with the ice giant during its outward migration. It is possible, therefore, that the colour distribution of NTs is a constraint on the location of any colour transition zones that may have been present in the disk. In support of this possible test, we obtained $g$, $r$, and $i$-band observations of 18 NTs, more than doubling the sample of NTs with known visible colours to 31 objects. Out of the combined sample, we found $\approx$4 objects with $g$-$i$ colours of $>$1.2 mags placing them in the very red (VR) category as typically defined. We find, without taking observational selection effects into account, that the NT $g$-$i$ colour distribution is statistically distinct from other trans-Neptunian dynamical classes. The optical colours of Jovian Trojans and NTs are shown to be less similar than previously claimed with additional VR NTs. The presence of VR objects among the NTs may suggest that the location of the red to VR colour transition zone in the protoplanetary disk was interior to 30-35 au.

We study the effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) on the dark matter (DM) distribution in the Solar neighborhood, utilizing the Auriga magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of Milky Way (MW) analogues that have an LMC-like system. We extract the local DM velocity distribution at different times during the orbit of the LMC around the MW in the simulations. As found in previous idealized simulations of the MW-LMC system, we find that the DM particles in the Solar neighborhood originating from the LMC analogue dominate the high speed tail of the local DM speed distribution. Furthermore, the native DM particles of the MW in the Solar region are boosted to higher speeds as a result of a response to the LMC's motion. We simulate the signals expected in near future xenon, germanium, and silicon direct detection experiments, considering DM interactions with target nuclei or electrons. We find that the presence of the LMC causes a considerable shift in the expected direct detection exclusion limits towards smaller cross sections and DM masses, with the effect being more prominent for low mass DM. Hence, our study shows, for the first time, that the LMC's influence on the local DM distribution is significant even in fully cosmological MW analogues.

Nebular HeII$\lambda$4686\AA~line emission is useful to unveil active galactic nuclei (AGN) residing in actively star-forming (SF) galaxies, typically missed by the standard BPT classification. Here we adopt the HeII diagnostic to identify hidden AGN in the Local Universe using for the first time spatially-resolved data from the Data Release 15 of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO survey (MaNGA DR15). By combining results from HeII and BPT diagnostics, we overall select 459 AGN host candidates ($\sim$10% in MaNGA DR15), out of which 27 are identified as AGN by the HeII diagram only. The HeII-only AGN population is hosted by massive (M$_*\gtrsim10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$) SF Main Sequence galaxies, and on average less luminous than the BPT-selected AGN. Given the HeII line faintness, we revisit our census accounting for incompleteness effects due to the HeII sensitivity limit of MaNGA. We thus obtain an overall increased fraction (11%) of AGN in MaNGA compared to the BPT-only census (9%), which further increases to 14% for galaxies more massive than $10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$; interestingly, on the SF Main Sequence the increase is by about a factor of 2. A substantial number of AGN in SF galaxies points to significant, coeval star formation and black hole accretion, consistently with results from hydrodynamical simulations and with important implications on quenching scenarios. In view of exploring unprecedented high redshifts with JWST and new ground-based facilities, revisiting the standard BPT classification through novel emission-line diagnostics is fundamental to discover AGN in highly SF environments.

We extend the general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) capabilities of Athena++ to incorporate radiation. The intensity field in each finite-volume cell is discretized in angle, with explicit transport in both space and angle properly accounting for the effects of gravity on null geodesics, and with matter and radiation coupled in a locally implicit fashion. Here we describe the numerical procedure in detail, verifying its correctness with a suite of tests. Motivated in particular by black hole accretion in the high-accretion-rate, thin-disk regime, we demonstrate the application of the method to this problem. With excellent scaling on flagship computing clusters, the port of the algorithm to the GPU-enabled AthenaK code now allows the simulation of many previously intractable radiation-GRMHD systems.

We present a detailed analysis of the elemental abundances distribution of the Virgo cluster using {\it XMM-Newton} observations. We included in the analysis a new EPIC-pn energy scale calibration which allow us to measure velocities with uncertainties down to $\Delta v \sim 150$ km/s. We investigate the radial distribution of O, Ne, Mg, Si, Ar, S, Ca, Ni and Fe. We found that the best-fit model is close to a single-temperature component for distances $>80$~kpc and the cooler gas is more metal-rich. Discontinuities in temperature are found around $\sim30$~kpc and $\sim90$~kpc, which correspond to the radius of the cold fronts. We modeled elemental X/Fe ratio profiles with a linear combination of SNIa and SNcc models. We found a flat radial distribution of SNIa ratio over the total cluster enrichment, which supports an early ICM enrichment scenario, with most of the metals present being produced prior to clustering.

We study a sample of 936 early-type galaxies (ETGs) located in 48 low-z regular galaxy clusters with $M_{200}\geq 10^{14}~ M_\odot$ at $z< 0.1$. We examine variations in the concentration index, radius, and color gradient of ETGs as a function of their stellar mass and loci in the projected phase space (PPS) of the clusters. We aim to understand the environmental influence on the growth of ETGs according to the time since infall into their host clusters. Our analysis indicates a significant change in the behavior of the concentration index $C$ and color gradient around $M_{\ast} \approx 2\times 10^{11} ~M_\odot \equiv \tilde{M}_{\ast}$. Objects less massive than $ \tilde{M}_{\ast}$ present a slight growth of $C$ with $M_{\ast}$ with negative and approximately constant color gradients in all regions of the PPS. Objects more massive than $ \tilde{M}_{\ast}$ present a slight decrease of $C$ with $M_{\ast}$ with color gradients becoming less negative and approaching zero. We also find that objects more massive than $ \tilde{M}_{\ast}$, in all PPS regions, have smaller $R_{90}$ for a given $R_{50}$, suggesting a smaller external growth in these objects or even a shrinkage possibly due to tidal stripping. Finally, we estimate different dark matter fractions for galaxies in different regions of the PPS, with the ancient satellites having the largest fractions, $f_{DM}\approx$ 65%. These results favor a scenario where cluster ETGs experience environmental influence the longer they remain and the deeper into the gravitational potential they lie, indicating a combination of tidal stripping + harassment, which predominate during infall, followed by mergers + feedback effects affecting the late growth of ancient satellites and BCGs.

Observations of C-type NEAs and lab investigations of carbonaceous chondritic (CC) meteorites provide strong evidence for a high porosity of C-type asteroids. Boulder microporosity values derived from in-situ measurements at the surface of the rubble-pile NEA Ryugu of up to 55% are substantially higher than for water-rich CC samples and could indicate distinct evolution paths for the parent body of Ryugu and parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrites, despite spectral similarities. In the present study, we calculate the evolution of the temperature and porosity for early solar system's planetesimals in order to constrain the range of parameters that result in microporosities compatible with Ryugu's high-porosity material and likely burial depths for the boulders observed at the surface. By varying key properties of the parent body, such as accretion time t0 and radius R that have strong influence on temperature and porosity and by comparing the interior porosity distribution with the measured boulder microporosity, hydration, and partial dehydration of the material, we constrain a field within the (R,t0)-space appropriate for bodies that are likely to have produced such material. Our calculations indicate a parent body size of only a few km and its early accretion within <~2-3 Myr after the formation of Ca-Al-rich inclusions. A gradual final porosity profile of best-fit bodies indicates production of both low- and high-density boulders from the parent body material. By contrast, parent body properties for CI and CM chondrites obtained by fitting carbonate formation data indicate a radius of ~20-25 km and an accretion time of ~3.75 Myr after CAIs. These results imply a population of km-sized early accreting porous planetesimals as parent bodies of Ryugu (and, potentially, other NEAs) and a population of larger late accreting less porous parent bodies of water-rich carbonaceous chondrites.

With applications in cosmology, infrared astronomy and CMB survey, frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) proved to be a viable readout for transition-edge sensors (TES). We investigate the occurrence of out-of-band resonances (OBR) which could constrain the bandwidth of the FDM readout of TES bolometers. The study includes SPICE modeling of the entire setup including the cryogenic harness, LC filters, Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) and room-temperature amplifier. Simulation results show that the long harness (for flight model) could cause multiple reflections that generate repetitive spikes in the spectrum. Peaks of the OBR are mainly due to the parasitic capacitances at the input of SQUID. Implementing a low-pass RC circuit (snubber) at the input of the SQUID dampened the OBR. As a result, the first peak only appears around 20 MHz which is a safe margin for the 1 MHz-3.8 MHz FDM in use in the prototype readout. Using a spectrum analyzer and broadband LNAs,we also measured the OBR for the prototype FDM readout in the lab up to 500 MHz. The measurement was conducted at temperatures of 50 mK and 4 K and for various biasing of the DC SQUID. It turns out that OBR are more intense at 50 mK and are caused by the harness impedance mismatch rather than the SQUID. Simulation codes and supporting materials are available at https://github.com/githubamin/LT-Spice-Simulation-of-FDM-readout.

We present emission line ratios from a sample of 26 Lyman break galaxies from $z\sim5.5-9.5$ with $-17.0<M_{1500}<-20.4$, measured from ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec MSA spectroscopy from JADES. We use 28 hour deep PRISM/CLEAR and 7 hour deep G395M/F290LP observations to measure, or place strong constraints on, ratios of widely studied rest-frame optical emission lines including H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, [OII] $\lambda\lambda$3726,3729, [NeIII] $\lambda$3869, [OIII] $\lambda$4959, [OIII] $\lambda$5007, [OI] $\lambda$6300, [NII] $\lambda$6583, and [SII] $\lambda\lambda$6716,6731 in individual $z>5.5$ spectra. We find that the emission line ratios exhibited by these $z\sim5.5-9.5$ galaxies occupy clearly distinct regions of line-ratio space compared to typical z~0-3 galaxies, instead being more consistent with extreme populations of lower-redshift galaxies. This is best illustrated by the [OIII]/[OII] ratio, tracing interstellar medium (ISM) ionisation, in which we observe more than half of our sample to have [OIII]/[OII]>10. Our high signal-to-noise spectra reveal more than an order of magnitude of scatter in line ratios such as [OII]/H$\beta$ and [OIII]/[OII], indicating significant diversity in the ISM conditions within the sample. We find no convincing detections of [NII] in our sample, either in individual galaxies, or a stack of all G395M/F290LP spectra. The emission line ratios observed in our sample are generally consistent with galaxies with extremely high ionisation parameters (log $U\sim-1.5$), and a range of metallicities spanning from $\sim0.1\times Z_\odot$ to higher than $\sim0.3\times Z_\odot$, suggesting we are probing low-metallicity systems undergoing periods of rapid star-formation, driving strong radiation fields. These results highlight the value of deep observations in constraining the properties of individual galaxies, and hence probing diversity within galaxy population.

As constraints on ultralight axion-like particles (ALPs) tighten, models with multiple species of ultralight ALP are of increasing interest. We perform simulations of two-ALP models with particles in the currently supported range [arXiv:1307.1705] of plausible masses. The code we modified, UltraDark.jl, not only allows for multiple species of ultralight ALP with different masses, but also different self-interactions and inter-field interactions. This allows us to perform the first three-dimensional simulations of two-field ALPs with self-interactions and inter-field interactions. Our simulations show that having multiple species and interactions introduces different phenomenological effects as compared to a single field, non-interacting scenarios. In particular, we explore the dynamics of solitons. Interacting multi-species ultralight dark matter has different equilibrium density profiles as compared to single-species and/or non-interacting ultralight ALPs. As seen in earlier work [arXiv:2011.09510], attractive interactions tend to contract the density profile while repulsive interactions spread out the density profile. We also explore collisions between solitons comprised of distinct axion species. We observe a lack of interference patterns in such collisions, and that resulting densities depend on the relative masses of the ALPs and their interactions.

Characterizing the physical conditions (density, temperature, ionization state, metallicity, etc) of the interstellar medium is critical to our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies. Here we present a multi-line study of the interstellar medium in the host galaxy of a quasar at z~6.4, i.e., when the universe was 840 Myr old. This galaxy is one of the most active and massive objects emerging from the dark ages, and therefore represents a benchmark for models of the early formation of massive galaxies. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array to target an ensemble of tracers of ionized, neutral, and molecular gas, namely the fine-structure lines: [OIII] 88$\mu$m, [NII] 122$\mu$m, [CII] 158$\mu$m, and [CI] 370$\mu$m and the rotational transitions of CO(7-6), CO(15-14), CO(16-15), and CO(19-18); OH 163.1$\mu$m and 163.4$\mu$m; and H$_2$O 3(0,3)-2(1,2), 3(3,1)-4(0,4), 3(3,1)-3(2,2), 4(0,4)-3(1,3), 4(3,2)-4(2,3). All the targeted fine-structure lines are detected, as are half of the targeted molecular transitions. By combining the associated line luminosities, the constraints on the dust temperature from the underlying continuum emission, and predictions from photoionization models of the interstellar medium, we find that the ionized phase accounts for about one third of the total gaseous mass budget, and is responsible for half of the total [CII] emission. It is characterized by high density (n~180 cm$^{-3}$), typical of HII regions. The spectral energy distribution of the photoionizing radiation is comparable to that emitted by B-type stars. Star formation also appears to drive the excitation of the molecular medium. We find marginal evidence for outflow-related shocks in the dense molecular phase, but not in other gas phases. This study showcases the power of multi-line investigations in unveiling the properties of the star-forming medium in galaxies at cosmic dawn.

Could Machine Learning (ML) make fundamental discoveries and tackle unsolved problems in Cosmology? Detailed observations of the present contents of the universe are consistent with the Cosmological Constant Lambda and Cold Dark Matter model, subject to some unresolved inconsistencies ('tensions') among observations of the Hubble Constant and the clumpiness factor. To understand these issues further, large surveys of billions of galaxies and other probes require new statistical approaches. In recent years the power of ML, and in particular 'Deep Learning', has been demonstrated for object classification, photometric redshifts, anomaly detection, enhanced simulations, and inference of cosmological parameters. It is argued that the more traditional 'shallow learning' (i.e. with pre-processing feature extraction) is actually quite deep, as it brings in human knowledge, while 'deep learning' might be perceived as a black box, unless supplemented by explainability tools. The 'killer applications' of ML for Cosmology are still to come. New ways to train the next generation of scientists for the Data Intensive Science challenges ahead are also discussed. Finally, the chatbot ChatGPT is challenged to address the question posed in this article's title.

We characterize the impact of several sources of systematic errors on the computation of the traceback age of the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group ($\beta$PMG). We find that uncorrected gravitational redshift and convective blueshift bias absolute radial velocity measurements by $\sim$ 0.6 kms${}^{-1}$, which leads to erroneously younger traceback ages by $\sim$ 2 Myr. Random errors on parallax, proper motion, and radial velocity measurements lead to an additional bias of $\sim$ 1.5 Myr on traceback ages. Contamination of astrometric and kinematic data by kinematic outliers and unresolved multiple systems in the full input sample of 76 members and candidates of $\beta$PMG also erroneously lowers traceback ages by ${\sim}$ 3 Myr. We apply our new numerical traceback analysis tool to a core sample of 25 carefully vetted members of $\beta$PMG using Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) data products and other kinematic surveys. Our method yields a corrected age of 20.4 $\pm$ 2.5 Myr, bridging the gap between kinematic ages (11$-$19 Myr) and other age-dating methods, such as isochrones and lithium depletion boundary (20$-$26 Myr). We explore several association size metrics that can track the spatial extent of $\beta$PMG over time, and we determine that minimizing the variance along the heliocentric curvilinear coordinate $\xi^{\prime}$ (i.e., toward the Galactic Center) offers the least random and systematic errors, due to the wider UVW space velocity dispersion of members of $\beta$PMG along the U-axis, which tends to maximize the spatial growth of the association along the $\xi^{\prime}$-axis over time.

Some young supernova remnants exhibit thin filaments of X-ray synchrotron radiation coinciding with the forward shock due to accelerated electrons interacting with the local magnetic field. The two main models accounting for the radial brightness evolution of these filaments differ in their prediction of the narrowing (or not) of the filaments with increasing photon energy. In this paper, we report our observation of such a narrowing of the synchrotron filaments in Cassiopeia A at X-ray energies, and how this finding could help in understanding the mechanisms at stake in their formation. We used a new blind source separation method on the 1 Ms Chandra observation of Cassiopeia A, in order to obtain detailed and unpolluted images of the synchrotron emission in three energy bands. We then extracted the profiles of several filaments at the forward shock and the reverse shock to estimate and compare their widths. We find that there is indeed a narrowing with energy of the synchrotron filaments both at the forward and at the reverse shocks in Cassiopeia A. The energy dependency of this narrowing seems stronger at high energy, which is indicative of a damping effect, confirmed by radio observations.

The redshift drift is a small, dynamic change in the redshift of objects following the Hubble flow. Its measurement provides a direct, real-time, model-independent mapping of the expansion rate of the Universe. It is fundamentally different from other cosmological probes: instead of mapping our (present-day) past light-cone, it directly compares different past light-cones. Being independent of any assumptions on gravity, geometry or clustering, it directly tests the pillars of the Lambda-CDM paradigm. Recent theoretical studies have uncovered unique synergies with other cosmological probes, including the characterization of the physical properties of dark energy. At the time of the original proposal by Sandage (1962) the expected change in the redshift of objects at cosmological distances appeared to be exceedingly small for reasonable observing times and beyond technological capabilities. In the last decades progress in the spectrographs (e.g. ESPRESSO), in the collecting area of telescopes and in the samples of cosmic beacons, enabled by new datasets and new machine-learning-based selections, have drastically changed the situation, bringing the Redshift Drift Grail within reach. As a consequence, this measurement is a flagship objective of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), specifically of its high-resolution spectrograph, ANDES.

In unveiling the nature of the first stars, the main astronomical clue is the elemental compositions of the second generation of stars, observed as extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars, in our Milky Way Galaxy. However, no observational constraint was available on their multiplicity, which is crucial for understanding early phases of galaxy formation. We develop a new data-driven method to classify observed EMP stars into mono- or multi-enriched stars with Support Vector Machines. We also use our own nucleosynthesis yields of core-collapse supernovae with mixing-fallback that can explain many of observed EMP stars. Our method predicts, for the first time, that $31.8\% \pm 2.3\%$ of 462 analyzed EMP stars are classified as mono-enriched. This means that the majority of EMP stars are likely multi-enriched, suggesting that the first stars were born in small clusters. Lower metallicity stars are more likely to be enriched by a single supernova, most of which have high carbon enhancement. We also find that Fe, Mg. Ca, and C are the most informative elements for this classification. In addition, oxygen is very informative despite its low observability. Our data-driven method sheds a new light on solving the mystery of the first stars from the complex data set of Galactic archaeology surveys.

GRB 221009A ($z=0.151$) is one of the closest known long $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs). Its extreme brightness across all electromagnetic wavelengths provides an unprecedented opportunity to study a member of this still-mysterious class of transients in exquisite detail. We present multi-wavelength observations of this extraordinary event, spanning 15 orders of magnitude in photon energy from radio to $\gamma$-rays. We find that the data can be partially explained by a forward shock (FS) from a highly-collimated relativistic jet interacting with a low-density wind-like medium. The jet's beaming-corrected kinetic energy ($E_K \sim 4\times10^{50}$ erg) is typical for the GRB population, but its opening angle ($\sim2^{\circ}$) is one of the narrowest. The radio and mm data provide strong limiting constraints on the FS model, but require the presence of an additional emission component. From equipartition arguments, we find that the radio emission is likely produced by a small amount of mass ($\lesssim6\times10^{-7} M_\odot$) moving relativistically ($\Gamma\gtrsim9$) with a large kinetic energy ($\gtrsim10^{49}$ erg). However, the temporal evolution of this component does not follow prescriptions for synchrotron radiation from a single power-law distribution of electrons (e.g. in a reverse shock or two-component jet), or a thermal electron population, perhaps suggesting that one of the standard assumptions of afterglow theory is violated. GRB 221009A will likely remain detectable with radio telescopes for years to come, providing a valuable opportunity to track the full lifecycle of a powerful relativistic jet.

The phenomenon of cosmological gravitational particle production (CGPP) is expected to occur during the period of inflation and the transition into a hot big bang cosmology. Particles may be produced even if they only couple directly to gravity, and so CGPP provides a natural explanation for the origin of dark matter. In this work we study the gravitational production of massive spin-2 particles assuming two different couplings to matter. We evaluate the full system of mode equations, including the helicity-0 modes, and by solving them numerically we calculate the spectrum and abundance of massive spin-2 particles that results from inflation on a hilltop potential. We conclude that CGPP might provide a viable mechanism for the generation of massive spin-2 particle dark matter during inflation, and we identify the favorable region of parameter space in terms of the spin-2 particle's mass and the reheating temperature. As a secondary product of our work, we identify the conditions under which such theories admit ghost or gradient instabilities, and we thereby derive a generalization of the Higuchi bound to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetimes.

We present the \textit{SWAP Filter}: an azimuthally varying, radial normalizing filter specifically developed for EUV images of the solar corona. We discuss the origins of our technique, its implementation and key user-configurable parameters, and highlight its effects on data via a series of examples. We discuss the filter's strengths in a data environment in which wide field-of-view observations that specifically target the low signal-to-noise middle corona are newly available and expected to grow in the coming years.

We present a framework for self-consistent cosmological analyses of the full-shape anisotropic bispectrum, including the quadrupole $(\ell=2)$ and hexadecapole $(\ell=4)$ moments. This features a novel window-free algorithm for extracting the latter quantities from data, derived using a maximum-likelihood prescription. Furthermore, we introduce a theoretical model for the bispectrum multipoles (which does not introduce new free parameters), and test both aspects of the pipeline on several high-fidelity mocks, including the PT Challenge suite of gigantic cumulative volume. This establishes that the systematic error is significantly below the statistical threshold, both for the measurement and modeling. As a realistic example, we extract the large-scale bispectrum multipoles from BOSS DR12 and analyze them in combination with the power spectrum data. Assuming a minimal $\Lambda$CDM model, with a BBN prior on the baryon density and a \textit{Planck} prior on $n_s$, we can extract the remaining cosmological parameters directly from the clustering data. The inclusion of the unwindowed higher-order $(\ell>0)$ large-scale bispectrum multipoles is found to moderately improve one-dimensional cosmological parameter posteriors (at the $5\%-10\%$ level), though these multipoles are detected only in three out of four BOSS data segments at $\approx 5\sigma$. Combining information from the power spectrum and bispectrum multipoles, the real space power spectrum, and the post-reconstructed BAO data, we find $H_0 = 68.2\pm 0.8~\mathrm{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, $\Omega_m =0.33\pm 0.01$ and $\sigma_8 = 0.736\pm 0.033$ (the tightest yet found in perturbative full-shape analyses). Our estimate of the growth parameter $S_8=0.77\pm 0.04$ agrees with both weak lensing and CMB results.

Kilo-parsec scale hard ($>$ 3 keV) X-ray continuum and fluorescent Fe K$\alpha$ line emission has been recently discovered in nearby Compton-thick (CT) active galactic nuclei (AGN), which opens new opportunities to improve AGN torus modeling and investigate how the central supermassive black hole interacts with and impacts the host galaxy. Following a pilot Chandra survey of nearby CT AGN, we present in this paper the Chandra spatial analysis results of five uniformly selected non-CT but still heavily obscured AGN to investigate the extended hard X-ray emission by measuring the excess emission counts, excess fractions, and physical scales. Three of them show extended emission in the 3.0-7.0 keV band detected at $>$ 3$\sigma$ above the Chandra PSF with total excess fractions ranging from $\sim$8% - 20%. The extent of the hard emission ranges from at least $\sim$250 pc to 1.1 kpc in radius. We compare these new sources with CT AGN and find that CT AGN appear to be more extended in the hard band than the non-CT AGN. Similar to CT AGN, the amounts of extended hard X-ray emission relative to the total emission of these obscured AGN are not negligible. Together with other extended hard X-ray detected AGN in the literature, we further explore potential correlations between the extended hard X-ray component and AGN parameters. We also discuss the implications for torus modeling and AGN feedback. Considering potential contributions from X-ray binaries (XRBs) to the extended emission, we do not see strong XRB contamination in the overall sample.

CR Boo is one of the brightest and most famous AM CVn stars showing dwarf nova-type outbursts. Previous studies showed different modes of outbursts in this object ranging from the one equivalent to a hydrogen-rich ER UMa star or WZ Sge star to a low-amplitude oscillating state. We for the first time identified a bona fide standstill in this object in 2022 and we consider that CR Boo is a helium analog of Z Cam stars in addition to its SU UMa/ER UMa-type classification. The standstill lasted for ~60 d with variations typically less than 0.2 mag and ended with fading. This standstill was not preceded by a superoutburst and was different from a post-superoutburst phenomenon. The brightness after the standstill was similar to those after superoutbursts and the standstill appears to have acted like a superoutburst in effectively accreting the disk mass. The existence of a standstill in an AM CVn star be a challenge to theories of a helium disk or a degenerate secondary to explain how such a state could be maintained.

We search for signatures of recent galaxy close interactions and mergers in a sample of 202 early-type galaxies in the local universe from the public SDSS Stripe82 deep images ($\mu_r \sim 28.5$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$). Using two different methods to remove galaxies' smooth and symmetric light distribution, we identify and characterize eleven distinct types of merger remnants embedded in the diffuse light of these early-type galaxies. We discuss how the morphology of merger remnants can result from different kinds of minor and major mergers, and estimate the fraction of early-type galaxies in the local universe with evidence of recent major (27%) and minor (57%) mergers. The merger fractions deduced are higher than in several earlier surveys. Among remnants, we find that shells are the dominant merger debris (54%) associated with early-type galaxies, resulting from both major and minor mergers, with those characteristics of major mergers being significant (24% of shell host galaxies). The most uncommon merger-related structures are boxy isophotes of the stellar distribution and the presence of disk fragments near the cores of galaxies. We develop a classification scheme for these fine structures that may be used to infer their likely genesis histories. The classification is primarily based on the mass ratios of the merged galaxies. This work, when combined with predictions from numerical simulations, indicates that most (if not all) early-type galaxies in the local Universe are continually evolving as a result of (minor) merger activities.

Massive star feedback affects the evolution of galaxies, where the most massive stars may have the largest impact. The majority of massive stars are born as members of close binary systems. Here, we investigate detailed evolutionary models of very massive binaries (30$\dots$90$M_{\odot}$) with Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) metallicity. We identify four effects defying the conventional knowledge of binary evolution, which are all related to the proximity of the models to the Eddington limit. We find that the majority of systems undergo mass transfer during core hydrogen burning. During the ensuing nuclear timescale evolution, many mass donors remain more massive than their companions (``reverse Algols''), and nuclear timescale mass transfer may be interrupted or absent altogether. Furthermore, due to the elevated luminosity-to-mass ratio, many of the core-hydrogen burning donors may develop Wolf-Rayet-type winds, at luminosities where single stars would not. We identify observational counterparts of very massive reverse Algol binaries in the LMC, and discuss their contribution to the observed hydrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars. We argue that an understanding of very massive Algol systems is key to predicting the advanced evolution of very massive binaries, including their ability to evolve into observable gravitational wave sources.

After over 60 years, the powerful engines that accelerate ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) to the formidable energies at which we observe them from Earth remain mysterious. Assuming standard physics, we expect UHECR sources to lie within the local Universe (up to a few hundred~Mpc). The distribution of matter in the local Universe is anisotropic, and we expect this anisotropy to be imprinted on the distribution of UHECR arrival directions. Even though intervening intergalactic and Galactic magnetic fields deflect charged UHECRs and can distort these anisotropies, some amount of information on the distribution of the sources is preserved. In this proceedings contribution, we present the results of the joint Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array searches for (a) the largest-scale anisotropies (the harmonic dipole and quadrupole) and (b) correlations with a sample of nearby starburst galaxies and the 2MRS catalogue tracing stellar mass within~250~Mpc. This analysis updates our previous results with the most recent available data, notably with the addition of 3~years of new Telescope Array data. The main finding is a correlation between the arrival directions of $12.1\%_{-3.1\%}^{+4.5\%}$~of UHECRs detected with $E \geq 38$~EeV by~Auger or with~$E \gtrsim 49$~EeV by~TA and the positions of nearby starburst galaxies on a ${15.1\text{deg}}_{-3.0\text{deg}}^{+4.6\text{deg}}$~angular scale, with a $4.7\sigma$~post-trial significance, up from $4.2\sigma$ obtained in our previous study.

This work considers which higher-order effects in modelling the cosmic shear angular power spectra must be taken into account for Euclid. We identify which terms are of concern, and quantify their individual and cumulative impact on cosmological parameter inference from Euclid. We compute the values of these higher-order effects using analytic expressions, and calculate the impact on cosmological parameter estimation using the Fisher matrix formalism. We review 24 effects and find the following potentially need to be accounted for: the reduced shear approximation, magnification bias, source-lens clustering, source obscuration, local Universe effects, and the flat Universe assumption. Upon computing these explicitly, and calculating their cosmological parameter biases, using a maximum multipole of $\ell=5000$, we find that the magnification bias, source-lens clustering, source obscuration, and local Universe terms individually produce significant ($\,>0.25\sigma$) cosmological biases in one or more parameters, and accordingly must be accounted for. In total, over all effects, we find biases in $\Omega_{\rm m}$, $\Omega_{\rm b}$, $h$, and $\sigma_{8}$ of $0.73\sigma$, $0.28\sigma$, $0.25\sigma$, and $-0.79\sigma$, respectively, for flat $\Lambda$CDM. For the $w_0w_a$CDM case, we find biases in $\Omega_{\rm m}$, $\Omega_{\rm b}$, $h$, $n_{\rm s}$, $\sigma_{8}$, and $w_a$ of $1.49\sigma$, $0.35\sigma$, $-1.36\sigma$, $1.31\sigma$, $-0.84\sigma$, and $-0.35\sigma$, respectively; which are increased relative to the $\Lambda$CDM due to additional degeneracies as a function of redshift and scale.

We have performed a detailed analysis on the Teutsch 76 (T76) open cluster using the deep near-infrared (NIR) observations taken with the TANSPEC instrument mounted on the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) along with the recently available high quality proper motion data from the {\it Gaia} data release 3 and deep photometric data from Pan-STARRS1 survey. We have found that the T76 cluster is having a central density concentration with circular morphology, probably due to the star formation processes. The radius of the T76 cluster is found to be 45$^{\prime}{^\prime}$ (1.24 pc) and 28 stars within this radius were marked as highly probable cluster members. We have found that the cluster is located at a distance of $5.7\pm1.0$ kpc and is having an age of $50\pm10$ Myr. The mass function slope ($\Gamma$) in the cluster region in the mass range $\sim$0.75$<$M/M$_\odot$$<$5.8 is estimated as $-1.3\pm0.2$, which is similar to the value `-1.35' given by \citet{1955ApJ...121..161S}. The cluster is not showing any signatures of mass-segregation and is currently undergoing dynamical relaxation.

The dayside brightness spectrum of a highly irradiated transiting brown dwarf KELT-1b has been shown to be challenging to explain with the current brown dwarf atmosphere models. The spectrum has been measured from observations spanning ten years and covering high-precision secondary eclipses and phase curves from space in blue-visible (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite, CHEOPS), red-visible (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS), and near-infrared (Spitzer), as well as secondary eclipse observations in near-infrared from the ground. First, the dayside of KELT-1b was observed to be brighter in the TESS passband than expected based on earlier near-infrared phase curve observations with Spitzer, and recently, the dayside was observed to be extremely dark in the CHEOPS passband. While several theories have been proposed to reconcile the discrepancy between the TESS and Spitzer bands, explaining the difference between the largely overlapping CHEOPS and TESS bands has proven to be more difficult. Here, I model the TESS photometry from Sector 17 together with the new TESS photometry from Sector 57 and show that the discrepancies in KELT-1b's dayside brightness spectrum are best explained by temporal variability in KELT-1b's albedo. This variability is most likely due to changing silicate cloud coverage on the brown dwarf's dayside, that is, weather.

Stellar activity in the form of photospheric heterogeneities such as spots and faculae may present a significant noise source for exoplanetary observations by introducing a chromatic contamination effect to the observed transmission spectrum. If this contamination is not identified and corrected for, it can introduce substantial bias in our analysis of the planetary atmosphere. In this work we aim to determine how physically realistic and complex our stellar models must be in order to accurately extract the planetary parameters from transmission spectra. We explore which simplifying assumptions about the host star are valid at first order and examine if these assumptions break down in cases of extreme stellar activity. To do this, we use a more complex stellar model (StARPA) as the input observation for a combined stellar-planetary retrieval with TauREx3, in which the contamination is accounted for using a simplified stellar model (ASteRA). Using the StARPA model as a benchmark, we validate the use of ASteRA using a retrieval framework of 27 simulated, spot-contaminated transmission spectra to determine in which conditions it performs most favourably. For cases of low to moderate stellar activity ASteRA performs well, retrieving the planetary parameters with a high degree of accuracy. For the most active cases some residual contamination remains due to ASteRA neglecting the effect of limb darkening. Nevertheless, using ASteRA presents a substantial improvement over neglecting the contamination entirely, which can result in retrieved planetary parameters that are incorrect by up to two orders of magnitude.

We report the 3D kinematics of 27 Mira-like stars in the northern, eastern and southern periphery of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), based on Gaia proper motions and a dedicated spectroscopic follow-up. Low-resolution spectra were obtained for more than 40 Mira-like candidates, selected to trace known substructures in the LMC periphery. Radial velocities and stellar parameters were derived for all stars. Gaia data release 3 astrometry and photometry were used to discard outliers, derive periods for those stars with available light curves, and determine their photometric chemical types. The 3D motion of the stars in the reference frame of the LMC revealed that most of the stars, in all directions, have velocities consistent with being part of the LMC disk population, out of equilibrium in the radial and vertical directions. A suite of N-body simulations was used to constrain the most likely past interaction history between the Clouds given the phase-space distribution of our targets. Model realizations in which the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) had three pericentric passages around the LMC best resemble the observations. The interaction history of those model realizations has a recent SMC pericentric passage ($\sim$320 Myr ago), preceded by an SMC crossing of the LMC disk at $\sim$0.97 Gyr ago, having a radial crossing distance of only $\sim$4.5 kpc. The previous disk crossing of the SMC was found to occur at $\sim$1.78 Gyr ago, with a much larger radial crossing distance of $\sim$10 kpc.

The Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) includes a novel micro shutter array (MSA) to perform multi object spectroscopy. While the MSA is mainly targeting galaxies across a larger field, it can also be used for studying star formation in crowded fields. Crowded star formation regions typically feature strong nebular emission, both in emission lines and continuum. In this work, nebular emission is referred to as nebular contamination. Nebular contamination can obscure the light from the stars, making it more challenging to obtain high quality spectra. The amount of the nebular contamination mainly depends on the brightness distribution of the observed `scene'. Here we focus on 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is part of the NIRSpec GTO program. Using spectrophotometry of 30 Doradus from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT)/SINFONI, we have created a 3D model of the nebular emission of 30 Doradus. Feeding the NIRSpec Instrument Performance Simulator (IPS) with this model allows us to quantify the impact of nebular emission on target stellar spectra as a function of various parameters, such as configuration of the MSA, angle on the sky, filter band, etc. The results from these simulations show that the subtraction of nebular contamination from the emission lines of pre-main sequence stars produces a typical error of $0.8\%$, with a $1\sigma$ spread of $13\%$. The results from our simulations will eventually be compared to data obtained in space, and will be important to optimize future NIRSpec observations of massive star forming regions. The results will also be useful to apply the best calibration strategy and to quantify calibration uncertainties due to nebular contamination.

Aims: The analysis of combined photometry and spectroscopy of eccentric eclipsing binary systems facilitates the derivation of precise values for the parameters of the component stars and their orbits, thereby providing stringent tests of theories of stellar structure and evolution. In this paper two eccentric eclipsing binary systems, TYC 5378-1590-1 and TYC 8378-252-1, are studied in detail for the first time. Methods: Radial velocities were obtained using cross-correlation methods applied to mid-resolution spectra covering almost the entire orbital phase domains of these two systems. TESS photometry was used for the analysis of TYC 5378-1590-1, whereas ASAS-SN photometry was used for the analysis of TYC 8378-252-1. Results: We obtained the first precise derivation of the physical parameters of these systems. Both systems display moderately eccentric orbits (e = 0.3 and 0.2) with periods of 3.7323 and 2.8776 days, respectively. The apsidal motion is very slow, with a duration of several centuries. We present two models for the apsidal motion of TYC 5378-1590-1. The internal structure constant derived from observations for TYC 8378-252-1 is approximately 11% lower than theoretical predictions. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy. Our analysis indicates that the components of both systems are on the main sequence. The components of TYC 5378-1590-1 are relatively young stars (age 600 Myr) close to the ZAMS, whereas the components of TYC 8378-252-1 are relatively old stars (age 4 Gyr) close to the TAMS. Our finding that the circularization timescale for TYC 5378-1590-1 is 200 times longer than its evolutionary age is compatible with theory; however, our the evolutionary age of TYC 8378-252-1 is approximately ten times longer than the circulation age, while its orbital eccentricity is quite high (e= 0.2), challenges the present theories of circularization.

V907 Scorpii is a unique triple system in which the inner binary component has been reported to have switched on and off eclipses several times in modern history. In spite of its peculiarity, observational data on this system are surprisingly scarce. Here we make use of the recent Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite observations, as well as our own photometric and spectroscopic data, to expand the overall data set and study the V907 Sco system in more detail. Our analysis provides both new and improved values for several of its fundamental parameters: (i) the masses of the stars in the eclipsing binary are 2.74 +/- 0.02 M_0 and 2.56 +/- 0.02 M_0; and (ii) the third component is a solar-type star with mass 1.06 +/-0.11 M_0 (90% C.L.), orbiting the binary on an elongated orbit with an eccentricity of 0.47 +/- 0.02 and a period of 142.01 +/- 0.05 days. The intermittent intervals of time when eclipses of the inner binary are switched on and off are caused by a mutual 26.2 (+/- 2.6) inclination of the inner- and outer-orbit planes, and a favorable inclination of about 71 deg of the total angular momentum of the system. The nodal precession period is Pv = 63.5 +/- 3.3 yr. The inner binary will remain eclipsing for another approx 26 yr, offering an opportunity to significantly improve the parameters of the model. This is especially true during the next decade when the inner-orbit inclination will increase to nearly 90 degrees. Further spectroscopic observations are also desirable, as they can help to improve constraints on the system's orbital architecture and its physical parameters.

We report on the observations of the quasar NRAO 530 with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) on 2017 April 5-7, when NRAO 530 was used as a calibrator for the EHT observations of Sagittarius A*. At z=0.902 this is the most distant object imaged by the EHT so far. We reconstruct the first images of the source at 230 GHz, at an unprecedented angular resolution of $\sim$ 20 $\mu$as, both in total intensity and in linear polarization. We do not detect source variability, allowing us to represent the whole data set with static images. The images reveal a bright feature located on the southern end of the jet, which we associate with the core. The feature is linearly polarized, with a fractional polarization of $\sim$5-8% and has a sub-structure consisting of two components. Their observed brightness temperature suggests that the energy density of the jet is dominated by the magnetic field. The jet extends over 60 $\mu$as along a position angle PA$\sim -$28$^\circ$. It includes two features with orthogonal directions of polarization (electric vector position angle, EVPA), parallel and perpendicular to the jet axis, consistent with a helical structure of the magnetic field in the jet. The outermost feature has a particularly high degree of linear polarization, suggestive of a nearly uniform magnetic field. Future EHT observations will probe the variability of the jet structure on ${\mu}$as scales, while simultaneous multi-wavelength monitoring will provide insight into the high energy emission origin.

The absorption by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) produces the Ly$\alpha$ forest in the spectra of quasars. The Ly$\alpha$ forest absorbers have a broad distribution of neutral hydrogen column density $N_{\rm HI}$ and Doppler $b$ parameter. The narrowest Ly$\alpha$ absorption lines (of lowest $b$) with neutral hydrogen column density above $\sim 10^{13}{\rm cm^{-2}}$ are dominated by thermal broadening, which can be used to constrain the thermal state of the IGM. Here we constrain the temperature-density relation $T=T_0(\rho/\bar{\rho})^{\gamma-1}$ of the IGM at $1.6<z<3.6$ by using $N_{\rm HI}$ and $b$ parameters measured from 24 high-resolution and high-signal-to-noise quasar spectra and by employing an analytic model to model the $N_{\rm HI}$-dependent low-$b$ cutoff in the $b$ distribution. In each $N_{\rm HI}$ bin, the $b$ cutoff is estimated using two methods, one non-parametric method from computing the cumulative $b$ distribution and a parametric method from fitting the full $b$ distribution. We find that the IGM temperature $T_0$ at the mean gas density $\bar{\rho}$ shows a peak of $\sim 1.5\times 10^4$K at $z\sim $2.7-2.9. At redshift higher than this, the index $\gamma$ approximately remains constant, and it starts to increase toward lower redshifts. The evolution in both parameters is in good agreement with constraints from completely different approaches, which signals that He II reionization completes around $z\sim 3$.

ABRIDGED. The analysis of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of protoplanetary disks to determine their physical properties is known to be highly degenerate. Hence, a Bayesian analysis is required to obtain parameter uncertainties and degeneracies. The challenge here is computational speed, as one radiative transfer model requires a couple of minutes to compute. We performed a Bayesian analysis for 30 well-known protoplanetary disks to determine their physical disk properties, including uncertainties and degeneracies. To circumvent the computational cost problem, we created neural networks (NNs) to emulate the SED generation process. We created two sets of radiative transfer disk models to train and test two NNs that predict SEDs for continuous and discontinuous disks. A Bayesian analysis was then performed on 30 protoplanetary disks with SED data collected by the DIANA project to determine the posterior distributions of all parameters. We ran this analysis twice, (i) with old distances and additional parameter constraints as used in a previous study, to compare results, and (ii) with updated distances and free choice of parameters to obtain homogeneous and unbiased model parameters. We evaluated the uncertainties in the determination of physical disk parameters from SED analysis, and detected and quantified the strongest degeneracies. The NNs are able to predict SEDs within 1ms with uncertainties of about 5% compared to the true SEDs obtained by the radiative transfer code. We find parameter values and uncertainties that are significantly different from previous values obtained by $\chi^2$ fitting. Comparing the global evidence for continuous and discontinuous disks, we find that 26 out of 30 objects are better described by disks that have two distinct radial zones. Also, we created an interactive tool that instantly returns the SED predicted by our NNs for any parameter combination.

The idea of neutrino-assisted early dark energy ($\nu$EDE) was introduced with the aim of reducing some of the fine-tuning required in usual early dark energy (EDE) models. The activation of the EDE field around the recombination epoch can arise as a result of a ``neutrino kick" occurring when neutrinos transition from relativistic to nonrelativistic species. We show that although $\nu$EDE can open up the parameter space especially with respect to the initial field value, unfortunately the kick alone is insufficient to provide cosmologically interesting values of the relevant EDE parameters.

In recent times, 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) has installed an optical to near infra-red spectrograph, TANSPEC, which provides spectral coverage from 0.55-2.5 microns. Using TANSPEC, we have obtained a single epoch spectrum of a set 9 FUors and EXors. We have analysed line profiles of the sources and compared with the previously published spectra of these objects. Comparing the line profile shapes with the existing theoretical predictions, we have tried to interpret the physical processes that are responsible for the current disc evolution and the present accretion dynamics. Our study has shown the importance for time evolved spectroscopic studies for better understanding the evolution of the accretion mechanisms. This in turn can help in better categorisation of the young stars displaying episodic accretion behaviour.

It is conceivable that a few thousand confirmed exoplanets initially harboured satellites similar to the moons of the Solar system or larger. Could some of them have survived over the aeons of dynamical evolution to the present day? The dynamical conditions are harsh for exomoons in such systems because of the greater influence of the host star and of the tidal torque it exerts on the planet. We investigate the stability niches of exomoons around hundreds innermost exoplanets for which the needed parameters are known today, and determine the conditions of these moons' long-term survival. General lower and upper bounds on the exomoon survival niches are derived for orbital separations, periods, and masses. The fate of an exomoon residing in a stability niche depends on the initial relative rate of the planet's rotation and on the ability of the moon to synchronise the planet by overpowering the tidal action from the star. State of the art models of tidal dissipation and secular orbital evolution are applied to a large sample of known exoplanet systems with their estimated physical parameters. We show that in some plausible scenarios, exomoons can prevent close exoplanets from spiraling into their host stars, thus extending these planets' lifetimes. This is achieved when exomoons synchronise the rotation of their parent planets, overpowering the tidal action from the stars. Massive moons are more likely to survive and to maintain a high rotation rate of their host planets (higher than these planets' mean motion).

With mock strong gravitational lensing images, we investigate the performance of broken power-law (BPL) model on the mass reconstruction of galaxy-scale lenses. An end-to-end test is carried out, including the creation of mock strong lensing images, the subtraction of lens light, and the reconstruction of lensed images. Based on these analyses, we can reliably evaluate how accurate the lens mass and source light distributions can be measured. We notice that, based on lensed images alone, only the Einstein radii ($R_{\rm E}$) or the mean convergence within them can be well determined, with negligible bias (typically $<1\%$) and controllable uncertainty. Away from the Einstein radii, the radial and mean convergence profiles can hardly be constrained unless well-designed priors are applied to the BPL model. We find that, with rigid priors, the BPL model can clearly outperform the singular power-law models by recovering the lens mass distributions with small biases out to several Einstein radii (e.g., no more than $5\%$ biases for the mean convergence profiles within $3~R_{\rm E}$). We find that the source light reconstructions are sensitive to both lens light contamination and lens mass models, where the BPL model with rigid priors still performs best when there is no lens light contamination. It is shown that, by correcting for the projection effect, the BPL model is capable of estimating the aperture and luminosity weighted line-of-sight velocity dispersions to an accuracy of $\sim6\%$. These results further highlight the great potential of the BPL model in strong lensing related studies.

Nova Cas 2021 erupted on 18 March 2021, reaching naked-eye brightness when passing through photometric maximum 53 days later. We describe our ~daily monitoring of its evolution, covering the first 660 days since discovery. In all we obtained 574 highly accurate photometric runs simultaneously in the BVRI bands, and 110 Echelle high-resolution spectra. The multi-band photometric evolution of Nova Cas 2021 has been mapped in detail, and the strict similarities to the proto-type very-slow novae HR Del and V723 Cas are discussed. All three novae displayed multiple and short-lasting maxima while for months lingering around a bright plateau, leading eventually into the final decline and the nebular phase. The decline for all the novae proceeded at the same pace Flux(V)=(t-to)**alpha with alpha=-2.3 Prior to the primary maximum, the emission lines of Nova Cas 2021 were characterized by a slim Voigt profile, and after it all lines became much wider and characterized by a broad central component superimposed on a ever broader pedestal. This transition happened at the same time gamma-ray emission was detected for a few days. Along the 7-month plateau, the line profile displayed a reckless variability at all velocity scales in response to the ever changing brightness of the nova during the secondary maxima. Upon leaving the plateau on day +230, nebular lines appeared and the ionization degree quickly increased, passing from FeII/Balmer/HeI through HeII/Bowen and then to [CaV]/[NeV]/[FeVII]. After about day +550, the profiles stopped evolving, freezing their aspect. At later epochs, the profiles of all emission lines turned densely castellated, with all dents stable in radial velocity at 1 km/s over the last four months.

Mars Orbiter Magnetometer (MOMAG) is one of seven science payloads onboard Tianwen-1's orbiter. Unlike most of the satellites, Tianwen-1's orbiter is not magnetically cleaned, and the boom where placed the magnetometer's sensors is not long enough. These pose many challenges to the magnetic field data processing. In this paper, we introduce the in-flight calibration process of the Tianwen-1/MOMAG. The magnetic interference from the spacecraft, including spacecraft generated dynamic field and slowly-changing offsets are cleaned in sequence. Then the calibrated magnetic field data are compared with the data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN). We find that some physical structures in the solar wind are consistent between the two data sets, and the distributions of the magnetic field strength in the solar wind are very similar. These results suggest that the in-flight calibration of the MOMAG is successful and the MOMAG provides reliable data for scientific research.

We reply to the criticisms moved in [1] against our results presented in [2]. In particular, we show that our fractal model has none of the problems claimed in [1]. The latters can be addressed to the overlooked nonlinear behaviour of the Einstein's equations.

First identified in 2016 by JAXA's Akatsuki mission, the discontinuity/disruption is a recurrent wave observed to propagate during decades at the deeper clouds of Venus (47--56 km above the surface), while its absence at the clouds' top ($\sim$70 km) suggests that it dissipates at the upper clouds and contributes in the maintenance of the puzzling atmospheric superrotation of Venus through wave-mean flow interaction. Taking advantage of the campaign of ground-based observations undertaken in coordination with the Akatsuki mission since December 2021 until July 2022, we aimed to undertake the longest uninterrupted monitoring of the cloud discontinuity up to date to obtain a pioneering long-term characterization of its main properties and better constrain its recurrence and lifetime. The dayside upper, middle and nightside lower clouds were studied with images with suitable filters acquired by Akatsuki/UVI, amateur observers and NASA's IRTF/SpeX, respectively. Hundreds of images were inspected in search of manifestations of the discontinuity events and to measure key properties like its dimensions, orientation or rotation period. We succeeded in tracking the discontinuity at the middle clouds during 109 days without interruption. The discontinuity exhibited properties nearly identical to measurements in 2016 and 2020, with an orientation of $91^{\circ}\pm 8^{\circ}$, length/width of $4100\pm 800$ / $500\pm 100$ km and a rotation period of $5.11\pm 0.09$ days. Ultraviolet images during 13-14 June 2022 suggest that the discontinuity may have manifested at the top of the clouds during $\sim$21 hours as a result of an altitude change in the critical level for this wave due to slower zonal winds.

In the last two decades, Bayesian inference has become commonplace in astronomy. At the same time, the choice of algorithms, terminology, notation, and interpretation of Bayesian inference varies from one sub-field of astronomy to the next, which can lead to confusion to both those learning and those familiar with Bayesian statistics. Moreover, the choice varies between the astronomy and statistics literature, too. In this paper, our goal is two-fold: (1) provide a reference that consolidates and clarifies terminology and notation across disciplines, and (2) outline practical guidance for Bayesian inference in astronomy. Highlighting both the astronomy and statistics literature, we cover topics such as notation, specification of the likelihood and prior distributions, inference using the posterior distribution, and posterior predictive checking. It is not our intention to introduce the entire field of Bayesian data analysis -- rather, we present a series of useful practices for astronomers who already have an understanding of the Bayesian "nuts and bolts" and wish to increase their expertise and extend their knowledge. Moreover, as the field of astrostatistics and astroinformatics continues to grow, we hope this paper will serve as both a helpful reference and as a jumping off point for deeper dives into the statistics and astrostatistics literature.

Solar prominences represent large-scale condensations suspended against gravity within the solar atmosphere. The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability is proposed to be one of the important fundamental processes leading to the generation of dynamics at many spatial and temporal scales within these long-lived, cool, and dense structures amongst the solar corona. We run 2.5D ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with the open-source MPI-AMRVAC code far into the nonlinear evolution of an RT instability perturbed at the prominence-corona interface. Our simulation achieves a resolution down to $\sim 23$ km on a 2D $(x,y)$ domain of size 30 Mm $\times$ 30 Mm. We follow the instability transitioning from a multi-mode linear perturbation to its nonlinear, fully turbulent state. Over the succeeding $\sim 25$ minute period, we perform a statistical analysis of the prominence at a cadence of $\sim 0.858$ s. We find the dominant guiding $B_z$ component induces coherent structure formation predominantly in the vertical velocity $V_y$ component, consistent with observations, demonstrating an anisotropic turbulence state within our prominence. We find power-law scalings in the inertial range for the velocity, magnetic, and temperature fields. The presence of intermittency is evident from the probability density functions of the field fluctuations, which depart from Gaussianity as we consider smaller and smaller scales. In exact agreement, the higher-order structure functions quantify the multifractality, in addition to different scale characteristics and behavior between the longitudinal and transverse directions. Thus, the statistics remain consistent with the conclusions from previous observational studies, enabling us to directly relate the RT instability to the turbulent characteristics found within quiescent prominence.

Recent observations suggest that the first stages of planet formation likely take place in the Class 0/I phase of Young Stellar Object evolution, when the star and the disk are still embedded in an infalling envelope. In this study we perform grain coagulation calculations to investigate the very first stage of planet formation, the collisional growth of dust grains, in Class 0/I disks. We find that the slow increase in grain mass by high-velocity collision with much smaller grains ("sweep-up") allows $\sim 50 M_\oplus$ of grains to grow well beyond the fragmentation barrier into $\sim$kg pebbles by the end of Class 0/I (0.1 Myr). We analyze the linear growth and saturation of sweep-up to understand our results quantitatively, and test whether the sweep-up outcome is sensitive to disk parameters and details of the grain coagulation model. The sweep-up pebble population could be important for planet formation, because they are less well-coupled to the gas (compared to the main population below the fragmentation barrier) and therefore more favorable to known mechanisms of dust clump formation (which initiate planetesimal formation). It also contains enough mass to form all planet cores, based on observational estimates of the planet mass budget. Our findings motivate future studies of grain growth and planetesimal formation in Class 0/I disks, including the subsequent evolution of this sweep-up population.

We perform an in-depth analysis of the recently validated TOI-3884 system, an M4 dwarf star with a transiting super-Neptune. Using high precision light curves obtained with the 3.5 m Apache Point Observatory and radial velocity observations with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), we derive a planetary mass of 32.6$^{+7.3}_{-7.4}$ M$_{\oplus}$ and radius of 6.4 $\pm$ 0.2 R$_{\oplus}$. We detect a distinct star spot crossing event occurring just after ingress and spanning half the transit for every transit. We determine this spot feature to be wavelength-dependent with the amplitude and duration evolving slightly over time. Best-fit star spot models show that TOI-3884b possesses a misaligned ($\lambda$ = 75 $\pm$ 10$^\circ$) orbit which crosses a giant pole-spot. This system presents a rare opportunity for studies into the nature of both a misaligned super-Neptune and spot evolution on an active mid-M dwarf.

SpectraPy is an Astropy affiliated package for spectroscopic data reduction. It collects algorithms and methods for data reduction of astronomical spectra obtained by through-slits spectrographs. It has been created to fill the gap in Astropy between the already existing data handling libraries and those for spectra analysis. SpectraPy combines Astropy facilities with SAOImageDS9 features, providing a set of tools for spectra calibration and 2D extraction. It starts from raw frames, and using configuration files which describe the optical setup of the instrument, it automatically locates and extracts 2D spectra that have been wavelength calibrated and corrected by distortions. The library is designed to be spectrograph-independent and can be used on both longslit and multi object spectrograph data. It comes with a set of ready-to-use configuration files for the LBT-LUCI and LBT-MODS spectrographs, but it can be configured for data reduction of other through-slits spectrographs. In the future I plan to extend SpectraPy to achieve a full data reduction for both through-slit and fiber fed spectrographs.

With high-resolution spectroscopy we can study exoplanet atmospheres and learn about their chemical composition, temperature profiles, and presence of clouds and winds, mainly in hot, giant planets. State-of-the-art instrumentation is pushing these studies towards smaller exoplanets. Of special interest are the few planets in the 'Neptune desert', a lack of Neptune-size planets in close orbits around their hosts. Here, we assess the presence of water in one such planet, the bloated super-Neptune WASP-166 b, which orbits an F9-type star in a short orbit of 5.4 days. Despite its close-in orbit, WASP-166 b preserved its atmosphere, making it a benchmark target for exoplanet atmosphere studies in the desert. We analyse two transits observed in the visible with ESPRESSO. We clean the spectra from the Earth's telluric absorption via principal component analysis, which is crucial to the search for water in exoplanets. We use a cross-correlation-to-likelihood mapping to simultaneously estimate limits on the abundance of water and the altitude of a cloud layer, which points towards a low water abundance and/or high clouds. We tentatively detect a water signal blue-shifted ~5 km s-1 from the planetary rest frame. Injection and retrieval of model spectra show that a solar-composition, cloud-free atmosphere would be detected at high significance. This is only possible in the visible due to the capabilities of ESPRESSO and the collecting power of the VLT. This work provides further insight on the Neptune desert planet WASP-166 b, which will be observed with JWST.

Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) with JWST NIRSpec will significantly improve our understanding of the first quasars, by providing spatially resolved, infrared spectroscopic capabilities which cover key rest-frame optical emission lines that have been previously unobservable. Here we present our results from the first two z>6 quasars observed as a part of the NIRSpec Galaxy Assembly IFS GTO program, DELS J0411-0907 at z=6.82 and VDES J0020-3653 at z=6.86. By observing the H$\beta$, [OIII], and H$\alpha$ emission lines in these high-z quasars for the first time, we measure accurate black hole masses, $M_{\rm{BH}}=1.7\times10^9$M$_\odot$ and $2.6\times10^9$M$_\odot$, corresponding to Eddington ratios of $\lambda_{\rm{Edd}}=0.9$ and 0.4 for DELS J0411-0907 and VDES J0020-3653 respectively, providing a key comparison for existing estimates from the MgII line which we show can be unreliable. We perform quasar-host decomposition using models of the quasars' broad lines to measure the underlying host galaxies. We also discover two emission line regions surrounding each of the host galaxies, which are likely companion galaxies undergoing mergers with these hosts. We measure the star formation rates, excitation mechanisms, and dynamical masses of the hosts and companions, giving the first reliable $M_{\rm{BH}}/M_{\rm{dyn}}$ ratios at high-z. DELS J0411-0907 and VDES J0020-3653 both lie above the local black hole--host mass relation, and are consistent with the existing observations of $z\gtrsim6$ quasar host galaxies with ALMA. We detect ionized outflows in [OIII] and H$\beta$ from both quasars, with mass outflow rates of 63 and 420 M$_{\odot}$/yr for DELS J0411-0907 and VDES J0020-3653, much larger than their host star formation rates of $<39.3$ and $<205$M$_\odot$/yr. This work highlights the exceptional capabilities of the JWST NIRSpec IFU for observing quasars in the early Universe.

Extensions of the gravitational framework of Brans-Dicke (BD) are studied by considering two different scenarios: i) `BD-$\Lambda$CDM', in which a rigid cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, is included, thus constituting a BD version of the vanilla concordance $\Lambda$CDM model (the current standard model of cosmology with flat three-dimensional geometry), and ii) `BD-RVM', a generalization of i) in which the vacuum energy density (VED), $\rho_{\textrm{vac}}$, is a running quantity evolving with the square of the Hubble rate: $\delta\rho_{\textrm{vac}}(H)\propto \nu\, m^2_{\textrm{Pl}} (H^2-H_0^2)$ (with $|\nu|\ll 1$). This dynamical scenario is motivated by recent studies of quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime, which lead to the running vacuum model (RVM). We solve the background as well as the perturbation equations for each cosmological model and test their performance against the modern wealth of cosmological data, namely a compilation of the latest SNIa+$H(z)$+BAO+LSS+CMB observations. We utilize the AIC and DIC statistical information criteria in order to determine if they can fit better the observations than the concordance model. The two BD extensions are tested by considering three different datasets. According to the AIC and DIC criteria, both BD extensions i) and ii) are competitive, but the second one (the BD-RVM scenario) is particularly favored when it is compared with the vanilla model. This fact may indicate that the current observations favor a mild dynamical evolution of the Newtonian coupling $G_N$ as well as of the VED. This is in agreement with recent studies suggesting that the combination of these two features can be favorable for a possible resolution of the $\sigma_8$ and $H_0$ tensions. In this work, we show that the Brans-Dicke theory with running vacuum has the potential to alleviate the two tensions at the same time.

Recent discoveries of gravitational wave (GW) events most likely originating from black hole (BH) + neutron star (NS) mergers reveal the existence of BH+NS binaries. The formation of BH+NS binaries and their merger rates through isolated binary evolution have been investigated extensively with population synthesis simulations. A detailed stellar evolution modelings of the formation of this population, however, is missing in the literature. In this work, we perform the first complete 1D model of more than 30 BH+NS progenitor systems which are calculated self-consistently until the iron core collapse with infall velocity exceeds 1000 km s^-1. Focusing on the progenitors of BH- NS GW sources, we apply the MESA code starting from a post-common envelope binary with short orbital period (< 1 day) consisting of a BH and a zero-age main-sequence helium star that experiences stable mass transfer. These NS masses could be significantly larger depending on the exact mass cut during the supernova explosion. These BH+NS systems are likely to merge and produce GW events within a Hubble time. System C is a potential progenitor of a GW200115-like event, while Systems A and B are possible candidates for a GW200105-like event and may represent the final destiny of the X-ray binary SS433.

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations are commonly used to study the evolution of the gaseous content in isolated galaxies, besides its connection with galactic star formation histories. Stellar winds, supernova blasts, and black hole feedback are mechanisms usually invoked to drive galactic outflows and decrease the initial galactic gas reservoir. However, any simulation imposes the need of choosing the limits of the simulated volume, which depends, for instance, on the size of the galaxy and the required numerical resolution, besides the available computational capability to perform it. In this work, we discuss the effects of boundary conditions on the evolution of the gas fraction in a small-sized galaxy (tidal radius of about 1 kpc), like classical spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group. We found that open boundaries with sizes smaller than approximately 10 times the characteristic radius of the galactic dark-matter halo become unappropriated for this kind of simulation after about 0.6 Gyr of evolution, since they act as an infinity reservoir of gas due to dark-matter gravity. We also tested two different boundary conditions that avoid gas accretion from numerical frontiers: closed and selective boundary conditions. Our results indicate that the later condition (that uses a velocity threshold criterion to open or close frontiers) is preferable since minimizes the number of reversed shocks due to closed boundaries. Although the strategy of putting computational frontiers as far as possible from the galaxy itself is always desirable, simulations with selective boundary condition can lead to similar results at lower computational costs.

In this chapter we review the state-of-the-art of black holes in asymptotically safe gravity. After a brief recap of the asymptotic safety program, we shall summarize the features of asymptotic-safety-inspired black-hole models that have been constructed in the past by the so-called renormalization group improvement. Specifically, we will discuss static configurations, both in spherically- and axially-symmetric settings, the role played by the cosmological constant, and the impact of the collapse dynamics in determining black-hole configurations realized in Nature. In particular, we will review how quantum gravity could modify the Buchdahl limit and the corresponding conditions to form ultra-compact objects and Planckian black holes. We will then proceed by describing the most recent developments, particularly those aiming at making model building in asymptotic safety more rigorous and free from ambiguities. These include self-consistent and coordinate-independent versions of the renormalization group improvement, and next steps to fill the gap between model building and renormalization group computations in asymptotic safety. Finally, we will focus on a selection of results that have been obtained from first-principle calculations or arguments, within and beyond asymptotic safety. Concretely, we will review the state-of-the-art in determining black-hole entropy in asymptotic safety from a microstate counting, and progress in deriving the quantum-corrected Newtonian potential. We will discuss how in quantum gravity theories linked to a gravitational path integral singularity resolution could be achieved by a dynamical suppression of singular configurations. Finally, we will show that -- independent of the specific ultraviolet completion of gravity -- asymptotic modifications to Schwarzschild black holes are strongly constrained by the principle of least action at large distance scales.

We study the mirror world with dark matter arising from the thermal freeze-out of the lightest, stable mirror particle -- the mirror electron. The dark matter abundance is achieved for mirror electrons of mass 225 GeV, fixing the mirror electroweak scale near $10^8$ GeV. This highly predictive scenario is realized by an axion that acts as a portal between the two sectors through its coupling to the QCD and mirror QCD sectors. The axion is more massive than the standard QCD axion due to additional contributions from mirror strong dynamics. Still, the strong CP problem is solved by this "heavy" axion due to the alignment of the QCD and mirror QCD potentials. Mirror entropy is transferred into the Standard Model sector via the axion portal, which alleviates overproduction of dark radiation from mirror glueball decays. This mirror scenario has a variety of signals: (1) primordial gravitational waves from the first-order mirror QCD phase transition occurring at a temperature near 35 GeV, (2) effects on large-scale structure from dark matter self-interactions from mirror QED, (3) dark radiation affecting the cosmic microwave background, and (4) the rare kaon decay, $K^+ \rightarrow (\pi^+ + \rm{axion})$. The first two signals do not depend on any fundamental free parameters of the theory while the latter two depend on a single free parameter, the axion decay constant.

By taking the nucleon-to-quark phase transition within a neutron star as an example, we present a thermodynamically-consistent method to calculate the equation of state of ambient matter so that transitions that are intermediate to those of the familiar Maxwell and Gibbs constructions can be described. This method does not address the poorly known surface tension between the two phases microscopically (as, for example, in the calculation of the core pasta phases via the Wigner-Seitz approximation) but instead combines the local and global charge neutrality conditions characteristic of the Maxwell and Gibbs constructions, respectively. Overall charge neutrality is achieved by dividing the leptons to those that obey local charge neutrality (Maxwell) and those that maintain global charge neutrality (Gibbs). The equation of state is obtained by using equilibrium constraints derived from minimizing the total energy density results of which are then used to calculate neutron star mass-radius curves, tidal deformabilities, equilibrium and adiabatic sound speeds and non-radial g-mode oscillation frequencies for several intermediate constructions. Various quantities of interest transform smoothly from their Gibbs structures to those of Maxwell as the local-to-total electron ratio g, introduced to mimic the hadron-to-quark interface tension from 0 (Gibbs) to infinity (Maxwell), is raised from 0 to1, A notable exception is the g-mode frequency for the specific case of g=1 for which a gap appears between the quark and hadronic branches.

We study the thermodynamic equilibrium properties of three outstanding nonlinear electrodynamics in a background uniform magnetic field, namely, the generalized Born-Infeld, the Euler-Heisenberg and the Logarithmic electrodynamics. In our approach, we will take into account temperatures below the electron rest mass, i.e., $k_{B}T<<m_{e}c^{2}$. In this vein, we derive a modified blackbody spectral distribution and the Stefan-Boltzmann law in this situation. Considerations about the Wien's displacement law and the Rayleigh-Jeans formula are contemplated as well. We then show the appearance of an effective Stefan-Boltzmann constant, which depends on the strength of the background magnetic field and the parameters for each electrodynamics model. Deviations from the thermodynamic quantities at thermal equilibrium such as energy, pressure, entropy and heat capacity densities are obtained from the Helmholtz free energy. Possible implications on stellar systems with strong magnetic fields such as Magnetars are discussed.

The Hawking evaporation process, leading to the production of detectable particle species, constrains the abundance of light black holes, presumably of primordial origin. Here, we reconsider and correct constraints from soft gamma-ray observations, including of the gamma-ray line, at 511 keV, produced by electron-positron pair-annihilation, where positrons originate from black hole evaporation. First, we point out that the INTEGRAL detection of the Large Magellanic Cloud provides one of the strongest bounds attainable with present observations; and that future MeV gamma-ray telescopes, such as GECCO, will greatly enhance such constraints. Second, we discuss issues with previous limits from the isotropic flux at 511 keV and we provide updated, robust constraints from recent measurements of the diffuse Galactic soft gamma-ray emission and from the isotropic soft gamma-ray background.

We study the neutron star core-crust transition density $\rho_t$ with the inclusion of the vacuum polarization in the dielectric function in the nonlinear relativistic Hartree approach (RHAn). It is found that the strong correlation between the $\rho_{t}$ and the scalar meson mass $m_{\sigma}$ strikingly overwhelms the uncertainty of the nuclear equation of state in the RHAn models, in contrast to the usual awareness that $\rho_{t}$ is predominantly sensitive to the isovector nuclear potential and symmetry energy. The accurate extraction of $\rho_{t}$ through the future gravitational wave measurements can thus provide a strong constraint on the longstanding uncertainty of $m_{\sigma}$, which is of significance to better infer the vacuum property. As an astrophysical implication, it suggests that the correlation between $\rho_t$ and $m_\sigma$ is very favorable to reconcile the difficulty in reproducing the large crustal moment of inertia for the pulsar glitches with the well constrained symmetry energy.

Some recent, long-term numerical simulations of binary neutron star mergers have shown that the long-lived remnants produced in such mergers might be affected by convective instabilities. Those would trigger the excitation of inertial modes, providing a potential method to improve our understanding of the rotational and thermal properties of neutron stars through the analysis of the modes' imprint in the late post-merger gravitational-wave signal. In this paper we assess the detectability of those modes by injecting numerically generated post-merger waveforms into colored Gaussian noise of second-generation and future detectors. Signals are recovered using BayesWave, a Bayesian data-analysis algorithm that reconstructs them through a morphology-independent approach using series of sine-Gaussian wavelets. Our study reveals that current interferometers (i.e. the Handford-Livingston-Virgo network) recover the peak frequency of inertial modes only if the merger occurs at distances of up to 1 Mpc. For future detectors such as the Einstein Telescope, the range of detection increases by about a factor 10.

In a singlet pseudoscalar extension of the two-Higgs-doublet model we discuss spontaneous CP violation electroweak baryogenesis via two different patterns of phase transitions (PTs): (i) two-step PTs whose first-step and second-step are strongly first-order; (ii) three-step PTs whose first-step is second-order and the second-step and third-step are strongly first-order. For the case of the two-step pattern, the first-step PT takes place at a high temperature, converting the origin phase into an electroweak symmetry broken phase and breaking the CP symmetry spontaneously. Thus, the baryon number is produced during the first-step PT. At the second-step PT, the phase is converted into the observed vacuum at zero temperature, and the CP-symmetry is restored. In both phases the sphaleron processes are sufficiently suppressed, which keep the baryon number unchanged. For the case of the three-step PTs, the pseudoscalar field firstly acquires a nonzero VEV, and VEVs of other fields still remain zero during the first-step PT. The following PTs and electroweak baryogenesis are similar to the case of the two-step PTs. In addition, the gravitational wave spectra can have one or two peaks through the two-step and the three-step PTs, and we discuss the detectability at the future gravitational wave detectors.

The coincidence limits of the massless, minimally coupled scalar propagator and its first two derivatives have great relevance for the project of summing up the leading logarithms induced by loops of inflationary gravitons. We use dimensional regularization to derive good analytic approximations for the three quantities on a general cosmological background geometry which underwent inflation.