Papers for Friday, Jul 14 2023

This paper presents an octree construction method, called Cornerstone, that facilitates global domain decomposition and interactions between particles in mesh-free numerical simulations. Our method is based on algorithms developed for 3D computer graphics, which we extend to distributed high performance computing (HPC) systems. Cornerstone yields global and locally essential octrees and is able to operate on all levels of tree hierarchies in parallel. The resulting octrees are suitable for supporting the computation of various kinds of short and long range interactions in N-body methods, such as Barnes-Hut and the Fast Multipole Method (FMM). While we provide a CPU implementation, Cornerstone may run entirely on GPUs. This results in significantly faster tree construction compared to execution on CPUs and serves as a powerful building block for the design of simulation codes that move beyond an offloading approach, where only numerically intensive tasks are dispatched to GPUs. With data residing exclusively in GPU memory, Cornerstone eliminates data movements between CPUs and GPUs. As an example, we employ Cornerstone to generate locally essential octrees for a Barnes-Hut treecode running on almost the full LUMI-G system with up to 8 trillion particles.

We present Fabry-P\'erot (FP) imaging and longslit spectroscopy of the nearby Seyfert II galaxy NGC 1068 using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to observe the impact of the central Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) on the ionized gas in the galaxy on kiloparsec scales. With SALT RSS FP we are able to observe the H$\alpha$+[N II] emission line complex over a $\sim$2.6 arcmin$^2$ field of view. Combined with the longslit observation, we demonstrate the efficacy of FP spectroscopy for studying nearby Type II Seyfert galaxies and investigate the kiloparsec-scale ionized gas in NGC 1068. We confirm the results of previous work from the TYPHOON/Progressive Integral Step Method (PrISM) survey that the kiloparsec-scale ionized features in NGC 1068 are driven by AGN photoionization. We analyze the spatial variation of the AGN intensity to put forward an explanation for the shape and structure of the kiloparsec-scale ionization features. Using a toy model, we suggest the ionization features may be understood as a light-echo from a burst of enhanced AGN activity $\sim$2000 years in the past.

Some Seyfert galaxies are detected in high-energy gamma rays, but the mechanism and site of gamma-ray emission are unknown. Also, the origins of the cosmic high-energy neutrino and MeV gamma-ray backgrounds have been veiled in mystery since their discoveries. We propose emission from stellar-mass BHs (sBHs) embedded in disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) as their possible sources. These sBHs are predicted to launch jets due to the Blandford-Znajek mechanism, which can produce intense electromagnetic, neutrino, and cosmic-ray emissions. We investigate whether these emissions can be the sources of cosmic high-energy particles. We find that emission from internal shocks in the jets can explain gamma rays from nearby radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies including NGC1068, if the Lorentz factor of the jets ($\Gamma_{\rm j}$) is high. On the other hand, for moderate $\Gamma_{\rm j}$, the emission can significantly contribute to the background gamma-ray and neutrino intensities in the $\sim {\rm MeV}$ and $\lesssim {\rm PeV}$ bands, respectively. Furthermore, for moderate $\Gamma_{\rm j}$ with efficient amplification of the magnetic field and cosmic-ray acceleration, the neutrino emission from NGC1068 and the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays can be explained. These results suggest that the neutrino flux from NGC1068 as well as the background intensities of ${\rm MeV}$ gamma rays, neutrinos, and the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays can be explained by a unified model. Future MeV gamma-ray satellites will test our scenario for neutrino emission.

Extremely low-density exoplanets are tantalizing targets for atmospheric characterization because of their promisingly large signals in transmission spectroscopy. We present the first analysis of the atmosphere of the lowest-density gas giant currently known, HAT-P-67 b. This inflated Saturn-mass exoplanet sits at the boundary between hot and ultrahot gas giants, where thermal dissociation of molecules begins to dominate atmospheric composition. We observed a transit of HAT-P-67 b at high spectral resolution with CARMENES and searched for atomic and molecular species using cross-correlation and likelihood mapping. Furthermore, we explored potential atmospheric escape by targeting H$\alpha$ and the metastable helium line. We detect Ca II and Na I with significances of 13.2$\sigma$ and 4.6$\sigma$, respectively. Unlike in several ultrahot Jupiters, we do not measure a day-to-night wind. The large line depths of Ca II suggest that the upper atmosphere may be more ionized than models predict. We detect strong variability in H$\alpha$ and the helium triplet during the observations. These signals suggest the possible presence of an extended planetary outflow that causes an early ingress and late egress. In the averaged transmission spectrum, we measure redshifted absorption at the $\sim 3.8\%$ and $\sim 4.5\%$ level in the H$\alpha$ and He I triplet lines, respectively. From an isothermal Parker wind model, we derive a mass loss rate of $\dot{M} \sim 10^{13}~\rm{g/s}$ and an outflow temperature of $T \sim 9900~\rm{K}$. However, due to the lack of a longer out-of-transit baseline in our data, additional observations are needed to rule out stellar variability as the source of the H$\alpha$ and He signals.

SKA-MID surveys will be the first in the radio domain to achieve clearly sub-arcsecond resolution at high sensitivity over large areas, opening new science applications for galaxy evolution. To investigate the potential of these surveys, we create simulated SKA-MID images of a $\sim$0.04 deg$^{2}$ region of GOODS-North, constructed using multi-band HST imaging of 1723 real galaxies containing significant substructure at $0<z<2.5$. We create images at the proposed depths of the band 2 wide, deep and ultradeep reference surveys (RMS = 1.0 $\mu$Jy, 0.2 $\mu$Jy and 0.05 $\mu$Jy over 1000 deg$^{2}$, 10-30 deg$^{2}$ and 1 deg$^{2}$ respectively), using the telescope response of SKA-MID at 0.6" resolution. We quantify the star-formation rate - stellar mass space the surveys will probe, and asses to which stellar masses they will be complete. We measure galaxy flux density, half-light radius ($R_{50}$), concentration, Gini (distribution of flux), second-order moment of the brightest pixels ($M_{20}$) and asymmetry before and after simulation with the SKA response, to perform input-output tests as a function of depth, separating the effects of convolution and noise. We find that the recovery of Gini and asymmetry is more dependent on survey depth than for $R_{50}$, concentration and $M_{20}$. We also assess the relative ranking of parameters before and after observation with SKA-MID. $R_{50}$ best retains its ranking, whilst asymmetries are poorly recovered. We confirm that the wide tier will be suited to the study of highly star-forming galaxies across different environments, whilst the ultradeep tier will enable detailed morphological analysis to lower SFRs.

We explore the role of galactic feedback on the low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$)~forest ($z \lesssim 2$) statistics and its potential to alter the thermal state of the intergalactic medium. Using the Cosmology and Astrophysics with Machine Learning Simulations (CAMELS) suite, we explore variations of the AGN and stellar feedback models in the IllustrisTNG and Simba sub-grid models. We find that both AGN and stellar feedback in Simba play a role in setting the Ly$\alpha$ forest column density distribution function (CDD) and the Doppler width ($b$-value) distribution. The Simba AGN jet feedback mode is able to efficiently transport energy out to the diffuse IGM causing changes in the shape and normalization of the CDD and a broadening of the $b$-value distribution. We find that stellar feedback plays a prominent role in regulating supermassive black hole growth and feedback, highlighting the importance of constraining stellar and AGN feedback simultaneously. In IllustrisTNG, the AGN feedback variations explored in CAMELS do not affect the Ly$\alpha$ forest, but varying the stellar feedback model does produce subtle changes. Our results imply that the low-$z$ Ly$\alpha$ forest can be sensitive to changes in the ultraviolet background (UVB), stellar and black hole feedback, and that AGN jet feedback in particular can have a strong effect on the thermal state of the IGM.

Dual and off-nucleus active supermassive black holes are expected to be common in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm, but their identification at parsec scales remains a challenge due to strict angular resolution requirements. We conduct a systematic study using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to examine 23 radio-bright candidate dual and off-nucleus quasars. The targets are selected by a novel astrometric technique ("varstrometry") from Gaia, aiming to identify dual or off-nucleus quasars at (sub)kilo-parsec scales. Among these quasars, 8 exhibit either multiple radio components or significant (>3$\sigma$) positional offsets between the VLBA and Gaia positions. The radio emission from the three candidates which exhibit multiple radio components is likely to originate from small-scale jets based on their morphology. Among the remaining five candidates with significant VLBA-Gaia offsets, three are identified as potential dual quasars at parsec scales, one is likely attributed to small-scale jets, and the origin of the last candidate remains unclear. We explore alternative explanations for the observed VLBA-Gaia offsets. We find no evidence for optical jets at kilo-parsec scales, nor any contamination to Gaia astrometric noise from the host galaxy; misaligned coordinate systems are unlikely to account for our offsets. Our study highlights the promise of the varstrometry technique in discovering candidate dual or off-nucleus quasars and emphasizes the need for further confirmation and investigation to validate and understand these intriguing candidates.

We analyse 33 Type I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) taken from ZTF's Bright Transient Survey to investigate the local environments of their host galaxies. We use a spectroscopic sample of galaxies from the SDSS to determine the large-scale environmental density of the host galaxy. Noting that SLSNe are generally found in galaxies with low stellar masses, high star formation rates, and low metallicities, we find that SLSN hosts are also rarely found within high-density environments. Only $3\substack{+9 \\-1}$ per cent of SLSN hosts were found in regions with 2 or more bright galaxies within 2 Mpc. For comparison, we generate a sample of 662 SDSS galaxies matched to the photometric properties of the SLSN hosts. This sample is also rarely found within high-density environments, suggesting that galaxies with properties required for SLSN production favour more isolated environments. Furthermore, we select galaxies within the Illustris-TNG simulation to match SLSN host galaxy properties in colour and stellar mass. We find that the fraction of simulated galaxies in high-density environments quantitatively matches the observed SLSN hosts only if we restrict to simulated galaxies with metallicity $12+\log($O/H$) \leq 8.12$. In contrast, limiting to only the highest sSFR galaxies in the sample leads to an overabundance of SLSN hosts in high-density environments. Thus, our measurement of the environmental density of SLSN host galaxies appears to break the degeneracy between low-metallicity or high-sSFR as the driver for SLSN hosts and provides evidence that the most constraining factor on SLSN production is low-metallicity.

(Abridged) Cluster environment has a strong impact on the star formation rate and AGN activity in cluster galaxies. In this work, we investigate the behaviour of different galaxy populations in galaxy clusters and their vicinity by means of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We studied galaxies with stellar mass $\log M_\ast (M_\odot) > 10.15$ in galaxy clusters with mass $M_{500} > 10^{13} M_\odot$ extracted from box2b (640 comoving Mpc/$h$) of the Magneticum Pathfinder suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations at redshifts 0.25 and 0.90. We examined the influence of stellar mass, distance to the nearest neighbouring galaxy, clustercentric radius, substructure membership and large-scale surroundings on the fraction of galaxies hosting an AGN, star formation rate and the ratio between star-forming and quiescent galaxies. We found that in low-mass galaxies, AGN activity and star formation are similarly affected by the environment and decline towards the cluster centre. In massive galaxies, the impact is different; star-formation level increases in the inner regions and peaks between 0.5 and 1 $R_{500}$ with a rapid decline in the centre, whereas AGN activity declines in the inner regions and rapidly rises below $R_{500}$ towards the centre - likely due to stellar mass stripping and the consequent selection of galaxies with more massive black holes. After disentangling the contributions of neighbouring cluster regions, we found an excess of AGN activity in massive galaxies on the cluster outskirts ($\sim 3 R_{500}$). We also found that the local density, substructure membership and stellar mass strongly influence star formation and AGN activity but verified that they cannot fully account for the observed radial trends.

The recent release of 220+ million BP/RP spectra in $\textit{Gaia}$ DR3 presents an opportunity to apply deep learning models to an unprecedented number of stellar spectra, at extremely low-resolution. The BP/RP dataset is so massive that no previous spectroscopic survey can provide enough stellar labels to cover the BP/RP parameter space. We present an unsupervised, deep, generative model for BP/RP spectra: a $\textit{scatter}$ variational auto-encoder. We design a non-traditional variational auto-encoder which is capable of modeling both $(i)$ BP/RP coefficients and $(ii)$ intrinsic scatter. Our model learns a latent space from which to generate BP/RP spectra (scatter) directly from the data itself without requiring any stellar labels. We demonstrate that our model accurately reproduces BP/RP spectra in regions of parameter space where supervised learning fails or cannot be implemented.

The goal of the present paper is to make a numerical analysis of parametric optimization of low thrust orbital maneuver. An orbital maneuver occurs when it is necessary to modify the orbit a space vehicle to change its function or to correct effects of perturbations. A parametric optimization is made when the thrust is not free to point to any direction, but has to follow some prescribed law, like a linear or quadratic relation with time.

The methods for reducing the observations from the 150-foot Tower Telescope on Mt.~Wilson are reviewed and a new method for determining the North/South (sectoral) and the East/West (zonal) velocity components is described and applied. Due to a calibration problem with the data prior to 1983, only observations between 1983 and 2013 are presented at this time. After subtraction of latitude dependent averages over the 30-year period of observation the residual deviations in the sectoral and zonal flow velocities are well synchronized and correspond to what is widely recognized as the Torsional Oscillations. Both flow components need to be included in any model that replicates the Torsional Oscillations.

The study of asteroids, its composition and trajectories, has been a persistent interest in the space exploration community. In addition, they are also perceived as a great threat to life on Earth, considering the possibility of an impact with our planet. A considerable portion, around 15%, of the asteroid population are believed to be part of a double or triple asteroid system.

Black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) play a crucial role in understanding the accretion of matter onto a black hole. Here, we focus on exploring the transient BHXRB \source~discovered by Swift/BAT and MAXI/GSC during its January 2019 outburst. We present measurements on its accretion properties, long time-scale variability, and spin. To probe these properties we make use of several NICER observations and an unexplored data set from NuSTAR, as well as long term light curves from MAXI/GSC. In our timing analysis we provide estimates of the cross-correlation functions between light curves in various energy bands. In our spectral analysis we employ numerous phenomenological models to constrain the parameters of the system, including flavours of the relativistic reflection model Relxill to model the Fe K$\alpha$ line and the $>15$ keV reflection hump. Our analysis reveals that: (i) Over the course of the outburst the total energy released was $\sim 5.2 \times 10^{44}$~ergs, corresponding to roughly 90\% the mass of Mars being devoured. (ii) We find a continuum lag of $8.4 \pm 1.9$ days between light curves in the $2-4$ keV and $10-20$ keV bands which could be related to the viscous inflow time-scale of matter in the standard disc. (iii) Spectral analysis reveals a spin parameter of $\sim 0.6 - 0.7$ with an inclination angle of $\sim 45^{\circ}-70^{\circ}$, and an accretion rate during the NuSTAR observation of $\sim 17\% ~L_{\rm Edd}$.

Both multiphase gas and magnetic fields are ubiquitous in astrophysics. However, the influence of magnetic fields on mixing of the different phases is still largely unexplored. In this study, we use both turbulent radiative mixing layer (TRML) and turbulent box simulations to examine the effects of magnetic fields on cold gas growth rates, survival, and the morphology of the multiphase gas. Our findings indicate that, in general, magnetic fields suppress mixing in TRMLs while turbulent box simulations show comparatively marginal differences in growth rates and survival of the cold gas. We reconcile these two seemingly contrasting results by demonstrating that similar turbulent properties result in comparable mixing -- regardless of the presence or absence of magnetic fields. We, furthermore, find the cold gas clump size distribution to be independent of the magnetic fields but the clumps are more filamentary in the MHD case. Synthetic MgII absorption lines support this picture being marginally different with and without magnetic fields; both cases aligning well with observations. We also examine the magnetic field strength and structure in turbulent boxes. We generally observe a higher mean magnetic field in the cold gas phase due to flux freezing and reveal fractal-like magnetic field lines in a turbulent environment.

Samples of galaxy clusters allow us to better understand the physics at play in galaxy formation and to constrain cosmological models once their mass, position (for clustering studies) and redshift are known. In this context, large optical data sets play a crucial role. We investigate the capabilities of the Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) in detecting and characterizing galaxy groups and clusters. We analyze the data of the miniJPAS survey, obtained with the JPAS-Pathfinder camera and covering $1$ deg$^2$ centered on the AEGIS field to the same depths and with the same 54 narrow band plus 2 broader band near-UV and near-IR filters anticipated for the full J-PAS survey. We use the Adaptive Matched Identifier of Clustered Objects (AMICO) to detect and characterize groups and clusters of galaxies down to $S/N=2.5$ in the redshift range $0.05<z<0.8$. We detect 80, 30 and 11 systems with signal-to-noise ratio larger than 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5, respectively, down to $\sim 10^{13}\,M_{\odot}/h$. We derive mass-proxy scaling relations based on Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray data for the signal amplitude returned by AMICO, the intrinsic richness and a new proxy that incorporates the galaxies' stellar masses. The latter proxy is made possible thanks to the J-PAS filters and shows a smaller scatter with respect to the richness. We fully characterize the sample and use AMICO to derive a probabilistic membership association of galaxies to the detected groups that we test against spectroscopy. We further show how the narrow band filters of J-PAS provide a gain of up to 100% in signal-to-noise ratio in detection and an uncertainty on the redshift of clusters of only $\sigma_z=0.0037(1+z)$ placing J-PAS in between broadband photometric and spectroscopic surveys. The performances of AMICO and J-PAS with respect to mass sensitivity, mass-proxies quality

We compile a catalogue of low-mass and high-mass X-ray binaries, some recently reported binaries that likely host a neutron star (NS) or a black hole (BH), and binary pulsars (a pulsar and a non-degenerated companion) that have measured systemic radial velocities ($\gamma$). Using Gaia and radio proper motions together with $\gamma$, we integrate their Galactic orbits and infer their post-supernova (post-SN) 3D peculiar velocities ($v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}$ at Galactic plane crossing); these velocities bear imprint of natal kicks that compact objects received at birth. With the sample totalling 85 objects, we model the overall distribution of $v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}$ and find a two-component Maxwellian distribution with a low- ($\sigma_v \approx 21\,\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$) and a high-velocity ($\sigma_v \approx 107\,\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$) component. A further comparison between distributions of binary subgroups suggests that binaries hosting high-mass donors/luminous companions mostly have $v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}\lesssim 100\,\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$, while binaries with low-mass companions exhibit a broader distribution that extends up to $\sim 400\,\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$. We also find significant anti-correlations of $v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}$ with binary total mass ($M_\mathrm{tot}$) and orbital period ($P_\mathrm{orb}$), at over 99% confidence. Specifically, our fit suggests $v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}\propto M_\mathrm{tot}^{-0.5}$ and $v_\mathrm{pec}^{z=0}\propto P_\mathrm{orb}^{-0.2}$. Discussions are presented on possible interpretation of the correlations in the context of kinematics and possible biases. The sample should enable a range of follow-up studies on compact object binary kinematics and evolution.

Context. Comets are small celestial bodies made of ice, dust, and rock that orbit the Sun. Understanding their behavior as they warm up at perihelion unveils many pieces of information about the interior and general morphology of the ices hidden under the dust. Aims. The goal of this research is to study the sublimation of CH4 through amorphous solid water (ASW), with a focus on the structural changes in water and the influence of a layer of indene (as a proxy of the crust) during a period of thermal processing, which we use in a controlled laboratory setting to simulate cometary environments. Methods. Ices at a CH4 to H2O abundance ratio of about 0.01 are deposited and layered, or co-deposited, at 30 K and are heated until 200 K (or 140 K) with a ramp of either 1 or 5 K per min. We use mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy to analyze the results. Results. Depending on the heating ramp and type of deposition, the sublimation of methane through ASW varies, being lower in intensity and higher in temperature when the co-deposited structure is considered. When two temperature cycles are applied, the second one sees less intense CH4 desorptions. When indene is placed above the ice mixtures, we find that the thicker its layer, the later the methane desorption. Conclusions. The structural changes of water ice drive volatile and hyper-volatile desorption because of the transition from high to low intrinsic density and transformation from amorphous to crystalline. This desorption indicates that such material has been deposited at low temperatures in agreement with previous theories on cometary ices formed in the pre-stellar cloud.

Methanol is one of the most abundant interstellar Complex Organic Molecules (iCOMs) and it represents a major building block for the synthesis of increasingly complex oxygen-containing molecules. The reaction between protonated methanol and its neutral counterpart, giving protonated dimethyl ether, (CH$_3$)$_2$OH$^+$, along with the ejection of a water molecule, has been proposed as a key reaction in the synthesis of dimethyl ether in space. Here, gas phase vibrational spectra of the (CH$_3$)$_2$OH$^+$ reaction product and of the [C$_2$H$_9$O$_2$]$^+$ intermediate complex(es), formed under different pressure and temperature conditions, are presented. The widely tunable free electron laser for infrared experiments, FELIX, was employed to record their vibrational fingerprint spectra using different types of infrared action spectroscopy in the $600-1700$ cm$^{-1}$ frequency range, complemented with measurements using an OPO/OPA system to cover the O-H stretching region $3400-3700$ cm$^{-1}$. The formation of protonated dimethyl ether as a product of the reaction is spectroscopically confirmed, providing the first gas-phase vibrational spectrum of this potentially relevant astrochemical ion.

Using near-infrared observations of Neptune from the Keck and Lick Observatories, and the Hubble Space Telescope in combination with amateur datasets, we calculated the drift rates of prominent infrared-bright cloud features on Neptune between 2018 and 2021. These features had lifespans of $\sim 1$ day to $\geq$1 month and were located at mid-latitudes and near the south pole. Our observations permitted determination of drift rates via feature tracking. These drift rates were compared to three zonal wind profiles describing Neptune's atmosphere determined from features tracked in H band (1.6 $\mu m$), K' band (2.1 $\mu m$), and Voyager 2 data at visible wavelengths. Features near $-70 \deg$ measured in the F845M filter (845nm) were particularly consistent with the K' wind profile. The southern mid-latitudes hosted multiple features whose lifespans were $\geq$1 month, providing evidence that these latitudes are a region of high stability in Neptune's atmosphere. We also used HST F467M (467nm) data to analyze a dark, circumpolar wave at $- 60 \deg$ latitude observed on Neptune since the Voyager 2 era. Its drift rate in recent years (2019-2021) is $4.866 \pm 0.009 \deg $/day. This is consistent with previous measurements by Karkoschka (2011), which predict a $4.858 \pm 0.022 \deg$/day drift rate during these years. It also gained a complementary bright band just to the north.

The observation of the final stages of the evaporation of a light black hole, which Hawking referred to as "black hole explosion", would offer critical insights on the existence of new degrees of freedom as well as on quantum gravity and high-energy physics phenomena. Here, we explore, review, and revisit the observational features and rates expected for nearby, light, evaporating black holes, and we reassess and compare sensitivity estimates for a broad range of observatories. We then focus on the search for candidate black hole explosions in archival data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, and outline possible future observational campaigns.

The Sun's axisymmetric large-scale flows, differential rotation and meridional circulation, are thought to be maintained by the influence of rotation on the thermal-convective motions in the solar convection zone. These large-scale flows are crucial for maintaining the Sun's global magnetic field. Over the last several decades, our understanding of large-scale motions in the Sun has significantly improved, both through observational and theoretical efforts. Helioseismology has constrained the flow topology in the solar interior, and the growth of supercomputers has enabled simulations that can self-consistently generate large scale flows in rotating spherical convective shells. In this chapter, we review our current understanding of solar convection and the large-scale flows present in the Sun, including those associated with the recently discovered inertial modes of oscillation. We discuss some issues still outstanding, and provide an outline of future efforts needed to address these.

We present measurements of the dipole mode asymptotic period spacing ($\Delta\Pi_1$), the coupling factor between p- and g- modes ($q$), the g-mode phase offset ($\epsilon_g$), and the mixed-mode frequency rotational splitting ($\delta\nu_{\mathrm{rot}}$) for 1,074 low-luminosity red giants from the Kepler mission. Using oscillation mode frequencies extracted from each star, we apply Bayesian optimization to estimate $\Delta\Pi_1$ from the power spectrum of the stretched period spectrum and to perform the subsequent forward modelling of the mixed-mode frequencies. With our measurements, we show that the mode coupling factor $q$ shows significant anti-correlation with both stellar mass and metallicity, and can reveal highly metal-poor stars. We present the evolution of $\epsilon_g$ up the lower giant branch up to before the luminosity bump, and find no significant trends in $\epsilon_g$ or $\delta\nu_{\mathrm{rot}}$ with stellar mass and metallicity in our sample. Additionally, we identify six new red giants showing anomalous distortions in their g-mode pattern. Our data products, code, and results are provided in a public repository.

It remains to be ascertained whether sub-Neptune exoplanets primarily possess hydrogen-rich atmospheres or whether a population of H$_2$O-rich "water worlds" lurks in their midst. Addressing this question requires improved modeling of water-rich exoplanetary atmospheres, both to predict and interpret spectroscopic observations and to serve as upper boundary conditions on interior structure calculations. Here we present new models of hydrogen-helium-water atmospheres with water abundances ranging from solar to 100% water vapor. We improve upon previous models of high water content atmospheres by incorporating updated prescriptions for water self-broadening and a non-ideal gas equation of state. Our model grid (https://umd.box.com/v/water-worlds) includes temperature-pressure profiles in radiative-convective equilibrium, along with their associated transmission and thermal emission spectra. We find that our model updates primarily act at high pressures, significantly impacting bottom-of-atmosphere temperatures, with implications for the accuracy of interior structure calculations. Upper atmosphere conditions and spectroscopic observables are less impacted by our model updates, and we find that under most conditions, retrieval codes built for hot Jupiters should also perform well on water-rich planets. We additionally quantify the observational degeneracies among both thermal emission and transmission spectra. We recover standard degeneracies with clouds and mean molecular weight for transmission spectra, and we find thermal emission spectra to be more readily distinguishable from one another in the water-poor (i.e. near-solar) regime.

We propose the mathematical notion of information gain as a way of quantitatively assessing the value of biosignature missions. This makes it simple to determine how mission value depends on design parameters, prior knowledge, and input assumptions. We demonstrate the utility of this framework by applying it to a plethora of case examples: the minimal number of samples needed to determine a trend in the occurrence rate of a signal as a function of an environmental variable, and how much cost should be allocated to each class of object; the relative impact of false positives and false negatives, with applications to Enceladus data and how best to combine two signals; the optimum tradeoff between resolution and coverage in the search for lurkers or other spatially restricted signals, with application to our current state of knowledge for solar system bodies; the best way to deduce a habitability boundary; the optimal amount of money to spend on different mission aspects; when to include an additional instrument on a mission; the optimal mission lifetime; and when to follow/challenge the predictions of a habitability model. In each case, we generate concrete, quantitative recommendations for optimising mission design, mission selection, and/or target selection.

The star-forming region W5 is a major part of the Cassiopeia OB6 association. Its internal structure and kinematics may provide hints of the star formation process in this region. Here, we present a kinematic study of young stars in W5 using the Gaia data and our radial velocity data. A total 490 out of 2,000 young stars are confirmed as members. Their spatial distribution shows that W5 is highly substructured. We identify a total of eight groups using the k-means clustering algorithm. There are three dense groups in the cavities of H II bubbles, and the other five sparse groups are distributed at the ridge of the bubbles. The three dense groups have almost the same ages (5 Myr) and show a pattern of expansion. The scale of their expansion is not large enough to account for the overall structure of W5. The three northern groups are, in fact, 3 Myr younger than the dense groups, which indicates the independent star formation events. Only one group of them shows the signature of feedback-driven star formation as its members move away from the eastern dense group. The other two groups might have formed in a spontaneous way. On the other hand, the properties of two southern groups are not understood as those of a coeval population. Their origins can be explained by dynamical ejection of stars and multiple star formation. Our results suggest that the substructures in W5 formed through multiple star-forming events in a giant molecular cloud.

In this work, we present the results of a set of numerical simulations carried out to obtain long-duration orbits for a probe around Titania, Uranus' largest satellite. We also propose orbital maneuvers to extend the lifetime of some orbits. Titania's $J_2$ and $C_{22}$ gravitational coefficients and Uranus' gravitational perturbation are considered. The analysis of lifetime sensitivity due to possible errors in $J_2$ and $C_{22}$ values is investigated using multiple regression models. Simulations were performed for eccentricity equal 10-4, and lifetime maps were constructed. The results show that low-altitude orbits have longer lifetimes due to the balance between the disturbance of Uranus and the gravitational coefficients of Titania. The results also show that non-zero values of periapsis longitude ($\omega$) and ascending node longitude ($\Omega$) are essential to increase lifespan. Furthermore, the results indicate that the most economical maneuver occurs for final orbits of radius equal to 1050 km, this is observed for all inclination values.

Erupting magnetic flux ropes (MFRs) play a crucial role in producing solar flares. However, the formation of erupting MFRs in complex coronal magnetic configurations and their subsequent evolution in the flaring events are not fully understood. We performed an MHD simulation of active region NOAA 12241 to understand the formation of a rising MFR during the onset of an M6.9 flare on 2014 December 18, around 21:41 UT. The MHD simulation was initialised with an extrapolated non-force-free magnetic field generated from the photospheric vector magnetogram of the active region taken a few minutes before the flare. The initial magnetic field topology displays a pre-existing sheared arcade enveloping the polarity inversion line. The simulated dynamics exhibit the movement of the oppositely directed legs of the sheared arcade field lines towards each other due to the converging Lorentz force, resulting in the onset of tether-cutting magnetic reconnection that produces an underlying flare arcade and flare ribbons. Concurrently, an MFR above the flare arcade develops inside the sheared arcade and shows a rising motion. The MFR is found to be formed in a torus-unstable region, thereby explaining its eruptive nature. Interestingly, the location and rise of the rope are in good agreement with the corresponding observations seen in EUV channels. Furthermore, the foot points of the simulation's flare arcade match well with the location of the observed parallel ribbons of the flare. The presented simulation supports the development of the MFR by the tether-cutting magnetic reconnection inside the sheared coronal arcade during flare onset. The MFR is then found to extend along the polarity inversion line (PIL) through slip-running reconnection. The MFR's eruptive nature is ascribed both to its formation in the torus-unstable region and also to the runaway tether-cutting reconnection.

We construct an analytical black hole accretion disk model that incorporates both magnetic pressure and disk wind, which are found to be important from numerical simulations. A saturated magnetic pressure that relates the Alfven velocity with local Keplerian velocity and gas sound speed is assumed in addition to radiation and gas pressures. The mass accretion rate is assumed to have a power-law form in response to mass loss in the wind. We find three sets of self-consistent solutions that are thermally stable and satisfy the model assumptions. At high accretion rates, the disk is geometrically and optically thick, resembling the slim disk solution. At relatively low accretion rates, our model predicts an accretion flow consisting of a geometrically thin and optically thick outer disk (similar to the standard disk), and a geometrically thick and optically thin inner disk (similar to the advection-dominated accretion flow or ADAF). Thus, this is a natural solution for a truncated disk connected with an inner ADAF, which has been proposed to explain some observations. The magnetic pressure plays a more important role than the outflow in shaping the disk structure. The observed disk luminosity tends to saturate around 8 times the Eddington limit, suggesting that supercritical accretion onto black holes can be used for black hole mass estimate, or a standard candle with known black hole masses.

Using data from the Gaia Data Release 3 (Gaia DR3) and Kepler/K2, we present a catalog of 16 open clusters with ages ranging from 4 to 4000 Myr, which provides detailed information on membership, binary systems, and rotation. We assess the memberships in 5D phase space, and estimate the basic parameters of each cluster. Among the 20,160 members, there are 4,381 stars identified as binary candidates and 49 stars as blue straggler stars. The fraction of binaries vary in each cluster, and the range between 9% to 44%. We obtain the rotation periods of 5,467 members, of which 4,304 are determined in this work. To establish a benchmark for the rotation-age-color relation, we construct color-period diagrams. We find that the rotational features of binaries are similar to that of single stars, while features for binaries are more scattered in the rotation period. Moreover, the morphology of the color-period relationship is already established for Upper Scorpius at the age of 19 Myr, and some stars of varying spectral types (i.e. FG-, K-, and M-type) show different spin-down rates after the age of ~110 Myr. By incorporating the effects of stalled spin-down into our analysis, we develop an empirical rotation-age-color relation, which is valid with ages between 700 - 4000 Myr and colors corresponding to a range of 0.5 < (G_BP-G_RP)0 < 2.5 mag.

In this chapter, we briefly review the history of X-ray astronomy through its missions. We follow a temporal development, from the first instruments onboard rockets and balloons to the most recent and complex space missions. We intend to provide the reader with detailed information and references on the many missions and instruments that have contributed to the success of the exploration of the X-ray universe. We have not included missions that are still operating, providing the worldwide community with high-quality observations. Specific chapters for these missions are included in a dedicated section of the handbook.

In this Letter, we investigate detection rates and parameter estimation of strongly-lensed extreme mass-ratio inspirals (LEMRIs) in the context of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Our results indicate that LEMRIs constitute a new gravitational-wave target signal for LISA, with detection rates ranging from zero to $\sim 40$ events over a four year-observation, and that it is possible to reveal and characterize LEMRIs at redshift $z \gtrsim 1$. We finally show that one LEMRI observation with identified host galaxy may yield percent constraints or better on the Hubble constant.

We investigate the characteristics of equatorial waves associated with the maintenance of superrotation in the stratosphere of a Titan general circulation model. A variety of equatorial waves are present in the model atmosphere, including equatorial Kelvin waves, equatorial Rossby waves, and mixed Rossby-gravity waves. In the upper stratosphere, acceleration of superrotation is strongest around solstice and is due to interaction between equatorial Kelvin waves and Rossby-type waves in winter-hemisphere mid-latitudes. The existence of this 'Rossby-Kelvin'-type wave appears to depend on strong meridional shear of the background zonal wind that occurs in the upper stratosphere at times away from the equinoxes. In the lower stratosphere, acceleration of superrotation occurs throughout the year and is partially induced by equatorial Rossby waves, which we speculate are generated by quasigeostrophic barotropic instability. Acceleration of superrotation is generally due to waves with phase speeds close to the zonal velocity of the mean flow. Consequently, they have short vertical wavelengths which are close to the model's vertical grid scale, and therefore are likely to be not properly represented. We suggest this may be a common issue amongst Titan GCMs which should be addressed by future model development.

Based on 14 Miras located in 7 globular clusters, we derived the first gr-band period-luminosity (PL) at maximum light for the large-amplitude Mira variables using the multi-year light-curve data collected from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). Since Miras are red variables, we applied a color-term correction to subsets of ZTF light curves, and found that such corrections do not have a large impact on period determinations. We applied our derived PL relations to the known extragalactic Miras in five local galaxies (Sextans, Leo I, Leo II, NGC6822 and IC1613), and determined their Mira-based distances. We demonstrated that our PL relations can be applied to short-period (<300 days) Miras, including those in the two most distant galaxies (NGC6822 and IC1613) in our sample even when only a portion of the light-curves around maximum light have detections. We have also shown that the long-period extragalactic Miras do not follow the PL relations extrapolated to longer periods. Hence, our derived PL relations are only applicable to the short-period Miras, which will be discovered in abundance in local galaxies within the era of Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism in $\mathbb{T}^2$-inflation to enhance the power spectrum large enough to seed primordial black holes (PBHs) formation. To accomplish this, we consider the coupling function between the inflaton field and $\mathbb{T}^2= T_{\mu \nu}T^{\mu \nu}$ term. PBHs formed within this scenario can contribute partially or entirely to dark matter (DM) abundance. Furthermore, the amplification in the scalar power spectrum will concurrently produce significant scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) as a second-order effect. In addition, the energy spectrum associated with SIGWs can be compatible with the recent NANOGrav 15-year stochastic gravitational wave detection and fall into the sensitivity range of other forthcoming GW observatories.

The solar chromosphere has historically been studied from spectral lines in the visible and UV, notably H{\alpha}, Ca ii, Mg ii and Ly{\alpha}. Observations at long UV wavelengths (304, 1600 and 1700 {\AA}) from space have been recently added. However, the chromosphere can also be studied in the infrared (IR), both in the continuum as in the lines. Studies in this spectral band, which by definition extends from 1 {\mu}m to 1 mm, are scarce and recent, and its advantages having been little explored. In this work we present a review of what has been done and detail how much can be done with ground-based instruments. Argentina has a set of unique telescopes for the observation of the chromosphere, some with more than 20 years of operation and in process of renovation, others recently installed and still some in development. The panorama is very encouraging and allows to anticipate a strong international cooperation with other ground and space facilities.

In some extensions of the standard model of particle physics, the values of the fundamental coupling constants vary in space and time. Some observations of quasars hint at time and spatial variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$. Here, the Bekenstein-Sandvik-Barrow-Magueijo (BSBM) model (which posits the existence of a scalar field driving evolution in the fundamental electric charge $e$) is tested against quasar and Planck satellite cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. In this model, variations in $e$ are coupled to the matter density through a factor $\zeta_{\rm m}/{\omega}$, which is related to electromagnetic contributions to nucleon masses, and {the energy} scale of new physics. Simulations conducted here do not support claims that the electrostatic contribution to $\zeta_{m}$ is completely shielded. Other common approximations used in BSBM field evolution are found to be adequate. Principal components of the CMB data with respect to variations in $\alpha$ are used to obtain constraints of $\zeta_{\rm m}/{\omega}\lesssim 9.3 \times 10^{-9}$ for a massless field. A forecast anticipating the promise of the Simons Observatory (SO) CMB experiment shows that SO will be sensitive to values of $\zeta_{\rm m}/{\omega}\geq 2.2 \times 10^{-9}$.

We consider the screening of the axio-dilaton fields when both the dilaton and the axion couple to matter with Yukawa couplings. We analyse the screening of the dilaton in the vicinity of a compact object and find that this can only take place when special boundary conditions at infinity are imposed. We study the cosmological dynamics of the axio-dilaton system when coupled to matter linearly and find that the special boundary conditions at infinity, which guarantee the screening of compact objects, do not generically emerge from cosmology. We analyse the background cosmology and the cosmological perturbations at late time in these models and show that the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations constrain the coupling of the dilaton to matter to be smaller than in its natural supergravity realisation. Moreover we find that the Hubble rate in the present Universe could deviate from the normalised Planck value, although by an amount too small to account for the $H_0$ tension, and that the growth of structure is generically reduced compared to $\Lambda$CDM.

High-precision cosmic-ray data from ongoing and recent past experiments (Voyager, ACE-CRIS, PAMELA, ATIC, CREAM, NUCLEON, AMS-02, CALET, DAMPE) are being released in the tens of MeV/n to multi-TeV/n energy range. Astrophysical and dark matter interpretations of these data are limited by the precision of nuclear production cross-sections. In Paper I, PRC 98, 034611 (2018), we set up a procedure to rank nuclear reactions whose desired measurements will enable us to fully exploit currently available data on CR Li to N ($Z=3-7$) species. Here we extend these rankings to O up to Si nuclei ($Z=8-14$), also updating our results on the LiBeB species. We also highlight how comprehensive new high precision nuclear data, that could e.g. be obtained at the SPS at CERN, would be a game-changer for the determination of key astrophysical quantities (diffusion coefficient, halo size of the Galaxy) and indirect searches for dark matter signatures.

The inner slope gammaDM of the dark matter (DM) density profile of cosmological halos carries information about the properties of DM and/or baryonic processes affecting the halo gravitational potential. Cold DM cosmological simulations predict steep inner slopes, gammaDM>~1. We test this prediction on the MACS J1206.2-0847 cluster at redshift z=0.44, whose DM density profile was claimed to be cored at the center. We determine the cluster DM density profile from 2 kpc from the cluster center to the virial radius (~2 Mpc), using the velocity distribution of ~500 cluster galaxies and the velocity dispersion profile of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG), obtained from VIMOS@VLT and MUSE@VLT data. We solve the Jeans equation of dynamical equilibrium using an upgraded version of the MAMPOSSt method. The total mass profile is modeled as a sum of a generalized-NFW profile that describes the DM component, allowing for a free inner slope of the density profile, a Jaffe profile that describes the BCG stellar mass component, and a non-parametric baryonic profile that describes the sum of the remaining galaxy stellar mass and of the hot intra-cluster gas mass. Our total mass profile is in remarkable agreement with independent determinations based on X-ray observations and strong lensing. We find gammaDM=0.7 -0.1 +0.2 (68% confidence levels), consistent with predictions from recent LambdaCDM cosmological numerical simulations.

We develop a comprehensive study of the gamma-ray flux observed by H.E.S.S. in 5 regions of the Galactic Center (GC). Motivated by previous works on a possible Dark Matter (DM) explanation for the TeV cut-off observed in the innermost $\sim 16$ pc of the Galaxy, we aim to constrain the DM density profile up to a radius $\sim 450$ pc from the GC. In this region, cosmological simulations and Galactic dynamics studies fail to produce a strong prediction of the DM profile. With our proof-of-concept analysis, we set upper limits on the density distribution of thermal multi-TeV WIMPs, compatible with the observed gamma-ray flux. The results agree with the hypothesis of a DM density enhancement in the GC with respect to the benchmark NFW profile ($\gamma=1$) and allow us to exclude profiles with a slope $\gamma \gtrsim 1.3$. We also investigate the possibility that such an enhancement could be related to the existence of a DM spike associated with the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. We find out that the existence of an adiabatic DM spike smoothed by the scattering off of WIMPs by the bulge stars may be consistent with the observed gamma-ray flux if the spike forms on an underlying generalized NFW profile with $\gamma \lesssim 0.8$, corresponding to a spike slope $\gamma_{sp-star}= 1.5$ and radius $R_\text{sp-stars} \sim 25$-$30$ pc. Instead, in the extreme case of the instantaneous growth of the black hole, the profile could have up to $\gamma \sim 1.2$, a corresponding $\gamma_{sp-inst}=1.4$ and $R_\text{sp-inst}\sim 15$-$25$ pc. Moreover, the results of our analysis of the total DM mass enclosed within the S2 orbit are less stringent than the spectral analysis. Our work aims to guide future studies of the GC region, with both current and next-generation telescopes, like the next Cherenkov Telescope Array, that will be able to scan the GC with improved flux sensitivity and angular resolution.

Partial filament eruptions have often been observed, however, the physical mechanisms that lead to filament splitting are not yet fully understood. In this study, we present a unique event of a partial filament eruption that undergoes two distinct splitting processes. The first process involves vertical splitting and is accompanied by brightenings inside the filament, which may result from internal magentic reconnection within the filament. Following the first splitting process, the filament is separated into an upper part and a lower part. Subsequently, the upper part undergoes a second splitting, which is accompanied by a coronal blowout jet. An extrapolation of the coronal magnetic field reveals a hyperbolic flux tube structure above the filament, indicating the occurrence of breakout reconnection that reduces the constraning field above. Consequently, the filament is lifted up, but at a nonuniform speed. The high-speed part reaches the breakout current sheet to generate the blowout jet, while the low-speed part falls back to the solar surface, resulting in the second splitting. In addition, continuous brightenings are observed along the flare ribbons, suggesting the occurrence of slipping reconnection process. This study presents, for the first time, the unambiguous observation of a two-stage filament splitting process, advancing our understanding of the complex dynamics of solar eruptions.

The European Open Science Cloud aims to make all data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. By far the largest community of users of the European Open Science Cloud is the science-inclined public. These users need a more curated experience of open science than subject specialists, but nevertheless make very substantial research contributions in open science, especially in crowdsourced data mining, i.e. citizen science. This short, non-technical invited review presents applications of citizen science in the European Open Science Cloud, with a particular focus on astrophysics and astroparticle physics.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are transient events with a high energy and short duration in the radio frequency. By identifying the origin of the pulse, it is possible to measure the redshift of the host galaxy, which can be used to constrain cosmological and astrophysical parameters and test aspects of fundamental physics when combined with the observed dispersion measure ($DM$). However, some factors limit the application of FRBs in cosmology: (i) the current poor modelling of the fluctuations in the $DM$ due to spatial variation in the cosmic electrons density; (ii) the fact that the fraction of baryon mass in the intergalactic medium ($f_{IGM}$) is degenerated with some cosmological parameters; (iii) the limited current knowledge about host galaxy contribution ($DM_{host}$). In this work, we investigate the impact of different redshift distribution models of FRBs to constrain the baryon fraction in the IGM and host galaxy contribution. We use a cosmological model-independent method developed in previous work \cite{Lemos2023} to perform the analysis and combine simulated FRB data from Monte Carlo simulation and supernovae data. Since the physical mechanism responsible for the burst is still unknown, we assume four distribution models for the FRBs, namely gamma-ray bursts (GRB), star formation rate (SFR), uniform and equidistant (ED). Also, we consider samples with $N = 15$, 30, 100 and 500 points and three different values of the fluctuations of electron density in the $DM$, $\delta = 0, 10, 100$ pc/cm$^{3}$. Our analysis shows that the GRB, SFR and Uniform distribution models present consistent results within $2\sigma$ for the free parameters $f_{IGM}$ and $DM_{host,0}$ and highlights the crucial role of $DM$ fluctuations in obtaining more precise measurements.

We assess the complementarity between colliders, direct detection searches, and gravitational wave interferometry in probing a scenario of dark matter in the early universe. The model under consideration contains a B-L gauge symmetry and a vector-like fermion which acts as the dark matter candidate. The fermion induces significant a large dark matter-nucleon scattering rate, and the Z' field produces clear dilepton events at colliders. Thus, direct detection experiments and colliders severely constrain the parameter space in which the correct relic density is found in agreement with the data. Nevertheless, little is known about the new scalar responsible for breaking the B-L symmetry. If this breaking occurs via a first-order phase transition at a TeV scale, it could lead to gravitational waves in the mHz frequency range detectable by LISA, DECIGO, and BBO instruments. The spectrum is highly sensitive to properties of the scalar sector and gauge coupling. We show that a possible GW detection, together with information from colliders and direct detection experiments, can simultaneously pinpoint the scalar self-coupling, and narrow down the dark matter mass where a thermal relic is viable.

The astrophysical Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) originates from the mergers of compact binary objects in the observable Universe that are otherwise undetected as individual events, along with other sources such as supernovae, magnetars etc. The individual GW signal is time-varying over a time scale that depends on the chirp mass of the coalescing binaries. Another timescale that plays a role is the timescale at which the sources repeat, which depends on the merger rate. The combined effect of these two leads to a breakdown of the time-translation symmetry of the observed SGWB and leads to a correlation between different frequency modes in the signal covariance matrix of the SGWB. Using an ensemble of SGWB sky map due to binary black hole (BBH) coalescence, calculated using simulations of different astrophysical and primordial black hole mass distribution and merger rates, we show how the structure of the signal covariance matrix varies. This structure in the signal covariance matrix brings additional information about the sources on top of the power spectrum of the SGWB. We show that there is up to a factor of 2.5 improvement in the Figure of Merit (FoM) by using this additional information in comparison to only power spectrum estimation for the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network of detectors with the design sensitivity noise with two years of observation time. The inclusion of the off-diagonal correlation in the covariance of the SGWB in the data analysis pipelines will be beneficial in the quest for the SGWB signal in LVK frequency bands as well as in lower frequencies (nano-Hz, mili-Hz, deci-Hz) and in getting an insight into the origin of the SGWB signal.

We consider the background of a rotating axially symmetric black hole. Let particle 0 decay to two fragments 1 and 2 in the direction parallel to that of particle 0. It is shown that if decay occurs inside the ergoregion, both particle 1 and 2 move in the same direction as particle 0. For scenario, when decay happens in the turning point of all three particles, we find the condition when angular momenta of both particles 1 and 2 have the same sign. We elucidate the relation between the approach of Wald that imposes constraint on maximum and minimum energies of fragments and our approach. In doing so, we express the results in terms of characteristics of particle 0 and all particle masses. The conditions of the maximum efficiency depending on relation between masses is discussed. We find explicit expression for angular momenta of particles 1 and 2. We discuss also particle decay for static black holes, when the Penrose process is impossible. Because of the absence of the ergoregion in the static case, scenarios of decay for static black holes can significantly differ from those in the rotating background.

We study the linear stability of static and spherically symmetric (SSS) black holes (BHs) in the presence of a Weyl-squared curvature besides an Einstein-Hilbert term in the action. In this theory, there is always an exact Schwarzschild BH irrespective of the Weyl coupling constant $\alpha$, with the appearance of a non-Schwarzschild solution for a particular range of the coupling of order $|\alpha| \approx r_h^2$ (where $r_h$ is the horizon radius). On the SSS background, we show that the propagating degrees of freedom (DOFs) are three in the odd-parity sector and four in the even-parity sector. Since the number of total seven DOFs coincides with those on the Minkowski and isotropic cosmological backgrounds, the Weyl gravity does not pose a strong coupling problem associated with the vanishing kinetic term of dynamical perturbations. The odd-parity perturbations possess at least one ghost mode, but the propagation speeds of all three dynamical modes are luminal. In the even-parity sector, our analysis, based on the WKB approximation, shows that, besides the appearance of at least one ghost mode, the Schwarzschild solution is prone to both radial and angular Laplacian instabilities of several dynamical perturbations for the Weyl coupling in the range $|\alpha| \gg r_h^2$. For large radial and angular momentum modes, the time scales of such instabilities are much shorter than the horizon distance $r_h$ divided by the speed of light. In the coupling regime $|\alpha |\lesssim r_h^2$, the WKB approximation does not hold any longer, and a different analysis should be performed if one wants to state the stability of both the Schwarzschild and non-Schwarzschild BH solutions in this range of model parameters.

We point out that SO($2N$) pure Yang-Mills theory provides a candidate for dark matter (DM) without the explicit need to impose any additional symmetry. The DM candidate is a particular type of glueball, which we refer to as a baryonic glueball, that is naturally stable for a moderately large $N$. In this case, the intercommutation probability of cosmic strings (or macroscopic color flux tubes) is quite low, which offers characteristic gravitational wave signals to test our model. In particular, our model can simultaneously account for both abundance of DM and the recently reported gravitational wave signals detected in pulsar timing array experiments, including NANOGrav.

Environmental neutrons are a source of background for rare event searches (e.g., dark matter direct detection and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments) taking place in deep underground laboratories. The overwhelming majority of these neutrons are produced in the cavern walls by means of intrinsic radioactivity of the rock and concrete. Their flux and spectrum depend on time and location. Precise knowledge of this background is necessary to devise sufficient shielding and veto mechanisms, improving the sensitivity of the neutron-susceptible underground experiments. In this report, we present the design and the expected performance of a mobile neutron detector for the LNGS underground laboratory. The detector is based on capture-gated spectroscopy technique and comprises essentially a stack of plastic scintillator bars wrapped by gadolinium foils. The extensive simulation studies demonstrate that the detector will be capable of measuring ambient neutrons at low flux levels ($\sim$$10^{-6}\,\mathrm{n/cm^2/s}$) at LNGS, where the ambient gamma flux is by about 5 orders of magnitude larger.

We demonstrate that in a chiral plasma subject to an external magnetic field, the chiral vortical effect can induce a new type of magnetohydrodynamic instability which we refer to as the {\it chiral magnetovortical instability}. This instability arises from the mutual evolution of the magnetic and vortical fields. It can cause a rapid amplification of the magnetic fields by transferring the chirality of the constituent particles to the cross helicity of the plasma.

The imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of the supermassive central objects at the heart of the M87 and Milky Way (Sgr A$^\star$) galaxies, has marked the first step into peering at the shadow and photon rings that characterize the optical appearance of black holes surrounded by an accretion disk. Recently, Vagnozzi et. al. [S.~Vagnozzi, \textit{et al.} arXiv:2205.07787 [gr-qc]] used the claim by the EHT that the size of the shadow of Sgr A$^\star$ can be inferred by calibrated measurements of the bright ring enclosing it, to constrain a large number of spherically symmetric space-time geometries. In this work we use this result to study some features of the first and second photon rings of a restricted pool of such geometries in thin accretion disk settings. The emission profile of the latter is described by calling upon three analytic samples belonging to the family introduced by Gralla, Lupsasca and Marrone, in order to characterize such photon rings using the Lyapunov exponent of nearly bound orbits and discuss its correlation with the luminosity extinction rate between the first and second photon rings. We finally elaborate on the chances of using such photon rings as observational discriminators of alternative black hole geometries using very long baseline interferometry.

This work describes a silicon tracker system developed for experiments with proton-rich radioactive ion beams at the SAMURAI superconducting spectrometer of RIBF at RIKEN. The system is designed for accurate angular reconstruction and atomic number identification of relativistic heavy ions and protons which are simultaneously produced in reactions motivated by studies of proton capture reactions of interest for nuclear astrophysics. The technical characteristics of the tracking array are described in detail as are its performance in two pilot experiments. The physics justification for such a system is also presented.

General relativity (GR) will be imminently challenged by upcoming experiments in the strong gravity regime, including those testing the energy extraction mechanisms for black holes. Motivated by this, we explore magnetospheric models and black hole jet emissions in MOdified Gravity (MOG) scenarios. Specifically, we construct new power emitting magnetospheres in a Kerr-MOG background which are found to depend non-trivially on the MOG deformation parameter. This may allow for high-precision tests of GR. In addition, a complete set of analytic solutions for vacuum magnetic field configurations around static MOG black holes are explicitly derived, and found to comprise exclusively Heun polynomials.

One of the main objectives of modern cosmology is to explain the origin and evolution of cosmic structures at different scales. The principal force responsible for the formation of such structures is gravity. In a general relativistic framework, we have shown that matter density contrasts do not grow over time at scales exceeding the cosmic screening length, which corresponds to a cosmological scale of the order of two to three gigaparsecs at the present time, at which gravitational interactions exhibit an exponential cut-off. This is a purely relativistic effect. To demonstrate the suppression of density growth, we have performed N-body simulations in a box with a comoving size of $5.632\,{\rm Gpc}/h$ and obtained the power spectrum of the mass density contrast. We have shown that it becomes independent of time for scales beyond the cosmic screening length as a clear manifestation of the cosmic screening effect.