Papers for Thursday, Aug 31 2023

On September 26, 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the secondary asteroid in the (65803) Didymos system, so that the efficiency with which a satellite could divert an asteroid could be measured from the change in the system's period. We present new data from the Thacher Observatory and measure a change in period, $\Delta P = -34.2 \pm 0.1$ min, which deviates from previous measurements by $3.5\,\sigma$. This suggests that the system period may have decreased by $\sim 1$ minute in the 20 to 30 days between previous measurements and our measurements. We find that no mechanism previously presented for this system can account for this large of a period change, and drag from impact ejecta is an unlikely explanation. Further observations of the (65803) Didymos system are needed to both confirm our result and to further understand this system post impact.

This paper reports site survey results for the Infrared System for the Accurate Measurement of Solar Magnetic Field, especially in Saishiteng Mountain, Qinghai, China. Since 2017, we have installed weather station, spectrometer for precipitable water vapor (PWV) and S-DIMM and carried out observation on weather elements, precipitable water vapor and daytime seeing condition for more than one year in almost all candidates. At Mt. Saishiteng, the median value of daytime precipitable water vapor is 5.25 mm and its median value in winter season is 2.1 mm. The median value of Fried parameter of daytime seeing observation at Saishiteng Mountain is 3.42 cm. Its solar direct radiation data shows that solar average observable time is 446 minutes per day and premium time is 401 minutes per day in August 2019.

As stellar compositions evolve over time in the Milky Way, so will the resulting planet populations. In order to place planet formation in the context of Galactic chemical evolution, we make use of a large ($N = 5\,325$) stellar sample representing the thin and thick discs, defined chemically, and the halo, and we simulate planet formation by pebble accretion around these stars. We build a chemical model of their protoplanetary discs, taking into account the relevant chemical transitions between vapour and refractory minerals, in order to track the resulting compositions of formed planets. We find that the masses of our synthetic planets increase on average with increasing stellar metallicity [Fe/H] and that giant planets and super-Earths are most common around thin-disc ($\alpha$-poor) stars since these stars have an overall higher budget of solid particles. Giant planets are found to be very rare ($\lesssim$1\%) around thick-disc ($\alpha$-rich) stars and nearly non-existent around halo stars. This indicates that the planet population is more diverse for more metal-rich stars in the thin disc. Water-rich planets are less common around low-metallicity stars since their low metallicity prohibits efficient growth beyond the water ice line. If we allow water to oxidise iron in the protoplanetary disc, this results in decreasing core mass fractions with increasing [Fe/H]. Excluding iron oxidation from our condensation model instead results in higher core mass fractions, in better agreement with the core-mass fraction of Earth, that increase with increasing [Fe/H]. Our work demonstrates how the Galactic chemical evolution and stellar parameters, such as stellar mass and chemical composition, can shape the resulting planet population.

Humanity has wondered whether we are alone for millennia. The discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe, particularly intelligent life, would have profound effects, comparable to those of recognizing that the Earth is not the center of the Universe and that humans evolved from previous species. There has been rapid growth in the fields of extrasolar planets and data-driven astronomy. In a relatively short interval, we have seen a change from knowing of no extrasolar planets to now knowing more potentially habitable extrasolar planets than there are planets in the Solar System. In approximately the same interval, astronomy has transitioned to a field in which sky surveys can generate 1 PB or more of data. The Data-Driven Approaches to Searches for the Technosignatures of Advanced Civilizations_ study at the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies was intended to revisit searches for evidence of alien technologies in light of these developments. Data-driven searches, being able to process volumes of data much greater than a human could, and in a reproducible manner, can identify *anomalies* that could be clues to the presence of technosignatures. A key outcome of this workshop was that technosignature searches should be conducted in a manner consistent with Freeman Dyson's "First Law of SETI Investigations," namely "every search for alien civilizations should be planned to give interesting results even when no aliens are discovered." This approach to technosignatures is commensurate with NASA's approach to biosignatures in that no single observation or measurement can be taken as providing full certainty for the detection of life. Areas of particular promise identified during the workshop were (*) Data Mining of Large Sky Surveys, (*) All-Sky Survey at Far-Infrared Wavelengths, (*) Surveys with Radio Astronomical Interferometers, and (*) Artifacts in the Solar System.

Protonated hydrogen cyanide, HCNH$^{+}$, plays a fundamental role in astrochemistry because it is an intermediary in gas-phase ion-neutral reactions within cold molecular clouds. However, the impact of the environment on the chemistry of HCNH$^{+}$ remains poorly understood. With the IRAM-30 m and APEX-12 m observations, we report the first robust distribution of HCNH$^{+}$ in the Serpens filament and in Serpens South. Our data suggest that HCNH$^{+}$ is abundant in cold and quiescent regions, but is deficit in active star-forming regions. The observed HCNH$^{+}$ fractional abundances relative to H$_{2}$ range from $3.1\times 10^{-11}$ in protostellar cores to $5.9\times 10^{-10}$ in prestellar cores, and the HCNH$^{+}$ abundance generally decreases with increasing H$_{2}$ column density, which suggests that HCNH$^{+}$ coevolves with cloud cores. Our observations and modeling results suggest that the abundance of HCNH$^{+}$ in cold molecular clouds is strongly dependent on the H$_{2}$ number density. The decrease in the abundance of HCNH$^{+}$ is caused by the fact that its main precursors (e.g., HCN and HNC) undergo freeze-out as the number density of H$_{2}$ increases. However, current chemical models cannot explain other observed trends, such as the fact that the abundance of HCNH$^{+}$ shows an anti-correlation with that of HCN and HNC, but a positive correlation with that of N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ in the southern part of the Serpens South northern clump. This indicates that additional chemical pathways have to be invoked for the formation of HCNH$^{+}$ via molecules like N$_{2}$ in regions in which HCN and HNC freeze out. Both the fact that HCNH$^{+}$ is most abundant in molecular cores prior to gravitational collapse and the fact that low-$J$ HCNH$^{+}$ transitions have very low H$_{2}$ critical densities make this molecular ion an excellent probe of pristine molecular gas.

The exact origins of many Type Ia supernovae$\unicode{x2013}$progenitor scenarios and explosive mechanisms$\unicode{x2013}$remain uncertain. In this work, we analyze the global Suzaku X-Ray spectrum of Kepler's supernova remnant in order to constrain mass ratios of various ejecta species synthesized during explosion. Critically, we account for the Suzaku telescope effective area calibration uncertainties of 5$\unicode{x2013}$20% by generating 100 mock effective area curves and using Markov Chain Monte Carlo based spectral fitting to produce 100 sets of best-fit parameter values. Additionally, we characterize the uncertainties from assumptions made about the emitting volumes of each model plasma component: finding that these uncertainties can be the dominant source of error. We then compare our calculated mass ratios to previous observational studies of Kepler's SNR and to the predictions of SN Ia simulations. Our mass ratio estimates require a $\sim$90% attenuated $^{12}$C$+^{16}$O reaction rate and are potentially consistent with both near- and sub-M$_{\rm Ch}$ progenitors, but are inconsistent with the dynamically stable double detonation origin scenario and only marginally consistent with the dynamically unstable dynamically-driven double-degenerate double detonation (D$^6$) scenario.

Cosmological scenarios with a non-standard equation of state can involve ultrastiff fluids, understood as primordial fluids for which $p/\rho> 1$. Their energy densities can dominate the Universe energy budget at early times, in the otherwise radiation dominated epoch. During that period the Universe undergoes a faster expansion, that has implications for any decoupling process that takes place in that era. Quintessence models or Ekpyrotic cosmologies are good examples of such scenarios. Assuming the ultrastiff state to be thermally decoupled at very early times, if ever coupled, its observational imprints are left solely in the Universe expansion rate and in the radiation energy density. We consider a complete set of ultrastiff fluids and study their signatures in the neutrino decoupling and BBN eras. Measurements of $N_\text{eff}$ alone place mild constraints on these scenarios, with forthcoming measurements from the Simons Observatory in the Chilean Atacama desert being able to test regions where still sizable effects are observable. However, when BBN data is taken into account, those regions are proven to be barely reconcilable with primordial helium-4 and deuterium abundances measurements. Our findings show that measurements of the primordial helium-4 abundance imply the tightest constraints, with measurements of primordial deuterium being -- to a certain extent -- competitive as well. We point out that a $\sim 60\%$ improvement on the statistical uncertainty of the primordial helium-4 abundance measurement, will test these scenarios in the region where they can produce sizable effects. Beyond that precision the regions that are accessible degenerate with standard expectations. In that case, although potentially present, neither neutrino decoupling nor BBN observables will be sensitive probes.

During the visual observations of optical imaging data obtained from the DECaLS, a serendipitous discovery emerged, revealing the presence of a ringed galaxy, DES J024008.08-551047.5 (DJ0240). We performed one dimensional isophotal and two dimensional GALFIT analysis to confirm the orthogonal nature of the ring galaxy and identify distinct components within the host galaxy. We discovered the galaxy DJ0240 as a potential PRG candidate with a ring component positioned almost perpendicular to the host galaxy. The position angles of the ring and host components have been determined to be 80 and 10 degrees, respectively, indicating that they are nearly orthogonal to each other. We observed that the ring component extends three times more than the host galaxy and shows a distinct color separation, being bluer than the host. The estimated g - r color values of host and ring components are 0.86+/-0.02 and 0.59+/-0.10 mag, respectively. The color value of the ring component is similar to typical spiral galaxies. The host galaxy`s color and the presence of a bulge and disk components indicate the possibility of the host galaxy being a lenticular type. Based on the comparison of photometric properties between the PRGs and other ring type galaxies (RTGs), our findings reveal a subtle, yet noticeable, color difference between the host and ring components. We observed that both host and ring components of DJ0240 align more closely with PRGs than with RTGs. Furthermore, we compared the sersic index values of the ring component (nring) of galaxy DJ0240 with a selected sample of PRGs and Hoag-type galaxies. The results showed DJ0240 had a remarkably low nring value of 0.13, supporting the galaxy`s classification as a PRG. Hence, we suggest that the ring galaxy DJ0240 is a highly promising candidate for inclusion in the family of PRGs.

Environmental and secular processes play a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies. These can be due to external processes such as interactions or internal processes due to the action of bar, bulge and spiral structures. Ongoing star formation in spiral galaxies can be affected by these processes. Studying the star formation in the galaxy can give insights into the evolution of the galaxy. The ongoing interaction between barred-spiral galaxy NGC 1512 and its satellite NGC 1510 offers an opportunity to investigate how galactic interactions and the presence of a galactic bar influence the evolution of NGC 1512. We aim to understand the recent star formation activity in the galaxy pair and thus gain insight into the evolution of NGC 1512. The UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat enables us to study the star-forming regions in the galaxy with a spatial resolution of ~85 pc in the galaxy rest frame. We identified and studied 175 star-forming regions in UVIT FUV image of NGC 1512 and correlated with the neutral hydrogen (HI) distribution. We detected localized regions of star formation enhancement and distortions in the galactic disk. This is consistent with HI distribution in the galaxy. This is evidence of past and ongoing interactions affecting the star formation properties of the galaxy. We studied the properties of the inner ring. We find that the regions of the inner ring show maximum star formation rate density (log(SFRDmean[Msolaryr-1kpc-2]) ~ -1.7) near the major axis of the bar, hinting at a possible crowding effect in these regions. The region of the bar in the galaxy is also depleted of UV emission. This absence suggests that the galactic bar played an active role in the redistribution of gas and quenching of star formation inside identified bar region. Hence, we suggest that both the secular and environmental factors might influence the evolution of NGC 1512.

Gamma-ray observations of Milky Way dwarf galaxies have been used to place stringent constraints on the dark matter's annihilation cross section. In this paper, we evaluate the sensitivity of the proposed Advanced Particle-astrophysics Telescope (APT) to dark matter in these systems, finding that such an instrument would be capable of constraining thermal relics with masses as large as $m_X\sim 600 \, {\rm GeV}$. Furthermore, in dark matter scenarios motivated by the observed Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess, we predict that APT would detect several dwarf galaxies with high-significance. Such observations could be used to test the predicted proportionality between the gamma-ray fluxes and $J$-factors of individual dwarf galaxies, providing us with an unambiguous test of the origin of the Galactic Center Excess.

We present the first results of a high-cadence Swift monitoring campaign ($3-4$ visits per day for $75$ days) of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 6814 characterizing its variability throughout the X-ray and UV/optical wavebands. Structure function analysis reveals an X-ray power law ($\alpha=0.5^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$) that is significantly flatter than the one measured in the UV/optical bands ($\langle\alpha\rangle\approx1.5$), suggesting different physical mechanisms driving the observed variability in each emission region. The structure function break-time is consistent across the UV/optical bands ($\langle\tau\rangle\approx2.3~\mathrm{d}$), suggesting a very compact emission region in the disc. Correlated short time-scale variability measured through cross-correlation analysis finds a lag-wavelength spectrum that is inconsistent with a standard disc reprocessing scenario ($\tau\propto\lambda^{4/3}$) due to significant flattening in the optical wavebands. Flux-flux analysis finds an extremely blue AGN spectral component ($F_{\nu}\propto\lambda^{-0.85}$) that does not follow a standard accretion disc profile ($F_{\nu}\propto\lambda^{-1/3}$). While extreme outer disc truncation ($R_{\mathrm{out}}=202\pm5~r_g$) at a standard accretion rate ($\dot{m}_{\mathrm{Edd}}=0.0255\pm0.0006$) may explain the shape of the AGN spectral component, the lag-wavelength spectrum requires more modest truncation ($R_{\mathrm{out}}=1,382^{+398}_{-404}~r_g$) at an extreme accretion rate ($\dot{m}_{\mathrm{Edd}}=1.3^{+2.1}_{-0.9}$). No combination of parameters can simultaneously explain both results in a self-consistent way. Our results offer the first evidence of a non-standard accretion disc in NGC 6814.

We present the the new Swift/UVOT+MaNGA (SwiM) catalog (SwiM_v4.1). SwiM_v4.1 is designed to study star-formation and dust attenuation within nearby galaxies given the unique overlap of Swift/UVOT near-ultraviolet (NUV) imaging and MaNGA integral field optical spectroscopy. SwiM_v4.1 comprises 559 objects, ~4 times more than the original SwiM catalog (SwiM_v3.1), spans a redshift range z~0.0002-0.1482, and provides a more diverse and rich sample. Approximately 5% of the final MaNGA sample is included in SwiM_v4.1, and 42% of the SwiM_v4.1 galaxies are cross-listed with other well-known catalogs. We present the same data as SwiM_v3.1, including UVOT images, SDSS images and MaNGA emission-line and spectral index maps with the same pixel size and angular resolution for each galaxy, and a file containing galaxy and observational properties. We designed SwiM_v4.1 to be unbiased, which resulted in some objects having low signal-to-noise ratios in their MaNGA or Swift data. We addressed this by providing a new file containing the fraction of science-ready pixels in each MaNGA emission-line map, and the integrated flux and inverse variance for all three NUV filters. The uniform angular resolution and sampling in SwiM_v4.1 will help answer a number of scientific questions, including constraining quenching and attenuation in the local Universe and studying the effects of black hole feedback. The galaxy maps, catalog files, and their associated data models are publicly released on the SDSS website: https://www.sdss4.org/dr17/data_access/value-added-catalogs/?vac_id=swift-manga-value-added-catalog.

We report on the first simultaneous high-time resolution X-ray and infrared (IR) observations of a neutron star low mass X-ray binary in its hard state. We performed $\approx 2\,$h of simultaneous observations of 4U 1728-34 using HAWK-I@VLT, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. The source displayed significant X-ray and IR variability down to sub-second timescales. By measuring the cross-correlation function between the infrared and X-ray lightcurves, we discovered a significant correlation with an infrared lead of $\approx 30-40\,$ms with respect to the X-rays. We analysed the X-ray energy dependence of the lag, finding a marginal increase towards higher energies. Given the sign of the lag, we interpret this as possible evidence of Comptonization from external seed photons. We discuss the origin of the IR seed photons in terms of cyclo-synchrotron radiation from an extended hot flow. Finally, we also observed the IR counterpart of a type-I X-ray burst, with a delay of $\approx7.2\,$s. Although some additional effects may be at play, by assuming that this lag is due to light travel time between the central object and the companion star, we find that 4U 1728-34 must have an orbital period longer than $3\,$h and an inclination higher than 8$^\circ$.

We present the first joint NuSTAR and NICER observations of the ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) 4U 0614+091. This source shows quasi-periodic flux variations on the timescale of ~days. We use reflection modeling techniques to study various components of the accretion system as the flux varies. We find that the flux of the reflected emission and the thermal components representing the disk and the compact object trend closely with the overall flux. However, the flux of the power-law component representing the illuminating X-ray corona scales in the opposite direction, increasing as the total flux decreases. During the lowest flux observation, we see evidence of accretion disk truncation from roughly 6 gravitational radii to 11.5 gravitational radii. This is potentially analogous to the truncation seen in black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, which tends to occur during the low/hard state at sufficiently low Eddington ratios.

We search for mass segregation in the intermediate-aged open cluster NGC 6819 within a carefully identified sample of likely cluster members. Using photometry from the Gaia, 2MASS, and Pan-STARRS surveys as inputs for a Bayesian statistics software suite, BASE-9, we identify a rich population of (photometric) binaries and derive posterior distributions for the cluster age, distance, metallicity and reddening as well as star-by-star photometric membership probabilities, masses and mass ratios (for binaries). Within our entire sample, we find 2781 likely cluster members and 831 binaries. We select a main-sequence 'primary sample' with 14.85 < G < 19.5 containing 1515 likely cluster members and 256 binaries with mass ratios q > 0.5, to investigate for mass segregation. Within this primary sample, we find the binary radial distribution is significantly shifted toward the cluster center as compared to the single stars, resulting in a binary fraction that increases significantly toward the cluster core. Furthermore, we find that within the binary sample, more massive binaries have more centrally concentrated radial distributions than less massive binaries. The same is true for the single stars. As the cluster has persisted through several half-mass relaxation times, and the expected mass-segregation timescale for stars in our primary sample is also significantly shorter than the cluster age, we interpret these results as strong evidence for mass segregation in the cluster. Importantly, this is the first study to investigate mass segregation of the binaries in the open cluster NGC 6819.

We interpret the peculiar super-solar nitrogen abundance recently reported by the James Webb Space Telescope observations for GN-z11 (z=10.6) using our state-of-the-art chemical evolution models. The observed CNO ratios can be successfully reproduced -- independently of the adopted initial mass function, nucleosynthesis yields and presence of supermassive ($>$1000$M_\odot$) stars -- if the galaxy has undergone an intermittent star formation history with a quiescent phase lasting $\sim$100 Myr, separating two strong star bursts. Immediately after the second burst, Wolf-Rayet stars (up to $120M_\odot$) become the dominant enrichment source, also temporarily ($<$1 Myr) enhancing particular elements (N, F, Na, Al) and isotopes ($^{13}$C, $^{18}$O). Alternative explanations involving (i) single burst models, also including very massive stars and/or pair-instability supernovae, or (ii) pre-enrichment scenarios fail to match the data. Feedback-regulated, intermittent star formation might be common in early systems. Elemental abundances can be used to test this hypothesis, and to get new insights on nuclear and stellar astrophysics.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey will provide optical spectra for $\sim 3$ million quasars. Accurate redshifts for these quasars will facilitate a broad range of science applications. Here we provide improved systemic redshift estimates for the $\sim 95$k quasars included in the DESI Early Data Release (EDR), based on emission-line fits to the quasar spectra. The majority of the DESI pipeline redshifts are reliable. However, $\sim 19\%$ of the EDR quasars have pipeline redshifts that deviate from our new redshifts by $>500\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}}$. We use composite quasar spectra to demonstrate the improvement of our redshift estimates, particularly at $z>1$. These new redshifts are available at \url{https://github.com/QiaoyaWu/DESI_EDR_qsofit/blob/main/DESI_EDR_Aug29_redshift_only.fits}.

This paper introduces a comprehensive methodology for examining the stability of dark matter (DM) halos, emphasizing the necessity for non-local inter-particle interactions, whether they are fundamental or effective in nature, to maintain halo stability. We highlight the inadequacy of vanilla cold collision-less DM models in forecasting a stable halo without considering a "non-local" interaction in the halo's effective free energy, which could potentially arise from factors like baryonic feedback, self-interactions, or the intrinsic quantum characteristics of dark particles. The stability prerequisite necessitates significant effective interactions between any two points within the halo, regardless of their distance from the center. The methodology proposed herein offers a systematic framework to scrutinize the stability of various DM models and refine their parameter spaces. We deduce that DM halos within a model, where the deviation from the standard cold collision-less framework is confined to regions near the halo center, are unlikely to exhibit stability in their outer sectors. In our study, we demonstrate that the issue of instability within DM halos cannot be addressed adequately using perturbative quantum effects. This issue is less pronounced for fermionic DM but suffers from a higher degree of severity when considering bosonic DM. We find that halos made of bosons with notable quantum effects have sharp edges, while those made of fermions show more diffuse boundaries extending toward infinity. We also explore the broadest form of the effective free-energy around a chosen mass profile.

M87 has been monitored with a cadence of 5 days over a 9 month-long span through the near-ultraviolet (NUV:F275W) and optical (F606W) filters of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) of the HST. This unprecedented dataset yields the NUV and optical light and color curves of 94 M87 novae, characterizing the outburst and decline properties of the largest extragalactic nova dataset in the literature (after M31). We test and confirm nova modelers' prediction that recurrent novae cannot erupt more frequently that once every 45 days; show that there are zero rapidly recurring novae in the central $\sim$ 1/3 of M87 with recurrence times $ < $ 130 days; demonstrate that novae closely follow the K-band light of M87 to within a few arcsec of the galaxy nucleus; show that nova NUV light curves are as heterogeneous as their optical counterparts, and usually peak 5 to 30 days after visible light maximum; determine our observations' detection completeness to be in the 90-96\% range; and measure the rate Rnova of nova eruptions in M87 as $325_{-38}^{+38}$/yr. The corresponding luminosity-specific classical nova rate for this galaxy is $7.06_{-.83}^{+.83}/yr/10^{10}L_\odot,_{K}$. These rates confirm that groundbased observations of extragalactic novae miss most faint, fast novae and those near the centers of galaxies.

Astrophysical Very-High-Energy (VHE, >10PeV) neutrinos deliver crucial information about the sources of Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), the composition of UHECRs, and neutrino/particle physics at highest energies. UHE-tau neutrinos skimming the Earth's surface produce tau leptons, which can emerge from the ground, decay, and start an upward-going extensive air shower (EAS) in the Earth's atmosphere. The tau neutrino can be reconstructed by imaging the EAS. We developed an atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope flying on the Extreme Universe Space Observatory Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2) mission to test the air-shower imaging concept at highest altitudes. The EUSO-SPB2 ultra-long-duration balloon mission is a precursor of the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA), a candidate for an astrophysics probe-class mission. The telescope implements Schmidt optics with a 0.785 m^2 light collection area and a 512-pixel SiPM camera covering a 12.8{\deg} by 6.4{\deg} (Horizontal by Vertical) field-of-view with 0.4{\deg} resolution. The camera signals are sampled with 100MSa/s and digitized with 12-bit resolution. The objectives of the EUSO-SPB2 Cherenkov telescope include a search for UHE neutrinos below Earth's limb, UHECRs above the limb, the study of the night sky background, and studying the telescope's performance. In this presentation, I will present an overview of the Cherenkov telescope and discuss the in-flight performance of the telescope.

A space-based far-infrared interferometer could work synergistically with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to revolutionize our understanding of the astrophysical processes leading to the formation of habitable planets and the co-evolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes. Key to these advances are measurements of water in its frozen and gaseous states, observations of astronomical objects in the spectral range where most of their light is emitted, and access to critical diagnostic spectral lines, all of which point to the need for a far-infrared observatory in space. The objects of interest - circumstellar disks and distant galaxies - typically appear in the sky at sub-arcsecond scales, which rendered all but a few of them unresolvable with the successful and now-defunct 3.5-m Herschel Space Observatory, the largest far-infrared telescope flown to date. A far-infrared interferometer with maximum baseline length in the tens of meters would match the angular resolution of JWST at 10x longer wavelengths and observe water ice and water-vapor emission, which ALMA can barely do through the Earth's atmosphere. Such a facility was conceived and studied two decades ago. Here we revisit the science case for a space-based far-infrared interferometer in the era of JWST and ALMA and summarize the measurement capabilities that will enable the interferometer to achieve a set of compelling scientific objectives. Common to all the science themes we consider is a need for sub-arcsecond image resolution.

Galactic PeVatrons are astrophysical sources accelerating particles up to a few PeV ($\sim$10$^{15}$ eV) energies. The primary signature of 100 TeV $\gamma$ rays may come from PeV protons or multi-hundred TeV (not PeV) electrons. The search for PeVatrons has been one of the key science topics for VERITAS and HAWC. In 2021, LHAASO detected 14 steady $\gamma$-ray sources with photon energies above 100 TeV, up to 1.4 PeV. This provides a clear list of PeVatron candidates for further study with VERITAS and HAWC. Most of these sources contain possible source associations, such as supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and stellar clusters. However, two sources: LHAASO J2108+5157 and LHAASO J0341+5258, do not have any such counterparts. Therefore, multiwavelength observations are required to identify the objects responsible for the UHE $\gamma$ rays, to understand the source morphology and association, and to shed light on the emission processes. Here, we will present the status of VERITAS/HAWC observations and results for the LHAASO PeVatron candidate J0341+5258, and also discuss the VERITAS PeVatron search in general.

Kilonovae are likely a key site of heavy r-process element production in the Universe, and their optical/infrared spectra contain insights into both the properties of the ejecta and the conditions of the r-process. However, the event GW170817/AT2017gfo is the only kilonova so far with well-observed spectra. To understand the diversity of absorption features that might be observed in future kilonovae spectra, we use the TARDIS Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to simulate a suite of optical spectra spanning a wide range of kilonova ejecta properties and r-process abundance patterns. To identify the most common and prominent absorption lines, we perform dimensionality reduction using an autoencoder, and we find spectra clusters in the latent space representation using a Bayesian Gaussian Mixture model. Our synthetic kilonovae spectra commonly display strong absorption by strontium Sr II, yttrium Y II, and zirconium Zr I - II, with strong lanthanide contributions at low electron fractions (Ye < 0.25). When a new kilonova is observed, our machine learning framework will provide context on the dominant absorption lines and key ejecta properties, helping to determine where this event falls within the larger 'zoo' of kilonovae spectra.

The propagation speed of a circumstellar pattern revealed in the plane of the sky is often assumed to represent the expansion speed of the wind matter ejected from a post-main-sequence star at the center. We point out that the often-adopted isotropic wind assumption and the binary hypothesis as the underlying origin for the circumstellar pattern in the shape of multilayered shells are, however, mutually incompatible. We revisit the hydrodynamic models for spiral-shell patterns induced by the orbital motion of a hypothesized binary, of which one star is losing mass at a high rate. The distributions of transverse wind velocities as a function of position angle in the plane of the sky are explored along viewing directions. The variation of the transverse wind velocity is as large as half the average wind velocity over the entire three dimensional domain in the simulated models investigated in this work. The directional dependence of the wind velocity is indicative of the overall morphology of the circumstellar material, implying that kinematic information is an important ingredient in modeling the snapshot monitoring (often in the optical and near-infrared) or the spectral imaging observations for molecular line emissions.

Recent abrupt changes of CW Leonis may indicate that we are witnessing the moment that the central carbon star is evolving off the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) and entering into the pre-planetary nebula (PPN) phase. The recent appearance of a red compact peak at the predicted stellar position is possibly an unveiling event of the star, and the radial beams emerging from the stellar position resemble the feature of the PPN Egg Nebula. The increase of light curve over two decades is also extraordinary, and it is possibly related to the phase transition. Decadal-period variations are further found in the residuals of light curves, in the relative brightness of radial beams, and in the extended halo brightness distribution. Further monitoring of the recent dramatic and decadal-scale changes of this most well-known carbon star CW Leonis at the tip of AGB is still highly essential, and will help us gain a more concrete understanding on the conditions for transition between the late stellar evolutionary phases.

Magnetic hot stars refer to the stars, which effective temperatures approximately in the range from 7,000 to 50,000 K, and with large-scale globally organized magnetic fields. These magnetic fields exhibit strengths ranging from tens of Gauss to tens of kilo-Gauss. They are key in understanding the effects caused by magnetic fields in the stellar evolution. However, there are only three magnetic hot stars studied via a combination of spectropolarimetric and asteroseismic modeling. Combined with $Transiting\;Exoplanet\;Survey\;Satellite\;(TESS)$ 1-56 sectors data sets, we provided a photometric variability and stochastic low frequency (SLF) variability study of 118 magnetic hot stars. 9 new rotating variable stars are identified. Using the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) framework, we fitted the morphologies of SLF variability for magnetic hot stars. Our analysis reveals that the magnetic hot stars in our sample have $\gamma < 5.5$ with the vast majority having $1 \leq \gamma \leq 3$. The $\nu_{\rm char}$ is primarily in the ranges of $0\;\text{d}^{-1} < \nu_{\rm char} < 6.3\;\text{d}^{-1}$. The amplitude of SLF variability, log$\alpha_{\rm 0}$, shows a dominant distribution ranging from 0.8 to 3. No significant correlations are observed between the luminosity and fitting parameters, suggesting no clear dependence of SLF variability on stellar mass for our sample of magnetic hot stars with masses between approximately $1.5 M_{\odot}< M < 20 M_{\odot}$. We found a significant negative correlation between the $B_{\rm p}$ and $\nu_{char}$. This suppression effect of magnetic fields on $\nu_{\rm char}$ may be a result of their inhibition of macroturbulence.

Observing ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and very high energy (VHE) neutrinos from space is a promising way to measure their extremely low fluxes by significantly increasing the observed volume. The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 2 (EUSO-SPB2), the next, most advanced pathfinder for such a mission, was launched May 13th 2023 from Wanaka New Zealand. The pioneering EUSO-SPB2 payload flew a Fluorescence Telescope (FT) with a PMT camera pointed in nadir to record fluorescence light from cosmic ray extensive air shower (EAS) with energies above 1 EeV, and a Cherenkov telescope (CT) with a silicon photomultiplier focal surface for observing Cherenkov emission of cosmic ray EAS with energies above 1 PeV with an above-the-limb geometry and of PeV-scale EAS initiated by neutrino-sourced tau decay. As the CT is a novel instrument, optical background measurements for space neutrino observation are an important goal of the mission. Any data collected during the mission will influence and improve the development of a space-based multi-messenger observatory such as the Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA). We present an overview of the EUSO-SPB2 mission and its science goals and summarize results as available, from the 2023 flight.

We calculate the jet power of the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) model and the hybrid model based on the self-similar solution of advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). We study the formation mechanism of the jets of BL Lacs with known redshifts detected by the Fermi satellite after 10 yr of data (4FGL-DR2). The kinetic power of the jets of Fermi BL Lacs is estimated through radio luminosity. The main results are as follows. (1) We find that the jet kinetic power of about 72\% intermediate peak frequency BL Lacs (IBL) and 94\% high-frequency peak BL Lacs (HBL) can be explained by the hybrid jet model based on ADAFs surrounding Kerr black holes. However, the jet kinetic power of about 74\% LBL cannot be explained by the BZ jet model or the hybrid model. (2) The LBL has a higher accretion rate than IBL and HBL. About 14\% IBL and 62\% HBL have pure optically thin ADAFs. However, 7\% LBL may have a hybrid structure consisting of an standard thin disk (SS) plus optically thin ADAFs. (3) After excluding the redshift dependence, there is a weak correlation between the jet kinetic power and the accretion disk luminosity for Fermi BL Lacs. (4) There is a significant correlation between inverse Compton luminosity and synchrotron luminosity for Fermi BL Lacs. The slope of the relation between inverse Compton luminosity and synchrotron luminosity for Fermi BL Lacs is consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) process. The result may suggest that the high-energy components of Fermi BL Lacs are dominated by the SSC process.

This study progresses solar flare prediction research by presenting a full-disk deep-learning model to forecast $\geq$M-class solar flares and evaluating its efficacy on both central (within $\pm$70$^\circ$) and near-limb (beyond $\pm$70$^\circ$) events, showcasing qualitative assessment of post hoc explanations for the model's predictions, and providing empirical findings from human-centered quantitative assessments of these explanations. Our model is trained using hourly full-disk line-of-sight magnetogram images to predict $\geq$M-class solar flares within the subsequent 24-hour prediction window. Additionally, we apply the Guided Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Guided Grad-CAM) attribution method to interpret our model's predictions and evaluate the explanations. Our analysis unveils that full-disk solar flare predictions correspond with active region characteristics. The following points represent the most important findings of our study: (1) Our deep learning models achieved an average true skill statistic (TSS) of $\sim$0.51 and a Heidke skill score (HSS) of $\sim$0.38, exhibiting skill to predict solar flares where for central locations the average recall is $\sim$0.75 (recall values for X- and M-class are 0.95 and 0.73 respectively) and for the near-limb flares the average recall is $\sim$0.52 (recall values for X- and M-class are 0.74 and 0.50 respectively); (2) qualitative examination of the model's explanations reveals that it discerns and leverages features linked to active regions in both central and near-limb locations within full-disk magnetograms to produce respective predictions. In essence, our models grasp the shape and texture-based properties of flaring active regions, even in proximity to limb areas -- a novel and essential capability with considerable significance for operational forecasting systems.

In this letter, we propose an improved cosmological model independent method of determining the value of the Hubble constant $H_0$. The method uses unanchored luminosity distances $H_0d_L(z)$ from SN Ia Pantheon data combined with angular diameter distances $d_A(z)$ from a sample of intermediate luminosity radio quasars calibrated as standard rulers. The distance duality relation between $d_L(z)$ and $d_A(z)$, which is robust and independent of any cosmological model, allows to disentangle $H_0$ from such combination. However, the number of redshift matched quasars and SN Ia pairs is small (37 data-points). Hence, we take an advantage from the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method to recover the $d_A(z)$ relation from a network trained on full 120 radio quasar sample. In this case, the result is unambiguously consistent with values of $H_0$ obtained from local probes by SH0ES and H0LiCOW collaborations. Three statistical summary measures: weighted mean $\widetilde{H}_0=73.51(\pm0.67) {~km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}}$, median $Med(H_0)=74.71(\pm4.08) {~km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}}$ and MCMC simulated posterior distribution $H_0=73.52^{+0.66}_{-0.68} {~km~s^{-1}~Mpc^{-1}}$ are fully consistent with each other and the precision reached $1\%$ level. This is encouraging for the future applications of our method. Because individual measurements of $H_0$ are related to different redshifts spanning the range $z=0.5 - 2.0$, we take advantage of this fact to check if there is any noticeable trend in $H_0$ measurements with redshift of objects used for this purpose. However, our result is that the data we used strongly support the lack of such systematic effects.

Measurements of the peculiar velocities of large samples of galaxies enable new tests of the standard cosmological model, including determination of the growth rate of cosmic structure that encodes gravitational physics. With the size of such samples now approaching hundreds of thousands of galaxies, complex statistical analysis techniques and models are required to extract cosmological information. In this paper we summarise how correlation functions between galaxy velocities, and with the surrounding large-scale structure, may be utilised to test cosmological models. We present new determinations of the analytical covariance between such correlation functions, which may be useful for cosmological likelihood analyses. The statistical model we use to determine these covariances includes the sample selection functions, observational noise, curved-sky effects and redshift-space distortions. By comparing these covariance determinations with corresponding estimates from large suites of cosmological simulations, we demonstrate that these analytical models recover the key features of the covariance between different statistics and separations, and produce similar measurements of the growth rate of structure.

Filaments are one of the most common features in the solar atmosphere, and are of significance in solar, stellar and laboratory plasma physics. Using data from the Chinese H$\alpha$ Solar Explorer, the Solar Upper Transition Region Imager and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we report on multiwavelength imaging and spectral observations of the activation of a small filament. The filament activation produces several localized dynamic brightenings, which are probably produced by internal reconnections of the braided magnetic fields in the filament. The filament expands during the activation and its threads reconnect with the ambient magnetic fields, which leads to the formation of hot arcades or loops overlying the filament. The thermal energy of each of these localized brightenings is estimated in the order of $10^{25}-10^{27} erg$ and the total energy is estimated to be $\sim1.77 \times 10^{28} erg$. Our observations demonstrate that the internal magnetic reconnections in the filament can lead to localized heating to the filament threads and prompt external reconnections with ambient corona structures, and thus could contribute to the energy and mass transferring into the corona.

Understanding telescope pointing (i.e., line of sight) is important for observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and astronomical objects. The Moon is a candidate astronomical source for pointing calibration. Although the visible size of the Moon ($\ang{;30}$) is larger than that of the planets, we can frequently observe the Moon once a month with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We developed a method for performing pointing calibration using observational data from the Moon. We considered the tilts of the telescope axes as well as the encoder and collimation offsets for pointing calibration. In addition, we evaluated the effects of the nonuniformity of the brightness temperature of the Moon, which is a dominant systematic error. As a result, we successfully achieved a pointing accuracy of $\ang{;3.3}$ compared with an angular resolution of $\ang{;36}$ (i.e., 9\% uncertainty in the angular resolution). This level of accuracy competes with past achievements in other ground-based CMB experiments using observational data from the planets.

The aim of the current paper is to apply the method of Bambi (Bambi, 2015) to a source which contains two or more simultaneous triads of variability components. The joint chi-square variable that can be composed in this case, unlike some previous studies, allows the goodness of the fit to be tested. It appears that a good fit requires one of the observation groups to be disregarded. Even then, the model prediction for the mass of the neutron star in the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057 is way too high to be accepted.

We separately assess elemental abundances in AGNs' broad and narrow emission line regions (BLR and NLR), based on a critical assessment of published results together with new photoionization models. We find 1) He/H enhancements in some AGN, exceeding what can be explained by normal chemical evolution and confirm 2) super-solar {\alpha} abundance, though to a lesser degree than previously reported. We also reaffirm 3) a N/O ratio consistent with secondary production; 4) solar or slightly sub-solar Fe abundance; and 5) red-shift independent metallicity, in contrast with galactic chemical evolution. We interpret 6) the larger metallicity in the BLR than NRL in terms of an in situ stellar evolution and pollution in AGN discs (SEPAD) model. We attribute: a) the redshift independence to the heavy element pollutants being disposed into the disc and accreted onto the central supermassive black hole (SMBH); b) the limited He excess to the accretion-wind metabolism of a top-heavy population of evolving massive main sequence stars; c) the super-solar CNO enrichment to the nuclear synthesis during their post-main-sequence evolution; d) the large N/O to the byproduct of multiple stellar generations; and e) the Mg, Si, and Fe to the ejecta of type II supernovae in the disc. These results provide supporting evidence for f) ongoing self-regulated star formation, g) adequate stellar luminosity to maintain marginal gravitational stability, h) prolific production of seeds and i) dense coexistence of subsequently-grown residual black hole populations in AGN discs.

Using multi-frequency Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) observations, we probe the jet size in the optically thick hard state jets of two black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB) systems, MAXI J1820+070 and V404 Cygni. Due to optical depth effects, the phase referenced VLBI core positions move along the jet axis of the BHXRB in a frequency dependent manner. We use this "core shift" to constrain the physical size of the hard state jet. We place an upper limit of $0.3$\,au on the jet size measured between the 15 and 5 GHz emission regions of the jet in MAXI J1820+070, and an upper limit of $1.0$\,au between the $8.4$ and $4.8$\,GHz emission regions of V404 Cygni. Our limit on the jet size in MAXI J1820+070 observed in the low-hard state is a factor of $5$ smaller than the values previously observed in the high-luminosity hard state (using time lags between multi-frequency light curves), thus showing evidence of the BHXRB jet scaling in size with jet luminosity. We also investigate whether motion of the radio-emitting region along the jet axis could affect the measured VLBI parallaxes for the two systems, leading to a mild tension with the parallax measurements of Gaia. Having mitigated the impact of any motion along the jet axis in the measured astrometry, we find the previous VLBI parallax measurements of MAXI J1820+070 and V404 Cygni to be unaffected by jet motion. With a total time baseline of $8$ years, due to having incorporated fourteen new epochs in addition to the previously published ones, our updated parallax measurement of V404 Cygni is $0.450 \pm 0.018$\,mas ($2.226 \pm 0.091$\,kpc).

We report on further observations of the field of the quasar Q1218+0832. Geier et al. (2019) presented the discovery of the quasar resulting from a search for quasars reddened and dimmed by dust in foreground Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers (DLAs). The DLA is remarkable by having a very large HI column density close to 10^22 cm^-2. Its dust extinction curve shows the 2175 AA-bump known from the Local Group. It also shows absorption from cold gas exemplified by CI and CO-molecules. We here present narrow-band observations of the field of Q1218+0832 and also use archival HST image to search for the galaxy counterpart of the DLA. No emission from the DLA galaxy is found neither in the narrow-band imaging nor in the HST image. In the HST image, we can probe down to an impact parameter of 0.3 arcsec and a 3-sigma detection limit of 26.8 mag per arcsec^2. In the narrow-band image, we probe down to 0 arcsec impact parameter and detect nothing down to a 3-sigma detection limit of about 3*10^-17 erg s^-1 cm^-2. We do detect a bright Lyman-alpha emitter 59 arcsec south of Q1218+0832 with a flux of 3*10^-16 erg s^-1 cm^-2. We conclude that the DLA galaxy must be located at very small impact parameter (<0.3 arcsec, 2.5 kpc) or is optically dark. Also, the DLA galaxy most likely is part of a galaxy group.

Highly magnetized neutron stars have magnetic fields of order of the critical field and can lead to measurable QED effects. We consider the Goldreich-Julian pulsar model with supercritical magnetic fields, induced subcritical electric fields, and a period of milliseconds. We then study the strong field physics, such as Schwinger pair production and the vacuum birefringence including the wrench effect, whose X-ray polarimetry will be observed in future space missions.

As one of the brightest galactic ${\gamma}$-ray sources, the Cygnus Cocoon superbubble has been observed by many detectors, such as $Fermi$-LAT, ARGO, HAWC, and LHAASO. However, the origin of $\gamma$-ray emission for the Cygnus Cocoon and the possible contribution to PeV cosmic rays are still under debate. The recent ultrahigh-energy $\gamma$-ray observations by LHAASO up to 1.4 PeV towards the direction of the Cygnus Cocoon, as well as the neutrino event report of IceCube-201120A coming from the same direction, suggest that the Cygnus Cocoon may be one of the sources of high-energy cosmic rays in the Galaxy. In this work, we propose a dual-zone diffusion model for the Cygnus Cocoon: the cocoon region and surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). This scenario can account for the $\gamma$-ray data from GeV to $\sim$ 50 TeV and agree with the one sub-PeV neutrino event result from IceCube so far. Moreover, it predict a non-negligible contribution $\gamma$-ray emission at hundreds TeV from the ISM surrounding the Cygnus Cocoon. This possible diffuse TeV-PeV gamma-ray features can be resolved by the future LHAASO observations.

Acceleration processes that occur in astrophysical plasmas produce cosmic rays that are observed on Earth. To study particle acceleration, fully-kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are often used as they can unveil the microphysics of energization processes. Tracing of individual particles in PIC simulations is particularly useful in this regard. However, by-eye inspection of particle trajectories includes a high level of bias and uncertainty in pinpointing specific acceleration mechanisms that affect particles. Here we present a new approach that uses neural networks to aid individual particle data analysis. We demonstrate this approach on the test data that consists of 252,000 electrons which have been traced in a PIC simulation of a non-relativistic high Mach number perpendicular shock, in which we observe the two-stream electrostatic Buneman instability to pre-accelerate a portion of electrons to nonthermal energies. We perform classification, regression and anomaly detection by using a Convolutional Neural Network. We show that regardless of how noisy and imbalanced the datasets are, the regression and classification are able to predict the final energies of particles with high accuracy, whereas anomaly detection is able to discern between energetic and non-energetic particles. The methodology proposed may considerably simplify particle classification in large-scale PIC and also hybrid kinetic simulations.

We present an analysis of the detection fraction and the number counts of radio sources imaged with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at 1.4 GHz as part of the mJIVE-20 survey. From a sample of 24,903 radio sources identified by FIRST, 4,965 are detected on VLBI-scales, giving an overall detection fraction of $19.9\pm2.9~$per cent. However, we find that the detection fraction falls from around 50 per cent at a peak surface brightness of $80~mJy~beam^{-1}$ in FIRST to around 8 per cent at the detection limit, which is likely dominated by the surface brightness sensitivity of the VLBI observations, with some contribution from a change in the radio source population. We also find that compactness at arcsec-scales is the dominant factor in determining whether a radio source is detected with VLBI, and that the median size of the VLBI-detected radio sources is 7.7 mas. After correcting for the survey completeness and effective sky area, we determine the slope of the differential number counts of VLBI-detected radio sources with flux densities $S_{\rm 1.4~GHz} > 1~mJy$ to be $\eta_{\rm VLBI} = -1.74\pm 0.02$, which is shallower than in the cases of the FIRST parent population ($\eta_{\rm FIRST} = -1.77\pm 0.02$) and for compact radio sources selected at higher frequencies ($\eta_{\rm JBF} = -2.06\pm 0.02$). From this, we find that all-sky ($3\pi~sr$) surveys with the EVN and the VLBA have the potential to detect $(7.2\pm0.9)\times10^{5}$ radio sources at mas-resolution, and that the density of compact radio sources is sufficient (5.3~deg$^{-2}$) for in-beam phase referencing with multiple sources (3.9 per primary beam) in the case of a hypothetical SKA-VLBI array.

Recent observations of cosmic rays (CRs) have revealed a two-component anomaly in the spectra of primary and secondary particles, as well as their ratios, prompting investigation into their common origin. In this study, we incorporate the identification of slow diffusion zones around sources as a common phenomenon into our calculations, which successfully reproduces all previously described anomalies except for the positron spectrum. Crucially, our research offers a clear physical picture of the origin of CR: while high-energy ($\textrm{>200~GV}$, including the knee) particles are primarily produced by fresh accelerators and are confined to local regions, low energy ($\textrm{<200~GV}$) components come from distant sources and travel through the outer diffusive zone outside of the galactic disk. This scenario can be universally applied in the galactic disk, as evidenced by ultra-high energy diffuse $\rm\gamma$-ray emissions detected by the AS$\rm\gamma$ experiment. Furthermore, our results predict that the spectrum of diffuse $\rm\gamma$-ray is spatial-dependent, resting with local sources, which can be tested by LHAASO experiment.

The majority of baryons, which account for $15\%$ of the matter in the Universe, will end their lives as carbon and oxygen inside cold black dwarfs. Dark matter (DM) makes up the remaining $85\%$ of the matter in the universe, however, the fate of DM is unknown. Here we show that the destiny of purely gravitationally interacting DM particles follows one of two possible routes. The first possible route, the "radiation-destiny" scenario, is that massive DM particles lose sufficient energy through gravitational radiation causing them to spiral into a supermassive black hole that ultimately disappears through Hawking radiation. The second possible route, the "drifting-alone" destiny, applies to lighter DM particles, where only the central DM halo region spirals into the central BH which is then Hawking radiated away. The rest of the DM halo is ripped apart by the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Observational constraints on Mercury's thermal evolution and magnetic field indicate that the top part of the fluid core is stably stratified. Here we compute how a stable layer affects the core flow in response to Mercury's main 88-day longitudinal libration, assuming various degrees of stratification, and study whether the core flow can modify the libration amplitude through viscous and electromagnetic torques acting on the core-mantle boundary (CMB). We show that the core flow strongly depends on the strength of the stratification near the CMB but that the influence of core motions on libration is negligible with or without a stably stratified layer. A stably stratified layer at the top of the core can however prevent resonant behaviour with gravito-inertial modes by impeding radial motions and promote a strong horizontal flow near the CMB. The librationally driven flow is likely turbulent and might produce a non-axisymmetric induced magnetic field with a strength of the order of 1$\%$ of Mercury's dipolar field.

Carbon-deficient red giants (CDGs) are a peculiar class of stars that have eluded explanation for decades. We aim to better characterise CDGs by using asteroseismology (Kepler, TESS) combined with spectroscopy (APOGEE, LAMOST), and astrometry (Gaia). We discovered 15 new CDGs in the Kepler field, and confirm that CDGs are rare, being only $0.15\%$ of our background sample. Remarkably, we find that our CDGs are almost exclusively in the red clump (RC) phase. Asteroseismic masses reveal that our CDGs are primarily low-mass stars ($M \lesssim$ 2~M$_{\odot}$), in contrast to previous studies which suggested they are intermediate mass ($M = 2.5 - 5.0~\rm M_{\odot}$) based on HR diagrams. A very high fraction of our CDGs ($50\%$) are also Li-rich giants. We observe a bimodal distribution of luminosity in our CDGs, with one group having normal RC luminosity and the other being a factor of two more luminous than expected for their masses. We find demarcations in chemical patterns and luminosities which lead us to split them into three groups: (i) normal-luminosity CDGs, (ii) over-luminous CDGs, and (iii) over-luminous highly-polluted CDGs. We conclude that a merger of a helium white dwarf with an RGB star is the most likely scenario for the two groups of over-luminous stars. Binary mass-transfer from intermediate-mass AGB stars is a possibility for the highly-polluted over-luminous group. For the normal-luminosity CDGs, we cannot distinguish between core He-flash pollution or lower-mass merger scenarios. Due to the overlap with the CDGs, Li-rich giants may have similar formation channels.

We report the detection of large hydrocarbon cycles toward several cold dense clouds. We observed four sources (L1495B, Lupus-1A, L483, and L1527) in the Q band (31-50 GHz) using the Yebes 40m radiotelescope. Using the line stack technique, we find statistically significant evidence of benzonitrile (C6H5CN) in L1495B, Lupus-1A, and L483 at the 31.8 sigma, 15.0 sigma, and 17.2 sigma levels, respectively, while there is no hint of C6H5CN in the fourth source, L1527. The column densities derived are in the range (1.8-4.0)e12 cm-2, which is somewhat below the value derived toward the cold dense cloud TMC-1. When we analyse together all the benzonitrile abundances derived toward cold clouds in this study and in the literature, a clear trend emerges in which the higher the abundance of HC7N, the more abundant C6H5CN is. This indicates that aromatic cycles are specially favored in those interstellar clouds where long carbon chains are abundant, which suggests that the chemical processes that are responsible for the formation of linear carbon chains are also behind the synthesis of aromatic rings. We also searched for cycles other than benzonitrile, and found evidence of indene (C9H8), cyclopentadiene (C5H6), and 1-cyano cyclopentadiene (1-C5H5CN) at the 9.3 sigma, 7.5 sigma, and 8.4 sigma, respectively, toward L1495B, which shows the strongest signal from C6H5CN. The relative abundances between the various cycles detected in L1495B are consistent, within a factor of three, to those found previously in TMC-1. It is therefore likely that not only C6H5CN but also other large aromatic cycles are abundant in clouds rich in carbon chains.

We present VLT/MUSE observations targeting the extended Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) emission of five high-redshift ($z\sim$3-4) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) with increasing quasar (QSO) radiation: two SMGs, two SMGs hosting a QSO, and one SMG hosting a QSO with a SMG companion (QSO+SMG). These sources should be located in dark matter halos of comparable masses (average mass of $M_{\rm DM}\sim10^{12.2}\,{\rm M}_\odot$). We quantify the luminosity and extent of the Ly$\alpha$ emission, together with its kinematics, and examine four Ly$\alpha$ powering mechanisms: photoionization from QSOs/star formation, shocks by galactic/QSO outflows, gravitational cooling radiation, and Ly$\alpha$ photons resonant scattering. We find a variety of Ly$\alpha$ luminosities and extents, with the QSO+SMG system displaying the most extended and bright nebula, followed by the SMGs hosting a QSO, and finally the undetected circumgalactic medium (CGM) of SMGs. This diversity implies that gravitational cooling is unlikely to be the main powering mechanism. We show that photoionization from the QSO and QSO outflows can contribute to power the emission for average densities $n_{\rm H}>0.5\,$cm$^{-3}$. Moreover, the observed Ly$\alpha$ luminosities scale with the QSO's budget of Ly$\alpha$ photons modulo the dust content in each galaxy, highlighting a possible contribution from resonant scattering of QSO's radiation in powering the nebulae. We find larger Ly$\alpha$ linewidths (FWHM$\gtrsim 1200\,$km$\,$s$^{-1}$) than usually reported around radio-quiet systems, pointing to large-scale outflows. A statistical survey targeting similar high-redshift massive systems with known host properties is needed to confirm our findings.

Synchrotron radiation from relativistic electrons is usually invoked as the responsible for the nonthermal emission observed in Supernova Remnants (SNRs). Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) is the most popular mechanism to explain the process of particles acceleration and within its framework a crucial role is played by the turbulent magnetic-field. However, the standard models commonly used to fit X-ray synchrotron emission do not take into account the effects of turbulence in the shape of the resulting photon spectra. An alternative mechanism that properly includes such effects is the jitter radiation, that provides for an additional power-law beyond the classical synchrotron cutoff. We fitted a jitter spectral model to Chandra, NuSTAR, SWIFT/BAT and INTEGRAL/ISGRI spectra of Cassiopeia A and found that it describes the X-ray soft-to-hard range better than any of the standard cutoff models. The jitter radiation allows us to measure the index of the magnetic turbulence spectrum $\nu_B$ and the minimum scale of the turbulence $\lambda_{\rm{min}}$ across several regions of Cas A, with best-fit values $\nu_B \sim 2-2.4$ and $\lambda_{\rm{min}} \lesssim 100$ km.

In this paper we investigate the role of AGN feedback on the late stage evolution of elliptical galaxies by performing high-resolution hydrodynamical simulation in the {\it MACER} framework. By comparing models that take into account different feedback mechanisms, namely AGN and stellar feedback, we find that AGN feedback is crucial in keeping the black hole in a low accretion state and suppressing the star formation. We then compare the energy from AGN radiation and wind deposited in the galaxy and find that only wind can compensate for the radiative cooling of the gas in the galaxy. Further, we investigate which plays the dominant role, the wind from the cold (quasar) or hot (radio) feedback modes, by examining the cumulative energy output and impact area to which the wind can heat the interstellar medium and suppress star formation. Our results indicate that first, although AGN spends most of its time in hot (radio) mode, the cumulative energy output is dominated by the outburst of the cold mode. Second, only the impact area of the cold-mode wind is large enough to heat the gas in the halo, while the hot-mode wind is not. Additionally, the cold-mode wind is capable of sweeping up the material from stellar mass loss. These results indicate the dominant role of cold-mode wind. The limitations of our model, including the absence of jet feedback, are discussed.

The proto-Milky Way epoch forms the earliest stars in our Galaxy and sets the initial conditions for subsequent disk formation. Recent observations from APOGEE and H3 surveys showed that the [$\alpha$/Fe] ratio slowly declined between [Fe/H] $=-3$ and $-1.3$ until it reached the lowest value ($\sim 0.25$) among the selected in situ metal-poor stars that most likely formed during the proto-Galaxy epoch. [$\alpha$/Fe] rose to meet the traditional high value commonly associated with the thick disk population at [Fe/H] $=-1$. It was suggested that the rise in [$\alpha$/Fe] could be caused by an increase in the star formation efficiency (SFE), known as the "simmering" phase scenario. However, gas inflow also plays a vital role in shaping the star formation history and chemical evolution of galaxies. We investigate this unexpected [$\alpha$/Fe]-rise with a statistical experiment involving a galactic chemical evolution (GCE). Our model has five free parameters: the mass of the initial reservoir of the cold interstellar medium (ISM) at birth, the frequency of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), the cooling timescale of the warm ISM, the SFE, and the inflow rate of fresh gas. The last two free parameters were allowed to change after [$\alpha$/Fe] reached its lowest value, dividing the proto-Galaxy epoch into two phases. We find that the rise in [$\alpha$/Fe] is caused by a large inflow of fresh gas and conclude that the [$\alpha$/Fe]-rise is a signature of the cold mode accretion whose materials formed the prototype Milky Way preceding disk formation. Although the SFE is essential in regulating the chemical evolution, it does not necessarily increase to facilitate the [$\alpha$/Fe]-rise.

The global coronal model COCONUT was originally developed to replace models such as the WSA model in space weather forecasting to improve the physical accuracy of the predictions. This model has, however, several simplifications implemented in its formulation to allow for rapid convergence, one of which includes a single-fluid treatment. In this paper, we have two goals. Firstly, we aim to introduce a novel multi-fluid global coronal model and validate it with simple cases as well as with real data-driven applications. Secondly, we aim to investigate to what extent considering a single-fluid plasma in the global coronal model might affect the resulting plasma dynamics, and thus whether the assumptions on which the single-fluid coronal model is based are justified. We developed a multi-fluid global coronal model, COCONUT-MF, which resolves the ion and neutral fluid equations separately. While this model is still steady-state and thus does not resolve unsteady processes, it can account for charge exchange, chemical and collisional contributions. We present the results of the ion-neutral modelling for a dipole, a minimum of solar activity, and a solar maximum. We demonstrate the higher accuracy of the applied AUSM+ scheme compared to HLL. Subsequently, we also evaluate the effects of the considered ion-neutral coupling terms on the resulting plasma dynamics. Despite the very low concentration of neutrals, these terms still affect the flow field to a limited but non-negligible extent (up to 5 to 10% locally). Even though the coronal plasma is generally assumed to be collisionless, our results show that there is sufficient collisionality in it to couple the two fluids. Follow-up work will include extension of the model to lower atmospheric layers of the Sun and inclusion of more advanced physical terms such as heating and radiation.

We report JWST NIRCam observations of G0.253+0.015, the molecular cloud in the Central Molecular Zone known as The Brick, with the F182M, F187N, F212N, F410M, F405N, and F466N filters. We catalog 56,146 stars detected in all 6 filters using the crowdsource package. Stars within and behind The Brick exhibit prodigious absorption in the F466N filter that is produced by a combination of CO ice and gas. In support of this conclusion, and as a general resource, we present models of CO gas and ice and CO$_2$ ice in the F466N, F470N, and F410M filters. Both CO gas and ice may contribute to the observed stellar colors. We show, however, that CO gas does not absorb the Pf$\beta$ and Hu$\epsilon$ lines in F466N, but that these lines show excess absorption, indicating that CO ice is also present and contributes to observed F466N absorption. The most strongly absorbed stars in F466N are extincted by $\sim$ 2 magnitudes, corresponding to $>$ 80\% flux loss. This high observed absorption requires very high column densities of CO, requiring total CO column that is in tension with standard CO abundance and/or gas-to-dust ratios. There is therefore likely to be a greater CO/H$_2$ ratio (X$_{CO} > 10^{-4}$) and more dust per H$_2$ molecule ($>0.01$) in the Galactic Center than the Galactic disk. Ice and/or gas absorption is observed even in the cloud outskirts, implying that additional caution is needed when interpreting stellar photometry in filters that overlap with ice bands throughout our Galactic Center. The widespread CO absorption in our Galactic Center hints that significant ice absorption is likely present in other galactic centers.

During substructure formation in magnetized astrophysical plasma, dissipation of magnetic energy facilitated by magnetic reconnection affects the system dynamics by heating and accelerating the ejected plasmoids. Numerical simulations are a crucial tool for investigating such systems. In astrophysical simulations, the energy dissipation, reconnection rate and substructure formation critically depend on the onset of reconnection of numerical or physical origin. In this paper, we hope to assess the reliability of the state-of-the-art numerical codes, PLUTO and KORAL by quantifying and discussing the impact of dimensionality, resolution, and code accuracy on magnetic energy dissipation, reconnection rate, and substructure formation. We quantitatively compare results obtained with relativistic and non-relativistic, resistive and non-resistive, as well as two- and three-dimensional setups performing the Orszag-Tang test problem. We find the sufficient resolution in each model, for which numerical error is negligible and the resolution does not significantly affect the magnetic energy dissipation and reconnection rate. The non-relativistic simulations show that at sufficient resolution, magnetic and kinetic energies convert to internal energy and heat up the plasma. The results show that in the relativistic system, energy components undergo mutual conversion during the simulation time, which leads to a substantial increase in magnetic energy at 20\% and 90\% of the total simulation time of $10$ light-crossing times -- the magnetic field is amplified by a factor of five due to relativistic shocks. We also show that the reconnection rate in all our simulations is higher than $0.1$, indicating plasmoid-mediated regime. It is shown that in KORAL simulations magnetic energy is slightly larger and more substructures are captured than in PLUTO simulations.

The wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope (WST) is proposed to become the next large optical/near infrared facility for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) once the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has become operational. While the latter is optimized for unprecedented sensitivity and adaptive-optics assisted image quality over a small field-of-view, WST addresses the need for large survey volumes in spectroscopy with the light-collecting power of a 10 m class telescope. Its unique layout will feature the combination of multi-object and integral field spectroscopy simultaneously. For the intended capacity of this layout a very large number of detectors is needed. The complexity of the detector systems presents a number of challenges that are discussed with a focus on novel approaches and innovative detector designs that can be expected to emerge over the anticipated 20-year timeline of this project.

Recent observations of old warm neutron stars suggest the presence of a heating source in these stars, requiring a paradigm beyond the standard neutron-star cooling theory. In this work, we study the scenario where this heating is caused by the friction associated with the creep motion of neutron superfluid vortex lines in the crust. As it turns out, the heating luminosity in this scenario is proportional to the time derivative of the angular velocity of the pulsar rotation, and the proportional constant $J$ has an approximately universal value for all neutron stars. This $J$ parameter can be determined from the temperature observation of old neutron stars because the heating luminosity is balanced with the photon emission at late times. We study the latest data of neutron star temperature observation and find that these data indeed give similar values of $J$, in favor of the assumption that the frictional motion of vortex lines heats these neutron stars. These values turn out to be consistent with the theoretical calculations of the vortex-nuclear interaction.

MWC 349A is a massive star with a well-known circumstellar disk rotating following a Keplerian law, and an ionized wind launched from the disk surface. Recent ALMA observations carried out toward this system have however revealed an additional high-velocity component in the strong, maser emission of hydrogen radio recombination lines (RRLs), suggesting the presence of a high-velocity ionized jet. In this work, we present 3D non-LTE radiative transfer modeling of the emission of the H30$\alpha$ and H26$\alpha$ maser lines, and of their associated radio continuum emission, toward the MWC 349A massive star. By using the MORELI code, we reproduce the spatial distribution and kinematics of the high-velocity emission of the H30$\alpha$ and H26$\alpha$ maser lines with a high-velocity ionized jet expanding at a velocity of $\sim$ 250 km s$^{-1}$, surrounded by MWC 349A's wide-angle ionized wind. The bipolar jet, which is launched from MWC 349A's disk, is poorly collimated and slightly miss-aligned with respect to the disk rotation axis. Thanks to the unprecedented sensitivity and spatial accuracy provided by ALMA, we also find that the already known, wide-angle ionized wind decelerates as it expands radially from the ionized disk. We briefly discuss the implications of our findings in understanding the formation and evolution of massive stars. Our results show the huge potential of RRL masers as powerful probes of the innermost ionized regions around massive stars and of their high-velocity jets.

Despite decades of scientific research on the subject, the climate of the first 1.5 Gyr of Mars history has not been fully understood yet. Especially challenging is the need to reconcile the presence of liquid water for extended periods of time on the martian surface with the comparatively low insolation received by the planet, a problem which is known as the Faint Young Sun (FYS) Paradox. In this paper we use ESTM, a latitudinal energy balance model with enhanced prescriptions for meridional heat diffusion, and the radiative transfer code EOS to investigate how seasonal variations of temperature can give rise to local conditions which are conductive to liquid water runoffs. We include the effects of the martian dichotomy, a northern ocean with either 150 or 550 m of Global Equivalent Layer (GEL) and simplified CO$_2$ or H$_2$O clouds. We find that 1.3-to-2.0 bar CO$_2$-dominated atmospheres can produce seasonal thaws due to inefficient heat redistribution, provided that the eccentricity and the obliquity of the planet are sufficiently different from zero. We also studied the impact of different values for the argument of perihelion. When local favorable conditions exist, they nearly always persist for $>15\%$ of the martian year. These results are obtained without the need for additional greenhouse gases (e.g. H$_2$, CH$_4$) or transient heat-injecting phenomena (e.g. asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions). Moderate amounts (0.1 to 1\%) of CH$_4$ significantly widens the parameter space region in which seasonal thaws are possible.

Continuing previous work on the identification and characterization of periodic and non-periodic variations in long and almost uninterrupted high cadence light curves of cataclysmic variables observed by the TESS mission, the results on 23 novalike variables and old novae out of sample of 127 suchsystems taken from the Ritter & Kolb catalogue are presented. All of them exhibit at least at some epochs either positive or negative (or both) superhumps, and in 19 of them superhumps were detected for the first time. The basic properties of the superhumps such as their periods, their appearance and disappearance, and their waveforms are explored. Together with recent reports in the literature, this elevates the number of known novalike variables and old novae with superhumps by more than 50%. The previous census of superhumps and the Stolz-Schoembs relation for these stars are updated. Attention is drawn to superhump properties in some stars which behave differently from the average, as well as to positive superhumps in high mass ratio systems which defy theory. As a byproduct, the orbital periods of 13 stars are either improved or newly measured, correcting previously reported erroneous values.

The composition of relativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets and their emission mechanisms are still debated, and they could be matter or magnetically dominated. One way to distinguish these mechanisms arises because a Poynting flux dominated jet may produce low-frequency radio emission during the energetic prompt phase, through magnetic reconnection at the shock front. We present a search for radio emission coincident with three GRB X-ray flares with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR), in a rapid response mode follow-up of long GRB 210112A (at z~2) with a 2 hour duration, where our observations began 511 seconds after the initial swift-BAT trigger. Using timesliced imaging at 120-168 MHz, we obtain upper limits at 3 sigma confidence of 42 mJy averaging over 320 second snapshot images, and 87 mJy averaging over 60 second snapshot images. LOFAR's fast response time means that all three potential radio counterparts to X-ray flares are observable after accounting for dispersion at the estimated source redshift. Furthermore, the radio pulse in the magnetic wind model was expected to be detectable at our observing frequency and flux density limits which allows us to disfavour a region of parameter space for this GRB. However, we note that stricter constraints on redshift and the fraction of energy in the magnetic field are required to further test jet characteristics across the GRB population.

We present a study of the morphology of star formation and the associated nuclear activity in a sample of 8 closely interacting southern galaxies, which are in different stages of interaction, starting with nearly merged nuclei that have one prominent bulge to more widely spaced interacting galaxies. We have used Far-Ultraviolet (FUV) observations from the Ultraviolet Imaging telescope (UVIT), near-Infrared observations from the infrared survey facility telescope (IRSF) and archival optical data from the VLT/MUSE integral field spectrograph. Analysing resolved stellar populations across the disk of the interacting galaxies can provide unique insights into how interactions affect galaxy properties, such as morphology, star formation rates and chemical composition. We take advantage of the unprecedented capabilities of MUSE and UVIT to carry out a highly detailed spatially and spectrally resolved study of star formation rate, star formation histories, metallicity and AGN activity in the sample of eight interacting galaxies which are in different stages of interaction. Most of our sample galaxies are gas-rich and show evidence of recent, massive star formation in tidal tails, rings and spiral arms. This is evident from their FUV and H$\alpha$ emissions, which trace young, massive star-forming regions. We compared the star formation rate in the barred and unbarred galaxies in our sample and found that the barred galaxies do not show significant enhancement in star formation rate or large-scale difference in star formation morphology compared to unbarred galaxies. IC5250 and NGC7733N, show extended nuclear outflows of size $\sim$ 5 kpc and 8 kpc respectively.

We propose a general principle that under the radiative-convective equilibrium, the spatial and temporal variations in a planet's surface and atmosphere tend to increase its cooling. This principle is based on Jensen's inequality and the curvature of the response functions of surface temperature and outgoing cooling flux to changes in incoming stellar flux and atmospheric opacity. We use an analytical model to demonstrate that this principle holds for various planet types: (1) on an airless planet, the mean surface temperature is lower than its equilibrium temperature; (2) on terrestrial planets with atmospheres, the inhomogeneity of incoming stellar flux and atmospheric opacity reduces the mean surface temperature; (3) on giant planets, inhomogeneously distributed stellar flux and atmospheric opacity increase the outgoing infrared flux, cooling the interior. Although the inhomogeneity of visible opacity might sometimes heat the atmosphere, the effect is generally much smaller than the inhomogeneous cooling effect of infrared opacity. Compared with the homogeneous case, the mean surface temperature on inhomogeneous terrestrial planets can decrease by more than 20\%, and the internal heat flux on giant planets can increase by over an order of magnitude. Despite simplifications in our analytical framework, the effect of stellar flux inhomogeneity appears to be robust, while further research is needed to fully understand the effects of opacity inhomogeneity in more realistic situations. This principle impacts our understanding of planetary habitability and the evolution of giant planets using low-resolution and one-dimensional frameworks that may have previously overlooked the role of inhomogeneity.

We generalize the theory of the inhomogeneity effect to enable comparison among different inhomogeneous planets. A metric of inhomogeneity based on the cumulative distribution function is applied to investigate the dependence of planetary cooling on previously overlooked parameters. The mean surface temperature of airless planets increases with rotational rate and surface thermal inertia, which bounds the value in the tidally locked configuration and the equilibrium temperature. Using an analytical model, we demonstrate that the internal heat flux of giant planets exhibits significant spatial variability, primarily emitted from the nightside and high-latitude regions acting as ``radiator fins." Given a horizontally uniform interior temperature in the convective zone, the outgoing internal flux increases up to several folds as the inhomogeneity of the incoming stellar flux increases. The enhancement decreases with increasing heat redistribution through planetary dynamics or rotation. The outgoing internal flux on rapidly rotating planets generally increases with planetary obliquity and orbital eccentricity. The radiative timescale and true anomaly of the vernal equinox also play significant roles. If the radiative timescale is long, the outgoing internal flux shows a slightly decreasing but nonlinear trend with obliquity. Our findings indicate that rotational and orbital states greatly influence the cooling of planets and impact the interior evolution of giant planets, particularly for tidally locked planets and planets with high eccentricity and obliquity (such as Uranus), as well as the spatial and temporal variations of their cooling fluxes.

The interior flux of a giant planet impacts atmospheric motion, and the atmosphere dictates the interior's cooling. Here we use a non-hydrostatic general circulation model (SNAP) coupled with a multi-stream multi-scattering radiative module (HARP) to simulate the weather impacts on the heat flow of hot Jupiters. We found that the vertical heat flux is primarily transported by convection in the lower atmosphere and regulated by dynamics and radiation in the overlying ``radiation-circulation" zone. The temperature inversion occurs on the dayside and reduces the upward radiative flux. The atmospheric dynamics relay the vertical heat transport until the radiation becomes efficient in the upper atmosphere. The cooling flux increases with atmospheric drag due to increased day-night contrast and spatial inhomogeneity. The temperature dependence of the infrared opacity greatly amplifies the opacity inhomogeneity. Although atmospheric circulation could transport heat downward in a narrow region above the radiative-convective boundary, the opacity inhomogeneity effect overcomes the dynamical effect and leads to a larger overall interior cooling than the local simulations with the same interior entropy and stellar flux. The enhancement depends critically on the equilibrium temperature, drag, and atmospheric opacity. In a strong-drag atmosphere hotter than 1600 K, a significant inhomogeneity effect in three-dimensional (3D) models can boost interior cooling several-fold compared to the 1D radiative-convection equilibrium models. This study confirms the analytical argument of the inhomogeneity effect in Zhang (2023ab). It highlights the importance of using 3D atmospheric models in understanding the inflation mechanisms of hot Jupiters and giant planet evolution in general.

Searches for gravitational waves from compact-binary mergers, which to date have reported nearly 100 observations, have previously ignored binaries whose components are both light ($< 2 M_\odot$) and have high dimensionless spin ($>$ 0.05). While previous searches targeted sources that are representative of observed double neutron star binaries in the galaxy, it is already known that neutron stars can regularly be spun up to a dimensionless spin of $\sim$ 0.4, and in principle reach up to $\sim$ 0.7 before breakup would occur. Furthermore, there may be primordial black hole binaries or exotic formation mechanisms to produce subsolar mass black holes. In these cases, it is possible for the binary constituent to be spun up beyond that achievable by a neutron star. A single detection of this type of source would reveal a novel formation channel for compact binaries. To determine if there is evidence for any such sources, we conduct the first search of LIGO and Virgo data from three observing runs for light compact objects with high spin. Our analysis detects previously known observations e.g. GW170817 and GW200115; however, we report no additional mergers. The most significant candidate, not previously known, is consistent with the noise distribution, and so we constrain the merger rate of spinning light binaries.

The $S_8$ tension between low-redshift galaxy surveys and the primary CMB signals a possible breakdown of the $\Lambda$CDM model. Recently differing results have been obtained using low-redshift galaxy surveys and the higher redshifts probed by CMB lensing, motivating a possible time-dependent modification to the growth of structure. We investigate a simple phenomenological model in which the growth of structure deviates from the $\Lambda$CDM prediction at late times, in particular as a simple function of the dark energy density. Fitting to galaxy lensing, CMB lensing, BAO, and Supernovae datasets, we find significant evidence - 2.5 - 3$\sigma$, depending on analysis choices - for a non-zero value of the parameter quantifying a deviation from $\Lambda$CDM. The preferred model, which has a slower growth of structure below $z\sim 1$, improves the joint fit to the data over $\Lambda$CDM. While the overall fit is improved, there is weak evidence for galaxy and CMB lensing favoring different changes in the growth of structure.

The cosmic web consists of a nested hierarchy of structures: voids, walls, filaments, and clusters. These structures interconnect and can encompass one another, collectively shaping an intricate network. Here we introduce the Hierarchical Spine (H-Spine) method, a framework designed to hierarchically identify and characterize voids, walls, and filaments. Inspired by the geometrical and dynamical constraints imposed by anisotropic gravitational collapse, the H-Spine method captures the geometry and interconnectivity between cosmic structures as well as their nesting relations, offering a more complete description of the cosmic web compared to single-scale or multi-scale approaches. To illustrate the method's utility, we present the distribution of densities and sizes of voids, walls and filaments identified in a 3-level hierarchical space. This analysis demonstrates how each level within the hierarchy unveils distinctive densities and scales inherent to cosmic web elements.

A Newtonian-like theory inspired by the Brans-Dicke gravitational Lagrangian has been recently proposed in Ref. arXiv:2009.04434(v4). This work demonstrates that the modified gravitational force acting on a test particle is analogous to that derived from the Manev potential. Specifically, an additional term $\propto r^{-3}$ emerges alongside the conventional Newtonian component. We analyse the predicted expression for the pericenter advance and the Roche limit and use them to constraint the theory's single free parameter $\omega$ which is analogous to the Brans-Dicke parameter. At the same time this theory is able to solve the advance of Mercury's perihelion, we also show that there is no relevant impact on the Roche limit in comparison to the well known Newtonian results.

Supersymmetry predicts multiple flat directions, some of which carry a net baryon or lepton number. Condensates in such directions form during inflation and later fragment into Q-balls, which can become the building blocks of primordial black holes. Thus supersymmetry can create conditions for an intermediate matter-dominated era with black holes dominating the energy density of the universe. Unlike particle matter, black holes decay suddenly enough to result in an observable gravitational wave signal via the poltergeist mechanism. We investigate the gravitational waves signatures of supersymmetry realized at energy scales that might not be accessible to present-day colliders.

The Gravity Spy project aims to uncover the origins of glitches, transient bursts of noise that hamper analysis of gravitational-wave data. By using both the work of citizen-science volunteers and machine-learning algorithms, the Gravity Spy project enables reliable classification of glitches. Citizen science and machine learning are intrinsically coupled within the Gravity Spy framework, with machine-learning classifications providing a rapid first-pass classification of the dataset and enabling tiered volunteer training, and volunteer-based classifications verifying the machine classifications, bolstering the machine-learning training set and identifying new morphological classes of glitches. These classifications are now routinely used in studies characterizing the performance of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. Providing the volunteers with a training framework that teaches them to classify a wide range of glitches, as well as additional tools to aid their investigations of interesting glitches, empowers them to make discoveries of new classes of glitches. This demonstrates that, when giving suitable support, volunteers can go beyond simple classification tasks to identify new features in data at a level comparable to domain experts. The Gravity Spy project is now providing volunteers with more complicated data that includes auxiliary monitors of the detector to identify the root cause of glitches.

We present a Python package, BubbleDet, for computing one-loop functional determinants around spherically symmetric background fields. This gives the next-to-leading order correction to both the vacuum decay rate, at zero temperature, and to the bubble nucleation rate in first-order phase transitions at finite temperature. For predictions of gravitational wave signals from cosmological phase transitions, this is expected to remove one of the leading sources of theoretical uncertainty. BubbleDet is applicable to arbitrary scalar potentials and in any dimension up to seven. It has methods for fluctuations of scalar fields, including Goldstone bosons, and for gauge fields, but is limited to cases where the determinant factorises into a product of separate determinants, one for each field degree of freedom. To our knowledge, BubbleDet is the first package dedicated to calculating functional determinants in spherically symmetric background

Precise optical mode matching is of critical importance in experiments using squeezed-vacuum states. Automatic spatial-mode matching schemes have the potential to reduce losses and improve loss stability. However, in quantum-enhanced coupled-cavity experiments, such as gravitational-wave detectors, one must also ensure that the sub-cavities are also mode matched. We propose a new mode sensing scheme, which works for simple and coupled cavities. The scheme requires no moving parts, nor tuning of Gouy phases. Instead a diagnostic field tuned to the HG20/LG10 mode frequency is used. The error signals are derived to be proportional to the difference in waist position, and difference in Rayleigh ranges, between the sub-cavity eigenmodes. The two error signals are separable by 90 degrees of demodulation phase. We demonstrate reasonable error signals for a simplified Einstein Telescope optical design. This work will facilitate routine use of extremely high levels of squeezing in current and future gravitational-wave detectors.

We explore a generalised unified dark energy model that incorporates a non-minimal interaction between a tachyonic fluid and an additional scalar field. Specifically, we require that the second field possesses a vacuum energy, introducing an ineliminable offset due to a symmetry-breaking mechanism. After the transition (occurring as due to the symmetry-breaking mechanism of the second field), the corresponding equation of state (EoS) takes the form of a combination between a generalised Chaplygin gas (GCG) component and a cosmological constant contribution. We reinterpret this outcome by drawing parallels to the so-called Murnaghan EoS, widely-employed in the realm of solid-state physics to characterise fluids that, under external pressure, counteract the pressure's effect. We examine the dynamic behaviour of this model and highlight its key distinctions compared to the GCG model. We establish parameter bounds that clarifies the model's evolution across cosmic expansion history, showing that it, precisely, exhibits behaviour akin to a logotropic fluid that eventually converges to the $\Lambda$CDM model in the early universe, while behaving as a logotropic or Chaplygin gas at intermediate and late times respectively. We explain our findings from a thermodynamic perspective, and determine the small perturbations in the linear regime. At very early times, the growth factor flattens as expected while the main departures occur at late times, where the Murnagham EoS results in a more efficient growth of perturbations. We discuss this deviation in view of current observations and conclude that our model is a suitable alternative to the standard cosmological paradigm, introducing the concept of a matter-like field with non-zero pressure.

Solar antineutrinos are absent in the standard solar model prediction. Consequently, solar antineutrino searches emerge as a powerful tool to probe new physics capable of converting neutrinos into antineutrinos. In this study, we highlight that neutrino self-interactions, recently gaining considerable attention due to their cosmological and astrophysical implications, can lead to significant solar antineutrino production. We systematically explore various types of four-fermion effective operators and light scalar mediators for neutrino self-interactions. By estimating the energy spectra and event rates of solar antineutrinos at prospective neutrino detectors such as JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande, and THEIA, we reveal that solar antineutrino searches can impose stringent constraints on neutrino self-interactions and probe the parameter space favored by the Hubble tension.

Pseudo-scalar inflation coupled with U(1) gauge fields through the Chern-Simons term has been extensively studied. However, new physics arising from UV theories may still influence the pseudo-scalar field at low-energy scales, potentially impacting predictions of inflation. In the realm of effective field theory (EFT), we investigated axion inflation, where operators from heavy fields are also present, in addition to the axion and gauge fields. The integrated out fields have two significant effects: the non-linear dispersion regime and coupling heavy modes to the Chern-Simons term. The first effect changes the propagation of the curvature fluctuation, while the second one results in additional operators that contribute to curvature fluctuation via inverse decay. We derived the power spectrum and magnitude of equilateral non-Gaussianity in this low-energy EFT. We found that the second effect could become significant as the mass of heavy fields approaches Hubble scale.

Due to the nature of gravity, non-linear effects are left imprinted in the quasi-normal modes generated in the ringdown phase of the merger of two black holes. We offer an analytical treatment of the quasi-normal modes at second-order in black hole perturbation theory which takes advantage from the fact that the non-linear sources are peaked around the light ring. As a byproduct, we describe why the amplitude of the second-order mode relative to the square of the first-order amplitude depends only weakly on the initial condition of the problem.

We have investigated whether the Scalar-Tensor-Vector Gravity theory (STVG) may explain the kinematic of stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. STVG modifies General Relativity by adding extra scalar and vector fields with the main aim of replacing dark matter in astrophysical self-gravitating systems. The weak-field limit of STVG brings a Yukawa-like modification to the Newtonian gravitational potential. The modification is modulated by two parameters, $\alpha$ and $\mu$, that represent a redefinition of the gravitational coupling constant and the mass of the additional vector fields, respectively. Thus, adopting the modified gravitational potential arising in the weak-field limit of STVG, we have solved the spherical Jeans equation to predict the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles of eight dwarf spheroidal galaxies orbiting around the Milky Way. The predicted profiles are then compared to the data using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm. Our results pointed out some tensions on the $\alpha$ parameter within the data set, while comparison with previous analysis shows the effectiveness of STVG in replacing dark matter with extra massive fields. Further improvements will require more sophisticated modelling of the line-of-sight velocity dispersion which will be possible as soon as high-precision astrometric data in dwarf spheroidals will become available.

Fermion soliton stars are a motivated model of exotic compact objects in which a nonlinear self-interacting real scalar field couples to a fermion via a Yukawa term, giving rise to an effective fermion mass that depends on the fluid properties. Here we continue our investigation of this model within General Relativity by considering a scalar potential with generic asymmetric vacua. This case provides fermion soliton stars with a parametrically different scaling of the maximum mass relative to the model parameters, showing that the special case of symmetric vacua, in which we recover our previous results, requires fine tuning. In the more generic case studied here the mass and radius of a fermion soliton star are comparable to those of a neutron star for natural model parameters at the GeV scale. Finally, the asymmetric scalar potential inside the star can provide either a positive or a negative effective cosmological constant in the interior, being thus reminiscent of gravastars or anti-de Sitter bubbles, respectively. In the latter case we find the existence of multiple, disconnected, branches of solutions.

Physical evolution of cosmological models can be tested by using expansion data, while growth history of these models is capable of testing dynamics of the inhomogeneous parts of energy density. The growth factor, as well as its growth index, gives a clear indication of the performance of cosmological models in the regime of structure formation of early Universe. In this work, we explore the growth index in several leading $f(T)$ cosmological models, based on a specific class of teleparallel gravity theories. These have become prominent in the literature and lead to other formulations of teleparallel gravity. Here we adopt a generalized approach by obtaining the M\'{e}sz\'{a}ros equation without immediately imposing the subhorizon limit, because this assumption could lead to over-simplification. This approach gives avenue to study at which $k$ modes the subhorizon limit starts to apply. We obtain numerical results for the growth factor and growth index for a variety of data set combinations for each $f(T)$ model.

We investigate scalar-tensor and bi-scalar-tensor modified theories of gravity that can alleviate the $H_0$ tension. In the first class of theories we show that choosing particular models with shift-symmetric friction term we are able to alleviate the tension by obtaining smaller effective Newton's constant at intermediate times, a feature that cannot be easily obtained in modified gravity. In the second class of theories, which involve two extra propagating degrees of freedom, we show that the $H_0$ tension can be alleviated, and the mechanism behind it is the phantom behavior of the effective dark-energy equation-of-state parameter. Hence, scalar-tensor and bi-scalar-tensor theories have the capability of alleviating $H_0$ tension with both known sufficient late-time mechanisms.

We first make more precise a recent "Hamiltonian" reformulation of the Hohm-Zwiebach approach to the tree-level, $O(d,d)$-invariant string cosmology equations at all orders in the $\alpha'$ expansion, and recall how it allows to give a simple characterization of a large class of cosmological scenarios connecting, through a non-singular bounce, two duality-related perturbative solutions at early and late times. We then discuss the effects of adding to the action a non-perturbative, $O(d,d)$-breaking, dilaton potential $V(\phi)$. The resulting cosmological solutions, assumed to approach at early times the perturbative string vacuum (with vanishing curvature and string coupling), can stabilize the dilaton at late times and simultaneously approach either a matter-dominated FLRW cosmology or a de-Sitter-like inflationary phase, depending on initial conditions and on the properties of $V(\phi)$ at moderate-coupling. We also identify a general mechanism for generating isotropic late-time attractors from a large basin of anisotropic initial conditions.

The flux of neutrinos from annihilation of gravitationally captured dark matter in the Sun has significant constraints from direct-detection experiments. However, these constraints are relaxed for inelastic dark matter as inelastic dark matter interactions generate less energetic nuclear recoils compared to elastic dark matter interactions. In this paper, we explore the possibility for large volume underground neutrino experiments to detect the neutrino flux from captured inelastic dark matter in the Sun. The neutrino spectrum has two components: a mono-energetic "spike" from pion and kaon decays at rest and a broad-spectrum "shoulder" from prompt primary meson decays. We focus on detecting the shoulder neutrinos from annihilation of hadrophilic inelastic dark matter with masses in the range 4-100 GeV and the mass splittings in up to 300 keV. We determine the event selection criterion for DUNE to identify GeV-scale muon neutrinos and anti-neutrinos originating from hadrophilic dark matter annihilation in the Sun, and forecast the sensitivity from contained events. We also map the current bounds from Super-Kamiokande and IceCube on elastic dark matter, as well as the projected limits from Hyper-Kamiokande, to the parameter space of inelastic dark matter. We find that there is a region of parameter space that these neutrino experiments are more sensitive to than the direct-detection experiments. For dark matter annihilation to heavy-quarks, the projected sensitivity of DUNE is weaker than current (future) Super (Hyper) Kamiokande experiments. However, for the light-quark channel, only the spike is observable and DUNE will be the most sensitive experiment.

Li and Liao announced (2019) discovery of 313 periodic collisionless orbits' initial conditions (i.c.s), 30 of which have equal masses, and 18 of these 30 orbits have physical periods (scale-invariant periods) $T^{*}=T|E|^{3/2}<80$. That work left a lot to be desired, however, both in terms of logical consistency and of numerical efficiency. We have conducted a new search for periodic free-fall orbits, limited to the equal-mass case. Our search produced 24,582 i.c.s of equal-mass periodic orbits with scale-invariant period $T^{*}<80$, corresponding to 12,409 distinct solutions, 236 of which are self-dual.