Papers for Wednesday, Jan 17 2024

The properties of exoplanet host stars are traditionally characterized through a detailed forward-modeling analysis of high-resolution spectra. However, many exoplanet radial velocity surveys employ iodine-cell-calibrated spectrographs, such that the vast majority of spectra obtained include an imprinted forest of iodine absorption lines. For surveys that use iodine cells, iodine-free "template" spectra must be separately obtained for precise stellar characterization. These template spectra often require extensive additional observing time to obtain, and they are not always feasible to obtain for faint stars. In this paper, we demonstrate that machine learning methods can be applied to infer stellar parameters and chemical abundances from iodine-imprinted spectra with high accuracy and precision. The methods presented in this work are broadly applicable to any iodine-cell-calibrated spectrograph. We make publicly available our spectroscopic pipeline, the Cannon HIRES Iodine Pipeline (CHIP), which derives stellar parameters and 15 chemical abundances from iodine-imprinted spectra of FGK stars and which has been set up for ease of use with Keck/HIRES spectra. Our proof-of-concept offers an efficient new avenue to rapidly estimate a large number of stellar parameters even in the absence of an iodine-free template spectrum.

We investigate the numerical performance of a Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) hydrodynamics implementation when applied to the problem of driven, isothermal supersonic turbulence. While the high-order element-based spectral approach of DG is known to efficiently produce accurate results for smooth problems (exponential convergence with expansion order), physical discontinuities in solutions, like shocks, prove challenging and may significantly diminish DG's applicability to practical astrophysical applications. We consider whether DG is able to retain its accuracy and stability for highly supersonic turbulence, characterized by a network of shocks. We find that our new implementation, which regularizes shocks at sub-cell resolution with artificial viscosity, still performs well compared to standard second-order schemes for moderately high Mach number turbulence, provided we also employ an additional projection of the primitive variables onto the polynomial basis to regularize the extrapolated values at cell interfaces. However, the accuracy advantage of DG diminishes significantly in the highly supersonic regime. Nevertheless, in turbulence simulations with a wide dynamic range that start with supersonic Mach numbers and can resolve the sonic point, the low numerical dissipation of DG schemes still proves advantageous in the subsonic regime. Our results thus support the practical applicability of DG schemes for demanding astrophysical problems that involve strong shocks and turbulence, such as star formation in the interstellar medium. We also discuss the substantial computational cost of DG when going to high order, which needs to be weighted against the resulting accuracy gain. For problems containing shocks, this favours the use of comparatively low DG order.

We analyze the size evolution of $16000$ star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and $5000$ quiescent galaxies (QGs) with mass $M_*>10^{9.5}M_\odot$ at $0.1<z<0.9$ from the COSMOS field using deep CLAUDS+HSC imaging in two rest-frame wavelengths, $3000$\r{A} (UV light) and $5000$\r{A} (visible light). With half-light radius ($R_e$) as proxy for size, SFGs at characteristic mass $M_0 = 5\times10^{10}M_\odot$ grow by $20\%$ ($30\%$) in UV (visible) light since $z\sim1$ and the strength of their size evolution increases with stellar mass. After accounting for mass growth due to star formation, we estimate that SFGs grow by $75\%$ in all stellar mass bins and in both rest-frame wavelengths. Redder SFGs are more massive, smaller and more concentrated than bluer SFGs and the fraction of red SFGs increases with time. These results point to the emergence of bulges as the dominant mechanism for the average size growth of SFGs. We find two threshold values for the stellar mass density within central $1$kpc (${\Sigma}_1$): all SFGs with $\log{\Sigma}_1 > 9$ are red and only QGs have $\log{\Sigma}_1>9.7$. The size of $M_*=M_0$ QGs grows by $50\%$ ($110\%$) in the UV (visible) light. Up to $\sim20\%$ of this increase in size of massive QGs is due to newcomers (recently quenched galaxies). However, newcomers cannot explain the observed pace in the size growth of QGs; that trend has to be dominated by processes affecting individual galaxies, such as minor mergers and accretion.

Accurate redshift calibration is required to obtain unbiased cosmological information from large-scale galaxy surveys. In a forward modelling approach, the redshift distribution n(z) of a galaxy sample is measured using a parametric galaxy population model constrained by observations. We use a model that captures the redshift evolution of the galaxy luminosity functions, colours, and morphology, for red and blue samples. We constrain this model via simulation-based inference, using factorized Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) at the image level. We apply this framework to HSC deep field images, complemented with photometric redshifts from COSMOS2020. The simulated telescope images include realistic observational and instrumental effects. By applying the same processing and selection to real data and simulations, we obtain a sample of n(z) distributions from the ABC posterior. The photometric properties of the simulated galaxies are in good agreement with those from the real data, including magnitude, colour and redshift joint distributions. We compare the posterior n(z) from our simulations to the COSMOS2020 redshift distributions obtained via template fitting photometric data spanning the wavelength range from UV to IR. We mitigate sample variance in COSMOS by applying a reweighting technique. We thus obtain a good agreement between the simulated and observed redshift distributions, with a difference in the mean at the 1$\sigma$ level up to a magnitude of 24 in the i band. We discuss how our forward model can be applied to current and future surveys and be further extended. The ABC posterior and further material will be made publicly available at https://cosmology.ethz.ch/research/software-lab/ufig.html.

Explaining gravitational-wave (GW) observations of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers requires an understanding of matter beyond nuclear saturation density. Our current knowledge of the properties of high-density matter relies on electromagnetic and GW observations, nuclear physics experiments, and general relativistic numerical simulations. In this paper we perform numerical-relativity simulations of BNS mergers subject to non-convex dynamics, allowing for the appearance of expansive shock waves and compressive rarefactions. Using a phenomenological non-convex equation of state we identify observable imprints on the GW spectra of the remnant. In particular, we find that non-convexity induces a significant shift in the quasi-universal relation between the peak frequency of the dominant mode and the tidal deformability (of order $\Delta f_{\rm peak}\gtrsim 380\,\rm Hz$) with respect to that of binaries with convex (regular) dynamics. Similar shifts have been reported in the literature, attributed however to first-order phase transitions from nuclear/hadronic matter to deconfined quark matter. We argue that the ultimate origin of the frequency shifts is to be found in the presence of anomalous, non-convex dynamics in the binary remnant.

Robust estimation of star formation rates (SFRs) at higher redshifts (z>1) using UV-optical-NIR photometry is contingent on the ability of spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to simultaneously constrain the dust attenuation, stellar metallicity, and star formation history (SFH). IR-derived dust luminosities can help break the degeneracy between these parameters, but IR data is often not available. Here, we explore strategies for SED fitting at z>1 in the absence of IR data using a sample of log M*>10.2 star-forming galaxies from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) for which 24mu data are available. We adopt the total IR luminosity (L_TIR) obtained from 24mu as the 'ground truth' that allows us to assess how well it can be recovered (as L_dust) from UV-optical-NIR SED fitting. We test a variety of dust attenuation models, stellar population synthesis models, metallicity assumptions, and SFHs separately to identify which assumptions maximize the agreement (correlation and linearity) between L_TIR and L_dust. We find that a flexible dust attenuation law performs best. For stellar populations, we find that BC03 models are favored over those of BPASS. Fixing the stellar metallicity at solar value is preferred to other fixed values or leaving it as a free parameter. For SFHs, we find that minimizing the variability in the recent (<100 Myr) SFH improves the agreement with L_TIR. Finally, we provide a catalog of galaxy parameters (including M* and SFR) for CANDELS galaxies with log M*>8 and 0.7<z<1.3 obtained using the models we found to be the most robust.

Space-based mid-IR spectroscopy provides tracers of warm gas in star-forming regions that are inaccessible from the ground. Past mid-IR spectra of bright high-mass protostars in the hot-core phase typically showed strong absorption features from molecules such as CO$_2$, C$_2$H$_2$, and HCN. However, little is known about their fainter counterparts at earlier stages. We thus aim to characterize the gas-phase molecular features in JWST MIRI/MRS observations of the young high-mass star-forming region IRAS 23385+6053. Spectra were extracted from two mid-IR sources and three H$_2$ bright outflow knots in the MIRI/MRS field of view. Rich molecular spectra with emission from CO, H$_2$, HD, H$_2$O, C$_2$H$_2$, HCN, CO$_2$, and OH are detected towards the two mid-IR sources. However, only CO and OH are seen towards the brightest H$_2$ knots, suggesting that the majority of the observed species are associated with disks or hot core regions rather than outflows. Simple Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) slab models were used to fit the observed molecular features. The LTE model fits to $^{12}$CO$_{2}$, C$_{2}$H$_{2}$, and HCN emission suggest warm $120-200$ K emission arising from a disk surface around one or both protostars. Weak $\sim500$ K H$_2$O emission at $\sim$ 6-7 $\mu$m is detected towards one mid-IR source, whereas $250-1050$ K H$_2$O absorption is found in the other. The H$_2$O absorption may occur in the disk atmosphere due to strong accretion-heating of the midplane, or in a disk wind viewed at an ideal angle for absorption. CO emission may originate in the hot inner disk or outflow shocks. OH emission is likely excited in a non-LTE manner through water photodissociation or chemical formation. The observations are consistent with disks having already formed in the young IRAS 23385+6053 system, but further observations are needed to disentangle the effects of geometry and evolution.

Observations of the early universe at redshifts of order 10, collected during the last several years presented by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and recent data by the James Webb Space telescope (JWST) created strong doubts on the validity of the conventional $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. It is argued here that the 30 year old conjecture by A.Dolgov \& J.Silk~\cite{DS} of galaxy and quasar seeding by supermassive primordial black holes (SMBHs) naturally solves the problem of the observed dense early population of the universe, as well as the problem of the formation of SMBH in the contemporary universe. The idea of seeding of cosmic structures by SMBH is supported by a good agreement of the predicted log-normal mass spectrum of primordial black holes (PBH) with observations and by a noticeable antimatter population of the Milky Way.

The early-type star $\gamma$ Cas illuminates the reflection nebulae IC 59 and IC 63, creating two photo-dissociation regions (PDRs). Uncertainties about the distances to the nebulae and the resulting uncertainty about the density of the radiation fields incident on their surfaces have hampered the study of these PDRs during the past three decades. We employed far-UV -- optical nebula -- star colour differences of dust-scattered light to infer the locations of the nebulae relative to the plane of the sky containing $\gamma$ Cas, finding IC 63 to be positioned behind the star and IC 59 in front of the star. To obtain the linear distances of the nebulae relative to $\gamma$ Cas, we fit far-infrared archival $\textit{Herschel}$ flux data for IC 59 and IC 63 with modified blackbody (MBB) curves and relate the resulting dust temperatures with the luminosity of $\gamma$ Cas, yielding approximate distances of 4.15 pc for IC 59 and 2.3 pc for IC 63. With these distances, using updated far-UV flux data in the 6 eV - 13.6 eV range for $\gamma$ Cas with two recent determinations of the interstellar extinction for $\gamma$ Cas, we estimate that the far-UV radiation density at the surface of IC 63 takes on values of $G_0$ = 58 or $G_0$ = 38 with respective values for E(B-V) for $\gamma$ Cas of 0.08 and 0.04 mag. This is a substantial reduction from the range 150 $\le$ $G_0$ $\le$ 650 used for IC 63 during the past three decades. The corresponding, even lower new values for IC 59 are $G_0$ = 18 and $G_0$ = 12.

The 9.7$\mu m$ and 18$\mu m$ interstellar spectral features, arising from the Si--O stretching and O--Si--O bending mode of amorphous silicate dust, are the strongest extinction feature in the infrared. Here we use the "pair method" to determine the silicate extinction profile by comparing the \emph{Spitzer}/IRS spectra of 49 target stars with obvious extinction with that of un-reddened star of the same spectral type. The 9.7$\mu m$ extinction profile is determined from all the 49 stars and the 18$\mu m$ profile is determined from six stars. It is found that the profile has the peak wavelength around $\sim$9.2- 9.8$\mu m$ and $\sim$18-22$\mu m$ respectively. The peak wavelength of the 9.7$\mu m$ feature seems to become shorter from the stars of late spectral type, meanwhile the FWHM seems irrelevant to the spectral type, which may be related to circumstellar silicate emission. The silicate optical depth at 9.7$\mu m$, $\Delta\tau_{9.7}$, mostly increases with the color excess in $J-K_S$ ($E_{\rm JK_S}$). The mean ratio of the visual extinction to the 9.7$\mu m$ silicate absorption optical depth is $A_{\rm V}/\Delta\tau_{9.7}\approx 17.8$, in close agreement with that of the solar neighborhood diffuse ISM. When $E_{\rm JK_S}$ > 4, this proportionality changes. The correlation coefficient between the peak wavelength and FWHM of the 9.7$\mu m$ feature is 0.4, which indicates a positive correlation considering the uncertainties of the parameters. The method is compared with replacing the reference star by an atmospheric model SED and no significant difference is present.

We have determined positions, proper motions, and parallaxes of $77$ millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from $\sim3$ years of MeerKAT radio telescope observations. Our timing and noise analyses enable us to measure $35$ significant parallaxes ($12$ of them for the first time) and $69$ significant proper motions. Eight pulsars near the ecliptic have an accurate proper motion in ecliptic longitude only. PSR~J0955$-$6150 has a good upper limit on its very small proper motion ($<$0.4 mas yr$^{-1}$). We used pulsars with accurate parallaxes to study the MSP velocities. This yields $39$ MSP transverse velocities, and combined with MSPs in the literature (excluding those in Globular Clusters) we analyse $66$ MSPs in total. We find that MSPs have, on average, much lower velocities than normal pulsars, with a mean transverse velocity of only $78(8)$ km s$^{-1}$ (MSPs) compared with $246(21)$ km s$^{-1}$ (normal pulsars). We found no statistical differences between the velocity distributions of isolated and binary millisecond pulsars. From Galactocentric cylindrical velocities of the MSPs, we derive 3-D velocity dispersions of $\sigma_{\rho}$, $\sigma_{\phi}$, $\sigma_{z}$ = $63(11)$, $48(8)$, $19(3)$ km s$^{-1}$. We measure a mean asymmetric drift with amplitude $38(11)$ km s$^{-1}$, consistent with expectation for MSPs, given their velocity dispersions and ages. The MSP velocity distribution is consistent with binary evolution models that predict very few MSPs with velocities $>300$ km s$^{-1}$ and a mild anticorrelation of transverse velocity with orbital period.

Different studies have reported the so-called temperature problem of the narrow line region (NLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Its origin is still an open issue. To properly address its cause, a trustworthy temperature indicator is required. We propose that the weak [ArIV] 4711,40A doublet is the appropriate tool for evaluating the density of the high excitation plasma. We subsequently made use of the recent S7 survey sample to extract reliable measurements of the weak [ArIV] doublet in 16 high excitation Seyfert 2s. As a result we could derive the plasma density of the NLR of our Seyfert 2 sample and compare the temperature inferred from the observed [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratios. It was found that 13 Seyfert 2s cluster near similar values as the [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratio, at a mean value of 0.0146+-0.0020. Three objects labeled outliers stand out at markedly higher [OIII] values (> 0.03). If for each object one assumes a single density, the values inferred from the [ArIV] doublet for the 13 clustering objects all lie below 60,000 cm-3, indicating that the [OIII] (4363A/5007A) ratios in these objects is a valid tracer of plasma temperature. Even when assuming a continuous power-law distribution of the density, the inferred cut-off density required to reproduce the observed [ArIV] doublet is in all cases < 1E5.1 cm-3. The average NLR temperature inferred for the 13 Seyfert 2s is 13,000+-703 K, which photoionization models have difficulty reproducing. Subsequently we considered different mechanisms to account for the observed [OIII] ratios. For the three outliers, a double-bump density distribution is likely required, with the densest component having a density > 1E6 cm-3.

We study galaxy interactions in the large scale environment around A2670, a massive ($M_{200}$ = $8.5 \pm 1.2~\times 10^{14} \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$) and interacting galaxy cluster at z = 0.0763. We first characterize the environment of the cluster out to 5$\times R_{200}$ and find a wealth of substructures, including the main cluster core, a large infalling group, and several other substructures. To study the impact of these substructures (pre-processing) and their accretion into the main cluster (post-processing) on the member galaxies, we visually examined optical images to look for signatures indicative of gravitational or hydrodynamical interactions. We find that $\sim 21$ % of the cluster galaxies have clear signs of disturbances, with most of those ($\sim60$ %) likely being disturbed by ram pressure. The number of ram-pressure stripping candidates found (101) in A2670 is the largest to date for a single system, and while they are more common in the cluster core, they can be found even at $> 4 \times R_{200}$, confirming cluster influence out to large radii. In support of a pre-processing scenario, most of the disturbed galaxies follow the substructures found, with the richest structures having more disturbed galaxies. Post-processing also seems plausible, as many galaxy-galaxy mergers are seen near the cluster core, which is not expected in relaxed clusters. In addition, there is a comparable fraction of disturbed galaxies in and outside substructures. Overall, our results highlight the complex interplay of gas stripping and gravitational interactions in actively assembling clusters up to $5\times R_{200}$, motivating wide-area studies in larger cluster samples.

We present a comparative study of the constrained parameters of active galactic nuclei (AGN) made by the public X-ray reverberation model kynxilrev and kynrefrev that make use of the reflection code xillver and reflionx, respectively. By varying the central mass ($M_{\rm BH}$), coronal height ($h$), inclination ($i$), photon index of the continuum emission ($\Gamma$) and source luminosity ($L$), the corresponding lag-frequency spectra can be produced. We select only the simulated AGN where their lag amplitude ($\tau$) and $M_{\rm BH}$ follow the known mass-scaling law. In these mock samples, we show that $\tau$ and $h$ are correlated and can possibly be used as an independent scaling law. Furthermore, $h$ (in gravitational units) is also found to be positively scaled with $M_{\rm BH}$, suggesting a more compact corona in lower-mass AGN. Both models reveal that the coronal height mostly varies between $\sim 5$-$15~r_{\rm g}$, with the average height at $\sim 10~r_{\rm g}$ and can potentially be found from low- to high-mass AGN. Nevertheless, the kynxilrev seems to suggest a lower $M_{\rm BH}$ and $h$ than the kynrefrev. This inconsistency is more prominent in lower-spin AGN. The significant correlation between the source height and luminosity is revealed only by kynrefrev, suggesting the $h$-$L$ relation is probably model dependent. Our findings emphasize the differences between these reverberation models that raises the question of biases in parameter estimates and inferred correlations.

Stellar activity cycles reveal continuous relaxation and induction of magnetic fields. The activity cycle is typically traced through the observation of cyclic variations in total brightness or Ca H&K emission flux of stars, as well as cyclic variations of orbital periods of binary systems. In this work, we report the identification of a semi-detached binary system (TIC 16320250) consisting of a white dwarf (0.67 $M_{\odot}$) and an active M dwarf (0.56 $M_{\odot}$). The long-term multi-band optical light curves spanning twenty years revealed three repeated patterns, suggestive of a possible activity cycle of about ten years of the M dwarf. Light curve fitting indicates the repeated variation is caused by the evolution, particularly the motion, of polar spots. The significant Ca H&K, H$\alpha$, ultra-violet, and X-ray emissions imply that the M dwarf is one of the most magnetically active stars. We propose that in the era of large time-domain photometric sky surveys (e.g., ASAS-SN, ZTF, LSST, Sitian), long-term light curve modeling can be a valuable tool for tracing and revealing stellar activity cycle, especially for stars in binary systems.

Statistically, the cool loop's footpoints are diagnosed using Si~{\sc iv} resonance lines observations provided by Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The intensity and Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the loop's footpoints in $\beta${--}$\gamma$ active regions (ARs) are higher than the corresponding parameters of footpoints in $\beta$ ARs. However, the Doppler velocity of footpoints in both ARs are almost similar to each other. The intensities of footpoints from $\beta${--}$\gamma$ AR is found to be around 9 times that of $\beta$ AR when both ARs are observed nearly at the same time. The same intensity difference reduces nearly to half (4 times) when considering all ARs observed over 9 years. Hence, the instrument degradation affects comparative intensity analysis. We find that Doppler velocity and FWHM are well-correlated while peak intensity is neither correlated with Doppler velocity nor FWHM. The loop's footpoints in $\beta$-$\gamma$ ARs have around four times more complex Si~{\sc iv} spectral profiles than that of $\beta$ ARs. The intensity ratios (Si~{\sc iv} 1393.78~{\AA}/1402.77~{\AA}) of the significant locations of footpoints differ, marginally, (i.e., either less than 1.9 or greater than 2.10) from the theoretical ratio of 2, i.e., 52\% (55\%) locations in $\beta$ ($\beta${--}$\gamma$) ARs significantly deviate from 2. Hence, we say that more than half of the footpoint locations are either affected by the opacity or resonance scattering. We conclude that the nature and attributes of the footpoints of the cool loops in $\beta$-$\gamma$ ARs are significantly different from those in $\beta$ ARs.

We study the formation and evolution of dark galaxies using the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We first identify dark galaxies with stellar-to-total mass ratios, $M_* / M_{\text{tot}}$, smaller than $10^{-4}$, which differ from luminous galaxies with $M_* / M_{\text{tot}} \geq 10^{-4}$. We then select the galaxies with dark matter halo mass of $\sim 10^9 \, h^{-1}$$\rm M_{\odot}$ for mass completeness, and compare their physical properties with those of luminous galaxies. We find that at the present epoch ($z=0$), dark galaxies are predominantly located in void regions without star-forming gas. We also find that dark galaxies tend to have larger sizes and higher spin parameters than luminous galaxies. In the early universe, dark and luminous galaxies show small differences in the distributions of spin and local environment estimates, and the difference between the two samples becomes more significant as they evolve. Our results suggest that dark galaxies tend to be initially formed in less dense regions, and could not form stars because of heating from cosmic reionization and of few interactions and mergers with other systems containing stars unlike luminous galaxies. This study based on numerical simulations can provide important hints for validating dark galaxy candidates in observations and for constraining galaxy formation models.

In the present paper, using MPI-AMRVAC, we perform a 2.5-D numerical MHD simulation of the dynamics and associated thermodynamical evolution of an initially force-free Harris current sheet subjected to an external velocity perturbation under the condition of uniform resistivity. The amplitude of the magnetic field is taken to be 10 Gauss, typical of the solar corona. We impose a Gaussian velocity pulse across this current sheet mimicking the interaction of fast magnetoacoustic waves with a current sheet in corona. This leads to a variety of dynamics and plasma processes in the current sheet, which is initially quasi-static. The initial pulse interacts with the current sheet and splits into a pair of counter-propagating wavefronts, which forms a rarefied region and leads to inflow and a thinning of the current sheet. The thinning results in Petschek-type magnetic reconnection followed by tearing instability and plasmoid formation. The reconnection outflows containing outward-moving plasmoids have accelerated motions with velocities ranging from 105-303 km/s. The average temperature and density of the plasmoids are found to be 8 MK and twice the background density of the solar corona, respectively. These estimates of velocity, temperature and density of plasmoids are similar to values reported from various solar coronal observations. Therefore, we infer that the external triggering of a quasi-static current sheet by a single velocity pulse is capable of initiating magnetic reconnection and plasmoid formation in the absence of a localized enhancement of resistivity in the solar corona.

Most $\gamma$-ray detected active galactic nuclei are blazars with one of their relativistic jets pointing towards the Earth. Only a few objects belong to the class of radio galaxies or misaligned blazars. Here, we investigate the nature of the object PKS 0625-354, its $\gamma$-ray flux and spectral variability and its broad-band spectral emission with observations from H.E.S.S., Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, and UVOT taken in November 2018. The H.E.S.S. light curve above 200 GeV shows an outburst in the first night of observations followed by a declining flux with a halving time scale of 5.9h. The $\gamma\gamma$-opacity constrains the upper limit of the angle between the jet and the line of sight to $\sim10^\circ$. The broad-band spectral energy distribution shows two humps and can be well fitted with a single-zone synchrotron self Compton emission model. We conclude that PKS 0625-354, as an object showing clear features of both blazars and radio galaxies, can be classified as an intermediate active galactic nuclei. Multi-wavelength studies of such intermediate objects exhibiting features of both blazars and radio galaxies are sparse but crucial for the understanding of the broad-band emission of $\gamma$-ray detected active galactic nuclei in general.

Cosmic Birefringence (CB) is a phenomenon in which the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is rotated as it travels through space due to the coupling between photons and an axion-like field. We look for a solution able to explain the result obtained from the \textit{Planck} Public Release 4 (PR4), which has provided a hint of detection of the CB angle, $\alpha=(0.30\pm0.11)^{\circ}$. In addition to the solutions, already present in the literature, which need a non-negligible evolution in time of the axion-like field during recombination, we find a new region of the parameter space which allows for a nearly constant time evolution of such a field in the same epoch. The latter reinforces the possibility to employ the commonly used relations connecting the observed CMB spectra with the unrotated ones, through trigonometric functions of the CB angle. However, if the homogeneous axion field sourcing isotropic birefringence is almost constant in time during the matter-dominated era, this does not automatically implies that the same holds true also for the associated inhomogeneous perturbations. For this reason, in this paper we present a full generalized Boltzmann treatment of this phenomenon, that is able, for the first time to our knowledge to deal with the time evolution of anisotropic cosmic birefringence (ACB). We employ this approach to provide predictions of ACB, in particular for the set of best-fit parameters found in the new solution of the isotropic case. If the latter is the correct model, we expect an ACB spectrum of the order of $(10^{-15}\div10^{-32})$ deg$^2$ for the auto-correlation, and $(10^{-7}\div10^{-17})$ $\mu $K$\cdot\,$deg for the cross-correlations with the CMB $T$ and $E$ fields, depending on the angular scale.

Carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) are windows into the early Solar system and the histories of their parent bodies. Their infrared spectral signatures are powerful proxies for deciphering their composition and evolution history, but still present formidable challenges. In our study, we delved into the infrared spectra spanning 1-25 micron of 17 CCs, with distinct petrological characteristics and varying degrees of alteration. As aqueous alteration intensifies, the 3 micron-region absorption feature associated with OH-bearing minerals and water, and the 6 micron band indicative of water molecules, both grow in intensity. Simultaneously, their band centers shift towards shorter wavelengths. Moreover, as alteration progresses, a distinctive absorption feature emerges near 2.72 micron, resembling the OH absorption feature found in serpentine and saponite minerals. Comparison of aqueous alteration to laboratory-heated CCs suggests that the 3 micron region OH/H2O absorption feature differs between CC heated to less than or more than ~300C. The 12.4 micron/11.4 micron reflectance ratio diminishes, and the reflectance peak in the 9-14 micron range shifts towards shorter wavelengths. These changes are attributed to the transformation of anhydrous silicates into phyllosilicates. In the 15-25 micron region, the influence of thermal metamorphism becomes evident and results in the appearance of more spectral features, the single reflectance peak at 22.1 micron undergoes a transformation into two distinct peaks at 19 micron and 25 micron, which is primarily attributed to the increased presence of anhydrous silicates and olivine recrystallization. These findings offer novel insights into the volatile-rich compositions of C-complex asteroids and the thermal evolution histories of their parent bodies.

We present optical observations and analysis of a bright type Iax SN~2020udy hosted by NGC 0812. The light curve evolution of SN~2020udy is similar to other bright Iax SNe. Analytical modeling of the quasi bolometric light curves of SN 2020udy suggests that 0.08$\pm$0.01 M$_{\odot}$ of $^{56}$Ni would have been synthesized during the explosion. Spectral features of SN 2020udy are similar to the bright members of type Iax class showing weak Si {\sc II} line. The late-time spectral sequence is mostly dominated by Iron Group Elements (IGEs) with broad emission lines. Abundance tomography modeling of the spectral time series of SN~2020udy using TARDIS indicates stratification in the outer ejecta, however, to confirm this, spectral modeling at a very early phase is required. After maximum light, uniform mixing of chemical elements is sufficient to explain the spectral evolution. Unlike the case of normal type Ia SNe, the photospheric approximation remains robust until +100 days, requiring an additional continuum source. Overall, the observational features of SN 2020udy are consistent with the deflagration of a Carbon-Oxygen white dwarf.

We present new powerful time-reversible integrators for solution of planetary systems consisting of "planets" and a dominant mass ("star"). The algorithms can be considered adaptive generalizations of the Wisdom--Holman method, in which all pairs of planets can be assigned timesteps. These timesteps, along with the global timestep, can be adapted time-reversibly, often at no appreciable additional compute cost, without sacrificing any of the long-term error benefits of the Wisdom--Holman method. The method can also be considered a simpler and more flexible version of the \texttt{SYMBA} symplectic code. We perform tests on several challenging problems with close encounters and find the reversible algorithms are up to $2.6$ times faster than a code based on \texttt{SYMBA}. The codes presented here are available on Github. We also find adapting a global timestep reversibly and discretely must be done in block-synchronized manner.

The power spectra of the fluctuation noise of the solar active region (AR) areas and magnetic fluxes sequentially observed in time contain information about their geometrical features and the related fundamental physical processes. These spectra are analysed for five different ARs with various magnetic field structures. The goal of this work is to detect the characteristic properties of the Fourier and wavelet spectra evaluated for the time series of the fluctuating areas and radial magnetic fluxes of the active regions. Accordingly, this work gathers information on the properties of noise in the different cases considered. The AR area and radial magnetic flux time series were built using SHARP magnetogram datasets that cover nearly the entire time of the ARs' transits over the solar disk. Then we applied Fourier and wavelet analyses to these time series using apodization and detrendization methods for the cross-comparison of the results. These methods allow for the detection and removal of the artefact data edge effects. Finally, we used a linear least-squares fitting method for the obtained spectra on a logarithmic scale to evaluate the power-law slopes of the fluctuation spectral power versus frequency (if any). According to our results, the fluctuation spectra of the areas and radial magnetic fluxes of the considered ARs differ from each other to a certain extent, both in terms of the values of the spectral power-law exponents and their frequency bands. The characteristic properties of the fluctuation spectra for the compact, dispersed, and mixed-type ARs exhibit noticeable discrepancies amongst each other. It is plausible to conclude that this difference might be related to distinct physical mechanisms responsible for the vibrations of the AR areas and/or radial magnetic fluxes.

Environment plays a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of satellite galaxies. Analyzing the properties related to the cold gas phase of satellites provides insights into unravelling the complexity of environmental effects. We use the hydro-dynamical simulations Illustris TNG and Eagle, and the semi-analytic models (SAMs) GAEA and L-Galaxies, in comparison with recent observations from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), to investigate the properties of satellite galaxies hosted by halos with mass $M_{200}>10^{12.8}M_\odot$, and within projected regions $\le 1.1$ virial radius $R_{200}$. Generally, satellite galaxies selected from semi-analytic models have more HI than those selected from hydro-dynamical simulations across all projected radii, e.g. more than 30% of satellites in the two hydro-simulations are HI depleted, while this fraction is almost zero in SAMs. Furthermore, both hydro-dynamical simulations and SAMs reproduce the observed decrease of HI content and specific star-formation rate (sSFR) towards the halo centre. However, the trend is steeper in two hydro-dynamical simulations TNG and EAGLE, resulting in a better agreement with the observational data, especially in more massive halos. By comparing the two version of GAEA, we find that the inclusion of ram-pressure stripping of cold gas significantly improves the predictions on HI fractions. The refined hot gas stripping method employed in one of the two L-Galaxies models also yields improved results.

Oscillation modes of a mixed character are able to probe the inner region of evolved low-mass stars and offer access to a range of information, in particular, the mean core rotation. Ensemble asteroseismology observations are then able to provide clear views on the transfer of angular momentum when stars evolve as red giants. Previous catalogs of core rotation rates in evolved low-mass stars have focussed on hydrogen-shell burning stars. Our aim is to complete the compilation of rotation measurements toward more evolved stages, with a detailed analysis of the mean core rotation in core-helium burning giants. The asymptotic expansion for dipole mixed modes allows us to fit oscillation spectra of red clump stars and derive their core rotation rates. We used a range of prior seismic analyses, complete with new data, to get statistically significant results. We measured the mean core rotation rates for more than 1500 red clump stars. We find that the evolution of the core rotation rate in core-helium-burning stars scales with the inverse square of the stellar radius, with a small dependence on mass. Assuming the conservation of the global angular momentum, a simple model allows us to infer that the mean core rotation and envelope rotation are necessarily coupled. The coupling mechanism ensures that the differential rotation in core-helium-burning red giants is locked.

We present a method to estimate the detection expectations of host galaxies of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) in the {\it grizJHKL} bands. It is found that, given the same limiting magnitude $m_{grizJHKL,\rm lim}$ in each band, the {\it z} band produces the largest number of overall LGRB hosts and low-mass hosts ($M_\ast\leq10^8$ M$_\odot$) at $m_{grizJHKL,\rm lim}\gtrsim 26$ mag. For the detection of high-redshift LGRB hosts (redshift $\geq5$), it is recommended to prioritize the {\it L} band due to its good performance at both low and high limiting magnitudes. We specifically estimate the expectation of LGRB-host detection with $m_{grizJHKL,\rm lim}=28$ mag, which JWST can partially attain. We find that there may exist 116, 259, 277, 439, 266, 294, 274, 316 LGRB hosts, including 0.54, 31, 28, 143, 12, 20, 14, 35 low-mass ones in {\it grizJHKL} bands and 13, 14, 15, 14, 15 high-redshift ones in {\it zJHKL} bands, for 15-year {\it Swift} LGRBs with $S\geq10^{-6}$ erg cm$^{-2}$. The results show that the study of LGRB hosts under next-generation observational conditions holds significant potential, especially for low-mass-host studies. However, it appears that deeper sensitivities of galaxy telescopes may not significantly enhance statistical studies of high-redshift hosts. Strategies aimed at increasing the number of distant LGRB hosts may require the expansion of high-redshift-LGRB detection.

The observed energy spectra of accelerated particles at interplanetary shocks often do not match the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) theory predictions. In some cases, the particle flux forms a plateau over a wide range of energies, extending upstream of the shock for up to seven flux's e-folds before submerging into the background spectrum. Remarkably, at and behind the shock that we have studied in detail, the flux falls off in energy as $\epsilon^{-1}$, consistent with the DSA prediction for a strong shock. The upstream plateau suggests a different particle transport mechanism than those traditionally employed in DSA models. We show that a standard (linear) DSA solution based on a widely accepted diffusive particle transport with an underlying resonant wave-particle interaction is inconsistent with the plateau in the particle flux. To resolve this contradiction, we modify the DSA theory in two ways. First, we include a dependence of the particle diffusivity $\kappa$ on the particle flux $F$ (nonlinear particle transport). Second, we invoke short-scale magnetic perturbations that are self-consistently generated by, but not resonant with, accelerated particles. They lead to the particle diffusivity increasing with the particle energy as $\propto\epsilon^{3/2}$ that simultaneously decreases with the particle flux as $1/F$. The combination of these two trends results in the flat spectrum upstream.

White Dwarf stars are one of the densest form of matter following neutron star and black holes. A typical White Dwarf is as massive as our Sun has radius comparable to the Earth. This paper reviewed the Fermi gas model Equation of State of White Dwarf and numerical computation of Mass-radius and pressure density profile. A section in brief has been included for the calculation of average speed of electrons in the White Dwarf environment.

Life is a complex, dynamic chemical system that requires a dense fluid solvent in which to take place. A common assumption is that the most likely solvent for life is liquid water, and some researchers argue that water is the only plausible solvent. However a persistent theme in astrobiological research postulates that other liquids might be cosmically common, and could be solvents for the chemistry of life. In this paper we present a new framework for the analysis of candidate solvents for life, and deploy this framework to review substances that have been suggested as solvent candidates. Our approach addresses all the requirements for a solvent, not just single chemical properties, and does so semi-quantitatively. Only the protonating solvents fulfil all the chemical requirements to be a solvent for life, and of those only water and concentrated sulfuric acid are also likely to be abundant in a rocky planetary context. Among the non-protonating solvents liquid CO2 stands out as a planetary solvent, and its potential as a solvent for life should be explored. We conclude with a discussion of whether it is possible for a biochemistry to change solvents, as an adaptation to radical changes in a planet's environment. Our analysis provides the basis for prioritizing future experimental work exploring potential complex chemistry on other planets.

Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology analyses include a luminosity step function in their distance standardization process to account for an observed yet unexplained difference in the post-standardization luminosities of SNe Ia originating from different host galaxy populations (e.g., high-mass ($M \gtrsim 10^{10} M_{\odot}$) versus low-mass galaxies). We present a novel method for including host-mass correlations in the SALT3 light curve model used for standardising SN Ia distances. We split the SALT3 training sample according to host-mass, training independent models for the low- and high-host-mass samples. Our models indicate that there are different average Si II spectral feature strengths between the two populations, and that the average SED of SNe from low-mass galaxies is bluer than the high-mass counterpart. We then use our trained models to perform a SN cosmology analysis on the 3-year spectroscopically confirmed Dark Energy Survey SN sample, treating SNe from low- and high-mass host galaxies as separate populations throughout. We find that our mass-split models reduce the Hubble residual scatter in the sample, albeit at a low statistical significance. We do find a reduction in the mass-correlated luminosity step but conclude that this arises from the model-dependent re-definition of the fiducial SN absolute magnitude rather than the models themselves. Our results stress the importance of adopting a standard definition of the SN parameters ($x_0, x_1, c$) in order to extract the most value out of the light curve modelling tools that are currently available and to correctly interpret results that are fit with different models.

Massive red spiral galaxies (MRSGs) are supposed to be the possible progenitors of lenticular galaxies (S0s). We select a large sample of MRSGs ($M_*>10^{10.5}\rm M_{\odot}$) from MaNGA DR17 using the $g-r$ color vs. stellar mass diagram, along with control samples of blue spirals and S0s. Our main results are as follows: (1) After comparing the S$\rm \acute{e}$rsic index, concentration parameter, asymmetry parameter distribution, size-mass relation and $\Sigma_1$ (stellar mass surface density within the central 1 kpc)-mass relation, we find MRSGs are similar to S0s and have more compact and symmetric structures than blue spirals. MRSGs also resemble S0s in Dn4000, metallicity, Mgb/$\rm \left \langle Fe \right \rangle$ and $V/\sigma$ radial profile. (2) By using MaNGA 2D spectra data, we separate the spatial regions into inner (R < 0.8$R_{\rm e}$) and outer (0.8$R_{\rm e}$ < R < 1.5$R_{\rm e}$) regions, and detect residual star formation in the outer regions of MRSGs. (3) When we select a sub-sample of MRSGs with NUV$-r$ > 5, we find that they are completely star-formation quenched in both inner and outer regions. Compared to optically selected MRSGs, NUV$-r$ selected MRSGs appear to be more concentrated and have more massive dark matter halos. The similarities between S0s and MRSGs suggest the possible evolutionary trend between MRSGs and S0s.

Linear polarization of the optical continuum of type II supernovae (SNe), together with its temporal evolution, is a promising source of information on the large-scale geometry of their ejecta. To help tap this information we have undertaken 2D polarized radiative transfer calculations to map out the possible landscape of type II SN continuum polarization (Pcont) from 20 to 300d after explosion. Our simulations are based on crafted 2D, axisymmetric ejecta constructed from 1D nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium time-dependent radiative transfer calculations for a red-supergiant star explosion. Following the approach used in our previous work on SN2012aw, we consider a variety of bipolar explosions in which spherical symmetry is broken by the presence, within ~30deg of the poles, of material with a higher kinetic energy (up to a factor of two) and higher 56Ni abundance (up to a factor of about five, with allowance for 56Ni at high velocity). Our set of eight 2D ejecta configurations produces considerable diversity in Pcont (~7000A), although its maximum of 1-4% occurs systematically around the transition to the nebular phase. Before and after that transition, Pcont may be null, constant, rising, or decreasing, which results from the complex geometry of the depth-dependent density and ionization as well as from optical depth effects. Our modest angle-dependent explosion energy can yield Pcont of 0.5-1% at early times. Residual optical-depth effects can yield an angle-dependent SN brightness and constant polarization at nebular times. Observed values of Pcont tend to be lower than obtained here, suggesting more complicated geometries with competing large-scale structures causing polarization cancellation. Extreme asymmetries seem to be excluded.

We report strong connections between central intensity ratio (CIR) and hot gas properties of Early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the nearby ($\rm D<30 Mpc$) Universe. We find new strong correlations between (optical) CIR and X-ray gas luminosity ($\rm L_{\rm X,GAS}$) as well as X-ray gas temperature ($\rm T_{GAS}$). These correlations suggest that higher the central gas temperature lower will be the (central) star formation process in ETGs. Correlations of CIR separately with K-band magnitude and age of the sample galaxies, further support suppression of star formation in the central region of ETGs as they grow in mass and age. The systematic and tight variation of CIR with $\rm L_{\rm X,GAS}$ not only shows its remarkable potential to estimate $\rm L_{\rm X,GAS}$ from simple photometry but also helps in transforming the core-coreless dichotomy into a gradual one.

As the reconstruction of the star-formation histories (SFH) of galaxies from spectroscopic data becomes increasingly popular, we explore the best age resolution achievable with stellar population synthesis (SPS) models, relying on different constraints: broad-band colours, absorption indices, a combination of the two, and the full spectrum. We perform idealized experiments on SPS models and show that the minimum resolvable relative duration of a star-formation episode (time difference between 10% and 90% of the stellar mass formed divided by the median age) is never better than 0.4, even when using spectra with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) larger than 100 per AA. Typically, the best relative age resolution ranges between 0.4 and 0.7 over most of the age-metallicity plane, corresponding to minimum bin sizes for SFH sampling between 0.15 and 0.25 dex. This resolution makes the spectroscopic exploration of distant galaxies mandatory in order to reconstruct the early phases of galaxies' SFHs. We show that spectroscopy with SNR $\gtrsim$ 2/AA is essential for good age resolution. Remarkably, using the full spectrum does not prove significantly more effective than relying on absorption indices, especially at SNR $\lesssim$ 20/AA. We discuss the physical origins of the age resolution trends as a function of age and metallicity, and identify the presence of maxima in age resolution (i.e. minima in measurable relative time duration) at the characteristic ages that correspond to quick time variations in spectral absorption features. We connect these maxima to bumps commonly observed in reconstructed SFHs.

Coronal loops serve as the fundamental building blocks of the solar corona. Therefore, comprehending their properties is essential in unraveling the dynamics of the Sun's upper atmosphere. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis of the morphology and dynamics of a coronal loop observed from two different spacecraft: the High Resolution Imager (HRI$_{EUV}$) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager aboard the Solar Orbiter and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. These spacecraft were separated by 43$^{\circ}$ during this observation. The main findings of this study are: (1) The observed loop exhibits similar widths in both the HRI$_{EUV}$ and AIA data, suggesting that the cross-sectional shape of the loop is circular; (2) The loop maintains a uniform width along its entire length, supporting the notion that coronal loops do not exhibit expansion; (3) Notably, the loop undergoes unconventional dynamics, including thread separation and abrupt downward movement. Intriguingly, these dynamic features also appear similar in data from both spacecraft. Although based on observation of a single loop, these results raise questions about the validity of the coronal veil hypothesis and underscore the intricate and diverse nature of complexity within coronal loops.

The COUPP 4 kg bubble chamber employs 4.0 kg of CF$_3$I as a WIMP scattering target for use as a dark matter direct detection search. This thesis reports the first experimental results from operating this bubble chamber at the deep underground site (6000 m.w.e.) of SNOLAB, near Sudbury, Ontario. Twenty dark matter candidate events were observed during an effective exposure of 553.0 kg-days, when operating the bubble chamber at three different bubble nucleation thresholds. These data are consistent with a neutron background internal to the detector. Characterization of this neutron background has led to the recommendation to replace two detector components to maximize dark matter signal sensitivity in a future run with this bubble chamber. A measurement of the gamma-ray flux has confirmed that this detector should not be sensitive to a gamma-induced background for more than three orders of magnitude below current sensitivity. The dark matter search data presented here set a new world-leading limit on the spin-dependent WIMP-proton scattering cross section and demonstrate significant sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering.

Some Ultra Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) appear to host exceptionally rich globular cluster (GC) systems compared to normal galaxies of the same stellar mass. After re-examing these claims, we focus on a small sample of UDGs from the literature that have {\it both} rich GC systems (N$_{GC}$ $> 20$) and a measured galaxy velocity dispersion. We find that UDGs with more GCs have higher dynamical masses and that GC-rich UDGs are dark matter dominated within their half-light radii. We extrapolate these dynamical masses to derive total halo masses assuming cuspy and cored mass profiles. We find reasonable agreement between halo masses derived from GC numbers (assuming the GC number - halo mass relation) and from cored halo profiles. This suggests that GC-rich UDGs do {\it not} follow the standard stellar mass - halo mass relation, occupying overly massive cored halos for their stellar mass. A similar process to that invoked for some Local Group dwarfs, of early quenching, may result in GC-rich UDGs that have failed to form the expected mass of stars in a given halo (and thus giving the appearance of overly an massive halo). Simulations that correctly reproduce the known properties of GC systems associated with UDGs are needed.

We implemented Population III (Pop. III) star formation in mini-halos within the MERAXES semi-analytic galaxy formation and reionisation model, run on top of a N-body simulation with $L = 10 h^{-1}$ cMpc with 2048$^3$ particles resolving all dark matter halos down to the mini-halos ($\sim 10^5 M_\odot$). Our modelling includes the chemical evolution of the IGM, with metals released through supernova-driven bubbles that expand according to the Sedov-Taylor model. We found that SN-driven metal bubbles are generally small, with radii typically of 150 ckpc at z = 6. Hence, the majority of the first galaxies are likely enriched by their own star formation. However, as reionization progresses, the feedback effects from the UV background become more pronounced, leading to a halt in star formation in low-mass galaxies, after which external chemical enrichment becomes more relevant. We explore the sensitivity of the star formation rate density and stellar mass functions on the unknown values of free parameters. We also discuss the observability of Pop. III dominated systems with JWST, finding that the inclusion of Pop. III galaxies can have a significant effect on the total UV luminosity function at z = 12 - 16. Our results support the idea that the excess of bright galaxies detected with JWST might be explained by the presence of bright top-heavy Pop. III dominated galaxies without requiring an increased star formation efficiency.

We use TESS 10-minute Full Frame Images (Sectors 27-55) to study a sample of 1708 stars within 500 pc of the Sun that lie in a narrow colour range in the centre of the delta Scuti instability strip (0.29 < BP-RP < 0.31). Based on the Fourier amplitude spectra, we identify 848 delta Scuti stars, as well as 47 eclipsing or contact binaries. The strongest pulsation modes of some delta Scuti stars fall on the period-luminosity relation of the fundamental radial mode but many correspond to overtones that are approximately a factor of two higher in frequency. Many of the low-luminosity delta Scuti stars show a series of high-frequency modes with very regular spacings. The fraction of stars in our sample that show delta Scuti pulsations is about 70% for the brightest stars (G<8), consistent with results from Kepler. However, the fraction drops to about 45% for fainter stars and we find that a single sector of TESS data only detects the lowest-amplitude delta Scuti pulsations (around 50 ppm) in stars down to about G=9. Finally, we have found four new high-frequency delta Scuti stars with very regular mode patterns, and have detected pulsations in lambda Mus that make it the fourth-brightest delta Scuti in the sky (G=3.63). Overall, these results confirm the power of TESS and Gaia for studying pulsating stars.

In the past few decades, many studies revealed that there exist some apparent universal relations which can describe the dynamical properties in galaxies. In particular, the radial acceleration relation (RAR) is one of the most popular relations discovered recently which can be regarded as a universal law to connect the dynamical radial acceleration with the baryonic acceleration in galaxies. This has revealed an unexpected close connection between dark matter and baryonic matter in galaxies. In this article, by following the recent robust Galactic rotation curve analyses, we derive the Galactic RAR (GRAR) and show for the first time that it deviates from the alleged universal RAR at more than $5\sigma$. This provides a strong evidence to falsify the universal nature of RAR in galaxies claimed in past studies.

The Gemini High Resolution Optical Spectrograph (GHOST) is a fiber-fed spectrograph system on the Gemini South telescope that provides simultaneous wavelength coverage from 348 - 1061nm, and designed for optimal performance between 363 - 950nm. It can observe up to two objects simultaneously in a 7.5 arcmin diameter field of regard at R = 56,000 or a single object at R = 75,000. The spectral resolution modes are obtained by using integral field units to image slice a 1.2" aperture by a factor of five in width using 19 fibers in the high resolution mode and by a factor of three in width using 7 fibers in the standard resolution mode. GHOST is equipped with hardware to allow for precision radial velocity measurements, expected to approach meters per second precision. Here, we describe the basic design and operational capabilities of GHOST, and proceed to derive and quantify the key aspects of its on-sky performance that are of most relevance to its science users.

Gamma-ray Transient Monitor (GTM) is an all-sky monitor onboard the Distant Retrograde Orbit-A (DRO-A) satellite with the scientific objective of detecting gamma-ray transients ranging from 20 keV to 1 MeV. GTM is equipped with 5 Gamma-ray Transient Probe (GTP) detector modules, utilizing the NaI(Tl) scintillator coupled with a SiPM array. To reduce the SiPM noise, GTP makes use of a dedicated dual-channel coincident readout design. In this work, we firstly studied the impact of different coincidence times on detection efficiency and ultimately selected the 500 ns time coincidence window for offline data processing. To test the performance of GTPs and validate the Monte Carlo simulated energy response, we conducted comprehensive ground calibration tests using Hard X-ray Calibration Facility (HXCF) and radioactive sources, including energy response, detection efficiency, spatial response, bias-voltage response, and temperature dependence. We extensively presented the ground calibration results, and validated the design and mass model of GTP detector. These work paved the road for the in-flight observation and science data analysis.

Boulders form from a variety of geological processes, which their size, shape, and orientation may help us better understand. Furthermore, they represent potential hazards to spacecraft landing that need to be characterized. However, mapping individual boulders across vast areas is extremely labor-intensive, often limiting the extent over which they are characterized and the statistical robustness of obtained boulder morphometrics. To automate boulder characterization, we use an instance segmentation neural network, Mask R-CNN, to detect and outline boulders in high-resolution satellite images. Our neural network, BoulderNet, was trained from a dataset of > 33,000 boulders in > 750 image tiles from Earth, the Moon, and Mars. BoulderNet not only correctly detects the majority of boulders in images, but it identifies the outline of boulders with high fidelity, achieving average precision and recall values of 72% and 64% relative to manually digitized boulders from the test dataset, when only detections with intersection-over-union ratios > 50% are considered valid. These values are similar to those obtained by human mappers. On Earth, equivalent boulder diameters, aspect ratios, and orientations extracted from predictions were benchmarked against ground measurements and yield values within 15%, 0.20, and 20 degrees of their ground-truth values, respectively. BoulderNet achieves better boulder detection and characterization performance relative to existing methods, providing a versatile open-source tool to characterize entire boulder fields on planetary surfaces.

Shock boundary layers are regions bounded by a shock wave on the one side and tangential discontinuity on the other side. These boundary layers are commonly observed in astrophysics. For example, they exist in the regions of the interaction of the stellar winds with the surrounding interstellar medium. Additionally, the shock layers are often penetrated by the flows of interstellar atoms, as, for instance, in the astrospheres of the stars embedded by the partially ionized interstellar clouds. This paper presents a simple toy model of a shock layer that aims to qualitatively describe the influence of charge exchange with interstellar hydrogen atoms on the plasma flow in astrospheric shock layers. To clearly explore this effect, magnetic fields are neglected, and the geometry is kept as simple as possible. The model explains why the cooling of plasma due to charge exchange in the inner heliosheath leads to an increase in plasma density in front of the heliopause. It also demonstrates that the source of momentum causes changes in the pressure profile within the shock layer. The paper also discusses the decrease in plasma density near the astropause in the outer shock layer in the case of layer heating, which is particularly relevant in light of the Voyager measurements in the heliospheric shock layer.

With the Extremely Large Telescope-generation telescopes come new challenges. The complexity of these telescopes' pupil creates new problems for Adaptive Optics. In particular, the large spiders necessary to support the massive optics of these telescopes create discontinuities in the wavefront measurement. These discontinuities appear as a new phase error dubbed the `petal mode'. This error is described as a differential piston between the fragment of the pupil separated by the spiders and is responsible for reducing the European Extremely Large Telescope's (ELT) resolution to a 15m telescope resolution. The aim of this paper is to study the measurement of the petal mode by adaptive optics sensors. We want to understand why the Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PyWFS) cannot measure this petal mode under normal conditions and how to allow this measurement by adapting the Adaptive optics control scheme and the PyWFS. To facilitate our study, we consider a simplified version of the petal mode, featuring a simpler pupil than the ELT. We studied specifically how a system that separates the atmospheric turbulence from the petal measurement would behave. The unmodulated PyWFS (uPyWFS) but the uPyWFS does not make accurate measurements in the presence of atmospheric residuals. Studying the petal mode's power spectral density, we propose a filtering step, consisting of a pinhole around the pyramid tip. This reduces the first path residuals seen by the uPyWFS and restores its accuracy. Finally, we demonstrate our proposed system with end-to-end simulations.To address the petal problem, a two-path adaptive optics with a sensor dedicated to the measurement of the petal mode seems necessary. Through this paper, we demonstrate that an uPyWFS can confuse the petal mode with the residuals from the first path. However, adding a spatial filter on top of said uPyWFS makes it a good petalometer candidate.

The IceCube collaboration has reported possible detections of high-energy neutrinos from nearby Seyfert galaxies. While central hot coronae are proposed as the primary neutrino production site, the exact coronal cosmic-ray energy budget has been loosely constrained. In this study, we propose a new stringent upper bound on the coronal cosmic-ray energy budget of Seyfert galaxies, considering both accretion dynamics and observed properties of radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies. Notably, even under the calorimetric condition, our limit indicates that the coronal neutrino flux of NGC~1068 is about an order of magnitude fainter than the observed levels. This discrepancy suggests the need for further theoretical and observational investigations on the IceCube signals from Seyfert galaxies.

Flares on the Sun are often associated with ejected plasma: these events are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These events, although are studied in detail on the Sun, have only a few dozen known examples on other stars, mainly detected using the Doppler-shifted absorption/emission features in Balmer lines and tedious manual analysis. We present a possibility to find stellar CMEs with the help of high-resolution solar spectra.

Low-mass stars belonging to the M spectral type are the most numerous stars in our Galaxy, amounting to about two-thirds in number, and are found at the bottom of the main sequence in the H-R diagram. %Multi-wavelength studies on star-forming regions help to understand the census of PMS stars, their formation process, and the interaction of expanding H II regions harboring massive stars with their natal molecular clouds. Photometric studies of low-mass stars, including brown dwarfs (BDs), provide several important evolutions of their atmosphere, magnetic flares and chromospheric activity. This paper highlights a few interesting results from our optical I-band observations of 2MASS J03435638+3209591 in the young star-forming IC~348 region and three BDs in Taurus star-forming regions using ground-based telescopes as well as a space-based telescope. We estimated the fast periodicities in the range of 1.5 to 3 hours in Taurus BDs. Furthermore, using the long-term photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we have conducted a time-resolved variability analysis of CFHT-BD-Tau 4. The periodogram analysis of TESS data reveals an orbital period of $\sim$ 3 days. We found two flare events in TESS sector 43 data for this BD and estimated the flared energies as $4.59\times10^{35}$ erg and $2.64\times10^{36}$ erg, which sit in the superflare range.

The empirical studies of cold gas content serve as an essential aspect in comprehending the star formation activities and evolution in galaxies. However, it is not straightforward to understand these processes because they depend on various physical properties of the Interstellar Medium. Massive FRI/II type radio galaxies rich in molecular hydrogen with less star formation activities are known as radio Molecular Hydrogen Emission Galaxies (MOHEGs). We present a study of neutral hydrogen gas-associated radio MOHEGs at redshifts <0.2 probed via the HI 21-cm absorption line. Neutral hydrogen is detected in 70% of these galaxies, which are located at a distance of 8 - 120 kiloparsec from the neighboring galaxies. These galaxies show a scarcity of HI gas as compared to merging galaxies at similar redshifts. We found no strong correlation between N(HI), N(H), and galaxy properties, independent of whether the HI is assumed to be cold or warm, indicating that the atomic gas is probably playing no important role in star formation. The relationship between total hydrogen gas surface density and star formation surface density deviates from the standard Kennicutt-Schmidt law. Our study highlights the importance of HI studies and offers insights into the role of atomic and molecular hydrogen gas in explaining the properties of these galaxies. In the upcoming HI 21-cm absorption surveys with next-generation radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and pathfinder instruments, it may be possible to provide better constraints to such correlations.

It is assumed that superheavy dark matter particles with O(EeV) mass may decay to relativistic milli-charged particles (MCPs). The upward-going MCPs passing through the Earth could be measured by the fluorescence detectors (FD) of the Pierre Auger observatory (Auger). The massless hidden photon model was taken for MCPs to interact with nuclei, so that the numbers and fluxes of expected MCPs and neutrinos may be evaluated at the FD of Auger. Based on the assumption that no events are observed at the FD of Auger in 14 years, the corresponding upper limits on MCP fluxes were calculated at 90\% C. L.. These results indicated that MCPs could be directly detected in the secondaries' energy range O(1EeV)-O(10EeV) at the FD of Auger, when $\epsilon^2\gtrsim10^{-14}$. And a new region of 10 MeV < $m_{MCP}$ < 1 PeV and $\epsilon$ $\gtrsim$ $10^{-7}$ is ruled out in the $m_{MCP}$-$\epsilon$ plane with 14 years of Auger data.

Magnetars, the most strongly magnetised neutron stars, are among the most promising targets for X-ray polarimetry. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first satellite devoted to exploring the sky in polarised X-rays, has observed four magnetars to date. A proper interpretation of IXPE results requires the development of new atmospheric models that can take into proper account the effects of the magnetised vacuum on par with those of the plasma. Here we investigate the effects of mode conversion at the vacuum resonance on the polarisation properties of magnetar emission by computing plane-parallel atmospheric models under varying conditions of magnetic field strength/orientation, effective temperature and allowing for either complete or partial adiabatic mode conversion. Complete mode conversion results in a switch of the dominant polarisation mode, from the extraordinary (X) to the ordinary (O) one, below an energy that decreases with increasing magnetic field strength, occurring at $\approx 0.5\, \mathrm{keV}$ for a magnetic field strength of $B=10^{14}\, \mathrm{G}$. Partial adiabatic mode conversion results in a reduced polarisation degree when compared with a standard plasma atmosphere. No dominant mode switch occurs for $B=10^{14}\, \mathrm{G}$ while there are two switches for lower fields of $B=3\times10^{13}\, \mathrm{G}$. Finally, by incorporating our models in a ray-tracing code, we computed the expected polarisation signal at infinity for different emitting regions on the star surface and for different viewing geometries. The observability of QED signatures with IXPE and with future soft X-ray polarimeters as REDSoX is discussed.

We study the properties of plasma oscillations in the solar tachocline using shallow-water magnetohydrodynamic equations. These oscillations are expected to correlate with solar activity. We find new qualitative features in the equatorial spectrum of magnetohydrodynamic oscillations associated with magneto-Rossby and magneto-Yanai waves. By studying this spectrum in terms of band theory, we find that magneto-Kelvin and magneto-Yanai waves are topologically protected. This highlights the important role of these two classes of waves, as robust features of the plasma oscillation spectrum, in the interpretation of helioseismological observations.

The drift periods P2 and P3 were searched for using the summed power spectra of 41 pulsars observed at declinations from -9o to +42o. The power spectra of pulses with a given period, pulse width and drift behavior have been simulated, the applicability of such a method for estimating drift parameters is shown. For most pulsars, the distribution of harmonic amplitudes in the power spectra corresponds to the expected distribution for these pulsars without drift. At the same time, it was found that for a number of sources, the summed power spectra accumulated over a long period of time give the same drift parameters as those determined by other methods. For 11 pulsars we have defined or redefined the drift period P2. For 8 sources the drift period P3 has been determined or redefined. The drift direction of subpulses was redefined for them.

AutoTAB is a state-of-the-art, fully automatic algorithm that tracks the Bipolar Magnetic Regions (BMRs) in magnetogram observations. AutoTAB employs identified BMR regions from Line-of-Sight magnetograms from MDI and HMI (1996--2022) to track the BMRs through their evolution on the nearside of the Sun. AutoTAB enables us to create a comprehensive and unique catalog of tracked information of 9232 BMRs in the mentioned time period. This dataset is used to study the collective statistical properties of BMRs and particularly to identify the correct theory for the BMR formation. Here, we discuss the algorithm's functionality and the initial findings obtained from the AutoTAB BMRs catalog.

By using the GRAVITY instrument with the near-infrared (NIR) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), the structure of the broad (emission-)line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be spatially resolved, allowing the central black hole (BH) mass to be determined. This work reports new NIR VLTI/GRAVITY interferometric spectra for four type 1 AGNs (Mrk 509, PDS 456, Mrk 1239, and IC 4329A) with resolved broad-line emission. Dynamical modelling of interferometric data constrains the BLR radius and central BH mass measurements for our targets and reveals outflow-dominated BLRs for Mrk 509 and PDS 456. We present an updated radius-luminosity (R-L) relation independent of that derived with reverberation mapping (RM) measurements using all the GRAVITY-observed AGNs. We find our R-L relation to be largely consistent with that derived from RM measurements except at high luminosity, where BLR radii seem to be smaller than predicted. This is consistent with RM-based claims that high Eddington ratio AGNs show consistently smaller BLR sizes. The BH masses of our targets are also consistent with the standard $M_\mathrm{BH}$-$\sigma_*$ relation. Model-independent photocentre fitting shows spatial offsets between the hot dust continuum and the BLR photocentres (ranging from $\sim$17 $\mu$as to 140 $\mu$as) that are generally perpendicular to the alignment of the red- and blueshifted BLR photocentres. These offsets are found to be related to the AGN luminosity and could be caused by asymmetric K-band emission of the hot dust, shifting the dust photocentre. We discuss various possible scenarios that can explain this phenomenon.

A major coronal heating theory based on magnetic reconnection relies on the existence of braided magnetic field structures in the corona. In this small-angle reconnection scenario, numerical simulations indicate that the reconnected magnetic field lines are driven sideways by magnetic tension and can overshoot from their new rest position, thereby leading to low-amplitude transverse MHD waves. This provides an efficient mechanism for transverse MHD wave generation, and the direct causality also constitutes substantial evidence of reconnection from braiding. However, this wave-generation mechanism has never been directly observed. Recently, the telltale signature of small-angle reconnection in a sheared coronal structure has been identified through nanojets, which are small, short-lived, and fast jet-like bursts in the nanoflare range transverse to the guide-field. We present for the first time IRIS and SDO observations of transverse MHD waves in a coronal loop that directly result from braiding-induced reconnection. The reconnection is identified by the presence of nanojets at the loop apex which release nanoflare-range energy. We find that the oscillations have an energy flux on the order of $10^6 - 10^8$~erg~cm$^{-2}$~s$^{-1}$, which is within the budget to power active region loops. The estimated kinetic and thermal energy from the nanojets is also sufficient to power the transverse waves and sustain the observed heating at the loop apex. This discovery provides major support to (a) existing theories that transverse MHD waves can be a signature of reconnection, (b) the existence of braiding in coronal structures and (c) the coronal reconnection scenario identified by nanojets.

In this first of a series of papers related to long-period post-common-envelope (CE) binaries, we investigated whether extra energy is required or not to explain the currently known post-CE binaries with sufficiently long orbital periods consisting of oxygen-neon white dwarfs with AFGK-type main-sequence star companions. We carried out binary population simulations with the BSE code and searched for their formation pathways. Unlike what has been claimed for a long time, we show that all such post-CE binaries can be explained by assuming inefficient CE evolution, which is consistent with results achieved for the remaining post-CE binaries. There is therefore no need for an extra energy source. We also found that for CE efficiency close to 100%, post-CE binaries hosting oxygen-neon white dwarfs with orbital periods as long as a thousand days can be explained. For all known systems we found formation pathways consisting of CE evolution triggered when a highly evolved (i.e. the envelope mass being comparable to the core mass) thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch star fills its Roche lobe at an orbital period of several thousand days. Due to the sufficiently low envelope mass and sufficiently long orbital period, the resulting post-CE orbital period can easily be several tens of days. We conclude that the known post-CE binaries with oxygen-neon white dwarfs and AFGK-type main-sequence stars can be explained without invoking any energy source other than orbital and thermal energy. Our results strengthen the idea that the most common formation pathway of the overall population of post-CE binaries hosting white dwarfs is through inefficient CE evolution.

We present here the information on the design and performance of the recently commissioned 2.5-meter telescope at the PRL Mount Abu Observatory, located at Gurushikhar, Mount Abu, India. The telescope has been successfully installed at the site, and the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) was completed in October 2022. It is a highly advanced telescope in India, featuring the Ritchey-Chr$\acute{e}$tien optical configuration with primary mirror active optics, tip-tilt on side-port, and wave front correction sensors. Along with the telescope, its two first light instruments {namely Faint Object Camera (FOC) and PARAS-2} were also integrated and attached with it in the June 2022. {FOC is a} camera that uses a 4096 X 4112 pixels detector SDSS type filters with enhanced transmission and known as u', g', r', i', z'. It has a limiting magnitude of 21 mag in 10 minutes exposure in the r'-band. The other first light instrument PARAS-2 is a state-of-the-art high-resolution fiber-fed spectrograph operates in 380-690 nm wave-band, aimed to unveil the super-Earth like worlds. The spectrograph works at a resolution of $\sim$107,000, making it the highest-resolution spectrograph in Asia to date, which is under {ultra}-stable temperature and pressure environment, at 22.5 $\pm$ 0.001 $^{\circ}$C and 0.005 $\pm$ 0.0005 mbar, respectively. Initial calibration tests of the spectrograph using a Uranium Argon Hollow Cathode Lamp (UAr HCL) have yielded intrinsic instrumental RV stability down to 30 cm s$^{-1}$.

Recent observations in emission, extinction, and polarisation have at least partially invalidated most of the astronomical standard grain models for the diffuse ISM. Moreover, lab measurements on interstellar silicate analogues have shown differences with the optical properties used in these standard models. To address these issues, our objective is twofold: (i) to update the optical properties of silicates and (ii) to develop the THEMIS dust model to allow the calculation of polarised extinction and emission. Based on optical constants measured in the lab for amorphous silicates and on observational constraints in mid-IR extinction and X-ray scattering, we defined new optical constants for the THEMIS silicates. Absorption and scattering efficiencies for spheroidal grains were then derived with the discrete dipole approximation. These new optical properties make it possible to explain the dust emission and extinction, both total and polarised. The model is not yet pushed to its limits since it does not require the perfect alignment of all grains to explain the observations and it therefore has the potential to accommodate the highest polarisation levels inferred from extinction measures. Moreover, the dispersion of the optical properties of the different lab silicates naturally explain the variations in both the total and polarised emission and extinction observed in the diffuse ISM. A single, invariant model calibrated on one single set of observations is obsolete for explaining contemporary observations. We are proposing a completely flexible dust model based entirely on lab measurements that has the potential to make major advances in understanding the nature of ISM grains and how they evolve as a function of their environment. Even if challenging, this is also relevant for future missions that will aim to perform precise measurements of the CMB spectral distortions and polarisation.

We investigate the time evolution of the transonic-viscous accretion flow around a non-rotating black hole. The input parameters used for the simulation are obtained from semi-analytical solutions. This code is based on the TVD routine and correctly handles the angular momentum transport due to viscosity. The thermodynamic properties of the flow are described by a variable adiabatic index equation of state. We regenerate the inviscid and viscous steady-state solutions, including shocks, using the simulation code and compare them with the semi-analytical solutions. The angular momentum piles up across a shock due to shock-jump conditions and viscous transport of angular momentum. This will push the shock-front outward and can result in shock oscillation or a complete destabilization of shock. We study how shocks behave in the presence of viscosity. As the viscosity parameter ($\alpha$) crosses a critical value, the previously steady shock becomes time-dependent, eventually leading to oscillations. The value of this critical viscosity depends on the injection angular momentum ($\\lambda_{ou}$) and the specific energy ($\epsilon$). We estimated the posteriori bremsstrahlung and synchrotron cooling, and the net radiative output also oscillates with the frequency of the shock. We also study the variation of frequency, amplitude, and mean position of oscillation with $\alpha$. Considering a black hole with a mass of $10M_{\odot}$, we observed that the power spectrum exhibits a prominent peak at the fundamental frequency of a few to about tens of Hz, accompanied by multiple harmonics. This characteristic is frequently observed in numerous accreting black hole candidates.

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons that emerge in various theories beyond the standard model. These particles can interact with high-energy photons in external magnetic fields, influencing the observed gamma-ray spectrum. This study analyzes 41.3 hrs of observational data from the Perseus Galaxy Cluster collected with the MAGIC telescopes. We focused on the spectra the radio galaxy in the center of the cluster: NGC 1275. By modeling the magnetic field surrounding this target, we searched for spectral indications of ALP presence. Despite finding no statistical evidence of ALP signatures, we were able to exclude ALP models in the sub-micro electronvolt range. Our analysis improved upon previous work by calculating the full likelihood and statistical coverage for all considered models across the parameter space. Consequently, we achieved the most stringent limits to date for ALP masses around 50 neV, with cross sections down to $g_{a\gamma} = 3 \times 10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$.

The study of stellar flares has increased with new observations from CoRoT, Kepler, and TESS satellites, revealing the broadband visible emission from these events. Typically, stellar flares have been modelled as $10^4$ K blackbody plasma to obtain estimates of their total energy. In the Sun, white light flares (WLFs) are much fainter than their stellar counterparts, and normally can only be detected via spatially resolved observations. Identifying the radiation mechanism for the formation of the visible spectrum from solar and stellar flares is crucial to understand the energy transfer processes during these events, but spectral data for WLFs are relatively rare, and insufficient to remove the ambiguity of their origin: photospheric blackbody radiation and/or Paschen continuum from hydrogen recombination in the chromosphere. We employed an analytical solution for the recombination continuum of hydrogen instead of the typically assumed $10^4$ K blackbody spectrum to study the energy of stellar flares and infer their fractional area coverage. We investigated 37 events from Kepler-411 and 5 events from Kepler-396, using both radiation mechanisms. We find that estimates for the total flare energy from the H recombination spectrum are about an order of magnitude lower than the values obtained from the blackbody radiation. Given the known energy transfer processes in flares, we argue that the former is a physically more plausible model than the latter to explain the origin of the broadband optical emission from flares.

The morphology of a galaxy is a manifestation of the complex interplay of physical processes occurring within and around it, and therefore offers indirect clues to its formation and evolution. We use both visual classification and computer vision to verify the suspected connection between galaxy merging activity - as evidenced by a close/merging galaxy pair, or tidal features surrounding an apparently singular system - and AGN activity. This study makes use of JADES JWST/NIRCam imagery, along with an unprecedentedly complete sample of AGN built using JWST/MIRI photometry in the same field. This 0.9-25 micron dataset enables constraints on the host galaxy morphologies of the broadest possible range of AGN beyond z~1, including heavily obscured examples missing from previous studies. We consider two AGN samples, one consisting of lightly to highly obscured X-ray-selected AGN (Lyu et al. 2022), and the other, presumed Compton-thick mid-infrared-bright/X-ray-faint AGN recently revealed by MIRI (Lyu et al. 2023). Both samples contain a significant fraction of host galaxies with disturbed morphologies at all redshifts sampled, and increasingly so towards higher redshift and AGN bolometric luminosity. The most obscured systems show the highest fraction of strongly disturbed host galaxies at $95\pm4$%, followed by the moderately and unobscured/lightly obscured subsets at $78\pm6$% and $63\pm6.5$%, respectively. From this pattern of disturbances, we conclude that mergers are common amongst obscured AGN, and that the obscured AGN phase may mark a period of significant SMBH growth. This finding presents tension with the leading model on AGN fueling mechanisms (Hopkins et al. 2014) that needs reconciling.

Dust is a key component of galaxies, but its properties during the earliest eras of structure formation remain elusive. Here we present a simple semi-analytic model of the dust distribution in galaxies at $z \gtrsim 5$. We calibrate the free parameters of this model to estimates of the UV attenuation (using the IRX-$\beta$ relation between infrared emission and the UV spectral slope) and to ALMA measurements of dust emission. We find that the observed dust emission requires that most of the dust expected in these galaxies is retained (assuming a similar yield to lower-redshift sources), but if the dust is spherically distributed, the modest attenuation requires that it be significantly more extended than the stars. Interestingly, the retention fraction is larger for less massive galaxies in our model. However, the required radius is a significant fraction of the host's virial radius and is larger than the estimated extent of dust emission from stacked high-$z$ galaxies. These can be reconciled if the dust is distributed anisotropically, with typical covering fractions of $\sim 0.2$--0.7 in bright galaxies and $\lesssim 0.1$ in fainter ones.

The X-ray properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) depend on their underlying physical parameters, particularly the accretion rate. We identified eight reverberation-mapped AGNs with some of the largest known accretion rates without high-quality X-ray data. We obtained new Chandra ACIS-S X-ray observations and nearly simultaneous optical spectrophotometry to investigate the properties of these AGNs with extreme super-Eddington accreting black holes (SEAMBHs). We combined our new X-ray measurements with those of other reverberation-mapped AGNs, which have the best-determined masses and accretion rates. The trend of the steepening of the spectral slope between X-ray and optical-UV, $\alpha_{\rm ox}$, with increasing optical-UV luminosity, $L_{2500\r{A}}$, holds true for even the most extreme SEAMBHs. One of our new SEAMBHs appears X-ray weak for its luminosity, perhaps due to absorption associated with orientation effects involving a slim disk thought to be present in highly accreting systems. The correlation of the $\rm 2-8~ keV$ X-ray photon index with the accretion rate also holds for the extreme SEAMBHs, which show some of the largest photon indices reported for AGNs.

The Galactic centre stands out as the most prolific star-forming environment of the Galaxy when averaged over volume. In the last 30 million years, it has witnessed the formation of $\sim10^6 M_\odot$ of stars. However, crowding and high extinction hamper their detection and, up to now, only a small fraction of the expected mass of young stars has been identified. We aim to detect hidden young stars at the Galactic centre by analysing the stellar population in Sagittarius (Sgr) C. This is a region at the western edge of the nuclear stellar disc whose HII emission makes it a perfect candidate to host young stars. We built dereddened luminosity functions for Sgr C and a control field in the central region of the nuclear stellar disc, and fitted them with a linear combination of theoretical models to analyse their stellar population. We find that Sgr C hosts several $10^5 M_\odot$ of young stars. We compared our results with the recently discovered young stellar population in Sgr B1, which is situated at the opposite edge of the nuclear stellar disc. We estimated that the Sgr C young stars are $\sim20$ Myr old, and likely show the next evolutionary step of the slightly younger stars in Sgr B1. Our findings contribute to addressing the discrepancy between the expected and the detected number of young stars in the Galactic centre, and shed light on their evolution in this extreme environment. As a secondary result, we find an intermediate-age stellar population in Sgr C ($\sim50$ % of its stellar mass with an age of between 2 and 7 Gyr), which is not present in the innermost regions of the nuclear stellar disc (dominated by stars >7 Gyr). This supports the existence of an age gradient and favours an inside-out formation of the nuclear stellar disc.

Nitrogen-bearing complex organic molecules have been commonly detected in the gas phase but not yet in interstellar ices. This has led to the long-standing question of whether these molecules form in the gas phase or in ices. $\textit{James Webb}$ Space Telescope ($\textit{JWST}$) offers the sensitivity, spectral resolution, and wavelength coverage needed to detect them in ices and investigate whether their abundance ratios are similar in gas and ice. We report the first tentative detection of CH$_3$CN, C$_2$H$_5$CN, and the simple molecule, N$_2$O, based on the CN-stretch band in interstellar ices toward three (HOPS 153, HOPS 370, and IRAS 20126+4104) out of the five protostellar systems observed as part of the Investigating Protostellar Accretion (IPA) GO program with $\textit{JWST}$-NIRSpec. We also provide upper limits for the two other sources with smaller luminosities in the sample. We detect OCN$^-$ in the ices of all sources with typical CH$_3$CN/OCN$^-$ ratios of around 1. Ice and gas column density ratios of the nitrogen-bearing species with respect to each other are better matched than those with respect to methanol, which are a factor of ${\sim}5$ larger in the ices than the gas. We attribute the elevated ice column densities with respect to methanol to the difference in snowline locations of nitrogen-bearing molecules and of methanol, biasing the gas-phase observations toward fewer nitrogen-bearing molecules. Moreover, we find tentative evidence for enhancement of OCN$^-$, CH$_3$CN, and C$_2$H$_5$CN in warmer ices, although formation of these molecules likely starts along with methanol in the cold prestellar phase. Future surveys combining NIRSpec and MIRI, and additional laboratory spectroscopic measurements of C$_2$H$_5$CN ice, are necessary for robust detection and conclusions on the formation history of complex cyanides.

The vertical kinematics of stars near the Sun can be used to measure the total mass distribution near the Galactic disk and to study out-of-equilibrium dynamics. With contemporary stellar surveys, the tracers of vertical dynamics are so numerous and so well measured that the shapes of underlying orbits are almost directly visible in the data through element abundances or even stellar density. These orbits can be used to infer a mass model for the Milky Way, enabling constraints on the dark matter distribution in the inner galaxy. Here we present a flexible model for foliating the vertical position-velocity phase space with orbits, for use in data-driven studies of dynamics. The vertical acceleration profile in the vicinity of the disk, along with the orbital actions, angles, and frequencies for individual stars, can all be derived from that orbit foliation. We show that this framework - "Orbital Torus Imaging" (OTI) - is rigorously justified in the context of dynamical theory, and does a good job of fitting orbits to simulated stellar abundance data with varying degrees of realism. OTI (1) does not require a global model for the Milky Way mass distribution, and (2) does not require detailed modeling of the selection function of the input survey data. We discuss the approximations and limitations of the OTI framework, which currently trades dynamical interpretability for flexibility in representing the data in some regimes, and which also presently separates the vertical and radial dynamics. We release an open-source tool, torusimaging, to accompany this article.

Proceeding of the "HACK100" Conference, 6-10 June 2022, Trieste, Italy - In recent years, quasars have been shown to be reliable standardizable candles, thanks to the non-linear relation between their X-rays and ultraviolet luminosity. Quasars are also very numerous and they are found at all the observed redshifts: this allows us to investigate the expansion rate of the Universe and the cosmological parameters in a previously almost untested redshift range ($z\sim2-7$). At redshift higher than 1.5, the Hubble Diagram of quasars shows a significant tension with the predictions of the $\Lambda$CDM model. I will show how detailed optical/UV and X-rays spectroscopic analysis can be used (i) to obtain more precise distance estimates, and (ii) to derive information about the physical process behind the luminosities relation, and discuss the cosmological implementations.

Recent calculations indicate that radio emission from quasars at $z \sim$ 6 - 7 could be detected at much earlier stages of evolution, at $z \sim$ 14 - 15, by the Next-Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). However, the {\em James Webb Space Telescope} has now discovered less luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at $z >$ 4 and a few massive black holes (BHs) at $z >$ 10, which may be the progenitors of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) but at different stages of growth. Radio detections of these new AGNs would provide complementary measures of their properties and those of their host galaxies. Here we estimate radio flux densities for 19 new AGNs found by the JADES, CEERS and UNCOVER surveys. We find that ngVLA should be able to detect most of these sources in targeted surveys with integration times of 10 - 100 hr (and in just 1 hr for a few of them) but most would require at least 100 hr of SKA time in spite of its greater sensitivities at low frequencies. In some cases, radio emission from the BH can be distinguished from that of H II regions and supernovae in their host galaxies, which could be used to estimate their star formation rates. Such detections would be yet another example of the useful synergies between near infrared and radio telescopes in SMBH science in the coming decade.

Due to their almost featureless optical/UV spectra, it is challenging to measure the redshifts of BL Lacs. As a result, about 50% of gamma-ray BL Lacs lack a firm measurement of this property, which is fundamental for population studies, indirect estimates of the EBL, and fundamental physics probes. This paper is the third in a series of papers aimed at determining the redshift of a sample of blazars selected as prime targets for future observations with the next generation, ground-based VHE gamma-ray astronomy observatory, Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). The accurate determination of the redshift of these objects is an important aid in source selection and planning of future CTAO observations. The selected targets were expected to be detectable with CTAO in observations of 30 hours or less. We performed deep spectroscopic observations of 41 of these blazars using the Keck II, Lick, SALT, GTC, and ESO/VLT telescopes. We carefully searched for spectral lines in the spectra and whenever features of the host galaxy were detected, we attempted to model the properties of the host galaxy. The magnitudes of the targets at the time of the observations were also compared to their long-term light curves. Spectra from 24 objects display spectral features or a high S/N. From these, 12 spectroscopic redshifts were determined, ranging from 0.2223 to 0.7018. Furthermore, 1 tentative redshift (0.6622) and 2 redshift lower limits at z > 0.6185 and z > 0.6347 were obtained. The other 9 BL Lacs showed featureless spectra, despite the high S/N (> 100) observations. Our comparisons with long-term optical light curves tentatively suggest that redshift measurements are more straightforward during an optical low state of the AGN. Overall, we have determined 37 redshifts and 6 spectroscopic lower limits as part of our programme thus far.

Propagation effects are one of the main sources of noise in high-precision pulsar timing. For pulsars below an ecliptic latitude of $5^\circ$, the ionised plasma in the solar wind can introduce dispersive delays of order 100 microseconds around solar conjunction at an observing frequency of 300 MHz. A common approach to mitigate this assumes a spherical solar wind with a time-constant amplitude. However, this has been shown to be insufficient to describe the solar wind. We present a linear, Gaussian-process piecewise Bayesian approach to fit a spherical solar wind of time-variable amplitude, which has been implemented in the pulsar software run_enterprise. Through simulations, we find that the current EPTA+InPTA data combination is not sensitive to such variations; however, solar wind variations will become important in the near future with the addition of new InPTA data and data collected with the low-frequency LOFAR telescope. We also compare our results for different high-precision timing datasets (EPTA+InPTA, PPTA, and LOFAR) of three millisecond pulsars (J0030$+$0451, J1022$+$1001, J2145$-$0450), and find that the solar-wind amplitudes are generally consistent for any individual pulsar, but they can vary from pulsar to pulsar. Finally, we compare our results with those of an independent method on the same LOFAR data of the three millisecond pulsars. We find that differences between the results of the two methods can be mainly attributed to the modelling of dispersion variations in the interstellar medium, rather than the solar wind modelling.

The region of protoplanetary disks closest to a star (within 1-2\,au) is shaped by a number of different processes, from accretion of the disk material onto the central star to ejection in the form of winds and jets. Optical and near-IR emission lines are potentially good tracers of inner disk processes if very high spatial and/or spectral resolution are achieved. In this paper, we exploit the capabilities of the VLTI-GRAVITY near-IR interferometer to determine the location and kinematics of the hydrogen emission line Bracket gamma. We present VLTI-GRAVITY observations of the Bracket gamma line for a sample of 26 stars of intermediate mass (HAEBE), the largest sample so far analysed with near-IR interferometry. The Bracket gamma line was detected in 17 objects. The emission is very compact (in most cases only marginally resolved), with a size of 10-30R* (1-5 mas). About half of the total flux comes from even smaller regions, which are unresolved in our data. For eight objects, it was possible to determine the position angle (PA) of the line-emitting region, which is generally in agreement with that of the inner-dusty disk emitting the K-band continuum. The position-velocity pattern of the Bracket gamma line-emitting region of the sampled objects is roughly consistent with Keplerian rotation. The exception is HD~45677, which shows more extended emission and more complex kinematics. The most likely scenario for the Bracket gamma origin is that the emission comes from an MHD wind launched very close to the central star, in a region well within the dust sublimation radius. An origin in the bound gas layer at the disk surface cannot be ruled out, while accreting matter provides only a minor fraction of the total flux. These results show the potential of near-IR spectro-interferometry to study line emission in young stellar objects.

Important questions on the chemical composition of the neutral ISM in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are still open. It is usually assumed that their metallicity is uniform and equal to that measured in hot stars and HII regions, but direct measurements on the neutral ISM have not been performed until now. Deriving the metallicity from the observed metal abundances is not straightforward because they also depend on the depletion of metals into dust as well as nucleosynthesis effects such as $\alpha$-element enhancement. We collect literature column densities of TiII, NiII, CrII, FeII, MnII, SiII, CuII, MgII, SII, PII, ZnII, and OI in the neutral ISM towards 32 and 22 hot stars in the LMC and SMC. We measure the metallicity, dust depletion, and $\alpha$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in the LMC and SMC. We find $\alpha$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in most systems, on average 0.26 dex (0.35 dex) for the LMC (SMC), and Mn under-abundance in the SMC (on average $-0.35$ dex). These are higher than for stars at similar metallicities. The observed $\alpha$-element enhancements and Mn under-abundance are likely due to bursts of star formation, more recently than ~1 Gyr ago, that enriched the ISM from core-collapse supernovae. We find total neutral ISM metallicities that are mostly consistent with hot stars metallicity, on average [M/H]$_{\rm tot} = -0.33$ ($-0.83$), in the LMC (SMC). In six systems, however, we find significantly lower metallicities, two out of 32 in the LMC (with ~16% solar) and four out of 22 in the SMC (3 and 10% solar), two of which are in the outskirts of the SMC near the Magellanic Bridge, a region known for having a lower metallicity. With the exception of lines of sight towards the Magellanic Bridge, the neutral gas in the LMC and SMC appears fairly well mixed in terms of metallicity. [abridged]

The cause of excess spectral line broadening (non-thermal velocity) is not definitively known, but given its rise before and during flaring, the causal processes hold clues to understanding the triggers for the onset of reconnection and the release of free magnetic energy from the coronal magnetic field. A comparison of data during a 9-hour period from the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode spacecraft - at a 3-minute cadence - and non-linear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolations performed on Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetograms - at a 12-minute cadence - shows an inverse relationship between non-thermal velocity and free magnetic energy on short timescales during two X-class solar flares on 6 September 2017. Analysis of these results supports suggestions that unresolved Doppler flows do not solely cause non-thermal broadening and instead other mechanisms like Alfv\'en wave propagation and isotropic turbulence have a greater influence.

We determine the expected yield of detections of solar-like oscillations for the PLATO ESA mission. We used a formulation from the literature to calculate the probability of detection and validated it with Kepler data. We then applied this approach to the PLATO P1 and P2 samples with the lowest noise level and the much larger P5 sample, which has a higher noise level. We used the information available in in the PIC 1.1.0, including the current best estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio. We also derived relations to estimate the uncertainties of seismically inferred stellar mass, radius and age and applied those relations to the main sequence stars of the PLATO P1 and P2 samples with masses equal to or below 1.2 $\rm{M}_\odot$ for which we had obtained a positive seismic detection. We found that one can expect positive detections of solar-like oscillations for more than 15 000 FGK stars in one single field after a two-years run of observation. For main sequence stars with masses $\leq 1.2 \rm{M}_\odot$, we found that about 1131 stars satisfy the PLATO requirements for the uncertainties of the seismically inferred stellar masses, radii and ages in one single field after a two-year run of observation. The baseline observation programme of PLATO consists in observing two fields of similar size (in the Southern and Northern hemispheres) for two years each. The expected seismic yields of the mission are more 30000 FGK dwarfs and subgiants with positive detections of solar-like oscillations, enabling to achieve the mission stellar objectives. The PLATO mission should produce a sample of seismically extremely well characterized stars of quality equivalent to the Kepler Legacy sample but containing a number of stars $\sim$ 80 times larger if observing two PLATO fields for two years each. They will represent a goldmine which will make possible significant advances in stellar modelling.

Galaxy mergers induce the accretion of gas and dust toward the central region of the galaxy, leading to subsequent activities of star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). These processes serve as energy sources for the infrared emission in ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). Recently, a selected number of ULIRGs were reported to display extended radio continuum emission on a scale of $\sim100$\,kpc related to AGNs, whose properties and role in merging systems still need to be better understood. This paper presents the results of multifrequency observations of the nearby ULIRG IRAS\,01004$-$2237, exhibiting 100-kpc scale continuum emission at radio wavelengths, conducted by the Very Long Baseline Array at 2.3 and 8.4\,GHz. The absence of extended X-ray emission in IRAS\,0100$-$2237 suggested an AGN origin for the radio emission, but further evidence was needed. At 8.4\,GHz, we detect compact radio continuum emission with a brightness temperature exceeding $10^{7.2}$\,K in the nuclear region of the object. Conversely, no significant emission is observed at 2.3\,GHz, indicating its flat or inverted spectrum. Both synchrotron self-absorption and free-free absorption can explain the spectral feature of the source. Given the suggestion of AGN presence at other wavelengths, this emission is a plausible candidate for the AGN core powering the extended radio emission.

Magnetar-like activity has been observed in a large variety of neutron stars. PSR J1846-0258 is a young 327 ms radio-quiet pulsar with a large rotational power ($\sim 8 \times 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$), and resides at the center of the supernova remnant Kes 75. It is one of the rare examples of a high magnetic field pulsar showing characteristics both of magnetars and radio pulsars, and can thus provide important clues on the differences in the emission mechanisms between these two classes. In 2006, PSR J1846-0258 was detected to undergo an outburst for the first time, accompanied by a large flux increase, millisecond X-ray bursts, significant spectral changes and a large timing glitch. On August 1st 2020, after nineteen years of quiescent stable emission, the source underwent a second magnetar-like outburst, which was followed up with several observations by NICER, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR and Swift. In this work, we report on the long-term timing and X-ray spectral properties of the source following the 2020 outburst, and place upper limits on any radio activity. We demonstrate that the pulsed flux increased by a factor $> 6$ during the outburst, followed by non-trivial variability in the spin-down rate. Our timing analysis shows that the spin frequency and its derivative are clearly affected by magnetospheric activity due to the outburst. We find hints for an oscillation in the frequency derivative with a timescale of 50-60 days, recovering later on to stable quiescence.

The precise origin of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is unknown despite their value to numerous areas in astronomy. While it is a long-standing consensus that they arise from an explosion of a carbon/oxygen white dwarf, the exact progenitor configurations and explosion mechanisms that lead to SNe Ia are still debated. One popular theory is the double detonation in which a helium layer, accreted from a binary companion, detonates on the surface of the primary star, leading to a converging shock-induced detonation of the underlying core. It has recently been seen in simulations that a helium-rich degenerate companion may undergo its own explosion triggered by the impact from the ejecta of the primary star. We show 2D simulations that model a white dwarf undergoing a double detonation which triggers the explosion of the degenerate companion, leading to either a triple or quadruple detonation. We also present the first multi-dimensional radiative transfer results from the triple and quadruple detonation scenario. We find that within a range of mass configurations of the degenerate binary, the synthetic light curves and spectra of these events match observations as well as theoretical models of isolated double detonations do. Notably, double and quadruple detonations that are spectrally similar and reach the same peak brightnesses have drastically different ejection masses and produce different amounts of Si- and Fe-group elements. Further understanding of this scenario is needed in order to determine if at least some observed SNe Ia actually originate from two stars exploding.

Performance of digitally beamformed phased arrays relies on accurate calibration of the array by obtaining gains of each antenna in the array. The stations of the Square Kilometer Array-Low (SKA-Low) are such digital arrays, where the station calibration is currently performed using conventional interferometric techniques. An alternative calibration technique similar to holography of dish based telescopes has been suggested in the past. In this paper, we develop a novel mathematical framework for holography employing tensors, which are multi-way data structures. Self-holography using a reference beam formed with the station under test itself and cross-holography using a different station to obtain the reference beam are unified under the same formalism. Besides, the relation between the two apparently distinct holographic approaches in the literature for phased arrays is shown, and we show that under certain conditions the two methods yield the same results. We test the various holographic techniques on an SKA-Low prototype station Aperture Array Verification System 2 (AAVS2) with the Sun as the calibrator. We perform self-holography of AAVS2 and cross-holography with simultaneous observations carried out with another station Engineering Development Array 2. We find the results from the holographic techniques to be consistent among themselves as well as with a more conventional calibration technique.

We present an independent catalog (FRIIRGcat) of 45,241 Fanaroff-Riley Type II (FR-II) radio galaxies compiled from the VLA FIRST Survey (Very Large Array Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeter) and employed the deep learning method. Among them, optical and/or infrared counterparts are identified for 41,425 FR-IIs. This catalog spans luminosities $2.63\times10^{22}\leq L_{\rm rad}\leq6.76\times10^{29}\,{\rm W}\,{\rm Hz}^{-1}$ and redshifts up to $z=5.01$. The spectroscopic classification indicates that there are 1,431 low-excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) and 260 high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs). Among the spectroscopically identified sources, black hole masses are estimated for 4,837 FR-IIs, which are in $10^{7.5}\lesssim M_{\rm BH}\lesssim 10^{9.5}$\,$M_{\odot}$. Interestingly, this catalog reveals a couple of giant radio galaxies (GRGs), those of which are already in the existing GRG catalog confirming the efficiency of this FR-II catalog. Furthermore, 284 new GRGs are unveiled in this new FR-II sample, they have the largest projected sizes ranging from 701 to 1,209\,kpc and are located at redshifts $0.31<z<2.42$. Finally, we explore the distribution of the jet position angle and it shows that the FIRST images are significantly affected by the systematic effect (the observing beams). The method presented in this work is expected to be applicable to the currently conducting radio sky surveys because they have finely refined telescope arrays. On the other hand, we are expecting that further new methods will be dedicated to solving this problem.

The constant improvement of astronomical instrumentation provides the foundation for scientific discoveries. In general, these improvements have only implications forward in time, while previous observations do not benefit from this trend. Here we provide a general deep learning method that translates between image domains of different instruments (Instrument-To-Instrument translation; ITI). We demonstrate that the available data sets can directly profit from the most recent instrumental improvements, by applying our method to five different applications of ground- and space-based solar observations. We obtain 1) solar full-disk observations with unprecedented spatial resolution, 2) a homogeneous data series of 24 years of space-based observations of the solar EUV corona and magnetic field, 3) real-time mitigation of atmospheric degradations in ground-based observations, 4) a uniform series of ground-based H$\alpha$ observations starting from 1973, 5) magnetic field estimates from the solar far-side based on EUV imagery. The direct comparison to simultaneous high-quality observations shows that our method produces images that are perceptually similar and match the reference image distribution.

Extended main sequences (eMSs) and extended main-sequence turnoffs (eMSTOs) are fascinating phenomena that are routinely observed in star clusters. These phenomena strongly challenge the current canonical "simple stellar population" picture of star clusters, which postulates that star clusters are coeval and chemically homogeneous and can thus be described by a single, unique isochrone. Detections of eMSs and eMSTOs provide valuable insights into stellar physics and the evolution of star clusters. This comprehensive review delves into the observational characteristics, underlying mechanisms, and astrophysical implications of the eMSs and eMSTOs observed in young (less than 600 million years) and intermediate-age (600 to 2000 million years) star clusters. Several scenarios or hypotheses have been proposed to explain these phenomena, including the presence of an age spread, binary interactions, variable stars, and differences in stellar rotation rates. This review discusses the advantages and limitations of current models. Among contemporary models and hypotheses, stellar rotation has been demonstrated as the most plausible mechanism to explain the occurrence of eMSs and eMSTOs. Research on stellar rotation and its connection to eMSs has opened up a myriad of fascinating avenues, such as investigations of the magnetic braking mechanism in stars, searches for tidally locked binary systems in star clusters, and investigations as to whether binary mergers can give rise to massive magnetars. These endeavors have yielded valuable insights and significantly enriched our understanding of stellar astrophysics.

Context: Telescopes like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be used together with extreme adaptive optics (AO) instruments to directly image Earth-like planets. The AO systems will need to perform at the fundamental limit in order to image Earth twins. A crucial component is the wavefront sensor. Interferometric wavefront sensors, such as the Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS), have been shown to perform close to the fundamental sensitivity limit. However, sensitivity comes at the cost of linearity; the ZWFS has strong nonlinear behavior. Aims: The aim of this work is to increase the dynamic range of Zernike-like wavefront sensors by using nonlinear reconstruction algorithms combined with phase sorting interferometry (PSI) and multi-wavelength measurements. Methods: The response of the ZWFS is explored analytically and numerically. Results: The proposed iterative (non)linear reconstructors reach the machine precision for small aberrations (<0.25 rad rms). Coupling the nonlinear reconstruction algorithm with PSI increases the dynamic range of the ZWFS by a factor of three to about 0.75 rad rms. Adding multiple wavebands doubles the dynamic range again, to 1.4 radians rms. Conclusion: The ZWFS is one of the most sensitive wavefront sensors, but has a limited dynamic range. The ZWFS will be an ideal second-stage wavefront sensor if it is combined with the proposed nonlinear reconstruction algorithm.

We investigate a mechanism to form and keep a planar spatial distribution of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way (MW), which is called the satellite plane. It has been pointed out that the {\Lambda}CDM cosmological model hardly explains the existence of such a satellite plane, so it is regarded as one of the serious problems in the current cosmology. We here focus on a rotation of the gravitational potential of a host galaxy, i.e., so-called a figure rotation, following the previous suggestion that this effect can induce the tilt of a so-called tube orbit. Our calculation shows that a figure rotation of a triaxial potential forms a stable orbital plane perpendicular to the rotational axis of the potential. Thus, it is suggested that the MW's dark halo is rotating with its axis being around the normal line of the satellite plane. Additionally, we find that a small velocity dispersion of satellites is required to keep the flatness of the planar structure, namely the standard derivation of their velocities perpendicular to the satellite plane needs smaller than their mean rotational velocity on the plane. Although not all the MW's satellites satisfy this condition, some fraction of them called member satellites, which are prominently on the plane, satisfy it. We suggest that this picture explaining the observed satellite plane can be achieved by the filamentary accretion of dark matter associated with the formation of the MW and a group infall of member satellites along this cosmic filament.

TV Col is a long-period eclipsing intermediate polar (IPs) prototype star for the negative superhump (NSH) system. We investigate the eclipse minima, eclipse depth, and NSH amplitude based on TESS photometry. Using the same analytical method as SDSS J081256.85+191157.8, we find periodic variations of the O-C for eclipse minima and NSH amplitudes with periods of 3.939(25) d and 3.907(30) d, respectively. The periodic variation of the NSH amplitude of TV Col confirms that periodic NSH amplitude changes in response to the tilted disk precession may be universal, which is another evidence that the origin of the NSHs is related to the tilted disk precession. We suggest that the NSH amplitude variation may be similar to the superorbital signal, coming from the periodic change in visual brightness of the energy released by streams touching the tilted disk with tilted disk precession. Finally, we find for the first time that the eclipse depth exhibits bi-periodic variations with periods of P1 = 3.905(11) d and P2 = 1.953(4) d, respectively. P2 is about half of P1 and the disk precession period (P1~Pprec~2*P2). We suggest that P1 may come from the periodic change in the brightness of the eclipse center due to tilted disk precession, while P2 may come from two accretion curtains precession together with the tilted disk. The discovery of bi-periodic variations in eclipse depth provides a new window for studying IPs and tilted disk precession.

A massive molecular cloud complex represents local gravitational potential that can constrain the vertical distribution of surrounding stars and gas. This pinching effect results in the local corrugation of the scale height of stars and gas which is in addition to the global corrugation of the mid-plane of the disc. For the first time, we report observational evidence for this pinching on the \HI vertical structures in the Galactic region ($20^{\circ}< l<40^{\circ}$), also called W41--W44 region. The \HI vertical distribution is modelled by a double Gaussian profile that physically represents a narrow dense gas distribution confined to the mid-plane embedded in a wider diffuse \HI. We find that the estimate of the \HI scale height distribution of wider components, shows corrugated structures at the locations of molecular complexes, as theoretically predicted in literature. While the narrow component is less affected by the pinching, we found a hint of the disc being disrupted by the active dynamics in the local environment of the complex, e.g., supernova explosions. Molecular complexes of mass of several $10^6$ solar mass, associated with the mini-starburst region W43 and the supernova remnant W41 show the strongest evidence for the pinching; here a broad trough, with an average width of $\sim400$ pc and height $\sim300$ pc, in the disc thickness of the wider component is prominently visible. Searching for similar effect on the stars as well as in the location of other complexes in the Milky Way and other galaxies will be useful to establish this phenomenon more firmly.

We report the detection of type-B quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) of the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1728.9-3613 observed by NICER during the 2019 outburst. A type- B QPO was observed for the first two days and it disappeared as flux increased, but again appeared at $\sim$ 7.70 Hz when flux was dramatically decreased. The source was found in the soft-intermediate state during these observations. We further studied the energy dependence of the QPO. We found that QPO was observed only for a higher energy range implying that the origin of QPO is possibly due to the corona emitting higher energy photons by the inverse Compton process. The variation of spectral parameters can be explained with the disk truncation model. The fractional rms found to be monotonically increased with energy. The phase lag spectrum followed the U-shaped curve. The rms and phase lag spectrum are modelled and explained with the single-component comptonization model vkompthdk.

Odd radio circles (ORCs) are newly discovered extragalactic radio objects with unknown origin. In this work, we carry out three-dimensional cosmic-ray (CR) magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the FLASH code and predict the radio morphology of end-on active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet-inflated bubbles considering hadronic emission. We find that powerful and long-duration CR proton (CRp)-dominated jets can create bubbles with similar sizes ($\sim 300-600$ kpc) and radio morphology (circular and edge-brightened) to the observed ORCs in low-mass ($M_{\rm vir}\sim 8\times 10^{12} - 8\times 10^{13}~M_\odot$) halos. Given the same amount of input jet energy, longer-duration (thus lower-power) jets tend to create larger bubbles since high-power jets generate strong shocks that carry away a significant portion of the jet energy. The edge-brightened feature of the observed ORCs is naturally reproduced due to efficient hadronic collisions at the interface between the bubbles and the ambient medium. We further discuss the radio luminosity, X-ray detectability, and the possible origin of such strong AGN jets in the context of galaxy evolution. We conclude that end-on CR-dominated AGN bubbles could be a plausible scenario for the formation of ORCs.

Tidally excited oscillations (TEOs) in Heartbeat Stars (HBSs) are an essential probe of the internal properties of the systems, but their potential has not yet been fully exploited. Based on the orbital parameters and TEO candidates from our previous works, we identify the pulsation phases and mode of TEOs in fourteen Kepler HBSs. The pulsation phases of most systems can be explained by the dominant modes spherical harmonic $l=2$, $m=0$, or $\pm2$ modes, assuming the spin and orbital axes are aligned and the pulsations are adiabatic, except for five systems that show large median deviations ($>2\sigma$). The largest deviation ($>6\sigma$), in KIC 8459354, can be explained by the spin-orbit misalignment since the high eccentricity and the long orbital period. Besides the two existing reasons for the large deviations, we additionally suggest that the apsidal motion could be another reason. In addition, for KIC 11122789, almost half of the harmonics show large deviations, we suggest that these harmonics may not be considered as TEO candidates. This phases and mode identification approach can then be used inversely to verify the TEO candidates derived by the Fourier analysis.

We analyzed the globular cluster M5 (NGC 5904) using 15 years of gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Using rotation ephemerides generated from Arecibo and FAST radio telescope observations, we searched for gamma-ray pulsations from the seven millisecond pulsars (MSPs) identified in M5. We detected no significant pulsations from any of the individual pulsars. Also, we searched for possible variations of the gamma-ray emission as a function of orbital phase for all the six MSPs in binary systems, but did not detect any significant modulations. The gamma-ray emission from the direction of M5 is well described by an exponentially cutoff power-law spectral model, although other models cannot be excluded. The phase-averaged emission is consistent with being steady on a time scale of a few months. We estimate the number of MSPs in M5 to be between 1 and 10, using the gamma-ray conversion efficiencies for well-characterized gamma-ray MSPs in the Third Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-ray Pulsars, suggesting that the sample of known MSPs in M5 is (nearly) complete, even if it is not currently possible to rule out a diffuse component of the observed gamma rays from the cluster

Recent studies of supernova remnants (SNRs) have revealed that some SNRs exhibit a neutral iron line emission at 6.4 keV. This line has been proposed to originate from the interaction of high-energy particles formed in the SNR shell with the surrounding cold matter. We searched for the neutral iron line emission in the SNR W49B. Significant detection of the 6.4 keV line is found in the northwest region, close to the molecular cloud interacting with the SNR shell. In addition, an excess emission at 8-9 keV, in which K_gamma, K_delta, and K_epsilon lines of He-like iron exist, is also significantly found in the region where the radio shell is not bright. We discuss the origin of the 6.4 keV line and the excess emission at 8-9 keV.

To obtain an accurate cosmological inference from upcoming weak lensing surveys such as the one conducted by Euclid, the shear measurement requires calibration using galaxy image simulations. We study the efficiency of different noise cancellation methods that aim at reducing the simulation volume required to reach a given precision in the shear measurement. Explicitly, we compared fit methods with different noise cancellations and a method based on responses. We used GalSim to simulate galaxies both on a grid and at random positions in larger scenes. Placing the galaxies at random positions requires their detection, which we performed with SExtractor. On the grid, we neglected the detection step and, therefore, the potential detection bias arising from it. The shear of the simulated images was measured with the fast moment-based method KSB, for which we note deviations from purely linear shear measurement biases. For the estimation of uncertainties, we used bootstrapping as an empirical method. We find that each method we studied on top of shape noise cancellation can further increase the efficiency of calibration simulations. The improvement depends on the considered shear amplitude range and the type of simulations (grid-based or random positions). The response method on a grid for small shears provides the biggest improvement. In the more realistic case of randomly positioned galaxies, we still find an improvement factor of 70 for small shears using the response method. Alternatively, the runtime can be lowered by a factor of 7 already using pixel noise cancellation on top of shape noise cancellation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the efficiency of shape noise cancellation can be enhanced in the presence of blending if entire scenes are rotated instead of individual galaxies.

We develop a new deconvolution method to improve the angular resolution of the Crab Nebula image taken by the Hitomi HXT. Here, we extend the Richardson-Lucy method by introducing two components for the nebula and the Crab pulsar with regularization for smoothness and flux, respectively, and deconvolving multi-pulse-phase images simultaneously. The deconvolved nebular image at the lowest energy band of 3.6--15 keV looks consistent with the Chandra X-ray image. Above 15 keV, we confirm that the NuSTAR's findings that the nebula size decreases in higher energy bands. We find that the north-east side of the nebula becomes dark in higher energy bands. Our deconvolution method can be applicable for any telescope images of faint diffuse objects containing a bright point source.

We characterise the intra-cluster light (ICL) in ensembles of full-physics cluster simulations from The Three Hundred project, a suite of 324 hydrodynamical resimulations of cluster-sized halos. We identify the ICL as those stellar particles bound to the potential of the cluster itself, but not to any of its substructures, and separate the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) by means of a fixed 50 kpc aperture. We find the total BCG+ICL mass to be in agreement with state-of-the-art observations of galaxy clusters. The ICL mass fraction of our clusters is between 30 and 50 per cent of the total stellar mass within $R_{500}$, while the BCG represents around 10 percent. We further find no trend of the ICL fraction with cluster halo mass, at least not in the range $[0.2,3]\cdot10^{15}h^{-1}M_\odot$ considered here. For the dynamical state, characterised both by theoretical estimators and by the recent merging history of the cluster, there is a clear correlation, such that more relaxed clusters and those that have undergone fewer recent mergers have a higher ICL fraction. Finally, we investigate the possibility of using the ICL to explore the dark matter (DM) component of galaxy clusters. We compute the volumetric density profile for the DM and ICL components and show that, up to $R_{500}$, the ratio between the two can be described by a power law. Working with the velocity dispersion profiles instead, we show that the ratio can be fit by a straight line. Providing the parameters of these fits, we show how the ICL can be used to infer DM properties.

In this paper, we present compelling evidence suggesting a statistical violation of parity symmetry (a discrete symmetry that is separate from isotropy) in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) map, measured through two-point temperature correlations. This parity asymmetric CMB challenges our understanding of the quantum physics of the early Universe rather than LCDM ($\Lambda$ Cold-Dark-Matter). We commence by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the Planck CMB, focusing on the distribution of power in low-multipoles and temperature anticorrelations at parity conjugate points in position space. We find tension with the near scale-invariant power-law power spectrum of Standard Inflation (SI), with p-values of the order $\mathcal{O}\left( 10^{-4}-10^{-3} \right)$. Subsequently, we explore the recently proposed direct-sum inflation (DSI), where a quantum fluctuation arises as a direct-sum of two components evolving forward and backward in time at parity conjugate points in physical space. We found that DSI is consistent with data on parity asymmetry, the absence of power at $\theta>60^{\circ}$, and power suppression at low-even-multipoles which are major data anomalies in the SI. Furthermore, we discover that the parameters characterizing the hemispherical power asymmetry anomaly become statistically insignificant when the large SI quadrupole amplitude is reduced to align with the data. DSI explains this low quadrupole with a p-value of $3.5\%$, 39 times higher than SI. Combining statistics from parameters measuring parity and low-$\ell$ angular power spectrum, we find that DSI is 50-650 times more probable than SI. In summary, our investigation suggests that CMB temperature fluctuations exhibit homogeneity and isotropy but parity-violating consistent with predictions of DSI. This observation provides tantalizing evidence for the quantum mechanical nature of gravity.

Finding nearby neutron stars can probe the supernova and metal-enrichment histories near our Solar system. Recently, Lin et al. 2023 reported an exciting neutron star candidate, 2MASS J15274848+3536572 (hereafter J1527), with a small Gaia distance of 118 parsecs. They claim that J1527 harbors an unseen neutron star candidate with an unusually low mass of $0.98\pm0.03\,M_{\odot}$. In this work, we use the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope high-resolution spectrum to measure J1527's orbital inclination independently. Our spectral fitting suggests an orbital inclination of $63\pm2$ degrees. Instead, by fitting a complex hybrid variability model consisting of the ellipsoidal-variation component and the star-spot modulation to the observed light curve, Lin et al. 2023 obtains an orbital inclination of $45.2_{-0.20}^{+0.13}$ degrees. We speculate that the orbital inclination obtained by the light-curve fitting is underestimated, since J1527's light curves are obviously not pure ellipsoidal variations. According to our new inclination ($i\sim 63$ degrees), the mass of the unseen compact object is reduced to $0.69\pm0.02\,M_\odot$, which is as massive as a typical white dwarf.

The visual binary system 16~Cyg~A+B consists of similar solar twins, but a planetary companion is detected only in B. An intensive spectroscopic differential analysis is carried out to the Sun, 16~Cyg~A, and 16~Cyg~B, with particular attentions being paid to (i) precisely establishing the differential atmospheric parameters/metallicity between A and B, and (ii) determining the important CNO abundances based on the lines of CH, NH, and OH molecules. The following results are obtained. (1) The Fe abundances (relative to the Sun) are [Fe/H]^A=+0.09 and [Fe/H]^B=+0.06 (i.e., A is slightly metal-rich than B by +0.03~dex). This lends support to the consequences of recently published papers, while the conclusion once derived by the author (almost the same metallicity for A and B) is acknowledged to be incorrect. (2) The differential abundances (Delta[X/H]) of volatile CNO with low T_c (condensation temperature) are apparently lower than those of refractory Fe group elements of higher T_c, leading to a positive gradient in the Delta[X/H] vs. T_c relation being more conspicuous for A than B. This is qualitatively consistent with previous studies, though the derived slope is quantitatively somewhat steeper than that reported by other authors.

The shear and interface modes excited inside the neutron star due to the presence of elasticity depend on the properties of both the crust and core region. To examine how such eigenfrequencies depend on the neutron star properties, we solve the eigenvalue problem by adopting the relativistic Cowling approximation. Then, we confirm that the number of the interface modes excited in the star is generally equivalent to the number of the interface where the shear modulus discontinuously becomes zero, but we also find that the number of interface modes becomes smaller than that of the interface for the stellar model with lower or higher value of the slope parameter $L$. Furthermore, we derive the empirical relations for expressing the shear modes and one of the interface modes ($i_1$-mode in the text), which is the mode whose amplitude becomes dominant at the interface between the crust and envelopes and at the interface between the phases of slablike and cylindrical nuclei. At the end, we also show the possibility of identifying the higher QPO frequencies observed in GRB 200415A with the shear oscillations, as an alternative possibility instead of the torsional oscillations.

The results of photometric, polarimetric and spectroscopic observations of the young star ZZ Tau IRS in the visible and near-infrared bands are presented. Against the continuum of an M spectral type star about 50 emission lines of allowed (HI, HeI, NaI, SII) and forbidden (OI, OII, OIII, NI, NII, SII, CaII, FeII, NiII) transitions were identified. It was found that from the autumn of 2020 to the beginning of 2023, the brightness of the star in the visible region decreased $(\Delta I \approx 1.5^m),$ and then began to return to initial level. As the visible brightness of the star declined, its colour indices decreased in the visible region, but increased in the near-IR bands. At light minimum, the degree of polarization in the $I$ band reached $\approx$ 13%, and the equivalent widths of e.g. the H$\alpha$ and [SII] 6731 A lines increased to 376 and 79 A, respectively. Arguments are given in favour of ZZ Tau IRS being a UX Ori type star, and its variability being due to eclipses by dust clouds, which are inhomogeneities in the dusty disc wind. Forbidden lines are formed both in the disc wind and in the jet, the axis of which is oriented along PA$=61\pm 3$ degrees. The jet mass-loss rate is $>5 \times 10^{-10}$ M$_\odot$/yr, what is abnormally large for a star with a mass of $<0.3$ M$_\odot.$ Apparently, the disc wind of ZZ Tau IRS is not axially symmetric, probably due to the azimuthal asymmetry of the protoplanetary disc found earlier from ALMA observations.

Massive and luminous O-star atmospheres with winds have been studied primarily using one-dimensional (1D), spherically symmetric, and stationary models. However, observations and theory rather suggest that O-star atmospheres are highly structured, turbulent, and time-dependent. As such, when comparing to observations, present-day 1D modeling tools need to introduce ad-hoc quantities such as photospheric macro & microturbulence, wind clumping, etc. We present multi-dimensional, time-dependent, radiation-hydrodynamical (RHD) simulations for O-stars that encapsulate the deeper sub-surface envelope (down to T ~ 450 kK) as well as the supersonic line-driven wind outflow in one unified approach. Time-dependent, two-dimensional (2D) simulations of O-star atmospheres with winds are performed using a flux-limiting RHD finite volume modeling technique. Opacities are computed using a hybrid approach combining tabulated Rosseland means with calculations (based on the Sobolev approximation) of the enhanced line opacities expected for supersonic flows. When compared to 1D models, the average structures in the 2D simulations display less envelope expansion, no sharp density-inversions, density and temperature profiles that are significantly less steep around the photosphere, and a strong anti-correlation between velocity and density in the supersonic wind. To qualitatively match the different density and temperature profiles seen in our multi-D and 1D models, we need to add a modest amount of convective energy transport in the deep sub-surface layers and a large turbulent pressure around the photosphere to the 1D models.

Structures in circumstellar matter reflect both fast processes and quasi-equilibrium states. A geometrical diversity of emitting circumstellar matter is observed around evolved massive stars, in particular around B[e] supergiants. We recapitulate classical analytical tools of linear and non-linear potential theory, such as Cole-Hopf transformations and Grad-Shafranov theory, and develop them further to explain occurrence of the circumstellar matter structures and their dynamics. We use potential theory to formulate the non-linear hydrodynamical equations and test dilatations of the quasi-equilibrium initial conditions. We find that a wide range of flow patterns can basically be generated and the time scales can switch, based on initial conditions, and lead to eruptive processes, reinforcing that the non-linear fluid environment includes both quasi-stationary structures and fast processes like finite-time singularities. Some constraints and imposed symmetries can lead to Keplerian orbits, while other constraints can deliver quasi-Keplerian ones. The threshold is given by a characteristic density at the stellar surface.

The rotational mass loss has been realized to be a prevalent mechanism to produce low-speed debris near the asteroid, and the size composition of the asteroid's surface regolith has been closely measured by in situ explorations. However, the full-scale evolution of the shedding debris has not been examined using the observed particle sizes, which may hold vital clues to the initial growth of an asteroid moonlet, and help us to understand the general mechanisms that dominate the formation of asteroid systems. This paper presented our study on the cumulative evolution of the debris cloud formed by a rotationally unstable asteroid. A semi-analytical model is developed to characterize the spatial-temporal evolution of the debris cloud posterior to a shedding event. Large-scale DEM simulations are performed to quantify the clustering behavior of the debris particles in the mechanical environment near the asteroid. As a result, we found the cumulation of a steady debris cloud is dominated by large pieces of debris, and the shedding particles follow a common migration trend, which fundamentally determines the mass distribution of the debris cloud. For the accretion analysis, we sketched the life cycle of a debris cluster, and showed its dependency on particle size. The DEM simulations adopt physical parameters estimated from observations and asteroid missions. The results confirm porous fluffy cluster structures can form shortly after a shedding event of observed magnitude. Measurements to these structures show they possess certain strength and adsorption capacity to collisions from dissociative debris particles.

Recent gravitational wave events have suggested the existence of near-solar-mass black holes which cannot be formed via stellar evolution. This has opened up a tantalizing possibility of future detections of both black holes and naked singularities in this mass range. Existence of naked singularities is a topical and fundamental physics issue, but their formation mechanism is not yet clear. Here, we show that some white dwarfs can realistically transmute into black holes and naked singularities with a wide range of near- and sub-solar-mass values by capturing asymmetric or non-self-annihilating primordial dark matter (PDM) particles. We argue that, while a type Ia supernova due to the accumulation of dark matter at the core of a white dwarf could also be a possibility, the transmutation of a white dwarf into a black hole or a naked singularity is a viable consequence of the capture of non-self-annihilating PDM particles. These white dwarf transmutations can have a significant role in probing the physics of dark matter and compact objects, and could be tested using the rates and locations of mergers over the cosmological time scale.

The narrowband kilometric radiation (nKOM) is a Jovian low-frequency radio component identified as a plasma emission produced in the region of the Io plasma torus. Measurements from the Waves instrument onboard the Juno spacecraft permitted to establish the distribution of nKOM occurrence and intensity as a function of frequency and latitude. We have developed a 3D geometrical model that can simulate at large scale the plasma emissions occurrence observed by a spacecraft based on an internal Jovian magnetic field model and a diffusive equilibrium model of the plasma density in Jupiter's inner magnetosphere. With this model, we propose a new method to discriminate the generation mechanism, wave mode, beaming and radio source location of plasma emissions. Here, this method is applied to the study of the nKOM observed from all latitudes by the Juno/Waves experiment to identify which conditions reasonably reproduce the observed occurrence distribution versus frequency and latitude. The results allow us to exclude the two main nKOM models published so far, and to show that the emission must be produced at the local plasma frequency and beamed along its local gradient in the direction of decreasing frequencies. We also propose that depending on its latitude, Juno observes two distinct kinds of nKOM: the low frequency nKOM in ordinary mode at high latitudes and high frequency nKOM on extraordinary mode at low latitudes. Both radio source locations are found to be distributed near the centrifugal equator from the outer edge to the inner edge of the Io plasma torus.

This study aims to identify exemplary science cases for observing N$_2$O, CH$_3$Cl, and CH$_3$Br in exoplanet atmospheres at abundances consistent with biogenic production using a space-based mid-infrared nulling interferometric observatory, such as the LIFE (Large Interferometer For Exoplanets) mission concept. We use a set of scenarios derived from chemical kinetics models that simulate the atmospheric response of varied levels of biogenic production of N$_2$O, CH$_3$Cl and CH$_3$Br in O$_2$-rich terrestrial planet atmospheres to produce forward models for our LIFEsim observation simulator software. In addition we demonstrate the connection to retrievals for selected cases. We use the results to derive observation times needed for the detection of these scenarios and apply them to define science requirements for the mission. Our analysis shows that in order to detect relevant abundances with a mission like LIFE in it's current baseline setup, we require: (i) only a few days of observation time for certain very near-by "Golden Target" scenarios, which also motivate future studies of "spectral-temporal" observations (ii) $\sim$10 days in certain standard scenarios such as temperate, terrestrial planets around M star hosts at 5 pc, (iii) $\sim$50 - 100 days in the most challenging but still feasible cases, such as an Earth twin at 5pc. A few cases for very low fluxes around specific host stars are not detectable. In summary, abundances of these capstone biosignatures are detectable at plausible biological production fluxes for most cases examined and for a significant number of potential targets.

We aim to clarify the link between mass accretion and ejection by analyzing DG Tau's jet observations from optical and near-infrared data spanning 1984 to 2019, alongside photometric variations between 1983 and 2015. We classified 12 moving knot groups among 17 total knot groups based on their constant proper motions and comparable radial velocities. A strong correlation emerges between deprojected flow velocities of the knots and the photometric magnitudes of DG Tau. From 1983 to 1995, as the deprojected ejection velocities surged from $\sim$ 273 $\pm$ 15 km s$^{-1}$ to $\sim$ 427 $\pm$ 16 km s$^{-1}$, the photometric magnitudes ($V$) concurrently brightened from 12.3 to 11.4. Notably, when DG Tau became brighter than 12.2 in the $V$ band, its ($B-V$) color shifted bluer than its intrinsic color range of K5 to M0. During this period, the launching point of the jet in the protoplanetary disk moved closer to 0.06 AU from the star in 1995. Following a $V$ magnitude drop from 11.7 to 13.4 in 1998, the star may have experienced significant extinction due to a dust wall created by the disk wind during the ejection of the high-velocity knot in 1999. Since then, the magnitude became fainter than 12.2, the ($B-V$) and ($V-R$) colors became redder, and the deprojected velocities consistently remained below 200 km s$^{-1}$. The launching point of the jet then moved away to $\sim$ 0.45 AU by 2008. The prevailing factor influencing photometric magnitude appears to be the active mass accretion causing the variable mass ejection velocities.

General Relativity predicts the spacetime metric around an astrophysical black hole to be described by Kerr solution which is a massive rotating black hole without any residual charge. In a previous paper, we analyzed the NuSTAR observations of six X-ray binaries to obtain constraints on deformation parameter $\alpha_{13}$ using a state-of-the-art relativistic model. In this work, we continue analyzing NuSTAR observations of four more X-ray Binaries; two of which are X-ray Transients very close to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The other two sources have complicated absorption which is accounted by time-resolved and flux-resolved spectroscopy. The constraints obtained are consistent with the Kerr hypothesis and are comparable with those obtained in previous studies and those from gravitational events.

Context. The transition from the spherically symmetric envelopes around asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars to the asymmetric morphologies observed in planetary nebulae is still not well understood, and the shaping mechanisms are a subject of debate. Even though binarity is widely accepted as a promising option. Recently, the presence of ultraviolet excesses in AGB stars has been suggested as a potential indicator of binarity. Aims. Our main goals are to characterise the properties of the circumstellar envelopes (CSEs) around candidate AGB binary stars, specifically those selected based on their UV excess emission, and to compare these properties with those derived from previous CO-based studies of AGB stars. Methods. We observed the 12CO ($J$=1-0) and 12CO ($J$=2-1) millimetre-wavelength emission in a sample of 29 AGB binary candidates with the IRAM-30 m antenna. We explored different trends between the envelope parameters deduced and compared them with those previously derived from larger samples of AGB stars found in the literature. Results. We derived the average excitation temperature and column density of the CO-emitting layers, which we used to estimate self-consistently the average mass-loss rate and the CO photodissociation radius of our targets. We find a correlation between CO intensity and IRAS 60${\mu}$m fluxes, revealing a CO-to-IRAS 60${\mu}$m ratio lower than for AGB stars and closer to that found for pre-planetary nebulae (pPNe). Conclusions. For the first time we have studied the mass-loss properties of UV-excess AGB binary candidates and estimated their main CSE parameters. The different relationships between 12CO and IRAS 60{\mu}m, with NUV and FUV are consistent with an intrinsic origin of NUV emission, but potential dominance of an extrinsic process (e.g. presence of a binary companion) in FUV emission.

We present the first multi-wavelength study of Mrk 501 including very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations simultaneous to X-ray polarization measurements from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). We use radio-to-VHE data from a multi-wavelength campaign organized between 2022-03-01 and 2022-07-19. The observations were performed by MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, Swift (XRT and UVOT), and several instruments covering the optical and radio bands. During the IXPE pointings, the VHE state is close to the average behavior with a 0.2-1 TeV flux of 20%-50% the emission of the Crab Nebula. Despite the average VHE activity, an extreme X-ray behavior is measured for the first two IXPE pointings in March 2022 with a synchrotron peak frequency >1 keV. For the third IXPE pointing in July 2022, the synchrotron peak shifts towards lower energies and the optical/X-ray polarization degrees drop. The X-ray polarization is systematically higher than at lower energies, suggesting an energy-stratification of the jet. While during the IXPE epochs the polarization angle in the X-ray, optical and radio bands align well, we find a clear discrepancy in the optical and radio polarization angles in the middle of the campaign. We model the broad-band spectra simultaneous to the IXPE pointings assuming a compact zone dominating in the X-rays and VHE, and an extended zone stretching further downstream the jet dominating the emission at lower energies. NuSTAR data allow us to precisely constrain the synchrotron peak and therefore the underlying electron distribution. The change between the different states observed in the three IXPE pointings can be explained by a change of magnetization and/or emission region size, which directly connects the shift of the synchrotron peak to lower energies with the drop in polarization degree.

Satellite galaxies within the Milky Way's (MW) virial radius $R_{\mathrm{vir}}$ are typically devoid of cold gas due to ram pressure stripping by the MW's corona. The density of this corona is poorly constrained today and essentially unconstrained in the past, but can be estimated using ram pressure stripping. In this paper, we probe the MW corona at $z\approx 1.6$ using the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We assume that i) Draco's orbit is determined by its interaction with the MW, whose dark matter halo we evolve in time following cosmologically-motivated prescriptions, ii) Draco's star formation was quenched by ram pressure stripping and iii) the MW's corona is approximately smooth, spherical and in hydrostatic equilibrium. We used GAIA proper motions to set the initial conditions and Draco's star formation history to estimate its past gas content. We found indications that Draco was stripped of its gas during the first pericentric passage. Using 3D hydrodynamical simulations at a resolution that enables us to resolve individual supernovae and assuming no tidal stripping, which we estimate to be a minor effect, we find a density of the MW corona $\geq 8\times 10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$ at a radius $\approx 0.72R_{\mathrm{vir}}$. This provides evidence that the MW's corona was already in place at $z\approx 1.6$ and with a higher density than today. If isothermal, this corona would have contained all the baryons expected by the cosmological baryon fraction. Extrapolating to today shows good agreement with literature constraints if feedback has removed $\lesssim 30$% of baryons accreted onto the halo.

The application of the parallax of pulsation (PoP) technique to determine distances of pulsating stars implies the use of a scaling parameter, the projection factor (p-factor), required to transform disc-integrated radial velocities (RVs) into photospheric expansion velocities. The value of the p-factor is poorly known and debated. Most PoP applications assume a constant p-factor. However, it may actually depend on the physical parameters of each star. We aim to calibrate p-factors for RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) and compare them with classical Cepheids (CCs). Due to their higher surface gravity, RRLs have more compact atmospheres, and provide a valuable comparison with their supergiant siblings. We determined the p-factor of 17 RRLs using the SPIPS code, constrained by Gaia DR3 parallaxes, photometry, and new RVs from the OHP/SOPHIE spectrograph. We carefully examine the different steps of the PoP technique, particularly the method to determine RV from spectra using the classical cross-correlation function (CCF) approach. The method employed for RV extraction from the CCF has a strong impact on the p-factor, of up to 10%. However, this choice of method results in a global scaling of the p-factor, marginally affecting the scatter within the sample for a given method. Over our RRL sample, we find a mean value of $p = 1.248 \pm 0.022$ for RVs derived using a Gaussian fit of the CCF. There is no evidence for a different value of the p-factor of RRLs, although its distribution for RRLs appears significantly less scattered than that for CCs. The p-factor does not appear to depend in a simple way on fundamental stellar parameters. We argue that large-amplitude dynamical phenomena occurring in the atmospheres of RRLs and CCs during their pulsation affect the relative velocity of the spectral line-forming regions compared to the velocity of the photosphere.

Magnetic fields generated in the early Universe undergo turbulent decay during the radiation-dominated era. The decay is governed by a decay exponent and a decay time. It has been argued that the latter is prolonged by magnetic reconnection, which depends on the microphysical resistivity and viscosity. Turbulence, on the other hand, is not usually expected to be sensitive to microphysical dissipation, which affects only very small scales. We want to test and quantify the reconnection hypothesis in decaying hydromagnetic turbulence. We perform high-resolution numerical simulations with zero net magnetic helicity using the Pencil Code with up to $2048^3$ mesh points and relate the decay time to the Alfv\'en time for different resistivities. The decay time is found to be longer than the Alfv\'en time by a factor that increases with increasing Lundquist number to the 1/4 power. The decay exponent is as expected from the conservation of the Hosking integral, but a timescale dependence on resistivity is unusual for developed turbulence and not found for hydrodynamic turbulence. In two dimensions, the Lundquist number dependence is shown to be leveling off above values of $\approx25,000$. Our numerical results suggest that resistivity effects have been overestimated by Hosking and Schekochihin in their recent work to reconcile the cosmic void observations with primordial magnetogenesis. Instead of reconnection, it may be the magnetic helicity density in smaller patches that is responsible for the resistively slow decay. The leveling off at large Lundquist number cannot currently be confirmed in three dimensions.

In these notes, we comment on the standard indistinguishability criterion often used in the gravitational wave community to set accuracy requirements on waveforms. Revisiting the hypotheses under which it is derived, we propose a correction to it. Moreover, we outline how the approach we proposed in a recent work in the context of tests of general relativity can be used for this same purpose.

In this paper, we employ a general relativistic formalism and develop new theoretical tools that allow us to analytically express the mass and electric charge of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole as well as its distance to a distant observer in terms of few directly observable quantities, such as the total frequency shift, aperture angle of the telescope, and redshift rapidity. Our analytic and concise formulas are valid on the midline, and the redshift rapidity is a relativistic invariant observable that represents the evolution of the frequency shift with respect to the proper time in the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m spacetime. This procedure is applicable for particles undergoing circular motion around a spherically symmetric and electrically charged black hole, which is the case for accretion disks orbiting supermassive black holes hosted at the core of active galactic nuclei. Our results provide a novel method to measure the electric charge of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole and its distance from the Earth, and the general formulas can be employed in black hole parameter estimation studies.

Muon radiography often referred to as muography, is an imaging technique that uses freely available cosmic-ray muons to study the interior structure of natural or man-made large-scale objects. The amount of multidisciplinary applications of this technique keeps increasing over time and a variety of basic detector types have already been used in the construction of muon telescopes. Here, we are investigating the use of advanced gaseous detectors for muography. As our basic solution, given its robustness and ease of operation in remote, outdoor environments, a scintillator-based muon telescope with silicon photomultiplier readout is being developed. To enhance the telescope performance, we are proposing the use of Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (mRPCs) and Thick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEMs). While the former offer superior time resolution which could be beneficial for detector background rejection, the latter detector type offers excellent spatial resolution, can be manufactured at low cost and operated with a simple gas mixture. Currently, prototype detector planes for each of these proposed types are being designed and constructed, and initial performance tests are in progress. In parallel, a Geant4- based muon telescope simulation is being developed, which will enable us to e.g. optimize our telescope geometry and study the use of superior time resolution for background rejection. The design and status of the three detector prototype planes and the muon telescope, along with the initial results of their performance tests and of the Geant4 simulation studies are reported.

Gravitational wave astronomy has emerged as a new branch of observational astronomy, since the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015. The current number of $O(100)$ detections is expected to grow by several orders of magnitude over the next two decades. As a result, current computationally expensive detection algorithms will become impractical. A solution to this problem, which has been explored in the last years, is the application of machine-learning techniques to accelerate the detection and parameter estimation of gravitational wave sources. In this chapter, several different applications are summarized, including the application of artificial neural networks and autoenconders in accelerating the computation of surrogate models, deep residual networks in achieving rapid detections with high sensitivity, as well as artificial neural networks for accelerating the construction of neutron star models in an alternative theory of gravity.

In this paper, we introduce a weak, transient and periodical derivative coupling between the inflaton field and gravity, and find that the square of the sound speed of the curvature perturbations becomes a periodic function, which results in that the equation of the curvature perturbations can be transformed into the form of the Mathieu equation in the sub-horizon limit. Thus, the parametric resonance will amplify the curvature perturbations so as to generate a formation of abundant primordial black holes (PBHs). We show that the generated PBHs can make up most of dark matter. Associated with the generation of PBHs, the large scalar perturbations will give rise to the scalar induced gravitational waves which may be detected by future gravitational wave projects.

The $\alpha$-optical potential is one of the key input parameters used to measure the reaction rate of the ($\gamma,\alpha$)-process using the Hauser-Feshbach(HF) statistical model and the principle of detailed balance. $\alpha$-elastic scattering experiment on $^{113}$In $p$-nucleus was carried out in the energy range E$_{lab}$=26$-$32 MeV. The vacuum evaporation technique was used to prepare the $^{113}$In target~($\sim$86 $\mu$g/cm$^2$). An energy-dependent local optical potential parameters set was obtained by analysing the experimental elastic scattering angular distribution data. The local potential parameters are extrapolated for lower energies and are used to measure the $^{113}$In($\alpha,\gamma$) reaction cross-section.

Chameleon dark energy models are a popular alternative to the standard cosmological constant model. These models consist of a new light degree of freedom, called chameleon, with a density dependent mass and a non-trivial coupling to both matter and photons. Owing to these couplings, chameleons can be produced inside the sun. However due to their density dependent mass, the chameleons produced in the solar core are screened and cannot escape whereas those produced outside the solar core, such as in the \textit{tachocline} region with energies of the order of few a keV, can escape from the sun and travel all the way towards Earth. Hence the Earth is expected to receive a flux of \textit{solar chameleons}. In this work we propose a \textit{light shining through wall} (LSW) type of experiment in which the Earth itself acts as a wall. Both photons and chameleons are incident on the light side of the Earth. While all the photons are stopped by the Earth, only a fraction of the chameleons are stopped by the earth due to screening. Those chameleons which are not screened by the earth pass directly through the Earth and exit the night side. Here these chameleons interact with the geomagnetic field and convert into X-ray photons. A space based X-ray telescope orbiting the Earth can detect these X-ray photons, while passing through the night side, thereby acting as a detector in this LSW type experiment. We show that such a kind of setup can be complementary to other terrestrial experiments looking for chameleons.

It is possible that primordial black holes consitute (or consituted) a significant fraction of the energy budget of our universe. Terrestrial gravitational wave detectors offer the opportunity to test the existence of primordial black holes in two different mass ranges, from $10^2\,{\rm g}-10^{16}\,{\rm g}$ to $10^{-6}\,M_\odot-100 \,M_\odot$. The first mass window is open via induced gravitational waves and the second one by gravitational waves from binary mergers. In this review, we outline and explain the different gravitational wave signatures of primordial black holes that may be probed by terrestrial gravitational wave detectors, such as the current LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA and future ones like Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. We provide rough estimates for the frequency and amplitude of the associated GW background signals. We also discuss complementary probes for these primordial black hole mass ranges.

Standard quantum theory admits naturally statistical ensembles that are both pre-selected and post-selected, i.e., they involve both an initial and a final state. We argue that there is no compelling physical reason to preclude a probability assignment with a final quantum state at the cosmological level. We therefore analyze the implications of a final state in the probability assignment for quantum cosmology. We show that the effective deterministic equations that arise at the classical limit may be very different from the solutions to the classical equations of motion. In particular, effective equations for a Friedman-Robertson-Walker cosmology with both initial and final conditions generically describe cosmic acceleration in the absence of a cosmological constant, dark energy, or modified gravitational dynamics. Therefore, cosmic acceleration emerges as a quantum post-selection effect.

We explore the gravitational waves (GWs) within the framework of the $f(R)$ gravity model represented by $f(R)=R^{1+\delta}/R^\delta_c$ in the weak field approximation. In this scenario, gravitational waves exhibit an additional polarization mode beyond the standard transverse-traceless (TT) tensor modes. We show that the polarization characteristics of these waves are connected to the scalaron mass and the effective potential derived from the function $f(R)$. Furthermore, the study of the speed of gravitational waves ($c_g$) within the Horndeski theory, particularly using the $f(R)$ model, reveals an intriguing feature about the equality of the speed of gravitational waves to that that of electromagnetic waves. This equivalence arises due to the modification introduced in the Ricci scalar within the $f(R)$ model.

Sub-MeV cold dark-matter particles are unable to produce electronic recoil in conventional dark-matter direct detection experiments such as XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN above the detector threshold. The mechanism of boosted dark matter comes into picture to constrain the parameter space of such low mass dark matter from direct detection experiments. We consider the effect of the leading components of cosmic rays to boost the cold dark matter, which results in significant improvements on the exclusion limits compared to the existing ones. To present concrete study results, we choose to work on models consisting of a dark-matter particle $\chi$ with an additional $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry including the secluded dark photon, $U(1)_{B-L}$, and $U(1)_{L_e-L_\mu}$. We find that the energy dependence of the scattering cross section plays a crucial role in improving the constraints. In addition, we systematically estimate the Earth shielding effect on boosted dark matter in losing energy while traveling to the underground detector through the Earth.

In this work, we analyze the observational properties of thin-shell gravastars under two astrophysical frameworks, namely surrounded by optically-thin accretion disks and orbited by hot-spots. We consider the thin-shell gravastar model with two free parameters, the gravastar radius and ratio of mass allocated at the thin-shell, and produce the corresponding observables via the use of numerical backwards ray-tracing codes. Regarding the observations of accretion disks, our results indicate that, due to the absence of a strong gravitational redshift effect, smooth gravastar configurations cannot reproduce shadow observations when internal emission is assumed. We thus expect such models to be excluded as candidates for supermassive objects in galactic cores. Nevertheless, thin-shell gravastars with a large portion of their total mass allocated at the surface can produce such an effect and are thus adequate candidates for black-hole mimickers. In the context of hot-spot orbits, the astrometrical observational properties of ultra-compact gravastars resemble closely those of other ultra-compact objects e.g. fluid stars and bosonic stars. However, for low-compacticity configurations, the time-integrated fluxes feature additional contributions in the form of a high-intensity plunge through image. These qualitative differences in the observational properties of gravastars in comparison with black-hole spacetimes could potentially be discriminated by the next generation of interferometric experiments in gravitational physics.

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in understanding how dark matter affects neutron stars, helping them to better understand complex astrophysical phenomena. In this paper, we delve deeper into this problem by using advanced machine learning techniques to find potential connections between dark matter and various neutron star characteristics. We employ Random Forest classifiers to analyze neutron star (NS) properties and investigate whether these stars exhibit characteristics indicative of dark matter admixture. Our dataset includes 32,000 sequences of simulated NS properties, each described by mass, radius, and tidal deformability, inferred using recent observations and theoretical models. We explore a two-fluid model for the NS, incorporating separate equations of state for nucleonic and dark matter, with the latter considering a fermionic dark matter scenario. Our classifiers are trained and validated in a variety of feature sets, including the tidal deformability for various masses. Based on confusion matrices, these classifiers can identify NS with admixed dark matter with approximately 17% probability of misclassification. In particular, we find that additional tidal deformability data do not significantly improve the precision of our predictions. This article also delves into the potential of specific NS properties as indicators of the presence of dark matter. Radius measurements, especially at extreme mass values, emerge as particularly promising features. The insights gained from our study will guide future observational strategies and enhance dark matter detection capabilities. According to this study, neutron stars at 1.4 and 2.07 solar masses have radii that strongly suggest dark matter in neutron stars more likely than just hadronic composition, based on NICER data from pulsars PSR J0030+0451 and PSR J0740+6620.

We study radial oscillations of hybrid neutron stars composed of hadronic external layers followed by a quark matter core. We employ a density-dependent relativistic mean-field model including hyperons and ${\Delta}$ baryons to describe hadronic matter, and a density-dependent quark model for quark matter. We obtain the ten lowest eigenfrequencies and the corresponding oscillation functions of N, N+${\Delta}$, N+H, and N+H+${\Delta}$ equations-of-state with a phase transition to the quark matter at 1.4 and 1.8 ${M_{\odot}}$, focusing on the effects of a slow phase transition at the hadron-quark interface. We observe that the maximum mass is reached before the fundamental mode's frequency vanishes for slow phase transitions, suggesting that some stellar configurations with higher central densities than the maximum mass remain stable even when they undergo small radial perturbations.

Generalising the Elsasser variables, we introduce the Q-variables. These are more flexible than the Elsasser variables, because they also allow to track waves with phase speeds different than the Alfven speed. We rewrite the MHD equations with these Q-variables. We consider also the linearised version of the resulting MHD equations in a uniform plasma, and recover the classical Alfven waves, but also separate the fast and slow magnetosonic waves in upward and downward propagating waves. Moreover, we show that the Q-variables may also track the upward and downward propagating surface Alfven waves in a non-uniform plasma, displaying the power of our generalisation. In the end, we lay the mathematical framework for driving solar wind models with a multitude of wave drivers.

First order phase transitions in the very early universe are a prediction of many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and could provide the departure from equilibrium needed for a dynamical explanation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. They could also produce gravitational waves of a frequency observable by future space-based detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). All calculations of the gravitational wave power spectrum rely on a relativistic version of the classical nucleation theory of Cahn-Hilliard and Langer, due to Coleman and Linde. The high purity and precise control of pressure and temperature achievable in the laboratory made the first-order A to B transition of superfluid $^3$He an ideal for test of classical nucleation theory. As Leggett and others have noted the theory fails dramatically. The lifetime of the metastable A phase is measurable, typically of order minutes to hours, far faster than classical nucleation theory predicts. If the nucleation of B phase from the supercooled A phase is due to a new, rapid intrinsic mechanism that would have implications for first-order cosmological phase transitions as well as predictions for gravitational wave (GW) production in the early universe. Here we discuss studies of the AB phase transition dynamics in $^3$He, both experimental and theoretical, and show how the computational technology for cosmological phase transition can be used to simulate the dynamics of the A-B transition, support the experimental investigations of the A-B transition in the QUEST-DMC collaboration with the goal of identifying and quantifying the mechanism(s) responsible for nucleation of stable phases in ultra-pure metastable quantum phases.

Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) are used for reactor neutrino experiments and already shown their potential in constraining new physics models. The prospect of a Skipper-CCD experiment looking for standard and beyond standard model physics (BSM) in a nuclear reactor has been recently evaluated for different benchmark scenarios. Here we report the installation of the first 2 g Skipper-CCD inside the containment building of a 2 GW$_{th}$ nuclear power plant, positioned 12 meters from the center of the reactor core. We discuss the challenges involved in the commissioning of the detector and present data acquired during reactor ON and reactor OFF periods, with the detector operating with a sub-electron readout noise of 0.17~e-. The ongoing efforts to improve sensitivities to CEvNS and BSM interaction are also discussed.

The nuclear symmetry energy plays important role on the structure of finite nuclei as well as on the bulk properties of neutron stars. However, its values at high densities are completely uncertain and the corresponding experimental data have a large error. One possibility to determine or at least estimate the values at high densities is with the help of neutron star observations. Recently, observations of gravitational waves from merging processes of binary neutron star systems provide useful information on both their radius and tidal deformability, quantities directly related to the symmetry energy. In this work, an attempt is made in this direction, namely to see how recent observations can help to constrain the structure of finite nuclei. In particular, in the present study we parameterize the equation of state which describes the asymmetric and symmetric nuclear mater with the help of the parameter $\eta=(K_0 L^2)^{1/3}$, where $K_0$ is the incompressibility and $L$ the slope parameter. The parameter $\eta$ is a regulator of the stiffness of the equation of state. We expect that the values of $\eta$ affect both the properties of finite nuclei as well as of the neutron star properties (where the role of the isovector interaction plays important role). It is natural to expect that constraints, via the parameter $\eta$ on finite nuclei will imply constraints on the neutron star properties and vice versa. In view of the above statements we propose a simple but self-consistent method to examine simultaneously the effects of the parameter $\eta$ on the properties of finite nuclei and neutron stars. We found constraints on the latter systems via combination by the recent experiments (PREX-2) and observational data found by the detectors Ligo and Virgo.

Through the Gertsenshtein effect, the presence of a large external B-field may allow photons and gravitons to mix in a way that resembles neutrino oscillations and is even more similar to axion-photon mixing. Assuming a background B-field (or any field that behaves like one), we examine the Gertsenshtein mechanism in the context of FLRW expanding universe models, as well as de Sitter space. The conformal invariance of Maxwell's equations and the conformal noninvariance of the Einstein equations preclude the operation of the Gertsenshtein effect at all scales. In general we find for the matter- and radiation-dominated cases, graviton-oscillations are possible only at late conformal times or when the wavelengths are much shorter than the horizon ($\k\eta \gg 1$), but that the time-dependent oscillations eventually damp out in any case. For the de Sitter universe, we find that oscillations are possible only at early conformal times ($\eta \ll H^{-1}$) and for wavelengths short compared to the Hubble radius, but eventually freeze in when wavelengths become longer than the Hubble radius. In principle a Gertsenshtein-like mechanism might influence the balance of particle species in an inflationary phase before freezing in; however, we find that in all our models the mixing length is larger than the Hubble radius. We discuss several possible remedies to this situation.

In the era of gravitational wave astronomy, radial oscillations hold significant potential for not only uncovering the microphysics behind the internal structure but also investigating the stability of neutron stars (NSs). We start by constructing families of static NSs following nucleonic, quarkyonic, and hybrid equations of state and then subject them to radial perturbations in order to explore the stability of these stars. Unlike other literature where the fluid elements are assumed to be in chemical equilibrium, we consider the out-of-equilibrium effects on the chemical composition of fluid elements for the calculation of radial modes. Taking these considerations into account, we observe that the sound speed ($c^2_s$) and adiabatic index ($\gamma$) avoid singularities and discontinuities over the equilibrium case. We elucidate the response of the fundamental radial modes by examining the out-of-equilibrium matter distribution scenario, offering insights into its dynamic variations. We also demonstrate that this approach extends the stable branches of stellar models, enabling stars to sustain stable higher-order mass doublets, shedding some light on observation and existence of PSR J0740+6620.

We improve eight-fold the energy accuracy of the strongest soft X-ray transitions of Fe XVII ions by resonantly exciting them in an electron beam ion trap with a monochromatic beam at the P04 beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron facility. By simultaneously tracking instantaneous photon-energy fluctuations with a high-resolution photoelectron spectrometer, we minimize systematic uncertainties down to velocity-equivalent +/- ~5 km/s in their rest energies, substantially improving our knowledge of this key astrophysical ion. Our large-scale configuration-interaction computations include more than four million configurations and agree with the experiment at a level without precedent for a ten-electron system. Thereby, theoretical uncertainties for interelectronic correlations become far smaller than those of quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections. The present QED benchmark strengthens our trust in future calculations of many other complex atomic ions of interest to astrophysics, plasma physics, and for the development of optical clocks with highly charged ions.

We provide a formulation of Stochastic Inflation in full general relativity that goes beyond the slow-roll and separate universe approximations. We show how gauge invariant Langevin source terms can be obtained for the complete set of Einstein equations in their ADM formulation by providing a recipe for coarse-graining the spacetime in any small gauge. These stochastic source terms are defined in terms of the only dynamical scalar degree of freedom in single-field inflation and all depend simply on the first two time derivatives of the coarse-graining window function, on the gauge-invariant mode functions that satisfy the Mukhanov-Sasaki evolution equation, and on the slow-roll parameters. We validate the efficacy of these Langevin dynamics directly using an example in uniform field gauge, obtaining the stochastic e-fold number without the need for a first-passage-time analysis. As well as investigating the most commonly used gauges in cosmological perturbation theory, we also derive stochastic source terms for the coarse-grained first-order BSSN formulation of Einstein's equations, which enables a well-posed implementation for 3+1 numerical relativity simulations.