Papers for Tuesday, Apr 23 2024

This Letter explores the potential role of primordial black holes (PBHs) to address cosmological tensions as the presence of more massive than expected galaxies at high redshifts, as indicated by recent James Webb Space Telescope observations. Motivated by inflation models that enhance the power at scales beyond the observable range that produce PBHs with Schechter-like mass functions, we aim to explain the excess of high redshift galaxies via a modification of the $\Lambda$ cold dark matter power spectrum that consists in adding (i) a blue spectral index $n_b$ at $k_{\text{piv}}=10/$Mpc and (ii) Poisson and isocurvature contributions from massive PBHs that only make up $0.5\%$ of the dark matter.We simulated these models using the SWIFT code and find an increased abundance of high redshift galaxies in simulations that include PBHs. We compared these models to estimates from James Webb Space Telescope observations.Unlike the $\Lambda$ cold dark matter model, the inclusion of PBHs allowed us to reproduce the the observations with reasonable values for the star formation efficiency. Furthermore, the power spectra we adopted potentially produce PBHs that can serve as seeds for supermassive black holes with masses $7.57 \times 10^4 M_{\odot}$.

Observations of diffuse, non-thermal radio emission spanning several megaparsecs have been documented in over 100 galaxy clusters. This emission, classified as giant radio halos (GHs), mini halos, and radio relics based mainly on their location and morphology, is interpreted as synchrotron radiation and implies the presence of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). GHs were initially thought to be generated by secondary electrons resulting from inelastic $p+p\rightarrow X+\pi^{\pm}$ collisions. However, recent literature has leaned towards primary-electron turbulent (re)acceleration models, partly due to claimed upper limits on the $\gamma$-ray emission from $\pi^0$ decay. We demonstrate that the observed GH and $\gamma$-ray flux in the Coma cluster are consistent with a secondary origin for the GH across a broad range of magnetic field values. Although the constraints on magnetic field configuration are not stringent, they align well with previous estimates for Coma. Within this magnetic field range, the energy density of cosmic-ray protons (CRp) constitutes a few percent to tens of percent of the ICM energy density, as predicted and observed for a sample of radio-emitting galaxy clusters. Notably, we detect a rise in the ratio of CRp to ICM energy densities towards the outer regions of the cluster. This phenomenon was anticipated to arise from either adiabatic compression of CRp accelerated by accretion shocks or, more likely, from strong CRp diffusion.

Tentative observations of cosmic-ray antihelium by the AMS-02 collaboration have re-energized the quest to use antinuclei to search for physics beyond the standard model. However, our transition to a data-driven era requires more accurate models of the expected astrophysical antinuclei fluxes. We use a state-of-the-art cosmic-ray propagation model, fit to high-precision antiproton and cosmic-ray nuclei (B, Be, Li) data, to constrain the antinuclei flux from both astrophysical and dark matter annihilation models. We show that astrophysical sources are capable of producing $\mathcal{O}(1)$ antideuteron events and $\mathcal{O}(0.1)$ antihelium-3 events over 15~years of AMS-02 observations. Standard dark matter models could potentially produce higher levels of these antinuclei, but showing a different energy-dependence. Given the uncertainties in these models, dark matter annihilation is still the most promising candidate to explain preliminary AMS-02 results. Meanwhile, any robust detection of antihelium-4 events would require more novel dark matter model building or a new astrophisical production mechanism.

In this study, we investigate the fundamental astrophysical parameters of the old open cluster NGC 188 through two complementary methods: isochron-fitting and spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis. Using photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic data from the Gaia Data Release 3, we identify 868 most likely member stars with membership probabilities $P \geq 0.5$. The mean proper-motion components and trigonometric parallaxes of the cluster are derived as ($\mu_{\alpha}\cos \delta$, $\mu_{\delta}$) = (-$2.314 \pm 0.002$, -$1.022 \pm 0.002$) mas yr$^{-1}$ and $\varpi = 0.550 \pm 0.023$, respectively. From this initial selection of high probable member stars, we proceed with the determination of astrophysical parameters using the isochron-fitting method. Simultaneously estimating the colour excess, distance, and age of the cluster, we employee PARSEC isochrones to observational data on Gaia based colour-magnitude diagrams. These findings were obtained as $E(G_{BP}-G_{RP})=0.066\pm 0.012$ mag, $d=1806 \pm21$ pc, and $t=7.65 \pm 1.00$ Gyr, respectively. Additionally, we identify and detected 19 previously confirmed blue straggler stars within NGC 188. Subsequently, we performed SED analyses for 412 out of the 868 cluster members. We obtained colour excess, distance and age of the cluster as $E(B-V)=0.034\pm 0.030$ mag, $d=1854\pm 148$ pc, and $t=7.78\pm 0.23$ Gyr, respectively. The analysis of member stars was revealed patterns of extinction in the $V$-band, with higher values of A(V) observed in the lower right quadrant of the cluster. By comparing our results of SED analysis with models of stellar evolution, particularly in terms of temperature and surface gravity, we confirm agreement with theoretical predictions. This comprehensive investigation sheds light on the astrophysical properties of NGC 188, contributing to our understanding of stellar evolution within open clusters.

Full-disk spectroscopic observations of the solar corona are highly desired to forecast solar eruptions and their impact on planets and to uncover the origin of solar wind. In this paper, we introduce a new multi-slit design (5 slits) to obtain extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectra simultaneously. The selected spectrometer wavelength range (184-197 \r{A}) contains several bright EUV lines that can be used for spectral diagnostics. The multi-slit approach offers an unprecedented way to efficiently obtain the global spectral data but the ambiguity from different slits should be resolved. Using a numerical simulation of the global corona, we primarily concentrate on the optimization of the disambiguation process, with the objective of extracting decomposed spectral information of six primary lines. This subsequently facilitates a comprehensive series of plasma diagnostics, including density (Fe XII 195.12/186.89 \r{A}), Doppler velocity (Fe XII 193.51 \r{A}), line width (Fe XII 193.51 \r{A}) and temperature diagnostics (Fe VIII 185.21 \r{A}, Fe X 184.54 \r{A}, Fe XI 188.22 \r{A}, Fe XII 193.51 \r{A}). We find a good agreement between the forward modeling parameters and the inverted results at the initial eruption stage of a coronal mass ejection, indicating the robustness of the decomposition method and its immense potential for global monitoring of the solar corona.

We propose a methodology to measure the cosmological spatial curvature by employing the deviation from statistical isotropy due to the Alcock-Paczy\'nski effect of large scale galaxy clustering. This approach has a higher degree of model independence than most other proposed methods, being independent of calibration of standard candles, rulers, or clocks, of the power spectrum shape (and thus also of the pre-recombination physics), of the galaxy bias, of the theory of gravity, of the dark energy model and of the background cosmology in general. We find that a combined DESI-Euclid galaxy survey can achieve $\Delta \Omega_{k0}=0.057$ at 1$\sigma$ C.L. in the redshift range $z<2$ by combining power-spectrum and bispectrum measurements.

The study of transient and variable events, including novae, active galactic nuclei, and black hole binaries, has historically been a fruitful path for elucidating the evolutionary mechanisms of our universe. The study of such events in the millimeter and submillimeter is, however, still in its infancy. Submillimeter observations probe a variety of materials, such as optically thick dust, which are hard to study in other wavelengths. Submillimeter observations are sensitive to a number of emission mechanisms, from the aforementioned cold dust, to hot free-free emission, and synchrotron emission from energetic particles. Study of these phenomena has been hampered by a lack of prompt, high sensitivity submillimeter follow-up, as well as by a lack of high-sky-coverage submillimeter surveys. In this paper, we describe how the proposed Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) could fill in these gaps in our understanding of the transient universe. We discuss a number of science cases that would benefit from AtLAST observations, and detail how AtLAST is uniquely suited to contributing to them. In particular, AtLAST's large field of view will enable serendipitous detections of transient events, while its anticipated ability to get on source quickly and observe simultaneously in multiple bands make it also ideally suited for transient follow-up. We make theoretical predictions for the instrumental and observatory properties required to significantly contribute to these science cases, and compare them to the projected AtLAST capabilities. Finally, we consider the unique ways in which transient science cases constrain the observational strategies of AtLAST, and make prescriptions for how AtLAST should observe in order to maximize its transient science output without impinging on other science cases.

We present a hidden Markov model (HMM) for discovering stellar flares in light curve data of stars. HMMs provide a framework to model time series data that are not stationary; they allow for systems to be in different states at different times and consider the probabilities that describe the switching dynamics between states. In the context of stellar flares discovery, we exploit the HMM framework by allowing the light curve of a star to be in one of three states at any given time step: Quiet, Firing, or Decaying. This three state HMM formulation is designed to enable straightforward identification of stellar flares, their duration, and associated uncertainty. This is crucial for estimating the flare's energy, and is useful for studies of stellar flare energy distributions. We combine our HMM with a celerite model that accounts for quasi periodic stellar oscillations. Through an injection recovery experiment, we demonstrate and evaluate the ability of our method to detect and characterize flares in stellar time series. We also show that the proposed HMM flags fainter and lower energy flares more easily than traditional sigma clipping methods. Lastly, we visually demonstrate that simultaneously conducting detrending and flare detection can mitigate biased estimations arising in multistage modelling approaches. Thus, this method paves a new way to calculating stellar flare energy. We conclude with an example application to one star observed by TESS, showing how the HMM compares with sigma clipping when using real data.

Solar jets are collimated plasma flows moving along magnetic field lines and accelerated at low altitude following magnetic reconnection. Several of them originate from anemone-shaped low-lying arcades and the most impulsive ones tend to be relatively wider and display untwisting motions. We aim to establish typical behaviours and observational signatures in the low atmosphere that can occur in response to the coronal development of such impulsive jets. We analysed an observed solar jet associated with a circular flare ribbon, using high-resolution observations from SST coordinated with IRIS and SDO. We related specifically identified features with those developing in a generic 3D line-tied numerical simulation of reconnection driven jets, performed with the ARMS code. We identified three features in the SST observations: the formation of a hook along the circular ribbon, the gradual widening of the jet through the apparent displacement of its kinked edge towards, and not away from the presumed reconnection site, and the falling back of some of the jet plasma towards a footpoint offset from that of the jet itself. The 3D numerical simulation naturally accounts for these features which were not imposed a priori. Our analyses allow to interpret them in the context of the 3D geometry of the asymmetric swirled anemone loops and their sequences of reconnection with ambient coronal loops. Given the relatively-simple conditions in which the observed jet occurred, together with the generic nature of the simulation that comprised minimum assumptions, we predict that the specific features that we identified and interpreted are probably typical of every impulsive jet

Understanding the atmospheric parameters of stars on the top of the RGB is essential to reveal the chemical composition of the Milky Way, as they can be used to probe the farthest parts of our Galaxy. Our goal is to determine the chemical composition of 21 RGB stars with $T_{\mathrm{eff}}<4200$K selected from the APOGEE-2 DR17 database using new observations carried out with the spectrograph mounted on the 1-m telescope of the Hungarian Piszk\'estet\H{o} Observatory and the SONG spectrograph (R=77000) on the Hertzsprung SONG telescope in the 4500$-$5800\r{A} wavelength range. This is the first time the spectrograph (R=18000) on the 1-m telescope at Piszk\'estet\H{o} Observatory was used to measure the abundances of stars. We created a new LTE spectral library using MARCS model atmospheres and SYNSPEC by including the line list of 23 molecules to determine atmospheric parameters ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}$, $\log g$, [Fe/H], [$\alpha$/Fe]) and abundances of Si, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Ni with FERRE. The resulting parameters were compared to that of APOGEE. We found a good agreement in general, the average difference is $-$11.2K in $T_{\mathrm{eff}}$, 0.11dex in $\log g$, 0.10dex in [Fe/H], and $-$0.01dex in [$\alpha$/Fe]. Our analysis successfully demonstrates the ability of the spectrograph at Piszk\'estet\H{o} Observatory to reliably measure the abundance of bright stars.

We present a mass measurement for the secondary lens along the line of sight (LoS) in the multi-plane strong lens modeling of the group-scale lens CASSOWARY 31 (CSWA 31). The secondary lens at redshift $z = 1.49$ is a spiral galaxy well aligned along the LoS with the main lens at $z = 0.683$. Using the MUSE integral-field spectroscopy of this spiral galaxy, we measure its rotation velocities and determine the mass from the gas kinematics. We compare the mass estimation of the secondary lens from the lensing models to the mass measurement from kinematics, finding that the predictions from strong lensing tend to be higher. By introducing an additional lens plane at $z = 1.36$ for an overdensity known to be present, we find a mass of $\simeq 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ enclosed within 3.3 kpc from the centroid of the spiral galaxy, approaching the estimate from kinematics. This shows that secondary-lens mass measurements from multiple-plane modeling are affected by systematic uncertainties from the degeneracies between lens planes and the complex LoS structure. Conducting a detailed analysis of the LoS structures is therefore essential to improve the mass measurement of the secondary lens.

We include the effect of the frictional force caused by interactions between cosmic strings and the particles of the background plasma in the computation of the stochastic gravitational wave background generated by cosmic string loops. Although our results show that friction leads to a partial suppression of the emission of gravitational radiation by cosmic string loops, we also find that loop production is very intense in the early stages of the Kibble regime. We show that, in many instances, this leads to a prominent signature of friction in the ultra-high frequency range of the spectrum, in the form of a secondary peak. The signature of friction is not only sensitive to cosmic string properties, but also to the initial conditions of the network and its surroundings. A detection of this signature would then allow us to extract information about the physics of the early universe that cannot be uncovered when probing the rest of the stochastic gravitational wave background spectrum.

Optical flares have been observed from magnetically active stars for many decades; unsurprisingly, the spectra and temporal evolution are complicated. For example, the shortcomings of optically thin, static slab models have long been recognized when confronted with the observations. A less incorrect -- but equally simple -- phenomenological $T \approx 9000$ K blackbody model has instead been widely adopted in the absence of realistic (i.e., observationally-tested) time-dependent, atmospheric models that are readily available. We use the RADYN code to calculate a grid of 1D radiative-hydrodynamic stellar flare models that are driven by short pulses of electron-beam heating. The flare heating rates in the low atmosphere vary over many orders of magnitude in the grid, and we show that the models with high-energy electron beams compare well to the global trends in flux ratios from impulsive-phase stellar flare, optical spectra. The models also match detailed spectral line shape properties. We find that the pressure broadening and optical depths account for the broad components of the hydrogen Balmer $\gamma$ lines in a powerful flare with echelle spectra. The self-consistent formation of the wings and nearby continuum level provide insight into how high-energy electron beam heating evolves from the impulsive to the gradual decay phase in white-light stellar flares. The grid is publicly available, and we discuss possible applications.

The interstellar medium (ISM) is a key ingredient of galaxies and their evolution, consisting of multiphase, turbulent dust and gas. Some of the star-forming regions in our Galaxy originate from cloud-cloud and wind-cloud collisions, which generate shock waves that change the physical and chemical properties of the gas. We utilise our own python-based shock-finding algorithm to study the properties and distribution of shocks in interstellar collisions. Such interactions are studied via 3D numerical simulations with different initial conditions: Cloud-cloud collisions (CCc): We identify four stages of evolution: pre-collision, compression, pass-through, and dissipation. We also vary the size of one of the colliding clouds. Larger clouds facilitate cloud erosion and the formation of more and stronger shocks at early stages. Shock distributions are also time-dependent, as strong shocks are only produced during the early stages. As the collisions evolve, turbulent kinetic energy is rapidly dissipated, so most perturbations become subsonic waves at late times. Wind-cloud collisions (WCc): we identify four stages: compression, stripping, expansion, and break-up. We study the evolution of several diagnostics in these clouds: energies (thermal and kinetic), temperature, displacement of the centre of mass, and mass-weighted averages of the cloud density and acceleration. We show, that the geometry of the cloud impact the diagnostic parameters, for example, smoothing the edges of the cloud leads to enhanced mass losses and dispersion, but has little impact on the shock distribution.

We calculate the $\mu$- and \textit{y}-type spectral distortions of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), taking a non-standard interaction between baryons and viscous dark matter. Using the CMB spectral distortion observations, we can constrain any exotic mechanism that may change the energy of the CMB photon, leading to a CMB spectrum distortion. Depending on the viscosity of dark matter, the energy transfer between dark matter and baryons may modify, leading to a modification in CMB distortion. The existing Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)/FIRAS and the Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) set limits on \textit{y} and $\mu$ types of distortions to $y = 1.5\times10^{-5}$, $\mu = 9.0\times10^{-5}$ and $y = 10^{-8}$, $\mu = 5.0\times10^{-8}$, respectively. In this paper, we discuss the pre-recombination contributions to $\mu$ and \textit{y}-type distortions by viscous dark matter and constrain the parameter space using PIXIE bounds on spectral distortion.

Recent {\em James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)} observations have revealed a population of compact extragalactic objects at $z\gtrsim4$ with red near-infrared colors, which have been dubbed as ``Little Red Dots" (LRDs). The spectroscopically-selected LRDs exhibit broad H$\alpha$ emission lines, which has led to the conclusion that type-I active galactic nuclei (AGN) are harbored in the galaxies' dust-reddened cores. However, other mechanisms, like strong outflowing winds, could also produce broad H$\alpha$ emission lines, and thus, the nature of LRDs is still under debate. In this work, we test the AGN hypothesis for LRDs by stacking the archival {\em Chandra} observations of 19 spectroscopically-selected LRDs. We obtain non-detections in both the soft $(0.5-2\text{ keV})$ and the hard $(2-8\text{ keV})$ X-ray band after stacking, and put upper limits on the X-ray luminosities of these LRDs. We find that the soft band upper limit is $\sim1$ dex lower than the expected level from the $L_\text{X}-L_{\text{H}\alpha}$ relation, while the hard band upper limit is consistent with this relation. This result suggests that LRDs and typical type-I AGNs have significantly different properties. We consider it unlikely that absorption is the main reason for the observed low $L_\text{X}/L_{\text{H}\alpha}$ ratios of LRDs. Alternatively, we discuss two plausible hypotheses: (1) LRDs have intrinsically weak X-ray emissions, (2) fast, galactic-scale outflows have a major contribution to the observed broad H$\alpha$ lines. Our findings indicate that empirical relations (e.g., for black hole mass measurements) established for typical type-I AGNs should be used with caution when analyzing the properties of LRDs.

In our previous study (Bhattacharyya et al., 2022), HD~54786, the optical counterpart of the MAXI J0709-159 system, was identified to be an evolved star, departing from the main sequence, based on comparisons with non-X-ray binary systems. In this paper, using color-magnitude diagram (CMD) analysis for High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) and statistical t-tests, we found evidence supporting HD 54786's potential membership in both Be/X-ray binaries (BeXRBs) and supergaint X-ray binaries (SgXBs) populations of HMXBs. Hence, our study points towards dual optical characteristics of HD~54786, as an X-ray binary star and also belonging to a distinct evolutionary phase from BeXRB towards SgXB. Our further analysis suggests that MAXI J0709-159, associated with HD 54786, exhibits low-level activity during the current epoch and possesses a limited amount of circumstellar material. Although similarities with the previously studied BeXRB system LSI +61$^{\circ}$ 235 (Coe et al., 1994) are noted, continued monitoring and data collection are essential to fully comprehend the complexities of MAXI J0709-159 and its evolutionary trajectory within the realm of HMXBs.

Using the proposed space gravitational wave detector LISA, we will be able to measure the geometrical configurations of $\sim 10^4$ close white dwarf binaries in our Galaxy. The obtained data will be an entirely new resource to examine the randomness of their orbital orientations. Partly motivated by a recent reported on the systematic alignments of bulge planetary nebulae, we discuss the outlook of the orientational analysis with LISA. We find that a quadrupole pattern as small as $\sim 0.05$ can be detected for bulge white dwarf binaries, owing to their large available number. From such a pattern analysis, we might geometrically explore fossil records in our Galaxy billions of years ago.

Recently, radio emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs) has been observed from months to years after the optical discovery. Some of the TDEs including ASASSN-14ae, ASASSN-15oi, AT 2018hyz, and AT 2019dsg are accompanied by the late-time rebrightening phase characterized by a rapid increase in the radio flux. We show that it can be explained by the off-axis two-component jet model, in which the late-time rebrightening arises from the off-axis view of a decelerating narrower jet with an initial Lorentz factor of ~10 and a jet opening angle of ~0.1 rad, while the early-time radio emission is attributed to the off-axis view of a wider jet component. We also argue that the rate density of jetted TDEs inferred from these events is consistent with the observations.

This study presents photometric solutions for a carefully selected sample of 181 detached eclipsing binary systems recently observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. Our findings contribute to discussions about OBA-type systems and the orbital circularization influenced by tidal interactions. The results encompass crucial parameters, including the sum of radii fraction ($r_{\rm a}\,+\,r_{\rm b}$), radii ratio ($k$), orbital inclination ($i$), surface brightness ratio ($J$), and combinations of the longitude of the periastron and orbital eccentricity ($e\,\sin\,\omega$ and $e\,\cos\,\omega$). Geometric light curve fitting is performed using version 43 of the {\sc jktebop} code, serving as the primary tool for determining orbital elements and physical ratios. Careful uncertainty estimates for these findings are derived through bootstrap simulations. This work introduces unprecedented photometric solutions for 172 well-detached eclipsing systems, while the results for the remaining nine systems exhibit excellent agreement with those previously reported in the literature. Additionally, a critical primary radius fraction ($R_{\rm a}/a$) of 0.266 is identified for our sample of radiative envelope stars, consistent with observational and theoretical findings in the literature. Finally, we determine a circularization period of 5.762 days based on a function from the literature, revealing a discrepancy with Zahn's theory for hot stars.

There is growing evidence from stellar kinematics and galactic chemical evolution (GCE) suggesting that giant planets (M$_{P}\geq$0.3$M_{J}$) are relatively young compared to the most commonly occurring population of small planets (M$_{P} <$0.3$M_{J}$). To further test the validity of these results, we analyzed the ages for a large number of 2336 exoplanet hosting stars determined using three different but well-established isochrone fitting models, namely, PARSEC, MIST, and Yonsei Yale (YY). As input parameters, we used Gaia DR3 parallaxes, magnitudes, and photometric temperature, as well as spectroscopically determined more accurate temperatures and metallicities from the Sweet Catalog. Our analysis suggests that $\sim$~50$\%$ to 70$\%$ of stars with planets are younger than the sun. We also find that, among the confirmed exoplanetary systems, stars hosting giant planets are even younger compared to small planet hosts. The median age of $\sim$~2.61 to 3.48~Gyr estimated for the giant planet-hosting stars (depending on the model input parameters) suggests that the later chemical enrichment of the galaxy by the iron-peak elements, largely produced from Type Ia supernovae, may have paved the way for the formation of gas giants. Furthermore, within the giant planet population itself, stars hosting hot Jupiters (orbital period $\le$10 days) are found to be younger compared to the stellar hosts of cool and warm Jupiters (orbital period $>$10 days), implying that hot Jupiters could be the youngest systems to emerge in the progression of planet formation.

Our understanding of early-type galaxies (ETGs) has grown in the past decade with the advance of full-spectrum fitting techniques used to infer the properties of the stellar populations that make-up the galaxy. We present ages, central velocity dispersions, and abundance ratios relative to Fe of C, N, O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Sr, Ba, and Eu, derived using full-spectrum fitting techniques for three ETGs NGC 2865, NGC 3818, and NGC 4915. Each of these three galaxies were selected because they have optical, disturbed structures (fine structure) that are linked to major merger events that occurred 1, 7, and 6 Gyr ago, respectively. Two of the ETGs, NGC 3818 and NGC 4915, show chemical signatures similar to ETGs without fine structure, which is consistent with a gas-poor merger of elliptical galaxies in which substantial star formation is not expected. For NGC 2865, we find a statistically higher abundance of Ca (an $\alpha$-element) and Cr and Mn (Fe-peak elements). We show that for NGC 2865, a simple gas-rich merger scenario fails to explain the larger abundance ratios compared to ETGs without fine structure. These three early-type galaxies with fine structure exhibit a range of abundances, suggesting ETGs with fine structure can form via multiple pathways and types of galaxy mergers.

Galactic superbubbles are triggered by stellar feedback in the discs of star-forming galaxies. They are important in launching galactic winds, which play a key role in regulating the mass and energy exchange in galaxies. Observations can only reveal projected information and the 3D structure of such winds is quite complex. Therefore, numerical simulations are required to further our understanding of such structures. Here, we describe hydrodynamical simulations targeting two spatial scales. Large-scale superbubble models reveal supernova-driven outflows, and their subsequent merging, which leads to galactic wind formation. Additionally, the turbulence parameter $\sigma_t$ not only affects disc formation, but also influences mass and energy characteristics, controlling gas distribution and the injection rate in the simulated star formation zone. Small-scale wind-multicloud models indicate that isolated clouds are susceptible to instabilities, leading to fragmentation and dense gas destruction. In contrast, in closer cloud configurations, the condensation mechanism becomes important owing to hydrodynamic shielding, which helps to maintain the cold material throughout the evolution of the system. These simulations provide a comprehensive picture of galactic winds, showing how large-scale superbubble dynamics create the environment where small-scale wind-multicloud interactions shape the interstellar and circumgalactic media, ultimately regulating galaxy evolution.

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 3 observations of 73 starless and protostellar cores in the Orion B North molecular cloud. We detect a total of 34 continuum sources at 106 GHz, and after comparisons with other data, 4 of these sources appear to be starless. Three of the four sources are located near groupings of protostellar sources, while one source is an isolated detection. We use synthetic observations of a simulation modeling a collapsing turbulent, magnetized core to compute the expected number of starless cores that should be detectable with our ALMA observations and find at least two (1.52) starless core should be detectable, consistent with our data. We run a simple virial analysis of the cores to put the Orion B North observations into context with similar previous ALMA surveys of cores in Chamaeleon I and Ophiuchus. We conclude that the Chamaeleon I starless core population is characteristically less bounded than the other two populations, along with external pressure contributions dominating the binding energy of the cores. These differences may explain why the Chamaeleon I cores do not follow turbulent model predictions, while the Ophiuchus and Orion B North cores are consistent with the model.

Oceanic atmospheric oscillations and climate variability are tightly linked and both exhibit broad band spectral content that ranges, with roughly equal strength, from annual to centennial periodicity. The explanation for variability based on the integration of weather noise leads to a spectral content heavily weighted to low frequencies; explaining the variability as resulting from solar forcing leads to a narrow band, approximately eleven year period, spectral content. In both cases the spectral content is incompatible with the observed spectrum. It is known that the Southern Oscillation is frequency modulated, i.e. the time interval between successive events varies on an approximately centenary scale. In this paper we develop a model of the Southern Oscillation responding to the slowly changing frequency of the solar cycle. This results in a frequency modulated oscillation, the spectrum of which is intrinsically broad and flat and therefore compatible with the observed spectrum. Fortunately, the change in frequency of the solar cycle with time has been reconstructed from tree ring data for the last millennium. It is possible to identify time intervals when the frequency was dominated by a single frequency in which case the model oscillation is relatively simple. The 11 year period component of the model time variation was shown to correlate closely with the 11 year period components of observed Southern Oscillation and climate variability. A characteristic of a frequency modulated variable, the equal spacing of spectral peaks, was utilized via a double Fourier transform method to recover solar cycle periodicity from instrumental and reconstructed climate records, with the recovered periodicity and the known periodicity of the solar cycle in good agreement. The concept outlined provides a new way of viewing and assessing the Sun climate connection.

The tidal interactions of planets affect the stellar evolutionary status and the constraint of their physical parameters by gyrochronology. In this work, we incorporate the tidal interaction and magnetic braking of the stellar wind into MESA and calculate a large grid of 25000 models, covering planets with masses of 0.1-13.0$\,$$M_{\mathrm{J}}$ with different orbital distances that orbit late-type stars of different metallicities. We also explore the effect of different stellar initial rotations on the tidal interactions. Our results show that in the case of tidal inward migration, the stellar rotation periods are always lower than that of the star without planet before the planet is engulfed and the difference in the rotation period of its host star always increases with time. After the planet is engulfed, the stellar rotation periods are still lower than that of star without planet, but the difference of periods can be quickly eliminated if the star has a thick convective envelope(smaller mass and larger metallicity), regardless of the mass of the planet and the initial rotation period of the star. In the case of stars with thinner convective envelopes(larger mass and smaller metallicity), the stars will be spined up and remain the faster rotation in a long time. Meanwhile, the planet is easily swallowed and the period differences are large if the initial rotation period of its host star is higher. Final, we also study the evolution of WASP-19 and estimate the range of tidal quality parameter $Q'_{*} = (4.6 \pm 0.9) \times 10^{6}$ and initial semi-major axis as $(0.035 \pm 0.004)$$\,$au.

We present the study on the relationship between SMBHs and their host galaxies using our variability-selected AGN sample ($i_\mathrm{AB} \leq 25.9,\ z \leq 4.5$) constructed from the HSC-SSP Ultra-deep survey in the COSMOS field. We estimated the BH mass ($M_\mathrm{BH}=10^{5.5-10}\ M_{\odot}$) based on the single-epoch virial method and the total stellar mass ($M_\mathrm{star}=10^{10-12}\ M_{\odot}$) by separating the AGN component with SED fitting. We found that the redshift evolution of the BH-stellar mass ratio ($M_\mathrm{BH}/M_\mathrm{star}$) depends on the $M_\mathrm{BH}$ which is caused by the no significant correlation between $M_\mathrm{BH}$ and $M_\mathrm{star}$. Variable AGNs with massive SMBHs ($M_\mathrm{BH}>10^{9}\ M_{\odot}$) at $1.5<z<3$ show considerably higher BH-stellar mass ratios ($>\sim1\%$) than the BH-bulge ratios ($M_\mathrm{BH}/M_\mathrm{bulge}$) observed in the local universe for the same BH range. This implies that there is a typical growth path of massive SMBHs which is faster than the formation of the bulge component as final products seen in the present day. For the low-mass SMBHs ($M_\mathrm{BH}<10^{8}\ M_{\odot}$) at $0.5<z<3$, on the other hand, variable AGNs show the similar BH-stellar mass ratios with the local objects ($\sim 0.1\%$) but smaller than those observed at $z > 4$. We interpret that host galaxies harboring less massive SMBHs at intermediate redshift have already acquired sufficient stellar mass, although high-z galaxies are still in the early stage of galaxy formation relative to those at the intermediate/local universe.

Young {\alpha}-rich (YAR) stars within the old Galactic thick disk exhibit a dual characteristic of relative youth determined with asteroseismology and abundance enhancement in {\alpha} elements measured from high-resolution spectroscopy. The youth origin of YAR stars has been proposed to be binary evolution via mass transfer or stellar mergers. If that is the case, YAR stars should spin rapidly and thus be magnetically active, because they are mass and angular momentum gainers. In this study, to seek this binary footprint we select YAR stars on the main-sequence turn-off or the subgiant branch (MSTO-SGB) from APOGEE DR17, whose ages and projected rotation velocities (vsini) can be precisely measured. With APOGEE vsini and LAMOST spectra, we find that YAR stars are indeed fast rotators and magnetically active. In addition, we observe low [C/N] ratios and high Gaia RUWE in some YAR stars, suggesting that these MSTO-SGB stars probably have experienced mass transfer from red-giant companions. Our findings underscore that magnetic activity can serve as a valuable tool for probing the binary evolution for other chemically peculiar stars, such as red giants with lithium anomalies and carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars.

In the past decade, ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks revealed various substructures including gaps and rings. Their origin may be probed through statistical studies on the physical properties of the substructures. We present the analyses of archival ALMA Band 6 continuum data of 43 disks (39 Class II and 4 Herbig Ae) in the Taurus-Auriga region. We employ a novel 2D super-resolution imaging technique based on sparse modeling to obtain images with high fidelity and spatial resolution. As a result, we have obtained images with spatial resolutions comparable to a few au ($0''.02 - 0''.1$), which is two to three times better than conventional CLEAN methods. All dust disks are spatially resolved, with the radii ranging from 8 to 238 au with a median radius of 45 au. Half of the disks harbor clear gap structures, whose radial locations show a bimodal distribution with peaks at $\lesssim20$ au and $\gtrsim30$ au. We also see structures indicating weak gaps at all the radii in the disk. We find that the widths of these gaps increase with their depths, which is consistent with the model of planet-disk interactions. The inferred planet mass-orbital radius distribution indicates that the planet distribution is analogous to our Solar System. However, planets with Neptune mass or lower may exist in all the radii.

Absorption lines from exoplanet atmospheres observed in transmission allow us to study atmospheric characteristics such as winds. We present a new high-resolution transit time-series of HD 189733b, acquired with the PEPSI instrument at the LBT and analyze the transmission spectrum around the Na D lines. We model the spectral signature of the RM-CLV-effect using synthetic PHOENIX spectra based on spherical LTE atmospheric models. We find a Na D absorption signature between the second and third contact but not during the ingress and egress phases, which casts doubt on the planetary origin of the signal. Presupposing a planetary origin of the signal, the results suggest a weak day-to-nightside streaming wind in the order of 0.7 km/s and a moderate super-rotational streaming wind in the order of 3 - 4 km/s, challenging claims of prevailing strong winds on HD 189733b.

We exploit the recent {\it James Webb Space Telescope} (JWST) determination of galaxy UV luminosity functions over the redshift range $z=9-14.5$ to derive constraints on warm dark matter (WDM) models. The delayed structure formation in WDM universe makes high redshift observations to be a powerful probe to set limits on the particle mass $m_\mathrm{x}$ of WDM candidates. By integrating these observations with blank-field surveys conducted by {\it Hubble Space Telescope} (HST) at redshifts $z=4-8$, we impose constraints on both astrophysical and WDM parameters simultaneously. We find a new limit of $m_\mathrm{x} \geq 3.2$ keV for the mass of thermal relic WDM particles at $95\%$ confidence level. This bound is tighter than the most stringent result derived using HST data before. Future JWST observations could further reduce the observation uncertainties and improve this constraint.

Methods.We applied distinct selection criteria to attain an SFG sample with minimal AGN contamination. Multiple approaches were used to estimate the intrinsic extinction, SFR and gas-phase metallicity for the SFGs. In conjunction with findings in the literature, we examined the correlation between SFRs and stellar masses ($M_*$), as well as the metallicity evolution depending on $M_*$. Finally, the 3D relationship between $M_*$, SFR and metallicity, is also studied.} Results. From the initial spectroscopic sample of 409 FIR-selected objects from the Lockman--SpReSO catalogue, 69 (17\%) AGNs have been identified and excluded, which is nearly double the percentage found in local studies, leaving a sample of 340 SFGs. The analysis of the $M_*$--SFR relationship revealed that Lockman--SpReSO IR-selected SFGs show signs of evolution at redshifts $z>0.4$, shifting above the main sequence, with a mean value of $\sim0.4$ dex. They are located within the starburst galaxy region since 78\% of the galaxies fall into this category. In addition, no evident flattening was found in the relation to specific SFR with redshift for $\log M_* (M_\odot) \gtrsim 10.5$. In line with the $M_*$--metallicity relation (MZR) outcomes published in previous studies for optically selected SFGs, however, during the analysis of the MZR, it was found that IR-selected SFGs exhibit lower metallicities than those anticipated on the basis of their $M_*$ and redshift. During the investigation of the 3D $M_*$--SFR--metallicity relation (FP), it was established that the research sample is consistent with relations in the existing literature, with an average scatter of $\sim0.2$ dex. However, a re-calibration of the FP when using the SFR obtained from the IR luminosity is required and, in this case, no attenuation in the correlation for $\log M_* (M_\odot) \gtrsim 10.5$ is observed.

The extreme TeV blazar 1ES 0229+200 is a high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object. It has not shown intraday variability in extensive optical and X-ray observations. Nor has it shown any significant variability on any measurable timescale in the 1-100 GeV energy range over a 14-year span, but variations in the source flux around its average are present in the energy range above 200 GeV. We searched for intraday optical variability in 1ES 0229+200 as part of an ongoing project to search for variability and quasi-periodic oscillations in the high-cadence, nearly uniformly sampled optical light curves of blazars provided by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). 1ES 0229+200 was monitored by TESS in its Sectors 42, 43 and 44. We analysed the data of all these sectors both with the TESS provided lightkurve software and the eleanor reduction pipeline. We detected a strong, essentially symmetric flare that lasted ~6 hours in Sector 42. We fit the flare's rising and declining phases to exponential functions. We also analysed the light curve of Sector 42 using the Lomb-Scargle periodogram (LSP) and continuous auto-regressive moving average (CARMA) methods. The Sector 42 light curve displayed in the present work provides the first evidence of a strong, rapid, short-lived optical flare on the intraday timescale in 1ES 0229+200. The variability timescale of the flare provides the upper limit for the size of the emission region to be within (3.3\pm0.2 - 8.3\pm0.5)x10^{15}cm. Away from the flare, the slope of the periodogram's power spectrum is fairly typical of many blazars (\alpha<2), but the nominal slopes for the flaring regions are very steep (\alpha~4.3), which may indicate the electron distribution undergoes a sudden change. We discuss possible emission mechanisms that could explain this substantial and rapid flare.

The pulsar magnetic inclination angle is a key parameter for pulsar physics. It influences the observable properties of pulsars, such as the pulse beam width, braking index, polarisation, and emission geometry. In this study, we give a brief overview of the current state of knowledge and research on this parameter and its implications for the internal physics of pulsars. We use the observed pulsar data of magnetic inclination angle and braking index to constrain the star's number of precession cycles, $\xi$, which reflects the interaction between superfluid neutrons and other particles inside a neutron star\,(NS). We apply the method proposed by Cheng et al. (2019) to analyse the data of PSR J2013+3845 and obtain the constraints for $\xi$ ranging from $2.393\times 10^{5}$ to $1.268\times10^{6}$. And further analysis suggests that the internal magnetic field structure of PSR J2013+3845 is likely dominated by toroidal component. This study may help us understand the process of internal viscous dissipation and the related evolution of the inclination angles of pulsars, and may have important implications for the study of continuous gravitational wave emissions from NS.

The intrinsic alignments (IA) of galaxies, regarded as a contaminant in weak lensing analyses, represents the correlation of galaxy shapes due to gravitational tidal interactions and galaxy formation processes. As such, understanding IA is paramount for accurate cosmological inferences from weak lensing surveys; however, one limitation to our understanding and mitigation of IA is expensive simulation-based modeling. In this work, we present a deep learning approach to emulate galaxy position-position ($\xi$), position-orientation ($\omega$), and orientation-orientation ($\eta$) correlation function measurements and uncertainties from halo occupation distribution-based mock galaxy catalogs. We find strong Pearson correlation values with the model across all three correlation functions and further predict aleatoric uncertainties through a mean-variance estimation training procedure. $\xi(r)$ predictions are generally accurate to $\leq10\%$. Our model also successfully captures the underlying signal of the noisier correlations $\omega(r)$ and $\eta(r)$, although with a lower average accuracy. We find that the model performance is inhibited by the stochasticity of the data, and will benefit from correlations averaged over multiple data realizations. Our code will be made open source upon journal publication.

In this work we revisit the problem of the dynamical stability of hierarchical triple systems with applications to circumbinary planetary orbits. We carry out more than 3 10^8 numerical simulations of planets between the size of Mercury and the lower fusion boundary (13 Jupiter masses) which revolve around the center of mass of a stellar binary over long timescales. For the first time, three dimensional and eccentric planetary orbits are considered. We explore systems with a variety of binary and planetary mass ratios, binary and planetary eccentricities from 0 to 0.9 and orbital mutual inclinations ranging from 0 to 180 degrees. The simulation time is set to 10^6 planetary orbital periods. We classify the results of those long term numerical integrations into three categories: stable, unstable and mixed. We provide empirical expressions in the form of multidimensional, parameterized fits for the two borders that separate the three dynamical domains . In addition, we train a machine learning model on our data set in order to have an alternative tool of predicting the stability of circumbinary planets. Both the empirical fits and the machine learning model are tested against randomly generated circumbinary systems with very good results regarding the predictions of orbital stability. The empirical formulae are also applied to the Kepler and TESS circumbinary systems, confirming the stability of the planets in these systems. Finally, we present a REST API with a web based application for convenient access of our simulation data set.

We present an exhaustive photometric and spectroscopic analysis of TOI-837, a F9/G0 35 Myr young star, hosting a transiting exoplanet, TOI-837b, with an orbital period of 8.32d. Utilising data from TESS and ground-based observations, we determine a planetary radius of 0.82 R_J for TOI-837b. Through detailed HARPS spectroscopic time series analysis, we derive a Doppler semi-amplitude of 36 m/s, corresponding to a planetary mass of 0.39 M_J. The derived planetary properties suggest a substantial core of approximately 70 M_E, constituting about 60% of the planet's total mass. This finding poses a significant challenge to existing theoretical models of core formation. We propose that future atmospheric observations with JWST could provide insights into resolving ambiguities of TOI-837b, offering new perspectives on its composition, formation, and evolution.

We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode power spectrum resulting from anisotropic cosmic birefringence, without relying on the thin approximation of the last scattering surface. Specifically, we consider the influence of anisotropic cosmic birefringence arising from massless axion-like particles. Comparing our results to those obtained using the thin approximation, we observe a suppression in the amplitude of the $B$-mode power spectrum by approximately an order of magnitude at large angular scales ($\ell \lesssim 10$) and by a factor of two at small angular scales ($\ell \gtrsim 100$) when not employing the thin approximation. We also constrain the amplitude of the angular power spectrum of the scale-invariant anisotropic cosmic birefringence using the SPTpol $B$-mode power spectrum. We find that the amplitude is constrained as $A_{\rm CB}\times10^4=1.03^{+0.91}_{-0.97}\,(2\,\sigma)$. The numerical code is publicly available at https://github.com/toshiyan/biref-aniso-bb/tree/main.

We use cyclic spectroscopy to perform high frequency-resolution analyses of multi-hour baseband Arecibo observations of the millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21. This technique allows for the examination of scintillation features in far greater detail than is otherwise possible under most pulsar timing array observing setups. We measure scintillation bandwidths and timescales in each of eight subbands across a 200 MHz observing band in each observation. Through these measurements we obtain robust, intra-epoch estimates of the frequency scalings for scintillation bandwidth and timescale. Thanks to our high frequency resolution and the narrow scintles of this pulsar, we resolve scintillation arcs in the secondary spectra due to the increased Nyquist limit, which would not have been resolved at the same observing frequency with a traditional filterbank spectrum using NANOGrav's current time and frequency resolutions, and the frequency-dependent evolution of scintillation arc features within individual observations. We observe the dimming of prominent arc features at higher frequencies, possibly due to a combination of decreasing flux density and undetermined effects due to the interstellar medium. We also find agreement with arc curvature frequency dependence predicted by Stinebring et al. (2001) in some epochs. Thanks to the frequency resolution improvement provided by cyclic spectroscopy, these results show strong promise for future such analyses with millisecond pulsars, particularly for pulsar timing arrays, where such techniques can allow for detailed studies of the interstellar medium in highly scattered pulsars without sacrificing the timing resolution that is crucial to their gravitational wave detection efforts.

Four X-ray data sets of the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1806-20, taken with the Gas Imaging Spectrometer (GIS) onboad ASCA, were analyzed. Three of them were acquired over 1993 October 9-20, whereas the last one in 1995 October. Epoch-folding analysis of the 2.8-12 keV signals confirmed the $\sim 7.6$ s pulses in these data, which Kouveliotou et al. (1998) reported as one of the earliest pulse detections from this object. In the 1995 observation, 3-12 keV pulses were phase modulated with a period of $T =16.4 \pm 0.4$ ks, and an amplitude of $\sim 1$ s. This makes a fourth example of the behavior observed from magnetars. Like in the previous three sources, the pulse-phase modulation of SGR 1806-20 disappeared at $\lesssim 2.5$ keV, where the soft X-ray component dominates. In the 1993 data sets, this periodic modulation was reconfirmed, and successfully phase-connected coherently across the 11 d interval. As a result, the modulation period was refined to $T =16.435 \pm 0.024$ ks. The implied high stability of the phenomenon strengthens its interpretation in terms of free precession of the neutron star, which is deformed to an asphericity of $\sim 10^{-4}$, presumably by the stress of toroidal magnetic fields reaching $\sim 10^{16}$ G. Toroidal fields of this level can be common among magnetars.

Outflowing stars impinging upon ambient gas experience accelerations due to the gravitational feedback from the morphology of the interaction betweem the outflow and the ambient gas. Such "negative dynamical friction" (NDF), in contrast to the conventional "dynamical friction" (DF), is studied for its impact on the dynamics of open clusters immersed in a uniform ambient gas. We modify the $N$-body integration code REBOUND with both NDF and DF implemented according to the outflow conditions of each star in a consistently constructed model open cluster. The evolution of stars is also involved in determining the gas-star interactions throughout their stellar lives. Compared to DF-only and gas-free models with identical initial conditions, the NDF-affected cluster is puffier and evaporates faster, as indicated by various diagnostics, including lower velocity dispersions and larger half-mass and half-light radii. Neutron stars with fast winds are expelled from the cluster due to their intensive NDF effect, even without the "kicks" by asymmetric supernovae. Exploration of parameter space confirms that the NDF effect is generally enhanced with higher ambient gas densities, in qualitatively agreement with the expression of acceleration. Outflow-ambient interactions should be considered for the proper interpretation of the evolution of stellar dynamics in clusters.

The u band magnitude is vital for determining stellar parameters and investigating specific astronomical objects. However, flux calibration in the u band for stars in the Galactic disk presents significant challenges. In this study, we introduce a comprehensive re-calibration of $u$-band photometric magnitudes of the VPHAS+ Data Release 4 (DR4), employing the Stellar Colour Regression (SCR) technique. By leveraging the expansive set of XP spectra and $G_{\rm BP}$ photometry from Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3), as well as the individual stellar extinction values provided by the literature, we have obtained precise model magnitudes of nearly 3 million stars. Our analysis identifies systematic magnitude offsets that exhibit a standard deviation of 0.063 mag across different observational visits, 0.022 mag between various CCDs, and 0.009 mag within pixel bins. We have implemented precise corrections for these observational visits, CCD chips, and pixel bins-dependent magnitude offsets. These corrections have led to a reduction in the standard deviation between the observed magnitudes and the model magnitudes from 0.088 mag to 0.065 mag, ensuring that the calibrated magnitudes are independent of stellar magnitude, colour, and extinction. The enhanced precision of these magnitudes substantially improves the quality of astrophysical research and offers substantial potential for furthering our understanding of stellar astrophysics.

Recent years have seen a significant progress in the development of general relativistic codes for the numerical solution of the equations of magnetohydrodynamics in spacetimes with high and dynamical curvature. These codes are valuable tools to explore the large-scale plasma dynamics such as that takes place when two neutron stars collide or when matter accretes onto a supermassive black hole. This chapter is meant to provide a very brief but complete overview of the set of equations that are normally solved in modern numerical codes after they are cast into a conservative formulation within a 3+1 split of spacetime.

The Jupiter-Saturn chaotic excitation (JSCE) scenario proposes that the protoplanetary disk was dynamically excited and depleted beyond ~1-1.5 au in a few Myr, offering a new and plausible explanation for several observed properties of the inner solar system. Here, we expanded our previous work by conducting a comprehensive analysis of 37 optimal terrestrial planet systems obtained in the context of the JSCE scenario. Each optimal system harbored exactly four terrestrial planets analogs to Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. We further investigated water delivery, feeding zones, and accretion history for the planet analogs, which allowed us to better constrain the water distribution in the disk. The main findings of this work are as follows: 1) the formation of four terrestrial planets with orbits and masses similar to those observed in our solar system in most of our sample, as evidenced by the dynamically colder and hotter orbits of Venus-Earth and Mercury-Mars analogs, and the high success rates of similar mutual orbital separations (~40-85%) and mass ratios of the planets (~70-90%) among the 37 systems; and 2) water was delivered to all terrestrial planets during their formation through the accretion of water-bearing disk objects from beyond ~1-1.5 au. The achievement of Earth's estimated bulk water content required the disk to contain sufficient water mass distributed within those objects initially. This requirement implies that Mercury, Venus, and Mars acquired water similar to the amount on Earth during their formation. Several of our planet analogs also matched additional constraints, such as the timing of Moon formation by a giant impact, Earth's late accretion mass and composition, and Mars's formation timescale.

We demonstrate that the constraints on the evolution of dark energy implemented by the DESI collaboration may be insufficient or incomplete using their own BAO data. Using large enough prior ranges for the present-day equation of state of dark energy $\omega_0$ and amplitude of dark energy evolution $\omega_a$, we obtain the complete $1\,\sigma$ and $2\,\sigma$ constraints $\omega_0=1.04^{+0.91+2.00}_{-1.00-1.90}$ and $\omega_a=-7.4^{+3.8+6.8}_{-3.2-7.3}$ indicating a beyond $2\,\sigma$ preference of quintessence-like dark energy today and an evidence of evolving dark energy at beyond $2\,\sigma$ CL, respectively. Our results are different from $\omega_0=-0.55^{+0.39}_{-0.21}$ and the $2\,\sigma$ upper limit $\omega_a<-1.32$ reported by the DESI collaboration \cite{DESI:2024mwx}. Employing a data combination of cosmic microwave background, DESI BAO and type Ia supernova, we obtain the $1\,\sigma$, $2\,\sigma$ and $3\,\sigma$ constraints $\omega_0=-0.707^{+0.089+0.18+0.24}_{-0.089-0.17-0.22}$ and $\omega_a=-1.09^{+0.38+0.67+0.82}_{-0.31-0.72-1.00}$, which reveals a $\sim4\,\sigma$ evidence of dynamical dark energy when the redshift $z\lesssim0.1$. We verify that the BAO data point from luminous red galaxies at the effective redshift $z_{\rm eff}=0.51$ hardly affects the joint constraint from the data combination of cosmic microwave background, DESI BAO and type Ia supernova. We also point out the shortcomings and advantages of the binning method widely used in cosmological analyses.

Exploring the marks left by galactic accretion in the Milky Way helps us understand how our Galaxy was formed. However, finding and studying accreted stars and the galaxies they came from has been challenging. This study uses a simulation from the NIHAO project, which now includes a wider range of chemical compositions, to find better ways to spot these accreted stars. By comparing our findings with data from the GALAH spectroscopic survey, we confirm that the observationally established diagnostics of [Al/Fe] vs. [Mg/Mn] also show a separation of in-situ and accreted stars in the simulation, but stars from different accretion events tend to overlap in this plane even without observational uncertainties. Looking at the relationship between stellar age and linear or logarithmic abundances, such as [Fe/H], we can clearly separate different groups of these stars if the uncertainties in their chemical makeup are less than 0.15 dex and less than 20% for their ages. This method shows promise for studying the history of the Milky Way and other galaxies. Our work highlights how important it is to have accurate measurements of stellar ages and chemical content. It also shows how simulations can help us understand the complex process of galaxies merging and suggest how these events might relate to the differences we see between our Galaxy's thin and thick disk stars. This study provides a way to compare theoretical models with real observations, opening new paths for research in both our own Galaxy and beyond.

In this study, we investigate the impact of local stellar radiation in cosmological zoom simulations of the formation of Milky Way-sized galaxies. We include the radiation field as an additional feedback component that is computed alongside gravity with a tree code in an optically thin approximation. We resimulate the initial conditions of five Milk Way-like systems taken from the Auriga project with and without stellar radiation, and study the effects of local stellar radiation on several properties of the galaxies and the circumgalactic medium (CGM). Similar to previous findings, we observe that local stellar radiation can modify gas cooling in the circumgalactic medium and thus suppress star formation and the surface densities of young stars and HI gas, while having little impact on the total gas content. Even though the magnitude of the effect we find is smaller than reported in earlier work, the radiation field is thus clearly an important component in simulations of late time galaxies. In particular, it also suppresses the peak of the rotation curve and reduces the mass of the stellar bulge. In the CGM region, the young stellar radiation exceeds the external UVB and dominates the radiation field within the virial halo at all redshifts. Nevertheless, we find that the local stellar radiation has overall little impact on the radial density and temperature profile of the CGM gas. The metallicity profile is slightly reduced, however, as well as the HI and MgII column densities within $\sim 0.3\,R_{\rm vir}$. In contrast, we find that the OVI column density is hardly impacted by the radiation field. Additional effects can be expected from the radiation of the central AGN during phases of quasar activity, which has not yet been included in the simulations of the present study.

In our previous study (Tsukamoto {\it et al.} 2023), we investigated formation and early evolution of protoplanetary disks with 3D non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics simulations considering dust growth, and found that the modified equations of the conventional steady accretion disk model which consider the magnetic braking, { dust growth} and ambipolar diffusion reproduce the disk structure obtained from simulations very well. In this paper, as a sequel of the our previous study, we analytically investigate the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks corresponding to Class 0/I young stellar objects using the modified steady accretion disk model combining an analytical model of envelope accretion. We estimate that the disk radius is several AU at disk formation epoch and increases to several 100 AU at the end of the accretion phase. The disk mass is estimated to be $0.01 M_\odot \lesssim M_{\rm disk} \lesssim 0.1 M_\odot$ for a disk with radius of several 10 AU and mass accretion rate of $\dot{M}_{\rm disk} \sim 10^{-6} M_\odot {\rm yr^{-1}}$. We also found that, with typical disk ionization rates and moderate mass accretion rate ($\dot{M}_{\rm disk}\gtrsim10^{-8} M_\odot {\rm yr^{-1}}$), magneto-rotational instability is suppressed in the disk because of low plasma $\beta$ and efficient ambipolar diffusion. We argue that the radial profile of specific angular momentum (or rotational velocity) at the disk outer edge should be continuously connected to that of the envelope if the disk evolves by magnetic braking, and should be discontinuous if the disk evolves by internal angular momentum transport process such as gravitational instability or magneto-rotational instability. Future detailed observations of the specific angular momentum profile around the disk outer edge are important for understanding the angular momentum transport mechanism of protoplanetary disks.

The spectral signatures of optical absorbers, when combined with those of infrared molecules, play a critical role in constraining the cloud properties of exoplanet atmospheres. We aim to use optical transmission spectroscopy to confirm the tentative color signature previously observed by multiband photometry in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter HAT-P-55b. We observed a transit of HAT-P-55b with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). We created two sets of spectroscopic light curves using the conventional band-integrated method and the newly proposed pixel-based method to derive the transmission spectrum. We performed Bayesian spectral retrieval analyses on the transmission spectrum to interpret the observed atmospheric properties. The transmission spectra derived from the two methods are consistent, both spectrally resolving the tentative color signature observed by MuSCAT2. The retrievals on the combined OSIRIS and MuSCAT2 transmission spectrum yield the detection of Na at 5.5$\sigma$ and the tentative detection of MgH at 3.4$\sigma$. The current optical-only wavelength coverage cannot constrain the absolute abundances of the atmospheric species. Space-based observations covering the molecular infrared bands or ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy are needed to further constrain the atmospheric properties of HAT-P-55b.

The inclination angle $\chi$ between magnetic and rotation axes of pulsars is an important parameter in pulsar physics. The changes in the inclination angle of a pulsar would lead to observable effects, such as changes in the pulse beam width and braking index of the star. In this paper, we perform a short review on the evolution of pulsar's magnetic inclination angle, as well as the latest research progress. Using an alignment rotator model in vacuum, we investigate the magnetic inclination angle change rates for 12 high-braking index pulsars without glitch, whose timing observations are obtained using the Nanshan 25-m Radio Telescope at Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. For our purpose, three representative pulsars J0157+6212, J1743-3150 and J1857+0526 are chosen and their rotation and inclination angle evolutions are further investigated. In the future, radio and X-ray polarimetric observations will provide more information about the inclination angles of pulsars, which could help us understand the origin of the variations in $\chi$ of pulsars and shed light on the range of possibilities of pulsar magnetic field configuration. A continuous study of the pulsar inclination angle will provide an important window into additional physical processes at work in the young and highly magnetized pulsars.

The distribution of the spin directions of galaxies has been a question in the past decade, with numerous Earth-based and space-based experiments showing that the distribution is not necessarily random. These experiments were based on different statistical methods, one of them was a simple and empirically verified open source $\chi^2$ method. Patel & Desmond (2024) proposed that previous experiments showing non-random distribution are flawed since they assume Gaussian distribution. To address that, they apply a new complex ad-hoc statistical method to several datasets, none of them except for one were used in the past to claim for a dipole axis. The new method showed that all datasets except for one exhibit isotropy. This paper discusses the soundness of the contention that Gaussian distribution cannot be assumed for galaxy spin directions. More importantly, simple empirical analyses show that the new statistical method is not fully responsive to asymmetry in the distribution of galaxy spin directions, and does not identify non-random distribution even in situations where a dipole axis clearly exists in the data, or when an artificial bias is added to the data to create an extremely non-random dataset. Results using Monte Carlo simulation show substantial differences between the results of the simulation and the results of the new statistical method. Code and data to reproduce the experiments are available, and released in a manner that is easily reproducible. Possible reasons leading to the results are also discussed. The claims that the actual results are different from the results reported in the papers are examined in an open and transparent manner. These claims are found to be inaccurate, as the previous literature results are fully reproducible. These findings further reinforce the need to study astrophysical or cosmological explanations for the non-random distribution.

We have carried out a quantitative analysis of the $1^{\circ} \times 1^{\circ}$ region near star-forming site AFGL 5157 using 'Minimal Spanning Tree' (MST). The analysis reveals that this region consists of five major clusters. The cluster radii of the cores and active regions were found to be varying between 0.75-2.62 pc and 2.77-4.58 pc, respectively, for these regions, while the aspect ratio varies between 0.71 to 7.17. This hints towards the clumpy as well as elongated clusters in the region. We calculated structure parameter Q for each region which varies between 0.41-0.62 and 0.23-0.81 for the cores and ARs, respectively. This shows the existence of fractal distribution in all the cores and ARs except the core of the [HKS2019] E70 bubble.

This study delves into the intricate kinematic behavior of ionized gas within IZw18, a galaxy known for its remarkably low metallicity and proximity. Leveraging data from MEGARA/GTC, we meticulously analyzed the galaxy's structure and dynamics using H{\alpha} line profiles. Employing single and double Gaussian component fittings, we generated detailed maps of luminosity, velocity, and velocity dispersion across both the main body (MB) and Halo regions. By extracting integrated spectra from various galactic zones, we enhanced the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. In the MB, a clear rotational pattern emerged, supplemented by a more intricate kinematic structure from the double-component fitting, notably featuring a broad component with a FWHM nearing 2000 km/s. This broad component, exhibiting wide spatial extension, hints at a high-energy outflow and suggests non-localized sources of significant kinetic energy. The considerable velocity disparities between narrow and broad components imply potential spatial segregation, possibly due to dense gas near the kinematic origin acting as a momentum-reflection 'wall'. Examining the halos, the NE Halo appears tranquil with low velocity dispersions, while the SW Halo displays higher velocities and complex kinematics, indicative of varied dynamic interactions. The presence of the broad component throughout the MB and the intricate kinematics across all regions suggests widespread and subtle turbulent motion. This nuanced understanding of IZw18's kinematic behavior, elucidating the interplay of gas components and internal structures, enriches our comprehension of dynamics in blue compact dwarf galaxies. It holds promise for shedding light on early galaxy formation and the complex kinematics inherent to such environments.

New models challenge the long-standing conclusion about Mimas, an icy satellite of Saturn, being an inactive snowball, suggesting the existence of a young stealth ocean. Unfortunately, no observable evidence has been found yet implying tectonic activity and the theoretical subsurface ocean. Here, we present the first structural geological map of the icy satellite, with the signs of various tectonic features, along with a simple crosscutting chronology of lineaments formation. In accordance with the supposedly young age of the stealth ocean, the observed phenomena are described as putative lineaments, ridges, and troughs. Simple tectonic features are identified as young compared to complex structures. The pattern of the linear features seems to overlap with the allocation of various modeled global nonlinear tidal dissipation patterns. In such a way, it may provide the first observed evidence for the existence of the theoretical subsurface stealth ocean. However, the overlapping and crosscutting relation between craters and the observed features may raise concerns about the recent formation of such linear features, indicating possibly long-time dormant or already stopped tectonic processes at the early embryonic phase of lineament formation billions of years ago.

How the quiescent galaxies evolve with redshift and the factors that impact their evolution are still debated. It is still unclear what the dominant mechanisms of passive galaxy growth are and what role is played by the environment in shaping their evolutionary paths over cosmic time. Our aim is to study the mass-size relation (MSR) of the quiescent population and to understand how the environment shapes the MSR at intermediate redshift. We used the VIPERS, a large spectroscopic survey of $\sim$90~000 galaxies in the redshift range $0.5\le z \le 1.2$. We selected a mass-complete sample of 4786 passive galaxies based on the NUVrK diagram and refined it using the $D_n4000$ spectral index to study the MSR of the passive population over $0.5\le z \le 0.9$. The impact of the environment on the MSR and on the growth of the quiescent population is studied through the density contrast. The slope and the intercept of the MSR, $\alpha=0.62\pm 0.04$ and $\textrm{log}(A)=0.52\pm 0.01$, agree well with values from the literature at the same redshift. The intercept decreases with redshift, $R_e(z)=8.20\times (1+z)^{-1.70}$, while the slope remains roughly constant, and the same trend is observed in the low-density (LD) and high-density (HD) environments. We find that the average size of the quiescent population in the LD and HD environments are identical within $3\sigma$ and this result is robust against a change in the definition of the LD and HD environments or a change in the selection of quiescent galaxies. In the LD and HD environments, $\sim$30 and $\sim$40% of the population have experienced a minor merger process between $0.5\le z \le 0.9$. However, minor mergers account only for 30 to 40% of the size evolution in this redshift range, the remaining evolution likely being due to the progenitor bias.

The study conducted in this research paper utilizes the $f(Q,T)$ gravity, where $Q$ represents non-metricity and $T$ represents the trace of the energy-momentum tensor, to investigate the accelerated expansion of the universe. To complete the study, an effective EoS with one parameter $\alpha$, is parameterized as $\omega _{eff}=-\frac{3}{\alpha (1+z)^{3}+3}$. The linear version of $f(Q,T)=-Q+\sigma T$ is also considered, where $\sigma$ is a constant. By constraining the model with six BAO points, 57 Hubble points, and 1048 Pantheon sample datasets, the parameters $\alpha$ and $\sigma$ are determined to best match the data. The cosmological parameters and energy conditions for the model are derived and examined. The results show that the model is in good agreement with observations, and can serve as a valuable starting point for analyzing FLRW models in the $f(Q,T)$ theory of gravity.

Gaia can not individually resolve very close binary systems, however, the collected data can still be used to identify them. A powerful indicator of stellar multiplicity is the sources reported Renormalized Unit Weight Error (ruwe), which effectively captures the astrometric deviations from single-source solutions. We aim to characterise the imprints left on ruwe caused by binarity. By flagging potential binary systems based on ruwe, we aim to characterise which of their properties will contribute the most to their detectability. We develop a model to estimate ruwe values for observations of Gaia sources, based on the biases to the single-source astrometric track arising from the presence of an unseen companion. Then, using the recipes from previous GaiaUnlimited selection functions, we estimate the selection probability of sources with high ruwe, and discuss what binary properties contribute to increasing the sources ruwe. We compute the maximum ruwe value which is compatible with single-source solutions as a function of their location on-sky. We see that binary systems selected as sources with a ruwe higher than this sky-varying threshold have a strong detectability window in their orbital period distribution, which peaks at periods equal to the Gaia observation time baseline. We demonstrate how our sky-varying ruwe threshold provides a more complete sample of binary systems when compared to single sky-averaged values by studying the unresolved binary population in the Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars. We provide the code and tools used in this study, as well as the sky-varying ruwe threshold through the GaiaUnlimited Python package

We present the first comprehensive chemical study of a representative sample of 27 luminous red giant branch (RGB) stars belonging to Liller 1, a complex stellar system in the Galactic bulge. This study is based on medium-resolution near-infrared spectra acquired with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope. We found a subpopulation counting 22 stars with subsolar metallicity ($<$[Fe/H]$>=-0.31\pm0.02$ and 1$\sigma$ dispersion of 0.08 dex) and with enhanced [$\alpha$/Fe], [Al/Fe], and [K/Fe] that likely formed early and quickly from gas that was mainly enriched by type II supernovae, and a metal-rich population counting 5 stars with supersolar metallicity ($<$[Fe/H]$>$=+0.22$\pm$0.03 and 1$\sigma$ dispersion of 0.06 dex) and roughly solar-scaled [$\alpha$/Fe], [Al/Fe], and [K/Fe] that formed at later epochs from gas that was also enriched by type Ia supernovae. Moreover, both subpopulations show enhanced [Na/Fe], as in the bulge field, about solar-scaled [V/Fe], and depletion of [C/Fe] and $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C with respect to the solar values. This indicates that mixing and extra-mixing processes during the RGB evolution also occur at very high metallicities. Notably, no evidence of a Na-O anticorrelation, which is considered the fingerprint of genuine globular clusters, has been found. This challenges any formation scenarios that invoke the accretion of a molecular cloud or an additional stellar system onto a genuine globular cluster. The results of this study underline the strong chemical similarity between Liller 1 and Terzan 5 and support the hypothesis that these complex stellar systems might be fossil fragments of the epoch of Galactic bulge formation.

Quantum computing represents a cutting-edge frontier in artificial intelligence. It makes use of hybrid quantum-classical computation which tries to leverage quantum mechanic principles that allow us to use a different approach to deep learning classification problems. The work presented here falls within the context of the AGILE space mission, launched in 2007 by the Italian Space Agency. We implement different Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNN) that analyze data acquired by the instruments onboard AGILE to detect Gamma-Ray Bursts from sky maps or light curves. We use several frameworks such as TensorFlow-Quantum, Qiskit and PennyLane to simulate a quantum computer. We achieved an accuracy of 95.1% on sky maps with QCNNs, while the classical counterpart achieved 98.8% on the same data, using however hundreds of thousands more parameters.

The origin of diverse kinematic morphologies observed in low-mass galaxies is unclear. In this study, we investigate the kinematic morphologies of central galaxies with stellar mass $10^{8.5-9.0} M_{\odot}$ at $z=0$ in the TNG50-1 cosmological simulation. The majority of the low-mass galaxies in TNG50-1 are dispersion-dominated, consistent with observations. By tracing the evolutionary histories of simulated low-mass galaxies, we find that while most stars form in rotating cold gas discs, the orientation of the star-forming discs relative to the galaxies may evolve with cosmic time. If the cold gas disc remains aligning with the galaxy during its evolution, stars formed at different times share the same rotational direction, leading to a rotation-dominated system. On the contrary, frequent misalignment of cold gas disc would result in a dispersion-dominated system. In addition, we also find that the two-body scattering can have a non-negligible numerical heating effect on the simulated galaxy morphology, especially at central regions of galaxies and for relatively low-mass galaxies. By comparing results of simulations with different resolutions, our results suggest that the simulated morphology of galaxies is reliable when their number of stellar particles exceeds about $10^{4}$, and bulge morphology of galaxies can not be resolved robustly at the resolution level of TNG50-1.

X-ray polarimetry has been suggested as a prominent tool for investigating the geometrical and physical properties of the emissions from active galactic nuclei (AGN). The successful launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) on 9 December 2021 has expanded the previously restricted scope of polarimetry into the X-ray domain, enabling X-ray polarimetric studies of AGN. Over a span of two years, IXPE has observed various AGN populations, including blazars and radio-quiet AGN. In this paper, we summarize the remarkable discoveries achieved thanks to the opening of the new window of X-ray polarimetry of AGN through IXPE observations. We will delve into two primary areas of interest: first, the magnetic field geometry and particle acceleration mechanisms in the jets of radio-loud AGN, such as blazars, where the relativistic acceleration process dominates the spectral energy distribution; and second, the geometry of the hot corona in radio-quiet AGN. Thus far, the IXPE results from blazars favor the energy-stratified shock acceleration model, and they provide evidence of helical magnetic fields inside the jet. Concerning the corona geometry, the IXPE results are consistent with a disk-originated slab-like or wedge-like shape, as could result from Comptonization around the accretion disk.

(Edited) Many fast rotator stars (rotation periods of < 2 days) are found in unresolved binaries with separations of tens of au. This correlation leads to the question of whether the formation of binary stars inherently produces fast rotators. We aim to understand whether the formation of companions plays a role in spinning up stars. We use magneto-hydrodynamical simulations to study the formation of multiple star systems from turbulent and non-turbulent protostellar cores. We track the angular momentum accreted by individual star and inner disc systems by using a sink particle technique. We run a resolution study to extrapolate protostellar properties. We find in all simulations that the primary star can experience spin-up events that are correlated with the formation of companions. The primary star can spin up by up to 84% of its pre-fragmentation angular momentum and by up to 18% of its pre-fragmentation mass-specific angular momentum. The mechanism for the spin-up is gravitational disc instabilities in the circumstellar disc around the primary star, leading to the accretion of material with high specific angular momentum. The simulations that experience the strongest disc instabilities fragment to form companions. Simulations with weaker spin-up events experience disc instabilities triggered by a companion flyby, and the disc instability in these cases does not produce further fragments. We conclude that the primary star in multiple star systems may end up with a higher spin than single stars. This is because gravitational instabilities in the circumstellar disc around the primary star can trigger a spin-up event. In the strongest spin-up events, the instability is likely to cause disc fragmentation and the formation of companions. This companion formation coupled with shorter disc lifetimes, because the companion truncates the circumstellar disc, can help produce fast rotators.

In this work, we investigate the phenomenologically emergent dark energy (PEDE) model and its generalized form, namely the generalized emergent dark energy (GEDE) model, which introduces a free parameter \unboldmath {\( \Delta \)} that can discriminate between the \unboldmath{$\mathrm{\Lambda}$}CDM model and the PEDE model. Fitting the emergent dark energy (EDE) models with the observational datasets including the cosmology-independent gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at high-redshift and the observational Hubble data (OHD), we find a large value of $H_0$ which is close to the results of local measurement of $H_0$ from the SH0ES Collaboration in both EDE models. These results suggest that PEDE and GEDE models can %serve as an important supplement and be possible alternative to the standard cosmological model, pending further theoretical explorations and observational verifications.

A quadruply lensed source, J125856.3-031944, has been discovered using the DELVE survey and WISE W1 - W2 colors. Followup direct imaging carried out with the MPIA 2.2 m and the Baade 6.5 m telescopes is analyzed, as is spectroscopy from the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope. The lensed image configuration is kite-like, with the faintest image 2 magnitudes fainter than the other three. Redward of 6000 AA that image is badly blended with the lensing galaxy, which is elongated along the symmetry axis of the kite. Magellan direct imaging carried out in Sloan g permits better deblending. As the lensed image configuration is nearly circular, simple models give individual magnifications of at least 25 for the 3 brighter images. The source's narrow emission lines and low intrinsic luminosity qualify it as a type 2 AGN.

The Spitzer instability leads to the formation of a black hole sub-system (BHSub) at the center of a star cluster providing energy to luminous stars (LSs) and increasing their rate of evaporation. When the self-depletion time of the BHSub exceeds the evaporation time of the LSs, a dark star cluster (DSC) will appear. Using the NBODY7 code, we performed a comprehensive set of direct \Nbody simulations over a wide range of initial conditions to study the pure effect of the top-heaviness of the IMF on the formation of the DSC phase. In the Galactic tidal field, top-heavy IMFs lead to the fast evaporation of LSs and the formation of DSCs. Therefore, DSCs can be present even in the outer region of the Milky Way (MW). To successfully transition to the DSC phase, the MW Globular Clusters (GCs) must possess an initial BH mass fraction of $\widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)>0.05$. For star clusters with $\widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)>0.08$, the DSC phase will be created for any given initial density of the cluster and Galactocentric distance. The duration of the cluster's lifetime spent in the DSC phase shows a negative (positive) correlation with the initial density, and Galactocentric distance of the star cluster if $\widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)\leq 0.12$ ($\widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)\geq 0.15$). Considering the canonical IMF, it is unlikely for any MW GCs to enter the DSC phase. We discuss the BH retention fraction in view of the observed properties of the GCs of the MW.

We report a multi-wavelength study of the Wolf Rayet (WR) star: [KSF2015] 1381-19L, which is located in the solar metallicity region (Z=0.014) of the Milky Way Galaxy, strongly obscured by the interstellar dust. We perform a detailed characterization of the stellar atmosphere by fitting the spectral emission lines observed in the Optical and Near-InfraRed (NIR) bands, using CMFGEN. The best-fitted spectroscopic model indicates a highly luminous ($10^{5.89}L_{\odot}$) star with a larger radius ($15\,R_{\odot}$) and effective temperature, wind terminal velocity, and chemical composition similar to that of Galactic WC9-dusty (WC9d)-type stars. The atmospheric ionization structure shows coexisting ionization states of different elements, simultaneously affecting the opacity and thermal electron balance. Fitting of the spectral energy data (SED) reveals high interstellar optical extinction ($A_{V}=$ 8.87) while the IR extinction is found to be comparatively lower ($A_{K_{s}}=$ 0.98). We do not detect any excess emission at near-IR wavelengths due to dust. Upon comparison of our results with the GENEVA single star evolutionary models (Z=0.014), we identify the best possible progenitors ( a rotating star of $67\,M_{\odot}$ and a non-rotating star of $90\,M_{\odot}$).

The standard flare model, despite its success, is limited in comprehensively explaining the various processes involving nonthermal particles. One such missing ingredient is a detailed understanding of the various processes involved during the transport of accelerated electrons from their site of acceleration to different parts of the flare region. Here we use simultaneous radio and X-ray observations from the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA) and Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) onboard the Solar Orbiter (SolO), respectively, from two distinct viewing perspectives to study the electron transport processes. Through detailed spectral modeling of the coronal source using radio data and footpoint sources using X-ray spectra, we compare the nonthermal electron distribution at the coronal and footpoint sources. We find that the flux of nonthermal electrons precipitated at the footpoint is an order of magnitude greater than that trapped in the looptop, consistent with earlier works which primarily used X-ray for their studies. In addition, we find that the electron spectral indices obtained from X-ray footpoints is significantly softer than the spectral hardness of the nonthermal electron distribution in the corona. We interpret these differences based on transport effects and the difference in sensitivity of microwave and X-ray observations to different regimes of electron energies. Such an understanding is crucial for leveraging different diagnostic methods of nonthermal electrons simultaneously to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the electron acceleration and transport processes of solar flares.

Condensed planets contract or expand as their temperature changes. With the exception of the effect of phase changes, this phenomenon is generally interpreted as being solely related to the thermal expansivity of the planet's components. However, changes in density affect pressure and gravity and, consequently, the planet's compressibility. A planet's radius is also linked to its rate of rotation. Here again, changes in pressure, gravity and compressibility are coupled. In this article we clarify how the radius of a condensed planet changes with temperature and rotation, using a simple and rigorous thermodynamic model. We consider condensed materials to obey a simple equation of state which generalizes a polytopic EoS as temperature varies. Using this equation, we build simple models of condensed planet's interiors including exoplanets, derive their mass-radius relationships, and study the dependence of their radius with temperature and rotation rate. We show that it depends crucially on the value of $\rho_s g R/K_s$ ($\rho_s$ being surface density, $g$ gravity, $R$ radius, $K_s$ surface incompressibility). This non-dimensional number is also the ratio of the dissipation number which appears in compressible convection and the Grune\"isen mineralogic parameter. While the radius of small planets depends on temperature, this is not the case for large planets with large dissipation numbers; Earth and a super-Earth like CoRoT-7b are in something of an intermediate state, with a moderately temperature-dependent radius. Similarly, while the radius of these two planets are functions of their rotation rates, this is not the case for smaller or larger planets.

Chromatic break and/or plateau observed in the early optical and X-ray afterglow lightcurves challenge the conventional external shock models of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Detection of TeV gamma-ray afterglows indicates strong gamma-ray production within the afterglow jets. We investigate the cascade radiations of the $e^\pm$ production via the $\gamma\gamma$ interaction in the jets. Our numerical calculations show that the cascade synchrotron emission can make a significant contribution to the early optical/X-ray afterglows. The combination of the primary and cascade emission fluxes can shape a chromatic break and/or plateau in the early optical/X-ray lightcurves, depending on the jet properties. Applying our model to GRBs 050801 and 080310, we found that their optical plateaus and the late X-ray/optical lightcurves can be explained with our model in reasonable parameter values. We suggest that such a chromatic optical plateau could be a signature of strong $e^\pm$ production in GRB afterglow jets. The TeV gamma-ray flux of such kind GRBs should be significantly reduced, hence tends to be detectable for those GRBs that have a single power-law decaying optical afterglow lightcurve.

The young T Tauri star PDS 70 has two gas accreting planets sharing one large gap in a pre-transitional disc. Dust continuum emission from PDS 70 c has been detected by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 7, considered as the evidence of a circumplanetary disc, but the emission from PDS 70 b has not. We constrain the planet mass and the gas accretion rate of the planets by introducing a model of dust evolution in the CPDs and reproducing the detection and non-detection. We first develop a 1D steady gas disc model of the CPDs reflecting the planet properties. We then calculate the radial distribution of the dust profiles considering the dust evolution in the gas disc and calculate the total flux density of dust thermal emission from the CPDs. We find positive correlations between the flux density and three planet properties, the planet mass, gas accretion rate, and their product called "MMdot". We then find that the MMdot of PDS 70 c is larger than 0.4 MJ^2/Myr, and the planet mass and the gas accretion rate are larger than 5MJ and 0.02 MJ/Myr, respectively. This is the first case to succeed in obtaining constraints on planet properties from the flux density of dust continuum from a CPD. We also find some loose constraints on the properties of PDS 70 b from the non-detection. We propose possible scenarios for the planets explaining the non-detection respectively detection of the dust emission. The first explanation is that planet c has larger planet mass and/or larger gas accretion rate than planet b. The other possibility is that the CPD of planet c has a larger amount of dust supply and/or weaker turbulence than that of planet b. If the dust supply to planet c is larger than b due to its closeness to the outer dust ring, it is also quantitatively consistent with that planet c has weaker H-alpha line emission than planet b considering the dust extinction effect.

In this study, we present an analysis of the fine-tuning required in various inflationary models in order to explain the production of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). We specifically examine the degree of fine-tuning necessary in two prominent single field inflationary models: those with an inflection point and those with step-like features in the potential. Our findings indicate that models with step-like features generally require less fine-tuning compared to those with an inflection point, making them more viable for consistent PBH production. An interesting outcome of these models is that, in addition to improved fine-tuning, they may also predict low-frequency signals that can be detected by pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations. Additionally, we extend our analysis to multifield inflationary models to assess whether the integration of additional fields can further alleviate the fine-tuning demands. The study also explores the role of a spectator field and its impact on the fine-tuning process. Through a comparative analysis across these models, we evaluate their parametric sensitivities and alignment with the constraints from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations. Our results indicate that although mechanisms involving a spectator field can circumvent the issue of fine-tuning parameters for PBH production, both multifield models and models with step-like features present promising alternatives. While fine-tuning involves multiple considerations, our primary objective is to evaluate various inflationary models to identify the one that most naturally explains the formation of PBHs. Hence, this study aims to the development of less constrained inflationary scenarios that align with observational data and support the theoretical possibility of PBH production.

We present the discovery of 13 new widely separated T dwarf companions to M dwarf primaries, identified using WISE/NEOWISE data by the CatWISE and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 projects. This sample represents a $\sim$60% increase in the number of known M+T systems, and allows us to probe the most extreme products of binary/planetary system formation, a discovery space made available by the CatWISE2020 catalog and the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 effort. Highlights among the sample are WISEP J075108.79-763449.6, a previously known T9 thought to be old due to its SED, which we now find is part of a common-proper-motion pair with L 34-26 A, a well studied young M3 V star within 10 pc of the Sun; CWISE J054129.32-745021.5 B and 2MASS J05581644-4501559 B, two T8 dwarfs possibly associated with the very fast-rotating M4 V stars CWISE J054129.32-745021.5 A and 2MASS J05581644-4501559 A; and UCAC3 52-1038 B, which is among the widest late T companions to main sequence stars, with a projected separation of $\sim$7100 au. The new benchmarks presented here are prime $JWST$ targets, and can help us place strong constraints on formation and evolution theory of substellar objects as well as on atmospheric models for these cold exoplanet analogs.

Intense currents produced during geomagnetic storms dissipate energy in the ionosphere through Joule heating. This dissipation has significant space weather effects, and thus it is important to determine the ability of physics-based simulations to replicate real events quantitatively. Several empirical models estimate Joule heating based on ionospheric currents using the AE index. In this study, we select 11 magnetic storm simulations from the CCMC database and compare the integrated Joule heating in the simulations with the results of empirical models. We also use the SWMF global magnetohydrodynamic simulations for 12 storms to reproduce the correlation between the simulated AE index and simulated Joule heating. We find that the scale factors in the empirical models are half what is predicted by the SWMF simulations.

Quintessence scalar fields are a natural candidate for evolving dark energy. Unlike the phenomenological $w_0w_a$ parameterization of the dark energy equation of state, they cannot accommodate the phantom regime of dark energy $w(z) < -1$, or crossings into the phantom regime. Recent baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) indicate a preference for evolving dark energy over a cosmological constant, ranging from $2.6\sigma-3.9\sigma$ when fitting to $w_0w_a$, and combining the DESI BAO measurements with other cosmological probes. In this work, we directly fit three simple scalar field models to the DESI BAO data, combined with cosmic microwave background anisotropy measurements and supernova data sets. Quantifying the preference for scalar field dynamics exhibited by the data, we find that $2-4\%$ of kinetic scalar field energy $\Omega_{\rm scf,k}$, is preferred over $\Lambda$CDM at the $95\%$ confidence level, for a canonical scalar field with a quadratic or linear potential. Fitting to the supernova data sets Pantheon, Pantheon+, DES-Y5, and Union3, we show that the mild tension ($n_{\sigma}< 3.4 $) under $\Lambda$CDM emerges from a BAO preference for smaller values of fractional mass-energy density $\Omega_m < 0.29$, while all supernova data sets, except for Pantheon, prefer larger values, $\Omega_m > 0.3$. The tension under $\Lambda$CDM remains noticeable ($n_{\sigma} <2.8$), when replacing two of the DESI BAO measurements redshift bins with effective redshifts $z_{\text{eff}} =0.51$, and $z_{\text{eff}}= 0.706$ with comparable BOSS DR 12 BAO measurements at $z_{\text{eff}} =0.51$, and $z_{\text{eff}}= 0.61$. Canonical scalar fields as dark energy are successful in mitigating that tension.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman), NASA's next flagship observatory, has significant mission time to be spent on surveys for general astrophysics in addition to its three core community surveys. We considered what types of observations outside the core surveys would most benefit from early definition, given 700 hours of mission time in the first two years of Roman's operation. We recommend that a survey of the Galactic plane be defined early, based on the broad range of stakeholders for such a survey, the added scientific value of a first pass to obtain a baseline for proper motions complementary to Gaia's, and the significant potential synergies with ground-based surveys, notably the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) on Rubin. We also found strong motivation to follow a community definition process for ultra-deep observations with Roman.

The peak photon detection efficiency (PDE) of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) can be as good or better than the PDE of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). There are experiments where the signal is measured in the presence of a strong, steady background light emission. In these, one needs to accurately evaluate the signal-to-noise ratio. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) observe in the presence of strong noise induced by the light of the night sky. It is certainly interesting to investigate the SiPM performance under operational conditions of IACTs and to compare it with that of the PMTs. For that purpose, we built a SiPM-based detector module, which was installed in one of the imaging cameras of the two Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes in 2015. The experience gained from that module was used to design the second generation of modules of improved performance. Two such modules were installed in 2017. MAGIC is a system of two IACTs located on the Canary Island of La Palma. The mechanical structure of the MAGIC imaging cameras offers the possibility to install up to 6 additional detector modules of 7 pixels each into the open vertices of the hexagonal-shaped camera. This allows us to directly, without making any assumption, compare the performance of the PMT-based modules with that of the SiPM-based prototype modules, where SiPMs from three different manufacturers are used.

There are several methods for indirectly detecting exoplanets, such as transit, radial velocity, astrometry, and the conventional gravitational microlensing approach. These methods rely on observing the effects of exoplanets on the emission or motion of observed stars. All these techniques have focused on the optical or infrared domains. However, an alternative method for exoplanet detection via microlensing events involves planets orbiting the source star, creating a binary source system. In this study, we explore a novel approach to detecting and studying exoplanets exclusively through their radio emissions resulting from magnetospheric processes. We propose utilizing the Roman telescope as a survey observer to detect microlensing events. Subsequently, we investigate the potential for detecting planetary radio signals through follow-up observations of these microlensing events in the radio band using the SKA telescope. This method is viable due to the comparable radio emission levels of exoplanets and their parent stars, unlike optical and infrared emissions. We conduct a Monte Carlo simulation to replicate the observations by the Nancy Roman Telescope, followed by a follow-up observation in radio frequencies using the SKA telescope. We determine that approximately 1155 exoplanets exhibit detectable signals by the SKA telescope during the 7-season observations by the Nancy Roman Telescope. This result indicates that such a method cannot only facilitate the direct detection of exoplanets but also enable the measurement of their magnetic field strength through analysis of their radio emissions.

Over the recent years, additional low-amplitude non-radial modes were detected in many of the first-overtone RR Lyrae stars. These non-radial modes form a characteristic period ratio with the dominant first-overtone mode of around 0.61. The incidence rate of this phenomenon changes from population to population. It is also strongly dependent on the quality of the analyzed data. Current models explaining these additional signals involve non-radial modes of degrees 8 and 9. Using synthetic horizontal branch populations, we investigate the incidence rate of first-overtone RR Lyrae stars with non-radial modes depending on the population properties, i.e., ages and metallicities. We compare our results with the observed results for globular clusters and the numerous collection of field first-overtone RR Lyrae stars to test the predictions of the models. We used synthetic horizontal branches combined with pulsation models to predict how the incidence rate would depend on the age and metallicity of the population. To test whether the results based on synthetic horizontal branches are realistic, we compared them to incidence rates observed by TESS in first-overtone field RR Lyrae stars, using photometric metallicity values from a newly established calibration for TESS. The analysis of synthetic horizontal branches showed that the incidence rate decreases with decreasing metallicity. We inferred photometric metallicity for RR Lyrae stars observed by TESS and showed that the theoretical predictions are in agreement with the observations. Using the same method, we also conclude that the metallicity distribution of RR Lyrae stars showing an additional mode with a period-ratio around $0.68$ appears to be different from that of both all first-overtone stars and those showing additional non-radial modes.

Numerous numerical studies have been carried out in recent years that simulate different aspects of exoplanets' magnetosphere and stellar winds. These studies have focused primarily on hot Jupiters with sun-like stars. This study addresses the challenges inherent in utilizing existing MHD codes to model hot Jupiter-star systems. Due to the scaling of the system and the assumption of a uniformly flowing stellar wind at the outer boundary of the simulation, MHD codes necessitate a minimum distance of greater than 0.4 au for a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a sun-like star to avoid substantial violations of the code's assumptions. Additionally, employing the GAMERA (Grid Agnostic MHD for Extended Research Applications) MHD code, we simulate star-planet interactions considering various stellar types (Sun-like and M Dwarf stars) with both Jupiter-like and Earth-like planets positioned at varying orbital distances. Furthermore, we explore the impact of tidal locking on the total power within the magnetosphere-ionosphere systems.

Data volumes and rates of research infrastructures will continue to increase in the upcoming years and impact how we interact with their final data products. Little of the processed data can be directly investigated and most of it will be automatically processed with as little user interaction as possible. Capturing all necessary information of such processing ensures reproducibility of the final results and generates trust in the entire process. We present PRAETOR, a software suite that enables automated generation, modelling, and analysis of provenance information of Python pipelines. Furthermore, the evaluation of the pipeline performance, based upon a user defined quality matrix in the provenance, enables the first step of machine learning processes, where such information can be fed into dedicated optimisation procedures.

The Sun is a magnetic star, and the only spatio-temporally resolved astrophysical system displaying turbulent MHD thermal convection. This makes it a privileged object of study to understand fluid turbulence in extreme regimes and its interactions with magnetic fields. Global analyses of high-resolution solar observations provided by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory can shed light on the physical processes underlying large-scale emergent phenomena such as the solar dynamo cycle. Combining a Coherent Structure Tracking reconstruction of photospheric flows, based on photometric data, and a statistical analysis of virtual passive tracers trajectories advected by these flows, we characterise one of the most important such processes, turbulent diffusion, over an unprecedentedly long monitoring period of 6 consecutive days of a significant fraction of the solar disc. We first confirm, and provide a new global view of the emergence of a remarkable dynamical pattern of Lagrangian Coherent Structures tiling the entire surface. These structures act as transport barriers on the time and spatial scale of supergranulation and, by transiently accumulating particles and magnetic fields, regulate large-scale turbulent surface diffusion. We then further statistically characterise the turbulent transport regime using two different methods, and obtain an effective horizontal turbulent diffusivity $D=2-3\times10^8~\mathrm{m}^2~\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ on the longest timescales probed. This estimate is consistent with the transport coefficients required in large-scale mean-field solar dynamo models, and is in broad agreement with the results of global simulations. Our analysis may also have implications for understanding the connections between solar-surface, coronal and solar-wind dynamics, and provides valuable lessons to characterise turbulent transport in other, unresolved turbulent astrophysical systems.

It has been shown that a three-point correlation function of tensor perturbations from a bounce model in general relativity with a minimally-coupled scalar field is highly suppressed, and the resultant three-point function of cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode polarizations is too small to be detected by CMB experiments. On the other hand, bounce models in a more general class with a non-minimal derivative coupling between a scalar field and gravity can predict the three-point correlation function of the tensor perturbations without any suppression, the amplitude of which is allowed to be much larger than that in general relativity. In this paper, we evaluate the three-point function of the B-mode polarizations from the general bounce cosmology with the non-minimal coupling and show that a signal-to-noise ratio of the B-mode auto-bispectrum in the general class can reach unity for $\ell_{\rm max}\geq9$ and increase up to $5.39$ for $\ell_{\rm max}=100$ in the full-sky case. We also discuss the possibility to test the general class of bounce models by upcoming CMB experiments.

The 21-cm hyperfine line of neutral hydrogen is a useful tool to probe the conditions of the Universe during the Dark Ages, Cosmic Dawn, and the Epoch of Reionisation. In most of the current calculations, the 21-cm line signals at given frequencies are computed, using an integrated line-of-sight line opacity, with the correction for cosmological expansion. These calculations have not fully captured the line and continuum interactions in the radiative transfer, in response to evolution of the radiation field and the variations of thermal and dynamic properties of the line-of-sight medium. We construct a covariant formulation for the radiative transfer of the 21-cm line and derive the cosmological 21-cm line radiative transfer (C21LRT) equation. The formulation properly accounts for local emission and absorption processes and the interaction between the line and continuum when the radiation propagates across the expanding Universe to the present observer. Our C21LRT calculations show that methods simply summing the line optical depth could lead to error of $5\%$ in the 21-cm signals for redshift $z \sim 12-35$ and of $>10\%$ for redshift $z \lesssim 8$. Proper covariant radiative transfer is therefore necessary for producing correct theoretical templates for extracting information of the structural evolution of the Universe through the Epoch of Reionisation from the 21-cm tomographic data.

We prove that, as opposed to the familiar charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om black-hole spacetime, the spatially regular charged Ay\'on-Beato-Garc\'ia (ABG) black-hole spacetime can support charged scalar clouds, spatially regular stationary matter configurations which are made of linearized charged massive scalar fields. Interestingly, we reveal the fact that the composed black-hole-field system is amenable to an analytical treatment in the regime $Q/M\ll1\ll M\mu$ of weakly charged black holes and large-mass fields, in which case it is proved that the dimensionless physical parameter $\alpha\equiv{{qQ}\over{M\mu}}$ must lie in the narrow interval $\alpha\in\big(\sqrt{{{3240}\over{6859}}},{{16}\over{23}}\big)$ [here $\{M,Q\}$ are the mass and electric charge of the central black hole and $\{\mu,q\}$ are the proper mass and charge coupling constant of the supported scalar field]. In particular, we explicitly prove that, for weakly charged black holes, the discrete resonance spectrum $\{\alpha(M,Q,\mu,q;n\}^{n=\infty}_{n=0}$ of the composed charged-ABG-black-hole-charged-massive-scalar-field cloudy configurations can be determined {\it analytically} in the eikonal large-mass regime.

A Multiverse can arise from landscapes without de Sitter minima. It can be populated during a period of eternal inflation without trans-Planckian field excursions and without flat potentials. This Multiverse can explain the values of the cosmological constant and of the weak scale. In the process of proving these statements we derive a few simple, but counter-intuitive results. We show that it is easy to write models of eternal inflation compatible with the distance and refined de Sitter conjectures. Secondly, tunneling transitions that move fields from a lower-energy vacuum to a higher-energy vacuum and generate baby Universes are possible, and occur during eternal inflation. Finally, we relax the assumption of no de Sitter minima and show that this more standard Multiverse can be populated by Coleman-De Luccia transitions in about 100 $e$-folds of inflation.

We present a new set of four-geometries exhibiting asymptotically flat galactic rotation curves. These are found as explicit solutions to 5D vacuum Hilbert-Palatini theory, where the fifth dimen sion has vanishing proper length. In the emergent 4D dynamics, governed by the condition that the Ricci scalar must vanish (upto a cosmological constant), these correspond to anisotropic effective pressure. The enhancement in the deflection angle of a light ray penetrating the halo is obtained, which could provide a realistic testing ground for the model as a purely geometric alternative to `dark matter'. For very large halo radii, the leading nonbaryonic contribution to the bending angle is predicted to be $3\pi v^2/2c^2$ (v being the asymptotic rotational velocity), a constant that is different from the result for an isothermal CDM halo.

A system was recently implemented in the Virgo detector to cancel noise in its data produced by seismic waves directly coupling with the suspended test masses through gravitational interaction. The data from seismometers are being filtered to produce a coherent estimate of the associated gravitational noise also known as Newtonian noise. The first implementation of the system uses a time-invariant (static) Wiener filter, which is the optimal filter for Newtonian-noise cancellation assuming that the noise is stationary. However, time variations in the form of transients and slow changes in correlations between sensors are possible and while time-variant filters are expected to cope with these variations better than a static Wiener filter, the question is what the limitations are of time-variant noise cancellation. In this study, we present a framework to study the performance limitations of time-variant noise cancellation filters and carry out a proof-of-concept with adaptive filters on seismic data at the Virgo site. We demonstrate that the adaptive filters, at least those with superior architecture, indeed significantly outperform the static Wiener filter with the residual noise remaining above the statistical error bound.

In this paper, we delve into the influence of torsion axial pseudo vector on dark photons in an axion torsionic background, as investigated previously by Duncan et al[ Nucl Phys B 387:215 (1992)]. Notably, axial torsion, owing to its significantly greater mass compared to axions, gives rise to magnetic helicity in torsionful Chern-Simons (CS) electrodynamics, leading to the damping of magnetic fields. In QCD scale the damping from dark massive photons leads us to obtain a magnetic field of $10^{-8}$ Gauss, which is approximated the order of magnitude of magnetic fields at present universe. This result is obtained by considering that torsion has the value of the 1 MeV at the early universe, and can be improved to the higher value of $10^{-3}$ Gauss when the axial torsion 0-component is given by $10^{8}$ MeV and the mass of dark photon is approximated equal to the axion. The axion plays a crucial role in achieving CS dynamo action arising from axions. This study is useful in deepening our understanding of fundamental physics, from nuclear interactions to the nature of dark matter.

Dark energy is one of the potential strategies for preventing compact objects from gravitationally collapsing into singularities. Because it is the cause of the accelerated expansion of our universe, it has the greatest impact on the cosmos. Thus, it is plausible that dark energy will interact with any stellar object that is compact in the universe [\textit{Phys. Rev. D} \textbf{103}, 084042 (2021)]. Our main goal in this work is to create a simplified model, in the Rastall gravitational framework, of a charged strange star coupled to anisotropic dark energy in Krori-Barua spacetime [\textit{J. Phys. A, Math. Gen.} \textbf{8}:508, 1975]. Here, we consider a specific strange star object, Her X-1, with observed values of mass $=(0.85 \pm 0.15)M_{\odot}$ and radius $= 8.1_{-0.41}^{+0.41}$ km., so that we can develop our model. In this context, we began by modeling dark energy using the equation of state (EoS), in which the dark energy density is proportional to the isotropic perfect fluid matter-energy density. The Darmois-Israel condition has been used to calculate the unknown constants that are present in the metric. We perform a detailed analysis of the model's physical properties, including the mass-radius relation, pressure, density, metric function, and dark energy parameters, by varying the Rastall coupling parameter. We also examine the stability and force equilibrium of our proposed stellar configuration. Following a comprehensive theoretical analysis, we discovered that our suggested model is both singularity-free and meets all stability requirements needed to be a stable, physically reasonable stellar model.

The primary objective of this paper is to develop a well-behaved class of Heintzmann IIa [{\em H. Heintzmann, Z. Physik 228, 489-493 (1969)}] solution in the context of $f(R,\, T)$ gravity. In the $f(R, T)$ framework, the gravitational action includes both the Ricci scalar ($R$) and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor ($T$). We chose a particular $f(R,\,T)$ model s.t. $f(R,\,T) = R+2 \chi T$, where $\chi$ is known as the coupling parameter. This solution describes a novel isotropic compact fluid sphere with positively finite central pressure and density in this extended theory of gravity. The results obtained analytically are better described by graphical representations of the physical parameters for various values of the coupling parameter $\chi$. The solution for a specific compact object, Vela X-1, with radius $\mathfrak{R} = 9.56_{-0.08}^{+0.08}$ km and mass $\mathcal{M} = 1.77 \pm 0.08~\mathcal{M}_{\odot}$ [{\em M. L. Rawls et al. ApJ, 730, 25 (2011)}], is shown here. We analyze the fundamental physical attributes of the star, which reveals the influence of the coupling parameter $\chi$ on the values of substance parameters. This helps us to make a fruitful comparison of this modified $f(R,\, T)$ gravity with the standard GR and notice that it holds good for stable compact objects. In this framework, the star under our consideration exhibits a stable structure consistent with the Heintzmann IIa {\em ansatz}. From all of our obtained graphical and numerical results, we can ultimately conclude that our reported model is physically admissible and satisfies all the physical criteria for an acceptable model.

We derive the complete expression for the Brans Class I exterior spacetime explicitly in terms of the energy and pressures profiles of a stationary spherisymmetric gravity source. This novel and generic expression is achieved in a $\textit{parsimonious}$ manner, requiring only a subset of the Brans-Dicke field equation and the scalar equation. For distant orbiting test particles, this expression promptly provides a simple, closed and exact formula of the $\gamma$ Eddington parameter, which reads $\gamma_{\,\text{exact}}=\frac{\omega+1+(\omega+2)\,\varTheta}{\omega+2+(\omega+1)\,\varTheta}$, where $\varTheta$ is the ratio of the star's "total pressure" integral over its energy integral. This $\textit{non-perturbative}$ result reproduces the usual Post-Newtonian $\frac{\omega+1}{\omega+2}$ expression in the case of a "Newtonian star", in which the pressure is negligible with respect to the energy density. Furthermore, it converges to the General Relativity value $\gamma_{\,\text{GR}}=1$ as the star's equation of state approaches that of ultra-relativistic matter (in which case $\varTheta$ approaches 1), a behavior consistent with broader studies on scalar-tensor gravity. Our derivation underscores the essence of these results involving (1) the key relevant portion of the Brans-Dicke field equations, (2) the uniqueness of the Brans Class I vacuum solution for the non-phantom action, viz. $\omega>-3/2$, and (3) the involvement of only two free parameters in this solution. From a practical standpoint, it elucidates how a given stellar interior structure model determines the star's exterior gravitational field and impacts the motions of light objects (such as planets and accretion disks) orbiting it.

Dark matter substructures emerge naturally in a scenario in which the axion angular field acquires propagating degrees of freedom in a post-inflationary Universe. The DALI experiment is a new generation wavy dark matters interferometer currently in prototyping. Although DALI's main objective is to explore the virialized DM in our Galaxy, to a large degree in this article we explore the prospect for detection of fine grained streams made of axions that would enter the Solar System, as suggested by previous work. We find that DALI will have a sensitivity to encounters with these coherent objects that fully spans the window defined by the coupling strength to photons of representative axion models over a stacked bandwidth of two decades in mass.

We probe deeply into the characteristics of thin accretion disk surrounding black hole within the brane world paradigm. We investigate how model parameters affect the physical properties of the disk. Our findings indicate that as the tidal charge parameter inherited from the higher dimension increases, the energy flux, the radiation temperature, the spectral cutoff frequency, the spectral luminosity, and the conversion efficiency of the disk all increase, but the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit decreases. Compared to cases of the Kerr and Schwarzschild black holes, the disk is hotter and more luminous for positive tidal charge parameter, while it is cooler and less luminous for negative tidal charge parameter, which suggests the potential for probing possible signatures of higher dimension.

Binary black holes (BBHs) in eccentric orbits produce distinct modulations the emitted gravitational waves (GWs). The measurement of orbital eccentricity can provide robust evidence for dynamical binary formation channels. We analyze 57 GW events from the first, second and third observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration using a multipolar aligned-spin inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model with two eccentric parameters: eccentricity and relativistic anomaly. This is made computationally feasible with the machine-learning code DINGO which accelerates inference by 2-3 orders of magnitude compared to traditional inference. First, we find eccentric aligned-spin versus quasi-circular aligned-spin $\log_{10}$ Bayes factors of 1.84 to 4.75 (depending on the glitch mitigation) for GW200129, 3.0 for GW190701 and 1.77 for GW200208_22. We measure $e_{\text{gw}, 10Hz}$ to be $0.27_{-0.12}^{+0.10}$ to $0.17_{-0.13}^{+0.14}$ for GW200129, $0.35_{-0.11}^{+0.32}$ for GW190701 and $0.35_{-0.21}^{+0.18}$ for GW200208_22. Second, we find $\log_{10}$ Bayes factors between the eccentric aligned-spin versus quasi-circular precessing-spin hypothesis between 1.43 and 4.92 for GW200129, 2.61 for GW190701 and 1.23 for GW200208_22. Third, our analysis does not show evidence for eccentricity in GW190521, which has an eccentric aligned-spin against quasi-circular aligned-spin $\log_{10}$ Bayes factor of 0.04. Fourth, we estimate that if we neglect the spin-precession and use an astrophysical prior, the probability of one out of the 57 events being eccentric is greater than 99.5% or $(100 - 8.4 \times 10^{-4})$% (depending on the glitch mitigation). Fifth, we study the impact on parameter estimation when neglecting either eccentricity or higher modes in eccentric models. These results underscore the importance of including eccentric parameters in the characterization of BBHs for GW detectors.