Papers for Monday, Jul 08 2024

We report the discovery of Corvus A, a low-mass, gas-rich galaxy at a distance of approximately 3.5 Mpc, identified in DR10 of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Imaging Survey during the initial phase of our ongoing SEmi-Automated Machine LEarning Search for Semi-resolved galaxies (SEAMLESS). Jansky Very Large Array observations of Corvus A detect HI line emission at a radial velocity of $523\pm2$ km/s. Magellan/Megacam imaging reveals an irregular and complex stellar population with both young and old stars. We detect UV emission in Neil Gehrels Swift observations, indicative of recent star formation. However, there are no signs of HII regions in H$\alpha$ imaging from Steward Observatory's Kuiper telescope. Based on the Megacam color magnitude diagram we measure the distance to Corvus A via the tip-of-the-red-giant-branch standard candle as $3.48\pm0.24$ Mpc. This makes Corvus A remarkably isolated, with no known galaxy within $\sim$1 Mpc. Based on this distance, we estimate the HI and stellar mass of Corvus A to be $\log M_\mathrm{HI}/\mathrm{M_\odot} = 6.59$ and $\log M_\ast/\mathrm{M_\odot} = 6.0$. Although there are some signs of rotation, the HI distribution of Corvus A appears to be close to face-on, analogous to that of Leo T, and we therefore do not attempt to infer a dynamical mass from its HI line width. Higher resolution synthesis imaging is required to confirm this morphology and to draw robust conclusions from its gas kinematics.

Recent studies have found evidence for parity violation in the BOSS spectroscopic galaxy survey, with statistical significance as high as $7\sigma$. These analyses assess the significance of the parity-odd four-point correlation function (4PCF) with a statistic called $\chi^2$. This statistic is biased if the parity-even eight-point correlation function (8PCF) of the data differs from the mock catalogs. We construct new statistics $\chi^2_\times$, $\chi^2_{\mathrm{null}}$ that separate the parity violation signal from the 8PCF bias term, allowing them to be jointly constrained. Applying these statistics to BOSS, we find that the parity violation signal ranges from $0$ to $2.5\sigma$ depending on analysis choices, whereas the 8PCF bias term is $\sim 6\sigma$. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence for parity violation in BOSS. Our new statistics can be used to search for parity violation in future surveys, such as DESI, without 8PCF biases.

We have used a combined sample of JADES and CEERS objects in order to constrain ionizing photon production efficiency ($\xi_{\rm ion}$) from JWST/NIRSpec and JWST/NIRCam data. We examine 163 objects at 1.06 < z < 6.71 with significant (3$\sigma$) spectroscopic detections of H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ in order to constrain intrinsic H$\alpha$ luminosities corrected from nebular dust attenuation via Balmer decrements. We constrain dust-corrected UV luminosities from best-fit spectral-energy distribution modeling. We find a sample median log$_{10}$($\xi{\rm ion,0}$/erg Hz$^{-1}$) = $25.29^{+0.29}_{-0.37}$, assuming f$_{\rm esc}$=0 for the escape fraction of Lyman continuum emission. We find significant correlation between $\xi_{\rm ion,0}$ and z, with 17 objects at z > 4.64 having median log$_{10}$($\xi_{\rm ion,0}$/erg Hz$^{-1}$) = $25.38^{+0.38}){-0.38}$, with those below having log$_{10}$($\xi_{\rm ion,0}$/erg Hz$^{-1}$) = $25.24^{+0.30}_{-0.33}$. We also find significant, positive correlations between $\xi_{\rm ion,0}$ and LUV; W{\lambda}([O iii]); [O iii]{\lambda}5007/[O ii]{\lambda}{\lambda}3726, 3729; and inverse correlations with metallicity. In contrast with some previous results, we find no trends between $\xi_{\rm ion,0}$ and stellar mass, stellar dust attenuation, or UV slope. Applying a multivariate fit to $\xi_{\rm ion,0}$, z, and MUV to an empirically-motivated model of reionization, and folding in f$_{\rm esc}$ estimates from direct observations of the Lyman continuum at z ~ 3 from the Keck Lyman Continuum Spectroscopic survey, we find that the number of ionizing photons entering the IGM causes reionization to end at z ~ 5 - 7.

Gravitational wave searches are crucial for studying compact sources like neutron stars and black holes. Many sensitive modeled searches use matched filtering to compare gravitational strain data to a set of waveform models known as template banks. We introduce a new stochastic placement method for constructing template banks, offering efficiency and flexibility to handle arbitrary parameter spaces, including orbital eccentricity, tidal deformability, and other extrinsic parameters. This method can be computationally limited by the ability to compare proposal templates with the accepted templates in the bank. To alleviate this computational load, we introduce the use of inner product inequalities to reduce the number of required comparisons. We also introduce a novel application of Gaussian Kernel Density Estimation to enhance waveform coverage in sparser regions. Our approach has been employed to search for eccentric binary neutron stars, low-mass neutron stars, primordial black holes, supermassive black hole binaries. We demonstrate that our method produces self-consistent banks that recover the required minimum fraction of signals. For common parameter spaces, our method shows comparable computational performance and similar template bank sizes to geometric placement methods and stochastic methods, while easily extending to higher-dimensional problems. The time to run a search exceeds the time to generate the bank by a factor of $\mathcal{O}(10^5)$ for dedicated template banks, such as geometric, mass-only stochastic, and aligned spin cases, $\mathcal{O}(10^4)$ for eccentric and $\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ for the tidal deformable bank. With the advent of efficient template bank generation, the primary area for improvement is developing more efficient search methodologies.

The properties of the galaxies are tightly connected to their host halo mass and halo assembly history. Accurate measurement of the halo assembly history in observation is challenging but crucial to the understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The stellar-to-halo mass ratio ($M_*/M_{\mathrm{h}}$) for the centrals has often been used to indicate the halo assembly time $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$ of the group, where $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$ is the lookback time at which a halo has assembled half of its present-day virial mass. Using mock data from the semi-analytic models, we find that $M_*/M_{\mathrm{h}}$ shows a significant scatter with $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$, with a strong systematic difference between the group with a star-forming central (blue group) and passive central (red group). To improve the accuracy, we develop machine-learning models to estimate $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$ for galaxy groups using only observable quantities in the mocks. Since star-formation quenching will decouple the co-growth of the dark matter and baryon, we train our models separately for blue and red groups. Our models have successfully recovered $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$, within an accuracy of $\sim$ 1.09 Gyr. With careful calibrations of individual observable quantities in the mocks with SDSS observations, we apply the trained models to the SDSS Yang et al. groups and derive the $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$ for each group for the first time. The derived SDSS $t_{\mathrm{h,50}}$ distributions are in good agreement with that in the mocks, in particular for blue groups. The derived halo assembly history, together with the halo mass, make an important step forward in studying the halo-galaxy connections in observation.

Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in the Coma cluster have velocity dispersion profiles that are in full agreement with the predictions of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) in isolation. However, the external field effect (EFE) from the cluster seriously deteriorates this agreement. It has been suggested that this could be related to the fact that UDGs are out-of-equilibrium objects whose stars have been heated by the cluster tides or that they recently fell onto the cluster on radial orbits, such that their velocity dispersion may not reflect the EFE at their instantaneous distance from the cluster center. Here, we simulate UDGs within the Coma cluster in MOND, using the Phantom of Ramses (\textsc{por}) code, and show that if UDGs are initially at equilibrium within the cluster, tides are not sufficient to increase their velocity dispersions to values as high as the observed ones. On the other hand, if they are on a first radial infall onto the cluster, they can keep high velocity dispersions without being destroyed until their first pericentric passage. We conclude that, without alterations such as a screening of the EFE in galaxy clusters or much higher baryonic masses than currently estimated, in the MOND context UDGs must be out-of-equilibrium objects on their first infall onto the cluster.

Recent observations have found a growing number of hypervelocity stars with speeds of $\approx 1500-2500\,$km\,s$^{-1}$ which could have only been produced through thermonuclear supernovae in white dwarf binaries. Most of the observed hypervelocity runaways in this class display a surprising inflated structure: their current radii are roughly an order of magnitude greater than they would have been as white dwarfs filling their Roche lobe. While many simulations exist studying the dynamical phase leading to supernova detonation in these systems, no detailed calculations of the long-term structure of the runaways have yet been performed. We use an existing \textsc{Arepo} hydrodynamical simulation of a supernova in a white dwarf binary as a starting point for the evolution of these stars with the 1 dimensional stellar evolution code MESA. We show that the supernova shock is not enough to inflate the white dwarf over timescales longer than a few thousand years, significantly shorter than the $10^{5-6}$ year lifetimes inferred for observed hypervelocity runaways. Despite experiencing a shock from a supernova less than $\approx 0.02\,R_\odot$ away, our models do not experience significant interior heating, and all contract back to radii around $0.01\,R_\odot$ within about $10^4$\,years. Explaining the observed inflated states requires either an additional source of significant heating or some other physics that is not yet accounted for in the subsequent evolution.

We present a comprehensive analysis of young stellar object (YSO) variability within the M17 Southwest Extension (M17 SWex), using 3.5 years of monitoring data from the JCMT Transient Survey at sub-millimeter (sub-mm) and 9 years from the NEOWISE mission at mid-infrared (mid-IR). Our study encompasses observations of 147 bright sub-mm peaks identified within our deep JCMT co-added map as well as 156 YSOs in NEOWISE W1 and 179 in W2 that were previously identified in Spitzer surveys. We find three robust sub-mm variables: two are candidate YSOs and one is a likely extragalactic source. At mid-IR wavelengths, our analysis reveals secular and stochastic variability in 47 YSOs, with the highest fraction of secular variability occurring at the earliest evolutionary stage. This is similar to what has previously been observed for low-mass YSO variability within the Gould Belt. However, we observe less overall variability in M17SWex at both the sub-mm and mid-IR. We suspect that this lower fraction is due to the greater distance to M17 SWex. Our findings showcase the utility of multi-wavelength observations to better capture the complex variability phenomena inherent to star formation processes and demonstrate the importance of years-long monitoring of a diverse selection of star-forming environments.

Precision measurements of the beam pattern response are needed to predict the response of a radio telescope. Mapping the beam of a low frequency radio array presents a unique challenge and science cases such as the observation of the 21\,cm line at high redshift have demanding requirements. Drone-based systems offer the unique potential for a measurement which is entirely under experimenter control, but progress has been paced by practical implementation challenges. Previously, a prototype drone system, called the External Calibrator for Hydrogen Observatories (ECHO), demonstrated good performance in making a complete hemispherical beam measurement. This paper reports updates to the system focusing on performance of a new drone platform, minimizing interference from the drone, and a new transmitter.

Chemical processes taking place on ice-grain mantles are pivotal to the complex chemistry of interstellar environments. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the catalytic effects of an amorphous solid water (ASW) surface on the reaction between ammonia (NH$_3$) and formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) to form aminomethanol (NH$_2$CH$_2$OH) using density functional theory. We identified potential catalytic sites based on the binding energy distribution of NH$_3$ and H$_2$CO reactants, on a set-of-clusters surface model composed of 22 water molecules and found a total of 14 reaction paths. Our results indicate that the catalytic sites can be categorized into four groups, depending on the interactions of the carbonyl oxygen and the amino group with the ice surface in the reactant complex. A detailed analysis of the reaction mechanism using Intrinsic Reaction Coordinate and reaction force analysis revealed three distinct chemical events for this reaction: formation of the C--N bond, breaking of the N--H bond, and formation of the O--H hydroxyl bond. Depending on the type of catalytic site, these events can occur within a single, concerted, albeit asynchronous, step, or can be isolated in a step-wise mechanism, with the lowest overall transition state energy observed at 1.3 kcal mol$^{-1}$. A key requirement for the low-energy mechanism is the presence of a pair of dangling OH bonds on the surface, found at 5\% of the potential catalytic sites on an ASW porous surface.

Over the past decade, progress in observational capabilities, combined with theoretical advancements, have transformed our comprehension of the physics and chemistry during planet formation. Despite these important steps forward, open questions persist on the chemical and physical evolution of solids in their journey from the collapsing molecular cores to disks and planetary bodies. This chapter is a repository of such burning questions. It has the ambition to identify the most promising avenues for future research based on current observational and modeling opportunities.

The high redshift 21-cm signal promises to be a crucial probe of the state of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Understanding the connection between the observed 21-cm power spectrum and the physical quantities intricately associated with the IGM is crucial to fully understand the evolution of our Universe. In this study, we develop an emulator using artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the 21-cm power spectrum from a given set of IGM properties, namely, the bubble size distribution and the volume averaged ionization fraction. This emulator is implemented within a standard Bayesian framework to constrain the IGM parameters from a given 21-cm power spectrum. We compare the performance of the Bayesian method to an alternate method using ANN to predict the IGM parameters from a given input power spectrum, and find that both methods yield similar levels of accuracy, while the ANN is significantly faster. We also use this ANN method of parameter estimation to predict the IGM parameters from a test set contaminated with noise levels expected from the SKA-LOW instrument after 1000 hours of observation. Finally, we train a separate ANN to predict the source parameters from the IGM parameters directly, at a redshift of $z=9.1$, demonstrating the possibility of a non-analytic inference of the source parameters from the IGM parameters for the first time. We achieve high accuracies, with R2-scores ranging between $0.898-0.978$ for the ANN emulator and between $0.966-0.986$ and $0.817-0.981$ for the predictions of IGM parameters from 21-cm power spectrum and source parameters from IGM parameters, respectively. The predictions of the IGM parameters from the Bayesian method incorporating the ANN emulator leads to tight constraints with error bars around $\pm{0.14}$ on the IGM parameters.

The Gaia mission has provided highly accurate observations that have significantly reduced the scatter in the colour-magnitude diagrams of open clusters. As a result of the improved isochrone sequence of the open cluster M67, we have created new stellar models that avoid commonly used simplifications in 1D stellar modelling, such as mass-independent core overshooting and a constant mixing length parameter. This has enabled us to deliver a precise isochrone specifically designed for M67, available for download. We follow a commonly used qualitative approach to adjust the input physics to match the well-defined colour-magnitude sequence, and we test the model-predicted masses against a known eclipsing binary system at the main sequence turnoff of the cluster. Despite using improvements in photometry and stellar physics we cannot match the masses of both binary components with the same theoretical isochrone. A chi-square-based isochrone fitting approach using our preferred input physics results in a cluster age of 3.95+0.16-0.15 Gyrs.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) have emerged as powerful cosmological probes in recent years offering valuable insights into cosmic expansion. These predominantly extragalactic transients encode information on the expansion of the Universe through their dispersion measure, reflecting interactions with the intervening medium along the line of sight. In this study, we introduce a novel method for reconstructing the late-time cosmic expansion rate and estimating the Hubble constant, solely derived from FRBs measurements coupled with their redshift information while employing Artificial Neural Networks. Our approach yields a Hubble constant estimate of $H_0 = 67.3\pm6.6\rm \ km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}$. With a dataset comprising 23 localised data points, we demonstrate a precision of $\sim10\%$. However, our forecasts using simulated datasets indicate that in the future it could be possible to achieve precision comparable to the SH0ES collaboration or the Planck satellite. Our findings underscore the potential of FRBs as alternative, independent tools for probing cosmic dynamics.

Inflation as the leading paradigm depicting the very early universe physics could leave imprints on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Using currently available CMB observations, we give the first direct evidence of inflation. We discuss the theoretical implications of our results including the energy scale of inflation, inflaton field excursion, Hubble expansion rate during inflation, equation of state of inflation, primordial tensor non-Gaussianity, primordial tensor power spectrum, B-mode anisotropy and inflationary gravitational wave background.

In terms of the variable nature of normal active galaxy nuclei (AGN) and luminous quasars, a so-called flux variation gradient (FVG) method has been widely utilized to estimate the underlying non-variable host galaxy fluxes. The FVG method assumes an invariable AGN color, but this assumption has been questioned by the intrinsic color variation of quasars and local Seyfert galaxies. Here, using an up-to-date thermal fluctuation model to simulate multi-wavelength AGN variability, we theoretically demonstrate that the FVG method generally overestimates the host galaxy flux; that is, it is more significant for brighter AGN/quasars. Furthermore, we observationally confirm that the FVG method indeed overestimates the host galaxy flux by comparing it to that estimated through other independent methods. We thus caution that applying the FVG method should be performed carefully in the era of time-domain astronomy.

The dark matter haloes associated with galaxies have hitherto established strong correlations within a range of observed parameters, known as scaling relations of dark matter haloes. The origin of these scaling relations still contains significant ambiguities and requires comprehensive exploration for complete understanding. Utilising the correlation between the concentration and mass of dark matter haloes inferred from cosmological $N$-body simulations based on the cold dark matter paradigm ($c$-$M$ relation), we derive theoretical scaling relations among other physical quantities such as the surface mass density, the maximum circular velocity, and the scale radius of the dark matter halo. By comparing theoretical and observed scaling relations at various mass scales, it is found that the scaling relations observed in dwarf galaxies and galaxies originate in the $c$-$M$ relation of the dark matter halo. We predict that this theoretical scaling relation is also established in galaxy clusters. Moreover, we propose a novel theoretical scaling relation that incorporates the effects of the cusp-to-core transition, which is supposed to occur in cold dark matter haloes. Our discussion concludes with the exploration of potential observational verification of the cusp-to-core transition process in dark matter haloes.

Long wavelength infrared (8-13 $\mu$m) spectroscopy is invaluable for detecting molecular features in the atmospheres of gas giant and terrestrial exoplanets. The nulling-optimized mid-infrared camera (NOMIC) on the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) has a low resolution (R$\sim$200) germanium grism that was previously installed but has not been characterized and commissioned for scientific observations. Using a 1.27 mm slit and broadband filter in combination with the grism, the infrared window between 8-13 $\mu$m can be captured. We describe initial on sky testing of the LBTI/NOMIC grism mode with adaptive optics to study standard stars and binaries. We discuss the impact of observational strategy and telluric calibration on the spectral reduction process. We infer the impact of existing mid-infrared detectors on NOMIC's spectroscopic mode and discuss requirements to enable higher resolution 8-13 $\mu$m spectroscopy on current and future facilities.

Quasi-periodic oscillations in solar flaring emission have been observed over the past few decades. To date, the underpinning processes resulting in the quasi-periodic oscillations remain unknown. In this paper, we report a unique event that exhibits both the long-duration quasi-periodic intensity oscillations of flare loops and the quasi-periodic slipping motion of ribbon substructures during a C9.1-class flare (SOL2015-03-15-T01:15), using the observations from Solar Dynamics Observatory and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The high-temperature flare loops rooted in the straight part of ribbons display a "bright-dim" intensity oscillation, with a period of about 4.5 minutes. The oscillation starts just after the flare onset and lasts over 3 hours. Meanwhile, the substructures within the ribbon tip display the quasi-periodic slipping motion along the ribbon at 1400 Åimages which has a similar periodicity to the stationary intensity oscillation of the flare loops in the straight part of the flare ribbons. We suggest that the quasi-periodic pattern is probably related to the loop-top dynamics caused by the reconnection outflow impinging on the flare loops.

Gaia mission and its follow-up observations have discovered binaries containing single BHs and visible stars without mass transfer, so-called Gaia BHs. One important question is if Gaia BHs have binary BHs (BBHs), hereafter Gaia BBHs, instead of single BHs. We have investigated how efficiently Gaia BBHs are formed in open star clusters, one of the promising formation sites of Gaia BHs, by means of gravitational $N$-body simulations. Limiting Gaia BHs' periods to $10^2$-$10^4$ days, we have found that there are no Gaia BBHs in the solar-metallicity environments, while the formation efficiency of Gaia BBHs is not small ($\sim 10^{-6} M_\odot^{-1}$ or $\sim 10$ % of Gaia BHs) in subsolar-metallicity environments. However, the probability of Gaia BBHs hidden in Gaia BHs is only $\sim 1$ %. This is because most of the BBHs merge within $1$ Gyr through gravitational wave radiation. Note that the ages of discovered Gaia BHs are more than $1$ Gyr. If we extend Gaia BHs' periods to $10^4$-$10^5$ days, the probability becomes higher to $\sim 10$ %. In this case, a large fraction of BBHs can have enough wide orbits not to merge within the Hubble time. The probability would not be high for Gaia BHs already discovered and to be discovered in the near future. Nevertheless, we have shown the BH/BBH mass, visible star mass, and eccentricity distributions of Gaia BHs and Gaia BBHs, which will be helpful for follow-up observations to discover Gaia BBHs. A Gaia BH would be more likely to be a Gaia BBH if it has younger age, longer period, lower-mass companion, more circular orbit, lower metallicity, and more massive BH. Our results have implied that Gaia BH3 is unlikely to be a Gaia BBH.

We present the first detailed radio study of the galaxy cluster XMMXCS J2215.9-1738 at $z$ = 1.46 using MeerKAT $L$-band (1.3 GHz) observations. We combine our radio observation with archival optical and infrared data to investigate the star formation and AGN population within $R_{200}$ ($R = $ 0.8 Mpc) of the cluster centre. Using three selection criteria; the radio luminosity, the far-infrared radio ratio ($q_{\rm{IR}}$) and the mid-infrared colour, we distinguish galaxies with radio emission predominantly powered by star formation from that powered by AGNs. We selected 24 cluster members within $R_{\rm{200}}$ in the MeerKAT image based on either their photometric or spectroscopic redshift. We classified 12/24 ($50\%$) as galaxies whose radio emission is dominated by star-formation activity, 6/24 ($25\%$) as intermediate star-forming galaxies and 6/24 ($25\%$) as AGN-dominated galaxies. Using the radio continuum luminosities of the star-forming cluster galaxies, we estimated an integrated star formation rate (SFR) value of 1700 $\pm$ 330 M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$ within $R_{200}$. We derived a mass-normalized integrated SFR value of $(570 \pm 110) \times 10^{-14}$ yr$^{-1}$. This supports previous observational and theoretical studies that indicated a rapid increase in star formation activity within the core of high-redshift clusters. We also show that the high AGN fraction within the cluster core is consistent with previous cluster observations at $z >$ 1.5.

The Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission (PLATO) will allow us to measure surface rotation and monitor photometric activity of tens of thousands of main sequence solar-type and subgiant stars. This paper is the first of a series dedicated to the preparation of the analysis of stellar surface rotation and photospheric activity with the near-future PLATO data. We describe in this work the strategy that will be implemented in the PLATO pipeline to measure stellar surface rotation, photometric activity, and long-term modulations. The algorithms are applied on both noise-free and noisy simulations of solar-type stars, which include activity cycles, latitudinal differential rotation, and spot evolution. PLATO simulated systematics are included in the noisy light curves. We show that surface rotation periods can be recovered with confidence for most of the stars with only six months of observations and that the {recovery rate} of the analysis significantly improves as additional observations are collected. This means that the first PLATO data release will already provide a substantial set of measurements for this quantity, with a significant refinement on their quality as the instrument obtains longer light curves. Measuring the Schwabe-like magnetic activity cycle during the mission will require that the same field be observed over a significant timescale (more than four years). Nevertheless, PLATO will provide a vast and robust sample of solar-type stars with constraints on the activity-cycle length. Such a sample is lacking from previous missions dedicated to space photometry.

Based on a sample of K giant from Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Data Release 8 and a sample of RR Lyrae (RRL) from \textit{Gaia} Data Release 3, we investigate the compositions of the Hercules-Aquila Cloud (HAC) and Virgo Over-density (VOD) and their collective contribution to the tilt and triaxiality of the stellar halo ($r\,\textless\,40\,{\rm kpc}$) as well as two breaks at $\approx15\,{\rm kpc}$ and 30\,kpc. We apply the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to divide the stellar halo into the isotropic component and the radially biased anisotropic component, namely Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE), and find that both HAC and VOD are dominated by the GSE debris stars with weights of $0.67^{+0.09}_{-0.07}$ and $0.57^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$, respectively. In addition, using the K giants with orbital parameters, we identify the member stars of known substructures, including GSE, Sagittarius (Sgr), Helmi Streams, Sequoia, Thamnos, Pontus, Wukong, and Metal-weak Thick Disk (MWTD), to probe the compositions of low-eccentricity stars in the HAC and VOD regions. In density fittings of the RRL sample, we note that the absence of HAC and VOD has a weak effect on the shape of halo. Finally, we find that the radially biased anisotropic halo contributes majorly to the stellar halo that can be modelled with a tilted triaxial ellipsoid and a doubly broken power law with breaking radii at $18.08^{+2.04}_{-3.22}\,{\rm kpc}$ and $33.03^{+1.30}_{-1.21}\,{\rm kpc}$. This has important significance for understanding the status of large diffuse over-densities in the Milky Way.

Type IIb supernovae are important subclass of stripped-envelope supernovae (SNe), which show H lines only at early times. Their progenitors are believed to contain a low-mass H envelope before explosion. This work reports the discovery of a progenitor candidate in pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope images for the Type IIb SN~2017gkk. With detailed analysis of its spectral energy distribution and local environment, we suggest that the progenitor is most likely a yellow supergiant with significant circumstellar extinction and has an initial mass of about 16 $M_\odot$, effective temperature log($T_{\rm eff}/K)=3.72\pm0.08$ and luminosity log($L/L_{\odot})=5.17\pm0.04$. This progenitor is not massive enough to strip envelope through stellar wind, and it supports an interacting binary progenitor channel and adds to the growing list of direct progenitor detections for Type~IIb SNe. Future late-time observations will confirm whether this progenitor candidate has disappeared and reveal the putative binary companion that has survived the explosion.

We give here new O-C diagrams of the two classical Cepheids RY Cas and V Lac, established on a large basis of times of maximum of light, which covers more than a century. These two Cepheids present a variation of their period for which it is possible to calculate an annual rate. This rate equals +1.86 s/yr for RY Cas and -0.81 s/yr for V Lac. Based on these two new O-C diagrams neither of them seems to show any association to a binary system.

Turbulent convection models treat stellar convection more physically than standard mixing-length theory by including non-local effects. We recently successfully applied the Kuhfuss version to convective cores in main sequence stars. Its usefulness for convective envelopes remains to be tested. The solar convective envelope constitutes a viable test bed for investigating the usefulness of the 1-equation Kuhfuss turbulent convection model. We used the one-dimensional stellar evolution code GARSTEC to calculate a standard solar model with the 1-equation Kuhfuss turbulent convection model, and compared it to helioseismic measurements and a solar model using standard mixing-length theory. Additionally, we investigated the influence of the additional free parameters of the convection model on the solar structure. The 1-equation Kuhfuss model reproduces the sound-speed profile and the lower boundary of the convective region less well than the mixing-length model, because the inherent non-local effects overestimate the amount of convective penetration below the Schwarzschild boundary. We trace this back to the coupling of the temperature gradient to the convective flux in the 1-equation version of the Kuhfuss theory. The temperature stratification of the solar convective envelope is not well modelled by the 1-equation Kuhfuss turbulent convection model, and the more complex 3-equation version is needed to improve the modelling of convection in the envelopes of 1D stellar evolution models.

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration has announced the detection of almost 100 binary black holes so far, which have been used in several studies to infer the features of the underlying binary black hole population. From these, it is possible to predict the overall gravitational-wave (GW) fractional energy density contributed by black holes throughout the Universe, and thus estimate the gravitational-wave background (GWB) spectrum emitted in the current GW detector band. These predictions are fundamental in our forecasts for background detection and characterization, with both present and future instruments. The uncertainties in the inferred population strongly impact the predicted energy spectrum, and in this paper we present a new, flexible method to quickly calculate the energy spectrum for varying black hole population features such as the mass spectrum and redshift distribution. We implement this method in an open-access package, popstock, and extensively test its capabilities. Using popstock, we investigate how uncertainties in these distributions impact our detection capabilities and present several caveats for background estimation. In particular, we find that the standard assumption that the background signal follows a 2/3 power-law at low frequencies is both waveform and mass-model dependent, and that the signal power-law is likely shallower than previously modelled, given the current waveform and population knowledge.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most powerful explosive events in the universe. LHAASO recently observed the most luminous one: GRB 221009A, and unveiled its TeV light curve. The light curve exhibits a distinct jet break at around 670 seconds, enabling the derivation of the viewing angle based on the smoothness of the jet break. We constructed two models with or without considering the high-latitude radiation, where the viewing angle was treated as a free parameter, to fit the TeV light curve. We obtained the viewing angles being 9.4 $\times 10^{-4}$ radians and 5.9 $\times 10^{-3}$ radians, respectively. These values closely resemble an on-axis scenario, given the opening angle is 1.4 $\times 10^{-2}$ radians.

In this study, we investigate two widely recognized Interacting Dark Energy(IDE) models and assess their compatibility with observational data, focusing on the growth rate of matter perturbations. We explore IDE models with different equations of state(EoS) parameters for Dark Energy (DE), including the CPL parameterization and a constant value for $w_{\mathrm{de}}$. To constrain the parameters of the IDE models using background data, we employ a Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC) analysis. Our results show that both IDE-I and IDE-II models are Compatible with observational data, although with slight variations influenced by the homogeneity or clustering of DE. Following that, we investigate the growth of matter perturbations and perform a comprehensive statistical analysis utilizing both the background and growth rate data. The growth rate in IDE models exhibits deviations compared to the $\Lambda\mathrm{CDM}$ model due to the impact of homogeneity or clustering of DE, as well as the selection of the EoS parameter. However, we find that the IDE models show good compatibility with the growth rate data. Furthermore, we explore how the clustering or homogeneity of DE and the selection of the EoS parameter affect the evolution of the relative difference in the growth rate of IDE models, $\Delta f$, in comparison to the $\Lambda\mathrm{CDM}$ model. Lastly, we employ the AIC and BIC criteria to evaluate and identify the best model that is compatible with the observational data. The selection of the model depends on the homogeneity or clustering of DE, the EoS parameter, and the dataset used. Overall, the IDE-I and IDE-II models exhibit agreement with the data, with slight deviations depending on specific scenarios and parameters.

ULTRASAT (ULtra-violet TRansient Astronomy SATellite) is a wide-angle space telescope that will perform a deep time-resolved all-sky survey in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectrum. The science objectives are the detection of counterparts to short-lived transient astronomical events such as gravitational wave sources and supernovae. The mission is led by the Weizmann Institute of Science and is planned for launch in 2026 in collaboration with the Israeli Space Agency and NASA. DESY will provide the UV camera, composed by the detector assembly located in the telescope focal plane and the remote electronics unit. The camera is composed out of four back-metallized CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) manufactured in the 4T, dual gain Tower process. As part of the radiation qualification of the camera, Single Event Effect (SEE) testing has been performed by irradiating the sensor with heavy ions at the RADEF, Jyvaskyla facility. Preliminary results of both Single Event Upset (SEU) and Single Event Latch-up (SEL) occurrence rate in the sensor are presented. Additionally, an in-orbit SEE rate simulation has been performed in order to gain preliminary knowledge about the expected effect of SEE on the mission.

The nature of dark matter in the Universe is still an open question in astrophysics and cosmology. Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) offer a compelling solution, and traditionally ground-based experiments have eagerly, but to date unsuccessfully, searched for these hypothetical low-mass particles that are expected to be produced in large quantities in the strong electromagnetic fields in the interior of stars. This work offers a fresh look at axions and ALPs by leveraging their conversion into X-rays in the magnetic field of the Sun's atmosphere rather than a laboratory magnetic field. Unique data acquired with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) during the solar minimum in 2020 allows us to set stringent limits on the coupling of axions to photons using state-of-the-art magnetic field models of the solar atmosphere. We report pioneering limits on the axion-photon coupling strength of $6.9\times 10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$ at 95\% confidence level for axion masses $m_a \lesssim 2\times 10^{-7}$ eV, surpassing current ground-based searches and further probing unexplored regions of the axion-photon coupling parameter space up to axion masses of $m_a \lesssim 5\times 10^{-4}$ eV.

Binary black holes may have circumbinary disks if formed through common-envelope evolution or within gaseous environments. Disks can drive binaries into wider and more eccentric orbits, while gravitational waves harden and circularise them. We combine cutting-edge evolution prescriptions for disk-driven binaries with well-known equations for gravitational-wave-driven evolution, and study the evolution of stellar-mass binary black holes. We find that binaries are driven by their disk to an equilibrium eccentricity, $0.2\lesssim e_\mathrm{eq} \lesssim0.5$, that dominates their evolution. Once they transition to the GW-dominated regime their eccentricity decreases rapidly; we find that binaries with long-lived disks will likely be observed in LISA with detectable eccentricities $\sim 10^{-2}$ at $0.01$ Hz, with the precise value closely correlating with the binary's initial mass ratio. This may lead binary black holes with CBDs observed in LISA to be confused with dynamically-formed binary black holes.

Low-energy transfers are advantageous for lunar exploration missions due to low fuel consumption and extended launch periods. This paper is devoted to the classification of interior transit orbits and their application on low-energy transfer in the Sun-Earth/Moon planar bicircular restricted four-body problem (PBCR4BP). First, the Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) are introduced to generate the interior transit orbits. The number of periapses about the Moon is selected as the classification parameter and mapped into the LCSs, achieving clear classification boundaries. Then, the evolution laws of the classifications with respect to energy and solar gravity perturbation are discussed and summarized. Construction strategies for low-energy transfer are proposed based on the classifications and their evolution laws. Numerical simulation of the transfer trajectories verifies the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. The dynamical behaviors and transfer characteristics of transit orbits and their families are revealed, and a direct link between transit orbit families and low-energy transfers is finally established.

Voids are dominant features of the cosmic web. We revisit the cosmological information content of voids and connect void properties with the parameters of the background universe. We combine analytical results with a suite of large n-body realizations of large-scale structure in the quasilinear regime to measure the central density and radial outflow of voids. These properties, estimated from multiple voids that span a range of redshifts, provide estimates of the Hubble parameter, $\Omega_m$ and $\Omega_\Lambda$. The analysis assumes access to the full phase-space distribution of mass within voids, a dataset that is not currently observable. The observable properties of the largest void in the universe may also test models. The suite of large n-body realizations enables construction of lightcones reaching $\sim$3,000 $h^{-1}$Mpc. Based on these lightcones, we show that large voids similar to those observed are expected in the standard $\Lambda$CDM model

W2 (CXOGlb J002415.8-720436) is a cataclysmic variable (CV) in the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Its modulation was discovered within the CATS@BAR project. The source shows all the properties of magnetic CVs, but whether it is a polar or an intermediate polar is still a matter of debate. This paper investigates the spectral and temporal properties of the source, using all archival X-ray data from Chandra and eROSITA Early Data Release, to establish whether the source falls within the category of polars or intermediate polars. We fitted Chandra archival spectra with three different models: a power law, a bremsstrahlung and an optically thin thermal plasma. We also explored the temporal properties of the source with searches for pulsations with a power spectral density analysis and a Rayleigh test ($Z_n^2$). W2 displays a mean luminosity of $\sim 10^{32}$ erg s$^{-1}$ over a 20-year span, despite lower values in a few epochs. The source is not detected in the latest observation, taken with Chandra in 2022, and we infer an X-ray luminosity $\leq 7 \times 10^{31}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The source spectral shape does not change over time and can be equally well fitted with each of the three models, with a best-fit photon index of 1.6 for the power law and best-fit temperatures of 10 keV for both the bremsstrahlung and the thermal plasma models. We confirm the previously detected period of 8649 s, ascribed to the binary orbital period, and found a cycle-to-cycle variability associated with this periodicity. No other significant pulsation is detected. Considering the source orbital period, luminosity, spectral characteristics, long-term evolution and strong cycle-to-cycle variability, we suggest that W2 is a magnetic CV of the polar type.

We present the first measurement of the Ly$\alpha$ forest BAO shift parameter from cosmological simulations. In particular, we generate a suite of $1000$ accurate effective field-level bias based Ly$\alpha$ forest simulations of volume $V=(1 \, h^{-1} \, {\rm Gpc})^3$ at $z=2$, both in real and redshift space, calibrated upon two fixed-and-paired cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. To measure the BAO, we stack the three-dimensional power spectra of the $1000$ different realizations, compute the average, and use a model accounting for a proper smooth-peak component decomposition of the power spectrum, to fit it via an efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo scheme estimating the covariance matrices directly from the simulations. We report the BAO shift parameters to be $\alpha=0.997^{+0.001}_{-0.001}$ and $\alpha=0.990^{+0.003}_{-0.003}$ in real and redshift space, respectively. We also measure the bias $b_{\rm lya}$ and the BAO broadening parameter $\Sigma_{\rm nl}$, finding $b_{\rm lya}=-0.1786^{+0.0001}_{-0.0001}$ and $\Sigma_{\rm nl}=3.87^{+0.20}_{-0.20}$ in real space, and $b_{\rm lya}=-0.073^{+0.005}_{-0.004}$ and $\Sigma_{\rm nl}=6.55^{+0.23}_{-0.22}$ in redshift space. Moreover, we measure the linear Kaiser factor $\beta_{\rm lya}=0.68^{+0.12}_{-0.09}$ from the isotropic redshift space fit. Overall, we find evidence for a negative shift of the BAO peak at the $\sim 3\sigma$ and $\sim 3.3\sigma$ level in real and redshift space, respectively. This result is qualitatively in agreement with measurements from other cosmological tracers in underdense regions, such as the cosmic void distribution. This work sets new important theoretical constraints, in the light of ongoing and upcoming Ly$\alpha$ forest spectroscopic surveys, such as DESI, PFS, and WEAVE-QSO.

The nature of progenitors of type Ia supernovae have long been debated, primarily due to the elusiveness of the progenitor systems to traditional electromagnetic observation methods. We argue that gravitational wave observations with the upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) offer the most promising way to test one of the leading progenitor scenarios - the double-degenerate scenario, which involves a binary system of two white dwarf stars. In this study, we review published results, supplementing them with additional calculations for the context of type Ia supernovae. We discuss that LISA will be able to provide a complete sample of double white dwarf type Ia supernova progenitors with orbital period less than 16-11 minutes (gravitational wave frequencies above 2-3 milli-Hertz). Such a sample will enable a statistical validation of the double-degenerate scenario by simply counting whether LISA detects enough double white dwarf binaries to account the measured type Ia merger rate in Milky Way-like galaxies. Additionally, we illustrate how LISA's capability to measure the chirp mass will set lower bounds on the primary mass, revealing whether detected double white dwarf binaries will eventually result in a type Ia supernova. We estimate that the expected LISA constraints on the type Ia merger rate for the Milky Way will be 4-9%. We also discuss the potential gravitational wave signal from a type Ia supernova assuming a double detonation mechanism and explore how multi-messenger observations could significantly advance our understanding of these transient phenomena.

It is well known that the dominant frequency of oscillations in the solar photosphere is $\approx$3 mHz, which is the result of global resonant modes pertaining to the whole stellar structure. However, analyses of the horizontal motions of nearly 1 million photospheric magnetic elements spanning the entirety of solar cycle 24 have revealed an unexpected dominant frequency, $\approx$5 mHz, a frequency typically synonymous with the chromosphere. Given the distinctly different physical properties of the magnetic elements examined in our statistical sample, when compared to largely quiescent solar plasma where $\approx$3 mHz frequencies are omnipresent, we argue that the dominant $\approx$5 mHz frequency is not caused by the buffeting of magnetic elements, but instead is due to the nature of the underlying oscillatory driver itself. This novel result was obtained by exploiting the unmatched spatial and temporal coverage of magnetograms acquired by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Our findings provide a timely avenue for future exploration of the magnetic connectivity between sub-photospheric, photospheric, and chromospheric layers of the Sun's dynamic atmosphere.

Over the past two decades, photonics have been developed as technological solutions for astronomical instrumentation for, e.g., near-infrared spectroscopy and long baseline interferometry. With increasing instrument capabilities, large quantities of high precision optical components are required to guide, manipulate, and analyze the light from astronomical sources. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and fiber-based devices offer enormous potential for astronomical instrumentation, as they can reduce the amount of bulky free-space optics and pave the way for innovative solutions. Astrophotonic devices are particularly interesting for interferometry due to their compact design on the centimeter scale, even for a large number of telescope inputs. Already, astrophotonic components are integrated in high-end instruments at the VLTI and at the CHARA Array. Photonic beam combiners at wavelengths from visible to mid-infrared have been fabricated using lithographic techniques or ultrafast-laser inscription, with several components tested on-sky. This paper will provide a glimpse into the growing field of astrophotonics, its current status and potential for new technologies.

First, I demonstrate the possible formation channel for neutron stars (NSs) via the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of oxygen-neon-magnesium (ONeMg) composition white dwarfs (WDs) inside planetary nebulae (PNe; also so-called symbiotic nebulae). A heavy mass loss via the stellar wind or during the the roche-lobe overfilling (RLOF) mass-transfer may happen at the late evolutionary phase of ONeMg WD - red giant (or asymptotic giant branch) star binaries, and it might form nebulae with central accreting WD binaries. The nebulae might be ionized the hot cores of giant stars or accreting WDs. Therefore, the accreting WD inside the symbiotic nebulae might grow in mass to the Chandrasekhar limit mass and collapse. Peculiar NSs born via the AIC of WDs inside the symbiotic nebulae (PNe) may finally have WD companions and become the NS-WD systems, and the Milky Way may contain tens of such kind of systems. Second, I introduce another possibility for the formation of PNe (or pulsar wind nebulae) with newborn NS via the core-merger-induced collapse during the common envelope evolution of ONeMg WD binaries.

We present measurements of diffuse ultraviolet emission in the dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg II obtained with the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat. With a spatial resolution of 1.2 to 1.6 arcsec, these are the highest resolution UV observations of the galaxy to date. We find that diffuse emission accounts for 70.6 % (58.1 %) of the total FUV(NUV) emission, respectively. We perform a UV-IR correlation study of the diffuse emission in this galaxy using infrared observations from Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory for selected locations, free of detectable bright point sources. The strongest positive correlation between FUV and IR is observed at 70 micron for high HI density locations, indicating that warm dust grains dominate the IR emission, in agreement with earlier studies, while NUV is better correlated with 160 micron emission associated with cold dust grains. Low HI density regions or cavities, do not show any significant UV-IR correlation except at 160 micron, implying either the presence of colder dust grains in cavities, being irradiated by the general radiation field, or insufficient amount of dust. The dust scattering contribution in high HI density regions, estimated using a single scattering model with foreground dust clouds with LMC reddening, gives best-fit albedo and asymmetry factor values of 0.2 and 0.5, respectively, in reasonable agreement with the theoretical predictions for LMC dust. Our model derived scattering optical depths in the FUV range from 0.02 to 0.12, implying the medium is optically thin. Therefore, in high HI density regions, dust scattering can be one the sources of the observed diffuse UV emission, apart from possible contributions from molecular hydrogen fluorescence, However, the diffuse UV component in HI cavities can only be explained via other mechanisms, such as two photon emission.

We study penetration of interstellar cosmic rays (CRs) into molecular clouds surrounded by nonuniform diffuse envelopes. The present work generalizes our earlier model of CR self-modulation (Ivlev et al. 2018, Dogiel et al. 2018), in which the value for the envelope's gas density where CRs excite MHD waves was treated as a free parameter. Now, we investigate the case where the density monotonically increases toward the center. Assuming that CRs are relativistic, we obtain a universal analytical solution which does not depend on the particular shape of gas distribution in the envelope, and self-consistently derive boundaries of the diffusion zone formed within the envelope, where CRs are scattered at the self-excited waves. The values of the gas density at the boundaries are found to be substantially smaller than those assumed in the earlier model, which leads to a significantly stronger modulation of penetrating CRs. We compute the impact of CR self-modulation on the gamma-ray emission, and show that the results of our theoretical model are in excellent agreement with recent observations of nearby giant molecular clouds by Yang et al. (2023).

Lambda- Cold Dark Matter (LambdaCDM) has been successful at explaining the large-scale structures in the universe but faces severe issues on smaller scales when compared to observations. Introducing self-interactions between dark matter particles claims to provide a solution to the small-scale issues in the LambdaCDM simulations while being consistent with the observations at large scales. The existence of the energy region in which these self-interactions between dark matter particles come close to saturating the S-wave unitarity bound can result in the formation of dark matter bound states called darkonium. In this scenario, all the low energy scattering properties are determined by a single parameter, the inverse scattering length gamma. In this work, we set bounds on gamma by studying the impact of darkonium on the observations at direct detection experiments using data from CRESST-III and XENON1T. The exclusion limits on gamma are then subsequently converted to exclusion limits on the self-interaction cross-section and compared with the constraints from astrophysics and N-body simulations.

Synchrotron radiation from accelerated electrons above the photosphere of a relativistic ejecta is a natural candidate for the dominant process for the prompt GRB emission. There is however a tension between the predicted low-energy spectral index $\alpha=-3/2$ in the fast cooling regime and observations. Radiating electrons have time to travel away from their acceleration site and may experience an evolving magnetic field. To study the impact on the synchrotron spectrum, we compute the radiation from electrons in a decaying magnetic field, including adiabatic cooling, synchrotron radiation, IC scatterings and pair production. We explore the physical conditions in the comoving frame of the emission region and focus on the fast cooling regime where the radiative timescale of electrons with a Lorentz factor $\Gamma_{m}$ responsible for the peak of the emission, $t_{syn}(\Gamma_{m})$, is much shorter than the dynamical timescale $t_{dyn}$. We find that the effect depends on the decay characteristic timescale $t_{B}$: (i) for a slow decay with $t_{B}\gtrsim 10 t_{syn}(\Gamma_{m})$, the effect is very weak and the spectral shape is mostly determined by the impact of the IC scatterings on the electron cooling, leading to $-3/2\le \alpha\le -1$; (ii) for a fast decay with $0.1 t_{syn}(\Gamma_{m})\lesssim t_{B}\lesssim 10 t_{syn}(\Gamma_{m})$, the magnetic field decay has a strong impact, leading naturally to the synchrotron marginally fast cooling regime, where $\alpha$ tends to $-2/3$ while the radiative efficiency remains high. The high energy IC component is enhanced in this regime ; (iii) for an even faster decay, the whole electron population is slow cooling. We conclude that efficient synchrotron radiation in a rapidly decaying magnetic field can reproduce low-energy photon indices ranging from $\alpha=-3/2$ to $-2/3$, in agreement with the measured value in the majority of GRB spectra.

Very metal-poor (VMP) stars (${\rm [Fe/H]}\leq -2$) that have sub-solar values of ${\rm [X/Fe]}$ for $\alpha$ elements such as Mg, Si, and Ca, are referred to as $\alpha$-poor VMP stars. They are quite rare among VMP stars and are thought to have formed from gas enriched predominantly by a single Type Ia supernovae (SN 1a) in contrast to most VMP stars which are $\alpha$-enhanced and usually associated with core-collapse supernovae. The observed abundance pattern in such stars can provide a direct way to probe the nucleosynthesis in individual SN 1a. Although the abundance patterns in some $\alpha$-poor VMP stars have been shown to be consistent with SN 1a ejecta, a clear nucleosynthetic signature for SN 1a resulting from the explosion of a near Chandrasekhar mass (near-${\rm M_{Ch}}$) or a sub-Chandrasekhar mass (sub-${\rm M_{Ch}}$) white dwarf, has not been unambiguously detected. We perform a detailed analysis of various formation channels of VMP stars and find that the $\alpha$-poor VMP star SDSSJ0018-0939, which was earlier reported as a star with potential pair-instability supernova origin, provides almost a smoking-gun signature of a sub-${\rm M_{Ch}}$ SN 1a resulting from He detonation. We find that compared to other $\alpha$-poor VMP stars that were previously identified with SN 1a, SDSSJ0018-0939 is the only star that has a clear and unambiguous signature of SN 1a. Interestingly, our results are consistent with constraints on SN 1a from recent galactic chemical evolution studies that indicate that sub-${\rm M_{Ch}}$ SN 1a account for $\sim 50\hbox{--}75\,\%$ of all SN 1a are and possibly the dominant channel in the early Galaxy.

We present a method of centroiding undersampled point spread functions (PSFs) that may be useful, especially when dithering is not an option. If the profile of the expected PSF is known fairly well through characterization of the telescope and detector used for observing, one can simulate the undersampled PSF at many positions on a simulated pixel grid. The true centroid positions are known since the PSFs are simulated, and so one can match up each undersampled PSF images to its true centroid location, thus forming a lookup table. One then assigns the centroid position of an observed PSF to the position associated with the PSF in the lookup table that has the smallest squared residual with respect to the observed PSF. We examine a few PSF sizes and demonstrate that the lookup table provides better centroid positions compared to a fitting algorithm when the PSFs are undersampled, even in the presence of noise.

In {\gamma} Doradus ({\gamma} Dor) stars, gravito-inertial modes in the radiative zone and inertial modes in the convective core can interact resonantly, which translates into the appearance of dip structures in the period spacing of modes. Those dips are information-rich as they are related to the star core characteristics. We aim at characterising these dips according to stellar properties and thus developing new seismic diagnostic tools to constrain the internal structure of {\gamma} Dor stars, especially their core. We used the two-dimensional oscillation code TOP to compute sectoral prograde and axisymmetric dipolar modes in {\gamma} Dor stars at different rotation rates and evolutionary stages. We then characterised the dips we obtained by their width and location on the period spacing diagram. We found that the width and the location of the dips depend quasi-linearly on the ratio of the rotation rate and the Brunt-Väisälä frequency at the core interface. This allowed us to determine empirical relations between width and location of dips on the one hand, and on the other, resonant inertial mode frequency in the core and Brunt-Väisälä frequency at the core/radiative zone interface. We also propose an approximate theoretical model to support and discuss these empirical relations. The empirical relations we established could be applied to dips observed in data, which would allow for the estimate of frequencies of resonant inertial modes in the core and of the Brunt-Väisälä jump at the interface between the core and the radiative zone. As those two parameters are both related to the evolutionary stage of the star, their determination could lead to more accurate estimations of stellar ages.

The time delay between appearances of multiple images of a gravitationally lensed supernova (glSN) is sensitive to the Hubble constant, $H_0$. As well as time delays, a lensed host galaxy is needed to enable precise inference of $H_0$. In this work we investigate the connection between discoverable lensed transients and their host galaxies. We find that LSST will discover 88 glSNe per year, of which $54\%$ will also have a strongly lensed host. The rates can change by approximately 30 percent uncertainty depending primarily on the choice of unlensed SN population and uncertainties in the redshift evolution of the deflector population, but the fraction of glSNe with a lensed host is consistently around a half. LSST will discover 20 glSNe per year in systems that could plausibly have been identified by Euclid as galaxy-galaxy lenses before the discovery of the glSN. Such systems have preferentially longer time delays and therefore are well suited for cosmography. We define a golden sample of glSNe Ia with time delays over 10 days, image separations greater than 0.8 arcseconds, and a multiply imaged host. For this golden sample, we find $91\%$ occur in systems that should already be discoverable as galaxy-galaxy lenses in Euclid. For cosmology with glSNe, monitoring Euclid lenses is a plausible alternative to searching the entire LSST alert stream.

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are thought to be located at the centers of most galactic nuclei. When galaxies merge they form supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) systems and these central SMBHs will also merge at later times, producing gravitational waves (GWs). Because galaxy mergers are likely gas-rich environments, SMBHBs are also potential sources of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The EM signatures depend on gas dynamics, orbital dynamics, and radiation processes. The gas dynamics are governed by general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in a time-dependent spacetime. Numerically solving the MHD equations for a time-dependent binary spacetime is computationally expensive. Therefore, it is challenging to conduct a full exploration of the parameter space of these systems and the resulting EM signatures. We have developed an analytical accretion disk model for the mini-disks of an SMBHB system and produced images and light curves using a general relativistic ray-tracing code and a superimposed harmonic binary black hole metric. This analytical model greatly reduces the time and computational resources needed to explore these systems, while incorporating some key information from simulations. We present a parameter space exploration of the SMBHB system in which we have studied the dependence of the EM signatures on the spins of the black holes (BHs), the mass ratio, the accretion rate, the viewing angle, and the initial binary separation. Additionally, we study how the commonly used fast-light approximation affects the EM signatures and evaluate its validity in GRMHD simulations.

With upcoming wide field surveys from the ground and space the number of known dwarf galaxies at $\lesssim 25$ Mpc is expected to dramatically increase. Insight into their nature and analyses of these systems' intrinsic properties will rely on reliable distance estimates. Traditional techniques such as tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) or surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) are limited in their widespread applicability, especially in the semi-resolved regime. In this work we turn to the rapidly growing field of simulation based inference to infer distances, and other physical properties, of dwarf galaxies directly from multi-band images. We introduce Silkscreen: a code leveraging neural posterior estimation to infer the posterior distribution of parameters while simultaneously training a convolutional neural network to extract summary statistics from the images. Utilizing this combination of machine learning and Bayesian inference, we demonstrate the method's ability to recover accurate distances from ground-based survey images for a set of nearby galaxies ($2 < D ({\rm Mpc)} < 12$) with measured SBF or TRGB distances. We discuss caveats of the current implementation along with future prospects, focusing on the goal of amortized inference. For surveys like LSST, Silkscreen, once amortized, will facilitate inference for new dwarf galaxies in a matter of seconds using only broadband cutouts. While we focus here on dwarf galaxies, we note that this method can be generalized to more luminous systems as well.

We present a multi-wavelength study on three new $z\sim5.6$ quasi stellar objects (QSOs) selected based on their radio and optical/near-infrared properties in publicly available surveys and then identified with dedicated spectroscopic observations. These are among the radio-brightest QSOs currently known at $z>5.5$, having $\rm R=S_{\rm 5GHz}/S_{\rm 4400A}>100$. In this work we present their identification and we also discuss their multi-wavelength properties (from the radio to the X-ray band) based on the detection in public surveys as well as dedicated radio and X-ray observations. The three sources present a wide range of properties, in terms of relative intensity and spectral shape, highlighting the importance of multi-wavelength observations in order to accurately characterise these high-$z$ objects. In particular, from our analysis we found one source, at $z=5.61$, that presents clear blazars properties (strong and flat radio and X-ray emission), making it one of the most distant currently known in this class. Moreover, from the fit of the optical/near-infrared photometric measurements with an accretion disc model, as well as the analysis of the CIV broad emission line in one case, we were able to estimate the mass and the accretion rate of the central black holes in these systems, finding $\rm M_{\rm BH}\sim1-10\times10^9$ M$_\odot$ accreting at a rate $\lambda_{\rm Edd}\sim0.1-0.2$. With this work we increase the number of very-high redshift radio-powerful QSOs characterised with multi-wavelength observations, essential in order to understand the evolution and the properties of this still poorly constrained class of sources.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are cosmological sub-second bursts of coherent radio emission, whose source is still unknown. To date, the galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 is the only astrophysical object known to emit radio bursts akin to FRBs, albeit less powerful, supporting suggestions that FRBs originate from magnetars. Many remarkable properties of FRBs, e.g. the dichotomy between repeaters and one-off sources, and their power-law energy distributions (with typical index $\sim 2-3$), are not well understood yet. Moreover, the huge radio power released by the most active repeaters is challenging even for the magnetic energy reservoir of magnetars. Here we assume that FRBs originate from co-rotating hot-spots anchored in neutron star magnetospheres and get occasionally amplified by large factors via gravitational self-lensing in the strong NS field. We evaluate the probability of amplification and show that (i) a power-law energy distribution of events $\propto E^{-(2- 3)}$ is generally expected, (ii) all FRB sources may be regarded as repeating, their appearance as one-off sources or repeaters being determined by the critical dependence of the amplification probability on the emission geometry and source orientation relative to Earth and (iii) the most active repeaters, in particular, correspond to extremely rare and finely-tuned orientations ($\sim$ one in $10^6$), leading to large probabilities of amplification which make their bursts frequently detectable. At the same time, their power release appears enhanced, typically by factors $\gtrsim 10$, easing their energy budget problem.

We present long-slit spectroscopic observations of 40 Galaxy On Top Of Quasars (GOTOQs) at ${0.37 \leqslant z \leqslant 1.01}$ using the South African Large Telescope. Using this and available photometric data, we measure the impact parameters of the foreground galaxies to be in the range of 3$-$16 kpc with a median value of 8.6 kpc. This is the largest sample of galaxies producing MgII absorption at such low impact parameters. These quasar-galaxy pairs are ideal for probing the disk-halo interface. At such impact parameters, we do not find any significant anti-correlation between rest equivalent width (REW) of CaII, MnII, FeII, MgII, and MgI absorptions and impact parameters. These sight lines are typically redder than those of strong MgII absorbers, with the color excess, E(B$-$V) for our sample ranging from $-$0.191 to 0.422, with a median value of 0.058. In the E(B$-$V) vs. W$_{3935}$ plane, GOTOQs occupy the same region as CaII absorbers. For a given E(B$-$V), we find larger W$_{3935}$ than what has been found in the Milky Way, probably due to a smaller dust-to-gas ratio in GOTOQs. Galaxy parameters could be measured for twelve cases, and their properties seem to follow the trends found for strong MgII absorbers. Measuring the host galaxy properties for the full sample using HST photometry or AO-assisted ground-based imaging is important to gain insights into the relationship between the stellar mass of galaxies and the metal line REW distributions at low impact parameters.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), like pulsars, display radio emission from compact regions such that they can be treated as point sources. As this radiation propagates through space, they encounter sources of lensing such as a gravitational field of massive objects or inhomogeneous changes in the electron density of cold plasma. We have developed a simulation tool to generate these lensing morphologies through coherent propagation transfer functions generated by phase coherent geometric optics on a spatial grid. In the limit an FRB can be treated as a point source, the ray paths from the FRB to the observer are phase coherent. Each image will have a time delay and magnification that will alter the emitted frequency-temporal morphology of the FRB to that which is observed. The interference of these images could also decohere the observed phase properties of the images, affecting any phase related searches such as searching for the auto-correlation of the observed FRB voltage with other images in time. We present analytic test cases to demonstrate that the simulation can model qualitative properties. We provide example multi-plane lensing systems to show the capabilities of the simulation in modeling the lensed morphology of an FRB and observed phase coherence.

We present spatially resolved VLT/SINFONI spectroscopy with adaptive optics of type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the SINFONI Survey for Unveiling the Physics and Effect of Radiative feedback (SUPER), which targeted X-ray bright ($L_{2-10 keV}\gtrsim10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$) AGN at Cosmic Noon ($z\sim2$). Our analysis of the rest-frame optical spectra unveils ionised outflows in all seven examined targets, as traced via [OIII]$\lambda$5007 line emission, moving at $v\gtrsim600$ km s$^{-1}$. In six objects these outflows are clearly spatially resolved and extend on 2-4 kpc scales, whereas marginally resolved in the remaining one. Interestingly, these SUPER type-2 AGN are all heavily obscured sources ($N_{H}\gtrsim10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) and host faster ionised outflows than their type-1 counterparts within the same range of bolometric luminosity ($L_{bol} \sim 10^{44.8-46.5}$ erg s$^{-1}$). SUPER has hence provided observational evidence that the type-1/type-2 dichotomy at $z\sim2$ might not be driven simply by projection effects, but might reflect two distinct obscuring life stages of active galaxies, as predicted by evolutionary models. Within this picture, SUPER type-2 AGN might be undergoing the 'blow-out' phase, where the large amount of obscuring material efficiently accelerates large-scale outflows via radiation pressure on dust, eventually unveiling the central active nucleus and signal the start of the bright, unobscured type-1 AGN phase. Moreover, the overall population of ionised outflows detected in SUPER has velocities comparable with the escape speed of their dark matter halos, and in general high enough to reach 30-50 kpc distances from the centre. These outflows are hence likely to sweep away the gas (at least) out of the baryonic disk and/or to heat the host gas reservoir, thus reducing and possibly quenching star formation.

Until now, observations have caught up only a handful of galaxies in ongoing buckling action. Interestingly, N-body simulations over the past several decades show that almost every bar buckles or vertically thickens as soon as it reaches its peak strength during its evolution and leads to box$/$ peanut$/$ x (BPX) shapes. In order to understand the effect of multiple buckling events on the observable properties of galactic bar and disk, we perform an N-body simulation of a Milky Way-type disk. The axisymmetric galaxy disk forms a bar within a Gyr of its evolution and the bar undergoes two successive buckling events. We report that the time spans of these two buckling events are 220 Myr and 1 Gyr which have almost similar strengths of the bending modes. As a result of these two buckling events, the sizes of BPX shapes are around 5.8 kpc and 8.6 kpc which are around two-thirds of the bar length at the end of each buckling event. We find that the first buckling occurs at a smaller scale (radius less than 3 kpc) with a shorter time span affecting the larger length scales of the disk which is quantified in terms of changes in $m$ =2 and $m$ = 4 Fourier modes. While the second buckling occurs at larger scales (radius of around 6 kpc) affecting the inner disk the most. Finally, we provide observable kinematic signatures (for example quadrupolar patterns of the line-of-sight velocities) which can potentially differentiate the successive buckling events.

H II regions are the signposts of massive ($M\geq\,8\,M_\odot$) star-forming sites in our Galaxy. It has been observed that the ionizing photon rate inferred from the radio continuum emission of H II regions is significantly lower ($\sim$ 90%) than that inferred from far-infrared fluxes measured by IRAS. This discrepancy in the ionizing photon rates may arise due to there being significant amounts of dust within the H II regions or the presence of extended emission that is undetected by high-resolution radio interferometric observations. Here, we study a sample of eight compact and ultracompact H II regions with extended emission to explore its role in resolving the discrepancy. We have used observations at the uGMRT (1.25-1.45 GHz) and data from the GLOSTAR survey (4-8 GHz) to estimate the ionizing photon rate from the radio continuum emission. We have also estimated the ionizing photon rate from the infrared luminosity by fitting a spectral energy distribution function to the infrared data from the GLIMPSE, MIPSGAL, and Hi-GAL surveys. The excellent sensitivity of the radio observations to extended emission allows us to investigate the actual fraction of ionizing photons that are absorbed by dust in compact and ultracompact H II regions. Barring one source, we find a direct association between the radio continuum emission from the compact and diffuse components of the H II region. Our study shows that the ionizing photon rates estimated using the radio and infrared data are within reasonable agreement (5-28%) if we include the extended emission. We also find multiple candidate ionizing stars in all our sources, and the ionizing photon rates from the radio observations and candidate stars are in reasonable agreement.

The CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) project is a CubeSat mission orbiting the Earth aimed to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter. CUSP will allow to study the magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the flaring magnetic structures of our star. CUSP is a project in the framework of the Alcor Program of the Italian Space Agency aimed to develop new CubeSat missions. It is approved for a Phase B study. In this work, we report on the accurate simulation of the detector's response to evaluate the scientific performance. A GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation is used to assess the physical interactions of the source photons with the detector and the passive materials. Using this approach, we implemented a detailed CUSP Mass Model. In this work, we report on the evaluation of the detector's effective area as a function of the beam energy.

The CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) project aims to develop a constellation of two CubeSats orbiting the Earth to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter on board of each satellite. CUSP will allow to study the magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the flaring magnetic structures. CUSP is a project approved for a Phase B study by the Italian Space Agency in the framework of the Alcor program aimed to develop CubeSat technologies and missions. In this paper we describe the a method for a multi-physical simulation analysis while analyzing some possible design optimization of the payload design solutions adopted. In particular, we report the mechanical design for each structural component, the results of static and dynamic finite element analysis, the preliminary thermo-mechanical analysis for two specific thermal cases (hot and cold orbit) and a topological optimization of the interface between the platform and the payload.

The CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) project is a CubeSat mission orbiting the Earth aimed to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter. CUSP will allow the study of the magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the flaring magnetic structures of our star. CUSP is a project in the framework of the Alcor Program of the Italian Space Agency aimed at developing new CubeSat missions. It is approved for a Phase B study. In this work, we report on the characterization of the Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) that will be used as readout sensors of the absorption stage of the Compton polarimeter. We assessed the APDs gain and energy resolution as a function of temperature by irradiating the sensor with a \textsuperscript{55}Fe radioactive source. Moreover, the APDs were also characterized as being coupled to a GAGG scintillator.

The BlueWalker 3 satellite is now fainter than during the first months after deployment. The greatest improvement is that the average maximum luminosity near zenith has been reduced from magnitude 1.0 to 2.2. However, the spacecraft is still usually bright enough to interfere with astronomical research.

We show here that highly polarized X-ray synchrotron radiation from young supernova remnants (SNRs) can be modeled within the framework of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) and nonlinear magnetic turbulence generation.Cosmic ray acceleration by SNR shocks to very high energies requires efficient magnetic turbulence amplification in the shock this http URL the strong turbulence generated by Bell's instability far upstream from the viscous subshock convects through the subshock, nonlinear dynamical effects on the compressible fluctuations produce a downstream layer filled with strong anisotropic turbulence with predominantly radial magnetic fields.The synchrotron radiation from shock accelerated electrons in the turbulent downstream layer has a high degree of polarization shown to be consistent with recent observations of young SNRs by this http URL the case of Tycho's SNR, the measured X-ray radiation constrains the thickness of the energy containing interval and the amplitude of cosmic ray driven magnetic turbulence, as well as the maximal energy of accelerated protons.The preferential direction of the X-ray polarization depends sensitively on the SNR shock velocity and the ambient density.A unique feature of our model is the sensitive dependence of the degree and direction of X-ray polarization on the spatial overlap between regions of amplified magnetic turbulence and TeV electron populations.While this overlap occurs on scales orders of magnitude below the resolution of IXPE,its polarization measurement allows testing of turbulent plasma processes on unprecedented scales.The mechanism of formation of highly polarized X-ray synchrotron radiation in fast shocks with high level of anisotropic turbulent magnetic field preferentially directed along the shock normal may be applied to other systems like shocks produced by black hole jets.

With the advent of large spectroscopic surveys, automated stellar parameter determination has become commonplace. Nevertheless, spectral classification still offers a quick and useful alternative for obtaining parameter estimates for large samples of spectra of varying quality. We present a new atlas of stellar spectra covering the B-type range, with the intention of providing detailed classification criteria valid for modern spectra and improving the grid of reliable standards. This new grid will be used in future works to provide classification criteria beyond the classical classification range and addressing, in particular, the use of Gaia/RVS spectra. We analysed historical standards by means of multiple high-resolution spectra, marking out problematic cases and complementing the grid with a new set of reliable comparators. We then elaborated on a new set of classification criteria based on high-quality R=4000 spectra. Our new classification grid is much thicker than any previous set of standards, presenting a high degree of self-consistency. Although it is based entirely on morphological criteria, the grid demonstrates a much better correlation with different physical parameters. The new grid can be used to study classification criteria in other spectral ranges, providing a valuable tool for the study of B-type stars that covers a very wide range of temperatures, luminosities, and stellar masses. The very process of classification also offers valuable insights into stellar evolution.

We observed the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk817 during an intensive multi-wavelength reverberation mapping campaign for 16 months. Here, we examine the behavior of narrow UV absorption lines seen in HST/COS spectra, both during the campaign and in other epochs extending over 14 years. We conclude that while the narrow absorption outflow system (at -3750 km/s with FWHM=177 km/s) responds to the variations of the UV continuum as modified by the X-ray obscurer, its total column density (logNH =19.5 cm-2) did not change across all epochs. The adjusted ionization parameter (scaled with respect to the variations in the Hydrogen ionizing continuum flux) is log UH =-1.0. The outflow is located at a distance smaller than 38 parsecs from the central source, which implies a hydrogen density of nH > 3000 cm-3. The absorption outflow system only covers the continuum emission source and not the broad emission line region, which suggests that its transverse size is small (< 1e16 cm), with potential cloud geometries ranging from spherical to elongated along the line of sight.

This paper provides an update on the coronal mass ejection (CME) catalog maintained at the CDAW Data Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (this https URL). This is version 2 (v2) of the Catalog that has been made as the default version as of May 1, 2024. The new features of the Catalog v2 are (i) online measurement tool, (ii) combination JavaScript movies from the STEREO and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) missions, and (iii) insertion of newly identified CMEs for the period 1996 to 2004. The CME identification was revisited resulting in a set of $\sim$3000 new CMEs added to the Catalog. A vast majority of these CMEs are weak and narrow. The resulting statistical properties of CMEs are not significantly different from those reported using version 1.

The Asgard instrument suite proposed for the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) brings with it a new generation of instruments for spectroscopy and nulling. Asgard will enable investigations such as measurement of direct stellar masses for Galactic archaeology and direct detection of giant exoplanets to probe formation models using the first nulling interferometer in the southern hemisphere. We present the design and implementation of the Astralis-built Heimdallr, the beam combiner for fringe tracking and stellar interferometry in K band, as well as Solarstein, a novel implementation of a 4-beam telescope simulator for alignment and calibration. In this update, we verify that the Heimdallr design is sufficient to perform diffraction-limited beam combination. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Solarstein presents an interface comparable to the VLTI with co-phased, equal intensity beams, enabling alignment and calibration for all Asgard instruments. In doing so, we share techniques for aligning and implementing large instruments in bulk optics.

The origin of diffuse high-energy neutrinos from TeV to PeV energies detected by IceCube Observatory remains a mystery. In our previous work, we have shown that hadronuclear (p-p) interactions in AGN jets could be important and generate detectable very-high-energy emissions. Here, we further explore these interactions in the AGN jets based on their luminosity function. The diffuse neutrino flux and corresponding $\gamma$-ray flux have been calculated and compared with observational data. In our modeling, two beaming patterns are considered separately. To make sure that the corresponding $\gamma$-ray flux does not overshoot the diffuse $\gamma$-ray background, we find that if the neutrino production region in jet is opaque to $\gamma$ rays, p-p interactions in AGN jets with a small viewing angle (the blazar case) are able to interpret the PeV neutrino background. Similarly, AGN jets with a large viewing angle (the radio galaxy case) may interpret the TeV neutrino background. While, if the neutrino production region is transparent to $\gamma$ rays, only blazars have the potential to interpret the DNB around PeV band. Some caveats are also discussed.

Although the standard $\Lambda$+Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model is well tested on large scales, the primordial power spectrum may deviate from the $\Lambda$CDM spectrum on small scales due to specific dark matter properties or alternative inflationary models. These deviations affect the formation of dark matter structure, which subsequently leads to different observable properties of galaxies. In this work, we study the impact of a blue and red tilted power spectrum on the central density of dwarf galaxies. To do this, we model densities of dwarf galaxies using a combination of high-resolution numerical simulations and galaxy formation model. The model galaxies in $\Lambda$CDM are consistent with observations of 41 faint dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. The deviations from the $\Lambda$CDM power spectrum are constrained by the central matter densities of dwarf galaxies, which set stringent constraints on the possible small-scale tilt of the primordial power spectrum, improving on the current limits. Moreover, similar analysis can be applied to test any feature in the power spectrum at small scales between $k\sim 10-100$~Mpc$^{-1}$.

(abridged) The third data release of Gaia, has provided stellar parameters, metallicity [M/H], [{\alpha}/Fe], individual abundances, broadening parameter from its RVS spectra for about 5.6 million objects thanks to the GSP-Spec module. The catalogue publishes the radial velocity of 33 million sources. We took advantage of the intersections between Gaia RVS and Gaia-ESO to compare their stellar parameters, abundances and radial and rotational velocities. We aimed at verifying the overall agreement between the two datasets, considering the various calibrations and the quality-control flag system suggested for the Gaia GSP-Spec parameters. For the targets in common between Gaia RVS and Gaia-ESO, we performed several statistical checks on the distributions of their stellar parameters, abundances and velocities of targets in common. For the Gaia surface gravity and metallicity we considered both the uncalibrated and calibrated values. We find an excellent agreement between the Gaia and Gaia-ESO radial velocities given the uncertainties affecting each dataset. Less than 25 of ~2100 Gaia-ESO spectroscopic binaries are flagged as non-single stars by Gaia. The temperature scales are in good agreement. The calibrated GSP-Spec gravity should be preferred. We note that the quality (accuracy, precision) of the GSP-Spec parameters degrades quickly for objects fainter than G~11. We find that the somewhat imprecise GSP-Spec abundances due to its medium-resolution spectroscopy over a short wavelength window and the faint G regime of the sample under study can be counterbalanced by working with averaged quantities. We studied some properties of the open-cluster population: our combined sample traces very well the radial [Fe/H] and [Ca/Fe] gradients, the age-metallicity relations in different radial regions, and it places the clusters in the thin disc.

While rotation-supported gas disks are known to exist as early as at z~7, it is still a general belief that stellar disks form late in the Universe. This picture is now being challenged by the observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which have revealed a large number of disk-like galaxies that could be at z>3, with some being candidates at z>7. As an early formation of stellar disks will greatly impact our theory of galaxy formation and evolution, it is important to determine when such systems first emerged. To date, there is only one confirmed case at z>5 ("Twister-z5") reported in the literature. Here we present D-CEERS-z5289, a stellar disk at $z=5.289\pm0.001$ discovered using the archival JWST NIRCam imaging and NIRSpec spectroscopic data. This galaxy has a highly regular edge-on disk morphology, extends to ~6.2 kpc along its major axis, and has an effective radius of ~1.3--1.4 kpc. By analyzing its 10-band spectral energy distribution using four different tools, we find that it has a high stellar mass of 10^{9.5-10.0} Msun. Its age is in the range of 330--510 Myr, and it has a mild star formation rate of 10--30 Msun/yr. It is conceivable that this galaxy assembled its stellar mass by secular growth. Unfortunately, the current spectroscopic data do not allow the derivation of its rotation curve. Nevertheless, the width of its H$\alpha$ line (~345 km/s) from the partial slit coverage on one side of the disk suggests that it could be a fast-rotating system.

We investigate the evolution of cosmological scalar perturbations in the case that the background radiation is weakly coupled to a light scalar field $\phi$. The light scalar $\phi$ is a homogeneous background field with a large initial value. In the radiation-dominated Universe, the coupling term introduces an effective mass to $\phi$ and the background ultra-relativistic particles. The oscillations of $\phi$ result in the periodic change of the equation of state parameter and the sound speed, which provides a novel mechanism to amplify subhorizon scalar perturbations through parametric resonance. The amplification of scalar perturbations leads to a stochastic gravitational-waves background~(SGWB) expected to be observed by multiband gravitational wave observers. The observation of the SGWB helps to determine the initial value of $\phi$ and the coupling strength of the interaction. This mechanism is generally applicable to the interactions that introduce an effective mass, and we take the interaction between $\phi$ and electrons as a concrete example to illustrate the result. We find that under the condition that the coupling coefficient $\lambda=10^{-16}$ and the initial value $\phi_i=10^{18}$ GeV, the resulting SGWB spectrum is expected to be observed by the future observers including LISA, $Taiji$, DECIGO and BBO.

In this study, we investigate deviations from the Planck-$\Lambda$CDM model in the late universe ($z \lesssim 2.5$) using the Gaussian Processes method, with minimal assumptions. Our goal is to understand where exploring new physics in the late universe is most relevant. We analyze recent Cosmic Chronometers (CC), Type Ia Supernovae (SN), and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) data. By examining reconstructions of the dimensionless parameter $\delta(z)$, which measures deviations of the Hubble parameter from the Planck-$\Lambda$CDM predictions, we identify intriguing features at low ($z \lesssim 0.5$) and high ($z \gtrsim 2$) redshifts. Deviations from the Planck-$\Lambda$CDM model were not significant between $0.5\lesssim z \lesssim2$. Using the combined CC+SN+BAO dataset, we gain insights into dark energy (DE) dynamics, resembling characteristics of omnipotent DE, extending beyond quintessence and phantom models. DE exhibits n-quintessence traits for $z\gtrsim2$, transitioning with a singularity around $z\sim2$ to usual phantom traits in $1\lesssim z\lesssim2$. DE characteristics differ between scenarios ($H_0$-SH0ES and $H_0$-$\Lambda$\&CMB), with $H_0$-SH0ES leaning towards phantom traits and $H_0$-$\Lambda$\&CMB towards quintessence. We suggest exploring new physics at $z\lesssim0.5$ and $1.5\lesssim z\lesssim2.5$, particularly around $z = 2$, to understand cosmological tensions such as $H_0$ and $S_8$.

The gas-phase metallicity distribution within galaxies records critical information about galactic evolution. In this work we investigate how active galactic nuclei (AGN) influence this distribution by measuring the two-point correlation functions of gas-phase metallicity in 95 non-AGN and 37 AGN-host galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field spectroscopy Area integral field spectrographic survey. We measure metallicity using a novel Bayesian method that properly includes both stellar and AGN contributions to emission line fluxes and allows us to measure metallicities in both AGN-host and non-AGN galaxies in a single, consistent framework. We find that the two-point correlation functions of both AGN-host and non-AGN galaxies are well-fit by a simple injection-diffusion model, and that the correlation lengths $l_\mathrm{corr}$ we derive for the non-AGN galaxies are reasonably consistent with those obtained in earlier work. The AGN-host galaxies generally have smaller $l_\mathrm{corr}$ than non-AGN galaxies at fixed stellar mass, but similar $l_\mathrm{corr}$ at fixed star formation rate (SFR), suggesting that the primary effect of hosting an AGN in this sample is a reduction in SFR at fixed stellar mass, and that this in turn suppresses the correlation length. Our findings further indicate that, while both SFR and stellar mass are positively correlated with metallicity correlation length $l_\mathrm{corr}$, the former is more fundamental, implying that fluctuations in the metallicity distribution within galaxies are driven more by short-term responses to physical processes such as star formation that can change much faster than a Hubble time.

Reverberation mapping (RM) has long been a powerful tool for measuring the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), but the precision of these mass measurements depends on the so-called virial factors. It has been demonstrated that the virial factors exhibit significant diversity, spanning approximately 1-2 orders of magnitude across different AGNs. However, the underlying physical drivers for the diversity have not yet been finalized. Here, adopting the SMBH mass -- spheroid luminosity relations of inactive galaxies with different bulge classifications, we calibrate the virial factors corresponding to the AGNs with pseudobulges (PB) and classical bulges (or elliptical hosts, CB) using the latest nearby RM sample. We investigate the correlations between virial factors and the AGN spectral properties, and find that for both PB and CB samples, the FWHM-based virial factors exhibit significant anti-correlations with the emission-line widths and profiles, while the $\sigma_{\rm line}$-based virial factors only show moderate anti-correlations with line widths for PB. We attribute these correlations mainly to the inclination angle or opening angle of the broad-line regions. Moreover, we establish new relations to give more precise virial factors and, in combination with the latest iron-corrected radius-luminosity relation, develop tentatively new single-epoch estimators of SMBH masses, which enable more accurate measurements of SMBH masses in large AGN samples.

We develop analytical tools and perform three-body simulations to investigate the orbital evolution and dynamical stability of binary planets within star clusters. Our analytical results show that the orbital stability of a planetary-mass binary against passing stars is mainly related to its orbital period. We find that critical flybys, defined as stellar encounters with energy kicks comparable to the binary binding energy, can efficiently produce a wide range of semimajor axes ($a$) and eccentricities ($e$) from a dominant population of primordially tight JuMBOs. Applying our results to the recently discovered Jupiter-Mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs) by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), our simulations suggest that to match the observed $\sim$9\% wide binary fraction, an initial semimajor axis of $a_0 = 10$--20~au and a density-weighted residence time of $\chi \gtrsim 10^4$~Myr~pc$^{-3}$ are favored. These results imply that the JWST JuMBOs probably formed as tight binaries near the cluster core.

Context: The Milky Way's history of recent disturbances is vividly demonstrated by a structure in the vertical phase-space distribution known as the Gaia phase spiral. A one-armed phase spiral has been seen widely across the Milky Way disc, while a two-armed one has only been observed in the solar neighbourhood. Aims: This study aims to determine the properties of the two-armed phase spiral and to put it in a Galactic context, with the ultimate goal of understanding the structure and history of the Milky Way disc. Methods: The Gaia DR3 data is used to trace and characterise the two-armed phase spiral. Special focus is put on the phase spiral's spatial distribution, rotational behaviour, and chemical characteristics. To quantify the properties of the phase spiral we use a model that fits a spiral pattern to the phase space distribution of the stars. Results: We find that the two-armed phase spiral is detectable only within a narrow range of galactocentric distances and angular momenta in the solar neighbourhood, $R = 8 \pm 0.5 $ kpc, $L_Z = 1450 \pm 50$ kpc km s$^{-1}$. Outside this region, the phase spiral is one-armed. The two-armed phase spiral rotates with the phase angle, like the one-armed phase spiral, and changes axis ratio with phase angle. Additionally, stars within the phase-space overdensity caused by the two-armed phase spiral pattern have slightly higher mean metallicity than stars in the underdense regions of the pattern at equivalent galactocentric distances, angular momenta, and vertical orbit extents. Conclusions: The two-armed phase spiral rotates with phase angle and its effect can be seen in metallicity, like the one-armed phase spiral. However, the limited range over which it can be found, and its variation in shape are quite different from the one-armed version, suggesting it is a much more localised phenomenon in the Galactic disc.

Ordinary 3D Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) data are model-dependent, requiring the assumption of a cosmological model to calculate comoving distances during data reduction. Throughout the present-day literature, the assumed model is $\Lambda$CDM. However, this assumption can be inadequate when analyzing alternative cosmologies, potentially biasing the Hubble constant ($H_0$) low, thus contributing to the Hubble tension. To address this issue, we use model-independent 2D BAO data and compare the results to those obtained using 3D BAO data. As a concrete example, we investigate the cosmological models provided by bimetric gravity, a modified theory of gravity that transitions from a negative cosmological constant in the early universe to a positive one in the late universe. By combining 2D BAO data with cosmic microwave background and type Ia supernovae data, we find that the inverse distance ladder in this theory yields a Hubble constant of $H_0 = (71.0 \pm 0.9) \, \mathrm{km/s/Mpc}$, consistent with the SH0ES local distance ladder measurement of $H_0 = (73.0 \pm 1.0) \, \mathrm{km/s/Mpc}$. Replacing 2D BAO with 3D BAO results in $H_0 = (68.6 \pm 0.5) \, \mathrm{km/s/Mpc}$ from the inverse distance ladder. We conclude that the choice of BAO data significantly impacts the Hubble tension, with ordinary 3D BAO data exacerbating the tension, while 2D BAO data provides results consistent with the local distance ladder.

The X-ray thermal isolated neutron star (XTINS) RX J0806.4--4123 shows interesting multiwavelength properties that seemingly deviate from those of similar neutron stars. An accurate determination of the spin frequency change over time can assist in interpreting RX J0806.4-4123's properties in comparison to those of other XTINSs and the wider pulsar population. From 2019 to 2023 we carried out a tailored X-ray timing campaign of RX J0806.4-4123 with the NICER instrument. We used statistical properties of the Fourier coefficients and the $Z_K^2$ test for phase-connecting separate observations and finding a timing solution for the entire dataset. We also developed a simple and universal method for estimating the uncertainties of frequency $\nu$ and its derivative $\dot{\nu}$ from the empirical dependencies of $Z_K^2$ on trial values of these parameters, with account of all significant harmonics of the frequency. Applying this method, we determined a spin-down rate $\dot{\nu} = -7.3(1.2)\times 10^{-17}\,{\rm Hz\, s}^{-1}$. The resulting spin-down power $\dot{E}=2.6\times 10^{29}$ erg s$^{-1}$ is the lowest among the XTINSs, and it is a factor of 60 lower than the X-ray luminosity of this neutron star. RX J0806.4-4123 is also among the pulsars with the lowest measured $\dot{E}$ in general.

Various scenarios of cosmic inflation enhance the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at frequencies detectable by the LISA detector. We develop tools for a template-based analysis of the SGWB and introduce a template databank to describe well-motivated signals from inflation, prototype their template-based searches, and forecast their reconstruction with LISA. Specifically, we classify seven templates based on their signal frequency shape, and we identify representative fundamental physics models leading to them. By running a template-based analysis, we forecast the accuracy with which LISA can reconstruct the template parameters of representative benchmark signals, with and without galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We identify the parameter regions that can be probed by LISA within each template. Finally, we investigate how our signal reconstructions shed light on fundamental physics models of inflation: we discuss their impact for measurements of \emph{e.g.,} ~the couplings of inflationary axions to gauge fields; the graviton mass during inflation; the fluctuation seeds of primordial black holes; the consequences of excited states during inflation, and the presence of small-scale spectral features.

Recent measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) suggest a preference for a dynamic dark energy model over a cosmological constant. This conclusion emerges from the combination of DESI's BAO data with observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and various type Ia supernova (SN Ia) catalogues. The deviation observed in the cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) reflects a departure from the standard cosmological model. Testing this deviation involves examining the consistency between cosmological parameters derived from early and late-time observations. Specifically, we focus on the matter density parameter $\omega_m = \Omega_mh^2$ and introduce ${\rm ratio}(\omega_m)$ to assess consistency, which is defined as the ratio of $\omega_m$ values constrained by high and low-redshift measurements. This ratio serves as a metric for quantifying deviations from the $\Lambda$CDM model. In this paper, we find that the DESI BAO+CMB yields ${\rm ratio}(\omega_m)=1.0171\pm0.0066$. Upon excluding the LRG1 and LRG2 data in DESI BAO, this ratio adjusts to ${\rm ratio}(\omega_m)=1.0100\pm0.0082$. This shift, corresponding to a change from $2.6\sigma$ to $1.2\sigma$, indicates that the deviation from the $\Lambda$CDM model is predominantly driven by these two samples from the DESI BAO measurements. To substantiate this conclusion, we utilized two cosmological model-independent methods to reconstruct the cosmic expansion history. Both reconstructions of the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ indicate that the evolving features of dark energy are determined by the combined LRG1 and LRG2 data. Therefore, different methods have reached the same conclusion, namely the importance of accurately measuring the BAO feature in LRG1 and LRG2 data.

cosmosage is a natural-language assistant intended for a wide audience, from laypersons interested in cosmology to students, teachers, and professional cosmologists. cosmosage provides a novel way to access knowledge and reason about cosmology. Leveraging the power of advanced large language models (LLMs), cosmosage has learned from a vast corpus of open-access source texts, including textbooks and papers. cosmosage is found to be state-of-the-art on the narrow task of answering questions about cosmology, outperforming all general-purpose models. The model parameters and code are publicly available.

LISA Pathfinder was a mission designed to test key technologies required for gravitational wave detection in space. Magnetically driven forces play a key role in the instrument sensitivity in the low-frequency regime, which corresponds to the measurement band of interest for future space-borne gravitational wave observatories. Magnetic-induced forces couple to the test mass motion, introducing a contribution to the relative acceleration noise between the free falling test masses. In this Letter we present the first complete estimate of this term of the instrument performance model. Our results set the magnetic-induced acceleration noise during the February 2017 noise run of $\rm 0.25_{-0.08}^{+0.15}\,fm\,s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ at 1 mHz and $\rm 1.01_{-0.24}^{+0.73}\, fm\,s^{-2}/\sqrt{Hz}$ at 0.1 mHz. We also discuss how the non-stationarities of the interplanetary magnetic field can affect these values during extreme space weather conditions.

A precise characterization of the magnetic properties of LISA Pathfinder free falling test-masses is of special interest for future gravitational wave observatory in space. Magnetic forces have an important impact on the instrument sensitivity in the low frequency regime below the millihertz. In this paper we report on the magnetic injection experiments performed throughout LISA Pathfinder operations. We show how these experiments allowed a high precision estimate of the instrument magnetic parameters. The remanent magnetic moment was found to have a modulus of $(0.245\pm0.081)\,\rm{nAm}^2$, the x-component of the background magnetic field within the test masses position was measured to be $(414 \pm 74)$ nT and its gradient had a value of $(-7.4\pm 2.1)\,\mu$T/m. Finally, we also measured the test mass magnetic susceptibility to be $(-3.35\pm0.15)\times$10$^{-5}$ in the low frequency regime. All results are in agreement with on-ground estimates.

Cosmological information is usually extracted from the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest correlations using only either large-scale information interpreted through linear theory or using small-scale information interpreted by means of expensive hydrodynamical simulations. A complete cosmological interpretation of the 3D correlations at all measurable scales is challenged by the need of more realistic models including the complex growth of non-linear small scales that can only be studied within large hydrodynamical simulations. Past work were often limited by the trade off between the simulated cosmological volume and the resolution of the low-density intergalactic medium from which the Lyman-$\alpha$ signal originates. We conduct a suite of hydrodynamical simulations of the intergalactic medium, including one of the largest Lyman-$\alpha$ simulations ever performed in terms of volume (640 $h^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}$), alongside simulations in smaller volumes with resolutions up to 25 $h^{-1}\mathrm{kpc}$. We compare the 3D Lyman-$\alpha$ power spectra predicted by those simulations to different non-linear models. The inferred Lyman-$\alpha$ bias and RSD parameters, $b_\alpha$ and $\beta_\alpha$ are in remarkable agreement with those measured in SDSS and DESI data. We find that, contrary to intuition, the convergence of large-scale modes of the 3D Lyman-$\alpha$ power spectra, which determines $\beta_\alpha$, is primarily influenced by the resolution of the simulation box through mode coupling, rather than the box size itself. Finally, we study the BAO signal encoded in the 3D Lyman-$\alpha$ power spectra. For the first time with a hydrodynamical simulation, we clearly detect the BAO signal, however we only marginally detect its damping, associated with the non-linear growth of the structures.

Full disk observations of the solar chromosphere in the Ca II K line represent a valuable dataset for studies of solar magnetic activity. The S-index is widely used to investigate the magnetic activity of stars, however, its connection to the coverage of stellar magnetic structure is still poorly understood. We use the archives of full disk Ca II K images taken by the Royal Observatory of Belgium with the USET to derive the area fraction of the brightest chromospheric structures over the last decade. These data allowed us to study the end of the solar cycle 24 and the beginning of solar cycle 25. The brightest regions of the solar surface were then segmented using an algorithm based on an intensity threshold. We computed the area fraction over the solar disk and compared it with the S-index from TIGRE. For the detection of periodic modulations, we applied a discrete Fourier power spectrum method to both datasets. A tight linear relationship was found between the USET area fraction and the TIGRE S-index, with an improved correlation obtained in the low-activity regime by considering the enhanced network. In both time series, we detected the modulation caused by the rotation of bright structures on the solar disk. However, this detection is constrained in the case of TIGRE due to its observation strategy. We studied the correlation between the disk coverage with chromospheric structures and the variability of the S-index on an overlapping period of ten years. We concluded that the disk coverage index is a good proxy for the S-index and will be useful in future studies of the magnetic activity of solar-type stars. The USET area fraction dataset is most appropriate for evaluating the solar rotation period and will be used in future works to analyze the impact of the inclination of the stellar rotation axis on the detectability of such periodic modulations in solar-type stars.

Hot subdwarfs (sdO/B) are the stripped helium cores of red giants formed by binary interactions. Close hot subdwarf binaries with massive white dwarf companions have been proposed as possible progenitors of thermonuclear supernovae type Ia (SN Ia). If the supernova is triggered by stable mass transfer from the helium star, the companion should survive the explosion and should be accelerated to high velocities. The hypervelocity star US 708 is regarded as the prototype for such an ejected companion. To find more of those objects we conducted an extensive spectroscopic survey. Candidates for such fast stars have been selected from the spectroscopic database of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and several ground-based proper motion surveys. Follow-up spectroscopy has been obtained with several 4m- to 10m-class telescopes. Combining the results from quantitative spectroscopic analyses with space-based astrometry from \textit{Gaia} Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) we determined the atmospheric and kinematic parameters of 53 fast hot subdwarf stars. None of these stars is unbound to the Galaxy, although some have Galactic restframe velocities close to the Galactic escape velocity. 21 stars are apparently single objects, which crossed the Galactic disc within their lifetimes in the sdO/B stage and could be regarded as potential candidates for the SN Ia ejection scenario. However, the properties of the full sample are more consistent with a pure old Galactic halo population. We therefore conclude that the fast sdO/B stars we found are likely to be extreme halo stars.

Neutral atomic gas (HI) effectively traces galactic dynamics across mid to large galactocentric radii. However, its limitations in observing small-scale changes within the central few kiloparsecs, coupled with the often observed HI deficit in galactic centers, necessitates using molecular gas emission as a preferred tracer in these regions. Understanding the dynamics of both neutral atomic and molecular gas is crucial for a more complete understanding of how galaxies evolve, funnel gas from the outer disk into their central parts, and eventually form stars. In this work we aim to quantify the dynamics of both, the neutral atomic and molecular gas, in the nearby spiral galaxies NGC 1512, NGC 4535, and NGC 7496 using new MeerKAT-HI observations together with ALMA CO (2-1) observations from the PHANGS collaboration. We use the analysis tool 3D-Barolo to fit tilted ring models to the HI and CO observations. A combined approach of using the HI to constrain the true disk orientation parameters before applying these to the CO datasets is tested. This paper sets expectations for the results of the upcoming high-resolution HI coverage of many galaxies in the PHANGS-ALMA sample using MeerKAT or VLA, to establish a robust methodology for characterizing galaxy orientations and deriving dynamics from combining new HI with existing CO data.

We assess the relative strength of solar cycle (SC) 25 with respect to SCs 23 and 24 based on the abundance of halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We make use of the halo CME database (this https URL) to compare the halo CME abundance during the first four years in each of SCs 23 to 25. The main result is that in several aspects such as the abundance, occurrence rate, source locations, and halo heights, halo CMEs are similar between SCs 24 and 25 but different from SC 23. This result follows from the fact that weaker cycles have low heliospheric total pressure, whose backreaction on CMEs allows them to expand more and hence enhancing the chance of becoming a halo. The solar cycle variation of halo CME properties is consistent with the precursor-based cycle prediction methods that indicate SC 25 is similar to or only slightly stronger than SC 24.

High-redshift blazars are the most powerful extragalactic astrophysical sources ever detected in the high-energy gamma-ray band. In this study, we present a temporal and spectral analysis of the high-redshift blazar B3 1343+451 based on 14 years of Fermi-LAT observations, spanning from 2008 August 4 to 2022 June 6 (MJD 54686-59733). We extract a seven-day binned $\gamma$-ray light curve in the energy range 0.1--500 GeV and identify seven outburst periods with a peak flux of $>4.32\times10^{-7} \rm ph \cdot cm^{-2} \cdot s^{-1}$. The highest seven day flux (above 100 MeV) reaches $(8.06\pm0.56)\times10^{-7} \rm erg \ cm^{-2} \ s^{-1}$ on MJD = 56,177.16, which is 10 times higher than the flux in the quiescent period. To understand the properties of distant blazar jets, we employ a standard one-zone leptonic scenario and model the multiwavelength spectral energy distributions of one quiescent and seven flaring periods. We find that the $\gamma$-ray spectrum is better reproduced if we assume that the dissipation region of the jet, $R_{\rm diss}$, is located within the molecular torus, where infrared emission is the dominant external photon field. We infer that the jets in higher-redshift blazars have larger power and kinetic energy, where the kinetic energy is significantly greater than the radiation power, and the jet production efficiency suggests that we need to lower the accretion efficiency. These results imply that B3 1343+451 may have a standard thin disk surrounding its massive black hole, and the jets of B3 1343+451 may not be fully explained by the Blandford--Payne process.

Solar flares commonly have a hot onset precursor event" (HOPE), detectable from soft X-ray observations. Detecting this requires subtraction of pre-flare fluxes from the non-flaring Sun prior to the event, fitting an isothermal emission model to the flare excess fluxes by comparing the GOES passbands at 1-8 A and 0.5-4 A, and plotting the timewise evolution of the flare emission in a diagram of temperature \textit{vs} emission measure. The HOPE then appears as an initial "horizontal branch" in this diagram. It precedes the non-thermal impulsive phase of the flare and thus the flare peak in soft X-rays as well. We use this property to define a "flare anticipation index" (FAI), which can serve as an alert for observational programs aimed at solar flares based on near-real-time soft X-ray observations. This FAI gives lead times of a few minutes and produces very few false positive alerts even for flare brightenings too weak to merit NOAA classification.

Current and future experiments observing the cosmic microwave background require a detailed understanding of optical performance at cryogenic temperatures. Pre-deployment analysis of optics can be performed in custom-engineered cryogenic test beds, such as Mod-Cam, a first light camera for the CCAT project. This work presents studies of the mechanical and thermal performance of CryoSim, a model of a generic cylindrical 4-K cryostat cooled with a commercial pulse tube cryocooler that can be used to characterise optical components and full reimaging optical systems. CryoSim is extensively parametrised, allowing the joint analysis and optimisation of mechanical and thermal performance via finite element methods. Results from this model are validated against measured cooldown data of the Mod-Cam cryostat. Due to the extensive parametrisation of the model, significant modifications of the cryostat geometry may be implemented to be representative of any system the scientific community may desire, and validation of thermal and mechanical performance can be carried out rapidly.

We explore the consequences of the breaking of diffeomorphism (Diff) invariance in the electromagnetic sector. We consider the breaking of Diff symmetry down to the subgroup of transverse diffeomorphisms (TDiff) and analyse its impact on the generation and evolution of cosmic magnetic fields. We show that Diff breaking induces a breaking of conformal invariance that modifies the way in which magnetic fields evolve on super-Hubble scales. The effects of the highly conductive plasma in the evolution are also analysed. We obtain the magnetic power spectrum today and discuss the parameter regions that yield intergalactic magnetic fields compatible with current observations.

We introduce COBRA (Cosmology with Optimally factorized Bases of Radial Approximants), a novel framework for rapid computation of large-scale structure observables. COBRA separates scale dependence from cosmological parameters in the linear matter power spectrum while also minimising the number of necessary basis terms $N_b$, thus enabling direct and efficient computation of derived and nonlinear observables. Moreover, the dependence on cosmological parameters is efficiently approximated using radial basis function interpolation. We apply our framework to decompose the linear matter power spectrum in the standard $\Lambda$CDM scenario, as well as by adding curvature, dynamical dark energy and massive neutrinos, covering all redshifts relevant for Stage IV surveys. With only a dozen basis terms $N_b$, COBRA reproduces exact Boltzmann solver calculations to $\sim 0.1\%$ precision, which improves further to $0.02\%$ in the pure $\Lambda$CDM scenario. Using our decomposition, we recast the one-loop redshift space galaxy power spectrum in a separable minimal-basis form, enabling $\sim 4000$ model evaluations per second at $0.02\%$ precision on a single thread. This constitutes a considerable improvement over previously existing methods (e.g., FFTLog) opening a window for efficient computations of higher loop and higher order correlators involving multiple powers of the linear matter power spectra. The resulting factorisation can also be utilised in clustering, weak lensing and CMB analyses. Our implementation will be made public upon publication.

Modeling observations of the archetypal debris disk around $\beta$ Pic, obtained in 2023 January with the MIRI MRS on board JWST, reveals significant differences compared with that obtained with the IRS on board Spitzer. The bright 5 - 15 $\mu$m continuum excess modeled using a $\sim$600 K black body has disappeared. The previously prominent 18 and 23 $\mu$m crystalline forsterite emission features, arising from cold dust ($\sim$100 K) in the Rayleigh limit, have disappeared and been replaced by very weak features arising from the hotter 500 K dust population. Finally, the shape of the 10 $\mu$m silicate feature has changed, consistent with a shift in the temperature of the warm dust population from $\sim$300 K to $\sim$500 K and an increase in the crystalline fraction of the warm, silicate dust. Stellar radiation pressure may have blown both the hot and the cold crystalline dust particles observed in the Spitzer spectra out of the planetary system during the intervening 20 years between the Spitzer and JWST observations. These results indicate that the $\beta$ Pic system has a dynamic circumstellar environment, and that periods of enhanced collisions can create large clouds of dust that sweep through the planetary system.

Co-orbital objects, also known as trojans, are frequently found in simulations of planetary system formation. In these configurations, a planet shares its orbit with other massive bodies. It is still unclear why there have not been any co-orbitals discovered thus far in exoplanetary systems or even pairs of planets found in such a 1:1 mean motion resonance. Reconciling observations and theory is an open subject in the field. The main objective of the TROY project is to conduct an exhaustive search for exotrojans using diverse observational techniques. In this work, we analyze the radial velocity time series informed by transits, focusing the search around low-mass stars. We employed the alpha-test method on confirmed planets searching for shifts between spectral and photometric mid-transit times. This technique is sensitive to mass imbalances within the planetary orbit, allowing us to identify non-negligible co-orbital masses. Among the 95 transiting planets examined, we find one robust exotrojan candidate with a significant 3-sigma detection. Additionally, 25 exoplanets show compatibility with the presence of exotrojan companions at a 1-sigma level, requiring further observations to better constrain their presence. For two of those weak candidates, we find dimmings in their light curves within the predicted Lagrangian region. We established upper limits on the co-orbital masses for either the candidates and null detections. Our analysis reveals that current high-resolution spectrographs effectively rule out co-orbitals more massive than Saturn around low-mass stars. This work points out to dozens of targets that have the potential to better constraint their exotrojan upper mass limit with dedicated radial velocity observations. We also explored the potential of observing the secondary eclipses of the confirmed exoplanets to enhance the exotrojan search.

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) can potentially probe low-mass black holes in host galaxies that might not adhere to bulge or stellar-dispersion relationships. At least initially, TDEs can also reveal super-Eddington accretion. X-ray spectroscopy can potentially constrain black hole masses, and reveal ionized outflows associated with super-Eddington accretion. Our analysis of XMM-Newton X-ray observations of the TDE AT2021ehb, around 300 days post-disruption, reveals a soft spectrum and can be fit with a combination of multi-color disk blackbody and power-law components. Using two independent disk models with properties suited to TDEs, we estimate a black hole mass at $M \simeq 10^{5.5}~M_{\odot}$, indicating AT2021ehb may expose the elusive low-mass end of the nuclear black hole population. These models offer simple yet robust characterization; more complicated models are not required, but provide important context and caveats in the limit of moderately sensitive data. If disk reflection is included, the disk flux is lower and inferred black hole masses are $\sim$ 0.35 dex higher. Simple wind formulations imply an extremely fast $v_{\mathrm{out}} = -0.2~c$ outflow and obviate a disk continuum component. Assuming a unity filling factor, such a wind implies an instantaneous mass outflow rate of $\dot{M} \simeq 5~M_{\odot}~{\rm yr}^{-1}$. Such a high rate suggests that the filling factor for the Ultra Fast Outflow (UFO) must be extremely low, and/or the UFO phase is ephemeral. We discuss the strengths and limitations of our analysis and avenues for future observations of TDEs.

The Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature in the two-point correlation function (TPCF) of discrete tracers such as galaxies is an accurate standard ruler. The covariance matrix of the TPCF plays an important role in determining how the precision of this ruler depends on the number density and clustering strength of the tracers, as well as the survey volume. An eigen-decomposition of this matrix provides an objective way to separate the contributions of cosmic variance from those of shot-noise to the statistical uncertainties. For the signal-to-noise levels that are expected in ongoing and next-generation surveys, the cosmic variance eigen-modes dominate. These modes are smooth functions of scale, meaning that: they are insensitive to the modest changes in binning that are allowed if one wishes to resolve the BAO feature in the TPCF; they provide a good description of the correlated residuals which result from fitting smooth functional forms to the measured TPCF; they motivate a simple but accurate approximation for the uncertainty on the Linear Point (LP) estimate of the BAO distance scale. This approximation allows one to quantify the precision of the BAO distance scale estimate without having to generate a large ensemble of mock catalogs and explains why: the uncertainty on the LP does not depend on the functional form fitted to the TPCF or the binning used; the LP is more constraining than the peak or dip scales in the TPCF; the evolved TPCF is less constraining than the initial one, so that reconstruction schemes can yield significant gains in precision.

We present $\sim300$ stellar metallicity measurements in two faint M31 dwarf galaxies, Andromeda XVI ($M_V = -7.5$) and Andromeda XXVIII ($M_V = -8.8$) derived using metallicity-sensitive Calcium H & K narrow-band Hubble Space Telescope imaging. These are the first individual stellar metallicities in And~XVI (95 stars). Our And~XXVIII sample (191 stars) is a factor of $\sim15$ increase over literature metallicities. For And~XVI, we measure $\langle \mbox{[Fe/H]}\rangle = -2.17^{+0.05}_{-0.05}$, $\sigma_{\mbox{[Fe/H]}}=0.33^{+0.07}_{-0.07}$, and $\nabla_{\mbox{[Fe/H]}} = -0.23\pm0.15$ dex $R_e^{-1}$. We find that And XVI is more metal-rich than MW UFDs of similar luminosity, which may be a result of its unusually extended star formation history. For And XXVIII, we measure $\langle \mbox{[Fe/H]}\rangle = -1.95^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$, $\sigma_{\mbox{[Fe/H]}}=0.34^{+0.07}_{-0.07}$, and $\nabla_{\mbox{[Fe/H]}} = -0.46 \pm 0.10$~dex~$R_e^{-1}$, placing it on the dwarf galaxy mass-metallicity relation. Neither galaxy has a metallicity distribution function with an abrupt metal-rich truncation, suggesting that star formation fell off gradually. The stellar metallicity gradient measurements are among the first for faint ($L \lesssim 10^6~L_{\odot}$) galaxies outside the Milky Way halo. Both galaxies' gradients are consistent with predictions from the FIRE simulations, where an age-gradient strength relationship is the observational consequence of stellar feedback that produces dark matter cores. We include a catalog for community spectroscopic follow-up, including 19 extremely metal poor ($\mbox{[Fe/H]} < -3.0$) star candidates, which make up 7% of And~XVI's MDF and 6% of And~XXVIII's.