Papers for Monday, Nov 11 2024

A long-lived civilization will inevitably have to migrate towards a nearby star as its home star runs out of nuclear fuel. One way to achieve such a migration is by transforming its star into a stellar engine, and to control its motion in the galaxy. We first provide a brief overview of stellar engines and conclude that looking for technosignatures of stellar engines has taken two roads: on the observational side, hypervelocity stars have been the target of such searches, but without good candidates. On the theoretical side, stellar engine concepts have been proposed but are poorly linked to observable technosignatures. Since about half the stars in our galaxy are in binary systems where life might develop too, we introduce a model of a binary stellar engine. We propose mechanisms for acceleration, deceleration, steering in the orbital plane and outside of the orbital plane. We apply the model to candidate systems, spider pulsars, which are binary stars composed of one millisecond pulsar and a very low-mass companion star that is heavily irradiated by the pulsar wind. We discuss potential signatures of acceleration, deceleration, steering, as well as maneuvers such as gravitational assists or captures. Keywords: Pulsars: Spiders, Technosignatures, Stellar engine, Interstellar travel

Low mass axion-like particles could be produced in abundance within the cores of hot, compact magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars from electron bremsstrahlung and converted to detectable X-rays in the strong magnetic fields surrounding these systems. In this work, we constrain the existence of such axions from two dedicated Chandra X-ray observations of $\sim$40 ks each in the energy range $\sim$1 - 10 keV towards the magnetic white dwarfs (MWDs) WD 1859+148 and PG 0945+246. We find no evidence for axions, which constrains the axion-electron times axion-photon coupling to $|g_{a\gamma \gamma} g_{aee}| \lesssim 1.54 \times 10^{-25}$ ($3.54 \times 10^{-25}$) GeV$^{-1}$ for PG 0945+246 (WD 1859+148) at 95% confidence for axion masses $m_a \lesssim 10^{-6}$ eV. We find an excess of low-energy X-rays between 1 - 3 keV for WD 1859+148 but determine that the spectral morphology is too soft to arise from axions; instead, the soft X-rays may arise from non-thermal emission in the MWD magnetosphere.

Dark matter is a fundamental constituent of the universe, which is needed to explain a wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological observations. Although the existence of dark matter was first postulated nearly a century ago and its abundance is precisely measured, approximately five times larger than that of ordinary matter, its underlying identity remains a mystery. A leading hypothesis is that it is composed of new elementary particles, which are predicted to exist in many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In this article we review the basic evidence for dark matter and the role it plays in cosmology and astrophysics, and discuss experimental searches and potential candidates. Rather than targeting researchers in the field, we aim to provide an accessible and concise summary of the most important ideas and results, which can serve as a first entry point for advanced undergraduate students of physics or astronomy.

We address the orbital distribution of stars in merging nuclear star clusters (NSCs) and the subsequent effects on supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) evolution. We ran direct-summation $N$-body simulations with different initial conditions to do a detailed study of the resulting NSC after their progenitors had merged. Our findings reveal that prograde stars form a flattened structure, while retrograde stars have a more spherical distribution. The axial ratios of the prograde component vary based on the presence and mass ratio of the SMBHs. The fraction of prograde and retrograde stars depends on the merger orbital properties and the SMBH mass ratio. The interactions of retrograde stars with the SMBHB affect the eccentricity and separation evolution of the binary. Our analysis reveals a strong correlation between the angular momentum and eccentricity of the SMBH binary. This relationship could serve as a means to infer information about the stellar dynamics surrounding the binary. We find that prograde orbits are particularly close to the binary of SMBHs, a promising fact regarding extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) production. Moreover, prograde and retrograde stars have different kinematic structures, with the prograde stars typically rotating faster than the retrograde ones. The line-of-sight velocity and velocity dispersion, as well as the velocity anisotropy of each NSC, depend on the initial merger orbital properties and SMBH mass ratios. The prograde and retrograde stars always show different behaviours. The distribution of stellar orbits and the dynamical properties of each kinematic population can potentially be used as a way to tell the properties of the parent nuclei apart, and has an important impact on expected rates of EMRIs, which will be detected by future gravitational wave observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). [abridged]

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is considered a leading mechanism for driving angular momentum transport in differentially rotating astrophysical flows, including accretion discs and proto-neutron stars. This process is mediated by the exponential amplification of the magnetic field whose final amplitude is envisioned to be limited by secondary (parasitic) instabilities. In this paper, we investigate the saturation of the MRI via parasitic modes relaxing previous approximations. We carry out the first systematic analysis of the evolution of parasitic modes as they feed off the exponentially growing MRI while being advected by the background shear flow. We provide the most accurate calculation of the amplification factor to which the MRI can grow before the fastest parasitic modes reach a comparable amplitude. We found that this amplification factor is remarkably robust, depending only logarithmically on the initial amplitude of the parasitic modes, in reasonable agreement with numerical simulations. Based on these insights, and guided by numerical simulations, we provide a simple analytical expression for the amplification of magnetic fields responsible for MRI-driven angular momentum transport. Our effective model for magnetic field amplification may enable going beyond the standard prescription for viscous transport currently employed in numerical simulations when the MRI cannot be explicitly resolved.

The origin of the binary black hole mergers observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) remains an open question. We calculate the merger rate from primordial black holes (PBHs) within the density spike around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of galaxies. We show that the merger rate within the spike is comparable to that within the wider dark matter halo. We also calculate the extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) signal from PBHs hosted within the density spike spiralling into their host SMBHs due to GW emission. We predict that LISA may detect $\sim10^4$ of these EMRIs with signal-to-noise ratio of 5 within a 4-year observation run, if all dark matter is made up of PBHs. Uncertainties in our rates come from the uncertain mass fraction of PBHs within the dark matter spike, relative to the host central SMBHs, which defines the parameter space LISA can constrain.

The large eccentricities of cold Jupiters and the existence of hot Jupiters have long challenged theories of planet formation. A proposed solution to both of these puzzles is high-eccentricity migration, in which an initially cold Jupiter is excited to high eccentricities before being tidally circularized. Secular perturbations from an inclined stellar companion are a potential source of eccentricity oscillations, a phenomenon known as the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) mechanism. Previous studies have found that the cold Jupiter eccentricity distribution produced by EKL is inconsistent with observations. However, these studies assumed all planets start on circular orbits. Here, we revisit this question, considering that an initial period of planet-planet scattering on $\sim$Myr timescales likely places planets on slightly eccentric orbits before being modulated by EKL on $\sim$Myr-Gyr timescales. Small initial eccentricities can have a dramatic effect by enabling EKL to act at lower inclinations. We numerically integrate the secular hierarchical three-body equations of motion, including general relativity and tides, for populations of cold giant planets in stellar binaries with varied initial eccentricity distributions. For populations with modest initial mean eccentricities, the simulated eccentricity distribution produced by EKL is statistically consistent with the observed eccentricities of cold single-planet systems. The lower eccentricities in a multi-planet control sample suggest that planetary companions quench stellar EKL. We show that scattering alone is unlikely to reproduce the present-day eccentricity distribution. We also show that the anisotropic inclination distribution produced by EKL may lead radial velocity measurements to underestimate giant planet masses.

Both star formation (SF) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) play an important role in galaxy evolution. Statistically quantifying their relative importance can be done using radio luminosity functions. Until now these relied on galaxy classifications, where sources with a mixture of radio emission from SF and AGN are labelled as either a star-forming galaxy or an AGN. This can cause the misestimation of the relevance of AGN. Brightness temperature measurements at 144 MHz with the International LOFAR telescope can separate radio emission from AGN and SF. We use the combination of sub-arcsec and arcsec resolution imaging of 7,497 sources in the Lockman Hole and ELAIS-N1 fields to identify AGN components in the sub-arcsec resolution images and subtract them from the total flux density, leaving flux density from SF only. We construct, for the first time, radio luminosity functions by physical process, either SF or AGN activity, revealing a hidden AGN population at $L_{\textrm{144MHz}}$$<10^{24}$ W$\,$Hz$^{-1}$ . This population is 1.56$\pm$0.06 more than expected for $0.5<z<2.0$ when comparing to RLFs by galaxy classification. The star forming population has only 0.90$\pm$0.02 of the expected SF. These 'hidden' AGN can have significant implications for the cosmic star formation rate and kinetic luminosity densities.

The LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA gravitational wave observatories are currently undertaking their O4 observing run offering the opportunity to discover new electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events. We examine the capability of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift) to respond to these triggers, primarily binary neutron star mergers, with both the UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and the X-ray Telescope (XRT). We simulate Swift's response to a trigger under different strategies using model skymaps, convolving these with the 2MPZ catalogue to produce an ordered list of observing fields, deriving the time taken for Swift to reach the correct field and simulating the instrumental responses to modelled kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. We find that UVOT using the $u$ filter with an exposure time of order 120 s is optimal for most follow-up observations and that we are likely to detect counterparts in $\sim6$% of all binary neutron star triggers. We find that the gravitational wave 90% error area and measured distance to the trigger allow us to select optimal triggers to follow-up. Focussing on sources less than 300 Mpc away or 500 Mpc if the error area is less than a few hundred square degrees, distances greater than previously assumed, offer the best opportunity for discovery by Swift with $\sim5 - 30$% of triggers having detection probabilities $\geq 0.5$. At even greater distances, we can further optimise our follow-up by adopting a longer 250 s or 500 s exposure time.

Ram pressure stripping (RPS) is an important process that plays a significant role in shaping the evolution of cluster galaxies and their surrounding environment. Despite its recognized significance, the potential connection between RPS and AGN activity in cluster galaxies remains poorly understood. Recent claims, based on optical emission line diagnostics, have suggested such a connection. Here, we investigate this relationship from an X-ray perspective using a sample of galaxies undergoing RPS in four nearby galaxy clusters - A1656, A1367, A426, and A3627. This study is the first to test such a connection from an X-ray standpoint. Our analysis reveals no signs of enhanced X-ray AGN activity in our sample, with most RPS galaxies ($\sim$ $90\%$) showing X-ray luminosities below $10^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in their central point sources. Moreover, there is no noticeable difference in X-ray AGN activity among RPS galaxies compared to a control sample of non-RPS galaxies, as demonstrated by similar X-ray luminosities observed in their central point sources. While the most luminous X-ray AGN in our sample is found in ESO 137-002, a galaxy undergoing RPS in A3627, there is no evidence for a widespread enhancement of X-ray AGN activity due to RPS. Given the limited sample size of our study, this could also indicate that either the X-ray AGN enhancement from RPS is at most weak, or the timescale for the X-ray AGN enhancement is short. This emphasizes the need for further investigations with larger X-ray samples to better understand the impact of RPS on AGN activity in cluster galaxies.

Inferring spatial curvature of the Universe with high-fidelity is a longstanding interest in cosmology. However, the strong degeneracy between dark energy equation-of-state parameter $w$ and curvature density parameter $\Omega_{\rm K}$ has always been a hurdle for precision measurements of curvature from late-universe probes. With the imminent commissioning of Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), we demonstrate for the first time, using simulations of stage-IV surveys, the crucial role of time-delay distances from strong gravitational lenses in breaking this degeneracy. Our findings suggest that in non-flat $ow$CDM model, while strong lensing data alone only yield a $\Omega_{\rm K}$ constraint at $\sim O(10^{-1})$ level, the integration with SNe Ia and BAO data breaks the $w$-$\Omega_{\rm K}$ degeneracy and refines the $\Omega_{\rm K}$ constraint to $\sim O(10^{-2})$. This surpasses the constraints typically derived from SNe Ia Hubble diagrams and BAO data and is comparable to the constraints obtained from \textit{Planck} Primary CMB data. Additionally, we present a non-parametric approach using Gaussian Process to avoid parameter-dependency of the expansion history $H(z)$ and achieve similar $O(10^{-2})$ level constraint on $\Omega_{\rm K}$. This study demonstrates the significant potential of strong gravitational lenses and Stage-IV surveys like LSST to achieve high-fidelity, independent constraints on $\Omega_{\rm K}$, contributing to our understanding of the Universe's geometry and the dynamics of dark energy.

The increasingly large numbers of multiple images in cluster-scale gravitational lenses have allowed for tighter constraints on the mass distributions of these systems. Most lens models have progressed alongside this increase in image number. The general assumption is that these improvements would result in lens models converging to a common solution, suggesting that models are approaching the true mass distribution. To test whether or not this is occurring, we examine a sample of lens models of MACS J0416.1$-$2403 containing varying number of images as input. Splitting the sample into two bins (those including $<150$ and $>150$ images), we quantify the similarity of models in each bin using three comparison metrics, two of which are novel: Median Percent Difference, Frechet Distance, and Wasserstein Distance. In addition to quantifying similarity, the Frechet distance metric seems to also be an indicator of the mass sheet degeneracy. Each metric indicates that models with a greater number of input images are no more similar between one another than models with fewer input images. This suggests that lens models are neither converging nor diverging to a common solution for this system, regardless of method. With this result, we suggest that future models more carefully investigate lensing degeneracies and anomalous mass clumps (mass features significantly displaced from baryonic counterparts) to rigorously evaluate their model's validity. We also recommend further study into alternative, underutilized lens model priors (e.g. flux ratios) as an additional input constraint to image positions in hopes of breaking existing degeneracies.

The dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) satellites of the Milky Way (MW) are nearby astrophysical laboratories to study the nature of dark matter (DM). We present some properties of the DM halos of the three classical dSphs Fornax, Sculptor and Leo I, obtained using dynamical models based on distribution functions depending on the action integrals. In particular, we report accurate estimates of their central DM density rho150 (measured at a distance of 150 pc from the galaxy centre), which is relevant for galaxy formation studies and for models of self-interacting DM, and their DM annihilation J-factor and decay D-factor, which are key tools for indirect DM detection experiments. Among these three galaxies, Fornax has the highest J- and D- factors (but the lowest rho150), while Leo I has the highest rho150 (but the lowest J- and D- factors).

Stars wandering too close to supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can be ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole. Recent optical surveys have revealed that E+A galaxies are overrepresented by a factor $\sim $ 30, while green galaxies are overrepresented in both optical and infrared surveys. Different stellar models have been proposed to explain this Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) preference: ultra-steep stellar densities in the nuclear cluster, radial velocity anisotropies, and top-heavy Initial Mass Function (IMF). Here we explore these hypotheses in the framework of our revised loss cone theory that accounts for both weak and strong scattering, i.e., a scattering strong enough to eject a star from the nuclear cluster. We find that, when accounting for weak and strong scatterings, both ultra-steep densities and radial velocity anisotropies fail to explain the post-starburst preference of TDEs except when considering a high anisotropy factor together with a high SMBH mass and a shallow density profile of stellar mass black holes $\gamma_{\rm bh} =7/4$. Our findings hold when combining either model with top-heavy IMFs. Hence, new models to explain the post-starburst preference of TDEs are needed.

This article presents the latest results of our ALMA program to study circumstellar disk characteristics as a function of orbital and stellar properties in a sample of young binary star systems known to host at least one disk. Optical and infrared observations of the eccentric, ~48-year period binary DF Tau indicated the presence of only one disk around the brighter component. However, our 1.3 mm ALMA thermal continuum maps show two nearly-equal brightness components in this system. We present these observations within the context of updated stellar and orbital properties which indicate that the inner disk of the secondary is absent. Because the two stars likely formed together, with the same composition, in the same environment, and at the same time, we expect their disks to be co-eval. However the absence of an inner disk around the secondary suggests uneven dissipation. We consider several processes which have the potential to accelerate inner disk evolution. Rapid inner disk dissipation has important implications for planet formation, particularly in the terrestrial-planet-forming region.

Context. Star-forming regions are gaining considerable interest in the high-energy astrophysics community as possible Galactic particle accelerators. In general, the role of electrons has not been fully considered in this kind of cosmic-ray source. However, the intense radiation fields inside these regions might make electrons significant gamma-ray contributors. Aims. We study the young and compact star-forming region NGC 3603, a well known gamma-ray emitter. Our intention is to test whether its gamma-ray emission can be produced by cosmic-ray electrons. Methods. We build a novel model by creating realistic 3D distributions of the gas and the radiation field in the region. We introduce these models into PICARD to perform cosmic-ray transport simulations and produce gamma-ray emission maps. The results are compared with a dedicated Fermi Large Area Telescope data analysis at high energies. We also explore the radio and neutrino emissions of the system. Results. We improve the existing upper limits of the NGC 3603 gamma-ray source extension. Although the gamma-ray spectrum is well reproduced with the injection of CR protons, it requires nearly 30\% acceleration efficiency. In addition, the resulting extension of the simulated hadronic source is in mild tension with the extension data upper limit. The radio data disfavours the lepton-only scenario. Finally, combining both populations, the results are consistent with all observables, although the exact contributions are ambiguous.

We analysed microlensing data to uncover the nature of the anomaly that appeared near the peak of the short-timescale microlensing event KMT-2024-BLG-1044. Despite the anomaly's brief duration of less than a day, it was densely observed through high-cadence monitoring conducted by the KMTNet survey. Detailed modelling of the light curve confirmed the planetary origin of the anomaly and revealed two possible solutions, due to an inner--outer degeneracy. The two solutions provide different measured planet parameters: $(s, q)_{\rm inner} = [1.0883 \pm 0.0027, (3.125 \pm 0.248)\times 10^{-4}]$ for the inner solutions and $(s, q)_{\rm outer} = [1.0327 \pm 0.0054, (3.350 \pm 0.316)\times 10^{-4}]$ for the outer solutions. Using Bayesian analysis with constraints provided by the short event timescale ($t_{\rm E} \sim 9.1$~day) and the small angular Einstein radius ($\theta_{\rm E}\sim 0.16$~mas for the inner solution and $\sim 0.10$~mas for the outer solutio), we determined that the lens is a planetary system consisting of a host near the boundary between a star and a brown dwarf and a planet with a mass lower than that of Uranus. The discovery of the planetary system highlights the crucial role of the microlensing technique in detecting planets that orbit substellar brown dwarfs or very low-mass stars.

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) serve as the most crucial standardizable candles in cosmology, providing direct measurements of the universe's expansion history. However, it is well-known that the post-standardization brightness of SNe Ia is influenced by the properties of their host galaxies, such as mass and star formation rate, both of which are closely related to progenitor age. In this study, we reaffirm the ubiquitous and robust correlation between SN Ia luminosity and host age, showing that this host property dependence arises primarily from stellar population age of the host galaxy. This analysis was conducted using an expanded sample of over 300 hosts across a broad redshift range up to $z \sim 0.4$, ensuring sufficient statistical significance of the result. To quantify the relationship between host age and Hubble residual (HR), we employed two linear regression techniques: LINMIX, which assumes a Gaussian error, and Bayesian hierarchical linear regression, which utilizes a full posterior for the age error. Both models demonstrate a robust correlation between host age and HR, with high statistical significance approaching $5.5 \sigma$. While our new regression analyses yield the slopes that are similar or slightly shallower compared to our previous results, the significance of these slopes has notably increased. These findings robustly validate our previous suggestions that post-standardization SN Ia luminosity varies with progenitor age, which is currently not properly accounted for in SN cosmology.

Spectroscopic analyses of young late-type stars suffer from systematic inaccuracies, typically under-estimating metallicities but over-estimating abundances of certain elements including oxygen and barium. Effects are stronger in younger and cooler stars, and recent evidence specifically indicates a connection to the level of chromospheric activity. We present here a two-component spectroscopic model representing a non-magnetic baseline plus a magnetic spot, and analyse the resulting synthetic spectra of young solar analogues using a standard spectroscopic technique. For a moderately active star with solar parameters and chromospheric activity index log R'_HK = -4.3 (~100 Myr), we predict that [Fe/H] is underestimated by 0.06 dex while v_mic is overestimated by 0.2 km/s; for higher activity levels we predict effects as large as 0.2 dex and 0.7 km/s. Predictions are in agreement with literature data on solar twins, and indicate that the model is a plausible explanation to the observed effects. The model is simple enough that it can be included in spectroscopic packages with only changes to the underlying spectrum synthesis modules, if a log R'_HK value is provided.

We report the results of a comprehensive study of the spectroscopic binary (SB2) system HD 34736 hosting two chemically peculiar (CP) late B-type stars. Using new and archival observational data, we characterise the system and its components, including their rotation and magnetic fields. Fitting of the radial velocities yields $P_\mathrm{orb}=83.\!^\mathrm{d}219(3)$ and $e=0.8103(3)$. The primary component is a CP He-wk star with $T_{\mathrm{eff}A}=13000\pm500$ K and $\upsilon_\mathrm{e}\sin i\;=75\pm3$ km/s, while the secondary exhibits variability of Mg and Si lines, and has $T_{\mathrm{eff}B}=11500\pm1000$ K and $\upsilon_\mathrm{e}\sin i=110$-180 km/s. TESS and KELT photometry reveal clear variability of the primary component with a rotational period $P_{\mathrm{rot}A}=1.\!^\mathrm{d}279\,988\,5(11)$, which is lengthening at a rate of $1.26(6)$ s/yr. For the secondary, $P_{\mathrm{rot}B}=0.\!^\mathrm{d}522\,693\,8(5)$, reducing at a rate of $-0.14(3)$ s/yr. The longitudinal component $\langle B_\mathrm{z}\rangle$ of the primary's strongly asymmetric global magnetic field varies from $-6$ to +5 kG. Weak spectropolarimetric evidence of a magnetic field is found for the secondary star. The observed X-ray and radio emission of HD 34736 may equally be linked to a suspected T Tau-like companion or magnetospheric emission from the principal components. Given the presence of a possible third magnetically active body, one can propose that the magnetic characteristics of the protostellar environment may be connected to the formation of such systems.

Spatially homogeneous thermal equilibria of self-gravitating gas, being impossible otherwise, are nevertheless allowed in an expanding background accounting for Universe's expansion. Furthermore, a fixed density at the boundary of a perturbation is a natural boundary condition keeping the mass finite inside without the need to invoke any unphysical this http URL facts allow us to develop a consistent gravitational thermodynamics of isothermal spheres inside an expanding Universe. In the canonical and grand canonical ensembles we identify an instability for both homogeneous and inhomogeneous equilibria. We discuss a potential astrophysical application. If such an instability is triggered on baryonic gas at high redshift $z > 137$ when the primary baryonic component, namely atomic hydrogen, was still thermally locked to the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, then the corresponding destabilized gaseous clouds have baryonic mass $\geq 0.8\cdot 10^5 {\rm M}_\odot$ and radius $\geq 15{\rm pc}$.

The He II reionization epoch is expected to take place at $z\sim3-5$. In this stage, the helium and metals in the inter-galactic medium (IGM) are further ionized with additional contributions from harder non-stellar sources, and some large-scale gravitationally bound systems approach virialization. The "Probing the He II re-Ionization ERa via Absorbing C IV Historical Yield (HIERACHY)" program utilizes high- and medium-resolution spectra of bright background quasars at $z\approx3.9-5.2$ to investigate Ly$\alpha$, C IV, and other metal absorption lines during this epoch. Additionally, we employ narrow-band imaging to search for Ly$\alpha$ emitters associated with C IV absorbers, alongside multi-wavelength observations to identify and study particularly intriguing cases. In this paper, we present the design of the HIERACHY program, its current status, major scientific goals, and examples of initial data products from completed Magellan/MIKE, MagE spectroscopy, and MDM imaging observations. We also provide a brief outlook on future multi-wavelength observations that may significantly impact the related science.

The GPU-based High-order adaptive OpticS Testbench (GHOST) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a new 2-stage extreme adaptive optics (XAO) testbench at ESO. The GHOST is designed to investigate and evaluate new control methods (machine learning, predictive control) for XAO which will be required for instruments such as the Planetary Camera and Spectrograph of ESOs Extremely Large Telescope. The first stage corrections are performed in simulation, with the residual wavefront error at each iteration saved. The residual wavefront errors from the first stage are then injected into the GHOST using a spatial light modulator. The second stage correction is made with a Boston Michromachines Corporation 492 actuator deformable mirror and a pyramid wavefront sensor. The flexibility of the bench also opens it up to other applications, one such application is investigating the flip-flop modulation method for the pyramid wavefront sensor.

A review of the results on the migration of celestial bodies in the Solar System and in some exoplanetary systems is presented. Some problems of planet accumulation and migration of planetesimals, small bodies and dust in the forming and present Solar System are considered. It has been noted that the outer layers of the Earth and Venus could have accumulated similar planetesimals from different areas of the feeding zone of the terrestrial this http URL formation of the embryos of the Earth and the Moon from a common rarefied condensation with subsequent growth of the main mass of the embryo of the Moon near the Earth is also discussed. The influence of changes in the semimajor axis of Jupiter's orbit on the formation of the asteroid belt is discussed, as well as the influence of planetesimals from the feeding zone of the giant planets on the formation of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. The migration of bodies to the terrestrial planets from different distances from the Sun is considered. It is noted that bodies from the feeding zone of the giant planets and from the outer asteroid belt could deliver to the Earth a quantity of water comparable to the mass of water in the Earth's oceans. The migration of bodies ejected from the Earth is considered. The probabilities of collisions of dust particles with the Earth are usually an order of magnitude greater than the probabilities of collisions of their parent bodies with the Earth. The migration of planetesimals is considered in exoplanetary systems Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1. The amount of water delivered to the inner planet Proxima Centauri b, may have been more than the amount delivered to the Earth. The outer layers of neighboring planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system may contain similar material if there were many planetesimals near their orbits during the late stages of planetary accumulation.

The inner regions of protoplanetary disks are prone to thermal instability (TI), which can significantly impact the thermal and dynamic evolution of planet-forming regions. Observable as episodic accretion outbursts, such periodic disturbances shape the disk's vertical and radial structure. We investigate the stability of the inner disk edge around a Class II T Tauri star and analyse the consequences of TI on the inner disk's evolution in both the vertical and radial dimensions. A particular focus is laid on the emergence and destruction of solid-trapping pressure maxima. Our 2D axisymmetric radiation hydrodynamic models include the transition to the dead zone from a highly turbulent inner disk, heating by both stellar irradiation and viscous dissipation, vertical and radial radiative transport and an adaptive dust-to-gas mass ratio. The simulated time frames include both the TI- and quiescent phases. We track the TI on S-curves of thermal stability. The TI in our models can develop in disks with moderate accretion rates and results from the activation of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the dead zone. The TI creates an extensive MRI active region around the midplane and disrupts the stable pebble- and migration trap at the inner edge of the dead zone. Our simulations consistently show the occurrence of TI-reflares, which, together with the initial TI, produce pressure maxima in the inner disk within 1 AU, possibly providing favourable conditions for streaming instability. On a timescale of a few thousand years, TI regularly disrupts the disk's radial and vertical structure within 1 AU. While several pressure maxima are created, stable migration traps are destroyed and reinstated after the TI phase. Our models provide a foundation for more detailed investigations into phenomena such as short-term variability of accretion rates.

The evolution of massive stars is heavily influenced by their binarity, and the massive eccentric binary system MACHO 80.7443.1718 (ExtEV) serves as a prime example. This study explores whether the light variability of ExtEV, observed near the periastron during its 32.8-day orbit, can be explained by a wind-wind collision (WWC) model and reviews other potential explanations. Using broadband photometry, TESS data, ground-based $UBV$ time-series photometry, and high-resolution spectroscopy, we analysed the system's parameters. We ruled out the presence of a Keplerian disk and periodic Roche-lobe overflow. Our analysis suggests the primary component has a radius of about $30\,{\rm R}_\odot$, luminosity of $\sim6.6\times10^5\,{\rm L}_\odot$, and mass between $25$ and $45\,{\rm M}_\odot$, with a high wind mass-loss rate of $4.5\times10^{-5}\,{\rm M}_\odot\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$, likely enhanced by tidal interactions, rotation, and tidally excited oscillations. We successfully modelled ExtEV's light curve, identifying atmospheric eclipse and light scattering in the WWC cone as key contributors. The system's mass-loss rate exceeds theoretical predictions, indicating that ExtEV is in a rare evolutionary phase, offering insights into enhanced mass loss in massive binary systems.

Based on radial velocities, EXORAP photometry, and activity indicators, the HADES team reported a 16.3-day rotation period for the M dwarf GJ 3992. However, an RV--H$\alpha$ magnitude-squared coherence estimate has significant peaks at frequencies 1/16 cycles/day and 1/32 cycles/day. We re-analyze HADES data plus Hipparcos, SuperWASP, and TESS photometry to see whether the rotation period could be 32 days with 16-day harmonic. SuperWASP shows no significant periodicities, while the Hipparcos observing cadence is suboptimal for detecting 16- and 32-day periodicities. Although the average TESS periodogram has peaks at harmonics of 1/16 cycles/day, the harmonic sequence is not fully resolved according to the Rayleigh criterion. The TESS observations suggest a 1/16 cycles/day rotation frequency and a 1/32 cycles/day subharmonic, though resolution makes the TESS rotation detection ambiguous.

HeH$^+$ was the first heteronuclear molecule to form in the metal-free Universe after the Big Bang. The molecule gained significant attention following its first circumstellar detection in the young and dense planetary nebula NGC 7027. We target some hydride ions associated with the noble gases (HeH$^+$, ArH$^+$, and NeH$^+$) to investigate their formation in a harsh environment like the novae outburst region. We use a photoionization modeling (based on the earlier published best-fitted physical parameters) of the moderately fast ONe type nova: QU Vulpeculae 1984 and CO type novae: RS Ophiuchi and V1716 Scorpii. Our steady-state modeling reveals a convincing amount of HeH$^+$, especially in the dense clump of RS Ophiuchi and V1716 Scorpii. The calculated upper limit of the surface brightness of HeH$^+$ transitions suggests that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could detect some of them, particularly in sources like RS Ophiuchi and V1716 Scorpii with similar physical and chemical conditions and evolution. It is to be clearly noted that the sources studied are used as templates, not as targets for observations. The detection of these lines could be useful for determining physical conditions in similar types of systems and validating our predictions based on new electron-impact rovibrational collisional data at temperatures up to 20,000 K.

Planetesimal formation models often invoke the gravitational collapse of pebble clouds to overcome various barriers to grain growth and propose processes to concentrate particles sufficiently to trigger this collapse. On the other hand, the geochemical approach for planet formation constrains the conditions for planetesimal formation and evolution by providing temperatures that should be reached to explain the final composition of planetesimals, the building blocks of planets. To elucidate the thermal evolution during gravitational collapse, we used numerical simulations of a self-gravitating cloud of particles and gas coupled with gas drag. Our goal is to determine how the gravitational energy relaxed during the contraction is distributed among the different energy components of the system, and how this constrains a thermal and dynamical planetesimal's history. We identify the conditions necessary to achieve a temperature increase of several hundred kelvins, and as much as 1600 K. Our results emphasise the key role of the gas during the collapse.

Rotation is an important, yet poorly-modelled phenomenon of stellar structure and evolution. Accurate estimates of internal rotation rates are therefore valuable for constraining stellar evolution models. We aim to assess the accuracy of asteroseismic estimates of internal rotation rates and how these depend on the fundamental stellar parameters. We apply the recently-developed method called extended-MOLA inversions to infer localised estimates of internal rotation rates of synthetic observations of red giants. We search for suitable reference stellar models following a grid-based approach, and assess the robustness of the resulting inferences to the choice of reference model. We find that matching the mixed mode pattern between the observation and the reference model is an important criterion to select suitable reference models. We propose to i) select a set of reference models based on the correlation between the observed rotational splittings and the mode-trapping parameter ii) compute rotation rates for all these models iii) use the mean value obtained across the whole set as the estimate of the internal rotation rates. We find that the effect of a near surface perturbation in the synthetic observations on the rotation rates estimated based on the correlation between the observed rotational splittings and the mode-trapping parameter is negligible. We conclude that when using an ensemble of reference models, constructed based on matching the mixed mode pattern, the input rotation rates can be recovered across a range of fundamental stellar parameters like mass, mixing-length parameter and composition. Further, red-giant rotation rates determined in this way are also independent of a near surface perturbation of stellar structure.

The observational detection of some metastable isomers in the interstellar medium with abundances comparable to those of the most stable isomer, or even when the stable isomer is not detected, highlights the importance of non-equilibrium chemistry. This challenges our understanding of the interstellar chemistry. We present a chemical study of isomers through the sulphur isomer pair HNCS and HSCN, since HSCN has been observed in regions where its stable isomer has not been detected, and the observed HNCS/HSCN ratio seems to significantly vary from cold to warm regions. We have used the Nautilus chemical code to model the formation and destruction paths of HNCS and HSCN in different astrochemical scenarios, and the time evolution of the HNCS/HSCN ratio. We have also analysed the influence of the environmental conditions on their chemical abundances. We present an observational detection of the metastable isomer HSCN in the Class I object B1-a, but not of the stable isomer HNCS, despite HNCS lying 3200 K lower in energy than HSCN. Our results show an HNCS/HSCN ratio sensitive to the gas temperature and the evolutionary time, with the highest values obtained at early stages (t<10^4 yr) and low (Tg<20 K) temperatures. The results suggest a different efficiency of the isomerisation processes depending on the source temperature. The progressive decrease of HNCS/HSCN with gas temperature at early evolutionary times indicates that this ratio may be used as a tracer of cold young objects. This work also demonstrates the key role of grain surface chemistry in the formation of the isomer pair HNCS and HSCN in cold regions, and the importance of the ions H2NCS+ and HNCSH+ in warm/hot regions. Since most of the interstellar regions where HSCN is detected are cold regions, a larger sample including sources characterised by high temperatures are needed to corroborate the theoretical results.

Optical emission lines across the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have been measured from multiple fields using the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3m telescope with the Wide-Field Spectrograph (WiFeS). Interpolated maps of the gas-phase metallicity, extinction, H$\alpha$ radial velocity and H$\alpha$ velocity dispersion have been made from these measurements. There is a metallicity gradient from the centre to the north of the galaxy of ~-0.095 dex/kpc with a shallower metallicity gradient from the centre to the south of the galaxy of ~-0.013 dex/kpc. There is an extinction gradient of ~-0.086 E(B-V)/kpc from the centre going north and shallower going from the centre to the south of ~-0.0089 E(B-V)/kpc. The SMC eastern arm has lower extinction than the main body. The radial velocity of the gas from the H$\alpha$ line and the HI line have been compared across the SMC. In general there is good agreement between the two measurements, though there are a few notable exceptions. Both show a region that has different radial velocity to the bulk motion of the SMC in the southern western corner by at least 16 kms$^{-1}$. The velocity dispersion from H$\alpha$ and HI across the SMC have also been compared, with the H$\alpha$ velocity dispersion usually the higher of the two. The eastern arm of the SMC generally has lower velocity dispersion than the SMC's main body. These measurements enable a detailed examination of the SMC, highlighting its nature as a disrupted satellite galaxy.

Fibrillar structures are ubiquitous in the solar chromosphere and their potential for mediating the mass and energy transport in the solar atmosphere is undeniable. An accurate determination of their properties requires the use of advanced high-resolution observations which are now becoming broadly available from different observatories. We exploit the capabilities of multi-atom, multi-line spectropolarimetric inversions using the Stockholm Inversion Code (STiC). Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium inversions of a fibril-rich area are performed using spectropolarimetric observations in the Ca II 854.2 nm line obtained with the CRISP imaging spectropolarimeter and spectroscopic observations in the Ca II H line obtained with the CHROMospheric Imaging Spectrometer (CHROMIS) at the Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope (SST). Additionally, coobservations in the Mg II h & k lines obtained with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) are used in the inversions to better constrain the thermodynamic properties of the fibrils. The incorporation of multiple atomic species and spectral lines proves to better constrain the properties of the plasma constituting the fibrils. In particular, the tracing of a large number of fibrils allowed for the study of the variation of the temperature and magnetic field along their projected length over the field of view. The results provide a view of fibrils possessing hot footpoints of about 5 900 K. The temperature drop away from the footpoints is on average 250 K, with a larger drop of around 500 K for the longer fibrils. The magnetic field is also reported to be larger at the footpoints, being almost twice as large as the minimum value reported at the middle point of the fibrils.

Recent observations of the Galactic component of the high-energy neutrino flux, together with the detection of the diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission up to sub-PeV energies, open new possibilities to study the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays in the Milky Way. At the same time, both large non-astrophysical backgrounds at TeV energies and scarcity of neutrino events in the sub-PeV band currently limit these analyses. Here we use the sample of cascade events with estimated neutrino energies above 200 TeV, detected by the partially deployed Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector (GVD) in six years of operation, to test the continuation of the Galactic neutrino spectrum to sub-PeV energies. We find that the distribution of the arrival directions of Baikal-GVD cascades above 200 TeV in the sky suggests an excess of neutrinos from low Galactic latitudes. We find the excess above 200 TeV also in the most recent IceCube public data sets, both of cascades and tracks. The significant (3.6 sigma in the combined analysis) flux of Galactic neutrinos above 200 TeV challenges often-used templates for neutrino search based on cosmic-ray simulations.

Identified as parsec-size, gas clumps at the junction of multiple filaments, hub-filament systems (HFS) play a crucial role during the formation of young clusters and high-mass stars. These HFS appear nevertheless to be detached from most galactic filaments when compared in the mass-length (M-L) phase-space. We aim to characterize the early evolution of HFS as part of the filamentary description of the interstellar medium. Combining previous scaling relations with new analytic calculations, we created a toy model to explore the different physical regimes described by the M-L diagram. Despite its simplicity, our model accurately reproduces several observational properties reported for filaments and HFS such as their expected typical aspect ratio ($A$), mean surface density ($\Sigma$), and gas accretion rate ($\dot{m}$). Moreover, this model naturally explains the different mass and length regimes populated by filaments and HFS, respectively. Our model predicts a dichotomy between filamentary ($A\geq 3$) and spheroidal ($A<3$) structures connected to the relative importance of their fragmentation, accretion, and collapse timescales. Individual filaments with low accretion rates are dominated by an efficient internal fragmentation. In contrast, the formation of compact HFS at the intersection of filaments triggers a geometric phase-transition leading to the gravitational collapse of these structures at parsec-scales in $\sim$1Myr also inducing higher accretion rates.

The butterfly diagram of the solar cycle exhibits a poleward migration of the diffuse magnetic field resulting from the decay of trailing sunspots. It is one component of what is sometimes referred to as the "rush to the poles". We investigate under which conditions the rush to the poles can be reproduced in flux-transport Babcock-Leighton dynamo models. We identify three main ways to reproduce it: a flux emergence probability that decreases rapidly with latitude; a threshold in subsurface toroidal field strength between slow and fast emergence; and an emergence rate based on magnetic buoyancy. We find that all three mechanisms lead to solar-like butterfly diagrams, but which present notable differences between them. The shape of the butterfly diagram is very sensitive to model parameters for the threshold prescription, while most models incorporating magnetic buoyancy converge to very similar butterfly diagrams, with butterfly wings widths of $\lesssim\pm 30^\circ$, in very good agreement with observations. With turbulent diffusivities above $35~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$ but below about $40~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$, buoyancy models are strikingly solar-like. The threshold and magnetic buoyancy prescriptions make the models non-linear and as such can saturate the dynamo through latitudinal quenching. The period of the models involving buoyancy is independent of the source term amplitude, but emergence loss increases it by $\simeq 60\%$. For the rush to the poles to be visible, a mechanism suppressing (enhancing) emergences at high (low) latitudes must operate. It is not sufficient that the toroidal field be stored at low latitudes for emergences to be limited to low latitudes. From these models we infer that the Sun is not in the advection-dominated regime, but also not in the diffusion-dominated regime. The cycle period is set through a balance between advection, diffusion and flux emergence.

There is a persistent $\sim 5 \sigma$ tension between the value of the Hubble constant, as derived from either the local distance ladder or the cosmic microwave background, signaling either unaccounted for systematics in the measurements or `new physics'. Determining the Hubble constant using Type Ia supernovae requires non-trivial and accurate corrections for dust extinction. To circumvent this obstacle, we here determine the Hubble constant from blue, and hence presumably unextinguished, supernovae, only. For two different compilations of Type Ia supernova data and lightcurve fitting methods we find that the derived Hubble constant is consistently lower by $\sim$ 3 km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ ($\sim 70$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$), and within 1 $\sigma$ of the Cosmic Microwave Background measurement, when using only blue supernovae as opposed to using all supernovae. Although the number of blue calibrating Type Ia supernovae is small, this indicates potential systematic effects in dust corrections in standard supernova cosmology. Upcoming major transient surveys will discover numerous unextinguished SNe~Ia, and thus be able to increase precision of the Hubble constant measured from blue SNe~Ia, heralding a promising path toward resolving the Hubble constant tension.

We present an investigation of ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) as potential sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We focus on cosmic-ray nuclei, an aspect not explored previously. These large-scale, mildly-relativistic outflows, characterised by velocities up to half the speed of light, are a common feature of AGN. We study the cosmic-ray spectrum and maximum energy attainable in these environments with 3D CRPropa simulations and apply our method to 87 observed UFOs. Iron nuclei can be accelerated up to $\sim10^{20}\,$eV at the wind-termination shock in some UFOs, but the escaping flux is strongly attenuated due to photonuclear interactions with intense AGN photon fields. The maximum energy of nuclei escaping most UFOs is interaction-limited to below $\sim 10^{17}\,$eV and scales with the mass number. In the most extreme $\sim10\%$ of UFOs in our sample, nitrogen and helium escape with energy exceeding $10^{17.6}\,$eV. Protons and neutrons, either primaries or by-products of photodisintegration, escape UFOs with little attenuation, with half of the observed UFOs reaching energies exceeding $10^{18}\,$eV. Thus, UFOs emerge as viable sources of the diffuse cosmic-ray flux between the end of the Galactic cosmic-rays and the highest-energy extragalactic flux. We demonstrate that UFOs can fill this part of the spectrum in terms of energetics, spectral shape and chemical composition and that the role of UFOs as UHECR sources is testable with neutrino telescopes due to a substantial accompanying neutrino flux with peak energy around a few PeV. For a small subset of UFOs in our sample, nuclei can escape without photodisintegration with energy up to $10^{19.8}\,$eV. This occurs during low-emission states of the AGN, which would make UFOs intermittent sources of UHECR nuclei up to the highest observed energies.

NGC 5139 ($\omega$ Cen), is the closest candidate of a Nuclear Star Cluster that has been stripped of its host galaxy in the Milky Way. Despite extensive studies through the last decades, many open questions about the cluster remain, including the properties of the binary population. In this study we use MUSE multi-epoch spectroscopy to identify binary systems in $\omega$ Cen. The observations span 8 years, with a total of 312 248 radial velocity measurements for 37 225 stars. Following the removal of known photometric variables, we identify 275 stars that show RV variations, corresponding to a discovery fraction of 1.4$\pm$0.1%. Using dedicated simulations, we find that our data is sensitive to 70$\pm$10% of the binaries expected in the sample, resulting in a completeness-corrected binary fraction of 2.1$\pm$0.4% in the central region of $\omega$ Cen. We find similar binary fractions for all stellar evolutionary stages covered by our data, the only notable exception being the blue straggler stars, which show an enhanced binary fraction. We also find no distinct correlation with distance from the cluster centre, indicating a limited amount of mass segregation within the half-light radius of $\omega$ Cen.

The innermost region of the Milky Way harbors the central molecular zone (CMZ). This region contains a large amount of molecular gas but a poor star formation rate considering the densities achieved by the gas in this region. We used the arepo code to perform a hydrodynamic and star formation simulation of the Galaxy, where a Ferrers bar was adiabatically introduced. During the stage of bar imposition, the bar strength excites density waves close to the inner Lindblad resonance guiding material toward the inner Galaxy, driving the formation of a ring that we qualitatively associate with the CMZ. During the simulation, we identified that the ring passes three main phases, namely: formation, instability, and quasi-stationary stages. During the whole evolution, and particularly in the quasi-stationary stage, we observe that the ring is associated with the x2 family of periodic orbits. Additionally, we found that most of the star formation occurs during the ring formation stage, while it drastically decreases in the instability stage. Finally, we found that when the gas has settled in a stable x2 orbit, the star formation takes place mostly after the dense gas passes the apocenter, triggering the conveyor-belt mechanism described in previous studies.

$\Lambda$CDM provides a leading framework in the interpretation of modern cosmology. Nevertheless, the scientific community still struggles with many open problems in cosmology. Among the most noticeable ones, the tension in the Hubble constant $H_0$ is particularly intriguing, prompting a wide range of possible solutions. In the present work, the flat scale-free cosmology ($S$CDM) of Maeder (2017) is tested for $H_0$ tension in fits to the Pantheon sample of Supernovae Ia. The Pantheon sample is a collection of 1048 SNe Ia, which formally defines $H_0=H(0)$ by extrapolation to redshift zero of data over positive redshifts $z>0$. Here, we consider $H_{0,k}$ in fits of $S$CDM over $k$ equally sized bins of sub-samples of mean redshift $z_k$. To quantify a trend in $H_{0,k}$ with $z_k$, the results are fit by $f(z)=H'_0/(1+z)^\alpha$ in the two parameters $H'_0$ and $\alpha$. This approach tests for model imperfections or data biases by trends that are inconsistent with zero. Our findings show a decreasing trend inconsistent with zero at $5.3 \sigma$ significance, significantly more so than in $\Lambda$CDM. These results are further confirmed in Pantheon+. It appears that a solution to $H_0$ tension is to be found in models with a deceleration parameter $q_0<q_{0,\Lambda}$ below that of $\Lambda$CDM, rather than $q_{0,\Lambda} < q_{0,S}<0$ satisfied by $S$CDM.

The study of complex organic molecules containing thiol ($-$SH) groups is essential in interstellar media because $-$SH plays an important role in the polymerization of amino acids (R-CH(NH$_{2}$)-COOH). Some quantum chemical studies have shown that there is a high chance of detecting the emission lines of dithioformic acid (HC(S)SH) in the highly dense and warm-inner regions of hot molecular cores and hot corinos. Therefore, we attempted to search for the emission lines of HC(S)SH toward the highly dense hot corino object NGC 1333 IRAS 4A using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 7. We present the first detection of the rotational emission lines of the trans-conformer of dithioformic acid (t-HC(S)SH) toward the NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2. The column density and excitation temperature of the t-HC(S)SH toward NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2 are (2.63$\pm$0.32)$\times$10$^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 255$\pm$32 K, respectively. The fractional abundance of t-HC(S)SH with respect to H$_{2}$ is (2.53$\pm$0.68)$\times$10$^{-9}$. The column density ratio of t-HC(S)SH and t-HCOOH toward NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2 is 0.36$\pm$0.02. To understand the possible formation pathways of HC(S)SH, we computed a two-phase warm-up chemical model abundance of HC(S)SH using the gas-grain chemical code UCLCHEM. After chemical modeling, we claim that HC(S)SH is formed in NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2 via barrierless radical--radical reactions between CSSH and H on the grain surfaces.

We employ the effective field theory approach to analyze the characteristics of Euclidean wormholes within axion theories. Using this approach, we obtain non-perturbative instantons in various complex scalar models with and without a non-minimal coupling to gravity, as well as models featuring the $R^2$ term for a range of coupling values. This yields a series of analytical expressions for the axion wormhole action, shedding light on the model parameters and field dependencies of contributions in both the ultraviolet and infrared domains. Consequently, model-dependent local operators that disrupt axion shift symmetries are generated at lower energy levels. This, in turn, provides crucial insights into the gravitational influences on the axion quality problem.

Neutrino self-interaction with a larger ``Fermi constant'' is often resorted to for understanding various puzzles of our universe. We point out that a light, neutrinophilic scalar particle $\phi$ through radiative correction leads to an energy-scale dependence in the neutrino-$Z$-boson gauge coupling. The driver behind this phenomenon is a large separation between the mass scales of $\phi$ and additional heavy particles needed for gauge invariance. This is a generic effect insensitive to details of the UV completion. We show that the running can change the $Z\nu\bar\nu$ coupling by several percent and affect the measurement of weak mixing angle through neutrino neutral-current processes. We discuss the interplay between the running of the $Z\nu\bar\nu$ coupling and $\sin^2\theta_W$ in various experimental observables. It is possible to disentangle the two effects with more than one precise measurement.

We compute the quadrupolar gravitoelectric tidal Love numbers of spherical configurations made of anisotropic matter. Anisotropies are introduced within the vanishing complexity factor, while interior solutions are obtained adopting the Extended Chaplygin gas equation-of-state. A comparison with a more conventional approach is made as well.

In space-based gravitational wave observatories such as Taiji, LISA, and TianQin, data gaps are inevitable due to mission design, implementation, and the long duration of observations. These data gaps degrade data quality and cause spectral leakage during Fourier transformations. Since ringdown signals are a key scientific objective for these observatories, it is crucial to assess the impact of data gaps on ringdown signal observations. This study employs LISA's science requirement of maintaining a duty cycle of at least 75% to evaluate the worst-case impact of data gaps, and uses massive black hole binary catalogs to assess the average effects. Our findings indicate that, on average, data gaps increase parameter estimation errors by approximately 2.1 times for the (2,2) mode and by about 1.6 times for the (3,3) mode. Joint observation is commonly employed to alleviate the impact of data gaps. Similarly, we have evaluated the effects of joint observation with two configurations, Taiji-LISA and Taiji-TianQin, which demonstrate notable mitigation of the effects of data gaps. This work provides a quantitative assessment of data gaps on ringdown signals and highlights the significance of joint observation.

Nearly fifty years ago, Roberts (1978) postulated that Earth's magnetic field, which is generated by turbulent motions of liquid metal in its outer core, likely results from a subcritical dynamo instability characterised by a dominant balance between Coriolis, pressure and Lorentz forces. Here we numerically explore the generation of subcritical geomagnetic fields using techniques from optimal control and dynamical systems theory to uncover the nonlinear dynamical landscape underlying dynamo action. Through nonlinear optimisation, via direct-adjoint looping, we identify the minimal seed - the smallest magnetic field that attracts to a nonlinear dynamo solution. Additionally, using the Newton-hookstep algorithm, we converge stable and unstable travelling wave solutions to the governing equations. By combining these two techniques, complex nonlinear pathways between attracting states are revealed, providing insight into a potential subcritical origin of the geodynamo. This paper showcases these methods on the widely studied benchmark of Christensen et al. (2001), laying the foundations for future studies in more extreme and realistic parameter regimes. We show that the minimal seed reaches a nonlinear dynamo solution by first attracting to an unstable travelling wave solution, which acts as an edge state separating a hydrodynamic solution from a magnetohydrodynamic one. Furthermore, by carefully examining the choice of cost functional, we establish a robust optimisation procedure that can systematically locate dynamo solutions on short time horizons with no prior knowledge of its structure.

In this paper, we revisited the extension of the classical non-standard cosmological model in which dissipative processes are considered through a bulk viscous term in the new field $\phi$, which interacts with the radiation component during the early universe. Specifically, we consider an interaction term of the form $\Gamma_{\phi} \rho_{\phi}$, where $\Gamma_{\phi}$ represents the decay rate of the field and $\rho_{\phi}$ denotes its energy density, and a bulk viscosity described by $\xi=\xi_{0}\rho_{\phi}^{1/2}$, within the framework of Eckart's theory. This extended non-standard cosmology is employed to examine the parameter space for the production of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles (FIMPs) as Dark Matter candidates. In particular, for certain combinations of the model and Dark Matter parameters, namely ($T_\text{end}$,$\kappa$) and $(m_\chi,\langle\sigma v\rangle)$, we found large new regions in which it can establish the Dark Matter and reproduce the current observable relic density as compared with the $\Lambda$CDM and the classical non-standard cosmological scenarios.

State-of-the-art space science missions increasingly rely on automation due to spacecraft complexity and the costs of human oversight. The high volume of data, including scientific and telemetry data, makes manual inspection challenging. Machine learning offers significant potential to meet these demands. The Euclid space telescope, in its survey phase since February 2024, exemplifies this shift. Euclid's success depends on accurate monitoring and interpretation of housekeeping telemetry and science-derived data. Thousands of telemetry parameters, monitored as time series, may or may not impact the quality of scientific data. These parameters have complex interdependencies, often due to physical relationships (e.g., proximity of temperature sensors). Optimising science operations requires careful anomaly detection and identification of hidden parameter states. Moreover, understanding the interactions between known anomalies and physical quantities is crucial yet complex, as related parameters may display anomalies with varied timing and intensity. We address these challenges by analysing temperature anomalies in Euclid's telemetry from February to August 2024, focusing on eleven temperature parameters and 35 covariates. We use a predictive XGBoost model to forecast temperatures based on historical values, detecting anomalies as deviations from predictions. A second XGBoost model predicts anomalies from covariates, capturing their relationships to temperature anomalies. We identify the top three anomalies per parameter and analyse their interactions with covariates using SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations), enabling rapid, automated analysis of complex parameter relationships. Our method demonstrates how machine learning can enhance telemetry monitoring, offering scalable solutions for other missions with similar data challenges.

We study the effects of the velocity distribution functions of the plasma particles on the equilibrium charge of dust grains, acquired through inelastic collisions of the particles with the grains. This paper is the second in a series of two papers on the subject. Here, we consider the charging process when the plasma particles are statistically described by the recently proposed regularized Kappa distribution functions, which allow for extreme suprathermal states, characterized by extremely low values of the kappa index, previously forbidden to the standard Kappa distributions, whose effects on dust charging were studied in Paper I of this series. We analyse the effects that extreme suprathermal states of the plasma particles have on dust charging and verify conditions for the uncommon result of positive equilibrium charge, employing two different models for the regularized Kappa distributions.

We assess the prospects for detecting gravitational wave echoes arising due to the quantum nature of black hole horizons with LISA. In a recent proposal, Bekenstein's black hole area quantization is connected to a discrete absorption spectrum for black holes in the context of gravitational radiation. Consequently, for incoming radiation at the black hole horizon, not all frequencies are absorbed, raising the possibility that the unabsorbed radiation is reflected, producing an echo-like signal closely following the binary coalescence waveform. In this work, we further develop this proposal by introducing a robust, phenomenologically motivated model for black hole reflectivity. Using this model, we calculate the resulting echoes for an ensemble of Numerical Relativity waveforms and examine their detectability with the LISA space-based interferometer. Our analysis demonstrates promising detection prospects and shows that, upon detection, LISA provides a direct probe of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. In addition, we find that the information extractable from LISA data offers valuable constraints on a wide range of quantum gravity theories.

We study the performances of a world-wide network made by a European third-generation gravitational-wave (GW) detector, together with a 40-km Cosmic Explorer detector in the US, considering three scenarios for the European detector: (1) Einstein Telescope (ET) in its 10-km triangle configuration; (2) ET in its configuration featuring two 15-km L-shaped detectors in different sites, still taken to have all other ET characteristics (underground, and with each detector made of a high-frequency interferometer and a cryogenic low-frequency interferometer); (3) A single L-shaped underground interferometer with the ET amplitude spectral density, either with 15~km or with 20~km arm length. Overall, we find that, if a 2L configuration should be retained for ET, the network made by a single-L European underground detector together with CE-40km could already provide a very interesting intermediate step toward the construction of a full 2L+CE network, and is in any case superior to a 10-km triangle not inserted in an international network.

Weakly collisional plasmas contain a wealth of information about the dynamics of the plasma in the particle velocity distribution functions, yet our ability to exploit fully that information remains relatively primitive. Here we aim to present the fundamentals of a new technique denoted Plasma Seismology that aims to invert the information from measurements of the particle velocity distribution functions at a single point in space over time to enable the determination of the electric field variation over an extended spatial region. The fundamental mathematical tool at the heart of this technique is the Morrison $G$ Transform. Using kinetic numerical simulations of Langmuir waves in a Vlasov-Poisson plasma, we demonstrate the application of the standard Morrison $G$ Transform, which uses measurements of the particle velocity distribution function over all space at one time to predict the evolution of the electric field in time. Next, we introduce a modified Morrison $G$ Transform which uses measurements of the particle velocity distribution function at one point in space over time to determine the spatial variation of the electric field over an extended spatial region. We discuss the limitations of this approach, particularly for the numerically challenging case of Langmuir waves. The application of this technique to Alfven waves in a magnetized plasma holds the promise to apply the technique to existing spacecraft particle measurement instrumentation to determine the electric fields over an extended spatial region away from the spacecraft.