Papers for Friday, Feb 21 2025

Understanding the processes of planet formation and accretion in young systems is essential to unraveling the initial conditions of planetary systems. The PDS 70 system, which hosts two directly imaged protoplanets, provides a unique laboratory for studying these phenomena, particularly through H-alpha emission a commonly used accretion tracer. We present multi-epoch observations and examine the variability in accretion signatures within this system, focusing on PDS 70 b and c. Using Hubble Space Telescope narrowband H-alpha imaging from 2020 and 2024, we achieve high signal-to-noise ratio detections of these planets and reveal significant changes in H-alpha flux. For PDS 70 c, the H-alpha flux more than doubled between 2020 and 2024. The trend is consistent with the one identified in recently published MagAO-X data, further confirming that PDS 70 c has become significantly brighter in H between 2023 March and 2024 May. The observed variability suggests dynamic accretion processes, possibly modulated by circumplanetary disk properties or transient accretion bursts. High-amplitude variability in PDS 70 c motivates simultaneous monitoring of multiple accretion tracers to probe the mechanisms of mass growth of gas giant planets. We quantify the impact of variability on the detectability of protoplanets in imaging surveys and emphasize the need for continued and regular monitoring to accurately assess the occurrence and characteristics of young, forming planets.

We investigated various emission properties of extremely low metallicity stellar populations in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), using the new GALSEVN model, which has shown promising agreement between spectral predictions and observations at lower redshifts and higher metallicities. We find that emission-line diagnostics previously proposed to discriminate between population III (Pop III) stars and other primordial ionizing sources are effective, but only for stellar-population ages below $\sim1$ Myr. We provide other key quantities relevant to modeling Pop III stellar populations in the EoR, such as the production efficiency of ionizing photons, which is critical for reionization studies, the production rate of Lyman-Werner photons, which can dissociate H$_2$ and influence the efficiency of star formation, and the rates of different types of supernovæ, offering insights into the timescales of chemical enrichment in metal-poor environments. We complement our study with a self-consistent investigation of the gravitational-wave signals generated by the mergers of binary black holes that formed through stellar evolution and their detectability. The results presented here provide valuable predictions for the study of the EoR, on the crucial role of low-metallicity stellar populations in reionization mechanisms and star formation, as well as meaningful insights into potential observational counterparts to direct detections of Pop III stars.

Comparing composite models for multi-component observational data is a prevalent scientific challenge. When fitting composite models, there exists the potential for systematics from a poor fit of one model component to be absorbed by another, resulting in the composite model providing an accurate fit to the data in aggregate but yielding biased a posteriori estimates for individual components. We begin by defining a classification scheme for composite model comparison scenarios, identifying two categories: category I, where models with accurate and predictive components are separable through Bayesian comparison of the unvalidated composite models, and category II, where models with accurate and predictive components may not be separable due to interactions between components, leading to spurious detections or biased signal estimation. To address the limitations of category II model comparisons, we introduce the Bayesian Null Test Evidence Ratio-based (BaNTER) validation framework. Applying this classification scheme and BaNTER to a composite model comparison problem in 21-cm cosmology, where minor systematics from imperfect foreground modelling can bias global 21-cm signal recovery, we validate six composite models using mock data. We show that incorporating BaNTER alongside Bayes-factor-based comparison reliably ensures unbiased inferences of the signal of interest across both categories, positioning BaNTER as a valuable addition to Bayesian inference workflows with potential applications across diverse fields.

Supernova may be the dominant channel by which dust grains accumulate in galaxies during the first Gyr of cosmic time as formation channels important for lower redshift galaxies, e.g., AGB stars and grain growth, may not have had sufficient time to take over. Supernovae (SNe) produce fewer small grains, leading to a flatter attenuation law. In this work, we fit observations of 138 spectroscopically confirmed z>6 galaxies adopting standard spectral energy distribution modeling assumptions and compare standard attenuation law prescriptions to that of supernova-produced dust alone. Compared to SMC dust, SNe attenuation yields up to 0.5 mag higher $A_V$, and 0.4 dex larger stellar masses. SNe dust attenuation also finds better fits to the rest-frame UV photometry with lower $\chi^2_{\rm UV}$. This allows the observed UV luminosities taken from the models to be fainter by 0.2 dex on average. The systematically fainter rest-frame UV luminosities for fixed observed photometry could help resolve current tension between the ionizing photon production implied by JWST observations and the redshift evolution of the neutral hydrogen fraction. Given these systematic effects and the physical constraint of cosmic time itself, pure supernova dust attenuation laws should be a standard consideration in fitting to the spectral energy distributions of z>6 galaxies.

In this paper we further explore the properties of the HERschel Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy Survey (HERUS) sample of 42 local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) with our recently developed Bayesian spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code SMART (Spectral energy distributions Markov chain Analysis with Radiative Transfer models). SMART fits SEDs exclusively with multicomponent radiative transfer models. Mid-infrared spectroscopy can be included in the fitting at a spectral resolution matched to that of the radiative transfer models. We fit the SEDs of the HERUS ULIRGs with four different models for the active galactic nucleus (AGN) torus, a starburst and a spheroidal galaxy model, to put constraints on the AGN fraction of the galaxies and their star formation rate (SFR). Two of the AGN torus models we explored are smooth and two are two-phase. We find that, in most cases, a smooth tapered AGN torus provides the best fit to the data. We also find that solutions with other torus models may predict AGN and total luminosities up to an order of magnitude or more lower, but very rarely higher than the best-fitting model. In contrast, we find that, with minor exceptions, the predicted SFR and stellar mass of the ULIRGs are generally robustly estimated irrespective of the assumed torus model. This is despite the fact that one of the AGN torus models we use assumes fluffy grains with high emissivity in the far-infrared and submillimetre, which could potentially reduce the contribution of a starburst at those wavelengths and reduce the SFR.

The discovery of the optical/infra-red counterpart (AT2017gfo) to the binary neutron star gravitational-wave detection (GW170817), which was followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB170817), marked a groundbreaking moment in multi-messenger astronomy. To date, it remains the only confirmed joint detection of its kind. However, many experiments are actively searching for similar fast-fading electromagnetic counterparts, known as kilonovae. Fortunately, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) provides excellent prospects for identifying kilonova candidates either from, or independent of, gravitational-wave and gamma-ray burst triggers. Cadence choices for LSST surveys are especially important for maximising the likelihood of kilonovae detections. In this work, we explore the possibility of optimizing Rubin Observatory's ability to detect kilonovae by implementing a fast transient metric shown to be successful with an existing wide field survey, e.g. the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We study existing LSST cadences, how detection rates are affected by filter selections, the return timescales for visits of the same area in the sky, and other relevant factors. Through our analysis, we have found that employing baseline cadences and utilizing triplet families like presto gap produced the highest likelihood of kilonova detection.

The standard procedure to explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe is to assume the existence of an exotic component with negative pressure, generically called dark energy. Here, we propose a new accelerating flat cosmology without dark energy, driven by the negative creation pressure of a reduced relativistic gas (RRG). When the hybrid dark matter of the RRG is identified with cold dark matter, it describes the so-called CCDM cosmology whose dynamics is equivalent to the standard $\Lambda$CDM model at both the background and perturbative levels (linear and nonlinear). This effect is quantified by the creation parameter $\alpha$. However, when the pressure from the RRG slightly changes the dynamics of the universe, as measured by a parameter $b$, the model departs slightly from the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. Therefore, this two-parametric model ($\alpha, b$) describes a new scenario whose dynamics is different but close to the late-time scenarios predicted by CCDM and $\Lambda$CDM models. The free parameters of the RRG model with creation are constrained based on SNe Ia data (Pantheon+SH0ES) and also using $H(z)$ from cosmic clocks. In principle, this mild distinction in comparison with both CCDM or $\Lambda$CDM may help alleviate some cosmological problems plaguing the current standard cosmology.

We present the application of a robust test of galaxy catalogue completeness to the gwcosmo pipeline. The method implements a straightforward statistical test for determining the apparent magnitude completeness limit of a magnitude-redshift sample. This offers an improved, less conservative approach compared with how galaxy catalogue completeness is currently estimated in the gwcosmo gravitational wave cosmology pipeline for determining the Hubble constant $H_{0}$. The test also does not require prior knowledge of the luminosity function, and thus returns a more robust estimate of the limiting apparent magnitude for a magnitude-redshift sample of galaxies. For GWTC-1 results using $B_{J}$-band photometry of galaxies in the GLADE catalogue, we find a $3.4\%$ improvement on the inference of $H_{0}$ using dark sirens only and a $1.3\%$ improvement for the combined posterior with GW170817. Using GLADE+, there is a $8.6\%$ improvement with dark sirens only and a $6.3\%$ improvement for the combined posterior with GW170817. However, the final posterior on $H_{0}$ using the GWTC-3 dataset with the GLADE+ $K$-band shows no improvement when applying the robust method. This is because the GLADE+ galaxy catalogue provides little or no coverage in the $K$-band for any of the GWTC-3 events. With the use of deeper galaxy catalogues in future gravitational wave cosmology analyses, the adoption of a less conservative estimate of magnitude completeness will become increasingly important.

Two bolides (2 June 2016 and 4 April 2019) were detected at multiple regional infrasound stations with many of the locations receiving multiple detections. Analysis of the received signals was used to estimate the yield, location and trajectory, and the type of shock that produced the received signal. The results from the infrasound analysis were compared with ground truth information that was collected through other sensing modalities. This multi-modal framework offers an expanded perspective on the processes governing bolide shock generation and propagation. The majority of signal features showed reasonable agreement between the infrasound-based interpretation and the other observational modalities, though the yield estimate from the 2019 bolide was significantly lower using the infrasound detections. There was also evidence suggesting that one of the detections was from a cylindrical shock that was initially propagating upward, which is unusual though not impossible.

UV-upturn galaxies are characterized by unusually excessive flux in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) band, observed in some elliptical galaxies and the bulges of disk galaxies. We examine UV-upturn galaxies within the semi-analytic model GABE, which embeds the formation of extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars -- proposed as key candidates responsible for the UV-upturn phenomenon. We have analyzed all related physical processes, including stellar evolution, initial mass functions (IMFs), dust attenuation, galaxy age, metallicity, and binary fractions, in an effort to determine which processes play significant roles. Our findings reveal two categories of UV-upturn galaxies in the semi-analytic model, each with distinct formation channels: old metal-rich quenched elliptical galaxies, which are intrinsic UV-upturn galaxies induced by EHB stars within their old stellar populations, and dusty star-forming galaxies, which are relatively young and may also be photometrically identified as UV-upturn galaxies when accounting for dust attenuation. Dust attenuation contributes to 20%-60% of the UV-upturn galaxies, depending on the specific dust attenuation models adopted. With the binary star formation model of EHB stars, both of these formation channels exhibit strong preferences for high stellar metallicity. The high-mass end slope of the IMFs is found to have a marginal effect, indicating that a universal IMF is adequate for studying the UV-upturn phenomenon.

GK Persei, an old nova and intermediate polar (IP), exhibited a dwarf nova (DN) outburst in 2010. This outburst was extensively observed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, beginning 1.95 days after the eruption and continuing until 13.9 days before the maximum of the outburst in the optical. In this paper, we present timing and spectral analyses, comparing the results with those of other outbursts. We confirm the spin modulation in the 2 $-$ 10 keV X-ray range with a period of $P_{\rm WD} = 351.325(9)$ s. Additionally, we detected spin modulation in the 0.3 $-$ 2 keV band during the second half of the observations, a feature not seen in the 2015 and 2018 outbursts. This finding suggests that the soft X-ray emission in GK Per may originate partly near the magnetic poles and partly from a wind or circumstellar material.

The elongated bright structures above solar flare loops are suggested to be current sheets, where magnetic reconnection takes place. Observations have revealed various characteristics of the current sheet; however, their physical origin remains to be ascertained. In this study we aim to reveal the relations of observational characteristics of current sheets with the fundamental processes of magnetic reconnection. Using high-resolution 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of turbulent magnetic reconnection within a solar flare current sheet, we synthesized the remote-sensing observations of the current sheet and determined their physical properties. Turbulent magnetic reconnection can significantly broaden the apparent width of the current sheet, which is much larger than the realistic physical width because of the superposition effect. The differential emission measures of the current sheet have two peaks; the high-temperature component is spatially related to confirmed small-scale reconnection sites, showing that the current sheet is directly heated by reconnection. Moreover, we demonstrate that strong turbulence can cause the nonthermal broadening of spectral lines at both the current sheet and flare loop-top regions. A strong correlation between them in time is also observed. Our 3D turbulent magnetic reconnection flare model can be used to interpret primary observational characteristics of the elongated bright current sheets of solar flares.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a promising candidate for dark matter, as they can form in the very early universe without invoking new particle physics. This work explores PBH formation within a curvaton scenario featuring an ultraslow-roll (USR) phase. An inflaton--curvaton mixed field model is presented, where the inflaton drives early inflation and then transits into the USR phase, amplifying the small-scale curvature perturbation. During inflation, the curvaton generates entropy perturbation, which later converts into curvature perturbation after the curvaton decays in the radiation-dominated era. Using the $\delta N$ formalism, we compute the power spectrum of the total primordial curvature perturbation and analyze the relevant non-Gaussianity. Our results show that adding a curvaton field not only has a significant impact on primordial non-Gaussianity, but also introduces more complex inflationary dynamics, even saving the inflaton potentials that generate too low scalar spectral indices. Our model can produce PBHs with mass around $10^{-14}\,M_\odot$ that account for all dark matter, while remaining consistent with current observational constraints.

We have compiled the $\sim$4-400 GHz broad spectra of 32 Class II protoplanetary disks in the Taurus-Auriga region, which represents the brightest one-third of sources detected in the submillimeter band in this region. The spectra at >20 GHz frequency can be described with a piecewise function: (1) a power law with a spectral index $\sim$2 at >200 GHz, (2) a power law with spectral index in the range 0.3-4.2 at 20-50 GHz, and (3) a transition region in between these two power laws which can be characterized by a sigmoid function. This suggests that the flux densities at >200 GHz and <50 GHz are dominated by distinct emission components. At >200 GHz, the emission is likely dominated by the optically thick dust thermal emission in the bulk of the disks. In some sources that were not detected at 6.8 GHz or 10 GHz, embedded high-density dust substructures may contribute to a significant fraction of the flux densities at 30-50 GHz, and the spectral indices are mostly consistent with 2.0. Although, at 30-50 GHz, free-free and/or synchrotron emission may be significant, and some sources in our sample have spectral indices < 2.0. Based on these results, we hypothesize that high-density dust substructures (e.g., vortices) are often found in resolved Class II protoplanetary disks, and are a precursor to the formation of kilometer-sized planetesimals and rocky planets. They may not present high contrast at >200 GHz frequencies owing to the high optical depth. To probe these dust substructures, high angular resolution observations at <100 GHz are necessary to distinguish them from free-free and synchrotron emission sources. Otherwise, in the analyses of the spatially unresolved spectra, one needs to simultaneously constrain the flux densities of free-free, synchrotron, and dust emission with the observations at $\sim$5-50 GHz.

AWSOM-type models (Van der Holst et al. 2014) have been very successful in describing the solar atmosphere by incorporating the Alfven wave driving as extra contributions in the global MHD equations. However, they lack the contributions from other wave modes. In this paper, we aim to write governing equations for the energy evolution equation of kink waves. In a similar manner as AWSOM, we combine the kink wave evolution equation with MHD. Our goal is to incorporate the extra heating provided by the uniturbulent damping of the kink waves. We attempt to construct the UAWSOM equations (uniturbulence and Alfven wave driven solar models). We have recently described the MHD equations in terms of the Q-variables. These latter variables allow to follow the evolution of waves in a co-propagating reference frame. We transform the Q-variable MHD equations into an energy evolution equation. First we do this generally, and then we specialise to the description of kink waves. We also couple this evolution equation to the slowly varying MHD formulation and solve the system in 1D. We find that the kink wave energy evolution equation contains non-linear terms, even in the absence of counterpropagating waves. The non-linear damping is expressed solely through equilibrium parameters, rather than an ad-hoc perpendicular correlation term, as in the case of the AWSOM models. A proof-of-concept numerical implementation in python shows that the kink wave driving indeed leads to radial outflow and heating. Thus, UAWSOM may have the necessary ingredients to drive the solar wind and heat the solar corona against losses. Not only does our current work constitute a pathway to fix shortcomings in heating and wind driving in the popular AWSOM model, it also provides the mathematical formalism to incorporate more wave modes for additional driving of the solar wind.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are violent stellar explosions that are traditionally divided into two groups: short bursts (SGRBs) with an observed duration T90 < 2 s, and long bursts (LGRBs) with an observed duration T90 > 2 s, where T90 refers to the time needed for 90% of the fluence to be detected. Studies of progenitor models suggest that LGRBs emanate from the core collapse of massive stars, while SGRBs result from the merging of two compact objects, like two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole. Recent studies have found evidence that there is an anticorrelation between the intrinsic duration and the redshift of long GRBs. In this study, we first check whether LGRBs exhibit an anticorrelation between their intrinsic duration and redshift using an expanded dataset of long bursts that we have compiled. Next, we investigate whether this anticorrelation applies to SGRBs as well using a sample of short GRBs that we have compiled. Our analysis confirms the results obtained by previous studies regarding the anticorrelation for LGRBs. On the other hand, our results indicate that short GRBs do not exhibit such an anticorrelation. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of how metallicity evolves with redshift and the role that it might play in the aforementioned anticorrelation.

Deep surface photometry reveals a faint, diffuse baryonic component in a significant fraction of galaxy groups, permeating the intragroup space. This intragroup light (IGL) is primarily formed by stars removed from their host galaxies through gravitational interactions and now drifting freely, unbound to any galaxy. We conduct a detailed analysis to investigate how various physical parameters of galaxy groups influence the formation of ex-situ IGL during the earliest stages of group assembly, and to explore their correlations with this component. Additionally, we evaluate the potential of the IGL as a luminous tracer of the total mass distribution in galaxy groups, with particular focus on systems that are far from being dynamically relaxed. We use controlled numerical simulations of 100 low-mass galaxy groups spanning a range of masses and numbers of constituent galaxies. We show that the IGL typically begins to form in significant amounts after the turnaround epoch (redshift ~ 0.85), increasing steadily thereafter. We observe a sublinear relationship between the masses of this component and the brightest group galaxy, indicating intertwined formation histories but differing growth rates, which suggests that other group members may also significantly contribute to the diffuse light. Additionally, we observe indications that IGL formation is enhanced in groups with lower internal velocity dispersions, suggesting that gravitational interactions among member galaxies become more effective when their relative velocities are reduced. Two-thirds of our groups reveal significant alignment between the radial surface density profiles of the total and IGL mass, with fractional discrepancies below 25%. This supports the notion that this diffuse and faint baryonic component serves as a reliable tracer of the total gravitational potential in galaxy aggregations, regardless of their dynamical state.

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) is a wide-field instrument mounted on the 4m V. Blanco Telescope (CTIO). Its impressive technical characteristics makes it one of the most suitable ground-based telescope for the production of accurate stellar photometry even towards crowded regions such as the Magellanic Clouds. We analysed DECam images acquired from February 2018 to January 2020 towards the Small Magellanic Cloud. We performed a PSF photometry by using the SExtractor and PSFEx tools and producing a comprehensive photometric catalogue in the SDSS system, considering the $gri$ filters. Then, we present COSMIC-S, a photometric catalogue consisting of 10 971 906 sources, including $gri$ magnitudes with a mean error $<\sigma_m> \simeq 0.04$ mag. A total of 2 456 434 sources have good photometry in all three bands. The catalogue appears virtually complete to $m \simeq 22$, with a limiting magnitude $m\simeq 25$. We derived the colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams in order to prove the goodness of the catalogue.

One of the goals of the ESPRESSO guaranteed time observations (GTOs) at the ESO 8.2m telescope is to follow up on candidate planets from transit surveys such as the TESS mission. High-precision radial velocities are required to characterize small exoplanets. Aims. We intend to confirm the existence of a transiting super-Earth around the bright (V=9.74) K0-type star TOI-512 (TIC 119292328) and provide a characterization. Combining photometric data from TESS and 37 high-resolution spectroscopic observations from ESPRESSO in a joint Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis, we determined the planetary parameters of TOI-512b and characterized its internal structure. We find that TOI-512b is a super-Earth, with a radius of $1.54 \pm 0.10$ R$_\oplus$ and mass of $3.57_{-0.55}^{+0.53}$~M$_\oplus$, on a $7.19_{-6.1\cdot 10^{-5}}^{+7\cdot 10^{-5}}$ day orbit. This corresponds to a bulk density of $5.62_{-1.28}^{+1.59}$ g cm$^{-3}$. Our interior structure analysis presents a small inner core representing $0.13^{+0.13}_{-0.11}$ of the solid mass fraction for the planet, surrounded by a mantle with a mass fraction of $0.69^{+0.20}_{-0.22}$, and an upper limit of the water layer of $0.16$. The gas mass below $10^{-8.93}$ indicates a very small amount of gas on the planet. We find no evidence of the second candidate found by the TESS pipeline, TOI-512.02, neither in TESS photometry, nor in the ESPRESSO radial velocities. The low stellar activity makes it an interesting transmission spectroscopy candidate for future-generation instruments.

Current- and next-generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments will measure polarization anisotropies with unprecedented sensitivities. The need for high precision in these measurements underscores the importance of gaining a comprehensive understanding of instrument properties, with a particular emphasis on the study of the beam properties and, in particular, their polarization characteristics, and the measurement of the polarization angle. In this context, a major challenge lies in the scarcity of millimeter polarized astrophysical sources with sufficient brightness and calibration knowledge to meet the stringent accuracy requirements of future CMB missions. This led to the development of a drone-borne calibration source designed for frequency band centered on approximately 90 GHz band, matching a commonly used channel in ground based CMB measurements. The PROTOtype CALibrator for Cosmology, PROTOCALC, has undergone thorough in-lab testing, and its properties have been subsequently modeled through simulation software integrated into the standard Simons Observatory (SO) analysis pipeline. Moreover, the PROTOCALC system has been tested in the field, having been deployed twice on calibration campaigns with CMB telescopes in the Atacama desert. The data collected constrain the roll angle of the source with a statistical accuracy of $0.045^\circ$.

We present a comprehensive analysis of the complex subpulse modulation patterns in PSR J1514-4834 (B1510-48) using L-band data from the Thousand-Pulsar-Array (TPA) programme, complemented with further MeerKAT UHF-band data. We demonstrate that periodic drifting subpulses and rapid amplitude modulation with a period of about 2 pulse periods coexist. It is established that these two periodic emission patterns interfere in the form of a beat system, giving rise to multiple spectral features. We develop a new methodology which confirms the expected correlations in the complex phase of the beat features in a 2D Fourier Transform of the data. Therefore, a relatively simple beat system can explain the complex single-pulse behaviour of this pulsar. The simultaneous coexistence of multiple subpulse modulation periodicities is rare in the population and points to poorly understood intricate dynamics within pulsar magnetospheres. A comparison with PSR B0943+10 is made, for which the coexistence of multiple periodicities has been argued to be a natural consequence of a rotating carousel. However, our observations of PSR J1514-4834 require a different explanation, involving time-delayed interactions between separate regions of the magnetosphere. The developed phase correlation methodology opens up the route for underlying beat systems in the modulation patterns of more pulsars.

We study the spectral and temporal properties of the black hole X-ray transient binary MAXI J1820+070 during the 2018 outburst with Insight-HXMT observations. The outburst of MAXI J1820+070 can be divided into three intervals. For the two intervals of the outburst, we find that low-energy (below 140 keV) photos lag high-energy (140-170 keV) ones, while in the decay of the outburst, high-energy photons lag low-energy photons, both with a time scale of the order of days. Based on these results, the canonical hysteresis effect of the 'q' shape in the hardness-intensity diagram can be reformed into a roughly linear shape by taking into account the lag corrections between different energy bands. Time analysis shows that the high-frequency break of hard X-rays, derived from the power density spectrum of the first interval of the outburst is, in general, larger and more variable than that of soft X-rays. The spectral fitting shows that the coverage fraction of the hard X-rays drops sharply at the beginning of the outburst to around 0.5, then increases slightly. The coverage fraction drops to roughly zero once the source steps into a soft state and increases gradually to unity when the source returns to a low hard state. We discuss the possible overall evolution scenario of corona hinted from these discoveries.

Bars are fundamental structures in disc galaxies, although their role in galaxy evolution is still not fully known. This study investigates the effect of the presence of bars on the environmental dependence of disc galaxies' properties using the volume-limited sample from Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey. The disc galaxies with and without bars samples were obtained using the Galaxy Zoo 2 project then assigned into field and group sub-samples. These sub-samples were used to compare the stellar mass, star formation rate, $g-r$ colour, concentration index and gas phase metallicity, and their relationships between field and group environments. Then these are used to investigate if there is an existence of any difference between galaxies with and without bars. A one-to-one correspondence between field and group galaxies' properties were observed, and a strong dependence on the environment for properties of unbarred galaxies was observed when compared to barred. The stellar mass against star formation rate, $g-r$ colour against concentration index and stellar mass against gas phase metallicity of unbarred galaxies strongly depend on environment while for barred these relations weakly depend on environment. The study concludes that bars in disc galaxies decrease the dependence of analysed properties and its relations on the environment.

Radial gradients of the brightness temperatures along the parsec-scale jets of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can be used to infer the energy balance and to estimate the parameter range of physical conditions in these regions. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the brightness temperature gradients and geometry profiles of relativistic jets of 447 AGN based on 15 GHz Very Long Baseline Array observations performed between 1994 and 2019. We used models of the jet structure using two-dimensional Gaussian components and analysed variations in their brightness temperatures and sizes along the jets. The size of the jet components, R, increases with projected distance from the jet base, r, as $R\propto r^{1.02\pm0.03}$, i.e., typically following a conically expanding streamline and therefore indicating that the size of jet components is a good tracer of jet geometry. The brightness temperature gradients along the jets typically follow a power-law $T_\mathrm{b} \propto r^{-2.82\pm0.07}$. Half of the sample sources show non-monotonic R(r) or Tb(r) profiles and their distributions were characterised by a double power-law model. We found at least six scenarios to explain the enhancement of the brightness temperature by a presence of inhomogeneities (shocks, jet recollimation) or curvature effects (helical structures, helical magnetic field, non-radial motion, bent jets). Our results are consistent with the scenario that the jet features can be simplified as optically thin moving blobs. In the sources demonstrating transition from a conical to parabolic jet shape, the gradient of the Tb(R) changes at the position of the break consistent with the model of magneto-hydrodynamic acceleration.

From the $\Lambda$ cold dark matter paradigm it is expected that galaxies merge and grow in their environments. These processes form various tidal features depending on the merger mass ratio, orbital parameters, and gas richness. We inspected 170 $g'$-band Abell cluster observations from the 2.1m Fraunhofer-Teleskop Wendelstein and identify 111 of such features from which we select nine streams and five tails. A fast and innovative technique was developed for determining their photometric properties. The model is a Gaussian, including higher-order moments to describe the light profile in slices perpendicular to the elongation direction. From these models, FWHM apertures are generated. The method was developed, tested, and applied on the selected features and corresponding $g$- and $r$-band data from the Legacy Survey DR10. Regarding the novel modeling approach, we can measure surface and total brightnesses with precisions of 4% and 7%, respectively. Mean stream width precision, which also translates to the mean $R_\mathrm{e}$ along the feature is on average within 3% uncertainty. The measured streams have on average a surface brightness of $\sim26.25$ $g'$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ and are dimmer than the tails in our sample ($\sim25.14$ $g'$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$). We infer that the progenitors of our streams can come from dwarfs, early-type galaxies or disks, based on the streams structural parameters. Furthermore, brightnesses and colors of the streams and tails are consistent with those of galaxies that populate the red sequence in the Coma cluster within $2\sigma$.

The temperature of the cold dust in z>6 galaxies is a potential tracer of Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) and stellar feedback, and is the dominant source of uncertainty in inferring properties from the far-infrared (FIR) emission of these galaxies. We present the first resolved dust temperature map in a $z>6$ quasar host galaxy. We combine new 360 pc resolution ALMA Band 9 continuum observations with literature 190 pc Band 6 observations to derive the dust temperature and opacity at 0.1<r<0.5 kpc scales in a $z=6.9$ luminous quasar host galaxy (J2348-3054). We find that the dust temperature (and opacity) increases at the center (r<216 pc) of the galaxy up to $T_d=73-88$ K, and potentially up to $T_d<149$ K at r<110 pc. The combination of the resolved and integrated FIR Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) further reveal a dust temperature gradient and a significant contribution of the AGN hot dust torus at $\nu_{\rm{obs}}\gtrsim 700$ GHz. By taking into account the torus contribution and resolved optically-thick emission, we derive a total infrared luminosity ($L_{TIR}=8.78\pm0.10)\times 10^{12}L_\odot$) and corresponding star-formation rate (SFR$=1307\pm15\ M_\odot\ \rm{yr}^{-1}$), that are at least a factor $\sim 3.6$ ($\sim0.56$ dex) lower than previous measurements assuming optically-thin emission. We compare the resolved dust temperature, mass and IR luminosity profiles to simulations where they are only reproduced by models in which the AGN radiation heats the dust in the center of the galaxy. Our observations provide evidence that dust in J2348--3054 cannot be assumed to be uniformly cold and optically thin. Whether J2348-3054 is representative of the larger population of high-redshift quasars and galaxies remains to be determined with dedicated high-resolution and high-frequency ALMA observations.

Relativistic magnetized shocks, through the Synchrotron Maser Instability (SMI) mechanism, represent a promising framework for generating coherent radiations, potentially accounting for the enigmatic Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)-cosmic radio transients with extreme luminosity. This study investigates how the radiation reaction (RR) effect, induced by high-energy photon emissions during SMI, significantly modifies particle dynamics and emission properties in magnetized shocks. Through comprehensive Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, we demonstrate that RR effects fundamentally alter coherent cyclotron motion at shock fronts, producing distinct observational signatures: spectral broadening, peak frequency upshift, and enhanced radiation intensity. Our findings suggest that RR-mediated magnetized shocks could provide a natural explanation for the bimodal energy distribution observed in repeating FRB 121102 and the positive correlation of luminosity-bandwidth between repeating and one-off FRBs in CHIME/FRB catalog. These results support the magnetized shock as a viable source of FRBs.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are phenomena in which the Sun suddenly releases a mass of energy and magnetized plasma, potentially leading to adverse space weather. Numerical simulation provides an important avenue for comprehensively understanding the structure and mechanism of CMEs. Here we present a global-corona MHD simulation of a CME originating from sheared magnetic arcade and its interaction with the near-Sun solar wind. Our simulation encompasses the pre-CME phase with gradual accumulation of free magnetic energy (and building up of a current sheet within the sheared arcade) as driven by the photospheric shearing motion, the initiation of CME as magnetic reconnection commences at the current sheet, and its subsequent evolution and propagation to around 0.1 AU. A twisted magnetic flux rope (MFR), as the main body of the CME, is created by the continuous reconnection during the eruption. By interacting with the ambient field, the MFR experiences both rotation and deflection during the evolution. The CME exhibits a typical three-part structure, namely a bright core, a dark cavity and a bright front. The bright core is mainly located at the lower part of the MFR, where plasma is rapidly pumped in by the high-speed reconnection outflow. The dark cavity contains both outer layer of the MFR and its overlying field that expands rapidly as the whole magnetic structure moves out. The bright front is formed due to compression of plasma ahead of the fast-moving magnetic structure. Future data-driven modeling of CME will be built upon this simulation with real observations used for the bottom boundary conditions.

The quantum nature of gravity remains one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics, with many unified theories predicting variations in fundamental constants across space and time. Here we present precise measurements of these variations at galactic dynamical timescales - a critical but previously unexplored regime. Using simultaneous observations of H \textsc{i} and OH lines in M31, we probe potential variations of fundamental constants at a lookback time of 2.5 million years. We obtained $\Delta(\mu\alpha^2g_p^{0.64})/(\mu\alpha^2g_p^{0.64}) < 3.6 \times 10^{-6}$, with complementary constraints on $\Delta(\mu\alpha^2)/(\mu\alpha^2) < 4.6 \times 10^{-3}$, and $\Delta g_p/g_p < 7.2 \times 10^{-3}$, where $\alpha$ is the fine structure constant, $\mu$ is the proton-electron mass ratio, and $g_p$ is the proton $g$-factor. These results bridge the gap between laboratory tests and cosmological observations, providing unique insights into the coupling between local dynamics and fundamental physics. Our findings challenge theories predicting significant variations over galactic timescales, while demonstrating a powerful new probe of quantum gravity models.

Passive imaging through optical obscurants is a promising application for mm-wave sensing. We have thus developed the Superconducting Kinetic Inductance Passive Radiometer (SKIPR), a 150 GHz polarization-sensitive photometric camera optimized for terrestrial imaging using a focal plane array with 3,840 kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). We present a full description of the instrument design, with a particular emphasis on the cryogenic system based on a Gifford-McMahon cryocooler with a two-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator and a dedicated 1.59 m crossed Dragone telescope with an altitude/azimuth mount. We include a detailed lab-based characterization of the KIDs, which results in a determination of their superconducting resonator parameters and optical properties. We also present in situ measurements from the telescope, including point-spread functions and noise characterization. In sum, we find that SKIPR performs as expected, providing diffraction-limited imaging with detector noise performance set by the random arrivals of photons from the ambient background. There is minimal variation in detector characteristics over the full SKIPR focal plane array, and the overall detector yield is 92 per cent.

The Hubble tension between direct measurements of the expansion rate and the prediction of the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model calibrated on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), is a strong motivation to explore alternative cosmological models. A popular class of such models includes an additional component of dark energy relevant in the early Universe, which solves the Hubble tension. These Early Dark Energy (EDE) models however typically worsen the $S_8$ tension between measurements of weak gravitational lensing and the $\Lambda$CDM expectation. Here, we show how combining EDE with scale-dependent primordial non-Gaussianities (sPNG) can in principle solve both tensions at once. Such sPNG are related to non-trivial inflationary physics, and observationally affect the non-linear regime of structure formation while leaving the linear regime mostly untouched. Depending on the amplitude of the sPNG, such models can either yield back the $\Lambda$CDM expectation for the PS in the non-linear regime, and hence an $S_8$ parameter compatible with $\Lambda$CDM, or can even reconcile the value of $S_8$ from weak-lensing measurements with the CMB, while solving the Hubble tension in all cases. In such models, both tensions would then be entirely related to pre-CMB physics of the early Universe.

X-ray radiation from neutron stars manifests itself in a variety of settings. Isolated pulsars, and magnetars both exhibit quasi-thermal persistent soft X-ray emission from their surfaces. Transient magnetospheric bursts from magnetars and pulsed signals from accreting neutron stars mostly appear in harder X rays. The emission zones pertinent to these signals are all highly Thomson optically thick so that their radiation anisotropy and polarization can be modeled using sophisticated simulations of scattering transport from extended emission regions. Validation of such codes and their efficient construction is enhanced by a deep understanding of scattering transport in high opacity domains. This paper presents a new analysis of the polarized magnetic Thomson radiative transfer in the asymptotic limit of high opacity. The integro-differential equations for photon scattering transport that result from a phase matrix construction are reduced to a compact pair of equations. This pair is then solved numerically for two key parameters that describe the photon anisotropy and polarization configuration of high Thomson opacity environs. Empirical approximations for these parameters as functions of the ratio of the photon and cyclotron frequencies are presented. Implementation of these semi-analytic transport solutions as interior boundary conditions is shown to speed up scattering simulations. The solutions also enable the specification of the anisotropic radiation pressure. The analysis is directly applicable to the atmospheres of magnetars and moderate-field pulsars, and to the accretion columns of magnetized X-ray binaries, and can be adapted to address other neutron star settings.

Planets and moons in our Solar System have strongly peaked reflected light phase curves at opposition. In this work, we produce a modified reflected light phase curve model and use it to fit the Cassini phase curves of Jupiter and Enceladus. This opposition effect is caused by shadow hiding (SH; particles or rough terrain cast shadows which are not seen at zero phase) and coherent backscattering (CB; incoming light constructively interferes with outgoing light). We find tentative evidence for CB preference in Jupiter compared to SH, and no evidence of preference in Enceladus. We show that the full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of Jupiter's opposition peak is an order of magnitude larger than that of Enceladus and conclude that this could be used as a solid-surface indicator for exoplanets. We investigate this and show that modelling the opposition peak FWHM in solid-surface exoplanets would be unfeasible with JWST or the Future Habitable Worlds Observatory due to the very large signal-to-noise required over a small phase range.

On a centennial timescale, solar activity was quantified based on records of instrumental sunspot observations. This article briefly discusses several aspects of the recent archival investigations of historical sunspot records in the 17th to 18th centuries. This article also reviews the recent updates for the active day fraction and positions of the reported sunspot groups of the Maunder Minimum to show their significance within the observational history. These archival investigations serve as base datasets for reconstructing solar activity.

We investigate the angular distribution of satellite galaxies in and around pairs of galaxy groups in SDSS and compare the results with the satellite distribution in pairs of dark matter halos by constructing mock catalogs that account for the same selection effects as the observational sample. We find that the angular distribution of satellites in both SDSS and the mock catalog exhibits a pronounced tendency towards lopsidedness, with satellites preferentially located between the two central galaxies. Additionally, there is a significant bulging distribution characterized by a higher concentration of satellites along the line connecting the two centrals compared to those found perpendicular to it. The lopsided and bulging distributions strengthen as pair separation and halo mass increase. The mock catalog successfully reproduces the observational results across all cases considered. We find that the lopsided and bulging distribution of satellites can largely be explained by overlapping two randomly selected halos matched in mass to the actual halo pairs, along with their surrounding satellite distribution, provided that the alignment between the orientations of the halos and the line connecting the halo pairs is taken into account. This suggests that the angular distribution of satellites is a natural consequence of the formation and evolution of large-scale structure in a $\Lambda$CDM universe, eliminating the need to introduce other physical origins.

We investigate the dynamics and cosmological implications of dark energy (DE), modeled as a scalar field with a hyperbolic tangent potential that induces a smooth shift in the effective cosmological constant (CC), encompassing transitions such as AdS-dS, 0-dS, and dS-dS, with the mirror AdS-dS as a particular case aligned with the $\Lambda_{\rm s}$CDM scenario. In our construction, a phantom scalar field with a negative kinetic term drives a bottom-up transition from an AdS-like vacuum at high redshifts to a dS-like vacuum at low redshifts, thereby providing a physical underpinning for the $\Lambda_{\rm s}$CDM scenario. Despite the negative kinetic term, the step-like form of the potential prevents pathologies such as unbounded energy growth, Big Rip, and violations of the WEC. Our numerical integration of the equations of motion shows that the model is consistent with both CMB data and the SH0ES determination of $H_0$, thereby addressing the $H_0$ tension, with all key kinematical parameters-$H(z)$, $\dot{H}(z)$, and $q(z)$-evolving smoothly. The total energy density of the phantom and matter system remains positive at all times, and the effective EoS stays above -1, ensuring that the WEC is satisfied. While the phantom field's energy density and pressure remain finite throughout, its EoS exhibits a safe singularity as its energy density smoothly crosses zero. We perform analysis of the transition period, demonstrating that the evolution of the DE density from a negative CC-like regime to a positive one does not exactly mirror the behavior of the potential-e.g., it lasts longer-as it also involves the kinetic term. We also show that analogous quintessence models featuring dS-dS transitions predict an $H_0$ value lower than $\Lambda$CDM, thereby failing to address the $H_0$ tension. Our results establish a robust theoretical foundation for the $\Lambda_{\rm s}$CDM scenario.

We investigate the distribution of subhalos in the vicinity of dark matter halo pairs in the Illustris-TNG simulation. The satellites around halo pairs with separations $d_{\text{sep}} > 0.5~h^{-1} \text{Mpc}$ exhibit a non-uniform distribution, which is a combined result of two distinct features: the ``bulging'' distribution, characterized by an overabundance along the pairwise direction, and the ``lopsided'' distribution, which shows an overabundance in the region between the paired halos. The bulging signal is stronger for halo pairs that are more widely separated and involve less massive halos, while the lopsidedness strengthens as the halo mass increases. Both signals depend weakly on halo mass ratio, and are primarily contributed by subhalos that are relatively distant from host halos. These measurements can be broadly reproduced by the overlap effect, provided the spatial alignment of halos is properly taken into account. Our results imply that the lopsidedness and bulging distribution may arise from two distinct origins: the former is caused simply by the overlap of two closely placed halos, while the latter is driven by the alignment of halos with large-scale filamentary structures. We examine the impact of projection and selection effects by conducting the same analysis of satellite distribution in two dimensions and in a mock catalog that replicates the selection effects of the SDSS galaxy sample. We find that the 3D-to-2D projection significantly suppresses the bulging distribution, with particularly strong effects at large pair separations, low halo masses, and large halo mass ratios.

GLEAM-X J1627-52 was discovered as a periodic (~18 min) radio signal over a duration of three months in 2018. It is an enigmatic example of a growing population of 'long-period radio transients' consistent with Galactic origins. Their nature is uncertain, and leading models invoke magnetic neutron stars or white dwarfs, potentially in close binary systems, to power them. GLEAM-X J1627-52 resides in the Galactic plane with a comparatively coarse localisation (~2 arcsecond). Here we study the localisation region to search for spectrophotometric signatures of a counterpart using time-domain searches in optical and near-infrared imaging, and MUSE integral field spectroscopy. No sources in the localisation display clear white dwarf spectral signatures, although at the expected distance we can only provide modest limits on their presence directly. We rule out the presence of hot sub-dwarfs in the vicinity. We found no candidate within our search for variability or periodic behaviour in the light curves. Radial velocity curves additionally show only weak evidence of variation, requiring any realistic underlying system to have very low orbital inclination (i < 5 deg). Two Balmer emission line sources are reminiscent of white dwarf pulsar systems, but their characteristics fall within expected M-dwarf chromospheric activity with no signs of being in a close binary. Currently the white dwarf pulsar scenario is not supported, although longer baseline data and data contemporaneous with a radio active epoch are required before stronger statements. Isolated magnetars, or compact binaries remain viable. Our limits highlight the difficulty of these searches in dense environments at the limits of ground-based data.

The winds of low-mass stars carry away angular momentum and impact the atmospheres of surrounding planets. Determining the properties of these winds is necessary to understand the mass-loss history of the star and the evolution of exoplanetary atmospheres. Due to their tenuous nature, the winds of low-mass main-sequence stars are difficult to detect. The few existing techniques for measuring these winds are indirect, with the most common inference method for winds of low-mass stars being astrospheric Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption combined with complex hydrodynamical modelling of the interaction between the stellar wind and the interstellar medium. Here, we employ a more direct method to place upper limits on the mass-loss rates of low-mass stars by combining observations of low-frequency coherent radio emission, the lack of free-free absorption, and a simple stellar wind model. We determine upper limits on the mass-loss rate for a sample of 19 M dwarf stars detected with the LOFAR telescope at 120--168 MHz, reaching a sensitivity within an order of magnitude of the solar mass-loss rate for cold stars with a surface magnetic field strength of $\sim$100 G. The sensitivity of our method does not depend on distance or spectral type, allowing us to find mass-loss rate constraints for stars up to spectral type M6 and out to a distance of 50 pc, later and farther than previous measurements. With upcoming low-frequency surveys with both LOFAR and the Square Kilometre Array, the number of stars with mass-loss rate upper limits determined with this method could reach $\sim$1000.

This review provides an observational perspective on the fundamental properties of super-Eddington accretion onto supermassive black holes in quasars. It begins by outlining the selection criteria, particularly focusing on optical and UV broad-line intensity ratios, used to identify a population of unobscured super-Eddington candidates. Several defining features place these candidates at the extreme end of the Population A in main sequence of quasars: among them are the highest observed singly-ionized iron emission, extreme outflow velocities in UV resonance lines, and unusually high metal abundances. These key properties reflect the coexistence of a virialized sub-system within the broad-line region alongside powerful outflows, with the observed gas enrichment likely driven by nuclear or circumnuclear star formation. The most compelling evidence for the occurrence of super-Eddington accretion onto supermassive black holes comes from recent observations of massive black holes at early cosmic epochs. These black holes require rapid growth rates that are only achievable through radiatively inefficient super-Eddington accretion. Furthermore, extreme Eddington ratios, close to or slightly exceeding unity, are consistent with the saturation of radiative output per unit mass predicted by accretion disk theory for super-Eddington accretion rates. The extreme properties of super-Eddington candidates suggest that these quasars could make them stable and well-defined cosmological distance indicators, leveraging the correlation between broad-line width and luminosity expected in virialized systems. Finally, several analogies with accretion processes around stellar-mass black holes, particularly in the high/soft state, are explored to provide additional insight into the mechanisms driving super-Eddington accretion.

Giant planets generate accretion luminosity as they form. Much of this energy is radiated in strong H$\alpha$ line emission, which has motivated direct imaging surveys at optical wavelengths to search for accreting protoplanets. However, compact disk structures can mimic accreting planets by scattering emission from the host star. This can complicate the interpretation of H$\alpha$ point sources, especially if the host star itself is accreting. We describe an approach to distinguish accreting protoplanets from scattered-light disk features using "accretion light echoes." This method relies on variable H$\alpha$ emission from a stochastically accreting host star to search for a delayed brightness correlation with a candidate protoplanet. We apply this method to the candidate protoplanet AB Aur b with a dedicated Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 program designed to sequentially sample the host star and the candidate planet in H$\alpha$ while accounting for the light travel time delay and orbital geometry of the source within the protoplanetary disk. Across five epochs spanning 14 months, AB Aur b is over 20 times more variable than its host star; AB Aur's H$\alpha$ emission changes by 15% while AB Aur b varies by 330%. These brightness changes are not correlated, which rules out unobstructed scattered starlight from the host star as the only source of AB Aur b's H$\alpha$ emission and is consistent with tracing emission from an independently accreting protoplanet, inner disk shadowing effects, or a physically evolving compact disk structure. More broadly, accretion light echoes offer a novel tool to explore the nature of protoplanet candidates with well-timed observations of the host star prior to deep imaging in H$\alpha$.

We present constraints on $f_{\rm NL}$, the parameter quantifying the amplitude of local Primordial Non-Gaussianities (PNG), from a combined analysis of the tree-level power spectrum and bispectrum of Data Release $16$ (DR16) of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) quasar sample. In our analysis, we use the power spectrum measured with the optimal redshift weights that maximize the local PNG information together with the bispectrum estimated with the standard Feldman-Kaiser-Peacock weights. In the modeling, we incorporate the global and radial integral constraint corrections both in the power spectrum and in the bispectrum, for which we observe that only the radial integral constraint correction has a significant impact. Our constraints read $-6 < f_{\rm NL} < 20$ at $68\%$ confidence level and improve by $\sim 16\%$ over the previous power spectrum analysis of the same dataset. We observe the same improvement over the power spectrum analysis when the quasar response to PNG is lower. In this case, we find $-23 < f_{\rm NL} < 14$ at $68\%$ confidence level. Our findings are consistent with the Fisher matrix expectations.

Voronoi diagrams are essential geometrical structures with numerous applications, particularly astrophysics-driven finite volume methods. While serial algorithms for constructing these entities are well-established, parallel construction remains challenging. This is especially true in distributed memory systems, where each host manages only a subset of the input points. This process requires redistributing points across hosts and accurately computing the corresponding Voronoi cells. In this paper, we introduce a new distributed construction algorithm, which is implemented in our open-source C++ 3-dimensional Voronoi construction framework. Our approach leverages Delaunay triangulation as an intermediate step, which is then transformed into a Voronoi diagram. We introduce the algorithms we implemented for the precise construction and our load-balancing approach and compare the running time with other state-of-the-art frameworks. MadVoro is a versatile tool that can be applied in various scientific domains, such as mesh decomposition, computational physics, chemistry, and machine learning.

Self-consistent, multidimensional core-collapse supernova (SN) simulations, especially in 3D, have achieved tremendous progress over the past 10 years. They are now able to follow the entire evolution from core collapse through bounce, neutrino-triggered shock revival, shock breakout at the stellar surface to the electromagnetic SN outburst and the subsequent SN remnant phase. Thus they provide general support for the neutrino-driven explosion mechanism by reproducing observed SN energies, neutron-star (NS) kicks, and diagnostically relevant radioactive isotope yields; they allow to predict neutrino and gravitational-wave signals for many seconds of proto-NS cooling; they confirm correlations between explosion and progenitor or remnant properties already expected from previous spherically symmetric (1D) and 2D models; and they carve out various scenarios for stellar-mass black-hole (BH) formation. Despite these successes it is currently unclear which stars explode or form BHs, because different modeling approaches disagree and suggest the possible importance of the 3D nature of the progenitors and of magnetic fields. The role of neutrino flavor conversion in SN cores still needs to be better understood, the nuclear equation of state including potential phase transitions implies major uncertainties, the SN 1987A neutrino measurements raise new puzzles, and tracing a possible correlation of NS spins and kicks requires still more refined SN simulations.

We present GammaTPC, a transformative 0.1-10 MeV $\gamma$-ray instrument concept featuring a tracker using a liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr TPC) technology with the novel GAMPix high spatial resolution and ultra low power charge readout. These enable an economical instrument with unprecedented effective area and sensitivity. We discuss the design and technology in some detail, including how a LAr TPC can be staged in space. Finally, we present a first study of the sensitivity of the instrument in the Compton regime using a new framework for analyzing Compton telescope data.

Primordial non-Gaussianities are key quantities to test early universe scenarios. In this paper, we compute full bispectra of scalar and tensor perturbations generated during a contracting phase in a general bounce model. The general bounce model consists of two branches: one realizes scale-invariant scalar and tensor power spectra from perturbations whose amplitudes become constant on superhorizon scales, as in de Sitter inflation, while the other realizes scale-invariant power spectra from perturbations whose amplitudes grow on superhorizon scales, as in matter bounce cosmology. We study the auto- and cross-bispectra originating from the scale-invariant scalar and tensor perturbations in these two branches. We investigate the amplitudes and shapes of non-Gaussianities and find that the differences between the two branches manifest for equilateral and squeezed momentum triangle configurations. In particular, one of the branches in which the superhorizon perturbations are conserved reproduces the so-called Maldacena's consistency relation. By examining perturbativity conditions and considering current observational constraints on primordial non-Gaussianities, we also find a viable parameter space in which both theoretical and observational constraints are satisfied simultaneously.

Accurate predictions of weak lensing observables are essential for understanding the large-scale structure of the Universe and probing the nature of gravity. In this work, we present a lightcone implementation to generate maps of the weak lensing convergence field using the COmoving Lagrangian Acceleration (COLA) method. The lightcone is constructed in spherical shells from the source to the observer following an onion representation of the Universe. We validate the COLA-generated convergence maps in General Relativity by comparing five statistics to those of maps obtained with the high-resolution $N$-body simulations presented in Takahashi $et\ al.$ (2017): the power spectrum, bispectrum, probability distribution function, peak counts and Minkowski functionals. The convergence power spectrum is accurate to within $5\%$ up to $\ell\sim500$ and to within $10\%$ up to $\ell\sim750$, confirming the accuracy of this method on both linear and non-linear scales. For the probability distribution function, peak counts and Minkowski functionals, we determine the map pixel resolution required for COLA to capture the statistical features of the $N$-body convergence maps. Our validation tests provide a baseline for the convergence map specifications at which we can trust COLA for each statistic considered. Using these map specifications, we extend our analyses to two representative theories of Modified Gravity, and demonstrate their imprints on the five convergence statistics considered. This work represents a step towards precise weak lensing predictions under both General Relativity and Modified Gravity with reduced computational cost, providing a robust framework to explore the nature of gravity using field-level inference.

The Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Collaboration's code SpEC can now routinely simulate binary black hole mergers undergoing $\sim25$ orbits, with the longest simulations undergoing nearly $\sim180$ orbits. While this sounds impressive, the mismatch between the highest resolutions for this long simulation is $\mathcal{O}(10^{-1})$. Meanwhile, the mismatch between resolutions for the more typical simulations tends to be $\mathcal{O}(10^{-4})$, despite the resolutions being similar to the long simulations'. In this note, we explain why mismatch alone gives an incomplete picture of code -- and waveform -- quality, especially in the context of providing waveform templates for LISA and 3G detectors, which require templates with $\mathcal{O}(10^{3}) - \mathcal{O}(10^{5})$ orbits. We argue that to ready the GW community for the sensitivity of future detectors, numerical relativity groups must be aware of this caveat, and also run future simulations with at least three resolutions to properly assess waveform accuracy.

Gravitational waves (GWs) are lensed by matter, offering a unique probe of both the large-scale structure of the Universe and the fundamental properties of GW propagation. GWs can also be affected by wave optics effects when their wavelength is comparable to the size of the lens. While this regime has been well studied in the Newtonian approximation, the role of strong gravitational fields remains largely unexplored. This is particularly relevant for lensing by intermediate and supermassive black holes (BHs), which can occur near active galactic nuclei or in compact triple systems. In this work, we analyze the lensing of GWs by a non-rotating BH and compare our results to the Newtonian point-mass approximation. We construct frequency-dependent amplification factors that incorporate strong-field effects, revealing explicit polarization mixing and absorption by the event horizon. Using a fiducial GW event, we explore key phenomenological signatures of BH lensing, highlighting new observational opportunities to probe strong gravitational fields through GW lensing.

The dragging of inertial frames by an orbiting object implies that the horizon angular velocity $\Omega^{\text{BH-ring}}_{\text{H}}$ of a central black hole in a composed black-hole-orbiting-ring system is no longer related to its angular-momentum $J_{\text{H}}$ by the familiar vacuum functional relation $\Omega_{\text{H}}(J_{\text{H}})=J_{\text{H}}/M\alpha$ (here $\{M,\alpha\}$ are respectively the mass and normalized area of the central spinning black hole). Using a continuity argument, it has recently been revealed that the composed Kerr-ring system is characterized by the universal (that is, spin-{\it independent}) relation $\Delta\Omega_{\text{H}}\equiv\Omega^{\text{BH-ring}}_{\text{H}}(J_{\text{H}},J_{\text{R}},R\to R^{+}_{\text{H}})-\Omega^{\text{Kerr}}_{\text{H}}(J_{\text{H}})={J_{\text{R}}/{4M^3}}$, where $\{R,J_{\text{R}}\}$ are respectively the radius of the ring and its orbital angular momentum and $R_{\text{H}}$ is the horizon radius of the central Kerr black hole. This intriguing observation naturally raises the following physically interesting question: Does the physical quantity $\Delta\Omega_{\text{H}}$ in a composed black-hole-orbiting-ring system is always characterized by the near-horizon functional relation $\Delta\Omega_{\text{H}}={J_{\text{R}}/{4M^3}}$ which is independent of the spin (angular momentum) $J_{\text{H}}$ of the central black hole? In the present compact paper we explore the physical phenomenon of dragging of inertial frames by an orbiting ring in the composed Kerr-Newman-black-hole-orbiting-ring system. In particular, using analytical techniques, we reveal the fact that in this composed two-body (black-hole-ring) system the quantity $\Delta\Omega_{\text{H}}$ has an explicit non-trivial functional dependence on the angular momentum $J_{\text{H}}$ of the central spinning black hole.

Motivated by the phenomenology of MOND, we propose a theory based on a fundamental non Abelian Yang-Mills gauge field with gravitational coupling constant (a "graviphoton") emerging in a regime of weak acceleration, i.e. below the MOND acceleration scale. Using the formalism of the effective field theory and invoking a mechanism of gravitational polarization of the dark matter medium, we show that generic solutions of this theory reproduce the deep MOND limit without having to introduce in an ad hoc way an arbitrary function in the action. In this framework, MOND is due to the existence of a new sector of the standard model of particle physics. Furthermore, the model involves a fundamental violation of the local Lorentz invariance in the low acceleration regime. We show how to restore the general covariance of the model by adding one gravitational degree of freedom in the form of the scalar Khronon field.