Papers for Tuesday, Oct 21 2025

The establishment of a sustainable human presence on the Moon demands robust positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services capable of supporting both surface and orbital operations. This paper presents a comprehensive trade-off analysis of lunar frozen-orbit constellations for the Lunar Augmented Navigation Service (LANS), focusing on how the number of satellites and orbital parameters influence coverage, position dilution of precision (PDOP), orbit determination accuracy, receiver noise, and orbit insertion cost. Three Walker-constellation families based on frozen elliptical and circular orbits are examined to characterize their relative advantages across different semi-major axes and inclinations. Results show that larger semi-major axes enhance both polar and global coverage, though the optimal inclination depends on the constellation type and target service region. The south elliptical lunar frozen orbit (ELFO) Walker constellation provides superior performance for polar coverage and PDOP, whereas the circular lunar frozen orbit (CLFO) Walker configuration achieves the best global uniformity. Orbit determination errors and receiver noise both increase with larger semi-major axes and higher inclinations, reflecting weaker geometric observability and reduced received signal power at apolune for eccentric orbits. Orbit insertion analysis reveals clear trade-offs among transfer duration, characteristic energy ($C_3$) at trans-lunar injection, and insertion $\Delta V$: shorter transfers require higher insertion $\Delta V$, while low-energy transfers achieve smaller $\Delta V$ at the cost of months-long durations and higher $C_3$. These findings provide a systematic framework for designing LANS constellations for both regional and global coverage.

We present the Ultracool dwarf Science with MachIne LEarning (USMILE), a program developing machine-learning tools for the discovery and characterization of ultracool dwarfs. We introduce USMILE Avocado, a spectral classification framework that uses broadband photometry from wide-field surveys -- Rubin Observatory LSST Data Preview 1, VISTA Hemisphere Survey, and CatWISE -- as input features. The framework has two gradient-boosted decision-tree models scalable to the massive data volumes of modern surveys: the classifier, which distinguishes ultracool dwarfs from stellar/extragalactic contaminants, and the regressor, which predicts spectral types. A key strength is its ability to natively handle missing photometric features, whereas earlier machine-learning approaches required complete multi-band detections or relied on imputation, thereby excluding genuine ultracool dwarfs or introducing bias. Trained on an augmented labeled dataset of >2 million sources built from known ultracool dwarfs, reddened early-type stars, and quasars, the models achieve strong performance: the classifier attains an ROC AUC of 0.976 and an F1 score of 0.92, while the regressor yields a mean-squared error of 0.88 subtypes. Applying these models, we carried out the first ultracool dwarf search with LSST DP1, cross-matched against VHS and CatWISE. Crucially, Euclid Quick Data Release 1 provided near-IR spectra for hundreds of candidates, enabling a rare, large-scale external spectroscopic validation. This confirmed 15 M6--L2 discoveries, verified USMILE performance, and clarified regimes where USMILE predictions are most reliable. Building on these insights, we identified 25 additional M6--L9 photometric candidates. These demonstrate the effectiveness of machine-learning methods in the data-rich era of wide-field surveys, highlighting the synergy between LSST and Euclid in expanding the ultracool dwarf census.

We present a reverberation mapping analysis of the coronal line [Ne V]$\lambda$3427 emitting region of the quasar COS168 (SDSS J095910.30+020732.2). [Ne V]$\lambda$3427 is known as one of the "coronal lines," which are a species of emission lines present in AGN spectra with high ionization potentials ($\geq$ 100 eV) that can serve as tracers for AGN activity. The spatial extent of the coronal line region has been studied with only spatial resolving techniques that are not sensitive to the innermost regions of AGN. Through our reverberation mapping analysis of [Ne V]$\lambda$3427, we measure a nominal `optimal emission radius' for [Ne V]$\lambda$3427 of $381.1^{+16}_{-22}$ light days (observed-frame). We place the coronal line region in context with other AGN regions by comparing it with the characteristic radius of H$\alpha$, the dust-sublimation radius, and the dusty torus. The coronal line region is located at a larger radius from the black hole than the characteristic radius of the dusty torus, measured using a torus-radius luminosity relationship. The virial product ($v^2 R/G$) of both H$\alpha$ and [Ne V]$\lambda$3427 is consistent within the uncertainties, implying that the coronal line region, as probed by the [Ne V]$\lambda$3427 line, may be in a virialized orbit that is dominated by the gravitational potential of the black hole. This plausibly suggests that coronal lines could be an effective method for estimating black hole masses.

Ground-based long baseline interferometry is a powerful tool for characterizing exoplanets which are too close to their host star to be imaged with single-dish telescopes. The CHARA Array can resolve companions down to 0.5 milli-arcseconds, allowing us in principle to directly measure the near-infrared spectra of non-transiting "Hot Jupiter" exoplanets. We present data taken with the MIRC-X and MYSTIC instruments at the CHARA Array on the Hot Jupiter Upsilon Andromedae b. By resolving the star-planet system, we attempt to directly detect the flux from the planet. We describe our self-calibration methods for modeling systematics in the closure phase data, which allows us to reach sub-degree precision. Through combining multiple nights of data across two MIRC-X runs in 2019 and 2021, we achieved a very tentative detection of Ups And b in the H-band at a planet/star contrast of 2-3 x 10^-4. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm this detection with 2021 MYSTIC data in the K-band, or in a 2023 joint MIRC-X and MYSTIC dataset. We run updated global circulation models and create post-processed spectra for this planet, and report the resulting model spectra in H- and K-bands as a function of orbital phase. We then run planetary injection tests to explore H/K-band contrast limits, and find that we can confidently recover planets down to a planet/star contrast of 1-2 x 10^-4. We show that we are probing contrasts fainter than predicted by the model, making our non-detection surprising. We discuss prospects for the future in using this method to characterize companions with interferometry.

We present the stellar mass-metallicity relation (MZR) and mass-metallicity-star formation relation ("fundamental metallicity relation"; FMR) of 18 massive (log(M/M$_\odot$) = 9.5-11) main-sequence galaxies at z~5 from the ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST sample. This sample complements recent studies by JWST at up to two orders of magnitude lower stellar masses. The metallicities are derived using strong optical lines, and verified by temperature-based oxygen abundance measurements for five galaxies for which faint auroral lines are detected. We find little evolution at the massive end of the MZR between z~5 and cosmic noon at z~2, suggesting a fast metal enrichment at early times. The FMR at z=5 exhibits a 5x larger scatter (preferentially to lower metallicities) compared the local FMR relation. This scatter can be explained by a bursty star formation and the direct build-up of metals in early galaxies as well as differences in age and outflow efficiencies. Capitalizing on all available samples, we find that the observed MZR and FMR over three orders of stellar mass is generally in good agreement with results from cosmological simulation, although some underestimate the metal enrichment at low stellar masses. This may be due to too efficient metal-rich outflows. We show that the ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST galaxies likely joined the current FMR at z~10 and will evolve into massive (log(M/M$_\odot$)~11.4) galaxies with super-solar metallicities by z=0.

Early X-ray emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) traces the transition between the prompt emission and the afterglow radiation, and its rapid flux decline is often interpreted as the tail of the prompt emission. As such, it can offer insights into the emission mechanisms active during the prompt emission and the physics of GRB jets. In this work, we focus on merger-driven GRBs, which are sources of gravitational waves (GWs) detectable by ground-based interferometers, such as LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. We present a systematic analysis of the early X-ray emission ($t < 10^3 \ \mathrm{s}$) of a sample of 16 merger-driven GRB candidates detected by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (hereafter, Swift). We performed a time-resolved spectral analysis of soft and hard X-ray data (0.3-150 keV) by fitting two curved spectral models to the spectra: a physical synchrotron model and an empirical smoothly broken power law model. We characterized the evolution of the peak energy and bolometric flux, and derived the intrinsic properties of the 10 bursts with measured redshift. We discovered a tight correlation between the rest-frame peak energy of the spectra and the isotropic-equivalent luminosity. Specifically, we obtained $\nu_{c,z} \propto L_{\rm iso}^{(0.64 \pm 0.03)}$ when adopting the synchrotron model, and $E_{p,z} \propto L_{\rm iso}^{(0.58 \pm 0.04)}$ when adopting the smoothly broken power law. Both relations were extrapolated to the typical prompt emission energies and well describe the properties of short GRBs detected in the MeV gamma-rays. These results suggest a common origin for the prompt and steep-decay emissions in merger-driven GRBs, and rule out high-latitude emission as the dominant process shaping the early X-ray tails. Finally, we assessed the detectability of these sources with the Wide-field X-ray Telescope onboard the Einstein Probe mission.

3C 84 is the brightest cluster galaxy in the Perseus Cluster. It is among the closest radio-loud active galaxies and among the very few that can be detected from low frequency radio up to TeV $\gamma$-rays. Here we report on the first X-ray polarization observation of 3C~84 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, for a total of 2.2 Msec that coincides with a flare in $\gamma$-rays. This is the longest observation for a radio-loud active galaxy that allowed us to reach unprecedented sensitivity, leading to the detection of an X-ray polarization degree of $\rm\Pi_X=4.2\pm1.3\%$ ($\sim3.2\sigma$ confidence) at an X-ray electric vector polarization angle of $\rm \psi_X=163^{\circ}\pm9^{\circ}$, that is aligned with the radio jet direction on the sky. Optical polarization observations show fast variability about the jet axis as well. Our results strongly favor models in which X-rays are produced by Compton scattering from relativistic electrons -- specifically Synchrotron Self-Compton -- that takes places downstream, away from the supermassive black hole.

Image regridding and coaddition have a wide range of applications in astronomical observations. {\sc Imcom}, an algorithm that provides control over point spread function (PSF) and noise in coadded images, has been found to meet the stringent requirements of weak gravitational lensing cosmology with the forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In this work, I introduce a new algorithm, Fast {\sc Imcom}, which outperforms traditional {\sc Imcom} in terms of both efficiency and quality. After explaining the underlying philosophy and mathematical formalism, I conduct systematic comparisons between {\sc Imcom} and Fast {\sc Imcom} in terms of PSF reconstruction in 1D. While a 2D implementation is beyond the scope of this paper, I demonstrate how to generalize Fast {\sc Imcom} to 2D and discuss practical issues involved. This new algorithm has the potential of reducing both the computational costs and storage requirements (current estimates are $\sim 100\,{\rm M}$ core hours and $\sim 1.5 \,{\rm PB}$, respectively) of the Roman High Latitude Imaging Survey (HLIS) by an order of magnitude. Meanwhile, it provides implications for the dithering patterns of Roman surveys. I also address potential applications of Fast {\sc Imcom} beyond the Roman HLIS, with focus on other weak lensing programs and Roman time domain surveys; the actual range of use cases is likely beyond what is discussed here.

To fully characterize the formation and evolution of galaxies, we need to observe their stars, gas, and dust on resolved spatial scales. We present the ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST survey, which combines kpc-resolved imaging and spectroscopy from HST, JWST, and ALMA for 18 representative main-sequence galaxies at z=4-6 and log(M/$M_\odot$) > 9.5 to study their star formation, chemical properties, and extended gas reservoirs. The co-spatial measurements resolving the ionized gas, molecular gas, stars, and dust on 1-2 kpc scales make this a unique benchmark sample for the study of galaxy formation and evolution at z~5, connecting the Epoch of Reionization with the cosmic noon. In this paper, we outline the survey goals and sample selection, and present a summary of the available data for the 18 galaxies. In addition, we measure spatially integrated quantities (such as global gas metallicity), test different star formation rate indicators, and quantify the presence of H$\alpha$ halos. Our targeted galaxies are relatively metal rich (10-70% solar), complementary to JWST samples at lower stellar mass, and there is broad agreement between different star formation indicators. One galaxy has the signature of an active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on its emission line ratios. Six show broad H$\alpha$ emission suggesting type 1 AGN candidates. We conclude with an outlook on the exciting science that will be pursued with this unique sample in forthcoming papers.

We present a statistical study of spatially resolved chemical enrichment in 18 main-sequence galaxies at $z=4$--6, observed with \jwst/NIRSpec IFU as part of the ALPINE-CRISTAL-\jwst\ survey. Performing an optimized reduction and calibration procedure, including local background subtraction, light-leakage masking, stripe removal, and astrometry refinement, we achieve robust emission-line mapping on kiloparsec scales. Although line-ratio distributions vary across galaxies in our sample, we generally find mild central enhancements in [O\,\textsc{iii}]/H$\beta$, [O\,\textsc{ii}]/[O\,\textsc{iii}], [S\,\textsc{ii}]$_{6732}$/[S\,\textsc{ii}]$_{6718}$, H$\alpha$/H$\beta$, and $L_{\rm H\alpha}/L_{\rm UV}$, consistent with elevated electron density, dust obscuration, and bursty star formation accompanied by reduced metallicity and ionization parameter. These features point to inside-out growth fueled by recent inflows of pristine gas. Nevertheless, the median metallicity gradient is nearly flat over a few kpc scale, $\Delta \log({\rm O/H}) = 0.02 \pm 0.01$ dex kpc$^{-1}$, implying efficient chemical mixing through inflows, outflows, and mergers. From pixel-by-pixel stellar and emission-line characterizations, we further investigate the resolved Fundamental Metallicity Relation (rFMR). Metallicity is described by a fundamental plane with stellar mass and SFR surface densities, but with a stronger dependence on $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ than seen in local galaxies. Our results indicate that the regulatory processes linking star formation, gas flows, and metal enrichment were already vigorous $\sim$1 Gyr after the Big Bang, producing the nearly flat metallicity gradient and a stronger coupling between star formation and metallicity than observed in evolved systems in the local universe.

We present a numerical framework to study the cosmological background evolution in $f(R)$ gravity by employing a \textit{spectral Chebyshev collocation approach}. Unlike standard integration methods such as Runge--Kutta that often encounter stiffness and accuracy issues, this formulation expands the normalized Hubble function $E(z) = H(z)/H_0$ as a finite Chebyshev series. The modified Friedmann equation is then enforced at selected Chebyshev--Gauss--Lobatto points, converting the original nonlinear differential equation into a system of algebraic relations for the series coefficients. This transformation yields exponentially convergent and numerically stable solutions over the entire redshift domain, $0<z<z_{max}$, eliminating the need for adaptive step-size control. We apply the method to two widely studied $f(R)$ models, Hu--Sawicki and Starobinsky, and perform a combined analysis using cosmic chronometer $H(z)$ data and the Union~3.0 supernova compilation. The reconstructed expansion histories match observations to within $2\sigma$ over $0 < z < 2$, producing best-fit parameters of approximately $(\Omega_{m0}, H_0, \Lambda_{\mathrm{eff}}) \simeq (0.29, 68, 1.2\text{--}2.5\,H_0^2)$. These results indicates that both models reproduce the observed late-time acceleration while permitting small geometric corrections to $\Lambda$CDM. Overall, the spectral Chebyshev method provides a precise and computationally efficient framework for probing modified-gravity cosmologies in the precision-data era.

We present a new analysis of the JWST infrared spectra of GRB 230307A (AT 2023vfi), a long gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an infrared excess and spectral lines suggestive of significant heavy $r$-process production. The spectra, taken 29 and 61~days after the GRB trigger, have blackbody-like continua with $T_{\rm eff} \approx 550$ K and an emission line near $2.1$ $\mu$m, previously attributed to [Te III]. This line identification has been used as evidence for an $r$-process-powered kilonova (KN), despite no KN model producing a blackbody-like spectrum at late times. Such an infrared continuum could be emitted by newly formed dust, and we model the thermal emission to infer dust properties, including composition and mass. We find that the emission requires at least 3--$6 \times 10^{-3}$~M$_{\odot}$ of carbon or silicate dust, which is inconsistent with $r$-process yields expected from a neutron star merger. Alternatively, the continuum could be from $2\times 10^{-3}$~M$_{\odot}$ of metallic iron dust, which is mildly consistent (at 3$\sigma$) with KN models, but such dust is unlikely to form in the expanding ejecta. GRB 230307A's low late-time luminosity also constrains the amount of radioactive $^{56}$Ni produced to $<2.6 \times 10^{-3}$~M$_{\odot}$ (3$\sigma$). No KN model can simultaneously form the necessary dust for the infrared continuum and heavy elements for the [Te III] line. We conclude that the blackbody continuum is not due to dust emission, or GRB 230307A did not originate from a binary compact-object merger.

We present a study of the minute-timescale optical variability and spectroscopic outflow signatures in the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070 during its 2018 outburst and re-brightenings. Minute-cadence, multi-filter optical light curves were obtained with the Las Cumbres Observatory network and the Al Sadeem Observatory (UAE) over 2018-2020, complemented by X-ray data from Swift/BAT, XRT, and MAXI. We also acquired contemporaneous low-resolution optical spectra with the 2.1 m OAN San Pedro Martir and OAGH Cananea telescopes (Mexico) and the 1.5 m G.D. Cassini telescope at Loiano (Italy). The optical fractional rms peaks in the hard state and is dominated by short-timescale flickering that strengthens toward longer wavelengths, suggesting that the variability is jet-driven. In this scenario, inflow fluctuations inject velocity perturbations at the jet base (internal shock model). The variability is quenched in the soft state, with any residual signal likely linked to accretion-flow fluctuations. This behaviour supports the accretion-ejection coupling in black hole binaries and shows that the jet's variability signature extends to optical wavelengths in all hard states. In the faintest hard states, residual optical variability may instead trace cyclo-synchrotron emission from the hot flow. The spectra show double-peaked emission lines and tentative cold-wind signatures during the hard state. Such winds were reported during the main 2018 outburst; here we find evidence of their presence also in later re-brightenings. Their absence in the soft state likely reflects stronger disc ionisation from the higher X-ray flux, suppressing low-ionisation optical features.

Cosmic-ray (CR) feedback is widely recognized as a key regulator of galaxy formation. After being accelerated at supernova remnant shocks, CRs propagate through the interstellar medium (ISM), establishing smooth large-scale distributions and driving galactic outflows. The efficiency of this feedback is controlled by the effective transport speed of the CR population, which in turn depends on the competition between CR-driven plasma instabilities and wave damping processes that vary strongly with ISM phase. In cold, dense gas, ion-neutral damping dominates, whereas in warm, diffuse environments, weaker non-linear Landau damping prevails, leading to enhanced CR scattering and slower transport. To investigate these effects, we employ the moving-mesh code Arepo and model CR transport using a two-moment description within the multiphase ISM framework Crisp, which self-consistently computes CR diffusion coefficients and transport velocities from coarse-grained plasma physics. The intrinsic CR diffusion coefficient depends inversely on the scattering rate of CRs and Alfvén waves, covering 15 orders of magnitude. In contrast, we show that the effective CR diffusion coefficient, which quantifies the propagation speed of CRs through the ISM, converges toward the canonical range of $10^{28}$-$10^{29}$ cm$^2$ s$^{-1}$. Simulations with only non-linear Landau damping yield transport rates up to an order of magnitude slower than those including both Landau and ion-neutral damping. Overall, CR transport speeds increase systematically with gas density, for which we provide a density-dependent fit of the effective CR diffusion coefficient. We demonstrate that, despite strong ion-neutral damping in the cold and warm phases of the galactic disk, CRs are transported at speeds only a few times the local Alfvén speed as they traverse alternating ISM phases on their way out of the galaxy.

Thorne-Żytkow Objects (TŻOs) are hypothetical hybrid stars with a neutron star at the core of a large, diffuse envelope. (TŻOs) may be formed when a newly formed neutron star that is kicked by its supernova collides with its main-sequence companion. Using a moving-mesh hydrodynamics solver integrated into the parallel-code Charm N-body GrAvity solver, we demonstrate that these ``impact scenario'' formation processes robustly form (TŻOs) for periastron distances less than one stellar radius. These (TŻOs) are dynamically stable and they can serve as initial models for further evolutionary studies.

Precise radial velocity (RV) measurements are a crucial tool for exoplanet discovery and characterization. Today, the majority of these measurements are derived from Echelle spectra in the optical wavelength region using cross-correlation techniques. Although for certain stars these approaches can produce RVs with sub-1 m~s$^{-1}$ measurement errors, for many others, we are now in a regime where instrumental precision is fundamentally below the intrinsic RV variations of the star that result from astrophysical processes that can be correlated in both time and wavelength. We explore new methods for measuring exoplanet orbital parameters that take advantage of the fact that RV data sets are fundamentally multi-wavelength. By analyzing NEID extremely precise radial velocity (EPRV) data of three known exoplanet systems, we show that fitting a single Keplerian model to multi-wavelength RVs can produce a factor of 1.5 -- 6.8 better $M_p \sin i$ uncertainties compared to fitting RVs that are derived from a weighted average across wavelength.

We investigate and update observational constraints on cosmological parameters within the $\Lambda$CDM and dynamical dark energy frameworks, using a new compilation of the transverse (or 2D) BAO data, measurements that provide a relatively model-independent estimate of the BAO angular scale at a given redshift. Firstly, we assess the consistency of this compilation with CMB-Planck data and recent BAO results from the DESI collaboration. After confirming minimal tension with CMB data, we perform a series of joint analyses combining CMB data with the 2D~BAO compilation, as well as with several recent Type Ia supernova (SNIa) samples. In all cases, we compare the constraining power of the 2D~BAO data with that of DESI~DR2 samples. Our results indicate that combining 2D~BAO with CMB and SNIa data provides observational constraints that are competitive with those obtained using DESI~DR2. Although the precision of DESI~DR2 results remains higher, as expected due to the more accurate 3D measurements, the 2D~BAO compilation yields strong constraints. For example, in the $\Lambda$CDM context, we find $H_0 = 68.16^{+0.41}_{-0.37} \,\,\, \text{km s}^{-1}\,\text{Mpc}^{-1}$ (CMB + 2D~BAO) and $\Sigma m_{\nu} < 0.081~\mathrm{eV}$ (95\%~CL). These results are comparable to analogous analyses using DESI~DR2. Several other cases are analyzed and presented in the main text. Due to these results, we conclude that this new 2D~BAO compilation is both robust and competitive in constraining cosmological parameters, and, importantly, it does not exhibit significant tension with CMB measurements.

Trojan asteroids are found in the equilateral triangle Lagrange points of the Sun-Jupiter system in great number, though they also exist less prolifically in other Sun-planet systems. Despite up to planetary mass Trojans being predicted in extrasolar systems (i.e. exotrojans), they remain largely unconfirmed, though with recent strong candidate evidence emerging. We turn the current search for exotrojans to radio pulsars with low-mass companions ($\sim0.01\,\rm{M}_\odot$) using accurately measured pulse times of arrival. With techniques developed for detecting the reflex motion of a star due to a librating Trojan, we place reasonable mass constraints ($\sim 1\,\rm{M}_\oplus$) on potential exotrojans around binary pulsars observed in the NANOGrav 15-year data set. We find weak evidence consistent with $\sim1\,\rm{M}_{\rm J}$ exotrojans in the PSR~J0023+0923 and PSR~J1705$-$1903 systems, though the signals likely have a different, unknown source. We also place a libration-independent upper mass constraint of $\sim8$\,M$_{\rm J}$ on exotrojans in the PSR~1641+8049 binary system by looking for an inconsistency between the times of superior conjunction as measured by optical light curves and those predicted by radio timing.

Solar eclipses offer unparalleled opportunities for public engagement in astronomy. Large groups of people often gather to view eclipses, and these events require affordable and easy to use tools to safely observe the Sun. One unique way to observe a solar eclipse is by using a disco ball. Here, we present an analysis of the experiences of educators who used a disco ball as a solar projector during various public outreach events. Through a survey conducted shortly after the April 2024 total solar eclipse and the March 2025 partial solar eclipse, we collected data on the use, engagement, and perceived educational value of a disco ball projector from 31 individual events. The results suggest that disco balls were not only affordable and safe, but also popular and educational.

The study of the cosmic ray positron flux has attracted intense attention in recent years, especially because the observations suggest that it could receive contributions from sources such as pulsars or the self--annihilation or decay of dark matter particles. The main known source of relativistic positrons, that form the background to possible additional contributions, is the chain decay of $\pi^+$ produced in the inelastic interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar and circumstellar gas. The shape of the energy spectrum of positrons produced in these pion decays can be calculated exactly and is well known. However, surprisingly, some estimates of the contribution of the standard mechanism to the positron flux have adopted an incorrect spectral shape of the positron produced in these decays, following an error present in a 1997 paper of Moskalenko and Strong. In this work we report this error, discuss its origin, and estimate its impact on the numerical results.

We model the evolution of 21 Gaia neutron star (NS)-main-sequence binaries (orbital period $P_{\mathrm{orb}}\sim200$--$1000$ days, eccentricity $e\gtrsim0.2$) using binary evolution with \texttt{MESA}. We examine eccentric mass transfer and models assuming prior circularization. All systems end as NS-white dwarf (WD) binaries, but transfer modes yield distinct outcomes. Under eccentric transfer, binaries are driven to higher $e$, forming orbits with $e\gtrsim0.6$ and $P_{\rm orb}\sim1000$-$4000$ days. Periastron bursts are brief ($\lesssim10^6$ yr), transfer only a few $\times10^{-2}$ M$_\odot$, and produce mildly recycled pulsars ($P_{\mathrm{spin}}\gtrsim50$ ms) with low-mass He WDs. Artificially circularized transfer gives $P_{\rm orb}\sim200$-$2000$ days, lasts $\sim10^7$ yr, and allows NSs to accrete $\sim0.1$ M$_\odot$, forming fully recycled MSPs ($P_{\mathrm{spin}}\sim$ few-30 ms) with CO WDs. Allowing super-Eddington accretion up to $100\times$ the canonical rate makes even eccentric systems efficient MSP producers, though torque coupling remains uncertain. Using an adaptive, field-dependent magnetic-field decay timescale, we find MSPs stay radio-active over Gyr spans. Gaia systems undergoing stable mass transfer remain wide and fail to match the Galactic MSP-WD population, where most, nearly circular systems have $P_{\rm orb}\lesssim100$ days. Binaries with different mass ratios and initial configurations -- likely leading to unstable mass transfer -- are needed to reproduce the observed MSP-WD distribution.

{\tau} Canis Majoris (CMa) is an intriguing system that has captured astronomers' attention for more than a century. The two main components Aa and Ab are two evolved O stars on a 350 years orbit. Aa is itself a SB1 with a 155-days period and a 0.3 eccentricity. Since Hipparcos, we know that a 1.28-days period eclipsing binary (EB) is hidden somewhere in Aa or Ab, but nowhere else. Our recent analysis finally disentangles the system. We calculated the visual Aa-Ab orbit from AstraLux imaging. We detected the SB2 nature of Aa based on STIS spectra, the companion of the O star (Aa1) being a B+B binary (Aa2 = Aa2a + Aa2b). Multiple lines of evidence point towards Aa2 being the EB: time delays in the eclipsing orbit detected by TESS, high mass for Aa2 from SB1 from constraints from the orbit of Aa1, and a lack of radial-velocity motion of Ab synchronised with the eclipsing orbit. This remains as a tentative conclusion pending further analysis. We detect secular changes in the SB1 orbit of Aa1 on a baseline longer than a century. At this stage, the effect is most likely caused by the change in velocity of the Aa center of mass due to the Aa-Ab visual orbit. Apsidal motion is most probably not the culprit.

Protostellar multiplicity is a common outcome of the star formation process. To fully understand the formation and evolution of these systems, the physical parameters of the molecular gas together with the dust must be systematically characterized. Using observations of molecular gas tracers, we characterize the physical properties of cloud cores in the Perseus molecular cloud (average distance of 295 pc) at envelope scales (5000-8000 AU). We used Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) and Nobeyama 45m Radio Observatory (NRO) observations of DCO$^+$, H$_2$CO and c-C$_3$H$_2$ in several transitions to derive the physical parameters of the gas toward 31 protostellar systems in Perseus. Gas kinetic temperature was obtained from DCO$^+$, H$_2$CO and c-C$_3$H$_2$ line ratios. Column densities and gas masses were then calculated for each species and transition. Gas kinetic temperature and gas masses were compared with bolometric luminosity, envelope dust mass, and multiplicity to search for statistically significant correlations. Gas kinetic temperature derived from DCO$^+$, H$_2$CO and c-C$_3$H$_2$ line ratios have average values of 14 K, 26 and 16 K, respectively, with a range of 10-26 K for DCO$^+$ and c-C$_3$H$_2$. The gas kinetic temperature obtained from H$_2$CO line ratios have a range of 13-82 K. Column densities of all three molecular species are on the order of 10$^{11}$ to 10$^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$, resulting in gas masses of 10$^{-11}$ to 10$^{-9}$ M$_{\odot}$. Statistical analysis of the physical parameters finds: i) similar envelope gas and dust masses for single and binary protostellar systems; ii) multiple (>2 components) protostellar systems tend to have slightly higher gas and dust masses than binaries and single protostars; iii) a continuous distribution of gas and dust masses is observed regardless of separation between components in protostellar systems.

In this work, we investigate hot, isentropic compact stars in the limiting cases of static and maximally rotating configurations, focusing on how variations in the symmetry energy of the equation of state derived from covariant density functional theory affect stellar properties. We consider both nucleonic and hyperonic matter with systematically varied symmetry energy slopes, fixed entropies per baryon $s / k_B=1$ and 3, and electron fractions $Y_e=0.1$ and $Y_e=0.4$, representative of conditions in binary neutron star mergers and proto-neutron stars. We compute and analyze mass--radius and moment--of--inertia--mass relations, as well as the dependence of the Keplerian (mass-shedding) frequency on mass, angular momentum, and the ratio of kinetic to gravitational energy. Furthermore, we show that several universal relations between global properties remain valid across both nucleonic and hyperonic equations of state with varying symmetry energy, both in the static and Keplerian limit, and for various combinations of the fixed entropy and electron fraction.

Presolar graphite grains carry the isotopic signatures of their parent stars. A significant fraction of presolar graphites shows isotopic abundance anomalies relative to solar for elements such as O, Si, Mg and Ca, which are compatible with nucleosynthesis in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Therefore, they must have condensed from CCSN ejecta before the formation of the Sun. Their most puzzling abundance signature is the $^{22}$Ne-enriched component Ne-E(L), interpreted as the effect of the radioactive decay of $^{22}$Na ($T_{1/2}$ = 2.6 years). Previous works have shown that if H is ingested into the He shell and not fully destroyed before the explosion, the CCSN shock in the He shell material produces large $^{22}$Na amounts. Here we focus on such CCSN models, showing a radioactive $^{26}$Al production compatible with grains measurements, and analyze the conditions of $^{22}$Na nucleosynthesis. In these models, $^{22}$Na is mostly made in the He shell, with a total ejected mass varying between 2.6$\times$10$^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ and 1.9$\times$10$^{-6}$ M$_{\odot}$. We show that such $^{22}$Na may already impact the CCSN light curve 500 days after the explosion, and at later stages it can be the main source powering the CCSN light curve for up to a few years before the $^{44}$Ti decay becomes dominant. Based on the CCSN yields above, the 1274.53 keV $\gamma$-ray flux due to $^{22}$Na decay could be observable for years after the first CCSN light is detected, depending on the distance. This makes CCSNe possible sites to detect a $^{22}$Na $\gamma$-ray signature consistently with the Ne-E(L) component found in presolar graphites. Finally, we discuss the potential contribution from the $^{22}$Na decay to the galactic positron annihilation rate.

We present bolometric corrections, as a function of wavelength, for powerful radio-loud quasars from the Revised Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Galaxies (3CRR) at 1 < z < 2. The bolometric luminosities are derived by integrating the intrinsic accretion disk spectral energy distributions (SEDs) over the range 1{\mu}m-10keV (excluding reprocessed infrared emission) and integrating over inclination angles (to account for accretion disk emission anisotropy). We use accretion disk models, fitted to observed data, to self-consistently bridge the unobserved wavelength region between the UV and X-rays with no need for far-UV gap repair. The resulting bolometric corrections span a wide range (~1-400) across different wavelengths, showing minimal dependence on redshift, X-ray luminosity, and black hole mass, which is possibly due to a narrow range of these intrinsic AGN parameters in the sample. However, when the sample is divided by Eddington ratio, the X-ray bolometric corrections exhibit distinctly different values, with higher correction factors corresponding to higher Eddington ratios. We also examine the connection between total radio luminosity and accretion disk power. For most 3CRR sources, the radio power constitutes roughly 1%-10% of the accretion disk luminosity. However, quasars with compact jets exhibit higher radio luminosities for a given accretion disk power. This suggests a higher efficiency of conversion of accretion power to radio luminosity in the younger jets. Our results provide physically motivated bolometric corrections for powerful radio quasars that are applicable to powerful radio-loud quasars at any epoch.

White dwarf spectroscopic characterization is entering a big data era, with the number of spectroscopically characterized white dwarfs expected to grow from $\sim$100,000 to over 300,000 in upcoming years. Traditional methods like least-squares fitting and Markov Chain Monte Carlo have become computationally prohibitive for large-scale analysis, requiring minutes to days per star. Furthermore, these methods impose fundamental limitations on model complexity by requiring explicit likelihood functions, typically restricting them to Gaussian assumptions. We present neural posterior estimation (NPE), a simulation-based inference technique that directly approximates posterior distributions through neural networks trained on simulated spectra. Our approach provides accurate parameter inference in milliseconds per star after upfront training costs, enabling statistical tests of the procedure's reliability. We demonstrate NPE's effectiveness on DA, DB, and carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs, validating its calibration with simulation-based calibration and tests of accuracy with random points. Application to SDSS data shows excellent agreement with previous studies, recovering parameters from previous work within 6.8% for effective temperature and 2.1% for surface gravity, on average. We also apply our technique on WD 1153+012, a hot DQ star with a carbon-oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere, using high-resolution spectroscopy. This methodology combines computational efficiency with the flexibility to model complex atmospheres, making it ideal for upcoming surveys. Our approach also integrates spectroscopic and photometric constraints through an iterative procedure, providing comprehensive characterization of white dwarfs.

We analyze a decade of 6.7 GHz methanol monitoring data in G9.62+0.20E, confirming the known periodicities of p1 = 241.3 +/- 2.3 d and p2 = 52.5 +/- 0.3 d, and identifying three new cycles at p3 = 127.0 +/- 1.6 d, p4 = 163.9 +/- 2.9 d, and p5 = 204.1 +/- 1.5 d. The 241.3-d and 204.1-d periods occur in multiple velocity channels, while the others are confined to single components. Despite their diverse morphologies and timescales, all flares can be reproduced within a unified Maxwell-Bloch framework operating in the fast-transient superradiance regime, driven by narrow periodic pump excitations. Model fits yield consistent environmental parameters across periodicities (temperatures, collisional timescales), pointing to broadly uniform physical conditions in the masing region. The discovery of new periodicities and their unified Maxwell-Bloch modeling provide a consistent picture of multi-periodic flaring in G9.62+0.20E and support superradiance as a general framework for maser flaring.

We present a spectroscopic analysis of ten carbon enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars of type CEMP-s and CEMP-rs and determine their NLTE abundances of Ba and Eu, as well as the fractions of the odd Ba isotopes (F_odd). The Ba abundances inferred from the resonance Ba II 4554 and 4934 A lines depend on the adopted Ba isotope mixture. We perform calculations for different F_odd from 0.1 to 1.0 and determine the corresponding abundances from the Ba II resonance lines in each sample star. In addition, we determine the Ba abundances from the Ba II subordinate lines, which are almost independent of F_odd. We then compare the Ba abundances derived from the subordinate lines with those from the Ba II resonance lines. We found different F_odd values in CEMP-s and CEMP-rs stars. CEMP-s stars exhibit F_odd = 0.05$_{-0.03}^{+0.07}$, 0.17$_{-0.14}^{+0.63}$, 0.19$_{-0.14}^{+0.50}$, and 0.19$_{-0.12}^{+0.33}$. The obtained values agree, within the error bars, with the s-process F_odd = 0.10 and the solar F_odd = 0.18. Although the uncertainties are large, in three of four stars, the possibility of Ba isotopes origin in a pure r-process with F_odd = 0.75 can be excluded. CEMP-rs stars show F_odd = 0.34$_{-0.21}^{+0.55}$, 0.36$_{-0.14}^{+0.23}$, 0.44$_{-0.22}^{+0.43}$, 0.53$_{-0.38}^{+0.47}$, and 0.57$_{-0.31}^{+0.43}$, which are higher compared to those in CEMP-s stars. Although the uncertainties are large, in four of five stars, the possibility of a pure s-process origin for the Ba isotopes can be excluded. The obtained values agree, within the error bars, with the predicted i-process F_odd = 0.6 to 0.8. Our analysis of CEMP-rs stars with [Ba/Eu] > 0 argues that their [Ba/Eu] and F_odd cannot be jointly explained by a mixture of material produced by the r- and s-processes. The obtained results argue that the i-process is responsible for the chemical composition of these CEMP-rs stars.

In this paper we focus on the analysis of the multiwavelength spectroscopic observations of a quiescent prominence. The spectral and geometrical parameters in the prominence were derived and used to constrain the NLTE radiative transfer models. Applying this method with multiwavelength observations provides a good opportunity to reduce the large range of thermodynamic parameters in solar prominences. We used time-slice and optical flow methods in order to derive the plane-of-sky (POS) velocities, and used gravity center and peak position methods on Mg II h&k and H I Ly-alpha profiles to compute the line-of-sight (LOS) velocities. We used the integrated intensities and FWHM values of the H-alpha, Ca II H, and Mg II h&k lines to compare with the NLTE radiative transfer computations. Ionization degree and thickness of the prominence plasma could be further derived. Opposite flows are observed along two strands between prominence barbs. The POS velocity can reach 20 km/s and the largest LOS velocity is > 90 km/s. The derived electron densities range from 6.5e9 cm-3 to 2.7e10 cm-3, and the derived total hydrogen densities range from 7.4e9 cm-3 to 6.6e10 cm-3. The temperature ranges from 7 000 to 14 000 K. The ionization degree of hydrogen is in the range of 0.40 to 0.91. The comparison between averaged and modeled profiles of Mg II and Ly-alpha lines shows that macro-velocities of 15 km/s and 20 km/s are required, respectively. The bulk motions among prominence barbs indicate that the prominence plasma is not confined within magnetic dips but exhibits a large-scale behavior. The presence of high-speed cool plasma flows, along with a wide range of plasma densities and temperatures, suggests that the prominence plasma is far from thermodynamic equilibrium and is inherently dynamic in nature.

We report a weak-lensing (WL) mass measurement for the merging cluster Abell 754 and impose constraints on the merger trajectory. The trajectory analysis adopts a two-body model with a point-mass approximation and dynamical friction, refined using numerical simulations of major mergers and characterized by Euler angles. We first conduct WL analysis using the two-dimensional shear pattern from the Subaru HSC in combination with Suprime-Cam images to assist in color selection. The WL mass map shows a distinct double-peak structure located around the western and eastern brightest cluster galaxies as reported in the literature. The two-halo component analysis, which utilizes the 2D shear pattern over the cluster entire region and considers the lensing covariance matrix from uncorrelated large-scale structures, indicates mass values of $M_{200}^W=3.13_{-1.00}^{+1.53}\times10^{14}h_{70}^{-1}M_\odot$ and $M_{200}^E=6.41_{-1.97}^{+2.92}\times10^{14}h_{70}^{-1}M_\odot$. Thus, the eastern mass component associated with the X-ray tadpole-shaped gas is the main cluster. No substantial structural components are detected in the line-of-sight velocities of the member galaxies. Utilizing WL parameters, line-of-sight velocities, and X-ray information on morphology and kinematics, we determine an impact parameter of approximately 0.77 Mpc at an initial separation of 2 Mpc from the main cluster. The merger plane is inclined at about 20 degrees relative to the line-of-sight. Interestingly, this system is an off-axis, near-line-of-sight merger. This characteristic arises because the trajectory within the merger plane is altered during the pericenter passage, causing the apparent motion to transition from predominantly along the line-of-sight before the core passage to mainly within the plane of the sky afterward. This study will assist in conducting numerical simulations to understand the XRISM observations.

Both theoretical models and observations of collapsar created gamma-ray bursts -- typically long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) -- suggest that these transients cannot occur at high metallicity, likely due to angular momentum losses via stellar winds for potential progenitor stars. However, the precise metallicity threshold (if it is a hard threshold) above which the formation of LGRBs is suppressed is still a topic of discussion. We investigated observed LGRBs and the properties of their host galaxies to constrain this metallicity dependence. In order to compute LGRB rates we modelled the cosmic history of star formation, as a function of host galaxy metallicity and stellar mass, and added a LGRB efficiency function that can include various shapes including abrupt cutoffs and more gradual variations in the GRB yield with metallicity. In contrast to previous work, this model includes scatters in the relations between mass, metallicity, and star formation rate, as well as a scatter in the metallicity distribution inside galaxies. We then varied both the threshold value and shape, and compared it to observed LGRBs and the properties of their host galaxies. In our model a sharp cutoff at an oxygen abundance $Z_{\text{O/H}}=12+\log(\text{O/H})=8.6\pm0.1$ (corresponding to $\sim0.6Z_{\odot}$) provides the best explanation for the observed LGRB data. In contrast, a lower threshold proposed in literature (i.e. at $Z_{\text{O/H}}=8.3$ or $\sim0.3Z_{\odot}$) fits observations poorly. We therefore conclude that, in contrast to most theoretical LGRB models, a relatively high metallicity threshold at near-solar values provides the best match between our model and observed LGRBs.

The repeating behavior of fast radio bursts (FRBs) is regarded as a key clue to understanding their physical origin, yet reliably distinguishing repeaters from apparent non-repeaters with current observations remains challenging. Here we propose a physically interpretable and practically quantifiable classification framework based on spectral morphology. Using dimensionality reduction, clustering, and feature-importance analysis, we identify the spectral running $r$ and spectral index $\gamma$ as the most critical parameters for distinguishing repeaters from apparent non-repeaters in the CHIME/FRB sample. In the $\gamma$-$r$ space, repeaters preferentially occupy regions with steeper, narrower-band spectra, whereas non-repeaters cluster in flatter, broader-band regions, resulting in a clear density separation. We further construct an empirical probability map in the $\gamma$-$r$ space, showing a clear gradient of repetition likelihood, from $\sim 65\%$ in the high-repetition region to $\sim 5\%$ in the low-repetition region. Combining this with Gaussian Mixture Model posterior analysis, we identify several apparent non-repeaters with high inferred repetition probability, recommending them as priority targets for future monitoring. This framework provides a simple and generalizable tool for assessing repeatability in the CHIME/FRB sample and highlights the diagnostic power of spectral morphology in unveiling FRB origins.

Oxygen isotope abundances and their ratios are fingerprints of stellar evolution and therefore provide a powerful tool in tracing the enrichment history of galaxies. However, their behavior in low-metallicity dwarf galaxies remains largely unexplored. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a nearby analog of young high-redshift galaxies, offers an ideal laboratory to investigate this regime. Using the Atacama Compact Array, we observed the $J=2\to 1$ transitions of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, C$^{18}$O, and C$^{17}$O from the massive star-forming region LIRS~36 (aka N12A), achieving the first detection of C$^{17}$O in the SMC. This detection enables the first direct measurement of the $^{18}$O/$^{17}$O abundance ratio of 0.87$\pm$0.26 in this galaxy, substantially lower than all values in the literature, including molecular clouds in the Milky Way and other galaxies. Such a low ratio of $^{18}$O/$^{17}$O, together with a high $^{13}$CO/C$^{18}$O ratio, indicates chemical enrichment dominated by low-mass stars, consistent with the observed paucity of high-mass stars in the SMC. We suggest that the SMC is governed by a top-light integrated galaxy-wide initial mass function, predicted by the SMC's persistently low star-formation activities.

The Rossby Wave Instability (RWI) has become an important concept in understanding the hydrodynamics (HDs) of accretion discs (ADs), especially in systems around black holes (BHs) where magnetic effects are either weak or absent. This instability is triggered by extrema (or sharp gradients) in the vortensity profile of the disc. Once activated, it leads to non-axisymmetric disturbances that can grow into large-scale vortices. These vortices play a significant role in the outward transport of angular momentum (AM). They may also help explain the presence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in certain astrophysical systems such as X-ray binaries (XRBs). Here we review the main theoretical ideas behind RWI, as well as findings from more advanced three-dimensional (3D) and relativistic simulations. We also mention how the theory has been extended to include magnetic fields and self-gravity(SG) and what these results might imply for actual observations.

Explosive nucleosynthesis is affected by many uncertainties, particularly regarding assumptions and prescriptions adopted during the evolution of the star. Moreover, simple explosion models are often used in the literature, which can introduce large errors in the assumed explosion energy and mass cut. In this paper, our goal is to analyze the explosion properties and nucleosynthesis of a large range of progenitors from three different stellar evolution codes: FRANEC, KEPLER, and MESA. In particular, we will show the differences between the neutrino-driven explosions simulated in this work with the much simpler bomb and piston models that are typically widely used in the literature. We will then focus on the impact of different explodabilities and different explosion dynamics on the nucleosynthetic yields. We adopt the neutrino-driven core-collapse supernova explosion code GR1D+, i.e. a spherically symmetric model with state-of-the-art microphysics and neutrino transport and a time-dependent mixing-length model for neutrino-driven convection. We carry out explosions up to several seconds after bounce, and then calculate the nucleosynthetic yields with the post-processing code SkyNet. We find that our 1D+ simulations yield explosion energies and remnant masses in agreement with observations of type II-P, IIb, and Ib supernovae, as well as with the most recent 3D simulations of the explosion. We provide a complete set of yields for all the stars simulated, including rotating, low-metallicity, and binary progenitors. Finally, we find that piston and bomb models, compared to more realistic neutrino-driven explosions, can artificially increase the production of Fe-peak elements, whereas the different explodability tends to cause discrepancies in the lighter elements.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have emerged as powerful cosmological probes for exploring the distant Universe, owing to their immense luminosities and detectability at high redshifts. Several empirical correlations have been established, particularly involving their energy properties. This work aims to enhance the precision of these correlations through joint spectral analysis, focusing on reducing uncertainties in both the spectral indices and the peak energy ($E_{\rm p}$) derived from spectral fitting. We extend previous studies using both traditional and novel spectral models, utilizing a sample of 37 GRBs observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT), incorporating the LAT Low-Energy (LLE) technique, over the period 2008-2024. Our analysis compares results from joint fits (GBM-LAT-LLE) against those from GBM-only fits. The study focuses on fitting time-integrated ${\rm T}_{90}$ and peak flux in the rest frame. Among the observable phenomenological correlations, we revisit the Amati and Yonetoku relations: the Amati relation links the intrinsic peak energy ($E_{i,\rm p}$) to the total isotropic energy ($E_{\rm iso}$) emitted during ${\rm T}_{90}$, while the Yonetoku relation connects $E_{i,\rm p}$ to the isotropic luminosity ($L_{\rm iso}$). Refining these correlations aims to deepen our understanding of GRB energetics and improve the precision of cosmological parameter estimates derived from GRB observations.

The physical origin of soft X-ray excess (SE) is a long lasting question, with two prevailing theories -- ``warm corona'' and ``ionized reflection'' -- dominating the discussion. In the warm corona scenario, SE originates from upscattered disk photons and should therefore correlate strongly with UV emission. Conversely, in the ionized reflection scenario, SE arises from the illumination of the accretion disk by the hot corona and should primarily correlate with the hard X-ray primary continuum (PC). In this second paper of the series, we investigate the correlations among SE, UV and PC, leveraging a sample of 59 unobscured type 1 AGNs compiled in \citet{Chen+2025a}. Our extensive analysis reveals a strong intrinsic correlation between SE and UV that remains robust after controlling for PC ($p_\mathrm{null}\lesssim 10^{-7}$). In contrast, the correlation between SE and PC is weaker but still statistically significant ($p_\mathrm{null}\lesssim 5\times 10^{-2}$). These findings suggest that, in addition to ionized reflection -- a natural outcome of the hot corona illuminating the disk -- a warm corona component is essential, and may even dominate, in producing the soft excess. Additionally, we report a mild anti-correlation between SE strength ($q$) and PC photon index ($\Gamma_\mathrm{PC}$) ($p_\mathrm{null}=10^{-2}$), suggesting a potential competition between the warm and hot coronae. Finally, we find that the $\Gamma_\mathrm{PC}$ values we derived with SE properly incorporated exhibit a much weaker correlation with $\lambda_\mathrm{Edd}$ ($p_\mathrm{null}=2\times 10^{-2}$) than previously reported in the literature. This highlights the critical role of accurately modeling SE in studies of the $\Gamma_\mathrm{PC}$--$\lambda_\mathrm{Edd}$ relation.

We present high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the merging cluster Abell~754 using \textit{XRISM}/Resolve. In GO1 phase, \textit{XRISM}/Resolve observed Abell 754 in two deep pointings, targeting the eastern primary core (114~ks) and the middle of the X-ray filamentary structure (190~ks). Spectral fits to full field-of-view data reveal a line-of-sight velocity difference of $656 \pm 35$~km~s$^{-1}$ between the two pointing, corresponding to a bulk Mach number of 0.45$\pm$0.03. Velocity dispersions are measured to be $220^{+26}_{-29}$~km~s$^{-1}$ and $279^{+24}_{-23}$~km~s$^{-1}$ in the eastern and middle pointing, respectively. Within the eastern core, the velocity dispersion shows spatial variation, reaching $497^{+144}_{-117}$~km~s$^{-1}$ in the southern core with high temperature -- among the largest values yet reported in galaxy clusters to date. Narrow-band analysis of the Fe--K complex in this region reveals systematically higher temperatures derived from He-like and H-like Fe line ratio compared to those obtained via broadband fits, indicating multi-phase structures. Two-temperature modeling further separates a cooler core phase from a hotter, shock or turbulence-heated phase whose velocity is blueshifted, similar to that of the middle pointing. These results point to a mixing interface where post-shock gas from the south overlaps, in projection, with cooler core gas, inflating the observed line widths in this region. Weak-lensing analysis with Subaru/HSC and Suprime-cam confirms that the eastern component is about twice as massive as the western one, consistent with disruption and gas stripping of the latter. The curved morphology of the eastern X-ray core, together with the measured kinematics, is naturally explained by an off-axis, post--core-passage merger that imparts angular momentum and drives large-scale rotational and fallback flows.

Luminosity outbursts of FU Ori-type objects (FUors) allow us to observe in the gas the molecules that are typically present in the ice in protoplanetary discs. In particular, the fraction of deuterated water, which is usually is mostly frozen in the midplane of a protoplanetary disc, has been measured for the first time in the gas of the disc around a FUor V883 Ori. We test the hypothesis that the observed high HDO/H$_{2}$O ratio in the V883 Ori protoplanetary disc can be explained by luminosity outbursts of different amplitude, including a series of two consecutive outbursts. Using the ANDES astrochemical code, we modelled the distributions of water and deuterated water abundances under the action of luminosity outbursts of different amplitudes (from 400 to 10 000 $L_{\odot}$) and at different stellar luminosities at the pre-outburst stage. We show that the best agreement with the observed HDO/H$_{2}$O profile is obtained for outburst amplitudes of 2 000 and 10 000 $L_{\odot}$, while the observed bolometric luminosity of V883 Ori does not exceed 400 $L_{\odot}$. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy, including the presence of past luminosity outbursts, the age of the star, and the influence of additional heating mechanisms in the midplane of the protoplanetary disc. We also consider how the high observed $\rm HDO/H_{2}O$ ratio may be related to the evolution of the chemical composition of the ice in the protoplanetary disc and the chemical processes activated under outburst conditions.

We present a publicly available catalogue of massive structures in the nearby Universe, constructed from the Manticore-Local posterior ensemble -- a Bayesian reconstruction of the local Universe from 2M++ galaxies. We identify massive structures by clustering central haloes at $z = 0$ across the 80 posterior realizations, selecting at most one member per realization. These $\textit{associations}$ serve as probabilistic counterparts to individual massive clusters, each with robust posterior estimates of mass, position, and velocity. The catalogue contains 225 associations with mean masses $\langle M_{200} \rangle > 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$ persisting in at least 50\% of realizations. We independently validate these systems through stacked \textit{Planck} thermal Sunyaev--Zel'dovich measurements, which yield significant detections ($>3\sigma$) with amplitudes following the expected $Y$--$M$ relation. Many associations exhibit coherent evolutionary histories: even with only $z = 0$ constraints, the inference narrows each system's possible assembly pathway, localizing progenitor configurations to volumes 2--5 times smaller than mass-matched haloes in unconstrained $\Lambda$CDM simulations. Cross-matches with X-ray catalogues reveal systematic mass-scale differences that align with known observational biases: \textsc{Manticore-Local} masses are typically twice ROSAT-based estimates but agree at unity with weak-lensing-calibrated eROSITA measurements. This demonstrates the catalogue's capability to diagnose systematics on an object-by-object basis. The resulting catalogue provides an observationally consistent map of massive structures in the local Universe, enabling direct cross-probe comparisons, hybrid analyses combining simulated and observed quantities, and systematic mass-scale studies.

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are some of the brightest and most variable objects in the universe. Those with relativistic jets observed at small viewing angles are blazars. Due to Doppler-boosting, blazars exhibit extreme stochastic variability. While the origin of this variability is thought to be changes in the accretion flow and jet dynamics, much about blazar variability remains unknown. In this paper we use several blazar-dominated AGN samples to form a catalog of 7918 blazars and candidates -- the largest to date. We also collect source types, redshifts, spectral energy distribution (SED) peak frequencies, radio variability Doppler factors, and X-ray flux densities for as many sources as possible. We use all-sky surveys (CRTS, ATLAS, and ZTF, abbreviated as ``CAZ'') to extract their optical multiband flux density on a nightly basis between 2007 and 2023, and construct as long and as high cadence light curves as possible for as many sources as attainable. The catalog and its light curves are provided in the accompanying electronic tables, enabling many analyses involving AGN variability with unprecedented sample-sizes. We quantify the variability of the light curves, and apply the Bayesian blocks algorithm to determine their flaring periods. We find: (1) optical flares generally have a faster rise than decay; (2) optical brightness and variability are strongly dependent on the synchrotron peak frequency; (3) flat spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects have comparable optical variability and flare characteristics at the same synchrotron peak frequency; and (4) optical flare times tend to decrease and amplitudes increase with increasing radio variability Doppler factor.

Over the past decade, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has detected a few hundreds of high-energy (HE) neutrinos from cosmic sources. Despite numerous studies searching for their origin, it is still not known which source populations emit them. A few confident individual associations exist with active galactic nuclei (AGN), mostly with blazars which are jetted AGN whose jet points in our direction. Nonetheless, on a population level, blazar-neutrino correlation strengths are rather weak. This could mean that blazars as a population do not emit HE neutrinos, or that the detection power of the tests is insufficient due to the strong atmospheric neutrino background. By assuming an increase in HE neutrino emission during major blazar flares, in our previous studies we leveraged the arrival time of the neutrinos to boost the detection power. In this paper we utilize the same principle while substantially increasing the number of blazars. We search for the spatio-temporal correlation of 356 IceCube HE neutrinos with major optical flares of 3225 radio- and 3814 $\gamma$-ray-selected blazars. We find that, despite the increase in data size, the number of confident spatio-temporal associations remains low and the overall correlation strengths weak. Two individual associations drive our strongest and the only $>$2$\sigma$ post-trial spatio-temporal correlation, occurring with the BL Lac objects of the radio-selected blazar sample. We estimate that $\lesssim$8\% of the detected cosmic neutrinos were emitted by blazars during major optical flares. As a complementary analysis, we compare the synchrotron peak frequency, redshift, Doppler factor, X-ray brightness, and optical variability of spatially neutrino-associated blazars to those of the general blazar population. We find that spatially neutrino-associated blazars of the tested samples have higher than average Doppler factor and X-ray brightness.

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a nextgeneration ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope, will require detector technologies capable of supporting substantially larger pixel-count arrays than those flown on previous missions. Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) provide a scalable solution through microwave multiplexing and have already been demonstrated in balloon-borne instruments using Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for real-time signal processing. A central element of MKID readout is the Polyphase Filter Bank (PFB) spectrometer, which converts digitized timedomain signals into finely resolved frequency channels for subsequent analysis. To meet the demands for broader bandwidths and higher spectral resolution driven by emerging science goals, efficient FPGA-based implementations of the PFB are essential. This work presents current results from a fixed-point digital design methodology for deploying the PFB architecture on spacequalified FPGAs. The approach emphasizes efficient resource utilization and numerical precision while satisfying stringent performance constraints, enabling scalable, high-resolution spectral processing for future space observatories and remote sensing applications.

We present the second and final set of TRAPUM searches for pulsars at 1284 MHz inside supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae with the MeerKAT telescope. No new pulsars were detected for any of the 80 targets, which include some unidentified TeV sources that could be pulsar wind nebulae. The mean upper limit on the flux density of undetected pulsars is 52 $\mu$Jy, which includes the average sensitivity loss across the coherent beam tiling pattern. This survey is the largest and most sensitive multi-target campaign of its kind. We explore the selection effects that precluded discoveries by testing the parameters of the survey iteratively against many simulated populations of young pulsars in supernova remnants. For the synthetic pulsars that were undetected, we find evidence that, after beaming effects are accounted for, about 45 per cent of pulsars are too faint, 30 per cent are too smeared by scattering, and a further 25 per cent have a modelled projected location which places them outside their supernova remnant. The simulations are repeated for the S1 subband of the MeerKAT S-band receivers, resulting in a 50-150 per cent increase in the number of discoveries compared to L-band depending on the flux density limit achieved. Therefore, higher frequency searches that can also achieve improved flux density limits are the best hope for future targeted searches. We also report updated properties for the two previous discoveries, including a polarimetry study of PSR J1831$-$0941 finding a rotation measure of 401$\pm$1 rad m$^2$.

During an integral-field spectroscopic study of stars in the massive young open cluster NGC 1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, we serendipitously discovered a faint planetary nebula (PN). We designate it "Ka LMC 1," and find that its location near the cluster center, along with the agreement of its radial velocity with that of the cluster, imply a high probability of membership in NGC 1866. The 200 Myr age of the cluster indicates that the PN's progenitor star had an initial mass of about 3.9 Msun. The integrated spectrum of Ka LMC 1 shows strong emission lines of [N II], consistent with it being a "Type I" nitrogen-rich PN. The nebula exhibits a classical ring morphology, with a diameter of ~6", corresponding to an advanced expansion age of about 18,000 yr. Archival images of NGC 1866 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal a faint blue central star. Comparison of the star's luminosity with predictions from one set of theoretical post-asymptotic-giant-branch evolutionary tracks for single stars implies an age roughly consistent with the dynamical age of the PN, but the agreement with alternative modern tracks is much poorer. Analysis of the emission-line spectrum suggests considerable dust extinction within the nebula; however the central star possibly suffers little reddening because we may be viewing it nearly pole-on in a bipolar PN. Our accidental discovery was made using data that are not ideal for study of Ka LMC 1; we suggest several avenues of future targeted studies that would provide valuable and nearly unique new information for constraining models of late stellar evolution.

Solar flares are complex phenomena driven by the release of magnetic energy, but a large energy reservoir is not sufficient to determine their eruptive potential; the magnetic topology and plasma dynamics play a key role. We investigate the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of the solar atmosphere during the rise, peak, and decay phases of a C5.1-class flare and filament eruption in active region NOAA 12561 on 2016 July 7, to understand the origin and atmospheric response of this event. High spatial and spectral resolution spectropolarimetric observations of the chromospheric Ca II 8542A line and nearby photospheric lines were obtained with the TRIPPEL-SP spectropolarimeter at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. Using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) inversions and non-force-free field (NFFF) magnetic extrapolations, we followed the event's evolution from its precursor to its decay. Before the flare, our analysis reveals a complex, sheared magnetic topology with a high free energy content ($\sim2\times10^{30}$ erg). In this precursor phase, we detected persistent, localized heating (temperature increase of $\sim$2000 K) with strong downflows ($\sim$10-20 km/s) deep in the atmosphere. This heating was co-spatial with a bald-patch region, suggesting that low-altitude magnetic reconnection could destabilize the filament of the region. The flare's rise phase was marked by the filament's eruption, with a total speed larger than $\sim$70 km/s, when combining inversions and plane-of-sky motions. Following the eruption, the free energy decreased by $\sim$30$\%$ as post-flare loops formed, connecting the flare ribbons and channeling the released energy into the lower atmosphere. The flare ribbons exhibited significant heating to $\sim$8500 K and downflows up to $\sim$10 km/s, consistent with energy deposition along reconnected loops.

Wideband timing of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) datasets, where a single time-of-arrival (TOA) and a single dispersion measure (DM) are measured using the entire bandwidth of each observation, was first done for the 12.5-year dataset, and proved to be invaluable for characterizing the time-varying dispersion measure, reducing the data volume, and for improving the overall timing precision. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Telescope has been observing most NANOGrav millisecond pulsars (MSPs) at nearly daily cadence (compared to roughly monthly cadence for other NANOGrav observations) since 2019 with the objective of integration into future pulsar timing array (PTA) datasets. In this paper, we show the results of integration of high-cadence, low-observing-frequency CHIME data with data from the NANOGrav experiment for an isolated MSP PSR~J0645$+$5158 and three binary MSPs PSR~J1012$+$5307, PSR~J2145$-$0750, and PSR~J2302$+$4442. Using a wideband timing pipeline which we also describe, we present updated timing results for all four sources, including improvements in measurements of relativistic post-Keplerian parameters for the three binary pulsars in this analysis. For PSR~J2302$+$4442, we report an updated strong detection of Shapiro delay from which we measured a companion mass of $0.35^{+0.05}_{-0.04}\ M_{\odot}$, a pulsar mass of $1.8^{+0.3}_{-0.3}\ M_{\odot}$, and an orbital inclination of ${80^{\circ}}^{+1}_{-2}$. We also report updated constraints on the reflex motion for PSR~J2145$-$0750 using a combination of Very Long Baseline Array astrometry and our updated measurement of the time derivative of the projected semi-major axis of the pulsar orbit as a prior.

Post-AGB and post-RGB binaries with stable circumbinary discs provide key insights into late stellar and disc evolution, revealing how binary interactions shape disc structure and stellar surface composition. A defining trait of such systems is the observed underabundance of refractory elements in the stellar photosphere relative to volatile elements -- photospheric chemical depletion -- resulting from the star accreting volatile-rich circumstellar gas. In this study, we investigated the link between photospheric depletion and disc evolution by focusing on post-AGB/post-RGB binaries with low infrared excess (hereafter ``faint disc'' targets). We analysed high-resolution optical spectra from HERMES/Mercator and UVES/VLT for 6 Galactic and 2 LMC targets. Using \texttt{E-iSpec}, we homogeneously derived atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances of 29 elements from carbon to europium, and included NLTE corrections for 15 elements from carbon to barium that we calculated using pySME and pre-computed grids of departure coefficients. All targets exhibit `saturated' depletion patterns, which we characterised using two-piece linear fits defined by three parameters: initial metallicity ([M/H]$_0$), turn-off temperature ($T_{\rm turn-off}$), and depletion scale ($\nabla_{\rm 100 K}$). Among several findings, we highlight the bimodal distribution of $T_{\rm turn-off}$ in faint disc targets, which allows classification into two subgroups analogous to full discs with continuous, optically thick dust ($T_{\rm turn-off}$ > 1 100 K), and transition discs with inner clearing ($T_{\rm turn-off}$ < 1 100 K). Our results imply that faint disc targets likely represent the final stages of disc dissipation, highlighting the diversity of depletion profiles, the complexity of disc-binary interactions, and the need to understand the rarity and evolution of faint disc systems.

We investigate the effect of turbulent magnetic fields on the observed spectral properties of synchrotron radio emission in large-scale radio galaxy lobes. We use three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of fast, high-powered jets to study the structure of the lobe magnetic fields and how this structure affects the radio spectrum of the lobes. It has previously been argued that lobe ages inferred from radio spectra underestimate the true ages of radio galaxies due to re-acceleration of electrons in the lobe, mixing of electron populations, or the presence of turbulent magnetic fields in the lobes. We find that the spectral ages with and without accounting for the lobe magnetic field structure are consistent with each other, suggesting that mixing of radiating populations of different ages is the primary cause of the underestimation of radio lobe ages. By accounting for the structure of lobe magnetic fields, we find greater spectral steepening in the equatorial regions of the lobe. We demonstrate that the assumptions of the continuous injection, Jaffe-Perola, and Tribble models for radio lobe spectra do not hold in our simulations, and we show that young particles with high magnetic field strengths are the dominant contributors to the overall radio lobe spectrum.

It is well known that the nonlinear evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence generates intermittent current sheets. In the solar wind turbulence, current sheets are frequently observed and they are believed to be an important pathway for the turbulence energy to dissipate and heat the plasma. In this study, we perform a comprehensive analysis of current sheets in a high-resolution two-dimensional simulation of balanced, incompressible MHD turbulence. The simulation parameters are selected such that tearing mode instability is triggered and plasmoids are generated throughout the simulation domain. We develop an automated method to identify current sheets and accurately quantify their key parameters including thickness ($a$), length ($L$), and Lundquist number ($S$). Before the triggering of tearing instability, the current sheet lengths are mostly comparable to the energy injection scale. After the tearing mode onsets, smaller current sheets with lower Lundquist numbers are generated. We find that the aspect ratio ($a/L$) of the current sheets scales approximately as $S^{-1/2}$, i.e. the Sweet-Parker scaling. While a power-law scaling between $L$ and $a$ is observed, no clear correlation is found between the upstream magnetic field strength and thickness $a$. Finally, although the turbulence energy shows anisotropy between the directions parallel and perpendicular to the local magnetic field increment, we do not observe a direct correspondence between the shape of the current sheets and that of the turbulence "eddies." These results suggest that one needs to be cautious when applying the scale-dependent dynamic alignment model to the analysis of current sheets in MHD turbulence.

We present a detailed analysis of AGN identification diagnostics and host galaxy evolution using optical spectral diagnostics using ESO-GOODS-S data. We employ traditional Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagrams along with their modern extensions, the Mass-Excitation (MEx) and Colour-Excitation (CEx) diagrams, to classify AGNs from among up to 600+ candidates. We extract the spectral properties utilising an indigenous spectral fitting code. In addition, the code also incorporates inputs from a state-of-the-art stellar population synthesis model (Bruzual and Charlot, 2003, MNRAS, 344, 1000), extracting the host galaxy ages and metallicities as model parameters. Redshift values for all the studied spectra are obtained from the literature. Using these redshift values, we are able to assign a 'lookback time' (using standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological parameters). When this lookback time is combined with the galaxy ages (from spectral fitting), it enables us to study galaxy evolution even up to early cosmological epochs ($\sim$13 Gyr), despite restricting the studied field of galaxies to $z\sim 1$ (lookback time of $\sim$8 Gyr). We conclude that galaxies ultimately evolving into AGN hosts originate earlier ($\sim$8 Gyr ago) than non-AGN host galaxies ($\sim$6 Gyr ago). We relate this fact, that AGN hosts date back to an earlier epoch than non-AGN galaxies, as being likely due to higher cosmic temperatures at that time, probably enhancing black hole accretion. We emphasise that host galaxy age is an additional crucial parameter (apart from cosmological redshift) in defining our understanding of AGN and star formation co-evolution across cosmological time scales.

SFO 38, located in the Cepheus molecular cloud within the northern part of the HII region IC 1396, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the nearby O6.5V-type star HD 206267 and represents a classic example of a bright-rimmed cloud (BRC) undergoing radiatively driven implosion (RDI). While previous studies have examined the southern globule using CS and 13CO (1-0), we present a refined analysis using high-resolution JCMT-HARP observations in the 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (J = 3-2) lines, deriving key physical parameters along with virial mass and turbulence properties of the southern head. We also perform the first detailed investigation of the northeastern and northwestern tails, determining their morphological dimensions and internal conditions, including excitation temperature, column density, mass, and volume density. Spectral and stability analyses reveal that the tail regions are gravitationally unbound and dynamically expanding, explaining the lack of active star formation. Our results further shed light on the evolutionary fate of these structures, assessing whether they may accumulate sufficient material to become future sites of star formation or remain quiescent. Overall, this work highlights the dual role of RDI in this BRC: while it triggers star formation in the dense head, it simultaneously disperses and dynamically reshapes the extended tails.

We present TUNA, a Vision-Transformer based network adapted from segmentation to flux regression for faint, diffuse radio emission. Trained on LOFAR-like mock observations derived from cosmological simulations, TUNA accurately reconstructs low surface-brightness structures, with only mild smoothing and small brightness-dependent biases. Applied to LOFAR data of the A399 - A401 galaxy cluster system, it recovers the ridge not identifiable in the high resolution observation and matches the low resolution tapered map. These results indicate how TUNA can deliver automated, quantitative surface brightness estimates for diffuse extragalactic sources, enabling scalable analyses for upcoming surveys.

Cosmic voids, vast underdensities in the large-scale structure, offer unique sensitivity to cosmological parameters. However, traditional 3D galaxy-based void finding is limited by many factors, including uncertainties in the galaxy-halo connection and distortions from redshift errors. Using alternative tracers and new 2D void definitions can alleviate these limitations and be tailored to maximise the signal for specific observables. Here, we introduce Cosmic Tunnels, a new class of 2D void-like objects traced by galaxy clusters, corresponding to large underdense lines of sight. We identify Cosmic Tunnels by applying the tunnel algorithm to the RASS-MCMF and ACT-MCMF cluster catalogues. We validate their void-like nature by measuring the cross-correlation of Cosmic Tunnels with galaxy density contrast maps from the DESI Legacy Survey (measured at 63$\sigma$ significance), galaxy weak-lensing maps from DES Y3 (31$\sigma$), and CMB weak-lensing maps from ACT DR6 (15$\sigma$), all of which show underdense interiors enclosed by compensation ridges, consistent with 3D galaxy voids, measured at high statistical significance. We also show that the lensing profiles fit the universal HSW void profile, further validating their void-like nature. We cross-correlate the Cosmic Tunnels with Planck CMB temperature maps to measure the ISW signal. Using the ACT-MCMF Cosmic Tunnels, we achieve a 3.6$\sigma$ ISW detection, one of the highest significances ever reported from a single tracer catalogue. These results confirm that Cosmic Tunnels are robust underdense structures and demonstrate their potential as a new tool for cosmological analyses. Finally, we report a tentative detection of a sign flip in the ISW signal at very low redshift (z<0.03), consistent with previous studies, challenging the standard $\Lambda\rm{CDM}$ paradigm.

I explore the origin of the circumstellar (CS) shell of the unusual SN Ia 2020aeuh based on the light curve model abd observational constraints. I estimate the $^{56}$Ni mass ($1.1 M\odot$), CS shell mass ($0.04-0.2 M\odot$), radius ($2\times10^{16}$ cm), and expansion velocity $\lesssim 200$ km/s. Large $^{56}$Ni mass and properties of the CS shell are consistent with the scenario of massive binary white dwarf merger that has been accompanied with the ejection of $\sim 0.1 M\odot$ of matter. It is argued that SN~2020aeuh exploded not earlier than 30 yr after the merger.

Variations in the polar angle of the precessing jets in SS 433 are negatively correlated with variations in the speed of the jets. This was established some 20 years ago, based on the analysis of archival data accumulated from 40 years ago. This curious correlation has never been explained. Here I consider a promising mechanism involving the effect of flares on the slavery of the accretion disk.

Forecasting optical turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere has been an ambitious challenge for the astronomical scientific community for several decades. While earlier research primarily focused on whether it was possible to predict optical turbulence and its vertical distribution, current efforts are more concentrated on the accuracy achievable at different timescales, the efficiency of various forecasting methods and the contributions of new statistical approaches, such as auto-regression and machine learning to this field. In this contribution, I will present the state of the art of the research conducted by our group, positioned within the international research scenery. Most of our past activity has been primarily focused on ground-based astronomy but recent advancements in space research opened new opportunities for applications in the free-space optical communication.

We present a new method for generating emission spectra from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in arbitrary radiation fields. We utilize the single-photon limit for PAH heating and emission to treat individual photon absorptions as independent events. This allows the construction of a set of single-photon emission "basis spectra" that can be scaled to produce an output emission spectrum given any input heating spectrum. We find that this method produces agreement with PAH emission spectra computed accounting for multi-photon effects to within $\simeq10\%$ in the $3-20~{\rm \mu m}$ wavelength range for radiation fields with intensity $U<100$. We use this framework to explore the dependence of PAH band ratios on the radiation field spectrum across grain sizes, finding in particular a strong dependence of the 3.3 to $11.2~\mu$m band ratio on radiation field hardness. A Python-based tool and a set of basis spectra that can be used to generate these emission spectra are made publicly available.

Stellar surface inhomogeneities such as spots and faculae introduce Doppler variations that challenge exoplanet detection via the radial velocity method. While their impact on disc-integrated spectra is well established, detailed studies of the underlying local line profiles have so far been limited to the Sun. We present an observational campaign targeting the active star WASP-85 A during transits of its hot Jupiter companion. The transits span two stellar rotation periods, allowing us to probe the evolution of active regions. From ground-based photometry we identify seven active regions, six containing dark spots. Using simultaneous ESPRESSO transit spectroscopy, we spatially resolve these regions on the stellar surface by using the planet as a probe. We detect significant bisector shape changes, line broadening, and net redshifts during spot occultations, with velocity shifts of 108-333 m/s (mean uncertainty 50 m/s). The observed broadening is consistent with the Zeeman effect, implying magnetic field strengths (Stokes $I$) $B$ = 2.7-4.4 kG (mean uncertainty 0.6 kG), comparable to solar umbrae. Combined with our photometric spot model, this yields lower limits to the disc-integrated field $Bf = 16 \pm 3$ G and $61 \pm 9$ G for the two hemispheres probed -- at least three times higher than Sun-as-a-star values. We also measure centre-to-limb variations in FWHM, line depth, equivalent width, and convective blueshift, which broadly agree with solar observations and 3D MHD models. This work demonstrates a new way to characterise the surfaces of exoplanet host stars, paving the way for future analyses incorporating synthetic line profiles from 3D MHD simulations.

The article presents the results of the analysis of optical light curves of the massive binary system WR 20a (WN 6ha + WN 6ha). The analysis was performed with the binary system model, extending the standard Roche model for the case when both components of the system have powerful stellar winds. The model takes into account the collision of the winds and the influence of orbital motion on the collision zone. The observational light curves in the BVI filters were taken from previously published papers, in which they were analyzed using the standard Roche model. The main difference between the results of our work and the previous results is that in our model the radii of the components are about 25% smaller. As a consequence, the luminosity of the system in our model decreased by approximately 40%, and the distance to the system by 20%. In addition, the model was able to successfully describe the observed asymmetry of the light curve with respect to the phases of the conjunctions, which is impossible in the standard Roche model. The model light curves were also compared with the observational curves obtained by the TESS satellite and the ASAS-SN project. It was shown that, taking into account recent studies of interstellar extinction in the direction of the young open cluster Westerlund 2, the distance to WR 20a obtained in our calculations is consistent with the hypothesis that WR 20a is a member of the cluster.

Posterior inference on the more than a dozen parameters governing a gravitational wave (GW) event is challenging. A typical MCMC analysis can take around $100$ CPU hours, and next generation GW observatories will detect many thousands of events. Here we present a thorough comparison of the accuracy and computational cost of the Fisher Matrix, Derivative Approximation for Likelihoods (DALI) and traditional MCMC methods. We find that using DALI, which extends the traditional Fisher Matrix (FM) method to higher orders, allows for a good approximation of the posterior with a $55$ times smaller computational cost, and that the cost-benefit of the doublet-DALI is better than that of the triplet-DALI. We also show that the singlet-DALI, a hybrid MCMC-Fisher method, is much more accurate than the traditional FM and 10 times faster than the doublet-DALI. A large effort has been invested in forecasting the science case of different detector configurations, and the ability of making fast yet accurate estimations of the posteriors is an important step forward. We also introduce version \texttt{1.0} of the public \texttt{GWDALI} code, which incorporates automatic differentiation, modern waveforms and an optimized parameter decomposition.

Variability studies are a powerful tool for studying the structures of unresolved sources. One such type of variability study, called reverberation mapping (RM), established that the dominant source of infrared radiation from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) was from dust absorption and re-emission, which demonstrated that the optical brightening and fading of light from the accretion disk (AD) around a supermassive black hole was followed by a corresponding (delayed) variation at infrared (IR) wavelengths from the surrounding dust distribution. Since that time a great deal more has been learned about the dust distribution around ADs, both near the AD in the form of a potential torus, as well as extended emission in the form of polar dust outflows. Understanding the dust distribution is vital to understanding how AGNs affect their host galaxy as well as the overall energetics of AGNs as ~50% of energy from an AGN comes out in the IR. Dust RM has been done exclusively in the near-IR (1-5 microns) which traces the inner edge of the dust near the dust sublimation radius. Hence extending RM to the mid-IR, especially to the peak of the dust emission between 25 and 30 microns, allows for an examination of the dust distribution around ADs and potentially traces the source of the polar outflow. RM with the proposed PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) can focus on variability monitoring of a sample of low- to high-luminosity AGNs to trace the 25-30 microns emission that is reverberated from the UV/optical AD emission which will be monitored by other space and ground-based observatories and made available to PRIMA users. Then, by detailed modeling of the response of the dust emission to shorter wavelengths, the distribution of the dust around an AGN will be revealed and can be linked to the accretion disk luminosities.

The 6.7~GHz methanol maser transition is exclusively associated with young, high-mass stars and represents a potential target for astrometric studies, including accurate determination of their distance through trigonometric parallax measurements. There are more than 1000 known 6.7~GHz methanol maser sources in the Milky Way; however, not all are suitable targets for astrometric measurements. We have used the Long Baseline Array to observe 187 southern 6.7~GHz methanol masers and identify 69 sources with one or more maser spots that are sufficiently compact and intense to be suitable targets for very long baseline interferometry astrometry with current instruments. Maser compactness appears to be a strong function of Galactic position, with masers that are likely in nearby spiral arms being more compact, while those associated with distant arms or the central Galactic region being less compact - a relationship we associate with scatter broadening. This has implications for astrophysical masers, especially distant ones employed for Galactic astrometry.

The loss of STEREO-B in 2014 created a persistent blind spot in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) imaging of the solar farside. We present HelioFill, to the authors' knowledge, the first denoising-diffusion inpainting model that restores full-Sun EUV coverage by synthesizing the STEREO-B sector from Earth-side (SDO) and STEREO-A views. Trained on full-Sun maps from 2011-2014 (when SDO+STEREO-A+B provided 360 degrees coverage), HelioFill couples a latent diffusion backbone with domain-specific additions: spectral gating, confidence weighting, and auxiliary regularizers, to produce operationally suitable 304 Angstrom reconstructions. On held-out data, the model preserves the observed hemisphere with mean SSIM 0.871 and mean PSNR 25.56 dB, while reconstructing the masked hemisphere with mean SSIM 0.801 and mean PSNR 17.41 dB and reducing boundary error by approximately 21 percent (Seam L2) compared to a state-of-the-art diffusion inpainting model. The generated maps maintain cross-limb continuity and coronal morphology (loops, active regions, and coronal-hole boundaries), supporting synoptic products and cleaner inner-boundary conditions for coronal/heliospheric models. By filling observational gaps with observationally consistent EUV emission, HelioFill maintains continuity of full-Sun monitoring and complements helioseismic farside detections, illustrating how diffusion models can extend the effective utility of existing solar imaging assets for space-weather operations.

Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are important to chemical evolution at metallicity $Z \sim 0.0001$ ($\text{[Fe/H]} \approx -2.2$) as they contribute significantly to the production of nitrogen, lead, and dust in the early Universe. The contribution of AGB stars to the chemical evolution of the Universe is often quantified using the chemical yields from single AGB stars. Binary evolution challenges our understanding of chemical evolution as binary phenomena such as mergers and mass transfer episodes can significantly alter the stellar evolution pathways and yields. In this work, we use binary population synthesis code binary_c to model populations of low and intermediate-mass ($\sim 0.7-7 \, M_{\rm \odot}$) stars at metallicity $Z = 0.0001$. Our binary star populations predict $\sim 37\%$ fewer thermally-pulsing AGB stars than our single star populations, leading to a $\sim 40\%$ decrease in the amount of ejected C and a $\sim 35-40\%$ reduction in elements synthesised through the slow neutron capture process. The uncertainty introduced by the mass-loss from stellar winds on the AGB makes the impact of binary evolution on the total amount of ejected N uncertain. The total N yield ejected by our binary star populations ranges from a $17\%$ to a $36\%$ decrease compared to our single star populations. However, our binary populations overproduce N by over an order of magnitude during the period $300-700\,$Myr after formation.

Recently, machine learning-based real/bogus (RB) classifiers have demonstrated effectiveness in filtering out artifacts and identifying genuine transients in real-time astronomical surveys. However, the rarity of transient events and the extensive human labeling required for a large number of samples pose significant challenges in constructing training datasets for RB classification. Given these challenges, point source injection techniques, which inject simulated point sources into optical images, provide a promising solution. This paper presents the first detailed comparison of different point source injection strategies and their effects on classification performance within a simulation-to-reality framework. To this end, we first construct various training datasets based on Random Injection (RI), Near Galaxy Injection (NGI), and a combined approach by using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network datasets. Subsequently, we train convolutional neural networks on simulated cutout samples and evaluate them on real, imbalanced datasets from gravitational wave follow-up observations for GW190814 and S230518h. Extensive experimental results show that RI excels at asteroid detection and bogus filtering but underperforms on transients occurring near galaxies (e.g., supernovae). In contrast, NGI is effective for detecting transients near galaxies but tends to misclassify variable stars as transients, resulting in a high false positive rate. The combined approach effectively handles these trade-offs, thereby balancing between detection rate and false positive rate. Our results emphasize the importance of point source injection strategy in developing robust RB classifiers for transient (or multi-messenger) follow-up campaigns.

Due to wave interference, an ultralight light dark matter halo has stochastic, granular substructures which can scatter stars, leading to the heating of stellar distributions. Studies of this phenomenon have placed lower bounds on the ultralight dark matter mass. In this paper we investigate a number of relevant systematic effects, including: (1) the heating by the central soliton, (2) the self-gravity of the stars, (3) the suppression of heating in a tidally stripped halo, and (4) the tidal field suppression of heating when the stellar cluster is much smaller than the de Broglie wavelength. The first three effects are quantified by studying the dynamics of stellar particles in Schrodinger-Poisson simulations of ultralight dark matter halos, while the last effect is studied using analytic approximations.

We examine 3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) detected on 2023 October 24-25 by Solar Orbiter at 0.47 au. The measurements revealed that heavy-ion enhancements increase irregularly with mass, peaking at S. C, and especially N, Si, and S, stand out in the enhancement pattern with large abundances. Except for 3He, heavy ion spectra can only be measured below 0.5 MeV/nucleon. At 0.386 MeV/nucleon, the event showed a huge 3He/4He ratio of 75.2+/-33.9, larger than previously observed. Solar Dynamics Observatory extreme ultraviolet data showed a mini filament eruption at the solar source of 3He-rich SEPs that triggered a straight tiny jet. Located at the boundary of a low-latitude coronal hole, the jet base is a bright, small-scale region with a supergranulation scale size. The emission measure provides relatively cold source temperatures of 1.5 to 1.7 MK between the filament eruption and nonthermal type III radio burst onset. The analysis suggests that the emission measure distribution of temperature in the solar source could be a factor that affects the preferential selection of heavy ions for heating or acceleration, thus shaping the observed enhancement pattern. Including previously reported similar events indicates that the eruption of the mini filament is a common feature of events with heavy-ion enhancement not ordered by mass. Surprisingly, sources with weak magnetic fields showed extreme 3He enrichment in these events. Moreover, the energy attained by heavy ions seems to be influenced by the size and form of jets.

Kilonovae, the ultraviolet/optical/infrared counterparts to binary neutron star mergers, are an exceptionally rare class of transients. Optical follow-up campaigns are plagued by impostors whose early evolution masquerades as the rapid radioactive decay of heavy elements. In this work, we present an analysis of the multi-wavelength dataset of supernova (SN) 2025ulz, a proposed kilonova candidate following the low-significance detection of gravitational waves originating from the potential binary neutron star merger S250818k. Despite an early rapid decline in brightness, our multi-wavelength observations of SN 2025ulz reveal that it is a type IIb supernova. As part of this analysis, we demonstrate the capabilities of a novel quantitative scoring algorithm to determine the likelihood that a transient candidate is a kilonova, based primarily on its 3D location and light curve evolution. We also apply our scoring algorithm to other transient candidates in the localization volume of S250818k and find that, at all times after the discovery of SN 2025ulz, there are $\geq 4$ candidates with a score more promising than SN 2025ulz. During future kilonova searches, this type of scoring algorithm will be useful to rule out contaminating transients in real time, optimizing the use of valuable telescope resources.

We present the first joint high-resolution observations of small-scale EUV jets using Solar Orbiter(SolO)'s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager and High Resolution Imager (HRI) and H$\alpha$ imaging from the Visible Imaging Spectrometer (VIS) installed on the 1.6~m Goode Solar Telescope (GST) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). These jets occurred on 2022-10-29 around 19:10 UT in a quiet Sun region and their main axis aligns with the overarching magnetic structure traced by a cluster of spicules. However, they develop a helical morphology, while the H$\alpha$ spicules maintain straight, linear trajectories elsewhere. Alongside the spicules, thin, elongated red- and blue-shifted H$\alpha$ features appear to envelope the EUV jets, which we tentatively call sheath flows. The EUI jet moving upward at speed of ~110 km/s is joined by strong H$\alpha$ red-shift ~20 km/s to form the bidirectional outflows lasting ~2 min. Using AI-assisted differential emission measure (DEM) analysis of SolO's Full Sun Imager (FSI) we derived total energy of the EUV jet as ~$1.9 \times 10^{26}$ erg with 87% in thermal energy and 13% in kinetic energy. The parameters and morphology of this small-scale EUV jet are interpreted based on a thin flux tube model that predicts Alfvenic waves driven by impulsive interchange reconnection localized as narrowly as ~1.6 Mm with magnetic flux of ~$5.4\times 10^{17}$ Mx, belonging to the smallest magnetic features in the quiet Sun. This detection of intricate corona--chromospheric coupling highlights the power of high-resolution imaging in unraveling the mechanisms behind small-scale solar ejections across atmospheric layers.

Enhancements in 3He abundance, a characteristic feature of impulsive solar energetic particle (ISEP) events, are also frequently observed in gradual SEP (GSEP) events. Understanding the origin of this enrichment is crucial for identifying the mechanisms behind SEP generation. We investigate the origin of 3He enrichment in high-energy (25-50 MeV) solar proton events observed by SOHO, selecting events that coincide with <1 MeV/nucleon 3He-rich periods detected by ACE during 1997-2021. The identified 3He enhancements include cases where material from independent impulsive (3He-rich) SEP events is mixed with GSEP proton populations. Two high-energy proton events exhibit elemental composition and solar source characteristics consistent with ISEPs. Extreme-ultraviolet imaging from SDO and STEREO reveals narrow, jet-like eruptions in the parent active regions of about 60% of the remaining events. Notably, the highest 3He/4He ratios occur when coronal jets are present, consistent with fresh, jet-driven injection of suprathermal 3He that is subsequently re-accelerated during the event. Correspondingly, jet-associated events show fewer pre-event (residual) 3He counts, indicating that enrichment in these cases does not primarily come from remnant material. We find a positive correlation between 3He/4He and Fe/O, strongest in jet-associated events, consistent with a common jet-supplied seed population re-accelerated by the CME shock.

We present the results of James Webb Space Telescope observations of the protostar ST6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the Medium Resolution Spectrograph of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (4.9-27.9 $\mu$m). Characterized by one-third to half-solar metallicity and strong UV radiation fields, the environment of the LMC allows us to study the physics and chemistry of star-forming regions under the conditions similar to those at earlier cosmological epochs. We detected five icy complex organic molecules (COMs): methanol (CH$_3$OH), acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), ethanol (CH$_3$CH$_2$OH), methyl formate (HCOOCH$_3$), and acetic acid (CH$_3$COOH). This is the first conclusive detection of CH$_3$COOH ice in an astrophysical context, and CH$_3$CHO, CH$_3$CH$_2$OH, and HCOOCH$_3$ ices are the first secure detections outside the Galaxy and in a low-metallicity environment. We address the presence of glycolaldehyde (HOCH$_2$CHO, a precursor of biomolecules), an isomer of HCOOCH$_3$ and CH$_3$COOH, but its detection is inconclusive. ST6's spectrum is also rich in simple ices: H$_2$O, CO$_2$, CH$_4$, SO$_2$, H$_2$CO, HCOOH, OCN$^{-}$, HCOO$^{-}$, NH$_3$, and NH$_4^{+}$. We obtain the composition and molecular abundances in the icy dust mantles by fitting the spectrum in the 6.8-8.4 $\mu$m range with a large sample of laboratory ice spectra using the ENIIGMA fitting tool or the local continuum method. We found differences in the simple and COM ice abundances with respect to H$_2$O ice between ST6 and Galactic protostars that likely reflect differences in metallicity and UV flux. More laboratory ice spectra of COMs are needed to better reconstruct the observed infrared spectra of protostars.

We present a new high precision parametric strong lensing total mass reconstruction of the Euclid Early Release Observations (ERO) galaxy cluster Abell 2390, at redshift z = 0.231. We include in this analysis 35 multiple images from 13 background sources, of which 25 are spectroscopically confirmed thanks to observations from the MUSE, spanning a redshift range from z = 0.535 to z = 4.877. After fully reanalysing the MUSE spectroscopy, we combine it with archival spectroscopic catalogues allowing us to select 65 secure cluster members. This sample is further complemented with 114 photometric member galaxies, identified within the Euclid VIS and NISP imaging down to magnitude H = 23. We also measure the stellar velocity dispersions for 22 cluster members, in order to calibrate the Faber-Jackson relation and hence the scaling relations for the subhalo mass components. We test and compare 11 total mass parametrisations of the galaxy cluster with increasing complexity. To do so, we employ the new parametric strong lensing modelling code this http URL. Our best fit total mass parametrisation is characterised by a single large scale halo, 179 subhalo components, and an external shear term. The reference model yields a mean scatter between the model predicted and observed positions of the multiple images of 0.32 arcseconds. We are able to quantify the systematics arising from our modelling choices by taking advantage of all the different explored total mass parametrisations. When our results are compared with those from other lensing studies, we notice an overall agreement in the reconstructed cluster total mass profile in the outermost strong lensing regime: the discrepancy in the innermost region of the cluster (few kiloparsec from the brightest cluster galaxy, where few or no strong lensing features are observed) could possibly be ascribed to the different data and modelling choices.

We investigate the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) produced in models of axion inflation coupled to gauge fields. Achieving a detectable signal at Pulsar Timing Array, astrometry, or interferometer frequencies requires a sufficiently strong amplification of the gauge fields, at a level that induces significant backreaction on the inflaton background dynamics. Numerical studies based on the approximation of homogeneous backreaction (i.e., neglecting inhomogeneities of the inflaton field) exhibit oscillations in the inflaton velocity, with corresponding peaks in the SGWB spectrum. The most recent lattice simulations have questioned the validity of this regime, showing examples characterized by a rapid increase in the inflaton gradient energy and the breakdown of homogeneous backreaction. We compute this energy density perturbatively within the assumption of homogeneous backreaction, obtaining examples with a detectable SGWB and with an inflaton gradient energy that remains subdominant to the inflaton zero-mode kinetic energy throughout inflation.

Iron cosmic rays represent the most abundant heavy nuclei at energies above 1 TeV, with their production thought to be primarily originated by astrophysical sources. Therefore, measuring the iron spectrum provides crucial insights into the origin, acceleration, and propagation mechanisms of cosmic rays. While recent results from space-based detectors have revealed unexpected energy dependences in the GeV-TeV range, these measurements are limited by low statistics at higher energies. At energies above a few TeV, ground-based detectors, such as the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes, become more effective due to their large collec- tion areas, enabling them to extend and complement the capabilities of space-borne instruments. In this work, we apply the so-called direct Cherenkov technique, which accounts for the radiation emitted by charged particles before the cascade develops in the atmosphere, with MAGIC to identify iron-induced air showers and distinguish them from those produced by lighter cosmic-ray species.

In astrophysical systems like X-ray binaries (XRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGN), and young stellar objects (YSOs), we often observe a very fundamental structure called accretion discs(ADs). Conventional AD theory usually supposes that the gravitational field is controlled by a central compact object. This assumption breaks down when the mass of the disc becomes considerable in contrast to that of the massive central object. In these cases, the AD's self-gravity (SG) can drastically change its structure, dynamics, and evolution. This review investigates how SG influences the radial and vertical structure of ADs and how it modifies the mechanisms that transport angular momentum (AM). Along with these, this review also tries to explore how gravitational instabilities (GIs) evolve and how they affect disc fragmentation and astrophysical phenomena like stellar and planetary formation, AGN dynamics, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

In this study, we present the results of photoionization modeling for 124 planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Galactic bulge. Utilizing the {\scshape cloudy} code, we derived the effective temperatures (T$_{eff}$) of the central stars, with a peak distribution around $\sim$ 100,000 K, and luminosities clustering around $\sim$ 3,000 L$\odot$. The inner radii of the ionized regions range from 0.003 to 0.31 pc, with nebula diameters varying from 1.8" to 34", averaging 7\% larger than the observed visible diameters. Elemental abundances for Helium, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Neon, Sulphur, Chlorine and Argon relative to hydrogen derived from the models show consistency within 0.5 dex, with notable variations in Sulphur, Nitrogen, and Chlorine. The study also compares elemental abundances from photoionization models with previous observations, showing overall good agreement, particularly for Cl/H, but notable discrepancies in He/H and S/H ratios. The models' goodness of fit, quantified by $\chi^{2}$ values, varies widely, with higher values linked to discrepancies in WISE photometric data. The evolutionary tracks of the central stars from H-R diagrams suggest progenitor masses ranging from 0.8 to 4.2 $M_\odot$ and progenitor final masses between 0.53 and 0.87 $M_\odot$, indicating significant mass loss during evolution. These PNe have post-AGB ages ranging from 150 to 20,000 years, consistent with the Galactic PNe distribution. Most of the PNe are in an intermediate evolutionary stage with larger nebular sizes. Our results provide the most comprehensive photoionization modeling to date, with key implications for central stars of PNe, gas, and dust.

The recent launches of the Einstein Probe (EP) and the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) mission have led to the detection of a growing number of long GRBs with significant, early soft X-ray flux during their gamma-ray emission, prompting the question of whether their multi-band prompt emission shares a common origin in region and mechanism. To address this, we utilize the 20-year Swift archival data, which provides a substantial sample of joint soft X-ray and gamma-ray observations, enabling a systematic joint spectral study. We resolve 110 temporal pulses from 46 GRBs and find that a single power-law model with a low-energy break or cutoff adequately describes the prompt spectra from 150 keV down to 0.5 keV. More than half of the sample pulses require a break around a few keV, with average spectral indices $\langle \alpha_1 \rangle = -0.88$ and $\langle \alpha_2 \rangle = -1.46$ consistent with synchrotron radiation in a marginally fast-cooling regime. The observed spectral evolution and the distribution of indices support a single-emission-region origin, where the varying spectral shapes are largely governed by the evolution of the synchrotron cooling frequency $\nu_c$ and the effect of finite emission width. The observed differences in the temporal behavior between X-ray and gamma-ray light curves can be naturally explained by this spectral evolution across the broad band.

Spectral modelling of kilonovae (KNe) require large amounts of collisional excitation and photoionization atomic data for lowly ionised (neutral, singly and doubly ionised) species of heavy elements. Much of the data currently used is calculated using approximate hydrogenic results or adopts semi-empirical formulae. We present atomic data for ions of tellurium (Te) computed using the well-known $R$-matrix method. Results will also be presented for radiative and thermal collisions of Te IV and V, for which the required atomic data are also typically limited in the literature. The Multi-Configuration-Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) method is used to produce model atomic structures and radiative rates. These model structures are then used to calculate electron-impact-excitation and photoionization cross-sections. The resulting excitation and radiative rates are further used in a collisional radiative model to produce synthetic spectra, which are compared with observations. We also investigate the possibility of Te IV contributing to the 1.08 $\mu$m emission feature in the mid-epochs of AT2017gfo alongside the established P-Cygni feature of Sr II.

In this work, we present a detailed investigation of five contact binary systems of the W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) type. Multiband photometric observations were conducted using ground-based telescopes in both the northern and southern hemispheres, yielding new times of minima. O-C diagram analysis reveals that two systems exhibit parabolic trends, indicating a gradual long-term decrease in their orbital periods. The light curves were modeled using version 1.0 of the BSN application, with one system requiring the inclusion of a cool starspot to achieve a satisfactory fit. We examined empirical relationships between orbital period and fundamental parameters, identifying the period-semi-major axis (P-a) relation as the most robust correlation, which was used to estimate absolute parameters. To statistically assess thermal equilibrium, we analyzed temperature differences between components and found that 90% of systems exhibit less than 9.4% contrast. Two target systems with extremely low mass ratios were identified, and their orbital stability was evaluated. Based on the effective temperatures and component masses, two systems were classified as W-subtype and three as A-subtype. The evolutionary status of the binaries was assessed through their locations in mass-radius, mass-luminosity, and other empirical diagrams, and initial component masses as well as total mass loss were also estimated.

Stellar tachoclines are thin regions located between the radiative core and the convective envelope of solar-type stars. They are defined as layers where the rotation of the radiative interior transitions to the differential rotation of the convective envelope, generating strong shear and turbulence. As such, understanding the dynamics of the transport and mixing inside stellar tachoclines would shed light on how the dynamical processes of the convection zone might affect the secular transport of the radiative zone. In particular, we investigate how the change of the latitudinal differential rotation in the convection zone with stellar evolution would affect the dynamics of the tachocline. Indeed, as solar-type stars are braked on the Main Sequence, the differential rotation in the convection zone is expected to evolve from a cylindrical rapidly-rotating regime (columns of varying velocities, aligned with the rotation axis) to a conical solar-like regime (with an equatorial acceleration as in the case of the Sun) and finally to a conical anti-solar-like regime (with a polar acceleration). However, stellar evolutionary codes currently only consider at best the solar conical regime to study the dynamics of stellar tachoclines throughout the evolution of stars. We discuss different possibilities to model hydrodynamical tachoclines and we show that Mathis Zahn 2004's formalism is able to treat coherently hydrodynamical stellar tachoclines when taken in the thin layer approximation. We use it to model the differential rotation, meridional circulation, and mixing coefficients inside the tachocline in order to examine the effect of the different rotation regimes on the transport.

In this short review, we trace the evolution of inference in astronomy, highlighting key milestones rather than providing an exhaustive survey. We focus on the shift from classical optimization to Bayesian inference, the rise of gradient-based methods fueled by advances in deep learning, and the emergence of adaptive models that shape the very design of scientific datasets. Understanding this shift is essential for appreciating the current landscape of astronomical research and the future it is helping to build.

In this work, we propose a new flow-matching Markov chain Monte Carlo (FM-MCMC) algorithm for estimating the orbital parameters of exoplanetary systems, especially for those only one exoplanet is involved. Compared to traditional methods that rely on random sampling within the Bayesian framework, our approach first leverages flow matching posterior estimation (FMPE) to efficiently constrain the prior range of physical parameters, and then employs MCMC to accurately infer the posterior distribution. For example, in the orbital parameter inference of beta Pictoris b, our model achieved a substantial speed-up while maintaining comparable accuracy-running 77.8 times faster than Parallel Tempered MCMC (PTMCMC) and 365.4 times faster than nested sampling. Moreover, our FM-MCMC method also attained the highest average log-likelihood among all approaches, demonstrating its superior sampling efficiency and accuracy. This highlights the scalability and efficiency of our approach, making it well-suited for processing the massive datasets expected from future exoplanet surveys. Beyond astrophysics, our methodology establishes a versatile paradigm for synergizing deep generative models with traditional sampling, which can be adopted to tackle complex inference problems in other fields, such as cosmology, biomedical imaging, and particle physics.

The dark matter track at ICRC~2025 showed a field in transition. Direct detection has entered the \emph{neutrino-floor era}, with XENONnT and PandaX-4T now limited by Solar neutrinos. Indirect searches have become truly \emph{multimessenger}, combining $\gamma$-rays, neutrinos, cosmic rays, and radio data under unified likelihoods and shared systematics. Non-WIMP candidates -- axions, sub-GeV particles, primordial black holes, macroscopic relics -- are becoming central. Across all fronts, progress depends as much on new detectors as on the coherence of shared data, methods, and analysis frameworks. Here, I distill the main experimental and conceptual shifts behind these trends, noting how assumptions have evolved since ICRC~2023 and where the next decisive advances are likely to come.

We perform general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers with four distinct magnetic field topologies: (i) a dipole pulsar-like configuration, (ii) a mixed linear superposition of poloidal and toroidal components inside the star, and (iii-iv) two topologies featuring a smooth transition from a confined mixed core to a pulsar-like structure at radii $0.95\,R_{\rm NS}$ and $0.5\,R_{\rm NS}$, with $R_{\rm NS}$ the radius of the star. The latter topologies are explored in BNS merger studies for the first time. We evolve systems with two equations of state (EoS), SLy and WFF1, with ADM masses 2.7 and 2.6, respectively, and include an additional lower-mass SLy binary to probe the behavior of long-lived remnants. We perform an extensive analysis of the emission properties of the systems, both electromagnetic and gravitational waves, and of the properties of the remnants, namely their frequency modes, density eigenfunctions, rotation, temperature, and convective stability. We report three key results: (1) for the first time, we assess the convective stability of magnetized remnants, extending previous unmagnetized analyses; (2) we identify a clear secondary peak in the gravitational-wave spectrum of pulsar-like configurations, consistent with the nonlinear coupling of the $m=0$ and $m=2$ modes, which is absent in other topologies; and (3) the magnetic field topology strongly influences the gravitational wave emission properties to the extent that nearby ($<50\,{\rm Mpc}$) events could allow one to observationally distinguish between different field structures with future gravitational-wave detectors. Across all models, we obtain luminosities compatible with short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs), with purely poloidal configurations being the most efficient in driving possible relativistic jets.

Active galactic nucleus (AGNs) feedback is widely accepted as the key mechanism to suppress cooling flows in galaxy clusters. However, the dependence of heating efficiency on jet properties is not fully understood. In this work, we present three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of a Perseus-like cluster, including both single-jet and self-regulated models, to investigate how jet density affects bubble evolution and the thermal balance of the intracluster medium. Our results confirm previous findings that lighter jets inflate more spherical bubbles and are more easily deflected by cold gas, enabling isotropic energy deposition throughout the cluster core. However, despite their broader spatial impact, lighter jets display lower overall heating efficiency, requiring higher average jet power to maintain self-regulation compared to heavier jets. We also find that the distribution and amount of cold gas significantly influence the effectiveness of jet heating. These results highlight jet density as a critical parameter in AGN feedback and emphasize the need to incorporate additional physical processes such as magnetic fields, viscosity, and cosmic rays in future studies for realistic comparisons with observations.

The IceCube neutrino observatory has been successfully operating in its full configuration for almost 15 years and is characterized by a remarkably high stability and uptime. During this time, it has made many groundbreaking observations, such as the first detection of a high-energy diffuse cosmic neutrino flux or, more recently, the identification of the AGN NGC1068 as a steady source of high-energy neutrino emission and the observation of neutrinos from the Milky Way. In this talk, new developments in these areas will be discussed and further highlights presented. The second part then looks at the ongoing developments at the South Pole with IceCube Upgrade and IceCube-Gen2 and discusses their potential for advancing neutrino and astroparticle physics.

The growing negative impact of the visibility of satellites in the night sky is influencing the practice of astronomy and astrophotograph, both at the amateur and professional levels. The presence of these satellites has the effect of introducing streaks into the images captured during astronomical observation, requiring the application of additional post processing to mitigate the undesirable impact, whether for data loss or cosmetic reasons. In this paper, we show how we test and adapt various Deep Learning approaches to detect streaks in raw astronomical data captured between March 2022 and February 2023 with smart telescopes.

The original axion natural inflation model predicts a tensor-to-scalar ratio exceeding experimental limits. Conversely, in aligned axion inflation, inflation can proceed along trajectories emerging from near a saddle point of the two-field potential and ending through an instability in the orthogonal direction. Such solutions satisfy present observational limits and will be tested by future CMB experiments. Previous studies have suggested the possibility of two distinct inflationary stages separated by a transition characterized by rapid oscillations of the fields. In this work, we demonstrate that the existence of these two stages is a generic feature of the model. We explore a possible phenomenological signature of the transition when a U(1) gauge field is coupled to the axions, namely, the production of gravitational waves (GWs) sourced by gauge quanta generated during the transition. This mechanism produces a feature similar to those seen in spectator axion models or axion inflation with appropriate potentials, i.e. a strongly scale-dependent power spectrum. The scale at which the GW spectrum is produced is determined by the duration of the second inflationary phase. Consequently, the spectrum may peak at different frequencies, potentially detectable by future GW experiments.

We present the ionised gas properties and metallicity gradients of 43 galaxies observed by the MEGADES survey. Using the MEGARA (Multi-Espectrografo en GTC de Alta Resolucion para Astronomia) instrument, our data combine relatively high spectral (R ~ 6000) and spatial (0.62 arcsec) resolution to study the ionised gas through classic BPT diagnostics in the [N II] and [S II] variants. We examine how these diagrams vary with radius and with the velocity dispersion of the H-alpha line, and we propose a new diagnostic based on the ratio between the velocity dispersions of the [N II] 6584 and H-alpha lines to disentangle the relative roles of AGN, shocks and H II regions. Many regions, regardless of galactocentric distance, show shock-like emission, inferred from their line ratios (high [N II]6584/H-alpha and intermediate [O III]5007/H-beta) and their location between H II and AGN regimes. This improved selection of H II-like regions enables robust oxygen abundance estimates using the N2 indicator. Most galaxies show negligible metallicity gradients, especially low-abundance (<8.37 dex) fast rotators, with an average slope of 0.005 dex Re^-1 and a dispersion of 0.42 dex Re^-1. Above 8.37 dex, fast rotators display mildly negative gradients (mean -0.68 dex Re^-1, dispersion 0.93). For the full MEGADES sample, the mean gradient is -0.03 dex Re^-1 with a dispersion of 0.77. We discuss the implications for the influence of galactic winds on abundance gradients.

We present a homogeneous spectroscopic analysis of confirmed K2 mission exoplanet-hosting stars, comprising 301 targets with high-resolution optical spectra from HIRES and TRES taken from ExoFOP. We derived effective temperatures, surface gravities, and iron and magnesium abundances in LTE by measuring the equivalent widths of Fe I, Fe II, and Mg I lines. Three estimates of stellar masses and radii were obtained via Stefan-Boltzmann and isochrone methods using the codes PARAM and isochrones. These were used to derive exoplanetary radii reaching internal precisions of 2.5%, 2.6%, and 6.6%, respectively, and the radius gap being consistently detected near 1.9 R$_{\oplus}$. We measured chromospheric activity from the Ca II H & K and H$\alpha$ lines. Within the low-activity range ($\log R^{\prime}_{HK} < -4.75$), stellar activity appears to decrease with increasing planetary radius from super-Earths, sub-Neptunes, sub-Saturns, into the Jupiter regime. According to the [Mg/Fe] measurements, most of our K2 planet hosts belong to the Galactic thin disk, but our sample has a population from the thick disk (high-alpha sequence). Most stars show consistent chemo-dynamical behavior. We find that the [Mg/Fe] ratios are indistinguishable between systems containing Large or Small exoplanets, as well as Single- or Multi-exoplanetary systems. Both the [Fe/H] and [Mg/H] distributions reveal that stars hosting large planets are more iron- and magnesium-enhanced than those having only small planets, further confirming the link between stellar abundances and exoplanetary size, but no significant differences are found between the Single- versus Multi-exoplanetary systems.

In the coming years, detailed chemical abundances from large-scale high-resolution spectroscopic surveys will become available for vast numbers of stars across the Milky Way. Previous work has suggested that abundance ratios from these spectra can allow us to estimate ages from a large number of stars. These data will be leveraged to calibrate chemical clocks to age-date field stars, as reliable stellar ages remain elusive. In this work, we extended our empirical relationship between stellar age and their carbon-to-nitrogen ([C/N]) abundance ratio for evolved stars to older and more metal-poor stars by combining the original open cluster calibration sample and four globular clusters: 47 Tuc, M 71, M 4, and M 5. With this extension, [C/N] can be used as a chemical clock for evolved field stars to investigate not only regions within the metal rich disk, but also more metal-poor regions of our Galaxy. We have established the [C/N]-age relationship for APOGEE DR17 red giant stars, that have experienced the first dredge up but have not yet undergone any extra-mixing, in clusters usable for ages between $8.62 \leq \log(Age[{\rm yr}]) \leq 10.13$ and for metallicites of $-1.2\leq[Fe/H]\leq+0.3$. This relationship can be uniformly applied to these stars within the APOGEE DR17 sample. This measured [C/N]-age APOGEE DR17 relationship is also shown to be consistent with stellar ages derived from asterosiesmic results of APOKASC and APO-K2.

Core collapse supernovae are among the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. Despite huge efforts on understanding the main ingredients triggering such explosions, we still lack of compelling evidences for the precise mechanism driving those phenomena. They are expected to produce gravitational waves due to asymmetric mass motions in the collapsing core, and emit in the meanwhile neutrinos as a result of the interactions in their high-density environment. The combination of these two cosmic messengers can provide a unique probe to study the inner engine of these processes and unveil the explosion mechanism. Among the possible detectable signature, standing accretion shock instabilities (SASI) are particularly relevant in this context as they establish a direct connection between gravitational wave emission and the outcoming neutrino flux. In this work, Hilbert-Huang transform is applied to a selected sample of 3D numerical simulations, with the aim of identifying SASI contribution and extract its instantaneous frequency. The performance of the method is evaluated in the context of Einstein Telescope.

With the ever faster cadence of untargeted surveys of the sky, the supernova (SN) community will capture in the coming years a growing number of shock breakouts in red-supergiant (RSG) stars. Expecting a high frequency of breakouts within circumstellar material (CSM), we have produced an extended, regular and cubic grid of models covering from low- to high-energy explosions, compact to extended CSM, moderate- to high-density CSM. Here, we document the main results from the radiation-hydrodynamics and nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium radiative-transfer calculations over the first 15d of evolution, including the bolometric and multi-band light curves and the salient features from spectra. As before, CSM interaction is found to boost the UV brightness and shorten the optical rise time if compact. Higher ionization (e.g., as seen with OVI3820A) is obtained for more compact CSM, and is maximum for explosions in a vacuum. CSM interaction also diversifies the spectral evolution as seen in line profile morphology, with electron-scattering broadening dominating during the IIn phase. In the absence of CSM, Doppler broadening dominates immediately after shock breakout and leads to strongly blueshifted emission in lines such as HeII4686A or CIV5805A. This treasury of models will be used to analyze as well as predict future observations of RSG shock breakouts in CSM.

The earliest assembly of the Milky Way (MW) remains poorly understood, yet the spatial, chemical, and kinematic properties of its most metal-poor stars provide a unique fossil record of its proto-Galaxy phase. Understanding how this ancient component formed is essential for linking near-field Galactic archaeology to high-redshift galaxy evolution. We construct the currently largest 3-D map of inner-Galaxy metal-poor giants by combining several narrow/medium-band photometric surveys, reaching metallicities down to [Fe/H]$\sim-$3.5. Comparing observational data with Auriga 18 (Au18) from the Auriga cosmological simulations, we find that the proto-Galaxy population ([Fe/H]$\lesssim-$1.4) is highly centrally concentrated within the Galactocentric distance $r_{\rm gc}\lesssim$15 kpc, and forms a dispersion-supported structure with negligible rotation. The spatial and chemo-dynamical properties of observed proto-Galaxy population closely match those of the metal-poor stars in Au18. Considering Au18 as an analog of the MW, we propose a new scenario in which the formation of the proto-Galaxy is linked, for the first time, to episodes of high-z (z$\gtrsim$3) gas compaction, blue-nugget phases, and quenching processes. This framework provides a unified physical picture for the first $\sim$1-2 Gyr of the MW's evolution, bridging local fossil records with future studies of early star-forming galaxies.

Recent advances in X-ray spectroscopic observation have enabled researchers to reveal distinct clumpy structures in the super-Eddington outflows from the supermassive black hole in PDS 456 (XRISM Collaboration 2025), initiating detailed investigation of fine-scale structures in accretion-driven outflows. In this study, we conduct high-resolution, two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations with time-varying and anisotropic initial and boundary conditions to reproduce outflows launched from super-Eddington accretion flows and analyze their statistical properties. The resulting clumpy outflows extend across a wide range of radial distances and polar angles, exhibiting typical properties such as a size of ~10 rg (where rg is the gravitational radius), a velocity of ~0.05-0.2 c (where c is the speed of light), and about five clumps along the line of sight. Although the velocities are slightly smaller, these characteristics reasonably resemble those obtained from the XRISM observation. The gas density of the clumps is on the order of 10^{-13}-10^{-12} g cm^{-3}, and their optical depth for electron scattering is approximately 1-10. The clumpy winds accelerated by radiation force are considered to originate from the region within <~300 rg.

We investigate graph-based representations of astronomical light curves for transient classification on the MANTRA benchmark. Each series is mapped to three visibility-graph views-horizontal (HVG), directed (DHVG), and weighted (W-HVG)-from which we extract compact, length-aware network descriptors (degree/strength moments, clustering and motifs, assortativity, path/efficiency, and spectral summaries). Using stratified five-fold validation and tree-based learners, the best configuration (LightGBM with HVG+DHVG+W-HVG features) attains a macro-F1 of 0.622 +/- 0.010 and accuracy of 0.661 +/- 0.010, improving over the MANTRA baseline (F1 macro = 0.528). Ablations show that weighted contrasts and directed asymmetry contribute complementary gains to undirected topology. Per-class analysis highlights strong performance for CV, HPM, and Non-Tr., with residual confusions concentrated in the AGN-Blazar-SN block. These results indicate that visibility graphs offer a simple, survey-agnostic bridge between irregular photometric time series and standard classifiers, yielding competitive multiclass performance without bespoke deep architectures. We release code and feature definitions to facilitate reproducibility and future extensions.

We present the discovery of 30 new Galactic sources from the MeerTRAP project, a commensal fast radio transient search programme using the MeerKAT telescope. These sources were all identified via a single pulse search. Most of them are likely to be rotating radio transients (RRATs) given their low pulse rates. Using data captured in our transient buffer we have localised nine sources in the image domain to arcsecond precision. This facilitates the timing of these sources and further follow-up with other telescopes. Using the arrival times of single pulses, we have constrained the periods of 14 sources, ranging from 121ms to 7.623s, and derived a phase-coherent timing solution for one of them. Follow-up observations of the MeerTRAP sources (including those published previously) performed with the Effelsberg telescope have detected regular but faint emission from three sources, confirming their long rotation period, including PSR J2218+2902 with a period of 17.5s, the fourth slowest in the radio pulsar population. A few of the sources exhibit interesting emission features, such as periodic microstructure in PSR J1243-0435 and possible nulling in PSR J1911-2020 and PSR J1243-0435. We find that the duty cycles of the three newly discovered pulsars are very low and follow the general trend for the duty cycle with period of known pulsars.

Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) above $30 M_\odot$ are predicted to form from low-metallicity progenitors, but direct detections of such systems in the Milky Way remain scarce. Motivated by the recent discovery of Gaia BH3, a $33 M_\odot$ BH with a very metal-poor giant companion, we conduct a systematic search for additional systems. Approximately 900 candidates are identified with Gaia as having significant deviations from single-star astrometric motion, evidence of RV variability, and low metallicities inferred from Gaia XP spectra. We obtain single epoch high-resolution spectra for over 600 of these sources with Magellan/MIKE and Lick/APF and measure independent RVs with $\approx 1$ km s$^{-1}$ precision. After removing contaminants such as hot stars, pulsators, eclipsing binaries, and hierarchical triples, we identify about 15 promising candidates with large RV amplitudes or offsets from the Gaia reported values. This program establishes a well-characterized sample of BH candidates for detailed orbital modeling once Gaia DR4 epoch astrometry and RVs are released in late 2026; multi-epoch RV follow-up is ongoing. Together, the Gaia and ground-based data will place new constraints on the demographics of BHs with metal-poor companions and test theoretical predictions linking low metallicity to the formation of the most massive stellar remnants.

We introduce a novel approach to estimate the spectral index, $\beta_s$, of polarised synchrotron emission, combining the moment expansion of CMB foregrounds and the constrained-ILC method. We reconstruct the maps of the first two synchrotron moments, combining multi-frequency data, and apply the `T-T plot' technique between two moment maps to estimate the synchrotron spectral index. This approach offers a new technique for mapping the foreground spectral parameters, complementing the model-based parametric component separation methods. Applying this technique, we derive a new constraint on the spectral index of polarised synchrotron emission using QUIJOTE MFI wide-survey 11 and 13 GHz data, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data at K and Ka bands, and Planck LFI 30 GHz data. In the Galactic plane and North Polar Spur regions, we obtain an inverse-variance-weighted mean synchrotron index of $\beta_s = -3.11$ with a standard deviation of $0.21$ due to intrinsic scatter, consistent with previous results based on parametric methods using the same dataset. We find that the inverse-variance-weighted mean spectral index, including both statistical and systematic uncertainties, is $\beta_s^{\rm plane} = -3.05 \pm 0.01$ in the Galactic plane and $\beta_s^{\rm high\text{-}lat} = -3.13 \pm 0.02$ at high latitudes, indicating a moderate steepening of the spectral index from low to high Galactic latitudes. Our analysis indicates that, within the current upper limit on the AME polarisation fraction, our results are not subject to any appreciable bias. Furthermore, we infer the spectral index over the entire QUIJOTE survey region, partitioning the sky into 21 patches. This technique can be further extended to constrain the synchrotron spectral curvature by reconstructing higher-order moments when better-quality data become available.

Exoplanet observations show that close-in super-Earths are more common around M-dwarfs than around solar mass stars. Since the snow line in a protoplanetary disc plays a crucial role in determining the amount of solid material available for planet formation, we explore the icy regions of protoplanetary discs around stars with masses 0.1, 0.5 and 1 $\rm M_\odot$. In a protoplanetary disc, a dead zone, where the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) is suppressed, provides a quiescent region for solids to settle to the mid-plane and planets to form. Viscosity may be driven in the dead zone by gravitational instability if enough material builds up. Heating from the gravitational instability can trigger the MRI and an accretion outburst onto the star. There may be two icy regions in a disc: (1) far from the star and (2) in the dead zone close to the star. We solve the 1D disc equations to find steady state solutions and time-dependent evolution with different values for the critical surface density in the MRI-active surface layers. Larger surface density in the MRI-active surface layers reduces the extent and lifetime of the inner icy region. The inner icy region in the dead zone around a solar mass star is small and short-lived. Around M-dwarfs, the size of the inner icy region is more persistent and oscillates between the accretion outbursts in the region 0.1-1 au. An extended icy region within the dead zone of a disc around M-dwarfs may promote the formation of more numerous and massive close-in super-Earths.

Work by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) collaboration found higher molecular gas surface densities and velocity dispersions in the centres of barred galaxies compared to unbarred galaxies. We explore central molecular gas using published high resolution (150 pc) measurements of CO$(2-1)$ from the PHANGS-ALMA survey and a new velocity dispersion-dependent prescription for the CO-to-H$_{2}$ conversion factor $\alpha_{\rm{CO}}$. Comparisons of the molecular gas surface density, velocity dispersion, star formation rate, and depletion time reveal that these quantities are different in the centres of barred and unbarred galaxies. Gas depletion times are found to be shorter in barred galaxy centres. Even when we control for the presence of an AGN, the velocity dispersion and depletion time are found to be statistically different between barred and unbarred galaxy centres. The higher velocity dispersion suggests extra non-circular motions, possibly due to the inflow of gas along the bar, that are not constant but must increase as the star formation rate increases.

The mass-size relations of galaxies are generally studied considering only stars or only gas separately. Here we study the baryonic mass-size relation of galaxies from the SPARC database, using the total baryonic mass ($M_{\rm bar}$) and the baryonic half-mass radius ($R_{\rm 50, bar}$). We find that SPARC galaxies define two distinct sequences in the $M_{\rm bar} - R_{\rm 50, bar}$ plane: one that formed by high-surface-density (HSD), star-dominated, Sa-to-Sc galaxies, and one by low-surface-density (LSD), gas-dominated, Sd-to-dI galaxies. The $M_{\rm bar} - R_{\rm 50, bar}$ relation of LSD galaxies has a slope close to 2, pointing to a constant average surface density, whereas that of HSD galaxies has a slope close to 1, indicating that less massive spirals are progressively more compact. Our results point to the existence of two types of star-forming galaxies that follow different evolutionary paths: HSD disks are very efficient in converting gas into stars, perhaps thanks to the efficient formation of non-axisymmetric structures (bars and spiral arms), whereas LSD disks are not. The HSD-LSD dichotomy is absent in the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation ($M_{\rm bar}$ versus flat circular velocity $V_{\rm f}$) but moderately seen in the angular-momentum relation (approximately $M_{\rm bar}$ versus $V_{\rm f}\times R_{\rm 50, bar}$), so it is driven by variations in $R_{\rm 50, bar}$ at fixed $M_{\rm bar}$. This fact suggests that the baryonic mass-size relation is the most effective empirical tool to distinguish different galaxy types and study their evolution.

The era of JWST has enabled measurements of abundances of elements such as C, O, and even Na, S, K, and Fe in planetary atmospheres to very high precisions ($\sim$0.1 dex). Accurate inference of planet formation using these elemental abundances require the corresponding abundance measurements for the host star. We present the second set of results from our high-resolution spectroscopic survey of directly imaged companion host stars, measuring abundances of 16 elements (including C, O, Na, Mg, Si, S, K and Fe) for five directly imaged companion host stars. Using both the spectral fitting and the equivalent width methods, we find solar C/O ratios for HR 2562 (0.58 $\pm$ 0.09), AB Pic (0.50 $\pm$ 0.14), and YSES 1 (0.45 $\pm$ 0.05), and sub-solar C/O ratios for PZ Tel (0.28 $\pm$ 0.05) and $\beta$ Pic (0.22 $\pm$ 0.06). The $4\sigma$ sub-solar C/O detections for PZ Tel and $\beta$ Pic highlight the importance of accurate stellar C/O estimates for constraining planet formation. Subsequently, we combine our abundances with those from our previous work to measure population-level average elemental abundances. We find super-solar carbon and oxygen for this stellar population, indicating that the protoplanetary disks around these stars were potentially rich in volatiles. We compare stellar C/O to those of their companions, revealing super-stellar C/O for several objects that suggest planet-like formation mechanisms. We also compare the C/O of our directly imaged companion host star population with other planet host stars using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, which indicates insufficient evidence to differentiate between the various stellar populations

We study the projected clustering of photometric luminous red galaxies from the DESI Legacy Survey, combining their angular power spectrum, bispectrum, and cross-correlation with maps of the CMB lensing convergence from the Planck satellite. We employ a perturbative bias expansion in Eulerian space to describe the clustering of galaxies, modelling the power spectrum and bispectrum at one-loop and tree level, respectively. This allows us to use the power spectrum to self-consistently calibrate the perturbative bias parameters. We validate this model against an $N$-body simulation, and show that it can be used up to scales of at least $k_{\rm max}^P\simeq 0.2\,h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ and $k_{\rm max}^B\simeq 0.08\,h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, saturating the information recovered from the data. We obtain constraints on the amplitude of matter fluctuations $\sigma_8=0.761\pm 0.020$ and the non-relativistic matter fraction $\Omega_m=0.307\pm 0.015$, as well as the combination $S_8\equiv\sigma_8\sqrt{\Omega_m/0.3}=0.769 \pm 0.020$. Including the galaxy bispectrum leads to a $10$-$20\%$ improvement on the cosmological constraints, which are also in good agreement with previous analyses of the same data, and in mild tension with Planck at the $\sim2.5\sigma$ level. This tension is largely present in the standard two-point function dataset, and the addition of the bispectrum increases it slightly, marginally shifting $\sigma_8$ downwards and $\Omega_m$ upwards. Finally, using the bispectrum allows for a substantially more precise measurement of the bias parameters of this sample, which are in reasonable agreement with existing coevolution relations.

We present high-resolution (0.13"-0.23") NOEMA observations of the dust continuum emission at 1.1 mm (rest-frame 220 micron) and JWST/NIRCam and MIRI imaging of the z=4.055 starburst galaxy GN20. The sensitive NOEMA imaging at 1.6 kpc resolution reveals extended dust emission, ~14 kpc in diameter (r_e~2.5 kpc, b/a=0.5), that is centrally asymmetric and clumpy. The dust emission is as extended as the stellar emission and the molecular gas traced by CO(2-1), with a common center, and is brightest in the strongly-obscured nuclear part of the galaxy. Approximately one-third of the total dust emission emerges from the nucleus and the most prominent clump to the south, and (only) 60% from the central 3.5x1.5 kpc (0.5"-0.2"), implying that the starburst is very extended. The combined JWST and NOEMA morphology suggests GN20 experienced a recent interaction or merger, likely invigorating the starburst. The radial surface brightness profiles of the molecular gas and near-IR stellar emission are similar, while in contrast, the dust emission appears significantly more concentrated. Through self-consistent radiative transfer modeling of the integrated and resolved CO and dust emission, we derive an $M_{mol}=2.9^{+0.4}_{-0.3}\times10^{11}$ Msun with $\alpha_{CO}=2.8^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$. We find that the extended dust implies a lower global dust optical depth than previously reported, but a high dust mass of $M_{dust}=5.7^{+0.8}_{-0.6}\times 10^{9}$ Msun and gas-to-dust ratio of ~50. Furthermore, we show the distinct apparent radial profiles of the gas and dust can be explained purely by radiative transfer effects and the observations are consistent with the gas and dust mass being similarly distributed throughout the starburst. The latter highlights the importance of accounting for radiative transfer effects when comparing molecular gas and dust distributions from different tracers.

We present a new set of numerical-relativity simulations of merging binary neutron stars, aiming to identify possible observable signatures of the slope of the symmetry energy $L_{\rm sym}$. To achieve this goal, we employ a set of equations of state based on a parameterization of the covariant density functional theory of nuclear matter that allows controlled variations of $L_{\rm sym}$ and the skewness $Q_{\rm sat}$, holding the latter fixed. For a set of our simulations, we identify a steep energy gradient in the equation of state at subsaturation densities, which acts as a source of heating with subsequent stiffening produced by thermal support. Accounting for related structural modifications in the tidal deformability reconciles our results with theoretical expectations. On the other hand, we show that gravitational waves are unlikely to distinguish the role of $L_{\rm sym}$. In contrast to this, we find that the ejecta composition is significantly altered in our simulations, which employ an M1 moment scheme, when $L_{\rm sym}$ is varied. Based on our extracted dynamical ejecta properties, we compute r-process yields and find that they are distinct for the different $L_{\rm sym}$, especially at lower mass numbers $A \lesssim 120$. This suggests that electromagnetic counterparts are more likely to exhibit signatures; however, a direct connection to $L_{\rm sym}$ remains a challenge, given the complex interplay between details of the ejecta properties and the kilonova signal.

We present the state-of-the-art waveform model WaSABI-C for quasicircular inspirals of spinning black hole binaries with aligned or anti-aligned spins. Our model synthesizes the most up-to-date first- and second-order gravitational self-force results with high-order post-Newtonian expansions through a systematic hybridization procedure. This approach captures both strong-field and weak-field dynamics with high fidelity, enabling accurate modeling of spin-(anti)aligned inspirals across a wide parameter space. The resulting waveforms mark a significant advance in the precision of self-force-based templates, providing critical input for the detection and interpretation of gravitational waves from compact binaries with future observatories such as LISA and ET. We accompany this work with the release of WaSABI (Waveform Simulations of Asymmetric Binary Inspirals), a public package implementing our model for community use and further development.

Recent progress in gravitational self-force theory has led to the development of a first post-adiabatic (1PA) waveform model for nonspinning, quasicircular compact binaries [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 241402 (2023)]. In this paper, we extend that model to allow for a slowly spinning primary black hole and a generic, precessing spin on the secondary object, restricting to the case of small misalignment between the primary spin and the orbital angular momentum. We demonstrate excellent agreement between our waveforms and fully nonlinear numerical relativity simulations for mass ratios $q\gtrsim 5$ and primary spins $|\chi_1|\lesssim 0.1$ and arbitrary secondary spin $\chi_2 \lesssim 1$. In particular we present the re-summed 1PAT1R waveform model, which significantly improves the accuracy of the original 1PAT1 waveforms for comparable masses and increasing primary spin. Our models are publicly available in the WaSABI package.

We develop and implement a new hybrid waveform model for quasicircular inspirals with a spinning primary and nonspinning secondary, excluding the merger and ringdown. This model, which is a core component of the more extensive WaSABI-C model, consistently assembles all available first-order self-force and post-Newtonian results through a hybridization procedure without any tuning to numerical relativity, making it particularly suited for intermediate to extreme mass ratios. For almost all masses and primary spins, the resulting hybrid model significantly improves the faithfulness of both post-Newtonian and adiabatic self-force waveforms considered separately. We provide detailed comparisons with 50 simulations from the SXS catalog with mass ratios ranging from 1 to 15 and primary spins ranging from -0.8 to 0.8. The hybrid model improves the median mismatch against numerical relativity waveforms by a factor of 2000 with respect to adiabatic waveforms and 40 with respect to post-Newtonian waveforms. The mismatches are comparable to those obtained from the SEOBNRv5EHM model in the quasicircular limit over most of the parameter space covered by NR simulations.

We explore the cosmological consequences of a modified cosmology inspired by string T-duality. We incorporate the zero-point length correction, $l_0$, into the gravitational potential and derive the modified Friedmann equations via thermodynamic approach at the apparent horizon of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. The resulting framework introduces a dimensionless coupling parameter $\beta\sim l_0^2H_0^2$ quantifying deviations from the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. Using Bayesian inference with \textsc{Cobaya} and MCMC sampling, we constrain the model parameter against late-time observations, including PantheonPlus and Union3 Type~Ia supernovae, cosmic chronometers, DESI~DR2 BAO measurements, and Amati-calibrated GRBs. The joint analysis yields an upper bound $\beta \lesssim \mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ (68\% C.L.), implying that departures from $\Lambda$CDM are extremely small within current precision. Model comparison through the Akaike Information Criterion shows that the $\Lambda$CDM and T-duality models provide statistically equivalent fits to the data, exhibiting only a marginal preference for $\Lambda$CDM. These results provide the first quantitative observational constraints on string T-duality inspired modified cosmology and underscore the potential of future high-precision surveys to test quantum-gravity induced corrections in a late-time universe.

Light QCD axions, introduced to solve the strong CP problem, may form condensates inside neutron stars, giving rise to a novel ground state of dense matter. We investigate how such axion condensates modify the equilibrium structure and radial oscillation spectrum of NSs. Using a realistic NS model with the BSk26 equation of state, and solving the coupled Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and Klein-Gordon equations together with a linear perturbation analysis, we find two distinct families of quasi-normal modes: weakly damped fluid-dominated oscillations and highly damped axion modes. The coupling between the fluid and the axion field introduces axion-induced damping of radial oscillations, with decay timescales of order seconds for kHz axion masses. Modes with frequencies above the axion mass are strongly damped, while those below remain unaffected. These results suggest that stellar oscillations could provide a novel probe of axion properties, opening prospects for axion asteroseismology in neutron stars.

With the help of CUDA high-performance numerical codes exploited in machine learning, we investigate the shadow aspect of new rotating and charged black holes using the Dunkl derivative formalism. Precisely, we first establish the corresponding metric function encoding the involved physical properties including the optical character. Exploiting such accelerated simulations, we approach the horizon radius behaviors in order to determine the regions of the module space providing physical solutions. Applying the Hamilton-Jacobi mechanism, we assess the shadow aspect for non-rotating and rotating solutions. Using such an aspect, we evaluate the energy rate of emission. Developing a high-performance CUDA numerical code, we derive strict constraints on the Dunkl deformation parameters in order to establish a link with the shadow observations provided by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration.

In default of a fundamental MOND theory -- a FUNDAMOND -- I advocate that, alongside searching for one, we should try to identify predictions that follow from wide classes of MOND theories, if not necessarily from all. In particular, predictions that follow from only the basic tenets of MOND -- ``primary predictions'' -- are shared by all MOND theories, and are especially valuable. Such predictions permit us to test the MOND paradigm itself, or at least large parts of it, without yet having a FUNDAMOND. Concentrating on the deep-MOND limit, I discuss examples of either type of predictions. For some examples of primary predictions, I demonstrate how they follow from the basic tenets (which I first formulate). I emphasize that even predictions that pertain to the deep-MOND limit - namely, those that concern gravitating systems that have low accelerations everywhere -- require the full set of MOND tenets, including the existence of a Newtonian limit close to the deep-MOND regime. This is because Newtonian dynamics is a unique theory that all MOND theories must tend to in the limit of high accelerations, and it strongly constrains aspects of the deep-MOND regime, if the transition between the limits is fast enough, which is one of the MOND tenets.

This paper examines the growth of dark matter and dark energy perturbations within a non-canonical scalar field model characterized by an exponential potential. Through dynamical system analysis, we identify critical points and track the background evolution of a spatially flat FLRW universe dominated by dark energy and pressureless dark matter. We systematically derive key cosmological quantities, including the Hubble parameter, deceleration parameter, density parameters, and the scalar field's equation of state, and explore their dependence on model parameters. Within the linear perturbation framework, employing the pseudo-Newtonian formalism, we compute the growth factor of matter density perturbations. To investigate the non-linear regime of structure formation, we employ the spherical collapse model and derive its key parameters. Building on these findings, we compute the function $f(z)\sigma_8(z)$ and the relative number density of halo objects exceeding a given mass threshold. Our results indicate that non-canonical scalar field models can effectively account for both background cosmic evolution and the growth of structure, offering potential insights into observational constraints and large-scale dynamics.

We report evidence for nonlinear gravitational effects in the ringdown signal of gravitational wave event GW250114. Using Bayesian inference, we find that the inclusion of a nonlinear quasi-normal mode (220Q), a second-order harmonic predicted by general relativity, is statistically favored over the standard linear model (440 mode) when analyzing the post-merger oscillations. Specifically, models incorporating the 220Q mode yield higher Bayes factors than those including only the linear 440 mode, and produce remnant black hole parameters (mass and spin) more consistent with full numerical relativity simulations. This suggests that nonlinear mode coupling contributes significantly to the ringdown phase, opening a new avenue to probe strong-field gravity beyond linear approximations.

In this work we shall study the impact of a second order electroweak phase transition occurring at $\sim 150\,$GeV on the energy spectrum of the stochastic gravitational background. Specifically, we assume that the non-minimally coupled Higgs field controls the inflationary era, we find the reheating temperature for the Higgs inflationary model and we demonstrate that the Higgs effective potential exhibits a very weak first order phase transition. This weak first order phase transition is an indication that the electroweak phase transition may not actually proceed as a first order phase transition, but it will proceed as a crossover or second order phase transition. This second order phase transition proceeds with the Higgs field slow-rolling its potential toward to its new minimum. This slow-rolling may deform the radiation domination total equation of state, and the aim of this work is to pinpoint the observational imprints of this total equation of state deformation on the energy spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves, that affects modes that enter the horizon at temperatures $T\sim 150\,$GeV or lower.

There is a claim in the literature that charged dark matter particles in the mass range $100 (q_{\rm X}/e)^2~\mathrm{TeV} \leq m_{\rm X} \leq 10^8 (q_{\rm X}/e)~\mathrm{TeV}$ are allowed, based on arguing that heavy charged particles cannot reach the Earth from outside the magnetized region of the Milky Way (Chuzhoy-Kolb, 2009). We point out that this claim fails for physical models for the Galactic magnetic field. We explicitly confirm our argument by simulating with the software CRPropa the trajectories of heavy charged dark matter in models of the Galactic magnetic field.

When electromagnetic (or gravitational) waves propagate in the presence of a background magnetic field, a portion of the waves converts into gravitational (or electromagnetic) waves. This phenomenon, known as the (inverse) Gertsenshtein effect, is typically analyzed in Minkowski spacetime, neglecting the spacetime curvature induced by the magnetic field itself. This paper investigates, for the first time, the influence of spacetime curvature on the (inverse) Gertsenshtein effect. To this end, we first determine the metric perturbation from Minkowski spacetime up to second order in the magnetic field strength, assuming cylindrical symmetry. We also discuss the ambiguities in the form of the metric perturbation arising from gauge freedom and boundary conditions. Using the geometric optics approximation, we then derive a set of coupled equations governing the propagation of electromagnetic and gravitational waves in the resulting curved spacetime. These equations are solved for two specific scenarios: a plane wave and a spherical wave. From the solutions, we compute the evolution of the wave amplitudes and the associated energy fluxes. Our analysis reveals that two competing effects govern the amplitude evolution: magnification due to the focusing of waves by spacetime curvature, and attenuation due to wave conversion via the Gertsenshtein effect. In the plane wave case, these effects precisely cancel, resulting in no net change in amplitude. In contrast, for the spherical wave, the Gertsenshtein effect dominates over focusing, leading to an overall reduction in amplitude.

Strongly lensed gravitational waves may pass through the stellar field of a lensing galaxy with additional modulations (on both phase and amplitude) due to gravitational microlensing effect of stars/remnants near the line of sight. These microlensed waveforms depend on the mass and location of thousands or more most relevant stars, so that their deterministic reconstruction from the data is computationally prohibitive. We classify the detection and parameter estimation of such events as non-deterministic inference problem and propose a solution with the implementation of normalizing flows. As a first step, we show that $8\%$ of microlensed events can be detected with significance $\ge 3 \sigma$ in the third generation era, with the chosen microlensing parameters correlated with the density of the underlying stellar field. This approach opens the door to probing microlensing effects and the properties of the underlying stellar fields. A similar construction may also be applied to other non-deterministic inference problems, such as detecting post-merger gravitational waves from binary neutron star coalescence and signals from core-collapse supernovae.

The upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will detect up to thousands of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs). These sources will spend $\sim 10^5$ cycles in band, and are therefore sensitive to tiny changes in the general-relativistic dynamics, potentially induced by astrophysical environments or modifications of general relativity (GR). Previous studies have shown that these effects can be highly degenerate for a single source. However, it may be possible to distinguish between them at the population level, because environmental effects should impact only a fraction of the sources, while modifications of GR would affect all. We therefore introduce a population-based hierarchical framework to disentangle the two hypotheses. Using simulated EMRI populations, we perform tests of the null vacuum-GR hypothesis and two alternative beyond-vacuum-GR hypotheses, namely migration torques (environmental effects) and time-varying $G$ (modified gravity). We find that with as few as $\approx 20$ detected sources, our framework can statistically distinguish between these three hypotheses, and even indicate if both environmental and modified gravity effects are simultaneously present in the population. Our framework can be applied to other models of beyond-vacuum-GR effects available in the literature.

We investigate the measurability of effective inspiral spin in the detectable compact binary mergers using gravitational-wave observations. Measurements from the latest gravitational-wave transient catalog do not rule out the existence of binary systems with non-zero effective spins. However, we observe an apparent correlation between the inferred effective inspiral spin and the loudness of the gravitational-wave events-- loud events typically have close-to-zero effective spins whereas fainter events tend to be inferred with relatively arbitrary effective spins. Through simulations, we demonstrate that non-negligible effective spins can be systematically inferred from non-spinning systems at small signal strengths. These two observations support the possibility that the effective spin magnitudes in the observable compact binaries are generally small. Future detections can have potential impact on the understanding of their population and other astrophysical inferences.

Arm-locking frequency stabilization is a key technique for suppressing laser frequency noise in space-based gravitational-wave detectors. The robustness of the arm-locking control loop is crucial for maintaining laser frequency stability, which directly impacts the accuracy of gravitational-wave measurements. In this work, a parametric stability analysis framework is developed by combining the D-subdivision theory with the Semi-Discretization method to map the stability regions of arm-locking systems in the parameter space and identify their critical stability boundaries. Based on the frequency-domain characteristics, a robust arm-locking controller is designed to enhance loop stability under parameter perturbations. Theoretical analysis and time-domain simulations confirm that the proposed controller maintains closed-loop stability and realize suppression of laser frequency noise against parameter perturbation.

The angular distribution of gravitational-wave power from persistent sources may exhibit anisotropies arising from the large-scale structure of the Universe. This motivates directional searches for astrophysical and cosmological gravitational-wave backgrounds, as well as continuous-wave emitters. We present results of such a search using data from the first observing run through the first portion of the fourth observing run of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborations. We apply gravitational-wave radiometer techniques to generate skymaps and search for both narrowband and broadband persistent gravitational-wave sources. Additionally, we use spherical harmonic decomposition to probe spatially extended sources. No evidence of persistent gravitational-wave signals is found, and we set the most stringent constraints to date on such emissions. For narrowband point sources, our sensitivity estimate to effective strain amplitude lies in the range $(0.03 - 8.4) \times 10^{-24}$ across all sky and frequency range $(20 - 160)$ Hz. For targeted sources -- Scorpius X-1, SN 1987A, the Galactic Center, Terzan 5, and NGC 6397 -- we constrain the strain amplitude with best limits ranging from $\sim 1.1 \times 10^{-25}$ to $6.5 \times 10^{-24}$. For persistent broadband sources, we constrain the gravitational-wave flux $F_{\alpha, \hat{n}}^{95\%, \mathrm{UL}}(25\, \mathrm{Hz}) < (0.008 - 5.5) \times 10^{-8}\, \mathrm{erg\, cm^{-2}\, s^{-1}\, Hz^{-1}}$, depending on the sky direction $\hat{n}$ and spectral index $\alpha=0,\,2/3,\,3$. Finally, for extended sources, we place upper limits on the strain angular power spectrum $C_\ell^{1/2} < (0.63 - 17) \times 10^{-10} \,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$.

TianQin is a proposed space-based mission for gravitational wave detection, employing a constellation of three drag-free satellites in high Earth orbits to form a laser interferometric observatory. A critical technical challenge is mitigating tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling noise, which is expected to be the third dominant noise source after laser frequency and clock noises. This noise is unavoidable in the presence of the residual angular movement of satellites, movable optical subassemblies (MOSAs), and test masses (TMs), and needs to be subtracted after reducing the first two types of noises using time-delay interferometry (TDI). Previous works have shown that TTL coupling coefficients can be estimated from the null TDI channel $\zeta$ and used for noise subtraction in other combinations. However, it was found that correlated MOSA yaw jitters have a negative impact on the TTL calibration, and the effects of realistic residual angular jitters from drag-free and pointing control (DFPC) are yet to be investigated. In this paper, we use closed-loop DFPC simulations to generate more realistic jitters in the science mode and test TTL calibration capability. Our simulations reveal that rotating only one MOSA is more favorable, compared to symmetrically rotating two MOSAs, for enhancing the accuracy of TTL coefficient estimation, while employing only high-frequency data (0.1 - 1 Hz). Moreover, we propose two other methods to further improve estimation accuracy. Firstly, using different null channel combinations, such as $C_3^{14}$, enhances the least squares estimation accuracy even in the case of high correlations in MOSAs' yaw jitters. Secondly, injecting different sinusoidal artificial maneuvers to the six MOSAs also shows improvements. These methods can help TianQin to meet the 0.3 pm/Hz$^{1/2}$ requirement after the TTL noise subtraction.

Under carefully chosen assumptions a single general relativistic scalar field is able to induce MOND-like dynamics in the weak field approximation of the Einstein frame (gauge) and to modify the light cone structure accordingly. This is shown by a Lagrangian model formulated in the framework of integrable Weyl geometry. It contains a Bekenstein-type (``aquadratic'') term and a second order term generating additional mass energy for the scalar field. Both are switched on only if the gradient of the scalar field is spacelike and below a MOND-typical threshold, like in the superfluid model of Berezhiani/Khoury. The mass term induces non-negligible energy and pressures of the scalar field and leads to gravitational light deflection compatible with MOND-ian free fall trajectories. In the weak field (Newton-Milgrom) approximation the Bekenstein term implies a deep MOND equation for the scalar field. In this model the external field effect of the MOND approach has to be reconsidered. This has important consequences for hierarchical systems like clusters, which may suffice for explaining their dynamics without additional dark matter.

In this article, we investigate the dynamics of a phantom scalar field with an arbitrary potential, focusing on accelerating scaling solutions of cosmological relevance. We consider both uncoupled and coupled cosmological scenarios. In the latter case, the coupling between phantom dark energy and dark matter is motivated by the warm inflationary paradigm, with the dissipation coefficient assumed to be either constant or variable. The evolution equations of our coupled and uncoupled cosmological models are written in the form of autonomous systems, whose stability is studied using methods of qualitative analysis of dynamical systems. For this analysis, the only requirement imposed on the phantom scalar-field potential is that a specific dynamical variable, defined in terms of the potential and its derivative, must be invertible. We show that the uncoupled phantom cosmological model cannot accommodate any accelerated scaling solution, while such solutions do exist in the coupled scenario, for both constant and variable dissipation coefficients. Although there is a limitation to these scaling solutions $-$ specifically, the current stage of accelerated expansion is not preceded by a long enough matter-dominated era $-$ our results show that the existence of a direct coupling between phantom dark energy and dark matter yields great potential for addressing the cosmic coincidence problem.

Next-generation GW detectors will produce a high rate of temporally overlapping signals from unrelated compact binary coalescences. Such overlaps can bias parameter estimation (PE) and mimic signatures of other physical effects, such as gravitational lensing. In this work, we investigate how overlapping signals can be degenerate with gravitational lensing by focusing on two scenarios: Type-II strong lensing and microlensing by an isolated point-mass lens. We simulate quasicircular binary black-hole pairs with chirp-mass ratios $\mathscr{M}_{\rm B}/\mathscr{M}_{\rm A}\in\{0.5,\,1,\,2\}$, SNR ratios $\mathrm{SNR}_{\rm B}/\mathrm{SNR}_{\rm A}\in\{0.5,\,1\}$, and coalescence-time offsets $\Delta t_{\rm c}\in[-0.1,\,0.1]~\mathrm{s}$. Bayesian PE and fitting-factor studies show that the Type-II lensing hypothesis is favored over the unlensed quasicircular hypothesis ($\log_{10}\mathscr{B}^{\rm L}_{\rm U}>1$) only in a small region of the overlapping parameter space with $\mathscr{M}_{\rm B}/\mathscr{M}_{\rm A}\gtrsim1$ and $|\Delta t_{\rm c}|\leq0.03~\rm{s}$.. Meanwhile, false evidence for microlensing signatures can arise because, to a reasonable approximation, the model produces two superimposed images whose time delay can closely match $|\Delta t_{\rm c}|$. Overall, the inferred Bayes factor depends on relative chirp-mass ratios, relative loudness, difference in coalescence times, and also the absolute SNRs of the overlapping signals. Cumulatively, our results indicate that overlapping black-hole binaries with nearly equal chirp masses and comparable loudness are likely to be falsely identified as lensed. Such misidentifications are expected to become more common as detector sensitivities improve. While our study focuses on ground-based detectors using appropriate detectability thresholds, the findings naturally extend to next-generation GW observatories.

General Relativity (GR) is an effective field theory valid in the infrared regime. Quadratic curvature extensions intended to probe ultraviolet physics generically propagate a massive spin-$2$ ghost and are therefore non-unitary. One route to remove ghost is by enlarging the geometric sector (torsion, non-metricity). We investigate the infrared phenomenology of both the standard (ghostful) and ghost-free fourth-order gravity theories by computing Gravitational Wave (GW) emission and confronting the results with observations such as the orbital-period decay of quasi-stable binaries such as PSR B1913+16 and PSR J1738+0333 and the chirp-mass evolution of GW170817. In the ghostful theory, besides the theoretical inconsistency due to non-unitarity, there are also phenomenological problems: the massless spin-$2$ GW flux cancels the combined GW fluxes of the massive spin-$2$ ghost and massive spin-$0$ scalar in the vanishing-mass limit, so the GR quadrupole formula is not recovered at the leading order. As a result, we obtain the GW constraint on the ghostful theory as $m\gtrsim 10^{-11}~\mathrm{eV}$, where $m$ is the mass of the massive modes. By contrast, the ghost-free theory smoothly reproduces the Newtonian potential and GR quadrupole formulae when the two coupling constants $\alpha_1$ and $\alpha_2$ vanish, independently of the mass $m$. Therefore, GW observations put mass-dependent upper bounds on the size of the coupling constants. For example, if we assume $\alpha_1\simeq\alpha_2$ for simplicity, then we obtain $\alpha_{1,2}\lesssim 4.2\times 10^{83}$ for $m\sim 3\times 10^{-16}\,\mathrm{eV}$ and $\alpha_{1,2}\lesssim 1.3\times 10^{75}$ for $m\sim 10^{-11}\,\mathrm{eV}$. To our knowledge, these are the first astrophysical-scale bounds reported for ghostful and ghost-free fourth-order gravity.