Papers for Friday, Apr 03 2026

At Cosmic Noon ($z\approx 2-3$), both star formation and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activity peaked, each playing a significant role in ionizing interstellar gas on galaxy-wide scales. The spatial distribution of this ionized gas provides a direct probe of how AGN and stellar ionization shape the gaseous reservoirs of their host galaxies. Using JWST/NIRCam imaging from the JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey (JEMS) we spatially map two complementary tracers of ionized gas, [O III]$+\mathrm{H}\beta$ and Pa$\beta$, in $\sim200$ galaxies at $2.5 < z < 2.9$. We apply multiwavelength AGN diagnostics to divide the sample into AGN hosts (33 galaxies), Pa$\beta$-detected systems (32 galaxies), and control objects (175 galaxies). We measure the [O III]$+\mathrm{H}\beta$ and Pa$\beta$ spatial extents in each population and relate them to AGN and host properties derived from Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) modeling. Both tracers exhibit systematically larger maximum radial extents in AGN hosts than in control galaxies (by $\sim0.3$ dex), with [O III]$+\mathrm{H}\beta$ emission modestly more extended than Pa$\beta$ by $\sim0.1$ dex. With this statistically robust AGN sample, we measure the [O III]$+\mathrm{H}\beta$ radial extent-AGN luminosity relation at $z\sim3$ and derive a slope of $\sim0.2$, consistent with the shallow end of values reported at low redshift. The larger ionized gas extents among AGN hosts relative to the control sample, combined with the strong correlation between [O III]$+\mathrm{H}\beta$ extent and AGN luminosity suggest that AGN activity may dominate gas ionization in galaxies with mixed AGN and star-forming activity at Cosmic Noon, although stellar processes can still contribute significantly on kiloparsec scales.

The interaction between solar activity and Earth's magnetosphere magnetosphere-ionosphere system often results in geomagnetic storms that disturb ionospheric electron density. In this study, we analyse the ionospheric response to selected geomagnetic storm events during the Solar Cycle 25, focusing on the mid latitude region of Earth, including Turkey. Hourly Kp and Dst indices obtained from the OMNI database are compared with global TEC maps provided by NASA CDDIS. Storm time anomalies include short term enhancements and irregularities in electron content, correlated with geomagnetic activity. Unlike equatorial regions, mid-latitude ionospheric responses exhibit distinct features such as Storm Enhanced Density (SED). These findings emphasize the importance of continuous space weather monitoring for navigation and communication systems.

Eclipsing binaries provide one of the most direct mechanisms for measuring stellar properties such as mass and radius, but historically, determining these properties has been non-trivial and computationally prohibitive. As such, only a small fraction of all eclipsing binaries for which data have been available have been fully characterized. To improve computational efficiency, we construct an uncertainty-aware neural network which can ingest phase-folded light curves in any of 50 commonly used passbands, combined with phase-folded radial velocity measurements for both primary and secondary, as well as fluxes across the spectral energy distribution to predict stellar and orbital parameters of eclipsing binaries. The model was trained to be agnostic to the presence of third light, spots (both cool and hot), and incomplete data. As the model is operating in a probabilistic framework, it is also capable of outputting uncertainties in all of the parameters. The model was trained on synthetic data, and applied to a set of $\sim$200 previously solved real eclipsing binaries to demonstrate its performance. The model is capable of determining masses and radii of eclipsing binaries with precision of $\lesssim$20\% and $T_{\rm eff}$ with precision of $\sim$500 K in only a fraction of the time it takes the more traditional solvers. Although the resulting uncertainties are larger than what is possible to produce using more boutique analysis of individual stars, in the era of large photometric surveys, this approach allows to identify the most interesting systems, and it provides a starting point of the distributions in all of the parameters that these solvers could improve upon.

We examine the galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of $^3\rm{He}$ in one-zone and multi-zone models, with particular attention to the stellar yields and GCE parameters that can reproduce both the protosolar $^3\rm{He}$ abundance and recent gas-phase $^3\rm{He}/^4\rm{He}$ measurements in the Orion nebula. Published stellar models indicate negligible net $^3\rm{He}$ production by massive stars, while the predicted yields from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are metallicity-dependent and span a range of $\sim 2.5$ depending on the extra mixing processes incorporated in the stellar models. The dominant contribution to $^3\rm{He}$ production comes from $1-2\ M_\odot$ stars, making $^3\rm{He}$ evolution slow compared to other AGB elements and to Fe enrichment from Type Ia supernovae. We constrain our GCE models to reproduce the observed [O/H] in the interstellar medium, and our fiducial models adopt an empirically motivated IMF-averaged oxygen yield $y_{\rm O} \approx 1.2\ Z_{\rm O, \odot}$. Even with the lowest of the AGB $^3\rm{He}$ yields, based on stellar models with rotational and thermohaline mixing, our GCE models tend to overpredict the protosolar and Orion $^3\rm{He}$ abundances; they require a slow onset of star formation and low star formation efficiency to come close to the observed values. With a higher oxygen yield, calibration to observed [O/H] implies stronger outflows, making it easier to reproduce the observed $^3\rm{He}$. Alternatively, the true $^3\rm{He}$ yield could be lower than that predicted by existing stellar models, suggesting that mixing in red giants is not yet fully captured. Future $^3\rm{He}$ measurements that probe higher metallicity environments could help distinguish these possibilities.

We study the structure and evolution of the galactic bar's resonant phase-space in self-consistent N-body simulations of the Milky Way, with and without perturbations from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. In an idealized disk evolution model in which stars are perturbed solely by a bar that spins down due to dynamical friction against the dark matter halo, it is predicted that stars trapped in the bar's corotation resonance form a characteristic `tree-ring' structure in phase space: as the resonance expands in volume while sweeping outwards, it sequentially captures surrounding stars at its surface, such that stars captured earlier in the inner disk are found preferentially near the core of the resonance. However, it has not been clear whether such a structure persists in a more realistic galactic disk subject to a variety of time-dependent perturbations, in particular those by spiral arms and passing satellite galaxies. This paper demonstrates that the predicted tree-ring structure indeed emerges in a realistic noisy environment using self-consistent N-body simulations. Despite the presence of spiral arms, encounters with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, as well as fluctuations in the bar's pattern speed, and not least numerical noise -- all of which drive stellar diffusion in phase space -- the tree-ring structure remains well-preserved in the slow angle-action space. Our results demonstrate that the tree-ring structure of the bar's resonance is a robust signal of the bar's spin-down and hence its discovery in the Milky Way implies the existence of a dark matter halo that removed angular momentum from the bar.

The smallest supermassive black holes (BHs), which provide constraints on BH seeds, reside in low-mass galaxies. Here, we present a systematic analysis of 990 low-mass galaxies in the SAMI Galaxy Survey to identify emission from accreting BHs using integral field spectroscopy (IFS). Employing a novel automated scoring algorithm based on spatially resolved narrow emission-line diagnostics, we find signatures of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in 41 galaxies, as well as an additional 46 less secure candidates. The galaxies have stellar masses in the range $10^{9.4} \lesssim M_\star/M_\odot \lesssim 10^{10}$ (down to $10^{8.5}$ including less secure candidates), redshifts $z \lesssim 0.06$, and morphologies ranging from early-type ellipticals to late-type spirals. Our AGN fraction of 4% (9% including the less secure candidates) is significantly higher than those reported by studies using single-fiber spectroscopy ($\lesssim 1$--2%). Indeed, our additional analysis of single-fiber spectra of the objects in our sample demonstrates that many of our AGN candidates detected via IFS are missed. This work highlights the advantages of IFS, particularly its ability to capture extended or off-nuclear emission from accreting BHs.

The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project uses data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to detect infrared objects with significant motion. In this work, we present the majority of the L and T dwarf candidates discovered through this effort. For each candidate, we provide proper motion measurements as well as optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared photometry (when available), photometric spectral types and distance estimates. Three thousand and six new motion-confirmed discoveries are presented in this work, 2,357 with L-type photometric spectral types and 649 with T-type photometric spectral types. We also present an additional 80 objects as likely L or T dwarfs based on available photometry, but for which a significant motion measurement could not be obtained. We identify 28 objects in this sample as new comoving companions to higher-mass stars, and an additional 9 sources that are candidate binary systems made up of two ultracool dwarfs of L-type or later. Follow-up spectroscopic observations will be necessary to confirm spectral types and further characterize the sources discovered through this project. This work presents the largest single sample of motion-confirmed L and T dwarf discoveries to date, which would more than double the number of known L and T dwarfs, if confirmed. We wish to sincerely thank our citizen scientist collaborators for their monumental efforts that have directly impacted this project's success.

The mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectrum in galaxies has a long history as a valuable proxy for the dust-obscured component of the star formation rate (SFR) in massive galaxies. In this work, we exploit the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescopes (JWST) to expand our understanding of the mid-IR and its use in measuring SFRs, covering four orders of magnitude in total~infrared~luminosity ($9\lesssim$ log $L_{\rm IR}/L_{\odot}\lesssim13$). First, using a Main Sequence sample at $1<z<1.75$ from SMILES, we calibrate mid-IR-based SFRs against the P$_{\rm a\alpha}$ emission line $-$ a gold standard SFR indicator $-$ from the FRESCO survey. We find that the rest-frame $\sim6-8\,\mu$m emission $-$ dominated by PAHs and probed by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) at $z\sim1.3$ $-$ has a superlinear relation with SFR$_{\rm P_{a\alpha}}$ below $\sim8$ $M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, in sharp contrast with the unity relation in more massive galaxies. We derive SFR calibrations for MIRI photometry, finding that a single, representative IR template improves the scatter. We additionally calibrate a UV+IR composite indicator, assuming energy balance, which does return a unity relation, with low scatter. Our examination of the mid-IR in our MS sample indicates that it is tracking the global obscuration fraction, making it a robust proxy for SFR down to our low mass end, log $M_{\star}/M_{\odot}\sim9$, and across the redshift range where MIRI probes the PAHs ($0.3\lesssim z\lesssim3$). Finally, we examine the bright end not represented in SMILES, comparing the behavior of local and cosmic noon ultra luminous infrared galaxies to show that the robustness of using the IR as a SFR proxy extends from the faint to bright regimes.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large-scale expulsions of plasma and magnetic flux from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. In interplanetary space they are referred to as interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), often characterised by a shock, a sheath, and in some cases a magnetic cloud, and are capable of triggering geomagnetic storms. We apply empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in conjunction with Hilbert spectral analysis (HSA) to investigate turbulence characteristics at different stages of an ICME event observed on 27 June 2013 by the MAG instrument onboard NASA's ACE spacecraft. The event is divided into four regions: (i) preceding solar wind, (ii) sheath, (iii) magnetic cloud, and (iv) trailing solar wind. The magnetic field components (Bx, By, Bz) are decomposed into intrinsic mode functions using EMD, and instantaneous frequencies and amplitudes are derived via HSA. Spectral slopes in the inertial range are calculated from the second-order marginal Hilbert spectra. The preceding solar wind shows a slope near the Kolmogorov value ({\alpha}_HHT \approx -1.68), indicating fully developed turbulence at 1 AU. Clear steepening is observed in the sheath and trailing solar wind ({\alpha}_HHT \approx -1.78 and -1.79), consistent with enhanced intermittency and non-linear activity from shock compression and solar wind-ICME interactions. Within the magnetic cloud the exponent is slightly less steep ({\alpha}_HHT \approx -1.71), suggesting the effects driving steepening are less prevalent inside the flux rope. ICME passage thus modifies the turbulent energy distribution across scales, and the EMD-HSA method provides smoother and more stable spectral estimates than conventional Fourier approach.

We present a two-year optical reverberation mapping campaign of NGC 4051, an active galactic nucleus (AGN) hosting a low-mass black hole ($8\times10^5 M_\odot$), using daily observations in seven photometric bands from Las Cumbres Observatory augmented by archival data from Swift XRT and UVOT. The light curves show correlated variability with wavelength-dependent lags broadly consistent with the standard accretion disc scaling, $\tau \propto \lambda^{4/3}$, and a pronounced u-band excess. However, the $i$ and $z_s$ lags are significantly larger than expected and cannot be explained by a combination of disc emission and diffuse continuum (DC) from the broad-line region (BLR), making NGC 4051 a notable lag-luminosity outlier. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of the variable AGN component is markedly redder than the canonical accretion disc prediction, $F_\nu \propto \nu^{1/3}$, typically observed in more massive systems. We explore two scenarios to account for the red UV-optical SED and the anomalously large $i$ and $z_s$ lags: (a) SMC-like dust reddening ($E(B-V)\sim0.18$) combined with optically thick emission from the inner edge of the dusty torus; and (b) a dominant diffuse continuum contribution. We discuss the implications of each scenario within a comprehensive multi-wavelength framework.

Gravitational-wave observations reveal that the rate of merging black holes drops by $\sim2$ orders of magnitude from component masses $\sim 10\,M_{\odot}$ to $\sim 15\,M_{\odot}$. The increased compactness of the black hole progenitor cores may contribute to the $\sim 10\,M_{\odot}$ overdensity, but cannot fully explain the rate difference. In this paper, we consider the possibility that the overdensity is reinforced by supernova processes that result in efficient black hole formation from direct collapse in a narrow range around $10\, M_{\odot}$. We extend previous studies by considering a distinct subpopulation of failed-supernovae black holes, possibly separated by a gap in the primary mass distribution from the rest of the population. Using 153 observations from the latest GWTC-4.0 catalog, we confirm a strong peak in the primary mass distribution at $10\,M_{\odot}$, with a peak rate density of $7.36_{-3.11}^{+6.35}$ $M_{\odot}^{-1}\mathrm{yr}^{-1} \mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}$. The rate drops sharply and becomes consistent with zero at the 90 % level for primary mass $m_1\in (12.0, 16.1)\, M_{\odot}$, then rises again to confidently nonzero values above $\sim 16\,M_{\odot}$ before falling at higher masses. Our results reveal structure in the mass distribution in the $10-20\,M_{\odot}$ range, with rate changes of multiple orders of magnitude across a few solar masses, consistent with a distinct population of failed-supernova black holes.

These notes present material from lectures given at the 54th Saas-Fee Advanced Course of the Swiss Society of Astrophysics and Astronomy in January 2025, entitled "Galaxies and Black Holes in the First Billion Years as seen by the JWST", and are intended for early career researchers or those new to the sub-field. My lectures covered the theory of galaxy formation with a focus on the first billion years of cosmic evolution. In these notes, I discuss cosmological structure formation, properties of dark matter halos at $z\gtrsim 6$, and whether any of the JWST observations to date present a serious and fundamental challenge for the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter Paradigm. I then give an overview of physical processes and modeling techniques, including translating simulation-based quantities to observables, and discuss recent progress and future directions in galaxy formation modeling. The closing section presents a summary of some of the theoretical puzzles and challenges raised by the first three years of high redshift observations with JWST, and how our models of galaxy formation may need to be revised to accommodate them.

We present the first public cosmic-web environment catalog built on any DESI data release. Using ASTRA (Algorithm for Stochastic Topological RAnking), we classify each object in the DESI Early Data Release into void, sheet, filament, or knot by combining observed positions with matched random catalogs, without reconstructing a continuous density field. We apply this method to four DESI extragalactic tracers (BGS, LRG, ELG, and QSO) across the 20 EDR rosettes ($\sim 175$ deg$^2$ total), running 100 realizations per tracer-zone pair to derive per-object membership probabilities and classification entropies. We calibrate the classification thresholds using BGS as an anchor to match the volume-filling fractions reported for GAMA, and recover a physically consistent web morphology across all tracers. For BGS, the resulting web-type fractions and the environmental dependence of star formation are consistent with GAMA, COSMOS, and SDSS-based references, validating the method against established benchmarks. A normalized mutual information analysis on BGS reveals a clear dependence of the statistical associations between galaxy color, stellar mass, and specific star formation rate across environments. These results provide a new observational baseline for galaxy evolution studies with DESI. All data products and the open-source pipeline are publicly available.

Identifying the electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources is vital to enabling the myriad of investigations possible with multimessenger astronomy. However, locating faint, fast-varying transients within large localisations remains challenging given the uncertainty in their detailed properties. In this work, we investigate how the nearby merger-induced GRBs would be localised by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detector network during the fifth gravitational wave observing run (O5) and assess whether their optical counterparts could be detected using gravitational wave localisations alone, without additional localisation from gamma-ray instruments. Counterpart detectability is evaluated using the observed optical afterglow lightcurves of these GRBs and the distance-scaled lightcurve of the kilonova AT2017gfo as a fiducial template. We find that such events can be localised to comparatively small regions of the sky, often only a few to tens of square degrees. As a result, counterparts are detectable by at least one of the available optical telescopes during O5. However, detectability depends strongly on observational depth, as the counterparts are fainter than $22$ mag within a day. Facilities capable of reaching depths of $\gtrsim23$ mag therefore play a key role in recovering these faint counterparts. These results indicate that for such events during O5, the primary challenge for multimessenger discovery will be in achieving sufficient observational depth and reliably identifying the true counterpart among unrelated transients rather than gravitational wave localisation itself.

Cosmic voids may have novel affects on the propagation of high-energy photons. We consider the fraction of the line of sight that intersect voids (termed \enquote{voidiness}). A previous study showed that active galactic nuclei (AGN) detected by \textit{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) lie along voidier lines of sight than redshift-matched populations of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) optically detected quasars in the redshift range from $0.4 \leq z < 0.7$. We explore this difference and various astrophysical explanations for it. Weaker intergalactic magnetic fields in voids would naturally enhance the gamma-ray cascading flux within the \textit{Fermi}-LAT point-spread function. We find that line-of-sight interactions increasing the flux in the \textit{Fermi}-LAT energy band by $\sim$0.1\% per Mpc of void traversed may be sufficient to result in the observed difference in voidiness distributions. Voidiness comparisons between SDSS QSO and AGN detected by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes at very-high-energies (VHE) do not yield any conclusive statement, likely because of the limited VHE sample size, and therefore are inconclusive about the role of possibly weaker extragalactic background light within voids. Finally, we measure that $28 \pm 3 \%$ of gamma-ray detected sources exist within a void (consistent with random mock populations) compared to $19.1 \pm 0.3 \%$ of SDSS quasars. We do not find any significant local void effect for gamma-ray sources that would explain the voidiness difference between \textit{Fermi}-LAT gamma-ray and SDSS QSO sources. These results suggest that the observed difference in voidiness distributions may be due to line-of-sight interactions rather than the local emission environment of gamma-ray AGN.

Using 64,000 halo K giants from Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) second Data Release (DR2), we decompose the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo between 3 and 160 kpc into metal-rich (MR) and metal-poor (MP) components via a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The two populations are nearly equal in number but chemically and kinematically distinct: MR stars occupy highly radial orbits with velocity anisotropy of beta ~0.94 and metallicity dispersion sigma([Fe/H]) ~0.17 dex, without obvious dependence on distance, and are mainly contributed by Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) debris. MR component dominates the inner 30 kpc and re-emerges beyond 50 kpc, implying GSE debris can extend to ~70-80 kpc. MP stars exhibit a weaker radial bias of beta ~0.46, decreasing to -0.5 beyond 80 kpc, and with a larger metallicity dispersion of sigma([Fe/H]) ~0.46 dex, showing signatures of multiple minor mergers. Both components exhibit net prograde rotation at ~10-30 kpc with a stronger azimuthal signal in the MP population. The non-equilibrium motions of the outer halo (>50 kpc) are quantified with a dipole-plus-contraction velocity field. We find that the outer halo is simultaneously contracting (~-19 km/s, distance-independent) and subject to reflex motions (increases from -19 to -44 km/s with radius), reflecting the perturbation from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We also confirm a linear dependence of mean polar velocity for the outer stellar halo on the dipole velocity field, a direct consequence of the LMC and MW interaction. Our results provide a quantitative distance-resolved description of the MW's last major accretion event and its ongoing response to the first infall of the LMC.

A modification of the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian by introducing a coupling between the Weyl tensor and the stress-energy tensor was proposed to explain flat galactic rotation curves without the exotic (non-baryonic) dark matter (DM) [1]. The proposed coupling constant was previously determined by fitting the rotational velocities of the Milky Way and M31 modeled with constant density, yielding the same coupling constant for both [2,3]. In this work, we have modified the formalism for a variable density by modeling the galactic systems with realistic, spherically symmetric and radially varying density profiles for the baryonic matter and this analysis is applied to seven edge-on spiral galaxies of the local cluster [4-10] and the Milky Way.

JWST is revolutionizing the field of exoplanet atmospheres by delivering unprecedented spectroscopic constraints on their chemical compositions. It has provided tight constraints on the abundances of dominant carbon- and oxygen-bearing species on numerous warm-to-hot exoplanets with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. Under thermochemical equilibrium, many of these exoplanets should have abundant methane (CH4); however, CH4 has, so far, only been spotted in a few cases. Here, we present a simple, geochemistry-inspired framework to explore whether elevated intrinsic temperatures (T$\rm_{int}$) can account for the CH4 depletions. Instead of using computationally expensive, forward grid models, our fast analytical framework focuses on two key chemical equilibria: CO-CH4 and CO-CO2, allowing us to quickly constrain the minimum Tint that is consistent with JWST-observed abundances of H2O, CO, CH4, and CO2. Applying this framework to 12 warm-to-hot exoplanets, we find that several targets require minimum Tint values exceeding those predicted by standard evolution models, while others remain consistent with lower Tint solutions or exhibit degeneracies with other solutions. Our sample enables an initial exploration of population-level trends: while many exoplanets broadly follow an empirical Teq-Tint relation derived from the hot Jupiter mass-radius population, a subset of targets lie well above this trend. The apparent need for hotter interiors suggests that while Ohmic dissipation is probably an important heat source among the general population, additional heating processes, such as tidal heating, may also play important roles for some planets. Our results demonstrate the diagnostic power of atmospheric chemistry as a complementary probe of exoplanet interiors.

In arXiv:2507.07171, we demonstrate that the high-redshift supermassive black holes in the so-called "little red dots" discovered by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can be explained by the primordial black hole (PBH) clustering on small scales. In this paper, we present a comprehensive simulation of the successive PBH mergers within a cluster by solving the Smoluchowski coagulation equation. We derive the coagulation kernel considering both cases with and without the effects of mass segregation. Then we employ the Monte Carlo method to solve the equation, implementing the full-conditioning scheme using the discrete inverse transformation method. Our simulations determine the runaway timescales of clusters and the mass population evolution of PBHs across a wide range of cosmic redshifts, depending on the number of PBHs within the cluster and the associated density.

We investigate the imprints of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle on cosmological scales by using redshift-space distortion measurements in combination with background cosmological data to determine constraints on the deformation parameter $\beta$. We consider the modified Poisson bracket related to the existence of a minimal length, which leads to a modified Raychaudhuri equation for the standard $\Lambda$CDM model and gives rise to a phenomenological one-parameter dynamical dark energy scenario. Through this modification, we can reveal the effects of the minimal length on the late-time structure of the universe. We employ the $f$ and $f\sigma_8$ measurements of the growth rate combined with background data, including cosmic chronometers, baryon acoustic oscillations and Type Ia supernova observations. The observational constraints reveal a systematically negative value for the deformation parameter $\beta$, with the $\Lambda$CDM limit lying within the 95\% credible interval. When supernova data are included, the Akaike Information Criterion indicates weak-to-strong support in favour of the GUP-modified model depending on the SNIa catalogue, while the Bayesian evidence suggests a weak preference.

The work is devoted to the study of the possibilities of observational manifestations of traversable wormholes (WHs). The simplest binary system model consisting of a traversable WH candidate (black hole (BH), supermassive BH) and a companion star, whose motion is perturbed by a massive object (star) located on the other side of the wormhole throat, is considered. In the first case of supermassive BH as WH candidate the perturbing acceleration is analyzed and compared with a competing effect in the form of the stochastic influence of stars adjacent to the companion star. In the second case the features of the change in the radial velocity of the companion star in the model of a wide binary system with a WH are also analyzed in order to distinguish it from the following models: 1) a binary system with a BH, and 2) a triple system. For the observational accuracy in radial velocity expected in the near future, at the level of 1.5 km/s the radial velocity perturbations are detectable for all considered observation time spans. For a more realistic accuracy of 10 km/s, the spectral analysis methods become statistically significant after approximately 17 years of data accumulation. The application of spectral and non-parametric methods significantly decreases the required accumulation time compared to matched-filtering applied in isolation.

Clusters can provide propitious environments for bar formation in galaxies. This work studies the formation and evolution of 15 bar-like galaxies in the most massive cluster of the TNG50 simulation from the IllustrisTNG suite. The selection includes galaxies from the last simulation output from well-resolved subhalos with a strongly prolate stellar component. Eleven galaxies form or strongly enhance their bars during a pericenter passage around one or more progenitors of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). Two form their bars early as a result of minor mergers, one via an interaction with another massive galaxy, and one via disk instability. The bar formation times differ considerably, ranging between 3-11 Gyr. The lengths of the bars also differ, ranging between 2-6 kpc, and do not correlate with the amount of tidal forcing experienced. All galaxies have at least one pericenter passage around a BCG progenitor, but the number of interactions varies strongly and is reflected in the different amount of mass stripping the galaxies experience. Most bar formation events take place before the BCG is fully formed. In three cases, they occur just before different progenitors of the BCG merge. For six bar-like galaxies, the merger events leading to the final formation of the BCG cause significant changes of their orbits. Their diverse evolutionary histories illustrate the different paths to bar formation in clusters and emphasize the complex nature of the process, which includes coevolution with BCG progenitors.

This work presents a detailed spectroscopic case study of four long-duration transition-region (TR) explosive events (EEs) observed in NOAA Active Region 13213 on 2023 February 10 using the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The dynamic spectral evolution of each event is tracked through multicomponent Gaussian fitting of the Si IV 1403 Å line profiles. Three recurrent spectral morphologies are identified and characterized: bilateral wing enhancement, exclusive red-wing enhancement, and exclusive blue-wing enhancement, among which bilateral enhancement is the most common in the studied cases. Throughout their lifetimes of 20-25 minutes, these events display sustained and evolving bidirectional flows, with high-velocity components ($|v|$ > 100 km $s^{-1}$) emerging in late phases. These spectral signatures are interpreted as evidence of ongoing or recurrent magnetic reconnection, where bilateral profiles correspond to bidirectional outflows, and exclusive wing enhancements represent geometric or evolutionary phases of the same process. In contrast, cotemporal flare ribbons and loop structures exhibit pronounced, unidirectional redshifts. This study underscores that significant non-Gaussian wing enhancement, rather than exclusively high speed, constitutes a defining spectroscopic signature of EEs, and provides detailed kinematic constraints on the dynamics of such TR EEs.

A flux rope eruption on September 10, 2017 provides unique observations of the plasma sheet beneath the rising flux rope. The plasma sheet is likely in a nonequilibrium state in terms of both ionization and the electron distribution function. We trace the evolution of a blob in the plasma sheet using observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We investigate the heating of plasma sheet material in the presence of non-Maxwellian electron distributions and nonequilibrium ionization. Our models compute time-dependent ion fractions, incorporating impulsive heating to various peak temperatures, continuous heating rates, and kappa values that represent the non-Maxwellian distribution. The statistically preferred models constrain the effective impulsive heating temperature to above 20~MK. High-temperature solutions are permitted only for very low kappa values, indicating that suprathermal electrons play a significant role. Impulsive heating dominates the energy budget, with continuous heating contributing approximately 6%-50% of the initial impulsive energy input.

We present optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the low-luminosity (LL) Type IIP supernova SN\,2024abfl. The distance to its host galaxy is highly uncertain, with independent estimates of $9.5^{+2.3}_{-2.4}$ Mpc and $15.0^{+8.9}_{-1.9}$ Mpc. Even adopting the larger distance, the inferred plateau luminosity is only $\sim 10^{41}\rm erg\,s^{-1}$, placing SN 2024abfl at the extreme faint end of SNe IIP population. Its light curve exhibits a long-lasting plateau of approximately 110 days. The spectra show exceptionally low expansion velocities, with the \FeII\, velocity of $\sim1200\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$ at 50 days after the explosion, significantly lower than the typical values of $\sim2000-5500\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$ observed in SNe IIP, placing SN\,2024abfl among the slowest-expanding LL SNe IIP. Bolometric modeling yields a synthesized $^{56}$Ni mass of $\sim0.002-0.004\,\rm M_\odot$, though this estimate remains subject to significant uncertainty owing to the poorly constrained distance. Considering the plateau color and duration, the magnitude drop from plateau to tail, and the progenitor luminosity, we favor a low-mass core-collapse origin for SN\,2024abfl.

We propose that the observed spectral hardening in Galactic cosmic ray fluxes is governed by macroscopic Galactic outflows, such as the eROSITA bubbles, rather than microphysical variations in their scattering properties. Employing a phenomenological transport model, we show that an advective outflow boundary naturally reproduces the $300\,$GV hardening in secondary-to-primary ratios. Global fits to precision AMS-02 data yield an effective local inner halo boundary of $\sim 5\,$kpc and an outflow speed of $\sim 360\,$km/s, in striking agreement with independent multi-wavelength kinematic constraints of the eROSITA outflows. This interpretation provides a testable alternative to breaks in the effective diffusion coefficient, without increasing the number of free parameters.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients. As they propagate through the interstellar medium, they interact with free electrons, resulting in dispersion. The corresponding dispersion measure (DM) is referred to as the real DM (DM$_{\rm real}$). In practice, however, the dispersion measure derived from modeling (DM$_{\rm model}$) is often contaminated by intrinsic burst morphology, giving rise to a pseudo DM component (DM$_{\rm pseudo} = {\rm DM}_{\rm model} - {\rm DM}_{\rm real}$). In this work, we focus on the highly active repeating FRB~20220912A and utilize its microshots -- extremely short-duration (typically tens of microseconds), broadband emissions -- to investigate its DM$_{\rm real}$ and DM$_{\rm pseudo}$. We adopt two assumptions: first, that FRB~20220912A resides in a non-magneto-ionic environment and that its DM$_{\rm real}$ variation is smaller than $10^{-2}$\,pc\,cm$^{-3}$ over a few years; and second, that microshots have a negligible intrinsic morphological time delay. By identifying two new microshots and combining them with previously reported ones, we find that all four microshots exhibit remarkably consistent DM values over a one-month timescale, with an average of $219.380 \pm 0.004\,\mathrm{pc\,cm^{-3}}$. We define this value as the DM$_{\rm real}$ of FRB~20220912A. We further show that bright, narrow bursts with a width of less than 2\,ms also yield DM estimates consistent with the microshot-based DM$_{\rm real}$. A survey of five repeating FRBs reveals that DM$_{\rm pseudo}$ is a common phenomenon, with variations typically spanning a range of approximately $10\,\mathrm{pc\,cm^{-3}}$ at 1.2\,GHz. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for morphological contributions in DM interpretation and demonstrate that microshots and narrow bursts are powerful tools for probing DM$_{\rm real}$.

The assembly of stellar-dominated cores in elliptical galaxies is key to understanding how cosmic structures evolved. Gravitational lensing offers unique insights into the nature of their stars. We report the discovery of the smallest known quadruply lensed quasar (radius ~0.2"), whose lensing galaxy at redshift 1.055 (5.5 billion years after the Big Bang) features a lensing mass of only ~2x10^10 M_sun. A Bayesian analysis, based on the system's exceptional properties and standard scaling relations, allowed us to sample the central galactic initial mass function with unmatched accuracy and in a previously uncharted regime in terms of mass and redshift. We found it consistent with the Milky Way one, while excluding bottom-heavy functions. This suggests that the core either grew slowly or underwent early disruptive events altering its stellar build-up, in contrast with the classical view that bulges form rapidly and remain unchanged by later interactions.

The simulation of extensive air showers and particle cascades in general is a cornerstone of modern astroparticle physics. For more than two decades, CORSIKA, currently in version 7, has been one of the most widely used tools for this purpose. However, its architecture reflects design constraints of an earlier computing era, as well as increasingly limiting extensibility, maintainability, and adaptability to modern experimental requirements. CORSIKA 8 is a complete redesign of the original CORSIKA code, implemented in modern C++ and based on contemporary software engineering principles. It introduces a modular and extensible simulation framework with explicit handling of units, flexible geometry, and environment descriptions. In this paper, we present the design philosophy and core architecture of CORSIKA 8, describe the implementation of electromagnetic and hadronic shower physics, and validate air shower simulations against CORSIKA 7. The results demonstrate good agreement at the few-percent level for key observables, confirming the physics fidelity of CORSIKA 8. We also showcase new use cases that were beyond the capabilities of version 7, such as the simulation of cross-media showers and particle cascades in ice, including radio-signal propagation

The AGN NGC~1566 is known to present dramatic and regular spectral shape changes, associated with the appearance and disappearance of broad emission lines. The underlying mechanism responsible for such changes is yet to be identified, but occultation, eccentric accretion disks, turbulent disk-dominated broad line regions (BLRs) or binary supermassive black holes have been hypothesized. Because the scenarios used to explain the variable spectral shapes of NGC~1566 each have a specific geometric configuration, we used the VLT/FORS2 instrument to obtain nine 3500-10\,000~Å\, polarized spectra of the source between August 2 and September 21, 2025. We caught the AGN in a type-2 state, i.e., without any broad component in total nor polarized fluxes. Its low and wavelength-independent polarization degree (and angle) above 4000~Å\, argues against occultation of the BLR and is consistent with a significant weakening or disappearance of the BLR. The polarized spectrum reveals a strong rise of polarization in the blue band, likely echoing the 2018 outburst of the AGN. The temporal variability of the total flux continuum but the steadiness of the line profiles demonstrate that the object is viewed close to pole-on, irrespective of its spectral type at the time of observation. Relative to archival data, NGC 1566 shows significant variability in polarization degree, angle, and wavelength dependence. Even more surprisingly, NGC~1566 behaves opposite to the basic predictions of the unified model: its polarization angle is perpendicular to the AGN polar axis and its polarization degree is higher when in a brighter, type-1 phase. The results reported above contradict occultation and binary supermassive black hole hypotheses, rather supporting accretion-driven photoionization/structural changes in the internal accretion flow and the BLR.

Linking X-ray variability to the underlying magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamics of black hole X-ray binaries remains challenging. We systematically investigate the stochastic and oscillatory variability of the black hole X-ray binary candidate Swift J1727.8$-$1613 during its 2023 outburst using Gaussian process (GP) regression applied to Insight-HXMT multi-band light curves. The variability is modeled with a physically motivated composite kernel comprising one stochastically driven damped simple harmonic oscillator (SHO) and two damped random walk (DRW) components. The SHO term robustly recovers quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with frequencies $\nu_0 \sim 0.07$--$5$ Hz, consistent with the fundamental Alfvén mode of a contracting magnetically confined disk--coronal cavity. The quality factor rises from $Q \sim 3$ to $Q \sim 10$, suggesting increasing coherence of the magnetic cavity. We also find an anti-correlation between QPO frequency and the short DRW damping timescale, supporting our proposed stochastic magneto-active dynamics scenario. Associating the short and long DRW timescales with the local turbulent turnover and thermal adjustment timescales, respectively, we infer an effective viscosity parameter of $\alpha \approx 0.1$, supporting a strongly magnetized accretion flow. Strikingly, near the onset of relativistic jet ejection around MJD 60206, both relaxation timescales collapse toward the 0.1 s sampling limit, suggesting a rapid reorganization of the disk internal energy balance immediately before jet launching. Our results establish GP inference as a powerful route to connecting X-ray timing observables with the dynamical state of black hole accretion flows.

Energetic particles continuously process water ice across astrophysical and planetary environments, from interstellar clouds and comets to icy planetary surfaces. Interpreting the resulting observables requires a physically grounded description of the underlying interactions, both to identify radiation-driven signatures and to distinguish them from superimposed chemical, thermal, and microphysical effects. We present Geant4-IcyMoons, an extension of Geant4-DNA developed for irradiated water ice and, ultimately, for materials embedded within it. In this study, we model the elastic and inelastic interactions of electrons with amorphous and hexagonal ice. For the first time, this enables a transport-ready Monte Carlo simulation of electron irradiation in water ice, linking incident-particle environments to the evolution of icy surfaces. We apply this framework to Jupiter's moon Europa as a representative case of electron bombardment of an icy surface. We show that, on the trailing hemisphere, the stronger low-energy electron bombardment confines much of the deposited energy to the upper $\lesssim 0.1$~cm, whereas on the leading hemisphere, the more energetic incident population drives deposition patterns to depths of tens of centimeters. This may contribute to the observed lens-like enrichment of radiolysis products centered on the equator of the trailing hemisphere. This work lays the foundation for treatments of ion irradiation and radiation chemistry in water ice and embedded materials.

Recently, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration has presented results indicating that dark energy may exhibit dynamical behavior. Calibrated gamma-ray burst (GRB) correlations can be employed to verify or reject a time-evolution of the dark energy (DE) equation of state, $\omega(z)$, up to redshifts $z\sim 9$. We use the most updated catalog of GRBs fulfilling the Combo correlation and improve its calibration employing three catalogs of type Ia supernovae at redshifts $z\leq0.075$ and the Bézier interpolation of the Hubble rate, as an alternative to the cosmographic series that fails to be constraining at high redshifts. To test the evolution of $\omega(z)$, we adopt a model-independent, redshift-binned DE parametrization. In both the calibration and the DE reconstruction analyses the impact of the spatial curvature on the results is explored. The calibrated Combo correlation yields a Hubble constant $H_0\sim70$ km/s/Mpc which alleviates the existing Hubble tension and is broadly consistent with current measurements, although the uncertainties prevent a high-precision measurement. Regarding the reconstruction of $\omega(z)$ of DE, spatially curved scenarios are disfavored and, despite the apparent ''phantom'' behavior at $z\lesssim0.55$ due to the limited statistics caused by the shortage of nearby events, at $z>0.55$ the analysis provides statistically robust evidence in favor of the cosmological constant scenario. The Combo correlation alleviates the Hubble tension and shows no significant evidence in favor of dynamical DE. This suggests that GRBs, as distance indicators, are broadly consistent with the current cosmic distance ladder.

(ABRIDGED BUT NOT TOO FAR) Multiplicity is ubiquitous among massive stars and its understanding is constrained by the sample of well-determined orbits. The immediate goal of M3W is to significantly increase the number of massive multiple systems with well-determined orbits and masses. We will address issues such as multiplicity statistics, the mass function in clusters and the field, the properties of binaries with compact companions and gravitational-wave progenitors, the origin and characteristics of runaways and their 3-D motions, the use of apsidal motion as a probe of stellar interiors, and the mass discrepancy between different methods (evolutionary, spectroscopic, and Keplerian). In this first paper, we present the project; describe the data and tools that will be used, including the disentangling UNWIND tool; analyse the very massive twin binary system GLS 11 448; and briefly introduce some of the following papers of the series. We present a new orbit for GLS 11 448, using UNWIND to obtain for the first time disentangled spectra for the full 3820-11 000 $\mathring{A}$ range for an OB spectroscopic binary. We derive the stellar parameters, making new stellar lines available for the study of O stars. The Aa and Ab components of GLS 11 448, both classified as O3.5 II(f*), are the two most massive O stars ever detected according to the evolutionary masses of 70$\pm$10 M$_\odot$ and 76$\pm$11 M$_\odot$ determined in this paper. We also report the first-ever detection of the interstellar He I 10 830 triplet in absorption in an OB-star sightline. As a by-product of the ISM model derived for UNWIND using GLS 11 448 and five other standard stars, we present the most detailed diffuse-interstellar-band (DIB) library ever built, with a total of 631 DIBs in the 4000-17 100 $\mathring{A}$ range, of which 37 are fitted with multiple-Gaussian profiles and 119 had never been identified before.

We report a triple black hole candidate with a close binary black hole (BBH) in the blue quasar SDSS J153231.80+420342.7 (=SDSS J1532) at a redshift of 0.209. It shows double-peaked profiles in all narrow emission lines, which can be a signature of a dual AGN. If the double-peaked features are produced by a dual AGN, the estimated physical separation between the two cores is about 3 kpc. Alternative interpretations to the double-peaked profiles involving rotating disk-like narrow line region (NLR) and AGN-driven outflow models are also discussed for the double-peaked features. Besides, SDSS J1532 shows optical quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) of about 0.6 yr from the ZTF and CSS light curves, with time duration longer than 14 years, which may indicate a binary black hole with about 1 mpc separation. Two alternative explanations, the disk precession and the jet precession models, are also discussed. The current results cannot completely rule out alternative models for the characteristics of spectrum and light curves. As a candidate for triple black hole with two cores in kpc scale and a close BBH in milli-pc scale in SDSS J1532, it may be going through a critical period in its evolution.

We propose a new non-minimally coupled quintessence model to account for the late-time dark energy dynamics indicated by recent DESI measurements. Within this framework, the quintessence density begins to decrease only when it starts to dominate the universe, which naturally accounts for the late-time onset of dark energy weakening. The coupling also induces a sign change in the effective energy transfer between dark matter and dark energy during cosmic evolution. While the scalar field itself remains canonical and never crosses the phantom divide, the modified evolution of the dark matter density gives rise to an effective crossing behavior in the observationally inferred dark energy sector. Compared with both $\Lambda$CDM and $w_0w_a$CDM models, our model is favored more strongly by current cosmological data. This work may provide a promising avenue for understanding the observational late-time weakening of dark energy and the origin of its dynamics.

We discuss the amplitude and phase fluctuations of gravitational waves due to wave optics lensing in the presence of both a strong lens and cosmological weak lenses. By applying the geometric optics approximation to the strong lens and treating the weak lensing potential perturbatively, we obtain the amplification factor up to the second order in the weak lensing potential. Additionally, we establish a methodology to systematically evaluate the weak lensing effects based on diagrammatic rules. Based on the derived amplification factor, we evaluate the statistics of the fluctuations and demonstrate that the consistency relations originally established in the absence of a strong lens still hold in exactly the same form when a strong lens is present. The physical origin of these relations is also discussed. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for the mean of the weak lensing signal, both the magnification of the signal and the shift of the Fresnel scale to larger scales occur, consistent with the behavior observed in the variance.

This roadmap outlines research pathways to determine whether Mars could be warmed with non-biological methods. It does not presuppose that warming Mars is desirable; its purpose is to identify what would need to be true for Mars to be warmed, what it would cost, and what could go wrong. Three complementary research tracks appear promising. Solid-state greenhouse membranes offer local warming, aiding water harvesting, food production, and oxygen supply near human bases. Orbiting reflectors can warm key sites such as bases and CO$_2$-ice reservoirs, although a large combined area would be required. Strengthening Mars' natural greenhouse effect might warm large regions or the globe, although many aspects remain to be worked out. Each approach carries scientific and technical risks that research must address. Near-term priorities are on-Earth testing of key parameters that will determine whether engineered aerosol warming is realistically possible, assessing whether exponential production of bioplastic habitats is possible, and designing at-Mars process experiments. In the near term, the research proposed here is closely aligned with and supports research needed to understand Mars' atmosphere and volatile evolution and hazards to human explorers. The main external uncertainty is whether or not launch costs continue to fall. This is early-stage research, and we discuss key near-term decision points, alternative pathways, and payoffs if research outcomes are negative. We also outline build-out pathways if research succeeds and demand exists. Relatively modest research investments would keep open the option of extending life beyond Earth as Mars' scientific exploration continues.

Cosmological constraints on neutrino mass offer a promising avenue for advancing our understanding of both fundamental particle physics and the evolution of cosmic large-scale structure. To overcome challenges associated with traditional probes of neutrino mass, particularly degeneracies with other parameters, we consider topological summaries of the cosmic web based on the formalism of persistent homology. We introduce persistence strips, a novel representation that segments Betti curves by topological persistence, effectively condensing two-dimensional persistence diagrams into a set of one-dimensional curves. Applied to the FLAMINGO suite of cosmological simulations, these topological descriptors demonstrate pronounced sensitivity to neutrino mass. By constructing an emulator spanning a 10-dimensional $w_0 w_a\text{CDM} +\nu$ cosmological parameter space that includes parameters degenerate with neutrino masses in conventional approaches, assuming a volume of only $(350 \, \mathrm{Mpc})^3$, we obtain neutrino mass constraints with an uncertainty of $0.05 \, \mathrm{eV}$ for the total matter field and $0.13 \, \mathrm{eV}$ for the dark matter-only field, with the strongest constraints coming from void topology. Persistence strips exhibit roughly twice the constraining power of unbinned Betti curves and, through their multi-scale, environment-dependent sensitivity, systematically break degeneracies between neutrino mass and other cosmological parameters. We pinpoint the precise physical origin of the signal, identifying two equally important contributions: sensitivity to the neutrino mass fraction, which is highest in underdense regions, and the impact of neutrinos on the distribution of dark matter. Our findings highlight the particular promise of applying topological statistics to weak lensing measurements, which directly probe the total matter distribution.

Eclipsing pulsar binaries and binaries with a high mass companion are ideal systems for studying and understanding the properties of plasma in magneto-ionic environments. In this work, the first paper of a series, we present MeerKAT observations of three pulsar binaries: the high-mass binary PSR J1740$-$3052, the black widow PSR J2051$-$0827 and the redback PSR J1748$-$2446A (Terzan~5A). With the help of MeerKAT's high-sensitivity polarimetric observations, we characterise the properties of these sources, including the linear/circular polarization, dispersion measure (DM), rotation measure (RM) and scattering time. The two eclipsing millisecond pulsars exhibit strong orbital-phase-dependent propagation effects and we observe $\sim$2 eclipses in these systems during our observations. PSR J1740$-$3052 is a binary system with a 231 d orbital period. The relatively large separation results in a smooth RM variation, enabling us to resolve its variation timescale and constrain the small-scale magnetic structure. A gradual RM variation is observed over $\sim$1500 s, occurring near periastron. This behaviour implies a magnetic spatial scale of $\sim$0.003 AU in the companion wind, assuming a relative velocity of $\sim$250 km s$^{-1}$. The linear polarisation intensity profiles of PSR J2051$-$0827 show shape variations as a function of frequency, with a stronger leading component emerging at lower frequencies. We observe signatures of the propagation effect in the polarisation properties of PSR J1748$-$2446A during eclipse ingress and egress. This could arise from Faraday Conversion or multipath propagation of the pulsar signal and requires detailed analysis.

JWST is transforming our ability to characterise small exoplanets, from sub-Neptunes to rocky worlds. A key open question is whether highly irradiated rocky planets can retain atmospheres or are stripped bare by stellar irradiation -- a boundary that remains to be mapped observationally. Here we present the first JWST secondary eclipse observations of the rocky exoplanet GJ 3473 b, obtained with MIRI F1500W photometry. Using four visits, we confidently detect the eclipse at an average depth of 186$\pm$45 ppm, somewhat lower than expected for a blackbody. We test a wide range of data reduction and analysis assumptions and provide new insights into MIRI detector settling behaviour that will benefit future observations. We model a suite of airless surfaces with varied compositions, textures, and degrees of space weathering, as well as idealised atmospheric scenarios including the possibility of atmospheric collapse. Both atmospheric and bare-rock interpretations remain consistent with the data, but we exclude thick CO$_2$ atmospheres, placing a 95 % credible upper limit of 1.2-6.5 bar on the surface pressure. We also find tentative evidence for visit-to-visit variability in eclipse depth (33-371 ppm), though additional data are required to confirm this. Our results highlight the challenges and intrinsic degeneracies in interpreting MIRI F1500W eclipse measurements of rocky exoplanets, indicating that such observations alone may not uniquely distinguish between bare-rock and atmospheric scenarios. Future spectroscopic or phase-curve observations will be required to determine whether or not GJ 3473 b hosts a substantial atmosphere

The family of Tibetan lunisolar calendars operates on a shared arithmetic axiom (67 lunar months = 65 solar months) that provides a rigid structure but causes observable seasonal drift. This study deconstructs the calendar through a progressive analytical sequence, first presenting it as an explicit computational procedure, then isolating its structural core of incidence rules and mean-motion models. This separation distinguishes structurally forced features from tradition-dependent ones, allowing inaccuracies to be rigorously decomposed into internal arithmetic drift, sidereal misalignment, and anomaly-phase defects. Crucially, computational analysis also reveals remarkable historical robustness: the discrete arithmetic of traditional day rules renders boundary tie-cases operationally absent, while large internal temporal buffers and the multi-hour inaccuracy of the classical lunar model insulated the calendar against geographic variation. On this basis, the paper develops a stratified reform space rather than a single replacement proposal. The resulting standards range from conservative rational repairs preserving traditional arithmetic to explicit astronomical reconstructions culminating in fully dynamical models of true solar and lunar motion. The guiding question is how far astronomical correction can be carried without discarding the Tibetan calendrical identity embodied in the structural rules for month and day labeling. Finally, calendric reform requires more than new formulas and constants; it demands precise numerical semantics. The proposed standards are thus formulated not merely as abstract models, but as executable, reproducible specifications suitable for implementation, validation, and long-term transmission across computational environments.

We construct a static, spherically symmetric black hole (BH) solution embedded in a cored Plummer dark matter (DM) halo and a Letelier cloud of strings (CoS). Starting from the Plummer-Schwarzschild metric of Senjaya et al.~\cite{Senjaya2026}, we incorporate the string-cloud tension parameter $\alpha$ into the lapse function, obtaining $A(r) = h_{\rm Plummer}(r) - \alpha$. The resulting spacetime admits a single, non-degenerate event horizon (EH) for $\alpha < 1$ and a naked singularity for $\alpha \ge 1$. We determine the photon sphere (PS) and BH shadow radii, compute the weak deflection angle via the Gauss-Bonnet theorem (GBT), and analyze the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). Scalar perturbations are studied through the effective potential, greybody factor (GF) bounds obtained from the Boonserm-Visser method, the Hawking emission spectrum, and quasinormal mode (QNM) frequencies computed with the WKB approximation. The thermodynamic analysis covers the Hawking temperature, Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, heat capacity, and Gibbs free energy; the heat capacity is found to be strictly negative for all parameter values, confirming the absence of any Davies-type phase transition. A consistent hierarchy emerges across all six analyses: the CoS tension $\alpha$ governs the leading-order modifications to every observable, while the Plummer halo density $\rho_0$ provides a subdominant, additive correction.

Pandres has developed a theory which extends the geometrical structure of a real four-dimensional space-time via a field of orthonormal tetrads with an enlarged covariance group. This new group, called the conservation group, contains the group of diffeomorphisms as a proper subgroup. The free-field Lagrangian density involves only the curvature vector which is a vector which measures curvature. When massive objects are present a source term is added to this Lagrangian density. The weak-field approximation implies that gravitational waves travel at the speed of light. Spherically symmetric solutions for both the free field and the field with sources are found. In the free-field case, the field equations require nonzero stress-energy tensors. However, we find that for our model to be an acceptable model, we must have a source term in the Lagrangian. In our framework, we divide up the galaxy into three spherically symmetric regions: a baryonic matter-dominated central bulge, a dark matter-dominated mesosphere and an outside region where neither type dominates. Assuming the density of baryonic matter has a central cusp, we show how to model the bulge. Via an isothermal condition we find a model for the mesosphere and show this model implies flat rotation curves with one free parameter. The outside region is readily modeled via previously published results. The models for the bulge, mesosphere and outside region are combined into one continuous model. Using the radial acceleration relation we then show how a galaxy model may be set up for a rotationally supported galaxy.

Axions produced copiously in core-collapse supernovae can convert into photons as they propagate through various astrophysical magnetic fields. The cumulative emission from the cosmic population of supernovae can therefore generate a diffuse gamma-ray signal through axion-photon conversion. In this work, we develop a comprehensive framework to compute the diffuse gamma-ray flux by modeling axion production in supernovae and, \textit{for the first time}, consistently accounting for their conversion into photons across all relevant magnetic field environments - progenitor, host galaxy, intergalactic medium, and the Milky Way - together with an updated cosmic star formation rate. Using measurements of the diffuse gamma-ray sky from COMPTEL, EGRET, and \textit{Fermi}-LAT, we derive competitive constraints on the axion-photon coupling over a wide range of axion masses. We further forecast the sensitivity of upcoming MeV gamma-ray telescopes to this diffuse signal using a Fisher forecast analysis.

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies provide some of the most sensitive astrophysical probes of ultra-light dark matter (ULDM), but the inferred constraints can be affected by two important systematics: tidal interactions with the Milky Way, which reduce ULDM-induced dynamical heating, and stellar self-gravity, which can become relevant if the stellar component was more compact at earlier times. In this work, we attempt to estimate both effects by reconstructing dwarf-galaxy orbital histories in a Milky-Way potential, adopting a simple and approximate tidal-susceptibility diagnostic that we argue provides a conservative description of tidal stripping, and explicitly including stellar self-gravity in our numerical simulations. Within our framework, which we apply to five different dwarf galaxies, we find that ULDM with masses $5\times 10^{-22} \lesssim m/{\rm eV} \lesssim 5\times 10^{-21}$ remains in tension with current data.

The origin of cosmic structure is widely regarded as quantum, yet the Universe today appears classical. Standard lore attributes this to a "quantum-to-classical" transition on super-horizon scales during inflation. Gravity plays a central role: super-horizon dynamics squeeze quantum states, while the cosmological horizon enforces a system-environment split, leading to decoherence. But are these mechanisms always sufficient? We revisit this question, identifying assumptions and limitations in conventional arguments. We highlight recent work showing that beyond slow roll, non-linear dynamics of cosmological perturbations can generate non-classical features that may survive in observables. This raises the tantalizing possibility that quantum signatures may persist in cosmic structure. We propose a phase-space analysis based on the Wigner function as a concrete route to identifying and probing such signatures.

JWST has revealed an abundant population of compact, low-metallicity "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) at high redshift, challenging conventional scenarios in which supermassive black holes (SMBHs) grow from stellar-mass seeds. We consider a scenario in which the SMBHs are instead supermassive primordial black holes (SMPBHs), formed directly in a decoupled, subdominant dark sector undergoing a first-order phase transition. Unlike conventional stochastic phase transitions, our mechanism is based on the catalysis by domain walls (DWs): most of the Universe completes the transition rapidly, while rare long-lived false-vacuum domains survive because of DW statistics and collapse into PBHs. This mechanism naturally yields SMPBH seeds with masses up to $M_{\rm PBH}\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{10}) M_\odot$, whose abundance can account for the observed LRD population. It also avoids the usual tensions with phase transition completion, $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$, and large curvature perturbations. The dark phase transition simultaneously generates an ultra-low-frequency stochastic gravitational-wave background peaking near the pulsar-timing-array range, providing a test of this dark-sector origin of LRDs.

The primordial lithium problem remains a persistent motivation for new-physics modifications of Big Bang nucleosynthesis, yet the precision of the observed deuterium abundance now places strong constraints on such attempts. This indicates that the challenge is not simply to reduce $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$, but to realize the correlated shifts among light-element abundances required to do so without spoiling deuterium. We investigate this issue in a concrete two-step decay scenario involving two unstable particles undergoing sequential late decays. In the first stage, a majoron with lifetime $\tau_J \sim 10\,\text{--}\,10^4\,\mathrm{sec}$ decays predominantly into neutrinos, increasing the neutron abundance and thereby reducing the primordial $^{7}\mathrm{Li}+\!{}^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ yield. This mechanism, however, simultaneously drives deuterium above the observationally allowed range. In the second stage, an axion-like particle with a longer lifetime $\tau_\phi \gtrsim 10^5\,\mathrm{sec}$ decays into photons, inducing late-time photodissociation that compensates the excess deuterium without erasing the earlier reduction of lithium, while further amplifying the depletion of $^{7}\mathrm{Li}+\!{}^{7}\mathrm{Be}$. Although the setup is model-dependent, it serves as an explicit proof of concept that the lithium abundance can be lowered consistently with current deuterium constraints. More broadly, our analysis highlights that a viable resolution may require a nontrivial combination of decay channels and decay epochs, and clarifies the pattern of abundance response that successful late-decay scenarios must achieve.

We investigate vacuum decays in the early Universe in the presence of curvature perturbations. For sufficiently large perturbations associated with over-densities, we find that the bounce solution develops an oscillating middle stage near the bubble wall. For small perturbations, we analytically show within the thin-wall approximation that an over- (under-) density would enhance (suppress) the vacuum decay rate with a smaller (larger) initial bubble radius. By numerically solving for the bounce solutions and evaluating the corresponding Euclidean action, we further confirm this behaviour in thick-wall cases. Our results indicate that over-densities can generically trigger vacuum decay at an earlier moment.

Quadratic gravity is a well-motivated extension of general relativity~(GR) wherein the Einstein-Hilbert action is augmented by quadratic curvature terms. This theory is equivalent to GR in an effective-field-theory framework, while the two theories are different at the non-perturbative level. As we have recently shown, black holes in quadratic gravity have a rich linear response, including extra scalar, vector, and tensor quasinormal modes that can be excited in physical processes, even when the stationary solution is the same as in GR. Here, by studying the gravitational-wave emission from point particles plunging into a Schwarzschild black hole in quadratic gravity, we show that observable deviations from GR are exponentially suppressed in the GR limit. This provides a nonperturbative realization of the equivalence between quadratic gravity and GR predicted in the effective-field-theory framework.

High precision Low-level RF (LLRF) control and monitoring systems for future particle accelerators will be a significant technical challenge as the requirements in performance, flexibility and affordability become increasingly stringent. We have developed an RF system-on-chip (RFSoC) based next-generation LLRF (NG-LLRF) for S-band accelerating structures, which samples and synthesizes the RF pulses directly without the analog mixers used for traditional LLRF systems. The platform delivered considerably better performance than the requirements of the targeted applications, such as the upgrades for Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) and test facilities at SLAC. As part of the upgrade program, we also developed a custom solid-state amplifier (SSA) to deliver RF pulses at the desired power level of the klystron. Integration of the LLRF with the SSA and the high-power test facility could be challenging. The power levels and RF pulse stability at each stage of the high-power RF drive system must be optimized to deliver the desired RF performance. In this paper, the integration procedure and the test and characterization results at each stage of integration will be summarized, analyzed and discussed. This integration is an essential step for the full deployment of the NG-LLRF system to test facilities and accelerators in different frequency bands.

A method is proposed for computing coefficients in the Kazantsev equation of small-scale dynamo for the full spectrum of hydromagnetic turbulence comprising the inertial range together with the range of viscous dissipation. The dynamo equation with so-defined coefficients is solved numerically for magnetic (Rm) and hydrodynamic (Re) Reynolds numbers from $10^2$ to $10^8$. The threshold value ${\rm Rm}_c$ for onset of dynamo increases initially with Re but then saturates at a constant value of ${\rm Rm}_c \simeq 300$ for ${\rm Re}\geq 10^5$. In the case of small Prandtl number Pm = Rm/Re << 1, the field growth rate is also small and depends logarithmically on Rm. In this case, the magnetic energy spectrum peaks around the scale of Ohmic dissipation, which decreases with increasing Pm. The decrease stops at the scale of viscous dissipation while the growth rate increases sharply when Pm approaches the value of one. The increase in the growth rate proceeds to ${\rm Pm} > 1$ but slows down and then saturates at a value somewhat below the inverse lifetime of most short-living eddies. An explanation of the results is proposed.

Traditional diagnostics of black hole phase transitions rely on thermodynamic quantities defined at the event horizon or asymptotic boundary. Here, we demonstrate that the near-singularity geometry offers a sharp, independent probe of both first-order phase transitions and supercritical crossover. For scalarized AdS black holes exhibiting a first-order phase transition, the Kasner exponent $p_t$, which characterizes the approach to the singularity, undergoes a dramatic transformation. On one side of the transition, $p_t$ oscillates strongly with temperature, reflecting violent interior dynamics. On the other side, it becomes a smooth, monotonically varying function. These two distinct behaviors converge as the critical point is approached. Beyond the critical point, in the supercritical region, $p_t(T)$ develops a distinct extremum, defining a ''Kasner crossover line'' that is entirely independent of traditional thermodynamic (Widom line) or dynamic (Frenkel line) criteria. Our work establishes the black hole singularity as a novel class of diagnostics for phase transitions, revealing that a change in the macroscopic thermodynamic state fundamentally reshapes the deepest interior structure of spacetime.

Understanding axion production in the early Universe remains a pivotal challenge, given the axion as a compelling cold dark matter candidate. Conventional misalignment scenarios often overlook the possibility that a large initial axion velocity can fundamentally reshape the subsequent evolution of the axion field. In this letter, we provide a comprehensive analysis of how primordial magnetic fields impact the axion relic abundance. By accounting for the axion coupling to the Chern-Simons term of the hypercharge gauge field, the equation of motion of the axion is recast as a driven oscillator equation. This modification effectively shifts the onset of axion oscillations, leading to a significant reevaluation of the final relic abundance, a novel effect we term the axion helical misalignment mechanism. Furthermore, in the presence of primordial chiral asymmetries, the chiral magnetic effect (CME) emerges as a critical driver of axion dynamics. The interplay between the axion field and the CME not only profoundly influences the evolution of Standard Model chiral fermions but also provides a viable pathway for generating the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe.

We investigate the conditions for triggering the plasmoid instability in a dynamically forming current sheet in the resistive magnetohydrodynamic framework, using a pseudo-spectral code applied to the Orszag-Tang vortex at Lundquist number $S \sim 10^5$. Following García Morillo \& Alexakis (2025), we use the power spectrum of the current density $E_J(k)$, complemented by the vorticity spectrum $E_\omega(k)$, to assess the convergence of our simulations, and show that this diagnostic remains valid even in the presence of physical plasmoids, allowing us to unambiguously distinguish them from spurious ones. We then show that physical plasmoids can be triggered in a well-resolved spectral simulation when three conditions are simultaneously met: a perturbation applied near the time of maximum current density, with amplitude above a critical threshold $\varepsilon_c \sim 10^{-5}$ for our numerical scheme, and with spectral content containing the unstable wavenumbers. These conditions are confirmed using continuous noise injection, which yields similar results at amplitudes one to two orders of magnitude lower. The resulting growth rates and plasmoid numbers are in good agreement with the theory of \citet{Comisso2017}. These results resolve the apparent paradox raised by García Morillo \& Alexakis (2025) and also clarify the role of numerical noise in the triggering of the plasmoid instability.

Recent ACT measurements favor a scalar spectral index n_s larger than the Planck value, posing a challenge to many single-field slow-roll inflation models. We show that a smooth, localized step in the inflaton potential can shift the predicted values of n_s and r by displacing the field value at which the CMB pivot scale exits the horizon. This mechanism can move monomial and, in particular, plateau-like attractor models toward the ACT-favored region, whereas the induced shift remains insufficient in natural inflation.

Scientific multi-label text classification suffers from extreme class imbalance, where specialized terminology exhibits severe power-law distributions that challenge standard classification approaches. Existing scientific corpora lack comprehensive controlled vocabularies, focusing instead on broad categories and limiting systematic study of extreme imbalance. We introduce AstroConcepts, a corpus of English abstracts from 21,702 published astrophysics papers, labeled with 2,367 concepts from the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus. The corpus exhibits severe label imbalance, with 76% of concepts having fewer than 50 training examples. By releasing this resource, we enable systematic study of extreme class imbalance in scientific domains and establish strong baselines across traditional, neural, and vocabulary-constrained LLM methods. Our evaluation reveals three key patterns that provide new insights into scientific text classification. First, vocabulary-constrained LLMs achieve competitive performance relative to domain-adapted models in astrophysics classification, suggesting a potential for parameter-efficient approaches. Second, domain adaptation yields relatively larger improvements for rare, specialized terminology, although absolute performance remains limited across all methods. Third, we propose frequency-stratified evaluation to reveal performance patterns that are hidden by aggregate scores, thereby making robustness assessment central to scientific multi-label evaluation. These results offer actionable insights for scientific NLP and establish benchmarks for research on extreme imbalance.

We present an X-ray characterization of a fully depleted, 725 $\mu$m thick p-channel SiSeRO CCD. Measurements with a $^{55}$Fe source yield an energy resolution of $54 \pm 0.9$ eV ($14.6 \pm 0.25 e^{-}$) at 5.9 keV for single-pixel events, demonstrating that the SiSeRO amplifier preserves the intrinsic charge resolution of the CCD under multi-sample non-destructive readout. Characterization with a $^{241}$Am source extends the response to higher-energy photons, with reconstructed spectral features observed between 9-26 keV and the 59.5 keV $\gamma$ emission. These measurements, together with a muon-derived diffusion calibration, show that charge transport and diffusion are consistent with interactions spanning the full sensor depth. These results demonstrate that the SiSeRO CCD simultaneously achieves sub-electron noise performance and efficient charge collection in a thick, fully depleted silicon detector. This combination enables X-ray spectroscopy across a broad energy range while maintaining sensitivity to faint signals.