Papers for Tuesday, May 26 2026

We reevaluate 610 sources classified as Flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in the 5th edition of the Roma-BZCAT. Optical spectra from SDSS DR16 confirm broad emission lines within $0.11 \leq z \leq 5.28$. To assess their blazar-like behavior, we combine ZTF optical variability with radio morphologies from FIRST, LOFAR, and VLBI, defining Confirmed, Possible, and Non-Confirmed BZQs. Rest-frame 1.4--10 GHz radio spectra were homogenized and fitted with error-weighted power laws. We show that the scheme of Park et al. (2013) often misclassifies nearly flat spectra as inverted and some prominently steep spectra as flat. Using the individual uncertainty $\sigma_{\alpha,i}$, we classify spectra as flat if $|\alpha_i| \leq 2\sigma_{\alpha,i}$, prominently steep if $\alpha_i > 2\sigma_{\alpha,i}$, and inverted if $\alpha_i < -2\sigma_{\alpha,i}$. This source-by-source criterion, intended as a phenomenological classification for this sample, better reflects the observed spectral shapes and confirms that most BZQs are consistent with being flat within measurement precision, although a non-negligible fraction departs from strict flatness. We also classify full spectral morphologies as power-law, peaked, restarted-peaked, or inverted-peaked, associated with distinct jet processes and activity cycles. About 60% of the sources with at least two decades of frequency coverage exhibit restarted-peaked spectra, suggesting recurrent jet activity. The observed diversity indicates that the label "Flat-spectrum radio quasar" does not fully describe this population, and that the more general term BZQ may better reflect its phenomenological diversity.

The slow-roll inflation paradigm can be systematically generalized within the framework of non-standard entropy formalisms, giving rise to a broad class of inflationary models that deviate from the conventional Bekenstein--Hawking case. We adopt a pragmatic observational strategy, employing the Hamilton--Jacobi formalism to establish a direct link between the inflationary potential, the generalized entropy function, and the resulting cosmological observables. In this approach we introduce a novel non-linear parametrization of the Hubble parameter, yielding sensible results, including consistency with recent observational data and new estimates of the cosmological parameters of the generalized entropy framework: the Tsallis parameter $\delta\simeq1.1-1.2$, the Rényi parameter $\alpha\sim\mathcal{O}(10^{-14})$, and the Kaniadakis statistics parameter $K\sim\mathcal{O}(10^{-17})$. Our analysis proceeds in two regimes: first, by constraining models directly with the primary inflationary parameters including the scalar spectral index ($n_s$) and the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$); second, by exploring the impact of the observational uncertainty on the upper bound of $r$ ($\sigma_r$), which we vary to assess its influence on parameter estimation. This dual approach yields complementary posterior distributions that restrict the viable parameter space of entropy-based inflationary models. We further highlight the implications of the Hamilton--Jacobi method for the dynamics of the inflationary epoch, the reheating process, and, as a secondary objective, the subsequent evolution of cosmic structure in the late universe.

Over the last five years, multiple Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have reported mounting evidence for a gravitational-wave background (GWB) at nanohertz frequencies. Measuring anisotropies in the sky distribution of the GWB power is one of the most promising ways to identify and characterize its source. These anisotropies are expected to manifest as deviations from the Hellings-Downs (HD) correlations between the timing residuals of different pulsars. Current search strategies include Bayesian methods, which model anisotropies in the timing residuals likelihood, and faster frequentist approaches, which construct correlation estimators from timing residuals and use these to test the isotropic assumption. However, frequentist methods rely on the assumption that correlation estimators are Gaussian-distributed, an assumption that is not justified and that -- as we will show -- severely limits detection sensitivity. In this work, we present a Simulation-Based Inference (SBI) framework that replaces the analytic Gaussian likelihood used in frequentist searches with a neural network classifier trained on synthetic data. This approach captures the non-Gaussian structure of the data and significantly improves performance. Specifically, we find that the probability of $3\sigma$ detection increases by approximately 90% for single-hotspot scenarios and by 200% for double-hotspot scenarios compared to standard frequentist methods.

By performing a viscous hydrodynamics simulation in general relativity for super-Eddington accretion flows onto massive black holes of mass $M=10^5$--$10^7M_\odot$, we discuss a formation scenario for black hole-envelope systems. We consider the mass accretion rate of $a^3/G \approx 1.5 \times 10^{25} (a/10\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}})^3$\,g/s, comparable to the Eddington mass accretion rate of a $10^7M_\odot$ black hole, assuming that the gas temperature of the infalling matter is $\lesssim 10^4$\,K. Here, $a$ and $G$ denote the sound speed and gravitational constant. For the accretion flow, we set up a quasi-spherical Bondi-type flow in which radial inflow dominates over angular momentum in the distant region. It is found that (i) for low-mass black holes with $M \lesssim 10^6M_\odot$, a photon-trapped region forms in the inner region, and a significant viscous outflow driven near the polar region overcomes the ram pressure of the mass inflow, leading to an inflow-outflow structure; (ii) for massive black holes of $M \gtrsim 3 \times 10^6M_\odot$, the outflow is not launched, and a convective envelope around the black hole gradually develops; and (iii) irrespective of the black-hole mass, the mass accretion rate onto the black hole is of order 10\% of the Eddington accretion rate for reasonable values of the viscous coefficient. As the mass accretion rate onto the black holes is much lower than the mass growth rate of the envelope for low-mass black holes with $M\lesssim 10^6M_\odot$, the envelope mass is likely to increase until the total viscous heating rate exceeds the Eddington luminosity of the system, if the mass accretion rate is preserved to be high for $\gtrsim 10^8 (M/10^7M_\odot)$\,yrs.

[abridged] We constrain a phenomenological dark radiation (DR) framework consisting of free-streaming and fluid-like components, providing a model-independent extension of the standard radiation sector. Using Planck CMB data, DESI DR2 BAO measurements, and Pantheon+ and DES Y5 (Dovekie) supernova samples, we derive constraints on additional relativistic degrees of freedom and assess their impact on cosmological tensions. We obtain $N_{\rm fld}<0.66$ (95% C.L.) from CMB data alone, while the combination with BAO yields $N_{\rm fs}=2.93\pm0.23$ and $N_{\rm fld}=0.36^{+0.16}_{-0.21}$ (68% C.L.), consistent with Standard Model expectations for free-streaming radiation. The DR framework significantly alleviates the Hubble tension through an enhanced early-time expansion rate, which reduces the sound horizon scale. The tension with SH0ES is reduced from highly significant in $\Lambda$CDM to statistically non-significant for CMB+BAO data according to the $\mathcal{T}$-statistic. Bayesian model comparison shows no decisive preference for DR over $\Lambda$CDM when SH0ES is excluded, with results in the regime of weakly disfavoured. However, including SH0ES data leads to decisive Bayesian evidence in favour of the DR scenario. Overall, DR provides a compelling framework for resolving the Hubble tension. When CMB, BAO, Pantheon$+$ and SH0ES data are considered, we find an increased effective radiation content, $N_{\rm tot}=3.63^{+0.13}_{-0.15}$, with a fraction of free-streaming radiation, $f_{\rm fs}=0.392\pm 0.026$, a reduced sound horizon scale, $r_d = 141.8^{+1.3}_{-1.2}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$, and a higher primordial helium fraction, $Y_{\rm He}=0.2530 \pm 0.0017$, which lies at the level of approximately $\sim 2$-$2.5\sigma$ above direct determinations from metal-poor H II regions, while remaining broadly consistent with other abundance measurements within current uncertainties.

The development of evolutionary stellar population models is central to interpreting observations of galaxies in terms of astrophysical quantities. Stellar population models must therefore be both accurate and compatible with inversion algorithms in order to extract meaningful information from the observed data. Here we present FASTAR, a fully differentiable stellar population synthesis code. Contrary to traditional, grid-based single stellar population models, FASTAR can be continuously evaluated at any age (between 20 Myr and 14 Gyr), metallicity (-2.5 < [M/H] < +0.3), and initial mass function (IMF). Changes in the IMF parameterization are straightforward, allowing for consistent conversions of colors, magnitudes, and mass-to-light ratios, as well as the synthesis of models under the assumption of arbitrary IMF functional forms. FASTAR provides detailed spectroscopic predictions over the MILES wavelength range (3,540-7,400 A) as well as more coarsely sampled spectral energy distributions across a wider 2,000-to-12,000 A, which can be directly convolved with any arbitrary set of photometric filters. FASTAR performs at the same level of state-of-the-art simple stellar population models benchmarked against observations of globular clusters and high signal-to-noise spectra of early-type galaxies, but it is faster, lighter, and more flexible. Moreover, its differentiable nature allows for a quantitative understanding of model behavior and uncertainties, as well as a natural framework for gradient descent inference algorithms.

We present an unsupervised, data-driven framework for rapid characterisation of astronomical photometric time series using a Multi-Time Attention Network. The model learns time-aware latent representations directly from irregular, partial light curves without heavy preprocessing. Through application on ZTF alert data retrieved with Fink, a community alert broker for Rubin LSST, we demonstrate that the model: (i) produces accurate interpolations with small bias (0.01 mag) and scatter (0.1 mag) even for sparse light curves, (ii) learns a temporally distributed latent space correlating with physically meaningful properties (duration, peak time, variability, color) while being robust to unimportant properties such as observed magnitude and number of observations, (iii) separates general SN and AGN samples despite data being heavily dominated by AGNs, and (iv) generalises to unseen classes: The long-period variable and TDE show good interpolation and sensible latent space placement; however, the model cannot capture RRLyrae's $\sim$0.4-0.5 day pulsation period, which is far below our model's chosen two-day temporal resolution. Attention map analysis reveals the capability of multi-time attention to capture local structure. The model is extremely lightweight (a few hundred kilobytes) and has fast inference ($\sim$0.01 and $\sim$$3\times10^{-4}$ s per light curve on CPU and GPU, respectively) that is independent of the number of observations, unlike GP regression. Our approach offers flexible and scalable characterisation, with high relevance in the Rubin LSST era. We discuss future possibilities to incorporate observational uncertainties and symmetries for robustness and forecasting applications for real-time follow-up.

The recent "bullet-dwarf" model proposes that high-velocity collisions between dwarf galaxies can produce stellar systems with overluminous globular clusters (GCs) and a deficiency of dark matter, as observed in the NGC 1052 group galaxies NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4. We present a possible analogue system in the outskirts of the Fornax cluster: the ultra-diffuse galaxy FCC 224 and its close companion FCC 240. Using deep VLT/MUSE integral-field spectroscopy, we characterize their stellar populations, internal kinematics, and GC systems to test this formation scenario. Both galaxies exhibit low velocity dispersions. Interpreted with a standard mass estimator at the half light radius, and allowing for the known limitations associated with flattened systems, their inner dynamics are more naturally explained by stars alone than by either cuspy or cored dark matter halos. Both systems host unusually luminous GCs, closely resembling the top-heavy GCLF of the NGC 1052 pair. Moreover, FCC 224 and FCC 240 are coeval with each other, with mass-weighted stellar ages of ~10 Gyr, and their GC populations share similarly old ages, in agreement with predictions of the formation scenario. Despite these similarities, FCC 224 and FCC 240 form a much tighter system than DF2 and DF4, with a projected separation of 75 kpc (compared to 240 kpc) and a relative velocity of only 16 km/s (compared to 358 km/s). This distinct configuration may suggest a different present-day manifestation of the same general class of galaxies and provides additional observational constraints on models of their formation and evolution.

The abundance and rapid growth of galaxies at cosmic dawn revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope challenges models of galaxy formation, motivating new simulations to uncover the processes driving early galaxy assembly. We present the first results from BonFIRE ($L\approx40$ cMpc, $m_{\rm baryon}\approx5\times10^4~\rm{M}_{\odot}$) and CampFIRE ($L\approx5$ cMpc, at both $m_{\rm baryon}\approx800~\rm{M}_{\odot}$ and $\approx6\times10^3~\rm{M}_{\odot}$), a suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of early galaxy formation ($z\gtrsim6$) from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, using the FIRE-3 model. We use a resampling procedure to combine the large statistics of BonFIRE with the higher resolution of CampFIRE and robustly predict galaxy properties over a wide dynamic range ($M_{\star}\sim10^4-10^{10}~\rm{M}_{\odot}$). Galaxy formation in this suite emerges through clustered, bursty star formation, with halo-scale star formation efficiencies reaching $10-30\%$ in high-mass halos. A subset of low-mass halos also have surprisingly high efficiencies of $\gtrsim1\%$ and host ultra-compact galaxies with narrow age spreads. We predict galaxy UV luminosity functions at $9\lesssim~z\lesssim25$ in broad agreement with observations at $M_{\rm UV}\gtrsim-19$, with a faint-end turnover at $M_{\rm UV}\approx-14$, but we slightly overpredict the abundance of brighter galaxies. We find that UV luminosity variability in early galaxies is strongly mass-dependent, with halo-to-halo scatter dominating at low masses and contributing comparably to rapid temporal burstiness at $M_{\rm halo}\gtrsim10^{10}~\rm{M}_{\odot}$. We also present first results from a simple Pop~III model with a top-heavy IMF, demonstrating broad agreement with independent Pop~III predictions and observational constraints.

The origin of extragalactic high-energy neutrinos remains a major mystery in astrophysics, with blazars as leading candidate sources. The widely adopted one-zone leptohadronic jet model, however, faces severe challenges from stringent X-ray observational constraints. In this work, we present an analytical approach that derives the maximum neutrino flux as a function of the observed X-ray flux and the corresponding physical parameters attainable within the one-zone leptohadronic framework. Applying this approach to a sample of neutrino candidate blazars, we further perform numerical modeling and find agreement between analytical and numerical results. Both approaches consistently show that the model-predicted neutrino fluxes do not significantly exceed those obtained in previous one-zone studies and remain below the flux levels inferred from IceCube observations, suggesting that the one-zone scenario alone is unlikely to fully account for high-energy neutrino-blazar associations. This highlights the importance of considering multi-zone models or alternative production sites (e.g., jet base, hot corona) to better explain high-energy neutrino origins in blazars.

High-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGN) serve as powerful probes of early black-hole growth, galaxy formation, and the evolving intergalactic medium (IGM). In this work, we use Lumina, a cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulation spanning the epochs of hydrogen and helium reionization, which combines a large $(500\,{\rm cMpc})^3$ volume with $2\times 6000^3$ resolution elements, to explore high-redshift AGN. The simulation self-consistently follows hundreds of millions of galaxies and supermassive black holes (SMBHs), together with their impact on the ionization and thermal state of the IGM. We exploit this uniquely large dynamic range to predict multi-band AGN luminosity functions (LFs) at $z \geq 3$, from hard X-rays to the mid-infrared. These predictions encompass both moderately luminous quasars and the faint ``Little Red Dots'' (LRDs) uncovered by JWST. We develop an empirical model that maps simulated SMBHs onto observed AGN using bolometric and extinction/absorption corrections for canonical AGN and LRDs, and in which SMBHs with $M_{\rm BH}\leq 10\,M_{\rm seed} \sim 10^{7}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ stay in the LRD phase with a duty cycle of $30\%$. This simple framework reproduces the observed LFs and clustering of LRDs. Meanwhile, the pre-JWST quasar LF constraints are recovered, although we find that a $\sim 0.3$ dex log-normal scatter in bolometric luminosity is required to reproduce the bright end. We place the simulated AGN population in the cosmological context by quantifying the redshift evolution of AGN and LRD number densities, and their contributions to the integrated BH mass densities. The same AGN population is the dominant driver for the HeII reionization modelled self-consistently in Lumina. This empirical AGN model paves the way for general population-synthesis models of high-redshift AGN, including LRDs, in a unified cosmological framework.

Cosmic ray (CR) propagation is controlled by scattering in turbulent magnetic fields in space. In general, diffusive propagation is governed by pitch-angle diffusion in phase space. In this study, pitch-angle diffusion in the local interstellar medium (LISM) deduced from the analysis of {the CR small scale anisotropy data} from the Tibet AS$\gamma$ experiment is compared with theoretical predictions. While it is difficult to reconcile the inferred LISM pitch angle diffusion coefficient with conventional theoretical results of particle scattering by Alfvénic turbulence, we find {very good} agreement with the prediction from particle scattering in quasi-slab fast modes shaped by the damping in the warm ionized medium. These findings offer direct evidence that CR scattering is predominantly governed by fast-mode turbulence. Furthermore, the comparison between experimental and theoretical results imposes strong constraints on plasma and magnetic field parameters within the local bubble, indicating that the LISM is in a low $\beta\simeq 0.1$ condition. The turbulence in the LISM should be compressible with a fast mode component of amplitude approximately $\delta B/B_0 \approx 0.5$.

Strong gravitational lensing has emerged as a powerful probe of dark matter substructure, and shows particularly strong promise as a test of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). The compact halos produced by SIDM can leave distinct imprints on lensing observations, but the core-collapse timeline for subhalos is difficult to model accurately. This difficulty is an obstacle to accurate substructure lensing predictions, where small variations in core-collapsing subhalos can lead to significant differences in the lensing power. To quantify this problem and inform future lensing analyses, we test various methods of modeling core-collapsing halos and show the effect of each variation on the two-point correlation function of the effective deflection field's divergence and curl. Our tests include smoothly evolving density profiles versus instantaneously collapsing halos, probabilistic collapse versus individual halo evolution, and variation of the initial and final density profile parameters. We find that the two-point correlation function is sensitive to most of these variations at small length scales, but the detectability of these differences will depend on the observational probe.

Hubble's long, stable astrometric baseline creates a rare opportunity for discovery in the Local Group and beyond. Many nearby galaxies, streams, and star clusters already have archival first-epoch imaging in hand, so future HST observations over the next decade can turn those data into precise proper motions. For many Milky Way satellites, existing measurements already constrain orbital motion at a useful level, but HST still offers a path to full 3D kinematics, internal motions, and more distant systems where current data remain insufficient. That opens the window to dynamical studies inaccessible through line-of-sight velocities alone, revealing orbital histories, internal kinematics, environmental processing, and the dark-matter structure of nearby galaxies. This white paper identifies HST astrometry as an opportunity to capitalize on archival baselines by completing long-baseline measurements where first epochs already exist, establishing new first epochs where critical gaps remain, and assembling a legacy sample for future JWST, Roman, and HWO-era follow-up. The result will be a transformative dataset for the Local Group and Local Volume, driving discovery now while laying the groundwork for the next generation of dynamical studies for resolved stellar populations.

We present the results of a spectroscopic study of the recently discovered WR + O binary system LS III +44 21. The system is unusual because, despite having characteristics similar to those of the classical WR + O system V444 Cyg, its X-ray emission is completely absent. We refined the spectral classification of the system components to WN4 + O7III?(f) and obtained their radial velocity curves for the first time. The solution of these curves reveals that the system has a circular orbit. Using photometric observations from ASAS-SN and TESS, we significantly refined the values of the initial epoch T_0 and the orbital period P. The radial velocity curve solution with the updated T_0 and P allowed us to determine the parameters of the orbit and the system components for the first time. A preliminary qualitative analysis of the light curves obtained by the TESS satellite and the ASAS-SN project, combined with the interesting variability of the N IV and N V ion line profiles with the orbital phase that we detected, suggests that the lack of X-ray emission from the system may be due to an unusually weak stellar wind from the WR star. The shape of the highly precise mean TESS light curve is extremely unusual, exhibiting non-monotonic behavior near the quadratures and an unusual morphology of the secondary minimum, which shows a nearly total eclipse yet with rounded edges. Such a shape cannot be modeled within the standard Roche geometry, which may provide a direct indication of the influence of the component stellar winds.

Between 2019 and 2024, we used the Gemini-N and JWST observatories to conduct a detailed case study of the active Centaur 450P/LONEOS, whose orbit was significantly altered by a close Saturn encounter in 1992. Gemini-N GMOS optical images likely captured the first views of 450P's inactive nucleus, indicating a relatively small radius of $R_N = 1.8\pm0.5$ km and a surface color of $g' - i' = 1.15\pm0.09$. This places 450P on the red end of the neutral/gray Centaur population and may indicate comparatively limited solar-driven surface processing relative to other known active Centaurs. A coma developed as 450P changed its heliocentric distance, $R_H$, from 7.83 au to 7.24 au, with an estimated low dust production rate of $\sim$4-8 kg s$^{-1}$. JWST NIRSpec IFU Prism-mode spectra revealed an elongated dust morphology and a symmetric $CO_2$ gas distribution in the coma but no $H_2O$ or CO emission features, with production rates of $Q_{CO_2} = (6.99\pm0.07)\times10^{24}$ molec. s$^{-1}$, $Q_{H_2O} \leq 1.2\times10^{24}$ molec. s$^{-1}$, and $Q_{CO} \leq 5.2\times10^{24}$ molec. s$^{-1}$. Absorption features at 2.0 and 3.0 $\mu$m indicate the presence of water ice, and a subtle 3.1 $\mu$m feature is consistent with crystalline water ice in larger grains. A Hapke-style model dominated by large ($D_{eff.} = 5.9$ $\mu$m) dust grains with a volumetric ice fraction of $f_{ice} = 33\%$ fits the spectrum. A thermal model incorporating 450P's orbital history since $\sim$1500 CE aligns with the observed onset of activity driven by $CO_2$ outgassing from amorphous water ice crystallization between 140-160 K.

We use JWST observations (1.5 micron to 4.44 micron), together with complete ALMA observations (870 micron and/or 1.2 mm), of the massive lensing cluster field A2744 to show that galaxies between z=1.5 and z=5.5 with rest-frame red colors f_J/f_V > 3 correspond to dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs), little red dots (LRDs), and quiescent galaxies. The color selection picks out 34 of the 41 >4.5-sigma ALMA sources in the field (83%). We find that the luminous red sources are generally extended, while the less luminous red sources are almost all compact and correspond to the LRD population. We also find that the great majority of the luminous, extended red sources are DSFGs based on the ALMA data, with a small admixture of quiescent galaxies at z<3-4 that we identify based on their location in the rest-frame U-V versus V-J diagram. We do not detect any LRDs or quiescent galaxies at the >3-sigma level in the ALMA images. Roughly 10% of the DSFGs have high rest-frame X-ray luminosities and must be AGN dominated. The DSFGs and quiescent galaxies nearly all have M_star>10^{10} solar masses. These massive galaxies become rare at z>5, paralleling the fall off in the number of detected DSFGs.

Asteroseismology provides a powerful probe of stellar interiors by detecting stellar oscillations, including solar-like oscillations, which are stochastically excited by near-surface convection. While thousands of solar-like oscillators have been identified in evolved stars, only a limited number of main-sequence cool dwarfs have confirmed oscillations due to the low amplitudes of their signals. In this work, we train a convolutional autoencoder on TESS two-minute light curves to automatically identify solar-like oscillation features in cool dwarf main sequence and sub-giant stars. Using catalogs of confirmed oscillators for training and validation, our network achieves a classification accuracy of 99.8% on the test set, along with Precision of 0.945, Recall of 0.998, and F1 Score of 0.971. From the Asteroseismic Target List, our model identifies 3463 potential solar-like oscillators (probability greater than 0.5). After further analysis, we find a list of 24 candidate stars that have the potential to exhibit solar-like oscillations. Notably, several of these candidates occupy regions of the color-magnitude diagram that are accessible only through more resource-intensive radial velocity observations, thereby has the potential of extending the detection frontier of TESS-based asteroseismology. Our candidate catalog provides a valuable foundation for follow-up efforts aimed at expanding the sample of cool-dwarf solar-like oscillators. This will ultimately improve our understanding of stellar structure and evolution across the lower main sequence and strengthen the evidence for using deep learning techniques to study stellar light curves.

While the origin of merging black-hole binaries observed in gravitational waves remain uncertain, different formation channels are expected to leave distinct imprints on their observed mass and spin distributions. In this work, we focus on the mass dependence of the spin magnitudes $(\chi_1,\chi_2)$, allowing for multiple spin subpopulations whose relative fraction varies with mass. Using the binaries from the fourth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA gravitational wave transient catalog (GWTC-4), we find strong evidence for two subpopulations, with a log Bayes factor of $\log_{10} \mathcal B = 4^{+6}_{-2}$. The data support a picture in which low-mass systems are composed almost entirely of slowly spinning black holes ($\chi \lesssim 0.2$), while high-mass systems are dominated by a broader component with moderate to rapid spins, peaking at $(\chi_1,\chi_2)\approx(0.7,0.7)$ and retaining a non-negligible tail toward asymmetric spins $(\chi_1,\chi_2)\approx(0.7,0)$. The transition between these regimes spans a broad range from $m_1 \approx 35^{+20}_{-20} \,M_\odot$ to $m_1 \approx 70^{+90}_{-25}\,M_\odot$. For the low-mass, slowly-spinning regime, a flexible model of spin orientations does not allow us to exclude identically vanishing spins, $\chi_1 = \chi_2 = 0$. Meanwhile, the high-mass, rapidly-spinning population does not neatly display the spin-magnitude asymmetry expected from hierarchical mergers, although the data do not exclude that. This kind of localized structure is generally difficult to access with standard Monte-Carlo likelihood estimators, which we replace with a regularized representation in terms of truncated Gaussian mixtures. Taken together, our results provide a new target for formation models, which should reproduce not only the mass and effective spin distributions, but also the mass-dependent structure of the individual component-spin magnitudes.

We present the most comprehensive near-ultraviolet (NUV: 2550-3255 Angstrom) activity record to date for the Alpha Centauri AB system, combining archival IUE and HST observations spanning nearly five decades with new high-cadence CUTE measurements. We show that Alpha Centauri A exhibits predominantly quiescent NUV behavior, with the majority of observations remaining within 1 sigma of the median flux and only rare chromospheric flaring events (1 flare every 12 years), consistent with its weak chromospheric activity and 19-year stellar cycle inferred from X-ray and FUV observations. In contrast, Alpha Centauri B displays a broader variability envelope, characterized by more frequent and higher-amplitude chromospheric excursions that track its well-established 8-year magnetic activity cycle. Using Lomb-Scargle analysis on the Mg II index derived from CUTE observations, we estimate the rotational period of Alpha Centauri A to be on timescales of 15-20 days. We also confirm the coherence of the stellar activity cycle of Alpha Centauri B in the NUV with its X-ray activity cycle. These data establish a critical reference framework for interpreting reflected-light observations of terrestrial exoplanets and for assessing the detectability of ozone and other biosignature-related features at NUV wavelengths with future facilities such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory. These results indicate that HWO observations of terrestrial exoplanets in reflected light photometry and spectroscopy around magnetically inactive early G-type stars and early K-type stars may be expected to show 10-20 percent and 30-40 percent temporal flux variability, respectively, over the course of months to years from the changing stellar inputs alone.

Cosmic birefringence and the Hubble tension represent compelling challenges to the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. The early dark energy (EDE) model with potentials $V(\phi) \propto [1-\cos(\phi/f)]^n$ offer a unified framework to address both anomalies through energy injection near matter-radiation equality and parity-violating Chern--Simons coupling to photons. While previous studies have focused on $n=3$, the dependence of the birefringence signal on the potential index $n$ remains largely unexplored. We perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of axion-like EDE models with $n=2$, $n=3$, and $n=\infty$, using $EB$ cross-polarization data from Planck-$EB$ and ACT-$EB$. The $n=2$ model is severely disadvantaged, displaying extreme coupling values ($gM_{\rm pl} \approx 69.912$ for Planck, $-40.726$ for ACT), large $\chi^2_{\rm min}$ (144.52 and 86.93), and $\Delta \chi^2<1$ with many local minials. Conversely, $n=3$ achieves the best fits ($\chi^2_{\rm min} = 65.70$ and $48.08$) with consistent couplings ($gM_{\rm pl} = -0.210 \pm 0.024$ and $-0.158 \pm 0.025$) that accurately reproduce observations across all angular scales. We checked that the $n=3$ configuration represents the optimal choice for simultaneously addressing the Hubble tension and cosmic birefringence within a theoretically viable framework.

Cataclysmic variables were long considered to be close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a Roche-lobe-filling, near-zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) red or brown dwarf. Recent massive surveys have uncovered an increasing number of binaries with similar spectral characteristics but harboring secondary stars that have undergone nuclear evolution and partial envelope stripping, many with orbital periods far exceeding the normal upper limits for ordinary CVs. We present a detailed study of a newly discovered CV with a 17.109 h period and determine its basic stellar parameters. We also discuss the evolutionary paths leading to the formation of these extremely long-period cataclysmic variables. We consider the implications of the new evolutionary hypothesis on their further evolution into double-degenerate binaries.

We conduct 2.5D radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the driving mechanisms of the solar spicules in coronal holes and how the different background magnetic fields affect their formation. The simulation model includes the upper convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and lower corona. We run several cases with different background magnetic fields to primarily explore the effects of magnetic field strength and inclination on the characteristics of the formed spicules, such as the maximum height, lifetime, maximum upward velocity, and deceleration. According to the results, we find that a weaker background magnetic field tends to cause solar spicules that exhibit higher heights, longer lifetimes and faster maximum upward velocities. Additionally, when the background magnetic field inclines, the generated spicules incline accordingly; compared with those in a vertical magnetic field, the spicules in the inclined magnetic field are relatively longer, with smaller decelerations, longer lifetimes and lower maximum upward velocities. Meanwhile, by tracking and analyzing the formation processes of the spicules in two cases with different magnetic field strengths, we find that most of the spicules are mainly driven by shock waves induced by convective and turbulent motions around the solar surface, while less than one third of the spicules are primarily driven by high-velocity reconnection outflows. These results provide a more in-depth basis for the theoretical understanding of the driving mechanisms and formation processes of solar spicules.

Although more than 1000 optical changing-look active galactic nuclei (CLAGNs) have been reported to date, their physical origin remains unclear, and repeating CLAGNs (RCLAGNs) are still rare. Expanding the CLAGN sample, especially RCLAGNs, is therefore important for constraining the underlying mechanism. We systematically search for CLAGNs by cross-matching spectroscopic observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), and further use spectra from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to investigate repeating CL behavior. We identify 45 CLAGNs, including 40 newly reported sources. The sample is dominated by turn-off events, with 43 turn-off and 2 turn-on sources, possibly because Type 2 AGNs either lack a detectable broad-line region or have their broad emission lines obscured by circumnuclear dust. Using DESI as a third spectroscopic epoch, we identify 12 RCLAGNs. This high detection rate of repeated CL behavior suggests that CL transitions may arise from recurrent physical processes, such as accretion-rate fluctuations or disk instabilities. In the log MBH - log(Lbol/LEdd) plane, RCLAGNs further show a clear high-low-high accretion-state evolution, supporting a close link between CL behavior and recurrent changes in accretion power. Finally, the rest-frame upper limits on the transition timescales are about 10 yr for the first transition and about 4 yr for the second, reflecting different survey time baselines rather than intrinsic differences in physical transition timescales.

Standard evolutionary synthesis models rely on the assumption of a fully sampled stellar initial mass function (IMF). Under this assumption, the age, chemical composition, and IMF uniquely define the predicted absorption spectra. However, with current instrumentation pushing observations towards higher spatial resolutions and lower surface brightnesses, the assumption of a fully sampled IMF does not always hold true. Here we present the semi-resolved version of the FASTAR models, a comprehensive set of evolutionary synthesis predictions able to reproduce the stochastic behavior of discretely-sampled IMFs. Semi-resolved FASTAR predictions share the same evolutionary principles, ingredients, and features of the integral (fully sampled IMF) version of the FASTAR models, expanding a range of ages from 20 Myr to 14 Gyr, metallicities between -2.5 < [M/H] < +0.3, and several IMF functional forms. Detailed spectroscopic measurements can be carried out within the 3,540-7,400 A wavelength range, and low-resolution spectral energy distributions can also be synthesized over a wider 2,000-to-12,000 A coverage. Semi-resolved FASTAR models also depend on the number of stars contributing to the observed spectra, which determines the effective sampling of the different stellar evolutionary phases along the isochrones. This incomplete sampling implies that semi-resolved FASTAR models are inevitably stochastic. On top of the inherent stochasticity of the models, derived quantities such as equivalent widths, colors, or mass-to-light ratios might present strong deviations compared to standard fully sampled simple stellar population models. This stochasticity dilutes the boundary between model predictions and data, promoting new sampling-based inference approaches. FASTAR semi-resolved models allow for the effective exploration of the parameter space thanks to their optimized, JAX-based computation.

We report on the long-term timing analysis of PSR J2022+3842 using observations from the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), along with spectral properties derived from joint observations with NICER and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). Two large glitches are identified around MJD 58335 with $\Delta\nu=25.35(2)\times10^{-6}$ Hz and MJD 58875 with $\Delta\nu=52.078(6)\times10^{-6}$ Hz. Furthermore, phase-resolved spectroscopy reveals that the X-ray emission is well described by a power-law model across different phase intervals. The phase-integrated X-ray spectrum (1-79 keV) has a photon index of $\Gamma=1.22(7)$, yielding an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of $8.9(6)\times10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The main pulse spectrum (1.2-79 keV) and the inter-pulse spectrum (1-70 keV) are harder with $\Gamma=1.17(4)$ and $\Gamma=1.03^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$ separately, producing an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of $33.2(2)\times10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and $29(3)\times10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. Investigation of the pulse profile evolution with time shows that no significant variations were observed.

The census of massive clusters of galaxies in the local Universe is almost complete, thanks to their prominent observational signatures at X-ray, optical, and sub-mm wavelengths. Nevertheless, a number of such systems are likely to be missing and hidden behind the plane of our Galaxy, where high interstellar absorption as well as strong contamination by foreground stellar and diffuse sources prevent detection of even the brightest and the most massive ones. Here we report the discovery and multiwavelength characterization of such a cluster in the zone of avoidance (ZoA) SRGe CL0512.7+3712 in the data of SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. Combining the data of radio, optical, and infrared surveys, we identify overdensity of possible red sequence galaxies, as well as the candidate brightest cluster galaxy. Follow-up optical and X-ray observations confirm that the newly found object is a massive ($M_{500c}=(4-5)\cdot 10^{14}M_{\odot}$, $kT\approx 5 $ keV) galaxy cluster at redshift $z=0.0745$ with possible indications of unrelaxed dynamical scale. Location and elongation of this cluster is consistent with an expectation from the large-scale structure at this redshift, and it might be a part of an extended overdensity of such objects in the Galactic Anticenter direction. Examination of X-ray, radio, and infrared data in the locations of ZoA, where similar objects are expected to be found based on the large-scale structure properties, might reveal another $\sim10$ clusters at this redshift in future.

We study the persistent black hole X-ray binary Cyg X-1, recently observed by XRISM Resolve and simultaneously by NICER and NuSTAR in its hard spectral state. We confirm the result of Draghis et al.\ that fits of the Resolve data alone with the simplest available relativistic reflection model, relxill, yield a black hole spin parameter close to the maximum, $a_* = 0.99$. However, fitting with an improved, Comptonization-based model, relxillCp, yields a low $a_*=0.0^{+0.17}$. A similarly low range is obtained with another Comptonization-based model, reflkerrD. Then, fits to the combined data require two Comptonization models but are consistent with any spin value. We conclude that the spin value of Cyg X-1 is strongly model-dependent. However, low spin values are consistent with the constraints from gravitational waves. All of the models constrain the inner disk radius to be <10 gravitational radii, which is consistent with a recent finding of the weakness of thermal reverberation in Cyg X-1. The implied source geometry is that of an outflowing disk corona, which was also proposed to explain the X-ray polarization observed from this source.

We study stochastic gravitational waves generated in a post-inflationary magnetogenesis scenario with time-dependent gauge couplings during inflation and reheating. In this setup, magnetic anisotropic stress directly sources gravitational waves, while the induced curvature perturbations generate an additional scalar-induced GW component. We compare the spectral behavior of the two contributions and find that the magnetic component dominates the peak amplitude, whereas the scalar-induced contribution becomes important on larger scales. For blue magnetic spectra with $n_{\rm b}\geq3/2$, both spectra follow the universal infrared scaling $\Omega_{\rm GW}(f\ll f_{\rm peak})\propto f^3$. However, their ultraviolet behaviors differ significantly for $f>f_{\rm peak}$, leading to distinct spectral features. For suitable reheating and magnetogenesis parameters, the resulting GW signal naturally extends into the nano-Hz range relevant for pulsar timing array observations, while remaining consistent with current bounds. The distinct spectral features of the two components may provide a useful probe of reheating dynamics and primordial magnetogenesis.

We present results from very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI) observations of the nucleus in the lobe-dominated quasar 3C207. These observations were completed at 8.4 or 10.7 GHz (X-band) from 1981 to 2010, spanning 29 years. The nucleus of 3C207 is the strongest and most variable in the 3CR complete sample of LDQs, which is under study to test relativistic jet models over a wide range of jet orientation angles. Images have typical resolutions of ~0.5-1.0 milliarcseconds (mas) and sensitivities of ~0.1-0.2 mJy beam^{-1}. The VLBI core region has flux density outbursts at mean intervals of ~7 yr; two of these are multiple outbursts from a stationary "true: core that feeds a "swinging component" ~0.5 mas to the east. The position angle (PA) of the swinging component shows a long-term increase of ~40°, with a short-term reversal of ~10°. A one-sided, curved VLBI jet extends ~25 mas eastward, with components spanning a PA range of ~25°. The jet components have average apparent transverse velocities ~10c. One component shows apparent acceleration from 7c to 14c at 2-3 mas from the true core, where the flow is redirected toward PA ~90°. Another component shows marginal evidence for apparent deceleration. Individual jet components expand until reaching the recollimation zone. Our results are consistent with a physical model in which 3C207 has quasi-periodic outbursts, jet precession by ballistic components on a conical surface with a small opening angle, and a recollimation process that modifies component motions and narrows the conical geometry on a scale of ~100 pc.

Understanding and forecasting the geoeffectiveness of a coronal mass ejection (CME) is crucial for protecting infrastructure in the near-Earth space environment and on Earth. In this study, we present a novel fusion model to forecast the geoeffectiveness of CME events. Our model combines convolutional neural networks for feature learning and a prediction network for feature fusion and event classification. The model is trained by observations from instruments including the Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The trained model is then used to predict whether an Earth-reaching CME will cause a geomagnetic storm and/or the probability that the CME will cause such a storm. Experimental results based on a five-fold cross validation scheme demonstrate the good performance of our fusion model, achieving a mean true skill statistic (TSS) score of 0.703 when the model is used as a deterministic prediction tool, and a mean Brier score of 0.095 when the model is used as a probabilistic forecasting tool, where a TSS score of 1 or a Brier score of 0 indicates perfect performance. This work contributes to forecasting the causal relationship between Earth-directed CMEs and geomagnetic storms in solar-terrestrial interactions.

We present the discovery and characterization of SN~2018erx (ZTF18abkmbpy), a fast-evolving, unusually red, interacting stripped-envelope supernova. Spectroscopically, SN~2018erx shows broad \ion{C}{2} emission with characteristic widths of $\sim\!3800$~km~s$^{-1}$, consistent with interaction with carbon-rich circumstellar material and a Type~Icn core-collapse SN classification. Photometrically, it evolves rapidly, rising from half-maximum to peak in 2.1~d and declining back in 3.1~d. Semi-analytical CSM-interaction modeling favors a compact, shell-like CSM with $M_{\rm CSM}\approx0.3\,M_\odot$, $R_0\approx0.7$~AU, and a low ejecta mass of $M_{\rm ej}\approx0.11\,M_\odot$. The radioactive yield is also small, with $M_{\rm Ni}\lesssim(3$--$5)\times10^{-3}\,M_\odot$, placing SN~2018erx at the low end of the H-poor distribution. At +29~d after peak, we detect a near-infrared excess consistent with pre-existing local circumstellar dust, with $M_{\rm d}\sim10^{-6}$--$10^{-5}\,M_\odot$. Together, the rapid evolution, strong local reddening, carbon-rich emission, and dust point to a multi-component circumstellar environment: a dense inner interaction region from enhanced pre-SN mass loss and an outer dusty layer from an earlier mass-loss episode roughly $10$--$200$~yr before core collapse. These properties favor an ultra-stripped core-collapse explosion of a low-mass He star in a binary system, with fallback-modified Wolf--Rayet collapse or merger-driven mass loss remaining possible alternatives. SN~2018erx provides rare insight into the mass-loss history of stripped-envelope SNe and suggests that dust-enshrouded explosions of this kind may be underrepresented in optical surveys.

Recent studies revealed discrepancies between observations and the predictions of the standard magnetic braking (MB). Although alternative models have been broadly discussed in neutron star binaries, they have not been systematically tested in cataclysmic variables (CVs). In this work, we investigate the performance of four MB models in CVs: the standard MB, the Convection And Rotation Boosted (CARB) model, the $\tau$-boosted model, and the saturated, boosted, and disrupted (SBD) model. We find that both the CARB and $\tau$-boosted models appear too strong so that it fails to reproduce the location of the period gap in CVs, indicating that they are not appropriate for CVs. Furthermore, we present a comparison between the standard MB and the SBD models. Compared with the standard model, although the SBD model can better reproduce some observational features, it also exacerbates certain discrepancies between theory and observations. We also find that different prescriptions for the convective turnover timescale have a significant impact on the results in the non-standard MBs. Finally, we discuss the impact of the SBD model on the formation and evolution of AM CVn.

Space-based photometry from K2 and TESS, coupled with high-resolution spectroscopy, provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the variability and chemical nature of four bright stars (HD 73135, BD +19$^\circ$ 2045, BD +19$^\circ$ 2046, and TYC 1395-855-1), which were poorly characterised by the original ground-based campaign under the Nainital-Cape survey. We aim to establish the nature of the variability, chemical properties, and evolutionary status of these stars. We analysed ground-based Johnson $BV$ photometry combined with K2 and TESS time-series data to establish the nature of their variability. Using high-resolution HERMES spectroscopy, we determined their spectral classifications and chemical abundances. In addition, we used the inferred spectroscopic constraints with grid-based evolutionary modelling to derive their corresponding masses, radii, and ages. The frequency analysis reveals a diversity of low-amplitude variability across the sample. HD 73135 shows a persistent modulation near 1.5 d that is most consistent with rotation, although an ellipsoidal-binary interpretation cannot yet be excluded, while BD +19$^\circ$ 2045 exhibits multiple low-frequency signals and is identified as a new candidate $\gamma$ Doradus $g$-mode pulsator. BD +19$^\circ$ 2046 and TYC 1395-855-1 are non-variable or only marginally variable in K2 but display coherent low-frequency modulation in TESS of uncertain origin. Spectroscopically, HD 73135 is the only chemically peculiar star in the sample and shows a clear Am abundance pattern, whereas the other three stars are chemically normal. These results demonstrate the value of combining legacy survey data with contemporary photometric and spectroscopic analysis.

We revisited the xA Quasar formalism from the cosmological point of view, where a completely cleaned and standardized sample is compiled from different literature references. This allowed us to test three different cosmological models including $w$CDM and $w_0w_a$CDM and $\Lambda$CDM resulting in a Hubble constant estimation of $H_0 = 69.8 \pm 2.2$~$\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$ for the compiled sample alone and $H_0=69.0 \pm 0.9$~$\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$ when combined with Type I Supernovae (SNIa), Cosmic Chronometers and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) distance priors. Using both the $w$CDM and $w_0w_a$CDM a weak Bayesian preference for the dynamical dark energy models over the $\Lambda$CDM model was found. A comparative analysis was performed with other AGN based methods in cosmology like the Reverberation Mapping, the X-Ray and UV non-linear relation and the Angular distance measurements. We conclude that the significant intrinsic dispersion is a key issue present in all samples. Overcoming this dispersion is key to establish xA and other AGN samples as robust and precise cosmological probes.

Asteroid-neutron star collision models have been proposed as possible sources of high-energy transients, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and fast radio bursts (FRBs). The sequence of events following the impact of the asteroid and finally dissolving into the neutron star can have several other observable consequences. We propose that due to the development of the off-diagonal moment of inertia (MI) components, the merger's aftermath can lead to the wobbling of the pulsar (assuming the neutron star happens to be a pulsar). Using sample values of various parameters, viz., size, shape, the locations of the deposits, and the pre-existing pulsar deformation parameter ($\eta$), we calculate the detailed pulse profile modulation of the pulsar. We observe a distinct pattern of pulse profile modulation on a characteristic timescale enhanced by a factor of $1/\eta$ compared to the pulse timing. Importantly, even small changes in the MI components, of order $\epsilon$, can produce large pulse profile modulations of order $\epsilon/\eta$ (depending on the relative location of asteroid material deposition). Thus, if an asteroid-neutron star collision is responsible for a high-energy transient, the associated pulse profile modulation may serve as a falsifiable observational signature of such an event.

Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs) display correlated long/short and strong/weak patterns that remain unexplained by existing flat-disk collision models. We propose that these features arise from an extreme-mass-ratio inspiral (EMRI) colliding with a warped accretion disk, likely formed after a tidal disruption event. The warp modulates both recurrence time and burst energy, encoding the disk geometry -- and thus the spin of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) -- into the X-ray light curve. We introduce the Brightness-Recurrence Diagram (BRD) to visualize this correlation, where QPE bursts trace an elliptical trajectory driven by the EMRI's apsidal precession; the tilt of this ellipse encodes whether the EMRI is prograde or retrograde relative to the SMBH spin. Applying this model to the prototypical QPE source GSN 069 successfully reproduces the observed patterns. The data are consistent with either a prograde stellar secondary or a retrograde stellar-mass black hole. In the stellar-mass black hole scenario, ongoing orbital decay could render the EMRI detectable by LISA within a few decades, facilitating gravitational-wave follow-up and independent multimessenger constraints on the system.

It is known that the mass distribution of the known neutron stars (NSs) exhibits a bimodal pattern. The origin of this distribution remains a subject of debate. We constructed a super-Eddington accretion model for accreting neutron stars and investigated the mass growth and distribution of these stars using the population synthesis method. We find, in our model, the mass growth of NSs depends on the binary orbital period and the mass of the donor star. Our results can successfully account for the bimodal distribution of NS masses. The peak distribution of NS masses at around ~ 1.8 Msun primarily originates from NS binary systems where the donor star mass is less than ~ 1.6 Msun and the orbital period is shorter than 20 days; while, NS systems that may undergo common envelope evolution and these NSs can account for the mass peak at 1.4 Msun.

Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) and compact dwarfs (CDs) occupy opposite extremes of the structural parameter space of dwarf galaxies, yet their spatial distributions in clusters suggest a possible evolutionary connection. Observational studies have reported a pronounced anti-correlation between the two populations, interpreted as evidence that CDs represent tidally stripped remnants of diffuse progenitors, a scenario that implicitly assumes a compact stellar nucleus must be present at infall to survive environmental processing. We test this hypothesis using the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation (TNG100) by examining the UDG and CD populations in seven galaxy clusters and tracing the evolutionary histories of 117 present-day CDs. We confirm that TNG100 reproduces the observed spatial anti-correlation, with CDs concentrated within $d/R_{200} \lesssim 0.2$ and UDGs preferentially inhabiting the cluster outskirts. Tracing CDs back in time, we identify eight systems whose progenitors undergo a transient UDG phase, with extremely high gas fractions ($f_{\rm gas} \gtrsim 0.8$), immediately before cluster infall. In all eight systems, a vast majority of the present-day stellar mass was assembled after the epoch of maximum spatial extent, and the peak star formation rate (SFR) during the transformation is the highest each galaxy achieves across its entire lifetime. The UDG progenitors show no prominent stellar cores before infall, demonstrating that the compact component of the resulting CD is not an exposed pre-existing nucleus but is instead freshly built through starburst-driven star formation during the stripping process itself. Our results reveal a physically motivated UDG-to-CD transformation pathway driven entirely by cluster environment, fundamentally distinct from classical tidal stripping scenarios, and highlight the critical role of gas richness as a prerequisite for this channel.

We present multi-component photometric decompositions of $r$-band Hyper Suprime-Cam images for a sample of 75 edge-on massive compact galaxies (MCGs) at $z < 0.1$, selected as $+2\sigma$ outliers in the stellar mass-velocity dispersion relation and $-2\sigma$ outliers in the velocity dispersion-size relation. MCGs are composed of compact bulges and disks embedded within stellar envelopes of unclear physical nature. Comparing MCGs to a mass- and redshift-matched control sample of non-compact edge-on S0 galaxies with a similar three-component structure, we find that the smaller sizes of MCGs are not driven by a single component. MCGs host more compact bulges and envelopes ($R_\mathrm{e,bulge} \sim 0.3$ versus $0.5$kpc; $R_\mathrm{e,env} \sim 4.4$ versus $5.7$kpc), as well as shorter and thicker disks ($h_R \sim 1.1$ versus $1.7$kpc; $h_R/z_0 \sim 3.9$ versus $5.3$). The sizes of the structural components are coupled, suggesting their formation processes are linked. Median bulge- and disk-to-total flux fractions are similar in both samples, with $B/T \sim 0.3$ and $D/T \sim 0.4$. Envelope ellipticities span $\epsilon_\mathrm{env} \sim 0$-$0.7$, with MCGs exhibiting rounder envelopes. Low- and high-ellipticity envelopes are broadly consistent with stellar halos and thick disks, respectively. However, the nature of intermediate ellipticity envelopes remains ambiguous from photometry alone. The coupling between component sizes, together with the survival of a substantial disk component, argues against dry minor mergers as the dominant envelope-building mechanism. A comparison with 8 relic galaxies reveals that MCGs and relics share similar bulge-disk-envelope structures and follow the same component size-mass relations, consistent with belonging to a common structural family.

The $\textit{Parker Solar Probe}$ ($\textit{PSP}$) mission has observed near-continuous power in parallel ion cyclotron waves (PICWs) in the young, fast solar wind. These waves are unlikely to be directly produced by the turbulent cascade and are likely born of a local instability; yet, they are observed to both cool -- and heat -- the plasma. We propose that these observations can be self-consistently explained as the natural consequence of PICWs propagating in the inhomogeneous solar wind after they have been driven unstable. In this work, we argue that strong proton heating by a turbulent cascade of oblique ICWs will result in PICWs being driven unstable in a process known as quasi-linear focusing. Because the power in the turbulent cascade is concentrated at scales above the turbulent transition region, PICWs will be driven unstable within a range of wave numbers parallel to the background magnetic field, $k_\parallel$, that is bounded from above by $k_{\parallel\rm P}^*$, corresponding to the start of the transition region. As unstable PICWs propagate away from the sun to regions of lower proton density, their $k_\parallel$, multiplied by the proton inertial length $d_{\rm p}$, increases. Eventually, the $k_\parallel d_{\rm p}$ of the PICWs becomes larger than $k_{\parallel\rm P}^*d_{\rm p}$ and the waves damp, heating the solar wind. We call this effect `cyclotron breaking', in analogy with ocean waves breaking on the shore. We then discuss the testable predictions of the theory, including a distinct heating signature in which PICWs cool fast protons and heat slow protons at any given heliocentric distance $r$. Finally, we conjecture that cyclotron breaking can lead to net heating by PICWs if the power emitted as PICWs decreases sufficiently rapidly with $r$ that local emission of PICWs is overwhelmed by the local damping of PICWs generated closer to the sun.

A distinct thermal or quasi-thermal spectral component is occasionally observed in gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission spectra. Taking GRB 090902B as a case study, we investigate its origin within a structured jet framework, in which the outflow consists of an ultra-relativistic uniform core surrounded by a structured cocoon. In the weak-scattering regime with inefficient shear acceleration, electrons pre-energized in the thin jet-cocoon interaction layer are further heated in the mixed jet-cocoon (MJC) region, forming a quasi-thermal electron distribution. Parameterizing the radial temperature profile of electrons as a power law with index $q_T$, we demonstrate that both the peak flux and spectral width of the thermal component are sensitive to maximum temperature $T_{\max}$ and $q_T$. Combined with the synchrotron emission of shock-accelerated electrons in the jet core, our model reproduces both the quasi-thermal component in the keV-MeV range and the broadband non-thermal emission observed in the time-integrated and time-resolved spectra of GRB 090902B. A comparative analysis of GRB 240825A within a shear-acceleration dominated (strong-scattering) scenario shows that shear-accelerated electrons produce broader spectra than thermalized electrons in the weak-scattering regime. These results indicate that GRB spectral diversity likely arises from the additional emission component originating in the MJC region under different physical conditions.

We report the discovery of pulsations in the N-rich PG 1159-type central star of the planetary nebula Kn 61 based on one month of Kepler Short Cadence observations. We detect four significant peaks in the frequency range consistent with g-modes excited in GW Vir stars. From the detected modes, we identify a mean period spacing of $\Delta\Pi=21.526(6)$ s for a sequence of three $\ell=1$ modes. This allows us to derive the asteroseismic mass of the star, which we estimate to be $0.551(6)~\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$, consistent with the one derived from the evolutionary tracks. We also characterize sporadic brightening events in the Long Cadence Kepler light curve of Kn 61. If we assume these are caused by increases in effective temperature, we estimate their energies to be $\sim10^{40}$ erg, though this may not be accurate as the mechanism for releasing so much energy is still unknown.

The [Ba/Eu] abundance ratio is commonly adopted as a tracer of the relative contributions of the slow (s) and rapid (r) neutron-capture processes. However, at [Fe/H] < -2 dex, Ba can be produced efficiently by both processes, rendering [Ba/Eu] non-deterministic. We propose to use barium isotopic ratio from the fitting of resonance Ba line profiles affected by hyperfine splitting. This approach requires precise atomic and stellar parameters, together with advanced spectral modelling, which, so far, remained insufficiently validated. We aim to provide a robust prescription of line-profile modelling for a reliable determination of the s- and r-processes fractions of barium in ordinary and peculiar stars. We assess the performance of 1D LTE and 1D non-LTE synthesis, and 3D non-LTE abundance corrections to model Ba lines. Alongside barium abundances and its isotopic ratios, we determine Eu and other neutron-capture element abundances to validate the method in the Titans metal-poor benchmark stars. The observational results are compared with the predictions of stochastic Galactic chemical evolution models that account the inhomogeneous mixing in the early times. We find that 1D LTE and 3D non-LTE Ba abundance determinations are equivalent, whereas the 1D non-LTE approach leads to systematic underestimations. These underestimations bias isotopic fractions toward higher r-process contributions. The inferred s- and r-process fractions demonstrate that [Ba/Eu] alone is an ambiguous tracer for ordinary stars within the range -0.8 < [Ba/Eu] < 0 dex. The comparison of our set of models, both for the proto-Milky Way halo and for Gaia-Enceladus galaxy is used to put constraints on the production of Ba at low [Fe/H], especially evaluating the role of rotating massive stars. The method here developed can be applied with confidence to both ordinary stars and peculiar stars enhanced in barium.

Rotation-powered pulsars exhibit stable emission characteristics most of the time. However, their radiative state can vary with the sudden changes of rotational state such as glitches. To date, pulsed radiation changes associated with glitches have only been detected in the radio band. Since the emission regions of radio and $\gamma$-ray may differ, searching and investigating whether glitches can induce changes in high-energy radiation would further deepen our understanding of how glitches affect the magnetosphere of pulsars. We report successive variations in the $\gamma$-ray pulsed radiation of PSR J0205+6449 following the glitch at MJD 54904 observed by the {\sl Fermi}/LAT. The amplitude ratio of the two peaks showed a hint of an increase during MJD 54905--54940 initially, followed by a recovery to the mean level and a significant ($>5\,\sigma$) decrease in the separation between the two peaks over MJD 54940--55000. The amplitude ratio of the two peaks increased ($\sim3\,\sigma$) again in MJD 55000--55160, accompanied by a marginal flux variation. Finally, the pulsed radiation reverted to its normal state. This is the first significant detection of pulsed radiation variation associated with a glitch in $\gamma$-ray pulsars. We attribute this to magnetospheric reconfiguration triggered by localized crustal breaking and associated elastic displacement near the polar cap following the glitch.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most luminous transients in the Universe and constitute prime targets for multimessenger studies, particularly in connection with gravitational-wave events. The detection of very-high-energy (TeV) photons from GRBs would provide valuable constraints on the physical conditions in the outflow, including the bulk Lorentz factor, circumburst density, radiation processes, and microphysical parameters. The possible detection of TeV emission temporally associated with an optical-infrared kilonova (KN), as suggested for GRB 160821B, presents a challenge to standard synchrotron self-Compton scenarios. In this work, we explore an alternative mechanism in which TeV photons are produced during the afterglow phase via external inverse Compton (EIC) scattering. In this scenario, electrons accelerated in the reverse shock upscatter seed photons originating from the KN. We derive the corresponding EIC light curves and spectra for a reverse shock evolving in the thin-shell regime within a constant-density medium, and apply the model to GRB 160821B. We further constrain the parameter space for TeV detectability by incorporating the high KN luminosity observed in AT2017gfo, as well as flux upper limits reported by H.E.S.S. and HAWC. We find that TeV emission is more likely under conditions of very low magnetic energy fraction, $\epsilon_{\rm B_r} \lesssim 10^{-6}$, combined with a bright KN and relatively low redshift. This mechanism predicts TeV photons on timescales of hours to a few days after the burst.

Sulphur, with a first ionisation potential (FIP) of 10.36 eV, lies at the boundary between low- and high-FIP elements, making it particularly sensitive to fractionation processes in the solar atmosphere. Sulphur exhibits variable behaviour across solar environments, with coronal remote sensing studies often observing it as a high-FIP element while in-situ measurements sometimes detect low-FIP-like enhancement. Sulphur also exhibits variable behaviour during flares and magnetic restructuring. To understand sulphur's variations, we quantify how sulphur's FIP bias depends on potential field source surface (PFSS)-derived loop properties. We analyse nine Hinode/EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) raster observations using four diagnostic line pairs (Si X 258.37 A / S X 264.23 A, S XI 188.68 A / Ar XI 188.81 A, Ca XIV 193.87 A / Ar XIV 194.40 A, and Fe XVI 262.98 A / S XIII 256.69 A), with FIP biases derived using differential emission measures (DEM) calculated via regularised inversion. Our results show that abundances of low-FIP elements, including sulphur, decrease above approximately 150 G relative to the high-FIP element Ar, while showing no dependence on loop length. This provides evidence that FIP fractionation is modulated by mean magnetic field strength of coronal loops.

We present the High-z Kinematic Corpus Z1, a structured machine-readable dataset of ALMA [C ii] 158 um morpho-kinematic data for 31 star-forming main-sequence galaxies at z = 4.26-5.68 drawn from the ALPINE survey (Jones et al. 2021; Le Fevre et al. 2020). The corpus is the fourth entry in the EPS Research RAG Astrophysics Corpus Series, extending coverage from Milky Way globular clusters and local HI rotation curves (Flynn 2026a,b,c) to the epoch approaching cosmic reionization. Eight confirmed rotators carry quality tier 1 per-ring rotation curves from 3DBarolo tilted-ring fits (Di Teodoro & Fraternali 2015), with 2-3 rings per galaxy, Vrot and sigma per ring, and dynamical mass estimates; the remaining 23 galaxies carry morpho-kinematic classification only (quality tier 2). All entries include stellar mass (Faisst et al. 2020), star formation rate, Wisnioski et al. (2015) disk criteria, and geometric parameters. The corpus is distributed as a single structured JSON file with nested per-ring kinematic data, a flat CSV for catalog-level filtering, a RAG-ready JSONL archive (one galaxy per line), and a per-galaxy ZIP archive. Three worked Jupyter notebook examples demonstrate single-galaxy [C ii] rotation curve analysis, corpus-level population statistics, and cross-corpus application of the Flynn & Cannaliato (2025) omega kinematic correction. Applying the omega formula to all 8 tier-1 rotators yields negative values (median -13.05 rad/Gyr), contrasting with positive values at z = 0 (+7.06 rad/Gyr for SPARC spirals; +9.94 rad/Gyr for local dwarfs), consistent with the known evolution from centrally concentrated high-z systems to extended rotating disks. The corpus is publicly available at Zenodo (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20369285) under CC BY 4.0.

The origin of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos remains unresolved, and secure electromagnetic counterparts to individual events are rare despite rapid follow-up. Dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at cosmic noon (z ~ 1-4) are natural cosmic-ray calorimeters, yet observational links between DSFGs and neutrinos have remained elusive. Here we report a compact-core DSFG within an IceCube localization, JCMT0402-0424, a quadruply lensed galaxy at z = 2.988 located inside the 90% containment region of the IceCube event IC 210922A. ALMA imaging and lens modeling resolve a highly magnified, compact starburst with no bright gamma-ray or X-ray counterpart above current sensitivity limits. Considering the positional agreement, the low chance-coincidence probability (less than about 1%) for such an extreme submillimeter source, the absence of equally plausible alternatives in the field, and the compact, gas-rich core revealed by ALMA, JCMT0402-0424 is the most plausible electromagnetic counterpart candidate within the IC 210922A localization. In a population context, compact-core starbursts at cosmic noon can provide a non-negligible population-level contribution to the diffuse high-energy neutrino background, even though the neutrino yield from any single DSFG is modest. This result connects high-energy neutrino production to the peak epoch of cosmic star formation, opening a new avenue to probe galaxy evolution and cosmic-ray acceleration across cosmic time.

We report CO and HI studies of molecular and atomic gas toward the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1646$-$458, widely considered to be associated with the young massive cluster Westerlund 1 (Wd1). We found that molecular clouds at $V_\mathrm{LSR} \sim$$-32$ km s$^{-1}$ coincide with arc-like structures seen at 8 $\mu$m, likely illuminated by strong FUV radiation from Wd1. $^{12}$CO($J$ = 3-2) emission at the same velocity reveals a cavity-like structure with an expansion velocity of $\sim$$5$ km s$^{-1}$ toward the central region of Wd1, suggesting a recently formed wind-blown bubble driven by the cluster. We also identify a complementary spatial distribution between the $V_\mathrm{LSR} \sim$$-55$ and $\sim$$-32$ km s$^{-1}$ clouds, connected by an intermediate-velocity component at $V_\mathrm{LSR} \sim$$-44$ km s$^{-1}$. These characteristics are consistent with signatures of triggered star formation through a cloud-cloud collision and imply that both clouds are physically associated with Wd1. On larger scales, the total interstellar proton column density at $V_\mathrm{LSR}$ $\sim$$-36$-$-23$ km s$^{-1}$ shows a moderate spatial correspondence with the TeV gamma-ray shell. Together with this correlation, a substantial gas mass of $\sim$$1.6 \times 10^6$ $M_\odot$, and the absence of bright synchrotron X-rays, the TeV gamma-ray emission surrounding Wd1 is consistent with the hadronic origin. The present finding allows us to calculate the total energy of accelerated cosmic-ray protons to be $\sim$$6 \times 10^{49}$ erg.

Orbital inclination is crucial in determining the mass of the binary. The astrometric excess noise contain the orbital motion information, which can be used to constrain the inclination. We aim to constrain the orbital inclination of a binary system by combining radial velocity measurements with the astrometric excess noise from the Gaia DR3 solution. The astrometric excess noise is directly related to the orbital parameters. For a binary system with a radial velocity solution, it can be treated as a function of the orbital inclination. Using the Gaia nominal scanning law and the estimated centroid uncertainties, we simulate Gaia astrometric epoch observations to reproduce the expected excess noise. By sampling different inclinations and comparing the resulting simulated excess noise with the value reported in Gaia DR3, we can constrain the inclination to a specific interval. We have developed a method to constrain the orbital inclination within a specific range, enabling a more accurate determination of the binary mass, particularly for spectroscopic binaries. Internal and external validations demonstrate the robustness of the method, although certain limitations remain. It is most reliable for systems exhibiting a strong astrometric signal of binary motion, while caution is required when applying it to binaries with weak astrometric wobbles or poorly sampled orbits.

Large solar active regions (ARs) tend to be long lived and spatially clustered, with repeated emergence occurring in persistent solar activity nests over extended timescales. By analyzing long-term spatiotemporal magnetic flux maps constructed from near-side magnetic field observations and far-side helioseismic AR maps, we investigate the recurrence and clustering properties of large ARs during Solar Cycle 24. We find that, in both hemispheres, over 63% of magnetic fluxes emerge and cluster within or near three distinct bands in the spatiotemporal maps, two of which rotate faster than the Carrington rate and one more slowly. These bands closely correspond to low-order nonaxisymmetric modes, primarily the azimuthal order m=1 mode. The drift rates of the three spatiotemporal bands are in good agreement with the phase speeds inferred for these modes. The frequencies of the dominant modes are consistent with slow magneto-Rossby waves originating in the solar tachocline, associated with odd harmonic degrees $\ell$ and a toroidal magnetic field strength of approximately 4.0 kG. Our results suggest that magneto-Rossby waves play an important role in modulating both the timing and longitudinal localization of major AR emergence. Rieger-type periodicities may arise from interactions between a dominant mode and weaker modes, while longer quasi-periodic variations on 0.6--4 yr timescales are likely linked to intersections of multiple major modes. These findings point to a potential connection between surface magnetic flux patterns and dynamical processes in the tachocline.

The gas-phase mass-metallicity relation (MZR) of galaxies shows a noticeable break in slope and increased scatter at low stellar masses, suggesting that the physical processes governing chemical enrichment differ between dwarf and high-mass systems. Dwarf galaxies are highly susceptible to internal and environmental mechanisms due to shallow potential wells. We assess whether a single MZR describes dwarf galaxies across diverse large-scale environments using the CAVITY parent sample. We examine the MZR and star formation rate (SFR) of dwarfs with stellar masses 8.9 < log(M_star/M_sun) < 9.5. Using SDSS optical spectra, we measured emission line fluxes via the pyPipe3D pipeline to derive the MZR and SFR for 353, 311, and 22 dwarf galaxies in voids, filaments, and clusters, respectively. We find a systematic variation in the MZR slope, which is steeper in voids (0.28 +/- 0.03) and progressively flatter in clusters (0.17 +/- 0.08), indicating an environmental dependence in this mass regime. When separated by local environment, isolated and non-isolated dwarfs in voids show no significant differences. Isolated dwarfs in filaments exhibit properties similar to void counterparts. However, non-isolated filament galaxies display flatter MZR slopes, comparable to cluster dwarfs. We report both large- and local-scale environmental dependencies in the gas-phase metallicity and MZR slope. Consistent with the pre-processing framework, our results indicate that the local environment becomes significant within cosmic web filaments, affecting the chemical enrichment and star formation of low-mass systems. This suggests that part of the MZR scatter in dwarf galaxies arises from environmental effects.

Studies of Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) data coincident with dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way (MW) have put the most stringent constraints on models of annihilating dark matter (DM) with candidate masses in the GeV-TeV range. Recent results found the presence of small, local significance excesses from these targets, at the 2-3 sigma level. However, these excesses disagree on the predicted properties of the DM candidate, and their significance vanishes when considering the correction factors for the number of trials. In this work, we apply key improvements to the analysis of the dSphs. We use stricter cuts on the data, implement a method to adaptively model the background, and assume an updated framework for DM annihilation. We find that our improved background modeling leads to a better agreement between the model and the data. This produces an increase in the local and global significance of the dSphs excess compared to previous studies. Finally, we find that the DM properties obtained in this work are less dependent on the sample of dSphs being considered compared to previous studies, while remaining in agreement with the predictions from the Galactic center excess observed by the Fermi-LAT and the antiproton excess observed by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02). Considering our improvements, a future significant increase in the number of dwarfs may lead to a definitive confirmation or exclusion of the DM interpretation of the Galactic center excess.

Neutron superfluidity in the inner crust of a neutron star is further investigated, focusing on the role of the interband response in the superfluid fraction and the effective mass of crustal ions induced by their motion through the superfluid. Calculations are performed within the linear response theory of the self-consistent time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations with Skyrme nuclear energy density functionals in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approximation. The absence of interband response in previous analyses is clarified. The neutron superfluid density is formally shown to be consistent with the entrainment matrix derived earlier in homogeneous neutron-proton superfluid mixture, thus providing a unified description of entrainment effects in the inner crust and outer core of a neutron star within the same microscopic framework. The relative importance of the intraband and interband responses in different regions of the crust is numerically assessed from three-dimensional band-structure calculations, taking into account quantum zero-point motion of ions about their equilibrium position. The neutron superfluid fraction is found to be enhanced by the interband response, resulting in effective ion masses that remain close to the mass of quantum mechanically bound nucleons for realistic neutron pairing gaps. Results are compared to predictions from classical hydrodynamics with different prescriptions for the permeability of ions to superfluidity.

The He I 10830Å line, a crucial optically thin chromospheric line, is frequently used to study coronal heating and vertical coupling across the chromosphere-corona interface. However, its images are severely contaminated by the strong photospheric background signal, hindering the analysis of fine chromospheric structures. Given the morphological differences between the Active Region (AR) and the Quiet Sun (QS), we proposed separating the He I 10830Å chromospheric signal using two deep learning CNN models. Our model utilizes TiO images and cross-band learning to infer the He I 10830Å photospheric background. The output is combined with an exponential absorption model to achieve quantitative analysis of the pure chromospheric component. Joint analysis of Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) data and the separated QS structures reveals a strong spatial negative correlation between chromospheric He I 10830Å intensities(R approx -0.84 in 304Å ), and significant layered coupling with EUV (171, 193, and 304Å) radiation. Furthermore, strong He I 10830Å absorption areas are highly correlated with regions of strong magnetic fields, while 171Å radiative enhancement areas extend to the strong magnetic field edges and the mixed-polarity regions. These findings quantify the radiation intensity relationship between He I 10830Å and EUV bands in the Quiet Sun. It also demonstrates the differences in heating characteristics between unipolar and mixed-polarity magnetic fields.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) show diverse X-ray afterglow light-curves, including breaks and plateaus, whose physical origins remain debated. Previous claims linked high-energy ($E \ge 100$ MeV) detection to X-ray afterglow complexity or plateau incidence, but they were often based on small or heterogeneous samples. We present a large-scale, uniform, model-independent analysis of the complete Swift-XRT GRB afterglow catalog, including more than 1400 events. Our automated pipeline performs flare removal and segmented power-law fitting consistently across the sample. We find that both light-curve complexity and plateau incidence are strongly governed by the XRT observation start time, $t_{XRT}$. Apparent correlations between high-energy emission and X-ray morphology arise when $t_{XRT}$ is ignored, but vanish when the sample is stratified or controlled for this variable. X-ray complexity and plateaus are therefore not directly coupled to high-energy detectability, and early X-ray morphology is not predictive of high-energy emission. These results resolve conflicting claims in the literature and show that controlling for $t_{XRT}$ is essential in large-sample GRB studies. The automated pipeline provides a reproducible basis for future analyses of GRB afterglows from Swift and upcoming missions such as SVOM, Einstein Probe, and THESEUS.

Context. Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs) challenge the unified model of AGNs and offer key insights into the physics of the accretion processes of super-massive black holes. While systematic spectroscopic comparisons have successfully identified large samples of CL-AGNs, photometric selection based on variability features provides an efficient alternative. Methods. We use the colour--magnitude (CM) variability method to continue our identification of the CL transition in AGNs, which utilizes the slope ($k$) of the CM variations to identify strong bluer-when-brighter behavior, while the variation amplitudes in optical and mid-infrared bands are also considered. The candidates thus selected from the Type-2 AGNs given in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey catalog are spectroscopically observed using the 3.6-m DOT and the 2-m HCT. Results. We confirm seven turn-on CL-AGNs among 12 candidates. Comparing them with both the general AGN populations and the spectroscopically identified CL-AGN sample, the CL-AGNs showed larger optical and MIR variations and $k$ values. The extreme CM variabilities of these sources (with optical magnitude changes $>$ 0.9) occurred recently. For four sources, flare-like brightening episodes were temporally associated with the turn-on transitions within 3--7 years, suggesting that these flares may trace short-timescale accretion enhancement, central brightening, and BLR re-illumination. Conclusions. The extreme CM variability serves as a highly efficient criterion for finding CL-AGNs. The properties of the CL-AGNs thus found suggest that they may represent AGNs at a pivotal state, which likely occur CL transitions due to enhanced accretion activity, while the cause of the accretion activity, determined to have a time scale of several years, remains to be investigated.

Auroral lines enable accurate measurements of chemical abundances in ionized gaseous nebulae thanks to their sensitivity to electron temperature. However, metal-enriched systems remain a challenge, as even deep observations cannot retrieve auroral lines due to their intrinsic faintness. To overcome this limitation, we present a novel approach to estimate electron temperatures in the conditions where the [OIII]$\lambda$4363 auroral line is barely detectable ($T_{e} < 11,000$ K). This approach relies on the detection of [NeIII]$\lambda$3868 and [OIII]$\lambda$4959,5007, which are among the brightest rest-frame optical emission lines. By means of detailed photoionization models, we derive a tight relation between the O3Ne3$\equiv$[OIII]$\lambda$4959,5007/[NeIII]$\lambda$3868 ratio and the electron temperature weighted in the O$^{++}$ dominated region. We test the validity of this relation in a large sample of galaxies that cover a wide range of redshifts z$\sim$0-9 and extragalactic HII regions. Our results show that the O3Ne3 ratio, in combination with the O3O2 ratio (tracer of ionization), yields electron temperature estimates consistent within the uncertainties with those based on [OIII]$\lambda$4363. The proposed relation can be used to estimate electron temperature in the cool (equivalently high-metal) regime [6,000, 13,500 K] where the emissivity of [OIII]$\lambda$4363 drops drastically.

We identify 6 early M-dwarfs, in 3 open clusters (NGC 2451a, Blanco 1 and NGC 2516) at ages of 50-200 Myr, that are anomalously enriched in lithium compared with Li-depleted siblings of similar spectral type. The Li-rich outliers represent 2-3 per cent of stars with $3560 < T_{\rm eff}/{\rm K} < 4045$ in clusters at those ages but are otherwise indistinguishable in their positions, parallaxes and kinematics from other cluster members; their placement in absolute colour-magnitude diagrams is incompatible with being much younger Li-rich interlopers, only one shows evidence of binarity and they are all slow rotators. The enhanced Li abundances are consistent with the engulfment of 3-10 $M_\oplus$ of volatile-depleted planetary material after the formation of a radiative core has ended rapid pre main sequence Li depletion. Published planetary formation simulations featuring engulfment via dynamical interactions, and the preponderance of Earth-like exoplanets in close orbits around M-dwarfs, offer some support to this scenario. The observed occurrence rate would be a lower limit to the frequency with which such engulfment events occur between ages of $\sim (30-200)$ Myr, that depends in the timescale for ongoing Li depletion at the ZAMS.

Accurate simulation of astronomical observations is a critical element for any modern analyses, be it to measure event rates, analyses population properties, validate or train pipelines, account for selection effects, or correct biases. We present a novel pure python package named skysurvey made to enable the user to quickly simulate astrophysical transients as observed by a survey. The package is structured to make the implementation of any complex population modeling fast and easy. The skysurvey package relies on three core objects: a Target, that models how an astrophysical target exists in nature, a Survey, that specifies how the sky has been observed and, a DataSet that combine these two to generate data as they would have been acquired. In addition, we present a side stand-alone package named modeldag that contains the core structure that simplifies the parameter modeling. We present in this paper how skysurvey is structured and we clearly illustrate how the code can straightforwardly be used to simulate complex populations, such as Type Ia Supernovae with varying color-brightness $\beta$ term. We also illustrate how the package can be made to replicate the rate and redshift distribution of the ZTF SNe Ia DR2 dataset. The skysurvey package, already used in recent scientific publications, is now ready for general usage and paves the way for future use of simulations such as simulation based inference.

Core-collapse supernovae are the terminal explosions of massive stars. After successive phases of nuclear fusion proceeding up to silicon burning, these stars form an iron core that is supported by electron degeneracy pressure. The core eventually collapses to a proto-neutron star, and in most cases the outer layers of the star are ejected by a shock wave, with a kinetic energy of order $10^{51}\,\mathrm{erg}$. Neutrinos and multi-dimensional fluid flow play a key role in extracting energy from the collapsed core to drive the explosion. After adumbrating the astrophysical context of stellar evolution and transient observations, this chapter sketches the modern theory of neutrino-driven supernova explosions, and discusses the key role of nuclear physics and neutrino interaction rates in the supernova problem. It also outlines the role of neutrinos and gravitational waves as probes into the supernova core.

Spicules are ubiquitous, small-scale features in the solar atmosphere, exhibiting a jet-like appearance most clearly identified by their apparent motion in off-limb observations. While they are often interpreted as narrow, thread-like structures, their true three-dimensional (3D) structure remains unknown. We aim to uncover the 3D morphology and dynamics of fast-evolving spicules (type II) using a MURaM-ChE simulation. We use a H$\alpha$ proxy that has been developed using non-equilibrium (NE) hydrogen populations in MURaM-ChE. The proxy, modelled as an escape probability, is synthesised to isolate on-disc as well as off-limb H$\alpha$ wing features. The 3D structure of these features is investigated using the 3D information on opacity in H$\alpha$. We identify type II spicules, with unique 3D morphologies: the dominant being thread-like and slab-like. The appearance of spicules as slabs or threads is a function of time and Doppler velocity. The spicules extending above the spicule-forest (2Mm -3Mm above the surface) tend to be located at quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs). We find that the spatially resolved contributions to the opacity of spicules are often similar for spicules synthesised in the horizontal direction, and their on-disk rapid blueshifted excursion (RBE) synthesised in the vertical direction at the same Doppler velocity of 37km/s. This confirms that RBEs are indeed the on-disc counterparts of spicules. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that cross-field motions can significantly contribute to spicule dynamics. Spicules exhibit a range of morphologies, including both slab-like and thread-like structures. Their observed appearance depends strongly on line-of-sight projection and Doppler sampling. Spicules are preferentially located at QSLs, highlighting the role of magnetic topology in driving spicular dynamics.

In the era of large Milky Way spectroscopic surveys, calibrating and standardizing stellar parameters and abundance measurements is crucial. The Gaia benchmark stars (GBS) are key references points characterized by well-defined parameters derived from fundamental relations independent of spectroscopy. We analyze 30 GBS with spectra data at three different resolutions. Our goal is to evaluate the impact of spectral resolution on the measurements of the stellar parameters and chemical abundances. We also present a line selection suitable for both metal-poor and metal-rich stars. We used R~190000 (R190), R~42000 (R42), R~28 000 (R28), and R190 degraded to R28 (R190-R28) spectral data to measure abundances with synthetic fitting and equivalent widths (EW) methods, testing the needed resolution to obtain consistent results. Our comparative analysis between R28 and R190-R28 shows that gaps in wavelength coverage can lead to discrepancies in the derived stellar parameters, particularly log g. These effects are not primarily driven by resolution, but rather by the limited spectral coverage and line availability. We find overall similar abundance, emphasizing the importance of line selection for spectroscopic studies. However, some elements (e.g, Ti II, Sc II) show larger discrepancies, possibly due to blending that becomes more pronounced as resolution decreases or is HFS-sensitive. Our comparative analysis shows that the abundances for Fe I, Ni I, Ti I, and Si I present less scatter across all resolutions, including R28. Our findings indicate that for some elements, synthetic fitting and the EW method give similar abundances, especially at the highest resolution. However, we also find that the highest resolution is not always essential for chemical abundance measurements. Our results provide practical guidelines for upcoming large surveys to reconstruct the chemical history of the Milky Way.

Context. Establishing a self-consistent age scale for stellar populations requires physically well-calibrated chronometers. Among these, lithium-based diagnostics, particularly the lithium depletion boundary (LDB), provide one of the most robust age constraints for stellar populations in the low-mass regime. However, their application is limited by heterogeneous temperature scales and astrophysical dispersion, especially among FGK stars, where rotation can significantly affect lithium abundances. Aims. As a first step towards a self-consistent age scale, our aim has been to formulate Chronos, the first version of a Bayesian hierarchical lithium-based age-dating model combined with a neural network trained on stellar evolutionary models. Methods. We implemented a Bayesian hierarchical model that jointly infers stellar effective temperatures, lithium abundances, and the global age of a stellar association. The theoretical LDB is provided by a pre-trained multilayer perceptron based on BT--Settl evolutionary models. The model incorporates a temperature-dependent transition between fully convective ultra-cool dwarfs (UCDs) and FGKM dwarf stars, together with a two-component FGK mixture to account for rotation-induced lithium enhancement. We applied the method to the Pleiades cluster and performed a validation using synthetic datasets. Results. For the Pleiades cluster, Chronos yields a posterior age distribution centred at $\mathrm{Age}=124.53_{-2.70}^{+3.34}$ Myr, consistent with classical LDB estimates, while simultaneously constraining both global and stellar-level rotation parameters. Conclusions. This work demonstrates that lithium-based stellar chronology can be recast as a coherent hierarchical inference problem, providing a flexible and statistically robust framework for making age determinations for young (1--600 Myr) stellar populations.

Building on the success of the French-Chinese SVOM mission, our consortium proposes CATCH (Chasing All Transients Constellation of Hunters), targeting Gamma-Ray Bursts and X-ray transients. Its first step, CATCH-PM (Precursor Mission), consists of three satellites: (i) the Trigger Scout Satellite (TSS), providing real-time detection and localization of transients from soft X-rays to gamma-rays; (ii) the X-ray Hunter Satellite (XHS), performing rapid X-ray afterglow follow-up and refined localization with Wolter-I optics; and (iii) the Infrared Hunter Satellite (IHS), enabling precise localization and follow-up in the visible and near-infrared, including obscured and high-redshift transients. CATCH-PM is both a technological demonstrator and a standalone time-domain astrophysics mission. In addition to Scout triggers, it will accept numerous external Targets of Opportunity and conduct a broad observing program. By reusing available spare hardware, a launch within five years is feasible. Operating alongside SVOM and EinsteinProbe, it would significantly enhance the overall scientific return.

The growing catalog of gravitational-wave detections from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration reveals structure in the binary black hole (BBH) mass distribution, including peaks near m1 = 10 solar masses and m1 = 35 solar masses, a high-mass suppression consistent with the pair-instability supernova gap, and a possible dearth of systems near chirp mass M = 10-12 solar masses. We apply Compactness Peaks + Channels, a stripped-star-motivated five-component population model, to 152 BBH mergers from GWTC-4.0. The model is decisively preferred over the LVK Broken Power Law + 2 Peaks baseline, with log10 Bayes factor = 7.69, and decomposes the population into isolated first-generation (1G), dynamical 1G, and hierarchical second-generation (2G) channels with fractions 0.75 (+0.11/-0.16), 0.22 (+0.16/-0.11), and 0.02 (+0.03/-0.01), respectively. The low-mass isolated component sharply localizes the 10 solar mass feature, with narrow masses, near-equal mass ratios, and low partially aligned spins, consistent with stripped-star binary evolution. The 35 solar mass feature is primarily captured by the high-mass dynamical 1G component. The hierarchical component is consistent with 2G+1G mergers, with elevated primary spins, mu_chi = 0.65 (+0.30/-0.22), and asymmetric mass ratios. We localize the compactness-peak edges at 12.3 (+2.4/-1.3) and 16.1 (+5.7/-5.3) solar masses, consistent with, but not yet requiring, a compactness-driven dearth between them. These results support a multi-component description of the BBH population and motivate further tests of compactness-driven isolated evolution.

The polarization of starlight and thermal dust emission, resulting from non-spherical grains aligned with the interstellar magnetic field (B-field), act as a powerful tool to trace the B-field morphologies and strengths in molecular clouds and constrain the grain alignment mechanisms and grain properties. The exact alignment mechanisms of grains is not yet fully clear. However, the leading theory is the alignment induced by RAdiative Torques (RATs), known as RAT theory. In this work, we use optical polarization observations of background stars projected towards nine of Bright-Rimmed Clouds (BRCs) and Cometary Globules(CGs) to study the polarization efficiencies and the alignment mechanisms of the grains in the direction towards the outer diffuse envelopes of these clouds. We use distance and extinction data of the stars from Gaia EDR3 and StarHorse 2 Catalogue. We study the variations of the degree and position angle of polarization, and the extinction, as functions of distance of the stars. For some of the clouds, we find discrete enhancement of the extinction at certain distances along with an increase in polarization degree, signifying the presence of polarizing dust layers. We estimate the polarization efficiency of grains towards each of the clouds. We find that it decreases with increasing extinction, and also shows a slight increase with dust temperature for some clouds associated with more ordered magnetic field orientations, providing an implication for the alignment of grains by RATs. Whereas, for some other clouds, the decrease in the polarization efficiency with extinction may be caused by more fluctuations in the magnetic field orientations.

We investigate an extension of $\Lambda$CDM in which a fraction of cold Dark Matter (DM) decays into invisible dark radiation (DR) around the radiation-matter equality epoch, together with a non-standard dark energy (DE) equation of state characterized by $w_0$. The decaying DM component modifies the early expansion history and reduces the sound horizon at baryon drag, while the DE alters the expansion rate at the late times. A comprehensive analysis combining \texttt{Planck 2018+ACT DR6+DESI DR2+CMB lensing} datasets has been carried out to explore the viability of this framework in addressing the $H_0$ tension. This model yields a Hubble constant of $H_0 = 69.83 \pm 0.98~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$, reducing the discrepancy with SH0ES measurement to ${\sim}2.2\sigma$ and local distance network measurement (H0DN) to ${\sim}2.9\sigma$. Further, considering \texttt{SH0ES} and \texttt{Pantheon+}, the inferred value of the Hubble constant becomes $H_0 = 70.20 \pm 0.66~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$. The Bayesian evidence suggests that this framework offers a fit to the relevant cosmological datasets at a statistically similar level as $\Lambda$CDM. It is observed that correlated early- and late-time modifications to the cosmological expansion history provide a more effective route to reducing the $H_0$ tension than either class of modification alone.

Emission from X-ray binaries in the hard spectral state is dominated by high-energy radiation attributed to the Compton scattering of seed photons. The prevalent model of the Comptonization by hot electrons or pairs faces the problem of rapid radiative cooling of the emitting particles. A proposed alternative mechanism is the Comptonization by scattering off fast plasmoids formed during magnetic reconnection. In this work, we simulate a simplified model of the plasmoid chain with Monte Carlo radiation transport and report on spectropolarimetric properties. We find that the Comptonization off trans-relativistic bulk plasmoids is not only able to reproduce the 100 keV spectral cutoff, but furthermore produces X-rays that are above 1 keV strongly polarized perpendicular to the reconnection layer. The polarization is stronger than that from the Comptonization by an isotropic hot plasma owing to the confinement of the motion of the scattering plasmoids in the plane of the reconnection layer. The dependence of polarization on azimuthal viewing angle is discussed, along with possible locations for the plasmoid chain in an equatorial current sheet or the sheath of the black hole's relativistic jet.

Stellar radiation zones play a key role in the long-term magneto-rotational and chemical evolution of stars. As parts of the oceans and of the atmosphere of the Earth, their dynamics is controlled by the Archimedean buoyancy force and the Coriolis acceleration. They are the seat of an efficient extraction of angular momentum and of a mild mixing of chemicals. In this context, particle tracing in recent nonlinear hydrodynamical equatorial numerical simulations of stellar radiation zones where internal gravity waves (hereafter IGWs) are propagating led to the measurement of an effective diffusivity following the prescriptions derived by Garcia-Lopez & Spruit and by Zahn for the inflectional instability of the vertical shear of low-frequency IGWs. However, the associated instability criteria are not fullfiled. This effective diffusivity is found to scale as the squared velocity of IGWs for every rotation rates. Other dependences have also been derived in the literature, for instance in the case of the Stokes displacement. To interpret these results, we propose to explore the parameterisation for the mixing of particles, which has been proposed for the oceans. A foundation stone in physical oceanography is the so-called Osborn & Cox energetic balance that leads to an effective dyapicnal diffusivity for the transport of matter that scales as the ratio of the dissipation of the fluctuating flows over the squared Brunt-Väisälä stratification frequency. We demonstrate that this diffusivity is equivalent to the eddy diffusivity derived by Zahn for the inflectional instability of the vertical shear applied to low-frequency IGWs. This allows us to characterize the corresponding energetic balance where the power extracted by the waves from the mean flows is balanced by their dissipation and by the power produced by their buoyancy flux, which triggers mixing, for any rotation rate.

We present a comprehensive multi-wavelength study of GRB 260310A / SN 2026fgk, a nearby ($z=0.153$), long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an exceptionally underluminous prompt $\gamma$-ray emission and a Comptonized spectrum. It is located at the edge of a blue host galaxy with a projected distance of 15 kpc, which is one of the largest offsets reported for a long GRB. The bright optical afterglow, with dense coverage from COLIBRÍ, likely peaked at a few to several hours post-burst, followed by a shallow decay not expected from canonical afterglow models. Both the optical and X-ray light curves show a brief chromatic plateau from $4-7$ days and a more standard decay thereafter only terminated with a rebrightening at $\sim20$ days. We demonstrate that this feature is best described by a combination of emission from the Ic-BL supernova, as identified in GTC spectra, and a late-time refreshed shock. The broadband optical to X-ray spectral energy distribution is well described by synchrotron emission from the forward shock, while the radio observations demand an additional emission component. We model the afterglow using (a) an on-axis uniform jet from a dirty fireball with late-time energy injection and (b) a misaligned jet with power-law angular structure, both having material emitting along our line-of-sight (LOS) moving with an initial Lorentz factor of $\Gamma_0\sim20-35$. Had this GRB occurred at a more typical redshift ($z\gtrsim0.5$), its prompt emission would likely have remained undetected by current $\gamma$-ray monitors while its optical afterglow would still have been readily detectable, placing it observationally among orphan afterglows or gamma-ray quiet fast X-ray transients.

We investigate whether early- and late-time dark energy could arise from a single scalar field. Adopting a bottom-up perspective, we first identify the sequence of dynamical regimes that any unified scenario must traverse to account for both an early dark energy phase relevant for pre-recombination solutions of the Hubble tension and the late-time acceleration of the Universe. We derive the corresponding requirements on the scalar energy density and equation of state. We then adopt a complementary top-down perspective and translate these requirements into constraints on the phase-space structure of minimally coupled scalar fields with tracking-like dynamics. We show that satisfying all requirements necessitates a potential with three distinct slopes, arranged in a steep-steeper-shallow hierarchy. This conclusion remains unchanged in the presence of conformal couplings to dark matter. These results place strong constraints on attempts to construct unified models of early- and late-time dark energy. We discuss implications for model-building.

We study the influence of the instantaneous appearance of a conformal Killing vector (CKV) in self-gravitating fluid spheres during their evolution. For doing that we introduce a tensor variable whose time dependence allows the existence of a CKV for a given value of the time-like coordinate. We consider adiabatic and dissipative fluids. The analysis of different relevant physical variables in this process provides a smoking gun signature from the emergence of CKV at some point of the evolution. Prospective applications of these results, as well as open questions and pending issues related to this problem, are discussed.

There is a growing urgency to track greenhouse gasses with the resolution, precision and accuracy needed to support independent verification of $CO_2$ fluxes at local to global scales. The current generation of space-based sensors, however, only provides sparse observations in space and time. This challenge has fueled interest in the potential use of data from existing missions originally developed for other applications for inferring global greenhouse gas variability. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-East), operational since 2017, provides full coverage of much of the western hemisphere at 10-minute intervals from geostationary orbit at 16 wavelengths at an approximately 2$km^2$ spatial resolution. Here, we leverage this high spatial coverage and temporal revisit to develop a single-pixel, physics-guided neural network to estimate dry-air column $CO_2$ mole fraction ($XCO_2$). The model employs a time series of GOES-East's 16 spectral bands, ECMWF ERA5 lower tropospheric meteorology, MODIS surface reflectance, solar and satellite viewing geometry, and day of year. Training used collocated GOES-East and OCO-2/OCO-3 observations. We also present case studies illustrating the use of the model to observe $XCO_2$ enhancements over urban areas and drawdown over agricultural regions. Overall, while the precision of GOES-East derived $XCO_2$ can never rival that of dedicated instruments, the unprecedented combination of contiguous geographic coverage, 10-minute temporal frequency, and multi-year record offers the potential to observe aspects of atmospheric $CO_2$ variability currently unseen from space.

Forecasting aurora borealis visibility matters for space weather research and aurora tourism. Visibility at a site and night depends on two distinct factors: (1) whether aurora is physically occurring, driven by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling, and (2) whether observing conditions allow naked-eye detection, mainly cloud cover and lunar illumination. We present Aurora Hunter, a two-stage cascade that decouples these factors. Stage 1 predicts P(occurring) with XGBoost using 51 physics-driven features trained on joint Tromso+Kiruna data (about 16,600 hourly samples, 2015-2023) with labels from the Tromso AI all-sky image classifier. Stage 2 predicts P(clear observation given occurring) with logistic regression using 21 cloud-cover and lunar-illumination features trained only on aurora-occurring hours. The cascade P(visible)=P(occurring)*P(clear|occurring) reaches ROC-AUC 0.937 (Tromso test, 2019-2020) and 0.905 (independent Kiruna, 2024), improving a single-stage baseline by +0.087. Held-out Skibotn data (2022-2025) confirm cross-site generalization. SHAP identifies the Kp x nightside interaction, MLT position, and auroral oval distance as dominant predictors (39% combined). Prototype: this https URL.

Neutron stars (NSs) are powerful factories for new particles with masses up to the 100 keV range. These compact stars contain significant populations of charged particles, notably protons, electrons and muons. We calculate the emission rates for new scalar, vector, and pseudoscalar bosons that predominantly couple to electrons and muons. For vector bosons, the in-medium renormalization of the effective couplings strongly modifies the emission rates, e.g., purely muon-philic vectors are predominantly emitted by ultra-relativistic electrons. We focus on bremsstrahlung in electromagnetic lepton-lepton or lepton-proton collisions in the ultradegenerate limit. When protons are superconducting, the scalar and vector energy loss rates scale as $T^4$, the pseudoscalar one as $T^6$, to be compared with $T^8$ for neutrino losses by the modified Urca process. For normal-conducting protons, the screening of transverse photons implies instead scalings with a power reduced by $1/3$ and thus $T^{11/3}$ for scalars and vectors, and $T^{17/3}$ for pseudoscalars. As the NS cools, such new particle losses would become important at late times, when surface photon emission begins to take over, which itself scales roughly as $T^2$ in terms of the internal temperature. Our results can be used to constrain the leptophilic coupling strengths through observed NS cooling ages.

Experimental searches for fifth forces coupled to muons are fundamentally limited by the scarcity of muons in ordinary matter, whereas neutron stars contain abundant muon populations. We show that these compact objects therefore provide superior sensitivity across a broad range of mediator masses. Neutron-star cooling implies limits of $g_{\phi\mu}\lesssim10^{-12}$ and $g_{V\!\mu}\lesssim3\times10^{-13}$ on scalar and vector bosons with masses $m_X\lesssim100$ keV, whereas SN 1987A cooling implies only $g\lesssim3\times10^{-9}$. Moreover, hydrostatic equilibrium requires any long-range muonic force to be sufficiently weak, surpassing cooling bounds for $m_X\lesssim10^{-5}$ eV. Together, these observables provide the most stringent probes of muonic interactions over distance scales ranging from picometers to kilometers.

We investigate the possibility of detecting 14.4 keV and 9.4 keV solar axions and axion-like particles that could be produced in the M1 nuclear transitions of $^{57}$Fe and $^{83}$Kr, respectively. To do so, we used data from soft X-ray observations of the quiet Sun collected by the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) on board India's Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission. We observe that although the effective axion-nucleon couplings for $^{83}$Kr and $^{57}$Fe differ only slightly, their fluxes differ by nearly three orders of magnitude. Consequently, the limit on $|g_{aN}^{\rm eff} \times g_{a\gamma\gamma}|$ and only $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$ vs. $m_a$ provide more than an order-of-magnitude stronger constraint for Fe than for Kr.

We present a proof-of-concept study of the inverse problem of inferring neutron-star properties directly from the post-merger gravitational-wave spectrum of equal-mass binary neutron-star mergers. Using noise-free spectra from numerical-relativity catalogs, we train and compare three artificial-neural-network regression models and two multivariate linear-regression baselines to predict the stellar mass, $M$, the quadrupolar tidal deformability, $\kappa_2^\tau$, and the slope of the mass--radius relation, $dR/dM$. Since the inverse mapping is nonlinear and cannot be obtained by analytically inverting the direct neural-network model, we construct inverse surrogates and train the networks with a two-stage procedure in which residuals from an initial pass define sample weights for a second pass, together with regularization via dropout, Gaussian-noise injection, and early stopping. We find that neural networks consistently outperform linear baselines, showing that nonlinear surrogates capture the inverse relation between post-merger spectra and source properties more effectively than algebraic inversion. The best performance is achieved by an ensemble of single-task networks, while a multi-task model gives comparable accuracy for predicting the mass--radius slope, and a mixture-of-experts architecture provides insight into spectral-region importance. We further show that the best model reproduces empirical relations between the dominant post-merger frequency and tidal deformability, and recovers equation-of-state-dependent mass--tidal-deformability trends, indicating physical consistency beyond pointwise accuracy. Although restricted to idealized noise-free spectra, the results show that neural-network surrogates provide a promising route for extracting neutron-star information from post-merger signals with future third-generation detectors.

This paper provides a comparative study of modern uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods. To greatly enhance real-time performance, both differential algebra (DA) and a directional differential algebra (DDA) approach are employed. This can enable fast UQ in the case of non-Gaussian statistics. Higher-order moments, namely skew and kurtosis, can be computed quickly by several means. This motivates their implementation in an analytic approximation of the confidence bounds for the so-called "banana-shaped" non-Gaussian distributions encountered often in nonlinear astrodynamics problems. This method improves greatly on a linear covariance approach, with only 5x its runtime in numerical tests, even before DA methods are employed. Test problems in this work include a restricted three-body cislunar example and an Earth-return aerocapture example.

We propose a novel mechanism for generating the baryon asymmetry of the Universe through leptogenesis in a scenario where the right-handed neutrinos are heavier than the maximal temperature of the Universe, and are never produced on-shell neither by thermal nor by non-thermal mechanisms. We introduce a new scalar field, $\phi$, lighter than the right-handed neutrinos, that couples to the latter via a Yukawa coupling, so that it decays into two lepton doublets and two higgs doublets via off-shell right-handed neutrinos. Then, we derive the CP asymmetry arising from the interference between tree-level and loop diagrams in the four-body decay, and we show that the generated baryon asymmetry can reproduce the observed value both in a scenario where $\phi$ is responsible for the reheating of the Universe, and in a scenario where $\phi$ is a generic scalar that remains in thermal equilibrium with the plasma.

The rapid development of coherent short-wavelength light sources in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray (SXR) regimes has created a growing need for advanced optoelectronic detection capabilities, particularly for quantum-noise-limited measurements, microelectronics and semiconductor metrology, and emerging quantum information applications. However, extending balanced photodetection to these wavelength regimes is severely hindered by a fundamental bandwidth-noise trade-off imposed by the exceptionally large junction capacitance of EUV-SXR silicon photodiodes. Here, we report a novel wideband photoreceiver architecture that overcomes this bottleneck via a bootstrapped transimpedance amplifier design. By leveraging a low-noise junction field-effect transistor interface, we effectively isolate the photodiode capacitance and suppress the apparent input capacitance seen by the core amplifier. Combined with active compensation of parasitic feedback reactance, this architecture mitigates the conventional trade-off between detector active area and signal bandwidth. Experimentally, we achieved a system-level input-referred noise floor of 13 $fA/\sqrt{Hz}$, closely approaching theoretical thermal limits. Furthermore, we achieved a six-fold extension in signal-to-noise limited bandwidth and, through the implementation of a novel grounded field plate, demonstrated a common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) exceeding 30 dB up to 100 kHz. This highly scalable, silicon-based architecture effectively bridges the short-wavelength detection gap, establishing a robust experimental platform for next-generation quantum-noise-limited and quantum-enhanced X-ray measurement, as well as ultra-sensitive inspection and metrology applications in high-numerical-aperture EUV lithography.

We discuss anomalous spin polarization on the surface of nuclear pasta in a neutron star, driven by a nuclear spin-orbit interaction. We present an effective two-band model of surface-localized neutrons near the nuclear pasta. The central point is the emergence of a Rashba-type spin-orbit hybridization generated by the neutron--nucleus spin-orbit force in the presence of the strong density gradient normal to the pasta surface. Starting from a single-particle Hamiltonian with a central potential and a standard nuclear spin-orbit interaction, we show that the surface spin polarization occurs due to the thermal inhomogeneity even in the absence of a magnetic field. Our study links neutron-star physics and solid-state spintronics and would contribute to understanding the interplay between spin dynamics and strong magnetic fields.

Atomic nitrogen bound-bound radiation is a major component of the radiative heat flux on hypersonic vehicles entering nitrogen-dominated atmospheres, yet its prediction is limited by substantial parametric uncertainty in the published Einstein coefficients and Stark broadening coefficients. In the present study, these spectroscopic parameters are inferred and their uncertainty is quantified through Bayesian inversion of equilibrium spectral radiance measured in the NASA Ames Electric-Arc Shock Tube for two shots of the Test 62 campaign at shock speeds of 10.32 and 10.72 km/s. The inference is restricted to the post-shock equilibrium region, where the Boltzmann assumption closes the species population degree of freedom. The residual uncertainty in the post-shock temperature and species number densities is incorporated as a coupled nuisance parameter distribution. A hybrid principal component analysis and polynomial chaos expansion surrogate model and a likelihood formulated jointly over the two shots enable tractable Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling across multiple wavelength regions. Eighteen parameters in total, ten Einstein coefficients and eight Stark broadening coefficients, are inferred across eight wavelength regions, with posterior uncertainties significantly reduced relative to the prior literature bands. Forward propagation of the joint posterior through the stagnation-line flow field around a 3 m radius sphere at entry velocities of 10, 12, and 14 km/s demonstrates a reduction in the standard deviation of the predicted radiative heat flux by approximately a factor of five compared with the prior, in particular at 14 km/s, it drops from 10.4 to 1.94 W/cm$^{2}$.

Gravitational waves (GWs) provide a powerful, theory-independent probe of the dynamical structure of spacetime and the cosmological background. We study linearized GW propagation in k-essence cosmology, where a non-canonical scalar field describes the dark sector. In the high-frequency (short-wavelength) approximation on a Friedmann--Lema\^ıtre--Robertson--Walker (FLRW) background, and restricting to the transverse-traceless tensor sector, we derive a modified evolution equation for tensor perturbations. The GW speed remains strictly luminal, consistent with multimessenger bounds such as GW170817, but the interaction with the background field $\bar{\phi}$ induces a time-dependent effective mass-like term $m_{\rm eff}$. This background-induced mass modifies the dispersion relation without introducing additional propagating degrees of freedom, leading to a cumulative, frequency-dependent phase shift in the waveform over cosmological distances. We show that $m_{\rm eff}$ is uniquely determined by background cosmological parameters and can be written as a redshift-dependent function, $m_{\rm eff}(z)$, directly linking GW observables to scalar-field dynamics, while the GW luminosity distance remains identical to its electromagnetic counterpart, preserving standard-siren consistency. We test the scenario through a joint Bayesian analysis that combines cosmic chronometers (CC), BAO, Pantheon+SH0ES, and standard-siren data from GWTC-2.1/3/4. The reconstruction is consistent with current constraints and reproduces the late-time expansion history, while the evolution of $m_{\rm eff}(z)$ offers a new mechanism that may help alleviate the $H_0$ tension.

The importance of investigating magnetized plasmas/solids in extreme conditions has grown over the last decades, particularly in the field of high energy density physics (HEDP), such as laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion. However, up to now, the unique capabilities of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), such as high brilliance and low divergence have never been exploited for this type of research. In this paper, we present the first platform developed at SACLA, Japan, that combines a high-power optical laser for generating matter under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature, an XFEL probe, and an external magnetic field. The high current is produced using a 2 kV, 4.8 kJ pulsed power system giving a maximum current of 10 kA which is synchronized with the optical laser and XFEL in a vacuum environment. It flows through a split-pair coil to generate a high magnetic field (10 T at 6 kA) which has 1 cm access every 45$^{\circ}$ in the equatorial plane and 90$^{\circ}$ in the poloidal one. This platform offers new opportunities to study high-energy-density matter in strong magnetic fields, including shock propagation, instability growth, and turbulent plasma dynamics.

Gravitational waves admit a Stokes decomposition into intensity ($I$), circular polarization ($V$), and linear polarization ($Q$, $U$), analogous to Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimetry. We implement a full-Stokes maximum-likelihood SGWB map-making analysis for ground-based detector networks, promoting the standard cross-correlation data products used in existing pipelines to a joint reconstruction of $I$, $V$, $Q$, $U$. Applied to LVK O3 data, we constrain the polarized angular spectra $C^{VV}_\ell$, $C^{EE}_\ell$, $C^{BB}_\ell$ and $|C^{IV}_\ell|$. We show that an intensity-only model is biased when polarized sky components are present, since the detector-network Fisher inner product does not generally make the Stokes responses orthogonal. For transient CBC foregrounds, polarized shot noise is not parametrically suppressed relative to ordinary CBC intensity shot noise. The full Stokes framework separates the Stokes sectors while providing access to polarized anisotropies invisible to conventional intensity-only searches.