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Physics Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

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Thursday 27 August

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

A Bayesian Framework for Constraining Magnetar Magnetic Fields from Repeating FRB Statistics

Can-Min Deng and Hao-Hao Chen

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are widely considered to be associated with magnetars, motivated by the detection of an FRB-like radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR~1935+2154. However, constraining the magnetic field strength of extragalactic FRB sources remains challenging. In this work, we develop a Bayesian framework that models FRB time–energy sequences as a marked point process, combining burst waiting-time statistics with energy distributions to quantify the magnetic field strengths required to sustain the observed bursting activity under the magnetar powered scenario. Applying this method to a sample of repeating FRBs, we derive constraints on their magnetic fields by incorporating an empirical prior on the radio emission efficiency calibrated from the Galactic event. Under a conservative assumption for the activity duty cycle, most sources require magnetic energy reservoirs consistent with magnetar strength fields, with characteristic field strengths of order $10^{13}$–$10^{15}$ G, although the constraints remain sensitive to the poorly known efficiency and duty-cycle parameters. FRB~20200120E provides an interesting case with a substantially lower field requirement, highlighting the importance of source environment and evolutionary history in interpreting FRB activity. Our framework provides a statistical approach for connecting transient burst properties with magnetic energy reservoirs, with potential applications to FRBs and other magnetically powered transients.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Energy-dependent slow collective flavor conversion of supernova neutrinos

Heng-Hao Chen, Ian Padilla-Gay, Meng-Ru Wu et al. (+2 more)

We study collective slow flavor conversion (SFC) of supernova neutrinos with multi-energy, multi-angle simulations for three representative neutrino spectra in the early accretion, late accretion, and cooling phases, in which multiple crossings between the initial electron- and heavy-lepton-flavor spectra are present. By numerically solving the neutrino quantum kinetic equations in a local periodic box, we find that SFC triggered predominantly by the spatially inhomogeneous instabilities drives the system toward a spatially coarse-grained, quasi-stationary state, whose flavor conversion probability depends strongly on energy, angle, and the neutrino mass ordering. While we find that not all of the initial spectral crossings are completely erased in the final state, a simple, box-like analytical prescription inspired by studies of fast flavor conversions, which eliminates the spectral crossings, can reasonably approximate the post-SFC spectra. Using the initial and post-SFC spectra, we also evaluate the changes of the corresponding $\nu_e$ and $\bar\nu_e$ heating rates as well as the absorption equilibrium electron fraction ($Y_e$). Within the considered scenarios, we find that the heating rates are generally enhanced by up to $\sim 80\%$ due to the net conversion of $\nu_x$ to $\nu_e$ (and $\bar\nu_x$ to $\bar\nu_e$) above their crossing energy, provided that the energy spectra above the crossing energy differ substantially. For the absorption equilibrium $Y_e$, spectra changes due to SFC increase it by $\sim 0.03$ due to the relatively more enhanced $\nu_e$ absorption rate than $\bar\nu_e$, which potentially drives supernova materials to be more proton-rich. These results highlight the importance of energy-dependent treatments of SFC for supernova neutrinos.
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All authors Heng-Hao Chen, Ian Padilla-Gay, Meng-Ru Wu, Sajad Abbar, Zewei Xiong

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

ANRe-M1: a GPU-accelerated numerical relativity code with multi-energy M1 neutrino transport

Takami Kuroda and Masaru Shibata

We present ANRe-M1 (Accelerated Numerical Relativity code with multi-energy M1 neutrino transport), a performance-portable, GPU-accelerated code for multidimensional core-collapse supernova simulations in full general relativity. ANRe-M1 builds on our original CPU-based Fortran framework and is implemented in C++ using Kokkos. It retains the underlying general-relativistic neutrino-radiation-hydrodynamics algorithms while redesigning the data layout, parallel decomposition, and memory-access patterns for accelerator-resident execution. The spacetime sector employs the BSSN–Z4c formulation and is coupled to relativistic hydrodynamics and energy-dependent M1 neutrino transport. We validate the implementation through a suite of hydrodynamic, radiation-transport, and dynamical-spacetime tests, together with comparisons to results from an earlier code-comparison study. We further demonstrate its applicability with a representative three-dimensional stellar-collapse computation including multi-energy neutrino transport. For the benchmark and computing systems considered here, ANRe-M1 runs approximately an order of magnitude faster on a cluster of AMD MI300A accelerated processing units than the Fortran version on a CPU cluster. When the allocation is increased from 2 to 128 MI300A APUs, the aggregate throughput rises by a factor of 39.7, corresponding to a weak-scaling efficiency of 62 per cent relative to the two-APU case. These results establish ANRe-M1 as an efficient and portable framework for long-term, multidimensional supernova simulations on current and forthcoming accelerator-based supercomputers.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Optical Discovery of New and Candidate Galactic Supernova Remnants Plus Optical Imaging of the Monogem Supernova Remnant

Robert A. Fesen, Marcel Drechsler, Bray Falls et al. (+16 more)

We report the discovery of new and candidate Galactic supernova remnants made through over 2000 hours of H$\alpha$ and [O III] imaging using amateur class instrumentation. These nebulae range from 0.5 to over 8 degrees in size. Five of these, namely G27.8-17.1, G115.6+9.2, G190.5+25.3, G195.9+2.2 and G239.9+7.0 exhibit low-dispersion optical spectra indicating shock emission by the presence of strong [S II] $\lambda\lambda$6716,6731 and [O I] $\lambda$6300 line emissions relative to H$\alpha$, or exhibit a nonradiative shock generated Balmer dominated spectrum. Their filamentary emission morphology also supports the presence of interstellar shock fronts. Three other optical nebulae, G191.3+11.1, G205.7-1.7, and G305.4-0.7 appear likely to be remnants and are proposed as new SNR candidates. We also present [O III] and H$\alpha$ images of optical filaments associated with the 25 degree diameter Monogem Ring SNR which reveal extensive emission-line filaments around most of the remnant's X-ray boundaries. Deep images of the X-ray suspected remnant G190.4+12.5 and the large and [O III] emission dominated SNR G206.6+6.1 seen toward or near the Monogem SNR are also included. Key findings of this work include: 1) optical surveys can sometimes detect SNRs better than radio and X-ray SNR searches, 2) Balmer nonradiative shocks appear not uncommon in high Galactic latitude SNRs, and 3) faint Ø3 emission dominated SNRs may have been missed in prior H$\alpha$ emission only surveys.
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All authors Robert A. Fesen, Marcel Drechsler, Bray Falls, Tim Schaeffer, Justin Anderson, Deepanshu Arora, Werner Becker, Carl Bjork, Steeve Body, Laurent Huet, Tarun Kottary, Mathew Ludgate, Nicolas Martino, Manuel Peitsch, Wolfgang Reich, Jose Rodrigues, Yann Sainty, Patrick Sparkman, Sean Walker

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Spectro-Polarimetric Properties of CHIME FRB Sources

Dengke Zhou, Yi Feng, Jiaying Xu et al. (+2 more)

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are enigmatic millisecond-duration radio transients whose polarization properties offer crucial insights into their origins and environments. In particular, low-frequency depolarization—quantified by the parameter \(\sigma_{\mathrm{RM}}\)—probes the complex magneto-ionic medium surrounding the progenitor, and has been observed across a population of repeating FRBs. We present a systematic spectro-polarimetric analysis of repeating and non-repeating FRBs using observations from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). For 28 repeating FRBs, we measure \(\sigma_{\mathrm{RM}}\), expanding the known sample from 14 to 36 sources (an increase by a factor of 2.6). The kernel density estimate (KDE) of the repeating population peaks at \(1.3\ \mathrm{rad\,m^{-2}}\), with approximately 70% of the sources showing \(\sigma_{\mathrm{RM}} \gtrsim 1\ \mathrm{rad\,m^{-2}}\), implying that most reside in complex magneto-ionic environments. For 70 non-repeating FRBs, we investigate four spectro-polarimetric models; no source exhibits significant depolarization with \(\sigma_{\mathrm{RM}} \gtrsim 5\ \mathrm{rad\,m^{-2}}\). Roughly half of the non-repeaters are consistent with a constant linear polarization fraction across frequency. We caution, however, that these results may be affected by the limited frequency coverage of CHIME. Future ultra-wideband polarimetry, spanning widely separated frequencies, will overcome current observational biases, enable precise \(\sigma_{\mathrm{RM}}\) measurements, and substantially deepen our understanding of FRB environments.
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All authors Dengke Zhou, Yi Feng, Jiaying Xu, Chenyuan Xu, Jianhua Fang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Investigating the disappearance of a type-C QPO in black hole X-ray binary Swift J151857-572147 with AstroSat

Biki Ram, Manoneeta Chakraborty and Mayukh Pahari

We present a timing and broadband spectral study of the AstroSat observation of the black hole low mass X-ray binary Swift J151857.0–572147, focusing on its evolution across two temporal segments, S1 and S2. During the first segment S1 lasting $\sim$ 50.6 ks, the source shows a clear type-C QPO at $\sim8.02$ Hz and a low-frequency bump (LFB) in the power density spectrum. By the later segment S2, the strength of the QPO feature decreases significantly and is no longer consistent with a coherent QPO, along with the simultaneous disappearance of the LFB. An energy-dependent analysis reveals that both the RMS amplitude and the time lag of the QPO in S1 increase monotonically with energy, suggesting a low inclination nature of the source. The QPO and LFB centroid frequencies show a strong positive correlation across orbital segments, with a Pearson coefficient of 0.98. Our variability analysis and hardness-intensity diagram reveal a spectral state transition of the source coincident with the turn-off of the QPO and the LFB, a conclusion supported by the evolution of broadband spectral parameters. Notably, the orbit-resolved spectral analysis reveals that the non-thermal parameters, photon index, and electron temperature of the corona exhibit significant deviation as the source traverses from S1 to S2, whereas the thermal parameters scatter without any systematic variation between the two segments. The simultaneous turn-off of the type-C QPO and the low-frequency broadband noise component, both originating from the hot inner flow, indicates a rapid reorganization of the inner accretion geometry. Our results strongly suggest a coronal origin for the QPO and demonstrate that the disappearance of both features reflects a substantial transformation of the Comptonizing region across the spectral transition.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

FRB 121102: No supernova-like ejecta or magnetar power, hinting at a binary WD merger

Eli Waxman, Eran O. Ofek and Doron Kushnir

We use measurements of the time-dependent dispersion measure of the repeating FRB 121102, together with earlier radio observations of its associated persistent radio source (PRS), to derive stringent constraints on its underlying “engine.” The energy held by the relativistic PRS plasma is $>10^{49.5}$ erg, and its age is $\approx60$ yr, corresponding to an underlying source power exceeding $10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$. If the underlying source is a neutron star, this implies a rotational rather than a magnetic energy source, consistent with a $\sim10$ ms, $\sim10^{12.5}$ G neutron star. Alternatively, accretion may also be a viable energy source. The velocity and the kinetic energy of the cold plasma confining the relativistic PRS plasma are inconsistent with it being typical supernova ejecta (unless a significant fraction of the ejecta mass is carried by high-density clumps of $\approx10^{-2.5}$ fractional size)- its expansion speed is limited to a few hundred km/s, which also implies that it was ejected from the source more than $\approx 10^3$ yr preceding the onset of relativistic PRS plasma emission. These constraints may be satisfied by a white dwarf binary merger progenitor system, where a fraction of a solar mass was ejected at a slow speed during and after the merger, and a rapidly rotating neutron star was formed after $\sim10^3$ yr thermal evolution period of the merger remnant.
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Wednesday 26 August

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

G(2) Glueball Boson Stars as Restricted Kerr Mimickers in the Thomas–Fermi Limit

Nicolò Masi

We investigate whether horizonless compact stars made of dark glueball matter from a broken exceptional $G(2)$ gauge sector can reproduce selected Kerr observables within a Thomas–Fermi effective-fluid description. We introduce GC9, a scale-separated $G(2)$-inspired positive nonic-density closure whose high-density stiffness, bag-free surface and Q-ball safety make it a useful compact-star benchmark. After Thomas–Fermi rescaling, reduced stellar observables are independent of the microscopic glueball mass $m_G$, while the collective stiffness $\Lambda_T$ fixes the dimensional mass and radius. Solving the TOV, Hinderer and Hartle–Thorne systems, we obtain a stable maximum-mass compactness $C=0.3247$, tidal deformability $\Lambda=4.37$, $\bar I C^{3/2}=0.947$, and slow-rotation quadrupole $\bar Q=1.522$. At $j=0.328$, the same-order ISCO shift is $1.24\%$. The stable endpoint has no light ring, but its exterior Regge–Wheeler barrier supports a genuine static axial mode, $M\omega=0.463846-0.098881i$, with a damping time about ten percent shorter than Schwarzschild and a real frequency $24.1\%$ higher. A polarization-balanced vector realization has the same isotropic bulk EOS; moderate residual anisotropy changes static and first-order observables only at the few-percent level, while the full coupled vector spectrum remains open. Cowling calculations identify matter-supported quadrupolar modes. The scalar-burst, seeded-collapse and cosmological sections are phenomenological: a fixed $\Lambda_T$ gives a compact Kerr-comparison branch only near its own maximum mass, so the multi-sector scenario assumes distinct constant-$\Lambda_T$ branches from the keV supermassive sector to the PeV asteroid-mass sector. GC9 therefore defines a falsifiable restricted Kerr-mimicry framework for gravitational-wave, horizon-scale and compact-dark-matter tests.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.SR

Path to Black Hole Astrometric Microlensing from 10-Year KMTNet Database

Andrew Gould

I present a Fisher analysis of the astrometric signature of black holes (BHs) that may lie in the 10-year KMTNet microlensing database, motivated by the recent success of the pilot study by Segev et al. (2026), which reduced the scatter at $I=18$ to $\sigma\sim 10\,$mas. Seeing-limited ground-based observations still suffer from a great deal of systematics, but under the assumption that these systematics can be controlled, I find that with this nominal precision, the Einstein radius can be measured with errors $\sigma(\theta_{\rm E})\sim 0.5\,$mas in the most intensively monitored fields ($\sim 12\,$deg$^2$), and hence to twice that value in an additional $\sim 28\,$deg$^2$ area. This precision hardly depends on whether the peak of the event is during the observing season or not, as long as the impact parameter is within the broad range that is accessible to photometric recognition of the event, i.e., $u_0\lesssim 1.5$. However, longer events do have somewhat better precision. The analysis presented here ignores blending, but this is a good first approximation for most sources $I\lesssim 18$, which lie near or on the giant branch. I outline a practical program, combining photometric and astrometric searches, aimed at identifying isolated BHs in the KMTNet database and measuring their masses and distances.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.SR

Diversity of stripped-envelope supernova light curves from interaction with binary-driven circumstellar material

Dandan Wei, Fabian R. N. Schneider, Philipp Podsiadlowski et al. (+2 more)

A growing number of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) exhibit diverse light-curve morphologies that indicate strong interaction with dense, pre-existing circumstellar material (CSM). Understanding the physical origin of such CSM is essential for exploring the late-stage evolution of SN progenitors. Non-conservative mass transfer during binary interactions provides a promising channel for producing dense CSM before core collapse. Using the stellar evolution code MESA, we simulate post-common-envelope binaries that give rise to ultra-stripped progenitors and self-consistently construct the CSM from mass loss during binary evolution. We further analytically predict the resulting bolometric and radio light curves by following the shock dynamics of SN ejecta interacting with the CSM. We find that surface-radius variations in the ultra-stripped progenitors trigger multiple episodes of mass transfer and produce diverse CSM density profiles, including detached shells and multi-peaked structures. Interaction with such CSM gives rise to non-monotonic, multi-peaked optical and radio light curves that qualitatively resemble features observed in some stripped-envelope SNe. Long-term multi-wavelength monitoring of stripped-envelope SN candidates, particularly at late times, will be crucial for probing structured CSM and constraining the mass-loss history of stripped progenitors. Our results suggest that SN-CSM interaction in binaries hosting ultra-stripped progenitors provides a possible channel for producing diverse light-curve morphologies, highlighting a potential connection between the pre-SN evolution of massive binary stars and the diversity of their explosive transients.
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All authors Dandan Wei, Fabian R. N. Schneider, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Takashi J. Moriya, Eva Laplace

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Synchrotron self-Compton Reverse Shock in Energy-Injection and Radiative Scenarios

Fraija Nissim, Betancourt-Kamenetskaia Boris, Galván Antonio et al. (+1 more)

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic extragalactic transients, providing a unique laboratory to investigate the physical origin of the diverse morphologies observed in high-energy light curves and spectra. These morphologies, interpreted through synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) closure relations (CRs), may depend on the circumburst density profile, energy injection, and the dynamical evolution of the reverse shock in the adiabatic or radiative regime. We derive the SSC closure relations produced in the reverse-shock region for both thick- and thin-shell cases, considering constant-density and stratified circumburst media. The analysis assumes two power-law (PL) distributions for the electron spectral index and includes scenarios with and without energy injection from the progenitor. We show that, depending on the physical parameters, SSC emission from the reverse shock can reproduce the initial steep-decay and plateau phases commonly observed in GRB afterglows. We then compare the predicted spectral and temporal indices with those derived from PL and broken power-law (BPL) fits reported in the Second Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Burst Catalog (2FLGC). Our results indicate that PL (BPL) light-curve fits preferentially favor scenarios with (without) energy injection. In scenarios with energy injection, the data preferentially support a constant-density environment over a stellar-wind profile.
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All authors Fraija Nissim, Betancourt-Kamenetskaia Boris, Galván Antonio, Dainotti Maria Giovanna

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Using CFHT's SITELLE to Probe the Long-Sought Supernova Remnant Shell in the Crab Nebula

Lucas V. da Conceição, Janette Suherli, Samar Safi-Harb et al. (+3 more)

We present deep, wide-field integral field spectroscopy of the Crab nebula obtained with the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), to search for the long-sought forward shock. Our observations target the coronal line [Fe XIV]$\lambda$5303, a tracer of shock-heated gas, over two $11^{\prime} \times 11^{\prime}$ fields that probe projected radii of $\sim$2.4–10~pc west of the pulsar, encompassing the range in which a supernova shell is expected. After data processing and a search over the full field of view, we found no statistically significant [Fe XIV] emission in the surveyed regions. We derive a conservative average surface-brightness upper limit of $\lesssim 3.79 \times 10^{-17}~\mathrm{erg}~\mathrm{cm}^{-2}~\mathrm{s}^{-1}~\mathrm{arcsec}^{-2}$ over three representative annuli. This represents the deepest large-area optical constraint on coronal iron emission beyond the visible nebula from the Crab's putative supernova remnant (SNR) shell. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which the forward shock is expanding into a very low-density medium, the shocked gas is weak or underionized, or the shell lies outside the observed region. This work demonstrates the power of wide-field optical integral field spectroscopy for constraining faint, large-scale structures in SNRs.
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All authors Lucas V. da Conceição, Janette Suherli, Samar Safi-Harb, Carter Rhea, Ivo R. Seitenzahl, Ashley J. Ruiter

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Effects of the interaction of dark matter and neutron-star matter on extreme and intermediate mass-ratio inspirals

Benjamin A. Wade, Julian Heeck and David A. Nichols

Extreme and intermediate mass-ratio inspirals in a dense dark-matter distribution have the effects of the dark matter imprinted on the orbital dynamics of and the emitted gravitational waves from these systems. Prior work has shown that space-based gravitational-wave detectors can measure the dark-matter-induced effects on the gravitational waves, which would give evidence for the presence of dark matter around the massive black hole. In this earlier work, the dark matter has been assumed to have only gravitational interactions (namely, no dark-matter self-annihilation or interactions between dark matter and ordinary baryonic or leptonic matter). In this article, we investigate the gravitational-wave effects of introducing such interactions of dark matter with itself or with ordinary matter in binaries with a neutron-star secondary. We consider broad classes of dark-matter models that change the distribution of dark matter (spikes or annihilation plateaus) and which permit accretion onto the secondary, as well as an increasing or static mass of the neutron star during the inspiral (in addition to the purely gravitational effect of dynamical friction). We find distinctive gravitational-wave signatures of these interactions and of self-annihilation, which in some of the scenarios could be sufficiently large for space-based detectors to distinguish them using gravitational-wave observations of these systems.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from hep-ph

Getting Warmer: IceCube Nears Freeze Out

Mainak Mukhopadhyay and Gordan Krnjaic

IceCube has recently detected a diffuse population of high-energy neutrinos arising from the Milky Way. We use this high-significance detection to place new limits on dark matter (DM) annihilation to neutrinos with two complementary approaches. The first method uses the background-subtracted Galactic longitude distribution of shower events to place a conservative bound on the DM annihilation cross section that does not rely on any assumed Galactic cosmic ray emission model; the resulting limits on the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section improve upon existing bounds by factors of a few. The second method uses the template-dependent neutrino energy spectra from the Inner Galaxy, inferred under different Galactic cosmic ray emission models. This complementary approach shows that the inferred Galactic neutrino intensities are already sensitive to DM contributions near the thermal-relic benchmark for a range of TeV-scale DM masses, though this comparison is more model-dependent. Our results demonstrate that measurements of diffuse Galactic neutrino emission can be used as a powerful probe of DM annihilation into neutrinos. Future observations with IceCube-Gen2 and KM3NeT will substantially extend this sensitivity, potentially allowing a decisive test of the thermal freeze-out mechanism with Galactic neutrino observations.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Radio Monitoring of the Changing-look AGN Mrk 590 I: VLA Observations Reveal A Bow-shock Driven Radio Brightening Event

Gregory Walsh, Marianne Vestergaard, Daniel Lawther et al. (+2 more)

Mrk 590 is a changing-look AGN (CLAGN) that slowly faded from a Seyfert Type 1 to near quiescence over a few decades before re-igniting in 2017. Monitoring in the optical/UV/X-ray wavebands has revealed accretion-driven variability signatures, but the response of the radio source to the changing-look events that drove its fading and re-ignition is unknown. We present multi-frequency (1-17~GHz), A-configuration, Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of Mrk 590 over four epochs from 2015 to 2017. The radio source is dominated by a faint, compact component, absent of any notable extended structures. We identify a variable radio spectrum over this period, both in amplitude and in shape, and implement a Bayesian inference modeling routine to constrain the mechanism driving the radio variability. Our routine favors radio variability powered by a bow shock produced through an interaction of a radio jet with the interstellar medium, which drives the radio brightening in later epochs. This demonstrates that the radio variability we observed is not correlated with the variable accretion event that led to the re-brightening of the AGN at higher energy wavebands. While correlated variability between the radio and accretion-driven emission has been observed in other CLAGN, the lack of correlated variability in Mrk 590 shows the diversity of changing-look AGN populations and the mechanisms driving their behavior.
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All authors Gregory Walsh, Marianne Vestergaard, Daniel Lawther, Sandra Raimundo, Jun Yi Koay

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Finding and using interpretable latents in a neutrino foundation model with sparse autoencoders

Raphaël Bonnet-Guerrini, Johann Ioannou-Nikolaides, Inar Timiryasov et al. (+1 more)

We present a first application of sparse-autoencoder-based mechanistic interpretability to particle physics. Studying a neutrino foundation model pretrained on IceCube data and fine-tuned for direction reconstruction, we identify a validated atlas of physical concepts in the model representation, using a strict validation protocol consisting of held-out tests, matched nuisance controls, and replication across independent dictionary trainings. Causal interventions show that the direction head barely draws on this atlas. Motivated by this underused information, we train an uncertainty head on the same event-level representation to predict the model's angular reconstruction error. Unlike the direction head, it depends causally on quality and brightness features from the atlas. At $20\%$ selection efficiency, this interpretable estimator improves the median angular resolution from $20.2^\circ$ to $3.2^\circ$. These results suggest that mechanistic interpretability can reveal learned latent physics encoded within a model's internal representation and help design downstream tasks that exploit it.
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All authors Raphaël Bonnet-Guerrini, Johann Ioannou-Nikolaides, Inar Timiryasov, Vincenzo Piuri

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Particle acceleration in Alfvénic turbulence with a strong guide field

Daniel Humphrey, Stanislav Boldyrev and Vadim Roytershteyn

Magnetically dominated Alfvénic turbulence creates an effective environment for particle acceleration. However, when a strong mean field is present, traditional mechanisms like mirror and curvature acceleration become inefficient at explaining non-thermal particle energy distributions. Based on numerical and phenomenological study, we propose that in such turbulence, particles are accelerated in charge-starved current sheets, corresponding to current velocities approaching the speed of light. The distributions of the electric currents, plasma density, fluctuations of electric charge, as well as the energy distributions of accelerated particles, approximately follow log-normal statistics. Non-thermal particle distributions thus arise from particle acceleration in these charge-starved current sheets rather than from conventional Fermi-type particle acceleration by turbulent eddies.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Winds Against Alignment: AGN Feedback and the Spin Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries

Francesco Bollati, Marta Volonteri, Alessandro Lupi et al. (+2 more)

The interaction between massive black hole (MBH) binaries and circumbinary discs (CBDs) affects the spin orientations of merging binaries - a key observable for the future LISA mission. While gas accretion is known to align BH spins with the orbital angular momentum via the Bardeen-Petterson effect, the impact of AGN feedback on this process has remained largely unexplored. We present hydrodynamical simulations of an equal-mass MBH binary embedded in a CBD, using the GIZMO code with a subgrid model that self-consistently evolves BH mass, spin, and anisotropic AGN feedback. We explore different BH spin magnitudes and orientations to identify the configurations producing the strongest feedback effect on the disc structure and binary evolution. AGN winds substantially modify the CBD and minidisc structure, enlarging the central cavity and, after 20-25 binary orbits, destroying the minidiscs in all feedback simulations. Feedback-driven cavity excavation suppresses the gravitational torques driving orbital evolution, causing the binary to stall. AGN feedback dramatically affects MBH accretion, reducing the Eddington ratio by one to two orders of magnitude before ultimately suppressing it entirely. This strongly inhibits Bardeen-Petterson spin alignment, delaying it well beyond the feedback-free timescale. Extending one simulation to 70 binary orbits reveals a feedback-regulated duty cycle of alternating active and quiescent phases, with the binary spending most of its time in low-density, quiescent conditions that further suppress alignment. These results indicate that AGN feedback is an important, previously overlooked channel for preserving spin misalignment in MBH binaries prior to coalescence, with direct implications for interpreting LISA gravitational-wave observations.
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All authors Francesco Bollati, Marta Volonteri, Alessandro Lupi, Massimo Dotti, Francesco Haardt

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Evidence for a spectral steepening of the gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center ridge

A. Acharyya, F. Aharonian, H. Ashkar et al. (+131 more)

Very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-ray emission detected from the central molecular zone (CMZ) hints at diffusive propagation of cosmic rays (CRs) injected continuously near the Galactic center (GC). Using H.E.S.S. VHE $\gamma$-ray observations, we aim to construct a multi-component description of the region in order to derive the spatial and spectral distributions of CRs and discuss their potential origin. We rely on a spectro-morphological analysis, in which spectral and spatial parameters of different components are fit simultaneously, and on a three-dimensional description of the CMZ and CR distributions. The GC ridge emission is well reproduced with the assumed gas distribution model weighted by a $1/r^{\alpha}$ CR density profile with $\alpha = 1.10 \pm 0.05_{\rm{stat}} \pm 0.10_{\rm{syst}}$. We detect no significant spectral variations across the CMZ, which supports a continuous injection from the GC. We report a significant (> 3 $\sigma$) curvature in the GC ridge $\gamma$-ray spectrum, implying a parent proton break (or cutoff energy) of $E_b \sim 15-50$ TeV ($E_{\rm{cut}} \sim 60-160$ TeV). We also derive the best-fit spectral parameters of the other sources in the region and report a significant cutoff at $E \sim 5$ TeV in the spectrum of the pulsar wind nebula G0.9+0.1. Finally we constrain the position of the injection site to be close to the GC (ruling out the Arches and Quintuplet clusters as major contributors to the emission). We discuss possible origins for the GC ridge emission, potential mechanisms for causing the observed curvature, a possible contribution of the gas content to the emission of HESS J1745-290 and derive qualitative constraints on the line-of-sight positions of the clouds shaping the CMZ.
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All authors A. Acharyya, F. Aharonian, H. Ashkar, M. Backes, R. Batzofin, Y. Becherini, D. Berge, K. Bernlöhr, M. Böttcher, C. Boisson, J. Bolmont, F. Brun, C. Burger-Scheidlin, T. Bylund, S. Casanova, D. Cecchin Momesso, M. Cerruti, M. Chakraborty, A. Chen, M. Chernyakova, J. O. Chibueze, O. Chibueze, T. Collins, B. Cornejo, G. Cotter, G. Cozzolongo, J. de Assis Scarpin, M. de Naurois, E. de Ona Wilhelmi, J. Devin, A. Djannati-Ataï, A. Dmytriiev, K. Egberts, K. Egg, C. Escanuela Nieves, P. Fauverge, S. Fegan, K. Feijen, M. D. Filipovic, G. Fontaine, S. Funk, S. Gabici, Y.A. Gallant, M. Genaro, J.F. Glicenstein, J. Glombitza, P. Goswami, M.-H. Grondin, L. Heckmann, B. Heß, W. Hofmann, T. L. Holch, M. Holler, M. Jamrozy, F. Jankowsky, A. Jardin-Blicq, I. Jaroschewski, D. Jimeno, I. Jung-Richardt, K. Katarzynski, D. Kerszberg, B. Khélifi, N. Komin, K. Kosack, D. Kostunin, R.G. Lang, S. Lazarevic, A. Lemière, M. Lemoine-Goumard, J.-P. Lenain, P. Liniewicz, A. Luashvili, J. Mackey, D. Maheso, D. Malyshev, D. Malyshev, V. Marandon, M. G. F. Mayer, A. Mehta, A.M.W. Mitchell, R. Moderski, L. Mohrmann, H. Ndiyavala, J. Niemiec, P. O'Brien, L. Olivera-Nieto, M.O. Moghadam, S. Panny, M. Panter, R.D. Parsons, P. Pichard, T. Preis, G. Pühlhofer, M. Punch, A. Quirrenbach, A. Reimer, O. Reimer, Q. Remy, H. X. Ren, B. Reville, F. Rieger, G. Roellinghoff, G. Rowell, B. Rudak, K. Sabri, V. Sahakian, A. Santangelo, M. Sasaki, F. Schüssler, J.N.S. Shapopi, I. Shebalkova, W. Si Said, H. Sol, L. Stawarz, R. Steenkamp, S. Steinmassl, T. Tanaka, A.M. Taylor, G. L. Taylor, R. Terrier, Y. Tian, M. Tsirou, N. Tsuji, T. Unbehaun, C. van Eldik, C. Venter, J. Vink, V. Voitsekhovskyi, T. Wach, S.J. Wagner, A. Wierzcholska, M. Zacharias, A. Zech, W. Zhong

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from cond-mat.supr-con

Fluxtube Bouquets and Type-1.5 Clustering in Superfluid Neutron Star Cores

Adarsh Karekkat, Gabriele Montefusco and Marco Antonelli

We study mesoscopic configurations of a neutron superfluid coupled to a proton superconductor in the outer core of a neutron star. The condensates are described by a two-component Ginzburg-Landau free energy with local couplings, neglecting genuine phase-gradient entrainment. In two spatial dimensions, we minimize the free energy using quasi-periodic boundary conditions and constrained phase-imprinting calculations to study vortex-fluxtube and fluxtube-fluxtube interactions. We find that, for locally attractive couplings in the free energy, vortex-fluxtube overlap is energetically favoured and several pre-existing proton fluxtubes can bind around a neutron vortex, forming finite vortex-centred aggregates that we call fluxtube bouquets. These bouquet configurations may become so dense that a vortex can effectively accommodate several quanta of magnetic flux. We also confirm the possible presence of a type-1.5-like regime and find that it survives in the zero-entrainment regime considered here. In this type-1.5 regime, the fluxtube-fluxtube interaction is repulsive at short distances and attractive at intermediate distances, leading to self-assembled clusters while the individual fluxtubes remain topologically distinct. Possible implications for dissipative coupling and transport in neutron stars are discussed.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Dynamics and Spectra-Polarimetric Signatures of GRMHD Simulations with Multiple Magnetic Loops

Raoul Kinadeter, Christian M. Fromm, Yosuke Mizuno et al. (+3 more)

Relativistic jets are a common outcome of accretion onto black holes, yet their presence and variability depend strongly on the magnetic and dynamical state of the accretion flow. While some systems, such as Blazars and Quasars, launch powerful persistent jets, others, including the Galactic Centre black hole Sgr~A$^\star$, show only weak or transient outflows. The physical conditions leading to the onset or suppression of jet activity remain poorly understood. We investigate the accretion flow conditions that produce transient jets or inhibit jet formation, aiming to improve our understanding of black holes that accrete without strong, steady outflows. We further predict observational signatures in total and polarized emission for comparison with recent observations of Sgr~A$^\star$ in the quiescent state from the radio to the $\gamma$-ray regime. We perform three-dimensional GRMHD simulations of an accreting black hole surrounded by a torus threaded by a poloidal multi-loop magnetic field of alternating polarities. We follow the evolution of the accretion rate, magnetic flux, and jet power, and analyze angular momentum transport. In addition, radiative transfer calculations including Compton scattering are used to derive synthetic total and polarized emission. The simulations show strong variability in jet power while the initial magnetic polarity loops accrete, followed by weaker activity at later times as the system approaches a semi-MAD state. The emission from the disk is relatively stable, weakly polarized and consistent with the quiet state values reported for SgrA$^\star$. The resulting jet emission is strongly suppressed, depolarized by Faraday rotation and conversion in the surrounding cold plasma. Upscattering calculations yield near-infrared (NIR) high energy light curves that respect observational constraints of the quiescent NIR and X-ray fluxes in SgrA$^\star$
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All authors Raoul Kinadeter, Christian M. Fromm, Yosuke Mizuno, Antonios Nathanail, Matthias Kadler, Karl Mannheim

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The properties of the first continuous gravitational waves: Optimizing pulsar timing observations for supermassive black hole binary detection

Blaze Houlden, Eric Thrane and Katie Auchettl

Several pulsar timing arrays have reported evidence for a nanohertz gravitational-wave background. This background is thought to arise from the superposition of signals from a population of inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries. A key test of this interpretation is the search for individually resolvable binaries whose signals emerge above this background. Here we investigate this possibility by addressing two related questions: (1) what are the most probable properties of the first resolvable binary; and (2) how can pulsar timing observations be optimized to maximize its prospects for electromagnetic identification? By simulating populations of supermassive black hole binaries constrained by evidence for the gravitational-wave background and studying the loudest binary in each simulation, we infer the expected properties of the first individually resolvable systems. If MeerKAT continues its current observing strategy for a total of 9 years, the probability of detecting an individual binary is $\approx10-27\%$. Improving the timing precision by a factor of two changes this probability to $\approx11-28\%$, whereas increasing the cadence by a factor of four gives $\approx12-30\%$. Combining both improvements yields a detection probability of $\approx12-33\%$. Furthermore, implementing a high-cadence observing campaign preferentially resolves higher-frequency systems ($\gtrsim\unit[10]{nHz}$), whose shorter orbital periods make them considerably easier to identify through electromagnetic observations than lower-frequency binaries that repeat infrequently. We discuss prospects of electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave resolved binaries with current high-cadence all-sky optical surveys.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Ultraluminous X-ray sources in the first eROSITA survey I. Candidate catalogs

P. Weber, T. P. Roberts, S. Hämmerich et al. (+28 more)

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are luminous non-nuclear X-ray point sources embedded in galaxies. Their luminosities exceeding 10^39 erg/s potentially require sub-Eddington accretion by objects with masses from ~10^2$M_{\odot}$ to ~10^4$M_{\odot}$ or supercritical accretion beyond the Eddington limit by stellar mass black holes or neutron stars. We identified ULXs by searching for X-ray counterparts in the ~10^5 galaxies of the HECATE catalog in the footprint of the first eROSITA all-sky survey, while excluding nuclear regions to avoid the selection of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We characterized the completeness of the sample and its contamination by unidentified AGN and determined the influence of source confusion. The catalog is unaffected by X-ray selection biases. We removed known contaminants such as supernovae, stars, and AGN, and manually vetted all candidates to further remove contaminants. We derived the X-ray selection function and fraction of unidentified AGN interlopers using a simulation with subsequent source detection. We present two samples of ULX candidates. The main sample consists of 90 sources with highly confident X-ray detections, 53 of which are identified for the first time. This sample is complete to a distance of ~7Mpc, contains at most 29% of unknown background AGN, and is mostly unaffected by source confusion. Several candidates are newly identified even though their locations have been observed by other instruments before, and some previously reported candidates we expected to identify are absent from our sample, demonstrating the transient behavior of ULXs. Based on our list of less confident detections, we also provide an extended catalog of 260 sources identified as potential candidates for further ULX identifications. Of these, 245 are identified as potential candidates for the first time. (Abridged)
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All authors P. Weber, T. P. Roberts, S. Hämmerich, E. Kyritsis, A. Zezas, M. G. F. Mayer, A. Zainab, I. Kreykenbohm, A. Merloni, M. Sasaki, A. Schwope, M. Middleton, A. Basu-Zych, A. Hornschemeier, N. Vulic, M. Salvato, N. Webb, H. Tranin, N. Schettino, C. Kirsch, S. Saeedi, F. Zangrandi, M. Lorenz, L. Dauner, T. Dauser, F. Haberl, C. Maitra, Z. Igo, A. Santangelo, L. Ducci, J. Wilms

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Weak gravitational lensing by a dark-matter-admixed neutron star: a self-consistent two-fluid halo and the Gauss–Bonnet deflection angle

Yashmitha Kumaran and Ilídio Lopes

We compute the weak gravitational deflection of light by a neutron star that carries a self-consistent dark-matter component, in the regime in which the dark matter forms an "extended halo" reaching beyond the baryonic surface. Two observations motivate this configuration. First, a dark-matter core confined within the baryonic radius leaves no distinctive lensing signature, since by Birkhoff's theorem the exterior is Schwarzschild with the total mass, so a ray passing outside the star feels only that mass and the compactness it implies. Second, the signature we seek resides in the complementary case, in which the ray genuinely traverses the halo, so that the surrounding density enters the optical geometry directly. We model the star by integrating the coupled two-fluid Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations, with the baryonic and dark components interacting solely through gravity, and we obtain the deflection angle from the resulting external profile through the Gibbons–Werner construction of the Gauss–Bonnet theorem. The defining feature of the approach is that the deflection is tied to a "self-consistent" two-fluid profile rather than to a medium inserted by hand. We show that, for impact parameters smaller than the halo radius, the deflection departs measurably from the point-mass prediction, the deficit being governed by the dark-matter fraction and the halo extent, and we argue that the "shape" of this deficit furnishes a geometric, lensing-based handle on the degeneracy between dark matter and the nuclear equation of state. The framework thereby unites the structural modelling of compact stars with their gravitational-lensing phenomenology.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.GA

Energetics of AGN Feedback

Ross J. Turner, Andrew Sullivan and William R. Q. Gaffney

Integrating realistic active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback into cosmological hydrodynamical simulations remains a major challenge as resolving the spatial coupling of jet energy over cosmic timescales is computationally prohibitive. We present an analytic framework that predicts the radial and polar-angle dependence of feedback energy from lobed AGNs, enabling a physically motivated, computationally efficient prescription for jet feedback. Built upon the Radio AGN in Semi-analytic Environments (RAiSE) dynamical model, our approach tracks the post-AGN jet phase evolution of radio sources through two distinct mechanisms: buoyantly rising bubbles subject to ablation, and the gravitational collapse of swept-up gas in the shocked shell. We find that these two feedback mechanisms produce strongly contrasting spatial distributions across ten representative cluster environments. Buoyant bubbles preferentially deposit energy in steep density gradients near the core radius, while the collapsing shocked gas shell drives heating within flatter cluster cores. Weak, short-lived AGN outbursts ($Q<10^{37}$ W and $t_{\rm on}<10$ Myr) confine their energy deposition to the inner 10 kpc of the cluster; longer-lived events ($t_{\rm on} \geqslant 100$ Myr) deposit less than 1% of their injected energy within 30 kpc. We find that time-averaged heating rates across multiple outbursts are sufficient to offset radiative cooling in all but the highest density cluster cores (within 100 kpc) for duty cycles of $0.08< \delta \leqslant 1$. This framework provides a scalable basis for modelling anisotropic, physically motivated jet feedback that can be incorporated into next-generation cosmological simulations.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Energy Partition in AGN-driven Bubbles of NGC 4438: From Nuclear Bubbles to a Galaxy-scale Outflow

Luan Luan, Jiang-Tao Li, Jianghui Xu et al. (+4 more)

Jets launched by accreting supermassive black holes represent a major mode of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. However, how their energy is divided among bulk kinetic motion, thermal gas, magnetic fields, cosmic rays (CRs), and radiation - and how this distribution changes with spatial scale - remains poorly constrained. NGC 4438 provides a unique laboratory for probing this evolution, hosting two 200-pc-scale nuclear bubbles and a lopsided ~10 kpc galaxy-scale outflow plausibly associated with the same AGN. We present a multi-wavelength analysis to investigate the morphology, radiation mechanisms, and energetics of these structures. Joint radio-X-ray modeling shows that the non-thermal emission in the nuclear bubbles may require two distinct populations of cosmic-ray electrons, suggesting that in addition to shock acceleration at the bubble rim, the highest-energy particles may be linked to acceleration processes closer to the unresolved central engine. A spatially resolved energy inventory reveals that bulk kinetic energy dominates the current energy budget of the nuclear bubbles, while roughly half of the injected energy has already been transformed into thermal, CR, and magnetic energy, as well as radiative losses. Across all bubble sizes, the thermal and magnetic pressures are consistent within the uncertainties, implying that magnetic fields remain dynamically significant on all examined spatial scales. Furthermore, the empirical correlation between radio luminosity and jet power, established for kiloparsec-scale jet bubbles (MerloniHeinz2007), matches the energetics of the galaxy-scale outflow but substantially overestimates the power of the 200-pc-scale nuclear bubbles, underscoring the scale dependence of jet energy dissipation.
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All authors Luan Luan, Jiang-Tao Li, Jianghui Xu, Yang Yang, Guilin Liu, Fulai Guo, Q. Daniel Wang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

A Population Study for Searching Supermassive Binary Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei: Continuum Spectral Features and Periodic Variabilities

Zekun Li, Changshuo Yan and Youjun Lu

Active sub-pc supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) are expected to exhibit various electromagnetic signatures due to unique dynamical and geometric structures of their accretion, but observational identification of them remains challenging. In this paper, we adopt semianalytic models to investigate both deficits in spectral-energy-distributions (SEDs) of these systems induced by gaps/holes in their accretion disks and periodic variations in their light curves induced by either orbital-modulated Doppler boosting or accretion rate variation of each SMBH component. We construct a population model to generate SMBBHs across cosmic time by considering their orbital evolution and associated accretion and radiation processes. By estimating the continuum emission from each mock system and its variation, we investigate the detection of SMBBHs via either SED-deficit signature or light curve periodicity under reasonably given criteria. We find that all-sky surveys with filters similar to those of the China Space Station Telescope or Rubin/LSST could identify up to approximately $3\times 10^2$ SMBBHs via SED-deficit features and/or $10^3$ SMBBHs via periodicity ($\lesssim5$\,yr), although both selections may suffer from a high rate of false positives. A few to a dozen SED-deficit SMBBHs may be detected by future pulsar timing arrays with signal-to-noise ratio $\gtrsim3$, enabling multi-messenger observations. Only $\sim20\%-53\%$ of SED-deficit selected SMBBHs may also be detected via periodic variations, and $\sim7\%-9\%$ of periodic variation selected SMBBHs may be detected via SED-deficit signatures. The false positives for those SMBBHs selected jointly by both methods are negligible, highlighting the importance of searching for active SMBBH systems using joint methods.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Energy-dependent extension of the Crab Nebula as a diagnostic of ultrahigh-energy hadronic emission

Fang-Wu Lu, Bo-Tao Zhu, Ji-Yang Ren et al. (+1 more)

The energy-dependent apparent extension of the Crab Nebula, inconsistent with leptonic expectations between X-ray and TeV bands, can be naturally accounted for in a spatially resolved lepto-hadronic scenario. A transition to hadronic dominance occurs above $\sim400~\rm{TeV}$, with nearly pure hadronic emission at PeV energies. The predicted $68\%$ containment radius at $1.1~\rm{PeV}$ is $\sim1.4'$, about six times larger than in purely leptonic scenarios. This energy-dependent extension therefore provides an observable discriminator of the origin of ultra-high-energy gamma-ray emission in pulsar wind nebulae, offering a diagnostic of PeV hadronic acceleration in the Crab Nebula.
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All authors Fang-Wu Lu, Bo-Tao Zhu, Ji-Yang Ren, Li Zhang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from nucl-th

Impact of Nuclear Level Density on $r$-Process Rare-Earth Peak Nucleosynthesis

Hang Xu, Peng-Xiang Du, Jian Li et al. (+1 more)

The rare-earth peak ($A\sim164$) is a prominent feature of the $r$-process, and previous theoretical studies suggest that it is possibly linked to local nuclear structural effects. However, the nuclear level density (NLD), a physical quantity directly reflecting these properties, has been largely overlooked compared to other structural properties such as nuclear masses. To address this, we perform $r$-process simulations across three astrophysical scenarios using neutron-capture rates derived from six distinct NLD models. Our results reveal that microscopic models yield systematic deviations in NLD relative to phenomenological ones, leading to critical impacts on nucleosynthesis. Specifically, systematic NLD differences in even-$A$ nuclei redirect the nuclear flow, accelerating the early formation of the rare-earth peak and temporarily enhancing its magnitude. This underlying structural shift also fundamentally alters the $r$-process sensitivity to the neutron-capture rate, effectively eliminating its dependence on the odd-even nature of protons. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the internal nuclear structure encoded within NLDs can collectively induce a global redirection of the nucleosynthesis pathway, highlighting the critical need for self-consistent microscopic inputs in future simulations.
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All authors Hang Xu, Peng-Xiang Du, Jian Li, Dong-Liang Fang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Is the mysterious Punctum a primordial black hole?

Man Ho Chan

A recent study has discovered a highly polarized millimeter continuum source called Punctum located at the central region of NGC 4945 which doesn't fit any known category. Apart from the radio detection at $\approx 100$ GHz, there is no identified counterpart to Punctum in other radio, infra-red, optical, and X-ray bands. All available potential models, including magnetar, supernova remnant and microquasar, cannot provide satisfactory explanation for the exceptionally high polarization of $\sim 50$% and large luminosity in mm band $L_{\rm mm} \approx 2\times 10^{35}$ erg/s within a small size $<2$ pc shown in Punctum. In this article, we discuss the possibility that Punctum is indeed a primordial black hole (PBH) with a dark matter density spike. We show that the synchrotron radiation due to the electrons and positrons produced from dark matter annihilation can satisfactorily explain the observed properties of Punctum and we can effectively obtain the annihilation cross section $\langle \sigma v \rangle \sim 10^{-33}$ cm$^3$/s using our developed analytic framework. Furthermore, if the Punctum PBH mass is $\sim 10-100M_{\odot}$, the preferred dark matter mass range is $m_{\rm DM} \sim 10-1000$ MeV.
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