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Physics Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

astro-ph.HE Watch High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Tuesday 29 September

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

Fast and Flow-rious: Gravitational Wave Background Bayesian Model Comparison using Normalizing Flows and Nested Sampling

David C. Wright, Aaron D. Johnson, Jeffrey S. Hazboun et al. (+1 more)

In 2023, pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations around the world announced evidence for a nanohertz gravitational-wave background (GWB). Beyond increasing the detection significance, the next major goal is to characterize the GWB and identify its source(s). The typical model-comparison metric used in PTA analyses is the Bayes factor (BF). However, BF computation methods used in the PTA literature, such as product-space sampling and thermodynamic integration, are computationally expensive or inefficient if the models compared are dissimilar or non-nested. In this work, we introduce a PTA model-comparison method using a combination of normalizing flows, nested sampling, and a PTA likelihood that is marginalized over all non-GWB parameters. The flows are trained using a newly-developed Python package coppuccino, which learns the data's copula: the dependence structure after transforming to uniform marginals. We validate the method on both analytic targets and simulated PTA data, recovering the analytic evidence within error bars and achieving an area-under-the-curve (AUC) score of 0.996 when treating the BFs as binary classifiers of the injected models. The result is a method to perform Bayesian model comparison of arbitrary GWB spectral models in minutes on consumer hardware.
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All authors David C. Wright, Aaron D. Johnson, Jeffrey S. Hazboun, William G. Lamb

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Very High-Energy GRB Afterglow Fits with Neural-Network Emulation and Bayesian inference

Edilberto Aguilar-Ruiz, Jessica Saldívar Talavera, Ramandeep Gill et al. (+1 more)

The very high-energy ($E > 100$ GeV) afterglow emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be explained by synchrotron self-Compton (SSC). Modeling this emission accurately requires fully numerical codes that solve the time-dependent coupled particle–photon kinetic equations while accounting for Klein–Nishina suppression. However, their substantial computational cost makes them impractical for traditional parameter inference techniques such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. In this work, we present a highly efficient surrogate model based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) that emulates a one-zone kinetic SSC radiation code. To train our ANN, we use a multi-dimensional model parameter grid that constitutes a sample of 100,800 spectra produced by an infinitely thin spherical blast wave propagating inside a constant density interstellar medium (ISM). The ANN reproduces the numerical spectra well, with the median relative error generally below 2 per cent across the full frequency domain. Using this surrogate framework, we perform Bayesian parameter posterior estimation via MCMC and fit the broadband GRB afterglow observations of GRB 190114C from X-rays to TeV $\gamma$-rays at different epochs. We find an energetic jet with isotropic-equivalent kinetic energy of $E_{\rm k,iso}\simeq7.2\times10^{54}$ erg moving with a coasting bulk Lorentz factor of $\Gamma\gtrsim500$ into an ISM with density $n\simeq0.1\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$. The deviation of our model light curve from observations on long timescales suggests that an ISM environment is inconsistent and a radially stratified external medium, as pointed out by \citet{Aguilar-Ruiz+26}, is preferred instead.
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All authors Edilberto Aguilar-Ruiz, Jessica Saldívar Talavera, Ramandeep Gill, Sundar Srinivasan

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

Bayesian Constraints on Bosonic Dark Matter in Neutron Stars within a Covariant Density-Functional Equation-of-State Ensemble

Davood Rafiei Karkevandi, Alexander Ayriyan and Armen Sedrakian

We investigate neutron stars admixed with repulsively self-interacting bosonic dark matter (DM) using current multi-messenger observations. The dark component is modeled as a complex scalar field coupled to baryonic matter only through gravity, allowing dark-core and dark-halo configurations. To quantify baryonic equation-of-state (EOS) uncertainties, we combine a three-dimensional scan over $(m_\chi,\lambda,F_\chi)$ with 27 DDME2-based covariant density-functional EOSs spanning $L_{\rm sym}=30,50,70$ MeV and $-600\le Q_{\rm sat}\le 1000$ MeV. The models are confronted in a Bayesian framework with NICER mass–radius measurements from the Amsterdam and Maryland/Illinois analyses and the GW170817 tidal-deformability constraint. After Bayesian evidence weighting over the EOS ensemble, the EOS-relevant dark-sector scale $\mu_\chi\equiv m_\chi/\lambda^{1/4}$ is localized around 250 MeV for both NICER data sets. In the $(m_\chi,\lambda)$ parameterization, the marginalized boson-mass posterior peaks at $m_\chi\simeq300$–$330$ MeV, while $\lambda$ remains broadly distributed. Since the bosonic EOS depends on $m_\chi$ and $\lambda$ only through $\mu_\chi$, their separate marginals are conditional on the adopted independent priors. The inferred DM fraction is more data-set dependent, with posterior modes near 4% for Maryland/Illinois and 12% for Amsterdam. Bosonic DM also shifts the inferred $Q_{\rm sat}$ from negative toward intermediate and positive values, whereas the response of $L_{\rm sym}$ is weaker. This indicates a model-dependent trade-off between DM-induced compactification and the high-density stiffness of baryonic matter. These constraints remain conditional on the selected EOS family and the assumption of a common effective $F_\chi$ for all sources.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Science Using Single-Pulse Exploration with Combined Telescopes: II. Pulse profile evolution and single-pulse modulation

F. Jankowski, J.-M. Griessmeier, T. Roy et al. (+11 more)

Aims. We aim to illuminate how the pulsars' integrated pulse profiles and single-pulse modulation evolve with radio frequency, while separating intrinsic and propagation effects. Methods. We present integrated pulse profiles and phase-resolved modulation indices for 12 radio pulsars at up to five frequency bands. Our wideband dataset was systematically acquired with the Nancay Radio Observatory telescopes and the uGMRT, covering the frequency range 10 MHz to 2.8 GHz, including NenuFAR, LOFAR FR606, uGMRT, and NRT observations. We carefully measured the pulse widths and scattering times using multi-component profile fitting. We employed a profile width scaling model to separate the profile evolution into scattering and intrinsic contributions. We quantified the pulsars' single-pulse variability across frequency. Results. We describe the pulse profile evolution. Two pulsars have scattering indices compatible with Kolmogorov turbulence, while the majority have flatter scattering indices. This suggests complex scattering environments, dominated by localised turbulence. Complex scattering behaviour is seen in some pulsars, and most profiles are scattering-dominated below 200 MHz. The measured intrinsic power law indices are small, with absolute values between 0 and 0.3. Five pulsars exhibit decreasing intrinsic widths, two or three pulsars show flat behaviour, and four pulsars have increasing profile widths with frequency. Accounting for biases, most pulsar modulation parameters decrease with frequency, while three pulsars show flat behaviour. Conclusions. The pulse width evolution is explained by intrinsic radio beam narrowing, the emergence of profile components, and the balance between the two. Our modulation analysis indicates that the single-pulse emission from most of our pulsars becomes more erratic towards lower radio frequencies, consistent with increasing amplitude modulation.
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All authors F. Jankowski, J.-M. Griessmeier, T. Roy, M. Surnis, G. Theureau, L. Bondonneau, P. Noe, J. Petri, L. Guillemot, I. Cognard, M. Serylak, I. Kravtsov, V. Zakharenko, O. Ulyanov

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Joint Mass-Radius and Magnetic-Geometry Inference of PSR J0740+6620

Chun Huang, Tuomo Salmi and Alexander Y. Chen

X-ray pulse-profile modeling can measure neutron-star radii, but its physical interpretation remains limited by the largely phenomenological description of the surface hotspots. Here we connect the X-ray hotspots directly to the pulsar magnetospheric structure and jointly infer the mass, radius, and magnetic geometry of the massive millisecond pulsar PSR J0740+6620 from NICER and XMM-Newton observations. Using a GPU-accelerated implementation, we compare two low-dimensional magnetic configurations that can produce non-antipodal emission: a centered axisymmetric dipole–quadrupole and a shifted dipole. The shifted-dipole model is decisively favored under the adopted priors, with $\Delta\ln Z=5.65$ (Bayes factor $\sim285$), and yields $M=2.059^{+0.068}_{-0.069}\,M_{\odot}$ and $R=13.28^{+1.47}_{-1.07}\,\mathrm{km}$, broadly consistent with previous phenomenological analyses, while requiring nearly symmetric heating of the two polar caps. Both the marginalized shifted-dipole posterior and the timing-compatible representative require an effective X-ray-emitting footprint much smaller than the nominal force-free polar cap calibrated for a centered dipole. This compact footprint is not reproduced by our exploratory photon-conversion estimates and instead points to missing physics in the mapping from magnetospheric currents to observable X-ray emission. Our results show that physically motivated hotspots can preserve the mass–radius inference while turning hotspot morphology into a probe of pulsar magnetospheric structure and emission physics.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.SR

Detection of fine-structured radio bursts during a superflare on EQ Peg

Zhanhao Zhao, Xin Cheng, Yuankun Kou et al. (+6 more)

Superflares are frequently observed on magnetically active stars, particularly on active M-dwarfs, thereby influencing the habitability of nearby exoplanets. However, the causes of superflares remain unclear. Here, combining FAST and TESS, we detected a finely structured decimetric radio burst appearing as groups of spikes during a white-light superflare (total bolometric energy $\sim 10^{33} \ \mathrm{erg}$) on the M-dwarf binary EQ Peg on September 8th, 2022. The most significant ones appeared near the peak time of the optical flare and lasted for about $100 \ \mathrm{s}$. The radio spikes present extremely high brightness temperatures ($\gtrsim 10^{13} \ \mathrm{K}$) and high degrees of circular polarization ($\sim 0.84 \pm 0.16$), indicating the origin of a coherent emission process, most likely the electron cyclotron maser. Based on Zeeman-Doppler Imaging measurements of EQ Peg, we further locate the sources of the radio spikes, including their heights and latitudes, under the assumption of a large-scale dipolar magnetic field configuration. The results provide strong evidence for finely structured decimetric radio bursts generated by stellar flares and shed light on the origin of superflares.
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All authors Zhanhao Zhao, Xin Cheng, Yuankun Kou, Guoyin Chen, Hao Ning, Yao Chen, Baolin Tan, Keping Qiu, Mingde Ding

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.IM

An End-to-End Numerical Framework for Tidal Disruption Events with AthenaK

Hong-Xuan Jiang, Mengqi Yang, David A. Velasco-Romero et al. (+4 more)

In a tidal disruption event (TDE), a black hole (BH) tears apart a star, whose bound debris returns over many orbits to form an accretion disk. We present a framework built on the GPU-accelerated finite-volume code AthenaK that follows these stages in a single simulation with self-gravity throughout. We extend AthenaK with a moving frame, restart remapping between domains, an adaptive-mesh multigrid Poisson solver, a tabulated hydrogen–helium equation of state including recombination, a dual-energy update for the cold supersonic debris stream, a moving BH potential with excision, and localized adaptive time stepping (LAT), which speeds up the production run more than threefold. Each component is validated separately and in combination: the gravity solver maintains an isolated Lane–Emden sphere to a density error of $2.0\times10^{-3}$ over 16.3 dynamical times, and dual-energy recovery reduces the pressure error of a Mach $7.75\times10^7$ entropy wave from 15.7 to $4.0\times10^{-12}$. We demonstrate the framework with a Newtonian $\beta=1$ disruption of a $1\,M_\odot$, $1\,R_\odot$ star by a $10^3\,M_\odot$ BH. The debris has the expected energy spread, insensitive to the self-gravity update interval, splits evenly into bound and unbound material, and yields a fallback rate approaching $t^{-5/3}$ at late times. At the pericenter nozzle, the thermal energy gained in the high-resolution run matches the vertical kinetic energy lost to within 6%, whereas the fiducial run, with 4–8 times coarser cells, overheats the thinnest early stream through numerical dissipation. Their heating agrees to 10% once the returning stream thickens. Multifrequency LTE post-processing produces synthetic images and luminosities.
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All authors Hong-Xuan Jiang, Mengqi Yang, David A. Velasco-Romero, Fangyuan Yu, Jing-Ze Xia, Xinyu Li, Yosuke Mizuno

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

ALMA - CTAO synergies

Paola Andreani and Maria Diaz-Trigo

This article aims to raise awareness within the ESO astronomical community of the scientific opportunities offered by the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTAO, highlighting cases where combining millimetre/submillimetre capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array, ALMA with the CTAO's very high energy, TeV, observations enables new avenues for discovery. Many astrophysical sources and environments exhibit emission processes detectable in both regimes; however, the synergies extend beyond shared emission mechanisms and include broader physical processes and observational connections linking millimetre, submillimetre and TeV energies.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Shaping binary black hole merger efficiency with gravitational wave observations

Michele Bosi, Lumen Boco, Stefano Torniamenti et al. (+5 more)

Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy offers unprecedented insights into binary black hole (BBH) coalescence. However, many of the key quantities involved remain inaccessible to direct observations. The BBH merger rate density is deeply linked to both the merger efficiency and the distribution of delay time between binary formation and merger, neither of which is directly constrained by observations. Disentangling their impact on the merger rate represents a highly non-trivial endeavour. Here we present a semi-parametric BBH population model, based on population synthesis simulations of both isolated and dynamically-formed BBHs, anchored on an observation-driven, metallicity-dependent star formation history. We parametrise the merger efficiency of these two formation channels, fitting the model to GW events from the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog 5.0 within a hierarchical Bayesian framework. Our analysis suggests that the isolated BBH merger efficiency should be lowered by a factor $\mathcal{O}(10)$ relative to standard population synthesis results. The dynamical channel requires an efficiency more than an order of magnitude larger than the isolated one to reproduce current GW observations. Nevertheless, we find that the two channels provide comparable contributions to the observed number of events. Finally, we introduce a parametrisation for the delay time distribution of the isolated BBHs. We derive a distribution consistent with the observed local merger rate and show its degeneracy with the merger efficiency.
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All authors Michele Bosi, Lumen Boco, Stefano Torniamenti, Stefano Rinaldi, Cecilia Sgalletta, Michela Mapelli, Carlo Baccigalupi, Andrea Lapi

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Fast and furious – High-velocity features of Ca and Si in the spectra of Type Ia supernovae

Zsófia Bora, József Vinkó, J. Craig Wheeler et al. (+2 more)

High velocity absorption lines of Ca II and Si II (high-velocity features, HVFs) are common in the early spectra of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), but their physical origin is still poorly understood. We used 181 optical spectra of 56 SNe Ia that show HVFs in at least the Ca II NIR triplet to better understand the nature of HVFs. To model the profiles of HVFs we applied Gaussian fitting as well as spectrum synthesis modeling with the SYNOW code. We found that Gaussian fitting usually underestimates the velocity of HVFs compared to SYNOW, and derived a linear formula for correction. In accord with many previous studies, the observed properties of HVFs (velocity, strength, duration) were found to correlate with the general observables of SNe Ia (decline rate, spectral subtype). Brighter, slow-declining SNe usually exhibit stronger, higher velocity HVFs, while fainter objects typically show weak, low velocity HVFs. SNe Ia in early-type galaxies showed weaker and slower HVFs compared to events in late-type galaxies in our sample. Comparing these observational findings with theoretical predictions, we conclude that the overall physical picture of HVFs is quite complex, and could be explained by multiple models. A double detonation explosion model is promising as it is inherently capable of explaining the creation of high-velocity shells that may produce HVFs, but an asymmetric delayed detonation model or interaction with circumstellar material cannot be ruled out.
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All authors Zsófia Bora, József Vinkó, J. Craig Wheeler, Réka Könyves-Tóth, G.H. Marion

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

X-ray measurements of the elemental abundances for the diffuse emission in the nuclear starburst galaxy NGC 3079

Jiejia Liu, Junjie Mao, Shuinai Zhang et al. (+3 more)

Outflows driven by feedback leave imprints on a galaxy's diffuse X-ray emission. Elemental abundances provide key diagnostics of feedback-driven chemical enrichment. We present a spectroscopic study of the diffuse X-ray emission in NGC 3079 using XMM-Newton RGS and EPIC, focusing on the nuclear region and the extended galactic-scale superbubble (GSB). We analyzed the high-resolution RGS spectrum of the central $\sim4~\rm kpc$ region, encompassing the $\sim1~\rm kpc$ nuclear superbubble (NSB), and the EPIC spectrum of the GSB out to $5'~(\sim25~\rm kpc)$. The nuclear spectrum is best described by a multi-temperature thermal-plasma model plus a charge-exchange (CX) component, which contributes approximately $13\%$ of the total observed energy flux in the $0.2-2~\rm keV$ band. The best-fit O/Fe and Ne/Fe ratios are $0.47$ and $0.77$ in solar units. Comparing these ratios with IMF-weighted core-collapse supernova (SNcc) yields gives an upper progenitor-mass cutoff of $M_{\rm u}\simeq13-15~M_{\odot}$ for pure SNcc enrichment. For the best-fit spectral model, including an SNIa contribution increases the inferred cutoff, but its $1\sigma$ upper limit remains below $25~M_\odot$ for SNIa fractions up to $10\%$ within the adopted yield models. The characteristic ages of the NSB and GSB are $0.92^{+0.39}_{-0.46}~\rm Myr$ and $29.6^{+1.6}_{-2.9}~\rm Myr$, respectively, suggesting episodic feedback in NGC 3079.
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All authors Jiejia Liu, Junjie Mao, Shuinai Zhang, Guan-Fu Liu, Rui Huang, Wei Cui

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.GA

Fooled by mass? Recovering the $\Gamma-\lambda_{Edd}$ relation of quasars from their X-ray variability

Matilde Signorini, Andrea Sacchi, Bartolomeo Trefoloni et al. (+7 more)

We measure the relation between the X-ray photon index $\Gamma$ and the Eddington ratio $\lambda_{Edd}$ in unobscured type-1 quasars, using as parent sample the cross-match of the SDSS DR16Q catalogue with the 4XMM-DR14 serendipitous catalogue. After cleaning the sample of potential observational biases, we obtain 7835 objects, one order of magnitude larger than most previous analyses in the literature. A single regression of $\Gamma$ against $\log\lambda_{Edd}$, with single-epoch virial black-hole masses, returns slopes that depend on the mass indicator (H$\beta$, MgII, CIV) and on the bolometric correction, and that are generally flat. We interpret this as regression dilution: the systematic uncertainty on virial masses is much larger than the intrinsic spread of $\lambda_{Edd}$ in SDSS quasars. We therefore introduce a different approach, which removes the black-hole mass from the problem. For quasars observed by XMM-Newton at multiple epochs, the mass of each object is fixed, and changes in its X-ray luminosity trace changes in its accretion state. We fit the $\Gamma$-$\log(L_{2keV})$ relation of each object (for a sample of N=893) and combine the per-object posteriors. This recovers the mean response of the population $a_X = 0.35\pm0.03$, which steepens to $\approx0.43$ when only epochs with precisely measured photon indices are used. Translated to the Eddington ratio, this corresponds to $a_\lambda\approx0.20$-0.25, depending on the choice of bolometric correction and on the LX-LUV slope. The $\Gamma$–$\lambda_{Edd}$ relation therefore exists, but it can be uncovered only by exploiting the variability of individual sources, which removes the black-hole mass from the problem. Moreover, its shallowness implies that the differences in Eddington ratio, as currently measured, cannot by themselves account for the variety of photon indices observed among unobscured quasars.
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All authors Matilde Signorini, Andrea Sacchi, Bartolomeo Trefoloni, Matteo Guainazzi, Elisabeta Lusso, Emanuele Nardini, Chiara Niccolai, Federica Ricci, Anastasia Shlentsova, Mateusz Rałowski

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Search for dark matter annihilation in the Sun using the full ANTARES dataset

A. Albert, S. Alves, M. André et al. (+133 more)

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the most popular candidates for particle dark matter. In certain scenarios, WIMPs could be gravitationally captured into massive celestial objects and then annihilate into Standard Model particles, possibly leading to the emission of neutrinos. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, is sensitive to neutrinos with energies ranging from a few tens of GeV to the TeV scale, making it well suited to search for the annihilation of WIMPs with masses below a few TeV/c$^2$. One of the closest potential astrophysical sources of neutrinos from WIMP annihilations is the Sun. In this work, a search for high-energy neutrinos originating from the Sun, using the full dataset recorded by ANTARES from 2007 to 2022 was conducted. The analysis yielded no significant evidence for a neutrino excess over the expected background, and upper limits on the WIMP-proton interaction cross section have been obtained, for both spin-dependent and spin-independent processes. These limits are valid for dark matter masses ranging from 35 GeV/c$^2$ to 10 TeV/c$^2$ for the annihilation benchmark channels WIMP$+$WIMP $\longrightarrow$ $b\bar{b},\tau^+\tau^-, W^+W^-$, assuming a 100$\%$ branching ratio for each of these channels. These results improve on those previously obtained by the ANTARES Collaboration by a factor of two-three and are consistent with those reported by other experiments in direct and indirect searches for dark matter.
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All authors A. Albert, S. Alves, M. André, M. Ardid, S. Ardid, J.-J. Aubert, J. Aublin, B. Baret, S. Basa, Y. Becherini, B. Belhorma, F. Benfenati, V. Bertin, S. Biagi, J. Boumaaza, M. Bouta, M.C. Bouwhuis, H. Brânzaş, R. Bruijn, J. Brunner, J. Busto, B. Caiffi, D. Calvo, S. Campion, A. Capone, L. Caramete, F. Carenini, J. Carr, V. Carretero, T. Cartraud, S. Celli, M. Chabab, T. Chiarusi, M. Circella, J.A.B. Coelho, A. Coleiro, R. Coniglione, P. Coyle, A. Creusot, A. F. Díaz, B. De Martino, C. Distefano, I. Di Palma, C. Donzaud, D. Dornic, D. Drouhin, T. Eberl, A. Eddymaoui, T. van Eeden, D. van Eijk, S. El Hedri, A. Enzenhöfer, P. Fermani, G. Ferrara, F. Filippini, L.A. Fusco, S. Gagliardini, J. García-Méndez, C. Gatius Oliver, P. Gay, N. Geißelbrecht, H. Glotin, R. Gozzini, R. Gracia Ruiz, K. Graf, C. Guidi, L. Haegel, H. van Haren, A.J. Heijboer, Y. Hello, L. Hennig, J.J. Hernández-Rey, J. Hößl, F. Huang, G. Illuminati, B. Jisse-Jung, M. de Jong, P. de Jong, M. Kadler, O. Kalekin, U. Katz, A. Kouchner, I. Kreykenbohm, V. Kulikovskiy, R. Lahmann, M. Lamoureux, A. Lazo, D. Lefèvre, E. Leonora, G. Levi, S. Le Stum, S. Loucatos, J. Manczak, M. Marcelin, A. Margiotta, A. Marinelli, P. Migliozzi, A. Moussa, R. Muller, S. Navas, E. Nezri, B. Ó Fearraigh, E. Oukacha, A.M. Păun, G.E. Păvălaş, S. Peña-Martínez, M. Perrin-Terrin, P. Piattelli, C. Poirè, T. Pradier, N. Randazzo, D. Real, G. Riccobene, A. Romanov, A. Sánchez Losa, A. Saina, F. Salesa Greus, D. F. E. Samtleben, M. Sanguineti, P. Sapienza, F. Schüssler, J. Seneca, M. Spurio, Th. Stolarczyk, M. Taiuti, Y. Tayalati, B. Vallage, G. Vannoye, V. Van Elewyck, S. Viola, D. Vivolo, J. Wilms, S. Zavatarelli, A. Zegarelli, J.D. Zornoza, J. Zúñiga

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

The Irreversible Depletion of Dark Matter Spikes by Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals

Charlie Sharpe, Yonadav Barry Ginat, Thomas F. M. Spieksma et al. (+2 more)

Dense dark matter spikes around massive black holes (MBHs) have been widely predicted to produce gravitational-wave dephasing in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) that are potentially observable by LISA. We show that EMRIs, the very objects used to probe these spikes, also destroy them. Combining Fokker-Planck models of nuclear star clusters with post-Newtonian three-body simulations of EMRI-dark matter encounters, we demonstrate that repeated gravitational slingshots irreversibly eject dark matter particles from the cluster's loss cone over gigayear time-scales. For MBHs at $z = 3$ with masses $\lesssim 10^5 \,M_\odot$, even conservative EMRI rates of $\mathcal{O}(1-10) \, \mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$ suffice to deplete the spike density by orders of magnitude; for more realistic rates of $\mathcal{O}(100-300) \, \mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$, the mass range extends to $\lesssim 10^6 \,M_\odot$. As a result, the gravitational-wave dephasing expected from such systems is greatly reduced, narrowing the prospects of detecting DM through this channel. Only heavy, high-redshift systems with sufficiently low EMRI rates – for example, a $\sim 10^6 \,M_\odot$ MBH at $z \gtrsim 5$ with $\lesssim 100$ EMRIs per Gyr – can induce dephasing that exceeds one radian.
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All authors Charlie Sharpe, Yonadav Barry Ginat, Thomas F. M. Spieksma, Alexander Heger, Bence Kocsis

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Multi-wavelength polarization degree dependence of Mrk 421 for different particle energy distributions

Hritwik Bora, Ranjeev Misra and Rupjyoti Gogoi

We report on the constraints obtained from the multi-wavelength polarization degree and energy spectra measurements for the High Synchrotron Peaked Blazar (HBL) source Mrk 421 using different forms of the electron energy distribution. We find that the optical and X-ray data are consistent with the electron energy distribution being a broken power-law (BPL) or other distributions, with all electrons experiencing the same magnetic field configuration. This is in contrast to other HBL sources like the Mrk 501, where, for the BPL distribution, the X-ray producing higher energy electrons need to exist in a more ordered magnetic field environment than the optical producing lower energy ones. This is because the break energy of the spectrum produced by the BPL distribution for Mrk 421 lies below the IXPE energy band. We discuss the implications of the findings.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Re-interpreting the GRS 1915+105 observations within the variable TADAF scenario

Chun Xu

The Galactic microquasar GRS 1915+105 is one of the most interesting X-ray binary systems, exhibiting an exceptionally diverse range of observational phenomena. It displays the most complicated and variable X-ray light curves and carries superluminal radio jets. Its X-ray and radio fluxes change on very different timescales, from seconds to minutes to days and even longer. In recent years, its jet has also displayed large position angle shifts. We find that most of the observational phenomena can be well explained within our newly developed variable turbulent ADAF (TADAF) model. The accretion disk is composed of an outer thin disk and an unstable inner TADAF torus whose size is variable. The previously suggested 'disappearance' and regain of the inner disk is understood as the transition between the thick TADAF and the thin disk. Some types of QSOs are understood in terms of the radius change of the TADAF torus. The jet position angle shift is understood as the direct sideways frame-dragging on the jet by the Lense-Thirring effect from a tilted, spinning black hole. The slower the outshooting jet, the larger the angle shift. We note that such an effect also applies to other sources, such as V404 Cygni and the AGN M87. This mechanism may also be applicable to the famous 'precessing' jet in SS 433.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.EP

Detecting Extragalactic Exoplanets With Fast Radio Burst Nanolensing

Kenneth F. Olibrice and Dylan L. Jow

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are spatially and temporally compact sources at cosmological distances. As background sources, they will be uniquely sensitive to the gravitational lensing of exoplanets outside of our own galaxy. We present a method to detect extragalactic exoplanets using planetary echo nanolensing-periodic, nanosecond-scale variations in the relative time of arrival (ToA) between an initial FRB and its microlensed echo as the planet orbits its host star. For a simple binary lens model, we demonstrate that measuring the amplitude and period of these ToA fluctuations enables a determination of the exoplanet mass and orbital parameters. FRBs will be most sensitive to echo nanolensing by lenses within ten megaparsecs of the Milky Way as well as within ten megaparsecs of the FRB host, opening the door to detections of planets at a range of redshifts. We estimate that at least one in a million FRBs will exhibit this phenomenon (i.e. an optical depth of $\tau_l = 10^{-6}$). While current burst rates and low repeating-FRB fractions make a detection challenging in the immediate term, upcoming high-volume surveys and next-generation arrays (such as the SKA Phase 2) will bring the unambiguous detection of extragalactic exoplanets across cosmological redshifts into possibility.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from astro-ph.SR

LISA Double White Dwarfs in Triple Systems

Zhijun Wang, Guoliang Lü, Chunhua Zhu et al. (+5 more)

Double white dwarfs (DWDs) in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) band are major Galactic gravitational-wave sources, but many tight DWD progenitors may reside in hierarchical triples. Triple evolution can alter both the production rate and parameter distributions of LISA DWDs. Using the Multiple Star Evolution (MSE) code, we study how the adiabatic mass-loss model (Ge model) and the SCATTER formalism for triple common-envelope (TCE) evolution affect triple-channel LISA DWD formation. Our main model evolves 10^5 triples with both ingredients. Three control models, each with 10^4 triples, vary the mass-transfer stability criterion to the original MSE polytropic model, remove SCATTER, or adopt low metallicity (Z=0.001). We also evolve 10^6 isolated binaries with the same framework as a binary-channel reference. Systems that are dynamically unstable under the polytropic model can instead undergo stable Roche-lobe overflow under the Ge model. This sustained mass transfer modifies the donor envelope, reduces its binding energy, and helps the subsequent common-envelope phase form a close DWD rather than a merger. The Ge model increases the triple-channel LISA DWD yield by about 60% relative to the polytropic model, while SCATTER changes the integrated yield by only about 3%. After residence-time weighting, triples contribute about 1.3e7 LISA-band DWDs, including 1.4e4 individually resolvable systems. In the combined triple-plus-binary normalization, the binary channel contributes 3.1e6 LISA-band DWDs and 4.7e3 resolvable systems; these are the binary share of the combined population, not the binary-only Galactic estimate. The main triple model has a flatter, higher-q mass-ratio distribution than the polytropic-model triples, is dominated by He-CO and He-He binaries, and produces rare eccentric systems only when a tertiary star remains bound.
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All authors Zhijun Wang, Guoliang Lü, Chunhua Zhu, Xizhen Lu, Sufen Guo, Helei Liu, Renyu Luo, Tian Huang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from hep-ph

Does the High Energy LUX-ZEPLIN Event Suggest Hyperfine Atomic Dark Matter?

Prolay Chanda, Bhaskar Das and Sagnik Mukherjee

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration has reported a nuclear-recoil candidate at $248\pm23~({\rm stat})\pm23~({\rm sys})~{\rm keV}$ in an extended high energy search window. We investigate whether this event can arise from the hyperfine excitation of hydrogen-like atomic dark matter. For a TeV-scale dark atom, a hyperfine splitting near $340~{\rm keV}$ places xenon scattering close to the observed value by naturally selecting the high-velocity tail of the Galactic halo while suppressing the leading low-energy elastic response. The resulting endothermic kinematics predict a pronounced target hierarchy: the benchmark transition is inaccessible on Ar and Ge, lies close to threshold on Xe, and remains open on heavier targets such as W, which is specific to our model parameters. Because xenon probes the extreme high-speed tail, the signal exhibits a large annual modulation and a strong dependence on the assumed halo distribution. We also examine how the infall of the Large Magellanic Cloud enhances the high-speed tail of the Milky Way's local dark matter distribution, extending the kinematic reach to larger hyperfine splittings.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Combined constraints on the diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos between 10^16 eV and 10^26 eV

S.V. Troitsky

Experimental constraints on the diffuse neutrino flux above the PeV range have been obtained with Cherenkov neutrino telescopes, air-shower arrays, radio detectors in and above polar ice, and radio observations of the Moon. Published results use different flavor, energy-bin, and statistical conventions, so their flux limits cannot be combined directly. We reconstruct energy-dependent exposures of the published searches and place them in a common convention for the total all-flavor $\nu+\bar\nu$ flux over $10^{16}$-$10^{26}$ eV. Published event counts and expected backgrounds are combined with a Poisson likelihood, and 90% C.L. quasi-differential limits are obtained for one-decade $E_\nu^{-1}$ test spectra using a one-sided profile-likelihood construction. Folding theoretical spectra of cosmogenic neutrinos and selected new-physics scenarios with the combined energy-dependent exposure yields constraints on their flux normalizations. This homogeneous analysis provides a reproducible observational benchmark across ten decades in neutrino energy and a common reference for current and projected searches.
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Monday 28 September

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

Normalizing Flow Emulator for Gravitational Wave Detection Probability in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA O4 Observing Run

Julius Gassert, Ignacio Magaña Hernandez, Ariel J. Amsellem et al. (+2 more)

Efficient and accurate estimation of the detection probability of a gravitational wave event given its source parameters remains a challenging problem because it conventionally requires expensive Monte Carlo injection campaigns. We present a machine learning-based approach using Normalizing Flows (NFs) to estimate the detection probability of gravitational wave events for a LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA O4-like detector network configuration. We utilize the publicly available injection dataset as training and test data. We test our method and implementation by evaluating the raw NF performance as a generative model based on its ability to recover the correct parameter distributions of detected events. In addition, we compare the detection efficiencies predicted by the NF emulator with those from Monte Carlo importance sampling and find good agreement. Furthermore, estimating the detection efficiency for a wide variety of population models, including those with sharp features, can be more precise than estimates obtained via Monte Carlo importance sampling. We show that the NF emulator can be used in population analysis of gravitational wave sources, similar to previous neural network approaches. The training code and trained models from this work are publicly available.
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All authors Julius Gassert, Ignacio Magaña Hernandez, Ariel J. Amsellem, Antonella Palmese, Barnabas Póczos

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from math.NA

An Energy-Conserving Unstaggered Electromagnetic-Potential Particle-in-Cell Method, Part II: Fully Relativistic Formulation with an Adapted Higuera–Cary Pusher

Andrew Christlieb, Luis Chacon and Sining Gong

We develop a fully relativistic extension of the energy-conserving, unstaggered electromagnetic-potential particle-in-cell method introduced in our earlier nonrelativistic work. As in the nonrelativistic generalized-momentum formulation, the fields are advanced by a Crank–Nicolson discretization of the Lorenz-gauge potential equations, the current is deposited from particle orbits, and charge is advanced through the discrete continuity equation. The new ingredient is a generalized-momentum adaptation of the Higuera–Cary relativistic particle pusher. The vector-potential force is decomposed into an orbit-discrete-gradient part, which enforces the same finite-difference chain rule used in our earlier nonrelativistic formulation, and a skew part, which generates a Higuera–Cary magnetic rotation in mechanical momentum. For prescribed fields and frozen orbit data, this generalized-momentum Higuera–Cary map is a unit-Jacobian conjugacy of the mechanical Higuera–Cary map and preserves particle phase volume in $(\xx,\PP)$. For the fully coupled implicit step, the same orbit data define the current deposit, mesh-to-particle gather, vector-potential chain rule, and relativistic kinetic-energy secant velocity. The resulting particle work cancels the Crank–Nicolson field-energy balance, yielding exact relativistic total-energy conservation up to nonlinear solver tolerance, orbit-quadrature error, and roundoff. A self-adjoint Fourier projection removes modes on even-grid Nyquist planes while preserving the particle–grid work identity. Numerical tests are organized around cold relativistic two-stream and Weibel/filamentation instabilities, with diagnostics for energy drift, Gauss's law, the Lorenz gauge, particle–grid work, and the orbit chain rule.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Computing gravitational radiation from highly eccentric bound binaries in the small-mass-ratio limit

Diego Andrés Rivera Orona and Scott A. Hughes

Precise strong-gravity models describing the evolution of bound compact binary systems provide important information about the gravitational radiation such binaries generate and how they evolve due to the radiation's backreaction. The limit of very high eccentricity, $e \to 1$, is challenging to model: frequency-domain techniques require many harmonics to accurately describe radiation in this limit, and time-domain techniques can be slow to converge due to the systems' long timescales. Many recent astrophysical analyses have nonetheless emphasized the importance of understanding gravitational-wave emission in this regime, highlighting the fact that many systems may evolve through $e \simeq 1$ en route to becoming detectable sources, and may enter the sensitive band of detectors with substantial eccentricity. In this paper, we show how to adapt frequency-domain methods for computing gravitational radiation in the small-mass-ratio limit to effectively handle high eccentricity. The key piece of this analysis is an integral over the source of the frequency-domain Teukolsky equation. We examine features of this integral that make it difficult to evaluate as $e \to 1$, and study methods to circumvent these difficulties. We find a simple fix which allows us to compute gravitational-wave amplitudes and the associated fluxes of energy and angular momentum with ease up to eccentricities $e = 0.99$; with patience (and stamina), we have pushed to $e = 0.999$, though numerical accuracy appears to degrade for such extreme cases. Interestingly, we find that the well-known and often used classic formulas of Peters and Mathews are subject to a systematic error which persists at quite wide separation. This has implications for models of compact binary formation which evolve through $e \simeq 1$.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

JWST/MIRI Spectroscopy of the Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binary XTE J1118+480: Constraints on Jet and Circumbinary Dust Contributions to the Mid-infrared Emission

Zihao Zuo, Elena Gallo, Nuria Calvet et al. (+9 more)

We report on JWST/MIRI low-resolution spectroscopy ($5$-$12 \mu$m) and imaging ($15$-$25 \mu$m) of the black hole X-ray binary XTE~J1118+480 in quiescence, at an X-ray luminosity nine orders of magnitude sub-Eddington, together with contemporaneous optical monitoring and a radio upper limit of $4.5~\mu$Jy at 6 GHz. With the donor subtracted, the $5$-$12 \mu$m continuum is curved, turning over near $6~\mu$m; a single power law is rejected in favor of a $764\pm 9$ K blackbody. Longward of the turnover the spectral index is $\alpha = +1.21\pm0.36$, steeper at the $2\sigma$ level than the flat to slightly inverted spectrum of a compact jet. Interpreted as synchrotron, the turnover implies equipartition fields of $\sim$$10^{4}$ G on scales of tens of gravitational radii, but the MIRI photometry at $15$-$21~\mu$m-taken $2.6$ hr before the spectrum-lies $30$-$90$ per cent above its extrapolation, suggesting a second self-absorbed zone. A single partially self-absorbed jet spectrum can reach the photometry only at the expense of the spectral curvature and the $25.5~\mu$m upper limit, so a steady compact jet is disfavored, although not excluded. Representative self-consistent irradiated-disk models instead reproduce the principal features of the $5$-$25~\mu$m spectral energy distribution, with a directly illuminated dust wall at $\simeq 5$ binary separations, outside the tidal-truncation radius, and a minimum dust mass of order $10^{22}$ g. This is the first spectroscopic evidence, though not yet conclusive, favoring circumbinary dust over a jet in a quiescent black hole X-ray binary.
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All authors Zihao Zuo, Elena Gallo, Nuria Calvet, Richard M. Plotkin, David M. Russell, Gabriele Cugno, Rob Fender, Fraser Lewis, Joseph Michail, Jon M. Miller, James C. A. Miller-Jones, Fan Zou

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

What Fraction of Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals That Merge After the LISA Mission Ends Are Detectable?

Daniel J. Oliver, Aaron D. Johnson, Jonathan E. Thompson et al. (+1 more)

Stellar-mass compact objects spiraling into massive black holes in galactic nuclei (referred to as "extreme-mass-ratio inspirals", or EMRIs) will be an important class of sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). A stellar-mass compact object can radiate in the millihertz band for years to decades before it plunges into its massive black hole, so a substantial fraction of the EMRIs that LISA can detect will still be inspiraling when the mission ends. We calculate what fraction of detectable EMRIs will plunge after the mission ends, and for those we calculate how they are distributed as a function of various parameters, such as their post-mission lifetime. To do this, we draw from astrophysically motivated populations, backward-integrate fully relativistic Kerr FastEMRIWaveforms trajectories for a given time to plunge, and compute the full LISA response over both the four-year nominal and ten-year extended observing windows. We calculate the detectable fraction as an explicit function of time to plunge at signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) thresholds of $\rho=10$, 20, and 30. We find that post-mission EMRIs are roughly one in four of the LISA-detectable population at $\rho>20$ over the four-year mission, and roughly one in six over the ten-year extended mission. The in-window detectable fraction varies by nearly a factor of six at $\rho>20$ across the massive black hole spins and secondary masses we ran, while the share stays between 25% and 33% for the four-year mission and between 13% and 20% for the ten-year one across all of them. The search for EMRIs that plunge more than $\sim 1$ year after the mission ends may require a different algorithm than the one used for EMRIs that plunge during the mission, and the fact that post-mission detections are a substantial fraction of all detections gives some urgency to developing a detection pipeline suitable for them.
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All authors Daniel J. Oliver, Aaron D. Johnson, Jonathan E. Thompson, Curt J. Cutler

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Assessing the detectability and identification of pulsar halos with H.E.S.S. and CTAO

Karim Sabri, Yves Gallant and Justine Devin

Pulsar halos are a class of extended gamma-ray sources, resulting from inverse Compton scattering of ambient photons by electrons and positrons believed to have escaped confinement in a pulsar wind nebula. First identified by HAWC towards PSR J0633+1746 and PSR B0656+14, a growing number of pulsar-powered gamma-ray sources is proposed as candidate halos. Using a model of isotropic diffusion, we assessed the ability of current-and-future generation imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to characterize the physical properties of such sources in the inner Galaxy. We constructed template-based pulsar halo models in the Gammapy library and fitted them to simulated H.E.S.S. and CTAO data of halos with different physical parameters. The sources were characterized spectro-morphologically using 2D Gaussian components. We assessed the statistical preference between the halo and 2D Gaussian hypotheses by the simulated data and quantified the impact of the diffuse Galactic emission. A multitude of the halos' parameters can be constrained simultaneously, including the pulsar's true age, its proper motion, the diffusion coefficient, the index of the injected particle spectrum and the injection efficiency. In some cases, the H.E.S.S. array can statistically distinguish between the halo model and a model containing 2D Gaussian components, while a significant improvement is seen with CTAO. The source's detection significance is drastically reduced with increasing intensity of the Galactic diffuse emission. If the latter is not modeled using the data-generating model, the halo parameter estimation is biased. A physically-motivated model of pulsar halos can facilitate the identification and characterization of this class of sources in high-level data analyses. The simulated halos exhibit properties that may already be found in surveys of current-generation telescopes with only a modest observation time.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

What We Have Learned from NICER About Neutron Star Radii

M. C. Miller

The cores of neutron stars have a combination of density, temperature, and neutron-proton asymmetry that cannot be replicated in laboratories or understood using first-principles quantum chromodynamics. Thus, observations of neutron stars are necessary to understand this regime. In particular, precise and accurate measurements of neutron star radii are highly informative about cold, catalyzed matter at a few times nuclear saturation density. X-ray observations with NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) have yielded radius measurements for a few nonaccreting neutron stars, which have advanced substantially our understanding of dense matter. In this review we discuss the NICER radius measurements and their implications and demonstrate that the systematic errors thus far explored in NICER analyses have at most a minor effect on the inferred radii of neutron stars.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Fast Radio Bursts from Induced Upscattering. I. Magnetar Polar Fireballs

Rei Nishiura, Kunihito Ioka and Bing Zhang

The extreme brightness temperatures of fast radio bursts (FRBs) demand a coherent process that converts magnetar burst energy into millisecond radio emission. We propose that FRBs can be produced within magnetar magnetospheres by induced (stimulated) upscattering in a relativistic fireball outflow. In this paper, we focus on induced Compton upscattering in an electron–positron fireball launched from the polar region of a magnetar. Radiation from the X-ray burst accelerates the polar fireball outflow to Lorentz factors of $\Gamma\sim10$–$10^3$. Low-frequency seed waves, such as fast magnetosonic or Alfvén waves, entering the outflow from the side or against its motion undergo induced scattering and are Lorentz-boosted by the relativistic bulk motion from $\nu_0\sim10\mathrm{kHz}$ to $\nu_{\rm obs}\sim\Gamma^2\nu_0\sim\mathrm{GHz}$. Combining the polar fireball dynamics with the linear growth and nonlinear saturation of the induced scattering instability, we derive the FRB luminosity $L_{\rm FRB}^{\rm iso}$ and fractional spectral bandwidth $\Delta\nu/\nu_{\rm c}$. By considering the possible range of pair densities and temperatures, we find that this polar channel can account for the luminosity of Galactic FRB~20200428 and reach luminosities comparable to those of the brightest extragalactic FRBs. If the pair-loaded region is narrower than the relativistic beaming angle $1/\Gamma$, the model also produces a narrow spectrum and predicts $L_{\rm FRB}^{\rm iso}\propto(\Delta\nu/\nu_{\rm c})^2$, a trend consistent with observations of repeating FRBs. The induced upscattering model thus connects magnetar X-ray bursts to FRBs through a coherent emission process grounded in plasma physics and makes observationally testable predictions.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

First Detection of the Doppler Shift of X-ray Photons Due to a Telescope's Orbital Motion

Stephen DiKerby and Shuo Zhang

We have detected for the first time the redshifting and blueshifting of X-ray photons due to the orbital motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. Current and planned X-ray telescopes like XRISM/Resolve and NewAthena can achieve energy resolutions $R = E / \Delta E \approx 1000$, requiring spectroscopic calibration of physical effects such as the local standard of rest and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. We construct an a priori method for detecting a heretofore unexamined effect: the modulation of redshift due to the motion of an X-ray telescope around the Earth. We apply this pipeline to several XRISM/Resolve observations of narrow iron K$\alpha$ emission lines from galactic center molecular clouds, and we detect evidence of orbital redshift modulation in the K$\alpha$ emission at the 95% confidence level. Our findings suggest that orbital redshift modulation is already present and detectable in X-ray data and motivates reexamination of how X-ray photon data is packaged in the emerging era of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Stochastic gravitational-wave background from subsolar neutron stars in collapsar disks

Valerio De Luca, Loris Del Grosso and Emanuele Berti

The fragmentation of the neutrino-cooled accretion disks that surround the black holes formed in collapsars has recently been proposed as an astrophysical channel for the production of neutron stars with masses well below the standard core-collapse floor. These disk-born objects merge either with one another or with the central black hole, and the superposition of all such mergers across cosmic history sources a stochastic gravitational-wave background. In this work we compute the energy density of this background for both merger channels, adopting a formation history tied to the observed rate of long gamma-ray bursts. We find that the merger of a subsolar neutron star with the central black hole is the loudest channel, already constrained by current data and within reach of next-generation observatories, while the binary neutron-star channel is at most two orders of magnitude fainter, with its widest binaries remaining accessible to next-generation detectors. Confronting these predictions with the fourth observing run of the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration, we derive two upper bounds on the fraction of collapsars whose disks produce such mergers: a robust one from the non-detection of an isotropic background, and a tighter one that could be achieved by a dedicated search for resolvable subsolar events in current data. Gravitational waves from non-axisymmetric deformations of the collapsar disk itself would provide an additional independent signature for the collapsar scenario, enabling cross-correlation studies with future deci-Hz detectors. Overall, the background computed here provides a population-level probe of disk-born subsolar neutron stars, which next-generation detectors could bring firmly into view.
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