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Physics Astrophysics

astro-ph Watch Astrophysics

Wednesday 26 November

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

First Results from HERA Phase II

The HERA Collaboration: Zuhra Abdurashidova, Tyrone Adams, James E. Aguirre et al. (+82 more)

We report the first upper limits on the power spectrum of 21-cm fluctuations during the Epoch of Reionization and Cosmic Dawn from Phase II of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) experiment. HERA Phase II constitutes several significant improvements in the signal chain compared to Phase I, most notably resulting in expanded frequency bandwidth, from 50-250 MHz. In these first upper limits, we investigate a small two-week subset of the available Phase II observations, with a focus on identifying new systematic characteristics of the instrument, and establishing an analysis pipeline to account for them. We report 2$\sigma$ upper limits in eight spectral bands, spanning $5.6 \leq z \leq 24.4$ that are consistent with thermal noise at the $2\sigma$ level for $k \gtrsim 0.6-0.9 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ (band dependent). Our tightest limit during Cosmic Dawn ($z>12$) is $1.13\times 10^6 {\rm mK}^2$ at ($k=0.55 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}, z=16.78$), and during the EoR ($5.5<z<12$) it is $1.78\times 10^3 {\rm mK}^2$ at ($k=0.70 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}, z=7.05$). We find that mutual coupling has become our dominant systematic, leaking foreground power that strongly contaminates the low-$k$ modes, resulting in the loss of modes from $k=0.35-0.55$ compared to Phase I data.
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All authors The HERA Collaboration: Zuhra Abdurashidova, Tyrone Adams, James E. Aguirre, Rushelle Baartman, Rennan Barkana, Lindsay M. Berkhout, Gianni Bernardi, Tashalee S. Billings, Bruno B. Bizarria, Judd D. Bowman, Daniela Breitman, Philip Bull, Jacob Burba, Ruby Byrne, Steven Carey, Rajorshi Sushovan Chandra, Kai-Feng Chen, Samir Choudhuri, Tyler Cox, David R. DeBoer, Eloy de Lera Acedo, Matt Dexter, Jiten Dhandha, Joshua S. Dillon, Scott Dynes, Nico Eksteen, John Ely, Aaron Ewall-Wice, Nicolas Fagnoni, Anastasia Fialkov, Steven R. Furlanetto, Kingsley Gale-Sides, Hugh Garsden, Adelie Gorce, Deepthi Gorthi, Ziyaad Halday, Bryna J. Hazelton, Jacqueline N. Hewitt, Jack Hickish, Tian Huang, Daniel C. Jacobs, Alec Josaitis, Nicholas S. Kern, Joshua Kerrigan, Piyanat Kittiwisit, Matthew Kolopanis, Adam Lanman, Paul La Plante, Adrian Liu, Yin-Zhe Ma, David H. E. MacMahon, Lourence Malan, Cresshim Malgas, Keith Malgas, Bradley Marero, Zachary E. Martinot, Lisa McBride, Andrei Mesinger, Jordan Mirocha, Nicel Mohamed-Hinds, Mathakane Molewa, Miguel F. Morales, Julian B. Muñoz, Steven G. Murray, Bojan Nikolic, Hans Nuwegeld, Aaron R. Parsons, Robert Pascua, Nipanjana Patra, Simon Pochinda, Yuxiang Qin, Eleanor Rath, Nima Razavi-Ghods, Daniel Riley, Kathryn Rosie, Mario G. Santos, Saurabh Singh, Dara Storer, Hilton Swarts, Jianrong Tan, Emilie Thélie, Pieter van Wyngaarden, Michael J. Wilensky, Peter K. G. Williams, Haoxuan Zheng

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The Faintest, Extremely Variable X-ray Tidal Disruption Event from a Supermassive Black Hole Binary?

Mengqiu Huang, Yongquan Xue, Shuo Li et al. (+30 more)

Tidal disruption events (TDEs), which occur when stars enter the tidal radii of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and are subsequently torn apart by their tidal forces, represent intriguing phenomena that stimulate growing research interest and pose an increasing number of puzzles in the era of time-domain astronomy. Here we report an unusual X-ray transient, XID 935, discovered in the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South, the deepest X-ray survey ever. XID 935 experienced an overall X-ray dimming by a factor of more than 40 between 1999 and 2016. Not monotonically decreasing during this period, its X-ray luminosity increased by a factor $> 27$ within 2 months, from $L_{\rm 0.5-7\ keV}<10^{40.87}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (10 October 2014 – 4 January 2015) to $L_{\rm 0.5-7\ keV}=10^{42.31\pm 0.20}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (16 March 2015). The X-ray position of XID 935 is located at the center of its host galaxy with a spectroscopic redshift of 0.251, whose optical spectra do not display emission characteristics associated with an active galactic nucleus. The peak 0.5–2.0 keV flux is the faintest among all the X-ray-selected TDE candidates to date. Thanks to a total exposure of $\sim 9.5$ Ms in the X-ray bands, we manage to secure relatively well-sampled, 20-year-long X-ray light curves of this deepest X-ray-selected TDE candidate. We find that a partial TDE model could not explain the main declining trend. An SMBH binary TDE model is in acceptable accordance with the light curves of XID 935; however, it fails to match short-timescale fluctuations exactly. Therefore, the exceptional observational features of XID 935 provide a key benchmark for refining quantitative TDE models and simulations.
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All authors Mengqiu Huang, Yongquan Xue, Shuo Li, Fukun Liu, Shifu Zhu, Jin-Hong Chen, Rong-Feng Shen, Yibo Wang, Yi Yang, Ning Jiang, Franz Erik Bauer, Cristian Vignali, Fan Zou, Jialai Wang, Alexei V. Filippenko, Bin Luo, Chen Qin, Jonathan Quirola-Vásquez, Jun-Xian Wang, Lulu Fan, Mouyuan Sun, Qingwen Wu, Qingling Ni, Thomas G. Brink, Tinggui Wang, Weikang Zheng, Xinwen Shu, Xuechen Zheng, Xiaozhi Lin, Xu Kong, Yijun Wang, Yibin Luo, Zheyu Lin

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Shock-type inference of L1157 B2 using methanol desorption

Cedric Baijot, Maria Groyne and Michaël De Becker

Shock types of low-velocity molecular outflows are not always well constrained. Astrochemical comparisons are often made between low-velocity and high-velocity outflows, but without considering the question of the shock type. We investigated molecular abundances of post-shock regions to determine whether strong differences between non-irradiated C-type and J-type shocks can be highlighted. One of the main application goals is to diagnose the shock type of the protostellar object L1157 B2 through the use of molecular tracers. We simulated grid sets of shock models with the Paris-Durham Shock code with velocities ranging from 5 to 19 km/s and low densities from $10^2$ to $10^5$ cm$^{-3}$. We computed the desorption percentage of methanol in these simulations and estimated it at higher velocities. We compared our results to observational measurements of L1157 B2 and with a benchmark of four already identified shocks. L1157 B2 has been diagnosed as a non-irradiated C-type shock, and the method showed a good applicability through the benchmark. Methanol formed in the icy mantle of grains can serve to trace the differences between shock types, at least in non-irradiated conditions. A requirement for the applicability of a species as a shock-type tracer is that it does not undergo significant enhancement or destruction, but is mainly impacted by desorption processes under shocked conditions. The desorption percentage of methanol is a good criterion in characterizing the shock type of L1157 B2 and should be investigated as a general method to diagnose the shock type in non-irradiated regions. We identify L1157 B2 as a non-irradiated C-type shock with velocities and densities fitting with previous studies.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Enhancing Galaxy Classification with U-Net Variational Autoencoders. II. JWST High Redshift Galaxy Sample

Sergey Mirzoyan

Building on our previous work, we apply a U-Net Variational Autoencoder (VAE) framework to denoise galaxy images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and enhance morphological classification. This study focuses on galaxies observed up to redshift approximately at 8, capturing them at early evolutionary stages where their faintness and structural complexity pose challenges for the traditional classification methods. By mitigating observational noise, our approach enables the identification of morphological features, particularly in distinguishing between disk and non-disk galaxy types. We evaluate the denoising performance using standard image quality metrics and demonstrate that the enhanced images lead to improved classification accuracy across multiple deep learning models. Our analysis of a sample of 292 galaxies up to z=7.69 shows 83 galaxies classified as disk-like by the GCNN model with high confidence, of those approximately 70-80 % are of redshifts greater than 3. These findings suggest that disk-like structures can be prevalent in the early universe. The results highlight the potential of VAE-based denoising as a robust pre-processing step for analyzing high-redshift galaxy populations in ongoing astronomical surveys.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Molybdenum and ruthenium in the Galactic disk: A closer look at their nucleosynthesis components

Tamara Mishenina, Teresa Kurtukian-Nieto, Tatiana Gorbaneva et al. (+3 more)

The stellar origin of the elements molybdenum (Mo, Z=42) and ruthenium (Ru, Z=44) is still a matter of debate. Studying their abundances provides valuable insights into nucleosynthesis processes and the broader evolution of neutron-capture elements. We presented new observations of Mo and Ru, together with nearby neutron-capture elements strontium (Sr) and zirconium (Zr) for a new sample of 154 giant stars, located in the Galactic disk with metallicities -1 < [Fe/H] < +0.3. The abundances were determined under the assumption of the local thermodynamic equilibrium by fitting synthetic spectra. The abundances of Mo were derived from the Mo I lines at 5506 and 5533 A, the abundances of Ru were determined from Ru I lines at 4584, and 4757 A. For most of the giant stars observed in this work, Mo and Ru abundances were determined for the first time. We compare our observations with the signatures from different nucleosynthesis processes. Both the [Mo/Fe] and [Ru/Fe] in our stars show a decreasing trend with respect to increasing [Fe/H]. This pattern is similar to that of [Zr/Fe], whereas [Sr/Fe] exhibits a relatively flat trend with metallicity. Compared to the s-process ratios, all stars show a lower [Zr/Mo] and a higher [Ru/Mo], as expected from classical nucleosynthesis. Still, it is unclear if additional contributions from neutrino-wind components or the i-process is needed to explain the observed scatter of [Zr/Mo] and [Ru/Mo] in the Milky Way disk. Indeed, such a dispersion is consistent with the variations also seen in r-II stars at low metallicity and could therefore result from the combined contributions of r-process and s-process to galactic chemical evolution. The observed [Zr/Mo] and [Ru/Mo] scatter in r-II stars should be constrained by future investigations to define if any contributions of additional nucleosynthesis components are needed.
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All authors Tamara Mishenina, Teresa Kurtukian-Nieto, Tatiana Gorbaneva, Anish M. Amarsi, Athanasios Psaltis, Marco Pignatari

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Molecular Gas and Star Formation in Dwarf Galaxies Observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

Kijeong Yim and Soo-Chang Rey

We present a spatially resolved analysis of the molecular star formation law (SFL) and gravitational instability in a sample of nearby dwarf galaxies (NGC 1035, NGC 4310, NGC 4451, NGC 4701, NGC 5692, and NGC 6106), using high-resolution $^{12}$CO ($J=1\rightarrow0$) data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We estimate the star formation rate (SFR) by combining the Galaxy Evolution Explorer near-ultraviolet and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 12 $\mu$m imaging data to examine the relationship between molecular gas and SFR densities on scales of several hundred parsecs. We find that the power-law slope of the molecular SFL ranges from 0.62 to 1.08, with an average value of N$=0.81\pm0.18$, increasing to N$=0.87\pm0.05$ when excluding galaxies with poorly constrained CO data. These results are roughly consistent with values observed in massive spiral galaxies, suggesting a universal molecular SFL when analyzed with sufficient resolution and sensitivity. Radial profiles of the Toomre $Q$ parameter remain close to unity across the disks, with minimal radial variation, consistent with a self-regulated star formation model. Our results suggest that, despite their lower mass and metallicity, star formation in dwarf galaxies is governed by the same fundamental physical processes as in larger systems. This highlights the significance of high-resolution molecular gas observations in low-mass galaxies.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

The WEAVE-TwiLight-Survey: Expanding WEAVE's Reach to Bright and Low-Surface-Density Targets with a Novel Observing Mode

Thomas Hajnik, Nicholas A. Walton, Giuseppe D'Ago et al. (+28 more)

Current-day multi-object spectroscopic surveys are often limited in their ability to observe bright stars due to their low surface densities, resulting in increased observational overheads and reduced efficiency. Addressing this, we have developed a novel observing mode for WEAVE (William Herschel Telescope Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer) that enables efficient observations of low-surface-density target fields without incurring additional overheads from calibration exposures. As a pilot for the new mode, we introduce the WEAVE-TwiLight-Survey (WTLS), focusing on bright exoplanet-host stars and their immediate surroundings on the sky. High observational efficiency is achieved by superimposing multiple low-target-density fields and allocating the optical fibres in this configuration. We use a heuristic method to define fields relative to a central guide star, which serves as a reference for their superposition. Suitable guide fibres for each merged configuration are selected using a custom algorithm. Test observations have been carried out, demonstrating the feasibility of the new observing mode. We show that merged field configurations can be observed with WEAVE using the proposed method. The approach minimizes calibration times and opens twilight hours to WEAVE's operational schedule. WTLS is built upon the new observing mode and sourced from the ESA PLATO long-duration-phase fields. This survey will result in a homogeneous catalogue of approximately 6300 bright stars, including 62 known planet hosts, laying the groundwork for future elemental abundance studies tracing chemical patterns of planetary formation. This new observing mode (WEAVE-Tumble-Less) expands WEAVE's capabilities to rarely used on-sky time and low-density field configurations without sacrificing efficiency.
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All authors Thomas Hajnik, Nicholas A. Walton, Giuseppe D'Ago, Piercarlo Bonifacio, Gavin Dalton, Lilian Dominguez-Palmero, Emanuel Gafton, Mike J. Irwin, Sergio Pico, David Terrett, Anke Ardern-Arentsen, Ruben Sanchez-Janssen, David S. Aguado, J. Alfonso L. Aguerri, Carlos Allende Prieto, Marc Balcells, Chris Benn, Angela Bragaglia, Elisabetta Caffau, Esperanza Carrasco, Ricardo Carrera, Silvano Desidera, Boris T. Gansicke, Sarah Hughes, Shoko Jin, Ian Lewis, Alireza Molaeinezhad, David N. A. Murphy, Ellen Schallig, Scott Trager, Antonella Vallenari

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Broad-band temporal and spectral study of TeV blazar TXS 0518+211

Avik Kumar Das, Pankaj Kushwaha, Veeresh Singh et al. (+3 more)

We present a long-term broad-band temporal and spectral study of a TeV BL Lac source TXS 0518+211 by analyzing nearly 16 years (MJD 54682 – 60670) of simultaneous optical, UV and X-ray light curves from Swift-XRT/UVOT and gamma-ray light curves from Fermi-LAT. Based on the availability of simultaneous multi-wavelength data and considering flux level as the depiction of AGN-jet activity we identified 11 epochs (named as Epoch-A to Epoch-K) and investigated temporal as well as spectral variability during these epochs to understand the emission properties in this source. The fractional variability analysis reveals that, in all epochs, X-ray light curve exhibits relatively high degree of variability in compared to the optical, UV and gamma-ray light curves. The flux-flux plots among different bands, in general, show weak to moderate correlation with Spearman correlation coefficient ranging from 0.29 to 0.58. Notably, during Epoch-I, we detect a possible orphan flare exhibiting increase in the X-ray flux level ($\sim$ 2.4 times of the total average flux) but with no corresponding counterpart seen in the optical, UV bands. In contrast, during Epoch-K, we detect a significant decrease in the X-ray flux but no corresponding decrease in optical, UV and gamma-ray bands. Overall, our study reveals several changes in the flux states and complex nature of jet dominated emission processes. We tested one-zone and two-zone leptonic scenarios and for most of the epochs, the latter one provides a better description of the broad-band emission in this TeV BL Lac source.
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All authors Avik Kumar Das, Pankaj Kushwaha, Veeresh Singh, Sandeep Kumar Mondal, Goldy Ahuja, Deekshya R. Sarkar

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Constraints on Features in the Cosmological Power Spectrum from Observations of the Epoch of Reionization

O.R. Skorikov, S.V. Pilipenko and M.V. Tkachev

We consider cosmological models with a power spectrum of perturbations featuring an enhanced amplitude on dwarf galaxy scales (with a "bump" or a "tilt"). Early formation of a large number of galaxies in such models, compared to the standard spectrum, can shift the epoch of reionization to higher redshifts compared to observations. We show that for moderate bump amplitude $\mathcal{A}<1.5-2$, the considered models are not ruled out by observations of reionization at $z \approx 8$ due to existing uncertainties in the fraction of ultraviolet photons escaping galaxies, $f_{esc}$, and inhomogeneity of the neutral hydrogen distribution.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Impact of Cosmic Ray Distribution on the Growth and Saturation of Bell Instability

Saikat Das, Siddhartha Gupta and Prateek Sharma

Cosmic rays (CRs) streaming in weakly magnetized plasmas can drive large-amplitude magnetic fluctuations via nonresonant streaming instability (NRSI), or Bell instability. Using one-dimensional kinetic simulations, we investigate how mono-energetic and power-law CR momentum distributions influence the growth and saturation of NRSI. The linear growth is governed solely by the CR current and is largely insensitive to the CR distribution. However, the saturation depends strongly on the CR distribution and is achieved through CR isotropization, which quenches the driving current. Mono-energetic CRs effectively amplify the magnetic field and isotropize. For power-law distributions, the lowest-energy CRs dominate current relaxation and magnetic growth, while the highest-energy CRs remain weakly scattered, limiting their contribution to saturation. In the absence of low-energy CRs, high-energy particles amplify magnetic fields effectively and isotropize. Accounting for these effects, we provide a modified saturation prescription valid for both relativistic and nonrelativistic CRs. We propose a layered CR-confinement scenario upstream of astrophysical shocks, relevant to particle acceleration to high energies.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from nucl-th

A Bottom-Up EFT Approach To Superdense Baryonic Matter

Mannque Rho

How to arrive at the densest matter in massive compact stars starting from Walecka's linear $\omega$-$\sigma$ mean-field model is described in a series of arguments anchored on hidden local symmetry, hidden scale symmetry and emergent parity-doublet symmetry. I follow the bottom-up approach from chiral symmetry with pions, coupled to hidden local and scale symmetry degrees of freedom. Exploiting the renormalization-group treatment à la Shankar and Polchinski of the fermionic interactions on the Fermi sphere, leading to Landau-Migdal Fermi-liquid, one obtains a sort of generalized “Density Functional" that allows via a topology change hadrons transform to quarks without phase changes at the center of massive stars. The highly dense matter is “pseudo-conformal" with the sound velocity $v_{pcs}^2/c^2\approx 1/3$ but the trace of the energy-momentum tensor is not equal to zero, hence the matter is non-conformal.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Testing Bump in the Cosmological Power Spectrum Using Dwarf Galaxies

Maxim Zabelkin, Sergey Drozdov, Oleg Skorikov et al. (+1 more)

We analyze the possibility of using observational data on nearby dwarf galaxies – their luminosity functions and spatial distributions – to constrain deviations of the cosmological power spectrum from the standard one. Specifically, we consider a cosmological model with a "bump" in the power spectrum at a wavelength of 1.3~Mpc and a dimensionless amplitude $\mathcal{A}=2.0$. Such a spectrum is motivated by observations of an excess number of galaxies at high redshifts. The bump leads to a noticeable increase in the luminosity function in the range $-13 > M_B > -17$ at $z=0$. Comparison with observations constrains the bump amplitude to $\mathcal{A} < 0.25$ at a 3-sigma significance level for a wavelength of 1.3~Mpc. For wavelengths smaller than 0.8~Mpc, the bump manifests only in the luminosity function of dwarfs with $M_B > -14$.
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All authors Maxim Zabelkin, Sergey Drozdov, Oleg Skorikov, Sergey Pilipenko

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

The phases of QCD reached in terrestrial and cosmic colliders

Sourendu Gupta

We review the current state of knowledge of the phase diagram of QCD through lattice, effective field theories, and chiral models. Several sections through the three dimensional phase diagram are known for $N_f=2+1$ with good precision. Due to technical advances in lattice techniques over the last decade or so, new aspects of the phase diagram can now be explored. We review current lattice results. The newly acquired knowledge can be used to reconstruct the full phase diagram for physical QCD, \ie, $N_f=1+1+1$. We remark on the computations which would help understand this better, and what the current constraints are on matter in neutron star cores. We also remark on the physics of the chiral transition and neutron stars in the 't Hooft large $N_c$ limit.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The FAST-SETI Milky Way Globular Cluster Survey I: A Pilot Multibeam On-the-Fly Search of Five Globular Clusters at L-Band

Bo-Lun Huang, Zhen-Zhao Tao, Tong-Jie Zhang et al. (+1 more)

We report a narrowband technosignature search toward five Milky Way globular clusters (NGC 6171, NGC 6218, NGC 6254, NGC 6838, and IC 1276) using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) 19-beam L-band receiver (1.05-1.45 GHz). We adapt the MultiBeam Point-source Scanning (MBPS) strategy to extended targets by gating detections to generalized on-target windows (gOTWs), i.e. the time intervals when a beam main lobe intersects a buffered cluster mask, and by enforcing the deterministic multibeam illumination sequence as a geometry test. Dynamic spectra with frequency resolution about 7.5 Hz and time resolution about 10 s are searched with turboSETI over drift rates |nu_dot| <= 4 Hz s^-1 at signal-to-noise ratio S/N >= 10. From about 2.75e5 raw hits across both linear polarizations, none survive the gOTW gating, array-wide simultaneity veto, in-stripe ordering, and single-drift coherence checks, yielding a robust null result. With system equivalent flux density SEFD about 1.5 Jy and an effective 60 s per illuminated crossing, our per-crossing flux density threshold is S_min about 0.50 Jy, corresponding to minimum isotropic-equivalent radiated power EIRP_min in the range (0.72-1.8)e16 W for cluster distances 4-6.5 kpc; when multiple illuminated crossings occur, non-coherent stacking improves sensitivity by up to sqrt(N). To our knowledge this is the first FAST technosignature survey dedicated to globular clusters and the first to use MBPS as the primary observing strategy. These limits disfavor bright, persistent, isotropic L-band beacons above the stated thresholds during our epochs and establish a scalable blueprint, based on geometry-aware gating and verification, for multi-epoch MBPS campaigns that expand signal morphologies and combine passes to deepen constraints on transmitters in dense stellar systems.
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All authors Bo-Lun Huang, Zhen-Zhao Tao, Tong-Jie Zhang, Vishal Gajjar

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from hep-th

Cosmological tensions in Proca-Nuevo theory

Hsu-Wen Chiang, Claudia de Rham, Sebastian Garcia-Saenz et al. (+1 more)

We study the cosmological predictions of (extended) Proca-Nuevo theory. This vector-tensor theory enjoys stable homogeneous and isotropic solutions characterized by an effective dark energy fluid, with behavior that ranges from freezing quintessential to thawing phantom-like, serving as a motivated framework to scrutinize the cosmological tensions that affect the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. While the model we consider is sufficiently generic to encompass a large class of field theories, it distinguishes itself from scalar dark energy models (quintessential ones, kinetic ones and non-minimally coupled ones) by the presence of what would be classed as a vector degree of freedom which can be for instance inherited from more generic theories of gravity. We improve on previous work in several directions: we consider a general one-parameter class of background models; identify a so-called 'special' model and analyze observational constraints taking also into account perturbations and making use of wide up-to-date catalogs of datasets including recently released ones. We find that the one-parameter Proca-Nuevo model is preferred over $\Lambda$CDM at $1.5\sigma$ when fitting CMB and BAO data, and at $2.4\sigma$ when further adding low-redshift data. The Hubble tension is alleviated, dropping from $5.8\sigma$ to $2.3\sigma$ (resp. $1.5\sigma$) between CMB with (and resp. without) BAO data and local measurements. On the other hand, we find that the vector field generically introduces a significant enhancement of the effective Newton constant for natural values of parameters, so that matching the observed matter power spectrum requires a mild amount of tuning to suppress the impact of perturbations. Since, at the background level, Proca-Nuevo is degenerate with other classes of theories, our results are also relevant to a wider range of set-ups including and beyond vector-tensor models.
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All authors Hsu-Wen Chiang, Claudia de Rham, Sebastian Garcia-Saenz, Xue Zhou

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Multiwavelength Observations for a Double-decker Filament Channel in AR 13102

Yin Zhang, Baolin Tan, Quan Wang et al. (+8 more)

We present the observational evidence of the existence of a double-decker filament channel (FC) by using observations in extreme ultraviolet and H{\alpha} wavelengths. For both FCs, the east foot-point roots in the active region (AR), while the west one roots in the remote quiet region. The bottom FC (FC1) appears as intermittent filaments. Within the AR, the FC1 appears as an S-shaped filament (F1), which consisted of two J-shaped filaments (F1S/F1N for the south/north one). For the upper one (FC2), only the east part is filled with dark plasma and visible as a small filament (F2). Its east foot-point roots around the junction of F1S and F1N. Initially, due to the recurrent reconnections, F1N and F1S link to each other and form a new filament (F3) thread by thread. Meanwhile, the heated plasma, which appears as brightening features, flows from the east foot-point of F2 to the west, and becomes invisible about 1.1$\times$10^{5} km away. The failed eruption of F1S is triggered by the reconnection, which appears as the brightening threads changing their configuration from crossed to quasiparallel in between the F1S and F3, and is confined by the upper magnetic field. Associated with the eruption, the distant invisible plasma becomes visible as a brightening feature. It continuously flows to the remote foot-point, and becomes invisible before reaching it. The brightening plasma flow outlines the skeleton of FC2 gradually. The observations show the existence of a double-decker FC, as a magnetic structure, before they appear as a brightening/dark feature when fully filled with hot/cool plasma.
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All authors Yin Zhang, Baolin Tan, Quan Wang, Jing Huang, Zhe Xu, Kanfan Ji, Xiao Yang, Jie Chen, Xianyong Bai, Zhenyong Hou, Yuanyong Deng

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Spectuner-D1: Spectral Line Fitting of Interstellar Molecules Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Yisheng Qiu, Tianwei Zhang, Tie Liu et al. (+6 more)

Spectral lines from interstellar molecules provide crucial insights into the physical and chemical conditions of the interstellar medium. Traditional spectral line analysis relies heavily on manual intervention, which becomes impractical when handling the massive datasets produced by modern facilities like ALMA. To address this challenge, we introduce a novel deep reinforcement learning framework to automate spectral line fitting. Using observational data from ALMA, we train a neural network that maps both molecular spectroscopic data and observed spectra to physical parameters such as excitation temperature and column density. The neural network predictions can serve as initial estimates and be further refined using a local optimizer. Our method achieves consistent fitting results compared to global optimization with multiple runs, while reducing the number of forward modeling runs by an order of magnitude. We apply our method to pixel-level fitting for an observation of the G327.3-0.6 hot core and validate our results using XCLASS. We perform the fitting for typical complex organic molecules of hot cores, including CH$_3$OH, CH$_3$OCHO, CH$_3$OCH$_3$, C$_2$H$_5$CN, and C$_2$H$_3$CN. For a 100 $\times$ 100 region covering 5 GHz bandwidth, the fitting process requires 4.9 to 41.9 minutes using a desktop with 16 cores and one consumer-grade GPU card.
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All authors Yisheng Qiu, Tianwei Zhang, Tie Liu, Fengyao Zhu, Dezhao Meng, Huaxi Chen, Thomas Möller, Peter Schilke, Donghui Quan

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Refined classification of YSOs and AGB stars by IR magnitudes, colors, and time-domain analysis with machine learning

Hyunwook Jheonn, Jeong-Eun Lee, Jinho Lee et al. (+5 more)

We introduce a binary classification model, the Double Filter Model, utilizing various machine learning and deep learning methods to classify Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) and Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. Since YSOs and AGB stars share similar infrared (IR) photometric characteristics due to comparable temperatures and the presence of circumstellar dust, distinguishing them is challenging and often leads to misclassification. While machine learning and deep learning techniques have helped reduce YSO-AGB misclassifications, achieving a reliable separation remains challenging. Given that YSOs and AGB stars exhibit distinct light curves resulting from different variability mechanisms, our Double Filter Model leverages light curve data to enhance classification accuracy. This approach uncovered YSOs and AGB stars that were misclassified in IR photometry and was validated against Taurus YSOs and spectroscopically confirmed AGB stars. We applied the model to the Spitzer/IRAC Candidate YSO Catalog for the Inner Galactic Midplane (SPICY) catalog for catalog refinement and identified potential AGB star contaminants.
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All authors Hyunwook Jheonn, Jeong-Eun Lee, Jinho Lee, Seonjae Lee, Hyeyoon Lee, ShinGeon Kim, Carlos Contreras Peña, Mi-Ryang Kim

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Different Origins of Nucleated and Non-nucleated Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: Identified by the Deep-learning

Sanjaya Paudel, Cristiano G. Sabiu, Suk-Jin Yoon et al. (+4 more)

Dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) are the dominant population in galaxy clusters and serve as ideal probes for studying the environmental impact on galactic evolution. A substantial fraction of dEs are known to harbor central nuclei, which are among the densest stellar systems in the Universe. The large-scale distribution and the underlying origin of nucleated and non-nucleated dEs remain unresolved. Using a state-of-the-art machine learning framework, we systematically scan the Virgo cluster region ($15\arcdeg \times 20\arcdeg$ centered at $R.A. = 187.2\arcdeg$ and $Dec. = 9.6\arcdeg$) and construct the largest homogeneous sample of dEs (of total 2,123) with robust nucleus classifications. We find that nucleated dEs are more spatially clustered and exhibit a stronger association with massive galaxies than their non-nucleated counterparts. This suggests that most nucleated dEs likely formed alongside massive galaxies within the cluster (i.e, the in-situ formation). In contrast, non-nucleated dEs are more widely distributed across the cluster and align more closely with Virgo's global potential well, as traced by the cluster's hot gas. This indicates that most non-nucleated dEs originated outside the cluster (i.e, the ex-situ formation) and were later accreted and redistributed within it. Our findings shed new light on how dEs and their central nuclei form and evolve.
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All authors Sanjaya Paudel, Cristiano G. Sabiu, Suk-Jin Yoon, Daya Nidhi Chhatkuli, Woong-Bae G. Zee, Jaewon Yoo, Binod Adhikari

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): First Data Release Covering The D10 (COSMOS) Region

L. J. M. Davies, M. Bravo, R. H. W. Cook et al. (+18 more)

The Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) is a deep, high-completeness multi-wavelength survey based around spectroscopic observations using the Anglo-Australian Telescope's AAOmega spectrograph. The survey covers $\sim4.5$deg$^{2}$ over three extragalactic fields to Y$_{AB}<21.2$mag and probes sources at $0<z<1.2$, with a median redshift of $z=0.53$. Here we describe the DEVILS spectroscopic observations, data reduction and redshift analysis. We then describe and release to the community all DEVILS data in the 10h (D10, COSMOS) region including: i) catalogues of redshifts, photometry, SED fitting for physical properties, visual morphologies, structural decompositions and group environments/halo masses, ii) matched imaging in 28 bands from x-rays to radio continuum, and iii) reduced 1D spectra. All data are made publicly available through Data Central. Within D10 we obtain 5,442 new high-quality spectroscopic redshifts. When combined with existing, lower-quality, redshift information ($i.e.$ photometric redshifts) this is increased to 7,946. Of these, 3,122 have a spectroscopic redshift from another source (many that was not available at the time of the DEVILS observations). As such, DEVILS provides new unique high-quality spectroscopic redshifts for 4,824 faint sources in COSMOS. This increases the spectroscopic completeness at Y-mag$\sim$21 from $\sim$50% in other samples to $\sim$90% in DEVILS. Finally, we show the power of this dataset by exploring the suppression of star formation in over-dense environments, split by morphology and stellar mass, and highlighting the ubiquitous nature of environmental quenching.
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All authors L. J. M. Davies, M. Bravo, R. H. W. Cook, A. Hashemizadeh, J. E. Thorne, S. Bellstedt, S. P. Driver, A. S. G. Robotham, S. Koushan, N. Adams, S. Huynh, E. J. A. Mannering, J. Tocknell, M. J. I. Brown, J. Bland-Hawthorn, L. Cortese, B. Catinella, M. Meyer, S. Phillipps, M. Siudek, C. Wolf

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The diverse morphology of gravitational wave signals from merging neutron-star white-dwarf binaries

Shenghua Yu, Youjun Lu, C. Simon Jeffery et al. (+6 more)

In sufficiently compact neutron star-white dwarf (NSWD) binary systems, orbital decay means the white dwarf eventually fills its shrinking Roche lobe, initiating a phase of mass transfer. The exchange of angular momentum-both internal and external-plays a critical role in determining the binary's evolutionary outcome. For neutron stars with relatively low magnetic fields and spin frequencies, whether the orbital separation continues to shrink depends on the interplay between gravitational wave (GW) radiation and mass transfer dynamics. We compute the orbital evolution of NSWD binaries across a broad parameter space, incorporating four key variables. Our results reveal distinct boundaries in the NS-WD mass-mass diagram: binaries with white dwarf masses above these thresholds undergo rapid orbital decay and direct coalescence. The dependence of these boundaries on system parameters indicates that Roche-lobe-filling NSWD binaries can follow multiple evolutionary pathways – a phenomenon we refer to as branched or polymorphic evolution. NSWD binary systems emit strong and diverse GW signals, many of which would be detectable by space-based GW observatories. The morphology of the evolving GW waveform provides a direct diagnostic for the NSWD binary configuration, including any contribution from an accretion disk. Our models can provide critical waveform templates for identifying merging binary signals in real-time GW data.
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All authors Shenghua Yu, Youjun Lu, C. Simon Jeffery, Zhanwen Han, DongDong Liu, Jie Yang, Xilong Fan, Bo Peng, Jianbin Li

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Oscillations of dark matter halos in galaxies and their effects on motion of stars

V. V. Flambaum and I. B. Samsonov

Matter and dark matter in galaxies represent two main components linked by the gravitational interaction. Collisions of galaxies may create an offset between the centers of mass of these components. Ignoring internal dynamics of particles in the dark matter halo and Keplerian rotations of matter in the galaxy, we focus on possible relative oscillations of the matter in the dark matter halo. This two-fluid model is somewhat similar to the “giant dipole resonances” in nuclei. We estimate possible amplitude and frequency of such oscillations assuming that the offset of the centers of mass is small as compared with the size of the galaxy. Such oscillations, if exist, should manifest themselves in anomalies of velocities of stars in the galaxy, such as the density waves and runaway stars which have orbit periods in resonance with oscillations.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

High-order Gravity-mode Period Spacing Patterns of Intermediate-mass ($1.5 \, M_\odot < M < 3 \, M_{\odot}$) Main-sequence Stars I. Perturbative Analysis

Yoshiki Hatta and Takashi Sekii

Theoretical study of high-order gravity-mode period spacing ($\Delta P_g$) pattern is relevant for the better understanding of internal properties of intermediate-mass ($1.5 \, M_\odot < M < 8 \, M_{\odot}$) main-sequence g-mode pulsators. In this paper, we carry out the first-order perturbative analysis to evaluate effects of a sharp, though not discontinuous, transition in the Brunt-Väisälä (BV) frequency on the $\Delta P_g$ pattern. Such a finite-width transition in the BV frequency, whose scale height can be comparable to the local wavelength of gravity waves, is expected to develop in relatively low-mass ($1.5 \, M_\odot < M < 3 \, M_{\odot}$) main-sequence stars, causing a bump in the second derivative of the BV frequency. Inspired by Unno et al.'s formulation, we treat the bump in the second derivative of the BV frequency as a small perturbation, which allows us to derive an analytical expression of the $\Delta P_g$ pattern. The analytical expression shows that the amplitude of the oscillatory $\Delta P_g$ pattern is determined by a weighted average of the bump in the second derivative of the BV frequency where the weighting function is given by the g-mode eigenfunction. Tests with low-mass ($\sim 2 \, M_\odot$) main-sequence stellar models show that the analytical expression can reproduce the $\Delta P_g$ patterns numerically computed reasonably well. The results of our perturbative analysis will be useful for, e.g., improving semi-analytical expressions of the $\Delta P_g$ pattern, which would enable us to investigate $\Delta P_g$ patterns of SPB stars and $\gamma$ Dor stars for inferring chemical composition profile and rotation rates.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The Intermediate Mass Black Hole in Omega Centauri: Constraints on Accretion from JWST

Steven Chen, Jeremy Hare, Oleg Kargaltsev et al. (+4 more)

We analyze JWST observations of the central region of the globular cluster $\omega$ Centauri (NGC 5139, $\omega$ Cen hereafter), around the position of the candidate IMBH inferred by \cite{haberle_fast-moving_2024} from the motion of fast-moving stars in multi-epoch HST observations. We performed PSF-fitting photometry for sources in NIRCam (F200W and F444W) and MIRI (F770W and F1500W) and constructed UV to IR SEDs for sources within the central region of the cluster by using HST photometry from oMEGACat \citep{haberle_omegacat_2024}. None of the SEDs of reliably measured sources within this region resembles the SEDs computed from models of \cite{pesce_toward_2021} for IMBHs accreting from intracluster medium at low rates. Our JWST limits place constraints on combinations of IMBH mass and accretion rate, either due to the amount of material available to be accreted, or due to the fraction of accreting matter that actually falls into the IMBH. Our non-detection then does not necessarily contradict the mass range of the IMBH inferred from the fast moving stars. We discuss these constraints in the context of the model of \cite{pesce_toward_2021}. We find that JWST limits are more restrictive than the existing radio limits for IMBH masses $\lesssim 6000 M_{\odot}$. It is also possible that the faint IMBH emission is dominated by the light of a nearby star. Tighter limits on accretion onto the candidate IMBH can be placed with deeper observations, a more precise localization of the IMBH, and better measurements of the local intracluster medium density and temperature at the center of the cluster.
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All authors Steven Chen, Jeremy Hare, Oleg Kargaltsev, Hui Yang, Denis Cioffi, Maximilian Häberle, Anil Seth

Tuesday 25 November

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

The Diversity of Cold Worlds: Age and Characterization of the Exoplanet COCONUTS-2b

Rocio Kiman, Charles A. Beichman, Azul Ruiz Diaz et al. (+19 more)

Studying cold brown dwarfs is key to understanding the diverse characteristics of cold giant exoplanets atmospheres. COCONUTS-2, is a wide binary system composed of a T9 brown dwarf and an M3 star, which presents a unique opportunity to characterize a cold benchmark brown dwarf. As part of a JWST program to study the range of physical and atmospheric properties of the coldest brown dwarfs, we obtained NIRSpec G395H spectra (R~2700, 2.87-5.13 um) and MIRI F1000W, F1280W, and F1800W photometry for COCONUTS-2b. In this work, we find a 99% probability of the system belonging to the Corona of Ursa Major (414+/-23 Myr) using BANYAN Sigma and its full kinematics. We also re-estimate the astrometry of COCONUTS-2b using the MIRI data. We support the membership with a comparison of rotation period, metallicity and C/O ratio of the group with those of the COCONUTS-2 system. We also calculate its bolometric luminosity, which combined with our age estimation, allows us to derive its mass, effective temperature, surface gravity, and radius with high precision. As a result of our analysis, we support the conclusion that COCONUTS-2b is a planetary mass object (7.5+/-0.4 MJup) which was likely formed via the same mechanism as stars. In addition we compare the JWST spectrum to another object in the sample, J082507.35+280548.5 (0825+2805), a Y0.5 brown dwarf, which is a candidate member of the same moving group, but has a lower mass (3.7+/-0.2 MJup). We identify absorption feature differences which could indicate that 0825+2805 has stronger vertical mixing.
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All authors Rocio Kiman, Charles A. Beichman, Azul Ruiz Diaz, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Brianna Lacy, Genaro Suarez, Federico Marocco, J. Davy Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Gagne, Jessica Copeland, Ben Burningham, Niall Whiteford, Melanie J. Rowland, Daniella C. Bardalez Gagliuffi, Johanna M. Vos, Adam C. Schneider, Eileen C. Gonzales, Sherelyn Alejandro Merchan, Austin Rothermich, Richard Smart, Edgardo Costa, Rene A. Mendez

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Automated all-sky detection of {\gamma} Doradus / {\delta} Scuti hybrids in TESS data from positive unlabelled (PU) learning

Mykyta Kliapets, Pablo Huijse, Andrew Tkachenko et al. (+4 more)

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission has observed hundreds of millions of stars, substantially contributing to the available pool of high-precision photometric space data. Among them are the relatively rare $\gamma$ Doradus / $\delta$ Scuti ($\gamma$ Dor / $\delta$ Sct) hybrid pulsators, which have been previously studied using Kepler data. These stars are perfect laboratories to probe both inner and outer interior stellar layers thanks to them exhibiting both pressure and gravity modes. We seek to classify an all-sky sample of AF stars observed by TESS to find previously undiscovered hybrid pulsators and supply them in a catalogue of candidates. We also aim to compare the light curves produced with the TESS-Gaia Light Curve (TGLC) pipeline, currently underused in variability studies, with other publicly available light curves. We compared dominant and secondary frequencies of confirmed hybrid pulsators in Kepler, extended mission Quick Look Pipeline (QLP) data, and nominal and extended mission TGLC data. We then used a feature-based positive unlabelled (PU) learning classifier to search for new hybrid pulsators amongst TESS AF stars and investigated the properties of the detected populations. We find that the variability of confirmed hybrids in TGLC agrees well with the one occurring in QLP light curves and has a high recovery rate of \kepler-extracted frequencies. Our `smart binning' method allows for robust extraction of hybrids from large unlabelled datasets, with an average out-of-bag prediction for test set hybrids at 93.04%. The analysis of dominant frequencies in high-probability candidates shows that we find more pressure-mode dominant hybrids. Our catalogue includes 62,026 new candidate light curves from the nominal and extended TESS missions, with individual probabilities of being a hybrid in each available sector.
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All authors Mykyta Kliapets, Pablo Huijse, Andrew Tkachenko, Alex Kemp, Dario J. Fritzewski, Daniel Hey, Conny Aerts

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Mapping the Galaxy Color-Star Formation Rate Relation with Manifold Learning and Infrared Image Stacking

Yu-Heng Lin, Daniel Masters, Andreas L. Faisst et al. (+7 more)

Modern surveys present us with billions of faint galaxies for which we only have broadband images in $\sim$6-8 optical-to-near-infrared (NIR) filters. Galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) are difficult to estimate accurately without spectroscopic diagnostics or far-infrared (FIR) photometry, both of which are prohibitively expensive to obtain for large numbers of faint, high-redshift galaxies. Here we present the empirical relation between SFR and broadband optical-to-NIR colors learned from Spitzer MIPS and Herschel PACS/SPIRE imaging using an innovative stacking analysis that bins galaxies with similar optical-to-NIR spectral energy distributions using a Self-Organizing Map (SOM). Stacking based on optical-to-NIR colors ensures that our FIR stacks are built from galaxies with similar intrinsic physical properties as opposed to stacking simply by stellar mass. We train a 40$\times$40 SOM using 230,638 galaxies selected from the COSMOS field, and stack the mid-to-far infrared images from 24 micron to 500 micron. We are able to measure the median FIR luminosities from half of the SOM cells to calibrate the star formation rate. In addition to investigating the common structures of optical-to-NIR properties and FIR detections labeled on the SOM, we provide calibrated star formation rates for nearly half of the galaxies in the COSMOS fields down to $i-$band magnitude $\leq 25.5$, and present the evolution of the galaxy main sequence for low-mass galaxies to redshift $z\sim2.5$.
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All authors Yu-Heng Lin, Daniel Masters, Andreas L. Faisst, Harry Teplitz, Olivier Ilbert, Matthieu Bethermin, Shoubaneh Hemmati, Vihang Mehta, Jason D. Rhodes, Gregory L. Walth

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Euclid preparation. XCII. Controlling angular systematics in the Euclid spectroscopic galaxy sample

Euclid Collaboration: P. Monaco, M. Y. Elkhashab, B. R. Granett et al. (+297 more)

We present the strategy used to identify and mitigate potential sources of angular systematics in the Euclid spectroscopic galaxy survey, and we quantify their impact on galaxy clustering measurements and cosmological parameter estimation. We first surveyed the Euclid processing pipeline to identify all evident, potential sources of systematics, and classified them into two broad classes: angular systematics, which modulate the galaxy number density across the sky, and catastrophic redshift errors, which lead to interlopers in the galaxy sample. We then used simulated spectroscopic surveys to test our ability to mitigate angular systematics by constructing a random catalogue that represents the `visibility mask' of the survey; this is a dense set of intrinsically unclustered objects, subject to the same selection effects as the data catalogue. The construction of this random catalogue relies on a detection model, which gives the probability of reliably measuring the galaxy redshift as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of its emission lines. We demonstrate that, in the ideal case of a perfect knowledge of the visibility mask, the galaxy power spectrum in the presence of systematics is recovered, to within sub-per cent accuracy, by convolving a theory power spectrum with a window function obtained from the random catalogue itself. In the case of only approximate knowledge of the visibility mask, we test the stability of power spectrum measurements and cosmological parameter posteriors by using perturbed versions of the random catalogue. We find that significant effects are limited to very large scales, and parameter estimation remains robust; the most impacting effects are connected to the calibration of the detection model.
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All authors Euclid Collaboration: P. Monaco, M. Y. Elkhashab, B. R. Granett, J. Salvalaggio, E. Sefusatti, C. Scarlata, B. Zabelle, M. Bethermin, S. Bruton, C. Carbone, S. de la Torre, S. Dusini, A. Eggemeier, L. Guzzo, G. Lavaux, S. Lee, K. Markovic, K. S. McCarthy, M. Moresco, F. Passalacqua, W. J. Percival, I. Risso, A. G. Sánchez, D. Scott, C. Sirignano, Y. Wang, B. Altieri, S. Andreon, N. Auricchio, C. Baccigalupi, M. Baldi, S. Bardelli, A. Biviano, E. Branchini, M. Brescia, J. Brinchmann, S. Camera, G. Cañas-Herrera, V. Capobianco, V. F. Cardone, J. Carretero, S. Casas, F. J. Castander, M. Castellano, G. Castignani, S. Cavuoti, A. Cimatti, C. Colodro-Conde, G. Congedo, C. J. Conselice, L. Conversi, Y. Copin, F. Courbin, H. M. Courtois, H. Degaudenzi, G. De Lucia, H. Dole, F. Dubath, C. A. J. Duncan, X. Dupac, S. Escoffier, M. Farina, R. Farinelli, S. Ferriol, N. Fourmanoit, M. Frailis, E. Franceschi, M. Fumana, S. Galeotta, K. George, W. Gillard, B. Gillis, C. Giocoli, J. Gracia-Carpio, A. Grazian, F. Grupp, S. V. H. Haugan, W. Holmes, F. Hormuth, A. Hornstrup, K. Jahnke, M. Jhabvala, B. Joachimi, E. Keihänen, S. Kermiche, A. Kiessling, B. Kubik, M. Kümmel, M. Kunz, H. Kurki-Suonio, A. M. C. Le Brun, S. Ligori, P. B. Lilje, V. Lindholm, I. Lloro, G. Mainetti, D. Maino, E. Maiorano, O. Mansutti, S. Marcin, O. Marggraf, M. Martinelli, N. Martinet, F. Marulli, R. J. Massey, E. Medinaceli, S. Mei, Y. Mellier, M. Meneghetti, E. Merlin, G. Meylan, A. Mora, L. Moscardini, C. Neissner, S.-M. Niemi, C. Padilla, S. Paltani, F. Pasian, K. Pedersen, V. Pettorino, S. Pires, G. Polenta, M. Poncet, L. A. Popa, L. Pozzetti, F. Raison, A. Renzi, J. Rhodes, G. Riccio, E. Romelli, M. Roncarelli, E. Rossetti, R. Saglia, Z. Sakr, D. Sapone, B. Sartoris, P. Schneider, T. Schrabback, M. Scodeggio, A. Secroun, G. Seidel, S. Serrano, P. Simon, G. Sirri, A. Spurio Mancini, L. Stanco, J. Steinwagner, C. Surace, P. Tallada-Crespí, A. N. Taylor, H. I. Teplitz, I. Tereno, N. Tessore, S. Toft, R. Toledo-Moreo, F. Torradeflot, I. Tutusaus, L. Valenziano, J. Valiviita, T. Vassallo, A. Veropalumbo, D. Vibert, J. Weller, A. Zacchei, G. Zamorani, F. M. Zerbi, E. Zucca, V. Allevato, M. Ballardini, M. Bolzonella, A. Boucaud, E. Bozzo, C. Burigana, R. Cabanac, M. Calabrese, A. Cappi, J. A. Escartin Vigo, G. Fabbian, L. Gabarra, W. G. Hartley, R. Maoli, J. Martín-Fleitas, S. Matthew, N. Mauri, R. B. Metcalf, A. Pezzotta, M. Pöntinen, V. Scottez, M. Sereno, M. Tenti, M. Viel, M. Wiesmann, Y. Akrami, I. T. Andika, S. Anselmi, M. Archidiacono, F. Atrio-Barandela, S. Avila, D. Bertacca, A. Blanchard, L. Blot, M. Bonici, S. Borgani, M. L. Brown, A. Calabro, B. Camacho Quevedo, F. Caro, C. S. Carvalho, T. Castro, F. Cogato, S. Conseil, A. R. Cooray, O. Cucciati, S. Davini, G. Desprez, A. Díaz-Sánchez, J. J. Diaz, S. Di Domizio, J. M. Diego, A. Enia, Y. Fang, A. G. Ferrari, A. Finoguenov, A. Fontana, A. Franco, J. García-Bellido, T. Gasparetto, V. Gautard, E. Gaztanaga, F. Giacomini, F. Gianotti, G. Gozaliasl, M. Guidi, C. M. Gutierrez, A. Hall, C. Hernández-Monteagudo, H. Hildebrandt, J. Hjorth, S. Joudaki, J. J. E. Kajava, Y. Kang, V. Kansal, D. Karagiannis, K. Kiiveri, J. Kim, C. C. Kirkpatrick, S. Kruk, M. Lattanzi, V. Le Brun, L. Legrand, M. Lembo, F. Lepori, G. Leroy, G. F. Lesci, J. Lesgourgues, L. Leuzzi, T. I. Liaudat, S. J. Liu, A. Loureiro, J. Macias-Perez, M. Magliocchetti, F. Mannucci, C. J. A. P. Martins, L. Maurin, M. Miluzio, C. Moretti, G. Morgante, S. Nadathur, K. Naidoo, A. Navarro-Alsina, S. Nesseris, D. Paoletti, K. Paterson, L. Patrizii, A. Pisani, D. Potter, S. Quai, M. Radovich, G. Rodighiero, S. Sacquegna, M. Sahlén, D. B. Sanders, E. Sarpa, A. Schneider, D. Sciotti, E. Sellentin, L. C. Smith, K. Tanidis, C. Tao, G. Testera, R. Teyssier, S. Tosi, A. Troja, M. Tucci, A. Venhola, D. Vergani, F. Vernizzi, G. Verza, P. Vielzeuf, N. A. Walton

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Is there a retrograde accretion disk around 4U 1626$-$67? Tracking torque reversals with a state-space model

Joseph O'Leary, Andrew Melatos, Tom Kimpson et al. (+5 more)

X-ray timing studies of the persistent, Galactic, accretion-powered pulsar 4U 1626$-$67 reveal torque reversals, during which the pulse frequency $\nu(t)$ alternates between multiyear episodes of secular acceleration and deceleration, separated by transitions lasting $\lesssim 150 \, \rm{days}$. Here an unscented Kalman filter is applied to track the $\nu(t)$ fluctuations observed in 22.7 years (3340 samples) of publicly available Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope data to test the canonical picture of magnetocentrifugal accretion for consistency with prograde-prograde and retrograde-prograde accretion disk configurations on either side of the 2008 torque reversal. It is found that the retrograde-prograde model is preferred, with a log Bayes factor equal to 0.44 and maximum a posteriori log likelihood ratio equal to 2.5. The mass accretion rate $Q(t)$ and magnetocentrifugal fastness $\omega(t)$ transition smoothly between episodes of deceleration and acceleration; $Q(t)$ shifts by $\leq 0.34 \, {\rm dex}$ across the reversal, and one measures $\omega(t) \approx 0.25$ and $\omega(t) \approx 0.30$ during deceleration and acceleration, respectively. The angular acceleration $\dot{\Omega}(t)$ satisfies $-9 \lesssim \dot{\Omega}(t)/(10^{-12} \, \rm{rad \, s^{-2}}) \lesssim -5$ and $2 \lesssim \dot{\Omega}(t)/(10^{-12} \, \rm{rad \, s^{-2}}) \lesssim 9$ before and after the 2008 reversal, respectively, compared to $\dot{\Omega} \approx -3.0 \times 10^{-12} \, \rm{rad \, s^{-2}}$ before reversal and $\dot{\Omega} \approx 2.5 \times 10^{-12} \, \rm{rad \, s^{-2}}$ after reversal, as inferred from previous long-term X-ray timing and spectral analysis of 4U 1626$-$67.
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All authors Joseph O'Leary, Andrew Melatos, Tom Kimpson, Dimitris M. Christodoulou, Nicholas J. O'Neill, Patrick M. Meyers, Sayantan Bhattacharya, Silas G.T. Laycock

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

CH$_3$OH and HCN in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Mapped with the ALMA Atacama Compact Array: Distinct Outgassing Behaviors and a Remarkably High CH$_3$OH/HCN Production Rate Ratio

Nathan X. Roth, Martin A. Cordiner, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan et al. (+15 more)

We report the detection of methanol (CH$_3$OH) toward interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using the Atacama Compact Array of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) on UT 2025 August 28, September 18 and 22, and October 1, and of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) on September 12 and 15. These observations spanned pre-perihelion heliocentric distances ($r_H$) of 2.6 – 1.7 au. The molecules showed outgassing patterns distinct from one another, with HCN production being depleted in the sunward hemisphere of the coma, whereas CH$_3$OH was enhanced in that direction. Statistical analysis of molecular scale lengths in 3I/ATLAS indicated that CH$_3$OH included production from coma sources at $L_p>258$ km at 99% confidence. However low signal-to-noise on long baselines, which sample emission on small spatial scales closest to the nucleus, prevented definitively ruling out CH$_3$OH as purely a parent species. In contrast, HCN production was indistinguishable from direct nucleus sublimation. The CH$_3$OH production rate increased sharply from August through October, including an uptick near the inner edge of the H$_2$O sublimation zone at $r_H$ = 2 au. Compared to comets measured to date at radio wavelengths, the derived CH$_3$OH/HCN ratios in 3I/ATLAS of $124^{+30}_{-34}$ and $79^{+11}_{-14}$ on September 12 and 15, respectively, are among the most enriched values measured in any comet, surpassed only by anomalous solar system comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS).
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All authors Nathan X. Roth, Martin A. Cordiner, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Nicolas Biver, Jacques Crovisier, Stefanie N. Milam, Emmanuel Lellouch, Pablo Santos-Sanz, Dariusz C. Lis, Chunhua Qi, K. D. Foster, Jérémie Boissier, Kenji Furuya, Raphael Moreno, Steven B. Charnley, Anthony J. Remijan, Yi-Jehng Kuan, Lillian X. Hart