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Physics Astrophysics

astro-ph Watch Astrophysics

Wednesday 10 December

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Probing stellar rotation in the Pleiades with gravity-mode pulsators

D. J. Fritzewski, A. Kemp, G. Li et al. (+1 more)

Due to their proximity, the Pleiades are an important benchmark open cluster. Despite its status, asteroseismic analyses of its members are rare. In particular, the gravity-mode (g-mode) pulsators, which allow inference of stellar near-core properties have not been analysed yet. We aim to identify and analyse the population of g-mode pulsators in the Pleiades. Our focus lies on the internal rotation as measured from asteroseismology to obtain a well defined sample of stellar rotation on the early main sequence. Based on full-frame images from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), we constructed light curves for intermediate-mass Pleiades members and searched for g-mode pulsators among them. For pulsators exhibiting period spacing patterns, we determined their near-core rotation rate and buoyancy periods. For all other g-mode pulsators, we estimated the near-core rotation rate based on the dominant mode frequency to obtain a comprehensive rotation rate distribution. Among our 105 target stars, we find 28 g-mode pulsators distributed across the entire upper main sequence, 19 of which are hybrid pulsators, but only three stars exhibit period spacing patterns in the current TESS data. The near-core rotation rates in A- and early F-type members are distributed between 1 and 3 d$^{-1}$ without any clear mass-dependence. This distribution is much broader than the one in the similar open cluster NGC 2516. A comparison of the buoyancy periods shows that the Pleiades and NGC 2516 are of similar asteroseismic age. With the large population of g-mode and hybrid pulsators, the Pleiades constitute a valuable asteroseismic benchmark cluster, reaffirming its important role in stellar astrophysics.
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All authors D. J. Fritzewski, A. Kemp, G. Li, C. Aerts

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Confirming the Magnetic Field Detection at the Surface of $\chi$ Cyg

Alexis Lavail, Arturo López Ariste, Quentin Pilate et al. (+3 more)

We present spectropolarimetric observations of $\chi$ Cygni obtained with Neo-Narval at Télescope Bernard Lyot in 2025. We obtained observations across three epochs (2025 Jul, Aug, and Oct) near maximum light to search for magnetic field signatures at the stellar photosphere. We detected a clear circular polarization signal in the 2025 Aug observations (pulsation phases $0.99$ to $0.01$). We measure a mean longitudinal magnetic field of $B_l = 3.4 \pm 0.6$ G. No detections were obtained for the 2025 Jul and Oct epochs. The pulsation-phase dependence suggests that field detection is tied to specific shock conditions near maximum light.
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All authors Alexis Lavail, Arturo López Ariste, Quentin Pilate, Philippe Mathias, Fabrice Herpin, Agnès Lèbre

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Warm Inflation in a Braneworld Scenario

Sabina Yeasmin and Atri Deshamukhya

In the literature, many warm inflationary models are formulated. In this piece of work, a warm inflationary model in the braneworld scenario is studied, considering constant and variable dissipation coefficients. Performance of the model has been considered in both strong and weak dissipative regimes. We study the dynamics of this scenario under slow-roll approximation and estimate cosmological observables, viz., the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio. In order to constrain the parameters in our model, we consider data from Planck 2018 and BICEP.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The Statistical Analysis Of The Galactic Open Clusters' Structure

Jin-Sheng Qiu, Zhen Wan, Xu-Zhi Li et al. (+5 more)

We present a systematic investigation of 1,481 Galactic open clusters (OCs) through the application of the Limepy dynamical model, from which we derive the fundamental structural parameters of OCs. We conduct the statistical analyses on the structural parameters with clusters' ages and locations within the Milky Way. Our results reveal the higher concentration in the cluster centeris associated with the sharper truncation at the periphery of cluster, which is consistent with previous findings for globular clusters(GCs). We further find the systematic increase of the lower limit of clusters' half-mass radius (Rh) with age. Our results also show that OCs located at larger vertical distances from the Galactic plane systematically display higher central concentrations. Our findings collectively suggest that the structural characteristics of OCs are shaped by both intrinsic evolutionary processes and interactions with the Galactic environment. During the evolution of star clusters, the combined effects of mass segregation and tidal stripping lead to the systematic pattern between central concentration and outer truncation. Clusters of different ages and locations within the Milky Way undergo different evolutionary histories, resulting in correlations between the Rh and age, as well as between central concentration and galactic location.
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All authors Jin-Sheng Qiu, Zhen Wan, Xu-Zhi Li, Qing-Feng Zhu, Lu-lu Fan, Xiao-Hui Xu, Jun-Han Zhao, Zhi-Yong Pu

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

SN 2022ngb: A faint, slowly evolving Type IIb supernova with a low-mass envelope

J.-W. Zhao, S. Benetti, Y.-Z. Cai et al. (+35 more)

An extensive photometric and spectroscopic follow-up campaign of the Type IIb SN 2022ngb is presented in the article. Through detailed modeling of this dataset, we aim to constrain the key physical parameters of the explosion, infer the nature of the progenitor star and its environment, and probe the dynamical properties of the ejecta. We analyze photometric and spectroscopic data of SN 2022ngb. By constructing and modeling the bolometric light curve with semi-analytic models, we estimate the primary explosion parameters. The spectroscopic data are compared with those of well-studied SNe IIb and NLTE models to constrain the properties of the progenitor and the structure of the resulting ejecta. SN 2022ngb is a low-luminosity SN IIb with a peak bolometric luminosity of L_bol = 7.76 (+1.15/-1.00) x 10^41 erg/s and a V-band rising time of 24.32 +/- 0.50 days. Light curve modeling indicates an ejecta mass of ~2.9-3.2 M_sun, an explosion energy of ~1.4 x 10^51 erg, and a low synthesized 56Ni mass of ~0.045 M_sun. Nebular phase spectra exhibit asymmetric line profiles, pointing to a non-spherical explosion and an anisotropic distribution of radioactive material. Our analysis reveals a relatively compact stripped-envelope progenitor with a pre-SN mass of approximately 4.7 M_sun (corresponding to a 15-16 M_sun ZAMS star). Our analysis suggests that SN 2022ngb originated from the explosion of a moderate-mass relatively compact, stripped-envelope star in a binary system. The asymmetries inferred from the nebular phase spectral line features suggest a non-spherical explosion.
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All authors J.-W. Zhao, S. Benetti, Y.-Z. Cai, A. Pastorello, N. Elias-Rosa, A. Reguitti, G. Valerin, Z.-Y. Wang, E. Cappellaro, G.-F. Feng, A. Fiore, B. Fitzpatrick, M. Fraser, J. Isern, E. Kankare, T. Kravtsov, B. Kumar, P. Lundqvist, K. Matilainen, S. Mattila, P.A. Mazzali, S. Moran, P. Ochner, Z.-H. Peng, T.M. Reynolds, I. Salmaso, S. Srivastav, M.D. Stritzinger, S. Taubenberger, L. Tomasella, J. Vinkó, J.C. Wheeler, S. Williams, S.-P. Pei, Y.-J. Yang, X.-K. Liu, X.-W. Liu, Y.-P. Yang

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

Investigating the interaction of a Cosmic String with an Accreting Black Hole

Ishan Swamy and Deobrat Singh

Rotating black holes when attached to a cosmic string have their rotational energy extracted leading to a change in its spin and mass. The spin of a black hole can be measured using various methods for an accreting black hole in an X-ray binary system. Accretion disks around black holes have an innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) whose location is directly dependent on spin and mass of the black hole. The orbit's location changes as the black hole's spin changes and hence can be a method to detect the presence of cosmic strings. This study investigates this change and suggests the ejection of accretion material as black hole spin approaches maximum for prograde motion and material falling into the black hole for retrograde motion, regardless of the presence of cosmic string. However, in the presence of cosmic string, the spin-up process due to accretion is found out to be slower, even with high accretion rates and is detectable. There is a transition phase that occurs as the black hole approaches maximum spin, where even small changes in spin result in significant changes in the ISCO's position. Accreting black holes attached to a large string never reach this transition phase and this absence serves as potential evidence for the existence of a cosmic string.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Constraining the outer boundary condition for the Babcock-Leighton dynamo models

Yukun Luo, Jie Jiang, Binghang Li et al. (+2 more)

The evolution of the Sun's large-scale surface magnetic field is well captured by surface flux transport models, which can therefore provide a natural constraint on the outer boundary condition (BC) of Babcock-Leighton (BL) dynamo models. For the first time, we propose a zero radial diffusion BC for BL dynamo models, enabling their surface field evolution to align consistently with surface flux transport simulations. We derive a zero radial diffusion BC from the Magnetohydrodynamic induction equation and evaluate its effects in comparison with two alternatives: (i) a radial outer BC, and (ii) a radial outer BC combined with strong near-surface radial pumping. The comparison is carried out both for the evolution of a single bipolar magnetic region and within a full BL dynamo model. The zero radial diffusion outer BC effectively suppresses radial diffusion across the surface, ensuring consistency between the evolution of the bipolar magnetic region in the BL dynamo and the surface flux transport model. With this outer BC, the full BL dynamo model successfully reproduces the fundamental properties of the solar cycle. In addition, the model naturally produces a surface magnetic field that is not purely radial, in closer agreement with solar observations. The physically motivated zero radial diffusion boundary condition paves the way for deeper insight into the solar and stellar cycles.
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All authors Yukun Luo, Jie Jiang, Binghang Li, Zebin Zhang, Ruihui Wang

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Exploring Machine Learning Regression Models for Advancing Foreground Mitigation and Global 21cm Signal Parameter Extraction

Anshuman Tripathi, Abhirup Datta and Gursharanjit Kaur

Extracting parameters from the global 21cm signal is crucial for understanding the early Universe. However, detecting the 21cm signal is challenging due to the brighter foreground and associated observational difficulties. In this study, we evaluate the performance of various machine-learning regression models to improve parameter extraction and foreground removal. This evaluation is essential for selecting the most suitable machine learning regression model based on computational efficiency and predictive accuracy. We compare four models: Random Forest Regressor (RFR), Gaussian Process Regressor (GPR), Support Vector Regressor (SVR), and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The comparison is based on metrics such as the root mean square error (RMSE) and $R^2$ scores. We examine their effectiveness across different dataset sizes and conditions, including scenarios with foreground contamination. Our results indicate that ANN consistently outperforms the other models, achieving the lowest RMSE and the highest $R^2$ scores across multiple cases. While GPR also performs well, it is computationally intensive, requiring significant RAM and longer execution times. SVR struggles with large datasets due to its high computational costs, and RFR demonstrates the weakest accuracy among the models tested. We also found that employing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as a preprocessing step significantly enhances model performance, especially in the presence of foregrounds.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

CWTHF: Subhalo Identification with Continuous Wavelet Transform

Minxing Li, Yun Wang and Ping He

With advances in cosmology and computer science, cosmological simulations now resolve structures in increasingly fine detail. As key tracers of hierarchical structure formation, subhalos are among the most important objects within these simulations. In our previous work, we established that the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) can effectively extract clustering information and serve as a robust halo finder. Here, we extend the CWT framework to subhalo identification by adapting the Continuous Wavelet Transform Halo Finder (CWTHF) code. This extension extends the unbinding procedure, which enables the reliable identification of gravitationally bound substructures. The algorithm identifies density peaks within known halos or subhalos and segments the surrounding volume accordingly. Once a new subhalo is registered, its position is recorded to prevent duplicate detection. We validate our approach using the TNG50-2 and TNG100-1 simulations, as well as a single Friends-of-Friends (FOF) halo, by comparing the resulting CWT catalog against the reference SUBFIND catalog. Because the method inherits the original computational framework, our subhalo finder maintains a favorable linear time complexity of $\mathcal{O}(N)$.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Bimetric MOND as a framework for variable-$G$ theories – local systems and cosmology

Mordehai Milgrom

Bimetric MOND (BIMOND) is used as a platform for variable-$G$ theories that have MOND-specific idiosyncrasies. E.g., MOND premises dictate return to standard dynamics in the high-acceleration limit, predicting the standard value of $G$ for high-acceleration systems. This automatically ensures compliance of such theories with all the constraints on inconstancy of $G$ that emerge from the study of high-acceleration systems: geophysics, solar system, pulsars, supernovae, stellar evolution, emission of gravitational waves, etc. In MOND, constraints deduced from such phenomena have no bearing on possible $G$ variability in cosmology. My guiding motivation is to see if such theories may account for some roles of dark matter in cosmology; e.g., in accounting for the expansion history of the Universe in the matter-dominated era, by having a $G_e\approx 2\pi G$ govern the later stages of the expansion, instead of invoking matter density $\approx 2\pi\times$ baryon density. Without adding degrees of freedom, or new dimensionful constants, BIMOND can be extended to a class of theories that entail what is best described as phenomenon-dependence of Newton's constant, $G$. I cannot yet present a consistent model that complies with all the observations in cosmology, including the expansion history, with all its details. Instead, I describe some examples of theories in the class that predict different values of $G_e$ in different circumstances, including one where $G$ takes its standard value for all subcosmological systems – even if they are deep in the MOND regime. I also discuss scenarios in which $G_e\approx G$ in the early Universe, as required by constraints from big-bang nucleosynthesis, but with $G_e> G$ setting in at later times, where it can affect the expansion history during the matter-dominated era.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The stellar and dark matter distributions in early-type galaxies measured by stacked weak gravitational lensing

Momoka Fujikawa and Masamune Oguri

We investigate stellar mass and central dark matter density profiles of photometric luminous red galaxies with stellar masses of $\sim10^{10}-10^{12}M_\odot$ using weak gravitational lensing measurements from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program data obtained with the Subaru Telescope. By stacking weak lensing signals from a large number of galaxies, we obtain average tangential shear profiles down to $\sim 10\,\mathrm{kpc}/h$, which are fitted assuming a two-component model consisting of stellar and dark matter components to constrain their central dark matter distribution. We find a preference for non-zero core radii of dark matter distributions in galaxies with stellar masses of $\sim 10^{11}M_\odot$. Our results imply a stronger feedback effect than that typically predicted by current hydrodynamical simulations. In addition, we provide a new constraint on the stellar-to-halo mass relation, where both stellar and halo masses are, for the first time, directly constrained by weak gravitational lensing. Our results prefer the stellar initial mass function (IMF) that is more bottom-heavy than the Salpeter IMF.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Discovery of the redback millisecond pulsar PSR J1728-4608 with ASKAP

F. Petrou, Y. Wang, N. Hurley-Walker et al. (+10 more)

We present the discovery of PSR J1728-4608, a new redback spider pulsar identified in images from the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope. PSR J1728-4608 is a millisecond pulsar with a spin period of 2.86 ms, in a 5.05 hr orbit with a companion star. The pulsar exhibits a radio spectrum of the form $S_\nu \propto \nu^\alpha$, with a measured spectral index of $\alpha = -1.8(3)$. It is eclipsed for 42% of its orbit at 888 MHz, and multi–frequency image–domain observations show that the egress duration scales with frequency as a power law with index $n = -1.74$, where longer duration eclipses are seen at lower frequencies. An optical counterpart is detected in archival Gaia data within $0.5''$ of the radio position. It has a mean G-band magnitude of 18.8 mag and its light curve displays characteristics consistent with a combination of ellipsoidal modulation and irradiation effects. We also report the nearest Fermi $\gamma$-ray source, located 2$'$ away from our source, as a possible association. A radio timing study constrains the intrinsic and orbital properties of the system, revealing orbital period variations that we attribute to changes in the gravitational quadrupole moment of the companion star. At the eclipse boundary, we measure a maximum dispersion measure excess of $2.0 \pm 1.2 \ \mathrm{pc\ cm^{-3}}$, corresponding to an electron column density of $5.9 \pm 3.6 \times10^{18} \ \mathrm{cm^{-2}}$. Modelling of the eclipse mechanism suggests that synchrotron absorption is the dominant cause of the eclipses observed at radio wavelengths. The discovery and characterisation of systems like \psr\ provide valuable insights into pulsar recycling, binary evolution, the nature of companion-driven eclipses, and the interplay between compact objects and their plasma environments.
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All authors F. Petrou, Y. Wang, N. Hurley-Walker, S. McSweeney, L. Zhang, R. G. Key, J. Freeburn, B. W. Meyers, David L. Kaplan, A. Zic, Tara Murphy, D. Dobie, Y. Maan

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Four Giant Planets from 2024 KMTNet Microlensing Campaign

Cheongho Han, Andrzej Udalski, Ian A. Bond et al. (+56 more)

In this work, we present analyses of four newly discovered planetary microlensing events from the 2024 KMTNet survey season: KMT-2024-BLG-0176, KMT-2024-BLG-0349, KMT-2024-BLG-1870, and KMT-2024-BLG-2087. In each case, the planetary nature was revealed through distinct types of anomalies in the lensing light curves: a positive bump near the peak for KMT-2024-BLG-0176, an asymmetric peak for KMT-2024-BLG-0349, a short-duration central dip for KMT-2024-BLG-1870, and a caustic-crossing feature for KMT-2024-BLG-2087. Detailed modeling of the light curves confirms that these anomalies are produced by planetary companions with planet-to-host mass ratios in the range of $(1.5\text{--}17.9)\times 10^{-3}$. Despite the diversity of signal morphologies, all planets detected in these events are giant planets with masses comparable to or exceeding that of Jupiter in the Solar System. Each planet orbits a host star less massive than the Sun, emphasizing the strength of microlensing in uncovering planetary systems around low-mass stellar hosts.
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All authors Cheongho Han, Andrzej Udalski, Ian A. Bond, Chung-Uk Lee, Jiyuan Zhang, Michael D. Albrow, Sun-Ju Chung, Andrew Gould, Youn Kil Jung, Kyu-Ha Hwang, Yoon-Hyun Ryu, Yossi Shvartzvald, In-Gu Shin, Jennifer C. Yee, Weicheng Zang, Hongjing Yang, Doeon Kim, Dong-Jin Kim, Byeong-Gon Park, Przemek Mróz, Michał K. Szymański, Jan Skowron, Radosław Poleski, Igor Soszyński, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Szymon Kozłowski, Krzysztof A. Rybicki, Patryk Iwanek, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Marcin Wrona, Mariusz Gromadzki, Mateusz J. Mróz, Fumio Abe, David P. Bennett, Aparna Bhattacharya, Ryusei Hamada, Stela Ishitani Silva, Yuki Hirao, Asahi Idei, Shota Miyazaki, Yasushi Muraki, Tutumi Nagai, Kansuke Nunota, Greg Olmschenk, Clément Ranc, Nicholas J. Rattenbury, Yuki Satoh, Takahiro Sumi, Daisuke Suzuki, Takuto Tamaoki, Sean K. Terry, Paul J. Tristram, Aikaterini Vandorou, Hibiki Yama, Yuchen Tang, Yunyi Tang, Shude Mao, Dan Maoz, Wei Zhu

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Galaxy Cluster Detection and Dynamical Analysis in the VIPERS High-Redshift Spectroscopic Survey

Mohamed H. Abdullah, Omnia I. Adly, Gillian Wilson et al. (+2 more)

We present a dynamical analysis of galaxy clusters identified in the VIPERS spectroscopic survey within the redshift range 0.5 <= z <= 1.2. Cluster candidates were first detected as overdense regions in redshift space through the Finger-of-God (FoG) effect, and cluster membership was assigned using the GalWeight technique within the FoG-GalWeight methodology developed by our team. For each cluster, we derived the virial radius (R200), velocity dispersion (sigma200), and virial mass (M200) using the virial mass estimator. We identified ten VIPERS clusters spanning a mass range of 0.59 x 10^14 <= M200/(h^-1 Msun) <= 4.32 x 10^14 and velocity dispersions of 360 <= sigma200 <= 900 km s^-1. We cross-matched the VIPERS clusters with published catalogs and found at least one matching system for each cluster, offering external validation for our detections. We investigated the velocity dispersion-mass relation for these systems and obtained log(sigma200) = (2.73 +/- 0.06) + (0.36 +/- 0.18) log(M200), with an intrinsic scatter of sigma_int = 0.04 +/- 0.07. The derived relation is consistent with theoretical predictions from N-body and hydrodynamical simulations, confirming the reliability of the FoG-GalWeight methodology and the robustness of the virial mass estimator. Our findings demonstrate that the velocity dispersion can serve as a reliable and direct proxy for cluster mass, even at high redshift, without requiring additional dynamical mass modeling.
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All authors Mohamed H. Abdullah, Omnia I. Adly, Gillian Wilson, Magdy Y. Amin, A. Ahmed

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Deblending the MIGHTEE-COSMOS survey with XID+: The resolved radio source counts to $S_{1.4}\approx 5\mu$Jy

Eliab D. Malefahlo, Matt J. Jarvis, Mario G. Santos et al. (+9 more)

Deep radio continuum surveys provide fundamental constraints on galaxy evolution, but source confusion limits sensitivity to the faintest sources. We present a complete framework for producing high-fidelity deblended radio catalogs from the confused MIGHTEE maps using the probabilistic deblending framework XID+ and prior positions from deep multi-wavelength data in the COSMOS field. To assess performance, we construct MIGHTEE-like simulations based on the Tiered Radio Extragalactic Continuum Simulation (T-RECS) radio source population, ensuring a realistic distribution of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) for validation. Through these simulations, we show that prior catalog purity is the dominant factor controlling deblending accuracy: a high-purity prior, containing only sources with a high likelihood of radio detection, recovers accurate flux densities and reproduces input source counts down to $\sim 3\sigma$ (where $\sigma = $ thermal noise). On the other hand, a complete prior overestimates the source counts due to spurious detections. Our optimal strategy combines the high-purity prior with a mask that removes sources detected above $50~\mu$Jy. Applied to the $\sim$1.3\,deg$^2$ area of the MIGHTEE-COSMOS field defined by overlapping multi-wavelength data, this procedure yields a deblended catalog of 89,562 sources. The derived 1.4\,GHz source counts agree with independent P(D) analyses and indicate that we resolve the radio background to $\sim 4.8\,\mu$Jy. We also define a recommended high-fidelity sample of 20,757 sources, based on detection significance, flux density, and goodness-of-fit, which provides reliable flux densities for individual sources in the confusion-limited regime.
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All authors Eliab D. Malefahlo, Matt J. Jarvis, Mario G. Santos, Catherine Cress, Daniel J.B. Smith, Catherine Hale, José Afonso, Imogen H. Whittam, Mattia Vaccari, Ian Heywood, Shuowen Jin, Fangxia An

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

The ONs and OFFs of Pulsar Radio Emission: Characterizing the Nulling Phenomenon

Garvit Grover, N. D. Ramesh Bhat, Samuel J. McSweeney et al. (+4 more)

Radio emission from pulsars is known to exhibit a diverse range of emission phenomena, among which nulling, where the emission becomes temporarily undetectable, is an intriguing one. Observations suggest nulling is prevalent in many long-period pulsars and must be understood to obtain a more comprehensive picture of pulsar emission and its evolution. One of the limitations in observational characterisation of nulling is the limited signal-to-noise, making individual pulses often not easily distinguishable from noise or any putative faint emission. Although some of the approaches in the published literature attempt to address this, they lose efficacy when individual pulses appear indistinguishable from the noise, and as a result, can lead to less accurate measurements. Here we develop a new method (the $\mathbb{N}$sum algorithm) that uses sums of pulses for better distinguishability from noise and thus measures the nulling fraction more robustly. It can be employed for measuring nulling fractions in weaker pulsars and observations with a limited number of observed pulses. We compare our algorithm with the recently developed Gaussian Mixture Modelling approach, using both simulated and real data, and find that our approach yields consistent results for generic and weaker pulsars. We also explore quasi-periodicity in nulling and measure the related parameters for five pulsars, including PSRs~J1453$-$6413, J0950$+$0755 and J0026$-$1955, for which these are also the first such measurements. We compare and contrast our analysis of quasi-periodic nulling with previously published work and explore the use of spin-down energy loss ($\dot E$) to distinguish between different types of modulation behaviour.
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All authors Garvit Grover, N. D. Ramesh Bhat, Samuel J. McSweeney, Christopher P. Lee, Chia Min Tan, Shih Ching Fu, Bradley W. Meyers

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Tracing a Multi-Temperature Quiescent Prominence's Thermodynamic Evolution from Sun to Earth

Callie A. García, Yeimy J. Rivera, Samuel T. Badman et al. (+5 more)

Solar prominences are cool, dense stable structures routinely observed in the corona. Prominences are often ejected from the Sun via coronal mass ejections (CMEs). However, they are rarely detected in a cool, low-ionized state within CMEs measured in situ, making their evolution hard to study. We examine the thermodynamic evolution of one of these rare cases where a quiescent prominence eruption clearly preserves its low-ionized charge state as evidenced by in situ detection. We use multi-viewpoint Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) observations to track and estimate the density, temperature and speed of the prominence as it erupts. We observe that part of the prominence remains in absorption well beyond initial liftoff, indicating the bulk of the prominence experiences minimal ionization and suggesting any strong heating is balanced by radiative losses, expansion, or conduction. From its subsequent in situ passage near 1au, charge states reveal that the prominence is composed of both cool, low-ionized ions as well as hotter plasma reflected by the presence of highly ionized iron, Fe$^{16+}$. Simulated non-equilibrium ionization and recombination results using observationally derived initial conditions match the in situ multi-thermal state for a prominence composed of 70% cool plasma with a 1.8MK peak temperature, and 30% hot plasma with a 4.3MK peak temperature. This suggests that the prominence may not be heated uniformly or that parts of it cools more rapidly. The complex, multi-thermal nature of this erupting prominence emphasizes the need for more comprehensive spectral observations of the global corona.
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All authors Callie A. García, Yeimy J. Rivera, Samuel T. Badman, John C. Raymond, Katharine K. Reeves, Tatiana Niembro, Kristoff W. Paulson, Michael L. Stevens

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

An extragalactic gamma-ray binary formed in supernova 2022jli

Pengfei Zhang, Zhongxiang Wang and Shunhao Ji

On May 5 2022, a type Ic supernova (SN) explosion SN~2022jli was discovered. This SN showed additional optical emissions, which were found to exhibit 12.4-day periodic undulations and concordant periodic velocity shifts. These key features likely indicate a compact object in a binary system was formed. A faint $\gamma$-ray source was also detected at the position of the SN and upon checking the $\gamma$-ray photons' arrival times, it was revealed that the same 12.4-day periodicity was likely present. Here we report our detailed analysis results for the $\gamma$-ray source. Not only was the $\gamma$-ray emission detectable for $\sim$1.5\,years since the discovery time, but a strong modulation at period 12.5\,day was also clearly determined. Considering the newly formed compact object to be a neutron star or a stellar-mass black hole, the putative binary, having an orbital period of 12.5\,day, is likely the first extragalactic high-energy system detected. The system may serve as a valuable example for the formation of many such binaries observed in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Frequency- and phase-resolved polarimetry of millisecond pulsars and its application to timing

Małgorzata Curyło, Andrew Zic, Shuangqiang Wang et al. (+16 more)

Pulsar timing is used for a variety of applications including tests of fundamental physics, probing the structure of neutron stars, and detecting nanohertz gravitational waves. Development of robust methods and generation of high-quality timing data is therefore of utmost importance. In this paper, we present a new technique for creating high-fidelity templates that can be used to measure the pulse times of arrival with significantly increased precision compared to existing methods. Our framework makes use of all available polarimetric information to generate frequency-dependent models of pulse-shape evolution of all four Stokes parameters. We apply this method to millisecond pulsars observed by the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array and show that it results in timing measurement uncertainties reduced up to $\sim$20-30%. We also present, for the first time, phase- and frequency-resolved polarimetric measurements of millisecond pulsars observed with the Parkes Murriyang ultra-widebandwith-low receiver. The data, plots and the code underlying this analysis are made publicly available.
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All authors Małgorzata Curyło, Andrew Zic, Shuangqiang Wang, Eric Thrane, Paul D. Lasky, Jacob Cardinal Tremblay, Zu-Cheng Chen, Shi Dai, Valentina Di Marco, George Hobbs, Agastya Kapur, Wenhua Ling, Marcus E. Lower, Rami F. Mandow, Saurav Mishra, Daniel J. Reardon, Christopher J. Russell, Ryan M. Shannon, Xing-Jiang Zhu

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Delving into the depths of NGC 3783 with XRISM IV. Mapping of the accretion flow with Fe K$\alpha$ emission lines

Chen Li, Jelle S. Kaastra, Liyi Gu et al. (+18 more)

Using XRISM/Resolve $439 \, \rm ks$ time-averaged spectra of the well-known Seyfert-1.5 active galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC 3783, we investigate the nature of the Fe K$\alpha$ emission line at 6.4 keV, the strongest and most common X-ray line observed in AGN. Even the narrow component of the line is resolved with evident Fe K$\alpha_{1}$ (6.404 keV) and K$\alpha_{2}$ (6.391 keV) contributions in a 2:1 flux ratio, fully consistent with a neutral gas with negligible bulk velocity. The narrow and intermediate-width components have a full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of 350 $\pm$ 50 km/s and $3510 \pm 470 \, \rm km/s$, respectively, suggesting that they arise in the outer disk/torus and/or BLR. We detect a $10\%$ excess flux around 4 $-$ 7 keV that is not well described by a symmetric Gaussian line, but is consistent with a relativistically broadened emission line. In this paper, we take the simplest approach to model the asymmetric line as a single emission line (assuming either neutral, He-like or H-like iron) convolved with a relativistic disk line model. As expected, the inferred inclination angle is highly sensitive to the assumed ionization state, and ranges between $i=17-44^{ \circ}$. This model also constrains the black hole spin via the extent of the red wing: the required gravitational redshift in the fitted disk-line profile disfavors a non-spinning (Schwarzschild) black hole. The derived inner radius is close to the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit $r_{\rm ISCO}$ and strongly correlated with the black hole spin. To better constrain the spin, we fix the inner radius at $r_{\rm ISCO}$ and derive a lower limit on the spin of $a \ge 0.29$ at the 3 $\sigma$ confidence level. A Compton shoulder is detected in our data as well as a $2-3 \, \sigma$ detection of the Cr K$\alpha$ and Ni K$\alpha$ lines.
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All authors Chen Li, Jelle S. Kaastra, Liyi Gu, Missagh Mehdipour, Megan E. Eckart, Matteo Guainazzi, Erin Kara, Laura W. Brenneman, Misaki Mizumoto, Jon Miller, Keigo Fukumura, Ehud Behar, Christos Panagiotou, Matilde Signorini, Keqin Zhao, Ralf Ballhausen, Camille M. Diez, Timothy R. Kallman, Shoji Ogawa, Atsushi Tanimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Double tidal disruption events or repeating partial tidal disruption events in AT 2020vdq

Zhang XueGuang

AT 2020vdq has been known as a candidate of repeating partial tidal disruption events (pTDEs), due to its two flares with a time interval of $\sim$1000 days. Here, a simplified method is proposed to test such repeating pTDEs scenario considering a main-sequence star tidally disrupted twice. For the two flares in AT 2020vdq if related to the repeating pTDEs scenario, theoretical TDE model determined stellar mass of the original star disrupted for the first flare should be not very different from the mass of the star (to trace the reminder of the original star) disrupted for the second flare, because a partial TDE with impact parameter $\beta$ smaller than 1 can lead to most of (probable higher than 90%) the stellar mass also bound to the reminder of the original star. After considering theoretical TDE model applied to describe the two flares in AT 2020vdq, the model determined stellar masses are about 2${\rm M_\odot}$ and $0.36{\rm M_\odot}$ for the stars disrupted in the first flare and the second flare. The large mass difference cannot be reasonably expected by the repeating pTDEs with $\beta$ around 0.6 in AT 2020vdq. The results in this manuscript indicate that the repeating pTDEs scenario is not preferred at current stage in AT 2020vdq, but the probable double TDEs for two individual stars tidally disrupted should be currently recommended.
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Tuesday 9 December

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from physics.pop-ph

The meaning of "Big Bang"

Emilio Elizalde

What does “Big Bang" mean? What was the actual origin of these two words? There are many aspects hidden under this name, which are seldom explained. They are discussed here. To frame the analysis, help will be sought from the highly authoritative voices of two exceptional writers: William Shakespeare and Umberto Eco. Both have explored the tension existing between words and the realities they name. And this includes names given to outstanding theorems and spectacular discoveries, too. Stigler's law of eponymy is recalled in this context. These points will be at the heart of the quest here, concerning the concept of “Big Bang", which only a few people know what it means, actually. Fred Hoyle was the first to pronounce these words, in a BBC radio program, with a meaning that was later called inflation. But listeners were left with the image he was trying to destroy: the explosion of Lemaître's primeval atom (an absolutely wrong concept). Hoyle's Steady State will be carefully compared with inflation cosmology. They are quite different, and yet, in both cases, the possibility of creating matter/energy out of expanding space is rooted in the same fundamental principles: those of General Relativity. As is also, the possibility of having a universe with zero total energy, anticipated by R.C. Tolman, in 1934 already. It will be shown, how to obtain accelerated expansion from negative pressure; how to reconcile energy conservation with matter creation in an expanding universe; and a curious relation between de Sitter spacetime and Steady State cosmology. Concerning the naming issue, it will be remarked that, today, the same label “Big Bang" is used in very different contexts: (a) the Big Bang Singularity; (b) as the equivalent of cosmic inflation; (c) speaking of the Big Bang cosmological model; (d) to name a very popular TV program; and more.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from physics.plasm-ph

Two-dimensional PIC simulation of collective Thomson scattering in a beam-plasma system

Yuma Sato and Shuichi Matsukiyo

Collective Thomson scattering (CTS) in a beam-plasma system is reproduced by using 2D PIC simulations and the characteristics of the scattered wave spectrum are examined. By formulating the geometric shape of the scattered wave spectrum in wave number space, where the velocity vector of the beam component and the wave vectors of the incident and scattered waves are arbitrary, it is demonstrated that the spectrum in 2D wave number space becomes asymmetric. The spectrum of scattered waves propagating in a specific direction is presented as a function of wavelength to show that the electron (ion) feature is amplified and becomes asymmetric or distorted when Buneman (ion acoustic) instability occurs. An additional simulation is conducted for a weak, linearly stable beam-plasma system with a hot beam, and confirmed that the obtained scattered wave spectrum shows asymmetric feature. The results are expected to be applicable to the interpretation of radar observations of ionospheric plasmas as well as CTS measurements in laboratory plasmas.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Massive Black Hole Formation

Bernard J. Kelly, Sarah Gossan, Leonardo R. Werneck et al. (+5 more)

Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) are an important component of the massive black hole population of the early universe, and their formation and early mergers will be prominent in the data stream of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). However, the population and binary properties of these early black holes are poorly understood, with masses, mass ratios, spins, and orbital eccentricities strongly dependent on the details of their formation, and the properties of the remaining exterior material (baryonic and non-baryonic), which may be substantial to the point of merger. We report on initial work to simulate the formation, collapse, and/or merger of such DCBH regions in order to extract the resulting gravitational-wave signals.
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All authors Bernard J. Kelly, Sarah Gossan, Leonardo R. Werneck, John Wise, Zachariah B. Etienne, Thiago Assumpção, Aláine Lee, John G. Baker

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

iSTARMOD: A Python Code to Quantify Chromospheric Activity by Using the Spectral Subtraction Technique

Fernando Labarga and David Montes

The use of the spectral subtraction technique allows measurements of chromospheric activity in late-type stars across several activity indicators, such as H$\alpha$ and the other Balmer lines in the visible, He I D3 and Na I D1, D2, Ca II H and K, and Ca II infrared triplet, as well as the Paschen series and He I $\lambda$10830 lines in the near-infrared. iSTARMOD is an updated and extended version of the original STARMOD code and its subsequent modifications. iSTARMOD is presented in this paper as a Python code developed to quantify chromospheric activity by using the spectral subtraction technique. iSTARMOD improves usability, modularity, and integration with modern data analysis workflows and is publicly available, including several examples that help one learn how to use and test the code. The iSTARMOD code is accompanied here with a series of calibrations of $\chi$-functions, to transform the excess emission equivalent widths measured through iSTARMOD into absolute surface fluxes. The method provided with this code and the corresponding flux calibrations allows for the automatic characterization of the chromospheric activity of a large number of spectra or a large number of stars and is also very useful for mitigating the effect of activity on radial velocities in the search for exoplanets.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from hep-ph

Primordial magnetic field from chiral plasma instability with sourcing

Murman Gurgenidze, Andrew J. Long, Alberto Roper Pol et al. (+2 more)

In an electron-positron plasma, an imbalance in the number of right- and left-chiral particles can lead to the growth of a helical magnetic field through a phenomenon called the chiral plasma instability (CPI). In the early universe, scattering reactions that violate chirality come into thermal equilibrium when the plasma cools below a temperature of approximately $80 \, \mathrm{TeV}$. Since these reactions tend to relax any pre-existing chiral asymmetry to zero as the system approaches equilibrium, the standard lore is that primordial magnetogenesis via the CPI is not viable below $80 \, \mathrm{TeV}$. In this work, we propose that the presence of a source for chirality can allow the CPI to operate even below $80 \, \mathrm{TeV}$, we explore the implications of this scenario, and we derive predictions for the resultant magnetic field helicity using a combination of analytical methods and direct numerical simulation.
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All authors Murman Gurgenidze, Andrew J. Long, Alberto Roper Pol, Axel Brandenburg, Tina Kahniashvili

Astrophysics of Galaxies

TiNy Titans HI: Discovering Satellites via HI Gas in an Isolated, Compact Group of Dwarf Galaxies

Sabrina Stierwalt, Nicholas Luber, Zelie Goldberg Little et al. (+7 more)

We report on the HI content of an isolated, compact group of 6 dwarf galaxies at a distance of 145 Mpc. The distribution and kinematics of the HI, including multiple gaseous bridges, indicate the group is a gravitationally bound system. The HI maps further reveal two newly discovered dwarf satellites easily identified by their gas but only barely visible in optical images. The four dwarf group members previously identified in SDSS have 9.06 < log(Mstar/Msun) < 9.43 and 9.42 < log(MHI/Msun) < 9.73. The two newly discovered dwarf satellites have log(Mstar/Msun) = 6.10 with log(MHI/Msun) = 8.71 and log(Mstar/Msun) = 7.07 with log(MHI/Msun) = 9.18. New Gemini optical spectra link the HI detections and their optical counterparts. The group's 3D velocity dispersion (188 km/s), mass-to-light ratio (M_L/B ~44), dynamical-to-baryonic mass ratio (Mdyn/Mbary ~ 21), size (69 kpc), and gas fraction (0.56) are all consistent with the compact dwarf groups in the TNG50 simulation. The group has a top-heavy satellite mass function that is inconsistent with predictions for LMC-sized hosts and may instead be two or more groups coming together. A Voronoi tessellation reveals the group resides in a tendril outside the intersection of two filaments. These intermediate density environments within large scale structure provide the conditions needed for groups of star forming, gas-rich dwarf galaxies to form and eventually merge. Our results further show that it is possible to uncover fainter dwarf satellites around dwarf galaxy hosts via HI maps.
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All authors Sabrina Stierwalt, Nicholas Luber, Zelie Goldberg Little, George C. Privon, Gurtina Besla, Kelsey E. Johnson, Nitya Kallivayalil, David R. Patton, Mary Putman, David Simpson Heil

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Modeling the meteoroid environment far from the ecliptic plane

Althea V. Moorhead, Petr Pokorný, Marcus A. Holden et al. (+1 more)

We describe a new version (numbered 3.1) of NASA's Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) in which we extend the model to handle locations that lie more than a few degrees in latitude off the ecliptic plane. We provide our algorithms for computing the spatial density and directionality of meteoroids far from the ecliptic and discuss their applications. In particular, we demonstrate how correct modeling of the out-of-ecliptic environment is critical for accurately assessing the risk posed by meteoroids to solar observation missions such as Solaris.
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All authors Althea V. Moorhead, Petr Pokorný, Marcus A. Holden, William Kosmann

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Tidal disruption event Calorimetry: Observational constraints on the physics of TDE optical flares

Andrew Mummery, Brian Metzger, Sjoert van Velzen et al. (+1 more)

Tidal disruption events are routinely discovered as bright optical/UV flares, the properties of which are now well categorized on the population level. The underlying physical processes that produce the evolution of their X-ray emission and their long-lasting UV/optical plateau are well understood; however, the origin of their early-time optical/UV emission remains the subject of much debate and uncertainty. In this paper we propose and perform “Calorimetric” tests of published theories of these optical flares, contrasting theoretical predictions for the scaling of the radiated energy and peak luminosity of these flares with black hole mass (something which is predicted by each theory), with the observed (positive) black hole mass scaling. No one theory provides a satisfactory description of observations at all black hole mass scales. Theories relating to the reprocessing of an Eddington-limited compact accretion disk, or emission (energy) released in the formation of a Keplerian disk near the circularisation radius, perform best, but require extending. Models whereby the optical/UV flare are directly produced by shocks between debris streams (e.g., TDEmass), or the efficient reprocessing of the fallback rate (e.g., MOSFIT, or any other model in which $L \propto \dot{M}_{\mathrm{fb}}$), are ruled out at high $(>5\sigma)$ significance by the data.
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All authors Andrew Mummery, Brian Metzger, Sjoert van Velzen, Muryel Guolo

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The Early Maturity of High-Redshift Galaxies: Insights from sSFR, M/L and SFHs at z~7-14

P. Santini, M. Castellano, A. Calabrò et al. (+23 more)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed an unexpected excess of UV-bright galaxies at z>10, unaccounted for by extrapolations from pre-JWST observations and theoretical models. Understanding the physical properties and star formation histories (SFHs) of high-redshift systems is key to distinguishing between the proposed scenarios. We identified and analysed a sample of 2420 robust candidates at z~7-14 drawn from the ASTRODEEP-JWST dataset over ~0.2 deg^2, and modelled their properties with non-parametric SFHs to derive the specific star formation rate (sSFR) and stellar population properties. We find that the median sSFR and M/L remain roughly constant across the probed redshift range. We show that this result is robust against potential systematics unless a hidden population of dust-enshrouded starbursts, undetectable in current data, exists at these redshifts. In any case, the absence of observed high-sSFR systems at the highest redshifts suggests that any dust-free starburst phase must be short-lived. The observed sSFR evolution is in tension with most theoretical models, making it a key quantity for discriminating among competing scenarios. The sample shows a wide range of physical conditions and galaxy classes, including systems with low sSFRs and high mass-to-light ratios (M/L) up to z~10, indicative of already-evolved galaxies only a few hundred Myr after the Big Bang, and different degrees of dust attenuation. We finally reconstructed the assembly histories of two sub-samples, namely the highest-M/L galaxies at z~7-8, which appear to have formed the bulk of their stars at least 500 Myr before observation, implying progenitors observable as UV-bright sources at z>20, and the full sample of z>11 galaxies, which formed through stochastic SFHs, remaining UV-faint for most of their early evolution, before undergoing recent (~50 Myr old) episodes of major growth.
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All authors P. Santini, M. Castellano, A. Calabrò, A. Fontana, E. Merlin, D. Bevacqua, P. Bergamini, M. Boquien, S. Cantarella, L. Ciesla, A. Ferrara, S. L. Finkelstein, F. Fortuni, G. Gandolfi, T. Gasparetto, E. Giallongo, N. A. Grogin, S. T. Guida, A. M. Koekemoer, N. Menci, L. Napolitano, D. Paris, L. Pentericci, B. Perez-Diaz, B. Stoyanova, T. Treu