Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Reevaluating thermal instability in a uniform plasma: an extended analysis of instability domains
Varsha Felsy, Ramon Oliver, Jaume Terradas et al. (+3 more)
Thermal instability plays a crucial role in the dynamics of astrophysical
plasmas. Building upon the foundational work of G. B. Field (1965) and the subsequent analysis by T. Waters & D. Proga (2019), this study revisits thermal instability in a uniform, non-
magnetic medium. We aim to reevaluate and expand the understanding of instability domains, focusing on the classification and characteristics of thermal and acoustic modes in the presence of heating, radiative cooling, and thermal conduction. Except for Spitzer's expression for parallel thermal conductivity, heating and cooling processes are unspecified. Additionally, we investigate the existence of isobaric and isochoric thermal modes across the extreme limits of very short and very long wavelengths, as well as at intermediate wavelengths; we address a common misconception about the existence of purely adiabatic perturbations. We also perform an in-depth analysis of the dispersion relation for an infinite, uniform hydrodynamic medium, as derived by G. B. Field (1965). This enables the generation of growth rate and dispersion diagrams, providing insight into thermal instability across different wavelength ranges. With the inclusion of thermal conduction, our study refines the classification of the instability regions previously outlined by T. Waters & D. Proga (2019). Our findings confirm that their classification holds when the Field length is smaller than or comparable to the thermal wavelength. For larger Field lengths, a simplified classification becomes impractical. Furthermore, we discuss the potential implications of the catastrophic cooling instability (T. Waters & A. Stricklan 2025) in coronal rain formation.
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All authors Varsha Felsy, Ramon Oliver, Jaume Terradas, Amanda Stricklan, Timothy Waters, James A. Klimchuk
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Pollux test bench: from NUV to FUV polarimetric measurements
Adrien Girardot, Coralie Neiner, Jean-Michel Reess et al. (+2 more)
Pollux is a high-resolution spectropolarimeter proposed by an European consortium for HWO. The current design of Pollux features four spectropolarimetric channels, three of which are in the UV range. For the near-UV (NUV) [236-472 nm] and mid-UV (MUV) [118-236 nm] channels, the polarimeters consist of waveplates and prisms made of MgF2, a birefringent material. However, no such birefringent material can be used for the far-UV (FUV) channel [100-123 nm]. Therefore, the polarimeter for this FUV channel is composed solely of mirrors in an innovative assembly. In this talk, we aim to detail the architecture of the test bench that will allow us to validate the performance of these different polarimeters, as part of the HWO GOMaP. Given that we are working in the
vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) range, the test bench operates in a
vacuum chamber in a clean room. We will discuss the adaptable architecture of the bench based on wavelength and the measurement methodology that we will implement to test if the polarimeters achieve the precision of $10^{-3}$ required for the Pollux instrument. With this test bench, we will successfully increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of UV spectropolarimeters and, for the first time, develop a means to test FUV spectropolarimetry.
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All authors Adrien Girardot, Coralie Neiner, Jean-Michel Reess, Olivier Dupuis, Margarita Carret
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
GECAM discovery of the second FRB-associated Magnetar X-ray Burst from SGR J1935+2154
Chen-Wei Wang, Shao-Lin Xiong, Yue Wang et al. (+47 more)
Fast
radio burst (FRB) is mysterious phenomenon with millisecond-duration
radio pulses observed mostly from cosmological distance. The association between FRB 200428 and a magnetar X-ray burst (MXB) from SGR J1935+2154 has significantly advanced the understanding of FRB and magnetar bursts. However, it is uncertain whether this association between MXB and FRB (i.e. MXB/FRB 200428) is genuine or just coincidental only based on this single event. Here we report the discovery of a bright ($\rm\sim7.6\times10^{-7}\,erg \cdot cm^{-2}$ in 1-250 keV) magnetar X-ray burst detected by GECAM on October 14th, 2022 (dubbed as MXB 221014) from SGR J1935+2154, which is associated with a FRB detected by CHIME and GBT. We conducted a detailed temporal and spectral analysis of MXB 221014 with GECAM data and find that it is a bright and typical ($T_{90}\sim$250 ms) X-ray burst from this magnetar. Interestingly, we find two narrow X-ray pulses in the MXB, one of which temporally aligns with the main pulse of the FRB 221014 $\sim5.70$ ms latter than the peak time of FRB 221014), resembling the feature found in MXB/FRB 200428. Furthermore, we did comprehensive comparison between MXB/FRB 221014 and MXB/FRB 200428, and find that while the two events share several common features, they also exhibit distinct differences, highlighting the variety of the MXB-FRB association morphology. This finding not only confirms the association between MXB and FRB but also provides new insights into the mechanism of and the relationship between FRB and MXB.
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All authors Chen-Wei Wang, Shao-Lin Xiong, Yue Wang, Wen-Jun Tan, Xiao-Bo Li, Dong-Zi Li, Yan-Qiu Zhang, Shu-Xu Yi, Ming-Yu Ge, Sheng-Lun Xie, Wang-Chen Xue, Bing Li, Cheng-Kui Li, Zheng-Hua An, Ce Cai, Pei-Yi Feng, Min Gao, Ke Gong, Dong-Ya Guo, Hao-Xuan Guo, Yue Huang, Jia-Cong Liu, Xin-Qiao Li, Ya-Qing Liu, Xiao-Jing Liu, Xiang Ma, Wen-Xi Peng, Rui Qiao, Yang-Zhao Ren, Li-Ming Song, Xi-Lei Sun, Jin Wang, Jin-Zhou Wang, Ping Wang, Xiang-Yang Wen, Shuo Xiao, Sheng Yang, Qi-Bin Yi, Zheng-Hang Yu, Da-Li Zhang, Fan Zhang, Wen-Long Zhang, Jin-Peng Zhang, Peng Zhang, Shuan-Nan Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Xiao-Yun Zhao, Yi Zhao, Chao Zheng, Shi-Jie Zheng
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Deep and Sparse Denoising Benchmarks for Spectral Data Cubes of High-z Galaxies: From Simulations to ALMA observations
Arnab Lahiry, Tanio Díaz-Santos, Jean-Luc Starck et al. (+4 more)
Beyond
cosmic noon,
galaxies appear as faint whispers amid noise, yet this epoch is key to understanding massive
galaxy assembly. ALMA's sensitivity to cold
dust and [C II] emission allows us to probe their interstellar medium, but faint signals make robust denoising essential. We evaluate and
benchmark denoising strategies including Principal Component Analysis, Independent Component Analysis, sparse unsupervised representations: iterative soft thresholding with 2D-1D wavelets, and supervised deep learning with a 3D U-Net, to identify techniques that suppress noise while preserving flux and morphology across peak SNRs of 2.5-8, applied to (i) synthetic spectral cubes of rotating toy disk
galaxies, (ii) synthetic [C II] IFU cubes from FIRE simulations, and (iii) ALMA [C II] observations of CRISTAL
galaxies and W2246-0526. Performance is assessed via RMSE, conservation of flux and spectra, noise reduction, and SNR improvement of the central
galaxy. For synthetic cubes: PCA and ICA provide marginal improvement; IST reduces noise effectively at moderate SNRs but can suppress emission at low SNRs; and the U-Net outperforms IST, though it can produce quantifiable
hallucinations at lower-SNRs. For moderate-SNR observations (ALMA-CRISTAL), U-Net and IST achieve comparable performance, conserving >91% flux and increasing SNR by >6. However, for observations with complex morphologies absent in the training set (W2246), the U-Net underperforms relative to IST, recovering ~80% flux, while IST robustly conserves flux and improves SNR by ~3, highlighting generalisation challenges and the need for physically-motivated training priors. We conclude that IST is a robust unsupervised denoiser for moderate-SNR data, and a synthetically trained U-Net generalises effectively to real data, dependent on training priors. This framework offers a pathway for transferable denoising for ALMA, VLT/MUSE, and JWST.
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All authors Arnab Lahiry, Tanio Díaz-Santos, Jean-Luc Starck, Niranjan Chandra Roy, Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, Grigorios Tsagkatakis, Panagiotis Tsakalides
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The metal-poor tail of the APOGEE survey II. Spectral analysis of Mg and Si in very metal-poor APOGEE spectra
M. Montelius, A. Angrilli Muglia, E. Starkenburg et al. (+9 more)
H-band spectra contain very limited spectral information for
stars at the most metal-poor tail ( Fe/H < -2.5) because the available Fe lines in FGK
stars in this wavelength range are weak. The first paper in this series successfully identified a sample of 327 very metal-poor
stars (with [Fe/H] < -2) from the APOGEE database, 289 of which are on the red
giant branch. The spectra of these
stars were not properly analysed by the APOGEE main pipeline because they are very metal poor. In this work, we measure
metallicities for these
stars using the abundances of the elements Mg and Si. We demonstrate that the absorption lines of the elements Mg and Si are of good quality despite the challenging combination of (low)
metallicity, wavelength regime, spectral resolution, and signal-to-noise ratios available for these spectra. A specialised pipeline was designed to measure the abundance of Mg and Si in APOGEE spectra and yielded a robust estimate of the overall
metallicity. In order to provide reliable measurements, we tested three different sets of assumptions for Mg and Si enhancement. We present Mg and Si abundances as well as overall
metallicities for 327
stars, all of which had previously gotten null values from the main APOGEE pipeline for either the calibrated M/H or [Fe/H] . The typical uncertainties for our measurements are 0.2 dex. We found five
stars in our sample with unusual [Si/Mg] abundances higher than 0.5, and we connect this signature to globular cluster
stars, and this might be related to specific
supernova events. Our data suggest a concentration of high [Si/Mg]
stars in the Sextans
dwarf galaxy. Other
dwarf galaxies are found to agree well with results in the literature. Our derived
metallicities range between -3.1 $\leq$ [M/H] $\leq$ -2.25, thereby pushing the metal-poor tail of APOGEE results down by 0.6 dex.
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All authors M. Montelius, A. Angrilli Muglia, E. Starkenburg, C. Kobayashi, A. Ardern-Arentsen, F. Gran, P. Jablonka, N. Martin, J. Navarro, F. Sestito, K. A. Venn, S. Vitali
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The metal-poor tail of the APOGEE survey I. Uncovering [Fe/H] < -2.5 stars from the inner Galaxy to the Magellanic Clouds
M. Montelius, E. Starkenburg, H. Woudenberg et al. (+9 more)
In the search for metal-poor
stars, large spectroscopic surveys are an invaluable tool. However, the spectra of metal-poor
stars can be difficult to analyse because of the relative lack of available lines, which can also lead to misclassification. We aim to identify the
stars observed by the APOGEE survey that are below the
metallicity limit of APOGEE's analysis. For the highest confidence candidates, we classify the orbital properties of the
stars to investigate whether their orbital distribution matches what we would expect for
stars that are this metal poor and to select especially interesting targets for spectroscopic follow-up purposes. We examined the properties derived by APOGEE for metal-poor
stars from the literature to find signatures of
stars with a
metallicity below the range of the grid used for spectral analysis. The calibrated APOGEE
stellar parameters provide a clear signature of the most metal-poor
stars in the survey, indicated by null values for their
metallicities while having effective temperatures and surface gravities determined by the pipeline. From comparison with the literature, we find that, within a temperature range of 3700 - 6700 K and above a threshold of S/N > 30, the vast majority of APOGEE
stars without calibrated
metallicities are very metal poor. The radial velocities provided by APOGEE,
Gaia DR3 positions and astrometry along with spectrophotometric distances derived in this work allowed for the computation of their orbits. In this work, we select 289 very metal-poor red
giant stars (likely below = -2.5) from the APOGEE results. Our sample contains 16 very metal-poor member candidates of the Magellanic Clouds, 14 very metal-poor
stars with orbits confined to the inner
Galaxy, and 13 inner
Galaxy halo interlopers.
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All authors M. Montelius, E. Starkenburg, H. Woudenberg, A. Angrilli Muglia, A. Ardern-Arentsen, A. Viswanathan, A. Byström, A. Helmi, N. Martin, T. Matsuno, C. Navarrete, J. Navarro
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Chemistry in the High expansion-velocity C-rich evolved star AFGL2233. Isotopic ratios, peculiarities and evolutionary status
G. Quintana-Lacaci, M. Agúndez, L. Velilla-Prieto et al. (+4 more)
High expansion velocity carbon
stars (HVCs) are a rare class of evolved
stars whose circumstellar envelopes (CSEs) combine C-rich chemistry with unusually high expansion velocities typical of O-rich massive evolved
stars. AFGL2233 has been proposed as a high-mass evolved object that exhausted hot-bottom burning. Studying its chemistry is essential to understand the nature and
evolution of these objects. We characterize the chemical composition and isotopic ratios of the CSE of AFGL2233 and investigate chemical peculiarities, including the presence of N- and O-bearing species in a C-rich environment. We carried out a complete line survey at 3 mm and 1 mm using the IRAM 30m
telescope, complemented by Herschel/HIFI FIR observations and interferometric maps of SiO, C2H, and HCN. Molecular emission was analyzed using rotational diagrams and radiative transfer modeling under the LVG approximation. Column densities and fractional abundances were derived for more than 30 molecular species, including isotopologues, and compared with other evolved
stars. The
Gaia DR3 distance of 1.236 kpc implies a luminosity of ~2 Lsun, consistent with an initial mass of 4.5-9 Msun. The molecular inventory confirms C-rich chemistry but reveals unusually high abundances of NH3, H2O, and SiN. The isotopic ratios vary among species, with 12C/13C ranging from 7 to 55. The C2H/C4H ratio is abnormally high compared with C-rich AGB
stars. The presence of SiN and high NH3 may indicate N-enrichment or the influence of a companion. AFGL2233 is likely a high-mass AGB or super-AGB
star with a complex evolutionary history involving nucleosynthesis, shocks, and possible binary interaction.
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All authors G. Quintana-Lacaci, M. Agúndez, L. Velilla-Prieto, J. Alcolea, A. Castro-Carrizo, J.P. Fonfría, J. Cernicharo
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Cross-listed from cs.GR
Photons x Force: Differentiable Radiation Pressure Modeling
Charles Constant, Elizabeth Bates, Santosh Bhattarai et al. (+2 more)
We propose a system to optimize parametric designs subject to radiation pressure, \ie the effect of light on the motion of objects. This is most relevant in the design of spacecraft, where radiation pressure presents the dominant non-conservative forcing mechanism, which is the case beyond approximately 800 km altitude. Despite its importance, the high computational cost of high-fidelity radiation pressure modeling has limited its use in large-scale spacecraft design, optimization, and space situational awareness applications. We enable this by offering three innovations in the simulation, in representation and in optimization: First, a practical computer graphics-inspired Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation of radiation pressure. The simulation is highly parallel, uses importance sampling and next-event estimation to reduce variance and allows simulating an entire family of designs instead of a single spacecraft as in previous work. Second, we introduce neural networks as a representation of forces from design parameters. This neural proxy model, learned from simulations, is inherently differentiable and can query forces orders of magnitude faster than a full MC simulation. Third, and finally, we demonstrate optimizing inverse radiation pressure designs, such as finding geometry, material or operation parameters that minimizes travel time, maximizes proximity given a desired end-point, minimize thruster fuel, trains mission control policies or allocated compute budget in extraterrestrial compute.
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All authors Charles Constant, Elizabeth Bates, Santosh Bhattarai, Marek Ziebart, Tobias Ritschel
Astrophysics of Galaxies
JWST spectra are consistent with the edge-on star-forming galaxy scenario for the "runaway supermassive black hole"
Jorge Sanchez Almeida, Ignacio Trujillo, Sebastian F. Sanchez et al. (+1 more)
The linear structure reported by van Dokkum et al. (2023) has been proposed as either a massive
stellar wake produced by a runaway supermassive black hole (SMBH) or a bulgeless edge-on
galaxy. New JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations target the tip of the structure, where a SMBH would produce a bow shock, whereas a normal
galaxy would host an HII region. Using standard BPT diagrams ([OIII]5007/Hb vs [NII]6583/Ha and [OIII]5007/Hb vs [OII]6716,6731/Ha), we find that the line ratios at the tip fall on the locus of low-
metallicity low-extinction HII regions. This region does not overlap with loci typical of shocks in merging
galaxies. Thus, these results are consistent with the interpretation that the linear structure is a
star-forming
galaxy, with the bright
knot representing one of its HII regions.
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All authors Jorge Sanchez Almeida, Ignacio Trujillo, Sebastian F. Sanchez, Mireia Montes
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The role of detailed gas and dust opacities in shaping the evolution of the inner disc edge subject to episodic accretion
Michael Cecil, Mario Flock, Mykola G. Malygin et al. (+4 more)
We investigate the effects of different
dust and gas opacity descriptions on the structure and
evolution of the inner regions of protoplanetary discs. The influence on the episodic instability of the inner rim is hereby of central interest. 2D axisymmetric radiation hydrodynamic models are employed to simulate the
evolution of the inner disc over several thousand years. Our simulations greatly expand on previous models by implementing detailed opacity descriptions in terms of their mean and frequency-dependent values, allowing us to also consider binned frequency-dependent irradiation. The adaptive opacity description significantly affects the structure of the inner disc rim, with gas opacities exerting the greatest influence. The resulting effects include shifts in the position of both the
dust sublimation front and the dead zone inner edge, a significantly altered temperature in the
dust-free region and the manifestation of an
equilibrium temperature degeneracy as a sharp temperature transition. The episodic instability due to MRI activation in the dead zone still occurs, but at lower inner disc densities. While the gas opacities set the initial conditions for the instability, the
evolution of the outburst itself is mainly governed by the
dust opacities. The analysis of criteria for non-axisymmetric instabilities reveals possible breaking of the density peaks produced by the burst. However, due to the periodicity of the instability, the inner edge itself may remain stable throughout quiescent phases according to linear criteria. Although the thermal structure of the inner disc is crucially affected by different opacity descriptions, the mechanism of the periodic instability of the DZIE remains active and is only marginally influenced by gas opacities. The observational consequences of the severely altered temperatures may be significant and require further investigation.
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All authors Michael Cecil, Mario Flock, Mykola G. Malygin, Rolf Kuiper, Prakruti Sudarshan, Alexandros Ziampras, Vardan G. Elbakyan
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Distance Estimation and Sky Localization of Eccentric Double White Dwarf Binaries from Gravitational Wave Observations inside Globular Clusters
Yuetong Zhao, L. Hellström, Siqi Zhang et al. (+7 more)
The
cosmic distance scale is built on multiple different techniques for estimating distances in space that are often connected and dependent on multiple measurements and assumptions. Double white
dwarf binaries (DWDs) are common objects and are expected to produce gravitational wave (GW) signals that can be observed with space-based detectors such as LISA. By analyzing these signals we should be able to estimate the distance and sky location of the source. Previous studies have done this for circular binaries which, while they are abundant, have, in general, weaker signals than eccentric binaries and it is not possible to differentiate whether a circular binary is in the field or in a dense environment such as a globular cluster (GC). In this paper we used eccentric binaries from MOCCA GC simulations, simulated the GW signal from each binary at locations related to GCs in the Milky Way and estimated the precision on the distance and the sky location of the source. We find that distances can be estimated with higher precision than current day methods even with low eccentricity binaries and higher eccentricity further increases this precision. Although the probability of finding a tight and eccentric DWD is far lower than a circular one, we can expect to find at least a few in the dense environments of the Milky Way, such as GCs. These estimations would be independent measurements with high precision to objects inside dense environments, such as GCs inside the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds.
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All authors Yuetong Zhao, L. Hellström, Siqi Zhang, M. Giersz, A. Askar, Youjun Lu, Zhoujian Cao, D. Belloni, G. Wiktorowicz, M. Górski
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Linking Fermi blazars and radio galaxies through accretion and jet radiation mechanisms
Xu-Hong Ye, Ranieri D. Baldi, Wen-Xin Yang et al. (+5 more)
Based on the classical unification, blazars, namely BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) and flat-spectrum
radio quasars (FSRQs), are believed to correspond with
radio galaxies when observed at small jet viewing angles. In this paper, we aim to compile a sample of
Fermi blazars and
radio galaxies to provide new insights towards a unified
accretion and ejection scenario between aligned and misaligned
radio-loud active
galactic nuclei (AGNs), by considering their optical emission-line classifications (low- and high-excitation
radio galaxies, LERGs, HERGs), which are more representative of their
accretion states. We adopted statistical analyses of
accretion properties and high-energy beaming patterns for both
Fermi blazars and
radio galaxies to investigate a unified
accretion-ejection scenario. In the gamma-ray luminosity-
photon index plane, HERGs populate the region of higher luminosities and softer
photon indices, akin to FSRQs, whereas LERGs fill lower luminosities with harder
photon indices, analogous to BL Lacs. This parallel segregation indicates that LERGs and HERGs represent the misaligned counterparts of BL Lacs and FSRQs, respectively. The unified picture is further supported by the Compton dominance-
photon index diagram, where FSRQs and HERGs dominated by external Compton (EC) emissions are distinctly separated from BL Lacs and LERGs governed by synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emissions. Similarly, the diagram of
accretion rate versus gamma-ray
photon index reveals two distinct
accretion-ejection states: a low-
accretion-rate branch (BL Lacs and LERGs) is associated with the SSC model, and a high-
accretion-rate branch (FSRQs and HERGs) is linked to the EC model. These results strongly strengthen the idea of a unified
accretion and ejection paradigm between blazars and
radio galaxies into two distinct states.
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All authors Xu-Hong Ye, Ranieri D. Baldi, Wen-Xin Yang, Jing-Tian Zhu, Denis Bastieri, Rumen S. Bachev, Anton A. Strigachev, Jun-Hui Fan
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmic-ray electron propagation in NGC 3044 from radio continuum observations
Shengtao Wang, Xiaohui Sun, George Heald et al. (+5 more)
Star-forming edge-on
galaxies often exhibit extended
halo radiation in multiple bands, providing ideal laboratories for studying the transfer of matter from the disk to the
halo. We investigate the transport of
cosmic-ray electrons (CREs) and the associated
galactic wind, and assess their impact on the surrounding medium in NGC 3044. We obtained the NGC 3044 total intensity image at 943 MHz from the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) observations with a resolution of 16 arcsec and an rms noise of 20 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$. The sensitivity is higher than the previous observations at similar frequencies. We find that the ASKAP intensity profiles perpendicular to the disk can be fit with two exponential components. The scale heights of the thin and thick disks are $0.43 \pm 0.13$ kpc and $1.91 \pm 0.26$ kpc, respectively. By jointly fitting total intensity and spectral index profiles with one-dimensional advection and
diffusion models, we find that CREs are advected outward from the disk with the velocity increasing with height in a power law. Beyond $\sim3$ kpc, the velocity exceeds the escape speed of $\sim400$ km s$^{-1}$, indicating a strong wind. We further identify a possible superbubble of radius $\sim3$ kpc filled with soft X-ray emitting hot gas and surrounded by an HI shell and a bright H$\alpha$ rim. These results demonstrate that
radio continuum observations provide a powerful probe of
cosmic-ray-driven winds in normal
star-forming spiral
galaxies.
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All authors Shengtao Wang, Xiaohui Sun, George Heald, Jiang-Tao Li, Chao-Wei Tsai, Judith Irwin, Theresa Wiegert, Jun Xu
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
First Detection of $\gamma$-Ray Emission from the Compact Symmetric Object JVAS J1311+1658
Xiong Jiang, Yang-Ji Li, Hai Lei et al. (+1 more)
We report the first detection of $\gamma$-ray emission from the young
radio galaxy JVAS~J1311+1658, classified as a compact symmetric object (CSO). This detection is characterized by a recent GeV $\gamma$-ray
flare identified in
Fermi-LAT data during MJD~60032.6–60132.6, with a $\gamma$-ray source detected at a significance level of $\sim6.2\sigma$. The average 0.1–300~GeV flux is measured to be $(1.6 \pm 0.6)\times10^{-8}\,\mathrm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$, with a
photon spectral index of $\Gamma = 2.15 \pm 0.185$. We find that a radiative model of the
radio lobes significantly underestimates the observed $\gamma$-ray emission. The strong flux and short-term variability over $\sim$100 days suggest that the emission likely originates from newly launched sub-kiloparsec-scale jets at the core. This detection provides a unique window into the extreme environments and early-stage jet activity of young
radio galaxies, offering insights into their initial
evolution and the formation of relativistic jets in the earliest phases of
galaxy growth.
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All authors Xiong Jiang, Yang-Ji Li, Hai Lei, Da-Ming Wei
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Cross-listed from hep-ph
Unidentified falling objects in the LHC as dark matter signals
Xunyu Liang and Ariel Zhitnitsky
Unidentified Falling Objects (UFOs) refer to sporadic beam losses observed during LHC operation. The prevailing explanation is that micrometer-sized
dust particles released from the beam screen produce beam losses through interactions with the
protons. However, the release mechanism of these particles remains unknown. We propose that roughly $(1-10)$% of UFOs may be caused by
axion quark nuggets (AQNs), macroscopic dark matter (DM) candidates with masses of order $(5-1000)\,$g. The AQN model naturally relates the dark- and visible-matter abundances ($\Omega_\mathrm{DM}\sim\Omega_\mathrm{visible}$) and provides a mechanism for generating the
baryon-antibaryon asymmetry, with DM composed of both matter and antimatter AQNs. When passing underground within approximately 100km of the LHC, an antimatter AQN generates acoustic waves strong enough to trigger multiple UFO events within $2\,$s. If three correlated UFOs (placed at different locations along the LHC ring) are detected, the signal-to-noise ratio can exceed 5 across the entire allowed AQN mass range for a measurement time of about 360 hours. Practically, the LHC can serve as a large broadband acoustic detector for AQNs.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
A 682-second X-ray Periodicity in CH Cygni: Evidence for a Magnetic White Dwarf
Manuel Pichardo Marcano, Thomas J. Maccarone and Liliana E. Rivera Sandoval
Symbiotic
stars are interacting binaries consisting of a red
giant and typically a white
dwarf, important as potential Type Ia
supernova progenitors. Despite theoretical predictions that white
dwarfs in symbiotic systems should often be
magnetic, direct evidence has been elusive. We report the discovery of a $682.5 \pm 7$ s periodicity in the XMM-Newton X-ray light curve that we interpret as the
spin period of the WD in CH Cygni. This detection provides strong evidence for a
magnetic white
dwarf in CH Cygni, making it only the second WD symbiotic
star with confirmed X-ray pulsations after R Aquarii. Our discovery supports the
magnetic propeller model previously proposed for CH Cygni's jet activity and state transitions.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Data-driven Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of the Initiation of a Coronal Mass Ejection with Multiple Stages
J. H. Guo, S. Poedts, B. Schmieder et al. (+8 more)
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the primary drivers of adverse space-weather events, yet their initiation and onset prediction remain insufficiently understood due to the complexity of the
magnetic topology and physical processes in real
solar source regions. Here, based on fully observational-data-driven magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we successfully reproduce the initiation of a CME originating from the super active region AR 13663, with only a one-minute time lag between the
flare peak in observations and the velocity peak of the rising flux rope in the simulation. Moreover, the eruptive structure exhibits a multi-stage kinematic
evolution: an initial slow acceleration, a plateau at a nearly stationary height, and a subsequent impulsive acceleration. These stages correspond to
torus instability, the downward tension force exerted by the overlying toroidal field, and fast
magnetic reconnection, respectively. Our results highlight the inherently multistage nature of CME initiation in real events. In configurations with strong overlying toroidal fields, the downward toroidal-field-induced tension force can suppress the rise of the flux rope and produce a plateau phase at a nearly stable height, even when
torus instability occurs. In contrast, the subsequent fast
magnetic reconnection beneath the flux rope can drive the impulsive eruption more effectively. The close agreement between the observed and simulated peak times over one minute demonstrates the strong potential of our data-driven model for predicting CME onset.
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All authors J. H. Guo, S. Poedts, B. Schmieder, Y. Guo, C. Zhou, H. Wu, Y. W. Ni, Z. Zhong, Y. H. Zhou, S. H. Li, P. F. Chen
Astrophysics of Galaxies · Cross-listed from physics.plasm-ph
Bridging the Kinetic-Fluid Gap: Ion-Driven Magnetogenesis to Prime Cosmic Dynamos
X. Liu, D. Wu and J. Zhang
The origin of
cosmic magnetic fields is widely attributed to the amplification of weak seed fields by turbulent dynamos. However, a critical understanding gap remains between the microscopic generation of these seeds and the macroscopic onset of the dynamo. Current kinetic models, often constrained to electron scales, predict premature saturation via
magnetic trapping, leaving the generated fields potentially too weak and small-scale to effectively
prime magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes. Here, using high-resolution kinetic simulations with a realistic mass ratio, we reveal the physics of this unexplored ion-kinetic regime. Under generalized continuous shear driving, used to simulate ubiquitous macroscopic flows, we demonstrate that the saturation of electron instabilities is not the endpoint but a precursor to a distinct, ion-dominated
evolution. Massive ions, sustaining the velocity shear, trigger a subsequent filamentation instability that accesses the vast ion kinetic energy reservoir. This mechanism amplifies the
magnetic energy by orders of magnitude beyond the electron-saturation limit, expanding the field coherence to ion scales. Our results establish ion kinetics as the essential ”missing link” that bridges the divide between microscopic
plasma instabilities and macroscopic
cosmic dynamos.
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Cross-listed from physics.space-ph
Shocks, compressible perturbations, and intermittency in the very local interstellar medium: Voyager 1 and 2 observations and numerical modeling
Federico Fraternale, Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Ratan Bera et al. (+2 more)
Voyager spacecraft (V1 and V2) provide unique in situ measurements of perturbations propagating beyond the heliopause through the very local interstellar medium (VLISM), including the shocks and pressure fronts whose origin is debated. In particular, a jump in
magnetic field strength, observed by V1 in 2020.4 at 149.3 au from the Sun, was followed by a distinct "hump" and persistently strong
magnetic field, both requiring theoretical explanation. This paper offers an interpretation of those observations using a self-consistent, MHD model of the
solar wind - LISM interaction driven by the OMNI and interplanetary scintillation data combined with a
turbulence analysis of Voyager data. Our simulations convincingly demonstrate that global,
solar-cycle-driven compressions, on hitting the heliopause, can reproduce those puzzling V1 observations. They appear to be associated with
solar cycle 24, whereas similar interstellar
magnetic field structures can occur once per cycle. The
turbulence analysis reveals time-dependent
magnetic compressibility that persists up to 165 au at scales below 10 days.
Turbulence intermittency at scales below 1 hour is mostly confined to specific intervals, possibly associated with a broad foreshock region. The apparent disappearance of intermittency since 2022 reflects the
turbulence weakening rather than a fundamental change in VLISM properties. We predict that V1 will record relatively strong
magnetic field strengths until $\sim$2030, followed by weaker, infrequent perturbations. At V2, we expect multiple
solar-driven compressions before 2026, followed by a major event induced by
solar cycle 25 around 2030. New Horizons is expected to cross the termination shock at 80$\pm$2 au in 2031.
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All authors Federico Fraternale, Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Ratan Bera, Leonard F. Burlaga, Maciej Bzowski