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Physics Astrophysics

astro-ph Watch Astrophysics

Friday 13 March

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Discovery of a Strong-lens Galaxy Pair with the Smallest Projected Separation

Zizhao He, Limeng Deng, Qihang Chen et al. (+3 more)

We present the spectroscopic confirmation and lens modeling of HSC~J0233$-$0205, a strong-lensing system produced by a close pair of elliptical galaxies at $z_d=0.790\pm0.022$ that lenses a multi-component background source at $z_s=2.160\pm0.002$. The two deflectors are separated by only $0\arcsec.481\pm0\arcsec.004$ ($3.596\pm0.046$ kpc), making this system a compact galaxy-pair lens at relatively high redshift. Joint five-band HSC lens modeling requires two mass components, with Einstein radii of $0\arcsec.774\pm0\arcsec.011$ and $0\arcsec.767\pm0\arcsec.014$, and yields a circularized Einstein radius of $\theta_{\rm E}=1\arcsec.549\pm0\arcsec.018$ for the overall system. The lensed source is reconstructed with three components: two extended components separated by $0\arcsec.462\pm0\arcsec.013$ ($3.830\pm0.108$ kpc), together with a compact component nearly aligned with one of them. Integrating the lensing convergence map within the critical curve gives a projected mass of $M_{\rm lensing,crit}=(9.626\pm0.010)\times10^{11}M_\odot$. Combining this with the stellar mass inferred from SED fitting, $M_{\ast,{\rm crit}}=(1.570\pm0.240)\times10^{11}M_\odot$, we obtain a projected dark-matter fraction within the critical curve of $f_{\rm dm}=83.7\pm2.5\%$. Within the $z$-band effective radii of the two deflectors, the corresponding dark-matter fractions are $82.1\pm4.5\%$ and $65.7\pm6.7\%$, respectively. HSC~J0233$-$0205 is therefore a compact, high-redshift galaxy-pair lens. Future high-resolution imaging and spatially resolved spectroscopy will enable detailed tests of merger signatures, the redistribution of stellar and dark matter, and possible light–mass offsets in the lens plane.
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All authors Zizhao He, Limeng Deng, Qihang Chen, Yiping Shu, Nan Li, Di Wu

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Chemical Properties and Sagittarius-induced Dynamical Perturbations of the GD-1 Stream

Haoyang Liu and Cuihua Du

In this study, we investigate the chemical properties of the GD-1 stream using cross-matched, data-driven elemental abundances. The results reveal no clear $\alpha$-knee in the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane, and strong abundance consistency between the thin stream and cocoon, supporting a common origin. The absence of multiple-population signatures (e.g., C-N anti-correlation) suggests a low-mass progenitor. Using a test-particle simulation with the particle spray method and including perturbations from the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy, it shows that Sgr does not significantly heat the stream to form the cocoon, but modifies the intrinsic $\phi_2$ distribution, in agreement with observations. The trailing arm narrowly distributed across the width of the stream, while the leading arm is more diffuse, indicating that major fraction of cocoon stars are present towards the leading arm. Sgr also drags more stream particles moving toward the Galactic center, producing an excess at $V_{\text{GSR}}<0$, consistent with data. Our study confirms the Sgr has a non-negligible dynamical influence on the GD-1 stream. Other heating mechanisms (e.g., dark matter sub-halo encounters and pre-stripping process inside the parent halo) remain to be considered, and higher-resolution spectroscopy is needed to further constrain chemical abundances.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Bolometric corrections of stellar oscillation mode amplitudes as observed by the PLATO mission. I. Planck-spectrum estimates

Mikkel N. Lund, Jérôme Ballot and William J. Chaplin

We derive bolometric correction functions for oscillation mode amplitudes observed by the different cameras of the ESA PLATO mission. Such corrections between bolometric (full light) and mission instrument-specific amplitudes enable comparisons to theoretical expectations and amplitude conversion between different photometric missions, which is essential for proper detectability yields and target selection. Bolometric correction functions were calculated assuming a Planck function approximation for the stellar spectral flux distribution. The calculations follow the procedures applied in earlier analyses for the NASA Kepler and TESS missions. We derived power-law and polynomial parametrisations of the bolometric corrections with $T_{\rm eff}$. We find that on average, oscillation mode amplitudes from PLATO's normal cameras (N-CAMs) are expected to be ~6.7% lower compared to Kepler, and ~12.5% higher compared to TESS. A significant average amplitude ratio of ~25% is expected for amplitudes measured using the blue PLATO fast camera (F-CAM) compared to TESS. We find that observations of bright solar-like oscillators, especially with PLATO's F-CAMs, would provide an important test of the predicted corrections.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Cross-listed from physics.plasm-ph

Weibel Instability in Collisionless Plasmas Across Astrophysical and Laboratory Shocks

Vivek Shrivastav, Mani K Chettri, Hemam D Singh et al. (+2 more)

We present a cold-fluid analysis of the purely transverse Weibel (current-filamentation) instability across four regimes: non-relativistic (NR) single-species, NR multi-species, relativistic single-species, and relativistic multi-species (electron–positron and electron–proton). Beginning from linearized fluid equations, we derive the dispersion relations in each regime and extract scaling laws for the maximum growth rate $\gamma_{\rm max}$ and characteristic unstable wavenumber $k_{\rm max} = \omega_{pi}/c$. Relativistic corrections suppress $\gamma_{\rm max}$ by up to 40 per cent above $v_0 \approx 0.2c$, peaking near $v_0 \approx 0.9c$. Multi-species effects are significant only for $m_e/m_i \gtrsim 1/500$. For the tabletop laser experiment of Bai et al., Nat.Commun., 16, 3770 (2025), the cold-fluid prediction gives $d_i = c/\omega_{pi} \approx 31.7\,\mu{\rm m}$, within 2 per cent of the measured filament spacing $\lambda_F \approx 31\,\mu{\rm m}$. The saturation field estimate $B_{\rm sat} \approx 2.3\times10^4$ T is an upper bound, consistent with the measured $\approx 5000$ T under kinetic suppression. Two MMS burst-mode bow shock crossings (October 16, 2015 and November 25, 2017) confirm $k_{\rm max} d_i = 1$ from FGM/FPI data. A multi-environment scatter plot spans 21 orders of magnitude in $n_i$, with all points within a factor of 3 of the 1:1 line.
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All authors Vivek Shrivastav, Mani K Chettri, Hemam D Singh, Britan Singh, Rupak Mukherjee

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

The influence of plasma lensing magnification to the luminosity function of fast radio bursts

Xinzhong Er, Weishan Zhu, Shude Mao et al. (+1 more)

Small scale clumps of ionized gas have been suggested by observations in interstellar medium and circumgalactic medium. The propagation of radio signals can be deflected by these plasma clumps, i.e. plasma lensing. One observable consequence is the magnification and demagnification of background sources. These effects distort the observed luminosity function and potentially introduce bias into population studies. In this work, we investigate these effects on fast radio bursts using Gaussian plasma clumps distributed across multiple lens planes within a small field of view. The central electron density for each clump is sampled from uniform, log-normal, and Gaussian distributions. Two analytical models are employed to mimic the intrinsic luminosity function. Our results show that plasma lensing can modify the observed luminosity functions. On one hand, our model shows that radio sources may be demagnified below the detection threshold, the strength varies between ~1-15% depending on the ionized gas model and the source redshift. On the other hand, magnification can produce anomalously bright sources at the high luminosity end. Both effects introduce potential biases in inferred source properties. The lensing strength correlates with the power spectrum of free electron density. However, scattering effect in the host galaxy or in the Milky Way can suppress the plasma lensing effects.
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All authors Xinzhong Er, Weishan Zhu, Shude Mao, Dongzi Li

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Beyond the Merger-Quasar-Quench Paradigm I: Mergers are neither necessary nor sufficient to quench central galaxies in IllustrisTNG

Camilo A. Casimiro, Asa F. L. Bluck, Paul Goubert et al. (+2 more)

The cessation of star formation in galaxies, known as 'quenching', is a complex, multi-scale process which has been theorized to be linked to galaxy mergers. In this paper, we investigate the potential role of mergers in quenching galaxies in the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We track the evolution of over 11,000 central galaxies in the simulation with stellar mass $M_\star \ge 10^9 M_\odot$ at $z = 0$ throughout the entirety of cosmic history. We compare their star formation and merger histories to test whether mergers are necessary or sufficient for inducing quenching in the simulation. Only a very small fraction of mergers (about 3 per cent of major mergers and about 12 per cent of all mergers) lead to quenching within 1 Gyr, indicating that mergers are not sufficient by themselves to cause quenching. Furthermore, the vast majority of quenching events are not preceded by a merger within 1 Gyr. Once random coincidences are accounted for and a stellar mass-matched control sample is applied, no merger excess is observed. Hence, mergers are clearly not necessary for quenching to occur in the simulation. Finally, we perform a series of random forest classification and regression analyses to assess the integrated role of mergers in galaxy quenching and supermassive black hole growth in IllustrisTNG. We determine that secular processes dominate the growth of supermassive black holes and the quenching of central galaxies in this simulation, in stark contrast to prior theoretical expectations from idealized hydrodynamical simulations.
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All authors Camilo A. Casimiro, Asa F. L. Bluck, Paul Goubert, Thomas Pinto Franco, Joanna M. Piotrowska

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Mock Observations of Multiple Stellar Populations in Tidal Streams of Palomar 5 for the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope

Xia Li, Long Wang, Chengyuan Li et al. (+3 more)

Observations show that multiple stellar populations (MPs) are ubiquitous in globular clusters. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been a pivotal tool for previous photometric studies of MPs. The Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope (CSST) is a two-meter telescope scheduled for launch. One of its imaging instruments, the Survey Camera (SC), combines ultraviolet sensitivity comparable to that of HST with a significantly larger field of view, making it well-suited for conducting large-scale photometric surveys of MPs within extensive stellar stream structures. In this work, we perform mock observations of the stellar stream Palomar 5 to assess the feasibility of detecting MPs with the CSST/SC. The results indicate that the CSST/SC cannot resolve MPs in stellar streams at distances comparable to Palomar 5 ($\gtrsim 20$ kpc) with one or ten 150 s exposures. This fundamental limitation arises from the absence of the precise proper motions required to disentangle stream members. We estimate that successful resolution would require the target stream to be $\lesssim$ 8 kpc under a 150 s exposure. Furthermore, using theoretical color-magnitude diagrams, we find that the CSST/SC $g$-band provides an optimal balance between contamination rate and completeness rate for member identification in the cluster's core. However, this approach fails in the stream due to severe field star contamination. Therefore, future CSST observations of Palomar 5 and its tidal tails will employ multiple epochs across several bands to obtain the deep photometry and proper motion data for a definitive MP analysis.
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All authors Xia Li, Long Wang, Chengyuan Li, Yang Chen, Hao Tian, Xin Zhang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Slowly Rotating Two-Fluid Neutron Stars: Coupled Frame-Dragging, Inertia Splitting, and Universal Relations

Ankit Kumar and Hajime Sotani

We develop a fully relativistic framework to study the rotational response of gravitationally coupled two-fluid neutron stars within the slow-rotation approximation. Treating the two components as independently conserved perfect fluids interacting only through spacetime curvature, we derive the coupled equilibrium and frame-dragging equations and exploit their linear structure to construct a basis decomposition of the rotational response. This formulation leads to a natural definition of the effective total moment of inertia, which generalizes the single-fluid concept and depends solely on the equilibrium background. It further reveals that the coupled system admits two intrinsic collective rotational eigenmodes, characterized by distinct eigen-moments of inertia, even in the absence of relative rotation between the fluids. Applying this framework to neutron stars containing dark matter, we explore how the presence of an additional gravitationally bound component modifies the global rotational response and its relation to tidal deformability. Our results demonstrate that the persistence or breakdown of rotational-tidal universality in two-fluid neutron stars is governed by dark-sector microphysics rather than by the mere presence of an additional component, and establish a unified framework for interpreting rotational observables, intrinsic mode structure, and universal relations in multi-component relativistic stars.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Spectral Dataset of Stripped-Envelope Supernovae from the Tsinghua Supernova Group

Danfeng Xiang, Xiaofeng Wang, Jujia Zhang et al. (+40 more)

The extent of envelope stripping in the progenitor stars is directly reflected in the diversity of spectral features observed in stripped-envelope supernovae (SESNe). Through extensive spectral observation and analysis, we aim to clarify the statistical differences between the subclasses of SESNe. The Tsinghua Supernova group obtained 249 optical spectra of 62 SESNe during the years from 2010 to 2020, covering phases from $-$16 to over 190 days relative to maximum light. Most spectra were obtained during the photospheric phases after the supernova explosion. For each spectrum, the pseudo-equivalent widths (pEWs) and blueshift velocities of principal lines were measured. We further investigated the common spectral features by analysing their velocity and strength correlations across all subtypes. We identify the feature near 6200~Å\ in SNe Ib as H$\mathrm{\alpha}$ through comparison with SNe IIb and Ic, which resolves inconsistent literature interpretations. Our finding reveals prevalent residual hydrogen in SNe Ib, further supporting a continuous stripping sequence from SNe IIb to Ib. We observe a trend in increasing velocity among different subtypes of stripped-envelope SNe, with SNe IIb exhibiting the lowest line velocities, followed by Ib, Ic, and Ic-BL. Typically, the O~I lines in SNe Ic/Ic-BL are stronger than those seen in SNe IIb/Ib. In nebular phases, the [Ca II] emission dominates over [O I] in SNe IIb/Ib while [O I] is stronger in SNe Ic, including the He-rich SN 2016coi. This spectral dichotomy implies that progenitors of SNe Ic (BL) have more massive CO cores and hence higher initial masses.
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All authors Danfeng Xiang, Xiaofeng Wang, Jujia Zhang, Shengyu Yan, Han Lin, Liming Rui, Jun Mo, Xinghan Zhang, Hanna Sai, Cheng Miao, Gaobo Xi, Zhihao Chen, Fangzhou Guo, Xiaoran Ma, Gaici Li, Tianmeng Zhang, Liyang Chen, Jialian Liu, Wenxiong Li, Xulin Zhao, Fang Huang, Yongzhi Cai, Weili Lin, Jie Lin, Chengyuan Wu, Maokai Hu, Cuiying Song, Jicheng Zhang, Qiqi Xia, Zhitong Li, Linyi Li, Kaicheng Zhang, Qian Zhai, Juncheng Chen, Zhou Fan, Jianning Fu, Shengbang Qian, Hong Wu, Xue-Bing Wu, Huawei Zhang, Junbo Zhang, Liyun Zhang, Jie Zheng

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Galaxy fly-bys sustain bar-halo friction and bar slowdown in disk galaxies

Rumi Kodama, Rimpei Chiba, Tetsuro Asano et al. (+2 more)

Bars in disk galaxies slow down as they transfer their angular momentum to their dark matter halo via dynamical friction from near-resonant orbits. This bar-halo dynamical friction can become ineffective once phase mixing erases the phase-space gradient around the main resonances. We present fully self-consistent $N$-body simulations of a Milky Way-like disk galaxy with a single dwarf-galaxy fly-by in prograde and retrograde orbits before, during, and after bar formation. In our models, the fly-bys do not trigger a long-lived tidal bar; the bar forms on essentially the same time as in the isolated model. After the encounter, however, all perturbed models develop bars that are stronger and slower than in the isolated one. The final pattern speed depends little on the encounter time, but it does depend on the encounter direction relative to the disk rotation: prograde encounters slow the bar more than retrograde ones. The angular-momentum evolution shows that the disk loses its angular momentum and the halo gains it, consistent with bar-halo friction. By probing the particle distribution of the halo in angle-action space, we demonstrate that the isolated bar enters a metastable, saturated state with a flattened distribution in the phase space around the bar's corotation resonance, whereas a dwarf passage excites long-lived fluctuations in the halo that restore the phase-space gradients near the corotation and thereby sustain the bar-halo friction. This mechanism explains the continued slowdown and growth of bars after fly-bys. It may be relevant to the Milky Way, whose bar formed near the epoch of a major ancient accretion event, suggesting that an early encounter could have influenced the subsequent secular evolution of the bar.
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All authors Rumi Kodama, Rimpei Chiba, Tetsuro Asano, Junichi Baba, Michiko Fujii

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Sound Speed Resonance in the Gravitational Wave Background as a probe for non-standard early universe cosmologies

Igor de O. C. Pedreira, Amara Ilyas, Ziwei Wang et al. (+2 more)

Gravitational waves constitute a powerful probe of the underlying theory of gravity. In extensions of general relativity, additional degrees of freedom, such as scalar fields in the gravitational sector, can modify their propagation through changes in the effective friction term and propagation speed. These modifications may potentially induce resonant phenomena leading to distinctive signatures in the gravitational wave spectrum. One important aspect to be investigated is whether the resonances can be strong enough to enhance the underlying background of primordial tensor modes to levels detectable by upcoming gravitational wave detectors, such as LISA or the Einstein telescope. The characteristic peaks in the SBGW spectrum depend on the parameters of the resonant model as well as on the parameters of the primordial tensor spectrum, such as $r$ and $n_{t}$. Thus these resonance effects open a powerful pathway to explore physics of the very early Universe by amplifying otherwise feeble signals to experimentally detectable levels. Here we analyze how the signals of the primordial Universe can resonate in these scenarios, bringing the early universe physics into the realm of experimental access.
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All authors Igor de O. C. Pedreira, Amara Ilyas, Ziwei Wang, Leila L. Graef, Yi-Fu Cai

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Hot Jupiter - Cold Jupiter: A complex sibling relation

Adriana Errico, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Jonathan Horner et al. (+2 more)

A handful of planetary systems hosting a Hot Jupiter have been subsequently found to also host long-period giant planets. These “cold Jupiters,” giant planets residing beyond the snow line ($\sim$3\,au), play an important role in the dynamical evolution of the system as a whole. In this work, we investigate the detectability of cold Jupiters around a sample of 28 well-studied Hot Jupiter host stars to estimate the occurrence rate of this distinctive system architecture. We perform extensive simulations using the combination of all publicly available radial velocity (RV) data for those stars with synthetic RV data. The synthetic data test observing strategies along three axes: cadence, duration, and measurement precision. For each scenario, we determine detection limits based on the semi-major axis at which a 1 Jupiter mass planet would be recovered 50% of the time. We find the following: 1) the existing RV data are remarkably insensitive to these Hot Jupiter/Cold Jupiter pairs; 2) the total baseline over which an observational campaign is carried out is the dominant factor in our ability to detect cold Jupiters; and 3) the results are relatively insensitive to the individual RV measurement precision. We conclude that metre-class telescopes with lower RV precision are ideally suited to surveying Hot Jupiter-cold Jupiter systems.
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All authors Adriana Errico, Robert A. Wittenmyer, Jonathan Horner, Brad Carter, Valeria López

Thursday 12 March

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

Lagrangian Identity and Mass Evolution of Particle-like Objects in Nonminimally Coupled Gravity

S. R. Pinto and P. P. Avelino

We show that the Lagrangian of a Nambu-Goto $p$-brane satisfies the identity $\mathcal{L}_{\rm [\it p \rm]}=T_{\rm [\it p \rm]}/(p+1)$, with $T_{\rm [\it p \rm]}$ denoting the trace of the corresponding energy-momentum tensor, independently of the properties of the gravitational field. While for $p=0$ this reduces to the standard $\mathcal{L}_{\rm [0]}=T_{\rm [0]}$ relation, which determines the on-shell Lagrangian of point particles and their fluids, more generally it depends explicitly on the $p$-brane dimensionality. We explore the implications of this Lagrangian identity for the dynamics of non-self-intersecting cosmic string loops in a homogeneous and isotropic universe within nonminimally coupled scalar-tensor gravity, showing that, unlike in general relativity, their rest mass can evolve in response to the cosmological evolution of the background spacetime, regardless of their small size or tension. We further generalize this analysis to closed $p$-branes in $(N+1)$-dimensional Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker spacetimes, showing that the evolution of the rest mass depends explicitly on the dimensionality of the brane, and therefore that the cosmological evolution of particle-like objects in theories of gravity with nonminimal matter couplings is sensitive to their internal structure.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Traversable Wormholes induced by polytropic $n=1$ energy density

Remo Garattini, Francisco S. N. Lobo and Kirill Zatrimaylov

We investigate spherically symmetric and static traversable wormholes supported by exotic matter, focusing on solutions sourced by physically motivated dark matter energy density profiles. Considering the polytropic $n=1$ (Lane-Emden) distribution, we construct explicit forms of the shape function $b(r)$ and analyze the resulting radial and tangential pressures, carefully addressing the requirements of the flare-out condition at the throat and the absence of horizons. We explore zero-tidal-force configurations as well as inhomogeneous equations of state, demonstrating how appropriate choices of the radial pressure allow for finite and well-behaved redshift functions throughout the spacetime. Boundary conditions at a finite radius are implemented to ensure vanishing energy density and pressures, and asymptotic expansions are derived to characterize the behavior of the metric and matter content near the edge of the dark matter halo. Additionally, we reformulate the Einstein field equations entirely in terms of the energy density, radial and tangential pressures, and their derivatives, providing a framework to analyze the matter distribution independently of the explicit metric functions. Our results offer a systematic methodology to construct physically consistent wormhole geometries supported by realistic dark matter halos, highlighting the intricate interplay between matter profiles, equations of state, and geometric constraints.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Spatial and spectral constraints on resolved mass-loss of the massive Post-RSG star IRAS 17163-3907 and its Fried Egg Nebula

E. Koumpia, A. Cikota, W.-J. de Wit et al. (+12 more)

The fate of massive stars during the latest stages of their evolution is highly dependent on their mass-loss rate and geometry. These processes have a significant influence on stars with masses between 25 and 40 Msun, i.e., type II SN progenitors. We aim to investigate the mass-loss history, geometry, and physical conditions of the yellow hypergiant in a post-RSG stage, IRAS 17163-3907. We place it in context with another famous yellow hypergiant, IRC+10420. We combine M-band high-resolution CRIRES+ spectroscopy with VLTI/MATISSE mid-infrared L-band interferometry, and FORS2 optical spectropolarimetry to probe both the small-scale circumstellar structure and the large-scale dusty environment of IRAS 17163. The CRIRES+ spectrum provides the first M-band coverage of IRAS 17163, revealing prominent low-excitation metal lines and hydrogen recombination features, but lacking the pronounced CO absorption seen in IRC+10420. The MATISSE observations reveal the first high angular scales of the source in the L-band and spatially resolve the Br{\alpha} line-emitting region, which hints at a marginally asymmetric and variable ionised wind. FORS2 spectropolarimetry points to deviations from perfect spherical symmetry also on larger scales. The data show no evidence for a binary companion within the explored parameter space, indicating that the observed clumpy and time-variable mass loss is likely intrinsic to the star rather than companion-driven. Our results demonstrate that IRAS 17163 hosts a dense, structured, and time-variable wind, coexisting with extended dusty shells. The comparison with IRC+10420 highlights diversity among post-RSG YHGs. These findings emphasise the role of clumpy and near-symmetric mass-loss in shaping the circumstellar medium of evolved massive stars, with implications for their subsequent evolution and core-collapse supernova progenitor properties.
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All authors E. Koumpia, A. Cikota, W.-J. de Wit, G. Munoz-Sanchez, T. Kim, A. Corporaal, R. D. Oudmaijer, S. Muller, J. S. Vink, L. Cerrigone, A. Zijlstra, R. Szczerba, Y. Asaki, E. Lagadec, F. Millour

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Exploring Beyond {\Lambda}CDM with the Weak Lensing Power Spectrum and Bispectrum

Liantsoa F. Randrianjanahary and Chandrachud B. V. Dash

In this work, we present Fisher matrix forecast of the tomographic weak lensing power spectrum and bispectrum for three physically distinct types of models of beyond-$\Lambda$CDM: the CPL parametrisation of dynamical dark energy, interacting dark energy (IDE) with a dark sector energy-momentum exchange, and Hu-Sawicki models of $f(R)$ gravity. We find that for all three models, including the bispectrum significantly tightens the Fisher constraints: the bispectrum reduces the marginalised $1\sigma$ error on the CPL equation of state parameter from $\sigma(w_0) = 0.2511$ (power spectrum only) to $\sigma(w_0) = 0.1557$, on the IDE coupling from $\sigma(\alpha) = 2.6895$ to $\sigma(\alpha) = 0.2944$, and on the scalaron amplitude from $\sigma(\ln|f_{R0}|) = 2.236$ to $\sigma(\ln|f_{R0}|) = 2.237$ after full marginalisation over nuisance parameters e.g., photo-z error $\sigma_z$ and intrinsic alignment amplitude $\mathcal{A}_{\rm IA}$. We find that $f(R)$ models are the most sensitive to systematics and especially in bispectrum. The results also demonstrates the importance of higher order weak lensing statistics as a practical necessity to maximise the scientific return of Stage IV surveys.
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Bridging the Gap: Using Brown Dwarfs to Examine Silicate Clouds in Giant Exoplanet Atmospheres

Emily Calamari, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Channon Visscher et al. (+5 more)

We present results from examining the silicate cloud modeling of four JWST-observed hot Jupiters in the context of brown dwarf theory to further explore signatures of formation in present-day atmospheres. We contextualize our understanding of protoplanetary disk refractory chemistry with empirical evidence from chondritic meteorites to show that giant planets forming and accreting in the outer disk adopt their stellar Mg/Si value. We show that current silicate cloud species determinations of WASP-17 b, WASP-107 b, WASP-39 b and HD 189733 b are in line with predictions laid out in Calamari et al. 2024 based on each system's host star Mg/Si ratio, further supporting this hypothesis. We discuss physical motivations for potential atmospheric scenarios where apparent silicate cloud species is not in agreement with that predicted by its host star chemistry. Additionally, we compare current transit spectroscopy for three of these four exoplanets against brown dwarf spectra to examine molecular absorption trends across the substellar mass temperature regime.
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All authors Emily Calamari, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Channon Visscher, Marina E. Gemma, Austin Rothermich, Francisco Ardévol Martínez, Sherelyn Alejandro Merchan, Genaro Suárez

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Relativistic astrospheres of gamma-ray binaries: modeling of non-thermal processes

A. M. Bykov, A. E. Petrov and K. P. Levenfish

A long standing problem in high energy astrophysics is the nature of galactic accelerators of particles with energies above PeV. Such objects are sources of galactic cosmic rays and can produce PeV-regime photons observed by ground-based observatories. Among very likely accelerators are astrospheres of pulsars in gamma-ray binaries. These binaries have long been observed as bright sources of TeV gamma-rays. Recently, 2D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (rMHD) simulations have shown that the astrospheres can accelerate particles to energies well above PeV, provided that they harbor a Gauss-range magnetic field. Such a strong field is necessary in the region of two colliding winds: the relativistic outflow of the pulsar or accreting black hole and the wind of its stellar companion, a massive early-type star. Here, the wind collision region is explored as the site of PeV protons acceleration. The local structure of colliding flows is illustrated using rMHD simulations of a powerful pulsar wind in 2D and 3D models. The relativistic outflow of a pulsar or black hole, evolving inside the strongly magnetized stellar wind, have an elongated shape and surrounded by a kind of magnetic cocoon providing favorable conditions for acceleration of ultra high energy ions. The simulated spectra of particles, accelerated by intermittent relativistic turbulence in these systems, have piece-wise power-law shape and extend well above PeV energies for powerful outflows. The model indicated that gamma-ray binaries harboring a powerful relativistic outflow, produced either by a pulsar or accreting black hole, can be bright sources of synchrotron MeV-regime photons and multi-PeV regime gamma-rays, as recently detected from galactic microquasars like Cyg X-3. The Gauss-range magnetic field of a massive star wind strongly influences the non-thermal emission of gamma-ray binaries with relativistic companions.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Standard Perturbation Theory for Interacting Dark Sector cosmologies I: Breakdown of Einstein de Sitter kernels

Matheus Wolney, Gabriel Sampaio, Humberto Borges et al. (+2 more)

Interacting dark sector (IDS) models provide a commonly explored extension of the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, allowing for non-gravitational energy–momentum exchange between cold dark matter (CDM) and dark energy (DE). Although such models can be constructed to reproduce the same background expansion history as $\Lambda$CDM, their impact on the growth of cosmic structures is fundamentally different and requires a careful treatment of cosmological perturbations. In this work, we develop the one-loop Standard Perturbation Theory (SPT) formalism for IDS cosmologies without invoking the Einstein–de~Sitter (EdS) approximation. We show that even weak dark sector interactions induce a non-trivial time dependence in the perturbative kernels, leading to a breakdown of the EdS approximation commonly assumed in $\Lambda$CDM analyses. By deriving and numerically solving the evolution equations for the second- and third-order kernels, we compute the corresponding one-loop corrections to the matter power spectrum and find that the resulting deviations can significantly exceed the percent level, even for small interaction strengths. Our results demonstrate that nonlinear corrections are systematically enhanced in IDS models and that neglecting the full time dependence of the kernels can lead to biased predictions on mildly nonlinear scales. These findings establish the necessity of a time-dependent perturbative treatment for IDS scenarios and provide a robust framework for precision tests using nonlinear large-scale structure (LSS) observables.
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All authors Matheus Wolney, Gabriel Sampaio, Humberto Borges, Iuri Baranov, Rodrigo von Marttens

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Integral Field Spectroscopy of Collisional Ring Galaxies I: Stellar Populations Analysis

M. Chow-Martínez, A. Robleto-Orús, Y.D. Mayya et al. (+9 more)

Collisional ring galaxies are produced by the collision of a disk galaxy with a compact galaxy plunging through the disk, forming a ring-shaped expanding density wave, triggering star formation at its wake. The wave expansion is expected to produce negative stellar age gradients in radial profiles of post-collision stellar populations. Integral field spectroscopy combined with stellar population synthesis allows us to spatially resolve the stellar populations, to separate the post-collision and pre-collision components, and to produce the radial profiles. We analyse three candidate galaxies: Arp~143, NGC~2793, and VII~Zw~466. Observations were performed with the Calar Alto 3.5~m~telescope using the PMAS/PPak spectrophotometer. NGC 2793 presents a positive stellar age gradient, dismissing the collision hypothesis. For Arp~143 and VII~Zw~466, we found negative stellar age gradients for the youngest stellar populations, up to the ring radii, consistent with the collision hypothesis. We estimated that the collisions occurred $\sim$300~Myr and $\sim$100~Myr (expansion velocities of 33~$\pm$~10 km s$^{-1}$ and 108~$\pm$~26 km s$^{-1}$), respectively, before the density waves reached the observed ring radii. A spatially resolved analysis of the specific star formation histories (sSFH), reveals an expected star formation enhancement following the collision. The sSFH also allowed to identify the most probable intruder galaxy for VII~Zw~466. We report new redshifts for its group members. Finally, radial profiles of light contributions from pre-collisional and post-collisional stars show that the density wave dragged old pre-collisional stars along, as predicted by simulations.
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All authors M. Chow-Martínez, A. Robleto-Orús, Y.D. Mayya, J.P. Torres-Papaqui, R.A. Ortega-Minakata, D.F. Castro-Hidalgo, C.A. Caretta, J.J. Trejo-Alonso, A. Morales-Vargas, R. García-Benito, H.E. Jácamo-Delgado, M. Gudiño

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Refinements to the Solar Polar Magnetic Flux: Implications from Inversion Methodologies

Bryan Yamashiro, Xudong Sun, Ivan Milić et al. (+6 more)

The magnetic fields in the solar polar region are important to our understanding of the internal dynamo process, the global coronal structure, and the origin of the solar wind. The inference of polar fields based on spectropolarimetric observation is highly model-dependent and can suffer from various systematic effects. Here we analyze a raster map of the southern polar region taken by the Hinode Spectro-Polarimeter, utilizing the Stokes Inversion based on Response functions code. The inversions provide height-dependent vector magnetic field maps between optical depths $\log_{10}\tau = -2$ and $0$. We examine the impact on the total magnetic flux estimate from adopting (1) 1- vs 2-component atmospheric models via a "filling factor" parameter and (2) different analysis schemes. At $\log_{10}\tau = -1.5$, the polar magnetic flux is estimated to be $(1.84 \pm 0.03) \times 10^{21}$ Mx and $(1.38 \pm 0.02) \times 10^{21}$ Mx under the 1- and 2-component atmosphere assumption, respectively. The magnetic flux is approximately constant or increases slightly with height, respectively. We find that the 2-component (1-component) configuration is preferred for 58.3% (32.3%) of the pixels. Different initial guesses, including the input atmosphere model and the filling factor, as well as different inversion settings, can significantly affect the results, especially for locations with weaker polarization signals. Our work highlights the importance of including unresolved magnetic structures or stray light into consideration. Model degeneracy and the convergence to local minima limit the precision of the polar magnetic flux inference (no better than several tens of percent in this case). Higher-resolution observations and advanced inversion and disambiguation algorithms may alleviate these limitations.
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All authors Bryan Yamashiro, Xudong Sun, Ivan Milić, Carlos Quintero Noda, Adur Pastor Yabar, Rebecca Centeno, Jiayi Liu, Milan Gošić, Kai Yang

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Long-term monitoring of WASP-19 b: Signs of apsidal precession and molecular signatures

A. R. Rajkumar, A. Bayo, P. Peng et al. (+30 more)

With more than 6000 exoplanets discovered so far, about 12 percent are hot Jupiters. Their large sizes and short orbital periods make them valuable targets for studying planetary formation, atmospheres, and orbital evolution. We present a homogeneous analysis of the WASP-19 b system using a 15 year dataset to investigate both its orbital dynamics and atmospheric properties. We test whether the transit times show evidence for tidal orbital decay, apsidal precession, or periodic perturbations from an additional body, and we also construct a photometric transmission spectrum. Multi-wavelength light curves are modeled with PRISM to account for starspots, and linear, quadratic, and cubic ephemeris models are fitted to the transit timing residuals. Our dataset includes 27 new transits and reveals no statistically significant periodic signal. Although none of the tested models fully reproduces the timing scatter, the transit times show systematic deviations from a constant period and are best described by the cubic ephemeris, indicating a slow long-term trend over the full baseline. This behavior is more consistent with gradual apsidal precession than with monotonic tidal decay. A precession model yields a rate of 1.00 +/- 0.12 x 10^-4 rad per orbit and a planetary Love number k2p = 0.107 +/- 0.08. The transmission spectrum shows signatures of Na, K, and H2O, with no strong evidence for TiO or VO. These results suggest that apsidal precession may dominate the long-term orbital evolution of WASP-19 b. Continued high-precision timing and spectroscopic observations are needed to further test this scenario.
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All authors A. R. Rajkumar, A. Bayo, P. Peng, J. Tregloan-Reed, J. Southworth, Tobias C. Hinse, L. G. Alegre, F. Amadio, M. Andersen, N. Bach-Møller, M. Basilicata, M. Bonavita, V. Bozza, M. J. Burgdorf, R. E. Cannon, G. Columba, M. Dominik, A. Donaldson, R. Figuera Jaimes, J. Fynbo, M. Hundertmark, U. G. Jørgensen, E. Khalouei, H. Korhonen, P. Longa-Peña, M. Rabus, S. Rahvar, H. Rendell-Bhatti, P. Rota, A. Rożek, S. Sajadian, J. Skottfelt, C. Snodgrass

Astrophysics of Galaxies

SPHEREx Wide-Field Infrared Spectral Mapping of Interstellar Ices and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Joseph L. Hora, Jinyoung K. Noh, Gary J. Melnick et al. (+32 more)

We present some of the first infrared spectral maps acquired by SPHEREx. These maps, which to our knowledge are the largest of their type ever compiled in the near-infrared, reveal multiple strong lines due to interstellar ices and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) throughout the Cygnus X and North American Nebula regions. The maps emphasize the strongest features arising from the 3 $\mu$m H$_2$O, 4.27 $\mu$m CO$_2$, and 4.67 $\mu$m CO lines and the 3.28 $\mu$m PAH feature, all of which are detected over large areas with complex and filamentary spatial distributions. The ice absorption maps of H$_2$O and CO$_2$ in particular broadly trace dense, cold, and well-shielded regions across Cygnus X, consistent with the established picture of efficient ice formation in dense molecular clouds. The interstellar ice features are also detected abundantly in diffuse absorption over wide areas. The relative strength of the H$_2$O and CO$_2$ features varies among different lines of sight, indicating possible differences in local physical conditions or chemical variations. The 3.28 $\mu$m PAH emission correlates with the emission from the 7.7 and 11.2 $\mu$m features, but shows small differences that may trace the grain size distribution and variations in the ambient UV field. SPHEREx all-sky spectral imaging, of which only a small fraction is showcased in this work, will support numerous science investigations including the structure of the Galaxy, the physics of the interstellar medium, and the chemistry of stars.
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All authors Joseph L. Hora, Jinyoung K. Noh, Gary J. Melnick, Brandon S. Hensley, Roberta Paladini, Jeong-Eun Lee, Matthew L. N. Ashby, Volker Tolls, Jaeyeong Kim, Michael W. Werner, James J. Bock, Sean Bruton, Shuang-Shuang Chen, Tzu-Ching Chang, Yi-Kuan Chiang, Asantha Cooray, Brendan P. Crill, Ari J. Cukierman, Olivier Doré, Andreas L. Faisst, Zhaoyu Huai, Howard Hui, Woong-Seob Jeong, Miju Kang, Phil M. Korngut, Ho-Gyu Lee, Carey M. Lisse, Daniel C. Masters, Giulia Murgia, Chi H. Nguyen, Zafar Rustamkulov, Ji Yeon Seok, Robin Y. Wen, Yujin Yang, Michael Zemcov

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Gravitational self-lensing of Fast Radio Bursts in neutron star magnetospheres: II. Applications to strong repeaters and the CHIME population

Riccardo La Placa, Simone Dall'Osso, Luigi Stella et al. (+1 more)

Paper I in this series introduced a model in which seed radio bursts produced by a hotspot anchored in the magnetosphere of a highly-magnetic neutron star (NS) are greatly amplified by strong gravitational self-lensing and thus give rise to Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Key features of the FRB population such as the observed dichotomy between repeating and non-repeating sources, their large luminosities and the high-energy power-law distribution of their bursts naturally arise in the model from the amplification dependence on the relative orientation of the rotation axis with respect to the hotspot and the line of sight. Here we compare the model predictions with Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) data from repeaters and with the general population of FRBs. We find that the burst energy distribution from FRB 20121102A can be explained by assuming two antipodal hotspots in the NS magnetosphere, both producing seed bursts with the same log-normal energy distribution. This scenario implies a well-aligned system geometry, with the rotation axis, line of sight, and hotspot sites separated by $\lesssim 2${\deg}. Similar constraints are found for FRB 20201124A and FRB 20220912A, and weaker ones for FRB 20190520B, owing to its smaller burst sample. We also show that precession of the NS rotation axis can explain the time evolution of the burst energy distribution from FRB 20121102A as well as its temporary disappearance. In application to a cosmological population of randomly-oriented sources the model predicts distance and fluence distributions of FRBs in good agreement with those from a completeness-selected subsample of the first CHIME/FRB catalogue, provided the energy distribution of seed bursts spans a range of ${\sim10^{35}-10^{38}}$ erg.
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All authors Riccardo La Placa, Simone Dall'Osso, Luigi Stella, Andrea Possenti

Astrophysics of Galaxies

HaloFlow II: Robust Galaxy Halo Mass Inference with Domain Adaptation

Nikhil Garuda, ChangHoon Hahn, Connor Bottrell et al. (+1 more)

Precise halo mass ($M_h$) measurements are crucial for cosmology and galaxy formation. HaloFlow introduced a simulation-based inference (SBI) framework that uses state-of-the-art simulated galaxy images to precisely infer $M_h$. However, for HaloFlow to be applied to observations, it must be generalizable even when the underlying galaxy formation physics differ from those in the simulations on which it was trained. Without this generalization, HaloFlow produces biased and overconfident $M_h$ posteriors when applied to simulations with different physics. We introduce HaloFlow$^{\rm DA}$, an extension of HaloFlow that integrates domain adaptation (DA) with SBI to mitigate these cross-simulation shifts. Using synthetic galaxy images forward-modeled from the IllustrisTNG, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations, we test two DA methods: Domain-Adversarial Neural Networks (DANN) and Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD). Incorporating DA significantly reduces bias and improves calibration, with MMD achieving the most stable performance, lowering the normalized residual metric, $\beta$, by an average of 31% and up to 57% when trained and tested on different simulations. Overall, HaloFlow$^{\rm DA}$ produces more robust, less biased with similar precision, $M_h$ constraints than the standard approach using the stellar-to-halo mass relation. HaloFlow$^{\rm DA}$ enables consistent, simulation-trained inference models to generalize across domains, establishing a foundation for robust $M_h$ inference from real HSC-SSP observations.
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All authors Nikhil Garuda, ChangHoon Hahn, Connor Bottrell, Khee-Gan Lee

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The SMUGGLE-Ring project: Bar and bulge effects on nuclear disk and ring formation

SungWon Kwak, Federico Marinacci, Matthias Steinmetz et al. (+8 more)

We present the first results from the SMUGGLE-Ring project, a suite of simulations employing the SMUGGLE ISM and stellar feedback model to explore nuclear structures in Milky Way-mass galaxies. We discuss results from three simulations evolved for 5 Gyr in isolation, in which we vary the classical bulge mass, while keeping the disk and halo structures identical. Nuclear stellar disks and rings emerge exclusively in our bulge models, with more massive bulges associated with earlier formation and more extended initial gas reservoirs shortly after bar formation. After gas depletion via active star formation, the nuclear stellar disks bifurcate into pressure-supported nuclear star clusters (NSCs, $v_{\phi}/\sigma_R < 0.7$) and rotationally supported nuclear stellar rings (NSRs, $v_{\phi}/\sigma_R = 1.2$–1.7, radii 0.64–0.76 kpc). The bulgeless model fails to build up and sustain stable nuclear gas disks against feedback disruptions. The enclosed stellar mass of NSCs ($\sim10^{9}\Msun$) dominates over that of NSRs ($\sim10^{8}\Msun$). The star formation rates decline over time due to gas depletion (NSCs 0.1–1 $\Msun$/yr, NSRs 0.01–$0.1 \Msun$/yr). Kinematics reveal outward-shifting rotation peaks with $\sigma$-drops in NSRs, while a fraction of stars in NSCs exhibits radial shift after 3 Gyr. These findings support inside-out NSD formation via secular bar evolution, with NSRs tracing the star-forming outer edge of the nuclear gas disk and NSCs forming the kinematically hotter inner component. The range of nuclear stellar disk sizes (0.25–0.76 kpc) falls within the observationally inferred ranges, but the existence of larger rings would require external gas flow and/or a longer period of evolution. Future SMUGGLE-Ring extensions will incorporate varying gas fractions, tidal/merger effects, and the circumgalactic medium to further elucidate nuclear diversity and outliers.
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All authors SungWon Kwak, Federico Marinacci, Matthias Steinmetz, Ivan Minchev, Cristina Chiappini, Mathias Schultheis, Woong-Tae Kim, Mark Vogelsberger, Laura V. Sales, Hui Li, Seungwon Baek

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Robustness of Neural Networks for CMB Polarization Foreground Removal

Luca Gomez Bachar, Cora Dvorkin and Alberto Daniel Supanitsky

The detection of Cosmic Microwave Background primordial $B$-mode polarization would constitute a “smoking gun" signal of primordial gravitational waves. However, this measurement requires accurate removal of polarized Galactic foregrounds to avoid systematic biases when estimating the tensor-to-scalar ratio. Methods based on Machine Learning techniques (ML), such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have recently been proposed as alternative foreground cleaning techniques, but their applicability to real data relies on their ability to generalize beyond the models assumed during training. In this work, we focus on a variety of foreground models (FMs) used for training and conduct a systematic study of the generalization properties of a CNN-based method. We train various CNN architectures on simulations generated from different Galactic FMs, and test their performance on models not used during the training. By characterizing the statistical properties of the FMs using variance, skewness, and Shannon entropy, we define a statistical complexity hierarchy among them. We show that training on the more complex FMs reduces bias and improves precision when testing on unseen FMs, whereas training on the simplest model could introduce systematic errors. These results evidence that a lack of generalization is a relevant source of systematic uncertainty, and emphasize the importance of understanding the impact of the models assumed during training in ML-based methods before applying them to real data.
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Confirmation of the hot super-Neptune TOI-672 b with NIRPS and HARPS and Insights into the Neptunian desert around M dwarfs

Ares Osborn, Ryan Cloutier, Vincent Bourrier et al. (+65 more)

The Neptunian desert is a distinct lack of Neptune-sized planets at short orbital periods, purportedly carved by photoevaporation and tidal circularization following high-eccentricity migration. Constraining these processes and how they vary across different host-star spectral types requires the detailed characterization of planets in the desert and around its boundaries. In this study, we confirm the planetary nature of a massive super-Neptune identified by TESS around the M0 dwarf TOI-672. We analyse photometry from TESS and ExTrA and precise radial velocity measurements taken with the recently commissioned Near-InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) and HARPS spectrographs. We measure the planetary orbital period, radius, and mass of 3.634 days, 5.31 +0.24 -0.26 Rearth, and 50.9 +4.5 -4.4 Mearth, respectively. Our findings place TOI-672 b within the Neptunian ridge, a pile-up of planets from 3–5 days at the Neptunian desert boundary. We then use a novel approach to determine the desert boundaries in period-radius space and instellation-radius space, and, for the first time, compare the Neptunian desert boundaries for planets orbiting FGK versus M dwarf stars. We determine that the boundary ridge shifts slightly inward from 3.3 +- 1.4 days for FGK host stars to 2.2 +- 1.0 days for M dwarf host stars; these values do not statistically significantly differ from each other, and the shift to shorter periods for M dwarf planets is smaller than theoretical photoevaporation models predict. We also find that TOI-672 b is a single-planet system within the sensitivity limits of our RV and TTV datasets.
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All authors Ares Osborn, Ryan Cloutier, Vincent Bourrier, Bennett Skinner, Nicole Gromek, Avidaan Srivastava, François Bouchy, Marion Cointepas, Neil J. Cook, Nicola Nari, Jose Manuel Almenara, 'Etienne Artigau, Xavier Bonfils, Charles Cadieux, Patrick Eggenberger, Alexandrine L'Heureux, Frédérique Baron, Susana C. C. Barros, Björn Benneke, Marta Bryan, Bruno L. Canto Martins, Nicolas B. Cowan, Eduardo Cristo, Xavier Delfosse, Jose Renan De Medeiros, René Doyon, Xavier Dumusque, David Ehrenreich, Jonay I. González Hernández, David Lafrenière, Izan de Castro Leão, Christophe Lovis, Lison Malo, Claudio Melo, Lucile Mignon, Christoph Mordasini, Francesco Pepe, Rafael Rebolo, Jason Rowe, Nuno C. Santos, Damien Ségransan, Alejandro Suárez Mascareño, Stéphane Udry, Diana Valencia, Gregg Wade, José Luan A. Aguiar, Romain Allart, Khaled Al Moulla, Andres Carmona, Karen A. Collins, Elisa Delgado-Mena, Roseane de Lima Gomes, George Dixon, Phil Evans, Yolanda G. C. Frensch, Dasaev O. Fontinele, Thierry Forveille, Tianjun Gan, Melissa J. Hobson, Yuri S. Messias, Louise D. Nielsen, Léna Parc, Ying Shu, Atanas K. Stefanov, Thiam-Gun Tan, Jean-Pascal Vignes, Joost P. Wardenier, Drew Weisserman

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Reheating with Axion-SU(2) and Gravitational Chern-Simons Couplings

Tatsuya Daniel and Vahid Kamali

We study the early stages of an oscillatory reheating phase in an inflaton plus spectator axion-SU(2) system, including both an axion-gauge Chern-Simons coupling $\chi F\tilde{F}$ and a gravitational Chern-Simons coupling $\chi R\tilde{R}$. Assuming an isotropic SU(2) background configuration of chromo-natural type and quadratic potentials, we numerically solve the coupled background and tensor perturbation equations during the first e-fold of reheating. The gravitational Chern-Simons term induces a helicity-dependent modification of the tensor kinetic coefficient, yielding a chiral enhancement of the tensor power spectrum on the order of tens of percent for a representative benchmark. We illustrate how such an early-time enhancement can map to a narrow feature in the present-day stochastic gravitational wave spectrum, potentially relevant for upcoming and proposed space-based detectors, while a fully self-consistent determination of the peak scale requires scanning comoving wavenumbers and specifying the reheating history.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Microquasar remnants as reservoirs of PeV cosmic rays

Leandro Abaroa, Gustavo E. Romero and Valentí Bosch-Ramón

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has revealed a population of Galactic gamma-ray sources radiating beyond 100 TeV, but the nature of several of them is still uncertain. In this contribution, we explore the idea that some of these ultrahigh-energy emitters are not powered by currently active accelerators, but by the fossil remains of microquasars (MQs). We consider systems in which mass transfer onto the stellar-mass black hole has already stopped, so that the central engine and its jets are permanently quenched. During the active phase, powerful transrelativistic jets inflate a hot cocoon whose interior is filled with cosmic rays (CRs) accelerated at the jet termination shocks. Once the jets switch off, the cocoon enters a long afterlife stage in which it behaves as a large reservoir of PeV CRs. If the remnant lies in or near a star-forming region, these relic CRs can still interact with dense clumps and molecular clouds, inside the cocoon or in the surrounding interstellar medium, leading to delayed gamma-ray emission via inelastic pp collisions and the subsequent decay of neutral pions. We present a time-dependent model for the jet-cocoon system, follow the evolution of the CR population during and after the MQ phase, and discuss the conditions under which the resulting microquasar remnants can account for some of the unidentified LHAASO sources.
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