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Physics Astrophysics

astro-ph Watch Astrophysics

Tuesday 9 June

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Chromospheric magnetic field extrapolations reveal the flux-rope configuration of a solar filament

Robert Jarolim, João M. da Silva Santos, Matthias Rempel et al. (+5 more)

Solar eruptions are powered by the release of magnetic energy stored in the lower solar atmosphere, but the pre-eruptive magnetic configuration of filament channels remains difficult to determine. A central question is whether this energy is stored in a pre-existing magnetic flux rope or in a sheared arcade that forms a flux rope only during eruption. Resolving this ambiguity is critical for identifying instability thresholds and eruption triggers, yet photosphere-based extrapolations often provide insufficient constraints on the three-dimensional coronal field. Here, we introduce a data-driven magnetic field extrapolation framework that combines photospheric and chromospheric vector magnetograms in a unified multi-height optimization, while accounting for variable chromospheric formation heights and the 180{\deg} azimuthal ambiguity. Tests with radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that photosphere-only extrapolations can misidentify the pre-eruptive magnetic configuration, whereas chromospheric vector constraints recover the three-dimensional structure substantially more accurately. Applied to multi-line spectropolarimetric observations of an active region filament obtained with the Swedish Solar Telescope, the method reveals a reconstructed magnetic field consistent with a pre-eruptive flux-rope configuration. These results show that chromospheric vector magnetic measurements can provide decisive constraints on filament magnetic configuration and open a path toward diagnosing magnetic-energy storage and instability in eruptive solar active regions.
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All authors Robert Jarolim, João M. da Silva Santos, Matthias Rempel, Marianna B. Korsós, Robertus Erdélyi, Astrid Veronig, Szabolcs Soós, David Kuridze

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Constraints on axion-like particles from ultra-high-energy observations of M87 with the HAWC observatory

R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, A. Andrés et al. (+95 more)

In this work, we perform an indirect search for axion-like particles (ALPs) through their hypothesized mixing with photons in the presence of magnetic fields. ALPs are a well-motivated dark-matter candidate class, and the photon-ALP conversion mechanism provides a unique channel to constrain their mass and coupling constant using very-high-energy gamma-ray observations. The photon-ALP mixing could alter the observed gamma-ray spectrum from extragalactic sources by effectively reducing the apparent attenuation due to extragalactic-background-light absorption. We analyze 7.5 years of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, targeting the nearby radio galaxy M87. This source is located within the Virgo cluster and is an ideal environment for photon-ALP conversion due to its low redshift and the large-scale, strongly magnetized medium of the cluster. We find no evidence for a photon-ALP conversion signal and, consequently, set constraints on the ALP mass and photon-ALP coupling constant with emission from M87 which are consistent with previous results. Our analysis places competitive constraints on the ALP parameter space, defining an exclusion region in the mass range of approximately $10^{-8}$ to $10^{-6}$ eV for coupling constants above $5\times10^{-12}$ GeV$^{-1}$, complementing previous constraints from other gamma-ray observatories.
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All authors R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, A. Andrés, E. Anita-Rangel, M. Araya, J.C. Arteaga-Velázquez, D. Avila Rojas, H.A. Ayala Solares, R. Babu, P. Bangale, E. Belmont-Moreno, A. Bernal, K.S. Caballero-Mora, T. Capistrán, A. Carramiñana, F. Carreón, S. Casanova, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, P. Desiati, E. De la Fuente, N. Di Lalla, R. Diaz Hernandez, M.A. DuVernois, J.C. Díaz-Vélez, T. Ergin, C. Espinoza, N. Fraija, S. Fraija, J.A. García-González, F. Garfias, N. Ghosh, A. Gonzalez Muñoz, M.M. González, J.A. González, J.A. Goodman, J. Gyeong, J.P. Harding, I. Herzog, D. Huang, F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, A. Iriarte, S. Kaufmann, D. Kieda, A. Lara, W.H. Lee, J. Lee, H. León Vargas, J.T. Linnemann, A.L. Longinotti, G. Luis-Raya, K. Malone, O. Martinez, J. Martínez-Castro, H. Martínez-Huerta, J.A. Matthews, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, P.E. Mirón-Enriquez, J.A. Morales-Soto, E. Moreno, M. Mostafá, M. Najafi, A. Nayerhoda, L. Nellen, M.U. Nisa, R. Noriega-Papaqui, L. Olivera-Nieto, N. Omodei, M. Osorio-Archila, E. Ponce, Y. Pérez Araujo, E.G. Pérez-Pérez, A. Pratts, C.D. Rho, A. Rodriguez Parra, D. Rosa-González, M. Roth, D. Salazar-Gallegos, A. Sandoval, M. Schneider, J. Serna-Franco, A.J. Smith, Y. Son, R.W. Springer, O. Tibolla, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, R. Torres-Escobedo, E. Varela, L. Villaseñor, X. Wang, Z. Wang, I.J. Watson, H. Wu, S. Yu, X. Zhang, H. Zhou, C. de León

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Cross-listed from physics.plasm-ph

First Principles Magnetohydrodynamical Theory for the Expanding Box Model: Effects on Expansion-Induced Alfvén Wave Reflection

Sebastián Saldivia, Nicolás Villarroel-Sepúlveda, Sebastián Echeverría-Veas et al. (+2 more)

The Expanding Box Model (EBM) has been widely employed to simulate multiscale plasma phenomena in the expanding solar wind by transforming the MHD equations to a co-moving, non-inertial frame. However, traditional formulations have suffered from historical ambiguity regarding the physical separation between the co-moving and inertial reference frames, primarily arising from a classical approximation of an invariant magnetic field between them. To resolve this inconsistency, we reformulate the EBM from first principles using a fully covariant approach. Here, we model the expanding solar wind frame as an anisotropic expanding spacetime metric, allowing us to incorporate radial acceleration profiles and differential transverse expansion, ensuring that all physical fields are correctly transformed by expansion. We demonstrate that asymmetries identified in previous EBM-MHD literature are direct consequences of neglecting the tensorial scaling of the magnetic field. Our covariant treatment eliminates these residues, restoring symmetry in the co-moving frame. Projecting our system back into the inertial frame clarifies the distinction between local plasma dynamics and plasma expansion, revealing the anisotropy of the Parker spiral as a geometric projection. Furthermore, linear wave analysis using Elsässer variables reveals that plasma expansion induces a low-frequency cutoff and geometric damping. Numerical integration demonstrates that expansion drives the reflection of Alfvén waves, generating counter-propagating modes primarily at low frequencies relative to the expansion rate, while high frequencies converge to the WKB approximation. This provides a consistent foundation for simulations, establishing that expansion can serve as a source of counter-propagating waves necessary to drive solar wind turbulence at low frequencies.
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All authors Sebastián Saldivia, Nicolás Villarroel-Sepúlveda, Sebastián Echeverría-Veas, Felipe A. Asenjo, Pablo S. Moya

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Multiphase images of a powerful supernova-driven wind in the early Universe

Rebecca L. Davies, D. B. Fisher, R. Herrera-Camus et al. (+38 more)

Galactic winds are considered a likely driver of rapid quenching in early massive galaxies, but until now there has been no direct evidence that such systems drive winds powerful enough to meaningfully suppress their star-formation. We present resolved cold gas and ionized gas observations of a powerful supernova-driven wind in a massive galaxy 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang (at $z$=5.3). The outflow, likely triggered by ongoing merger activity, is removing gas at twice the rate of star-formation and could plausibly eject all the cold gas from the galaxy within 100 Myr. Our results suggest that powerful merger-driven outflows may be a key mechanism to produce abundant massive quiescent galaxies in the early Universe when a large fraction of massive galaxies are interacting. The mass and energetics of this distant outflow are consistent with nearby starburst-driven superwinds, suggesting that the efficiency of stellar feedback has remained relatively constant over the last 12 billion years of cosmic history.
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All authors Rebecca L. Davies, D. B. Fisher, R. Herrera-Camus, A. Faisst, J. Spilker, J. González-López, S. Fujimoto, R. Amorín, M. Aravena, R. J. Assef, L. Barcos-Muñoz, M. Boquien, M. Dessauges-Zavadsky, A. Ferrara, N. M. Förster Schreiber, M. Ginolfi, D. Gómez-Espinoza, E. Ibar, R. Ikeda, H. Inami, G. C. Jones, A. Koekemoer, L. L. Lee, J. Li, D. Liu, Z. Liu, I. De Looze, I. Mitsuhashi, J. Molina, A. Nanni, M. Relano, M. Romano, P. Sawant, M. Solimano, L. Sommovigo, K. Tadaki, K. Telikova, H. Übler, V. Villanueva, W. Wang, G. Zamorani

Monday 8 June

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Cross-listed from physics.pop-ph

The Era of Extremely Large Optical Telescopes II: The GMT and TMT

Priya Hasan

The advent of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) ground-based optical and infrared observatories with primary mirrors exceeding 20m marks a transformative era in observational astronomy. This article explores the dawn of this new age, focusing on two of the next generation of optical/ infrared facilities: the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)\footnote{An accompanying paper by the author is on the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).} We describe the key technological innovations enabling the construction of these ambitious observatories, notably, segmented mirror design, advanced adaptive optics (AO), and laser guide star systems. Collectively, these breakthroughs yield more than an order of magnitude increase in both light-gathering area and spatial resolution, delivering image sharpness that, for widefield observations, surpassing space-based telescopes. We shall also discuss the comparison of space and ground-based telescopes and highlight their individual strengths and why space telescopes are not the solution to the satellite interference to ground-based telescopes. Ground based telescopes will continue to always be leaders in astronomical observations.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Milky Way's warped disc traced by AGB stars

Tanya Kushwahaa, Mikako Matsuura, Jason A. S. Hunt et al. (+3 more)

While the presence of the Galactic warp has long been established from observations of \HI\, gas, the Gaia measurements of over 1 billion stars with parallaxes have enabled much more detailed studies using stellar populations. Here, we demonstrate that asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, an evolved phase of low- and intermediate-mass stars, can serve as an effective tracer of the Galactic warp. We use two distinct AGB populations: C-rich AGB stars, representing stars of about 1~Gyr in age with main-sequence masses of 2–2.5~\Msun, and intermediate-mass (3–5~\Msun) O-rich AGB stars, corresponding to ages of 100–300~Myr. The downward warp traced by O-rich AGB stars is consistent with that found from Cepheids, which is expected given their similar ages. The more numerous C-rich AGB stars clearly reveal the Galactic warp over a wide range of azimuthal angles. Their warp appears to reach larger amplitudes than that of Cepheids across azimuthal angles. Our results show that C-rich AGB stars, together with intermediate-mass O-rich AGB stars, provide new constraints on the Galactic warp at intermediate stellar ages, offering a new insight into the stellar age and warp amplitude relation.
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All authors Tanya Kushwahaa, Mikako Matsuura, Jason A. S. Hunt, Daisuke Kawata, Roger Wesson, Timothy A. Davis

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Integral Field Unit Spectroscopy with One Fiber

Zehao Peng, Biprateep Dey, Chris J. Maddison et al. (+1 more)

Integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy provides spatially resolved spectra across galaxies, offering crucial insights into their evolution. However, its high observational cost limits current IFU datasets to $\sim 10^4$ objects. We present a multi-modal, probabilistic foundation model that predicts high-resolution spectra with calibrated uncertainties at arbitrary spatial locations within a galaxy directly from broadband images. Built on a masked autoencoder framework, our architecture injects fiber positional encodings and redshift aware wavelength encodings, enabling spatially conditioned predictions. Trained on 4.7 million images and single fiber spectroscopic observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, our model exploits the natural variance of fiber placements and the morphological self-similarity of galaxies to achieve IFU-like capabilities without any IFU training data. Predicted emission line flux maps match independent IFU observations from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey, with performance comparable to a supervised baseline trained directly on IFU data.
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All authors Zehao Peng, Biprateep Dey, Chris J. Maddison, Joshua S. Speagle

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Radio precursors of monster shocks: a mechanism for fast radio bursts from SGR 1935+2154

Andrei M. Beloborodov

Kilohertz perturbations in active magnetars evolve into monster radiative shocks at radii $r\sim 10^8$ cm. The shock generates X-rays and a semi-coherent radio precursor, which strongly interacts with the magnetospheric plasma ahead of the shock. We show that this interaction self-regulates the precursor emission and find its self-consistent frequency and luminosity. The precursor frequency falls in the GHz band and its production peaks when the shock expands to $r\approx 10^9$ cm. The resulting GHz burst has a sub-millisecond duration and energy ${\cal E}_{\rm FRB}\approx 10^{34}{\cal E}_{38}^{0.2}$ erg where ${\cal E}$ is the energy of the primary magnetosonic disturbance that launched the shock. As the GHz burst propagates to the light cylinder $R_{\rm LC}\sim 10^{10}$ cm, it faces a threat of being absorbed by the magnetosphere. The burst escapes if the local plasma density at $R_{\rm LC}$ is $\sim 30$ times lower than typically expected for active magnetars, so distant observers need some luck to see the radio burst. The shock X-rays follow the radio waves with a millisecond delay. Shocks from kilohertz disturbances with energies ${\cal E}\sim 10^{38}$ erg generate X-ray and radio bursts similar to the activity detected in SGR 1935+2154.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

The Case for High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy with the Habitable Worlds Observatory

Daniel Jaffe, Gregory Mace, Erica Sawczynec et al. (+2 more)

A high-resolution near-IR spectroscopy capability on the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) could strongly and efficiently advance many of the mission's goals. The technical barriers that made such a capability unfeasible on previous missions have largely been eliminated. Many HWO science case development documents require high spectral resolution in the IR and others would benefit significantly from it. High resolution improves the detectability of weak, unresolved features, aids identification of those features and provides additional information about radial velocity and line shape. It will be significantly easier to remove contaminating stellar features from high-resolution data. Silicon diffractive optics, immersion gratings and grisms, together with the new generation of low-noise, low dark-current avalanche photodiode arrays, make it possible to design a very compact high-resolution spectrograph that can cover the entire 1.1-2.0 micron band in a single exposure that would realize all of these advantages. We outline here the case for such an instrument and the technology development pathway needed to mature it in preparation for the HWO mission.
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All authors Daniel Jaffe, Gregory Mace, Erica Sawczynec, Ueejeong Jeong, Caroline Morley

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Aether-SHELLQs: JWST integral-field spectroscopy of candidate obscured quasars at z ~ 6

Yoshiki Matsuoka, Roberto Decarli, Emanuele Paolo Farina et al. (+12 more)

We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRSpec integral field unit (IFU) observations of six galaxies at $z \sim 6$, obtained as part of the Aether project (General Observers program 5645). The targets were originally identified by the Subaru High-$z$ Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) survey, as candidate obscured quasars with luminous ($\gtrsim10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$) but narrow ($\lesssim500$ km s$^{-1}$) Ly$\alpha$ emission. Two objects exhibit a broad component in their Balmer lines (FWHM $>3000$ km s$^{-1}$), indicating the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), while the remaining four show similar profiles in permitted and forbidden lines. Combining these data with similar SHELLQs objects reported previously, we find that the presence of broad lines is strongly correlated with Ly$\alpha$ luminosity ($L_{\rm Ly\alpha}$); the inferred AGN fraction is $>$77 % and $<$15 % above and below $L_{\rm Ly\alpha} =10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$, respectively. Dust-extinction corrections inferred from the Balmer decrement would imply unrealistically high Ly$\alpha$ luminosities, suggesting that the line-emitting gas consists of multiple zones. The IFU data reveal diverse spatial structures. The AGN hosts are compact, whereas the other galaxies show extended ionized gas on scales up to 10 kpc and star formation rates of 60 - 600 $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. One of the extended objects exhibits a signature of rotation, while most of the others show little ordered kinematics, with velocity widths (FWHM) up to 200 - 300 km s$^{-1}$. These objects populate the intermediate luminosity regime between classical luminous quasars and the low-luminosity AGNs discovered by JWST, including Little Red Dots, potentially linking the two populations.
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All authors Yoshiki Matsuoka, Roberto Decarli, Emanuele Paolo Farina, Anniek J. Gloudemans, Eduardo Bañados, Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, Anna-Christina Eilers, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Michael A. Strauss, Hyewon Suh, Maxime Trebitsch, Fabian Walter, Feige Wang, Kentaro Aoki, Junya Arita

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Exploring the Orbital Stability of Large, Lightweight Mirrors around Exoplanets

Shauna M. Sallmen Eric J. Korpela

Extraterrestrial civilizations might place large, lightweight mirrors into orbit around an exoplanet, either to alter its climate or to provide illumination to the planet's dark side. We previously analyzed the detectability of a fleet of 1km x 1km, 1000 kg mirrors (Korpela, Sallmen, & Leystra Greene 2015). Because these mirrors are large and lightweight, their orbits are significantly affected by the star's radiation pressure (RP). We created a simulation package based on the REBOUND N-body simulator, incorporating RP that directs starlight towards the planet's center. RP can always affect mirror orbits, or only during orbital night. We have simulated mirrors in initially circular orbits around exoplanets at various locations in the habitable zones of eight types of main-sequence stars. Initial mirror orbit sizes range from 2 to 10 planet radii, and we included 4 different initial mirror orbit orientations. For each simulation, we have the mirror's survival time, trajectory, distance from the planet center at each time, and velocity relative to the planet at each time. We present an analysis of trends in mirror orbit stability, and relate these to the ratios of RP and gravitational accelerations, as well as the ratio of planet orbit period to mirror orbit period.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Internal constitution of the outer crust of non-accreted neutron stars and magnetars

Juliette Servais and Nicolas Chamel

Context. Determining the internal constitution of the outer crust of magnetars is important for interpreting several of their astrophysical manifestations. In particular, the crustal composition is a key input for simulations of r-process nucleosynthesis in giant flare ejecta. However, traditional methods are computationally expensive, limiting their use in large-scale studies. Although faster iterative approaches exist, they are restricted to unmagnetized matter and strongly quantizing magnetic fields, leaving the intermediate field strengths characteristic of observed magnetars without an efficient treatment. Aims. We developed the program magcrust to extend these existing iterative approaches, enabling the rapid computation of the outer-crust composition of cold, non-accreted magnetars over the full range of the magnetic-field strengths inferred for these objects. Methods. Transitions between adjacent crustal layers are computed by solving approximate equilibrium conditions at the interface. Nuclear abundances and layer depths are estimated from approximate solutions of Einstein's equations of general relativity. Results. The performance and accuracy of the program were assessed against detailed numerical calculations. Relative deviations from exact transition properties remain within a few percent, and crustal compositions are well reproduced across 17 nuclear mass tables and 1300 magnetic-field strengths from 1E13 to 1E16 G. Computation times are reduced by factors of 1E3-1E7 compared to traditional approaches. Conclusions. This program provides a robust and efficient tool for determining the stratification of magnetars' outer crust over the full range of astrophysically relevant magnetic-field strengths. Its computational speed makes it well suited to systematic calculations, including sensitivity analyses, uncertainty quantification, and ensemble studies.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The emergence of the faint nature of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation

Luis Enrique Pérez-Montaño, Bernardo Cervantes Sodi, Vicente Rodriguez-Gomez et al. (+2 more)

We employ a simulated sample of galaxies drawn from the IllustrisTNG suite to study the emergence of the diffuse and extended nature of $\sim12,000$ low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) within a wide stellar mass range (${M}_{*}=10^{9}-10^{12} \rm{M}_{\odot}$). We employ merger trees to follow the evolution of their physical properties such as stellar surface density, specific angular momentum and halo spin parameter, finding that the central low density nature of LSBGs is mainly a consequence of an increase in their angular momentum and (inner) halo spin parameter. We also find that star formation histories of LSBGs are quite similar to their high surface brightness (HSBGs) counterparts, with significant differences not in the time, but in the spatial distribution in which new stars are forming. We conclude that the mechanisms that favor the emergence of the low surface brightness nature are strongly related with variations in the spin parameter of host halos and their angular momentum, deviating the stellar distribution of galaxies from their inner regions to their outskirts, leading to a decrease in their central surface brightness. Once the LSBG nature is established, galaxies are less likely to experience strong variations in their central surface densities and morphology.
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All authors Luis Enrique Pérez-Montaño, Bernardo Cervantes Sodi, Vicente Rodriguez-Gomez, Doris Stoppacher, Tian-Wen Cao

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The Importance of Galaxy-Wide Star Formation in Driving Winds at z~1

Weichen Wang, Susan A. Kassin, S. M. Faber et al. (+11 more)

In this work, we study winds for a representative sample of 86 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z~1 with $M_\star = 10^{9.0}-10^{11.5} M_\odot$, by measuring the Mg II line profiles in deep Keck spectra. A total of 50 (58%) are found to have winds. Unlike local starburst galaxies, the wind detection rate does not exhibit a threshold in star-formation rate (SFR) density $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$ at 0.1 Msun/yr/kpc$^2$, but shows a gradual decline around this value. We find correlations between wind velocity $v_\mathrm{wind}$ and SFR, $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$, and stellar mass, as per previous studies. Intriguingly, the z~1 SFGs appear to follow the same $v_\mathrm{wind}$-SFR relation as local starbursts. A combined fit gives: log $v_\mathrm{wind}$ = 0.16 log SFR + 2.4 (3-sigma significance). This unified relation spans over 4 dex in SFR and agrees with Illustris-TNG. No unified relation is found between $v_\mathrm{wind}$ and stellar mass, sSFR, or $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$. This suggests winds might be most closely associated with SFR. We examine whether winds in z~1 SFGs are driven by their most compact star-forming regions. To do so, we consider whether the relation between $v_\mathrm{wind}$ and the $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$ measured from only these regions is stronger than that for the galaxy-wide $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$. We do not find a stronger correlation, suggesting that winds are most related to $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$ of the entire galaxy. Collectively, these findings suggest a picture in which galaxy-wide star formation plays an important role in driving winds at z~1. Wind bubbles from all star-forming regions could combine momentum and help lift their entrained gas out of the galaxy.
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All authors Weichen Wang, Susan A. Kassin, S. M. Faber, David C. Koo, Timothy M. Heckman, Xinfeng Xu, Hassen M. Yesuf, Alexander de la Vega, Emily C. Cunningham, Puragra Guhathakurta, Yicheng Guo, Camilla Pacifici, John Pharo, Ying Qin

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Exploring Exoplanets with Interferometry

Sascha P. Quanz, Bertrand Mennesson, Charles Beichman et al. (+27 more)

(Extract from the Executive Summary) Humanity stands at the threshold of answering one of its most profound questions: Does life exist beyond Earth? Ongoing and upcoming space missions, together with powerful ground-based instruments, have prepared the way for a transformational next step - the detailed characterization of Earth analogs orbiting Sun-like and other stars and the search for atmospheric biosignatures that may indicate life. Within this context, the European Space Agency's Voyage 2050 process has identified the direct detection of thermal emission from temperate terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) as a top scientific priority. The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) - a space-based, mid-IR nulling interferometer - is designed to meet this goal. LIFE will be capable of detecting climate-relevant gases such as CO$_2$ and H$_2$O, identifying classical biosignatures like O$_3$ and CH$_4$, and probing additional, non-classical biosignatures. It will also provide key data for determining planetary radius, albedo, and temperature, which are essential for assessing habitability. In parallel, the U.S. National Academy has recommended a complementary mission now called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) - a ~6-meter space telescope equipped with advanced coronagraphs to suppress starlight by a factor of ~10$^{10}$ across the visible and possibly into the near-infrared and near-ultraviolet. Together, LIFE and HWO offer synergistic capabilities, enabling a comprehensive and robust assessment of the prevalence of life-bearing exoplanets in our galactic neighbourhood - a first in human history. By uniting an international and interdisciplinary community of scientists and engineers, LIFE offers a credible pathway toward the direct detection and characterization of potentially habitable - and even inhabited - worlds.
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All authors Sascha P. Quanz, Bertrand Mennesson, Charles Beichman, Jonah T. Hansen, Felix A. Dannert, Andrea Fortier, Michael Ireland, Nicholas Beltsten, Eleonora Alei, Leonid Pogorelyuk, William O. Balmer, Denis Defrère, Gautam Vasisht, Malcolm Fridlund, Romain Laugier, Tiffany Kataria, Eugene Serabyn, Steve Ertel, Hélène Rousseau, Kevin Wagner, Rhonda Morgan, Gerard T. van Belle, Gail H. Schaefer, Jean-Philippe Berger, Taro Matsuo, Ewan Douglas, John D. Monnier, Adrian M. Glauser, Dimitri Mawet, Michael R. Meyer

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

The Fifth RIT Catalog of Binary Black Hole Simulations: Multiple-Resolution Studies of Eccentric Orbits

Giuseppe Ficarra, James Healy and Carlos O. Lousto

This fifth release of the RIT public catalog of numerical relativity binary black hole waveforms http://ccrg.rit.edu/~RITCatalog introduces an additional 248 configurations, prioritizing 197 newly simulated eccentric orbits. This update brings the catalog to a total of 2129 cases. All waveforms are corrected for center-of-mass drift and extrapolated to future null infinity. To rigorously estimate waveform errors, we conduct multiple-resolution convergence studies on 10 eccentric simulations (up to 33 orbits to merger) using three global resolutions increasing by factors of 1.2, plus a comprehensive six-resolution study for a single 18-orbit configuration. We evaluate waveform accuracy by computing mismatches against theoretical infinite-resolution extrapolations. Additionally, we analyze the convergence properties of key physical observables: merger times, number of orbits, final masses, final spins, recoil velocities, and the peak amplitude, frequency, and luminosity of the gravitational radiation.
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Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Cross-listed from nucl-th

Thermodynamic versus Dynamical Description of the Neutron-Star Crust-Core Instability: Implications for Crustal Observables

Athul Kunjipurayil and J. Piekarewicz

We investigate the crust-core transition in neutron stars using both thermodynamic and dynamical descriptions of the instability. In the thermodynamic approach, the transition is identified through the vanishing of a generalized incompressibility coefficient signaling the onset of a bulk spinodal instability. In contrast, the dynamical approach based on the relativistic random-phase approximation (RPA) incorporates Coulomb screening and finite-size effects that determine the instability at finite wavelength. Using a family of covariant energy density functionals spanning a broad range of symmetry-energy slopes, we show that the dynamical treatment systematically predicts lower transition densities and pressures compared to the thermodynamic approach. We further demonstrate that the RPA instability develops at a characteristic length scale set by the competition among bulk, Coulomb, and surface effects. Most importantly, we show that these differences propagate directly into neutron-star observables. Because the thermodynamic approach predicts larger transition pressures, it generates thicker crusts and significantly larger crustal fractions of the stellar moment of inertia than the dynamical-RPA framework – with important implications for the interpretation of pulsar glitches and other crust-sensitive neutron-star observables.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Method to get Better Sky Maps in a GstLAL Low-Latency Analysis

Prathamesh Joshi, Becca Ewing, Chad Hanna et al. (+40 more)

Modeled gravitational wave searches correlate the strain data with a bank of gravitational wave template waveforms to make detections of gravitational wave candidates, and these results are processed by downstream tools to calculate the likely sky location and distance of the source of the candidates. This is crucial for multi-messenger efforts, since it informs astronomers where to point their telescopes to facilitate electromagnetic follow-up of the gravitational wave candidates. We present a novel method to improve the low-latency results of the GstLAL gravitational wave search pipeline, and thus improving sky location estimates of low-latency candidates. This method involves ingesting the GstLAL low-latency results, and performing a small targeted hierarchical search to recover the candidates with more accurate parameters, in a medium-latency timescale (few seconds to five minutes). To test our method, we perform a GstLAL low-latency analysis on forty days of data from the third observing run of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA, and show that our method improves the GstLAL results by 5.38% and the subsequent sky location results by 16.75% on average. In addition to this increase in precision, we also show that these results are more accurate as compared to the GstLAL results. This method has been adopted by GstLAL for the fourth observing run.
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All authors Prathamesh Joshi, Becca Ewing, Chad Hanna, Zach Yarbrough, Jolien D. E. Creighton, Shomik Adhicary, Pratyusava Baral, Amanda Baylor, Kipp Cannon, Sarah Caudill, Michael W. Coughlin, Bryce Cousins, Heather Fong, Richard N. George, Shaon Ghosh, Patrick Godwin, Reiko Harada, Yun-Jing Huang, Rachael Huxford, James Kennington, Soichiro Kuwahara, Alvin K. Y. Li, Ryan Magee, Duncan Meacher, Cody Messick, Soichiro Morisaki, Debnandini Mukherjee, Wanting Niu, Alexander Pace, Cort Posnansky, Anarya Ray, Surabhi Sachdev, Shio Sakon, Stefano Schmidt, Urja Shah, Divya Singh, Ron Tapia, Leo Tsukada, Koh Ueno, Aaron Viets, Leslie Wade, Madeline Wade, Noah Zhang

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Identical Bosons, large occupation numbers and classical field description

Gaurav Goswami

For a system with a large number of identical Bosons, it is common to claim, often without any additional justifications, that, when the mean occupation number in a single particle state is sufficiently large, classical field description will be applicable. This is why e.g. for ultra-light dark matter, the classical field equations are used to compute its dynamics. In this work, we test the validity and robustness of this assumption based on the criterion $2 \sigma_\varphi < |\langle \varphi \rangle| $ for classical field behaviour and applying it to aribtrary quantum states. We find that an arbitrary state with large occupation number doesn't behave classically while imposing some restrictions on the state vectors can improve the classical behavior. Since coherent states are known to have quasi-classical behaviour, we also ask how much deviation from coherent state can spoil the classical behaviour. Based on this analysis, we find that it is the proximity of the state to a large occupation coherent state rather than large occupation number itself which ensures validity of classical description. Implications of this for ultra light dark matter are discussed.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Learning the Universe with the 2nd Generation of CAMELS: Varying 35 parameters of the IllustrisTNG model in (50Mpc/h)^3 boxes

Shy Genel, Yongseok Jo, Boon Kiat Oh et al. (+10 more)

We present a new set of 1,192 cosmological simulations as part of the CAMELS project, in which a space of 35 cosmological, astrophysical, and numerical parameters is explored around the fiducial IllustrisTNG model. The volume of each of these simulations is (50Mpc/h)^3, eight times larger than that of previous CAMELS simulations. This provides lower sample variance as well as access to more massive halos and more diverse environments. We focus this work on exploring the advantages these differences provide for parameter inference powered by neural networks. We generate training sets based on the matter power spectra, projected maps of the volumes, graphs representing galaxy spatial distributions, and thermodynamical properties of massive halos. We employ multilayer perceptrons, convolutional neural networks, graph neural networks, and Gaussian processes, respectively, to extract information on the simulation parameters from these inputs while comparing systematically to analogous results from our previous generation of (25Mpc/h)^3 simulations. We generally find that the new, larger volumes produce tighter marginal constraints on the parameters, to degrees that vary between the different inputs. The improvements, however, scale more weakly than with the square root of the increase in the amount of data (i.e., physical volume). We interpret this as originating either from information loss due to mode coupling or from complex degeneracies in parameter space. We also discuss the effects on statistics of the intergalactic medium temperature from four new parameters that are varied in these simulations, which control the amplitude and timing of the ionizing background radiation. We publicly release the simulation outputs and ancillary data at https://camels.readthedocs.io.
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All authors Shy Genel, Yongseok Jo, Boon Kiat Oh, Megan Taylor Tillman, Max E. Lee, Jun-Young Lee, Elena Hernández-Martínez, Christopher C. Lovell, Xavier Sims, Blakesley Burkhart, Kentaro Nagamine, Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, Francisco Villaescusa-Navarro

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Learning the Universe at High Redshifts: Impact of Accretion Modeling on Early Black Hole Growth

Jonathan Kho, Aklant K. Bhowmick, Rainer Weinberger et al. (+8 more)

JWST discoveries of the earliest ($z \gtrsim 9$) supermassive black holes (BHs, $M_\bullet \gtrsim 10^6\,\rm{M}_\odot$) challenge the BH seeding and accretion models of most cosmological simulations. In this work, we compare early BH growth arising from three different accretion prescriptions characterized by distinct scalings between the accretion rate ($\dot{M}_{\rm \bullet}$) and the BH mass ($M_{\rm \bullet}$): the commonly used Bondi-Hoyle model ($\dot{M}_{\rm \bullet}\propto M_{\rm \bullet}^2$), and two free-fall models with shallower scalings ($\dot{M}_{\rm \bullet}\propto M_{\rm \bullet}^{1/2}$ and $M_{\rm \bullet}$). Bondi accretion tends to produce stronger runaway growth than the free-fall models when using heavy ($\sim10^5\,\rm{M}_\odot$) seeds in extreme environments owing to the steeper $M_\bullet$ scaling, but its sensitivity to the local gas sound speed makes it more susceptible to suppression from temperature increases due to AGN and stellar feedback. The free-fall models tend to produce stronger growth for lower-mass seeds ($\sim10^{3-4}\,\rm{M}_\odot$) in moderate environments as they are less dependent on the BH's mass to accrete effectively, however in this regime BH growth remains negligible for all accretion models in the presence of fiducial stellar feedback. Enhancing early BH growth via many BH-BH mergers disproportionately enhances subsequent accretion-driven growth for Bondi due to the steeper $M_{\rm \bullet}$ dependence. Our simulations can thus assemble BHs with masses of $\sim10^6-10^7~M_{\odot}$ at $z\gtrsim9$, as inferred by JWST, under two circumstances: 1) abundant heavy-seed formation that drives BH-BH mergers, or 2) Bondi accretion with weak feedback.
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All authors Jonathan Kho, Aklant K. Bhowmick, Rainer Weinberger, Paul Torrey, Laura Blecha, Lars Hernquist, Greg L. Bryan, Alex M. Garcia, Niusha Ahvazi, Alejandro Saravia, Boon Kiat Oh

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Learning the Universe: Constrained simulations of the Coma galaxy cluster – I. Radial X-ray and Compton-y signatures

Ulrich P. Steinwandel, Stuart McAlpine, Richard Stiskalek et al. (+7 more)

We present a suite of 50 high-fidelity simulations of Coma cluster analogues constructed from BORG/MANTICORE constrained initial conditions and evolved with the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model. Regions predicted to form massive clusters comparable to Coma in mass and environment are selected and followed through cosmic time, producing realistic galaxy populations and intracluster medium properties. The ensemble captures both cosmic variance and uncertainties in the local initial conditions, providing a statistically robust framework for interpreting Coma in a cosmological context. We focus on direct comparisons with observed thermodynamical profiles of the intracluster medium. Specifically, we extract X-ray surface brightness profiles from the simulated clusters and confront them with measurements from eROSITA, as well as compute the thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect via integrated Compton-$y$ profiles for comparison with Planck satellite data. The simulations reproduce the broad shape and normalisation of both observables, while also highlighting the range of scatter expected from environmental and assembly history differences. This enables us to assess how feedback processes, merger activity, and large-scale environment shape observable cluster properties. Our results demonstrate that combining constrained cosmological initial conditions with state-of-the-art galaxy formation physics provides an effective strategy for generating targeted, observation-driven analogues of specific clusters. The resulting dataset offers a valuable resource for testing models of intracluster medium physics, calibrating scaling relations, and interpreting upcoming joint X-ray and Sunyaev–Zel'dovich observations of nearby massive clusters.
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All authors Ulrich P. Steinwandel, Stuart McAlpine, Richard Stiskalek, Rüdiger Pakmor, Volker Springel, Eugene Churazov, Ildar Khabibullin, Jens Jasche, Guilhem Lavaux, Greg L. Bryan

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Learning the Universe: The Structure of Dust Attenuation Curves in Galaxy Simulations

Laura Sommovigo, Deaglan J. Bartlett, Rachel K. Cochrane et al. (+3 more)

Dust attenuation is a major source of systematic uncertainty in both SED fitting and forward modeling of galaxy populations, yet the functional form used to parameterize attenuation curves has received surprisingly little systematic scrutiny. Particular unanswered questions include: how many free parameters are genuinely needed, and which analytic expression best captures the full diversity of attenuation curve shapes in galaxies across cosmic time? Using a large library of synthetic attenuation curves from TNG50 and TNG100 galaxies post-processed with the SKIRT radiative transfer code using three dust mixtures (Milky Way, SMC, and stellar dust), we show via Information-Ordered Bottleneck analysis that exactly four parameters are needed to capture the diversity of attenuation curves. Guided by this result, we use symbolic regression to derive a new, interpretable four-parameter attenuation model that outperforms existing parameterizations in recovering both attenuation curves and emergent fluxes across all dust mixtures explored. The four parameters of this model have clear physical interpretations: UV bump strength, FUV slope, UV-bump transition curvature, and large-scale optical slope. Their correlations with galaxy properties are primarily regulated by star-formation rate surface density, metallicity, and stellar-dust geometry, and are largely preserved across dust mixtures – except for the bump-sensitive parameters, which retain a stronger dependence on grain composition. We further provide symbolic-regression scaling relations linking all four parameters to quasi-observable galaxy properties, offering a physically motivated route to assign realistic attenuation curves in SED fitting and forward modeling without radiative-transfer calculations.
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All authors Laura Sommovigo, Deaglan J. Bartlett, Rachel K. Cochrane, Matthew Ho, Christopher C. Lovell, Rachel S. Somerville

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Pressure-regulated feedback-modulated star formation as a subgrid model for galaxy formation simulations

Sarah M. R. Jeffreson, Eve C. Ostriker, Chang-Goo Kim et al. (+1 more)

We present a new subgrid model for interstellar gas evolution in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation, based on the pressure-regulated, feedback-modulated (PRFM) theory of star formation. In contrast to the empirically pegged star formation prescriptions employed in current cosmological simulations, the PRFM model links the local star formation rate to the dynamic balance achieved in galactic interstellar gas between gravity and stellar feedback effects. With this formulation, both the star formation efficiency and the effective equation of state may be directly calibrated using numerical simulations, such as TIGRESS, which resolve physics of the interstellar medium and star formation at parsec scales. We develop, and implement in the Arepo moving-mesh code, two complementary classes of the subgrid model: a volumetric version (PRFM-vol) applicable when the gas disk scale height of a galaxy is numerically resolved in a simulation, and an integrated version (PRFM-int) that reconstructs the mid-plane density and pressure from vertical equilibrium considerations when the true gas scale height cannot be numerically resolved. Using isolated Milky-Way-like disk simulations across mass resolutions $10^5$-$10^7~{\rm M}_\odot$, we show that both implementations yield shorter gas depletion times than the IllustrisTNG prescription, especially in regions where pressure and density are large. At high resolution, PRFM-vol and PRFM-int agree closely with each other and with TIGRESS for the star formation rate; PRFM-int remains robust at all resolutions tested. These results demonstrate that PRFM-derived subgrid prescriptions provide a physically grounded and numerically stable framework for star formation across the dynamic range of galaxy formation simulations, paving the way for future cosmological applications.
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All authors Sarah M. R. Jeffreson, Eve C. Ostriker, Chang-Goo Kim, Jan Burger

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Learning the Universe with cosmological rescaling of merger trees and semi-analytic galaxy formation models

Richard Stiskalek, Lucia A. Perez, Shy Genel et al. (+3 more)

Learning cosmology from galaxy surveys requires large suites of simulations spanning the cosmological and astrophysical parameter space, yet hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation remain prohibitively expensive. Semi-analytic models offer an inexpensive, physically grounded alternative, but still require halo merger trees from $N$-body simulations, and densely sampling cosmological parameters in sufficient volume remains expensive. We address this by extending cosmological rescaling to operate directly on merger trees and applying it in the $\Omega_{\rm m}$-$\sigma_8$ plane, running the Santa Cruz semi-analytic model for galaxy formation on the rescaled trees to produce galaxy populations across new cosmological and astrophysical parameters at negligible additional cost. A novel halo-profile-based correction, controlled by a single free parameter, suppresses systematic bias in rescaled halo masses to below the per cent level. We apply the method to parameter estimation of $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and $\sigma_8$ given either the stellar mass function or the two-point correlation function, finding that as few as 64, and potentially fewer, base $N$-body simulations, rescaled to $\sim1000$ training samples, match the accuracy of 750 dedicated $N$-body simulations; rescaling to 3200 realisations improves the prediction of $\Omega_{\rm m}$ by $\sim25\%$. Rescaling all merger trees from a single CAMELS-SAM $N$-body simulation costs $\sim0.1$ CPUh, compared to several thousand CPUh to run the simulation itself. We demonstrate a practical route to obtaining predictions of galaxy summary statistics across cosmological and astrophysical parameters, even with a relatively small number of base $N$-body simulations.
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All authors Richard Stiskalek, Lucia A. Perez, Shy Genel, Rachel S. Somerville, Raul E. Angulo, Sergio Contreras

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Learning the Universe: Posterior Reliability of Neural Generative Models in High-Dimensional Field-Level Inference of Cosmic Initial Conditions

Ludvig Doeser and Jens Jasche

Accurate posterior estimation is central to scientific inference, as uncertainties determine what can be reliably learned from observational data. While Markov chain Monte Carlo methods provide asymptotic convergence guarantees, they are computationally demanding in high-dimensional settings. Neural network-based generative models for entire discretized 3D fields enable fast amortized inference but often lack convergence guarantees and principled accuracy assessment. Using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo to obtain reference posterior samples, we conduct a controlled field-level evaluation of an implicit generative model (Stochastic Interpolants) and an explicit likelihood-based model (GLOW normalizing flows). This comparison, unavailable in typical applications, enables the detection of posterior geometry failures that standard metrics cannot capture. As a case study, we consider the cosmological inverse problem of inferring cosmic initial conditions from present-day large-scale structure. To match the precision of modern cosmological data, this problem increasingly relies on complex, non-linear, and non-differentiable simulators, which are incompatible with gradient-based inference frameworks. Generative models offer a route to address these challenges, provided their inferred posteriors are reliable. In this work, we show that matching posterior means, marginal distributions, or achieving high cross-correlation does not imply correct uncertainty structure, as revealed by posterior variance fields and sample-based evaluations. Through this work, we aim to raise awareness of the challenges of uncertainty estimation in high-dimensional field-level settings, highlighting the importance of careful design and validation of neural generative approaches for scientific applications.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Learning the Universe with PRFM-vol: Introducing a new subgrid model for star formation in cosmological simulations

Jan D. Burger, Volker Springel, Eve C. Ostriker et al. (+7 more)

We introduce PRFM-vol, a new subgrid model for star formation in cosmological simulations that aims to increase the physical realism of cosmological simulations by leveraging results obtained with focused ISM simulations. We deploy a modified effective equation of state and calculate the star formation rate for each gas cell as a function of the ambient densities of gas, dark matter, and stars, based on the pressure-regulated feedback-modulated (PRFM) theory of star formation. Test simulations of our model in isolated galaxies show that we match PRFM predictions and TIGRESS scaling relations remarkably well, provided sufficiently high resolution is available. In particular, we are able to clearly demonstrate the impact of the stellar potential on the star formation rate, thereby retaining an important prediction of PRFM. We then apply our new model to cosmological multizoom simulations and find, compared to our previous TIGRESS/Schmidt model, a significant increase in the stellar scale heights and a slight increase in stellar mass. We demonstrate that modifying the effective equation of state significantly affects the morphology of simulated galaxies. Pronounced stellar clumps appear if the effective pressure at low hydrogen number densities is low, and disappear for higher pressure. We show that the formation of clumps is a result of Toomre instabilities, and conclude that simulated galaxy morphologies can be used to constrain effective equation of state models. Overall, our results establish PRFM-vol as a new self-consistent, physics-motivated subgrid model for star formation in high-resolution cosmological simulations.
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All authors Jan D. Burger, Volker Springel, Eve C. Ostriker, Chang-Goo Kim, Ulrich Steinwandel, Matthew C. Smith, Lars Hernquist, Greg L. Bryan, Rachel S. Somerville, Alon Gurman

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

The Manticore Project II: Bayesian digital twins of cosmic structure across the SDSS and BOSS volumes

Stuart McAlpine, Jens Jasche, Guilhem Lavaux et al. (+2 more)

We present Manticore-Deep, a high-resolution Bayesian field-level reconstruction of cosmic large-scale structure over a comoving volume of $(4~h^{-1}\mathrm{Gpc})^{3}$ to $z\approx0.7$ at ${\sim}4$~Mpc/h resolution. Extending the companion Manticore-Local analysis (Paper~I), Manticore-Deep jointly constrains five galaxy redshift surveys within a single hierarchical Bayesian framework using the BORG algorithm. The inference reconstructs primordial initial conditions evolved under gravity, yielding a posterior ensemble of three-dimensional density and velocity fields that causally reproduce the observed large-scale structure. A novel tiled inference strategy extends the reconstructed volume by more than an order of magnitude beyond Paper~I. Posterior realisations are consistent with LCDM, reproducing Gaussian isotropic initial conditions and the expected $z=0$ matter power spectrum, bispectrum, and halo mass function over the resolved scales. We validate the reconstruction using two independent template-free posterior-predictive tests against observations excluded from the inference. Cross-correlation with the Planck PR3 CMB lensing map yields a cumulative detection significance of 7.4 $\sigma$, while velocity-weighted stacking of $64{,}750$ galaxy clusters on the Planck 217~GHz map detects the kinetic Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect at $3.5\sigma$, with a model-independent approach–recession split confirming the inferred velocities. Together, these tests validate both the projected-density and three-dimensional velocity fields recovered by Manticore-Deep. The BOSS Great Wall is recovered as a ${\sim}3\sigma$ overdensity consistent with LCDM across the posterior ensemble. Manticore-Deep establishes a benchmark for survey-depth constrained cosmological digital twins and reproducible field-level validation of large-scale structure reconstructions.
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All authors Stuart McAlpine, Jens Jasche, Guilhem Lavaux, Ludvig Doeser, Arthur Loureiro

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Refined anti-proton and anti-deuteron fluxes from weak-scale Dark Matter

Marco Cirelli, Mattia Di Mauro and Arpan Kar

We provide the cosmic-ray (CR) fluxes of antiprotons and antideuterons produced by the Galactic annihilation or decay of weak-scale dark matter (DM) particles of masses in the range from a few GeV to 100 TeV. We estimate these fluxes based on the updated models for the propagation of charged particles in the Galaxy and using the improved $\bar{p}$ and $\bar{d}$ spectra provided by $\texttt{CosmiXs}$. For the updated propagation models we consider the MIN/MED/MAX sets under the new SLIM/BIG/QUAINT schemes. We treat the Galactic propagation in a semi-analytic way including different possible effects such as spatial diffusion, energy-losses, convection and diffusive reacceleration. For the DM distribution in the Galactic halo we consider NFW, Einasto and Burkert profiles with the most updated parameters. Moreover, we also incorporate the latest models for the inelastic cross-sections of $\bar{p}$ and $\bar{d}$ based on ALICE data. We validate our calculations with those available in the literature or those obtained from other publicly available numerical packages. We compare the CR fluxes obtained in this work with those provided previously by $\texttt{PPPC4DMID}$ which were based on old propagation scenarios. We find that the CR fluxes obtained here with the new propagation models are much more robust (compared to the older ones) under the variation MIN - MAX. We also discuss the impact of this in the improvement of the discovery potential of a possible DM signal in the light of the present and upcoming CR observations. We provide all our results for the DM-induced interstellar CR fluxes in a tabulated format (for the kinetic energy range 0.1 GeV - 100 TeV) in the $\texttt{GitHub}$ repository of the newly created $\texttt{CosmiXsPPPC}$ project. The results are ready to be used for studies related to DM indirect searches.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

X-rays breaking out of pre-explosion ejecta mark a supernova's first light

Weimin Yuan, Qiu-Ju Huang, Jin-Ping Zhu et al. (+130 more)

Massive stars die as core-collapse supernovae, whose optical light emerges days after the implosion. Theory predicts that the initial collapse-driven shock, upon breaking through the star and dense circumstellar medium, emits a brief thermal flash of soft X-rays and ultraviolet. Yet these elusive first signals have remained largely undetected, owing to limited wide-field soft X-ray monitoring. Here we report the discovery of a soft X-ray flash, EP260321a, followed days later by a broad-lined supernova from an envelope-stripped progenitor. Its X-ray spectrum, best modeled with blackbody, establishes it as the long-sought archetypal shock breakout. The burst's duration and energetics place the breakout at a radius of 300 solar radii, tracing a dense surrounding shell and revealing abrupt mass ejection within the final month before collapse.
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All authors Weimin Yuan, Qiu-Ju Huang, Jin-Ping Zhu, Yun-Wei Yu, Dong Xu, Chen Zhang, Zhuo Li, Yuan Liu, Tao An, Giulia Gianfagna, Weikang Zheng, Guowang Du, Xing Liu, Ji-An Jiang, Johan P.U. Fynbo, Alexei S. Pozanenko, Junjie Jin, Yi Yang, Jinsong Deng, Hui Sun, Guang-Lei Wu, Yu-Hao Zhang, Bao Wang, Yu Wang, Xiangyu Wang, Bin-Bin Zhang, Yong Chen, Yonghe Zhang, Bo Wang, Xiaofeng Wang, Xuefeng Wu, Zigao Dai, Jie An, G.C. Anupama, Arvind Balasubramanian, Congying Bao, Aru Beri, Varun Bhalerao, Thomas G. Brink, Gabriele Bruni, Minxuan Cai, Zhiming Cai, Krittapas Chanchaiworawit, Yehai Chen, Huaqing Cheng, Bertrand Cordier, Chenzhou Cui, Weiwei Cui, Cuiyuan Dai, D. Eappachen, M. V. Eselevich, Xiao Fan, Zhou Fan, Yuan Fang, Hua Feng, Alexei V. Filippenko, Shaoyu Fu, He Gao, Jinjun Geng, Vitaly Goranskij, Ju Guan, Dawei Han, Jinxin Hao, Linbo He, Min He, Jingwei Hu, Maohai Huang, Shumei Jia, Ziqing Jia, Shuaiqing Jiang, Chichuan Jin, Ge Jin, Peter Jonker, E. V. Klunko, Albert K. H. Kong, Chengkui Li, Dongyue Li, Rui-Zhi Li, Wenxiong Li, Run-Duo Liang, Zhixing Ling, Congzhan Liu, Huaqiu Liu, Liangduan Liu, Xiangkun Liu, Xiaowei Liu, Yuanqi Liu, Zhengwei Liu, Fangjun Lu, Jirong Mao, Xuan Mao, A. S. Moskvitin, Haiyang Mu, Kirpal Nandra, Jan-Uwe Ness, Kangrui Ni, Kanthanakorn Noysena, Paul O'Brien, Haiwu Pan, Yu Pan, N.S. Pankov, Luigi Piro, J. Quirola-Vasquez, Arne Rau, Nanda Rea, D.K. Sahu, Aditya Pawan Saikia, Jeremy Sanders, Liming Song, Olga Spiridonova, Ning-Chen Sun, Shengli Sun, Xiaojin Sun, Yuyin Tan, Aishwarya Linesh Thakur, Samaporn Tinyanont, Valery Vlasyuk, A.V. Volnova, Ailing Wang, Hong Wu, Qianrui Wu, Haitao Xu, Zelin Xu, Changbin Xue, Yi-Han Iris Yin, I. A. Zaznobin, Jia-Sen Zhang, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Songbo Zhang, Yu Zhang, Zipei Zhu, Zecheng Zou, Bing Zhang