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Physics Astrophysics

astro-ph Watch Astrophysics

Tuesday 1 September

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

Higgsino Dark Matter Interpretation of the LUX-ZEPLIN 248 keV Nuclear-Recoil Event

Katherine Freese and Dionysios P. Theodosopoulos

We propose Higgsino dark matter as a potential interpretation of the $248~\mathrm{keV}$ nuclear-recoil event of interest reported by the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment. LZ studied several rare background processes and detector effects in detail, but did not identify any as a likely explanation of the event. A nearly pure Higgsino naturally realizes inelastic dark matter through the off-diagonal $Z$ coupling of two nearly degenerate neutral Majorana states separated by a mass splitting $\delta$. The same electroweak interaction fixes the inelastic Higgsino-nucleon scattering cross section, rather than leaving it as a free parameter. We show that the predicted Higgsino inelastic scattering cross section approaches the published LZ two-sided 90% confidence interval for a Higgsino mass $m_{\widetilde H}\sim1~\mathrm{TeV}$ and a mass splitting $\delta\sim350~\mathrm{keV}$.
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Beyond Five Scale Heights: Composition- and Cloud-dependent Ariel Tier-2 Requirements for sub-Neptunes

Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy, Nicolas B. Cowan, Misato Fukagawa et al. (+1 more)

The Ariel Mission Candidate Sample (MCS) Tier-2 requirements provide a common screening reference by assuming a clear H$_2$/He atmosphere and a five-scale-height transmission signal. We quantify how those requirements change for 197 known planets with $1.5\leq R_{\rm p}/R_\oplus<4.0$ when composition and clouds are specified explicitly. Equilibrium-chemistry transmission spectra at $1\times$, $10\times$, and $100\times$ solar metallicity are evaluated for clear atmospheres and idealized 1-mbar cloud decks, binned to the 47 AIRS Tier-2 channels, and combined with target-specific MCS-calibrated noise curves. For each atmosphere, we calculate the number of transits required for a featureless spectrum to be rejected at a $3\sigma$ confidence in at least 90% of repeated observations. The clear $1\times$-solar atmosphere closely follows the MCS prediction. At $10\times$ solar metallicity, stronger molecular opacity generally improves detectability, whereas at $100\times$ solar metallicity the increased mean molecular weight dominates and roughly doubles the required number of transits. Cloudy atmospheres follow the same non-monotonic trend but at substantially greater cost: the $1\times$-solar, 1-mbar case requires nearly an order of magnitude more transits than the MCS prediction, while the enriched cloudy cases still require several times more. Overall, in most atmospheric scenarios tested, small planets require more transits to robustly detect spectral features than listed in the MCS. A literature crossmatch further identifies Ariel targets with detected metastable helium, for which Tier-2 molecular spectra could connect lower-atmosphere composition and clouds to an extended, escaping H$_2$/He upper atmosphere.
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All authors Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy, Nicolas B. Cowan, Misato Fukagawa, Teruyuki Hirano

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Irreducible-Mass Growth and Extractable Energy in a Self-Gravitating Blandford-Znajek Engine

Remo Ruffini and Giorgio Sonnino

Wang recently constructed a self-gravitating split-monopole Blandford-Znajek engine and obtained its secular horizon mass and angular-momentum loss rates. We determine the previously unknown consequences of this evolution: the growth of the irreducible mass, the division of rotational work between outgoing electromagnetic power and horizon dissipation, and the lifetime-integrated energy removed from the horizon. For fixed magnetic flux and impedance matching, one half of the instantaneous rotational work is carried outward, and one half irreversibly increases the horizon area. Integrating Wang's spin-down trajectory, we find in the weak-field limit the exact results A_f/A_0=\sqrt{e} and E_{extr}^H/(M_{H,0}c^2)=1-exp{1/4}/\sqrt{2}\simeq 0.09206. The leading maximum-power spin-flux allocation instead gives E_extr^{H}/(M_{H,0}c^2)\simeq 0.04668. These results provide the first irreducible-mass and extractable-energy accounting of Wang's engine. Their extension from quasilocal horizon quantities to energy received at infinity requires a separate flux analysis.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Cross-listed from hep-ph

Gravitational Waves from Reheating beyond Instantaneous Thermalization

Kyohei Mukaida and Tenta Tsuji

We study gravitational-wave production during perturbative reheating without assuming instantaneous thermalization of the inflaton decay products. The injected energetic particles thermalize through an in-medium cascade of nearly collinear splittings subject to the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect and are ultimately isotropized by elastic scatterings near the thermal scale. The non-thermal hard population present before complete thermalization produces an additional gravitational-wave component through hard-soft scatterings, with $\Omega_{\mathrm{GW}}\propto f^{1/2}$ below the injection-scale turnover. The same isotropization erases the directional information underlying the vacuum $1/k$ bremsstrahlung soft pole, changing the deep-infrared spectrum from $\Omega_{\mathrm{GW}}\propto f$ to $\Omega_{\mathrm{GW}}\propto f^3$.
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Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Project management of the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector

Dallas Wulf, Matt Dobbs, Brian Hoff et al. (+3 more)

The Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD) is a new drift-scan radio interferometer operating from 300-1500 MHz, optimized for 21cm intensity mapping, 21cm galaxy detection, pulsars, and transient detection and localization. The full instrument will feature a core array of 512 six-meter dishes, plus two 64-dish outriggers at several thousand kilometer baselines. The project is nearing completion of the first 64-dish sub array, which will enable commissioning activities to begin in parallel with the remaining construction. In this presentation, we discuss the project management framework that has enabled us to navigate the logistical challenges of a fixed-budget, fixed-timeline research infrastructure project through a period of significant global economic and technological volatility.
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All authors Dallas Wulf, Matt Dobbs, Brian Hoff, Michael Rupen, Kendrick Smith, Keith Vanderlinde

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Extreme AGN Variability in WISE: Powerful Flares and Candidate Tidal Disruption Events in AGN

Satya Teja Anuraag Upadhyayula, Daniel Stern, Kishalay De et al. (+7 more)

We present first results from a systematic study of extreme mid-infrared variability of active galaxies across the $>10$-year baseline of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. WISE, which observed the full sky with a six-month cadence, is sensitive to transient events in both unobscured and obscured galaxies. This paper focuses on extreme flares in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Previous studies identified flares such as tidal disruption events (TDEs) in inactive galaxies, typically from optical or X-ray surveys. However, flares are also expected in AGN and optical/X-ray searches are insensitive to events in dust-enshrouded AGN. In this pilot study, we present flares in two AGN identified from extreme mid-infrared color variability. One flare was also detected at optical wavelengths. While both events showed broadened H$\alpha$ emission several years after the flare peak, more recent spectroscopy reveals continued broadened emission only from the source with the optical flare. After considering several potential physical causes of the flares, including supernovae and micro-lensing, we suggest both events are TDEs in AGN. Intriguingly, the optical flare decays much faster than the expected $t^{-5/3}$ fallback rate expected for TDEs in quiescent galaxies, suggesting either a partial disruption or the tidal disruption of a star by an intermediate mass black hole embedded in the accretion disk of an AGN. This work demonstrates the power of WISE to identify the full census of TDEs, including events in dust-obscured AGN. Mid-infrared data probes the nature of the event and provides a bolometric measure of the flare energetics.
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All authors Satya Teja Anuraag Upadhyayula, Daniel Stern, Kishalay De, Christos Panagiotou, Matthew J. Graham, K. E. Saavik Ford, Barry McKernan, Murray Brightman, J. A. Acevedo Barroso, Daniel H. McIntosh

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Energy deposited by black holes in the hot X-ray gas of elliptical galaxies, groups and clusters

A. Cattaneo and S. Ettori

Galaxy groups show entropy excesses $\Delta S$ with respect to theoretical expectations from models and simulations with purely gravitational heating. We determine the heat $Q_{\rm heat}\simeq T\Delta S$ deposited by non-gravitational sources into the hot gas of elliptical galaxies, groups and clusters, and to compare it with the energy output of their central black holes (BHs). We adopt a simple model for the hot gas with only one free parameter: the core entropy. We calibrate the core entropy on the observed relation between X-ray luminosity and halo mass, and we use it to determine the entropy $S$ of the hot gas. We determine $\Delta S=S-S_0$ by taking the difference between $S$ and the entropy $S_0$ found in cosmological adiabatic simulations for haloes of the same mass. The temperature $T$ of the hot gas during the heating phase is determined from semi-analytic/semi-empirical modelling by assuming that heat absorption traces the accretion histories of supermassive BHs. Our findings suggest that supermassive BHs thermalise 1 to $3\%$ of their energy output in the surrounding gas. Our results suggest two regimes: (i) in elliptical galaxies and groups, active galactic nuclei (AGN) heat the gas much more rapidly than it can cool, generating the observed entropy excesses and quenching star formation when the accumulated heat is large enough to unbind the gas reservoir in the host halo; (ii) in galaxy clusters (at $M_{200}>10^{14}{\rm\,M}_\odot$), heating and cooling are in self-regulated equilibrium.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

The MWA Interestingly Deep AStrophysical (MIDAS) Survey: Survey Description and First Data Release

S. Paterson, N. Seymour, N. Hurley-Walker et al. (+4 more)

We present the deepest MWA survey to date, targeting the GAMA9 and GAMA23 survey fields at 215.68 MHz. With a bandwidth of 30.72 MHz, the two images cover ${\sim}1250\text{ deg}^2$ for the GAMA9 field and ${\sim}850\text{ deg}^2$ for the GAMA23 field, with an angular resolution of ${\sim}60''$. The GAMA9 image was formed from 1 282 2-min snapshot observations (42.7 hours) and the GAMA23 image from 1 701 observations (56.7 hours) achieving depths of $0.923 \pm 0.003$ and $0.331 \pm 0.001$ mJy/beam at the field centres respectively. We processed the data with an updated version of the GLEAM-X pipeline tuned for deep surveys and make this MWA Deep Imaging Pipeline code public. Updates to the pipeline include automation of the observation downloading, calibration, and imaging along with optimisation of the CLEANing methods and parameters. Above $5\sigma$, we catalogue 53 419 and 80 407 radio components in the GAMA9 and GAMA23 fields respectively. We find that the completeness corrected source counts for both fields are in good agreement down to $25$-$50$ mJy with those from LOFAR and earlier MWA surveys. We demonstrate the utility of this survey by highlighting a few sources of particular interest and describing future science possible with this survey.
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All authors S. Paterson, N. Seymour, N. Hurley-Walker, T. J. Galvin, S. W. Duchesne, J. Morgan, T. M. O. Franzen

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Semiresolved Stellar Populations as Distance Indicators

Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Patricia Iglesias Navarro, Francesco La Barbera et al. (+13 more)

Galaxy distances are central to our understanding of the Universe. Despite the success of existing approaches, independent and complementary methods remain valuable for testing systematic effects and extending the applicability range of different distance metrics. Here we demonstrate that the spectrum of an individual semi-resolved stellar population encodes direct information about its distance and that valuable distance constraints can, in principle, be obtained by combining multiple independent measurements. When applied to optical spectra of bulge of the Andromeda galaxy (M\,31), we derive a stellar population-based distance of 756$\pm$57 kpc ($\mu_0 = 24.39 \pm 0.15$), in agreement with state-of-the-art measurements. Crucially, semi-resolved stellar population distances does not require secondary calibrations, although its absolute scale remains conditional on the adopted stellar population models. Our findings provide a first assessment of the feasibility of deriving stellar population-based distance estimates from simple stellar population models, motivating further tests of the broader applicability and precision of the method.
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All authors Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Patricia Iglesias Navarro, Francesco La Barbera, Alexandre Vazdekis, Michael A. Beasley, Marc Huertas-Company, ChangHoon Hahn, Luis Peralta de Arriba, Isaac Alonso Asensio, Eirini Angeloudi, Miguel Cerviño, Katja Fahrion, Tereza Jerabkova, Jesús Falcón-Barroso, Sebastián F. Sánchez, Prashin Jethwa

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

The quiescent states of V745 Sco and V3890 Sgr: VLT/X-shooter and Swift/XRT+UVOT observations

Bor Jamnik, Ulisse Munari, Nicola Masetti et al. (+2 more)

Symbiotic recurrent novae are symbiotic binaries in which multiple thermonuclear outbursts have been observed. Only four such systems are currently known in the Galaxy: T CrB, RS Oph, V745 Sco, and V3890 Sgr. They provide convenient laboratories for studying accretion and binary interaction in symbiotic novae during quiescence. We characterise the quiescent states of the less-studied systems V745 Sco and V3890 Sgr and compare their properties with those of T CrB and RS Oph. We analyse VLT/X-shooter spectra together with Swift/XRT and UVOT observations, supplemented by ground-based optical photometry and archival data. We determine the spectral types of the red-giant donors and compare the spectral energy distributions of the systems with those of single bulge giants of the same spectral type to investigate the properties of the accretion. We classify the donor stars in V745 Sco and V3890 Sgr as M7III and M6.5III, respectively. We derive reddenings and distances consistent with both systems belonging to the Galactic bulge. Both objects exhibit a significant ultraviolet excess relative to normal late-type giants, indicating ongoing accretion during quiescence. From this excess we estimate mass transfer rates of the order of $\sim 5 \times 10^{-8}\ M_{\odot}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, broadly consistent with the observed recurrence timescales. These results suggest that recurrent nova eruptions in V745 Sco and V3890 Sgr can be sustained by long-term accretion at approximately the present rate, without requiring an episode of enhanced accretion similar to that observed in T CrB.
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All authors Bor Jamnik, Ulisse Munari, Nicola Masetti, Gregor Traven, Manica Perko

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Transiting Planetary Systems with Distant Giant Companions Remain Moderately Coplanar

Guang-Yao Xiao, Huan-Yu Teng, Xiumin Huang et al. (+4 more)

The mutual inclination between inner planets and distant giant companions provides an important probe of planetary system formation and dynamical evolution, yet direct measurements of this quantity remain scarce. We combine radial velocity (RV) observations with Hipparcos–Gaia astrometry to constrain the orbital architecture of 19 planetary systems hosting at least one transiting inner planet and one outer giant companion. Using a hierarchical Bayesian framework, we infer the population-level distribution of the minimum mutual inclination, $\Delta I$, between the inner and outer planetary orbits. We find that the $\Delta I$ distribution is well described by a Rayleigh model with a scale parameter of $\sigma = 15.8^{+2.8}_{-2.6}\deg$, which is strongly preferred over an isotropic distribution ($\Delta\log Z=5.45$). This result suggests that transiting systems hosting distant giant companions remain substantially more coplanar than expected for an isotropic population, consistent with the partial preservation of primordial coplanarity. A division by the mass ($0.3\,M_{\rm Jup}$) of the inner transiting planet suggests that giant-inner-planet systems may have lower $\Delta I$ than small-inner-planet systems, with $P(\sigma_{\rm giant}<\sigma_{\rm small})=0.952$; however, the current data do not significantly favor a model allowing different $\sigma$ values for the two subsamples over one in which they share a common $\sigma$. Future Gaia DR4 astrometry will enable more robust population-level studies of the three-dimensional architectures of systems with distant giant companions.
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All authors Guang-Yao Xiao, Huan-Yu Teng, Xiumin Huang, Fabo Feng, Dong Lai, Fei Dai, Yu-Juan Liu

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Reconstruction of anomalous air showers with SKA-Low

Vital De Henau, Sjoerd Bouma, Justin Bray et al. (+31 more)

Double-bump showers are a surprising class of extensive air showers (EAS) predicted by Monte Carlo simulations, which, so far, no experiment has been able to directly detect. They occur when a high-energy secondary particle, the leading particle, travels significantly farther than the rest, creating a distinct double-peaked longitudinal profile. The unique radio footprint of double-bump showers, characterized by multiple pulses in the signals and interference patterns in the frequency spectra, enables reconstruction of longitudinal profiles from radio observations. With its dense antenna array and broad frequency range, SKA-Low will be the first observatory capable of detecting these features, offering a new opportunity to probe hadronic interactions and use the distinctive signatures of elements to provide new mass composition measurements. The goal of this analysis is to take the first steps toward using these radio signatures to reconstruct the relevant parameters of the longitudinal profile of a double-bump shower. We will start by explaining the radio signal of double-bump}showers compared to that of average showers. Then we will create a simple 2-point emission model to explain the interference patterns in the frequency spectra, which can be inverted to obtain rudimentary estimates of atmospheric depth of both peaks. Lastly, we implement a brute-force approach to reconstruct multiple parameters of the double bump.
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All authors Vital De Henau, Sjoerd Bouma, Justin Bray, Stijn Buitink, Arthur Corstanje, Edwin Dickinson, Tjibbe Gottmer, Brian Hare, Haoning He, Jörg Hörandel, Tim Huege, Clancy James, Mrinal Jetti, Philipp Laub, Xingyu Li, Marten Lourens, Hermann-Josef Mathes, Katie Mulrey, Anna Nelles, Subhadip Saha, Felix Schlüter, Olaf Scholten, Ralph Spencer, Christopher Sterpka, Sander ter Veen, Karen Terveer, Gia Trinh, Paulina Turekova, Darko Veberič, Keito Watanabe, Marc Waterson, Chao Zhang, Pengfei Zhang, Yi Zhang

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

Gravitational-wave signatures of primordial black hole clusters and the imprint of an early dense-core collapse

Marc Barceló-Sastre and Juan García-Bellido

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are expected to be born essentially non-spinning and, if the primordial curvature fluctuations possess non-Gaussian tails, strongly clustered. Any spin measured in a PBH population must therefore be dynamically generated. Using direct $N$-body simulations with nbody6++gpu, modified to treat nearly parabolic dynamical-capture mergers, we quantify the conditions under which an initially non-spinning PBH cluster develops the spin, mass and stochastic-background signatures that gravitational-wave observations are now sensitive to. We find a sharp tension: producing a root-mean-square spin $\chi_{\rm rms}\sim0.1 - 0.2$ in the $30 - 50\,M_\odot$ range requires initial Plummer radii of order $10^{-5}\,{\rm pc}$, whereas survival over cosmological times requires parsec-scale clusters. This tension is resolved naturally if PBHs form with a compact, short-lived core embedded in an extended halo, and we therefore simulate the two regimes as independent blocks. The core block ($4000$ PBHs, Plummer radii $3\times10^{-6} - 10^{-4}\,{\rm pc}$) collapses in days to years, producing a burst of mergers whose orbits are strongly non-circular ($e\to1$) and of low dimensionless orbital angular momentum, so that remnant spins are systematically below the quasi-circular value $\chi\simeq0.7$. Redshifted from their formation epoch, the core mergers deposit a stochastic background peaking in the $10^{-6}$–$10^{-4}\,{\rm Hz}$ band accessible to LISA. The picture predicts a specific division of labour between observables, spins set in the primordial collapse, detectable mergers set by the long-term halo, and a two-component stochastic background, and, in particular, that both the spin and the mass data favour a primordial mass function truncated near $50\,M_\odot$.
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Astrophysics of Galaxies

Collisional excitation of cyclopentadiene by helium. A complete set of rate coefficients and astrophysical applications

Sándor Demes, François Lique, Marcelino Agúndez et al. (+1 more)

Complex organic molecules, including large cyclic species, are prevalent in interstellar space and play a key role in various astrochemical processes. Cyclopentadiene (c-C5H6) is a five-membered cyclic hydrocarbon recently detected in TMC-1 and some other interstellar molecular clouds. While accurate spectroscopic data were available, collisional rate coefficients for its rotational transitions were missing so far, introducing a potential limitation in the interpretation of the observations. This study aims to provide a comprehensive set of state-to-state thermal rate coefficients for the rotational excitation of c-C5H6 due to collisions with helium, crucial for non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative transfer modelling in astrophysical environments, and to examine how far the molecule is from thermalisation under the physical conditions of cold molecular clouds. The research employed accurate quantum scattering calculations using the close-coupling (CC) and coupled states (CS) methods, based on a highly-correlated three-dimensional potential energy surface for the [c-C5H6 + He] collisional complex. Calculations were performed for a wide range of rotational states (from j = 0 to j \leq 25) and kinetic temperatures (from 10 to 50 K). We calculated a complete set of thermal rate coefficients for both ortho- and para-C5H6. Radiative transfer simulations demonstrated that most rotational levels of cyclopentadiene are fully thermalized under typical cold cloud conditions and exhibit minor non-LTE effects. Nevertheless, this study is the first to utilise accurate state-to-state rate coefficients for radiative transfer simulation of a large, five-membered cyclic species detected in space. This allows to draw some general conclusions and paves the way for future studies of complex astromolecules that will enable a more precise interpretation of upcoming detections.
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All authors Sándor Demes, François Lique, Marcelino Agúndez, José Cernicharo

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

HEL1OS on Aditya-L1 Mission: Operations, Data Processing and Monitoring of Sun in Hard X-rays

Ravishankar B. T., Manju Sudhakar, Srikar Paavan Tadepalli et al. (+11 more)

HEL1OS (High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer) is the hard X-ray spectrometer on-board Aditya-L1 solar mission, monitoring the Sun continuously in the hard X-ray band of 8 keV to 150 keV from the vantage observation platform around the Sun-Earth Lagragian Point 1 (L1). HEL1OS was commissioned in end of October, 2023 and the final instrument configuration was set by end of June, 2024 after all the performance verifications. The instrument always operates in the event mode, and the down-linked data is processed in an automated pipeline to generate Science-ready products comprising mainly of solar spectra in 8 keV to 150 keV energy band. The data products of observations since December, 2023 are hosted on the internet with open access. This includes data from the performance verification phase of the payload operations. In this paper, the details of the commissioning and performance verification phases, all the stages of the fully automated data pipeline, and the data products of HEL1OS are discussed. Also a few scientific results are discussed to illustrate the timing and spectral capabilities of the instrument in monitoring Sun in the X-ray energy bands.
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All authors Ravishankar B. T., Manju Sudhakar, Srikar Paavan Tadepalli, Kiran Kumar Kalisetti, Madhavan R. Menon, Anand Jain, Reenu Palawat, Brajpal Singh, Rethika T., Priyanka Upadhyay, Prapti Mittal, Amit Purohit, Srikanth M., Anuj Nandi

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

AGN X-ray coronae at high luminosity: A broadband study of RBS 229 and PG 1407+265

Alessandro Leonardo Lai, Stefano Bianchi, Andrea Marinucci et al. (+8 more)

Context. The X-ray emission of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is commonly interpreted as arising from Comptonisation in a hot corona above the accretion disc. A prominent soft X-ray excess is also observed in many sources and is often explained by a warm Comptonising layer. Aims. We investigate the X-ray-emitting coronae of the luminous radio-quiet quasars PG 1407+265 ($z=0.94$) and RBS 229 ($z=0.334$), testing whether a two-corona scenario consistently describes their broadband spectra. Methods. We combine XMM-Newton EPIC and Optical Monitor data with simultaneous NuSTAR observations and long-term Swift monitoring, and model the spectra using Comptonisation models. Results. Both quasars are X-ray loud relative to the standard $\alpha_{\rm OX}$-$L_{\rm UV}$ relation, with PG 1407+265 showing the strongest deviation. Their spectra are well reproduced by a warm, optically thick Comptonising component accounting for the soft excess and a hot corona producing the hard X-ray continuum. Both sources show high-energy cut-offs at approximately 70-80 keV. RBS 229 exhibits moderate reflection and a weak neutral Fe K-alpha line, while no significant reflection features are detected in PG 1407+265. The warm-corona parameters of RBS 229 remain consistent across epochs, whereas PG 1407+265 shows strong variability, including an extreme soft-excess episode extending to approximately 3 keV in the rest frame. Conclusions. These results constrain AGN coronae in the poorly explored high-luminosity regime. The cut-offs are broadly consistent with trends in AGN luminosity and accretion rate and remain below the runaway pair-production limit. The contrasting variability suggests that the warm corona responds to changes in the accretion flow while remaining within a narrow range of physical conditions.
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All authors Alessandro Leonardo Lai, Stefano Bianchi, Andrea Marinucci, Enrico Piconcelli, Francesco Ursini, Elena Bertola, Giorgio Lanzuisi, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Daniel Stern, Cristian Vignali, Luca Zappacosta

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

First tomographic measurements of the angular clustering and bias of photometric quasars from S-PLUS

Maria Lopes, Felipe Avila, Armando Bernui et al. (+1 more)

We investigate the quasar clustering in the QuCatS photometric catalog, constructed from the fourth data release of the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS). The quasar sample for this study consists of $23,402$ quasars, spanning the redshift interval $1.1 \leq z_{\rm phot} \leq 2.6$, which we divided into four bins for our tomographic analyses. In each bin, we measured the two-point angular correlation function and compared it with theoretical predictions for the clustering of dark matter in the flat-$\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. We then estimate the effective linear bias in each bin that best fits the data, obtaining $b_{Q}(z_{\rm eff}=1.26)=2.17^{+0.30}_{-0.35}$, $b_{Q}(z_{\rm eff}=1.63)=2.67^{+0.36}_{-0.42}$, $b_{Q}(z_{\rm eff}=2.04)=3.29^{+0.52}_{-0.62}$, and $b_{Q}(z_{\rm eff}=2.38)=4.05^{+0.71}_{-0.86}$. These measurements are consistent with previous analyses in the literature. Moreover, the evolution of the bias agrees well with the $b(z)$ parameterization proposed by \cite{laurent2017}. Our measurements constitute the first cosmological study of the tomographic clustering of photometric quasars provided by the S-PLUS dataset, contributing to the mapping of the evolution of linear bias and paving the way for future analyses of data releases with larger datasets. In addition, our study also serves as a consistency test for the calibration procedure of the photometric redshift probability distributions of the quasars in the QuCatS catalog.
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All authors Maria Lopes, Felipe Avila, Armando Bernui, Lilianne Nakazono

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

4MOST Low Resolution Spectrographs Characterization in Chile

Florence Laurent, Didier Boudon, Eric Daguise et al. (+14 more)

4MOST, the 4m Multi Object Spectroscopic Telescope, is the optical, fibre-fed, MOS facility for the VISTA telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. Its main science drivers are in the fields of galactic archeology, high-energy physics, galaxy evolution and cosmology. The 4MOST consortium consists of several institutes in Europe and Australia under leadership of the Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP). This paper focuses on the successful testing, installation and technical commissioning of the Low Resolution Spectrographs (LRS-A and B) for the 4MOST instrument at ESO's Paranal Observatory, Chile. This work was completed on October 18. 2025. Details on the assembly, integration, and performance of both 4MOST spectrographs from their arrival in the integration hall through to the telescope installation are provided. Attention is given to the optimization of procedures implemented to enhance performance and meet the expected top-level requirements. The 4MOST LRS features 2436 fibres split into two low-resolution spectrographs LRS-A and LRS-B (1624 fibres, three arms, 370-950 nm, R > 4000) and one high-resolution spectrograph (812 fibres, three arms, ~44-69 nm coverage each, R > 18000). The fibre positioner covers a hexagonal field of view of ~4.1 deg2. The fibers are 85 {\mu}m core with an output beam at f/3. The Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL) had the full responsibility for the two low-resolution spectrographs. Each of them is composed of an off-axis Schmidt collimator that produces a 200 mm beam, which is split into three spectral arms by dichroics and directed to F/1.73 cameras with standard 6k x 6k 15 microns pixel CCD detectors.
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All authors Florence Laurent, Didier Boudon, Eric Daguise, Remi Giroud, Aurelien Jarno, Alexandre Jeanneau, Andreas Kelz, Jens-Kristian Krogager, Victor Mauger-Vauglin, Jean-Emmanuel Migniau, Matthew Lehnert, Flora Paganelli, Arlette Pecontal, Emmanuel Pecontal, Alban Remillieux, Johan Richard, Allar Saviauk

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Slow stellar halo rotation as a signature of disc flips and GES-like mergers

Kirill Batrakov, Alis J. Deason, Francesca Fragkoudi et al. (+3 more)

The stellar halo of the Milky Way (MW) exhibits a weak net prograde rotational signal ($v_{\phi} \lesssim 25$ km~s$^{-1}$), yet its origin remains unexplained. To investigate this, we use the Auriga cosmological simulation suite of MW-mass haloes to probe the rotation of stellar haloes over the redshift range $z_{\mathrm{red}}=0-2.5$. The rotational signal is found to persist over this redshift range. We show that satellite progenitors of the stellar halo exhibit a non-uniform distribution of infall directions, with a tendency to align with the host disc, albeit with significant scatter. Thus, we attribute the net rotation to the anisotropic accretion of satellites. Haloes that host Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage (GES)-like substructures exhibit consistently slower rotational velocity, likely due to the head-on, more radial trajectory of the dominant progenitor in such systems. Haloes whose stellar discs have reorientated by $\geq 90^{\circ}$ also exhibit slower rotation, likely because the longer dynamical timescales of haloes prevent them from quickly adjusting to disc reorientations. We also report a correlation between the rotation of stellar and dark matter haloes, suggesting a possible common origin driven by anisotropic accretion. We therefore suggest that the MW experienced a disc flip and has a slowly rotating dark matter halo.
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All authors Kirill Batrakov, Alis J. Deason, Francesca Fragkoudi, Thomas Tomlinson, Azadeh Fattahi, Vasily Belokurov

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

A wavelet-based model of magnetic turbulence over a Parker spiral field

Andrea Larosa, Francesco Pucci, Francesco Malara et al. (+7 more)

The propagation of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) through the heliosphere is strongly influenced by solar-wind magnetic turbulence, which governs particle scattering, field-line wandering, and cross-field transport. These processes shape SEP intensity profiles, anisotropies, and arrival times. Because heliospheric turbulence spans a vast range of scales, direct numerical simulations cannot capture its full spectrum. Synthetic turbulence models provide an efficient alternative by generating fields with prescribed statistical and spectral properties, enabling realistic studies of SEP transport. This work presents a numerical model able to generate synthetic magnetic turbulence in the heliosphere with the goal of studying field line and particle diffusion. The model is inspired by in situ solar wind observations, indicating that solar wind turbulence properties vary with the distance from the Sun. We extend the Cartesian wavelet-based Synthetic Turbulence Model (STM), presented in \cite{Malara2016PhRvE..94e3109M}, to the non-homogeneous expanding solar wind. This is achieved by finding a suitable change of coordinates that allows one to pass from a space in which the turbulence correlation length is homogeneous to one in which it is not. We present the analytical derivation, the numerical implementation, and testing. We obtain an improved and computationally efficient synthetic turbulence model characterized by a background Parker spiral, a broad inertial range and tunable radial scalings for both the correlation length and the magnetic-field fluctuation amplitude, as well as a controllable level of intermittency. The model capability of reproducing solar wind turbulence up to the particle Larmor scale and to take into account solar wind radial evolution makes it a powerful tool to study the propagation of SEPs throughout the heliosphere.
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All authors Andrea Larosa, Francesco Pucci, Francesco Malara, Oreste Pezzi, Silvia Perri, Gaetano Zimbardo, Giuseppe Nisticò, Federica Chiappetta, Massimo Chimenti, Luca Sorriso-Salvo

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The Physical Conditions of Low-Mass Galaxies at z=3.5-7.0 from JWST Spectroscopy: The Behaviour of Spectral Line Ratios with Burstiness

Ryan A. Cooper, Karina I. Caputi, Alessandro Marconi et al. (+5 more)

We present a study of the physical conditions of galaxies at redshifts $z=3.5-7.0$, based on emission-line diagnostics of JWST NIRSpec spectra for 1889 star-forming sources spanning more than 4~dex in stellar mass. We find that the median H$\alpha$/H$\beta$ and [OIII]/H$\beta$ are constant throughout these redshifts, indicating a slow evolution of the interstellar medium conditions from the Epoch of Reionization to Cosmic Noon. The stellar-mass evolution of these line ratios follow the expected trend for chemical enrichment and dust build-up, with \ohb~being maximum for galaxies with $\rm M_{\star} \approx 10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$, and the medians of H$\alpha$/H$\beta$ and [OII]/H$\beta$ monotonically increasing from $\rm{M}_{\rm \star} \approx 10^7$ through $ \approx 10^{10}\, \rm M_\odot$. Focusing on the 1552 low stellar-mass ($<10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$) galaxies, we particularly investigate the behaviour of the main spectral-line ratios with burstiness. We find a significantly higher degree of scatter in [OIII]/H$\beta$ and [OII]/H$\beta$ for high-burstiness than for low-burstiness galaxies. Values of log([OIII]/H$\beta$)~$\gtrsim 0.8$ are almost exclusively seen amongst those with high burstiness. Meanwhile, log([OIII]/H$\beta$)~$\lesssim 0.3$ are virtually not found amongst high-burstiness galaxies, except at the lowest stellar masses $\mathrm{log(M_\star/M_\odot)}<7.5$. Our results are consistent with a scenario in which star-formation bursts produce temporary chemical enrichment that is quickly lost via stellar winds. They also suggest that metallicity measures in bursting galaxies are unstable, and that the search for the most metal-poor objects should optimally be conducted amongst low-burstiness or very low-stellar mass sources.
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All authors Ryan A. Cooper, Karina I. Caputi, Alessandro Marconi, Anna Feltre, Edoardo Iani, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Guillaume Desprez, Harley Katz

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Exploring reinforcement learning to enhance focal-plane wavefront control for vortex coronagraphs

Iremsu Taskin, Jalo Nousiainen, Gilles Orban de Xivry et al. (+2 more)

High Contrast Imaging (HCI) on ground-based telescopes suffers from phase aberrations on the observed wavefront caused by atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive Optics (AO) systems are adept at correcting these aberrations, but fall short in the correction of non-common path aberrations (NCPAs). NCPAs arise because the wavefront sensor (WFS) measures and corrects a wavefront that is different from that affecting the science images, thus requiring additional intervention. This work makes use of focal-plane wavefront sensing and reinforcement learning (RL) to address the wavefront aberrations caused by NCPAs. The PO4NCPA algorithm utilizes sequential phase diversity to address phase ambiguities and is tested on a simulation designed for the Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) instrument. In this paper, we present the performance of PO4NCPA with scalar and vector vortex coronagraphs to demonstrate its flexibility.
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All authors Iremsu Taskin, Jalo Nousiainen, Gilles Orban de Xivry, Olivier Absil, Markus Kasper

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Angular power spectrum of induced gravitational waves: breaking model and parameter degeneracies in PTA observations

Peng-Yu Wu, Di Wu and Jing-Zhi Zhou

Large primordial curvature and tensor perturbations on small scales can generate second-order tensor-scalar induced gravitational waves (TSIGWs) through scalar-scalar, tensor-scalar, and tensor-tensor source terms. TSIGWs are recognized as one of the principal contributors to the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) observations. We explore the energy density spectrum of second-order TSIGWs in the presence of non-Gaussian primordial curvature perturbations. Furthermore, we present the first calculation of the anisotropic angular power spectrum associated with second-order TSIGWs, which provides a promising tool to discriminate them from other SGWB sources.
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Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Optical Colors as Compressed Spectral Information for Trans-Neptunian Objects

Hsing-Wen Lin, Larissa Markwardt, Kevin Napier et al. (+3 more)

Broadband optical colors have long been recognized as tracers of the surface spectral properties of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), yet their relationship to near-infrared (NIR) spectra has not been quantitatively characterized. We construct an empirical optical-NIR spectral manifold from JWST spectroscopy of 40 TNOs and 8 Neptune Trojans and interpret broadband photometry as compressed representations of this manifold. Using the spectral manifold as a prior, the model conditions on observed broadband optical colors to infer a posterior distribution in the spectral latent space. We then evaluate filter combinations through posterior entropy and Kullback-Leibler information gain and found that the gr colors provide broad localization on the manifold, while additional filters substantially reduce posterior uncertainty. Independently defined optical color populations map coherently onto the major compositional classes of the spectral manifold, providing a physical interpretation of previously identified color groups. The learned manifold also enables the inverse mapping back to optical color space. Sampling and decoding the manifold reproduces the observed topology of optical color space, indicating that these color populations arise naturally as low-dimensional projections of a continuous optical-NIR compositional manifold rather than isolated empirical clusters. The forward and inverse mappings provide a unified interpretation of optical colors as compressed representations of an optical-NIR spectral manifold. As JWST expands the manifold and Rubin maps millions of objects onto it, this framework provides an innovated approach to population-scale compositional studies and the discovery of rare surface types.
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All authors Hsing-Wen Lin, Larissa Markwardt, Kevin Napier, Fred Adams, Renu Malhotra, David Gerdes

Astrophysics of Galaxies

Sulphur within the extreme environment of the central molecular zone of NGC 253: a chemical modelling approach

M. Bouvier, K. M. Dutkowska, S. Viti et al. (+3 more)

Sulphur(S)-bearing species are ubiquitous in Galactic star-forming regions, from dense cold cores to outflows and shocks linked to protostellar activity. A recent observational study investigated the origin of S-bearing species towards the central molecular zone (CMZ) of NGC 253 and showed that Sulphur emission is linked to the presence of forming stars. However, more extensive modelling of these observations are required to determine the exact origin of the Sulphur emission (e.g. shock or thermal evaporation). Using chemical modelling, we examine how S-bearing species behave in the more extreme environment of the starburst galaxy NGC 253, and more generally, how they can help us improve our understanding of the emission linked with the dense star-forming gas in external galaxies. We use the gas-grain time-dependent chemical model UCLCHEM to model static warm clouds and C-type shocks under the physical conditions found in the CMZ of NGC 253. We compare observed abundances and abundance ratios to the modelled output abundances. We found that depending on the model type (shock, post-shock or static cloud), the highest abundance reached by the S-bearing species varies significantly. Hence, we can use their observed abundances of S-bearing species to distinguish between shocked, post-shocked or a quiescent (non-shocked) gas. We also confirm observationally-based conclusions on their emission origins, including in the case of unresolved emission. Comparing GMC-scale observations with chemical modelling is a powerful method to investigate and constrain the origin of molecular emission towards extragalactic star-forming regions. Sulphur-bearing species are useful to distinguish between different types of ISM components (shocked/post-shocked/quiescent gas).
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All authors M. Bouvier, K. M. Dutkowska, S. Viti, J. G. Mangum, E. Behrens, C. Eibensteiner

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Current water trapping micro-habitats on the surface of Mars

Anna Bognar, Bernadett D. Pal and Akos Kereszturi

This paper presents a conceptual model exploring how liquid water could be maintained in direct contact with hypothetical microorganisms during warm daytime periods on Mars. Hygroscopic surface salts (e.g., NaCl, CaCl$_2$, Ca(ClO$_4$)$_2$, gypsum, MgSO$_4$) can absorb water vapor and form liquid solutions; however, daytime exposure normally causes rapid drying. We propose a mechanism where diurnal temperature fluctuations drive thermal expansion and contraction cycles that open and close micro-cracks in salt crystals. Nighttime-condensed deliquescent liquid penetrates these fractures, which then partially close during warmer daytime hours, trapping liquid water inside and preventing immediate evaporation. Thermally induced volume changes (ranging from ~0.5-0.9% in crystalline phases up to several percent in concentrated solutions) support the feasibility of this cyclic aperture dynamic. Modeling deliquescence and salt distribution indicates that nighttime microscopic liquid can form for ~100-130 sols per Martian year near Acidalia Planitia. At depths of 2-3 mm within soil or salt structures, hypothetical microorganisms would gain partial UV shielding while retaining access to visible light. Overall, internal crystal micro-fractures may offer transient daytime liquid microenvironments, highlighting these locations as potential candidate habitats for photosynthetic life on modern Mars.This study serves as a conceptual feasibility analysis for near-surface brine retention within hygroscopic salt structures under present-day Martian conditions.
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Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

The cosmic multipoles: a consistency test for the Szekeres cosmological model

Marie-Noëlle Célérier

Some of the properties of the Szekeres solutions which have never been used in a cosmological context are known for long. In this letter, the total and unique decomposition of its matter energy density into a monopole and dipole moment is recalled and specialized to the axially symmetric quasi-spherical subclass of the model. All the model special features – axial symmetry, spherical quasi-symmetry, location of the observer – are observationally justified. Then, a consistency test of the model involving its no-high-multipole-in-mass-density property is proposed.
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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Constraints on Buchdahl-Inspired Gravity from Future Pulsar Timing near Sgr A*

Jian-Ming Yan, Tao Zhu, Zong-Kuan Guo et al. (+1 more)

Future pulsar timing observations near Sgr~A* offer a unique probe of gravitational physics in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. We forecast the ability of such measurements to constrain a Buchdahl-inspired $R^2$ gravity, parameterized by a single deviation parameter $\epsilon$, using a timing framework that self-consistently integrates orbital dynamics with light-propagation delays and preserves the full timing solution across the observing span. Through Fisher-matrix forecasts for a representative pulsar, we systematically isolate how the precision on $\epsilon$ depends on orbital geometry. We find that shorter orbital periods and higher eccentricities significantly enhance sensitivity, consistent with a substantial contribution from observations near periastron. As a benchmark comparison, we further consider a hypothetical pulsar on an S2-like orbit ($P_b=16~{\rm yr}$, $e=0.88$) and obtain a statistical sensitivity of $\sigma_\epsilon\sim 10^{-4}$ within the adopted weak-field, static, and spherically symmetric timing model. This sensitivity is comparable to the natural order-of-magnitude truncation scale of the 1PN expansion and should not be interpreted as a complete forecast for the real Sgr~A* system. Under the adopted idealized assumptions, the characteristic statistical scale is several orders of magnitude below the current S2 95% confidence interval half-width ($|\epsilon|_{\rm S2}^{\rm 95\%}\approx 0.56$), though this comparison is heuristic given the differing confidence levels. These trends provide quantitative guidance for target selection and campaign design in future Galactic-center pulsar searches.
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All authors Jian-Ming Yan, Tao Zhu, Zong-Kuan Guo, Zhao Li

Astrophysics of Galaxies

The fraction of clumpy star-forming galaxies in nearby galaxies from CLAUDS and HSC-SSP

Jürgen J. Popp, Hugh Dickinson, Stephen Serjeant et al. (+3 more)

Massive, star-forming clumps are regions of intensive star-formation that are commonly observed in high-redshift ($z > 1$) galaxies. Observations of low-redshift clumpy galaxy analogues are rare but the availability of wide-field galaxy survey data makes the detection of large clumpy galaxy samples much more feasible. We present a population of 12,790 star-forming clumps detected in a mass-complete sample of 5,395 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at redshifts $z\leq0.32$, located in the XMM-LSS, E-COSMOS and DEEP2-3 fields observed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Survey (HSC-SSP) and CFHT Large Area U-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS). The clumps were detected using an improved version of our Deep Learning (DL)-based object detection framework which uses the ZOOBOT foundation DL-model as a 'backbone' feature extractor. We determined the fraction of star-forming galaxies hosting at least one off-centre clump ($f_{\mathrm{clumpy}}$) based on a clump definition that requires a clump-galaxy flux ratio in the CLAUDS u-band of $\geq8\%$. We estimate $f_{\mathrm{clumpy}}$ to decrease from $\sim$31% at $z\sim0.3$ to $\sim$23% at $z \sim 0.1$, which aligns well with a low-redshift extrapolation of the clumpy fraction that is measured using high-redshift observations. At fixed redshift, $f_{\mathrm{clumpy}}$ is negatively correlated with the stellar mass and positively correlated with the specific star-formation rate (sSFR) of the host galaxies. When the clump definition is changed to include only clumps with a stellar mass of $M_{\mathrm{cl}} \geq 10^7 M_\odot$, we observe a highly increased clumpy fraction of $\sim$60% that tends to increase with the stellar mass of the host galaxies but does not show a dependence on the sSFR of the host galaxies.
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All authors Jürgen J. Popp, Hugh Dickinson, Stephen Serjeant, Lucy F. Fortson, Tobias Géron, Vihang Mehta

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Quantifying Sky Map Resolution Requirements for Beam Chromaticity Correction in Sky-Averaged 21 cm Experiments

Aleksandra Dragović, Dominic Anstey, Harry T. J. Bevins et al. (+1 more)

The 21 cm hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen provides one of the few direct probes of the early cosmic history. High-redshift detections of this signal could shine light on the poorly understood epochs of the Dark Ages and Cosmic Dawn, periods that remain among the least understood in the Universe's history. However, this signal is masked by bright foregrounds and is distorted by the chromaticity of the antenna used to detect it. Correcting for the chromaticity requires an accurate representation of the radio sky across relevant frequencies. However, base sky maps used for this correction, such as instances of the Global Sky Model (GSM), are limited by resolution, calibration and extrapolation uncertainties, especially when scaled to lower frequencies relevant for Cosmic Dawn studies. This work quantifies how accurately the base map must represent the true sky to produce a reliable beam correction. Using simulated sky data, we generate beam chromaticity corrections generated from progressively degraded versions of the base map, and compare how well they do in comparison to a correction based on the full-resolution map. We find that degradation in map resolution of $\sim 1^\circ$ does not introduce measurable increases in the amplitude of the residuals when correcting for the chromaticity and subtracting three different foreground models (two polynomials and a power law expansion). These results provide practical constraints on the required resolution and accuracy of sky models used in beam correction pipelines, informing future design and calibration strategies for global 21 cm experiments, and future efforts to map the low frequency sky.
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All authors Aleksandra Dragović, Dominic Anstey, Harry T. J. Bevins, Eloy de Lera Acedo