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Research Trends

Latest preprints in space engineering and astrophysics.

astro-ph.EP

Effects of Outer Giant Planets on In Situ Formation of Inner Super-Earths

Phoebe Sandhaus, Rebekah I. Dawson, Mariah G. MacDonald, Cody J. Shakespeare, Sarah Morrison

Recent studies have found an observational correlation between the presence of outer giant planets and inner super-Earths, which implies that outer giants do not suppress the formation of super-Earths. We simulate late-stage in situ planet formation in the presence of outer giant planets using $N$-body simulations. We investigate the effects of two sets of outer giants: the four Solar System giant planets and three dynamically active giant planets. Compared to systems without outer giants, we fi…

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astro-ph.HEastro-ph.SR

AT 2016blu: Accretion-Powered Outbursts in a Luminous Blue Variable and Compact Object Binary

Mojgan Aghakhanloo, Núria Torres-Albà, Nathan Smith, Raphael Baer-Way, Shazrene Mohamed, Alexei V. Filippenko, WeiKang Zheng, Thomas G. Brink et al.

We present the first X-ray detection of the supernova (SN) impostor AT 2016blu in NGC 4559. AT 2016blu exhibited 27 detected quasiperiodic (~113 day) outbursts between 2012 and June 2026, presumably triggered by periastron passages in an eccentric binary system in which the primary is a $\gtrsim 33~M_{\odot}$ luminous blue variable (LBV). AT 2016blu was serendipitously observed by Chandra in 2001-2002, prior to its first documented outburst in 2012, but the stacked archival data show no X-ray de…

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astro-ph.HE

Investigating the Multiwavelength Emission of Binary SMBH Candidate SDSS J095036.75+512838.1

Cassandra Daniele, Adi Foord, Jessie Runnoe, Michael Eracleous, Niana N. Mohammed

We present results from a multiwavelength study of the binary AGN candidate SDSS J095036.75+512838.1, which was identified as a candidate binary SMBH system due to its significant and variable broad H$β$ line shifts. We use available infrared-to-X-ray data to investigate the system's accretion properties. Analyzing recent Chandra observations, we characterize the X-ray emission and test the binary SMBH hypothesis. We find that the X-ray spectrum is well-modeled as a single AGN, with a 2--10 keV…

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nucl-thastro-ph.HEgr-qc

Trace Anomaly and Effective Topological Sources in Neutron Stars

Federico Nola

This work investigates whether the trace anomaly can diagnose the stellar response to a topological scalar field in tensor multi-scalar gravity. Eleven cold tabulated equations of state (EoSs) were examined, with six retained after general relativistic (GR) thermodynamic and causality checks. Their fiducial topological configurations were compared with the corresponding GR models under complementary matching prescriptions. After controlling for stellar mass and EoS dependence, the GR trace sourc…

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astro-ph.IMastro-ph.EP

High-contrast aperture masking interferometry: detecting companions within the diffraction limit

Benjamin Calvin, Michael Fitzgerald, Jessica Castellanos

The pursuit of the direct discovery and characterization of Earth-like exoplanets has motivated high contrast imaging surveys using coronagraphs with narrow inner working angles. Traditional imaging methods, however, are limited by the size of the on-axis PSF and typically only detect companions at angular separations of > 2$λ$/D. Meanwhile, non-redundant masking (NRM) techniques have been used with single-aperture telescopes to interferometrically resolve astrophysical features at angular scale…

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astro-ph.COastro-ph.GA

On what scales does strong lensing robustly constrain the mass profile of low-mass perturbers?

Maryam Tajalli, Simona Vegetti

Galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lensing is an established method to detect and characterise low-mass haloes, which are otherwise too faint to be directly observed. Recent analyses have shown empirically that there exists a characteristic radius within which the projected enclosed mass of these haloes can be robustly measured. Here we provide a physically and mathematically motivated definition of this robust radius based on the Fisher information matrix. We show that for any spherically symme…

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astro-ph.EPastro-ph.IMastro-ph.SR

Leveraging Impact Parameter to Mitigate the Transit Light Source Effect: Early Insights from TRAPPIST-1

Ana Glidden, Alexander I. Shapiro, Sara Seager, Nadiia Kostogryz, Valeriy Vasilyev, Roeland P. van der Marel, Julien de Wit, Benjamin V. Rackham et al.

Stellar activity complicates exoplanet transmission spectra, particularly for smaller planets around M dwarfs with JWST. The transit light source (TLS) effect, the imprinting of spectral differences between the average stellar disk and the occulted transit chord onto the transmission spectrum, makes it challenging to directly use the out-of-transit spectrum to correct for stellar contamination. Theory and observations suggest that spots may concentrate towards higher latitudes when the Coriolis…

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astro-ph.GA

An Optical Illusion: High Electron Densities Create Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxy Impostors

Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, Danielle A. Berg, Steven L. Finkelstein, Ansh R. Gupta, Zorayda Martinez, Anthony J. Taylor, Hollis B. Akins, Oscar A. Chavez Ortiz et al.

JWST has enabled the discovery of dozens of extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with metallicities below $5\%\,Z_{\odot}$, representing a significant leap toward detecting the first galaxies without metals. However, accurate metallicity measurements require careful determination of physical conditions in the ionized gas. In this paper, we study four galaxies that appear to be EMPGs when analyzed using the direct $T_e$ method with the common low-density assumption ($n_e=10^3\,{\rm cm}^{-3}$). T…

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astro-ph.GA

The Nearby Star Formation and Supernova Histories Reconstructed from Young Star Clusters

Cameren Swiggum, Catherine Zucker, Michelangelo Pantaleoni González, Emily L. Hunt, Robert A. Benjamin, Sebastian Hutschenreuter, Alena K. Rottensteiner, Efrem Maconi et al.

We reconstruct the recent star formation and core-collapse supernova (ccSN) histories of the Solar Neighborhood from the past trajectories of young star clusters. Using a \textit{Gaia}-based cluster sample with newly derived ages, masses, and bulk 3D velocities, we integrate orbits backward in an assumed axisymmetric Galactic potential and combine the trajectories with IMF sampling and stellar lifetimes to infer ccSN times and locations over the past 50 Myr. The result is an all-sky, 3D, time-re…

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astro-ph.HEgr-qc

Probabilistic kilonova prediction from gravitational wave inferred binary neutron star parameters

Xiao-Fei Dong, Ik Siong Heng, Gavin P. Lamb, Chris Messenger, Nikhil Sarin, Benjamin Rayson, Nial R. Tanvir, Jessica Irwin et al.

Kilonovae provide a key electromagnetic window into binary neutron star mergers, revealing the properties of the merging system while probing r-process nucleosynthesis of the Universe. However, only a few kilonova candidates have been detected to date, with AT2017gfo being the only one associated with a gravitational wave event, GW170817. In this work, we present \textsc{Genova}, a probabilistic framework for predicting kilonova spectra and light curves directly from gravitational wave posterior…

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astro-ph.GA

Re-evaluating the resolved mass-metallicity relation with a self-consistent metallicity calibration

Ziming Peng, Renbin Yan, Zesen Lin, Xihan Ji

Aims. The mass-metallicity relation (MZR) is essential for understanding the chemical evolution of galaxies. Whether the star formation rate (SFR) plays a role in setting the metallicity has long been debated. Using various metallicity calibrations can result in different conclusions for this fundamental yet unresolved issue. Methods. We apply a self-consistent metallicity calibration based on photoionization models to re-evaluate the resolved and integrated MZR. We utilize the integral field un…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

ALOHA IRDCs Molecular Line Follow-up: I. Gas properties and kinematics

Jinjin Xie, Yaoting Yan, Zhiyuan Ren, Jarken Esimbek, Di Li, Yan Duan, Gary A. Fuller, Nicolas Peretto et al.

Infrared Dark Clouds are ideal sites for investigating the initial conditions of massive star and cluster formation. The A Lei Of the Habitat and Assembly of Infrared Dark Clouds (ALOHA IRDCs), a James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Large Program, has mapped nearby IRDCs with SCUBA-2. Complementary molecular line observations are needed to characterise the physical, kinematic, and chemical properties of the dense gas. We aim to determine the thermal, kinematic, and chemical properties of clumps…

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astro-ph.IMastro-ph.CO

The SPT-3G+ receiver design

H. Athreya, Z. Ahmed, J. E. Austermann, K. Bae, A. Bapat, D. R. Barron, P. S. Barry, A. N. Bender et al.

We present the thermo-mechanical design of the cryostat and camera optics for SPT-3G+, a new receiver being developed for the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The receiver consists of 14 detector arrays of 90/150 GHz dichroic polarization-sensitive pixels, totaling 24,080 transition-edge sensor detectors. Each detector array lies at the end of an optics tube, each approximately 240 mm in diameter and 772 mm in length, which are arranged in a hexagonal close-packed configuration to achieve a 4 degree…

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gr-qcastro-ph.IMcs.LG

Gravitational-wave parameter estimation with machine-learning generated surrogate waveforms

Suyog Garg, Kipp Cannon

The worldwide network of gravitational-wave detectors have detected more than 350 binary coalescence events till date. Future third-generation detectors, like Einstein telescope, are expected to detect orders-of-magnitude more signals from sources with more complicated characteristics, including eccentric orbits and high-mass ratio binaries. It is well-established that the computational cost of parameter estimation for signals from these kinds of sources will be extremely high. In particular, th…

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astro-ph.SR

Toward Operational Solar Flare Peak Flux Nowcasting: A Strategy Combining Real-Time Data, Machine Learning, and NOAA Flare Detection Criteria

Kangwoo Yi, Qin Li, Haodi Jiang, Meiqi Wang, Haimin Wang, Bo Shen

We present the RMN strategy (Real-time data, machine learning, and NOAA flare detection criteria) for nowcasting the peak soft X-ray flux of ongoing solar flares under operationally realistic conditions. The strategy combines real-time GOES 0.1-0.8 nm X-ray observations with an attention-based sequence-to-sequence Long Short-Term Memory model. Under the NOAA flare detection criteria, predictions are evaluated at one-minute intervals from three minutes after the cataloged onset to the observed pe…

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astro-ph.SR

Chromospheric heating and magnetic topology above the shared penumbra of a delta-spot: Multi-line inversions and multi-height magnetic-field extrapolations

M. Kriginsky, J. Leenaarts, J. de la Cruz Rodríguez, A. Pastor Yabar

We analysed observations of the Fe I 617.3 nm, Ca II 854.2 nm, and Ca II H lines obtained with CRISP and CHROMIS at the SST. Spatially coupled non-LTE inversions constrained the chromospheric atmosphere, while the WFA provided estimates of the chromospheric line-of-sight magnetic field. We combined these photospheric and chromospheric constraints with an HMI magnetogram as input to a multi-height field extrapolation. We characterised the reconstructed topology using the twist number, squashing f…

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gr-qcastro-ph.HEhep-ph

Universal Relations for Neutron Stars from Asymptotic Analysis

Syo Kamata, Josuke Minamiguchi, Shuhei Minato

Dimensionless observables of neutron stars, such as the moment of inertia, the tidal deformability, the spin-induced quadrupole moment, and the compactness, satisfy the I--Love--Q and Love--$C$ universal relations to percent-level accuracy over a wide range of equations of state. We investigate analytically the origin of this insensitivity in the stellar structure equations. We derive asymptotic expansions of these relations directly from the differential equations and boundary conditions for sl…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE

SN 2021pfs: A Type Ia Supernova Likely Affected by Progenitor Metallicity, as Revealed by Comparison with Its Twin Counterpart

Abdusamatjan Iskandar, Xiaofeng Wang, Ali Esamdin, Wenxiong Li, Xiangyun Zeng, Ruifeng Huang, Guoliang Lu, D. Andrew Howell et al.

We present extensive photometric and spectroscopic observations of the normal type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) 2021pfs, which occurred in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 5427 at a redshift 0.009. SN 2021pfs reached an absolute \textit{B}-band peak magnitude of $M_{\rm max}(B)=$-19.28 $\pm$ 0.40 mag. The mag and a post-peak decline rate of $Δm_{15}(B)=$1.13 $\pm$ 0.06 mag. The observed properties of this nearby SN Ia closely resemble those of SN 2011fe, including the main optical spectroscopic features and p…

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astro-ph.HE

J0011+3443: a GPS compact symmetric object, gravitational lens, or dual AGN?

Efthalia Traianou, Tingting Liu, Roman Gold, Richard Mushotzky

We present new multi-frequency VLBA observations of \object{J0011+3443} (TXS\,0008+344, $z=0.89$) at 2.3, 4.9, 8.5, and, for the first time, 23.6\,GHz. The source consists of two compact components A and B at a projected separation of $314\pm2$\,pc, plus a third feature C detected at 23.6\,GHz at $0.6$\,mas from A. Archival low-resolution radio measurements confirm an integrated gigahertz-peaked spectrum, with an observed-frame peak frequency of $ν_\mathrm{peak}=0.73\pm0.08$\,GHz and a peak flux…

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physics.plasm-phastro-ph.EPphysics.space-ph

Effect of ion temperature on lunar photoelectron sheath

Trinesh Sana, Sanjay K. Mishra

Observations suggest that the solar wind ions impinging on the lunar surface possess a finite temperature. The effect of ion temperature on the plasma sheath over the lunar surface is investigated in this paper. To account for thermal effects, a thermal pressure term has been added to the ion-flow force equation. Quantitative estimation of sheath characteristics has been performed by solving the Poisson equation, accounting for photoelectrons, solar wind electrons, and warm ions. Notably, the pr…

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astro-ph.IM

A dual-polarization whitened-template trigger for real-time radio detection of extensive air showers

Qader Dorosti, Alperen Aksoy, Ilja Bekman, Markus Cristinziani, Eric-Teunis de Boone, Vesselin Dimitrov, Chimezie Eguzo, Stefan Heidbrink et al.

Autonomous radio stations require a first-stage trigger that rejects measured background while preserving weak extensive-air-shower pulses under tight hardware constraints. We present a dual-polarization trigger based on a 16-sample whitened pulse template evaluated continuously on the orthogonal north-south and east-west channels of an Auger Engineering Radio Array station. The template is derived from detector-folded air-shower pulses and whitened using the covariance of measured background. R…

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astro-ph.EP

Quasi-diurnal Kelvin Wave Observed in the Atmosphere of Mars by the Pressure Sensor on the InSight Lander

Anzu Asumi, Jorge Hernández-Bernal, Kaoru Sato, Aymeric Spiga

During the initiation phase of Martian dust storms, a spectral signature of a zonal wavenumber 1 normal mode Kelvin wave (K1) has been observed in several surface pressure records. However, the K1 signal has not been extracted directly since its eigenfrequency is close to that of the diurnal tide, making their separation difficult. We apply singular spectrum analysis to more than one Martian year of InSight surface pressure observations, including the MY34 C dust storm (C34). This analysis enabl…

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astro-ph.HEastro-ph.GA

Quasi-periodic Eruptions from Recurrent Satellite Black Hole Transits through Magnetized Galactic Nucleus Accretion Disks

Na Wang, Jing-Tong Xing, Tong Liu, Ya-Ping Li, Shuang-Liang Li

Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are recurrent soft X-ray flares from galactic nuclei, but their origin remains uncertain. The delayed ultraviolet (UV) counterpart detected in Ansky provides a new constraint on viable models. We present a two-channel model in which a satellite black hole (sBH) repeatedly crosses a nuclear accretion disk threaded by a large-scale magnetic field. Gravitational focusing and dynamical drag generate hot, optically thick ejecta whose expansion and photon diffusion powe…

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astro-ph.EP

Origin of nucleosynthetic isotope variability in the NC reservoir: Evidence from Ti, Cr, and Mo isotopes

Elias Wölfer, Christoph Burkhardt, Gerrit Budde, Christian A. Jansen, Jonas Pape, Thorsten Kleine

Nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies allow distinguishing between non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) type meteorites, and have revealed correlated isotope variations especially among NC bodies. Understanding the origin of this NC trend is important for identifying the processes that produced the NC isotope heterogeneity, and for using these isotope anomalies to reconstruct the early evolution of the solar protoplanetary disk. We report mass-independent Ti, Cr, and Mo isotope compositions f…

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astro-ph.COastro-ph.GA

Cluster finding with outskirt stellar masses and percolation

Pablo Avalos, Conghao Zhou, Tesla Jeltema, Katya Leidig, Shuo Xu, Benedikt Diemer, Song Huang, Alexie Leauthaud et al.

The abundance of galaxy clusters is a powerful cosmological probe, but optical cluster cosmology is limited by selection systematics, in particular the projection effects that affect cluster finders based on galaxy populations such as the red sequence. The outer stellar mass ($M_\mathrm{out}$) of cluster central galaxies -- e.g., the stellar mass in a 50-100 kpc annulus -- offers an alternative selection that relies only on the central galaxy and is therefore largely free from projection effects…

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astro-ph.IMastro-ph.EP

A Multi-instrument Generalized Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Implementation

Giulia Martos, Néstor Espinoza, Jorge Meléndez

We present an implementation of the well-known and broadly used Generalized Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (GLS) which simultaneously takes into account individual offsets introduced in the data by different instruments: a "multi-instrument" GLS periodogram. While the algorithm itself is not new, the simple closed form implementation we provide, to our knowledge, is. We showcase an application of our multi-instrument GLS on radial-velocity data of the hot Jupiter TOI-481 b, whose period is recovered w…

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astro-ph.EP

Asymmetric Aerosol Distribution on the Terminators of the Warm Saturn WASP-69 b Revealed by JWST NIRISS/SOSS

Le-Chris Wang, Sagnick Mukherjee, Stephen P. Schmidt, Kevin B. Stevenson, Mei Ting Mak, Patrick McCreery, Harry Baskett, Carlos Gascón et al.

How aerosols form, are transported, and cycle between condensation and evaporation across exoplanet temperature regimes remains poorly understood. Recent models and observations suggest that warm giant planets near $800$--$1000$ K may span a transition between homogeneous and longitudinally heterogeneous aerosol distributions. We present a robust detection of aerosol asymmetry in a giant planet with $T_{\rm eq}\lesssim1000$ K, using the $0.86$--$2.82~μ$m JWST NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of…

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astro-ph.HE

Multi-scale Memory and Regime Shift in the Hyperactive Repeating FRB 20240114A

We-Long Zhang, Sheng-Lun Xie, Jun-Jie Wei, Di Xiao, Long-Xuan Zhang, Shuang-Xi Yi, Fa-Yin Wang, Xue-Feng Wu et al.

We present a statistical analysis of FRB~20240114A, a hyperactive repeating fast radio burst, based on 11,553 bursts detected by FAST over 214 days. Our main findings are fourfold. (1) On the most active day (MJD~60381, 3,197 bursts in 4.38 hr), event-rate coherence analysis reveals persistent correlated activity extending up to 3600~s, the longest reported for any repeating FRB, showing memory persists even in intense bursting epochs. (2) The waiting-time distribution on this day is well descri…

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astro-ph.HE

Multi-scale Memory and Regime Shift in the Hyperactive Repeating FRB 20240114A

Wen-Long Zhang, Sheng-Lun Xie, Jun-Jie Wei, Di Xiao, Long-Xuan Zhang, Shuang-Xi Yi, Fa-Yin Wang, Xue-Feng Wu et al.

We present a statistical analysis of FRB~20240114A, a hyperactive repeating fast radio burst, based on 11,553 bursts detected by FAST over 214 days. Our main findings are fourfold. (1) On the most active day (MJD~60381, 3,197 bursts in 4.38 hr), event-rate coherence analysis reveals persistent correlated activity extending up to 3600~s, the longest reported for any repeating FRB, showing memory persists even in intense bursting epochs. (2) The waiting-time distribution on this day is well descri…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE

The Kick Velocities of Neutron Stars in Binary Systems

Paul Disberg, Ilya Mandel, Ryosuke Hirai

Neutron stars (NSs) receive natal kicks on their formation in supernovae (SNe). We consider constraints placed on the natal kick magnitudes by NSs in different kinds of binary systems. We compare observed systems to predictions from the COMPAS rapid population synthesis code, where we apply kick models with varied natal kick prescriptions. Specifically, we compare binary orbits (i.e., periods and eccentricities) and systemic kick estimates of (1) Gaia observations of NS-harboring binaries (Gaia…

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