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Research Trends

Latest preprints in space engineering and astrophysics.

astro-ph.SR

Highly bipolar planetary nebula Hen 2-57 and its possible symbiotic core

J. Merc, J. Mikołajewska, K. Iłkiewicz, A. Udalski

We present a multi-wavelength analysis of the highly bipolar object Hen 2-57 based on new optical spectroscopy from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), complemented by archival imaging, and long-term time-series photometry from OGLE and NEOWISE. The nebula exhibits a pronounced hourglass morphology with a symmetry axis at a position angle of $110\pm5^{\circ}$ and an average lobe opening angle of $\sim$$53^{\circ}$. We also identify pronounced north--south brightness asymmetry, with the…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GA

On the Constancy of Binary Star Fractions in Local Star Clusters

Priya Hasan, Mohammed Saifuddin

We investigate the unresolved binary-star fraction in a complete sample of 376 open clusters located within 1 kpc of the Sun using Gaia DR3 and ASteCA based synthetic colour magnitude diagram modelling. The binary fraction is a global photometric quantity, sensitive primarily to unresolved binaries that produce measurable broadening above the single-star main sequence. We find that the median binary fraction of the sample is nearly constant, $0.29\pm 0.03$, with no clear dependence on cluster ag…

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astro-ph.EPphysics.space-ph

Widespread plasma jets in the Martian magnetosheath revealed by dual-spacecraft observations

Abigail Tadlock, Chuanfei Dong, Chi Zhang, Savvas Raptis, Hongyang Zhou, Xinmin Li, Jiawei Gao

Plasma jets in planetary magnetosheaths are transient, high dynamic pressure structures capable of strongly perturbing downstream magnetospheres and modulating solar wind energy transfer. Although recently identified at Mars, their formation mechanisms and global occurrence remain poorly constrained. Using dual-spacecraft observations from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) and Tianwen-1, we show that magnetosheath jets occur throughout the Martian magnetosheath, in striking contrast…

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astro-ph.HE

Polarization of Synchrotron Emission from Rotation Powered Pulsars

Seima Saeki, Shota Kisaka, Jumpei Takata

With the launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer in 2021, recent observations have provided X-ray polarization data for several rotation-powered pulsars. To fully exploit these data, it is important to better understand the relationship between polarization properties and the magnetospheric structure. In this paper, we investigate polarization properties in the outer gap model, incorporating both outward emission and inward emission toward the rotation axis, which has not been considere…

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astro-ph.GA

Kinematics of the System of Young Open Clusters based on Gaia DR3 Data

A. K. Dambis, A. S. Rastorguev

We use a kinematical model including circular rotation of the Milky-Way disk incorporating effects produced by a spiral density wave with constant radial and vertical components of the velocity dispersion tensor and adopted solar Galactocentric distance R_0=8.277kpc (inferred by GRAVITY collaboration in 2022) to derive the velocity field parameters for a sample of 2384 open clusters from the Hunt and Reffert (2024) catalog having ages no greater than 100 Myr almost all of which reside at Galacto…

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astro-ph.EPastro-ph.GA

Delayed Methane Detection in 3I/ATLAS: GCR-Driven Subsurface Stratification and Interstellar Exposure Age Constraints

Akshat Rawat, Kinsuk Acharyya

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS shows unusual volatile activity, including strong H$_2$O, CO, and CO$_2$ production and a delayed post-perihelion detection of CH$_4$. In this work, we investigate the delayed CH$_4$ detection in an H$_2$O, CO$_2$, and CO ice matrix using a shape model coupled with a thermophysical nucleus model that incorporates interstellar processing by Galactic Cosmic Rays. We track the sublimation, trapping, depletion, and release of these volatiles as a function of heliocentric…

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astro-ph.COastro-ph.IM

Probing submillimeter number counts below the confusion limit: extreme-value statistics of the P(D) distribution and its modulation by gravitational lensing

Kaustuv Basu, Andrea Guerrero, Frank Bertoldi

The shape of the submillimeter galaxy number counts below the confusion limit is a key record of cosmic star formation but is accessible only statistically, through the one-point distribution of map surface brightness, $P(D)$. Classical $P(D)$ analysis compresses the counts into flux-integrated constraints and requires a full instrument forward model. We introduce an extreme-value-theory analysis of the confusion $P(D)$ tail: the peaks-over-threshold formalism, in which exceedances above a thres…

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astro-ph.GA

Early steps in the hierarchical assembly of a Milky Way-mass galaxy 1 Gyr after the Big Bang

Yoshihisa Asada, Marcin Sawicki, Guillaume Desprez, Jon Judez, Marusa Bradac, Kartheik Iyer, Nicholas S. Martis, Adam Muzzin et al.

We report JWST observations of a $z_{\rm spec}=5.196$ compact group of three strongly lensed low-mass galaxies ($M_\star \sim 10^{6-7} M_\odot$ each) whose small line-of-sight velocity offsets (from $-120\pm100$ to $+160\pm110$ km s$^{-1}$) and projected separations ($\sim2$ kpc) suggest that they are undergoing merging. On the basis of abundance-matching arguments, the trio appear to be destined to evolve into a Milky Way-mass galaxy by the present day. Our spectrophotometric analysis suggests…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.IM

On the Probability Distribution and Null-hypothesis Testing of Cross-correlation for Light Curves in Active Galactic Nuclei

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang

Cross-correlation is crucial in studies of multiwavelength flux variability in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), especially for reverberation mapping analysis, where interpolated cross-correlation function is widely used to measure time lags between light curves. While time-lag uncertainties can be estimated via the flux randomization and random subset selection method, an appropriate framework for assessing cross-correlation significance remains lacking in the literature. Here we attempt to fill t…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GA

The Contribution of Starspots to the Lithium Spread in NGC 2264

Yan Luo, Gregory J. Herczeg, Min Fang, Qinghui Sun, Xiaoting Fu

Star clusters with ages of a few Myr have a previously unexplained dispersion in the lithium equivalent widths. In this work, we show that much of the lithium spread of the young cluster NGC 2264 can be attributed to the observational presence of starspots. We demonstrate that the equivalent width of Li I 6708 Angstrom changes with observed spot coverage, using a sample of 15 Weak-Lined T Tauri Stars (WTTSs) with multi-epoch high-resolution ESPaDOnS spectra and photometry. To quantify the contri…

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astro-ph.IM

Investigation of magnetic-field effects on photomultiplier tubes for the first Large-Sized Telescope of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

Yukiho Kobayashi, Dai Tateishi, Yuji Sunada, Takuto Kiyomoto, Nobuaki Sasaki, Kazuki Abe, Franca Cassol, Shuichi Gunji et al.

Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are widely used in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Their response can depend on the telescope pointing direction through changes in their orientation relative to the geomagnetic field. Such a dependence was indicated during the calibration campaign of the CTAO LST-1. In this work, the LST-1 calibration data are analyzed to quantify the gain dependence in terms of the geomagnetic field, and dedicated laboratory measurements are performed to test the hypothes…

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astro-ph.SR

Multi-thermal Structure of Solar Jets based on Combined EUV and Ha Observations

Lei Huang, Yang Guo, Zining Ren, Mingde Ding

This study investigates the multi-thermal structure of solar jets by combining extreme ultra-violet (EUV) and Ha observations, addressing whether cool and hot components originate from the same jet, their morphological similarities and differences, and the role of mini-filaments. We analyze 70 jet events simultaneously observed by Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Chinese Ha Solar Explorer (CHASE) from 2023 May 25 to 2026 January 15. The events are classified into four types based on whethe…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO

The extreme Disturbed Galaxy Cluster Sample (eDGeS): Spectroscopy and Dynamical Analysis of the eROSITA-Selected Merging Galaxy Cluster Candidate 1eRASS J025859.4-193727

Anish S. Aradhey, Eleazar R. Carrasco, Alfredo Zenteno, Rogério Monteiro-Oliveira, Facundo A. Gómez, Konstantina Boutsia, Esra Bulbul, Guillermo Damke et al.

Addressing open questions such as the effect of galaxy cluster mergers on the evolution of galaxies and the self-interaction cross-section of dark matter requires the construction of a large, diverse sample of disturbed galaxy clusters. One contribution to such a sample is the extreme Disturbed Galaxy Cluster Sample (eDGeS), an ongoing spectroscopic study of massive disturbed and merging galaxy clusters selected from complementary surveys. Here, we present our first results from the eROSITA-sele…

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gr-qcastro-ph.COastro-ph.HEhep-ph

Relativistic Stellar Oscillations from Ultralight Dark Matter

Shanae Oishi, Christopher Reyes, Jeremy Sakstein

Ultra-light dark matter, composed of bosons behaving as classical waves, can resonantly excite stellar oscillations. In this work, we investigate this phenomenon in relativistic stars, showing that $\ell=0$ fluid modes can be excited. We derive a framework for calculating the mode amplitude and apply it to neutron stars to predict the associated surface temperature fluctuations; the resulting signal lies beyond current observational sensitivities. We discuss prospects for extending this approach…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

Honoring Paris Pişmiş' Legacy: Uniform Astrophysical Properties of 14 Understudied Clusters from Gaia DR3

Seliz Koç, Neslihan Alan, Furkan Akbaba, Olcay Plevne

Open clusters are fundamental tracers of the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Galactic disc. This study presents a systematic characterisation of 14 understudied open clusters from the Pismis catalogue, selected for a well-defined stellar sequence in Gaia DR3 and spanning a wide range of ages and distances. Using high-precision Gaia DR3 astrometry, we provide a high-fidelity modernisation of these historical discoveries while testing our analytical framework across diverse stellar populat…

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astro-ph.HE

Lepto-hadronic modeling of blazars associated with well-reconstructed high-energy neutrino events

Leonard Pfeiffer, Margot Boughelilba, Simone Garrappa, Sara Buson, Massimiliano Lincetto, Annette Bremer

The association of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with high-energy neutrinos has been studied through population and individual source analyzes, but whether these associations reflect physical processes or chance coincidences remains open. Blazars, AGN with relativistic jets aligned with the line of sight, spatially consistent with IceCube high-energy events, offer a natural framework to address this question. Combining multifrequency observations with physically motivated emission models allows u…

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astro-ph.SR

Energy redistribution during 2D oscillatory reconnection

Luiz A. C. A. Schiavo, Jordan Talbot, Gert J. J. Botha, Ben Snow, Daniel Johnson, Madeleine L. Combrinck, James A. McLaughlin

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental energy release mechanism in solar and space plasmas. However, the distribution of released magnetic energy among kinetic and internal (thermal) energy during time-dependent reconnection remains largely unexplored. This work aims to study energy conversion in magnetohydrodynamics via oscillatory reconnection (OR) at a 2D magnetic null point. Using a shock-capturing code, we identify three families of shocks: termination shocks, slow-mode deflection shocks, a…

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astro-ph.GA

Extreme Enrichment at Cosmic Dawn: Three FeII-Strong Quasars at z > 6 from the JWST Aether survey

Anniek J. Gloudemans, Emanuele Paolo Farina, Roberto Decarli, Klaudia Protušová, Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, Eduardo Bañados, Aaron J. Barth, Silvia Belladitta et al.

We present three outliers on the quasar main sequence at z>6, as revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations from the Aether survey, a program targeting ~200 quasars at cosmic dawn. The quasars, J0216-5226, J0320-3521, and J1429+5447, exhibit exceptionally strong FeII emission and weak H$β$ and [OIII] lines, indicating rapid chemical enrichment within the first Gyr of cosmic history. Their FeII strengths ($R_{\rm{FeII},\lambda4570} \equiv \rm{EW}_{\rm{FeII}}/\rm{EW}_{\rm{H}β}$) range between ~2.5-…

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gr-qcastro-ph.IMcs.LG

Deep Learning Detection of Beyond-General-Relativity Deviations in Gravitational-Wave Signals: A Detection-Threshold Study with Real LIGO Noise

Muhammad Adnan Shahzad

We study machine-learning detection of controlled beyond-General-Relativity (beyond-GR) deviations in gravitational-wave signals, using both synthetic aLIGO-PSD noise and real LIGO H1 detector strain. Three deviation families are applied to General-Relativistic inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms: amplitude modulation, phase modulation, and frequency modulation, each parameterized by a dimensionless strength coefficient $β$. A hybrid classifier combining a one-dimensional convolutional neural net…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

From observing strategies to velocity dispersion bias: forward modeling unresolved binaries in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

Xiaowei Ou, Andrew B. Pace, Nitya Kallivayalil, Amery Gration, Christopher T. Garling, Nathan R. Sandford, Lina Necib, Niusha Ahvazi et al.

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) in the Milky Way are ideal probes of low-mass galaxy formation and dark matter because they are highly dark-matter dominated. In the lowest-mass systems, however, unresolved binary orbital motion complicates dynamical mass estimates by inflating measured velocity dispersions and biasing the interpretation of the inferred masses. We develop a flexible forward-modeling pipeline, the Binary Observation Simulator, to generate mock multi-epoch radial-velocity observa…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

Characterizing the hierarchical structure of filaments I. On the origin of the length-mass (L-M) scaling relation

Rahul Patel, Daniel Seifried, Alvaro Hacar

Aims. Filamentary structures in molecular clouds are widely recognized as fundamental components of star formation. Observations report a length-mass relation of the form $L \propto M^α$ with $α\simeq 0.5$. We characterize this relation in simulated molecular clouds and investigate the influence of hierarchical fragmentation and spatial resolution. Methods. We apply a two-step filament identification method to high-resolution 3D hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical simulations from the SILCC…

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astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

Star clusters as tracers of the perturbed southern outer disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Matías Chiarpotti, Andrés E. Piatti, Denis M. F. Illesca, Roberto Butrón

The complex interaction history between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (L/SMC) has left significant imprints on their structural and chemical evolution. In this work, we use a sample of 70 star clusters located in the southern outer disk of the LMC ($R > 5^{\circ}$) to trace the magnitude of these tidal perturbations. Using deep $g,i$ photometry from the SMASH DR2 survey and the Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis (ASTeCA) code, we provide a homogeneous determination of cluster ages, metal…

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astro-ph.GA

Sub-arcsecond imaging of HCN and CN in the Orion Bar. UV-driven warm Nitrogen chemistry in dense environments

M. Zannese, J. R. Goicoechea, S. Cuadrado, J. Pety, M. Gerin, E. Chapillon

Rotationally excited HCN and CN lines, due to their high critical densities, are often used as tracers of gas densities. ALMA, with its high spectral and spatial resolution, provides unique access to the spatial morphology and kinematics of HCN and CN emission to study the substructures of the molecular cloud edges. We present new sub-arcsecond imaging of HCN 4-3 and CN 3-2 lines to probe the density structure in the Orion Bar. We study their spatial distribution and compare them to other existi…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GA

Extragalactic Multi-Band Exploration of Red Supergiants (EMBERS): Pipeline, Source Classification, and Bolometric Properties of 101,219 Red Supergiants from James Webb Space Telescope Imaging

Aswin Suresh, Charles D. Kilpatrick, Wen-fai Fong, Maria R. Drout, Daichi Hiramatsu, Luca Izzo, Wynn V. Jacobson-Galán, Armin Rest et al.

The evolution of red supergiants (RSGs), especially in their final stages before exploding as hydrogen-rich Type II supernovae (SNe), remains poorly understood, owing to small samples of well-characterized stars in the Local Group. We present the largest population study of RSGs to date using $\sim10^5$ stars with bolometric parameters inferred from archival James Webb Space Telescope/Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) imaging of 15 galaxies within 20 Mpc. We also present jwst123, a newly-developed g…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.EP

A Grid of Contribution Functions to Help the Interpretation of Time-resolved Observations of Brown Dwarfs

Myrla Phillippe, Theodora Karalidi, Elena Manjavacas, Natalia Oliveros-Gomez, Daniel Apai, Jonathan Fernandez, Kieran M. Manjrawala

We present a grid of thermal emission contribution functions and their corresponding atmospheric spectra model for cloudy and cloud-free brown dwarfs, spanning effective temperatures $T_{\rm eff} \in [500, 2000]$ K, surface gravities $\log g = [3.5, 5.5]$ [cgs], sedimentation efficiencies $f_{\rm sed} = 1, 2, 3, 4$ and 8, and eddy diffusion coefficients $\log K_{\rm zz} = [6, 11]$. We use temperature-pressure profiles from the Sonora Diamondback models in conjunction with the picaso radiative tr…

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astro-ph.IMphysics.ed-ph

Gravitas: A Browser-Based Astrophysics Laboratory for Prediction, Measurement, and Discovery

Carl Ziegler

Astronomy students are often asked to reason about systems that cannot be handled in a laboratory, evolve over inaccessible timescales, or reveal themselves only through indirect measurements. Gravitas is a free, browser-based astrophysics environment designed to turn those limitations into opportunities for experimentation. Its version 1.0.0 release combines a configurable gravitational sandbox with 59 ready-to-run scenarios and 22 guided investigations comprising 636 steps and roughly 15-19 ho…

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astro-ph.SRastro-ph.EP

Mapping Molecular Ion Distributions in a Diverse Sample of Protoplanetary Disks

Deryl E. Long, L. Ilsedore Cleeves, Charles J. Law, Fred C. Adams, Dana E. Anderson, Sean M. Andrews, Edwin A. Bergin, Jane Huang et al.

Observations of ionization-tracing molecules in protoplanetary disks suggest that their ionization environments are diverse due to varying degrees of cosmic ray modulation, stellar activity, and environmental differences that alter the impact of ionizing radiation. To better understand ionization chemistry in disks, we present the largest survey of resolved observations of molecular ions to date. Using new and archival ALMA observations we detect HCO+, H13CO+, N2H+, and DCO+ toward seven protopl…

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astro-ph.GA

MSA-3D: A Diversity of Dust Attenuation Profiles Across the Epoch of Thin Disk Emergence

Ivana Barišić, Tucker Jones, Naveen Reddy, Matthew Malkan, Ryan Sanders, Alaina Henry, Ayan Acharyya, Kevin Bundy et al.

We present spatially resolved measurements of dust attenuation and star formation in 18 main-sequence star-forming galaxies at z$\sim$1 from the MSA-3D survey, obtained by mapping the Balmer emission lines at $\sim$1 kpc resolution with JWST/NIRSpec's MSA in a slit-stepping strategy. We investigate the diversity of radial attenuation profiles, and how the spatial variation affects attenuation and star formation rates (SFR) derived from single-aperture measurements. We find a notable diversity am…

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astro-ph.GA

Reconstructing the Projected Dark Matter Field across 0.1-100 Mpc Scales from the SDSS Survey

Kunyao Zhao, Yingjie Peng, Dingyi Zhao, Xiaohu Yang, Luis C. Ho, Kai Wang, Jing Dou, Zeyu Gao et al.

Dark matter sets the gravitational environment in which galaxies form and evolve, but cannot be observed directly. We present a conditional diffusion model that reconstructs the projected dark matter density field from the galaxy stellar-mass density field for direct application to galaxy surveys. The model is trained on CAMELS and validated on the independent IllustrisTNG300-1 simulation. Halo masses inferred from the reconstructed projected-aperture measurements agree well with the correspondi…

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astro-ph.EPastro-ph.GA

JWST Reveals Refractory-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Evidence for a Continuum of Grain Properties across Protoplanetary Disks

Silvia Protopapa, Michael S. P. Kelley, Martin A. Cordiner, Stefanie N. Milam, Dennis Bodewits, Steven B. Charnley, Maria N. Drozdovskaya, Sara Faggi et al.

We present JWST/NIRSpec PRISM observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS obtained on 2025 August 6 (Epoch 1), 2025 December 22 (Epoch 2), and 2026 April 1 (Epoch 3), spanning eight months around perihelion at heliocentric distances of 3.3, 2.4, and 5.7 au, respectively. The spectra reveal a broad 3 $μ$m absorption band together with H$_2$O, CO$_2$, and CO gas emission. Unlike previously reported water-ice-rich Solar System comae, the strong 3 $μ$m absorption is accompanied by weak or absent…

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