Context. The understanding of the accretion process has a central role in the understanding of star and planet formation.
Aims: We aim to test how accretion variability influences previous correlation analyses of the relation between X-ray activity and accretion rates, which is important for understanding the evolution of circumstellar disks and disk photoevaporation.
Methods: We monitored accreting stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster from November 24, 2014, until February 17, 2019, for 42 epochs with the Wendelstein Wide Field Imager in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey u'g'r' filters on the 2 m Fraunhofer Telescope on Mount Wendelstein. Mass accretion rates were determined from the measured ultraviolet excess. The influence of the mass accretion rate variability on the relation between X-ray luminosities and mass accretion rates was analyzed statistically.
Results: We find a typical interquartile range of ∼0.3 dex for the mass accretion rate variability on timescales from weeks to ∼2 yr. The variability has likely no significant influence on a correlation analysis of the X-ray luminosity and the mass accretion rate observed at different times when the sample size is large enough.
Conclusions: The observed anticorrelation between the X-ray luminosity and the mass accretion rate predicted by models of photoevaporation-starved accretion is likely not due to a bias introduced by different observing times.

Full Tables 1-3 and reduced data are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/666/A55

Heavy QCD axions are well-motivated extensions of the QCD axion that address the quality problem while still solving the strong CP problem. Owing to the gluon coupling, critical for solving the strong CP problem, these axions can be produced in significant numbers in beam dump and collider environments for axion decay constants as large as PeV, relevant for addressing the axion quality problem. In addition, if these axions have leptonic couplings, they can give rise to long-lived decay into lepton pairs, in particular, dominantly into muons above the dimuon threshold and below the GeV scale in a broad class of axion models. Considering existing constraints, primarily from rare meson decays, we demonstrate that current and future neutrino facilities and long-lived particle searches have the potential to probe significant parts of the heavy QCD axion parameter space via dimuon final states.

Context. Observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) Cassiopeia A (Cas A) show significant asymmetries in the reverse shock that cannot be explained by models describing a remnant expanding through a spherically symmetric wind of the progenitor star.
Aims: We investigate whether a past interaction of Cas A with a massive asymmetric shell of the circumstellar medium can account for the observed asymmetries of the reverse shock.
Methods: We performed three-dimensional (3D) (magneto)-hydrodynamic simulations that describe the remnant evolution from the SN explosion to its interaction with a massive circumstellar shell. The initial conditions (soon after the shock breakout at the stellar surface) are provided by a 3D neutrino-driven SN model whose morphology closely resembles Cas A and the SNR simulations cover ≈2000 yr of evolution. We explored the parameter space of the shell, searching for a set of parameters able to produce an inward-moving reverse shock in the western hemisphere of the remnant at the age of ≈350 yr, analogous to that observed in Cas A.
Results: The interaction of the remnant with the shell can produce asymmetries resembling those observed in the reverse shock if the shell was asymmetric with the densest portion in the (blueshifted) nearside to the northwest (NW). According to our favorite model, the shell was thin (thickness σ ≈ 0.02 pc) with a radius r_sh ≈ 1.5 pc from the center of the explosion. The reverse shock shows the following asymmetries at the age of Cas A: (i) it moves inward in the observer frame in the NW region, while it moves outward in most other regions; (ii) the geometric center of the reverse shock is offset to the NW by ≈0.1 pc from the geometric center of the forward shock; and (iii) the reverse shock in the NW region has enhanced nonthermal emission because, there, the ejecta enter the reverse shock with a higher relative velocity (between 4000 and 7000 km s⁻¹) than in other regions (below 2000 km s⁻¹).
Conclusions: The large-scale asymmetries observed in the reverse shock of Cas A can be interpreted as signatures of the interaction of the remnant with an asymmetric dense circumstellar shell that occurred between ≈180 and ≈240 yr after the SN event. We suggest that the shell was, most likely, the result of a massive eruption from the progenitor star that occurred between 10⁴ and 10⁵ yr prior to core-collapse. We estimate a total mass of the shell of the order of 2 M_⊙.

Galaxy clusters and cosmic voids are the most extreme objects of our Universe in terms of mass and size, tracing two opposite sides of the large-scale matter density field. By studying their abundance as a function of their mass and radius, respectively, i.e. the halo mass function (HMF) and void size function (VSF), it is possible to achieve fundamental constraints on the cosmological model. While the HMF has already been extensively exploited providing robust constraints on the main cosmological model parameters (e.g. $\Omega_{\rm m}$, $\sigma_8$ and $S_8$), the VSF is still emerging as a viable and effective cosmological probe. Given the expected complementarity of these statistics, in this work we aim at estimating the costraining power deriving from their combination. To achieve this goal, we exploit realistic mock samples of galaxy clusters and voids extracted from state-of-the-art large hydrodynamical simulations, in the redshift range $0.2 \leq z \leq 1$. We perform an accurate calibration of the free parameters of the HMF and VSF models, needed to take into account the differences between the types of mass tracers used in this work and those considered in previous literature analyses. Then, we obtain constraints on $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and $\sigma_8$ by performing a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis. We find that cluster and void counts represent powerful independent and complementary probes to test the cosmological framework. In particular, we found that the constraining power of the HMF on $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and $\sigma_8$ improves drastically with the VSF contribution, increasing the $S_8$ constraint precision by a factor of about $60\%$.

We use the Magneticum suite of state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations to identify cosmic voids based on the watershed technique and investigate their most fundamental properties across different resolutions in mass and scale. This encompasses the distributions of void sizes, shapes, and content, as well as their radial density and velocity profiles traced by the distribution of cold dark matter particles and halos. We also study the impact of various tracer properties, such as their sparsity and mass, and the influence of void merging on these summary statistics. Our results reveal that all of the analyzed void properties are physically related to each other and describe universal characteristics that are largely independent of tracer type and resolution. Most notably, we find that the motion of tracers around void centers is perfectly consistent with linear dynamics, both for individual, as well as stacked voids. Despite the large range of scales accessible in our simulations, we are unable to identify the occurrence of nonlinear dynamics even inside voids of only a few Mpc in size. This suggests voids to be among the most pristine probes of cosmology down to scales that are commonly referred to as highly nonlinear in the field of large-scale structure.

Using the decomposition of the $D$-dimensional space-time into parallel and perpendicular subspaces, we study and prove a connection between Landau and leading singularities for $N$-point one-loop Feynman integrals by applying multi-dimensional theory of residues. We show that if $D=N$ and $D=N+1$, the leading singularity corresponds to the inverse of the square root of the leading Landau singularity of the first and second type, respectively. We make use of this outcome to systematically provide differential equations of Feynman integrals in canonical forms and the extension of the connection of these singularities at multi-loop level by exploiting the loop-by-loop approach. Illustrative examples with the calculation of Landau and leading singularities are provided to supplement our results.

The polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be used to search for parity-violating processes like that predicted by a Chern-Simons coupling to a light pseudoscalar field. Such an interaction rotates $E$ modes into $B$ modes in the observed CMB signal by an effect known as cosmic birefringence. Even though isotropic birefringence can be confused with the rotation produced by a miscalibration of the detectors' polarization angles the degeneracy between both effects is broken when Galactic foreground emission is used as a calibrator. In this work, we use realistic simulations of the High-Frequency Instrument of the Planck mission to test the impact that Galactic foreground emission and instrumental systematics have on the recent birefringence measurements obtained through this technique. Our results demonstrate the robustness of the methodology against the miscalibration of polarization angles and other systematic effects, like intensity-to-polarization leakage, beam leakage, or cross-polarization effects. However, our estimator is sensitive to the $EB$ correlation of polarized foreground emission. Here we propose to correct the bias induced by dust $EB$ by modeling the foreground signal with templates produced in Bayesian component-separation analyses that fit parametric models to CMB data. Acknowledging the limitations of currently available dust templates like that of the Commander sky model, high-precision CMB data and a characterization of dust beyond the modified blackbody paradigm are needed to obtain a definitive measurement of cosmic birefringence in the future.

We study the broadband emission of Mrk 501 using multi-wavelength observations from 2017 to 2020 performed with a multitude of instruments, involving, among others, MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and OVRO. Mrk 501 showed an extremely low broadband activity, which may help to unravel its baseline emission. Nonetheless, significant flux variations are detected at all wavebands, with the highest occurring at X-rays and very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays. A significant correlation ($>$3$\sigma$) between X-rays and VHE $\gamma$-rays is measured, supporting leptonic scenarios to explain the variable parts of the emission, also during low activity. This is further supported when we extend our data from 2008 to 2020, and identify, for the first time, significant correlations between Swift-XRT and Fermi-LAT. We additionally find correlations between high-energy $\gamma$-rays and radio, with the radio lagging by more than 100 days, placing the $\gamma$-ray emission zone upstream of the radio-bright regions in the jet. Furthermore, Mrk 501 showed a historically low activity in X-rays and VHE $\gamma$-rays from mid-2017 to mid-2019 with a stable VHE flux ($>$0.2 TeV) of 5% the emission of the Crab Nebula. The broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of this 2-year-long low-state, the potential baseline emission of Mrk 501, can be characterized with one-zone leptonic models, and with (lepto)-hadronic models fulfilling neutrino flux constraints from IceCube. We explore the time evolution of the SED towards the low-state, revealing that the stable baseline emission may be ascribed to a standing shock, and the variable emission to an additional expanding or traveling shock.

The dark matter halo sparsity, i.e. the ratio between spherical halo masses enclosing two different overdensities, provides a non-parametric proxy of the halo mass distribution that has been shown to be a sensitive probe of the cosmological imprint encoded in the mass profile of haloes hosting galaxy clusters. Mass estimations at several overdensities would allow for multiple sparsity measurements, which can potentially retrieve the entirety of the cosmological information imprinted on the halo profile. Here, we investigate the impact of multiple sparsity measurements on the cosmological model parameter inference. For this purpose, we analyse N-body halo catalogues from the Raygal and M2Csims simulations and evaluate the correlations among six different sparsities from spherical overdensity halo masses at Δ = 200, 500, 1000, and 2500 (in units of the critical density). Remarkably, sparsities associated to distinct halo mass shells are not highly correlated. This is not the case for sparsities obtained using halo masses estimated from the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) best-fitting profile, which artificially correlates different sparsities to order one. This implies that there is additional information in the mass profile beyond the NFW parametrization and that it can be exploited with multiple sparsities. In particular, from a likelihood analysis of synthetic average sparsity data, we show that cosmological parameter constraints significantly improve when increasing the number of sparsity combinations, though the constraints saturate beyond four sparsity estimates. We forecast constraints for the CHEX-MATE cluster sample and find that systematic mass bias errors mildly impact the parameter inference, though more studies are needed in this direction.

In this paper we present the complete expressions of the lepton and neutron electric dipole moments (EDMs) in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), up to 1-loop and dimension-6 level and including both renormalization group running contributions and finite corrections. The latter play a fundamental role in the cases of operators that do not renormalize the dipoles, but there are also classes of operators for which they provide an important fraction, 10-20%, of the total 1-loop contribution, if the new physics scale is around Λ =5 TeV. We present the full set of bounds on each individual Wilson coefficient contributing to the EDMs using both the current experimental constraints, as well as those from future experiments, which are expected to improve by at least an order of magnitude.

We present our lens mass model of SMACS J0723.3−7327, the first strong gravitational lens observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We use data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) to build our `pre-JWST' lens model and then refine it with newly available JWST near-infrared imaging in our JWST model. To reproduce the positions of all multiple lensed images with good accuracy, the adopted mass parameterisation consists of one cluster-scale component, accounting mainly for the dark matter distribution, the galaxy cluster members, and an external shear component. The pre-JWST model has, as constraints, 19 multiple images from six background sources, of which four have secure spectroscopic redshift measurements from this work. The JWST model has more than twice the number of constraints: 30 additional multiple images from another 11 lensed sources. Both models can reproduce the multiple image positions very well, with a δ_rms of 0.″39 and 0.″51 for the pre-JWST and JWST models, respectively. The total mass estimates within a radius of 128 kpc (roughly the Einstein radius) are 7.9_−0.2^+0.3 × 10¹³ M_⊙ and 8.7_−0.2^+0.2 × 10¹³ M_⊙ for the pre-JWST and JWST models, respectively. We predict with our mass models the redshifts of the newly detected JWST sources, which is crucial information, especially for systems without spectroscopic measurements, for further studies and follow-up observations. Interestingly, one family detected with JWST is found to be at a very high redshift, z > 7.5 (68% confidence level), and with one image that has a lensing magnification of |μ| = 9.5_−0.8^+0.9, making it an interesting case for future studies. The lens models, including magnification maps and redshifts estimated from the model, are made publicly available, along with the full spectroscopic redshift catalogue from MUSE.

The MUSE redshift catalogue (Table A.1) and lens model files are available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/666/L9

Despite the extensive success of quantum field theories (QFTs) in particle and solid state physics there are still unsolved conceptual problems, in particular regarding the underlying mathematical foundations. In recent years, research has focused on special cases like topological QFTs (TFTs) where mathematically rigorous descriptions in the language of category theory have been found. Two of these descriptions, namely those using bordisms and higher categories, are also capable of describing defects including boundaries, interfaces between different TFTs, and point insertions. Translating examples of defect TFTs from a physics description to a rigorous mathematical model is, however, a challenging problem. A multifaceted example is given by the affine Rozansky-Witten model, which from a physics point of view is a topologically twisted supersymmetric 3D N=4 QFT. On the mathematics side, it features a description in terms of a higher category RW which covers many aspects of this model, in particular regarding its defects. For example, previous fundamental analysis of RW has shown that its two-dimensional defects are closely related to the topological Landau-Ginzburg model which forms a well-studied 2D defect TFT described by the bicategory LG. However, many aspects of the tricategory RW have not yet been studied in detail.

How are molecules linked to each other in complex systems? In a proof-of-concept study, we have developed the method mol2net (https://zenodo.org/record/7025094) to generate and analyze the molecular network of complex astrochemical data (from high-resolution Orbitrap MS1 analysis of H2O:CH3OH:NH3 interstellar ice analogs) in a data-driven and unsupervised manner, without any prior knowledge about chemical reactions. The molecular network is clustered according to the initial NH3 content and unlocked HCN, NH3, and H2O as spatially resolved key transformations. In comparison with the PubChem database, four subsets were annotated: (i) saturated C-backbone molecules without N, (ii) saturated N-backbone molecules, (iii) unsaturated C-backbone molecules without N, and (iv) unsaturated N-backbone molecules. These findings were validated with previous results (e.g., identifying the two major graph components as previously described N-poor and N-rich molecular groups) but with additional information about subclustering, key transformations, and molecular structures, and thus, the structural characterization of large complex organic molecules in interstellar ice analogs has been significantly refined.

We propose a parametrization of the leading B-meson light-cone distribution amplitude (LCDA) in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET). In position space, it uses a conformal transformation that yields a systematic Taylor expansion and an integral bound, which enables control of the truncation error. Our parametrization further produces compact analytical expressions for a variety of derived quantities. At a given reference scale, our momentum-space parametrization corresponds to an expansion in associated Laguerre polynomials, which turn into confluent hypergeometric functions ₁F₁ under renormalization-group evolution at one-loop accuracy. Our approach thus allows a straightforward and transparent implementation of a variety of phenomenological constraints, regardless of their origin. Moreover, we can include theoretical information on the Taylor coefficients by using the local operator product expansion. We showcase the versatility of the parametrization in a series of phenomenological pseudo-fits.

We propose an analogue of spin fields for the relativistic RNS-particle in 4 dimensions, in order to describe Ramond-Ramond states as "two-particle" excitations on the world line. On a natural representation space we identify a differential whose cohomology agrees with RR-fields equations. We then discuss the non-linear theory encoded in deformations of the latter by background fields. We also formulate a sigma model for this spin field from which we recover the RNS-formulation by imposing suitable constraints.

Cosmological simulations are an important theoretical pillar for understanding nonlinear structure formation in our Universe and for relating it to observations on large scales. In several papers, we introduce our MillenniumTNG (MTNG) project that provides a comprehensive set of high-resolution, large volume simulations of cosmic structure formation aiming to better understand physical processes on large scales and to help interpreting upcoming large-scale galaxy surveys. We here focus on the full physics box MTNG740 that computes a volume of $(740\,\mathrm{Mpc})^3$ with a baryonic mass resolution of $3.1\times~10^7\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ using \textsc{arepo} with $80.6$~billion cells and the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model. We verify that the galaxy properties produced by MTNG740 are consistent with the TNG simulations, including more recent observations. We focus on galaxy clusters and analyse cluster scaling relations and radial profiles. We show that both are broadly consistent with various observational constraints. We demonstrate that the SZ-signal on a deep lightcone is consistent with Planck limits. Finally, we compare MTNG740 clusters with galaxy clusters found in Planck and the SDSS-8 RedMaPPer richness catalogue in observational space, finding very good agreement as well. However, {\it simultaneously} matching cluster masses, richness, and Compton-$y$ requires us to assume that the SZ mass estimates for Planck clusters are underestimated by $0.2$~dex on average. Thanks to its unprecedented volume for a high-resolution hydrodynamical calculation, the MTNG740 simulation offers rich possibilities to study baryons in galaxies, galaxy clusters, and in large scale structure, and in particular their impact on upcoming large cosmological surveys.

Context. Millimeter astronomy provides valuable information on the birthplaces of planetary systems. In order to compare theoretical models with observations, the dust component has to be carefully calculated.
Aims: Here, we aim to study the effects of dust entrainment in photoevaporative winds, and the ejection and drag of dust due to the effects caused by radiation from the central star.
Methods: We improved and extended the existing implementation of a two-population dust and pebble description in the global Bern/Heidelberg planet formation and evolution model. Modern prescriptions for photoevaporative winds were used and we accounted for settling and advection of dust when calculating entrainment rates. In order to prepare for future population studies with varying conditions, we explored a wide range of disk, photoevaporation, and dust parameters.
Results: If dust can grow to pebble sizes, that is, if they are resistant to fragmentation or turbulence is weak, drift dominates and the entrained mass is small but larger than under the assumption of no vertical advection of grains with the gas flow. For the case of fragile dust shattering at velocities of 1m s⁻¹ - as indicated in laboratory experiments -, an order of magnitude more dust is entrained, which becomes the main dust removal process. Radiation pressure effects disperse massive, dusty disks on timescales of a few hundred Myr.
Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of dust entrainment in winds as a solid-mass removal process. Furthermore, this model extension lays the foundations for future statistical studies of the formation of planets in their birth environment.

The cosmological constant and its phenomenology remain among the greatest puzzles in theoretical physics. We review how modifications of Einstein’s general relativity could alleviate the different problems associated with it that result from the interplay of classical gravity and quantum field theory. We introduce a modern and concise language to describe the problems associated with its phenomenology, and inspect no-go theorems and their loopholes to motivate the approaches discussed here. Constrained gravity approaches exploit minimal departures from general relativity; massive gravity introduces mass to the graviton; Horndeski theories lead to the breaking of translational invariance of the vacuum; and models with extra dimensions change the symmetries of the vacuum. We also review screening mechanisms that have to be present in some of these theories if they aim to recover the success of general relativity on small scales as well. Finally, we summarize the statuses of these models in their attempts to solve the different cosmological constant problems while being able to account for current astrophysical and cosmological observations.

We present SKiLLS, a suite of multi-band image simulations for the weak lensing analysis of the complete Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), dubbed KiDS-Legacy analysis. The resulting catalogues enable joint shear and redshift calibration, enhancing the realism and hence accuracy over previous efforts. To create a large volume of simulated galaxies with faithful properties and to a sufficient depth, we integrated cosmological simulations with high-quality imaging observations. We also improved the realism of simulated images by allowing the point spread function (PSF) to differ between CCD images, including stellar density variations and varying noise levels between pointings. Using realistic variable shear fields, we accounted for the impact of blended systems at different redshifts. Although the overall correction is minor, we found a clear redshift-bias correlation in the blending-only variable shear simulations, indicating the non-trivial impact of this higher-order blending effect. We also explored the impact of the PSF modelling errors and found a small yet noticeable effect on the shear bias. Finally, we conducted a series of sensitivity tests, including changing the input galaxy properties. We conclude that our fiducial shape measurement algorithm, lensfit, is robust within the requirements of lensing analyses with KiDS. As for future weak lensing surveys with tighter requirements, we suggest further investments in understanding the impact of blends at different redshifts, improving the PSF modelling algorithm and developing the shape measurement method to be less sensitive to the galaxy properties.

We report the discovery and characterization of two small transiting planets orbiting the bright M3.0V star TOI-1468 (LSPM J0106+1913), whose transit signals were detected in the photometric time series in three sectors of the TESS mission. We confirm the planetary nature of both of them using precise radial velocity measurements from the CARMENES and MAROON-X spectrographs, and supplement them with ground-based transit photometry. A joint analysis of all these data reveals that the shorter-period planet, TOI-1468 b (P_b = 1.88 d), has a planetary mass of M_b = 3.21 ± 0.24M_⊕ and a radius of R_b = 1.280_−0.039^+0.038 R_⊕, resulting in a density of ρ_b = 8.39_−0.92^+1.05 g cm⁻³, which is consistent with a mostly rocky composition. For the outer planet, TOI-1468 c (P_c = 15.53 d), we derive a mass of M_c = 6.64_−0.68^+0.67 M_⊕,aradius of R_c = 2.06 ± 0.04 R_⊕, and a bulk density of ρ_c = 2.00_−0.19^+0.21 g cm⁻³, which corresponds to a rocky core composition with a H/He gas envelope. These planets are located on opposite sides of the radius valley, making our system an interesting discovery as there are only a handful of other systems with the same properties. This discovery can further help determine a more precise location of the radius valley for small planets around M dwarfs and, therefore, shed more light on planet formation and evolution scenarios.

Radial velocities and photometry are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/666/A155

Multiply lensed sources experience a relative time delay in the arrival of photons. This effect can be used to measure absolute distances and the Hubble constant ($H_0$) and is known as time-delay cosmography. The methodology is independent of the local distance ladder and early-universe physics and provides a precise and competitive measurement of $H_0$. With upcoming observatories, time-delay cosmography can provide a 1% precision measurement of $H_0$ and can decisively shed light on the current reported 'Hubble tension'. This paper presents the theoretical background and the current techniques applied for time-delay cosmographic studies and the measurement of the Hubble constant. The paper describes the challenges and systematics in the different components of the analysis and strategies to mitigate them. The current measurements are discussed in context and the opportunities with the anticipated data sets in the future are laid out.

This work demonstrates that nontopological solitons with large global charges and masses, even above the Planck scale, can form in the early universe and dominate the dark matter abundance. In solitosynthesis, solitons prefer to grow as large as possible under equilibrium dynamics when an initial global charge asymmetry is present. Their abundance is set by when soliton formation via particle fusion freezes out, and their charges are set by the time it takes to accumulate free particles. This work improves the estimation of both quantities, and in particular shows that much larger-charged solitons form than previously thought. The results are estimated analytically and validated numerically by solving the coupled Boltzmann equations. Without solitosynthesis, phase transitions can still form solitons from particles left inside false-vacuum pockets and determine their present-day abundance and properties. Even with zero charge asymmetry, solitons formed in this way can have very large charges on account of statistical fluctuations in the numbers of (anti)particles inside each pocket.

We report the first simultaneous and independent measurements of the K$^{-}$p $\rightarrow \Sigma^0 \, \pi^{0}$ and K$^{-}$p $\rightarrow \Lambda \, \pi^{0}$ cross sections around 100 MeV/c kaon momentum. The kaon beam delivered by the DA$\Phi$NE collider was exploited to detect K$^-$ absorptions on Hydrogen atoms, populating the gas mixture of the KLOE drift chamber. The precision of the measurements ($\sigma_{K^- p \rightarrow \Sigma^0 \pi^0} = 42.8 \pm 1.5 (stat.) ^{+2.4}_{-2.0}(syst.) \ \mathrm{mb}$ and $\sigma_{K^- p \rightarrow \Lambda \pi^0} = 31.0 \pm 0.5 (stat.) ^{+1.2}_{-1.2}(syst.) \ \mathrm{mb}\,$) is the highest yet obtained in the low kaon momentum regime.

Unveiling the microscopic origins of quantum phases dominated by the interplay of spin and motional degrees of freedom constitutes one of the central challenges in strongly correlated many-body physics. When holes move through an antiferromagnetic spin background, they displace the positions of spins, which in turn induces effective frustration in the magnetic environment. However, a concrete characterization of this effect in a quantum many-body system is still an unsolved problem. Here we introduce a Hamiltonian reconstruction scheme that allows for a precise quantification of hole-motion-induced frustration. In particular, we access non-local correlation functions through projective measurements of the many-body state, from which effective spin-Hamiltonians can be recovered after detaching the magnetic background from dominant charge fluctuations. The scheme is applied to systems of mixed dimensionality, where holes are restricted to move in one dimension (1D), but $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ superexchange is two-dimensional (2D). We demonstrate that hole motion drives the spin background into a highly frustrated spin liquid regime, reminiscent of Anderson's resonating valence bond paradigm in doped cuprates. We exemplify the direct applicability of the reconstruction scheme to ultracold atom experiments by recovering effective spin-Hamiltonians of experimentally obtained 1D Fermi-Hubbard snapshots. Our method can be generalized to fully 2D systems, enabling an unprecedented microscopic perspective on the doped Hubbard model.

Self-organization is an ubiquitous and fundamental process that underlies all living systems. In cellular organisms, many vital processes, such as cell division and growth, are spatially and temporally regulated by proteins -- the building blocks of life. To achieve this, proteins self-organize and form spatiotemporal patterns. In general, protein patterns respond to a variety of internal and external stimuli, such as cell shape or inhomogeneities in protein activity. As a result, the dynamics of intracellular pattern formation generally span multiple spatial and temporal scales. This thesis addresses the underlying mechanisms that lead to the formation of heterogeneous patterns. The main themes of this work are organized into three parts, which are summarized below. [...]

The search for exploitable deposits of water and other volatiles at the Moon's poles has intensified considerably in recent years, due to the renewed strong interest in lunar exploration. With the return of humans to the lunar surface on the horizon, the use of locally available resources to support long-term and sustainable exploration programs, encompassing both robotic and crewed elements, has moved into focus of public and private actors alike. Our current knowledge about the distribution and concentration of water and other volatiles in the lunar rocks and regolith is, however, too limited to assess the feasibility and economic viability of resource-extraction efforts. On a more fundamental level, we currently lack sufficiently detailed data to fully understand the origins of lunar water and its migration to the polar regions. In this paper, we present LUVMI-X, a mission concept intended to address the shortage of in situ data on volatiles on the Moon that results from a recently concluded design study. Its central element is a compact rover equipped with complementary instrumentation capable of investigating both the surface and shallow subsurface of illuminated and shadowed areas at the lunar south pole. We describe the rover and instrument design, the mission's operational concept, and a preliminary landing-site analysis. We also discuss how LUVMI-X fits into the diverse landscape of lunar missions under development.

Dark matter (DM) with self-interactions is a promising solution for the small-scale problems of the standard cosmological model. Here we perform the first cosmological simulation of frequent DM self-interactions, corresponding to small-angle DM scatterings. The focus of our analysis lies in finding and understanding differences to the traditionally assumed rare DM (large-angle) self-scatterings. For this purpose, we compute the distribution of DM densities, the matter power spectrum, the two-point correlation function, and the halo and subhalo mass functions. Furthermore, we investigate the density profiles of the DM haloes and their shapes. We find that overall large-angle and small-angle scatterings behave fairly similarly with a few exceptions. In particular, the number of satellites is considerably suppressed for frequent compared to rare self-interactions with the same cross-section. Overall, we observe that while differences between the two cases may be difficult to establish using a single measure, the degeneracy may be broken through a combination of multiple ones. For instance, the combination of satellite counts with halo density or shape profiles could allow discriminating between rare and frequent self-interactions. As a by-product of our analysis, we provide - for the first time - upper limits on the cross-section for frequent self-interactions.

Aims: We show how to increase the accuracy of estimates of the two-point correlation function without sacrificing efficiency.

Methods: We quantify the error of the pair-counts and of the Landy & Szalay estimator by comparing them with exact reference values. The standard method, using random point sets, is compared to geometrically motivated estimators and estimators using quasi-Monte Carlo integration.

Results: In the standard method, the error scales proportionally to 1/√Nr, with Nr being the number of random points. In our improved methods, the error scales almost proportionally to 1/Nq, where Nq is the number of points from a low-discrepancy sequence. We study the run times of the new estimator in comparison to those of the standard estimator, keeping the same level of accuracy. For the considered case, we always see a speedup ranging from 50% up to a factor of several thousand. We also discuss how to apply these improved estimators to incompletely sampled galaxy catalogues.

Nuclear weak decays provide important probes to fundamental symmetries in nature. A precise description of these processes in atomic nuclei requires comprehensive knowledge on both the strong and weak interactions in the nuclear medium and on the dynamics of quantum many-body systems. In particular, an observation of the hypothetical double beta decay without emission of neutrinos (0 νββ) would unambiguously demonstrate the Majorana nature of neutrinos and the existence of the lepton-number-violation process. It would also provide unique information on the ordering and absolute scale of neutrino masses. The next-generation tonne-scale experiments with sensitivity up to 10²⁸ years after a few years of running will probably provide a definite answer to these fundamental questions based on our current knowledge on the nuclear matrix element (NME), the precise determination of which is a challenge to nuclear theory. Beyond-mean-field approaches have been frequently adapted for the study of nuclear structure and decay throughout the nuclear chart for several decades. In this review, we summarize the status of beyond-mean-field calculations of the NMEs of 0 νββ decay assuming the standard mechanism of an exchange of light Majorana neutrinos. The challenges and prospects in the extension and application of beyond-mean-field approaches for 0 νββ decay are discussed.

We study the allowed parameter space of the scalar sector in the superweak extension of the standard model (SM). The allowed region is defined by the following conditions: (i) stability of the vacuum, (ii) perturbativity up to the Planck scale, and (iii) the pole mass of the Higgs boson falling into its experimentally measured range. We employ renormalization group equations and quantum corrections at two-loop accuracy. We study the dependence on the Yukawa couplings of the sterile neutrinos at selected values. We also check the exclusion limit set by the precise measurement of the mass of the W boson. Our method for constraining the parameter space using two-loop predictions can also be applied to simpler models such as the singlet scalar extension of the SM in a straightforward way.

We explore the effective field theory of a vector field X^μ that has a Stückelberg mass. The absence of a gauge symmetry for X^μ implies Lorentz-invariant operators are constructed directly from X^μ. Beyond the kinetic and mass terms, allowed interactions at the renormalizable level include X_μX^μH^†H , (X_μX^μ)², and X_μj^μ, where j^μ is a global current of the SM or of a hidden sector. We show that all of these interactions lead to scattering amplitudes that grow with powers of √{s }/m_X, except for the case of X_μj^μ where j^μ is a nonanomalous global current. The latter is well known when X is identified as a dark photon coupled to the electromagnetic current, often written equivalently as kinetic mixing between X and the photon. The power counting for the energy growth of the scattering amplitudes is facilitated by isolating the longitudinal enhancement. We examine in detail the interaction with an anomalous global vector current X_μj_anom^μ, carefully isolating the finite contribution to the fermion triangle diagram. We calculate the longitudinally-enhanced observables Z →X γ (when m_X<m_Z), f f ¯→X γ , and Z γ →Z γ when X couples to the baryon number current. Introducing a "fake" gauge-invariance by writing X^μ=A^μ-∂^μπ /m_X, the would-be gauge anomaly associated with A_μj_anom^μ is canceled by j_anom^μ∂_μπ /m_X; this is the four-dimensional Green-Schwarz anomaly-cancellation mechanism at work. Our analysis demonstrates there is a much larger set of possible interactions that an EFT with a Stückelberg vector field can have, revealing scattering amplitudes that grow with energy. The growth of these amplitudes can be tamed by a dark Higgs sector, but this requires dark Higgs boson interactions (and reintroduces fine-tuning in the dark Higgs sector) that can be separated from X interactions only in the limit g ≪1 .

The impact of axion-like particles on the light polarization around the horizon of suppermassive black hole (SMBH) is discussed in the light of the latest polarization measurement of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We investigate different sources of the polarization due to axion interaction with photons and the magnetic field of SMBH. These can modify the linear and circular polarization parameters of the emitted light. We have shown that a significant circular polarization can be produced via the photon scattering from the background magnetic field with axions as off-shell particles. This can further constrain the parameter space of ultralight axion-like particles and their couplings with photons. The future precise measurements of circular polarization can probe the features of ultralight axions in the near vicinity of SMBH.

While primordial black holes (PBHs) with masses M_PBH≳10^-11 M_⊙ cannot comprise the entirety of dark matter, the existence of even a small population of these objects can have profound astrophysical consequences. A subdominant population of PBHs will efficiently accrete dark matter particles before matter-radiation equality, giving rise to high-density dark matter spikes. We consider here the scenario in which dark matter is comprised primarily of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with a small subdominant contribution coming from PBHs, and revisit the constraints on the annihilation of WIMPs in these spikes using observations of the isotropic gamma-ray background (IGRB) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), for a range of WIMP masses, annihilation channels, cross sections, and PBH mass functions. We find that the constraints derived using the IGRB have been significantly overestimated (in some cases by many orders of magnitude), and that limits obtained using observations of the CMB are typically stronger than, or comparable to, those coming from the IGRB. Importantly, we show that ∼O (M_⊙) PBHs can still contribute significantly to the dark matter density for sufficiently low WIMP masses and p-wave annihilation cross sections.

Context. The Gl 486 system consists of a very nearby, relatively bright, weakly active M3.5 V star at just 8 pc with a warm transiting rocky planet of about 1.3 R_⊕ and 3.0 M_⊕. It is ideal for both transmission and emission spectroscopy and for testing interior models of telluric planets.
Aims: To prepare for future studies, we aim to thoroughly characterise the planetary system with new accurate and precise data collected with state-of-the-art photometers from space and spectrometers and interferometers from the ground.
Methods: We collected light curves of seven new transits observed with the CHEOPS space mission and new radial velocities obtained with MAROON-X at the 8.1 m Gemini North telescope and CARMENES at the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope, together with previously published spectroscopic and photometric data from the two spectrographs and TESS. We also performed near-infrared interferometric observations with the CHARA Array and new photometric monitoring with a suite of smaller telescopes (AstroLAB, LCOGT, OSN, TJO). This extraordinary and rich data set was the input for our comprehensive analysis.
Results: From interferometry, we measure a limb-darkened disc angular size of the star Gl 486 at θ_LDD = 0.390 ± 0.018 mas. Together with a corrected Gaia EDR3 parallax, we obtain a stellar radius R_* = 0.339 ± 0.015 R_⊕. We also measure a stellar rotation period at P_rot = 49.9 ± 5.5 days, an upper limit to its XUV (5-920 A) flux informed by new Hubble/STIS data, and, for the first time, a variety of element abundances (Fe, Mg, Si, V, Sr, Zr, Rb) and C/O ratio. Moreover, we imposed restrictive constraints on the presence of additional components, either stellar or sub-stellar, in the system. With the input stellar parameters and the radial-velocity and transit data, we determine the radius and mass of the planet Gl 486 b at R_p = 1.343_−0.062^+0.063 R_⊕ and M_p = 3.00_−0.12^+0.13 M_⊕, with relative uncertainties of the planet radius and mass of 4.7% and 4.2%, respectively. From the planet parameters and the stellar element abundances, we infer the most probable models of planet internal structure and composition, which are consistent with a relatively small metallic core with respect to the Earth, a deep silicate mantle, and a thin volatile upper layer. With all these ingredients, we outline prospects for Gl 486 b atmospheric studies, especially with forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) observations.

The observed pattern of linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background photons is a sensitive probe of physics violating parity symmetry under inversion of spatial coordinates. A new parity-violating interaction might have rotated the plane of linear polarization by an angle β as the cosmic microwave background photons have been traveling for more than 13 billion years. This effect is known as "cosmic birefringence." In this paper, we present new measurements of cosmic birefringence from a joint analysis of polarization data from two space missions, P l a n c k and WMAP. This dataset covers a wide range of frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz. We measure β =0.342 °_-0.091^{° +0.094 °} [68% confidence level (CL)] for nearly full-sky data, which excludes β =0 at 99.987% CL. This corresponds to the statistical significance of 3.6 σ . There is no evidence for frequency dependence of β . We find a similar result, albeit with a larger uncertainty, when removing the Galactic plane from the analysis.

The flux of high energy neutrinos and photons produced in a blazar could get attenuated when they propagate through the dark matter spike around the central black hole and the halo of the host galaxy. Using the observation by IceCube of a few high-energy neutrino events from TXS 0506+056, and their coincident gamma ray events, we obtain new constraints on the dark matter-neutrino and dark matter-photon scattering cross sections. Our constraints are orders of magnitude more stringent than those derived from considering the attenuation through the intergalactic medium and the Milky Way dark matter halo. When the cross-section increases with energy, our constraints are also stronger than those derived from the CMB and large-scale structure.

Shape measurements of galaxies and galaxy clusters are widespread in the analysis of cosmological simulations. But the limitations of those measurements have been poorly investigated. In this paper, we explain why the quality of the shape measurement does not only depend on the numerical resolution, but also on the density gradient. In particular, this can limit the quality of measurements in the central regions of haloes. We propose a criterion to estimate the sensitivity of the measured shapes based on the density gradient of the halo and apply it to cosmological simulations of collisionless and self-interacting dark matter. By this, we demonstrate where reliable measurements of the halo shape are possible and how cored density profiles limit their applicability.

We study the effect of magnification in the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 analysis of galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing, using two different lens samples: a sample of Luminous red galaxies, redMaGiC, and a sample with a redshift-dependent magnitude limit, MagLim. We account for the effect of magnification on both the flux and size selection of galaxies, accounting for systematic effects using the Balrog image simulations. We estimate the impact of magnification on the galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing cosmology analysis, finding it to be a significant systematic for the MagLim sample. We show cosmological constraints from the galaxy clustering auto-correlation and galaxy-galaxy lensing signal with different magnifications priors, finding broad consistency in cosmological parameters in $\Lambda$CDM and $w$CDM. However, when magnification bias amplitude is allowed to be free, we find the two-point correlations functions prefer a different amplitude to the fiducial input derived from the image simulations. We validate the magnification analysis by comparing the cross-clustering between lens bins with the prediction from the baseline analysis, which uses only the auto-correlation of the lens bins, indicating systematics other than magnification may be the cause of the discrepancy. We show adding the cross-clustering between lens redshift bins to the fit significantly improves the constraints on lens magnification parameters and allows uninformative priors to be used on magnification coefficients, without any loss of constraining power or prior volume concerns.

Puffy disc is a numerical model, expected to capture the properties of the accretion flow in X-ray black hole binaries in the luminous, mildly sub-Eddington state. We fit the kerrbb and kynbb spectral models in XSPEC to synthetic spectra of puffy accretion discs, obtained in general relativistic radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations, to see if they correctly recover the black hole spin and mass accretion rate assumed in the numerical simulation. We conclude that neither of the two models is capable of correctly interpreting the puffy disc parameters, which highlights a necessity to develop new, more accurate, spectral models for the luminous regime of accretion in X-ray black hole binaries. We propose that such spectral models should be based on the results of numerical simulations of accretion.

In this thesis, we utilize the formalism of open quantum systems, effective field theory methods and quantum field theory at finite temperature to describe the in-medium, out of equilibrium evolution of heavy quarks and their bound states. We calculate the nuclear modification factor and the elliptic flow of the Upsilon 1S, 2S and 3S states and compare against experimental measurements finding good agreement.

We study the evolution of dust in a cosmological volume using a hydrodynamical simulation in which the dust production is coupled with the MUPPI (MUlti Phase Particle Integrator) sub-resolution model of star formation and feedback. As for the latter, we keep as reference the model setup calibrated previously to match the general properties of Milky Way-like galaxies in zoom-in simulations. However, we suggest that an increase of the star formation efficiency with the local dust-to-gas ratio would better reproduce the observed evolution of the cosmic star formation density. Moreover, the paucity of quenched galaxies at low redshift demands a stronger role of active galactic nucleus feedback. We tune the parameters ruling direct dust production from evolved stars and accretion in the interstellar medium to get scaling relations involving dust, stellar mass and metallicity in good agreement with observations. In low-mass galaxies, the accretion process is inefficient. As a consequence, they remain poorer in silicate and small grains than higher mass ones. We reproduce reasonably well the few available data on the radial distribution of dust outside the galactic region, supporting the assumption that the dust and gas dynamics are well coupled at galactic scales.

To use strong gravitational lenses as an astrophysical or cosmological probe, models of their mass distributions are often needed. We present a new, time-efficient automation code for uniform modeling of strongly lensed quasars with GLEE, a lens modeling software, for high-resolution multi-band data. By using the observed positions of the lensed quasars and the spatially extended surface brightness distribution of the lensed quasar host galaxy, we obtain a model of the mass distribution of the lens galaxy. We apply this uniform modeling pipeline to a sample of nine strongly lensed quasars with HST WFC 3 images. The models show in most cases well reconstructed light components and a good alignment between mass and light centroids. We find that the automated modeling code significantly reduces the user input time during the modeling process. The preparation time of required input files is reduced significantly. This automated modeling pipeline can efficiently produce uniform models of extensive lens system samples which can be used for further cosmological analysis. A blind test through a comparison with the results of an independent automated modeling pipeline based on the modeling software Lenstronomy reveals important lessons. Quantities such as Einstein radius, astrometry, mass flattening and position angle are generally robustly determined. Other quantities depend crucially on the quality of the data and the accuracy of the PSF reconstruction. Better data and/or more detailed analysis will be necessary to elevate our automated models to cosmography grade. Nevertheless, our pipeline enables the quick selection of lenses for follow-up monitoring and further modeling, significantly speeding up the construction of cosmography-grade models. This is an important step forward to take advantage of the orders of magnitude increase in the number of lenses expected in the coming decade.

A multi-TeV muon collider offers a spectacular opportunity in the direct exploration of the energy frontier. Offering a combination of unprecedented energy collisions in a comparatively clean leptonic environment, a high energy muon collider has the unique potential to provide both precision measurements and the highest energy reach in one machine that cannot be paralleled by any currently available technology. The topic generated a lot of excitement in Snowmass meetings and continues to attract a large number of supporters, including many from the early career community. In light of this very strong interest within the US particle physics community, Snowmass Energy, Theory and Accelerator Frontiers created a cross-frontier Muon Collider Forum in November of 2020. The Forum has been meeting on a monthly basis and organized several topical workshops dedicated to physics, accelerator technology, and detector R&D. Findings of the Forum are summarized in this report.

We provide improved Standard Model theory predictions for the exclusive rare semimuonic processes B → K^(*)μ⁺μ⁻ and B_s → ϕμ⁺μ⁻. Our results are based on a novel parametrization of the non-local form factors, which manifestly respects a recently developed dispersive bound. We critically compare our predictions to those obtained in the framework of QCD factorization. Our predictions provide, for the first time, parametric estimates of the systematic uncertainties due to non-local contributions. Comparing our predictions within the Standard Model to available experimental data, we find a large tension for B → Kμ⁺μ⁻. A simple model-independent analysis of potential effects beyond the Standard Model yields results compatible with other approaches, albeit with larger uncertainties for the B → K^*μ⁺μ⁻ and B_s → ϕμ⁺μ⁻ decays. Our approach yields systematically improvable predictions, and we look forward to its application in further analyses beyond the Standard Model.

In this work we report the realization of the first low-threshold cryogenic detector that uses diamond as absorber for astroparticle physics applications. We tested two 0.175 g CVD diamond samples, each instrumented with a W-TES. The sensors showed transitions at about 25 mK. We present the performance of the diamond detectors and we highlight the best performing one, where we obtained an energy threshold as low as 16.8 eV. This promising result lays the foundation for the use of diamond for different fields of applications where low threshold and excellent energy resolution are required, as i.e. light dark matter searches and BSM physics with coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering.

We train graph neural networks on halo catalogues from Gadget N-body simulations to perform field-level likelihood-free inference of cosmological parameters. The catalogues contain $\lesssim$5,000 halos with masses $\gtrsim 10^{10}~h^{-1}M_\odot$ in a periodic volume of $(25~h^{-1}{\rm Mpc})^3$; every halo in the catalogue is characterized by several properties such as position, mass, velocity, concentration, and maximum circular velocity. Our models, built to be permutationally, translationally, and rotationally invariant, do not impose a minimum scale on which to extract information and are able to infer the values of $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and $\sigma_8$ with a mean relative error of $\sim6\%$, when using positions plus velocities and positions plus masses, respectively. More importantly, we find that our models are very robust: they can infer the value of $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and $\sigma_8$ when tested using halo catalogues from thousands of N-body simulations run with five different N-body codes: Abacus, CUBEP$^3$M, Enzo, PKDGrav3, and Ramses. Surprisingly, the model trained to infer $\Omega_{\rm m}$ also works when tested on thousands of state-of-the-art CAMELS hydrodynamic simulations run with four different codes and subgrid physics implementations. Using halo properties such as concentration and maximum circular velocity allow our models to extract more information, at the expense of breaking the robustness of the models. This may happen because the different N-body codes are not converged on the relevant scales corresponding to these parameters.

In the context of false vacuum decay at zero temperature, it is well known that bubbles expand with uniform acceleration in the rest frame of nucleation. We show that this uniformly accelerating expansion suffers from an instability. This can be observed as a tachyonic mode in the spectrum of fluctuations for the energy functional in the reference frame in which the uniformly accelerating bubble wall appears static. In such a frame, arbitrary small perturbations cause an amplifying departure from the static wall solution. This implies that the nucleated bubble is not a critical point of the energy functional in the rest frame of nucleation but becomes one in the accelerating frame. The aforementioned instability for vacuum bubbles can be related to the well-known instability for the nucleated critical static bubbles during finite-temperature phase transitions in the rest frame of the plasma. It is proposed that zero-temperature vacuum decays as seen from accelerating frames have a dual description in terms of finite-temperature phase transitions.

We present a new approach to measure the power-law temperature density relationship T=T0(ρ/ρ¯)γ−1 and the UV background photoionization rate ΓHI of the intergalactic medium (IGM) based on the Voigt profile decomposition of the Ly α forest into a set of discrete absorption lines with Doppler parameter b and the neutral hydrogen column density NHI. Previous work demonstrated that the shape of the b−NHI distribution is sensitive to the IGM thermal parameters T0 and γ, whereas our new inference algorithm also takes into account the normalization of the distribution, i.e. the line-density dN/dz, and we demonstrate that precise constraints can also be obtained on ΓHI. We use density-estimation likelihood-free inference (DELFI) to emulate the dependence of the b−NHI distribution on IGM parameters trained on an ensemble of 624 NYX hydrodynamical simulations at z = 0.1, which we combine with a Gaussian process emulator of the normalization. To demonstrate the efficacy of this approach, we generate hundreds of realizations of realistic mock HST/COS data sets, each comprising 34 quasar sightlines, and forward model the noise and resolution to match the real data. We use this large ensemble of mocks to extensively test our inference and empirically demonstrate that our posterior distributions are robust. Our analysis shows that by applying our new approach to existing Ly α forest spectra at z ≃ 0.1, one can measure the thermal and ionization state of the IGM with very high precision (σlogT0∼0.08 dex, σγ ~ 0.06, and σlogΓHI∼0.07 dex).

We present an analysis of the kinematics of the Radcliffe Wave, a 2.7 kpc long sinusoidal band of molecular clouds in the solar neighborhood recently detected via 3D dust mapping. With Gaia DR2 astrometry and spectroscopy, we analyze the 3D space velocities of ~1500 young stars along the Radcliffe Wave in action-angle space, using the motion of the wave's newly born stars as a proxy for its gas motion. We find that the vertical angle of young stars-corresponding to their orbital phase perpendicular to the Galactic plane-varies significantly as a function of position along the structure, in a pattern potentially consistent with a wavelike oscillation. This kind of oscillation is not seen in a control sample of older stars from Gaia occupying the same volume, disfavoring formation channels caused by long-lived physical processes. We use a "wavy midplane" model to try to account for the trend in vertical angles seen in young stars, and find that while the best-fit parameters for the wave's spatial period and amplitude are qualitatively consistent with the existing morphology defined by 3D dust, there is no evidence for additional velocity structure. These results support more recent and/or transitory processes in the formation of the Radcliffe Wave, which would primarily affect the motion of the wave's gaseous material. Comparisons of our results with new and upcoming simulations, in conjunction with new stellar radial velocity measurements in Gaia DR3, should allow us to further discriminate between various competing hypotheses.

In this work we derive constraints on interacting dark matter-dark radiation models from a full-shape analysis of BOSS-DR12 galaxy clustering data, combined with Planck legacy cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements. We consider a set of models parameterized within the effective theory of structure formation (ETHOS), quantifying the lifting of the $S_8$ tension in view of KiDS weak-lensing results. The most favorable scenarios point to a fraction $f\sim 10-100\%$ of interacting dark matter as well as a dark radiation temperature that is smaller by a factor $\xi\sim 0.1-0.15$ compared to the CMB, leading to a reduction of the tension to the $\sim 1\sigma$ level. The temperature dependence of the interaction rate favored by relaxing the $S_8$ tension is realized for a weakly coupled unbroken non-Abelian $SU(N)$ gauge interaction in the dark sector. To map our results onto this $SU(N)$ model, we compute higher-order corrections due to Debye screening. We find a lower bound $\alpha_d\equiv g_d^2/(4\pi)\gtrsim 10^{-8} (10^{-9})$ for dark matter mass $1000 (1)$ GeV for relaxing the $S_8$ tension, consistent with upper bounds from galaxy ellipticities and compatible with self-interactions relevant for small-scale structure formation.

First-order cosmological phase transitions in the early Universe source sound waves and, subsequently, a background of stochastic gravitational waves. Currently, predictions of these gravitational waves rely heavily on simulations of a Higgs field coupled to the plasma of the early Universe, the former providing the latent heat of the phase transition. Numerically, this is a rather demanding task since several length scales enter the dynamics. From smallest to largest, these are the thickness of the Higgs interface separating the different phases, the shell thickness of the sound waves, and the average bubble size. In this work, we present an approach to perform Higgsless simulations in three dimensions, producing fully nonlinear results, while at the same time removing the hierarchically smallest scale from the lattice. This significantly reduces the complexity of the problem and contributes to making our approach highly efficient. We provide spectra for the produced gravitational waves for various choices of wall velocity and strength of the phase transition, as well as introduce a fitting function for the spectral shape.

Context. Recent observations found that observed cluster member galaxies are more compact than their counterparts in ΛCDM hydrodynamic simulations, as indicated by the difference in their strong gravitational lensing properties, and they reported that measured and simulated galaxy-galaxy strong lensing events on small scales are discrepant by one order of magnitude. Among the possible explanations for this discrepancy, some studies suggest that simulations with better resolution and implementing different schemes for galaxy formation could produce simulations that are in better agreement with the observations.
Aims: In this work, we aim to assess the impact of numerical resolution and of the implementation of energy input from AGN feedback models on the inner structure of cluster sub-haloes in hydrodynamic simulations.
Methods: We compared several zoom-in re-simulations of a sub-sample of cluster-sized haloes obtained by varying mass resolution and softening the length and AGN energy feedback scheme. We studied the impact of these different setups on the sub-halo (SH) abundances, their radial distribution, their density and mass profiles, and the relation between the maximum circular velocity, which is a proxy for SH compactness
Results: Regardless of the adopted numerical resolution and feedback model, SHs with masses of M_SH ≲ 10¹¹ h⁻¹ M_⊙, the most relevant mass range for galaxy-galaxy strong lensing, have maximum circular velocities ∼30% smaller than those measured from strong lensing observations. We also find that simulations with less effective AGN energy feedback produce massive SHs (M_SH ≳ 10¹¹ h⁻¹ M_⊙) with higher maximum circular velocity and that their V_max − M_SH relation approaches the observed one. However, the stellar-mass number count of these objects exceeds the one found in observations, and we find that the compactness of these simulated SHs is the result of an extremely over-efficient star formation in their cores, also leading to larger than observed SH stellar mass.
Conclusions: Regardless of the resolution and galaxy formation model adopted, simulations are unable to simultaneously reproduce the observed stellar masses and compactness (or maximum circular velocities) of cluster galaxies. Thus, the discrepancy between theory and observations that emerged previous works. It remains an open question as to whether such a discrepancy reflects limitations of the current implementation of galaxy formation models or the ΛCDM paradigm.

The dividing line between galaxies that are quenched by reionization ("relics") and galaxies that survive reionization (i.e. continue forming stars) is commonly discussed in terms of a halo mass threshold. We probe this threshold in a physically more complete and accurate way than has been possible to date, using five extremely high resolution ($M_\mathrm{target}=4M_\odot$) cosmological zoom-in simulations of dwarf galaxies within the halo mass range $1-4\times10^9M_\odot$. The employed LYRA simulation model features resolved interstellar medium physics and individual, resolved supernova explosions. In our results, we discover an interesting intermediate population of dwarf galaxies close to the threshold mass but which are neither full reionization relics nor full reionization survivors. These galaxies initially quench at the time of reionization but merely remain quiescent for ~500Myr. At $z\approx5$ they recommence star formation in a synchronous way, and remain star-forming until the present day. These results demonstrate that the halo mass at $z=0$ is not a good indicator of survival close to the threshold. While the star formation histories we find are diverse, we show that they are directly related to the ability of a given halo to retain and cool gas. Whereas the latter is most strongly dependent on the mass (or virial temperature) of the host halo at the time of reionization, it also depends on its growth history, the UV background (and its decrease at late times) and the amount of metals retained within the halo.

Cosmic rays are charged particles and atomic nuclei that are created and accelerated primarily by exploding stars throughout our galaxy. Propagating through the interstellar medium and the heliosphere, they assume the characteristic energy spectra that can be observed by space-borne instruments at Earth. Despite the Moon’s lack of an atmosphere and a magnetic field, cosmic rays undergo a series of interactions with the lunar surface that substantially alter the interplanetary radiation field. Most important is the creation of secondary radiation, for example, neutrons, whose spectra contain information about the composition of the lunar surface. Even though cosmic rays and their secondaries have been observed by instruments in orbit around the Moon and on the lunar surface, more detailed investigations are required to fully understand their interaction processes and their implications for future crewed and uncrewed missions to the lunar surface.

We present MUSE spectroscopy, Megacam imaging, and Chandra X-ray emission for SPT-CL J0307-6225, a z=0.58 major merging galaxy cluster with a large BCG-SZ centroid separation and a highly disturbed X-ray morphology. The galaxy density distribution shows two main overdensities with separations of 0.144 and 0.017 arcmin to their respective BCGs. We characterize the central regions of the two colliding structures, namely 0307-6225N and 0307-6225S, finding velocity derived masses of M_{200, N} = 2.44 ± 1.41 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙ and M_{200, S} = 3.16 ± 1.88 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙, with a line-of-sight velocity difference of |Δv| = 342 km s^-1. The total dynamically derived mass is consistent with the SZ derived mass of 7.63 h$_{70}^{-1}$ ± 1.36 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙. We model the merger using the Monte Carlo Merger Analysis Code, estimating a merging angle of 36$^{+14}_{-12}$ degrees with respect to the plane of the sky. Comparing with simulations of a merging system with a mass ratio of 1:3, we find that the best scenario is that of an ongoing merger that began 0.96$^{+0.31}_{-0.18}$ Gyr ago. We also characterize the galaxy population using Hδ and [OII] λ3727 Å lines. We find that most of the emission-line galaxies belong to 0307-6225S, close to the X-ray peak position, with a third of them corresponding to red-cluster sequence galaxies, and the rest to blue galaxies with velocities consistent with recent periods of accretion. Moreover, we suggest that 0307-6225S suffered a previous merger, evidenced through the two equally bright BCGs at the center with a velocity difference of ~674 km s^-1.

The emergence of functional oligonucleotides on early Earth required a molecular selection mechanism to screen for specific sequences with prebiotic functions. Cyclic processes such as daily temperature oscillations were ubiquitous in this environment and could trigger oligonucleotide phase separation. Here, we propose sequence selection based on phase separation cycles realized through sedimentation in a system subjected to the feeding of oligonucleotides. Using theory and experiments with DNA, we show sequence-specific enrichment in the sedimented dense phase, in particular of short 22-mer DNA sequences. The underlying mechanism selects for complementarity, as it enriches sequences that tightly interact in the condensed phase through base-pairing. Our mechanism also enables initially weakly biased pools to enhance their sequence bias or to replace the most abundant sequences as the cycles progress. Our findings provide an example of a selection mechanism that may have eased screening for the first auto-catalytic self-replicating oligonucleotides.

For the emergence of life, the abiotic synthesis of RNA from its monomers is a central step. We found that in alkaline, drying conditions in bulk and at heated air-water interfaces, 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotides oligomerised without additional catalyst, forming up to 10-mers within a day. The oligomerisation proceeded at a pH range of 7–12, at temperatures between 40–80 °C and was marginally enhanced by K+ ions. Among the canonical ribonucleotides, cGMP oligomerised most efficiently. Quantification was performed using HPLC coupled to ESI-TOF by fitting the isotope distribution to the mass spectra. Our study suggests a oligomerisation mechanism where cGMP aids the incorporation of the relatively unreactive nucleotides C, A and U. The 2′,3′-cyclic ribonucleotides are byproducts of prebiotic phosphorylation, nucleotide syntheses and RNA hydrolysis, indicating direct recycling pathways. The simple reaction condition offers a plausible entry point for RNA to the evolution of life on early Earth.

We explore a novel approach to compute the force between a static quark-antiquark pair with the gradient flow algorithm on the lattice. The approach is based on inserting a chromoelectric field in a Wilson loop. The renormalization issues, associated with the finite size of the chromoelectric field on the lattice, can be solved with the use of gradient flow. We compare numerical results for the flowed static potential to our previous measurement of the same observable without a gradient flow.

We present three epochs of early-time ultraviolet (UV) and optical HST/STIS spectroscopy of the young, nearby Type IIP supernova (SN) 2021yja. We complement the HST data with two earlier epochs of Swift UVOT spectroscopy. The HST and Swift UVOT spectra are consistent with those of other well-studied Type IIP supernovae (SNe). The UV spectra exhibit rapid cooling at early times, while less dramatic changes are seen in the optical. We also present Lick/KAIT optical photometry up to the late-time-tail phase, showing a very long plateau and shallow decline compared with other SNe IIP. Our modeling of the UV spectrum with the TARDIS radiative-transfer code produces a good fit for a high-velocity explosion, a low total extinction E(B−V)=0.07 mag, and a subsolar metallicity. We do not find a significant contribution to the UV flux from an additional heating source, such as interaction with the circumstellar medium, consistent with the observed flat plateau. Furthermore, the velocity width of the Mg II λ2798 line is comparable to that of the hydrogen Balmer lines, suggesting that the UV emission is confined to a region close to the photosphere.

Early-time radiative signals from type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) can provide important constraints on the explosion mechanism and the progenitor system. We present observations and analysis of SN 2019np, a nearby SN Ia discovered within 1-2 days after the explosion. Follow-up observations were conducted in optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared bands, covering the phases from ∼−16.7 days to ∼+367.8 days relative to its B−band peak luminosity. The photometric and spectral evolutions of SN 2019np resembles the average behavior of normal SNe Ia. The absolute B-band peak magnitude and the post-peak decline rate are Mmax(B)=−19.52±0.47mag and Δm15(B)=1.04±0.04mag, respectively. No Hydrogen line has been detected in the near-infrared and nebular-phase spectra of SN 2019np. Assuming that the 56Ni powering the light curve is centrally located, we find that the bolometric light curve of SN 2019np shows a flux excess up to 5.0% in the early phase compared to the radiative diffusion model. Such an extra radiation perhaps suggests the presence of an additional energy source beyond the radioactive decay of central nickel. Comparing the observed color evolution with that predicted by different models such as interactions of SN ejecta with circumstellar matter (CSM)/companion star, a double-detonation explosion from a sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf (WD), and surface 56Ni mixing, the latter one is favored.

We present TimeEvolver, a program for computing time evolution in a generic quantum system. It relies on well-known Krylov subspace techniques to tackle the problem of multiplying the exponential of a large sparse matrix iH, where H is the Hamiltonian, with an initial vector v. The fact that H is Hermitian makes it possible to provide an easily computable bound on the accuracy of the Krylov approximation. Apart from effects of numerical roundoff, the resulting a posteriori error bound is rigorous, which represents a crucial novelty as compared to existing software packages such as Expokit[1]. On a standard notebook, TimeEvolver allows to compute time evolution with adjustable precision in Hilbert spaces of dimension greater than 10⁶. Additionally, we provide routines for deriving the matrix H from a more abstract representation of the Hamiltonian operator.

We present a photometric analysis of star and star cluster (SC) formation in a high-resolution simulation of a dwarf galaxy starburst that allows the formation of individual stars to be followed. Previous work demonstrated that the properties of the SCs formed in the simulation are in good agreement with observations. In this paper, we create mock spectral energy distributions and broad-band photometric images using the radiative transfer code SKIRT 9. We test several observational star formation rate (SFR) tracers and find that 24 $\mu$m, total infrared and Hα trace the underlying SFR during the (post)starburst phase, while UV tracers yield a more accurate picture of star formation during quiescent phases prior to and after the merger. We then place the simulated galaxy at distances of 10 and 50 Mpc and use aperture photometry at Hubble Space Telescope resolution to analyse the simulated SC population. During the starburst phase, a hierarchically forming set of SCs leads inaccurate source separation because of crowding. This results in estimated SC mass function slopes that are up to ~0.3 shallower than the true slope of ~-1.9 to -2 found for the bound clusters identified from the particle data in the simulation. The masses of the largest clusters are overestimated by a factor of up to 2.9 due to unresolved clusters within the apertures. The aperture-based analysis also produces a relation between cluster formation efficiency and SFR surface density that is slightly flatter than that recovered from bound clusters. The differences are strongest in quiescent SF environments.

LiteBIRD is a JAXA-led strategic large-class satellite mission designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background and Galactic foregrounds from 34 to 448 GHz across the entire sky from L2 in the late 2020s. The scientific payload includes three telescopes which are called the low-, mid-, and high-frequency telescopes each with their own receiver that covers a portion of the mission's frequency range. The low frequency telescope will map synchrotron radiation from the Galactic foreground and the cosmic microwave background. We discuss the design, fabrication, and characterization of the low-frequency focal plane modules for low-frequency telescope, which has a total bandwidth ranging from 34 to 161 GHz. There will be a total of 4 different pixel types with 8 overlapping bands to cover the full frequency range. These modules are housed in a single low-frequency focal plane unit which provides thermal isolation, mechanical support, and radiative baffling for the detectors. The module design implements multi-chroic lenslet-coupled sinuous antenna arrays coupled to transition edge sensor bolometers read out with frequency-domain mulitplexing. While this technology has strong heritage in ground-based cosmic microwave background experiments, the broad frequency coverage, low optical loading conditions, and the high cosmic ray background of the space environment require further development of this technology to be suitable for LiteBIRD. In these proceedings, we discuss the optical and bolometeric characterization of a triplexing prototype pixel with bands centered on 78, 100, and 140 GHz.

The long-standing controversy about the isospin dependence of the effective Dirac mass in ab initio calculations of asymmetric nuclear matter is clarified by solving the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock equations in the full Dirac space. The symmetry energy and its slope parameter at the saturation density are Esym(ρ0)=33.1 MeV and L=65.2 MeV, in agreement with empirical and experimental values. Further applications predict the neutron star radius R1.4M⊙≈12 km and the maximum mass of a neutron star Mmax≤2.4M⊙.

To understand chiral symmetry breaking on the molecular level, we developed a method to efficiently investigate reaction kinetics of single molecules. The model systems include autocatalysis as well as a reaction cascade to gain further insight into the prebiotic origin of homochirality. The simulated reactions start with a substrate and only a single catalyst molecule, and the occurrence of symmetry breaking was examined for its degree of dependence on randomness. The results demonstrate that interlocking processes, which e.g., form catalysts, autocatalytic systems, or reaction cascades that build on each other and lead to a kinetic acceleration, can very well amplify a statistically occurring symmetry breaking. These results suggest a promising direction for the experimental implementation and identification of such processes, which could have led to a shift out of thermodynamic equilibrium in the emergence of life.

We present extended Lyα emission out to 800 kpc of 1034 [O III]-selected galaxies at redshifts 1.9 < z < 2.35 using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment. The locations and redshifts of the galaxies are taken from the 3D-HST survey. The median-stacked surface brightness profile of the Lyα emission of the [O III]-selected galaxies agrees well with that of 968 bright Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) at r > 40 kpc from the galaxy centers. The surface brightness in the inner parts (r < 10 kpc) around the [O III]-selected galaxies, however, is 10 times fainter than that of the LAEs. Our results are consistent with the notion that photons dominating the outer regions of the Lyα halos are not produced in the central galaxies but originate outside of them.

We present [C II] synthetic observations of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of a dwarf galaxy merger. The merging process varies the star formation rate (SFR) by more than three orders of magnitude. Several star clusters are formed, the feedback of which disperses and unbinds the dense gas through expanding H II regions and supernova (SN) explosions. For galaxies with properties similar to the modeled ones, we find that the [C II] emission remains optically thin throughout the merging process. We identify the warm neutral medium ( $3\lt \mathrm{log}{T}_{\mathrm{gas}}\lt 4$ with χ _HI > 2χ _H2) to be the primary source of [C II] emission (~58% contribution), although at stages when the H II regions are young and dense (during star cluster formation or SNe in the form of ionized bubbles), they can contribute ≳50% to the total [C II] emission. We find that the [C II]/far-IR (FIR) ratio decreases owing to thermal saturation of the [C II] emission caused by strong far-UV radiation fields emitted by the massive star clusters, leading to a [C II] deficit medium. We investigate the [C II]-SFR relation and find an approximately linear correlation that agrees well with observations, particularly those from the Dwarf Galaxy Survey. Our simulation reproduces the observed trends of [C II]/FIR versus Σ_SFR and Σ_FIR, and it agrees well with the Kennicutt relation of SFR-FIR luminosity. We propose that local peaks of [C II] in resolved observations may provide evidence for ongoing massive cluster formation.

RES-NOVA is a newly proposed experiment for detecting neutrinos from astrophysical sources, mainly Supernovae, using an array of cryogenic detectors made of PbWO₄ crystals produced from archaeological Pb. This unconventional material, characterized by intrinsic high radiopurity, enables low-background levels in the region of interest for the neutrino detection via Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEν NS). This signal lies at the detector energy threshold, O(1 keV), and it is expected to be hidden by naturally occurring radioactive contaminants of the crystal absorber. Here, we present the results of a radiopurity assay on a 0.84 kg PbWO₄ crystal produced from archaeological Pb operated as a cryogenic detector. The crystal internal radioactive contaminations are: 23²Th <40 μ Bq/kg, 23⁸U <30 μ Bq/kg, 22⁶Ra 1.3 mBq/kg and 21⁰Pb 22.5 mBq/kg. We also present a background projection for the final experiment and possible mitigation strategies for further background suppression. The achieved results demonstrate the feasibility of realizing this new class of detectors.

Elliptic modular graph forms (eMGFs) are non-holomorphic modular forms depending on a modular parameter $\tau$ of a torus and marked points $z$ thereon. Traditionally, eMGFs are constructed from nested lattice sums over the discrete momenta on the worldsheet torus in closed-string genus-one amplitudes. In this work, we develop methods to translate the lattice-sum realization of eMGFs into iterated integrals over modular parameters $\tau$ of the torus with particular focus on cases with one marked point. Such iterated-integral representations manifest algebraic and differential relations among eMGFs and their degeneration limit $\tau \rightarrow i\infty$. From a mathematical point of view, our results yield concrete realizations of single-valued elliptic polylogarithms at arbitrary depth in terms of meromorphic iterated integrals over modular forms and their complex conjugates. The basis dimensions of eMGFs at fixed modular and transcendental weights are derived from a simple counting of iterated integrals and a generalization of Tsunogai's derivation algebra.

We describe a systematic approach for the evaluation of Witten diagrams for multi-loop scattering amplitudes of a conformally coupled scalar ϕ⁴-theory in Euclidean AdS₄, by recasting the Witten diagrams as flat space Feynman integrals. We derive closed form expressions for the anomalous dimensions for all double-trace operators up to the second order in the coupling constant. We explain the relation between the flat space unitarity methods and the discontinuities of the short distance expansion on the boundary of Witten diagrams.

We present for the first time Next-to-Leading (NLO) QCD renormalization group (RG) evolution matrices for nonleptonic Δ F =2 transitions in the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT). To this end we transform first the known two-loop QCD anomalous dimension matrices (ADMs) of the BSM (Beyond the SM) operators in the so-called Buras Misiak Urban basis into the ones in the common weak effective theory (WET) basis (the so-called Jenkins Manohar Stoffer basis) for which tree-level and one-loop matching to the SMEFT are already known. This subsequently allows us to find the two-loop QCD ADMs for the SMEFT nonleptonic Δ F =2 operators in the Warsaw basis. Having all these ingredients we investigate the impact of these NLO QCD effects on the QCD RG evolution of SMEFT Wilson coefficients for nonleptonic Δ F =2 transitions from the new physics scale Λ down to the electroweak scale μ_ew. The main benefit of these new contributions is that they allow one to remove renormalization scheme dependences present in the one-loop matchings both between the WET and SMEFT and also between SMEFT and a chosen UV completion. But the Next-to-Leading (NLO) QCD effects, calculated here in the Naive dimensional regularisation minimal subtraction scheme, turn out to be small, in the ballpark of a few percent but larger than one-loop Yukawa top effects when only the Δ F =2 operators are considered. The more complicated class of nonleptonic Δ F =1 decays will be presented soon in another publication.

Planes of satellites are observed around many galaxies. However, these observations are still considered a point of tension for the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. We use the fully hydrodynamical cosmological $\Lambda$CDM state-of-the-art simulation Magneticum Pathfinder to investigate the existence of such planes over a large range of haloes, from Milky Way to galaxy cluster masses. To this end, we develop the Momentum in Thinnest Plane (MTP) method to identify planes and quantify the properties of their constituent satellites, considering both position and momentum. We find that thin planes ($20\%\cdot R_\mathrm{halo}$) containing at least $50\%$ of the total number of satellites can be found in almost all systems. In Milky Way mass-like systems, around 86\% of such planes are even aligned in momentum ($90\%$ of the total satellite momentum), where the fraction is smaller if more satellites are required to be inside the plane. We further find a mass dependency, with more massive systems exhibiting systematically thicker planes. This may point towards the change from continuous accretion of small objects along filaments and sheets for less massive haloes to the accretion of large objects (e.g., major mergers) dominating the growth of more massive haloes. There is no correlation between the existence of a plane and the main galaxy's morphology. Finally, we find a clear preference for the minor axes of the satellite planes and the host galaxy to be aligned, in agreement with recent observations.

We study the structure of atomic hydrogen (H I) in the host galaxy of GRB 171205A/SN 2017iuk at z = 0.037 through H I 21 cm emission line observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. These observations reveal unusual morphology and kinematics of the H I in this otherwise apparently normal galaxy. High column density, cold H I is absent from an extended North-South region passing by the optical center of the galaxy, but instead is extended toward the South, on both sides of the galaxy. Moreover, the H I kinematics do not show a continuous change along the major axis of the galaxy as expected in a classical rotating disk. We explore several scenarios to explain the H I structure and kinematics in the galaxy: feedback from a central starburst and/or an active galactic nucleus, ram-pressure stripping, accretion, and tidal interaction from a companion galaxy. All of these options are ruled out. The most viable remaining explanation is the penetrating passage of a satellite through the disk only a few Myr ago, redistributing the H I in the GRB host without yet affecting its stellar distribution. It can also lead to the rapid formation of peculiar stars due to a violent induced shock. The location of GRB 171205A in the vicinity of the distorted area suggests that its progenitor star(s) originated in extreme conditions that share the same origin as the peculiarities in H I. This could explain the atypical location of GRB 171205A in its host galaxy.

We present GIGANTES, the most extensive and realistic void catalog suite ever released-containing over 1 billion cosmic voids covering a volume larger than the observable universe, more than 20 TB of data, and created by running the void finder VIDE on QUIJOTE's halo simulations. The GIGANTES suite, spanning thousands of cosmological models, opens up the study of voids, answering compelling questions: Do voids carry unique cosmological information? How is this information correlated with galaxy information? Leveraging the large number of voids in the GIGANTES suite, our Fisher constraints demonstrate voids contain additional information, critically tightening constraints on cosmological parameters. We use traditional void summary statistics (void size function, void density profile) and the void autocorrelation function, which independently yields an error of 0.13 eV on ∑ m _ν for a 1 h ^-3 Gpc³ simulation, without cosmic microwave background priors. Combining halos and voids we forecast an error of 0.09 eV from the same volume, representing a gain of 60% compared to halos alone. Extrapolating to next generation multi-Gpc³ surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, Euclid, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer, and the Roman Space Telescope, we expect voids should yield an independent determination of neutrino mass. Crucially, GIGANTES is the first void catalog suite expressly built for intensive machine-learning exploration. We illustrate this by training a neural network to perform likelihood-free inference on the void size function, giving a ~20% constraint on Ω_m. Cosmology problems provide an impetus to develop novel deep-learning techniques. With GIGANTES, machine learning gains an impressive data set, offering unique problems that will stimulate new techniques.

A thermonuclear explosion triggered by a He-shell detonation on a carbon-oxygen white-dwarf core has been predicted to have strong UV line blanketing at early times due to the iron-group elements produced during He-shell burning. We present the photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2016dsg, a subluminous peculiar Type I supernova consistent with a thermonuclear explosion involving a thick He shell. With a redshift of 0.04, the i-band peak absolute magnitude is derived to be around -17.5. The object is located far away from its host, an early-type galaxy, suggesting it originated from an old stellar population. The spectra collected after the peak are unusually red, show strong UV line blanketing and weak O I λ7773 absorption lines, and do not evolve significantly over 30 days. An absorption line around 9700-10500 Å is detected in the near-infrared spectrum and is likely from the unburnt He in the ejecta. The spectroscopic evolution is consistent with the thermonuclear explosion models for a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf with a thick He shell, while the photometric evolution is not well described by existing models.

Many processes during the evolution of protoplanetary disks and during planet formation are highly sensitive to the sizes of dust particles that are present in the disk: the efficiency of dust accretion in the disk and volatile transport on dust particles, gravoturbulent instabilities leading to the formation of planetesimals, or the accretion of pebbles onto large planetary embryos to form giant planets are typical examples of processes that depend on the sizes of the dust particles involved. Furthermore, radiative properties like absorption or scattering opacities depend on the particle sizes. To interpret observations of dust in protoplanetary disks, a proper estimate of the dust particle sizes is needed. We present DustPy: a Python package to simulate dust evolution in protoplanetary disks. DustPy solves gas and dust transport including viscous advection and diffusion as well as collisional growth of dust particles. DustPy is written with a modular concept, such that every aspect of the model can be easily modified or extended to allow for a multitude of research opportunities.

Context. The rapidly improving quality and resolution of both low surface brightness observations and cosmological simulations of galaxies enables an increasingly thorough investigation of the imprints of the formation history in the outer, unrelaxed regions of galaxies, and a direct comparison to another tracer of galaxy formation, the internal kinematics. Aims. Using the state-of-the-art hydrodynamical cosmological simulation Magneticum Pathfinder, we identify tidal tails, shells, streams, and satellite planes, and connect their existence to the amount of rotational support and the formation histories of the host galaxies. Methods. Tidal features are visually classified from a three-dimensional rendering of the simulated galaxies by several scientists independently. Only features that were identified by at least half of the participating individuals are considered as existing features. The results are compared to observations of the MATLAS survey. Results. Shells are preferentially found around kinematically slowly rotating galaxies in both simulations and observations, while streams can be found around all kind of galaxies with a slightly higher probability to be present around less rotationally supported galaxies. Tails and satellite planes, however, appear independently of the internal kinematics of the central galaxy, indicating that they are formed through processes that have not (yet) affected the internal kinematics. Conclusions. As shells are formed through radial merger events while streams are remnants of circular merger infall, this suggests that the orbital angular momentum of the merger event could play a more crucial role in transforming the host galaxy than previously anticipated. The existence of a shell around a given slow rotator can further be used to distinguish the radial merger formation scenario from other formation pathways of slow rotators.

The Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time holds the potential to revolutionize time domain astrophysics, reaching completely unexplored areas of the Universe and mapping variability time scales from minutes to a decade. To prepare to maximize the potential of the Rubin LSST data for the exploration of the transient and variable Universe, one of the four pillars of Rubin LSST science, the Transient and Variable Stars Science Collaboration, one of the eight Rubin LSST Science Collaborations, has identified research areas of interest and requirements, and paths to enable them. While our roadmap is ever-evolving, this document represents a snapshot of our plans and preparatory work in the final years and months leading up to the survey's first light.

After playing a pivotal role in the birth of the Standard Model in the 70s, the study of charm physics has undergone a revival during the last decade, triggered by a wealth of precision measurements from the charm and B factories, and from the CDF and especially the LHCb experiments. In this paper, we sum up how the unique phenomenology of charmed hadrons can be used to test the Standard Model and we review the latest measurements performed in this field by the LHCb experiment. These include the historic first observations of CP violation and of a nonzero mass difference between the charmed neutral-meson mass eigenstates, the most precise determination of their decay-width difference to date, and a search for time-dependent CP violation reaching the unprecedented precision of 10−4. These results challenge our comprehension of nonperturbative strong interactions, and their interpretation calls for further studies on both the theoretical and experimental sides. The upcoming upgrades of the LHCb experiment will play a leading role in this quest.

Negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is the leading mechanism for the quenching of massive galaxies in the vast majority of modern galaxy evolution models. However, direct observational evidence that AGN feedback causes quenching on a population scale is lacking. Studies have shown that luminous AGN are preferentially located in gas-rich and star-forming galaxies, an observation that has sometimes been suggested to be in tension with a negative AGN feedback picture. We investigate three of the current cosmological simulations (IllustrisTNG, EAGLE, and SIMBA) along with post-processed models for molecular hydrogen gas masses and perform similar tests to those used by observers. We find that the simulations predict: (i) no strong negative trends between L_bol and $f_{\mathrm{ H}_2}$ or specific star formation rate (sSFR); (ii) both high-luminosity ($L_{\rm {bol}} \ge 10^{44}\rm {\, erg\, s^{-1}}$) and high Eddington ratio (λ_Edd $\ge 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) AGN are preferentially located in galaxies with high molecular gas fractions and sSFR; and (iii) that the gas-depleted and quenched fractions of AGN host galaxies are lower than a control sample of non-active galaxies. These three findings are in qualitative agreement with observational samples at z = 0 and z = 2 and show that such results are not in tension with the presence of strong AGN feedback, which all simulations we employ require to produce realistic massive galaxies. However, we also find quantifiable differences between predictions from the simulations, which could allow us to observationally test the different subgrid feedback models.

The 1.33-mm survey of protoplanetary discs in the Taurus molecular cloud found annular gaps and rings to be common in extended sources (≳ 55AU), when their 1D visibility distributions were fit parametrically. We first demonstrate the advantages and limitations of non-parametric visibility fits for data at the survey's 0.12-arcsec resolution. Then we use the non-parametric model in Frankenstein (frank) to identify new substructure in three compact and seven extended sources. Among the new features, we identify three trends: a higher occurrence rate of substructure in the survey's compact discs than previously seen, underresolved (potentially azimuthally asymmetric) substructure in the innermost disc of extended sources, and a 'shoulder' on the trailing edge of a ring in discs with strong depletion at small radii. Noting the shoulder morphology is present in multiple discs observed at higher resolution, we postulate it is tracing a common physical mechanism. We further demonstrate how a superresolution frank brightness profile is useful in motivating an accurate parametric model, using the highly structured source DL Tau in which frank finds two new rings. Finally, we show that sparse (u, v) plane sampling may be masking the presence of substructure in several additional compact survey sources.

We present a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) weak gravitational lensing study of nine distant and massive galaxy clusters with redshifts $1.0 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.7$ ($z_\mathrm{median} = 1.4$) and Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) detection significance $\xi > 6.0$ from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. We measured weak lensing galaxy shapes in HST/ACS F606W and F814W images and used additional observations from HST/WFC3 in F110W and VLT/FORS2 in $U_\mathrm{HIGH}$ to preferentially select background galaxies at $z\gtrsim 1.8$, achieving a high purity. We combined recent redshift estimates from the CANDELS/3D-HST and HUDF fields to infer an improved estimate of the source redshift distribution. We measured weak lensing masses by fitting the tangential reduced shear profiles with spherical Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) models. We obtained the largest lensing mass in our sample for the cluster SPT-CLJ2040$-$4451, thereby confirming earlier results that suggest a high lensing mass of this cluster compared to X-ray and SZ mass measurements. Combining our weak lensing mass constraints with results obtained by previous studies for lower redshift clusters, we extended the calibration of the scaling relation between the unbiased SZ detection significance $\zeta$ and the cluster mass for the SPT-SZ survey out to higher redshifts. We found that the mass scale inferred from our highest redshift bin ($1.2 < z < 1.7$) is consistent with an extrapolation of constraints derived from lower redshifts, albeit with large statistical uncertainties. Thus, our results show a similar tendency as found in previous studies, where the cluster mass scale derived from the weak lensing data is lower than the mass scale expected in a Planck $\nu\Lambda$CDM (i.e. $\nu$$\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter) cosmology given the SPT-SZ cluster number counts.

A key component of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey validation (SV) is a detailed visual inspection (VI) of the optical spectroscopic data to quantify key survey metrics. In this paper we present results from VI of the quasar survey using deep coadded SV spectra. We show that the majority (~70%) of the main-survey targets are spectroscopically confirmed as quasars, with ~16% galaxies, ~6% stars, and ~8% low-quality spectra lacking reliable features. A non-negligible fraction of the quasars are misidentified by the standard DESI spectroscopic pipeline but we show that the majority can be recovered using post-pipeline "afterburner" quasar-identification approaches. We combine these "afterburners" with our standard pipeline to create a modified pipeline to improve the overall quasar completeness. At the depth of the main DESI survey both pipelines achieve a good-redshift purity (reliable redshifts measured within 3000 km/s) of ~99%; however, the modified pipeline recovers ~94% of the visually inspected quasars, as compared to just ~86% from the standard pipeline. We demonstrate that both pipelines achieve an overall redshift precision and accuracy of ~100 km/s and ~70 km/s, respectively. We constructed composite spectra to investigate why some quasars are missed by the standard spectroscopic pipeline and find that they are more host-galaxy dominated and/or dust reddened than the standard-pipeline quasars. We also show example spectra to demonstrate the overall diversity of the DESI quasar sample and provide strong-lensing candidates where two targets contribute to a single DESI spectrum.

Cosmological shock waves are essential to understanding the formation of cosmological structures. To study them, scientists run computationally expensive high-resolution 3D hydrodynamic simulations. Interpreting the simulation results is challenging because the resulting data sets are enormous, and the shock wave surfaces are hard to separate and classify due to their complex morphologies and multiple shock fronts intersecting. We introduce a novel pipeline, Virgo, combining physical motivation, scalability, and probabilistic robustness to tackle this unsolved unsupervised classification problem. To this end, we employ kernel principal component analysis with low-rank matrix approximations to denoise data sets of shocked particles and create labeled subsets. We perform supervised classification to recover full data resolution with stochastic variational deep kernel learning. We evaluate on three state-of-the-art data sets with varying complexity and achieve good results. The proposed pipeline runs automatically, has only a few hyperparameters, and performs well on all tested data sets. Our results are promising for large-scale applications, and we highlight now enabled future scientific work.

Using the Schwinger-Keldysh-formalism, reformulated in [1] as an effective field theory in Euclidean anti-de Sitter, we evaluate the one-loop cosmological four-point function of a conformally coupled interacting scalar field in de Sitter. Recasting the Witten cosmological correlator as flat space Feynman integrals, we evaluate the one-loop cosmological four-point functions in de Sitter space in terms of single-valued multiple polylogarithms. From it we derive anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients of the dual conformal field theory at space-like, future infinity. In particular, we find an interesting degeneracy in the anomalous dimensions relating operators of neighboring spins.

We report the discovery of a multiplanetary system transiting the M0 V dwarf HD 260655 (GJ 239, TOI-4599). The system consists of at least two transiting planets, namely HD 260655 b, with a period of 2.77 d, a radius of R_b = 1.240 ± 0.023 R_⊕, a mass of M_b = 2.14 ± 0.34 M_⊕, and a bulk density of ρ_b = 6.2 ± 1.0 g cm⁻³, and HD 260655 c, with a period of 5.71 d, a radius of {R_c} = 1.533 _{- 0.046} ^{+ 0.051}{R_ \oplus }, a mass of M_c = 3.09 ± 0.48 M_⊕, and a bulk density of {ρ _c} = 4.7 _{- 0.8} ^{+ 0.9}{{g}} g cm⁻³. The planets have been detected in transit by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and confirmed independently with archival and new precise radial velocities obtained with the HIRES and CARMENES instruments since 1998 and 2016, respectively. At a distance of 10 pc, HD 260655 has become the fourth closest known multitransiting planet system after HD 219134, LTT 1445 A, and AU Mic. Due to the apparent brightness of the host star (J = 6.7 mag), both planets are among the most suitable rocky worlds known today for atmospheric studies with the James Webb Space Telescope, both in transmission and emission.

A comprehensive crewed lunar exploration program faces two major impediments. First, the logistical challenges of bringing the infrastructure and supplies required for longterm human-tended activities to the Moon are severe. The use of locally available resources will therefore be crucial to the establishment of a permanent human presence. Especially the extraction of water from the lunar regolith has recently moved into the focus of attention, as it promises to substantially decrease the amount of consumables and fuel that must be brought from Earth. Our current knowledge of the Moon's resource potential, however, is too incomplete to assess the technical feasibility and economic viability of in-situ resource-extraction efforts. Second, the radiation environment on the lunar surface poses a serious health risk to astronauts, which is not fully understood yet. Accurate and comprehensive measurements of the radiation environment are required to resolve this issue. We present preliminary results of a phase-A design study for the Lunar Cosmic-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (LCNS), one of three major scientific instruments developed for the LDVMI-X rover. The instrument is designed to support the search for water at the lunar poles through neutron spectroscopy and to characterize the radiation environment on the Moon.

Biological processes operate in a spatially and temporally ordered manner to reliably fulfill their function. This is achieved by pattern formation, which generally involves many different spatial and temporal scales. The resulting multiscale patterns exhibit complex dynamics for which it is difficult to find a simplified description at large scales while preserving information about the patterns at small scales. Here, we introduce an approach for mass-conserving reaction-diffusion systems that is based on a linear theory and therefore conceptually simple to apply. We investigate multiscale patterns of the Min protein system and show that our approach enables us to explain and predict the intricate dynamics from the large-scale mass redistribution of the total protein densities.

Using the potential non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics (pNRQCD) effective field theory, we derive a Lindblad equation for the evolution of the heavy-quarkonium reduced density matrix that is accurate to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the ratio of the binding energy of the state to the temperature of the medium. The resulting NLO Lindblad equation can be used to more reliably describe heavy-quarkonium evolution in the quark-gluon plasma at low temperatures compared to the leading-order truncation. For phenomenological application, we numerically solve the resulting NLO Lindblad equation using the quantum trajectories algorithm. To achieve this, we map the solution of the three-dimensional Lindblad equation to the solution of an ensemble of one-dimensional Schrödinger evolutions with Monte-Carlo sampled quantum jumps. Averaging over the Monte-Carlo sampled quantum jumps, we obtain the solution to the NLO Lindblad equation without truncation in the angular momentum quantum number of the states considered. We also consider the evolution of the system using only the complex effective Hamiltonian without stochastic jumps and find that this provides a reliable approximation for the ground state survival probability at LO and NLO. Finally, we make comparisons with our prior leading-order pNRQCD results and experimental data available from the ATLAS, ALICE, and CMS collaborations.

Like most spiral galaxies, the Milky Way contains a population of blue, metal-poor globular clusters and another of red, metal-rich ones. Most of the latter belong to the bulge, and therefore they are poorly studied compared to the blue (halo) ones because they suffer higher extinction and larger contamination from field stars. These intrinsic difficulties, together with a lack of low-mass bulge globular clusters, are reasons to believe that their census is not complete yet. Indeed, a few new clusters have been confirmed in the last few years. One of them is VVV CL001, the subject of the present study. We present a new spectroscopic analysis of the recently confirmed globular cluster VVV CL001, made by means of MUSE@VLT integral field data. Individual spectra were extracted for stars in the VVV CL001 field. Radial velocities were derived by cross-correlation with synthetic templates. Coupled with proper motions from the VVV (VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea) survey, these data allow us to select 55 potential cluster members, for which we derive metallicities using the public code THE CANNON. The mean radial velocity of the cluster is V_helio = -324.9 ± 0.8 km s^-1, as estimated from 55 cluster members. This high velocity, together with a low metallicity [Fe/H] = -2.04 ± 0.02 dex, suggests that VVV CL001 could be a very old cluster. The estimated distance is d = 8.23 ± 0.46 kpc, placing the cluster in the Galactic bulge. Furthermore, both its current position and the orbital parameters suggest that VVV CL001 is most probably a bulge globular cluster.

In star-forming galaxies, the far-infrared (FIR) and radio-continuum luminosities obey a tight empirical relation over a large range of star-formation rates (SFR). To understand the physics, we examine magneto-hydrodynamic galaxy simulations, which follow the genesis of cosmic ray (CR) protons at supernovae and their advective and anisotropic diffusive transport. We show that gravitational collapse of the proto-galaxy generates a corrugated accretion shock, which injects turbulence and drives a small-scale magnetic dynamo. As the shock propagates outwards and the associated turbulence decays, the large velocity shear between the supersonically rotating cool disc with respect to the (partially) pressure-supported hot circumgalactic medium excites Kelvin-Helmholtz surface and body modes. Those interact non-linearly, inject additional turbulence and continuously drive multiple small-scale dynamos, which exponentially amplify weak seed magnetic fields. After saturation at small scales, they grow in scale to reach equipartition with thermal and CR energies in Milky Way-mass galaxies. In small galaxies, the magnetic energy saturates at the turbulent energy while it fails to reach equipartition with thermal and CR energies. We solve for steady-state spectra of CR protons, secondary electrons/positrons from hadronic CR-proton interactions with the interstellar medium, and primary shock-accelerated electrons at supernovae. The radio-synchrotron emission is dominated by primary electrons, irradiates the magnetised disc and bulge of our simulated Milky Way-mass galaxy and weakly traces bubble-shaped magnetically-loaded outflows. Our star-forming and star-bursting galaxies with saturated magnetic fields match the global FIR-radio correlation (FRC) across four orders of magnitude. Its intrinsic scatter arises due to (i) different magnetic saturation levels that result from different seed magnetic fields, (ii) different radio synchrotron luminosities for different specific SFRs at fixed SFR and (iii) a varying radio intensity with galactic inclination. In agreement with observations, several 100-pc-sized regions within star-forming galaxies also obey the FRC, while the centres of starbursts substantially exceed the FRC.

Theoretically predicted yields of elements created by the rapid neutron capture (r-) process carry potentially large uncertainties associated with incomplete knowledge of nuclear properties as well as approximative hydrodynamical modelling of the matter ejection processes. We present an in-depth study of the nuclear uncertainties by systematically varying theoretical nuclear input models that describe the experimentally unknown neutron-rich nuclei. This includes two frameworks for calculating the radiative neutron capture rates and six, four and four models for the nuclear masses, $\beta$-decay rates and fission properties, respectively. Our r-process nuclear network calculations are based on detailed hydrodynamical simulations of dynamically ejected material from NS-NS or NS-BH binary mergers plus the secular ejecta from BH-torus systems. The impact of nuclear uncertainties on the r-process abundance distribution and early radioactive heating rate is found to be modest (within a factor $\sim 20$ for individual $A>90$ nuclei and a factor 2 for the heating rate), however the impact on the late-time heating rate is more significant and depends strongly on the contribution from fission. We witness significantly larger sensitivity to the nuclear physics input if only a single trajectory is used compared to considering ensembles of $\sim$200-300 trajectories, and the quantitative effects of the nuclear uncertainties strongly depend on the adopted conditions for the individual trajectory. We use the predicted Th/U ratio to estimate the cosmochronometric age of six metal-poor stars to set a lower limit of the age of the Galaxy and find the impact of the nuclear uncertainties to be up to 2 Gyr.

We constrain extensions to the $\Lambda$CDM model using measurements from the Dark Energy Survey's first three years of observations and external data. The DES data are the two-point correlation functions of weak gravitational lensing, galaxy clustering, and their cross-correlation. We use simulated data and blind analyses of real data to validate the robustness of our results. In many cases, constraining power is limited by the absence of nonlinear predictions that are reliable at our required precision. The models are: dark energy with a time-dependent equation of state, non-zero spatial curvature, sterile neutrinos, modifications of gravitational physics, and a binned $\sigma_8(z)$ model which serves as a probe of structure growth. For the time-varying dark energy equation of state evaluated at the pivot redshift we find $(w_{\rm p}, w_a)= (-0.99^{+0.28}_{-0.17},-0.9\pm 1.2)$ at 68% confidence with $z_{\rm p}=0.24$ from the DES measurements alone, and $(w_{\rm p}, w_a)= (-1.03^{+0.04}_{-0.03},-0.4^{+0.4}_{-0.3})$ with $z_{\rm p}=0.21$ for the combination of all data considered. Curvature constraints of $\Omega_k=0.0009\pm 0.0017$ and effective relativistic species $N_{\rm eff}=3.10^{+0.15}_{-0.16}$ are dominated by external data. For massive sterile neutrinos, we improve the upper bound on the mass $m_{\rm eff}$ by a factor of three compared to previous analyses, giving 95% limits of $(\Delta N_{\rm eff},m_{\rm eff})\leq (0.28, 0.20\, {\rm eV})$. We also constrain changes to the lensing and Poisson equations controlled by functions $\Sigma(k,z) = \Sigma_0 \Omega_{\Lambda}(z)/\Omega_{\Lambda,0}$ and $\mu(k,z)=\mu_0 \Omega_{\Lambda}(z)/\Omega_{\Lambda,0}$ respectively to $\Sigma_0=0.6^{+0.4}_{-0.5}$ from DES alone and $(\Sigma_0,\mu_0)=(0.04\pm 0.05,0.08^{+0.21}_{-0.19})$ for the combination of all data. Overall, we find no significant evidence for physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM.

We revisit cosmological constraints on the sum of the neutrino masses $\Sigma m_\nu$ from a combination of full-shape BOSS galaxy clustering [$P(k)$] data and measurements of the cross-correlation between Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) lensing convergence and BOSS galaxy overdensity maps [$C^{\kappa \text{g}}_{\ell}$], using a simple but theoretically motivated model for the scale-dependent galaxy bias in auto- and cross-correlation measurements. We improve upon earlier related work in several respects, particularly through a more accurate treatment of the correlation and covariance between $P(k)$ and $C^{\kappa \text{g}}_{\ell}$ measurements. When combining these measurements with Planck CMB data, we find a 95% confidence level upper limit of $\Sigma m_\nu<0.14\,{\rm eV}$, while slightly weaker limits are obtained when including small-scale ACTPol CMB data, in agreement with our expectations. We confirm earlier findings that (once combined with CMB data) the full-shape information content is comparable to the geometrical information content in the reconstructed BAO peaks given the precision of current galaxy clustering data, discuss the physical significance of our inferred bias and shot noise parameters, and perform a number of robustness tests on our underlying model. While the inclusion of $C^{\kappa \text{g}}_{\ell}$ measurements does not currently appear to lead to substantial improvements in the resulting $\Sigma m_{\nu}$ constraints, we expect the converse to be true for near-future galaxy clustering measurements, whose shape information content will eventually supersede the geometrical one.

This thesis conducts a two-fold study of gravity at the boundaries. In the first part, we explore the infrared regime of cosmological spacetimes, namely FLRW universes. In the second part, we describe two classes of algebras which appear ubiquitously as symmetry algebras in gravitational boundaries and investigate their deformations.

We introduce GIZMO-SIMBA, a new suite of galaxy cluster simulations within THE THREE HUNDRED project. THE THREE HUNDRED consists of zoom re-simulations of 324 clusters with $M_{200}\gtrsim 10^{14.8}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ drawn from the MultiDark-Planck N-body simulation, run using several hydrodynamic and semi-analytical codes. The GIZMO-SIMBA suite adds a state-of-the-art galaxy formation model based on the highly successful SIMBA simulation, mildly re-calibrated to match $z$ = 0 cluster stellar properties. Comparing to THE THREE HUNDRED zooms run with GADGET-X, we find intrinsic differences in the evolution of the stellar and gas mass fractions, BCG ages, and galaxy colour-magnitude diagrams, with GIZMO-SIMBA generally providing a good match to available data at $z$ ≍ 0. GIZMO-SIMBA's unique black hole growth and feedback model yields agreement with the observed BH scaling relations at the intermediate-mass range and predicts a slightly different slope at high masses where few observations currently lie. GIZMO-SIMBA provides a new and novel platform to elucidate the co-evolution of galaxies, gas, and black holes within the densest cosmic environments.

Transport models are the main method to obtain physics information on the nuclear equation of state and in-medium properties of particles from low to relativistic-energy heavy-ion collisions. The Transport Model Evaluation Project (TMEP) has been pursued to test the robustness of transport model predictions in reaching consistent conclusions from the same type of physical model. To this end, calculations under controlled conditions of physical input and set-up were performed with various participating codes. These included both calculations of nuclear matter in a box with periodic boundary conditions, which test separately selected ingredients of a transport code, and more realistic calculations of heavy-ion collisions. Over the years, six studies have been performed within this project. In this intermediate review, we summarize and discuss the present status of the project. We also provide condensed descriptions of the 26 participating codes, which contributed to some part of the project. These include the major codes in use today. After a compact description of the underlying transport approaches, we review the main results of the studies completed so far. They show, that in box calculations the differences between the codes can be well understood and a convergence of the results can be reached. These studies also highlight the systematic differences between the two families of transport codes, known under the names of Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) and Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) type codes. However, when the codes were compared in full heavy-ion collisions using different physical models, as recently for pion production, they still yielded substantially different results. This calls for further comparisons of heavy-ion collisions with controlled models and of box comparisons of important ingredients, like momentum-dependent fields, which are currently underway. Our evaluation studies often indicate improved strategies in performing transport simulations and thus can provide guidance to code developers. Results of transport simulations of heavy-ion collisions from a given code will have more significance if the code can be validated against benchmark calculations such as the ones summarized in this review.

The unitarity triangle (UT) plots played already for three decades an important role in the tests of the Standard Model (SM) and the determination of the CKM parameters. As of 2022, among the four CKM parameters, | V_us| and β are already measured with respectable precision, while this is not the case of | V_cb| and γ . In the case of | V_cb| the main obstacle are the significant tensions between its inclusive and exclusive determinations from tree-level decays and it could still take some years before a unique value of this parameter will be known. The present uncertainty in γ of 4^∘ from tree-level decays will be reduced to 1^∘ by the LHCb and Belle II collaborations in the coming years. Unfortunately in the common UT plots | V_cb| is not seen and the experimental improvements in the determination of γ from tree-level decays at the level of a few degrees are difficult to appreciate. In view of these deficiencies of the UT plots with respect to | V_cb| and γ and the central role these two CKM parameters will play in this decade, the recently proposed plots of | V_cb| versus γ extracted from various processes appear to be superior to the UT plots in the flavour phenomenology of the 2020s. We illustrate this idea with Δ F =2 observables Δ M_s , Δ M_d , ε_K and with rare decays B_s→μ⁺μ^- , B_d→μ⁺μ^- , K⁺→π⁺ν ν ¯ and K_L→π⁰ν ν ¯ . In particular the power of ε_K, B (K⁺→π⁺ν ν ¯ ) and B (K_L→π⁰ν ν ¯ ) in the determination of | V_cb| , due to their strong dependence on | V_cb| , is transparently exhibited in this manner. Combined with future reduced errors on γ and | V_cb| from tree-level decays such plots can better exhibit possible inconsistencies between various determinations of these two parameters, caused by new physics, than it is possible with the UT plots. This can already be illustrated on the example of the recently found 2.7 σ anomaly in B_s→μ⁺μ^-.

We study the distributions of the baryons in massive halos (M_vir > 10¹³ h⁻¹ M_⊙) in the Magneticum suite of smoothed particle hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, out to the unprecedented radial extent of 10R_{500, c}. We confirm that, under the action of non-gravitational physical phenomena, the baryon mass fraction is lower in the inner regions (< R_{500, c}) of increasingly less massive halos, and rises moving outwards, with values that span from 51% (87%) of the cosmological value in the regions around R_{500, c} to 95% (100%) at 10R_{500, c} in the systems with the lowest (highest; M_vir ∼ 5 × 10¹⁴ h⁻¹ M_⊙) masses. The galaxy groups almost match the gas (and baryon) fraction measured in the most massive halos only at very large radii (r > 6R_{500, c}), where the baryon depletion factor Y_bar = f_bar/(Ω_b/Ω_m) approaches the value of unity, expected for `closed-box' systems. We find that both the radial and mass dependence of the baryon, gas, and hot depletion factors are predictable and follow a simple functional form. The star mass fraction is higher in less massive systems, decreases systematically with increasing radii, and reaches a constant value of Y_star ≈ 0.09, where the gas metallicity is also constant, regardless of the host halo mass, as a result of the early (z > 2) enrichment process.

We provide an extensive study of the lifetimes of singly charmed baryons and mesons, within the heavy quark expansion with all known corrections included. A special attention is devoted to the choice of the charm mass and wavefunctions of heavy baryons. We give our predictions for lifetimes, lifetime ratios, and semileptonic branching ratios of singly charmed baryons. Our results accommodate the experimentally-favoured hierarchy of singly charmed baryon lifetimes τ (Ξ_c⁰)<τ (Λ_c⁺)<τ (Ω_c⁰)<τ (Ξ_c⁺), in contrast to earlier theoretical findings. Predictions for charmed meson lifetimes and semileptonic decay rates are in agreement with a recent comprehensive study and experimental results within uncertainties.