Understanding the sequence-dependent DNA damage formation requires probing a complete pool of sequences over a wide dose range of the damage-causing exposure. We used high throughput sequencing to simultaneously obtain the dose dependence and quantum yields for oligonucleotide damages for all possible 4096 DNA sequences with hexamer length. We exposed the DNA to ultraviolet radiation at 266 nm and doses of up to 500 absorbed photons per base. At the dimer level, our results confirm existing literature values of photodamage, whereas we now quantified the susceptibility of sequence motifs to UV irradiation up to previously inaccessible polymer lengths. This revealed the protective effect of the sequence context in preventing the formation of UV-lesions. For example, the rate to form dipyrimidine lesions is strongly reduced by nearby guanine bases. Our results provide a complete picture of the sensitivity of oligonucleotides to UV irradiation and allow us to predict their abundance in high-UV environments.

We discuss the potential of the multi-tracer technique to improve observational constraints of the local primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) parameter $f_{\rm NL}$ from the galaxy power spectrum. For two galaxy samples $A$ and $B$, we show the constraining power is $\propto |b_1^B b_\phi^A - b_1^A b_\phi^B|$, where $b_1$ and $b_\phi$ are the linear and PNG galaxy bias parameters. This allows for significantly improved constraints compared to the traditional expectation $\propto |b_1^A - b_1^B|$ based on naive universality-like relations where $b_\phi \propto b_1$. Using IllustrisTNG galaxy simulation data, we find that different equal galaxy number splits of the full sample lead to different $|b_1^B b_\phi^A - b_1^A b_\phi^B|$, and thus have different constraining power. Of all of the strategies explored, splitting by $g-r$ color is the most promising, more than doubling the significance of detecting $f_{\rm NL}b_\phi \neq 0$. Importantly, since these are constraints on $f_{\rm NL}b_\phi$ and not $f_{\rm NL}$, they do not require priors on the $b_\phi(b_1)$ relation. For direct constraints on $f_{\rm NL}$, we show that multi-tracer constraints can be significantly more robust than single-tracer to $b_\phi$ misspecifications and uncertainties; this relaxes the precision and accuracy requirements for $b_\phi$ priors. Our results present new opportunities to improve our chances to detect and robustly constrain $f_{\rm NL}$, and strongly motivate galaxy formation simulation campaigns to calibrate the $b_\phi(b_1)$ relation.

We use the BOSS DR12 galaxy power spectrum to constrain compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIP), which are opposite-sign primordial baryon and dark matter perturbations that leave the total matter density unchanged. Long-wavelength CIP $\sigma(\vec{x})$ enter the galaxy density contrast as $\delta_g(\vec{x}) \supset b_\sigma\sigma(\vec{x})$, with $b_\sigma$ the linear CIP galaxy bias parameter. We parameterize the CIP spectra as $P_{\sigma\sigma} = A^2P_{\mathcal{R}\mathcal{R}}$ and $P_{\sigma\mathcal{R}} = \xi\sqrt{P_{\sigma\sigma}P_{\mathcal{R}\mathcal{R}}}$, where $A$ is the CIP amplitude and $\xi$ is the correlation with the curvature perturbations $\mathcal{R}$. We find a significance of detection of $Ab_\sigma \neq 0$ of $1.8\sigma$ for correlated ($\xi = 1$) and $3.7\sigma$ for uncorrelated ($\xi = 0$) CIP. Large-scale data systematics have a bigger impact for uncorrelated CIP, which may explain the large significance of detection. The constraints on $A$ depend on the assumed priors for the $b_\sigma$ parameter, which we estimate using separate universe simulations. Assuming $b_\sigma$ values representative of all halos we find $\sigma_A = 145$ for correlated CIP and $\sigma_{|A|} = 475$ for uncorrelated CIP. Our strongest uncorrelated CIP constraint is for $b_\sigma$ representative of the $33\%$ most concentrated halos, $\sigma_{|A|} = 197$, which is better than the current CMB bounds $|A| \lesssim 360$. We also discuss the impact of the local primordial non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\rm NL}$ in CIP constraints. Our results demonstrate the power of galaxy data to place tight constraints on CIP, and motivate works to understand better the impact of data systematics, as well as to determine theory priors for $b_\sigma$.

Context. To assume hydrostatic equilibrium between the intracluster medium and the gravitational potential of galaxy clusters is an extensively used method to investigate their total masses.
Aims: We want to test hydrostatic masses obtained with an observational code in the context of the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma/eROSITA survey.
Methods: We used the hydrostatic modeling code MBProj2 to fit surface-brightness profiles to simulated clusters with idealized properties as well as to a sample of 93 clusters taken from the Magneticum Pathfinder simulations. We investigated the latter under the assumption of idealized observational conditions and also for realistic eROSITA data quality. The comparison of the fitted cumulative total mass profiles and the true mass profiles provided by the simulations allows us to gain knowledge both about the validity of hydrostatic equilibrium in each cluster and the reliability of our approach. Furthermore, we used the true profiles for gas density and pressure to compute hydrostatic mass profiles based on theory for every cluster.
Results: For an idealized cluster that was simulated to fulfill perfect hydrostatic equilibrium, we find that the cumulative total mass at the true r₅₀₀ and r₂₀₀ can be reproduced with deviations of less than 7%. For the clusters from the Magneticum Pathfinder simulations under idealized observational conditions, the median values of the fitted cumulative total masses at the true r₅₀₀ and r₂₀₀ are in agreement with our expectations, taking into account the hydrostatic mass bias. Nevertheless, we find a tendency towards steeper cumulative total mass profiles in the outskirts than expected. For realistic eROSITA data quality, this steepness problem intensifies for clusters with high redshifts and leads to excessive cumulative total masses at r₂₀₀. For the hydrostatic masses based on the true profiles known from the simulations, we find good agreement with our expectations concerning the hydrostatic mass.

Comparing Galactic chemical evolution models to the observed elemental abundances in the Milky Way, we show that neutron star mergers can be a leading r-process site only if at low metallicities such mergers have very short delay times and significant ejecta masses that are facilitated by the masses of the compact objects. Namely, black hole-neutron star mergers, depending on the black hole spins, can play an important role in the early chemical enrichment of the Milky Way. We also show that none of the binary population synthesis models used in this Letter, i.e., COMPAS, StarTrack, Brussels, ComBinE, and BPASS, can currently reproduce the elemental abundance observations. The predictions are problematic not only for neutron star mergers, but also for Type Ia supernovae, which may point to shortcomings in binary evolution models.

Context. While it is generally assumed that Class II sources evolve largely in isolation from their environment, many still lie close to molecular clouds and may continue to interact with them. This may result in late accretion of material onto the disk that can significantly influence disk processes and planet formation.
Aims: In order to systematically study late infall of gas onto disks, we identify candidate Class II sources in close vicinity to a reflection nebula (RN) that may be undergoing this process.
Methods: First we targeted Class II sources with known kilo-au scale gas structures - possibly due to late infall of material - and we searched for RNe in their vicinity in optical and near-infrared images. Second, we compiled a catalogue of Class II sources associated with RNe and looked for the large-scale CO structures in archival ALMA data. Using the catalogues of protostars and RNe, we also estimated the probability of Class II sources interacting with surrounding material.
Results: All of the sources with large-scale gas structures also exhibit some reflection nebulosity in their vicinity. Similarly, at least five Class II objects associated with a prominent RNe, and for which adequate ALMA observations are available, were found to have spirals or stream-like structures which may be due to late infall. We report the first detection of these structures around S CrA.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that a non-negligible fraction of Class II disks in nearby star-forming regions may be associated with RNe and could therefore be undergoing late accretion of gas. Surveys of RNe and kilo-au scale gas structures around Class II sources will allow us to better understand the frequency and impact of late-infall phenomena.

This work presents the results from extending the long-term monitoring program of stellar motions within the Galactic Center to include stars with separations of 2-7 arcsec from the compact radio source, Sgr A*. In comparison to the well studied inner 2 arcsec, a longer baseline in time is required to study these stars. With 17 years of data, a sufficient number of positions along the orbits of these outer stars can now be measured. This was achieved by designing a source finder to track the positions of ∼2000 stars in NACO/VLT adaptive-optics-assisted images of the Galactic Center from 2002 to 2019. Of the studied stars, 54 exhibit significant accelerations toward Sgr A*, most of which have separations of between 2 and 3 arcsec from the black hole. A further 20 of these stars have measurable radial velocities from SINFONI/VLT stellar spectra, which allows for the calculation of the orbital elements for these stars, thus increasing the number of known orbits in the Galactic Center by ∼40%. With orbits, we can consider which structural features within the Galactic Center nuclear star cluster these stars belong to. Most of the stars have orbital solutions that are consistent with the known clockwise rotating disk feature. Further, by employing Monte Carlo sampling for stars without radial velocity measurements, we show that many stars have a subset of possible orbits that are consistent with one of the known disk features within the Galactic Center.

We analyse $Z^\prime$ contributions to FCNC processes at the one-loop level. In analogy to the CKM matrix we introduce two $3\times3$ unitary matrices $\hat\Delta_d(Z^\prime)$ and $\hat\Delta_u(Z^\prime)$ which are also hermitian. They govern the flavour interactions mediated by $Z^\prime$ between down-quarks and up-quarks, respectively, with $\hat\Delta_d(Z^\prime)=\hat\Delta_u(Z^\prime)\equiv \hat\Delta_L(Z^\prime)$ for left-handed currents due to the unbroken $\text{SU(2)}_L$ gauge symmetry. This assures the suppression of these contributions to all $Z^\prime$ mediated FCNC processes at the one-loop level. As, in contrast to the GIM mechanism, one-loop $Z^\prime$ contributions to flavour observables in $K$ and $B_{s,d}$ systems are governed by down-quark masses, they are ${\cal O}(m^2_b/M^2_{Z^\prime})$ and negligible. With the ${\cal O}(m^2_t/M^2_{Z^\prime})$ suppression they are likely negligible also in the $D$ system. We present an explicit parametrization of $\hat\Delta_L(Z^\prime)$ in terms of two mixing angles and two complex phases that distinguishes it profoundly from the CKM matrix. This framework can be generalized to purely leptonic decays with matrices analogous to the PMNS matrix but profoundly different from it. Interestingly, the breakdown of flavour universality between the first two generations and the third one, both for quark and lepton couplings to $Z^\prime$, is identified as a consequence of $\hat\Delta_L(Z^\prime)$ being hermitian. The importance of the unitarity for both $\hat\Delta_L(Z^\prime)$ and the CKM matrix in the light of the Cabibbo anomaly is emphasized.

The Euclid space telescope will survey a large dataset of cosmic voids traced by dense samples of galaxies. In this work we estimate its expected performance when exploiting angular photometric void clustering, galaxy weak lensing, and their cross-correlation. To this aim, we implemented a Fisher matrix approach tailored for voids from the Euclid photometric dataset and we present the first forecasts on cosmological parameters that include the void-lensing correlation. We examined two different probe settings, pessimistic and optimistic, both for void clustering and galaxy lensing. We carried out forecast analyses in four model cosmologies, accounting for a varying total neutrino mass, M_ν, and a dynamical dark energy (DE) equation of state, w(z), described by the popular Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization. We find that void clustering constraints on h and Ω_b are competitive with galaxy lensing alone, while errors on n_s decrease thanks to the orthogonality of the two probes in the 2D-projected parameter space. We also note that, as a whole, with respect to assuming the two probes as independent, the inclusion of the void-lensing cross-correlation signal improves parameter constraints by 10 − 15%, and enhances the joint void clustering and galaxy lensing figure of merit (FoM) by 10% and 25%, in the pessimistic and optimistic scenarios, respectively. Finally, when further combining with the spectroscopic galaxy clustering, assumed as an independent probe, we find that, in the most competitive case, the FoM increases by a factor of 4 with respect to the combination of weak lensing and spectroscopic galaxy clustering taken as independent probes. The forecasts presented in this work show that photometric void clustering and its cross-correlation with galaxy lensing deserve to be exploited in the data analysis of the Euclid galaxy survey and promise to improve its constraining power, especially on h, Ω_b, the neutrino mass, and the DE evolution.

This paper is published on behalf of the Euclid Consortium.

We discuss the gravitational wave spectrum produced by first-order phase transitions seeded by domain wall networks. This setup is important for many two-step phase transitions as seen for example in the singlet extension of the standard model. Whenever the correlation length of the domain wall network is larger than the typical bubble size, this setup leads to a gravitational wave signal that is shifted to lower frequencies and with an enhanced amplitude compared to homogeneous phase transitions without domain walls. We discuss our results in light of the recent PTA hints for gravitational waves.

$Z^\prime$ models belong to the ones that can most easily explain the anomalies in $b\to s \mu^+\mu^-$ transitions. However, such an explanation by a single $Z^\prime$ gauge boson, as done in the literature, is severly constrained by the $B^0_s-\bar B_s^0$ mixing. Also the recent finding, hat the mass differences $\Delta M_s$, $\Delta M_d$, the CP-violating parameter $\varepsilon_K$, and the mixing induced CP-asymmetries $S_{\psi K_S}$ and $S_{\psi \phi}$ can be simultaneously well described within the SM without new physics (NP) contributions, is a challenge for $Z^\prime$ models with a single $Z^\prime$ contributing at tree-level to quark mixing. We point out that including a second $Z^\prime$ in the model allows to eliminate simultaneously tree-level contributions to the five $\Delta F=2$ observables used in the determination of the CKM parameters while leaving the room for NP in $\Delta M_K$ and $\Delta M_D$. The latter one can be removed at the price of infecting $\Delta M_s$ or $\Delta M_d$ by NP which is presently disfavoured. This pattern is transparently seen using the new mixing matrix for $Z^\prime$ interactions with quarks. This strategy allows significant tree-level contributions to $K$, $B_s$ and $B_d$ decays thereby allowing to explain the existing anomalies in $b\to s\mu^+\mu^-$ transitions and the anticipated anomaly in the ratio $\varepsilon'/\varepsilon$ much easier than in $Z^\prime$-Single scenarios. The proposed $Z^\prime$-Tandem mechanism bears some similarities to the GIM mechanism for the suppression of the FCNCs in the SM with the role of the charm quark played here by the second $Z^\prime$. However, it differs from the latter profoundly in that only NP contributions to quark mixing are eliminated at tree-level. We discuss briefly the implied flavour patterns in $K$ and $B$ decay observables in this NP scenario.

Context. The BL Lac object 1ES 0647+250 is one of the few distant γ-ray emitting blazars detected at very high energies (VHEs; ≳100 GeV) during a non-flaring state. It was detected with the MAGIC telescopes during a period of low activity in the years 2009−2011 as well as during three flaring activities in the years 2014, 2019, and 2020, with the highest VHE flux in the last epoch. An extensive multi-instrument data set was collected as part of several coordinated observing campaigns over these years.
Aims: We aim to characterise the long-term multi-band flux variability of 1ES 0647+250, as well as its broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) during four distinct activity states selected in four different epochs, in order to constrain the physical parameters of the blazar emission region under certain assumptions.
Methods: We evaluated the variability and correlation of the emission in the different energy bands with the fractional variability and the Z-transformed discrete correlation function, as well as its spectral evolution in X-rays and γ rays. Owing to the controversy in the redshift measurements of 1ES 0647+250 reported in the literature, we also estimated its distance in an indirect manner through a comparison of the GeV and TeV spectra from simultaneous observations with Fermi-LAT and MAGIC during the strongest flaring activity detected to date. Moreover, we interpret the SEDs from the four distinct activity states within the framework of one-component and two-component leptonic models, proposing specific scenarios that are able to reproduce the available multi-instrument data.
Results: We find significant long-term variability, especially in X-rays and VHE γ rays. Furthermore, significant (3−4σ) correlations were found between the radio, optical, and high-energy (HE) γ-ray fluxes, with the radio emission delayed by about ∼400 days with respect to the optical and γ-ray bands. The spectral analysis reveals a harder-when-brighter trend during the non-flaring state in the X-ray domain. However, no clear patterns were observed for either the enhanced states or the HE (30 MeV < E < 100 GeV) and VHE γ-ray emission of the source. The indirect estimation of the redshift yielded a value of z = 0.45 ± 0.05, which is compatible with some of the values reported in the literature. The SEDs related to the low-activity state and the three flaring states of 1ES 0647+250 can be described reasonably well with the both one-component and two-component leptonic scenarios. However, the long-term correlations indicate the need for an additional radio-producing region located about 3.6 pc downstream from the gamma-ray producing region.

The nucleosynthetic isotope dichotomy between carbonaceous (CC) and non-carbonaceous (NC) meteorites has been interpreted as evidence for spatial separation and the coexistence of two distinct planet-forming reservoirs for several million years in the solar protoplanetary disk. The rapid formation of Jupiter's core within one million years after the formation of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) has been suggested as a potential mechanism for spatial and temporal separation. In this scenario, Jupiter's core would open a gap in the disk and trap inward-drifting dust grains in the pressure bump at the outer edge of the gap, separating the inner and outer disk materials from each other. We performed simulations of dust particles in a protoplanetary disk with a gap opened by an early-formed Jupiter core, including dust growth and fragmentation as well as dust transport, using the dust evolution software DustPy. Our numerical experiments indicate that particles trapped in the outer edge of the gap rapidly fragment and are transported through the gap, contaminating the inner disk with outer disk material on a timescale that is inconsistent with the meteoritic record. This suggests that other processes must have initiated or at least contributed to the isotopic separation between the inner and outer Solar System.

Context: Type II supernovae provide a direct way to estimate distances through the expanding photosphere method, which is independent of the cosmic distance ladder. A recently introduced Gaussian process-based method allows for a fast and precise modelling of spectral time series, which puts accurate and computationally cheap Type II-based absolute distance determinations within reach. Aims: The goal of the paper is to assess the internal consistency of this new modelling technique coupled with the distance estimation empirically, using the spectral time series of supernova siblings, i.e. supernovae that exploded in the same host galaxy. Methods: We use a recently developed spectral emulator code, which is trained on \textsc{Tardis} radiative transfer models and is capable of a fast maximum likelihood parameter estimation and spectral fitting. After calculating the relevant physical parameters of supernovae we apply the expanding photosphere method to estimate their distances. Finally, we test the consistency of the obtained values by applying the formalism of Bayes factors. Results: The distances to four different host galaxies were estimated based on two supernovae in each. The distance estimates are not only consistent within the errors for each of the supernova sibling pairs, but in the case of two hosts they are precise to better than 5\%. Conclusions: Even though the literature data we used was not tailored for the requirements of our analysis, the agreement of the final estimates shows that the method is robust and is capable of inferring both precise and consistent distances. By using high-quality spectral time series, this method can provide precise distance estimates independent of the distance ladder, which are of high value for cosmology.

Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) are special among their kind due to the profound structural changes that the central engine experiences at low accretion rates (≲ 10⁻³ in Eddington units). The disappearance of the accretion disc - the blue bump - leaves behind a faint optical nuclear continuum whose nature has been largely debated. This is mainly due to serious limitations on the observational side imposed by the starlight contamination from the host galaxy and the absorption by hydrogen, preventing the detection of these weak nuclei in the infrared (IR) to ultraviolet (UV) range. We addressed these challenges by combining multi-wavelength sub-arcsecond resolution observations - able to isolate the genuine nuclear continuum - with nebular lines in the mid-IR, which allowed us to indirectly probe the shape of the extreme UV continuum. We found that eight of the nearest prototype LLAGN are compatible with pure compact jet emission over more than ten orders of magnitude in frequency. This consists of self-absorbed synchrotron emission from radio to the UV plus the associated synchrotron self-Compton component dominating the emission in the UV to X-ray range. Additionally, the LLAGN continua show two particular characteristics when compared with the typical jet spectrum seen in radio galaxies: (i) a very steep spectral slope in the IR-to-optical/UV range (−3.7 < α₀ < −1.3; F_ν ∝ ν^α₀); and (ii) a very high turnover frequency (0.2-30 THz; 1.3 mm-10 μm) that separates the optically thick radio emission from the optically thin continuum in the IR-to-optical/UV range. These attributes can be explained if the synchrotron continuum is mainly dominated by thermalised particles at the jet base or the corona with considerably high temperatures, whereas only a small fraction of the energy (∼20%) would be distributed along the high-energy power-law tail of accelerated particles. On the other hand, the nebular gas excitation in LLAGN is in agreement with photo-ionisation from inverse Compton radiation (α_x ∼ −0.7), which would dominate the nuclear continuum shortwards of ∼3000 Å, albeit a possible contribution from low-velocity shocks (< 500 km s⁻¹) to the line excitation cannot be discarded. No sign of a standard hot accretion disc is seen in our sample of LLAGN, nevertheless, a weak cold disc (< 3000 K) is detected at the nucleus of the Sombrero galaxy, though its contribution to the nebular gas excitation is negligible. Our results suggest that the continuum emission in LLAGN is dominated at all wavelengths by undeveloped jets, powered by a thermalised particle distribution with high energies, on average. This is in agreement with their compact morphology and their high turnover frequencies. This behaviour is similar to that observed in peaked-spectrum radio sources and also compact jets in quiescent black hole X-ray binaries. Nevertheless, the presence of extended jet emission at kiloparsec scales for some of the objects in the sample is indicative of past jet activity, suggesting that these nuclei may undergo a rejuvenation event after a more active phase that produced their extended jets. These results imply that the dominant channel for energy release in LLAGN is mainly kinetic via the jet, rather than the radiative one. This has important implications in the context of galaxy evolution, since LLAGN probably represent a major but underestimated source of kinetic feedback in galaxies.

The flux distribution of the nine LLAGN in the sample are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/670/A22

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.

Resistive strip Micromegas (MICRO-MEsh GAseous Structure) detectors provide even at square meter sizes a high spatial resolution for the reconstruction of Minimum Ionizing Particles (MIPs) like muons. Micromegas detectors consist of three parallel planar structures. A cathode, a grounded mesh and a segmented anode structure form the detector. Square meter sizes challenge the high-voltage stability during operation, especially when using the frequently used gas mixture of Ar:CO₂ (93:7 vol%) with low quencher content. To improve the HV-stability and to enhance the discharge quenching different gas mixtures have been investigated. A very promising one has an 2% admixture of isobutane forming the ternary gas Ar:CO₂:iC₄H₁₀ (93:5:2 vol%). Long term irradiation studies investigating both gas mixtures interrupted by cosmic muon tracking efficiency measurements have been performed by irradiation with neutrons and gammas from a 10 GBq Am-Be source for a period of two years. The comparison shows gain increase under Ar:CO₂:iC₄H₁₀ and a considerably improved HV-stable operation of the detector. It is investigated for any performance deterioration for each of the two gas mixtures with focus on pulse-height and changes of efficiency.

MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is an alternative to the standard Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm which proposes an alteration of Newton's laws of motion at low accelerations, characterized by a universal acceleration scale a₀. It attempts to explain observations of galactic rotation curves and predicts a specific scaling relation of the baryonic and total acceleration in galaxies, referred to as the Rotational Acceleration Relation (RAR), which can be equivalently formulated as a Mass Discrepancy Acceleration Relation (MDAR). The appearance of these relations in observational data such as SPARC has lead to investigations into the existence of similar relations in cosmological simulations using the standard ΛCDM model. Here, we report the existence of an RAR and MDAR similar to that predicted by MOND in ΛCDM using a large sample of galaxies extracted from a cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation (Magneticum). Furthermore, by using galaxies in Magneticum at different redshifts, a prediction for the evolution of the inferred acceleration parameter a₀ with cosmic time is derived by fitting a MOND force law to these galaxies. In Magneticum, the best fit for a₀ is found to increase by a factor ≃3 from redshift z = 0 to z = 2.3. This offers a powerful test from cosmological simulations to distinguish between MOND and ΛCDM observationally.

The CRESST experiment employs cryogenic calorimeters for the sensitive measurement of nuclear recoils induced by dark matter particles. The recorded signals need to undergo a careful cleaning process to avoid wrongly reconstructed recoil energies caused by pile-up and read-out artefacts. We frame this process as a time series classification task and propose to automate it with neural networks. With a data set of over one million labeled records from 68 detectors, recorded between 2013 and 2019 by CRESST, we test the capability of four commonly used neural network architectures to learn the data cleaning task. Our best performing model achieves a balanced accuracy of 0.932 on our test set. We show on an exemplary detector that about half of the wrongly predicted events are in fact wrongly labeled events, and a large share of the remaining ones have a context-dependent ground truth. We furthermore evaluate the recall and selectivity of our classifiers with simulated data. The results confirm that the trained classifiers are well suited for the data cleaning task.

We present a detailed overview of the science goals and predictions for the Prime-Cam direct-detection camera-spectrometer being constructed by the CCAT-prime collaboration for dedicated use on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST). The FYST is a wide-field, 6 m aperture submillimeter telescope being built (first light in late 2023) by an international consortium of institutions led by Cornell University and sited at more than 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Prime-Cam is one of two instruments planned for FYST and will provide unprecedented spectroscopic and broadband measurement capabilities to address important astrophysical questions ranging from Big Bang cosmology through reionization and the formation of the first galaxies to star formation within our own Milky Way. Prime-Cam on the FYST will have a mapping speed that is over 10 times greater than existing and near-term facilities for high-redshift science and broadband polarimetric imaging at frequencies above 300 GHz. We describe details of the science program enabled by this system and our preliminary survey strategies.

Joint analyses of cross-correlations between measurements of galaxy positions, galaxy lensing, and lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) offer powerful constraints on the large-scale structure of the Universe. In a forthcoming analysis, we will present cosmological constraints from the analysis of such cross-correlations measured using Year 3 data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and CMB data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. Here we present two key ingredients of this analysis: (1) an improved CMB lensing map in the SPT-SZ survey footprint and (2) the analysis methodology that will be used to extract cosmological information from the cross-correlation measurements. Relative to previous lensing maps made from the same CMB observations, we have implemented techniques to remove contamination from the thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect, enabling the extraction of cosmological information from smaller angular scales of the cross-correlation measurements than in previous analyses with DES Year 1 data. We describe our model for the cross-correlations between these maps and DES data, and validate our modeling choices to demonstrate the robustness of our analysis. We then forecast the expected cosmological constraints from the galaxy survey-CMB lensing auto and cross-correlations. We find that the galaxy-CMB lensing and galaxy shear-CMB lensing correlations will on their own provide a constraint on S₈=σ₈√{Ω_m/0.3 } at the few percent level, providing a powerful consistency check for the DES-only constraints. We explore scenarios where external priors on shear calibration are removed, finding that the joint analysis of CMB lensing cross-correlations can provide constraints on the shear calibration amplitude at the 5% to 10% level.

For Majorana fermions the anapole moment is the only allowed electromagnetic multipole moment. In this work we calculate the anapole moment induced at one-loop by the Yukawa and gauge interactions of a Majorana fermion, using the pinch technique to ensure the finiteness and gauge-invariance of the result. As archetypical example of a Majorana fermion, we calculate the anapole moment for the lightest neutralino in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, and specifically in the bino, wino and higgsino limits. Finally, we briefly discuss the implications of the anapole moment for the direct detection of dark matter in the form of Majorana fermions.

We investigate the asymptotia of decelerating and spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetimes at future null infinity. We find that the asymptotic algebra of diffeomorphisms can be enlarged to the recently discovered Weyl-Bondi-van der Burg-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) algebra for asymptotically flat spacetimes by relaxing the boundary conditions. This algebra remains undeformed in the cosmological setting contrary to previous extensions of the BMS algebra. We then study the equations of motion for asymptotically FLRW spacetimes with finite fluxes and show that the dynamics is fully constrained by the energy-momentum tensor of the source. Finally, we propose an expression for the charges that are associated with the cosmological supertranslations and whose evolution equation features a novel contribution arising from the Hubble-Lemaître flow.

Context. X-ray observations of galaxies with high spatial resolution instruments such as Chandra have revealed that major contributions to their diffuse emission originate from X-ray-bright point sources in the galactic stellar field. It has been established that these point sources, called X-ray binaries, are accreting compact objects with stellar donors in a binary configuration. They are classified according to the predominant accretion process: wind-fed in the case of high-mass donors and Roche-lobe mass transfer in the case of low-mass donors. Observationally, it is challenging to reliably disentangle these two populations from each other because of their similar spectra.
Aims: We provide a numerical framework with which spatially and spectrally accurate representations of X-ray binary populations can be studied from hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. We construct average spectra, accounting for a hot gas component, and verify the emergence of observed scaling relations between galaxy-wide X-ray luminosity (L_X) and stellar mass (M_*) and between L_X and the star-formation rate (SFR).
Methods: Using simulated galaxy halos extracted from the (48 h⁻¹ cMpc)³ volume of the Magneticum Pathfinder cosmological simulations at z = 0.07, we generate mock spectra with the X-ray photon-simulator PHOX. We extend the PHOX code to account for the stellar component in the simulation and study the resulting contribution in composite galactic spectra.
Results: Well-known X-ray binary scaling relations with galactic SFR and M_* emerge self-consistently, verifying our numerical approach. Average X-ray luminosity functions are perfectly reproduced up to the one-photon luminosity limit. Comparing our resulting L_X − SFR − M_* relation for X-ray binaries with recent observations of field galaxies in the Virgo galaxy cluster, we find significant overlap. Invoking a metallicity-dependent model for high-mass X-ray binaries yields an anticorrelation between mass-weighted stellar metallicity and SFR-normalized luminosity. The spatial distribution of high-mass X-ray binaries coincides with star-formation regions of simulated galaxies, while low-mass X-ray binaries follow the stellar mass surface density. X-ray binary emission is the dominant contribution in the hard X-ray band (2-10 keV) in the absence of an actively accreting central super-massive black hole, and it provides a ∼50% contribution in the soft X-ray band (0.5-2 keV), rivaling the hot gas component.
Conclusions: We conclude that our modeling remains consistent with observations despite the uncertainties connected to our approach. The predictive power and easily extendable framework hold great value for future investigations of galactic X-ray spectra.

Cross-correlations of galaxy positions and galaxy shears with maps of gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are sensitive to the distribution of large-scale structure in the Universe. Such cross-correlations are also expected to be immune to some of the systematic effects that complicate correlation measurements internal to galaxy surveys. We present measurements and modeling of the cross-correlations between galaxy positions and galaxy lensing measured in the first three years of data from the Dark Energy Survey with CMB lensing maps derived from a combination of data from the 2500 deg² SPT-SZ survey conducted with the South Pole Telescope and full-sky data from the Planck satellite. The CMB lensing maps used in this analysis have been constructed in a way that minimizes biases from the thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect, making them well suited for cross-correlation studies. The total signal-to-noise of the cross-correlation measurements is 23.9 (25.7) when using a choice of angular scales optimized for a linear (nonlinear) galaxy bias model. We use the cross-correlation measurements to obtain constraints on cosmological parameters. For our fiducial galaxy sample, which consist of four bins of magnitude-selected galaxies, we find constraints of Ω_m=0.272_-0.052^+0.032 and S₈≡σ₈√{Ω_m/0.3 }=0.736_-0.028^+0.032 (Ω_m=0.245_-0.044^+0.026 and S₈=0.734_-0.028^+0.035 ) when assuming linear (nonlinear) galaxy bias in our modeling. Considering only the cross-correlation of galaxy shear with CMB lensing, we find Ω_m=0.270_-0.061^+0.043 and S₈=0.740_-0.029^+0.034 . Our constraints on S₈ are consistent with recent cosmic shear measurements, but lower than the values preferred by primary CMB measurements from Planck.

Aims. We want to find the distribution of initial conditions that best reproduces disc observations at the population level. Methods. We first ran a parameter study using a 1D model that includes the viscous evolution of a gas disc, dust, and pebbles, coupled with an emission model to compute the millimetre flux observable with ALMA. This was used to train a machine learning surrogate model that can compute the relevant quantity for comparison with observations in seconds. This surrogate model was used to perform parameter studies and synthetic disc populations. Results. Performing a parameter study, we find that internal photoevaporation leads to a lower dependency of disc lifetime on stellar mass than external photoevaporation. This dependence should be investigated in the future. Performing population synthesis, we find that under the combined losses of internal and external photoevaporation, discs are too short lived. Conclusions. To match observational constraints, future models of disc evolution need to include one or a combination of the following processes: infall of material to replenish the discs, shielding of the disc from internal photoevaporation due to magnetically driven disc winds, and extinction of external high-energy radiation. Nevertheless, disc properties in low-external-photoevaporation regions can be reproduced by having more massive and compact discs. Here, the optimum values of the $\alpha$ viscosity parameter lie between $3\times10^{-4}$ and $10^{-3}$ and with internal photoevaporation being the main mode of disc dispersal.

Recent experimental results in B physics from Belle, BABAR, and LHCb suggest new physics (NP) in the weak b →c charged-current processes. Here we focus specifically on the decay modes B^¯0→D^*+ℓ-ν^{¯ with ℓ=e and μ . The world averages of the ratios R_D and R_D* currently differ from the Standard Model (SM) predictions by 3.4 σ while recently a new anomaly has been observed in the forward-backward asymmetry measurement, A_FB , in B¯0→D*+μ-ν ¯ decay. It is found that Δ A_FB=A_FB(B →D*μ ν )-A_FB(B →D*e ν ) is around 4.1 σ away from the SM prediction in an analysis of 2019 Belle data. In this work we explore possible solutions to the Δ A_FB anomaly and point out correlated NP signals in other angular observables. These correlations between angular observables must be present in the case of beyond the Standard Model physics. We stress the importance of Δ type observables that are obtained by taking the difference of the observable for the muon and the electron mode. These quantities cancel form-factor uncertainties in the SM and allow for clean tests of NP. These intriguing results also suggest an urgent need for improved simulation and analysis techniques in B¯0→D*+ℓ-}ν^{¯ decays. Here we also describe a new Monte Carlo event generator tool based on EVTGEN that we developed to allow simulation of the NP signatures in B¯0→D*+ℓ-}ν^{, which arise due to the interference between the SM and NP amplitudes. We then discuss prospects for improved observables sensitive to NP couplings with 1, 5, 50, and 250 ab -1 of Belle II data, which seem to be ideally suited for this class of measurements.}

We study the relation between the metallicities of ionised and neutral gas in star-forming galaxies at z=1-3 using the EAGLE cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations. This is done by constructing a dense grid of sightlines through the simulated galaxies and obtaining the star formation rate- and HI column density-weighted metallicities, Z_{SFR} and Z_{HI}, for each sightline as proxies for the metallicities of ionised and neutral gas, respectively. We find Z_{SFR} > Z_{HI} for almost all sightlines, with their difference generally increasing with decreasing metallicity. The stellar masses of galaxies do not have a significant effect on this trend, but the positions of the sightlines with respect to the galaxy centres play an important role: the difference between the two metallicities decreases when moving towards the galaxy centres, and saturates to a minimum value in the central regions of galaxies, irrespective of redshift and stellar mass. This implies that the mixing of the two gas phases is most efficient in the central regions of galaxies where sightlines generally have high column densities of HI. However, a high HI column density alone does not guarantee a small difference between the two metallicities. In galaxy outskirts, the inefficiency of the mixing of star-forming gas with HI seems to dominate over the dilution of heavy elements in HI through mixing with the pristine gas. We find good agreement between the limited amount of available observational data and the Z_{SFR}-Z_{HI} relation predicted by the EAGLE simulations, but more data is required for stringent tests.

The Standard Model (SM) does not contain by definition any new physics (NP) contributions to any observable but contains four CKM parameters which are not predicted by this model. We point out that if these four parameters are determined in a global fit which includes processes that are infected by NP and therefore by sources outside the SM, the resulting so-called SM contributions to rare decay branching ratios cannot be considered as genuine SM contributions to the latter. On the other hand genuine SM predictions, that are free from the CKM dependence, can be obtained for suitable ratios of the K and B rare decay branching ratios to Δ M_s , Δ M_d and | ε_K| , all calculated within the SM. These three observables contain by now only small hadronic uncertainties and are already well measured so that rather precise SM predictions for the ratios in question can be obtained. In this context the rapid test of NP infection in the Δ F =2 sector is provided by a | V_cb|-γ plot that involves Δ M_s , Δ M_d , | ε_K| , and the mixing induced CP-asymmetry S_{ψ KS}. As with the present hadronic matrix elements this test turns out to be negative, assuming negligible NP infection in the Δ F =2 sector and setting the values of these four observables to the experimental ones, allows to obtain SM predictions for all K and B rare decay branching ratios that are most accurate to date and as a byproduct to obtain the full CKM matrix on the basis of Δ F =2 transitions alone. Using this strategy we obtain SM predictions for 26 branching ratios for rare semileptonic and leptonic K and B decays with the μ⁺μ^- pair or the ν ν ¯ pair in the final state. Most interesting turn out to be the anomalies in the low q² bin in B⁺→K⁺μ⁺μ^- (5.1 σ ) and B_s→ϕ μ⁺μ^- (4.8 σ ).

We update the Standard Model (SM) predictions for B-meson lifetimes within the heavy quark expansion (HQE). Including for the first time the contribution of the Darwin operator, SU(3)_F breaking corrections to the matrix element of dimension-six four-quark operators and the so-called eye-contractions, we obtain for the total widths Γ (B⁺)=(0.58_−0.07^+0.11)ps⁻¹,Γ (B_d)=(0.63_−0.07^+0.11)ps⁻¹,Γ (B_s)=(0.63_−0.07^+0.11)ps⁻¹, and for the lifetime ratios τ(B⁺)/τ(B_d) = 1.086 ± 0.022, τ(B_s)/τ(B_d) = 1.003 ± 0.006 (1.028 ± 0.011). The two values for the last observable arise from using two different sets of input for the non-perturbative parameters μ_π²(B_d),μ_G²(B_d), and ρ_D³(B_d) as well as from different estimates of the SU(3)_F breaking in these parameters. Our results are overall in very good agreement with the corresponding experimental data, however, there seems to emerge a tension in τ(B_s)/τ(B_d) when considering the second set of input parameters. Specifically, this observable is extremely sensitive to the size of the parameter ρ_D³(B_d) and of the SU(3)_F breaking effects in μ_π²,μ_G² and ρ_D³; hence, it is of utmost importance to be able to better constrain all these parameters. In this respect, an extraction of μ_π²(B_s),μ_G²(B_s),ρ_D³(B_s) from future experimental data on inclusive semileptonic B_s-meson decays or from direct non-perturbative calculations, as well as more insights about the value of ρ_D³(B ) extracted from fits to inclusive semileptonic B-decays, would be very helpful in reducing the corresponding theory uncertainties.

Gravitational time delays provide a powerful one-step measurement of H₀, independent of all other probes. One key ingredient in time-delay cosmography are high-accuracy lens models. Those are currently expensive to obtain, both, in terms of computing and investigator time (10⁵-10⁶ CPU hours and ~0.5-1 yr, respectively). Major improvements in modelling speed are therefore necessary to exploit the large number of lenses that are forecast to be discovered over the current decade. In order to bypass this roadblock, we develop an automated modelling pipeline and apply it to a sample of 31 lens systems, observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in multiple bands. Our automated pipeline can derive models for 30/31 lenses with few hours of human time and <100 CPU hours of computing time for a typical system. For each lens, we provide measurements of key parameters and predictions of magnification as well as time delays for the multiple images. We characterize the cosmography-readiness of our models using the stability of differences in the Fermat potential (proportional to time delay) with respect to modelling choices. We find that for 10/30 lenses, our models are cosmography or nearly cosmography grade (<3 per cent and 3-5 per cent variations). For 6/30 lenses, the models are close to cosmography grade (5-10 per cent). These results utilize informative priors and will need to be confirmed by further analysis. However, they are also likely to improve by extending the pipeline modelling sequence and options. In conclusion, we show that uniform cosmography grade modelling of large strong lens samples is within reach.

Strong gravitational lensing and microlensing of supernovae (SNe) are emerging as a new probe of cosmology and astrophysics in recent years. We provide an overview of this nascent research field, starting with a summary of the first discoveries of strongly lensed SNe. We describe the use of the time delays between multiple SN images as a way to measure cosmological distances and thus constrain cosmological parameters, particularly the Hubble constant, whose value is currently under heated debates. New methods for measuring the time delays in lensed SNe have been developed, and the sample of lensed SNe from the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is expected to provide competitive cosmological constraints. Lensed SNe are also powerful astrophysical probes. We review the usage of lensed SNe to constrain SN progenitors, acquire high-z SN spectra through lensing magnifications, infer SN sizes via microlensing, and measure properties of dust in galaxies. The current challenge in the field is the rarity and difficulty in finding lensed SNe. We describe various methods and ongoing efforts to find these spectacular explosions, forecast the properties of the expected sample of lensed SNe from upcoming surveys particularly the LSST, and summarize the observational follow-up requirements to enable the various scientific studies. We anticipate the upcoming years to be exciting with a boom in lensed SN discoveries.

Context. Weak lensing and clustering statistics beyond two-point functions can capture non-Gaussian information about the matter density field, thereby improving the constraints on cosmological parameters relative to the mainstream methods based on correlation functions and power spectra.
Aims: This paper presents a cosmological analysis of the fourth data release of the Kilo Degree Survey based on the density split statistics, which measures the mean shear profiles around regions classified according to foreground densities. The latter is constructed from a bright galaxy sample, which we further split into red and blue samples, allowing us to probe their respective connection to the underlying dark matter density.
Methods: We used the state-of-the-art model of the density splitting statistics and validated its robustness against mock data infused with known systematic effects such as intrinsic galaxy alignment and baryonic feedback.
Results: After marginalising over the photometric redshift uncertainty and the residual shear calibration bias, we measured for the full KiDS-bright sample a structure growth parameter of S_8\equiv σ₈ \sqrt{Ω_m/0.3}=0.73^+0.03_-0.02 that is competitive and consistent with two-point cosmic shear results, a matter density of Ω_m = 0.27 ± 0.02, and a constant galaxy bias of b = 1.37 ± 0.10.

In this paper, we investigate the asymptotic structure of gauge theories in decelerating and spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universes. Firstly, we thoroughly explore the asymptotic symmetries of electrodynamics in this background, which reveals a major inconsistency already present in the flat case. Taking advantage of this treatment, we derive the associated memory effects, discussing their regime of validity and differences with respect to their flat counterparts. Next, we extend our analysis to non-Abelian Yang-Mills, coupling it dynamically and simultaneously to a Dirac spinor and a complex scalar field. Within this novel setting, we examine the possibility of constructing Poisson superbrackets based on the covariant phase space formalism.

We present cosmological constraints from the analysis of two-point correlation functions between galaxy positions and galaxy lensing measured in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data and measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. When jointly analyzing the DES-only two-point functions and the DES cross-correlations with SPT +P l a n c k CMB lensing, we find Ω_m=0.344 ±0.030 and S₈≡σ₈(Ω_m/0.3 )^0.5=0.773 ±0.016 , assuming Λ CDM . When additionally combining with measurements of the CMB lensing autospectrum, we find Ω_m=0.306_-0.021^+0.018 and S₈=0.792 ±0.012 . The high signal-to-noise of the CMB lensing cross-correlations enables several powerful consistency tests of these results, including comparisons with constraints derived from cross-correlations only, and comparisons designed to test the robustness of the galaxy lensing and clustering measurements from DES. Applying these tests to our measurements, we find no evidence of significant biases in the baseline cosmological constraints from the DES-only analyses or from the joint analyses with CMB lensing cross-correlations. However, the CMB lensing cross-correlations suggest possible problems with the correlation function measurements using alternative lens galaxy samples, in particular the REDMAGIC galaxies and high-redshift MAGLIM galaxies, consistent with the findings of previous studies. We use the CMB lensing cross-correlations to identify directions for further investigating these problems.

Thermal bombs are a widely used method to artificially trigger explosions of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) to determine their nucleosynthesis or ejecta and remnant properties. Recently, their use in spherically symmetric (1D) hydrodynamic simulations led to the result that ^56,57Ni and ⁴⁴Ti are massively underproduced compared to observational estimates for Supernova 1987A, if the explosions are slow, i.e. if the explosion mechanism of CCSNe releases the explosion energy on long time-scales. It was concluded that rapid explosions are required to match observed abundances, i.e. the explosion mechanism must provide the CCSN energy nearly instantaneously on time-scales of some ten to order 100 ms. This result, if valid, would disfavour the neutrino-heating mechanism, which releases the CCSN energy on time-scales of seconds. Here, we demonstrate by 1D hydrodynamic simulations and nucleosynthetic post-processing that these conclusions are a consequence of disregarding the initial collapse of the stellar core in the thermal-bomb modelling before the bomb releases the explosion energy. We demonstrate that the anticorrelation of ⁵⁶Ni yield and energy-injection time-scale vanishes when the initial collapse is included and that it can even be reversed, i.e. more ⁵⁶Ni is made by slower explosions, when the collapse proceeds to small radii similar to those where neutrino heating takes place in CCSNe. We also show that the ⁵⁶Ni production in thermal-bomb explosions is sensitive to the chosen mass cut and that a fixed mass layer or fixed volume for the energy deposition cause only secondary differences. Moreover, we propose a most appropriate setup for thermal bombs.

Context. The space density of X-ray-luminous, blindly selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) traces the population of rapidly accreting super-massive black holes through cosmic time. It is encoded in the X-ray luminosity function, whose bright end remains poorly constrained in the first billion years after the Big Bang as X-ray surveys have thus far lacked the required cosmological volume. With the eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS), the largest contiguous and homogeneous X-ray survey to date, X-ray AGN population studies can now be extended to new regions of the luminosity-redshift space (L_{2 − 10 keV} > 10⁴⁵ erg s⁻¹ and z > 6).
Aims: The current study aims at identifying luminous quasars at z > 5.7 among X-ray-selected sources in the eFEDS field in order to place a lower limit on black hole accretion well into the epoch of re-ionisation. A secondary goal is the characterisation of the physical properties of these extreme coronal emitters at high redshifts.
Methods: Cross-matching eFEDS catalogue sources to optical counterparts from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, we confirm the low significance detection with eROSITA of a previously known, optically faint z = 6.56 quasar from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) survey. We obtained a pointed follow-up observation of the source with the Chandra X-ray telescope in order to confirm the low-significance eROSITA detection. Using new near-infrared spectroscopy, we derived the physical properties of the super-massive black hole. Finally, we used this detection to infer a lower limit on the black hole accretion density rate at z > 6.
Results: The Chandra observation confirms the eFEDS source as the most distant blind X-ray detection to date. The derived X-ray luminosity is high with respect to the rest-frame optical emission of the quasar. With a narrow MgII line, low derived black hole mass, and high Eddington ratio, as well as its steep photon index, the source shows properties that are similar to local narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, which are thought to be powered by young super-massive black holes. In combination with a previous high-redshift quasar detection in the field, we show that quasars with L_{2 − 10 keV} > 10⁴⁵ erg s⁻¹ dominate accretion onto super-massive black holes at z ∼ 6.

We present a high-resolution kinematic study of the massive main-sequence star-forming galaxy (SFG) SDSS J090122.37+181432.3 (J0901) at z = 2.259, using ~0.″36 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO(3-2) and ~0.″1-0.″5 SINFONI/VLT Hα observations. J0901 is a rare, strongly lensed but otherwise normal massive ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\sim 11$ ) main-sequence SFG, offering a unique opportunity to study a typical massive SFG under the microscope of lensing. Through forward dynamical modeling incorporating lensing deflection, we fit the CO and Hα kinematics in the image plane out to about one disk effective radius (R _e ~ 4 kpc) at an ~600 pc delensed physical resolution along the kinematic major axis. Our results show high intrinsic dispersions of the cold molecular and warm ionized gas (σ _0,mol. ~ 40 km s^-1 and σ _0,ion. ~ 66 km s^-1) that remain constant out to R _e; a moderately low dark matter fraction (f _DM ~ 0.3-0.4) within R _e; and a centrally peaked Toomre Q parameter-agreeing well with the previously established σ ₀ versus z, f _DM versus Σ_baryon, and Q's radial trends using large-sample non-lensed main-sequence SFGs. Our data further reveal a high stellar mass concentration within ~1-2 kpc with little molecular gas, and a clumpy molecular gas ring-like structure at R ~ 2-4 kpc, in line with the inside-out quenching scenario. Our further analysis indicates that J0901 had assembled half of its stellar mass only ~400 Myr before its observed cosmic time, and the cold gas ring and dense central stellar component are consistent with signposts of a recent wet compaction event of a highly turbulent disk found in recent simulations.

The large total infrared (TIR) luminosities (L_TIR; ≳10¹² L_⊙) observed in z ~ 6 quasars are generally converted into high star-formation rates (SFRs; $\gtrsim\!{10}^2~{\rm M}_{\odot }\, {\rm yr}^{-1}$) of their host galaxies. However, these estimates rely on the assumption that dust heating is dominated by stellar radiation, neglecting the contribution from the central active galactic nucleus (AGN). We test the validity of this assumption by combining cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with radiative transfer calculations. We find that, when AGN radiation is included in the simulations, the mass (luminosity)-weighted dust temperature in the host galaxies increases from T ≈ 50 K (T ≈ 70 K) to T ≈ 80 K (T ≈ 200 K), suggesting that AGN effectively heats the bulk of dust in the host galaxy. We compute the AGN-host galaxy SFR from the synthetic spectral energy distribution by using standard SFR - L_TIR relations, and compare the results with the 'true' values in the simulations. We find that the SFR is overestimated by a factor of ≈3 (≳10) for AGN bolometric luminosities of L_bol ≈ 10¹² L_⊙ (≳10¹³ L_⊙), implying that the SFRs of z ~ 6 quasars can be overestimated by over an order of magnitude.

The dispersion of fast radio bursts (FRBs) is a measure of the large-scale electron distribution. It enables measurements of cosmological parameters, especially of the expansion rate and the cosmic baryon fraction. The number of events is expected to increase dramatically over the coming years, and of particular interest are bursts with identified host galaxy and therefore redshift information. In this paper, we explore the covariance matrix of the dispersion measure (DM) of FRBs induced by the large-scale structure, as bursts from a similar direction on the sky are correlated by long wavelength modes of the electron distribution. We derive analytical expressions for the covariance matrix and examine the impact on parameter estimation from the FRB dispersion measure - redshift relation. The covariance also contains additional information that is missed by analysing the events individually. For future samples containing over $\sim300$ FRBs with host identification over the full sky, the covariance needs to be taken into account for unbiased inference, and the effect increases dramatically for smaller patches of the sky.

Wide, deep, blind continuum surveys at submillimetre/millimetre (submm/mm) wavelengths are required to provide a full inventory of the dusty, distant Universe. However, conducting such surveys to the necessary depth, with sub-arcsec angular resolution, is prohibitively time-consuming, even for the most advanced submm/mm telescopes. Here, we report the most recent results from the ALMACAL project, which exploits the 'free' calibration data from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) to map the lines of sight towards and beyond the ALMA calibrators. ALMACAL has now covered 1001 calibrators, with a total sky coverage around 0.3 deg², distributed across the sky accessible from the Atacama desert, and has accumulated more than 1000 h of integration. The depth reached by combining multiple visits to each field makes ALMACAL capable of searching for faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs), with detections at multiple frequencies to constrain the emission mechanism. Based on the most up-to-date ALMACAL data base, we report the detection of 186 DSFGs with flux densities down to S_{870 µm} ~ 0.2 mJy, comparable with existing ALMA large surveys but less susceptible to cosmic variance. We report the number counts at five wavelengths between 870 μm and 3 mm, in ALMA bands 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, providing a benchmark for models of galaxy formation and evolution. By integrating the observed number counts and the best-fitting functions, we also present the resolved fraction of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) and the CIB spectral shape. Combining existing surveys, ALMA has currently resolved about half of the CIB in the submm/mm regime.

The Min proteins constitute the best-studied model system for pattern formation in cell biology. We theoretically predict and experimentally show that the propagation direction of in vitro Min protein patterns can be controlled by a hydrodynamic flow of the bulk solution. We find downstream propagation of Min wave patterns for low MinE:MinD concentration ratios, upstream propagation for large ratios, but multistability of both propagation directions in between. Whereas downstream propagation can be described by a minimal model that disregards MinE conformational switching, upstream propagation can be reproduced by a reduced switch model, where increased MinD bulk concentrations on the upstream side promote protein attachment. Our study demonstrates that a differential flow, where bulk flow advects protein concentrations in the bulk, but not on the surface, can control surface-pattern propagation. This suggests that flow can be used to probe molecular features and to constrain mathematical models for pattern-forming systems.

We perform an effective field theory analysis to correlate the charged lepton flavor violating processes ℓ_i→ℓ_jγ γ and ℓ_i→ℓ_jγ . Using the current upper bounds on the rate for ℓ_i→ℓ_jγ , we derive model-independent upper limits on the rates for ℓ_i→ℓ_jγ γ . Our indirect limits are about three orders of magnitude stronger than the direct bounds from current searches for μ →e γ γ , and four orders of magnitude better than current bounds for τ →ℓγ γ . We also stress the relevance of Belle II or a Super Tau Charm Facility to discover the rare decay τ →ℓγ γ .

In some scenarios, the dark matter particle predominantly scatters inelastically with the target, producing a heavier neutral particle in the final state. In this class of scenarios, the reach in parameter space of direct detection experiments is limited by the velocity of the dark matter particle, usually taken as the escape velocity from the Milky Way. On the other hand, it has been argued that a fraction of the dark matter particles in the Solar System could be bound to the envelope of the Local Group or to the Virgo Supercluster, and not to our Galaxy, and therefore could carry velocities larger than the escape velocity from the Milky Way. In this paper we estimate the enhancement in sensitivity of current direct detection experiments to inelastic dark matter scatterings with nucleons or electrons due to the non-galactic diffuse components, and we discuss the implications for some well motivated models.

The next-generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) will be a significant enhancement of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) array, with ∼10 new antennas and instrumental upgrades of existing antennas. The increased uv-coverage, sensitivity, and frequency coverage allow a wide range of new science opportunities to be explored. The ngEHT Analysis Challenges have been launched to inform the development of the ngEHT array design, science objectives, and analysis pathways. For each challenge, synthetic EHT and ngEHT datasets are generated from theoretical source models and released to the challenge participants, who analyze the datasets using image reconstruction and other methods. The submitted analysis results are evaluated with quantitative metrics. In this work, we report on the first two ngEHT Analysis Challenges. These have focused on static and dynamical models of M87* and Sgr A* and shown that high-quality movies of the extended jet structure of M87* and near-horizon hourly timescale variability of Sgr A* can be reconstructed by the reference ngEHT array in realistic observing conditions using current analysis algorithms. We identify areas where there is still room for improvement of these algorithms and analysis strategies. Other science cases and arrays will be explored in future challenges.

Current best limits on the 21 cm signal during reionization are provided at large scales (≳100 Mpc). To model these scales, enormous simulation volumes are required, which are computationally expensive. We find that the primary source of uncertainty at these large scales is sample variance, which determines the minimum size of simulations required to analyse current and upcoming observations. In large-scale structure simulations, the method of `fixing' the initial conditions (ICs) to exactly follow the initial power spectrum and `pairing' two simulations with exactly out-of-phase ICs has been shown to significantly reduce sample variance. Here we apply this `fixing and pairing' (F&P) approach to reionization simulations whose clustering signal originates from both density fluctuations and reionization bubbles. Using a semi-numerical code, we show that with the traditional method, simulation boxes of L ≃ 500 (300) Mpc are required to model the large-scale clustering signal at k = 0.1 Mpc⁻¹ with a precision of 5 (10)%. Using F&P, the simulation boxes can be reduced by a factor of 2 to obtain the same precision level. We conclude that the computing costs can be reduced by at least a factor of 4 when using the F&P approach.

The reservoir of molecular gas (H₂) represents the fuel for the star formation (SF) of a galaxy. Connecting the star formation rate (SFR) to the available H₂ is key to accurately model SF in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. We investigate how modifying the underlying modelling of H₂ and the description of stellar feedback in low-metallicity environments (LMF, i.e. low-metallicity stellar feedback) in cosmological zoomed-in simulations of a Milky Way-size halo influences the formation history of the forming, spiral galaxy, and its final properties. We exploit two different models to compute the molecular fraction of cold gas ($f_{\rm H_{2}}$): (i) the theoretical model by Krumholz et al. (2009b) and (ii) the phenomenological prescription by Blitz and Rosolowsky (2006). We find that the model adopted to estimate $f_{\rm H_{2}}$ plays a key role in determining final properties and in shaping the morphology of the galaxy. The clumpier interstellar medium (ISM) and the more complex H₂ distribution that the Krumholz et al. model predicts result in better agreement with observations of nearby disc galaxies. This shows how crucial it is to link the SFR to the physical properties of the star-forming, molecular ISM. The additional source of energy that LMF supplies in a metal-poor ISM is key in controlling SF at high redshift and in regulating the reservoir of SF across cosmic time. Not only is LMF able to regulate cooling properties of the ISM, but it also reduces the stellar mass of the galaxy bulge. These findings can foster the improvement of the numerical modelling of SF in cosmological simulations.

Study Analysis Group 21 (SAG21) of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group was organized to study the effect of stellar contamination on space-based transmission spectroscopy, a method for studying exoplanetary atmospheres by measuring the wavelength-dependent radius of a planet as it transits its star. Transmission spectroscopy relies on a precise understanding of the spectrum of the star being occulted. However, stars are not homogeneous, constant light sources but have temporally evolving photospheres and chromospheres with inhomogeneities like spots, faculae, plages, granules, and flares. This SAG brought together an interdisciplinary team of more than 100 scientists, with observers and theorists from the heliophysics, stellar astrophysics, planetary science, and exoplanetary atmosphere research communities, to study the current research needs that can be addressed in this context to make the most of transit studies from current NASA facilities like Hubble Space Telescope and JWST. The analysis produced 14 findings, which fall into three science themes encompassing (i) how the Sun is used as our best laboratory to calibrate our understanding of stellar heterogeneities ('The Sun as the Stellar Benchmark'), (ii) how stars other than the Sun extend our knowledge of heterogeneities ('Surface Heterogeneities of Other Stars'), and (iii) how to incorporate information gathered for the Sun and other stars into transit studies ('Mapping Stellar Knowledge to Transit Studies'). In this invited review, we largely reproduce the final report of SAG21 as a contribution to the peer-reviewed literature.

Life is based on informational polymers such as DNA or RNA. For their polymerization, high concentrations of complex monomer building blocks are required. Therefore, the dilution by diffusion poses a major problem before early life could establish a non-equilibrium of compartmentalization. Here, we explored a natural non-equilibrium habitat to polymerize RNA and DNA. A heat flux across thin rock cracks is shown to accumulate and maintain nucleotides. This boosts the polymerization to RNA and DNA inside the crack. Moreover, the polymers remain localized, aiding both the creation of longer polymers and fostering downstream evolutionary steps. In a closed system, we found single nucleotides concentrate 104-fold at the bottom of the crack compared to the top after 24 hours. We detected enhanced polymerization for 2 different activation chemistries: aminoimidazole-activated DNA nucleotides and 2′,3′-cyclic RNA nucleotides. The copolymerization of 2′,3′-cGMP and 2′,3′-cCMP in the thermal pore showed an increased heterogeneity in sequence composition compared to isothermal drying. Finite element models unravelled the combined polymerization and accumulation kinetics and indicated that the escape of the nucleotides from such a crack is negligible over a time span of years. The thermal non-equilibrium habitat establishes a cell-like compartment that actively accumulates nucleotides for polymerization and traps the resulting oligomers. We argue that the setting creates a pre-cellular non-equilibrium steady state for the first steps of molecular evolution.

One-point probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the cosmic matter density are powerful cosmological probes that extract non-Gaussian properties of the matter distribution and complement two-point statistics. Computing the covariance of one-point PDFs is key for building a robust galaxy survey analysis for upcoming surveys like Euclid and the Rubin Observatory LSST and requires good models for the two-point PDFs characterising spatial correlations. In this work, we obtain accurate PDF covariances using effective shifted lognormal two-point PDF models for the mildly non-Gaussian weak lensing convergence and validate our predictions against large sets of Gaussian and non-Gaussian maps. We show how the dominant effects in the covariance matrix capturing super-sample covariance arise from a large-separation expansion of the two-point PDF and discuss differences between the covariances obtained from small patches and full sky maps. Finally, we describe how our formalism can be extended to characterise the PDF covariance for 3D-dimensional spectroscopic fields using the 3D matter PDF as an example. We describe how covariances from simulated boxes with fixed overall density can be supplemented with the missing super-sample covariance effect by relying on theoretical predictions validated against separate-universe style simulations.

We consider the resummation of large electroweak Sudakov logarithms for the annihilation of neutralino DM with (TeV) mass to high-energy photons in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, extending previous work on the minimal wino and Higgsino models. We find that NLL resummation reduces the yield of photons by about 20% for Higgsino-dominated DM at masses around 1~TeV, and up to 45% for neutralinos with larger wino admixture at heavier masses near 3~TeV. This sizable effect is relevant when observations or exclusion limits are translated into MSSM parameter-space constraints.

We present a low-scale type-I seesaw scenario with discrete flavor and CP symmetries. This scenario not only explains the measured values of the lepton mixing angles, but also makes predictions for leptonic CP violation, and connects the low-energy CP phases relevant for neutrino oscillation and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments with the high-energy CP phases relevant for leptogenesis. We show that the three right-handed Majorana neutrinos in this scenario have (almost) degenerate masses and their decays can explain the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe via resonant leptogenesis. We study the correlation of the predicted baryon asymmetry with lepton-number-violating signals at high-energy colliders, including both prompt and displaced vertex/long-lived signatures, as well as in low-energy neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. We find that the normal ordering of light neutrino masses leads to an enhanced collider signal, whereas the neutrinoless double beta decay provides a promising probe in the inverted ordering case.

A long-standing observed curiosity of globular clusters (GCs) has been that both the number and total mass of GCs in a galaxy are linearly correlated with the galaxy's virial mass, whereas its stellar component shows no such linear correlation. This work expands on an empirical model for the numbers and ages of GCs in galaxies presented by Valenzuela et al. (2021) that is consistent with recent observational data from massive elliptical galaxies down to the dwarf galaxy regime. Applying the model to simulations, GC numbers are shown to be excellent tracers for the dark matter (DM) virial mass, even when distinct formation mechanisms are employed for blue and red GCs. Furthermore, the amount of DM smooth accretion is encoded in the GC abundances, therefore providing a measure for an otherwise nearly untraceable component of the formation history of galaxies.

In this conference paper, we consider effective field theories of non-relativistic dark matter particles interacting with a light force mediator in the early expanding universe. We present a general framework, where to account in a systematic way for the relevant processes that may affect the dynamics during thermal freeze-out. In the temperature regime where near-threshold effects, most notably the formation of bound states and Sommerfeld enhancement, have a large impact on the dark matter relic density, we scrutinize possible contributions from higher excited states and radiative corrections in the annihilations and decays of dark-matter pairs.

The details of the strategy adopted by the Borexino collaboration for successfully isolating the spectral components of the pp-chain neutrinos signal from residual backgrounds in the total energy spectrum will be presented.

ComPol is a proposed CubeSat mission dedicated to long-term study of gamma-ray polarisation of astrophysical objects. Besides spectral and timing measurements, polarisation analysis can be a powerful tool in constraining current models of the geometry, magnetic field structure and acceleration mechanisms of different astrophysical sources. The ComPol payload is a Compton telescope optimised for polarimetry and consists of a 2 layer stacked detector configuration. The top layer, the scatterer, is a Silicon Drift Detector matrix developed by the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Politecnico di Milano. The second layer is a calorimeter consisting of a CeBr<math display="inline" id="d1e778" altimg="si10.svg"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math> scintillator read-out by silicon photo-multipliers developed at CEA Saclay. This paper presents the results of the prototype calorimeter calibration campaign, executed in March 2022 at IJCLab Orsay and simulations of the expected performance of the polarimeter using updated performance figures of the detectors.

The reconstruction of event-level information, such as the direction or energy of a neutrino interacting in IceCube DeepCore, is a crucial ingredient to many physics analyses. Algorithms to extract this high level information from the detector's raw data have been successfully developed and used for high energy events. In this work, we address unique challenges associated with the reconstruction of lower energy events in the range of a few to hundreds of GeV and present two separate, state-of-the-art algorithms. One algorithm focuses on the fast directional reconstruction of events based on unscattered light. The second algorithm is a likelihood-based multipurpose reconstruction offering superior resolutions, at the expense of larger computational cost.

We evaluate the discovery probability of a combined analysis of proposed neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments in a scenario with normal ordered neutrino masses. The discovery probability strongly depends on the value of the lightest neutrino mass, ranging from zero in case of vanishing masses and up to 80-90\% for values just below the current constraints. We study the discovery probability in different scenarios, focusing on the exciting prospect in which cosmological surveys will measure the sum of neutrino masses. Uncertainties in nuclear matrix element calculations partially compensate each other when data from different isotopes are available. Although a discovery is not granted, the theoretical motivations for these searches and the presence of scenarios with high discovery probability strongly motivates the proposed international, multi-isotope experimental program.

IceCube, a cubic-kilometer array of optical sensors built to detect atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos between 1 GeV and 1 PeV, is deployed 1.45 km to 2.45 km below the surface of the ice sheet at the South Pole. The classification and reconstruction of events from the in-ice detectors play a central role in the analysis of data from IceCube. Reconstructing and classifying events is a challenge due to the irregular detector geometry, inhomogeneous scattering and absorption of light in the ice and, below 100 GeV, the relatively low number of signal photons produced per event. To address this challenge, it is possible to represent IceCube events as point cloud graphs and use a Graph Neural Network (GNN) as the classification and reconstruction method. The GNN is capable of distinguishing neutrino events from cosmic-ray backgrounds, classifying different neutrino event types, and reconstructing the deposited energy, direction and interaction vertex. Based on simulation, we provide a comparison in the 1-100 GeV energy range to the current state-of-the-art maximum likelihood techniques used in current IceCube analyses, including the effects of known systematic uncertainties. For neutrino event classification, the GNN increases the signal efficiency by 18% at a fixed false positive rate (FPR), compared to current IceCube methods. Alternatively, the GNN offers a reduction of the FPR by over a factor 8 (to below half a percent) at a fixed signal efficiency. For the reconstruction of energy, direction, and interaction vertex, the resolution improves by an average of 13%-20% compared to current maximum likelihood techniques in the energy range of 1-30 GeV. The GNN, when run on a GPU, is capable of processing IceCube events at a rate nearly double of the median IceCube trigger rate of 2.7 kHz, which opens the possibility of using low energy neutrinos in online searches for transient events.

We present a fast and precise method to approximate the physics model of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment using a neural network. KATRIN is designed to measure the effective electron anti-neutrino mass using the kinematics of beta-decay with a sensitivity of 200 meV at 90% confidence level. To achieve this goal, a highly accurate model prediction with relative errors below the 1e-4-level is required. Using the regular numerical model for the analysis of the final KATRIN dataset is computationally extremely costly or requires approximations to decrease the computation time. Our solution to reduce the computational requirements is to train a neural network to learn the predicted beta-spectrum and its dependence on all relevant input parameters. This results in a speed-up of the calculation by about three orders of magnitude, while meeting the stringent accuracy requirements of KATRIN.

Efficient sampling of many-dimensional and multimodal density functions is a task of great interest in many research fields. We describe an algorithm that allows parallelizing inherently serial Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling by partitioning the space of the function parameters into multiple subspaces and sampling each of them independently. The samples of the different subspaces are then reweighted by their integral values and stitched back together. This approach allows reducing sampling wall-clock time by parallel operation. It also improves sampling of multimodal target densities and results in less correlated samples. Finally, the approach yields an estimate of the integral of the target density function.

The mechanisms that maintain turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) are still not identified. This work investigates how we can distinguish between two fundamental driving mechanisms: the accumulated effect of stellar feedback versus the energy injection from galactic scales. We perform a series of numerical simulations describing a stratified star-forming ISM subject to self-consistent stellar feedback. Large-scale external turbulent driving, of various intensities, is added to mimic galactic driving mechanisms. We analyse the resulting column density maps with a technique called Multi-scale non-Gaussian segmentation, which separates the coherent structures and the Gaussian background. This effectively discriminates between the various simulations and is a promising method to understand the ISM structure. In particular, the power spectrum of the coherent structures flattens above 60 pc when turbulence is driven only by stellar feedback. When large-scale driving is applied, the turn-over shifts to larger scales. A systematic comparison with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is then performed. Only 1 out of 25 regions has a coherent power spectrum that is consistent with the feedback-only simulation. A detailed study of the turn-over scale leads us to conclude that regular stellar feedback is not enough to explain the observed ISM structure on scales larger than 60 pc. Extreme feedback in the form of supergiant shells likely plays an important role but cannot explain all the regions of the LMC. If we assume ISM structure is generated by turbulence, another large-scale driving mechanism is needed to explain the entirety of the observations.

Cosmic rays are an excellent probe to study energetic processes in our galaxy. The measurement of antinuclei is particularly informative. In this thesis, the production and propagation of cosmic antiprotons in our galaxy is investigated. In addition, a novel detector concept based on scintillating plastic fibers coupled to silicon photomultipliers is presented. The detector shall be used for cosmic-ray studies in future.

First information on the timelike electromagnetic structure of baryons in the second resonance region has been obtained from measurements of invariant mass and angular distributions in the quasi-free reaction $\pi^- p \to nee$ at $\sqrt{s_{\pi^- p}}$ = 1.49 GeV with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) detector at GSI using the pion beam impinging on a CH$_2$ target. We find a total cross section $\sigma (\pi^- p \to nee) = 2.97 \pm 0.07^{data} \pm 0.21^{acc} \pm 0.31^{\rm{Z}_{\rm{eff}}} \mu$b. Combined with the Partial Wave Analysis of the concurrently measured two-pion channel, these data sets provide a crucial test of Vector Meson Dominance (VMD) inspired models. The commonly used "strict VMD" approach strongly overestimates the $e^+e^-$ yield. Instead, approaches based on a VMD amplitude vanishing at small $e^+e^-$ invariant masses supplemented coherently by a direct photon amplitude provide a better agreement. A good description of the data is also obtained using a calculation of electromagnetic timelike baryon transition form factors in a covariant spectator-quark model, demonstrating the dominance of meson cloud effects. The angular distributions of $e^+e^-$ pairs demonstrate the contributions of virtual photons with longitudinal polarization, in contrast to real photons. The virtual photon angular dependence supports the dominance of J=3/2, I=1/2 contributions observed in both the $\gamma^{\star} n$ and the $\pi \pi n$ channels.

Cosmic-ray antideuterons could be a key for the discovery of exotic phenomena in our Galaxy, such as dark-matter annihilations or primordial black hole evaporation. Unfortunately the theoretical predictions of the antideuteron flux at Earth are plagued with uncertainties from the mechanism of antideuteron production and propagation in the Galaxy. We present the most up-to-date calculation of the antideuteron fluxes from cosmic-ray collisions with the interstellar medium and from exotic processes. We include for the first time the antideuteron inelastic interaction cross section recently measured by the ALICE collaboration to account for the loss of antideuterons during propagation. In order to bracket the uncertainty in the expected fluxes, we consider several state-of-the-art models of antideuteron production and of cosmic-ray propagation.

Liquid water is a fundamental requirement for any form of life. On Earth, it can ubiquitously be found in the form of bulk, fog or dew, and cycling between them requires a continuous influx of energy. These water evaporation-condensation cycles can be provided globally by the sun, or locally by differences in temperatures. Differentially heated rock pores on the Hadean Earth present the non-equilibrium conditions to evaporate bulk water and re-condense it as fog and dew. The resulting microscale bulk-dew cycles are driven by the surface tension of water and lead to periodic oscillations in the concentration of salts and molecules, pH and wet-dry states. [...]

The main focus of the dissertation is the development of a neural network to model fast and autonomusly strong gravitational lenses. For generating realistic training data, we developed a simulation pipeline that accepts real observed images, simulating only the gravitational lensing effect. We have further carried out a dedicated comparison on real lenses to traditionally obtained models. Besides this, we present NetZ, a photo-z network using a novel approach.

In nuclear collisions the incident protons generate a Coulomb field which acts on produced charged particles. The impact of these interactions on charged pion transverse-mass and rapidity spectra, as well as on pion-pion momentum correlations is investigated in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.4 GeV. We show that the low-mt part of the data ($m_t < 0.2$ GeV/c$^2$) can be well described with a Coulomb-modified Boltzmann distribution that also takes changes of the Coulomb field during the expansion of the fireball into account. The observed centrality dependence of the fitted mean Coulomb potential deviates strongly from a $A_{part}^{2/3}$ scaling, indicating that, next to the fireball, the non-interacting charged spectators have to be taken into account. For the most central collisions, the Coulomb modifications of the HBT source radii are found to be consistent with the potential extracted from the single-pion transverse-mass distributions. This finding suggests that the region of homogeneity obtained from two-pion correlations coincides with the region in which the pions freeze-out. Using the inferred mean-square radius of the charge distribution at freeze-out, we have deduced a baryon density, in fair agreement with values obtained from statistical hadronization model fits to the particle yields.

We introduce a PYTHON package that provides simple and unified access to a collection of datasets from fundamental physics research—including particle physics, astroparticle physics, and hadron- and nuclear physics—for supervised machine learning studies. The datasets contain hadronic top quarks, cosmic-ray-induced air showers, phase transitions in hadronic matter, and generator-level histories. While public datasets from multiple fundamental physics disciplines already exist, the common interface and provided reference models simplify future work on cross-disciplinary machine learning and transfer learning in fundamental physics. We discuss the design and structure and line out how additional datasets can be submitted for inclusion. As showcase application, we present a simple yet flexible graph-based neural network architecture that can easily be applied to a wide range of supervised learning tasks. We show that our approach reaches performance close to dedicated methods on all datasets. To simplify adaptation for various problems, we provide easy-to-follow instructions on how graph-based representations of data structures, relevant for fundamental physics, can be constructed and provide code implementations for several of them. Implementations are also provided for our proposed method and all reference algorithms.

Simulations of idealized star-forming filaments of finite length typically show core growth that is dominated by two cores forming at its respective end. The end cores form due to a strong increasing acceleration at the filament ends that leads to a sweep-up of material during the filament collapse along its axis. As this growth mode is typically faster than any other core formation mode in a filament, the end cores usually dominate in mass and density compared to other cores forming inside a filament. However, observations of star-forming filaments do not show this prevalence of cores at the filament ends. We explore a possible mechanism to slow the growth of the end cores using numerical simulations of simultaneous filament and embedded core formation, in our case a radially accreting filament forming in a finite converging flow. While such a set-up still leads to end cores, they soon begin to move inwards and a density gradient is formed outside of the cores by the continued accumulation of material. As a result, the outermost cores are no longer located at the exact ends of the filament and the density gradient softens the inward gravitational acceleration of the cores. Therefore, the two end cores do not grow as fast as expected and thus do not dominate over other core formation modes in the filament.

Small grains play an essential role in astrophysical processes such as chemistry, radiative transfer, and gas/dust dynamics. The population of small grains is mainly maintained by the fragmentation process due to colliding grains. An accurate treatment of dust fragmentation is required in numerical modelling. However, current algorithms for solving fragmentation equation suffer from an overdiffusion in the conditions of 3D simulations. To tackle this challenge, we developed a discontinuous Galerkin scheme to solve efficiently the non-linear fragmentation equation with a limited number of dust bins.

Disc winds and planet formation are considered to be two of the most important mechanisms that drive the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary discs and in turn define the environment in which planets form and evolve. While both have been studied extensively in the past, we combine them into one model by performing three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of giant planet hosting discs that are undergoing X-ray photoevaporation, with the goal to analyse the interactions between both mechanisms. In order to study the effect on observational diagnostics, we produce synthetic observations of commonly used wind-tracing forbidden emission lines with detailed radiative transfer and photoionization calculations. We find that a sufficiently massive giant planet carves a gap in the gas disc that is deep enough to affect the structure and kinematics of the pressure-driven photoevaporative wind significantly. This effect can be strong enough to be visible in the synthetic high-resolution observations of some of our wind diagnostic lines, such as the [O I] 6300 Å or [S II] 6730 Å lines. When the disc is observed at inclinations around 40° and higher, the spectral line profiles may exhibit a peak in the redshifted part of the spectrum, which cannot easily be explained by simple wind models alone. Moreover, massive planets can induce asymmetric substructures within the disc and the photoevaporative wind, giving rise to temporal variations of the line profiles that can be strong enough to be observable on time-scales of less than a quarter of the planet's orbital period.

We explore the potential of our novel triaxial modelling machinery in recovering the viewing angles, the shape, and the orbit distribution of galaxies by using a high-resolution N-body merger simulation. Our modelling technique includes several recent advancements. (i) Our new triaxial deprojection algorithm shape3d is able to significantly shrink the range of possible orientations of a triaxial galaxy and therefore to constrain its shape relying only on photometric information. It also allows to probe degeneracies, i.e. to recover different deprojections at the same assumed orientation. With this method we can constrain the intrinsic shape of the N-body simulation, i.e. the axis ratios p = b/a and q = c/a, with Δp and Δq ≲ 0.1 using only photometric information. The typical accuracy of the viewing angles reconstruction is 15°-20°. (ii) Our new triaxial Schwarzschild code smart exploits the full kinematic information contained in the entire non-parametric line-of-sight velocity distributions along with a 5D orbital sampling in phase space. (iii) We use a new generalized Akaike information criterion AIC_p to optimize the smoothing and to select the best-fitting model, avoiding potential biases in purely χ²-based approaches. With our deprojected densities, we recover the correct orbital structure and anisotropy parameter β with Δβ ≲ 0.1. These results are valid regardless of the tested orientation of the simulation and suggest that even despite the known intrinsic photometric and kinematic degeneracies the above described advanced methods make it possible to recover the shape and the orbital structure of triaxial bodies with unprecedented accuracy.

The evolution of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) is widely used to assess the performance of numerical methods. We employ this instability to test both the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and the meshless finite mass (MFM) implementation in OPENGADGET3. We quantify the accuracy of SPH and MFM in reproducing the linear growth of the KHI with different numerical and physical set-ups. Among them, we consider: (i) numerical induced viscosity, and (ii) physically motivated, Braginskii viscosity, and compare their effect on the growth of the KHI. We find that the changes of the inferred numerical viscosity when varying nuisance parameters such as the set-up or the number of neighbours in our SPH code are comparable to the differences obtained when using different hydrodynamical solvers, i.e. MFM. SPH reproduces the expected reduction of the growth rate in the presence of physical viscosity and recovers well the threshold level of physical viscosity needed to fully suppress the instability. In the case of galaxy clusters with a virial temperature of 3 × 10⁷ K, this level corresponds to a suppression factor of ≍10^-3 of the classical Braginskii value. The intrinsic, numerical viscosity of our SPH implementation in such an environment is inferred to be at least an order of magnitude smaller (i.e. ≍10^-4), re-ensuring that modern SPH methods are suitable to study the effect of physical viscosity in galaxy clusters.

We present the first results of a comprehensive supernova (SN) radiative-transfer (RT) code-comparison initiative (StaNdaRT), where the emission from the same set of standardised test models is simulated by currently used RT codes. We ran a total of ten codes on a set of four benchmark ejecta models of Type Ia SNe. We consider two sub-Chandrasekhar-mass (M_tot = 1.0 M_⊙) toy models with analytic density and composition profiles and two Chandrasekhar-mass delayed-detonation models that are outcomes of hydrodynamical simulations. We adopt spherical symmetry for all four models. The results of the different codes, including the light curves, spectra, and the evolution of several physical properties as a function of radius and time are provided in electronic form in a standard format via a public repository. We also include the detailed test model profiles and several Python scripts for accessing and presenting the input and output files. We also provide the code used to generate the toy models studied here. In this paper, we describe the test models, radiative-transfer codes, and output formats in detail, and provide access to the repository. We present example results of several key diagnostic features.

The detection of the accelerated expansion of the Universe has been one of the major breakthroughs in modern cosmology. Several cosmological probes (Cosmic Microwave Background, Supernovae Type Ia, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations) have been studied in depth to better understand the nature of the mechanism driving this acceleration, and they are being currently pushed to their limits, obtaining remarkable constraints that allowed us to shape the standard cosmological model. In parallel to that, however, the percent precision achieved has recently revealed apparent tensions between measurements obtained from different methods. These are either indicating some unaccounted systematic effects, or are pointing toward new physics. Following the development of CMB, SNe, and BAO cosmology, it is critical to extend our selection of cosmological probes. Novel probes can be exploited to validate results, control or mitigate systematic effects, and, most importantly, to increase the accuracy and robustness of our results. This review is meant to provide a state-of-art benchmark of the latest advances in emerging "beyond-standard" cosmological probes. We present how several different methods can become a key resource for observational cosmology. In particular, we review cosmic chronometers, quasars, gamma-ray bursts, standard sirens, lensing time-delay with galaxies and clusters, cosmic voids, neutral hydrogen intensity mapping, surface brightness fluctuations, stellar ages of the oldest objects, secular redshift drift, and clustering of standard candles. The review describes the method, systematics, and results of each probe in a homogeneous way, giving the reader a clear picture of the available innovative methods that have been introduced in recent years and how to apply them. The review also discusses the potential synergies and complementarities between the various probes, exploring how they will contribute to the future of modern cosmology.

Several tentative associations between high-energy neutrinos and astrophysical sources have been recently reported, but a conclusive identification of these potential neutrino emitters remains challenging. We explore the use of Monte Carlo simulations of source populations to gain deeper insight into the physical implications of proposed individual source-neutrino associations. In particular, we focus on the IC170922A-TXS 0506+056 observation. Assuming a null model, we find a 7.6% chance of mistakenly identifying coincidences between γ-ray flares from blazars and neutrino alerts in 10-year surveys. We confirm that a blazar-neutrino connection based on the γ-ray flux is required to find a low chance coincidence probability and, therefore, a significant IC170922A-TXS 0506+056 association. We then assume this blazar-neutrino connection for the whole population and find that the ratio of neutrino to γ-ray fluxes must be ≲10⁻² in order not to overproduce the total number of neutrino alerts seen by IceCube. For the IC170922A-TXS 0506+056 association to make sense, we must either accept this low flux ratio or suppose that only some rare sub-population of blazars is capable of high-energy neutrino production. For example, if we consider neutrino production only in blazar flares, we expect the flux ratio of between 10⁻³ and 10⁻¹ to be consistent with a single coincident observation of a neutrino alert and flaring γ-ray blazar. These constraints should be interpreted in the context of the likelihood models used to find the IC170922A-TXS 0506+056 association, which assumes a fixed power-law neutrino spectrum of E^−2.13 for all blazars.

Aims: Stellar flares emit thermal and nonthermal radiation in the X-ray and ultraviolet (UV) regime. Although high energetic radiation from flares is a potential threat to exoplanet atmospheres and may lead to surface sterilization, it might also provide the extra energy for low-mass stars needed to trigger and sustain prebiotic chemistry. Despite the UV continuum emission being constrained partly by the flare temperature, few efforts have been made to determine the flare temperature for ultra-cool M-dwarfs. We investigate two flares on TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star that hosts seven exoplanets of which three lie within its habitable zone. The flares are detected in all four passbands of the MuSCAT2 instrument allowing a determination of their temperatures and bolometric energies.
Methods: We analyzed the light curves of the MuSCATl (multicolor simultaneous camera for studying atmospheres of transiting exoplanets) and MuSCAT2 instruments obtained between 2016 and 2021 in g, r, i, z_s-filters. We conducted an automated flare search and visually confirmed possible flare events. The black body temperatures were inferred directly from the spectral energy distribution (SED) by extrapolating the filter-specific flux. We studied the temperature evolution, the global temperature, and the peak temperature of both flares.
Results: White-light M-dwarf flares are frequently described in the literature by a black body with a temperature of 9000-10 000 K. For the first time we infer effective black body temperatures of flares that occurred on TRAPPIST-1. The black body temperatures for the two TRAPPIST-1 flares derived from the SED are consistent with T_SED = 7940₋₃₉₀⁺⁴³⁰ K and T_SED = 6030₋₂₇₀⁺³⁰⁰ K. The flare black body temperatures at the peak are also calculated from the peak SED yielding T_SEDp = 13 620₋₁₂₂₀⁺¹⁵²⁰ K and T_SEDp = 8290₋₅₅₀⁺⁶⁶⁰ K. We update the flare frequency distribution of TRAPPIST-1 and discuss the impacts of lower black body temperatures on exoplanet habitability.
Conclusions: We show that for the ultra-cool M-dwarf TRAPPIST-1 the flare black body temperatures associated with the total continuum emission are lower and not consistent with the usually adopted assumption of 9000-10 000 K in the context of exoplanet research. For the peak emission, both flares seem to be consistent with the typical range from 9000 to 14 000 K, respectively. This could imply different and faster cooling mechanisms. Further multi-color observations are needed to investigate whether or not our observations are a general characteristic of ultra-cool M-dwarfs. This would have significant implications for the habitability of exoplanets around these stars because the UV surface flux is likely to be overestimated by the models with higher flare temperatures.

The photometry of the two flares in g, r, i, and z_s filters is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/668/A111

We explore the possible phases of a condensed dark matter (DM) candidate taken to be in the form of a fermion with a Yukawa coupling to a scalar particle, at zero temperature but at finite density. This theory essentially depends on only four parameters, the Yukawa coupling, the fermion mass, the scalar mediator mass, and the DM density. At low-fermion densities we delimit the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS), Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), and crossover phases as a function of model parameters using the notion of scattering length. We further study the BCS phase by consistently including emergent effects such as the scalar-density condensate and superfluid gaps. Within the mean-field approximation, we derive the consistent set of gap equations, retaining their momentum dependence, and valid in both the nonrelativistic and relativistic regimes. We present numerical solutions to the set of gap equations, in particular when the mediator mass is smaller and larger than the DM mass. Finally, we discuss the equation of state and possible astrophysical implications for asymmetric DM.

Context. Winds in protoplanetary disks play an important role in their evolution and dispersal. However, the physical process that is actually driving the winds is still unclear (i.e. magnetically versus thermally driven), and can only be understood by directly confronting theoretical models with observational data.
Aims: We aim to interpret observational data for molecular hydrogen and atomic oxygen lines that show kinematic disk-wind signatures in order to investigate whether or not purely thermally driven winds are consistent with the data.
Methods: We use hydrodynamic photoevaporative disk-wind models and post-process them with a thermochemical model to produce synthetic observables for the spectral lines o-H₂ 1-0 S(1) at 2.12 µm and [OI] ¹D₂-³P₂ at 0.63 µm and directly compare the results to a sample of observations.
Results: We find that our photoevaporative disk-wind model is consistent with the observed signatures of the blueshifted narrow low-velocity component (NLVC) - which is usually associated with slow disk winds - for both tracers. Only for one out of seven targets that show blueshifted NLVCs does the photoevaporative model fail to explain the observed line kinematics. Our results also indicate that interpreting spectral line profiles using simple methods, such as the thin-disk approximation, to determine the line emitting region is not appropriate for the majority of cases and can yield misleading conclusions. This is due to the complexity of the line excitation, wind dynamics, and the impact of the actual physical location of the line-emitting regions on the line profiles.
Conclusions: The photoevaporative disk-wind models are largely consistent with the studied observational data set, but it is not possible to clearly discriminate between different wind-driving mechanisms. Further improvements to the models are necessary, such as consistent modelling of the dynamics and chemistry, and detailed modelling of individual targets (i.e. disk structure) would be beneficial. Furthermore, a direct comparison of magnetically driven disk-wind models to the observational data set is necessary in order to determine whether or not spatially unresolved observations of multiple wind tracers are sufficient to discriminate between theoretical models.

Neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs) are born when the final collapse of the stellar core terminates the lives of stars more massive than about 9 Msun. This can trigger the powerful ejection of a large fraction of the star's material in a core-collapse supernova (CCSN), whose extreme luminosity is energized by the decay of radioactive isotopes such as 56Ni and 56Co. When evolving in close binary systems, the compact relics of such infernal catastrophes spiral towards each other on orbits gradually decaying by gravitational-wave emission. Ultimately, the violent collision of the two components forms a more massive, rapidly spinning remnant, again accompanied by the ejection of considerable amounts of matter. These merger events can be observed by high-energy bursts of gamma rays with afterglows and electromagnetic transients called kilonovae, which radiate the energy released in radioactive decays of freshly assembled rapid neutron-capture elements. By means of their mass ejection and the nuclear and neutrino reactions taking place in the ejecta, both CCSNe and compact object mergers (COMs) are prominent sites of heavy-element nucleosynthesis and play a central role in the cosmic cycle of matter and the chemical enrichment history of galaxies. The nuclear equation of state (EoS) of NS matter, from neutron-rich to proton-dominated conditions and with temperatures ranging from about zero to ~100 MeV, is a crucial ingredient in these astrophysical phenomena. It determines their dynamical processes, their remnant properties even at the level of deciding between NS or BH, and the properties of the associated emission of neutrinos, whose interactions govern the thermodynamic conditions and the neutron-to-proton ratio for nucleosynthesis reactions in the innermost ejecta. This chapter discusses corresponding EoS dependent effects of relevance in CCSNe as well as COMs. (slightly abridged)

In the context of the ESO-VLT Multi-Instrument Kinematic Survey (MIKiS) of Galactic globular clusters, here we present the line-of-sight velocity dispersion profile of NGC 6440, a massive globular cluster located in the Galactic bulge. By combining the data acquired with four different spectrographs, we obtained the radial velocity of a sample of $\sim 1800$ individual stars distributed over the entire cluster extension, from $\sim$0.1$"$ to 778$"$ from the center. Using a properly selected sample of member stars with the most reliable radial velocity measures, we derived the velocity dispersion profile up to 250$"$ from the center. The profile is well described by the same King model that best fits the projected star density distribution, with a constant inner plateau (at ${\sigma}_0 \sim $ 12 km s$^{-1}$) and no evidence of a central cusp or other significant deviations. Our data allowed to study the presence of rotation only in the innermost regions of the cluster (r < 5$"$), revealing a well-defined pattern of ordered rotation with a position angle of the rotation axis of $\sim$132 $\pm$ 2° and an amplitude of $\sim$3 km s$^{-1}$ (corresponding to Vrot/${\sigma}_0 \sim$ 0.3). Also, a flattening of the system qualitatively consistent with the rotation signal has been detected in the central region.

It has been suggested that a trail of diffuse galaxies, including two dark-matter-deficient galaxies (DMDGs), in the vicinity of NGC 1052 formed because of a high-speed collision between two gas-rich dwarf galaxies, one bound to NGC 1052 and the other one on an unbound orbit. The collision compresses the gas reservoirs of the colliding galaxies, which in turn triggers a burst of star formation. In contrast, the dark matter and preexisting stars in the progenitor galaxies pass through it. Since the high pressures in the compressed gas are conducive to the formation of massive globular clusters (GCs), this scenario can explain the formation of DMDGs with large populations of massive GCs, consistent with the observations of NGC 1052-DF2 (DF2) and NGC 1052-DF4. A potential difficulty with this "mini bullet cluster" scenario is that the observed spatial distributions of GCs in DMDGs are extended. GCs experience dynamical friction causing their orbits to decay with time. Consequently, their distribution at formation should have been even more extended than that observed at present. Using a semianalytic model, we show that the observed positions and velocities of the GCs in DF2 imply that they must have formed at a radial distance of 5-10 kpc from the center of DF2. However, as we demonstrate, the scenario is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the strong tidal forces from NGC 1052 strip the extendedly distributed GCs from DF2, requiring 33-59 massive GCs to form at the collision to explain observations.

We report our analysis for the static energy in (2+1+1)-flavor QCD over a wide range of lattice spacings and several quark masses. We obtain results for the static energy out to distances of nearly 1 fm, allowing us to perform a simultaneous determination of the lattice scales $r_2$, $r_1$ and $r_0$ as well as the string tension, $\sigma$. While our results for ${r_0}/{r_1}$ and $r_0$ $\sqrt{\sigma}$ agree with published (2+1)-flavor results, our result for ${r_1}/{r_2}$ differs significantly from the value obtained in the (2+1)-flavor case, likely due to the effect of the charm quark. We study in detail the effect of the charm quark on the static energy by comparing our results on the finest lattices with the previously published (2+1)-flavor QCD results at similar lattice spacing. The lattice results agree well with the two-loop perturbative expression of the static energy incorporating finite charm mass effects.

Mildly relativistic perpendicular, collisionless multiple-ion gamma-ray burst shocks are analyzed using 2D3V particle-in-cell simulations. A characteristic feature of multiple-ion shocks is alternating maxima of the α particle and the proton densities, at least in the early downstream. Turbulence, shock-drift acceleration, and evidence of stochastic acceleration are observed. We performed simulations with both in-plane (B _y ) and out-of-plane (B _z ) magnetic fields, as well as in a perpendicular shock setup with φ = 45°, and saw multiple differences: while with B _z , the highest-energetic particles mostly gain energy at the beginning of the shock, with B _y , particles continue gaining energy and it does not appear that they have reached their final energy level. A larger magnetization σ leads to more high-energetic particles in our simulations. One important quantity for astronomers is the electron acceleration efficiency ϵ _e , which is measurable due to synchrotron radiation. This quantity hardly changes when changing the amount of α particles while keeping σ constant. It is, however, noteworthy that ϵ _e strongly differs for in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields. When looking at the proton and α acceleration efficiency, ϵ _p and ϵ _α , the energy of α particles always decreases when passing the shock into the downstream, whereas the energy of protons can increase if α particles account for the majority of the ions.

Context. Over the last years, large (sub-)millimetre surveys of protoplanetary disks in different star forming regions have well constrained the demographics of disks, such as their millimetre luminosities, spectral indices, and disk radii. Additionally, several high-resolution observations have revealed an abundance of substructures in the disk's dust continuum. The most prominent are ring like structures, which are likely caused by pressure bumps trapping dust particles. The origins and characteristics of these pressure bumps, nevertheless, need to be further investigated.
Aims: The purpose of this work is to study how dynamic pressure bumps affect observational properties of protoplanetary disks. We further aim to differentiate between the planetary- versus zonal flow-origin of pressure bumps.
Methods: We perform one-dimensional gas and dust evolution simulations, setting up models with varying pressure bump features, including their amplitude and location, growth time, and number of bumps. We subsequently run radiative transfer calculations to obtain synthetic images, from which we obtain the different quantities of observations.
Results: We find that the outermost pressure bump determines the disk's dust size across different millimetre wavelengths and confirm that the observed dust masses of disks with optically thick inner bumps (<40 au) are underestimated by up to an order of magnitude. Our modelled dust traps need to form early (<0.1 Myr), fast (on viscous timescales), and must be long lived (>Myr) to obtain the observed high millimetre luminosities and low spectral indices of disks. While the planetary bump models can reproduce these observables irrespectively of the opacity prescription, the highest opacities are needed for the dynamic bump model, which mimics zonal flows in disks, to be in line with observations.
Conclusions: Our findings favour the planetary- over the zonal flow-origin of pressure bumps and support the idea that planet formation already occurs in early class 0-1 stages of circumstellar disks. The determination of the disk's effective size through its outermost pressure bump also delivers a possible answer to why disks in recent low-resolution surveys appear to have the same sizes across different millimetre wavelengths.

Planets are born from the gas and dust discs surrounding young stars. Energetic radiation from the central star can drive thermal outflows from the discs atmospheres, strongly affecting the evolution of the discs and the nascent planetary system. In this context, several numerical models of varying complexity have been developed to study the process of disc photoevaporation from their central stars. We describe the numerical techniques, the results and the predictivity of current models and identify observational tests to constrain them.

We study the inner structure of the group-scale lens CASSOWARY 31 (CSWA 31) by adopting both strong lensing and dynamical modeling. CSWA 31 is a peculiar lens system. The brightest group galaxy (BGG) is an ultra-massive elliptical galaxy at z = 0.683 with a weighted mean velocity dispersion of σ = 432 ± 31 km s⁻¹. It is surrounded by group members and several lensed arcs probing up to ≃150 kpc in projection. Our results significantly improve on previous analyses of CSWA 31 thanks to the new HST imaging and MUSE integral-field spectroscopy. From the secure identification of five sets of multiple images and measurements of the spatially resolved stellar kinematics of the BGG, we conduct a detailed analysis of the multi-scale mass distribution using various modeling approaches, in both the single and multiple lens-plane scenarios. Our best-fit mass models reproduce the positions of multiple images and provide robust reconstructions for two background galaxies at z = 1.4869 and z = 2.763. Despite small variations related to the different sets of input constraints, the relative contributions from the BGG and group-scale halo are remarkably consistent in our three reference models, demonstrating the self-consistency between strong lensing analyses based on image position and extended image modeling. We find that the ultra-massive BGG dominates the projected total mass profiles within 20 kpc, while the group-scale halo dominates at larger radii. The total projected mass enclosed within R_eff = 27.2 kpc is 1.10_−0.04^+0.02 × 10¹³ M_⊙. We find that CSWA 31 is a peculiar fossil group, strongly dark-matter dominated toward the central region, and with a projected total mass profile similar to higher-mass cluster-scale halos. The total mass-density slope within the effective radius is shallower than isothermal, consistent with previous analyses of early-type galaxies in overdense environments.

Full Table B.1 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/668/A162

Cytoskeletal networks form complex intracellular structures. Here we investigate a minimal model for filament-motor mixtures in which motors act as depolymerases and thereby regulate filament length. Combining agent-based simulations and hydrodynamic equations, we show that resource-limited length regulation drives the formation of filament clusters despite the absence of mechanical interactions between filaments. Even though the orientation of individual remains fixed, collective filament orientation emerges in the clusters, aligned orthogonal to their interfaces.

We compute the three-loop helicity amplitudes for q q ¯ → gg and its crossed partonic channels, in massless QCD. Our analytical results provide a non-trivial check of the color quadrupole contribution to the infrared poles for external states in different color representations. At high energies, the qg → qg amplitude shows the predicted factorized form from Regge theory and confirms previous results for the gluon Regge trajectory extracted from qq' → qq' and gg → gg scattering.

Context. Models of planetary core growth by either planetesimal or pebble accretion are traditionally disconnected from the models of dust evolution and formation of the first gravitationally bound planetesimals. State-of-the-art models typically start with massive planetary cores already present.
Aims: We aim to study the formation and growth of planetary cores in a pressure bump, motivated by the annular structures observed in protoplanetary disks, starting with submicron-sized dust grains.
Methods: We connect the models of dust coagulation and drift, planetesimal formation in the streaming instability, gravitational interactions between planetesimals, pebble accretion, and planet migration into one uniform framework.
Results: We find that planetesimals forming early at the massive end of the size distribution grow quickly, predominantly by pebble accretion. These few massive bodies grow on timescales of ~100 000 yr and stir the planetesimals that form later, preventing the emergence of further planetary cores. Additionally, a migration trap occurs, allowing for retention of the growing cores.
Conclusions: Pressure bumps are favourable locations for the emergence and rapid growth of planetary cores by pebble accretion as the dust density and grain size are increased and the pebble accretion onset mass is reduced compared to a smooth-disc model.

Multiply imaged time-variable sources can be used to measure absolute distances as a function of redshifts and thus determine cosmological parameters, chiefly the Hubble Constant H₀. In the two decades up to 2020, through a number of observational and conceptual breakthroughs, this so-called time-delay cosmography has reached a precision sufficient to be an important independent voice in the current "Hubble tension" debate between early- and late-universe determinations of H₀. The 2020s promise to deliver major advances in time-delay cosmography, owing to the large number of lenses to be discovered by new and upcoming surveys and the vastly improved capabilities for follow-up and analysis. In this review, after a brief summary of the foundations of the method and recent advances, we outline the opportunities for the decade and the challenges that will need to be overcome in order to meet the goal of the determination of H₀ from time-delay cosmography with 1% precision and accuracy.

We use gradient flow to compute the static force based on a Wilson loop with a chromoelectric field insertion. The result can be compared on one hand to the static force from the numerical derivative of the lattice static energy, and on the other hand to the perturbative calculation, allowing a precise extraction of the $\Lambda_0$ parameter. This study may open the way to gradient flow calculations of correlators of chromoelectric and chromomagnetic fields, which typically arise in the nonrelativistic effective field theory factorization.

We investigate the main tensions within the current standard model of cosmology from the perspective of the void size function in BOSS DR12 data. For this purpose, we present the first cosmological constraints on the parameters $S_8\equiv \sigma_8\sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3}$ and $H_0$ obtained from voids as a stand-alone probe. We rely on an extension of the popular volume-conserving model for the void size function, tailored to the application on data, including geometric and dynamic distortions. We calibrate the two nuisance parameters of this model with the official BOSS collaboration mock catalogs and propagate their uncertainty through the statistical analysis of the BOSS void number counts. We focus our analysis on the $\Omega_{\rm m}$--$\sigma_8$ and $\Omega_{\rm m}$--$H_0$ parameter planes and derive the marginalized constraints $S_8 = 0.78^{+0.16}_{-0.14}$ and $H_0=65.2^{+4.5}_{-3.6}$ $\mathrm{km} \ \mathrm{s}^{-1} \ \mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. Our estimate of $S_8$ is fully compatible with constraints from the literature, while our $H_0$ value slightly disagrees by more than $1\sigma$ with recent local distance ladder measurements of type Ia supernovae. Our results open up a new viewing angle on the rising cosmological tensions and are expected to improve notably in precision when jointly analyzed with independent probes.

Context. Recent observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) have shown that the large dust aggregates observed at millimeter wavelengths settle to the midplane into a remarkably thin layer. This sets strong limits on the strength of the turbulence and other gas motions in these disks.
Aims: We intend to find out if the geometric thinness of these layers is evidence against the vertical shear instability (VSI) operating in these disks. We aim to verify if a dust layer consisting of large enough dust aggregates could remain geometrically thin enough to be consistent with the latest observations of these dust layers, even if the disk is unstable to the VSI. If this is falsified, then the observed flatness of these dust layers proves that these disks are stable against the VSI, even out to the large radii at which these dust layers are observed.
Methods: We performed hydrodynamic simulations of a protoplanetary disk with a locally isothermal equation of state, and let the VSI fully develop. We sprinkled dust particles with a given grain size at random positions near the midplane and followed their motion as they got stirred up by the VSI, assuming no feedback onto the gas. We repeated the experiment for different grain sizes and determined for which grain size the layer becomes thin enough to be consistent with ALMA observations. We then verified if, with these grain sizes, it is still possible (given the constraints of dust opacity and gravitational stability) to generate a moderately optically thick layer at millimeter wavelengths, as observations appear to indicate.
Results: We found that even very large dust aggregates with Stokes numbers close to unity get stirred up to relatively large heights above the midplane by the VSI, which is in conflict with the observed geometric thinness. For grains so large that the Stokes number exceeds unity, the layer can be made to remain thin, but we show that it is hard to make dust layers optically thick at ALMA wavelengths (e.g., τ_1.3mm ≳ 1) with such large dust aggregates.
Conclusions: We conclude that protoplanetary disks with geometrically thin midplane dust layers cannot be VSI unstable, at least not down to the disk midplane. Explanations for the inhibition of the VSI out to several hundreds of au include a high dust-to-gas ratio of the midplane layer, a modest background turbulence, and/or a reduced dust-to-gas ratio of the small dust grains that are responsible for the radiative cooling of the disk. A reduction of small grains by a factor of between 10 and 100 is sufficient to quench the VSI. Such a reduction is plausible in dust growth models, and still consistent with observations at optical and infrared wavelengths.

In the past few years, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has provided the first-ever event horizon-scale images of the supermassive black holes (BHs) M87* and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). The next-generation EHT project is an extension of the EHT array that promises larger angular resolution and higher sensitivity to the dim, extended flux around the central ring-like structure, possibly connecting the accretion flow and the jet. The ngEHT Analysis Challenges aim to understand the science extractability from synthetic images and movies so as to inform the ngEHT array design and analysis algorithm development. In this work, we take a look at the numerical fluid simulations used to construct the source models in the challenge set, which currently target M87* and Sgr A*. We have a rich set of models encompassing steady-state radiatively-inefficient accretion flows with time-dependent shearing hotspots, radiative and non-radiative general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations that incorporate electron heating and cooling. We find that the models exhibit remarkably similar temporal and spatial properties, except for the electron temperature since radiative losses substantially cool down electrons near the BH and the jet sheath. We restrict ourselves to standard torus accretion flows, and leave larger explorations of alternate accretion models to future work.

Context. An excess of galaxy-galaxy strong lensing (GGSL) in galaxy clusters compared to expectations from the Λ cold-dark-matter (CDM) cosmological model has recently been reported. Theoretical estimates of the GGSL probability are based on the analysis of numerical hydrodynamical simulations in ΛCDM cosmology.
Aims: We quantify the impact of the numerical resolution and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback scheme adopted in cosmological simulations on the predicted GGSL probability, and determine if varying these simulation properties can alleviate the gap with observations.
Methods: We analyze cluster-size halos (M₂₀₀ > 5 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙) simulated with different mass and force resolutions and implementing several independent AGN feedback schemes. Our analysis focuses on galaxies with Einstein radii in the range 0_.^″5 ≤ θ_E ≤ 3″.
Results: We find that improving the mass resolution by factors of 10 and 25, while using the same galaxy formation model that includes AGN feedback, does not affect the GGSL probability. We find similar results regarding the choice of gravitational softening. On the contrary, adopting an AGN feedback scheme that is less efficient at suppressing gas cooling and star formation leads to an increase in the GGSL probability by a factor of between 3 and 6. However, we notice that such simulations form overly massive galaxies whose contribution to the lensing cross section would be significant but that their Einstein radii are too large to be consistent with the observations. The primary contributors to the observed GGSL cross sections are galaxies with smaller masses that are compact enough to become critical for lensing. The population with these required characteristics appears to be absent from simulations. Conclusion. Based on these results, we reaffirm the tension between observations of GGSL and theoretical expectations in the framework of the ΛCDM cosmological model. The GGSL probability is sensitive to the galaxy formation model implemented in the simulations. Still, all the tested models have difficulty simultaneously reproducing the stellar mass function and the internal structure of galaxies.

The existence of a nucleon-$\phi$ (N-$\phi$) bound state has been subject of theoretical and experimental investigations for decades. In this letter a re-analysis of the p-$\phi$ correlation measured at the LHC is presented, using as input recent lattice calculations of the N-$\phi$ interaction in the spin 3/2 channel obtained by the HAL QCD collaboration. A constrained fit of the experimental data allows to determine the spin 1/2 channel of the p-$\phi$ interaction with evidence of the formation of a p-$\phi$ bound state. The scattering length and effective range extracted from the spin 1/2 channel are $f_0^{(1/2)}=(-1.47^{+0.44}_{-0.37}(\mathrm{stat.})^{+0.14}_{-0.17}(\mathrm{syst.})+i\cdot0.00^{+0.26}_{-0.00}(\mathrm{stat.})^{+0.15}_{-0.00}(\mathrm{syst.}))$ fm and $d_0^{(1/2)}=(0.37^{+0.07}_{-0.08}(\mathrm{stat.})^{+0.03}_{-0.03}(\mathrm{syst.})+i\cdot~0.00^{+0.00}_{-0.02}(\mathrm{stat.})^{+0.00}_{-0.01}(\mathrm{syst.}))$ fm, respectively. The corresponding binding energy is estimated to be in the range $14.7-56.6$ MeV. This is the first experimental evidence of a p-$\phi$ bound state.