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At least 415 records · Page 23

Modeling the neutral hydrogen distribution in the post-reionization Universe: intensity mapping

We model the distribution of neutral hydrogen (HI) in the post-reionization era and investigate its detectability in 21 cm intensity mapping with future radio telescopes like the Square Kilometer array (SKA). We rely on high resolution hydrodynamical N-body simulations that have a state-of-the-art treatment of the low density photoionized gas in the inter-galactic medium (IGM). The HI is assigned a-posteriori to the gas particles following two different approaches: a halo-based method in which HI is assigned only to gas particles residing within dark matter halos; a particle-based method that assigns HI to all gas particles using a prescription based on the physical properties of the particles. The HI statistical properties are then compared to the observational properties of Damped Lyman-α Absorbers (DLAs) and of lower column density systems and reasonable good agreement is found for all the cases. Among the halo-based method, we further consider two different schemes that aim at reproducing the observed properties of DLAs by distributing HI inside halos: one of this results in a much higher bias for DLAs, in agreement with recent observations, which boosts the 21 cm power spectrum by a factor ∼ 4 with respect to the other recipe. Furthermore, we quantify the contribution of HI in the diffuse IGM to both Ω{sub HI} and the HI power spectrum finding to be subdominant in both cases. We compute the 21 cm power spectrum from the simulated HI distribution and calculate the expected signal for both SKA1-mid and SKA1-low configurations at 2.4 ≤ z ≤ 4. We find that SKA will be able to detect the 21 cm power spectrum, in the non-linear regime, up to k ∼ 1 h/Mpc for SKA1-mid and k ∼ 5 h/Mpc for SKA1-low with 100 hours of observations. We also investigate the perspective of imaging the HI distribution. Our findings indicate that SKA1-low could detect the most massive HI peaks with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) higher than 5 for an observation time of about 1000 hours at z = 4, for a synthesized beam width of 2'. Detection at redshifts z≥2.4 with SKA1-mid would instead require a much longer observation time to achieve a comparable SNR level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Uncertainty Quantification Enabled by Automatic Differentiation for Hydrodynamic Simulation of Shock‐to‐Detonation Transition in High Explosives

Quantifying the effects of uncertainty in a reactive burn model on the run-to-detonation time in high explosives (HEs) provides a robust methodology for assessing the probability of an HE failing the IHE qualification standard. Moreover, uncertainty quantification helps evaluate whether the model calibration accurately represents data outside the calibration set. This study uses a specialized hydrodynamic simulation code for modeling detonation to determine the run-to-detonation time of the HE PBX 9502 for various impact velocities. To quickly approximate uncertainties in the model, a surrogate was constructed using a Taylor series expansion centered at the mean of the input parameters. To obtain the sensitivities required for constructing the Taylor series, HYP-percomplex Automatic Differentiation (HYPAD) was implemented. HYPAD is a methodology for infusing existing codes with automatic differentiation capabilities by augmenting variables with one or more imaginary units to compute step-size independent partial derivatives. These derivatives are accurate to machine precision with respect to the implemented numerical algorithm, meaning their accuracy reflects that of the underlying method (e.g., integration or discretization schemes). Using reduced order modeling techniques, the mean and standard deviation of the run-to-detonation time of a shock within PBX 9502 were computed for a number of initial impact velocities. A weighted least squares regression was then performed to obtain a best fit curve and prediction interval for the computed statistics. Historical data points from explosively driven wedge tests were utilized to validate the prediction interval, ensuring its reliability in predicting future outcomes. With this prediction interval and a known safety constraint curve, the most probable point of failure and the probability of failure for the HE PBX 9502 were determined.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Self-contained filtered density function

The filtered density function (FDF) closure is extended to a “self-contained” format to include the subgrid-scale (SGS) statistics of all of the hydro-thermo-chemical variables in turbulent flows. These are the thermodynamic pressure, the specific internal energy, the velocity vector, and the composition field. In this format, the model is comprehensive and facilitates large-eddy simulation (LES) of flows at both low and high compressibility levels. A transport equation is developed for the joint pressure-energy-velocity-composition filtered mass density function (PEVC-FMDF). In this equation, the effect of convection appears in closed form. The coupling of the hydrodynamics and thermochemistry is modeled via a set of stochastic differential equation for each of the transport variables. This yields a self-contained SGS closure. We demonstrated how LES is conducted of a turbulent shear flow with transport of a passive scalar. Finally, the consistency of the PEVC-FMDF formulation is established, and its overall predictive capability is appraised via comparison with direct numerical simulation (DNS) data.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Flood Hazard Assessment from Storm Tides, Rain and Sea Level Rise for a Tidal River Estuary

Cities and towns along the tidal Hudson River are highly vulnerable to flooding through the combination of storm tides and high streamflows, compounded by sea level rise. Here a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, validated by comparing peak water levels for 76 historical storms, is applied in a probabilistic flood hazard assessment. In simulations, the model merges streamflows and storm tides from tropical cyclones (TCs), offshore extratropical cyclones (ETCs) and inland "wet extratropical" cyclones (WETCs). The climatology of possible ETC and WETC storm events is represented by historical events (1931-2013), and simulations include gauged streamflows and inferred ungauged streamflows (based on watershed area) for the Hudson River and its tributaries. The TC climatology is created using a stochastic statistical model to represent a wider range of storms than is contained in the historical record. TC streamflow hydrographs are simulated for tributaries spaced along the Hudson, modeled as a function of TC attributes (storm track, sea surface temperature, maximum wind speed) using a statistical Bayesian approach. Results show WETCs are important to flood risk in the upper tidal river (e.g., Albany, New York), ETCs are important in the estuary (e.g., New York City) and lower tidal river, and TCs are important at all locations due to their potential for both high surge and extreme rainfall. The raising of floods by sea level rise is shown to be reduced by approximately 30-60 percent at Albany due to the dominance of streamflow for flood risk. This can be explained with simple channel flow dynamics, in which increased depth throughout the river reduces frictional resistance, thereby reducing the water level slope and the upriver water level.

Tidal river↗

EVOLUTION OF SHOCKS AND TURBULENCE IN MAJOR CLUSTER MERGERS

We performed a set of cosmological simulations of major mergers in galaxy clusters, in order to study the evolution of merger shocks and the subsequent injection of turbulence in the post-shock region and in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). The computations have been performed with the grid-based, adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamical code Enzo, using a refinement criterion especially designed for refining turbulent flows in the vicinity of shocks. When a major merger event occurs, a substantial amount of turbulence energy is injected in the ICM of the newly formed cluster. Our simulations show that the shock launched after a major merger develops an ellipsoidal shape and gets broken by the interaction with the filamentary cosmic web around the merging cluster. The size of the post-shock region along the direction of shock propagation is of the order of 300 kpc h{sup -1}, and the turbulent velocity dispersion in this region is larger than 100 km s{sup -1}. We performed a scaling analysis of the turbulence energy within our cluster sample. The best fit for the scaling of the turbulence energy with the cluster mass is consistent with M{sup 5/3}, which is also the scaling law for the thermal energy in the self-similar cluster model. This clearly indicates the close relation between virialization and injection of turbulence in the cluster evolution. As for the turbulence in the cluster core, we found that within 2 Gyr after the major merger (the timescale for the shock propagation in the ICM), the ratio of the turbulent to total pressure is larger than 10%, and after about 4 Gyr it is still larger than 5%, a typical value for nearly relaxed clusters. Turbulence at the cluster center is thus sustained for several gigayears, which is substantially longer than typically assumed in the turbulent re-acceleration models, invoked to explain the statistics of observed radio halos. Striking similarities in the morphology and other physical parameters between our simulations and the 'symmetrical radio relics' found at the periphery of the merging cluster A3376 are finally discussed. In particular, the interaction between the merger shock and the filaments surrounding the cluster could explain the presence of 'notch-like' features at the edges of the double relics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dwarf Galaxies at Cosmic Noon: New JWST Constraints on Satellite Models and Subhalo Tidal Evolution

The advent of JWST has revolutionized the study of faint satellite galaxies at z ≳ 1, enabling statistical constraints on galaxy evolution and the galaxy–halo connection in a previously unexplored mass and redshift regime. We compare satellite abundances at 1 < z < 3.5 from recent JWST observations with predictions from cosmological dark-matter-only zoom-in simulations. We identify and quantify several sources of biases that can impact theoretical satellite counts, finding that assumptions about subhalo tidal evolution introduce the largest uncertainty in predictions for the satellite mass function. Using a flexible galaxy disruption model, we explore a range of disruption scenarios, spanning hydrodynamically motivated and idealized prescriptions, to bracket plausible physical outcomes. We show that varying galaxy durability can change the predicted satellite mass functions by a factor of ∼3.5. The JWST data and our fiducial model are consistent within 1σ–2σ across the full redshift (1 < z < 3.5) and stellar mass (M⋆ > 10 7 M ⊙ ) range probed. We find evidence that subhalos are at least as long-lived as predicted by hydrodynamic simulations. Our framework will enable robust constraints on the tidal evolution of subhalos with future observations. This work presents the first direct comparison between cosmological models and observations of the high-redshift satellite population in this low-mass regime. These results showcase JWST’s emerging power to test structure formation in the first half of the Universe in a new domain and to constrain the physical processes driving the evolution of low-mass galaxies across cosmic time.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

GALAXY CLUSTER RADIO RELICS IN ADAPTIVE MESH REFINEMENT COSMOLOGICAL SIMULATIONS: RELIC PROPERTIES AND SCALING RELATIONSHIPS

Cosmological shocks are a critical part of large-scale structure formation, and are responsible for heating the intracluster medium in galaxy clusters. In addition, they are capable of accelerating non-thermal electrons and protons. In this work, we focus on the acceleration of electrons at shock fronts, which is thought to be responsible for radio relics-extended radio features in the vicinity of merging galaxy clusters. By combining high-resolution adaptive mesh refinement/N-body cosmological simulations with an accurate shock-finding algorithm and a model for electron acceleration, we calculate the expected synchrotron emission resulting from cosmological structure formation. We produce synthetic radio maps of a large sample of galaxy clusters and present luminosity functions and scaling relationships. With upcoming long-wavelength radio telescopes, we expect to see an abundance of radio emission associated with merger shocks in the intracluster medium. By producing observationally motivated statistics, we provide predictions that can be compared with observations to further improve our understanding of magnetic fields and electron shock acceleration.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

ON VARIATIONS OF THE BRIGHTNESS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITH THE AGE OF THE HOST STELLAR POPULATION

Recent observational studies of type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) suggest correlations between the peak brightness of an event and the age of the progenitor stellar population. This trend likely follows from properties of the progenitor white dwarf (WD), such as central density, that follow from properties of the host stellar population. We present a statistically well-controlled, systematic study utilizing a suite of multi-dimensional SNeIa simulations investigating the influence of central density of the progenitor WD on the production of Fe-group material, particularly radioactive {sup 56}Ni, which powers the light curve. We find that on average, as the progenitor's central density increases, production of Fe-group material does not change but production of {sup 56}Ni decreases. We attribute this result to a higher rate of neutronization at higher density. The central density of the progenitor is determined by the mass of the WD and the cooling time prior to the onset of mass transfer from the companion, as well as the subsequent accretion heating and neutrino losses. The dependence of this density on cooling time, combined with the result of our central density study, offers an explanation for the observed age-luminosity correlation: a longer cooling time raises the central density at ignition thereby producing less {sup 56}Ni and thus a dimmer event. While our ensemble of results demonstrates a significant trend, we find considerable variation between realizations, indicating the necessity for averaging over an ensemble of simulations to demonstrate a statistically significant result.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Controlling reactivity of nanoporous catalyst materials by tuning reaction product-pore interior interactions: Statistical mechanical modeling

Statistical mechanical modeling is performed of a catalytic conversion reaction within a functionalized nanoporous material to assess the effect of varying the reaction product-pore interior interaction from attractive to repulsive. A strong enhancement in reactivity is observed not just due to the shift in reaction equilibrium towards completion but also due to enhanced transport within the pore resulting from reduced loading. The latter effect is strongest for highly restricted transport (single-file diffusion), and applies even for irreversible reactions. The analysis is performed utilizing a generalized hydrodynamic formulation of the reaction-diffusion equations which can reliably capture the complex interplay between reaction and restricted transport.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER MOHICANS? THE CASE FOR A PRIMORDIAL ORIGIN TO THE PLANET-METALLICITY CONNECTION

When a planet falls onto the surface of its host star, the added high-metallicity material does not remain in the surface layers, as often assumed, but is diluted into the interior through fingering ('thermohaline') convection. Until now, however, the timescale over which this process happens remained very poorly constrained. Using recently measured turbulent mixing rates for fingering convection, I provide reliable numerical and semi-analytical estimates for the rate at which the added heavy elements drain into the interior. I find that the relative metallicity enhancement post-infall drops by a factor of 10 over a timescale that depends only on the structure of the host star and decreases very rapidly with increasing stellar mass (from about 1 Gyr for a 1.3 M{sub sun} star to 10 Myr for a 1.5 M{sub sun} star). This result offers an elegant explanation to the lack of an observed trend between metallicity and convection zone mass in planet-bearing stars. More crucially, it strongly suggests that the statistically higher metallicity of planet-bearing stars must be of primordial origin. Finally, the fingering region is found to extend deeply into the star, a result which would provide a simple theoretical explanation of the measurements of higher lithium depletion rates in planet-bearing stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Thermodynamic coarsening arrested by viscous fingering in partially miscible binary mixtures

We view the evolution of binary mixtures far from equilibrium, and demonstrate that the interplay between phase separation and hydrodynamic instability can arrest the Ostwald ripening process characteristic of nonflowing mixtures. We describe a model binary system in a Hele-Shaw cell using a phase-field approach with explicit dependence of both phase fraction and mass concentration. When the viscosity contrast between phases is large (as is the case for gas and liquid phases), an imposed background flow leads to viscous fingering, phase branching, and pinch off. This dynamic flow disorder limits phase growth and arrests thermodynamic coarsening. Because of this, the system reaches a regime of statistical steady state in which the binary mixture is permanently driven away from equilibrium.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Modeling the He II Transverse Proximity Effect: Constraints on Quasar Lifetime and Obscuration

The He II transverse proximity effect - enhanced He II Lyα transmission in a background sightline caused by the ionizing radiation of a foreground quasar - offers a unique opportunity to probe the emission properties of quasars, in particular the emission geometry (obscuration, beaming) and the quasar lifetime. Building on the foreground quasar survey published in Schmidt et al., we present a detailed model of the He II transverse proximity effect, specifically designed to include light travel time effects, finite quasar ages, and quasar obscuration. Here, we post-process outputs from a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation with a fluctuating He ii ultraviolet background model, with the added effect of the radiation from a single bright foreground quasar. We vary the age t age and obscured sky fractions Ω obsc of the foreground quasar, and explore the resulting effect on the He ii transverse proximity effect signal. Fluctuations in intergalactic medium density and the ultraviolet background, as well as the unknown orientation of the foreground quasar, result in a large variance of the He II Lyα transmission along the background sightline. We develop a fully Bayesian statistical formalism to compare far-ultraviolet He ii Lyα transmission spectra of the background quasars to our models, and extract joint constraints on t age and Ω obsc for the six Schmidt et al. foreground quasars with the highest implied He II photoionization rates. Our analysis suggests a bimodal distribution of quasar emission properties, whereby one foreground quasar, associated with a strong He II transmission spike, is relatively old (22 Myr) and unobscured (Ω obsc < 35%), whereas three others are either younger than 10 Myr or highly obscured (Ω obsc > 70%).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Measurement of (anti)alpha production in central Pb–Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV

In this letter, measurements of (anti)alpha production in central (0–10%) Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon–nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV are presented, including the first measurement of an antialpha transverse-momentum spectrum. Owing to its large mass, the production of (anti)alpha is expected to be sensitive to different particle production models. The production yields and transverse-momentum spectra of nuclei are of particular interest because they provide a stringent test of these models. The averaged antialpha and alpha spectrum is compared to the spectra of lighter particles, by including it into a common blast-wave fit capturing the hydrodynamic-like flow of all particles. This fit is indicating that the (anti)alpha also participates in the collective expansion of the medium created in the collision. A blast-wave fit including only protons, (anti)alpha, and other light nuclei results in a similar flow velocity as the fit that includes all particles. A similar flow velocity, but a significantly larger kinetic freeze-out temperature is obtained when only protons and light nuclei are included in the fit. The coalescence parameter B 4 is well described by calculations from a statistical hadronization model but significantly underestimated by calculations assuming nucleus formation via coalescence of nucleons. Similarly, the (anti)alpha-to-proton ratio is well described by the statistical hadronization model. On the other hand, coalescence calculations including approaches with different implementations of the (anti)alpha substructure tend to underestimate the data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Characterization of a hybrid target multi-keV x-ray source by a multi-parameter statistical analysis of titanium K-shell emission

We studied the titanium K-shell emission spectra from multi-keV x-ray source experiments with hybrid targets on the OMEGA laser facility. Using the collisional-radiative TRANSPEC code, dedicated to K-shell spectroscopy, we reproduced the main features of the detailed spectra measured with the time-resolved MSPEC spectrometer. We developed a general method to infer the N e , T e and T i characteristics of the target plasma from the spectral analysis (ratio of integrated Lyman-α to Helium-α in-band emission and the peak amplitude of individual line ratios) of the multi-keV x-ray emission. Finally, these thermodynamic conditions are compared to those calculated independently by the radiation-hydrodynamics transport code FCI2.

42 ENGINEERING↗

RADIATION-HYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS OF THE FORMATION OF ORION-LIKE STAR CLUSTERS. II. THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION FROM WINDS, TURBULENCE, AND RADIATION

We report a series of simulations of the formation of a star cluster similar to the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC), including both radiative transfer and protostellar outflows, and starting from both smooth and self-consistently turbulent initial conditions. Each simulation forms >150 stars and brown dwarfs, yielding a stellar mass distribution that ranges from <0.1 M{sub Sun} to >10 M{sub Sun }. We show that a simulation that begins with self-consistently turbulent density and velocity fields embedded in a larger turbulent volume, and that includes protostellar outflows, produces an initial mass function (IMF) that is consistent both with that of the ONC and the Galactic field, at least within the statistical power provided by the number of stars formed in our simulations. This is the first simulation published to date that reproduces the observed IMF in a cluster large enough to contain massive stars, and where the peak of the mass function is determined by a fully self-consistent calculation of gas thermodynamics rather than a hand-imposed equation of state. This simulation also produces a star formation rate that, while still somewhat too high, is much closer to observed values than if we omit either the larger turbulent volume or the outflows. Moreover, we show that the combination of outflows, self-consistently turbulent initial conditions, and turbulence continually fed by motions on scales larger than that of the protocluster yields an IMF that is in agreement with observations and invariant with time, resolving the 'overheating' problem in which simulations without these features have an IMF peak that shifts to progressively higher masses over time as more and more of the gas is heated, inconsistent with the observed invariance of the IMF. The simulation that matches the observed IMF also qualitatively reproduces the observed trend of stellar multiplicity strongly increasing with mass. We show that this simulation produces massive stars from distinct massive cores whose properties are consistent with those of observed massive cores. However, the stars formed in these cores also undergo dynamical interactions as they accrete that naturally produce Trapezium-like hierarchical multiple systems of massive stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Mapping the Perseus galaxy cluster with XRISM: Gas kinematic features and their implications for turbulence

We present extended gas kinematic maps of the Perseus cluster based on a combination of five new XRISM/Resolve pointings observed in 2025 with four performance verification datasets from 2024, totaling a net exposure of 745 ks. To date, Perseus remains the only cluster that has been extensively mapped out to ≃0.7 r 2500 by XRISM/Resolve, while simultaneously offering sufficient spatial resolution to resolve gaseous substructures driven by mergers and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. Our observations cover multiple radial directions and a broad range of dynamical scales, enabling us to characterize the kinematic properties of the intracluster medium up to a scale of ∼500 kpc. In the measurements, we detected high-velocity dispersions (≃300km s −1 ) in the eastern region of the cluster that are spatially coincident with the extended X-ray surface brightness excess and correspond to a nonthermal pressure fraction of ≃7 − 13%. The velocity field outside the AGN-dominant region can be effectively described by a single, large-scale kinematic driver based on the velocity structure function, which statistically favors an energy injection scale of at least a few hundred kpc. The estimated turbulent dissipation energy is comparable to the gravitational potential energy released by a recent merger, implying a significant role of turbulent cascade in the merger energy conversion. In the bulk velocity field, we observed a dipole-like pattern along the east-west direction with an amplitude of ≃ ± 200 − 300 km s −1 , indicating rotational motions induced by the recent merger event. This feature constrains the viewing direction to ≃30° −50° relative to the normal of the merger plane. Our hydrodynamic simulations suggest that Perseus has experienced at least two energetic mergers since redshift z ∼ 1, the most recent of which is associated with the radio galaxy IC310, in agreement with recent SRG/eROSITA findings. This study showcases exciting scientific opportunities for future missions with high-resolution spectroscopic capabilities (e.g., HUBS, LEM, and NewAthena).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cosmological fluctuations of a random field and radiation fluid

A generalization of the random fluid hydrodynamic fluctuation theory due to Landau and Lifshitz is applied to describe cosmological fluctuations in systems with radiation and scalar fields. The viscous pressures, parametrized in terms of the bulk and shear viscosity coefficients, and the respective random fluctuations in the radiation fluid are combined with the stochastic and dissipative scalar evolution equation. This results in a complete set of equations describing the perturbations in both scalar and radiation fluids. These derived equations are then studied, as an example, in the context of warm inflation. Similar treatments can be done for other cosmological early universe scenarios involving thermal or statistical fluctuations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

r -process Nucleosynthesis from Hyperaccreting Neutron Stars in Common Envelopes

We investigate nuclear reactions and feedback in hyperaccreting neutron star environments, considering accretion rates in the range 0.3–3 × 10 4 M ⊙ yr −1 , typical of short-period compact-object binaries in common envelopes. Our models account for weak reactions, neutrino energy loss, nuclear energy release, pair production, degenerate equations of state, and general relativistic hydrodynamics. Depending on the accretion rates, these systems can develop both proton- and neutron-rich atmospheres with strong convective instabilities linking the neutrino sphere to the outgoing accretion shock inside the radiation trapping zone. Convection drives nucleons through multiple heating and cooling cycles, with photodisintegration dominating during the heating phase and heavy element synthesis during the cooling phase, ejecting material with abundances that depend on the accretion rate and depth of the final decompression trajectory. The turbulent nature of convective currents is conducive to creating a wide range of nuclear products through a variety of effects, including nuclear statistical equilibrium freeze-out and the r-, p-, and γ-processes. We also observe a novel multistep process in reheated trajectories, consisting of proton-capture and photodissociation reactions operating on r-process seeds, producing overall neutron-deficient isotopes. A significant amount of infalling gas experiences high entropy and short (millisecond) freeze-out timescales capable of making r-process elements with high overabundances through a disequilibrium effect between neutrons and α-particles that does not require an excess of neutrons.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗