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At least 775 records · Page 43

Simulations of Precessing Jets and the Formation of X-shaped Radio Galaxies

Abstract Jet precession is sometimes invoked to explain asymmetries in radio galaxy (RG) jets and “X/S/Z-shaped” RGs, caused by the presence of a binary black hole companion to the source active galactic nucleus or by accretion instabilities. We present a series of simulations of RG jet precession to examine how these sources would evolve over time, including a passive distribution of cosmic-ray electrons so we can model radio synchrotron emissions and create synthetic radio maps of the sources. We find that a single source viewed from different angles can result in differing RG morphological classifications, confusing physical implications of these classifications. Additionally, the jet trajectories can become unstable due to their own self-interactions and lead to “reorientation events” that may look like the effects of external dynamics such as shocks, winds, or cold fronts in the medium. Finally, something akin to an “Odd Radio Circle” may be observed in the case of viewing the radio remnant of such a precessing source from a line of sight near the precession axis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Platform for probing radiation transport properties of hydrogen at conditions found in the deep interiors of red dwarfs

We describe an experimental concept at the National Ignition Facility for specifically tailored spherical implosions to compress hydrogen to extreme densities (up to ∼800× solid density, electron number density ne∼4×1025 cm−3) at moderate temperatures (T∼200 eV), i.e., to conditions, which are relevant to the interiors of red dwarf stars. The dense plasma will be probed by laser-generated x-ray radiation of different photon energy to determine the plasma opacity due to collisional (free–free) absorption and Thomson scattering. The obtained results will benchmark radiation transport models, which in the case for free–free absorption show strong deviations at conditions relevant to red dwarfs. This very first experimental test of free–free opacity models at these extreme states will help to constrain where inside those celestial objects energy transport is dominated by radiation or convection. Moreover, our study will inform models for other important processes in dense plasmas, which are based on electron–ion collisions, e.g., stopping of swift ions or electron–ion temperature relaxation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Properties and Spatial Distribution of Dust Emission in the Crab Nebula

The nature and quantity of dust produced in supernovae (SNe) is still poorly understood. Recent IR observations of freshly-formed dust in supernova remnants (SNRs) have yielded significantly lower dust masses than predicted by theoretical models and observations high-redshift galaxies. The Crab Nebula's pulsar wind is thought to be sweeping up freshly-formed SN dust along with the SN ejecta. The evidence for this dust was found in the form of an IR bump in the integrated spectrum of the Crab and in extinction against the synchrotron nebula that revealed the presence of dust in the filament cores. We present the first spatially-resolved emission spectra of dust in the Crab Nebula acquired with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The IR spectra are dominated by synchrotron emission and show forbidden line emission from both sides of the expanding nebula, including emission from [S III], [Si II], [Ne II], [Ne III], [Ne V], [Ar III], [Ar V], [Fe II], and [Ni II]. We extrapolated a synchrotron spectral data cube from the Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 micron images, and subtracted this contribution from our 15-40 micron spectral data to produce a map of the residual continuum emission from dust. The emission appears to be concentrated along the ejecta filaments and is well described by astronomical silicates at an average temperature of 65 K. The estimated mass of dust in the Crab Nebula is 0.008 solar masses.

Sonneborn, G.↗

Accumulation of the planets

In modeling the accumulation of planetesimals into planets, it is appropriate to distinguish between two stages: an early stage, during which approximately 10 km diameter planetesimals accumulate locally to form bodies approximate 10 to the 25th g in mass; and a later stage in which the approximately 10 to the 25th g planetesimals accumulate into the final planets. In the terrestrial planet region, an initial planetesimal swarm corresponding to the critical mass of dust layer gravitational instabilities is considered. In order to better understand the accumulation history of Mercury-sized bodies, 19 Monte-Carlo simulations of terrestrial planet growth were calculated. A Monte Carlo technique was used to investigate the orbital evolution of asteroidal collision debris produced interior to 2.6 AU. It was found that there are two regions primarily responsible for production of Earth-crossing meteoritic material and Apollo objects. The same techniques were extended to include the origin of Earth-approaching asteroidal bodies. It is found that these same two resonant mechanisms predict a steady-state number of Apollo-Amor about 1/2 that estimated based on astronomical observations.

Wetherill, G. W.↗

Identifying Basic Factors for Communal Prosperity - Space Technologies are Bridging this Gap

There are many aspects, which are important for maintaining environmentally clean and safe conditions for a healthy and economically self-sufficient community. This problem was somewhat of a lesser concern in earlier days because many communities were small, isolated and solely dependent upon their owners or landlords. Due to an astronomical growth in human population within the last century, extensive use of combustion technologies, and changing environmental conditions has resulted in scarcity of natural resources. In reality, the societal sustainability issues are becoming much more acute and complex. Therefore, the researchers and social scientists are joining forces to address these topics and find solutions to many contentious areas such as public health and diseases, water resources, agriculture production, survivability during and after the natural disasters, energy needs and many others. Forthrightly speaking, there is no canned solution or a methodology to go about solving these issues since the magnitude and complexity of these issues are multi-dimensional and are further inter-locked with other areas. A common sense tells us that we need data, resources and technologies to begin addressing these problems. This is where space observations have provided us with tremendous information and opportunities, which are of great assets to the science, economist, and social scientists. This paper specifically addresses what are critical areas for a successful societal sustainability and growth; and how can we take advantage of multiple sensors and models already in existence. Increasing our knowledge of the home planet, via amplified set of observations, is certainly a right step in a right direction. Furthermore, this is a pre-requisite in understanding multiple hazard phenomena's. This paper further examines various space sensors and observing architectures that can be useful specifically in addressing some of these complex issues. The ultimate goal is to serve the society by providing such valuable information so the decision makers can take full advantage in making timely societal decisions.

Habib, Shahid↗

A giant planet candidate transiting a white dwarf

Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the Solar System1, most of which orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into white dwarfs. During the red giant phase, any close-orbiting planets will be engulfed by the star2, but more distant planets can survive this phase and remain in orbit around the white dwarf3,4. Some white dwarfs show evidence for rocky material floating in their atmospheres5, in warm debris disks6,7,8,9 or orbiting very closely10,11,12, which has been interpreted as the debris of rocky planets that were scattered inwards and tidally disrupted13. Recently, the discovery of a gaseous debris disk with a composition similar to that of ice giant planets14 demonstrated that massive planets might also find their way into tight orbits around white dwarfs, but it is unclear whether these planets can survive the journey. So far, no intact planets have been detected in close orbits around white dwarfs. Here we report the observation of a giant planet candidate transiting the white dwarf WD 1856+534 (TIC 267574918) every 1.4 days. We observed and modelled the periodic dimming of the white dwarf caused by the planet candidate passing in front of the star in its orbit. The planet candidate is roughly the same size as Jupiter and is no more than 14 times as massive (with 95 per cent confidence). Other cases of white dwarfs with close brown dwarf or stellar companions are explained as the consequence of common-envelope evolution, wherein the original orbit is enveloped during the red giant phase and shrinks owing to friction. In this case, however, the long orbital period (compared with other white dwarfs with close brown dwarf or stellar companions) and low mass of the planet candidate make common-envelope evolution less likely. Instead, our findings for the WD 1856+534 system indicate that giant planets can be scattered into tight orbits without being tidally disrupted, motivating the search for smaller transiting planets around white dwarfs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Analysis of IRAS solar system dust data

Data in the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) Zodiacal History File were analyzed to extract dust band locations and peak brightness measurements from approximately 1,000 individual IRAS scans. The study had three goals. One was to show that the prominent solar system dust bands are associated with Hirayama asteroid families and thus that collisions between asteroids account for a significant fraction of the particles in the zodiacal cloud. Recent work suggests that while the Hirayama families are a major source of the dust in the bands, there may also be contributions from two or three smaller, more recently recognized asteroid families. A second goal was to show that there is evidence in the IRAS dust data for the transport of particles from asteroid belt to the Earth by Poynting-Robertson light drag and thus account for the fact that asteroid particles are collected in the Earth's stratosphere. Results of the study will confirm the location of the dust bands within the inner asteroid belt, and show conclusively that the material seen by IRAS is now spread over a wide range of distances from the sun. The third goal was to construct a model of the background zodiacal cloud that satisfies the proper dynamical constraints. Figures are provided to show the scans processed to remove zodiacal background and Galactic signals, and the resulting polynomial fits to the 25 micron scan. The latter provided objective estimates of band widths, peak locations, and peak fluxes. Modelling and analysis of the resulting band data has been presented at several conferences and is the subject of a number of forthcoming papers.

Dermott, S. F.↗

The Distribution and Evolution of Quasar Proximity Zone Sizes

In this paper, we study the sizes of quasar proximity zones with synthetic quasar absorption spectra obtained by postprocessing a Cosmic Reionization On Computers (CROC) simulation. CROC simulations have both relatively large box sizes and high spatial resolution, allowing us to resolve Lyman limit systems (LLSs), which are crucial for modeling the quasar absorption spectra. We find that before reionization, most quasar proximity zone sizes grow steadily for ~10 Myr, while after reionization, they grow rapidly but only for ~0.1 Myr. We also find a slow growth of R obs with decreasing turn-on redshift. In addition, we find that ~1%–2% of old quasars (30 Myr old) display extremely small proximity zone sizes (<1 proper Mpc), the vast majority of which are due to the occurrence of a damped Lyα absorber (DLA) or an LLS along the line of sight. These DLAs and LLSs are contaminated with metal, which offers a way to distinguish them from the normal proximity zones of young quasars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Preliminary clustering properties of the DESI BGS bright targets using DR9 Legacy Imaging Surveys

ABSTRACT We characterize the selection cuts and clustering properties of a magnitude-limited sample of bright galaxies that is part of the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) using the ninth data release of the Legacy Imaging Surveys (DR9). We describe changes in the DR9 selection compared to the DR8 one and we also compare the DR9 selection in three distinct regions: BASS/MzLS in the north Galactic Cap (NGC), DECaLS in the NGC, and DECaLS in the south Galactic Cap (SGC). We investigate the systematics associated with the selection and assess its completeness by matching the BGS targets with the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We measure the angular clustering for the overall bright sample (rmag ≤ 19.5) and as function of apparent magnitude and colour. This enables to determine the clustering strength r0 and slope γ by fitting a power-law model that can be used to generate accurate mock catalogues for this tracer. We use a counts-in-cells technique to explore higher order statistics and cross-correlations with external spectroscopic data sets in order to check the evolution of the clustering with redshift and the redshift distribution of the BGS targets using clustering redshifts. While this work validates the properties of the BGS bright targets, the final target selection pipeline and clustering properties of the entire DESI BGS will be fully characterized and validated with the spectroscopic data of Survey Validation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DeepZipper: A Novel Deep-learning Architecture for Lensed Supernovae Identification

Large-scale astronomical surveys have the potential to capture data on large numbers of strongly gravitationally lensed supernovae (LSNe). To facilitate timely analysis and spectroscopic follow-up before the supernova fades, an LSN needs to be identified soon after it begins. To quickly identify LSNe in optical survey data sets, we designed ZipperNet, a multibranch deep neural network that combines convolutional layers (traditionally used for images) with long short-term memory layers (traditionally used for time series). We tested ZipperNet on the task of classifying objects from four categories—no lens, galaxy-galaxy lens, lensed Type-Ia supernova, lensed core-collapse supernova—within high-fidelity simulations of three cosmic survey data sets: the Dark Energy Survey, Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and a Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) imaging survey. Among our results, we find that for the LSST-like data set, ZipperNet classifies LSNe with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.97, predicts the spectroscopic type of the lensed supernovae with 79% accuracy, and demonstrates similarly high performance for LSNe 1–2 epochs after first detection. We anticipate that a model like ZipperNet, which simultaneously incorporates spatial and temporal information, can play a significant role in the rapid identification of lensed transient systems in cosmic survey experiments.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Simultaneous Estimation of Large-scale Structure and Milky Way Dust Extinction from Galaxy Surveys

The high cosmological precision offered by the next generation of galaxy surveys hinges on improved corrections for Galactic dust extinction. We explore the possibility of estimating both the dust extinction and large-scale structure from a single photometric galaxy survey, making use of the predictable manner in which Milky Way dust affects the measured brightness and colors of galaxies in a given sky location in several redshift bins. To test our method, we use a synthetic catalog from a cosmological simulation designed to model the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. At high Galactic latitude (|b| ≳ 20°) and a resolution of 1° (7'), we predict the uncertainty in the measurement of dust extinction, E(B - V), to be 0.005 mag (0.015 mag). This is similar to the uncertainty of existing dust maps, illustrating the feasibility of our method. Simultaneous estimation of large-scale structure is predicted to recover the galaxy overdensity δ with a precision of ~0.01 (~0.05) at 1° (7') resolution. Finally, we also introduce a Bayesian formalism that combines prior information from existing dust maps with the likelihood of Galactic dust extinction determined from the excursion of observed galaxy properties.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The James Webb Telescope Instrument Suite Layout: Optical System Engineering Considerations for a Large, Deployable Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space-based, infrared observatory designed to study the early stages of galaxy formation in the Universe. The telescope will be launched into an elliptical orbit about the second Lagrange point and passively cooled to 30-50 K to enable astronomical observations from 0.6 to 28 microns. A group from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Northrop Grumman Space Technology prime contractor team has developed an optical and mechanical layout for the science instruments within the JWST field of view that satisfies the telescope s high-level performance requirements. Four instruments required accommodation within the telescope's field of view: a Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) provided by the University of Arizona; a Near-Mared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) provided by the European Space Agency; a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a European consortium; and a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) with a tunable filter module provided by the Canadian Space Agency. The size and position of each instrument's field of view allocation were developed through an iterative, concurrent engineering process involving the key observatory stakeholders. While some of the system design considerations were those typically encountered during the development of an infrared observatory, others were unique to the deployable and controllable nature of JWST. This paper describes the optical and mechanical issues considered during the field of view layout development, as well as the supporting modeling and analysis activities.

Bos, Brent↗

Results from Binary Black Hole Simulations in Astrophysics Applications

Present and planned gravitational wave observatories are opening a new astronomical window to the sky. A key source of gravitational waves is the merger of two black holes. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), in particular, is expected to observe these events with signal-to-noise ratio's in the thousands. To fully reap the scientific benefits of these observations requires a detailed understanding, based on numerical simulations, of the predictions of General Relativity for the waveform signals. New techniques for simulating binary black hole mergers, introduced two years ago, have led to dramatic advances in applied numerical simulation work. Over the last two years, numerical relativity researchers have made tremendous strides in understanding the late stages of binary black hole mergers. Simulations have been applied to test much of the basic physics of binary black hole interactions, showing robust results for merger waveform predictions, and illuminating such phenomena as spin-precession. Calculations have shown that merging systems can be kicked at up to 2500 km/s by the thrust from asymmetric emission. Recently, long lasting simulations of ten or more orbits allow tests of post-Newtonian (PN) approximation results for radiation from the last orbits of the binary's inspiral. Already, analytic waveform models based PN techniques with incorporated information from numerical simulations may be adequate for observations with current ground based observatories. As new advances in simulations continue to rapidly improve our theoretical understanding of the systems, it seems certain that high-precision predictions will be available in time for LISA and other advanced ground-based instruments. Future gravitational wave observatories are expected to make precision.

Baker, John G.↗

Exotic compact objects: The dark white dwarf

Several dark matter models allow for the intriguing possibility of exotic compact object formation. These objects might have unique characteristics that set them apart from their baryonic counterparts. Furthermore, gravitational wave observations of their mergers may provide the only direct window on a potentially entirely hidden sector. Here, we discuss dark white dwarfs, starting with an overview of the microphysical model and analytic scaling relations of macroscopic properties derived from the nonrelativistic limit. We use the full relativistic formalism to confirm these scaling relations and demonstrate that dark white dwarfs, if they exist, would have masses and tidal deformabilities that are very different from those of baryonic compact objects. Further, and most importantly, we demonstrate that dark white dwarf mergers would be detectable by current or planned gravitational observatories across several orders of magnitude in the particle-mass parameter space. Lastly, we find universal relations analogous to the compactness-Love and binary Love relations in neutron star literature. Using these results, we show that gravitational wave observations would constrain the properties of the dark matter particles constituting these objects.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Joint Analysis of Small-scale Galaxy Clustering and Galaxy–Galaxy Lensing from BOSS Galaxies

We present a joint analysis of galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements from BOSS galaxies using a simulation-based emulation method combined with a halo occupation distribution model. Our emulators are constructed with the Aemulus ν simulations, a suite of wνCDM N-body simulations with massive neutrinos as independent particle species. We combine small-scale analysis of clustering from 0.1 to 60.2 h −1 Mpc and lensing from 1.7 to 60.2 h −1 Mpc to perform cosmological constraints. We split the BOSS galaxies into three redshift bins to measure their clustering and employ galaxies from Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey and Hyper Suprime-Cam as source galaxies to measure lensing separately. We find that the addition of lensing significantly improves the constraining power on $S_8 = σ_8(Ω_m/0.3)^{0.5}$, with a weak improvement for fσ 8 . Our results of fσ 8 indicate tensions of around 1σ−4σ below the results of the cosmic microwave background observations of Planck. For S 8 , our results are also lower than Planck, and the tension can be mitigated when considering possible systematics in lensing measurement. As a by-product, our analysis prefers a nonzero neutrino mass but without strong significance, with the constraining power dominated by the clustering. Given the accuracy and precision of our model and the observational data, it is anticipated that larger and higher-quality spectroscopic data sets will improve the constraints on this fundamental property in the near future.

Gao, Wenhao [Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)↗

Responding to Climate Change: Adelie Penguins Confront Astronomical and Ocean Boundaries

Long-distance migration enables many organisms to take advantage of lucrative breeding and feeding opportunities during summer at high latitudes and then to move to lower, more temperate latitudes for the remainder of the year. The latitudinal range of the Ad lie penguin spans ~ 22 deg. Penguins from northern colonies may not migrate, but due to the high latitude of Ross Island colonies, these penguins almost certainly undertake the longest migrations for the species. Previous work has suggested that Adelies require both pack ice and some ambient light at all times of year. Over a 3-yr period, which included winters of both extensive and reduced sea ice, we investigated migratory routes and characteristics and wintering locations of Adelie Penguins from two colonies of very different size on Ross Island, Ross Sea, the southernmost colonies for any penguin. We acquired data from 3-16 Geolocation Sensors affixed to penguins each year at both Cape Royds and Cape Crozier in 2003-2005. Migrations averaged 12,760 km, with the longest being 17,600 km, and were in part facilitated by pack ice movement. Trip distances varied annually, but not by colony. Penguins rarely traveled north of the main sea ice pack, and used areas with high sea-ice concentration, ranging from 75-85%, about 500 km inward from the ice edge. They also used locations where there was some twilight (2-7 hr with sun greater than 6 below horizon). We review how Adelie Penguin migration has likely changed since withdrawal of the West Antarctic Ice 35 Sheet across the Ross Sea beginning 12,000 yBP. If sea ice extent in the Ross Sea sector decreases, as predicted by climate models, we can expect change in wintering areas, the location of which ultimately may be limited more by the availability of adequate light for visual foraging than by the availability of suitable pack-ice.

Ballard, Grant↗

Anomaly Detection and Approximate Similarity Searches of Transients in Real-time Data Streams

Abstract We present Lightcurve Anomaly Identification and Similarity Search ( LAISS ), an automated pipeline to detect anomalous astrophysical transients in real-time data streams. We deploy our anomaly detection model on the nightly Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Alert Stream via the ANTARES broker, identifying a manageable ∼1–5 candidates per night for expert vetting and coordinating follow-up observations. Our method leverages statistical light-curve and contextual host galaxy features within a random forest classifier, tagging transients of rare classes ( spectroscopic anomalies), of uncommon host galaxy environments ( contextual anomalies), and of peculiar or interaction-powered phenomena ( behavioral anomalies). Moreover, we demonstrate the power of a low-latency (∼ms) approximate similarity search method to find transient analogs with similar light-curve evolution and host galaxy environments. We use analogs for data-driven discovery, characterization, (re)classification, and imputation in retrospective and real-time searches. To date, we have identified ∼50 previously known and previously missed rare transients from real-time and retrospective searches, including but not limited to superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), tidal disruption events, SNe IIn, SNe IIb, SNe I-CSM, SNe Ia-91bg-like, SNe Ib, SNe Ic, SNe Ic-BL, and M31 novae. Lastly, we report the discovery of 325 total transients, all observed between 2018 and 2021 and absent from public catalogs (∼1% of all ZTF Astronomical Transient reports to the Transient Name Server through 2021). These methods enable a systematic approach to finding the “needle in the haystack” in large-volume data streams. Because of its integration with the ANTARES broker, LAISS is built to detect exciting transients in Rubin data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Photometric Studies of GEO Orbital Debris

The photometric signature of a debris object can be useful in determining what the physical characteristics of a piece of debris are. We report on optical observations in multiple filters of debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). Our sample is taken from GEO objects discovered in a survey with the University of Michigan's 0.6-m aperture Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), and then followed up in real-time with the Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory (CTIO) 0.9-m for orbits and photometry. Our goal is to determine 6 parameter orbits and measure colors for all objects fainter than R=15th magnitude that are discovered in the MODEST survey. At this magnitude the distribution of observed angular rates changes significantly from that of brighter objects. There are two objectives: 1. Estimate the orbital distribution of objects selected on the basis of two observational criteria: brightness (magnitude) and angular rates. 2. Obtain magnitudes and colors in standard astronomical filters (BVRI) for comparison with reflectance spectra of likely spacecraft materials. What is the faint debris likely to be? More than 90 calibrated sequences of R-B-V-I-R magnitudes for a sample of 50 objects have been obtained with the CTIO 0.9-m. For objects that do not show large brightness variations, the colors are largely redder than solar in both B-R and R-I. The width of the color distribution may be intrinsic to the nature of the surfaces, but also could be that we are seeing irregularly shaped objects and measuring the colors at different times with just one telescope. For a smaller sample of objects we have observed with synchronized CCD cameras on the two telescopes. The CTIO 0.9-m observes in B, and MODEST in R. The CCD cameras are electronically linked together so that the start time and duration of observations are the same to better than 50 milliseconds. Thus the B-R color is a true measure of the surface of the debris piece facing the telescopes for that observation. Any change in color reflects a real change in the debris surface. We will compare our observations with models and laboratory measurements of selected surfaces.

Seitzer, Patrick↗