ALBERT

Description: The motion of superfluid vortices in a neutron star crust is at the heart of most theories of pulsar glitches. Pinning of vortices to ions can decouple the superfluid from the crust and create a reservoir of angular momentum. Sudden large-scale unpinning can lead to an observable glitch. In this paper, we investigate the scattering of a free vortex off a pinning potential and calculate its mean free path, in order to assess whether unpinned vortices can skip multiple pinning sites and come close enough to their neighbours to trigger avalanches, or whether they simply hop from one pinning site to its neighbour, giving rise to a more gradual creep. We find that there is a significant range of parameter space in which avalanches can be triggered, thus supporting the hypothesis that they may lie at the origin of pulsar glitches. For realistic values of the pinning force and superfluid drag parameters, we find that avalanches are more likely in the higher density regions of the crust where pinning is stronger. Physical differences in stellar parameters, such as mass and temperature, may lead to a switch between creep-like motion and avalanches, explaining the different characteristics of glitching pulsars.

Description: We present the results of the application of locally linear embedding (LLE) to reduce the dimensionality of dereddened and continuum subtracted near-infrared spectra using a combination of models and real spectra of massive protostars selected from the Red MSX Source survey data base. A brief comparison is also made with two other dimension reduction techniques; principal component analysis (PCA) and Isomap using the same set of spectra as well as a more advanced form of LLE, Hessian locally linear embedding. We find that whilst LLE certainly has its limitations, it significantly outperforms both PCA and Isomap in classification of spectra based on the presence/absence of emission lines and provides a valuable tool for classification and analysis of large spectral data sets.

Description: The past decade and a half has seen the design and execution of several ground-based spectroscopic surveys, both Galactic and Extragalactic. Additionally, new surveys are being designed that extend the boundaries of current surveys. In this context, many important considerations must be done when designing a spectrograph for the future. Among these is the determination of the optimum wavelength coverage. In this work, we present a new code for determining the wavelength ranges that provide the optimal amount of information to achieve the required science goals for a given survey. In its first mode, it utilizes a user-defined list of spectral features to compute a figure-of-merit for different spectral configurations. The second mode utilizes a set of flux-calibrated spectra, determining the spectral regions that show the largest differences among the spectra. Our algorithm is easily adaptable for any set of science requirements and any spectrograph design. We apply the algorithm to several examples, including 4MOST, showing the method yields important design constraints to the wavelength regions.

Description: We reconstruct the projected mass distribution of a massive merging Hubble Frontier Fields cluster MACSJ0416 using the genetic algorithm based free-form technique called Grale. The reconstructions are constrained by 149 lensed images identified by Jauzac et al. using HFF data. No information about cluster galaxies or light is used, which makes our reconstruction unique in this regard. Using visual inspection of the maps, as well as galaxy-mass correlation functions we conclude that overall light does follow mass. Furthermore, the fact that brighter galaxies are more strongly clustered with mass is an important confirmation of the standard biasing scenario in galaxy clusters. On the smallest scales, approximately less than a few arcseconds, the resolution afforded by 149 images is still not sufficient to confirm or rule out galaxy-mass offsets of the kind observed in ACO 3827. We also compare the mass maps of MACSJ0416 obtained by three different groups: Grale, and two parametric Lenstool reconstructions from the CATS and Sharon/Johnson teams. Overall, the three agree well; one interesting discrepancy between Grale and Lenstool galaxy-mass correlation functions occurs on scales of tens of kpc and may suggest that cluster galaxies are more biased tracers of mass than parametric methods generally assume.

Description: We have monitored the massive binary star Carinae with the CTIO/Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System 1.5 m telescope and CHIRON spectrograph from the previous apastron passage of the system through the recent 2014.6 periastron passage. Our monitoring has resulted in a large, homogeneous data set with an unprecedented time-sampling, spectral resolving power, and signal to noise. This allowed us to investigate temporal variability previously unexplored in the system and discover a kinematic structure in the P Cygni absorption troughs of neutral helium wind lines. The features observed occurred prior to the periastron passage and are seen as we look through the trailing arm of the wind–wind collision shock cone. We show that the bulk of the variability is repeatable across the last five periastron passages, and that the absorption occurs in the inner 230 au of the system. In addition, we found an additional, high-velocity absorption component superimposed on the P Cygni absorption troughs that has been previously unobserved in these lines, but which bears resemblance to the observations of the He i 10830 Å feature across previous cycles. Through a comparison of the current smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations, we show that the observed variations are likely caused by instabilities in the wind–wind collision region in our line of sight, coupled with stochastic variability related to clumping in the winds.

Description: We investigated the typical environment and physical properties of ‘red discs’ and ‘blue bulges’, comparing those to the ‘normal’ objects in the blue cloud and red sequence. Our sample is composed of cluster members and field galaxies at z ≤ 0.1, so that we can assess the impact of the local and global environment. We find that disc galaxies display a strong dependence on environment, becoming redder for higher densities. This effect is more pronounced for objects within the virial radius, being also strong related to the stellar mass. We find that local and global environment affect galaxy properties, but the most effective parameter is stellar mass. We find evidence for a scenario where ‘blue discs’ are transformed into ‘red discs’ as they grow in mass and move to the inner parts of clusters. From the metallicity differences of red and blue discs, and the analysis of their star formation histories, we suggest the quenching process is slow. We estimate a quenching time-scale of ~2–3 Gyr. We also find from the sSFR– M * plane that ‘red discs’ gradually change as they move into clusters. The ‘blue bulges’ have many similar properties than ‘blue discs’, but some of the former show strong signs of asymmetry. The high asymmetry ‘blue bulges’ display enhanced recent star formation compared to their regular counterparts. That indicates some of these systems may have increased their star formation due to mergers. None the less, there may not be a single evolutionary path for these blue early-type objects.

Description: We study the dependence of the estimated size and geometry of the medium on the time-averaged spectral model assumed and on the frequency of the kHz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in the framework of a thermal Comptonization model. We use the high-quality time lag and rms obtained during 1996 March 3 observation of 4U 1608–52 by RXTE as well as other observations of the source at different QPO frequencies where a single time lag between two broad energy bands has been reported. We compare the results obtained when assuming that the time-averaged spectra are represented by the spectrally degenerate ‘hot ( kT b ≥ 1 keV)’ and ‘cold ( kT b ≤ 0.5 keV)’ seed spectral models where T b is seed source temperature. We find that for the ‘hot-seed’ model the medium size is in the range of 0.3–2.0 km and the size decreases with increasing QPO frequency. On the other hand, for the ‘cold-seed’ model, the range for the sizes is much larger 0.5–20 km and hence perhaps show no variation with QPO frequency. Our results emphasize the need for broad-band spectral information combined with high-frequency timing to lift this degeneracy. We further compare the rms as a function of energy for the upper kHz QPO, and indeed we find that the driver for this QPO should be temperature variations of the corona identical to the lower kHz QPO. However, the time lag reported for the upper kHz QPO is hard, which if confirmed would challenge the simple Comptonization model presented here.

Description: We describe a statistical approach for measuring the influence that a galaxy's closest companion has on the galaxy's properties out to arbitrarily wide separations. We begin by identifying the closest companion for every galaxy in a large spectroscopic sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies. We then characterize the local environment of each galaxy by using the number of galaxies within 2 Mpc and by determining the isolation of the galaxy pair from other neighbouring galaxies. We introduce a sophisticated algorithm for creating a statistical control sample for each galaxy, matching on stellar mass, redshift, local density and isolation. Unlike traditional studies of close galaxy pairs, this approach is effective in a wide range of environments, regardless of how faraway the closest companion is (although a very distant closest companion is unlikely to have a measurable influence on the galaxy in question). We apply this methodology to measurements of galaxy asymmetry, and find that the presence of nearby companions drives a clear enhancement in galaxy asymmetries. The asymmetry excess peaks at the smallest projected separations (〈10 kpc), where the mean asymmetry is enhanced by a factor of 2.0 ± 0.2. Enhancements in mean asymmetry decline as pair separation increases, but remain statistically significant (1–2) out to projected separations of at least 50 kpc.

Description: The collimation of a Poynting-flux dominated jet by a wind emanating from the surface of an accretion flow is computed using a semi-analytic model. The injection of the disc wind is treated as a boundary condition in the equatorial plane, and its evolution is followed by invoking a prescribed geometry of streamlines. Solutions are obtained for a wide range of disc wind parameters. It is found that jet collimation generally occurs when the total wind power exceeds about 10 percents of the jet power. For moderate wind powers, we find gradual collimation. For strong winds, we find rapid collimation followed by focusing of the jet, after which it remains narrow over many Alfvén crossing times before becoming conical. We estimate that in the later case, the jet's magnetic field may be dissipated by the current-driven kink instability over a distance of a few hundreds gravitational radii. We apply the model to M87 and show that the observed parabolic shape of the radio jet within the Bondi radius can be reproduced provided that the wind injection zone extends to several hundreds gravitational radii, and that its total power is about one-third of the jet power. The radio spectrum can be produced by synchrotron radiation of relativistically hot, thermal electrons in the sheath flow surrounding the inner jet.

Description: We use ~100 cosmological galaxy formation ‘zoom-in’ simulations using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code gasoline to study the effect of baryonic processes on the mass profiles of cold dark matter haloes. The haloes in our study range from dwarf ( M 200  ~ 10 10 M ) to Milky Way ( M 200  ~ 10 12 M ) masses. Our simulations exhibit a wide range of halo responses, primarily varying with mass, from expansion to contraction, with up to factor ~10 changes in the enclosed dark matter mass at 1 per cent of the virial radius. Confirming previous studies, the halo response is correlated with the integrated efficiency of star formation: SF ( M star / M 200 )/( b / m ). In addition, we report a new correlation with the compactness of the stellar system: R r 1/2 / R 200 . We provide an analytic formula depending on SF and R for the response of cold dark matter haloes to baryonic processes. An observationally testable prediction is that, at fixed mass, larger galaxies experience more halo expansion, while the smaller galaxies more halo contraction. This diversity of dark halo response is captured by a toy model consisting of cycles of adiabatic inflow (causing contraction) and impulsive gas outflow (causing expansion). For net outflow, or equal inflow and outflow fractions, f , the overall effect is expansion, with more expansion with larger f . For net inflow, contraction occurs for small f (large radii), while expansion occurs for large f (small radii), recovering the phenomenology seen in our simulations. These regularities in the galaxy formation process provide a step towards a fully predictive model for the structure of cold dark matter haloes.

Description: The strongest transitions of Zn and Cr ii are the most sensitive to relative variations in the fine-structure constant (α/α) among the transitions commonly observed in quasar absorption spectra. They also lie within just 40 Å of each other (rest frame), so they are resistant to the main systematic error affecting most previous measurements of α/α: long-range distortions of the wavelength calibration. While Zn and Cr ii absorption is normally very weak in quasar spectra, we obtained high signal-to-noise, high-resolution echelle spectra from the Keck and Very Large Telescopes of nine rare systems where it is strong enough to constrain α/α from these species alone. These provide 12 independent measurements (three quasars were observed with both telescopes) at redshifts 1.0–2.4, 11 of which pass stringent reliability criteria. These 11 are all consistent with α/α = 0 within their individual uncertainties of 3.5–13 parts per million (ppm), with a weighted mean α/α = 0.4 ± 1.4 stat ± 0.9 sys  ppm (1 statistical and systematic uncertainties), indicating no significant cosmological variations in α. This is the first statistical sample of absorbers that is resistant to long-range calibration distortions (at the 〈1 ppm level), with a precision comparable to previous large samples of ~150 (distortion-affected) absorbers. Our systematic error budget is instead dominated by much shorter range distortions repeated across echelle orders of individual spectra.

Description: We use the eagle suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to study how the H i content of present-day galaxies depends on their environment. We show that eagle reproduces observed H i mass–environment trends very well, while semi-analytic models typically overpredict the average H i masses in dense environments. The environmental processes act primarily as an on/off switch for the H i content of satellites with M * 〉 10 9 M . At a fixed M * , the fraction of H i -depleted satellites increase with increasing host halo mass M 200 in response to stronger environmental effects, while at a fixed M 200 it decreases with increasing satellite M * as the gas is confined by deeper gravitational potentials. H i -depleted satellites reside mostly, but not exclusively, within the virial radius r 200 of their host halo. We investigate the origin of these trends by focusing on three environmental mechanisms: ram pressure stripping by the intragroup medium, tidal stripping by the host halo and satellite–satellite encounters. By tracking back in time the evolution of the H i -depleted satellites, we find that the most common cause of H i removal is satellite encounters. The time-scale for H i removal is typically less than 0.5 Gyr. Tidal stripping occurs in haloes of M 200 〈 10 14 M within 0.5 x r 200 , while the other processes act also in more massive haloes, generally within r 200 . Conversely, we find that ram pressure stripping is the most common mechanism that disturbs the H i morphology of galaxies at redshift z = 0. This implies that H i removal due to satellite–satellite interactions occurs on shorter time-scales than the other processes.

Description: We present the first numerical simulations in coupled dark energy cosmologies with high enough resolution to investigate the effects of the coupling on galactic and subgalactic scales. We choose two constant couplings and a time-varying coupling function and we run simulations of three Milky Way-sized haloes (~10 12  M ), a lower mass halo (6 x 10 11  M ) and a dwarf galaxy halo (5 x 10 9  M ). We resolve each halo with several million dark matter particles. On all scales, the coupling causes lower halo concentrations and a reduced number of substructures with respect to cold dark matter (CDM). We show that the reduced concentrations are not due to different formation times. We ascribe them to the extra terms that appear in the equations describing the gravitational dynamics. On the scale of the Milky Way satellites, we show that the lower concentrations can help in reconciling observed and simulated rotation curves, but the coupling values necessary to have a significant difference from CDM are outside the current observational constraints. On the other hand, if other modifications to the standard model allowing a higher coupling (e.g. massive neutrinos) are considered, coupled dark energy can become an interesting scenario to alleviate the small-scale issues of the CDM model.

Description: The correlation between radio spectral index and redshift has been exploited to discover high-redshift radio galaxies, but its underlying cause is unclear. It is crucial to characterize the particle acceleration and loss mechanisms in high-redshift radio galaxies to understand why their radio spectral indices are steeper than their local counterparts. Low-frequency information on scales of ~1 arcsec are necessary to determine the internal spectral index variation. In this paper we present the first spatially resolved studies at frequencies below 100 MHz of the z = 2.4 radio galaxy 4C 43.15 which was selected based on its ultrasteep spectral index (α 〈 –1; S ~ α ) between 365 MHz and 1.4 GHz. Using the International Low Frequency Array Low Band Antenna we achieve subarcsecond imaging resolution at 55 MHz with very long baseline interferometry techniques. Our study reveals low-frequency radio emission extended along the jet axis, which connects the two lobes. The integrated spectral index for frequencies 〈500 MHz is –0.83. The lobes have integrated spectral indices of –1.31 ± 0.03 and –1.75 ± 0.01 for frequencies ≥1.4 GHz, implying a break frequency between 500 MHz and 1.4 GHz. These spectral properties are similar to those of local radio galaxies. We conclude that the initially measured ultrasteep spectral index is due to a combination of the steepening spectrum at high frequencies with a break at intermediate frequencies.

Description: We examine a sample of 1495 galaxies in the CANDELS fields to determine the evolution of two-component galaxies, including bulges and discs, within massive galaxies at the epoch 1 〈  z  〈 3 when the Hubble sequence forms. We fit all of our galaxies’ light profiles with a single Sérsic fit, as well as with a combination of exponential and Sérsic profiles. The latter is done in order to describe a galaxy with an inner and an outer component, or bulge and disc component. We develop and use three classification methods (visual, F -test and the residual flux fraction) to separate our sample into one-component galaxies (disc/spheroids-like galaxies) and two-component galaxies (galaxies formed by an ‘inner part’ or bulge and an ‘outer part’ or disc). We then compare the results from using these three different ways to classify our galaxies. We find that the fraction of galaxies selected as two-component galaxies increases on average 50 per cent from the lowest mass bin to the most massive galaxies, and decreases with redshift by a factor of 4 from z  = 1 to 3. We find that single Sérsic ‘disc-like’ galaxies have the highest relative number densities at all redshifts, and that two-component galaxies have the greatest increase and become at par with Sérsic discs by z  = 1. We also find that the systems we classify as two-component galaxies have an increase in the sizes of their outer components, or ‘discs’, by about a factor of 3 from z  = 3 to 1.5, while the inner components or ‘bulges’ stay roughly the same size. This suggests that these systems are growing from the inside out, whilst the bulges or protobulges are in place early in the history of these galaxies. This is also seen to a lesser degree in the growth of single ‘disc-like’ galaxies versus ‘spheroid-like’ galaxies over the same epoch.

Description: Using the idea of regularization of singularities due to the variability of the fundamental constants in cosmology we study the cyclic universe models. We find two models of oscillating and non-singular mass density and pressure (‘non-singular’ bounce) regularized by varying gravitational constant G despite the scale factor evolution is oscillating and having sharp turning points (‘singular’ bounce). Both violating (big-bang) and non-violating (phantom) null energy condition models appear. Then, we extend this idea on to the multiverse containing cyclic individual universes with either growing or decreasing entropy though leaving the net entropy constant. In order to get an insight into the key idea, we consider the doubleverse with the same geometrical evolution of the two ‘parallel’ universes with their physical evolution [physical coupling constants c ( t ) and G ( t )] being different. An interesting point is that there is a possibility to exchange the universes at the point of maximum expansion – the fact which was already noticed in quantum cosmology. Similar scenario is also possible within the framework of Brans–Dicke theory where varying G ( t ) is replaced by the dynamical Brans–Dicke field ( t ) though these theories are slightly different.

Description: In the thermal dark matter (DM) paradigm, primordial interactions between DM and Standard Model particles are responsible for the observed DM relic density. In Bœhm et al., we showed that weak-strength interactions between DM and radiation (photons or neutrinos) can erase small-scale density fluctuations, leading to a suppression of the matter power spectrum compared to the collisionless cold DM (CDM) model. This results in fewer DM subhaloes within Milky Way-like DM haloes, implying a reduction in the abundance of satellite galaxies. Here we use very high-resolution N -body simulations to measure the dynamics of these subhaloes. We find that when interactions are included, the largest subhaloes are less concentrated than their counterparts in the collisionless CDM model and have rotation curves that match observational data, providing a new solution to the ‘too big to fail’ problem.

Description: The recent discovery of the gravitational wave source GW150914 has revealed a coalescing binary black hole (BBH) with masses of ~30 M . Previous proposals for the origin of such a massive binary include Population III (PopIII) stars. PopIII stars are efficient producers of BBHs and of a gravitational wave background (GWB) in the 10–100 Hz band, and also of ionizing radiation in the early Universe. We quantify the relation between the amplitude of the GWB ( gw ) and the electron scattering optical depth ( e ), produced by PopIII stars, assuming that f esc 10 per cent of their ionizing radiation escapes into the intergalactic medium. We find that PopIII stars would produce a GWB that is detectable by the future O5 LIGO/Virgo if e 0.07, consistent with the recent Planck measurement of e = 0.055 ± 0.09. Moreover, the spectral index of the background from PopIII BBHs becomes as small as dln gw /dln f 0.3 at f 30 Hz, which is significantly flatter than the value ~2/3 generically produced by lower redshift and less-massive BBHs. A detection of the unique flattening at such low frequencies by the O5 LIGO/Virgo will indicate the existence of a high-chirp mass, high-redshift BBH population, which is consistent with the PopIII origin. A precise characterization of the spectral shape near 30–50 Hz by the Einstein Telescope could also constrain the PopIII initial mass function and star formation rate.

Description: We employ very high resolution simulations of isolated Milky Way-like galaxies to study the effect of triaxial dark matter haloes on exponential stellar discs. Non-adiabatic halo shape changes can trigger two-armed grand-design spiral structures which extend all the way to the edge of the disc. Their pattern speed coincides with the inner Lindblad resonance indicating that they are kinematic density waves which can persist up to several Gyr. In dynamically cold discs, grand-design spirals are swing amplified and after a few Gyr can lead to the formation of (multi-armed) transient recurrent spirals. Stellar discs misaligned to the principal planes of the host triaxial halo develop characteristic integral shaped warps, but otherwise exhibit very similar spiral structures as aligned discs. For the grand-design spirals in our simulations, their strength dependence with radius is determined by the torque on the disc, suggesting that by studying grand-design spirals without bars it may be possible to set constraints on the tidal field and host dark matter halo shape.

Description: Intrinsic galaxy shape and angular momentum alignments can arise in cosmological large-scale structure due to tidal interactions or galaxy formation processes. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations have recently come of age as a tool to study these alignments and their contamination to weak gravitational lensing. We probe the redshift and luminosity evolution of intrinsic alignments in Horizon-AGN between z = 0 and 3 for galaxies with an r -band absolute magnitude of M r ≤ –20. Alignments transition from being radial at low redshifts and high luminosities, dominated by the contribution of ellipticals, to being tangential at high redshift and low luminosities, where discs dominate the signal. This cannot be explained by the evolution of the fraction of ellipticals and discs alone: intrinsic evolution in the amplitude of alignments is necessary. The alignment amplitude of elliptical galaxies alone is smaller in amplitude by a factor of ~=2, but has similar luminosity and redshift evolution as in current observations and in the non-linear tidal alignment model at projected separations of 1 Mpc. Alignments of discs are null in projection and consistent with current low-redshift observations. The combination of the two populations yields an overall amplitude a factor of ~=4 lower than observed alignments of luminous red galaxies with a steeper luminosity dependence. The restriction on accurate galaxy shapes implies that the galaxy population in the simulation is complete only to M r ≤ –20. Higher resolution simulations will be necessary to avoid extrapolation of the intrinsic alignment predictions to the range of luminosities probed by future surveys.

Description: The spins of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) and the power outputs of their jets are measurable quantities. Unfortunately, the currently employed methods do not agree and the results are controversial. Two major issues concern the measurements of BH spin and beam (jet) power. The former issue can be resolved by future observations. But the latter issue can be resolved now, if we pay attention to what is expected from theoretical considerations. The question of whether a correlation has been found between the power outputs of few objects and the spins of their BHs is moot because BH beam power does not scale with the square of the spin of the BH. We show that the theoretical BH beam power is a strongly non-linear function of spin that cannot be approximated by a quadratic relation, as is generally stated when the influence of the magnetic field is not accounted for in the Blandford & Znajek model. The BH beam power of ballistic jets should scale a lot more steeply with BH spin irrespective of the magnetic field assumed to thread the horizon and the spin range considered. This behaviour may already be visible in the analyses of radio observations by Narayan & McClintock and Russell et al. In agreement with previous studies, we also find that the power output that originates in the inner regions of the surrounding accretion discs is higher than that from the BHs and it cannot be ignored in investigations of continuous compact jets from these systems.

Description: We present deep spectroscopy of three Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) with large abundance discrepancy factors: NGC 6153, M 1-42 and Hf 2-2. The spectra were obtained with Very Large Telescope/Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph and cover the whole optical range (3040–11 000 Å) with a spectral resolution of ~20 000. For all three PNe, several hundred emission lines were detected and identified, with more than 70 per cent of them as permitted lines. Most of these permitted lines are excited by recombination. Numerous weak optical recombination lines (ORLs) of O ii , C ii , N ii and Ne ii were detected in the spectra and accurate fluxes measured. Line flux tables were compiled and ready for use by the community of nebular astrophysics. These ORLs were critically analysed using the effective recombination coefficients recently calculated for the optical recombination spectrum of N ii and O ii under the physical conditions of photoionized gaseous nebulae. Plasma diagnostics based on the heavy element ORLs were carried out using the new atomic data. Elemental abundances derived from the ORLs were systematically higher than those derived from the collisionally excited lines (CELs) by a factor of ~11, 22 and 80 for NGC 6153, M 1-42 and Hf 2-2, respectively. The electron temperatures derived from the heavy element ORLs are systematically lower than those derived from the CELs. These ORL versus CEL abundance and temperature discrepancies, previously observed in the three PNe through deep spectroscopy with medium to low spectral resolution, are thus confirmed by our analysis of the deep echelle spectra using the new atomic data.

Description: The birth of the first luminous sources and the ensuing epoch of reionization are best studied via the redshifted 21-cm emission line, the signature of the first two imprinting the last. In this work, we present a fully Bayesian method, hibayes , for extracting the faint, global (sky-averaged) 21-cm signal from the much brighter foreground emission. We show that a simplified (but plausible) Gaussian model of the 21-cm emission from the Cosmic Dawn epoch (15 z 30), parametrized by an amplitude $A_{\rm H\,\small {I}}$ , a frequency peak $\nu _{\rm H\,\small {I}}$ and a width $\sigma _{\rm H\,\small {I}}$ , can be extracted even in the presence of a structured foreground frequency spectrum (parametrized as a seventh-order polynomial), provided sufficient signal-to-noise (400 h of observation with a single dipole). We apply our method to an early, 19-min-long observation from the Large aperture Experiment to detect the Dark Ages, constraining the 21-cm signal amplitude and width to be $-890 \lt A_{\rm H\,\small {I}} \lt 0$ mK and $\sigma _{\rm H\,\small {I}} \gt 6.5$ MHz (corresponding to z 〉 1.9 at redshift z ~= 20) respectively at the 95-per cent confidence level in the range 13.2 〈 z 〈 27.4 (100 〉 〉 50 MHz).

Description: Several dedicated surveys focusing on early-type galaxies (ETGs) reveal that significant fractions of them are detectable in all interstellar medium phases studied to date. We select ETGs from the Herschel Reference Survey that have both far-infrared Herschel and either H  i or CO detection (or both). We derive their star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses and dust masses via modelling their spectral energy distributions. We combine these with literature information on their atomic and molecular gas properties, in order to relate their star formation, total gas mass and dust mass on global scales. The ETGs deviate from the dust mass–SFR relation and the Schmidt–Kennicutt relation that SDSS star-forming galaxies define: compared to SDSS galaxies, ETGs have more dust at the same SFR, or less SFR at the same dust mass. When placing them in the M * –SFR plane, ETGs show a much lower specific SFR as compared to normal star-forming galaxies. ETGs show a large scatter compared to the Schmidt–Kennicutt relation found locally within our Galaxy, extending to lower SFRs and gas mass surface densities. Using an ETG's SFR and the Schmidt–Kennicutt law to predict its gas mass leads to an underestimate. ETGs have similar observed-gas-to-modelled-dust mass ratios to star-forming galaxies of the same stellar mass, as well as they exhibit a similar scatter.

Description: We report on the identification of the new Galactic Centre (GC) transient Swift J174540.7–290015 as a likely low-mass X-ray binary located at only 16 arcsec from Sgr A * . This transient was detected on 2016 February 6, during the Swift GC monitoring, and it showed long-term spectral variations compatible with a hard- to soft-state transition. We observed the field with XMM–Newton on February 26 for 35 ks, detecting the source in the soft state, characterized by a low level of variability and a soft X-ray thermal spectrum with a high energy tail (detected by INTEGRAL up to ~50 keV), typical of either accreting neutron stars or black holes. We observed: (i) a high column density of neutral absorbing material, suggesting that Swift J174540.7–290015 is located near or beyond the GC and; (ii) a sub-Solar iron abundance, therefore we argue that iron is depleted into dust grains. The lack of detection of Fe K absorption lines, eclipses or dipping suggests that the accretion disc is observed at a low inclination angle. Radio (Very Large Array) observations did not detect any radio counterpart to Swift J174540.7–290015. No evidence for X-ray or radio periodicity is found. The location of the transient was observed also in the near-infrared (near-IR) with gamma-ray burst optical near-IR detector at MPG/European Southern Observatory La Silla 2.2 m telescope and VLT/ NaCo pre- and post-outburst. Within the Chandra error region, we find multiple objects that display no significant variations.

Description: This is the first of two papers describing the observations and cataloguing of deep 3-GHz observations of the Lockman Hole North using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. The aim of this paper is to investigate, through the use of simulated images, the uncertainties and accuracy of source-finding routines, as well as to quantify systematic effects due to resolution, such as source confusion and source size. While these effects are not new, this work is intended as a particular case study that can be scaled and translated to other surveys. We use the simulations to derive uncertainties in the fitted parameters, as well as bias corrections for the actual catalogue (presented in Paper II). We compare two different source-finding routines, OBIT and AEGEAN, and two different effective resolutions, 8 and 2.75  arcsec. We find that the two routines perform comparably well, with OBIT being slightly better at de-blending sources, but slightly worse at fitting resolved sources. We show that 30–70 per cent of sources are missed or fit inaccurately once the source size becomes larger than the beam, possibly explaining source count errors in high-resolution surveys. We also investigate the effect of blending, finding that any sources with separations smaller than the beam size are fit as single sources. We show that the use of machine-learning techniques can correctly identify blended sources up to 90 per cent of the time, and prior-driven fitting can lead to a 70 per cent improvement in the number of de-blended sources.

Description: We present evidence for a small glitch in the spin evolution of the millisecond pulsar J0613–0200, using the EPTA Data Release 1.0, combined with Jodrell Bank analogue filterbank times of arrival (TOAs) recorded with the Lovell telescope and Effelsberg Pulsar Observing System TOAs. A spin frequency step of 0.82(3) nHz and frequency derivative step of –1.6(39)  x  10 –19 Hz s –1 are measured at the epoch of MJD 50888(30). After PSR B1821–24A, this is only the second glitch ever observed in a millisecond pulsar, with a fractional size in frequency of / = 2.5(1)  x  10 –12 , which is several times smaller than the previous smallest glitch. PSR J0613–0200 is used in gravitational wave searches with pulsar timing arrays, and is to date only the second such pulsar to have experienced a glitch in a combined 886 pulsar-years of observations. We find that accurately modelling the glitch does not impact the timing precision for pulsar timing array applications. We estimate that for the current set of millisecond pulsars included in the International Pulsar Timing Array, there is a probability of ~50 per cent that another glitch will be observed in a timing array pulsar within 10 years.

Description: We exploit Atacama Large Interferometer Array (ALMA) 870 μm observations to measure the star formation rates (SFRs) of eight X-ray detected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in a z 3.1 protocluster, four of which reside in extended Lyα haloes (often termed Lyman-alpha blobs: LABs). Three of the AGNs are detected by ALMA and have implied SFRs of 220–410 M  yr –1 ; the non-detection of the other five AGNs places SFR upper limits of 210 M  yr –1 . The mean SFR of the protocluster AGNs (110–210 M  yr –1 ) is consistent (within a factor of 0.7–2.3) with that found for co-eval AGNs in the field, implying that the galaxy growth is not significantly accelerated in these systems. However, when also considering ALMA data from the literature, we find evidence for elevated mean SFRs (up-to a factor of 5.9 over the field) for AGNs at the protocluster core, indicating that galaxy growth is significantly accelerated in the central regions of the protocluster. We also show that all of the four protocluster LABs are associated with an ALMA counterpart within the extent of their Lyα emission. The SFRs of the ALMA sources within the LABs (150–410 M  yr –1 ) are consistent with those expected for co-eval massive star-forming galaxies in the field. Furthermore, the two giant LABs (with physical extents of 100 kpc) do not host more luminous star formation than the smaller LABs, despite being an order of magnitude brighter in Lyα emission. We use these results to discuss star formation as the power source of LABs.

Description: We present the discovery of a new, peculiar form of double-periodic pulsation in RR Lyrae stars. In four, long-period ( P 〉 0.6 d) stars observed by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, and classified as fundamental mode pulsators (RRab), we detect additional, low-amplitude variability, with period shorter than fundamental mode period. The period ratios fall in a range similar to double-mode fundamental and first overtone RR Lyrae stars (RRd), with the exception of one star, in which the period ratio is significantly lower and nearly exactly equals 0.7. Although period ratios are fairly different for the four stars, the light-curve shapes corresponding to the dominant, fundamental mode are very similar. The peak-to-peak amplitudes and amplitude ratios (Fourier parameters R 21 and R 31 ) are among the highest observed in RRab stars of similar period, while Fourier phases ( 21 and 31 ) are among the lowest observed in RRab stars. If the additional variability is interpreted as due to radial first overtone, then, the four stars are the most extreme RRd variables of the longest pulsation periods known. Indeed, the observed period ratios can be well modelled with high-metallicity pulsation models. However, at such long pulsation periods, first overtone is typically damped. Five other candidates, with weak signature of additional variability, sharing the same characteristics, were also detected and are briefly discussed.

Description: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detection of gravitational waves that take away 5 per cent of the total mass of two merging black holes points out on the importance of considering varying gravitational mass of a system in the framework of the Einstein general theory of relativity. We calculate the acceleration of a particle in the non-stationary field of a quasi-spherical system composed of a large number of objects emitting gravitational waves. It is shown that reduction of the gravitational mass of the system due to emitting gravitational waves leads to a repulsive gravitational force that diminishes with time but never disappears. This repulsive force may be related to the observed expansion of the Universe.

Description: Radiative feedback is an important consequence of cluster formation in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in which newly formed clusters heat and ionize their surrounding gas. The process of cluster formation, and the role of radiative feedback, has not been fully explored in different GMC environments. We present a suite of simulations which explore how the initial gravitational boundedness, and radiative feedback, affect cluster formation. We model the early evolution (〈5 Myr) of turbulent, 10 6 M clouds with virial parameters ranging from 0.5 to 5. To model cluster formation, we use cluster sink particles, coupled to a raytracing scheme, and a custom subgrid model which populates a cluster via sampling an initial mass function (IMF) with an efficiency of 20 per cent per free-fall time. We find that radiative feedback only decreases the cluster particle formation efficiency by a few per cent. The initial virial parameter plays a much stronger role in limiting cluster formation, with a spread of cluster formation efficiencies of 37–71 per cent for the most unbound to the most bound model. The total number of clusters increases while the maximum mass cluster decreases with an increasing initial virial parameter, resulting in steeper mass distributions. The star formation rates in our cluster particles are initially consistent with observations but rise to higher values at late times. This suggests that radiative feedback alone is not responsible for dispersing a GMC over the first 5 Myr of cluster formation.

Description: Large redshift surveys capable of measuring the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal have proven to be an effective way of measuring the distance–redshift relation in cosmology. Building off the work in Zhu et al., we develop a technique to directly constrain the distance–redshift relation from BAO measurements without splitting the sample into redshift bins. We apply the redshift weighting technique in Zhu et al. to the clustering of galaxies from 1000 Quick particle mesh (QPM) mock simulations after reconstruction and achieve a 0.75 per cent measurement of the angular diameter distance D A at z = 0.64 and the same precision for Hubble parameter H at z = 0.29. These QPM mock catalogues mimic the clustering and noise level of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 (DR12). We compress the correlation functions in the redshift direction on to a set of weighted correlation functions. These estimators give unbiased D A and H measurements across the entire redshift range of the combined sample. We demonstrate the effectiveness of redshift weighting in improving the distance and Hubble parameter estimates. Instead of measuring at a single ‘effective’ redshift as in traditional analyses, we report our D A and H measurements at all redshifts. The measured fractional error of D A ranges from 1.53 per cent at z = 0.2 to 0.75 per cent at z = 0.64. The fractional error of H ranges from 0.75 per cent at z = 0.29 to 2.45 per cent at z = 0.7. Our measurements are consistent with a Fisher forecast to within 10–20 per cent depending on the pivot redshift. We further show the results are robust against the choice of fiducial cosmologies, galaxy bias models, and redshift–space distortions streaming parameters.

Description: The dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the Milky Way are the primary targets in the indirect searches for particle dark matter. To set robust constraints on candidate dark matter particles, understanding the dark halo structure of these systems is of substantial importance. In this paper, we first evaluate the astrophysical factors for dark matter annihilation and decay for 24 dSphs, taking into account a non-spherical dark halo, using generalized axisymmetric mass models based on axisymmetric Jeans equations. First, from a fitting analysis of the most recent kinematic data available, our axisymmetric mass models are a much better fit than previous spherical ones, thus, our work should be the most realistic and reliable estimator for astrophysical factors. Secondly, we find that among analysed dSphs, the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Triangulum II and Ursa Major II are the most promising but large uncertain targets for dark matter annihilation while the classical dSph Draco is the most robust and detectable target for dark matter decay. It is also found that the non-sphericity of luminous and dark components influences the estimate of astrophysical factors, even though these factors largely depend on the sample size, the prior range of parameters and the spatial extent of the dark halo. Moreover, owing to these effects, the constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross-section are more conservative than those of previous spherical works. These results are important for optimizing and designing dark matter searches in current and future multi-messenger observations by space and ground-based telescopes.

Description: We investigate how nightside cooling and surface friction affect surface temperatures and large-scale circulation for tidally locked Earth-like planets. For each scenario, we vary the orbital period between P rot = 1 and 100 d and capture changes in climate states. We find drastic changes in climate states for different surface friction scenarios. For very efficient surface friction ( t s,fric = 0.1 d), the simulations for short rotation periods ( P rot ≤ 10 d) show predominantly standing extratropical Rossby waves. These waves lead to climate states with two high-latitude westerly jets and unperturbed meridional direct circulation. In most other scenarios, simulations with short rotation periods exhibit instead dominance by standing tropical Rossby waves. Such climate states have a single equatorial westerly jet, which disrupts direct circulation. Experiments with weak surface friction ( t s,fric = 10–100 d) show decoupling between surface temperatures and circulation, which leads to strong cooling of the nightside. The experiment with t s,fric = 100 d assumes climate states with easterly flow (retrograde rotation) for medium and slow planetary rotations P rot = 12–100 d. We show that an increase of nightside cooling efficiency by one order of magnitude compared to the nominal model leads to a cooling of the nightside surface temperatures by 80–100 K. The dayside surface temperatures only drop by 25 K at the same time. The increase in thermal forcing suppresses the formation of extratropical Rossby waves on small planets ( R P = 1 R Earth ) in the short rotation period regime ( P rot ≤ 10 d).

Description: Using detailed modelling, we analyse the spectra observed from the sample galaxies at z  ~ 0.8 presented by Ly et al., constraining the models by the [O iii ]5007+4959/[O iii ]4363 line ratios. Composite models (shock + photoionization) are adopted. Shock velocities ≥100 km s –1 and pre-shock densities n 0  ~ 200 cm –3 characterize the gas surrounding the starburst (SB), while n 0 are higher by a factor of 1.5–10 in the AGN emitting gas. SB effective temperatures are similar to those of quiescent galaxies ( T * ~ 4–7  x  10 4  K). Cloud geometrical thicknesses in the SB are ≤10 16  cm, indicating major fragmentation, while in AGN they reach 〉10 pc. O/H are about solar for all the objects, except for a few AGN clouds with O/H = 0.3–0.5 solar. SB models reproduce most of the data within the observational errors. About half of the objects’ spectra are well fitted by an accreting AGN. Some galaxies show multiple radiation sources, such as SB + AGN, or a double AGN.

Description: We present a method of comparing the Galactic systems realized by two astrometric catalogues. The systematic differences between positions and proper motions are represented by vector spherical harmonics. To extract the signal from the noise, we use a statistical criterion adapted to using healpix data pixelization to determine the significance of all the accessible harmonics. We also use a new analytical method that includes the magnitude equation in the vector spherical harmonics technique. The influence of the magnitude equation on the determination of the mutual orientation and rotation of the PPMXL and UCAC4 Galactic reference frames has been found in the range of J magnitudes from 10.25 to 15.75 mag. The angles of mutual orientation and the rates of mutual rotation of the Galactic frames under consideration depend on magnitude and can reach the level of 10 mas in orientation and 0.7 mas yr –1 for spin. We make a kinematic study of the low degree harmonics in the representation of the systematic differences between the Galactic proper motions. We have found that, averaged over the magnitude range, the biases of the Oort constants due to systematic differences of proper motions between the two catalogues, which are as large as 〈 A 〉 = 1.60 ± 0.41 and 〈 B 〉 = –1.91 ± 0.32 km s –1 kpc –1 , are greater than the standard errors of their evaluation in the systems of these catalogues. The theoretical equations used in this paper are based on real vector harmonics. We present a set of formulae to convert them into the complex function formalism.

Description: We present a way of searching for non-transiting exoplanets with dusty tails. In the transiting case, the extinction by dust during the transit removes more light from the beam than is scattered into it. Thus, the forward scattering component of the light is best seen either just prior to ingress, or just after egress, but with reduced amplitude over the larger peak that is obscured by the transit. This picture suggests that it should be equally productive to search for positive-going peaks in the flux from non-transiting exoplanets with dusty tails. We discuss what amplitudes are expected for different orbital inclination angles. The signature of such objects should be distinct from normal transits, starspots, and most – but not all – types of stellar pulsations.

Description: We present results from three-dimensional, numerical relativity simulations of a tilted black hole-thick accretion disc system. The simulations are analysed using tracer particles in the disc which are advected with the flow. Such tracers, which we employ in these new simulations for the first time, provide a powerful means to analyse in detail the complex dynamics of tilted black hole–torus systems. We show how its use helps to gain insight into the overall dynamics of the system, discussing the origin of the observed black hole precession and the development of a global non-axisymmetric m = 1 mode in the disc. Our three-dimensional simulations show the presence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the instantaneous accretion rate, with frequencies in a range compatible with those observed in low-mass X-ray binaries with either a black hole or a neutron star component. The frequency ratio of the dominant low-frequency peak and the first overtone is o 1 / f ~ 1.9, a frequency ratio not attainable when modelling the QPOs as p -mode oscillations in axisymmetric tori.

Description: We present a multiwavelength investigation of the young stellar population and star formation activities around the H ii region Sharpless 311. Using our deep near-infrared observations and archival Spitzer -IRAC observations, we have detected a total of 125 young stellar objects (YSOs) in an area of ~86 arcmin 2 . The YSO sample includes eight Class I and 117 Class II candidate YSOs. The mass completeness of the identified YSO sample is estimated to be 1.0 M . The ages and masses of the majority of the candidate YSOs are estimated to be in the range ~0.1–5 Myr and ~0.3–6 M , respectively. The 8-μm image of S311 displays an approximately spherical cavity around the ionizing source, which was possibly created by the expansion of the H ii region. The spatial distribution of the candidate YSOs reveals that a significant number of them are distributed systematically along the 8-μm emission with a majority clustered around the eastern border of the H ii region. Four clumps/compact H ii regions are detected in the radio continuum observations at 1280 MHz, which may have been formed during the expansion of the H ii region. The estimated dynamical age of the region, main-sequence lifetime of the ionizing source, the spatial distribution and ages of the candidate YSOs indicate triggered star formation in the complex.

Description: NGC 6946, known as the Fireworks galaxy because of its high supernova rate and high star formation, is embedded in a very extended H i halo. Its northern spiral arm is well detached from the galactic main body. We found that this arm contains a large (~300 pc in size) Red Ellipse, named according to a strong contamination of the Hα emission line on its optical images. The ellipse is accompanied by a short parallel arc and a few others still smaller and less regular; a bright star cluster is seen inside these features. The complicated combination of arcs seems to be unique; it is only a bit similar to some SNRs. However, the long-slit spectral data obtained with the Russian 6-m telescope did not confirm the origin of the nebula as a result of a single SN outburst. The emission-line spectrum corresponds to the photoionization by young hot stars with a small contribution of shock ionization. The most likely explanation of the Red Ellipse is a superbubble created by a collective feedback of massive stars in the star cluster located in the NE side of the Red Ellipse. However, the very regular elliptical shape of the nebulae seems strange.

Description: Gravity is believed to be important on multiple physical scales in molecular clouds. However, quantitative constraints on gravity are still lacking. We derive an analytical formula which provides estimates on multiscale gravitational energy distribution using the observed surface density probability distribution function (PDF). Our analytical formalism also enables one to convert the observed column density PDF into an estimated volume density PDF, and to obtain average radial density profile ( r ). For a region with $N_{\rm col} \sim N^{-\gamma _{\rm N}}$ , the gravitational energy spectra is $E_{\rm p}(k)\sim k^{-4(1 - 1/\gamma _{\rm N})}$ . We apply the formula to observations of molecular clouds, and find that a scaling index of –2 of the surface density PDF implies that ~ r –2 and E p ( k ) ~ k –2 . The results are valid from the cloud scale (a few parsec) to around ~ 0.1 pc. Because of the resemblance the scaling index of the gravitational energy spectrum and the that of the kinetic energy power spectrum of the Burgers turbulence (where E ~ k –2 ), our result indicates that gravity can act effectively against turbulence over a multitude of physical scales. This is the critical scaling index which divides molecular clouds into two categories: clouds like Orion and Ophiuchus have shallower power laws, and the amount of gravitational energy is too large for turbulence to be effective inside the cloud. Because gravity dominates, we call this type of cloud g-type clouds. On the other hand, clouds like the California molecular cloud and the Pipe nebula have steeper power laws, and turbulence can overcome gravity if it can cascade effectively from the large scale. We call this type of cloud t-type clouds. The analytical formula can be used to determine if gravity is dominating cloud evolution when the column density PDF can be reliably determined.

Description: The next Galactic supernova is expected to bring great opportunities for the direct detection of gravitational waves (GW), full flavour neutrinos, and multiwavelength photons. To maximize the science return from such a rare event, it is essential to have established classes of possible situations and preparations for appropriate observations. To this end, we use a long-term numerical simulation of the core-collapse supernova (CCSN) of a 17 M red supergiant progenitor to self-consistently model the multimessenger signals expected in GW, neutrino, and electromagnetic messengers. This supernova model takes into account the formation and evolution of a protoneutron star, neutrino-matter interaction, and neutrino transport, all within a two-dimensional shock hydrodynamics simulation. With this, we separately discuss three situations: (i) a CCSN at the Galactic Center, (ii) an extremely nearby CCSN within hundreds of parsecs, and (iii) a CCSN in nearby galaxies within several Mpc. These distance regimes necessitate different strategies for synergistic observations. In a Galactic CCSN, neutrinos provide strategic timing and pointing information. We explore how these in turn deliver an improvement in the sensitivity of GW analyses and help to guarantee observations of early electromagnetic signals. To facilitate the detection of multimessenger signals of CCSNe in extremely nearby and extragalactic distances, we compile a list of nearby red supergiant candidates and a list of nearby galaxies with their expected CCSN rates. By exploring the sequential multimessenger signals of a nearby CCSN, we discuss preparations for maximizing successful studies of such an unprecedented stirring event.

Description: Recent observations of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in massive galaxies (log M * / M  〉 10.4) show the following: (1) at z 〈 1, AGN-hosting galaxies do not show enhanced merger signatures compared with normal galaxies, (2) also at z 〈 1, most AGNs are hosted by quiescent galaxies and (3) at z 〉 1, the percentage of AGNs in star-forming galaxies increases and becomes comparable to the AGN percentage in quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2. How can major mergers explain AGN activity in massive quiescent galaxies that have no merger features and no star formation to indicate a recent galaxy merger? By matching merger events in a cosmological N -body simulation to the observed AGN incidence probability in the COSMOS survey, we show that major merger-triggered AGN activity is consistent with the observations. By distinguishing between ‘peak’ AGNs (recently merger-triggered and hosted by star-forming galaxies) and ‘faded’ AGNs (merger-triggered a long time ago and now residing in quiescent galaxies), we show that the AGN occupation fraction in star-forming and quiescent galaxies simply follows the evolution of the galaxy merger rate. Since the galaxy merger rate drops dramatically at z 〈 1, the only AGNs left to be observed are the ones triggered by old mergers that are now in the declining phase of their nuclear activity, hosted by quiescent galaxies. As we go towards higher redshifts, the galaxy merger rate increases and the percentages of ‘peak’ AGNs and ‘faded’ AGNs become comparable.

Description: Relativistic jets can form from at least some tidal disruption events (TDEs) of (sub-)stellar objects around supermassive black holes. We detect the millimetre (MM) emission of IGR J12580+0134 – the nearest TDE known in the galaxy NGC 4845 at the distance of only 17 Mpc, based on Planck all-sky survey data. The data show significant flux jumps after the event, followed by substantial declines, in all six high-frequency Planck bands from 100 to 857 GHz. We further show that the evolution of the MM flux densities is well consistent with our model prediction from an off-axis jet, as was initially suggested from radio and X-ray observations. This detection represents the second TDE with MM detections; the other is Sw J1644+57, an on-axis jetted TDE at redshift of 0.35. Using the on- and off-axis jet models developed for these two TDEs as templates, we estimate the detection potential of similar events with the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Assuming an exposure of 1 h, we find that the LMT (ALMA) can detect jetted TDEs up to redshifts z ~ 1 (2), for a typical disrupted star mass of ~1 M . The detection rates of on- and off-axis TDEs can be as high as ~0.6 (13) and 10 (220) yr –1 , respectively, for the LMT (ALMA). We briefly discuss how such observations, together with follow-up radio monitoring, may lead to major advances in understanding the jetted TDEs themselves and the ambient environment of the circumnuclear medium.

Description: A debate has arisen concerning the fundamental nature of luminous blue variables (LBVs) and their role in stellar evolution. While Smith & Tombleson proposed that their isolated environments indicate that LBVs must be largely the product of binary evolution, Humphreys et al. have recently expressed the view that the traditional single-star view still holds if one appropriately selects a subsample of LBVs. This paper finds the claim of Humphreys et al. to be quantitatively unjustified. A statistical test of ‘candidate’ as opposed to ‘confirmed’ LBVs shows no significant difference (〈1) between their environments. Even if the sample is further subdivided as proposed, the three most luminous LBVs are spatially dispersed similar to late O-type dwarfs, which have much longer median lifetimes than expected for classical LBVs. The lower luminosity LBVs have a distribution associated with red supergiants (RSGs), but these RSGs are dominated by stars of 10–15 M initial mass, with much longer lifetimes than expected for those lower luminosity LBVs. If one's view is restricted to the highest luminosity LBVs, then the appropriate comparison is with early O-type stars that are their presumed progenitors; when this is done, it is clear that even the high-luminosity LBVs are more dispersed than expected. Humphreys et al. also suggest that velocities of LBVs support the single-star view, being inconsistent with runaways. A quantitative analysis of the radial velocity distribution of LBVS in M31 and M33 contradicts this; modest runway speeds expected from mass gainers in binary evolution are consistent with the observed velocities, although the data lack the precision to discriminate.

Description: Primordial dark matter (DM) haloes are the smallest gravitationally bound DM structures from which the first stars, black holes and galaxies form and grow in the early universe. However, their structures are sensitive to the free streaming scale of DM, which in turn depends on the nature of DM particles. In this work, we test the hypothesis that the slope of the central cusps in primordial DM haloes near the free streaming scale depends on the nature of merging process. By combining and analysing data from a cosmological simulation with the cutoff in the small-scale matter power spectrum as well as a suite of controlled, high-resolution simulations of binary mergers, we find that (1) the primordial DM haloes form preferentially through major mergers in radial orbits; (2) their central DM density profile is more susceptible to a merging process compared to that of galaxy- and cluster-sized DM haloes; (3) consecutive major mergers drive the central density slope to approach the universal form characterized by the Navarro–Frenk–White profile, which is shown to be robust to the impacts of mergers and serves an attractor solution for the density structure of DM haloes. Our work highlights the importance of dynamical processes on the structure formation during the Dark Ages.

Description: The discovery of lithium-rich giants contradicts expectations from canonical stellar evolution. Here we report on the serendipitous discovery of 20 Li-rich giants observed during the Gaia -ESO Survey, which includes the first nine Li-rich giant stars known towards the CoRoT fields. Most of our Li-rich giants have near-solar metallicities and stellar parameters consistent with being before the luminosity bump. This is difficult to reconcile with deep mixing models proposed to explain lithium enrichment, because these models can only operate at later evolutionary stages: at or past the luminosity bump. In an effort to shed light on the Li-rich phenomenon, we highlight recent evidence of the tidal destruction of close-in hot Jupiters at the sub-giant phase. We note that when coupled with models of planet accretion, the observed destruction of hot Jupiters actually predicts the existence of Li-rich giant stars, and suggests that Li-rich stars should be found early on the giant branch and occur more frequently with increasing metallicity. A comprehensive review of all known Li-rich giant stars reveals that this scenario is consistent with the data. However, more evolved or metal-poor stars are less likely to host close-in giant planets, implying that their Li-rich origin requires an alternative explanation, likely related to mixing scenarios rather than external phenomena.

Description: A key physical quantity during reionization is the size of H  ii regions. Previous studies found a characteristic bubble size which increases rapidly during reionization, with apparent agreement between simulations and analytic excursion set theory. Using four different methods, we critically examine this claim. In particular, we introduce the use of the watershed algorithm – widely used for void finding in galaxy surveys – which we show to be an unbiased method with the lowest dispersion and best performance on Monte Carlo realizations of a known bubble size probability density function (PDF). We find that a friends-of-friends algorithm declares most of the ionized volume to be occupied by a network of volume-filling regions connected by narrow tunnels. For methods tuned to detect the volume-filling regions, previous apparent agreement between simulations and theory is spurious, and due to a failure to correctly account for the window function of measurement schemes. The discrepancy is already obvious from visual inspection. Instead, H  ii regions in simulations are significantly larger (by factors of 10–1000 in volume) than analytic predictions. The size PDF is narrower, and evolves more slowly with time, than predicted. It becomes more sharply peaked as reionization progresses. These effects are likely caused by bubble mergers, which are inadequately modelled by analytic theory. Our results have important consequences for high-redshift 21 cm observations, the mean free path of ionizing photons, and the visibility of Lyα emitters, and point to a fundamental failure in our understanding of the characteristic scales of the reionization process.

Description: We present a model of cometary dust capable of simulating the dynamics within the first few tens of km of the comet surface. Recent measurements by the Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator and Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser instruments on Rosetta show that the nucleus emits fluffy dust particles with porosities above 50 per cent and sizes up to at least mm (Fulle et al. 2015b ; Rotundi et al. 2015 ; Schulz et al. 2015 ). Retrieval of the physical properties of these particles requires a model of the effective forces governing their dynamics. Here, we present a model capable of simulating realistic, large and porous particles using hierarchical aggregates, which shows previous extrapolations to be inadequate. The main strengths of our approach are that we can simulate very large (mm-scale) non-spherical agglomerates and can accurately determine their (1) effective cross-section and ratio of cross-section to mass, (2) gas drag coefficient, and (3) light scattering properties. In practical terms, we find that a more detailed treatment of the dust structure results in three to five times higher velocities for large dust particles in the inner coma than previously estimated using spherical particles of the same mass. We apply our model to the dynamics of dust in the vicinity of the nucleus of comet 67P and successfully reproduce the dust speeds reported early on when the comet was roughly 3.5 au from the Sun. At this stage, we employ a simple spherical comet nucleus, we model activity as constant velocity gas expansion from a uniformly active surface, and use Mie scattering. We discuss pathways to improve on these simplifications in the future.

Description: This study represents the most sensitive Chandra X-ray point source catalogue of M31. Using 133 publicly available Chandra ACIS-I/S observations totalling ~1 Ms, we detected 795 X-ray sources in the bulge, north-east, and south-west fields of M31, covering an area of 0.6 deg 2 , to a limiting unabsorbed 0.5–8.0 keV luminosity of ~10 34 erg s –1 . In the inner bulge, where exposure is approximately constant, X-ray fluxes represent average values because they were determined from many observations over a long period of time. Similarly, our catalogue is more complete in the bulge fields since monitoring allowed more transient sources to be detected. The catalogue was cross-correlated with a previous XMM–Newton catalogue of M31's D 25 isophote consisting of 1948 X-ray sources, with only 979 within the field of view of our survey. We found 387 (49 per cent) of our Chandra sources (352 or 44 per cent unique sources) matched to within 5 arcsec of 352 XMM–Newton sources. Combining this result with matching done to previous Chandra X-ray sources we detected 259. new sources in our catalogue. We created X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) in the soft (0.5–2.0 keV) and hard (2.0–8.0 keV) bands that are the most sensitive for any large galaxy based on our detection limits. Completeness-corrected XLFs show a break around 1.3 x 10 37 erg s –1 , consistent with previous work. As in past surveys, we find that the bulge XLFs are flatter than the disc, indicating a lack of bright high-mass X-ray binaries in the disc and an aging population of low-mass X-ray binaries in the bulge.

Description: We introduce a new transit search and vetting pipeline for observations from the K2 mission, and present the candidate transiting planets identified by this pipeline out of the targets in Campaigns 5 and 6. Our pipeline uses the Gaussian process-based k2sc code to correct for the K2 pointing systematics and simultaneously model stellar variability. The systematics-corrected, variability-detrended light curves are searched for transits with the box-least-squares method, and a period-dependent detection threshold is used to generate a preliminary candidate list. Two or three individuals vet each candidate manually to produce the final candidate list, using a set of automatically generated transit fits and assorted diagnostic tests to inform the vetting. We detect 145 single-planet system candidates and 5 multi-planet systems, independently recovering the previously published hot Jupiters EPIC 212110888b, WASP-55b (EPIC 212300977b) and Qatar-2b (EPIC 212756297b). We also report the outcome of reconnaissance spectroscopy carried out for all candidates with Kepler magnitude Kp ≤ 13, identifying 12 targets as likely false positives. We compare our results to those of other K2 transit search pipelines, noting that ours performs particularly well for variable and/or active stars, but that the results are very similar overall. All the light curves and code used in the transit search and vetting process are publicly available, as are the follow-up spectra.

Description: We use particle data from the Illustris simulation, combined with individual kinematic constraints on the mass of the Milky Way (MW) at specific distances from the Galactic Centre, to infer the radial distribution of the MW's dark matter halo mass. Our method allows us to convert any constraint on the mass of the MW within a fixed distance to a full circular velocity profile to the MW's virial radius. As primary examples, we take two recent (and discrepant) measurements of the total mass within 50 kpc of the Galaxy and find that they imply very different mass profiles and stellar masses for the Galaxy. The dark-matter-only version of the Illustris simulation enables us to compute the effects of galaxy formation on such constraints on a halo-by-halo basis; on small scales, galaxy formation enhances the density relative to dark-matter-only runs, while the total mass density is approximately 20 per cent lower at large Galactocentric distances. We are also able to quantify how current and future constraints on the mass of the MW within specific radii will be reflected in uncertainties on its virial mass: even a measurement of M (〈50 kpc) with essentially perfect precision still results in a 20 per cent uncertainty on the virial mass of the Galaxy, while a future measurement of M (〈100 kpc) with 10 per cent errors would result in the same level of uncertainty. We expect that our technique will become even more useful as (1) better kinematic constraints become available at larger distances and (2) cosmological simulations provide even more faithful representations of the observable Universe.

Description: We present new observations of the galaxy cluster 3C 129 obtained with the Sardinia Radio Telescope in the frequency range 6000–7200 MHz, with the aim to image the large-angular-scale emission at high-frequency of the radio sources located in this cluster of galaxies. The data were acquired using the recently commissioned ROACH2-based backend to produce full-Stokes image cubes of an area of 1° x 1° centred on the radio source 3C 129. We modelled and deconvolved the telescope beam pattern from the data. We also measured the instrumental polarization beam patterns to correct the polarization images for off-axis instrumental polarization. Total intensity images at an angular resolution of 2.9 arcmin were obtained for the tailed radio galaxy 3C 129 and for 13 more sources in the field, including 3C 129.1 at the galaxy cluster centre. These data were used, in combination with literature data at lower frequencies, to derive the variation of the synchrotron spectrum of 3C 129 along the tail of the radio source. If the magnetic field is at the equipartition value, we showed that the lifetimes of radiating electrons result in a radiative age for 3C 129 of t syn ~= 267 ± 26 Myr. Assuming a linear projected length of 488 kpc for the tail, we deduced that 3C 129 is moving supersonically with a Mach number of M  =  v gal / c s  = 1.47. Linearly polarized emission was clearly detected for both 3C 129 and 3C 129.1. The linear polarization measured for 3C 129 reaches levels as high as 70 per cent in the faintest region of the source where the magnetic field is aligned with the direction of the tail.

Description: Supernova remnants are believed to be the main sources of galactic cosmic rays (CR). Within this framework, particles are accelerated at supernova remnant shocks and then released in the interstellar medium. The mechanism through which CRs are released and the way in which they propagate still remain open issues. The main difficulty is the high non-linearity of the problem: CRs themselves excite the magnetic turbulence that confines them close to their sources. We solve numerically the coupled differential equations describing the evolution in space and time of the escaping particles and of the waves generated through the CR streaming instability. The warm ionized and warm neutral phases of the interstellar medium are considered. These phases occupy the largest fraction of the disc volume, where most supernovae explode, and are characterized by the significant presence of neutral particles. The friction between those neutrals and ions results in a very effective wave damping mechanism. It is found that streaming instability affects the propagation of CRs even in the presence of ion-neutral friction. The diffusion coefficient can be suppressed by more than a factor of ~2 over a region of few tens of pc around the remnant. The suppression increases for smaller distances. The propagation of 10 GeV particles is affected for several tens of kiloyears after escape, while 1 TeV particles are affected for few kiloyears. This might have a great impact on the interpretation of gamma-ray observations of molecular clouds located in the vicinity of supernova remnants.

Description: We have performed very large and high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations in order to investigate detectability of nebular lines in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) to optical wavelength range from galaxies at z 〉 7. We find that the expected line fluxes are very well correlated with the apparent UV magnitudes. The C  iv 1549 Å and C  iii ] 1909 Å lines of galaxies brighter than 26 AB magnitudes are detectable with current facilities such as the Very Large Telescope (VLT) XShooter and the Keck Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE). Metal lines such as C  iv 1549 Å, C  iii ] 1909 Å, [O  ii ] 3727 Å and [O  iii ] 4959/5007 Å are good targets for spectroscopic observation with the Thirty-Metre Telescope ( TMT ), European Extremely Large Telescope ( E-ELT ), Giant Magellan Telescope ( GMT ) and James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ). We also expect Hα and Hβ lines to be detectable with these telescopes. Additionally, we predict the detectability of nebular lines for z 〉 10 galaxies, which will be found with JWST , the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope ( WFIRST ) and First Light And Reionization Explorer ( FLARE ) (11 ≤ z ≤ 15). We conclude that the C  iv 1549 Å, C  iii ] 1909 Å, [O  iii ] 4959/5007 Å and Hβ lines from even z ~15 galaxies could be strong targets for TMT , E-ELT and JWST . We also find that magnification by gravitational lensing is of great help in detecting such high- z galaxies. According to our model, the C  iii ] 1909 Å line in z 〉 9 galaxy candidates is detectable even using current facilities.

Description: The modified dynamical equation of motions obtained by means of topological torsion currents predicts a so-far unforeseen anomalous acceleration detected in spacecrafts during close planetary flybys in retrograde direction, and a null-effect when spacecrafts approach the planet in the posigrade direction with respect to the planetary sense of rotation.

Description: 1H 0707–495 is the most convincing example of a supermassive black hole with an X-ray spectrum being dominated by extremely smeared, relativistic reflection, with the additional requirement of strongly supersolar iron abundance. However, here we show that the iron features in its 2–10 keV spectrum are rather similar to the archetypal wind dominated source, PDS 456. We fit all the 2–10 keV spectra from 1H 0707–495 using the same wind model as used for PDS 456, but viewed at higher inclination so that the iron absorption line is broader but not so blueshifted. This gives a good overall fit to the data from 1H 0707–495, and an extrapolation of this model to higher energies also gives a good match to the NuSTAR data. Small remaining residuals indicate that the iron line emission is stronger than in PDS 456. This is consistent with the wider angle wind expected from a continuum-driven wind from the super-Eddington mass accretion rate in 1H 0707–495, and/or the presence of residual reflection from the underlying disc though the presence of the absorption line in the model removes the requirement for highly relativistic smearing, and highly supersolar iron abundance. We suggest that the spectrum of 1H 0707–495 is sculpted more by absorption in a wind than by extreme relativistic effects in strong gravity.

Description: Equations of secular dynamics for stellar quadruple systems in 2+2 hierarchy are formulated. Non-singular, angular momentum and Laplace vector variables are used to describe orbital evolution of both inner and outer orbits. Given a typical wide separation of the binaries in these systems, gravitational interactions are truncated at the octupole approximation. Secular equations are propagated numerically and the results compared to the complete numerical integration on a long time-scale. Our basic formulation uses a point-mass model, but we also extend it by including the simplest description of the quadrupole interaction among the components of close (inner) binaries. Evolution of orbital planes of the binaries is discussed analytically in a simplified model and numerically using a more complete model. Maximum angular separation of the two orbital planes reaches only 20–40 per cent of the simple geometric maximum value for low-eccentricity cases with small inclination with respect to the orbital plane of the relative motion. This may be a pre-requisite for occurrence of quadruple systems with both binaries showing eclipses. However, statistical occurrence of eclipses at any time for a synthetic population of quadruples with initially isotropic distribution of orbital planes is about equal to the model where the orbits do not evolve due to gravitational interactions. We also show that the model is potentially suitable for long-term studies of the initial evolutionary tracks of the 2 + 2 quadruple systems.

Description: The rotational fission of asteroids has been studied previously with simplified models restricted to planar motion. However, the observed physical configuration of contact binaries leads one to conclude that most of them are not in a planar configuration and hence would not be restricted to planar motion once they undergo rotational fission. This motivated a study of the evolution of initially non-planar binaries created by fission. Using a two-ellipsoid model, we performed simulations taking only gravitational interactions between components into account. We simulate 91 different initial inclinations of the equator of the secondary body for 19 different mass ratios. After disruption, the binary system dynamics are chaotic, as predicted from theory. Starting the system in a non-planar configuration leads to a larger energy and enhanced coupling between the rotation state of the smaller fissioned body and the evolving orbital system, and enables re-impact to occur. This leads to differences with previous planar studies, with collisions and secondary spin fission occurring for all mass ratios with inclinations 0 ≥ 40 o , and mimics a Lidov–Kozai mechanism. Out of 1729 studied cases, we found that ~14 per cent result in secondary fission, ~25 per cent result in collisions and ~6 per cent have lifetimes longer than 200 yr. In Jacobson & Scheeres stable binaries only formed in cases with mass ratios q  〈 0.20. Our results indicate that it should be possible to obtain a stable binary with the same mechanisms for cases with mass ratios larger than this limit, but that the system should start in a non-planar configuration.

Description: Recent Spitzer /InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) photometric observations have revealed that rest-frame optical emission lines contribute significantly to the broad-band fluxes of high-redshift galaxies. Specifically, in the narrow redshift range z  ~ 5.1–5.4 the [3.6]–[4.5] colour is expected to be very red, due to contamination of the 4.5 μm band by the dominant Hα line, while the 3.6 μm filter is free of nebular emission lines. We take advantage of new reductions of deep Spitzer /IRAC imaging over the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North+South fields (Labbé et al. 2015 ) to obtain a clean measurement of the mean Hα equivalent width (EW) from the [3.6]–[4.5] colour in the redshift range z = 5.1–5.4. The selected sources either have measured spectroscopic redshifts (13 sources) or lie very confidently in the redshift range z = 5.1–5.4 based on the photometric redshift likelihood intervals (11 sources). Our z phot = 5.1–5.4 sample and z spec = 5.10–5.40 spectroscopic sample have a mean [3.6]–[4.5] colour of 0.31 ± 0.05 and 0.35 ± 0.07 mag, implying a rest-frame EW (Hα+[N ii ]+[S ii ]) of 665 ± 53 and 707 ± 74 Å, respectively, for sources in these samples. These values are consistent albeit slightly higher than derived by Stark et al. at z  ~ 4, suggesting an evolution to higher values of the Hα+[N ii ]+[S ii ] EW at z  〉 2. Using the 3.6 μm band, which is free of emission line contamination, we perform robust spectral energy distribution fitting and find a median specific star formation rate of sSFR = $17_{-5}^{+2}$ Gyr –1 , $7_{-2}^{+1}\times$ higher than at z  ~ 2. We find no strong correlation (〈2) between the Hα+[N ii ]+[S ii ] EW and the stellar mass of sources. Before the advent of JWST , improvements in these results will come through an expansion of current spectroscopic samples and deeper Spitzer /IRAC measurements.

Description: There have been discussions in the recent literature regarding the accuracy of the available electron impact excitation rates (equivalently effective collision strengths ) for transitions in Be-like ions. In the present paper we demonstrate, once again, that earlier results for are indeed overestimated (by up to four orders of magnitude), for over 40 per cent of transitions and over a wide range of temperatures. To do this we have performed two sets of calculations for N iv , with two different model sizes consisting of 166 and 238 fine-structure energy levels. As in our previous work, for the determination of atomic structure the grasp (General-purpose Relativistic Atomic Structure Package) is adopted and for the scattering calculations (the standard and parallelised versions of) the Dirac Atomic R-matrix Code ( darc ) are employed. Calculations for collision strengths and effective collision strengths have been performed over a wide range of energy (up to 45 Ryd) and temperature (up to 2.0 x 10 6  K), useful for applications in a variety of plasmas. Corresponding results for energy levels, lifetimes and A-values for all E1, E2, M1 and M2 transitions among 238 levels of N iv are also reported.

Description: We study the interaction of the early spherical GC wind powered by Type II supernovae (SNe II) with the surrounding ambient medium consisting of the gaseous disc of a star-forming galaxy at redshift z 2. The bubble formed by the wind eventually breaks out of the disc, and most of the wind moves directly out of the galaxy and is definitively lost. The fraction of the wind moving nearly parallel to the galactic plane carves a hole in the disc which will contract after the end of the SN activity. During the interval of time between the end of the SN explosions and the ‘closure’ of the hole, very O-poor stars (the Extreme population) can form out of the super-AGB (asymptotic giant branch) ejecta collected in the GC centre. Once the hole contracts, the AGB ejecta mix with the pristine gas, allowing the formation of stars with an oxygen abundance intermediate between that of the very O-poor stars and that of the pristine gas. We show that this mechanism may explain why Extreme populations are present only in massive clusters, and can also produce a correlation between the spread in helium and the cluster mass. Finally, we also explore the possibility that our proposed mechanism can be extended to the case of multiple populations showing bimodality in the iron content, with the presence of two populations characterized by a small difference in [Fe/H]. Such a result can be obtained taking into account the contribution of delayed SN II.

Description: We measure the correlation of galaxy lensing and cosmic microwave background lensing with a set of galaxies expected to trace the matter density field. The measurements are performed using pre-survey Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification optical imaging data and millimetre-wave data from the 2500 sq. deg. South Pole Telescope Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. The two lensing–galaxy correlations are jointly fit to extract constraints on cosmological parameters, constraints on the redshift distribution of the lens galaxies, and constraints on the absolute shear calibration of DES galaxy-lensing measurements. We show that an attractive feature of these fits is that they are fairly insensitive to the clustering bias of the galaxies used as matter tracers. The measurement presented in this work confirms that DES and SPT data are consistent with each other and with the currently favoured cold dark matter cosmological model. It also demonstrates that joint lensing–galaxy correlation measurement considered here contains a wealth of information that can be extracted using current and future surveys.

Description: G 207-9 and LP 133-144 are two rarely observed ZZ Ceti stars located in the middle and close to the blue edge of the ZZ Ceti instability domain, respectively. We aimed to observe them at least during one observing season at Konkoly Observatory with the purpose of extending the list of known pulsation modes for asteroseismic investigations and detect any significant changes in their pulsational behaviour. We determined five and three new normal modes of G 207-9 and LP 133-144, respectively. In LP 133-144, our frequency analysis also revealed that at least at three modes there are actually triplets with frequency separations of ~ 4 μHz. The rotational period of LP 133-144 based on the triplets is ~=42 h. The preliminary asteroseismic fits of G 207-9 predict T eff = 12 000 or 12 400 K and $M_{\ast }=0.855\text{--}0.870\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ values for the effective temperature and mass of the star, depending on the assumptions on the spherical degree ( l ) values of the modes. These results are in agreement with the spectroscopic determinations. In the case of LP 133-144, the best-fitting models prefer T eff = 11 800 K in effective temperature and M * ≥ 0.71 M stellar masses, which are more than 0.1 M larger than the spectroscopic value.

Description: We report on interferometric observations with the CHARA Array of two classical Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars in suspected binary systems, namely WR 137 and WR 138. In both cases, we resolve the component stars to be separated by a few milliarcseconds. The data were collected in the H band, and provide a measure of the fractional flux for both stars in each system. We find that the WR star is the dominant H -band light source in both systems ( f WR,137 = 0.59 ± 0.04; f WR,138 = 0.67 ± 0.01), which is confirmed through both comparisons with estimated fundamental parameters for WR stars and O dwarfs, as well as through spectral modelling of each system. Our spectral modelling also provides fundamental parameters for the stars and winds in these systems. The results on WR 138 provide evidence that it is a binary system which may have gone through a previous mass-transfer episode to create the WR star. The separation and position of the stars in the WR 137 system together with previous results from the IOTA interferometer provides evidence that the binary is seen nearly edge-on. The possible edge-on orbit of WR 137 aligns well with the dust production site imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope during a previous periastron passage, showing that the dust production may be concentrated in the orbital plane.

Description: 1RXS J180408.9–342058 is a transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary that exhibited a bright accretion outburst in 2015. We present NuSTAR , Swift , and Chandra observations obtained around the peak brightness of this outburst. The source was in a soft X-ray spectral state and displayed an X-ray luminosity of L X ~= (2–3)  x  10 37 ( D /5.8 kpc) 2 erg s –1 (0.5–10 keV). The NuSTAR data reveal a broad Fe–K emission line that we model as relativistically broadened reflection to constrain the accretion geometry. We found that the accretion disc is viewed at an inclination of i ~= 27°–35° and extended close to the neutron star, down to R in ~= 5–7.5 gravitational radii (~=11–17 km). This inner disc radius suggests that the neutron star magnetic field strength is B 2  x  10 8  G. We find a narrow absorption line in the Chandra /HEG data at an energy of ~=7.64 keV with a significance of ~=4.8. This feature could correspond to blueshifted Fe  xxvi and arise from an accretion disc wind, which would imply an outflow velocity of v out ~= 0.086 c (~=25 800 km s –1 ). However, this would be extreme for an X-ray binary and it is unclear if a disc wind should be visible at the low inclination angle that we infer from our reflection analysis. Finally, we discuss how the X-ray and optical properties of 1RXS J180408.9–342058 are consistent with a relatively small ( P orb 3 h) binary orbit.

Description: We compare X-ray and caustic mass profiles for a sample of 16 massive galaxy clusters. We assume hydrostatic equilibrium in interpreting the X-ray data, and use large samples of cluster members with redshifts as a basis for applying the caustic technique. The hydrostatic and caustic masses agree to better than 20 per cent on average across the radial range covered by both techniques (~[0.2–1.25] R 500 ). The mass profiles were measured independently and do not assume a common functional form. Previous studies suggest that, at R 500 , the hydrostatic and caustic masses are biased low and high, respectively. We find that the ratio of hydrostatic to caustic mass at R 500 is $1.20^{+0.13}_{-0.11}$ ; thus it is larger than 0.9 at 3 and the combination of under- and overestimation of the mass by these two techniques is 10 per cent at most. There is no indication of any dependence of the mass ratio on the X-ray morphology of the clusters, indicating that the hydrostatic masses are not strongly systematically affected by the dynamical state of the clusters. Overall, our results favour a small value of the so-called hydrostatic bias due to non-thermal pressure sources.

Description: We present new maps of emission-line flux distributions and kinematics in both ionized (traced by H i and [Fe ii ] lines) and molecular (H 2 ) gas of the inner 0.7 x 0.7 kpc 2 of the galaxy NGC 4303, with a spatial resolution 40–80 pc and velocity resolution 90–150 km s – 1 obtained from near-IR integral field spectroscopy using the Very Large Telescope instrument SINFONI. The most prominent feature is a 200–250 pc ring of circumnuclear star-forming regions. The emission from ionized and molecular gas shows distinct flux distributions: while the strongest H i and [Fe ii ] emission comes from regions in the west side of the ring (ages ~ 4 Myr), the H 2 emission is strongest at the nucleus and in the east side of the ring (ages 〉 10 Myr). We find that regions of enhanced hot H 2 emission are anti-correlated with those of enhanced [Fe ii ] and H i emission, which can be attributed to post-starburst regions that do not have ionizing photons anymore but still are hot enough (2000 K) to excite the H 2 molecule. The line ratios are consistent with the presence of an active galactic nucleus at the nucleus. The youngest regions have stellar masses in the range 0.3–1.5 x 10 5  M and ionized and hot molecular gas masses of ~0.25–1.2 x 10 4 M and ~2.5–5 M , respectively. The stellar and gas velocity fields show a rotation pattern, with the gas presenting larger velocity amplitudes than the stars, with a deviation observed for the H 2 along the nuclear bar, where increased velocity dispersion is also observed, possibly associated with non-circular motions along the bar. The stars in the ring show smaller velocity dispersion than the surroundings, which can be attributed to a cooler dynamics due to their recent formation from cool gas.

Description: Detection of the epoch of reionization H i signal requires a precise understanding of the intervening galaxies and AGN, both for instrumental calibration and foreground removal. We present a catalogue of 7394 extragalactic sources at 182 MHz detected in the RA = 0 field of the Murchison Widefield Array Epoch of Reionization observation programme. Motivated by unprecedented requirements for precision and reliability we develop new methods for source finding and selection. We apply machine learning methods to self-consistently classify the relative reliability of 9490 source candidates. A subset of 7466 are selected based on reliability class and signal-to-noise ratio criteria. These are statistically cross-matched to four other radio surveys using both position and flux density information. We find 7369 sources to have confident matches, including 90 partially resolved sources that split into a total of 192 sub-components. An additional 25 unmatched sources are included as new radio detections. The catalogue sources have a median spectral index of –0.85. Spectral flattening is seen towards lower frequencies with a median of –0.71 predicted at 182 MHz. The astrometric error is 7 arcsec compared to a 2.3 arcmin beam FWHM. The resulting catalogue covers ~1400 deg 2 and is complete to approximately 80 mJy within half beam power. This provides the most reliable discrete source sky model available to date in the MWA EoR0 field for precision foreground subtraction.

Description: In cosmological N -body simulations, the representation of dark matter as discrete ‘macroparticles’ suppresses the growth of structure, such that simulations no longer reproduce linear theory on small scales near k Nyquist . Marcos et al. demonstrate that this is due to sparse sampling of modes near k Nyquist and that the often-assumed continuum growing modes are not proper growing modes of the particle system. We develop initial conditions (ICs) that respect the particle linear theory growing modes and then rescale the mode amplitudes to account for growth suppression. These ICs also allow us to take advantage of our very accurate N -body code abacus to implement second-order Lagrangian perturbation theory (2LPT) in configuration space. The combination of 2LPT and rescaling improves the accuracy of the late-time power spectra, halo mass functions, and halo clustering. In particular, we achieve 1 per cent accuracy in the power spectrum down to k Nyquist , versus k Nyquist /4 without rescaling or k Nyquist /13 without 2LPT, relative to an oversampled reference simulation. We anticipate that our 2LPT will be useful for large simulations where fast Fourier transforms are expensive and that rescaling will be useful for suites of medium-resolution simulations used in cosmic emulators and galaxy survey mock catalogues. Code to generate ICs is available at https://github.com/lgarrison/zeldovich-PLT .

Description: We have derived elemental abundances of a remarkable star, HD 179821, with unusual composition (e.g. [Na/Fe] = 1.0 ± 0.2 dex) and extra-ordinary spectral characteristics. Its metallicity at [Fe/H] = 0.4 dex places it among the most metal-rich stars yet analysed. The abundance analysis of this luminous star is based on high-resolution and high-quality (S/N 120–420) optical echelle spectra from McDonald Observatory and Special Astronomy Observatory. The data includes five years of observations over 21 epochs. Standard 1D local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis provides a fresh determination of the atmospheric parameters over all epochs:  T eff = 7350 ± 200 K, log g = +0.6 ± 0.3, and a microturbulent velocity = 6.6 ± 1.6 km s –1 and [Fe/H] = 0.4 ± 0.2, and a carbon abundance [C/Fe] = –0.19 ± 0.30. We find oxygen abundance [O/Fe] = –0.25 ± 0.28 and an enhancement of 0.9 dex in N. A supersonic macroturbulent velocity of 22.0 ± 2.0 km s –1 is determined from both strong and weak Fe i and Fe ii lines. Elemental abundances are obtained for 22 elements. HD 179821 is not enriched in s -process products. Eu is overabundant relative to the anticipated [X/Fe] 0.0. Some peculiarities of its optical spectrum (e.g. variability in the spectral line shapes) is noticed. This includes the line profile variations for H α line. Based on its estimated luminosity, effective temperature and surface gravity, HD 179821 is a massive star evolving to become a red supergiant and finally a Type II supernova.

Description: We present the JCMT Gould Belt Survey's first look results of the southern extent of the Orion A Molecular Cloud ( ≤ –5:31:27.5). Employing a two-step structure identification process, we construct individual catalogues for large-scale regions of significant emission labelled as islands and smaller-scale subregions called fragments using the 850 μm continuum maps obtained using SCUBA-2. We calculate object masses, sizes, column densities, and concentrations. We discuss fragmentation in terms of a Jeans instability analysis and highlight interesting structures as candidates for follow-up studies. Furthermore, we associate the detected emission with young stellar objects (YSOs) identified by Spitzer and Herschel . We find that although the population of active star-forming regions contains a wide variety of sizes and morphologies, there is a strong positive correlation between the concentration of an emission region and its calculated Jeans instability. There are, however, a number of highly unstable subregions in dense areas of the map that show no evidence of star formation. We find that only ~72 per cent of the YSOs defined as Class 0+I and flat-spectrum protostars coincide with dense 850 μm emission structures (column densities 〉3.7 x 10 21 cm –2 ). The remaining 28 per cent of these objects, which are expected to be embedded in dust and gas, may be misclassified. Finally, we suggest that there is an evolution in the velocity dispersion of YSOs such that sources which are more evolved are associated with higher velocities.

Description: We explore the detection limits of the phase modulation (PM) method of finding binary systems among multiperiodic pulsating stars. The method is an attractive way of finding non-transiting planets in the habitable zones of intermediate-mass stars, whose rapid rotation inhibits detections via the radial velocity (RV) method. While oscillation amplitudes of a few mmag are required to find planets, many  Scuti stars have these amplitudes. In suboptimal cases where the signal to noise of the oscillations is lower, low-mass brown dwarfs (~13 M Jup ) are detectable at orbital periods longer than about 1 yr, and the lowest mass main-sequence stars (0.1–0.2 M ) are detectable at all orbital periods where the PM method can be applied. We use purpose-written Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) software for the calculation of the PM orbits, which offers robust uncertainties for comparison with RV solutions. Using Kepler data and ground-based RVs, we verify that these two methods are in agreement, even at short orbital periods where the PM method undersamples the orbit. We develop new theory to account for the undersampling of the time delays, which is also necessary for the inclusion of RVs as observational data in the MCMC software. We show that combining RVs with time delays substantially refines the orbits because of the complementarity of working in both the spatial (PM) and velocity (RV) domains simultaneously. Software outputs were tested through an extensive hare-and-hounds exercise, covering a wide range of orbital configurations including binaries containing two pulsators.

Description: We use the Balmer decrements of the broad-line regions (BLRs) and narrow-line regions (NLRs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) as reddening indicators to investigate the location of the dust for four samples of AGNs with reliable estimates of the NLR contribution to the Balmer lines. Intercomparison of the NLR and BLR Balmer decrements indicates that the reddening of the NLR sets a lower limit to the reddening of the BLR. Almost no objects have high NLR reddening but low BLR reddening. The reddening of the BLR is often substantially greater than the reddening of the NLR. The BLR reddening is correlated with the equivalent widths of [O  iii ] lines and the intensity of the [O  iii ] lines relative to broad Hβ. We find these relationships to be consistent with the predictions of a simple model where the additional dust reddening the BLR is interior to the NLR. We thus conclude that the dust causing the additional reddening of the accretion disc and BLR is mostly located at a smaller radius than the NLR.

Description: The advent of space-based observatories such as Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits ( CoRoT ) and Kepler has enabled the testing of our understanding of stellar evolution on thousands of stars. Evolutionary models typically require five input parameters, the mass, initial helium abundance, initial metallicity, mixing length (assumed to be constant over time), and the age to which the star must be evolved. Some of these parameters are also very useful in characterizing the associated planets and in studying Galactic archaeology. How to obtain these parameters from observations rapidly and accurately, specifically in the context of surveys of thousands of stars, is an outstanding question, one that has eluded straightforward resolution. For a given star, we typically measure the effective temperature and surface metallicity spectroscopically and low-degree oscillation frequencies through space observatories. Here we demonstrate that statistical learning, using artificial neural networks, is successful in determining the evolutionary parameters based on spectroscopic and seismic measurements. Our trained networks show robustness over a broad range of parameter space, and critically, are entirely computationally inexpensive and fully automated. We analyse the observations of a few stars using this method and the results compare well to inferences obtained using other techniques. This method is both computationally cheap and inferentially accurate, paving the way for analysing the vast quantities of stellar observations from past, current, and future missions.

Description: In earlier works, it was shown that the energy-dependent soft time lags observed in kHz quasi-periodic oscillations of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries can be explained as being due to Comptonization lags provided a significant fraction ( ~ 0.2–0.8) of the Comptonized photons impinge back into the soft photon source. Here we use a Monte Carlo scheme to verify if such a fraction is viable or not. In particular we consider three different Comptonizing medium geometries: (i) a spherical shell, (ii) a boundary layer like torus and (iii) a corona on top of an accretion disc. Two sets of spectral parameters corresponding to the ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ seed photon models were explored. The general result of the study is that for a wide range of sizes, the fraction lies within ~ 0.3–0.7, and hence compatible with the range required to explain the soft time lags. Since there is a large uncertainty in the range, we cannot concretely rule out any of the geometries or spectral models, but the analysis suggests that a boundary layer type geometry with a ‘cold’ seed spectral model is favoured over an accretion corona model. Better quality data will allow one to constrain the geometry more rigorously. Our results emphasize that there is significant heating of the soft photon source by the Comptonized photons and hence this effect needs to be taken into account for any detailed study of these sources.

Description: We present evidence from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey of chemically separated, kinematically distinct disc components in the solar neighbourhood. We apply probabilistic chemical selection criteria to separate our sample into α-low (‘thin disc’) and α-high (‘thick disc’) sequences. Using newly derived distances, which will be utilized in the upcoming RAVE DR5, we explore the kinematic trends as a function of metallicity for each of the disc components. For our α-low disc, we find a negative trend in the mean rotational velocity ( V ) as a function of iron abundance ([Fe/H]). We measure a positive gradient V /[Fe/H] for the α-high disc, consistent with results from high-resolution surveys. We also find differences between the α-low and α-high discs in all three components of velocity dispersion. We discuss the implications of an α-low, metal-rich population originating from the inner Galaxy, where the orbits of these stars have been significantly altered by radial mixing mechanisms in order to bring them into the solar neighbourhood. The probabilistic separation we propose can be extended to other data sets for which the accuracy in [α/Fe] is not sufficient to disentangle the chemical disc components a priori. For such data sets which will also have significant overlap with Gaia DR1, we can therefore make full use of the improved parallax and proper motion data as it becomes available to investigate kinematic trends in these chemical disc components.

Description: This paper presents Gemini- gri ' high-quality photometry for cluster candidates in the field of NGC 1316 (Fornax A) as part of a study that also includes GMOS spectroscopy. A preliminary discussion of the photometric data indicates the presence of four stellar cluster populations with distinctive features in terms of age, chemical abundance and spatial distribution. Two of them seem to be the usually old (metal poor and metal rich) populations typically found in elliptical galaxies. In turn, an intermediate-age (5 Gyr) globular cluster population is the dominant component of the sample (as reported by previous papers). We also find a younger cluster population with a tentative age of 1 Gyr.

Description: In this paper, we present results of a photometric and kinematic study for a sample of 13 edge-on spiral galaxies with pronounced integral shape warps of their stellar discs. The global structure of the galaxies is analysed on the basis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging, in the g , r and i passbands. Spectroscopic observations are obtained with the 6-m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope. In general, galaxies of the sample are typical bright spiral galaxies satisfying the Tully–Fisher relation. Most of the galaxies reside in dense spatial environments and, therefore, tidal encounters are the most probable mechanism for generating their stellar warps. We carried out a detailed analysis of the galaxies and their warps and obtained the following main results: (i) maximum angles of stellar warps in our sample are about 20°; (ii) warps start, on average, between 2 and 3 exponential scalelengths of a disc; (iii) stronger warps start closer to the centre, weak warps start farther; (iv) warps are asymmetric, with the typical degree of asymmetry of about several degrees (warp angle); (v) massive dark halo is likely to preclude the formation of strong and asymmetric warps.

Description: The stellar haloes of large galaxies represent a vital probe of the processes of galaxy evolution. They are the remnants of the initial bouts of star formation during the collapse of the protogalactic cloud, coupled with imprint of ancient and ongoing accretion events. Previously, we have reported the tentative detection of a possible, faint, extended stellar halo in the Local Group spiral, the Triangulum galaxy (M33). However, the presence of substructure surrounding M33 made interpretation of this feature difficult. Here, we employ the final data set from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey, combined with an improved calibration and a newly derived contamination model for the region to revisit this claim. With an array of new fitting algorithms, fully accounting for contamination and the substantial substructure beyond the prominent stellar disc in M33, we reanalyse the surrounds to separate the signal of the stellar halo and the outer halo substructure. Using more robust search algorithms, we do not detect a large-scale smooth stellar halo and place a limit on the maximum surface brightness of such a feature of μ V  = 35.5 mag arcsec –2 , or a total halo luminosity of L  〈 10 6 L .

Description: The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (aLIGO) has detected direct signals of gravitational waves (GWs) from GW150914. The event was a merger of binary black holes whose masses are $36^{+5}_{-4}\,\mathrm{M}_{{\odot }}$ and $29^{+4}_{-4}\,\mathrm{M}_{{\odot }}$ . Such binary systems are expected to be directly evolved from stellar binary systems or formed by dynamical interactions of black holes in dense stellar environments. Here we derive the binary black hole merger rate based on the nearby ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) luminosity function (LF) under the assumption that binary black holes evolve through X-ray emitting phases. We obtain the binary black hole merger rate as 5.8( t ULX /0.1 Myr) – 1 – 0.6 exp ( – 0.30) Gpc – 3 yr – 1 , where t ULX is the typical duration of the ULX phase and is the Eddington ratio in luminosity. This is coincident with the event rate inferred from the detection of GW150914 as well as the predictions based on binary population synthesis models. Although we are currently unable to constrain the Eddington ratio of ULXs in luminosity due to the uncertainties of our models and measured binary black hole merger event rates, further X-ray and GW data will allow us to narrow down the range of the Eddington ratios of ULXs. We also find the cumulative merger rate for the mass range of 5 M ≤ M BH ≤ 100 M inferred from the ULX LF is consistent with that estimated by the aLIGO collaboration considering various astrophysical conditions such as the mass function of black holes.

Description: The goodness-of-fit (GoF) of the Cosmicflows-2 (CF2) data base of peculiar velocities with the cold dark matter (CDM) standard model of cosmology is presented. Standard application of the 2 statistics of the full data base, of its 4838 data points, is hampered by the small-scale non-linear dynamics which is not accounted for by the (linear regime) velocity power spectrum. The bulk velocity constitutes a highly compressed representation of the data which filters out the small-scales non-linear modes. Hence the statistics of the bulk flow provides an efficient tool for assessing the GoF of the data given a model. The particular approach introduced here is to use the (spherical top-hat window) bulk velocity extracted from the Wiener filter reconstruction of the 3D velocity field as a linear low-pass filtered highly compressed representation of the CF2 data. An ensemble 2250 random linear realizations of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP )/CDM model has been used to calculate the bulk velocity autocovariance matrix. We find that the CF2 data is consistent with the WMAP /CDM model to better than the 2 confidence limits. This provides a further validation that the CF2 data base is consistent with the standard model of cosmology.

Description: Pairs of extrasolar giant planets in a mean motion commensurability are common with 2:1 resonance occurring most frequently. Disc–planet interaction provides a mechanism for their origin. However, the time-scale on which this could operate in particular cases is unclear. We perform 2D and 3D numerical simulations of pairs of giant planets in a protoplanetary disc as they form and maintain a mean motion commensurability. We consider systems with current parameters similar to those of HD 155358, 24 Sextantis and HD 60532, and disc models of varying mass, decreasing mass corresponding to increasing age. For the lowest mass discs, systems with planets in the Jovian mass range migrate inwards maintaining a 2:1 commensurability. Systems with the inner planet currently at around 1 au from the central star could have originated at a few au and migrated inwards on a time-scale comparable to protoplanetary disc lifetimes. Systems of larger mass planets such as HD 60532 attain 3:1 resonance as observed. For a given mass accretion rate, results are insensitive to the disc model for the range of viscosity prescriptions adopted, there being good agreement between 2D and 3D simulations. However, in a higher mass disc a pair of Jovian mass planets passes through 2:1 resonance before attaining a temporary phase lasting a few thousand orbits in an unstable 5:3 resonance prior to undergoing a scattering. Thus, finding systems in this commensurability is unlikely.

Description: We report on the possible detection of a 55-d X-ray modulation for the ultraluminous accreting pulsar M82 X–2 from archival Chandra observations. Because M82 X–2 is known to have a 2.5-d orbital period, if the 55-d period is real, then it will be the superorbital period of the system. We also investigated variabilities of three other nearby ultraluminous X-ray sources in the central region of M82 with the Chandra data, and we did not find any evidence of periodicities. Furthermore, we re-examined the previously reported 62-d periodicity near the central region of M82 by performing a systematic timing study with all the archival Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer and Swift data. Using various dynamic timing analysis methods, we have confirmed that the 62-d period is not stable, suggesting that it is not the orbital period of M82 X–1; this is in agreement with previous work.

Description: We use the Lyα Mass Association Scheme (LyMAS) to predict cross-correlations at z = 2.5 between dark matter haloes and transmitted flux in the Lyα forest, and compare to cross-correlations measured for quasars and damped Lyα systems (DLAs) from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) by Font-Ribera et al. We calibrate LyMAS using Horizon-AGN hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of a (100 h – 1 Mpc) 3 comoving volume. We apply this calibration to a (1 h – 1 Gpc) 3 simulation realized with 2048 3 dark matter particles. In the 100 h – 1 Mpc box, LyMAS reproduces the halo-flux correlations computed from the full hydrodynamic gas distribution very well. In the 1 h – 1 Gpc box, the amplitude of the large-scale cross-correlation tracks the halo bias b h as expected. We provide empirical fitting functions that describe our numerical results. In the transverse separation bins used for the BOSS analyses, LyMAS cross-correlation predictions follow linear theory accurately down to small scales. Fitting the BOSS measurements requires inclusion of random velocity errors; we find best-fitting rms velocity errors of 399 and $252\ \rm {km}\ \rm {s}^{-1}$ for quasars and DLAs, respectively. We infer bias-weighted mean halo masses of $M_{\rm h}/10^{12}\ h^{-1}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot }=2.19^{+0.16}_{-0.15}$ and $0.69^{+0.16}_{-0.14}$ for the host haloes of quasars and DLAs, with ~0.2 dex systematic uncertainty associated with redshift evolution, intergalactic medium parameters, and selection of data fitting range.

Description: We study the evolution of galactic magnetic fields using 3D smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD) simulations of galaxies with an imposed spiral potential. We consider the appearance of reversals of the field, and amplification of the field. We find that magnetic field reversals occur when the velocity jump across the spiral shock is above 20 km s –1 , occurring where the velocity change is highest, typically at the inner Lindblad resonance in our models. Reversals also occur at corotation, where the direction of the velocity field reverses in the corotating frame of a spiral arm. They occur earlier with a stronger amplitude spiral potential, and later or not at all with weaker or no spiral arms. The presence of a reversal at radii of around 4–6 kpc in our fiducial model is consistent with a reversal identified in the Milky Way, though we caution that alternative Galaxy models could give a similar reversal. We find that relatively high resolution, a few million particles in SPMHD, is required to produce consistent behaviour of the magnetic field. Amplification of the magnetic field occurs in the models, and while some may be genuinely attributable to differential rotation or spiral arms, some may be a numerical artefact. We check our results using athena , finding reversals but less amplification of the field, suggesting that some of the amplification of the field with SPMHD is numerical.

Description: The OH + ions are widespread in the interstellar medium and play an important role in the interstellar chemistry as they act as precursors to the H 2 O molecule. Accurate determination of their abundance rely on their collisional rate coefficients with atomic hydrogen and electrons. In this paper, we derive OH + –H fine and hyperfine-resolved rate coefficients by extrapolating recent quantum wave packet calculations for the OH + + H collisions, including inelastic and exchange processes. The extrapolation method used is based on the infinite order sudden approach. State-to-state rate coefficients between the first 22 fine levels and 43 hyperfine levels of OH + were obtained for temperatures ranging from 10 to 1000 K. Fine structure-resolved rate coefficients present a strong propensity rule in favour of j = N transitions. The j = F propensity rule is observed for the hyperfine transitions. The new rate coefficients will help significantly in the interpretation of OH + spectra from photon-dominated region (PDR), and enable the OH + molecule to become a powerful astrophysical tool for studying the oxygen chemistry.

Description: We present emission-line templates for passively-evolving (‘retired’) galaxies, useful for investigation of the evolution of the interstellar medium in these galaxies, and characterization of their high-temperature source populations. The templates are based on high signal-to-noise (〉800) co-added spectra (3700–6800 Å) of ~11 500 gas-rich Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies devoid of star formation and active galactic nuclei. Stacked spectra are provided for the entire sample and sub-samples binned by mean stellar age. In our previous paper, Johansson et al., these spectra provided the first measurements of the He ii 4686 Å line in passively-evolving galaxies, and the observed He ii /Hβ ratio constrained the contribution of accreting white dwarfs (the ‘single-degenerate’ scenario) to the Type Ia supernova rate. In this paper, the full range of unambiguously detected emission lines are presented. Comparison of the observed [O i ] 6300 Å/Hα ratio with photoionization models further constrains any high-temperature single-degenerate scenario for Type Ia supernovae (with 1.5 T /10 5 K 10) to 3–6 per cent of the observed rate in the youngest age bin (i.e. highest SN Ia rate). Hence, for the same temperatures, in the presence of an ambient population of post-asymptotic giant branch stars, we exclude additional high-temperature sources with a combined ionizing luminosity of 1.35  x  10 30 L /M ,* for stellar populations with mean ages of 1–4 Gyr. Furthermore, we investigate the extinction affecting both the stellar and nebular continuum. The latter shows about five times higher values. This contradicts isotropically distributed dust and gas that renders similar extinction values for both cases.

Description: Massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) are thought to be the main source of gravitational waves (GWs) in the low-frequency domain surveyed by ongoing and forthcoming Pulsar Timing Array campaigns and future space-borne missions, such as eLISA . However, many low-redshift MBHBs in realistic astrophysical environments may not reach separations small enough to allow significant GW emission, but rather stall on (sub)pc-scale orbits. This ‘last-parsec problem’ can be eased by the appearance of a third massive black hole (MBH) – the ‘intruder’ – whose action can force, under certain conditions, the inner MBHB on a very eccentric orbit, hence allowing intense GW emission eventually leading to coalescence. A detailed assessment of the process, ultimately driven by the induced Kozai–Lidov oscillations of the MBHB orbit, requires a general relativistic treatment and the inclusion of external factors, such as the Newtonian precession of the intruder orbit in the galactic potential and its hardening by scattering off background stars. In order to tackle this problem, we developed a three-body post-Newtonian (PN) code framed in a realistic galactic potential, including both non-dissipative 1PN and 2PN terms, and dissipative terms such as 2.5PN effects, orbital hardening of the outer binary, and the effect of the dynamical friction on the early stages of the intruder dynamics. In this first paper of a series devoted at studying the dynamics of MBH triplets from a cosmological perspective, we describe, test and validate our code.

Description: Galaxies arrive on the red sequences of clusters at high redshift ( z 〉 1) once their star formation is quenched and evolve passively thereafter. However, we have previously found that cluster red sequence galaxies (CRSGs) undergo significant morphological evolution subsequent to the cessation of star formation, at some point in the past 9–10 Gyr. Through a detailed study of a large sample of cluster red sequence galaxies spanning 0.2 〈 z 〈 1.4 we elucidate the details of this evolution. Below z ~ 0.5–0.6 (in the last 5–6 Gyr) there is little or no morphological evolution in the population as a whole, unlike in the previous 4–5 Gyr. Over this earlier time (i) disc-like systems with Sérsic n 〈 2 progressively disappear, as (ii) the range of their axial ratios similarly decreases, removing the most elongated systems (those consistent with thin discs seen at an appreciable inclination angle) and (iii) radial colour gradients (bluer outwards) decrease in an absolute sense from significant age-related gradients to a residual level consistent with the metallicity-induced gradients seen in low-redshift cluster members. The distribution of their effective radii shows some evidence of evolution, consistent with growth of at most a factor 〈1.5 between z ~ 1.4 and ~0.5, significantly less than for comparable field galaxies, while the distribution of their central (〈1 kpc) bulge surface densities shows no evolution at least at z 〈 1. A simple model involving the fading and thickening of a disc component after comparatively recent quenching (after z ~ 1.5) around an otherwise passively evolving older spheroid component is consistent with all of these findings.

Description: In this work, we mainly study the magnification relations of quad lens models for cusp, fold and cross configurations. By dividing and ray-tracing in different image regions, we numerically derive the positions and magnifications of the four images for a point source lying inside of the astroid caustic. Then, based on the magnifications, we calculate the signed cusp and fold relations for the singular isothermal elliptical lenses. The signed fold relation map has positive and negative regions, and the positive region is usually larger than the negative region as has been confirmed before. It can also explain that for many observed fold image pairs, the fluxes of the Fermat minimum images are apt to be larger than those of the saddle images. We define a new quantity cross relation R cross which describes the magnification discrepancy between two minimum images and two saddle images. Distance ratio d sadd / d mini is also defined as the ratio of the distance of two saddle images to that of two minimum images. We calculate the cross relations and distance ratios for nine observed Einstein crosses. In theory, for most of the quad lens models, the cross relations decrease as the distance ratios increase. In observation, the cross relations of the nine samples do not agree with the quad lens models very well, nevertheless, the cross relations of the nine samples do not give obvious evidence for anomalous flux ratio as the cusp and fold types do. Then, we discuss several reasons for the disagreement, and expect good consistencies for more precise observations and better lens models in the future.

Description: Hydrodynamical shocks are a manifestation of the non-linearity of the Euler equations and play a fundamental role in cosmological gas dynamics. In this work, we identify and analyse shocks in the Illustris simulation, and contrast the results with those of non-radiative runs. We show that simulations with more comprehensive physical models of galaxy formation pose new challenges for shock finding algorithms due to radiative cooling and star-forming processes, prompting us to develop a number of methodology improvements. We find in Illustris a total shock surface area which is about 1.4 times larger at the present epoch compared to non-radiative runs, and an energy dissipation rate at shocks which is higher by a factor of around 7. Remarkably, shocks with Mach numbers above and below $\mathcal {M}\approx 10$ contribute about equally to the total dissipation across cosmic time. This is in sharp contrast to non-radiative simulations, and we demonstrate that a large part of the difference arises due to strong black hole radio-mode feedback in Illustris. We also provide an overview of the large diversity of shock morphologies, which includes complex networks of halo-internal shocks, shocks on to cosmic sheets, feedback shocks due to black holes and galactic winds, as well as ubiquitous accretion shocks. In high-redshift systems more massive than 10 12 M , we discover the existence of a double accretion shock pattern in haloes. They are created when gas streams along filaments without being shocked at the outer accretion shock, but then forms a second, roughly spherical accretion shock further inside.

Description: We perform 1D radiation hydrodynamical simulations to solve accretion flows on to massive black holes (BHs) with a very high rate. Assuming that photon trapping limits the luminosity emerging from the central region to L L Edd , Inayoshi, Haiman & Ostriker ( 2016 ) have shown that an accretion flow settles to a ‘hyper-Eddington solution, with a steady and isothermal ( T ~= 8000 K) Bondi profile reaching 5000 times the Eddington accretion rate $\dot{M}_{\rm Edd}\equiv L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ . Here, we address the possibility that gas accreting with finite angular momentum forms a bright nuclear accretion disc, with a luminosity exceeding the Eddington limit (1 L/L Edd 100). Combining our simulations with an analytic model, we find that a transition to steady hyper-Eddington accretion still occurs, as long as the luminosity remains below L/L Edd 35 ( M BH /10 4 M ) 3/2 ( n /10 5 cm –3 )( T /10 4 K) –3/2 ( r * /10 14 cm) –1/2 , where n and T are the density and temperature of the ambient gas, and r * is the radius of the photosphere, at which radiation emerges. If the luminosity exceeds this value, accretion becomes episodic. Our results can be accurately recovered in a toy model of an optically thick spherical shell, driven by radiation force into a collapsing medium. When the central source is dimmer than the above critical value, the expansion of the shell is halted and reversed by ram pressure of the collapsing medium, and by shell's weight. Our results imply that rapid, unimpeded hyper-Eddington accretion is possible even if the luminosity of the central source far exceeds the Eddington limit, and can be either steady or strongly episodic.

Description: In most type 1 Seyfert active galactic nuclei (AGNs), the optical linear continuum polarization degree is usually small (less than 1 per cent) and the polarization position angle is nearly parallel to the AGN radio axis. However, there are many type 1 AGNs with unexplained intermediate values for both positional angles and polarization degrees. Our explanation of polarization degree and positional angle of type 1 Seyfert AGNs focuses on the reflection of non-polarized radiation from sub-parsec jets in optically thick accretion discs. The presence of a magnetic field surrounding the scattering media will induce Faraday rotation of the polarization plane, which may explain the intermediate values of positional angles if there is a magnetic field component normal to the accretion disc. The Faraday rotation depolarization effect in the disc diminishes the competition between polarization of the reflected radiation with the parallel component of polarization and the perpendicular polarization from internal radiation of the disc (the Milne problem) in favour of polarization of the reflected radiation. This effect allows us to explain the observed polarization of type 1 Seyfert AGN radiation even though the jet optical luminosity is much lower than the luminosity of the disc. We present the calculation of polarization degrees for a number of type 1 Seyfert AGNs.

Description: Blobs, or quasi-spherical emission regions containing relativistic particles and magnetic fields, are often assumed ad hoc in emission models of relativistic astrophysical jets, yet their physical origin is still not well understood. Here, we employ a suite of large-scale 2D particle-in-cell simulations in electron–positron plasmas to demonstrate that relativistic magnetic reconnection can naturally account for the formation of quasi-spherical plasmoids filled with high-energy particles and magnetic fields. Our simulations extend to unprecedentedly long temporal and spatial scales, so we can capture the asymptotic physics independently of the initial setup. We characterize the properties of the plasmoids, continuously generated as a self-consistent by-product of the reconnection process: they are in rough energy equipartition between particles and magnetic fields; the upper energy cutoff of the plasmoid particle spectrum is proportional to the plasmoid width w , corresponding to a Larmor radius ~0.2 w ; the plasmoids grow in size at ~0.1 of the speed of light, with most of the growth happening while they are still non-relativistic (‘first they grow’); their growth is suppressed once they get accelerated to relativistic speeds by the field line tension, up to the Alfvén speed (‘then they go’). The largest plasmoids reach a width w max ~ 0.2 L independently of the system length L , they have nearly isotropic particle distributions and contain the highest energy particles, whose Larmor radius is ~0.03 L . The latter can be regarded as the Hillas criterion for relativistic reconnection. We briefly discuss the implications of our results for the high-energy emission from relativistic jets and pulsar winds.

Description: We present a new method to measure redshift-dependent galaxy bias by combining information from the galaxy density field and the weak lensing field. This method is based on the work of Amara et al., who use the galaxy density field to construct a bias-weighted convergence field g . The main difference between Amara et al.'s work and our new implementation is that here we present another way to measure galaxy bias, using tomography instead of bias parametrizations. The correlation between g and the true lensing field allows us to measure galaxy bias using different zero-lag correlations, such as 〈 g 〉/〈〉 or 〈 g g 〉/〈 g 〉. Our method measures the linear bias factor on linear scales, under the assumption of no stochasticity between galaxies and matter. We use the Marenostrum Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (MICE) simulation to measure the linear galaxy bias for a flux-limited sample ( i  〈 22.5) in tomographic redshift bins using this method. This article is the first that studies the accuracy and systematic uncertainties associated with the implementation of the method and the regime in which it is consistent with the linear galaxy bias defined by projected two-point correlation functions (2PCF). We find that our method is consistent with a linear bias at the per cent level for scales larger than 30 arcmin, while non-linearities appear at smaller scales. This measurement is a good complement to other measurements of bias, since it does not depend strongly on 8 as do the 2PCF measurements. We will apply this method to the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data in a follow-up article.

Description: Magnetic fields permeate the Universe on all scales and play a key role during star formation. We study the evolution of magnetic fields around a massive metal-free (Population III) star at z  ~ 15 during the growth of its H  ii region and subsequent supernova explosion by conducting three cosmological magnetohydrodynamics simulations with radiation transport. Given the theoretical uncertainty and weak observational constraints of magnetic fields in the early universe, we initialize the simulations with identical initial conditions only varying the seed field strength. We find that magnetic fields grow as 2/3 during the gravitational collapse preceding star formation, as expected from ideal spherical collapse models. Massive Population III stars can expel a majority of the gas from the host halo through radiative feedback, and we find that the magnetic fields are not amplified above the spherical collapse scaling relation during this phase. However, afterwards when its supernova remnant can radiatively cool and fragment, the turbulent velocity field in and around the shell causes the magnetic field to be significantly amplified on average by ~100 in the shell and up to 6 orders of magnitude behind the reverse shock. Within the shell, field strengths are on the order of a few nG at a number density of 1 cm –3 . We show that this growth is primarily caused by small-scale dynamo action in the remnant. These strengthened fields will propagate into the first generations of galaxies, possibly affecting the nature of their star formation.

Description: We performed a detailed spectroscopic analysis of the fullerene C 60 -containing planetary nebula (PN) Lin49 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using XSHOOTER at the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope and the Spitzer /Infrared Spectrograph instruments. We derived nebular abundances for nine elements. We used tlusty to derive photospheric parameters for the central star. Lin49 is C-rich and metal-deficient PN ( Z ~ 0.0006). The nebular abundances are in good agreement with asymptotic giant branch nucleosynthesis models for stars with initial mass 1.25 M and metallicity Z = 0.001. Using the tlusty synthetic spectrum of the central star to define the heating and ionizing source, we constructed the photoionization model with cloudy that matches the observed spectral energy distribution (SED) and the line fluxes in the UV to far-IR wavelength ranges simultaneously. We could not fit the ~1–5 μm SED using a model with 0.005–0.1-μm-sized graphite grains and a constant hydrogen density shell owing to the prominent near-IR excess, while at other wavelengths the model fits the observed values reasonably well. We argue that the near-IR excess might indicate either (1) the presence of very small particles in the form of small carbon clusters, small graphite sheets, or fullerene precursors, or (2) the presence of a high-density structure surrounding the central star. We found that SMC C 60 PNe show a near-IR excess component to lesser or greater degree. This suggests that these C 60 PNe might maintain a structure nearby their central star.

Description: We present multiband ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared photometry, along with visual-wavelength spectroscopy, of supernova (SN) 2014G in the nearby galaxy NGC 3448 (25 Mpc). The early-phase spectra show strong emission lines of the high ionization species He ii /N iv /C iv during the first 2–3 d after explosion, traces of a metal-rich circumstellar material (CSM) probably due to pre-explosion mass-loss events. These disappear by day 9 and the spectral evolution then continues matching that of normal Type II SNe. The post-maximum light curve declines at a rate typical of Type II-L class. The extensive photometric coverage tracks the drop from the photospheric stage and constrains the radioactive tail, with a steeper decline rate than that expected from the 56 Co decay if -rays are fully trapped by the ejecta. We report the appearance of an unusual feature on the blue side of H α after 100 d, which evolves to appear as a flat spectral feature linking H α and the [O i ] doublet. This may be due to interaction of the ejecta with a strongly asymmetric, and possibly bipolar CSM. Finally, we report two deep spectra at ~190 and 340 d after explosion, the latter being arguably one of the latest spectra for a Type II-L SN. By modelling the spectral region around the [Ca ii ], we find a supersolar Ni/Fe production. The strength of the [O i ] 6300,6363 doublet, compared with synthetic nebular spectra, suggests a progenitor with a zero-age main-sequence mass between 15 and 19 M .