ALBERT

Beschreibung: CerealsDB (www.cerealsdb.uk.net) is an online repository of mainly hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genotyping data. The CerealsDB website has been designed to enable wheat breeders and scientists to select the appropriate markers for research breeding tasks, such as marker-assisted selection. We report a large update of genotyping information for over 6000 wheat accessions and describe new webtools for exploring and visualizing the data. We also describe a new database of quantitative trait loci that links phenotypic traits to CerealsDB SNP markers and allelic scores for each of those markers. CerealsDB is an open-access website that hosts information on wheat SNPs considered useful for both plant breeders and research scientists. The latest CerealsDB database is available at https://www.cerealsdb.uk.net/cerealgenomics/CerealsDB/indexNEW.php.

Beschreibung: This paper uses a dataset from Tanzania with information on consumption, income, and income shocks within and across family networks. Crucially and uniquely, it also contains data on the degree of information existing between each pair of households within family networks. We use these data to construct a novel measure of the quality of information both at the level of household pairs and at the level of the network. We also note that the individual level measures can be interpreted as measures of network centrality. We study risk sharing within these networks and explore whether the rejection of perfect risk sharing that we observe can be related to our measures of information quality. We show that households within family networks with better information are less vulnerable to idiosyncratic shocks. Furthermore, we show that more central households within networks are less vulnerable to idiosyncratic shocks. These results have important implications for the characterisation of the empirical failure of the perfect risk-sharing hypothesis and point to the importance of information frictions.

Beschreibung: We show that correlations between the phases of the galaxy density field in redshift space provide additional information about the growth rate of large-scale structure that is complementary to the power-spectrum multipoles. In particular, we consider the multipoles of the line correlation function (LCF), which correlates phases between three collinear points, and use the Fisher forecasting method to show that the LCF multipoles can break the degeneracy between the measurement of the growth rate of structure f and the amplitude of perturbations σ8 that is present in the power-spectrum multipoles at large scales. This leads to an improvement in the measurement of f and σ8 by up to 220 per cent for $k_{ m max} = 0.15 , h, mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and up to 50 per cent for $k_{ m max} = 0.30 , h, mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ at redshift z = 0.25, with respect to power-spectrum measurements alone for the upcoming generation of galaxy surveys like DESI and Euclid. The average improvements in the constraints on f and σ8 for $k_{ m max} = 0.15 , h, mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ are ∼90 per cent for the DESI BGS sample with mean redshift $overline{z}=0.25$, ∼40 per cent for the DESI ELG sample with $overline{z}=1.25$, and ∼40 per cent for the Euclid Hα galaxies with $overline{z}=1.3$. For $k_{ m max} = 0.30 , h, mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, the average improvements are ∼40 per cent for the DESI BGS sample and ∼20 per cent for both the DESI ELG and Euclid Hα galaxies.

Beschreibung: The Lu–Hf isotope system and Sr–Nd–Hf–Os isotope systematics of mantle rocks are capable of unravelling the early processes in collision belts, especially in a hot subduction context where the Sm–Nd and U–Pb systems in crustal rocks are prone to resetting owing to high temperatures and interaction with melts during exhumation. To improve models of the Devonian–Carboniferous evolution of the Bohemian Massif, we investigated in detail mafic and ultramafic rocks (eclogite, pyroxenite, and peridotite) from the ultrahigh-pressure and ultrahigh-temperature Kutná Hora Crystalline Complex (KHCC: Úhrov, Bečváry, Doubrava, and Spačice localities). Petrography, multiphase solid inclusions, major and trace element compositions of rocks and minerals, and radiogenic isotopic data document contrasting sources and protoliths as well as effects of subduction-related processes for these rocks. The Úhrov peridotite has a depleted composition corresponding to the suboceanic asthenospheric mantle, whereas Bečváry and Doubrava peridotites represent lithospheric mantle that underwent melt refertilization by basaltic and SiO2-undersaturated melts, respectively. Multiphase solid inclusions enclosed in garnet from Úhrov and Bečváry peridotites represent trapped H2O ± CO2-bearing metasomatizing agents and Fe–Ti-rich melts. The KHCC eclogites either formed by high-pressure crystal accumulation from mantle-derived basaltic melts (Úhrov) or represent a fragment of mid-ocean ridge basalt-like gabbroic cumulate (Spačice) and crustal-derived material (Doubrava) both metamorphosed at high P–T conditions. The Lu–Hf age of 395 ± 23 Ma obtained for the Úhrov peridotite reflects garnet growth related to burial of the asthenospheric mantle during subduction of the oceanic slab. By contrast, Spačice and Doubrava eclogites yield younger Lu–Hf ages of ∼350 and 330 Ma, respectively, representing mixed ages as demonstrated by the strong granulite-facies overprint and trace element zoning in garnet grains. We propose a refined model for the Early Variscan evolution of the Bohemian Massif starting with the subduction of the oceanic crust (Saxothuringian ocean) and associated oceanic asthenospheric mantle (Úhrov) beneath the Teplá–Barrandian at ≥380 Ma, which was responsible for melt refertilization of the associated mantle wedge (Bečváry, Doubrava). This was followed by continental subduction (∼370–360 Ma?) accompanied by the oceanic slab break-off and incorporation of the upwelling asthenospheric mantle into the Moldanubian lithospheric mantle and subsequent coeval exhumation of mantle and crustal rocks at ∼350–330 Ma.

Beschreibung: Recently, many gravitational wave events from compact binary mergers have been detected by LIGO. Determining the final mass and spin of the remnant black holes (RBHs) is a fundamental issue and is also important in astrophysics. In this paper, unified models for predicting the final mass and spin of the RBHs from compact binary mergers is proposed. The models achieve a good accuracy within the parameter range of interest. In addition, the rotational energy of the RBHs is also studied that relevant to the electromagnetic counterparts of the mergers. It is found the distribution of the rotational energy of the RBHs from different types of mergers of compact binary has its own characteristics, which might help identify the electromagnetic counterparts associated with the mergers.

Beschreibung: We present detailed spectroscopic analysis of the extraordinarily fast-evolving transient AT2018kzr. The transient’s observed light curve showed a rapid decline rate, comparable to the kilonova AT2017gfo. We calculate a self-consistent sequence of radiative transfer models (using tardis) and determine that the ejecta material is dominated by intermediate-mass elements (O, Mg, and Si), with a photospheric velocity of ∼12 000–14 500 $ m {km}, s^{-1}$. The early spectra have the unusual combination of being blue but dominated by strong Fe ii and Fe iii absorption features. We show that this combination is only possible with a high Fe content (3.5 per cent). This implies a high Fe/(Ni+Co) ratio. Given the short time from the transient’s proposed explosion epoch, the Fe cannot be 56Fe resulting from the decay of radioactive 56Ni synthesized in the explosion. Instead, we propose that this is stable 54Fe, and that the transient is unusually rich in this isotope. We further identify an additional, high-velocity component of ejecta material at ∼20 000–26 000 $ m {km}, s^{-1}$, which is mildly asymmetric and detectable through the Ca ii near-infrared triplet. We discuss our findings with reference to a range of plausible progenitor systems and compare with published theoretical work. We conclude that AT2018kzr is most likely the result of a merger between an ONe white dwarf and a neutron star or black hole. As such, it would be the second plausible candidate with a good spectral sequence for the electromagnetic counterpart of a compact binary merger, after AT2017gfo.

Beschreibung: We present the analysis of 4 h of spectroscopic observations of NGC 6946 with the SITELLE Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, acquired to search for supernova light echoes from its 10 modern supernovae. We develop a novel spectroscopic search method: identifying negatively sloped continua in the narrow-band SN3 filter as candidate highly broadened P-Cygni profiles in the H α line, which would be characteristic of the spectra of supernova ejecta. We test our methodology by looking for light echoes from any of the 10 supernovae observed in NGC 6946 in the past 100 yr. We find no evidence of light echoes above the survey surface brightness limit of 1 × 10−15 erg s−1 cm−2arcsec−2.

Beschreibung: The space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler have revealed numerous mixed modes in red giant stars. These modes carry a wealth of information about red giant cores, but are of limited use when constraining rapid structural variations in their envelopes. This limitation can be circumvented if we have access to the frequencies of the pure acoustic dipolar modes in red giants, i.e. the dipole modes that would exist in the absence of coupling between gravity and acoustic waves. We present a pilot study aimed at evaluating the implications of using these pure acoustic mode frequencies in seismic studies of the helium structural variation in red giants. The study is based on artificial seismic data for a red giant branch stellar model, bracketing seven acoustic dipole radial orders around νmax. The pure acoustic dipole-mode frequencies are derived from a fit to the mixed-mode period spacings and then used to compute the pure acoustic dipole-mode second differences. The pure acoustic dipole-mode second differences inferred through this procedure follow the same oscillatory function as the radial-mode second differences. The additional constraints brought by the dipolar modes allow us to adopt a more complete description of the glitch signature when performing the fit to the second differences. The amplitude of the glitch retrieved from this fit is 15${{ m per cent}}$ smaller than that from the fit based on the radial modes alone. Also, we find that thanks to the additional constraints, a bias in the inferred glitch location, found when adopting the simpler description of the glitch, is avoided.

Beschreibung: IGR J17091–3624 is a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB), which received wide attention from the community thanks to its similarities with the bright black hole system GRS 1915+105. Both systems exhibit a wide range of highly structured X-ray variability during outburst, with time-scales from few seconds to tens of minutes, which make them unique in the study of mass accretion in LMXBs. In this work, we present a general overview into the long-term evolution of IGR J17091–3624, using Swift/XRT observations from the onset of the 2011–2013 outburst in 2011 February till the end of the last bright outburst in 2016 November. We found four re-flares during the decay of the 2011 outburst, but no similar re-flares appear to be present in the latter one. We studied, in detail, the period with the lowest flux observed in the last 10 yr, just at the tail end of the 2011–2013 outburst, using Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. We observed changes in flux as high as a factor of 10 during this period of relative quiescence, without strong evidence of softening in the spectra. This result suggests that the source has not been observed at its true quiescence so far. By comparing the spectral properties at low luminosities of IGR J17091–3624 and those observed for a well-studied population of LMXBs, we concluded that IGR J17091–3624 is most likely to host a black hole as a compact companion rather than a neutron star.

Beschreibung: The cyclotron line feature in the X-ray spectrum of the accretion-powered pulsar Her X-1 has been observed and monitored for over three decades. The line energy exhibited a slow secular decline over the period 1995–2014, with a possible (not confirmed) indication of a reversal thereafter. Recent works have shown that the temporal evolution of the line energy may be modelled as a flattening after an earlier decrease until MJD 55400 (±200). In this work, we present the results of AstroSat observations in the context of earlier data and offer a common interpretation through a detailed study of temporal and flux dependence. We find that the variation of the line energy does not support an upward trend but is consistent with the reported flattening after an earlier decrease until MJD $54487^{+515}_{-469}$.

Beschreibung: We report time-resolved, high-resolution optical spectropolarimetric observations of the young double-lined spectroscopic binary V1878 Ori. Our observations were collected with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope through the BinaMIcS large programme. V1878 Ori A and B are partially convective intermediate mass weak-line T Tauri stars on an eccentric and asynchronous orbit. We also acquired X-ray observations at periastron and outside periastron. Using the least-squares deconvolution technique (LSD) to combine information from many spectral lines, we clearly detected circular polarization signals in both components throughout the orbit. We refined the orbital solution for the system and obtained disentangled spectra for the primary and secondary components. The disentangled spectra were then employed to determine atmospheric parameters of the two components using spectrum synthesis. Applying our Zeeman Doppler imaging code to composite Stokes IV LSD profiles, we reconstructed brightness maps and the global magnetic field topologies of the two components. We find that V1878 Ori A and B have strikingly different global magnetic field topologies and mean field strengths. The global magnetic field of the primary is predominantly poloidal and non-axisymmetric (with a mean field strength of 180 G). While the secondary has a mostly toroidal and axisymmetric global field (mean strength of 310 G). These findings confirm that stars with very similar parameters can exhibit radically different global magnetic field characteristics. The analysis of the X-ray data shows no sign of enhanced activity at periastron, suggesting the lack of strong magnetospheric interaction at this epoch.

Beschreibung: We present new spectra obtained using Keck/KCWI and perform kinematics and stellar population analyses of the shell galaxy NGC 474, from both the galaxy centre and a region from the outer shell. We show that both regions have similarly extended star formation histories although with different stellar population properties. The central region of NGC 474 is dominated by intermediate-aged stars (8.3 ± 0.3 Gyr) with subsolar metallicity ([Z/H] = −0.24 ± 0.07 dex) while the observed shell region, which hosts a substantial population of younger stars, has a mean luminosity-weighted age of 4.0 ± 0.5 Gyr with solar metallicities ([Z/H] = −0.03 ± 0.09 dex). Our results are consistent with a scenario in which NGC 474 experienced a major to intermediate merger with a log$(M_*/ m M_odot) sim 10$ mass satellite galaxy at least ${sim}2$ Gyr ago which produced its shell system. This work shows that the direct spectroscopic study of low-surface brightness stellar features, such as shells, is now feasible and opens up a new window to understanding galaxy formation and evolution.

Beschreibung: Gaia DR2 has provided an unprecedented wealth of information about the positions and motions of stars in our Galaxy and has highlighted the degree of disequilibria in the disc. As we collect data over a wider area of the disc, it becomes increasingly appealing to start analysing stellar actions and angles, which specifically label orbit space, instead of their current phase space location. Conceptually, while $ ar {x}$ and $ ar {v}$ tell us about the potential and local interactions, grouping in action puts together stars that have similar frequencies and hence similar responses to dynamical effects occurring over several orbits. Grouping in actions and angles refines this further to isolate stars that are travelling together through space and hence have shared histories. Mixing these coordinate systems can confuse the interpretation. For example, it has been suggested that by moving stars to their guiding radius, the Milky Way spiral structure is visible as ridge-like overdensities in the Gaia data (Khoperskov et al. 2020). However, in this work, we show that these features are in fact the known kinematic moving groups, both in the Lz − ϕ and the vR − vϕ planes. Using simulations, we show how this distinction will become even more important as we move to a global view of the Milky Way. As an example, we show that the radial velocity wave seen in the Galactic disc in Gaia and APOGEE should become stronger in the action-angle frame, and that it can be reproduced by transient spiral structure.

Beschreibung: Summary Virtual Deep Seismic Sounding (VDSS) uses the arrival time of post-critical SsPmp relative to the direct S wave to infer Moho depth at the Pmp reflection point. Due to the large offset between the virtual source and the receiver, SsPmp is more sensitive to lateral variations of structures than near-vertical phases such as Ps, which is used to construct conventional P receiver functions. However, the way post-critical SsPmp is affected by lateral variations in lithospheric structure is not well understood, and previous studies largely assumed a 1D structure when analyzing SsPmp waveforms. Here we present synthetic tests with various 2D models to show that lateral variations in lithospheric structures, from the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary to sedimentary basins, profoundly affect travel time, phase, and amplitude of post-critical SsPmp, and that a 1D approximation is usually inappropriate when analyzing 2D data. Despite these strong effects we show, with synthetic examples and the ChinArray data from the Ordos Block in northern China, that a simple ray-theory-based back-projection method can retrieve the geometry of the crust-mantle boundary given array observations in cases with moderate lateral variations in the crust-mantle boundary and/or the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. The success of our back-projection method indicates that ray-theory approximations are sufficient in modeling SsPmp travel times in the presence of moderate lateral heterogeneity. In contrast, we show that the ray theory is generally insufficient in modeling SsPmp phase shifts in a strongly heterogeneous lithosphere due to non-planar down-going P waves incident at the crust-mantle boundary. Nonetheless, our results demonstrate the feasibility of direct imaging of the crust-mantle boundary with post-critical SsPmp even in the presence of 2D variations of lithospheric structure.

Beschreibung: The tropical montane cloud forest is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and is one of the areas most threatened by anthropogenic disturbance. This study assessed the temporal impact on soil properties (organic carbon, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, bulk density) following establishment of native tree species in two degraded tropical montane cloud forest areas with different soil types and land-use intensities in south-east Mexico. In Pueblo Nuevo, Chiapas, Pinus chiapensis and Alnus spp. were established at two sites with humic Nitisols with low and moderate disturbance levels, respectively. In Xalapa, Veracruz, plum pine (Podocarpus matudae), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), Oaxaca walnut (Juglans pyriformis Liebm.), and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) were established on a grassland-covered humic Andosol with a high level of disturbance. After 16 years, soil properties had generally improved, although in the initial years after planting, the values declined, indicating a possible negative impact because of disturbance during tree establishment. Land-use intensity prior to tree establishment influenced the level of recovery in soil properties. The Pueblo Nuevo sites, with low to moderate disturbance levels, regained soil quality faster than the highly disturbed Xalapa site, despite better initial soil quality in the latter.

Beschreibung: Progress towards ecosystem-based fisheries management calls for useful tools to prioritize actions. To select suitable methods for local circumstances, evaluating approaches used in other jurisdictions can be a cost-effective first step. We tested Productivity Susceptibility Analysis (PSA) to assess the potential vulnerability of the marine fish community in the Skagerrak–Kattegat (Eastern North Sea) to possible interactions with all Swedish fisheries operating in the area. This analysis combines attributes for a species productivity with attributes related to the susceptibility to capture to quantify a single score for vulnerability: high, medium, or low risk. Results indicate that demersal trawl and gillnet fisheries were associated with the highest risk levels if interaction occurs, i.e. having the highest prevalence of species with potentially high vulnerability to the fisheries. Mixed results were seen when comparing the assessment results with available data. The main benefit of utilizing PSA in the area is the comprehensiveness of the assessment, including data-deficient fisheries and species. Drawbacks include potential overestimation of actual risks. Overall, together with available data, PSA in the studied area provides a comprehensive map of potential risks for further actions and may progress a science-based, precautionary management of the area.

Beschreibung: Pair instability (PI) and pulsational PI prevent the formation of black holes (BHs) with mass ≳60 M⊙ from single star evolution. Here, we investigate the possibility that BHs with mass in the PI gap form via stellar mergers and multiple stellar mergers, facilitated by dynamical encounters in young star clusters. We analyse 104 simulations, run with the direct N-body code nbody6++gpu coupled with the population synthesis code mobse. We find that up to ∼6 per cent of all simulated BHs have mass in the PI gap, depending on progenitor’s metallicity. This formation channel is strongly suppressed in metal-rich (Z = 0.02) star clusters because of stellar winds. BHs with mass in the PI gap are initially single BHs but can efficiently acquire companions through dynamical exchanges. We find that ∼21 per cent, 10 per cent, and 0.5 per cent of all binary BHs have at least one component in the PI mass gap at metallicity Z = 0.0002, 0.002, and 0.02, respectively. Based on the evolution of the cosmic star formation rate and metallicity, and under the assumption that all stars form in young star clusters, we predict that ∼5 per cent of all binary BH mergers detectable by advanced LIGO and Virgo at their design sensitivity have at least one component in the PI mass gap.

Beschreibung: Classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) accrete material from their discs through their magnetospheres. The geometry of the accretion flow strongly depends on the magnetic obliquity, i.e. the angle between the rotational and magnetic axes. We aim at deriving the distribution of magnetic obliquities in a sample of 10 CTTSs. For this, we monitored the radial velocity variations of the He i λ5876 Å line in these stars’ spectra along their rotational cycle. He i is produced in the accretion shock, close to the magnetic pole. When the magnetic and rotational axes are not aligned, the radial velocity of this line is modulated by stellar rotation. The amplitude of modulation is related to the star’s projected rotational velocity, vsin i, and the latitude of the hotspot. By deriving vsin i and He i λ5876 radial velocity curves from our spectra, we thus obtain an estimate of the magnetic obliquities. We find an average obliquity in our sample of 11.4° with an rms dispersion of 5.4°. The magnetic axis thus seems nearly, but not exactly aligned with the rotational axis in these accreting T Tauri stars, somewhat in disagreement with studies of spectropolarimetry, which have found a significant misalignment (≳20°) for several CTTSs. This could simply be an effect of low number statistics, or it may be due to a selection bias of our sample. We discuss possible biases that our sample may be subject to. We also find tentative evidence that the magnetic obliquity may vary according to the stellar interior and that there may be a significant difference between fully convective and partly radiative stars.

Beschreibung: We present a mass–temperature profile of gas within the central 10 kpc of a small sample of cool core clusters. The mass of the hottest gas phases, at 1.5 and 0.7 keV, is determined from X-ray spectra from the XMM Reflection Grating Spectrometers. The masses of the partially ionized atomic and the molecular phases are obtained from published H α and CO measurements. We find that the mass of gas at 0.7 keV in a cluster is remarkably similar to that of the molecular gas. Assuming pressure equilibrium between the phases, this means that they occupy volumes differing by 105. The molecular gas is located within the H α nebula which is often filamentary and coincides radially and in position angle with the soft X-ray emitting gas.

Beschreibung: We present a Bayesian hierarchical framework for a principled data analysis pipeline of peculiar velocity surveys, which makes explicit the inference problem of constraining cosmological parameters from redshift-independent distance indicators. We demonstrate our method for a Fundamental Plane (FP)-based survey. The essence of our approach is to work closely with observables (e.g. angular size, surface brightness, redshift, etc.), through which we bypass the use of summary statistics by working with the probability distributions. The hierarchical approach improves upon the usual analysis in several ways. In particular, it allows a consistent analysis without having to make prior assumptions about cosmology during the calibration phase. Moreover, calibration uncertainties are correctly accounted for in parameter estimation. Results are presented for a new, fully analytic posterior marginalized over all latent variables, which we expect to allow for more principled analyses in upcoming surveys. A maximum a posteriori estimator is also given for peculiar velocities derived from FP data.

Beschreibung: We study the origins of 122 ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) in the Romulus c zoom-in cosmological simulation of a galaxy cluster (M200 = 1.15 × 1014 M⊙), one of the only such simulations capable of resolving the evolution and structure of dwarf galaxies (M⋆ 〈 109 M⊙). We find broad agreement with observed cluster UDGs and predict that they are not separate from the overall cluster dwarf population. UDGs in cluster environments form primarily from dwarf galaxies that experienced early cluster in-fall and subsequent quenching due to ram pressure. The ensuing dimming of these dwarf galaxies due to passive stellar evolution results in a population of very low surface brightness galaxies that are otherwise typical dwarfs. UDGs and non-UDGs alike are affected by tidal interactions with the cluster potential. Tidal stripping of dark matter, as well as mass-loss from stellar evolution, results in the adiabatic expansion of stars, particularly in the lowest mass dwarfs. High-mass dwarf galaxies show signatures of tidal heating while low-mass dwarfs that survive until z = 0 typically have not experienced such impulsive interactions. There is little difference between UDGs and non-UDGs in terms of their dark matter haloes, stellar morphology, colours, and location within the cluster. In most respects cluster UDG and non-UDGs alike are similar to isolated dwarf galaxies, except for the fact that they are typically quenched.

Beschreibung: Our understanding of how active galactic nucleus feedback operates in galaxy clusters has improved in recent years owing to large efforts in multiwavelength observations and hydrodynamical simulations. However, it is much less clear how feedback operates in galaxy groups, which have shallower gravitational potentials. In this work, using very deep Very Large Array and new MeerKAT observations from the MIGHTEE survey, we compiled a sample of 247 X-ray selected galaxy groups detected in the COSMOS field. We have studied the relation between the X-ray emission of the intra-group medium and the 1.4 GHz radio emission of the central radio galaxy. For comparison, we have also built a control sample of 142 galaxy clusters using ROSAT and NVSS data. We find that clusters and groups follow the same correlation between X-ray and radio emission. Large radio galaxies hosted in the centres of groups and merging clusters increase the scatter of the distribution. Using statistical tests and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the correlation is not dominated by biases or selection effects. We also find that galaxy groups are more likely than clusters to host large radio galaxies, perhaps owing to the lower ambient gas density or a more efficient accretion mode. In these groups, radiative cooling of the intra-cluster medium could be less suppressed by active galactic nucleus heating. We conclude that the feedback processes that operate in galaxy clusters are also effective in groups.

Beschreibung: Gas detection around main-sequence stars is becoming more common with around 20 systems showing the presence of CO. However, more detections are needed, especially around later spectral type stars to better understand the origin of this gas and refine our models. To do so, we carried out a survey of 10 stars with predicted high likelihoods of secondary CO detection using ALMA in band 6. We looked for continuum emission of mm-dust as well as gas emission (CO and CN transitions). The continuum emission was detected in 9/10 systems for which we derived the discs’ dust masses and geometrical properties, providing the first mm-wave detection of the disc around HD 106906, the first mm-wave radius for HD 114082, 117214, HD 15745, HD 191089, and the first radius at all for HD 121191. A crucial finding of our paper is that we detect CO for the first time around the young 10–16 Myr old G1V star HD 129590, similar to our early Sun. The gas seems colocated with its planetesimal belt and its total mass is likely in the range of (2–10) × 10−5 M⊕. This first gas detection around a G-type main-sequence star raises questions as to whether gas may have been released in the Solar system as well in its youth, which could potentially have affected planet formation. We also detected CO gas around HD 121191 at a higher signal-to-noise ratio than previously and find that the CO lies much closer-in than the planetesimals in the system, which could be evidence for the previously suspected CO viscous spreading owing to shielding preventing its photodissociation. Finally, we make estimates for the CO content in planetesimals and the HCN/CO outgassing rate (from CN upper limits), which we find are below the level seen in Solar system comets in some systems.

Beschreibung: We present an extension of our previous research on the early-type galaxy population of the Antlia cluster (d ∼ 35 Mpc), achieving a total coverage of ∼2.6 deg2 and performing surface photometry for ∼300 galaxies, 130 of which are new uncatalogued ones. Such new galaxies mainly fall in the low surface brightness (LSB) regime, but there are also some lenticulars (S0), which support the existence of unique functions that connect bright and dwarf galaxies in the scaling relations. We analyse the projected spatial distribution of galaxies up to a distance of ∼800 kpc from NGC 3268, the adopted centre, as well as the radial velocity distribution and the correlation between galaxy colour and effective radius with the projected spatial distribution. We also obtain the luminosity function of the early-type galaxies and the distribution of stellar masses using the T1-band magnitudes and adopted mass-luminosity ratios. Additionally, we correlate the central galaxy distribution with an X-ray emission map from the literature. Based on the analysis of the radial velocities and galaxy colour distributions, we find that galaxies redder than the colour–magnitude relation (CMR) have a velocity distribution strongly concentrated towards the values of the dominant galaxies and are homogeneously distributed throughout the cluster. Those bluer than the CMR, in turn, have a much more extended radial velocity distribution and are concentrated towards the centre of the cluster. We also identify 12 candidates to ultra diffuse galaxies, which seem to be split into two families, and speculate about their origins in the context of the cluster structure.

Beschreibung: While fisheries provide food and employment for hundreds of millions of people, they also can have significant impact on biodiversity. We explore the potential of area-based fisheries management to simultaneously maintain biodiversity and high levels of sustainable food production. We used two illustrative examples of fisheries that have different gear types, areas, and species to evaluate the trade-off between biodiversity and harvest. We calculate the optimal effort by gear and area that maximizes a weighted objective function of biodiversity and harvest, ranging from 100% of the weight on harvest to 100% on biodiversity. We found for both case studies that the trade-off was highly convex, with win–win solutions allowing for high levels of both fishery harvest and conservation. This is achieved by reducing or eliminating fishing effort that negatively impacts high conservation value species while maintaining fishing effort with gears and in areas where there is low conservation impact. We suggest that, in most fisheries, such situations can be found and that effective area-based management can provide for high levels of biodiversity protection and food production.

Beschreibung: The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has provided new data to better understand what comets are made of. The weak tensile strength of the cometary surface materials suggests that the comet is a hierarchical dust aggregate formed through gravitational collapse of a bound clump of small dust aggregates so-called ‘pebbles’ in the gaseous solar nebula. Since pebbles are the building blocks of comets, which are the survivors of planetesimals in the solar nebula, estimating the size of pebbles using a combination of thermal observations and numerical calculations is of great importance to understand the planet formation in the outer Solar system. In this study, we calculated the thermal inertias and thermal skin depths of the hierarchical aggregates of pebbles, for both diurnal and orbital variations of the temperature. We found that the thermal inertias of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko are consistent with the hierarchical aggregate of cm- to dm-sized pebbles. Our findings indicate that the icy planetesimals may have formed via accretion of cm- to dm-sized pebbles in the solar nebula.

Beschreibung: We present a numerical weak-lensing analysis that is fully relativistic and non-perturbative for the scalar part of the gravitational potential and first order in the vector part, frame dragging. Integrating the photon geodesics backwards from the observer to the emitters, we solve the Sachs optical equations and study in detail the weak-lensing convergence, ellipticity and rotation. For the first time, we apply such an analysis to a high-resolution relativistic N-body simulation, which consistently includes the leading-order corrections due to general relativity on both large and small scales. These are related to the question of gauge choice and to post-Newtonian corrections, respectively. We present the angular power spectra and one-point probability distribution functions for the weak-lensing variables, which we find are broadly in agreement with comparable Newtonian simulations. Our geometric approach, however, is more robust and flexible, and can therefore be applied consistently to non-standard cosmologies and modified theories of gravity.

Beschreibung: We present a study of the elemental depletion in the interstellar medium. We combined the results of a Galactic model describing the gas physical conditions during the formation of dense cores with a full-gas-grain chemical model. During the transition between diffuse and dense medium, the reservoirs of elements, initially atomic in the gas, are gradually depleted on dust grains (with a phase of neutralization for those which are ions). This process becomes efficient when the density is larger than 100 cm−3. If the dense material goes back into diffuse conditions, these elements are brought back in the gas phase because of photo-dissociations of the molecules on the ices, followed by thermal desorption from the grains. Nothing remains on the grains for densities below 10 cm−3 or in the gas phase in a molecular form. One exception is chlorine, which is efficiently converted at low density. Our current gas–grain chemical model is not able to reproduce the depletion of atoms observed in the diffuse medium except for Cl, which gas abundance follows the observed one in medium with densities smaller than 10 cm−3. This is an indication that crucial processes (involving maybe chemisorption and/or ice irradiation profoundly modifying the nature of the ices) are missing.

Beschreibung: A new line list for hydronium (H316O+) is computed. The line list is based on a new ab initio dipole moment surface (CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ) and a new empirical potential energy surface (PES). The empirical PES of H3O+ was obtained by refining an ab initio surface through a global fit to the experimentally determined rovibrational energies collected from the literature covering the ground, $ u _1^{pm }$, $ u _2^{pm }$, $2 u _2^{pm }$, $ u _3^{pm }$, and $ u _4^{pm }$ vibrational states. The line list covers the wavenumber range up to 10 000 cm−1 (wavelengths $gt 1 , mu$m) and should be complete for temperatures up to T = 1500 K. This is the first comprehensive line list for H3O+ with extensive wavenumber coverage and accurate transitional probabilities. Prospects of detection of hydronium in spectra of Solar system giant planets as well as exoplanets are discussed. The eXeL line list is publicly available from the ExoMol and CDS data bases.

Beschreibung: Young star clusters are likely the most common birthplace of massive stars across cosmic time and influence the formation of compact binaries in several ways. Here, we simulate the formation of black hole–neutron star binaries (BHNSs) in young star clusters, by means of the binary population synthesis code MOBSE interfaced with the N-body code NBODY6++GPU. BHNSs formed in young star clusters (dynamical BHNSs) are significantly more massive than BHNSs formed from isolated binaries (isolated BHNSs): ∼40 per cent of the dynamical BHNS mergers have a total mass of 〉15 M⊙, while only ∼0.01 per cent of the isolated BHNS mergers have mass in excess of this value. Hence, our models strongly support a dynamical formation scenario for GW190814, given its total mass of ∼26 M⊙, if this event is a BHNS merger. All our dynamical BHNSs are ejected from their parent star cluster before they reach coalescence. Thus, a significant fraction of BHNS mergers occurring in the field might have originated in a young star cluster. The mass spectrum of BHNS mergers from gravitational-wave detections will provide a clue to differentiate between dynamical and isolated formation of BHNSs.

Beschreibung: To determine the failure characteristics and evolution regularity of the floor strata during fully mechanised top-coal cave mining in typical deep and extra-thick seams in western China, the 61303 working face of an Ordos mine was selected as the engineering research object. A comprehensive monitoring method combining a BOTDR (Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Reflection) distributed fiber strain test and a borehole resistivity CT (Computerised Tomography) test was adopted. The results show that floor stress distribution of the deep-buried and extra-thick coal seam is significantly affected by the different depths of rock lithology. At the interface of the rock strata with a large difference in the elastic modulus, phenomena such as the asynchronism of strata movement and obvious differences in failure easily occur. The failure depth of the floor strata in the 61303 working face is approximately 15.90 m, and the influence depth of the floor disturbance is approximately 32.70 m. Under the influence of the mining pressure, floor stress distribution and crack evolution have obvious spatial and temporal effects. In different inclined boreholes, the data captured by the cable have different values and the fracture locations of the cable also differ. Compared with a single borehole, multiple boreholes with different inclinations, directions and locations can provide more comprehensive and reliable data trends. The knowledge obtained by this monitoring can provide reference information for the study of floor damage under similar conditions and the formulation of technical measures such as those that prevent mine water disasters.

Beschreibung: Photoelectric heating (PEH) influences the temperature and density of the interstellar medium (ISM), potentially also affecting star formation. PEH is expected to have a stronger effect on massive galaxies, as they host larger dust reservoirs compared to dwarf systems. Accordingly, in this paper, we study PEH effects in Milky Way-like galaxies using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics code, which self-consistently implements the evolution of the gas, dust, and interstellar radiation field. Dust evolution includes dust formation by stars, destruction by SNe, and growth in dense media. We find that PEH suppresses star formation due to the excess heating that reduces the ISM density. This suppression is seen across the entire range of gas fractions, star-formation recipes, dust models, and PEH efficiencies investigated by our code. The suppression ranges from negligible values to approximately a factor of five depending on the specific implementation. Galaxy models having higher gas fractions experience higher star-formation suppression. The adopted dust model also alters the extent of star-formation suppression. Moreover, when PEH is switched on, galaxy models show higher gas outflow rates and have higher loading factors, indicative of enhanced SNe feedback. In gas-rich models (i.e. a gas fraction of 0.5), we also find that PEH suppresses the formation of disc clumps via violent disc instabilities, and thus suppresses bulge formation via clump migration to the central regions.

Beschreibung: Galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) remain among the most challenging yet informative quantities to reproduce in simulations due to the large and complex mixture of physical processes that shape the radiation output of a galaxy. With the increasing number of surveys utilizing broad-band colours as part of their target selection criteria, the production of realistic SEDs in simulations is necessary for assisting in survey design and interpretation of observations. The recent success in reproducing the observed luminosity functions (LFs) from far-ultraviolet (UV) to far-infrared (IR), using the state-of-the-art semi-analytic model shark and the SED generator ProSpect, represents a critical step towards better galaxy colour predictions. We show that with shark and ProSpect we can closely reproduce the optical colour distributions observed in the panchromatic Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The treatment of feedback, star formation, central–satellite interactions, and radiation reprocessing by dust are critical for this achievement. The first three processes create a bimodal distribution, while dust attenuation defines the location and shape of the blue and red populations. While a naive comparison between observation and simulations displays the known issue of overquenching of satellite galaxies, the introduction of empirically motivated observational errors and classification from the same group finder used in GAMA greatly reduces this tension. The introduction of random reassignment of ${sim} 15{{ m per cent}}$ of centrals/satellites as satellites/centrals on the simulation classification closely resembles the outcome of the group finder, providing a computationally less intensive method to compare simulations with observations.

Beschreibung: π Men hosts a transiting super Earth (P ≈ 6.27 d, m ≈ 4.82 M⊕, R ≈ 2.04 R⊕) discovered by TESS and a cold Jupiter (P ≈ 2093 d, msin I ≈ 10.02 MJup, e ≈ 0.64) discovered from radial velocity. We use Gaia DR2 and Hipparcos astrometry to derive the star’s velocity caused by the orbiting planets and constrain the cold Jupiter’s sky-projected inclination (Ib = 41°−65°). From this, we derive the mutual inclination (ΔI) between the two planets, and find that 49° 〈 ΔI 〈 131° (1σ) and 28° 〈 ΔI 〈 152° (2σ). We examine the dynamics of the system using N-body simulations, and find that potentially large oscillations in the super Earth’s eccentricity and inclination are suppressed by general relativistic precession. However, nodal precession of the inner orbit around the invariable plane causes the super Earth to only transit between 7 and 22 per cent of the time, and to usually be observed as misaligned with the stellar spin axis. We repeat our analysis for HAT-P-11, finding a large ΔI between its close-in Neptune and cold Jupiter and similar dynamics. π Men and HAT-P-11 are prime examples of systems where dynamically hot outer planets excite their inner planets, with the effects of increasing planet eccentricities, planet–star misalignments, and potentially reducing the transit multiplicity. Formation of such systems likely involves scattering between multiple giant planets or misaligned protoplanetary discs. Future imaging of the faint debris disc in π Men and precise constraints on its stellar spin orientation would provide strong tests for these formation scenarios.

Beschreibung: We present multiwavelength light curves and polarimetric data of the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar 3C 273 over 8 yr. The wavelength range of our data set extends from radio to gamma-rays. We found that the optical emission in this source is dominated by the accretion disc during the entire time-frame of study. We additionally find that in contrast with the observed behaviour in other blazars, 3C 273 does not show a correlation between the gamma-ray spectral index and the gamma-ray luminosity. Finally, we identified an anticorrelation between the 15 GHz and V-band light curves for the time-range JD245 = 4860–5760, which we speculate is the consequence of the inner part of the accretion disc falling into the black hole, followed by the ejection of a component into the jet.

Beschreibung: The mean stellar alpha-to-iron abundance ratio ([α/Fe]) of a galaxy is an indicator of galactic star formation time-scale. It is important for understanding the star formation history of early-type galaxies (ETGs) as their star formation processes have basically stopped. Using the model templates that are made by Vazdekis et al., we apply the pPXF-based spectral fitting method to estimate the [α/Fe] of 196 high-signal-to-noise ratio ETGs from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. The velocity dispersions within 1Re (σe) range from 27 to 270 km s−1. We find a flat relation between the mean [α/Fe] within the 1$R_mathrm{ e}^{mathrm{ maj}}$ ellipses and log(σe), even if limiting to the massive sample with log(σe/km s−1) 〉 1.9. However, the relation becomes positive after we exclude the Mg1 feature in our fits, which agrees with the results from the previous work with other stellar population models, albeit with relatively large scatter. It indicates that the Vazdekis models have self-inconsistency and do not actually cover the observations in Mg1. For reference, we also measure the stellar population radial gradients within 1$R_mathrm{ e}^{mathrm{ maj}}$ ellipses. Due to the low resolution of age estimations for old objects and the Mg1 issue, the uncertainties of these gradients cannot be neglected.

Beschreibung: In our previous study of low-mass stars using TESS, we found a handful that show a periodic modulation on a period

Beschreibung: Measurement of peculiar velocities by combining redshifts and distance indicators is a powerful way to measure the growth rate of a cosmic structure and test theories of gravity at low redshift. Here we constrain the growth rate of the structure by comparing observed Fundamental Plane peculiar velocities for 15 894 galaxies from the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with predicted velocities and densities from the 2M++ redshift survey. We measure the velocity scale parameter $ eta equiv {Omega _{ m m}^gamma }/b = 0.372^{+0.034}_{-0.050}$ and $0.314^{+0.031}_{-0.047}$ for 6dFGS and SDSS, respectively, where Ωm is the mass density parameter, γ is the growth index, and b is the bias parameter normalized to the characteristic luminosity of galaxies, L*. Combining 6dFGS and SDSS, we obtain β = 0.341 ± 0.024, implying that the amplitude of the product of the growth rate and the mass fluctuation amplitude is fσ8 = 0.338 ± 0.027 at an effective redshift z = 0.035. Adopting Ωm = 0.315 ± 0.007, as favoured by Planck and using γ = 6/11 for General Relativity and γ = 11/16 for DGP gravity, we get $S_8(z=0) = sigma _8 sqrt{Omega _{ m m}/0.3} =0.637 pm 0.054$ and 0.741 ± 0.062 for GR and DGP, respectively. This measurement agrees with other low-redshift probes of large-scale structure but deviates by more than 3σ from the latest Planck CMB measurement. Our results favour values of the growth index γ 〉 6/11 or a Hubble constant H0 〉 70 km s−1 Mpc−1 or a fluctuation amplitude σ8 〈 0.8 or some combination of these. Imminent redshift surveys such as Taipan, DESI, WALLABY, and SKA1-MID will help to resolve this tension by measuring the growth rate of cosmic structure to 1 per cent in the redshift range 0 〈 z 〈 1.

Beschreibung: The Milky Way’s Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) has emerged in recent years as a unique laboratory for the study of star formation. Here we use the simulations presented in Tress et al. to investigate star formation in the CMZ. These simulations resolve the structure of the interstellar medium at sub-parsec resolution while also including the large-scale flow in which the CMZ is embedded. Our main findings are as follows. (1) While most of the star formation happens in the CMZ ring at $Rgtrsim 100 , { m pc}$, a significant amount also occurs closer to Sgr A* at $R lesssim 10, { m pc}$. (2) Most of the star formation in the CMZ happens downstream of the apocentres, consistent with the ‘pearls-on-a-string’ scenario, and in contrast to the notion that an absolute evolutionary timeline of star formation is triggered by pericentre passage. (3) Within the time-scale of our simulations (∼100 Myr), the depletion time of the CMZ is constant within a factor of ∼2. This suggests that variations in the star formation rate are primarily driven by variations in the mass of the CMZ, caused, for example, by active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback or externally induced changes in the bar-driven inflow rate, and not by variations in the depletion time. (4) We study the trajectories of newly born stars in our simulations. We find several examples that have age and 3D velocity compatible with those of the Arches and Quintuplet clusters. Our simulations suggest that these prominent clusters originated near the collision sites where the bar-driven inflow accretes on to the CMZ, at symmetrical locations with respect to the Galactic Centre, and that they have already decoupled from the gas in which they were born.

Beschreibung: The United States Air Force solar observing optical network (SOON) sunspot areas have been reported by several researchers over many years to be underestimated by as much as 50 per cent. Here, the areas of sunspots from scanned SOON disc drawings have been accurately remeasured for a period of two months from 2014 October and November – this being near the peak of Solar Cycle 24 and which includes the largest sunspot group of that cycle. The remeasured sunspot areas are now comparable with areas in sunspot catalogues.

Beschreibung: Summary The Mw 6.0 earthquake that hit central Italy on 24 August 2016 caused an abnormally high level of destruction in the town of Amatrice. In order to clarify the role of site response in causing such a disaster, a series of ambient noise recordings acquired in the aftermath of the event are analysed here to identify site resonance properties from the ratios H/V between horizontal and vertical amplitudes of ground motion. Although the noise data acquisition was limited by the emergency management activities, the use of a new analysis technique, which isolates the contribution of Rayleigh waves to the noise wavefield and averages instantaneous estimates of H/V ratios, provided more stable results compared to the standard Nakamura's technique based on mean spectral ratios. The results demonstrated the occurrence of significant resonance phenomena, but without an obvious correlation with the spatial distribution of damage severity. It is apparent that the damage severity was also influenced by some additional local factors related to building vulnerability. Moreover, the time series analysis revealed seasonal variations in the Rayleigh wave ellipticity curves likely related to the water content changes in the surface deposits and their influence on the Poisson coefficient. Finally, the new method proved capable of recognizing time-varying directions of Rayleigh wave propagation. This capability could be exploited to support other passive seismic methods (e.g. ReMi), whose results reliability is limited by the lack of control on wave direction origin.

Beschreibung: SUMMARY This paper explores the effects on tsunami simulations of the level of detail of the bathymetric grid in use. For this purpose, we expand available bathymetric data sets of the Pacific Basin in spherical harmonics. For realistic scenarios of tsunamis generated by earthquake dislocations, we conclude that an expansion to a maximum degree lmax = 40, corresponding to wavelengths of 1000 km, is sufficient to reproduce the main features of the tsunami wavefield synthesized in deep water, that is, without considering final shoaling and interaction with coastal features.

Beschreibung: The low-metallicity, kinematically interesting dwarf stars studied by Stephens & Boesgaard (2002, SB02) are re-examined using Gaia DR2 astrometry, and updated model atmospheres and atomic line data. New stellar parameters are determined based on the Gaia DR2 parallactic distances and Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database isochrones. These are in excellent agreement with spectroscopically determined stellar parameters for stars with [Fe/H] 〉 −2; however, large disagreements are found for stars with [Fe/H] ≤ −2, with offsets as large as ΔTeff ∼ +500 K and Δlog g ∼ +1.0. A subset of six stars (test cases) are analysed ab initio using high-resolution spectra with Keck HIRES and Gemini GRACES. This sub-sample is found to include two α-challenged dwarf stars, suggestive of origins in a low-mass, accreted dwarf galaxy. The orbital parameters for the entire SB02 sample are re-determined using Gaia DR2 data. We find 11 stars that are dynamically coincident with the Gaia-Sausage accretion event and another 17 with the Gaia-Sequoia event in action space. Both associations include low-mass, metal-poor stars with isochrone ages older than 10 Gyr. Two dynamical subsets are identified within Gaia-Sequoia. When these subsets are examined separately, a common knee in [α/Fe] is found for the Gaia-Sausage and low orbital energy Gaia-Sequoia stars. A lower metallicity knee is tentatively identified in the Gaia-Sequoia high orbital energy stars. If the metal-poor dwarf stars in these samples are true members of the Gaia-Sausage and Gaia-Sequoia events, then they present a unique opportunity to probe the earlier star formation histories of these systems.

Beschreibung: We investigate how different magnetohydrodynamic models of propagation of a weak (Mach number ∼1.2) shock in the core of a galaxy cluster affect its observational appearance, using the Perseus cluster as our fiducial model. In particular, we study how thermal conduction, both isotropic and anisotropic, and ion–electron temperature equilibration modify a weak shock. Strong thermal conduction is expected to produce an electron temperature precursor. Less prominent pressure and density precursors are formed as well. A longer equilibration time largely reduces the density precursor but does not change the electron temperature precursor much. When thermal conduction becomes anisotropic, the intracluster magnetic field imprints its characteristic spatial scale on the distortions of the shock induced by heat fluxes.

Beschreibung: SUMMARY Full-waveform inversion (FWI) has demonstrated increasing success in estimating medium properties, but its computational cost still poses challenges in moving towards high-resolution imaging of targets at depth. Here, we propose a target-oriented FWI method that inverts for the medium parameters confined within an arbitrary region of interest. Our method is novel in terms of both local wavefield modelling and data redatuming, in order to build a target-oriented objective function which is sensitive to the target medium only without further assumptions about the medium outside. Based on the convolution-type representation theorem, our local forward modelling operator propagates wavefields within the target medium only while providing full acoustic coupling between the target medium and the surrounding geology. A key requirement of our local FWI method is that the subsurface wavefields surrounding and inside the target be as accurate as possible. As such, the subsurface wavefields are retrieved by the Marchenko method, which can redatum the single-sided surface reflection data to the target zone while preserving both primary and multiple reflections, with minimal a priori knowledge of the full-domain medium. Given a sufficiently accurate initial velocity macromodel, our numerical examples show that our local FWI method resolves the reservoir zone of a 2-D Barrett Unconventional P-wave velocity model much more efficiently than the conventional full-domain FWI without significantly sacrificing accuracy. Our method may further enable FWI approaches to high-resolution imaging of subsurface targets.

Beschreibung: The extreme ultraviolet region (EUV) provides most of the ionization that creates the high equivalent width (EW) broad and narrow emission lines (BELs and NELs) of quasars. Spectra of hypermassive Schwarzschild black holes (HMBHs; MBH ≥ 1010 M⊙) with α-discs, decline rapidly in the EUV suggesting much lower EWs. Model spectra for BHs of mass 106–1012 M⊙ and accretion rates 0.03 ≤ Lbol/LEdd ≤ 1.0 were input to the cloudy photoionization code. BELs become ∼100 times weaker in EW from MBH ∼ 108 M⊙ to MBH ∼ 1010 M⊙. The high-ionization BELs (O vi 1034 Å, C iv 1549 Å, and He ii 1640 Å) decline in EW from MBH ≥ 106 M⊙, reproducing the Baldwin effect, but regain EW for MBH ≥ 1010 M⊙. The low-ionization lines (Mg ii 2798 Å, H β 4861 Å, and H α 6563 Å) remain weak. Lines for maximally spinning HMBHs behave similarly. Line ratio diagrams for the BELs show that high O vi/H β and low C iv/H α may pick out HMBH, although O vi is often hard to observe. In NEL BPT diagrams, HMBHs lie among star-forming regions, except for highly spinning, high accretion rate HMBHs. In summary, the BELs expected from HMBHs would be hard to detect using the current optical facilities. From 100 to 1012 M⊙, the emission lines used to detect active galactic nuclei (AGNs) only have high EW in the 106–109 M⊙ window, where most AGNs are found. This selection effect may be distorting reported distributions of MBH.

Beschreibung: The Changning–Menglian orogenic belt (CMOB) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau is an important link between the Longmu Co–Shuanghu suture (LCSS) in the northern Tibetan Plateau and the Chiang Mai–Inthanon and Bentong–Raub sutures in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. These belts and sutures are generally regarded as containing the remnants of the oceanic crust of the Palaeo-Tethys that formed by seafloor spreading as a result of the separation of Gondwana- and Eurasia-derived blocks during the Middle Cambrian. In this paper we report the first discovery of abundant unaltered and retrograde eclogites that occur as irregular lenses and blocks in metasedimentary rocks of the CMOB, and these eclogites form an elongate and almost north–south-trending high-pressure (HP)–ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt that is ∼200 km long and ∼50 km wide. The newly discovered phengite/talc/epidote–glaucophane eclogites, lawsonite–talc–phengite eclogites, dolomite/magnesite–kyanite eclogites and phengite–kyanite-bearing retrograde eclogites have enriched (E-) and normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB)-like affinities and mainly positive as well as some negative whole-rock εNd values (–4·34 to +7·89), which suggest an enriched and depleted oceanic lithosphere source for their protoliths. Magmatic zircons separated from the epidote–glaucophane, magnesite–kyanite and (phengite–kyanite-bearing) retrograde eclogites gave protolith ages of 317–250 Ma, which fit well within the time frame of the opening of the Palaeo-Tethys during the Middle Cambrian and its closure during the Triassic. Abundant metamorphic zircons in the eclogites indicate a Triassic metamorphic event related to the subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys oceanic crust from 235 to 227 Ma. Taking into account previous isotopic age data, we now establish the periods of Early–Middle Triassic (246–227 Ma) and Late Triassic (222–209 Ma) as the ages of subduction and exhumation of the Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic crust, respectively. Thermodynamic modelling revealed that the eclogites record distinct HP–UHP peak metamorphic conditions of 23·0–25·5 kbar and 582–610 °C for the phengite–glaucophane eclogites, 24·0–25·5 kbar and 570–586 °C for the talc–glaucophane eclogites, 29·0–31·0 kbar and 675–712 °C for the dolomite–kyanite eclogites, and 30·0–32·0 kbar and 717–754 °C for the magnesite–kyanite eclogites. These P–T estimates and geochronological data indicate that the Palaeo-Tethys oceanic slab was subducted to different mantle depths from 75 km down to 95 km, forming distinct types of eclogite with a variety of peak eclogite-facies mineral assemblages. The eclogites consistently record clockwise metamorphic P–T–t paths characterized by a heating–compression prograde loop under a low geothermal gradient of 5–10 °C km–1, indicating the rapid subduction of cold oceanic crust at a rate of 4·5–6·0 km Ma–1, followed by isothermal or cooling–decompressive retrogression and exhumation at an average rate of 3·2–4·2 km Ma–1. The newly discovered eclogites of the CMOB with their signatures of ocean-crust subduction are petrologically, geochemically and geochronologically comparable with those of the LCSS, providing powerful support for the idea that a nearly 2000 km long HP–UHP eclogite belt extends from the northern Tibetan Plateau to the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, and that it represents the main boundary suture of the Palaeo-Tethyan domain. These results have far-reaching implications for the tectonic framework and complex metamorphic evolution of the Palaeo-Tethyan domain.

Beschreibung: The gravitational wave event GW 170817 and the slowly rising afterglows of short gamma-ray burst (GRB) 170817A clearly suggest that the GRB jet has an angular structure. However the actual jet structure remains unclear as different authors give different structures. We formulate a novel method to inversely reconstruct the jet structure from off-axis GRB afterglows, without assuming any functional form of the structure in contrast to the previous studies. The jet structure is uniquely determined from the rising part of a light curve for a given parameter set by integrating an ordinary differential equation, which is derived from the standard theory of GRB afterglows. Applying to GRB 170817A, we discover that a non-trivial hollow-cone jet is consistent with the observed afterglows, as well as Gaussian and power-law jets within errors, which implies the Blandford–Znajek mechanism or ejecta–jet interaction. The current observations only constrain the jet core, not in principle the outer jet structure around the line of sight. More precise and high-cadence observations with our inversion method will fix the jet structure, providing a clue to the jet formation and propagation.

Beschreibung: We study the formation of very metal-poor stars under protostellar radiative feedback effect. We use cosmological simulations to identify low-mass dark matter haloes and star-forming gas clouds within them. We then follow protostar formation and the subsequent long-term mass accretion phase of over one million years using two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. We show that the critical physical process that sets the final mass is the formation and expansion of a bipolar H ii region. The process is similar to the formation of massive primordial stars, but radiation pressure exerted on dust grains also contributes to halting the accretion flow in the low-metallicity case. We find that the net feedback effect in the case with metallicity Z = 10−2 Z⊙ is stronger than in the case with Z ∼ 1 Z⊙. With decreasing metallicity, the radiation-pressure effect becomes weaker, but photoionization heating of the circumstellar gas is more efficient owing to the reduced dust attenuation. In the case with Z = 10−2 Z⊙, the central star grows as massive as 200 solar masses, similarly to the case of primordial star formation. We conclude that metal-poor stars with a few hundred solar masses can be formed by gas accretion despite the strong radiative feedback.

Beschreibung: Wood removed in Southwestern US forest restoration treatments currently has limited markets and thus low value. One important property of wood in structural products is its stiffness (measured as modulus of elasticity), which is known to vary systematically within trees. Directly measuring wood stiffness is expensive, time consuming and destructive. Therefore, we tested samples of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum Engelm.) from northern Arizona destructively in bending and also non-destructively using acoustic velocity (AV) methods. In total, we tested multiple pith-to-bark small clear (2.54 × 2.54 × 40.64 cm) samples from up to four heights in 103 trees. We first measured the standing-tree AV of sample trees, then the AV of small clear samples, and finally measured wood stiffness using three point static bending tests. We found that a Michaelis–Menten curve was a good fit to the radial profile of wood stiffness, with a steep increase outward from the pith that approached an asymptote. The AV of small clear samples, coupled with measured volumetric density values, approximated the static modulus of elasticity values with high accuracy (r2 = 0.86). At the stand level, a model predicting standing tree AV from tree morphology fit the data well (r2 = 0.77). Results indicate that southwestern ponderosa pine contains outerwood with relatively high stiffness that could be suitable for structural products. However, when assessed using wood stiffness, the trees take a long time to reach maturity (~50 years) and thus the corewood proportion is large. AV measurements are a good way to assess variability within and among stands and thus could be employed to segregate the resource by expected stiffness values. Segregation could help identify stands not suitable for structural uses and direct them toward more appropriate products.

Beschreibung: We present a search for high-energy γ-ray emission from 566 Active Galactic Nuclei at redshift z 〉 0.2, from the 2WHSP catalogue of high-synchrotron peaked BL Lac objects with 8 yr of Fermi-LAT data. We focus on a redshift range where electromagnetic cascade emission induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays can be distinguished from leptonic emission based on the spectral properties of the sources. Our analysis leads to the detection of 160 sources above ≈5σ (TS ≥25) in the 1–300 GeV energy range. By discriminating significant sources based on their γ-ray fluxes, variability properties, and photon index in the Fermi-LAT energy range, and modelling the expected hadronic signal in the TeV regime, we select a list of promising sources as potential candidate ultra-high-energy cosmic ray emitters for follow-up observations by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes.

Beschreibung: The Milky Way Galaxy is literally teeming with exoplanets; thousands of planets have been discovered, with thousands more planet candidates identified. Terrestrial-like planets are quite common around other stars, and are expected to be detected in large numbers in the future. Such planets are the primary targets in the search for potentially habitable conditions outside the Solar system. Determining the atmospheric composition of exoplanets is mandatory to understand their origin and evolution, as atmospheric processes play crucial roles in many aspects of planetary architecture. In this work we construct and exploit a 1D radiative transfer model based on the discrete-ordinates method in plane-parallel geometry. Radiative results are linked to a convective flux that redistributes energy at any altitude producing atmospheric profiles in radiative–convective equilibrium. The model has been applied to a large number (6250) of closely dry synthetic CO2 atmospheres, and the resulting pressure and thermal profiles have been interpreted in terms of parameter variability. Although less accurate than 3D general circulation models, not properly accounting for e.g. clouds and atmospheric and ocean dynamics, 1D descriptions are computationally inexpensive and retain significant value by allowing multidimensional parameter sweeps with relative ease.

Beschreibung: In this work, we study the properties of dissipative shocks for fully relativistic accretion flows around spinning black holes. In an accretion flow harbouring a dissipative shock (formally known as radiative shock), a significant portion of the thermal energy may get released from the post-shock corona. A stellar-mass black hole may therefore emit hard X-rays from the inner edge of the disc. If the bulk energy loss is significant, post-shock pressure drops, and shock moves forward towards the black hole compressing the size of the post-shock corona, resulting an enhancement of the corona temperature and compression ratio. The dynamical properties of the radiative shocks are therefore systematically investigated to understand accurately the radiative loss processes, temporal variations, and the spectral properties. We notice that the range of flow parameters (e.g. energy and angular momentum) responsible for the formation of ‘shocks in accretion (SA)’ is identical for both the cases of standing and dissipative shocks. The spin of the black hole enhances the dissipation further. We estimate the maximum energy release, which is observed close to $100{{ m per cent}}$ in the extreme cases. This could be useful in explaining various observed phenomena namely the formation and the systematic evolution of quasi-periodic oscillations, and the time lags in between hard and soft X-ray photons (e.g. XTE J1550−564, GRO J1655−40, etc.) during their outbursts.

Beschreibung: Dwarf ellipticals are the most common galaxy type in cluster environments; however, the challenges associated with their observation mean that their formation mechanisms are still poorly understood. To address this, we present deep integral field observations of a sample of 31 low-mass (107.5 〈 M⋆ 〈 109.5 M⊙) early-type galaxies in the Fornax cluster with the SAMI instrument. For 21 galaxies, our observations are sufficiently deep to construct spatially resolved maps of the stellar velocity and velocity dispersion – for the remaining galaxies, we extract global velocities and dispersions from aperture spectra only. From the kinematic maps, we measure the specific stellar angular momentum λR of the lowest mass dE galaxies to date. Combining our observations with early-type galaxy data from the literature spanning a large range in stellar mass, we find that λR decreases towards lower stellar mass, with a corresponding increase in the proportion of slowly rotating galaxies in this regime. The decrease of λR with mass in our sample dE galaxies is consistent with a similar trend seen in somewhat more massive spiral galaxies from the CALIFA survey. This suggests that the degree of dynamical heating required to produce dEs from low-mass starforming progenitors may be relatively modest and consistent with a broad range of formation mechanisms.

Beschreibung: We analyse a set of cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the formation of Milky Way-mass galaxies identified to have a prominent radially anisotropic stellar halo component similar to the so-called ‘Gaia Sausage’ found in the Gaia data. We examine the effects of the progenitor of the Sausage (the Gaia–Enceladus Sausage, GES) on the formation of major galactic components analogous to the Galactic thick disc and inner stellar halo. We find that the GES merger is likely to have been gas-rich and contribute 10–50 ${{ m per cent}}$ of gas to a merger-induced centrally concentrated starburst that results in the rapid formation of a compact, rotationally supported thick disc that occupies the typical chemical thick disc region of chemical abundance space. We find evidence that gas-rich mergers heated the proto-disc of the Galaxy, scattering stars on to less-circular orbits such that their rotation velocity and metallicity positively correlate, thus contributing an additional component that connects the Galactic thick disc to the inner stellar halo. We demonstrate that the level of kinematic heating of the proto-galaxy correlates with the kinematic state of the population before the merger, the progenitor mass, and orbital eccentricity of the merger. Furthermore, we show that the mass and time of the merger can be accurately inferred from local stars on counter-rotating orbits.

Beschreibung: We report the discovery of X-ray emission from CFHQS J142952+544717, the most distant known radio-loud quasar at z = 6.18, on 2019 December 10–11 with the eROSITA telescope on board the SRG satellite during its ongoing all-sky survey. The object was identified by cross-matching an intermediate SRG/eROSITA source catalogue with the Pan-STARRS1 distant quasar sample at 5.6 〈 z 〈 6.7. The measured flux ∼8 × 10−14 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 0.3–2 keV energy band corresponds to an X-ray luminosity of $2.6^{+1.7}_{-1.0}imes 10^{46}$ erg s−1 in the 2–10 keV rest-frame energy band, which renders CFHQS J142952+544717 the most X-ray luminous quasar ever observed at z 〉 6. Combining our X-ray measurements with archival and new photometric measurements in other wavebands (radio to optical), we estimate the bolometric luminosity of this quasar at ∼(2–3) × 1047 erg s−1. Assuming Eddington limited accretion and isotropic emission, we infer a lower limit on the mass of the supermassive black hole of ∼2 × 109 M⊙. The most salient feature of CFHQS J142952+544717 is its X-ray brightness relative to the optical/UV emission. We argue that it may be linked to its radio-loudness (although the object is not a blazar according to its radio properties), specifically to a contribution of inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons off relativistic electrons in the jets. If so, CFHQS J142952+544717 might be the tip of the iceberg of high-z quasars with enhanced X-ray emission, and SRG/eROSITA may find many more such objects during its 4-yr all-sky survey.

Beschreibung: Despite the discovery of thousands of exoplanets in recent years, the number of known exoplanets in star clusters remains tiny. This may be a consequence of close stellar encounters perturbing the dynamical evolution of planetary systems in these clusters. Here, we present the results from direct N-body simulations of multiplanetary systems embedded in star clusters containing N = 8k, 16k, 32k, and 64k stars. The planetary systems, which consist of the four Solar system giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are initialized in different orbital configurations, to study the effect of the system architecture on the dynamical evolution of the entire planetary system, and on the escape rate of the individual planets. We find that the current orbital parameters of the Solar system giants (with initially circular orbits, as well as with present-day eccentricities) and a slightly more compact configuration, have a high resilience against stellar perturbations. A configuration with initial mean-motion resonances of 3:2, 3:2, and 5:4 between the planets, which is inspired by the Nice model, and for which the two outermost planets are usually ejected within the first 105 yr, is in many cases stabilized due to the removal of the resonances by external stellar perturbation and by the rapid ejection of at least one planet. Assigning all planets the same mass of 1 MJup almost equalizes the survival fractions. Our simulations reproduce the broad diversity amongst observed exoplanet systems. We find not only many very wide and/or eccentric orbits, but also a significant number of (stable) retrograde orbits.

Beschreibung: Analysing the Galactic plane CO survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope, we compared the spectral column density (SCD) of $N_{ m H_2}$ calculated for the 12CO (J = 1–0) line using the current conversion factor $X_{ m ^{12}CO}$ to that for the 13CO (J = 1–0) line under the LTE (local thermal equilibrium) assumption in the M16 and W43 regions. Here, SCD is defined by $mathrm{d}N_{ m H_2}/mathrm{d}v$ with $N_{ m H_2}$ and v being the column density and radial velocity, respectively. It is found that the $X_{ m ^{12}CO}$ method significantly underestimates the H2 density in a cloud or region, where SCD exceeds a critical value (∼3 × 1021 [H2 cm−2 (km s−1)−1]), but overestimates in lower SCD regions. We point out that the actual CO-to-H2 conversion factor varies with the H2 column density or with the CO line intensity: it increases in the inner and opaque parts of molecular clouds, whereas it decreases in the low-density envelopes. However, in so far as the current $X_{^{12}{ m CO}}$ is used combined with the integrated 12CO intensity averaged over an entire cloud, it yields a consistent value with that calculated using the 13CO intensity by LTE. Based on the analysis, we propose a new CO-to-H2 conversion relation, $N_{ m H_2}^* = int X^*_{ m CO} (T_{ m B}) T_{ m B} mathrm{d}v$, where $X^*_{ m CO} (T_{ m B})=(T_{ m B}/T_{ m B}^*)^ eta X_{ m ^{12}CO}$ is the modified spectral conversion factor as a function of the brightness temperature, TB, of the 12CO (J = 1–0) line, and β ∼ 1–2 and $T_{ m B}^*=12!-!16$ K are empirical constants obtained by fitting to the observed data. The formula corrects for the over/underestimation of the column density at low/high CO line intensities, and is applicable to molecular clouds with TB ≥ 1 K (12CO (J = 1–0) line rms noise in the data) from envelope to cores at sub-parsec scales (spatial resolution).

Beschreibung: Using state-of-the-art high-resolution fully GPU N-body simulations, we demonstrate for the first time that the infall of a dark matter-rich satellite naturally explains a present black hole offset by subparsecs in M31. Observational data of the tidal features provide stringent constraints on the initial conditions of our simulations. The heating of the central region of M31 by the satellite via dynamical friction entails a significant black hole offset after the first pericentric passage. After having reached its maximum offset, the massive black hole sinks towards the M31 centre due to dynamical friction and it is determined to be offset by subparsecs as derived by observations.

Beschreibung: Repeatability of study setups and reproducibility of research results by underlying data are major requirements in science. Until now, abstract models for describing the structural logic of studies in environmental sciences are lacking and tools for data management are insufficient. Mandatory for repeatability and reproducibility is the use of sophisticated data management solutions going beyond data file sharing. Particularly, it implies maintenance of coherent data along workflows. Design data concern elements from elementary domains of operations being transformation, measurement and transaction. Operation design elements and method information are specified for each consecutive workflow segment from field to laboratory campaigns. The strict linkage of operation design element values, operation values and objects is essential. For enabling coherence of corresponding objects along consecutive workflow segments, the assignment of unique identifiers and the specification of their relations are mandatory. The abstract model presented here addresses these aspects, and the software DiversityDescriptions (DWB-DD) facilitates the management of thusly connected digital data objects and structures. DWB-DD allows for an individual specification of operation design elements and their linking to objects. Two workflow design use cases, one for DNA barcoding and another for cultivation of fungal isolates, are given. To publish those structured data, standard schema mapping and XML-provision of digital objects are essential. Schemas useful for this mapping include the Ecological Markup Language, the Schema for Meta-omics Data of Collection Objects and the Standard for Structured Descriptive Data. Data pipelines with DWB-DD include the mapping and conversion between schemas and functions for data publishing and archiving according to the Open Archival Information System standard. The setting allows for repeatability of study setups, reproducibility of study results and for supporting work groups to structure and maintain their data from the beginning of a study. The theory of ‘FAIR++’ digital objects is introduced.

Beschreibung: Stark full widths at half-maximum for 46 Co ii multiplets have been calculated using modified semi-empirical method. The obtained results have been used to demonstrate the importance of Stark broadening mechanism in DA and DB white dwarf and A star atmospheres. With the obtained results we also test possibility of using some approximate methods of Stark width calculations developed on the basis of regularities and systematic trends.

Beschreibung: A puzzle in NGC 1068 is how to secularly maintain the counter-rotating disc (CRD) from 0.2 to $7,$ pc unambiguously detected by recent ALMA observations of molecular gas. Upon further dynamical analysis, we find that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability (KHI) results in an unavoidable catastrophe for the disc developed at the interface between the reversely rotating parts. We demonstrate that a close binary of supermassive black holes (CB-SMBHs) provides tidal torques to prevent the disc from the KH catastrophe and are led to the conclusion that there is a CB-SMBH at the centre of NGC 1068. The binary is composed of black holes with a separation of $0.1,$ pc from GRAVITY/VLTI observations, a total mass of 1.3 × 107 M⊙ and a mass ratio of ∼0.3 estimated from the angular momentum (AM) budget of the global system. The KHI gives rise to a gap without cold gas at the velocity interface that overlaps with the observed gap of hot and cold dust regions. Releases of kinetic energies from the KHI of the disc are in agreement with observed emissions in radio and γ-rays. Such a binary is shrinking on a time-scale much longer than the local Hubble time via gravitational waves, however, the KHI leads to an efficient annihilation of the orbital AM and a speed-up merge of the binary, providing a new mechanism for solving the long-standing issue of ‘final parsec problem’. Future observations of GRAVITY+/VLTI are expected to be able to spatially resolve the CB-SMBHs suggested in this paper.

Beschreibung: We develop a new Multitracer Halo Occupation Distribution (MTHOD) framework for the galaxy distribution and apply it to the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) final data between z = 0.7 − 1.1. We obtain a best fitting MTHOD  for each tracer and describe the host halo properties of these galaxies. The mean halo masses for LRGs, ELGs, and QSOs are found to be $1.9 imes 10^{13} , h^{-1}M_odot$, $1.1 imes 10^{12} , h^{-1}M_odot$, and $5 imes 10^{12} , h^{-1}M_odot$ respectively in the eBOSS data. We use the MTHOD  framework to create mock galaxy catalogues and predict auto- and cross-correlation functions for all the tracers. Comparing these results with data, we investigate galactic conformity, the phenomenon whereby the properties of neighbouring galaxies are mutually correlated in a manner that is not captured by the basic halo model. We detect 1-halo conformity at more than 3σ statistical significance, while obtaining upper limits on 2-halo conformity. We also look at the environmental dependence of the galaxy quenching efficiency and find that halo mass driven quenching successfully explains the behaviour in high density regions, but it fails to describe the quenching efficiency in low density regions. In particular, we show that the quenching efficiency in low density filaments is higher in the observed data, as compared to the prediction of the MTHOD with halo mass driven quenching. The mock galaxy catalogue constructed in this paper is publicly available on this website1.

Beschreibung: The evolution and physics of the common envelope (CE) phase are still not well understood. Jets launched from a compact object during this stage may define the evolutionary outcome of the binary system. We focus on the case in which jets are launched from a neutron star (NS) engulfed in the outer layers of a red giant (RG). We run a set of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of jets with different luminosities and inclinations. The luminosity of the jet is self-regulated by the mass accretion rate and an efficiency η. Depending on the value of η the jet can break out of the previously formed bulge (‘successful jet’) and aligns against the incoming wind, in turn, it will realign in favour of the direction of the wind. The jet varies in size and orientation and may present quiescent and active epochs. The inclination of the jet and the Coriolis and centrifugal forces, only slightly affect the global evolution. As the accretion is hypercritical, and the specific angular momentum is above the critical value for the formation of a disc, we infer the formation of a disc and launching of jets. The discs’ mass and size would be ∼10−2 M⊙ and ≳1010 cm, and it may have rings with different rotation directions. In order to have a successful jet from a white dwarf, the ejection process needs to be very efficient (η ∼ 0.5). For main-sequence stars, there is not enough energy reservoir to launch a successful jet.

Beschreibung: Solar synoptic maps of both He i 10 830 Å intensity and the magnetic field, which are observed by the Vacuum Telescope at National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak from 2005 July to 2013 March are utilized to study relationship of He i intensity of the weakly magnetized chromosphere with the respective magnetic field strength. Strong absorption in He i intensity presents the butterfly-pattern latitude migration zone as active regions do, indicating that strong magnetic field corresponds to high-temperature structures of the active chromosphere. For He i intensity and magnetic field strength, their distribution at the time-latitude coordinate and their time series at each of the 180 measurement latitude are found to be significantly negatively correlated with each other in most cases. When a solar hemisphere is divided into three latitude bands: low, middle, and high latitude bands, and even after large magnetic field values not taken into account, they are still negatively correlated in most cases, and further when large magnetic field values are subtracted He i intensity varies more sensitively with magnetic field strength than the corresponding cases when large magnetic field values are not subtracted. He i intensity in the quiet chromosphere thus mainly presents a negative correlation with the magnetic field, and the heating of the quiet chromosphere is inferred to be caused mainly by small-scale magnetic elements.

Beschreibung: In two recent papers published in MNRAS, Namouni and Morais claimed evidence for the interstellar origin of some small Solar system bodies, including: (i) objects in retrograde co-orbital motion with the giant planets and (ii) the highly inclined Centaurs. Here, we discuss the flaws of those papers that invalidate the authors’ conclusions. Numerical simulations backwards in time are not representative of the past evolution of real bodies. Instead, these simulations are only useful as a means to quantify the short dynamical lifetime of the considered bodies and the fast decay of their population. In light of this fast decay, if the observed bodies were the survivors of populations of objects captured from interstellar space in the early Solar system, these populations should have been implausibly large (e.g. about 10 times the current main asteroid belt population for the retrograde co-orbital of Jupiter). More likely, the observed objects are just transient members of a population that is maintained in quasi-steady state by a continuous flux of objects from some parent reservoir in the distant Solar system. We identify in the Halley-type comets and the Oort cloud the most likely sources of retrograde co-orbitals and highly inclined Centaurs.

Beschreibung: Strong gravitational lensing has been a powerful probe of cosmological models and gravity. To date, constraints in either domain have been obtained separately. We propose a new methodology through which the cosmological model, specifically the Hubble constant, and post-Newtonian parameter can be simultaneously constrained. Using the time-delay cosmography from strong lensing combined with the stellar kinematics of the deflector lens, we demonstrate that the Hubble constant and post-Newtonian parameter are incorporated in two distance ratios that reflect the lensing mass and dynamical mass, respectively. Through the re-analysis of the four publicly released lenses distance posteriors from the H0LiCOW (H0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL’s Wellspring) collaboration, the simultaneous constraints of Hubble constant and post-Newtonian parameter are obtained. Our results suggest no deviation from the general relativity; $gamma _{t {PPN}}=0.87^{+0.19}_{-0.17}$ with a Hubble constant that favours the local Universe value, $H_0=73.65^{+1.95}_{-2.26}$ km s−1 Mpc−1. Finally, we forecast the robustness of gravity tests by using the time-delay strong lensing for constraints we expect in the next few years. We find that the joint constraint from 40 lenses is able to reach the order of $7.7{{ m per cent}}$ for the post-Newtonian parameter and $1.4{{ m per cent}}$ for the Hubble constant.

Beschreibung: One of the proposed channels of binary black hole mergers involves dynamical interactions of three black holes. In such scenarios, it is possible that all three black holes merge in a so-called hierarchical merger chain, where two of the black holes merge first and then their remnant subsequently merges with the remaining single black hole. Depending on the dynamical environment, it is possible that both mergers will appear within the observable time window. Here, we perform a search for such merger pairs in the public available LIGO and Virgo data from the O1/O2 runs. Using a frequentist p-value assignment statistics, we do not find any significant merger pair candidates, the most significant being GW170809-GW151012 pair. Assuming no observed candidates in O3/O4, we derive upper limits on merger pairs to be ∼11–110 yr−1 Gpc−3, corresponding to a rate that relative to the total merger rate is ∼0.1−1.0. From this, we argue that both a detection and a non-detection within the next few years can be used to put useful constraints on some dynamical progenitor models.

Beschreibung: We present extremely deep upper limits on the radio emission from 4U 1957+11, an X-ray binary that is generally believed to be a persistently accreting black hole that is almost always in the soft state. We discuss a more comprehensive search for Type I bursts than in past work, revealing a stringent upper limit on the burst rate, bolstering the case for a black hole accretor. The lack of detection of this source at the 1.07 μJy/beam noise level indicates jet suppression that is stronger than expected even in the most extreme thin disc models for radio jet production – the radio power here is 1500–3700 times lower than the extrapolation of the hard state radio/X-ray correlation, with the uncertainties depending primarily on the poorly constrained source distance. We also discuss the location and velocity of the source and show that it must have either formed in the halo or with a strong asymmetric natal kick.

Beschreibung: Swift J004427.3−734801 is an X-ray source in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) that was first discovered as part of the Swift S-CUBED programme in 2020 January. It was not detected in any of the previous 3 yr worth of observations. The accurate positional determination from the X-ray data has permitted an optical counterpart to be identified that has the characteristics of an O9V−B2III star. Evidence for the presence of an infrared excess and significant I-band variability strongly suggests that this is an OBe-type star. Over 17 yr worth of optical monitoring by the OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) project reveals periods of time in which quasi-periodic optical flares occur at intervals of ∼21.5 d. The X-ray data obtained from the S-CUBED project reveal a very soft spectrum, too soft to be that from accretion on to a neutron star or black hole. It is suggested here that this is a rarely identified Be star–white dwarf binary in the SMC.

Beschreibung: Gravitational microlensing can detect isolated stellar-mass black holes (BHs), which are believed to be the dominant form of Galactic BHs according to population synthesis models. Previous searches for BH events in microlensing data focused on long time-scale events with significant microlensing parallax detections. Here we show that, although BH events preferentially have long time-scales, the microlensing parallax amplitudes are so small that in most cases the parallax signals cannot be detected statistically significantly. We then identify OGLE-2006-BLG-044 to be a candidate BH event because of its long time-scale and small microlensing parallax. Our findings have implications to future BH searches in microlensing data.

Beschreibung: While magnetic fields are important in contemporary star formation, their role in primordial star formation is unknown. Magnetic fields of the order of 10−16 G are produced by the Biermann battery due to the curved shocks and turbulence associated with the infall of gas into the dark matter minihaloes that are the sites of formation of the first stars. These fields are rapidly amplified by a small-scale dynamo until they saturate at or near equipartition with the turbulence in the central region of the gas. Analytical results are given for the outcome of the dynamo, including the effect of compression in the collapsing gas. The mass-to-flux ratio in this gas is two to three times the critical value, comparable to that in contemporary star formation. Predictions of the outcomes of simulations using smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and grid-based adaptive mesh refinement are given. Because the numerical viscosity and resistivity for the standard resolution of 64 cells per Jeans length are several orders of magnitude greater than the physical values, dynamically significant magnetic fields affect a much smaller fraction of the mass in simulations than in reality. An appendix gives an analytical treatment of free-fall collapse, including that in a constant-density background. Another appendix presents a new method of estimating the numerical viscosity; results are given for both SPH and grid-based codes.

Beschreibung: We present a spectroscopic survey of 230 white dwarf candidates within 40 pc of the Sun from the William Herschel Telescope and Gran Telescopio Canarias. All candidates were selected from Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) and in almost all cases, had no prior spectroscopic classifications. We find a total of 191 confirmed white dwarfs and 39 main-sequence star contaminants. The majority of stellar remnants in the sample are relatively cool (〈Teff〉 = 6200 K), showing either hydrogen Balmer lines or a featureless spectrum, corresponding to 89 DA and 76 DC white dwarfs, respectively. We also recover two DBA white dwarfs and 9–10 magnetic remnants. We find two carbon-bearing DQ stars and 14 new metal-rich white dwarfs. This includes the possible detection of the first ultra-cool white dwarf with metal lines. We describe three DZ stars for which we find at least four different metal species, including one that is strongly Fe- and Ni-rich, indicative of the accretion of a planetesimal with core-Earth composition. We find one extremely massive (1.31 ± 0.01 M⊙) DA white dwarf showing weak Balmer lines, possibly indicating stellar magnetism. Another white dwarf shows strong Balmer line emission but no infrared excess, suggesting a low-mass sub-stellar companion. A high spectroscopic completeness (〉99 per cent) has now been reached for Gaia DR2 sources within 40-pc sample, in the Northern hemisphere (δ 〉 0°) and located on the white dwarf cooling track in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. A statistical study of the full northern sample is presented in a companion paper.

Beschreibung: We report the results of the rapid follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi satellite to search for associated fast radio bursts. The observations were conducted with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder at frequencies from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz. A set of 20 bursts, of which four were short GRBs, were followed up with a typical latency of about 1 min, for a duration of up to 11 h after the burst. The data were searched using 4096 dispersion measure trials up to a maximum dispersion measure of 3763 pc cm−3, and for pulse widths w over a range of duration from 1.256 to 40.48 ms. No associated pulsed radio emission was observed above $26 , { m Jy, ms}, (w/1, { m ms})^{-1/2}$ for any of the 20 GRBs.

Beschreibung: White dwarf–brown dwarf short-period binaries (Porb ≲ 2 h) are some of the most extreme irradiated atmospheric environments known. These systems offer an opportunity to explore theoretical and modelling efforts of irradiated atmospheres different to typical hot Jupiter systems. We aim to investigate the three-dimensional (3D) atmospheric structural and dynamical properties of the brown dwarf WD 0137−349B. We use the 3D global circulation model (GCM) Exo-Flexible Modelling System (FMS) with a dual-band grey radiative transfer scheme to model the atmosphere of WD 0137−349B. The results of the GCM model are post-processed using the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer model cmcrt. Our results suggest inefficient day–night energy transport and a large day–night temperature contrast for WD 0137−349B. Multiple flow patterns are present, shifting energy asymmetrically eastward or westward depending on their zonal direction and latitude. Regions of overturning are produced on the western terminator. We are able to reproduce the start of the system near-infrared (IR) emission excess at ≳1.95 μm as observed by the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) instrument. Our model overpredicts the IR phase curve fluxes by factors of ≈1–3, but generally fits the shape of the phase curves well. Chemical kinetic modelling using vulcan suggests a highly ionized region at high altitudes can form on the dayside of the brown dwarf. We present a first attempt at simulating the atmosphere of a short-period white dwarf–brown dwarf binary in a 3D setting. Further studies into the radiative and photochemical heating from the ultraviolet irradiation are required to more accurately capture the energy balance inside the brown dwarf atmosphere. Cloud formation may also play an important role in shaping the emission spectra of the brown dwarf.

Beschreibung: The capability of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to image the nearest supermassive black hole candidates at horizon-scale resolutions offers a novel means to study gravity in its strongest regimes and to test different models for these objects. Here, we study the observational appearance at 230 GHz of a surfaceless black hole mimicker, namely a non-rotating boson star, in a scenario consistent with the properties of the accretion flow on to Sgr A*. To this end, we perform general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations followed by general relativistic radiative transfer calculations in the boson star space–time. Synthetic reconstructed images considering realistic astronomical observing conditions show that, despite qualitative similarities, the differences in the appearance of a black hole – either rotating or not – and a boson star of the type considered here are large enough to be detectable. These differences arise from dynamical effects directly related to the absence of an event horizon, in particular, the accumulation of matter in the form of a small torus or a spheroidal cloud in the interior of the boson star, and the absence of an evacuated high-magnetization funnel in the polar regions. The mechanism behind these effects is general enough to apply to other horizonless and surfaceless black hole mimickers, strengthening confidence in the ability of the EHT to identify such objects via radio observations.

Beschreibung: SUMMARY Determining rock microstructure remains challenging, since a proper rock-physics model is needed to establish the relation between pore microstructure and elastic and transport properties. We present a model to estimate pore microstructure based on porosity, ultrasonic velocities and permeability, assuming that the microstructure consists on randomly oriented stiff equant pores and penny-shaped cracks. The stiff pore and crack porosity varying with differential pressure is estimated from the measured total porosity on the basis of a dual porosity model. The aspect ratio of pores and cracks and the crack density as a function of differential pressure are obtained from dry-rock P- and S-wave velocities, by using a differential effective medium model. These results are used to invert the pore radius from the matrix permeability by using a circular pore model. Above a crack density of 0.13, the crack radius can be estimated from permeability, and below that threshold, the radius is estimated from P-wave velocities, taking into account the wave dispersion induced by local fluid flow between pores and cracks. The approach is applied to experimental data for dry and saturated Fontainebleau sandstone and Chelmsford Granite.

Beschreibung: We develop a new analysis approach towards identifying related radio components and their corresponding infrared host galaxy based on unsupervised machine learning methods. By exploiting Parallelized rotation and flipping INvariant Kohonen maps (pink), a self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm, we are able to associate radio and infrared sources without the a priori requirement of training labels. We present an example of this method using 894 415 images from the Faint Images of the Radio-Sky at Twenty centimeters (FIRST) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) surveys centred towards positions described by the FIRST catalogue. We produce a set of catalogues that complement FIRST and describe 802 646 objects, including their radio components and their corresponding AllWISE infrared host galaxy. Using these data products, we (i) demonstrate the ability to identify objects with rare and unique radio morphologies (e.g. ‘X’-shaped galaxies, hybrid FR I/FR II morphologies), (ii) can identify the potentially resolved radio components that are associated with a single infrared host, (iii) introduce a ‘curliness’ statistic to search for bent and disturbed radio morphologies, and (iv) extract a set of 17 giant radio galaxies between 700 and 1100 kpc. As we require no training labels, our method can be applied to any radio-continuum survey, provided a sufficiently representative SOM can be trained.

Beschreibung: The origin of the multiwavelength emission from the high-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac 1ES 1218+304 is studied using the data from SwiftUVOT/XRT, NuSTAR, and Fermi-LAT. A detailed temporal and spectral analysis of the data observed during 2008–2020 in the  γ-ray (〉100 MeV), X-ray (0.3–70 keV), and optical/UV bands is performed. The γ-ray spectrum is hard with a photon index of 1.71 ± 0.02 above 100 MeV. The SwiftUVOT/XRT data show a flux increase in the UV/optical and X-ray bands; the highest 0.3–3 keV X-ray flux was (1.13 ± 0.02) × 10−10 erg cm−2 s−1. In the 0.3–10 keV range, the averaged X-ray photon index is 〉2.0 which softens to 2.56 ± 0.028 in the 3–50 keV band. However, in some periods, the X-ray photon index became extremely hard (

Beschreibung: Multiple-layered coal seams widely exist in main coal mining areas of China. When these coal seams are exploited, the pillar mining method is always employed. This leads to many coal pillars left in the upper coal seams as a protective barrier. As a result, these residual pillars will not only cause the loss of coal resources but also could trigger environmental issues and a serious of mine disasters. A theoretical model was built to analyse the effect of the residual pillars. From the theoretical model, it was found that four stress concentration areas were formed by the upper residual coal pillars. To address the issues of the residual coal pillars, Datong Coal Mine Group has developed an innovative technology of the roof cutting with a chainsaw. A new protective coal seam mining method using chainsaw roof-cutting technology is introduced. A numerical model is constructed to analyse the mining pressure distribution law in working face within the lower layer coal seam. From the numerical simulation, the new protective layer mining method could reduce about 15.2% of the advancing stress, which contributes a lot to controlling the mining pressure within the lower layer. The field measurement showed that the hydraulic support utilised at the site was at lower pressure levels, which proves the new protective seam mining method can significantly reduce the working face pressure.

Beschreibung: We study whether crony governance can extend beyond economic policy to the targeting of state violence against citizens. Specifically, we examine the logic driving the choice of firm-level union representatives who were subjected to state repression by the 1976–1983 Argentine military junta. Using an original dataset, we find a positive, nonspurious, and robust correlation between labor repression and cronyism, measured by political, business, and social connections to the regime. Our results indicate that the number of firm-level union representatives victimized by the regime is three times higher for connected firms relative to nonconnected ones. The effect is pronounced in privately owned (as opposed to state-owned) firms, suggesting that the correlation is driven by cronyism for financial gain rather than ideology or information transmission. We show that connected firms benefited from violence against union representatives by subsequently having less strikes and a higher market valuation. Our findings highlight the pervasiveness of governmental cronyism, even in cases where one of the regime's main stated goals was to curb such behavior.

Beschreibung: We study the late-time evolution of the central regions of two Milky Way (MW)-like simulations of galaxies formed in a cosmological context, one hosting a fast bar and the other a slow one. We find that bar length, Rb, measurements fluctuate on a dynamical time-scale by up to 100 per cent, depending on the spiral structure strength and measurement threshold. The bar amplitude oscillates by about 15 per cent, correlating with Rb. The Tremaine–Weinberg method estimates of the bars’ instantaneous pattern speeds show variations around the mean of up to $sim !20{{ m per cent}}$, typically anticorrelating with the bar length and strength. Through power spectrum analyses, we establish that these bar pulsations, with a period in the range ∼60–200 Myr, result from its interaction with multiple spiral modes, which are coupled with the bar. Because of the presence of odd spiral modes, the two bar halves typically do not connect at exactly the same time to a spiral arm, and their individual lengths can be significantly offset. We estimated that in about 50 per cent of bar measurements in MW-mass external galaxies, the bar lengths of SBab-type galaxies are overestimated by $sim !15{{ m per cent}}$ and those of SBbc types by $sim !55{{ m per cent}}$. Consequently, bars longer than their corotation radius reported in the literature, dubbed ‘ultrafast bars’, may simply correspond to the largest biases. Given that the Scutum–Centaurus arm is likely connected to the near half of the MW bar, recent direct measurements may be overestimating its length by 1–1.5 kpc, while its present pattern speed may be 5–10 $ m km s^{-1} kpc^{-1}$ smaller than its time-averaged value.

Beschreibung: The spectrum of dicarbon (C2) is important in astrophysics and for spectroscopic studies of plasmas and flames. The C2 spectrum is characterized by many band systems with new ones still being actively identified; astronomical observations involve eight of these bands. Recently, Furtenbacher et al. presented a set of 5699 empirical energy levels for 12C2, distributed among 11 electronic states and 98 vibronic bands, derived from 42 experimental studies and obtained using the MARVEL (Measured Active Rotational-Vibrational Energy Levels) procedure. Here, we add data from 13 new sources and update data from 5 sources. Many of these data sources characterize high-lying electronic states, including the newly detected 3 3Πg state. Older studies have been included following improvements in the MARVEL procedure that allow their uncertainties to be estimated. These older works in particular determine levels in the C 1Πg state, the upper state of the insufficiently characterized Deslandres–d’Azambuja (C 1Πg–A 1Πu) band. The new compilation considers a total of 31 323 transitions and derives 7047 empirical (marvel) energy levels spanning 20 electronic and 142 vibronic states. These new empirical energy levels are used here to update the 8states C2 ExoMol line list. This updated line list is highly suitable for high-resolution cross-correlation studies in astronomical spectroscopy of, for example, exoplanets, as 99.4 per cent of the transitions with intensities over 10−18 cm molecule−1 at 1000 K have frequencies determined by empirical energy levels.

Beschreibung: Galaxy clusters can play a key role in modern cosmology, provided their evolution is properly understood. However, observed clusters give us only a single timeframe of their dynamical state. Therefore, finding present observable data of clusters that are well correlated to their assembly history constitutes an inestimable tool for cosmology. Former studies correlating environmental descriptors of clusters to their formation history are dominated by halo mass–environment relations. This paper presents a mass-free correlation between the present neighbour distribution of cluster-size haloes and the latter mass assembly history. From the Big Multidark simulation, we extract two large samples of random haloes with masses ranging from Virgo to Coma cluster sizes. Additionally, to find the main environmental culprit for the formation history of the Virgo cluster, we compare the Virgo-size haloes to 200 Virgo-like haloes extracted from simulations that resemble the local Universe. The number of neighbours at different cluster-centric distances permits discriminating between clusters with different mass accretion histories. Similarly to Virgo-like haloes, clusters with numerous neighbours within a distance of about two times their virial radius experience a transition at z ≈ 1 between an active period of mass accretion, relative to the mean, and a quiet history. In contrary, clusters with few neighbours share an opposite trend: from passive to active assembly histories. Additionally, clusters with massive companions within about four times their virial radius tend to have recent active merging histories. Therefore, the radial distribution of cluster neighbours provides invaluable insights into the past history of these objects.

Beschreibung: Recent application of Fourier transform near infra-red spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) to predict age in fish otoliths has gained attention among fisheries managers as a potential alternative to costly production ageing of managed species. We assessed the age prediction capability of FT-NIRS scans in whole otoliths from red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, collected from the US Gulf of Mexico and US Atlantic Ocean (South Atlantic). Otoliths were scanned with an FT-NIR spectrometer and resulting spectral signatures were regressed with traditionally estimated ages via partial least squares regression to produce calibration models, which were validated for predictive capability against test sets of otoliths. Calibration models successfully predicted age with R2 ranging 0.94–0.95, mean squared error ≤1.8 years, and bias 31 years were not well predicted, possibly due to light attenuation in the thickest otoliths. Our results suggest that FT-NIRS can improve efficiency in production ageing for fisheries management while maintaining data quality standards.

Beschreibung: This analysis explores new developments in judicial review of planning policy interpretation. It shows how the nature of policy, often contextual and judgment-dependent, has led the UK Supreme Court to rethink the standard of review applicable to this issue. By considering the recent decision in Samuel Smith as part of a trilogy of cases—including Tesco Stores and Hopkins Homes—this analysis reveals a change in judicial attitudes, away from the expansive judicial supervision upheld in Tesco Stores. Furthermore, this study reflects on how this change is related to two wider ideas. The first is the Court’s understanding of the law and policy divide in the planning field, whilst the second is to do with a pragmatic stance regarding the purpose of the planning system and the institutional role of the courts in it. Finally, this analysis shows how the new approach emphasises the distinctive character of policy in the planning context.

Beschreibung: Replacive symplectites (vermicular intergrowths of two or more minerals) are an important feature of layered igneous intrusions, recording evidence of late-stage reactions between interstitial liquid and crystals. They are common throughout the Layered Series of the 564 Ma Sept Iles layered intrusion in Quebec, Canada, and fall into three types: oxy-symplectites, ‘Type I’ symplectites, and ‘Type II’ symplectites. Oxy-symplectites are comprised of magnetite and orthopyroxene, nucleate on olivine primocrysts, and form via the reaction Olivine + O2 → Orthopyroxene + Magnetite; Type I symplectites (of which there are 3 distinct categories) are comprised of anorthitic plagioclase with pyroxene, amphibole, or olivine vermicules, grow from primocryst oxide grains, and replace primary plagioclase; and Type II symplectites (of which there are 2 distinct categories) are comprised of anorthitic plagioclase with orthopyroxene ± amphibole vermicules, grow from primocryst olivine grains, and replace primocryst plagioclase. Rare symplectites composed of biotite and plagioclase are also present. Symplectite growth occurred at 700-1030 °C with pressure constraints of 1-2 kbar. We propose that Type I symplectites, and some Type II symplectites, formed from interaction of primocrysts with residual Fe-rich liquid as a consequence of differential loss of an immiscible Si-rich liquid conjugate from the crystal mush. However, redistribution and concentration of hydrous fluids in incompletely solidified rock, or an increase in water activity of the interstitial melt, may be more plausible processes responsible for the formation of replacive symplectites comprising abundant hydrous mineral assemblages.

Beschreibung: Magnetic fields play an important role for the formation of stars in both local and high-redshift galaxies. Recent studies of dynamo amplification in the first dark matter haloes suggest that significant magnetic fields were likely present during the formation of the first stars in the Universe at redshifts of 15 and above. In this work, we study how these magnetic fields potentially impact the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars. We perform 200 high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D), magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the collapse of primordial clouds with different initial turbulent magnetic field strengths as predicted from turbulent dynamo theory in the early Universe, forming more than 1100 first stars in total. We detect a strong statistical signature of suppressed fragmentation in the presence of strong magnetic fields, leading to a dramatic reduction in the number of first stars with masses low enough that they might be expected to survive to the present-day. Additionally, strong fields shift the transition point where stars go from being mostly single to mostly multiple to higher masses. However, irrespective of the field strength, individual simulations are highly chaotic, show different levels of fragmentation and clustering, and the outcome depends on the exact realization of the turbulence in the primordial clouds. While these are still idealized simulations that do not start from cosmological initial conditions, our work shows that magnetic fields play a key role for the primordial IMF, potentially even more so than for the present-day IMF.

Beschreibung: The numerical simulations of massive collisional stellar systems, such as globular clusters (GCs), are very time consuming. Until now, only a few realistic million-body simulations of GCs with a small fraction of binaries ($5{{ m per cent}}$) have been performed by using the nbody6++gpu code. Such models took half a year computational time on a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)-based supercomputer. In this work, we develop a new N-body code, petar, by combining the methods of Barnes–Hut tree, Hermite integrator and slow-down algorithmic regularization. The code can accurately handle an arbitrary fraction of multiple systems (e.g. binaries and triples) while keeping a high performance by using the hybrid parallelization methods with mpi, openmp, simd instructions and GPU. A few benchmarks indicate that petar and nbody6++gpu have a very good agreement on the long-term evolution of the global structure, binary orbits and escapers. On a highly configured GPU desktop computer, the performance of a million-body simulation with all stars in binaries by using petar is 11 times faster than that of nbody6++gpu. Moreover, on the Cray XC50 supercomputer, petar well scales when number of cores increase. The 10 million-body problem, which covers the region of ultracompact dwarfs and nuclear star clusters, becomes possible to be solved.

Beschreibung: Observations of pulsar glitches have the potential to provide constraints on the dynamics of the high density interior of neutron stars. However, to do so, realistic glitch models must be constructed and compared to the data. We take a step towards this goal by testing non-linear models for the mutual friction force, which is responsible for the exchange of angular momentum between the neutron superfluid and the observable normal component in a glitch. In particular, we consider a non-linear dependence of the drag force on the relative velocity between superfluid vortices and the normal component, in which the contributions of both kelvin and phonon excitations are included. This non-linear model produces qualitatively new features, and is able to reproduce the observed bimodal distribution of glitch sizes in the pulsar population. The model also suggests that the differences in size distributions in individual pulsars may be due to the glitches being triggered in regions with different pinning strengths, as stronger pinning leads to higher vortex velocities and a qualitatively different mutual friction coupling with respect to the weak pinning case. Glitches in pulsars that appear to glitch quasi-periodically with similar sizes may thus be due to the same mechanisms as smaller events in pulsars that have no preferred glitch size, but simply originate in stronger pinning regions, possibly in the core of the star.

Beschreibung: Solar flares are known to generate seismic waves in the Sun. We present a detailed analysis of seismic emission in sunspots accompanying M- and X-class solar flares. For this purpose, we have used high-resolution Dopplergrams and line-of-sight magnetograms at a cadence of 45 s, along with vector magnetograms at a cadence of 135 s obtained from Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory space mission. In order to identify the location of flare ribbons and hard X-ray footpoints, we have also used Hα chromospheric intensity observations obtained from Global Oscillation Network Group instruments and hard X-ray images in 12–25 keV band from the Reuvan Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft. The fast Fourier transform technique is applied to construct the acoustic velocity power map in 2.5–4 mHz band for pre-flare, spanning flare, and post-flare epochs for the identification of seismic emission locations in the sunspots. In the power maps, we have selected only those locations which are away from the flare ribbons and hard X-ray footpoints. These regions are believed to be free from any flare related artefacts in the observational data. We have identified concentrated locations of acoustic power enhancements in sunspots accompanying major flares. Our investigation provides evidence that abrupt changes in the magnetic fields and associated impulsive changes in the Lorentz force could be the driving source for these seismic emissions in the sunspots during solar flares.

Beschreibung: We study evolution of a hierarchical four-body (2 + 2) system composed by a pair of mass-transferring white dwarf binaries. Applying a simplified model around the synchronous state of two inner orbital periods, we newly find that the four-body system could settle down to a limit cycle with a small period gap. The period gap generates an amplitude variation of emitted gravitational waves as a beat effect. Depending on model parameters, the beat period could be 1–10 yr and a large amplitude variation might be observed by space gravitational-wave detectors.