Table of contents

We have investigated a coronal jet observed near the limb on 2010 June 27 by the Hinode/X-Ray Telescope (XRT), EUV Imaging Spectrograph (EIS), and Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), and by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and on the disk by STEREO-A/EUVI. From EUV (AIA and EIS) and soft X-ray (XRT) images we have identified both cool and hot jets. There was a small loop eruption seen in Ca ii images of the SOT before the jet eruption. We found that the hot jet preceded its associated cool jet by about 2 minutes. The cool jet showed helical-like structures during the rising period which was supported by the spectroscopic analysis of the jet's emission. The STEREO observation, which enabled us to observe the jet projected against the disk, showed dimming at 195 Å along a large loop connected to the jet. We measured a propagation speed of ∼800 km s⁻¹ for the dimming front. This is comparable to the Alfvén speed in the loop computed from a magnetic field extrapolation of the photospheric field measured five days earlier by the SDO/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, and the loop densities obtained from EIS Fe xiv λ264.79/274.20 line ratios. We interpret the dimming as indicating the presence of Alfvénic waves initiated by reconnection in the upper chromosphere.

Current sheets are ubiquitous in the solar wind. They are a major source of the solar wind MHD turbulence intermittency. They may result from nonlinear interactions of the solar wind MHD turbulence or are the boundaries of flux tubes that originate from the solar surface. Some current sheets appear in pairs and are the boundaries of transient structures such as magnetic holes and reconnection exhausts or the edges of pulsed Alfvén waves. For an individual current sheet, discerning whether it is a flux-tube boundary or due to nonlinear interactions or the boundary of a transient structure is difficult. In this work, using data from the Wind spacecraft, we identify two three-current-sheet events. Detailed examination of these two events suggests that they are best explained by the flux-tube-crossing scenario. Our study provides convincing evidence supporting the scenario that the solar wind consists of flux tubes where distinct plasmas reside.

We present extensive calculations of linear and nonlinear limb-darkening coefficients as well as complete intensity profiles appropriate for modeling the light-curves of eclipsing white dwarfs. We compute limb-darkening coefficients in the Johnson–Kron–Cousins UBVRI photometric system as well as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) ugrizy system using the most up to date model atmospheres available. In all, we provide the coefficients for seven different limb-darkening laws. We describe the variations of these coefficients as a function of the atmospheric parameters, including the effects of convection at low effective temperatures. Finally, we discuss the importance of having readily available limb-darkening coefficients in the context of present and future photometric surveys like the LSST, Palomar Transient Factory, and the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). The LSST, for example, may find ∼10⁵ eclipsing white dwarfs. The limb-darkening calculations presented here will be an essential part of the detailed analysis of all of these systems.

We investigate the temporal and spectral correlations between flux and anisotropy fluctuations of TeV-band cosmic rays in light of recent data taken with IceCube. We find that for a conventional distribution of cosmic-ray sources, the dipole anisotropy is higher than observed, even if source discreteness is taken into account. Moreover, even for a shallow distribution of galactic cosmic-ray sources and a reacceleration model, fluctuations arising from source discreteness provide a probability only of the order of 10% that the cosmic-ray anisotropy limits of the recent IceCube analysis are met. This probability estimate is nearly independent of the exact choice of source rate, but generous for a large halo size. The location of the intensity maximum far from the Galactic Center is naturally reproduced.

Pulsar timing observations have revealed companions to neutron stars that include other neutron stars, white dwarfs, main-sequence stars, and planets. We demonstrate that the correlated and apparently stochastic residual times of arrival from the millisecond pulsar B1937+21 are consistent with the signature of an asteroid belt having a total mass ≲ 0.05 M_⊕. Unlike the solar system's asteroid belt, the best fit pulsar asteroid belt extends over a wide range of radii, consistent with the absence of any shepherding companions. We suggest that any pulsar that has undergone accretion-driven spin-up and subsequently evaporated its companion may harbor orbiting asteroid mass objects. The resulting timing variations may fundamentally limit the timing precision of some of the other millisecond pulsars. Observational tests of the asteroid belt model include identifying periodicities from individual asteroids, which are difficult; testing for statistical stationarity, which becomes possible when observations are conducted over a longer observing span; and searching for reflected radio emission.

The AB Dor Moving Group consists of a "nucleus" of ∼10 stars at d ≃ 20 pc, along with dozens of purported "stream" members distributed across the sky. We perform a chemical and kinematic analysis of a subsample of AB Dor stream stars to test whether they constitute a physical stellar group. We use the NEMO Galactic kinematic code to investigate the orbits of the stream members, and perform a chemical abundance analysis using high resolution spectra taken with the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope. Using a χ² test with the measured abundances for 10 different elements, we find that only half of the purported AB Dor stream members could possibly constitute a statistically chemically homogeneous sample. Some stream members with three-dimensional velocities were hundreds of parsecs from the AB Dor nucleus ∼10⁸ yr ago, and hence were unlikely to share a common origin. We conclude that the published lists of AB Dor moving group stream members are unlikely to represent the dispersed remnant of a single star formation episode. A subsample of the stream stars appears to be both statistically chemically homogeneous and in the vicinity of the AB Dor nucleus at birth. Their mean metallicity is [Fe/H] = 0.02 ± 0.02 dex, which we consider representative for the AB Dor group. Finally, we report a strong lower limit on the age of the AB Dor nucleus of >110 Myr based on the pre-main sequence contraction times for K-type members which have reached the main sequence.

Blind-source separation techniques are used to extract the transmission spectrum of the hot-Jupiter HD189733b recorded by the Hubble/NICMOS instrument. Such a "blind" analysis of the data is based on the concept of independent component analysis. The detrending of Hubble/NICMOS data using the sole assumption that nongaussian systematic noise is statistically independent from the desired light-curve signals is presented. By not assuming any prior or auxiliary information but the data themselves, it is shown that spectroscopic errors only about 10%–30% larger than parametric methods can be obtained for 11 spectral bins with bin sizes of ∼0.09 μm. This represents a reasonable trade-off between a higher degree of objectivity for the non-parametric methods and smaller standard errors for the parametric de-trending. Results are discussed in light of previous analyses published in the literature. The fact that three very different analysis techniques yield comparable spectra is a strong indication of the stability of these results.

We present a self-consistent model of a protoplanetary disk: "ANDES" ("AccretioN disk with Dust Evolution and Sedimentation"). ANDES is based on a flexible and extendable modular structure that includes (1) a 1+1D frequency-dependent continuum radiative transfer module, (2) a module to calculate the chemical evolution using an extended gas–grain network with UV/X-ray-driven processes and surface reactions, (3) a module to calculate the gas thermal energy balance, and (4) a 1+1D module that simulates dust grain evolution. For the first time, grain evolution and time-dependent molecular chemistry are included in a protoplanetary disk model. We find that grain growth and sedimentation of large grains onto the disk midplane lead to a dust-depleted atmosphere. Consequently, dust and gas temperatures become higher in the inner disk (R ≲ 50 AU) and lower in the outer disk (R ≳ 50 AU), in comparison with the disk model with pristine dust. The response of disk chemical structure to the dust growth and sedimentation is twofold. First, due to higher transparency a partly UV-shielded molecular layer is shifted closer to the dense midplane. Second, the presence of big grains in the disk midplane delays the freeze-out of volatile gas-phase species such as CO there, while in adjacent upper layers the depletion is still effective. Molecular concentrations and thus column densities of many species are enhanced in the disk model with dust evolution, e.g., CO₂, NH₂CN, HNO, H₂O, HCOOH, HCN, and CO. We also show that time-dependent chemistry is important for a proper description of gas thermal balance.

Using the far-UV (FUV) and near-UV (NUV) photometry from the NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), we searched for evidence of increased stellar activity due to tidal and/or magnetic star–planet interactions (SPI) in the 272 known FGK planetary hosts observed by GALEX. With the increased sensitivity of GALEX, we are able probe systems with lower activity levels and at larger distances than what has been done to date with X-ray satellites. We compared samples of stars with close-in planets (a < 0.1 AU) to those with far-out planets (a > 0.5 AU) and looked for correlations of excess activity with other system parameters. This statistical investigation found no clear correlations with a, M_p, or M_p/a, in contrast to some X-ray and Ca ii studies. However, there is tentative evidence (at a level of 1.8σ) that stars with radial-velocity-(RV)-detected close-in planets are more FUV-active than stars with far-out planets, in agreement with several published X-ray and Ca ii results. The case is strengthened to a level of significance to 2.3σ when transit-detected close-in planets are included. This is most likely because the RV-selected sample of stars is significantly less active than the field population of comparable stars, while the transit-selected sample is similarly active. Given the factor of 2–3 scatter in fractional FUV luminosity for a given stellar effective temperature, it is necessary to conduct a time-resolved study of the planet hosts in order to better characterize their UV variability and generate a firmer statistical result.

The detection of exoplanets through direct imaging has produced numerous new positive identifications in recent years. The technique is biased toward planets at wide separations due to the difficulty in removing the stellar signature at small angular separations. Planets in eccentric orbits will thus move in and out of the detectable region around a star as a function of time. Here we use the known diversity of orbital eccentricities to determine the range of orbits that may lie beneath the detection threshold of current surveys. We quantify the percentage of the orbit that yields a detectable signature as a function of semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination and estimate the fraction of planets which likely remain hidden by the flux of the host star.

We present an analysis of eclipse timings of the post-common envelope binary NSVS 14256825, which is composed of an sdOB star and a dM star in a close orbit (P_orb = 0.110374 days). High-speed photometry of this system was performed between 2010 July and 2012 August. Ten new mid-eclipse times were analyzed together with all available eclipse times in the literature. We revisited the (O − C) diagram using a linear ephemeris and verified a clear orbital period variation. On the assumption that these orbital period variations are caused by light travel time effects, the (O − C) diagram can be explained by the presence of two circumbinary bodies, even though this explanation requires a longer baseline of observations to be fully tested. The orbital periods of the best solution would be P_c ∼ 3.5 years and P_d ∼ 6.9 years. The corresponding projected semi-major axes would be a_csin i_c ∼ 1.9 AU and a_dsin i_d ∼ 2.9 AU. The masses of the external bodies would be M_c ∼ 2.9 M_Jupiter and M_d ∼ 8.1 M_Jupiter, if we assume their orbits are coplanar with the close binary. Therefore NSVS 14256825 might be composed of a close binary with two circumbinary planets, though the orbital period variations is still open to other interpretations.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is the most commonly used tracer of molecular gas in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks. CO can be used to constrain the excitation and structure of the circumstellar environment. Absorption line spectroscopy provides an accurate assessment of a single line of sight through the protoplanetary disk system, giving more straightforward estimates of column densities and temperatures than CO and molecular hydrogen (H₂) emission line studies. We analyze new observations of ultraviolet CO absorption from the Hubble Space Telescope along the sightlines to six classical T Tauri stars. Gas velocities consistent with the stellar velocities, combined with the moderate-to-high disk inclinations, argue against the absorbing CO gas originating in a fast-moving disk wind. We conclude that the far-ultraviolet observations provide a direct measure of the disk atmosphere or possibly a slow disk wind. The CO absorption lines are reproduced by model spectra with column densities in the range N(¹²CO) ∼ 10¹⁶–10¹⁸ cm⁻² and N(¹³CO) ∼ 10¹⁵–10¹⁷ cm⁻², rotational temperatures T_rot(CO) ∼ 300–700 K, and Doppler b-values, b ∼ 0.5–1.5 km s⁻¹. We use these results to constrain the line-of-sight density of the warm molecular gas (n_CO ∼ 70–4000 cm⁻³) and put these observations in context with protoplanetary disk models.

Modern (sub-)millimeter interferometers enable the measurement of the cool gas and dust emission of high-redshift galaxies (z > 5). However, at these redshifts the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature is higher, approaching, and even exceeding, the temperature of cold dust and molecular gas observed in the local universe. In this paper, we discuss the impact of the warmer CMB on (sub-)millimeter observations of high-redshift galaxies. The CMB affects the observed (sub-)millimeter dust continuum and the line emission (e.g., carbon monoxide, CO) in two ways: (1) it provides an additional source of (both dust and gas) heating and (2) it is a non-negligible background against which the line and continuum emission are measured. We show that these two competing processes affect the way we interpret the dust and gas properties of high-redshift galaxies using spectral energy distribution models. We quantify these effects and provide correction factors to compute what fraction of the intrinsic dust (and line) emission can be detected against the CMB as a function of frequency, redshift, and temperature. We discuss implications on the derived properties of high-redshift galaxies from (sub-)millimeter data. Specifically, the inferred dust and molecular gas masses can be severely underestimated for cold systems if the impact of the CMB is not properly taken into account.

Apparently diffuse X-ray emission has been known to exist along the central quarter of the Galactic Plane since the beginning of X-ray astronomy; this is referred to as the Galactic Ridge X-ray emission (GRXE). Recent deep X-ray observations have shown that numerous X-ray point sources account for a large fraction of the GRXE in the hard band (2–8 keV). However, the nature of these sources is poorly understood. Using the deepest X-ray observations made in the Chandra bulge field, we present the result of a coherent photometric and spectroscopic analysis of individual X-ray point sources for the purpose of constraining their nature and deriving their fractional contributions to the hard-band continuum and Fe K line emission of the GRXE. Based on the X-ray color–color diagram, we divided the point sources into three groups: A (hard), B (soft and broad spectrum), and C (soft and peaked spectrum). The group A sources are further decomposed spectrally into thermal and non-thermal sources with different fractions in different flux ranges. From their X-ray properties, we speculate that the group A non-thermal sources are mostly active galactic nuclei and the thermal sources are mostly white dwarf (WD) binaries such as magnetic and non-magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs), pre-CVs, and symbiotic stars, whereas the group B and C sources are X-ray active stars in flares and quiescence, respectively. In the log N–log S curve of the 2–8 keV band, the group A non-thermal sources are dominant above ≈10⁻¹⁴ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹, which is gradually taken over by Galactic sources in the fainter flux ranges. The Fe Kα emission is mostly from the group A thermal (WD binaries) and the group B (X-ray active stars) sources.

We study the structural evolution of massive galaxies by linking progenitors and descendants at a constant cumulative number density of n_c = 1.4 × 10⁻⁴ Mpc⁻³ to z ∼ 3. Structural parameters were measured by fitting Sérsic profiles to high-resolution CANDELS HST WFC3 J₁₂₅ and H₁₆₀ imaging in the UKIDSS-UDS at 1 < z < 3 and ACS I₈₁₄ imaging in COSMOS at 0.25 < z < 1. At a given redshift, we selected the HST band that most closely samples a common rest-frame wavelength so as to minimize systematics from color gradients in galaxies. At fixed n_c, galaxies grow in stellar mass by a factor of ∼3 from z ∼ 3 to z ∼ 0. The size evolution is complex: galaxies appear roughly constant in size from z ∼ 3 to z ∼ 2 and then grow rapidly to lower redshifts. The evolution in the surface mass density profiles indicates that most of the mass at r < 2 kpc was in place by z ∼ 2, and that most of the new mass growth occurred at larger radii. This inside-out mass growth is therefore responsible for the larger sizes and higher Sérsic indices of the descendants toward low redshift. At z < 2, the effective radius evolves with the stellar mass as r_e∝M^2.0, consistent with scenarios that find dissipationless minor mergers to be a key driver of size evolution. The progenitors at z ∼ 3 were likely star-forming disks with r_e ∼ 2 kpc, based on their low Sérsic index of n ∼ 1, low median axis ratio of b/a ∼ 0.52, and typical location in the star-forming region of the U − V versus V − J diagram. By z ∼ 1.5, many of these star-forming disks disappeared, giving rise to compact quiescent galaxies. Toward lower redshifts, these galaxies continued to assemble mass at larger radii and became the local ellipticals that dominate the high-mass end of the mass function at the present epoch.

We present the first Kepler monitoring of a strongly variable BL Lac, W2R1926+42. The light curve covers 181 days with ∼0.2% errors, 30 minute sampling and >90% duty cycle, showing numerous δI/I > 25% flares over timescales as short as a day. The flux distribution is highly skewed and non-Gaussian. The variability shows a strong rms-flux correlation with the clearest evidence to date for nonlinearity in this relation. We introduce a method to measure periodograms from the discrete autocorrelation function, an approach that may be well-suited to a wide range of Kepler data. The periodogram is not consistent with a simple power-law, but shows a flattening at frequencies below 7 × 10⁻⁵ Hz. Simple models of the power spectrum, such as a broken power law, do not produce acceptable fits, indicating that the Kepler blazar light curve requires more sophisticated mathematical and physical descriptions than currently in use.

New optical spectra of 28 H ii regions in the M101 disk have been obtained, yielding 10 new detections of the [O iii] λ4363 auroral line. The oxygen abundance gradient measured from these data, combined with previous observations, displays a local scatter of 0.15 ± 0.03 dex along an arc in the west side of the galaxy, compared with a smaller scatter of 0.08 ± 0.01 dex in the rest of the disk. One of the H ii regions in our sample (H27) has a significantly lower oxygen abundance than surrounding nebulae at a similar galactocentric distance, while an additional, relatively nearby one (H128) was already known to have a high oxygen abundance for its position in the galaxy. These results represent marginal evidence for the existence of moderate deviations from chemical abundance homogeneity in the interstellar medium of M101. Using a variety of strong-line abundance indicators, we find no evidence for significant large-scale azimuthal variations of the oxygen abundance across the whole disk of the galaxy.

We report the discovery of a giant radio halo in a new, hot, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster recently found by Planck, PLCKG171.9−40.7. The radio halo was found using Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope observations at 235 MHz and 610 MHz, and in the 1.4 GHz data from an NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey pointing that we have reanalyzed. The diffuse radio emission is coincident with the cluster X-ray emission, and has an extent of ∼1 Mpc and a radio power of ∼5 × 10²⁴ W Hz⁻¹ at 1.4 GHz. Its integrated radio spectrum has a slope of α ≈ 1.8 between 235 MHz and 1.4 GHz, steeper than that of a typical giant halo. The analysis of the archival XMM-Newton X-ray data shows that the cluster is hot (∼10 keV) and disturbed, consistent with X-ray-selected clusters hosting radio halos. This is the first giant radio halo discovered in one of the new clusters found by Planck.

Emission from X-ray binaries (XRBs) is a major component of the total X-ray luminosity of normal galaxies, so X-ray studies of high-redshift galaxies allow us to probe the formation and evolution of XRBs on very long timescales (∼10 Gyr). In this paper, we present results from large-scale population synthesis models of binary populations in galaxies from z = 0 to ∼20. We use as input into our modeling the Millennium II Cosmological Simulation and the updated semi-analytic galaxy catalog by Guo et al. to self-consistently account for the star formation history (SFH) and metallicity evolution of each galaxy. We run a grid of 192 models, varying all the parameters known from previous studies to affect the evolution of XRBs. We use our models and observationally derived prescriptions for hot gas emission to create theoretical galaxy X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) for several redshift bins. Models with low common envelope efficiencies, a 50% twins mass ratio distribution, a steeper initial mass function exponent, and high stellar wind mass-loss rates best match observational results from Tzanavaris & Georgantopoulos, though they significantly underproduce bright early-type and very bright (L_x > 10⁴¹) late-type galaxies. These discrepancies are likely caused by uncertainties in hot gas emission and SFHs, active galactic nucleus contamination, and a lack of dynamically formed low-mass XRBs. In our highest likelihood models, we find that hot gas emission dominates the emission for most bright galaxies. We also find that the evolution of the normal galaxy X-ray luminosity density out to z = 4 is driven largely by XRBs in galaxies with X-ray luminosities between 10⁴⁰ and 10⁴¹ erg s⁻¹.

We present a photometric study of star clusters in the nearby starburst galaxy M82 based on the UBVI-, YJ- and H-band Hubble Space Telescope images. We find 1105 star clusters with V < 23 mag. Of those, 1070 are located in the disk region, while 35 star clusters are in the halo region. The star clusters in the disk are composed of a dominant blue population with a color peak at (B − V)₀ ≈ 0.45, and a weaker red population. The luminosity function of the disk clusters shows a power-law distribution with a power-law index α = −2.04 ± 0.03, and the scale height of their distribution is h_z = 964 ± 040 (164 ± 7 pc), similar to that of the stellar thin disk of M82. We have derived the ages of ∼630 star clusters using the spectral energy distribution fit method by comparing UBVI(YJ)H-band photometric data with the simple stellar population models. The age distribution of the disk clusters shows that the most dominant cluster population has ages ranging from 100 Myr to 1 Gyr, with a peak at about 500 Myr. This suggests that M82 has undergone a disk-wide star formation about 500 Myr ago, probably through the interaction with M81. The brightest star clusters in the nuclear region are much brighter than those in other regions, indicating that more massive star clusters are formed in the denser environments. On the other hand, the colors of the halo clusters are similar to those of globular clusters in the Milky Way, and their ages are estimated to be older than 1 Gyr. These are probably genuine old globular clusters in M82.

We present a multi-wavelength study of a 3.6 μm selected galaxy sample in the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). The sample is complete for galaxies with stellar mass >10^9.5 M_☉ and redshift 0.4 < z < 1.2. In this redshift range, the Infrared Array Camera 3.6 μm band measures the rest-frame near-infrared band, permitting nearly unbiased selection with respect to both quiescent and star-forming galaxies. The numerous spectroscopic redshifts available in the EGS are used to train an artificial neural network to estimate photometric redshifts. The distribution of photometric redshift errors is Gaussian with standard deviation ∼0.025(1 + z), and the fraction of redshift failures (>3σ errors) is about 3.5%. A new method of validation based on pair statistics confirms the estimate of standard deviation even for galaxies lacking spectroscopic redshifts. Basic galaxy properties measured include rest-frame U − B colors, B- and K-band absolute magnitudes, and stellar masses. We divide the sample into quiescent and star-forming galaxies according to their rest-frame U − B colors and 24–3.6 μm flux density ratios and derive rest K-band luminosity functions and stellar mass functions for quiescent, star-forming, and all galaxies. The results show that massive, quiescent galaxies were in place by z ≈ 1, but lower mass galaxies generally ceased their star formation at later epochs.

We compare the recently published velocity dispersions for 17 Andromeda dwarf spheroidals with estimates of the modified Newtonian dynamics predictions, based on the luminosities of these dwarfs, with reasonable stellar mass-to-light values and no dark matter. We find that the two are consistent within the uncertainties. We further predict the velocity dispersions of another 10 dwarfs for which only photometric data are currently available.

The number of strong (equivalent width >1 Å) Mg ii absorbers observed toward gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been found to be statistically larger than the number of strong absorbers toward quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). We formalize this "Mg ii problem" and present a detailed explanation of the statistical tools required to assess the significance of the discrepancy. We find that the problem exists at the 4σ level for GRBs with high-resolution spectra. It has been suggested that the discrepancy can be resolved by the combination of a dust obscuration bias toward QSOs, and a strong gravitational lensing bias toward GRBs. We investigate one of the two most probable lensed GRBs that we presented in our previous work (GRB020405) and find that it is not strongly gravitationally lensed, constraining the percentage of lensed GRBs to be <35% (2σ). Dust obscuration of QSOs has been estimated to be a significant effect with dusty Mg ii systems removing ∼20% of absorbed objects from flux-limited QSO samples. We find that if ∼30% of the strong Mg ii systems toward QSOs are missing from the observed samples, then GRBs and QSOs would have comparable numbers of absorbers per unit redshift. Thus, strong gravitational lensing bias is likely to make only a modest contribution to solving the Mg ii problem. However, if the dust obscuration bias has been slightly underestimated, the Mg ii problem would no longer persist.

Based on long baseline (5–7 years) multi-epoch HST/ACS photometry, used previously to measure the proper motion of M31, we present the proper motions (PMs) of 13 main-sequence Milky Way halo stars. The sample lies at an average distance of r ≃ 24 kpc from the Galactic center, with a root-mean-square spread of 6 kpc. At this distance, the median PM accuracy is 5 km s⁻¹. We devise a maximum likelihood routine to determine the tangential velocity ellipsoid of the stellar halo. The velocity second moments in the directions of the Galactic (l, b) system are $\langle v^2_l \rangle ^{1/2} = 123^{+29}_{-23}$ km s⁻¹, and $\langle v^2_b \rangle ^{1/2} = 83^{+24}_{-16}$ km s⁻¹. We combine these results with the known line-of-sight second moment, $\langle v^2_{\rm los} \rangle ^{1/2} = 105 \pm 5$ km s⁻¹, at this 〈r〉 to study the velocity anisotropy of the halo. We find approximate isotropy between the radial and tangential velocity distributions, with anisotropy parameter $\beta = 0.0^{+0.2}_{-0.4}$. Our results suggest that the stellar halo velocity anisotropy out to r ∼ 30 kpc is less radially biased than solar neighborhood measurements. This is opposite to what is expected from violent relaxation, and may indicate the presence of a shell-type structure at r ∼ 24 kpc. With additional multi-epoch HST data, the method presented here has the ability to measure the transverse kinematics of the halo for more stars, and to larger distances. This can yield new improved constraints on the stellar halo formation mechanism, and the mass of the Milky Way.

A dark matter halo is commonly defined as a spherical overdensity of matter with respect to a reference density, such as the critical density or the mean matter density of the universe. Such definitions can lead to a spurious pseudo-evolution of halo mass simply due to redshift evolution of the reference density, even if its physical density profile remains constant over time. We estimate the amount of such pseudo-evolution of mass between z = 1 and 0 for halos identified in a large N-body simulation, and show that it accounts for almost the entire mass evolution of the majority of halos with $M_{200\bar{\rho }} \lesssim 10^{12} \:h^{-1}\,M_\odot$ and can be a significant fraction of the apparent mass growth even for cluster-sized halos. We estimate the magnitude of the pseudo-evolution assuming that halo density profiles remain static in physical coordinates, and show that this simple model predicts the pseudo-evolution of halos identified in numerical simulations to good accuracy, albeit with significant scatter. We discuss the impact of pseudo-evolution on the evolution of the halo mass function and show that the non-evolution of the low-mass end of the halo mass function is the result of a fortuitous cancellation between pseudo-evolution and the absorption of small halos into larger hosts. We also show that the evolution of the low-mass end of the concentration–mass relation observed in simulations is almost entirely due to the pseudo-evolution of mass. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for the interpretation of the evolution of various scaling relations between the observable properties of galaxies and galaxy clusters and their halo masses.

We report the serendipitous detection of point-like X-ray emission from the hot, PG1159-type central star of the planetary nebula (CSPN) K 1–16 by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-Ray Observatories. The CSPN lies superimposed on a galaxy cluster that includes an X-ray-bright quasar, but we have successfully isolated the CSPN X-ray emission from the strong diffuse background contributed by the quasar and intracluster gas. We have modeled the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray data, taking advantage of the contrasting detection efficiencies of the two observatories to better constrain the low-energy spectral response of Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer. We find that the CSPN X-ray spectrum is well characterized by the combination of a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmosphere with T_⋆ ∼ 135 kK and a carbon-rich, optically thin thermal plasma with T_X ∼ 1 MK. These results for X-ray emission from the K 1–16 CSPN, combined with those obtained for other PG1159-type objects, lend support to the "born-again" scenario for Wolf–Rayet and PG1159 CSPNe, wherein a late helium shell flash dredges up carbon-rich intershell material and ejects this material into the circumstellar environment.

Linear analysis of the formation of protostellar cores in planar magnetic interstellar clouds yields information about length scales involved in star formation. Combining these length scales with various distributions of other environmental variables (i.e., column density and mass-to-flux ratio) and applying Monte Carlo methods allow us to produce synthetic core mass functions (CMFs) for different environmental conditions. Our analysis shows that the shape of the CMF is directly dependent on the physical conditions of the cloud. Specifically, magnetic fields act to broaden the mass function and develop a high-mass tail while ambipolar diffusion will truncate this high-mass tail. In addition, we analyze the effect of small number statistics on the shape and high-mass slope of the synthetic CMFs. We find that observed CMFs are severely statistically limited, which has a profound effect on the derived slope for the high-mass tail.

We analyze electron flux maps based on RHESSI hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy data for a number of extended coronal-loop flare events. For each event, we determine the variation of the characteristic loop length L with electron energy E, and we fit this observed behavior with models that incorporate an extended acceleration region and an exterior "propagation" region, and which may include collisional modification of the accelerated electron spectrum inside the acceleration region. The models are characterized by two parameters: the plasma density n in, and the longitudinal extent L₀ of, the acceleration region. Determination of the best-fit values of these parameters permits inference of the volume that encompasses the acceleration region and of the total number of particles within it. It is then straightforward to compute values for the emission filling factor and for the specific acceleration rate (electrons s⁻¹ per ambient electron above a chosen reference energy). For the 24 events studied, the range of inferred filling factors is consistent with a value of unity. The inferred mean value of the specific acceleration rate above E₀ = 20 keV is ∼10⁻² s⁻¹, with a 1σ spread of about a half-order-of-magnitude above and below this value. We compare these values with the predictions of several models, including acceleration by large-scale, weak (sub-Dreicer) fields, by strong (super-Dreicer) electric fields in a reconnecting current sheet, and by stochastic acceleration processes.

We have analyzed three XMM-Newton observations of the central part of the unidentified TeV γ-ray source HESS J1804-216. We focus on two X-ray sources, 2XMMi J180442.0-214221 (Src 1) and 2XMMi J180432.5-214009 (Src 2), which were suggested to be the possible X-ray counterparts to the TeV source. We discover a 2.93 hr X-ray periodicity from Src 1, with the pulse profile explained with a self-eclipsing pole in an eclipsing polar. Src 2 exhibits a strong Fe emission line (FWHM ∼ 0.3 keV and equivalent width ∼0.8 keV) and large X-ray variability on timescales of hours and is probably an intermediate polar. Thus Src 1 and Src 2 are probably two field sources not responsible for the TeV emission. The observations were contaminated by strong stray light from a nearby bright source, and we see no clear extended X-ray emission that can be attributed to the supernova remnant G8.7-0.1, a popular possible association with the TeV source. The other possible association, the pulsar wind nebula candidate PSR J1803-2137, shows little long-term variability compared with a previous Chandra observation. Many point sources were serendipitously detected, but most of them are probably normal stars. Three new candidate compact object systems (other than Src 1, Src 2, and PSR J1803-2137) are also found. They are far away from the TeV source and are probably also magnetic cataclysmic variables, thus unlikely to be responsible for the TeV emission.

We present optical, X-ray and gamma-ray observations of GRB 111209A, observed at a redshift of z = 0.677. We show that this event was active in its prompt phase for about 25000 s, making it the longest burst ever observed. This rare event could have been detected up to z ∼ 1.4 in gamma-rays. Compared to other long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), GRB 111209A is a clear outlier in the energy-fluence and duration plane. The high-energy prompt emission shows no sign of a strong blackbody component, the signature of a tidal disruption event, or a supernova shock breakout. Given the extreme longevity of this event, and lack of any significant observed supernova signature, we propose that GRB 111209A resulted from the core-collapse of a low-metallicity blue supergiant star. This scenario is favored because of the necessity to supply enough mass to the central engine over a duration of thousands of seconds. Hence, we suggest that GRB 111209A could have more in common with population III stellar explosions, rather than those associated with normal long GRBs.

A hyperaccretion disk formed around a stellar-mass black hole is a plausible model for the central engine that powers gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). If the central black hole rotates and a poloidal magnetic field threads its horizon, a powerful relativistic jet may be driven by a process resembling the Blandford–Znajek (BZ) mechanism. We estimate the luminosity of such a jet as a function of mass accretion rate and other accretion parameters assuming that the poloidal magnetic field strength is comparable to the inner accretion disk pressure. We show that the jet efficiency attains its maximal value when the accretion flow is cooled via optically thin neutrino emission. The jet luminosity is much larger than the energy deposition through neutrino–antineutrino annihilation ($\nu \bar{\nu }\rightarrow e^+e^-$) provided that the black hole is spinning rapidly enough. When the accretion rate onto a rapidly spinning black hole is larger than 0.003–0.01 M_☉ s⁻¹, the disk becomes optically thin to neutrinos, its pressure increases and the jet luminosity is sufficient to drive a GRB. The transition of the accretion rate above and below this limiting value may cause the large variability observed in GRB.

Dark-matter-dominated cluster-scale halos act as an important cosmological probe and provide a key testing ground for structure formation theory. Focusing on their mass profiles, we have carried out (gravity-only) simulations of the concordance ΛCDM cosmology, covering a mass range of 2 × 10¹² to 2 × 10¹⁵ h⁻¹ M_☉ and a redshift range of z = 0–2, while satisfying the associated requirements of resolution and statistical control. When fitting to the Navarro–Frenk–White profile, our concentration–mass (c–M) relation differs in normalization and shape in comparison to previous studies that have limited statistics in the upper end of the mass range. We show that the flattening of the c–M relation with redshift is naturally expressed if c is viewed as a function of the peak height parameter, ν. Unlike the c–M relation, the slope of the c–ν relation is effectively constant over the redshift range z = 0–2, while the amplitude varies by ∼30% for massive clusters. This relation is, however, not universal: using a simulation suite covering the allowed wCDM parameter space, we show that the c–ν relation varies by about ±20% as cosmological parameters are varied. At fixed mass, the c(M) distribution is well fit by a Gaussian with σ_c/〈c〉 ≃ 1/3, independent of the radius at which the concentration is defined, the halo dynamical state, and the underlying cosmology. We compare the ΛCDM predictions with observations of halo concentrations from strong lensing, weak lensing, galaxy kinematics, and X-ray data, finding good agreement for massive clusters (M_vir > 4 × 10¹⁴ h⁻¹ M_☉), but with some disagreements at lower masses. Because of uncertainty in observational systematics and modeling of baryonic physics, the significance of these discrepancies remains unclear.

A central challenge in observational studies of galaxy formation is how to associate progenitor galaxies with their descendants at lower redshifts. One promising approach is to link galaxies at fixed number density rather than fixed luminosity or mass. This method is effective if stellar mass rank order is broadly conserved through cosmic time. In this paper, we use the Guo et al. semi-analytical model to analyze under what circumstances this assumption is valid in the context of a cosmological simulation. Specifically, we select progenitor galaxies at a constant number density and compare the stellar mass evolution of their descendants to the evolution at a constant number density. The median stellar mass of the descendants increases by a factor of four (0.6 dex) from z = 3 to z = 0. Constant number density selection reproduces this to within 40% (0.15 dex) over a wide range of number densities. We show that the discrepancy primarily results from scatter in the stellar mass growth rates and merging. After applying simple, observationally based corrections for these processes, the discrepancy is reduced to 12% (0.05 dex). We conclude that number density selection can be used to predict the median descendant mass of high-redshift progenitor galaxies. The main uncertainty in this study is that semi-analytical models do not reproduce the observed mass evolution of galaxies, which makes the quantitative aggregate effects of star formation, merging, and quenching on the rank order of galaxies somewhat uncertain.

The causes of spiral structure in galaxies remain uncertain. Leaving aside the grand bisymmetric spirals with their own well-known complications, here we consider the possibility that multi-armed spiral features originate from density inhomogeneities orbiting within disks. Using high-resolution N-body simulations, we follow the motions of stars under the influence of gravity, and show that mass concentrations with properties similar to those of giant molecular clouds can induce the development of spiral arms through a process termed swing amplification. However, unlike in earlier work, we demonstrate that the eventual response of the disk can be highly non-linear, significantly modifying the formation and longevity of the resulting patterns. Contrary to expectations, ragged spiral structures can thus survive at least in a statistical sense long after the original perturbing influence has been removed.

As a bright gamma-ray source, 3C 66A is of great interest to the high-energy astrophysics community, having a potential for placing cosmological constraints on models for the extragalactic background light (EBL) and the processes which contribute to this photon field. No firm spectroscopic redshift measurement has been possible for this blazar due to a lack of intrinsic emission and absorption features in optical spectra. We present new far-ultraviolet spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST/COS) of the BL Lac object 3C 66A covering the wavelength range 1132–1800 Å. The data show a smooth continuum with intergalactic medium absorption features which can be used to place a firm lower limit on the blazar redshift of z ⩾ 0.3347. An upper limit is set by statistically treating the non-detection of additional absorbers beyond z = 0.3347, indicating a redshift of less than 0.41 at 99% confidence and ruling out z ⩾ 0.444 at 99.9% confidence. We conclude by showing how the redshift limits derived from the COS spectra remove the potential for this gamma-ray emitting blazar to place an upper limit on the flux of the EBL using high energy data from a flare in 2009 October.

Neumayer et al. established the existence of a blueshifted cloud in the core of Centaurus A, within a few parsecs of the nucleus and close to the radio jet. We propose that the cloud has been impacted by the jet, and that it is in the foreground of the jet, accounting for its blueshifted emission on the southern side of the nucleus. We consider both shock excitation and photoionization models for the excitation of the cloud. Shock models do not account for the [Si vi] and [Ca viii] emission line fluxes. However, X-ray observations indicate a source of ionizing photons in the core of Centaurus A; photoionization by the inferred flux incident on the cloud can account for the fluxes in these lines relative to Brackett-γ. The power-law slope of the ionizing continuum matches that inferred from synchrotron models of the X-rays. The logarithm of the ionization parameter is −1.9, typical of that in Seyfert galaxies and consistent with the value proposed for dusty ionized plasmas. The model cloud density depends upon the Lorentz factor of the blazar and the inclination of our line of sight to the jet axis. For acute inclinations, the inferred density is consistent with expected cloud densities. However, for moderate inclinations of the jet to the line of sight, high Lorentz factors imply cloud densities in excess of 10⁵ cm⁻³ and very low filling factors, suggesting that models of the gamma-ray emission should incorporate jet Lorentz factors ≲ 5.

In the currently popular orientation-based unified scheme, a radio galaxy appears as a quasar when its principal radio-axis happens to be oriented within a certain cone opening angle around the observer's line of sight. Due to geometrical projection, the observed sizes of quasars should therefore appear smaller than those of radio galaxies. We show that this simple, unambiguous prediction of the unified scheme is not borne out by the actually observed angular sizes of radio galaxies and quasars. Except in the original 3CR sample, based on which the unified scheme was proposed, in other much larger samples no statistically significant difference is apparent in the size distributions of radio galaxies and quasars. The population of low-excitation radio galaxies with apparently no hidden quasars inside, which might explain the observed excess number of radio galaxies at low redshifts, cannot account for the absence of any foreshortening of the sizes of quasars at large redshifts. On the other hand, from infrared and X-ray studies, there is evidence of a hidden quasar within a dusty torus in many radio galaxies, at z > 0.5. It is difficult to reconcile this with the absence of foreshortening of quasar sizes at even these redshifts, and perhaps one has to allow that the major radio axis may not have anything to do with the optical axis of the torus. Otherwise, to resolve the dichotomy of radio galaxies and quasars, a scheme quite different from the present might be required.

Matsuoka & Kawara showed that the number density of the most massive galaxies (log M/M_☉ = 11.5–12.0) increases faster than that of the next massive group (log M/M_☉ = 11.0–11.5) during 0 < z < 1. This appears to be in contradiction to the apparent "downsizing effect." We attempt to understand the two observational findings in the context of the hierarchical merger paradigm using semi-analytic techniques. Our models closely reproduce the result of Matsuoka & Kawara. Downsizing can also be understood as larger galaxies have, on average, smaller assembly ages but larger stellar ages. Our fiducial models further reveal details of the history of the stellar mass growth of massive galaxies. The most massive galaxies (log M/M_☉ = 11.5–12.0 at z = 0), which are mostly the brightest cluster galaxies, obtain roughly 70% of their stellar components via merger accretion. The role of merger accretion monotonically declines with galaxy mass: 40% for log M/M_☉ = 11.0–11.5 and 20% for log M/M_☉ = 10.5–11.0 at z = 0. The specific accreted stellar mass rates via galaxy mergers decline very slowly during the whole redshift range, while specific star formation rates sharply decrease with time. In the case of the most massive galaxies, merger accretion becomes the most important channel for the stellar mass growth at z ∼ 2. On the other hand, in situ star formation is always the dominant channel in L_* galaxies.

High-resolution observations of the Sun's corona in extreme ultraviolet and soft X-rays have revealed a new world of complexity in the sheet-like structures connecting coronal mass ejections (CMEs) to the post-eruption flare arcades. This article presents initial findings from an exploration of dynamic flows in two flares observed with Hinode/XRT and SDO/AIA. The flows are observed in the hot (≳ 10 MK) plasma above the post-eruption arcades and measured with local correlation tracking. The observations demonstrate significant shears in velocity, giving the appearance of vortices and stagnations. Plasma diagnostics indicate that the plasma β exceeds unity in at least one of the studied events, suggesting that the coronal magnetic fields may be significantly affected by the turbulent flows. Although reconnection models of eruptive flares tend to predict a macroscopic current sheet in the region between the CME and the flare arcade, it is not yet clear whether the observed sheet-like structures are identifiable as the current sheets or "thermal halos" surrounding the current sheets. Regardless, the relationship between the turbulent motions and the embedded magnetic field is likely to be complicated, involving dynamic fluid processes that produce small length scales in the current sheet. Such processes may be crucial for triggering, accelerating, and/or prolonging reconnection in the corona.

NASA's Kepler Mission has revealed two transiting planets orbiting Kepler-68. Follow-up Doppler measurements have established the mass of the innermost planet and revealed a third Jovian-mass planet orbiting beyond the two transiting planets. Kepler-68b, in a 5.4 day orbit, has $M_{\rm P}=8.3^{+2.2}_{-2.4}$M_⊕, $R_{\rm P}=2.31^{+0.06}_{-0.09}$R_⊕, and $\rho _{\rm P}=3.32^{+0.86}_{-0.98}$ g cm⁻³, giving Kepler-68b a density intermediate between that of the ice giants and Earth. Kepler-68c is Earth-sized, with a radius $R_{\rm P}=0.953^{+0.037}_{-0.042}$R_⊕ and transits on a 9.6 day orbit; validation of Kepler-68c posed unique challenges. Kepler-68d has an orbital period of 580 ± 15 days and a minimum mass of M_Psin i = 0.947 ± 0.035M_J. Power spectra of the Kepler photometry at one minute cadence exhibit a rich and strong set of asteroseismic pulsation modes enabling detailed analysis of the stellar interior. Spectroscopy of the star coupled with asteroseismic modeling of the multiple pulsation modes yield precise measurements of stellar properties, notably T_eff = 5793 ± 74 K, M_⋆ = 1.079 ± 0.051 M_☉, R_⋆ = 1.243 ± 0.019 R_☉, and ρ_⋆ = 0.7903 ± 0.0054 g cm⁻³, all measured with fractional uncertainties of only a few percent. Models of Kepler-68b suggest that it is likely composed of rock and water, or has a H and He envelope to yield its density ∼3 g cm⁻³.

We present our successful Chandra program designed to identify, with subarcsecond accuracy, the X-ray afterglow of the short GRB 111117A, which was discovered by Swift and Fermi. Thanks to our rapid target of opportunity request, Chandra clearly detected the X-ray afterglow, though no optical afterglow was found in deep optical observations. The host galaxy was clearly detected in the optical and near-infrared band, with the best photometric redshift of $z=1.31_{-0.23}^{+0.46}$ (90% confidence), making it one of the highest known short gamma-ray burst (GRB) redshifts. Furthermore, we see an offset of 1.0 ± 0.2 arcsec, which corresponds to 8.4 ± 1.7 kpc, between the host and the afterglow position. We discuss the importance of using Chandra for obtaining subarcsecond X-ray localizations of short GRB afterglows to study GRB environments.

We report the most rapid rate of period change measured to date for a pulsating DA (hydrogen atmosphere) white dwarf (WD), observed in the 292.9 s mode of WD 0111+0018. The observed period change, faster than 10⁻¹² s s⁻¹, exceeds by more than two orders of magnitude the expected rate from cooling alone for this class of slow and simply evolving pulsating WDs. This result indicates the presence of an additional timescale for period evolution in these pulsating objects. We also measure the rates of period change of nonlinear combination frequencies and show that they share the evolutionary characteristics of their parent modes, confirming that these combination frequencies are not independent modes but rather artifacts of some nonlinear distortion in the outer layers of the star.

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the gravitational wave (GW) signal of the post-bounce evolution of core-collapse supernovae (SNe), employing for the first time relativistic, two-dimensional explosion models with multi-group, three-flavor neutrino transport based on the ray-by-ray-plus approximation. The waveforms reflect the accelerated mass motions associated with the characteristic evolutionary stages that were also identified in previous works: a quasi-periodic modulation by prompt post-shock convection is followed by a phase of relative quiescence before growing amplitudes signal violent hydrodynamical activity due to convection and the standing accretion shock instability during the accretion period of the stalled shock. Finally, a high-frequency, low-amplitude variation from proto-neutron star (PNS) convection below the neutrinosphere appears superimposed on the low-frequency trend associated with the aspherical expansion of the SN shock after the onset of the explosion. Relativistic effects in combination with detailed neutrino transport are shown to be essential for quantitative predictions of the GW frequency evolution and energy spectrum, because they determine the structure of the PNS surface layer and its characteristic g-mode frequency. Burst-like high-frequency activity phases, correlated with sudden luminosity increase and spectral hardening of electron (anti-)neutrino emission for some 10 ms, are discovered as new features after the onset of the explosion. They correspond to intermittent episodes of anisotropic accretion by the PNS in the case of fallback SNe. We find stronger signals for more massive progenitors with large accretion rates. The typical frequencies are higher for massive PNSs, though the time-integrated spectrum also strongly depends on the model dynamics.

We perform a survey of the Cr, Mn, and Fe–K emission lines in young supernova remnants (SNRs) with the Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite Suzaku. The Cr and/or Mn emission lines are detected in 3C 397 and 0519−69.0 for the first time. We also confirm the detection of these lines in Kepler, W49B, N103B, and Cas A. We derive the line parameters (i.e., the line centroid energy, flux, and equivalent width (EW)) for these six sources and perform a correlation analysis for the line center energies of Cr, Mn, and Fe. Also included in the correlation analysis are Tycho and G344.7−0.1 for which the Cr, Mn, and Fe–K line parameters were available in the literature through Suzaku observations. We find that the line center energies of Cr correlate very well with that of Fe and that of Mn. This confirms our previous findings that Cr, Mn, and Fe are spatially co-located, share a similar ionization state, and have a common origin in the supernova nucleosynthesis. We find that the ratio of the EW of the Cr emission line to that of Fe ($\gamma _{\rm Cr/Fe}\equiv \rm EW(Cr)/\rm EW(Fe)$) provides useful constraints on the SNR progenitors and on the SN explosion mechanisms: for SNRs with γ_Cr/Fe > 2%, a Type Ia origin is favored (e.g., N103B, G344.7−0.1, 3C 397, and 0519−69.0); for SNRs with γ_Cr/Fe < 2%, they could be of either core-collapse origin or carbon-deflagration Ia origin.

Cloud compression by external shocks is believed to be an important triggering mechanism for gravitational collapse and star formation in the interstellar medium. We have performed MHD simulations to investigate whether the radiative interaction between a shock wave and a small interstellar cloud can induce the conditions for Jeans instability and how the interaction is influenced by magnetic fields of different strengths and orientation. The simulations use the NIRVANA code in three dimensions with anisotropic heat conduction and radiative heating/cooling at an effective resolution of 100 cells per cloud radius. Our cloud has radius 1.5 pc, has density 17 cm⁻³, is embedded in a medium of density 0.17 cm⁻³, and is struck by a planar Mach 30 shock wave. The simulations produce dense, cold fragments similar to those of Mellema et al. and Fragile et al. We do not find any regions that are Jeans unstable but do record transient cloud density enhancements of factors ∼10³–10⁵ for the bulk of the cloud mass, which then decline and converge toward seemingly stable net density enhancement factors ∼10²–10⁴. Our run with a weak, initial magnetic field (β = 10³) perpendicular to the shock normal stands out as producing the most lasting density enhancements. We interpret this field strength as being the compromise between weak internal magnetic pressure preventing compression and sufficiently strong magnetic field to thermally insulate the condensations, thus helping them cool radiatively.

We present the results of a search for high proper motion white dwarfs in the deep survey of the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). The CFHTLS Deep Survey covers 4 deg² in five filters (u*, g', r', i', and z'). For the first and the fourth fields, we use data for a 5 year baseline from 2004 to 2009. For the second and the third fields, we have a 4 year baseline from 2004 to 2008. Proper motion selection is used to distinguish cool high-velocity white dwarfs from distant objects with similar blue colors such as compact faint galaxies and quasars. We discovered 44 white dwarf candidates brighter than g' = 24 on the basis of their spectral energy distribution and reduced proper motions. We found one white dwarf candidate with effective temperature less than 4000 K. From its estimated tangential velocity of 31 km s⁻¹ and a distance of 124 pc, it appears to be located in the thin or thick disk of the Galaxy. We also find five candidates having T_eff between 4000 K and 5000 K. One candidate in D2 with effective temperature of 5000 K and tangential velocity of 190 km s⁻¹ indicates that it could be in the thick disk or in the halo. The other four candidates are likely located in the thin disk because of their estimated distances and tangential velocity.

Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using high-quality optical images from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. The sample spans a range of environments and stellar masses, from M_* = 10^10.2 to 10^12.0 M_☉. We exploit the unique capabilities of two-dimensional image decomposition to explore the possibility that local elliptical galaxies may contain photometrically distinct substructure that can shed light on their evolutionary history. Compared with the traditional one-dimensional approach, these two-dimensional models are capable of consistently recovering the surface brightness distribution and the systematic radial variation of geometric information at the same time. Contrary to conventional perception, we find that the global light distribution of the majority (≳75%) of elliptical galaxies is not well described by a single Sérsic function. Instead, we propose that local elliptical galaxies generically contain three subcomponents: a compact (R_e ≲ 1 kpc) inner component with luminosity fraction f ≈ 0.1–0.15; an intermediate-scale (R_e ≈ 2.5 kpc) middle component with f ≈ 0.2–0.25; and a dominant (f = 0.6), extended (R_e ≈ 10 kpc) outer envelope. All subcomponents have average Sérsic indices n ≈ 1–2, significantly lower than the values typically obtained from single-component fits. The individual subcomponents follow well-defined photometric scaling relations and the stellar mass–size relation. We discuss the physical nature of the substructures and their implications for the formation of massive elliptical galaxies.

We report on Suzaku observations of selected regions within the southern giant lobe of the radio galaxy Centaurus A. In our analysis we focus on distinct X-ray features detected with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer within the range 0.5–10 keV, some of which are likely associated with fine structure of the lobe revealed by recent high-quality radio intensity and polarization maps. With the available photon statistics, we find that the spectral properties of the detected X-ray features are equally consistent with thermal emission from hot gas with temperatures kT > 1 keV, or with a power-law radiation continuum characterized by photon indices Γ ∼ 2.0 ± 0.5. However, the plasma parameters implied by these different models favor a synchrotron origin for the analyzed X-ray spots, indicating that a very efficient acceleration of electrons up to ≳ 10 TeV energies is taking place within the giant structure of Centaurus A, albeit only in isolated and compact regions associated with extended and highly polarized radio filaments. We also present a detailed analysis of the diffuse X-ray emission filling the whole field of view of the instrument, resulting in a tentative detection of a soft excess component best fitted by a thermal model with a temperature of kT ∼ 0.5 keV. The exact origin of the observed excess remains uncertain, although energetic considerations point to thermal gas filling the bulk of the volume of the lobe and mixed with the non-thermal plasma, rather than to the alternative scenario involving a condensation of the hot intergalactic medium around the edges of the expanding radio structure. If correct, this would be the first detection of the thermal content of the extended lobes of a radio galaxy in X-rays. The corresponding number density of the thermal gas in such a case is n_g ∼ 10⁻⁴ cm⁻³, while its pressure appears to be in almost exact equipartition with the volume-averaged non-thermal pressure provided by the radio-emitting electrons and the lobes' magnetic field. A prominent large-scale fluctuation of the Galactic foreground emission, resulting in excess foreground X-ray emission aligned with the lobe, cannot be ruled out. Although tentative, our findings potentially imply that the structure of the extended lobes in active galaxies is likely to be highly inhomogeneous and non-uniform, with magnetic reconnection and turbulent acceleration processes continuously converting magnetic energy to internal energy of the plasma particles, leading to possibly significant spatial and temporal variations in the plasma β parameter around the volume-averaged equilibrium condition β ∼ 1.

We use previously published high-resolution synchrotron polarization data to perform an angular dispersion analysis with the aim of characterizing magnetized turbulence in M51. We first analyze three distinct regions (the center of the galaxy, and the northwest and southwest spiral arms) and can clearly discern the turbulent correlation length scale from the width of the magnetized turbulent correlation function for two regions and detect the imprint of anisotropy in the turbulence for all three. Furthermore, analyzing the galaxy as a whole allows us to determine a two-dimensional Gaussian model for the magnetized turbulence in M51. We measure the turbulent correlation scales parallel and perpendicular to the local mean magnetic field to be, respectively, δ_|| = 98 ± 5 pc and δ_⊥ = 54 ± 3 pc, while the turbulent-to-ordered magnetic field strength ratio is found to be B_t/B₀ = 1.01 ± 0.04. These results are consistent with those of Fletcher et al., who performed a Faraday rotation dispersion analysis of the same data, and our detection of anisotropy is consistent with current magnetized turbulence theories.

The bright-rimmed cloud SFO 22 was observed with the 45 m telescope of Nobeyama Radio Observatory in the ¹²CO (J = 1–0), ¹³CO (J = 1–0), and C¹⁸O (J = 1–0) lines, where well-developed head–tail structure and small line widths were found. Such features were predicted by radiation-driven implosion models, suggesting that SFO 22 may be in a quasi-stationary equilibrium state. We compare the observed properties with those from numerical models of a photoevaporating cloud, which include effects of magnetic pressure and heating due to strong far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation from an exciting star. The magnetic pressure may play a more important role in the density structures of bright-rimmed clouds than the thermal pressure that is enhanced by the FUV radiation. The FUV radiation can heat the cloud surface to near 30 K; however, its effect is not enough to reproduce the observed density structure of SFO 22. An initial magnetic field of 5 μG in our numerical models produces the best agreement with the observations, and its direction can affect the structures of bright-rimmed clouds.

We present the results of a suborbital rocket flight whose scientific target was the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant. The payload consists of wire grid collimators, off-plane grating arrays, and gaseous electron multiplier (GEM) detectors. The system is designed for spectral measurements in the 17–107 Å bandpass with a resolution up to ∼60 (λ/Δλ). The Extended X-ray Off-plane Spectrometer (EXOS) was launched on a Terrier-Black Brant rocket on 2009 November 13 from White Sands Missile Range and obtained 340 s of useable scientific data. The X-ray emission is dominated by O vii and O viii, including the He-like O vii triplet at ∼22 Å. Another emission feature at ∼45 Å is composed primarily of Si xi and Si xii. The best-fit model to this spectrum is an equilibrium plasma model at a temperature of log(T) = 6.4 (0.23 keV).

The stability of the magnetic field in radiation zones is of crucial importance for mixing and angular momentum transport in the stellar interior. We consider the stability properties of stars containing a predominant toroidal field in spherical geometry by means of a linear stability in the Boussinesq approximation taking into account the effect of thermal conductivity. We calculate the growth rate of instability and analyze in detail the effects of stable stratification and heat transport. We argue that the stabilizing influence of gravity can never entirely suppress the instability caused by electric currents in radiation zones. However, the stable stratification can essentially decrease the growth rate of instability.

The active young protostar DG Tau has an extended jet that has been well studied at radio, optical, and X-ray wavelengths. We report sensitive new Very Large Array (VLA) full-polarization observations of the core and jet between 5 GHz and 8 GHz. Our high angular resolution observation at 8 GHz clearly shows an unpolarized inner jet with a size of 42 AU (035) extending along a position angle similar to the optical-X ray outer jet. Using our nearly coeval 2012 VLA observations, we find a spectral index α = +0.46 ± 0.05, which combined with the lack of polarization is consistent with bremsstrahlung (free–free) emission, with no evidence for a non-thermal coronal component. By identifying the end of the radio jet as the optical depth unity surface, and calculating the resulting emission measure, we find that our radio results are in agreement with previous optical line studies of electron density and consequent mass-loss rate. We also detect a weak radio knot at 5 GHz located 7'' from the base of the jet, coincident with the inner radio knot detected by Rodríguez et al. in 2009 but at lower surface brightness. We interpret this as due to expansion of post-shock ionized gas in the three years between observations.

We compute the absorption efficiency (Q_abs) of forsterite using the discrete dipole approximation in order to identify and describe what characteristics of crystal grain shape and size are important to the shape, peak location, and relative strength of spectral features in the 8–40 μm wavelength range. Using the DDSCAT code, we compute Q_abs for non-spherical polyhedral grain shapes with a_eff = 0.1 μm. The shape characteristics identified are (1) elongation/reduction along one of three crystallographic axes; (2) asymmetry, such that all three crystallographic axes are of different lengths; and (3) the presence of crystalline faces that are not parallel to a specific crystallographic axis, e.g., non-rectangular prisms and (di)pyramids. Elongation/reduction dominates the locations and shapes of spectral features near 10, 11, 16, 23.5, 27, and 33.5 μm, while asymmetry and tips are secondary shape effects. Increasing grain sizes (0.1–1.0 μm) shifts the 10 and 11 μm features systematically toward longer wavelengths and relative to the 11 μm feature increases the strengths and slightly broadens the longer wavelength features. Seven spectral shape classes are established for crystallographic a-, b-, and c-axes and include columnar and platelet shapes plus non-elongated or equant grain shapes. The spectral shape classes and the effects of grain size have practical application in identifying or excluding columnar, platelet, or equant forsterite grain shapes in astrophysical environs. Identification of the shape characteristics of forsterite from 8 to 40 μm spectra provides a potential means to probe the temperatures at which forsterite formed.

We report white-light observations of a fast magnetosonic wave associated with a coronal mass ejection observed by STEREO/SECCHI/COR1 inner coronagraphs on 2011 August 4. The wave front is observed in the form of density compression passing through various coronal regions such as quiet/active corona, coronal holes, and streamers. Together with measured electron densities determined with STEREO COR1 and Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) data, we use our kinematic measurements of the wave front to calculate coronal magnetic fields and find that the measured speeds are consistent with characteristic fast magnetosonic speeds in the corona. In addition, the wave front turns out to be the upper coronal counterpart of the EIT wave observed by STEREO EUVI traveling against the solar coronal disk; moreover, stationary fronts of the EIT wave are found to be located at the footpoints of deflected streamers and boundaries of coronal holes, after the wave front in the upper solar corona passes through open magnetic field lines in the streamers. Our findings suggest that the observed EIT wave should be in fact a fast magnetosonic shock/wave traveling in the inhomogeneous solar corona, as part of the fast magnetosonic wave propagating in the extended solar corona.

We examine the present-day total stellar-to-halo mass (SHM) ratio as a function of halo mass for a new sample of simulated field galaxies using fully cosmological, ΛCDM, high-resolution SPH + N-body simulations. These simulations include an explicit treatment of metal line cooling, dust and self-shielding, H₂-based star formation (SF), and supernova-driven gas outflows. The 18 simulated halos have masses ranging from a few times 10⁸ to nearly 10¹² M_☉. At z = 0, our simulated galaxies have a baryon content and morphology typical of field galaxies. Over a stellar mass range of 2.2 × 10³–4.5 × 10¹⁰ M_☉ we find extremely good agreement between the SHM ratio in simulations and the present-day predictions from the statistical abundance matching technique presented in Moster et al. This improvement over past simulations is due to a number systematic factors, each decreasing the SHM ratios: (1) gas outflows that reduce the overall SF efficiency but allow for the formation of a cold gas component; (2) estimating the stellar masses of simulated galaxies using artificial observations and photometric techniques similar to those used in observations; and (3) accounting for a systematic, up to 30% overestimate in total halo masses in DM-only simulations, due to the neglect of baryon loss over cosmic times. Our analysis suggests that stellar mass estimates based on photometric magnitudes can underestimate the contribution of old stellar populations to the total stellar mass, leading to stellar mass errors of up to 50% for individual galaxies. These results highlight that implementing a realistic high density threshold for SF considerably reduces the overall SF efficiency due to more effective feedback. However, we show that in order to reduce the perceived tension between the SF efficiency in galaxy formation models and in real galaxies, it is very important to use proper techniques to compare simulations with observations.

Gas accreting onto a galaxy will be of low metallicity while halo gas due to a galactic fountain will be of near-solar metallicity. We test these predictions by measuring the metal absorption line properties of halo gas 5 kpc above the plane of the edge-on galaxy NGC 891, using observations taken with HST/STIS toward a bright background quasar. Metal absorption lines of Fe ii, Mg ii, and Mg i in the halo of NGC 891 are clearly seen, and when combined with recent deep H i observations, we are able to place constraints on the metallicity of the halo gas for the first time. The H i line width defines the line broadening, from which we model opacity effects in these metal lines, assuming that the absorbing gas is continuously distributed in the halo. The gas-phase metallicities are [Fe/H] = −1.18 ± 0.07 and [Mg/H] = −0.23 + 0.36/ − 0.27 (statistical errors) and this difference is probably due to differential depletion onto grains. When corrected for such depletion using Galactic gas as a guide, both elements have approximately solar or even supersolar abundances. This suggests that the gas is from the galaxy disk, probably expelled into the halo by a galactic fountain, rather than from accretion of intergalactic gas, which would have a low metallicity. The abundances would be raised by significant amounts if the absorbing gas lies in a few clouds with thermal widths smaller than the rotational velocity of the halo. If this is the case, both the abundances and [Mg/Fe] would be supersolar.

We have constructed a sample of 29 close projected quasar pairs where the background quasar spectrum reveals absorption from optically thick H i gas associated with the foreground quasar. These unique sightlines allow us to study the quasar circumgalactic medium (CGM) in absorption and emission simultaneously, because the background quasar pinpoints large concentrations of gas where Lyα emission, resulting from quasar-powered fluorescence, resonant Lyα scattering, and/or cooling radiation, is expected. A sensitive search (1σ surface-brightness limits of ${\rm SB}_{\rm {\rm Ly}\alpha } \simeq 3{\; \times \; 10^{-18}}\,{\rm erg\,s^{-1}\,cm^{-2}\,arcsec^{-2}}$) for diffuse Lyα emission in the environments of the foreground (predominantly radio-quiet) quasars is conducted using Gemini/GMOS and Keck/LRIS slit spectroscopy. We fail to detect large-scale ∼100 kpc Lyα emission, either at the location of the optically thick absorbers or in the foreground quasar halos, in all cases except a single system. We interpret these non-detections as evidence that the gas detected in absorption is shadowed from the quasar UV radiation due to obscuration effects, which are frequently invoked in unified models of active galactic nuclei. Small-scale R_⊥ ≲ 50 kpc extended Lyα nebulosities are detected in 34% of our sample, which are likely the high-redshift analogs of the extended emission-line regions (EELRs) commonly observed around low-redshift (z < 0.5) quasars. This may be fluorescent recombination radiation from a population of very dense clouds with a low covering fraction illuminated by the quasar. We also detect a compact high rest-frame equivalent width (W_Lyα > 50 Å) Lyα-emitter with luminosity L_Lyα = 2.1 ± 0.32 × 10⁴¹ erg s⁻¹ at small impact parameter R_⊥ = 134 kpc from one foreground quasar, and argue that it is more likely to result from quasar-powered fluorescence, than simply be a star-forming galaxy clustered around the quasar. Our observations imply that much deeper integrations with upcoming integral-field spectrometers such as MUSE and KCWI will be able to routinely detect a diffuse Lyα glow around bright quasars on scales R ∼ 100 kpc and thus directly image the CGM.

We report the discovery of a well-defined correlation between B-band face-on central optical depth due to dust, $\tau ^f_B$, and the stellar mass surface density, μ_*, of nearby (z ⩽ 0.13) spiral galaxies: $\mathrm{log}(\tau ^{f}_{B}) = 1.12(\pm 0.11) \cdot \mathrm{log}({\mu _{*}}/{{M}_{\odot }\ \mathrm{kpc}^{-2}}) - 8.6(\pm 0.8)$. This relation was derived from a sample of spiral galaxies taken from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, which were detected in the FIR/submillimeter (submm) in the Herschel-ATLAS science demonstration phase field. Using a quantitative analysis of the NUV attenuation–inclination relation for complete samples of GAMA spirals categorized according to stellar mass surface density, we demonstrate that this correlation can be used to statistically correct for dust attenuation purely on the basis of optical photometry and Sérsic-profile morphological fits. Considered together with previously established empirical relationships of stellar mass to metallicity and gas mass, the near linearity and high constant of proportionality of the $\tau ^f_B\,\hbox{{--}}\,\mu _{*}$ relation disfavors a stellar origin for the bulk of refractory grains in spiral galaxies, instead being consistent with the existence of a ubiquitous and very rapid mechanism for the growth of dust in the interstellar medium. We use the $\tau ^f_B\,\hbox{{--}}\,\mu _{*}$ relation in conjunction with the radiation transfer model for spiral galaxies of Popescu & Tuffs to derive intrinsic scaling relations between specific star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and stellar surface density, in which attenuation of the UV light used for the measurement of SFR is corrected on an object-to-object basis. A marked reduction in scatter in these relations is achieved which we demonstrate is due to correction of both the inclination-dependent and face-on components of attenuation. Our results are consistent with a general picture of spiral galaxies in which most of the submm emission originates from grains residing in translucent structures, exposed to UV in the diffuse interstellar radiation field.

We present the selection and classification of over a thousand ultraviolet (UV) variable sources discovered in ∼40 deg² of GALEX Time Domain Survey (TDS) NUV images observed with a cadence of 2 days and a baseline of observations of ∼3 years. The GALEX TDS fields were designed to be in spatial and temporal coordination with the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey, which provides deep optical imaging and simultaneous optical transient detections via image differencing. We characterize the GALEX photometric errors empirically as a function of mean magnitude, and select sources that vary at the 5σ level in at least one epoch. We measure the statistical properties of the UV variability, including the structure function on timescales of days and years. We report classifications for the GALEX TDS sample using a combination of optical host colors and morphology, UV light curve characteristics, and matches to archival X-ray, and spectroscopy catalogs. We classify 62% of the sources as active galaxies (358 quasars and 305 active galactic nuclei), and 10% as variable stars (including 37 RR Lyrae, 53 M dwarf flare stars, and 2 cataclysmic variables). We detect a large-amplitude tail in the UV variability distribution for M-dwarf flare stars and RR Lyrae, reaching up to |Δm| = 4.6 mag and 2.9 mag, respectively. The mean amplitude of the structure function for quasars on year timescales is five times larger than observed at optical wavelengths. The remaining unclassified sources include UV-bright extragalactic transients, two of which have been spectroscopically confirmed to be a young core-collapse supernova and a flare from the tidal disruption of a star by dormant supermassive black hole. We calculate a surface density for variable sources in the UV with NUV < 23 mag and |Δm| > 0.2 mag of ∼8.0, 7.7, and 1.8 deg⁻² for quasars, active galactic nuclei, and RR Lyrae stars, respectively. We also calculate a surface density rate in the UV for transient sources, using the effective survey time at the cadence appropriate to each class, of ∼15 and 52 deg⁻² yr⁻¹ for M dwarfs and extragalactic transients, respectively.

The measured emission-weighted metal abundance of the hot gas in early-type galaxies has been known to be lower than theoretical expectations for 20 years. In addition, both X-ray luminosity and metal abundance vary significantly among galaxies of similar optical luminosities. This suggests some missing factors in the galaxy evolution process, especially the metal enrichment process. With Chandra and XMM-Newton, we studied 32 early-type galaxies (kT ≲ 1 keV) covering a span of two orders of L_{X, gas}/L_K to investigate these missing factors. Contrary to previous studies that X-ray faint galaxies show extremely low Fe abundance (∼0.1 Z_☉), nearly all galaxies in our sample show an Fe abundance at least 0.3 Z_☉, although the measured Fe abundance difference between X-ray faint and X-ray bright galaxies remains remarkable. We investigated whether this dichotomy of hot gas Fe abundances can be related to the dilution of hot gas by mixing with cold gas. With a subset of 24 galaxies in this sample, we find that there is virtually no correlation between hot gas Fe abundances and their atomic gas content, which disproves the scenario that the low metal abundance of X-ray faint galaxies might be a result of the dilution of the remaining hot gas by pristine atomic gas. In contrast, we demonstrate a negative correlation between the measured hot gas Fe abundance and the ratio of molecular gas mass to hot gas mass, although it is unclear what is responsible for this apparent anti-correlation. We discuss several possibilities including that externally originated molecular gas might be able to dilute the hot gas metal content. Alternatively, the measured hot gas Fe abundance may be underestimated due to more complex temperature and abundance structures and even a two-temperature model might be insufficient to reflect the true value of the emission weighted mean Fe abundance.

AK Sco stands out among pre-main-sequence binaries because of its prominent ultraviolet excess, the high eccentricity of its orbit, and the strong tides driven by it. AK Sco consists of two F5-type stars that get as close as 11 R_* at periastron passage. The presence of a dense (n_e ∼ 10¹¹ cm⁻³) extended envelope has been unveiled recently. In this article, we report the results from an XMM-Newton-based monitoring of the system. We show that at periastron, X-ray and UV fluxes are enhanced by a factor of ∼3 with respect to the apastron values. The X-ray radiation is produced in an optically thin plasma with T ∼ 6.4 × 10⁶ K and it is found that the N_H column density rises from 0.35 × 10²¹ cm⁻² at periastron to 1.11 × 10²¹ cm⁻² at apastron, in good agreement with previous polarimetric observations. The UV emission detected in the Optical Monitor band seems to be caused by the reprocessing of the high-energy magnetospheric radiation on the circumstellar material. Further evidence of the strong magnetospheric disturbances is provided by the detection of line broadening of 278.7 km s⁻¹ in the N v line with Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Numerical simulations of the mass flow from the circumbinary disk to the components have been carried out. They provide a consistent scenario with which to interpret AK Sco observations. We show that the eccentric orbit acts like a gravitational piston. At apastron, matter is dragged efficiently from the inner disk border, filling the inner gap and producing accretion streams that end as ring-like structures around each component of the system. At periastron, the ring-like structures come into contact, leading to angular momentum loss, and thus producing an accretion outburst.

We show an analysis of the spectral and timing properties of X-ray radiation from Z-source GX 340+0 during its evolution when the electron temperature of the transition layer (TL) kT_e monotonically decreases from 21 to 3 keV. We analyze episodes observed with BeppoSAX and RXTE. We reveal that the X-ray broadband energy spectra during all spectral states can be reproduced by a physical model composed of a soft Blackbody component and two Comptonized components (both due to the presence of the TL that upscatters both seed photons of T_s1 ≲ 1 keV coming from the disk (first component Comptb1), and seed photons of temperature T_s2 ≲ 1.5 keV coming from the neutron star (second component Comptb2) and the iron-line (Gaussian) component. Spectral analysis using this model indicates that the photon power-law indices Γ_com1 and Γ_com2 of the Comptonized components are almost constant, Γ_com1 and Γ_com2 ∼ 2 when kT_e changes from 3 to 21 keV along the Z-track. We interpret the detected quasi-stability of the indices of Comptonized components to be near a value of 2. Furthermore, this index stability now found for the Comptonized spectral components of Z-source GX 340+0 is similar to that previously established in the atoll sources 4U 1728-34 and GX 3+1, and earlier proposed for a number of X-ray neutron stars (NSs). This behavior of NSs both for atoll and Z-sources is essentially different from that observed in black hole binaries where Γ_com increases during a spectral evolution from the low state to the high state and ultimately saturates at a high mass accretion rate.

Over a broad range of initial inclinations and eccentricities, an appreciable fraction of hierarchical triple star systems with similar masses are essentially unaffected by the Kozai–Lidov mechanism (KM) until the primary in the central binary evolves into a compact object. Once it does, it may be much less massive than the other components in the ternary, enabling the "eccentric Kozai mechanism (EKM)": the mutual inclination between the inner and outer binaries can flip signs driving the inner binary to very high eccentricity, leading to a close binary or collision. We demonstrate this "mass-loss-induced eccentric Kozai" (MIEK) mechanism by considering an example system and defining an ad hoc minimal separation between the inner two members at which tidal effects become important. For fixed initial masses and semimajor axes, but uniform distributions of eccentricity and cosine of the mutual inclination, ∼10% of systems interact tidally or collide while the primary is on the main sequence (MS) due to the KM or EKM. Those affected by the EKM are not captured by earlier quadrupole-order secular calculations. We show that fully ∼30% of systems interact tidally or collide for the first time as the primary swells to AU scales, mostly as a result of the KM. Finally, ∼2% of systems interact tidally or collide for the first time after the primary sheds most of its mass and becomes a white dwarf (WD), mostly as a result of the MIEK mechanism. These findings motivate a more detailed study of mass loss in triple systems and the formation of close neutron star (NS)/WD–MS and NS/WD–NS/WD binaries without an initial common envelope phase.

Current sheets (CSs) are important signatures of magnetic reconnection in the eruption of confined solar magnetic structures. Models of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) involve formation of a CS connecting the ejected flux rope with the post-eruption magnetic loops. CSs have been identified in white light (WL) images of CMEs as narrow rays trailing the outward moving CME core, and in ultraviolet spectra as narrow bright features emitting the [Fe xviii] line. In this work, samples of rays detected in WL images or in ultraviolet spectra have been analyzed. Temperatures, widths, and line intensities of the rays have been measured, and their correlation to the CME properties has been studied. The samples show a wide range of temperatures with hot, coronal, and cool rays. In some cases, the UV spectra support the identification of rays as CSs, but they show that some WL rays are cool material from the CME core. In many cases, both hot and cool material are present, but offset from each other along the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer slit. We find that about 18% of the WL rays show very hot gas consistent with the CS interpretation, while about 23% show cold gas that we attribute to cool prominence material draining back from the CME core. The remaining events have ordinary coronal temperatures, perhaps because they have relaxed back to a quiescent state.