Table of contents

For the Class 0 protostar L1527 we compare 131 polarization vectors from SCUPOL/JCMT, SHARP/CSO, and TADPOL/CARMA observations with the corresponding model polarization vectors of four ideal-MHD, nonturbulent, cloud core collapse models. These four models differ by their initial magnetic fields before collapse; two initially have aligned fields (strong and weak) and two initially have orthogonal fields (strong and weak) with respect to the rotation axis of the L1527 core. Only the initial weak orthogonal field model produces the observed circumstellar disk within L1527. This is a characteristic of nearly all ideal-MHD, nonturbulent, core collapse models. In this paper we test whether this weak orthogonal model also has the best agreement between its magnetic field structure and that inferred from the polarimetry observations of L1527. We found that this is not the case; based on the polarimetry observations, the most favored model of the four is the weak aligned model. However, this model does not produce a circumstellar disk, so our result implies that a nonturbulent, ideal-MHD global collapse model probably does not represent the core collapse that has occurred in L1527. Our study also illustrates the importance of using polarization vectors covering a large area of a cloud core to determine the initial magnetic field orientation before collapse; the inner core magnetic field structure can be highly altered by a collapse, and so measurements from this region alone can give unreliable estimates of the initial field configuration before collapse.

We investigate the statistical dependence of the peak intrinsic colors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) on their expansion velocities at maximum light, measured from the Si ii λ6355 spectral feature. We construct a new hierarchical Bayesian regression model, accounting for the random effects of intrinsic scatter, measurement error, and reddening by host galaxy dust, and implement a Gibbs sampler and deviance information criteria to estimate the correlation. The method is applied to the apparent colors from BVRI light curves and Si ii velocity data for 79 nearby SNe Ia. The apparent color distributions of high-velocity (HV) and normal velocity (NV) supernovae exhibit significant discrepancies for B − V and B − R, but not other colors. Hence, they are likely due to intrinsic color differences originating in the B band, rather than dust reddening. The mean intrinsic B − V and B − R color differences between HV and NV groups are 0.06 ± 0.02 and 0.09 ± 0.02 mag, respectively. A linear model finds significant slopes of −0.021 ± 0.006 and −0.030 ± 0.009 mag (10³ km s⁻¹)⁻¹ for intrinsic B − V and B − R colors versus velocity, respectively. Because the ejecta velocity distribution is skewed toward high velocities, these effects imply non-Gaussian intrinsic color distributions with skewness up to +0.3. Accounting for the intrinsic-color–velocity correlation results in corrections to A_V extinction estimates as large as −0.12 mag for HV SNe Ia and +0.06 mag for NV events. Velocity measurements from SN Ia spectra have the potential to diminish systematic errors from the confounding of intrinsic colors and dust reddening affecting supernova distances.

We present observations of N₂H⁺ (J = 1 → 0), HCO⁺ (J = 1 → 0), and HCN (J = 1 → 0) toward the Serpens Main molecular cloud from the CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey (CLASSy). We mapped 150 arcmin² of Serpens Main with an angular resolution of ∼7''. The gas emission is concentrated in two subclusters (the NW and SE subclusters). The SE subcluster has more prominent filamentary structures and more complicated kinematics compared to the NW subcluster. The majority of gas in the two subclusters has subsonic to sonic velocity dispersions. We applied a dendrogram technique with N₂H⁺(1–0) to study the gas structures; the SE subcluster has a higher degree of hierarchy than the NW subcluster. Combining the dendrogram and line fitting analyses reveals two distinct relations: a flat relation between nonthermal velocity dispersion and size, and a positive correlation between variation in velocity centroids and size. The two relations imply a characteristic depth of 0.15 pc for the cloud. Furthermore, we have identified six filaments in the SE subcluster. These filaments have lengths of ∼0.2 pc and widths of ∼0.03 pc, which is smaller than a characteristic width of 0.1 pc suggested by Herschel observations. The filaments can be classified into two types based on their properties. The first type, located in the northeast of the SE subcluster, has larger velocity gradients, smaller masses, and nearly critical mass-per-unit-length ratios. The other type, located in the southwest of the SE subcluster, has the opposite properties. Several YSOs are formed along two filaments which have supercritical mass per unit length ratios, while filaments with nearly critical mass-per-unit-length ratios are not associated with YSOs, suggesting that stars are formed on gravitationally unstable filaments.

We examined the relations between molecular gas surface density and star-formation rate surface density in an 11 deg² region of the Galactic plane. Dust continua at 1.1 mm from the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey and 22 μm emission from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) all-sky survey were used as tracers of molecular gas and the star-formation rate, respectively, across the Galactic longitude of 31.5 ⩾ l ⩾ 20.5 and Galactic latitude of 0.5 ⩾ b ⩾ −0.5. The relation was studied over a range of resolutions from 33'' to 20' by convolving images to larger scales. The pixel-by-pixel correlation between 1.1 mm and 22 μm increases rapidly at small scales and levels off at the scale of 5'–8'. We studied the star-formation relation based on a pixel-by-pixel analysis and on an analysis of the 1.1 mm and 22 μm peaks. The star-formation relation was found to be nearly linear with no significant changes in the form of the relation across all spatial scales, and it lies above the extragalactic relation from Kennicutt. The average gas-depletion time is ≈200 Myr and does not change significantly at different scales, but the scatter in the depletion time decreases as the scale increases.

In a previous paper, one of us (C. Bambi) described a code to compute the thermal spectrum of geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disks around generic stationary and axisymmetric black holes, which are not necessarily of the Kerr type. As the structure of the accretion disk and the propagation of electromagnetic radiation from the disk to the distant observer depend on the background metric, the analysis of the thermal spectrum of thin disks can be used to test the actual nature of black hole candidates. In this paper, we consider the 10 stellar-mass black hole candidates for which the spin parameter has already been estimated from the analysis of the disk's thermal spectrum under the assumption of the Kerr background, and we translate the measurements reported in the literature into constraints on the spin parameter–deformation parameter plane. The analysis of the disk's thermal spectrum can be used to estimate only one parameter of the geometry close to the compact object; therefore, it is not possible to get independent measurements of both the spin and the deformation parameters. The constraints obtained here will be used in combination with other measurements in future work with the final goal of breaking the degeneracy between the spin and possible deviations from the Kerr solution and thus test the Kerr black hole hypothesis.

Prior to the launch of NuSTAR, it was not feasible to spatially resolve the hard (E > 10 keV) emission from galaxies beyond the Local Group. The combined NuSTAR data set, comprised of three ∼165 ks observations, allows spatial characterization of the hard X-ray emission in the galaxy NGC 253 for the first time. As a follow up to our initial study of its nuclear region, we present the first results concerning the full galaxy from simultaneous NuSTAR, Chandra, and Very Long Baseline Array monitoring of the local starburst galaxy NGC 253. Above ∼10 keV, nearly all the emission is concentrated within 100'' of the galactic center, produced almost exclusively by three nuclear sources, an off-nuclear ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), and a pulsar candidate that we identify for the first time in these observations. We detect 21 distinct sources in energy bands up to 25 keV, mostly consisting of intermediate state black hole X-ray binaries. The global X-ray emission of the galaxy—dominated by the off-nuclear ULX and nuclear sources, which are also likely ULXs—falls steeply (photon index ≳ 3) above 10 keV, consistent with other NuSTAR-observed ULXs, and no significant excess above the background is detected at E > 40 keV. We report upper limits on diffuse inverse Compton emission for a range of spatial models. For the most extended morphologies considered, these hard X-ray constraints disfavor a dominant inverse Compton component to explain the γ-ray emission detected with Fermi and H.E.S.S. If NGC 253 is typical of starburst galaxies at higher redshift, their contribution to the E > 10 keV cosmic X-ray background is <1%.

An eruption event launched from the solar active region (AR) NOAA 11719 is investigated based on coronal EUV observations and photospheric magnetic field measurements obtained from the Solar Dynamic Observatory. The AR consists of a filament channel originating from a major sunspot and its south section is associated with an inverse-S sigmoidal system as observed in Atmospheric Imaging Assembly passbands. We regard the sigmoid as the main body of the flux rope (FR). There also exists a twisted flux bundle crossing over this FR. This overlying flux bundle transforms in shape similar to kink-rise evolution, which corresponds with the rise motion of the FR. The emission measure and temperature along the FR exhibits an increasing trend with its rising motion, indicating reconnection in the thinning current sheet underneath the FR. Net magnetic flux of the AR, evaluated at north and south polarities, showed decreasing behavior whereas the net current in these fluxes exhibits an increasing trend. Because the negative (positive) flux has a dominant positive (negative) current, the chirality of AR flux system is likely negative (left handed) in order to be consistent with the chirality of inverse S-sigmoidal FR. This analysis of magnetic fields of the source AR suggests that the cancelling fluxes are prime factors of the monotonous twisting of the FR system, reaching to a critical state to trigger kink instability and rise motion. This rise motion may have led to the onset of the torus instability, resulting in an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, and the progressive reconnection in the thinning current sheet beneath the rising FR led to the M6.5 flare.

The N2 index ([N ii] λ6584/Hα) is used to determine emission line galaxy metallicities at all redshifts, including high redshift, where galaxies tend to be metal-poor. The initial aim of this work was to improve the calibrations used to infer oxygen abundance from N2 by employing updated low-metallicity galaxy databases. We compare N2 and the metallicity determined using the direct method for the set of extremely metal-poor galaxies compiled by Morales-Luis et al. To our surprise, the oxygen abundance presents a tendency to be constant with N2, with a very large scatter. Consequently, we find that the existing N2 calibrators overestimate the oxygen abundance for most low-metallicity galaxies, and can therefore only be used to set upper limits to the true metallicity in low-metallicity galaxies. An explicit expression for this limit is given. In addition, we try to explain the observed scatter using photoionization models. It is mostly due to the different evolutionary state of the H ii regions producing the emission lines, but it also arises due to differences in N/O among the galaxies.

We have obtained photometry and spectroscopy of 433 z ⩽ 0.08 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in a full-sky survey of Abell clusters to construct a BCG sample suitable for probing deviations from the local Hubble flow. The BCG Hubble diagram over 0 < z < 0.08 is consistent to within 2% of the Hubble relation specified by a Ω_m = 0.3, Λ = 0.7 cosmology. This sample allows us to explore the structural and photometric properties of BCGs at the present epoch, their location in their hosting galaxy clusters, and the effects of the cluster environment on their structure and evolution. We revisit the L_m–α relation for BCGs, which uses α, the log-slope of the BCG photometric curve of growth, to predict the metric luminosity in an aperture with 14.3 kpc radius, L_m, for use as a distance indicator. Residuals in the relation are 0.27 mag rms. We measure central stellar velocity dispersions, σ, of the BCGs, finding the Faber–Jackson relation to flatten as the metric aperture grows to include an increasing fraction of the total BCG luminosity. A three-parameter "metric plane" relation using α and σ together gives the best prediction of L_m, with 0.21 mag residuals. The distribution of projected spatial offsets, r_x of BCGs from the X-ray-defined cluster center is a steep γ = −2.33 power law over 1 < r_x < 10³ kpc. The median offset is ∼10 kpc, but ∼15% of the BCGs have r_x > 100 kpc. The absolute cluster-dispersion normalized BCG peculiar velocity |ΔV₁|/σ_c follows an exponential distribution with scale length 0.39 ± 0.03. Both L_m and α increase with σ_c. The α parameter is further moderated by both the spatial and velocity offset from the cluster center, with larger α correlated with the proximity of the BCG to the cluster mean velocity or potential center. At the same time, position in the cluster has little effect on L_m. Likewise, residuals from the metric plane show no correlation with either the spatial or velocity offset from the cluster center. The luminosity difference between the BCG and second-ranked galaxy, M2, increases as the peculiar velocity of the BCG within the cluster decreases. Further, when M2 is a close luminosity "rival" of the BCG, the galaxy that is closest to either the velocity or X-ray center of the cluster is most likely to have the larger α. We conclude that the inner portions of the BCGs are formed outside the cluster, but interactions in the heart of the galaxy cluster grow and extend the envelopes of the BCGs.

In the ONeMg cores of 8.8–9.5 M_☉ stars, neon and oxygen burning is ignited off-center. Whether or not the neon-oxygen flame propagates to the center is critical for determining whether these stars undergo Fe core collapse or electron-capture-induced ONeMg core collapse. We present more details of stars that ignite neon and oxygen burning off-center. The neon flame is established in a manner similar to the carbon flame of super-AGB stars, albeit with a narrower flame width. The criteria for establishing a flame can be met if the strict Schwarzschild criterion for convective instability is adopted. Mixing across the interface of the convective shell disrupts the conditions for the propagation of the burning front, and instead the shell burns as a series of inward-moving flashes. While this may not directly affect whether or not the burning will reach the center (as in super-AGB stars), the core is allowed to contract between each shell flash. Reduction of the electron fraction in the shell reduces the Chandrasekhar mass and the center reaches the threshold density for the URCA process to activate and steer the remaining evolution of the core. This highlights the importance of a more accurate treatment of mixing in the stellar interior for yet another important question in stellar astrophysics—determining the properties of stellar evolution and supernova progenitors at the boundary between electron capture supernova and iron core-collapse supernova.

Deep extreme ultraviolet spectrograph exposures of the plasma sheet at the orbit of Europa, obtained in 2001 using the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph experiment, have been analyzed to determine the state of the gas. The results are in basic agreement with earlier results, in particular with Voyager encounter measurements of electron density and temperature. Mass loading rates and lack of detectable neutrals in the plasma sheet, however, are in conflict with earlier determinations of atmospheric composition and density at Europa. A substantial fraction of the plasma species at the Europa orbit are long-lived sulfur ions originating at Io, with ∼25% derived from Europa. During the outward radial diffusion process to the Europa orbit, heat deposition forces a significant rise in plasma electron temperature and latitudinal size accompanied with conversion to higher order ions, a clear indication that mass loading from Europa is very low. Analysis of far ultraviolet spectra from exposures on Europa leads to the conclusion that earlier reported atmospheric measurements have been misinterpreted. The results in the present work are also in conflict with a report that energetic neutral particles imaged by the Cassini ion and neutral camera experiment originate at the Europa orbit. An interpretation of persistent energetic proton pitch angle distributions near the Europa orbit as an effect of a significant population of neutral gas is also in conflict with the results of the present work. The general conclusion drawn here is that Europa is geophysically far less active than inferred in previous research, with mass loading of the plasma sheet ⩽4.5 × 10²⁵ atoms s⁻¹ two orders of magnitude below earlier published calculations. Temporal variability in the region joining the Io and Europa orbits, based on the accumulated evidence, is forced by the response of the system to geophysical activity at Io. No evidence for the direct injection of H₂O into the Europa atmosphere or from Europa into the magnetosphere system, as has been observed at Enceladus in the Saturn system, is obtained in the present investigation.

The dust properties in the Large and Small Magellanic clouds (LMC/SMC) are studied using the HERITAGE Herschel Key Project photometric data in five bands from 100 to 500 μm. Three simple models of dust emission were fit to the observations: a single temperature blackbody modified by a power-law emissivity (SMBB), a single temperature blackbody modified by a broken power-law emissivity (BEMBB), and two blackbodies with different temperatures, both modified by the same power-law emissivity (TTMBB). Using these models, we investigate the origin of the submillimeter excess, defined as the submillimeter emission above that expected from SMBB models fit to observations <200 μm. We find that the BEMBB model produces the lowest fit residuals with pixel-averaged 500 μm submillimeter excesses of 27% and 43% for the LMC and SMC, respectively. Adopting gas masses from previous works, the gas-to-dust ratios calculated from our fitting results show that the TTMBB fits require significantly more dust than are available even if all the metals present in the interstellar medium (ISM) were condensed into dust. This indicates that the submillimeter excess is more likely to be due to emissivity variations than a second population of colder dust. We derive integrated dust masses of (7.3 ± 1.7) × 10⁵ and (8.3 ± 2.1) × 10⁴ M_☉ for the LMC and SMC, respectively. We find significant correlations between the submillimeter excess and other dust properties; further work is needed to determine the relative contributions of fitting noise and ISM physics to the correlations.

The spatial variations of the gas-to-dust ratio (GDR) provide constraints on the chemical evolution and lifecycle of dust in galaxies. We examine the relation between dust and gas at 10–50 pc resolution in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) based on Herschel far-infrared (FIR), H i 21 cm, CO, and Hα observations. In the diffuse atomic interstellar medium (ISM), we derive the GDR as the slope of the dust–gas relation and find GDRs of 380$^{+250}_{-130}\;\pm$ 3 in the LMC, and 1200$^{+1600}_{-420}\;\pm$ 120 in the SMC, not including helium. The atomic-to-molecular transition is located at dust surface densities of 0.05 M_☉ pc⁻² in the LMC and 0.03 M_☉ pc⁻² in the SMC, corresponding to A_V ∼ 0.4 and 0.2, respectively. We investigate the range of CO-to-H₂ conversion factor to best account for all the molecular gas in the beam of the observations, and find upper limits on X_CO to be 6 × 10²⁰ cm⁻² K⁻¹ km⁻¹ s in the LMC (Z = 0.5 Z_☉) at 15 pc resolution, and 4 × 10²¹ cm⁻² K⁻¹ km⁻¹ s in the SMC (Z = 0.2 Z_☉) at 45 pc resolution. In the LMC, the slope of the dust–gas relation in the dense ISM is lower than in the diffuse ISM by a factor ∼2, even after accounting for the effects of CO-dark H₂ in the translucent envelopes of molecular clouds. Coagulation of dust grains and the subsequent dust emissivity increase in molecular clouds, and/or accretion of gas-phase metals onto dust grains, and the subsequent dust abundance (dust-to-gas ratio) increase in molecular clouds could explain the observations. In the SMC, variations in the dust–gas slope caused by coagulation or accretion are degenerate with the effects of CO-dark H₂. Within the expected 5–20 times Galactic X_CO range, the dust–gas slope can be either constant or decrease by a factor of several across ISM phases. Further modeling and observations are required to break the degeneracy between dust grain coagulation, accretion, and CO-dark H₂. Our analysis demonstrates that obtaining robust ISM masses remains a non-trivial endeavor even in the local Universe using state-of-the-art maps of thermal dust emission.

Pickup ions (PUIs) in the outer heliosphere and the local interstellar medium are created by charge exchange between protons and hydrogen (H) atoms, forming a thermodynamically dominant component. In the supersonic solar wind beyond >10 AU, in the inner heliosheath (IHS), and in the very local interstellar medium (VLISM), PUIs do not equilibrate collisionally with the background plasma. Using a collisionless form of Chapman–Enskog expansion, we derive a closed system of multi-fluid equations for a plasma comprised of thermal protons and electrons, and suprathermal PUIs. The PUIs contribute an isotropic scalar pressure to leading order, a collisionless heat flux at the next order, and a collisionless stress tensor at the second-order. The collisionless heat conduction and viscosity in the multi-fluid description results from a non-isotropic PUI distribution. A simpler one-fluid MHD-like system of equations with distinct equations of state for both the background plasma and the PUIs is derived. We investigate linear wave properties in a PUI-mediated three-fluid plasma model for parameters appropriate to the VLISM, the IHS, and the solar wind in the outer heliosphere. Five distinct wave modes are possible: Alfvén waves, thermal fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves, PUI fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves, and an entropy mode. The thermal and PUI acoustic modes propagate at approximately the combined thermal magnetoacoustic speed and the PUI sound speed respectively. All wave modes experience damping by the PUIs through the collisionless PUI heat flux. The PUI-mediated plasma model yields wave properties, including Alfvén waves, distinctly different from those of the standard two-fluid model.

We present a study of a typical explosive event (EE) at subarcsecond scale witnessed by strong non-Gaussian profiles with blue- and redshifted emission of up to 150 km s⁻¹ seen in the transition region Si iv 1402.8 Å, and the chromospheric Mg ii k 2796.4 Å and C ii 1334.5 Å observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) at unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution. For the first time an EE is found to be associated with very small-scale (∼120 km wide) plasma ejection followed by retraction in the chromosphere. These small-scale jets originate from a compact bright-point-like structure of ∼15 size as seen in the IRIS 1330 Å images. SDO/AIA and SDO/HMI co-observations show that the EE lies in the footpoint of a complex loop-like brightening system. The EE is detected in the higher temperature channels of AIA 171 Å, 193 Å, and 131 Å, suggesting that it reaches a higher temperature of log T = 5.36 ± 0.06 (K). Brightenings observed in the AIA channels with durations 90–120 s are probably caused by the plasma ejections seen in the chromosphere. The wings of the C ii line behave in a similar manner to the Si iv's, indicating close formation temperatures, while the Mg ii k wings show additional Doppler-shifted emission. Magnetic convergence or emergence followed by cancellation at a rate of 5 × 10¹⁴ Mx s⁻¹ is associated with the EE region. The combined changes of the locations and the flux of different magnetic patches suggest that magnetic reconnection must have taken place. Our results challenge several theories put forward in the past to explain non-Gaussian line profiles, i.e., EEs. Our case study on its own, however, cannot reject these theories; thus, further in-depth studies on the phenomena producing EEs are required.

We summarize broadband observations of the TeV-emitting blazar 1ES 1959+650, including optical R-band observations by the robotic telescopes Super-LOTIS and iTelescope, UV observations by Swift Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope, X-ray observations by the Swift X-ray Telescope, high-energy gamma-ray observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope, and very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations by VERITAS above 315 GeV, all taken between 2012 April 17 and 2012 June 1 (MJD 56034 and 56079). The contemporaneous variability of the broadband spectral energy distribution is explored in the context of a simple synchrotron self Compton (SSC) model. In the SSC emission scenario, we find that the parameters required to represent the high state are significantly different than those in the low state. Motivated by possible evidence of gas in the vicinity of the blazar, we also investigate a reflected emission model to describe the observed variability pattern. This model assumes that the non-thermal emission from the jet is reflected by a nearby cloud of gas, allowing the reflected emission to re-enter the blob and produce an elevated gamma-ray state with no simultaneous elevated synchrotron flux. The model applied here, although not required to explain the observed variability pattern, represents one possible scenario which can describe the observations. As applied to an elevated VHE state of 66% of the Crab Nebula flux, observed on a single night during the observation period, the reflected emission scenario does not support a purely leptonic non-thermal emission mechanism. The reflected emission model does, however, predict a reflected photon field with sufficient energy to enable elevated gamma-ray emission via pion production with protons of energies between 10 and 100 TeV.

We report Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array and Submillimeter Array observations of the infrared-luminous merger NGC 3256, the most luminous galaxy within z = 0.01. Both of the two merger nuclei separated by 5'' (0.8 kpc) have a molecular gas concentration, a nuclear disk, with Σ_mol > 10³ M_☉ pc⁻². The northern nucleus is more massive and is surrounded by molecular spiral arms. Its nuclear disk is face-on, while the southern nuclear disk is almost edge-on. The high-velocity molecular gas in the system can be resolved into two molecular outflows from the two nuclei. The one from the northern nucleus is part of a starburst-driven superwind seen nearly pole-on. Its maximum velocity is >750 km s⁻¹ and its mass outflow rate is >60 M_☉ yr⁻¹ for a conversion factor ${X_{\rm CO}}=N_{\rm H_2}/I_{\rm CO(1-0)}$ of 1 × 10²⁰ cm⁻² (K km s⁻¹)⁻¹. The molecular outflow from the southern nucleus is a highly collimated bipolar jet seen nearly edge-on. Its line-of-sight velocity increases with distance, out to 300 pc from the nucleus, to the maximum de-projected velocity of ∼2000 km s⁻¹ for the estimated inclination and ≳1000 km s⁻¹ taking into account the uncertainty. Its mass outflow rate is estimated to be >50 M_☉ yr⁻¹ for the same X_CO. This southern outflow has indications of being driven by a bipolar radio jet from an active galactic nucleus that recently weakened. The sum of these outflow rates, although subject to the uncertainty in the molecular mass estimate, either exceeds or compares to the total star formation rate. The feedback from nuclear activity through molecular outflows is therefore significant in the gas consumption, and hence evolution, of this system.

We present a comprehensive study of the total X-ray emission from the colliding galaxy pair NGC 2207/IC 2163, based on Chandra, Spitzer, and GALEX data. We detect 28 ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), 7 of which were not detected previously because of X-ray variability. Twelve sources show significant long-term variability, with no correlated spectral changes. Seven sources are transient candidates. One ULX coincides with an extremely blue star cluster (B − V = −0.7). We confirm that the global relation between the number and luminosity of ULXs and the integrated star-formation rate (SFR) of the host galaxy also holds on local scales. We investigate the effects of dust extinction and age on the X-ray binary (XRB) population on subgalactic scales. The distributions of N_X and L_X are peaked at L_IR/L_NUV ∼ 1, which may be associated with an age of ∼10 Myr for the underlying stellar population. We find that approximately one-third of the XRBs are located in close proximity to young star complexes. The luminosity function of the XRBs is consistent with that typical for high-mass XRBs and appears unaffected by variability. We disentangle and compare the X-ray diffuse spectrum with that of the bright XRBs. The hot interstellar medium dominates the diffuse X-ray emission at E ≲ 1 keV and has a temperature $kT=0.28^{+0.05}_{-0.04}$ keV and intrinsic 0.5–2 keV luminosity of $7.9\times 10^{40}\,\rm {erg}\,\rm {s}^{-1}$, a factor of ∼2.3 higher than the average thermal luminosity produced per unit SFR in local star-forming galaxies. The total X-ray output of NGC 2207/IC 2163 is $1.5\times 10^{41}\,\rm {erg}\,\rm {s}^{-1}$, and the corresponding total integrated SFR is 23.7 M_☉ yr⁻¹.

The low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) Cen X-4 is the brightest and closest (<1.2 kpc) quiescent neutron star transient. Previous 0.5–10 keV X-ray observations of Cen X-4 in quiescence identified two spectral components: soft thermal emission from the neutron star atmosphere and a hard power-law tail of unknown origin. We report here on a simultaneous observation of Cen X-4 with NuSTAR (3–79 keV) and XMM-Newton (0.3–10 keV) in 2013 January, providing the first sensitive hard X-ray spectrum of a quiescent neutron star transient. The 0.3–79 keV luminosity was $1.1\times 10^{33}\,D^2_{\rm kpc}$ erg s⁻¹, with ≃60% in the thermal component. We clearly detect a cutoff of the hard spectral tail above 10 keV, the first time such a feature has been detected in this source class. We show that thermal Comptonization and synchrotron shock origins for the hard X-ray emission are ruled out on physical grounds. However, the hard X-ray spectrum is well fit by a thermal bremsstrahlung model with kT_e = 18 keV, which can be understood as arising either in a hot layer above the neutron star atmosphere or in a radiatively inefficient accretion flow. The power-law cutoff energy may be set by the degree of Compton cooling of the bremsstrahlung electrons by thermal seed photons from the neutron star surface. Lower thermal luminosities should lead to higher (possibly undetectable) cutoff energies. We compare Cen X-4's behavior with PSR J1023+0038, IGR J18245−2452, and XSS J12270−4859, which have shown transitions between LMXB and radio pulsar modes at a similar X-ray luminosity.

Using a local N-body simulation, we examine gravitational accretion of ring particles onto moonlet cores in Saturn's rings. We find that gravitational accretion of particles onto moonlet cores is unlikely to occur in the C ring and probably difficult in the inner B ring as well provided that the cores are rigid water ice. Dependence of particle accretion on ring thickness changes when the radial distance from the planet and/or the density of particles is varied: the former determines the size of the core's Hill radius relative to its physical size, while the latter changes the effect of self-gravity of accreted particles. We find that particle accretion onto high-latitude regions of the core surface can occur even if the rings' vertical thickness is much smaller than the core radius, although redistribution of particles onto the high-latitude regions would not be perfectly efficient in outer regions of the rings such as the outer A ring, where the size of the core's Hill sphere in the vertical direction is significantly larger than the core's physical radius. Our results suggest that large boulders recently inferred from observations of transparent holes in the C ring are not formed locally by gravitational accretion, while propeller moonlets in the A ring would be gravitational aggregates formed by particle accretion onto dense cores. Our results also imply that the main bodies of small satellites near the outer edge of Saturn's rings may have been formed in rather thin rings.

Thermal conduction is an important energy transfer and damping mechanism in astrophysical flows. Fourier's law, in which the heat flux is proportional to the negative temperature gradient, leading to temperature diffusion, is a well-known empirical model of thermal conduction. However, entropy diffusion has emerged as an alternative thermal conduction model, despite not ensuring the monotonicity of entropy. This paper investigates the differences between temperature and entropy diffusion for both linear internal gravity waves and weakly nonlinear convection. In addition to simulating the two thermal conduction models with the fully compressible Navier–Stokes equations, we also study their effects in the reduced "soundproof" anelastic and pseudoincompressible (PI) equations. We find that in the linear and weakly nonlinear regime, temperature and entropy diffusion give quantitatively similar results, although there are some larger errors in the PI equations with temperature diffusion due to inaccuracies in the equation of state. Extrapolating our weakly nonlinear results, we speculate that differences between temperature and entropy diffusion might become more important for strongly turbulent convection.

Close-in super-Earths having radii 1–4 R_⊕ may possess hydrogen atmospheres comprising a few percent by mass of their rocky cores. We determine the conditions under which such atmospheres can be accreted by cores from their parent circumstellar disks. Accretion from the nebula is problematic because it is too efficient: we find that 10 M_⊕ cores embedded in solar metallicity disks tend to undergo runaway gas accretion and explode into Jupiters, irrespective of orbital location. The threat of runaway is especially dire at ∼0.1 AU, where solids may coagulate on timescales orders of magnitude shorter than gas clearing times; thus nascent atmospheres on close-in orbits are unlikely to be supported against collapse by planetesimal accretion. The time to runaway accretion is well approximated by the cooling time of the atmosphere's innermost convective zone, whose extent is controlled by where H₂ dissociates. Insofar as the temperatures characterizing H₂ dissociation are universal, timescales for core instability tend not to vary with orbital distance—and to be alarmingly short for 10 M_⊕ cores. Nevertheless, in the thicket of parameter space, we identify two scenarios, not mutually exclusive, that can reproduce the preponderance of percent-by-mass atmospheres for super-Earths at ∼0.1 AU, while still ensuring the formation of Jupiters at ≳ 1 AU. Scenario (a): planets form in disks with dust-to-gas ratios that range from ∼20× solar at 0.1 AU to ∼2× solar at 5 AU. Scenario (b): the final assembly of super-Earth cores from mergers of proto-cores—a process that completes quickly at ∼0.1 AU once begun—is delayed by gas dynamical friction until just before disk gas dissipates completely. Both scenarios predict that the occurrence rate for super-Earths versus orbital distance, and the corresponding rate for Jupiters, should trend in opposite directions, as the former population is transformed into the latter: as gas giants become more frequent from ∼1 to 10 AU, super-Earths should become more rare.

We present the first measurement of the projected correlation function of 485 γ-ray-selected blazars, divided into 175 BL Lacertae (BL Lacs) and 310 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) detected in the 2 year all-sky survey by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope. We find that Fermi BL Lacs and FSRQs reside in massive dark matter halos (DMHs) with log M_h = 13.35$^{+0.20}_{-0.14}$ and log M_h = 13.40$^{+0.15}_{-0.19}$h⁻¹ M_☉, respectively, at low (z ∼ 0.4) and high (z ∼ 1.2) redshift. In terms of clustering properties, these results suggest that BL Lacs and FSRQs are similar objects residing in the same dense environment typical of galaxy groups, despite their different spectral energy distributions, power, and accretion rates. We find no difference in the typical bias and hosting halo mass between Fermi blazars and radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), supporting the unification scheme simply equating radio-loud objects with misaligned blazar counterparts. This similarity in terms of the typical environment they preferentially live in, suggests that blazars tend to occupy the center of DMHs, as already pointed out for radio-loud AGNs. This implies, in light of several projects looking for the γ-ray emission from DM annihilation in galaxy clusters, a strong contamination from blazars to the expected signal from DM annihilation.

Population III supernovae have been of growing interest of late for their potential to directly probe the properties of the first stars, particularly the most energetic events that are visible near the edge of the observable universe. Until now, hypernovae, the unusually energetic Type Ib/c supernovae that are sometimes associated with gamma-ray bursts, have been overlooked as cosmic beacons at the highest redshifts. In this, the latest of a series of studies on Population III supernovae, we present numerical simulations of 25–50 M_☉ hypernovae and their light curves done with the Los Alamos RAGE and SPECTRUM codes. We find that they will be visible at z = 10–15 to the James Webb Space Telescope and z = 4–5 to the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, tracing star formation rates in the first galaxies and at the end of cosmological reionization. If, however, the hypernova crashes into a dense shell ejected by its progenitor, it is expected that a superluminous event will occur that may be seen at z  ∼  20 in the first generation of stars.

Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) imaging of the most powerful lensing clusters provides access to the most magnified distant galaxies. The challenge is to construct lens models capable of describing these complex massive, merging clusters so that individual lensed systems can be reliably identified and their intrinsic properties accurately derived. We apply the free-form lensing method (WSLAP+) to A2744, providing a model independent map of the cluster mass, magnification, and geometric distance estimates to multiply lensed sources. We solve simultaneously for a smooth cluster component on a pixel grid, together with local deflections by the cluster member galaxies. Combining model prediction with photometric redshift measurements, we correct and complete several systems recently claimed and identify four new systems totaling 65 images of 21 systems spanning a redshift range of 1.4 < z < 9.8. The reconstructed mass shows small enhancements in the directions where significant amounts of hot plasma can be seen in X-ray. We compare photometric redshifts with "geometric redshifts," finding a high level of self-consistency. We find excellent agreement between predicted and observed fluxes with a best-fit slope of 0.999 ± 0.013 and an rms of ∼0.25 mag, demonstrating that our magnification correction of the lensed background galaxies is very reliable. Intriguingly, few multiply lensed galaxies are detected beyond z ≃ 7.0, despite the high magnification and the limiting redshift of z ≃ 11.5 permitted by the HFF filters. With the additional HFF clusters, we can better examine the plausibility of any pronounced high-z deficit with potentially important implications for the reionization epoch and the nature of dark matter.

Submillimeter dust polarization measurements of a sample of 50 star-forming regions, observed with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) covering parsec-scale clouds to milliparsec-scale cores, are analyzed in order to quantify the magnetic field importance. The magnetic field misalignment δ—the local angle between magnetic field and dust emission gradient—is found to be a prime observable, revealing distinct distributions for sources where the magnetic field is preferentially aligned with or perpendicular to the source minor axis. Source-averaged misalignment angles 〈|δ|〉 fall into systematically different ranges, reflecting the different source-magnetic field configurations. Possible bimodal 〈|δ|〉 distributions are found for the separate SMA and CSO samples. Combining both samples broadens the distribution with a wide maximum peak at small 〈|δ|〉 values. Assuming the 50 sources to be representative, the prevailing source-magnetic field configuration is one that statistically prefers small magnetic field misalignments |δ|. When interpreting |δ| together with a magnetohydrodynamics force equation, as developed in the framework of the polarization–intensity gradient method, a sample-based log-linear scaling fits the magnetic field tension-to-gravity force ratio 〈Σ_B〉 versus 〈|δ|〉 with 〈Σ_B〉 = 0.116 · exp (0.047 · 〈|δ|〉) ± 0.20 (mean error), providing a way to estimate the relative importance of the magnetic field, only based on measurable field misalignments |δ|. The force ratio Σ_B discriminates systems that are collapsible on average (〈Σ_B〉 < 1) from other molecular clouds where the magnetic field still provides enough resistance against gravitational collapse (〈Σ_B〉 > 1). The sample-wide trend shows a transition around 〈|δ|〉 ≈ 45°. Defining an effective gravitational force ∼1 − 〈Σ_B〉, the average magnetic-field-reduced star formation efficiency is at least a factor of two smaller than the free-fall efficiency. For about one fourth of the sources the average efficiency drops to zero. The force ratio Σ_B can further be linked to the normalized mass-to-flux ratio, yielding an estimate for the latter one without the need of field strength measurements. Across the sample, a transition from magnetically supercritical to subcritcal is observed with growing misalignment 〈|δ|〉.

We analyze the expansion of hydrogen-poor knots and filaments in the born-again planetary nebulae A30 and A78 based on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images obtained almost 20 yr apart. The proper motion of these features generally increases with distance to the central star, but the fractional expansion decreases, i.e., the expansion is not homologous. As a result, there is not a unique expansion age, which is estimated to be 610–950 yr for A30 and 600–1140 yr for A78. The knots and filaments have experienced complex dynamical processes: the current fast stellar wind is mass loaded by the material ablated from the inner knots; the ablated material is then swept up until it shocks the inner edges of the outer, hydrogen-rich nebula. The angular expansion of the outer filaments shows a clear dependence on position angle, indicating that the interaction of the stellar wind with the innermost knots channels the wind along preferred directions. The apparent angular expansion of the innermost knots seems to be dominated by the rocket effect of evaporating gas and by the propagation of the ionization front inside them. Radiation–hydrodynamical simulations show that a single ejection of material followed by a rapid onset of the stellar wind and ionizing flux can reproduce the variety of clumps and filaments at different distances from the central star found in A30 and A78.

Motivated by its importance for modeling dust particle growth in protoplanetary disks, we study turbulence-induced collision statistics of inertial particles as a function of the particle friction time, τ_p. We show that turbulent clustering significantly enhances the collision rate for particles of similar sizes with τ_p corresponding to the inertial range of the flow. If the friction time, τ_{p, h}, of the larger particle is in the inertial range, the collision kernel per unit cross section increases with increasing friction time, τ_{p, l}, of the smaller particle and reaches the maximum at τ_{p, l} = τ_{p, h}, where the clustering effect peaks. This feature is not captured by the commonly used kernel formula, which neglects the effect of clustering. We argue that turbulent clustering helps alleviate the bouncing barrier problem for planetesimal formation. We also investigate the collision velocity statistics using a collision-rate weighting factor to account for higher collision frequency for particle pairs with larger relative velocity. For τ_{p, h} in the inertial range, the rms relative velocity with collision-rate weighting is found to be invariant with τ_{p, l} and scales with τ_{p, h} roughly as ${\propto\!\tau} _{\rm p,h}^{1/2}$. The weighting factor favors collisions with larger relative velocity, and including it leads to more destructive and less sticking collisions. We compare two collision kernel formulations based on spherical and cylindrical geometries. The two formulations give consistent results for the collision rate and the collision-rate weighted statistics, except that the spherical formulation predicts more head-on collisions than the cylindrical formulation.

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is an optical imaging survey covering 104 deg² centered on the Virgo cluster. Currently, the complete survey area has been observed in the u*giz bands and one third in the r band. We present the photometric redshift estimation for the NGVS background sources. After a dedicated data reduction, we perform accurate photometry, with special attention to precise color measurements through point-spread function homogenization. We then estimate the photometric redshifts with the Le Phare and BPZ codes. We add a new prior that extends to i_AB = 12.5 mag. When using the u* griz bands, our photometric redshifts for 15.5 mag ⩽ i ≲ 23 mag or z_phot ≲ 1 galaxies have a bias |Δz| < 0.02, less than 5% outliers, a scatter σ_outl.rej., and an individual error on z_phot that increases with magnitude (from 0.02 to 0.05 and from 0.03 to 0.10, respectively). When using the u*giz bands over the same magnitude and redshift range, the lack of the r band increases the uncertainties in the 0.3 ≲ z_phot ≲ 0.8 range (−0.05 < Δz < −0.02, σ_outl.rej ∼ 0.06, 10%–15% outliers, and z_phot.err. ∼ 0.15). We also present a joint analysis of the photometric redshift accuracy as a function of redshift and magnitude. We assess the quality of our photometric redshifts by comparison to spectroscopic samples and by verifying that the angular auto- and cross-correlation function w(θ) of the entire NGVS photometric redshift sample across redshift bins is in agreement with the expectations.

We present an analysis of the general relativistic Boltzmann equation for radiation, appropriate to the case where particles and photons interact through Thomson scattering, and derive the radiation energy–momentum tensor in the diffusion limit with viscous terms included. Contrary to relativistic generalizations of the viscous stress tensor that appear in the literature, we find that the stress tensor should contain a correction to the comoving energy density proportional to the divergence of the four-velocity, as well as a finite bulk viscosity. These modifications are consistent with the framework of radiation hydrodynamics in the limit of large optical depth, and do not depend on thermodynamic arguments such as the assignment of a temperature to the zeroth-order photon distribution. We perform a perturbation analysis on our equations and demonstrate that as long as the wave numbers do not probe scales smaller than the mean free path of the radiation, the viscosity contributes only decaying, i.e., stable, corrections to the dispersion relations. The astrophysical applications of our equations, including jets launched from super-Eddington tidal disruption events and those from collapsars, are discussed and will be considered further in future papers.

We describe an accurate new method for determining absolute magnitudes, and hence also K-corrections, that is simpler than most previous methods, being based on a quadratic function of just one suitably chosen observed color. The method relies on the extensive and accurate new set of 129 empirical galaxy template spectral energy distributions from Brown et al. A key advantage of our method is that we can reliably estimate random errors in computed absolute magnitudes due to galaxy diversity, photometric error and redshift error. We derive K-corrections for the five Sloan Digital Sky Survey filters and provide parameter tables for use by the astronomical community. Using the New York Value-Added Galaxy Catalog, we compare our K-corrections with those from kcorrect. Our K-corrections produce absolute magnitudes that are generally in good agreement with kcorrect. Absolute griz magnitudes differ by less than 0.02 mag and those in the u band by ∼0.04 mag. The evolution of rest-frame colors as a function of redshift is better behaved using our method, with relatively few galaxies being assigned anomalously red colors and a tight red sequence being observed across the whole 0.0 < z < 0.5 redshift range.

We present the results of recent Chandra High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer and Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph observations of the nearby Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3783, which show a strong, nonvarying X-ray warm absorber and physically related and kinematically varying UV absorption. We compare our new observations to high-resolution, high signal-to-noise archival data from 2001, allowing a unique investigation into the long-term variations of the absorption over a 12 yr period. We find no statistically significant changes in the physical properties of the X-ray absorber, but there is a significant drop of ∼40% in the UV and X-ray flux and a significant flattening of the underlying X-ray power-law slope. Large kinematic changes are seen in the UV absorbers, possibly due to radial deceleration of the material. Similar behavior is not observed in the X-ray data, likely due to its lower-velocity resolution, which shows an outflow velocity of v_out ∼ −655 km s⁻¹ in both epochs. The narrow iron Kα emission line at 6.4 keV shows no variation between epochs, and its measured width places the material producing the line at a radial distance of ∼0.03 pc from the central black hole.

We use dense redshift surveys of nine galaxy clusters at z ∼ 0.2 to compare the galaxy distribution in each system with the projected matter distribution from weak lensing. By combining 2087 new MMT/Hectospec redshifts and the data in the literature, we construct spectroscopic samples within the region of weak-lensing maps of high (70%–89%) and uniform completeness. With these dense redshift surveys, we construct galaxy number density maps using several galaxy subsamples. The shape of the main cluster concentration in the weak-lensing maps is similar to the global morphology of the number density maps based on cluster members alone, mainly dominated by red members. We cross-correlate the galaxy number density maps with the weak-lensing maps. The cross-correlation signal when we include foreground and background galaxies at 0.5z_cl < z < 2z_cl is 10%–23% larger than for cluster members alone at the cluster virial radius. The excess can be as high as 30% depending on the cluster. Cross-correlating the galaxy number density and weak-lensing maps suggests that superimposed structures close to the cluster in redshift space contribute more significantly to the excess cross-correlation signal than unrelated large-scale structure along the line of sight. Interestingly, the weak-lensing mass profiles are not well constrained for the clusters with the largest cross-correlation signal excesses (>20% for A383, A689, and A750). The fractional excess in the cross-correlation signal including foreground and background structures could be a useful proxy for assessing the reliability of weak-lensing cluster mass estimates.

Deep, late-time X-ray observations of the relativistic, engine-driven, type Ic SN 2012ap allow us to probe the nearby environment of the explosion and reveal the unique properties of relativistic supernova explosions (SNe). We find that on a local scale of ∼0.01 pc the environment was shaped directly by the evolution of the progenitor star with a pre-explosion mass-loss rate of $\dot{M} <5 \times 10^{-6}\,{M_{\odot }\,{\rm yr}^{-1}}$, in line with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the other relativistic SN 2009bb. Like sub-energetic GRBs, SN 2012ap is characterized by a bright radio emission and evidence for mildly relativistic ejecta. However, its late-time (δt ≈ 20 days) X-ray emission is ∼100 times fainter than the faintest sub-energetic GRB at the same epoch, with no evidence for late-time central engine activity. These results support theoretical proposals that link relativistic SNe like 2009bb and 2012ap with the weakest observed engine-driven explosions, where the jet barely fails to break out. Furthermore, our observations demonstrate that the difference between relativistic SNe and sub-energetic GRBs is intrinsic and not due to line-of-sight effects. This phenomenology can either be due to an intrinsically shorter-lived engine or to a more extended progenitor in relativistic SNe.

We perform a detailed study of the resolved properties of emission-line galaxies at kiloparsec scales to investigate how small-scale and global properties of galaxies are related. We use a sample of 119 galaxies in the GOODS fields. The galaxies are selected to cover a wide range in morphologies over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1.3. High resolution spectroscopic data from Keck/DEIMOS observations are used to fix the redshift of all the galaxies in our sample. Using the HST/ACS and HST/WFC3 imaging data taken as a part of the CANDELS project, for each galaxy, we perform spectral energy distribution fitting per resolution element, producing resolved rest-frame U − V color, stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), age, and extinction maps. We develop a technique to identify "regions" of statistical significance within individual galaxies, using their rest-frame color maps to select red and blue regions, a broader definition for what are called "clumps" in other works. As expected, for any given galaxy, the red regions are found to have higher stellar mass surface densities and older ages compared to the blue regions. Furthermore, we quantify the spatial distribution of red and blue regions with respect to both redshift and stellar mass, finding that the stronger concentration of red regions toward the centers of galaxies is not a significant function of either redshift or stellar mass. We find that the "main sequence" of star-forming galaxies exists among both red and blue regions inside galaxies, with the median of blue regions forming a tighter relation with a slope of 1.1 ± 0.1 and a scatter of ∼0.2 dex compared to red regions with a slope of 1.3 ± 0.1 and a scatter of ∼0.6 dex. The blue regions show higher specific SFRs (sSFRs) than their red counterparts with the sSFR decreasing since z ∼ 1, driven primarily by the stellar mass surface densities rather than the SFRs at a given resolution element.

We present 279 galaxy cluster candidates at z > 1.3 selected from the 94 deg² Spitzer South Pole Telescope Deep Field (SSDF) survey. We use a simple algorithm to select candidate high-redshift clusters of galaxies based on Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared data combined with shallow all-sky optical data. We identify distant cluster candidates adopting an overdensity threshold that results in a high purity (80%) cluster sample based on tests in the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey of the Boötes field. Our simple algorithm detects all three 1.4 < z ⩽ 1.75 X-ray detected clusters in the Boötes field. The uniqueness of the SSDF survey resides not just in its area, one of the largest contiguous extragalactic fields observed with Spitzer, but also in its deep, multi-wavelength coverage by the South Pole Telescope (SPT), Herschel/SPIRE, and XMM-Newton. This rich data set will allow direct or stacked measurements of Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect decrements or X-ray masses for many of the SSDF clusters presented here, and enable a systematic study of the most distant clusters on an unprecedented scale. We measure the angular correlation function of our sample and find that these candidates show strong clustering. Employing the COSMOS/UltraVista photometric catalog in order to infer the redshift distribution of our cluster selection, we find that these clusters have a comoving number density $n_c = (0.7^{+6.3}_{-0.6}) \times 10^{-7} \; h^{3} \;\mathrm{Mpc}^{-3}$ and a spatial clustering correlation scale length r₀ = (32 ± 7) h⁻¹ Mpc. Assuming our sample is comprised of dark matter halos above a characteristic minimum mass, M_min, we derive that at z = 1.5 these clusters reside in halos larger than $M_{{\rm min}} = 1.5^{+0.9}_{-0.7} \times 10^{14}\; h^{-1} \; M_{\odot }$. We find that the mean mass of our cluster sample is equal to $M_{{\rm mean}} = 1.9^{+1.0}_{-0.8} \times 10^{14}\; h^{-1} \; M_{\odot }$; thus, our sample contains the progenitors of present-day massive galaxy clusters.

Very high energy gamma-rays from extragalactic sources produce pairs from the extragalactic background light, yielding an electron–positron pair beam. This pair beam is unstable to various plasma instabilities, especially the "oblique" instability, which can be the dominant cooling mechanism for the beam. However, recently, it has been claimed that nonlinear Landau damping renders it physically irrelevant by reducing the effective damping rate to a low level. Here we show with numerical calculations that the effective damping rate is 8 × 10⁻⁴ the growth rate of the linear instability, which is sufficient for the "oblique" instability to be the dominant cooling mechanism of these pair beams. In particular, we show that previous estimates of this rate ignored the exponential cutoff in the scattering amplitude at large wave numbers and assumed that the damping of scattered waves entirely depends on collisions, ignoring collisionless processes. We find that the total wave energy eventually grows to approximate equipartition with the beam by increasingly depositing energy into long-wavelength modes. As we have not included the effect of nonlinear wave–wave interactions on these long-wavelength modes, this scenario represents the "worst case" scenario for the oblique instability. As it continues to drain energy from the beam at a faster rate than other processes, we conclude that the "oblique" instability is sufficiently strong to make it the physically dominant cooling mechanism for high-energy pair beams in the intergalactic medium.

We report the first hard X-ray (3–79 keV) observations of the millisecond pulsar (MSP) binary PSR J1023+0038 using NuSTAR. This system has been shown transiting between a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) state and a rotation-powered MSP state. The NuSTAR observations were taken in both LMXB state and rotation-powered state. The source is clearly seen in both states up to ∼79 keV. During the LMXB state, the 3–79 keV flux is about a factor of 10 higher than in the rotation-powered state. The hard X-rays show clear orbital modulation during the X-ray faint rotation-powered state but the X-ray orbital period is not detected in the X-ray bright LMXB state. In addition, the X-ray spectrum changes from a flat power-law spectrum during the rotation-powered state to a steeper power-law spectrum in the LMXB state. We suggest that the hard X-rays are due to the intrabinary shock from the interaction between the pulsar wind and the injected material from the low-mass companion star. During the rotation-powered MSP state, the X-ray orbital modulation is due to Doppler boosting of the shocked pulsar wind. At the LMXB state, the evaporating matter of the accretion disk due to the gamma-ray irradiation from the pulsar stops almost all the pulsar wind, resulting in the disappearance of the X-ray orbital modulation.

We examine He i λ10830 profile morphologies for a sample of 56 Herbig Ae/Be stars (HAEBES). We find significant differences between HAEBES and classical T-Tauri stars (CTTS) in the statistics of both blueshifted absorption (i.e., mass outflows) and redshifted absorption features (i.e., mass infall or accretion). Our results suggest that, in general, Herbig Be (HBe) stars do not accrete material from their inner disks in the same manner as CTTS, which are believed to accrete material via magnetospheric accretion, whereas Herbig Ae (HAe) stars generally show evidence for magnetospheric accretion. We find no evidence in our sample of narrow blueshifted absorption features, which are typical indicators of inner disk winds and are common in He i λ10830 profiles of CTTS. The lack of inner-disk-wind signatures in HAEBES, combined with the paucity of detected magnetic fields on these objects, suggests that accretion through large magnetospheres that truncate the disk several stellar radii above the surface is not as common for HAe and late-type HBe stars as it is for CTTS. Instead, evidence is found for smaller magnetospheres in the maximum redshifted absorption velocities in our HAEBE sample. These velocities are, on average, a smaller fraction of the system escape velocity than is found for CTTS, suggesting accretion is taking place closer to the star. Smaller magnetospheres, and evidence for boundary layer accretion in HBe stars, may explain the less common occurrence of redshifted absorption in HAEBES. Evidence is found that smaller magnetospheres may be less efficient at driving outflows compared to CTTS magnetospheres.

The dominant form of nitrogen provided to most solar system bodies is currently unknown, though available measurements show that the detected nitrogen in solar system rocks and ices is depleted with respect to solar abundances and the interstellar medium. We use a detailed chemical/physical model of the chemical evolution of a protoplanetary disk to explore the evolution and abundance of nitrogen-bearing molecules. Based on this model, we analyze how initial chemical abundances provided as either gas or ice during the early stages of disk formation influence which species become the dominant nitrogen bearers at later stages. We find that a disk with the majority of its initial nitrogen in either atomic or molecular nitrogen is later dominated by atomic and molecular nitrogen as well as NH₃ and HCN ices, where the dominant species varies with disk radius. When nitrogen is initially in gaseous ammonia, it later becomes trapped in ammonia ice except in the outer disk where atomic nitrogen dominates. For a disk with the initial nitrogen in the form of ammonia ice, the nitrogen remains trapped in the ice as NH₃ at later stages. The model in which most of the initial nitrogen is placed in atomic N best matches the ammonia abundances observed in comets. Furthermore, the initial state of nitrogen influences the abundance of N₂H⁺, which has been detected in protoplanetary disks. Strong N₂H⁺ emission is found to be indicative of an N₂ abundance greater than $n_{\rm N_{2}}/n_{\rm H_{2}}> 10^{-6}$ in addition to tracing the CO snow line. Our models also indicate that NO is potentially detectable, with lower N gas abundances leading to higher NO abundances.

We aim at characterizing the structure of the gas and dust around the high-mass X-ray binary GX 301–2, a highly obscured X-ray binary hosting a hypergiant (HG) star and a neutron star, in order to better constrain its evolution. We used Herschel PACS to observe GX 301–2 in the far infrared and completed the spectral energy distribution of the source using published data or catalogs from the optical to the radio range (0.4 to 4 × 10⁴ μm). GX 301–2 is detected for the first time at 70 and 100 μm. We fitted different models of circumstellar (CS) environments to the data. All tested models are statistically acceptable, and consistent with an HG star at ∼3 kpc. We found that the addition of a free–free emission component from the strong stellar wind is required and could dominate the far-infrared flux. Through comparisons with similar systems and discussion on the estimated model parameters, we favor a disk-like CS environment of ∼8 AU that would enshroud the binary system. The temperature goes down to ∼200 K at the edge of the disk, allowing for dust formation. This disk is probably a rimmed viscous disk with an inner rim at the temperature of the dust sublimation temperature (∼1500 K). The similarities between the HG GX 301–2, B[e] supergiants, and the highly obscured X-ray binaries (particularly IGR J16318–4848) are strengthened. GX 301–2 might represent a transition stage in the evolution of massive stars in binary systems, connecting supergiant B[e] systems to luminous blue variables.

We present the first study of high-precision internal proper motions (PMs) in a large sample of globular clusters, based on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data obtained over the past decade with the ACS/WFC, ACS/HRC, and WFC3/UVIS instruments. We determine PMs for over 1.3 million stars in the central regions of 22 clusters, with a median number of ∼60,000 stars per cluster. These PMs have the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the internal kinematics of globular clusters by extending past line-of-sight (LOS) velocity measurements to two- or three-dimensional velocities, lower stellar masses, and larger sample sizes. We describe the reduction pipeline that we developed to derive homogeneous PMs from the very heterogeneous archival data. We demonstrate the quality of the measurements through extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We also discuss the PM errors introduced by various systematic effects and the techniques that we have developed to correct or remove them to the extent possible. We provide in electronic form the catalog for NGC 7078 (M 15), which consists of 77,837 stars in the central 24. We validate the catalog by comparison with existing PM measurements and LOS velocities and use it to study the dependence of the velocity dispersion on radius, stellar magnitude (or mass) along the main sequence, and direction in the plane of the sky (radial or tangential). Subsequent papers in this series will explore a range of applications in globular-cluster science and will also present the PM catalogs for the other sample clusters.

We present ages, [Fe/H] and abundances of the α elements Ca i, Si i, Ti i, Ti ii, and light elements Mg i, Na i, and Al i for 31 globular clusters (GCs) in M31, which were obtained from high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio >60 echelle spectra of their integrated light (IL). All abundances and ages are obtained using our original technique for high-resolution IL abundance analysis of GCs. This sample provides a never before seen picture of the chemical history of M31. The GCs are dispersed throughout the inner and outer halo, from 2.5 kpc < R_M31 < 117 kpc. We find a range of [Fe/H] within 20 kpc of the center of M31, and a constant [Fe/H] ∼  − 1.6 for the outer halo clusters. We find evidence for at least one massive GC in M31 with an age between 1 and 5 Gyr. The α-element ratios are generally similar to the Milky Way GC and field star ratios. We also find chemical evidence for a late-time accretion origin for at least one cluster, which has a different abundance pattern than other clusters at similar metallicity. We find evidence for star-to-star abundance variations in Mg, Na, and Al in the GCs in our sample, and find correlations of Ca, Mg, Na, and possibly Al abundance ratios with cluster luminosity and velocity dispersion, which can potentially be used to constrain GC self-enrichment scenarios. Data presented here were obtained with the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck I telescope.

We present archival Spitzer photometry and spectroscopy and Herschel photometry of the peculiar "Green Valley" elliptical galaxy NGC 3226. The galaxy, which contains a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN), forms a pair with NGC 3227 and is shown to lie in a complex web of stellar and H i filaments. Imaging at 8 and 16 μm reveals a curved plume structure 3 kpc in extent, embedded within the core of the galaxy and coincident with the termination of a 30 kpc long H i tail. In situ star formation associated with the infrared (IR) plume is identified from narrowband Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging. The end of the IR plume coincides with a warm molecular hydrogen disk and dusty ring containing 0.7–1.1 × 10⁷ M_☉ detected within the central kiloparsec. Sensitive upper limits to the detection of cold molecular gas may indicate that a large fraction of the H₂ is in a warm state. Photometry derived from the ultraviolet (UV) to the far-IR shows evidence for a low star-formation rate of ∼0.04 M_☉ yr⁻¹ averaged over the last 100 Myr. A mid-IR component to the spectral energy distribution (SED) contributes ∼20% of the IR luminosity of the galaxy, and is consistent with emission associated with the AGN. The current measured star formation rate is insufficient to explain NGC 3226's global UV–optical "green" colors via the resurgence of star formation in a "red and dead" galaxy. This form of "cold accretion" from a tidal stream would appear to be an inefficient way to rejuvenate early-type galaxies and may actually inhibit star formation.

Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observations of the Type IIn supernova (SN) 2010jl are analyzed, including photometry and spectroscopy in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-IR bands, 26–1128 days after first detection. At maximum, the bolometric luminosity was ∼3 × 10⁴³ erg s⁻¹ and even at 850 days exceeds 10⁴² erg s⁻¹. A near-IR excess, dominating after 400 days, probably originates in dust in the circumstellar medium (CSM). The total radiated energy is ≳ 6.5 × 10⁵⁰ erg, excluding the dust component. The spectral lines can be separated into one broad component that is due to electron scattering and one narrow with expansion velocity ∼100 km s⁻¹ from the CSM. The broad component is initially symmetric around zero velocity but becomes blueshifted after ∼50 days, while remaining symmetric about a shifted centroid velocity. Dust absorption in the ejecta is unlikely to explain the line shifts, and we attribute the shift instead to acceleration by the SN radiation. From the optical lines and the X-ray and dust properties, there is strong evidence for large-scale asymmetries in the CSM. The ultraviolet lines indicate CNO processing in the progenitor, while the optical shows a number of narrow coronal lines excited by the X-rays. The bolometric light curve is consistent with a radiative shock in an r⁻² CSM with a mass-loss rate of $\dot{M}\sim 0.1\ \ M_\odot\,\rm yr^{-1}$. The total mass lost is ≳ 3 M_☉. These properties are consistent with the SN expanding into a CSM characteristic of a luminous blue variable progenitor with a bipolar geometry. The apparent absence of nuclear processing is attributed to a CSM that is still opaque to electron scattering.

Forty-seven nearby main-sequence stars were surveyed with the Keck Interferometer mid-infrared Nulling instrument (KIN) between 2008 and 2011, searching for faint resolved emission from exozodiacal dust. Observations of a subset of the sample have already been reported, focusing essentially on stars with no previously known dust. Here we extend this previous analysis to the whole KIN sample, including 22 more stars with known near- and/or far-infrared excesses. In addition to an analysis similar to that of the first paper of this series, which was restricted to the 8–9 μm spectral region, we present measurements obtained in all 10 spectral channels covering the 8–13 μm instrumental bandwidth. Based on the 8–9 μm data alone, which provide the highest signal-to-noise measurements, only one star shows a large excess imputable to dust emission (η Crv), while four more show a significant (>3σ) excess: β Leo, β UMa, ζ Lep, and γ Oph. Overall, excesses detected by KIN are more frequent around A-type stars than later spectral types. A statistical analysis of the measurements further indicates that stars with known far-infrared (λ ⩾ 70 μm) excesses have higher exozodiacal emission levels than stars with no previous indication of a cold outer disk. This statistical trend is observed regardless of spectral type and points to a dynamical connection between the inner (zodi-like) and outer (Kuiper-Belt-like) dust populations. The measured levels for such stars are clustering close to the KIN detection limit of a few hundred zodis and are indeed consistent with those expected from a population of dust that migrated in from the outer belt by Poynting–Robertson drag. Conversely, no significant mid-infrared excess is found around sources with previously reported near-infrared resolved excesses, which typically have levels of the order of 1% over the photospheric flux. If dust emission is really at play in these near-infrared detections, the absence of a strong mid-infrared counterpart points to populations of very hot and small (submicron) grains piling up very close to the sublimation radius. For solar-type stars with no known infrared excess, likely to be the most relevant targets for a future exo-Earth direct imaging mission, we find that their median zodi level is 12 ± 24 zodis and lower than 60 (90) zodis with 95% (99%) confidence, if a lognormal zodi luminosity distribution is assumed.

Observations of variability can provide valuable information about the processes of cloud formation and dissipation in brown dwarf atmospheres. Here we report the results of an independent analysis of archival data from the Brown dwarf Atmosphere Monitoring (BAM) program. Time series data for 14 L and T dwarfs reported to be significantly variable over timescales of hours were analyzed. We confirm large-amplitude variability (amplitudes >2%) for 4 out of 13 targets and place upper limits of 0.7%–1.6% on variability in the remaining sample. For two targets we find evidence of weak variability at amplitudes of 1.3% and 1.6%. Based on our revised classification of variable objects in the BAM study, we find strong variability outside the L/T transition to be rare at near infrared wavelengths. From a combined sample of 81 L0–T9 dwarfs from the revised BAM sample and the variability survey of Radigan et al., we infer an overall observed frequency for large-amplitude variability outside the L/T transition of 3.2$_{-1.8}^{+2.8}$%, in contrast to 24$^{+11}_{-9}$% for L9–T3.5 spectral types. We conclude that while strong variability is not limited to the L/T transition, it occurs more frequently in this spectral type range, indicative of larger or more highly contrasting cloud features at these spectral types.

We analyzed Kepler short-cadence M dwarf observations. Spectra from the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m telescope identify magnetically active (Hα in emission) stars. The active stars are of mid-M spectral type, have numerous flares, and have well-defined rotational modulation due to starspots. The inactive stars are of early M type, exhibit less starspot signature, and have fewer flares. A Kepler to U-band energy scaling allows comparison of the Kepler flare frequency distributions with previous ground-based data. M dwarfs span a large range of flare frequency and energy, blurring the distinction between active and inactive stars designated solely by the presence of Hα. We analyzed classical and complex (multiple peak) flares on GJ 1243, finding strong correlations between flare energy, amplitude, duration, and decay time, with only a weak dependence on rise time. Complex flares last longer and have higher energy at the same amplitude, and higher energy flares are more likely to be complex. A power law fits the energy distribution for flares with log $E_{K_p} \gt$ 31 erg, but the predicted number of low-energy flares far exceeds the number observed, at energies where flares are still easily detectable, indicating that the power-law distribution may flatten at low energy. There is no correlation of flare occurrence or energy with starspot phase, the flare waiting time distribution is consistent with flares occurring randomly in time, and the energies of consecutive flares are uncorrelated. These observations support a scenario where many independent active regions on the stellar surface are contributing to the observed flare rate.

We present the largest sample of flares ever compiled for a single M dwarf, the active M4 star GJ 1243. Over 6100 individual flare events, with energies ranging from 10²⁹ to 10³³ erg, are found in 11 months of 1 minute cadence data from Kepler. This sample is unique for its completeness and dynamic range. We have developed automated tools for finding flares in short-cadence Kepler light curves, and performed extensive validation and classification of the sample by eye. From this pristine sample of flares we generate a median flare template. This template shows that two exponential cooling phases are present during the white-light flare decay, providing fundamental constraints for models of flare physics. The template is also used as a basis function to decompose complex multi-peaked flares, allowing us to study the energy distribution of these events. Only a small number of flare events are not well fit by our template. We find that complex, multi-peaked flares occur in over 80% of flares with a duration of 50 minutes or greater. The underlying distribution of flare durations for events 10 minutes and longer appears to follow a broken power law. Our results support the idea that sympathetic flaring may be responsible for some complex flare events.

Abundances of low-metallicity stars offer a unique opportunity to understand the contribution and conditions of the different processes that synthesize heavy elements. Many old, metal-poor stars show a robust abundance pattern for elements heavier than Ba, and a less robust pattern between Sr and Ag. Here we probe if two nucleosynthesis processes are sufficient to explain the stellar abundances at low metallicity, and we carry out a site independent approach to separate the contribution from these two processes or components to the total observationally derived abundances. Our approach provides a method to determine the contribution of each process to the production of elements such as Sr, Zr, Ba, and Eu. We explore the observed star-to-star abundance scatter as a function of metallicity that each process leads to. Moreover, we use the deduced abundance pattern of one of the nucleosynthesis components to constrain the astrophysical conditions of neutrino-driven winds from core-collapse supernovae.

We present the iron abundance of 24 asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, members of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, obtained with high-resolution spectra collected with the FEROS spectrograph at the MPG/ESO 2.2 m Telescope. We find that the iron abundances derived from neutral lines (with a mean value [Fe i/H] =−0.94 ± 0.01, σ = 0.08 dex) are systematically lower than those derived from single ionized lines ([Fe ii/H] =−0.83 ± 0.01, σ = 0.05 dex). Only the latter are in agreement with those obtained for a sample of red giant branch (RGB) cluster stars, for which the Fe i and Fe ii lines provide the same iron abundance. This finding suggests that non-local thermodynamical equilibrium (NLTE) effects driven by overionization mechanisms are present in the atmosphere of AGB stars and significantly affect the Fe i lines while leaving Fe ii features unaltered. On the other hand, the very good ionization equilibrium found for RGB stars indicates that these NLTE effects may depend on the evolutionary stage. We discuss the impact of this finding on both the chemical analysis of AGB stars and on the search for evolved blue stragglers.

We present clustering measurements and halo masses of star-forming galaxies at 0.2 < z < 1.0. After excluding active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we construct a sample of 22,553 24 μm sources selected from 8.42 deg² of the Spitzer MIPS AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey of Boötes. Mid-infrared imaging allows us to observe galaxies with the highest star formation rates (SFRs), less biased by dust obscuration afflicting the optical bands. We find that the galaxies with the highest SFRs have optical colors that are redder than typical blue cloud galaxies, with many residing within the green valley. At z > 0.4 our sample is dominated by luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs, L_TIR > 10¹¹ L_☉) and is composed entirely of LIRGs and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs, L_TIR > 10¹² L_☉) at z > 0.6. We observe weak clustering of r₀ ≈ 3–6 h⁻¹ Mpc for almost all of our star-forming samples. We find that the clustering and halo mass depend on L_TIR at all redshifts, where galaxies with higher L_TIR (hence higher SFRs) have stronger clustering. Galaxies with the highest SFRs at each redshift typically reside within dark matter halos of M_halo ≈ 10^12.9 h⁻¹ M_☉. This is consistent with a transitional halo mass, above which star formation is largely truncated, although we cannot exclude that ULIRGs reside within higher mass halos. By modeling the clustering evolution of halos, we connect our star-forming galaxy samples to their local descendants. Most star-forming galaxies at z < 1.0 are the progenitors of L ≲ 2.5 L_* blue galaxies in the local universe, but star-forming galaxies with the highest SFRs (L_TIR ≳ 10^11.7 L_☉) at 0.6 < z < 1.0 are the progenitors of early-type galaxies in denser group environments.

It has been proposed that the (stellar) mass–(gas) metallicity relation of galaxies exhibits a secondary dependence on star formation rate (SFR), and that the resulting M_*–Z–SFR relation may be redshift-invariant, i.e., "fundamental." However, conflicting results on the character of the SFR dependence, and whether it exists, have been reported. To gain insight into the origins of the conflicting results, we (1) devise a non-parametric, astrophysically motivated analysis framework based on the offset from the star-forming ("main") sequence at a given M_* (relative specific SFR); (2) apply this methodology and perform a comprehensive re-analysis of the local M_*–Z–SFR relation, based on SDSS, GALEX, and WISE data; and (3) study the impact of sample selection and of using different metallicity and SFR indicators. We show that metallicity is anti-correlated with specific SFR regardless of the indicators used. We do not find that the relation is spurious due to correlations arising from biased metallicity measurements or fiber aperture effects. We emphasize that the dependence is weak/absent for massive galaxies (log M_* > 10.5), and that the overall scatter in the M_*–Z–SFR relation does not greatly decrease from the M_*–Z relation. We find that the dependence is stronger for the highest SSFR galaxies above the star-forming sequence. This two-mode behavior can be described with a broken linear fit in 12+log(O/H) versus log (SFR/M_*), at a given M_*. Previous parameterizations used for comparative analysis with higher redshift samples that do not account for the more detailed behavior of the local M_*–Z–SFR relation may incorrectly lead to the conclusion that those samples follow a different relationship.

We use the Zurich Environmental Study database to investigate the environmental dependence of the merger fraction Γ and merging galaxy properties in a sample of ∼1300 group galaxies with M > 10^9.2 M_☉ and 0.05 < z < 0.0585. In all galaxy mass bins investigated in our study, we find that Γ decreases by a factor of ∼2–3 in groups with halo masses M_HALO > 10^13.5 M_☉ relative to less massive systems, indicating a suppression of merger activity in large potential wells. In the fiducial case of relaxed groups only, we measure a variation of ΔΓ/Δlog (M_HALO) ∼ −0.07 dex⁻¹, which is almost independent of galaxy mass and merger stage. At galaxy masses >10^10.2 M_☉, most mergers are dry accretions of quenched satellites onto quenched centrals, leading to a strong increase of Γ with decreasing group-centric distance at these mass scales. Both satellite and central galaxies in these high-mass mergers do not differ in color and structural properties from a control sample of nonmerging galaxies of equal mass and rank. At galaxy masses of <10^10.2 M_☉ where we mostly probe satellite–satellite pairs and mergers between star-forming systems close pairs (projected distance <10–20 kpc) show instead ∼2 × enhanced (specific) star formation rates and ∼1.5 × larger sizes than similar mass, nonmerging satellites. The increase in both size and star formation rate leads to similar surface star formation densities in the merging and control-sample satellite populations.

We present the first results from our Hubble Space Telescope brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) survey of seven central supergiant cluster galaxies and their globular cluster (GC) systems. We measure a total of 48,000 GCs in all seven galaxies, representing the largest single GC database. We find that a log-normal shape accurately matches the observed the luminosity function (LF) of the GCs down to the globular cluster luminosity function turnover point, which is near our photometric limit. In addition, the LF has a virtually identical shape in all seven galaxies. Our data underscore the similarity in the formation mechanism of massive star clusters in diverse galactic environments. At the highest luminosities (L ≳ 10⁷L_☉), we find small numbers of "superluminous" objects in five of the galaxies; their luminosity and color ranges are at least partly consistent with those of ultra-compact dwarfs. Last, we find preliminary evidence that in the outer halo (R ≳ 20 kpc), the LF turnover point shows a weak dependence on projected distance, scaling as L₀ ∼ R^−0.2, while the LF dispersion remains nearly constant.

With the newly available photometric images at 250 and 500 μm from the Herschel Space Observatory, we study quantitative correlations over a sub-kiloparsec scale among three distinct emission components in the interstellar medium of the nearby spiral galaxy M 81 (NGC 3031): (1) I₈ or I₂₄, the surface brightness of the mid-infrared emission observed in the SpitzerSpace Telescope 8 or 24 μm band, with I₈ and I₂₄ being dominated by the emissions from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and very small grains (VSGs) of dust, respectively; (2) I₅₀₀, that of the cold dust continuum emission in the Herschel Space Observatory 500 μm band, dominated by the emission from large dust grains heated by evolved stars; and (3) I_Hα, a nominal surface brightness of the Hα line emission, from gas ionized by newly formed massive stars. The results from our correlation study, free from any assumption on or modeling of dust emissivity law or dust temperatures, present solid evidence for significant heating of PAHs and VSGs by evolved stars. In the case of M 81, about 67% (48%) of the 8 μm (24 μm ) emission derives its heating from evolved stars, with the remainder attributed to radiation heating associated with ionizing stars.

Sunspot groups and bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) serve as an observational diagnostic of the solar cycle. We use Debrecen Photohelographic Data (DPD) from 1974–2014 that determined sunspot tilt angles from daily white light observations, and data provided by Li & Ulrich that determined sunspot magnetic tilt angle using Mount Wilson magnetograms from 1974–2012. The magnetograms allowed for BMR tilt angles that were anti-Hale in configuration, so tilt values ranged from 0 to 360° rather than the more common ±90°. We explore the visual representation of magnetic tilt angles on a traditional butterfly diagram by plotting the mean area-weighted latitude of umbral activity in each bipolar sunspot group, including tilt information. The large scatter of tilt angles over the course of a single cycle and hemisphere prevents Joy's law from being visually identified in the tilt–butterfly diagram without further binning. The average latitude of anti-Hale regions does not differ from the average latitude of all regions in both hemispheres. The distribution of anti-Hale sunspot tilt angles are broadly distributed between 0 and 360° with a weak preference for east–west alignment 180° from their expected Joy's law angle. The anti-Hale sunspots display a log-normal size distribution similar to that of all sunspots, indicating no preferred size for anti-Hale sunspots. We report that 8.4% ± 0.8% of all bipolar sunspot regions are misclassified as Hale in traditional catalogs. This percentage is slightly higher for groups within 5° of the equator due to the misalignment of the magnetic and heliographic equators.

We have developed a procedure for observing and tracking proper motions of faint XUV coronal intensity on the Sun and have applied this procedure to study the collective motions of cellular plumes and the shorter-period waves in sunspots. Our space/time maps of cellular plumes show a series of tracks with the same 5–8 minute repetition times and ∼100 km s⁻¹ sky-plane speeds found previously in active-region fans and in coronal hole plumes. By synchronizing movies and space/time maps, we find that the tracks are produced by elongated ejections from the unipolar flux concentrations at the bases of the cellular plumes and that the phases of these ejections are uncorrelated from cell to cell. Thus, the large-scale motion is not a continuous flow, but is more like a system of independent conveyor belts all moving in the same direction along the magnetic field. In contrast, the proper motions in sunspots are clearly waves resulting from periodic disturbances in the sunspot umbras. The periods are ∼2.6 minutes, but the sky-plane speeds and wavelengths depend on the heights of the waves above the sunspot. In the chromosphere, the waves decelerate from 35–45 km s⁻¹ in the umbra to 7–8 km s⁻¹ toward the outer edge of the penumbra, but in the corona, the waves accelerate to ∼60–100 km s⁻¹. Because chromospheric and coronal tracks originate from the same space/time locations, the coronal waves must emerge from the same umbral flashes that produce the chromospheric waves.

We study the time evolution of a large-scale magnetic flux threading an accretion disk. The induction equation of the mean poloidal field is solved under the standard viscous disk model. Magnetic flux evolution is controlled by two timescales: one is the timescale of the inward advection of the magnetic flux, τ_adv. This is induced by the dragging of the flux by the accreting gas. The other is the outward diffusion timescale of the magnetic flux τ_dif. We consider diffusion due to the Ohmic resistivity. These timescales can be significantly different from the disk viscous timescale τ_disk. The behaviors of the magnetic flux evolution are quite different depending on the magnitude relationship of the timescales τ_adv, τ_dif, and τ_disk. The most interesting phenomena occur when τ_adv ≪ τ_dif, τ_disk. In such a case, the magnetic flux distribution approaches a quasi-steady profile much faster than the viscous evolution of the gas disk, and the magnetic flux has also been tightly bundled to the inner part of the disk. In the inner part, although the poloidal magnetic field becomes much stronger than the interstellar magnetic field, the field strength is limited to the maximum value that is analytically given by our previous work. We also find a condition for the initial large magnetic flux, which is a fossil of the magnetic field dragging during the early phase of star formation that survives for a duration in which significant gas disk evolution proceeds.

The origin of magnetic fields in galaxy clusters is still an unsolved problem that is largely due to our poor understanding of initial seed magnetic fields. If the seed magnetic fields have primordial origins, it is likely that large-scale pervasive magnetic fields were present before the formation of the large-scale structure. On the other hand, if they were ejected from astrophysical bodies, then they were highly localized in space at the time of injection. In this paper, using turbulence dynamo models for high magnetic Prandtl number fluids, we find constraints on the seed magnetic fields. The hydrodynamic Reynolds number based on the Spitzer viscosity in the intracluster medium (ICM) is believed to be less than O(10²), while the magnetic Reynolds number can be much larger. In this case, if the seed magnetic fields have primordial origins, they should be stronger than O(10⁻¹¹)G, which is very close to the upper limit of O(10⁻⁹)G set by the cosmic microwave background observations. On the other hand, if the seed magnetic fields were ejected from astrophysical bodies, any seed magnetic fields stronger than O(10⁻⁹)G can safely magnetize the ICM. Therefore, it is less likely that primordial magnetic fields are the direct origin of present-day magnetic fields in the ICM.

We mapped 3 mm continuum and line emission from the starburst galaxy M82 using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. We targeted the HCN, HCO⁺, HNC, CS, and HC₃N lines, but here we focus on the HCN and HCO⁺ emission. The map covers a field of 12 with an ≈5'' resolution. The HCN and HCO⁺ observations are short spacings corrected. The molecular gas in M82 had been previously found to be distributed in a molecular disk, coincident with the central starburst, and a galactic scale outflow which originates in the central starburst. With the new short spacings-corrected maps we derive some of the properties of the dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. From the HCN and HCO⁺J = (1–0) line emission, and under the assumptions of the gas being optically thin and in local thermodynamic equilibrium, we place lower limits on the amount of dense molecular gas in the base of the outflow. The lower limits are 7 × 10⁶ M_☉ and 21 × 10⁶ M_☉, or ≳ 2% of the total molecular mass in the outflow. The kinematics and spatial distribution of the dense gas outside the central starburst suggests that it is being expelled through chimneys. Assuming a constant outflow velocity, the derived outflow rate of dense molecular gas is ⩾0.3 M_☉ yr⁻¹, which would lower the starburst lifetime by ⩾5%. The energy required to expel this mass of dense gas is (1–10) × 10⁵² erg.

An ionization front (IF) surrounding an H ii region is a sharp interface where a cold neutral gas makes the transition to a warm ionized phase by absorbing UV photons from central stars. We investigate the instability of a plane-parallel D-type IF threaded by parallel magnetic fields, by neglecting the effects of recombination within the ionized gas. We find that weak D-type IFs always have the post-IF magnetosonic Mach number $\mathcal {M}_{\rm M2} \le 1$. For such fronts, magnetic fields increase the maximum propagation speed of the IFs, while reducing the expansion factor α by a factor of 1 + 1/(2β₁) compared to the unmagnetized case, with β₁ denoting the plasma beta in the pre-IF region. IFs become unstable to distortional perturbations owing to gas expansion across the fronts, exactly analogous to the Darrieus–Landau instability of ablation fronts in terrestrial flames. The growth rate of the IF instability is proportional linearly to the perturbation wavenumber, as well as the upstream flow speed, and approximately to α^1/2. The IF instability is stabilized by gas compressibility and becomes completely quenched when the front is D-critical. The instability is also stabilized by magnetic pressure when the perturbations propagate in the direction perpendicular to the fields. When the perturbations propagate in the direction parallel to the fields, on the other hand, it is magnetic tension that reduces the growth rate, completely suppressing the instability when $\mathcal {M}_{\rm M2}^2 < 2/(2{\beta} _1 - 1)$. When the front experiences an acceleration, the IF instability cooperates with the Rayleigh–Taylor instability to make the front more unstable.

We present a detailed stellar population analysis for a sample of 24 early-type galaxies (ETGs) belonging to the rich cluster RX J0152.7-1357 at z = 0.83. We have derived the age, metallicity, abundance pattern, and star formation history (SFH) for each galaxy individually to further characterize this intermediate-z reference cluster. We then study how these stellar population parameters depend on the local environment. This provides a better understanding on the formation timescales and subsequent evolution of the substructures in this cluster. We have also explored the evolutionary link between z ∼ 0.8 ETGs and those in the local universe by comparing the trends that the stellar population parameters followed with galaxy velocity dispersion at each epoch. We find that the ETGs in Coma are consistent with being the (passively evolving) descendants of the ETG population in RX J10152.7-1357. Furthermore, our results favor a downsizing picture, where the subclumps centers were formed first. These central parts contain the most massive galaxies, which formed the bulk of their stars in a short, burst-like event at high z. On the contrary, the cluster outskirts are populated with less-massive, smaller galaxies that show a wider variety of SFHs. In general, they present extended star formation episodes over cosmic time, which seems to be related to their posterior incorporation into the cluster around 4 Gyr after the initial event of formation.

We have been using the 0.76 m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory to optically monitor a sample of 157 blazars that are bright in gamma-rays being detected with high significance (⩾10σ) in one year by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We attempt to observe each source on a three-day cadence with KAIT, subject to weather and seasonal visibility. The gamma-ray coverage is essentially continuous. KAIT observations extend over much of the five-year Fermi mission for several objects, and most have >100 optical measurements spanning the last three years. These blazars (flat-spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects) exhibit a wide range of flaring behavior. Using the discrete correlation function (DCF), here we search for temporal relationships between optical and gamma-ray light curves in the 40 brightest sources in hopes of placing constraints on blazar acceleration and emission zones. We find strong optical–gamma-ray correlation in many of these sources at time delays of ∼1 to ∼10 days, ranging between −40 and +30 days. A stacked average DCF of the 40 sources verifies this correlation trend, with a peak above 99% significance indicating a characteristic time delay consistent with 0 days. These findings strongly support the widely accepted leptonic models of blazar emission. However, we also find examples of apparently uncorrelated flares (optical flares with no gamma-ray counterpart and gamma-ray flares with no optical counterpart) that challenge simple, one-zone models of blazar emission. Moreover, we find that flat-spectrum radio quasars tend to have gamma-rays leading the optical, while intermediate- and high-synchrotron peak blazars with the most significant peaks have smaller lags/leads. It is clear that long-term monitoring at high cadence is necessary to reveal the underlying physical correlation.

We present Keck-Adaptive Optics and Hubble Space Telescope high resolution near-infrared (IR) imaging for 500 μm bright candidate lensing systems identified by the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey and Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey. Out of 87 candidates with near-IR imaging, 15 (∼17%) display clear near-IR lensing morphologies. We present near-IR lens models to reconstruct and recover basic rest-frame optical morphological properties of the background galaxies from 12 new systems. Sources with the largest near-IR magnification factors also tend to be the most compact, consistent with the size bias predicted from simulations and previous lensing models for submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). For four new sources that also have high-resolution submillimeter maps, we test for differential lensing between the stellar and dust components and find that the 880 μm magnification factor (μ₈₈₀) is ∼1.5 times higher than the near-IR magnification factor (μ_NIR), on average. We also find that the stellar emission is ∼2 times more extended in size than dust. The rest-frame optical properties of our sample of Herschel-selected lensed SMGs are consistent with those of unlensed SMGs, which suggests that the two populations are similar.

In the last decade, the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) has been intricately linked to galaxy formation and evolution and is a key ingredient in the assembly of galaxies. To investigate the origin of SMBHs, we perform cosmological simulations that target the direct collapse black hole seed formation scenario in the presence of two different strong Lyman–Werner (LW) background fields. These simulations include the X-ray irradiation from a central massive black hole (MBH), H₂ self-shielding, and stellar feedback from metal-free and metal-enriched stars. We find in both simulations that local X-ray feedback induces metal-free star formation ∼0.5 Myr after the MBH forms. The MBH accretion rate reaches a maximum of 10⁻³M_☉ yr⁻¹ in both simulations. However, the duty cycle differs and is derived to be 6% and 50% for the high and low LW cases, respectively. The MBH in the high LW case grows only ∼6% in 100 Myr compared to 16% in the low LW case. We find that the maximum accretion rate is determined by the local gas thermodynamics, whereas the duty cycle is determined by the large-scale gas dynamics and gas reservoir. We conclude that radiative feedback from the central MBH plays an important role in star formation in the nuclear regions and stifling initial MBH growth relative to the typical Eddington rate argument, and that initial MBH growth might be affected by the local LW radiation field.