Table of contents

A solar type-I noise storm is produced by accelerated particle beams generated at active regions undergoing magnetic field restructuring. Their intensity varies by orders of magnitude within subsecond and sub-MHz scales. But the morphological evolution of these sources is not studied at these scales due to the lack of required imaging cadence and fidelity in meterwave bands. Using data from the Murchison Widefield Array, this work explores the coevolution of size, sky-orientation, and intensity of a noise storm source associated with a weak microflare. This work presents the discovery of two correlated modes of evolution in the source parameters: a sausage like "S" mode where the source intensity and size show an anticorrelated evolution; and a torsional like "T" mode where the source size and sky-orientation show a correlated evolution. A flare mediated mode conversion is observed from "T" to "S" for the first time in these sources. These results support the idea of build up of magnetic stress energy in braided active region loops, which later become unstable causing flares and particle acceleration until they relax to a minimally braided state. The discovered mode conversion can be a future diagnostic for such events.

Thousands of transiting exoplanets have already been detected orbiting a wide range of host stars, including the first planets that could potentially be similar to Earth. The upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes and the James Webb Space Telescope will enable the first searches for signatures of life in transiting exoplanet atmospheres. Here, we quantify the strength of spectral features in transit that could indicate a biosphere similar to the modern Earth on exoplanets orbiting a wide grid of host stars (F0 to M8) with effective temperatures between 2500 and 7000 K: transit depths vary between about 6000 ppm (M8 host) to 30 ppm (F0 host) due to the different sizes of the host stars. CO₂ possess the strongest spectral features in transit between 0.4 and 20 μm. The atmospheric biosignature pairs O₂+CH₄ and O₃+CH₄—which identify Earth as a living planet—are most prominent for Sun-like and cooler host stars in transit spectra of modern Earth analogs. Assessing biosignatures and water on such planets orbiting hotter stars than the Sun will be extremely challenging even for high-resolution observations. All high-resolution transit spectra and model profiles are available online: they provide a tool for observers to prioritize exoplanets for transmission spectroscopy, test atmospheric retrieval algorithms, and optimize observing strategies to find life in the cosmos. In the search for life in the cosmos, transiting planets provide the first opportunity to discover whether or not we are alone, with this database as one of the keys to optimize the search strategies.

The jet composition and radiative efficiency of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are poorly constrained from the data. If the jet composition is matter-dominated (i.e., a fireball), the GRB prompt emission spectra would include a dominant thermal component originating from the fireball photosphere and a nonthermal component presumably originating from internal shocks whose radii are greater than the photosphere radius. We propose a method to directly dissect the GRB fireball energy budget into three components and measure their values by combining the prompt emission and early afterglow data. The measured parameters include the initial dimensionless specific enthalpy density (η), bulk Lorentz factors at the photosphere radius (Γ_ph) and before fireball deceleration (Γ₀), the amount of mass loading (M), and the GRB radiative efficiency (η_γ). All the parameters can be derived from the data for a GRB with a dominant thermal spectral component, a deceleration bump feature in the early afterglow lightcurve, and a measured redshift. The results only weakly depend on the density n of the interstellar medium when the composition ${ \mathcal Y }$ parameter (typically unity) is specified.

Arcades of flare loops form as a consequence of magnetic reconnection powering solar flares and eruptions. We analyze the morphology and evolution of flare arcades that formed during five well-known eruptive flares. We show that the arcades have a common saddle-like shape. The saddles occur despite the fact that the flares were of different classes (C to X), occurred in different magnetic environments, and were observed in various projections. The saddles are related to the presence of longer, relatively higher, and inclined flare loops, consistently observed at the ends of the arcades, which we term "cantles." Our observations indicate that cantles typically join straight portions of flare ribbons with hooked extensions of the conjugate ribbons. The origin of the cantles is investigated in stereoscopic observations of the 2011 May 9 eruptive flare carried out by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and Extreme Ultraviolet Imager. The mutual separation of the instruments led to ideal observational conditions allowing for simultaneous analysis of the evolving cantle and the underlying ribbon hook. Based on our analysis we suggest that the formation of one of the cantles can be explained by magnetic reconnection between the erupting structure and its overlying arcades. We propose that the morphology of flare arcades can provide information about the reconnection geometries in which the individual flare loops originate.

The latest study has reported that plasma emission can be generated by energetic electrons of Dory–Guest–Harris distribution via the electron cyclotron maser instability (ECMI) in plasmas characterized by a large ratio of plasma oscillation frequency to electron gyro-frequency (ω_pe/Ω_ce). In our study, on the basis of the ECMI-plasma emission mechanism, we examine the double plasma resonance (DPR) effect and the corresponding plasma emission at both harmonic (H) and fundamental (F) bands using particle-in-cell simulations with various ω_pe/Ω_ce. This allows us to directly simulate the feature of the zebra pattern (ZP) observed in solar radio bursts for the first time. We find that (1) the simulations reproduce the DPR effect nicely for the upper hybrid and Z modes, as seen from their variation of intensity and linear growth rate with ω_pe/Ω_ce, (2) the intensity of the H emission is stronger than that of the F emission by ∼2 orders of magnitude and varies periodically with increasing ω_pe/Ω_ce, while the F emission is too weak to be significant (therefore, we suggest that it is the H emission accounting for solar ZPs), (3) the peak-valley contrast of the total intensity of H is ∼4, and the peak lies around integer values of ω_pe/Ω_ce (=10 and 11) for the present parameter setup. We also evaluate the effect of energy of energetic electrons on the characteristics of ECMI-excited waves and plasma radiation. The study provides novel insight on the physical origin of ZPs of solar radio bursts.

As exoplanetary science matures into its third decade, we are increasingly offered the possibility of pre-existing, archival observations for newly detected candidates. This is particularly poignant for the TESS mission, whose survey spans bright, nearby dwarf stars in both hemispheres—precisely the types of sources targeted by previous radial velocity (RV) surveys. On this basis, we investigated whether any of the TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs) coincided with such observations, from which we find 18 single-planet candidate systems. Of these, one exhibits an RV signature that has the correct period and phase matching the transiting planetary candidates with a false-alarm probability of less than 1%. After further checks, we exploit this fact to validate HD 183579b (TOI-1055b). This planet is <4 R_⊕ and has better than 33% planetary mass measurements, thus advancing TESS' primary objective of finding 50 such worlds. We find that this planet is among the most accessible small transiting planets for atmospheric characterization. Our work highlights that the efforts to confirm and even precisely measure the masses of new transiting planet candidates need not always depend on acquiring new observations—in some instances, these tasks can be completed with existing data.

The scaling of the turbulent spectra provides a key measurement that allows us to discriminate between different theoretical predictions of turbulence. In the solar wind, this has driven a large number of studies dedicated to this issue using in situ data from various orbiting spacecraft. While a semblance of consensus exists regarding the scaling in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and dispersive ranges, the precise scaling in the transition range and the actual physical mechanisms that control it remain open questions. Using the high-resolution data in the inner heliosphere from the Parker Solar Probe mission, we find that the sub-ion scales (i.e., at the frequency f ∼ [2, 9] Hz) follow a power-law spectrum f^α with a spectral index α varying between −3 and −5.7. Our results also show that there is a trend toward an anticorrelation between the spectral slopes and the power amplitudes at the MHD scales, in agreement with previous studies: the higher the power amplitude the steeper the spectrum at sub-ion scales. A similar trend toward an anticorrelation between steep spectra and increasing normalized cross helicity is found, in agreement with previous theoretical predictions about the imbalanced solar wind. We discuss the ubiquitous nature of the ion transition range in solar wind turbulence in the inner heliosphere.

We report three new FRBs discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), namely FRB 181017.J0036+11, FRB 181118, and FRB 181130, through the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS). Together with FRB 181123, which was reported earlier, all four FAST-discovered FRBs share the same characteristics of low fluence (≤0.2 Jy ms) and high dispersion measure (DM, >1000 pc cm⁻³), consistent with the anticorrelation between DM and fluence of the entire FRB population. FRB 181118 and FRB 181130 exhibit band-limited features. FRB 181130 is prominently scattered (τ_s ≃ 8 ms) at 1.25 GHz. FRB 181017.J0036+11 has full-bandwidth emission with a fluence of 0.042 Jy ms, which is one of the faintest FRB sources detected so far. CRAFTS has started to build a new sample of FRBs that fills the region for more distant and fainter FRBs in the fluence–DM_E diagram, previously out of reach of other surveys. The implied all-sky event rate of FRBs is ${1.24}_{-0.90}^{+1.94}\times {10}^{5}$ sky⁻¹ day⁻¹ at the 95% confidence interval above 0.0146 Jy ms. We also demonstrate here that the probability density function of CRAFTS FRB detections is sensitive to the assumed intrinsic FRB luminosity function and cosmological evolution, which may be further constrained with more discoveries.

We study X-ray spectra from the outburst rise of the accreting black hole binary MAXI J1820+070. We find that models having the disk inclinations within those of either the binary or the jet imply significant changes of the accretion disk inner radius during the luminous part of the hard spectral state, with that radius changing from >100 to ∼10 gravitational radii. The main trend is a decrease with the decreasing spectral hardness. Our analysis requires the accretion flow to be structured, with at least two components with different spectral slopes. The harder component dominates the bolometric luminosity and produces strong, narrow, X-ray reflection features. The softer component is responsible for the underlying broader reflection features. The data are compatible with the harder component having a large scale height, located downstream the disk truncation radius, and reflecting mostly from remote parts of the disk. The softer component forms a corona above the disk up to some transition radius. Our findings can explain the changes of the characteristic variability timescales, found in other works, as being driven by the changes of the disk characteristic radii.

The metastable helium line at 1083 nm can be used to probe the extended upper atmospheres of close-in exoplanets and thus provide insight into their atmospheric mass loss, which is likely to be significant in sculpting their population. We used an ultra-narrow band filter centered on this line to observe two transits of the low-density gas giant HAT-P-18b, using the 200'' Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory, and report the detection of its extended upper atmosphere. We constrain the excess absorption to be 0.46% ± 0.12% in our 0.635 nm bandpass, exceeding the transit depth from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) by 3.9σ. If we fit this signal with a 1D Parker wind model, we find that it corresponds to an atmospheric mass loss rate between ${8.3}_{-1.9}^{+2.8}\times {10}^{-5}\,{M}_{{\rm{J}}}$ Gyr⁻¹ and ${2.63}_{-0.64}^{+0.46}\times {10}^{-3}\,{M}_{{\rm{J}}}$ Gyr⁻¹ for thermosphere temperatures ranging from 4000 K to 13,000 K, respectively. With a J magnitude of 10.8, this is the faintest system for which such a measurement has been made to date, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach for surveying mass loss on a diverse sample of close-in gas giant planets.

We present a detailed study of the molecular gas content and stellar population properties of three massive galaxies at 1 < z < 1.3 that are in different stages of quenching. The galaxies were selected to have quiescent optical/near-infrared spectral energy distribution and relatively bright emission at 24 μm, and show remarkably diverse properties. CO emission from each of the three galaxies is detected in deep NOEMA observations, allowing us to derive molecular gas fractions M_gas/M_* of 13%–23%. We also reconstruct the star formation histories by fitting models to the observed photometry and optical spectroscopy, finding evidence for recent rejuvenation in one object, slow quenching in another, and rapid quenching in the third system. To better constrain the quenching mechanism we explore the depletion times for our sample and other similar samples at z ∼ 0.7 from the literature. We find that the depletion times are highly dependent on the method adopted to measure the star formation rate: using the UV+IR luminosity we obtain depletion times about 6 times shorter than those derived using dust-corrected [O ii] emission. When adopting the star formation rates from spectral fitting, which are arguably more robust, we find that recently quenched galaxies and star-forming galaxies have similar depletion times, while older quiescent systems have longer depletion times. These results offer new, important constraints for physical models of galaxy quenching.

With more than 4300 confirmed exoplanets and counting, the next milestone in exoplanet research is to determine which of these newly found worlds could harbor life. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), spawned by magnetically active, superflare-triggering dwarf stars, pose a direct threat to the habitability of terrestrial exoplanets, as they can deprive them of their atmospheres. Here we develop a readily implementable atmosphere sustainability constraint for terrestrial exoplanets orbiting active dwarfs, relying on the magnetospheric compression caused by CME impacts. Our constraint focuses on an understanding of CMEs propagation in our own Sun–heliosphere system that, applied to a given exoplanet requires as key input the observed bolometric energy of flares emitted by its host star. Application of our constraint to six famous exoplanets, Kepler-438b, Proxima Centauri b, and Trappist-1d, -1e, -1f, and -1g, within or in the immediate proximity of their stellar host's habitable zones showed that only for Kepler-438b might atmospheric sustainability against stellar CMEs be likely. This seems to align with some recent studies that, however, may require far more demanding computational resources and observational inputs. Our physically intuitive constraint can be readily and en masse applied, as is or generalized, to large-scale exoplanet surveys to detect planets that warrant further scrutiny for atmospheres and, perhaps, possible biosignatures at higher priority by current and future instrumentation.

Using high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations, we show that equal-mass binaries accreting from a circumbinary disk evolve toward an orbital eccentricity of e ≃ 0.45, unless they are initialized on a nearly circular orbit with e ≲ 0.08, in which case they further circularize. The implied bi-modal eccentricity distribution resembles that seen in post-AGB stellar binaries. Large accretion spikes around periapse impart a tell-tale, quasiperiodic, bursty signature on the light curves of eccentric binaries. We predict that intermediate-mass and massive black hole binaries at z ≲ 10 entering the LISA band will have measurable eccentricities in the range of e ≃ 10⁻³ − 10⁻², if they have experienced a gas-driven phase. On the other hand, GW190521 would have entered the LIGO/Virgo band with undetectable eccentricity ∼10⁻⁶ if it had been driven into the gravitational-wave regime by a gas disk.

We apply our novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)–based algorithm for asteroid mass estimation to asteroid (16) Psyche, the target of NASA's eponymous Psyche mission, based on close encounters with 10 different asteroids, and obtain a mass of (1.117 ± 0.039) × 10⁻¹¹M_⊙. We ensure that our method works as expected by applying it to asteroids (1) Ceres and (4) Vesta, and find that the results are in agreement with the very accurate mass estimates for these bodies obtained by the Dawn mission. We then combine our mass estimate for Psyche with the most recent volume estimate to compute the corresponding bulk density as (3.88 ± 0.25) g cm⁻³. The estimated bulk density rules out the possibility of Psyche being an exposed, solid iron core of a protoplanet, but is fully consistent with the recent hypothesis that ferrovolcanism would have occurred on Psyche.

Magnetic reconnection is a natural energy converter that can have a significant impact on global processes in space, astrophysics, and fusion plasmas. Macroscopic modeling of reconnection is crucial in understanding the global responses to local kinetic processes. The key issue in developing the reconnection model is the description of the magnetic dissipation around the x-line to drive reconnection. In collisionless plasma, the dissipation can be generated by plasma turbulence through wave–particle interactions. However, the mechanisms to yield turbulence and dissipation in the reconnection current layer are currently poorly understood. In this study, we show, using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, that the electron Kelvin–Helmholtz instability plays a primary role in driving intense electromagnetic turbulence leading to the dissipation and electron heating. We find that the ions hardly react to the turbulence, which indicates that the turbulence does not cause significant momentum exchange between electrons and ions resulting in electrical resistivity. It is demonstrated that the dissipation is mainly caused by viscosity associated with electron momentum transport across the current layer. The present results suggest a fundamental modification of the current magnetohydrodynamics models using the resistivity to generate the dissipation.

The unexpectedly large radii of hot Jupiters are a longstanding mystery whose solution will provide important insights into their interior physics. Many potential solutions have been suggested, which make diverse predictions about the details of inflation. In particular, although any valid model must allow for maintaining large planetary radii, only some allow for radii to increase with time. This reinflation process would potentially occur when the incident flux on the planet is increased. In this work, we examine the observed population of hot Jupiters to see if they grow as their parent stars brighten along the main sequence. We consider the relation between radius and other observables, including mass, incident flux, age, and fractional age (age over main-sequence lifetime), and show that main-sequence brightening is often sufficient to produce detectable reinflation. We further argue that these provide strong evidence for the relatively rapid reinflation of giant planets, and discuss the implications for proposed heating mechanisms. In our population analysis we also find evidence for a "delayed cooling effect," wherein planets cool and contract far more slowly than expected. While not capable of explaining the observed radii alone, it may represent an important component of the effect. Finally, we identify a weak negative relationship between stellar metallicity and planet radius that is presumably the result of enhanced planetary bulk metallicity around metal-rich stars and has important implications for planet formation theory.