Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-regulated growth of supermassive black holes by a dual jet-heating active galactic nucleus feedback mechanism: methods, tests and implications for cosmological simulations

We develop a new sub-grid model for the growth of supermassive Black Holes (BHs) and their associated Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback in hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. Assuming that BHs are created in the early stages of galaxy formation, they grow by mergers and accretion of gas at a Eddington-limited Bondi accretion rate. However this growth is regulated by AGN feedback which we model using two different modes: a quasar-heating mode when accretion rates onto the BHs are comparable to the Eddington rate, and a radio-jet mode at lower accretion rates. In other words, our feedback model deposits energy as a succession of thermal bursts and jet outflows depending on the properties of the gas surrounding the BHs. We assess the plausibility of such a model by comparing our results to observational measurements of the coevolution of BHs and their host galaxy properties, and check their robustness with respect to numerical resolution. We show that AGN feedback must be a crucial physical ingredient for the formation of massive galaxies as it appears to be the only physical mechanism able to efficiently prevent the accumulation of and/or expel cold gas out of halos/galaxies and significantly suppress star formation. Our model predicts that the relationship between BHs and their host galaxy mass evolves as a function of redshift, because of the vigorous accretion of cold material in the early Universe that drives Eddington-limited accretion onto BHs. Quasar activity is also enhanced at high redshift. However, as structures grow in mass and lose their cold material through star formation and efficient BH feedback ejection, the AGN activity in the low-redshift Universe becomes more and more dominated by the radio mode, which powers jets through the hot circum-galactic medium.
Comparative Layer-Wise Analysis of Self-Supervised Speech Models

Many self-supervised speech models, varying in their pre-training objective, input modality, and pre-training data, have been proposed in the last few years. Despite impressive successes on downstream tasks, we still have a limited understanding of the properties encoded by the models and the differences across models. In this work, we examine the intermediate representations for a variety of recent models. Specifically, we measure acoustic, phonetic, and word-level properties encoded in individual layers, using a lightweight analysis tool based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA). We find that these properties evolve across layers differently depending on the model, and the variations relate to the choice of pre-training objective. We further investigate the utility of our analyses for downstream tasks by comparing the property trends with performance on speech recognition and spoken language understanding tasks. We discover that CCA trends provide reliable guidance to choose layers of interest for downstream tasks and that single-layer performance often matches or improves upon using all layers, suggesting implications for more efficient use of pre-trained models. 1
DYNAMICAL FRICTION AROUND SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES

The density of stars in galactic bulges is often observed to be flat or slowly rising inside the influence radius of the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Attributing the dynamical-friction force to stars moving more slowly than the test body, as is commonly done, is likely to be a poor approximation in such a core since there are no stars moving more slowly than the local circular velocity. We have tested this prediction using large-scale N-body experiments. The rate of orbital decay never drops precisely to zero, because stars moving faster than the test body also contribute to the frictional force. When the contribution from the fast-moving stars is included in the expression for the dynamical-friction force, and the changes induced by the massive body on the stellar distribution are taken into account, Chandrasekhar's theory is found to reproduce the rate of orbital decay remarkably well. However, this rate is still substantially smaller than the rate predicted by Chandrasekhar's formula in its most widely used forms, implying longer timescale for inspiral. Motivated by recent observations that suggest a parsec-scale core around the Galactic center (GC) SMBH, we investigate the evolution of a population of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) as they spiral into the center of the Galaxy. After ∼10 Gyr, we find that the density of BHs can remain substantially less than the density in stars at all radii; we conclude that it would be unjustified to assume that the spatial distribution of BHs at the GC is well described by steady-state models. One consequence is that rates of capture of BHs by the SMBH at the Galactic center (extreme-mass-ratio inspirals) may be much lower than in standard models. When capture occurs, inspiraling BHs often reach the gravitational-radiation-dominated regime while on orbits that are still highly eccentric; even after the semimajor axis has decreased to values small enough for detection by space-based interferometers, eccentricities can be large enough that the efficient analysis of gravitational wave signals would require the use of eccentric templates. We finally study the orbital decay of satellite galaxies into the central region of giant ellipticals and discuss the formation of multi nuclei and multiplet of black holes in such systems.
Elliptic parameters and defining equations for elliptic fibrations on a Kummer surface

We pose the problem to determine explicit defining equations of various elliptic fibrations on a given K3 surface, and study the case of the Kummer surfaces of the product of two elliptic curves. x1. Introduction 1.1. Problem setting Let X be a K3 surface defined over a base field k, and let k(X) denote its function field. Suppose f : X ! P 1 is an elliptic fibration on X with a section O. Then it defines a non-constant function u = f (x) (x 2 X), and hence an element u 2 k(X). We call u the elliptic parameter for the elliptic fibration f . (Actually u is unique only up to the linear fractional transformations, but to fix the idea, we always choose one u. Note that the subfield k(u) of k(X) is uniquely defined by f ). Now let E denote the generic fiber of f . Then E is an elliptic curve defined over k(u) such that the function field k(u)(E) is isomorphic to k(X) as the extensions of k. Problem 1. Given a K3 surface X/k and an elliptic fibration f , determine (i) the elliptic parameter u for f , (ii) the defining equation of the elliptic curve E/k(u), and (iii) the Mordell-Weil lattice (MWL) E(k(u)).
The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey – VIII. Discovery of an isolated dwarf galaxy in the Local Volume

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) has detected a nearby HI source at a heliocentric velocity of +363 km/s . The object was detected through its neutral hydrogen emission and has an obvious possible optical counterpart in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data (though it does not have an optical redshift measurement). We discuss three possible scenarios for the object : 1) It is within the Local Group, in which case its HI properties are comparable with recently discovered ultra-compact high velocity clouds; 2) It is just behind the Local Group, in which case its optical characteristics are similar to the newly discovered Leo P galaxy; 3) It is a blue compact dwarf galaxy within the local volume but not associated with the Local Group. We find the third possibility to be the most likely, based on distance estimates from the Tully-Fisher relation and its velocity relative to the Local Group.
Warm absorbers in X-rays (WAX), a comprehensive high-resolution grating spectral study of a sample of Seyfert Galaxies – II. Warm absorber dynamics and feedback to galaxies

This paper is a sequel to the extensive study of warm absorber (WA) in X-rays carried out using high resolution grating spectral data from XMM-Newton satellite (WAX-I). Here we discuss the global dynamical properties as well as the energetics of the WA components detected in the WAX sample. The slope of WA density profile ($n\propto r^{-\alpha}$) estimated from the linear regression slope of ionization parameter $\xi$ and column density $N_H$ in the WAX sample is $\alpha=1.236\pm 0.034$. We find that the WA clouds possibly originate as a result of photo-ionised evaporation from the inner edge of the torus (torus wind). They can also originate in the cooling front of the shock generated by faster accretion disk outflows, the ultra-fast outflows (UFO), impinging onto the interstellar medium or the torus. The acceleration mechanism for the WA is complex and neither radiatively driven wind nor MHD driven wind scenario alone can describe the outflow acceleration. However, we find that radiative forces play a significant role in accelerating the WA through the soft X-ray absorption lines, and also with dust opacity. Given the large uncertainties in the distance and volume filling factor estimates of the WA, we conclude that the kinetic luminosity $\dot{E}_k$ of WA may sometimes be large enough to yield significant feedback to the host galaxy. We find that the lowest ionisation states carry the maximum mass outflow, and the sources with higher Fe M UTA absorption ($15-17\rm \AA$) have more mass outflow rates.
Mass models from high-resolution H i data of the dwarf galaxy NGC 1560

We present H i observations performed at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) of the nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 1560. This Sd galaxy is well known for a distinct 'wiggle' in its rotation curve. Our new observations have twice the resolution of the previously published H i data. We derived the rotation curve by taking projection effects into account, and we verified the derived kinematics by creating model data cubes. This new rotation curve is similar to the previously published one: we confirm the presence of a clear wiggle. The main differences are in the innermost similar to 100 arcsec of the rotation curve, where we find slightly (less than or similar to 5 km s-1) higher velocities. Mass modelling of the rotation curve results in good fits using the core-dominated Burkert halo (which however does not reproduce the wiggle), bad fits using the a Navarro, Frenk & White halo, and good fits using Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), which also reproduces the wiggle.
Anomalously small resistivity and thermopower of strongly compensated semiconductors and topological insulators

In the recent paper we explained why the maximum bulk resistivity of topological insulators (TIs)is so small [B. Skinner, T. Chen, and B. I. Shklovskii, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 176801 (2012)]. Using the model of completely compensated semiconductor we showed that when Fermi level is pinned in the middle of the gap the activation energy of resistivity $\Delta =0.3 (E_g/2)$, where $E_g$ is the semiconductor gap. In this paper, we consider strongly compensated $n$-type semiconductor. We find position of the Fermi level $\mu$ calculated from the bottom of the conduction band and the activation energy of the resistivity $\Delta$ as a function of compensation $K$, and show that $\Delta = 0.3 (E_c-\mu) $ holds at any $1-K \ll 1$. At the same time Peltier energy (heat) $\Pi$ is even smaller: $\Pi \simeq 0.5\Delta = 0.15(E_c - \mu)$. We also show that at low temperatures the activated conductivity crosses over to variable range hopping (VRH) and find the characteristic temperature of VRH, $T_{ES}$, as a function of $1-K$.
Astronomia ex machina: a history, primer and outlook on neural networks in astronomy

In this review, we explore the historical development and future prospects of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning in astronomy. We trace the evolution of connectionism in astronomy through its three waves, from the early use of multilayer perceptrons, to the rise of convolutional and recurrent neural networks, and finally to the current era of unsupervised and generative deep learning methods. With the exponential growth of astronomical data, deep learning techniques offer an unprecedented opportunity to uncover valuable insights and tackle previously intractable problems. As we enter the anticipated fourth wave of astronomical connectionism, we argue for the adoption of GPT-like foundation models fine-tuned for astronomical applications. Such models could harness the wealth of high-quality, multimodal astronomical data to serve state-of-the-art downstream tasks. To keep pace with advancements driven by Big Tech, we propose a collaborative, open-source approach within the astronomy community to develop and maintain these foundation models, fostering a symbiotic relationship between AI and astronomy that capitalizes on the unique strengths of both fields.
Stability estimates for the expected utility in Bayesian optimal experimental design

We study stability properties of the expected utility function in Bayesian optimal experimental design. We provide a framework for this problem in a non-parametric setting and prove a convergence rate of the expected utility with respect to a likelihood perturbation. This rate is uniform over the design space and its sharpness in the general setting is demonstrated by proving a lower bound in a special case. To make the problem more concrete we proceed by considering non-linear Bayesian inverse problems with Gaussian likelihood and prove that the assumptions set out for the general case are satisfied and regain the stability of the expected utility with respect to perturbations to the observation map. Theoretical convergence rates are demonstrated numerically in three different examples.
Private Set Generation with Discriminative Information

Differentially private data generation techniques have become a promising solution to the data privacy challenge -- it enables sharing of data while complying with rigorous privacy guarantees, which is essential for scientific progress in sensitive domains. Unfortunately, restricted by the inherent complexity of modeling high-dimensional distributions, existing private generative models are struggling with the utility of synthetic samples. In contrast to existing works that aim at fitting the complete data distribution, we directly optimize for a small set of samples that are representative of the distribution under the supervision of discriminative information from downstream tasks, which is generally an easier task and more suitable for private training. Our work provides an alternative view for differentially private generation of high-dimensional data and introduces a simple yet effective method that greatly improves the sample utility of state-of-the-art approaches.
Triple Evolution: An Important Channel in the Formation of Type Ia Supernovae

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are thought to be the result of thermonuclear explosions in white dwarfs (WDs). Commonly considered formation pathways include two merging WDs (the double-degenerate channel) and a single WD accreting material from a H or He donor (the single-degenerate channel). Since the predicted SN Ia rates from WDs in binaries are thought to be insufficient to explain the observed SN Ia rate, it is important to study similar interactions in higher-order multiple-star systems such as triple systems. We use the evolutionary population synthesis code Multiple Stellar Evolution (MSE) to study the stellar evolution, binary interactions, and gravitational dynamics of the triple-star systems. Also, unlike previous studies, prescriptions are included to simultaneously take into account the single- and double-degenerate channels, and we consider triples across the entire parameter space (including those with tight inner binaries). We explore the impact of typically ignored or uncertain physics such as flybys and common envelope prescription parameters on our results. The majority of systems undergo circular mergers to explode as SNe Ia, while eccentric collisions contribute to 0.4%−4% of SN Ia events. The time-integrated SN Ia rate from the triple channel is found to be (3.60±0.04)×10−4M⊙−1 , which is, surprisingly, similar to that of the isolated binary channel, where the SN Ia rate is (3.2±0.1)×10−4M⊙−1 . This implies that triples, when considering their entire parameter space, yield an important contribution to the overall SN Ia rate.
The shape of dark matter haloes - V. Analysis of observations of edge-on galaxies

In previous papers in this series, we measured the stellar and H I content in a sample of edge-on galaxies. In the present paper, we perform a simultaneous rotation curve and vertical force field gradient decomposition for five of these edge-on galaxies. The rotation curve decomposition provides a measure of the radial dark matter potential, while the vertical force field gradient provides a measure of the vertical dark matter potential. We fit dark matter halo models to these potentials. Using our H I self-absorption results, we find that a typical dark matter halo has a less dense core (0.094 ± 0.230 M⊙ pc-3) than that for an optically thin H I model (0.150 ± 0.124 M⊙ pc-3). The H I self-absorption dark matter halo has a longer scale-length Rc of 1.42 ± 3.48 kpc, versus 1.10 ± 1.81 kpc for the optically thin H I model. The median halo shape is spherical at q = 1.0 ± 0.6 for self-absorbing H I, while it is prolate at q = 1.5 ± 0.6 for the optically thin case. Our best results were obtained for ESO 274-G001 and UGC 7321, for which we were able to measure the velocity dispersion in Paper III. These two galaxies have very different halo shapes, with one oblate and one strongly prolate. Overall, we find that the many assumptions required make this type of analysis susceptible to errors.
DETECTION OF INTRA-DAY VARIABILITY TIMESCALES OF FOUR HIGH-ENERGY PEAKED BLAZARS WITH XMM-NEWTON

We selected a sample of 24 XMM–Newton light curves (LCs) of four high energy peaked blazars, PKS 0548 − 322, ON 231, 1ES 1426+428, and PKS 2155 − 304. These data comprise continuous LCs of 7.67–18.97 hr in length. We searched for possible quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and intra-day variability (IDV) timescales in the LCs of these blazars. We found a likely QPO in one LC of PKS 2155 − 304 which was reported elsewhere. In the remaining 23 LCs we found hints of possible weak QPOs in one LC of each ON 231 and PKS 2155 − 304, but neither is statistically significant. We found IDV timescales that ranged from 15.7 to 46.8 ks in eight LCs. In 13 LCs any variability timescales were longer than the length of the data. Assuming that the possible weak QPO periods in the blazars PKS 2155 − 304 and ON 231 are real and are associated with the innermost portions of their accretion disk, we can estimate that their central black hole masses exceed 1.2 × 107 M☉. Emission models for radio-loud active galactic nuclei that could explain our results are briefly discussed.
Polite Teacher: Semi-Supervised Instance Segmentation With Mutual Learning and Pseudo-Label Thresholding

We present Polite Teacher, a simple yet effective method for the task of semi-supervised instance segmentation. The proposed architecture relies on the Teacher-Student mutual learning framework. To filter out noisy pseudo-labels, we use confidence thresholding for bounding boxes and mask scoring for masks. The approach has been tested with CenterMask, a single-stage anchor-free detector. Tested on the COCO 2017 val dataset, our architecture significantly (approx. +8 pp. in mask AP) outperforms the baseline at different supervision regimes. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first works tackling the problem of semi-supervised instance segmentation and the first one devoted to an anchor-free detector. The code is available: github.com/AI-Clearing/PoliteTeacher.
Liftability of the Frobenius morphism and images of toric varieties

We formulate a conjecture characterizing smooth projective varieties in positive characteristic whose Frobenius morphism can be lifted modulo $p^2$ - we expect that such varieties, after a finite etale cover, admit a Zariski-locally trivial fibration with toric fibers over an ordinary abelian variety. We prove that this assertion implies a conjecture of Occhetta and Wiśniewski, which states that a smooth image of a projective toric variety is a toric variety. In order to deal with an important special case, we develop a logarithmic variant of the characterization of ordinary varieties with trivial tangent bundle due to Mehta and Srinivas. Furthermore, we verify our conjecture for surfaces, Fano threefolds, and homogeneous spaces (answering a question posed by Buch-Thomsen-Lauritzen-Mehta). Our proofs are based on a comprehensive theory of Frobenius liftings together with a variety of other techniques including deformation theory of rational curves and Frobenius splittings.
Dense m-convex Frechet Subalgebras of Operator Algebra Crossed Products by Lie Groups

Let A be a dense Frechet *-subalgebra of a C*-algebra B. (We do not require Frechet algebras to be m-convex.) Let G be a Lie group, not necessarily connected, which acts on both A and B by *-automorphisms, and let σ be a sub-polynomial function from G to the nonnegative real numbers. If σ and the action of G on A satisfy certain simple properties, we define a dense Frechet *-subalgebra G ⋊σ A of the crossed product L1 (G, B). Our algebra consists of differentiable A-valued functions on G, rapidly vanishing in σ. We give conditions on σ and the action of G on A which imply the m-convexity of the dense subalgebra G ⋊σ A. A locally convex algebra is said to be m-convex if there is a family of submultiplicative seminorms for the topology of the algebra. The property of m-convexity is important for a Frechet algebra, and is useful in modern operator theory. If G acts as a transformation group on a locally compact space M, we develop a class of dense subalgebras for the crossed product L1 (G, C0 (M)), where C0 (M) denotes the continuous functions on M vanishing at infinity with the sup norm topology. We define Schwartz functions S (M) on M, which are differentiable with respect to some group action on M, and are rapidly vanishing with respect to some scale on M. We then form a dense Frechet *-subalgebra G ⋊σ S (M) of rapidly vanishing, G-differentiable functions from G to S (M). If the reciprocal of σ is in Lp (G) for some p, we prove that our group algebras Sσ (G) are nuclear Frechet spaces, and that G ⋊σ A is the projective completion .
WATER MASERS ASSOCIATED WITH STAR FORMATION IN THE ANTENNAE GALAXIES

We present Very Large Array (VLA) observations with 80 mas resolution (∼9 pc) of the recently discovered Galactic-analog (GA)-H2O masers in the Antennae interacting galaxies (NGC 4038/NGC 4039; Arp244). Three regions of water maser emission are detected: two in the “interaction region” (IAR) and the third ∼5. ″6 (≳600 pc) west of the NGC 4039 nucleus. The isotropic H2O maser luminosities range from 1.3 to 7.7 L☉. All three maser regions are mostly obscured in the optical/near-infrared continuum, and are coincident with massive CO-identified molecular clouds. The H2O maser velocities are in excellent agreement with those of the molecular gas. We also present archival VLA 3.6 cm data with ∼0. ″28 (∼30 pc) and ∼0. ″8 (∼90 pc) resolution toward the maser locations. All three maser regions are coincident with compact 3.6 cm radio continuum emission, and two are dominated by thermal ionized gas, suggesting the presence of natal super star clusters containing the equivalent of a few thousand O stars. We also present detailed comparisons between the radio data and existing Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (optical) and NICMOS (near-IR) data and find that both maser regions in the IAR are also associated with Paα emission and neither source is detected shortward of 2 μm. These results highlight the potential of using GA-H2O masers to pinpoint sites of young super star cluster formation with exquisite angular resolution.