adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Variability in NGC 3201 Giant Stars and Its Impact on Their Spectroscopic [Fe/H] Determination

We present the analysis of 34 light curves in V and I of 17 giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201 to check if such stars are variable and if their variability has some kind of impact on the iron abundance as obtained from spectroscopic measurements. First, we computed the generalized Lomb-Scargle and phase dispersion minimization periodograms of the sample to check if the stars were variables. In this way, seven stars of the sample were found to be nonvariable, two stars are considered as possible variables, and eight stars were found to be variable, with periods ranging from 0.0881 ± 0.0001 to 0.5418 ± 0.0027 days. According to the literature, the variables have distinct values of [Fe I/H]: the three most metal-rich stars are in the red giant branch (RGB) stage, one has [Fe I/H] = -1.37 dex, while the other two have [Fe I/H] = -1.31 dex. The two most metal-poor variables have [Fe I/H] = -1.61 dex and [Fe I/H] = -1.62 dex, and are AGB stars; the remaining variables have [Fe I/H] = -1.44, -1.48, and -1.50 dex, the first two being RGB stars while the last is an AGB star. On the other hand, stars that appear to be nonvariable have -1.56 ≤ [Fe I/H] ≤ -1.40. We conclude that variability somehow affects the spectroscopic determination of the iron content of giant stars in NGC 3201, increasing the iron spread of the cluster. If variability is not taken into account, this spread could be incorrectly interpreted as due to an intrinsic iron spread affecting the stars of the cluster.

Keywords: globular star clusters; stellar abundances
Chemical Differentiation and Temperature Distribution on a Few au Scale around the Protostellar Source B335

Resolving physical and chemical structures in the vicinity of a protostar is of fundamental importance for elucidating their evolution to a planetary system. In this context, we have conducted 1.2 mm observations toward the low-mass protostellar source B335 at a resolution of 0.″03 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. More than 20 molecular species including HCOOH, NH2CHO, HNCO, CH3OH, CH2DOH, CHD2OH, and CH3OD are detected within a few tens au around the continuum peak. We find a systematic chemical differentiation between oxygen-bearing and nitrogen-bearing organic molecules by using the principal component analysis for the image cube data. The distributions of the nitrogen-bearing molecules are more compact than those of the oxygen-bearing ones except for HCOOH. The temperature distribution of the disk/envelope system is revealed by a multiline analysis for each of HCOOH, NH2CHO, CH3OH, and CH2DOH. The rotation temperatures of CH3OH and CH2DOH at the radius of 0.″06 along the envelope direction are derived to be 150-165 K. On the other hand, those of HCOOH and NH2CHO, which have a smaller distribution, are 75-112 K, and are significantly lower than those for CH3OH and CH2DOH. This means that the outer envelope traced by CH3OH and CH2DOH is heated by additional mechanisms rather than protostellar heating. We here propose the accretion shock as the heating mechanism. The chemical differentiation and the temperature structure on a scale of a few au provide us with key information to further understand chemical processes in protostellar sources.

Keywords: star formation; young stellar objects; interstellar molecules; protostars
Space Weathering of Genesis Mission Solar-wind Collectors with Inferences for Weathering on Airless Bodies

Samples from the Genesis Solar Wind Sample Return (NASA Discovery 5) are a unique opportunity to study the initial stages of space weathering, i.e., the physical and chemical effects of solar-wind irradiation. Arrays of collectors containing multiple materials were each exposed to a different solar-wind regime (fast, slow, bulk, or coronal mass ejection) at the L1 point for long durations (years). Materials exposed to the solar wind included metals, semiconductors, and insulators. Although the time of exposure was obviously short relative to samples having extraterrestrial origins, optical properties, surface chemical properties, and matrix structure have changed in many collectors due to exposure to solar wind. The thickness of amorphous zones, where present, appears to correspond with the depth of the peak of the solar-wind H distribution in each regime. Damage from high-energy particles was negligible because the collectors were 700 μm or less in thickness and shielded from the back by the spacecraft. Micrometeorite impacts and sputtering were also negligible because of the short exposure times. Our current results are preliminary: We hope future workers will extend this study both to support Genesis characterization efforts and to further understand space-weathering processes on a geologic timescale.

Keywords: space research; solar wind; planetary science
Characterizing and Mitigating the Impact of Telluric Absorption in Precise Radial Velocities

Precise radial velocity (PRV) surveys are important for the search for Earth analogs around nearby bright stars, which induce a small stellar reflex motion with an RV amplitude of ~10 cm s-1. Detecting such a small RV signal poses challenges to instrumentation, data analysis, and the precision of astrophysical models to mitigate stellar jitter. In this work, we investigate an important component in the PRV error budget-the spectral contamination from the Earth's atmosphere (tellurics). We characterize the effects of telluric absorption on the RV precision and quantify its contribution to the RV error budget over time and across a wavelength range of 350 nm-2.5 μm. We use simulated solar spectra with telluric contamination injected, and we extract the RVs using two commonly adopted algorithms: dividing out a telluric model before performing cross-correlation or forward modeling the observed spectrum incorporating a telluric model. We assume various degrees of cleanness in removing the tellurics. We conclude that the RV errors caused by telluric absorption can be suppressed to close to or even below 1-10 cm s-1 in the blue optical region. At red through near-infrared wavelengths, however, the residuals of tellurics can induce an RV error on the meter-per-second level even under the most favorable assumptions for telluric removal, leading to significant systematic noise in the RV time series and periodograms. If the red-optical or near-infrared becomes critical in the mitigation of stellar activity, systematic errors from tellurics can be eliminated with a space mission such as EarthFinder.

Keywords: astronomy data analysis; exoplanet astronomy; exoplanet detection methods; earth atmosphere; radial velocity
Observational Evidence for Beat Phenomenon in Complex Solar Type III Radio Bursts

We present new observational evidence for one of the most important three wave interactions, called the electrostatic decay instability (ESD) $L\to {L}^{{\prime} }+S$ in the source regions of complex solar type III radio bursts (L is the electron beam-excited Langmuir wave, and ${L}^{{\prime} }$ and S are the ESD excited daughter Langmuir and ion sound waves, respectively). The STEREO in situ wave observations in the source regions of complex type III bursts show that Langmuir waves often occur as one-dimensional magnetic field aligned beat-type wave packets, with peak intensities well in excess of the threshold for excitation of ESD, and with spectra containing (a) two closely spaced narrow peaks (L and ${L}^{{\prime} }$ ) corresponding probably to the beating modes responsible for the beat patterns at frequencies very close to the local electron plasma frequency, fpe, and (b) narrow peaks at ion sound frequencies, fS, which are very close to beat frequencies. Using the FFT and higher order spectral techniques, we show that the frequency, wavevector and phase resonance conditions required for excitation of ESD are well satisfied for these wave packets, and the speeds of electron beams derived from the resonance conditions agree reasonably well with those derived from the drift rates of the associated type III events. We also show that the merging of (L) and ( ${L}^{{\prime} }$ ) most probably is the excitation mechanism of the second harmonic radio emission ${T}_{2{f}_{{pe}}}$ of these type III bursts.

Keywords: solar radio emission; solar radio flares
Searching the SN 1987A SETI Ellipsoid with TESS

The SETI Ellipsoid is a strategy for technosignature candidate selection that assumes that extraterrestrial civilizations who have observed a galactic-scale event—such as supernova 1987A—may use it as a Schelling point to broadcast synchronized signals indicating their presence. Continuous wide-field surveys of the sky offer a powerful new opportunity to look for these signals, compensating for the uncertainty in their estimated time of arrival. We explore sources in the TESS continuous viewing zone, which corresponds to 5% of all TESS data, observed during the first 3 yr of the mission. Using improved 3D locations for stars from Gaia Early Data Release 3, we identified 32 SN 1987A SETI Ellipsoid targets in the TESS continuous viewing zone with uncertainties better than 0.5 lt-yr. We examined the TESS light curves of these stars during the Ellipsoid crossing event and found no anomalous signatures. We discuss ways to expand this methodology to other surveys, more targets, and different potential signal types.

Keywords: technosignatures; light curves; search for extraterrestrial intelligence; stellar distance; supernovae
First Ejection from the PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 High Mass Gamma-Ray Binary Detected During the 2021-2024 Binary Cycle

LS 2883/PSR B1259-63 is a high mass, eccentric gamma-ray binary that has previously been observed to eject X-ray emitting material. We report the results of recent Chandra observations near binary apastron in which a new X-ray emitting clump of matter was detected. The clump has a high projected velocity of v ⊥ ≈ 0.07c and hard X-ray spectrum, which fits an absorbed power-law model with Γ = 1.1 ± 0.3. Although clumps with similar velocities and spectra were detected in some of the previous binary cycles, no resolved clumps were seen near apastron in the preceding cycle of 2017-2021.

Keywords: high mass x-ray binary stars; neutron stars; pulsars
A Model for Coronal Inflows and In/Out Pairs

This report presents a three-dimensional (3D) numerical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model of the white-light coronagraph observational phenomena known as coronal inflows and in/out pairs. Coronal inflows in the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph/C2 field of view (approximately $2\mbox{--}6\,{R}_{\odot }$ ) were thought to arise from the dynamic and intermittent release of solar wind plasma associated with the helmet streamer belt as the counterpart to outward-propagating streamer blobs, formed by magnetic reconnection. This interpretation was essentially confirmed with the subsequent identification of in/out pairs and the multispacecraft observations of their 3D structure. The MHD simulation results show relatively narrow lanes of density depletion form high in the corona and propagate inward with sinuous motion that has been characterized as "tadpole-like" in coronagraph imagery. The height-time evolution and velocity profiles of the simulation inflows and in/out pairs are compared to their corresponding observations and a detailed analysis of the underlying magnetic field structure associated with the synthetic white-light and mass density evolution is presented. Understanding the physical origin of this structured component of the slow solar wind's intrinsic variability could make a significant contribution to solar wind modeling and the interpretation of remote and in situ observations from Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter.

Keywords: active solar corona; solar coronal streamers; solar coronal transients; solar magnetic fields; solar magnetic reconnection; magnetohydrodynamics
Observational Evidence for a Thick Disk of Dark Molecular Gas in the Outer Galaxy

We present the serendipitous discovery of an extremely broad (ΔVLSR ~ 150 km s-1), faint (Tmb < 10 mK), and ubiquitous 1667 and 1665 MHz ground-state thermal OH emission toward the second quadrant of the outer Galaxy (Rgal > 8 kpc) with the Green Bank Telescope. Originally discovered in 2015, we describe the redundant experimental, observational, and data quality tests of this result over the last five years. The longitude-velocity distribution of the emission unambiguously suggests large-scale Galactic structure. We observe a smooth distribution of OH in radial velocity that is morphologically similar to the H I radial velocity distribution in the outer Galaxy, showing that molecular gas is significantly more extended in the outer Galaxy than previously expected. Our results imply the existence of a thick (-200 pc < z < 200 pc) disk of diffuse ( ${n}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$ ~ 5 × 10-3 cm-3) molecular gas in the outer Galaxy previously undetected in all-sky 12CO surveys.

Keywords: diffuse interstellar clouds; interstellar clouds; molecular gas; molecular clouds; interstellar medium; interstellar phases; interstellar molecules; interstellar atomic gas; galaxy structure; galaxy disks; spiral arms; galaxy physics
The Effect of Solar Wind on Charged Particles' Diffusion Coefficients

The transport of energetic charged particles through magnetized plasmas is ubiquitous in interplanetary space and astrophysics, and the important physical quantities are the parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients of energetic charged particles. In this paper, the influence of solar wind on particle transport is investigated. Using the focusing equation, we obtain parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients, accounting for the solar wind effect. For different conditions, the relative importance of the solar wind effect to diffusion is investigated. It is shown that, when energetic charged particles are close to the Sun, for parallel diffusion, the solar wind effect needs to be taken into account. These results are important for studying energetic charged particle transport processes in the vicinity of the Sun.

Keywords: solar magnetic fields; interplanetary physics; solar energetic particles
A Search for Hard X-Ray Bursts Occurring Simultaneously with Fast Radio Bursts in the Repeating FRB 121102

The nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs) is currently unknown. Repeating FRBs offer better observation opportunities than nonrepeating FRBs because their simultaneous multiwavelength counterparts might be identified. The magnetar flare model of FRBs is one of the most promising models that predict high-energy emission in addition to radio burst emission. To investigate such a possibility, we have searched for simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous short-term hard X-ray bursts in all Swift/BAT event mode data, which covered the periods when FRB detections were reported in the repeating FRB 121102, by making use of BAT's arcminute-level spatial resolution and wide field of view. We did not find any significant hard X-ray bursts that occurred simultaneously with those radio bursts. We also investigated potential short X-ray bursts that occurred quasi-simultaneously with those radio bursts (occurrence time differs in the range from hundreds of seconds to thousands of seconds) and concluded that even the best candidates are consistent with background fluctuations. Therefore, our investigation concluded that there were no hard X-ray bursts detectable with Swift/BAT that occurred simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously with those FRBs in the repeating FRB 121102.

Keywords: radio bursts; radio transient sources; neutron stars; magnetars; x-ray transient sources; non-thermal radiation sources
Concise Spectrotemporal Studies of Magnetar SGR J1935+2154 Bursts

SGR J1935+2154 has truly been the most prolific magnetar over the last decade: it has been entering into burst active episodes once every 1–2 yr since its discovery in 2014, it emitted the first Galactic fast radio burst associated with an X-ray burst in 2020, and it has emitted hundreds of energetic short bursts. Here, we present the time-resolved spectral analysis of 51 bright bursts from SGR J1935+2154. Unlike conventional time-resolved X-ray spectroscopic studies in the literature, we follow a two-step approach to probe true spectral evolution. For each burst, we first extract spectral information from overlapping time segments, fit them with three continuum models, and employ a machine-learning-based clustering algorithm to identify time segments that provide the largest spectral variations during each burst. We then extract spectra from those nonoverlapping (clustered) time segments and fit them again with the three models: the cutoff power-law model, the sum of two blackbody functions, and the model considering the emission of a modified blackbody undergoing resonant cyclotron scattering, which is applied systematically at this scale for the first time. Our novel technique allowed us to establish the genuine spectral evolution of magnetar bursts. We discuss the implications of our results and compare their collective behavior with the average burst properties of other magnetars.

Keywords: neutron stars; magnetars; x-ray bursts
The Emergence of Toroidal Flux Ropes with Different Twist Rising at the Same Speed

The role of twist in the emergence of magnetic flux ropes into the solar atmosphere has remained unclear for some time. Although many studies have investigated how the photospheric properties of active regions resulting from the simulated emergence of magnetic flux ropes from the convection zone with different twists compare to the observed properties of active regions, these simulations have a wide range of magnetic flux rope radii, depths, and initial configurations, making it challenging to form a complete picture of the role of any one variable in the emergence process. Twist, in particular, has been difficult to analyze because isothermally buoyant magnetic flux ropes with different twists also experience different accelerations. In this paper, we develop an analytical model of a toroidal magnetic flux rope in approximate vertical force balance in the convection zone. We numerically implement this model in a stratified atmosphere, and then subtract off a twist-independent density to make magnetic flux ropes buoyant in a twist-independent way, ensuring that the initial acceleration of each magnetic flux rope is approximately the same. We perform numerical simulations to obtain a parameter study of toroidal magnetic flux ropes with different twist rising at the same speed. We analyze the photospheric and coronal properties of the active regions resulting from the emergence of these magnetic flux ropes, and argue that the Parker instability is responsible for many of the features observed in the simulations.

Keywords: solar photosphere; solar magnetic flux emergence; emerging flux tubes
Possible Atmospheric Water Vapor Contribution from Martian Swiss Cheese Terrain

Mars's south polar residual cap (SPRC) is a several-meters-thick CO2 ice cap with a variety of features, including quasi-circular depressions known as "Swiss cheese" that may expose underlying water ice. Swiss cheese pits have been suggested as a source for the observation of unusually high water vapor during the southern summer of Mars Year (MY) 8 (1969). To evaluate this hypothesis, we map the current extent of Swiss cheese pits to estimate the contribution to atmospheric water vapor from sublimation from the pits. We use data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera to map individual features and use the Mars Climate Sounder to obtain surface temperatures to estimate areas of exposed water ice to infer the amount of water vapor sublimated under typical south polar summer atmospheric conditions. We find that there is a negligible impact on atmospheric water vapor from sublimation with the current coverage and temperatures of Swiss cheese terrain (0.2% of the SPRC at an average of ~161 K). At current typical temperatures, complete removal of residual CO2 from 99% of the SPRC would be required to sublimate enough water vapor to reproduce the MY 8 observation. However, a modest increase in temperature (~20 K) could lead to a dramatic increase in sublimation rate, such that only water ice over 2.6% of the SPRC area would recreate the MY 8 observation. >180 K surface water ice has been observed on Mars, but such temperatures are likely transient at the south pole over the past ~30 Mars years.

Keywords: mars; water vapor; planetary atmospheres; polar caps
Prediction of an Earth-sized Planet Formed in the Habitable Zone of the SPECULOOS-2 System

Transiting planets in the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system provide rare examples of habitable zone (HZ), Earth-sized planets that can be characterized via transmission spectroscopy. However, these present-day HZ planets likely formed interior to HZ and probably underwent an evolution very different from that of Earth. We present the integrative analysis of the planetary architecture of the recently discovered planetary system SPECULOOS-2. Our analysis answers the question: If there are additional exoplanets in the SPECULOOS-2 system, what are their orbital and physical properties? We predict an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone (P ~ 14.5-18.2 days). In contrast to TRAPPIST-1e, this predicted planet most likely completed its formation inside the habitable zone. If confirmed, this planet will offer an Earth-sized, habitable zone planet that is likely to have an evolutionary path more similar to Earth than those in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Keywords: exoplanets; astrostatistics
Evolved Massive Stars at Low Metallicity. VII. The Lower Mass Limit of the Red Supergiant Population in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The precise definition of the lower mass limit of red supergiant stars (RSGs) is an open question in astrophysics and does not attract much attention. Here, we assemble a spectroscopic evolved cool star sample with 6602 targets, including RSGs, asymptotic giant branch stars, and red giant branch stars, in the Large Magellanic Cloud based on Gaia DR3 and Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV/APOGEE-2. The reference spectrum of each stellar population is built according to the quantile range of relative intensity (1% ∼ 99%). Five different methods, e.g., χ 2, cosine similarity, machine learning (ML), equivalent width, and line ratio, are used in order to separate different stellar populations. ML and χ 2 provide the best and relatively consistent prediction of a certain population. The derived lower limit of the RSG population is able to reach the K s -band tip of the red giant branch (K s ≈12.0 mag), indicating a luminosity as low as about 103.5 L ⊙, which corresponds to a stellar radius of only about 100 R ⊙. Given the mass–luminosity relation of $L/{L}_{\odot }=f{(M/{M}_{\odot })}^{3}$ with f ≈ 15.5 ± 3 and taking into account the mass loss of faint RSGs up to now, the minimal initial mass of the RSG population would be about 6.1 ± 0.4 M ⊙, which is much lower than the traditional threshold of 8 M ⊙ for the massive stars. This is the first spectroscopic evidence, indicating that the lower mass limit of the RSG population is around 6 M ⊙. However, the destinies of such faint RSGs are still elusive and may have a large impact on stellar evolutionary and supernova models.

Keywords: red supergiant stars; stellar populations; stellar classification