adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Gas-phase Molecules in Protoplanetary Nebulae with the 21 μm Emission Feature

It has been more than 30 years since the enigmatic 21 μm emission feature was first discovered in protoplanetary nebulae (PPNs). Although dozens of different dust carrier candidates have been proposed, there is as yet no widely accepted one. We present the results of molecular observations toward 21 μm objects using the 10 m Submillimeter Telescope of Arizona Radio Observatory in the 1.3 mm band and the 13.7 m telescope of Purple Mountain Observatory in the 3 mm band, aiming to investigate whether the gas-phase environments of these unusual sources have some peculiarities compared to normal PPNs. We detect 31 emission lines belonging to seven different molecular species, most of which are the first detection in 21 μm PPNs. The observations provide clues to the identification of the 21 μm feature. We report a correlation study between the fractional abundance of gas-phase molecules and the strengths of the 21 μm emission. Our study shows that, given the small sample size, the 21 μm feature has weak or no correlations with the gas-phase molecules. Future radio observations of high spatial and spectral resolution toward a large sample are desirable to elucidate the 21 μm emission phenomena.

Keywords: interstellar medium; circumstellar envelopes; circumstellar matter; protoplanetary nebulae
Chemodynamically Characterizing the Jhelum Stellar Stream with APOGEE-2

We present the kinematic and chemical profiles of red giant stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)-2 survey in the direction of the Jhelum stellar stream, a Milky Way substructure located in the inner halo of the Milky Way at a distance from the Sun of ≈13 kpc. From the six APOGEE-2 Jhelum pointings, we isolate stars with log(g) < 3.5, leaving a sample of 289 red giant stars. From this sample of APOGEE-2 giants, we identified seven stars that are consistent with the astrometric signal from Gaia DR2 for this stream. Of these seven, one falls onto the red giant branch (RGB) along the same sequence as the Jhelum stars presented by Ji et al. This new Jhelum member has [Fe/H] = -2.2 and is at the tip of the RGB. By selecting high orbital eccentricity, metal-rich stars, we identify red giants in our APOGEE2 sample that are likely associated with the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage (GES) merger. We compare the abundance profiles of the Jhelum stars and GES stars and find similar trends in α-elements, as expected for low-metallicity populations. However, we find that the orbits for GES and Jhelum stars are not generally consistent with a shared origin. The chemical abundances for the APOGEE-2 Jhelum star and other confirmed members of the stream are similar to stars in known stellar streams and thus are consistent with an accreted dwarf galaxy origin for the progenitor of the stream, although we cannot rule out a globular cluster origin.

Keywords: stellar streams
Reassessment of the Volumes of Sediment Sources and Sinks on Venus

The dominant source of sediment on Venus is thought to be impact cratering, wherein crater ejecta is redistributed across the planet by winds. Here we provide a refined global sediment budget for Venus by mapping and quantifying the volume of sediment from impact craters observable in Magellan data using updated methodology. We improve on previous estimates of the volume of impact-generated sediment by mapping the impact deposits for all craters ≥11 km on Venus. We estimate the planet's total budget of impact sediment to be a minimum of 290,000 km3, which corresponds to a global layer of sediment 63 cm thick. If erosional processes have been active over the average surface age (500 Ma-1 Ga), the transportable fraction of this volume implies a sediment mobilization rate between 0.18 and 0.36 nm yr-1, comparable to the late Hesperian-Amazonian era of Mars. We requantify the volume of sediment held in recognized eolian features by (1) applying morphometric studies of planetary analogs to assess the volumes of observed Venusian dune and yardang fields and (2) estimating the volume of proposed microdune fields. We also identify a new yardang field near Mead crater. Globally, we find that >100,000 km3 of available sediment is not accounted for by eolian deposits, concurring that lithification, resurfacing, and fields of as yet unidentified eolian features are other potential sinks for sediment. However, locally, individual eolian fields contain more sediment than can be derived from nearby craters, indicating that these fields contain additional sediment from other sources.

Keywords: venus; craters; planetary surfaces; impact phenomena; surface processes; solar system terrestrial planets
PSP/WISPR Observations of Dust Density Depletion near the Sun. II. New Insights from within the Depletion Zone

Visible light observations from the Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe (WISPR) aboard the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission offer a unique opportunity to study the dust environment near the Sun. The existence of a dust-free zone (DFZ) around stars was postulated almost a century ago. Despite numerous attempts to detect it from as close as 0.3 au, observational evidence of a circumsolar DFZ has remained elusive. Analysis of WISPR images obtained from heliocentric distances between 13.3-53.7 R ⊙ over multiple PSP orbits shows a gradually decreasing brightness gradient along the symmetry axis of the F-corona for coronal heights between 19 and 9 R ⊙. Below 9 R ⊙, the gradient reverses its trend, approaching the radial dependence exhibited at heights above 19 R ⊙. After taking into account the effects of both the electron corona background and the nonresolved starlight, the WISPR observations down to 4 R ⊙ are consistent with forward-modeling simulations of the F-corona brightness within [-6, 5]% if a circumsolar region of depleted dust density between 19 and 5 R ⊙ enclosing a DFZ is considered. In addition, we show, for the first time, that the F-corona brightness inward of about 15 R ⊙ depends on the observer's location for observing distances below 35 R ⊙.

Keywords: circumstellar dust; solar f corona
ASSIST: An Ephemeris-quality Test-particle Integrator

We introduce ASSIST, a software package for ephemeris-quality integrations of test particles. ASSIST is an extension of the REBOUND framework and makes use of its IAS15 integrator to integrate test-particle trajectories in the field of the Sun, Moon, planets, and 16 massive asteroids, with the positions of the masses coming from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's DE441 ephemeris and its associated asteroid perturber file. The package incorporates the most significant gravitational harmonics and general-relativistic corrections. ASSIST also accounts for position- and velocity-dependent nongravitational effects. The first-order variational equations are included for all terms to support orbit fitting and covariance mapping. This new framework is meant to provide an open-source package written in a modern language to enable high-precision orbital analysis and science by the small-body community. ASSIST is open source, freely distributed under the GNU General Public license v3.0.

Keywords: ephemerides; n-body simulations; asteroid dynamics; comet dynamics
A New Method for Simulating Photoprocesses in Astrochemical Models

We propose a new model for treating solid-phase photoprocesses in interstellar ice analogs. In this approach, photoionization and photoexcitation are included in more detail, and the production of electronically excited (suprathermal) species is explicitly considered. In addition, we have included nonthermal, nondiffusive chemistry to account for the low-temperature characteristic of cold cores. As an initial test of our method, we have simulated two previous experimental studies involving the UV irradiation of pure solid O2. In contrast to previous solid-state astrochemical model calculations, which have used gas-phase photoabsorption cross-sections, we have employed solid-state cross-sections in our calculations. This method allows the model to be tested using well-constrained experiments rather than poorly constrained gas-phase abundances in interstellar medium regions. Our results indicate that inclusion of nonthermal reactions and suprathermal species allows for reproduction of low-temperature solid-phase photoprocessing that simulates interstellar ices within cold (∼10 K) dense cores such as TMC-1.

Keywords: photoionization; interstellar dust processes; ice destruction; interstellar molecules; astrochemistry; molecular clouds
The Link between Nonthermal Velocity and Free Magnetic Energy in Solar Flares

The cause of excess spectral line broadening (nonthermal velocity) is not definitively known, but given its rise before and during flaring, the causal processes hold clues to understanding the triggers for the onset of reconnection and the release of free magnetic energy from the coronal magnetic field. A comparison of data during a 9 hr period from the extreme ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer on the Hinode spacecraft-at a 3 minute cadence-and nonlinear force-free field extrapolations performed on Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetograms-at a 12 minute cadence-shows an inverse relationship between nonthermal velocity and free magnetic energy on short timescales during two X-class solar flares on 2017 September 6. Analysis of these results supports suggestions that unresolved Doppler flows do not solely cause nonthermal broadening, and instead other mechanisms like Alfvén wave propagation and isotropic turbulence have a greater influence.

Keywords: solar extreme ultraviolet emission; solar active region magnetic fields
The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems. V. Do Self-consistent Atmospheric Models Represent JWST Spectra? A Showcase with VHS 1256–1257 b

The unprecedented medium-resolution (R λ ∼ 1500–3500) near- and mid-infrared (1–18 μm) spectrum provided by JWST for the young (140 ± 20 Myr) low-mass (12–20 M Jup) L–T transition (L7) companion VHS 1256 b gives access to a catalog of molecular absorptions. In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of this data set utilizing a forward-modeling approach applying our Bayesian framework, ForMoSA. We explore five distinct atmospheric models to assess their performance in estimating key atmospheric parameters: T eff, log(g), [M/H], C/O, γ, f sed, and R. Our findings reveal that each parameter's estimate is significantly influenced by factors such as the wavelength range considered and the model chosen for the fit. This is attributed to systematic errors in the models and their challenges in accurately replicating the complex atmospheric structure of VHS 1256 b, notably the complexity of its clouds and dust distribution. To propagate the impact of these systematic uncertainties on our atmospheric property estimates, we introduce innovative fitting methodologies based on independent fits performed on different spectral windows. We finally derived a T eff consistent with the spectral type of the target, considering its young age, which is confirmed by our estimate of log(g). Despite the exceptional data quality, attaining robust estimates for chemical abundances [M/H] and C/O, often employed as indicators of formation history, remains challenging. Nevertheless, the pioneering case of JWST's data for VHS 1256 b has paved the way for future acquisitions of substellar spectra that will be systematically analyzed to directly compare the properties of these objects and correct the systematics in the models.

Keywords: exoplanet atmospheres; infrared spectroscopy; direct imaging; l dwarfs; nested sampling; james webb space telescope; astronomy data modeling
Binding Energies of Interstellar Molecules on Crystalline and Amorphous Models of Water Ice by Ab Initio Calculations

In the denser and colder (≤20 K) regions of the interstellar medium (ISM), near-infrared observations have revealed the presence of submicron-sized dust grains covered by several layers of H2O-dominated ices and "dirtied" by the presence of other volatile species. Whether a molecule is in the gas or solid-phase depends on its binding energy (BE) on ice surfaces. Thus, BEs are crucial parameters for the astrochemical models that aim to reproduce the observed evolution of the ISM chemistry. In general, BEs can be inferred either from experimental techniques or by theoretical computations. In this work, we present a reliable computational methodology to evaluate the BEs of a large set (21) of astrochemical relevant species. We considered different periodic surface models of both crystalline and amorphous nature to mimic the interstellar water ice mantles. Both models ensure that hydrogen bond cooperativity is fully taken into account at variance with the small ice cluster models. Density functional theory adopting both B3LYP-D3 and M06-2X functionals was used to predict the species/ice structure and their BEs. As expected from the complexity of the ice surfaces, we found that each molecule can experience multiple BE values, which depend on its structure and position at the ice surface. A comparison of our computed data with literature data shows agreement in some cases and (large) differences in others. We discuss some astrophysical implications that show the importance of calculating BEs using more realistic interstellar ice surfaces to have reliable values for inclusion in the astrochemical models.

Keywords: surface ices; interstellar dust; interstellar molecules; dense interstellar clouds; interstellar medium; solid matter physics; interstellar dust processes; computational methods
Light from the Darkness: Detecting Ultra-diffuse Galaxies in the Perseus Cluster through Over-densities of Globular Clusters with a Log-Gaussian Cox Process

We introduce a new method for detecting ultra-diffuse galaxies by searching for over-densities in intergalactic globular cluster populations. Our approach is based on an application of the log-Gaussian Cox process, which is a commonly used model in the spatial statistics literature but rarely used in astronomy. This method is applied to the globular cluster data obtained from the PIPER survey, a Hubble Space Telescope imaging program targeting the Perseus cluster. We successfully detect all confirmed ultra-diffuse galaxies with known globular cluster populations in the survey. We also identify a potential galaxy that has no detected diffuse stellar content. Preliminary analysis shows that it is unlikely to be merely an accidental clump of globular clusters or other objects. If confirmed, this system would be the first of its kind. Simulations are used to assess how the physical parameters of the globular cluster systems within ultra-diffuse galaxies affect their detectability using our method. We quantify the correlation of the detection probability with the total number of globular clusters in the galaxy and the anticorrelation with increasing half-number radius of the globular cluster system. The Sérsic index of the globular cluster distribution has little impact on detectability.

Keywords: astrostatistics; low surface brightness galaxies; astrostatistics tools; astrostatistics techniques; bayesian statistics; globular star clusters; perseus cluster; spatial point processes
The Long-term Monitoring Results of Insight-HXMT in the First 4 yr Galactic Plane Scanning Survey

The first X-ray source catalog of the Insight-HXMT Galactic Plane (∣b∣ < 10°) Scanning Survey (GPSS) is presented based on the data accumulated from 2017 June to 2021 August. The 4 yr limit sensitivities at main energy bands can reach 8.2 × 10-12 erg s-1 cm2 (2-6 keV), 4.21 × 10-11 erg s-1 cm2 (7-40 keV), and 2.78 × 10-11 erg s-1 cm2 (25-100 keV). More than 1300 sources have been monitored at a wide band (1-100 keV), of which 223 sources have a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 5. We combined the GPSS data of Insight-HXMT and MAXI and found it feasible to obtain more complete long-term light curves from their scanning results. The flux variabilities at different energy bands of the 223 bright sources are analyzed based on the excess variances. It is found that the fluxes of X-ray binaries are more active than those of supernova remnants and isolated pulsars. Different types of binaries, e.g., low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), neutron star binaries, and black hole binaries, also distinctively show different regularities. In addition, the relations between the hardness ratio (HR) and excess variances, and HR and source types are analyzed. It is obvious that the HRs of HMXBs tend to be harder than those of LMXBs and HMXBs tend to be more active than those of LMXBs.

Keywords: catalogs; surveys; x-ray surveys
Search for Stellar Flybys in the Sco-Cen OB Association with the Gaia DR2

High-contrast imaging studies of debris disks have revealed a significant diversity in their morphologies, including large-scale asymmetries. Theories involving stellar flybys, an external source of gravitational disturbance, have offered a plausible explanation for the origin of these morphological variations. Our study is an experiment to gain empirical evidence that has been lacking from such theories. We explore this paradigm by using astrometric and radial velocity measurements from the Gaia DR2 and ground-based observations to trace the trajectories of 625 stars in the Sco-Cen OB association from 5 Myr in the past to 2 Myr in the future. We identified 119 stars that had at least one past flyby event occurring within one Hill radius, and 23 of these experienced flybys within 0.5 Hill radii. We found no evidence of a significant correlation between the presence of flyby events and infrared excess detections, although the sample is not uniformly sensitive to infrared excess emission. Ten stars that had past flyby events host resolved circumstellar disks that appear relatively symmetric in the existing data except for the circumbinary disk surrounding HD 106906. We determined the trajectory and relative velocity of each of these flyby events and compared these to the geometry of the spatially resolved disks. Future work is needed to measure the kinematics of lower-mass stars and to improve sensitivity to circumstellar disks for the entire sample.

Keywords: celestial mechanics; close encounters; debris disks; circumstellar disks
The Young Stars in the Galactic Center

We present a large ~30″ × 30″ spectroscopic survey of the Galactic Center using the SINFONI IFU at the VLT. Combining observations of the last two decades we compile spectra of over 2800 stars. Using the Bracket-γ absorption lines, we identify 195 young stars, extending the list of known young stars by 79. In order to explore the angular momentum distribution of the young stars, we introduce an isotropic cluster prior. This prior reproduces an isotropic cluster in a mathematically exact way, which we test through numerical simulations. We calculate the posterior angular momentum space as a function of projected separation from Sgr A*. We find that the observed young star distribution is substantially different from an isotropic cluster. We identify the previously reported feature of the clockwise disk and find that its angular momentum changes as a function of separation from the black hole and thus confirm a warp of the clockwise disk (p ~ 99.2%). At large separations, we discover three prominent overdensities of the angular momentum. One overdensity has been reported previously, the counterclockwise disk. The other two are new. Determining the likely members of these structures, we find that as many as 75% of stars can be associated with one of these features. Stars belonging to the warped clockwise disk show a top-heavy K-band luminosity function, while stars belonging to the larger separation features do not. Our observations are in good agreement with the predictions of simulations of in situ star formation and argue for the common formation of these structures.

Keywords: galactic center
An Exceptional Dimming Event for a Massive, Cool Supergiant in M51

We present the discovery of an exceptional dimming event in a cool supergiant star in the Local Volume spiral M51. The star, dubbed M51-DS1, was found as part of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) search for failed supernovae (SNe). The supergiant, which is plausibly associated with a very young (≲6 Myr) stellar population, showed clear variability (amplitude ΔF814W ≈ 0.7 mag) in numerous HST images obtained between 1995 and 2016, before suddenly dimming by >2 mag in F814W sometime between late 2017 and mid-2019. In follow-up data from 2021, the star rebrightened, ruling out a failed supernova. Prior to its near-disappearance, the star was luminous and red (M F814W ≲ - 7.6 mag, F606W - F814W = 1.9-2.2 mag). Modeling of the pre-dimming spectral energy distribution of the star favors a highly reddened, very luminous ( $\mathrm{log}[L/{L}_{\odot }]=5.4$ -5.7) star with T eff ≈ 3700-4700 K, indicative of a cool yellow or post-red supergiant (RSG) with an initial mass of ≈26-40 M ⊙. However, the local interstellar extinction and circumstellar extinction are uncertain, and could be lower: the near-IR colors are consistent with an RSG, which would be cooler (T eff ≲ 3700 K) and slightly less luminous ( $\mathrm{log}[L/{L}_{\odot }]=5.2$ -5.3), giving an inferred initial mass of ≈19-22 M ⊙. In either case, the dimming may be explained by a rare episode of enhanced mass loss that temporarily obscures the star, potentially a more extreme counterpart to the 2019-2020 "Great Dimming" of Betelgeuse. Given the emerging evidence that massive evolved stars commonly exhibit variability that can mimic a disappearing star, our work highlights a substantial challenge in identifying true failed SNe.

Keywords: red supergiant stars; peculiar variable stars; stellar mass loss; evolved stars
The Way of Water: ALMA Resolves H2O Emission Lines in a Strongly Lensed Dusty Star-forming Galaxy at z ∼ 3.1

We report Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) high-resolution (≲0.3″) observations of water emission lines p-H2O(202 - 111), o-H2O(321 - 312), p-H2O(422 - 413), in the strongly lensed galaxy HATLASJ113526.2-01460 at redshift z ~3.1. From the lensing-reconstructed maps of water emission and line profiles, we infer the general physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the molecular clouds where the lines arise. We find that the water vapor lines o-H2O(321 - 312), p-H2O(422 - 413) are mainly excited by far-infrared (FIR) pumping from dust radiation in a warm and dense environment, with dust temperatures ranging from 70 to ~100 K, as suggested by the line ratios. The p-H2O(202 - 111) line, instead, is excited by a complex interplay between FIR pumping and collisional excitation in the dense core of the star-forming region. This scenario is also supported by the detection of the medium-level excitation of CO resulting in the line emission CO (J = 8-7). Thanks to the unprecedented high resolution offered by the combination of ALMA capabilities and gravitational lensing, we discern the different phases of the ISM and locate the hot molecular clouds into a physical scale of ~500 pc. We discuss the possibility of J1135 hosting an active galactic nucleus in its accretion phase. Finally, we determine the relation between the water emission lines and the total IR luminosity of J1135, as well as the star formation rate as a function of water emission intensities, comparing the outcomes to local and high-z galactic samples from the literature.

Keywords: star forming regions; interstellar thermal emission