adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Detection of a Satellite of the Trojan Asteroid (3548) Eurybates—A Lucy Mission Target

We describe the discovery of a satellite of the Trojan asteroid (3548) Eurybates in images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. The satellite was detected on three separate epochs, two in 2018 September and one in 2020 January. The satellite has a brightness in all three epochs consistent with an effective diameter of d2 = 1.2 ± 0.4 km. The projected separation from Eurybates was s ∼ 1700-2300 km and varied in position, consistent with a large range of possible orbits. Eurybates is a target of the Lucy Discovery mission and the early detection of a satellite provides an opportunity for a significant expansion of the scientific return from this encounter.

Keywords: trojan asteroids; natural satellites (solar system)
Limited Stability of Multicomponent Brines on the Surface of Mars

The formation and stability of brines on the surface of present-day Mars remains an important question to resolve the astrobiological potential of the red planet. Although modeling and experimental work have constrained the processes controlling the stability of single-salt brines exhibiting low freezing temperatures, such as calcium perchlorate, the Martian regolith is far more complex because multiple salts coexist in various concentrations, leading to brines whose behavior remains untested. Here we modeled the stability of complex brines of compositions determined from the Phoenix lander's Wet Chemistry Laboratory. We find that such brines would form in equilibrium with sodium and magnesium perchlorates, chlorides, and calcium chlorate, but never calcium perchlorate, which has been widely considered as the most likely to produce brines on Mars. Furthermore, we find that only chlorate-rich brines can potentially remain liquid, for small periods of time, at temperatures compatible with those measured by the Phoenix lander. Therefore, liquid brines remain overly unstable under present-day Martian conditions and are unlikely to contribute to surface geomorphological activity, such as recurring slope lineae. In these conditions, of cold and salty brines, the present-day Martian surface remains highly unhabitable.

Keywords: mars
On the Existence of Shear-current Effects in Magnetized Burgulence

The possibility of explaining shear flow dynamos by a magnetic shear-current (MSC) effect is examined via numerical simulations. Our primary diagnostics is the determination of the turbulent magnetic diffusivity tensor η. In our setup, a negative sign of its component ηyx is necessary for coherent dynamo action by the SC effect. To be able to measure turbulent transport coefficients from systems with magnetic background turbulence, we present an extension of the test-field method (TFM) applicable to our setup where the pressure gradient is dropped from the momentum equation: the nonlinear TFM (NLTFM). Our momentum equation is related to Burgers' equation and the resulting flows are referred to as magnetized burgulence. We use both stochastic kinetic and magnetic forcings to mimic cases without and with simultaneous small-scale dynamo action. When we force only kinetically, negative ηyx are obtained with exponential growth in both the radial and azimuthal mean magnetic field components. Using magnetokinetic forcing, the field growth is no longer exponential, while NLTFM yields positive ηyx. By employing an alternative forcing from which wavevectors whose components correspond to the largest scales are removed, the exponential growth is recovered, but the NLTFM results do not change significantly. Analyzing the dynamo excitation conditions for the coherent SC and incoherent α and SC effects shows that the incoherent effects are the main drivers of the dynamo in the majority of cases. We find no evidence for MSC-effect-driven dynamos in our simulations.

Keywords: magnetohydrodynamical simulations; astrophysical magnetism
Lagrange versus Lyapunov Stability of Hierarchical Triple Systems: Dependence on the Mutual Inclination between Inner and Outer Orbits

While there have been many studies examining the stability of hierarchical triple systems, the meaning of "stability" is somewhat vague and has been interpreted differently in previous literatures. The present paper focuses on "Lagrange stability," which roughly refers to the stability against the escape of a body from the system, or "disruption" of the triple system, in contrast to "Lyapunov-like stability," which is related to the chaotic nature of the system dynamics. We compute the evolution of triple systems using direct N-body simulations up to 107 P out, which is significantly longer than previous studies (with P out being the initial orbital period of the outer body). We obtain the resulting disruption timescale T d as a function of the triple orbital parameters with particular attention to the dependence on the mutual inclination between the inner and outer orbits, i mut. By doing so, we have clarified explicitly the difference between Lagrange and Lyapunov stabilities in astronomical triples. Furthermore, we find that the von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov oscillations significantly destabilize inclined triples (roughly with 60° < i mut < 150°) relative to those with i mut = 0°. On the other hand, retrograde triples with i mut > 160° become strongly stabilized with much longer disruption timescales. We show the sensitivity of the normalized disruption timescale T d/P out to the orbital parameters of triple system. The resulting T d/P out distribution is practically more useful in a broad range of astronomical applications than the stability criterion based on the Lyapunov divergence.

Keywords: celestial mechanics; three-body problem; multiple stars; compact binary stars; orbital evolution
A Unified Treatment of Kepler Occurrence to Trace Planet Evolution. I. Methodology

We present Kepler exoplanet occurrence rates for planets between 0.5 and 16 R ⊕ and between 1 and 400 days. To measure occurrence, we use a nonparametric method via a kernel density estimator and use bootstrap random sampling for uncertainty estimation. We use a full characterization of completeness and reliability measurements from the Kepler Data Release 25 catalog, including detection efficiency, vetting completeness, astrophysical reliability, and false alarm reliability. We also include more accurate and homogeneous stellar radii from Gaia Data Release 2. In order to see the impact of these final Kepler properties, we revisit benchmark exoplanet occurrence rate measurements from the literature. We compare our measurements with previous studies to both validate our method and observe the dependence of these benchmarks on updated stellar and planet properties. For FGK stars, between 0.5 and 16 R ⊕ and between 1 and 400 days, we find an occurrence of 1.52 ± 0.08 planets per star. We investigate the dependence of occurrence as a function of radius, orbital period, and stellar type and compare with previous studies with excellent agreement. We measure the minimum of the radius valley to be ${1.78}_{-0.16}^{+0.14}$ R ⊕ for FGK stars and find it to move to smaller radii for cooler stars. We also present new measurements of the slope of the occurrence cliff at 3-4 R ⊕, and find that the cliff becomes less steep at long orbital period. Our methodology will enable us to constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution in the future.

Keywords: exoplanets; exoplanet formation; exoplanet astronomy; exoplanet evolution; transit photometry
Alternative Methylated Biosignatures. I. Methyl Bromide, a Capstone Biosignature

The first potential exoplanetary biosignature detections are likely to be ambiguous due to the potential for false positives: abiotic planetary processes that produce observables similar to those anticipated from a global biosphere. Here we propose a class of methylated gases as corroborative "capstone" biosignatures. Capstone biosignatures are metabolic products that may be less immediately detectable, but have substantially lower false-positive potential, and can thus serve as confirmation for a primary biosignature such as O2. CH3Cl has previously been established as a biosignature candidate, and other halomethane gases such as CH3Br and CH3I have similar potential. These gases absorb in the mid-infrared at wavelengths that are likely to be captured while observing primary biosignatures such as O3 or CH4. We quantitatively explore CH3Br as a new capstone biosignature through photochemical and spectral modeling of Earthlike planets orbiting FGKM stellar hosts. We also reexamine the biosignature potential of CH3Cl over the same set of parameters using our updated model. We show that CH3Cl and CH3Br can build up to relatively high levels in M dwarf environments and analyze synthetic spectra of TRAPPIST-1e. Our results suggest that there is a coadditive spectral effect from multiple CH3X gases in an atmosphere, leading to an increased signal-to-noise and greater ability to detect a methylated gas feature. These capstone biosignatures are plausibly detectable in exoplanetary atmospheres, have low false-positive potential, and would provide strong evidence for life in conjunction with other well-established biosignature candidates.

Keywords: astrobiology; biosignatures; exoplanets; extrasolar rocky planets
Hard X-Ray to Radio Multiwavelength SED Analysis of Local U/LIRGs in the GOALS Sample with a Self-consistent AGN Model including a Polar-dust Component

We conduct hard X-ray to radio multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) decomposition for 57 local luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies observed with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array and/or Swift/Burst Alert Telescope in the GOALS sample. We modify the latest SED-fitting code X-CIGALE by implementing the infrared (IR) CLUMPY model, allowing us to conduct the multiwavelength study with the X-ray torus model XCLUMPY self-consistently. Adopting the torus parameters obtained by the X-ray fitting, we estimate the properties of the host galaxies, active galactic nucleus (AGN) tori, and polar dust. The star formation rates (SFRs) become larger with merger stage and most of them are above the main sequence. The SFRs are correlated with radio luminosity, indicating starburst emission is dominant in the radio band. Although polar-dust extinction is much smaller than torus extinction, the UV-to-IR (mainly IR) polar dust luminosities are ~2 times larger than the torus ones. The polar-dust temperature decreases while the physical size, estimated by the temperature and dust sublimation radius, increases with AGN luminosity from a few tens of parsec (early mergers) to kiloparsec scales (late mergers), where the polar dust likely comes from expanding (i.e., evolving) dusty outflows. A comparison between the SFRs and intrinsic AGN luminosities suggests that starbursts occur first and AGNs arise later, and overall their growth rates follow the simultaneous coevolution local galaxy-SMBH mass relation. We confirm the coexistence of intense starbursts, AGNs, and large-scale outflows in late mergers, supporting a standard AGN feedback scenario.

Keywords: infrared galaxies; active galactic nuclei; x-ray active galactic nuclei; optical observation; infrared photometry; radio continuum emission
Probing the Anisotropy and Non-Gaussianity in the Redshift Space through the Conditional Moments of the First Derivative

Focusing on the redshift space observations with plane-parallel approximation and relying on the rotational dependency of the general definition of excursion sets, we introduce the so-called conditional moments of the first derivative (cmd) measures for the smoothed matter density field in three dimensions. We derive the perturbative expansion of cmd for the real space and redshift space where peculiar velocity disturbs the galaxies' observed locations. Our criteria can successfully recognize the contribution of linear Kaiser and Finger-of-God effects. Our results demonstrate that the cmd measure has significant sensitivity for pristine constraining the redshift space distortion parameter β = f/b and interestingly, the associated normalized quantity in the Gaussian linear Kaiser limit has only β dependency. Implementation of the synthetic anisotropic Gaussian field approves the consistency between the theoretical and numerical results. Including the first-order contribution of non-Gaussianity perturbatively in the cmd criterion implies that the N-body simulations for the Quijote suite in the redshift space have been mildly skewed with a higher value for the threshold greater than zero. The non-Gaussianity for the perpendicular direction to the line of sight in the redshift space for smoothing scales R ≳ 20 Mpc h ‑1 is almost the same as in the real space. In contrast, the non-Gaussianity along the line-of-sight direction in the redshift space is magnified. The Fisher forecasts indicate a significant enhancement in constraining the cosmological parameters Ω m , σ 8, and n s when using cmd + cr jointly.

Keywords: cosmology
The Astrophysical Distance Scale. V. A 2% Distance to the Local Group Spiral M33 via the JAGB Method, Tip of the Red Giant Branch, and Leavitt Law

The J-region asymptotic giant branch (JAGB) method is a new standard candle that is based on the stable intrinsic J-band magnitude of color-selected carbon stars, and has a precision comparable to other primary distance indicators such as Cepheids and the TRGB. We further test the accuracy of the JAGB method in the Local Group galaxy M33. M33's moderate inclination, low metallicity, and nearby proximity make it an ideal laboratory for tests of systematics in local distance indicators. Using high-precision optical BVI and near-infrared JHK photometry, we explore the application of three independent distance indicators: the JAGB method, the Cepheid Leavitt law, and the TRGB. We find: μ 0(TRGB I ) = 24.72 ± 0.02 (stat) ± 0.07 (sys) mag, μ 0(TRGBNIR) = 24.72 ± 0.04 (stat) ± 0.10 (sys) mag, μ 0(JAGB) = 24.67 ± 0.03 (stat) ± 0.04 (sys) mag, and μ 0(Cepheid) = 24.71 ± 0.04 (stat) ± 0.01 (sys) mag. For the first time, we also directly compare a JAGB distance using ground-based and space-based photometry. We measure μ 0(JAGBF110W) = 24.71 ± 0.06 (stat) ± 0.05 (sys) mag using the (F814W-F110W) color combination to effectively isolate the JAGB stars. In this paper, we measure a distance to M33 accurate to 2% and provide further evidence that the JAGB method is a powerful extragalactic distance indicator that can effectively probe a local measurement of the Hubble constant using spaced-based observations. We expect to measure the Hubble constant via the JAGB method in the near future, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Keywords: observational cosmology; hubble constant; cepheid distance; distance indicators; population ii stars; asymptotic giant branch stars; carbon stars; cepheid variable stars; red giant tip; galaxy distances; triangulum galaxy
Brighter and More Massive Galaxies in the Vicinity of Lyα Nebulae

It has been well established in the local universe that galaxy properties differ based on the large-scale environment in which they reside. As luminous Lyα nebulae have been shown to trace overdense environments at z ~ 2-3, comparing the properties of galaxies within Lyα nebulae systems to those in the field can provide insight into how and when locally observed trends between galaxy properties and environment emerged. Six Lyα nebulae were discovered at z ~ 2.3 in a blind search of the GOODS-S extragalactic field, a region also covered by the 3D-HST spectroscopic survey. Utilizing 3D-HST data, we identified 86 galaxies in the vicinity of these nebulae and used statistical tests to compare their physical properties to galaxies elsewhere in the field. Galaxies lying within 320 proper kpc of a Lyα nebula are roughly half a magnitude brighter than those in the field, with higher stellar masses, higher star formation rates, and larger effective radii. Even when considering the effects of sample incompleteness, our study suggests that galaxies in overdensities at z ~ 2.3 traced by Lyα nebulae are being influenced by their environment. Furthermore, Lyα-nebula-associated galaxies lie on the same main sequence of star formation as field galaxies but have a larger proportion of high-mass galaxies, consistent with the idea that galaxy evolution is accelerated in rich environments. Expanded surveys for Lyα nebulae in other deep extragalactic fields and galaxy spectroscopic follow-up with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will better constrain the demographics of Lyα-nebula-associated galaxies.

Keywords: high-redshift galaxies; galaxy environments; galaxy evolution; protoclusters
First Results from SMAUG: Characterization of Multiphase Galactic Outflows from a Suite of Local Star-forming Galactic Disk Simulations

Large-scale outflows in star-forming galaxies are observed to be ubiquitous and are a key aspect of theoretical modeling of galactic evolution, the focus of the Simulating Multiscale Astrophysics to Understand Galaxies (SMAUG) project. Gas blown out from galactic disks, similar to gas within galaxies, consists of multiple phases with large contrasts of density, temperature, and other properties. To study multiphase outflows as emergent phenomena, we run a suite of rougly parsec-resolution local galactic disk simulations using the TIGRESS framework. Explicit modeling of the interstellar medium (ISM), including star formation and self-consistent radiative heating plus supernova feedback, regulates ISM properties and drives the outflow. We investigate the scaling of outflow mass, momentum, energy, and metal loading factors with galactic disk properties, including star formation rate (SFR) surface density (ΣSFR ∼ 10-4 - 1 M⊙ kpc-2 yr-1), gas surface density ( ${{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{\mathrm{gas}}\sim 1\mbox{--}100\,{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{pc}}^{-2}$ ), and total midplane pressure (or weight; ${P}_{\mathrm{mid}}\approx { \mathcal W }\sim {10}^{3}\mbox{--}{10}^{6}\,{k}_{B}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}\,{\rm{K}}$ ). The main components of outflowing gas are mass-delivering cool gas (T ∼ 104 K) and energy/metal-delivering hot gas (T ≳ 106 K). Cool mass outflow rates measured at outflow launch points (one or two scale heights $\sim 300\,\mathrm{pc}\mbox{--}1\,\mathrm{kpc}$ ) are 1-100 times the SFR (decreasing with ΣSFR), although in massive galaxies most mass falls back owing to insufficient outflow velocity. The hot galactic outflow carries mass comparable to 10% of the SFR, together with 10%-20% of the energy and 30%-60% of the metal mass injected by SN feedback. Importantly, our analysis demonstrates that in any physically motivated cosmological wind model it is crucial to include at least two distinct thermal wind components.

Keywords: galactic winds; magnetohydrodynamical simulations; star formation; stellar feedback; interstellar medium
On the Width of a Collisionless Shock and the Index of the Cosmic Rays It Accelerates

Despite being studied for many years, the structure of collisionless shocks is still not fully determined. Such shocks are known to be accelerators of cosmic rays (CRs), which, in turn, modify the shock structure. The shock width λ is known to be connected to the CR spectral index a. Here, we use an instability analysis to derive the shock width in the presence of CRs. We obtain an analytical expression connecting the shock width to the CR index and to the fraction of upstream particles that are accelerated. We find that when this fraction becomes larger than ∼30%, a new instability becomes dominant. The shock undergoes a transition where its width increases by a factor ∼8–10, and the CR acceleration effectively ends. Our analysis is valid for strong, nonrelativistic, and unmagnetized shocks. We discuss the implication of these results on the expected range of CR spectra and flux observed and on the structure of nonrelativistic collisionless shocks.

Keywords: shocks
RELICS: A Very Large (θE ∼ 40″) Cluster Lens—RXC J0032.1+1808

Extensive surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope over the past decade, targeting some of the most massive clusters in the sky, have uncovered dozens of galaxy cluster strong lenses. The massive cluster strong-lens scale is typically θE ∼ 10″ to ∼30″-35″, with only a handful of clusters known with Einstein radii θE ∼ 40″ or above (for zsource = 2, nominally). Here we report another very large cluster lens, RXC J0032.1+1808 (z = 0.3956), the second-richest cluster in the redMapper cluster catalog and the 85th most massive cluster in the Planck Sunyaev-Zel'dovich catalog. With our light-traces-mass and fully parametric approaches, we construct strong-lensing models based on 18 multiple images of five background galaxies newly identified in the Hubble data, mainly from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), in addition to a known sextuply imaged system in this cluster. Furthermore, we compare these models to Lenstool and GLAFIC models that were produced independently as part of the RELICS program. All models reveal a large effective Einstein radius of θE ≃ 40″ (zsource = 2), owing to the obvious concentration of substructures near the cluster center. Although RXC J0032.1+1808 has a very large critical area and high lensing strength, only three magnified high-redshift candidates are found within the field targeted by RELICS. Nevertheless, we expect many more high-redshift candidates will be seen in wider and deeper observations with Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope. Finally, the comparison between several algorithms demonstrates that the total error budget is largely dominated by systematic uncertainties.

Keywords: strong gravitational lensing; galaxy clusters
Multiband Weighting of X-Ray Polarization Data

An optimal estimate for Stokes parameters is derived for the situation in X-ray astronomy where the instrument has a modulation factor that varies significantly with energy but the signals are very weak or mildly polarized. For such sources, the band of analysis may be broadened in order to obtain a significant polarization measurement. Optimal estimators are provided for the cases of binned and unbinned data and applied to data such as might be obtained for faint or weakly polarized sources observed using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. For a sample situation, the improvement in the minimum detectable polarization is 6%-7% using a count-weighted rms of the modulation factor, when compared to a count-weighted average. Improving the modulation factor, such as when using a neural network approach to Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer event tracks, can provide additional improvement up to 10%-15%. The actual improvement depends on the spectral shape and the details of the instrument response functions.

Keywords: high energy astrophysics; polarimetry; astronomy data analysis
In Situ Evidence of Ion Acceleration between Consecutive Reconnection Jet Fronts

Processes driven by unsteady reconnection can efficiently accelerate particles in many astrophysical plasmas. An example is the reconnection jet fronts in an outflow region. We present evidence of suprathermal ion acceleration between two consecutive reconnection jet fronts observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the terrestrial magnetotail. An earthward propagating jet is approached by a second faster jet. Between the jets, the thermal ions are mostly perpendicular to magnetic field, are trapped, and are gradually accelerated in the parallel direction up to 150 keV. Observations suggest that ions are predominantly accelerated by a Fermi-like mechanism in the contracting magnetic bottle formed between the two jet fronts. The ion acceleration mechanism is presumably efficient in other environments where jet fronts produced by variable rates of reconnection are common and where the interaction of multiple jet fronts can also develop a turbulent environment, e.g., in stellar and solar eruptions.

Keywords: space plasmas; plasma jets; solar magnetic reconnection