adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Mars: Quantitative Evaluation of Crocus Melting behind Boulders

The possibility of liquid water on present-day Mars has been debated for half a century. Melting is physically difficult under Martian environmental conditions, because with the total pressure of the atmosphere near the triple point pressure of water, evaporative cooling of ice is high near the melting point. Here, a suite of quantitative models is used to investigate whether melting of seasonal water frost can occur on present-day Mars. An updated and generalized parameterization is derived for the turbulent convective heat flux that results from the buoyancy of water vapor. A three-dimensional surface energy balance model is used to calculate surface temperatures; it includes terrain shadowing, self heating, and subsurface conduction. Protruding topography creates locations that experience a rapid transition from conditions where water frost accumulates to high solar energy input. Beyond the pole-facing side of a boulder, CO2 and ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}$ frost can accumulate seasonally, and once the Sun reemerges and the CO2 frost disappears, the water frost is heated to near melting temperature within one or two sols. Dust contained in the CO2 frost facilitates the formation of a protective sublimation lag. Temperatures within about 10 K of the melting point are reached within one or two sols after the end of water frost accumulation. For expected sublimation lag thicknesses, evaporative cooling is not significantly reduced. Overall, melting of pure water ice is not expected under present-day Mars conditions. However, at temperatures that are readily reached, seasonal water frost can melt on a salt-rich substrate. Hence, crocus melting behind boulders can lead to the formation of brines under present-day Mars conditions.

Keywords: mars; water vapor; planetary science; astrophysical fluid dynamics; theoretical models
A Tale of Three Dwarfs: Cluster-based Star Formation Histories of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies

We present a new study of the cluster populations in the blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCD) ESO185-IG13, ESO338-IG04, and Haro11, based on new and archival high-resolution images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and the first to probe the populations older than ≈100 Myr. BCDs are believed to experience intense bursts of star formation (including at the present day) after long periods of quiescence, but little is known about the timing, frequency, duration, and strength of these bursts or about their star formation histories in general. We find that the cluster population in each of the three galaxies studied here has its own unique distribution of colors and hence a unique cluster and star formation history. From an assumed correlation between the normalization of the cluster mass function and the star formation rate of the host galaxy, we construct cluster-based star formation histories over the past ≈few × Gyr and find that only Haro11 is currently experiencing a burst (≈factor of 10 increase in the rate of star formation for the last ≈20 Myr), whereas ESO185 experienced enhanced star formation (by a factor ≈4) between 10 and 40 Myr ago, and ESO338 has had a fairly constant SFH over the past few Gyr. These findings indicate that not all BCDs are experiencing a burst of star formation at the present day, and that some have been forming stars and clusters at a fairly steady rate (within a factor of ≈2–3) over the past few Gyr. This scenario is similar to the histories of dwarf irregular and dwarf starburst galaxies, which have star formation rates that are 10–1000 times lower than those in BCDs.

Keywords: galaxy evolution
Updated Orbit and Observations of Spectroscopic Binary HD 2019

Binary star system HD 2019 was studied by the David Dunlap Observatory between 1935 and 1947. From the spectroscopic data obtained, the orbital elements of the system were defined. Between then and now, there have been no updated studies of this binary star system. We set out to update the orbit of HD 2019 with new spectroscopic data obtained at Clarkson University's Reynolds Observatory. After finding the radial velocities of the star or stars visible in each spectrum, estimates of the error for each measurement were made. From the radial velocities and error estimates, new orbital elements were fit using the data from David Dunlap Observatory combined with the new data collected at Clarkson. These results lead to further investigation of the eccentricity of the orbit. Using the method of Lucy 2005, we ran a test to check the statistical significance of the eccentric orbit using p-value testing.

Keywords: binary stars; mercury-manganese stars; chemically peculiar stars; chemically peculiar giant stars; spectral line identification; radial velocity; spectroscopic binary stars; observational astronomy
Thermodynamical Evolution of Supra-arcade Downflows

Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) are dark, teardrop-shaped features descending upon flare arcades. They are thought to be the results of magnetic reconnection, but the detailed formation mechanism of SADs and their relationship to flare energy release are still unclear. In this work, we explore the thermodynamical properties of SADs in the 2011 October 22 limb flare using the observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and an improved Differential Emission Measure (DEM) technique. Different heating events around SADs are identified and the propagation speeds of plasma heating are calculated. The first heating event starts with the increase of the emission measure at temperatures higher than 5 MK, about 2.8 minutes before the arrival of the first studied SAD. Its propagation speed is about 140 km s-1, a little faster than the speed of the SAD. However, the other two events have fast propagation speeds more than 700 km s-1. We suspect that the first heating event can be explained by adiabatic compression, but the others may have different causes. Besides, we observed that SADs can push away their surrounding spikes. The formation of SADs is further explained on the basis of patchy and bursty magnetic reconnection that reconnection outflows may push away surrounding plasma and leave dark lanes behind them. The reliability of the DEM results, heating and cooling mechanisms, and other SAD explanations are discussed.

Keywords: solar flares; solar flare spectra; solar coronal heating; solar magnetic reconnection
AT 2022aedm and a New Class of Luminous, Fast-cooling Transients in Elliptical Galaxies

We present the discovery and extensive follow-up of a remarkable fast-evolving optical transient, AT 2022aedm, detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial impact Last Alert Survey (ATLAS). In the ATLAS o band, AT 2022aedm exhibited a rise time of 9 ± 1 days, reaching a luminous peak with M g ≈ -22 mag. It faded by 2 mag in the g band during the next 15 days. These timescales are consistent with other rapidly evolving transients, though the luminosity is extreme. Most surprisingly, the host galaxy is a massive elliptical with negligible current star formation. Radio and X-ray observations rule out a relativistic AT 2018cow-like explosion. A spectrum in the first few days after explosion showed short-lived He II emission resembling young core-collapse supernovae, but obvious broad supernova features never developed; later spectra showed only a fast-cooling continuum and narrow, blueshifted absorption lines, possibly arising in a wind with v ≈ 2700 km s-1. We identify two further transients in the literature (Dougie in particular, as well as AT 2020bot) that share similarities in their luminosities, timescales, color evolution, and largely featureless spectra and propose that these may constitute a new class of transients: luminous fast coolers. All three events occurred in passive galaxies at offsets of ~4-10 kpc from the nucleus, posing a challenge for progenitor models involving massive stars or black holes. The light curves and spectra appear to be consistent with shock breakout emission, though this mechanism is usually associated with core-collapse supernovae. The encounter of a star with a stellar-mass black hole may provide a promising alternative explanation.

Keywords: transient sources; supernovae; tidal disruption
Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). XII. The Detectability of Capstone Biosignatures in the Mid-infrared—Sniffing Exoplanetary Laughing Gas and Methylated Halogens

This study aims to identify exemplary science cases for observing N2O, CH3Cl, and CH3Br in exoplanet atmospheres at abundances consistent with biogenic production using a space-based mid-infrared nulling interferometric observatory, such as the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) mission concept. We use a set of scenarios derived from chemical kinetics models that simulate the atmospheric response of varied levels of biogenic production of N2O, CH3Cl, and CH3Br in O2-rich terrestrial planet atmospheres to produce forward models for our LIFESIM observation simulator software. In addition, we demonstrate the connection to retrievals for selected cases. We use the results to derive observation times needed for the detection of these scenarios and apply them to define science requirements for the mission. Our analysis shows that in order to detect relevant abundances with a mission like LIFE in its current baseline setup, we require: (i) only a few days of observation time for certain very nearby "golden target" scenarios, which also motivate future studies of "spectral-temporal" observations (ii) ∼10 days in certain standard scenarios such as temperate, terrestrial planets around M star hosts at 5 pc, (iii) ∼50–100 days in the most challenging but still feasible cases, such as an Earth twin at 5 pc. A few cases with very low fluxes around specific host stars are not detectable. In summary, the abundances of these capstone biosignatures are detectable at plausible biological production fluxes for most cases examined and for a significant number of potential targets.

Keywords: exoplanets; biosignatures; infrared spectroscopy; interferometry
Testing Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies in E-mode Polarization with Current and Future Data

In this paper, we explore the power of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization (E-mode) data to corroborate four potential anomalies in CMB temperature data: the lack of large angular-scale correlations, the alignment of the quadrupole and octupole (Q-O), the point-parity asymmetry, and the hemispherical power asymmetry. We use CMB simulations with noise representative of three experiments-the Planck satellite, the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), and the LiteBIRD satellite-to test how current and future data constrain the anomalies. We find the correlation coefficients ρ between temperature and E-mode estimators to be less than 0.1, except for the point-parity asymmetry (ρ = 0.17 for cosmic-variance-limited simulations), confirming that E-modes provide a check on the anomalies that is largely independent of temperature data. Compared to Planck component-separated CMB data (SMICA), the putative LiteBIRD survey would reduce errors on E-mode anomaly estimators by factors of ~3 for hemispherical power asymmetry and point-parity asymmetry, and by ~26 for lack of large-scale correlation. The improvement in Q-O alignment is not obvious due to large cosmic variance, but we found the ability to pin down the estimator value will be improved by a factor ≳100. Improvements with CLASS are intermediate to these.

Keywords: cosmic microwave background radiation; early universe; observational cosmology
Characterization of the Particle-induced Background of XMM-Newton EPIC-pn: Short- and Long-term Variability

The particle-induced background of X-ray observatories is produced by galactic cosmic ray (GCR) primary protons, electrons, and He ions. Events due to direct interaction with the detector are usually removed by onboard processing. The interactions of these primary particles with the detector environment produce secondary particles that mimic X-ray events from celestial sources, and are much more difficult to identify. The filter-wheel closed data from the XMM-Newton EPIC-pn camera in small window mode (SWM) contains both the X-ray-like background events, and the events due to direct interactions with the primary particles. From this data, we demonstrate that X-ray-like background events are spatially correlated with the primary particle interaction. This result can be used to further characterize and reduce the non-X-ray background in silicon-based X-ray detectors in current and future missions. We also show that spectrum and pattern fractions of secondary particle events are different from those produced by cosmic X-rays.

Keywords: solar energetic particles; x-ray telescopes; galactic cosmic rays; astronomical instrumentation
A Population of Heavily Reddened, Optically Missed Novae from Palomar Gattini-IR: Constraints on the Galactic Nova Rate

The nova rate in the Milky Way remains largely uncertain, despite its vital importance in constraining models of Galactic chemical evolution as well as understanding progenitor channels for Type Ia supernovae. The rate has been previously estimated to be in the range of ≈10-300 yr-1, either based on extrapolations from a handful of very bright optical novae or the nova rates in nearby galaxies; both methods are subject to debatable assumptions. The total discovery rate of optical novae remains much smaller (≈5-10 yr-1) than these estimates, even with the advent of all-sky optical time-domain surveys. Here, we present a systematic sample of 12 spectroscopically confirmed Galactic novae detected in the first 17 months of Palomar Gattini-IR (PGIR), a wide-field near-infrared time-domain survey. Operating in the J band (≈1.2 μm), which is significantly less affected by dust extinction compared to optical bands, the extinction distribution of the PGIR sample is highly skewed to a large extinction values (>50% of events obscured by AV ≳ 5 mag). Using recent estimates for the distribution of Galactic mass and dust, we show that the extinction distribution of the PGIR sample is commensurate with dust models. The PGIR extinction distribution is inconsistent with that reported in previous optical searches (null-hypothesis probability <0.01%), suggesting that a large population of highly obscured novae have been systematically missed in previous optical searches. We perform the first quantitative simulation of a 3π time-domain survey to estimate the Galactic nova rate using PGIR, and derive a rate of $\approx {43.7}_{-8.7}^{+19.5}$ yr-1. Our results suggest that all-sky near-infrared time-domain surveys are well poised to uncover the Galactic nova population.

Keywords: classical novae; novae; cataclysmic variable stars; white dwarf stars; interstellar dust extinction
On the Energy Coupling Efficiency of AGN Outbursts in Galaxy Clusters

Active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets are believed to be important in solving the cooling flow problem in the intracluster medium (ICM), while the detailed mechanism is still under debate. Here we present a systematic study on the energy coupling efficiency ηcp, the fraction of AGN jet energy transferred to the ICM. We first estimate the values of ηcp analytically in two extreme cases, which are further confirmed and extended with a parameter study of spherical outbursts in a uniform medium using hydrodynamic simulations. We find that ηcp increases from ∼0.4 for a weak isobaric injection to ≳0.8 for a powerful point injection. For any given outburst energy, we find two characteristic outburst powers that separate these two extreme cases. We then investigate the energy coupling efficiency of AGN jet outbursts in a realistic ICM with hydrodynamic simulations, finding that jet outbursts are intrinsically different from spherical outbursts. For both powerful and weak jet outbursts, ηcp is typically around 0.7-0.9, partly due to the nonspherical nature of jet outbursts, which produce backflows emanating from the hot spots, significantly enhancing the ejecta-ICM interaction. While for powerful outbursts a dominant fraction of the energy transferred from the jet to the ICM is dissipated by shocks, shock dissipation only accounts for ≲30% of the injected jet energy for weak outbursts. While both powerful and weak outbursts could efficiently heat cooling flows, powerful thermal-energy-dominated jets are most effective in delaying the onset of the central cooling catastrophe.

Keywords: intracluster medium; active galaxies; radio jets; high energy astrophysics; galaxy clusters; active galactic nuclei; low-luminosity active galactic nuclei; radio active galactic nuclei; hydrodynamics; hydrodynamical simulations; astronomical simulations
Gravitational-wave Emission from a Primordial Black Hole Inspiraling inside a Compact Star: A Novel Probe for Dense Matter Equation of State

Primordial black holes of planetary masses captured by compact stars are widely studied to constrain their composition fraction of dark matter. Such a capture may lead to an inspiral process and be detected through gravitational-wave signals. In this Letter, we study the postcapture inspiral process by considering two different kinds of compact stars, i.e., strange stars and neutron stars. The dynamical equations are numerically solved, and the gravitational-wave emission is calculated. It is found that the Advanced LIGO can detect the inspiraling of a 10-5 M ⊙ primordial black hole at a distance of 10 kpc, while a Jovian-mass case can even be detected at megaparsecs. Promisingly, the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors can detect cases of 10-5 M ⊙ primordial black holes up to ~1Mpc and Jovian-mass cases at several hundred megaparsecs. Moreover, the kilohertz gravitational-wave signal shows significant differences for strange stars and neutron stars, potentially making it a novel probe to the dense matter equation of state.

Keywords: gravitational waves; neutron stars; nuclear astrophysics; primordial black holes
Quasar Standardization: Overcoming Selection Biases and Redshift Evolution

Quasars (QSOs) are extremely luminous active galactic nuclei currently observed up to redshift z = 7.642. As such, they have the potential to be the next rung of the cosmic distance ladder beyond Type Ia supernovae, if they can reliably be used as cosmological probes. The main issue in adopting QSOs as standard candles (similarly to gamma-ray bursts) is the large intrinsic scatter in the relations between their observed properties. This could be overcome by finding correlations among their observables that are intrinsic to the physics of QSOs and not artifacts of selection biases and/or redshift evolution. The reliability of these correlations should be verified through well-established statistical tests. The correlation between the ultraviolet and X-ray fluxes developed by Risaliti & Lusso is one of the most promising relations. We apply a statistical method to correct this relation for redshift evolution and selection biases. Remarkably, we recover the the same parameters of the slope and the normalization as Risaliti & Lusso. Our results establish the reliability of this relation, which is intrinsic to the QSO properties and not merely an effect of selection biases or redshift evolution. Hence, the possibility to standardize QSOs as cosmological candles, thereby extending the Hubble diagram up to z = 7.54.

Keywords: quasars
KMT-2018-BLG-1292: A Super-Jovian Microlens Planet in the Galactic Plane

We report the discovery of KMT-2018-BLG-1292Lb, a super-Jovian Mplanet = 5.0 ± 1.2 MJ planet orbiting an F or G dwarf Mhost = 1.2 ± 0.3 M⊙, which lies physically within ${ \mathcal O }(10\,\mathrm{pc})$ of the Galactic plane. The source star is a heavily extincted AI ∼ 5.2 luminous giant that has the lowest Galactic latitude, b = -0°28, of any planetary microlensing event. The relatively blue blended light is almost certainly either the host or its binary companion, with the first explanation being substantially more likely. This blend dominates the light at the I band and completely dominates at the R and V bands. Hence, the lens system can be probed by follow-up observations immediately, i.e., long before the lens system and the source separate due to their relative proper motion. The system is well characterized despite the low cadence, Γ = 0.15-0.20 hr-1, of observations and short viewing windows near the end of the bulge season. This suggests that optical microlensing planet searches can be extended to the Galactic plane at relatively modest cost.

Keywords: gravitational microlensing
The Low-mass Members of the Ursa Major Association

We present a set of over-densities in spatial-kinematic space previously identified by Kounkel & Covey (2019) that may constitute extended tidal tails associated with the nearby, 400 Myr old Ursa Major association. This sample of 1599 stars has a main-sequence turnoff point consistent with the age of Ursa Major, and might contain its missing low-mass members. It includes four candidate white dwarfs with properties that seem consistent with a total age of about 400 Myr, but we estimate from older white dwarf interlopers that about 33% of the sample may be contaminated by random field stars.

Keywords: astronomy data analysis; stellar kinematics; proper motions
r-process Abundance Patterns in the Globular Cluster M92

Whereas light-element abundance variations are a hallmark of globular clusters, there is little evidence for variations in neutron-capture elements. A significant exception is M15, which shows a star-to-star dispersion in neutron-capture abundances of at least one order of magnitude. The literature contains evidence both for and against a neutron-capture dispersion in M92. We conducted an analysis of archival Keck/HIRES spectra of 35 stars in M92, 29 of which are giants, which we use exclusively for our conclusions. M92 conforms to the abundance variations typical of massive clusters. Like other globular clusters, its neutron-capture abundances were generated by the r-process. We confirm a star-to-star dispersion in r-process abundances. Unlike M15, the dispersion is limited to "first-generation" (low-Na, high-Mg) stars, and the dispersion is smaller for Sr, Y, and Zr than for Ba and the lanthanides. This is the first detection of a relation between light-element and neutron-capture abundances in a globular cluster. We propose that a source of the main r-process polluted the cluster shortly before or concurrently with the first generation of star formation. The heavier r-process abundances were inhomogeneously distributed while the first-generation stars were forming. The second-generation stars formed after several crossing times (~0.8 Myr); hence, the second generation shows no r-process dispersion. This scenario imposes a minimum temporal separation of 0.8 Myr between the first and second generations.

Keywords: abundance ratios; chemical abundances; r-process; globular star clusters; nucleosynthesis