adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Revisiting the Rates and Demographics of Tidal Disruption Events: Effects of the Disk Formation Efficiency

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are valuable probes of the demographics of supermassive black holes as well as the dynamics and population of stars in the centers of galaxies. In this Letter, we focus on studying how debris disk formation and circularization processes can impact the possibility of observing prompt flares in TDEs. First, we investigate how the efficiency of disk formation is determined by the key parameters, namely, the black hole mass M BH, the stellar mass m ⋆, and the orbital penetration parameter β that quantifies how close the disrupted star would orbit around the black hole. Then we calculate the intrinsic differential TDE rate as a function of these three parameters. Combining these two results, we find that the rates of TDEs with prompt disk formation are significantly suppressed around lighter black holes, which provides a plausible explanation for why the observed TDE host black hole mass distribution peaks between 106 and 107 M ⊙. Therefore, the consideration of disk formation efficiency is crucial for recovering the intrinsic black hole demographics from TDEs. Furthermore, we find that the efficiency of the disk formation process also impacts the distributions of both stellar orbital penetration parameter and stellar mass observed in TDEs.

Keywords: tidal disruption; high energy astrophysics; supermassive black holes; black hole physics; accretion; galaxy accretion disks; galaxy nuclei; relativistic mechanics; stellar kinematics; stellar dynamics
Length and Velocity Scales in Protoplanetary Disk Turbulence

In the theory of protoplanetary disk turbulence, a widely adopted ansatz, or assumption, is that the turnover frequency of the largest turbulent eddy, Ω L , is the local Keplerian frequency Ω K . In terms of the standard dimensionless Shakura–Sunyaev α parameter that quantifies turbulent viscosity or diffusivity, this assumption leads to characteristic length and velocity scales given respectively by $\sqrt{\alpha }H$ and $\sqrt{\alpha }c$ , in which H and c are the local gas scale height and sound speed. However, this assumption is not applicable in cases when turbulence is forced numerically or driven by some natural processes such as vertical shear instability. Here, we explore the more general case where Ω L ≥ Ω K and show that, under these conditions, the characteristic length and velocity scales are respectively $\sqrt{\alpha /R^{\prime} }H$ and $\sqrt{\alpha R^{\prime} }c$ , where $R^{\prime} \equiv {{\rm{\Omega }}}_{L}/{{\rm{\Omega }}}_{K}$ is twice the Rossby number. It follows that $\alpha =\tilde{\alpha }/R^{\prime} $ , where $\sqrt{\tilde{\alpha }}c$ is the root-mean-square average of the turbulent velocities. Properly allowing for this effect naturally explains the reduced particle scale heights produced in shearing box simulations of particles in forced turbulence, and it may help with interpreting recent edge-on disk observations; more general implications for observations are also presented. For $R^{\prime} \gt 1$ , the effective particle Stokes numbers are increased, which has implications for particle collision dynamics and growth, as well as for planetesimal formation.

Keywords: protoplanetary disks; solar system
Modeling the Luminosity-dependent Pulse Profile and Emission Geometry of SMC X-2 during a Giant Outburst

One of the brightest X-ray pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud is SMC X-2. During its most recent major outburst in 2015, this transient pulsar displayed significant changes in both its accretion state and magnetosphere, particularly when it entered the low-luminosity regime of subcritical accretion. Polestar is a pulse-profile modeling code that helps in delineating the geometry of the emission as the source evolves past outburst and toward lower-luminosity states. Applying Polestar to XMM-Newton and NuSTAR pulse profiles, we constrained the most likely inclination of the spin axis of the pulsar to be i = 87° ± 4°. As the X-ray luminosity declined, an increase in the pulsed fraction was detected from Swift observations, which suggests a transition from fan- to pencil-beam emission during the later stages of the outburst. Additionally, we also performed analysis of the OGLE IV light curves, which showed strong modulation in the optical profiles during the outburst.

Keywords: high mass x-ray binary stars; pulsars; small magellanic cloud; accretion
The Effect of Star-Disk Interactions on Highly Eccentric Stellar Orbits in Active Galactic Nuclei: A Disk Loss Cone and Implications for Stellar Tidal Disruption Events

Galactic center black holes appear to be nearly universally surrounded by dense stellar clusters. When these black holes go through an active accretion phase, the multiple components of the accretion disk, stellar cluster, and black hole system all coexist. We analyze the effect of drag forces on highly eccentric stellar orbits incurred as stars puncture through the disk plane. Disk crossings dissipate orbital energy, drawing eccentric stars into more circular orbits. For high surface density disks, such as those found around black holes accreting near the Eddington mass accretion limit, the magnitude of this energy dissipation can be larger than the mean scatterings that stars receive by two-body relaxation. One implication of this is the presence of a disk "loss cone" for highly eccentric stellar orbits where the dissipation from disk interaction outweighs scatter via two-body relaxation. The disk loss cone is larger than the tidal disruption loss cone for near-Eddington black hole accretion rates. Stellar orbits within the disk loss cone are lost from the overall cluster as stellar orbits are circularized and stars are potentially ablated by their high-velocity impacts with the disk. We find, however, that the presence of the disk loss cone has a minimal effect on the overall rate of stellar tidal disruptions. Stars are still efficiently fed to the black hole from more-distant stellar orbits that receive large-enough per-orbit scatter to jump over the disk loss cone and end up tidally disrupted.

Keywords: active galactic nuclei; supermassive black holes; star clusters
A New Method for Measuring Infrared Band Strengths in H2O Ices: First Results for OCS, H2S, and SO2

Infrared (IR) band strengths are needed to extract accurate molecular abundances from astronomical observations of interstellar and solar system ices. However, laboratory measurements of such intensities often have required multiple assumptions about ice composition and thickness. Here we describe a method that circumvents most of the common assumptions and uncertainties in IR band-strength determinations. We have applied the method to measure IR band strengths of OCS, H2S, and SO2 in the absence and presence of H2O ice at 10 K, the first measurements of their type. Our results show for the first time that the presence of H2O makes little difference in IR intensities for these three sulfur-containing molecules' strongest IR features. The immediate application will be to laboratory studies of low-temperature chemistry of interstellar and cometary ices.

Keywords: interstellar molecules; astrochemistry; laboratory astrophysics; chemical abundances
GOALS-JWST: Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of the Nucleus of NGC 7469

We present mid-infrared spectroscopic observations of the nucleus of the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 7469 taken with the MIRI instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of Directors Discretionary Time Early Release Science program 1328. The high-resolution nuclear spectrum contains 19 emission lines covering a wide range of ionization. The high-ionization lines show broad, blueshifted emission reaching velocities up to 1700 km s-1 and FWHM ranging from ~500 to 1100 km s-1. The width of the broad emission and the broad-to-narrow line flux ratios correlate with ionization potential. The results suggest a decelerating, stratified, AGN-driven outflow emerging from the nucleus. The estimated mass outflow rate is 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than the current black hole accretion rate needed to power the AGN. Eight pure rotational H2 emission lines are detected with intrinsic widths ranging from FWHM ~125 to 330 km s-1. We estimate a total mass of warm H2 gas of ~1.2 × 107 M ⊙ in the central 100 pc. The PAH features are extremely weak in the nuclear spectrum, but a 6.2 μm PAH feature with an equivalent width of ~0.07 μm and a flux of 2.7 × 10-17 W m-2 is detected. The spectrum is steeply rising in the mid-infrared, with a silicate strength of ~0.02, significantly smaller than seen in most PG QSOs but comparable to other Seyfert 1s. These early MIRI mid-infrared IFU data highlight the power of JWST to probe the multiphase interstellar media surrounding actively accreting supermassive black holes.

Keywords: active galaxies; starburst galaxies; infrared galaxies
Kinetic-scale Topological Structures Associated with Energy Dissipation in the Turbulent Reconnection Outflow

Assisted by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission capturing unprecedented high-resolution data in the terrestrial magnetotail, we apply a local streamline-topology classification methodology to investigate the categorization of the magnetic field topological structures at kinetic scales in the turbulent reconnection outflow. It is found that strong correlations exist between the straining and rotational part of the velocity gradient tensor as well as the magnetic field gradient tensor. Strong energy dissipation prefers to occur at regions with high magnetic stress or current density, which is contributed mainly by O-type topologies. These results indicate that the kinetic structures with O-type topology play a more important role in energy dissipation in turbulent reconnection outflow.

Keywords: solar magnetic reconnection; interplanetary turbulence; plasma astrophysics; plasma physics; space plasmas
The Interplay between Star Formation and Black Hole Accretion in Nearby Active Galaxies

Black hole accretion is widely thought to influence star formation in galaxies, but the empirical evidence for a physical correlation between star formation rate (SFR) and the properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) remain highly controversial. We take advantage of a recently developed SFR estimator based on the [O II] λ3727 and [O III] λ5007 emission lines to investigate the SFRs of the host galaxies of more than 5800 type-1 and 7600 type-2 AGNs with z < 0.35. After matching in luminosity and redshift, we find that type-1 and type-2 AGNs have a similar distribution of internal reddening, which is significant and corresponds to ∼109 M⊙ of cold molecular gas. In spite of their comparable gas content, type-2 AGNs, independent of stellar mass, Eddington ratio, redshift or molecular gas mass, exhibit intrinsically stronger star formation activity than type-1 AGNs, in apparent disagreement with the conventional AGN unified model. We observe a tight, linear relation between AGN luminosity (accretion rate) and SFR, one that becomes more significant toward smaller physical scales, suggesting that the link between the AGN and star formation occurs in the central kpc-scale region. This, along with a correlation between SFR and Eddington ratio in the regime of super-Eddington accretion, can be interpreted as evidence that star formation is impacted by positive feedback from the AGN.

Keywords: interstellar medium; active galaxies; star formation
Quantitative Characterization of Magnetic Flux Rope Properties for Two Solar Eruption Events

In order to bridge the gap between heliospheric and solar observations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), one of the key steps is to improve the understanding of their corresponding magnetic structures like the magnetic flux ropes (MFRs). But it remains a challenge to confirm the existence of a coherent MFR before or upon the CME eruption on the Sun and to quantitatively characterize the CME-MFR due to the lack of direct magnetic field measurements in the corona. In this study, we investigate MFR structures originating from two active regions (ARs), AR 11719 and AR 12158, and estimate their magnetic properties quantitatively. We perform nonlinear force-free field extrapolations with preprocessed photospheric vector magnetograms. In addition, remote-sensing observations are employed to find indirect evidence of MFRs on the Sun and to analyze the time evolution of magnetic reconnection flux associated with the flare ribbons during the eruption. A coherent "preexisting" MFR structure prior to the flare eruption is identified quantitatively for one event from the combined analysis of the extrapolation and observation. Then the characteristics of MFRs for two events on the Sun before and during the eruption forming the CME-MFR, including the axial magnetic flux, field line twist, and reconnection flux, are estimated and compared with the corresponding in situ modeling results. We find that the magnetic reconnection associated with the accompanying flares for both events injects a significant amount of flux into the erupted CME-MFRs.

Keywords: solar coronal mass ejections; solar flares; solar active region magnetic fields; solar magnetic fields
What Sets the Star Formation Rate of Molecular Clouds? The Density Distribution as a Fingerprint of Compression and Expansion Rates

We use a suite of 3D simulations of star-forming molecular clouds, with and without stellar feedback, magnetic fields, and driven turbulence, to study the compression and expansion rates of the gas as functions of density. We show that, around the mean density, supersonic turbulence promotes rough equilibrium between the amounts of compressing and expanding gas, consistent with continuous gas cycling between high- and low-density states. We find that the inclusion of protostellar jets produces rapidly expanding and compressing low-density gas. We find that the gas mass flux peaks at the transition between the lognormal and power-law forms of the density probability distribution function (PDF). This is consistent with the transition density tracking the post-shock density, which promotes an enhancement of mass at this density (i.e., shock compression and filament formation). At high densities, the gas dynamics are dominated by self-gravity: the compression rate in all of our runs matches the rate of the run with only gravity, suggesting that processes other than self-gravity have little effect at these densities. The net gas mass flux becomes constant at a density below the sink formation threshold, where it equals the star formation rate. The density at which the net gas mass flux equals the star formation rate is one order of magnitude lower than our sink threshold density, corresponds to the formation of the second power-law tail in the density PDF, and sets the overall star formation rates of these simulations.

Keywords: interstellar medium; star formation; star forming regions; giant molecular clouds; protostars; theoretical models
Rapid Decay of a Penumbral Sector Associated with a Strong Light Bridge in Active Region NOAA 12680

We present observations of the rapid decay of a penumbral sector associated with a strong light bridge (LB) in the active region NOAA 12680 by analyzing the scattered light-corrected Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager data. At the beginning of penumbral decay, some dark structures gradually broke away from the umbra to which they were attached. The intensity, vertical field strength, and magnetic inclination of the dark structures are intermediate between those of the umbra and penumbra. And a strong LB formed in the umbra, which originated from the intrusion of neighboring penumbral filaments. With the formation of an LB, the total magnetic flux in the whole penumbra decreased, and a penumbral sector of the sunspot rapidly disappeared on one side of the LB. After performing a partition analysis of the penumbra, it was found that the decay rate in this region of the penumbral sector is significantly accelerated after the appearance of an outward motion of magnetic flux along the LB. The area of this penumbral sector decreased from 21-16 MSH in 4 hr. The reduction in area in this penumbral sector is accompanied by a large decay rate of the magnetic flux, 2.5 × 1019 Mx hr-1. These results suggest that the rapid decay of the penumbral sector is associated with the LB. The appearance of dark structures in the penumbra and the strong LB in the umbra may offer a hint that the origin of massive flux migration from the sunspot umbra may have accelerated the decay of the sunspot.

Keywords: sunspots; solar active region magnetic fields; solar photosphere
Calibrating VLBI Polarization Data Using GPCAL. I. Frequency-dependent Calibration

In this series of papers, we present new methods of frequency- and time-dependent instrumental polarization calibration for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). In most existing calibration tools and pipelines, it has been assumed that instrumental polarization is constant over frequency within the instrument bandwidth and over time. The assumption is not always true and may prevent an accurate calibration, which can result in degradation of the quality of linear polarization images. In this paper, we present a method of frequency-dependent instrumental polarization calibration that is implemented in GPCAL, a recently developed polarization calibration pipeline. The method is tested using simulated data sets generated from real Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) data. We present the results of applying the method to real VLBA data sets observed at 15 and 43 GHz. We were able to eliminate significant variability in cross-hand visibilities over frequency that is caused by frequency-dependent instrumental polarization. As a result of the calibration, linear polarization images were slightly to modestly improved as compared to those obtained without frequency-dependent instrumental polarization calibration. We discuss the reason for the minor impact of frequency-dependent instrumental polarization calibration on existing VLBA data sets and prospects for applying the method to future VLBI data sets, which are expected to provide very large bandwidths.

Keywords: high angular resolution; very long baseline interferometry; polarimetry; astronomy software; astronomy data analysis; supermassive black holes; relativistic jets
A Galactic Eclipse: The Small Magellanic Cloud Is Forming Stars in Two Superimposed Systems

The structure and dynamics of the star-forming disk of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have long confounded us. The SMC is widely used as a prototype for galactic physics at low metallicity, and yet we fundamentally lack an understanding of the structure of its interstellar medium (ISM). In this work, we present a new model for the SMC by comparing the kinematics of young, massive stars with the structure of the ISM traced by high-resolution observations of neutral atomic hydrogen (H I) from the Galactic Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder survey. Specifically, we identify thousands of young, massive stars with precise radial velocity constraints from the Gaia and APOGEE surveys and match these stars to the ISM structures in which they likely formed. By comparing the average dust extinction toward these stars, we find evidence that the SMC is composed of two structures with distinct stellar and gaseous chemical compositions. We construct a simple model that successfully reproduces the observations and shows that the ISM of the SMC is arranged into two superimposed, star-forming systems with similar gas mass separated by ∼5 kpc along the line of sight.

Keywords: interstellar medium; small magellanic cloud; dwarf galaxies; galaxy structure; radio astronomy; chemical abundances
SCExAO/CHARIS Direct Imaging Discovery of a 20 au Separation, Low-mass Ratio Brown Dwarf Companion to an Accelerating Sun-like Star

We present the direct imaging discovery of a substellar companion to the nearby Sun-like star, HD 33632 Aa, at a projected separation of ∼20 au, obtained with SCExAO/CHARIS integral field spectroscopy complemented by Keck/NIRC2 thermal infrared imaging. The companion, HD 33632 Ab, induces a 10.5σ astrometric acceleration on the star as detected with the Gaia and Hipparcos satellites. SCExAO/CHARIS JHK (1.1-2.4 μm) spectra and Keck/NIRC2 Lp (3.78 μm) photometry are best matched by a field L/T transition object: an older, higher-gravity, and less dusty counterpart to HR 8799 cde. Combining our astrometry with Gaia/Hipparcos data and archival Lick Observatory radial velocities, we measure a dynamical mass of 46.4 ± 8 MJ and an eccentricity of e < 0.46 at 95% confidence. HD 33632 Ab's mass and mass ratio (4.0% ± 0.7%) are comparable to the low-mass brown dwarf GJ 758 B and intermediate between the more massive brown dwarf HD 19467 B and the (near-)planet-mass companions to HR 2562 and GJ 504. Using Gaia to select for direct imaging observations with the newest extreme adaptive optics systems can reveal substellar or even planet-mass companions on solar system-like scales at an increased frequency compared to blind surveys. * Based in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Keywords: exoplanets; brown dwarfs; astronomical instrumentation; astronomical optics; direct imaging; coronagraphic imaging; exoplanet detection methods; astronomical techniques
The MOSDEF Survey: [S III] as a New Probe of Evolving Interstellar Medium Conditions

We present measurements of [S III]λλ9069,9531 for a sample of z ∼ 1.5 star-forming galaxies, the first representative sample with measurements of these lines at z ≳ 0.1. We employ the line ratio S 32 ≡ [S III]λλ9069,9531/[S II]λλ6716,6731 as a novel probe of evolving interstellar medium (ISM) conditions. Since this ratio includes the low-ionization line [S II], it is crucial that the effects of diffuse ionized gas (DIG) on emission-line ratios be accounted for in z ∼ 0 galaxy spectra, or else that comparisons be made to samples of local H II regions in which DIG emission is not present. We find that S 32 decreases with increasing stellar mass at both z ∼ 1.5 and z ∼ 0, but with a shallow slope suggesting S 32 has a weak dependence on metallicity, in contrast with [O III]/[O II] that displays a strong metallicity dependence. As a result, S 32 only mildly evolves with redshift at fixed stellar mass. The z ∼ 1.5 sample is systematically offset toward lower S 32 and higher [S II]/Hα at fixed [O III]/Hβ relative to z = 0 H II regions. We find that such trends can be explained by a scenario in which the ionizing spectrum is harder at fixed O/H with increasing redshift, but are inconsistent with an increase in ionization parameter at fixed O/H. This analysis demonstrates the advantages of expanding beyond the strongest rest-optical lines for evolutionary studies, and the particular utility of [S III] for characterizing evolving ISM conditions and stellar compositions. These measurements provide a basis for estimating [S III] line strengths for high-redshift galaxies, a line that the James Webb Space Telescope will measure out to z ∼ 5.5.

Based on data obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Keywords: galaxy evolution; high-redshift galaxies; interstellar medium