adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Clustered Star Formation in the Center of NGC 253 Contributes to Driving the Ionized Nuclear Wind

We present new 3 mm observations of the ionized gas toward the nuclear starburst in the nearby (D ~ 3.5 Mpc) galaxy NGC 253. With ALMA, we detect emission from the H40α and He40α lines in the central 200 pc of this galaxy on spatial scales of ~4 pc. The recombination line emission primarily originates from a population of approximately a dozen embedded super star clusters in the early stages of formation. We find that emission from these clusters is characterized by electron temperatures ranging from 7000 to 10,000 K and measures an average singly ionized helium abundance ⟨Y+⟩ = 0.25 ± 0.06, both of which are consistent with values measured for H II regions in the center of the Milky Way. We also report the discovery of unusually broad line width recombination line emission originating from seven of the embedded clusters. We suggest that these clusters contribute to the launching of the large-scale hot wind observed to emanate from the central starburst. Finally, we use the measured recombination line fluxes to improve the characterization of overall embedded cluster properties, including the distribution of cluster masses and the fractional contribution of the clustered star formation to the total starburst, which we estimate is at least 50%.

Keywords: interstellar medium; h ii regions; young star clusters
The Dynamical Viability of an Extended Jupiter Ring System

Planetary rings are often speculated as being a relatively common attribute of giant planets, partly based on their prevalence within the solar system. However, their formation and sustainability remain a topic of open discussion, and the most massive planet within our planetary system harbors a very modest ring system. Here, we present the results of an N-body simulation that explores dynamical constraints on the presence of substantial ring material for Jupiter. Our simulations extend from within the rigid satellite Roche limit to 10% of the Jupiter Hill radius, and include outcomes from 106 and 107 yr integrations. The results show possible regions of a sustained dense ring material presence around Jupiter that may comprise the foundation for moon formation. The results largely demonstrate the truncation of stable orbits imposed by the Galilean satellites, and dynamical desiccation of dense ring material within the range ~3-29 Jupiter radii. We discuss the implications of these results for exoplanets, and the complex relationship between the simultaneous presence of rings and massive moon systems.

Keywords: jupiter; jovian satellites; planetary rings; exoplanets; orbital evolution
On the Use of Field RR Lyrae as Galactic Probes. II. A New ΔS Calibration to Estimate Their Metallicity

We performed the largest and most homogeneous spectroscopic survey of field RR Lyraes (RRLs). We secured ≈6300 high-resolution (HR, R ∼ 35,000) spectra for 143 RRLs (111 fundamental, RRab; 32 first-overtone, RRc). The atmospheric parameters were estimated by using the traditional approach and the iron abundances were measured by using an LTE line analysis. The resulting iron distribution shows a well-defined metal-rich tail approaching solar iron abundance. This suggests that field RRLs experienced a complex chemical enrichment in the early halo formation. We used these data to develop a new calibration of the ΔS method. This diagnostic, based on the equivalent widths of Ca II K and three Balmer (Hδ,γ,β) lines, traces the metallicity of RRLs. For the first time, the new empirical calibration: (i) includes spectra collected over the entire pulsation cycle; (ii) includes RRc variables; (iii) relies on spectroscopic calibrators covering more than three dex in iron abundance; and (iv) provides independent calibrations based on one/two/three Balmer lines. The new calibrations were applied to a data set of both SEGUE-SDSS and degraded HR spectra totalling 6451 low-resolution (R ∼ 2000) spectra for 5001 RRLs (3439 RRab, 1562 RRc). This resulted in an iron distribution with a median η = -1.55 ± 0.01 and σ = 0.51 dex, in good agreement with literature values. We also found that RRc are 0.10 dex more metal-poor than RRab variables, and have a distribution with a smoother metal-poor tail. This finding supports theoretical prescriptions suggesting a steady decrease in the RRc number when moving from metal-poor to metal-rich stellar environments. * Based on observations obtained with the du Pont telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, operated by Carnegie Institution for Science. Based in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Based partly on data obtained with the STELLA robotic telescopes in Tenerife, an AIP facility jointly operated by AIP and IAC. Some of the observations reported in this paper were obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Fundación Galileo Galilei of the INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere.

Keywords: rr lyrae variable stars; milky way stellar halo; high resolution spectroscopy; metallicity
The Six-planet Resonant Chain of HD 110067

HD 110067 is the brightest star known to have six transiting planets. Each adjacent pair of planets has a period ratio that is nearly equal to a ratio of small integers, suggesting the planets are in a chain of mean-motion resonances, but the limited time span of the available data has prevented firm conclusions. Here, we show that the requirement of long-term dynamical stability implies that all six planets are very likely to form a resonant chain. Dynamical simulations of nonresonant systems with initial conditions compatible with the available data almost always suffer an instability within 25 Myr (∼0.3% of the system's age). Assuming the system is in resonance, we place upper limits on the planets' eccentricities and lower limits on the masses of the planets that have not yet been measured. We also predict the characteristics of transit timing variations and the values of the three-body libration centers.

Keywords: exoplanets; orbital resonances; planet formation; planetary dynamics
Pits on Jupiter-family Comets and the Age of Cometary Surfaces

Large and deep depressions, also known as pits, are observed at the surface of all Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) imaged by spacecraft missions. They offer the opportunity to glimpse the subsurface characteristics of comet nuclei and study the complex interplay between surface structures and cometary activity. This work investigates the evolution of pits at the surface of 81P/Wild 2, 9P/Tempel 1, and 103P/Hartley 2, in continuation of the work by Benseguane et al. on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Pits are selected across the surface of each nucleus, and high-resolution shape models are used to compute the energy they receive. A thermal evolution model is applied to constrain how cometary activity sustained under current illumination conditions could modify them. Similar to what was found for 67P, we show that erosion resulting from water-driven activity is primarily controlled by seasonal patterns that are unique to each comet as a consequence of their shape and rotational properties. However, progressive erosion sustained after multiple perihelion passages is not able to carve any of the observed pits. Instead, cometary activity tends to erase sharp morphological features; they become wider and shallower over time. Our results reinforce the evolutionary sequence evidenced from independent measurables to transform "young" cometary surfaces, with sharp surface topography prone to outbursts, into "old" cometary surfaces. Finally, we suggest that the mechanism at the origin of the pits on JFCs should be able to carve these structures in a region of the solar system where water ice does not sublimate; the Centaur phase thus appears critical to understand JFC surface properties.

Keywords: short period comets; comet nuclei; comet surfaces; theoretical models
Tidal Disruption of Near-Earth Asteroids during Close Encounters with Terrestrial Planets

Numerical modeling has long suggested that gravitationally bound (or so-called rubble-pile) near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) can be destroyed by tidal forces during close and slow encounters with terrestrial planets. However, tidal disruptions of NEAs have never been directly observed nor have they been directly attributed to any families of NEAs. Here we show population-level evidence for the tidal disruption of NEAs during close encounters with Earth and Venus. Debiased model distributions of NEA orbits and absolute magnitudes based on observations by the Catalina Sky Survey during 2005-2012 underpredict the number of NEAs with perihelion distances coinciding with the semimajor axes of Venus and Earth. A detailed analysis of the orbital distributions of the excess NEAs shows that their characteristics agree with the prediction for tidal disruptions, and they cannot be explained by observational selection effects or orbital dynamics. Accounting for tidal disruptions in evolutionary models of the NEA population partly bridges the gap between the predicted rate of impacts by asteroids with diameters of tens of meters and observed statistics of fireballs in the same size range.

Keywords: asteroids; near-earth objects; orbital evolution; tidal disruption; sky surveys
Variability in Protoplanetary Nebulae. IX. Evidence for Evolution in a Decade

We have carried out a new photometric V,R C study of 12 protoplanetary nebulae, objects in the short-lived transition between the asymptotic giant branch and planetary nebula phases of stellar evolution. These had been the subjects of an earlier study, using data from 1994-2007, that found that all 12 varied periodically, with pulsation periods in the range of ~38 to ~150 days. They are all carbon-rich, with F-G spectral types. We combined our new (2008-2018) data with publicly available All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae data and determined new periods for their variability. The older and newer period values were compared to investigate evidence of period change, for which there is theoretical support that it might be detectable in a decade or two in some cases. Such a detection is challenging since the light curves are complicated, with multiple periods, changing amplitudes, and evidence of shocks. Nevertheless, we found one, and possibly two, such cases, which are associated with the higher-temperature stars in the sample (7250 and 8000 K). These results are most consistent with the evolution of stars at the lower end of the mass range of carbon stars, ~1.5-2 M ☉. Several of the stars show longer-term trends of increasing (six cases) or decreasing (one case) brightness, which we think is most likely due to changes in the circumstellar dust opacity. There is one case of a possible ~1.8 yr period in addition to the shorter pulsation. This is interpreted as possible evidence of an orbiting companion.

Keywords: protoplanetary nebulae; multi-periodic variable stars; post-asymptotic giant branch stars; evolved stars; stellar pulsations; pulsating variable stars; late stellar evolution; stellar evolution
Effect of Near-field Distribution on Transmission Characteristics of Fiber-fed Fabry-Perot Etalons

Fiber-fed etalons are widely employed in advanced interferometric instruments such as gravitational-wave detectors, ultrastable lasers and calibration reference for high-precision spectrographs. We demonstrate that variation in near-field distribution of the feeding fiber would deteriorate the spectrum precision of the fiber-fed Fabry-Perot etalon, especially when precision at the order of 3 × 10-10 or higher is required. The octagonal fiber reinforced with double scrambler could greatly improve the steadiness and uniformness of the near-field distribution. When building wavelength calibrators for sub-m s-1 precision radial-velocity instruments, the double scrambler should be considered meticulously.

Keywords: fabry-perot interferometers; spectral energy distribution; radial velocity
A Young, Low-density Stellar Stream in the Milky Way Disk: Theia 456

Our view of the variety of stellar structures pervading the local Milky Way has been transformed by the application of clustering algorithms to the Gaia catalog. In particular, several stellar streams have been recently discovered that are comprised of hundreds to thousands of stars and span several hundred parsecs. We analyze one such structure, Theia 456, a low-density stellar stream extending nearly 200 pc and 20° across the sky. By supplementing Gaia astrometric data with spectroscopic metallicities from Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope and photometric rotation periods from the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we establish Theia 456's radial velocity coherence, and we find strong evidence that members of Theia 456 have a common age (≃175 Myr), common dynamical origin, and formed from chemically homogeneous prestellar material ([Fe/H] = -0.07 dex). Unlike well-known stellar streams in the Milky Way, which are in its halo, Theia 456 is firmly part of the thin disk. If our conclusions about Theia 456 can be applied to even a small fraction of the remaining ≃8300 independent structures in the Theia catalog, such low-density stellar streams may be ubiquitous. We comment on the implications this has for the nature of star formation throughout the Galaxy.

Keywords: star clusters; stellar streams; stellar abundances; stellar rotation; star formation
Keck/HIRES Spectroscopic Analysis of Barium Abundances

Based on the high-resolution, high signal-to-noise-ratio spectra from the Keck/HIRES, we have analyzed the barium abundances of 602 stars. The parameter space of our sample are in the range of 4700 < ${T}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ < 6100 K, -0.1 < [Fe/H] < 0.6 dex, and 2 < log g < 5 dex. It is found that the nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects are large for barium, and the barium abundances can be underestimated by up to 0.2 dex compared to the the local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis for lines at 5853 and 6141 Å. In addition, the average barium abundances of the high- and low-α stars are -0.10 and 0.00 dex, respectively, and higher [Ba/Fe] corresponds to a lower [Mg/Fe] ratio. We note that there are 18 Ba-rich stars (with [Ba/Fe] > 0.3 in NLTE), which contains six dwarfs and 12 giants. The Ba-rich objects make up around 3% in our sample.

Keywords: stellar abundances; galaxy structure
Pitfalls of Periodograms: The Nonstationarity Bias in the Analysis of Quasiperiodic Oscillations

Quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) are an important key to understand the dynamic behavior of astrophysical objects during transient events like gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and magnetar flares. Searches for QPOs often use the periodogram of the time series and perform spectral density estimation using a Whittle likelihood function. However, the Whittle likelihood is only valid if the time series is stationary since the frequency bins are otherwise not statistically independent. We show that if time series are nonstationary, the significance of QPOs can be highly overestimated and estimates of the central frequencies and QPO widths can be overconstrained. The effect occurs if the QPO is only present for a fraction of the time series and the noise level is varying throughout the time series. This can occur, for example, if background noise from before or after the transient is included in the time series or if the low-frequency noise profile varies strongly over the time series. Thus, we highlight the importance of careful segment selection prior to the analysis. We confirm the presence of this bias in previously reported results from solar flare data and show that significance can be highly overstated. Finally, we provide some suggestions that help identify whether an analysis is affected by this bias.

Keywords: time series analysis; period search; fast fourier transform; solar x-ray flares; solar flares; x-ray transient sources; bayesian statistics; bayes factor; bayesian information criterion; astrostatistics tools; model selection; astrostatistics strategies
The Propagation of Coherent Waves Across Multiple Solar Magnetic Pores

Solar pores are efficient magnetic conduits for propagating magnetohydrodynamic wave energy into the outer regions of the solar atmosphere. Pore observations often contain isolated and/or unconnected structures, preventing the statistical examination of wave activity as a function of the atmospheric height. Here, using high-resolution observations acquired by the Dunn Solar Telescope, we examine photospheric and chromospheric wave signatures from a unique collection of magnetic pores originating from the same decaying sunspot. Wavelet analysis of high-cadence photospheric imaging reveals the ubiquitous presence of slow sausage-mode oscillations, coherent across all photospheric pores through comparisons of intensity and area fluctuations, producing statistically significant in-phase relationships. The universal nature of these waves allowed an investigation of whether the wave activity remained coherent as they propagate. Utilizing bisector Doppler velocity analysis of the Ca II 8542 Å line, alongside comparisons of the modeled spectral response function, we find fine-scale 5 mHz power amplification as the waves propagate into the chromosphere. Phase angles approaching zero degrees between co-spatial line depths spanning different line depths indicate standing sausage modes following reflection against the transition region boundary. Fourier analysis of chromospheric velocities between neighboring pores reveals the annihilation of the wave coherency observed in the photosphere, with examination of the intensity and velocity signals from individual pores indicating they behave as fractured waveguides, rather than monolithic structures. Importantly, this work highlights that wave morphology with atmospheric height is highly complex, with vast differences observed at chromospheric layers, despite equivalent wave modes being introduced into similar pores in the photosphere.

Keywords: solar chromosphere; magnetohydrodynamics; solar oscillations; solar photosphere; solar magnetic fields
Polarization Observations of a Split-band Type II Radio Burst from the Solar Corona

Using temporal observations of circular polarized harmonic plasma emission from a split-band type II solar radio burst at 80 MHz, we separately estimated the coronal magnetic field strengths (B) associated with the lower (L) and upper (U) frequency bands of the burst. The corresponding Stokes I and V data were obtained with the polarimeter operating at the above frequency in the Gauribidanur observatory. The burst was associated with a flare/coronal mass ejection on the solar disk. Simultaneous spectral observations with the spectrograph there in the frequency range 80-35 MHz helped to establish that the observed polarized emission was from the harmonic component of the burst. The B values corresponding to the polarized emission from the L and U bands at 80 MHz are B L ≈ 1.2 G and B U ≈ 2.4 G, respectively. The different values of B for the observed harmonic emission at the same frequency (80 MHz) from the two bands imply unambiguously that the corresponding fundamental emission at 40 MHz must have originated at different spatial locations. Two-dimensional radio imaging observations of the burst with the radioheliograph in the same observatory at 80 MHz indicate the same. As comparatively higher B is expected behind a propagating shock due to compression as well as the corresponding coronal regions being closer to the Sun, our results indicate that the sources of L- and U-band emission should be located ahead of and behind the associated coronal shock, respectively. These are useful to understand the pre- and postshock corona as well as locations of electron acceleration in a propagating shock.

Keywords: solar corona; the sun; radio bursts; polarimetry; solar coronal mass ejections; solar flares; solar magnetic fields
Massive Stars in the SDSS-IV/APOGEE2 Survey. III. New OB Stars in the Direction of the Sagittarius Spiral Arm

We have applied the semi-empirical spectral analysis, developed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE2) Massive Star Team, to a large sample of new O- and B-type stars identified along the Sagittarius spiral arm, in the direction of the southern star clusters NGC3603 and NGC3576. We obtained H-band spectra for 265 point sources, using the APOGEE2-S spectrograph at the du Pont Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory. We analyzed the associated spectral features deriving spectral types, as well as the massive star distribution along the line of sight. From a total of 265 science targets, 95 are classified as mid- to late-O-type stars (for which only 10 O-type stars are previously known in the literature), 38 are found to be early- to mid-B-type stars, and 32 are classified as either yellow or blue supergiants, completing a total of 165 massive stars.

Keywords: massive stars; stellar types; near infrared astronomy
Primordial or Secondary? Testing Models of Debris Disk Gas with ALMA

The origin and evolution of gas in debris disks are still not well understood. Secondary gas production from cometary material or a primordial origin have been proposed. So far, observations have mostly concentrated on CO, with only a few C observations available. We overview the C and CO content of debris disk gas and test state-of-the-art models. We use new and archival Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of CO and C I emission, complemented by C II data from Herschel, for a sample of 14 debris disks. This expands the number of disks with ALMA measurements of both CO and C I by 10 disks. We present new detections of C I emission toward three disks: HD 21997, HD 121191, and HD 121617. We use a simple disk model to derive gas masses and column densities. We find that current state-of-the-art models of secondary gas production overpredict the C0 content of debris disk gas. This does not rule out a secondary origin, but might indicate that the models require an additional C removal process. Alternatively, the gas might be produced in transient events rather than a steady-state collisional cascade. We also test a primordial gas origin by comparing our results to a simplified thermochemical model. This yields promising results, but more detailed work is required before a conclusion can be reached. Our work demonstrates that the combination of C and CO data is a powerful tool to advance our understanding of debris disk gas. * Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

Keywords: debris disks; circumstellar gas; chemical abundances; submillimeter astronomy; aperture synthesis; radiative transfer