adsabs/SciX_UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Mirror Mode Waves Immersed in Magnetic Reconnection

Mirror mode waves with anticorrelated density and magnetic field are widely observed in the heliosphere. This paper presents the first evidence of mirror mode waves occurring in the vicinity of a magnetic reconnection site (X-line) at the interface between the solar wind and Earth&'s magnetosphere based on the analyses of two Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) crossing events along with the Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction model with temperature anisotropy. The GS scheme solves the steady two-dimensional MHD equations in the frame of references moving with the plasma by using the spacecraft measurements. Both events have mirror type of pressure anisotropy and correspond, respectively, to the symmetric and asymmetric Harris type current sheets with the total thermal and magnetic field pressures being approximately constant. The GS reconstruction results show the magnetic reconnection with X line geometry associated with the mirror mode structures on the spatial lengths of 170 ∼ 370 km or 1.3 ∼ 3 ion gyroradius. The coexistence of mirror waves and magnetic reconnection provides the first observational evidence for the prior theoretical prediction of mixed tearing and mirror instabilities in plasma current sheets with temperature anisotropy.

Keywords: magnetohydrodynamics; space plasmas; plasma astrophysics; plasma physics; alfven waves
Mapping the Milky Way in 5D with 170 Million Stars

We present Augustus, a catalog of distance, extinction, and stellar parameter estimates for 170 million stars from 14 mag < r < 20 mag and with ∣b∣ > 10° drawing on a combination of optical to near-infrared photometry from Pan-STARRS, 2MASS, UKIDSS, and unWISE along with parallax measurements from Gaia DR2 and 3D dust extinction maps. After applying quality cuts, we find 125 million objects have "high-quality" posteriors with statistical distance uncertainties of ≲10% for objects with well-constrained stellar types. This is a substantial improvement over the distance estimates derived from Gaia parallaxes alone and in line with the recent results from Anders et al. We find the fits are able to reproduce the dereddened Gaia color–magnitude diagram accurately, which serves as a useful consistency check of our results. We show that we are able to detect large, kinematically coherent substructures in our data clearly relative to the input priors, including the Monoceros Ring and the Sagittarius Stream, attesting to the quality of the catalog. Our results are publicly available at doi:10.7910/DVN/WYMSXV. An accompanying interactive visualization can be found at http://allsky.s3-website.us-east-2.amazonaws.com.

Keywords: stellar distance; sky surveys; photometry; parallax
Energetic Particle Increases Associated with Stream Interaction Regions

The Parker Solar Probe was launched on 2018 August 12 and completed its second orbit on 2019 June 19 with perihelion of 35.7 solar radii. During this time, the Energetic Particle Instrument-Hi (EPI-Hi, one of the two energetic particle instruments comprising the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun, IS⊙IS) measured seven proton intensity increases associated with stream interaction regions (SIRs), two of which appear to be occurring in the same region corotating with the Sun. The events are relatively weak, with observed proton spectra extending to only a few MeV and lasting for a few days. The proton spectra are best characterized by power laws with indices ranging from -4.3 to -6.5, generally softer than events associated with SIRs observed at 1 au and beyond. Helium spectra were also obtained with similar indices, allowing He/H abundance ratios to be calculated for each event. We find values of 0.016-0.031, which are consistent with ratios obtained previously for corotating interaction region events with fast solar wind ≤600 km s-1. Using the observed solar wind data combined with solar wind simulations, we study the solar wind structures associated with these events and identify additional spacecraft near 1 au appropriately positioned to observe the same structures after some corotation. Examination of the energetic particle observations from these spacecraft yields two events that may correspond to the energetic particle increases seen by EPI-Hi earlier.

Keywords: solar energetic particles; solar activity; fast solar wind
Discovery and Follow-up of a Quasiperiodically Nulling and Subpulse Drifting Pulsar with the Murchison Widefield Array

The phenomenon of pulsar nulling, where pulsars temporarily and stochastically cease their radio emission, is thought to be indicative of a "dying" pulsar, where radio emission ceases entirely. Here we report the discovery of a long-period pulsar, PSR J0452‑3418, from the ongoing Southern-sky MWA Rapid Two-meter pulsar survey. The pulsar has a rotation period of ∼1.67 s and a dispersion measure of 19.8 pc cm‑3, and it exhibits both quasiperiodic nulling and subpulse drifting. Periodic nulling is uncommon, reported in only <1% of the pulsar population, with even a smaller fraction showing periodic nulling and subpulse drifting. We describe the discovery and follow-up of the pulsar, including a positional determination using high-resolution imaging with the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT), initial timing analysis using the combination of Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and uGMRT data, and detailed characterization of the nulling and drifting properties in the MWA's frequency band (140–170 MHz). Our analysis suggests a nulling fraction of 34% ± 6% and a nulling periodicity of pulses. We measure the phase (P 2) and time modulation (P 3) caused by the subpulse drifting, with an average P 2 of 7.1 degrees and a P 3 of 4.8 pulses. We compare and contrast the observed properties with those of other pulsars that exhibit subpulse drifting and quasiperiodic nulling phenomena, and find that the majority of these objects tend to be in the "death valley" in the period–period derivative (P– ) diagram. We also discuss some broader implications for pulsar emission physics and the detectability of similar objects using next-generation pulsar surveys.

Keywords: pulsars; radio pulsars; time domain astronomy; high energy astrophysics
Density of Neutral Hydrogen in the Sun's Interstellar Neighborhood

Interstellar neutral atoms, unlike charged particles, freely penetrate the heliosphere, allowing us to sample the physical state of the interstellar matter directly. Most interstellar hydrogen atoms are ionized before reaching the inner heliosphere and become energetic protons picked up by the solar wind and transported away from the Sun. Consequently, observations of interstellar hydrogen atoms by missions operating within a few astronomical units from the Sun are subject to significant systematic uncertainties. We analyze observations from the Solar Wind Around Pluto instrument on New Horizons, the first experiment to provide extensive measurements of the picked-up protons far from the Sun. Analyzing the density of these protons, we find an interstellar neutral hydrogen density at the termination shock of 0.127 ± 0.015 cm-3, i.e., ∼40% higher than previously thought. We show that the Voyager observations of the slowdown of the solar wind further support this value. This result resolves a problem of why energetic neutral atom fluxes, created from pickup ions by charge exchange with hydrogen atoms, are roughly twice that expected from numerical models. Our result also implies higher charge exchange rates at the heliospheric boundaries and, consequently, a less asymmetric shape of the heliosphere. Based on a previous study of the atom filtration in the heliospheric boundaries, we estimate the neutral hydrogen density in the unperturbed local interstellar medium of 0.195 ± 0.033 cm-3. This value agrees with astrophysical observations of the interstellar clouds in the Sun proximity.

Keywords: pickup ions; solar wind; heliosphere; interstellar atomic gas; interstellar medium; interstellar clouds; space plasmas
Impact of Overlapping Signals on Parameterized Post-Newtonian Coefficients in Tests of Gravity

Gravitational waves have been instrumental in providing deep insights into the nature of gravity. Next-generation detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope, are predicted to have a higher detection rate given the increased sensitivity and lower cutoff frequency. However, this increased sensitivity raises challenges concerning parameter estimation due to the foreseeable overlap of signals from multiple sources. Overlapping signals (OSs), if not properly identified, may introduce biases in estimating post-Newtonian (PN) coefficients in parameterized tests of general relativity (GR). We investigate how OSs affect ‑1PN to 2PN terms in parameterized GR tests, examining their potential to falsely suggest GR deviations. We estimate the prevalence of such misleading signals in next-generation detectors, and their collective influence on GR tests. We compare the effects of OSs on coefficients at different PN orders, concluding that overall the 1PN coefficient suffers the most. Our findings also reveal that while a nonnegligible portion of OSs exhibit biases in PN coefficients that might individually prefer to conclude deviations from GR, collectively, the direction to deviate is random and a statistical combination will still be in favor of GR.

Keywords: gravitational waves; general relativity; compact binary stars
FAST Search for Circumstellar Atomic Hydrogen. II. Is BD+30°3639 an Interacting Planetary Nebula?

The young, compact, very high surface brightness but low excitation planetary nebula (PN) BD+30°3639 is one of the very few PNe that have been reported to exhibit the 21 cm H I emission line. As part of a long-term program to search for circumstellar atomic hydrogen, we observed the 21 cm feature toward BD+30°3639 with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Assuming a direct association between the PN and the detected H I emission, these new observations show that this surrounding emission is significantly more spatially extended than indicated by previous interferometric observations and can be resolved into two velocity components. The estimated H I mass is larger than 100 M ⊙, invalidating an origin from the host star itself or its ejecta for the emitting material. We discuss the possibility that the extended H I emission stems from the interstellar medium (ISM) swept out over time by the stellar wind. Moreover, we report tentative detections of H I absorption features lying near and blueward of the systemic velocity of this PN, which are probably from a stalled asterosphere at the outer boundary of the expanding ionized region. The mass of the gas producing the H I absorption is insufficient to solve the so-called "PN missing mass problem." We demonstrate the capability of FAST to investigate the interaction process between a PN and the surrounding ISM.

Keywords: planetary nebulae; single-dish antennas; circumstellar envelopes; stellar mass loss; interstellar atomic gas
TOI-1231 b: A Temperate, Neptune-sized Planet Transiting the Nearby M3 Dwarf NLTT 24399

We report the discovery of a transiting, temperate, Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearby (d = 27.5 pc), M3V star TOI-1231 (NLTT 24399, L 248-27, 2MASS J10265947-5228099). The planet was detected using photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and followed up with observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory and the Antarctica Search for Transiting ExoPlanets program. Combining the photometric data sets, we find that the newly discovered planet has a radius of ${3.65}_{-0.15}^{+0.16}\,{R}_{\oplus }$ and an orbital period of 24.246 days. Radial velocity measurements obtained with the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan Clay telescope confirm the existence of the planet and lead to a mass measurement of 15.5 ± 3.3 M⊕. With an equilibrium temperature of just 330 K, TOI-1231 b is one of the coolest small planets accessible for atmospheric studies thus far, and its host star's bright near-infrared brightness (J = 8.88, Ks = 8.07) makes it an exciting target for the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Future atmospheric observations would enable the first comparative planetology efforts in the 250-350 K temperature regime via comparisons with K2-18 b. Furthermore, TOI-1231's high systemic radial velocity (70.5 km s-1) may allow for the detection of low-velocity hydrogen atoms escaping the planet by Doppler, shifting the H I Lyα stellar emission away from the geocoronal and interstellar medium absorption features.

Keywords: exoplanet astronomy; transit photometry; radial velocity; mini neptunes
Robust Data-driven Metallicities for 175 Million Stars from Gaia XP Spectra

We derive and publish data-driven estimates of stellar metallicity [M/H] for ~175 million stars with low-resolution XP spectra published in Gaia DR3. The [M/H] values, along with T eff and $\mathrm{log}g$ , are derived using the XGBoost algorithm, trained on stellar parameters from APOGEE, augmented by a set of very-metal-poor stars. XGBoost draws on a number of data features: the full set of XP spectral coefficients, narrowband fluxes derived from XP spectra, and broadband magnitudes. In particular, we include CatWISE magnitudes, as they reduce the degeneracy of T eff and dust reddening. We also include the parallax as a data feature, which helps constrain $\mathrm{log}g$ and [M/H]. The resulting mean stellar parameter precision is 0.1 dex in [M/H], 50 K in T eff, and 0.08 dex in $\mathrm{log}g$ . This all-sky [M/H] sample is substantially larger than published samples of comparable fidelity across -3 ≲ [M/H] ≲ +0.5. Additionally, we provide a catalog of over 17 million bright (G < 16) red giants whose [M/H] values are vetted to be precise and pure. We present all-sky maps of the Milky Way in different [M/H] regimes that illustrate the purity of the data set, and demonstrate the power of this unprecedented sample to reveal the Milky Way's structure from its heart to its disk.

Keywords: catalogs; stellar abundances; galaxy abundances; galaxy stellar content
Broadband Stability of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder Fabry-Pérot Etalon Calibration System: Evidence for Chromatic Variation

The comblike spectrum of a white light-illuminated Fabry-Pérot etalon can serve as a cost-effective and stable reference for precise Doppler measurements. Understanding the stability of these devices across their broad (hundreds of nanometers) spectral bandwidths is essential to realizing their full potential as Doppler calibrators. However, published descriptions remain limited to small bandwidths or short time spans. We present an ∼6 month broadband stability monitoring campaign of the Fabry-Pérot etalon system deployed with the near-infrared Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrograph. We monitor the wavelengths of each of ∼3500 resonant modes measured in HPF spectra of this Fabry-Pérot etalon (free spectral range = 30 GHz, bandwidth = 820-1280 nm), leveraging the accuracy and precision of an electro-optic frequency comb reference. These results reveal chromatic structure in the Fabry-Pérot mode locations and their evolution with time. We measure an average drift on the order of 2 cm s-1 day-1, with local departures up to ±5 cm s-1 day-1. We discuss these behaviors in the context of the Fabry-Pérot etalon mirror dispersion and other optical properties of the system and the implications for the use of similar systems for precise Doppler measurements. Our results show that this system supports the wavelength calibration of HPF at the ≲10 cm s-1 level over a night and the ≲30 cm s-1 level over ∼10 days. Our results also highlight the need for long-term and spectrally resolved study of similar systems that will be deployed to support Doppler measurement precision approaching ∼10 cm s-1.

Keywords: near infrared astronomy; radial velocity; spectroscopy; fabry-perot interferometers; exoplanet detection methods
Metallicity Estimation of RR Lyrae Stars From Their I-Band Light Curves

We have revisited the problem of metallicity prediction of RR Lyrae stars from their near-infrared light curves in the Cousins I wave band. Our study is based on high-quality time series photometry and state-of-the-art high-resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of 80 fundamental-mode (RRab) and 24 first-overtone (RRc) stars, spanning ~[-2.7, +0.18] dex and ~[-3, -0.5] dex ranges, respectively. Employing machine-learning methods, we investigated various light-curve representations and regression models to identify their optimal form for our objective. Accurate new empirical relations between the [Fe/H] iron abundance and the light-curve parameters have been obtained using Bayesian regression for both RRab and RRc stars with mean absolute prediction errors of 0.16 dex and 0.18 dex, respectively. We found that earlier I-band [Fe/H] estimates had a systematic positive bias of up to ~0.4 dex in the metal-poor regime. Our new predictive models were deployed on large ensembles of RR Lyrae stars to obtain photometric metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) for various old stellar populations in and around the Milky Way. We find that the mode of the old bulge component's MDF is approximately -1.4 dex, in remarkable agreement with the latest spectroscopic result. Furthermore, we derive MDF modes of -1.83, -2.13, and -1.77 dex for the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, respectively.

Keywords: rr lyrae variable stars; metallicity; light curves
Simple Analytic Formula Relating the Mass and Spin of Accreting Compact Objects to Their Rapid X-Ray Variability

Following the previous research on epicyclic oscillations of accretion disks around black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs), a new model of high-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) has been proposed, so-called cusp torus (CT) model, which deals with oscillations of fluid in marginally overflowing accretion tori (i.e., tori terminated by cusps). According to preliminary investigations, the model provides better fits of the NS QPO data compared to the relativistic precession (RP) model. It also implies a significantly higher upper limit on the Galactic microquasar BH spins. A short analytic formula has been noticed to well reproduce the model's predictions on the QPO frequencies in Schwarzschild spacetimes. Here we derive an extended version of this formula that applies to rotating compact objects. We start with the consideration of Kerr spacetimes and derive a formula that is not restricted to a particular specific angular momentum distribution of the inner accretion flow, such as a Keplerian or constant one. Finally, we consider Hartle-Thorne spacetimes and include corrections implied by the NS oblateness. For a particular choice of a single parameter, our relation provides frequencies predicted by the CT model. For another value, it provides frequencies predicted by the RP model. We conclude that the formula is well applicable to rotating oblate NSs and both models. We briefly illustrate the application of our simple formula on several NS sources and confirm the expectation that the CT model is compatible with realistic values of the NS mass and provides better fits of data than the RP model.

Keywords: x-ray binary stars; black hole physics; accretion
Runaway Eccentricity Growth: A Pathway for Binary Black Hole Mergers in AGN Disks

Binary black holes (BBHs) embedded within the accretion disks that fuel active galactic nuclei (AGN) are promising progenitors for the source of gravitational wave (GW) events detected by LIGO/VIRGO. Several recent studies have shown that when these binaries form, they are likely to be highly eccentric and retrograde. However, many uncertainties remain concerning the orbital evolution of these binaries as they either inspiral toward merger or disassociate. Previous hydrodynamical simulations exploring their orbital evolution have been predominantly two-dimensional or have been restricted to binaries on nearly circular orbits. We present the first high-resolution, three-dimensional local shearing-box simulations of both prograde and retrograde eccentric BBHs embedded in AGN disks. We find that retrograde binaries shrink several times faster than their prograde counterparts and exhibit significant orbital eccentricity growth, the rate of which monotonically increases with binary eccentricity. Our results suggest that retrograde binaries may experience runaway orbital eccentricity growth, which may bring them close enough together at pericenter for GW emission to drive them to coalescence. Although their eccentricity is damped, prograde binaries shrink much faster than their orbital eccentricity decays, suggesting they should remain modestly eccentric as they contract toward merger. Finally, binary precession driven by the AGN disk may dominate over precession induced by the supermassive black hole depending on the binary accretion rate and its location in the AGN disk, which can subdue the evection resonance and von Ziepel–Lidov–Kozai cycles.

Keywords: astrophysical fluid dynamics; active galactic nuclei; black holes; accretion; gravitational wave sources
The Young Planetary System K2-25: Constraints on Companions and Starspots

The abundance of planets with orbital periods of a few to tens of days suggests that exoplanets experience complex dynamical histories. Planets in young stellar clusters or associations have well-constrained ages and therefore provide an opportunity to explore the dynamical evolution of exoplanets. K2-25b is a Neptune-sized planet in an eccentric, 3.48 day orbit around an M4.5 dwarf star in the Hyades cluster (650 Myr). In order to investigate its non-zero eccentricity and tight orbit, we analyze transit timing variations (TTVs) which could reveal clues to the migration processes that may have acted on the planet. We obtain 12 nonconsecutive transits using the MEarth observatories and long-term photometric monitoring, which we combine with 10 transits from the Spitzer Space Telescope and 20 transits from K2. Tables of MEarth photometry accompany this work. We fit each transit lightcurve independently. We first investigate whether inhomogeneities on the stellar surface (such as spots or plages) are differentially affecting our transit observations. The measured transit depth does not vary significantly between transits, though we see some deviations from the fiducial transit model. We then looked for TTVs as evidence of a nontransiting perturber in the system. We find no evidence for >1 M⊕ mass companions within a 2:1 period ratio, or for >5 M⊕ mass planets within a 7:2 period ratio.

Keywords: exoplanet astronomy; exoplanet systems; exoplanet dynamics; exoplanets; hot neptunes