81 results match your criteria: "Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics[Affiliation]"

Using traditional machine learning (ML) methods may produce results that are inconsistent with the laws of physics. In contrast, physics-based models of complex physical, biological, or engineering systems incorporate the laws of physics as constraints on ML methods by introducing loss terms, ensuring that the results are consistent with these laws. However, accurately deriving the nonlinear and high order differential equations to enforce various complex physical laws is non-trivial.

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Our knowledge of galaxy formation and evolution has incredibly progressed through multi-wavelength observational constraints of the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies at all cosmic epochs. However, little is known about the physical properties of the more diffuse and lower surface brightness reservoir of gas and dust that extends beyond ISM scales and fills dark matter haloes of galaxies up to their virial radii, the circumgalactic medium (CGM). New theoretical studies increasingly stress the relevance of the latter for understanding the feedback and feeding mechanisms that shape galaxies across cosmic times, whose cumulative effects leave clear imprints into the CGM.

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The cool brown dwarf Gliese 229 B is a close binary.

Nature

October 2024

European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany.

Article Synopsis
  • Brown dwarf companions to stars help us understand planet formation processes, but some of them are more massive than expected based on their luminosities and host star ages.
  • Gliese 229 B, previously thought to be a single entity, was revealed through observations to actually be two brown dwarfs, Gliese 229 Ba and Bb, with masses of 38.1 and 34.4 Jupiter masses, respectively.
  • This discovery challenges existing theories and raises questions about the formation and occurrence of binary brown dwarfs in close orbits around stars.
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During the most active period of star formation in galaxies, which occurs in the redshift range 1 3, strong bursts of star formation result in significant quantities of dust, which obscures new stars being formed as their UV/optical light is absorbed and then re-emitted in the infrared, which redshifts into the mm/sub-mm bands for these early times. To get a complete picture of the high- galaxy population, we need to survey a large patch of the sky in the sub-mm with sufficient angular resolution to resolve all galaxies, but we also need the depth to fully sample their cosmic evolution, and therefore obtain their redshifts using direct mm spectroscopy with a very wide frequency coverage. This requires a large single-dish sub-mm telescope with fast mapping speeds at high sensitivity and angular resolution, a large bandwidth with good spectral resolution and multiplex spectroscopic capabilities.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers are studying the multi-scale interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy to understand the relationships between gas, dust, and star formation in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs).
  • The Milky Way's complex structure is influenced by massive stars and dust lanes, making it essential to observe these features at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths for in-depth analysis.
  • A proposed 50m single-dish sub-mm telescope called AtLAST aims to provide comprehensive observations of the Galactic Plane and surrounding areas to enhance our understanding of stellar formation, planetary system evolution, and the overall ecology of our Galaxy.
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Supernova-Neutrino-Boosted Dark Matter from All Galaxies.

Phys Rev Lett

September 2024

Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan.

Article Synopsis
  • Scientists have discovered that "boosted dark matter" (BDM) from supernovae can help us learn more about dark matter and how it interacts with regular particles called leptons.
  • They looked at the flow of this dark matter from distant galaxies and found that big neutrino experiments can detect it better than before.
  • The research also suggests that the presence of dark matter near supermassive black holes doesn't change the findings much, unless a big supernova happens very close to our galaxy's center.
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Refractive lensing of scintillating FRBs by subparsec cloudlets in the multiphase CGM.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

September 2024

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada.

We consider the refractive lensing effects of ionized cool ([Formula: see text]) gas cloudlets in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies. In particular, we discuss the combined effects of lensing from these cloudlets and scintillation from plasma screens in the Milky Way interstellar medium (ISM). We show that, if the CGM comprises a mist of subparsec cloudlets with column densities of order [Formula: see text] (as predicted by [M.

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The canonical theory for planet formation in circumstellar disks proposes that planets are grown from initially much smaller seeds. The long-considered alternative theory proposes that giant protoplanets can be formed directly from collapsing fragments of vast spiral arms induced by gravitational instability-if the disk is gravitationally unstable. For this to be possible, the disk must be massive compared with the central star: a disk-to-star mass ratio of 1:10 is widely held as the rough threshold for triggering gravitational instability, inciting substantial non-Keplerian dynamics and generating prominent spiral arms.

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The observation of superconductivity in MnSe at 12 GPa motivated us to investigate whether superconductivity could be induced in MnSe at ambient conditions. A strain-induced structural change in the ultrathin film could be one route to the emergence of superconductivity. In this report, we present the physical property of MnSe ultrathin films, which become tetragonal (stretched -plane and shortened -axis) on a (001) SrTiO (STO) substrate, prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method.

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Strong Gravitational Lensing and Microlensing of Supernovae.

Space Sci Rev

February 2024

Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland.

Strong gravitational lensing and microlensing of supernovae (SNe) are emerging as a new probe of cosmology and astrophysics in recent years. We provide an overview of this nascent research field, starting with a summary of the first discoveries of strongly lensed SNe. We describe the use of the time delays between multiple SN images as a way to measure cosmological distances and thus constrain cosmological parameters, particularly the Hubble constant, whose value is currently under heated debates.

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Multiply lensed images of a same source experience a relative time delay in the arrival of photons due to the path length difference and the different gravitational potentials the photons travel through. This effect can be used to measure absolute distances and the Hubble constant ( ) and is known as time-delay cosmography. The method is independent of the local distance ladder and early-universe physics and provides a precise and competitive measurement of .

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Gapless Neutron Superfluidity Can Explain the Late Time Cooling of Transiently Accreting Neutron Stars.

Phys Rev Lett

May 2024

Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 226, Boulevard du Triomphe, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.

The current interpretation of the observed late time cooling of transiently accreting neutron stars in low-mass x-ray binaries during quiescence requires the suppression of neutron superfluidity in their crust at variance with recent ab initio many-body calculations of dense matter. Focusing on the two emblematic sources KS 1731-260 and MXB 1659-29, we show that their thermal evolution can be naturally explained by considering the existence of a neutron superflow driven by the pinning of quantized vortices. Under such circumstances, we find that the neutron superfluid can be in a gapless state in which the specific heat is dramatically increased compared to that in the classical BCS state assumed so far, thus delaying the thermal relaxation of the crust.

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Thallium (Tl) is a non-essential metal mobilized through industrial processes which can lead to it entering the environment and exerting toxic effects. Plants are fundamental components of all ecosystems. Therefore, understanding the impact of Tl on plant growth and development is of great importance for assessing the potential environmental risks of Tl.

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An extremely energetic cosmic ray observed by a surface detector array.

Science

November 2023

High Energy Astrophysics Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Article Synopsis
  • - Cosmic rays are high-energy charged particles from space, with the most intense ones believed to originate outside our galaxy.
  • - The Telescope Array experiment has successfully detected an extremely energetic particle, estimated to have an energy of about 40 joules.
  • - The particle’s trajectory leads to a gap in the universe's structure, raising questions about its source, including potential magnetic field interference or gaps in our understanding of particle physics.
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are often predominant bacteria and prominently important in coral health. Their role in dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) degradation has been a subject of discussion for over a decade. A previous study found that degraded DMSP through the pathway.

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Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87.

Nature

September 2023

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.

The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity.

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The detection of starlight from the host galaxies of quasars during the reionization epoch (z > 6) has been elusive, even with deep Hubble Space Telescope observations. The current highest redshift quasar host detected, at z = 4.5, required the magnifying effect of a foreground lensing galaxy.

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Predicting observable infrared signatures of nanosilicates in the diffuse interstellar medium.

Faraday Discuss

September 2023

Departament de Ciència de Materials i Química Física, Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional (IQTCUB), Universitat de Barcelona, c/Martí i Franquès 1-11, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.

The destruction time scale of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium is estimated to be an order of magnitude shorter than its residence time. Nevertheless, dust is observed in the interstellar medium, leading to the conclusion that reformation and grain growth must take place. Direct observations of nanometre-sized silicate grains, the main constituent of interstellar dust, would provide a smoking gun for the occurrence of grain condensation in the diffuse interstellar medium.

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Main-belt comets are small Solar System bodies located in the asteroid belt that repeatedly exhibit comet-like activity (that is, dust comae or tails) during their perihelion passages, strongly indicating ice sublimation. Although the existence of main-belt comets implies the presence of extant water ice in the asteroid belt, no gas has been detected around these objects despite intense scrutiny with the world's largest telescopes. Here we present James Webb Space Telescope observations that clearly show that main-belt comet 238P/Read has a coma of water vapour, but lacks a significant CO gas coma.

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The nearby radio galaxy M87 is a prime target for studying black hole accretion and jet formation. Event Horizon Telescope observations of M87 in 2017, at a wavelength of 1.3 mm, revealed a ring-like structure, which was interpreted as gravitationally lensed emission around a central black hole.

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A novel analysis is performed, incorporating time-of-flight (TOF) information to study the interactions of dark matter (DM) with standard model particles. After supernova (SN) explosions, DM with mass m_{χ}≲O(MeV) in the halo can be boosted by SN neutrinos (SNν) to relativistic speed. The SNν boosted DM (BDM) arrives on Earth with TOF which depends only on m_{χ} and is independent of the cross section.

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Bacteria commonly form aggregates in a range of coral species [termed coral-associated microbial aggregates (CAMAs)], although these structures remain poorly characterized despite extensive efforts studying the coral microbiome. Here, we comprehensively characterize CAMAs associated with and quantify their cell abundance. Our analysis reveals that multiple phylotypes coexist inside a single CAMA.

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Sub-second periodicity in a fast radio burst.

Nature

July 2022

Department of Physics, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Article Synopsis
  • Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief radio wave signals from space, occurring over milliseconds, and can be seen from billions of light-years away.
  • Researchers detected a specific FRB, named 20191221A, which has a periodic separation of 216.8 milliseconds between its components, indicating a potential link to neutron stars.
  • The unique characteristics of this burst, including its longer duration and multiple components, suggest that the emission likely originates from within the magnetosphere of a neutron star rather than from more distant regions.
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This paper presents the highlights of joint observations of the inner magnetosphere by the Arase spacecraft, the Van Allen Probes spacecraft, and ground-based experiments integrated into spacecraft programs. The concurrent operation of the two missions in 2017-2019 facilitated the separation of the spatial and temporal structures of dynamic phenomena occurring in the inner magnetosphere. Because the orbital inclination angle of Arase is larger than that of Van Allen Probes, Arase collected observations at higher -shells up to .

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Article Synopsis
  • - Methane-oxidizing bacteria, known as methanotrophs, are important for managing methane and nitrogen levels in the environment, but their dual abilities for methane oxidation and nitrogen fixation at the same time have not been studied in natural settings until now.
  • - This study shows that type II methanotrophs in paddy rice roots can both oxidize methane and fix nitrogen simultaneously at the cellular level, indicating a complex relationship that happens in the plant's root environment.
  • - The findings suggest that these bacteria play a significant role in controlling methane emissions, as their metabolic functions vary depending on different microenvironments within the roots, highlighting their potential importance in mitigating climate change effects.
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